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Friday, November 20, 2009
Web page makes issue of race, cover of Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's book
Posted Wednesday, November 11, 2009, at 1:45 PM
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(Photo)
A screen shot of the website theheatherelliscase.com.

An Internet site that advocates for the defendant in a racially charged case out of Kennett, Mo., is implying the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney may be a racist based on the cover of a book he authored.

The case is that of Heather Ellis, who is charged with two counts of felony assault on a law enforcement officer, a count of misdemeanor peace disturbance and a count of misdemeanor resisting arrest. The charges stem from an incident at Walmart in Kennett, where the state alleges Ellis became violent after she was accused of line jumping and asked to leave the store.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle was recently appointed as prosecutor after the Dunklin County prosecutor voluntarily took himself off the case.

This case has garnered plenty of attention, including from groups like the NAACP and ALCU.

And on a website called theheatherelliscase.com, the unnamed blog author implies Swingle is a racist because the cover of his first book, "The Gold of Cape Girardeau", has an image of the Confederate flag on it. There's also an image of the American flag, and part of the book takes place during the Civil War, meaning there's a clear reason that has nothing to do with racism for the Confederate standard to be on the cover.

Underneath the photo of the book cover, the unnamed author asks: "Should we be concerned about this?"

I made calls to the Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor's Office to see if Swingle has a comment, and to Dr. Susan Swartwout, director of the Southeast Missouri State University Press, which published "The Gold of Cape Girardeau."

Swingle and Swartwout couldn't be reached immediately.


Comments
Showing comments in chronological order
[Show most recent comments first]

Ellis should have stuck with the law, namely allowed her attorney to fight the charges of Class C felons, based on the facts of the case. Ellis most likely would have prevailed, because the officers' injuries were minuscule.

However, I believe all these racially charged shenanigans are going to come back to bite her by losing credibility in the jury's (and public's) eyes.

-- Posted by Pivotal on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 4:57 PM

Maybe the unnamed bloger should try something like..... ohhhhh I don't know..... READING THE BOOK before making a completly stupid remark like that. NOWHERE IN THE BOOK does it say anything about slavery or have any slang terms toward African American people. The story is about a man who goes to fight for the south and his wife is in Cape Girardeau.It has Fact mixed with Fiction ITS A BOOK!!

Every since the year 2000 its the NAACP who are the racist.

-- Posted by mogearjammer on Wed, Nov 11, 2009, at 5:46 PM

Heck, move the case to Detroit or Birmingham , people will see her as she is .

One who acts totally innapropriately when faced with the facts..............

-- Posted by rockman54 on Thu, Nov 12, 2009, at 12:38 PM

why hasn't the NAACP been renamed to NAAAA ?

all of this racist stuff is inane at best .....

-- Posted by *Rick* on Fri, Nov 13, 2009, at 6:32 AM

Swingle a racist? Based on the title to a book? This Heather Ellis must be afraid to stand trial against a great prosecuting attorney like Morely Swingle.

-- Posted by JohnQ on Fri, Nov 13, 2009, at 9:52 AM

mogearjammer "don't even go there"!

-- Posted by cadillacman on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 9:55 AM

mogearjammer "don't even go there"!

-- Posted by cadillacman on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 9:55 AM

It's true.

-- Posted by Mr. Wiffle on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 5:59 PM

Another sad day for this country and for the children to come. Someone evoked MLK's name and a statement from him in the other article yet they are the ones hindering his dream of this country being united. Hatred is so much easier; Blame everyone else is the entitlement mentality.

When is this going to stop? When are these adults with little minds going to learn from the past and prevent it from happening again? When will PEOPLE learn responsibility for ones actions is what the Lord requires of ALL His children? The Lord does NOT excuse you from your actions because of another's actions. If you do something, don't use my Father's name to say you should not be punished. Instead use it to stand tall and admit you're wrong and He will help you ENDURE your punishment. (The other article also pointed out her daddy is a pastor. As if God exempts anyone from paying for their own sin.)

-- Posted by LiveAnotherDay on Tue, Nov 17, 2009, at 9:48 PM

Knowing Susan Swartwout, I'm really sure she would publish a book with a cover to incite accusations of racism toward Swingle. RIIIIGGGHHHTTT...

These people have absolutely nothing to go on, they are just looking for anything now aren't they.

-- Posted by latergator80 on Thu, Nov 19, 2009, at 9:47 AM


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Matt Sanders, former arts and entertainment editor and reporter for the Southeast Missourian, was appointed editor of the paper's online operation in 2008. In his blog Extra Edition, he gives readers an extra dose of news they won't find in our print edition or elsewhere on our Web site, and gives them a glimpse of the operation of the new seMissourian.com.
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