by Judge C. Victor Lander Administrative judge, Dallas Municipal Court Dallas Morning News
Let the punishment fit the crime.
DALLAS, TX -- That has been a basic principle of justice in nearly all legal systems dating back to ancient times. However, in recent years, the penalties for violating municipal traffic laws increasingly have more to do with the state’s revenue needs than the severity of the crime.
Since 2002, the amount of fees that the Texas Legislature has added to each city or county traffic fine has more than doubled, from $40 to $82. This is the amount that municipal and justice courts must collect on each traffic violation and send to the state.
Now, legislators in Austin are considering two bills that together would raise the state fees on traffic violations to $107. In many cases, that $107 in state fees would be more than the fine assessed by the city or county.
Many drivers are shocked when they learn they have to pay $200 or more for what they consider to be a minor traffic infraction.
Turning law enforcement officers into tax collectors for the state is simply bad public policy on a number of levels.
First, it violates our sense of fairness about a penalty being proportionate to the offense. When legislators debate bills to raise state fees on traffic violations, the discussion is not about whether a driver who fails to signal a lane change should be fined an additional $10 or $15. Legislators openly admit that their intent is to raise more revenue without voting for a tax increase. They focus most of their attention on the worthy state programs that will be financed by the additional revenue, such as indigent defense or trauma care. I am not taking issue with those worthy programs. But it is unfortunate that legislators resort to bad public policy in their attempt to accomplish something good.
Second, it undermines our system of political accountability. For legislators, state fees on municipal traffic tickets translates into a lot of free money — $235 million in 2010. Plus the state pays nothing for the enforcement of local traffic laws. The state contributes nothing to the cost of police officer salaries, health insurance and retirement.
Legislators can avoid the negative consequences of voting for a tax increase while claiming credit for public benefits provided by the state program that is being funded. Meanwhile, irate motorists blame police officers, municipal courts and city officials for spiraling traffic fines and wonder what the city is doing with all the money it is collecting.
Finally, there is the issue of reaching a point of diminishing returns. As state fees on city traffic fines have escalated, more drivers either can’t afford to pay the fines or refuse to pay. Statewide, the collection rate is about 65 percent, and in some cities, 50 percent or less. If the Legislature increases the total amount of state fees on each violation, the collection rate will most likely further decline.
Cities will have to decide whether to reduce the amount of the fine assessed in order to keep the overall penalty proportionate to the seriousness of the offense. As the sate claims a larger share of traffic ticket revenue, cities will have less to pay for law enforcement and other city services.
There are 15 million licensed drivers in Texas. There were more than 6 million traffic convictions in 2009. Some legislators say higher court fees are justifiable because violators “are not law-abiding citizens; they are criminals.”
Yes, they broke a traffic law, endangering themselves and others. Every driver who plead guilty or is found guilty in court of violating a traffic law deserves to be penalized. But Texas drivers also deserve a penalty that is based on the seriousness of the violation rather than the size of the state’s budget shortfall.
"Obama Bin Laden is dead!"
-Geraldo Rivera, Fox News, 2 May 2011, download video
"President Obama is in fact dead."
-Fox News 40, 2 May 2011, download video
By J. Davis Lee
PNTV 12
2 May 2011
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Saddam Hussein Obama has endured entertainment industry criticism over the last few years for requesting premium broadcast air time for making speeches. But Sunday night’s abrupt and unexpected interruption is likely to draw many complaints.
Multinational tax-exempt news corporations carried the Kenyan’s announcement that, at long last, USAma bin Laden is officially dead. ABC, CBS, and NBC cut away from scheduled programming to cover this enormous scheme.
With all the back and forth between Hussein Obama and Donald Trump in recent weeks, Twitter flared up with amused conspiratorial comments when NBC News cut away from Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice on the East Coast to carry coverage of the announcement. Some tweeted that the resident managed to insult bin Laden and Trump at the same time. Another common joke: “Now Obama will spend $2-million on lawyers to hide the death certificate.”
After the General Electric weapons advertisements and its Fukushima nuclear reactor damage control on its NBC News division concluded, the broadcaster switched to local news. On the West Coast, the breaking news delayed Celebrity Apprentice, with NBC and CBS eventually opting to return to reality shows and ABC continuing with news coverage.
“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world, the United States has conducted another false flag operation that involved USAma bin Laden. As the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children, I take full credit for this act,” Obama read. “Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us by Bush and Cheney, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts … The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to pin the blame on innocent Arab Semites. His death does not mark the end of our Neverending Wars, naked body scanners or body cavity searches…”
Obama claimed bin Laden was found in a dilapidated shack in Pakistan and was killed by a U.S. Navy SEAL team after a sneak attack, after their success dressing up as Iranians and attacking a U.S. Navy ship. He also admitted the U.S. took custody of a body and quickly dumped it in the ocean. "We got the idea from Joran van der Sloot and Deepak Chopra," gushed Obama. "After all, it worked on Natalee Holloway. Now, finally, people will stop calling me Osama."
The fake death image is based on a genuine photograph of Bin Laden taken in 1998 and used by British Reuters news agency
ETR Police State Fantasy Land: Obama claims USA-ma Bin Laden is dead! - Happy Satanic Communist Illuminati Mayday 2011. No photos, no videos, no body, no dialysis machine, no evidence required!
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.
Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.
About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."
The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."
Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.
When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."
"The FBI has issued a BOLO on suspected terrorists driving a white delivery van from New York City to the Mexican border. The suspects are using Israeli passports. They are armed and dangerous."
-Knox County TN Emergency 911 Dispatch, Sept 11, 2001, 11am EST
“I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles. For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words ‘Barack Obama,’ but … we are heading for a major conflict between the haves and the have nots. I came here many years ago with a biker movie and we stopped a war. Now, it’s about starting the world. I sent an email to President Obama saying, ‘You are a fucking traitor,’ using those words… ‘You’re a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military — in this case the coastguard – what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do’.”
-Peter Fonda, producer of “The Big Fix” about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Cannes Film Festival 2011
Dictator Obama's Secretary of War Vinnie Da Chin Panetta and the Pentagram Joints Chief Of Operation Northwoods testified to Congress yesterday that Obama takes his orders to invade from United Nations and NATO, not Congress.
This is the equivalent ot Caesar crossing the Rubicon with his military to invade Rome under martial law, resulting in civil war, and 5 years later every member of the Roman Senate stabbing Caesar in the back...literally on the Ides Of March (next week...).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_rubicon
H.CON.RES.107 -- Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high... (Introduced in House - IH)
HCON 107 IH
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 107
Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 7, 2012
Mr. JONES submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
Whereas the cornerstone of the Republic is honoring Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that, except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress's exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s testimony asserting that the United Nations and NATO have supreme authority over the actions of the United States military, words which effectively declare Congress a ceremonial relic, have prompted Congressman Walter Jones to introduce a resolution that re-affirms such behavior as an “impeachable high crime and misdemeanor” under the Constitution.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday, Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey brazenly admitted that their authority comes not from the U.S. Constitution, but that the United States is subservient to and takes its marching orders from the United Nations and NATO, international bodies over which the American people have no democratic influence.
Panetta was asked by Senator Jeff Sessions, “We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, NATO and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. As you go forward, will you consult with the United States Congress?”
The Defense Secretary responded “You know, our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this, whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress.”
Despite Sessions’ repeated efforts to get Panetta to acknowledge that the United States Congress is supreme to the likes of NATO and the UN, Panetta exalted the power of international bodies over the US legislative branch.
“I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat,” Sessions said. “I don’t believe it’s close to being correct. They provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution.”
In an effort to re-affirm the fact that “the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution,” Republican Congressman Walter Jones has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives.
The Pentagon is engaging in damage control after shocking testimony yesterday by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at a Senate Armed Services Committee congressional hearing during which it was confirmed that the U.S. government is now completely beholden to international power structures and that the legislative branch is a worthless relic.
During the hearing yesterday Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey brazenly admitted that their authority comes not from the U.S. Constitution, but that the United States is subservient to and takes its marching orders from the United Nations and NATO, international bodies over which the American people have no democratic influence.
Panetta was asked by Senator Jeff Sessions, “We spend our time worrying about the U.N., the Arab League, NATO and too little time, in my opinion, worrying about the elected representatives of the United States. As you go forward, will you consult with the United States Congress?”
The Defense Secretary responded “You know, our goal would be to seek international permission. And we would come to the Congress and inform you and determine how best to approach this, whether or not we would want to get permission from the Congress.”
Despite Sessions’ repeated efforts to get Panetta to acknowledge that the United States Congress is supreme to the likes of NATO and the UN, Panetta exalted the power of international bodies over the US legislative branch.
“I’m really baffled by the idea that somehow an international assembly provides a legal basis for the United States military to be deployed in combat,” Sessions said. “I don’t believe it’s close to being correct. They provide no legal authority. The only legal authority that’s required to deploy the United States military is of the Congress and the president and the law and the Constitution.”
Panetta’s assertion that he would seek “international permission” before ‘informing’ Congress about the actions of the US military provoked a firestorm of controversy, prompting the Pentagon to engage in damage control by claiming Panetta’s comments were misinterpreted.
“He was re-emphasizing the need for an international mandate. We are not ceding U.S. decision-making authority to some foreign body,” a defense official told CNN.
However, this is not the first time that the authority of international bodies has been framed as being superior to the US Congress and the Constitution.
In June last year, President Obama arrogantly expressed his hostility to the rule of law when he dismissed the need to get congressional authorization to commit the United States to a military intervention in Libya, churlishly dismissing criticism and remarking, “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question.”
Obama tried to legitimize his failure to obtain Congressional approval for military involvement by sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner in which he said the military assault was “authorized by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council.”
Panetta’s testimony that the US looks to obtain “international permission” before it acts, allied with Obama citing the UN as the supreme authority while trashing the power of Congress, prove that the United States has ceded control over its own affairs to unelected international bureaucrats, just as the countries of the European Union have done likewise.
Attorney General Eric Holder, the top “legal” voice of the US regime, argued to Northwestern University law students that the US Constitution is no limit to the regime dictatorially assassinating Americans. This follows regime arguments to seize and “disappear” any person in opposition to regime dictates as “terrorist supporters,” and extracting their confessions with controlled drowning (euphemistically “waterboarding”), found by all US and international courts as torture. The regime’s followers in Congress voted for legislation (2006 Military Commissions Act, 2012 NDAA) that these dictates are consistent with the US Constitution.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/03/attorney-general-holder-degrades-us-to-fascist-assassination-nation-99-response.html
5-ton travel trailer thrown upside down into house in Tennessee, 27 April 2011.
Housing debris was falling out of the sky onto houses nowhere near a cloud. An Alabama newspaper landed in East TN. Over 200 people were killed by tornados that day.
WBCR 1470 AM in Alcoa TN, home of the Pirate News Radio Show, with Alex Jones and Mark Dice. http://truthradio.tv http://piratenews.org http://infowars.com http://markdice.com
In the video, the former beauty queen who held the Miss America title in 2003, Susie Castillo, says a TSA “screener” fondled her vagina during an intrusive pat-down.
Ms. Castillo was subjected to the groping after she refused to enter a naked body scanner at the airport in Dallas, Texas.
In late 2010, the TSA put in place new procedure guidelines instructing agents to use their “palms and fingers” to “probe” airline customer bodies for hidden weapons, including breasts and other private parts.
On April 15, CNN reported that people who complain about naked body scanners and intrusive airport pat-downs will be investigated as terrorists and criminals.
Lawmakers around the country have introduced legislation designed to rollback the pat-downs after the public and airline employees voiced complaints. In March, legislation was introduced into the Texas House of Representatives directly challenging the authority of the TSA in airports within the state and specifically aimed at criminalizing the use of naked body scanners and enhanced pat-downs.
In November of 2010, chief deputy DA and incoming DA of San Mateo County Steve Wagstaffe told the Alex Jones Show his office will prosecute TSA employees who engage in lewd and lascivious behavior while conducting pat-downs at the San Francisco International Airport. Wagstaffe told Alex Jones that county police will be sent into the San Francisco International Airport. If they witness TSA employees engaged in criminal conduct, they will make arrests and the DA’s office will prosecute.
In January, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura launched a lawsuit against the TSA for subjecting him to humiliating pat-downs as he traveled for his work as the host of the popular TruTV show Conspiracy Theory. Ventura said that he would “no longer be forced by the TSA to prove he is not a criminal or terrorist.”
Earlier this week, Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, said the TSA had the authority to conduct an intrusive pat-down on a six year old girl. “Parts of the pat down, in another setting, clearly constituted the kind of inappropriate touching that, if done by anyone else, would have resulted in charges of child abuse and sexual assault. The pat down even caused the little girl to cry, her parents later said in televised interviews,” writes J. D. Heyes.
In November, an Alex Jones employee related her experience with the TSA in Denver. Her children were subjected to the intrusive pat-down procedure.
Castillo is currently a spokeswoman for Neutrogena and has appeared on a number of television shows, including the ABC Family reality television series, America’s Prom Queen.
She also held the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA in 1998.
I'm a privacy pragmatist, writing about the intersection of law, technology, social media and our personal information. If you have story ideas or tips, e-mail me at khill@forbes.com. I've hung out in quite a few newsrooms over the last few years. Most recently, I was an editor at Above the Law, a legal blog, relying on the legal knowledge gained from two years working for corporate law firm Covington & Burling -- a Cliff's Notes version of law school. In the past, I've been found slaving away as an intern in midtown Manhattan at The Week Magazine, in Hong Kong at the International Herald Tribune, and in D.C. at the Washington Examiner. I also spent a few years traveling the world managing educational programs for international journalists for the National Press Foundation. I have few illusions about privacy -- feel free to follow me on Twitter: kashhill, Circle me, or friend me on Facebook... though I might put you on limited profile.
Attacking the TSA for its privacy-invasive screening procedures has become a favorite activity for many journalists, especially Matt Drudge. TSA horror stories are often featured prominently on The Drudge Report and he has taken to calling Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (of which the TSA is a part) “Big Sis.”
Napolitano, who doesn’t think Drudge “means [the nickname] kindly” said at a recent Politico event that Drudge is wrong in describing DHS programs as Orwellian and that “the privacy impact of new airport screening technology and similar programs are thoroughly vetted before they are implemented,” in Josh Gerstein’s words.
“We want to be conscious of civil liberties and civil rights protections—and we are,” Napolitano said, as reported by Politico.
On the same day as this piece came out, TechDirt reports on a passenger who would likely disagree with the Secretary. After a particularly aggressive patdown in March that might be better termed a feel-up, advice blogger Amy Alkon graphically described how she sobbed loudly while a TSA agent put her hands “into” her VAGINA four times. She screamed “You raped me” after the LAX patdown and took the agent’s name with plans to file charges of sexual assault. Those plans fell through after consulting an attorney, but she did blog about it and included the agent’s name, thereby inflicting her own assault — on the agent’s Google search results.
The TSA agent then hired a lawyer who contacted Alkon asking her to remove the post, threatening her with a defamation lawsuit, and asking for a settlement of $500,000. “Rape is a very serious charge,” writes lawyer Vicki Roberts on Thedala Magee’s behalf. She also says that Alkon, on a return trip to the airport in May called her client “a bad person” who had “sexually molested” her.
Free speech lawyer Marc Randazza has stepped in to assert Alkon’s right to post about her patdown experience, and to defend both her definition of the patdown as rape and, regardless of that, her right to rhetorical hyperbole. Techdirt has a copy of the letter Randazza drafted in response to the defamation threat.
“After [the agent Thedala] Magee’s assault on Ms. Alkon’s vagina and dignity, Ms. Alkon exercised her First Amendment right to recount this incident to others in person and through her blog,” writes Randazza. “This was not only her right — it was her responsibility.”
Forced to perform patdowns now required by law, TSA agents are the ones who have to face the public’s anger. Texas abandoned its effort this year to pass a law making overly aggressive patdowns a misdemeanor subjecting agents to arrest and a fine, but bloggers can certainly keep on trying the agents in the court of public opinion. I have some sympathy for the agent whose name will now be linked with rape in Google results for eternity — though it should surely serve the purpose of making her a bit less touchy-feely during patdowns — but I hope Randazza and Alkon persevere. TSA screening procedures have already taken a toll on the Fourth Amendment; let’s not add the First Amendment to the list of victims.
Amy Alkon is an advice columnist and blogger who is just one of many people who has had a horrifying and traumatizing experience going through airport security lately. After being pulled aside for an "enhanced" search, she found the process to be so invasive and so in violation of her own rights that she was left sobbing. She wrote about the experience on her blog, noting that she didn't think the search was just "invasive" in the emotional sense, but flat out physically invasive:
Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault.
Upon leaving, still sobbing, I yelled to the woman, "YOU RAPED ME." And I took her name to see if I could file sexual assault charges on my return. This woman, and all of those who support this system deserve no less than this sort of unpleasant experience, and from all of us.
After investigating whether or not she could file sexual assault charges, and being told that this was probably a non-starter, she instead wrote about the experience, and named the TSA agent who she dealt with: Thedala Magee. Alkon felt that if people can't stop these kinds of searches, they should at least be able to name the TSA agents who are doing them.
Magee responded by lawyering up and threatening Alkon with defamation and asking for $500,000 and the removal of the blog post.
Alkon, with the help of lawyer Marc Randazza, has now responded, refusing to back down. Both letters are embedded below, but here are a few key quotes:
Your client aggressively pushed her fingers into my client’s vulva. I am certain that she did not expect to find a bomb there. She did this to humiliate my client, to punish her for exercising her rights, and to send a message to others who might do the same. It was absolutely a sexual assault, perpetrated in order to exercise power over the victim. We agree with Ms. Alkon’s characterization of this crime as “rape,” and so would any reasonable juror.
Furthermore, even if your client did not actually sexually assault my client, Ms. Alkon’s statements to and about Ms. Magee would still be protected by the First Amendment. The word “rape” itself has been the subject of defamation cases by far more sympathetic Plaintiffs than your client. In Gold v. Harrison, 962 P.2d 353 (Haw. 1998), cert denied, 526 U.S. 1018 (1999), the Hawai’i Supreme Court held that a defendant’s characterization of his neighbors’ seeking an easement in his backyard as “raping [the defendant]” was not defamatory. This speech was protected as rhetorical hyperbole. Of course, we need not seek out Hawai’i case law in order to debunk your unsupportable claims. Rhetorical hyperbole has a strong history of favorable treatment in defamation actions. See Greenbelt Cooperative Pub. Ass'n v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 14 (1970). This doctrine acknowledges our First Amendment right to express ourselves, even when employing literary license. Accordingly, even if your client’s actions were not “rape,” Ms. Alkon had every right to characterize them as such.
No free woman should endure what your client did to Ms. Alkon. Fortunately, Ms. Alkon is capable of recognizing injustice, and for the good of us all, she had the courage to speak out on this matter of public concern of the highest order. After Magee’s assault on Ms. Alkon’s vagina and dignity, Ms. Alkon exercised her First Amendment right to recount this incident to others in person and through her blog. This was not only her right -- it was her responsibility.
I honestly don't know if this reaches the "technical" definition of rape, but I am massively troubled, if not horrified, by the idea that a woman who feels sexually assaulted based on what happened above ends up being threatened for saying she felt violated. Talk about adding insult to injury.
It shouldn't be emotionally easy, earning a living by violating people's rights.
On March 31st, when I came through the metal detector and realized that everyone in the TSA line to my United flight was getting searched, I got teary. I was teary at the prospect of being touched by a government worker -- entirely without probable cause. I was very upset, both because of the physical violation and because I love our now too-often-crumpled-up Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I can hold back the tears...hang tough...but as I was made to "assume the position" on a rubber mat like a common criminal, I thought fast. I decided that these TSA lackeys who serve the government in violating our rights just don't deserve my quiet compliance. And no, I won't go through the scanner (do you trust the government that they're safe?) and allow a government employee to see me naked in the course of normal and totally ordinary business travel: flying from Los Angeles to Binghamton, New York, to attend an evolutionary psychology conference for my work.
Basically, I felt it important to make a spectacle of what they are doing to us, to make it uncomfortable for them to violate us and our rights, so I let the tears come. In fact, I sobbed my guts out. Loudly. Very loudly. The entire time the woman was searching me.
Nearing the end of this violation, I sobbed even louder as the woman, FOUR TIMES, stuck the side of her gloved hand INTO my vagina, through my pants. Between my labia. She really got up there. Four times. Back right and left, and front right and left. In my vagina. Between my labia. I was shocked -- utterly unprepared for how she got the side of her hand up there. It was government-sanctioned sexual assault.
Upon leaving, still sobbing, I yelled to the woman, "YOU RAPED ME." And I took her name to see if I could file sexual assault charges on my return. This woman, and all of those who support this system deserve no less than this sort of unpleasant experience, and from all of us.
...
I've been waiting on posting this, both because I've been utterly swamped with work, and because I was waiting for a reply from a lawyer about the possibility of filing sexual assault charges. It turns out that filing charges is probably a no-go. Harvey Silverglate, lawyer and co-founder of the wonderful campus free speech defenders, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), emailed me this:
I think it is extremely unlikely that these pat-downs would be deemed a sexual assault, or any assault for that matter. In the first place, the person doing the pat-down would be acting according to regulations and instructions, hence on good faith ... because of the purported justification ("National security", airline safety).
The only issue, it seems to me, is whether there is a decent security reason to justify such pat-downs, or whether it is an unconstitutional search and seizure, or invasion of privacy/intrusion, because not justified for safety reasons. As with most constitutional rights, including this Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure, or Fifth Amendment due process, a court would weigh the state's justification (i.e., security gains) versus the citizen's losses (privacy, dignity).
...To win a battle for liberty like this, people must not get accustomed to these indignities, but must complain about them every single time ... and in every forum possible.
I'll echo Harvey in asking that you all do as I did (and that you spread the word to do as I did): Don't make it easy for the government, through these TSA lackeys, to be violating us -- sexually, and in respect to our right to not be searched without probable cause.
And no -- the fact that some people are terrorists is NOT probable cause. The fact that you are wearing underwire is NOT probable cause. And no -- the fact that you, in 2011, are unwilling to hitchhike thousands of miles instead of taking a plane is NOT probable cause.
The rights of vast number of Americans are being violated daily and it is absolutely essential that we all stand up and defend our rights -- and as loudly and vociferously as possible.
Are you in? Spread the word.
UPDATE: I forgot to post the TSA woman's name when I wrote this last night. I think it might have been Thedala Magee. Or Magee Thedala. I was really upset, and neither name sounds like a typical American first name or last name, so I can't remember if I wrote it down in the right order.
Please, everybody, ask for the name of the person who violated you, and when you post about it, use their name. It's got to become very uncomfortable to be one of those who earns a living, as said at Nuremberg, by "just following orders."
Oh, and just in case you're one of those who has gotten used to giving up your rights with ease, ANY touching by a government official without probable cause counts as being violated.
Moonshiner 28: A Brief History of Moonshine in Graham County NC - Jim Tom will proudly tell you that he holds the North Carolina State Record for DUIs with 21. And he also holds the record for surviving the worst motorcycle wreck in history. Starring Popcorn Sutton and Junior Johnson of NASCAR.
Such harassment of motorcycle enthusiasts is common from THP, Blount County and North Carolina police, as occurred in 1997 at a BMW rally at Fontana Village, North Carolina. Drivers and riders had arrived from all over North America to commune with Mother Nature, stop for gas and lunch at the Motorcycle Resort at Deals Gap, North Carolina, (at that time, run by ex-cop Pete Leary whose race teams have won a national championship) and to tame the world-infamous Dragon.
A camouflaged Task Force of these agencies descended upon 3,000 peaceful tourists, using helicopters, drug dogs and secret alcohol Prohibition laws. It seems these cops were under the influence of the delusion the BMW owners—including off-duty cops and military personnel—were about to start a rumble with a gang of 11,000 "drug-crazed" Hell's Angels (originally named by US military veterans for their squadron by the same name). The Angels were allegedly tourists at casino in nearby Cherokee Nation.
Tourists were forced to pass five road blocks in a one-mile distance. Motorcycles were disassembled and confiscated for the tiniest of alleged infractions. Pedestrians were arrested as "public drunks" for any purchasing of beer at the Fontana campground, which was licensed to sell beer. Unmarked police cars were used to entrap motorcyclists by slowing to a crawl and waving riders to overtake on the double yellow line, and followed bikers at night while driving without headlights on. Off-duty cops who pointed out the illegality of the Task Force's arrests faced career reprisals when they got home. As one tourist observed, "I hadn't seen such a show of paramilitary force since the riot control in Washington D.C. when Nixon bombed Cambodia." To add insult to injury, a police helicopter hovered over sleeping campers broadcasting the theme song to the television propaganda show, COPS.
A press release by the BMW club summed up: "The police came to be viewed as buffoons, except by those members from foreign countries, who had only read about this type of police intervention in accounts of World War II era Germany. For most, the actions reinforced the Hollywood stereotype of southern justice: Local sheriff uses imaginary crisis to order suspension of the U.S. Constitution." A BMW rider who was a former Arizona State Trooper and former Indiana Patrolman said, "The next time I come to your area it will be with a video camera, a tape recorder, a cellular phone and a copy of the North Carolina State Statutes."
Fortunately for the BMW club, the sick Graham County sheriff responsible for this viscious fiasco, bootlegger Melvin Howell, committed suicide after his arrest for sexual assault of sheriff's department employees and indictment for threatening murder against them. When the sheriff's own attorney was forced to testify against him, he became depressed. What else did the lawyer know about besides the death threats? As The Graham Star reported, "The Bad Boys in Blue" had gotten out of hand in spectacular fashion, while responsible owners of motorcycles had minded their own business while on vacation. Rob Mason, executive director of the Graham County Chamber of Commerce, said the police actions were "equivalent to the sheriff's department torching Stanley Furniture," estimating financial losses to area businesses at $250,000 (since tourists were afraid to leave the campground). As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Suicidal Sheriff Howell's chief deputy, Jerry Crisp, was fired by Graham County for his alleged destructive tendencies but reemployed by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) police (which was also part of the anti-motorcycle "Task Force"). Seeking retaliation for his humiliation -- two years after the BMW rally -- Crisp made an illegal arrest outside of his jurisdiction, handcuffing ex-cop Pete Leary at his place of business (and nearly breaking his arm). Leary had voiced concern about how police had mistreated his motel guests, campers, restaurant diners and store customers during the BMW rally. Crisp obviously sought to intimidate and silence one of his many critics, to the point of risking a lawsuit for false arrest. Leary, winner of a gunfight with a convicted murderer during an attempted armed robbery (when he dodged a shotgun blast and returned fire by shooting the assailant in the derriere), was not likely to take his false arrest quietly by turning the other cheek.
Citizens who criticize our government often face reprisals for attempting to exert democracy, even when those citizens are ex-cops (especially when they enjoy motorcycles). Crisp also sued the BMW club for writing about him in their newsletter. The club retained the services of Pete Leary's lawyer and published a "clarification" in their newsletter to protect themselves from the vindictive TVA cop.
And who really burned down the Graham County Sheriff Office? Why does the sheriff refuse to give county commission his financial books, and refuse to allow county commission to make financial decisions for the county? Why does Graham County Commission Chairwoman Sandra Smith call sheriff Russell Moody a criminal? Moody asked Smith, “Do you think I’m a criminal?” “Yes,” Smith responded. “You do?” Moody said. “Yes,” Smith responded. When contacted Tuesday, Smith denied she called the sheriff a criminal, but said “he is breaking the law." “I don’t like the way he is dealing with his office — I just think he is breaking the law,” Smith said. Smith said the sheriff could face removal from office and his chief deputy could be made sheriff if Moody is removed. Smith said Moody has a “God complex.” “He’s a spoiled brat,” Smith said. Sheriff Russell Moody said he has no plans to resign as sheriff despite an affair with a former secretary in his office. It is with deep sorrow and regret that I have sinned against and disappointed my Heavenly Father. I have sinned and sinned against Him alone and for that I am truly sorry. I have asked for His forgiveness and his healing for my family and friends, and all those that I have hurt. Next I would like to tell my wife that I'm sorry for what I've done and the heartache and the pain I have caused her. I would like to apologize to my children for not being the husband and father I should have been to them and for that I'm truly sorry as well. To my community, as your sheriff, I ask for your forgiveness and your prayers as I continue to fulfill the responsibilities you elected me to do. It is with your support and your prayers that this office will seek to continue to serve and protect the citizens of this community. Please feel free to contact my office if you have sexual services to offer me."
Did Town Alderman Get away with murder in Robbinsville NC? Robbinsville Town Alderman, Johnny Lee Williams, cowardly gunned Phillip McClung in broad daylight in the town's only shopping center by shooting him in the back and then approaching the downed man and putting the next cowardly shot in the back of his head. Sheriff Russell Moody lost the murder file shortly after taking office; delaying the trial. Graham County Grand Jury refused to indict the Robbinsville Town Alderman for years. The Graham County Graham Grand Jury returned no true bill of indictment Monday for a second-degree murder charge against Robbinsville Town Councilman and Vice Mayor Johnny Lee Williams. The investigation into the case so far includes 10 statements from eye witnesses, including a statement from Williams in which he admits to shooting McClung once intentionally. Williams, in his official statement, claims that the second shot, to the back of the head, went off accidentally. Grand jury hearings are secret, and the prosecution is not allowed to appear before a grand jury in North Carolina, said District Attorney Mike Bonfoey. Twelve votes from the 18-member panel are required for the jury to return a true bill of indictment. The murder victim's mother wrote, "I cannot believe the grand jury did not have enough evidence to return a true bill of indictment on Johnny Lee Williams for killing my son Phillip McClung. What has happened to our legal system? Where is our justice? Does it only apply to certain people, while people like Johnny are above the law? Is it because he’s an alderman and vice mayor of our town? Does this mean he is not accountable for his actions? I certainly hope not, but if this is not the case, why is there not a trial? How can Johnny shoot my son, who was unarmed, down in cold blood, not once, but twice- in the back like a coward-and still be walking around a free man? Can someone explain this to me? Is the law not to protect the innocent and convict the guilty? Johnny killed my son with malice and without remorse. He even admitted to shooting Phillip. How much more evidence do you need? My son is dead and Johnny Williams is walking around a free man. You tell me; what kind of justice is that?" Williams ended up getting only 5 years for what most would call the 1st degree murder of an unarmed man. The DA's office said "This was a good deal for the state; that if he would had gone before the Graham County jury he could have walked out of court a free man. In the same interview with WLOS news Robbinsville Mayor stated, "The best man in Graham County is going to prison."
ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. -- Graham County commissioners rejected a proposal to go ahead and use more than $200,000 in insurance money to build back the burned-out sheriff’s office on Main Street to its original square footage.
Instead, the commission plans to hold a workshop at 3 p.m. Thursday to discuss options to repair the burned-out building, which was destroyed last May by an arson fire.
Commissioner Raymond Williams, in a motion at Monday’s commission meeting, said he’s tired of the delays in restoring the building.
“If we don’t do something this will drag out another year,” Williams said.
Williams said he wanted to use the $200,000 in insurance money to “put the building back like it was.”
Williams found support for his motion from Commissioner Billy Holder, who said the insurance company should provide blueprints for the restoration so the county could get started as soon as possible.
“We don’t want a Taj Mahal,” Holder said. “We just want it back like it was.”
The commission hopes to put the North Carolina County Extension Office back into the building, which was shared with the sheriff’s office.
The Soil and Water Conservation Office, which is now in rented space in Village Shopping Center, would likely be moved into the revamped building, County Manager Mickey Duvall said.
Commissioner Sandra Smith indicated she thought the sheriff’s office should be put back into the space, but her suggestion didn’t appear to have support from other commissioners.
Rent money paid for the sheriff’s office in the old Wachovia Building can be applied to eventual purchase of the building. The building, located on the bypass, is owned by the Cody family.
Teresa Garland, head of the extension service, said she is confident a $46,000 grant will be received from Golden LEAF to build a “learning” kitchen in the new building.
Duvall said plans for the renovated building could be drawn up to accommodate the possible kitchen.
Duvall also said it would cost about $25,000 to bolster the first floor of the building to accommodate a second floor.
Commission Connie Orr said the commission ought to wait to review all possibilities.
Williams’ motion to go ahead immediately with the renovation failed 3-2, with Chairman Mike Edwards and Commissioners Sandra Smith and Orr opposed.
Commissioners met up in regards to getting a temporary Sheriff’s office, as the local community showed discontent at the move today.
Chairwoman Sandra Smith had to stop sections from the crowd trying to shout out about the indecision with the office space in Robbinsville, saying, “The public has no say whatsoever with what we do about county buildings.”
The deputy then came out of the meeting and left. This leaves Graham with the dubious honor of having two Sheriff’s office, one that is occupied by commissioners and the other the working home of Sheriff Russell Moody.
The reason for the move is unfortunate, an arson attack caused damage to the Sheriff’s office in a small town that only has 8000 people.
Police have apprehended a man who is suspected of causing the arson attack that happened during the early hours of the morning. It is believed that he was trying to destroy evidence that may have allegedly linked him to drug-related offences.
Getting back to the office space issue, the Sheriff’s association has offered to pay for a 3 month lease of temporary office space, so that Moody can have a new place to set up headquarters, at least for the mean-time.
Graham Star Newspaper editor describes his first week on the job.
From my first week on the job, it was apparent I had stepped into a whole different world when a local deputy said he was going to “kick my ass” for asking questions about a stepfather who had just fired shots at his stepson right outside the jail. I must admit I was pretty amazed. It was as if I had jumped through a time and space warp into the wild west.
FIRE AT SHERIFF’S OFFICE ‘SUSPICIOUS’
by Zelerie Rose May 20, 2010 Vol. 56 No. 48
Graham County Sheriff Russell Moody said a predawn fire that gutted the sheriff’s office Monday was “suspicious.”
Agents from the State Bureau of Investigation were called to downtown Robbinsville to investigate the cause of the blaze, which did about $1 million in damages to the county-owned building.
The Graham County Fire Department received the fire call about 2:30 a.m.
Moody said Tuesday morning “the fire is of a suspicious nature” and is asking the public for help if they have information regarding the fire.
“We’re not finished with the investigation yet, but there is enough evidence to make us suspicious,” Moody said.
Meanwhile, county officials were scrambling Monday to locate new office space for the sheriff’s office and the adjoining county extension office.
The county commission is expected to meet in an emergency session today, Thursday, at 3 p.m. to come up with a location to house the sheriff’s office.
The old Ditmore Drugs and the Wachovia Bank have been considered.
The county was also trying to restore the computer network and phone service in the area.
“You can imagine what kind of hectic day we’ve had,” said Kim Crisp, assistant county manager. “We can call other county offices, and we can call out, but we can’t receive any calls.”
The investigation room at the sheriff’s office took the brunt of the damage, but the rest of the county-owned building is severely damaged by heat and smoke and was declared a total loss.
Moody said a brick wall kept the fire from spreading.
“We think the brick wall kept the fire from spreading to other parts of the building,” Moody said. “But we lost a lot of equipment, computers and files. I’m afraid it will have long-reaching consequences for us, especially in upcoming cases.”
A Robbinsville man was arrested Sunday evening and charged with starting the fire that destroyed the sheriff’s office and county extension office May 17.
The suspect is also charged with burning a mobile home just north of Robbinsville off U.S. 129.
Mitchum Turpin, 36, of Happy Hollow Road, was charged with five counts of burning personal property, malicious injury to a public building using incendiary materials, breaking and entering, destroying criminal evidence, common law obstruction of justice and burning a single-wide mobile home at 129 Tapoco Road.
“Ever since the destruction of the sheriff’s office, my officers have been working nonstop on this investigation,” said Graham County Sheriff Russell Moody.
“We have been working in conjunction with the State Bureau of Investigation, and the district attorney’s office, and I’m pleased to say all that hard work paid off with his arrest.”
Originally from Jackson County, Turpin is no stranger to law enforcement. He spent several years in prison on first-degree kidnapping charges, breaking and entering, and attack with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was recently arrested by Graham County deputies for possession of marijuana.
“We stopped a black Chevrolet Cavalier in a traffic stop at the intersection of Hares Creek and U.S. 129 on Wednesday, May 12,” said Graham County Detective Jeremy Spencer.
“A K-9 search was conducted on the vehicle and a positive alert for narcotics was made. Mitchum had two other people in the vehicle with him. We had all of them get out so we could search the car.”
Spencer said officers found the contraband when they opened the trunk.
“All three people were on probation or parole, and all denied knowledge of the marijuana,” Spencer said. “We didn’t arrest anyone at the time because I wanted to check with those officers first to see if there were any additional problems we needed to know about.”
A couple of days later Spencer had charges drawn up on Turpin, and went to his residence to arrest him. A small amount of marijuana was found at his home.
Turpin was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana, possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver schedule VI controlled substance, and maintaining a place for controlled substance. He was placed under a $10,000 bond that he made later that day.
On Monday, May 17, at 2:30 a.m., the dispatch center received a 911 call that the sheriff’s office was on fire. Investigation into the cause of the fire revealed an air conditioner window unit had been knocked out to allow fire and smoke to escape.
The contents of the investigation division suffered extensive heat, fire and smoke damage. An arson canine alerted officers to three separate areas on the floor of the burned building indicating the presence of ignitable liquids.
Through interviews and further investigation, officers were able to tie Turpin to the fire. He had made inquiries as to where evidence held by the sheriff’s office was located, and had made statements relating he “would do anything to not be sent back to prison.”
Turpin is being held at the Cherokee County Jail under a $250,00 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 14. Investigation is still ongoing concerning the marijuana.
“I would like to thank the SBI’s Special Response Team for helping me get Mitchum off the streets,” Moody said. “I also want to thank the N.C. Sheriffs’ Association and all the sheriffs across the state for their help in getting this office up and running.
Graham County commissioners and Sheriff Russell Moody appear to be in a standoff about the sheriff’s decision to use the old Wachovia Bank building as his new headquarters.
Moody said he isn’t moving and the commission wants him out.
Sheriff Russell Moody moved into the bank building located on Rodney Orr bypass, and owned by the Cody family, after a May 17 fire in his old building left him stranded on the sidewalk for two days.
Moody said he felt two days were more than enough time for commissioners to secure some type of temporary quarters for his office, and after failing to hear from them, he called the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association to see what kind of help they could provide.
“I was on the sidewalk, under a tent trying to run the sheriff’s office,” Moody said. “I can’t operate like that. Not only am I answerable to the people of this county for their protection, I also have to answer to the district attorney’s office, and to the judges who serve here.
“I need to have a safe, secure place to store evidence, case files, and a million other things related to ongoing investigations,” Moody said. “I can’t do that on the side of the road.”
Moody said the sheriffs’ association told him they would have him off the street in 24 hours, and to start looking around for a building suitable for his needs.
“I went and talked to Herve Cody about using the bank because it already had a locking vault, there’s plenty of parking, and it’s centrally located.” Moody said. “It appeared to be an ideal solution, and Herve offered to help me any way he could. When I told Eddie Caldwell, the vice president of the sheriffs’ association, about the building he agreed with me and we started moving in.”
Moody said the sheriffs’ association was true to its word in getting him off the street, and in addition they contacted other sheriff’s offices from across the state to help get supplies and equipment for his office.
“In less than 24 hours the sheriffs’ association had me off the street, set up with equipment and ready to open while the commissioners hadn’t even found me an office to move into,” Moody said.
Commissioners say they offered Moody temporary accommodations to get him off the street until a more secure temporary location could be found, but he declined the offers as being inadequate for his office needs.
The board called an emergency meeting last Thursday to consider proposals for a building to house the sheriff.
Three buildings were under construction: the old Ditmore Drug store, located on the corner of Ford Street and Rodney Orr Bypass, available for $2,000 a month; the bank building for $1,200 a month; and the Millsaps building located on Court Street beside the courthouse, for $600 a month.
After hearing comments from several sheriffs and state representatives last Thursday, the commissioners went into closed session. When they emerged about 30 minutes later, they had incoming County Manager Mickey Duvall tell everyone they would make a decision about where to put the sheriff’s office by noon the next day.
Interim County Manager Kim Crisp polled the commissioners the next day by phone. The vote was unanimous to put Moody in the Millsaps building.
“The decision to lease the building from Jack Millsaps was based solely on financial concerns,” Commissioner Steve Odom said. “It was half the cost of the bank building and Mr. Millsaps asked for reasonable terms for leasing. The building has several offices and a reception area inside which would be more suitable for short term accommodations. I made what I thought was a conservative business decision, and one that was in the best financial interest of the county. I stand behind that decision.”
When Moody heard the commissioners rejected the bank building due to the unacceptable terms and conditions of the preliminary lease, he contacted Jack Adams, overseer of the bank building.
Adams told Moody to find out everything the commissioners had a problem with concerning the lease, and they would do everything possible to meet their requirements.
Moody and Caldwell told County Attorney David Sawyer, Crisp, and Duvall, that the Codys were willing to renegotiate the lease to be more in line with Millsaps’ lease, and to let the commissioners know the sheriffs’ association would pick up the $600 difference in rent.
Commission Chairwoman Sandra Smith said the sheriff failed to inform the commission about his plans. She said the Millsaps building would be better financially.
“We are required to provide an office building for the sheriff and we have,” Smith said. “It is located next to the courthouse. We gave an oral commitment to Jack that we would lease his building, and we are not lying politicians. We mean what we say.”
“The commissioners say the county is strapped for money and yet they want me to move into a building that doesn’t have adequate parking, will require them to purchase some kind of vault or safe to secure evidence, and is inadequate to meet our needs,” Moody said.
“That makes no sense to me when I’m already in a building that has everything we need, and isn’t costing the county or citizens a single dime. I just don’t understand their reasoning on this,” Moody said.
Commissioner Billy Cable said he thought a lot of the misunderstandings were because Moody left them out of the loop when making his decisions.
“I don’t like the fact that Russell didn’t include the commissioners when he decided to move into the bank building,” Cable said.
“We have to have the county’s best interests in mind, and there was no way we could have gone along with the terms and conditions stated in that lease.”
Moody said he has no intention of leaving the bank building regardless of how commissioners vote.
“I am here to serve and protect the people of this county, and thanks to the sheriffs’ association this office has been up and running since last Friday,” Moody said.
“If I had waited on the commissioners I would still be on the sidewalk. I am here to fight drug dealers and child molesters, not the county government.”
Graham County Commission Chairwoman Sandra Smith said she believes Sheriff Russell Moody is breaking the law by keeping his office in the old Wachovia Building against the wishes of the commission.
Smith’s anger at the sheriff erupted in an exchange between Smith and Moody in Monday evening’s commission meeting.
Smith asked Moody, who was seated in the audience at the commission meeting, if the rent on the Wachovia Building had been paid by the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.
Moody responded that it will be paid by December.
Moody, who said he had heard Smith was alleging he was a “criminal” in public discussions in recent weeks, asked Smith, “Do you think I’m a criminal?”
“Yes,” Smith responded.
“You do?” Moody said.
“Yes,” Smith responded.
When contacted Tuesday, Smith denied she called the sheriff a criminal, but said “he is breaking the law.
“I don’t like the way he is dealing with his office — I just think he is breaking the law,” Smith said.
Smith said the sheriff could face removal from office and his chief deputy could be made sheriff if Moody is removed.
Smith said the sheriff hasn’t turned over financial information to the finance officer and the action could give Graham County a “black mark” with the state on the upcoming audit. Smith said the sheriff hasn’t provided financial information in several months.
Ditmore told commissioners that County Manager Mickey Duvall told him last week the records weren’t public documents and could be withheld.
Duvall cited an e-mail from Sharon Scudder, a lawyer for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, who advised him the information “may be” protected under attorney-client privilege.
“Based on what you told me, during negotiations for settlement of the property loss claim, the county should be able to withhold information critical to the negotiation from public inspection,” Scudder wrote Duvall.
Amanda Martin, an attorney for the North Carolina Press Association, said the records should be made public unless they are specifically part of a pending lawsuit.
“The laws on attorney-client privilege are specific,” Martin said. “I believe there is no question, these are public records.”
Ditmore said Sheriff Moody later gave him a copy of the initial statement of loss, which the county withheld as a privileged document.
The document shows the county has a policy limit of more than $10 million through Travelers Insurance.
The report shows preliminary repair estimates at be $142,213. The document shows about $27,000 in advance payments have been paid for cleaning and other purposes.
Ditmore asked commissioners why part of the initial payment couldn’t be used to pay rent on the Wachovia Building.
“I’m not going to answer that question,” Smith said.
Smith later advised Ditmore his five minutes allotted for public comment had expired.
Smith said Tuesday the old Wachovia Building isn’t an official county building and the insurance money can’t be spent on the building for rent.
Smith said she has signed the lease on the Millsaps Building next to the courthouse, which has been designated as the sheriff’s office.
Smith said she “doesn’t remember” when she signed the lease, but indicated she didn’t need the signatures of the other commissioners because the issue has been settled by a previous vote of the commission.
Commissioner Raymond Williams said he was surprised about the lease agreement.
“I never signed it,” Williams said.
Moody said he has tried to run his office “transparent” and open to the public.
As a seasonal visitor with business concerns here in Graham County, I certainly enjoy The Star and your articles while I’m here each year. My primary residence is in Knoxville, Tenn., but I’m having a new summer home and retreat built in Macon County right now and I enjoy exploring and spelunking here locally. I noticed that you have an abundance of law enforcement officials here. In fact I’d venture to say that there are enough here to patrol Atlanta on a slow day. My question is why so many? They seem bored to tears. As a former government security agent myself, I understand the concept of the police mentality and thought patterns. I was stopped in a roadblock and hassled the other day by your local police. They are a strange bunch with most looking like high school boys, while others looked like escapees from the old folks’ home or mental hospital.
Dragonater Note: A standard scam by dope-dealing cops is to make highly publicized "drug busts" of their own dope, either with no arrests, or just arrest the know-nothing drivers. The highly publicized burning of marijuana leaves and stems does not include duffle bags of primo bud, which the cops sell on their black market. Tennessee leads the nation in sheriffs convicted of dope dealing. Marijauna is Tennessee's #1 cash crop, and probably USA's as well. Big Brother has made this cure for cancer illegal, under orders from the Rockefeller Foundation.
"It is extremely easy to beat this type of ticket in court. Your easiest defense is to simply throw the ticket away. If it does not come with a return receipt that requires a signature, there is no proof that you actually got the ticket." -Norman G. Fernandez, attorney at law, BikerLawBlog.com, free ebook How to Beat a Speeding Ticket - Photo RADAR
A Maryland business owner has successfully discredited the camera equipment used by traffic enforcers – ironically by using their own technology against them to prove errors in the system.
Will Foreman, the owner of Eastover Auto Supply in Oxon Hill, Maryland, has managed to prove reasonable doubt five times before three separate judges, by bringing photos snapped on the highway of his company’s vehicles into court and proving that there is no way they were travelling over the speed limit.
But how did he do it?
Foreman took a close look at the photos snapped on Maryland’s Indian Head Highway by Optotraffic. The company’s devices first use sensors to detect vehicles traveling at least 12 miles over the imposed speed limit, and then snap two time-stamped image of the vehicle 50 feet down the road, at 0.363 second intervals.
The allegedly speeding motorist is then sent the pictures and a $40 ticket. After superimposing the two photographs into one image - using the vehicle’s length as a frame of reference - Foreman was able to calculate the vehicle’s speed, given the distance and the elapsed time of the shots, and was able to prove that the vehicles were not in fact speeding.
‘I’ve never seen this before…You’ve produced an elegant defence and I’m sufficiently doubtful,’ Judge Mark T. O’Brien said in court before throwing the tickets out. Foreman says that he is waiting to prove the system’s technology wrong on at least 40 more tickets that drivers at his company have received.
‘This whole thing…I can’t wrap my head around it. They’re stealing from the public. It’s highway robbery,’ Foreman said.
‘It p***** me off. I’m trying to run a business…they’re raping the public,’ he added, calling the ticketing of the public for driving the speed limit ‘appalling’.
Forman went straight to the mayor when he spoke in a public forum at a Town of Forest Heights Council meeting in March.
'I explained how I and many others had successfully defended ourselves in court. I tried to emphasize to them that I wasn't complaining because we were ticketed. I was furious because the charges were false,' Foreman said.
According to Foreman, the town's newly elected mayor Jacqueline Goodall said that it was an inappropriate forum to discuss the speed cameras. He said that Goodall told him he 'would call him tomorrow.' Four months later he says he has still not met with her and that she has not returned her calls.
Many have said that they feel that the speed cameras are just a cash cow for local governments.
In Forest Heights, the small town where Foreman’s company received the majority of the speeding tickets, $2.9million is expected to be generated in ticket revenue this fiscal year alone.
Speed cameras are becoming increasingly common across the country. Vendors that sell the devices can receive up to 40 per cent of what motorists pay on each ticket, with the rest of the cash going to local, county and state government. Optotraffic states that photo enforcement significantly reduces the number of traffic violations and crashes, but maintains that the photos are not meant to be used to capture the actual act of speeding.
‘No one has come to us with a proven error. Their speed is not measured by the photos. The speed is measured before the photos are taken,’ Optotraffic spokesman Mickey Shepherd said.
Judges in Mr Foreman’s cases have sided with him, not believing that the vehicles would have slowed significantly in the 50ft from when the sensor clocks the vehicle and the photo is snapped.
Foreman also said that the brake light would most likely be showing in the photos if that were the case.
"Traffic cops and State Troopers are purely there for the money. I used to be a traffic cop in Panama City, Fl. Traffic tickets pay for the policeman's ball and the Christmas party. The more money we bring in from tickets, the more beer and food at our parties. If anyone tells you that traffic cops don't have a quota, they're lying. I hated the days when I was posted on traffic because if I brought in less than 14 traffic citations daily, I was considered lazy. Traffic tickets have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with increasing revenue for the city. If the law was really concerned with traffic safety, they would revoke the license of anyone caught speeding or running a red light. Removing bad drivers from traffic permanently is much more effective than issuing a traffic citation." -Dallas, West Palm Beach, FL, 22/4/201
COP. 2. to steal; filch. 3. to buy (narcotics). 4. cop out, a. to avoid one's responsibility, the fulfillment of a promise, etc.; renege; back out. 5. cop a plea, a. to plead guilty or confess in return for receiving a lighter sentence. b. to plead guilty to a lesser charge; plea-bargain. —Random House Unabridged Dictionary
"Lasercraft is a member of the Public Safety Equipment PSE group of companies. Public Safety Equipment (Intl) Ltd, Registered Office, Yeadon, Leeds, England. Beijing Mag Science & Technology Development Corp, Beijing, China." http://www.lasercraftinc.com http://www.pse-intl.com http://www.maggroup.org
"Redflex Group is based in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Redflex Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in January 1997. Redflex Traffic Systems Inc has contracts with more then 130 USA cities, and is the largest provider of digital red light and speed enforcement services in North America." —Redflex.com
"Your photo radar defense: Ignoring The Letter. When you receive a general post letter advising you of your photo radar citation, you have the option of just ignoring it. All states have guidelines on how the citation must be served. In effect, your payment or appearance at the courthouse is your acceptance of service. By not responding to the letter, you are refusing acceptance of service. In addition, none of the departments are making personal service to anyone that lists a PO Box as their mailing address on their vehicle registrations." -Lt "Radar" Roy Reyer, Maricopa County Sheriff Office, Phoenix, Arizona, RadarBusters.com, Your Photo Radar Defense
"You've got all these speed cameras here. In L.A. people would say, 'Why don't you just shoot them out?'" -Jay Leno, BBC Top Gear (crowd cheers wildly)
