| Blog and Media Roundup - Saturday, Sept 6, 2008; News Roundup | |
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| Topic Started: Sep 6 2008, 03:23 AM (257 Views) | |
| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:23 AM Post #1 |
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-986619.cfm? City Council wants answers from 'troubled' DHA By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun gronberg@heraldsun.com Sep 6, 2008 DURHAM -- City Council members say they want to hear directly from the Durham Housing Authority about what the agency is doing to correct the problems in its Section 8 rental voucher program. Members asked City Manager Tom Bonfield to contact DHA Chief Executive Officer Harrison Shannon and schedule a time for Shannon and his staff to brief the council. The move came at the request of Councilman Eugene Brown and received backing from Councilman Howard Clement during a council meeting on Thursday. It followed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's decision last month to list DHA as a "troubled" housing agency because of the problems in the Section 8 program. The city government has no management authority over DHA, but the council does appoint the housing agency's Board of Directors. The council is in the midst of trying to decide whether to give DHA board member Ike Robinson a new term. Brown said that while DHA officials contend the authority is improving, HUD's decision is reason for concern. "Every time they come before us, it's like, 'We're turning the corner, we're turning the corner,'" he said. "It seems like this agency is housed in a circular building. They're always turning the corner. And we all know who's suffering because of it." Clement -- the council's liaison to the housing authority -- agreed the council should give DHA officials a chance to explain the situation, if only so they can defend themselves. "They've had so many personnel dislocations because of the problems it's just been difficult to resolve," Clement said. "I'm concerned about due process here. They ought to be here to respond to those questions." DHA officials acknowledge that as of last summer, the files it maintains on the voucher program's 2,684 clients were a mess. They contain among other things information on family income and other factors officials use to decide whether recipients qualify for rental assistance. The authority is in the midst of a top-to-bottom review of those files. But in addition to last month's rocket from HUD, last year's problems recently prompted the authority's auditor to drop DHA as a client. Brown said he was bothered that in his application for reappointment, Robinson claimed that he'd provided leadership on the board that helped move the authority "from troubled status to a model agency." "This is not a model agency," Brown said, conceding later that Robinson turned in his application in July, before HUD issued its latest report. Clement and Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden defended Robinson's work. "In all candor, Isaac Robinson is not the problem," Clement said. Members did vote 7-0 to nominate Robinson for another term on the board. The move is tantamount to electing him later this month because no one else has applied for the seat. |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:23 AM Post #2 |
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-986622.cfm Duke police investigate finding of hate symbol in North Pavilion By Gregory Childress : The Herald-Sun gchildress@heraldsun.com Sep 6, 2008 DURHAM -- Duke University police confirmed Friday that an employee found a small swastika drawn near the elevator on the third-floor of the North Pavilion, the facility that houses Duke Health's Ambulatory Surgery Center, Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Outpatient Clinic and other medical offices. Officials said the swastika was under investigation but provided no other details about the incident, which was reported in the university's crime log on Thursday. Emily Friedman, assistant directory of the Washington D.C.-based regional office of the Anti-Defamation League, whose territory includes North Carolina, said the swastika, made popular by Hitler's Nazi Party, is often used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists to intimidate the Jewish community. "It can also be drawn by non-extremist as a prank," said Friedman, who added that rest rooms and elevators are popular locations for extremists or pranksters to paint or draw swastikas. Heidi Beirich, a spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said the swastika is the most popular and enduring hate symbol. "It's announcing that you're here," Beirich said. "The swastikas is to strike fear in the hearts of those persecuted by the Nazis. It says anti-Semitism in a way that nothing else does." |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:24 AM Post #3 |
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-986655.cfm Durham police officer charged By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun gronberg@heraldsun.com Sep 6, 2008 DURHAM -- A Durham police officer is facing charges of second-degree kidnapping and assault on a female in connection with an alleged domestic incident. Durham Police Department officials restricted Officer Tony Alexander Paylor, 42, to administrative duties with pay after the charges surfaced last weekend. A warrant on file with the county court clerk's office allege that Paylor struck a woman in the face on Sunday, causing her nose to bleed and splitting her lip. He is also accused of unlawfully confining the woman for the purpose of terrorizing her. Police Officer Judy Rodriguez reported making the arrest. Paylor went free Sunday after posting a $30,000 secured bond with the help of a bondsman from the Seneca Insurance Co. His attorney, Pat Evans, didn't return a phone call seeking comment. Police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said Paylor was off-duty when the alleged incident happened and that the department's Professional Standards Division is reviewing the case. Court records show that Paylor was arrested in August 2001 and charged with making threatening phone calls to a woman. That charge was dismissed the following April, court clerks said. Paylor has worked for the DPD since February 1996, Michael said. He now works a crime-prevention job in District 3, the patrol district that covers southwest Durham. Sunday's arrest came as the department continues to struggle with personnel turnover, some of it related to discipline issues. Deputy Police Chief Ron Hodge recently told the City Council that as of Aug. 28, 43 officers had left the department this year. The department's authorized strength is 512 sworn officers. Thirteen of those who left were veteran officers who took jobs with other law enforcement agencies. Ten were rookies who never made it out of training. Retirements, career changes and other personal factors accounted for many of the others. But Hodge said four of the officers who left were "facing disciplinary action" when they did. Two more got fired. Hodge didn't name any names, but former Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, former Sgt. Keith Cheeks and former Officer Demond Gooch are all known to have left the department under pressure this year. Cheeks and Gooch resigned in January after getting caught up in an internal-affairs investigation. Gottlieb -- the detective who supervised the since-discredited Duke lacrosse case -- retired after a female officer lodged a sexual-harassment allegation against him. The department lost 54 officers last year. In January, Police Chief Jose Lopez predicted the turnover count might be higher in 2008, especially if "discipline continues the way it does." |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:25 AM Post #4 |
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/orange/10-986584.cfm CRIME LOG Sep 6, 2008 Caution urged after robberies CHAPEL HILL -- Following two armed robberies near the UNC campus early Friday morning, university authorities are warning members of the Carolina community to take safety precautions. According to an e-mail sent out by the university, the robberies happened between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Friday. The first took place in the 200 block of Vance Street when a student was struck in the face and had his wallet, cell phone and cash taken by two assailants. Witnesses told police the robbers drove away from the scene in a silver Mercury. The second case, according to the e-mail, happened on the 300 block of West Cameron Avenue when two students were robbed at gunpoint and their wallets and cash taken by an assailant described as a 6-foot-tall black male wearing a bandana over his face. The e-mail said none of the victims suffered serious injuries. Chapel Hill police are investigating the reports. The university's Emergency Warning Committee urges students to take safety precautions such as not walking alone at night and remaining in well-lit areas. |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:32 AM Post #5 |
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http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/story/1208333.html Published: Sep 06, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Sep 06, 2008 01:42 AM Speed it up The case of a Durham man shows why a speedy trial is crucial. At least he won't spend the next 60-some years in prison Comment on this story Should we celebrate a splendid stroke of fairness and common sense on the part of three North Carolina judges? Or should we castigate a criminal justice system that required a man to wait nearly five years to go to trial, then convicted him despite flimsy evidence of his guilt and despite evidence pointing to someone else? To do both sounds about right. Frankie Delano Washington was the beneficiary of the judges' ruling this week. And it was he who had been sentenced to prison for 60-plus years for crimes connected to a home invasion robbery in Durham. Convicted and sentenced after a delay that clearly violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial. In an opinion written by Judge Douglas McCullough and joined by Judges John Tyson and Donna Stroud, the state Court of Appeals threw out Washington's conviction and dismissed the charges against him. The reason, boiled down: Waiting so long to be tried amounted to a perversion of the judicial process in exactly the fashion that the Sixth Amendment speedy trial guarantee was designed to prevent. The crime occurred early one morning in May 2002. An intruder went through a sliding glass door in a house in Durham's Trinity Park neighborhood. Wielding a sawed-off shotgun, the man forced family members to give him money and belongings and attempted to sexually assault a mother of two. Soon afterward, Washington was apprehended, identified as the assailant and charged. From there, the case became a fiasco. Washington was kept in jail for a year until he could post bond. The case dragged on and on, through neglect and failures of communication on the part of Durham prosecutors and police. An SBI evidence analysis wasn't completed until January 2006. And when it was, DNA and fingerprints did not implicate Washington. Still, when he went to trial in February 2007 he was convicted. Meanwhile, another man with a similar description had been arrested and convicted in connection with similar crimes in the Trinity Park vicinity. But the Durham police never asked that evidence in the case involving Washington be compared with evidence that might have implicated the second man. When Washington's trial finally came, witnesses were understandably fuzzy about the details of what had occurred four years and nine months before and about identification of the perpetrator. Judge McCullough correctly pointed out the unfairness to a defendant and, for that matter, to victims when the value of testimony is diluted by such a delay. The appellate panel delivered a lengthy ruling, carefully explaining its conclusion that Washington's rights were violated and the harm done when trials aren't held within a reasonable time frame. There is no absolute standard for what constitutes a "speedy" trial, they noted, but in Washington's case, every factor weighed in his favor -- including what has to be characterized as disgraceful laxity by the Durham authorities. The public should be heartened that McCullough and his colleagues did their duty and outraged at what happened to Frankie Washington. |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:37 AM Post #6 |
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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1208518.html Published: Sep 06, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Sep 06, 2008 04:19 AM Morale up after Lopez's first year Top cop working to increase pay Stanley B. Chambers Jr., Staff Writer Comment on this story It has been a little more than a year since Jose L. Lopez Sr. became Durham's police chief, but don't tell him that. To him, it feels like he's been here longer. "It seems like in the year that I've been here, I've had to address issues most chiefs don't even address," he said. Those issues included several incidents in which officers shot people, one officer being shot, allegations of officer sexual misconduct, an officer cheating on a promotional test and, of course, continuing fallout from the Duke lacrosse case. But people inside and outside the department say Lopez has made a positive difference in his first year, from changes inside the department to reaching out to the city's growing Hispanic population. "I'm very grateful that he has continued the community collaboration we had established with our former chief," said Marcia Owen, outreach coordinator for the Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham. She said that she would like to see more crime pattern data become available from the department. Lopez said his initial impression of the department before he started work was that it was a broken organization, but once he arrived, he concluded it just needed an adjustment. "I've come to see that I have a very positive police department," he said. "It's just something I didn't know I was going to have when I applied for the job." Most officers are happy with Lopez's performance. They're particularly pleased by his efforts to persuade the city council to improve pay, said Andy Miller, president of the N.C. Sheriffs Police Alliance, a statewide organization representing officers. "The officers want to feel that the leader is there for them and their best interests," he said. "And when you have a leader who is up front with their issues, they feel that their concerns are his priority," said Miller. "Morale has improved greatly." Lopez has already has made his mark on the department. He has combined gang, public housing and park officers into four High Enforcement Abatement Teams (known as HEAT squads) to quickly respond to trouble spots. The city is now divided into a Northside (the police districts covering north Durham, east Durham and downtown) and Southside (the two districts south of downtown). He has also created deputy chief and assistant chief positions. Currently he's working on increasing pay for officers, improving police facilities and reducing officer attrition rates. He still believes Durham's biggest crime problem is the perception that it is a "dangerous jungle," even though among 10 similarly sized southeast cities, the Bull City ranks in the lower half for violent and property crime rates. The department's biggest challenge, in his eyes, is showing residents it is a professional organization. He sees the department increasing its technology and improving relationships with residents within the next five years. And yes, he still plans to be buried in Durham. "I've bought property in Durham," he said. "I've registered my vehicles here, I have extended family who have already moved to Durham. So I'm very much committed to the city, though I haven't chosen my plot." stan.chambers@newsobserver.com or (919) 932-2025 |
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 03:42 AM Post #7 |
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http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-hunter6-2008sep06,0,56410.story Before Rielle Hunter was linked to John Edwards, she was on a search for enlightenment -- but not scandal. The former Lisa Jo Druck at various times has been a party girl, an actress and a spiritual seeker. By Carla Hall Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 6, 2008 Rielle Hunter was in a business meeting in the lounge of the Regency Hotel in New York City when she saw Sen. John Edwards across the room. He, too, was in a meeting. They eyed each other. And not just once. She left the hotel but later in the day found herself walking along Park Avenue toward the Regency. As she approached the hotel, she saw John Edwards on the sidewalk. Face to face, their connection was instant. They spoke briefly, flirtatiously. They could have left it at that. But they didn't. Instead, they began an affair, according to Pigeon O'Brien, a friend of Hunter who said Hunter told her all about that first meeting. And Hunter fell in love. "Head over heels," said O'Brien. The rest is tabloid history. When Edwards confessed on national television last month to his affair with Hunter, 44, she was already the focus of the most sensational scandal of the political season. Edwards' public denial that he is the father of her 6-month-old baby girl was greeted with skepticism in many corners. So was his timeline. Edwards said in his televised "Nightline" interview that their affair began after she had been hired in the summer of 2006 to produce the Web videos of an informal Edwards before the announcement of his candidacy at the end of December 2006. O'Brien contends that the two met no later than February 2006 and started their relationship almost immediately. O'Brien became friendly with Hunter in the 1980s in New York. The two women fell out of touch in the 1990s and reconnected at a Manhattan party for author Jay Mc- Inerney in 2004. O'Brien, 42, runs her own publicity company, concentrating on alt-country and Americana music performers. She also designs websites. She says she helped Hunter -- for free -- construct and maintain her own website, beingisfree.org. Hunter's website no longer exists and she seems to have gone underground. Indeed, Hunter has spent much of the past few months closeting herself away in Santa Barbara. But wait. Let's rewind the tape of the life that brought Rielle Hunter, nee Lisa Jo Druck, to that fateful meeting on Park Avenue with Sen. John Edwards. And her name is pronounced "Ree -- elle." Hunter's life has been equal parts magical mystery tour and perpetual job quest. She has been a party girl, a minor (but working) actress, a writer of oddly titled compositions, a yoga enthusiast and a spiritual seeker. During the 1980s and '90s, she bounced between coasts and made occasional forays in the world abroad, following one guru or another McInerney -- a friend and former boyfriend -- immortalized Hunter to a degree by using her as the model for Alison Poole, the hard-partying, promiscuous, glib narrator of his 1988 novel "Story of My Life": The first year I was in New York I didn't do anything but guys and blow. Staying out all night at the Surf Club and Zulu, waking up at five in the afternoon with plugged sinuses... Story of my life. "She was thrilled," O'Brien said of Hunter's reaction to the book. McInerney declined to talk for this story, although he did a Q and A interview with Hunter for a 2005 issue of a now-defunct magazine called "Breathe." His narrator was "inspired by Lisa," he wrote. (Never one of his better-known works, "Story of My Life" is now hot; an additional 2,500 copies were ordered by the publisher last month.) Hunter's incarnations have been dramatically different. She told McInerney that she found enlightenment in 2004 and wanted to help others find it. But she was also intrigued by fame, according to O'Brien, and titled one section of her now dismantled website "fame i am lives forever." She started the website, beingisfree.org, as an amalgam of spiritual musings and inspirations, but the site has vanished from the galaxies of cyberspace. Barely a couple of years before she snagged the job of producing videos of Edwards for a six-figure sum, she was a hostess at Real Food Daily, a vegan restaurant in West Hollywood, for modest wages. She has gone from renting rooms in people's houses just a few years ago to spending the last few months variously cocooned in a gated home and a seaside house in the Santa Barbara area. As the story of her affair with Edwards was about to explode on national television, she was reportedly whisked away from Southern California by private jet to the Virgin Islands. In the McInerney interview, she had a kind of "the universe will provide" mind-set. "I have a strong desire to help people wake up -- how about for free? How I will survive, I do not know. Enlightenment is living in the not knowing." She was born Lisa Jo Druck in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., one of four girls, and spent part of her childhood riding and showing horses. "She rode nicely," said Don Stewart, who runs his own stables and horse training business in Ocala, Fla. But what may be more memorable about the young Druck is her inadvertent connection to one of the greatest scandals in the history of the horse show circuit. Her father, James Druck, was implicated in a horse-killing insurance scam. Druck, who died of cancer in 1990, was never charged. But a 1992 Sports Illustrated article chronicled the tale of confessed horse killer Tommy Burns, who said the elder Druck, a lawyer who defended insurance companies, showed him how to electrocute horses so the deaths appeared natural. Burns said he electrocuted an acclaimed show horse, Henry the Hawk, in 1982. That was Lisa Druck's horse. Mc- Inerney may have captured some of the teenage Druck's reaction to the death of the animal through his narrator, Alison Poole, in "Story of My Life": I had eight horses at one point, but Dangerous Dan was the best. . . . I loved that horse. . . . .When he was poisoned I went into shock. They kept me on tranquilizers for a week. There was an investigation -- nothing came of it. The insurance company paid off in full, but I quit riding. Druck attended the University of Tampa from 1982 to 1984 but did not graduate, according to a university representative. When she got to New York in the mid-1980s, she spent much of her time partying. O'Brien was on her way to a party at a Manhattan apartment building when she first saw Druck -- laughing and tumbling out the front doors with McInerney in tow. "She was very unfettered," O'Brien said. "She reminded me of a colt just getting her legs -- exuberant, slightly unsophisticated, very post-adolescent." O'Brien said she herself dated McInerney some time after Hunter did and that all three ended up friends. She migrated to Los Angeles in the late 1980s. Hunter told McInerney in the magazine interview that when she was in Los Angeles, "someone referred me to a healer who did a clearing on my energy field. I was in a state of ecstasy for about a week and realized what I was looking for, in terms of medication, was inside of me; it was a higher bliss. With that clearing, all desire for drugs or alcohol vanished. I became sober overnight. And then I became a spiritual seeker -- addicted to higher consciousness, addicted to enlightenment." She also became Riell. She legally changed her name in 1994, and after a while added the extra 'e.' "I will say this about her -- she is a little kooky," said a casual friend. "She was a little lost. Not lost. She was more just always searching." By the time Hunter got to Los Angeles, her pattern of dating "creative types," as O'Brien put it, changed. She married lawyer Alexander Munro Hunter III, who is known as Kip. (In another brush with headlines, Kip Hunter's father was the district attorney in Boulder, Colo., during the investigation of the JonBenet Ramsey killing.) They wed in August 1991, lived in Beverly Hills and divorced in 2000, according to their divorce records. Hunter's divorce left her with $117,000 from the sale of the house and custody of 21 pieces of intellectual property -- possibly scripts or treatments -- with quirky titles including "Jupiter, Where Are You?", "So Very Virgo" and "How Did I Get Here?" "She was always trying to get films done," recalled the friend. As an actress, she had specks of roles in a few movies. In the 1991 film "Ricochet," she's the TV reporter who sticks a microphone in Denzel Washington's face. In 2000, she managed to get produced a comedy film short called "Billy Bob and Them." She wrote it and acted in it as well. By late 2004, Hunter was back in New York. O'Brien reconnected with her that year at a 20th anniversary party for McInerney's famous first novel, "Bright Lights, Big City." "She was very elegant," O'Brien said. The now-familiar photographs of Hunter in a lilac top, smiling broadly, were taken that night. With her blond hair and angular chin, she vaguely resembled Tory Burch, the socialite turned fashion designer. O'Brien, then living in St. Louis, began helping Hunter long-distance with her spiritualism website. They spent hours on the phone, O'Brien said. At first, Hunter did not reveal much about her new love in 2006. It was John, Hunter said. He was from North Carolina and he was married and had little children. They gave him the pet name "love lips." That spring, O'Brien said, Hunter told her she might come to St. Louis to see "love lips" on "April 18 and 19." "I was watching TV and I saw something -- 'John Edwards comes to Missouri,' " O'Brien said. "I thought, ohh, that's him." Edwards spoke at the annual Public Affairs Conference at Missouri State University in Springfield on the evening of April 19, according to the school's website. Ultimately, Hunter was hopeful they would end up together, said O'Brien: "She said he assured her she shouldn't have doubts." O'Brien -- who never saw them together -- was surprised by her choice. "He just really did not seem her type," she said. Nor did having a baby seem to be on her radar. When asked if Hunter had videography skills, O'Brien said, "None whatsoever." "The Buddhist Rielle was into honesty and integrity and having an affair with a married man might have been a lark at one point," O'Brien mused, "but to move around the country and to keep a wife in the dark doesn't seem to reflect the person I knew." Hunter, of course, has been silent, only issuing a statement through her lawyer saying that Edwards is not her baby's father. That silence was broken briefly a few days before Edwards' TV interview -- when she called 911 from her car in California to say that paparazzi were following her as she drove with her child. "They almost got into two wrecks following me. They are trying to take photos of me and completely harassing me," she can be heard saying on the 911 tape that was released. "What is your name?" the operator asks. "Rielle Hunter," she says. "Why are they trying to take pictures of you?" asks the operator a tad skeptically. "Because they are trying to prove someone is the father of my baby who's not." It was the first time Hunter had been heard in public denying that Edwards is the father of her child. carla.hall@latimes.com |
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| ~J~ is in Wonderland | Sep 6 2008, 07:13 AM Post #8 |
~J~ is in Wonderland
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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1208523.html Hunts to cull Duke Forest's deer Duke Forest, the sylvan refuge for joggers, nature lovers, bird-watchers and environmental researchers, will soon become a firing range. In recent years, some parts of Duke University's 7,000-acre forest have been plagued by an overpopulation of white-tailed deer. With nearly four months of controlled hunts on four of the six sections of the forest, Duke hopes to thin the herd. "This is being done legally; this is being done with a lot of thought based on what we think is good science," said Judson Eideburn, the forest's resource manager. "We're not acting like the Lone Ranger or that sort of thing." On Mondays through Thursdays from Sept. 15 through Dec. 30, Duke Forest's Durham, Eno, Hillsboro (forest maps still use the old spelling) and Blackwood divisions will be closed to recreation. Designated hunters from two selected clubs will be allowed on the properties to take aim at the woodland creatures that have been foraging through forest research areas, devouring almost all vegetation in their path. "They've just eaten it all in some places -- anything from 4 feet high down. There's nothing left," Eideburn said. "They're even eating eastern red cedar." For more than 75 years, Duke Forest has been a living laboratory for students interested in forestry studies and environmental and ecological sciences. The property, with tracts in Durham, Orange and Alamance counties, offers a variety of forest covers, plant species, soils, topography and wildlife to study. Several years ago, forest overseers collected data that showed as many as 80 deer per square mile in some parts of the forest. Wildlife resource officials, Eideburn said, recommend no more than 20 deer per square mile. Much to many hunters' dismay, Eideburn would not divulge the names of the hunting groups that will cull the herds. But he stressed that the efforts would be administered under guidelines issued by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Bow and gun hunting will be allowed on the Blackwood, Eno and Hillsboro divisions. The Durham Division, just west of the university campus off N.C. 751, will be open for bow hunting only. In some neighborhoods near the forest, deer are considered pests that trample flower beds, chew up vegetable gardens and wreak havoc on landscaped yards. Not many complaints have bubbled up from there. "I have so many deer in my yard I think it's good to get the herd down a little," said Tom Kirby, a Durham resident who also runs through the forest on weekends with the Carolina Godiva Track Club. As president of the running club, though, Kirby hopes to get the word out about the trail closings during the week. He worries that some people who come into the forest through nontraditional routes might miss the warnings posted at the head of major trails. Kathy Rudy, a professor of ethics and women's studies at Duke, said she has mixed feelings about the hunts. "The problem is that deer have no predators, and we've kind of put an imbalance in their ecosystem," Rudy said. The topic has been fodder for her students. "We've talked a little bit about hunting already and hunting for sustenance," Rudy said. "If you think hunting is right, then this is the most sort of conscientious way to do." What troubles her is that the hunting will go on for months. "I can't imagine that somebody couldn't go in there in two or three days and do what they need to do," Rudy said. Hunters who have not been invited to participate in the thinning said there could be some big bucks in the forest. "The idea," Eideburn said, "is to basically go after the doe population. But the hunters can take bucks per the hunting laws." |
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| ~J~ is in Wonderland | Sep 6 2008, 07:16 AM Post #9 |
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~J~ is in Wonderland
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http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1208517.html Women crowd North Carolina ballots ST. PAUL, MINN. - The nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president means that voters in North Carolina this year have the chance to elect women at every level of government. Beyond Palin's historic role as the first GOP vice presidential nominee, Democrat Beverly Perdue could become North Carolina's first female governor. Six women are running for other statewide executive offices such as labor commissioner and state treasurer, and five are running for seats on the state's top courts. And no matter what, a woman will win the election for U.S. senator. The lone man in the race is a Libertarian candidate who is only token opposition. "I think it's great. It's time we got women out there," said Kim Cotten of Pittsboro, chairwoman of the N.C. Federation of Young Republicans and a delegate to the Republican National Convention. "Regardless of party, I think there are some qualified women on both sides." Women have made strides in attaining political office in the past 30 years. Yet it was 24 years after Democrat Geraldine Ferraro's run for the vice presidency before another woman got a place on a national ticket. Though women compose more than half the electorate, they hold 16 percent of the seats in the U.S. Senate, 16 percent of the U.S. House and 26 percent of the seats in the state legislature. Nationally, North Carolina ranks 19th in the number of women in its state legislature, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "We've got a lot of catching up to do, don't we?" asked Margaret Haynes, a Wilmington real estate agent who was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. "It's a building, growing thing," said state Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, a Republican who is seeking re-election. "I don't put a lot of stock in whether women are being held back, because I don't think they are. "Look at the ticket in North Carolina. ... You start adding them up, and there are a lot of women on the upper part of the ballot." Yet many Democrats are still sore that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton fell short in her effort to win their presidential nomination. "The glass ceiling definitely still exists," said Karen O'Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University. State Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, recalled that on her first day in office 10 years ago, she walked into the legislators' cafeteria only to be asked to leave. "That would never happen to a man," said Hagan, who is challenging Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Still, Hagan said of this fall's ballot, "It's an exciting time. Women are very involved in running for public office. And they win." Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, Elizabeth Dole's husband, recalled that in the late 1960s, women went to the Senate to finish their deceased husbands' terms. "It's changing," Bob Dole said. They like what they see Palin's nomination energized men and women at the Republican convention, but Republican women especially said they were thrilled. "She's like a dream candidate," said Jeanne Smoot, a Raleigh delegate and former member of the Reagan administration. "She started at the PTA level. I think women can identify with that. And she's pretty. And she's an athlete." Nancy Mazza, a Greensboro delegate and former president of the N.C. Federation of Republican Women, said young women will look up to female politicians and see that they can run for office. "I think Palin is opening many doors, many windows with lots of opportunities for women," Mazza said. Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, said women often bring different experiences to their roles as elected officials. Research shows, she said, that Republican and Democratic women are more likely than men to tackle issues that affect women, children and families. |
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| Quasimodo | Sep 6 2008, 08:48 AM Post #10 |
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Better late than never. Maybe the HS will finally come out in support of some of the needed reforms. (I'm waiting for the editorial on Grand Jury reform, but I'm not holding my breath. . .) |
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| Kerri P. | Sep 6 2008, 01:13 PM Post #11 |
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http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/3495806/ FBI's civil rights initiative: no trials yet Posted: Today at 12:24 p.m. WASHINGTON — Flanked by officials from the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI Director Robert Mueller last year announced with considerable fanfare a new partnership between his agency and civil rights organizations. The goal: To bring justice in long-ignored murders from the civil rights era. The outcome: Not one case has been prosecuted under the FBI's Cold Case Initiative, which actually began two years ago with no fanfare at all. The civil rights leaders present at Mueller's February 2007 news conference - John Jackson of the NAACP, who now works for a private firm, and Richard Cohen, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center - have come to question the government's motives. "I've been disappointed that more cases have not been brought," Cohen said. "I worried that too many people would get their hopes up. I don't want to be part of a show." Some of the killings occurred up to 60 years ago. Evidence was sometimes destroyed to prevent further investigating. Some crime-scene samples - clothing, hair strands, blood stains - were lost. Memories have faded, and witnesses have died. Of those still alive, some are afraid to come forward even now. Others are ashamed, unwilling to bear witness against relatives who did the Ku Klux Klan's bidding. Yet some killers have been convicted - before the FBI's new initiative was announced. Those successes were due in large part to the relentless efforts of survivors, journalists and prosecutors, and to the declassification of secret documents from the segregationist Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, an agency that spied on blacks and civil rights workers and was connected to racial killings. Commission records were finally released in 1998 after a 21-year legal battle. snip... Edited by Kerri P., Sep 6 2008, 01:13 PM.
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| abb | Sep 6 2008, 04:27 PM Post #12 |
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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1208520.html Published: Sep 06, 2008 12:30 AM Modified: Sep 06, 2008 01:43 AM Shakira Rolle, left, 29, braids the hair of Keisha Williams, 36, in front of her home, which is located across the street from the group of townhomes hit by the bullets on June 27. Rolle actually heard the first round of gunfire that sprayed the 100 block of South Elm Street. Staff Photo by Stanley B. Chambers Jr. Disturbing narrative underscores shootings Residents live with random violence, reality that black males are most likely group to be charged with violent crimes by youth Stanley B. Chambers Jr., Staff Writer Comment on this story At first, Willa McGee thought someone was firing a cannon outside her home. Then someone upstairs screamed. A bullet went through a wall and struck McGee's 26-year-old niece. She was lying on a bed when it pierced her leg. McGee's 12-year-old nephew had just left the room when the shooting started. It was the first of two reports of drive-by gunfire on the 100 block of South Elm Street on the night of June 27. More shooting followed about two hours later, then more two days later. In total, six homes, three vehicles and McGee's niece were hit by bullets. What's not surprising are the suspects: three young black males, two of them 16 years old and the third 20. With their arrests, the trio became part of two consistent realities in Durham: Teenagers and young adults aged 16 to 25 account for a disproportionate share of all arrests in connection with violent crimes, and the majority of those charged are African-American males. Since 2001, youth have accounted for about 36 percent of all arrests in Durham and 37 percent of violent-crime arrests, according to an analysis of police data by The News & Observer. Those percentages have remained steady even as total arrests declined 21 percent over the past seven years. People aged 16 to 25 account for 66 percent of armed robbery arrests and 63 percent of arrests for murder. Murder victims and those arrested for murder are both heavily represented in this age group. In 2007, half of those killed and 16 out of 30 named homicide suspects last year were under 25. This year, five out of 15 homicide victims and 10 out of 17 named suspects are 25 or younger. Many of Durham's recent crime headlines have been youth-related, including a 19-year-old accused of shooting the 18-year-old mother of his son, a 16-year-old arrested for shooting a 10-year-old in the head and an 18- and 20-year-old charged with multiple robberies. Even though youth violent-crime arrests fell 36 percent between 2001 and last year, crimes involving youth continue to stick out for their randomness and severity. Little solace for victims Violent crimes often have lasting effects on their victims, and that is certainly the case with three South Elm Street residents, whose sense of security and safety were shaken by the shootings in June. The 100 block is actually two blocks in length, but one block in particular showcases East Durham's gradual transition. The odd-numbered side consists of older homes, while the even side has newer townhomes. The area, bordered by Main Street and Angier Avenue, is right across the railroad tracks from downtown but is near the epicenter of Operation Bulls Eye, a two-square-mile area that has been the focus of a city crime-fighting effort for the past year. Willa McGee, 51, knew South Elm Street was rough when she moved to one of the townhomes in May. The townhomes not only represent a push by city officials to revitalize the neighborhood, but for McGee, a new start. She lived in transitional housing for almost a year before moving to South Elm Street in May. After returning from a convenience store about 11 p.m. on June 27, McGee sat by her kitchen window to watch TV. She believes an angel told her to move from that window. Moments later came the gunshots. "I can't even describe how loud it was," she said. "It made me scared to move." David Gupton, resting in an upstairs bedroom a few doors down, thought someone was throwing rocks at his house. It wasn't until police knocked on his door that he realized it was bullets. Seven hit his home. One shattered a window. Gupton, 41, had recently moved from McDougald Terrace, the big public-housing complex, hoping to escape such violence. The drive-by shooting wasn't new for Shakira Rolle, a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who was home with her two daughters when the incident began. Her home wasn't hit. "It's not bad in the daytime," said Rolle, who has lived in the area since May. But at night, she said, "You never know what's gong to happen -- all hours. These teenagers are crazy out here. Everybody is about respect. Little things mean disrespect nowadays. People do crazy things for no reason." Something as simple as a stare can easily lead to gunshots, she said. Akeem Teron Flood, 16, Desmond Antwon Deloach, 16, and Ronald Girard Ransom, 20, were arrested for the shootings. Each faces multiple weapons, assault and damage-to-property charges. All three are still at the Durham County Jail on bonds of at least $1 million each. Investigators have said little about the shootings; they remain under investigation. Neighbors believe they were gang-related, something police do not confirm. McGee's niece, who was visiting from Wilmington, was treated and released from Duke University Hospital the night she was shot. McGee, fearing for her life, stayed with relatives out of state for about a month, undecided on what to do next. She talked to friends and ministers about coming back to Durham. She prayed about it -- a lot. "I've decided that I'm not going to let what started out good and is a blessing ... I'm not going to let that run me away," she said. "I can't just keep running." Rolle and Gupton, however, are both looking for new homes; she in Raleigh and he in Durham County. "I look at the holes in my house every day and wonder what the world is coming to," said Gupton, who lives with his girlfriend and her 12-year-old son. "The violence has gotten so rough I wonder should I stay in my house. Where can I go? It's everywhere." Environment is an issue Black males account for the majority of youth arrested in Durham -- 55 percent -- followed by black females at 18 percent and white males at 14 percent. Jennifer Rounds-Bryant, a psychologist who studies addiction and human behavior, said this isn't surprising when you factor in single parenthood, lack of education, mental illness, poverty and other social ills that often occur in poor neighborhoods heavily populated by African-Americans. "What it takes to develop a criminal, the average joe or a superstar is all the same," said Rounds-Bryant, who is finishing her second book, "It Takes a Village to Raise a Criminal." "It's the village's response to the individual." Children who live in safer areas may be treated less harshly by police because they may not fit the stereotype of the typical criminal, she said. But in poorer neighborhoods, that same child may be arrested. "Because law enforcement is more likely to monitor poor minority neighborhoods for negative behavior, residents in those neighborhoods are more likely to be detected," Rounds-Bryant said. But having two 16-year-olds and a 20-year-old accused of shooting up a block three times is something Willa McGee can't get over. "That's really sad," she said. "I was really surprised to hear how young they were. That's so young to be doing something so destructive." stan.chambers@newsobserver.com or (919) 932-2025 |
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| Quasimodo | Sep 6 2008, 04:58 PM Post #13 |
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I guess that means rich white kids will never be treated harshly by the police in Durham?  |
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| Quasimodo | Sep 6 2008, 05:05 PM Post #14 |
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The way other communities deal with drive-bys : http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080822/NEWS/808220340 August 22, 2008 Sentence sends message about gang violence Medford teen gets 20 years in prison for drive-by shooting "It is a miracle that there isn't somebody dead out of this," said Grensky, adding the phrase, "dodging a bullet" was never more apt. (snip) "In the blink of an eye, people you don't even know could have been wiped off the face of this earth," Grensky said. "There's no courage there. That's cowardice." (snip) "The fact that he's a bad shot doesn't help his case," Grensky replied. (snip) "I know these are harsh sentences, but these are harsh acts," Grensky said. (snip) |
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