O.C. court to halt traffic ticket processing in Mexico
Press Release from Superior Court of California County of Orange:
The Court and Cal Coast Data Entry Amend Contract All Data Entry of Traffic Citations will be done at its Facilities in Cerritos, California and Phoenix, Arizona
Santa Ana – Effective immediately, data input of traffic citations will no longer be
done at the Nogales, Mexico facility. The Court has found a solution by
renegotiating its contract for traffic data entry with Cal Coast Data Entry, Inc.
(CCDE).
The public’s confidence and peace of mind regarding the security of their
information is paramount to the Court. The Court and CCDE worked together and
mutually agreed to amend the contract for data entry to be done at their Cerritos,
California and at their Phoenix, Arizona facilities. It is expected that the facilities
will be ready for data entry of traffic citations by Friday, August 3, 2007. At the
Court’s request, records will no longer be sent to Nogales, Mexico for data entry.
Hearing to discuss foreign impact on border agents’ case
The U.S. House’s Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight scheduled a hearing Tuesday to look into alleged foreign influence in the prosecution of two imprisoned El Paso Border Patrol agents, officials with U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.
The hearing, to take place at 2 p.m. in Washington, D.C., is titled “The Case of Ramos and Compean: The Across Border Context.”
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are serving 11 and 12 years in prison respectively for violating the civil rights of a drug smuggler they shot in the buttocks near Fabens in 2005 and for tampering with evidence. . .
Barry Bonds bashers won’t be caught looking
Daniel Kramer could be in the middle of pandemonium at Dodger Stadium tonight, but he won’t see it coming.
Every time Barry Bonds heads to the plate looking to tie Hank Aaron’s major league home-run record of 755, Kramer and about 103 of his cohorts will shield their eyes with their “Bond-folds” blindfolds and proudly display their BoycottBarry.com T-shirts.
Kramer is a co-founder of the group BoycottBarry.com that has traveled to baseball parks from coast to coast. Its mission is to show displeasure about Bonds’ home-run chase, which has allegedly been aided by steroids use. . .
Former L.A. priest accused of sex abuse eying plea deal
LOS ANGELES – A man who claims his life was ruined when he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest raised his middle fingers in court Monday during a hearing where a judge said a plea deal was being discussed for the now-defrocked defendant in a separate case.
Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco acknowledged the talks and ordered both sides to return to court on Sept. 7 to disclose whether a deal was near for Michael Stephen Baker.
Baker, 60, has pleaded not guilty to one count each of oral copulation of a minor and sexual penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object, and three counts of sodomy of a minor. . .
ALISO VIEJO - Lenand and Carol Henderson moved into their four-bedroom home impressed with the manicured lawns, the maintained slopes and the overall neatness of the planned community.
Now the elderly couple, both 82, are looking for a way out. Family members said they are stuck with a $1,400 “parking ticket” from their homeowner association, a lawsuit, and a lien preventing them from selling or refinancing their home.
“I’ve never lived in an association,” Carol Henderson said. “They don’t deal with common sense. They just decide what the law is. . .
Monday, July 30th, 2007
Supervisors to meet on court outsourcing contract
As hundreds of people complained Friday, the county Board of Supervisors scheduled an emergency hearing for Tuesday on a courthouse contract that sends 500,000 tickets a year to Mexico for processing.
The court said Friday there have been no reported security breaches or cases of identity theft and that it is reviewing the contract to see if any of the sent information is privileged, a trade secret or proprietary.
A public uproar began a day before, when a caller to KFI/640 AM’s “John & Ken Show” reported on the court’s agreement with Cal Coast Data Entry Inc., which sends personal information such as driver’s license numbers and addresses to its Nogales, Mexico, facility for electronic processing. . .
Dad Fights Web Site That Eyes Young Girls
Jack McClellan says he likes to look at very young girls, but has never sexually touched a child.
”(It’s) the ambiance of children that I enjoy,” he said.
Two months ago McClellan, 45, was basically run out of Washington state when word got out about his Web site, which promotes the acceptance of touching between men and prepubescent girls .
His site shows events and places to go for men to meet children. McClellan has since moved to his native California, claiming it’s full of kid-friendly attractions. He takes pictures of girls he sees in public and posts them on his Web site and writes about admiring “the little cuties. . .
Animal Activist Group Mails ‘Interesting’ Item To UCLA Researcher
LOS ANGELES —An animal-rights organization said Monday that activists may have mailed an “interesting” item to a UCLA researcher whose experiments with monkeys recently made him the target of an attempted firebombing.
“In a communique received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, activists claim to have mailed `an interesting package’ to the abuser’s home,” ALPO’s press officer, Jerry Vlasak, wrote in a statement, referring to UCLA’s Arthur Rosenbaum.
The FBI recently announced reward money totaling $110,000 for information that would help identify those responsible for the attempted firebombing of Rosenbaum’s car near his home on June 24. . .
Friday, July 27th, 2007
OC court traffic ticket data outsourced to Mexico
SANTA ANA, Calif.—Traffic ticket data, including driver’s license numbers, birth dates and other personal information, is processed by workers in Mexico under an outsourcing contract with Orange County courts.
There was outrage over Thursday’s disclosure that the court has contracted for ticket data entry since March 2006 with Cerritos-based Cal Coast Data Entry Inc.
The work is done at a Cal Coast facility in Nogales, Mexico.
”(DMV information) has to be kept as closely guarded as possible and outsourcing this kind of information outside the country is something this board would never support,” Supervisor Chris Norby said during an interview Thursday on KFI radio. . .
Lindsay: “I Wasn’t Driving, the Black Kid Was”
Just before Lindsay Lohan was arrested early Tuesday morning, she commandeered a car and took three men hostage—this, according to the three men who were in the car with her.
TMZ interviewed all three, and here’s the lowdown: Rewind to Monday afternoon. Dante Nigro, Jakon Sutter and Ronnie Blake drove to Malibu with the boyfriend of Lindsay Lohan’s assistant. Lindsay and her assistant ran into Dante and friends. Later, the assistant text-messaged Dante, saying Lindsay wanted to invite him to a Malibu party that night.
Later, Dante says, he and his friends drove to the party. Dante and the assistant’s boyfriend were let in, but Jakon and Ronnie were rejected and stayed outside. Dante says Lindsay was never without a drink during the evening and he even did a shot with her. . .
TIJUANA — Baja California sees a lucrative future in the luxury residential towers sprouting up along its coast, and officials are hoping developments by the likes of Donald Trump will bring Southern California prosperity south of the border.
But there’s a problem: The 5-mile highway from the border to the beaches is notorious for police who pull tourists’ cars over in search of bribes.
Now Tijuana police say they’re cleaning up the route and targeting corruption elsewhere in an effort to make the border area more inviting. . .
P.R. firm plans blitz for Home Depot site
Organizing, busing and outfitting residents to testify at City Hall in support of Home Depot’s planned Sunland-Tujunga site could cost the retail behemoth more than $24,000, according to a memo written by the public-relations firm working for the store.
The memo by Rick Taylor with Dakota Communications lays out a game plan for getting 150 supporters in orange T-shirts to pack the council chambers Tuesday when the Cityy Council is set to vote on whether to reconsider a Home Depot store on Foothill Boulevard.
The two-page memo sheds new light on the high-stakes, behind-the-scenes orchestrations of companies seeking to sway city leaders and win approval for their projects. . .
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
In the first scene, Homer stands up in a movie theatre and complains that he should not have to pay for something he can see for free on TV. He and the family are attending an “Itchy and Scratchy” full length feature – the irony is not lost on any of us in the theatre. He then points at us and calls us all “suckers”. Point taken, and rejected. Why? It’s simple – TV “sucks”. Let’s look at typical TV comedy fare – wait, forget it. It’s all reality shows now. Would you really pay to see a movie about “American Idol”. Wait again – there is a live tour going on right now for that show and people are paying to see it. Man, I’m as dumb as Homer. (more…)
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
Two 13 year old Oregon boys are facing the possibility of ten years in jail, and a lifetime on the sex offender registry for swatting the bottoms of girls as they ran. Read the full story here
The boy’s families are poor and need help defending themselves. A legal defense fund has been set up:
Cory and Ryan Legal Defense Fund
235 E. 3rd Street
Suite #1
McMinnville, OR 97128
And let the bafoon prosecutor Bradley Berry know how you feel:
Brad Berry
535 E. 5th St.
McMinnville, OR 97128
(503) 434-7539
berryb@co.yamhill.or.us
The Orange County Board of Supervisors are being inundated today with calls from angry fans of “The John & Ken Show”—KFI’s popular program. The callers are reacting to a posting on the show’s website that says the supervisors voted to outsource the processing of traffic and other misdemeanor tickets to a company in Tijuana, Mexico.
It’s outsource part is true, I’ve confirmed that with court officials. But the supervisors had nothing to do with the contract and are taking the brunt of some very angry and obscenity-laced calls. I heard one and let’s just say I can’t quote it on a family-oriented blog. The courts are getting their share of nasty calls, too, and it appears officials there will be taking some action. . .
Supervisor Chris Norby will be on the show at 3:00
Affair, NBC project cross paths
The extramarital affair between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a newscaster for Telemundo has created a new set of complications for the broadcaster’s corporate parent, NBC Universal — and possibly the mayor himself.
Even as its Spanish-language subsidiary is poised to decide the future of Mirthala Salinas, the now-suspended reporter who embarked on a romantic relationship with Villaraigosa while she reported on him, NBC Universal is proceeding with a massive $3-billion development plan that city officials must ultimately approve.
Although Telemundo executives hold the key to the career of Salinas, now the subject of an internal investigation into whether she compromised the company’s journalistic mission, Villaraigosa holds his own considerable power over NBC Universal. The entertainment conglomerate will very likely need Villaraigosa’s help to navigate the city’s approval process as it spends the next year pushing its Universal City Vision Plan, a concept the mayor embraced seven months ago. . .
House Moves to Free Border Patrol Agents Jailed Over Shooting
The House on Wednesday approved a move by conservative Republicans to try to set free two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer.
After a long, emotional debate, the House voted by voice to block the Bureau of Prisons from keeping former agents Ignacio Ramos and Alonso Compean in federal prison. Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for the 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the Texas border near El Paso.
The case has caused a furor among conservative lawmakers and on talk radio across the country. . .
A federal judge on Thursday struck down Hazleton’s tough anti-immigration law, ruling unconstitutional a measure that has been copied around the country.The city’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act sought to impose fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and deny business permits to companies that give them jobs. Another measure would have required tenants to register with City Hall and pay for a rental permit.
U.S. District Judge James Munley voided the law Thursday based on testimony from a nine-day trial held in March. . .
