Folks on both sides wore crosses around their necks - God was on their side, maybe, or they just needed him to get through this.
Anderson trial tells two tales of a townHow small a town is Panama City? Just across the street from the courthouse where the guards and nurse are being tried sits the camp. Shut down like the rest in Florida after the video made national news, it sits abandoned, razor-wire gates rusty.
Tired of scenes of a boy collapsing and dragged upright again, I left and drove to where Martin lived. It is literally on the other side of the tracks, a scrubby street of ramshackle houses.
A few blocks over is the cemetery, the grass too high, fence sagging. He is there, flanked by stone angels, not a hero, not a monster, just gone.
What will the jury call what happened to Martin Lee Anderson? Sad comes to mind. And sorry. And wrong.

Photo courtesy of
Ybor City Stogie