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Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, October 26, 2010; News Roundup
Topic Started: Oct 26 2010, 05:06 AM (274 Views)
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/10043772/article-Hudson-elected-to-statewide-post?instance=main_article

Hudson elected to statewide post
The Herald Sun
10.25.10 - 10:07 pm
The Herald-Sun | File Photo by Christine T. Nguyen<br> Durham County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson speaks at the Durham County Courthouse on Sept. 10. Hudson has been elected president of the Conference of Superior Court Judges of North Carolina.
By John McCann

jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601

DURHAM -- A tight state budget won't stop the pursuit of justice, but due process will still feel the crunch, according to the new president of the Conference of Superior Court Judges of North Carolina.

Durham County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson has been elected president of the conference, which promotes professional standards among the state's judges. Hudson was chosen during the organization's annual business meeting last week in Chapel Hill at the UNC School of Government.

Conference members have an eye on making sure court cases get handled both efficiently and judiciously. That will remain in vision during Hudson's one-year presidency, he said. But promoting that ideal in conjunction with other judicial development work could be challenging, the judge said.

"It's going to be very difficult," Hudson said. "We used to have three meetings a year that were funded by the state. Now we have two, with no guarantee the state will cover our expenses."

Limited meetings could keep conference members from fully developing ideas for better justice that get kicked around during their gatherings, Hudson said, so the general public could miss out in that regard.

That said, the constricted budget won't keep the judges from meeting, Hudson said. The judges might have to take one for the taxpayers.

"We must be prepared to fund our own conferences," Hudson said.

Education is the focus when conference members get together, he added. The recent three-day session in Chapel Hill included training about how to handle questions that arise from the Racial Justice Act passed in 2009, as well as instruction on dealing with testimony from expert witnesses. Judges even learned CPR.

With respect to Hudson's fitness to preside over the conference of judges, Durham lawyer Randy Griffin said Durham's top judge has a reputation of rising above politics to get at justice.

"He'll listen to both sides," Griffin said. "That's what you want in a justice system."

Durham lawyer John Fitzpatrick Jr. said Hudson will go against the grain even it means not siding with what pulls at the heartstrings of the general public. As long as justice shines, Hudson doesn't care how he looks once a case is closed, Fitzpatrick said.

"He embraces justice at whatever cost," Fitzpatrick said. "At the face of adversity and political pressures, his view on justice will not be swayed."

The High Point native received undergraduate and law degrees from UNC. Hudson has been a judge for 26 years. He was a District Court judge four of those years.

State Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Sarah Parker, were at the recent meeting of the conference of judges. In attendance were 118 judges, including retired judges, according to information provided by the conference.
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/10044086/article-Police-write-452-citations-in-14-days?instance=main_article

Police write 452 citations in 14 days
The Herald Sun
10.25.10 - 10:42 pm
DURHAM -- Durham police issued 452 traffic citations during a two-week operation called "Pick It and Ticket." Officers targeted areas in the Holloway Street area and the Shannon Road area based on complaints from residents about speeding, drug activity and other issues.

The operation concluded with a DWI checkpoint Saturday night and early Sunday on North Alston Avenue near Hopkins Street.

Officers arrested eight people for driving while impaired and arrested four wanted people at the checkpoint. Officers also issued 83 traffic citations.

Officers conducted a total of 23 license checkpoints and one prostitution operation. They made 431 traffic stops and served 55 warrants. They filed 370 misdemeanor and 11 felony charges and confiscated three firearms, marijuana and cocaine, and found a runaway.

"This special operation was successful because of the dedicated officers of the Durham Police Department and their partnership with the community," Police Chief Jose Lopez said. "I want the citizens of this community to know that we take their concerns very seriously and we are committed to reducing crime and making Durham a great place to live."

-- Keith Upchurch
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http://chathamchatlist.com/highlights/2010/10/25/newspaper-endorsed-mike-nifong-endorses-lucier-vanderbeck-thompson/

Newspaper that endorsed Mike Nifong endorses Lucier, Vanderbeck and Thompson
October 25th, 2010 · No Comments
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Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:36:22 -0400
From: Tom West
Subject: Newspaper that endorsed Mike Nifong endorses the Chatham Coalition Three

In the midst of finding out that there was evidence that District Attorney Mike Nifong and the Durham Police Department may have mishandled the Duke Lacrosse case, the Independent Weekly endorsed Mike Nifong.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/durham-county-endorsements/Content?oid=1199530

Now, that same newspaper is endorsing the Chatham Coalition Three of George Lucier, Tom Vanderbeck and Carl Thompson.

I don’t know if I would want to be endorsed by this hinkey newspaper.
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http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1288070442241420.xml&coll=1

Editorial: Finding problem officers
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

When Superintendent Richard Pennington took over the New Orleans Police Department in 1994, one of his top priorities was an early warning system that would spot problem officers, put them through intensive training and keep track of them afterward.

That was the right approach for a department wracked by police wrongdoing, and it's frustrating that this critical reform has been watered down and marginalized since he left.

The result of that bad shift in policy is apparent now. Complaints against police officers have soared, and 21 officers have been charged with federal crimes.

Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas, a deputy chief under Superintendent Pennington, has said that fixing the program is a top priority for him, and it needs to be.

The Professional Performance Enhancement Program worked. Officers who went through the 32 hours of training, which included meeting with a psychologist, were the subject of fewer complaints. In fact, the average number of complaints against officers who went through the program dropped by 63 percent two years after the intervention, according to a federally funded study done in 2000.

Former officers involved in running the program said that the department's focus on high arrest statistics killed it.

Disciplinary histories and other files that were lost in the flood further eroded the effort. Monitoring was finally restored in 2009, but it can hardly be compared to the program Superintendent Pennington had in place. Officers who are the subject of complaints about lack of courtesy or professionalism are required to attend a day-long seminar. That's clearly inadequate.

Superintendent Serpas said, in a written statement, that he plans to use some methods from the old system and new practices from other early warning systems to "bring the program back to the national model it once was.''

He also needs to make sure that the new program is aggressively implemented. It's troubling that Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann, who's accused of setting fire to a car that contained a police shooting victim after Katrina, had more than 50 complaints lodged against him -- some dating to the last years of the Pennington era. The city attorney's office said the veteran officer was never flagged for the program. That's hard to understand, since officers with three unsubstantiated complaints within a year's time were supposed to take the classes.

Superintendent Serpas has a greater challenge than simply developing a model intervention program. He must change the department's culture so that officers and their supervisors never think that high arrest statistics justify excessive force or any other misconduct.
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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/26/760607/death-saddens-bewilders-duke.html

Published Tue, Oct 26, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Tue, Oct 26, 2010 12:27 AM
Death saddens, bewilders Duke

DURHAM Duke University officials say they don't yet know the circumstances surrounding the death of a student who apparently fell from some stairs last week.

Drew Everson's body was found Friday morning at the base of a stairwell in the back of the East Union Building, a dining hall on Duke's East Campus.

A senior from Florida, Everson, 21, lived in an apartment nearby. It isn't clear whether he was alone, why he was on or near the stairwell, and whether alcohol contributed to his death. Duke officials hope to release more information later this week once Duke police finish their investigation. The university has attributed his death to "an accidental fall," according to a news release issued Sunday.

"There are some things we'll just never know," said Michael Schoenfeld, a Duke spokesman. "[But] there is no indication of anything other than a tragic accident."

Everson's friends and family are left this week to remember an affable, quick-witted jokester with smarts and a future in finance. A public memorial service is set for noon Wednesday at Duke Chapel, with a reception to follow at Scharf Hall, adjacent to Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The precise time of Everson's death isn't yet known. He had been out with friends the previous evening at Satisfaction, a popular Durham bar and restaurant, until 2:30 a.m., said Jordan Stone, a friend and president of Pi Kappa Phi, the fraternity where Everson was a member.

"We're not really sure what happened after that," said Stone, a junior from Chicago. "We have no idea if it was a fall down the stairs. My guess is as good as yours."

The area where Everson's body was found is near a loading area , Schoenfeld said. "It's an area where people walk, but it's not a main path," he said.

Everson, from Tampa, was popular, fun and serious about his future, said Stone, who referred to him "the life of the party."

'Totally motivated'

Everson spent the summer interning at Goldman Sachs and was already weighing job offers in financial services. A political science major, he was working toward a certificate in markets and management.

"He'd been absolutely dominating the investment bank internship scene," Stone said. "He was totally motivated. He was just a brilliant analytical thinker."

Everson pledged Pi Kappa Phi as a freshman in spring 2008 and had forged close bonds with members of his pledge class, Stone said.

Everson had many interests. Along with the fraternity, he had written columns for the Duke Chronicle and was a member of Duke's debate team and a student comedy troupe.

"He was a real binding agent; he drew people together," said Steve Nowicki, Duke's dean and vice provost for undergraduate education. "He had hundreds of friends here. And not just Facebook friends. Real friends."

Nowicki met Everson when he enrolled, as a sophomore, in Nowicki's "Translating Science" course meant for juniors and seniors - and excelled in it.

"He was the kind of student I'd go out and tell prospective Duke students and parents about," Nowicki said. "And I still will."
eric.ferreri@newsobserver.com or 919-829-4563
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http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/8504086/

Perdue won't discuss federal probe
Posted: 6:20 a.m. yesterday
Updated: 6:28 p.m. yesterday

Gov. Beverly Perdue on Monday made her first public appearance since an announcement that federal investigators are looking into her 2008 gubernatorial campaign.

Perdue spoke to about 2,000 elected and appointed officials from around the state at the annual conference of the North Carolina League of Municipalities.

During her 20-minute speech, she discussed the state's economic outlook, but she didn't address the federal probe. Afterward, she said she couldn't talk about the investigation.

"I'd love to talk about it. I really wish I could, but I've been advised not to do it," she said.

The federal investigation comes amid a State Bureau Investigation probe of how Perdue's campaign paid for and reported 41 private flights going back to 2005. They weren’t reported until last year.

In August, the State Board of Elections fined the campaign $30,000 for reporting violations.

Two weeks ago, Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby asked for the SBI investigation. He said he had lingering questions about her campaign flights but that they didn't involve Perdue herself.

Perdue and representatives of her campaign have maintained that there was never any intent to conceal the flights, some of which might have violated state limits on contributions to candidates.

Rather, they have said, the campaign had "a flawed system for recording flights," and the trips weren't discovered until an audit of campaign records was conducted last year.

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer has called for an investigation into Perdue's campaign flights since last year. He said Friday that he continues to believe that the campaign broke state law and then tried to cover it up.

Perdue declined Monday to respond to Fetzer's charges.

"It's eight days before an election, and I'm not going to get into a contest with the chairman of the Republican Party," she said. "In terms of the investigation and my campaign, it's inappropriate for me to talk about that, but at the end of the day, we'll all work on this."

Local mayors who attended Monday's conference had mixed opinions on the federal investigation.

"There's no question to me there's something political in this latest involvement," Durham Mayor Bill Bell said. "The timing of it seems pretty strange to me."

"Where there's smoke, there must be fire," Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said. "I do believe in the innocence until proven guilty, so I try to keep an open mind about it."

Democratic consultant and political watchdog Joe Sinsheimer said the probe has just begun, but often these types of investigations don't end well.

"Quite frankly, what prosecutors are communicating is they don't believe the governor and they don't believe the governor's people," Sinsheimer said. "I think Democrats are going to look at the election results and look at (Perdue's) poll ratings and say she cannot run for re-election."

The federal probe into Perdue also comes as a federal grand jury has been investigating former Gov. Mike Easley for almost two years, partly because of campaign flights he took aboard donors' planes.

Last year, the state elections board ordered his campaign to pay $100,000 for dozens of unreported flights. Most of the fine has gone unpaid, and because the campaign has run out of money and shut down, it's unlikely the rest will be paid.

The board's findings in the Easley case were turned over to Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly to determine if criminal charges were warranted. He hasn't yet decided whether to press charges.
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http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/10043772/article-Hudson-elected-to-statewide-post?instance=main_article

Hudson elected to statewide post

The Herald Sun


By John McCann

(snip)

Durham lawyer John Fitzpatrick Jr. said Hudson will go against the grain even it means not siding with what pulls at the heartstrings of the general public. As long as justice shines, Hudson doesn't care how he looks once a case is closed, Fitzpatrick said.

"He embraces justice at whatever cost," Fitzpatrick said. "At the face of adversity and political pressures, his view on justice will not be swayed."


The same old familiar faces--John McCann; and of course Fitzpatrick seems to be about the only
lawyer anyone ever can find in Durham to interview and quote.

And what does it say about the system when Marcia Morey gets an appointment from the governor
and Hudson--who enforces the law when he feels like it--gets elected head of the judicial conference?






(MOO. for discussion purposes only)
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