Atomictumor

It’s Day 4, the media is just getting started, and I’m already sick of hearing about it.

That is all.

Found an article in Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette detailing tactics used by some police deparments in reducing the amount of street corner drug dealing, and sounds like it’d work pretty darn well on the crack problem that nobody wants to admit is in Scarboro.  True, Oak Ridge has meth, and way too much, but unless you know somebody who lives in or frequents the valley, you have no idea how big the crack problem is in Oak Ridge.

One of the problems in stopping the ‘drug trade’ is that the people who get nailed are most often the hustlers, who are small time, and might point one or two notches up the latter, but fingering somebody and getting evidence against them are two completely different things.  The people further up the chain are cagey, and know how to keep from getting busted.

The techniques described here, which has seen some early success already, involves identifying the tail end of the chain, the street pushers and sellers and getting in contact with their ‘influentials’.  Relatives, mentors, etc, are contacted, and relationships are formed between them and the police.  Once enough evidence against the hustlers are amassed, they’re brought in en masse to police headquarters, where they’re faced with first these ‘influentials’, and afterwards with DAs and cops talking about how much trouble they’ll be in if this keeps up.  Then they’re let go.

The experience seems to indicate, based on this article, that people have actually stopped dealing, or at least brought it far underground.

The police department is getting some word for making headway, and hopefully a new DA will help keep these people off the street, but more people will pop up to take their place unless deterrents are  made to keep that from happening.  Lets face it, after 30 odd years of Nixon’s War On Drugs, it’s still a dead heat.  Problem is, as we’ve see, the drugs are a lot more dangerous and addictive now than they were back in Tricky Dick’s time.

Y’know, I’d go so far as to say we wouldn’t have a crack or meth problem if Whitey would have just let up on pot back in the 70s, but, thats just me.

While at the Preschool fall festival today, I had an opportunity to talk with a few people about this “inappropriate contact” thing regarding a drama teacher at Jefferson, and things that don’t bode well.

I didn’t catch the show myself, but evidently WBIR disclosed that the teacher in question has two incidents on his record at Jefferson, both involving an apparent spanking administered to students, one boy in 1997, which netted him a day of administrative leave, and a girl a few years later, which netted him 30 days.

Sounds to me like the girl being discussed in the comments of my previous post fits the bill for that second incident.  It BOGGLES MY MIND that Jefferson, or any school in Oak Ridge, wouldn’t hand the teacher his ass on a second offense like this.  Hell, if zero tolerance can get a kid kicked out of school for that, I don’t understand why a teacher gets an unpaid vacation.

Jefferson has a different principal and superintendent today than it did in 2001, so lynching the administration may not be approprate in this case, however, its difficult to forgive the continued employment of a man who, if these allegations are correct, twice mishandled students.  I got no beef with spankings, but its the place of nobody but the parent to administer them for any reason.

Now, this is hearsay, and I still believe that everybody is innocent until proven guilty.  Nobody has been arrested, and unfortunately, this guys career is going south, so I sure hope that whoever made these accusations is telling the truth.

Details are coming out about the Jefferson Middle School/improper conduct scandal that opened up yesterday, and the Oak Ridger was good at gathering them up.  We’ve learned a bit ourselves.

Theres not much about Montgomery (Monty) Koons on the internet, except a letter to the Observer regarding Alan Beauchamp, the man the blogs love to hate; the arrest record I mentioned last night; and a rather odd fictional(?) blog indicating that a guy named Monty Koons in New Orleans violated parole by having ‘relations with an underage’.

I don’t apply this to the current case, but pull it up to show just how weird as hell life can be sometimes.

We’ve furthermore seen one of our commentors, and a longtime pal of mine indicate that there was administrative leave in this guy’s past over inappropriate contact with her daughter.

This is unsubstantiated, however, I don’t think this person would lie about this matter.  Read the comments from my previous post to find out what I know.  Regardless, evidently the school didn’t see an enormous problem, because he was allowed to go back to work, and the police weren’t called in.

The facts as we know them right now are that the contact has been going on since June, that the student is no longer in Jefferson, and that the contact didn’t happen during school hours.

I’m still operating on an innocent until proven guilty basis, and I suggest that everybody else do also, as it makes up the system of justice in this country.  Something like this can absolutely ruin a career and a life if unfounded.  Nobody likes a child abuser, but don’t throw that first stone yet.

Talk Like a Pirate Day is upon us, and as a lay Pastafarian, I’m preaching the message behind the holiday.

Yes, its true, we all like to dress up with our eyepatches and earrings, and talk about ‘booty’ on this special day, but lets all go back to the reason for the season:

Thats right, we’re saving the world.

For more information on our beliefs, the church has assembled this handy presentation.  Enjoy!