Irreplaceable Dunes for Unusable Wetlands

On Oct. 7 the Herald Palladium reported on the supposed "expansion" of Jean Klock Park, the comparison of the conversion of its 22 acres of contiguous dunes and other areas, and the mitigation (land swap) of 47 acres of designated wetlands which are not connected, but rather and obviously disconnected from Jean Klock Park.

The article features a post card photo layout of scenes of fisherman on the Paw Paw River (which by the way can be done without this development) next to, for the most part, unusable wetland areas that would be traded for the irreplaceable and non-renewable dune areas of Jean Klock Park.

Is it a fair trade? (PDF)

http://www.savejeanklockpark.org/news.html

Untrue Confessions

How People Tell Cops They're Guilty Even When They Aren't

by Emily Horowitz, 10/6/08, http://www.counterpunch.org/horowitz10062008.html

Emily Horowitz is a professor of sociology and criminal justice at St. Francis College (Brooklyn, NY). She serves as a director of the National Center for Reason and Justice (www.ncrj.org), an innocence project for people wrongly accused or convicted of crimes against children and a sponsor of Khemwatie Bedessie.
Excerpts:
It’s also agreed that illegal practices occur frequently in the interrogation room, and that cops later lie about them on the stand. And when there is an argument about veracity, research suggests that no group of people – not judges, prosecutors or juries – can tell whether a confession is true or false simply by reading a transcript or watching the video...not just the confession should be recorded, but also the full interrogation that led up to it. The idea is to avoid methods that – as the Supreme Court has put it – “shock the conscience” and “offend the community’s sense of fair play and decency.”

Ten years ago, only two states were recording interrogations. Now, nine states and the District of Columbia do, and they are joined by more than 500 local police departments nationwide ... it’s spreading, says Northwestern University legal scholar Steven Drizin, an expert on false confessions who has advocated for taping for years.

...1966 Miranda decision, Earl Warren recommended that the police find other evidence to solve a crime than the “cruel, simple expedient of compelling it from [the suspect’s] own mouth.”

...wholly opposes the eliciting and use of confession to solve and prosecute crimes. But, if confession is employed, he believes the case should never go forward unless meaningful evidence is first gathered...

Forensic science in the U.S. today is so sophisticated and high tech...that police have only to use it. All that is required to convict criminals justly is that the cops do their job.

Further, reliance on confessions promotes disgraceful conditions of detention. Jails are often worse than prisons. Filth, bad food, lack of sunlight, crowding and violence pressure people to say they did something – anything, whether it’s true or not – just to get out of lockup. Then, because they’ve confessed, we figure it’s OK to keep others like them in awful cells – and to bring in more detainees for interrogation. It’s a vicious circle, and most who get trapped in it are poor, uneducated, and unacculturated. Their marginal status is bound up with the moralistic judgment that they are different from us, and therefore bad. Their badness reinforces our willingness to keep a bad system in place. It probably also allows us to export illegal interrogation – our 1930s-era torture, updated – to places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

Ninety-two per cent of felony convictions are obtained by plea bargains or confessions. That’s a far higher rate than in other countries...Italy’s, for example, is 8 per cent...

Relying on confessions to prosecute crimes is thrifty because it avoids the need for costly investigations. But it’s also very destructive to justice...

Developers = Earth's Destroyers

John Madill / H-P staff

Piles of torn up boardwalk and trees are seen at Jean Klock Park on Friday. Work has been suspended while a U.S. District Court judge decides whether a restraining order should be granted to halt construction until a lawsuit filed by Protect Jean Klock Park over lease of that piece of the parkland has been ruled on.

Upton’s biggest strength is deflecting blame

HP, 10/2/08

Editor, (excerpt)

Fury at the fat cats on Wall Street will get you nowhere because they are not accountable to us. Our national interests have been betrayed, repeatedly and belligerently, by those sent to Washington to protect us.

It is time to throw the bums out. Southwest Michigan’s own Congressman Fred Upton is partially to blame. Here is an entrenched member of Congress and a Washington insider with pockets as deep as his connections to Wall Street. Upton’s mentor, Dave Stockman, is a multi-millionaire Wall Street tycoon under indictment for bank fraud, among other things.

If ever there were a henhouse, it’s Wall Street. If ever there were a fox, it’s Fred Upton. Are we angry with Congress? Yes.

Are we angry with Wall Street?

Yes. Will Upton be re-elected, nonetheless? Probably. Why?

Because people like Upton are brilliant at deflecting blame and convincing voters that it’s not their fault when things go up in smoke.

If the Fred Uptons of America are all re-elected, then this is no time of crisis. In times of crisis, Americans take a stand. Will you?

Kevin Wordelman Benton Harbor

Improvements Galore for St. Joe; A THIRD Unmarked Car for Benton Harbor

H-P

BENTON HARBOR — The Benton Harbor Police Department will add a third unmarked car to its fleet following action Monday by the City Commission.

The commission approved the purchase of a 2008 Chevrolet Impala for $17,298 from Berger Chevrolet in Grand Rapids. It will be bought through Michigan’s state purchasing program, police Chief Al Mingo said.

The money will come from the police department’s asset forfeiture funds. That is money police in Michigan are allowed to seize during drug arrests.

The new car will be used by one of the department’s three narcotics officers. Mingo said the two unmarked cars used by the department’s narcotics division are aging and are often in need of repairs, and a more reliable car is needed.

Also Monday, Mingo announced that state police will be helping Benton Harbor police patrol Main Street for speeders. The chief said he has gotten a lot of complaints from citizens about cars speeding on Main Street between Fair Avenue and Riverview Drive.