As ruins of about a dozen businesses here smoldered today, an "extremely frustrated" Mayor James Knowles III was asking what happened to onetime plans to shield vulnerable businesses with a protective line of Missouri National Guard members.
"The National Guard was not deployed in enough time to save all our businesses," he said in a press conference just after 2 p.m., calling the delay "deeply disturbing."
and now we hear that the governor didn't answer his phone?
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, said the governor, a Democrat, owes an explanation for an "inexplicable" decision to hold back on Guard help.
He said Knowles called him after being unable to reach Nixon. "How does the governor of Missouri not answer the calls, the pleas, of the mayor on the ground?" Kinder asked.
Earlier today, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson raised the question of whether the Guard plan was changed to add to outside political pressure for him to resign.
was the Governor pressured to withhold the guard protection?
Did the president and governor follow brown's stepfathers advice?
He said he was assured weeks ago that Ferguson would get as many Guard soldiers as needed to secure the businesses, so officers could concentrate on police duties, like answering calls for service.
Then, he said, the plan was changed without explanation.
"I thought, 'Holy crap, are we going to have enough people to protect the businesses in our major corridors?' I was assured we'd have plenty of law enforcement to handle those tasks. And we got overwhelmed and overrun."
they did have 'enough" to protect the police station though.. :?