US Marijuana Party

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Judge orders son of DEA agent to be held without bail

Baltimore Sun

The 17-year-old son of a federal agent who was arrested Thursday after police say he attempted to shoot both his parents and then fled to New Jersey was ordered held without bail by an Anne Arundel County judge yesterday.

Tom Jason Reimann, 17, of Crofton was arrested in North Caldwell, N.J., at 9 a.m. Thursday and charged as an adult with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault charges and other offenses, police said. Authorities moved Reimann to Anne Arundel County at 3 a.m. yesterday. Anne Arundel County District Judge Megan B. Johnson ordered him held without bail at the county detention center yesterday.

Police suspect Tom Reimann had been drinking alcohol at the time of the shootings, according to police charging documents filed with the county's District Court.


Well Thank (insert deity here) he wasn't smoking a joint! Considering the position of his father...that would have been way more devastating and embarassing to the family.


After arguing with his parents about the family dog about 3 a.m. Thursday, Tom Reimann went into his parents' bedroom and took his father's service gun from a locked box, grabbed an extra box of ammunition and donned camouflage "military-style fatigues" and his father's bulletproof vest, according to authorities and charging documents.

Like father, Like son.

Bob Cesca's Predictions for 2006

Bob Cesca over at HuffPo has a spectacular list of predictions for 2006.
I laughed til it hurt.
You will too.

Here is a sample:

PRESIDENT CLINTON will be arrested, tried, and convicted on charges that Bush wiretapped American citizens without warrants.

READ THE REST

Loretta Nall's 2005 Year in Review

As 2005 draws to a close it is time to look back at the year's accomplishments and adventures in drug policy and prison reform.

It is in some ways hard to believe that I have done all of these things and traveled all of these places. Compiling this list really puts things into perspective.

As for best and worst of 2005 I'd have to say the best things have been my articles detailing my court experience, the FBI visit, US Customs at the Canadian border and my experience trying to visit my brother in an Alabama prison.

Also, the political excitement surrounding my run for Governor of Alabama in 2006.


The worst thing that happened, by far, in 2005 was the arrest of Marc Emery, my mentor, employer and friend, at the request of the US D.E.A.

The D.E.A. is still attempting to extradite Marc to the US to stand trial for selling marijuana seeds from Canada. If they are successful and he is convicted he faces 10 years to life in a US Federal Prison.

January

I went to court in January but nothing happened.

Then I flew to Vancouver for some R&R and to visit Marc Emery and the rest of my co-workers for what was quite possibly the very last time.

Afterward I flew to Washington D.C. and attended the three day Progressive Democrats of America conference. It was disappointing because they addressed every issue caused by the drug war but never acknowledged that the drug war itself is the culprit.

Debated Cullowhee NC Police Chief on Radio

Spoke at Felons Right to Vote conference in Birmingham hosted by Roberta Franklin.

Youthful indiscretion OUTLAWED!!
13 Palm Beach teens facing 15 years after undercover narcotics operation.

Feburary



Tuesday, February 08, 2005 Palm Beach Blog Entry

News Anchor Can't Get Story She Wants on School Drug Busts

Marijuana activist sweeps into Jupiter promoting pot reform


WMNF Radio Interview

This is an NPR type radio broadcast...top quality stuff.
My part begins at 42:35
You can listen here

My thanks to Steven Heath for setting this interview up.

Exclusive Video Coverage
The Kids Aren't Alright!

In the land of "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams" Loretta Nall discovers the "Kids Aren't Alright"!

Join Loretta as she travels to Palm Beach, Florida to talk with students attending highschools targeted in "Operation Old Schoolhouse".

You'll be SHOCKED at what the kids have to say.

Can you say HOMESCHOOL?

Dog intimidation at Alabama Protest

Dog intimidation at 02/12/05 protest at construction site of new private prison in Perry County, Alabama.

Yesterday I attended a sit-in in Perry County, Alabama. Uniontown, to be exact. We were protesting the building of a private prison.

Almost as soon as we arrived an SUV pulled up on the opposite side of the road and a clean-cut white man began to take pictures of us with a digital camera.

Then he rolled down his back window and a vicious, trained, man eating german shepherd dog stuck his head out and looked at us.

I told my fellow protesters that there was an undercover across the road with a dog and that photos of us were being taken.

About 10 minutes later as I was filming the sign being erected, and had my back to the road, I hear this god awful snarling, barking and snapping that couldn't have been more than a few inches from my head.

I turned around....camera rolling and saw this man is driving by just inches from us, he has the back window down and this dog is in full "IM GONNA EAT YOUR ASS MODE"!!
The driver had come over onto the shoulder of the road in order to get his dog closer to us.

This is the first time I have ever seen a dog used in a drive-by.
The Abu Ghraib pictures of dog intimidation came to mind.

It's still 1963 here.

Here are some still shots taken from what I videotaped.

1
2
3
4
5

Here's the raw footage.

MEDICAL POT IN ALABAMA?

Nall May Run as Libertarian Candidate for Governor

Lobby Session with Congressman Mike Rogers

March

Shits & Giggles

Loretta Nall Goes to Court
Hilarious recounting of my day in court.

FBI Pays Loretta Nall a Visit
I guess the F.B.I. didn't think what I had to say about court was so funny. That's cool. I don't think the way Jonathan Magbie died was funny. I guess we are even.

ABC News Video Coverage of FBI visit

APRIL

Medical Marijuana Comes to Alabama

Marijuana Only Option claims One Alabama Woman

Auburn Plainsman Coverage

Crimson White Coverage

FOX 6 News Coverage

Guest speaker at Western Carolina University


My Western Carolina Host's

HWY 420 Cannabis Conference in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Loretta & David Malmo-Levine

Loretta Holding Friends New Baby

Med MJ Hearing

Med MJ Bill Passed in Judiciary Committee

MAY

MPP Medical Marijuana Conference w/Montel Williams




Remember all that trouble I had coming back from Canada last month?
Check this out!

An Encounter With Alabama Pardons and Paroles

JUNE

Flew to NYC to network with DPA

Guest speaker at Jacksonville Hempfest

Supremes Say NO to Medical Marijuana

Alabama says,
"so
what?"

JULY

Marc Emery Arrested by DEA

more here

and here

and here

Search warrant

DEA Press Conference on Emery Arrest

AUGUST

Tandy Admits Emery Takedown Political

US Marijuana Party Calls for Tandy's resignation

Were they after me too?

Original DEA Press Release

DC Prison Reform March Video
DC Prison Reform March Pictures

Guest speaker at Birmingham Unitarian Universalist Church on medical marijuana

Seattle Hempfest Video Coverage

September

Missoula Hempfest

I make "BUSTED"

FreeTalkLive Radio

Release of my election platform

The Great Prison Panty Rebellion of Alabama
This is what happens to me when I try to visit my brother in prison.

Loretta Nall Announces Run for Governor of Alabama

October

Back to court
Good Local Court Coverage

Straw poll

Kevin Elkins Show

Auburn Plainsman

DRCNet

Meanies

Loretta Responds

AP Article

WSFA Coverage

Local Blog Coverage

Tuscaloosa News
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2
3

Crimson White

Participated in Birmingham Anti-war rally

November

DPA Conference in Long Beach

Decatur Daily

Speaking at Auburn University

Riley to focus on prisons

Drug Policy and Prison reform become major Issues in Alabama Election

Jonathan Magbie Abuse exposed

December

Roy Moore at VFW
I'll be speaking there in March of 2006.

Moore's wife seeks donations.

OK Y'all DIG DEEP and help me at least beat this guy.

MapInc archive of my LTE's & articles.
33 in 2005.

Looking ahead to 2006

Many exciting opportunities and challenges lie ahead for me in 2006. The legislature comes back into session on Jan. 10 and Governor Riley is trying to dedicate the first two weeks to prison and sentencing reform. There are 11 recommendations on the table from the most recent task force on prison overcrowding. No one seems to know exactly what they are right now. I'll be in session every day speaking for our side and pushing for real reform.

Also, our medical marijuana bill will be put back through committee to address the distribution aspect which is currently very flawed. As Executive Director of Alabamians for Compassionate Care I will be very busy making sure that patients have easy and safe access to medical marijuana in this state. It is bound to be a bloody battle.

At some point in January I expect I will have to appear in court again on the same charges that started all of this. Hopefully 2006 will bring closure to a case that never should have been.

Not that I am really complaining about how all of this got started. Look where it has gotten me. One of these days I may send a fruit basket and a Thank You card to the police in Tallapoosa County, Alabama.

But, it has dragged on long enough.

And, last but not least, is my campaign for Governor of Alabama. When my work in the legislative session has ended I will launch my walk across the state to meet the voters and gather the bulk of the signatures I need for ballot access.

I believe I can win this election even though I am well aware that the odds are not stacked in my favor. But I feel the rumbling undercurrent of dis-satisfaction among my fellow Alabamains and I hear what they say on the radio and in the newspapers. They are sick and tired of being unrepresented no matter who they vote for.

42% of Alabamians who are eligible to vote do not do so in any given election. On top of that about 10,000 Alabamians currently serving time in prison for felony marijuana possession and/or DUI can now vote while in prison and all of those who went before them on the same charges are also eligible.
I'd estimate that number to be in the 100,000 range if we look at just how many people have been to prison in Alabama on felony marijuana possession charges and or felony DUI's.

42% of eligible voters who don't usually vote PLUS a large number of formerly disenfranchised voters PLUS a candidate who speaks to their values (ME!) EQUALS complete HAVOC for the Republicans and Democrats and a possible victory for our side.
That is a lot of potential votes and in a three way election....well let's just say things are bound to get real interesting.
This is going to be the most entertaining election in Alabama in a very long time.

A HUGE Thanks is in order to everyone who has helped me achieve all that I have achieved in 2005 and who I sincerely hope will continue to believe in my efforts in 2006 and the years to come. Many of you came to my aid after Marc Emery was arrested. Many of you are supporters of my campaign and other work. All of you I consider my family...my people. I hope that I can continue to make you proud.

We have entered a new era in drug policy reform. Politics is central and critical to acheiving our goals. More of us must enter the political arena. After all, who can represent us and our interests better than we ourselves can?

Please help restore America Starting with Alabama


Onward to 2006 and Happy New Year

In Liberty,
Loretta Nall
Vote Nall Y'all...It's Just Common Sense

No reason to suffer

The following letter appeared in the Birmingham News today. My response follows.

Where does the government get the idea it has the right to know what prescriptions my doctor prescribes for me? As a sufferer of chronic pain, I have taken many of the drugs listed in a recent article in The News. There are more I haven't taken because of government interference with a doctor's ability to "doctor" his patients.

The government has scared most physicians away from treating pain. There is no reason for any person in America to suffer pain. The medications are there to alleviate pain. But doctors fear the government questioning their writing of prescriptions. The government may not question many at all, but what doctor wants to take time out of his day to answer questions?

The death of one diminishes us all. But there will always be death among us. That will include young people who do a stupid thing like shooting up OxyContin. We can't eliminate the curiosity factor from life. To infringe on the rights and privacy of citizens of this state and country in a futile attempt to do so is exactly the reason our Founding Fathers gave us our Constitution as written. I, for one, feel we have given up far too many rights in our government's "war on drugs."

Michael D. Williams
--------------------------------------

Dear Editor,

Recently letter-writer Michael D. Williams asked, " Where does the government get the idea it has the right to know what prescriptions my doctor prescribes for me?" ("No reason to suffer" 12/31/05)

The government got that idea from the "war on some drugs", which has raged UNCHECKED on the American people for decades.

Because of the drug war our constitutional rights and civil liberties are gone.

Parental rights are gone.

Our children are indoctrinated in the public schools to pee in a cup on demand for "the authorities", have their private parts sniffed by vicious dogs and to snitch on their parents and classmates.

The Fourth Amendment is gone.

The Supreme Court has ruled that we are all subject to humiliating warrantless searches of our most private parts by police dogs anytime, anywhere.

It appears the drug war chickens have come home to roost, as some of us always knew they would, and now every American citizen, as opposed to only those who might be using illicit drugs, is a target in the drug war.

The government has NO BUSINESS in our bladders or those of our children. Considering their dismal failure at "correcting drug users" (see prison crisis) I believe they are about the last ones I'd want involved if I thought my child was using drugs.

They have NO AUTHORITY to sic their dogs on us...last time I checked this was not Nazi Germany.

They have NO BUSINESS deciding how much medication a doctor should prescribe for patients...they don't have medical degrees.

If elected Governor of Alabama I vow to kick the D.E.A. out of this state and to restore and protect all constitutional rights and civil liberties which are the birthright of every Alabama citizen.
Respectfully Submitted,

Loretta Nall
Alabama Gubernatorial candidate
Vote Nall Y'all...It's Just Common Sense

Rave Raid '05

REPS FACE 'POT' VETO

The Pawtuckett Times

PROVIDENCE -- Giving proof to Yogi Berra's adage that "it ain't over 'til it's over," the 2005 House of Representatives will meet one last time at the start of the new year to complete the override of Gov. Donald Carcieri's veto of a medical marijuana bill. House Speaker William Murphy will gavel the 2005 session to order one last time at 2 p.m. next Tuesday for the override and formal adjournment of the session, which closes out all business from last year. Then the 2006 session will convene at 4 p.m.

When the House and Senate broke for the summer, each chamber technically "recessed" rather than "adjourning," which would have foreclosed coming back for other business.

The Senate will gather at 4 p.m. next Tuesday and its first order of business will be adjouring the 2005 session.

"The Speaker told me we will come in for the override" of the marijuana legislation, Providence Rep. Thomas Slater said Thursday, adding that House members are being informed by mail of the early override session.

Murphy spokesman Larry Berman would not confirm or deny Slater's statements.

There are other gubernatorial vetoes outstanding -- the two most prominent being a bill to increase the state minimum wage and another to allow child care providers to unionize to bargain collectively without becoming state employees -- but The Times has learned that the medical marijuana veto will be the only one taken up.

Because the Senate already voted to override the veto of the medical marijuana bill before the summer recess, if the House musters the support of three-fifths of the members present and voting -- 45 if all 75 members show up -- the bill automatically becomes law. The final version of the bill passed the House in June on a 52-10 vote.

"I am 90 percent sure we have the votes to override," Slater said, "you're never 100 percent positive."

The measure eliminates penalties, fines and forfeiture connected with marijuana posession of up to 2.5 ounces for a patient (recommended by a doctor and registered with the Department of Health) with a "debilitating medical condition" and two principal caregivers. The law makes no provision for a legal way to obtain the drug.

Slater said several of the patients who testified on behalf of the bill during committee hearings earlier this year will be invited to watch the override and will hold a press conference afterward.

The bill calls for the Department of Health to promulgate rules and regulations within 90 days of the effective date of the legislation. The law is set to expire June 30, 2007, unless it is renewed by the General Assembly before that time.

"Governor Carcieri continues to share the Rhode Island law enforcement community's concern about this legislation," said Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal. "He continues to oppose the bill for all the reasons mentioned in his veto message."

In that message, Carcieri said, "The amount of marijuana this bill authorizes is staggering. This bill will make marijuana more available to children in Rhode Island."

Friday, December 30, 2005

Letter from an Alabama Prisoner

Every so often I get a letter from one of our brothers or sisters currently residing in a dangerously and ILLEGALLY overcrowded Alabama prison on drug charges. They often tell me the story of their demise and beg me to help them.

In January of 2005, while I was attending a conference in Washington D.C., I received a call from a gentleman here in Alabama asking if it would be ok for a female prisoner to write me about her case.
He said she knew of my drug policy work from listening to me and Roberta Franklin on 'The Morning Show',which is popular at all of the prisons within our broadcast area.

I told him of course it would be alright for her to contact me about her case and to please tell her to ask her fellow prisoners with drug cases to do the same.
I looked for a letter in the mail but it never came. As the year progressed and I got busy with other projects this case soon slipped my mind.

Then yesterday, I received the letter from a prisoner Julia Tutwiler Women's Prison. It is the only female prison in Alabama.

What I read made me sick.
99 years for maybe thinking about committing a drug crime?
99 years?


Our founding fathers are rolling over in their graves.
Who would have ever thought America would do this to her own people?

Our ancestors have fought and died all across the globe in order to secure our precious freedoms. They did not die so that we would have to piss in cups on demand, allow dogs to sniff our most private parts on demand, sans-resistance, or so that we could imprison our own citizens for a goddamn "thought-crime" which today translates to any opinion contrary to that of the oppressive federal government.

If you are a supporter of this drug war which destroys so many lives, then you are a traitor to our country. A shame and a disgrace to the memory of those who have fought and died so that this great country might be free. You are the ones who really, truly belong behind bars.

If you do not support the drug war, but do nothing to stop it and it's devastating erosion of our constitutional rights and civil liberties, then you are no better than those who openly support and carry out this ILLEGAL WAR on the American people.

If you are doing your part to end this madness then I salute you, My Fellow American. You are a True Patriot to the United States of America.

Naked Deities

Jesus, Satan Arrested in Seperate Incidents
Both Nude


Pa. Teacher Found Nude Faces Charges
By Associated Press
December 29, 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A high school teacher faces charges of assaulting a police officer and possession of illegal drugs after being arrested earlier this month while standing naked in the snow, police said.

Curtis Lofton, 23, was arrested Dec. 10 after police found him nude outside his home. When asked where he lived and why he was naked, Lofton said that he was Jesus Christ and that the officer must be God, according to court papers.


Police: Man Claims To Be Satan, Threatens Officer
WESH.com, FL
December 27, 2005

A Lake County man is in jail after he claimed to be Satan and allegedly threatened to kill a sheriff's deputy.

Roy Lee Henson was found wandering the street screaming with his boxers around his ankles, WESH 2 News reported.

Deputies said Henson kicked one officer as they tried to make the arrest.

Reckon y'all could chill the hell out? You are NOT making my job any easier. (added by Loretta)

America's failed war on drugs

Santa Maria Times, CA
Op-Ed
James Murr

excerpt:
The failed war on drugs is out of control. There exists a complete disconnect between the realities of drug traffickers, and those who enforce the drug laws. We associate drug running with gangs and cartels. However, gangs have major competition from the U.S. government. Basically, the CIA traffics drugs while the DEA and local law enforcement arrest all non-government smugglers.

Fighting crime on Central American seas

San Francisco Chronicle, USA
Ginger Thompson, New York Times
Friday, December 30, 2005

It has not always been easy, said Coast Guard Capt. Stephen Leslie, to bring together nations with histories of border disputes. The Nicaraguans were leery of entering Honduran waters, Leslie said, and Guatemala initially refused to allow entry to Coast Guard boats from Belize.

After months of U.S. pressure, Leslie said, not to mention promises of money for parts and equipment, the countries agreed and held the first joint naval exercises in February and the second in December.

Human rights groups, like the Washington Office on Latin America, have criticized the plan to give Central American militaries -- which were responsible for egregious human rights abuses during the region's civil conflicts -- increased law enforcement responsibilities. But leaders of the region's navies dismissed those concerns and said joint military exercises had already begun to pay off.

Three Books To Wake You Up

Excerpt from Lew Rockwell


Just as 9/11 was a crystallizing event for Bush’s seizure of executive power to suspend civil liberties, detain people indefinitely without evidence, and spy on American citizens without warrants, the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933 was followed the next morning by Hitler’s Decree for the Protection of People and State. This decree became the constitutional charter of the Third Reich. It "suspended guarantees of personal liberty and served as the basis for the police arrest and incarceration of political opponents without trial."

In a frightening parallel to our own situation, Wachsmann writes: "Various police activities during the ‘seizure of power’ clearly damaged legal authority. Indefinite detention without due judicial process was incompatible with the rule of law. But, on the whole, there were no loud complaints or protests from legal officials." I read this passage the same day I heard on National Public Radio University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner defend President Bush’s use of extra-legal, extra-Constitutional authority to protect the people and state from terrorists.

The precedent for Alberto Gonzales’ declaration that Bush is the law was Reich Minister of Justice Franz Gurtner, who agreed in a cabinet meeting on 3 July 1934 that "Hitler was the law." Bush’s claim that extraordinary powers are necessary for him to be able to defend our country under extraordinary circumstances is identical to Hitler’s claim that he was entitled to ignore the rule of law because he was "responsible for the fate of the German nation and thereby the supreme judge of the German people." What is the difference between Hitler’s claim and the US Department of Defense’s claim that President Bush has the right to violate domestic and international laws?

Wachsmann’s book shows that it is extremely easy for extraordinary measures in the name of national emergency to become permanent. Germans did not understand that the Decree for the Protection of People and State was the beginning of legal terror.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

5 years in prison for man who confessed in blog

Nin-Hai Tseng
Orlando Sentinel, FL

December 28, 2005

TAVARES -- A 19-year-old man who confessed on his Weblog to causing a crash that fatally injured his friend was sentenced today to five years in prison.

Blake Ranking pleaded guilty Dec. 19 to DUI manslaughter. Ranking was accused of grabbing the steering wheel from the back seat and sending the car into a concrete culvert on Oct. 4, 2004. Jason Coker, 17, was killed in the accident. Another passenger, Nicole Robinette, then 17, was seriously injured.

As part of the plea, Circuit Judge Mark Hill also imposed a sentence of 10 years' probation and a permanent license suspension.

"I think it's sad for both families," Hill said, referring to the Coker and Ranking families, after the sentencing. "The five-year sentence is bad enough, but to know he lost a best friend is something he'll have to live with the rest of his life."

Flour in condoms sent her to prison

A college student spent 3 weeks in jail after a field test said she was carrying drugs. She filed a lawsuit.

By John Shiffman
Inquirer Staff Writer
philly.com, PA
12/29/05

She was a freshman on an academic scholarship at Bryn Mawr College, preparing to fly home to California for Christmas, sleep-deprived, with questions from a calculus exam still racing through her head.

In the space of a few hours on Dec. 21, 2003, Janet Lee landed in a Philadelphia jail cell, where she would remain for three weeks, held on $500,000 bail and facing 20 years in prison on drug charges.

All over flour found in her luggage.

Burglary victim also arrested after pot found

Baltimore Messenger, MD - Dec 27, 2005

Police arrested two adults and a juvenile in connection with a residential burglary at 925 W. 33rd Street, but the arrests didn't stop there. The victim also was arrested after police recovered one of the allegedly stolen items - a marijuana stash.

Police arrived at the home just before 9 a.m. after a neighbor called to report the burglary. After a short foot chase, police caught and arrested Brian Cox of the 2600 block of Hampden Ave., Michael Elliott of the 3300 block of Paine Street and a juvenile.

Police recovered two Game Boy video game systems, a ladder, a computer and four bags of marijuana.

The suspects told police that they had taken the marijuana from the home. Police obtained a search warrant and found more marijuana in the home.

Patrick Callahun, the burglary victim, was then arrested, police said.

Suspect loses pot in grocery

By LYDIA GRIMES - Features writer
Brewton Standard
Brewton, Alabama
12/28/05

East Brewton police are searching for a suspect who dropped a bag of marijuana on the floor near the checkout line at Magnolia Super Foods over the holiday weekend.

According to manager Michael Scott, a customer who was standing at the checkout counter reached down and picked up a bag and asked the cashier, “When did you start selling this?”

In the customer's hand was a Zip-loc bag that contained what appeared to be marijuana.

Scott contacted local authorities to report the unusual find. East Brewton Police Chief B.C. Copper responded to the report on Saturday, Dec. 24. It appeared someone had accidentally dropped the bag at the checkout stand.

“I was very surprised,” Scott said. “In fact I was astonished that someone would do something like that. I have never seen anything like it.”

Scott said that Magnolia Super Foods is fortunate that it has had a good surveillance system that was installed within the last few months. The tape from the system was turned over to the East Brewton Police and is currently under review.

According to Scott, the tape is quite clear and said it shouldn't be too difficult to identify the person who dropped the bag of marijuana.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Pro-pot group aims at state law in '06

By Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News
December 28, 2005

The same pro-pot group that persuaded Denver voters to approve a measure legalizing adult marijuana possession in the city is now firing up a statewide campaign to place an identical initiative on Colorado's fall 2006 ballot.

The group, Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, plans to hold a news conference this morning outside the State Capitol announcing the launch of the effort. The statewide "Colorado Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative," seeks voter approval to make it legal for people 21 or older to possess 1 ounce or less of weed.

Even if the measure passes, it would remain illegal for people to publicly display or smoke pot, sell it or drive under its influence.

The group will need nearly 68,000 voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, but SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert said he plans to gather about 100,000 signatures.

Parole hearings plagued by delays

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Carla Crowder
Birmingham News

Some of the parole-eligible habitual offenders have been in prison more than 20 years and continue to face delays in getting parole hearings.

Among them is Samuel Lee Thompson. With four burglaries and a car break-in in his past, he robbed an Ensley chicken restaurant of $103 in 1983 and was sent to prison for the rest of his life.

A judge in April reduced Thompson's sentence to life. Normally, prisoners with life sentences are eligible for parole-consideration hearings after serving 10 years, less than half of what he's already done.

Thompson's hearing was set for this month. But it will be delayed because of Alabama's victim notification law, which requires the parole board to locate and notify everyone named on the indictment, a task that has put the board about a year behind on cases with victims.

"Hopefully it won't be a year," said Cynthia Dillard, assistant executive director of the parole board. But the older a case, "the longer it takes for them to get a hearing."

Douglas Gray, 51, a Vietnam veteran whose last strike was the purchase of $900 worth of marijuana in 1989, has been eligible for parole since August, when he was resentenced. While he's awaiting a hearing, he's coping with a broken hip. "I've been in a wheelchair for over a year now," he said in a letter from the St. Clair honor dorm.

As is often the case with older convictions, Gray's file is archived in the district attorney's office that prosecuted him, Dillard said. The parole board requested the file from Morgan County Nov. 8, and expects it any day now, she said.

Carla Crowder --

The state's repeat offender law was changed in 2000 to clear out nonviolent prisoners. So far, few are affected.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005
CARLA CROWDER
News staff writer Birmingham News

Their rap sheets were similar. Their prison sentences identical, life without parole. From there, Rex Norris and Willmer Miller faced dramatically different treatment from the criminal justice system.

Norris, 53, convicted as a habitual offender in a 1993 drug trafficking case, is home now. The Legislature and the courts had decided Alabama's repeat offender law was unnecessarily harsh, and a Jefferson County judge this year slashed Norris' original sentence.

Miller, 61, asked for a similar reduction after 15 years behind bars for drug trafficking. A different Jefferson County judge said no, and Miller died in prison while appealing.

READ MORE

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Iran glued to TV comedy that tackles tough issues

reuters

This comic soap opera may be set about 70 years ago in the little village of Barareh, but Iranian viewers see its corrupt councilors, rigged elections and vocal women's rights group as a microcosm of Iran today.


Wait a minute, these people laugh at human nature just like we do? Too bad we have to nuke the bastards into fiery oblivion.

VIDEO

andygriffith.mpg - Militarization of Mayberry
Bill2.rm - Iraq War
blind.rm - Drug War Fueled Militarization of Public Education
bushantichrist3.rm - Self-Explanatory
chopperday.mov
freedom.mpg - Work-safe except for John Kerry's daughter
grim.wmv - Totalitarianism
lucy3.mpg - Pot TV Logo with sound effects
ptvtechno2.rm - Pot TV Logo with techno
starfire9.mpg - Uncontrollable Urge with morphing mandelas

Coin container leads to arrest of Canton man

Canton Daily Ledger, IL
Monday, December 26, 2005 10:34 AM CST

At approximately 11:08 a.m. Friday, Dec. 23, the Canton Police Department investigated a suspicious substance complaint at CEFCU, 18 E. Elm St., Canton.

The investigation determined that Lawrence C. Burhans, 22, of Canton, had entered the bank with a container of change to be counted. While the change was being county, bank employees located a clear plastic bag in the container. Inside the bag was a green leafy substance, which was determined by police to be cannabis.

Burhans was later located at his residence and arrested for unlawful possession of cannabis. He was transported to the Canton Police Department for processing and then released after posting bond.

Russian Supreme Court Cancels Fine for Man Selling Clothes Promoting Marijuana

MosNews
Russia

The Supreme Court of Russia has reversed a verdict on a businessman who sold T-shirts and other items with a marijuana emblem in his clothes shop. In July the man was found guilty of propagating drugs and fined 4,000 rubles ($130).

This spring the Drugs Control Service confiscated T-shirts with marijuana emblems and slogans saying ’You smoke what you sow’ from a clothes shop in the Vologda region of Russia. The confiscated goods included bags with Adidas-stylized cannabis leaves and other items with marijuana-related symbols, Interfax reported.

The businessman who owns the shop said he bought the disputed items at a clothes market in Moscow after his customers repeatedly asked him to do so, and did not know this made him subject to the law on propagating narcotic substances.

A local court found the businessman guilty and as well as confiscating the T-shirts imposed a fine of 4,000 rubles. But the Supreme Court that oversaw the case ruled that the shop owner’s actions lacked criminal intent.

Steroid probe alleges thousands of customers

By Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The customer called herself Julie, and all she said she wanted was to be rid of her wrinkles. On the phone, she could have been any other South Floridian trying to beat the effects of the sun and aging.

She found a sympathetic ear when she dialed PowerMedica, a Deerfield Beach pharmacy. When a sales representative heard her story, he told her to get a blood test and stop by.

The woman found plenty of what she was looking for: human growth hormones and anabolic steroids, both controlled substances whose sales are illegal without a prescription. By then, investigators say, PowerMedica had hooked up thousands of customers with prescriptions without requiring them to see a doctor.

Julie was different from the rest. This customer was an undercover federal agent.

It wasn't long before the federal Food and Drug Administration shut down the business. During a February raid, FDA agents seized PowerMedica's customer files. Authorities now allege that many South Florida police officers, including 13 at the West Palm Beach Police Department, were among the steroid-buying clients.

The ongoing federal probe has prompted at least five South Florida law enforcement agencies to investigate their own officers. No one has been charged criminally.

FDA officials wondered whether they should notify the police agencies of their officers' purchases. They hesitated at first, because doing so would reveal information from an open criminal investigation.

There was cause for concern, though. Illegal use of steroids, which can raise a user's testosterone levels dramatically, has been blamed for abuse by overly aggressive law enforcement officers.

They decided, as a matter of public safety, to notify local departments. The list included the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Broward Sheriff's Office, Delray Beach Police Department and Miami-Dade Police Department.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Government

Wikipedia

"One approach is to define government as the decision-making arm of the state, and define the latter on the basis of the control it has over violence and the use of force within its territory. Specifically, the state (and by extension the government) has been considered by some to be the entity that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a territory."


I think this definition of government provides a context that is useful in understanding the Federal response to Katrina. The government lost immediate physical control over a part of it's real estate and so it took it back in a military operation.
The government's priority was to reestablish it's monopoly on the legitimate use of force within the territory.

Dozens March Downtown In Protest Of Police Actions

Group Wants Officers To Be Held Accountable For Their Actions

Click 2 Houston.com, TX - Dec 23, 2005

HOUSTON -- Dozens of people marched through downtown Houston on Thursday protesting what they call a problem with police brutality.

The Millions More Movement sponsored the march, which started at the Harris County Sheriff's Office and ended on the steps of the Harris County courthouse.

The group said officers in Harris County have killed nearly 200 people over the past five years and that they want officers to be held accountable for their actions

Officials with the Harris County Sheriff' Office said some of the cases the group is concerned about are currently working their way through the justice system.

Prisoner monitor gets a test

Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 25, 2005 12:00 AM

A prisoner-monitoring system developed in Scottsdale will now be used in a pilot project in a 700-bed prison in Melaka, Malaysia, and in a 375-bed prison scheduled to open in 2006 in Canberra, Australia. The projects, announced earlier this month, will showcase TSI Prism, a system made by Alanco Technologies Inc.

It consists of a radio transmitter that looks like a large, industrial wristwatch, that is used to track inmate movement and archive it in a database that can be retrieved days, weeks, even months later.

Data: Use of force up in state prisons

BY CHARLIE FRAGO
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR

Killings by police no longer raise eyebrows in Rio

By Henry Chu
Los Angeles Times

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The five bodies in the bar were riddled with bullets fired at almost point-blank range. Four of the dead were boys no older than 16. The admitted gunmen: police officers carrying out a raid in a squalid shantytown.

But in this seaside city that has become hostage to gruesome acts of violence, the killings this month barely caused a stir, in stark contrast to a bus burning by suspected drug traffickers the same week, which also killed five people. That incident was front-page news.

The lack of outrage illustrates the growing public indifference toward alleged police brutality in a society that is increasingly accustomed to such harsh measures and even, at times, supportive of them in the fight against spiraling crime.

Brazil, the biggest country in Latin America, has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. At the same time, the number of killings by police has climbed steeply, even though, activists say, the authorities' frequent use of lethal force has failed to put a dent in crime.

In Rio de Janeiro state alone, police killed nearly 1,200 people in 2003, according to figures compiled by the local nonprofit group Global Justice — an astonishing average of more than three people a day.

The overwhelming majority of victims are young black or mixed-race males who live in the city's favelas, the teeming slums that blanket Rio's hillsides.

The favelas have become personal fiefdoms of drug kingpins. Fearful residents find themselves caught between the iron rule of their local drug lords and the repressive tactics of police who regularly invade their neighborhoods in military-style operations.

Dutch Consider Not allowing Foreigners To Smoke Pot on Mississippi Boat

Independent, UK

Aboard the Mississippi Boat, moored off the banks of the Maas river, the management has suddenly come over publicity-shy. "No interviews in here," says a burly, long-haired man propping up the bar, "we don't have anything to do with journalists."

One of Holland's most popular, cannabis-selling coffee shops, the Mississippi Boat serves several hundred thousand people each year making its stream of customers the envy of many a Dutch retailer.


What would Mark Twain think about all this?

Consumer reviews of the mississippi boat: here

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Poop on Walters

Big fun with net disaster.
Click to poop

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas

wikipedia

GAO: Data too fuzzy to measure drug war

Although the drug czar says usage and supply are shriveling, a report says his stats are sketchy.

By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
Published December 24, 2005

MIAMI - It has never been easy measuring success in the drug war. It's an illegal trade after all, and no one on Wall Street is tracking its performance.

But now comes a disturbing new congressional report that raises doubts about recent upbeat claims by the White House.

The 52-page report released this month by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, questions the reliability of key U.S. government drug trafficking data. Official stats are so sketchy and unreliable as to be almost worthless, the report says.

"Data to assess whether operations ... contribute to ... disrupting the illicit drug market or the overall goal of reducing the rate of drug usage in the United States are problematic," the report found.

Little effort is being made to evaluate performance of the 50 to 60 agencies involved, in violation of a federal law that requires them to be accountable, the GAO added.

The report also warns that the diversion of military assets to Iraq and Afghanistan is likely to hamper the ability of U.S. law enforcement to intercept drug shipments in the future.

"The drug war has fallen flat on its face," said John Carnevale, a former Budget and Planning director in the White House drug czar's office. "They are spending huge amounts of money, and they can't tell you if their program is working."

The report has several potential implications for continued political support for current drug war spending, which amounts to $40-billion to $50-billion annually. It also comes at a time of rising political uncertainty in South America after the election last week of a coca growers union leader, Evo Morales, as president of Bolivia. Another anti-U.S. peasant leader is a leading contender in elections in Peru in April.

U.S. officials have touted a five-year, $6-billion counterdrug effort in the Andean drug-producing countries - principally Colombia, Peru and Bolivia - as responsible for recent official estimates of a large drop in cocaine and heroin production.

"There were those who did not believe it was possible to change the availability of cocaine in the United States," U.S. "drug czar" John Walters said last month during a visit to Colombia. "There's no question that's happened."

Walters cited a 19 percent increase in cocaine street prices in the United States between February and September 2005, accompanied by a 15 percent drop in purity. U.S. officials argue that price and purity levels are key indicators of disruption in the supply of drugs, either due to eradication of South American coca crops used to make cocaine, or interdiction of drugs smuggled into the country.

Some drug trade experts question such assumptions, saying fluctuations in price and purity could be due to increased demand by U.S. drug consumers.

Critics of U.S. drug policy point to the GAO report as evidence that positive pronouncements by the drug czar's office cannot be trusted. "What this report shows is that we need to take the government's claims with a grain of salt, and a whole shaker in places," said John Walsh, a drug expert at the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA, a private policy watchdog.

Walsh and others accuse the drug czar's office of putting an overly favorable spin on the fuzzy data, as well as ignoring less positive news.

The drug czar's office sat on a November 2004 report it commissioned by the Rand Corp., a California-based nonprofit research organization, which found that drugs were more available than ever and that prices had in fact fallen.

The drug czar's office turned around and commissioned a second report from the Virginia-based Institute for Defense Analyses, which found prices were rising.

"They (the drug czar's office) lack credibility unless they can explain such a wide difference," said Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland drug expert who directed Rand's research.

He noted that the Rand report was well documented and peer reviewed. Reuter said he was also "generally skeptical" of data in the IDA report. Accurate data takes months to compile, he said.

Other critics point to the IDA's lackluster record in drug research, noting that it was dropped by the drug czar's office in the 1990s after alleged flaws in its methodology.

Carnevale, who worked in the White House under three administrations and continues to support the war on drugs, accused Walters of trying to "simplify" data to meet preconceived beliefs. "He thinks the cocaine market is on the brink of collapse," he said. "We are spending all this money so the price (of cocaine) must go up."

Officials in the White House drug czar's office did not return phone calls this week. But they have disputed the GAO's findings in published comments.

"We have more data and more analysts working on this out of our office than anyone," David Murray, a special assistant to Walters, told the Washington Times. "We feel we have some of the best information in the world on the issue. We are trying to make sense of a business whose very core element is hiding from plain view."

That kind of defense is wearing thin, critics say.

Cocaine seizures have risen more than 60 percent since 2000, from 117 tons to 196 tons, the GAO found. But beyond that reliable data is scarce.

For example, the GAO found a White House calculation of the amount of cocaine entering the United States in 2004 - 325 metric tons to 675 metric tons - to be too broad to be "useful."

Other figures put the estimates far higher, noting that official data relies on incomplete satellite imagery of South America. Satellite surveillance cannot accurately detect newly planted coca crops and also has difficulty mapping small plots under two-thirds of an acre in size. Experts say coca farmers have increasingly switched to smaller plots to avoid detection, as well as sowing new varieties of shade-grown coca that are harder to see from the air.

"We basically have no idea how much (coca) is being grown," said Adam Isacson, a South America drug expert at the Washington-based Center for International Policy.

The White House also says drug use among youths is dropping. While this may be true, the GAO noted that the number of U.S. cocaine users remained constant at about 2-million. "Other sources estimate the number of chronic and occasional cocaine users may be as high as 6-million," the report stated. Critics say the White House has deliberately downplayed data on adult drug use.

The GAO report also criticized the office of the drug czar, officially known as the Office of National Drug Control Policy, for ignoring previous recommendations for improving drug data.

The GAO highlighted a 2001 report by the National Research Council, a private body of National Academy experts who advise the federal government, which was critical of drug data collection. While the drug czar's office spends $780-million each year to monitor illegal drug use and conduct research on drug policy, the GAO said less than 15 percent of this amount goes to research on law enforcement.

"Funding for research on enforcement policy is minimal, particularly when compared with the amount spent on carrying out enforcement policy," the NRC report stated. "The central problem, in a nutshell, is that the nation lacks the data needed to inform policy."

NRC repeatedly found that key data was "missing" or "inadequate."

Its conclusion has since become a motto for those seeking to reform drug policy. "It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether and to what extent it is having the desired effect," the NRC said.

It's still too early to tell what impact the GAO report will have in Congress. The drug war has long enjoyed strong bipartisan support, though criticism of the drug czar has been mounting.

But drug policy critics do not have high expectations. "Too few people have the stomach to look at the seamy underside of whether it's working," Walsh said.

Happy Holidays From The Nall Family



Warmest Wishes for all of our friends, family and supporters across the U.S. and around the world this holiday season. May 2006 bring us all closer to freedom.

Loretta Nall
Vote Nall Y'all...It's Just Common Sense

Sheriff sends coffee to protesting couple

The Montgomery Advertiser

Protesters walking in front of the Autauga County Courthouse got a coffee break Thursday from the man they have a beef with.

Sheriff Herbie Johnson sent coffee and cookies to Greg and Brenda Davis, who have been picketing since Monday afternoon.

"They have a right to protest. I don't agree with them but they have that right," Johnson said. "It's cold out there and I got worried about them. Christmas is coming up and I just thought I should send them something to eat and drink."

Two deputies delivered the goodies.

Greg Davis, 39, and Brenda Tucker Davis, 43, both of 1713 County Road 40, each face a marijuana possession charge, courthouse records show. They stood at the corner of Court and Fourth streets displaying three signs. Deputies arrested them Dec. 9 after finding marijuana and guns in their home.

They admit to pot being in the home, and they admit to being convicted felons. Felons can't possess firearms.
-----------------------------------------

Whether this is a PR stunt for the Autagua County Sheriff's Department or not I must say hat's off to Sheriff Herbie Johnson for his actions. It was a hella'va nice thing to do and that isn't the treatment we normally receive atthe hands of those paid to serve and protect us.

After 5 years, freedom for Christmas

By ANNE MARIE KILDAY and PEGGY O'HARE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Brandy Del Briggs, 24, whose conviction for the death of her infant son was overturned last week, clung tightly to her mother Friday evening as she became a free woman for the first time in five years.

"I just want to go home to my family, and for this to finally be over with," said Briggs, who was greeted by her mother, grandmother and a friend outside the Harris County Jail.

Briggs pleaded guilty to a charge of injury to a child, after her first child died in May 1999. The baby had a birth defect in his urinary system. After finding the infant limp and blue in his crib, Briggs called 911 and the baby was taken to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital.

At the hospital, a breathing tube was mistakenly inserted into his stomach rather than his lungs. The baby's brain was deprived of oxygen for about 40 minutes, said Portz, Briggs' appeals attorney.

The death initially was ruled a homicide, and Briggs was charged with murder. Briggs said she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge because her lawyer at the time, Richard Anderson, told her she would get probation. Anderson has denied saying that.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office later changed its initial ruling of homicide to "undetermined" after concluding that Briggs' baby showed no signs of abuse.

House should override medical marijuana veto

Woonsocket Call, RI
Letter to the Editor

As the executive director of AIDS Project Rhode Island, the state’s oldest provider of HIV care, prevention and advocacy, and on behalf of the thousands of Rhode Islanders living with HIV/AIDS on whose behalf we advocate, I urge the Rhode Island House of Representatives to take up the Rhode Island Medical Marijuana bill as their first order of business on Jan. 3 and to join the state Senate in overriding the governor’s misguided veto of this sensible, humane bill.

Legalizing the use of medical marijuana is a compassionate means of alleviating pain and discomfort for Rhode Islanders who suffer from chronic illnesses such as HIV. For many, such relief is almost impossible to get from pharmaceuticals that are currently on the market.

Over the past few years, we have worked with other providers and advocates to bring the medical marijuana bill to where it is today. Through the committee process, we have added the safeguards needed to ensure that medical marijuana brings much needed relief to those who need it without causing harm to others. Rhode Island’s medical marijuana bill is a strong piece of legislation, worthy of becoming law.

Unfortunately, we only have a very small window of opportunity in order to bring medical marijuana to Rhode Island. If the House adjourns the 2005 session on Jan.3 without taking up the veto, we will be forced to begin the entire process again, further delaying much needed relief for people with illnesses such as end-stage AIDS.

I appreciate the support that the leadership of the House has always provided to issues important to people living with HIV and I look forward to their support again this time.

Christopher A. Butler
Executive director
AIDS Project Rhode Island
Providence

Rehab boss urges decriminalisation of all illegal drugs

IrishExaminer.com, Ireland

By Mary Regan
THE head of the country’s biggest drug centre is calling for the decriminalisation of the use of all drugs - including heroin.

The director of the Merchant’s Quay Project, Tony Geoghegan, said that labelling addicts as criminals reduces their chances of rehabilitation and introduces them to crime circles.

He said he did not want to see drugs legalised, but believed their misuse should no longer be dealt with under the criminal justice system. He said it should be treated as a health and social problem instead.

Mr Geoghegan believes laws governing the use of all drugs here should be based on the British model of the decriminalisation of cannabis, which makes possession of the drug legal, but not production or supply.

Mr Geoghegan, who helps hundreds of heroin users in the capital, said: “I think resources used for prosecuting cannabis users could be more effectively targeted.”

Mr Geoghegan believes imprisoning drug users leads to a vicious circle.

“Sending people to prison for12 months does not address the problem of why they were using drugs in the first place,” he said.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Skid Row Drug Sting Nets 14

By Richard Winton
Los Angeles Times, CA

Undercover detectives arrest suspected buyers, including actor Brad Renfro. It's part of a broader effort to clean up the downtown area.

Family Receives Marijuana in the Mail

KAKE, KS

December 22 - A Wichita family gets a big surprise in the mail, but not anything they'd want to put under the tree. It was a package filled with 30 pounds of marijuana.

The two bricks of marijuana were delivered by Federal Express on Thursday. The pot has a street value of about $12,000. The package had a return address from California.

Fed Ex officials say they're shocked and are trying to get to the bottom of it. Spokesman Jim McCluskey says the company has one of the most secure networks in shipping and is often cited for awards from local and federal law enforcement agencies.

McCluskey says the company doesn't know how this package made it through. They're taking steps to prevent it from happening again. The Wichita Police did not have a comment on the case.

Wrong house hit in cops' drug raid

Thursday, December 22, 2005

By DOUGLASS CROUSE
NorthJersey.com, NJ

PATERSON - A resident says detectives mistakenly burst into her Hamilton Avenue home on Wednesday, then made her and her family stand in a cold draft while they arrested their intended target next door.

Michelle Clancy said the officers broke her doorknob and shouted rudely as they entered her home at 5:50 a.m. Most ran next door after realizing their error. But others remained and forced Clancy and four family members, including her 65-year-old father and 13-year-old daughter, to wait 20 minutes in front of an open outer door, she said.

"Even when you are in your own home you can be held hostage like that?" Clancy asked. She said a supervisor apologized and said he would note the damages in his report.

A police spokesman confirmed the mix-up but said the time Clancy and her family were asked to wait was closer to 10 minutes. During that time, narcotics detectives raided a rooming house next door, arresting an alleged drug dealer and recovering crack cocaine and a handgun, Lt. Anthony Traina said.

In the darkness, he said, the officers confused Clancy's home with the one next door. He said the department would cover any related repair costs.

"These things do happen," Traina said. "There's naturally a human element involved in these operations."

Student Drug Survey Highlights Drug War's Failings

NORML
December 22, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: Nearly half of all high school seniors report having tried marijuana, and 86 percent say that cannabis is "very easy" or "fairly easy to get," according to annual government survey data released this week by the University of Michigan. Both figures are nearly identical to the percentages reported by the government when it first began collecting data in 1975.

"The federal 'spin' on this data is that teen marijuana use is falling due to the enactment of government prohibitionist policies; however, the reality is that - according to the government's own data - teen use and access to cannabis is virtually no different now than it was 30 years ago," said NORML Senior Policy Analyst Paul Armentano.

According to the University of Michigan's annual "Monitoring the Future" data, 47 percent of high school seniors reported having used marijuana and/or hashish in 1975. Today this figure stands at 45 percent. Likewise, 89 percent of seniors reported having access to pot in 1975 versus 86 percent today.

"In 1975, the federal government spent less than a billion dollars annually on 'drug war' related activities; today it spends over $20 billion, including several hundred million per year on advertising alone," Armentano said. "Yet neither this massive increase in federal spending nor the enforcement of criminal prohibition has done a thing to curb adolescents' use of cannabis or their access to the drug. Rather than stay the course, government officials ought to take a page from their more successful public health campaigns to discourage drunk driving and adolescent tobacco smoking - both of which have been significantly reduced in recent years.

"Our nation has not achieved these results by banning the use of alcohol and tobacco, or by targeting and arresting adults who use these products responsibly, but through honest, health and science-based education campaigns. Until the federal government applies these same common-sense principles to the responsible use of cannabis, America will be looking at another 30 years of failing pot policies."

Senate Amends Ban On Student Aid For Marijuana Offenders

December 22, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA
NORML

Washington, DC: The US Senate voted 51 to 50 yesterday in favor of legislation that would lift the ban on federal aid to students who have a prior, non-violent drug conviction. The Congressional ban, known as the "drug offender exclusionary provision" of the Higher Education Act, has denied federal financial aid to some 175,000 students since its enactment in 1998.

Under the Senate provision, which was included in Senate Bill 1932 (the budget reconciliation bill), students with past drug convictions will now be eligible to apply for federal financial aid. However, students who are convicted of a nonviolent drug offense, including minor marijuana possession, while in college will continue to be stripped of their federal aid eligibility.

President Bush is anticipated to approve the amendment, which would take effect in 2006.

"This partial reform by Congress is long overdue and is a step in the right direction," said NORML board member Chris Mulligan, campaign director for the Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR). "Nonviolent, minor marijuana offenders should not be singled out and restricted from receiving college loans over a joint."

Studies have shown that those convicted of crimes are far less likely to be re-arrested after having received two years of postsecondary education, Mulligan noted. By contrast, students forced to leave school after their first year are unlikely to ever complete their education, he said.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

INFANT DISCOVERED IN BARN, CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES LAUNCH PROBE

noquarters.blogspot.com

Tentative Settlement in School Drug Raid

WLTX.com, SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Stratford High School students who were in a hallway when Goose Creek police officers drew their guns during a drug sweep have reached a tentative settlement with the
school district.

The tentative agreement says that the students would receive between $2,000 and $5,000 each to settle lawsuits from the raid.

Surveillance video showed officers with guns drawn ordering more than 100 students to the floor as a barking drug dog sniffed them
for drugs. No drugs were found and no arrests were made.

Also, the state did not file charges against the officers, but the state attorney general called the raid "highly inappropriate."

Sixty-two students and their families filed lawsuits claiming police and school officials violated students' constitutional rights.

Likely new Bolivian leader out to change the drug war

He champions non-narcotic uses of cash crop coca

By JOHN OTIS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle South America Bureau

Guilty When Charged

by Paul Craig Roberts
lewrockwell.com

In America, defendants are no longer innocent until they are proven guilty. They are guilty the minute they are charged, and the system works to process the guilty, not to determine innocence or guilt.

Americans in their ignorance and gullibility think that only the guilty would enter a guilty plea. This is the uninformed opinion of the naïve who have never experienced the terror and psychological torture of the US criminal justice (sic) system.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Counties Want Ruling on Backlogged Inmates

File motion asking for prison commissioner to be held in contempt
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
CARLA CROWDER
News staff writer
The Birmingham News

Alabama counties asked a judge Tuesday to hold Corrections Commissioner Donal Campbell in contempt of court because state prisoners are backing up in county jails in violation of a long-standing court order.

In response, Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy has ordered Campbell to appear in court Dec. 28 to show why he should not be held in contempt.

In their motion, the counties cite the growing numbers of state prisoners housed in county jails across the state, as the Department of Corrections has failed to transfer sentenced inmates to prisons within the 30 days required by previous court orders. As of Dec. 13, there were 823 state prisoners in county jails longer than 30 days, up from 225 in January.

The contempt motion was filed in a long-standing Barbour County case, in which a group of Alabama counties sued the state over the Department of Corrections' failure to transfer sentenced prisoners to state lockups. Several times over the years, sheriffs and county commissions have complained they're being forced to pay for housing thousands of prison-ready inmates, and the courts have been asked to work out solutions between the state and the counties.

In September, representatives of the counties sent a letter to Gov. Bob Riley asking the governor to intervene and reduce the number of prisoners in local jails.

"Communication between the counties and the Governor's Office over reducing this number proved fruitless," attorneys for the counties wrote in Tuesday's motion.

New prisoners:

DOC officials say the problem is not that prisons are not accepting inmates, but that new inmates are pouring into the system from the courts faster than the crowded prisons can find room for them.

State prisons have found room for 1,035 new prisoners in the past month. Yet that has reduced the numbers of state prisoners in county jails longer than 30 days by only four, said DOC spokesman Brian Corbett.

The DOC for several years has asked the Legislature for money for prison construction and been turned down.

A special parole board appointed by Riley helped reduce the prison population from an all-time high of 28,440 in 2003 to 26,500 in late 2004. But paroles slowed, and the Legislature for two sessions has failed to pass sentencing reform proposals that would slow prison admissions.

As a result, the prison population has climbed to 27,500, Corbett said.

Most prisons are at double capacity, and the only space available is in work release or work centers, which are limited to low-security inmates, he said.

E-mail: ccrowder@bhamnews.com

Felons' rights to vote at issue

Wednesday, December 21, 2005
VAL WALTON
News staff writer
The Birmingham News

Three Alabamians, one convicted of felony driving under the influence and two of drug possession, claim in a federal lawsuit they are among hundreds being denied the right to vote.

The suit, filed by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, contends that Alabama Secretary of State Nancy Worley violates Alabama's constitution by requiring all felons to apply to the Board of Pardons and Paroles to have voting rights restored.

The suit says the state constitution is clear that people convicted of certain felonies including DUI and drug possession - unlike murder, rape or robbery - do not lose their voting rights and do not need to apply for an eligibility certificate from the board.

The suit was made available to the public Tuesday. Ekeyesto Doss of Dothan and Birmingham residents Richard Gooden and Andrew Jones are plaintiffs.

Worley said Tuesday that the state has a long practice of removing from voting rolls anyone convicted of a felony, whether drug possession or murder.

The Legal Defense Fund said in a statement that legal action began after Jefferson County's registrar refused in late September to register Gooden, 64, because of his 2002 felony DUI conviction. It became a felony with that third Alabama DUI conviction.

Gooden was allowed to register after a separate lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court in September against Worley and Nell Hunter, the county registrar. That case is pending before Circuit Judge Robert Vance.

Jeff Sewell, a Jefferson County attorney, declined comment. Hunter also is named as a defendant in the federal suit.

Jones, a 47-year-old Birmingham man convicted of felony drug possession in the early 1990s, was informed in a June 30, 2005, letter from the Jefferson County registrar that his voter registration form could not be processed because his felony offense barred him from voting, the suit said. Doss, who has a felony marijuana possession conviction, was informed by the Houston County registrar that he must apply to the board of pardons for an eligibility certificate.

The Legal Defense Fund wrote Worley urging her to follow state law, and asked Attorney General Troy King to identify felonies that involve moral turpitude. The suit cites several sources to define moral turpitude; one is having "an inherent quality of baseness, vileness, depravity."

Worley said the attorney general's office issued an opinion last spring saying there is a distinction between felonies and she has requested a clarification from King.

`A definitive list':

"We don't need anyone making judgment calls," Worley said. "We need a definitive list."
Advertisement
Suzanne Webb, an AG spokeswoman, said the office is conducting research because there are more than 250 felonies and each must be thoroughly examined.

Worley said another issue is whether any change would require elections in prisons for felons who would not have lost their voting rights. "As the state's chief election official, I'm personally opposed to people in prison voting," she said.

Worley said her office will follow instructions once she gets a definitive AG opinion or when the court makes a ruling.

Edward Still, a Birmingham lawyer handling the suit locally, contends that what the secretary of state has been doing violates the Voting Rights Act because it involves a change in election procedure without first getting approval from the Justice Department.

"The state has changed its voting procedures because it is saying to people like Jones and Doss that they can't register to vote unless they receive a certification of eligibility from the pardon and parole board," he said.

Still said hundreds of people across the state have applied to the pardon and parole board, but are told they don't have to get restoration.

"In the spirit of the legacy of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Alabama should be leading the way in expanding, rather than contracting democracy for its citizens," said Ryan Paul Haygood, a Legal Defense Fund lawyer.

E-mail: vwalton@bhamnews.com

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Moores Wife Seeks Donations

The Birmingham News

The wife of Republican candidate for governor Roy Moore is asking supporters for a Christmas campaign gift to help her husband become a "national spokesperson for Christian conservatism."

In the letter, Kayla Moore suggested the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State "will stop at nothing to keep Roy Moore out of the Governor's office in Alabama!"

"In short, they want to continue to promote homosexual marriages, maintain abortion on demand and remove Christ from Christmas," Kayla Moore wrote. "They FEAR nothing more than the emergence of a powerful national spokesperson for Christian conservatism.

"And make no mistake: If elected governor of Alabama, my husband will be that spokesman!" she wrote. "But again, he can't get there alone which is why I am hoping you and thousands of other Christian conservatives will join with my husband in his campaign for governor."


Here is an hour-long video of Roy Moore at the VFW in Wetumpka, AL on dec. 13, 2005.

He spent half the night quibbling about replacing Christmas with Holiday....As if there aren't more important things to worry about in Alabama.

While he and I share some of the same ideas for small government and privatizing education, our similarities end there.

Moore states in this video that he is not fair and cannot be fair when it comes to other peoples faiths and beliefs.


Please Support Loretta Nall for Governor

Monday, December 19, 2005

Drug Dealer Suing Police Dog Involved In Bust

December 19, 2005 11:00 a.m. EST

Ayinde O. Chase - All Headline News Staff Writer

Athens, Ohio - A convicted drug dealer has filed a lawsuit against the search of his business, that turned up more than 50 lbs of marijuana. Now the dealer is suing the dog involved in the bust.Andi, a dog used by the Athens County Sheriff's Department, is listed as one of the defendants in a lawsuit filed by Wayne Francis Green, 46, on Nov. 18.Green, who is representing himself, alleges that a search of his furniture business in 2003 was illegal. During the raid police made a discovery of 50 pounds of marijuana.

Last month in criminal proceedings, Green was found guilty and convicted of possession and trafficking of the cannabis.

Green is seeking $450,000 in damages, and also has filed against police investigators, Athens County Sheriff Vern Castle and even the trial judge.Andi the German shepherd has been informed of the pending litigation so to speak. Court documents show his paw print indicating he had been formally served.

YOU LOT ARE ST NICKED

Mirror.co.uk, UK

NINE police officers dressed up as Victorian carol singers to raid a suspected drugs den.

They wore top hats and cloaks while holding muffs and lanterns as they sang seasonal hymns.

When an unsuspecting occupant opened the door of the house they burst in.

A class A substance, believed to be cocaine worth £400, was seized and a man and woman arrested.

A police spokesman said of the raid in Weymouth, Dorset: "The door opened when we reached the third verse of We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Man Convicted Of Trooper Death Sentenced To Die

HomeTown channel.com, AR

MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- A man convicted of killing an Oklahoma state trooper has been formally sentenced to die.

The sentence was handed down to Kenneth Eugene Barrett in Muskogee County Court on Monday for the killing of Rocky Eales, which happened near Sallisaw in September 1999.

Barrett was convicted of killing Eales during a drug raid on Barrett's home.

The death sentence was decided upon during the federal trial, Barrett's third trial. His first trial ended with a deadlocked jury, and the second ended with a conviction for manslaughter.

Teens Say Marijuana "Easy to Get" Despite Record Arrests

For immediate release
MPP
December 19, 2005
Teens Say Marijuana "Easy to Get" Despite Record Arrests

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the 31st year in a row, approximately 85% of high school seniors have told government survey-takers that marijuana is "easy to get," according to the 2005 Monitoring the Future survey released today. The report comes less than two months after the FBI reported an all-time record number of marijuana arrests in 2004.

In today's survey, 85.6% of high school seniors described marijuana as being either "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get. This "easy to get" figure has remained virtually unchanged since the survey began in 1975, having never dropped lower than 82.7% (in 1992) or higher than 90.4% (in 1998).

Over the same 31-year period, the number of U.S. marijuana arrests has varied dramatically, dropping to a low of 282,800 in 1991 and then beginning an almost unbroken rise to a record high of 771,605 last year.

"The near-tripling of marijuana arrests since 1991 has produced exactly zero reduction in the availability of marijuana to kids," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "Prohibition of marijuana for adults not only doesn't keep marijuana away from children, it actually guarantees that marijuana stays accessible to young people by giving unregulated criminals an exclusive franchise on marijuana sales."

"In contrast, look at the success we've had with tobacco, another product we don't want children to use," Kampia continued. "Today's survey shows teen smoking at its lowest level ever. Reports from around the country show that tobacco products are becoming less accessible to kids, and merchants can be fined or even lose their license if they sell tobacco to minors. Walk into nearly any store that sells cigarettes, and you'll see a large sign saying, 'Under 18, No Tobacco: We Card.' Have you ever seen a drug dealer with a sign like that? To keep marijuana away from kids, the first step is to take control -- and prohibition guarantees that we have no control."

Charleston legislators wants illegal immigrants sent to prison

WIS, SC

(Charleston-AP) December 18, 2005 - Illegal immigrants would spend five years in prison and lose their cash and cars under legislation a Charleston lawmaker is pushing.

State Representative John Graham Altman of Charleston says the message is South Carolina is not going to be a haven for illegal aliens.

Altman's legislation is the latest from legislators around the nation who want tougher laws to curb illegal immigration.

Legislators in 21 states this year introduced more than 80 bills targeting illegal immigrants and their access to public services, including education and health care; let local police make immigration arrests or force government service agencies to report illegal immigrants.

In South Carolina alone, legislator's proposals have included barring illegal immigrants from receiving workers' compensation benefits and requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote or seeking help from public assistance programs.

Charleston Southern University economist Al Parish says illegal immigrants now are the backbone of the construction industry and landscaping business in the state. Without them, he said, costs would go up significantly.

Alabama Prison Guards Mistreat elderly Woman

The following is from my friend Sherry Swiney, whose husband Patrick, is in one of the worst, most dangerous prisons in Alabama. Donaldson.

Patrick's mother went through a very similar experience that I went through when I was refused visitation with my brother for not wearing panties.

These bastard guards work for us and get paid with our tax dollars. We must end the abuse of family members who take the time to visit their loved ones in prison. They are not inmates and should never be treated as such.

This is a long read but worth it.


To All Recipients:

The following is my letter to the ADA (Americans with Disability). Hard copies will go in the USPS regular mail. The actions on Saturday by the guards at Donaldson Prison, namely Lt. Mc Swain, toward Patrick's 84 year-old mother who is disabled is an outrage. They caused this disabled woman great physical pain on Saturday and then cancelled the visit with Patrick.

We do not know how Patrick is because the phones have been out at the prison since last Thursday, and because he cannot call, Patrick doesn't know how his mother is after Saturday's incident.

They knew or should have known better! ....see the details attached.

This looks like retaliation to everyone in the Swiney family because of the issue with PHS concerning Patrick Swiney's health problems.

Please read the attached, pass this on to everyone you know and take action now!

The addresses of the warden and commissioner are at the bottom of this email for those who write by snail mail.

Thank you,
Sherry Swiney

copies to:
Attorney Joey Morgan
Attorney Wilson Myers
DOC Brian Corbett
Dr. Glenn Larkin
Dr. Boris deKorczak
Attorney Bryan Stevenson

=========================

Sunday, December 18, 2005
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Civil Rights Division
Disability Rights Section - NYAV
Washington, D.C. 20530
Section Fax Number (202) 307-1198
Attn: Chief John L. Wodatch, (202) 307-0663

Subject: The Lady in Red

Dear Chief Wodatch:

I am herewith reporting a violation of ADA protections. Violations were against Mrs. Odelle Swiney, an 84-year old woman who is disabled. She needs a walker to walk; she is on a prescribed blood thinner due to one heart attack; last year she underwent several surgeries: knee surgery, back surgery, and double mastectomy. She suffers with arthritis. I am her daughter-in-law (61 years old). Her daughter (66 years old) and I are the only ones who can take her to visit her son (61 years old) who is in prison (incidentally for a crime that was scientifically proven in 2003 that he did not commit).

Yesterday, I drove Mrs. Odelle Swiney to visit her son (my husband). For 16 years she visited her son routinely until she could no longer drive and had to depend on others to take her to see him. For 16 years she has never been kicked out for any kind of prison rule violation. Yesterday she was kicked out for allegedly wearing a “jogging suit.” Jogging suits are on the list of items that visitors are forbidden to wear.

Upon being accused of said dress code violation, Mrs. Swiney was victimized by employees of the institution, wherein she was caused undue pain and suffering. Here are the details of how she was treated.

Details:

1.Visiting hours on Saturday, December 17, 2005 were from Noon to 3 pm. Visitors are asked to arrive around 11:00 am so they may be checked in. We arrived at the front gate at 11:15 am and waited in line with the rest of the vehicles. At 12 noon, the gate guard began checking people in. We were vehicle #26. It was 12:30 pm by the time we drove through the front gate. I parked my vehicle in the handicapped space, got Mrs. Swiney’s walker out of the vehicle, and helped her inside where she is allowed to sit while I stand in line outside. It was a little after 1 pm by the time I was allowed into the front office to sign us in. During that time, Mrs. Swiney’s attire was in full view and none of the guards made any comments to the affect that she was in any sort of dress code violation.

2.After I signed us in, we walked through the metal detector and entered the private room where a female guard “shook us down”, meaning searched. The search includes (1) removing shoes and socks (I removed and replaced Mrs. Swiney’s shoes and socks because she cannot bend over to reach her feet without being in great pain); (2) shaking one’s bra (Mrs. Swiney, having had a double mastectomy, doesn’t wear a bra and this had previously been accepted by the guards after she had already explained the situation and even had to show them her bare chest to prove she was not lying); (3) turning pockets inside out; and (4) showing evidence that one is wearing under panties. During the search, the guard did not make any comments to the affect that Mrs. Swiney was in violation of any dress code.

3.After the search, Mrs. Swiney and I were given the go ahead to enter the visiting yard which consists of going through two locked gates surrounded by barbed wire and then slowly walking uphill approximately 50 yards to the visiting yard. Mrs. Swiney can hardly walk even with her walker and she has to rest after about 50 feet because her legs get painful easily. We finally made it to the visiting yard after several minutes.

4.I found a table, and got Mrs. Swiney seated and situated comfortably. She was exhausted from the walk, waiting time and searches. I left to get her a cup of coffee from the vending machine. While I was doing that, a guard approached Mrs. Swiney and was telling her she had to return to the office, per Lt. Mc Swain’s orders. Just then Mrs. Swiney’s son, Patrick Swiney, entered the visiting yard and at the same time, I arrived with the coffee.

5.Mrs. Swiney told the guard she could not make that walk because she was already in pain from just walking to the visiting yard. I told the guard the same thing, and I asked what the problem was. The guard told us that Mrs. Swiney had to return to the office so her clothes could be inspected. I asked what this was all about and the guard said, these were the orders and Mrs. Swiney had to go to the front office. I suggested that the officer wanting to inspect Mrs. Swiney’s clothes come up to the visiting yard to do that because Mrs. Swiney could not make that walk! Mrs. Swiney also said to the guard, “You don’t know what kind of pain you will be putting me through if I am forced to walk back to the front office right now. I just got here and I am already hurting! I need some time to rest before I can walk back down there.” The guard told Mrs. Swiney, “Sorry, you have to go down there right now!”

6.I got up to help Mrs. Swiney with her walker and walked with her to the visiting room door (a securely locked door at all times). The guard told me, “If you leave with her, he (pointing to her son) has to go back.” I told the guard, “Well someone has to walk with her to make sure she’s all right,” and the guard said she would walk with Mrs. Swiney.

7.I went back to visit with Mrs. Swiney’s son, my husband, who is very ill with heart problems having had 3 heart attacks, is on a beta blocker, and also suffers with inflammatory spinal arthritis and emphysema. He is quite disabled for those reasons. But he can walk.

8.When the guard returned, I walked over to her and asked what was going on. She told me that Mrs. Swiney was wearing a jogging suit. I said, “That’s ridiculous! She’s not wearing a jogging suit.” The guard said, “Yes she is.” I said, “Okay, tell me the definition of a jogging suit then.” She said, “Pants that are fleece-lined.” I said, “Her pants are not lined with fleece.” Then I asked, “What is the security risk of having pants that are fleece-lined?” She shrugged her shoulders and said sarcastically, “I don’t know! It’s just the rules.”

9.The female guard then told me that if Mrs. Swiney was wearing a jogging suit, she would have to wait down there until visiting was over. I returned to the table to speak with her son, my husband, knowing full well I could not leave her down there for 2 hours. We both knew we’d have to cut the visit short.

10. Approximately 5 minutes later, a male guard came to our table and told me, “You have to go get her (meaning Mrs. Swiney) and you both have to leave now. She is down there cursing and causing a ruckus.” Instantly, her son stood up and said to the male guard quite matter-of-factly, “She is not cursing.” Then I said, “No, she is not cursing, so we know that’s a lie.” In the 10 years I have known Mrs. Swiney I have NEVER heard a cuss word from her – never. The male guard was clearly lying.

11. The male guard ignored what we said and told me, “Sorry, you have to leave, and YOU! (pointing to Mr. Swiney as though he had committed a crime) have to go now!” We didn’t even get to say good-bye. I left the visiting yard, fearing there would be retaliation against Mr. Swiney for speaking up for his mother, to collect Mrs. Swiney in the front office.

12. As another female guard was returning our ID’s and my vehicle keys, I nodded over to the woman standing near the metal detector and asked, “Is that Lt. Mc Swain?” She confirmed that it was. Lt. Mc Swain is a nice looking black woman, appearing to be in her early 40’s. I asked the female guard if I might speak with Lt. Mc Swain. She said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I took that to mean it would be a useless effort to straighten this out.

13. I drove Mrs. Swiney home – we stopped to get something to eat, but she was too upset to eat. I stayed with her Saturday night at her house to make sure she was going to be okay. She was in a lot of pain and she was extremely stressed out which is not good for her with her heart condition. We were both worried about her son, my husband, because he is so ill. The telephones have been out at Donaldson since Thursday night so he cannot call to find out if his mother is okay and we cannot find out if he is okay.

14. The employees at Donaldson put Mrs. Swiney in harm’s way. She suffered needless pain and undue stress. The employees at Donaldson also put her son, my husband, under undue stress knowing he is so ill. I will not mention the undue stress that I have endured through all of this because I think it goes without saying that I am worried about both my 61-year old husband and his 84-year old mother who are BOTH DISABLED!

Given the chance, most people will do the right thing. The employees involved with this incident at Donaldson yesterday do not fall into the category of “most people”. These marching morons with badges cannot tell the difference between 50% cotton/50% polyester pants and pants lined with fleece. They make up their own rules as they go, changing them without any warning and the public has to pay the price.

The “fleece” restriction is not on the dress code rules at all. Restrictions for institutions are designed to prevent security risks. Color of clothing is designed to help the guards distinguish inmates from visitors. Inmates wear all white. Visitors may not wear white or anything resembling white. Yesterday, Fleece-lined clothes were against the rules but fur-lined clothes were okay. In summer, shorts are not allowed. Skirts must be below the knee, but peddle-pushers that are below the knee are not allowed. There is no rhyme or reason to the rules, but as long as they are on the rule list, visitors are expected to follow them. There is nothing listed for fleece-lined clothes. Denim jeans are fleece-lined; jackets are fleece-lined; but have not been not “illegal”, not even yesterday. Some visitors are allowed to wear these fleece-lined items but Mrs. Swiney is not allowed to wear non-fleece lined pants. This is inconsistent treatment of visitors.

There is no rational motive for Lt. Mc Swain’s actions and the actions of the surrounding guards. These actions were mean-spirited and harmful to a disabled woman whose only motive for being there was to visit her son. Given her age and her health problems, and given her son’s health problems, this might even be the last time she gets to see her son.

The guards at Donaldson have not been trained to deal with handicapped people and therefore they are doing more harm than good. Their actions could be life-threatening and they don’t even know it, or if they do, they just do not care.

I am asking for an investigation under the ADA into this matter and I am also seeking corrective action to be taken with the employees involved who were “just following orders” from Lt. Mc Swain.

Further, I am demanding strong disciplinary action against Lt. Mc Swain who caused all of this pain and suffering.

Mrs. Swiney who is on blood thinner medication gets cold easily. She has to wear warm clothes even in summer. Yesterday the temperature was 46 degrees F. She color-coordinated her pants and shirt to display Christmas cheer for her son and whoever else she might encounter in the visiting yard. So she wore a pair of warm red pants and a red Christmas shirt that isn’t even the same shade of red. The pants do not qualify as “jogging” pants because they do not have any elastic at the bottom: they are straight-legged. They are not lined with fleece: they are not lined at all! They are made of sweatshirt material. Visitors are not allowed to wear jackets that go below the waist, no matter how cold it is outside. Because of this restriction, Mrs. Swiney wore a red sweatshirt jacket (so she had 3 different shades of red on yesterday). I wore a sweatshirt jacket too (green with green pants but I had a black t-neck sweater on to break up the color). We wear sweatshirt jackets because it’s difficult to find SHORT-enough winter jackets. Mrs. Swiney has worn that jacket to several visits. She has worn those pants to several visits. They are not ONE outfit – they don’t even match. The problem is that Mrs. Swiney just never wore the two red items together before but she wore them yesterday because it was the closest visit to Christmas and she wanted to express her Christmas cheer. Lt. Mc Swain made sure no cheer was going to happen for the Swiney’s this year but rather pain and suffering instead – and for no other reason than to be mean.

As they say at this time of year, “Peace on Earth and good will toward men.” It’s a disgrace that Lt. Mc Swain and her followers live by an opposite rule toward men. It is also cruel and unusual punishment for both Mrs. Swiney and her son, Patrick Swiney, who are both Americans with disabilities and are entitled to be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Please let me know if you require additional information regarding this matter.

Respectfully,

Sherry Swiney
P.O. Box 1891
Alabaster, AL 35007
Tel: 205-621-7699


Warden Kenneth Jones
Donaldson Prison
100 Warrior Lane, Bessemer, AL 35023

Commissioner Donal Campbell
101 So. Union Street
Montgomery, AL 36130-1501