Posts Tagged ‘prison’
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 30, 2020
Laws punishing drunk, or impaired driving are based upon principles of public health and public safety. That is to say, laws forbidding and punishing drunk driving are based historically upon the damages, injuries, and deaths caused by those who have driven while intoxicated.
At some point, The People refused to be abused and victimized any longer, stood up, and resoundingly said ‘NO MORE!‘, and passed legislation making such behavior and associated acts a serious crime. In some states, it’s not uncommon to read of individuals charged with DUI, who are also charged with the felonies of either murder, or criminally negligent homicide in cases where their actions resulted in the death of another.
Have laws against DUI stopped the offense or eliminated the injuries, damages, and deaths associated with the same?
No, but they have so significantly reduced them to the extent that such offenses and their associated damages are now the exception, rather than the rule.
The same principle applies to tobacco use, and smoking. It is a known carcinogen, and its consumption and use is a well-documented cause of numerous types of cancers, associated diseases, suffering, and early death – most notably recently, renown guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died of metastatic oral cancer contracted from smoking aged 65.
Consequently, taxes upon tobacco have been increased in many areas, and places where its consumption is permitted is severely limited.
And so, now, we have COVID to deal with. Fundamentally, as far as the net effect – death, damage, and destruction – how is that any different? Seriously. Well over 250,000 lives unnecessarily lost in LESS THAN THE SPACE OF A YEAR, and with well over 13,000,000 cases, the good ol’ USA is the world’s NUMBER 1 repository of COVID-19… by far!
Yaay!
Thanks (for nothing) Trump!
COVID-19, Masks and the Freedom to Drive Drunk
By Andrew Koppelman, Opinion Contributor
11/29/20 03:00 PM EST
Does freedom mean the right to refuse to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic? Many Americans think so. It is President Trump’s most important legacy. Here’s one implication that is too little noticed: If that is what freedom means, then we owe drunk drivers an apology.
The idea is shaping our world. Ignoring urgent expert advice, an Idaho health board recently rescinded its mask mandate, while 100 new cases were reported in one day and the local hospital was running out of beds. (A couple of weeks later, it reversed itself and imposed the mandate.) The board member who led the change explained, “I agree we have a problem with this virus, but at the same time I object to the mandate the board passed because it restricts people’s right of choice and ability to comply or not comply under penalty of law.” Another member said, “I personally do not care whether anybody wears a mask or not. If they want to be dumb enough to walk out there and expose themselves or others to it, they can.” The story was reported in the Daily Beast under the headline, “This really happened.”
This is a new and unfamiliar conception of freedom. Some people, notably New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have blamed libertarianism for this stuff, but the standard libertarian story is that people have the right to do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else. Now we are told that they have a right of choice even if they do hurt other people.
Drunk drivers were once casually tolerated. After Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded in 1980 by a woman whose 13-year-old daughter was killed by one, attitudes and laws both became harsher. The proportion of fatal crashes involving drunk drivers plunged, from 53 percent in 1982 to 34 percent in 1997. There were over 26,000 drunk driving deaths in 1982, and fewer than 11,000 in 2018. I believe universal mask-wearing would have had a comparable effect. An estimated 100,000 or more lives would have been saved.
But, if you’re concerned about masks’ infringement on individual liberty, then why endure DWI (driving while intoxicated) laws? Masks are a lot cheaper than the cabfare home from the tavern, and then there’s the Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Do you feel like we do, Dr. Who?, - Even MORE Uncategorized!, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., WTF | Tagged: coronavirus, COVID-19, crime, death, disease, drunk driving, DUI, DWI, face mask, freedom, impaired driving, jail, MADD, masks, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, prison, public health | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, October 17, 2020
Scottie Alton Johnson, a 45-year old Alabama resident, and ward of the state’s prison system, died from complications from COVID-19 on August 1, 2020, according to autopsy results.
Records show that on July 31, authorities took him to a hospital nearest the Bullock Correctional Facility which is located in Union Springs, in Bullock County. Though authorities did not specify, Bullock County Hospital at 104 Bullock Drive, Union Springs, Alabama is less than 3 miles straight down the road, West from the prison.
He died August 1.
At the time of his admission to hospital, he was not thought to be infected with the novel coronavirus, and a COVID-19 test conducted upon his admission resulted negative.
A full autopsy was performed, and the Alabama Department of Corrections stated Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Do you feel like we do, Dr. Who?, - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated, - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News, WTF | Tagged: ADOC, AL, Alabama, Bullock, coronavirus, COVID-19, death, faith, justice, news, politics, prison, prisoner | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, April 27, 2020
We have been told that the MINIMUM asymptomatic (without symptoms) range was 30-50% for the general public, which means that the number of POSITIVE cases is very likely UNDER–COUNTED by that amount, and therefore at LEAST 30-50% HIGHER than tests show, precisely because without symptoms, few, if any, are being tested.
The rationale such individuals have is, ‘I don’t have symptoms, so why should I get tested?’
And that is the classic “Typhoid Mary” Mallon case of the early 20th Century in which Mary Mallon infected many with Typhoid Fever (some of whom died), and NEVER – not even once – EVER showed any signs or symptoms of disease – not even on her deathbed.
And she did NOT die of Typhoid Fever.
And what you’re about to read is PRECISELY what needs to happen to EVERYONE in America.
That is,
EVERYONE
SHOULD BE TESTED,
EVEN IF
THEY HAVE
NO SYMPTOMS!
Sun Apr 26, 2020 / 7:59 AM EDT
(Reuters) – When the first cases of the new coronavirus surfaced in Ohio’s prisons, the director in charge felt like she was fighting a ghost.
“We weren’t always able to pinpoint where all the cases were coming from,” said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. As the virus spread, they began mass testing.
They started with the Marion Correctional Institution, which houses 2,500 prisoners in north central Ohio, many of them older with pre-existing health conditions. After testing 2,300 inmates for the coronavirus, they were shocked. Of the 2,028 who tested positive, close to 95% had no symptoms.
“It was very surprising,” said Chambers-Smith, who oversees the state’s 28 correctional facilities.
As mass coronavirus testing expands in prisons, large numbers of inmates are showing no symptoms. In four state prison systems — Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia — 96% of 3,277 inmates who tested positive for the coronavirus were asymptomatic, according to interviews with officials and records reviewed by Reuters. That’s out of 4,693 tests that included results on symptoms.
The numbers are the latest evidence to suggest that people who are asymptomatic — contagious but not physically sick — may be driving the spread of the virus, not only in state prisons that house 1.3 million inmates across the country, but also in communities across the globe. The figures also reinforce questions over whether testing of just people suspected of being infected is actually capturing the spread of the virus.
“It adds to the understanding that we have a severe undercount of cases in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leana Wen, adjunct associate professor of emergency medicine at George Washington University, said of the Reuters findings. “The case count is likely much, much higher than we currently know because of the lack of testing and surveillance.”
Some people diagnosed as asymptomatic when tested for the coronavirus, however, may go on to develop symptoms later, according to researchers.
The United States has more people behind bars than any other nation, a total incarcerated population of nearly 2.3 million as of 2017 — nearly half of which is in state prisons. Smaller numbers are locked in federal prisons and local jails, which typically hold people for relatively short periods as they await trial.
State prison systems in Michigan, Tennessee and California have also begun mass testing — checking for coronavirus infections in large numbers of inmates even if they show no sign of illness — but have not provided specific counts of asymptomatic prisoners.
Tennessee said a majority of its positive cases didn’t show symptoms. In Michigan, state authorities said Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Do you feel like we do, Dr. Who?, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News, - She blinded me with SCIENCE! | Tagged: Arkansas, California, CDC, coronavirus, COVID-19, disease, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, prison, public health, Tennesse, Texas, Virginia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 21, 2019
Rampant racism continues in our United States, especially and particularly in the South.
Or, so it seems.
One would’ve hoped for “a more perfect union,” especially by now.
But, that’s progress, and “progress” is a dirty word to many – especially to Southerners – whose loathsome contempt of, and resistance to change is as ignobly infamous as their Lost Cause (of the Confederacy) following defeat in our nation’s Civil War.

Curtis Flowers was tried for the SAME crime SIX times in Mississippi. If that doesn’t violate the intent of the “Double Jeopardy” clause of the Constitution, I don’t know what does. (Image from Mississippi Department of Corrections.)
Synopsis: A Mississippi Death Row inmate was prosecuted SIX times for the SAME crime by a prosecutor with a history of racial bias in jury selection.
The case was SO egregious, that the sole, long-silent Southerner, and only Black SCOTUS Justice, Clarence Thomas, who has for many years maintained literal silence on the bench, asked a question – the last question he asked was THREE YEARS AGO.
NPR wrote that arguments before the SCOTUS Justices in this case were “more passionate and fact-filled than usual.” (SCOTUS case transcript linked above, and here: SCOTUS case Curtis Giovanni Flowers v Mississippi 17-9572)
The case the Justices heard Wednesday, 20 March 2019, involved the conduct of Montgomery County District Attorney Doug Evans, in the tiny town of Winona, Mississippi, and his relentless pursuit of a conviction of Curtis Flowers.
With a population well under 5000, Winona is practically a village, and of the modestly-sized tiny town, NPR wrote that it’s a place “where everybody knows everybody.”
Curtis Giovanni Flowers is a black man who had NO prior arrests or convictions before he was arrested and accused of a quadruple murder in the town.
After Flowers’ arrest, he was Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: corruption, crime, Curtis Flowers, death penalty, GOP, hate, law, Mississippi, MS, news, politics, prison, racism, Republican, SCOTUS, South | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, February 27, 2016
Recently, on February 23, 2016, AL.com published an OpEd entitled “Would legalizing cannabis solve Alabama’s budget problems?” written by Reggie C. Pulliam, whom was identified as “a resident of Gulf Shores who has worked on public policy and criminal justice reform in Washington, D.C.”
I found his Op-Ed unconvincing because it’s poorly written.
The Colorado Department of Revenue reported that for December 2015 (State of Colorado Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, and Fees Transfers and Distribution December 2015 Sales Reported in January 2016), Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses, and Fees was $13,247,434.
The year-to-date increase was $4,689,293.
Based upon the December figure, on an annualized basis, that’s $158,969,208… which is not exactly chump change.
(See “Alabama Senate Approves Shifting $100 Million Away From Schools” published September 15, 2015.)
Linked here is the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Colorado Marijuana Tax Data.
Figuring into the state cost : benefit analysis & calculations also is a decrease in costs associated with Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News, - Round, round, get around, I get around. | Tagged: AL, Alabama, cannabis, CO, Colorado, cost, costs, court, court costs, courts, data, entrepreneurship, facts, figures, incarceration, income, judge, judicial, law, law enforcement officer, legal, legislature, LEO, marijuana, money, prison, prisoner, prisons, private enterprise, Revenue, smoke, state, tax, taxes, voters | 2 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 12, 2015
It’s no joke, Colorado is ROLLING (pun intended) in revenue from the taxes and licensing fees associated with legal cannabis sales.
From the Colorado Department of Revenue:
Colorado Marijuana Tax Data
“Total marijuana tax revenue includes the 2.9% retail and medical marijuana sales tax, 10% retail marijuana special sales tax, 15% marijuana excise tax, and retail/medical marijuana application and license fees.”
For the month of September 2015 (reported October 2015), Colorado had TOTAL (Total All Marijuana Taxes, Licenses) $11,656,736.
On an annualized basis, that’s at least $139,880,832.
The rhetorical question is:
What could Sweet Home do with even half the money like that?
Consider also this: That the legalization of cannabis also largely eliminates Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home. | Tagged: AL, Alabama, ALpolitics, cannabis, costs, Cullman, health, healthcare, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, law, law enforcement, legislation, marijuana, medical, opiod, policy, pot, prison, reserch, social | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, October 30, 2015
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has long opposed Capital Punishment in the United States.
Speaking from the floor of the United States Senate Thursday, 29 October 2015, he said in part, “When we talk about criminal justice reform, I believe it is time for the United States of America to join almost every other Western, industrialized country on Earth in saying no to the death penalty.”
His Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton has recently announced that she supports the Death Penalty.
Speaking in Manchester, New Hampshire Wednesday, 28 October 2015, she said in part, “I do not favor abolishing it, however, because I do think there are certain egregious cases that still deserve the consideration of the death penalty, but I’d like to see those be very limited and rare, as opposed to what we’ve seen in most states.”
For years, Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Alcohol, Bernie, Bernie Sanders, beverage alcohol, BJS, Bureau of Justice Statistics, costs, crime, Department of Justice, DOJ, drink, ETOH, felony, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, law, marijuana, money, policy, prison, reform, regulation, Senator, smoke, statistics, taxes, US Senator, USDOJ | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, May 29, 2015
To The Reader:
If you are not a regular follower of Alabama politics, some, or perhaps most, of the items mentioned herein may very well be alien to you. Yet even if you are – even to a small extent – an adherent of the same, it very well may still be strange to you. It’s strange to most… save for those who wallow in such mire, namely, the Alabama Legislature and politicians in Alabama.
What I write herein this blog, and this entry in particular, contains fact, and opinion. It’s difficult to NOT have opinion when faced with facts… particularly when innocent lives are at stake. And innocent lives ARE at stake in Alabama.
I ask your indulgence.
From Day One of his first term in office (January 17, 2010) Alabama Governor Robert Bentley’s administration has been pockmarked with allegations of corruption, wrong-doing, violations of Federal Law, incompetence, lies, thefts, and deceptions.
I have written and opined about Governor Bentley’s bald-faced lies from his first campaign for governor (Alabama Governor Bentley Broke 20 Promises From 2010 Campaign), and his propensities and predilections toward falsehoods are well-documented in other news media from his campaign for a second term as governor, and after his re-election.
Examples include:
• 23-Felony Ethics Count indicted Rep. Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) re-elected GOP Speaker of the House
• Rep. Greg Wren (R-Montgomery) plead guilty to misdemeanor Hubbard-related ethics charge and resigned his House seat
• Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) charged with perjury and false statements related to Lee County grand jury in January in Hubbard case
• Moles in GOP Attorney General Luther Strange’s office attempting to corrupt Hubbard’s prosecution
• Prison rapes & long-term cover-up of criminal wrongdoing at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, and Alabama Department Of Corrections (ADOC)
• ADOC purchased on the black market medicines to be misused for execution, which the FDA seized
• ADOC neglected prisoners’ minor healthcare problems, which lead to their death
• Legislature reneged repayment on money “borrowed” from Alabama Trust Fund
Facing an immediate General Fund Budget shortfall of $250 Million, and a projected $750 Million long-term deficit, shortly after re-election to a second term, Governor Bentley reneged on a campaign promise to not raise taxes. The most fearfully pressing of the concerns remains the prospects of a Federal take-over of the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC). At 200% capacity, and grossly understaffed, the ADOC is still teetering upon the precipice of a Federal take-over by the Department of Justice. The DOJ took over California’s Prison System with with much less overcrowding, approximately 140%.
The DOJ sent Governor Bentley a 36-page “love letter” dated January 17, 2014 which was entitled Investigation of the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women and Notice of Expanded Investigation in which they detailed numerous counts of prisoner abuse, sexual abuse of prisoners, criminal activity by guards upon inmates, and other horrific crimes against humanity.
USDOJ Tutwiler ADOC Findings 1-17-14
Only today, Governor Bentley crowed about reaching a 65+ page Settlement Agreement with the DOJ in which ADOC and the State of Alabama promised to “implement all policies and procedures required by the agreement within nine months of the effective date of the Agreement,” and which “will terminate when Defendants have achieved substantial compliance with each provision of the Agreement, and have maintained substantial compliance for three consecutive Court-filed compliance reports.”
ADOC-DOJ-Settlement-Package-05-28-15
While there is a nine month implementation time line, there is a possibility of Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home. | Tagged: ADOC, AL politics, Alabama, Alabama Department of Corrections, Bentley, cigarettes, coporation, corporations, deception, DOJ, education, false claims, falsehoods, felony, GOP, Governor Bentley, health, homeowner, indictment, insurance, Jennie L. Lancaster, Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, landowner, lies, Mike Hubbard, monitor, multi-national corporation, politics, prison, prisons, Public policy, Republican, Revenue, Robert Bentley, schools, taxes, theft, timber, timberland, Tutwiler, United States Department of Justice, USDOJ, women | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 7, 2014
Every single word in this OpEd is spot-on.
Alabama is on the verge of a complete takeover of it’s prison system. That is a VERY sad indictment, and fact. Further, most Alabamians are COMPLETELY unaware of the dangers the state faces.
Alabama is a state in crisis.
Fiscal crisis from a failure of long-term management, unwise, unsound policy, unnecessary prolonged and costly legal battles at the state and federal levels over inane laws which have had no positive effect upon the state, from policies and procedures which have only burdened the people, tax giveaways to corporations, funded corporate welfare, an inequitable personal income taxation system which has hampered and hamstrung state growth, and further placed the state’s citizens into poverty.
Face it folks… I don’t give a damn about what political colors you wear, or how or what you describe yourself as politically in Alabama… if everything were peaches and cream in the state, then why in the Hell is the state’s poverty level 18% – 4 percentage points ABOVE the national average?
Why is the state sick in their persons? Of all states, Alabama continually ranks high in rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc., even among CHILDREN!
Why does the state have a high crime rate?
Why are Alabamians largely “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command”?
WHY?
WHY?!?
WHY!?!
***
***
Why Alabama Cannot Wait on Prison Reform: Guest Opinion
Guest opinion By Alabama State Senator Cam Ward
August 06, 2014 at 9:00 AM, updated August 06, 2014 at 9:05 AM
By Cam Ward
Prisons are an issue that would never rank high on any list of priorities for the people of Alabama and understandably so. With unemployment hovering near 7 percent and many schools in need of repair, people ask me why prison reform should be a major subject at this time. The answer is simple – because our failure to maintain a good corrections system is going to push over a fiscal cliff that we may never recover from.
For years as our corrections system became more crowded the political leadership in Montgomery turned their eyes to issues more palatable to the voters during election time. The general feeling for decades has been “let’s wait and deal with that when we have more money.”
As we waited our system grew to 192 percent capacity and despite this incarceration rate our state has the 8th highest violent crime rate in the country. Both of these statistics point to a failing system of corrections.
In addition to allowing for a broken system to continue down a path of inefficiency we have also created a fiscal nightmare of the likes our state has never seen before. While we spend Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: abuse, ADOC, AL, Alabama, Alabama Department of Corrections, Alabama Senate, Cam Ward, Corrections, Democrats, Department of Corrections, geotag, geotagged, GOP, government, governor, Kim Thomas, money, policy, politics, prison, Prison reform, prison system, prisoners, reform, Senator, state, takeover, Taxation, taxes, United States | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, April 29, 2014
There is probably little sympathy for a man who is a convicted murderer & rapist.
And without commentary on the merits of the Death Penalty, however, I hasten to add this: If the state is going to kill a man as punishment for his crime, they should ensure the means of death is swift and efficient. For if it is not, it opens the state to liability and potential prosecution for torture.
Ours is a civil society, and the civility of it’s citizens in matters of criminal penalty ensures that society does not fundamentally break down into chaos and disorder.
***
Oklahoma Postpones Execution After First Is Botched

Oklahoma Department of Corrections Death Penalty
McALESTER, Okla. — What was supposed to be the first of two executions here Tuesday night was halted when the prisoner, Clayton D. Lockett, began to twitch and gasp after he had already been declared unconscious and called out “man” and “something’s wrong,” according to witnesses.
The administering doctor intervened and discovered that “the line had blown,” said the director of corrections, Robert Patton, meaning that drugs were no longer flowing into his vein.
At 7:06 p.m., Mr. Patton said, Mr. Lockett died of a heart attack.
Mr. Patton said he had requested a stay of 14 days in the second execution scheduled for Tuesday night, of Charles F. Warner.
It was a chaotic and disastrous step in Oklahoma’s long effort to execute the two men, overcoming their objections that the state would not disclose the source of the drugs being used in a newly tried combination.
It did not appear that any of the drugs themselves failed, but rather the method of administration, but it resulted in what witnesses called an agonizing scene.
“This was botched, and it was difficult to watch,” said David Autry, one of Mr. Lockett’s lawyers.
A doctor started to administer the first drug, a sedative intended to knock the man out, at 6:23. Ten minutes later, the doctor said that Mr. Lockett was unconscious, and started to administer the next two drugs, a paralytic and one intended to make the heart stop.
At that point, witnesses said, things began to go awry. Mr. Lockett’s body Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News, End Of The Road | Tagged: botched, convict, crime, death, death penalty, death row, Department of Corrections, doctor, execution, Fail, FailBlog, heart attack, inmate, needle, news, OK, Oklahoma, prison, state, vein | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Brian Scott Keeton, age 38, taught Math & was a Boys Basketball coach at Vina High School, in Franklin County, Alabama. He was arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old female student. He denies the charges.
Enough already!
But do notice the punishment – 2 to 20 years in prison upon conviction of the Class B felony.
The Alabama Lunchroom Lady “Cougar” got six months in jail, and 5 years probation.
Reckon what this Basketballing Math Teacher will get?
—
Second Vina teacher arrested for alleged affair with student
Published 4:38pm Wednesday, November 13, 2013
VINA – The Vina High School boys basketball coach became the second faculty member from the school in less than a week to be arrested for an alleged sexual relationship with a student, officials said.
Brian Scott Keeton, 38, 73 Lost Creek Lane, Carbon Hill, was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with one count of being a school employee engaging in a sexual act with a student under the age of 19, which is a Class B felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison if convicted.
This arrest comes only five days after Vina physical education teacher Sonny Dewaine Tibbs, 35, of Hamilton, was arrested on Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: abuse, adults, AL, Alabama, arrest, basketball, Bob Riley, Brian Scott Keeton, coach, corruption, crime, criminal, employee, Franklin County, Hamilton, high school, Intimate relationship, Keeton, law, Oliver, prison, sex, sex crime, sexting, sheriff, student, teacher, teens, Tibbs, underage, Vina | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, November 13, 2013
At what point must we acknowledge that in many sex crimes cases, women are punished differently than men?
Six months in jail, to be followed by five years probation?
If that’s not a joke, I don’t know what is.
Is such different treatment not a violation of the United States Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause?
See Michelle Coker Taylor’s Arrest & Booking record with the Fayette County, Alabama Sheriff’s here:
https://creator.zoho.com/sheriff3201/inmates-applicantion/record-print/Inmates_View/947281000000264007/
—
Ex-Fayette school cafeteria worker pleads guilty to having sex with student
Michelle Coker Taylor to serve six months of 20-year term, then 5 years on probation
Former Fayette County school system employee Michelle Taylor has pleaded guilty to criminal charges for having sex with a student.
Published: Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, November 4, 2013 at 11:50 p.m.
A former Fayette County school system employee has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of having sex with a student, according to a news release from Chris McCool, district attorney for the 24th Judicial Circuit District.
Michelle Coker Taylor, 46, was sentenced to Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: abuse, abuser, AL, Alabama, child molester, convict, Cougar, crime, criminal, Fayette, Fayette County High School, female, high school, jail, Lady, law, lunchroom, lunchroom lady, McCool, Michelle Coker Taylor, MILF, Oct. 22, Plea, prison, probation, sex, sex abuser, sex crime, Sex offender, sheriff, Taylor, Tuscaloosa News, United States, United States Constitution | 2 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, September 28, 2012
Amy Bishop’s Tutwiler Prison mugshot released
Published: Thursday, September 27, 2012, 8:25 AM
Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2012, 9:53 AM
By The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — State prison officials have released the booking mugshot of Amy Bishop taken when she was processed into the Tutwiler Prison for Women on Tuesday.
Bishop, 47, was convicted Monday of killing three people at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and trying to kill three others in February 2010.
Bishop received Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: 2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting, Alabama, Amy Bishop, Bishop, Julia Tutwiler, Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women, Life imprisonment, Monday, murder, Plea, prison, University of Alabama in Huntsville | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, September 28, 2012
Originally entitled as: More Stupid Questions: The “More Cow Bell” Curve, and other Standard Equal (and Unequal) Distribution post
I have returned to the title which I originally started… though I vascillated between this one, as well:
Yes. More Stupid Questions… and, “I gotta’ have more Cow Bell.”
Okay, the title says it all.
That is, unless you don’t understand statistics, the bell curve and equal distribution.
But, just in the case you don’t, here’s some low-down.
According to estimates by the United States Census Bureau, our nation’s population has recently exceeded 314,469,757. And with 4.47% of the world’s population, we are the 3d most populous nation in the world. China & India, with 1,344,130,000 (19.13%) & 1,241,491,960 (17.19%), are 1st & 2d, respectively. American population is about 25% the population of India. Expressed another way, India has 294.7889% more people than the United States.
I mentioned those figures just to give an idea of how small the U.S. really is by comparison.
Nevertheless, I digress. And so quickly! (My goodness!) Let’s return to statistics, the bell curve and equal distribution.
As you may have read in a previous post entitled “Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. Yes, there’s such thing as a STUPID question.”, “the bell curve is used to display information.”
In that post I had explained, writing that, Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
One must understand the audience to whom Mr. Archibald writes his Birmingham News OpEds.
They’re the same ones who found hometown favorite criminal Richard Scrushy – monikered as “America’s First Oblivious CEO” – “Not Guilty” of violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, who to date, remains the solitary individual ever charged with its violation. Alice Martin, then Federal Prosecutor for the Northern District of Alabama, who failed to obtain a guilty verdict in the case, could have moved the trial to New York City – home of Wall Street – or “in Washington, D.C., or in New York City where pecuniary intricacies are understood,” but rather chose Birmingham, Alabama as the trial venue. John C. Coffee, professor of securities law at Columbia Law School, accurately said of the case, that “much of the information was over their heads” and jurors were “sick of trying to understand evidence that was beyond them.”
This remark – right, or wrong (but mostly right) – remains true for Alabama:
Citizens in the state are “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command.”
In context of course, historically, one should recognize Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: abuse, AL, Alabama, Alabama Supreme Court, Amen Corner, BirmingDamn, Birmingham, Birmingham Alabama, Birmingham News, black hole, Bronx, Columbia Law School, corruption, crime, criminality, fraud, ignorant, JeffCo, Jefferson, Jefferson County, Jefferson County Alabama, John C. Coffee, Larry Langford, law, Michael Weisskopf, Monday, New Orleans, New York City, news, OpEd, Pat Robertson, politics, poor, poverty, prison, Protestant, State of Alabama, Sundays, Tragic City, uneducated, waste | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Alabama‘s prison system will again be pushed to the taxpayers’ breaking point by stupidity such as this sentence. It is extreme – even with the increased severity of punishment required for habitual offenders.
This is the so-called “Three Strikes and you’re out” law in action.
Realistically, “Three Strikes and you’re out” only applies in baseball games. But someone thought it sounded cool, and morphed it into a law in California. Subsequently, California’s prison population has exploded because that state adopted that law. They’ve now seriously modified it. It may be time to rethink sentencing guidelines in Alabama. But the likelihood of that happening is practically negligible.
Thanks to our legislature, this man will now burden every honest Alabama taxpayer.
That’s not to say he and others like him should not be punished, but rather acknowledges the failure of a pop-culture-driven bumper sticker slogan to effectively remedy, ameliorate or mitigate criminality. In essence, there is little or nothing done to correct, and much done to punish. Oddly, every state has a “Department of Corrections,” rather than a ‘Department of Punishments.’ There’s a reason for that, and it’s because there is a two-fold purpose (to punish and correct), with the higher one being correction.
Yet standing in stark contrast is the as-yet-untried, and officially indefinitely delayed case of Amy Bishop, the Harvard PhD-educated biology professor who went on a shooting rampage and killed three, and wounded three other colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Even though she has a track record of mental instability, Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Lost In Space: TOTALLY Discombobulated, - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know | Tagged: AL, Alabama, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Amy Bishop, conviction, crime, DA, Daniel Proctor, district attorney, Florida, Ford Explorer, Gun, HSV, Huntsville, Huntsville Alabama, Huntsville Times, jury, Laura Hamilton, lawyer, Life imprisonment, money, news, Patterson, pistol, prison, Proctor, Sentence (law), sheriff, theft, This is a cycle., This is not about Amy Bishop., trial, truck, USA, verdict | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 5, 2012
Many states and individuals complain about budget items, but few ever discuss the booming private prison industry in this nation – a Wall Street-traded for-profit prison system supported by tax dollars… a corporate welfare program if ever there was one.
A key paragraph is this one: “Although states spend significant amounts of money on criminal justice—it’s second only to Medicaid in state budgets—the vast majority of those costs go toward prisons, with limited emphasis on preparing prisoners for life on the outside. The costs of incarceration include an annual $82 billion spent on corrections nationwide, including millions for oversight of parole systems overseeing the 75% of prisoners released short of their full sentences.”
—
From Prison to a Paycheck
Instead of training and counseling, Newark is trying work first—with promising results
Former inmate Hector Morales at work; the Office of Reentry in Newark, N.J., intervened to help him. He says he was tired of being a bad role model for his kids.
Hector Morales might not seem, at first, to be an American success story. At age 50, he works the graveyard shift—7 p.m. to 5 a.m.—at the back of a garbage truck, part of a three-man crew that lifts and loads 80,000 pounds of waste each night in New York City. It’s his first job in years. The native of Paterson, N.J., a high-school dropout, still owes more than $9,000 in child-support payments to the state of New Jersey.

Former inmate Hector Morales at work; the Office of Reentry in Newark, N.J., intervened to help him. He says he was tired of being a bad role model for his kids. Katie Orlinsky for The Wall Street Journal
But compared with Mr. Morales’s situation a year ago, his story is a success.
Then, he was completing a five-year sentence at the Northern State Prison in Newark, N.J. The former heroin addict has spent, by his own estimate, 18 years behind bars, mostly on drug-related charges. Today, Newark-based Action Carting, one of the largest commercial disposal firms operating in New York, considers Mr. Morales to be a model employee and a good prospect for promotion if he completes his plan to get a commercial truck driver’s license. Currently, he’s on track to earn more than $60,000 a year, including overtime. Every week, part of his check goes to pay off his child-support debt.
Part of the change is due to Mr. Morales’s own attitude. “I got tired of being in jail, tired of officers controlling my life, tired of being the wrong kind of role model for my children,” he says.
His success says much about an unusual intervention by Newark. In April 2009, with the help of Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Criminal justice, economy, employment, labor, Medicaid, New Jersey, New York, New York City, Newark, Newark New Jersey, news, Northern State Prison, prison, rehabilitation, United States, work | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, June 3, 2012
A Jail Guard’s Tale of His Journey to Inmate
June 3, 2012, 4:26 pm, By COREY KILGANNON

Gary Heyward, once a Rikers Island guard, in Harlem selling copies of his book recounting his experiences. (Todd Heisler/The New York Times)
Gary Heyward stood on
125th Street in Harlem, not far from the
Apollo Theater, wearing a jumpsuit that was half blue and half orange.
Mr. Heyward, 44, had this odd-looking uniform specially made — part prison guard, part inmate — to illustrate that at Rikers Island, where he worked as a corrections officer from 1997 to 2006, he went from cop to criminal.
“One day you’re taking the count and the next day you’re in the count,” he said, referring to the jails’ regular head counts of inmates.
This abrupt transition is precisely the angle of his new book, a self-published paperback called “Corruption Officer: Perpetrator With a Badge.”
It is a raunchy tell-all and a critical portrayal of Rikers Island, where Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Apollo Theater, biography, bribery, Bronx, conviction, crime, guard, Harlem, inmate, narcotics, New York, New York City, New York City Housing Authority, news, Polo Grounds Towers, prison, prison guard, Prison officer, prisoner, punishment, Rikers Island | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 15, 2012
In Alabama, it’s “Deja Vu all over again,” or “Back to the Future” again, and again, all over again…
Some folks say they want to “take America back.”
The only problem I have with that, is that they never say where, or how far back they want to take America.
Do they want to take it back to the Jim Crow law era, before the time of Civil Rights?
Or, do they want to take it back to before suffrage (the right of women to vote)?
Or, God forbid, dare they take it back even further? Surely not to King George!
Where ARE our “leaders'” sense of ethics, righteousness and justice?
I remain convinced, they are Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Faith, Religion, Goodness - What is the Soul of a man?, - Politics... that "dirty" little "game" that first begins in the home., - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham News, Civil and political rights, Department of Corrections, Douglas A. Blackmon, Elsevier, Great Depression, Jim Crow laws, Jim McClendon, McClendon, Penal labour, prison, Progressive Era, Thursday March 15 2012, Tuesday, United States, United States Constitution, United States House of Representatives | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, March 18, 2011
Doubtless, former UAH president David B. Williams will be called to testify, and or be sued as well.
Amy Bishop indicted in UAH shootings
Published: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 5:01 PM
By Brian Lawson, The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A Madison County grand jury has indicted Amy Bishop on capital murder and attempted murder charges in connection with the February 2010 campus shootings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - My Hometown is the sweetest place I know, - Read 'em and weep: The Daily News | Tagged: 2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting, Amy Bishop, David B. Williams, district attorney, Dr. David Williams, G. K. Podila, Huntsville Times, indictment, murder, prison, University of Alabama in Huntsville | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 2, 2011
On occasion, we all possess some tendency toward voyeurism – not necessarily of the unhealthy kind. That is, on occasion, our own innate sense of curiosity is aroused within us and motivates us to see, read or hear things that are not intended specifically for us. While at times harmless, it can be deleterious – though this is not one such occasion.
What you’re about to read is… my e-mail.
I had been motivated to write a letter of introduction to a friend of a friend, and… well, read on! Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in - Did they REALLY say that?, - Uncategorized | Tagged: Counties, humor, Minnesota, New York, prison, recreation, Registered Nurse, San Luis Potosi, United States, Walla Walla, Wallpaper, Washington, Washington State Penitentiary | 2 Comments »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 9, 2009
I’m proud to have served my nation in the uniform armed services, having done so voluntarily. I think every young American should do similarly. And, I believe our nation should provide significant benefit to those whom so choose.
Some years ago, I envisioned what I called a “234 Plan,” which would:
- Double pay grade for two years up to pay grade E-3 for initial enlistees;
- Require a minimum of Four Years of service;
- Pay for four years of higher education, up to and including Ph.D., with the ability to transfer benefits to first-degree relatives;
and perhaps most importantly,
4. Provide such income as federally Tax-Free, forever.
At current pay rates, that would be slightly under $76,000 for a period of two years at pay grade E-3 – not a bad nest egg. And then, there’s the 30 days paid vacation, head-to-toe health care, incentive/bonus pay for skills, BAH (basic allowance for housing), and a host of other remunerations and fiduciary potential – all of which are added to Basic Pay, thereby increasing take-home pay. Potentially, managing money wisely, a young enlistee could emerge from a four year commitment with very nearly $125,000 in pocket, VA health benefits, GI Bill benefits, and more.
The money could be used wisely, or squandered. But the principle would forever be federally tax-free – and I think it should be at the state level, as well. It’s well known that young enlistees have high levels of “disposable” income. But WISE fiscal management could yield significant benefits to them individually, and by extension, to our nation.
Part three of the plan I envisioned – higher education – was implemented when President Obama signed the Post 9/1 G.I. Bill, providing the most comprehensive expansion and provision of educational benefits our troops have received since F.D.R.’s presidency.
I recollect a report entitled “Young Virginians: Ready, Willing, and Unable to Serve,” having read and saved it September 2, this year. It was authored and advised by an impressive cadre of Generals, Admirals, field-grade officers, and senior executive NCOs, from all branches of the service, and “supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, and Pre-K Now, campaign of the Pew center on the States.”
Interestingly, NPR has only recently reported on it.
The problems the report addresses are from a thorough examination of Virginia, though it’s findings can be extrapolated to the United States at large.
According to the report, the three greatest problems disqualifying American youth from service to our nation include:
1.) Criminality – felony and serious misdemeanor offense;
2.) Education – failure to graduate high school, and low achievement in reading & math, 30% unable to pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test; and
3.) Health – specifically obesity, although asthma, eyesight, hearing, mental health, ADHD and additional health problems factor in, thereby disqualifying over half of all young adults.
Additional disqualifiers include single custodial parenthood, and drug or alcohol abuse.
These are all social ills.
“Mission: Readiness – Military Leaders for Kids is a bipartisan, nonprofit, national security organization of more than 80 retired generals and admirals,” whom “accept no funds from federal, state, or local governments,” and “call on all policymakers to ensure America’s security and prosperity by supporting interventions proven to help America’s youth succeed academically, stay physically fit, and abide by the law. Pre-K Now collaborates with organizations and policy makers to lead a movement toward high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds.”
In recent political history, social programs have been an “easy target” for many of the Republican stripe whom have seriously reduced or eliminated such programs’ funding, effectively or outright killing the very programs that could have done much to have prevented these anathemas.
Ironically, prison construction and maintenance is a capital expenditure. And of all the world’s nations, ours has more incarcerations per capita than any other, having exploded (doubling 2.5 times) since 1980 (though incarcerations remained relatively stable since 1920, according to the U.S. Department of Justice).
How’s that THAT for the so-called “Reagan Revolution?” It sounds more like a “Contract on America” rather than “with America,” to me.
Wonder why no more.
Governance is much more than infrastructure expenditures, and military readiness includes a strong social component.
Our Constitution calls it providing “for the common defense,” by promoting “the general welfare,” to “secure the blessings of liberty.”
Healthcare is an integral and unequivocal part of that equation… as we can now painfully, and plainly see.
I suppose it would be apropos and germane – though perhaps trite – to conclude with a line from advertising: “You can pay me now… or, pay me later.”
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