OMG! Sponge! Join the Navy or serve time! documented case!

[marine]

It?s probation or the Navy, judge tells troubled teens
The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Mar 6, 2007 16:38:30 EST

BELLEFONTE, Pa. ? Two teenagers facing probation and community service or even jail time in the shooting of a steer considered a family pet took advantage of another option offered by the judge ? joining the Navy.

Chris Jabco and Eric Smith, both 19-year-olds from Bellefonte, previously pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals and two summary violations in the shooting of the $3,500 Scottish Highland steer.

Authorities said the two were drinking Sept. 17 and then drove through Spring Township with another man in search of deer to poach, culminating in the shooting of the steer. The pair reached a deal with prosecutors, who recommended two years? probation and at least five hours of community service.

But Centre County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bradley P. Lunsford said the case warranted more than probation. He noted the pain caused to the animal?s owner and said the two were drinking and driving around looking for something to kill. Their actions, he said, ?were premeditated, senseless and your motivations were evil.?

The judge said they could spend 48 hours in jail as well as two years on probation and 100 hours doing community service on a farm caring for animals; or no jail time, two years on probation and 200 hours on the farm ? or they could enlist in the military.

Defense attorney Jim Bryant said his clients plan to enlist in the Navy.

?I think it was an appropriate and innovative resolution to a bad situation,? Bryant said. ?This was a case of young adult stupidity.?

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Nathan Boob also said he was pleased.

?We believe the defendants will benefit from military service,? he said.

The other man, who pulled the trigger, was sentenced earlier by another judge to two years? probation.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/03/apPAnavyteens070304/

 

[The Sponge]

i thought you said no judge would ever suggest this?:shrug:

 

[marine]

judges can suggest, none can enforce it.

go read navy or jail continued in the thread below.

 

[The Sponge]

judges can suggest, none can enforce it.

go read navy or jail continued in the thread below.

No bro back then you said what i said about the judge was a flat out lie. Well, cous its right there so take off your blinders. It happens so deal with it.

 

[danmurphy jr]

Used to be done as a matter of course. It could be used to alleviate over crowding prisons. Send them to Iraq or Afgho. No more immigration problem. Send them to Iraq or Afgho. They do the jobs Americans don't want to do anyway. Did anyone know that the 1st American military soldier killed in Iraq was an Illegal alien who was there illegally. "Go figure"

 

[THE KOD]

Madison, Wis., Named 'Most Walkable'
By SCOTT BAUER

Associated Press Writer

MADISON, Wis. ? With the thermometer hovering at 22, and the wind ripping off a frozen Lake Mendota, Rink DaVee and his brother Jim decided to take a stroll. And why not? After all, according to a recent top 10 list, there's no better place in the country for walking than the capital city of a state known more for cheese and beer than exercising.

"It makes you feel better," DaVee said during a break in his walk Wednesday, standing on the icy, snow-covered trail that extends out over the lake. "It gets you through a cold month of March."

Madison beat out the likes of Austin, Texas (No. 2), San Francisco (No. 3) and Miami, which barely cracked the list at No. 98.

Factors contributing to the ranking were air quality, the percentage of people who walk to work, access to parks, number of athletic shoes sold, and (believe it or not) weather.

Number of beaches versus frozen lakes apparently was not a factor. Crime rate, unfortunately for Miami, was.

Adopting a walker-friendly plan 10 years ago was a major plus for Madison, said Prevention magazine's deputy editor Karyn Repinski. That plan focused on maintaining and improving the city's walkability and requires that when roads are redeveloped, they should accommodate not just cars, but bikes and pedestrians, too.

But don't be fooled by all the signs of fitness around town. Madisonians also love their beer, bratwurst and Wisconsin cheese. The city of 250,000 plays host to a four-day extravaganza dubbed "The World's Largest Brat Fest," where nearly 200,000 brats are consumed over four days.

Madison was the only city in the walking top 10 in a state that's not in the South or the West, a point of pride for people like Kathy Andrusz, coordinator of the Fit City initiative. Started in 2003 by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, the program is a collaboration between Madison city officials and more than 30 other groups to combat obesity and get people moving.

"We're definitely touting it," Andrusz said of the walking rating. "We're definitely proud of it and will be able to use it as a sense of pride, if nothing else."

Madison is no stranger to No. 1 rankings. People still talk about Money Magazine naming it the best place to live in 1998, although that ranking dropped to 53rd last year. Outside Magazine named it the best road biking city in August, and other high rankings have come for its being vegetarian-friendly, gay-friendly, environmentally friendly, and, well, according to Midwest Living in 2003, the overall friendliest city in the Midwest.

Even with all that love going around, who wants to break out the walking shoes in the middle of winter? Especially this winter, with snow on the ground every day since Jan. 14 and an average high temperature in February of just 21.7 degrees and an average low of 7.2 degrees. It also snowed 22 inches last month.

"Winter weather is only a barrier if you let it be," Andrusz said. "It's a matter of attitude."

Repinski, the magazine editor who spoke from New York City, which ranked 39th, said only a cynic would let a little winter weather get in the way of walking.

"I walked a mile this morning and I was walking in an inch of snow," she said. "The conditions don't have to be perfect for walking, that's what's nice about it."

Downtown Madison lies on an isthmus with Lake Mendota to the north and Lake Monona to the south. Stretching to the west from the state Capitol is State Street, which is crammed full of bars, restaurants and boutiques, but no cars. It's perfect for, you guessed it, walking.

At the west end of State Street rests the University of Wisconsin, where students are known to complain about the steep climb up Bascom Hill to the administration building, which offers a stunning view of the city and the Capitol dome.

Even with 40,000 students mostly walking to and from class ? and bars at night ? Madison has a remarkable bike trail system, with more than 30 miles of trails and 110 miles of bike lanes even on the busiest of streets. Not to mention the 6,000 acres of parkland.

Zac Stencil, 23, a senior at the university, said he walks about two miles every day to and from classes.

"You can meet cool groups of people who are walking beside you," Stencil said. "Plus, when the lakes are frozen you can walk right across."
.............................................................

 

[marine]

No bro back then you said what i said about the judge was a flat out lie. Well, cous its right there so take off your blinders. It happens so deal with it.

Judge does not see enlistment as punishment

Teens in animal cruelty case given sentencing option of Navy service
By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 6, 2007 20:25:20 EST

A Pennsylvania judge who gave two men the option of enlisting in the Navy or spending two years on probation and at least 100 hours working on a farm said he does not see serving in the Navy as punishment.

But a Navy official says neither man will be allowed to enlist ? at least until their sentences are completed.

Navy spokesman Mike McLellan said that Navy regulations bar the enlistment of people on probation, as both Chris Jabco and Eric Smith, two teens convicted of conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals, are now on.

?Personally, I reject the notion that joining the Navy is punishment,? McLellan said in a statement released Monday. ?The Navy, as is every other branch of the U.S. military service, is a volunteer force. Those who [serve] do so with a sense of pride and patriotism.?

The judge who sentenced the two, Center County Court of Common Pleas Judge Bradley Lunsford, said he agreed.

?I don?t look at the military as a dumping ground for our trash,? he said. ?The military is not a sentence. It is a career.?

In fact, Lunsford said he never would have mentioned the Navy as an option if Jabco and Smith hadn?t told court officials ? without being asked or prompted ? that they were interested in joining.

Lunsford said he was not happy with options to deal with Jabco and Smith, both 19, under state sentencing guidelines and in light of the circumstances: Jabco, Smith and another man got drunk and went looking for a deer to shoot last September; when they were unable to find a deer, they decided instead to shoot a cow, a Scottish Highland steer worth $3,500.

Jabco and Smith were each charged with conspiracy for participating in the act. Another judge sentenced the triggerman to two years? probation earlier this year. All three cow-shooters were ordering pay a third of the animal?s value as restitution.

?I determined that what the commonwealth was recommending to me was not appropriate,? Lunsford said. ?I don?t think it adequately addressed the gravity of the offense of the rehabilitative needs of the offenders.?

So Lunsford offered Jabco and Smith four options: two days in jail, two years? probation, and 100 hours working with livestock; two years? probation and 200 hours working with livestock; pick another judge, or join the Navy.

Lunsford said giving Jabco and Smith incentive to enlist would benefit them and the Navy.

?These young men made a terrible choice, but they were not bad kids,? he said. ?Afterwards, they did the right thing. They fully confessed … they had not been disciplinary problems in school, they were not prior offenders, and they had a desire to serve in the military.

?I think that these are kids who, if they had some structure and discipline, I think a lot of these qualities would come to the surface,? he continued. ?Just the fact that they expressed a desire to serve their country is a first step in their rehabilitation. I don?t look at the military as an entity designed to rehabilitate offenders. A person needs to rehabilitate themselves. But I think with some structure and responsibility, these kids could do well. They are at a turning point, and I think you will find two good sailors.

Jim Bryant, a lawyer who represented both Jabco and Smith, supported the judge?s decision.

?I think it was an appropriate and innovative resolution to a bad situation,? he said. ?This was a case of young adult stupidity.?

If the two men are not allowed to join the Navy or another military service branch, they will have to perform community service and be on probation, Lunsford said.


The Associated Press contributed to this story.

 

[SixFive]

I know someone on this board who went to Vietnam at the "suggestion" of a local judge.

 

[smurphy]

Did anyone know that the 1st American military soldier killed in Iraq was an Illegal alien who was there illegally. "Go figure"

I thought it was a black dude from Baltimore. His dad was very pissed.