The Democrats have another sex scandal to manage this summer.
Democrat U.S. Rep. David Wu from Oregon is picking up where Democrat U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner from New York left off.
Weiner's multiple encounters with women took place in cyberspace. Wu is being accused of more than virtual misbehavior. He's accused of an actual "unwanted sexual encounter" with a teenager.
A distraught young woman called U.S. Rep. David Wu's Portland office this spring, accusing him of an unwanted sexual encounter, according to multiple sources.
When confronted, the Oregon Democrat acknowledged a sexual encounter to his senior aides but insisted it was consensual, the sources said.
The woman is the daughter of a longtime friend and campaign donor. She apparently did not contact police at the time.
One person who heard the voice mail described the woman as upset, breathing heavily and "distraught."
In the voice mail, the young woman accused Wu of aggressive and unwanted sexual behavior, according to sources with direct knowledge of the message and its contents.
Reporters could not verify the young woman's age. Notes on Facebook over the past 18 months indicate she graduated from high school in 2010. California records show she registered to vote in August.
Wu, 56, did not respond to repeated questions from The Oregonian over the past four days.
Late Friday, Wu issued a one-sentence response: "This is very serious, and I have absolutely no desire to bring unwanted publicity, attention, or stress to a young woman and her family."
Sources familiar with the voice mail said it was clear that the woman was the daughter of a high school friend of Wu's in Orange County.
Creepy.
...Two people with knowledge of the recording and the later conversation with Wu said the alleged incident took place over Thanksgiving weekend. Sources said they were told that the woman went outside and Wu left after her. The sexual encounter followed, they said.
Two sources said the woman believed there was not enough evidence to press charges. There were no witnesses, and it would be her word against a seven-term member of the U.S. Congress.
The alleged incident raises new questions about Wu's behavior during the 1st District congressman's re-election campaign last year. According to staff at the time and emails from the period, he behaved so erratically that staff avoided scheduling him for public appearances and ran a campaign that relied heavily on advertising. Shortly before the Nov. 2 election, senior staff quietly shut down the campaign office and sent other campaign workers home.
In February, following unexpectedly large staff turnover, Wu acknowledged extreme stress last year, which he attributed to the campaign and problems in his marriage. He and his wife are in the process of getting a divorce. He said he sought counseling and has taken medication for an unspecified mental condition.
The Southern California incident allegedly occurred a little over three weeks after the election.
In 2004, The Oregonian reported on a 1976 case when Wu was a student at Stanford University and was disciplined for trying to force an ex-girlfriend to have sex.
Will the Democrats protect an alleged rapist? (They protected Bill Clinton.)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Saturday night that she had no comment on whether Rep. David Wu should resign, one day after a Portland newspaper reported that the Oregon Democrat is facing accusations from a young woman of an “unwanted sexual encounter” last fall.
“I don’t have any comment on that at this time,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters as she left her Capitol office after a series of meetings with other congressional leaders on raising the debt ceiling. “I just really don’t know that much about it; I heard that there was some article in the paper.”
Pelosi told reporters that she’d have something to say at a later date, noting that “right now, we’re so completely, totally immersed” in the debt-limit negotiations.
Rep. David Wu spoke to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats on Saturday about his political future in the wake of allegations of a sexual encounter with a teenager, but it is not clear whether the Oregon Democrat will step down from office.
Wu has been accused of having an “unwanted sexual encounter” with the teenage daughter of a longtime friend last year over Thanksgiving weekend. The teenager, whose identity has not been disclosed, and her family have not filed any criminal complaint against the longtime lawmaker, but the incident, the second accusation of inappropriate sexual behavior against Wu, is “extremely troubling” to Pelosi and other Democrats, say Democratic insiders.
...Democratic insiders would not comment on Pelosi’s conversation with Wu other than to confirm that the two had spoken and other senior House Democrats have contacted the lawmaker as well.
Of course, Pelosi is taking the "no comment" route for now, the Weiner strategy.
Eventually, she's going to have to address the scandal. The Democrats can't ignore it.
The 56-year-old Wu's "unwanted sexual encounter" with a teenager is a big deal.
If the allegations of sexual assault are true, Wu has to resign.
Casey Anthony was freed from a Florida jail early Sunday, 12 days after she was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in a verdict that drew furious responses and even threats from people across the U.S. who had followed the case with rapt attention.
Wearing a pink Polo T-shirt and blue jeans, Anthony left the jail at 12:14 a.m. with her attorney, Jose Baez. After three years behind bars, Anthony was given $537.68 in cash from her jail account and escorted outside by two sheriff's deputies armed with semi-automatic rifles. Neither Anthony nor Baez said anything to reporters and protesters gathered outside.
Anthony, looking somber with her eyes cast downward, said "thank you" to a jailer in the few seconds it took to escort her to the waiting SUV.
"It is my hope that Casey Anthony can receive the counseling and treatment she needs to move forward with the rest of her life," Baez said in a statement released to reporters.
News helicopters briefly tracked the SUV through Orlando's streets, but she quickly vanished from public view.
"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in that sense, it would not be a normal release," Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said. "We have made every effort to not provide any special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate."
Moore said there were no known threats received at the jail. Officials had a number of contingency plans in place, including plans in case shots were fired as she was being released.
Contingency plans in case shots were fired?
People need to get a grip.
When one believes justice has not been served, it can be extremely disturbing. However, violent outbursts are not appropriate reactions.
...As midnight approached, upward of 100 spectators had gathered outside the jail's booking and release center, where plastic orange barricades had been erected. The crowd included about a half-dozen, sign-carrying protesters who had gathered despite a drenching thunderstorm earlier. Onlookers had varied reactions to her release from the jail, where seven or eight deputies in bullet-proof vests patrolled the area. At least one officer carried an assault weapon and about five officers patrolled on horseback.
"She is safer in jail than she is out here," said Mike Quiroz, who drove from Miami to spend his 22nd birthday outside the jail. "She better watch her butt. She is known all over the world."
Lamar Jordan said he felt a pit in his stomach when he saw Anthony walking free.
"The fact that she is being let out, the fact that it is her child and she didn't say what happened, made me sick," Jordan said.
Not all of those who gathered condemned the 25-year-old.
"I'm for Casey," said Kizzy Smith, of Orlando. "She was proven innocent. At the end of the day, Caylee is at peace. We're the ones who are in an uproar."
Some people are absolutely obsessed with this case. It's a little weird.
Whenever something like this becomes a big TV event, I cringe. It becomes entertainment and the lines between reality and fictional TV drama blur. I view it as exploitation, with the media profiting from crime.
I'm probably one of the few people in the country who didn't follow this case at all. I wasn't interested. I certainly care that a child was murdered, but I didn't want to get wrapped up in the soap opera aspect.
Of course, I'm aware that many believe Casey Anthony killed her sweet little girl, and she got away with murder. Many consider her to be a terrible mother and a terrible human being.
If that's true, that Casey Anthony killed her daughter, Caylee, she's not really free.
I believe justice will be done eventually. Maybe not in this life, but eventually.
A woman who police say killed her 10-month-old grandson by spiking his bottle with morphine was convicted of shooting the infant's grandfather to death in the late 1980s, according to court documents obtained Friday by the Journal Sentinel.
Lisa Humphrey, 46, is charged in a complaint with killing her grandson, Royality Sanders, whose body was found April 28 on the mattress he had shared the night before with Humphrey and his 2-year-old sister. A warrant has been issued for her arrest, according to court documents.
A jury found Humphrey guilty in July 1989 of shooting her husband, Curtis Humphrey, in the back and in the throat as he tried to leave their apartment building in the spring of 1988, according to court records.
Humphrey, convicted of what was then called second-degree murder, faced up to 20 years in prison. Then-Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Skwierawski sentenced her to six years.
Queentesta Humphrey is Royality's 24-year-old mother and the daughter of Lisa and Curtis Humphrey. In other words, her mother has been convicted of killing her father and is charged with killing her son.
"I am near to having a nervous breakdown," Queentesta Humphrey said.
She said she and her siblings were placed in foster care after her father was killed.
A child when her mother was released, Queentesta Humphrey said she was the only one in her family that would have anything to do with her mother.
She said she has been taking care of her mother, who suffers from back pain, for the last several years.
"I can't understand why she would do this," she said.
Really?
Someone capable of killing your father would be capable of killing your baby.
I can't understand why Queentesta would leave her children in her mother's care.
...In the early evening of April 8, 1988, according to court records, Lisa Humphrey and her husband were arguing over a pair of shoes. Curtis Humphrey wanted to know where his wife had found the money to buy them. Lisa Humphrey told police he slapped her and wrestled with her on their bed.
Lisa Humphrey told police she called her husband's mother, who came to their apartment in the 700 block of W. Galena St.
As her mother-in-law was talking to her husband, Lisa Humphrey took a handgun from his car, according to a complaint.
She told police that she closed her eyes and opened fire on her husband as he was heading down a flight of stairs.
He climbed back up the stairs, went back into their apartment and collapsed on the floor, the complaint says.
A Waukesha man is recovering after he was stabbed twice in the stomach during Summerfest Friday night.
Ricardo Moran was near the Harley-Davidson stage at 11 p.m. when he got into an argument with a 24-year-old man from Greenfield. Moran told Today's TMJ4 that the Greenfield man bumped into him. The Greenfield man stabbed him twice with a knife, Milwaukee police Sgt. Mark Stanmeyer said.
The suspect was arrested.
When was the suspect arrested?
Why did it take so long for police to release information on the stabbing? _________________
MSNBC's online report on the Summerfest stabbing at the Dropkick Murphys concert, using WTMJ-TV and JSOnline.com as sources, mentions the race of the attacker.
In an exclusive interview, Ricardo Moran tells TODAY'S TMJ4 a white man with a goatee bumped into him, then quickly stabbed him twice in the middle of a crowd. "What I saw in his eyes was something different. He had kind of a smirk on his face. Like he intended to bump me to see what would happen, to see if I would defend myself," Moran said.
A Waukesha man is recovering after a violent encounter on the Summerfest grounds Friday night.
In an exclusive interview, Ricardo Moran tells TODAY'S TMJ4 a white man with a goatee bumped into him, then quickly stabbed him twice in the middle of a crowd.
"What I saw in his eyes was something different. He had kind of a smirk on his face. Like he intended to bump me to see what would happen, to see if I would defend myself," Moran said.
Police will talk more about the incident on Monday. Summerfest organizers tell TODAY'S TMJ4 they have not added any security, maintaining the festival already has solid security measures in place.
Again, the attacker's race is mentioned, the MSNBC article being a copy of the TMJ4 piece.
A white guy allegedly committed the violent act.
WHITE. The bad guy is WHITE.
However, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, citing TMJ4 as its source, chose to omit the race of the attacker in its online report on the incident.
A man was stabbed at Summerfest Friday night, according to WTMJ-TV (Channel 4).
Ricardo Moran told WTMJ a man came out of the crowd Friday night and cut him twice in the stomach and chest. Moran was hospitalized overnight and released on Saturday, the station reported.
Moran said he was at Summerfest with his wife. At one point, he felt a strong push and turned to see a man who quickly stabbed him. He said he did not know the man or what prompted the attack.
Summerfest officials could not be reached for comment.
The Milwaukee Police Department said it would not release any information on the incident until a Monday morning news conference.
It's weird that TMJ4, and accordingly, MSNBC, chose to report on the attacker's race, while the Journal Sentinel did not.
Has the Journal Sentinel decided it's going to be colorblind?
It's also weird that the police department is staying quiet until a Monday news conference.
Why a news conference at all?
Does this incident merit a news conference, scheduled more than two days after the attack?
Given the PR disaster of the mob attacks last weekend, I suppose I can understand the lengthy silence by the department. All parties probably want to get their stories straight this time to avoid further embarrassment.
Better to wait until Summerfest is over, too.
I wonder if Ed Flynn and the Leftist media will go out of their way to stress that race is NOT a factor in this crime.
Maybe race can be discussed in this crime since the attacker was white. No need to fear a racial emphasis dividing the community in this case.
Authorities are looking into a battery and cutting along Milwaukee's lakefront.
It happened at 200 N. Harbor Drive near the Summerfest Grounds.
A 33-year-old man sufferend non-life threatening injuries.
Milwaukee Police haven't released any further details at this time.
So there's more violence in Milwaukee, battery and stabbing.
And police aren't releasing information to the public.
I suppose there could be a good reason for the lack of details, like hampering the arrest of a suspect or suspects.
I would like to know more.
The problem is after the mob rampage, the robberies and brutal beatings, following the July 3rd fireworks, and the awful police response and lame excuses from Police Chief Ed Flynn, I've lost trust in the department to provide the truth.
I'm not saying that the vast majority of Milwaukee police officers aren't performing their duties admirably, protecting the public from the bad guys.
My concern regards the truth about certain incidents being withheld from the public.
I have doubts now that weren't there before the mob attacks.
Trust is a very important thing. When it's lost, that's a problem not easily solved.
The police response to a weekend rampage by about 60 young people who beat and robbed a smaller group that had been watching fireworks from Kilbourn Reservoir Park "may not have been our finest hour," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told an audience Wednesday evening.
Flynn's comment preceded an account of the assault by a woman who was among the victims. The woman, who identified herself only as Jessica, drew applause from the crowd of about 200 after describing how police made her and her friends feel at fault for simply enjoying a holiday weekend at a public park.
"They told us to leave and started kicking us out of the park," she told the audience at the Gordon Park pavilion.
"It was then that we realized that no one got a chance to make statements except the two who required medical attention, even though there were 19 of us who had witnessed something a bit different. They did not even take our names and phone numbers to call us at a later time."
Later, Flynn invited any other victims or witnesses in attendance to provide their accounts to officers after the meeting, which he called to address heightened community concerns after several violent robberies and the looting of a gas station in the neighborhood late Sunday night and early Monday.
Earlier, police reported that several parents contacted them to report their children as suspects in the looting of the BP gas station at 1030 E. North Ave.
As of Wednesday afternoon, four teens had been cited with disorderly conduct, theft and curfew violation after their mothers called police. Three were girls - aged 13, 14 and 16 - and one was a 15-year-old boy.
Police are seeking at least 22 suspects who ransacked the gas station early Monday. Police have identified seven people in the looting, and charges are pending against the four who were turned in and two others.
They're also seeking more information on a series of beatings associated with six armed or strong-arm robberies against 11 victims in the Riverwest neighborhood around the time of the looting. There have been three arrests in the robberies.
Police have still not said the looting and the beatings are connected, although they might involve some of the same people. Several of those injured described being attacked by a mob that subjected them to racial taunts. The injured were white; the attackers were African-American, witnesses said.
The police response to the rampage "may not have been our finest hour"?
Note to Flynn: It most definitely was not the department's finest hour.
Furthermore, the way Flynn is handling the situation at this point is not good.
He's acting personally offended by criticism, as if he thinks people are being unfair to the police.
Flynn will acknowledge mistakes "to a certain extent," but then he turns around and lectures the public. He seems pissed off at what he calls "talk-land and blog-land," accusing people of inciting racial divisiveness.
I don't think Flynn is being fair. He's playing the race card, trying to turn criticism of his department's response into something sinister and inappropriate.
Expressing concern about victims being mistreated by police is appropriate.
I think legitimate questions are being asked by citizens. They shouldn't be marginalized and dismissed as racist.
Interestingly, the JSOnline article about the Gordon Park meeting doesn't allow comments.
It's taken a while for the police and the media to fully report on what happened in Milwaukee on the night of July 3rd and into the early morning hours of the 4th, but finally we're learning the extent of the crime and disorder.
At first, there was a definite effort to downplay the size of the mob and its thuggery.
Early in the morning of July 4th, a gang of approximately 50 teenagers looted a convenience store at the corner of North Avenue and Humboldt. Shortly afterwards, the mob attacked groups of people hanging out at Reservoir Park after the July 3rd fireworks.
A surveillance video shows the convenience store being looted. Televised interviews with victims of the attacks in the park confirm the wildings. Residents in the area say that the mob has been running around the Riverwest neighborhood for weeks.
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary however, the Milwaukee Police Department says that reports of a "mob" are not accurate! Huh?
Chief Flynn seems to be saying: "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes and ears"? In this case, with all due respect to Chief Flynn, I think I'll believe the photographic evidence and eyewitness accounts.
Reality eventually has forced officials to acknowledge the truth.
A mob went on a criminal rampage in Riverwest. Innocent people were victimized.
Shaina Perry remembers the punch to her face, blood streaming from a cut over her eye, her backpack with her asthma inhaler, debit card and cell phone stolen and then the laughter.
"They just said 'Oh, white girl bleeds a lot," said Perry, 22, who was attacked at Kilbourn Reservoir Park over the 4th of July holiday weekend.
Though Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn noted Tuesday that crime is color blind, he called the Sunday night looting of a convenience store near the park and beatings of a group of people who had gone to the park disturbing, outrageous and barbaric.
Police would not go quite as far as others in connecting the events; Flynn said several youths "might" be involved in both.
"We're not going to let any group of individuals terrorize or bully any of our neighborhoods," said Flynn.
Perry was among several who were injured by a mob they said beat and robbed them and threw full beer bottles while making racial taunts. The injured were white; the attackers were African-American.
Store video of the BP station at E. North Ave. and N. Humboldt Blvd. shows the business being ransacked. A clerk at BP confirmed to the Journal Sentinel that he was busy waiting on customers when one or two people held the door open to let others rush in and steal snacks and candy.
Not far away, a group of 20 to 25 friends from Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood had gathered at the park shortly before midnight to watch some fireworks set off by a neighbor. In interviews with 11 people who said they were attacked or witnessed the attack, a larger group of youths appeared in another section of the park around midnight and were joined by more young people running up the park's stairs.
At some point the group of friends and the group of youths intersected; those interviewed said the attack appeared to be unprovoked.
"I saw people dancing and I figured they were just having a good time," said Jessica Bublitz, 28, who lives in Riverwest.
"Within 30 seconds to a minute, bottles were flying and people started getting punched. I was in shock. I thought 'Really? Is this really happening?' I was on the ground, people were trying to get into my pockets, I could feel their hands but I held on to my cell phone and my wallet," said Zajackowski, a census worker.
Emily Mowrer, 27, was not hurt but saw her friends beaten and punched and full beer bottles thrown at them. Her boyfriend was punched. She saw Perry lying down with blood on her face, not moving. She called 911 on her cell phone.
"I saw some of my friends on the ground getting beat pretty severely. They got away with one of my friend's bikes. Some people had their wallets stolen," said Mowrer, who owns a house with her boyfriend in Riverwest. "It didn't seem like it was a mugging - it seemed like an attack. Like they weren't after anything - just violence."
Good Lord!
Racial slurs?
Whites were beaten by blacks in totally unprovoked assaults.
"They just said 'Oh, white girl bleeds a lot.'"
These are hate crimes.
Calling Al Sharpton... Calling Jesse Jackson...
Crickets.
The police should not have misled the public as they originally did.
The public deserves to know the truth.
Perry needed three stitches to close a cut above her eye. She said she saw a friend getting kicked and when she walked up to ask what was happening a man punched her in the face.
"I heard laughing as they were beating everybody up. They were eating chips like it was a picnic," said Perry, a restaurant cashier. "All I remember is seeing bright lights (after the punch), then my backpack was gone and blood was spurting out of my head."
A police spokeswoman on Monday said police received no reports of mobs of people committing crimes in the Riverwest area other than the reports of two armed robberies.
At the Tuesday press conference, Flynn attempted to defuse reports that mobs of youth were running through the Riverwest neighborhood attacking citizens. However, he did admit that those responsible for the BP store looting and attacks at Kilbourn Reservoir Park had mob-like characteristics.
"Clearly we had mob-like behavior in the incidents involving the robberies at Reservoir Park as well as the ransacking of the BP station….Certainly we had elements of mob-like behavior that challenged us on July 3," said Flynn.
This wasn't "mob-like behavior." It was mob behavior.
Thugs terrorized innocents. There was a racial element in the attacks.
This is very troubling:
Most of the 11 people who told the Journal Sentinel they were attacked or witnessed the attacks on their friends said that police did not take their complaints seriously. They each said police responded to the scene very quickly and tended to the injured but officers did not take statements from them and told them to leave the area.
"You've got 20 plus people giving eyewitness accounts. I'm very surprised that they said it wasn't a mob," said Mowrer.
Lange said he told a police officer about the beatings but noticed the officer didn't write anything down or note his name. Bublitz tried to tell an officer that her three-speed bicycle had been stolen and that one of her friends was hurt but said the officer told her he was looking for evidence.
"About 20 of us stayed to give statements and make sure everyone was accounted for. The police wouldn't listen to us, they wouldn't take our names or statements. They told us to leave. It was completely infuriating," Bublitz said.
The police want cooperation from the public.
When victims are treated like this by officers, the police aren't doing what's necessary to build a good relationship with the community. They aren't doing their jobs, protecting the public.
I would have been horrified if I or a family member or a friend had been beaten and robbed and the crimes were dismissed by the police.
If the accounts by victims are accurate, the behavior of the police must be considered inexcusable, a dereliction of duty.
There are a number of issues that need to be addressed here.
---The thugs need to be apprehended and punished. At present, they are in control. Order must be restored.
---City officials must reassure the public that they will be protected and this criminal activity will not be tolerated.
---The police need to explain what the attempt to downplay the thugs' crimes was about.
---The police need to explain why they didn't take the victims' complaints seriously.
Here's raw video of Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn's news conference on the chaos, the rash of robberies and beatings, that took place after the July 3rd fireworks.
FOX 6 News has posted still photos of people from the Riverwest BP surveillance video here.
Help Milwaukee Police identify the people in these photos taken from gas station surveillance cameras. This gas station was looted by a mob of teenagers on July 3rd in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood. If you see someone you know, police want you to contact them at 414-933-4444. [These are people of interest NOT suspects]
I really hope decent people identify the individuals in these photos and contact police to give them the information they need to bring the thugs involved in the crimes to justice.
Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn dismissed accusations Wednesday that police tried to cover up or minimize the looting of a BP store near Reservoir Park and several beatings associated with robberies in the city's Riverwest neighborhood Sunday.
Police simply weren't fully informed when they responded to media inquiries Monday about the incidents, which led police to deny mob-like activity, he said.
"We were wrong," Flynn told reporters Wednesday. "There were reports that were filed that night… There was not an intent to do anything nefarious… I had the data. I didn't have the details. Nobody had reported it as a separate report."
Flynn said he and others in the department looked Monday at an online log of police activity in the neighborhood near the park. The log indicated there were three robberies but didn't include a mention of the beatings or mob-like behavior.
"Our initial reaction was 'OK, we had a series of robberies. We don't have any reports of mob-like activity.'" Flynn said.
...The full police reports include details about other crimes that happened at the time of the robberies, Flynn said. Once he and others read that information, they passed it along to the media, he said.
"It wasn't an attempt to downplay or minimize or deny the concern about what we ultimately learned," Flynn said.
Police Capt. Patrick Mitchell said Wednesday that police have reports from five victims in the incidents.
Flynn added Wednesday that the first priority for police at the scene of the beating Sunday had not been to make arrests, but to disperse the crowd and tend to victims.
"The priority is moving people along and treating the wounded," he said.
Making arrests would have taken much-needed police officers off the streets and away from the areas where they were needed, he said.
Nearly a dozen readers complained to the Journal Sentinel that officers didn't take reports, or took incomplete reports, from them after beatings. Flynn indicated the officers were outnumbered and didn't have time to get every detail from each person who approached them. He encouraged people who have additional details to contact district 5 at 935-7253.
"It's certainly plausible we missed victims," he said. "We have competing priorities. I'd love to have the details."
Flynn said he understands some victims might have been frustrated, but said officers did take reports of the robberies.
"I understand the frustration of some people who were involved . . . The situation wasn't as smooth and as calm as every victim might have liked," he said in an interview Wednesday on WTMJ-AM (620). "I do know by the end of that evening we made three separate robbery arrests. We did follow proper protocol in terms of having the reports done and the investigation commenced that night."
The chief said more witnesses had come forward since media published photos and video of the looting of the BP station.
OK.
So, Flynn says there wasn't any cover-up, nothing nefarious about the department's initial denial of the "mob" activity.
It was just incompetence apparently.
That's reassuring, isn't it?
Regarding the racial component:
[Flynn] also said it was important to challenge commentary in some blogs and reader comments on news stories that emphasize the race of the victims and suspects.
"We can't allow this activity to divide this community because ultimately, it's this community standing together that will identify these individuals and ultimately bring them to justice."
Facts are facts.
Yesterday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported:
Perry was among several who were injured by a mob they said beat and robbed them and threw full beer bottles while making racial taunts. The injured were white; the attackers were African-American.
"The injured were white; the attackers were African-American."
Today, that sentence has been slightly altered:
"The injured people were white; the attackers were African-American, witnesses said."
So the facts become a little diluted. "Witnesses" claim the attackers were African-American.
The Journal Sentinel is no longer declaring that to be the case.
It should be noted that the racial element wasn't something conjured up by bloggers or commenters on online news articles, at least in the case of the Journal Sentinel.
That media outlet put out the racial information in a very clear manner in yesterday's report. There were no qualifiers.
Victims were white. Attackers were black. Period.
The Journal Sentinel should take responsibility for the information it relays to the public.
Flynn should acknowledge that the media cited the racial component.
What's especially troubling about this most recent report of trouble at Mayfair is that the incident took place in broad daylight in the middle of the afternoon.
A teenage boy pulled a gun and threatened a couple in the Mayfair parking lot last week, according to a Wauwatosa police report.
Also from the report:
The Brookfield couple got out of their car and began to open the trunk, and then they heard a loud stomp and indistinguishable noise. The teen caught the couple off guard, and he and the car owner exchanged words at 1:57 p.m. Wednesday.
When the teen got six or seven cars away, he pulled a gun from his pocket and said "Do you wanna die?" and "Do you want me to kill your wife?"
The couple ran into the mall and called the police.
They said the perpetrator appeared in his late teens and further described him as black, about 6 feet, 1 inch, about 145 pounds and having a swollen left eye. He was dressed in an oversized white shirt, long dark jean shorts and a white baseball cap.
I don't know what sort of words were exchanged between the thug and the car owner.
In any event, nothing would warrant pulling a gun and threatening to murder.
It's very disturbing that one isn't safe in the parking lot at Mayfair at 1:57 in the afternoon.
Two agencies are investigating a claim by Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley that Justice David Prosser put her in a chokehold earlier this month - an allegation Gov. Scott Walker on Monday called extremely serious.
Asked if the reports about Prosser's behavior, if true, merited his resignation, Walker said: "I don't even want to go down that path . . . other than to say that just based on the allegations that were made, I can't overemphasize how serious I think the situation is there. Until we know what happened, I don't think it's best for anybody for me to comment on what the next step is."
Was Walker asked if the reports about Bradley's behavior, if true, merited her resignation?
That doesn't appear to be the case from the Journal Sentinel's online account.
Why wonder about Prosser resigning and not consider the possibility of Bradley resigning?
Bias? What bias?
The separate investigations are being run by the Dane County Sheriff's Office and the Wisconsin Judicial Commission, which oversees the state's judicial ethics code. The sheriff's investigation was launched Monday; the commission's was authorized Friday and publicly acknowledged Monday.
"After consulting with members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I have turned over the investigation into an alleged incident in the court's offices on June 13, 2011, to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney," Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said in a statement.
The sheriff's office in a statement acknowledged it was taking over the case, but declined further comment.
It was not clear why Tubbs would consult with members of the court on who should investigate the matter.
This is so bizarre.
Law enforcement shouldn't be meeting with the Court to determine how to go about investigating an alleged physical assault.
...Walker told Journal Sentinel reporters, editors and members of the newspaper's Editorial Board on Monday that the current court was the most dysfunctional in his memory, and that the judiciary is supposed to be the most dispassionate of the three branches of government.
"I think, again, beyond the particulars of this case . . . the fact that there appears to be an ongoing friction among justices in the court is something that has to be resolved," Walker said. "I don't know what the right answer is."
Walker raised the possibility of providing a mediator, but was cautious about any involvement from either the executive or legislative branches of government.
Walker also said "long-term, it's worth looking at" an appointed Supreme Court, instead of an elected one, in Wisconsin.
Such a change would require a change in the state constitution.
If Prosser resigned, Walker would appoint his successor.
Here we go again!
Why just talk about Prosser resigning?
If BRADLEY resigned, Walker would appoint her successor.
The anti-Prosser slant of the Journal Sentinel article continues:
The court for years has been split by ideological and personal differences.
"Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this stunning development is how, given all that we have learned about the court in recent years, how untroubling many (people) are likely to find this," said Marquette Law School professor Peter Rofes. "Entirely apart from the obvious violent nature of this act - and the fear it engendered in a female member of the court - as each day passes the people of Wisconsin have less reason to believe that there is very much legitimacy left in this incredibly important institution."
"Entirely apart from the obvious violent nature of this act - and the fear it engendered in a female member of the court"?
So, according to Marquette Law School professor Peter Rofes, Bradley is the victim here? It's a given that she was attacked by Prosser, that terrifying brute?
It certainly appears that Rofes thinks he knows what happened.
Why the assumption that Bradley's version of events is accurate?
Rofes should know better than to make such statements.
...Nationally known police practices expert Melvin L. Tucker said he couldn't figure out why the Capitol police would confer with the justices about the direction of the investigation rather than simply presenting a case to the district attorney.
"There may be justifiable reasons for it, but it doesn't sound like it's normal," said Tucker, a former FBI agent who has served as a police chief in three states and is now based in North Carolina.
"If there was probable cause that a choking actually did take place, if the victim did give a statement to that effect, you go to the prosecutor's office and proceed from there," he said.
NO KIDDING!
What's with the strange consultations? Police shouldn't be conferring with the justices about a choking. That's not how they normally handle a violent act. They should do their jobs, no special treatment or additional discussions.
This is all so weird.
Of course, what's completely normal is the Journal Sentinel serving as a mouthpiece for liberals. __________________
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Crocker Stephenson discussed the insanity with Greta Van Susteren.
Two waves of heavy rains and high winds downed trees and power lines and flooded roadways throughout the Milwaukee area Tuesday afternoon and evening.
...Tuesday's second wave of rain hit about 8 p.m. Within 20 minutes 3-4 inches had accumulated on the roadway of the Zoo Interchange, the National Weather Service said. In Milwaukee Sewer grates were reported overflowing at S. 43rd St. and W. Lincoln Ave. Street flooding lifted manhole covers at N. Port Washington Road at Capitol Drive. There also were estimates of rainwater two-feet deep on roads two miles southeast of Miller Park, the weather service said.
...Flooding also was reported at Mayfair and Blue Mound roads in Wauwatosa and at Lily and Burleigh roads in Brookfield.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District started combined sanitary and storm sewer overflows into local rivers and Lake Michigan in central Milwaukee and eastern Shorewood around 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday was a second day of heavy rain and it overwhelmed regional sewers and started filling the district's deep tunnel. It was the first sewer overflow to waterways reported by the district this year.
...MMSD Executive Director Kevin Shafer said he ordered closing of gates connecting combined sewers to the deep tunnel during a Tuesday evening downpour to prevent sewage backups into basements and to reserve space in the tunnel for flows from the majority of the district served by separated sanitary sewers. Overflows from combined sewers likely started as gates closed.
The main deep tunnel already was more than half full from combined sewer flows when Shafer ordered the combined sewer overflows. Another reason for the emergency measure is to prevent overflows from separate sewers. The district's state permits allows up to 6 combined sewer overflows in a year but generally prohibits separate sanitary sewer overflows except under extreme conditions.
By late Tuesday night, the City of Milwaukee said it had received about 150 complaints of backwater in basements and water flowing into basements through basement windows. At least a half dozen manhole covers were displaced.
Of course.
MMSD is fouling Lake Michigan and rivers again.
Are we supposed to be impressed that this is the first time this year that MMSD has dumped sewage into Milwaukee's source of drinking water?
In an interesting twist, news of the sewage dumping comes on the same day that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and other city officials held a news conference about the problem of illegal dumping.
This is the season for a lot of outdoor fun, but unfortunately it is also a time when the City of Milwaukee sees an increase of illegal dumping.
The City of Milwaukee is asking for help from citizens to stop these culprits, and this growing problem.
Sanitation Services Manager Wanda Book said, "There are over 3,000 city owned vacant lots across the city that unscrupulous characters have been using as their private dumping grounds."
Last year, the city spent $175,000 clearing illegally dumped debris and the problem is getting worse.
City leaders say citizen reporting is the key.
"We need citizens who are tired," Alderwoman Milele Coggs said. "Who are sick and tired of their neighborhoods being used as a garbage dumping ground and we need them to be the eyes and ears on the streets for us."
Common Council President Willie Hines witnessed illegal dumping in his district and he took action.
Hines said "Write [their] drivers license plate down, the name of the company and forward it to the police department of which we were able to cite him."
...If you see illegal dumping in progress, call the Milwaukee Police Department's non-emergency number.
Also, you should call the We Tip hot-line number at 1-800-78-CRIME. You can be rewarded up to a thousand dollars if your information leads to prosecution.
Illegal dumping on city or private property is a serious problem. It shouldn't be tolerated.
Citizens should report this crime if they see their neighborhood being abused as a dumping ground.
A thousand dollars in reward money is quite an incentive to get involved.
Too bad Mayor Tom Barrett and city officials tolerate dumping sewage in Lake Michigan. I wish they'd take a strong stand against that.
Prepare for Milwaukee area beaches to prohibit swimming due to contaminated water.
John Edwards violated the first rule of mug shots.
Don’t smile. Don’t make any effort to look like something that was not just scraped from the bottom of life’s shoe.
You are not supposed to look good in a mug shot.
Anyone who thinks that you are supposed to smile in a mug shot is missing the whole point of the exercise. Mug shots showcase us at our lowest points, stripped of all the trappings that made us look like kings. They reveal what we in fact are: Flawed, Possibly Drunk Human Beings in Bad Lighting.
...If you achieve fame and glory, the standard arc of the celebrity narrative demands that at some point you will pose for a mug shot. It shows your understanding that in the grand scheme of things we are as flies to wanton boys: routinely killed, humiliated and caught selling meth in White Castle parking lots for the public’s sport.
Learn how to do it right: eyes forward, steely expression, dead eyes.
I don't know why Edwards smiled. Maybe it was a reflex.
Most people don't smile when it's time to pose for a mug shot.
In spite of the toothy smile, Edwards doesn't look happy. He has the "dead eyes" of a person at his lowest. I think the smile makes him look incredibly sleazy. Maybe that's my reaction because I know the truth behind the smile.
Tom DeLay also smiled for his mug shot.
It's goofy looking, but not creepy like the Edwards shot.
TIME: Your smiling mug shot—what made you think of that and what do you think the consequence of that has been?
DeLay: Oh, I don't know. I said a little prayer. First of all, you only get one take. It's a very humiliating thing, to be booked. And I said a little prayer before I actually did the fingerprint thing, and the picture. And my prayer was basically: "Let people see Christ through me. And let me smile." Now, when they took the shot, from my side, I thought it was fakiest smile I'd ever given. But through the camera, it was glowing. I mean, it had the right impact. Poor old left couldn't use it at all. They had all kind of things planned, they'd spent a lot of money. It made me feel kind of good that all those plans went down the toilet.
I've never had a mug shot taken.
If I ever found myself in that position, I can't imagine smiling.
Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York said today he has engaged in "several inappropriate" electronic relationships with six women over three years, and that he publicly lied about a photo of himself sent over Twitter to a college student in Seattle over a week ago.
"I take full responsibility for my actions," Weiner said. "The picture was of me, and I sent it."
DEMOCRAT Weiner is a liar.
He addressed the media repeatedly about the photo and he lied repeatedly.
Because of the cover-up and the lies, I think DEMOCRAT Weiner should resign immediately. ________________
Publicly silent, fellow Democrats privately seethed Thursday over the distraction and furor surrounding the lewd photo sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter account, even as he declared he was finished talking about it and wanted to move on.
Weiner's one-day, pun-laden media blitz a day earlier had only raised more questions about the embarrassing flap when he conceded he wasn't sure whether the waist-down photo of a man's bulging underpants was of him or not. His refusal to involve law enforcement because he said as a member of Congress he shouldn't get special treatment — instead turning the issue over to a private security company he hired — raised rather and answered questions.
...Though generally mum in public, Democrats privately fumed at the forced detour in their arguments about Medicare and spending, leaving the generally well-liked seven-term congressman from Brooklyn and Queens largely to fend for himself for a third day in a row. Most Republicans seemed content to let the controversy simmer.
A scene on the House floor Wednesday afternoon seemed to highlight the situation. As newly elected New York Rep. Kathy Hochul was sworn in — after an upset, special-election victory Democrats considered a sign of their ability to communicate their differences with Republicans on the future of Medicare — Weiner and the No. 2 House Democrat, Steny Hoyer were locked in a nearly 10 minute, animated conversation.
On Thursday, Weiner joined Democratic lawmakers at the White House where the caucus met with President Barack Obama. As they walked from buses on Pennsylvania Ave. Weiner's colleagues stonewalled when they were asked about their colleague.
"I will have nothing to say about that," said fellow New Yorker, Rep. Louise Slaughter. "I'm here to put people to work."
"We're not distracted by that," said Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J.
The House's top Democrat, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, earlier told ABC News that she was "a late-comer to the issue" — one that cable TV and the Capitol press corps have been fixated on for most of the week.
Still, Pelosi added, "I have confidence in Anthony Weiner that if an investigation is in order that will take place."
The scandal is not just going to go away.
Video:
A law enforcement investigation is in order. If a crime has been committed, as Weiner insists, it needs to be investigated.
The only reason there shouldn't be a law enforcement investigation would be if Weiner knows what would be discovered - that he's lying.
Whatever the truth may be, Weiner has shamed himself and the Democrat party by the way he has handled the matter.
On The Early Show Thursday, CBS news legal analyst Jack Ford, said the congressman may have a good reason for not involving authorities.
“It’s not against the law to lie to the media. It’s not against the law to lie to constituents. It is against the law to lie to law enforcement,” said Ford. “So if I’m a lawyer on a case like this, I’m going to be real careful before I let my client talk to law enforcement.”
The fact is Weiner has made a fool of himself. He's painted himself into a corner. He's imploding.
There's no graceful way for him to manage the scandal at this point. There's no way out.
Scores of area congregations are expected to join with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and city and county law enforcement officials to promote nonviolence as part of the 7th annual Cease Fire Sabbath this weekend.
Barrett, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm will kick off the initiative at breakfast with faith leaders Thursday at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, 128 W. Burleigh. And Barrett and Chisholm will speak at six area churches on Sunday.
"The police department and district attorney have done a magnificent job in reducing violent crime in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. But in all honesty, we can't do this alone," Barrett said at a Wednesday news conference at City Hall.
"We need the cooperation of faith leaders and the community."
Chisholm said strong families and faith communities play an important role in keeping young people from becoming involved in crime. "The more mentors and faith-based relationships we have, the better we'll succeed as a community," he said.
...Barrett and Chisholm will speak at the following churches on Sunday:
Barrett will be at New Covenant Church, 2315 N. 38th St. at 9:30 a.m.; Greater Galilee Missionary Baptist Church at 2432 N. Teutonia Ave. at 10:30 a.m.; St. Patrick Parish, 723 W. Washington St., at 11:20 a.m.; and St. Adalbert Parish, 1923 W. Becher St. at 12:45 p.m.
Chisholm will appear at Parklawn Assembly of God, 3725 N. Sherman Blvd., at 7:50 a.m.; and Jerusalem Missionary Baptist church, 2505 W. Cornell St., at 11 a.m.
Although the thugs most likely won't be in church today, people who know them may be. The good people might be able to encourage the thugs to follow a nonviolent path.
Also, children, the next generation of thugs, may be attending today's church services and be influenced by hearing the messages of Barrett and Chisholm and faith leaders in the community.
Who knows?
It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. _________________
Here's Tom Barrett's May 20, 2011, e-mail message on the topic:
Dear Friends,
This weekend marks my 7th Annual “Ceasefire Sabbath” in which I ask clergy and faith leaders to promote a common message of peace and non-violence in their weekend services. I believe faith is the cornerstone of a healthy and productive community and, as history has shown us, it is often religious leaders who lead the charge for social justice and change. I believe the same holds true today.
Just this week, District Attorney John Chisholm, Police Chief Flynn and I met with more than 100 pastors and other faith leaders who serve our city. We agreed that violence prevention and community building comes in many forms. Mentoring a young family, providing summer jobs to teens, extending a hand to a reentering ex-offender and recommitting our efforts to stem the flow of illegal guns are among just a few of the many strategies offered that will make a difference in the lives of Milwaukee residents.
Everyone who cares about keeping our neighborhoods safe in this City has a role to play. A full-on community effort in cooperation with the police department is essential to the success of our common goal to strengthen the community, reduce crime and promote peace. We need to show strength and unity in spreading the message that violence will not be tolerated in our neighborhoods.
Below is the schedule of churches that I will be visiting:
8:45 am - 9:50 am Greater New Birth Church 10:30 am - 11:50 am Greater Galilee MBC 11:20 am – 11:50 am St. Patrick Parish 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm St. Adalbert Parish
District Attorney Chisholm will be visiting the following churches:
8:00 am Parklawn Assembly of God 10:20 am Canaan Missionary Baptist Church
I’m pleased we have made great progress in making our communities safer and I’m grateful to the police department, District Attorney Chisholm and the countless community members who have helped in our efforts.
It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF.
I think at this time first of my wife—whom I love more than anything—of my children, of my family, of my friends.
I think also of my colleagues at the Fund; together we have accomplished such great things over the last three years and more.
To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.
I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially—especially—I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.
Security guards are trained to spot suspicious activity. At Pick 'n Save on State Street a man walking through the store with a large leather purse got the staff's attention.
According to a Wauwatosa police report:
A 27-year-old Milwaukee man was seen putting a bottle of liquor in the purse at 5:41 p.m. Friday. At the checkout, he paid for a salad but not the alcohol.
A security guard tried to stop him but he became combative and tried to head-butt the guard in the face.
A search of his purse turned up a steak knife with a five-inch blade, a hammer and 2.6 grams of marijuana.
He was on probation for drug and weapons charges.
The man was arrested for retail theft, carrying a concealed weapon, marijuana possession and violating probation.
The security guard was right this time. Because he profiled, he caught a criminal.
The man with the murse was up to no good. He not only was shoplifting, like Wisconsin state senator Democrat Chris Larson, but he had a lot in his murse that he shouldn't have had, like weapons and pot.
The head-butt was not a good idea. It only made matters worse.
An official at Mothers Against Drunk Driving says his organization has taken a neutral position on two drunken-driving proposals put forth by Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon).
On Friday, the two legislators held a press conference to announce they were introducing two bills they said would strengthen the state's drunken-driving laws.
One bill calls for a first drunken-driving offense to be a crime if the person has a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 or higher.
Current law makes a first offense a municipal violation. Current law also makes it a criminal offense if the driver has a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or higher and there is a child 16 years of age or younger in the car.
The other bill would make a third and fourth drunken-driving conviction a felony. Currently, the fourth arrest for drunken driving is considered a felony if it comes within five years of the third offense.
But Frank Harris, state legislative affairs manager for the national office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said in an email to Darling and Ott that, while their bills are well intentioned, MADD wants laws that make drunken driving a misdemeanor at 0.08 as opposed to 0.15. Additionally, Harris wrote, MADD wants laws that require an ignition interlock for first time offenders who have a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or greater.
"MADD applauds your leadership on keeping the streets safe from drunk drivers in Wisconsin," Harris wrote in the email, which was also sent to the Journal Sentinel. "MADD supports making a third offense a felony but is neutral on the proposal to make a first conviction with a blood-alcohol of .15 or greater a misdemeanor.
That's nuts.
Strengthening current laws is an improvement. MADD should be supporting the efforts of Darling and Ott.
"Making a first OWI conviction a misdemeanor at .15 BAC is not a step and this does not represent progress against drunk driving."
Added Harris: "This .15 BAC bill sends a mixed message on what the illegal level of drunk driving is in Wisconsin exactly and will not send any message or deterrence necessary to stop drunk driving or the majority of drunk driving deaths in Wisconsin caused by drunk drivers with no prior convictions. The only benefit to this legislation is that more drunk drivers may refuse and thereby receive an ignition overlock."
The bill doesn't send a mixed message at all.
Harris isn't making sense. Increasing penalties for drunk driving is a deterrence. It's certainly better than doing nothing at all.
I really don't understand why MADD would choose to be "neutral" rather than strongly supporting any and all steps taken to save lives.
I find MADD's position extremely troubling. Something is not right here.
A recording released by the Republican Party of Wisconsin exposes University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh Professor Stephen Richards using class time to actively campaign for the recall of State Senator Randy Hopper, encouraging his students to sign recall petitions offered by circulators present in his classroom.
In the tape, recorded during a criminal justice class, Richards can be heard encouraging a female student to sign the recall petition even though she thinks she lives outside the district, and instructing students to sign using their campus address instead of their parents’ home address. He also tells students to look for petition circulators all around campus and “in the bars.”
...In the recording, Richards openly discusses his involvement in the recall effort, detailing organizational meetings he has attended, and using the term “we” to describe recall organizers.
As the Professor discusses the various reasons he supports the recall efforts, he promotes several falsehoods about the effects of the budget repair bill, saying at one point “It will be a lot less, um, rewarding to be in law enforcement, because they're gonna cut all the police unions."
"Either he’s purposely lying to students in an effort to provoke them to sign the petitions, or he is woefully misinformed and spreading severe inaccuracies along to students who rely on him for factual information,” says [Mark] Jefferson, [Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin]. “Teachers and college professors have a responsibility to their students and to their communities. We trust them to deliver facts and stay above the political fray - at the very least when they are at the head of a classroom. This Professor has seriously failed his students. One has to wonder if this is an isolated incident or a more common occurrence in our state's classrooms."
Sen. Randy Hopper called for an investigation into the political activity of college professors along with the resignation of a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh faculty member who encouraged his students during class to sign a petition to recall the Republican lawmaker.
The state GOP, college Republican groups and several lawmakers immediately demanded accountability for UWO criminal justice professor Stephen Richards Tuesday after a conservative radio host broadcast a candid recording of Richards encouraging students on March 7 to sign a petition to recall Hopper, R-Fond du Lac.
“Quite frankly, nothing short of this professor resigning will be adequate for the students and the parents of UW-Oshkosh,” Hopper said.
...The UWO professor’s actions raise more questions about irregularities in the recall petition process, Hopper said, calling the issue a “misuse of authority” that should not be tolerated.
“People send their kids to school to be educated not indoctrinated, and this professor took state-funded time to make a political stand,” he said.
One of Richards’ students made the audio recording and later released it to the Republican Party of Wisconsin, a spokesperson said. Conservative commentator Charlie Sykes of Milwuakee-based WTMJ-AM (620) broadcast the recording Tuesday with Senate President Mike Ellis, R-Neenah, demanding an explanation from the university.
UWO Chancellor Richard Wells issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying the issue was investigated after students complained, and corrective action as taken by the end of March. Students have since reported classroom conditions improved, according to the statement.
Kudos to the student for recording Richards' completely unacceptable behavior and busting the guy.
Richards has shamed the university.
"Corrective action" was taken.
Right.
Like what? A warning not to gather signatures during class?
If Richards is willing to do something as blatantly wrong as using class time to round up signatures to recall Randy Hopper, I'm sure he allows his political views to color his "teaching" on a regular basis.
Richards got caught this time, but I don't think his is an isolated case. This sort of misconduct permeates public institutions.
Richards should not be talking about recalling Governor Scott Walker or shilling for unions.
He's lying to his students. This guy is a disgrace.
Sickening.
I also question the fact that Stephen Richards, a convicted felon, is a tenured professor at UW Oshkosh.
A jury convicted him of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana.
In 1984, Richards began serving a nine-year sentence. By the time he was released on parole three years later, he had been housed in nine federal prisons.
From 1977 to 1990, Lenza served time in Missouri’s State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, also called “The Walls.” He was convicted of murder in 1975 after confessing to killing his first wife and mother-in-law, putting his mother-in-law’s body in a barrel and throwing the barrel into the Mississippi River.
Lenza says he had a happy childhood while growing up in St. Louis County. In fact, he credits his family for their unconditional love and for never giving up on him. He says he never could have made it through his incarceration without their support.
Although he refuses to speak of the murders (partly because he feels that while he can defend his actions, his victims cannot), Lenza says that when people are in their late teens and early 20s they don’t understand consequences and outcomes the way they do in later years.
“Things seem impossible, overwhelming. You don’t have a long-term view,” he says. He adds that his incarceration showed him the downside of violence.
“My years at Missouri Eastern Penitentiary, The Walls, which is one of the most violent societies in America, certainly showed me the futility in violence in solving issues. You have to find other ways,” he says.
Good Lord!
Lenza is a staunch advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. His wife of 12 years, Sherry Lenza, is no less steadfast in her views. “Executions don’t deter; they just brutalize the population,” she says.
Since his release from prison, Lenza has completed college, married, begun pursuing doctoral degrees and become a father. As Lenza takes his son, Michael Jesse, from his wife’s arms so she can answer the telephone, he says that “peace is its own truth” and today is a different day.
While he knows his past will always be part of his life, Mike Lenza concentrates on where he is now. “It’s not like you totally leave that behind,” he says. “It’s been almost 30 years. A lot changes in 30 years.”
Of course, Lenza opposes the death penalty.
Lenza was convicted of MURDERING his wife and mother-in-law.
If I were Sherry, Lenza wife #2, I would be a little nervous.
I also don't think that Lenza belongs in the classroom. ______________
UPDATE: Apparently, Richards didn't learn his lesson, in spite of UW Oshkosh taking "corrective action."
Charlie Sykes posts an e-mail he received from a student in Stephen Richards' class:
Hey Charlie,
I'm sitting in Dr. (I use that term loosely) Richards' class as I'm writing this. Just wanted to let you know that instead of apologizing for his actions and everything that has come out in the last couple days, he scolded us. He started by telling us that he has had a police escort all day due to death threats. He then proceeded to tell us that it is illegal to record a professor without his/her permission. He stated that "anyone has any smart phones or recording devices, to turn them off or leave." He then proceeded to tell us that he could have charged those students with some sort of BS crime and had us arrested and kicked out of school. His rant has been going on for the better part of 20 minutes now and isn't showing any signs of slowing down or stopping. Just like his political rants which take place multiple times per week, this is the kind of crap that disrupts our opportunity to learn at an institution of higher education.
I don't see the need to be scolded because this idiot finally got busted. As a criminal justice student graduating in May, this guy is a disgrace to me and the rest of the students in the program.
Just a heads up that absolutely nothing has changed since the "corrective action" that was handed down from Chancellor Wells. The guy is a joke and doesn't deserve his position.
Thanks for getting this story on the air. The CJ students really appreciate that our story is finally being heard.
Bottom line: "NOTHING HAS CHANGED." ______________
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh officials said today they will not ask a professor who encouraged his students to sign a recall petition to resign, nor will they conduct a full investigation into the on-campus political activity of faculty as requested by some state lawmakers.
State Sen. Randy Hopper, Senate President Mike Ellis and the Republican Party of Wisconsin demanded the investigation and resignation of UWO Criminal Justice Professor Stephen Richards after an anonymous student released an audio recording on Tuesday of Richards urging his class in March to sign a petition to recall Hopper.
UWO Chancellor Richard Wells said during a Friday afternoon press conference that he respects the senators, but “we don’t always have to agree.”
UWO is standing by Richards.
I suppose that's because Richards is on the same page politically as UWO officials.
He's safe and he knows it. That's probably why he runs political rallies out of his classroom.
I would like to once again apologize to my students for not showing more restraint in the classroom. I regret that I crossed the line when I failed to comply completely with UW System policy concerning political discussion in the classroom. I am sorry that this may have tarnished the reputation of the university community. I wish all my students continued success in their studies.
Professor Stephen C. Richards
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
After "I wish all my students continued success in their studies," I think Richards left out "if they agree with me politically and do all they can to get Republican state senators and Scott Walker recalled."
Richards' apology seems extremely forced.
UW Oshkosh has made documents relating to Richards available online after a public records request by the Oshkosh Northwestern.
A former Rutgers University freshman was indicted Wednesday for secretly viewing a same-sex encounter involving his roommate - who later jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge.
Dharun Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, N.J., could face up to 5 years in prison if convicted of the top charges in the 15-count indictment announced by Middlesex County prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.
Ravi was charged by a grand jury with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and witness and evidence tampering for using a webcam to spy on Tyler Clementi's dorm room date with another man.
Once Clementi's Sept. 22, 2010, suicide became public, Ravi asked witnesses not to implicate him and gave misleading information to investigators, Kaplan said.
According to the indictment, Ravi also knew the target of his webcam would be intimidated because of his sexual orientation.
"The grand jury indictment spells out cold and calculated acts against our son Tyler by his former college roommate," the Clementi family said in a statement.
"If these facts are true, as they appear to be, then it is important for our criminal justice system to establish clear accountability under law. We are eager to have the process moved forward for justice in this case."
What Ravi did (allegedly) to Tyler Clementi was beyond cruel. It was criminal.
If Ravi is convicted, he could spend 5 years in prison.
I think the odds of him serving that sort of sentence are slim. But hopefully, he will be held accountable under the law and given more than a slap on the wrist.
It seems inadequate to use the term "bullying" for what Ravi did to Clementi. Clearly, Ravi took bullying to new heights.
How does it get to the point where bullying becomes a crime? How could Ravi, an adult, be so callous and inhumane and lacking in conscience?
Somewhere along the line, Ravi wasn't reined in. I don't believe this was the first time Ravi bullied someone. I doubt that he suddenly turned into a thug. I suspect it was a life-long pattern with him.
Bottom line: People in positions of authority - teachers, coaches, parents, adults - cannot look the other way when they see a child being victimized. They must intervene and take bullying seriously. The bullies must face consequences. They must be punished for their anti-social behavior.
No happy, healthy individual would torture another innocent human being.
Authority figures must NOT blame the victims. When the adults ignore the sadistic behavior of bullies, they passively condone it. That is unacceptable. It is unconscionable.
The bullies are empowered and their hate-filled habits escalate.
It is inexcusable.
When people in positions of authority fail to stop bullying, they create monsters like Ravi.
