Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter's notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....A guy named Yates was convicted by a Pierce County, Washington jury of killing two women, and as there were special circumstances, the 50-year-old may be given the death penalty. This would probably be something of a relief to the man, who is already serving 408 years for 13 similar slayings in Spokane County. No word on how much the trial cost, let alone how much a death penalty case will cost taxpayers. One thing we do know is that it's much less expensive to keep a prisoner for life than it is to handle a death penalty case through appeals. Besides, if they had just let Yates die in prison, he would have therein suffered longer than if he'd been put out of our misery.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Also in the Washington courts system, the state supremes ruled that photographing or videotaping up a woman's skirt in public doesn't violate a state voyeurism law. This was a unanimous ruling. They said the law only protects people where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The state had argued that people reasonably expected to have privacy under their clothes. It was not reported what was under the judges' black robes.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Seems as if Redding ain't quite as Christian as some of its most fervent proselytizers would probably have liked to have us believe. Indeed, a study on religious congregations and membership nationwide has Redding third lowest with 24% saying they are church-ers, putting the city third "worst" ahead of only Medford and Corvallis, Oregon. I was always suspicious of the frenetic religiosity here. Sometimes it seemed like there was a fervid revivalist tent over the city. One local retailer commented that the Christian act was such a fraud that whenever he got a check with a one of those Christian fish icons on it, he would call the bank to make sure it was good before he accepted it.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson was long known for shooting off his mouth. His supporters tried to find him endearing, but more often than not it was a challenge unmet. Now Simpson has weighed in on the strangeness of his former colleagues: "In your country club, your church and business, about 15 percent of the people are screwballs, lightweights and boobs and you would not want those people unrepresented in Congress." Perhaps, but not over-represented.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Speaking of pols, Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, 65, tearfully admitted that he had had a two-year affair with a 40-year-old married woman who worked under him, so to speak, at the time, and who last week sued him. She says that when she broke off the relationship, he retaliated by using state officials and regs to mess with her private business interests. Chairman of the National Governors Association, Patton cried his way through his admission, acknowledging that he had also erred when he had lied earlier in the week about the affair, but, of course, soberly denying her allegations of official miscreancy.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Also crying was Erica Jones, the Florida social worker who got off with probation after lying about checking on allegations that Alfredo Montez, 2, was being abused. The day she-didn't-but-said-she-did see the boy, he was apparently murdered by a foster parent. Said Ms. Jones, "Not a day goes by that I don't think about Alfredo and I know he's now in safe hands."
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....At the other end of the homo sapien spectrum...a recent bang-zoom hour documentary about the top 15 inventors of the 20th Century reported that they all had in common "an unwavering confidence in themselves and their dreams." Yes, and they all had something to work with -- a quality of intellect, of passion, and of purpose. They should have taken two hours.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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