I can't wait to see the Law and Order SVU "Ripped from the Headline" for THIS Jury Trial: Guy flashes jurors to prove his innocence

I've heard of a hung jury, but this is ridiculous. But hey, whatever gets you off... and by that I mean get found Not Guilty in court.

https://nypost.com/2018/05/24/accused-rapist-shows-penis-to-jury-to-prove-innocence/

Accused rapist shows penis to jury to prove innocence
By Kevin Sheehan and Ruth Brown May 24, 2018 | 9:46pm | Updated

Accused rapist shows penis to jury to prove innocence
Desmond James

A Connecticut man on trial for sexual assault was allowed to drop trou and expose his penis to a stunned New Haven jury this week — to prove that it doesn’t match his accuser’s description.

The accuser says she was raped in 2012 by a stranger whose penis was lighter than the rest of his skin — and picked Desmond James, 26, out of a photo lineup as her attacker.

But James’ attorney on Wednesday argued that his client’s private parts are actually darker than the rest of his body — and the best way to prove it was to display his manhood.

Judge Elpedio Vitale agreed it was within James’ Sixth Amendment rights to defend himself by whipping his bits out in the hall of justice.

But when Vitale brought the two women and six men of the jury into the courtroom, he didn’t warn them what they were going to see — saying only the defense was going to offer “nontestimonial” evidence that is “sensitive in nature and highly personal.”

So the jurors were cold-cocked when James walked into the middle of the courtroom, dropped his pants, lifted his shirt and pulled out his penis — standing wordlessly for a full 10 seconds, according to people who witnessed the spectacle.

Shocked, at least one juror looked away, while others in the room tried to suppress grins and snickers at the XXXculpatory evidence, witnesses said.

James then pulled up his pants — and the defense rested its case.

“You saw a penis that is darker than the rest of his skin. For that reason alone, you must acquit,” defense attorney Todd Bussert said in closing statements on Thursday. Bussert noted that the display had brought more people into the courtroom that day.

“You may have noticed because of my client having to show his penis . . . the gallery’s a little more full today,” Bussert said.

He also defended giving the courtroom an eyeful, saying mere photos would have created too many questions about lighting, film and printers.

But prosecutor Stacey Miranda said the graphic exhibit was far from hard evidence — arguing James might have done something with his pubic hair since the assault.

“You saw the defendant’s penis — what was that?!” said Miranda.

“It is six years later. Do we have any idea of what she may have been seeing that night? What his manscaping was like at the time? What light was shining on it?”

Miranda also argued that the case didn’t hang on what was hanging between James’ legs alone — claiming that DNA evidence in the victim’s rape kit was also consistent with James’ genetic profile.

Looks like it was NY State Senator Jeffrey Kline that was the "Ticking Time Bomb" after all

Last year, Jeffrey Kline called everyone on the registry "ticking time bombs." Now he is accused of a sex crime. NOW who is the ticking time bomb?

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/01/12/jeff-klein-defensevictim-shaming/1029282001/

Jeff Klein's response to forcible kissing allegation draws criticism
Jon Campbell, @JonCampbellGAN
Published 6:21 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2018
Updated 8:40 p.m. ET Jan. 12, 2018

ALBANY - Even before an article was published Wednesday detailing a woman's accusation that state Sen. Jeff Klein had forcibly kissed her, Klein's office released a memo written by a pair of lawyers that concluded her story "defies both reason and credibility."

The memo, written by attorneys from the Manhattan office law firm Loeb & Loeb,  suggested accuser Erica Vladimer had "consumed alcoholic beverages throughout the evening," while Klein "did not drink excessively or seem in any way impaired."

And in the hours after Vladimer's side of the story was published on the Huffington Post, six members of the Senate Independent Democratic Conference — the group of breakaway Democrats led by Klein — issued a joint statement saying the allegation "would be completely out of character for (Klein)."

Klein, D-Bronx, who leads the Senate's Independent Democratic Conference and strenuously denies the allegation, has launched an aggressive public campaign seeking to bolster his credibility and cast doubt that the alleged incident could have happened as described.

But some of Klein's critics have said that defense has gone too far, accusing him and the IDC of engaging in victim-shaming. They question what impact it may have on those who have suffered harassment in Albany that may be thinking of coming forward.

Klein's allies say his defense has been appropriate and deny any victim-shaming has occurred, noting that he has a right to defend himself, that many of his critics are also his political foes, and that he's entitled to due process.

Critics come forward
Vladimer, who worked as a policy analyst and counsel to the IDC, accused Klein of kissing her without consent during a cigarette break outside an Albany bar when Klein, Sen. Diane Savino and some staff members were celebrating passage of the state budget in 2015.

Klein, who represents parts of lower Westchester County, has repeatedly denied the incident happened and has said he has no intention of stepping down as leader of the IDC

On Friday, the state Working Families Party issued a statement calling on Klein to give up his leadership post, citing his attempts to discredit Vladimer's story.

"We believe Senator Klein’s response attempting to discredit the former employee who accused him was unacceptable," the party's statement read. "Based on that conduct and the seriousness of the charges, the WFP calls on both the IDC and the Senate to remove him from his leadership posts until the investigation is completed.”

The influential, left-leaning third party has clashed with Klein over the IDC's long-standing alliance with Republicans.

Savino, D-Staten Island, dismissed the criticism as political.

Savino, who is also Klein's girlfriend and a member of the IDC, was present at the Albany bar in 2015 and has denied the incident occurred.

"It's pretty clear that this has more to do with politics than anything else," Savino said in a statement.

Assemblywoman Christine Pellegrino, D-Nassau County, took her outrage to Twitter on Thursday to speak out about the IDC members' statement, accusing them of trying to "protect the power interest of the IDC."

"The accuser should not be subjected to victim shaming now that the story is public!" Pellegrino tweeted. "Given that victims rarely have any upside to coming forward, #IStandWithHer."

Klein's support
The statement, which was signed by the six IDC members other than Klein and Savino, pledged "complete confidence" in Klein, calling him a "longtime champion for women and for the state" while saying the alleged conduct would be out of character for him.

Among those on the joint statement was Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County, who said Friday it was meant to signal support for Klein as leader and not cast doubt on the victim's story.

The other six @IDC4NY members: "We have complete confidence in Senator Klein, and we stand by him" https://t.co/BYYwX2Unhvpic.twitter.com/mb0sdS3n2l

— Joseph Spector (@GannettAlbany) January 11, 2018
"I don't want to cast doubt on anyone that has a story to tell, and they should be welcome to tell that story, and that's important," Carlucci, an IDC member, said in a phone interview.

"That's not the intention. It's simply to say: 'Look, Senator Klein is a capable leader and I support him as leader.' And until an investigation is followed through on, then I really can't speak further on that."

Carlucci said he supports allowing the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate the matter, which Klein formally requested Thursday night.

Speaking Friday on Long Island, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would wait for an investigation to be completed before weighing in on whether Klein should remain IDC leader.

"There’s going to be an independent investigation," said Cuomo, a Democrat. "I think we … should wait and see what that investigation says.”

Three-page memo
The memo released by Klein's office, written by attorneys Michael Zweig and Mark Goldberg, runs through the events of the evening.

It's based on "10 separate interviews with present and former staff, and others," according to the memo.

"The Former Staffer is described by witnesses who were present at the gathering as having consumed alcoholic beverages throughout the evening," the memo reads.

When it describes Klein's alcohol consumption that night, the memo takes a softer tone: "All of the witnesses we spoke to confirmed that Sen. Klein did not drink excessively or seem in any way impaired that evening."

Vladimer could not be reached for comment.

But in an interview with NY1, she dismissed the insinuation that alcohol consumption would have anything to do with whether Klein forcibly kissed her.

"I had drinks, but honestly — so what?" Vladimer said. "Does that put a green light over my head to anybody to try and shove their tongue down their throat, to use their power over me?”

Klein has been using a public-relations firm, Global Strategies Group, to help send out statements of support for him to members of the media, including from some former staffers and community leaders.

"While we cannot comment on the specifics of the allegation, we can attest that the behavior alleged is completely out of step with the man we have worked closely with, and some of us have known personally and professionally for years," read one letter Friday from eight former staff members.

Vladimer confided in state Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, about the allegation in the weeks prior to making her story public, though both say Vladimer did not make the identity of the senator known during their conversations.

Krueger, who sits with the main Senate Democratic Conference that has frequently clashed with the IDC, said Vladimer was aware there could be a backlash.

Vladimer understood that "whomever she was accusing would deny it and complain that she was making things up and that she was in some way unstable," Krueger said in a phone interview Wednesday.

In a Facebook post Thursday, Vladimer said it's "time to hold our elected officials accountable."

"I am willing to risk everything to help that happen," she wrote.

JCampbell1@Gannett.com

Jon Campbell is a correspondent for the USA TODAY Network's Albany Bureau.

Another MeToo champion takes a tumble.... and apparently, so did his alleged victims

I take great pleasure in watching MeToo Movement blowhards take a tumble.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/opinion/eric-schneiderman-metoo.html

Him, Too
By The Editorial Board

The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section.

May 7, 2018

Until Monday evening New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was a public champion of the #MeToo movement. Now he appears to be the latest sickening example of the scale and insidiousness of the cruelty that movement is confronting. He resigned late Monday after The New Yorker magazine published an article in which four women accused him of abusing them physically and emotionally.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo should appoint a responsible, independent prosecutor to investigate any possible criminal charges against Mr. Schneiderman and abuses of his office.

Mr. Schneiderman admitted no wrongdoing. Instead, he said in a statement that the “serious allegations, which I strongly contest,” had made it impossible to do his job.

But the allegations outlined by the women are consistent, detailed and bone-chilling.

Two women who had been in relationships with Mr. Schneiderman — Michelle Manning Barish, a liberal activist, and Tanya Selvaratnam, an author — told the magazine that he choked and hit them, often during sex, and subjected them to verbal abuse. They said he slapped them so hard that Ms. Manning Barish bled from her ear long after the blow, while Ms. Selvaratnam suffered from episodes of vertigo.

Both said Mr. Schneiderman threatened to kill them, while Ms. Selvaratnam said the state attorney also warned her he could have her followed and her phone tapped.

The women told The New Yorker that Mr. Schneiderman drank heavily, and would often force them to drink alcohol. Ms. Selvaratnam told the magazine Mr. Schneiderman called her his “brown slave,” and forced her to say that she was, “his property.”

Mr. Schneiderman joins a sorry list of once-rising stars in New York’s Democratic Party whose careers imploded amid allegations of personal misconduct, including former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Congressman Anthony Weiner. As was the case with those men, the resignation of Mr. Schneiderman could have far-reaching consequences.

The attorney general was in the midst of pushing a proposal to change New York’s double jeopardy statute so any aides to President Trump that he might pardon — in an effort to keep them from cooperating with the special counsel — could be prosecuted under state charges. Mr. Schneiderman’s moralizing may have proven hollow, but that proposal remains worthy given Mr. Trump’s continual attempts to derail the special counsel’s investigation, including raising the prospect of such pardons.

Mr. Schneiderman’s office this year also brought a civil rights lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, the movie producer accused of sexual assault and other misconduct.

Under state law, the Senate and Assembly will jointly choose Mr. Schneiderman’s replacement, effectively giving the power to his fellow Democrats. Later, voters will go to the polls in the Democratic primary, and have their say about who would face the Republican candidate in November. Whoever serves in this important office should be tough and independent, willing to stand up to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cuomo and — it should go without saying, but now it needs to be said — be a decent human being.

Anyone involved in the effort to replace Mr. Schneiderman should remember: No one is above the law.

Jerkoffs in the Illinois State Senate wants to make jerking off in prison a sex crime

It is a sticky subject, but self-pleasuring is a pretty common thing behind bars.

It took a while but I finally found the bill. READ BY CLICKING HERE.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/state-senate-targets-masturbating-jail-inmates-making-sex-offender-tag-easier/

04/26/2018, 06:24am
State Senate targets masturbating jail inmates, making ‘sex offender’ tag easier

Tina Sfondeles @TinaSfon | email

It’s a daily sight being called “a pretty extreme brand of workplace sexual harassment.”

Citing a rise of lewd behavior in the Cook County Jail, the Illinois Senate on Wednesday passed a measure that would place inmates on the sex offender registry upon release if they expose themselves or masturbate in front of female staffers more than two times.

The measure cleared 56-0 with a brief debate, and must still pass the Illinois House.

Inmates would be charged with public indecency after one offense. Upon the second they’d be required to register as a sex offender. Currently, inmates aren’t required to register as a sex offender until their third offense.

“It is aimed at combating what I would say is a pretty extreme brand of workplace sexual harassment that is occurring right now, particularly at Cook County Jail. It’s a growing phenomenon of male inmates exposing themselves to female staffers and engaging in various forms of lewd behavior,” bill sponsor State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, said on the Senate floor.

Cunningham said there have been almost 700 cases at Cook County Jail within the last 16 months.

If an inmate is found guilty of the lewd behavior twice, they would be eligible to be placed on the sex offender registry when released from custody.

State Sen. Dale Fowler, R-Harrisburg, noted the behavior is happening not only in Cook County, and urged the Senate to consider punishment for offenders in juvenile justice centers, as well. But Cunningham, who acknowledged it’s also a problem, said juveniles wouldn’t be eligible to be put on the sex offender list.

“It’s being called acceptable and unprecedented and we have to make measures to include juvenile justice centers within this,” Fowler said.

In 2017 there were 222 detainees charged with indecent exposure, including 144 cases where the victims were jail personnel and 29 with complaints filed by public defenders at the Cook County Jail, officials said.

Cara Smith, spokeswoman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, said nearly 800 jail staff members signed petitions in support of the measure within hours of learning it might clear the Senate earlier this week.

She called the lewd behavior a daily occurrence at the jail.

“We are desperate for an effective tool to respond to this behavior, and the conduct is overwhelmingly engaged in by offenders facing long prison terms,” Smith said. “A class A misdemeanor, they don’t care. … It’s totally ineffective. We have tried every possible management strategy.”

Smith said the sheriff’s office isn’t taking the bill or the penalties offenders must endure lightly.

“But our staff deserve to work in an environment free of harassment,” Smith said.

Despite being accustomed to seeing lewd behavior, public defenders opposed the measure — in an effort to protect the rights of inmates.

The Sun-Times last year reported that masturbating inmates had become a common sight on the walk to and from holding cells where defense attorneys meet clients and at the jail and courthouse lockups. A letter sent to Chief Judge Timothy Evans from Public Defender Amy Campanelli outlined the problem.

In a letter Campanelli sent to Dart last year, she called it a “crisis” and called for guards to be assigned to every lockup in the criminal courthouse.

“Of late, it has become a daily occurrence,” she wrote. “Male detainees constantly expose themselves and masturbate while in the lockup behind the courtrooms.”

No other jail seems to have the same problem with public indecency on a similar scale to Cook County, according to the state Public Defenders Association and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association.

Florida 11th Circuit Judge Pedro P. Echarte, Jr. goes full Pontius Pilate on the homeless registrant crisis

Guess who is running for reelection this year? Guess who got a $1000 donation from Ron Book? Guess who called conditions at the Hialeah homeless camp "deplorable" yet pulled a Pontius Pilate and ruled not to place a restraining order against enforcement of Miami's new "arrest the homeless for being homeless" law? THIS GUY:

This is Florida 11th Circuit Judge Pedro P. Echarte, Jr., and he just gave Ron Book the green light to strap up his jackboots and join up with the green shirts to round up the homeless registrants. 

http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article210870679.html

Homeless sex offenders lose court fight to keep Hialeah tent camp. Where to next?

BY DOUGLAS HANKS

May 10, 2018 04:40 PM

A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday cleared the way for the county to dismantle a tent village of homeless sex offenders outside Hialeah, and a lawyer for some of the residents said the ruling leaves them no choice but to live on a roadside or street somewhere else.

"They'll most likely be relocating to another street corner," Legal Services lawyer Jeffrey Hearne said after the hearing before Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. in Circuit Court. "New encampments will pop up. And this cycle will continue."

Kendall residents have already been picketing over another potential offender camp where Krome Avenue meets Kendall Drive at the western edge of the county. Miami-Dade's rules bar sex offenders from living with 2,500 feet of a school, a restriction that's far stricter than the 1,000-foot radius required by Florida law. Hearne said that the Krome camp has already been subject to a drive-by splattering from a paint gun.

"The vigilantism is a real concern," he said.

A lawyer for the county said Thursday that Miami-Dade has tried to find apartments for the nearly 100 tent dwellers in the encampment, and that many have left in recent months. But with Miami-Dade now ready to enforce a new law that gives police the ability to arrest sex offenders for sleeping on county property, the tents on a county-maintained roadside off Northwest 71st Street will no longer be a viable refuge, both sides said.

"We sent buses to the area. We tried to sign up people for housing assistance. ... We also had mobile workstations there to help them find addresses in compliance with the 2,500-foot rule," said Michael Valdes, the assistant Miami-Dade attorney handling the case. "There's only so much the county can do for individuals who aren't working with the county officials trying to help them."

Miami-Dade does not allow registered sex offenders to enter homeless shelters, but does assist with rent subsidies for apartments that comply with the 2,500-foot rule.

Miami-Dade also paid to bring in portable bathrooms and hand-washing stations at the Hialeah camp to address state warnings about potential health problems there. Valdes said large groups of homeless people in tents can cause the issues with public health, but suggested the tent residents could relocate in much smaller numbers. The county, he said, has not tried to bar them from living on the streets.

"If they have to be homeless, if they're on the street, there's no evidence the county has threatened them in any way with arrest," Valdes said. "The issue that we have is ... the erection of the tent structures on a semi-permanent basis."

Legal Services and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to block Miami-Dade from enforcing its new anti-camping legislation targeting the tent city, citing a technicality involving whether an actual building had to be on the land for the ordinance to apply. The suit also claimed the tent residents had a right to stay in the tent city, since Miami-Dade's overly strict rules on people with sex-offense convictions had left them with no legal, humane options.

Echarte rejected the legal arguments, saying the four anonymous tent residents who filed the suit had no case to make against Miami-Dade.

But the judge condemned the "deplorable" conditions facing the plaintiffs.

"Conditions so bad that most of us would not want our family pets living there," Echarte said. "Sadly neither the outcome of this motion, nor this case, will correct this serious societal problem. That has to come from the executive and legislative branch."

11th Circuit, back pocket

Juanchy Mejia misuses photo from OnceFallen blog and uses it for vigilante petition

I do not appreciate anyone using my personal works, be it my writing or anything else, then using it to promote vigilante actions against registered citizens. So Juanchy Mejia created an online petition to chase homeless registrants from Kendall, and he used a very familiar picture.

First, look at my photo from the Hialeah Camp, from my personal blog:

http://once-fallen.blogspot.com/2016/12/complete-coverage-of-christmas-at-camp.html

Now, look at the photo Mejia uaed for his vigilante petition:

https://www.change.org/p/miami-dade-county-not-allow-sexual-predators-campsites-move-to-west-kendall

Look at the traffic cone, the white flag on the pole, and the buckets. They are all the same! This is without a doubt MY photo, used for this disgusting act of vigilantism.

"Since 2014 a colony of Sexual predators (300+) has been living by the railroad tracks near Hialeah. , Florida. In March Mayor Carlos Gimenez issued a memo giving the homeless predators 45 days to vacate the area. With the May 6 deadline coming soon, outreach groups have been working with sex offenders to find new places to live. One of the suggested location is the area located in the intersection of Krome Ave and SW 88 ST (Kendall Dr.) in West Kendall where some sexual predators are already living in the bushes. If this take place, this will definitely affect the entire community of Kendall, our properties, businesses, schools, safety, and most important our quality of life. We the residents of Kendall totally oppose to the idea of relocating these criminals to our community. We herein sign a petition not only to oppose to this very wrong idea but also to request removal of the existing predators in the area. "

ADDENDUM: Mejia has since removed my copyrighted work from his shit petition. His justification -- " I respect your view but I also defend the right of other to be safe and just within 500 ft away from our community a Kidnapper just moved two days ago, and I am pretty sure you do not support that kind of behavior..."

He is now trying to threaten me for this post. He needs to understand the difference between Fair Use and misuse. You see, this blog is an informational, educational and social commentary. However, Raunchy Juanchy's actions differ because his use of my photo to promote a commercial venture, specifically his vigilante blog. I will NOT remove this post. It is news. Deal with it.

Summer Sausage: San Diego DA candidate Summer Stephan is stuffed with something else

Summer Stephan claims that there is "virtually no one" who chose to become a sex worker on her own. She likes to compare herself to the idiotic and fictional Olivia Benson to Law and Order SVU, (which jumped the shark over a decade ago). I haven't watched SVU in a while, but has the show had an episode where Benson persecuted three teens for a crime they didn't commit like Stephan did?

Summer Stephan's take on human trafficking is as fictional as any episode of SVU.

https://sandiegofreepress.org/2018/05/san-diego-da-candidate-summer-stephans-bad-day/

San Diego DA Candidate Summer Stephan’s Bad Day
MAY 3, 2018 BY DOUG PORTER

Wednesday, May 2, wasn’t a good day in appointed interim District Attorney Summer Stephan’s quest to win her first election in the June Primary.

In Justice Today, a leading publication in the field of criminal justice reform called out Stephan’s claims about human trafficking, suggesting she’s used inflated numbers to bolster her political and professional profile.

And Genevieve Jones-Wright, Stephan’s opponent in the upcoming June primary, has asked the State Attorney General’s office to investigate ten alleged violations of state law prohibiting employees–in this case, local law enforcement–from participating in political activities of any kind while in uniform. 

***

“Meet The San Diego DA Who Seized On The Human Trafficking Panic to Become A Law Enforcement Superstar” takes Stephan to task on two issues; a possible inflation of the numbers involved in human trafficking in San Diego and a one size fits all approach to prostitution.

Much of the interim DA’s reputation as tough on trafficking came after a joint press conference featuring Stephan and the University of San Diego’s School of Peace Studies in October 2015.

The estimated annual number of trafficking victims originally claimed an estimated range of 8,830 to 11,773 victims annually in San Diego. The Justice Department looked at the research and pushed back on the numbers, finding the estimated range based on the research to be closer to 3,417 to 8,108 victims.

Much of the publicity about law enforcement activities is based on the original numbers, along with the assumption of a vast, hidden “industry” worth $810 million per year.

In Justice Today ran the numbers by Dr. Anthony Marcus, chair of the anthropology department at John Jay College of the City University of New York, who has also conducted DOJ-funded research into trafficking. He suggested that even the Justice Department numbers were problematic.

And then there are the actual results:

As for actual human trafficking, a category that also includes labor trafficking, prosecutions at Stephan’s office are down to 19 in total for the fiscal year ending in September 2017 from a high of 32 in 2013. As Cyber Patrol and Operation Reclaim and Rebuild demonstrate, what Stephan’s office has focused on instead is targeting men who attempt to buy sex, as well as lobbying for increased penalties for these men.

Stephan has touted her office’s support of new state laws that she says will help people who have been trafficked. The San Diego district attorney’s support of these laws is relatively new, however. In 2016, the office opposed SB 1322, which decriminalized prostitution for minors, joining with other prosecutors in the state, as well as SB 823, which would have vacated past criminal charges of those who were prosecuted while they were being trafficked. But since SB 823 went into effect, the San Diego public defender’s office and Free to Thrive, a local nonprofit that provides legal services to trafficking survivors, told In Justice Today they have only been able to clear the records of six individuals.

In a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, Stephan acknowledged that her high-profile work on trafficking launched her into the top prosecutor spot once Dumanis announced her resignation. “Victims’ groups, a lot of the human trafficking work that I do, started to say, are you going to be the next DA,” she said. “We now are the gold standard for how you do sex crimes and human trafficking. I get called by other DA offices all the time to try to recreate it.” Prominent Stephan supporters, too, repeatedly tout her trafficking focus. On April 25, San Diego Convention Center Chair Gil Cabrera tweeted that Stephan “has lead [sic] the field” in trafficking.

The article concludes:

Promising tough action against trafficking has helped Stephan garner an image as a progressive leader, even as the “reforms” she supports perpetuate the carceral status quo of criminalizing sex work, while possibly making it more difficult to help the actual victims of trafficking. Even Stephan seems to acknowledge her office’s limits in combating trafficking. “We know we can’t prosecute ourselves out of it,” she said in a 2017 story on San Diego’s “slow but steady progress” in the trafficking fight. Still, she added, “[i]t has to be a war that everyone engages in.”

So, 19 arrests in a crime category generating $810 million a year with as many as 11,773 victims, certainly seems a little hinky.

***

The campaign of Genevieve Jones-Wright has taken the extraordinary step of appealing to the State Attorney General’s office, asking them to pursue an investigation into the use of public employees in political ads supporting interim DA Summer Stephan’s campaign.

They took this action after realizing that following the standard procedure for reporting campaign violations would mean the District Attorney’s office would be in charge of investigating their boss. 

Here’s a snip from the letter sent to Julie Garland, Senior Assistant Attorney General:

While election violations are typically reported to the  Fair Political Practices  Commission, my campaign has been informed that misleading or illegal campaign materials are investigated by local jurisdictions. The jurisdiction in this case would be the County of San Diego,  and therefore the enforcement arm would be the  Public Integrity Unit of the San Diego County District  Attorney’s Office. As there is a clear conflict of interest in the District Attorney’s Office investigating the campaign of the interim District Attorney, we were advised to submit the complaints to the Office of the Attorney General.

The pages that follow contain explanations and evidence of ten separate violations of both Government Code sections 3206 and 3302 (a) as well as one possible violation of Government Code section 54964.

According to Government  Code section 3206,  No officer or employee of a public agency shall participate in political activities of any kind while in uniform. Furthermore, in the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights, and Government Code 3302(a): Except as otherwise provided by law, or whenever on duty or in uniform, no public safety officer shall be prohibited from engaging, or be coerced or required to engage, in political activity.

UPDATE: The uniformed Sheriff to the right (as you look at the picture) of Stephan is Capt. Marco Garmo. State investigators referred a case on him to the DA’s office for violating state limits on gun sales. No charges were filed by then-DA Bonnie Dumanis. He received a written reprimand from Sheriff Bill Gore. Garmo has also contributed to the campaigns of both Dumanis and Stephan and is an elected member of the SD County Republican Central Committee. There’s nothing like friends in high places.

Hey folks, the May Sweeps are here, so NBC 5 Shitcago wants us to look at this scary chicken pox map of RSO Hotels. Boo.

Check out all these scary red dots, folks, because we all know what these dots are supposed to represent.

Few things stand out more in May Sweeps than a scary map with big red dots.

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/What-to-Do-to-Make-Sure-Your-Family-Doesnt-Rent-a-Motel-Room-Next-to-a-Sex-Offender-481976461.html

What to Do to Make Sure Your Family Doesn't Rent a Motel Room Next to a Registered Sex Offender
By Katy Smyser
Published at 7:01 PM CDT on May 7, 2018 | Updated at 11:03 PM CDT on May 7, 2018

Remember that a sex offender’s residency at a motel or inn is completely legal, and there is no obligation on the part of any establishment to research the background of a guest, or alert other guests to someone’s criminal history. There is also no specific obligation of any police agency, in the states we checked, to give notice directly to hotel or motel guests, about a sex offender who has reported his or her residence there.

So the best way – and likely the only way – for a family to try to take steps to make sure they do not check in to a motel room next to a sex offender is to get the address for the motel, and then cross-check the readily available sex-offender databases for that address. But even that will not work one hundred percent of the time:

https://www.nbcchicago.com/investigations/Unintended-Consequence-Sex-Offenders-in-Motels-481977191.html

Marion Brooks lookin' like a big red dot herself

Unintended Consequences: Sex Offenders in Motels
Next time you take a road trip with your family, you could be checking in next door to one or more of hundreds of sex offenders we’ve found living in brand-name motels — often because state and local restrictions give them few other places to live
By Marion Brooks and Katy Smyser
Published at 6:59 PM CDT on May 7, 2018 | Updated at 11:13 PM CDT on May 7, 2018

In April of 2014, a 5-year-old girl was playing with her brothers on the grounds of the Econo Lodge in Terre Haute, Indiana, where she was staying with her family, when a man grabbed her, took her into his motel room, hit her, pulled off her clothes, and molested her.

Court records show that the man, Timothy Blazier, 50, was a recently paroled, twice-convicted child-molester. He’d been living at the Econo Lodge for three months when he molested the 5-year-old girl. He’s now back in prison, serving a sixty-year sentence for the attack — his third conviction involving the sexual abuse of a child.

The incident spurred protests from some Terre Haute residents when they learned that the Econo Lodge — part of the Choice Hotels International chain — had been home not just to Blazier, but to 12 other convicted sex offenders who, according to local news reports, had been housed there at state expense because the motel was one of the few locations that lay outside the town’s prohibited zones for sex offenders.

Following the attack, Choice Hotels cut its affiliation with the motel, which closed a few months later. Choice Hotels International has not responded to several emails from NBC5, asking for comment on the 2014 incident.

—

In a six-month investigation, NBC5 Investigates found 667 sex offenders who reported that they were living at 490 motels and hotels throughout Illinois and nine surrounding states. Though many offenders appear to have checked in to these motels for just a few weeks or months at a time, approximately half of the offenders that we found, reported staying there for at least six months or more — and sometimes for years.

(We used two hotel guides to check all addresses in a 10-state region -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin — and then cross-check those addresses with each state’s sex offender registry, to find sex offenders who listed their home address at motel. We did this twice – once in the fall of 2017, and then again in the 2018, for all 10 states – though it should be noted that, for the most part, Minnesota does not list offender addresses on its registry, so there are very few results from Minnesota.)

With few exceptions in just a handful of towns across the country, it is perfectly legal for any registered sex offender to take up residence at a hotel or motel, as long as it is outside restricted zones. Often these offenders have few other places where they can legally reside, because — depending on where they live — they must keep 1,000, 2,000 or even 3,000 feet or more away from parks, schools and a variety of other places where kids might be — places which dot most residential neighborhoods. Motels and hotels are usually not part of those restrictions.

For their part, motels and hotels are under absolutely no obligation to check the background of any guest — short-term or long-term. They’re also under no obligation to notify visitors about anyone else staying there. And registered sex offenders aren’t required to tell hotels and motels about their criminal histories. Laws vary somewhat from state to state, but in essence sex offenders are mainly obligated to notify local police, any time they move to a new residence or start a new job. It’s then up to the police to decide how or if they want to follow up on that information. So no one — not the motels, not the police, not the offenders — are breaking any laws or rules. In fact it may be that the only way an offender can follow the law is to live at one of these motels along the highway on the outskirts of town.

—

Registered Sex Offenders Who Reported Their Home Address at a Hotel or Motel

Click on this map to show the areas where NBC5 Investigates and Telemundo Investiga found registered sex offenders who – at some point between the fall of 2017 and the spring of 2018 – reported their home addresses at a motel or hotel in a ten-state area.

Each circle on the map describes a general area where the offenders were found (for example, a single highway interchange); how many hotels and motels in that area were listed as homes to sex offenders at some point during the time period we checked; the total number of sex offenders found; and – within that total – the total number of child sex offenders.

As seen on the map, the majority of these motels are at highway interchanges. Because each state has laws that restrict where registered sex offenders can live (they’re prohibited from living near schools and parks, for example), often the only legal place where some offenders can live is in a motel at the edge of a town or along an interstate -- ironically, the same type of place where travelers check in, during a road trip.

We checked each motel twice – once during the fall of 2017, and once during the spring of 2018 – and found that some offenders moved out between checks; others moved in; and many offenders were living at the motel throughout the two time periods we checked. This map only represents the offenders counted during the two times when NBC5 and Telemundo checked each address.

Motels are not under any obligation to check up on a guest’s criminal history; nor are they required to inform one guest about the presence of another. Registered offenders are not required to inform motels about their status. Their only obligation is to inform local police, whenever they change residences.

A total of 314 of the motels we found, where registered sex offenders reported their residences, were mainstream motels with their own websites for online reservations, and most of those were affiliated with well-known chains — places where families and other travellers are likely to stay. We also found that a significant number of the motels were in well-travelled areas — at interstate exchanges (where families often stop overnight on road trips), for example, or in university towns (where families often visit students or attend sporting events).

Increasingly, many law enforcement officials and attorneys argue that this is what society essentially asked for: Because most states and communities have imposed such strict limits on where released sex offenders can live (while still requiring them to live in the town where they committed their offense), often an offender's only legal choice is to live on the margins of towns, often in "clusters" in apartments or motels at highway interchanges — where, ironically, they may be in closer contact than ever to families and children.

“I think we all have a shared interest in safe communities and crime prevention, but residential exclusion zones are nothing other than legislative gimmick,” says Adele Nicholas. She’s a Chicago civil rights attorney who — along with fellow civil rights attorney Mark Weinberg — represents convicted sex offenders who are trying to find legal places to live.

"People are living in these hotels and motels because they're out of options," Nicholas says. “They’re oftentimes pushed to the margins of society and facing potential homelessness, which causes them to have to take up residence — short-term or long-term — in a motel." In other words: The "unintended consequences" of buffer zones.

Nicholas cites several studies that show that residential restriction zones do not reduce crime. She argues that we all need to re-evaluate the conventional wisdom concerning sex offenders and safety: “I think that creating conditions so that people can successfully re-integrate in society — through productive work, through stable housing, through important community connections to their families and loved ones — are good both for someone who committed an offense in the past, and for the safety of society in general.”

—

In several areas of the 10 states NBC5 Investigates looked at, during the fall of 2017 and/or during the spring of 2018, we found sex offenders who reported living in motels that are just off major interstates and highways — on the margins of the community where they're required to live — but also the exact places a family might pull into, during a road trip.

Take a single interchange in Madison Wisconsin. Last fall — when rooms were at a premium during the University of Wisconsin’s football season — NBC5 Investigates found six separate chain-affiliated motels at that one interchange listed as housing a total of nine sex offenders, convicted for such crimes as sexual assault of a child; aggravated child molestation, child pornography, and rape.

Or take another interchange in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, near Illinois State University. We found five brand-name motels listed as housing a total of six sex offenders over a six-month period between fall of 2017 and spring of 2018 — all of them offenders against teen-aged children. Four of the five motels are clustered at the interchange. And all five motels are listed on the “visitbn.org” website, which ISU links to for suggested hotels for students and their families to stay in while they are visiting the campus. Again, neither ISU nor “visitbn.org” would ever have any obligation to check to see who might be staying in those motels, and no reason to know that some convicted sex offenders may be residents.

These interchanges aren’t unique:

• In Columbus, Ohio (not far from The Ohio State University), we found four motels at a single highway interchange where ten sex offenders said they were living, over the past six months.

• We also found two sex offenders — including one offender against children — who said they were living in two motels listed on the website “visitchampaigncounty.org,” which is the link that the University of Illinois provides for people planning to stay overnight while visiting the Urbana campus. (Once again, neither U of I nor "visitchampaigncounty.org" has any obligation to check on other guests at those motels.)

• NBC5 Investigates also found large clusters of motels at other interchanges where you might likely pull off for a night’s stay, such as one interchange in Merrillville, Indiana (four motels housing nine sex offenders); an interchange in Seymour, Indiana (six motels housing nine sex offenders); and a single interchange in Cleveland, Tennessee (four motels housing four sex offenders).

• Then there’s a single interchange in Murfreesboro, Tennessee: We found residents who reported their addresses at two popular motel chains there. One was listed as the home of six sex offenders, and another was listed as home to fourteen more: Twenty total registered sex offenders in just two name-brand motels at one well-travelled interchange. Add fourteen more sex offenders who list their home at a smaller motel at the same location, and that's a grand total of 34 sex offenders at this single interchange – nearly half of them child sex offenders — all who reported that they lived in this cluster of motels on the edge of town.

Adele Nicholas hopes that these "unintended consequences" of restriction laws might spur the general population to re-evaluate what really might help this admittedly-unpopular group of people. Living in a motel, she says, hampers — not helps — an offender's chance at rehabilitation, "by making it more difficult for them to obtain stable housing; to have the sources of community support that they need, and to have gainful employment and access to transportation -- all things that contribute to people having law-abiding lives."

"And that's not good for anyone," she adds. "Not just someone who committed an offense — but for society in general."

So we can't have out art exhibits shown in public, either? Whoever decided this can Van Gogh to hell

They say music can alter moods and talk to you
Well can it load a gun up for you , and cock it too
Well if it can, then the next time you assault a dude
Just tell the judge it was my fault and I'll get sued
-- Eminem, from the song "Sing For The Moment"

I could think of no other reason art would be removed from an art exhibit just because the person who created it was a registered citizen. Maybe the art was going to assault someone? This is stupid.

http://www.sunjournal.com/sex-offenders-art-removed-from-lewiston-exhibit/

Sex offender’s art removed from Lewiston exhibit
By Bob Keyes, Portland Press Herald - May 5, 2018

LEWISTON — The University of Southern Maine has removed three works by a highly regarded oil painter from a gallery on its Lewiston-Auburn campus after learning that the artist is a sex offender, a decision that has prompted objections from the show’s curator and the Union of Maine Visual Artists.

The paintings are by Bruce Habowski of Waterville, who was convicted of unlawful sexual contact in 1999 and served six months in jail. The show’s curator, Janice L. Moore, said they were removed when a relative of a victim in the sex crime called the university to complain. Where the paintings once hung are now empty hooks and open white wall space with a signed note from Moore that says, “This painting has been removed by order of the USM president.”

USM President Glenn Cummings declined an interview for this story. The university’s communications department issued a statement that said: “USM received a complaint from a member of the public. The complaint was not about the content of the art, but about the artist. After careful review, USM decided to remove his works from the exhibit.”

Both the university and Moore have not named the artist publicly, but his identity is evident by comparing the roster for the show, called “Industrial Maine: Our Other Landscape,” with the artists whose works appear in the gallery. Habowski has shown his work at the Portland Museum of Art and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, among other venues. Reached by phone, he also declined an interview, saying only that he was disappointed the exhibition is drawing negative attention because of his paintings.

A criminal background check for Habowski, 51, shows that Oakland police arrested him in April 1999 on a felony unlawful sexual contact charge. He was found guilty in Waterville District Court in June 1999, and sentenced to four years in jail with all but six months suspended. He also has two sex-related misdemeanor convictions from around the same time, including one involving a juvenile.

Moore, who lives in Freeport, is livid about the art being removed. “He was convicted for his crime and he paid his debt,” she said. “The act of making art, to me, it seems is a very positive thing. You are contributing to society in a positive way. I don’t understand how that should be punished.”

‘LET’S JUDGE THE ART’

The art in question is part of an exhibition of nearly 30 artists and 70 works of art about Maine’s industrial landscape. It opened March 12 and the three paintings were removed about three weeks later. The Atrium Gallery is part of a central entryway and commons area on the small campus that provides graduate and undergraduate degrees and certificates. The school is tucked away on the southwestern edge of Lewiston, near the Maine Turnpike.

The Atrium is a small gallery, with an annual budget of about $10,000 and a reputation for showing smart and timely contemporary Maine art, in large part because of the stewardship of longtime gallery director Robyn Holman, now retired. The gallery is currently managed by an ad hoc committee under the supervision of an acting dean.

The removal of the art raises questions about free expression, community standards and tolerance, the public display of art and censorship, and comes during a national discussion about the value of art versus the character of its creator. That discussion has been framed by the #MeToo movement and revelations of bad behavior by prominent filmmakers, painters, maestros and musicians. This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled convicted sex offenders Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership, citing a violation of ethical standards.

Timothy Rhys, editor-in-chief of California-based MovieMaker magazine and a part-time Maine resident, said the issue is layered and complex. Ultimately, he said, we as a society should judge artists based on the work they create and not how they conduct their lives.

“By removing these works of art they are not censoring the art but they are censoring the artist because of who he offends. The definition of censorship is removing something because it’s offensive, but who’s it offensive to? This person paid his debt. He doesn’t owe anything to society anymore,” Rhys said.

“Art does and should transcend the private behavior of the artist. We really need to come to grips that we are not going to all have the same opinion of the person. If there needs to be a judgment, let’s judge the art.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AT RISK

There are no easy answers, Moore said, and that’s why she’s upset the university passed up the chance for discussion.

“If everybody has a background check, do we have to edit every piece of music and gallery and stop showing movies? What happens when someone who behaves badly also created something worthwhile? Do we negate all of that? Do we erase it? Do we lose an opportunity to learn and evolve?”

The Portland chapter of the Union of Maine Visual Artists sent a letter to Cummings on Friday objecting to the removal of the paintings on the grounds that such action amounts to censorship while recognizing the horrific nature of sex crimes, said John Ripton, a member of the artist’s union.

He circulated a draft of the letter to union members earlier last week, seeking feedback and endorsements. He declined to share a copy with the Press Herald.

“This has to do with the First Amendment, freedom of expression,” Ripton said. “Glenn Cummings decides unilaterally, or without any meaningful consultation with the curator, to remove the work. The university charter clearly states that the university is the place that encourages open and free expression.”

At the same time, Ripton said, the Union of Maine Visual Artists decries the sexual victimization of anyone, female and male.

Moore, he said, is “completely sensitive to the complaint that had been made on the victim’s behalf. Janice and I are both aware that the delicate complexities of this issue are interconnected and anything short of addressing those wide-ranging relationships may actually do more harm to victims of sex crimes than might be appreciated without deeper consideration.”

CURATOR CALLS FOR GREATER CONSIDERATION

Moore said she heard rumblings of objections within two weeks after the show opened. Someone from the university called — she can’t recall whom she spoke with, but she thinks it was someone from the office of the provost — to ask what she knew about the artist and how she selected work for the show. She said she chose the work based on the quality of the art, not the background of the artist.

Later, she also spoke with Cummings directly, telling the president: “I don’t believe this art should be removed. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do.”

She also told him that she understood the difficult situation he was in, and she recognized that he had a responsibility to protect the students and the university community “and that I understood that needed to be a priority for him.”

She learned of the art’s removal after it happened and after the artist was contacted by the university and told to pick up his paintings, she said.

When she drove to the exhibition April 6, she found the voids on the wall where the paintings hung. Some people suggested she rehang the show to cover those voids, but she decided to leave them with a note calling attention to their removal. Rehanging the show, she said, would amount to a “whitewash.”

“There is no explanation for the removal of three paintings which figured prominently in the space,” she said. “There were nails left where the work once was. This censorship without explanation does not feel right and does a disservice to everyone involved.”

The issue has caused anger and anguish, she said, and is nuanced by many shades of gray. Moore has no sympathy for sex offenders, but she thinks it’s wrong to continually punish the artist – and, by extension, the other artists in this show. “Everybody is jumping on a whole lot of bandwagons and shouting loud,” she said. “I wish we could have a slow consideration and actually discuss it.”

 Press Herald Staff Writer Matt Byrne contributed to this report.

This is why Florida style Barbeque is not a thing. Incidentally, this is why the Registry should not be a thing, either

Sure, he didn't actually succeed and got caught in somewhat hilarious fashion, but if he DID succeed, I would not publish him here, but at my vigilante blog. This category is for vigilante fails, and this qualifies.

Good thing he isn't going to be allowed to bond out, or the Book Crime Family might have paid for his release.

http://www.wesh.com/article/man-accused-of-trying-to-kill-several-people-in-kissimmee/20193028

Man accused of trying to kill sex offenders in Kissimmee
Updated: 11:40 PM EDT May 4, 2018
Robert Lowe 
Reporter

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. —
Police said a man was locked up after he was accused of trying to kill sex offenders.

Officers said he tried to set the men on fire.

Jorge Porto-Sierra has been formally charged with four counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Osceola County detectives said the 50-year-old confessed to deputies he tried to kill multiple people at the Friendly Village Inn on Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway.

After his March 7 arrest, Porto-Sierra said he arrived at the motel to "barbecue all the child molesters on fire and kill them."

WESH 2 News confirmed at least two of the four victims are convicted sexual offenders.

Witnesses told deputies Porto-Sierra made several threats, screaming, "I'm going to kill you, child molester," and allegedly began throwing gasoline on their front door.

Porto-Sierra is accused of breaking a hotel window to pour gasoline inside.

Witnesses said he was carrying a cigarrette the whole time.

Another couple said Porto-Sierra rammed their car and poured gas on it.

When asked by deputies why he did not carry out his threats, Porto-Sierra said, "You got here too soon."

Porto-Sierra remains behind bars at the Osceola County Jail.

He's being held on no bond.

Who says crime doesn't pay? SC Sheriff's Office secretary caught pocketing registry fee funds

Even though she worked for the Sheriff's office, she was not a cop, so she does not qualify as a Keystone Cop. See folks, this is why I would not pay my registry fees even if I had a job.

http://www.wistv.com/story/38114443/former-kcso-employee-arrested-for-embezzling-money-from-sex-offender-registry-fund

Former KCSO employee arrested for embezzling money from sex offender registry fund
Friday, May 4th 2018, 11:46 am EDT
Friday, May 4th 2018, 12:00 pm EDT
By Emily Smith, Digital Content Producer

KERSHAW COUNTY, SC (WIS) -

Agents of the S.C. Law Enforcement Division arrested a Kershaw County woman in connection with funds not deposited to the Kershaw County Treasurer's Office.

Samantha West Connell, 34, was charged with one count of Embezzlement of public funds, value less than $10,000.

The crime was committed between January 2015 and April 2016 while Connell was employed as an administrative assistant at the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office.

According to the SLED warrant, money was collected from registered sex offenders for deposit into the Kershaw County Sex Offender Registry Fund. However, no deposits were made.

Connell admitted in a written statement that she was solely responsible for the key to the drawer where funds were held and deposits were not made as they should have been, according to the warrant.

SLED investigated the case at the request of the Kershaw County Sheriff's Office.

Connell was booked at the Kershaw County Detention Center.

The case will be prosecuted by the 11th Circuit Solicitor's Office.

Kerri Kelleher of Cranston RI thinks she knows what registrants talk about when they hang out. Someone educate this idiot!

Coincidentally, the first thing I thought of when seeing this quote is THIS CLIP from Family Guy, which is set in a fictional town in Rhode Island. Feel free to Tweet to Kerri Kelleher and tell her how you feel about her comment.

http://www.abc6.com/story/38080129/cranston-residents-concerned-about-sex-offenders-criminally-insane-living-nearby

Cranston residents concerned about sex offenders, criminally insane living nearby
Posted: May 01, 2018 12:53 AM EDT
Updated: May 01, 2018 12:53 AM EDT

By John Krinjak

Email: jkrinjak@abc6.com

Twitter: @johnkrinjakABC6

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) -- Cranston East High School hosted a forum Monday night that many feel is long overdue, about a growing list of unwanted neighbors for those who live along Roosevelt and Pontiac Avenues.

"With Cranston being the receiving community of not only sex offenders but now the criminally insane, our residents need to be aware of it," said Rep. Robert Lancia.

Since 2012, the sex offender population at Harrington Hall on Howard Ave has been steadily growing--now hovering around 30.

"If you go hang out with your knitting buddies, you're probably going to talk about knitting. If you're out with people who like baseball, you're probably going to talk about baseball. What does anybody think the sex offenders are hanging out talking about? It's not baseball," said Kerri Kelleher, who helped organize the forum. 

Many residents are terrified about this cluster of predators just steps away from residential neighborhoods.

"My 8 year old doesn't know what any of them look like and that's really my biggest concern//we're stuck. And there's a lot of neighborhoods off of Mayfield Avenue with a lot of kids in them," said Cranston resident Kate Caito.

As if that's not enough, the Roosevelt Benton Center, formerly part of the Rhode Island Training School, will soon be home to a population of criminally insane inmates.

"They've been problematic in prison. To think that they're going to be in a less secured setting could create a real nightmare for everyone," said Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers.

Some residents are thinking about leaving--saying they just don't feel safe in the city.

"It's very alarming. Makes me want to put my house on the market, actually, and move," said Cranston resident Laura Laviano.

There is currently legislation in the works to limit the number of sex offenders at any one homeless shelter, but it's being held up by a lawsuit from the ACLU.

Many neighbors say city officials should be taking more of a lead here, though members of the city council and a representative for Mayor Allen Fung were in attendance.