Duke Prosecutor to Jail

Prosecutor to Jail - from ESPN.com

DURHAM, N.C. — Mike Nifong, the disgraced former Durham County district attorney, was held in criminal contempt of court Friday for lying to a judge when pursuing rape charges against three falsely accused Duke University lacrosse players.

Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III sentenced Nifong, who has already been stripped of his law license and has resigned from office, to a single day in jail. He had faced as many as 30 days in jail and a fine as high as $500.

“If what I impose with regard to Mr. Nifong would make things better or different for what’s already happened, I don’t know what it would be or how I could do it,” Smith said.

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All I can say is that he deserves more jail.

House – furniture moved

Thanks to three excellent friends – Matt, Matt, and Kristin – the furniture has now been sucessfully moved from Muldoon to South Anchorage. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.

U-Haul Time!

Tomorrow morning I’m getting a lift to a nearby U-Haul store in order to pick-up the 17 foot truck that I will be using to move across town to the new house.

I’ve got three friends who I asked (drafted) to help me move coming over early Sunday morning to finish up the move. The kitchen, most of the office, my clothes, and our books, CDs, and DVDs have already been moved to the new house. As I type this post, the carpet installers are at the house replacing the old mis-matched carpet in the living room and upstairs. Given that we’ve decided to turn the downstairs bedroom into a work-out room, we are keeping the rather awful looking bright blue carpet in that room.

I am so tired

A long weekend of moving our crap across town to the new house coupled with several mind-numbing hours spent painting, I am tired. I’ve been at work for 9 hours today without a break and have drafted several jury instruction packets. My brain hurts. I want to leave and pick-up some Indian food for dinner.

Seven dead in two separate crashes

Jesus. This is getting spooky. After last month’s Taquan Air crash I am counting my lucky stars. Both stories from the Anchorage Daily News today.
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Boy rescued at fatal plane crash
The Associated Press

Published: August 16, 2007

A teenage boy was rescued after his father and another man never returned from a short flight in northeast Alaska, Alaska Air National Guard officials said Thursday.The guard also said the wreckage of a plane with what appeared to be two bodies inside was discovered by an Air Force search team.

Officials were alerted late Wednesday after a 15-year-old boy was spotted by a passing plane signaling SOS north of Arctic Village, near Cane Creek.

The plane landed, and discovered the boy had been alone since Monday afternoon, Alaska Guard Capt. Guy Hayes said in a release.

The boy and two adults, including his father, had flown to their hunting camp Monday. Shortly after arriving, the two adults left for what was supposed to be a 30-minute flight to scout for sheep. The plane never returned.

An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crew from Eielson Air Force Base arrived Thursday and found the wreckage of a plane with what appeared to be two bodies on board. Officials did not immediately know if it was the two men from the hunting party.

The 15-year-old boy was flown to Eielson Air Force Base. Arctic Village is about 500 miles northeast of Anchorage.

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Five die in crash near Ketchikan
Staff Writers
Published: August 16, 2007

A DeHavilland Beaver float plane with nine people on board crashed north of Ketchikan on Thursday evening, killing five people and leaving four survivors headed for medical centers in Seattle, Alaska State Troopers and the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The plane was owned by SeaWind Aviation, said Paul Webb, a civilian controller with the Coast Guard. The Ketchikan-based company’s Web site says it offers flight-seeing and bear-viewing services in Misty Fjords and other parts of the Southeast panhandle.

Ketchikan fire and rescue groups and private helicopters picked up the four survivors, Peters and Webb said. They were sent to Seattle on air ambulances.

It was unclear how seriously injured the survivors were. Peters said it had not been determined by 10 p.m. whether the passengers on the plane were tourists or cruise ship passengers.

She said high winds came up suddenly in the area at the time, along with “a definite weather change.” But it was not immediately clear if weather was a factor in the crash, Peters said.

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We live in the most beautiful place on Earth but nothing is worse than hearing about those enjoying life here in the Last Frontier and dying while doing so. Mother Nature, once again, reminds us that she, and not us or our wonderful flying machines courtesy of Orville and Wilbur, are in charge.

House – electrical crisis averted

Got to the house after work on Tuesday and realized that the refrigerator was not turned on. Before pulling the fridge out from the wall I tested the nearby outlets (there are two piggy-backed to a GFCI outlet) and discovered that none of them were working. So, I pulled the fridge out from the wall, unplugged it, went to my truck and got my electrical cable that I use to connect my engine block heater to an outlet, and ran the fridge’s cable to another outlet in the living room.

Very exciting.

So, yesterday I stopped by Lowe’s (aka my new best friend) and purchased (a) a new GFCI outlet, (b) electrical snippers, and (c) an electric testing kit. I went home, went to the breaker box, turned basically everything off in the house and began work on the outlet. I pulled the old one out and then spent 1 hour trying to get the new one to work. Finally got it all done and put back together (just like Humpty Dumpty) again! Yeah! Crisis averted!