Ohio Teacher Gets Hand Slap in Sex Case - Updated

(Elyria, Ohio) Former North Ridgeville High School teacher Constance Yacobozzi (aka Yacabozzi) has been sentenced to three years probation, much to the dismay of the victim's mother who referred to the sentence as a slap on the wrist.

Yacobozzi claimed she is remorseful.

But the victim’s mother, Margie Mahaffey, asked the judge to send Yacabozzi to jail for violating her son.

“If this were a 28 year-old male (teacher) with a 17 year-old girl, a junior, this would not even be a question,” Mahaffey told the court.

But Judge Mark Betleski says the law makes him consider certain factors and he found that Yacabozzi has no criminal history and is unlikely to repeat her offense.

“The factors are the factors,” the judge said.

It's believed that 'The factors are the factors' is a legalistic euphemism for 'Up yours.'

In any event, Yacobozzi was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Guilty of Sexual Battery - Updated
[Previous 6/5/12 post]
(Elyria, Ohio) Yesterday, former North Ridgeville High School teacher Constance Yacobozzi pleaded guilty to engaging in sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski said he told Yacobozzi that she will likely receive probation when she is sentenced later this year. That is contingent on a report on her past coming back without any prior criminal convictions, the judge said.

Yacobozzi, 29, resigned in March, but had been on leave since November while the district and police investigated the allegations against her. The district had been in the process of firing her when she left her job.

According to the indictment, handed down shortly before her resignation, Yacobozzi, whom records show is married, had sexual contact with the student Nov. 7.

Seems like a real friendly judge, eh? (h/t Phil)

* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Accused of Sexual Battery
[Previous 3/16/12 post]
(North Ridgeville, Ohio) A 28-year-old teacher at North Ridgeville High School, Constance Yacobozzi, has been accused of sexual battery of a 17-year-old male student.

Yacobozzi has been indicted by a Lorain County grand jury.

In November, Yacobozzi admitted to school officials she had texted photos of herself wearing a bikini top to a student, as well as having inappropriate and flirtatious conversation with him via text messaging.

At the time, Yacobozzi denied having sexual relations with the student.

Yacobozzi was arrested by Lorain County Sheriff's Deputies.

Olympic Sailing Video

This video is a hoot. Watch to the end.




Heh.

Sydney Spies & Mom Arrested - Update


 
Sydney Spies -- Denise Spies
(Durango, Colorado) A local mother-daughter pair, Denise “Miki” Spies, 45, and Sydney Spies, 18, face charges for allegedly hosting a drinking party with minors in attendance and obstructing police officers on their arrival.

Sydney Spies was booked on one count of obstruction and released on $500 bail. Note that Sydney Spies was previously involved in controversy regarding a high school yearbook photo.

Miki Spies was booked on counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest. Her bail was set at $10,000.

Interestingly, mother Spies was arrested last June for trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer stemming from an incident where she allegedly broke into a church and refused to leave.

* * * * *
Yearbook Photo Rejected
[Previous 1/6/12 post]



Sydney Spies in rejected photo
(Durango, Colorado) An 18-year-old student at Durango High School, Sydney Spies, is protesting the administration's decision to eliminate her senior photo from the school yearbook.

“I feel like they aren’t allowing me to have my freedom of expression,” said Spies, 18. “I think the administration is wrong in this situation, and I don’t want this to happen to other people.”

Spies argued that until the school creates a formal policy about yearbook photos, it can’t tell her not to use her picture.

Looks okay to me. Her outfit is not too different from a typical cheerleader uniform which one sees in every yearbook.

Somali Piracy Case



From a Reuters report:

A Somali man who acted as a ransom negotiator for pirates who seized an American yacht last year and killed four American hostages was sentenced on Monday by a U.S. federal judge to serve 12 life sentences.

Mohammad Shibin was convicted in April on 15 charges including piracy, hostage taking, kidnapping and conspiracy.

He was paid $30,000 to $50,000 in cash for his negotiating services, according to a federal indictment.

In a courtroom in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar sentenced Shibin to serve 10 concurrent life sentences, two consecutive life sentences and two 20-year sentences and ordered him to pay $5.4 million in restitution.

"Mohammad Shibin was a key participant in two of the most heinous acts of piracy in modern memory," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement.

MacBride also said, "Shibin will die in federal prison." Remember, the feds don't do parole.

Companion post at TJR.

Claim that Arctic sea ice could disappear within 10 years as global warming increases speed of melting -- but so what?

It's junior school physics that the melting of floating ice has no effect on the water-level. And they are not comparing like with like below anyway. They are comparing data from submarines with recent satellite data

Arctic sea ice is melting at a faster rate than previously believed, a group of scientists have claimed. The European Space Agency say that new satellites they are using have revealed that 900 cubic kilometres of ice have disappeared over the last year.

This is 50 per cent higher than the current estimates from environmentalists, they claim.

It is suggested that the increase is down to global warming and rising greenhouse gas emissions. [Funny that there has been NO global warming for 15 years, though! Better suggestion, please]

The entire region could be eventually free of ice if the estimates prove accurate. This would trigger a 'gold rush' for oil reserves and fish stocks in the region.

'Preliminary analysis of our data indicates that the rate of loss of sea ice volume in summer in the Arctic may be far larger than we had previously suspected,' said Dr Seymour Laxon, of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London (UCL), where CryoSat-2 data is being analysed, told the Observer.

The scientists launched the CryoSat-2 probe in 2010 specifically to study ice thickness. Until then most studies had focused on the coverage of the ice.

Submarines were also sent into the water to analyse the ice. The methods are said to have given a picture of changes in the ice around the north pole since 2004.

The study revealed that the depth of ice had also been decreasing in addition to the amount of sea it stretched across.

Data from the exploration shows that in winter 2004, the volume of sea ice in the central Arctic was approximately 17,000 cubic km. This winter it was 14,000 km, according to CryoSat.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Iran - Venezuela Terror Route

(Washington, D.C.)

Ever since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck a deal with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez for weekly air service between the nations' capitals, American officials have worried that Iranian-backed terrorists could reach to the rim of Latin America, pick up fake Venezuelan passports and sneak into the United States.

Now, with growing talk of a pre-emptive Israeli attack to slow Iran's suspected nuclear arms program, Iran has threatened that it would retaliate across the globe. And its easy access to the Western Hemisphere has the U.S. particularly concerned.

The commercial service between Tehran and Caracas by Iran Air and Conviasa Air Venezuela, including a stop in Damascus, Syria, is so secretive that there's confusion among intelligence agencies about whether the flights are continuing. Israel believes they are; the U.S. isn't so sure.

Nevertheless, American fears are elevated.

"Some Iranian officials - probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime," James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, warned the Senate Intelligence Committee in his latest threat assessment.

If that attack comes, experts see it being staged by Iranian operatives who have entered the U.S. through Latin America.

It's estimated that more than 59,000 non-Mexicans hopped the border into the U.S. in 2010. Of those, 11 were identified as Iranians.

Just what we need: A professor of peace to tell us all about The Great Drought of 2012

Peaceniks have always been a blinkered lot but the guy below is blinkered to the point of utter blindness. If the drought in some parts of the USA is caused by global warming, how come many other parts of the world (e.g. Britain, China) have been having big troubles with flooding? Doesn't global warming cause drought there? If not, why not? He may talk about global phenomena but his mental world is clearly limited to America. Some people would call that ethnocentrism, a relative of racism

If earth continues heating at its exponential rate, our post-apocalyptic fantasies could become everyday realities

The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America’s counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions. This, in turn, will boost food prices domestically and abroad, causing increased misery for farmers and low-income Americans and far greater hardship for poor people in countries that rely on imported U.S. grains.

This, however, is just the beginning of the likely consequences: if history is any guide, rising food prices of this sort will also lead to widespread social unrest and violent conflict.

Food — affordable food — is essential to human survival and well-being. Take that away, and people become anxious, desperate, and angry. In the United States, food represents only about 13% of the average household budget, a relatively small share, so a boost in food prices in 2013 will probably not prove overly taxing for most middle-and upper-income families. It could, however, produce considerable hardship for poor and unemployed Americans with limited resources. “You are talking about a real bite out of family budgets,” commented Ernie Gross, an agricultural economist at Omaha’s Creighton University. This could add to the discontent already evident in depressed and high-unemployment areas, perhaps prompting an intensified backlash against incumbent politicians and other forms of dissent and unrest.

It is in the international arena, however, that the Great Drought is likely to have its most devastating effects. Because so many nations depend on grain imports from the U.S. to supplement their own harvests, and because intense drought and floods are damaging crops elsewhere as well, food supplies are expected to shrink and prices to rise across the planet. “What happens to the U.S. supply has immense impact around the world,” says Robert Thompson, a food expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. As the crops most affected by the drought, corn and soybeans, disappear from world markets, he noted, the price of all grains, including wheat, is likely to soar, causing immense hardship to those who already have trouble affording enough food to feed their families.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Olympic Medal Stripped

According to this unconfirmed report:

The International Olympic Committee announced today that they have taken back the gold medal previously awarded to American skier Lindsey Vonn.

Olympic officials, perhaps bowing to political pressure, said President Obama deserved the medal more than Vonn, because no one has ever taken a country downhill faster than he has.

It's not known whether other medal holders will be affected.

Israel on Verge of Decision to Attack Iran

From The Times of Israel, dated 8/11/12:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have “almost finally” decided on an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities this fall, and a final decision will be taken “soon,” Israel’s main TV news broadcast reported on Friday evening.

Channel 2 News, the country’s leading news program, devoted much of its Friday night broadcast to the issue, detailing the pros and cons that, it said, have taken Netanyahu and Barak to the brink of approving an Israeli military attack despite opposition from the Obama administration and from many Israeli security chiefs.

Critically, the station’s diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal said, Israel does not believe that the US will take military action as Iran closes in on the bomb.

The Israelis doubt that President Obama will take any significant action to thwart Iran, either before the election or after if he is reelected.

AWOL Soldier Sentenced to Life in Prison

(Waco, Texas) From a Federal Bureau of Investigation press release, dated 8/10/12.

Naser Jason Abdo, age 22, will spend the rest of his life in federal prison for plotting to kill American soldiers and others near Fort Hood, Texas, announced Assistant Attorney General for National Security Lisa Monaco, United States Attorney Robert Pitman, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Armando Fernandez, and Killeen Police Chief Dennis M. Baldwin.

This morning in Waco, United States District Judge Walter S. Smith imposed two consecutive life prison sentences for attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and for possession of a weapon in furtherance of a federal crime of violence. In addition, Judge Smith also sentenced Abdo to a total mandatory consecutive 60 years’ imprisonment for one count of attempted murder of officers or employees of the United States, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a federal crime of violence, and one count of possession of a weapon in furtherance of a federal crime of violence.

In May, a federal jury convicted Abdo of the above mentioned charges. Testimony presented at trial revealed that on July 27, 2011, Abdo unlawfully attempted to create and detonate a bomb in an attempt to kill, with pre-meditation and malice aforethought, members of the uniformed services of the United States and to shoot survivors of said detonation with a firearm. Evidence further revealed that Abdo did knowingly possess a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol while carrying out his plot.

At the time of his arrest in July 2011, Abdo was a U.S. Army Private who was absent without leave from his unit in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

US Warship - Merchant Ship Collide in Strait of Hormuz



USS Porter (DDG 78)
Earlier today, guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) collided with the Japanese-owned bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan in the Strait of Hormuz. Here's a video (17 sec) showing the damage



No injuries have been reported.

Stolen Manhood



Fei Lin

(Zhejiang Province, China)

Police are looking for the married lovers of suspected Chinese romeo Fei Lin, 41, after four masked men burst into his flat and cut off his penis at Niqiao village near Wenling city, in east China’s Zhejiang province.

He told cops he had been asleep and it was around 4am when the men burst into the room and put a bag over his head.

He said: "They put something over my head and pulled down my trousers and then they ran off. I was so shocked I didn't feel a thing - then I saw I was bleeding and my penis was gone."

A search for the severed member produced nothing.

Another Occupy Protest



Allegedly, the Mars Lander was met by an unwelcoming committee. Holy moley, those Occupy folks seem to be everywhere.

Tip: Rita and Eugene

Morning Sickness Cure

(Albany, New York)

Pregnant women have used natural remedies such as a teaspoon of ginger or a mint to help battle morning sickness. But now, one medical professional believes you can add oral sex to that list.

According to Gordon Gallup, a psychologist at SUNY-Albany, the best way to cure morning sickness during pregnancy is sperm.

But not just any sperm, it should be the sperm of the person who got you pregnant.

Ingesting the father's sperm is claimed to build up tolerance in the woman's body which diminishes episodes of preclampsia.

Tip: slwlion

Vending the Blues Away



An acquaintance remarked that these machines used to be common in teachers' lounges and airport terminals. Frankly, I'm skeptical.

Little Green Lies

Introduction to a new book from an Australian scientist



Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Lower Cancer Risk with Aspirin

According to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute:

A study of more than 100,000 healthy people found that those who took a dose of aspirin every day were two fifths less likely to develop and die from stomach, oesophageal or colorectal cancer in the following decade.

They also had a 12 per cent lower risk of dying from other cancers, adding up to an overall 16 per cent lower risk of death from cancer of any type.

Although earlier research had found similar results, the new paper adds to the evidence in favour of taking the drug as a protective measure.

Nice to know.

Idaho Corrections Worker and Male Inmate

(Ada County, Idaho) A 40-year-old corrections worker at South Idaho Correctional Institution, Stephanie Nicole Klein, has been accused of illegal sexual contact with a male inmate.

Klein faces a felony charge of sex with an inmate at the minimum security men's facility.

Investigators say they have evidence Klein had sexual contact with the male inmate on 2-to-3 occasions between late 2010 and late 2011. Sheriff’s officials began their investigation after Klein told her supervisor about it earlier this year.

Ada County prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Klein July 31. Klein turned herself in at the jail Tuesday night.

Klein was booked into custody at the Ada County Jail with bond set at $50,000.

Iowa Teacher Busted for Drugs

(Onawa, Iowa) A 43-year-old teacher at Central Elementary School, Karen Bartelson, has been accused of of possessing marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

In Monona County Court, Bartelson pleaded not guilty.

In late July the Monona County Sheriff’s Office arrested the 43-year-old. She posted $1,000 bond on July 23.

The West Monona Community School District website lists Bartelson as a teacher at Central Elementary School. District Superintendent Lyle Schwartz said Tuesday that Bartelson is on administrative leave. He would not comment further.

A court appearance is scheduled for August 20.

Bolivia to Expel Coca-Cola



(La Paz, Bolivia)

In a symbolic rejection of US capitalism, Bolivia announced it will expel the Coca-Cola Company from the country at the end of the Mayan calendar. This will mark the end of capitalism and usher in a new era of equality, the Bolivian govt says.

“December 21 of 2012 will be the end of egoism and division. December 21 should be the end of Coca-Cola,” Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca decreed, with bombast worthy of a viral marketing campaign.

The coming ‘end’ of the Mayan lunar calendar on December 21 of this year has sparked widespread doomsaying of an impending apocalypse. But Choquehuanca argued differently, claiming it will be the end of days for capitalism, not the planet.

Minister Choquehuanca said capitalism will be replaced by communitarianism.

High Heel Homicide - Updated

(Augusta, Georgia) Yesterday, 47-year-old Thelma Lou Carter pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison.

The sentencing hearing before Superior Court Judge Carlisle Overstreet revealed several new facts about the case, including that it was a wide-heeled sole, not a stiletto heel as previously reported, that was used for the fatal blow.

Assistant District Attorney Rex Myers said Carter’s blow was the culmination of a fight between the couple over Higdon’s abuse of a puppy.

During the fight, Higdon punched Carter in the chest and extinguished a cigarette on her leg, Myers said.

Carter responded by hitting Higdon once in the head with a shoe. Myers said that the blow would not normally be fatal, but Higdon had heart problems that contributed to his death.

Carter will also serve two years of probation.

* * * * *
High Heel Homicide
[Previous 8/2/11 post]
(Augusta, Georgia) A 46-year-old local woman, Thelma Carter, has been arrested for allegedly impaling a stiletto-heeled shoe into the head of her boyfriend and causing his death.

Carter has been charged with murder.

On Sunday evening, Robert Higdon, 58, was involved in an altercation with his live-in girlfriend in the trailer they shared at Augusta Mobile Home Estates, 2526 Milledgeville Road.

His girlfriend, Carter, was charged with murder after she struck Higdon in the head with the spike heel of a shoe, police said.

Authorities were called to the home Monday morning when Carter returned to the scene and notified authorities.

Carter was booked into custody. News on bond is unavailable.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Muslim Sect in Russia




(Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia)

Four members of a reclusive Muslim sect in the Russian region of Tatarstan have been charged with cruelty against children for allegedly keeping them underground.

Police found 27 children and 38 adults living in catacomb-like cells, dug on eight levels under the home of the sect's founder. It is not clear how long the children were kept underground.

The founder, 83-year-old Faizrakhman Satarov, who declared himself a Muslim prophet in contradiction with the principles of Islam, was also charged with negligence and arbitrariness on Wednesday, Irina Petrova, deputy prosecutor in the provincial capital of Kazan, told the Associated Press news agency.

No members of the sect, who call themselves "muammin" after the Arabic term that means "believers", have been arrested, Petrova said.

The sect was uncovered in a suburb of the city of Kazan during an investigation into recent attacks on Muslim clerics in Tatarstan, a mainly Muslim region on the River Volga.

The leader Satarov claimed his house was an independent Islamic state. Russian authorities disagreed.

Idaho Woman Gets Jail in Sex Case

(Canyon, Idaho) In January 2012, a 34-year-old local woman, Robin Hackney, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a teenage boy at an unoccupied house.

Hackney was charged with felony lewd conduct with a child under the age of 16.

The owner suspected sexual activity was occurring at the property and set up surveillance inside and outside the home and provided photos, audio recordings and video recordings of the sex acts.

Hackney admitted bringing the 15-year-old to the house and having sexual contact with them a minimum of two times between December 18, 2011 and January 16, 2012.

As a result, Robin Hackney was sentenced late last month to eight years in prison but the sentence was suspended and she was given probation and ordered to jail for 120 days.

Hackney was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Deaths of Journalists

(London, England) From the International News Safety Institute (INSI):

At least 70 journalists and support staff were killed covering the news in the first half of this year in one of the bloodiest periods of recent times.

Fifteen were confirmed dead in Syria alone between January and June, according to the biannual Killing The Messenger survey of news media casualties carried out for INSI by Cardiff School of Journalism.

The next worst countries were Nigeria, where seven unidentified newspaper staff were killed by a bomb, Brazil, Somalia, Indonesia, where five journalists died in a plane crash, and Mexico.

The toll compares with 124 for the whole of 2011 and 56 for the first seven months of last year. And 70 may be a conservative figure as INSI has recorded the deaths of an additional 30 news people where it was unclear whether the killings were related to their work.

Reportedly, most of the journalists were shot or bombed and most of the killers can expect to get away with it.

New law counters Westboro protests

It remains to be seen what SCOTUS will make of it -- if it ever gets that far again. Is speech that no-one can hear really "Free"? I can't see it

Congress took action where the Supreme Court didn’t to curb Westbooro Baptist Church’s followers from protesting the funerals of fallen troops and veterans.

President Obama signed into law Monday the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act that includes language aimed at protecting service members funerals. The church based in Kansas is best known for staging protests at service members funerals to protest the service of homosexuals in the military.

In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment protected Westboro’s right to protest the funerals. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that “as a nation we have chosen … to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, introduced legislation three months following the Court’s ruling that gives the government the right to further protect the funerals. The act argues that ensuring fallen troops have respectful burials is important to maintaining a strong military and protecting national security.

The new law extends bans on picketing funeral services of troops and veterans from 150 feet to 300 feet, and prohibits protests from being conducted up to two hours before and after a funeral. Previously the ban was for an hour before and after.

Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground, and obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech,” Obama said at the White House ceremony Monday. “But we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Fanny Whack Prompts Stabbing

(Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)

A Bethlehem woman allegedly stabbed her boyfriend after he slapped her on her sunburned rear while she was doing dishes, police report.

Tiffany Sherry, 24, of the 900 block of Wyandotte Street in Bethlehem, suffered serious sunburn recently and her boyfriend Michael Martinez told police he was aware of this when he slapped her buttocks while she was doing dishes Monday evening at her home, according to authorities.

Police say Sherry turned around with a large steak knife, clearly agitated. Martinez backed into the other room while Sherry allegedly followed, wielding the knife. Police say Martinez asked Sherry what she was doing.

"What are you going to do? Stab me in front of the kids?" Martinez asked, according to a police report.

Sherry allegedly ordered the children out of the room and poked Martinez in the stomach with knife. She then stabbed him in the right shoulder and in the upper back as he turned to flee, police report.

Sherry has been charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, recklessly endangering another person, harassment, terroristic threats and simple assault. She was booked into custody with bail set at $25,000.

Notably, Sherry has a previous arrest for stabbing a man with a fork. Apparently, she's prone to violence.

Tip: slwlion

KY Teacher Gets Jail in Sex Case - Update



(Newport, Kentucky) Former Highlands High School teacher Andrea Conners has been sentenced by Campbell County Circuit Court Judge Fred Stine to serve 90 days in jail and five years of probation.

Conners must also complete 500 hours of community service and register as a sex offender for 20 years.

* * * * *
KY Teacher Guilty in Sex Case - Update
[Previous 6/27/12 post]
(Newport, Kentucky) Avoiding trial, former Highlands High School teacher Andrea Conners, 34, has pleaded guilty on one count of first-degree sexual abuse.

With no plea deal in place, Judge Fred Stine could send her to prison for the maximum punishment of five years when she is sentenced on Aug. 8.[…]

The plea came during only her second time in court on the charge. She was arraigned on May 23 where she also made no comment.

The Education Professional Standards Board opened an administrative investigation into the allegations on June 13. The board has the responsibility of determining whether her teaching certificate should be suspended or revoked.

Conners will be ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
KY Teacher Indicted on Sex Charge
[Previous 5/11/12 post]
(Ft. Thomas. Kentucky) A 33-year-old accounting and finance teacher at Highlands High School, Andrea Conners, has resigned amid suspicion of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student.

Connors, a married mother of two young boys, has been indicted on a charge of first-degree sex abuse stemming from a relationship during October and November 2011. According to defense attorney Lisa Wells, possible sentences include:

"It's 1 - 5 years and most judges are not gonna probate a sex offender so in the event she were to go to trial a jury would have to give her a minimum of one year because they can't probate that sentence either. But usually if you plead in front of a judge on a sex offense you're gonna get actual jail time. Maybe, maybe a split sentence if the victim were to speak on her behalf she could get 5 yrs probated and only serve six months but it's been my experience, especially in Campbell County, if it's a sex offense and you're pleading guilty to it you should expect to serve some jail time," she said.

No details available on arrest.

Canada's Language Rights Investigation

(Ottawa, Canada) Canadian law requires all airline travelers be provided services in both the English and French languages. Canada's language police is being dispatched to verify compliance.

Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser says his office will conduct more than 1,500 anonymous observations this fall at airports in Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

He says audits of some of those airports have been done in the past, but this will be the first time so many are done at once.

“I’ve been interested in the language rights of the travelling public really throughout my mandate,” Fraser said Wednesday.

“So at different times, we’ve been looking at different aspects of what the traveller’s experience is. We’ve looked at border services, we’ve done an audit of Air Canada’s service to the public, and now we’re looking at airports.”

Arguably, the effort is just another bureaucratic make-work ploy with actual costs far exceeding any perceived benefits.

Hatred of the American flag at a mall in Oregon

No reason given -- but publicity has subsequently forced a complete backdown

A fight over the American flag is brewing at the Clackamas Town Center. The manager of the children's train at the mall says he's being forced to remove flags that he uses to decorate the train ride. Why? The mall told him the flags are against policy.

Thomas Phelps said he was floored when he got a letter from mall management telling him that the flags he put on the train a few weeks ago were "unapproved visuals." That reference didn't sit too well with Phelps, who also happens to be a military veteran.

Phelps said he would understand if it was causing a problem but he said nobody has complained - not once.

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

California Woman Arrested Again - Updated

(Corning, California) Local woman Chrissy Ann Dunn has been arrested for violating the terms of her probation. Dunn is accused of failing to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
California Woman Gets Jail in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 11/16/11 post]
(Corning, California) Local woman, Chrissy Ann Dunn, 31, has been sentenced in accordance with a plea deal.

For performing a lewd act upon a child and oral copulation of a person under 16, Dunn received one year in the Tehama County Jail.

Dunn was facing a sentence of up to three years, eight months in state prison, said Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen.

Arrested on April 19, Dunn was originally charged with 20 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, 10 counts of oral copulation and 20 counts of lewd acts upon a child, according to court documents.

It's not clear whether Dunn will be required to register as a sex offender. It would seem appropriate.

* * * * *
California Woman Guilty in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 5/18/11 post]
(Corning, California) In the case of Chrissy Ann Dunn, 30, the dismissal of charges last December was prompted by the need for more time to investigate the case, not because the alleged victim was lying as previously reported.

In April 2011, Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen refiled the case, charging Dunn with engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy. Dunn was again arrested. She was booked onto custody with bond set at $200,000.

Yesterday, Chrissy Ann Dunn pleaded guilty in accordance with a plea agreement to lewd act upon a child and oral copulation of a person under 16. Per the agreement, multiple other counts were dismissed.

Dunn will be sentenced on June 21 when she faces three years and eight months in prison.

* * * * *
Sex Charges Dismissed - Updated
[Previous 12/2/10 post]
(Corning, California) Sex charges against Chrissy Ann Dunn have been dismissed. The boy was lying and admitted it.

* * * * *
California Woman, 30, and Boy, 14
[Previous 11/18/10 post]
(Corning, California) A 30-year-old local woman, Chrissy Ann Dunn, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy. Dunn was arrested on a warrant Sunday resulting from an investigation prompted by a report from a local citizen.

Dunn faces charges of unlawful intercourse with a minor, oral copulation with a person under 16 and lewd act upon a child.

Dunn was booked into the Tehama County Jail with bail set at $30,000.

Mississippi Teacher and Male Student

(Rankin County, Mississippi) A 34-year-old algebra teacher at Richland High School, Stacy Walker, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male student. She was arrested Monday.

Walker faces a charge of sexual battery by a person in a position of trust or authority.

Police say the male student was 16 years old when the relationship started, and Walker has admitted to the accusations.

"Were just at the one student now," says Richland Chief Russel James. "Maybe three counts. There's always a possibility with this that other students may come forward."

Detectives are investigating allegations involving other students, according to the police department.

"She did cooperate. She did admit that there was inappropriate contact with the student," James said.

Walker was booked into custody and released on $25,000 bond.

Florida Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy - Updated

(Pasco County, Florida)

A former teacher accused of having sex with a student is in trouble again after she was caught asking the student on Facebook to drop the charges.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says the victim told detectives on July 5 Maryann Verdi contacted him on Facebook through one of his friend's accounts and tried to convince him to drop the charges against her.

When detectives talked with the victim's friend, she told them that while she was at Verdi's home, Verdi asked to use her Facebook account to contact the boy. She told her "it wasn't a good idea to do that", but Verdi did it anyway.

For doing it anyway, Verdi now faces a charge of witness tampering.

* * * * *
Florida Teacher Accused of Sex with Male Student
[Previous 10/27/11 post]
(Pasco County, Florida) A 40-year-old teacher formerly with Pasco County Schools, Maryann Verdi, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male student.

Verdi was arrested yesterday on charges of lewd or lascivious battery and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

The victim told an investigator that he had a sexual encounter with Verdi in December 2009, when he was 15 and Verdi was 38, an arrest report states. She was a teacher at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey at the time.

He and Verdi had a second encounter in Verdi's vehicle on Oct. 3, the day she submitted her resignation as a teacher at Sunlake High in Land O' Lakes where she was in trouble over issues unrelated to the sex charges.

Verdi was booked into custody at the Land O'Lakes Jail with bail set at $20,000.

'Naughty and nice: Australian newspaper sparks potential diplomatic storm by rebranding the Koreas

It's "racist" to disapprove of Communism?? Whether in the North or the South, Koreans are all the same race. It is just their governmental systems that differ. Racism has become a meaningless slur that Leftists just trot out in a sort of kneejerk reaction to anything they dislike



An Australian newspaper has sparked a potential diplomatic storm by rebranding North and South Korea 'Naughty' and 'Nice'.

The Brisbane Metro sneaked the joke into their coverage of the Olympics, where it featured on a medal table, charting the progress of nations competing at London 2012.

The 'rebranding' has attracted a wave of interest and is trending on Twitter, where some users have accused the newspaper of 'racism'.

Many readers considered the joke harmless fun, including Craig Le Grice, who tweeted: 'This is hilarious, if slightly political.'

While other Twitter users down under were upset about the xenophobic undertones. Leighb83 wrote: 'Yeah calling N & S Korea, Naughty Korea and Nice Korea is fine. As long as its fine for them to refer to us as the Dumb, Drunk, Racists.'

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Vermont Farmer Gets Revenge for Drug Arrest



(Newport, Vermont) Last week, an angry farmer, Roger Pion, 34, incensed because of a drug arrest, drove his massive 15-ton tractor over seven Orleans County Sheriff's Department vehicles.

According to police, five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van were demolished. Pion faces seven counts of felony unlawful mischief and one misdemeanor count of unlawful mischief on suspicion of damaging the cars.

'We had nothing to pursue him with,' said Newport Chief Deputy Philip Brooks, who went outside to see seven of his fleet's 11 vehicles destroyed.[…]

Without a vehicle to pursue the tractor Brooks said he ran to a nearby service station where one of their cruisers was being worked on.

By the time he reached, however, Pion had been stopped about two miles up the road by city police in Newport.

No one was injured. At least two deputies had gone inside a few moments before after washing their vehicles, officials said.

Damage is estimated at more than $300,000.

Tip: slwlion

OK Woman Accused of Eluding, Child Endangerment

(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) A 24-year-old local woman, Jimi Harvey, was arrested last Thursday after a high speed chase which ended in a wreck.

Harvey faces counts of eluding police, child endangerment and speeding in a school zone.

According to a police report, an officer tried to stop Harvey’s car Thursday after it sped through a school zone.

Instead of stopping, the car sped up, leading police on a brief chase that ended when it crashed into a house at 1504 SW 61. The crash started a house fire that was put out by firefighters. Fire officials said the blaze caused $35,000 in damage to the house.

Harvey was booked into custody at the Oklahoma County Jail.

Sauntering on High Steel




It's a mystery why someone would do that. (h/t D Martyr)

NH Woman Accused of Long-Term Child Sex Abuse

(Farmington, New Hampshire) A 51-year-old local woman, Laura Faas, has been accused of an extended-term sex assault of an 11-year-old boy.

Faas faces charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault, felonious sexual assault, false imprisonment and witness tampering.

Police said it is alleged that Faas had sexual contact with the boy for several years, held the boy down at least once and also told him not to tell anyone about what was happening or else she would go to jail.

Police said more charges could be added as their investigation continues.

Faas was booked into custody at the Strafford County House of Corrections with bail set at $15,000.

Florida Police Pursue Topless Driver

(Marion County, Florida) A local teacher's aide at Fort McCoy school was driving topless and chased by police for speeding on Saturday.

Mandy Ramsey, 35, of Fort McCoy, was speeding south on County Road 318 in a Ford F-250 pickup truck when a patrol car chased after her to pull her over, according to a Marion County Sheriff's Office report.

After seeing the patrol car in pursuit, the woman turned onto Northeast 220 Street and then continued down Northeast 10th Avenue, running a stop sign and eventually hitting an oak tree.

The deputy lost Ramsey during the chase in the area, but soon found the truck parked behind a mobile home with its passenger side mirror broken with an oak tree leaf in it, according to reports.

Ramsey explained that she didn't stop when police tried to pull her over for speeding because she was driving with her breasts exposed, wanting to surprise her boyfriend.

Nevertheless, Ramsey was charged with fleeing and eluding and booked into custody at the Marion County Jail. She was released on $5,000 bond.

Hansen's selective climate history

Any idea why Hansen chose to survey only the last 60 years? No mystery at all: That avoids the '30s, which were hotter and attended by more extreme weather than now. What a fraud! Steve McIntyre details some of the severe droughts of past centuries, many much worse than anything today

HUMAN-DRIVEN climate change is to blame for a series of increasingly hot summers and the situation is already worse than was expected just two decades ago, a top NASA scientist says. James Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, wrote in the Washington Post on Saturday that even his "grim" predictions of a warming future, delivered before the US Senate in 1988, were too weak.

"I have a confession to make: I was too optimistic," Hansen wrote.

"My projections about increasing global temperature have been proved true. But I failed to fully explore how quickly that average rise would drive an increase in extreme weather."

Hansen and his colleagues have published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences an analysis of the past six decades of global temperatures, revealing a "stunning increase in the frequency of extremely hot summers," he wrote.

Describing "deeply troubling ramifications for not only our future but also for our present," Hansen said the analysis was based not on models or predictions, "but actual observations of weather events and temperatures that have happened."

The peer-reviewed study shows global temperature has been steadily rising due to a warming climate, about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) in the past century, and that extreme events are more frequent.

The study echoes the findings of international research released last month that climbing greenhouse gas emissions boosted the odds of severe droughts, floods and heatwaves in 2011.

Hansen said the European heatwave of 2003, the Russian heatwave of 2010 and massive droughts in Texas and Oklahoma last year could each be attributed to climate change.

"And once the data are gathered in a few weeks' time, it's likely that the same will be true for the extremely hot summer the United States is suffering through right now," he said.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Wisconsin Woman and High School Boys - Updated

(Oshkosh, Wisconsin) In April 2012, 35-year-old Tessa Gray pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a child and sexual intercourse with a child.

Gray admitted to having sex with 16- and 15-year-old boys multiple times last year.

She was emotional in Winnebago County court as she apologized for her actions.

"I wanted to apologize to the victims and their families, because I never meant to hurt anybody or cause anything like this," Gray said.

Gray faced more than 80 years in prison, but in a plea deal she pleaded guilty to repeated sexual assault of a child and sexual intercourse with a child. She admitted to assaulting three boys ages 14, 15 and 16. She says she performed oral sex and had intercourse with two of the boys nearly two dozen times.

At sentencing Friday none of the victims came to court to speak and did not provide any statements to the court against Gray. Prosecutors argued Gray should be treated no different than a man in a similar situation.[…]

Gray's lawyer contends she continued the sexual contact with the boys out of fear the boys would stop being friends with her daughter.

Gray was sentenced to 21 months in jail and 12 years of probation. She was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Wisconsin Woman and High School Boys
[Previous 12/17/11 post]
(Oshkosh, Wisconsin) A 35-year-old local woman, Tessa A. Gray, has been accused of engaging in repeated sex with three of her teen daughter's male friends. It's reported that Gray admitted to the offenses.

Gray faces counts of repeated sexual assault of a child and sex with a child less than 16 years old.

According to the criminal complaint, Gray began sexual contact with the first victim, a 15-year-old high school freshman in December 2010. The boy told police he and Gray met for sex more than 20 times over the following 11 months, usually while Gray’s daughter was not at home.

A second victim, told police he and Gray had sexual intercourse on multiple occasions between March and May. The boy was 16 at the time.

The 14-year-old boy told police that he played ping-pong games with Gray in which the winner was allowed to touch the loser. The boy said there was no other sexual contact.

Gray was booked into custody and released on $2,500 bond.

No Jail for Strapping Kids to Car - Update

(Fort Wayne, Indiana) In July 2012, 29-year-old Aaron S. Stefanski pleaded guilty to four class D felonies for strapping his kids to the hood of a car and driving.

Subdued and seemingly repentant Stefanski told a judge in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Friday he regretted his actions, adding, 'I let alcohol make the decision for me.'

As a result, Stefanski was sentenced Friday to four years in prison with two and one-half years suspended and the remaining time to be spent on probation.

* * * * *
Strapping Kids to Car
[Previous 5/8/12 post]
(Fort Wayne, Indiana) A local man, Aaron S. Stefanski, and woman, Jessica A. Clark, both 29, have been accused of strapping four young children, ages 4, 5, 6 and 7, to the hood of a car and going for a ride.

A witness reported the episode and a U.S. Marshal pulled the couple over.

The man had a blood-alcohol content of 0.17 percent, more than twice Indiana's legal limit for driving, [police spokeswoman] Foster said. The man and woman's relationship was unclear.

Bond was set at $13,000 for the man, while the woman has a $2,500 bond.

The couple face felony neglect charges. Stefanski also faces charges of driving while intoxicated.

Intravenous Drip for Hangovers

(Manchester, England)

People looking for a quick hangover fix are heading to the Re-Enhance Skin and Body Clinic where they are connected to a drip which intravenously delivers vitamins, as well as magnesium and calcium.

But the treatment has been slammed by local health chiefs – who described it as 'inappropriate' and 'irresponsible'.

IV drips have been traditionally used to treat the severely sick and malnourished – but doctors in the United States realised they could be used to rehydrate hungover revellers.

The procedure sees patients linked up to a 250ml bag of solution and the treatment is designed to offer an immediate pick up as well as boost the immune system.

It is carried out by a doctor so Re-Enhance Skin and Body Clinic bosses insist it is safe. They say the procedure banishes the tell-tale red eyes and pounding headaches that follow a late night and it has become a celebrity must-have in the US, with rumoured followers including music mogul Simon Cowell.

Treatments cost £120 ($185) and they are available in mobile buses.

Ron Unz and IQ

I seem to be a consistent critic of Ron Unz, editor of "The American Conservative". I noted yesterday (and earlier) that his idea of low criminality among Hispanics is contradicted by Obama's deportation statistics and I also took a few potshots at his theory that IQ differences between nations are mostly the effect of environmental factors.

So I am pleased that Richard Lynn has now given a systematic reply to Unz on the IQ question. Lynn echoes some of the points I made (and I did get an email from Lynn saying he liked my article) but his reply is far more detailed and scholarly and, I think, a good reply to Unz's claims.

Unz has replied to Lynn and it looks to me that the two sides are converging, with the differences being in matters of degree. Both parties agree that the environment has some influence but Lynn makes a strong case for the importance of genetics.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Depressed Monkeys



Black Howler Monkey

(Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Black howler monkeys at an Argentine ecological park have been suffering depression following the death of two of the oldest females in the group and had to be given medication because they refused to eat, the press reported.

Two alpha females died 1½ years ago from natural causes at the Rio Cuarto Urban Ecological Park some 650 kilometers (400 miles) west of Buenos Aires, and from that moment “their male companions began suffering depression and four let themselves die of sadness,” park director Miriam Rodriguez told Clarin newspaper.

Psychiatrist Sergio Castillo prescribed anti-depression medication.

OK Mom Arrested After Baby Ingests Meth

(Tulsa County, Oklahoma) In April 2012, a 25-year-old local woman, Amy Lynn Daugherty, was accused of child neglect after her infant girl was hospitalized with high levels of methamphetamine in her system.

Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies were called to St. Francis Hospital late Tuesday after a pediatrician alerted them to the 8-month-old girl’s condition, Sgt. Shannon Clark said.

Members of the Skiatook Fire Department had transported the girl and her mother to the hospital after Daugherty sought the advice of a family friend with medical training, Clark said.

The friend told deputies the infant was limp and unresponsive, “like a rag doll,” he said.

Clark said Daugherty told deputies she and the child were at a residence where meth and marijuana were being used Sunday. She said the baby was never outside her supervision and that she “didn’t know where (her daughter) would have ingested” methamphetamine.

Daugherty was booked into custody at the Tulsa County Jail with bail set at $25,000. A court hearing has been scheduled for this week.

Tuna-Packing Lawsuit

(San Diego, California) Based upon an investigation by the state Department of Food and Agriculture, the canners of Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea and Starkist tuna have failed to meet federal standards for the amount of tuna in each can.

As a result of a civil consumer protection action, the companies have agreed to pay $3.3 million.

The settlement will be divvied up among the three counties of San Diego, Marin and Riverside with each getting about $1 million. Additionally, California food banks will be provided with $300,000 worth of canned tuna.

One may wonder how many government workers are employed in the California Tuna Can Inspection Division. I do.

Criminality among illegals

I have found what sound like some better statistics on illegal immigrants than what can be inferred from Obama's broad brush claim that he "only" deports serious criminals. We read:

"The 2011 figures show slightly more undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes were deported last year than in the prior year. ICE reported that 216,698 of the unauthorized immigrants removed in the 2011 fiscal year were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, making up about 55 percent of the total removals"

Even so, if we scale up 216,698 over just 10 years we still have 2 million out of 12 million illegals who are offenders, and that is not at all consonant with claims by Ron Unz and others that offending among illegals is rare.

All statistics in this field have to be regarded as wobbly but deportation statistics would seem most likely to be solidly grounded -- JR

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Award-Winning Urologist and Eagle-Eyed Minister

(New York City)

An award-winning Mount Sinai Hospital urologist who teaches robotic surgery was busted for allegedly video-recording up women’s skirts in the Union Square subway station, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

Adam Levinson, 39, was arrested during rush hour Tuesday after an eagle-eyed minister told cops he saw the doc filming women with a tiny pen camera clipped to a folded-up newspaper, sources said.

I wonder what Mr. Levinson won an award for.

Tip: slwlion

Olympic Rower Outed as 'neo-Nazi Lover'



Nadja Drygalla
(London, England) In another story regarding Nazis, a member of the German Olympic rowing team has quit due to a relationship with a neo-Nazi.

Nadja Drygalla, 23, left after a long conversation with German Olympic officials about the allegations that her boyfriend was a leading member of the “Rostock National Socialists” and had fought a state election for a neo-Nazi party.

“Ms Drygalla declared at the end of our conversation that she would leave the Olympic village in order not to be a burden for the Olympic team. The German Rowing Association welcomes this decision,” said Michael Vesper chef de Mission of the German Olympic Association.

The rumours had also led to Drygalla leaving her training position with the police, Die Welt newspaper reported on Friday.

It appears there was no way that Drygalla could shake the incendiary label of being pro-Nazi which would taint the whole team.

These two disparate reports arguably provide strong evidence that the Nazi ideology continues to endure in Europe.

(h/t wireless Phil)

* * * * *
Swiss Nazis
[Previous 8/2/12 post]
(Canton Uri, Switzerland)

An annual Nazi march scheduled to take place on Sunday is expected to attract double the numbers that attended last year.

The police are on high alert following rumours that some 300 right-wing extremists plan to gather on Sunday on the Rütli, the mountain meadow in canton Uri where the first oath of the independent Swiss Federation was thought to have been sworn.

Similar gatherings of sympathizers and members of the Nationally Oriented Swiss Party have occurred in the past few years, online news site 20 Minuten reported.

According to Bernese anti-fascists, the party is supported by the Hammerskins and the Neo-Nazi Blood and Honour groups, some of the country's most violent right-wing extremists.

The Federal Intelligence Service will be assisting the police on the day, who are ready to intervene should any trouble break out, including in the event of a breach of the anti-racism laws.

Police are expected to take a tough line against the marchers; 64-year-old man was recently sentenced under the anti-racism legislation for raising his right flattened hand at the party’s march in 2010.

The Young Socialist Party plans a counter-demonstration.

Small Wind Turbines Kill Bats



(UK) According to new research, a small residential wind turbine will kill off half the bat population in its vicinity.

Academics from Stirling University looked at the small wind turbines, which are becoming an increasingly popular means of power generation at individual homes.

The research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, involved halting microturbine movement at 20 sites across the UK and examining the effect on bird and bat activity.

The results revealed bird activity was not significantly affected but bat activity was 54% lower in close proximity to operating turbines compared to those which were stopped.

Dr Kirsty Park, senior lecturer in Ecology at Stirling who led the research team, said: "Reducing our carbon footprint is important, but we also need to understand the implications of renewable energy technologies for wildlife conservation.

Unstated is the logical conclusion that birds are smarter than bats.

Patriotic grill incorrect?

After rocketing to victory in the 400m individual medley on Saturday, leaving Michael Phelps and his other competitors in his wake and taking the USs first gold medal, Lochte slipped a diamond-encrusted mouth guard over his teeth for the presentation ceremony.

But the guard in red, blue and white stripes did not go down well with London officials who told him he'd have to remove it or he wouldn't be able to collect his gold medal.

While Lochte obeyed the demands of London officials and removed the mouth guard, he had the last laugh.

He kept it in his pocket until after the national anthem and popped it back in, posing for the cameras with his newly minted mouth-guard.

Source

The ban would have been part of the ban on logos of non-sponsors at the games. But the USA is not a company. Are they going to ban Old Glory too?

By the way, it seems that grills originated among blacks. They saw the braces that middle class children often wear on their teeth as part of orthodontic (teeth straightening) treatment and saw that as prestigious.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Montana Woman, 21, and Girl, 14

(Great Falls, Montana) A 21-year-old local woman, Melissa Debolt, has been accused of inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old girl.

Debolt has been charged with one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

Police say Debolt took the girl fishing in mid-July before taking her to Debolt's residence. The girl told police Debolt kissed her and put her hands in the girl's pants.

Police say Debolt told authorities she kissed the girl but denied putting her hand in the girl's shorts.

Details on booking are unavailable.

Teacher's Conviction Overturned on Appeal - Updated

(Santa Ana, California) Citing extreme prejudice on the part of prosecution witnesses, state appellate court judges overturned the conviction of Carlie Rose Attebury.

Judges said Thursday the lower court's jury was wrongly swayed by testimony from three former students who had legal sex with band director Carlie Rose Attebury after they had graduated.

City News Service reports that Orange County prosecutors will review the ruling and decide whether to seek a new trial.

Further action, if any, remains to be decided.

* * * * *
California Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 3/5/11 post]
(Santa Ana, California) For sex with a 15-year-old student, Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
California Teacher Guilty in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 11/25/10 post bumped]
(Santa Ana, California) Former band director Carlie Rose Attebury, 31, was convicted by a jury yesterday on one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, and one count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor.

Deputy District Attorney Katherine David was happy with the decision.

The turning point in the trial, David said, was a record of text messages that Attebury and the victim sent to each other between June 21 and Oct. 1, 2008. In that span, Attebury sent 9,315 texts and the victim sent 10,626.

"I feel like the text message sealed the deal with the jury," David said. "If we didn't have the text messages, we may not have won."

Attebury was emotional throughout the trial, crying whenever the charges were mentioned, David said.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 7.

* * * * *
California Teacher on Trial in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 11/14/10 previous]
(Orange County, California) Tomorrow, 31-year-old teacher Carlie Rose Attebury goes on trial in a Santa Ana courtroom.

Attebury faces two felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, one felony count of lewd acts on a child, two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor under 16, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.

If convicted, a seven-year prison sentence is possible. It's reported that Attebury claims she loves the boy and wants to get married.

* * * * *
Music Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 11/1/08 post]
(Orange County, California) A 29-year-old music teacher at El Modena High School, Carlie Rose Attebury, has been arrested and charged with sexual misconduct with a male student, 15 or 16 years old.

Attebury has been charged with multiple felony counts including unlawful sex and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.

After her initial arrest, Attebury was released on $50,000 bond.

Leading up to today, she had been on paid leave. But today, the Orange Unified School District changed Attebury's status to unpaid leave, according to a district official.

Deputy District Attorney Susan Kang Schroeder said the charges stemmed from two encounters with one student. The first encounter is alleged to have occurred in February and the second in April, according to the district attorney's Web site.

Attebury is currently free on bond.

Self-Defenders at Target Practice




It's recommended that firearms owners regularly clean their weapons and spend time at the shooting range. Proper posture while gripping the weapon with both hands is desirable.

Tip: Rita and Eugene

Cleanup in Notions Department?


Julian Call & Tina Gianakon
(Hutchinson, Kansas)

A pair of frisky Kansans are facing criminal charges after they allegedly swiped some K-Y Jelly from a Walmart and actually began trysting inside the big box retailer, cops report.

The X-rated encounter Sunday evening resulted in the arrest of Julian Call, 22, and Tina Gianakon, 35, on theft and lewd and lascivious behavior charges, according to the Hutchinson Police Department.

Call and Gianakon face misdemeanor charges.

Tip: slwlion

Toronto Police Sued for Profiling Protesters



(Toronto, Ontario)

A group of seven protesters from Hamilton, Ont. are suing Toronto police for $1.4 million, claiming they were unfairly profiled, arrested and mistreated during the G20 summit.

Lawyer Davin Charney served the Toronto Police Service with a 44-page statement of claim on Wednesday, outlining a litany of allegations against the police force.

The lawsuit claims his clients were arrested without reason, held for more than 24 hours in a detention centre and, in some cases, sexually assaulted, before they were released without charges.

Charney said Toronto police unfairly profiled his clients, and arrested them because they appeared to be protesters based on their clothing and physical features, which included women with hairy legs.

Hairy legs? Heh.

Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day




(South Charleston, West Virginia)

Diners are making a political statement amid the waffle fries and chicken sandwiches across America and in West Virginia.

Lines at the South Charleston Chick-fil-A in Kanawha County stretched from the counter deep into the parking lot and the drive-thru was backed up all the way to U.S. Route 119 on Wednesday.

"It started at 6:30 a.m. when we opened for breakfast," said Manager-Owner Tom Minturn. "I expected a good reaction and community support just because of what we've done in the community. I did not expect this great of support. It's been phenomenal."

Ever since Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy expressed his personal belief marriage should be between a man and a woman, his restaurant empire has become the flashpoint of the fierce debate in America over same-sex marriage intermingled with arguments over free speech.

Cathy's remarks were personal and had no connection to the company's business plan.

Although this story profiles one franchise, reports are emerging from around the country about lines of customers at Chick-fil-A restaurants. Illogically, the mainstream media are not, as yet, covering the story.

Partial credit for the flood of customers at Chick-fil-A is directed to Tea Party supporters, who can appear out of the ether when political pressure groups attack American values.

(More….)

Arizona Teacher Accused of Sex with Girl, 14

(Phoenix, Arizona) A 28-year-old teacher at Sonoran Sky Elementary School in Glendale, Kimberly Ali, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 14-year-old female student.

Phoenix Police were initially alerted after the victim's mother found sexual messages (sexting) on her daughter's phone.

Ali faces nine counts of sexual conduct with a minor and five counts of sex abuse.

The 14-year-old admitted to several acts of sexual contact with Ali. Online contact began as early as April of this year while sexual contact began July 14 through July 26, police said.

Ali was arrested yesterday morning and booked into custody.

DO PEOPLE BECOME MORE CONSERVATIVE AS THEY AGE?

The article below came out some time ago but it is so stupid that it has taken me until now to bother with it. They come to the crazy conclusion that people do NOT become more conservative as they age.

I think most of us old-timers can think of quite a few people who are a lot more conservative than they used to be -- and who can overlook that both Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill were liberals in their younger days? And readers of this blog will probably be familiar with John Stossel and David Horowitz as further examples of such change. In my home State of Queensland, Ned Hanlon started out as a far-Left unionist and red-ragger but when he eventually became Premier of the State he ended up using the police to break strikes by unionists. He moved from one extreme to the other in the course of his lifetime. I could go on. The exampes are innumerable.

So how did they go wrong below? In the usual Leftist way: They have no idea of what conservatism is and substitute their own false picture of it for the reality. In particular, they equate conservatism with rigidity and closed-mindedness, when the actual research on the topic (going back to Rokeach in 1960) says that closed mindedness is not politically polarized. Both liberals and conservatives are roughly equally likely to be rigid and closed-minded. My papers on that topic are here.

And any mention of what conservatism really is: Respect for individual liberty and opposition to big government, for instance, is conspicuously missing.

In short, the work below fails as research because it gets the very first step in any science wrong: Taxonomy. Their classification of people as conservatives is demonstrably erroneous

Readers may be interested in the listing of attitudes contained in my paper "What old people believe". Note that the listing includes statements that old people REJECT -- JR

Amidst the bipartisan banter of election season, there persists an enduring belief that people get more conservative as they age -- making older people more likely to vote for Republican candidates.

Ongoing research, however, fails to back up the stereotype. While there is some evidence that today's seniors may be more conservative than today's youth, that's not because older folks are more conservative than they use to be. Instead, our modern elders likely came of age at a time when the political situation favored more conservative views.

In fact, studies show that people may actually get more liberal over time when it comes to certain kinds of beliefs. That suggests that we are not pre-determined to get stodgy, set in our ways or otherwise more inflexible in our retirement years. Contrary to popular belief, old age can be an open-minded and enlightening time.

"Pigeonholing older people into these rigid attitude boxes or conservative boxes is not a good idea," said Nick Dangelis, a sociologist and gerontologist at the University of Vermont in Burlington.

"Rather, when they were born, what experiences they had growing up, as well as political, social and economic events have a lot to do with how people behave," he said. "Our results are showing that these have profound effects."

Today, the image is ubiquitous in popular culture: A rigid gray-haired grump, who is closed-minded and set in his or her curmudgeonly ways. To some extent, that belief emerged from a real observation: Surveys that ask about attitudes towards things like premarital sex or race relations reveal that people older than 60 express more conservative views than people between the ages of 25 and 39. By extension came the assumption that older people used to be more liberal.

The problem with these studies, Dangelis said, is that they compare two demographics at one moment in time without offering a picture of the older cohort when they were younger. So, in a 2007 paper in the journal American Sociological Review, Dangelis and colleagues started to address that problem.

Using surveys taken between 1972 and 2004, the researchers found that groups of people actually became more tolerant, not more conservative, after age 60 -- calling into question some enduring myths about old age. Survey questions addressed attitudes about boundaries of privacy (such as the right to die), historically subordinate groups (such as women and Blacks) and civil liberties (for groups like atheists).

But that study had limitations, too. For one thing, each survey included a different set of people. So the researchers could compare the attitudes of people who were 25 in 1972, for example, with the attitudes of people who were 35 in 1982.

What's still missing, though, are long-term studies that actually follow individuals over time to see how their beliefs change.

In lieu of that kind of research, which is too difficult to do, researchers are now using complicated statistics to tease apart the effects of getting older from the effects of being a certain age at a certain moment in time.

Results, which are just starting to emerge, suggest that each belief follows its own complicated pattern. Seniors seem to have become more liberal about subordinate groups, for example, but more conservative about civil liberties.

Overall, what's happening in society at large as people come of age seems to matter most in determining the starting point for their core beliefs, said Karl Pillemer, a sociologist and gerontologist at Cornell University, who conducted more than 1,000 in-depth interviews with seniors for his book, "30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans." From there, people's attitudes can evolve as they age. And flexibility often trumps rigidity.

"Older people said very surprising things about being old," Pillemer said. "One of those things was that old age was a quest for adventure and a time to try new things. Many older people describe themselves as feeling freer or clearer."

Late in life, his research shows, people often become more open, more tolerant, and more appreciative of compassion. Even if they started out conservative, they may become less extreme in their conservatism.

"Many describe themselves as open to ideas or open to new ways of thinking, and they come back to a sense of much greater tolerance for different points of view," he said. "I had someone say, 'I used to think I was always right, but now that I'm 80, I'm not so sure I'm always right.'"

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Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).