Redding Coalition for the homeless is proud to have shed the light on this local tragedy notifying news agency's of the situation, including the tragic death of one of their beloved staff member Bill Hartman.
When was the noticeably absent director of the mission Jonathan Anderson going to alert the community?
Unfortunately I have personally seen after Mr Hartmans tragic death nobody wearing protective masks as homeless sat in tight groups, disregarding social distancing as well, and although administrators from the safety of their own home insist steps have been taking, it is just not the case.
Even more troubling is as I understand Mr Hartman had Covid 19 for weeks, and came into contact with a multitude of community members as he was the point of contact to check ID's and hand out "Turkey bucks, and according to witnesses he was mask less...
Months ago Redding Coalition for the Homeless insisted "washing stations" were available to guests of the Mission to use BEFORE you entered the facility, and according to witnesses they are never used.
How can City of Redding insist homeless use the only night time facility in all of Northern California when it is so infected by Corona Virus?
The mission refuses to take in new homeless folks, so how can Redding police take their homeless possessions, raid and destroy their survival camps, and insist they go to the mission?
Simply cruel and unusual punishment in my estimation, and certainly a civil right violation to say the least.
Morally reprehensible and a blatant disregard for life to be sure on the part of Johnathan Anderson and his stone cold silence on the matter.
Drive by and you can see homeless guests in the sleeping / dining area. bars in the windows to prevent the opening of windows to allow fresh air in to lessen the chances of viral spread.....
Does City of Redding have a health department? Shasta County? People are literally dying at the mission.
Your silence on the matter is preposterous as well.
Somebody, anybody please take the lead and insist the Good News Rescue Mission enforce social distancing, hand washing, and wearing of masks as these infected go out into the community and infect YOU !
Insist Shasta County Supervisors open the fair grounds to spread out the sleeping / eating homeless and reduce the chances of Covid 19 infecting Good News Rescue Mission staff, volunteers, program members, homeless and the community at large.
And as a penalty for the gross mismanagement insist Director Jonathan Anderson is terminated and removed.
Interesting e mail exchange today ! Looks like upper management GM at Sundial collective finally has given the proper message to a Detective Finch at Anderson Police Department fed to me unsolicited at Sundial Collective employee almost 2 months ago !
Went from this...
You;
sgrashoff@ci.anderson.ca
Detective S. Grashoff,
I am forwarding you some emails received from Chris Solberg. He is cc'd on this email. We at Sundial Collective have no idea or knowledge of what he is asking for. We have asked all of our employees if they have any knowledge of telling someone about Leo Coleman and they do not. We have nothing we can do to further assist Chris Solberg so we have told him to contact you guys with any questions he has about this matter.
Respectfully,
Sundial Collective
To this !
Although a little rattled I suppose, he referred to me as "Mr. Coleman."
Why is this information so crucial ? Quote from Anderson Police Chief ...
“The men and women of APD care about this community and are committed to uncovering the truth, seeking justice, and serving without bias, prejudice, or regard. We will continue to investigate this matter and vet out all information, leads, and suspects before rendering a final disposition.”
Re: Leo Coleman Jr Hanging and the Sundial Cannabis Collective Account
You replied on Mon 8/10/2020 2:16 PM
LM
You;
Tyler Finch
Mr. Coleman,
We are not covering anything up. I did just find out who the person is. We are passing her information to detective finch in a private email the Anderson police department will do what the deem necessary with that information. Please direct all correspondence to the Anderson police department from here on out.
Imagine if you will, you are heading up a facebook site seeking justice for one of the most heinous crimes ever to be covered up in Shasta County. Oh im not talking about the lynching of the Ruggles brothers or the multitude of other unsolved lynching's over the years here.
I speak of the beating, torture and mutilation of a black man covered up some 23 years ago.
"The mutilated body of 31 year-old Leo Coleman, Jr. of Redding, California was found hanging from a tree in the nearby town of Anderson by two teenage boys November 24, 1997.
"Police reports document that Officer Ochoa received three separate ' reports from three different people on November 24, that Leo Coleman, Jr. was the victim of hanging by adherents of so-called "white pride" elements in the local community. On the day after Leo, Jr.'s death was reported, someone made a drawing of a hanging man and put it on Bobbi Culver, Leo, Jr.''s girlfriend's, front door."
After reading the only news publication with the courage to cover this gruesome tragic cover up story one MUST READ the tragic tale as you can see after reading and you have a heart and soul, you also will want to help in any way possible.
*WARNING GRAPHIC* You can find the complete story of the hanging of Leo Coleman and 3 letters to the editor here
Now with the Grace of God attention has been drawn by local news media outlets that folks indeed are seeking justice for Leo Coleman Jr, as the Record Searchlight reported.
Our group Justice for Leo Coleman Jr and the Coleman family facebook group WE DEMAND JUSTICE FOR LEO COLEMAN JReven had a flower memorial for Leo Jr in front of Anderson Police Department and this is what the Chief of Anderson California police department had to say following the protest.
“The men and women of APD care about this community and are committed to uncovering the truth, seeking justice, and serving without bias, prejudice, or regard. We will continue to investigate this matter and vet out all information, leads, and suspects before rendering a final disposition.”
"And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two."
Now Approximately a month and a half ago a young lady at Sundial Collective approached me and began talking about the Leo Coleman Jr case unsolicited.
She stated her ******* To Sensitive At This Time *******
A month and a half later, I asked the young girl at Sundial collective if anybody from Anderson Police Department called her, and she stated no... I also then enquired about her name as the Record Searchlight reporter asked me repeatedly through emails what her, and her brothers name was.
Well I left this message on comment section of Sundial Collective.
******* To Sensitive At This Time ******* "One of your employees has repeatedly told me her brother was one of the juveniles that originally found the body of black man Leo Coleman Jr. hanging 23 years ago. She stated her brother said there were symbols carved in the body, which would be quite strange since the police were quick to call it a suicide. As you can imagine I wish this information to go to the proper authorities as I am the administrator of the Justice For Leo Coleman Jr Facebook page. In fact here is a cut and paste of email of Record Searchlight reporter I received just this morning... As you can see this is no game...... Family members have been suffering for years.......
If your budtender is playing game with me, I need to know now"
"From: Arthur,Damon <Damon.Arthur@redding.com>
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2020 6:13 PM
To: chris <chriseric777@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Leo Coleman Jr Murder Information
Hi Mr. Solberg,
What is her brother’s name?
I interviewed a man a few weeks ago who said he was one of two who found Leo Coleman Jr. in 1997.
I have been unable to verify his story. I would need to verify the story of anyone who told me they found Leo Coleman Jr.
The Anderson Police will not release police reports to me and Leo Coleman’s father says the names of the two boys who found him were covered up in the copy of the police report he has. So at this point I am unable to verify the statements from anyone.
It would be helpful if the people who claim to have found Mr. Coleman could provide verification of their stories.
Thank you,"
(Sent via Sundial Collective )
Well I was security at Sundial Collective when a manager, owner? came out unidentified as her name or position started saying I was going in to approach this girl and quiz her again, which is not true, and I explained what she told me and that my one and only goal was for her to speak to Damon Arthur, reporter at Record Searchlight , and I only wanted to know if she would yes or no and drop it for good there. This "manager" after explaining my story, stated "I cant blame you" and gave me her word she would find out. In the mean time, I received another email from Damon Arthur , reporter asking AGAIN what is her name...
My response,
Good Morning...
"You certainly have my permission to phone manager Ashley at Sundial collective to explain the situation as I left a message with her wanting a face to face but have yet to hear back. I did tell the other manager at Sundial collective that the business did not even need to be mentioned in any possible news story as my one and only goal was to have her brother talk to reporter Mr Arthur... Perhaps I spoke out of turn, but I see how crucial contact of this girl's brother is, and if he is willing to talk. That was days ago.
Thank you for your continued interest in this stunning cover up of a tragic murder
Chris Solberg
For my efforts to seek justice, my supervisor has stated Sundial Collective has removed me from my job and position as security , and my supervisor has relayed that their is a restraining order against me for my efforts to see that this valuable information has been passed on to the proper authorities.
It is my personal opinion that Sundial collective management is playing games with the lives and hearts of the Leo Coleman Jr family.
Has not 23 years been long enough?
I think and believe management wants nothing to affect the sales and distribution of cannabis products sales, profit over people, and their plants are far more important that the Leo Coleman Jr family.
If you tell the creator of Justice For Leo Coleman Jr group Sundial Collective management the things you did about this ghastly murder, what do you or would you expect a reasonable and prudent individual to do with the information?
FLOWER POWER ! Yellow Shirts and SUNFLOWERS !
Seems like Anderson Police Department is blowing us off as far as "Are they going to re open Leo Colman Jr Murder / Hanging or close it" as Anderson police Chief Michael Johnson has written, probably in hope that if nothing more is said it will all go away....
Well Anderson police Chief Michael Johnson has not Leo Jr been hanging in that Anderson Oak tree long enough...? Even the 23 year still blood soaked ground below that crooked tree cries out for Justice against YOU Anderson Police Chief.....
*WARNING GRAPHIC*
You can find the complete story of the hanging of Leo Coleman and 3 letters to the editor here
Forever your legacy will be NOT TRUSTWORTH for a Measure Q or R or X for a new super prison to go with new giant justice league court house being built so don't ask Y when that rolls around because to COVER THIS UP IMPLICATES YOUR ENTIRE ANDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT AND SHERIFF POPE AND THAT NASTY SHASTA COUNTY ADMINISTRATION AS WELL....
'Seems God has your neck in a ringer Chief Johnson"...
We are asking group folks that are interested .....ESPECIALLY MOTHERS, in another peaceful FLOWER protest at Anderson Police Department.
Monday, August 3, 2020 at 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM Anderson Police Department
Please Bring Flowers.... Balloons , .. Posters... Banners... To Put On Anderson Police Department Sign, Music Players.... Music Instruments...... INVITE YOUR FRIENDS !
PLEASE BRING MASK, Hand Wash, and Practice social distancing. Peaceful ONLY Event.
"The mutilated body of 31 year-old Leo Coleman, Jr. of Redding, California was found hanging from a tree in the nearby town of Anderson by two teenage boys November 24, 1997.
Police reports document that Officer Ochoa received three separate ' reports from three different people on November 24, that Leo Coleman, Jr. was the victim of hanging by adherents of so-called "white pride" elements in the local community. On the day after Leo, Jr.'s death was reported, someone made a drawing of a hanging man and put it on Bobbi Culver, Leo, Jr.''s girlfriend's, front door.
There is a tremendous push to stop drawing attention to this gruesome murder and those that are trying to reopen this cold case that never got the investigative attention it deserved.
Miracles can happen, cases like this after all these years can be solved. There is NO statute of limitations when in comes to what so many believe now is MURDER !·
This group is dedicated to shining the light on the murder / torture / mutilation / hanging of this young black man with the intent of reopening this brutal unsolved Shasta County case and bringing justice to Leo Coleman.
Oh the ignorance of a child, especially growing up during the 60s and 70s attending a school
with 2 black people.
One I barely remember, one I will never forget...
It was a common practice to draw names to exchange Christmas gifts, and I was excited to draw my buddy Mike F.
Now I thought it was at the time very strange that Mrs. Nistler took me aside and asked,.....No pleaded not to tell the class his last name.
My ignorance, my child like innocence still could not see why ? Mike F. was my friend, and he was quite funny which when I look back on it now I wonder was it a survival mechanism.
Never the less he was funny and comical and I was drawn to a wonderful friendship.
So it came time and I gave Mike F. a book that opened up and there were rows of Lifesavers inside, I wonder if they still make those?
Still not understanding, I blurted out his last name, and all hell broke loose.
Mrs Nistler wacked the hell out of a kid named "Elvers" who instigated the immediate ridicule Mike F. suffered at the hands of my ignorance.
Mike's last name was Fudge, and he was Black.
One of Two at Manzanita at the time,
one I can barely remember, one I will never forget...
It was a time when Redding's black community's enclave included a community inside the Mercy hospital canyon, complete with ABC Groceries and another buildings I vaguely remember.
Unfortunately, truth be told that area had a very ugly monicore for years in the white Redding Shasta County community,
We must heal the wounds of 23 years of black Shasta County injustice and oppression for a young black man found tortured and hung in an Anderson oak tree.. .Penis missing.
And then we will locally truly realize Martin Luther Kings dream of a "Beloved Community"
For only then will "Justice roll down as waters, and Righteousness as a mighty stream.”
Please call for the re opening of the Leo Colman case.
*UPDATE* Those Seeking more information on this story can present questions in facebook group setting here as it is a wealth of information and personal accounts of this horrible tragedy
Excerpts from "Strange Fruit Found Hanging From A Shasta County Tree"
"The mutilated body of 31 year-old Leo Coleman, Jr. of Redding, California was found hanging from a tree in the nearby town of Anderson by two teenage boys from the area who reported it to the police on November 24, 1997. The boys apparently told police they had seen the body November 3, 1997 but said nothing then, thinking it was a Halloween dummy.
"If I had known there had never been an autopsy, we would never have had the cremation as quickly. We were promised by the coroner it would be done," the senior Coleman said.
The coroner, Ray D. Bailey, later told Coleman he'd never done an autopsy on a negro.
On November 25, 1997, · Leo Coleman, Sr.' visited· the wooded area where his son's body was located. He reported finding swastikas and other racist Aryan symbols and graffiti carved nearby the tree from which Coleman, Jr. was found hanging. Yet, on December 18, 1997, Leo, Sr. and Ernestine Coleman went with Patricia Sansom, NAACP member and community activist, and attorney Paul· Arons, to the wooded hanging site, only to find all the traces of the swastikas and white power propaganda were gone, having been obscured.
Police reports document that Officer Ochoa received three separate ' reports from three different people on November 24, that Leo Coleman, Jr. was the victim of hanging by adherents of so-called "white pride" elements in the local community. On the day after Leo, Jr.'s death was reported, someone made a drawing of a hanging man and put it on Bobbi Culver, Leo, Jr.''s girlfriend's, front door. ·
The case of Leo Colemarn, Jr., was closed after a two-day, investigation' as police found "no evidence of foul play" although, according to police. reports, three witnesses told police officers that they had seen the victim alive four to seven days after November 3, and one witness claimed· to see Leo, Jr. alive November 19, 1997, and three other witnesses reportedly provided information the victim had been beaten and lynched.
— California Cop Watch (@CalCopWatch) June 9, 2020
There are 3 letters to the editor, here is one.
Excerpts from Editorial "She Saw The Body"
"At first, the coroner only wanted to show the face, but his mother wanted to see the whole body.
Just looking at the face, it did not look like "Little Leo." His mother needed· to see a tattoo so she could be sure it was her son. After opening the bag further, there was no foul odor coming from the body although it was said' to have been dead for eight to ten days. The coroner didn't want the bag all the way open. The nose looked like a piece was missing. The skin I color his forehead to his nose was very white, while the rest of his skin was very brown.
"In the penis area [ we saw] fresh looking blood. The penis did not appear connected, .but I did not touch it. The cuts on the wrist looked like fresh cuts. The blood was very red. The body was too firm and his hands so white.
I wondered why his face was so white and his body still so brown? We were told bugs and birds had gotten to the face, because it was uncovered. But the arms were not eaten. They were uncovered, too.
There was no swelling of the body "Little Leo" looked his normal size. His mother bent the fingers. They were [too] easy to bend for her son to have been dead for eight to ten days. The family wanted an open casket service, but were told that it would not be possible.
It was ~ suggested by the coroner that Leo be cremated.
