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ByJesseJ.Hollandand Kristin J. Bender TheAssociatedPress Jorge "Jinho" Ferreira feels the tension between being black and carrying a badge every day as a sher- iff's deputy in Alameda County, California. "I feel like you have to prove yourself on every level," said Ferreira, 39, who patrols about 30 miles east of San Francisco. "You have to prove yourself to the black community, you have to prove yourself to all of your co-workers, you have to prove yourself to society." With the nation roiled by two grand juries' recent de- cisions not to indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men, some black officers say that as they enforce the law, they also wonder whether the system they're sworn to uphold is stacked against black men. In interviews conducted by Associated Press report- ers across the nation, re- tired and active black of- ficers expressed concern about how black men are treated by the largely white police forces in the United States, an issue that has led to protests alleging po- lice brutality. The officers say they want change just as much as anyone else, and advocate for it where they can because they, too, have something to lose. "A lot of us have sons, and we want to make sure our colleagues are treating our young boys with dignity and respect," said Oakland Police Lt. LeRonne Arm- strong, a 16-year veteran. Since the summertime deaths of 18-year-old Mi- chael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, 43, who gasped "I can't breathe" while being ar- rested for allegedly selling loose, untaxed cigarettes in New York, thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest their deaths, the grand juries' de- cisions — and the nation's police forces. Caught in the middle are blacks working in law en- forcement. There were an estimated 55,267 African- Americans in local police departments and an addi- tional 15,500 in sheriff's de- partments in 2007, the latest information available from the Justice Department. "We're called things like Uncle Toms and traitors to our community, in spite of the fact that we sympathize or we agree with the anger that our community holds, because we feel that same anger," said Noel Leader, a retired New York City police sergeant who in 1995 co- founded an advocacy group, 100 Blacks In Law Enforce- ment Who Care. Black officers point out that they contend with many of the same racial issues as black civilians, such as stereotypes, rac- ism on the job and even confrontations with the police. Black plainclothes or undercover police of- ficers have been shot by their white counterparts, as in the 2009 death of NYPD Officer Omar J. Ed- wards, who was killed while he was chasing a man who had broken into his car. "I understand that when I am given directions from the police, I am very cau- tious and careful to comply with their demands or com- mands until it could be un- derstood what is really go- ing on," said Michael Wil- liams, a 15-year veteran and president of the police union Memphis Police Asso- ciation. "We have to take re- sponsibility for our actions, even in the black commu- nity, and we can avoid a whole lot of this." Kevin A. Minor, a St. Louis County Police recruit- ment officer and field train- ing officer, remembers be- ing followed around a dis- count store by a security officer while trying to shop. "If that's what makes him feel like he's doing his job, oh well," Minor said. "Be- cause I know why I'm there, and I'm going to leave there with what I'm going to buy and that's it." Task forces and commis- sions around the nation are being formed to study ways to improve relations be- tween police forces and mi- norities. Three high-ranking House Democrats on Tues- day pressed for congressio- nal hearings on police tac- tics and race, and President Barack Obama told Black Entertainment Television, in an interview aired Monday, that a variety of factors, from training to subconscious ra- cial fears, have combined to create "a national problem that's going to require a na- tional solution." While acknowledging the rage felt by communi- ties that feel persecuted by the police, some of the black officers were not quick to blame race for some of the deadly encounters. "I believe that some of these incidents could have been prevented if you com- ply with the law," Williams said. "If someone says put your hands up, put your hands up." Ferreira says he felt in- spired to become a law en- forcement officer after at- tending a rally decrying Os- car Grant's shooting death at the hands of a white tran- sit police officer in Oak- land 2009. But he also says there often is nothing racial about how officers operate. "There are two people in- volved that decide the out- come: It's the cop and the suspect," Ferreira said. "Both of them contribute to the outcome of the inter- action. It's not going to be the color of one's skin." TENSION Bl ac k po li ce s tr ad dl e a li ne b et we en r ac e, d ut y BENMARGOT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Alameda County Deputy Sheriff Jorge Ferreira stands in front of the REACH Crime Prevention unit in San Leandro . By Jay Reeves The Associated Press BAY MINETTE, ALA. The trial of an Alabama woman accused of being part of an incestuous sex ring pro- vided graphic evidence about horrendous child molestation, but it didn't answer a baffling question before testimony ended Wednesday: What hap- pened to a young victim who is missing and pre- sumed dead? Witnesses during two days of testimony in the trial of Wendy Wood Hol- land, 35, didn't give any clues about the where- abouts of her 19-year-old niece Brittney Wood. Wood was last seen with Holland's husband, Donnie, in 2012, and 11 people have since been arrested on sex- related charges. That in- cludes Wendy Holland, on trial on charges of sexually abusing another underage relative. Authorities said Wood could provide important evidence about sexual crimes by her adult rel- atives if only they could find her alive. But searches and two years of investiga- tion have failed to turn up any sign of her. Police be- lieve Wood is dead, possi- bly killed in the days before the case went public. Following the disappear- ance, Holland was charged with sexual abuse, sodomy, sexual torture and child en- dangerment. Deliberations began after Judge Jody Bishop said de- liberations instructed jurors on the fine points of the law. Donnie Holland was un- der investigation as the leader of the alleged sex ring at the time of Wood's disappearance, and he died days later of what author- ities ruled was a self-in- flicted gunshot. Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that Wendy Holland, her late husband and others were monsters who sub- jected their own children and others to perversions that were almost too de- praved to understand, with parents and in-laws using their own young relatives for sex. Holland used sex toys and other forms of stimu- lation to groom the alleged victim for sex with adults at an age children typi- cally are watching "Ses- ame Street" and learning to color, prosecution witnesses told the jury. "You have heard tes- timony over the last two days that no one wants to believe," prosecutor Nicki Patterson said in closing arguments. "We want to give family the benefit of the doubt." But defense attorney Mitzi Johnson-Theodoro argued that the alleged victim, two other rela- tives who pleaded guilty to sex charges and a jail- house friend of Holland were lying when they por- trayed her as a serial child abuser. TRIAL TESTIMONY Sex ring case yields no clues about missing teen By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON The mys- tery of where Earth's wa- ter came from got murkier Wednesday when some as- tronomers essentially elim- inated one of the chief sus- pects: comets. Overthepastfewmonths, the European Space Agen- cy's Rosetta space probe closely examined the type of comet that some scien- tists theorized could have brought water to our planet 4 billion years ago. It found water, but the wrong kind. It was too heavy. One of the first studies from the Rosetta mission found that the comet's water contains more of a hydrogen isotope called deuterium than wa- ter on Earth does. "The question is who brought this water: Was it comets or was it something else?" asked Kathrin Alt- wegg of the University of Bern in Switzerland, lead author of a study published in the journal Science. Something else, proba- bly asteroids, Altwegg con- cluded. But others disagree. Many scientists have long believed that Earth had wa- ter when it first formed, but that it boiled off, so that the water on the planet now had to have come from an outside source. The findings from Ro- setta's mission to the duck- shaped comet 67P/Churyu- mov-Gerasimenko compli- cate not just the question of the origin of Earth's wa- ter but our understanding of comets. Until now, scientists pretty much sorted com- ets into two types: near and far. The near ones, sometimes called the Jupi- ter family, originally come from the Kuiper Belt out- side Neptune and Pluto. The far ones hail from the Oort Cloud, which is much farther out. In 1986, a spacecraft came within about 400 miles of Halley's comet, an Oort Cloud comet, and an- alyzed its water. It proved to be heavier than Earth's. But three years ago, scien- tists examined the water in a Kuiper Belt comet, Hartley 2, and it was a perfect match for Earth's, so the comet the- ory was back, stronger than ever, Altwegg said. The comet visited by Ro- setta is a Kuiper Belt comet, but its water was even heavier than Halley's, Alt- wegg said. That shows that Kuiper Belt comets aren't as uniform as thought, and it once again complicates the issue of Earth's water. "That probably rules out Kuiper Belt comets from bringing water to Earth," she said. University of Mary- land astronomer Michael A'Hearn, who wasn't part of the research, called the results startling but said they don't eliminate com- ets altogether. ASTRONOMY Mystery of where Earth's water came from deepens Tehama Estates Theareas#1SeniorHousingProvider SeniorRetirementApartments findusonFacebook 750DavidAvenue,RedBluff 527-9193 www.tehamaestatesretirement.com Do you know a senior that has been displaced from their home by the flooding? During this difficult time, Tehama Estates wishes to help any senior in need of tempo- rary housing by offering furnished shelter, hot meals and other services for a modest cost. Pleasecallorstopbyformoreinformation STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! 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