Edition 10-21-03

 


Five men associated with the Hells Angels must be provided with a computer and VCR to view Crown evidence, a Queens Bench Justice has ruled.

In her ruling released yesterday, Justice Holly Beard wrote the five are entitled to use a computer with CD-ROM capacity while in custody awaiting trial. The Crown must also supply the men with a VCR to view security tapes from a 7-Eleven store they are accused of firebombing.

"The accused are facing very serious charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, arson, witness intimidation and the unlawful use of a firearm," wrote Beard. "Principles such as punishment, deterrence and denunciation relate to sentencing and apply only after conviction. They do not play any role in the determination and the pre-trail rights of the accused, such as the right to full disclosure from the crown, the right to counsel, the right to make full answer and the defence and the right to a fair trial."

Beard also wrote: "courts must be vigilant in ensuring that each accused receives a fair trial, beginning at the very earliest pre-trial stage."

The Crown will not have to disclose the videotaped statements or the identity of an unnamed witness until an immunity and protection agreement is in place, wrote Beard. The witness is believed to be Roberto Coquette who was a co-accused until he entered the witness protection program in exchange for his testimony in several cases. The Crown may also withhold the identity of other unnamed witnesses until pre-trial motions. If the Crown does not proceed with a motion, the names must be turned over to the accused, ruled Beard.

The five are defending themselves since prospective lawyers declined an all-inclusive offer of $2.4-million.

 

 Members of the Sons of Silence motorcycle club filed a lawsuit Friday alleging Aurora police officers subjected them to harassment and intimidation during traffic stops.

The eight men say officers did not have legitimate reasons for pulling them over after a Halloween party last year, according to a suit filed in U.S. District Court.

The suit says the stops were made to gather information for a database of criminal intelligence files, allegedly compiled by police about motorcycle clubs and their members.

A police spokeswoman declined comment.

During the stops, the men were asked where they had been or where they were going, but tickets were not issued, the lawsuit said. In one stop, a ticket with no violation was allegedly given. In another, a man was questioned about his tattoos and asked, in front of his wife and children, if marijuana was in his truck, the lawsuit said.

The suit said the actions violated the men's rights and the surveillance files threatened free speech, assembly and other constitutional rights.

Two officers were named in the suit, along with the Aurora Police Department and the city of Aurora. City spokeswoman Kim Stuart Abell said city officials had not seen the suit and could not comment.

10-21-03 Larry Lee Ballard, alleged associate of the Outlaws MC sent to a federal prison in Kentucky to serve ten years on methamphetamine charges is now wanted for escaped.

Ballard was convicted in Federal Court in Indianapolis, Indiana for conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamine in February 2003. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and sent to the Federal Prison in Manchester, Kentucky. On October 3, 2003, between the hours of 9 p.m. and 12 a.m., Ballard escaped from the prison in Manchester.

 

This story happened about a month ago in a little town in Louisiana, and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's real. Read to the end.
This guy was on the side of the road hitch hiking on a very dark night in the middle of a storm. The night passed slowly, and no cars went by.  The storm was so strong he could hardly see a few feet ahead of him.
Suddenly, he saw a car slowly looming, ghostlike, out of the gloom.  It slowly crept toward him and stopped.  Reflexively, the guy jumped into the car and closed the door, then realized that there was nobody behind the wheel.
The car slowly started moving again. The guy was terrified, too scared to think of jumping out and running.  He saw that the car was slowly approaching a sharp curve, and he started to pray, begging for his life; he was sure the ghost car would go off the road and he would plunge to his death, when just before the curve, a hand appeared thru the window and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend.
Paralyzed with terror, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally, the guy gathered his wits and leaped from the car and ran to the nearest town.  Wet and in shock, he went into a bar and voice quavering, ordered two shots of tequila, and told everybody about his horrible, supernatural experience.
A silence enveloped everybody when they realized the guy was apparently sane and not drunk.
About half an hour later two Cajuns walked into the same bar. One says to the other, "Look, Boudreaux, that's dat idiot that rode in our car when we was pushin it in the rain."

Subject: Cows-new version


DEMOCRAT
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
You feel guilty for being successful.
Barbara Streisand sings for you.

COMMUNIST
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for themilk, and then pours the milk down the drain.

FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
You go to lunch and drink wine.
Life is good.

JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and
produce twenty times the milk.
They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains.
Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

 REPUBLICAN
You have two cows.
Your neighbor has none.
So?
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

SOCIALIST
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.

CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.

DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE
You have two cows.
The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man
in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your
government.

AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself and do an IPO on the 2nd one.
You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised
when one cow drops dead.
You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have downsized and are
reducing expenses.
Your stock goes up.
The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified was to poke someone's eye out. PITTSBURGH, Oct 21, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Kevin Patterson, sponsored by Spirit Harley-Davidson in Glenshaw, PA, recently won the track Championship at Pittsburgh Raceway Park. With the win, Patterson qualifies for a major event-- "The Race of Champions" on November 1st, at the Summit Classic at Norwalk. To qualify for this event you must win a track championship. Patterson will be one of a few bikes up against dragsters and an array of top, modified and street car champions from around region.

"This is a really prestigious event in the IHRA, and I am thrilled to participate and represent both Spirit Harley-Davidson and the Pittsburgh Raceway Park in the competition," said Patterson. "We will have the opportunity to run against some of the best racers from tracks around the country and it will be great to do it on a Harley-Davidson V-Rod."



Word of the Day

sententious \sen-TEN-shuss\ adjective

1 : given to or abounding in aphoristic expression or excessive moralizing
*2 : terse, aphoristic, or moralistic in expression
Example sentence:
When her date launched into a sententious monologue on "the deplorable decline of Western culture," Meg wrote him off as an insufferable bore.
Did you know?
Nowadays, "sententious" is usually uncomplimentary, implying banality, oversimplification, and excessive moralizing. But that hasn't always been the case, nor is it universally so even now. The original Middle English sense of "sententious" was "full of meaning," a sense adopted from Latin "sententiosus" (from "sententia," meaning "sentence" or "maxim"). In Modern English, too, "sententious" has sometimes referred to what is full of significance and expressed tersely. Or sometimes "sententious" simply suggests an affinity for aphorisms, as when it refers to the likes of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard (of almanac fame), the homespun philosopher given to such statements as "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
http://www.merriam-webster.com/map_new.htm