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Police Fail to Probe Arson, Yet City Moves to Condemn Torched Building | St. Louis

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click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Jonathan Beck thinks he knows who set fire to his office, but police don’t seem interested.
Attorney Jonathan Beck has lived and worked in the City of St. Louis for almost 20 years — but a recent letter from the city’s Building Division has him for the first time mulling taking his business elsewhere.
Beck’s office has been on the corner of Magnolia and Arkansas avenues in Tower Grove East since 2004. Last week, on Wednesday night, the building burst into flames. The fire, captured on a nearby surveillance camera, shows the flames steadily build for a little more than a minute before suddenly bursting out over the sidewalk.
Beck says he is pretty sure he knows who set the fire and he has passed that person’s information along to the police. So far he’s gotten nothing from them.
“We’re waiting on the police to go there and take samples,” Beck says, alluding to the possible presence of an accelerant like gasoline. “Which maybe they’ll do, maybe they won’t do. We have a potential piece of evidence that needs to be fingerprinted. No response from the police on that.”A video shows the shocking blaze:
However, Beck says there is one city agency that has taken an interest in his burned-down law office.
At 10:30 a.m. the day after the fire, a building inspector conducted an inspection of the property and hit it with eight violations, including missing windows, missing doors, interior debris and fire damage.
The Building Division then sent Beck a notice of condemnation, stating that because the property has “unsightly and hazardous conditions,” Beck has until Sunday to have the issues “repaired or removed.” If he fails to do so, according to the letter, the city will have the issues “abated by demolition work and/or whatever work deemed necessary” at a cost footed by Beck, plus a 10 percent administration fee.
The letter was originally mailed to the burned-down building and then had to be forwarded, meaning that he didn’t actually get it until two days ago.
“This whole thing has been frustrating, but this letter took it to an entirely new level,” says Beck, who can’t help but contrast the very short timeline he’s been given by the Building Division and what he sees as a rather lax attitude by law enforcement.
click to enlarge RYAN KRULL Beck’s building suffered serious damage.
Beck has continued representing clients and has appeared in court on their cases in the days since his office burned down. Five of the six people who work in Beck’s office are city residents and Beck himself has lived in the neighborhood for two decades.
‘We’re not just some fly-by-night people who opened a business in the city last year and expect the city to come to our rescue,” he says. “We’re all city lovers and one of the saddest things about this from my standpoint is I honestly question whether I want to keep my business in the city.”
The Building Division’s speedy action in Beck’s case, coupled with the police department’s more lackadaisical pace, may seem reminiscent of the incident at Bar:PM, where police crashed their car into an LGBTQ business and then failed to provide police reports from the incident (along with arresting the bar’s co-owner) even as an Building Division staffer sent a letter threatening condemnation. (The city has since clarified they have no intention of condemning the building on South Broadway or closing the bar.)A police spokeswoman said she did not have any details to share about an investigation into Beck’s building.
In a statement to the RFT, St. Louis City Building Commissioner Frank Oswald says, “These letters are provided to property owners to assist in the insurance process and provide guidance on next steps. Our intention in sending these letters is to ensure that recipients are aware of the ordinance codes for the violations affecting their building, the permit requirements for repair, and their right to appeal the notice of violation.”
Beck says that he understands the communication was a form letter, but he wishes other city agencies, like the police, would act with the Building Division’s apparent haste.
“I know enough to know that the city probably won’t really fine me if I don’t have the building restored by February 4,” he says. “But for them not to, I will probably have to make a bunch of phone calls, jump through a bunch of hoops.”
He adds, “It just seems like we’re fighting against the city at this point. We’re having to push, push, push to get the city to do anything, to get the fire department to do anything, to get the police to investigate. We don’t have to push them to send me a letter threatening to fine me.”
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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.
Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.
The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.
The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.
This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.
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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.
“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”
He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”
The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”
Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”
The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.
Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”
In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.
“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”
Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”
Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.
“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.
Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)
One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.
Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.
“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”
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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.
The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.
The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.
The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.
To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/
“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”
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