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March 10, 2003 |
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About Town Dave Uphoff |
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Beware of the law and the Internet
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A friend of mine commented on my editorial last week that mentioned the act of senior class members "dumping" freshmen students. He
said that he was caught one night coming home from the movies and was run down and tackled by a senior. He said
he was forced to lie down on the car floor while they drove him around in circles before heading to the country to "dump" him out.
I thought of what could happen to that senior if he tackled some freshman today and took him out to the country to be dumped? There would be a very good chance that he would be arrested for battery and serve jail time or be fined. A lot of things have changed in our laws and in the enforcement of our laws in the last 50 years. Years ago it was not uncommon to witness a fight either in a bar or on the playground or in the street where one person was pretty well beaten up. If the guy deserved it, that would usually be the end of it. Today, if someone assaults someone else, even if it is a minor scrape, there is a good chance that the person will go to jail. I am not advocating violence or thuggery. However, after reading the court notes in the Pantagraph, it seems to me that it doesn't take much to be put in jail nowadays. Recently I read about a guy who slapped his girl friend and got three years in prison for it! Another incident involved a person who, while being arrested, hit an officer on the arm. It didn't say whether it was accidental or deliberate, but the guy received 3 years in jail for assaulting an officer of the law. This may have been the person's third arrest and probably deserved the time. However, it is apparent to everyone that we have any awful lot of people in jail today and our prisons are becoming overcrowded. Other than giving everyone equal opportunity and eliminating poverty, I don't have the answers on how to reduce crime in this country. I do think that we need to make every effort to rehabilitate those first time offenders when they are in prison so as to prevent them from becoming even more of a hardcore criminal through interaction with the really bad guys in prison. With an aging population, we cannot afford to have 10% of our potentially productive citizens in prison. Socially and economically we need to address the reasons for our high crime rate. We can start by examining our laws and sentencing to see if they have become too severe. |
While our laws have become more restrictive, the Internet is still largely uncontrolled.
Many of you probably noticed that I posted another hoax picture on this website last week. It was a picture of a
jet formation flying over Randolph Air Force base in San Antonio. Rob Sanders of Minonk
sent me an email informing me of this hoax. He provided a link to a website that exposes these hoaxes and I want to pass
it on so that you can determine for yourself if a picture you receive from someone is a hoax. The website is
at http://urbanlegends.about.com. I received another set of pictures that purported to
show the pictures of the Columbia spaceship blowing up on its descent. I thought that if those were real pictures, they
would have been all over the television networks by now. By going to the above website, I found out that they were indeed
a hoax. For those who are interested in what these photos looked like,
click here.
The hoaxes described above reveal how suspectible the Internet is to fraud and corruption. The motto is "Viewer beware!" There is no governing body to ensure that truth prevails on the Internet. Because the Internet is an open forum, it allows crooks as well as law-abiding citizens equal opportunities to ply their trade. At least 4 times a week I receive an email from some idiot claiming to be from Nigeria and looking for a safe-haven to store some money that he is taking out of the country and wants to enlist our confidence in finding a place. How dumb do these people think we are? Below is an excerpt from the email I received. ....All we need from you is your company name, address, Telephone and fax numbers including cell phone number if any and your banking details such as your bank name, address, telephone/fax and your bank account number wherein this money will be transferred into. This transaction is 100% risk free if you keep it secret on your own side and will be concluded within 7 working days of receiving the above requested. 25% of the total sum will be your share for your assistance in providing your bank account and also your taking care of the local and international expenses that might be incurred, in the course of this transaction...... If anyone is interested in the above deal, I will be glad to forward your name to this guy from Nigeria. After writing my editorial two weeks ago on how we should get rid of Saddam Hussein, I went to the Internet to see what other commentators were saying. I found a couple that were interesting. The first one was by Alistair Cook who writes a weekly column on life in America for the BBC. He started reporting for the BBC in 1946 and at the age of 93 is still at it. Cook talks about how the current situation with Iraq reminds him of the 1930's when everyone was wondering what to do about Hitler. To read his editorial, click here. Charlie Daniels is a country music entertainer whose raucous open letter that admonishes Hollywood stars for their anti-war stance is quite a contrast to Cook's eloquent and polished delivery. Daniel's letter can be read by clicking here. Daniels' letter makes my editorials seem as benign as nursery rhymes.
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