scottobear | Entries tagged with prince george's county

Was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I received a pair of Skullcandy skullcrusher Bass Headphones in the mail - I won them online in the mountain dew voltage contest website. I'll probably use them mostly for playing fallout 3 or other shooters, rather than listening to music.

BHK got a summons about the gunslinging the car chase through our neighborhood nearly 2 years ago.

No Franklin this morning - BHK let me sleep in and drove me to work!

Also form BHK - fresh flowers opening up in the garden! The Green Glow is really starting to shine!

1 year ago - flickr adds video, ice cream truck, stuffed puppers, Buzz Aldrin punches Bart Sibrel, Gygax Memorial

2 years ago - salsaritas, lunch, Chris & BHK dine with me, BHK's peridot ring/ first thoughts of the lime-vanilla ice ring. Tiger / Tigger, tough doing daily entries, Dani likes grindhouse

3 years ago - GP & Kat in FL, fonts, Who, lj radio, Herc speaks, mp3 links

4 years ago - Sleepies, poorhouse, two zombies later, passwords, silent running - smokey bear

5 years ago - CoH, religion update, nerd-o-meter, beheading, old pic of me and newt and cpap

6 years ago - Iraqometer, internal debate, reminding myself of people's value

7 years ago - Just learning Crystal reports, about animal crackers,(including history and combat rules) China's First Emperor killed by a meteor ?, David Hasselhoff video, attacked by Newt, Discovery of the naked robot monkey, playing freedom force.

8 years ago - Food Plans

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: some oonch-oonch-oonch on winamp

At last!

Springtime... the weekend!

I'd like to take BHK to Annapolis this weekend, do a little walkies and just enjoy each others company. That's the plan, anyhow!

--
BHK got this recently, regarding Prince George's County SWAT issue back in August. I feel that it's worth sharing, dear journal.

I write these many months later to thank you for reaching out to comfort my family and I after last summer’s terrifying SWAT attack of our home. The tremendous outpouring of support that we received from our friends, neighbors, and so many complete strangers sustained us through the worst of it, and I continued to find comfort in the kind words as I read the emails well into the fall.

Trinity and I continue to heal, and we always will miss Payton and Chase terribly. One thing that has helped is that we’ve adopted another black Labrador, Marshall. As you can see from the picture, Marshall has brought incredible joy to our lives.

After the incident drew international attention and outrage, Prince George’s County police finally exonerated my family and me of any wrong doing. However, they have refused to apologize and continue to defend their actions in my case.

Over the last several months, I have undergone a personal journey to try to understand how this terrible incident could happen. My initial reaction was that it was a terrible mistake. However, as I have learned more, I have come to understand that what my family and I experienced is part of a growing and troubling trend where law enforcement is relying on SWAT teams to perform duties once handled by ordinary police officers.

In our case, the police deployed a SWAT team without performing basic investigatory work and apparently without considering more measured approaches. Prince George’s County recently has acknowledged that it indiscriminately deploys SWAT teams to serve drug warrants. Preliminary estimates suggest that the county deployed SWAT teams as many as 700 times a year – that is twice a day! Other counties in Maryland also report hundreds of SWAT team deployments a year, and we have uncovered numerous other stories of botched and inappropriate raids, innocent families terrorized, and family dogs killed.

In fact, the inappropriate use of SWAT teams seems to be a national problem. The number of SWAT team deployments nationwide has grown exponentially from about 2,500 per year in the early 1980s to over 50,000 in 2005. SWAT teams used to be reserved for unusually dangerous situations such as the arrest of major criminals known to have hig h-powered weapons or hostage situations. However, many police forces are using them today against people they suspect of recreational drug use and other much smaller crimes.

The more I have learned, the more I feel obligated to do everything I can to rein in over-aggressive policing. I am working with Maryland lawmakers to pass legislation requiring the number of SWAT deployments and their outcomes to be regularly reported to civilian authorities. By shining a light on paramilitary police activities, law enforcement agencies should find it in their best interests to change their practices and limit the use of SWAT teams to situations where the charges are grave and a violent response can be reasonably anticipated. The Senate passed SB 447 unanimously yesterday, but we expect to run into more resistance in the House of Delegates. As soon as we enact this legislation in Maryland, I intend to work with lawmakers in other states to pass similar legislation. We are also considering actions that can be taken on a federal level.

To help in this effort, we have created a web site, www.protectourliberties.com, which tells the stories of a number of innocent victims of traumatizing SWAT raids. It also contains media clips of the coverage we’ve received and information about our legislative work. If you are interested in staying informed about this issue, please sign up for updates that I’ll send every month or so. Also, if you could volunteer for citizen advocacy or policy development work, I would really appreciate your help. Our next citizen advocacy project is a Lobby Night on Monday, March 23rd at the Maryland Capital.

Thank you, again, for your support and encouragement!

Warm regards,

Cheye

Make Maryland Great, Inc.
P. O. Box 4343
Annapolis, MD 21403
(410) 757-2811

--

1 year ago - colored egg pics, encounter critical, orange team, maryland cell phone driving, journaling and domain ownership, rival kenyan tribes fighting with bows and arrows

2 years ago - first full day at the calvert gig, bhk and I go shopping for work clothes, grownup table talk, spam attractive entry

3 years ago - rebis picture, deaf language, chacarron, math, phallic removal, open source, fake cigs as meds, prisoner comic book

4 years ago - Brady Kids welcome the equinox, shamrock shake, cosmic truth, mp3s,experimental gameplay, get your tasty hot sweet potatoes in Japanese,teen kidnappers, good advice, invisible mermaid airfare

5 years ago - openoffice, Visited w Dan, open door poll, people of worth

6 years ago - Al gore, Blue's clues, Cranky Finn

7 years ago - Spring!, Socks, overturned issues, Linda let go from FMM, LJ directory, cool picture link

8 years ago - walkies, 2 chris-sites, both have long since been left dormant, lj broken

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: Brave & the Bold tv theme bongos in my head

Went the dentist - got a temp filling and I need a crown. Later at dinner, the temp filling fell out, but it's aok for now.

Went to the Walgreens and I got BHK a pedegg - foot callous remover and orange zester, apparently. I think it's a pretty surreal device, and is more surreal to me en espanol.

Watched latest Psych and Dragon's Den... that's about it!

Hey, Thanks, Knife-wielding robot! You're not as dangerous as you sound, I guess!

crazy robot doodle by me, article via

I just realized something about German boardgames. Seldom do you see dice. Cards are drawn and are sometimes used as randomizers, but you can still play the odds a bit - it's rare to roll the ol' bones. I wonder why?

Bengie's is showing Wall-E, Dark knight and step brothers... I don't think that I care to see Dark knight again, so it looks like we'll wait another week or so before our return trip to the drive-in.

Follow up on the mayor's "drug raid / dog shooting" indecent. He's completely innocent, it seems. Prince George's County Police really fouled up, in my opinion. That and the armed car chase through my neighborhood (well outside PG county jurisdiction) only adds to my problem with that organization. Some sort of Internal Affairs review needs to be done... but it seems unlikely.

"The mayor's counsel also disputes authorities claims that they killed the dogs, Chase and Payton, because one of the dogs was coming at officers. Maloney says one dog was running away and the other was shot some distance from the front door.

Still, county law enforcement officials say they do not owe the Calvo's an apology. Chief High defended the officers actions, but expressed regret over the death of the dogs."

As someone that's been at swat team gunpoint more than once... (06/02/2001 when my landlord went loopy with his guns over his face cancer and 02/24/2004 once when my bro committed "grand theft boat".) - I can honestly say that sometimes the police has good reason to hold someone under potential deadly force. I'm thankful that neither I nor Newton were shot

Well, bro is right on the border of the 44 violation points rule. (he has exactly 44 points)(pdf info ) If convicted of all of his charges, he could either do under a year in county jail, or over a year in state prison.

from here -

If total points are equal to or less than 44, the lowest permissible sentence is a non-state prison sanction (however state prison up to the statutory maximum can be imposed).

If total points exceed 44, the minimum sentence is established by taking the total point value subtracting 28 and decreasing the remaining value by 25%. This end result value is the lowest permissible prison sentence in months.

This means than only those offenders scoring 44 or less points may receive a non- state prison sanction under the code. All others must receive a state prison sanction, absent downward departure from this structure. The threshold under the guidelines for mandatory prison incarceration was 52 points.

and from here

The magic number is 44: Anyone scoring above 44 points "must" be sentenced to state prison under the Code. However, the plea bargaining process can a) reduce the number of counts charged, b) have an agreement not to score certain items, c) substitute charges, d) reduce the actual count charged, or e) several other creative techniques can be used to get someone sentenced to a non-incarcerative sentence. Note the departure grounds under Rule 3.992(b), but also note the actual language of the "Sentence Computation" because someone charged with a felony can be sentenced to state prison even if the score fewer than 44 points. For this reason, felony cases are always very serious legal matters.

For his Faces of Evil project, Hans Weishäupl made composite photographs of the world's worst dictators by photographing hundreds of people in each dictator's country and stitching them together. The results are a bit disturbing, particularly when viewing very large, clear, vibrant color photos of long-dead monsters like Stalin or Hitler. (via conscientious)

1 year ago - dc to nyc bus, pg county car chase update, chocolate gum, ex debt, louise fadeout, ljopoly, cruel 2 b kind assassination game

2 years ago - finished pride & pred / monkey politics, Newt pic, kid rolling ajoint on the bus, solar powered sun bricks, firkin, 8500, flying model plane in miami, flight plans to maryland

3 years ago - deepest sender, jumping pictures, walkabout autostitch, mangrove tunnels

4 years ago - tmbg thoughts, sugar water vid, space issues, Rick James dead, Burpin' at Newt, Magical Trevor, cocktail demons, nifty charts, Newt Videos, CoH Pix

5 years ago - Zombies, Army Men, mean cannibal pudding, time travel spam, vampire game, celeb phone calls, cej chat, bro request

6 years ago - Earth and Beyond Playtest, Kev & Bailey, fat parrots, french fry girl palm doodle

7 years ago - harried, inculpate, plane lands just down the road on andrews as a makeshift runway and kits my regular bus, wondering about lj's image server (still not ready!), happy thoughts, magic can of soda

8 years ago - grumping, Space cowboys shows old man butts

Current Mood: toofy bonkers
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: psych theme in my head

Got my shots - minor reaction, but nothing tragic.

Met up with the in-laws, and headed to selby sub shoppe - pizza for all, I got a black bean burger and fries. Tasty as all get out!

We planned on heading to Annapolis after to go see Wall-E, but instead we stopped at Toys-R-Us, and picked up Marvel Heroscape and Good Ol' Scrabble.

Heroscape is cute.. sort of like heroclix or D&D miniatures. The fun thing is that it's cross-genre, so you can have cowboys shooting at zombies, fighting robots, ninjas, superheroes and cavemen all on the same board. (and if you like, you can make custom cards for units very easily - so you can have spongebob fighting a paperclip, if you want.) Basic rules are quick and easy... advanced rules look more fun, and maybe another moment or two to learn.

BHK and I opted to head back home after getting our loot - there was a storm brewing... even tornado warning, and we wanted to be curled up at home anyhow.

We swung by the ATW man - done up as a prospector - I'll try to get better photos of him later.

Watched some tube, lounged, and the in-laws came over - we half watched Micheal Clayton while we played scrabble - Chris dominated.. and she was half asleep. I'd hate to think of what sort of opponant she's make at full mental charge. Chris scored 258 to my 247 and BHK's 162 - and Chris laid all of her letters down first turn... accounting for 63 of those points! I was feeling a little sour-grapey, but not too much... our dictionary is a bit on the lightweight side... time to get something unabridged. The plus size was that it caused me to rethink words I'd use in a pinch... like "QI", but instead, items that are in more everyday language.

The folks went home, but BHK was still up for a wordgame, so we went with another - BHK dominated me at upwords - beat me by more than 40 points.

My brain is melted a bit.. until later, dear journal!

Upgrading the computer in the newtcam room at home - ordered 2 GB more ram for my system (Crucial 2GB Kit (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-4200 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC 240-PIN DIMM, to be specific) -ups my desktop box to a proper 4 gig for less han $50, and a new video card - (EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB DDR3 Superclocked Edition PCI-Express Graphics Card (512-P3-N802-AR) - got it for less than half what it usally costs - $300 card for $160, less anothera $20 rebate for a total of $140

Super saver shipping means possibly slower send times, but the price was right, and I don't need it super soon.. I can wait a week or two.

SWAT team kills 2 dogs in raid on Md. mayor's home

(Italics and bold mine.)

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. — A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there.

Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.

The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.

"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.

Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.

Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.

Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.

"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and would come up to them and pet them," he said.

So... the police brought drugs to the house, and then raided him... but then didn't arrest or press any charges? They *did* however kill his two dogs.

1 year ago - ATW man stolen, Petey Greene / "Talk to me", Vassal, pictures while waiting for the bus, new nuclear reactor in calvert county

2 years ago - paperclips, cross-dressing crooks, reading Pride and Prejudice, I predict a riot, good talking to folks, writely (now google docs)

3 years ago - sick of summer heat, paper robots!, spiffy car, where do they make balloons?, animal crackers, ADP nearly nailed, bugs bunny, heart shaped land, baron von bludd

4 years ago - sleepy, meeting, a year at current gig, 5 senses, scarecrow, codecs, game-dancing, oh danny bot, land of many colors, rain and running newtie-pic

5 years ago - bidet poll, food, vamp game, first gig paid poorly, games on the website

6 years ago - talked to rob (we never got together), baron von bludd, strange black blobs

7 years ago - rainy, Owen Ng, broken drug war link, Thunderstorm, code red, lord humongous

8 years ago - Finished HP2, started hp3, foodies, moved to the 12-8 shift at IMT

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: that dang "I kissed a girl and I liked it" song... grr in my head

Hm... some more good reviews on the DC to NYC bus - I wonder how much cheaper it is than the speedy-train?

BHK talked to PG county's Sheriff's Internal Affairs about the car chase a little while back. I'll be interested to see what comes of it - I only wish I would've been home with her at the time.

Treat from BHK! Yum. Tastes great,
looks far too brown for human consumption.

Found out yesterday that someone I used to know very well is very deep in debt. I wonder what happened? I probably really don't want to know.

We haven't seen Louise for a month... I wonder where she's been?

Flying_blind has a better entry about the ljopoly board and a lot of the recent drama - than I would make, so here's a link.

I'm backing up my LJ pretty much once a week, just so I have a copy for when either inclination or necessity require me to put my stuff either on my own website, or transfer it to a different one. I suspect that neither will happen too soon, but it's probably going to take place eventually.

Cruel 2 B Kind is a game of benevolent assassination.

At the beginning of the game, you and a partner-in-crime are assigned a secret weapon. To onlookers, it will seem like a random act of kindness. But to a select group of other players, the seemingly benevolent gesture is a deadly maneuver that will bring them to their knees.

Some players will be slain by a serenade. Others will be killed by a compliment. You and your partner might be taken down by an innocent group cheer.

You will be given no information about your targets. No name, no photo, nothing but the guarantee that they will remain within the outdoor game boundaries during the designated playing time. Anyone you encounter could be your target. The only way to find out is to attack them with your secret weapon.

Watch out: The hunter is also the hunted. At the beginning of the game, you and your partner will also be assigned your own secret weakness. Other pairs of players have been given your secret weakness as their secret weapon, and they're coming to get you. Anything out of the ordinary you do to assassinate YOUR targets may reveal your own secret identity to the other players who want you dead.

1 year ago - finished pride & pred / monkey politics, Newt pic, kid rolling ajoint on the bus, solar powered sun bricks, firkin, 8500, flying model plane in miami, flight plans to maryland

2 years ago - deepest sender, jumping pictures, walkabout autostitch, mangrove tunnels

3 years ago - tmbg thoughts, sugar water vid, space issues, Rick James dead, Burpin' at Newt, Magical Trevor, cocktail demons, nifty charts, Newt Videos, CoH Pix

4 years ago - Zombies, Army Men, mean cannibal pudding, time travel spam, vampire game, celeb phone calls, cej chat, bro request

5 years ago - Earth and Beyond Playtest, Kev & Bailey, fat parrots, french fry girl palm doodle

6 years ago - harried, inculpate, plane lands just down the road on andrews as a makeshift runway and kits my regular bus, wondering about lj's image server (still not ready!), happy thoughts, magic can of soda

7 years ago - grumping, Space cowboys shows old man butts

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: Cruel to be kind - in my head

Neighborhood shakeup tonight at about 7pm - A minivan chasing another - apparently the second vehicle had 2-4 people inside with the side doors open and guns showing. The vehicle being chased was honking and swerving all over the place to avoid being shot.

BHK called 911, and the response time was *terrible*, and she was never questioned by the police for a report on the matter. I'll be investigating that situation more tomorrow after work.

I'm just glad that she's ok.

Random factoids and semi-specific things about people I know (or knew):

My brother is *really good* at shucking oysters. At least 4-5 times faster than me, or 2-ish times faster than anyone else I've ever met in the service industry.

My wife is a superb analyst, and can get to the core of a matter quite swiftly. She's going to be an awesome lawyer. (and dangerous gamer)

Steve Jacoby has some beautiful children, and has the makings for a pretty cool dad.

Tina keeps a lovely home... everything is crisp and neat, even with a pair of kitties, a bunch of birds, and living the software company lifestyle.

Bruce can make me misty with just a bowl of cheerios .

Ray has a very real skill at blending words and experience into story.

Kathleen has a great memory, to the point of us calling her queen index when we were gaming. If she doesn't have knowledge, she can find it fast.

Cyn has a fantastic skill at illustration, both on paper and skin.

Doug Wu has a near encyclopedic knowledge of comics from the silver age. Knows more than anyone else I've ever met.

Danny is a mill that grinds slowly, but exceedingly fine. He's a living example of "the devil is in the details."

Father-in-law is loved by everyone he meets. *Nobody*, and I mean *nobody* has anything sideways to say about him. That's amazing.. and due to him.

Mother-in-law is a superb cook. Some wicked good queso, for example.

Mother is a master multitasker. I've never seen her with too much on her plate.

Wilton is an excellent carpenter - can put all manner of stuff together with quality and speed.

Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "all night" and "Meteors!" Attach the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2007 Perseid meteor shower.

LONDON (Reuters) - Lawyers and judges are to break with centuries-old tradition and cease wearing horse-hair wigs of white fake curls in non-criminal cases, the head of the country's judiciary announced on Thursday.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, said new dress rules would mean the requirement for the wigs, which legal professionals have worn since the 17th century, would not be needed in civil or family court cases.

Wing collars and bands can also be dispensed with in such cases according to the reforms, while judges will need just one gown in future instead of a variety of colourful outfits currently required.
The wigs will still be worn in criminal courts.

"At present High Court judges have no less than five different sets of working dress, depending on the jurisdiction in which they are sitting and the season of the year," Phillips said in a statement.
"After widespread consultation it has been decided to simplify this."

A review carried out in 2003 found that more than two thirds of respondents wanted to eliminate the wigs in civil cases, although most said criminal court judges should still wear them.

Opponents of wigs thought they were anachronistic, as well as uncomfortable and expensive.

A shoulder-length ceremonial wig costs more than 1,500 pounds while the shorter ones worn by lawyers cost about 400 pounds each.

However, the idea of abolishing them has been met with disapproval from some lawyers who feel the wigs give them an air of authority as well as anonymity.

"While there will never be unanimity of view about court dress, the desirability of these changes has a broad measure of agreement," Phillips said.

1 year ago - venture bros good, lj ugly nav bar, bye bye black rhino, angel / shovel / burrito, simulated lost case-630am, Arvis book in comments!

2 years ago - Last Day w/Magda, invisi-bro, chrono-lifting, breakfast foods, zombies invade sca event, crab, autostitch bus, minor drama, commendation

3 years ago - KoL, Bollywood, Patriot Act, Felix the Cat

4 years ago - sleep troubles, Andromeda Strain, 4-legged man , system crash - modem drivers (Service pack 4 for win2k caused Norton trouble) , Stalin vs Hitler comic, newtcam pic, discovered title-tags, strickland a/c die-lemma

5 years ago - more swell chatties, Roanoke (including odd reply from Boughman), Dreams of Lake Conoy with zombie mist, sweet possum sugar, mother goose

6 years ago - Evil news, riposte, dream of the jungle, If I were... meme, time, sleepy, Dumbass Tenochtitlan Saucermen,chat, aura colors, personality disorder test, Louvre

7 years ago - Bad things with April, super power question

Current Mood: irritated at the slow five-oh
Current Location: 20714
Current Music: The shield theme in my head

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scott von berg

The Scotto Grotto

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Entries tagged with prince george's county

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8940 - Tuesday

8913 - Thursday