Year: 2006

Worcester police chief to Fox COPS: get out

Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme, from today’s Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

“I just believe it is in the best interest to ask ‘Cops’ to leave.”

The decision follows both a protest against the show at Worcester City Hall, and a Wednesday meeting between the Chief and community leaders.

According to Worcester Magazine’s Scott Zoback:

Apparently, no other city has seen a citizen protest mounted over the presence of the FOX TV show “Cops,” like the one held at City Hall this week, and the show is 17 years old. That’s what the FOX crew has told folks and a search of our newspaper database service appears to confirm it. We found some Portland, Ore., activists who posted angry messages on forums; and Chicago, San Francisco and Honolulu flat out refused to let the show tape in the city.

According to the Telegram:

This is only the second time a city has reversed its decision to have the show film its officers. Cincinnati officials decided against having the show in their city in 2004, according to [“Cops” creator John Langley]. The “Cops” crew went back after the officials changed their minds, he said.

“Maybe Worcester will change its mind,” he said. “We’ll be happy to film there.”

And here is Buck Paxton’s take.

Man, it’s tough blogging about Worcester from South Bend.

[Part of this blog entry was removed after I realized I was misreading a statement in the T&G.]

From the annals of parallel invention: In the Worcesteria referenced above, Scott Zoback ran an item about Gary Rosen’s rat resolution titled “Rat Attack,” a couple days after I ran an item about the same resolution titled “Rat Attack!”

Yet another reason to oppose the death penalty

It prevents the prosecution of other crimes the condemned has committed, potentially leaving murders unsolved. The case of William Bradford has been in the news a lot lately in Southern California, because investigators are trying to determine if any of the unidentified women he photographed may have also been killed.

From the article:

Even Bradford hinted at other victims after he fired his lawyers and gave his own closing argument:

“Think of how many you don’t even know about,” he told jurors.

That turns the tables against the “closure” argument for capital punishment.

Update: Thank God, it appears that most of the women in the photos are alive and well. But at least one isn’t. And since Bradford hasn’t been executed, he can be questioned about the case.

Chicago enacts living-wage ordinance

Here’s the article.

It only applies to employers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of 90,000 square feet or more. It’s aimed at Wal-Mart, but I’m not sure who else would fall into that category; the article doesn’t say if it actually applies to any existing businesses in the city.

The wage under this ordinance is $10.00, plus $3.00 in fringe benefits. Much better than minimum wage, but still under the $15.00 (under the table, presumably) that day-laborers in Agoura Hills, California are getting.

Also, of course, it only applies within the city limits; the article notes that Wal-Mart recently opened a store just outside the boundary of the city.

Incidentally, I had no idea Chicago had 50 people on its City Council. Wow!

Items

Flickr: Photos of San Francisco’s homeless. Less dramatic: my South Bend photo stream.

COPS: The TV show “COPS” has been taping in Worcester, and reports are flooding in that the taping has had a major impact on the behavior of the local police. Indymedia is covering some of the opposition to this foolishness. Buck Paxton shares the concern, but writes:

I’m not a big protest guy preferring instead to take down my adversaries with tried and true methods such as kidnapping, torture and assassination.

Worcester: Today the Telegram notes that over-the-counter needle sales are now legal in Massachusetts, and that Worcester City Councilor Barbara Haller opposes this move.

Los Angeles: P&C friend Julia Scott is now writing for the LA Daily News.

St. Joseph County Public Library CardSouth Bend Library: I have a “temporary” St. Joseph County Public Library card. I am told that the policy here is for people living in known homeless shelters to be limited to checking out 2 books. The Catholic Worker residences in South Bend are relatively new, and I haven’t checked to see if they’re on the “you are a bunch of lying thieves” list.

As of today, the library computers are banned from contacting BoingBoing because Smartfilter considers it to be “nudity.” Smartfilter is stupid, stupid, stupid. For now, I’ll be reading BB with a web-based RSS reader. Google’s cached version of “BOING BOING’S GUIDE TO DEFEATING CENSORWARE” pointed me to http://boingboing.hexten.net/, which seems to have solved this problem.

Speaking of which, might as well link to their post on the 95 Theses of Geek Activism.

Censorware at the St. Joseph County Public Library

Mennonite Tour de France champ

New Tour de France champion Floyd Landis was raised in a conservative Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, though he left the church at the age of 17. Here’s the article. And a quote:

One of Martindale’s pastors, David Sensenig, said recognition of individual accomplishment is frowned on in Mennonite faith. Nevertheless, he said Floyd Landis was still the talk of the congregation.

“Winning the race isn’t the big deal,” Sensenig said. “It’s what he does with the results, with the fame and fortune. He can use his influence for the betterment of the church, of Christ.”

Paul Landis said he sees the victory as a chance to spread the Gospels and looks forward to meeting people he never otherwise would have met.

“I want to hear their victories and their sorrows, and we can encourage each other,” he said.

I’ve always admired the faith of the Amish and the Mennonites, but doesn’t this point out something of a paradox with insular communities— publicizing the church is only possible for people who leave it?

Laissez Les Bon Temps Hoosier!

I’m at the South Bend Catholic Worker.

The community here occupies a rectory and two houses. There are a handful of guests (homeless and otherwise) and one or two Catholic Workers in each building.

The South Bend Tribune happens to have interviewed a couple of the Catholic Workers for an article in today’s paper about Deus Caritas Est:

There is a difference, [Mike Baxter] says, between “bourgeois do-goodiness” and truly seeking to “love thy neighbor.” When striving toward the latter, “you end up wanting and having to rearrange your life.”

Among other news I can share, seeing as it’s blogged elsewhere, Ms. Brenna Cussen is back from giving some talks at the Ekklesia Project, where her presentation was one of the “highlights.”


Mike Baxter and Brenna Cussen. South Bend Tribune photo/Su Anderson.