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Blog and Media Roundup - Wednesday, Feb 4, 2009; News Roundup
Topic Started: Feb 4 2009, 06:09 AM (830 Views)
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1088188.cfm

Fortune convicted in 2004 slaying
BY MATT GOAD : The Herald-Sun
mgoad@heraldsun.com
Feb 4, 2009

DURHAM -- A jury took an hour and a half Tuesday to convict Mario Fortune of first-degree murder in a gang-related shooting that ended in the death of an unintended victim.

Fortune was one four members of the Crips gang who planned on ambushing a member of the rival Bloods gang on Weaver Street in May 2004, according to testimony. Reginald Diondras Johnson was gunned down when he stumbled upon the ambush.

Reginald Johnson was "the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time," Durham's gang prosecutor Stormy Ellis said in her closing argument.

Fortune was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The shooting occurred near Johnson's apartment in the 3000 block of Weaver Street. He was shot behind a parked van.

"They killed him because they thought he was the OG (original gangster) of the Bloods," Ellis said.

Judge Orlando Hudson banned cell phones from the courtroom in response to events from the 2007 trial of co-defendant Tyrone Dean. In that trial, suspected gang members used the cameras on their cell phones to take photographs of the jury. The trial ended in a hung jury after at least one juror expressed fear of possible harm.

Dean was later convicted of first-degree murder in a second trial and sentenced to life in prison.

Hudson told the jury after it reached a verdict Tuesday that no signs of a similar gang presence had been noted during Fortune's trial.

Another co-defendant, Joshua "Juicy" Johnson, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a minimum sentence of 14 years. Fortune had rejected a similar deal, Ellis said.

Deshaun "Smoke" Mitchell, who was injured later in a drive-by shooting, is still awaiting trial, Ellis said.

Ellis argued that Fortune acted in concert with the other three, meaning he was guilty of murder whether or not he shot the bullet that killed Johnson. However, she also told the jury that the bullet determined to have killed Johnson was fired from a 9-millimeter handgun and that testimony identified Johnson as the only one of the four defendants to have fired a 9-millimeter.

The bullet that killed Johnson entered at the top of his shoulder, passed through his body and came to rest in his thigh, Ellis said. The gunshot "hit almost every major organ," she said.

Fortune's attorney, C. Burell Shella, said in his closing argument that witnesses presented conflicting testimony regarding his client's position at the scene, and that no physical evidence tied him to the crime.

Investigators ignored bottle caps and shards of glass that could have been tested for evidence, Shella said.

Shella also took issue with the prosecution's contention that a key witness, Felipe Parker, had not been given any deal in exchange for his testimony, even though under cross-examination, Shella said, Parker said there was a deal.

Hudson instructed jury members before they began deliberating that they could take into account whether any deals with prosecutors or investigators had influenced witnesses.

After the verdict was read, Shella said he was upset about the result.

"I don't believe the evidence was there, but I respect the jury's opinion," Shella said.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1088190.cfm

In election off-year, Bell tops spenders
By Matthew E. Milliken : The Herald-Sun
mmilliken@heraldsun.com
Feb 4, 2009

DURHAM -- Although he wasn't running for office last year, Durham Mayor Bill Bell's campaign spent nearly $4,000 in 2008, campaign finance reports show.

Bell had by far the most activity of the eight local politicians for whom 2008 was an election off year. Four other city government filers -- Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden and Council members Farad Ali, Howard Clement and Mike Woodard -- reported receiving no campaign contributions and spending no money last year.

Much of Bell's spending was travel-related, including $1,626 paid to American Express for airfare and lodging for the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. He also paid American Express $1,178 in July and August for unspecified travel-related expenses.

Chase Card Services received $117 from Bell in September for an airport shuttle and parking at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the report also states.

The mayor also gave $650 to the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People in December for a half-page advertisement and $100 to Lillian's List of NC, which supports female pro-choice Democratic General Assembly members and candidates, for an event involving former Durham Mayor Sylvia Kerckhoff.

Finally, Bell paid Verizon Wireless $607 over five months.

Bell took in no money last year. The $3,828 he spent reduced his cash on hand to $1,662 at year's end.

The mayor is coming off a 2007 election campaign in which he spent $52,000 and defeated challenger Thomas Stith with 58 percent of the vote even though the Republican former City Council member spent nearly $199,000, a Durham record.

The most active local politician not running for office in 2008 besides Bell was Sheriff Worth Hill, whose term expires in 2010. Hill gave the Committee on the Affairs of Black People $525, a state Senate political action committee $150, U.S. Rep. David Price $100 and the Hillside High School alumni association $50.

A postage purchase from the Postal Service and a $100 payment to a Duranda Smith characterized only as a contribution brought Hill's spending to $967. He received no contributions and finished the year with $2,311 in his campaign account.

Archie Smith, the county clerk of court, whose term also expires in 2010, got a $500 contribution from retiree Roland Leary for his only financial activity of 2008. Smith ended the year with $8,929 on hand.

Councilwoman Diane Catotti reported contributing $75 to the People's Alliance Political Action Committee, $50 to Gov. Bev Perdue's campaign and $50 to the local group Housing for New Hope. Catotti, who received no contributions last year, also spent $125 on tickets for the grand opening of the Durham Performing Arts Center. She had $1,956 on hand and plans to avoid future finance reports by staying beneath the $3,000 threshold.

Of her colleagues, Clement had $3,745 in his political account at year's end; Ali, $268; Woodard, $155; Cole-McFadden, $76.

The Vote for Learning 2007 Committee, which successfully advocated a $200 million school construction bond that year, reported that in 2008 it spent $138 on bank fees, received $1,000 from national residential builder KB Home, and finished with $17,829 in cash.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1088210.cfm

Duke private donations down 21% percent
BY MONICA CHEN : The Herald-Sun
mchen@heraldsun.com
Feb 4, 2009

DURHAM -- Private donations to Duke University are down about 21 percent at the halfway point of fiscal 2009 from a year ago.

Duke's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. As of Dec. 31, donations totaled $165 million. On Dec. 31, 2007, the total was $209 million, according to Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Schoenfeld pointed out that although the halfway point is behind last year's by 21 percent, it's only behind the 2007 fiscal year's halfway point by 12 percent.

The fundraising in 2007 ultimately raised $380 million total -- 2008 topped even that, with $385.7 million.

Donations also get a boost around reunion time near the beginning of the fiscal year, as well as in December, near the end of the calendar year because of tax incentives.

"In addition to the timing of major gifts, clearly, the economy is a factor," Schoenfeld said. "There's no nonprofit organization anywhere that's not seeing the impact from the economy."

Also, Schoenfeld pointed out that Duke has recently wrapped up two fundraising campaigns, including the Financial Aid Initiative, a multi-year campaign to raise $300 million for endowment for financial aid.

Duke had 100,000 donors last year, Schoenfeld said.

"Certainly, there are supporters and donors and people who have been very generous to duke who have seen significant reversals in their personal circumstances," he said. "But again, how that plays out and the timing of that could change from year to year as well."
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1088098.cfm

Police Capt. Taylor graduates from FBI Academy
By KEITH UPCHURCH : The Herald-Sun
kupchurch@heraldsun.com
Feb 4, 2009

DURHAM -- Durham Police Capt. Morris R. Taylor graduated recently from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., and says he learned that law officers throughout the world have many more things in common than differences in how they fight crime.

"I think the similarities of it probably surprised me more than anything else,' Taylor said. "I expected things to be vastly different. But I found that things are pretty much the same.'

Taylor graduated Dec. 12 from the academy's 11-week program, which focused on advanced investigative, fitness and management training. And though the fitness part was occasionally tough, Taylor said it was worth it.

The coursework was "geared so that you kind of get out of it what you put into it,' he said. "So if you go up there and make it hard on yourself, then you'll get a lot out of it. So really, I found that the harder the courses were, the more you got out of it. It was hard in a good way.'

Taylor took college-level classes in statement analysis, investigative interviewing, evidentiary photography, effective writing, legal issues for command-level officers and fitness and law enforcement.

"The classes were really good and the instructors were excellent,' Taylor said. "I enjoyed the interaction with people from different parts of the country and the world.'

"This program provided me with advantages professionally and personally,' he said. "I was able to do a lot of networking the physical training classes gave me ideas about how to keep healthier as I get older.'

"I think the biggest thing that hit me was the FBI agents,' Taylor said. "When looking at them from the outside, a lot of times we see them as being vastly different from us. But when it gets right down to it, they're doing law enforcement the same way that we do. They have a lot of respect for what the local agencies do, and realize that their job would be a lot more difficult if they weren't able to depend on us to help them out.

"It kind of changes your opinion, about them,' he said. "You first feel like they're kind of above us. But once you get to know them, you see that they're a first-class group of guys.'

About 250 officers from 50 states, the District of Columbia, 26 nations, four military organizations and four federal civilian groups attended the 235th National Academy.

Taylor, who joined the Durham Police Department in 1985, is in charge of the Special Operations Division, which investigates organized crime and drug complaints, and handles hostage situations and biological hazards.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-1088051.cfm

DNA evidence found in student's slaying
By Amanda Millard : Gaston Gazette
The Herald-Sun
Feb 4, 2009

GASTONIA -- Gaston County Police's crime scene unit found DNA evidence from two cousins accused of murdering student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko inside her car, a SBI special agent testified.

"They found DNA evidence in the back driver's side area of the car and the front passenger side," state SBI Special Agent David Crow said at their bond hearing Monday.

Mark Bradley Carver, 40, of Gastonia, and Neal Leon Cassada Jr., 54, of Mount Holly, face charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of 20-year-old Yarmolenko, a UNC-Charlotte student who grew up in Chapel Hill, in Mount Holly May 5.

Crow said Carver's DNA was found in the back "b pillar" -- the roof support between a car's front door window and rear side window.

Cassada's DNA was found on the front passenger door, window glass and the middle console, Crow said.

Two jet skiers discovered Yarmolenko's body on the ground on the banks of the Catawba River behind the Stowe Family YMCA and the Water's Edge housing development. The driver's side door of her vehicle was open.

DNA evidence of a person other than Yarmolenko, Carver and Cassada also was found inside the car, Carver's attorney Brent Ratchford said.

Crow said he interviewed both Carver and Cassada, who told him they were fishing nearby.

"They denied ever seeing Miss Yarmolenko, her vehicle or being inside the vehicle, touching the vehicle or seeing the vehicle," Crow said.

In a jailhouse interview, Carver said he and Cassada were fishing from the riverbank just downstream from the crime scene when Yarmolenko was killed, but they did not witness or play a part in Yarmolenko's death.

Cassada's lawyer David Phillips said that Cassada might not have told the truth about being at the site because he was scared of police.

Prosecutor Bill Stetzer asked Crow if it would be possible for the two jet skiers who reported finding Yarmolenko's body on the riverbank to be in the area and not see the cousins.

"They were on a beach area," Crow said. "There's no way you couldn't see them."

Stetzer said they were waiting for the state lab to finish additional analysis from the fingernail scrapings and ligatures. Police arrested the men Dec. 12, seven months after Yarmolenko's death, because they were waiting for test results from the SBI, Stetzer said.

Crow testified that the day Yarmolenko was killed came during the last week of exams at UNC Charlotte. Yarmolenko was planning to transfer to UNC Chapel Hill so she was giving away items to friends and Goodwill, he said.

Carver and Cassada were in court seeking a reduction of their $1 million bonds.

Both Ratchford and Phillips said their clients were not flight risks. They had lived in Gaston County all their lives and had children and family, they said.

About 50 people sitting on the right side of the courtroom rose when Phillips asked those who came in support of Cassada to stand.

Gaston County Superior Court Tim Patti ordered pretrial services to conduct an investigation of their living arrangements before deciding whether to change or keep their secured bonds of $1 million each.

Patti said he hope to be able to make a ruling this week.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/opinion/hsedits/56-1087863.cfm

City buffeted by economic storm
Feb 4, 2009

If we had our way, no one would ever lose their job in a layoff.

But that's not realistic, of course, and in this economic downtown, American companies struggling to survive have been announcing thousands of layoffs every week.

Until now, however, governments financed by taxpayer dollars have been relatively immune. Even in the worst economic times, government jobs have been more secure than their counterparts in the private sector.

That may be about to change.

In his state of the city speech, Durham Mayor Bill Bell hinted that some city employees could be at risk of losing their jobs. We have appreciated Bell's annual messages, in good times and bad. This year was definitely on the down side.

The city is struggling to make up a $5.5 million shortfall in the current fiscal year brought on by lagging sales tax revenues. And next year's gap could be between $24 million and $40 million. That's a serious shortfall in a $350 million budget.

City departments are under orders to reduce spending from 3 to 10 percent per department. The city must focus on core functions, Bell said, and proceed only with construction projects that will create jobs, delaying anything that will require additional spending. Those proposals make good sense. This is a time for everyone to tighten their belts. And it's no time to be adding new pressures on maintenance and operations budgets.

But those measures may not be enough, Bell said.

"I am sure the administration and the council will work hard to see that we can minimize any layoffs, but nothing is promised."

Durham was listed by Business Week magazine recently as one of the best places to weather a recession. But that doesn't mean Durham is unaffected.

"All city employees should be aware that we are entering a period of economic uncertainty that many of us have not experienced," Bell said.

Employees of all governments -- not just the city -- must realize they are swimming in the same economy as private sector workers, and that everyone is being buffeted by the same fierce storm.
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http://www.johnincarolina.com/

Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Duke’s Donations Drop; The Chronicle’s The Same

A story in today’s Chronicle begins:

At the half-way mark in the 2009 fiscal year, private donations to the University were down about 20 percent from the same point the year before, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Duke netted a record-breaking $351.6 million in contributions last fiscal year, including pledges, according to Fiscal Year 2007/2008 Financial Reports. Private donations-which were made by more than 100,000 individuals-accounted for about 18 percent of Duke's $1.93-billion operating budget for the year, Schoenfeld said. . . .

The rest of TC’s story’s here.

___________________________________________


My comments:


Are you one of those who appreciate The Chronicle’s news and editorial support of the Brodhead administration?


If you are, you’ll like today’s story.


V-p Schoenfeld, executive director of alumni and development communications Peter Vaughn, Duke’s Fiscal Year 2007/2008 Financial Reports and TC itself are the only sources TC used to explain Duke’s giving drop.


If TC sought comments from people who’ve been critical of Brodhead’s leadership, their comments didn’t make it into TC’s story.


There's no mention of the many alums and others who’ve publicly stated they won’t give to Duke, at least while Brodhead's president and "Dick's senior team" is in place; or who say they’ve cut the amount of their annual giving in response to what they see as the Brodhead administration’s many failures.


Those failures include Duke’s disgraceful enablement of the lies and frame-up attempt which a Chronicle editorial recently referred to as “the Duke lacrosse rape scandal.” ( Does even the disbarred Mike Nifong still refer to the frame-up attempt that way? Who were the editors opining for?)


If you go to the story’s comment thread, you’ll find some comments that are crude, even senseless.


But you’ll also find comments that offer information and raise questions that should have been in TC’s story.


Most people who read here can easily tell the difference between the crude, senseless comments and the other ones.

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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1392926.html


Published: Feb 04, 2009 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 04, 2009 01:44 AM
Yarmolenko died near Charlotte.

DNA implicates suspects in murder
THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER Comment on this story
Chapel Hill resident Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko may have planned to take photos for a UNC-Charlotte final exam project at a spot along the Catawba River where she was later found strangled, according to a state investigator.

New details of the May 5 homicide emerged Monday during a bond hearing for two cousins charged with the killing. Neal Leon Cassada Jr., 54, of Mount Holly and Mark Bradley Carver, 40, of Gastonia were arrested Dec. 12 on first-degree murder charges.

Investigators found DNA evidence that connects the two men to the crime scene, the investigator said during the hearing, held in Gaston County Superior Court.

Meanwhile, defense attorney David Phillips, who represents Cassada, revealed that Christopher Cooper, a Mecklenburg County jail inmate, confessed to the killing in a letter he sent to a Charlotte television reporter. The SBI investigated the confession, Phillips said, but the inmate wouldn't talk to agents.

Carver told authorities he'd been there fishing with Cassada. Both men denied on four occasions they'd seen Yarmolenko, 20, or her vehicle. But Crow said Carver's DNA was found in the back seat and Cassada's in the front passenger side on the door, glass and arm rest.

Crow, under questioning from Phillips, also confirmed that some DNA evidence from the car matched neither the two suspects nor Yarmolenko.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1392922.html


Published: Feb 04, 2009 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 04, 2009 01:44 AM

Chicken debate draws large crowd
Jim Wise, Staff Writer Comment on this story
DURHAM - Members of the Durham City Council want more time before deciding whether chickens should roost in the backyards of Durham.

At a meeting Monday, 17 people spoke in favor of allowing Durham residents to keep hens. The discussion took place before an overflow audience even larger than that on hand for the mayor's State of the City address earlier in the evening.

Activist Victoria Peterson and Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, made impassioned statements against changing the law to permit chickens.

"We do not need chickens in our backyards," Peterson said.

Council members want to review a revised ordinance that Planning Director Steve Medlin submitted earlier in the day. His new version requires:

* a "limited agriculture permit" with notification of neighbors before the permit may be issued.

* a building permit to construct a coop, which must be built to ordinance specifications.

* limiting flocks to 10 hens, no roosters.

* that chicken manure be kept in a waterproof container.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1392882.html


Published: Feb 04, 2009 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 04, 2009 01:44 AM
Fortune contended he didn't fire fatal shot.

Durham killing brings life term
Jury: Guilty of 1st-degree murder
Anne Blythe, Staff Writer Comment on this story
DURHAM - Mario Fortune, one of four Durham men charged in the 2004 death of Reginald D. Johnson, will spend the rest of his life in prison for the fatal shooting.

A Durham County jury convicted Fortune of first-degree murder on Tuesday after slightly less than two hours of deliberation.

The verdict capped a weeklong trial in which prosecutors claimed Fortune was one of several men who fired a spray of bullets at Johnson in May 2004.

Johnson was not the intended target in the gang-related hit, police have said.

Investigators say Johnson was crossing the street outside a housing complex on a dark, spring night to meet a relative. The shooters, prosecutors have contended, thought Johnson was a gang rival.

Two shots struck Johnson on May 6, 2004, but at least 11 were fired, prosecutors claim.

Tyrone Dean, one of the four charged in the killing, was convicted in July 2007 of first-degree murder. Prosecutors contended that Dean's .38-caliber pistol fired the fatal shot. But even if it had not, prosecutors contended at the 2007 trial, Dean was guilty of first-degree murder because he was in a group of people that killed Johnson.

At the Fortune trial, prosecutors argued similarly that acting in concert with the main shooter also constituted first-degree murder.

Christopher Shella, the defense lawyer who represented Fortune, said Tuesday that prosecutor Stormy Ellis had not proven her case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Shella tried to poke holes in testimony, saying that one witness had been offered a deal by police to cooperate with them or get charged with murder. Another, Shella said, lost her boyfriend to violence and thought "someone" should pay for it.

Shella said that his client could not have fired the fatal shot that left Johnson dead at 22 years old.

"There's not one shred of physical evidence to corroborate what counsel says my client did," Shella said.

Fortune, though, was not so fortunate with the jury. Seven men and five women rendered their verdict quickly.

anne.blythe@newsobserver.com or 919-932-8741
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Joan Foster

abb
Feb 4 2009, 06:21 AM
http://www.johnincarolina.com/

Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Duke’s Donations Drop; The Chronicle’s The Same

A story in today’s Chronicle begins:

At the half-way mark in the 2009 fiscal year, private donations to the University were down about 20 percent from the same point the year before, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Duke netted a record-breaking $351.6 million in contributions last fiscal year, including pledges, according to Fiscal Year 2007/2008 Financial Reports. Private donations-which were made by more than 100,000 individuals-accounted for about 18 percent of Duke's $1.93-billion operating budget for the year, Schoenfeld said. . . .

The rest of TC’s story’s here.

___________________________________________


My comments:


Are you one of those who appreciate The Chronicle’s news and editorial support of the Brodhead administration?


If you are, you’ll like today’s story.


V-p Schoenfeld, executive director of alumni and development communications Peter Vaughn, Duke’s Fiscal Year 2007/2008 Financial Reports and TC itself are the only sources TC used to explain Duke’s giving drop.


If TC sought comments from people who’ve been critical of Brodhead’s leadership, their comments didn’t make it into TC’s story.


There's no mention of the many alums and others who’ve publicly stated they won’t give to Duke, at least while Brodhead's president and "Dick's senior team" is in place; or who say they’ve cut the amount of their annual giving in response to what they see as the Brodhead administration’s many failures.


Those failures include Duke’s disgraceful enablement of the lies and frame-up attempt which a Chronicle editorial recently referred to as “the Duke lacrosse rape scandal.” ( Does even the disbarred Mike Nifong still refer to the frame-up attempt that way? Who were the editors opining for?)


If you go to the story’s comment thread, you’ll find some comments that are crude, even senseless.


But you’ll also find comments that offer information and raise questions that should have been in TC’s story.


Most people who read here can easily tell the difference between the crude, senseless comments and the other ones.

Great comment, Abb.

That Chronicle crowd certainly has acquired already every "skill" needed for their "profession." Spinners and obfuscaters extraordinaire.
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http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/02/04/Editorial/Recession.Sinks.In-3612024.shtml

Recession sinks in
By:
Posted: 2/4/09
On Tuesday The Chronicle reported that halfway through fiscal year 2009 private donations to the University are down about 20 percent from the same point last year. This is undoubtedly a serious situation, even though in the current context this alarming statistic is probably not as bad as it sounds.

Indeed, the major drop in University donations can likely be attributed to a confluence of two extraordinary factors.

First, the precipitous decline in the state of the economy that began soon after the start of FY 2009. The impact of this event on Duke was multiplied, because many University contributors work in the financial sector and therefore face special exposure to the crisis.

Second, FY 2008 was a record-breaking year for donations: in all, the University took in $351.6 million. The University is now in the aftermath of the $309 million Financial Aid Initiative, which followed on the heels of the $30 million DukeEngage project, announced in 2007, and a $40 million gift from the Duke Endowment to endow 30 new faculty positions in 2008.

It is not shocking that donations might lag following a major capital campaign. As The Chronicle noted, a similar drop occurred during FY 2004, following the conclusion of the Campaign for Duke.

Interestingly, in the wake of the lacrosse scandal, it was widely predicted that donations to the University would decrease due to dissatisfaction with the administration's handling of the case. In short, this did not happen.

And although this drop is certainly not welcome, the University community can at least take comfort in the fact that it is not the result of any internal crisis but only the nose-diving economy. Accordingly, this exogenous shock is being felt by comparable universities. For instance, charitable donations to Yale University during the same period fell about 30 percent from FY 2008.

In turn, there will be several tangible effects of reduced donations. A greater percentage of the annual budget will come from the endowment, and a greater percentage of the endowment will have to be dolled out each year to cover costs.

The University has promised not to reduce the amount of money it devotes to financial aid, and so it will be forced to cut costs even further in almost every other area. University administrators have not yet announced where they will cut back, but it is at least certain that major construction plans such as New Campus and the West Union Building renovation will be delayed.

But in reaction to this latest piece of grim news, there is very little for students to recommend besides patience.

The University has played its cards especially close to the chest throughout the economic crisis, which has itself narrowed down the options the University has for action, and so this University dilemma is unusual for the degree to which student recommendations will probably not be influential. Donors are hesitant this year with good cause. Charitable giving will likely bounce back when the economy does.

In the meantime, though, George McLendon, dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, has made the intriguing suggestion that this economic downturn offers a prime time to hire faculty: it is a buyer's market. Of course, hiring in the humanities is cheaper than investing in technology-heavy science buildings.

We would like to hear from McLendon whether or not this project is still possible. If increased faculty recruitment is a feasible plan, we look forward to it. If not, we would appreciate an explanation.

In short, this recent drop in donations is disappointing yet unsurprising. And that is about all that can be said.
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Quasimodo

Quote:
 
Activist Victoria Peterson and Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, made impassioned statements against changing the law to permit chickens.

"We do not need chickens in our backyards," Peterson said.


Or in the courtroom, as Nifong would have said...
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Quasimodo
Feb 4 2009, 08:23 AM
Quote:
 
Activist Victoria Peterson and Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, made impassioned statements against changing the law to permit chickens.

"We do not need chickens in our backyards," Peterson said.


Or in the courtroom, as Nifong would have said...
.
You really can't make this sh!t up!

I noticed that - We Believe in your Honesty and Goodness sign - was in KFC colors.

.
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City police sued over strip search
Civil suit seeks $210 million

By Tricia Bishop | tricia.bishop@baltsun.com
February 4, 2009

A Baltimore man filed a $210 million civil lawsuit yesterday against the city Police Department, a former commissioner and several officers in connection with a 2006 incident during which he says a band of rogue cops held him at gunpoint in the street, stripped him and searched his rectum in front of about 30 onlookers.

The federal suit is the second filed since March in U.S. District Court in Baltimore alleging "widespread and persistent" civil rights violations by police officers who belonged to an elite "Special Enforcement Team" that worked mainly in the southeastern part of the city.

The SET unit was dismantled and its officers reassigned in 2006 after allegations of misconduct surfaced, leading the city prosecutor's office to dismiss more than 100 Circuit Court cases the officers had investigated in the previous two years.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to comment yesterday on the lawsuits, the employment status of the named officers, the department's procedural regulations regarding rectal examination and the outcome of internal investigations.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.lawsuit04feb04,0,7029669.story

"We take all lawsuits very seriously and investigate in the most efficient manner possible," Guglielmi said. Until the department's legal team has thoroughly reviewed the case, he said, he "can't comment specifically" on it or "anything that touches" it.

The physical violation described in yesterday's 43-page complaint is the "ultimate degradation of a person's civil rights," said Steven D. Silverman, the attorney representing plaintiff Daryl A. Martin, a 35-year-old Navy veteran who works as a manager at a retail shop.

According to the complaint, Martin and a friend were on their way to a tailor for a custom suit fitting on a weekday afternoon in April 2006 when their Buick Lucerne was pulled over in the 900 block of Patterson Park Ave. by two sets of officers. A marked police car carrying Officer Antonio Rodriquez and an unidentified officer blocked the Buick in front, while an unmarked car holding Officers Shakil Moss and William Harris blocked the back end, the complaint says.

Rodriquez asked Martin for his license and registration, then ordered both passengers out of the car and began to search the Buick while Moss frisked the plaintiff under gunpoint, the complaint says. Moss then donned a rubber glove and lowered Martin's pants and underwear, according to the document.

"To the Plaintiff's complete and utter horror, in broad daylight and in the presence [of] the gathered crowd, Moss forced a gloved finger into the Plaintiff's rectum," found nothing, then threw the glove to the ground, the court document states. Shortly thereafter, with no explanation, the officers "sped away."

Martin reported the incident to a police internal investigation division, which retrieved the glove and sent it to a lab for examination. DNA from both Moss and Martin was found, according to the complaint.

Martin, who is black, contends that he was targeted because of his race. He says that the officers' behavior was systemic and tolerated by Police Department leadership, including then-Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm and current Deputy Commissioner Deborah Owens, both of whom are also named in the suit.

Silverman said that his office reviewed "scores and scores of prior arrest records" and found numerous "obvious and blatant constitutional violations by this rogue group."

The complaint alleges nearly 50 instances of questionable activity by officers, which frequently included spotting drugs from vast distances, eliciting spontaneous confessions and regular "serendipitous discovery of individuals possessing contraband."

"It's clear the department should have had every obligation to review their prior arrest [records], and if they had done so, would have clearly seen that they were running all over the civil rights of the city of Baltimore," Silverman said.

A similar lawsuit, filed in March by 17 plaintiffs, alleges that officers, including Moss, illegally detained, assaulted, searched, humiliated and generally terrorized residents without justification. In a court filing, Hamm and Owens denied the allegations against them in the earlier suit.

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Hey, if the police officer loses his job, he can go to Durham, as the DNA on the glove would be called "irrelevant" to the case. Remember, in Durham, they watch CSI.

:bill:
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