Friday, February 04, 2011
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Please help to bring justice
This is an appeal from Deborah Cotton regarding the upcoming sentencing of Ronald Sims, for the brutal murder of Brandon Franklin.
Ronald Sims
Brandon Franklin, 22 year old saxophonist for TBC Brass Band and a band teacher at O.Perry Walker High, was murdered Mother’s Day, 2010 by Ronald Sims, the boyfriend of Brandon’s child’s mother.
Brandon Franklin
After a heated exchange with his girlfriend, Sims left her house and returned with a loaded gun. He found Brandon at her home, changing the locks on the door at her request, and pumped 13 bullets into him taking away from us a bright young musician, beloved high school teacher and father of three year old Brandon Jr. Later that day, Simms turned himself in to the authorities. He requested a trial by judge, as was his right, and on November 23rd, Judge Darryl Derbigny convicted Sims of manslaughter which brings a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
Many of Brandon’s family and friends feel that Judge Derbigny’s judgement was not just. Derbigny, a former public defense attorney, has a tendency towards leniency with defendants. In one high profile case, he acquitted a man of murder who confessed to police and reporters that he did indeed murder his victim.
We must do everything in our power to make sure the person that murdered Brandon does not get off with the same light sentence. I am asking you to join me and ensuring that Brandon’s murderer gets the maximum sentence possible. That end can be helped in two ways:
1. Write a letter or call Judge Derbigny requesting that he give the maximum sentence allowable to Ronald Sims and why you feel that this is necessary. If you knew Brandon, please include in your letter how you knew him, what he brought into your life, and what his loss has meant to you. The more personal the appeal, the better.
2. Attend the trial on Friday February 18th (time TBA)
Putting a spotlight on the judge and ensuring that he knows a vast cross-section of our community is watching how he handles this case is paramount to getting the strongest sentence possible. We must send him and the city of New Orleans the message that our lives are NOT cheap. If you didn’t know Brandon, please right a letter anyway. Do it for all the times one of ours was murdered and you felt helpless to do anything about it. If you knew Brandon, please do it to honor what he brought into your life as well as his future which is now embodied in his son Brandon Jr., his O. Perry Walker students, and his bandmates in the TBC Brass Band.
Please send your letters to Justice4BrandonFranklin@yahoo.com NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11th. Thank you in advance for your effort.
Ronald Sims
Brandon Franklin, 22 year old saxophonist for TBC Brass Band and a band teacher at O.Perry Walker High, was murdered Mother’s Day, 2010 by Ronald Sims, the boyfriend of Brandon’s child’s mother.
Brandon Franklin
After a heated exchange with his girlfriend, Sims left her house and returned with a loaded gun. He found Brandon at her home, changing the locks on the door at her request, and pumped 13 bullets into him taking away from us a bright young musician, beloved high school teacher and father of three year old Brandon Jr. Later that day, Simms turned himself in to the authorities. He requested a trial by judge, as was his right, and on November 23rd, Judge Darryl Derbigny convicted Sims of manslaughter which brings a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.
Many of Brandon’s family and friends feel that Judge Derbigny’s judgement was not just. Derbigny, a former public defense attorney, has a tendency towards leniency with defendants. In one high profile case, he acquitted a man of murder who confessed to police and reporters that he did indeed murder his victim.
We must do everything in our power to make sure the person that murdered Brandon does not get off with the same light sentence. I am asking you to join me and ensuring that Brandon’s murderer gets the maximum sentence possible. That end can be helped in two ways:
1. Write a letter or call Judge Derbigny requesting that he give the maximum sentence allowable to Ronald Sims and why you feel that this is necessary. If you knew Brandon, please include in your letter how you knew him, what he brought into your life, and what his loss has meant to you. The more personal the appeal, the better.
2. Attend the trial on Friday February 18th (time TBA)
Putting a spotlight on the judge and ensuring that he knows a vast cross-section of our community is watching how he handles this case is paramount to getting the strongest sentence possible. We must send him and the city of New Orleans the message that our lives are NOT cheap. If you didn’t know Brandon, please right a letter anyway. Do it for all the times one of ours was murdered and you felt helpless to do anything about it. If you knew Brandon, please do it to honor what he brought into your life as well as his future which is now embodied in his son Brandon Jr., his O. Perry Walker students, and his bandmates in the TBC Brass Band.
Please send your letters to Justice4BrandonFranklin@yahoo.com NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11th. Thank you in advance for your effort.
Monday, January 31, 2011
The Wall with Feeling
A fantastic, intelligent, big hearted photographer from Raceland, Louisiana reflects on
the Vietnam Veterans by visiting The Wall.
the Vietnam Veterans by visiting The Wall.
Scuzzbucket of the Week
Names are unknown at this time, but - besides the shooter, who later was treated for post traumatic stress syndrome - SOMEONE KNEW about the massacre of 100 sled dogs in Canada.
Outdoor Adventures Whistler acknowledges it had a financial stake in Howling Dogs at the time of the cull, but didn't take operational control of the company until May 2010.
The release says: "OAW was aware of the relocation and euthanization of dogs at Howling Dogs in April 2010, but it was our expectation that it was done in a proper, legal and humane manner."
The man who was compensated hasn't been identified. Outdoor Adventures Whistler said he is no longer managing Howling Dogs. A new manager has been hired.
His lawyer, Corey Steinberg, said the man made every effort to find adoptive homes for the dogs. Steinberg told CBC News that when he wasn't successful, a group, including executives and the man, agreed euthanasia was the only choice for the sickest and oldest dogs in the pack.
"He just wanted the greatest happiness for the greatest number of dogs. He had to choose — 'Do I keep 200 dogs and make their lives great, or do I stick here with the 300 that I have?' And I'm being told by my employer, 'You deal with it, you figure it out, there's not really much more we can do for you,'" Steinberg said.
The general manager of cruelty investigations for the provincial SPCA, Marcie Moriarty, wonders why the company had so many dogs when it couldn't keep them healthy. She said the dogs appear to have died a horrible death.
"I won't use the term euthanized, [which] implies a humane death, and I can say that based on his description, at least a number of dogs did not have a humane death. His descriptions of using a shotgun, blowing off half of the dog's head while it ran off, a dog crawling out of a mass grave, it just made me shudder," Moriarty said.
Moriarty said investigators would try to locate the burial site and perform necropsies.
Outdoors Adventures Whistler told CBC News the incident is tragic and regrettable, and a new policy has been put in place to ensure all dogs are euthanized at a veterinarian's office.
The company also said it has implemented a neutering program for all male dogs to mitigate unwanted pregnancies in the pack.
Outdoor Adventures Whistler acknowledges it had a financial stake in Howling Dogs at the time of the cull, but didn't take operational control of the company until May 2010.
The release says: "OAW was aware of the relocation and euthanization of dogs at Howling Dogs in April 2010, but it was our expectation that it was done in a proper, legal and humane manner."
The man who was compensated hasn't been identified. Outdoor Adventures Whistler said he is no longer managing Howling Dogs. A new manager has been hired.
His lawyer, Corey Steinberg, said the man made every effort to find adoptive homes for the dogs. Steinberg told CBC News that when he wasn't successful, a group, including executives and the man, agreed euthanasia was the only choice for the sickest and oldest dogs in the pack.
"He just wanted the greatest happiness for the greatest number of dogs. He had to choose — 'Do I keep 200 dogs and make their lives great, or do I stick here with the 300 that I have?' And I'm being told by my employer, 'You deal with it, you figure it out, there's not really much more we can do for you,'" Steinberg said.
The general manager of cruelty investigations for the provincial SPCA, Marcie Moriarty, wonders why the company had so many dogs when it couldn't keep them healthy. She said the dogs appear to have died a horrible death.
"I won't use the term euthanized, [which] implies a humane death, and I can say that based on his description, at least a number of dogs did not have a humane death. His descriptions of using a shotgun, blowing off half of the dog's head while it ran off, a dog crawling out of a mass grave, it just made me shudder," Moriarty said.
Moriarty said investigators would try to locate the burial site and perform necropsies.
Outdoors Adventures Whistler told CBC News the incident is tragic and regrettable, and a new policy has been put in place to ensure all dogs are euthanized at a veterinarian's office.
The company also said it has implemented a neutering program for all male dogs to mitigate unwanted pregnancies in the pack.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
January 28, 1986
I don't think I'll ever forget where I was 25 years ago today. I think a lot of people are like that. It's the same as when the day JFK was shot, or 9/11 or Katrina. An event like this just burns itself into your memory forever.
I work in New Orleans East at the Michoud Assembly Facility. We build the External Fuel Tank for the Space Shuttle. On January 28th, 1986 we were all standing around the television in the hallway as we did for every launch. We watched the countdown, the engines firing and the blastoff. When the capcom said "throttle up" our whole world changed. All of us standing there stood in a state of shock for at least 3-5 minutes watching the scene in silence. Eventually the capcom said "obviously a major malfunction" our hearts dropped, we grew sick to our stomachs.
Not knowing the cause of the explosion , we were frightened, wondering if our part of the Shuttle System was to blame. I can never look at the video again.
The next two plus years were very, very painful for everyone involved in the Shuttle Program. There were a lot of investigations going on and a lot of layoffs. We eventually returned to flight and everything flew normally until 2003 when we lost Columbia on February 1, 2003.
Coincidentally, an explosion on Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967 caused the death of three astronauts.
We are now close to the end of the Space Shuttle era, with only two more flights to go. It has been an exhilarating experience to take part in all of these unbelievable endeavors. I'm extremely disappointed in our leadership who seem not to care about the future of space flight, just letting 50 years of discoveries end with no certain path for our future.
Here's an excellent article about the end of the Program along with ignorant comments.
Gathering the Orphaned Anchors in the Gulf
During the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill response, thousands of 20 to 70-pound Danforth anchors were deployed to keep containment boom in place. After retrieval of the boom in areas where no containable oil posed a threat to the shoreline, it was discovered that some of the anchors were not accounted for various reasons such as storms. In addition, some anchors were solidly embedded in the sediment, and could not be recovered by teams retrieving boom.
A typical Danforth Anchor
The first phase of the program to remove these anchors will involve controlled testing by experienced underwater salvage teams. Crews will place anchors in a selected area and then search for them to find the best procedures and equipment for locating and removing the anchors. Using the best methods developed under these tests, crews will then transition into the second phase, which involves locating and removing the orphaned anchors deployed as part of the oil spill response in select areas of St. Bernard Parish.
If phase two recovery operations are successful in St. Bernard Parish, phase three of the plan will begin, which involves expanding removal operations to include all of the waters in Louisiana affected by the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill.
“The federal government team that continues to oversee this response is committed to ensuring that BP uses a safe and proven method to find and remove orphan anchors so that teams do not break submerged pipelines in the area or further harm fragile ecosystems by causing erosion,” said Capt. Lincoln Stroh, Federal On-Scene Coordinator.
“Teams cannot simply drag the waterways with a hook or trawl due to the risk of breaking a pipeline or causing massive erosion. The program requires BP to undertake careful planning to ensure there is no environmental damage or destruction to existing pipelines and infrastructure.”
When laying boom, response crews used Danforth anchors, which embed in the sediment and collapse flat when not in use. This type of anchor does not protrude above the sediment like North Hill anchors. When the boom was retrieved, every anchor that could be recovered by the boom teams was safely removed
Here's a link to the whole story
A typical Danforth Anchor
The first phase of the program to remove these anchors will involve controlled testing by experienced underwater salvage teams. Crews will place anchors in a selected area and then search for them to find the best procedures and equipment for locating and removing the anchors. Using the best methods developed under these tests, crews will then transition into the second phase, which involves locating and removing the orphaned anchors deployed as part of the oil spill response in select areas of St. Bernard Parish.
If phase two recovery operations are successful in St. Bernard Parish, phase three of the plan will begin, which involves expanding removal operations to include all of the waters in Louisiana affected by the Deepwater Horizon BP oil spill.
“The federal government team that continues to oversee this response is committed to ensuring that BP uses a safe and proven method to find and remove orphan anchors so that teams do not break submerged pipelines in the area or further harm fragile ecosystems by causing erosion,” said Capt. Lincoln Stroh, Federal On-Scene Coordinator.
“Teams cannot simply drag the waterways with a hook or trawl due to the risk of breaking a pipeline or causing massive erosion. The program requires BP to undertake careful planning to ensure there is no environmental damage or destruction to existing pipelines and infrastructure.”
When laying boom, response crews used Danforth anchors, which embed in the sediment and collapse flat when not in use. This type of anchor does not protrude above the sediment like North Hill anchors. When the boom was retrieved, every anchor that could be recovered by the boom teams was safely removed
Here's a link to the whole story
Making it happen
I just discovered the Nine Lives Blog and I'd like to share it with you.
The blog covers the birth of a new musical based on New Orleans lover Dan Baum, a former
journalist for The New Yorker magazine.
I enjoyed perusing the notes from the production period and seeing pictures of the musical artists who contribute to this project.
"The premise of the musical is this: Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans tells the story of New Orleans through the stories of nine people over 40 years, bracketed by two hurricanes — from 1965′s Betsy to 2005′s Katrina.
The musical is based on the book with the same name, on sale here.(which I just purchased)
If the name Dan Baum seems familiar to some New Orleanians, it's probably due to the fact that you've read his blog detailing the aftermath of Katrina. The blog entries , can be found here. The reader can also find insight into 8 of the nine lives covered in this story.
The CD preview party for Nine Lives musical is this Saturday, January 29th. See the flyer below.
The blog covers the birth of a new musical based on New Orleans lover Dan Baum, a former
journalist for The New Yorker magazine.
I enjoyed perusing the notes from the production period and seeing pictures of the musical artists who contribute to this project.
"The premise of the musical is this: Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans tells the story of New Orleans through the stories of nine people over 40 years, bracketed by two hurricanes — from 1965′s Betsy to 2005′s Katrina.
The musical is based on the book with the same name, on sale here.(which I just purchased)
If the name Dan Baum seems familiar to some New Orleanians, it's probably due to the fact that you've read his blog detailing the aftermath of Katrina. The blog entries , can be found here. The reader can also find insight into 8 of the nine lives covered in this story.
The CD preview party for Nine Lives musical is this Saturday, January 29th. See the flyer below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
The SCOTUS Women
Women of the Supreme Court just did what far too many elected officials have failed to do: they stood up to Trump’s MAGA regime and called b...
-
I think I'm missing something. Razoo Bouncers not guilty of murder. Levon Jones, 26, of Statesboro, Ga., died after being pinned to th...
-
Harrah's New Orleans Hotel I can identify all but one of the flags flying, which depict the city of New Orleans and Louisiana's...
