{"id":115057,"date":"2024-10-17T05:10:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=115057"},"modified":"2024-10-17T05:10:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T22:10:48","slug":"witnesses-saw-an-armed-group-harassing-helene-aid-workers-in-a-small-tennessee-town-sheriff-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=115057","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses saw an armed group harassing Helene aid workers in a small Tennessee town, sheriff says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Witnesses reported seeing a group of armed people harassing hurricane relief workers in a remote Tennessee community last weekend, a sheriff said Wednesday as a man in North Carolina appeared in court for allegedly threatening aid workers in that state.<\/p>\n<p>Although there is no indication that the incidents are related, they come with the Federal Emergency Management Agency <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fema-misinformation-helene-milton-hurricane-aid-recovery-468b036784b1db05937e9a34d0146041\">facing rampant disinformation<\/a><\/span> about its response to <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/hurricane-helene\">Hurricane Helene<\/a><\/span>, which came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26 before heading north and leaving <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/worst-hurricanes-damage-deaths-milton-49aa9d2579e9e4799325d1074af80315\">a trail of destruction<\/a><\/span> across six states. Reports of threats to aid workers sparked a <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fema-north-carolina-disinformation-threats-militia-04b8f753a82c652bc013d556d22a5d46\">temporary shift<\/a><\/span> in how FEMA was operating in western North Carolina. <\/p>\n<p>In Tennessee, Carter County Sheriff Mike Farley said that witnesses reported Saturday that FEMA workers were being harassed by a small group of armed people in the remote community of Elk Mills, not far from the North Carolina border. No arrests were made, but Farley said that the people who showed up were looking to cause trouble.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a little hairy situation, no guns were drawn, but they were armed,\u201d Farley told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>Farley said his department was setting up a 24-hour command post in Elk Mills because of what happened. The region is still largely cut off from the rest of the state because Helene damaged and destroyed many bridges and roads. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe community in that area has been great to work with, but this group is trying to create more hate toward the federal government,\u201d Farley said.<\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend, reports emerged that FEMA workers aiding the Helene efforts could be targeted by a militia, but authorities later said they believed that a man who was arrested and accused of making threats acted alone. FEMA has said operational changes were made to keep personnel safe \u201cout of an abundance of caution,\u201d but workers were back in the field Monday. <\/p>\n<p>Helene\u2019s arrival three weeks ago in the Southeast <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/hurricanes-helene-deadly-flood-climate-change-6c9585e4c695dbc00fa313577f9f328f\">decimated remote towns throughout Appalachia<\/a><\/span> and killed at least 246 people, with a little over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. On Tuesday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said that a task force that has taken calls from concerned loved ones throughout the storm\u2019s aftermath still has a working list of approximately 90 people who haven\u2019t been accounted for. <\/p>\n<p>William Parsons, the man accused of making the threats in North Carolina, said he believed social media reports that FEMA was refusing to help people, but that he realized that wasn\u2019t the case when he arrived in hard-hit Lake Lure, a small community about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of Asheville. <\/p>\n<p>During a phone interview with <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/myfox8.com\/weather\/hurricane-helene\/man-accused-of-threatening-fema-workers-in-western-north-carolina-speaks-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WGHP-TV<\/a><\/span>, the 44-year-old Parsons read aloud a social media post he made that said \u201cWe the people\u201d were looking for volunteers on Saturday to \u201covertake the FEMA site in Lake Lure and send the products up the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parsons, of Bostic, explained that he believed FEMA was withholding supplies and that his post was a call for action, not violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we were going to go up there and forcefully remove that fence,\u201d he said, but he found a different situation than he expected in Lake Lure. He said he wound up volunteering that day in the relief effort, but law enforcement officers cast doubt on that claim Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p>Capt. Jamie Keever, of the Rutherford County Sheriff\u2019s Office, said in an email Wednesday that a soldier called 911 on Saturday after someone overheard Parsons making a comment that \u201che was going after FEMA and was not afraid of law enforcement or soldiers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Keever said Parsons was arrested at a Lake Lure grocery store that was a site for a FEMA bus and a donation site for relief efforts. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt does not appear Parsons was involved in any relief efforts at the time and if so why was he armed,\u201d Keever said. \u201cI think based off of his statement he was prepared to take action with his firearms and take the donations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Parsons had an AR-style rifle and two handguns, according to his arrest warrant. <\/p>\n<p>Sheriff\u2019s officials said Parsons was charged with \u201cgoing armed to the terror of the public,\u201d a misdemeanor, and released after posting bond. The sheriff\u2019s office said initial reports indicated that a \u201ctruckload of militia\u201d was involved in making the threat, but further investigation determined that Parsons acted alone.<\/p>\n<p>Parsons told WGHP-TV that he had a legally owned gun on his hip and his legally owned rifle and pistol in his vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>A public defender was appointed for Parsons during a court appearance Wednesday, WYFF-TV <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\"><a class=\"Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement\" data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wyff4.com\/article\/fema-threats-suspect-north-carolina-court\/62624470\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a><\/span>. The public defender\u2019s office didn\u2019t immediately respond to a call seeking comment. <\/p>\n<h2>___<\/h2>\n<p>Brumfield reported from Baltimore. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '870613919693099',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/fema-north-carolina-disinformation-threats-militia-c1595fef596d0f78638ba4177bfa76af\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Witnesses reported seeing a group of armed people harassing hurricane relief workers in a remote Tennessee community last weekend, a sheriff said Wednesday as a man &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=115057\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115057\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}