After the last two days of serious topics and lots of writing, we thought we’d take a bit of a break and highlight something a little “lighter.”
This is the story of the U-1206, a World War II U-boat (submarine) that was lost due to toilet.
One of the last U-Boats produced by Germany in the Second World War had all the most advanced technology, including a new “high pressure toilet.”
Imagine having to explain that your boat was taken out of action and scuttled because of a toilet. Of course, it could be said that the design was a “crappy” one but we digress. (more…)
We wrote yesterday about the handling of the citizens’ concerns in Satellite Beach and how the City failed to uphold the law in many cases. In addition, we wrote how being disruptive in a meeting is not productive for a variety of reasons. In other words, so far while some hands are “dirtier” than others, no one has “clean hands” in this entire mess.
Today we want to look at some missteps made by the City, people and groups. We know that this list will not make some people happy, but we think that it is important.
One of the groups looking into the health issues called in Erin Brockovich. Brockovich came to fame from a book and a 2000 movie called “Erin Brockovich.”
Most people know the story of Brockovich and the town of Hinkley, CA from the movie. What many people don’t know is what happened that the movie didn’t show:
But an epidemiological study ultimately showed that the cancer rate was no greater than that of the general population. The rate was actually slightly less.
Hinkley, California, the town made famous in the Oscar-winning Julia Roberts movie Erin Brockovich, does not show any evidence of an increased rate of cancers.
Pacific Gas and Electric, which released a toxic plume of hexavalent chromium 6 from a Hinkley-based natural gas pipeline station, paid a record $333 million to settle a class-action suit in 1996. But the California Cancer Registry has now completed three studies that show cancer rates remained normal in from 1988 to 2008.
The Hinkley case should serve as a cautionary tale for those looking to involve Brockovich as the case seemed to be more about money for lawyers than alleged victims: (more…)
A short, brief update on something that came to light that we had forgotten about.
In the post below, we had embedded the YouTube video of the Satellite Beach City Council meeting of March 8, 2019. We embed a lot of videos and we cannot remember when we ever edited a video. We let the videos stand for themselves.
However, if you click onto the embedded video, you will get this message:
In essence, what has happened is that Satellite Beach wants people to watch the video from their YouTube Channel rather than on another site. Instead of letting people see what happened, they want to control the access to the video. (more…)
EDITOR’S NOTE: We aren’t sure where this post will go as far as being organized and a easy to follow discussion of what is going on in Satellite Beach. There are many issues which may fall under the umbrella of one topic, but to us the umbrella is much bigger than just the singular issue. We want to highlight that as well. In our opinion, no one in this whole mess has “clean hands.” People seem to be so concerned with making it known that the “other side(s) is wrong,” that they forget the simple idea that everyone should be working toward a common goal.
In case you have been living under a rock in Brevard County, there is a concern of “cancer clusters” in the area. Understandably, people are upset and scared and we feel for them in the lack of knowledge, lack of science, and most importantly a lack of direction and solutions.
People want answers and they want them yesterday. Unfortunately, that’s simply not possible.
We were forwarded a series of documents to look at concerning the issues. We want to let the pubic see the documents and problems they cause.
On March 8, a series of people made comments to the Satellite Beach City Council. Their comments start at the 00:08:00 mark in the video below with comments made by a resident concerning the issues we will discuss. The next speaker at 00:13:40 discusses an issue with parking at the library which City Manager Courtney Barker says she will address. After that, from 00:15:39 to 00:33:40 speakers return to address concerns raised by the first speaker.
All of the issues center around the City of Satellite Beach’s handling of the investigation into concerns of beachside citizens over alleged cancer clusters in the area.
THE (LACK OF) SUNSHINE MEETING:
We wrote about this September 17, 2018 meeting previously. (see here, here and here.)
More on this has come to light.
On Friday, September 14, 2018, Administrative Assistant Julie Finch wrote to Erin Brockovich associate Bob Bowcock saying the City would be providing lunch for the attendees to the meeting. Included in that list of attendees was Mayor Frank Catino, City Councilman Mark Brimer and City Councilwoman Mindy Gibson. Also included is a person by the name of “Kathy Marler,” who is described as a “Cancer Advocate and Parent of Cancer Survivor.” (More on Marler later.) Clearly this letter shows that the meeting was scheduled as one meeting (not three as the City later claimed.)
As we wrote after the meeting, the City initially made the workshop with the press, elected officials, City employees and a resident a meeting open and subject to the Sunshine Laws. (more…)
George Hollingsworth of Marion, Indiana thought someone had broken into his garage. On March 12, 2019 Hollingsworth reported to the police that the frame to his garage was damaged and he felt someone may have broken into building. Because the garage was a cluttered mess, the police didn’t find anything and Hollingsworth could not tell them if anything was missing.
On March 13th, Hollingsworth was cleaning the garage when he noticed something was wrong.
While cleaning, he discovered his 900-pound antique floor safe had been knocked over. That’s when Hollingsworth found a body underneath the safe.
“I came in and told my wife, ‘I think we’ve got a dead body out there.’ She thought I was kidding,” said Hollingsworth.
George’s wife quickly called 911. Amid the mess of the garage, the first officer on scene initially wasn’t sure the man was actually dead.
“The officer walked in and said, ‘Buddy. Hey buddy,'” said Hollingsworth. “I’m was thinking he’s dead. Come on now.” (more…)
Taylor, Michigan Police Officer Matthew Minard has just learned a hard lesson: no good deed goes unpunished.
In June, 2017 Officer Minard stopped Debra Cruise-Gulyas speeding.
He could have written her a speeding ticket that would have affected her insurance rates and all that, but instead wrote her a lesser ticket – a non-moving violation ticket thus giving the woman a break.
In response to his kindness, as Cruise-Gulyas drove off, she gave him a gift of her appreciation: she flipped him the bird. (And she wasn’t saying “you’re number one in my book, Officer!.”)
Outraged as any normal human being would be, Minard stopped the woman a second time less than 100 yards away and amended the ticket to reflect the original speeding charge.
Cruise-Gulyas sued Minard under §1983, alleging that he violated her constitutional rights by pulling her over a second time and changing the original ticket to a more serious violation. She claims he unreasonably seized her in violation of the Fourth (and Fourteenth) Amendment; retaliated against her because of her protected speech in violation of the First (and Fourteenth) Amendment; and restricted her liberty in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Minard claimed qualified immunity but a district court rejected that claim.
Minard appealed and the Sixth Circuit upheld the decision which means Cruise-Gulyas’ suit against Minard can go forward. (more…)
The problem is that the charges don’t seem to fit the incident.
107.4. Unlawful posting of criminal activity for notoriety and publicity
A. It shall be unlawful for a person who is either a principal or accessory to a crime to obtain an image of the commission of the crime using any camera, videotape, photo-optical, photo-electric, or any other image recording device and to transfer that image obtained during the commission of the crime by the use of a computer online service, Internet service, or any other means of electronic communication, including but not limited to a local bulletin board service, Internet chat room, electronic mail, or online messaging service for the purpose of gaining notoriety, publicity, or the attention of the public. (emphasis ours)
It’s Friday and we don’t feel like doing a daggone thing.
This video on outtakes from the making of a commercial for “White Bear Mitsubishi” has had us in stitches for several days.
The poor guy in the bear suit cannot catch a break, which makes it all the more hysterical.
How many takes to have a White Bear not slip on the ice during a commercial shoot? Let us count the times!! Enjoy the outtakes from our latest commercial shoot showing our venerable mascot doing its best to stay upright!
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!
