MO city government issues urgent emergency preparedness alert to citizens ahead of anticipated Ferguson riots

Thursday, November 13, 2014
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: Ferguson riots, emergency preparedness, food supplies

---

(NaturalNews) The city of Berkeley, Missouri has issued an emergency preparedness alert to its citizens, urging them to stockpile food, water, gasoline, prescription medications and fully-charged cell phones in anticipation of widespread rioting.

The letter, shown below (with h/t to TheGatewayPundit.com), also urges citizens to have a "contingency plan for picking up your children from school," warning that roads may be blocked, preventing vehicular traffic from moving. The local airport, says the letter, will be "protected by the National Guard" and curbside drop-offs of luggage will not be allowed.

Local government now following the advice of survivalists and preppers

The content of this letter can only be honestly characterized as a "social chaos survival alert," and it's the kind of straight talk the local citizens really need to hear.

The city government of Berkeley Missouri, in other words, is into prepping and survival. Although the letter didn't go as far as telling people how many days' worth of food, water and other supplies to store, it has clearly sent a strong message that citizens' lives may be in danger and that critical infrastructure may be offline.

Riots are expected to take place following the announcement of the grand jury decision regarding the police officer shooting of Michael Brown, an African-American. According to widely-reported rumors, riots are expected to take place regardless of whether the decision indicts the police officer or clears him.

Why all the anger? In the wake of the disastrous economic failures of the Obama administration, African-Americans are reaching a breaking point in terms of frustration with government. They have been largely abandoned by the democrats who are now focused on amnesty for illegal immigrants, and the economic nightmare of joblessness and poverty has only worsened under the Obama regime. The government shooting of a young African-American man -- justified or not -- may be the pivotal event that causes many angry, frustrated members of the Ferguson community to erupt into violent outrage.

Here's the letter from the city (with h/t to TheGatewayPundit.com)

Is the city expecting critical services to collapse?

The city's advice to store water ahead of the anticipated riots is particularly interesting because it implies the city's water supply may somehow fail.

How bad do riots have to get in order to disrupt the city's water supply? VERY bad. The letter seems to be anticipating a "Let's burn this town to the ground" scenario where even municipal water workers are hunkered down in their own homes, terrified of commuting to work because the streets have collapsed into complete chaos and violence.

If that extreme scenario really unfolds, it's difficult to imagine how police officers, fire fighters, ambulance drivers and 911 dispatchers would get to work, either. Would all these emergency services therefore experience severe outages and interruptions?

Calling 911 might not do any good at all for two reasons: 1) There's nobody manning the 911 center to take your call, and 2) Even if they could take your call, there are no police to respond to your emergency.

If this unfolds, I fully expect the National Guard to operate invoke, at minimum, a kind of "soft martial law" where curfews are in effect but martial law is never officially declared. Without question, these riots will be contained by armed government forces. But no one knows just how much damage or harm may be caused to the community or its citizens before the situation is quieted down.

Citizens rush to buy firearms for self defense

Not surprisingly, gun sales have exploded in the local areas as citizens arm up to protect their own homes against the expected social chaos. "Gun sales in Ferguson and surrounding areas have increased by 50 percent in recent weeks, as residents and law enforcement alike prepare for what might come from the grand jury’s ruling," reports the Washington Times. [1]

The Times goes on to explain:

"So maybe I get trapped here or something and have to have a John Wayne shootout," said Dan McMullen, the owner of an insurance agency located near the site of the August shooting death of Brown, 18, CNN reported. "That's the silly part about it: Is that going to happen? Not a chance. But I guess, could it? I'm the only white person here."

The fact that white people like Dan are arming up against what they perceive as the possibility of racially-targeted violence against whites is, of course, a sign of just how precarious the situation may become. That's a recipe for itchy trigger fingers, and it can't end well.

Health Ranger calls for non-violence

That being said, let me go on the record calling for 100% non-violence in all this -- from all sides, including the government itself which must exercise restraint as well. While I strongly support civil liberties, free speech and peaceful protests -- even in large numbers -- I absolutely do not condone the looting of retail stores, the destruction of private property, and the harming of innocent people.

Dozens of businesses were vandalized and looted in the Ferguson riots that took place in August, as these photos show. [2]

What I do support, though, is the natural right to self defense and the right of innocent people to defend themselves against the threat of violence by invoking deadly force when it is necessary to halt an aggressor who is presenting an immediate threat to their person, their family or the security of their own home. Thus, while I do not condone violence as a tactic for political change, I do support the right of citizens to arm themselves in the interests of self defense. (I am a vocal supporter of the right of private citizens to own firearms and the right to use them in self defense, and I am a gun owner myself for this very reason.)

Apparently, huge numbers of people all across Missouri agree with me on that point, and they are buying guns in record quantities as a measure of personal security during an event where the police will probably not be responding to 911 calls for help. After all, food, water and medicine is just the first part of preparedness. You also need security. And if the usual sources of community security (the police) aren't available, that security responsibility falls back onto each individual citizen or household.

Join me in praying for peace in this time of growing revolt

Overall, I pray that these riots do not turn violent and that no one is harmed or killed in the days ahead. Simultaneously, I fully recognize that police brutality and police militarization are both serious concerns for the future of our nation, and that the citizens of America -- white, black or otherwise -- have genuine grievances against the abuses of power that are so often wielded against them by rogue government agencies or employees.

And yet, as a long-time supporter of local law enforcement and a volunteer with a police organization in Arizona, I believe we must keep in mind that community policing is a very difficult and dangerous job, and the right of law enforcement officers to defend their own lives in acts of self defense against aggressors must also be protected. It would be unreasonable for us all to ask professional men and women to try to stop crime in our local communities without giving them the power to protect their own lives with deadly force when absolutely necessary.

Whatever the grand jury decides in this case, we must all join the call for calm and non-violence from both sides of the conflict.

Sources for this article include:
[1] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov...

[2] http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/08/peac...