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Today's Poll!Derrik Sweeney tried to stay optimistic in darkest hour in Egypt
Between media interviews, Derrik Sweeney, right, watches as his sister Ashley and her boyfriend, Joseph Ford, work on a late Thanksgiving meal Sunday afternoon. Sweeney’s parents, Joy and Kevin, are in the center background. Photo by Gerry Tritz.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Derrik Sweeney went to Egypt with the intent to study the country, its culture and its language. And one week ago, for seven long hours, he contemplated dying in this fascinating country in which he had immersed himself.
A lanky young man with a large, boyish smile, Sweeney recounted his journey to various media outlets after arriving home on Sunday.
At the fateful protest, he and two other Americans were separated from their Egyptian friends after the military started firing — possibly rubber bullets — into the crowd of demonstrators. He said he was simply standing with two American friends when they were approached by four or five men in plain clothes who offered to help them find safety.
Next thing they knew, they were being punched and forced on the ground at gunpoint. They were threatened that if they moved an inch, they would be shot. Fortunately, Sweeney and the other two protesters were later transferred to official members of the government, who treated them civilly.
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Comments
whocares 1 year, 5 months ago
Seriously, the newspaper staff had no other story to print than this? This person was causing problems in another country and now he makes the headlines.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
AMEN! I'm so sick of hearing about this. He shouldn't have been causing trouble in the first place!
He may have his mother fooled but she's about the only one.
jeffcitygirl 1 year, 5 months ago
How are you so sure he was causing trouble? Maybe he was innocent as he proclaims. They sure droppedt he charges and let him go quickly, as if they knew they were wrong. Americans are always getting charged in other countries with crimes they did not commit simply because other countries hate Americans.
VoiceofReason 1 year, 5 months ago
They were not as innocent as they would us believe... Here are tweets from one of them. Obviously, they thought it would be like Orange or Rose "revolutions" in Ukraine and Georgia. Well, it was not. Their parents spent tons of money on their "Study abroad" program, I am sure.
TWEETS: "Earlier tonight rubber bullets a charge and then a retreat, my knee and elbow are f****d up,' he wrote during the protests."
"I am a world citizen. Can I renounce my US citizenship on Twitter? haha... Honestly, hopefully I die here"
Luke Gates
VoiceofReason 1 year, 5 months ago
Additional Tweeter Posts from Luke Gates...
In his tweets, which ended Nov. 21, Gates runs the gamut of youthful anguish - "College is such a joke," "What are you doing seriously?" and "I just don't want to feel anymore."
He also appears to get swept up in the excitement of the protests:
Nov. 21: reports of tear gas being fired from AUC campus on Tahrir, university officials have started investigating
Nov. 20: back to tahrir tonight, as police set fires to everything, no doubt they will blame it on protesters
Nov. 20: earlier tonight rubber bullets a charge and then a retreat, my knee and elbow are f***ed up #toolegit seeing all of this #tahrir
Nov. 19: 6 hours at tahrir, enough tear gas for tonight
Nov. 19: we were throwing rocks and one guy accidentally threw his phone =(
Nov. 19: now class? ugh. my arm is sore and my eyes still burn a little
Nov. 19: saw them hanging from the bridge, and you realize death is the only thing thats immortal
Nov. 19: its only scary cuz i feel so reckless
Nov. 19: yes live bullets we have the shells, i was here!!
Nov. 19: wish the protests in new york looked like the ones in tahrir. #pu***es
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
I'm so ashamed every time they report one of the "thugs" are from Jefferson City, Missouri!
gofish 1 year, 5 months ago
Terrorists belong in prison! This kid is a disgrace. "Simply standing" with a backback full of molotovs? Should have never been released in my opinion. And pull your saggy pants up!
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
AMEN!!
Sequoia 1 year, 5 months ago
Are you saying you support the Egyptian military?
gofish 1 year, 5 months ago
I'm saying I don't support, condone, or celebrate the return of terrorists! Egypt's military is egypt's problem. A certain amount of isolationism is a good thing, something the USA needs to start remembering. We've wasted too many American lives and too much money on nation building in foriegn countries that have ZERO strategic value to the US.
Sequoia 1 year, 5 months ago
I just don't think "terrorist" is quite the right word here.
JCLifer 1 year, 5 months ago
Excellent post!
JCLifer 1 year, 5 months ago
Reminds me of the big parade and other celebrations Jeff City had a few years ago for a family of illegal immigrants.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
And to the City of Jefferson!
Mom5Murray 1 year, 5 months ago
This kid’s mom sits on the school board for JCPS. Can she not tell him to act appropriately and PULL UP HIS PANTS? I mean, gosh, this is a disgrace. I would never allow one my kids to be in a picture on the front page of the newspaper dressed like this.
JCLifer 1 year, 5 months ago
An embarassment to us all. Pulling up his pants and getting a haircut would go a long way in earning some sympathy. He looks like a tramp and is getting treated like one.
wcywing 1 year, 5 months ago
really? so anyone with long hair is a tramp? what is this, the 50's? there are more important things than pants and hair styles. such as peace in the middle east, jobs in this country, etc etc.
tonto_goldberg 1 year, 5 months ago
Yup. Wear your pants low and prove you are guilty of whatever an empty headed (rhymes with) local suspects of you.
JMO 1 year, 5 months ago
Most teenagers do. Have you driven past the high school? The ones that really get me though are the college age + guys with the pants entirely below their buttocks. They just make me want to kick what they're showing.
roonie 1 year, 5 months ago
One of the main reasons I moved away from Jefferson City after graduating from high school...people are mean and if you have a different opinion....God help your soul. Good luck to this kid. He may or may not have done something stupid but I would like to meet one 19 year old who hasn't done something they were not proud of. Also, I cannot believe the length of a kids hair is still an issue this many years later. I see things never change in good 'ol Jeff City.
wcywing 1 year, 5 months ago
i'm glad he is back in the US. some of the people in this town, what if your son was detained overseas? whether he tweeted that stuff is inconsequetial. does not matter. i'm glad I live in the USA where you have the first amendement. but some people are more concerned about someones pants? he didn't murder anyone.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
No rooting for his death - I'm glad he's safe back home. My point is just that he may not be all that innocent and if you know the media is coming to do a story on you...dress for the occasion. He's old enough to know better.
gofish 1 year, 5 months ago
Terrorist threats are consequential. But to clarify, those quoted were from another of the 3 not the JC boy. When the subject is violating the health, wellbeing, civil liberties, and individual freedoms of other human beings in Jefferson City or abroad, words and actions do matter. If you think otherwise, I suggest you crawl back into the womb.
wcywing 1 year, 5 months ago
Egypt is a police state. now saying that he is a terriorist is going way overboard.
whocares 1 year, 5 months ago
wcywing- Yes there are people complaining about his pants, they are missing the point that this made front page for someone doing wrong. He is being made a hero and is in all the news stories. I understand why now that I know his mother is on the school board. A handful of people are glad he is home and the rest are laughing at him. If news agencys would have left it alone he wouldn't be a laughing stock of the community and looking like a fool with his pants on the ground.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
You are exactly right! Why are we "celebrating" for someone going to another country (or anyplace for that matter), breaking the law, and getting away with it?
Sequoia 1 year, 5 months ago
A news story is not necessarily a "celebration" of its subject. If there is any celebration here, it is because a kid didn't lose his life in an African prison. Okay, okay... his pants are low, his hair is long, and he probably did something stupid and/or illegal. But jeez, you people are HARSH.
wcywing 1 year, 5 months ago
free speech in egypt is illegal, yea thats promoting MO values.
seeno 1 year, 5 months ago
I agree he needs to pull his pants up. It looks like he posed himself, but this was not the time to make a fashion statement.
I hope his kissed the ground when he landed on US soil, and that he learned a lesson that college could never teach.
ColeCountyParent 1 year, 5 months ago
....but what has he done that is truly newsworthy?
asb 1 year, 5 months ago
Nothing, and he did it badly, in the wrong place, for no reason he understands, in the name of something he takes for granted . . .
Sequoia 1 year, 5 months ago
Do you people understand how the media works? If people are talking about it, it is newsworthy. The newspaper isn't some honorary hall (see story of guy who died huffing propane). You think every story should be about senior citizens who knit mittens for homeless veterans? The fact that all these comments are here means it is newsworthy. A story is characters plus conflict. It's all here.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
No one is really interested in this kid or this story and there is nothing newsworthy about it. What the discussion here is how pathetic this whole thing is. It wouldn't have hurt my feelings one bit if I would have never have heard about any of this.
asb 1 year, 5 months ago
Some news IS generated by the media, either for direct gain (FOX) or in recognition that if you report it you've got a $tory that would otherwise not materialize. If the dweeb had been caught with a lump of hash I doubt it would've made the news outside of Jefferson City.
JMO 1 year, 5 months ago
If he were my son, I'd have cried, held him tight, and thanked God he was returned safely.
Then I'd have kicked his saggy behind into next week for getting in the middle of a situation he had no business being in. All those young men are incredibly lucky to be alive. And if they'd have been killed or tortured or jailed for years, it would have been entirely their own doing. What the heck were they thinking!
On the pants issue, got to agree - it's a fashion I hate beyond all reason. My own kid has a 3" limit and has to wear his shirt out covering that. I've been known to measure.
lulu 1 year, 5 months ago
You are so very right! These kids are SO lucky to be alive and they need to drop to their knees and thank the Lord above!
Then yes, they all three need their butts kicked! You think about the innocent people that are killed in other countries - just because someone felt like killing. These three have made a mockery of the system...and that sucks for all of us!
wcywing 1 year, 5 months ago
people go to other countries and act stupid. we will never know what really happened over there. other than he got caught up in the moment. he should be thankful for living in the US.
btw maybe suspenders will come back into style. heh.
JMO 1 year, 5 months ago
Suspenders? I could live with that. In the hope of keeping them at waist height, I keep telling my kid that girls like to look at tight pants on guys as much as guys like to look at them on girls, but I'm not a girl, apparently, I'm a mom. :)
lovemykids 1 year, 5 months ago
Mom needs to love the he-- out of the kid for still being alive. Then turn around and WHIP HIS A*S! It's like when your baby does something stupid like run out in the street to catch a ball. They don't know how stupid they were, or how close you came to losing them. Teach him a life lesson here. Boy you should be ashamed of yourself! Do you have any idea how scared your poor mother was??? Stop thinking about yourself and take the time to notice what you put her through.
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