A former judge convicted of exposing himself while presiding over jury trials by using a sexual device under his robe was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.
Donald Thompson had spent almost 23 years on the bench and had served as a state legislator before retiring from the court in 2004. He showed no reaction when he was sentenced.
At his trial this summer, his former court reporter, Lisa Foster, testified that she saw Thompson expose himself at least 15 times during trial between 2001 and 2003. Prosecutors said he also used a device known as a penis pump during at least four trials in the same period.
Thompson, 59, was convicted last month of four felony courts of indecent exposure for incidents that took place in his Creek County courtroom.
Thompson, a married father of three grown children, testified that the penis pump was given to him as a joke by a longtime hunting and fishing buddy.
"It wasn't something I was hiding," he said.
He said he may have absentmindedly squeezed the pump's handle during court cases but never used it to masturbate.
Foster told authorities that she saw Thompson use the device almost daily during the August 2003 murder trial of a man accused of shaking a toddler to death. A whooshing sound could be heard on Foster's audiotape of the trial. When jurors asked the judge about the sound, Thompson said he hadn't heard it but would listen for it.
Police built a case against the judge after a police officer testifying in a 2003 murder trial saw a piece of plastic tubing disappear under Thompson's robe. During a lunch break, officers took photographs of the pump under the desk.
Investigators later checked the carpet, Thompson's robes and the chair behind the bench and found semen, according to court records.
Carmelia Brossett, a senior probation officer for the state Department of Corrections, said in a presentencing report that Thompson refused to undergo psychosexual testing.
"Thompson's denial of the offense would likely present difficulty, if not inability for treatment providers to provide meaningful and beneficial sex-offender treatment," she said.
The jury recommended a sentence of one year in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count. The jury foreman has said it was the jury's intent that Thompson serve the full sentence.
Judge C. Allen McCall denied a defense motion asking that Thompson be allowed to remain free pending an appeal. Thompson was also ordered to pay a $40,000 fine.
LOS ANGELES - A New Mexico woman is suing 20th Century Fox Film Corporation alleging she was defrauded out of $4.4 million she was entitled to receive for the popular 1960s "Batman" television series. "Meanwhile, back at stately Wayne Manor..."
Deborah Dozier Potter, whose father William Dozier was one of the producers of the show, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Superior Court that alleges fraud, concealment and breach of contract. "Quick, Robin - to the bat-fax!!"
She is an heir to her father's estate and holds a portion of the assets of Greenway Productions Inc. which produced the series four decades ago that Fox distributed, according to the lawsuit. Both companies, Greenway and Fox, signed a contract in the 1960s, the lawsuit said. Another contract was also signed between Fox and ABC, the station which televised the show. In March 2005, Potter came across the agreement between Fox and ABC and discovered she was entitled to 26 percent of the net profits from that agreement as well.
"I wish it could have been avoided," I wish I could see just one more picture of Julie Newmar as Catwoman again
Potter said from her home in Santa Fe. "Nobody likes litigation." "Master Bruce, there's a gentleman here with a summons for you."
"Lead him over the Bat-trapdoor, Alfred."
Fox does not comment on pending litigation, said Chris Alexander, vice president of 20th Century Fox Television. "Please speak to our law firm - Nigma, Cobblepot, and Tetch."
It's probably small comfort to her, but IIRC none of the stars of the original series got much out of it past their initial paychecks - after the original craze died out, nobody figured the damned thing would have the popularity it's had in syndication all these years.
KUWAIT CITY: Police have arrested an Egyptian man for begging for alms in front of an unidentified mosque, reports Al-Anba daily. The 43-year-old beggar pretended to be dumb to gain the sympathy of people, however when police beat him up, he retained his voice and begged police not to beat him.
Chicago cops have known this trick for years.
A police source said the man has been staying in the country illegally for the past two years. However, the Al-Watan said the man was carrying a forged civil ID in the name of a Kuwaiti man.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2006 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW (AP) - Russian divers have spotted the wreckage of a legendary U.S. submarine that was lost in the Pacific in 1943, a Russian news agency reported Thursday. The ITAR-Tass news agency said that a diving team from the Far Eastern State Technological University in Vladivostok found the USS Wahoo in the La Perouse Strait and took pictures of it during a recent expedition. It didn't give further details.
Under the command of Dudley "Mush" Morton, the Wahoo became one of the most famous U.S. submarines of World War II. With 19 Japanese ships sunk, Morton was ranked as one of the war's top three sub skippers.
The Wahoo was sunk by the Japanese navy as it returned from its seventh patrol on Oct. 11, 1943. All 79 crewmen died.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Dick O'Kane wrote a book about his times on Wahoo.
#2
Yep... he had a house just a block away from my parents. My dad painted his house....and wouldn't accept payment but was more thrilled to get an autographed copy of the book. O'Kane wrote a couple if I recall.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/18/2006 3:10 Comments ||
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#3
I though it was sunk by one of it's own rogue torpedo(?)during an attack on Japanese shippings on the surface. All US torpedoes being designed to circle back 180 degree after a set range those days.
#4
The first 18 months (or so) of the war the US torpedoes ran deep, and often failed to explode, but the USN Ordnance Department refused to believe it; it was all the sub captain's fault. Einstein even posited a theory for the failure to explode, but he was ignored, too.
But I never heard about circling back. What's the point (or sense) of that? So you can retreive it, and try again?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2006 6:41 Comments ||
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#5
Captain O'Kane's boat Tang was sunk by a circular run of one of her own torpedoes. Wahoo was sunk by Japanese ASW.
There's a very good book by one of Wahoo's radiomen, Forest J. Sterling, called Wake of the Wahoo.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/18/2006 7:08 Comments ||
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#6
You sure Duh!? WW2 torpedoes could circle back to the launcher when a steering fin stuck or a gyro failed. Modern torpedoes can be programmed to circle back and reaquire a target.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2006 7:48 Comments ||
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The Wahoo was NOT sunk by one of its own torpedos. It was sunk trying to exit the Sea of Japan. This website has a set of translated Japanese naval documents, including maps, photos and drawings, to illustrate what happened.
The Wahoo tried to slip past the Sooya Strait (between Hokkaido and the Soviet Union) in daylight under good weather conditions. This was a choke point and the Japanese were prepared. They used aircraft and several ships to pin the Wahoo down and eventually got her with aerial bombs and depth charges.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2006 10:55 Comments ||
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#11
You are correct, Mike, the Tang was sunk by one of it's own torpedoes. The Wahoo was sunk by the Japanes Navy. I have a copy of Commander Kane's book. He was on the bridge at the time the torpedo malfunctioned and was captured. His treatment at the hands of the Japanese was typical of all Allied prisoners.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/18/2006 10:56 Comments ||
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#12
Giants among men.
Gort? If they be giants then how did they fit in that itty-bitty sardine can? Must of been some of that tech transfer from Gallifrey. {snort!}
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
08/18/2006 10:56 Comments ||
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#13
If they be giants then how did they fit in that itty-bitty sardine can?
I don't know, but they do. We used to have a kid working here as a messenger who served on a 688-boat in the Navy. He was 6' 9" or so tall.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/18/2006 11:21 Comments ||
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#15
An excellent article on the initial torpedo frustrations of American submariners here
Posted by: Dar ||
08/18/2006 12:33 Comments ||
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a shorter version, prepared by your poster, as a lesson in quality:
QUALITY MINUTE
July 15, 2002
From a History Channel Program viewed July 11, 2002
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy submarines carried the Mark 14 torpedo manufactured since 1923. In the sixteen years of manufacture, the torpedo had been tested exactly twice. It worked properly 50% of the time. Further tests were not conducted because torpedoes were virtually handmade, at a cost of $10,000 each. Quality assurance was deemed to be too expensive.
Early in the war, sub captains complained the torpedoes ran deep, and failed to explode. They were ignored, and then blamed for their poor tactics. Finally, an Admiral conducted tests and found the torpedoes ran an average of eleven feet deeper than their setting. The Mark 14 torpedo was usually going under its targets. The Admiral was ignored, until he ran the same quality assurance test again, with the same results. Finally, the Navy investigated and agreed to fix the depth problem.
More hits were reported, but many torpedoes still failed to explode. Albert Einstein was consulted, and then ignored. Finally, in early 1943 a sub fired four torpedoes at a huge tanker from close range (1,000 yards). Some were heard to strike, but all failed to explode. Two more were fired from the stern tubes, and one finally exploded. Over the next three hours, the sub conducted a quality test by firing twelve more torpedoes, all of which failed to explode. Finally, the Navy investigated and discovered an exploder component was being crushed by impact. (Einstein had suggested failures were related to crushing).It was strengthened, and the problems were finally resolved in October, 1943.
Ultimately, the submarine was a major factor in the war in the Pacific, but no one knows the cost of the lack of quality torpedoes for the 22 months after Pearl Harbor. Merchant ships were hit, but not sunk. U.S. subs were sunk because they failed to damage an attacker, or risked detection trying to fire additional torpedoes, hoping to get one to explode. Navy morale was also adversely affected.
Finally, Westinghouse designed, developed, and tested a new electric torpedo in just 17 months, without the Navy Ordnance Departments help or inertia. In the wartime environment, quality was finally prioritized ahead of cost. The new Mark 18 was immediately found to be quite effective, and was much more stealthy than the earlier steam torpedoes.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/18/2006 19:25 Comments ||
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#17
crap - how many lives did that cost?
Posted by: Walter Duranty ||
08/18/2006 20:38 Comments ||
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#18
oops
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2006 20:39 Comments ||
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Kangaroo meat is pretty popular here in Perth. My local supermarket stocks it. I don't eat it on a regular basis, but have in the past and it has nice robust flavour. I've never heard of anyone farming Roos. The fencing costs would be prohibitive, so I assume the meat is from wild animals.
And if you ever come across it, Emu is highly recommended.
#1
I spent 3 months in Perth in the 'seventies. I don't remember 'Roo meat. I do remember seeing a shark fin between me and the Freemantle shoreline, once.
#3
When Niles visited me in Australia, he had kangaroo twice. Once was in a stew. One time he said it was nice and tender, the other time it was too chewy. There was a Mexican restaurant near my apartment that served kangaroo fajitas. I never tried them (their other food wasn't that great).
PARIS - Pariss mayor on Thursday condemned a Teheran exhibition of cartoons on the Holocaust, saying the display mocked the Nazi killing of 6 million Jews. Bertrand Delanoe said he was appalled by the display of more than 200 entries from Irans International Holocaust Cartoons Contest, which organisers say aims to challenge Western taboos about discussing the mass killings of European Jews.
Delanoe condemned the exhibition in a letter to Irans ambassador, saying the event intended to mock the tragedy of the Shoah and to trivialise a new anti-Semitic bid under the false pretext of art and freedom of speech. At a time when violence and war should lead everyone towards a willingness for dialogue, appeasement and tolerance, such a step serves, on the contrary, motivations dominated by hatred, the Socialist mayor said.
Delanoe called on Iran to let the paths of reason and respect of others prevail.
Oh that'll work just fine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Careful, Bertrand. You might set off muslim seething and rioting in the streets again!
#2
At a time when violence and war should lead everyone towards a willingness for dialogue, appeasement and tolerance, such a step serves, on the contrary, motivations dominated by hatred,
It's hard blaming the Muzzies for thinking their time (for world domination) has come.
#4
Leftist alert !
This is a typical leftist mindset: At a time when violence and war should lead everyone towards a willingness for dialogue, appeasement and tolerance
Ladies and gentlemen, believe me, this is the key on how to overcome the leftist opposition to our war against radical Islam. Attack and kick the shit outta them until they appease us. Until they tolerate us and create dialogue which excuses our violent actions against them and bloody Islam.
While we're at it, we can make the lefties carry water and serve food. Oh, yeah, and say 'sir' at the beginning and end of every statement.
#5
Delanoe is a pure bobo (bohemian bourgeois) leftist who runs the capital with the green (watermelons), he is NOT a frenchie with stones, unless you consider making mummia an honorary citizen of honor of Paris having stones... Think red ken, only gay and openly playing the gay lobby card, and probably more Sophisticated and Nuanced, metrosexual-style. über-tranzi.
Probably one of the french pols I despise the most, along with shiraq and jack lang.
Btw, one funny if rather un-pc nickname he has is "la percée de l'islam", or "la trouée de l'islam", in regard to the occasion when he was stabbed by a muslim psycho who hated homosexuality. This translates either as "the great advance of islam on the battlefield" (basically), or "the woman stabbed by islam". "Nôtre dame de Paris" is a more conventional one, no need to translate.
Anti-war demonstrator Cindy Sheehan will join Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson in protesting President Bush's visit to Utah later this month when he addresses the American Legion's national convention. Sheehan will give a speech during a protest at City Hall, said her spokeswoman, Tiffany Burns.
I think it's very odd that anybody who's served in our military and who values our freedoms would not want the host city mayor to provide welcoming remarks...
Anderson, who protested during Bush's speech to a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention here last year, said he expects at least 5,000 dipsy doodles people to march the three blocks to the Federal Building as part of the protest. "We expect huge numbers of people to turn out for this. I think that it's a personal and moral obligation for everybody, especially in any leadership capacity, to stand up and speak out when we see things going so horribly wrong in our country," Anderson said.
The Federal Building is two blocks east of the American Legion convention site. Anderson had been invited to attend the American Legion convention but not to address it as he did during the 2005 VFW convention. "I think it's very odd that anybody who's served in our military and who values our freedoms would not want the host city mayor to provide welcoming remarks implicitly because that mayor disagrees with our nation's political leadership," he said.
Lemme 'splain it to you, Rocky: The Legion and the VFW are both patriotic organizations. They probably don't really want to be addressed by someone who's not patriotic, which is why they didn't ask you to speak, nor did they ask Cindy to speak. Theatrical grief is not the same as patriotism. Nor is trying to harrass George Bush and the people who want to hear what he has to say. And there's always the danger that Mother Sheehan will bare her tits.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/18/2006 00:00 ||
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Can't got there, Sheehan. Your smoothie will melt.
#9
How many hits has her website got today? 8? I love her dillusions of grandeur. Poor Casey, he's got to be turning in his grave and muttering; "mom, would you please just shut the hell up and go home, the rest of the vets up here in heaven are busting my chops something awful. To make matters worse the arch-angels give me the old wink-wink nod and you even got Jesus scratching his head."
#10
And there's always the danger that Mother Sheehan will bare her tits.
That can be on the Defender-Scimitar, April 1 edition.
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2006 13:34 Comments ||
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#11
they'll be hanging down to Pg 2, I bet
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/18/2006 13:45 Comments ||
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#12
I am constantly astounded at how this woman gets the funds to jet all over the place. Soros and Co. must really be spending a lot of dough on this broad.
Does anyone know what she used to do job-wise before all this?
Posted by: Dar ||
08/18/2006 14:08 Comments ||
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#13
How's that Texas thing doing, you anorexic wannabe? Don't hear much about it on the news these days. It's almost like...nobody cares.
Edited for brevity.
There was no distress call, no indication of enemy depth charges exploding or bulkheads breached, just a dead silence that stretched from a few days into 60 years. The USS Grunion disappeared in July 1942, leaving 70 American families grieving and the three sons of skipper Mannert L. "Jim" Abele without a father. Abele's boys -- who were 5, 9 and 12 and lived in Newton, Mass., when their father disappeared -- grew up and built their own lives. But they dwelt on the fate of their father.
At 2 a.m. Wednesday, a grainy sonar picture e-mailed via satellite appeared in Bruce Abele's in-box, appearing to show what they had searched for for much of their adult lives: the outline of an oblong object believed to be the Grunion deep in frigid Alaskan waters. Full story at link.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/18/2006 12:19 ||
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#1
Excellent. Rest in peace, Grunion.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/18/2006 13:02 Comments ||
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Um... I meant to say *64* years on patrol.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/18/2006 13:08 Comments ||
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What is with these newfound boats? First the Wahoo and now the Grunion. Are we/russia stepping up patrols or did the Navy/CG get a bonus in their budget for looking for these things? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they found it. Just suspicious of the timing's all.
Posted by: BA ||
08/18/2006 13:24 Comments ||
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#4
Well, here's your in this case...
For years, the sons -- Bruce, Brad and John, who is the founder of Boston Scientific Corp. -- have pored over Navy documents and any shipping records of the area they could locate, and contacted others interested in the Grunion's fate. John Abele, a billionaire, has paid for much of the search.
#6
Perhaps not in the Wahoo case, but it seems that with many other ships and subs it's the ages of both the family members and the technology. In other words, the children of the crews may have gone on to have successful careers and are now at the point, 60+ years later, where they have the money and the time to investigate. And, of course, ever since improvements in technology allowed Ballard to find the Titanic, there have been more improvements and more discoveries.
From this article, it sounds like the Navy has no interest in funding these trips unless they have immediate value. The Navy did help fund Ballard's original Titanic expedition because they tasked him to check on the Thresher and Scorpion.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/18/2006 14:00 Comments ||
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No matter how young or old, they wanna know - RIP USS GRUNION. * On a separate, personal note, I've always been surprised how many of the pre-war S-class subs were still in combat action post-Pearl Harbor despite the advent of the BALAO/GATO-etal. classes.
Fishermen love to tell tales - some that push the bounds of credibility. But the story that three Mexican fishermen discovered drifting in the Pacific told their rescuers was remarkable even by those standards.
After having engine problems soon after they left their home port, it seems the men were steadily pushed west across the ocean and were lost for 11 months. They apparently survived on a diet of rainwater, raw fish and seabirds. "We fished, and we ate the fish raw ... because there was no fire to cook with," Jesus Vidana, 27, told Mexico's Televisa news network.
Speaking through the communications system of the tuna trawler which found them, he added: "We never lost hope because there is a God up there. Our feet are swollen, our arms are swollen, but we're not in that bad a shape."
The fisherman left San Blas, 400 miles from Mexico City, on 9 October last year. They were found close to the Marshall Islands, 5,500 miles to the west.
Eugene Muller, of Koo's Fishing Co, which owns the Taiwanese-crewed fishing vessel that found the men on 9 August, said the men were now being returned to Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands. He said it would probably take 10 to 14 days to transport them.
Speaking from the Marshall Islands, Mr Muller told the Associated Press: "Their two motors had been dismantled, and it seemed they were trying to swap parts to get one working.
"[Our fishing vessel's captain said] they were very skinny and they were very hungry. The first thing we did, we gave them something to eat and they chowed down."
Reports said that two other crew members had jumped overboard and presumably perished soon after they encountered engine problems.
The survivors said they read the Bible as their 27ft fibreglass boat drifted. At least once they had to endure more than two weeks without food but there was drinking water because it rained every day. "Sometimes our stomachs would hurt, because we would go up to 15 days without eating," said Mr Vidana. "There were times when we had only one bird to share among the three of us."
Another survivor, Salvador Ordonez, said the ship had flashlights and a compass but no radio. "I knew I was going to live, that I wasn't going to die," he said.
The third fisherman, Lucio Rendon, said: "We didn't see any ships for months. [Now] we're recovering, sleeping a lot, and eating well."
There was no confirmation of the men's story and obtaining further details has been hampered by language difficulties between the Mexicans and the crew of the tuna vessel.
Reports said some relatives in San Blas and nearby villages had started saying prayers designed to help the dead find their way to heaven. Saul Ordonez, a cousin of two of the men, from the hamlet of El Limon, told The Los Angeles Times: "I'm trembling all over and I think I'm going to have a heart attack. They went fishing and they never came back. We thought they were dead."
Officials from the Marshall Islands government have contacted Mexico's embassy in New Zealand to arrange for the return of the fishermen.
#2
Another good sea survival tale is "Adrift" by Steven Callahan, which details his 76 days on a life raft crossing the Atlantic. All of these stories are amazing...
Posted by: ed ||
08/18/2006 7:11 Comments ||
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#2
I allways say "muslims should wear horse blinkers" that way they can avoid being offended by the sight of foxy ladies and thus prevent themselves from losing their miniscule self-control.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian divers have spotted the wreckage of a legendary U.S. submarine that was lost in the Pacific in 1943, a Russian news agency reported Thursday. The ITAR-Tass news agency said that a diving team from the Far Eastern State Technological University in Vladivostok found the USS Wahoo in the La Perouse Strait and took pictures of it during a recent expedition. It didn't give further details.
Anti-war demonstrator 
