When Frustrations with City Hall Lead to Violence

I am sure that, for all of us, there have been instances over which we want to scream at those guys at City Hall. Maybe your house has been zoned out of the school district for which you moved to that neighborhood in the first place. Is the City Council advocating the building of a new Wal-Mart over the very location where you like to take your morning walks? Perhaps you are just angry that the same pothole has been creating problems in front of the local grocery store for over a year now. How many of us actually get involved in the political process when confronted with these issues? I imagine that, more often than not, we keep our complaints behind the closed doors of our homes and only our unlucky family members get to hear our rants over the dinner table.

In February of last year, a tragic event occurred just outside of my hometown of St. Louis, in Kirkwood, Missouri. A gunman by the name of Charles Lee “Cookie” Thornton entered City Hall and fatally shot five people while also leaving the mayor in critical condition before being killed by responding police officers. Thornton and the City Council had a long and tense history, with Thornton twice being convicted of disorderly conduct during public meetings. He believed that he was being unfairly persecuted by the government, as he had received multiple tickets for parking his commercial truck in his neighborhood. Whatever Thornton’s frustrations may have been, his violent revenge was certainly not the right solution.

In my new book, Tuey’s Course, readers will follow the fictional story of a man who finds himself in a similar situation to that of Mr. Thornton. The book addresses the racial and class divisions that are often at play in these political situations. And, as with my previous two novels, the Prairie Winds Golf Course provides the consistent backdrop and supporting cast of characters. Please click here to purchase Tuey’s Course. After you have finished the book, I hope you will contact me to let me know what you think