truesee's Blog

Bethleham, PA – James Maurice Barker, 45, was sentenced to six months to a year in prison at the Northampton County Prison and fined $750 for yelling, berating and threatening a Wal-Mart greeter who asked to see his receipt.

“I’m only a human being. I’m flawed, I made mistakes,” Barker said as he cried during his sentencing. “I just want to live my life.”

Barker claims he was working on an album with the Motown record label, and was visiting from the West Coast when he decided to take his two teenage sons shopping.

They drove around in a limo. Barker purchased around $1,000 worth of electronics from Wal-Mart and were taking the purchases out in a shopping cart when the store greeter approached them and asked to see the receipt.

Feeling “disrespected”, Barker started yelling and used expletives 20 to 30 times during his tirade.

After the confrontation, Barker and his sons left in the limo, which police eventually tracked down and found cocaine and a glass bong in the vehicle.

 

 LINK TO FOLLOW-UP STORY:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2011/04/man_pleads_guilty_to_yelling_a.html#incart_hbx

Day Care Worker Charged With Assaulting Children

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- Police arrested and charged a Kannapolis day care worker with assaulting children on Thursday.

 

Investigators said Whitney Belk was seen on day care surveillance video "manhandling" five different children at the Kids Korner day care in Kannapolis."

Police said they were alerted to the incidents after a parent complained.

The day care's administrator, Danielle Mauldin, told Eyewitness News the parent approached the staff last week.

"We were made aware of it, we watched the video tape and it did occur," Mauldin said.

Mauldin said Belk was immediately fired, and the day care fully cooperated with investigators.

The staff met with parents about the incident on Thursday.

One parent told Eyewitness News he was happy the day care acted so quickly, and intended to keep his son at the day care.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/27549659/detail.html

 

 

President Barack Obama said today he was not embarrassed by remarks made in Chicago and unintentionally released to the media in which he called some government workers “slugs” and said he told Republicans: “You think we’re stupid?”

The remarks, made at a Thursday night fundraiser at MK Chicago restaurant, came after reporters had been escorted from the room. But the comments were piped back to the White House press room, where a couple of reporters heard them and took notes.

The disclosure had some White House officials a bit red-faced, but when the president returned to Washington he said that his private remarks reflected what he has said in public, and that he is not embarrassed about anything he said.

Wire reports and Twitter updates of Obama's remarks show the president in casual mode, a rare thing to slip through his highly disciplined and scripted operation.

According to veteran newsman Mark Knoller, of CBS radio, Obama ridiculed GOP efforts to whittle away at health care reform “by nickel-and-diming me in the budget.”

Johnson: It has come to this: Kid arrested for playing with toy gun

Read more: Bill Johnson - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/billjohnson#ixzz1JeO78hxD

Brutality charges have been filed against a Chicago police sergeant caught on video slapping a handcuffed man -- but an attorney says the officer was justified because the suspect tried to spit on him.

“If I tried to spit on you, wouldn’t you find that offensive?” asked Robert Kuzas, who is representing Sgt. Edward Howard Jr., 48, a 24-year veteran of the police department. Howard is charged with aggravated battery and official misconduct.

The incident took place on Oct. 11, when Gregory Jeffries, 19, and two friends were arrested about 10:15 p.m. on charges of criminal trespass after walking out of a fast-food restaurant at 7904 S. Vincennes Ave., prosecutors said.

After Jeffries was handcuffed, Howard came on scene and walked up and hit Jeffries in the face three times with his open hand, prosecutors said. The final blow was strong enough to knock the man against a squad car, they said.

Jeffries suffered cuts, bruises and swelling to his face, prosecutors said. He and his mother reported the incident to the Independent Police Review Authority, and the case was referred to the state's attorney's office.

"Videotaped footage recovered from the restaurant's surveillance system corroborates both the victim and other eyewitness accounts of the defendant's abuse use of force against the handcuffed victim," the Cook County state's attorney's office said in a statement.

Shortly after the incident, Supt. Jody Weis stripped Howard and six officers of their police powers: Howard for the beating and the other officers are failing to report it.

Two of the officers were later cleared of wrongdoing after GPS proved they weren't at the scene. The two then filed a libel lawsuit against Weis, alleging they were falsely accused. Though Weis never identified Meuris and Vanna by name to the news media, he published their names in an internal communication sent to others in the Police Department, their attorney said.

Last month, Jeffries filed a federal lawsuit against the city and police officers. In it, he claimed he was hit several times by a sergeant, causing Jeffries to spit up blood.

During a bond hearing today, Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Freeman said the video shows Jeffries was “fully compliant from the beginning to the end during his detention and arrest.”

“It show that he never acts in a physically provocative manner before the defendant strikes him each time,” Freeman said.

But Kuzas said Jeffries provoked the sergeant by clearing his throat and attempting to spit at Howard.

Asked if it gave the officer had a right to react the way he did, Kuzas said, “I definitely think it does.

“I don’t care who you are, if someone is trying to spit on you, of course you have a right to defend yourself,” he said.

Kuzas said Howard has been married for 24 years and has three children, and added that his friends and family are devastated by the allegations.

“This is truly a tragedy for him,” Kuzas said after court. “This is not at all reflective of the type of human being he is, the type of man he is or the type of police officer he is.”

Howard posted a $2,000 cash bond and walked out of the Criminal Courts Building at about 1:30 p.m., flanked by several supporters.

When a TV reporter backed into a fire hydrant and fell over, Howard said, “You OK, man?” He got into a waiting silver SUV without commenting to reporters on the charges against him.

LINK TO VIDEO: 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videobeta/4fbeda68-14c3-4de6-b711-e37b885c1fd7/News/Unedited-Video-Police-Brutality-Case

LOUISVILLE  - 62 year old Mickey Nilsson of Bardstown Kentucky, finally found a way to make his tinkering hobby pay off.  Inspired by the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Nilsson transformed a collection of “junk” into a motor vehicle that does not rely on foreign oil as it’s fuel source. His car is entirely powered by Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.

“I was always a fan of Caractacus Potts (the Dick Van Dyke character) from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” said Nilsson. “He was pretty good at re-purposing junk. Always admired that”.  Nilsson had his fair share of junk too. Most of it was just rusting when last October he had a knock at his door.

“Them two knuckleheads from that TV show American Pickers (Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz) stopped by here trying to steal from me. Offering me $200 for my old still. Said I had no use for it since making moonshine was illegal. After that smart-mouthed remark, I shot at em” declared Nilsson. “Although I did sell the chubby one with the beard an old oil can for $40 before they ticked me off.”

The visit did motivate Nilsson. “After I’d run them off, I kept thinking about what they kept saying to me, ‘what are you going to do with all this stuff, you might as well sell it to us’. Well that left me pondering. Folks around these parts do a lot of pondering, so it wasn’t really nothing new for me as I ponder about something almost everyday. But this time my pondering gave me an idea, watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

Inspired and motivated by the film, Nilsson spent the next 6 months, in his workshop turning his one-time still and collection of junk into a whiskey sipping motor vehicle. “The car will run on almost any bourbon, but she really purrs on Maker’s Mark” said Nilsson.

With Maker’s Mark currently at an average selling price of $24 a fifth it’s likely most owners of the new vehicle would fill her up with Old Crow or even Old Grand Dad. Either way, it’s still a pricier fuel option, but before long it may be a bargain. Gasoline prices have been skyrocketing, jumping 50% in the past year. This week the cost for regular gas eclipsed milk and the popular Arnold Palmer Iced Tea-Lemonade beverage per gallon.

The Obama administration has recognized Nilsson’s achievement as “the type of ingenuity that makes this country great. With brilliant minds such as Mr. Nilsson at work, we will soon purge our dependence on the middle east for oil”. But they cautioned our nation still has a large number of winos so securing access to the fuel tanks on these vehicles will be essential, especially in certain urban neighborhoods.

A deal to produce a consumer version of the Nilsson concept car was brokered Wednesday with automobile manufacturer Nissan. Nissan expects to release the vehicle to the public by 2014.  Currently referred to as the Nissan Nilsson, several names are being considered for the new model. The Nissan Alky, the Lush or the sporty sounding Inebriator.

Nissan hopes to add a new feature to this model that will incorporate a breathalyzer that will actually generate a small fuel reserve for drunk drivers who run out of gas, ah um, bourbon.

Trump said he was dismayed by Obama's strong support within the African-American community.

"I know many Obama supporters," Trump said on Albany's Talk 1300 radio. "I have a great relationship with the blacks but unfortunately the \[poll\] numbers that you cite are very, very frightening numbers."

Trump also said that he loves the Tea Party and would want to run for President on the Republican ticket, but had unabashed praise for newly-elected Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"I think he is doing terrific job, setting a great example. He's doing it with style and with class and I'm very proud of him."

"I think he is doing a great job," Trump added.

Trump's threat of a presidential run has been largely built around him loudly trumpeting discredited theories about Obama's origins, but he appears to be trying to broaden his message.

"I look at the country. It's never been worse. It's run at a level that I've never seen anything like it. This is Jimmy Carter-esqe. I'm very seriously considering \[running\] and I'll make my decision sometime prior to June," he said.

Trump said he was looking forward to speaking at a Tea Party rally in Florida this weekend and said the rise of the group was a great thing for America.

"I'm big fan of the Tea Party because I really think they've provided a great service. It made people understand what is going on. It made people open their eyes," he said.

Trump tamped down reports that he would crassly use the finale of his TV show, "Celebrity Apprentice," to announce whether he would run - saying that it would violate election laws.

But his office later put out a statement hinting that he may use his show as a platform of sorts.

"On the May 22nd Season Finale of Celebrity Apprentice, Mr. Trump may announce the time and place of a press conference at which time he will make a statement as to whether or not he will run for President of the United States," the statement read.

The White House has dismissed the noise about a Trump candidacy as a "sideshow," and said he had "zero chance" of winning.

Trump insists he is Obama's worst nightmare.

"The one person they don't want to run against is me because I tell it like it is," he said.

Still, Trump continues to trumpet debunked "birther" theories about Obama being born in Kenya.

"Why doesn't he give his birth certificate? Why doesn't he show it. Why are there no records in the hospital, why does his grandmother say he was born in Kenya," he said.

Obama has made public a certificate saying he was born in a Hawaii hospital and has pointed to newspaper announcements of his birth in Honolulu newspapers as proof he was born there.

Numerous "birther" blogs have repeated the claim that Obama's grandmother said he was born in Kenya, but she says she has never said that.

Man steals judge's gavel from courtroom

April 13, 2011 3:30 PM

A man has been arrested after being caught on CCTV stealing a judge's gavel from a courtroom... meaning he could be making a quick return for contempt.

When magistrate Chris Cook recently reached for his gavel during a hearing, he realised it had disappeared and ordered a search.

But security footage soon revealed that the small mallet had been swiped the day before, right from his legal bench at Lorain Municipal Court.

While staff didn't recognise the courtroom crook, they noticed that the man with him had appeared in court that day and police were able to locate the gavel grabber.

The magistrate said that if the crook is willing and able to return the gavel, he would be a lot less inclined to bring him back in for contempt… he just loves banging that little mallet you see.