What is Happening in Shenandoah?

Posted by Wendi Medashefski on August 18, 2008

by Wendi Medashefski

This story is getting more and more bizarre every day. The preliminary hearing for three of the four teenage boys charged in the death of Luis Ramirez, an illegal alien from Mexico, was scheduled for this morning. The anti-ICE group LATINA staged a protest at the Schuylkill County courthouse, shouting in Spanish, which interrupted the hearing. The group was ordered to quiet down or be forced to move. One member of the protest group held a sign demanding justice for Luis Ramirez. I guess it didn’t dawn on them that this preliminary hearing was the next step to getting justice served, and they interrupted it.

It’s very interesting to note that the local Shenandoah paper (Republican and Herald) has avoided mentioning the intimidation being wrought upon at least one family of the accused teens.

Brandon Piekarsky’s mother received death threats by phone from someone in Boston.

The Piekarsky family notified the Shenandoah police department that van full of Hispanic people was parked outside of their home, and had been there for some time. When the cops arrived, the van drove away. The police pursued, eventually chasing the van occupants on foot.

When the officers arrived back at the Piekarsky home, they found a drunk Giovanni Garcia Cruz prowling on the property. He was charged with underage drinking and prowling at night. Giovanni is the brother of Victor Garcia Cruz, husband to “eyewitnessâ€