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#MoralMonday: Transparency Fail by Wake Sheriff, Courts

I’ve been tracking the arrests at Moral Monday for the last month and had no problem accessing the once public records of the arrests, that is up until last week. The Wake County Sheriff site has stopped making the records of these arrests public information.

Transparency!

Huge hat tip to Civitas:

Let’s say you’re an ordinary citizen and you trespass on someone’s property. You come back the next day anyway. You get arrested again, and this time you’re charged with contempt. Wait – what’s that? You’re the Rev. William Barber? Never mind. Please, come inside.

The legal situation surrounding weekly protests at the Legislative Building in Raleigh is growing murkier. If you’ve been following the coverage of “Moral Mondays,” you may have heard the term “civil disobedience” being tossed around. It’s an evocative word: it hearkens to mind the courage of Henry David Thoreau, who willingly consigned himself to prison rather than support a war of aggression in Mexico. It summons images of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., braving the fire hoses and police dogs in Alabama. You might think that the protesters arrested these past weeks at “Moral Mondays” have been braving some of the same hardships.

Nope.

Protesters who are arrested do not spend any time in incarceration. Most of them are cuffed with plastic flexi-cuffs instead of metal handcuffs. They get supportive hugs from General Assembly police officers.  The NAACP provides free lawyers to anyone arrested, and the protesters are home by midnight. Oh, and they get souvenirs, too.

Apparently some people in the criminal justice system think that this is still too onerous a process. Colin Willoughby, the Wake County District Attorney, told Civitas that he suggested to police that it “might be appropriate to issue citations” to demonstrators instead of arresting them. In other words, protesters could get a ticket and a fine instead of being charged with a misdemeanor. And Sam Higdon, the assistant director of the Wake County detention center, told us that it was recently “agreed that the CCBI [City-County Bureau of Identification] would not process them.” This, despite the fact that the CCBI has processed all of the demonstrators previously arrested. According to General Assembly Police Chief Jeff Weaver: “The CCBI director, Sam Pennica, stated his budget would not allow him to have additional personnel on site for any more of these arrests.”

Now that the CCBI is out of the loop, arrest reports are no longer readily accessible to the public through the online Wake County Police to Citizen (P2C) portal. Farewell, transparency.

Read the whole thing.

They’ve been careful not to have repeats in arrests. For the data I collected up until last week, no one had been arrested twice. Now that we can’t see the data, who knows? This works out well for the NAACP who has barely been able to scrape together a few hundred to show up each week. Now they can recycle their arrest volunteers without the prying eyes of the tax paying public who is paying the bill for their arrests and as Civitas points out, little is likely to happen to them.

I am sure WRAL will get right on this miscarriage of justice, transparency failure and abuse of tax payer money.

What should also strike most people is the lack luster attendance, save for the week of June 3rd where Rev. Barber’s pal Gresham of the NY SEIU 1199 showed up with his astroturf. They managed to get around 1,000 estimated attendees that day. Quite a jump from the two to three hundred regulars.  Think about it, the General Assembly is flanked by state buildings filled with thousands of workers and yet none of them seem to be joining in. That’s a pretty strong statement.

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#MoralMonday : June 10 Arrests Edition

The records are taking their sweet time being loaded at the Wake County Sheriff’s site. I’m not linking to every record this time as the WCS site won’t let you permanently link to records. Those curious about the number of clergy, Liberal university professors, the unemployed/retired,  in other other words mainly older White Liberals, being arrested can do their own search at WCS. It’s worth noting that, so far, no one has been arrested twice. Given the local population attendance, they’re going to have to double up soon.

Here are the 5 names listed thus far for June 10th by WCS below. When more are posted I will update.

Records at WakeMugs.com had the mug shots for 4 of the 5 up:

As if Moral Monday’s weren’t enough, we now also had a ‘Witness Wednesday’ this week. I was actually nearby when they started to form their group, having just attended the Stop Common Core event — where we talked to dozens of legislators like adults and resulted in zero arrests. Go figure.

Well Witless Witness Wednesday had a ‘handful’ of arrests too. WCS only has one name up right now:

This was supposed to be a protest commemorating the assassination of Medgar Evers yet it was turned into some kind of social justice circus by the NAACP and the AFL-CIO. WRAL falls all over itself to report:

Raleigh, N.C. — After weeks of Monday protests in which dozens of people were arrested at the General Assembly, a Wednesday afternoon protest ended with only eight people taken away by police.

The “Witness Wednesday” event coincided with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of NAACP activist Medgar Evers outside his Jackson, Miss., home.

The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP led the protest, which included the same criticism of Republican-backed legislation, from slashing unemployment benefits to using state money to provide vouchers for some students to attend private schools, that has marked the weekly “Moral Monday” protests.

“The Holy Scriptures declare that, when we stand for righteousness, when we heed the call to do what is right, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses of those who died – or suffered and died – who have gone on but now sit in glory, and they cheer us on,” said Rev. William Barber, state NAACP president.

“It is the great witness of those who died before us and who fought before us that is the ultimate critique on the immoral and extreme legislation coming out of this General Assembly and out of the Governor’s Office,” Barber said. “When you attack poor people, when you attack voting rights, when you attack the most vulnerable, that’s wrong. Their blood speaks.”

Dear Rev. Barber: Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and what is God’s to God. Do not confuse the two. 

I mentioned the AFL-CIO, here’s the relevant portion:

I’d credit WRAL with quoting the AFL-CIO, but her quote furthers their ‘shame’ tactics and clearly lined up with the narrative they wanted for the article which is Shame!!!!! Here’s the AFL-CIO quote:

Thousands of residents statewide will lose their extended jobless benefits on July 1 because of the overhaul to North Carolina’s unemployment system.

“The reason that 170,000 families will lose their lifeline is that our governor and this legislature had no compassion at all for the unemployed,” McMillan said, leading the crowd to chant “shame, shame, shame.”

Wait, 170,000? If WRAL is talking about the long-term extended and re-extended unemployment benefits, that number is 70,000. The 170,000 number is an estimate of possible losses, not current ones. Shame on you, WRAL for misleading yet again.

Charlotte Observer:

Unemployment insurance payments to more than 70,000 North Carolinians are set to run out in four weeks, one result of an overhaul in North Carolina’s unemployment system that takes effect on June 30.

And:

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 170,000 people in North Carolina could ultimately lose extended federal benefits for which they otherwise would have qualified.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate in April was 8.9 percent, the fifth-highest in the U.S. In Mecklenburg County, with an 8.5 percent unemployment rate, the state said 42,575 people were unemployed in April. That figure doesn’t include people who’ve stopped looking for work.

Prolonged high unemployment has drained the system. It cannot go on forever paying out, that’s a hard thing to swallow but it is a mathematical fact. I feel for those who have been out of work for a year or more, but by the same token do they really believe their benefits can go on indefinitely?

Bev Perdue signed extensions to keep unemployment checks flowing, meanwhile more people signed up and more dropped out of the workforce. She built an expectation that was unsustainable. All of this was done with a $4.7 Billion budget shortfall partly inherited from her fellow Democrat predecessor, Perdue ramming $1.5 in Obamaesque tax hikes down the throats of North Carolinians and her jobs project was a joke. Perdue was also a big, big fan of Obamacare. Small wonder the voters flipped the entire legislature.

What gets me about these ‘Moral’ protests is that Perdue chopped more from the budget, furloughed more folks and cut salaries more than the legislature did — yet no signature protests arose then. I maintain yet again, this not about any one issue. This is about the loss of control.

Back to the protesting…

Look, I get the whole civil disobedience thing to make a statement, but the statement these days isn’t look at our cause, it’s: LOOK AT ME! GIVE ME PRESS.  The practice has been beaten to death and abused for every issue under the Sun; few of which have held a candle to some of the more memorable and historic acts of civil disobedience.  Just look at Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman. A public official arrested 12 times for protesting.  Is she spending more time doing her job or out throwing a fit on sidewalks?

FOX 8, emphasis added:

RALEIGH, N.C. — Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman was arrested Wednesday at the North Carolina General Assembly during the N.C. chapter of the NAACP’s “Witness Wednesday” event.

The Witness Wednesday event was a follow-up to the NAACP’s regular Moral Monday protests.

“They’ve done so many things. It’s just almost difficult to talk all about them. Everyday there’s another negative piece coming out of the General Assembly,” said Commissioner Coleman.

Coleman says she attended a press conference, a rally and then went into the General Assembly singing and holding signs with a group.

“After we sang for a while, the chief of police approached us, and said we had five minutes to leave, and if we didn’t we would be arrested. He waited his five minutes came back told us we had to leave or else he was going to arrest us,” explained Coleman.

Coleman was the first of eight people arrested during Wednesday’s protest. She has been arrested a total of 12 times for protesting.

“It does send a message to the members of the General Assembly, whether they like it or not. They have to hear what we are saying,” she said.

Coleman says the police treated her well.

Her court date is set for October.

Ms. Coleman, how about you try making an appointment to talk to them? You are a public official too, are you not?  It worked for the average citizens of this state yesterday.

 

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#StopCommonCore Raleigh Event A Big Success!

Today at the NC State Legislature, advocates to Stop Common Core came together and made the rounds to talk to legislators about their concerns.  Moms, Dads, Grandmothers, Grandfathers and just concerned citizens with no children of their own or with grown children all showed up. It was great to see so many faces from all walks of life and ages, including some children in tow — like my own — come out to take a stand.

FreedomWorks helped organize the event and broke us into groups to go and have talks with various representatives. Each group had at least 10 people in it and there were over at least 10 groups. Not a bad start!  The tone was respectful and the conversations constructive. Many of our concerns were already on the radar of the representatives.  We made certain that the Common Core Study Bill was a MUST DO for each of them.

Here are a few snapshots from the event:

We also saw Governor Pat McCrory — he was very engaged in his call and didn’t stop to speak with us. My kids were a bit disappointed, Governor. As a taxpayer, I understood you were busy but even a quick acknowledgement would have been nice.  Consider this a warning shot — Common Core is not going away and neither are we. Deal with us or don’t at your own political peril.

We weren’t the only ones at the NCGA today. The Durham Democratic Women were out in force … if one can call about half a dozen to be a force. They had signs ranging from  ‘Don’t frack with my water’ to signs about cutting pre-k funding and there were, of course, ‘let women choose’ regarding contraception and abortion. Quite a smorgasboard. The camera crews were milling about and none of them seemed interested in filming this poor ladies.

Don’t take my word for it, here are the pictures:

Yes, that was all of them.

She was really excited I was taking her picture. Probably not so excited I think her signs are vague and ham handed.

So, there’s the big difference — Stop Common Core got organized and took the concerns we had right to the representatives while the Democrats sat outside waving a variety of signs with no single main message.

Oh , I’ll also add that no one from our group was arrested. Ahem.

 

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Ricin Letters Update: Dutschke Trial Date Set

The trial for James Dutschke, the Tupelo man accused of sending Ricin laced letters to Senator Wicker, a local judge Sadie Holland and President Obama, has had his trial date set for July 29th, 2013. The trial will be held in Aberdeen with Judge Aycock presiding.

Djournal has more:

ABERDEEN – A federal judge set a July 29 trial start for the Tupelo man accused of mailing poison-laden letters to President Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and Lee County Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.

Dutschke’s attorney, federal public defenders George Lucas, also invites prosecutors to discuss a plea deal for the former martial arts instructor, who insists he is innocent of the charges.

Defense attorneys typically seek a deal for lesser charges against their clients in exchange for a guilty plea to avoid going to trial.

In his June 10 letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lucas tells the government attorneys, though, that he “cannot ethically” advise Dutschke to waive his right to appeal a possible sentence or conviction, which is fairly standard in Northern District deals.

He asks them to omit any such language from any plea proposal. “I do not believe a defendant can knowingly waive the right to challenge a sentence imposed illegally or in violation of law,” Lucas writes in a five-page letter requesting what’s called “discovery,” which is information unfavorable or favorable gathered thus far by investigators and about witnesses and grand jury testimony in the case.

No updates in the Texas Ricin Case involving actress Shannon Guess.

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