A story in the California Newspaper Publishers Association notes that a judge in South Lake Tahoe has amended his demand that the Tahoe Daily Tribune not publish color photographs of two murder defendants.
As reported in the Dec. 24 Bulletin, El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Jerald Lasarow reasoned that picturing the two in orange jumpsuits instead of civilian clothing would taint the small jury pool at his court in South Lake Tahoe.
Attorney James M. Haupt, representing The Tribune, said the order constitutes "impermissible prior restraints, constitutional violations of the highest magnitude."
The Tribune challenged the ruling as unconstitutional, and Lasarow clarified his order to allow The Tribune to resume printing color photographs of the defendants as long as they are photographed in street clothes.
The Tribune took no pictures on Dec. 20 because the defendants were wearing jail suits.
Attorneys for the Tribune, the Mountain Democrat and the Reno Gazette-Journal, along with lawyers for the defendants themselves, all stated they believed Lasarow's order prohibited publication of any color photos.
The Tribune wrote in a Dec. 21 editorial that the judge's attempt to limit pretrial publicity resulted instead in national publicity. The photos of the defendants became newsworthy in themselves.
The editorial added you can debate whether the public has a right to see the defendants in their orange jumpsuits, you can question what responsibility the press has to ensure a fair trial. "We would insist, however, that such responsibility rests with The Tribune and not with Judge Lasarow."
We feel much the same.
Toll roads by their nature tend to reduce travel to only those who can pay for it and thus do not fit into a growing nation's goals. It was the magic of a few pennies tax on gasoline that gave us our local roads, state highways and ultimately our interstate system. However, those few pennies have grown to 18 cents state and 18.4 cents federal on each gallon plus sales tax on all to pay for many other ways to get from here to there.
But wait, the dragon's not dead yet. With California having one of the finest transportation systems in the world, we are told we still need toll roads to ease traffic congestion. A group of promoters convinced legislators in Orange County and Sacramento they could shorten commute times-all flying under the banner of reducing smog, improving air quality and even saving us from global warming. All at no cost to you and me unless we use these toll roads. So the rich get to ride in style and the poor or thrifty get stuck in traffic.
Now here we are with many miles of toll roads built, all of which are not operating to projected volumes, thus the toll revenue is marginal to meet bond-servicing and guess what? They want to build more. There has to be a slippery slope here somewhere and sure enough there is. The toll road people got the legislature to build into their authority that CalTrans cannot make any improvements of adjoining freeways that would theoretically reduce toll road traffic without paying a compensation for loss of toll revenues. We are not talking just about adding lanes, this would also apply to fixing a safety defect in an existing transition area which is exactly how the devil in the details got exposed.
As well-described in both the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register, there is a merging on the exit lanes for the Coal Canyon offramp on the westbound 91 Freeway in Santa Ana Canyon that causes accidents. There is a safety issue to add about 3,000 feet of paving so an outside lane does not have to merge to exit. For an $8 million improvement made for safety, the toll road owners want $4 million to compensate for any potential loss of tolls. Greed is still alive and well.
The county supervisors finally got the message on this con and are suing the toll road owners maintaining that the contract is illegal, or alternatively, just buying the toll road and turning it into a diamond lane. Then we are just talking about price. Purportedly the 91 Express Lanes cost $135 million to build and the owners are talking about selling in the $200 million to $300 million range. Nice profit for 3 years of limited use; they are just like new, hardly a scratch. I bet in the end we are going to pay dearly.
How does it happen in a state that is heavily taxed for the finest transportation system in the world, that we have privately owned toll roads? It's called campaign contributions. Legislators who pass these kinds of sweetheart deals are bought and sold like hog futures. The idea that there should be any toll roads in California is ludicrous. Our growth and expansion was built on free road use and now we are saddled with the east-coast mentality of toll roads for which we will pay twice.
As a side note, the drive over the top of the Irvine Ranch on the 241 toll road from Corona to El Toro is absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, you have to be able to afford the ride to go.
All of this must be accomplished while ensuring that the war on terrorism is fully funded and that efforts continue to rebuild New York, the Pentagon, and our nation's sagging economy. We must also remain committed to the brave men and women of our armed forces by providing them with the resources they need to defeat terrorism here at home, in the Middle East, and throughout the world.
Next week, President Bush will lay out his agenda for the nation in his State of the Union address. I am confident that his vision for America will lead us to victory in the war against terrorism and help us to bring our economy out of recession. All of these issues must be addressed when he submits his fiscal year 2003 budget plan in early February.
There have been reports that the Senate's first order of business will be consideration of the economic stimulus package passed by the House last year. This legislation is vital to getting our economy back on track. But there are still some disagreements that must be resolved. The fact remains that September 11 hurt the economy and caused thousands of people to lose their jobs. Congress must help families bounce back from these difficult times. The good news is that the President and congressional leaders are working on an agreement that would extend unemployment benefits for displaced workers, provide tax rebates to those who did not receive one last year, provide business with much needed tax relief, and send fiscal relief to state governments to help cover health insurance costs.
In addition to the economic security bill, the House passed several important reforms that require Senate action and good faith negotiations between both parties to become law. Among these are:
* A comprehensive energy plan - to develop a national energy policy that encourages conservation, increases energy production, advances the use of renewable energy sources, and protects the environment
* A patients' bill of rights - to give doctors and patients the right to make their own health care decisions and hold decision makers accountable when they harm someone
* Trade promotion authority - to give the President the ability to negotiate trade agreements with other world leaders and help open new markets for American businesses
* A voting reform bill - to improve voting practices and standards and protect the integrity of our election process.
Another important issue that was set aside after September 11th but has recently resurfaced with a vengeance is campaign finance reform. Those of us who are committed to real change in our campaign finance laws will not rest until we succeed in overhauling the current campaign finance system that allows big-money politics to influence federal elections. I have joined with 213 of my House colleagues in signing a petition that will force the bill onto the House floor for a vote. The petition will go into effect when 218 members sign it. I am confident we will obtain the additional signatures needed, and this bill will once again be heard on the House floor. The Senate last year passed a bill similar to one that passed the House in the past two Congresses. Now is the time to complete the effort.
Congress also must work this year to ensure that every senior has access to affordable prescription drugs. The time is long, long overdue for adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.
This agenda is ambitions but necessary if we are to get our economy back on track and ensure our nation's security. It will take patience, perseverance, and a willingness to put partisan differences aside. The President, Congress, and the American people must continue to work together to defeat terrorism and steer our nation out of this recession and onto the road to recovery.
Naturally, we'd like to believe each account of things is based on a high degree of honesty. That is to say, be truthful. Which, unfortunately, is not always the way things are. Recent reports about at least two recent crime cases in New York and California prove there can be both good and bad eyewitnesses.
No. 1-Two men were ID'd as the killers of a New York cab driver in 1987, and they were imprisoned-until recently, when fingerprints from inside the cab cast suspicion upon another man, who confessed to the killing. The "eyewitness" who ID's the two men sent to prison 14 years ago said she did so for a $1,000 reward.
No. 2-A youth was held in custody in Orange County for robbery from when he was 17 until being released at age of 19 after two "eyewitnesses" (alleged victims!) finally convinced authorities he was not the culprit, despite what others might have said. Debate about eyewitnesses' reliability immediately became an issue in the current heated Orange County DA election campaign.
One expert observer of all this, Michael Giannini of the Orange County Alternate Defenders Office, says, "In this business we know the most unreliable evidence is eyewitness evidence."
Perhaps too many people subscribe to the long ago observation by Mark Twain: "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as much as you please."
I've had the good fortune to travel a few times Down Under, so-called because the words australia comes from the Latin word australis, which means southern and the continent lies entirely south of (or under) the equator.
I recall those visits, generally with pleasure, whenever Australia is in the news here in the States, even when that news involves reports such as the terrible arson fires that destroyed many locales close by Sydney recently.
Sydney is the nation's oldest and largest city, and its start as a penal colony is hard to reconcile with the views of today's metropolis-the great Sydney Harbor and its striking bridge, skyscrapers, parks, walkways, et al.
A charter member of the United Nations, Australia served as a U.S. ally in WWI, WWII and the Korean War. Currently, it is an ally in the war on terrorism in the Mideast.
Some 10,000 of them were held at Manzanar at the base of the eastern Sierra some 200 miles north of Los Angeles, and the U.S. government has initiated development of a memorial and visitors center at Manzanar to be completed in 2003. It has been a decade since Congress ruled it a national historical site.
Hopefully, we can be there for the dedication next year; we might be able to track down a friend or two.