Social services 'to take baby from teenager deemed too stupid to marry'

A mother-to-be, who was banned from marrying after social workers said she is not intelligent enough, is to have her baby taken away immediately after giving birth.

Murray Wardrop

Telegraph UK
3:57PM BST 18 Oct 2009

Kerry Robertson, 17, who has mild learning difficulties, has been told that she will not be allowed to bring up her own child, who she has already named Ben.

Last month Miss Robertson was prevented from marrying her fiancé Mark McDougall, 25, after council officials claimed that she “did not understand the implications of getting married

She has now been warned that she will only be allowed a few hours with her baby, which is due in January, before it is taken into foster care.

After hearing the news, Miss Robertson, of Dunfermline, Fife, who is 26 weeks pregnant, said: “I couldn't believe it. I am so upset – I can't stop crying.”

Mr McDougall, an artist, said he wants to take on full responsibility for his son but claims that he is powerless because he is not married to Miss Robertson.

He added: “Social Services are ruining our lives. As we are not married – because social workers would not let us marry – it seems I have no rights as a dad at all.

“Kerry's gran is trying to apply for custody of Ben but social services have already told us it is unlikely she will be successful. We feel helpless.”

The extraordinary case first came to light last month when the couple’s wedding was halted 48 hours before Miss Robertson was due to walk up the aisle.

Under Scottish law, a registrar may refuse to marry a couple if they believe one or both the parties lack the mental capacity to understand what the institution of marriage is about.

In a highly unusual step, Dunfermline Register Office refused to sanction the marriage after Fife council wrote a letter of objection.

Miss Robertson was brought up by her grandmother from the age of nine months because her parents were unable to look after her and her welfare has since been overseen by the council’s social workers.

She met Mr McDougall, from Arbroath, in January and the couple planned to get married after Miss Robertson became pregnant.

Two days before the ceremony, two social workers visited their flat and told them that the marriage was illegal because of Miss Robertson’s learning difficulties.

The service and reception for 20 guests had to be called off despite the couple having already bought rings and a wedding dress.

At the time, Miss Robertson said: “I know what marriage is. It is when two folks want to spend the rest of their lives together. I love Mark and I want to get married to him.”

Mr McDougall added: “Despite arguing that we loved one another and didn't want our baby to be born to unwed parents, they would not budge. It's a nightmare.”

He claims that social services have exaggerated the extent of Miss Robertson’s learning difficulties and that she is hoping to go back to college to catch up academically.

The council said it does not comment on individual cases. But Stephen Moore, the council's executive director of social services, said: “Much of the work we do is governed by legislation. Complex decisions are made that balance risk and welfare while supporting people at times of personal or family need.

"We will always work with people for the best outcome for all involved.”

In May it was disclosed that Rachel Pullen, 24, had her three-year-old daughter taken away from her by social services when she was six months old after Nottingham City Council officials deemed her too stupid to look after the child.

LINK TO PHOTO:

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212867/Youre-intelligent-marry-bride-told.html#ixzz0UUZAyLHg

                                                      ORIGINAL STORY

'You're not intelligent enough to marry', bride told

Alison Smith Squire
Last updated at 10:19 PM on 11th September 2009

Social workers banned a young woman from her own wedding in an extraordinary row over whether she is bright enough to get married.

Kerry Robertson, who has mild learning difficulties, was told her wedding was being halted just 48 hours before she was to walk up the aisle with fiance Mark McDougall.

Miss Robertson, 17, had bought her wedding dress and the couple had booked the church ceremony, bought the rings and organised a reception to be held last Saturday.

But two days before they were due to say their vows in front of 20 guests, social services told the bride-to-be that she would have to cancel the big day because she 'did not understand the implications of getting married'.

Yesterday, Miss Robertson, who is five months pregnant, said the decision was cruel.

She said: 'I am still so upset about everything. I know what marriage is. It is when two folks want to spend the rest of their lives together. I love Mark and I want to get married to him.'

Miss Robertson, of Dunfermline, Fife, has been in the care of her grandmother since she was nine months old after her parents were unable to look after her, with her welfare overseen by social workers at Fife council.

In January this year, she met Mr McDougall, a 25-year-old artist from Arbroath. When Miss Robertson became pregnant, they began making wedding plans.

Mr McDougall said their nightmare began last Thursday when two social workers arrived at the flat they have shared for the past four months.

He said: 'We were about to go out and make final arrangements for our wedding when we heard a frantic rapping at the door.

'When we opened it, two social workers burst in and told us that the marriage was illegal because Kerry has learning difficulties and did not possess the capacity to make such a decision.

'Kerry burst into tears. 'But despite arguing with the social workers that we loved one another and didn't want our baby to be born to unmarried parents, they wouldn't budge.'

Under Scottish law, a registrar may refuse to marry a couple if he believes one or both the parties lack the mental capacity to understand what the institution of marriage is about.

In a highly unusual step, the registrar at Dunfermline Register Office refused to sanction the marriage after Fife council wrote a letter of objection.

Mr McDougall claims Miss Robertson's learning difficulties are not severe. 'It's true she is not very academic,' he said. 'But she is nowhere near as stupid as social services are making out.

'She is a loving caring person. She can also read and write, although not very well, and was going to college to catch up.

'I didn't even know she had learning difficulties until we'd been dating for two months.

'At that time, social services said they were pleased we were together and seemed supportive.

'For the first time in her life Kerry was truly happy so we cannot understand what all the fuss is about.'

The couple are concerned that their unborn baby, a boy they have already named Ben, could be taken away if Fife council judges Miss Robertson unable to care for him.

She now faces a psychologist's assessment to determine if she is too unintelligent to get married.

Mr McDougall said: 'We are both going to fight this all the way. We feel the fact we want to get married should be encouraged, not forbidden.'

Helen Townsend of Fife council said: 'We cannot discuss details of individual cases for reasons of confidentiality.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212867/Youre-intelligent-marry-bride-told.html#ixzz0UUbFEuVP

Alcatraz: Life on the rock

The former prison on Alcatraz may appear benign from afar, says Tim Jepson, but in the flesh it is a chilling memorial to darker times.

Tim Jepson
11:12AM BST 19 Oct 2009

Previous1 of 3 ImagesNext Alcatraz had been a lighthouse, fort and military prison before it became a federal penitentiary in 1934 Photo: GETTY Alcatraz was designed as the first 'super-prison' where rapists, murderers and vicious or extreme prisoners could be kept under one roof Photo: GETTY

The first surprise is how close it is to San Francisco Photo: GETTY

San Francisco is a tremendous city, and largely free of tacky tourist attractions, but I was certain one of its big draws – Alcatraz – would be unable to resist going down the Disney route, peddling a sanitised, Hollywood version of both prison and prison life.

The more so, as the island is reached from San Francisco's redeveloped waterfront, the Embarcadero, a long string of numbered piers, many still gritty, working wharves, others – such as Pier 39 – one of the city's few tourist ghettos: all souvenirs and fast-food outlets. But I was wrong. A visit to Alcatraz is a revelation.

Things start predictably enough. You board a gaudy boat full of chattering, camera-wielding companions, and chug towards "The Rock", as Alcatraz was known. The first surprise is how close it is – just a mile and a half from shore – the second, how pretty it looks; a pivotal feature of the matchless San Francisco Bay, perfectly framed by the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

From the boat, the illusion that this might have been a rather pleasant place to do time persists – what views back to the city and across the water, and what a pastoral-looking little island.

Step ashore, however, and you are quickly disabused. The place is battered, creepy, moribund, gloomy, depressing, dusty, drab, grey, seedy. But its appearance is by design, the work of the National Parks Service, sensitive custodians of the site who have avoided any sanitisation or sentimentalising of the past or place.

Little, in fact, has been done, other than basic maintenance, since Robert Kennedy, then the Attorney General, ordered the prison's closure in 1963, partly because it was so expensive to run – $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 elsewhere in the federal prison system – and partly because the bay was being horribly polluted by the sewage from the island's 250 prisoners and the 60 Bureau of Prisons guards and their families.

From the jetty, we join a guided tour and walk past crumbling guardhouses and other buildings, all peeling paint and pitted stone, to the main block and canteen, a forbidding space for which the word institutional might have been coined. Chatter in the group is now rather more subdued.

Alcatraz had been a lighthouse, fort and military prison before it became a federal penitentiary in 1934, designed as the first "super-prison" where rapists, murderers and recidivist, predatory and otherwise dangerous, vicious or extreme prisoners could be kept under one roof. Segregation on such a scale had never before been attempted. Al Capone was the most famous inmate, brought here from Atlanta, where he had been able to continue his rackets from his cell by buying off guards. No such joy at Alcatraz.

No joy of any sort, I imagine as we walk to the main cell block, made up of the most basic cells: rectangles, with no doors, just bars – cages, really – in long lines, with identical levels above. No windows. The tiny size is the most striking thing – seven or eight feet by five; that, and what must have been an extraordinary lack of privacy.

Unless, that is, you were in solitary, as many invariably were, notably Robert Stroud, the famous "Birdman of Alcatraz", who spent six of his 17 years on the Rock in solitary (and a total of 42 years in solitary during his 54 years of incarceration here and elsewhere). The cells in solitary are even smaller, and even more depressing – which is saying something.

Back out into welcome sunlight, my gaze turns to the beautiful view of San Francisco and, inevitably, to escape (most questions to our guide relate to escape, followed by queries on riots and violent death). The city looks so close. Surely it's an easy swim? You'd think so, until you look at the ominous churning currents in the straits. Thirty-six prisoners tried to escape in 14 attempts: 23 were caught, six were shot and killed; two drowned; and five were never found, presumed lost at sea.

The Parks Service background to Alcatraz suggests prisons are often a reflection of the time in which they are created, and that Alcatraz represents the US government's response to post-Prohibition and Depression-era America, born of necessity, and tailored to, and shaped by, a dour and violent decade.

True or not, it is a testament to the Parks Service's studied neglect of Alcatraz that this tiny fossil, in one of the world's most beautiful modern cities, continues to cast the chill, sombre

JANESVILLE—A Massachusetts man is in custody at the Rock County Jail today after allegedly kidnapping a West Springfield, Mass., car salesman during a test drive and driving the stolen vehicle more than 1,000 miles overnight before getting caught speeding early Friday morning in Rock County.

A Wisconsin State Patrol trooper, according to a lead dispatcher at the Rock County Communications Center, pulled over Aleh Kot, 32, of Massachusetts at 2:30 a.m. at Interstate 90/39 mile marker 165 just north of the Newville exit.

Kot was arrested on charges of operating a motor vehicle without owner consent, speeding and reckless driving, said a Wisconsin State Patrol spokesperson.

Kot is in custody at the Rock County Jail, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson.

He will be extradited back to Massachusetts to face charges of kidnapping, larceny of a motor vehicle and unarmed robbery, the State Patrol spokesperson said.

The charges stem from an incident Thursday night, when Kot allegedly kidnapped a Balise Honda car salesman during a test drive of a 2010 black Honda Accord.

West Springfield police said Kot refused to turn the car around and continued to drive west on the Massachusetts Pike before dropping the man off at the Stockbridge tollbooth. The salesman was not injured.

Tiny congregation seeks God in a bar

The Janesville Gazette

Radio Host Gets Justice for Executed Kin

WAYNE DRASH

(Oct. 15) -- Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner raised his hand in victory.

Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army.

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AP

Joyner embraces Gates.

It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case.

"It really, really feels good," Joyner told CNN's Don Lemon.

Joyner made the journey to Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, his sons, his brother and nieces and nephews.   When the board announced its decision, they danced, hugged and kissed.   "All of the above," he said.

In the end, it took only about 25 minutes for their pardon, nearly a century in the making.

"It's good for the community.   It's good for the nation. Anytime He said the ruling won't bring back his great-uncles, who were electrocuted in 1915.   But it does provide closure to his family.

"I hope now they rest in peace.  "Many who were present were touched by the symbolism and significance of the moment.

"I felt like I was a witness to a historical event.   It was pretty exciting around here," said Peter O'Boyle, the chief spokesman for the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.  Dwayne Green, an African-American member of the pardon board, said he admired Joyner for seeking the pardon.

"He's not only done his family a service, but also the people of South Carolina."  "There's no statute of limitations on doing the right thing," Green said.

"There's so much good that can come out of this public show of mercy.  "The unanimous vote, he said, was heartwarming and satisfying.

 "It's a great opportunity to show how much South Carolina has changed," he said.   "While change comes slow, outcomes like this are a positive sign."Joyner, the host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," had known nothing of his great-uncles' murder convictions until last year.

That's when esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovered Joyner's past as part of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2.  "In the documentary, Joyner explains that he never knew why his grandmother left South Carolina.

 "All I know is she left home and she ended up in Florida and she didn't stay in touch with her people, either," Joyner says.  "Do you know why your grandmother moved away?"

 Gates says."No," Joyner says.   "I have no idea."Gates then shows him his great-uncles' death certificates. "Cause of death: Legal electrocution," it says.  "They electrocuted my --" an astonished Joyner says, unable to finish his sentence. 

In that moment, Joyner began the journey that led him to Wednesday's pardon.   Gates and legal historian Paul Finkelman aided in the research of his family history, and helped lobby South Carolina to pardon the two Griffin brothers.

It wasn't the first time a pardon had been sought for the men.   According to their research, more than 150 citizens of Blackstock, South Carolina, asked the governor at the time for their sentences to be commuted.

 Many prominent whites in the community, including the mayor and former sheriff of Chester County, came to the defense of the Griffin brothers.

"I heard this case, and I don't think I could have given a verdict of guilty," one magistrate wrote.  The Griffin brothers had owned 130 acres in the area and were well-liked in the community.

They were convicted of killing John Q. Lewis, a 73-year-old veteran of the Civil War. Lewis was slain in his home on April 24, 1913.

 "Only the most profound sense of injustice would have led so many white leaders of the community and ordinary white citizens to publicly support blacks convicted of murdering a white man," Finkelman said in a letter to the board of paroles and pardons. 

According to the research uncovered by Finkelman, Lewis, the former Confederate soldier, apparently had an intimate relationship with a married 22-year-old black woman, Anna Davis. 

 Suspicion initially turned to her and her husband after the murder.   "It is plausible to believe that the sheriff did not want to pursue Mr. and Mrs. Davis because if they were tried, it would have led to a scandalous discussion in open court," Finkelman wrote to the pardon board on October 2, 2008. 

The investigation later turned to another man, Monk Stevenson, who would ultimately point police to the Griffin brothers and two other black men. 

Stevenson received a life sentence in exchange. "Stevenson later told a fellow inmate that he had implicated the Griffin brothers because he believed they were wealthy enough to pay for legal counsel, and as such would be acquitted," Finkelman said. 

The Griffin brothers and the two other men, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were convicted in a trial that lasted four days. They were electrocuted on September 29, 1915. 

Now, Joyner says he urges all African-Americans to explore their pasts -- no matter how difficult that journey may be. "You can look at your ancestor struggles of the past and be encouraged. 

If they can go through what they went through, you can do much better," he said.His journey is continuing. 

 He wants to know even more about his great-uncles -- what happened to their land, how they made the community better, what made them so well-liked by whites in segregated South Carolina. 

"Until we can repair some of the deeds of the past, we can't really look forward," he said.

Picking a fight: White House vs Fox News

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama's communications director says it was Fox News Channel, not the White House, that picked a fight

Yet it was Anita Dunn's words during a CNN interview last week, saying Fox is like "a wing of the Republican Party," that ignited one of the most unusual verbal volleys between a presidential administration and journalists since Vice President Spiro Agnew complained during the Nixon years about the "nattering nabobs of negativism."

Dunn's stance cheered many of the president's supporters who seethe over anti-Obama stories on Fox opinion shows, but has caused a backlash among some who say it exposed the administration as thin-skinned.

White House unhappiness had been building. The president himself said there is "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration." Fox's coverage of health care demonstrations over the summer, former administration official Van Jones and the community activists ACORN clearly knocked the administration off stride.

The White House blog attacked Fox commentator Glenn Beck for "lies."

"The administration was being attacked, members of this administration were being attacked, policies of this administration were being misrepresented — and that's a generous interpretation of how they were being described," Dunn said. "The reality is that at some point, the administration has to defend itself."

Fox has fought back hard. Network executive Michael Clemente said it was "astounding" that administration critics couldn't distinguish between news and opinion programming.

"It seems self-serving on their part," he said.

Fox said network executives have been told that no one from the administration would appear on a Fox show as a guest through the end of the year. Dunn denied there was a White House ban on Fox appearances. "We haven't said that to them," she said.

Last week on his show, Beck placed a red phone on his desk, saying it was a hot line available to Dunn anytime she thought something untrue about Obama was being said on his show.

"I don't think the White House actually wants a dialogue," Beck said. "They want to smear, isolate and destroy."

Dunn on Beck: "He's always good for a laugh."

Beck uncovered a speech Dunn had given where she referred to Mother Teresa and Mao Tse-Tung as "two of my favorite political philosophers." He said it was "insanity" that she was quoting the late Chinese dictator; Dunn said she was being ironic and got the idea for the reference from GOP strategist Lee Atwater.

Dunn also criticized Fox's Chris Wallace for referring to the administration as filled with "crybabies." ("We kept ourselves from ... responding, 'I am rubber, you are glue,'" Dunn said). But there was a specific provocation: The president appeared on five Sunday morning public affairs shows on Sept. 20, every one except Wallace's.

"I would think that what this reflects is a pent-up frustration or rage at the coverage they get, not only from Fox but elsewhere," said David Gergen, a CNN commentator and former White House aide.

Gergen said he understands the temptation to go on the attack — he's done it himself — but it frequently turns out to be a mistake.

"My experience has been when the White House engages in personal or organizational attacks, it elevates the other side to virtually the same level of the White House, which is not their intent," he said. "It's going to spike Fox's ratings," which are already high this year.

If the White House wants to fight back, it's better to let surrogates do the work, he said.

Several critics have questioned the wisdom of Obama's approach.

"Whether or not you like Fox News, all of us in the press need to be concerned about the administration of President Barack Obama trying to 'punish' the cable news channel for its point of view," wrote television critic David Zurawik in the Baltimore Sun.

Among grass-roots Democrats, many think it was important for the president to put his foot down, said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist. Many strongly believe that the president and his staff should have nothing to do with Fox, she said.

But research has shown that Fox, easily the top-rated cable news network, has independents and moderates in its audience that the president shouldn't ignore, she said.

"There is room for a more nuanced strategy," she said: Stay away from Beck or the morning "Fox&Friends," she suggested, but an interview with Wallace could be beneficial.

Dunn said the administration still deals with Fox reporters such as Major Garrett in the White House. Obama "has appeared on Fox shows in the past (and) he certainly will appear on them in the future," she said. There have been no backstage "peace talks" in the past week; Obama adviser David Axelrod met with Fox chief Roger Ailes about a month ago.

On Sunday, Axelrod reiterated on ABC's "This Week" that administration officials would appear on the channel, even as he said Fox News shouldn't be treated as a news organization.

In a written statement Sunday, Clemente accused the White House of continuing to "declare war on a news organization" rather than focusing on issues such as jobs and health care.

"The door remains open and we welcome a discussion about the facts behind the issues," he said.

"Given the challenges facing the country, you would think there were a lot better things to talk about, for a news network," Dunn said. "Maybe they would want to cover some of these issues — if they were a news network."

Gergen suggested it's time for a cooling-off period for an administration that finds itself in the usually no-win position of fighting a 24-hour news organization.

"The notion ought to be to restore professional relations to the extent possible and not make this a long-term war," he said.

Elderly woman test-drives car over edge of cliff

An elderly woman has had a lucky escape after the disabled-adapted car she was test-driving plummeted over the edge of a 100-foot hillside in Highcliffe, Dorset.

 Telegraph UK

12:56PM BST 18 Oct 2009

The car toppled over the cliff, rolling down a steep slope and into a patch of gorse Photo: BNPS

The woman, who is in her 80s, pressed the accelerator instead of the brake and sped through a park bench, sailed through the air, and came to rest half-way down the slope on a cushion of gorse before emerging unscathed.

The woman, who has problems with her legs, had been

She was driving round the car park of the Cliffhanger Cafe, in Highcliffe, Dorset, when she tried to pull into a disabled bay facing out to sea.

But instead of coming to a stop, the car lunged forwards and toppled over the cliff, rolling down a steep slope and into a patch of gorse.

Martin Jeffreys, 63, from New Milton, Dorset, said: "It's miracle she wasn't hurt - the car literally flew through the air.

"I was just getting out of my car when I saw her pulling up in the disabled bay.

"But she hit the accelerator by accident and just went lurching forwards.

"The car went up a small hill in front of the cliff edge, took the wooden bench out and went straight over.

"The car actually took off, it was unbelievable.

"I thought it must have rolled over and I ran down to try and help. I was the first person on the scene.

"The car was smoking a bit but the lady was absolutely fine. It was extraordinary."

Sergeant Leo Glendon, from Dorset Police, said: "The lady, who is in her 80s, came down to the car park to practice driving her car, which had just been fitted with hand controls.

"She was trying to pull up in a parking space when she lost control of it. Instead of coming to a stop, she drove straight over the edge.

"The car knocked through a wooden park bench and rolled down the cliff. Fortunately there is a lot of gorse around to cushion the fall.

"When we arrived she had already been helped out of the car through the boot by passers-by.

"Incredibly she wasn't hurt at all. Her only injuries are a few scratches she got from brambles as she got out of the car.

"She was shaken, of course, has now been taken home to recover with a cup of tea."

10:16 a.m. Sunday, October 18, 2009 

Ala. mayor accused of taking Rolex, other bribes

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Mayor Larry Langford, who could be tossed out of office and go to prison if convicted of federal bribery charges, recently offered some advice to a new Birmingham City Council member.

"The illusion of power is the most dangerous drug on the planet," Langford said. "A little bit of power — nothing intoxicates like it."

Last week's comment may sound a lot like the government's opening argument against Langford, 61, the most recent in a long line of prominent names in the state Democratic Party to face corruption charges. Jury selection begins Monday.

Prosecutors claim a greedy, power-drunk Langford accepted bribes totaling some $235,000 — a chunk of it for upscale clothes and jewelry — while serving as president of the JeffersonCounty Commission before he was elected mayor. In exchange, they say, Langford steered $7.1 million in bond business to a political crony's investment banking firm.

Those bond deals and others turned sour during the credit crunch and brought on a financial crisis that has pushed Alabama's most populous county to the brink of filing what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. The current commissioners have repeatedly extended credit agreements as they struggle to pay back $3.9 billion.

Charged with multiple felony counts of bribery, conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and tax violations, Langford automatically would be removed from office if convicted of even one count.

Defense attorney Michael Rasmussen laughed at the possibility of a guilty plea, saying Langford "maintains he is innocent and expects to get a fair trial."

The government's key witnesses will likely be two former Democratic Party leaders indicted with Langford last year.

Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount, a former Alabama Democratic Party chairman, pleaded guilty in August to paying bribes to Langford, who is accused of accepting gifts including a Rolex watch, cash and loan payoffs at luxury clothing stores.

Lobbyist Al LaPierre, a former executive director of the state Democratic Party, pleaded guilty to being a middleman in the scheme.

Langford, also a Democrat, has argued that what the government calls bribes really were gifts between old friends. He says the charges were brought by a Republican prosecutor as part of a GOP plan to target him and other Alabama Democrats.

His argument is similar to that of former Gov. Don Siegelman, another Democrat convicted of bribery and other federal corruption charges in 2006.

A widespread probe of financial wrongdoing in the state's two-year college system also led to the downfall of its chancellor, Roy Johnson. He was once a powerful Democrat in the Alabama House who admitted getting some $1 million in kickbacks for himself, family and friends. He now awaits sentencing.

The executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party, Jim Spearman, agrees that Republican prosecutors seem to go after Democrats with special zest. But Blount and LaPierre haven't been associated with the party for years, he said.

"Democrat or Republican, I don't think anyone has a lock on ethics. You see all degrees of problems on all sides, and we need to clean it up," Spearman said.

Nearly two dozen people already have been convicted or pleaded guilty in an investigation of Jefferson County's tangled finances, including four other commissioners.

The trial, expected to last about two weeks, will be held 55 miles west of Birmingham in Tuscaloosa because of pretrial publicity.

Langford served as president of the county commission from 2002 through 2006, giving up his seat to run for mayor in 2007. The former television news reporter and beer company promoter, with his fashionable clothes and wide smile, won in a landslide.

He has launched numerous projects to pave streets and clean up neighborhoods during 22 months as mayor, but he is also known for seemingly Quixotic, off-the-wall ideas, including a bid to lure the Olympics to Birmingham in 2020. Critics often call Langford "Mayor LaLa."

When he was commission president, the county made a series of risky financial deals known as bond swaps with Blount's firm, Blount Parrish and Co. Inc. Blount said in his plea agreement that he bribed Langford to make the deals, which brought $7.1 million to Blount's company.

Blount also admitted bribing another former commissioner, Mary Buckelew, with luxury gifts. Buckelew, a Republican, also pleaded guilty to lying to grand jurors and is expected to testify againstLangford.

A former judge not involved in the case said Langford must attack the credibility of witnesses, including Blount and LaPierre, both of whom could receive lighter sentences for their cooperation.

"Everybody has a motive if you're Langford, has a reason, not to tell the truth," said former U.S. Magistrate Judge John Carroll, now dean of the law school at Samford University in suburban Birmingham.

LINK TO PHOTO OF MAYOR:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ala-mayor-accused-of-165692.html

Joe Biden: the worrying rise of Barack Obama’s Mr Wrong

Vice-President Joe Biden has been on the wrong side of history on all the big questions, argues Toby Harnden

Toby Harnden

Telegraph UK

4:17PM BST 17 Oct 2009

Joe Biden's overseas expertise amounted to having spent a long time as chairman of the Senate foreign affairs committee Photo: EPA

Want to know how to deal with a momentous issue of war or grand strategy? You could do a lot worse than check out what Vice-President Joe Biden thinks – and plump for the opposite.

Mr Biden was chosen as Barack Obama's running mate last August because he was old, white and supposedly knew a lot about foreign policy. I say "supposedly" because really Mr Biden's overseas expertise amounted to having spent a long time as chairman of the Senate foreign affairs committee, knowing the names of lots of world leaders, and being able to josh around amiably with them during congressional junkets across the globe.

What Mr Obama overlooked was that Mr Biden, who served as a senator for tiny Delaware for 36 years, had never run anything in his life, or taken decisions rather than talking about things, at legendary length. Even in the United States Senate, that august body which each week produces enough hot air to transport 1,000 six-year-olds across America, Mr Biden – who sports hair plugs and a set of porcelain-enhanced gnashers that would blind a polar bear – is renowned for his wordiness.

His speech is littered with the word "literally" and he glories in meandering anecdotes about his family and Irish ancestry. When Obama aides tried to muzzle him during the campaign, Mr Biden agreed but would then muse on the stump: "I try to cut this stuff down, not dumb it down, just get down to the quick of the matter, the essence of the matter."

Making fun of Joe Biden is a bipartisan affair. A quip about Biden being a windbag is guaranteed to bring a Democrat and Republican together in Washington.

Mr Obama himself even dabbled in it in February when he responded to a question about yet another Biden gaffe by saying, "I don't know what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly", prompting stifled sniggers from White House staffers at the back of the room.

A miffed Mr Biden used his weekly lunch with the President to ask him not to "diss" him in public. Mr Obama agreed, scheduling a photo op of the pair eating hamburgers together to demonstrate they were still buddies. The real difficulty with Mr Biden, however, is his judgement.

On all the big questions, he has been – to put it politely – on the wrong side of history. In 1990, he voted against American forces expelling Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. He voted for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and advocated splitting it into three states along ethnic lines. He opposed the Iraq troop surge of 2007 that pacified the country and rescued the US from the jaws of defeat.

Now, Mr Biden is pushing a policy of what he terms "counter-terrorism plus" – a scheme which involves a much smaller military presence in Afghanistan, with al-Qaeda elements being targeted at long range by military drones and smart missiles.

This runs entirely against the counter-insurgency doctrine convincingly outlined by Gen Stanley McChrystal, who wants an extra 40,000 troops to enable Nato forces to protect and influence the people while mentoring the Afghan army and police, and gathering intelligence on the ground.

The problem is that Mr Obama may now be listening to Mr Biden. Having supposedly already settled on an Afghan strategy in March, he is giving a very public impression of Hamlet as he wrings his hands and conducts endless White House debates – with details leaked to the press – about what to do. These Afghanistan policy seminars are principally designed to demonstrate that Mr Obama is not the hot-headed "decider" President George W Bush. But the dithering is projecting a dangerous uncertainty about the West's intentions to an Afghan people craving assurance that Nato is fully committed, and in for the long haul. More seriously, Mr Obama's inclination on troop levels seems to be to seek a middle way – a "splitting the baby" option that could be the worst of all possible worlds.

The Left, sensing that Mr Obama is wavering and beginning to rethink his campaign contention that Afghanistan was the "good war" as opposed to Mr Bush's evil Iraq adventure, is throwing its lot in with Mr Biden. There's a solidifying conventional wisdom in Washington that Mr Biden's star is in the ascendant. This week's Newsweek front cover sporting the vice-president's steely visage beside the headline "Why Joe is No Joke" is no doubt already framed in the Biden downstairs loo. If Mr Obama really believes that's true then we could all be in big trouble.

Navy veteran undaunted after robbery

The penny.

Robbers' choice of weapon: dynamite

Henry K. Lee

Chronicle Staff Writer

Last Updated Sunday, October 18, 2009

(10-17) 06:58 PDT VALLEJO -- Two men were armed with an unusual weapon of choice when they robbed a Vallejo check-cashing business - dynamite.

The holdup happened at the Cash & Go on the 200 block of Tennessee Street when the men came into the business at about 10:10 a.m. Friday.

One man was armed with a semiautomatic handgun while the other was carrying a bundle of suspected dynamite, said Vallejo police Sgt. Kevin Bartlett.

The men robbed customers and employees of undisclosed items before fleeing in a 197 to 1980 silver Volvo last seen heading west on Tennessee.

No explosion occurred. The robbery is being investigated with the assistance of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

One robber was described as a black man between 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet tall and weighing 150 to 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, a dark bandana and blue jeans.

The second was described as a black man between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 140 to 170 pounds, wearing a black hoodie, a dark bandana and black pants.

One of the robbers was seen with dreadlocks.

The Volvo was a 240-tpe model with a "loud exhaust" and tinted windows that were peeling in the back.

Two masked and armed suspects entered the Cash & Go in the 200 block of Tennessee Street in Vallejo on Friday, October 16, 2009. One suspect was armed with a semi automatic handgun and the other suspect was armed with a bundle of suspected dynamite. They robbed the customers and employees and fled in a silver Volvo heading west on Tennessee Street.

Photo: Vallejo Police Department

Woman, 97, has a front seat to homelessness

Bessie Mae Berger and her two sons, 60 and 62, live in a rusty 1973 Suburban. Getting a place is hard because they insist on staying together.

Audio  and video slide show:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bessie-vid,0,6819231.htmlstory

Bob Pool

LA Times

October 16, 2009

Roger D. Grandy was killed in a fire at his home Wednesday.

Victim of fatal fire identified

Jay Tokasz and Gene Warner

NEWS STAFF REPORTERS

Updated: October 15, 2009, 1:11 PM / 

Lancaster police have identified the man found dead inside a house destroyed by fire Wednesday morning as Roger D. Grandy, the homeowner and sole resident.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze at 304 Pleasant View Drive, across the street from the transportation department of Lancaster Central School District, is continuing, police said.

The findings of an autopsy this morning confirmed what friends and neighbors of Grandy had suspected -- that the 51-year-old Lottery winner was caught inside the inferno.

On Pleasant View Drive, Grandy was considered a model neighbor and all-around good guy.

Fellow employees at the Clarion Hotel on Transit Road knew Grandy as a hard-working airport shuttle driver who treated them as family, celebrating their birthdays with cakes and singing.

Grandy lived an unassuming life for a man who had won $3.3 million in the Nov. 16, 1996, Lotto drawing. He was one of three winners of a jackpot worth $10 million, according to state lottery officials.

Friends said Grandy never spent lavishly and enjoyed working.

"He was very shy about letting anyone know about [his lottery windfall]," said Jody Schilling, whose parents live next door to the west of Grandy. "It was the first time he ever played. He never changed his lifestyle. He lived like an everyday, normal person."

Grandy's body was found in the back of the ranch house, in what was believed to be a living room.

"We don't know if he was trying to get out," Lancaster police Capt. Timothy R. Murphy said.

Grandy's pickup truck was still in the garage, and Wednesday was a regular day off from his job at the hotel.

Neighbors reported the blaze at 6:47 a.m.

Mike Diegelman, who lives next door, said that Grandy closed the garage door only when he was away from the house, and when Diegelman saw the door open, he ran into the garage and tried to alert Grandy by sounding the horn of the pickup.

"There was so much smoke, I had to crawl out of there," said Diegelman, who couldn't get into the house.

Diegelman also threw a log through a bedroom window and sprayed water inside to see if Grandy would respond.

"I thought beeping the horn would wake him up and he'd run out," Diegelman said. "It was horrible. It was the worst thing I've ever experienced, because I knew he was in there."

Lancaster police Lt. John Robinson also tried to get into the structure but was beaten back by flames and smoke, Murphy said.

Friends said Grandy was a smoker and regularly used a wood-burning fireplace in the colder months.

The devastating blaze left furniture in Grandy's home burned beyond recognition and melted the siding of a neighboring house.

The fire could have been smoldering inside long before neighbors noticed flames shooting from the center of the house, Murphy said.

Debra Mazurek, a neighbor, was taken to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst for smoke inhalation, according to Schilling, her daughter.

Grandy purchased the house in 2000, according to Erie County clerk's office records, and was considered a friendly, easy going neighbor.

Lottery officials said Grandy took his $3.3 winnings in annual payments.

"You would have never guessed," said Jenna Schweitzer, front office manager of the Clarion Hotel. "He collected bottles and cans and returned them."

Schweitzer said Grandy confided in her several years ago about his lottery winnings, but didn't talk about it openly.

"It didn't seem like something that was that important to him," she said.

Grandy was a conscientious employee who showed up early for his 6 a.m. shift start and "was always in good spirits."

"He was always here. He was a dedicated employee, here for 40 hours a week and then some," Schweitzer said.

Grandy remembered his co-workers' birthdays by bringing in their favorite cakes and singing to them, and at Christmas time he would bring in gifts.

"He's like family," Schweitzer said. "We're very, very shook up."

Neighbors were shaken, as well.

Grandy regularly checked on Schilling's father, James Mazurek, who had suffered a stroke.

He also kept a close watch on neighbors' homes when they traveled.

"He loved the neighborhood," Schilling said.

Suspect makes getaway on PVTA bus, but victim of stolen wallet at Springfield bus stop tracks him down

The Republican Newsroom

October 15, 2009, 11:22PM

The Republican file photo

SPRINGFIELD – Police said a woman was able to track the man who stole her wallet after he made his getaway as a bus passenger.

Demot E. Weaver Jr., of 152 Kensington Ave., was arrested and charged with unarmed robbery Thursday afternoon after he robbed a woman of her wallet as she was pulling out money for bus fare at the PVTA bus stop at Pine and Central streets, said Capt. C. Lee Bennett. After grabbing the wallet, Weaver left the scene by boarding the bus, she said.

The woman ran to get her boyfriend, and the two followed the bus in the boyfriend’s car downtown to Main and Fort streets, Bennett said.

The woman followed Weaver from Main and Fort into the Fort Restaurant, where he was filling out a job application, Bennett said. He saw her and ran out the door, but in the ensuing commotion, Fort employees called the police, Bennett said. Weaver was apprehended by officers Eugene Roux and James Moriarity a few blocks away, Bennett said.

FBI investigates investigator

An accountant known for tracing missing funds is being investigated over reports of funds missing from his firm.

LUISA YANEZ

Miami Herald

October 16, 2009