Griffin T. Campbell, 49, of Philadelphia, faces six counts of third degree murder, six counts of involuntary manslaughter and 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person after a deadly building collapse that took the lives of six people and left 13 injured. It was the morning of June 5, 2013, when a 4-story, free-standing brick wall came crashing down on top of the Salvation Army Thrift Store next door.

According to District Attorney Seth Williams, numerous demolition and construction experts testified before the grand jury, explaining that there was one appropriate way to take the building down. "The building should have been taken down hand by hand, piece by piece, brick by brick," Williams said. But Campbell was in a hurry to make a quick profit, so he used heavy machinery to remove key structural parts from the inside of the building. Williams added, "He chose to maximize his profits by first deciding to remove the joists, which were valuable for his resale. That left the walls without support. It would appear, bluntly, the motive was greed."

An expert witness stressed that the disaster resulted from a series of corner-cutting decisions by Campbell. The expert said, "The information we've discovered and the emails we've uncovered have proven that this accident occurred because of decisions made over days and weeks and not just on the job site."*

When it comes to personal integrity, we cannot afford to cut corners; whether we're doing a physical job that could be potentially dangerous, or we're interacting with those that we come in contact with.  If anyone should possess integrity, it should be Christians.

Have a great day and God bless!

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Pastor Mike / The Open Word