thank you rebecca for continuing the hatemongering. this list [which is not factual as a majority of the kids were minors so their records are sealed] is full of the usual trumped up charges that people face after ugly confrontations with police

the first boy in the video is heard IN THE VIDEO saying he had no idea the cop was after him. yet the cop claims loudly several times that he not only knew the cop ordered him to stop but also told the others to keep going

which one is lying?
the skater behind the boy wrote an account claiming he was unaware

on the video showing the previous minute to this one, you see the cop run out of a store. several skaters stop immediately but most of the skaters were ahead and unaware. it was a group of about a dozen

why the cop did not detain and deal with the skaters who stopped eludes me [at least one of them left the scene anyway]. was it vitally important to chase down 13yr old jared? did the cop not see the others who stopped and were older, more responsible members of the group?

notice the cop is wearing a golf shirt and shorts. even with the badge iron-on at his chest he could have easily been mistaken for a shopkeeper. fleeing from a shopkeeper is not an offence

fleeing is also a ‘misdemeanour C’ which in arkansas is a lesser offence than gay sex and certainly not appropriate to tackle and choke a 13yr old for it

disorderly conduct? the ordinance already covered that. they would not be charged with both
Failure to disperse? they were never told to disperse, in fact if any walked away it would be considered fleein

Obstructing governmental operations sounds very serious, but go look it up.
this bogus charge is most often used against people taking photos of police.
skylar, who is responsible for the photo at the start was not arrested or detained when he ran. the charge for taking photos of the cop choking the kid made him a candidate for arrest, thus the chase

Resisting arrest - Refusal to submit to arrest is a valid charge, but considering the group was young [every kid the cop handles in this video is 16 or 13] and they had just witnessed their friend being manhandled by the cop for a minor offence, it will surprise noone that they were scared and afraid for their safety

every kid in the video is handled by the neck
the Internal Affairs decided that was appropriate but most people ive read comments from dont agree

rebecca, as you pointed out, the IA report claims “the entire incident appeared to be part of a planned participation in a nationwide anti-authority demonstration” this sounds suspiciously like they have deemed officer williams actions appropriate considering he was dealing with a “nationwide anti-authority demonstration” by himself

i suggest you go to goskateboardingday dot org and see what kind of “nationwide anti-authority demonstration” it is [not]

is this the new ‘patriot act’ in action?

the fearmongering is most apparent of your accusation of inappropriate relations re: “Should young teenagers be hanging out with 19- and 21-year old adults who have nothing better to do than skate through downtown during the summer? Probably not”

it was a planned ride through town to celebrate the internationally recognized ‘go skateboarding day’. would you deem it inappropriate for children to walk alongside adults on an earth day parade?

furthermore, the claim they were “skating down the crowded sidewalks of Central Avenue” is obviously designed to make them look like bad kids. not only can you see in the video itsself that the sidewalks were not crowded, but in the video showing the previous minute the skaters pass 18 people [half of which are waiting at one bus stop] over the 200feet of 15foot wide sidewalk in question

i have no doubt that on some days the walks are crowded and perhaps the ordinance was necessary, but to add fuel to the fire is mean spirited

i will look for your name on travel books rebecca and avoid buying them

by the way ‘utoober’s claim that “Now that he’s been cleared of wrongdoing my prediction is that he’ll be a very wealthy man soon” did not happen at all

people have the right to the opinion that the officer acted inappropriately even though the Internal Affairs cleared him. the kids claim the choke took place and we can see that three minors were in fact brutalized right on the video

this ordinance is one born out of the prejudice against skateboarders. i challenge anyone who reads this to find credible evidence that skateboarders pose a significant increase in risk of injury to pedestrians

it is an unfounded fear and misunderstanding of skaters which makes most people believe blindly they need to be protected. statistics based on youth injury from sport show skateboarding does not cause as many injuries to those participating compared with many popular youth sports and activities. if it isnt dangerous for those kids doing tricks over and over, how is it a danger to those pedestrians they pass?

if the sidewalk is crowded it is nearly impossible to skate on it. a dozen skaters in a line could not have passed if there were people in the way. crowded sidewalks and skateboarding cannot happen together. nobody was in danger

my final point is a simple one. the ordinance may be unfair, but it is in place. the kids knew about the fine and were willing to take it. the officer had several opportunities during the incident, including at the outset, to deal with the skaters with no force at all

his choice to use force on a 13yr old boy who was unaware and on a 16yr old girl who was arrested for refusing to sit down is what most people still consider to be excessive force

i doubt people who see this video will judge your whole town by this one bad cops actions, however they will certainly judge the american system of justice for condoning this despicable behaviour against kids

as the camerakid says, its not like they were being arrested for breaking into houses or dealing drugs. this officer is obviously unable to distinguish between people who need force to stop them and kids who will naturally struggle if you grab them by the neck

he should not be allowed to interact with the public in an official manner

sam

What Scott McClellen has done is confirm to the president’s war critics, from within Bush’s secretive, nefarious inner circle, that the Bush Administration’s motive in going to war was NOT a clear and present danger of attack on the USA by Iraq (with their incredible, disappearing weapons of mass destruction), but rather to advance Bush’s crusade to foist democracy upon the Middle East, by any means necessary. Actually not bringing “democracy” at all. I really don’t think they give a damn about *that*… What they DO care about is big business. Oil business. Profit over people. Power over us. Control and conquer.

McClellan drew blood, that’s for sure.

Good!

It’s about time these war mongering, mass-murdering assholes bled.

Indeed, we live in interesting times…

How much were the supporters of the nuke Iraq, nuke Iran, nuke Korea, nuke all, red-neck slogan, benefiting from these increases? We must take it back in taxes and windfall profit taxes (as it was intended) and via price fixing laws. But no one in politics has the guts to do it.

Even the present group trying to gain control has no plans to tax all this money and bring it back. Hillary maybe, but will she change? The blacks all abandoned her (with a few token exceptions) making it a black vs. the rest of America issue (not seen by the blind, yet).

And oil will be the prostitute, and people still do not see, energy is not oil, its time is gone. Let us build nukes, with Iran and the rest of the world, and forget oil, go for diesel and all other alternatives, not in 40 yrs. (after the Arab 1970 coup) but immediately ration the oil, force the payment of windfall taxes, and other measures, show that politicians are not all, and always gutless liars, but some have a trace of morality and ethics, left, somewhere in them, and maybe able to flash it now (not just flash themselves into another scandal for Fox news, grace, e news, garbage to get more ratings).

At that time, I had a friend who played a lot of tennis with a rich woman who lived across the street from the Reagan’s new house. He was filming a documentary on her tennis court and I was helping him with it. He pointed out to me that the address of Ronald Reagan’s new house was 666 _______ Avenue.

The Reagan’s didn’t like this, so they had it changed to 667.

You can run… but you can’t hide!

As for the biblical reference to 666, we are all conjecturing about what that might really mean. Watch enough movies and suddenly we are all experts… but your guess is really as good as any other I have heard and actually better than most.

Anyway that thing with the name well that is really quite curious…

T

While what you say may well be true, my girlfriend and I took Hot Springs off our list of potential sites to visit this summer after viewing this (the unedited version, in two parts) on YouTube. What you fail to notice is that one of the teens (Drew Irwin) was, in fact, arrested solely for “violation of city ordinance,” meaning the skateboarding prohibition in the area. Skateboarding in a prohibited area is akin to a minor traffic violation, and what concerns my girlfriend and I is that this is how Hot Springs police approve of handling such an infraction?!?! Sorry, but if the officer (Joey Williams) can be returned to duty without so much as a suspension or even retraining for leaving one handcuffed teen to pursue another, or the manner he treated the female (Casie Canterbury), or even a public scolding for excessive treatment of a minor infraction, you can’t tell us we have no reason for concern.

Bobby H.
Orlando, FL

Don’t confuse these purchase cards with travel cards that probably 60 percent or more federal employees have been issued. Travel cards enable the government to put the financial responsiblity for travel expenses and any mis use of the card onto the employee named on the card. There are no expense accounts. Employees are personally liable for paying the bills, and the government reimburses the employee for claimed expenses when the claims are covered in the travel regs. Again, the cards are supposed to save the govt money — there are rebates pd by the credit card companies for every transaction where the travel card is used. Empoyees are required to use them when they travel for govt business.

Purchase cards that were audited by GAO are completely different. Most have a limit of $2500. Some of the purchase cards have higher limits for use by agencies who have special circumstance programs, e.g., Dept of Homeland Security has higher limit purchase cards to use in the early days following emergencies so that they can get needed equipment and supplies in place quickly to set up up recovery operations. Some DoD programs may have cards with higher limits.
Most all of the purchase cards are provided to Contracting personnel who are supposed to know the rules and follow them. Those who are not contracting officers receive training. 99 percent of the contracting officers and others who have cards do follow the rules and use the cards only for bona fide government program requirements. A small number are stupid and lack integrity. Just like in the private sector — the universe of employees covers the full range of personality types.

Regarding the biblical reference above: I just find it interesting. Not that I believe in any of those kinds of things. Besides, the only time I ever pay attention to 666 is when it is a winning hand when I play poker!

If you’re interested enough, you can click on the image above and it’ll take you to the Amazon.com page where you can purchase the “Reagan Diaries”. The one sure way to find out what’s in the book, and what’s not.

Thank you for writing in, Larry. Your participation is appreciated!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/kinsley.asp

“but I’ve always found it interesting that each of Reagan’s names have six letters in them: Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6). Therefore:
Ronald + Wilson + Reagan = 666.
That’s a biblical thing, is it not..?”

No. There are two different interpretations of the bible. One claims that the mark of the beast is 666, the other interpetation is 616. In either case, the bible does NOT come to the conclusion of who is the beast by counting the number of letters in a persons name.