leighann

Stanley Tookie Williams founded the Crips with a childhood friend in 1971 in Los Angeles, where the gang battled rivals for territory and control of the drug trade.  Williams, 51, faces lethal injection on Dec. 13 for the 1979 slayings of a convenience store clerk and two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year.  He has maintained his innocence and has asked the California Supreme Court to reopen his case, alleging shoddy forensics wrongly connected him to three of the murders.  

In what could be his final days, Williams and his supporters are now pleading with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare his life.  Along with asking Schwarzenegger to commute Williams’ death sentence, his lawyers submitted what they said were signatures of 32,000 people supporting his petition for clemency.  Clemency basically means that the governor believes the person’s life, even if they are on death row, is worth saving.  In prison, Williams gained international acclaim for co-writing children’s books about the dangers of gang life.  He became an anti-gang activist while in prison and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  But does that make him a better person?  Does that mean that he deserves a lesser sentence or maybe freedom?

Followers such as rapper Snoop Dogg, are asking to spare Williams’ life so he can continue his work with young people as an anti-gang activist.  Williams has served 24 years on death row and may have changed, but California authorities say that up until approximately 10 years ago, he was still running the Crips from prison.  Snoop Dogg is rallying at high schools to support the clemency of Williams because he can help keep kids out of gangs.  The last Snoop Dogg song I listened to had lyrics about how he wears a blue flag in his pocket because that’s his Crip side.  It seems to me that he is wants Williams out because he is Snoop’s Crip leader.  Famous rappers are pulling together to set him free and doesn’t seem right to me.  It seems like they have other motives.  Why is Williams pleading his innocence all of sudden after 24 years in prison?

Two other clemency petitions have come before Schwarzenegger.  Neither was granted. The governor said he would meet Dec. 8 in a private hearing with Williams’ lawyers, Los Angeles County prosecutors and others involved.  This is another case where if you are convicted of a crime you should do the time.  I’m not sure if I agree with letting people off easy if you seem to have changed.  How do you know if they really have changed or if they are lying to get off?  How do we know that Williams will really go out and do good things for children influenced by gangs?  What if he really hasn’t changed and people are rallying for him because they want Williams back on the streets with the Crips?  I know gangs are an issue country and it’s probably a lot worse than we could ever imagine.  It would be nice if someone as well-known as Williams could help children stay out of gangs.  I guess it’s up to the governor to decide for now.   

I was looking at MSNBC online today and I came across a headline that made me so angry!  I have already written about a man who escaped from death row in Texas last month.  This story is unbelievable and makes me think that no one is working at “high security” prisons.  The story says that nine prisoners escaped from a Washington prison by breaking through the ceiling of the four-story jail and using a rope made of bed sheets to climb down Friday evening.  Five were recaptured on the jail grounds, but four others got away.  Two of the escapees were captured today, but there are still two more on the loose.  Unbelievable. 

The article that I read said that the breakout was similar to an escape by four inmates in 1994 from the same central Washington jail.  Those inmates made a hole in a ceiling and followed ductwork to a roof vent, then used a bed sheet rope to reach the annex roof, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.  Two were injured when the sheets came apart. They other two fled to Mexico, where one was killed in a gunfight and the other was captured.  Are we reading a scene from a bad movie?  Is this a bunch of teenagers tying bedsheets together and sneaking out of their parents house at night?  NO, it’s convicted felons easily escaping from their prison sentence and no one is paying attention to them.   

I am so confused as to how this keeps happening.  Why aren’t prison employees paying attention to prisoners and what they are doing?  What if these escapees hadn’t been caught?  What if they killed someone or harmed a family for shelter?  I still haven’t found anything that explains how this keeps happening or a statement from the jails on how they plan to stop this from happening again.  I haven’t found any PR being done on these cases.  I feel like something should be done before more prisoners realize how easy it is to escape and it starts a bigger trend.  People who commit crimes and are sentenced to jail are supposed to be monitored and kept in jail. 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  It’s a time to be with family, reflect on the things you have and the things you are thankful for.  The malls are crowded with holiday shoppers.  Oh yeah, and it’s a time to eat!!  Boy did we eat!  I had a great time with my family this past week, and it was the perfect break from school before all my projects are due and finals begin.  There is nothing better than my mom and my sister’s home cooked food and a good football game.  I’ve realized that the older I get, the more I appreciate holidays.  I am very thankful for my family, the things that we have and that I have been able to go to Auburn for the past four years. 

I enjoyed seeing my extended family that I only see on holidays and my friends from high school that go to other colleges.  However, I got really tired of hearing people say, “You are graduating soon, you are growing up so fast!  What are your plans after college?”  This is the hardest question most college students could be asked right now.  There are so many things I want to do in the future and there are so many aspects of PR that interest me.  I was starting to feel guilty that I hadn’t decided on one particular job or field or location yet.  I was given some helpful advice and suggestions from my family and I am now considering new options.  I think it’s time to really sit down and think about what I plan to do.  Just one more thing to worry about these days!

Thanksgiving Break was fun, but I’m happy to be back in Auburn.  I always realize how much I love Auburn when I go home.  But, now it’s crunch time.  The next two weeks will be stressful and packed with coffee, no sleep, group projects, studying and writing papers.  But, that’s college!!  We’ll all be going through it together, so it won’t be too bad.  Wish me luck!

America, especially the state of Alabama, has kept close watch on the Natalee Holloway case.  There are still no answers to her disappearance or why the suspects continuously get out of jail and then get put back in custody.  Although it seems like a lot to ask, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley is pleading the country to boycott Aruba until we get answers. 

Riley called for a travel boycott of Aruba on Tuesday, Nov. 8, until authorities on the Dutch Caribbean island cooperate more fully with the family of a Mountain Brook teenager who has been missing since a graduation trip in May.  Riley asked the governors of the other 49 states to join him in urging a boycott of the island on behalf of the family of Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old graduate last seen on the island May 30.  There has been some controversy over this plea, but Riley feels that there is no other alternative to get the Aruban government to take this situation seriously. 

Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway-Twitty, has been all over the news begging for answers and justice.  She joined Riley at the Alabama Capitol for the boycott announcement.  She contends Aruban authorities have failed to adequately investigate the possible murder of her daughter.  Natalee’s disappearance has been an emotional time for many people in Alabama.  I know that it has been a constant topic of conversation around Auburn since the story came on the news.  It hits home for many Auburn students because they are from Birmingham and the rest of us aren’t far away either. 

I don’t think Riley’s plea is unreasonable because Aruba isn’t cooperating.  It’s frustrating for everyone, especially the Holloway family.  I think it’s fair for Riley to request that high school students stop taking their senior trips to Aruba and to be mindful of their actions while at other destinations.  I haven’t heard if other governors have joined him.  Hopefully his plan will work and Aruba will cooperate and provide us with some answers. 

 

I was watching Oprah Tuesday and it was a special topic for me, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  My internship was at St. Jude this past summer.  It was an incredible and rewarding experience, and I fell in love with this organization.  Danny Thomas founded St. Jude with a vision that “ No child should die in the dawn of life.”  I love this quote and Oprah focused on that Tuesday.

St. Jude opened its doors to pediatric cancer patients from the Gulf Coast whose medical facilities were damaged in New Orleans due to the Hurricane Katrina.  These patients were forced to leave the area and had nowhere to go.  St. Jude stepped up and welcomed these children without hesitation. 

Since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in late August, St. Jude has airlifted two dozen of the most critically ill patients in the region directly to its main campus in Memphis.  In total, St. Jude has treated more than 100 pediatric cancer patients whose care was disrupted by the hurricane. Most of them are being seen at St. Jude’s affiliate in Baton Rouge.  Additionally, St. Jude, in cooperation with Tulane University and New Orleans Children’s Hospital, continues to accept all newly diagnosed cancer patients from Gulf Coast region.

Mirro, who organized emergency treatment in the aftermath of the Katrina, said efforts to support these patients are ongoing.  “In addition to treating 24 patients in critical need here in Memphis, we have been sending emergency supplies and four to eight staff weekly to Baton Rouge to assist and will do so as long as necessary,” Mirro said.  “St. Jude will be working cooperatively with the institutions in the devastated area to ensure that no pediatric cancer patient in need of medical treatment falls through the cracks. Our only concern is to ensure that these vulnerable patients and families—who already have so much to deal with—get the best care possible.”

The St. Jude website said that providing treatment has proven to be a challenge because many of the patients arrived without medical records.  In addition to building an infrastructure to handle the patients in Baton Rouge—computers, phones, land-lines, etc,—staff from St. Jude and ALSAC are using resources to provide food, money and other necessities to the hurricane victims.  As is the hospital’s policy, St. Jude is covering all medical costs not covered by insurance, and families without insurance will not pay.

This story makes me appreciate St. Jude even more than I did before.  They maintained their policy that no one pays for treatment.  It’s amazing what people will do for those in need and it makes me want to go back to work for St. Jude.  I feel blessed to have been in contact with doctors, nurses and staff who work everyday to save lives of innocent and beautiful children.  I am thankful that Oprah shared this story with the world, and I hope people are moved to volunteer or donate to this organization.

Crazy as it may sound, a cruise ship carrying more than 300 passengers fended off a pirate attack Saturday.  The Seabourn Spirit was traveling off the coast of Somalia on its way to Mombasa in Kenya when two speedboats closed in on the vessel and opened fire with machine-guns and a rocket-propelled grenade.  At 5:30am, passengers were awakened by gun shots hitting the side of the vessel.  The captain came on the speaker shortly thereafter to warn passengers and the crew of the attack and instructed them to stay low to the ground and away from the windows.

There was only one injury that took place, a crew member who was slightly injured by flying debris.  The remaining passengers were in shock, but ok.  It was hard for the crew to get rid of the so-called pirates, but they managed to get them to surrender.  The BBC website reported that the crew was able to fend off the attack by using an on-board loud acoustic bang, making the gunmen believe they were under fire.  The captain tried to hit the boats, but managed to simply outrun them. 

The Somali coast is known to be infested with pirates, who are becoming more and more brazen.  According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), at least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been recorded off Somalia’s coastline since mid-March.  Two days ago, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that such activity had hampered delivery of relief supplies to more than 500,000 people in the region.  Due to its impact on tourism, the Seafarers’ Assistance Programme (SAP) is planning to convene Monday to discuss this latest attack — the first on a cruise ship off the Somalia coast.  Somalia has been without a functioning government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Said Barre, and is now overrun by warlords.

It’s crazy to think that people are still worrying about pirates.  It seems like a fairy-tale or a movie.  I keep picturing Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, but it seems to be a bigger deal than a gold-toothed, drunk pirate with a parrot on their shoulder.  Real-life pirates are a threat to people in this area and it seems as though the government there is having a hard time controlling the situation because of the warlords.  I’m glad the pirates were unable to come aboard the ship and no one was injured.  The captain did a good job of handling the attack.   

An inmate on death row escaped from prison this past Thursday. Charles Victor Thompson was an inmate at the Harris County Jail in Texas, and is on death row for killing his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend in 1999. Thompson escaped using smuggled clothes and a fake identification badge to get past guards. He was captured three days later while drunk and talking on a pay phone in Louisiana. He waived his extradition hearing Monday and will be returned to Texas.

His escape resulted from “multiple errors” by jail personnel, Harris County Sheriff’s Lt. John Martin has said. Thompson was convicted of murder and was sentenced to death twice. This is an incredibly scary story to me. It is mind-boggling that someone on death row is capable of escaping so easily. Obviously there are holes in the system or there are people working on the inside who are helping these inmates. Here is the story of how he managed to escape:

“On Thursday afternoon, Thompson was taken to a room in the jail for a meeting with his attorney. The visitor, however, was not Thompson’s attorney of record, Terrence Gaiser, although investigators have determined the other person was an attorney, Martin said. His name has not been released because he is considered a witness.

After the attorney left, Thompson was alone in the room and he managed to remove his handcuffs and his bright orange prison jumpsuit and put on a dark blue shirt, khaki pants and white tennis shoes. Authorities believe those were the clothes Thompson wore during his sentencing and say he somehow smuggled them back to his cell. Wearing his new outfit, Thompson left the prisoner’s booth in the visiting room and waved a fake ID badge that wasn’t scrutinized as he passed at least four jail employees at work stations. Thompson was eventually let into the jail’s visitor’s lobby and from there he walked out of the building and into the street.”

My question is what is everyone working at the courthouse and prison doing during this time? Isn’t anyone paying attention to him and what he is doing? Why didn’t anyone stop him and question him when he passed work stations? Authorities think somebody helped him escape, Martin said. “We do think that people helped him if for no other reason than we found his clothes back behind another jail facility,” he said.

This reminds me of the terrible Atlanta shooting that took place earlier in the year. Once again, an inmate was left unattended and was able to escape. It is terrifying for people, especially the victim’s families, to have a dangerous death row inmate roaming around free. There are issues dealing with internal relations, communication among employees and management. Something has to be done immediately before this happens again and somone gets hurt.

I feel like every person who attends Auburn has an iPod.  Everyday when I am walking to class I see people listening to their iPod.  It has become the hottest accessory in town, and the only way to entertain yourself on your long hike to class around the construction on campus.  I feel completely left out because I don’t have one!  So, I have decided to research them and maybe buy one. 

Apple has invented a unique and creative gadget that has gained a lot of attention from college students.  Maybe it’s their vivid commercials or their celebrity endorsements that catches our eye.  Maybe it’s their small size and variety of colors.  Regardless they are fun toys that serve an important purpose for college students.  They allow you to do what we love best– download music!  Apple offers iTunes, which is their music downloading program.  Here you can transfer all your songs into your iPod.  I have heard that you can only put songs onto your iPod from your own computer.  Apparently you lose all your songs if you try to use different computers. 

When I went to the apple website I was surprised at how many types of iPod you can get and how many accessories are available.  There are three different types of iPod: the iPod, iPod nano and iPod shuffle.  Some even have color video screens.  They range $100-$400, and can hold anywhere from 120 to 15,000 songs.  You can buy armbands to hold your iPod when you are working out, leather protective cases in a variety of colors, different styles of headphones, speakers and a SoundDock.  It is easy to pick out the iPod you want, along with all the accessories and buy everything on the apple website. 

I think I might get one because it seems to be a lot easier than making a ton of burned cd’s all the time.  I would like to get a dock for my car and get an iPod that has a lot of storage space.  Seems like a great purchase!

People were skeptical that the White Sox would get in the playoffs this year, yet alone win the World Series.  Wednesday Oct. 26, 2005, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series.  It was an emotional and happy time for the team and the city of Chicago.  This win gave the franchise its first title since 1917.  And team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and vice chairman Eddie Einhorn were able to hoist the championship trophy for the first time in their 25-year ownership reign.   

Wednesday’s victory followed an all too familiar White Sox pattern in 2005 — great starting pitching, helped out by just enough offense to get the job done, and topped off by sterling defense.The 1-0 win the Chicago White Sox posted over the Houston Astros to win the World Series in Game 4 was the 24th 1-0 game in World Series history.  The White Sox also became the sixth team to win a Fall Classic with a 1-0 game.  The White Sox 1-0 win over Houston on Wednesday completed the 19th four-game sweep in World Series history.

Although the team took great pride in their own accomplishments, namely an 11-1 record in the postseason and the franchise’s first title since 1917, the White Sox players understood this victory and this team belongs to their fan base.  The city of Chicago has been waiting 88 years to celebrate a World Series title and, on Friday, that celebration finally took place.  The 2005 White Sox will take part in a city-wide party that will start at U.S. Cellular Field at 11:15 a.m. CT with the team boarding double-decker buses and trolleys.  The rolling motorcade, made up of city officials, players and family members and White Sox staff, will make a trip through about a half-dozen South Side neighborhoods.

The team’s unity, respect and love for the city of Chicago was obvious after the White Sox won their title.  White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko called chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to the microphone and pointed out how numerous people had asked him what he was going to do with the baseball from the last out. 

“Everyone asked me what I did with the last out,” said Konerko, who told the media that he would soon reveal his plan before walking on the bus with his wife and son.  “Well, it’s going to this man right here because he earned it,” added Konerko, handing the baseball to Reinsdorf.  Reinsdorf, the consummate businessman and leader of this franchise, immediately was moved to tears.

“Getting this ball from Paul Konerko is the most emotional moment of my life,” Reinsdorf said. “Twenty-five years ago, when Eddie Einhorn and our partners bought this team, we had a dream to win the World Series.  “We didn’t think it would take 25 years, but it was worth waiting for because I never thought it could be this great. The love in your faces, this team of wonderful teammates. I never imagined it could be so good. Absolutely, it’s the most fantastic day of my life.”

This team, along with their management, seems to be a grateful group of people who love the game of baseball.  There seems to be great customer and internal relations taking place.  They love the city and fans they play for and are gracious to win a title like the World Series.  It was a refreshing to watch sports in this way.

Being a PR major means taking several journalism classes.  I am currently in Feature Writing and we are given a theme for the semester.  Our theme is Civil Rights.  We have been writing about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks.  We interview people, write opinion pieces and personality profiles.  We are also tutoring high school kids at a local high school once a week.  The program is called Tiger Cubs.  Our final paper will be based on what we’ve learned from the program and our cub. 

Students were selected from Lochapoka High School based on their interest in writing.  Each student, a cub, is paired with one of the college kids from our class, a tiger.  We are teaching them about writing and journalism, and also developing a friendship with them.  Today we taught them a little about interviewing.  We asked them questions, and they asked us about our lives.  At the end we will help them write a paper about the program as well.  It has been fun so far, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better and also teach them some useful information.

Thursday we are taking a field trip to Birmingham.  We are going to a Civil Rights museum with our cub.  It will be an all day event, and we are even taking them to lunch.  It should be a good opportunity to get closer to our cub.  It will also give all of us good notes and more ideas for our papers.  I hope the kids are looking forward to the trip and hanging out with us. 

It’s always good to do volunteer work, and I really enjoy it.  Even though this program is for a class, it’s still a group of us dedicating our time to a good cause.  The kids are smart, interesting and eager to learn more about what they like to do, which is writing.  It makes it easier when they sign up and volunteer to be a part of the program instead of someone making them do this.  I hope by the end of the semester I have helped my cub and also learned something myself.