Christopher "Dudus" Coke Wanted

Christopher "Dudus" Coke, 40, a Jamaican national, is wanted by the US authorities on a number of drug and weapon offenses. See the story here.

The U.S. has officially asked the Jamaican government to hand him over to face those charges and has complained about the tardiness on the part of Jamaican government to do so. See the extradition request here.

"The U.S. government is looking forward to the Jamaican government respecting their obligations under the treaty," Patricia Attkisson, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, said.

Acknowledging the request for Christopher Dudus Coke's extradition, a Jamaican official responded:

“The Government has been notified and discussions are taking place. It is principally the prerogative of the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s office”, Foreign Affairs Minister Kenneth Baugh said.

Coke's lawyer, Tom Tavares-Finson, said he had not seen any paperwork and did not know why the U.S. was interested in his client. He claimed that Coke had no connections with the United States and was also not sure if his client would turn himself in voluntarily.

"We're waiting to hear what the decision is," said Tavares-Finson, who has dismissed the U.S. charges as "hype."

According to reports, Coke is the alleged leader of the "Shower Posse" gang. He is charged in the U.S. Southern District of New York with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to illegally traffic in firearms. Coke faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Under the Extradition Treaty, accused persons do not have to sell illicit drugs in the United States to be convicted in that country. See a report in the Jamaican newspaper the Jamaica Gleaner concerning the U.S.- Jamaican Extradition Treaty.

Christopher Coke is not only politically well-connected to the governing party in Jamaica, the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party), he is also the recognized leader of his community of Tivoli Gardens in downtown Kingston. His influence stretches across the entire island of Jamaica and overseas to the U.S. and England. His extradition to the U.S. would likely have huge ramifications among his followers and his community.

View Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica in a larger map

Another Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer gives this perspective on Coke, as well as some background information. His aliases include Dudus, President and Shortman:

"He is the leading figure among JLP garrisons and many leaders in those communities report to him. He is tremendously powerful and is feared by friends and foes alike"

According to an article in Jamaicaviews.com, there could be social unrest if Coke was to be extradited. He has the legitimacy that the government can only envy among the urban poor. A Caribbean scholar with knowledge of the workings of inner-city communities across the region put it this way:

“For the people, legitimacy in the Government stops at Carib 5 cinema (in Cross Roads). From that point down, he (Dudus) is more legitimate than the Government. He has a monopoly of force and consensual power because he has legitimacy that the Government of Jamaica cannot even dream to have where the urban poor is concerned.”

“What does a government do when they have created a government within a government? What do they now do when they have to hand up this government to another government?” he asked. “He (Dudus) can get kids to be off the street at 8:30 pm. The Government does not even have the power to scratch anybody’s hair much more to do something like that. People feel safer in Tivoli Gardens than anywhere else. It is the safest garrison. This is touchy. In a country that barely understands order, you have found somebody to provide order in the midst of chaos because downtown is chaos. What do you do with him?”

The government in Jamaica is under pressure to respond to the U.S. request for extradition from the opposition party the PNP (People's National Party). Peter Bunting, Opposition spokesman on national security, claims that the Government's failure to extradite Tivoli Gardens strongman, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, has caused a stand-off between Washington and Kingston.

Peter Bunting, said in a press statement that the longer the Government took to honor the US request to send Coke to stand trial, the country's national interests and international reputation was being jeopardized.

"It is completely untrue," said Minister of Justice and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne:

"The Jamaican Government has, indeed, responded through the channels laid down in the Extradition Treaty between Jamaica and the United States and there is ongoing communication between the authorities of both states," she said in a press statement.

There has also been criticism of Jamaica's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding. Tivoli Gardens is his constituency and he has mostly been silent on the requested extradition of Christopher Coke. An editorial asked a question that Prime Minister Golding needs to answer clearly and unequivocally:

That question is "whether the Government's loyalties lie with those who hold that the end justifies the means or the citizens of this country who are committed to order and the rule of law".

According to Claude Robinson, a journalist with the Jamaica Observer:

All that can be expected of the Prime Minister is a simple and clear statement acknowledging the request and affirming that it will be dealt with in accordance with our democracy and our constitution without regard to the political affiliation of the target of the request. Once that due process is complete, the country will be told the full outcome. That's all that was expected from the prime minister. He should have delivered.

So the question remains, as it has for over two months now:

Will the Jamaican government hand over Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the U.S. authorities to answer the criminal charges against him?

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Fiancee Attacked Before Marriage

This is the strange case of  former Alderman Keith Maynard, 42, who had represented the 4th ward of Ansonia, Conn. He is accused of breaking into his then fiancee's home and assaulting her, four days before the marriage. He resigned from his position on the Ansonia Board of Alderman on the eve of his arrest.

Maynard is accused of knocking Ida Lucarelli to the ground, covering her with a blanket and hitting her with a baseball bat, police said. She did not recognize her attacker, she told police. He was wearing a mask. See a copy of the affidavit here.

Alderman Keith Maynard was arraigned on charges of second-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint and first-degree reckless endangerment. The judge ordered Maynard to stay away from his Cook Street home. He was also ordered to turn over any firearms he may have. He posted a $50,000 bond on Aug. 20th and was released. He is due back in court on Sept. 4th.

"I've worked with Keith Maynard for many years, while he was on the board, in matters of importance to neighborhoods, both in his ward and throughout the city. and that's why this is a sad day," Police Chief Kevin Hale told the Register. "Nevertheless, we went where the facts took us.

"Domestic violence is a top priority for this police department. We take these matters very seriously," he added.

According to police spokesman Lt. Andrew Cota, the arrest stems from an incident July 1 on Cook Street involving Maynard's fiancee, Ida Lucarelli. On that date, his fiancee reported to police that around 11:15 a.m., she had come home to find a man in her house. She claimed the man threw a blanket over her head, hit her with a bat and ran out the back door. She did not recognize the intruder who wore a mask during the attack, police said. She was treated at Griffin Hospital for minor abrasions.

Police used witness statements and cell phone records -- which showed Keith Maynard was in the Valley around the time of the attack instead of in Westport, like he claimed -- to identify Maynard as a suspect in the attack.

The phone records also showed that after Ida Maynard called Keith Maynard to tell him she had been assaulted, Maynard called his brother, Tyrone, and a woman whom he identified as more than just a friend.

Asked by police the reason he attacked his wife, Maynard replied, "No idea why I did it"

Police Lt. Andrew Cota said police have not identified a motive and are no longer searching for one. He said neither Keith Maynard nor Ida Maynard told police of any problems they were having as a couple.

"We don't have anything that points at a motivation for us. Sometimes, you don't have one," he said.

Cota added, "Obviously there's something. But (Keith Maynard) didn't define it. He didn't tell us why."

"We can't believe somebody could be evil enough to beat his fiancee, go back to work and then marry her four days later in front of friends and family," Jennifer Lucarelli, Ida's sister, said. "And, at the wedding, to stand up in front of 200 people and give a toast, thanking her trainers at the gym for giving her the strength to survive, all for a girlfriend. It's just shameful."

Maynard told his wife he'd been the masked attacker earlier in the week and asked for reconciliation, Ida Maynard said.

"He'd have a better chance of God coming down and marrying him," she said

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Kiss and Make up with a Beer?

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. (a Black man) was arrested in his house by Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley (a White man). President Obama (a Black man) says the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" in making the arrest.

The situation escalates and charges of racism and racial profiling are leveled. The President is criticized for defending the Harvard scholar and the unapologetic policeman is backed by his union. The news media, talk shows and blogs all have a field day as the public weighs in with various opinions. Sounds like a powder keg about to explode, right? But not so fast.....President Obama had more to say:

"This has been ratcheting up, and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up," he said. "I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department and Sgt. Crowley specifically. And I could've calibrated those words differently."

In what he called an opportunity for a "teachable moment", Obama, at the suggestion of officer Crowley, invited both men to have a beer with him at the White House.

"My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved, and the way they would have liked it to be resolved," Obama said. "The fact that it has garnered so much attention, I think, is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America, and -- you know, so to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate. What I would like to do, then, is to make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people."

In what was a very different tone than before, Henry Louis Gates Jr. said he would accept Obama's invitation to the White House for a beer with the President and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley, who had arrested him. In a statement posted Friday on The Root, a Web site Gates oversees, the scholar said he told Obama he'd be happy to meet with Crowley, whom Gates had accused of racial profiling.

"I told the president that my principal regret was that all of the attention paid to his deeply supportive remarks during his press conference had distracted attention from his health care initiative," Gates said. "I am pleased that he, too, is eager to use my experience as a teaching moment, and if meeting Sergeant Crowley for a beer with the president will further that end, then I would be happy to oblige."

"It is time for all of us to move on, and to assess what we can learn from this experience" Gates said. ".....Because, in the end, this is not about me at all; it is about the creation of a society in which 'equal justice before law' is a lived reality."

A trio of Massachusetts police unions released a joint statement shortly after Obama's latest comments, saying Crowley had a friendly and meaningful conversation with the president.

"We appreciate his sincere interest and willingness to reconsider his remarks about the Cambridge Police Department," according to the statement. "It is clear to us from this conversation, that the President respects police officers and the often difficult and dangerous situations we face on a daily basis."

Isn't it wonderful to see intelligent people act intelligently? I, however do wonder if it's possible for a President, a Professor and a Policeman (yeah the 3 Pees) to agree on what kind of beer they should be drinking.

I can just see the new ad campaign for which ever beer wins: "Intelligent people drink"....... or "the beer that brought the nation back together"...... Stay tuned!!

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Terror in Tehran

I don't normally do politics in this blog but what is happening in Iran needs to be aired --- as widely as possible.

Neda is Shot

President Obama Speaks Out

Reports start coming in on a brutal crackdown by the Iranian authorities

Eyewitness Report from Baharestan Square in Central Tehran

This frantic phone call from a Tehran woman will break your heart as you consider our standard response has been "that there are sets of international norms and principles about violence" and that "the international community is watching." Part of yesterday's response by President Obama in a press conference included "that there is a peaceful path that will lead to stability and legitimacy (of the Iranian regime) and prosperity for the Iranian people. We hope they take it." The Iranian theocratic regime clearly is not interested.

Unedited Video from Iran

What will happen next??......The world is watching!!

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Gay Mayor Refuses to Resign

Mayor Sam Adams, 45, publicly apologized for lying early in his campaign about the relationship with an 18-year-old man, Beau Breedlove, in 2005. The openly gay Portland, OR. mayor is also accused of asking the teen to lie for him as well. This has prompted many to call for the mayor to resign. He has refused to do so.

The mayor met privately with the four city commissioners to discuss his political future just three weeks after being sworn in. The next day Sam Adams informed City Commissioner Randy Leonard and the other commissioners that he had decided not to resign.

In a statement posted on his website the mayor said he believed that he still had positive contributions to make, drawing on his 20 years of public service to the city. He thanked his supporters and his critics and promised: "I will work harder than I have ever worked before to make sure Portland meets our challenges."

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWVixYUxIEs&eurl=http://news.google.com/news?q=sam+adams+portland+gay&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=]

Although the Mayor has his supporters calls for him to resign have come from a number of organizations and individuals. The Oregonian of Portland in an editorial has called for the mayor to resign as have other smaller Portland newspapers and the police union.

The gay-oriented publication Just Out, is also calling for his resignation. Its publisher, Marty Davis says: "I feel at this point, his character has a deep flaw" :

"By his own admission, by committing the act of lying to the citizens of Portland, Adams has failed to show the principled character that this publication feels is a basic requirement for an elected official," the editorial said.

Mayor Sam Adams sat down with the editorial board of the Oregonian and gave a videotaped interview. Afterward the newspaper, in an editorial, said:

Nobody -- not even the mayor -- knows if his sense of right and wrong will fail him again, but he is asking us to give him another chance. In his Tuesday news conference Adams responded to one question this way: "If it's no longer in the city's best interest for me to stay on, I will resign."

He's already said he doesn't plan to quit, but we submit that it is not in the city's interest to have a mayor who cannot vouch for his own character under fire.

He should resign.

Adams was elected easily last year, 2008, making Portland the largest U.S. city to elect an openly gay mayor. He was sworn in Jan. 1.

Rumors of the relationship had surfaced when the then-city commissioner was getting ready to run for mayor in 2007, but he and the teen, Beau Breedlove, both denied it at the time. Adams said he lied then because the rumors claimed the teen was underage. He said the relationship did not begin until after the teen turned 18 in June 2005. That is the legal age of consent in Oregon. He admitted he asked the teen initially to deny the relationship. "I am deeply sorry that I asked him to lie for me," he said.

Beau Breedlove also gave an interview to the Oregonian to explain in his own words what really happened between himself and the Mayor. While agreeing with the Mayor that the two of them did not have sex until two weeks after his 18th birthday in June 2005, Breedlove said that the Mayor had kissed him twice "on the lips" when he was still 17 years old. He also says he welcomed Adams' kisses and romantic interest, even though he was underage.

Beau Breedlove, now 21, told The Oregonian that Adams kissed him on the lips on two occasions before he turned 18 -- once in Adams' car and the other in the second-floor men's room in City Hall after a party that Adams, then a city commissioner, had in his office.

"I do not see any relationship that I ever had with Sam as me being taken advantage of," Breedlove said. "I do not feel like I was ever a victim. I may have been 17, but I was an adult, and I knew what I was doing."

Adams said he didn't recall kissing Breedlove. But Adams said that even if he did, his earlier denials stand.

"I said that there was no sexual contact before he was 18," Adams said. Asked again whether he kissed Breedlove, Adams replied: "I don't remember, but if I did, it was not sexual contact."

Sam Adams'  attorney, Robert Weaver, said that even if Adams kissed a 17-year-old Breedlove, Adams broke no laws.

"There is nothing that (Breedlove) has said that is inconsistent with what the mayor has said," Weaver said. "The mayor has said there was no sexual activity. Kissing is not sexual activity."

Oregon State law says third-degree sexual abuse, which is a misdemeanor, can occur when someone subjects another person to "sexual contact" when the person either does not consent to the advance or is younger than 18. The law defines sexual contact as "any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a person ... for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either party."

Sam Adams is under criminal investigation by the Oregon attorney general's office.