White Walks, McCloskey Doesn't

Unrepentant ex-police officer Thomas White, who shot motorcyclist Mike McCloskey in the back, walked out of the courtroom a free man as the result of a plea bargain with Lucas County Ohio Common Pleas Court Judge Gary Cook.  Here's the story from The Toledo Blade: Ottawa Hills Police Shooting Case Ends in Plea Agreement

From his wheelchair in a Lucas County courtroom Thursday, Michael McCloskey didn’t mince words: He forgave the former police officer who shot and paralyzed him in 2009 and gave his blessing to a plea agreement that ended the case.
Mr. White, who was looking at a second trial on a more serious charge of felonious assault for shooting Mr. McCloskey in the back during a traffic stop, pleaded no contest to assault, a first-degree misdemeanor.

On May 23^rd, 2009, in an act of cowardice, Ottawa Hills police officer Thomas White shot motorcyclist Michael McCloskey in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. Thomas White is completely unrepentant.  I wrote about the case here, Cop Shooting - (ex) Officer Thomas White is Still Free, and here, in Ottawa Hills Shooting.

On December 15^th, 2016, (7 years, 6 months, and 23 days later) the case was finally resolved.  White got a plea bargain, pleaded no contest, was found guilty by the judge and got a 90-day jail term, sentence suspended, and one year of probation.  White also had to surrender his peace officer certificate.

White has never done any jail time.  He remains a free man, completely unrepentant, likely congratulating himself on a job well done.

This no good SOB belongs in prison, doing 25 to life at hard time.  I always suspected something like this would happen, and my suspicions were well founded.

R.I.P. Hall Derkin

A friend of mine passed away last Monday (June 11, 2012).  Hall Stewart Derkin was born in the city of brotherly love on April 27, 1918.  He served in the US Army during World War II, attaining the rank of Captain.  He was married for 65 years, raised three sons and helped to raise an unknown number of grandchildren.  He owned his own business and was one of the three founders of a church; Bethany Community Fellowship in Sylvania, Ohio.

That's the facts.  Here are a few things I admired about Hall, along with a few links.

My Blog: I Still Do Not Understand

Back in September I started getting comments from a misguided zealot calling himself covnitkepr1, who insisted that I start following his blog.  Now I've attracted another one who calls himself Steve Finnell and purports to be from the Hoosier State (Indiana).  I've read both blogs and found the same egregious error on each one.

Halloween, a Time of Garden Hose Baptism

Well, they're at it again.  This happens every single year and I'm tired of it.  The Good People of the First Self-Righteous Church decry Halloween as a Pagan celebration that is seeking to corrupt the morals of our young people, especially young men, by exposing them to the worldliness of the world, which is all they'll allude to.  I suspect it's all they can allude to without giving themselves a collective apoplexy, which is what generally happens when you can't see the freight train because of your blind spot.

I'll spare everyone the righteous rant from the pulpit of Pastor Pissfire Pallbox.  If you're really all that curious, you can tune in to any television ministry on Sunday and get treated to a first class version.  I actually listened to about twenty minutes from one of these ministers and I thought I was watching a re-run of Saturday Night Live.  I couldn't believe anyone would take this guy seriously - I think it might have been Jerry Falwell, but I'm a long way from surety here.  Anyway, at some point after WWII and before yesterday, the Good Christian People of the U.S. of A. discovered that Halloween gave them something safe to hate and that they could criticize the people who celebrate Halloween without fear of reprisal.

Then, in spite of the separation of Church and State, they took their silly prejudice to the Bored of Education.  Now another holiday is being eliminated.

My Blog: Things I Don't Understand

I've been getting short, commercialized comments from someone calling himself covnitkepr1, which I suppose translates into something like Covenant Keeper One.  The man purports to being a born again Christian and writes one essay a month.  His blog is AccordingToTheBook and his one line comments always end with:

I have added myself to follow your blog. You are more than welcome to visit my blog and become a follower as well.

I checked out his blog and found a critical error on page 1.  Ain't is always the way?