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Local NAACP Is Getting Impatient Save Email Print
Posted: 9:12 AM May 25, 2006
Last Updated: 12:50 PM May 25, 2006

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When State Attorney Mark Ober goes to the office in Tampa Thursday morning, he will have had the Martin Lee Anderson case for 104 days. So far no one has been indicted in the 14-year-old's death at the Bay County Boot Camp. CP are getting impatient.

The NAACP says it’s disappointed with nearly every facet of the Anderson investigation. The group says Special Prosecutor Ober is being too slow to file charges against the drill instructors, and the boot camp nurse.

They're also angry with State Attorney Steve Meadows for hiring former FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell.

The NAACP's latest initiative in the Anderson case is a public awareness campaign designed to pressure Special Prosecutor Mark Ober to file some criminal charges.

Herbert Howard represents the Bay County NAACP and says, "We, the Bay County Branch, along with the Florida State Conference, have agreed to do this Resurrection for Justice Campaign until justice is served throughout this Bay County."

The campaign will kick off on June 3 in Panama City with a march from the Marina Civic Center to Tommy Oliver Stadium. It will feature some yet-to-be announced prominent civil rights leaders.

Herbert Howard says they hope the march will keep national attention on the Anderson incident and put political pressure on those involved in it.

“The Bay County sheriff made a choice to ignore the severity of the action and behaviors of those placed in the authority and custodial responsibility for our youth."

The group also wants Guy Tunnell fired from the state attorney's office for his interference in the Anderson investigation and inappropriate comments he made about civil rights leaders.

“I think that the only way Mr. Tunnell can really do a good job in Bay County is to go by and see the big man upstairs and have his heart cleaned up, because it was not anyone in Bay County who caused Mr. Tunnell to say his remarks, but rather, Mr. Tunnell."

At his own news conference Wednesday, State Attorney Steve Meadows said he's standing by his decision to hire the former FDLE commissioner as his newest investigator.

"I don't know what more he can do to atone for those remarks but he is an extremely talented and valuable resource that our community needs."

But the NAACP says its main goal in the resurrection for justice campaign is to see the arrests of everyone involved in the Anderson incident.

So far there have been no indictments against anyone involved in the case. Besides the arrests, the civil rights group says it wants to see the former boot camp commander Mike Thompson fired from the Sheriff's Office.

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