The Cheerleaders and the Nude Photos

Two Cheerleaders at Bothell High School in Bothell, Wa. were suspended from the school squad. The reason? Nude pictures of the two girls were circulated, first among the football team, then to the student body and finally to the administrators of the school. One of the girls received a 30-day suspension and the other was suspended for the rest of the school year.

The parents of the two girls are now calling foul. They have filed lawsuits against the Northshore School District, alleging school officials erred when they suspended the girls from the team.

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Both lawsuits, filed in King County Superior Court, accuse school administrators of violating the girls' due process rights, needlessly sharing the photos with other school staff members and failing to promptly report the matter to police as possible child pornography.

The photos were taken separately. The first photo was taken 3 years ago. It showed the girl topless and was originally sent to the cellphone of her boyfriend at the time. The picture was then accidentally sent to other Bothell High School students.

The other girl's photo was taken in June when she and a fellow cheerleader used their cell phones to each snap photos of themselves naked. That photo too was later accidentally sent to other Bothell High School students.

Shortly after the June photos were taken, school officials heard rumors the pictures were circulating among students, particularly football players. They sent a letter to all cheerleaders' parents, warning that if inappropriate photos were found, it could result in suspension from the squad.

Football players were told to delete the pictures from their cell phones, if they received them, but in August school administrators received copies of both photos. This resulted in the disciplinary action taken against the two girls.

Attorney Matthew King, who represents both families, said it was troubling that only the girls were punished while the football players and other students who sent and received the photos, were not disciplined.

"We're not technically challenging the sanctions as being too strict, we're saying they weren't evenly enforced across the school," King said. "There should have been some punishment meted out to those who were in possession of the photos. ... It seems like the girls are getting the brunt of it."

King argues the district's student handbook didn't specifically prohibit the girls' behavior, and didn't outline potential consequences for a case like this.

"My clients fully realize what they did was stupid," King said, adding that the girls never intended for the photos to be distributed and have been mortified by the entire incident.

He wants the disciplinary action expunged from the girls' school records, the remaining teen reinstated to the cheerleading squad and some form of apology from district officials for neglecting to discipline other students in the case.

Northshore spokeswoman Susan Stoltzfus countered that school officials acted appropriately, reported the matter to police and gave both girls a chance to appeal their suspensions to a disciplinary committee and to the School Board.

"Everyone along the line agreed the discipline was appropriate," she said. "Obviously, we take these things seriously, but we really don't believe this (case) has a lot of merit."

"This is frivolous," Northshore School District attorney Mike Patterson said. "It should never have gone to court and they (the families suing) should recognize that what happened here was created by their own doing."

Northshore officials believe the girls clearly violated the district's athletic code, which students must agree to in order to participate in school activities. The girls understood that as athletes, they would be held to higher standards of behavior, Stoltzfus said.

"When you sign up to be a cheerleader -- or for any student activity -- you agree to certain codes of behavior," she said. "We consider them student leaders, and we want them to be role models."

Still No Kids for Lonesome George

Lonesome George, estimated to be between 75-90 years old, is carrying a heavy responsibility on his back.  He is a Galapagos tortoise, believed to be the last living member of the Geochelone nigra abigdoni subspecies.  Lonesome George was found on Pinta island in 1972 and moved that year to a breeding center on Santa Cruz island, where he has lived ever since.

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Hopes were high when the two females that have been Lonesome George's companions since 1993, finally laid eggs after 36 years of trying. They belong to the Geochelone becki subspecies of giant tortoise, believed to be the closest existing phenotype to that of Lonesome George. Between them, the females laid 13 eggs on Santa Cruz island in July. It seemed as if Lonesome George was finally going to become a father, providing for the continuity of his species.

The eggs were placed in an artificial incubator, but hope began to fade after it was reported that the eggs were losing weight and were not looking good. After 130 days of intensive care, conservationists came to the conclusion that all of the eggs were infertile. Galapagos National Park Director-General Sixto Naranjo says there are several possible explanations for why the eggs never developed embryos:

• Lonesome George is sterile


• The females are not from his subspecies
  


• The females’ 15 years without laying eggs rendered their first batch of eggs deficient
  


• The females' poor adjustment to captivity left them completely infertile.
  


• The diet in their breeding center negatively affected their reproductive systems.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnv8KSjH0gU]

However the conservationists haven't given up just yet. A team of seven foreign biologists and 26 park rangers have begun taking blood samples from tortoises on nearby Isabela island in search of hybrid species that share as many or more genes with Lonesome George, Yale biologist and giant tortoise specialist Gisella Caccone said in a news release. Even at 90-years-old, Lonesome George is relatively young and may still have many years of sexual activity ahead.

Below is a short documentary by Sir David Attenborough on the history of Lonesome George:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ed-bDAypg&feature=related]

Baby-Sitter Guilty of Child Porn

Aaron Jay Lemon, 23, of Little Canada, Minn. pleaded guilty to a single count of producing child pornography before U.S. District Judge David Doty in federal court in Minneapolis. He was hired through Craig's List as a baby-sitter for a 2-year-old girl in St. Paul. In the plea, Lemon admitted he coerced the toddler to engage in sex, and he recorded the incident on a video camera. It wasn't clear how many times Lemon baby-sat for the 2-year-old victim or whether he had a history of baby-sitting other children.

Lemon was charged Aug. 5 with Production, Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography in connection with the incident, which occurred in August 2007 in St. Paul. He was released in August on a $25,000 bond. Lemon faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. A federal judge will determine Lemon’s sentence at a future date.

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This is a case in which Lemon should never have had the opportunity for access to a 2-year-old without supervision. What interests me, personally, with this case is:

What kind of parents would hire an unknown person, with no references, from a service like Craig's List, to take care of their child (of any age) and have the confidence to leave this individual alone in their home with their child? To me it is no different than grabbing a stranger off the street and saying: "Here is my child and the keys to my house. I have somewhere to go. I will return later."

As it turns out, Aaron Lemon is the worst kind of pedophile. He wasn't just a collector of child pornography. He produced it. He starred in it. He distributed it.

Last year (2007) the FBI was investigating an unrelated case involving a man in San Francisco. They found evidence that someone in the Twin Cities may have been exchanging child porn with him. They turned this evidence over to The Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force which investigated the matter. It led them to Lemon. They got a search warrant for his Little Canada home and found evidence that "led them to believe he wasn't just a collector of pornography, he was manufacturing it".

They discovered, by checking his e-mail account and IP address, that Lemon had been in contact with the suspect in San Francisco as early as 2006. When authorities came to the apartment, which he shares with his mother, to interviewed him, Lemon admitted to exchanging and possessing child pornography. He was subsequently charged.

Lemon was also charged with distributing child pornography across state lines, according to the original indictment against him. He was forced to hand over a laptop computer and a pocket-sized digital camera when those charges were brought. Police found over 100 pictures of children on the computer, ranging from 6 months to 5 years old.

Because of the large number of images found on his computer, the ICAC task force plans to present the case to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office to consider additional charges against Aaron Lemon. According to the Justice Department:

• 1 in 33 children receives an unwanted sexual solicitation online each year.


• 1 in 4 children experiences unwanted exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet each year.


• more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet every week.

Recent research by the Federal Bureau of Prisons indicates a strong correlation between possessing or distributing child pornography and committing sexual crimes against children, a news release from the U.S. attorney's office said.

Erin Hammill, owner of Apple Valley-based Above and Beyond Nannies, consults 10 character references, five employer references, state, county and national background checks and a credit check on her potential employees. Individuals searching for a sitter should do something comparable, she said.

"There is no way that you can tell a sex offender. You don't just trust. You don't say, 'Oh, they seem like they're safe and sane,' " Hammill said. "But if you checked four references, you would have a sense of who they're dealing with ... And pull a criminal background check that's as thorough as possible."

Wal-Mart Sued over Black Friday Death

Jdimytai Damour, 34, was a big man - standing 6ft 5ins tall and weighing 270lbs - he could have been a linebacker in the NFL; but he was no match for the crush of the crowd seeking bargains at the Wal-Mart store at the Green Acres Mall in Long Island on Black Friday. It was probably his size that landed him the job of crowd control at the entrance of the store that fatal Friday morning.

He died of asphyxiation after the crowd of bargain-hunters, estimated to be around 2,000 strong, broke down the doors and overwhelmed the staff just shortly after 5am on Friday morning.

"Those hundreds of people who did make their way into the store, literally had to step over or around him or unfortunately on him to get into the Wal-Mart store," Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said this week.

The family of Jdimytai Damour has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit claiming store ads offering deep discounts "created an atmosphere of competition and anxiety" that led to "crowd craze." The lawsuit also claims that Wal-Mart failed to provide adequate security and the company "engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem and was otherwise careless, reckless and negligent."

The Green Acres Mall, owned by Vornado Realty Trust, a realty company, that manages the property and a security company, Securitas, hired to patrol the property were all named as defendants.

The lawsuit against Wal-Mart and the other companies was filed in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, the home of one of the victim's sisters, Elsie Damour Phillipe, the court-appointed administrator of his estate. It does not seek specific damages.

In a statement issued by Wal-Mart, the company appears willing to bear some responsibility for the death of Damour, saying it would also cooperate with local law enforcement officials to develop stronger safety measures for the future.

"We consider Mr. Damour part of the Wal-Mart family, and are saddened by his death," the statement said. "We have been in communication with members of his family to do what we can to help them through this difficult time. Our associates know that when incidents like this occur, we take care of our own."

Police are reviewing store video to identify possible suspects in Damour's death, but Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey conceded that criminal charges are unlikely. He said it was apparent to him that the Wal-Mart store lacked adequate security to handle the crowds. He said police representatives met with retailers throughout the county two weeks before Thanksgiving and made it clear that security and crowd control for the sales were the merchants' responsibilities.

The family's lawyer, Jordan Hecht, said Damour's family also plans to file lawsuits against Nassau County and its police department.

Even though Damour's death was the direct result of lack of crowd control, some of the workers said they were still shaken by Mr. Damour’s death and added that they had mixed feelings about whether the store should have hired more security.

“How could you know something like that would happen?” said one worker, who added that the store was even busier this year than on Black Friday last year. “No one expected something like that.”

Wal-Mart workers interviewed on Saturday said they had been told by their managers not to speak to reporters or give their names. But they said that on Friday morning, when the store was closed for a few hours after Mr. Damour’s death, dozens of workers gathered near the front door to pray. They were led by a woman who worked as a greeter.

“It was crazy,” said a worker in the electronics department who was in the store during the stampede. “The deals weren’t even that good.”

Teen with Bullet in Head Takes Plea Deal

Joshua Adam Bush, 19, pleaded guilty Monday, Dec. 1 2008, to charges of criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. In return, other charges were dropped and he will be sentenced to two years in jail. With time served, he should be out shortly, his lawyer, Langston Adams, told the Beaumont Enterprise.

Bush gained national attention when prosecutors tried to have a bullet removed from his head to prove he was hit during a gun battle while attempting to rob a used car dealership. Bush had claimed that he was shot accidentally by a friend.

In a jury trial in August Bush was found not guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors maintained that Bush had been in a gunfight with the manager of the car lot, Allen Olive, and that was how he got the bullet in his head. Jurors returned a verdict of not guilty, though some indicated that they do not necessarily believe Bush was innocent. This was the most serious charge he faced.

By accepting the plea agreement - in which he pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and criminal mischief - charges of deadly conduct and two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity were dropped as part of the deal.

Jefferson County prosecutor Ramon Rodriguez said the deal was made because any subsequent trials would rely heavily on the testimony of gang members, which would not be reliable.

"We got a couple convictions, which did not force us to rely on the testimony of known gang members for the purpose of getting a conviction," he said.

Even though Bush took the plea bargain offered by prosecutors, he may yet gain financially from the case. Following his arrest law enforcement officers obtained a warrant to have the bullet removed from his head. He was taken to St. Christus Elizabeth Hospital where a doctor made an incision into his forehead, but was unable to remove the slug. His family has since sued the doctor.