The Opperman Report'

Cult Survivor Benjamin Risha Tells Readers His Story In THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS

As the adopted son of two cult leaders, Benjamin Risha was raised to someday assume a place of leadership in the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation with the Bible, and his parents’ interpretation of it, as his guide. He believed the prophecies of his adoptive mother and father, which included them being the two prophets foretold in the Book of Revelations as preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ, them raising from the dead when they died, and such dire warnings as the ground opening up to swallow non-believers into hell. He was sure that Susan Alamo could raise the dead as promised
However, when none of it happened, and the foundation slid from bucolic communal lifestyle to insufferable criminality that included absolute obedience to the Alamos, and polygamous marriages with girls as young as eight years old, Benjamin knew he had to escape. If he was caught trying to escape he would be beaten nearly death, forced to go without food and water for his sins, and he would be shamed in the community. He embarked on a journey to locate his birth parents, discover the truth about a world he knew nothing about … and find himself.

In THE SON OF SEVEN MOTHERS, Benjamin Risha takes readers on a harrowing journey that few in the United States can imagine. And eventually he must choose between the life he knows, and was “chosen” to lead, and his freedom.

On September 5, 2015, in a public park in LaVergne, Tennessee, fourteen-year-old Sherokee Harriman drove a kitchen knife into her stomach as other teens watched in horror. Despite attempts to save her, the girl died, and the coroner ruled it a “suicide.” But was it? Or was it a crime perpetuated by other teens who had bullied her? Sherokee’s short life and tragic death created a national media and social media frenzy much of it centered on sensationalism rather than the truth. Meanwhile in LaVergne, the community sought answers to questions about who, if anyone, should be held criminally responsible for “bullying.” Award-winning author and criminologist Judith A. Yates peels back the layers of sensational news coverage surrounding a girl’s death, and in context with national interest in the phenomenon of internet bullying tries to answer the question of whether Sherokee Harriman was BULLIED TO DEATH.

A Black Lives Matter organization based in Polk County is joining the family of a Tampa man in questioning reports that he shot at police before they used deadly force during an April traffic stop.

Carl Soto, vice president of Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk, told reporters at a Wednesday news conference outside Tampa police headquarters, that his organization had a witness and video that contradicted Tampa police accounts of the death of Jonas Joseph . Police reported that Jonas Joseph, 26, was driving a car that matched a description of one tied to an earlier shooting. They say Joseph pulled into the driveway of a home on East Palifox Street, tried to ram a police vehicle and then took off... crashing his car into a tree and then shooting at officers, five of whom shot back. Those officers were placed on administrative leave as the shooting was being investigated.