A Tale of Two Cities: Human Rights in Eastern Ohio & DOJ Pattern and Practice Police Investigations

Did Cops in Taped Arrest Get Too Rough? - ABC News

2012-01-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

Did Cops in Taped Arrest Get Too Rough? - ABC News

the original main event of Warrens PD in 2003, caught on videotape
beating Lyndle Kimble and our GMA interview that helped create the
basis for the U.S. Dept of Justice Special Litigation Unit to come
into Warren and begin its 1441 investigation of whether or not there
was a pattern and practice issue in this city among its PD ...

Welcome to the United States Department of Justice

2012-01-15T10:33:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the United States Department of Justice

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-crt-054.html

The U.S. Justice Dept's Official Press Release over its "finding the WPD engaged in a pattern and practice of civil rights violations, against its citizens. This investigation began after a series of lawsuits were filed in 2004 alleging civil rights excessive force."

The wheels of justice turns very slowly but...at least...it turned ...and this decree becomes another major milestone in the work of the DOJ Civil Rights Division into Eastern Ohio rust belt cities who maintained police departments over its citizens that resembled occupational forces rather than true servants of the public...

Main Justice � Ohio Police Force Pledges Reform � Print

2012-01-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

Main Justice � Ohio Police Force Pledges Reform

So finally...this is the finding of the U.S. Justice Dept after eight years...

"we found that the Warren City Police Dept has violated its citizens civil rights in a pattern and practice manner ..."

the Chief of the present U.S. Civil Right Division ....statements yesterday about the Warren PD

maybe...someone ought to pay a serious price to the victims of such pattern and practice findings....

then they can say "this oversight, this consent decree will end..."

as it is...its of little or no consequence to those of us who fought the powers in Warren and inside the Federal U.S. Courthouses of northeastern Ohio and in Cincinnati, in order to pave the way for this
nice, tiddy high minded statement to be finally presented at a nice professional looking news conference

but at least, they came to the logical conclusion that so few of us were willing to place our own reputations on the line for and our careers
back in 2004, ...a process which began with this lawyer triggering the civil rights lawsuits that even according to this press conference, triggered this U.S. Justice Dept investigation and findings, almost an entire decade later...

2011-09-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

The US justice Department has announced after remaining basically silent on the issue for the past several years, it is going to or has been "ramping up" 1441 litigation investigations on their special litigation sections' current watch.

At first, i was very encouraged by the news, wherein the special litigstion section is stating its undertaking 17 separate such 1441 investigations across america; quickly indicating this is the most any administration has under taken at once.

But then a certain air of reality set in and i began to think,'why is it in america, such big news for our national top lawyers, which is currently stated to be a liberal, if he wishes to be considered as more a democratic than republican AG....to do what is only what they ought to b doing and should have been doing from the day they first got their jobs?...its only right, and true, when there is a solid, serious limited narrow focused federal law on point &
is the only law that allows such a huge national problem to be redressed, in this manner, ..then when and why is it in america, so very newsworthy, when the civil rights division gets to do finally, apparently, what it is both designed for and also is legally obligated to do,'in the first instance....

perhaps,'its just the nature of things ...seeing a government try to self regulate its own polce powers, is always a curious thing at any time in human history....after all, govt is there for the policing of others, not itself....usually in the scheme of human history.....

Stratton House Inn :: Moses Fleetwood Walker (1857-1924)-- A Black Baseball Hero

2011-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Stratton House Inn :: Moses Fleetwood Walker (1857-1924)-- A Black Baseball Hero

HeinOnline

2011-03-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

HeinOnline

Help Kelley Williams-Bolar, Mother Jailed For Sending Children to “Wrong” School

2011-02-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

Help Kelley Williams-Bolar, Mother Jailed For Sending Children to “Wrong” School

HeinOnline

2011-02-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

HeinOnline

2011-02-04T12:43:00.000-08:00

HeinOnline

Did Cops in Taped Arrest Get Too Rough? - ABC News

2011-02-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

Did Cops in Taped Arrest Get Too Rough? - ABC News

Public Forums On 14141 DOJ Police Misconduct Accountability Issues Scheduled for Ohio

2010-12-15T07:50:00.000-08:00

The State of Ohio's NAACP will be holding a statewide public forum in Columbus, Ohio, early in the new year, on the issues of local police department's accountability issues and the federal injunctive relief options available to affected citizens and towns.

This public forum promises to be both educational and awareness raising in design and will aid in the members and affiliate groups knowledge of what is a pattern and practice investigation by the Civil Rights Division and what does it entail and how is it possible to get the DOJ into a particular city or town and have the Special Litigation Unit pay attention to your city/town.

There will also be a formal academic discussion of some of the studies about the effectiveness of such Federal approaches to police accountability and how it has or hasn't helped inside those cities and town which have been already subjected to such 14141 litigation and investigations.

This is a ground breaking and timely forum, sponsored by the State of Ohio's NAACP CHAIR AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

IT IS ONE THAT WILL BE WORTH ATTENDING AND TRULY IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN SUCH CIVIL RIGHTS/POLICE MISCONDUCT AND OFFICIAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE FEDERAL AND STATE AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES

DETAILS WILL BE FORTHCOMING SOON

Steubenville Police Misconduct Case Results In A Major Win for Plaintiffs at the Sixth Circuit

2007-09-29T08:01:00.001-07:00

The Thorne case has survived a strong challenge at the Cincinnati based U.S. Court of

Appeals, a City of Steubenville police misconduct related claim based upon multiple fourth

amendment violations arising out of an incident involving a strange warrantless police

search into the backyard of the local Thorne family residence culminating in an alleged

incident of serious excessive force and then a subsequent even more bizarre underage drinking

arrest after two local city police officers gained consensual entrance into the living room of the

Thorne residence back in the summer of 2004, on a high school graduation night.

This incident, included a bizarrre incident of excessive force which resulted in a very serious

head injury to the Thorne's then eight teen year old son resulting from the 'pursuing'

officer's use of a baton on the side of the head of the young plaintiff in this instant case.

This case represents yet another major milestone in the litigation efforts of the local

plaintiffs and Attorney Richard A. Olivito in the past three years to bring to light the

ongoing problems and issues of a constitutional level and nature which are systemic

to both eastern Ohio towns and cities, like Steubenville and Warren, Ohio.

{See bodypunch.blogspot.com or "vindicator' link here for more details on the

precise nature and impact of this major win for the Thorne family as civil litigants

inside their two and half year effort to search for a legal remedy for their and their

son's serious constitutional deprivations.}

The Sixth Circuit clearly concluded that the Thorne case and original pleadings had

not only merit but that the district court judge, Judge Marbley of Columbus, Ohio

was right on point and corrrect to deny the two related city of Steubenville

officers their qualified immunity rights under Section 1983 litigation law last

December in his 35 page well written and detailed opinion which construed the

arguments, pleadings, discovery materials and original motion briefings on the underlying case

created by then lead sole counsel of record, Richard Olivito, strongly in favor of the plaintiff's on

the officer liability claims contained within the civil rights case filed on January 2, 2005.

"I am extremely happy with this recent decision and it demonstrates that the average

american family can use the law and the important Civil Rights Era law created in the

Reconstruction Era of this nation to vindicate, even today, their important civil rights

inside federal forums against great odds, if they are willing to do their homework and

are courageous and capable of enduring what citizens have to often unfortunately

endure inside our nation's legal system, in order to make real the promise contained

in the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment." Olivito stated.

Continuing, he adds, "I am very excited about the outcome and all of us are very relieved

and very much in awe of the process which has allowed this case to come this far and make it

back down to the original fine District Court Judge, Algenon Marbley's whose original opinion

issued last December, was more like a primer on basic Fourth Amendment protections than it

was a mere "passing" judicial opinion.

"Anyone who wants to know both more of how the fourth Amendment is

supposed to operate to protect one's important privacy rights against warrantless

searches and seizures, under the Warrant provision of the Fourth Amendment

needs to acquaint themselves with the opinion of Judge Marbley of Columbus

issued last December." says Olivito.

The case stands for the proposition that the average guy and his working class modest

income family who have followed the rules, can with courage and determination and grit still

find favor with the significant major leaque courts and power structures of this nation.

Any person how wants to know more about what it takes for a little guy can overcome great

odds inside this often intimidating serious federal litigation system, also ought to come better

acquainted with the journey of the Thorne case and the efforts of this family to both protect

their son and their home's constitutional interests while also seeking a proper and lawful relief

thru a federal law, inside today's heavily shielded legal system for their own very serious

constitutional claims repeated violations that they sought to remedy.

"Our hats are off to Mr. Dan Thorne Sr and his son and Ms. Sharon Thorne and their young

daughter for simply being so courageous in the face of so much intensity, great financial burdens

and the sheer stress such a lawsuit produces for a small, working class family like they are."

"They deserve everything and more that both the District Court and the Sixth Circuit's

recent opinions would entitle them to given all that has happened since this incident."

"My only regret." says Olivito, "is that we did not appeal the dismissal of the "policy" claim

because I believe the evidence and the background of this case would have allowed the

Sixth Circuit to find that it too was both geniune and capable of being allowed to move

forward within the context of this very critical case's litigation cycle.

But this issue could have also caused much more work for all involved and much more

complexity to the already very seriously debated appellate constitutional claims.

"On appeal, the strong advocacy and singular legal acumen of James McNamara assisted with

the plaintiff's appellate process and helped to produce this present very good and solid legal

posture this case now presents on the record back in Columbus, after the City's appeal to the

Cincinnati federal Court of Appeals has been rejected in total on all remaining claims."

This decision combined with its strong affirmation of the equally strongly worded district

court opinion will allow the work of Attorney Olivito and others to proceed in the varied decades

old effort to promote and protect the civil constitutional rights of all eastern Ohio towns and

cities citizens from eggregarious police misconduct.

"Such time is now for this related [civil rights] work to continue and it time it should be given

the proper role, distinction and recognition for the determination and the committment to

fundamental american values that such combined efforts both have merited and such the

same deserves. The process of being involved in safeguarded and policing the fundamental civil

rights of all person, white, black, young or old is something that is simply a gift, as much as a

heavy responsibility and challenge. Days like these, make it all the sacrifice and serious upheavel
of such work, worth the while."

This decision is especially sweet for Olivito and he believes for Attorney James McNamara

of Columbus and local former city councilman, Edward 'Skip' Mixon, given that this important

and strong legal victory comes during the exact same month that the Steubenville Consent

Decree with the U.S. Justice Department's pattern and practice special litigation civil rights

section, a milestone recognized by Amnesty International and other international and nationa

civil rights groups, was formally concluded and entered into, ten years ago to the day.

"One could not ask for any better anniversay gift than this" says

Olivito...speaking in light of the years of hard work he and several others put

into both the former historical consent decree [seek link right] in the 1990's

in association later with the U. S. Justice Department Civil Rights Section

in the Clinton Administration.

"This present Thorne case is so critical and no different as to the kind of efforts
that went into the creation of the original consent decree which became

a flagship model for the entire nation via the DOJ's landmark efforts within

the same."

"This was a true team effort, from Dan Thorne Sr ., his sensitive but solid great son, who was

injured seriously by the events of the evening and his wife ...to Skip's role in getting the case to

me and then the saving efforts of McNamara at the Sixth Circuit after bar association problems

complicated the ability of Olivito to continue on after the original court's decision last December.

Its truly a testament to keeping the faith when all is so dark and its a sublime joy to

overcome such major odds, both then and now. Perhaps, now I, along with my deserving

friends and [former] clients, we and our families all will be able to find some peace of mind

and also, some much needed true rest..."

In closing, knowing his friend has not been feeling well recently, Olivito concludes;

"If I could, I would dedicate this case's outcome to my long time acquaintance

and special brother in arms, Skip Mixon and his all too vigilant but very astute

and sincere cohort, Mr. Dan Thorne Sr. I would have to add to this mix, even my

own father, Dominick Olivito Sr. whose support has been just as long and deep

as life itself.

Together, we, with God's grace, and by some dedicated local medical

doctors who cared early on enough to not allow such a serious injury as this son's

to go unaddressed, made sure this case into real geniune article and in doing so,

along the way, the same truly became a labor of love between some 'old' civil

rights warriors, a few small circle of friends and supporters and one very

dedicated and loving father.

"I only would hope the present U.S. Justice Department would be ready in the

future, to do the kind of heavy lifting that those I know have done inside this

case's record so that there are no further such similiar serious incidents arising

out of this all too battled-scarred city as this which have taken such a deep toll

on those close to the same, but especially a young man like Dan Thorne Jr. and

his family."

Two Department of Justice Investigations of Police Brutality Pattern And Practice in Two Eastern Ohio Cities

2007-08-24T15:49:00.002-07:00

The One thing that two eastern Ohio cities have in common with Attorney
Richard Olivito is the fact that the U.S. Justice Department's Special Litigation unit has, within a decade of each other, opened formal DOJ civil rights litigation "pattern and practice" investigations into the same towns, along the eastern border and rust belt region of Ohio. In both cities and towns, Mr. Olivito
had opened a small solo office law practice in their regions a few years prior.

Does this have anything to do with attorney Richard Olivito and his unique prior solo law practice in the region?

While the entire history of how the Steubenville consent decree would need a full length book
to properly detail its account, and while it was a work in progress of numerious local activists, citizens and especially the work of Attorney James McNamara of Columbus, Ohio thru years
of effort in the late 1970's and 1980's, it was attorney Richard A. Olivito and his unique
contribution who met with the Department of Justice officials in Washington D.C.
after a very unique conversation took place early in 1995 with a deputy attorney general of the Washington D.C. DOJ office on an unrelated topic which led to the formation of the
department's first serious inquiry and review of the City of Steubenville's police department, a
first such full scale investigation under the then brand new federal law which John Conyers and
others had passed in Congress under the Clinton era.

The city of Steubenville's consent decree finalized in August of 1997, was the second actual consent decree in the U.S. coming immediately afterthe Pittsburgh Pa consent decree in April of 1997.

However, even D.C. officials acknowledge the City of Steubenville consent decree, as noted in the Human Rights Watch report noted in the LINKS on this page, was actually the first fully investigated by the Department of Justice Officials and lawyers from the Civil Rights Division Special Litigation unit lawyers in D.C. in the country.

This particular investigation became the national 'flagship' or model for the next several serious Special Litigation unit divisions central investigations into the New York and L.A department and it set the standards for what was to follow in both the Clinton era Attorney
General's office and the start of the Bush administration's era.

The 2004 to present Warren pattern and pratice investigation is a complex matter but resulted from interested citizens and key leaders contacting the department as a result of some of the more eggregarious cases of police abuse occuring inside this sister city of Northeastern Ohio.

The most notable case among them was the Lyndal Kimble excessive force case which drew national attention the serious and deep and historical problem of pattern and practice police misconduct towards the city resident of Warren, Ohio, a town rich in history and northern civil rights history and a post WWII industrial center and Dephi GM plant central location.

The town is very close to Niles Ohio, the birthplace of President McKinley and also is a sister city to Youngstown Ohio, the notorious steel and auto related manufacturing center and hub of the Mahoning Valley.

Warren has fallen on hard times in recent decades and the police force was exhibiting a particular strain of deeply racist and divisive approaches by a portion of its pd towards it minority and poor white popluation.

[The town has been a center of KKK related activity in the past as well and the same made
it into a CBS 48 hour special documentary in the late 1990's. ]

However, after Richard Olivito was retained by Lyndal Kimble, in the summer of 2003, just as the video tape showing the severe use of excessive force by three white local warren police officers was becoming a national news story, he met immmediately with U.S. Department officials in D.C. and requested their review and attention to the entire scope and depth of the Warren "narrative" as the Kimble high intensity media exposure revealed.

Within a year of this meeting and after several follow up contact calls and the contacts by others from the community, and sometimes after another critical incident and a Cleveland independent newspaper, called the Cleveand Scene Magazine did a cover story on the Warren police and richard olivito's past history with these civil rights issues, [See Link to Cleveland Scene Magazine article entitled "The Blue Mob" by Aina Hunter, an award winning two part article] Warren became the fifth city in Ohio to be subjected to the pattern and practice Special Litigation unit's attention for its police department's administrative allowances and failures in correcting an apparent ongoing and well document history of
serious pattern and practice police misconduct issues.

Mr. Olivito has litigated several cases out of Warren during this relevant period sine 2003.
His prior legal work has paved the way for several important legal victories and other civil rights case settlements arising out of Warren and the region in the Northern District of Ohio United States District Court.

The Justice department is still investingating the Warren police department and has issued a prelimlinary report, highly critical in various areas of its lengthy detailed report which demonstrates clearly that Warren police department has operated in a backwards manner for years, and appropriate measures are being both recommended and monitored for its improvement in how the City police are dealing with and inter-acting with its own citizens.

The story in Warren is far from over. The same can be said of the City of Steubenville
[They both are similiar cities and have been in the past, ironically, high school football rivals in the heyday of such football play. ]

Both are former strong based northern steel towns and have boasted of strong ethnic neighborhoods which have seen a great decline in the past twenty years as the regional economy underwent its decline and social change.

Today, both of these cities have certain rays of hope occuring economically within or near them. Warren like Steubenville however, while professing to be now placing a 'better foot forward' in how it is dealing with its police department's treatment of its citizens still maintains its own official and legal denial of any past wrongdoing, just like Steubenville does, even to this day despite the nation's longest consent decree ever.

They are both still mired in a constant questionable legal posturing inside the regional district courts of Ohio, both south and north, which belies their real veiws and intentions towards the serious issue of how such historical police methods are not being fully and openly
addressed within these significant regional cities along the eastern Borders of Ohio.

If southeastern and middle north eastern Ohio is to progress at all, as a viable relevant and up to date modern open part of the country, and culture, its must overcome not only its distressing economic factors but its more pressing social problems of some of the inner city neighborhoods;

It is this pervasive denial of prior serious human rights violations which has also contributed to the social and moral decline of these cities; this issue must be affored its complete and open airing and 'cycling' of the real "narrative" of those citizens who have been seriously and geniunely abused by such local officials and government actors, in a nation which professes a better way and a legal system sworn to uphold the rights of the individual against unreasonable and illegal and unlawful systemic human rights abuse.

Only by coming to terms with the serious official past and their abuse cycle which was fostered upon many citizens in each of these cities, can the future truly become brighter for not only the city residents themselves but also for the city administrative and officials as well as their communities as whole.

There needs to be a confessional moment in order for the past to be healed from. The DOJ
investigations and consent decrees ought to serve as a basis for just that. If instead they became yet another "bump on the road" towards official cover ups and denials, then the process is for naught.

The process is a long and ardous one. We have been fortunate to become a part of the process and hopefully that contribution will not be either diminished nor held in contempt by those in powerful political and legal circles both in the region and the state and beyond.

Only in an open and public manner, can these regions truly begin to put the past behind them and allow the fresh air of a reformation come to their areas. Doing the right thing, by the many citizens who have been seroius violated in their human and constitutional rights as American citizens, these cities will have to come to terms both with their policing policies of the past and do the hard work of any one who has to change his or her life, much like any addicted or abuser has had to do among and within their own personal life.

Just as the 'reformed' alcholic can not have a single drink or the journey to the fallen state begins anew and often with even more serious consequence, so it is, with the abuse syndrome of entire cities who have been "caught in the act" so to speak; by either the first- of- its- kind- in- U.S. -history special litigation investigations or as in Warren, Ohio, when the Kimble video played so hot and heavy on the national media rotation for weeks and for months, if not a year in the Cleveland and youngstown Ohio major media outlets and market with all of its intended consequence.

The truth about civil liberties of Americans being constantly exposed to less than american traditions and ideals as becomes this present modern sense of the term and as those contained in teh nations' founding and then reconstruction era documents, is something that can become either a bellweather issue for the next generation of Americans and their political and legal and social leaders or it will become the albatross of the unfinished work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and others who understood this kind of institutional local serious legal problem can not be allowed to exist within this present modern world and context, if this country and nation are to be perceived as moving beyond the present predicament it is perceived within by many both within the United States and in fact, from many nations and cultures and simple citizens of the World itself.

[The Human Rights Watch orgs special report "Sheilded From Justice" ought to be required reading of every citizen and or student who considers the nature and consequence of freedom. [Its part of the links added to this page. It clearly demonstrates the nations' addiction to police abuse and often times half hearted efforts at reform.]

Human rights was supposed to be our birthright and our national contribution to the history of the world, if not the modern equivalent to a national blessing bestowed on all who want to look to America and its heartland for a better world and a better way of life and in simple terms freedom from oppression and persecution and unwarranted governmental harrassment.

If this kind of federal attention does not cause these cities and their legal interests and their advisors to really take an accounting of their actions, then little will become of the future of these cities and these regions except the reputations will fall away not unlike their manufactoring base has in recent decades.

There may be deeper rationals and societial reasons for this kind of thing happening. But what concerns people and advocates like Mr. Olivito, the messengers and the advocates may not be alowed to see the "promised land" of freedom.

Beyond this, the very nature of the opposing forces and their large interests which are fighting the legal advocacy of such potential changes, are in reality opposing not him or those who would bring such things to light, but the historical march of the civil rights era and its unique contribution to our modern world.

If such things are allowed to continue, no matter what window dressing or "appeasing" official commentary is applied today, by any department or any number of government officials, anywhere, state, local or federal, there will not be a true resolution of the citizen's pent up rage and anger and frustration from such patterned and significant and simply horrific tales of government abuse of these cities citizens.

With this present continued half hearted effort at reform and these cities quasi if not direct legal denial of such pattern and practice constitutional police violations, there will be a continued moral decay which sets into their towns and cities and departments.

The populations of this region if not the state and beyond, as a whole, will feel this impact.

Those interests who oppose such individuals who have worked at times, day and night for years to bring such things to light and to justice, are not actually opposing an individual as much as they are opposing the right, the true and the real geniune needs of many americans who not only have suffered horrible instances of unwarranted and baseless and unlawful
government action but also have attempted to find someone who would either believe them
or simply provide a voice for them.

These politically connected but socially retarded interests are not for change much less for making the constitutional methods and ideals of our modern notion of human rights actually real and applicable to every member of our distress areas of this nation, even when these areas gave this nation so much in terms of its hard work, its backbone and its character as a union oriented culture which was designed by nature to look out for the common man and woman.

A nation, which long makes it impossible for the little people to not share in the blessings of liberty and the freedom of the many, but particular the vulnerable and the distressed and the nation which makes it nearly impossible for the voice of the voiceless to be heard, emanating not from some third world crises like Dalfur or Latin America, but right inisde our heartland, is a nation not long for a major reckoning with its own lack of moral purpose and consistency.

We have a date with destiny, in the United States, and it probably is NOT simply because of what we have outside the borders of this country, but within the same and even within the northern cities of this nation, like Steubenville, Youngstown and Warren, Ohio.

This is the type of historical moral significance of what is truly at stake. It is something hardly perceived if only half understood today.

But the same is absolutely critical for this nation as a whole, to consider these types of issues as paramount to the entire social and legal fabric of this nation, if we are to not only be perceived in the world as a consistent culture, as a people, despite our present national leader's failures to truly put into flesh and practice, what we profess with our mouths and give allegiance to as a society based on something called the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, and wherein we're a society so given to praise the first responders and those in the military services and social sciences of our modern day culture.

With the benefits of such positions and deep traditions, comes the responsibility to be true to american values and towards american citizens of all classes.

This appears to have what motivated the Congress in 1993-4 to enable such pattern and practice legislation to move forward and become law in the Clinton era, in Washington.

I am very proud to have been able by almost historical accident and by the awful grace of God to become part of the initial efforts to make real on the promise contained within such a historical legislative move forward in the fundamental civil rights enforcement of this nation in our time, along with the dedicated efforts of others.

Yet, we must be consistent to our better and higher values enshrined and taught and even learned in the very rough and tough school of American history itself, both in terms of the early American history right up thru the present.

With this blog, we can and hope these police issues and these special efforts and lawsuits and even the federal investigations related to the citizen's efforts will enable us to "get their stories" out, to the public and to those who are willing to listen in both the courts and the academics and the soceity at large.

As the name is itself in Italian culture, Attorney Richard Olivito is unique to southern Ohio and to Northeastern Ohio in regards to the Warren/Youngstown region as far as bringing his voice to the struggle for human rights within the notion of modern policing of all American citizens.

For doing this, he has come under very heavy critique both in the past and strong and serious legal scrutiny by many in and out of the legal profession and the policing societies and groups of this region and state today.

Whether he will be able to continue this work inside the field of his "chosen profession" is something others will decide in part, for him. However, despite the same, he will continue to give a voice to the voiceless and the poor and those oppressed populations in the particlar manner done by his strong stance on this issue in such rust belt cities and towns across this state and even in other areas of the country,

His continuance of doing this, only depends on whether or not God gives him continued protection and health and this particular ability to make these issues known to those "who have ears to hear"and by this, those interested citizens and observers and hopefully a watching and listening world will come to know not only something signficant about our present social and legal culture but that of a key but often overlooked aspect of today's modern civil rights movement itself in the united States.

Again, please note the Human Rights Watch's report, the article by Aina Hunter and even the original DOJ City of Steubenville consent decree which are both listed on this blog page's links
as noted above. There will be more postings as they become availabe on the site.

We hope to also soon post the documentary created in 1999 by Geraldo Rivera called "black and blue" on the federal consent decrees in Pittsburgh and Steubenville and the Wolf Blitzer CNN special edition world news tonight story on the city of Steubenville's consent decree done in the same year. Both are still available as treatments on the consequence of such police consent decrees in United State Department of Justice modern enforcement history.