Northwestern professor and Oxford University employee who 'stabbed and mutilated a hair stylist in a luxury Chicago apartment' are CAPTURED more than 2,000 miles away in California
Daily Mail
August 5, 2017
The Northwestern University professor and Oxford University employee wanted in connection with the brutal murder of a hair stylist in Chicago have been captured in California.
American professor Wyndham Lathem, 42, surrendered at a federal courthouse in Oakland and Oxford finance worker Andrew Warren, 56, was arrested in San Francisco late on Friday, nine days after the horrifying slaying.
They were apprehended more than 2,000 miles away from the lavish Windy City apartment where they allegedly stabbed and mutilated Trenton Cornell-Duranleau.
Chief Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said they were taken into custody 'without incident'.
'Both individuals will be held accountable for their actions and we hope today's arrest brings some comfort for the victim's family,' Guglielmi said in a statement.
'We are also thankful that this did not end in further tragedy.'
It was not immediately clear how they traveled to California. Both men are slated to appear in court in California, where authorities will seek to have them transferred to Chicago.
Cornell-Duranleau was found dead in a luxury Chicago apartment block about 8.30pm on July 27 after police received a mysterious call from an unidentified man telling them 'there may have been a crime committed in Room 1004' of the Near North Side high-rise.
Officers got into the apartment using a master key. Once inside, they followed a trail of blood into the bathroom where the 26-year-old was lying face down, with stab wounds to his back.
Police found a knife with a broken blade in the trash can and another knife near the sink.
A source told the Chicago Sun Times: 'The victim was savagely killed. The crime scene was covered in blood.
'The body was mutilated. His genitals were cut, mutilated. It was so savage it broke the knife found at the crime scene.'
Police believe Cornell-Duranleau was killed in Lathem's apartment in the 500 block of North State Street around 5am.
But officers were not alerted until an anonymous caller reached the front desk of the building around 8.30pm, more than 15 hours later, the Tribune reported.
Chicago police on Friday revealed that Lathem sent a 'video message' apologizing to his loved ones and describing the killing as 'the biggest mistake of my life.'
Investigators say they have spoken to several people who have received the video from Lathem in the wake of the murder.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi would not go into the specific contents of the video, only saying that Lathem apologized in the video for his involvement in the slaying and called it 'the biggest mistake of my life.'
It also emerged on Friday that the two suspects drove to Wisconsin after the killing and made a $1,000 donation to a library in the dead man's name before his body was found inside Lathem's apartment.
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, police Lt. Ed Grittzner says a person handed a library worker $1,000 in cash.
Warren, a former bus driver and train buff who works in payroll at Oxford's Somerville College in the UK, is believed to have been just days into his first trip to the US when the murder took place.
Lathem is an associate professor of microbiology at Northwestern, where he is an expert in immunizing against bubonic plague.
Cornell-Duranleau, a native of Michigan, worked as a hair stylist and loved video games, cars and cartoons, according to his obituary shared on Facebook by his mother.
Cornell-Duranleau and Lathem were friends on Facebook, although it's not clear when and how the two had first crossed paths.
His mother, Charlotte Cornell, released a statement on Wednesday morning the family does not know Warren or Lathem.
Cornell's statement said: 'Our Family is deeply saddened by the death of our son. It is our hope that the person or persons responsible for his death are brought to justice.
'We are asking that you allow our family to process and grieve this tragedy privately.
'We are asking all media outlets to not contact our family, friends or associates. When we have had sufficient time to morn our child's passing, we will release a more in depth statement if we believe it is appropriate to do so.
'She declined to say whether she or other family members had ever heard of them before her son was killed because the two suspects 'are at large and there's an ongoing investigation.'
She said she hoped her written statement would provide some relief for relatives who have been inundated with calls from reporters around the world.
__________
TRULY REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE IN CHICAGO
by Bob Walsh
I admit this is a bit stale, but is truly worthy of note never the less. Ten days ago in Chicago two white men with actual jobs murdered another white man who also had an actual job. (In this case an actual job is something with a salary, benefits and a W-2, as opposed to dealing drugs.) .
Wyndham Lathem, 42, a professor of medicine at Northwestern and Andrew Warren, 56, a finance assistant at Oxford University in England are believed to have murdered Trenton Cornel Duranleau, a 26 year old cosmetologist. The cops believe there was a sexual component to the motivation of the murder.
Lathem surrendered at the federal building in Oakland, CA on Friday. Warren turned himself in at more or less the same time to the San Francisco police department.
Sunday, August 06, 2017
Saturday, August 05, 2017
BAD DECISION RESULTS IN BAD OUTCOME
AKA Guns Beat Machete
by Bob Walsh
Jeffrey Barboa, 45, is now doing the dirt dance. This possibly unfortunate outcome is apparently the result of several bad decisions on Mr. Barboa's part. May seem odd as he had a doctorate in Psychology.
On Wednesday officers of the Vallejo, CA. P.D. attempt to stop Barboa's car. The stop was attempted about 5:00 p.m. and was initiated in conjunction with an armed robbery that had occurred about two weeks earlier. Presumably either he or the car was believed to have been possibly involved.
Barboa did not stop. Instead he sped off and attempted to elude the local constabulary. After a 15 minute chase one of the cops rammed Barboa, forcing him to stop.
At that time Barboa exited the car, with a machete. He raised the machete over his head and advanced on the cops. They ordered him to drop the toadsticker. He didn't. They shot him full of holes. He died.
Several of Barboa's family members reported that he was a good guy and a good husband and father to his 4-year old boy. It seems that maybe his wife didn't fully agree, as they were in the process of a divorce and she was attempting to get sole custody of the crumb-snatcher. I guess that is no longer an issue.
by Bob Walsh
Jeffrey Barboa, 45, is now doing the dirt dance. This possibly unfortunate outcome is apparently the result of several bad decisions on Mr. Barboa's part. May seem odd as he had a doctorate in Psychology.
On Wednesday officers of the Vallejo, CA. P.D. attempt to stop Barboa's car. The stop was attempted about 5:00 p.m. and was initiated in conjunction with an armed robbery that had occurred about two weeks earlier. Presumably either he or the car was believed to have been possibly involved.
Barboa did not stop. Instead he sped off and attempted to elude the local constabulary. After a 15 minute chase one of the cops rammed Barboa, forcing him to stop.
At that time Barboa exited the car, with a machete. He raised the machete over his head and advanced on the cops. They ordered him to drop the toadsticker. He didn't. They shot him full of holes. He died.
Several of Barboa's family members reported that he was a good guy and a good husband and father to his 4-year old boy. It seems that maybe his wife didn't fully agree, as they were in the process of a divorce and she was attempting to get sole custody of the crumb-snatcher. I guess that is no longer an issue.
THORNY PROBLEM SOLVED
In much of CA, you get a high school diploma as long as you have not committed a violent felony on school grounds within school hours
by Bob Walsh
The formerly great state of California operates a two-tier university system. The University of California is the cream of the crop. The California State University system is still very, very good but not AS GOOD as U.C.
For many years people coming into the CSU system have had to take an EPT and a MPT (English and math placement tests) if their SAT scores were not quite up to snuff. This is necessary because, in much of CA, you get a high school diploma as long as you have not committed a violent felony on school grounds within school hours. Actual academic achievement means something between Jack and Shit.
This system has resulted in a LOT of incoming freshmen having to take Bonehead English and Bonehead Math coming into the system so that they could perform at something near the required level. As it is only 20% of the incoming freshman get a degree within four years.
The people who run the CSU system feel this stigmatizes the incoming students. So the requirement to take the tests has been dropped. Damn, that is truly brilliant. I am fully confident THAT will fix the problem.
by Bob Walsh
The formerly great state of California operates a two-tier university system. The University of California is the cream of the crop. The California State University system is still very, very good but not AS GOOD as U.C.
For many years people coming into the CSU system have had to take an EPT and a MPT (English and math placement tests) if their SAT scores were not quite up to snuff. This is necessary because, in much of CA, you get a high school diploma as long as you have not committed a violent felony on school grounds within school hours. Actual academic achievement means something between Jack and Shit.
This system has resulted in a LOT of incoming freshmen having to take Bonehead English and Bonehead Math coming into the system so that they could perform at something near the required level. As it is only 20% of the incoming freshman get a degree within four years.
The people who run the CSU system feel this stigmatizes the incoming students. So the requirement to take the tests has been dropped. Damn, that is truly brilliant. I am fully confident THAT will fix the problem.
HOW US ALLIES UNDERMINE NATO
European countries divest from American defense firms that help protect them
By Orde F. Kittrie
The Wall Street Journal
July 31, 2017
The U.S. spends heavily to defend Europe, yet most North Atlantic Treaty Organization members don’t spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as the alliance’s guidelines call for. Worse, many of these free riders also punish U.S. companies for manufacturing weapons used by the Pentagon to defend NATO allies and other countries. Specifically, several NATO member governments have divested from or even criminalized the purchase of stock in U.S. defense contractors.
Between 2005 and 2013 Norway’s government pension fund divested from U.S. defense contractors such as Boeing , Honeywell , Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman “because they are involved in production of nuclear weapons.” The fund, controlled by Norway’s Finance Ministry, is worth some $900 billion. At the end of 2015, approximately $180 billion was invested in 2,099 American companies.
Norway, a NATO member, divested even though these companies produce nuclear weapons only for the U.S. government, and NATO’s 2012 Deterrence and Defence Posture Review describes U.S. nuclear weapons as “the supreme guarantee” of members’ security. The hypocrisy goes further: In 2016 Norway authorized its pension fund to invest in Iranian government bonds—even though Iran has sponsored terrorism for decades and is a patron of Bashar Assad’s atrocities in Syria.
So far only Norway has divested from companies for producing nuclear weapons. But the government pension funds of Denmark, France and the Netherlands have joined Norway in divesting from American companies that produce other weapons stocked by the U.S. military. These countries have targeted General Dynamics , Raytheon and Textron for manufacturing cluster munitions and land mines, in some cases after production reportedly has stopped.
Six European countries—NATO members Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain, plus nonmember Liechtenstein—make it illegal for their nationals to invest in companies that produce cluster munitions or land mines. In Switzerland, citizens can be imprisoned for five years for direct and indirect financing, including stock purchases, of companies that manufacture nuclear weapons, cluster munitions or land mines.
While these weapons often pose a threat to civilians even after conflicts end, the U.S. government deems them necessary. The Obama administration acknowledged in 2014 that land mines are needed to protect South Korea. The State Department has long said the elimination of cluster munitions “from U.S. stockpiles would put the lives of its soldiers and those of its coalition partners at risk.”
Many NATO governments joined the 2008 international treaty to ban cluster munitions and the 1997 agreement to forbid land mines. Boycotts targeting companies producing these weapons derive from expansive interpretations of particular provisions in these accords. Both treaties say that “never under any circumstances” will a country “assist, encourage, or induce” anyone to engage in activities such as the development or production of the banned weapons.
The treaty banning nuclear weapons, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on July 7, includes similar language. Many of the 122 governments that voted for the nuclear treaty will likely divest from and criminalize purchase of stock in nuclear-weapons manufacturers. No NATO government supported the nuclear ban treaty. Yet Norway’s divestment from stock in nuclear-weapons manufacturers shows the fervor generated by movements against disfavored weapons can spur such boycotts even if a country ultimately doesn’t support the treaty.
The danger of European economic warfare against Israel—including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement—deservedly has received considerable attention. In contrast, European economic warfare against U.S. companies for implementing U.S. government policy has avoided the spotlight and elicited virtually no response from Washington. This must change. The targeted U.S. firms together employ hundreds of thousands of American workers. For allied governments to penalize such companies for filling U.S. government orders is unacceptable. It could even increase costs to the U.S. taxpayer, who ultimately would pay extra legal or financing costs associated with producing these weapons.
If left unchecked, this problem will grow. Norway’s pension fund has divested from Wal-Mart , America’s largest employer, for “serious violations of human rights,” according to the fund’s website. The fund has also divested from two U.K. companies for producing Britain’s nuclear arsenal and one Israeli company for involvement with Israel’s antiterrorism fence.
Congress and the executive branch should spotlight, and vigorously oppose, ally and partner government boycotts that target the defense industrial base of the U.S. and key allies such as Israel and the U.K. Governments must know that such boycotts, if continued, will subject them and their companies to commensurate penalties.
By Orde F. Kittrie
The Wall Street Journal
July 31, 2017
The U.S. spends heavily to defend Europe, yet most North Atlantic Treaty Organization members don’t spend 2% of their GDP on defense, as the alliance’s guidelines call for. Worse, many of these free riders also punish U.S. companies for manufacturing weapons used by the Pentagon to defend NATO allies and other countries. Specifically, several NATO member governments have divested from or even criminalized the purchase of stock in U.S. defense contractors.
Between 2005 and 2013 Norway’s government pension fund divested from U.S. defense contractors such as Boeing , Honeywell , Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman “because they are involved in production of nuclear weapons.” The fund, controlled by Norway’s Finance Ministry, is worth some $900 billion. At the end of 2015, approximately $180 billion was invested in 2,099 American companies.
Norway, a NATO member, divested even though these companies produce nuclear weapons only for the U.S. government, and NATO’s 2012 Deterrence and Defence Posture Review describes U.S. nuclear weapons as “the supreme guarantee” of members’ security. The hypocrisy goes further: In 2016 Norway authorized its pension fund to invest in Iranian government bonds—even though Iran has sponsored terrorism for decades and is a patron of Bashar Assad’s atrocities in Syria.
So far only Norway has divested from companies for producing nuclear weapons. But the government pension funds of Denmark, France and the Netherlands have joined Norway in divesting from American companies that produce other weapons stocked by the U.S. military. These countries have targeted General Dynamics , Raytheon and Textron for manufacturing cluster munitions and land mines, in some cases after production reportedly has stopped.
Six European countries—NATO members Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain, plus nonmember Liechtenstein—make it illegal for their nationals to invest in companies that produce cluster munitions or land mines. In Switzerland, citizens can be imprisoned for five years for direct and indirect financing, including stock purchases, of companies that manufacture nuclear weapons, cluster munitions or land mines.
While these weapons often pose a threat to civilians even after conflicts end, the U.S. government deems them necessary. The Obama administration acknowledged in 2014 that land mines are needed to protect South Korea. The State Department has long said the elimination of cluster munitions “from U.S. stockpiles would put the lives of its soldiers and those of its coalition partners at risk.”
Many NATO governments joined the 2008 international treaty to ban cluster munitions and the 1997 agreement to forbid land mines. Boycotts targeting companies producing these weapons derive from expansive interpretations of particular provisions in these accords. Both treaties say that “never under any circumstances” will a country “assist, encourage, or induce” anyone to engage in activities such as the development or production of the banned weapons.
The treaty banning nuclear weapons, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on July 7, includes similar language. Many of the 122 governments that voted for the nuclear treaty will likely divest from and criminalize purchase of stock in nuclear-weapons manufacturers. No NATO government supported the nuclear ban treaty. Yet Norway’s divestment from stock in nuclear-weapons manufacturers shows the fervor generated by movements against disfavored weapons can spur such boycotts even if a country ultimately doesn’t support the treaty.
The danger of European economic warfare against Israel—including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement—deservedly has received considerable attention. In contrast, European economic warfare against U.S. companies for implementing U.S. government policy has avoided the spotlight and elicited virtually no response from Washington. This must change. The targeted U.S. firms together employ hundreds of thousands of American workers. For allied governments to penalize such companies for filling U.S. government orders is unacceptable. It could even increase costs to the U.S. taxpayer, who ultimately would pay extra legal or financing costs associated with producing these weapons.
If left unchecked, this problem will grow. Norway’s pension fund has divested from Wal-Mart , America’s largest employer, for “serious violations of human rights,” according to the fund’s website. The fund has also divested from two U.K. companies for producing Britain’s nuclear arsenal and one Israeli company for involvement with Israel’s antiterrorism fence.
Congress and the executive branch should spotlight, and vigorously oppose, ally and partner government boycotts that target the defense industrial base of the U.S. and key allies such as Israel and the U.K. Governments must know that such boycotts, if continued, will subject them and their companies to commensurate penalties.
ARMADILLOS BUILT TEXAS TOUGH
Texas Man Injured After Bullet Ricochets Off Armadillo
Reuters
August 1, 2017
DALLAS — An East Texas man was wounded after he fired a gun at an armadillo in his yard and the bullet ricocheted back to hit him in his face, the county sheriff said on Friday.
Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe said the man, who was not identified, went outside his home in Marietta, southwest of Texarkana, at around 3 a.m. on Thursday morning. He spotted the armadillo on his property and opened fire.
"His wife was in the house. He went outside and took his .38 revolver and shot three times at the armadillo," Rowe said.
The animal's hard shell deflected at least one of three bullets, which then struck the man's jaw, he said.
The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where his jaw was wired shut, according to Rowe.
The status of the animal is unknown.
"We didn't find the armadillo," the sheriff said.
Reuters
August 1, 2017
DALLAS — An East Texas man was wounded after he fired a gun at an armadillo in his yard and the bullet ricocheted back to hit him in his face, the county sheriff said on Friday.
Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe said the man, who was not identified, went outside his home in Marietta, southwest of Texarkana, at around 3 a.m. on Thursday morning. He spotted the armadillo on his property and opened fire.
"His wife was in the house. He went outside and took his .38 revolver and shot three times at the armadillo," Rowe said.
The animal's hard shell deflected at least one of three bullets, which then struck the man's jaw, he said.
The man was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where his jaw was wired shut, according to Rowe.
The status of the animal is unknown.
"We didn't find the armadillo," the sheriff said.
LAWYER FOR FIRED COP INDICTED FOR MURDER CLAIMS SHERIFF DID NOT FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES THE SHERIFF FOLLOWED
Harris County Deputy Says She Shouldn't Have Been Fired After 24-Year-Old Father's Killing
By Stephen Paulsen
Houston Press
August 4, 2017
Chauna Thompson, the Harris County sheriff’s deputy who was fired for her alleged role in the choking death of John Hernandez, is now appealing her firing.
Thompson’s lawyer, Gregory Cagle, argued in an appeal filed Friday that Thompson's firing was done improperly and was politically motivated. Her termination was “done without an investigation or even an autopsy," Cagle wrote.
It’s a mysterious claim, given that the Harris County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Hernandez back in June and ruled his death a homicide by strangulation. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has also been investigating the incident since shortly after Hernandez’s death.
In a statement, Cagle contended that neither the autopsy nor the investigation were complete on June 6.
"It takes at least 6-8 weeks to get an autopsy report," Cagle wrote.
Tricia Bentley, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office, said the full autopsy has yet to be released to the public, but the district attorney's office does have access to the document. A different employee said the full autopsy was finished around July 14, a week before Sheriff Ed Gonzalez fired Thompson.
Thompson was joining her family for a late-night meal at an east Houston Denny’s on May 28 when her husband, Terry Thompson, allegedly came across Hernandez urinating outside. A confrontation ensued, resulting in the death of Hernandez, a 24-year-old father.
Although the Thompsons have insisted they acted in self-defense, much of the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. At least one eyewitness — Denny’s waitress Melissa Trammel — has come forward to dispute the Thompsons' testimony.
Hernandez “was turning purple” as he was restrained, Trammel told KHOU News. ”We told [Terry Thompson] to stop, but he did not.”
Meanwhile, a video of the encounter, captured by an anonymous bystander and later leaked through a local attorney, shows Terry Thompson straddling Hernandez with his arms around Hernandez’s neck. Chauna Thompson, who was off-duty at the time, can be seen in the video ordering Hernandez to remain on the ground.
Hernandez lay there, moaning, for the duration of the one-minute video.
Several weeks later, a Houston grand jury indicted the couple for the murder of John Hernandez. That case is still ongoing. Although Chauna Thompson was put on unpaid leave shortly after the killing, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office didn’t officially terminate her employment until late July.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I wonder if Cagle got his law degree at Amazon.com. Cause of death can be determined shortly after a body is received by the medical examiner. It may take as long as 6-8 weeks for the results of toxicology tests to come back because the tests are done by an outside lab.
By Stephen Paulsen
Houston Press
August 4, 2017
Chauna Thompson, the Harris County sheriff’s deputy who was fired for her alleged role in the choking death of John Hernandez, is now appealing her firing.
Thompson’s lawyer, Gregory Cagle, argued in an appeal filed Friday that Thompson's firing was done improperly and was politically motivated. Her termination was “done without an investigation or even an autopsy," Cagle wrote.
It’s a mysterious claim, given that the Harris County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Hernandez back in June and ruled his death a homicide by strangulation. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has also been investigating the incident since shortly after Hernandez’s death.
In a statement, Cagle contended that neither the autopsy nor the investigation were complete on June 6.
"It takes at least 6-8 weeks to get an autopsy report," Cagle wrote.
Tricia Bentley, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office, said the full autopsy has yet to be released to the public, but the district attorney's office does have access to the document. A different employee said the full autopsy was finished around July 14, a week before Sheriff Ed Gonzalez fired Thompson.
Thompson was joining her family for a late-night meal at an east Houston Denny’s on May 28 when her husband, Terry Thompson, allegedly came across Hernandez urinating outside. A confrontation ensued, resulting in the death of Hernandez, a 24-year-old father.
Although the Thompsons have insisted they acted in self-defense, much of the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. At least one eyewitness — Denny’s waitress Melissa Trammel — has come forward to dispute the Thompsons' testimony.
Hernandez “was turning purple” as he was restrained, Trammel told KHOU News. ”We told [Terry Thompson] to stop, but he did not.”
Meanwhile, a video of the encounter, captured by an anonymous bystander and later leaked through a local attorney, shows Terry Thompson straddling Hernandez with his arms around Hernandez’s neck. Chauna Thompson, who was off-duty at the time, can be seen in the video ordering Hernandez to remain on the ground.
Hernandez lay there, moaning, for the duration of the one-minute video.
Several weeks later, a Houston grand jury indicted the couple for the murder of John Hernandez. That case is still ongoing. Although Chauna Thompson was put on unpaid leave shortly after the killing, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office didn’t officially terminate her employment until late July.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I wonder if Cagle got his law degree at Amazon.com. Cause of death can be determined shortly after a body is received by the medical examiner. It may take as long as 6-8 weeks for the results of toxicology tests to come back because the tests are done by an outside lab.
Friday, August 04, 2017
OMG, THEY ACTUALLY FOUND 4 MAYORAL CANDIDATES WITHOUT A FELONY RECORD
Half of Detroit’s 8 mayoral candidates are felons
By Christine Ferretti, Mike Martindale and Robert Snell
The Detroit News
August 3, 2017
DETROIT -- Half of the eight mayoral hopefuls on Detroit’s primary ballot next week have been convicted of felony crimes involving drugs, assault or weapons, a Detroit News analysis shows.
Three were charged with gun crimes and two for assault with intent to commit murder. Some of the offenses date back decades, the earliest to 1977. The most recent was in 2008.
Political consultant Greg Bowens said there are candidates with past hardships in every election cycle. It’s not something unique to Detroit or the political arena in general, he said.
“Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,” said Bowens, a former press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and NAACP activist. “They (candidates) deserve the opportunity to be heard, but they also deserve to have the kind of scrutiny that comes along with trying to get an important elected position.”
Tuesday’s Detroit mayoral primary election is the first since the city exited bankruptcy in 2014. The field of eight will be narrowed to two who will face off in the fall.
Under state election law, convicted felons can vote and run for office as long as they are not incarcerated or guilty of certain fraud-related offenses, or crimes involving a breach of the public trust. The Detroit News reviewed the backgrounds of all the mayoral contenders.
While some refute circumstances that led to their criminal convictions, three said their past is a motivating factor in their decisions to run.
The two who have polled ahead of the field, incumbent Mayor Mike Duggan and state Sen. Coleman A. Young II, the son of the city’s first black mayor, have no criminal records. Nor do candidates Edward Dean and Angelo Brown.
First-time contender Donna Marie Pitts, 58, has multiple felony convictions dating back to 1977, according to court records in Wayne and Oakland counties.
Although she denies wrongdoing in the past cases against her, Pitts is open about her convictions.
Pitts, who says she has a business management degree and experience in carpentry, told The News she wants a “better way of life” for Detroiters.
“I don’t hide it. God has brought me out,” said Pitts, who wants to improve health care services, and tackle crime and work on rebuilding the community. “I hope (voters) don’t look at it as negative but as my experience, and I can help. I want to fight for them.”
Shootout over disputed bill
In 1977, Pitts was convicted of receiving and concealing a stolen 1977 Oldsmobile. She was sentenced to a year of probation.
A decade later, she was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and two firearm offenses in connection with two separate shooting incidents on March 24, 1987, Detroit Recorder’s Court records say.
According to transcripts, Pitts was involved in a shootout with the owner of a collision shop and auto clinic on Greenfield in Detroit in a dispute over a repair bill.
In September 1987, a jury convicted Pitts of the lesser offense of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than murder, in the shooting involving the shop owner as well as a firearm offense. Jurors acquitted Pitts of charges connected to the incident involving the officer.
Pitts was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, plus two additional years for the firearm offense. She served about four years and eight months and was paroled June 1, 1992, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Pitts had another run-in with police in Troy in September 2000 when she was stopped in a residential neighborhood and arrested for fleeing and eluding and operating a vehicle without a license.
Pitts later pleaded guilty to not having an operator’s license and disobeying a police signal. She was placed on six months probation, which was discharged in September 2001.
Most recently, Pitts was convicted of firearm possession and carrying a concealed weapon under a March 2003 plea agreement stemming from a traffic stop in Dearborn Heights, Wayne County Circuit Court records show.
Pitts was stopped by police on Dec. 2, 2002, on Ford near Norborne for an improper plate and failure to wear a seat belt.
A .38 caliber handgun — which Pitts said belonged to her sister — was found on the front floor board of the truck. She was ordered to serve 40 to 60 months in prison in April 2003. She was paroled in August 2006, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Pitts contends she’s been wronged by the courts and police, and she disputes many of the allegations in each criminal case, saying she was discriminated against.
If elected, she said she will combat “discrimination and racism” and advocate for an overhaul of the justice system.
Despite her past encounters, Pitts said she supports law enforcement: “There’s a lot of good officers. I just ran into a couple bad situations.”
‘Overcharged’ in shooting
Fellow candidate Danetta L. Simpson has a 1996 felony conviction out of Oakland County for assault with intent to murder.
The 46-year-old former cosmetologist and salon owner has made past bids for state representative, Detroit’s school board and City Council. Her prior interaction with the criminal justice system, she said, has fueled her desire to seek public office. Simpson said she represents a “new spirit” for Detroit.
“I was a wrongfully convicted felon, overcharged for a crime I did not commit,” said Simpson, a mother of four, who contends the witness in the case “lied on me.”
According to court records, Simpson pleaded no contest to assault with intent to commit murder — any term of years up to life in prison — in exchange for dismissal of a firearms offense.
The incident stemmed from a complaint made by a woman who’d been living with the father of two of Simpson’s children. The woman alleged she’d received threatening phone calls from Simpson and court records say a confrontation later ensued in which Simpson fired a gun. No one was injured.
In court transcripts, the woman accused Simpson of pulling up in a van and screaming at her to come outside. She said Simpson then pointed a gun at her and fired, striking part of a doorway about two feet from where the woman was standing, court records say.
Simpson pleaded no contest on the day of the 1998 trial. She later tried to withdraw it, but her attempts failed. She was put on probation for one year and discharged Sept. 30, 1999.
Simpson said she’s running for mayor to “correct what’s wrong and make it right.”
“I’m not out here just to run for name recognition. I’m someone different. I’m someone new,” she said. “I want to help lift the city independently for the people.”
A ‘frivolous’ conviction
Another candidate, Articia Bomer, a document specialist who touts a culinary background and musical talents, was charged in 2008 with carrying a concealed weapon.
Bomer, who put together a five-minute extended commercial and musical CD to promote her bid for office, said she’s running for mayor on a platform of “preservation, restoration and revitalization.” She’s pushing for tax reform, better services for Detroit’s homeless and seniors and tougher penalties for bad landlords.
The 45-year-old said her conviction is “frivolous” and “wrong.” It isn’t her focus and she doesn’t believe “that should hinder me.”
Court records note Bomer was approached by police while sitting in a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass parked at the curb in the 9300 block of Whitcomb on July 25, 2008. A search turned up a .38-caliber pistol with four live rounds. Bomer said the weapon was not hers.
She said she had just purchased the vehicle, the prior owner was a gun-carrier and several others had been driving the car.
Ultimately, she was convicted during a bench trial in January 2009 and sentenced to a year of probation and was successful in completing it, records say.
“I want voters to know that they should never judge a book by its cover,” she said. “I am a law-abiding citizen.”
Help for ex-offenders
Candidate Curtis Christopher Greene was charged with a felony at age 19. Greene, an author, said he’s since turned his life around by earning marketing degrees from the University of Phoenix and writing three books.
But Greene, now 32, said his past continues to hold him back. He struggles to find employment and wants to implement programs that will help ex-offenders, like himself, facing similar challenges.
“I came from a crime-ridden area,” Greene said. “My life, I believe it was very complex growing up.”
Greene was charged in 2004 with fourth-degree fleeing and eluding police during an attempted traffic stop in Harrison Township as well as delivering and manufacturing marijuana.
He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, meaning his conviction would be dismissed if he met all probationary requirements. Under the agreement, the fleeing and eluding charge was dropped, Macomb County Circuit Court records show.
Greene violated probation in July 2005 when he was arrested and charged with uttering and publishing a fraudulent check in Gratiot County, a felony.
The case was not prosecuted. Instead, Greene pleaded guilty that September to conspiracy for uttering and publishing and was sentenced to six months in the Gratiot County Jail.
Greene also pleaded guilty to violating his Macomb Circuit Court probation. The violation triggered an extension of his probation term and his youthful trainee status revoked, court records say. He was discharged in September 2007.
The activist and ordained minister previously sought a council seat and is touting a seven-point plan to rebuild Detroit. It addresses jobs, discriminatory lending and access to meaningful employment for convicted felons with academic achievement.
Other areas include blight and a “pie-in-the-sky” vision for a 3-million-square-foot “Mall of Michigan” that would rival suburban shopping centers, he said.
“I believe I’m the one to change the city,” Greene said. “Something put this in my heart to do it now.”
By Christine Ferretti, Mike Martindale and Robert Snell
The Detroit News
August 3, 2017
DETROIT -- Half of the eight mayoral hopefuls on Detroit’s primary ballot next week have been convicted of felony crimes involving drugs, assault or weapons, a Detroit News analysis shows.
Three were charged with gun crimes and two for assault with intent to commit murder. Some of the offenses date back decades, the earliest to 1977. The most recent was in 2008.
Political consultant Greg Bowens said there are candidates with past hardships in every election cycle. It’s not something unique to Detroit or the political arena in general, he said.
“Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges,” said Bowens, a former press secretary to Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and NAACP activist. “They (candidates) deserve the opportunity to be heard, but they also deserve to have the kind of scrutiny that comes along with trying to get an important elected position.”
Tuesday’s Detroit mayoral primary election is the first since the city exited bankruptcy in 2014. The field of eight will be narrowed to two who will face off in the fall.
Under state election law, convicted felons can vote and run for office as long as they are not incarcerated or guilty of certain fraud-related offenses, or crimes involving a breach of the public trust. The Detroit News reviewed the backgrounds of all the mayoral contenders.
While some refute circumstances that led to their criminal convictions, three said their past is a motivating factor in their decisions to run.
The two who have polled ahead of the field, incumbent Mayor Mike Duggan and state Sen. Coleman A. Young II, the son of the city’s first black mayor, have no criminal records. Nor do candidates Edward Dean and Angelo Brown.
First-time contender Donna Marie Pitts, 58, has multiple felony convictions dating back to 1977, according to court records in Wayne and Oakland counties.
Although she denies wrongdoing in the past cases against her, Pitts is open about her convictions.
Pitts, who says she has a business management degree and experience in carpentry, told The News she wants a “better way of life” for Detroiters.
“I don’t hide it. God has brought me out,” said Pitts, who wants to improve health care services, and tackle crime and work on rebuilding the community. “I hope (voters) don’t look at it as negative but as my experience, and I can help. I want to fight for them.”
Shootout over disputed bill
In 1977, Pitts was convicted of receiving and concealing a stolen 1977 Oldsmobile. She was sentenced to a year of probation.
A decade later, she was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and two firearm offenses in connection with two separate shooting incidents on March 24, 1987, Detroit Recorder’s Court records say.
According to transcripts, Pitts was involved in a shootout with the owner of a collision shop and auto clinic on Greenfield in Detroit in a dispute over a repair bill.
In September 1987, a jury convicted Pitts of the lesser offense of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, less than murder, in the shooting involving the shop owner as well as a firearm offense. Jurors acquitted Pitts of charges connected to the incident involving the officer.
Pitts was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, plus two additional years for the firearm offense. She served about four years and eight months and was paroled June 1, 1992, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Pitts had another run-in with police in Troy in September 2000 when she was stopped in a residential neighborhood and arrested for fleeing and eluding and operating a vehicle without a license.
Pitts later pleaded guilty to not having an operator’s license and disobeying a police signal. She was placed on six months probation, which was discharged in September 2001.
Most recently, Pitts was convicted of firearm possession and carrying a concealed weapon under a March 2003 plea agreement stemming from a traffic stop in Dearborn Heights, Wayne County Circuit Court records show.
Pitts was stopped by police on Dec. 2, 2002, on Ford near Norborne for an improper plate and failure to wear a seat belt.
A .38 caliber handgun — which Pitts said belonged to her sister — was found on the front floor board of the truck. She was ordered to serve 40 to 60 months in prison in April 2003. She was paroled in August 2006, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Pitts contends she’s been wronged by the courts and police, and she disputes many of the allegations in each criminal case, saying she was discriminated against.
If elected, she said she will combat “discrimination and racism” and advocate for an overhaul of the justice system.
Despite her past encounters, Pitts said she supports law enforcement: “There’s a lot of good officers. I just ran into a couple bad situations.”
‘Overcharged’ in shooting
Fellow candidate Danetta L. Simpson has a 1996 felony conviction out of Oakland County for assault with intent to murder.
The 46-year-old former cosmetologist and salon owner has made past bids for state representative, Detroit’s school board and City Council. Her prior interaction with the criminal justice system, she said, has fueled her desire to seek public office. Simpson said she represents a “new spirit” for Detroit.
“I was a wrongfully convicted felon, overcharged for a crime I did not commit,” said Simpson, a mother of four, who contends the witness in the case “lied on me.”
According to court records, Simpson pleaded no contest to assault with intent to commit murder — any term of years up to life in prison — in exchange for dismissal of a firearms offense.
The incident stemmed from a complaint made by a woman who’d been living with the father of two of Simpson’s children. The woman alleged she’d received threatening phone calls from Simpson and court records say a confrontation later ensued in which Simpson fired a gun. No one was injured.
In court transcripts, the woman accused Simpson of pulling up in a van and screaming at her to come outside. She said Simpson then pointed a gun at her and fired, striking part of a doorway about two feet from where the woman was standing, court records say.
Simpson pleaded no contest on the day of the 1998 trial. She later tried to withdraw it, but her attempts failed. She was put on probation for one year and discharged Sept. 30, 1999.
Simpson said she’s running for mayor to “correct what’s wrong and make it right.”
“I’m not out here just to run for name recognition. I’m someone different. I’m someone new,” she said. “I want to help lift the city independently for the people.”
A ‘frivolous’ conviction
Another candidate, Articia Bomer, a document specialist who touts a culinary background and musical talents, was charged in 2008 with carrying a concealed weapon.
Bomer, who put together a five-minute extended commercial and musical CD to promote her bid for office, said she’s running for mayor on a platform of “preservation, restoration and revitalization.” She’s pushing for tax reform, better services for Detroit’s homeless and seniors and tougher penalties for bad landlords.
The 45-year-old said her conviction is “frivolous” and “wrong.” It isn’t her focus and she doesn’t believe “that should hinder me.”
Court records note Bomer was approached by police while sitting in a 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass parked at the curb in the 9300 block of Whitcomb on July 25, 2008. A search turned up a .38-caliber pistol with four live rounds. Bomer said the weapon was not hers.
She said she had just purchased the vehicle, the prior owner was a gun-carrier and several others had been driving the car.
Ultimately, she was convicted during a bench trial in January 2009 and sentenced to a year of probation and was successful in completing it, records say.
“I want voters to know that they should never judge a book by its cover,” she said. “I am a law-abiding citizen.”
Help for ex-offenders
Candidate Curtis Christopher Greene was charged with a felony at age 19. Greene, an author, said he’s since turned his life around by earning marketing degrees from the University of Phoenix and writing three books.
But Greene, now 32, said his past continues to hold him back. He struggles to find employment and wants to implement programs that will help ex-offenders, like himself, facing similar challenges.
“I came from a crime-ridden area,” Greene said. “My life, I believe it was very complex growing up.”
Greene was charged in 2004 with fourth-degree fleeing and eluding police during an attempted traffic stop in Harrison Township as well as delivering and manufacturing marijuana.
He was sentenced to 18 months’ probation under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, meaning his conviction would be dismissed if he met all probationary requirements. Under the agreement, the fleeing and eluding charge was dropped, Macomb County Circuit Court records show.
Greene violated probation in July 2005 when he was arrested and charged with uttering and publishing a fraudulent check in Gratiot County, a felony.
The case was not prosecuted. Instead, Greene pleaded guilty that September to conspiracy for uttering and publishing and was sentenced to six months in the Gratiot County Jail.
Greene also pleaded guilty to violating his Macomb Circuit Court probation. The violation triggered an extension of his probation term and his youthful trainee status revoked, court records say. He was discharged in September 2007.
The activist and ordained minister previously sought a council seat and is touting a seven-point plan to rebuild Detroit. It addresses jobs, discriminatory lending and access to meaningful employment for convicted felons with academic achievement.
Other areas include blight and a “pie-in-the-sky” vision for a 3-million-square-foot “Mall of Michigan” that would rival suburban shopping centers, he said.
“I believe I’m the one to change the city,” Greene said. “Something put this in my heart to do it now.”
JUDGE DOESN'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT THE LAW...IF IT IS APPLIED TO HER
by Bob Walsh
Leticia Astacio, 35, is a county judge in Rochester in upstate New York. Earlier this year she did a brief stint as a guest of the county for a DUI. OK, no big deal, it can happen to someone, even a judge. It is kind of odd though that her own lawyer told the court that he thought there was no way she would abide by the conditions of her probation and that she flatly "refused" to do probation..
She was released on July 13 after doing her 60 days. Much of her time was in pre-trial detention. Odd that she didn't get released prior to that on bail or some other conditional release. She was also sentenced to 3 years probation and had to wear an alcohol monitor ankle bracelet for six months.
The very next day, July 14, he monitor went off, showing a 0.127 BAC hit. She asserted to the probation officer that her foot cream must have triggered it. One of the terms of her probation specifies that she can not use products that contain alcohol.
A petition to remove her from the bench as "grossly unfit" is currently making the rounds. Sounds fair to me.
Leticia Astacio, 35, is a county judge in Rochester in upstate New York. Earlier this year she did a brief stint as a guest of the county for a DUI. OK, no big deal, it can happen to someone, even a judge. It is kind of odd though that her own lawyer told the court that he thought there was no way she would abide by the conditions of her probation and that she flatly "refused" to do probation..
She was released on July 13 after doing her 60 days. Much of her time was in pre-trial detention. Odd that she didn't get released prior to that on bail or some other conditional release. She was also sentenced to 3 years probation and had to wear an alcohol monitor ankle bracelet for six months.
The very next day, July 14, he monitor went off, showing a 0.127 BAC hit. She asserted to the probation officer that her foot cream must have triggered it. One of the terms of her probation specifies that she can not use products that contain alcohol.
A petition to remove her from the bench as "grossly unfit" is currently making the rounds. Sounds fair to me.
AND SO THE LAWSUITS BEGIN
by Bob Walsh
The first law suit (as far as I know) over actual damages has just been filed against the DWR over damages caused by the catastrophic failure of the main spillway at the Oroville dam. The plaintiff is a major grower in the area downstream from the dam and alleges damages to their property caused by the poor design, shoddy installation and piss-poor maintenance of the dam.
If the independent reports on the spillway failure are to be believed, they may very possibly have a case.
The first law suit (as far as I know) over actual damages has just been filed against the DWR over damages caused by the catastrophic failure of the main spillway at the Oroville dam. The plaintiff is a major grower in the area downstream from the dam and alleges damages to their property caused by the poor design, shoddy installation and piss-poor maintenance of the dam.
If the independent reports on the spillway failure are to be believed, they may very possibly have a case.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA. MOVES OFFICIALLY AGAINST I.C.E.
by Bob Walsh
The State Labor Commissioner of the formerly great state of California, Julie Su, acted last month to direct her staff to refuse I.C.E. access to facilities controlled by her department unless those officers have a warrant.
In several cases within the last year ICE agents have attempted to attend hearings where investigators from the S.L.C. discuss claims with workers and their employers. Last year the state Dept. of Industrial Relations investigated 22 complaints from workers that asserted their employers had threatened them with deportation. That number has approximately doubled this year.
Both the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court have voiced problems with I.C.E. agents pursuing illegal aliens in or near their bailiwicks.
Ms. Su has distributed a 27 page memo to her department last month. It includes a script for appropriate responses by employees when interacting with I.C.E. Among them are:
Our fundamental job is to make sure that there are strong workplace protections in every workplace in California. In California, the long standing policy has been that immigration status is irrelevant to protections of California's labor laws.
The Labor Commissioner's Office is a state law enforcement agency that investigates and prosecutes labor law violations. Your presence is interfereing with our ability to enforce state labor laws. It is the Labor Commissioner's general policy not to permit such interference with our state law enforcement duties. Would you please leave our office. The Labor Commissioner does not consent to your entry or search to any part of our office.
The State Labor Commissioner of the formerly great state of California, Julie Su, acted last month to direct her staff to refuse I.C.E. access to facilities controlled by her department unless those officers have a warrant.
In several cases within the last year ICE agents have attempted to attend hearings where investigators from the S.L.C. discuss claims with workers and their employers. Last year the state Dept. of Industrial Relations investigated 22 complaints from workers that asserted their employers had threatened them with deportation. That number has approximately doubled this year.
Both the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court have voiced problems with I.C.E. agents pursuing illegal aliens in or near their bailiwicks.
Ms. Su has distributed a 27 page memo to her department last month. It includes a script for appropriate responses by employees when interacting with I.C.E. Among them are:
Our fundamental job is to make sure that there are strong workplace protections in every workplace in California. In California, the long standing policy has been that immigration status is irrelevant to protections of California's labor laws.
The Labor Commissioner's Office is a state law enforcement agency that investigates and prosecutes labor law violations. Your presence is interfereing with our ability to enforce state labor laws. It is the Labor Commissioner's general policy not to permit such interference with our state law enforcement duties. Would you please leave our office. The Labor Commissioner does not consent to your entry or search to any part of our office.
THERE SEEMS TO BE LITTLE FEAR THAT FEDS MIGHT ENFORCE LAWS THAT OUTLAW POT
Cannabis Grower American Green Buys California Town to Build Pot-Friendly Outpost
By Jennifer Kaplan
Bloomberg
August 3, 2017
American Green Inc., a maker of cannabis products, is taking an unusual step to attract new customers as it capitalizes on California legalizing marijuana: It’s buying an entire town.
The company has acquired the tiny burg of Nipton, California, for about $5 million and plans to invest as much as $2.5 million over the next 18 months to create a pot-friendly tourist destination. The purchase includes 120 acres of land with a general store, a hotel, a school building and mineral baths.
American Green, based in Tempe, Arizona, will use the existing structures and build new ones -- powered by renewable energy -- to revitalize the town, said project manager Stephen Shearin. Ideally, the outpost will spawn imitators, he said.
“We thought that showing that there was a viable means of having a cannabis-friendly municipality and further making it energy independent could be a way of really inspiring folks to say, ‘Why can’t we do that here?’” he said.
The move shows how far marijuana has moved out of the shadows despite an uncertain federal policy outlook. With pot now legalized for recreational and medical use in California, Nevada and six other states, one in five American adults can consume the formerly taboo plant as they please. That’s created an opportunity for companies to try to make cannabis a more mainstream product.
‘More Sophisticated Spending’
Pamela Johnston, senior vice president at Electrum Partners, a cannabis industry advising and consulting firm, said restrictions on pot use and availability have limited tourism-related activities, but predicted it will be on par with other types of travel.
“But before we blink, it will soon outpace other niche affinity travel” like wine, she said.
Nipton, with a population of about 20, is situated in California’s San Bernardino County next to the Mojave National Preserve and just across the border from Nevada. It’s about three hours by car from Los Angeles and just an hour from Las Vegas. Temperatures soar to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months.
The former mining town already draws visitors due to its location on the road and railway between the major cities, Shearin said. He sees curiosity about weed drawing more.
Mixed Reactions
Small towns have had mixed reactions to marijuana, even in states where it’s legal. That’s why American Green decided to take on the project: The company wants to demonstrate the benefits cannabis can provide.
American Green plans to include a new facility to manufacture water infused with CBD, the cannabis component that is typically associated with reducing pain and inflammation. The new Nipton will also have a production site for edible marijuana products, retail stores, and artist-in-residence programs.
The project reflects a shift toward making marijuana more appealing to a broader audience. This includes reaching beyond the stereotypical stoner aesthetic and making products with milder doses per serving size. American Green has also sought to expand sales by building a vending machine that uses biometric scanners to ensure customers are of age.
The industry needs this wider acceptance to fuel its growth. Cowen & Co., a provider of investment and banking services, is optimistic companies will succeed and forecasts the legal weed business growing to $50 billion by 2026 from $6 billion in 2016.
Federal Threat
Even as companies seek to expand the market, they face a more existential threat -- looming government intervention. While President Barack Obama implemented policy stating it would not go after operators in states where the plant had been legalized, the Trump administration is not a fan. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made clear that he sees no use for the plant, saying at one point “it’s not a healthy substance.”
American Green, which trades over the counter for a fraction of a penny, had lost about half its value this year through Wednesday. That followed a rally in 2016 as more states moved to legalize the drug. The shares’ value jumped by more than 40 percent on Thursday, but are still worth well below 1 cent.
Companies like American Green are opting to hope for the best. As long as policy remains unchanged, Shearin expects the company’s investment will be returned and the town will be profitable.
“The Gold Rush built this city,” Shearin said. “The Green Rush can keep it moving the way people envisioned it years ago.”
By Jennifer Kaplan
Bloomberg
August 3, 2017
American Green Inc., a maker of cannabis products, is taking an unusual step to attract new customers as it capitalizes on California legalizing marijuana: It’s buying an entire town.
The company has acquired the tiny burg of Nipton, California, for about $5 million and plans to invest as much as $2.5 million over the next 18 months to create a pot-friendly tourist destination. The purchase includes 120 acres of land with a general store, a hotel, a school building and mineral baths.
American Green, based in Tempe, Arizona, will use the existing structures and build new ones -- powered by renewable energy -- to revitalize the town, said project manager Stephen Shearin. Ideally, the outpost will spawn imitators, he said.
“We thought that showing that there was a viable means of having a cannabis-friendly municipality and further making it energy independent could be a way of really inspiring folks to say, ‘Why can’t we do that here?’” he said.
The move shows how far marijuana has moved out of the shadows despite an uncertain federal policy outlook. With pot now legalized for recreational and medical use in California, Nevada and six other states, one in five American adults can consume the formerly taboo plant as they please. That’s created an opportunity for companies to try to make cannabis a more mainstream product.
‘More Sophisticated Spending’
Pamela Johnston, senior vice president at Electrum Partners, a cannabis industry advising and consulting firm, said restrictions on pot use and availability have limited tourism-related activities, but predicted it will be on par with other types of travel.
“But before we blink, it will soon outpace other niche affinity travel” like wine, she said.
Nipton, with a population of about 20, is situated in California’s San Bernardino County next to the Mojave National Preserve and just across the border from Nevada. It’s about three hours by car from Los Angeles and just an hour from Las Vegas. Temperatures soar to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months.
The former mining town already draws visitors due to its location on the road and railway between the major cities, Shearin said. He sees curiosity about weed drawing more.
Mixed Reactions
Small towns have had mixed reactions to marijuana, even in states where it’s legal. That’s why American Green decided to take on the project: The company wants to demonstrate the benefits cannabis can provide.
American Green plans to include a new facility to manufacture water infused with CBD, the cannabis component that is typically associated with reducing pain and inflammation. The new Nipton will also have a production site for edible marijuana products, retail stores, and artist-in-residence programs.
The project reflects a shift toward making marijuana more appealing to a broader audience. This includes reaching beyond the stereotypical stoner aesthetic and making products with milder doses per serving size. American Green has also sought to expand sales by building a vending machine that uses biometric scanners to ensure customers are of age.
The industry needs this wider acceptance to fuel its growth. Cowen & Co., a provider of investment and banking services, is optimistic companies will succeed and forecasts the legal weed business growing to $50 billion by 2026 from $6 billion in 2016.
Federal Threat
Even as companies seek to expand the market, they face a more existential threat -- looming government intervention. While President Barack Obama implemented policy stating it would not go after operators in states where the plant had been legalized, the Trump administration is not a fan. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made clear that he sees no use for the plant, saying at one point “it’s not a healthy substance.”
American Green, which trades over the counter for a fraction of a penny, had lost about half its value this year through Wednesday. That followed a rally in 2016 as more states moved to legalize the drug. The shares’ value jumped by more than 40 percent on Thursday, but are still worth well below 1 cent.
Companies like American Green are opting to hope for the best. As long as policy remains unchanged, Shearin expects the company’s investment will be returned and the town will be profitable.
“The Gold Rush built this city,” Shearin said. “The Green Rush can keep it moving the way people envisioned it years ago.”
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THREATENS ANTI-CRIME AID TO 4 SANCTUARY CITIES
The DOJ told the cities of Baltimore, Albuquerque, Stockton and San Bernardino that they will be ineligible for a new program that aims to root out drug trafficking and gang crime unless they work with ICE
By Sadie Gurman
Associated Press
August 3, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved Thursday to again punish so-called sanctuary cities, this time threatening to deny federal crime-fighting resources to four cities beset by violence if they don't step up efforts to help detain and deport people living in the country illegally.
The Justice Department sent letters to cities struggling with gun violence, telling them they will be ineligible for a new program that aims to root out drug trafficking and gang crime unless they give federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice before releasing someone in custody who is wanted on immigration violations. The cities — Baltimore, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Stockton and San Bernardino in California — all expressed interest in the Justice Department's new Public Safety Partnership, which enlists federal agents, analysts and technology to help communities find solutions to crime.
"By taking simple, common-sense considerations into account, we are encouraging every jurisdiction in this country to cooperate with federal law enforcement," Sessions said in a statement that accompanied the letters. "That will ultimately make all of us safer — especially law enforcement on our streets."
In the letters, the department asked the four prospective cities' police departments to show proof of their compliance by Aug. 18.
The threat marks Sessions' latest effort to force local authorities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, part of a push to reduce crime he believes is linked to illegal immigration. Sessions has pledged to make fighting street crime the Justice Department's top priority, but the strategy is putting him at odds with some city leaders, who say the best way to fight crime and build community trust is to keep local police out of federal immigration matters.
Sessions last week told jurisdictions they need to meet the same conditions or lose out on millions of dollars from a separate program that aims to send grant money to support law enforcement. That move made some local officials more defiant.
The Justice Department in June tapped 12 cities to receive aid through the Public Safety Partnership, and officials said the four cities that were sent the letters had expressed interest in the next chance at participating. Cities were chosen based on higher-than-average rates of violence and willingness to receive the help and training. Cities that want to be involved going forward will have to show they allow unfettered communication between police and federal immigration authorities, give agents access to jails in order to question immigrants, and provide them 48-hours' notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What a load of shit! What about San Francisco? And Travis County, Texas? Etc., etc.
By Sadie Gurman
Associated Press
August 3, 2017
Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved Thursday to again punish so-called sanctuary cities, this time threatening to deny federal crime-fighting resources to four cities beset by violence if they don't step up efforts to help detain and deport people living in the country illegally.
The Justice Department sent letters to cities struggling with gun violence, telling them they will be ineligible for a new program that aims to root out drug trafficking and gang crime unless they give federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice before releasing someone in custody who is wanted on immigration violations. The cities — Baltimore, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Stockton and San Bernardino in California — all expressed interest in the Justice Department's new Public Safety Partnership, which enlists federal agents, analysts and technology to help communities find solutions to crime.
"By taking simple, common-sense considerations into account, we are encouraging every jurisdiction in this country to cooperate with federal law enforcement," Sessions said in a statement that accompanied the letters. "That will ultimately make all of us safer — especially law enforcement on our streets."
In the letters, the department asked the four prospective cities' police departments to show proof of their compliance by Aug. 18.
The threat marks Sessions' latest effort to force local authorities to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, part of a push to reduce crime he believes is linked to illegal immigration. Sessions has pledged to make fighting street crime the Justice Department's top priority, but the strategy is putting him at odds with some city leaders, who say the best way to fight crime and build community trust is to keep local police out of federal immigration matters.
Sessions last week told jurisdictions they need to meet the same conditions or lose out on millions of dollars from a separate program that aims to send grant money to support law enforcement. That move made some local officials more defiant.
The Justice Department in June tapped 12 cities to receive aid through the Public Safety Partnership, and officials said the four cities that were sent the letters had expressed interest in the next chance at participating. Cities were chosen based on higher-than-average rates of violence and willingness to receive the help and training. Cities that want to be involved going forward will have to show they allow unfettered communication between police and federal immigration authorities, give agents access to jails in order to question immigrants, and provide them 48-hours' notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What a load of shit! What about San Francisco? And Travis County, Texas? Etc., etc.
THE POLICE KNOW THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN MISDEMEANORS AND MAJOR CRIME
How to save lives with DNA testing of persons arrested for serious misdemeanors in addition to those arrested for felonies
By Mark Helprin
The Wall Street Journal
August 1, 2017
Three years ago in Albemarle County, Virginia, Jesse Matthew Jr. abducted and murdered
promising 18-year-old University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Her skeletal remains were
found more than a month later in the woods of southern Albemarle. Her grief-stricken father had
this to say of his daughter: “She was bright. She was witty. She was beautiful. And she made
people happy.”
In 2009, Mr. Matthew had murdered Morgan Harrington, another young student, and four years
before that had attacked and sexually assaulted a woman in Fairfax, Va., leaving DNA beneath
her fingernails, which would lead to his conviction after the two murders. But Jesse Matthew had
been convicted of misdemeanor criminal trespass in 2010. Had his DNA been recorded at the
time, it would have linked him to the 2005 Fairfax attack, and Hannah Graham would be alive
today.
The criminal-justice system, legislatures, and, indirectly, all of us have failed these and countless
other victims of brutal abductions, rapes, torture, and murder. In Virginia as in most states, no
procedure is in place to record DNA following certain serious misdemeanors. Because of the
efforts of Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding, nine Class 1 misdemeanors have been added to the
previous five eligible for DNA collection, but scores of Class 1 offenses are exempt. He proposes to include them.
Last year in the U.S., according to preliminary FBI figures, more than 15,000 people were
murdered and 90,000 forcibly raped. Whereas relatively few of those who commit misdemeanors
go on to more consequential crimes, most of those who do commit serious crimes have a record
of prior misdemeanors. In New York state the average first-time felon has three. Major felons
tend to be recidivists. As illustrated by the cases outlined above, many thousands of lives could
be protected or saved by solving one crime before a perpetrator has the opportunity to commit
others. Police and prosecutors would be freed to work other cases, and, not least, false
convictions would decrease and exonerations of the falsely convicted rise
With the Blue Ridge as the backdrop, the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office is hardly something
out of “My Cousin Vinny” or “In the Heat of the Night.” True, there are the “No Weapons Beyond This Point” signs, the bulletproof glass, the M4 locker, and 70 sworn officers passing in and out like bees in a hive. But they are a highly qualified, integrated, and ethical force, which, with its unusual reserve division, claims interpreters of half a dozen languages, fixed-wing and helicopter pilots, and military, intelligence, medical, and legal professionals.
At the head is Sheriff Harding, one of the International Chiefs of Police “Top Ten Cops” in
America, an FBI Academy graduate with more than 40 years on the job. In his office, he
analyzes spreadsheets with thousands of data points relevant to the correlation of major felonies
with prior misdemeanors. He has been at it for decades, working with the Innocence Project,
testifying before Congress and the state Legislature.
Why such devotion? “If one Nathan Washington had submitted his DNA when convicted of a
misdemeanor in 1998,” he answers, “he never would have become the notorious Charlottesville
serial rapist, who raped at least seven women. His DNA would have returned a ‘hit’ from a 1997
rape in another town. I wouldn’t have had to enter the room where one of his victims’ blood was
spattered over three walls as he raped and beat her for hours. The six other women would have
been spared. Isn’t that enough for devotion?”
Sheriff Harding faces two main impediments: that to be maximally effective, the steps he
recommends must be implemented across thousands of jurisdictions, most of which have yet to
be introduced to the idea; and, in the era of big data, civil liberties objections arise, despite the
Supreme Court’s ruling in Maryland v. King (2013) affirming police authority to sample DNA
after arrests for a broad range of criminal offenses.
The first obstacle requires a good and well-publicized argument. As for the second, requiring
DNA from everyone would be egregiously invasive, but what is proposed instead is that a person
exits the realm of innocence when (with exceptions such as driving under the influence) he is
convicted of a crime subject to arrest and incarceration. Biometric and fingerprint data would be
taken as a matter of course, and a cheek swab is less demanding than having fingerprints done or
tattoos photographed.
The sheriff’s carefully sourced arguments have allies both likely and unlikely. Across the street,
in the court complex once frequented by Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, is the office of Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, a former federal deputy assistant attorney general and chief legislative counsel and parliamentarian to the House Judiciary Committee. Having assisted passage of the 2004 Justice for All Act and other major federal criminal justice reforms, he has lent the weight of his expertise and experience to this effort “DNA technology,” he says, “advances justice by solving crime and freeing the innocent. With adequate safeguards, it is neither partisan nor biased, but essential.”
Strange bedfellows are Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, are on board nonetheless, having subjected all serious misdemeanors in their states to DNA collection. “Blue” New York is exemplary in making the connection between misdemeanors and major crime, despite its similarity in spirit to James Q. Wilson’s “broken windows” policing, which liberals hardly embrace, even though—or perhaps because—it works.
Sheriff Harding’s and Mr. Tracci’s advocacy is neither partisan nor overbearing. It is completely
race-neutral. It does not threaten civil liberties. Even as it would make use of the federal DNA
clearing center to coordinate state “hits,” their initiative arises, consonant with the finest
traditions of federalism, from the people and the states, rather than from the top.
Their arguments are detailed and reflective of their training, experience, and judicious
consideration. Their passion is informed by the prospect that so much violence, suffering, and
death can be avoided if their policy is embraced. Hannah Graham would still be alive today, and
her family not perpetually aggrieved. Multiply that by the thousands and tens of thousands
By Mark Helprin
The Wall Street Journal
August 1, 2017
Three years ago in Albemarle County, Virginia, Jesse Matthew Jr. abducted and murdered
promising 18-year-old University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Her skeletal remains were
found more than a month later in the woods of southern Albemarle. Her grief-stricken father had
this to say of his daughter: “She was bright. She was witty. She was beautiful. And she made
people happy.”
In 2009, Mr. Matthew had murdered Morgan Harrington, another young student, and four years
before that had attacked and sexually assaulted a woman in Fairfax, Va., leaving DNA beneath
her fingernails, which would lead to his conviction after the two murders. But Jesse Matthew had
been convicted of misdemeanor criminal trespass in 2010. Had his DNA been recorded at the
time, it would have linked him to the 2005 Fairfax attack, and Hannah Graham would be alive
today.
The criminal-justice system, legislatures, and, indirectly, all of us have failed these and countless
other victims of brutal abductions, rapes, torture, and murder. In Virginia as in most states, no
procedure is in place to record DNA following certain serious misdemeanors. Because of the
efforts of Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding, nine Class 1 misdemeanors have been added to the
previous five eligible for DNA collection, but scores of Class 1 offenses are exempt. He proposes to include them.
Last year in the U.S., according to preliminary FBI figures, more than 15,000 people were
murdered and 90,000 forcibly raped. Whereas relatively few of those who commit misdemeanors
go on to more consequential crimes, most of those who do commit serious crimes have a record
of prior misdemeanors. In New York state the average first-time felon has three. Major felons
tend to be recidivists. As illustrated by the cases outlined above, many thousands of lives could
be protected or saved by solving one crime before a perpetrator has the opportunity to commit
others. Police and prosecutors would be freed to work other cases, and, not least, false
convictions would decrease and exonerations of the falsely convicted rise
With the Blue Ridge as the backdrop, the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office is hardly something
out of “My Cousin Vinny” or “In the Heat of the Night.” True, there are the “No Weapons Beyond This Point” signs, the bulletproof glass, the M4 locker, and 70 sworn officers passing in and out like bees in a hive. But they are a highly qualified, integrated, and ethical force, which, with its unusual reserve division, claims interpreters of half a dozen languages, fixed-wing and helicopter pilots, and military, intelligence, medical, and legal professionals.
At the head is Sheriff Harding, one of the International Chiefs of Police “Top Ten Cops” in
America, an FBI Academy graduate with more than 40 years on the job. In his office, he
analyzes spreadsheets with thousands of data points relevant to the correlation of major felonies
with prior misdemeanors. He has been at it for decades, working with the Innocence Project,
testifying before Congress and the state Legislature.
Why such devotion? “If one Nathan Washington had submitted his DNA when convicted of a
misdemeanor in 1998,” he answers, “he never would have become the notorious Charlottesville
serial rapist, who raped at least seven women. His DNA would have returned a ‘hit’ from a 1997
rape in another town. I wouldn’t have had to enter the room where one of his victims’ blood was
spattered over three walls as he raped and beat her for hours. The six other women would have
been spared. Isn’t that enough for devotion?”
Sheriff Harding faces two main impediments: that to be maximally effective, the steps he
recommends must be implemented across thousands of jurisdictions, most of which have yet to
be introduced to the idea; and, in the era of big data, civil liberties objections arise, despite the
Supreme Court’s ruling in Maryland v. King (2013) affirming police authority to sample DNA
after arrests for a broad range of criminal offenses.
The first obstacle requires a good and well-publicized argument. As for the second, requiring
DNA from everyone would be egregiously invasive, but what is proposed instead is that a person
exits the realm of innocence when (with exceptions such as driving under the influence) he is
convicted of a crime subject to arrest and incarceration. Biometric and fingerprint data would be
taken as a matter of course, and a cheek swab is less demanding than having fingerprints done or
tattoos photographed.
The sheriff’s carefully sourced arguments have allies both likely and unlikely. Across the street,
in the court complex once frequented by Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, is the office of Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, a former federal deputy assistant attorney general and chief legislative counsel and parliamentarian to the House Judiciary Committee. Having assisted passage of the 2004 Justice for All Act and other major federal criminal justice reforms, he has lent the weight of his expertise and experience to this effort “DNA technology,” he says, “advances justice by solving crime and freeing the innocent. With adequate safeguards, it is neither partisan nor biased, but essential.”
Strange bedfellows are Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, are on board nonetheless, having subjected all serious misdemeanors in their states to DNA collection. “Blue” New York is exemplary in making the connection between misdemeanors and major crime, despite its similarity in spirit to James Q. Wilson’s “broken windows” policing, which liberals hardly embrace, even though—or perhaps because—it works.
Sheriff Harding’s and Mr. Tracci’s advocacy is neither partisan nor overbearing. It is completely
race-neutral. It does not threaten civil liberties. Even as it would make use of the federal DNA
clearing center to coordinate state “hits,” their initiative arises, consonant with the finest
traditions of federalism, from the people and the states, rather than from the top.
Their arguments are detailed and reflective of their training, experience, and judicious
consideration. Their passion is informed by the prospect that so much violence, suffering, and
death can be avoided if their policy is embraced. Hannah Graham would still be alive today, and
her family not perpetually aggrieved. Multiply that by the thousands and tens of thousands
GIMME THAT OLD TIME RELIGION
North Carolina church investigated for importing hundreds of Brazilian worshipers and turning them into slaves
By Tom Boggioni
RawStory
July 24, 2017
North Carolina church that is already under investigation for kidnapping a gay man and attempting to beat his homosexuality out of him is once again in the spotlight after it was revealed that church members have been importing worshipers from Brazil and turning them into slaves.
According to the Associated Press, the Word of Faith Fellowship recruits young members from two affiliated churches in Brazil to come to the U.S. on tourist and student visas where they are put to work on the church’s 35-acre compound in Spindale for no pay.
One man, identified as Andre Oliveira, told the AP that he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, cleaning offices and warehouses owned by the evangelical church. He well also forced to work at private businesses owned by some of the church’s ministers. Olivera stated that failure to comply resulted in beatings and shaming from the pulpit.
“They kept us as slaves,” Oliveira explained. “We were expendable. We meant nothing to them. Nothing. How can you do that to people — claim you love them and then beat them in the name of God?”
According to AP, “Under U.S. law, visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people normally would be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at Word of Faith Fellowship.”
Former congregants who came from Brazil said that they had their passports taken away and lived in “horrific” living conditions, with as many as eight people living in the basement of a church leader’s home. What little money they were paid was immediately returned to the church to pay for their living expenses.
“Brazilians came here for labor. I’m telling you, that’s it,” claimed Thiago Silva who was recruited at age 18. He called the treatment “a violation of human rights.”
The church is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney in Charlotte for crimes that may go back years and involve hundreds of young Brazilians.
By Tom Boggioni
RawStory
July 24, 2017
North Carolina church that is already under investigation for kidnapping a gay man and attempting to beat his homosexuality out of him is once again in the spotlight after it was revealed that church members have been importing worshipers from Brazil and turning them into slaves.
According to the Associated Press, the Word of Faith Fellowship recruits young members from two affiliated churches in Brazil to come to the U.S. on tourist and student visas where they are put to work on the church’s 35-acre compound in Spindale for no pay.
One man, identified as Andre Oliveira, told the AP that he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, cleaning offices and warehouses owned by the evangelical church. He well also forced to work at private businesses owned by some of the church’s ministers. Olivera stated that failure to comply resulted in beatings and shaming from the pulpit.
“They kept us as slaves,” Oliveira explained. “We were expendable. We meant nothing to them. Nothing. How can you do that to people — claim you love them and then beat them in the name of God?”
According to AP, “Under U.S. law, visitors on tourist visas are prohibited from performing work for which people normally would be compensated. Those on student visas are allowed some work, under circumstances that were not met at Word of Faith Fellowship.”
Former congregants who came from Brazil said that they had their passports taken away and lived in “horrific” living conditions, with as many as eight people living in the basement of a church leader’s home. What little money they were paid was immediately returned to the church to pay for their living expenses.
“Brazilians came here for labor. I’m telling you, that’s it,” claimed Thiago Silva who was recruited at age 18. He called the treatment “a violation of human rights.”
The church is currently being investigated by the U.S. Attorney in Charlotte for crimes that may go back years and involve hundreds of young Brazilians.
Thursday, August 03, 2017
FROM DEFENDANT TO DEFENDER
Wrongfully Convicted in Wisconsin, Man Returns to Free Another
By Elizabeth Chuck
NBC News
August 2, 2017
Attorney Jarrett Adams recently helped overturn an innocent man's conviction — in the same state that, years ago, had sentenced him to prison for a crime he did not commit.
The case was Adams' first professional win. But it was also deeply personal for the 36-year-old, who spent nearly 10 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in a case that Adams, who is black, believes was tainted by racism.
"This is a storybook," Adams told NBC News' Lester Holt. "It's a storybook tale that you wouldn't believe until you saw it ... to have a conviction overturned and in a court, in a state, that I was wrongfully convicted."
Adams was only 17 when an encounter at a party, an accusation, and a court-appointed attorney put his life on hold.
He had just finished high school on Chicago's South Side and decided to go to the University of Wisconsin for a party, where he and his friends met a young woman and had what he describes as a "completely consensual encounter from beginning to end."
Three weeks later, as Adams was getting ready to start junior college in the fall of 1998, he was arrested. An officer informed him that the woman said she was raped, and that he was being charged with a group sexual assault along with two other teenagers.
Adams had never been arrested before. He denied the crime from the start, and thought the misunderstanding would get resolved quickly.
Instead, he was extradited to Wisconsin, where he couldn't afford legal assistance. A court-appointed attorney chose not to put on a defense, even though there was a witness who could have helped clear Adams: a student living in the dorm who could corroborate Adams' timeline of events.
"This guy is telling us, 'We know you didn't do it. They haven't proven their case. The best defense is a no-defense strategy,'" Adams said. "We're like, 'Yeah, sounds good,' because we didn't know any better, right? But in reality, it was a horrible idea to not call any witnesses, not to investigate, and to put this in front of an all-white, racially charged jury. We didn't stand a chance."
The result was a conviction with a stunning 28-year prison sentence for Adams; 20 years for another teen who couldn't pay for representation; and an acquittal for the third, who had hired a private lawyer, and called the alibi witness.
"My only encounter with the criminal court system was 'Law & Order.' And at the end of those commercials, and that theme music comes on, you don't see guys who are wrongfully convicted go to prison and get sentenced to 28 years," Adams said.
Inside prison, Adams met a cellmate who worked for the prison law library and encouraged him to try to get his conviction overturned.
"He said, 'Listen. I go over hundreds of inmates' cases, and all of them say the same thing: I'm innocent.' He said, 'I've never seen a case like yours before. You're in here for some racist bull crap, and you've essentially waved the white flag,'" Adams said.
The cellmate urged him not to give up: "It's only going to take a second before you have tattoos on your face and have given up and completely don't care at all. You need to go down swinging," he told Adams.
So, Adams started reading law books and found a Supreme Court case that stated that the Constitution required defendants be provided effective assistance of counsel. He got in touch with attorney Keith Findley with the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a state chapter of the nonprofit devoted to justice for wrongfully convicted people.
Findley knew the case was an uphill battle, but he took it on.
"He had done his homework. He knew the case, factually, better than anybody, and he knew the law, so that he was engaging with us, discussing legal issues, strategy," Findley said.
Adams' sentence was eventually overturned and the charges dropped, for the exact reason that he had found in the prison law library books: ineffective assistance of counsel.
A month after he was freed in 2007, Adams enrolled in community college, went on to earn his Bachelor's degree and attended law school, graduating in 2015.
Last summer, he became the first Innocence Project exonoree to be hired as an attorney by the organization.
"What I wanted more than anything was this: I wanted my mother, when she went to church and people asked about her son, for her not to duck her head in her Bible and cry. And I wanted her to be proud," he said.
Recently, Adams found himself back in a Wisconsin courtroom, this time working side-by-side with his former attorney Findley, to free another man they believed was wrongfully convicted.
Richard Beranek was convicted of rape in 1990. Although he had alibi witnesses that put him in another state at the time of the rape, the jury found the testimony of an FBI expert tying him to the scene through a microscopic hair analysis convincing enough to deliver a guilty verdict.
Adams — who served time in the same correctional facility as his client — was dedicated to freeing him, Findley said.
"I can talk to Richard about what I've seen other exonerees go through, what the experience looks like from the outside, but I couldn't do what Jarrett can do. I couldn't speak with the authenticity of knowing what it feels like, that Jarrett can speak to," Findley said.
In June, a Dane County circuit judge overturned Beranek's conviction, citing DNA evidence that proves the FBI hair analysis was wrong. Beranek is now a free man, in large part thanks to Adams' tireless work.
"Nothing pays me back more, or my family, than me walking in the same court, in the same state, where they didn't even look at me when they gave me 28 years," Adams said. "But now they have to acknowledge me as 'Attorney Adams.'"
By Elizabeth Chuck
NBC News
August 2, 2017
Attorney Jarrett Adams recently helped overturn an innocent man's conviction — in the same state that, years ago, had sentenced him to prison for a crime he did not commit.
The case was Adams' first professional win. But it was also deeply personal for the 36-year-old, who spent nearly 10 years behind bars after being wrongfully convicted of sexual assault in a case that Adams, who is black, believes was tainted by racism.
"This is a storybook," Adams told NBC News' Lester Holt. "It's a storybook tale that you wouldn't believe until you saw it ... to have a conviction overturned and in a court, in a state, that I was wrongfully convicted."
Adams was only 17 when an encounter at a party, an accusation, and a court-appointed attorney put his life on hold.
He had just finished high school on Chicago's South Side and decided to go to the University of Wisconsin for a party, where he and his friends met a young woman and had what he describes as a "completely consensual encounter from beginning to end."
Three weeks later, as Adams was getting ready to start junior college in the fall of 1998, he was arrested. An officer informed him that the woman said she was raped, and that he was being charged with a group sexual assault along with two other teenagers.
Adams had never been arrested before. He denied the crime from the start, and thought the misunderstanding would get resolved quickly.
Instead, he was extradited to Wisconsin, where he couldn't afford legal assistance. A court-appointed attorney chose not to put on a defense, even though there was a witness who could have helped clear Adams: a student living in the dorm who could corroborate Adams' timeline of events.
"This guy is telling us, 'We know you didn't do it. They haven't proven their case. The best defense is a no-defense strategy,'" Adams said. "We're like, 'Yeah, sounds good,' because we didn't know any better, right? But in reality, it was a horrible idea to not call any witnesses, not to investigate, and to put this in front of an all-white, racially charged jury. We didn't stand a chance."
The result was a conviction with a stunning 28-year prison sentence for Adams; 20 years for another teen who couldn't pay for representation; and an acquittal for the third, who had hired a private lawyer, and called the alibi witness.
"My only encounter with the criminal court system was 'Law & Order.' And at the end of those commercials, and that theme music comes on, you don't see guys who are wrongfully convicted go to prison and get sentenced to 28 years," Adams said.
Inside prison, Adams met a cellmate who worked for the prison law library and encouraged him to try to get his conviction overturned.
"He said, 'Listen. I go over hundreds of inmates' cases, and all of them say the same thing: I'm innocent.' He said, 'I've never seen a case like yours before. You're in here for some racist bull crap, and you've essentially waved the white flag,'" Adams said.
The cellmate urged him not to give up: "It's only going to take a second before you have tattoos on your face and have given up and completely don't care at all. You need to go down swinging," he told Adams.
So, Adams started reading law books and found a Supreme Court case that stated that the Constitution required defendants be provided effective assistance of counsel. He got in touch with attorney Keith Findley with the Wisconsin Innocence Project, a state chapter of the nonprofit devoted to justice for wrongfully convicted people.
Findley knew the case was an uphill battle, but he took it on.
"He had done his homework. He knew the case, factually, better than anybody, and he knew the law, so that he was engaging with us, discussing legal issues, strategy," Findley said.
Adams' sentence was eventually overturned and the charges dropped, for the exact reason that he had found in the prison law library books: ineffective assistance of counsel.
A month after he was freed in 2007, Adams enrolled in community college, went on to earn his Bachelor's degree and attended law school, graduating in 2015.
Last summer, he became the first Innocence Project exonoree to be hired as an attorney by the organization.
"What I wanted more than anything was this: I wanted my mother, when she went to church and people asked about her son, for her not to duck her head in her Bible and cry. And I wanted her to be proud," he said.
Recently, Adams found himself back in a Wisconsin courtroom, this time working side-by-side with his former attorney Findley, to free another man they believed was wrongfully convicted.
Richard Beranek was convicted of rape in 1990. Although he had alibi witnesses that put him in another state at the time of the rape, the jury found the testimony of an FBI expert tying him to the scene through a microscopic hair analysis convincing enough to deliver a guilty verdict.
Adams — who served time in the same correctional facility as his client — was dedicated to freeing him, Findley said.
"I can talk to Richard about what I've seen other exonerees go through, what the experience looks like from the outside, but I couldn't do what Jarrett can do. I couldn't speak with the authenticity of knowing what it feels like, that Jarrett can speak to," Findley said.
In June, a Dane County circuit judge overturned Beranek's conviction, citing DNA evidence that proves the FBI hair analysis was wrong. Beranek is now a free man, in large part thanks to Adams' tireless work.
"Nothing pays me back more, or my family, than me walking in the same court, in the same state, where they didn't even look at me when they gave me 28 years," Adams said. "But now they have to acknowledge me as 'Attorney Adams.'"
WHY IT IS GOOD TO BE FAMILIAR WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT
by Bob Walsh
Richard Pinheiro is a police officer with the city of Baltimore, MD. Back in January he participated in a drug bust. His own body camera showed him apparently planting drugs while his two fellow officers looked on. The video has just surfaced and the public defender's office is buying drinks all around.
Officer Pinheiro is a participant or a witness in 53 current cases and an unknown but considerable number of completed cases.
In the video it appears that Pinheiro attempted to turn off the body camera but was unsuccessful in doing so. He did manage to turn off the sound, but not the video.
I can't help but think that Pinheiro and his two road dogs are in deep trouble.
Richard Pinheiro is a police officer with the city of Baltimore, MD. Back in January he participated in a drug bust. His own body camera showed him apparently planting drugs while his two fellow officers looked on. The video has just surfaced and the public defender's office is buying drinks all around.
Officer Pinheiro is a participant or a witness in 53 current cases and an unknown but considerable number of completed cases.
In the video it appears that Pinheiro attempted to turn off the body camera but was unsuccessful in doing so. He did manage to turn off the sound, but not the video.
I can't help but think that Pinheiro and his two road dogs are in deep trouble.
STAFFING EMERGENCY AT KANSAS PRISON
by Bob Walsh
The Secretary of the Kansas DOC has announced a staffing emergency at the El Dorado Correctional Facility and the staff are now working mandatory 12 hour shifts, which often turn into 16 hour shifts, to the great displeasure of the correctional officer's union.
Secretary Joe Norwood made his emergency statement in a response to a union grievance. The DOCs agreement with the Kansas Organization of State Employees allows mandatory overtime and extended shifts during declared emergencies. Now they have one.
The El Dorado facility is just east of Wichita and currently down about 80 staff. In early July they were down 94 so the situation is improving, although slowly. The DOC has resorted to blanket mailings to homes in the area in attempts to recruit prison staff.
The Secretary of the Kansas DOC has announced a staffing emergency at the El Dorado Correctional Facility and the staff are now working mandatory 12 hour shifts, which often turn into 16 hour shifts, to the great displeasure of the correctional officer's union.
Secretary Joe Norwood made his emergency statement in a response to a union grievance. The DOCs agreement with the Kansas Organization of State Employees allows mandatory overtime and extended shifts during declared emergencies. Now they have one.
The El Dorado facility is just east of Wichita and currently down about 80 staff. In early July they were down 94 so the situation is improving, although slowly. The DOC has resorted to blanket mailings to homes in the area in attempts to recruit prison staff.
DO YOU THINK MARRIAGE COUNSELING WILL HELP?
by Bob Walsh
There was an interesting after-wedding moment between a new bride and her hubby last week in Murfreesboro, TN. It seems that there had been some sort of a disagreement between the couple. The new bride reached into her wedding dress, pulled a 9mm and aimed it at her husband's head and pulled the trigger.
The weapon did not fire as she had apparently forgotten to chamber a round. So she did, and started shooting into the overhead.
When the cops arrived the new bride, Kate Prichard, 25, and hubby James Burton, 30, denied there had been any problem. However the cops found the fired shell casing and the pistol hidden in the john. The local constabulary arrested the young bride, but she made bail fairly quickly. She was charged with aggravated domestic assault.
Wedding attendees report that alcohol consumption likely played a role in the drama.
You have to admire a woman who carries a pistol in her wedding dress, no doubt she believes in being prepared
There was an interesting after-wedding moment between a new bride and her hubby last week in Murfreesboro, TN. It seems that there had been some sort of a disagreement between the couple. The new bride reached into her wedding dress, pulled a 9mm and aimed it at her husband's head and pulled the trigger.
The weapon did not fire as she had apparently forgotten to chamber a round. So she did, and started shooting into the overhead.
When the cops arrived the new bride, Kate Prichard, 25, and hubby James Burton, 30, denied there had been any problem. However the cops found the fired shell casing and the pistol hidden in the john. The local constabulary arrested the young bride, but she made bail fairly quickly. She was charged with aggravated domestic assault.
Wedding attendees report that alcohol consumption likely played a role in the drama.
You have to admire a woman who carries a pistol in her wedding dress, no doubt she believes in being prepared
MEXICO HAS ITS DRUG CARTELS, AMERICA HAS ITS DRUG DOCTORS
More than 1 in 3 Americans prescribed opioids in 2015
By Dennis Thompson
CBS News
August 1, 2017
More than one out of three average Americans used a prescription opioid painkiller in 2015, despite growing concerns these medicines are promoting widespread addiction and overdose deaths, a new federal study shows.
Nearly 92 million U.S. adults, or about 38 percent of the population, took a legitimately prescribed opioid like OxyContin or Percocet in 2015, according to results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
"The proportion of adults who receive these medications in any year seemed startling to me," said study co-author Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"It's an awful lot of people who take these, mostly for medical purposes, but within that a significant percentage end up misusing them," he added.
The survey found that 11.5 million people, or nearly 5 percent of the population, misused prescription opioids they'd obtained through illicit means.
About 1.9 million Americans (0.8 percent) reported full-fledged opioid addiction.
Overall, the results indicate that the medical profession is doing a poor job of appropriately prescribing opioid painkillers, Compton said.
Previous studies have found "there's still four times the rate of prescribing there was 15 years ago," Compton said. "Even though the rates have leveled off, we have a long way to go in improving medical care so these are not as overprescribed as they are currently."
Many people receive opioids they don't need and pass them on to relatives who aren't getting the treatment they need for chronic pain, the researchers noted.
These painkillers are highly addictive and potentially deadly. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled since 1999, concurrent with the quadrupling of opioid prescriptions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey defined prescription opioid misuse as people taking the painkillers without a prescription, taking larger doses than prescribed, or using the drugs to get high, Compton said.
Of those who misused prescription opioids, more than 50 percent got the medications as hand-me-downs from family or friends. Overall, nearly 60 percent of misuse involved taking opioids without a prescription.
"That tells us there are a lot of leftover medications," Compton said. "In many cases, physicians could write smaller prescriptions, or avoid them completely for those who benefit from ibuprofen or acetaminophen," for example, Motrin, Advil or Tylenol.
People misusing opioids most often do so in a sincere attempt to treat pain, according to their survey responses.
Two-thirds of those who misused opioids said they were motivated by relief from physical pain, while only one in 10 said they misused painkillers to relax or get high, the survey reports.
"That tells me we need to do a better job of assessing and treating pain," Compton said.
The broken system of prescribing opioids stretches back at least a decade, and has its roots in the belief that pain should be considered a "fifth vital sign" just as important as blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and level of oxygen saturation, said Dr. Jack Ende, president of the American College of Physicians.
"If patients were not totally rid of their pain, that implied the physician was not doing his or her job or really didn't care," Ende said. "That movement went way beyond proper medical care, so much so that there was a lot of overprescription of opioids for noncancer pain."
Physicians now are encouraged to prescribe lower doses of opioids for shorter periods of time, Ende said, and new laws allow pharmacists to choose to fill only half of a prescription.
Doctors need to adopt a stepped-care approach to pain management, said Dr. Karen Lasser. She's an associate professor of medicine and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine's Clinical Addiction Research & Education (CARE) Unit.
With this approach, doctors would first try to manage pain using nondrug means -- such as physical therapy, yoga or acupuncture -- or prescribe milder pain medications, including aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, Lasser said.
"There would be guidelines for all the medications you should try before you get to opioids," Lasser said.
In addition, patients should have to sign an opioid treatment agreement outlining the risks and benefits of such therapy, so they understand the potential for addiction, Lasser suggested.
Ende pointed out that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is key to sorting out imbalances in opioid prescription.
People with health insurance can be properly diagnosed and covered for nondrug pain treatments -- like physical therapy -- "rather than scrounge for opioids," Ende said.
"At least we can exhale today knowing that Medicaid funding will not be cut imminently, because without Medicaid we have no chance of making headway" against the prescription opioid epidemic, Ende said. He added that insurance also helps cover treatment for addiction.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is a door-to-door survey that allows participants to log answers directly into a computer, providing anonymity that promotes honest responses, Compton said. About 51,200 people completed the survey interview for 2015.
The study was published online July 31 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
By Dennis Thompson
CBS News
August 1, 2017
More than one out of three average Americans used a prescription opioid painkiller in 2015, despite growing concerns these medicines are promoting widespread addiction and overdose deaths, a new federal study shows.
Nearly 92 million U.S. adults, or about 38 percent of the population, took a legitimately prescribed opioid like OxyContin or Percocet in 2015, according to results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
"The proportion of adults who receive these medications in any year seemed startling to me," said study co-author Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"It's an awful lot of people who take these, mostly for medical purposes, but within that a significant percentage end up misusing them," he added.
The survey found that 11.5 million people, or nearly 5 percent of the population, misused prescription opioids they'd obtained through illicit means.
About 1.9 million Americans (0.8 percent) reported full-fledged opioid addiction.
Overall, the results indicate that the medical profession is doing a poor job of appropriately prescribing opioid painkillers, Compton said.
Previous studies have found "there's still four times the rate of prescribing there was 15 years ago," Compton said. "Even though the rates have leveled off, we have a long way to go in improving medical care so these are not as overprescribed as they are currently."
Many people receive opioids they don't need and pass them on to relatives who aren't getting the treatment they need for chronic pain, the researchers noted.
These painkillers are highly addictive and potentially deadly. The number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled since 1999, concurrent with the quadrupling of opioid prescriptions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey defined prescription opioid misuse as people taking the painkillers without a prescription, taking larger doses than prescribed, or using the drugs to get high, Compton said.
Of those who misused prescription opioids, more than 50 percent got the medications as hand-me-downs from family or friends. Overall, nearly 60 percent of misuse involved taking opioids without a prescription.
"That tells us there are a lot of leftover medications," Compton said. "In many cases, physicians could write smaller prescriptions, or avoid them completely for those who benefit from ibuprofen or acetaminophen," for example, Motrin, Advil or Tylenol.
People misusing opioids most often do so in a sincere attempt to treat pain, according to their survey responses.
Two-thirds of those who misused opioids said they were motivated by relief from physical pain, while only one in 10 said they misused painkillers to relax or get high, the survey reports.
"That tells me we need to do a better job of assessing and treating pain," Compton said.
The broken system of prescribing opioids stretches back at least a decade, and has its roots in the belief that pain should be considered a "fifth vital sign" just as important as blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate and level of oxygen saturation, said Dr. Jack Ende, president of the American College of Physicians.
"If patients were not totally rid of their pain, that implied the physician was not doing his or her job or really didn't care," Ende said. "That movement went way beyond proper medical care, so much so that there was a lot of overprescription of opioids for noncancer pain."
Physicians now are encouraged to prescribe lower doses of opioids for shorter periods of time, Ende said, and new laws allow pharmacists to choose to fill only half of a prescription.
Doctors need to adopt a stepped-care approach to pain management, said Dr. Karen Lasser. She's an associate professor of medicine and public health at the Boston University School of Medicine's Clinical Addiction Research & Education (CARE) Unit.
With this approach, doctors would first try to manage pain using nondrug means -- such as physical therapy, yoga or acupuncture -- or prescribe milder pain medications, including aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, Lasser said.
"There would be guidelines for all the medications you should try before you get to opioids," Lasser said.
In addition, patients should have to sign an opioid treatment agreement outlining the risks and benefits of such therapy, so they understand the potential for addiction, Lasser suggested.
Ende pointed out that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is key to sorting out imbalances in opioid prescription.
People with health insurance can be properly diagnosed and covered for nondrug pain treatments -- like physical therapy -- "rather than scrounge for opioids," Ende said.
"At least we can exhale today knowing that Medicaid funding will not be cut imminently, because without Medicaid we have no chance of making headway" against the prescription opioid epidemic, Ende said. He added that insurance also helps cover treatment for addiction.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health is a door-to-door survey that allows participants to log answers directly into a computer, providing anonymity that promotes honest responses, Compton said. About 51,200 people completed the survey interview for 2015.
The study was published online July 31 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
GUN VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDERS
See where California is taking guns with restraining orders
By Alexei Koseff
The Sacramento Bee
August 1, 2017
California courts ordered people to temporarily give up possession of their firearms 86 times last year.
A new law, which took effect in 2016, allows family members or law enforcement officers to seek a “gun violence restraining order” against someone they believe poses an “immediate and present danger” of harming themselves or others. Generally, the suspension expires within 21 days, though in 10 cases last year, the judge held a hearing and extended the order to one year because they determined the individual was still a substantial threat.
Legislators proposed the gun violence restraining order in 2014, in the wake of a mass murder in the college town of Isla Vista where six individuals were killed by stabbing and shooting. Supporters, including the parents of slain students, argued the law would provide a tool to prevent future tragedies. (Local authorities had conducted a welfare check on the Isla Vista shooter after his parents raised concerns about his mental health.) But critics worried about officials stripping guns from people without good cause and violating the rights of individuals who have not yet committed a crime.
While Los Angeles County courts issued the most gun violence restraining orders in 2016, with 15, there was nearly as many in the much smaller Santa Barbara County, where Isla Vista is located.
“We were and are very aware of the purpose of the law and have worked to abide by it,” Lt. Kevin Huddle of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in an email.
His agency was granted eight restraining orders last year, more than any in the state. Huddle speculated that other departments may be not as familiar with the law: “There have been agencies who have contacted us to put a process/procedure in place for their agency, so the knowledge is expanding.”
Six were issued in the Sacramento region – two via the Sacramento Police Department, and one each in Roseville, Folsom, Woodland and Nevada County.
By Alexei Koseff
The Sacramento Bee
August 1, 2017
California courts ordered people to temporarily give up possession of their firearms 86 times last year.
A new law, which took effect in 2016, allows family members or law enforcement officers to seek a “gun violence restraining order” against someone they believe poses an “immediate and present danger” of harming themselves or others. Generally, the suspension expires within 21 days, though in 10 cases last year, the judge held a hearing and extended the order to one year because they determined the individual was still a substantial threat.
Legislators proposed the gun violence restraining order in 2014, in the wake of a mass murder in the college town of Isla Vista where six individuals were killed by stabbing and shooting. Supporters, including the parents of slain students, argued the law would provide a tool to prevent future tragedies. (Local authorities had conducted a welfare check on the Isla Vista shooter after his parents raised concerns about his mental health.) But critics worried about officials stripping guns from people without good cause and violating the rights of individuals who have not yet committed a crime.
While Los Angeles County courts issued the most gun violence restraining orders in 2016, with 15, there was nearly as many in the much smaller Santa Barbara County, where Isla Vista is located.
“We were and are very aware of the purpose of the law and have worked to abide by it,” Lt. Kevin Huddle of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in an email.
His agency was granted eight restraining orders last year, more than any in the state. Huddle speculated that other departments may be not as familiar with the law: “There have been agencies who have contacted us to put a process/procedure in place for their agency, so the knowledge is expanding.”
Six were issued in the Sacramento region – two via the Sacramento Police Department, and one each in Roseville, Folsom, Woodland and Nevada County.
STOLEN CAR REPORT IGNORED WHEN CAR IS LATER TOWED FROM PRIVATE PROPERTY
Teen forced to pay $445 tow, storage fees after car stolen in Pasadena and abandoned in Houston
By Rose-Ann Aragon
Click2Houston
August 2, 2017
PASADENA, Texas - Stuck.
That's how one 17-year-old car owner says he feels after being hit with a storage facility bill he doesn't believe he should have to pay.
The teen's car was stolen in Pasadena and he filed a report. He learned days later, however, that while his car had been found and brought to a storage lot, he was never notified.
"It's just hard because that's so much money for something I didn't do," Pedro Garcia said.
Garcia bought his 1998 Honda Civic with his hard-earned money.
"I worked with my brother, and now I have a job still," Garcia said. "I try to support myself so my mom won't have to worry about it. [The car] is not the best, but it gets me from point A to point B. It's just the car I could afford."
However, last Sunday, in the early morning, while visiting his brother in Pasadena, Garcia and his brother noticed something very wrong.
"Woke up. My car was gone," Garcia said.
Pasadena police records show the car was stolen from the Broadwater apartment complex on the 5000 block of Crenshaw Road. But after Garcia's brother called the complex the next day and finding out from them that the car wasn't towed there, Garcia said he reported it to Pasadena police as stolen.
"It was formal. It was quick. They asked me what the car looked like. I told them what it looked like, and they left," Garcia said.
However, a week later, on July 31, Garcia said he was shocked to find a bill in the mail from a vehicle storage facility in Houston, saying his car had been sitting in its lot since July 25, a day after Garcia filed the report with Pasadena police.
"It was seven days and I [just] got the letter so the charges had been racking up," Garcia said.
The vehicle storage facility's letter to Garcia showed that the car was towed from the Sterling Point living complex on the 6600 block of Dunlap Street in Houston. The final bill read $445.71 plus another $20 for having someone bring the car outside the lot, Garcia said.
Garcia was finally able to take the car back after nine days, only to find that the car's radio and back carpet, among other valuables, were missing. At the moment, he said, it needs lots of repair, and it is not drivable.
"It's something that's really hard to pay for, for me, because I don't make much," Garcia said. "It sets me back a lot on things that I would hope to buy in the future like things that would help me with college. I was planning on buying a computer, a laptop, for college but now I have to step back on that."
The police report was filed on July 24, but Pasadena police said they were never notified that the car was found at the other location and towed. Police said they entered the information, reporting the car as "stolen" on July 24. The vehicle storage facility said it ran the information for Garcia's car, but did not notify Houston police because it did not come up as "stolen" in the system on July 25, the day it was brought in. The facility also explained that it may take time for the paperwork to be processed and reflected in the system.
After Garcia explained to the facility staff and police about his stolen car and the fine, to no avail, Garcia realized he was out of luck.
"It's just hard because that's so much money for something I didn't do," Garcia said. "It wasn't my fault."
Pasadena police also wanted to warn other drivers that if a stolen car is picked up outside Pasadena from private property, i.e. if an apartment complex orders the towing of a stolen car, depending on where it is towed, the towing or vehicle storage agencies may not have to report it to police, and therefore, police would have no way of knowing a stolen car was found. Pasadena Police describe this situation as a "crack" in the system that they say can happen to anyone.
By Rose-Ann Aragon
Click2Houston
August 2, 2017
PASADENA, Texas - Stuck.
That's how one 17-year-old car owner says he feels after being hit with a storage facility bill he doesn't believe he should have to pay.
The teen's car was stolen in Pasadena and he filed a report. He learned days later, however, that while his car had been found and brought to a storage lot, he was never notified.
"It's just hard because that's so much money for something I didn't do," Pedro Garcia said.
Garcia bought his 1998 Honda Civic with his hard-earned money.
"I worked with my brother, and now I have a job still," Garcia said. "I try to support myself so my mom won't have to worry about it. [The car] is not the best, but it gets me from point A to point B. It's just the car I could afford."
However, last Sunday, in the early morning, while visiting his brother in Pasadena, Garcia and his brother noticed something very wrong.
"Woke up. My car was gone," Garcia said.
Pasadena police records show the car was stolen from the Broadwater apartment complex on the 5000 block of Crenshaw Road. But after Garcia's brother called the complex the next day and finding out from them that the car wasn't towed there, Garcia said he reported it to Pasadena police as stolen.
"It was formal. It was quick. They asked me what the car looked like. I told them what it looked like, and they left," Garcia said.
However, a week later, on July 31, Garcia said he was shocked to find a bill in the mail from a vehicle storage facility in Houston, saying his car had been sitting in its lot since July 25, a day after Garcia filed the report with Pasadena police.
"It was seven days and I [just] got the letter so the charges had been racking up," Garcia said.
The vehicle storage facility's letter to Garcia showed that the car was towed from the Sterling Point living complex on the 6600 block of Dunlap Street in Houston. The final bill read $445.71 plus another $20 for having someone bring the car outside the lot, Garcia said.
Garcia was finally able to take the car back after nine days, only to find that the car's radio and back carpet, among other valuables, were missing. At the moment, he said, it needs lots of repair, and it is not drivable.
"It's something that's really hard to pay for, for me, because I don't make much," Garcia said. "It sets me back a lot on things that I would hope to buy in the future like things that would help me with college. I was planning on buying a computer, a laptop, for college but now I have to step back on that."
The police report was filed on July 24, but Pasadena police said they were never notified that the car was found at the other location and towed. Police said they entered the information, reporting the car as "stolen" on July 24. The vehicle storage facility said it ran the information for Garcia's car, but did not notify Houston police because it did not come up as "stolen" in the system on July 25, the day it was brought in. The facility also explained that it may take time for the paperwork to be processed and reflected in the system.
After Garcia explained to the facility staff and police about his stolen car and the fine, to no avail, Garcia realized he was out of luck.
"It's just hard because that's so much money for something I didn't do," Garcia said. "It wasn't my fault."
Pasadena police also wanted to warn other drivers that if a stolen car is picked up outside Pasadena from private property, i.e. if an apartment complex orders the towing of a stolen car, depending on where it is towed, the towing or vehicle storage agencies may not have to report it to police, and therefore, police would have no way of knowing a stolen car was found. Pasadena Police describe this situation as a "crack" in the system that they say can happen to anyone.
Wednesday, August 02, 2017
STILL A FAIR NUMBER OF ASSHOLES WORKING FOR THE DEPARTMENT.
by Bob Walsh
I worked for 24 years for the Calif. Dep. of Corrections. I have been retired for over 12 years and all my time was at the institutions. I met a lot of good people, a lot of average people and a modest but irritating number of assholes. Some of those assholes had a great deal of power. They just didn't give a shit because nothing bad ever happened to anybody within CDC for misuse of that power.
Jeff Schmeling had been a long-serving member of the custody staff at San Quentin. He was sacked in 2007 for not turning in paperwork indicating he had taken his mandatory TB test in a timely manner. (This is a condition of employment for all correctional workers and is required for all prisoners. There is no waiver possible.) The department continued to maintain that sacking him was legitimate even after a ruling by the Superior Court in a similar case.
Schmeling said in his appeal that he had in fact taken the test in a timely manner and that the nurse who handled the test had the results and, to the best of his knowledge, had forwarded those results. (Most of the employees use department medical staff to accomplish this requirement though there is no requirement that it happen that way.)
In May Schmeling was notified that his name was on the non-compliance list and that he had to demonstrate that he had taken the test in the required time frame or he would be sacked. He had until June 4 to comply. He took the test again on June 4 and got the results on June 6, the normal time delay for reading such a test. The department had, however, already canned him.
In 2008 the Department offered to reinstate Schmeling. Schmeling then dropped his appeal but the department stiffed him.
In 2011 a new warden made the same offer. The department stiffed him again.
Schmeling pursued his legal options. An ALJ ruling in his favor, but the department appealed.
In August of 2012 Schmeling died of an aneurysm. In November the SPB ruled in favor of the Department.
His widow had continued the civil suit. Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ordered the department to pay back wages owed to his widow, a tad over $500,000. The judge ruled that the firing violated the state constitutional prohibition against firing employees for medical reasons. The Department appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal and the SPB.
The wheels finally stopped spinning. After the Sacramento BEE made a pointed inquiry as to what was causing the delay in payment the state coughed up the $130,000 in interest it owed and began to process the payment of the principle.
Before his death Schmeling had been living in his car at a campground, having run thru his savings and cashed out his retirement in an effort to keep afloat. While doing so he re-connected with an old girlfriend and they married while all this drama was going on.
I worked for 24 years for the Calif. Dep. of Corrections. I have been retired for over 12 years and all my time was at the institutions. I met a lot of good people, a lot of average people and a modest but irritating number of assholes. Some of those assholes had a great deal of power. They just didn't give a shit because nothing bad ever happened to anybody within CDC for misuse of that power.
Jeff Schmeling had been a long-serving member of the custody staff at San Quentin. He was sacked in 2007 for not turning in paperwork indicating he had taken his mandatory TB test in a timely manner. (This is a condition of employment for all correctional workers and is required for all prisoners. There is no waiver possible.) The department continued to maintain that sacking him was legitimate even after a ruling by the Superior Court in a similar case.
Schmeling said in his appeal that he had in fact taken the test in a timely manner and that the nurse who handled the test had the results and, to the best of his knowledge, had forwarded those results. (Most of the employees use department medical staff to accomplish this requirement though there is no requirement that it happen that way.)
In May Schmeling was notified that his name was on the non-compliance list and that he had to demonstrate that he had taken the test in the required time frame or he would be sacked. He had until June 4 to comply. He took the test again on June 4 and got the results on June 6, the normal time delay for reading such a test. The department had, however, already canned him.
In 2008 the Department offered to reinstate Schmeling. Schmeling then dropped his appeal but the department stiffed him.
In 2011 a new warden made the same offer. The department stiffed him again.
Schmeling pursued his legal options. An ALJ ruling in his favor, but the department appealed.
In August of 2012 Schmeling died of an aneurysm. In November the SPB ruled in favor of the Department.
His widow had continued the civil suit. Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ordered the department to pay back wages owed to his widow, a tad over $500,000. The judge ruled that the firing violated the state constitutional prohibition against firing employees for medical reasons. The Department appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal and the SPB.
The wheels finally stopped spinning. After the Sacramento BEE made a pointed inquiry as to what was causing the delay in payment the state coughed up the $130,000 in interest it owed and began to process the payment of the principle.
Before his death Schmeling had been living in his car at a campground, having run thru his savings and cashed out his retirement in an effort to keep afloat. While doing so he re-connected with an old girlfriend and they married while all this drama was going on.
ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE OR NEGLIGENT DISCHARGE?
by Bob Walsh
This is one of those stories that most people (including me) would be inclined to disbelieve if it wasn't for the fact that there were apparently some good-quality witnesses to the situation who were uninvolved and have no particular reason to lie about it.
An unnamed Fed was at the Orlando International Airport a day or two ago. He was approaching a check point and unslung his shouldered bag. The shoulder strap caught his weapon and pulled it out of his holster. (No retention strap I suppose.) He made a grab for the gun, did grab it, the weapon discharged and then went along it's merry way. The Fed was shot in the foot.
Assuming this went down as presented and assuming the unsecure holster was within policy I would put this down as a legit accidental discharge.
This is one of those stories that most people (including me) would be inclined to disbelieve if it wasn't for the fact that there were apparently some good-quality witnesses to the situation who were uninvolved and have no particular reason to lie about it.
An unnamed Fed was at the Orlando International Airport a day or two ago. He was approaching a check point and unslung his shouldered bag. The shoulder strap caught his weapon and pulled it out of his holster. (No retention strap I suppose.) He made a grab for the gun, did grab it, the weapon discharged and then went along it's merry way. The Fed was shot in the foot.
Assuming this went down as presented and assuming the unsecure holster was within policy I would put this down as a legit accidental discharge.
SELF-DEFENSE PLEA IN PRISON HOMICIDE
Too bad Lha Southideth-Whiten's name isn't Clinton
by Bob Walsh
Lha Southideth-Whiten is a guest of the people of Iowa. He is currently looking at a second-degree murder beef for a hoorah that happened in October of last year in a prison dining hall.
The criminal complaint asserts that Southideth-Whiten punched Michael Whitworth in the face, knocked him on his ass and continue to wail on him even though he was down and apparently unconscious. Whitworth died ten days later.
I suspect Mr. Southideth-Whiten is going to have a tough row to hoe on this one. His trial is scheduled to begin at the end of August.
Too bad his name isn't Clinton. People tend to believe any sort of bullshit somebody named Clinton tells them.
by Bob Walsh
Lha Southideth-Whiten is a guest of the people of Iowa. He is currently looking at a second-degree murder beef for a hoorah that happened in October of last year in a prison dining hall.
The criminal complaint asserts that Southideth-Whiten punched Michael Whitworth in the face, knocked him on his ass and continue to wail on him even though he was down and apparently unconscious. Whitworth died ten days later.
I suspect Mr. Southideth-Whiten is going to have a tough row to hoe on this one. His trial is scheduled to begin at the end of August.
Too bad his name isn't Clinton. People tend to believe any sort of bullshit somebody named Clinton tells them.
ESCAPEE MURDERS ASSISTANT WARDEN'S STEPDAUGHTER
by Bob Walsh
A prisoner kidnapped and murdered the teenage daughter of the assistant warden at David Wade Correctional Center in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana last week.
Deltra Henderson, 39, walked away from his prison assignment, stole a care and in the process kidnapped Amanda Carney, 18. Her body was found near the crashed car. They believe that Ms. Carney was stabbed to death.
Henderson then stole a second car, crashed it too, and then went into a home near the prison. He found gun inside and barricaded himself in the house. He then engaged in a gunfight with responding prison staff. His body was found inside the house before the local constabulary could respond to the scene.
Henderson had been a guest of the state since 2001, doing a 30-year stretch for drugs and armed robbery. He had a prior for armed robbery in which a woman and a 14-year old girl were wounded.
In 2015 he petitioned the court for a reduced sentence because he was turning his life around and was remorseful for his crimes. I don't know what the outcome of that petition was. I guess it doesn't matter now and the POS is dead.
A prisoner kidnapped and murdered the teenage daughter of the assistant warden at David Wade Correctional Center in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana last week.
Deltra Henderson, 39, walked away from his prison assignment, stole a care and in the process kidnapped Amanda Carney, 18. Her body was found near the crashed car. They believe that Ms. Carney was stabbed to death.
Henderson then stole a second car, crashed it too, and then went into a home near the prison. He found gun inside and barricaded himself in the house. He then engaged in a gunfight with responding prison staff. His body was found inside the house before the local constabulary could respond to the scene.
Henderson had been a guest of the state since 2001, doing a 30-year stretch for drugs and armed robbery. He had a prior for armed robbery in which a woman and a 14-year old girl were wounded.
In 2015 he petitioned the court for a reduced sentence because he was turning his life around and was remorseful for his crimes. I don't know what the outcome of that petition was. I guess it doesn't matter now and the POS is dead.
JESSICA’S LAW MADE IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR SEX OFFENDERS TO RESIDE IN CALIFORNIA CITIES
Editorial: Sex offenders who are homeless are the greater risk
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
August 1, 2017
The California Supreme Court made the right call in 2015 when it struck down the most onerous provisions of Proposition 83, known as Jessica's Law, which prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school -- essentially banning them from finding housing in most cities and suburbs.
In so doing, the measure also kept them away from drug and alcohol treatment facilities, counseling, family and support groups as well as limited their ability to connect with parole officers. A study conducted not long after the measure was approved in 2006 found that more than 70 percent of registered sex offenders in San Diego County were already violating the provisions of the law and had to move. Many did and are still moving. Studies have found that since then, the number of homeless sex offenders in California have more than tripled.
The hope was that after the state Supreme Court lifted the restrictions, the numbers of homeless sex offenders would decline. But that has not been the case. A study found that as of last month, there were 6,329 homeless sex offenders on the California Justice Department's sex offender registry. That is only about 100 fewer than there were in early 2015.
Our initial concern with Jessica's Law was that while it placed harsher sentences on sex offenders, including requiring them to be registered for life, it would not necessarily increase safety. And the numbers are showing exactly that.
Homeless registered sex offenders are a far greater risk than those who have been able to transition back into community life, find stable homes and jobs near family connections. This was shown in a study last year by the California Justice Department that found that transient offenders were several times more likely to commit new sex crimes. Homeless sex offenders who are still on parole account for one-third of all new sex arrests although, for the time being, they only account for roughly 6 percent of registered California sex offenders.
But trying to reduce the number of homeless registered sex offenders won't be easy, and it likely will require greater reforms to the state's severe -- and sometimes lifelong -- restrictions on sex offenders.
Proposition 83 requires registered sex offenders who have been convicted of a felony sex offense to be monitored by GPS devices while on parole and for the remainder of their lives. Studies show such harsh restrictions make it very difficult for such offenders to adjust to life outside of prison.
Let's keep in mind that Proposition 83 was named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford who was the victim of a convicted sex offender who had failed to report his whereabouts. When offenders lack permanent housing and stability, they are harder for law enforcement officers to track and more prone to violate the terms of their release.
Let's also remember that while Jessica's Law limited where registered sex offenders can live, it doesn't restrict where they can spend their time during the day. Overall, California would be far better off knowing where sex offenders are than knowing they are out there somewhere -- with no place to call home.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat
August 1, 2017
The California Supreme Court made the right call in 2015 when it struck down the most onerous provisions of Proposition 83, known as Jessica's Law, which prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school -- essentially banning them from finding housing in most cities and suburbs.
In so doing, the measure also kept them away from drug and alcohol treatment facilities, counseling, family and support groups as well as limited their ability to connect with parole officers. A study conducted not long after the measure was approved in 2006 found that more than 70 percent of registered sex offenders in San Diego County were already violating the provisions of the law and had to move. Many did and are still moving. Studies have found that since then, the number of homeless sex offenders in California have more than tripled.
The hope was that after the state Supreme Court lifted the restrictions, the numbers of homeless sex offenders would decline. But that has not been the case. A study found that as of last month, there were 6,329 homeless sex offenders on the California Justice Department's sex offender registry. That is only about 100 fewer than there were in early 2015.
Our initial concern with Jessica's Law was that while it placed harsher sentences on sex offenders, including requiring them to be registered for life, it would not necessarily increase safety. And the numbers are showing exactly that.
Homeless registered sex offenders are a far greater risk than those who have been able to transition back into community life, find stable homes and jobs near family connections. This was shown in a study last year by the California Justice Department that found that transient offenders were several times more likely to commit new sex crimes. Homeless sex offenders who are still on parole account for one-third of all new sex arrests although, for the time being, they only account for roughly 6 percent of registered California sex offenders.
But trying to reduce the number of homeless registered sex offenders won't be easy, and it likely will require greater reforms to the state's severe -- and sometimes lifelong -- restrictions on sex offenders.
Proposition 83 requires registered sex offenders who have been convicted of a felony sex offense to be monitored by GPS devices while on parole and for the remainder of their lives. Studies show such harsh restrictions make it very difficult for such offenders to adjust to life outside of prison.
Let's keep in mind that Proposition 83 was named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford who was the victim of a convicted sex offender who had failed to report his whereabouts. When offenders lack permanent housing and stability, they are harder for law enforcement officers to track and more prone to violate the terms of their release.
Let's also remember that while Jessica's Law limited where registered sex offenders can live, it doesn't restrict where they can spend their time during the day. Overall, California would be far better off knowing where sex offenders are than knowing they are out there somewhere -- with no place to call home.
BUSTING DUI COP FROM ANOTHER DEPARTMENT NOT APPRECIATED
NYPD cops receive threats after arresting state trooper for driving drunk in the Bronx
By Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
July 29, 2017
A New York State Trooper’s arrest for drunk driving in the Bronx has frayed tensions between police and the law enforcement agency, sources said Saturday.
Police arrested Trooper Dana Narvaez, 42, near his home when cops found him passed out behind the wheel of his idling car. When he was given a Breathalyzer, he scored more than double the legal limit.
Cops charged him with drunk driving. A judge ordered him released from custody after a brief arraignment.
But since Narvaez’s arrest, cops from the 45th Precinct have received calls from people claiming to be state troopers seeking retaliation, police sources said.
“It’s on,” one caller threatened.
In response, NYPD union leaders have let their membership know about the threats, and encouraged everyone to obey the rules of the road to the letter, especially if driving in Westchester or upstate.
“We just wanted the members to be careful on the road and obey the speed limit because they’re looking,” said one union head, who wished not to be named. “We’ve been down this road before.”
State Trooper spokesman Beau Duffy said Narvaez was suspended without pay. Rumors of retaliation are “pure nonsense.”
“That will not happen,” he said.” The State Police have an outstanding relationship with the NYPD.”
By Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
July 29, 2017
A New York State Trooper’s arrest for drunk driving in the Bronx has frayed tensions between police and the law enforcement agency, sources said Saturday.
Police arrested Trooper Dana Narvaez, 42, near his home when cops found him passed out behind the wheel of his idling car. When he was given a Breathalyzer, he scored more than double the legal limit.
Cops charged him with drunk driving. A judge ordered him released from custody after a brief arraignment.
But since Narvaez’s arrest, cops from the 45th Precinct have received calls from people claiming to be state troopers seeking retaliation, police sources said.
“It’s on,” one caller threatened.
In response, NYPD union leaders have let their membership know about the threats, and encouraged everyone to obey the rules of the road to the letter, especially if driving in Westchester or upstate.
“We just wanted the members to be careful on the road and obey the speed limit because they’re looking,” said one union head, who wished not to be named. “We’ve been down this road before.”
State Trooper spokesman Beau Duffy said Narvaez was suspended without pay. Rumors of retaliation are “pure nonsense.”
“That will not happen,” he said.” The State Police have an outstanding relationship with the NYPD.”
MEN, BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE EVEN IF IT’S ONLY THREE INCHES
A penis enlargement killed a man in Sweden, it being the first death ever reported from this surgical procedure
By Dan Vergano
BuzzFeedNews
July 29, 2017
Swedish physicians are warning plastic surgeons about the first case of a man killed by penis enlargement surgery.
Like many plastic surgery procedures, penis enlargement relies on transplanting “autologous” fat cells from a body part where they are not wanted to one where they are. About 8,400 "penile enlargement" surgeries are performed worldwide every year to increase girth, according to international plastic surgery statistics. (The stats don’t include the number of elongation surgeries, partly because they’re sometimes done at the same time as enlargement, despite some surgeons recommending that they happen weeks apart.)
And now it’s killed a man in Stockholm, Sweden.
"This is the first described case where a seemingly simple and safe procedure of penis enlargement by autologous fat transfer caused sudden death in a healthy young man," reports the Journal of Forensic Sciences case study.
The healthy 30-year-old had wanted both a penile elongation and a penile enlargement, using fat cells taken from his belly. The surgeons performed the elongation, which requires an incision to loosen a ligament at the base of the penis, and then started the enlargement, an injection of two fluid ounces of fat cells into the patient’s penis.
They had almost finished the injection when the man's heart began racing, his oxygen levels dropped, and his blood pressure plunged. Within a half-hour, he had a heart attack. The plastic surgeons performed CPR and sent the man to an emergency room, but he died less than two hours later.
This is the first reported death from this kind of surgery. But it often leads to other serious problems, experts say.
“It’s a completely useless procedure that never works and disfigures men, and could kill you,” urologist Tobias Kohler of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not part of the study, told BuzzFeed News. “This is the worst case, but there are lots of other horrible consequences, from disfigurement to permanent erectile disfunction to even worse.”
“If you end up with something that nobody recognizes as a penis,” he added, “that is what we call sub-optimal.”
Since 1994, the American Urological Association has warned patients that penile enlargement "has not been shown to be safe or efficacious."
“The majority of men seeking penile elongation treatment have a normal penile size, which is functionally adequate,” a 2017 scientific review adds, despite its origins as a surgery for men with true deficiencies. The review suggests that most patients likely suffer from body dysmorphic disorder, an inability to see their body accurately, similar to some eating disorders.
An autopsy of the Swedish patient revealed no heart defects or genetic problems that might explain his death, and his arteries lacked the plaques that usually cause heart attacks. But his lungs were filled with blood and burst arteries.
The man died of a lung embolism, the forensic team concluded, where fat loosened during surgery traveled in punctured veins to the lungs and ruptured blood vessels there, causing death. Kohler said the mechanism seems completely reasonable and is a worry in other procedures as well. A 2015 Mexican study similarly traced 13 deaths from butt lifts.
It appears that the key risk in the Swedish surgery was that the man had also had the penis elongation procedure just before the fat injections intended to increase girth. Some of the fat meant to increase the girth of his penis leaked into his veins cut during the first procedure, traveled to his lungs, and killed him.
In their conclusion, the study team warned surgeons about the risks of combining the two procedures, something they say is “becoming more in demand every day.”
By Dan Vergano
BuzzFeedNews
July 29, 2017
Swedish physicians are warning plastic surgeons about the first case of a man killed by penis enlargement surgery.
Like many plastic surgery procedures, penis enlargement relies on transplanting “autologous” fat cells from a body part where they are not wanted to one where they are. About 8,400 "penile enlargement" surgeries are performed worldwide every year to increase girth, according to international plastic surgery statistics. (The stats don’t include the number of elongation surgeries, partly because they’re sometimes done at the same time as enlargement, despite some surgeons recommending that they happen weeks apart.)
And now it’s killed a man in Stockholm, Sweden.
"This is the first described case where a seemingly simple and safe procedure of penis enlargement by autologous fat transfer caused sudden death in a healthy young man," reports the Journal of Forensic Sciences case study.
The healthy 30-year-old had wanted both a penile elongation and a penile enlargement, using fat cells taken from his belly. The surgeons performed the elongation, which requires an incision to loosen a ligament at the base of the penis, and then started the enlargement, an injection of two fluid ounces of fat cells into the patient’s penis.
They had almost finished the injection when the man's heart began racing, his oxygen levels dropped, and his blood pressure plunged. Within a half-hour, he had a heart attack. The plastic surgeons performed CPR and sent the man to an emergency room, but he died less than two hours later.
This is the first reported death from this kind of surgery. But it often leads to other serious problems, experts say.
“It’s a completely useless procedure that never works and disfigures men, and could kill you,” urologist Tobias Kohler of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not part of the study, told BuzzFeed News. “This is the worst case, but there are lots of other horrible consequences, from disfigurement to permanent erectile disfunction to even worse.”
“If you end up with something that nobody recognizes as a penis,” he added, “that is what we call sub-optimal.”
Since 1994, the American Urological Association has warned patients that penile enlargement "has not been shown to be safe or efficacious."
“The majority of men seeking penile elongation treatment have a normal penile size, which is functionally adequate,” a 2017 scientific review adds, despite its origins as a surgery for men with true deficiencies. The review suggests that most patients likely suffer from body dysmorphic disorder, an inability to see their body accurately, similar to some eating disorders.
An autopsy of the Swedish patient revealed no heart defects or genetic problems that might explain his death, and his arteries lacked the plaques that usually cause heart attacks. But his lungs were filled with blood and burst arteries.
The man died of a lung embolism, the forensic team concluded, where fat loosened during surgery traveled in punctured veins to the lungs and ruptured blood vessels there, causing death. Kohler said the mechanism seems completely reasonable and is a worry in other procedures as well. A 2015 Mexican study similarly traced 13 deaths from butt lifts.
It appears that the key risk in the Swedish surgery was that the man had also had the penis elongation procedure just before the fat injections intended to increase girth. Some of the fat meant to increase the girth of his penis leaked into his veins cut during the first procedure, traveled to his lungs, and killed him.
In their conclusion, the study team warned surgeons about the risks of combining the two procedures, something they say is “becoming more in demand every day.”
OH SAY DOES THAT STAR SPANGLED BANNER YET WAVE O’ER THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE
Washington Residents Revolt After King County Government Removes "Offensive" American Flags
By Todd Stames
Townhall
July 31, 2017
For as far back as anyone can remember there’s been a roadside memorial honoring military veterans along Preston Fall City Road in King County, Washington.
For more than 10 years, local residents have decorated a rock wall with American flags and POW flags – a reminder of the price that many of our countrymen have paid to keep our nation free.
Recently, someone complained to King County leaders about the sign – saying the patriotic display was “offensive.”
So, last week a King County road crew took down the display – tearing flags off the rock face.
Well, that decision did not set well with the flag-waving patriots of Preston. Hundreds joined a Facebook page urging King County to restore the memorial.
"One person says they don't like it, and they take it down. I don't understand," one resident told television station Fox 57. "We live in the United States of America. This is our flag. Why is it offensive?"
But instead of standing down as their elected leaders desecrate the veteran’s memorial, local residents decided to fight back – by rebuilding the memorial.
"People were really, really upset about this," another resident told the television station.
Fox 57 reports that county officials want to find a new location for the memorial – because "signage and displays can create a visual distraction that may cause drivers to look away from the roadway."
“And as for the display's content - officials say making allowances for some would make other displays harder to ban,” the television station reported.
I salute the brave men and women of Preston, Washington – patriots all. And I have no doubt that on Election Day they will send a message to the lawmakers who gave the order to remove Old Glory.
And I have a message for the unpatriotic snowflake who was triggered by the red, white and blue. If the American flag offends you – I’ll be more than happy to provide you with a one-way ticket to Iran, Syria or the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. And I’ll even help you pack.
By Todd Stames
Townhall
July 31, 2017
For as far back as anyone can remember there’s been a roadside memorial honoring military veterans along Preston Fall City Road in King County, Washington.
For more than 10 years, local residents have decorated a rock wall with American flags and POW flags – a reminder of the price that many of our countrymen have paid to keep our nation free.
Recently, someone complained to King County leaders about the sign – saying the patriotic display was “offensive.”
So, last week a King County road crew took down the display – tearing flags off the rock face.
Well, that decision did not set well with the flag-waving patriots of Preston. Hundreds joined a Facebook page urging King County to restore the memorial.
"One person says they don't like it, and they take it down. I don't understand," one resident told television station Fox 57. "We live in the United States of America. This is our flag. Why is it offensive?"
But instead of standing down as their elected leaders desecrate the veteran’s memorial, local residents decided to fight back – by rebuilding the memorial.
"People were really, really upset about this," another resident told the television station.
Fox 57 reports that county officials want to find a new location for the memorial – because "signage and displays can create a visual distraction that may cause drivers to look away from the roadway."
“And as for the display's content - officials say making allowances for some would make other displays harder to ban,” the television station reported.
I salute the brave men and women of Preston, Washington – patriots all. And I have no doubt that on Election Day they will send a message to the lawmakers who gave the order to remove Old Glory.
And I have a message for the unpatriotic snowflake who was triggered by the red, white and blue. If the American flag offends you – I’ll be more than happy to provide you with a one-way ticket to Iran, Syria or the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. And I’ll even help you pack.
Tuesday, August 01, 2017
ONE OF TWO ARMED BURGLARS MEETS JESUS AFTER FACE-OFF WITH PISTOL PACKING TEXAS GRANNY
One of the two burglars made it out of the house before he croaked in the front yard, the other one is probably still beating feet
Two armed burglars entered the northwest Houston home of a 60-year-old grandmother through an open garage door Monday morning around 11:30 a.m.
Ole granny grabbed her own gun and when the smoke cleared both burglars were gone. One made it as far as the front yard where he croaked , a pistol laying near his body. He is believed to be around 20-years of age.
While his crime partner was meeting Jesus, the surviving burglar leaped across a fence, beat feet and is probably still running. I suspect there is a chance that after he catches his breath, he may start looking for a new occupation.
Now in Texas we consider this woman to be a hero. But in California she’d probably be prosecuted for murder since she didn’t get hurt.
Two armed burglars entered the northwest Houston home of a 60-year-old grandmother through an open garage door Monday morning around 11:30 a.m.
Ole granny grabbed her own gun and when the smoke cleared both burglars were gone. One made it as far as the front yard where he croaked , a pistol laying near his body. He is believed to be around 20-years of age.
While his crime partner was meeting Jesus, the surviving burglar leaped across a fence, beat feet and is probably still running. I suspect there is a chance that after he catches his breath, he may start looking for a new occupation.
Now in Texas we consider this woman to be a hero. But in California she’d probably be prosecuted for murder since she didn’t get hurt.
ESCAPE VIA PEANUT BUTTER
by Bob Walsh
A dozen inmates escaped from the Walker County, Alabama, jail over the weekend using peanut butter. It was actually kind of slick.
The inmates pained over the number on an outside door with peanut butter and renumbered it. A new officer in the control booth then got suckered by the prisoners into opening the door to the outside.
Eleven of the prisoners were recaptured nearby fairly quickly. The outstanding escapee was a doper.
The prisoners got out of the building at about 6:20 p.m. and were over the fence in about ten minutes. The control booth officer thought he was opening a cell door. Odd that he didn't think it strange that there were twelve guys going into one cell. Although it is also possible he realized right away something was wrong and sounded an alarm but the prisoners got over the fence anyway.
A dozen inmates escaped from the Walker County, Alabama, jail over the weekend using peanut butter. It was actually kind of slick.
The inmates pained over the number on an outside door with peanut butter and renumbered it. A new officer in the control booth then got suckered by the prisoners into opening the door to the outside.
Eleven of the prisoners were recaptured nearby fairly quickly. The outstanding escapee was a doper.
The prisoners got out of the building at about 6:20 p.m. and were over the fence in about ten minutes. The control booth officer thought he was opening a cell door. Odd that he didn't think it strange that there were twelve guys going into one cell. Although it is also possible he realized right away something was wrong and sounded an alarm but the prisoners got over the fence anyway.
SHERIFF JOE CONVICTED
by Bob Walsh
Former Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted Monday of ignoring a judge's order to stop making traffic stops that were targeting immigrants.
The 85-year old Arpaio was found guilty of one misdemeanor count. He could do six months for it, but it seems unlikely they will actually lock his ass up.
Arpaio was defeated in his bid for reelection this past November. He was a tough on crime old school guy who pissed off a lot of people. If you continue to poke the bear eventually the bear might get pissed, even in Arizona.
Former Maricopa County, AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio was convicted Monday of ignoring a judge's order to stop making traffic stops that were targeting immigrants.
The 85-year old Arpaio was found guilty of one misdemeanor count. He could do six months for it, but it seems unlikely they will actually lock his ass up.
Arpaio was defeated in his bid for reelection this past November. He was a tough on crime old school guy who pissed off a lot of people. If you continue to poke the bear eventually the bear might get pissed, even in Arizona.
CALEXIT MOVING RIGHT ALONG.....MAYBE
by Bob Walsh
The formerly great state of California has granted permission for the California Freedom Coalition to begin gathering the needed 585,407 signatures to get their proposal on the ballot. Their proposal would change the state constitution to allow California to secede from the union.
Right now the state constitution specifies that the state is "an inseparable part of the United States..."
The ballot proposition also directs the governor and the California delegates to congress to continue to work to increase California's autonomy and independence from the federal government.
If I lives somewhere other than California I would support this move. Unfortunately it would effectively turn CA into Cuba, Venezuela or some other third-world shit hole, though the road to that end would be long and bumpy.
Fortunately it would require action by the federal government and a federal constitutional amendment to permit this action. So, in effect, it is the liberals having an anti-Trump circle jerk. Have fun people. Don't get friction burns.
The formerly great state of California has granted permission for the California Freedom Coalition to begin gathering the needed 585,407 signatures to get their proposal on the ballot. Their proposal would change the state constitution to allow California to secede from the union.
Right now the state constitution specifies that the state is "an inseparable part of the United States..."
The ballot proposition also directs the governor and the California delegates to congress to continue to work to increase California's autonomy and independence from the federal government.
If I lives somewhere other than California I would support this move. Unfortunately it would effectively turn CA into Cuba, Venezuela or some other third-world shit hole, though the road to that end would be long and bumpy.
Fortunately it would require action by the federal government and a federal constitutional amendment to permit this action. So, in effect, it is the liberals having an anti-Trump circle jerk. Have fun people. Don't get friction burns.
CLEVER ENGINEERING FIX
But does the problem really exist?
by Bob Walsh
An engineer has recently come up with an interesting "fix" for the problem of flooding in the great central valley of California due to impending coastal flooding generated by global warming. Place a dam across the Golden Gate. That would pretty much destroy the Ports of San Francisco, Oakland, Benecia and Stockton, but it would make it more easily possible to fill in lots more of the bay to put in low-rent housing and more freeways. It could also result in some interesting biological development. Salt water fish trapped in the bay by the dam would be in a position to gradually acclimate to the decreasing salt content of the bay and we could end up with fresh water sharks (I think they already exist in a lake in South America somewhere), fresh water whales (if any are trapped in the bay) and all sorts of other interesting things.
Of course they could put in a REALLY BIG lock allow shipping into the bay, charge huge fees to transit the lock and then everybody would be wonderfully happy. Sort of.
Just an idea. I wonder if it will fly.
by Bob Walsh
An engineer has recently come up with an interesting "fix" for the problem of flooding in the great central valley of California due to impending coastal flooding generated by global warming. Place a dam across the Golden Gate. That would pretty much destroy the Ports of San Francisco, Oakland, Benecia and Stockton, but it would make it more easily possible to fill in lots more of the bay to put in low-rent housing and more freeways. It could also result in some interesting biological development. Salt water fish trapped in the bay by the dam would be in a position to gradually acclimate to the decreasing salt content of the bay and we could end up with fresh water sharks (I think they already exist in a lake in South America somewhere), fresh water whales (if any are trapped in the bay) and all sorts of other interesting things.
Of course they could put in a REALLY BIG lock allow shipping into the bay, charge huge fees to transit the lock and then everybody would be wonderfully happy. Sort of.
Just an idea. I wonder if it will fly.
UBER-LIBERAL DA KIM OGG STRIKES LOW BLOW AT HOUSTON CONSTABLES
Charges Dropped Against Black Harris County College Student Questioned by Cop While Soliciting Lawn Mowing business
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
July 31, 2017
Following a heated encounter with a Harris County deputy that was caught on tape, prosecutors have dropped charges against a college student who was confronted by the deputy while he passed out business cards door-to-door for his yard work business.
Marlin Gipson, a 20-year-old business student at Blinn College, was arrested and charged with failure to identify to the police and evading arrest earlier this month after giving the Harris County Precinct 1 deputy an incorrect birth date, then going back to his house after he saw the deputy take out handcuffs. He was later attacked by a police dog and tased with a stun gun.
Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen had said the deputy believed Gipson going door to door was "suspicious" because of recent burglaries in the north Harris County neighborhood. When the deputy stopped Gipson to question him, Gipson, who is black, said he did not have an ID on him, and explained that he and two others, including his brother, were just trying to mow some lawns. A lawnmower and other equipment was in view of the officer. Just after Gipson asked the deputy, "Could I have a card, please, sir, to write your name down for me?" the deputy then told Gipson to put his hands behind his back.
"We cutting grass, sir!" Gipson yelled. "You harassing us!"
After Gipson retreated to his home, other Harris County Precinct 1 deputies arrived and asked him to come outside. Gipson shut the door, and went to go hide in a bathroom. Rosen claims that Gipson's family let deputies inside, which they dispute. After giving warnings, deputies broke down the bathroom door, released a police dog on Gipson, and used a Taser on him twice.
Accusations of racial profiling and excessive force rang out loudly after a video of Gipson's initial encounter with the deputy went viral. Black Lives Matter: Houston held a press conference with Gipson and his attorney on Friday, the same day charges were dropped. Gipson asked that Rosen "end the character assassination" against him after Rosen said he had heard nothing but "falsehoods" from Gipson at an earlier press conference. "It's not right at all," Gipson said.
Rosen had claimed that deputies "didn't do anything wrong," and that Gipson was lying about his identity because of he had an open 2015 Class C warrant — equivalent to a traffic ticket — for threatening assault.
On Friday, prosecutors noted that there was "insufficient evidence" to warrant the charges against Gipson.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s see now. Gipson “retreated” to his home when the constable started to arrest him. They had to break down the shitter door to take him into evidence. He lied about his age as he had done previously in another county. What more do uber-liberal Kim Ogg’s lackeys need?
If this was an unconstitutional arrest, Ogg should have said so from the get-go. Gipson’s fate should have been left up to a jury. By dropping the charges, Ogg struck a low blow at the arresting constables. Why do I blame Ogg? Because this case was surely discussed with her and she’s the boss.
By Meagan Flynn
Houston Press
July 31, 2017
Following a heated encounter with a Harris County deputy that was caught on tape, prosecutors have dropped charges against a college student who was confronted by the deputy while he passed out business cards door-to-door for his yard work business.
Marlin Gipson, a 20-year-old business student at Blinn College, was arrested and charged with failure to identify to the police and evading arrest earlier this month after giving the Harris County Precinct 1 deputy an incorrect birth date, then going back to his house after he saw the deputy take out handcuffs. He was later attacked by a police dog and tased with a stun gun.
Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen had said the deputy believed Gipson going door to door was "suspicious" because of recent burglaries in the north Harris County neighborhood. When the deputy stopped Gipson to question him, Gipson, who is black, said he did not have an ID on him, and explained that he and two others, including his brother, were just trying to mow some lawns. A lawnmower and other equipment was in view of the officer. Just after Gipson asked the deputy, "Could I have a card, please, sir, to write your name down for me?" the deputy then told Gipson to put his hands behind his back.
"We cutting grass, sir!" Gipson yelled. "You harassing us!"
After Gipson retreated to his home, other Harris County Precinct 1 deputies arrived and asked him to come outside. Gipson shut the door, and went to go hide in a bathroom. Rosen claims that Gipson's family let deputies inside, which they dispute. After giving warnings, deputies broke down the bathroom door, released a police dog on Gipson, and used a Taser on him twice.
Accusations of racial profiling and excessive force rang out loudly after a video of Gipson's initial encounter with the deputy went viral. Black Lives Matter: Houston held a press conference with Gipson and his attorney on Friday, the same day charges were dropped. Gipson asked that Rosen "end the character assassination" against him after Rosen said he had heard nothing but "falsehoods" from Gipson at an earlier press conference. "It's not right at all," Gipson said.
Rosen had claimed that deputies "didn't do anything wrong," and that Gipson was lying about his identity because of he had an open 2015 Class C warrant — equivalent to a traffic ticket — for threatening assault.
On Friday, prosecutors noted that there was "insufficient evidence" to warrant the charges against Gipson.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s see now. Gipson “retreated” to his home when the constable started to arrest him. They had to break down the shitter door to take him into evidence. He lied about his age as he had done previously in another county. What more do uber-liberal Kim Ogg’s lackeys need?
If this was an unconstitutional arrest, Ogg should have said so from the get-go. Gipson’s fate should have been left up to a jury. By dropping the charges, Ogg struck a low blow at the arresting constables. Why do I blame Ogg? Because this case was surely discussed with her and she’s the boss.
COP TOLD PARTNER HE WAS GOING TO KILL THE DRIVER THEY WERE CHASING
Former St. Louis Police Officer Stands Trial for Murder
CBS St. Louis
July 31, 2017
ST. LOUIS -- The trial of a former St. Louis Police Officer charged with murdering a car chase suspect begins this week.
Jason Stockley will stand trial on first degree murder and armed criminal action charges stemming from the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson will decide the case, because Stockley waived his right to trial by jury.
Opening statements will begin tomorrow and the evidence the prosecution will present will include video, including that showing Stockley carrying his personal AK-47 while on duty, telling his partner he’s going to kill the suspect during the chase and Stockley going through his duffel bag in the police car after the shooting. Prosecutors say there’s also the gun recovered from Smith’s car, that contained only Stockley’s DNA.
The judge has barred those involved from talking about the case and will not allow cameras or other recording devices in the courtroom.
CBS St. Louis
July 31, 2017
ST. LOUIS -- The trial of a former St. Louis Police Officer charged with murdering a car chase suspect begins this week.
Jason Stockley will stand trial on first degree murder and armed criminal action charges stemming from the 2011 killing of Anthony Lamar Smith.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson will decide the case, because Stockley waived his right to trial by jury.
Opening statements will begin tomorrow and the evidence the prosecution will present will include video, including that showing Stockley carrying his personal AK-47 while on duty, telling his partner he’s going to kill the suspect during the chase and Stockley going through his duffel bag in the police car after the shooting. Prosecutors say there’s also the gun recovered from Smith’s car, that contained only Stockley’s DNA.
The judge has barred those involved from talking about the case and will not allow cameras or other recording devices in the courtroom.
DESNUDAS HAVE GONE WILD IN TIMES SQUARE AND THE COPS ARE HELPLESS
NYPD officers’ hands are tied since most of the costumed panhandlers are illegal — and under the de Blasio administration, it’s a no-no to go after them
By Stephanie Pagones, Kate Parker and Laura Italiano
New York Post
July 30, 2017
Meet the des-RUDE-as!
Costumed characters in Times Square are giving the finger to attempts to rein them in, refusing to stay in designated areas and continuing to curse in front of kiddies and threaten passers-by for dough.
Foul-mouthed desnudas, grabby Hulks and tourist-terrorizing gangs of Minnie Mice are still brazenly holding the Crossroads of the World hostage even amid a heavy presence of NYPD cops, who act oblivious to their disturbing antics.
At any given moment on two recent afternoons, only half of the two-dozen tip-mooching characters stayed behind the blue lines of Times Square’s “Designated Activity Zones,” or DAZs, the city-mandated areas created last year as their boundary for posing for photos and asking for tips.
Yet none of those who illegally strayed outside the zones were issued summonses by the half-dozen police patrolling the pedestrian plaza.
A law-enforcement source shrugged that the officers’ hands were tied since most of the costumed panhandlers are illegal — and under the de Blasio administration, it’s a no-no to go after them.
Mayor de Blasio signed the bill that created the DAZs.
The most shameless of the costumed pack repeatedly left the DAZs to grab, mob and berate tourists — “Take a photo lady! Mami!” shouted a trio of overly-aggressive Minnie Mice — in their frantic pursuit of cash.
“I told you, if you don’t have a tip, then f— off!” one star-spangled desnuda, a painted nude hustler, snarled to a Post reporter, displaying just the sort of greed that detractors say is ruining Times Square’s happy, family vibe.
Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins told The Post during a recent walk through the crowded pedestrian plaza, “Watch — the Hulk always goes and touches people.”
The superhero was well outside the DAZ at 47th Street and Broadway, getting tourists’ attention by running up to them and putting his bulky green arm around their shoulders.
“The Hulk drives me crazy,” Tompkins said.
At 46th Street and Seventh Avenue, a trio of polka-dotted Minnie Mice were working in tandem.
The first Minnie would crash a tourist’s selfie or run up to a child, arms outstretched. Once the first Minnie was in the picture, the others would rush in.
“Suddenly, there’s three Minnies in your picture,” Tomkins said. “And a Batman, and a Spider-Man. And they all want cash. And they’re all outside the zone.
“It’s a total f—ing scam, and it happens thousands of times a week,” he said, clearly frustrated.
“It’s those same three f—ing Minnie Mouses.”
Several weeks ago, Times Square Alliance staffers observed the DAZs between 45th and 47th streets from 4 to 9 p.m., the organization said.
Twenty costumed characters were at work. Of their 418 character-initiated encounters, 67 percent occurred outside a DAZ, the Alliance said.
The characters walked away with tips in fewer than half — 43 percent — of the interactions.
Nearly every interaction, 88 percent, involved the character touching the member of the public.
“They are very aggressive,” Tashay Carter, 30, from Birmingham, Ala., complained.
“I just encountered that with Cookie Monster. I didn’t want to get a photo, and he or she or whoever it was, they were very aggressive with me.”
A few of the creatures assiduously tow the line. A panhandler dressed as Donald Trump was one of the best behaved on recent visits by The Post, though it was odd to see him shunning publicity.
“I don’t wanna say anything,” he told a reporter.
Robert John Burck, a k a the Naked Cowboy, also was among the most law-abiding.
“You can make it work if ya try!” he said of the DAZs with a chirpy twang.
But in the worst cases, the characters can leave their victims terrified.
A woman who works in the plaza recalled an encounter from last week. The petite Asian woman said she had been taking a cell-phone photo at 47th Street and Broadway when a Cookie Monster attacked her.
Assuming she was a tourist, the fuzzy blue character ran over and locked her into a tight one-arm embrace, all the while shouting “Arigato! Arigato!” — Japanese for thank you.
“It took multiple times saying, ‘No. Don’t touch me!’ ” before Cookie let go, said the woman, who asked her name not be used.
“Within a minute, a Minnie Mouse, before I even saw her, had her hand on the back of my neck, saying, “Picture! Picture!”
The woman said she again had to shout repeatedly, “Don’t touch me!” before the panhandler let go.
Eight DAZs were established a year ago to keep the costumed creatures literally in line after a series of ugly incidents, including a Spider-Man who wouldn’t let go of a 13-year-old kid until the father paid $10 and a Batman who snatched a $50 bill from an Irish tourist’s wallet.
Summonses carry a fine up to $500.
But in the first 12 months since the zones were established, cops issued 220 summonses — or an average of well below even one a day, despite the flagrant flouting of the rules
Part of the problem is the panhandlers can be elusive.
When they see cops coming, “they dart back into their DAZs,” Tompkins said.
The law-enforcement source added that past proposals to license the creatures went nowhere because most of the panhandlers are illegal immigrants and they wouldn’t register anyway. Besides, the administration at City Hall isn’t interested in going after illegals in this capacity, the source said.
And given that Times Square is a prime terror target, herding Elmos and Minnies isn’t exactly the highest priority, the source noted.
Asked about the issue, City Hall referred The Post to the NYPD. Police spokesman Peter Donald responded in an e-mail that “the enforcement data tells a different story. There have been a number of arrests and hundreds of summons issued to costume characters over the past year in Times Square.”
By Stephanie Pagones, Kate Parker and Laura Italiano
New York Post
July 30, 2017
Meet the des-RUDE-as!
Costumed characters in Times Square are giving the finger to attempts to rein them in, refusing to stay in designated areas and continuing to curse in front of kiddies and threaten passers-by for dough.
Foul-mouthed desnudas, grabby Hulks and tourist-terrorizing gangs of Minnie Mice are still brazenly holding the Crossroads of the World hostage even amid a heavy presence of NYPD cops, who act oblivious to their disturbing antics.
At any given moment on two recent afternoons, only half of the two-dozen tip-mooching characters stayed behind the blue lines of Times Square’s “Designated Activity Zones,” or DAZs, the city-mandated areas created last year as their boundary for posing for photos and asking for tips.
Yet none of those who illegally strayed outside the zones were issued summonses by the half-dozen police patrolling the pedestrian plaza.
A law-enforcement source shrugged that the officers’ hands were tied since most of the costumed panhandlers are illegal — and under the de Blasio administration, it’s a no-no to go after them.
Mayor de Blasio signed the bill that created the DAZs.
The most shameless of the costumed pack repeatedly left the DAZs to grab, mob and berate tourists — “Take a photo lady! Mami!” shouted a trio of overly-aggressive Minnie Mice — in their frantic pursuit of cash.
“I told you, if you don’t have a tip, then f— off!” one star-spangled desnuda, a painted nude hustler, snarled to a Post reporter, displaying just the sort of greed that detractors say is ruining Times Square’s happy, family vibe.
Times Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins told The Post during a recent walk through the crowded pedestrian plaza, “Watch — the Hulk always goes and touches people.”
The superhero was well outside the DAZ at 47th Street and Broadway, getting tourists’ attention by running up to them and putting his bulky green arm around their shoulders.
“The Hulk drives me crazy,” Tompkins said.
At 46th Street and Seventh Avenue, a trio of polka-dotted Minnie Mice were working in tandem.
The first Minnie would crash a tourist’s selfie or run up to a child, arms outstretched. Once the first Minnie was in the picture, the others would rush in.
“Suddenly, there’s three Minnies in your picture,” Tomkins said. “And a Batman, and a Spider-Man. And they all want cash. And they’re all outside the zone.
“It’s a total f—ing scam, and it happens thousands of times a week,” he said, clearly frustrated.
“It’s those same three f—ing Minnie Mouses.”
Several weeks ago, Times Square Alliance staffers observed the DAZs between 45th and 47th streets from 4 to 9 p.m., the organization said.
Twenty costumed characters were at work. Of their 418 character-initiated encounters, 67 percent occurred outside a DAZ, the Alliance said.
The characters walked away with tips in fewer than half — 43 percent — of the interactions.
Nearly every interaction, 88 percent, involved the character touching the member of the public.
“They are very aggressive,” Tashay Carter, 30, from Birmingham, Ala., complained.
“I just encountered that with Cookie Monster. I didn’t want to get a photo, and he or she or whoever it was, they were very aggressive with me.”
A few of the creatures assiduously tow the line. A panhandler dressed as Donald Trump was one of the best behaved on recent visits by The Post, though it was odd to see him shunning publicity.
“I don’t wanna say anything,” he told a reporter.
Robert John Burck, a k a the Naked Cowboy, also was among the most law-abiding.
“You can make it work if ya try!” he said of the DAZs with a chirpy twang.
But in the worst cases, the characters can leave their victims terrified.
A woman who works in the plaza recalled an encounter from last week. The petite Asian woman said she had been taking a cell-phone photo at 47th Street and Broadway when a Cookie Monster attacked her.
Assuming she was a tourist, the fuzzy blue character ran over and locked her into a tight one-arm embrace, all the while shouting “Arigato! Arigato!” — Japanese for thank you.
“It took multiple times saying, ‘No. Don’t touch me!’ ” before Cookie let go, said the woman, who asked her name not be used.
“Within a minute, a Minnie Mouse, before I even saw her, had her hand on the back of my neck, saying, “Picture! Picture!”
The woman said she again had to shout repeatedly, “Don’t touch me!” before the panhandler let go.
Eight DAZs were established a year ago to keep the costumed creatures literally in line after a series of ugly incidents, including a Spider-Man who wouldn’t let go of a 13-year-old kid until the father paid $10 and a Batman who snatched a $50 bill from an Irish tourist’s wallet.
Summonses carry a fine up to $500.
But in the first 12 months since the zones were established, cops issued 220 summonses — or an average of well below even one a day, despite the flagrant flouting of the rules
Part of the problem is the panhandlers can be elusive.
When they see cops coming, “they dart back into their DAZs,” Tompkins said.
The law-enforcement source added that past proposals to license the creatures went nowhere because most of the panhandlers are illegal immigrants and they wouldn’t register anyway. Besides, the administration at City Hall isn’t interested in going after illegals in this capacity, the source said.
And given that Times Square is a prime terror target, herding Elmos and Minnies isn’t exactly the highest priority, the source noted.
Asked about the issue, City Hall referred The Post to the NYPD. Police spokesman Peter Donald responded in an e-mail that “the enforcement data tells a different story. There have been a number of arrests and hundreds of summons issued to costume characters over the past year in Times Square.”
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