Beloved
Minister Wrongly Charged With Disorderly
Conduct,
Up-Date Below: Pastor Dave Was
Vindicated In The Obstruction Trial For The
Disorderly Charge
Please
Note: All help given to Pastor Dave, was per his personal
request to me.
He
was facing charges of disorderly conduct and resisting
arrest. Before my work they had offered to drop
the resisting, only; after they dropped the disorderly conduct and
changed the resisting arrest to obstructing an
officer.
Jesus says that what we do for one of His, we
do for Him.
Yes, we can help each other in this life and
should.
Debra J.M. Smith - 2009
www.InformingChristians.comPastor Dave
Fogderud, 66, never actually went beyond the point of addressing
the two teen-age boys that were skateboarding at a
Janesville, Wisconsin Burger King restaurant on August 2, 2007.
Pastor Dave is well known for his 35 years of service in his
community work with homeless people, at-risk youth, people in
addiction and anyone else who is in need. According to one of
the more recent articles in a local paper about his ministry, Pastor
Dave is known as the "Minister Of the Streets," still trying to
reach the "down trodden." Another current newspaper article
featured his church for keeping its doors open around the
clock, twenty-four hours a day during the frigid cold weather so
that anyone in need of warmth and hot soup can go in at
any time. His ministry, The Overflowing Cup Total Life Center,
was scheduled to soon host its annual Rock On The
Rock music festival the first weekend in August. --For Information
on this ministry: Click Here
|
In-Tune From Near Chicago
Illinois
Pastor Dave's Ministry Hosts Rock On The
Rock
Christian Music Festivals With Well Know Music
Artists
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It was the Thursday before
the music event and Pastor Dave was giving Nathaniel Partee,
47, a ride to a scheduled appointment at a detox center, a
place that would help Nathaniel stay off of his addiction. A
short distance on route, he stopped at a Burger King to get
something to eat for the both of them. He went through the
drive-through. While waiting
for their fish sandwiches in a parking space close to the building,
Pastor Dave saw two teen boys skating in the parking lot. Thinking
about the event that was just a little over a day
away, Pastor Dave called out the window, "Hey kids, come
here." He wanted
to tell them about Jesus and invite them to the event.
The boys, one thirteen-and-a-half, the other turning
fourteen that month, did not go over to the truck. They
instead called the police.
A police report
shows that officers were dispatched on a call for a white man
and black man trying to coerce two juvenile males into a truck. The
Gazette, a local paper, reported one of the teens as
having said, "I was not going to go up to the truck. We were
thinking, I don't know, like they were going to try to get some
information from us, try and get us into the car, and that's why we
kept walking." The police report states that the boys said
the driver of the truck yelled out the window, "Hey kids, come over
here, I want to talk to you." The Wisconsin Christian News reported
that the police said the boys reported that the men were trying to
abduct them, but later changed their story.
The police
report states that the boys claimed Pastor Dave addressed them
twice; Pastor Dave says he only addressed them once, which doesn't
matter either way. It is no more illegal to have addressed the boys
twice, than once.
If The Truck Doesn't
Fit...
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Pastor Dave who was a Beloit,
Wisconsin Police Chaplain for twelve years is
pictured here with Nathaniel Partee, standing next to the
small Toyota pickup less than an hour before the
arrests.
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The truck
that the two men were in is a small Toyota. The cab fits only
two people in it, hence it could not have been possible to abduct
two teen boys in the vehicle. The first officer on the scene
who was also the arresting officer (officer Blaser) states in
the police report that upon entering the parking lot he saw the
white truck pulling out. Officer Blaser also states in the
report that the two men were sitting in a "small cab of a pickup
next to each other."
According to officer Blaser's
report, his contact with the boys prior to his contact with
Pastor Dave consisted of the boys pointing at the white pick-up
truck, officer Blaser pointing at the white pick-up truck,
officer Blaser asking the boys if that was it, and the
boys saying "yes." –Hey,
you just cannot make this stuff up. It's on page one of
officer Blaser's report.
After the two men had finished
eating their sandwiches, they had headed out of the parking lot
and down the road. Within three blocks the men were pulled
over. According to the police report, Pastor Dave was
questioned, arrested, patted down, arrested for
resisting the first arrest, put into a "compliance
hold" by two officers and then into hand-cuffs
all within approximately four minutes of having been
pulled over. The third officer on the scene states in the police
report that he got there approximately four minutes after the
arresting officer got there and saw officers Blaser and Johnson (the
second officer on the scene) putting Pastor Dave into handcuffs.
Officer Blaser's report confirms the two arrests, the patting down,
the compliance hold, and the handcuffing. Pastor Dave said that he
was arrested for disorderly conduct and for resisting.
While
speaking with Pastor Dave, he told me that he was not
told until that next Monday why he was arrested for disorderly
conduct. He was told that it was because he talked to the
boys. He also said to me that he was not resisting, but that he
was just asking why it was happening and that he was in shock by it
all. In so many words, he said that he was treated badly. He
also said that he almost fell over when he was leaning up
against the truck, with his legs spread, being patted down, and
the officer grabbed his hands to put him in handcuffs. He lost
his footing. And he was very uncomfortable with the search
that went in a place that is private. –The officer stated in the
report that Pastor Dave jumped at that point.
To Tell The
Truth...
Officer Blaser has since claimed
that he had not arrested Pastor Dave for disorderly conduct
until after the teens had been questioned by the third officer
on the scene, officer Katzenmeyer, the officer who showed up on the
scene when Pastor Dave was being placed in handcuffs.
Officer Johnson's report suggests such, as well. I suppose
officer Blaser would be in big trouble if he had placed a
man under arrest for disorderly conduct on the grounds of a
pointing game and or the dispatcher's hearsay.
However,
according to officer Blaser's own words in the police report,
he placed Pastor Dave under arrest for something before he
placed him under arrest for resisting. On page four of his
report, in giving the "probable cause" for "resisting an officer,"
officer Blaser states, "As I told him he was under
arrest, he continually tried to pull his hands in front of
him, thus resisting arrest. He knew he was being
placed under arrest and knowingly
resisted that
arrest."
Officer Johnson's statement even
goes one step further by showing officer Blaser as having not
arrested Pastor Dave for resisting until after officer Katzenmeyer
had spoken with the teens, which took place well after Pastor Dave
was put into handcuffs. Officer Blaser's report is very clear that
he arrested Pastor Dave for resisting before Pastor Dave was put
into handcuffs. Officer Johnson may want to rethink his
statement.
Later the second arrest, "resisting" was
changed by the district attorney to "obstruction." Perhaps
calling it obstruction is a way to seek to define the word
"resisting" as meaning "resisting an officer from doing his duty"
instead of what it clearly meant, "resisting an arrest," an arrest
that came before talking to the accusers. I believe such would be
called a "false arrest" in civil court.
What Was The
Problem...
The police report speaks of two men
having been suspects, a white man and a black man. Yet when pulled
over, it appears that only the white man was treated as a
suspect. Other than the color of their skin, the only immediate
difference that could have been seen would have been that
the white man had a shirt on that said, "Jesus is
Eternal."
Officer Blaser makes out in his
report that he was very courteous and patient with Pastor
Dave, only doing that, which he absolutely had to do, stating things
like he had "advised" Pastor Dave that he "would like" to pat him
down for weapons, and that at one point he was advising Pastor Dave
that he was being as "polite" as he could be. He does this
while he makes out that Pastor Dave was so uncooperative that
it deemed all he did to Pastor Dave. Interestingly enough, after he
finished with Pastor Dave, he simply questioned Mr. Partee and
told him that he was not under arrest. Perhaps the officer
was pooped out by that time, or perhaps he had no need to go after
Mr. Partee.
Officer Blaser's report claims that Pastor Dave
was not "comfortable" answering his questions and that Pastor Dave
was "evasive." Pastor Dave states that he did answer officer
Blaser's questions. He said that he told officer Blaser that he had
talked to two teens, that he just wanted to tell them about Jesus
and to invite them to a concert that they were having. Pastor Dave
said that he told this to officer Blaser right away when he had
been asked if he had talked to anyone at Burger King.
Pastor
Dave's answers were supported by Nathaniel Partee's
answers when he was questioned. And
his answers were also supported by the fact that
the weekend music event really did take
place. Nathaniel also told officer Blaser that Pastor Dave was
giving him a ride to the detox center, which also proved to be true.
It was actually the third officer on the scene, officer Katezenmeyer
that drove Mr. Partee the rest of the way to the detox
center.
The police had two extra IDs by which to
identifiy Pastor Dave with, two besides his driver's license. They
had his fishing license and his pastor membership
card. However, officer Blaser's
statement about the pocketknife that was found
during a search of Pastor Dave's person was that it "could" be
"considered" a "weapon." I suppose the obvious, that he had a
preacher who liked to go fishing and used a pocket knife for when he
caught something would have just not been as exciting as finding
what "could" have been "considered" a "weapon!"
Officer
Blaser even went as far in the report as to make out that he felt
that Pastor Dave was going to make a run for it. Yes, officer Blaser
stated, "He was looking around as if he was looking for some place
to go. The vehicle was still in gear and the ignition was still
running."
The truck was a standard, a four on the floor, with
no markings on the stick shift that was in-between the two
men. So, how on earth would the officer have known if it was in
gear? Interestingly enough, the second officer on the scene, officer
Johnson had the same vision; he also said that the vehicle was in
gear. Oh, but this gets better. Six sentences later in the same
paragraph, in the same report, the same arresting officer states, "I
was concerned that he may put the vehicle in gear, as I had already
asked him to step out of the vehicle to talk to him."
One
really does have to ask one's self why officer Blaser's report reads
like a defense of officer Blaser. And one really should ask why when
the dispatch went out as two men trying to coerce two teen males
into a truck and the police report listed two men as suspects,
why was just one man treated as such. Nathaniel Partee was
never patted down. The second officer was helping the first officer
with Pastor Dave while Nathaniel Partee was unattended. Why
does it appear the two officers were not
concerned about the passenger of the truck while they
were both handling the driver?
Debra...
www.InformingChristians.com
© Copyright 2009 Debra J.M. Smith
Up-Date:
First
Pastor David Fogderud was wrongly arrested and charged with
"Disorderly Conduct" for having addressed to teenagers in a parking
lot, as part of his ministry. Then he was wrongly arrested and
charged with "Resisting" the first arrest. Later the district
attorney changed the second charge from "Resisting" to
"Obstruction." This is the short version.
At one point
in the case, the district attorney offered to drop the
obstruction charge if Pastor Dave would have pleaded guilty to the
disorderly conduct charge. That did not fly, as Pastor Dave was not
about to plead guilty to such a horrendous charge.
So,
what did the district attorney do? Well, within a week of
the trial she flipped it around. She dropped the disorderly
conduct charge and went with the obstruction charge. I guess they
get to pick and choose these things like candy in a candy
store. And we wonder why so many people do not agree with the
judicial system in this country.
The district attorney
obviously realized that in the United States of America, speaking to
two teen boys did not constitute disorderly conduct. She
admitted, in so many words, on April 27, 2009 during
Pastor Dave's trial in her opening statement that he had
not done anything wrong towards the teens.
The
obstruction trial, that in essence, turned out to be Pastor
Dave on trial for his own arrest, came down to his word
against three cops. Who do you think won? Keeping in mind the
theatrics that can go on in such a trial, I don't think it is
hard to figure out the answer to that question.
But the good
news is, Pastor Dave was vindicated of doing anything wrong towards
the two teenagers. Clearly the district attorney new she
could not get the jury to believe that
one
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A Message From Pastor Dave
April 29,
2009
April
29, 2009
Dear Friends:
The
trial started Monday of this week and ended yesterday with the
Jury giving their verdict at 4:00 p.m. The good news is
that the "Disorderly Conduct" charge was dropped on last
Friday 4/24/09. That was very important to me because
that is the charge that dealt with speaking to the
teenagers. The bad news is that the Jury found me
"guilty" of obstructing an officer. The DA told the jury
that I had been uncooperative with the police at the scene and
that I had refused to give my name. The truth is
that the police officers testified that they had neglected to
ask for my Drivers License or to ask me who I was. The
DA further instructed the jurors that they should give no
credit to the testimony of my character witnesses - that
even Hitler and Osama bin Laden could find someone to say
something good about them. Among my Character
witnesses were Rev. Don Lyon, Founding Pastor of FAITH Center
in Rockford, Illinois and the Illinois Representative for the
National Association of Evangelicals among many other
credentials. Also, I had Danny Evans who is a Pastor and
a Juvenile Probation Officer in Rock
County and Heather Devlin, a 19-year-old girl who
got saved through our ministry and first met me at the age of
14 when I gave her a flyer and invited her to a Christian
concert. Stories appear in today's Beloit Daily News,
The Janesville Gazette and the Wisconsin State
Journal. Probably the best report is done
by the reporter from up-state New York named Debra JM
Smith. The links to the articles are:
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2009/04/29/news/top_news/news2902.txt
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/449070
http://www.gazettextra.com/
http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/latest-news/2009/apr/28/beloit-pastor-convicted-obstructing-after-trial/
http://www.debrajmsmith.com/pastordave.html
http://www.WisconsinChristianNews.com
I invite your continued prayer support. I
have asked the Lord to help me portray a Christ-like
attitude and show the Love of Jesus regarding those who have
falsely accused me. I intend to look into the
possibility of an Appeal but know that it cost more money and
I still owe my attorney $1000. I would like to see
justice done even though, by the Grace of God, I can
handle opposition when my intentions were pure. Forgive
me if I feel somewhat persecuted. I invite you to read
with me from I Peter 4:12-16 and I will continue to tell
people about Jesus and about how much He loves them. I
will continue to have as my favorite verse Romans 1:16
which says that "I am NOT ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek." May God Bless
You all!
Love
in Christ,
Pastor
Dave
www.overflowingcup.org |
Donations for Pastor Dave's legal assistance can be
given at:
http://www.overflowingcup.org/donate.htm
|
The Overflowing Cup Total Life
Center
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Any money left over will go towards this
year's Rock On The Rock music festival.
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The following info was provided by,
The Overflowing Cup Total Life Center:
The
Overflowing Cup started as a Coffeehouse on April 19, 1974,
next to Domenico's Pizza at 534 East Grand Avenue in downtown
Beloit. Since 1974 more than 1000 different groups have
performed at The Overflowing Cup. This includes local artists
such as Jeff Coan, Tom Mathy, John Reints, The Richmond
Brothers and a young Christian Rock Group called PROPHET. In
addition to local artists, many nationally known artists
played at The Overflowing Cup including Resurrection Band, REZ
Band, Glenn Kaiser Blues Band, John Michael Talbot, GLAD,
Servant, Soul Purpose, Randy Matthews (sometimes called the
Grandfather of Christian Rock 'n Roll), Terry Talbot and MASON
PROFIT, Bob Bennett, Saved By Grace, Randy Stonehill and many
more.
There was no generation gap at the height of
it's popularity. The Coffee House was a popular hangout for
young and old alike to gather in the '70s and '80s. People
came from far and near to enjoy a night of wholesome
activities including concerts, movies and "open" nights when
amateurs and local talented artists would share the stage.
Many have dedicated their lives to Christ and some have gone
into full-time Christian service around the world. Others, who
were teen-agers in the '70s have come back to serve on the
staff of the ministry. www.OverflowingCup.org
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