Day: December 26, 2008

To Live And Die In Mississippi

This is an editorial from the South Mississippi Sun-Herald about the shooting death of a local high school football player.

It is a given that all of the facts surrounding the death of a George County football star, Billey Joe Johnson, must be known. We believe they will be known, and we have confidence that District Attorney Tony Lawrence and Mississippi Bureau of Investigation lead investigator Joel Wallace will aggressively seek and discover the facts in this matter, as it involves grave public concerns.

As Curley Clark, a leading figure with the state NAACP, told the Sun Herald, he is encouraged that both the black and white communities in George County “want to know the truth.”

Thus far there is much to commend about the manner in which the shocking and mysterious death of the George County teen has been handled by the principal parties with a stake in knowing what happened on the morning of Dec. 8 at an intersection in Lucedale when Johnson was stopped by George County Deputy Joe Sullivan.

Sullivan says that Johnson had run a red light at Church and Winter streets and then a four-way stop at Winter Street and Old Highway 63. According to Sullivan’s report of the incident, he radioed dispatch shortly after 5:34 a.m. that he had stopped the car. Then, he states in the report, Johnson got out of the vehicle and told him he was on his way home to see his sick mother.

The deputy says he took the license and asked Johnson to get back in the car. When Deputy Sullivan got back into his patrol car to call in the license information, he said he heard a gunshot and the sound of breaking glass.

He says he discovered Johnson on the ground “and the gun (a shotgun) he had in his hand fell on top of him. I called dispatch and advised them that the subject had just shot himself, to send some help.”

It is quite unfortunate that Deputy Sullivan’s car was not equipped with a dash-mounted camera that would have recorded the shooting and removed a great deal of the mystery that surrounds the fatal event. Only about half of the George County sheriff’s vehicles are equipped with dash cams. That should be rectified immediately, and all Coast police cars should be so equipped.

For friends and family of the star athlete, suicide is not to be believed. Johnson had rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first three years at George County High School, and was being recruited by major football programs, including Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Mississippi, LSU, Arkansas, Auburn and Oregon. The young man was said to be popular, with a great deal to live for. Following its own inquiry with friends and family, the NAACP said there was agreement that his death could not have been a suicide, as those closest to him said he was neither depressed nor suicidal.

The civil rights group said it would pay for a separate and independent autopsy of Johnson, apart from the one being conducted by the state.

The Johnson family has handled this tragedy with great dignity and thoughtfulness. Their justifiable concerns have been tempered with judicious words, and after meeting with District Attorney Lawrence on Monday, they said they came away “well-satisfied” with what they heard

As for the chief investigator, Joel Wallace, we came to think highly of his professional service during his dogged investigation into the brutal death of Jessie Lee Williams in the Harrison County Jail. We consider him among the very best in his field.

So, like others across South Mississippi, we await the facts, and the truth, about what happened on that early Monday morning, when a young man died in the pre-dawn on a Lucedale street.

Like the family, like the NAACP, like the whole region, we expect and anticipate that both the truth and justice will be obtained through a deliberate and dedicated process.

The editorial above represents the view of the Sun Herald editorial board: President-Publisher Ricky R. Mathews, Vice President and Executive Editor Stan Tiner, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Flora S. Point, Opinion Page Editor Marie Harris and Associate Editor Tony Biffle. Opinions expressed by columnists, cartoonists and letter writers on these pages are their own.

How Many Pieces Of The Pie Are There?

Zoos, the bicycle industry and advocates of beach replenishment share something this holiday season: They’re all hoping for a slice of the mammoth economic-stimulus package President-elect Barack Obama and Congress hope to pass early next year.

The bill, which could amount to a gargantuan $850 billion in spending and tax breaks over two years, is supposed to ease the pain of the country’s worst recession in decades. With Obama transition officials and congressional Democratic leaders planning to make it their top priority in January, lobbyists for homebuilders, local governments, labor and other predictable interests are working to claim a share of the money.

Less obvious groups, though, also are lobbying hard for inclusion, underscoring how the sheer size and scope of the measure has made it irresistible to all sorts of industries and organizations that at first blush might not seem likely candidates for federal aid. It also suggests how difficult it may be for Obama and his allies to fashion a sharply focused bill, or even to decide which proposals are most worthy.

Despite their hopes, the incoming administration is vowing not to load up its stimulus package with special-interest goodies. “President-elect Obama and I are absolutely, absolutely determined that this economic recovery plan will not become a Christmas tree,” Vice President–elect Joe Biden said this week.

Is there a line for the homeowner?

Arnie For Prez?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t said if he would pursue another job in politics after his term ends in two years. But there’s one position he might be interested in, if he were eligible for it: president.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview Sunday when asked by “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley if he would like to be president.

At the moment, becoming president would be impossible. Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria and became a U.S. citizen in 1983, is not a “natural born citizen” of the U.S., as required by the Constitution.

Let me hear from those who think that there should be a dispensation to allow Arnie to run.  Or from those of my readers who are in Calif….is he a good governor?  Thoughts please.

Russia Pumps Up The Volume

Medvedev says Russia reserves the right to use force to defend its interests and will not tolerate Western attempts to contain it.

In an interview on Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev defended his country’s military response to Georgia’s offensive against South Ossetia – seen as Russia’s backyard – in August as a tough but unavoidable action.

“Russia’s interests must be secured by all means available, this is my deep conviction. First of all, by international and legal tools … but, when necessary, by using an element of force,” Reuters quoted Medvedev as saying in his end-of-year interview, broadcast on Russia’s main television stations.

Russian military launched a massive counter-attack in August after forces under Georgia’s pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili attacked South Ossetia, which had declared independence from Tbilisi’s rule following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s.

Medvedev said he was compelled to take such a measure to prevent genocide in the face of criticisms from Western states which described the Russian action as disproportionate.

Is that a new Cold War I smell?

What Is Next For Afghanistan?

Sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan is an idea whose time has come. The question is whether the time when it could work has already gone.

President-elect Barack Obama, departing President George W. Bush and holdover Defense Secretary Robert Gates have backed a plan to send 20,000 or more troops next year. Those forces must confront an increasingly entrenched Taliban enemy and a population grown hostile to foreign troops after seven years of U.S.-led warfare.

“We may have missed the golden moment there,” said Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon official who has long advocated an increased U.S. focus on Afghanistan.

The tension between the short-run need for more muscle to thwart the Taliban and the long-term trap of becoming the latest in a long line of foreign intruders bogged down in Afghanistan forms the core of the dilemma confronting Obama.

The new U.S. troops will likely be used to strike hard at Taliban insurgents and attempt to halt their momentum, said retired Army General Jack Keane, who helped plan a similar U.S. buildup in Iraq two years ago.

There is a real possibility that the US could get bogged down in the country just as bad as the USSR had 15 years ago.  The US is doing the same things the Sovietsa did–throw more troops and equiupment into the country–did not work for them and will not work of us.

The Grinch Who Stole The Show

A French investment manager who put $1.4bn (£1bn) into Bernard Madoff’s fraud-hit scheme has killed himself in his New York office, police said.

Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, 65, was found sitting at his desk with both wrists slashed, New York police spokesman Paul Browne said.

A bottle of pills was found near him, but there was no suicide note.

Mr Villehuchet, who was married without children, was co-founder of money manager Access International.