Brecksville Bomb Plot: What You're Saying About Whodunit
FBI arrested five men Monday night who officials say had a plan to blow up a bridge in Brecksville.
Five men were arrested by the FBI Monday night on charges they planned to blow up a bridge in Brecksville's portion of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The FBI said in a press release the public was not in danger, and an undercover FBI employee had controlled the explosive devices. In addition, the explosives were inoperable.
Arrested were: Brandon L. Baxter, 20, of Lakewood; Anthony Hayne, 35, of Cleveland; Joshua S. Stafford, 23, of Cleveland; Connor C. Stevens, 20, of Berea; and Douglas L. Wright, 26, of Indianapolis.
The five men each were charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of attempted use of an explosive, said Mike Tobin, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice, Northern District of Ohio. Charges against Wright, Baxter and Hayne were made Monday. Stevens and Stafford were charged Tuesday.
They will appear in court on Monday. Here are all the Patch stories on the topic.
Once the stories were posted, you took the reins and started commenting. We rounded up a few of the more interesting ones. Tell us what you have to say about this bomb plot in the comments below.
- Alexandra Koeberer-Larson I do NOT want any protesting going on in Lakewood. We are peaceful city. I was troops out of the Middle East and a better life as much as anyone, but making a public nuisence out of oneself is NOT going to make the powers that be take you seriously. That is a bit of a mob mentality, we must be diplomatic.
- Janice Snyder Brandon grew up on Summit Avenue. He attended Lincoln Elementary with my sons & often came to our house after school to play & have a snack. He was always a smart kid whose grades didn't match his IQ. His homelife was a mess & he grew more & more disenfranchised as the years went by. On more than one occasion I thought he'd end up in jail--but not Federal prision. This is not a case where anyone who was paying attention would say, "I'm shocked." The FBI is to be commended for its excellent work in keeping us safe. I read the 21-page affidavit & was saddened that someone with such potential, like Brandon, would become so disconnected with society that he would resort to plotting the destruction of bridges, train derailments, & bombing the Federal Reserve. I always hoped Brandon would find his path in life. Apparently he did. It just wasn't a constructive one.
- Brian I'm always amazed by the hatred of so many towards our country and government. No one is keeping you here, if you don't like it, please leave, we will all be better of without you.
- bill budner hate your government, love your country.
- BlackFlame Hello all. I'm a Lakewood resident and an anarchists. I just want to stop by and condemn these idiots. From what I've seen, these morons were not anarchists but primitivists. They are basically against all forms of technology and believe we should live in hunter gathering societies. Anarchism has a broad body of thought from stateless socialism to those who believe in free markets. I'll also say that anarchism believe in free association and voluntarism. Blowing up a bridge would go against all anarchist principles.To those who say that anarchism is not part of the occupy movement, that is nonsense. While I agree these idiots don't represent Occupy, anarchism has played a central role in the occupy movement. The entire organization of occupy is built on anarchist principles including the idea of making it a popular and peaceful movement.
*Brecksville Patch Editor Rachel Abbey-McCafferty contributed to this post.
In This article
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Janice Snyder
Joined Patch Monday, June 20, 2011 -
Brian
Joined Patch Tuesday, February 28, 2012 -
BlackFlame
Joined Patch Monday, April 30, 2012
Debbie S.
6:49 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I thought Patch TOS specified that we had to use our real, full names. Yet 2 of the 5 commentors you highlighted did not. C'mon Patch - please show some consistency!
Paxton Crenshaw
11:19 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
You tell 'em, Debbie! We "patchies" are so grateful that you take the time, again and again, to speak up and out against people who don't use their FULL NAMES here on the Patch! Thank you, Debbie Schinker! The Patch is being made so much better because of your undying commitment to fighting against anonymous commenting on Patch stories. I believe it's making a difference! Please don't stop!
Jack Kelly
5:57 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
I second Debbie's comments. I've said the same thing in the past.
bill budner
8:46 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
please remove my quote from this article.
joe simonton
9:25 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Bill Budner wrote " hate your government, love your country."
jim
9:08 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
sounds like the anarchist movement is about as well defined as the occupy movement, which begs the point of trying paint these vague groups with the intentions of just a couple of people.
Kathy Sciria
8:28 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
All I know is that if a group of people with any ties whatsoever with the TEA Party was to get involved with a bombing plot, the media and the left would pounce and paint that entire movement with the evil of the few. It should work in reverse also, but I can see that excuses are being made and that the Occupy movement will not be tarnished the same way the TEA Party would have been.
tom m
8:46 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
give it a few more days they (the media) are already cleansing the reports making them out to be former occupy members ..too bad less than 2 monthes ago one of them was quoted at a occopy protest ...Brandon Baxter of Lakewood said he had no regrets for making sure people heard the message
Ed Fisher
10:52 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
there are nut-buckets everywhere. every town has some. these 5 got together and somehow shared some very stupid ideas. all probably seeking some sort of notoriety and feeling some power in their worthless lives. we, with our media attention, will provide the short-lived notoriety. how does it matter what demonstrations they went to ? Who cares ? These are just 5 idiots who shared a common, twisted idea.
Ricky W Kracker a.k.a. Diggy Swagga
11:00 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Ed: There are certainly nutters to be found everywhere, but the Occupy Movement seems to have more than their fair share of them. Why aren't people protesting the fact that Occupiers are disenfranchising the rest of us with a lack of nutjobs?
As far as why it matters, the Lakewood Patch reported in October 27, 2011 on one of these guys (Anthony Hayne), who was reported as a representative of Occupy Cleveland, setting up a Lakewood branch of the movement. Now the Occupy Cleveland movement claims he was not a representative, even though he certainly must have received some support and/or funding from them to help setup the Lakewood branch. He wasn't simply someone who "went to" one of the Occupy events and read some literature - he was a representative.
That "common, twisted idea" they share, stated simply, is that a person has the right to the fruit of someone else's labor.
Irene D.
1:54 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A great number of people, including myself, immigrated to this country in the past 50 years from Europe and elsewhere, with much difficulty enduring great hardship, all because knowing that any life they can build here will be better than what they've left behind. My advice to all American friends who hate their country is to reverse-migrate to mine--anywhere in Eastern Europe-- or Northern Africa, or Russia, to name just a few, for a quick, eye-opening attitude adjustment.