DETROIT –Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has filed felony charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, accusing both of perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office, charges that could send both to prison in connection with the text-message scandal.
“Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people’s lives were ruined, the justice system was severely mocked and the public trust trampled on,” Worthy said. “This is as far from being a private matter as one can get.”
She expects the mayor and Beatty to turn themselves in by 7 a.m. Tuesday for arraignment in 36th District Court.
I wish they could also charge Kwame with felony hubris. The level of sheer contempt for the people of Detroit and the law it takes to get to a point like this is just mind boggling.
As I type this, I’m waiting for the mayor to give his press conference. His arrogance and failure to act like a decent human being are still in evidence as he is having his staff exclude reporters that have been active in reporting this case from the press room.
Ah, it’s starting. Kwame is having his lawyer do the talking. What a bunch of shit. No apologies, no responsibility. Blame throwing and denial. They will not discuss the case with the press.
No resignation. It is beyond ridiculous that they are playing the victim card at this point.
Here comes the mayor.
Kwame is “deeply disappointed in the prosecutor.” This is a “flawed process.” “I will be exonerated.” Blah, blah blah. “Full and complete vindication.”
Kwame is going to drag the City of Detroit down with him.
Bumped: I posted this on January 30th, but Kwame is now getting well earned national attention for his “indiscretions” — this deserves another look.
Heh, for those outside of Michigan, the “Gangsta Mayor” is in trouble again. This time for lying in court about an affair with his chief of staff during a lawsuit brought by former police officers who were fired for having the gall to try to investigate wrong doing by the Mayor and his staff. The City of Detroit had to settle for several million dollars. Kwame didn’t think anyone would ever find out about the text messages that he sent on his city issued cell phone to his paramour about getting rid of the officers and how she has a sweet, sweet booty.
PONTIAC — Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian is planning a run for Congress.
Kevorkian was released from prison last year and remains on parole. But the 79-year-old told The Oakland Press for an article published Wednesday that he plans to run for office as a candidate with no party affiliation.
“We need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington,” Kevorkian said.
He said he would say more about his candidacy next week.
Kevorkian lives in Oakland County and the 9th District. That’s a seat now held by Republican Joe Knollenberg. Democrat Gary Peters also is among those planning to run for the seat.
Unfortunately, I no longer live in the 9th, having moved into Sander Levin’s district a couple of years ago. I’m not a huge Knollenberg fan, but I would gladly pull the lever for him to offset the goofballs and Ron Paul supporters that will go ga ga for Dr. Death.
Exit question, can convicted felons run for congress? I know, it’s probably a prerequisite these days, but seriously?
I went to the polls today — and had to show a valid ID before I could vote. Excellent.
Voter fraud in Michigan, more exactly, in Detroit, has been rampant in past elections.
The law requiring that voters be required to present a picture ID or sign an affidavit before voting was passed in 1996. Because of interference by the ACLU and NAACP, it wasn’t until July of this year that Michigan Supreme Court decided that the law was constitutional.
Predictably, against all outward appearances of no problems whatsoever, the NAACP had this to say:
DETROIT — Officials from the Detroit Branch NAACP monitoring voting this morning say the process is “messy” because of the new photo identification requirement.
Melvin “Butch” Hollowell, general counsel to the Detroit NAACP, said there was one report of a voter being turned away in the city for not having an ID. He didn’t have any more specifics and was investigating.
He also said there has been confusion in the Detroit City Clerk’s Office over which affidavits to give to voters when they don’t have a photo ID. He said that one of the NAACP monitors witnessed a voter instead being given an affidavit for a provisional ballot that is set aside for six days until a voter can prove his or her identity.
One report is “messy?” Give me a break.
But clerk officials said that there have been no problems with election workers giving out the wrong affidavits.
“There has been no confusion,” said Daniel Baxter, director of the Department of Elections.
In July, the Michigan Supreme Court decided that a 1996 law requiring voters to either show a picture ID or sign an affidavit is constitutional and enforceable.
Voters need a Michigan driver’s license, state-issued personal ID card or other acceptable form of ID. Those without photo ID at the polls must sign an affidavit attesting to that fact before they can receive a ballot that will be counted with all others.
Elsewhere, elections officials reported few problems with the launch of the ID requirement.
Secretary of State spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said Michigan election workers reported that “the process has been smooth and orderly.”
Chesterfield Township Clerk Kelly Jo Smolarek has experienced no problems today with the new voter identification law.
“Everyone has been very receptive,” Smolarek said. “We have not had one negative comment. In fact, some people are saying it is about time.”
I’m still trying to line up my invite to actually get inside for tomorrow’s presidential debate in Dearborn. Being a past McCain and current Fred! supporter does not ingrain you with the party here in the land of Mitt. I like Mitt a lot — I just like Fred! better, for now.
However, if you live in SE Michigan and want to meet some other Fred! supporters, I received this by email today:
I’d like to invite you to join me and other Fred Thompson supporters in Southeast Michigan for a Pre-Debate Rally in Dearborn next Tuesday, October 9th to show our support for Senator Thompson!
Cheer on Fred Thompson at the Dearborn Debate!!
Tuesday, October 9th
1:00 PM
Outside the Dearborn Police Department
16099 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI
With the recent strong poll numbers in the state, it is obvious that Michigan voters are looking for a strong, consistent conservative leader like Senator Thompson. This is an excellent opportunity to bring your friends and show the country that Michigan is Fred Thompson Country!
Romney’s folks sent an invite to a debate watching function and post party with Mitt. It would be interesting, but I think I’d feel a bit guilty scarfing down their food and drink while cheering for Fred!.
Though, if Fred! doesn’t knock it out of the park in the debate — Mitt might be the guy. Fred!’s gotta add some substance to all of the rhetoric. Expectations are pretty high, it’s time to meet a few of them.
LIVONIA — A freakishly massive water main break stranded motorists atop cars Thursday, closed I-96 for hours and prompted water shortage worries in the western suburbs.
‘It came like a geyser’
It started when a crack appeared in the main along the eastbound I-96 service drive, Schoolcraft Road. The pipe is reinforced with steel and concrete, but burst just 1½ miles away in 2003, said Terrence King, assistant director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
Pumping at 120 pounds per square inch, the water blew a 15-by-15-foot hole in the service drive, sending a fast-moving waterfall onto eastbound Interstate 96. Within 90 minutes, both directions of the interstate were closed.
“It started to bleed up from the ground,” said Tim Richards, a water and sewer supervisor for Livonia.
“The concrete buckled, and it came up like a geyser — 3 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet in diameter. The water came cascading down onto the freeway within minutes. It was deep enough that cars couldn’t drive and the freeway was completely inundated within a half hour.”
Passer-by Jordan Gray, 18, of Livonia witnessed the chaos from Schoolcraft and Middle Belt.
“I saw water seeping through the cracks in the barrier and there was a Jeep, Pontiac and a Saturn stuck in the water,” he said. “All you could see of that Saturn was the roof of the car.”
King maintained that crews erected cones and other barriers that stranded motorists ignored.
“These people were determined to go around the barricades and went into the water,” he said
COLDWATER - Nearly nine years after Jack Kevorkian last challenged medical convention, taunted legal authorities and sought to rewrite the rules on assisted suicide, he walked out of prison quietly this morning.
Looking more gaunt than in the 1990s when he gained international fame as “Dr. Death,” Kevorkian climbed into a car with his lawyer, Mayer Morganroth, and quickly left the Lakeland Correctional Facility to begin two years of supervised release. It was a low-key start for a man whose theatrics and sharp rhetoric once commanded attention to the nation’s death-rights movement.
Well, almost home.
The Doc lives only a mile or two from me. I used to live a couple of blocks from the hospital parking lot where Dr. Demento used to dump his bodies. After that he started leaving them in random hotel rooms around town for unsuspecting cleaning staff to find.
I’ve since moved the next small suburb over. But, if Death Boy decides to start scattering corpses again — I’m sure I’ll be within smelling distance.
Kevorkian also spawned local idiot extraordinaire, lawyer Geoff Fieger, who has since entertained us by losing by the widest margin ever in a Michigan gubernatorial race. He’s a sleazy clown — no surprise that the Michigan dem’s would look to him as their messiah.
I don’t have a problem with the terminally ill finding a dignified and painless way to die peacefully. I’ve watched people that I love die the long way. There’s nothing dignified about it and no one deserves to go through that much pain.
Kevorkian, however, seemed to revel in the ghoulish way he exploited the deaths of his “victims” in order to push his cause.
I, for one, hope that he has the decency to remain “retired”.
A robbery and crime spree aided by an unloaded gun came to a halt late Thursday when the gunman met more than his match: a gun with bullets.
Charles Parker Jr., 18, of Detroit was killed when a 53-year-old man pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot the teen, who was armed with an unloaded .22-caliber handgun.
Detroit police are calling it self-defense.
The botched carjacking on Grand River and Prevost came after a string of robberies in Detroit on Thursday, which police said were committed by Parker and four others, ranging in age from 16 to 20.
The robberies began about 8:40 p.m. Thursday at Kentucky and Curtis when a 16-year-old was robbed of his cell phone, a silver chain and his wallet, by at least two of the suspects, police said.
At 9:30 p.m., the robbers attempted to carjack a couple in the driveway of their home in the 19600 block of Appoline, police said. One pointed the unloaded gun at the couple and pulled the trigger.
The teens fled without the car.
Later, police said, the robbers saw a man at a Detroit car wash and tried to carjack him. The one approached with the unloaded gun and the other wielded a baseball bat, police said.
That’s when the man washing his car fired, striking Parker.
Parker’s alleged accomplices took him to Sinai-Grace Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
After the shooting, police questioned the 53-year-old man and released him, noting that he had a valid concealed weapons permit.
Then they gave him back his gun.
It’s worth noting that this was reported in the Free Press which is Detroit’s ultra-liberal counterpart to the more conservative Detroit News. Nary a gun grabbing gibe or blame for the gun toting victim in sight.
LANSING — A state elections official testified today that the failure by Detroit Representative George Cushingberry to file his campaign finance reports on time in 2004 prevented his office from doing its job.
Analyst Peter Allegrina said delays in required campaign finance reports prevent the bureau from informing voters about a candidate’s sources of campaign funding.
Allegrina said if the reports are not filed the bureau also is not able to determine whether a candidate received campaign contributions exceeding limits under state law.
Cushingberry, a Democrat, is on trial in Ingham County Circuit Court. He’s charged with failing to file campaign finance reports in 2004, when he was elected to the legislature, and signing two affidavits that falsely stated he had filed the reports.
The most serious charges are felonies carrying penalties up to five years in prison and/or $1,000 fine.
If Cushingberry is found guilty it also could affect his ability to serve in the state legislature.
House members can expel a lawmaker who has been found guilty of a felony that constitutes a breach of public trust.
This version of the story leaves out some of the more interesting facts.
Cushingberry is the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
He didn’t file ANY of the required disclosure statements in the year of his first election. He ignored over two dozen Election Bureau notices. He has failed to pay the fines resulting from not filing or filing late.
Democrat House members knew about the impending trial. So,what did they do about it? They made him chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. A man who neglected to file financial disclosure statements to a criminal level — let’s put him in charge of the committee that controls the state’s purse strings. It makes so much sense now that I think of it.
Not.
The Michigan constitution states that anyone convicted of a felony that amounts to a breach of public trust is disqualified from serving in the legislature. How much do you want to bet that House Democrats will fight tooth and nail to keep Cushingberry if he is convicted?
But, that’s business as usual in the Michigan Democrat Party. Cronyism and payoffs are just a normal part of a days work for the party of Granholm and the UAW.
The party of iPods and tax increases. What will they think of next?
Cushingberry for Attorney General wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
This is interesting. The ACLU is suing the town that I live in. They say that anti-war protestors rights have been violated because a few if them have been ticketed by the local police for causing a disturbance when they picket.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today against the city of Ferndale and its “no honking” policy for demonstrators.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges the city has arrested protesters who hold signs encouraging motorists to honk their horns as a sign of support. The city also has ticketed motorists who respond to the sign by honking, the lawsuit alleges.
“Holding up ‘honk’ signs and honking in support of sidewalk protests is a time-honored tradition that should be respected by Ferndale,” said Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, in a news release.
“To censor the political speech of these protesters is to violate a fundamental right that has defined our society.”
A time honored tradition, huh? Where, Berkeley?
I drive by these losers every Monday and give them the old one finger salute. What the article is leaving out is the behavior of these “peace” protestors. Woodward Avenue is eight lanes wide at Nine Mile and has a large median running down the middle of it. For a couple of years, the protestors would cross Woodward and then block traffic for thirty seconds or so after the light had changed as they wobbled their way across the street, taking their time to make sure that they blocked as many people as possible on their way home during rush hour.
The cops told them to stop. They wouldn’t, so they got ticketed. After that, they would cross and then stop in the median waving signs at traffic from both sides of the road causing a mess as people tried to make sure that they didn’t get hippie juice on their cars by accidentally hitting one of the stragglers.
Again, it caused traffic backups during rush hour. One, where I was rear ended by some little old lady who was honking her support for the scum bags. Her loss, as I drive a big Dodge SUV. She didn’t seem to have any remorse or care that she ran into someone while honking for hippies. I let her go, but called the police to complain about the situation. They came out and chased the patchouli odored group back to the side of the street. Several hippies created a big fuss and their signs were taken and they were ticketed.
I really hope that I played some small part in bringing this to a head.
The ACLU has no chance in this one. Ferndale is the most tolerant suburb in the Detroit area. There is a large gay and lesbian community — their new community center downtown was just completed. It is an area of many art galleries and small shops and restaurants. Coffee houses and an actual tea shop for flower children to get their daily potion. In other words, not an area that shuts down freedom of expression or is foreign to tolerating the views of a wide range of different groups that run a little outside of the social norm.
Ferndale’s side was not told in the article. Big surprise.
The protestors were ticketed for repeatedly causing a disturbance and then when warned, to blatently ignore police requests to stop blocking traffic.
This has been going on for a while. For the past several months the hippie crowd has stayed on one corner, I’m guessing until this lawsuit came out.
They are a sad little group. Aging hipsters, young malcontents, a few fake veterans (guy had USMC and Army logos and didn’t know his rank) and a couple of angry, militant lesbians.
They’re gonna lose the lawsuit if Ferndale doesn’t buckle under.
I hope these folks keep up their little protest. They do a great job of showing the people driving by what kind of weirdos are behind the anti-troops movement.
With bidding stalled on some of the least desirable residences in Detroit’s collapsing housing market, even the fast-talking auctioneer was feeling the stress.
“Folks, the ground underneath the house goes with it. You do know that, right?” he offered.
After selling house after house in the Motor City for less than the $29,000 it costs to buy the average new car, the auctioneer tried a new line: “The lumber in the house is worth more than that!”
As Detroit reels from job losses in the U.S. auto industry, the depressed city has emerged as a boomtown in one area: foreclosed property.
The city, which has lost more than half its population in the past 30 years and struggled with rising crime, failing schools and other social problems, largely missed out on the housing boom that swept much of the country in recent years.
Prices have gained less than 2 percent per year in the five years since 2001, when the auto industry entered a renewed slump.
Steve Izairi, 32, who re-financed his own house in suburban Dearborn and sold his restaurant to begin buying rental properties in Detroit two years, was concerned that houses he thought were bargains at $70,000 two years ago were now selling for just $35,000.
At least 16 Detroit houses up for sale on Sunday sold for $30,000 or less.
A boarded-up bungalow on the city’s west side brought $1,300. A four-bedroom house near the original Motown recording studio sold for $7,000.
“You can’t buy a used car for that,” said Izairi. “It’s a gamble, and you have to wonder how low it’s going to get.”
Detroit, where unemployment runs near 14 percent and a third of the population lives in poverty, leads the nation in new foreclosure filings, according to tracking service RealtyTrac.
With large swaths of the city now abandoned, banks are reclaiming and reselling Detroit homes from buyers who can no longer afford payments at seven times the national rate.
Can’t say that I disagree with Ace.
As soon as child number two makes it to college — three years — I’m out of here. Either back to Chicago or to someplace warm. Someplace that has an economy that isn’t as dismally depressing as it is here in Detroit. Basically, anywhere but here.
HAMTRAMCK — Fat Tuesday is here and David Monikean is ready now that he’s bought four dozen paczki from his favorite bakery.
Like many Metro Detroiters who have fond, sugar-filled memories of these treats, the Port Huron man makes an annual trip to this Polish enclave, which helped usher the pastries into stardom.
“You can buy paczki (pronounced POONCH-key) anywhere, but in Hamtramck, it’s a big party,” said Suzy Ognanovich, whose husband’s family has owned New Palace Bakery for more than 30 years.
If you want to partake in Paczki Day, here are some things to know about these sugar-coated pastries that are bursting with filling:
Paczki pack a lot of punch
They contain, “lots of butter, sugar, eggs, flour and a lot of labor of love,” said Sandy Bakic, a second-generation baker at New Martha Washington Bakery.
A typical 5-ounce paczek (say POON-chek) contains about 420 calories and 25 or more grams of fat. It’s loaded with refined carbohydrates. The good news? They’re cooked in vegetable oil, not lard as they once were.
To burn off a single paczek, you’ll need to run for 30-47 minutes or ride a bicycle for 40-60 minutes. It’ll take up to two hours to walk it off, says Beaumont Hospital.
Don’t call ‘em jelly doughnuts
While the two may look similar, Bakic says that’s like comparing a cake to a torte.
Paczki are made with richer dough and have a more rounded shape, like a baseball. They call for more sugar, butter and eggs than a regular jelly doughnut and bakers need to let paczki dough rise three separate times before they can be fried.
The result is richer and spongier than a doughnut.
As you can tell from the article, it’s a Polish tradition. Or so the people here will tell you. If you listen to the people in Detroit, Poland is a country filled with people running around with Paczkis aplenty. Stand on any street corner and a Paczki will appear magically in front of you, just waiting for you to bite into it’s lard and jelly filled mushiness.
I’m from Chicago. Chicago has more Polish people than any other city in the world other than Warsaw — no joke. I’ve spent a lot of time on the Nothwest side along Milwaukee Avenue visiting Polish restaurants and bars. Never a Paczki in sight. Not a one.
Lot’s of great sausages and fresh pierogis, but — no Paczkis.
Last time I was there, I asked at a bakery for a Paczki. They spoke mostly Polish and I wasn’t able to decipher exactly (my Polish is somewhat limited — jak się masz?) what they were saying to me, but It sounded a lot like — what the heck are you talking about, get out of here!
I talked to some Polish friends and they explained that while they had heard of Paczkis, they are by no means a national obsession. My friends described them as “gross”. Something your grandmother might force on you once in a while, but not something you really cared much for.
I tend to go along with them. Paczkis are big dough balls with something gooey squirted inside of them. No thanks.
Detroit, you can have your (fake) Polish tradition.
On Monday, snow and ice whipped through the state knocking out power to at least 200,000, pushing trees onto streets and killing three people.
Crews from the Midwest have been called in to help DTE Energy restore power to the customers who lost service.
Someone started banging on my door Monday morning at about 7:00 a.m., so I rushed out of bed and ran to the door. They were beating the heck out of it — I knew something had to be going on. There were three fireman standing there and I thought, “well, this can’t be good” thinking that something was on fire. It turns out that the powerline that runs through my back yard came down and took out power for the entire neighborhood. It was a live line and once in a while it threw off some cool sparks.
So, now I know why it’s freezing — the line must have come down several hours earlier. The fire crew stayed all day and all night to make sure no one went near the line. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday and they are still there, waiting for a DTE crew to come out and repair the line. They’ve put up yellow accident tape everywhere between all the houses on the street, it looks like something REALLY bad happened in our neighborhood. I’ve taken up residence in a local coffee house to stay warm and have Internet access. It’s not too bad, but I’m getting pretty wired on all the coffee I keep buying so I don’t feel like a freeloader. To top it all off, I’ve got a cold so I don’t feel like going to the gym or wasting time drinking the night away in a bar– bummer. If they don’t get it fixed by tonight, I may just go get drunk anyway. Makes it easier to sleep when it’s cold as hell.
Outside temp right now is 18 degrees, going down to 13 tonight. Brrrrr. Good thing I used to camp out in the cold and have some great cold weather gear. As long as the toilet doesn’t freeze, I’m good. The funny thing is, the hot water heater still works (all of the other appliances are electric), so I get hot water and dump it down the toilet once in a while to warm it up. Heh.
So, probably not much blogging from me until they get it fixed. Nice how I haven’t heard a thing from DTE while I’m stuck in a frozen house. Trying to get through on the phone is a joke.
Think I’ll go see how the firemen are doing — this has got to be pretty boring for them.
Out.
Update: The power company showed up at about 6:00 p.m. and restored electricity. Nice and warm now. The house was frozen, it was 35 degrees in the house when the furnace kicked back on.
In the post Welcome to Baghdad West, I posted an article from the Detroit News that covered sectarian violence in Detroit between Sunni and Shia muslims.
I also mentioned that I would try to get to the area and take some pictures.
DETROIT — Muslim leaders say a spate of vandalism over the weekend involving stores owned by local Iraqis could stem from brewing sectarian Islamic tension over the execution of Saddam Hussein.
While Shi’a and Sunni Muslims are fighting in Iraq, the two groups generally get along in Metro Detroit and the United States. But Muslim and Arab leaders say the hanging of Saddam, and especially the timing of the execution, spurred hard feelings.
They say the vandalized property was owned or operated by people of Iraqi descent who are Shi’a.
“People are scared to come here. It’s very dangerous, this place,” said Inaam Alkhafaji, referring to her Detroit business, Dana Media, whose windows were broken.
“It’s a war with the Iraqi people. Maybe next time they kill us.”
I first went to the Seven Mile and Woodward area to try to find some of the vandalism described in the article since it is not too far from my house. This area is on the far North side of Detroit, quite a way from Dearborn. As I drove down Seven Mile I realised that finding a particular store or building with a broken or boarded up window in Detroit is kind of like trying to find a particular grain of sand on a beach. One third of all houses and buildings in Detroit are either abandoned or falling down. This part of Seven Mile is in a very sketchy neighborhood, but during the daytime it’s pretty safe, so I walked around and took a few pictures.
No obvious signs of damage in the first few pictures:
But, the rest of the neighborhood looked like this:
So, things didn’t look too out of order along the Iraqi stretch of Seven Mile.
To give you an idea of what a bizarre city Detroit is, on the way to my next stop I took a picture of a typical house in the Palmer Woods neighborhood. This house is only half a mile from the house pictured above.
You can pick this house up for a song, but the property taxes in Detroit are among the highest in the nation — not worth it. You’ll pay more in taxes than for your mortgage.
Ok, so on to the West side. Warren Ave. cuts through the Northern edge of Dearborn before continuing on to the Western border of Detroit. The stores and restaurant mentioned in the article are here:
Not much to see other than the one door still boarded up, the restaurant’s windows had been smashed and were already repaired.
On we go, I figured I’d take a few more pictures to give everyone a feel for the area. Pictures really can’t do justice to how arabic this area really is, almost every store’s sign is in arabic lettering and several have no english at all. I couldn’t tell what a few of them were.
I took a few more that didn’t turn out, I really wanted to show the picture of the halal pizza place. I just thought it was funny.
One thing that I’ve always thought a bit weird is the prevalence of strip clubs and liquor stores in Dearborn. One is right next door to LaShish, a very popular restaurant.
Gigi’s strip club (oops, gay bar), with badly placed light pole:
So, all in all, there was not much to see. Especially by Detroit standards, this was much ado about not much. The Sunni and Shia could declare war on each other and it might take a few days for Detroit to notice.
It’s much more exciting when the arab groups take to the streets to demonstrate, downright chilling. They turn out by the thousand on just a moments notice. I’ll make sure to get pictures of that in the future.
Oh, and if you read this post Dean Esmay, bite me — you couldn’t be more full of shit about what goes on here on the arab “street”. Going to lunch on Michigan Ave. once a year does not make you an expert on all things middle eastern in Detroit.
Regular readers of this site know that I’ve tracked the doings of Dr. Smith (of “Lost in Space”) look-alike, Michigan FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Roberts, for some time.
His four biggest achievements are: 1) Wasting millions of dollars in a two-week dig for the body of Jimmy Hoffa at a Michigan farm (we had a daily count, “American Farm Held Hostage”); 2) Pandering ad absurdum to Islamofascists, terrorism supporters, and even a “former” Islamic terrorist; 3) allowing America’s largest Hezbollah financier to flee the country; and 4) working bankers hours for taxpayers, while spending the rest “chasing” terrorists on the treadmill at a local gym.
DEARBORN — A plea deal this afternoon allowed Detroit Lions assistant coach Joe Cullen to plead no contest to reduced misdemeanor charges stemming from two incidents in which he allegedly drove drunk and nude.
Cullen has undergone counseling, and the National Football League suspended him for gone game, following arrests Aug. 24, when he was ticketed for driving naked.
He also faced drunken driving charges for a Sept. 1 traffic stop, when police claimed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.12 percent. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.
Head Coach Rod Marinelli has voiced support for Cullen
“I do want to say that I am really proud how Joe has responded to his mistake,” Marinelli said in December after the league suspended Cullen and fined him $20,000.
“He has been getting treatment and has done a commendable job in dealing with his problem. He has definitely learned from this mistake and has moved forward in a very positive manner.”
This guy must be a great coach, helping them to a great season.
Oh right, they suck.
I want to work for these guys. They won’t fire Millen and they won’t fire the drunk, naked while driving through the drive through coach.
Muslim leaders cite Saddam’s execution in Detroit damage
DETROIT — Muslim leaders say a spate of vandalism over the weekend involving stores owned by local Iraqis could stem from brewing sectarian Islamic tension over the execution of Saddam Hussein.
While Shi’a and Sunni Muslims are fighting in Iraq, the two groups generally get along in Metro Detroit and the United States. But Muslim and Arab leaders say the hanging of Saddam, and especially the timing of the execution, spurred hard feelings.
They say the vandalized property was owned or operated by people of Iraqi descent who are Shi’a.
“People are scared to come here. It’s very dangerous, this place,” said Inaam Alkhafaji, referring to her Detroit business, Dana Media, whose windows were broken.
“It’s a war with the Iraqi people. Maybe next time they kill us.”
The tension that concerns Muslim leaders was spurred by the timing of the execution, according to Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations and other community leaders.
Saddam was ordered hanged by the Shi’a controlled government of Iraq on the morning Sunnis began celebrating Eid al-Adha, the holiest of Islamic festivals. Most Shi’a did not begin to celebrate until the following day.
While Shi’a Iraqis took to the streets of Dearborn to celebrate, many other Muslims viewed the timing of the execution as an insult. Realizing the tension in the local community, some clergymen were considering meeting this week to take action.
Shattered glass remained inside a cardboard box outside of Alkhafaji’s store on Warren Avenue Monday. Next door, the window of the Al-Akhasi restaurant was boarded up — it, too, had been smashed. A person called the restaurant earlier that day and made a threat that an incident would occur.
The incidents follow similar acts of vandalism at stores along Seven Mile near Woodward, Arab leaders say.
Seven Mile and Woodward, about a mile from my house. Great.
Update: Welcome back, Ace of Spades HQ readers. Wow, twice in one week. I feel so special.
I’m going to do my best Zombie/Green Helmet Guy impression and go take some pictures. Check back later to see if I make it out alive — mesablue.
I could post a story like this every day. This one sticks out because, once again, like the mannequin weirdo and the garbage truck hobo, this happened within just a mile or two of my house.
If, in the middle of the afternoon, you happen to rear end an amored truck that is sitting on the shoulder of the expressway, killing someone in the process — what should you do?
Southbound Interstate 75 was closed at 7 Mile Road while police investigate a fatal traffic accident.
The accident happened about 2 p.m. when a Hummer H2 struck a disabled armored van parked in the left shoulder, killing a 59-year-old Southfield woman, who was in the rear of the van.
The driver of the Hummer, a 26-year-old Detroit man, fled the scene on foot but was later caught at an area hospital where he was seeking treatment. Two other passengers in the armored van were injured and taken to an area hospital for treatment.
A couple of years ago, someone threw the body of a young woman out onto the same stretch of highway during the morning rush hour. Hundreds of terrified motorists had to witness her body being hit by several cars.
A man with a history of smashing windows to indulge his fetish for mannequins could draw a long prison term.
Ronald A. Dotson, 39, of Detroit faces up to life in prison if convicted of a charge of attempted breaking and entering at a cleaning-supply company in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale.
Prosecutors charged him as a habitual offender. Authorities say he has at least six convictions for breaking and entering and a stint in prison over the last 13 years.
Dotson was arrested Oct. 9 after police say he smashed a window at a cleaning-supply company to get at a female mannequin dressed in a black and white French maid’s uniform. He had been out of prison for less than a week.
Dotson was arrested in Ferndale in July 2000 and later convicted for breaking and entering at a women’s clothing shop to get at a mannequin in a pink dress with bobbed hair.
Ferndale police also arrested Dotson in 1993 after finding him in an alley behind a woman’s store with three lingerie-clad mannequins.
Crime in Detroit was up in nearly every category in the first six months of the year, with overall violent crime rising nearly 3 percent, according to FBI statistics released today.
Slayings in the city climbed from 169 in the first half of 2005 to 186 in the same period this year, the preliminary reports show. Reported rapes increased 20 percent, robberies went up 13 percent and burglaries jumped 19 percent, records show. Violent assaults dropped nearly 3 percent and arsons plummeted 27 percent compared to 2005.
What’s really scary is the jump in percentages. Detroit’s population continues to plummet while the number of crimes rises against a smaller number of people. Detroit has less than half the population of two decades ago, but twice the crime. The drop in arsons is not very exciting because the city finally bulldozed many of the abandoned houses and the available houses to burn was probably down by at least 27 percent.
It’s nice to see some of the new development downtown, but none of that matters if the city falls apart around it.
I am officially done with Detroit. DONE. I’ve lived here almost all of my life. I was raised downtown in Lafayette Park. I walked to the old Hudson’s to do my Christmas shopping (before that was torn down.) I skated on Belle Isle (before that became a gangster hangout and the skating hut was abandoned.) I waited with anticipated for you to change these things; you could have made a nominal charge for admittance to the Island to help cut down the cruising (and drinking and drugs.) But you refused. Now, families are afraid to go there. You could have done lots of things, but you didn’t.
Whew, the Bears turned a run away game into a nail biter. It took overtime and a second Gould field goal attempt to finally win it.
Final score: Bears 34 Tampa Bay 31. With the win they’ve wrapped up home field advantage through the playoffs. Which means that when they travel here to Detroit next week to play the Lions, they’ll probably rest half of the team. So glad I popped for those tickets on eBay. Lions fans will probably be giving them away by the thousands after their performance against Green Bay today.
It should be fun at any rate, I don’t get the chance to break out my Bears Santa hat very often.
