Alabama News Round-up Sept. 2010

Not a lot happening lately but there were a few news briefs of interest this month:

http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/area-news-in-brief,68082?

Decatur Daily: Area News in Brief 9/11/10

Sex offender faces charges

A sex offender is in Morgan County Jail faces charges of altering his criminal status on his driver’s license. Falkville Police Chief Chris Free said his officers stopped J**** D****, 52, of ****, for a traffic violation on Monday and while conducting a background check on his license, noticed he had colored over part of the license listing him as a sex offender. D** was convicted of first-degree sodomy in 1993 in Macon County for a sexual offense with a 7-year-old girl. Police charged D*** with sex offender registration violation. He remained in Morgan County Jail on Friday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

--Paul Huggins

COMMENTS: The state needs to repeal this scarlet letter law to begin with. It has served no purpose other than increasing the chances of social ostracism and vigilantism. And check out the bond set. A bit excessive, don't you think?

http://www.therandolphleader.com/articles/2010/09/22/news/118-county%20commission.txt

County gets unexpected jail expense

by Vanessa Sorrell Burnside
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 8:51 AM CDT

WEDOWEE-- Jail administrator Craig Davidson told the commission as of Oct. 1 the state will no longer do maintenance for the Live Scan fingerprint system at Randolph County Jail. County administrator Cindy Arrington said court funds cannot be used for this system; it will have to come from the jail's budget. Davidson said it is mandated they have this system for the sex offender registration and notification act. The county will have to pay for the maintenance and upgrades to be in compliance. The commission tabled any action on the fingerprint system until the new sheriff is elected.

COMMENT: Cry me a river, Randolph County. You wanted it, now pay for it! I wonder how many people realize how much it costs to have Big Brother harass area sex offenders. If they think it is bad now just wait until Alabama tries implementing the Adam Walsh Act.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/09/birmingham_crime_rate_down_ove.html

Birmingham crime rate down overall; still ranks 4th in U.S.

Published: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 5:45 AM     Updated: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 6:12 AM

Carol Robinson -- The Birmingham News

Birmingham's crime dropped in every category last year, with the number of murders reported in the city decreasing by 20 percent.  Still, despite a 10 percent drop in overall crime, the city ranked fourth nationally in overall crime because of a national downward trend in crime, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report for 2009. In 2008, Birmingham ranked third nationally in overall crime.....  "Even though we are having a banner year in homicide reduction, there is no universal antidote or magic formula for this trend," said Birmingham Deputy Chief Herman Hinton. "Still, I believe that it's more about us expanding our community-based effort through prayer and prayer walks, along with focusing more on high-risk people such as probationers, sex offenders and outstanding felony warrants."

COMMENT: Considering sex offenders have statistically the lowest rate of re-offending by far, I'm scratching my head over the comment made by the B'ham deputy chief. Actually, all the social ostracism and harassment makes them more likely to re-offend. Idiots.

Annitston Star gives a really bad editorial -- FEAR MONGERING AMONG US

I've never understood just newspaper would print such nonsense when they refuse to print the truth or any of my editorials.

http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/9592985/article-Predators-among-us?instance=home_opinion

Predators among us

by our readers

 

Moms, shut your doors and keep your kids in; the “big bad wolf” is lurking around the corner. The reality is that sex offenders are littering our country. Kids can be snatched from our front yards and become victims of a sex offender.

The “Leave it to Beaver” days are long gone, and mothers need to be aware of the ever-growing danger. It is even a risk to let our kids go alone to school. The offender knows where there is an “easy catch.” Those men are sick individuals who need regular follow-ups with officials. Kids ought to have special classes that teach them how to protect themselves.

Our children have become easy prey, and we need tough laws to protect them. Playgrounds, wooded areas and close-to-home schools should have extra security. Sexual abuse and the killings of our children have become a national cancer.

The $587 million and most costly school in the U.S. recently opened in Los Angeles. That money was wasted and could have been used to enforce better security and build more jails for outlaws.

Margit Suesser

Anniston

Read more: Anniston Star - Predators among us

HERE IS MY COMMENT TO THE ANNISTON STAR:


This has to be the worst excuse of fear mongering and blind ignorance I have ever seen in an editorial. People are always saying we see "these kinds of stories" "every day," but statistic from the NCMEC show those high profile cases are extremely rare.

We're already spending more on costly prisons and security. We treat school children like prisoners these days with random pat downs, metal detectors, and heightened security. The only "epidemic" in this country is the epidemic of fear. We fear everything from Pig Flu to Y2K and Satanic Cults in Day Cares.

Like everything else we have grown to fear in our generation, our fears are based upon media sensationalism. Nancy Grace's bread and butter are "Tot Mom" and sex abuse cases. It is interesting to note her two favorite cases on her show, the Caylee Anthony and Sandra Cantu murders, were committed by people not on any public registry.

There are a lot of problems with the public registry. It gives people such a narrow focus on a small group of people, of which only 3%-5% of them will ever commit a new sex crime (there is such a thing as "rehabilitation"). The focus is so narrow we miss the 95% of new cases that will be committed by first time offenders, i.e., people not on the registry.

It has become obvious that these laws are based more on revenge than rehabilitation. The shame game, social ostracism, and denial of second chances has failed to reduce recidivism. Yes we need more education, but you have to include topics like sexual accountability to your youth.

At least she wasn't using sex offender issues as a platform this time

It is yet another article devoted to crazy Alabama politics. No, it isn't a sex crime issue, but we all need a little humor. Hm, now I have an idea. I have a pic of Bob Riley and Troy King, who's got Phoyoshop?

http://www.loweringthebar.net/2010/09/photoshop-used-to-simulate-political-endorsement-temporarily.html

Photoshop Used to Simulate Political Endorsement, Temporarily

If you are running for office in Alabama, it would be great to have the endorsement of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban.  Having a picture of you and Coach Saban together would really go a long way.  And with today's technology, the fact that you have never actually met Coach Saban is not an obstacle to realizing this dream.

Dorothy Davidson, a candidate for mayor of Bessemer, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham), said last month that Saban had endorsed her candidacy, and she distributed fliers showing the two of them side-by-side on a golf course.  Asked about this, the school's athletic department said Saban had not endorsed anybody.

Asked about that, Davidson insisted that the picture of her with Saban on the golf course was real and had been taken three weeks before.  When she was later shown an eerily similar picture of Saban apparently standing in exactly the same place on the same golf course, wearing the same clothes, and with his hair in exactly the same position, but with his wife next to him instead of Davidson, Davidson then clarified that position.  Her picture had been taken three weeks before.  It had then been (poorly) digitally added to the Saban photo, after Saban's inconveniently placed wife had been digitally removed.

Actually, it appears she was not entirely removed -- it  looks to me like some of Mrs. Saban's hair is still visible at the top right of Davidson's head.

According to Davidson, "[t]hey said we could do it this way," and her campaign manager, Kevin Morris, clarified that "they" was Coach Saban. Morris said he had asked Saban about it one day on the golf course and that Saban had said okay.

Later that day, though, Morris admitted that maybe that was not one hundred percent true, either.  "I lied," he conceded, but said he had deceived Davidson, too.  Obviously Davidson knew she had not posed with Saban, but Morris said he had told her (falsely) that Saban had agreed to the Photoshoppery. (Whether Saban ever expressed support for Davidson is not clear.  Morris maintains that he did.  Saban himself does not seem to have commented, but the athletic department consistently denied that the coach was ever contacted for an endorsement.)  Morris resigned.

In the election on August 24, Davidson got 13 percent of the vote, placing fourth out of six.  The top two will go head-to-head in an October runoff, although maybe there will be three in the picture by election time. 

September 03, 2010

Shiloni Ministries on ARC Talk Radio show! 09/01/2010

On Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010, at 7pm, American's Reality Check radio interviewed Shiloni Transformation Ministry, a faith based initiative and halfway house located in Birmingham. Shiloni was negatively impacted by the Jefferson County anti-clustering law. Click on the link below to find the show. You can listen from the Talkshoe website or download the podcast. This ministry needs your support and a repeal of these laws. Ohio makes exceptions for certain halfway houses from the residency laws, Alabama should do the same.

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/29521

More on American's Reality Check (ARC Radio): http://www.arctalkradio.com/