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Monthly Archives: January 2011

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Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters January 2011 Newsletter

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The Whitewater-Area League of Women Voters’ January 2011 Newsletter is out, and it includes articles and a calendar of upcoming LWV events. The latest copy of the LWV newsletter is available as a link on my blogroll, and is embedded below, with coding through Google.

Here’s a sampling of upcoming events for the Whitewater-Area League —

Date: January 20 (Thursday)
Event: Speaker, Attorney Victor Arellano on Immigration and Naturalization Law
Where: 7 PM City Municipal Building, Council Chambers
Description:
Attorney Victor M. Arellano will address issues of immigration and naturalization in the Council Chambers of City Hall in Whitewater on January 20th at 7PM. This event is free and open to the public.

Attorney Arellano practices law in Madison and is an expert in immigration law and international adoptions. He is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, both Wisconsin Federal District Courts, Immigration Court and the United States Tax Court. In 2007 Governor Jim Doyle appointed Mr. Arellano to the Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in Wisconsin’s Criminal Justice System. In addition, he was one of eleven Wisconsin attorneys selected as a Leader in the Law for 2006 in the Wisconsin Law Journal. Recently, Mr. Arellano was listed along with other outstanding attorneys across the country in Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition 2009.

Attorney Arellano participates in many civic activities including hosting his own radio program, “En Vivo con Victor Arellano/Live with Victor Arellano” on AM 1480, La Movida Spanish radio programming where he provides legal advice to the Latino Community. In addition, Mr. Arellano regularly serves as a Moot Court Judge for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. Mr. Arellano frequently handles pro bono cases. He has also written numerous “Know your rights” articles in Spanish for various bilingual newspapers. Victor M. Arellano received the Hispanic Youth award from Madison’s Centro Hispano and participates annually in the Latino Youth Career Fair.

Date: February 17 (Thursday)
Event: Meeting with LWV-affiliated Student Organization
Where: 6:30-8:30 PM UW-W campus, University Center, Room 264

Date: March 8 (Tuesday)
Event: Viewing of movie “Iron Jawed Angels”
Where: UW-W campus, University Center, Summers Auditorium

For more on the Iron Jawed Angels, see http://iron-jawed-angels.com

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-13-11

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast calls for snow, of limited accumulation, with a high temperature of twenty-three degrees.

Tuna’s a popular food, but tuna fishing in U.S. waters may be restricted. The Wall Street Journal, in a story entitled, Tuna Fight Muddies Waters Over Damage From BP Spill, reports that

The bluefin tuna is one of the most majestic and prized creatures in the sea. Last week, one caught off Japan sold in Tokyo for $396,000, to be used as sushi.

Now the fish is the subject of a scientific fight that shows how hard it will be to gauge the environmental fallout of the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The U.S. government will wrap up public meetings next week on whether to recommend declaring the Atlantic bluefin an endangered species….



more >>

Beautiful Whitewater

A Field of Dreams

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Over at the Janesville Gazette, there’s a fine story about the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams project. The story describes the project:

The project is an effort to make something great out of something unspeakably tragic. Treyton Kilar of Whitewater was killed last Sept. 2 in a crash involving a driver who now faces charges of homicide by drunken driving.

Kilar’s parents and others are working to raise nearly $500,000 to pay for construction of a baseball field in Whitewater, dubbed the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams.

See, Field of Dreams project seeks help.

The most important and enduring things are free of politics. They’re an unalloyed good, borne of noble dreams. It was an English jurist who once wrote that Americans are, fundamentally, noble dreamers. The Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams project is such a dream, grand and noble and an unalloyed good.

I’ve been voting for it each day, and I hope that you’ll do so, too.



Here’s the project overview, from the Pepsi Refresh website —


Treyton Kilar, age 6, was killed in a senseless car crash by a drunk driver on September 2, 2010. In an effort to create hope out of despair, the Whitewater community has united to build a new baseball field to honor Treyton and provide a happy, healthy place for families and children to come together safely. Treyton’s big dream was to someday play professional baseball.

He spent countless hours practicing at home and on teams through the Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department. Although Treyton’s dream was cut short by a senseless tragedy, this new ball field will provide our young people with an opportunity to achieve their dreams. By providing a place for family friendly and safe activities, the Treyton Kilar Field of Dreams will provide an alternative to drinking and driving and be a monument to overcoming evil with goodness and love.

Here’s how to vote —

1. Register at http://www.refresheverything.com/treytonkilar and then vote for the Field of Dreams project. You’ll only need to register once, and then you’ll be able to vote for the project each day through January 31st.

2. For Facebook, go to http://www.refresheverything.com/treytonkilar, and install the blue Facebook application (it’s in the right column of the page).

3. Text 105500 to Pepsi (73774)

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-12-11

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Good morning,

Whitewater’s Wednesday forecast calls for a chance of snow, with a high temperature of twenty-six.

In the Whippet City today, there’s a 9 a.m. meeting of the Tech Park Board. The agenda for the meeting is available online.

At Washington School, home of the Golden Eagles, there’s a 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. fifth grade band concert. At the middle school, there’s a 7 p.m. PTO meeting tonight.

NASA has had more than its share of challenges lately, and a supporter of space exploration recently took to YouTube to offer a tribute to that agency’s work. YouTUbe user dameswe‘s creation is better than any promotional video NASA’s recently offered.

Enjoy.



Hat tip to Huffington Post for the link. more >>

Cats, Crime

Cat-Hating Misfit Pleads Guilty

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Giovanni Estrada, now 20, entered the plea in court this morning. Investigators say he tried to drown the cat in its locked carrier back in September because it killed one of his pet crawfish.

The cat, later named “Lovie” for her affection towards caretakers, had been shot by a BB gun multiple times. She was found by a passerby after the carrier was thrown into McKay Bay. Lovie was cared for by veterinarians and later adopted.

Via Lovie the Cat abuse suspect pleads guilty.

For an earlier post about this case, see Cat-Abusing Savagery in Florida.

Freedom of Speech

Volokh: The First Amendment and Speech That Allegedly Threatens Public Officials

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It’s well past time for a primer on the boundaries of free speech and public officials. Fortunately, Eugene Volokh of UCLA has that very post on his website. See, The First Amendment and Speech That Allegedly Threatens Public Officials.

Prof. Volokh lists seven key points for understanding First Amendment law involving allegedly threatening speech toward officials. His post is well worth reading (as is true, I think, of all his work).

Police, Politics

Arizona Republic: Pima County Sheriff Should Remember Duty

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Indeed.

On Saturday afternoon, with his friend Gabby Giffords in surgery fighting for her life, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik railed against the tense partisan politics – “the anger, the hatred, the bigotry” – that prompted the mass murders outside Tucson, in his view.

And, jarring as such claims may be, we understood. Or tried to understand, despite the spectacle of a lawman – an official whose very job it is to dispassionately gather facts and to maintain order and calm – tying the attack on Rep. Giffords and others to political speech in Arizona, which he considers prejudiced and bigoted. There is no evidence that the state’s politics in any way contributed to this atrocity….

Dupnik took up his cause again on Monday. And, in response, we have to say at last . . . enough. Enough attacks, sheriff. Enough vitriol. It is well past time for the sheriff of Pima County to get a grip on his emotions and remember his duty.

With each passing hour, we learn more about the 22-year-old suspect. And everything we learn adds to the profile of a deeply troubled young man detached from reality. There is nothing to date that suggests any partisan motivation for his crimes, whether right-wing or left.

Dupnik needs to recall that he is elected to be a lawman. With each additional comment, the Democratic sheriff of Pima County is revealing his agenda as partisan, and, as such, every bit as recklessly antagonistic as the talk-show hosts and politicians he chooses to decry.

See, Pima County sheriff should remember duty.

Elkhorn, Law, Walworth County

Walworth County District Attorney Koss’s Foolish, Ignorant Price Tag on Justice

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Readers will recall a story from 2009 about Walworth County’s lawsuit against a crime victim to collect part of the cost of an expert the county hired to aid in the prosecution of those who victimized her. I wrote at the time that the county’s lawsuit was “an astonishing and disgraceful departure from legal custom in Wisconsin.” Fox 6 Milwaukee covered the story.

(For my earlier post, see Walworth County’s Justice Can’t Be Blind – She’s Looking for a Victim’s Wallet. )

When Walworth County resident Linda Goes, and other families, went to Walworth County D.A. Koss about the theft they suffered from a contractor, he agreed to prosecute the contractor and his wife. Later, when the case drew closer to trial, Koss went to the crime victims and asked them to pay for the prosecution’s expert witness (whose testimony concerned the alleged swindle against Goes and others.)

Goes rightly refused to pay for a prosecution witness, and so Walworth County sued her for thousands in fees.

The builder (Art Reeves) admitted guilt, but his wife and business partner (Beth Reeves) went to trial, and was convicted (several felony convictions).

Beth Reeves appealed her conviction, and predictably — as anyone of even average judgment would know — the demand of a crime victim’s payment for a prosecution witness has jeopardized the conviction.

The Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office has now issued an eight-page memorandum to an appeals court in support of the position that Koss’s demand or payment of the expert’s fee was an error, and that the defendant’s conviction should therefore be overturned.

That’s the right result — no victim should have to pay for her own expert, and that payment taints the prosecution of the criminal defendant. It makes criminal justice a matter of wealth.

One should note that it was Koss who demanded this money; this idea began with his office, not the crime victims.

Koss and Assistant D.A. Steve Madsen may find themselves having lost a conviction, through a disgraceful demand.

Note, also, that in 2009, Koss contended that he had support from the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office to ask crime victim Linda Goes for part of the expert’s fee, but he never produced any letter or other document showing that he had that office’s support.

Considering that the Attorney General’s office expressly repudiates Koss’s odd approach, one wonders if Koss could ever have produced anything regarding his unsubstantiated claim of support from Madison.

For more examples of the mistakes, errors, and questionable decisions of Koss’s office, consider —

Clear Information on the Lawsuit Against Larry Meyer.

The Disappearing A.D.A.

Questions for a Reporter, and the Community.

Answers for a Reporter, and the Community, on the Larry Meyer Case.

The Secret Warrants of Walworth County.

Update: The Secret Warrants of Walworth County

Finally, an entire section of a larger work about prosecutorial error concerns the Walworth County District Attorney’s Office under Koss – see, A Poisoned Prosecution. more >>

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-11-11

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Good morning,

It’s a snowy day for Whitewater, with a high of twenty-seven, and one to two inches of accumulation predicted.

The New York Times recalls that on this day in 1935, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific, from Honolulu to Oakland:

She entered her plane with a wave of her hand and a smile to the mechanics as she ordered the blocks pulled from in front of the wheels. Taxiing to her starting point, she gave the heavily loaded Lockheed Vega the full gun and after a run of 3,000 feet rose into the air.

Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations

Update: U.S. Supreme Court Considers Whether to Hear Institute for Justice’s Challenge to Arizona’s “Clean Elections”

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Great news — The U.S. Supreme Court had decided to hear a challenge to Arizona’s supposedly “clean,” but actually speech-inhibiting, elections law. See, Supreme Court to Review Arizona Campaign Finance Law.

Here’s a FW post from November on the challenge —

Think that “clean” elections laws keep elections, well, fair and clean? You might be surprised. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering an Institute for Justice challenge to the fairness of Arizona’s supposedly clean election laws.

Here’s a video from the IJ entitled, “The Dirty Game of AZ’s “Clean Elections.” Below the video, I have placed the part of the text of a web release about what’s a stake: privately-funded candidates lose out as taxpayer money drowns out the message of candidates who rely on their own supporters’ voluntary contributions rather than government money.

Arlington, Va. – On, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide whether to hear a challenge by the Institute for Justice to Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Act in the case of Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett. Actions taken by the High Court earlier this year lead many to believe there is a better-than-average chance the Court will accept this case for review.

For a brief, funny video explaining how the “Clean Election” system rigs political races in favor of government-funded candidates, visit: www.ij.org/AZCleanElectionsVideo.

Arizona’s “Clean Elections” Act gives public money to politicians to run for office and squelches the free speech of independent groups, as well as candidates who choose to forgo taxpayer dollars and instead raise their own funds for their campaigns. For every dollar an independent group opposing a publicly financed candidate or a traditionally funded candidate spends above a certain amount, the government hands taxpayer dollars over to the publicly financed candidates in the race. This allows the government-subsidized candidate to “match” the spending – and thus the speech – of the independent group or privately funded candidate opposing him. The harder an independent group or traditionally financed candidate works, the more the government-subsidized candidate benefits. The Act curbs speech, discourages participation and limits what voters will hear about politics.

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Freedom of Speech

Shafer — In Defense of Inflamed Rhetoric

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Indeed —

Only the tiniest handful of people—most of whom are already behind bars, in psychiatric institutions, or on psycho-meds—can be driven to kill by political whispers or shouts. Asking us to forever hold our tongues lest we awake their deeper demons infantilizes and neuters us and makes politicians no safer.

See, The awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down political speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting. – By Jack Shafer – Slate Magazine.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 1-10-11

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Good morning,

Today’s forecast calls for a mostly cloudy day with a high temperature of twenty-nine (with small accumulations of snow likely tonight and tomorrow).

In Whitewater today, there’s a schedule meeting of the Park and Rec Board at 10 a.m. The agenda is available online. Later, at 6:30 p.m., there’s a meeting of the Library Board. That agenda is also online.

In our schools, there will be a special meeting of the WUSD board at 6 p.m., at Central Office. The meeting agenda concerns a possible (and likely) charter school for Whitewater.:

Call to Order and Roll Call

Charter School Authorizer Training – Mr. John Gee, Executive Director, Wisconsin Charter Schools Association

Charter School Contract Review

Research Request Approval (Action Item)

Adjourn

Quick note: items on the district’s website are virtually unlinkable, leaving that website far less useful than it might otherwise be.

On this day in 1776, Thomas Paine first published anonymously the pamphlet Common Sense. The full text is available at Google Books.