You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Crime' tag.
Purists say unpasteurized, unhomogonized (nonhomogonized?) milk is better tasting and healthier. I’ve visited homes where the milk goes from the cow to the cooler to the cereal, and I’ve always heard from my hosts that the milk is illegal.
There are laws in many places banning the sale of raw milk, and these laws are enforced.
Here’s a (somewhat biased report of a) case from Missouri:
…both the Missouri Dept. of Health and the state Attorney General (Chris Koster) have decided that prosecuting a farm family for illegally “trafficking” raw milk should be at the top of their list of priorities. The family being targeted by state officials is the Bechard family, of Armand and Teddi Bechard, and their children Joseph, Hananiah, Kazia and Katie.
The name of the cow offering the milk is reportedly “Misty.”
As the Springfield, Missouri News-Leader paper reports, “Two undercover investigators with the Springfield-Greene County Health Department allegedly caught two of the couple’s daughters on two occasions selling a gallon of milk each from a Springfield parking lot. Charges followed in municipal court.”
Have you ever had raw milk?
Former PRP High School Football Coach Jason Stinson was found not guilty in the death of 15-year-old player Max Gilpin, but the civil suit continues. Gilpin’s parents say Stinson worked the players too hard in practice on a hot day and caused Gilpin’s death.
Stinson gave his deposition last month, and it was filed on Monday. The CJ has a writeup, and there’s little new information.
…during his deposition, Stinson said he has never denied any players from getting water. And while several players told police that the Aug. 20 practice was among the hardest they’d ever attended, Stinson said that practice was “less intense” than other practices.
Stinson said he made the players run 12 wind sprints — twice across the width of the football field and back — or about 1.4 miles. But many of the players told police that they were forced to run 30 or more of the so-called “gassers” before he let them stop.
“They’re incorrect on the number of gassers than ran,” Stinson said during his deposition.
Census worker Bill Spakrman’s son doesn’t believe his father committed suicide.
“There’s not a person who knows my dad that believes for a second he committed suicide,” Josh Sparkman said Tuesday in his first interview since police ruled that William Sparkman Jr. killed himself after taking out two life insurance policies, totaling $600,000.
The younger Sparkman, 20, said he didn’t find the evidence presented by Kentucky State Police last week to be overwhelmingly compelling and he continues to believe his father was murdered, perhaps while going door to door as a part-time U.S. Census Bureau employee in Eastern Kentucky. He has asked an attorney if he can protest the findings.
State police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski declined last week to identify the policies’ beneficiaries but said they would pay out in case of homicide, but not in case of suicide or by disease like cancer.
But Josh Sparkman said this was not unusual behavior as his father — who had received chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma — had taken out several different policies over the years.
Sparkman also said he had a hard time believing his father told someone he planned to commit suicide in Clay County, as police asserted at last week’s press conference.
If you buy psuedophedrine in Kentucky, there’s a computer system that keeps track of it. If you buy too much, the computer (and, more importantly, the police) decides you’re probably making meth.
Governor Steve Beshear has touted this program’s effectiveness, and now psuedophedrine manufacturers agree. They’ve helped put together the National Precursor Log Exchange, which helps officials track purchases nationwide, if state law allows for it.
The program might help identify possible meth dealers, but LMPD Sgt. Stan Salyards told the C-J that NPLEx is just one tool, and still requires police work and officers on the street.
Steve Nunn’s former attorney Astrida Lemkins has subpoenaed the Herald-Leader to find out who posted mean comments about her.
Specifically, Lemkins wants to pursue action against user Supercalifragilistic.
Herald-Leader editor Peter Baniak said the comments in question have been removed from the site, and the user name has been blocked from Kentucky.com for violating the Web site’s terms of service.
“At this time, we are attempting to contact the commenter to see if he or she wishes to object to the subpoena and assert his or her First Amendment right to anonymous speech,” Baniak said in a statement Wednesday.
In her lawsuit, Lemkins is seeking damages of an unspecified amount, including those incurred for her pain and suffering.
Your thoughts?
Leadership Louisville is sponsoring an event aimed at finding a solution to Kentucky’s high incarceration rate.
New Zealand is a country with a population of 4.2 million-almost exactly the size of Kentucky. In the 80’s they faced a crisis in the juvenile justice system. After a process of listening to the community, the country enacted legislation in 1989 to move to a “restorative” approach to juvenile justice. The “restorative” approach is unique in that it involves victims, offenders and the community in the justice process.
Kentucky now is faced with one of the highest incarceration rates in the United States. Come hear from author Allan MacCrae, one of the leaders of the New Zealand system, as he travels half way around the world to tell the New Zealand story and to see if these lessons might be applicable to Louisville and to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
More details are available at Consuming Louisville.
Amanda Ross’s murder brought attention to a number of issues, one of which is how domestic violence data is stored and tracked in Kentucky. The Herald-Leader reports that the data isn’t really tracked.
The Administrative Office of the Courts collects information on all domestic violence court orders (36,515 last year) while the Kentucky State Police counts how many people are killed each year (205), but none of that information is connected.
“None of our computers talk to each other,” Currens said.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association tries to collect data using newspaper clippings, but newspaper stories don’t always note whether the victim had requested a protective order. Their best estimate is that the deaths of 48 women in the state since 2007 are linked to domestic violence.
At the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Violent Death Reporting System compiles information on violent deaths using death certificates, coroner and medical examiner reports, police reports, crime laboratory reports and toxicology reports. When the information is available, director Sabrina Walsh said, she includes whether a death is related to domestic violence.
The folks at WHAS worked with Federal News Radio (not affiliated with the government) to put out this update on the hanging of census worker Bill Sparkman in eastern Kentucky.
Federal News Radio’s Max Cacas was also able to sit down with OPM Director John Berry to discuss the situation.
“First and foremost, out thoughts and our condolences and our prayers go out to the family of this employee. This is a great tragedy and our thoughts are with [his] family, first and foremost. Second, is the law enforcement investigation is underway. The FBI is involved.”
Berry told Cacas that OPM takes any threat to any federal employee very seriously.
“Each and every day, federal employees have to operate in very tough environments. IRS workers enforcing tax collection. Our Customs and Border Patrol agents who deal with threats. Our, in this case, Census workers. Our court workers across the country . . . and their families regularly face threats.”
Berry said he is keeping a close eye on the situation as it develops.
“I can promise you this. I will be paying very close attention to the results of this investigation. We will be dogging it and if this is an assault on a federal employee the full force and weight of the federal government will come down on these perpetrators as hell hath no fury. By God it will not be tolerated. We will not stand for threats or violence against federal employees anywhere.”
WHAS’s Ted Werblin reports that census workers were told to be careful in that part of the state, where anti-government sentiment runs high.
Well that was quite a day. Here’s what we reported on:
