I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Former Detroit city mayor Kwame Kilpatrick headed to jail this morning to begin his 4-month jail term, after pleading guilty to two felonies in September, and no contest to another.
From the Detroit News’ September report:
As part of a deal to settle 10 felony charges against him, Kilpatrick will leave office and repay the city $1 million. He has pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and no contest to one charge he assaulted a law enforcement officer. He will give up his law license. He cannot run for office for five years. Kilpatrick will be sentenced Oct. 28 and report directly to jail, where he’ll stay for at least 100 days of his 120-day sentence. He’ll be behind bars over Christmas and will be released no sooner than Jan. 27, 2009.
Kwame’s new ‘home’
Because of his notoriety, Kilpatrick will be assigned a solitary cell in a second-floor unit that houses high-profile offenders — the same cell where he spent the night Aug. 7 for a bond violation, jail officials said.
Known as the “Capias Unit” — an apparent reference to an archaic word for “arrest” — it’s reserved for celebrated, usually short-term guests such as Dr. Jack Kevorkian and drug slinger “White Boy” Rick Wershe. The unit consists of two cells. Both are larger than standard cells and include a pay telephone, an 8-by-7-foot bathroom with a shower and a writing table.
But Kilpatrick’s cell, Room 14J-4, is no palace. The walls are stained. The shower pressure is weak. Three small, barred windows provide little light, but a drab view of the courthouse where Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felonies.
The mattress is lumpy. Meals are fed through a slot in the steel door.
But then again, the phone and extra space are not the only perks. If he brings his own TV, Kilpatrick can have cable television — if he leaves the tube behind after his 120-day sentence.
According to the Detroit News, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans said he’ll keep “fringe lunatics” away from the former mayor during his stay.
It’s unclear what Evans meant by fringe lunatics. Perhaps taxpayers angry over Kilpatrick’s jet-setting that led to the $286,000 credit card tab for the city of Detroit, or the $8.4 million whistle-blower lawsuit settlement that the city of Detroit’s taxpayers were stuck with? It could even mean people who are just angry over the $126.18 restaurant tab that he walked out on just last week at the Detroit Club, telling members as he walked out to “charge it to the city.” Or are they the folks still disgusted with the text-messaging scandal, that I’ll spare you by not linking to?
Gone but not to be forgotten
While Kilpatrick roughs it in his little roach-infested jail cell wearing that ugly green city-issued jump suit and watching cable TV, it’s doubtful that he’ll fade from memory anytime soon. Just last week, a new witness came forward in the murder of Tamara Greene. Greene was the exotic dancer found shot execution-style in her car and had been rumored to have performed for a party at the Manoogian mansion and been assaulted by the mayor’s wife, Carlita.
From the Detroit News, an update on that case:
A city paramedic alleged in an affidavit released Thursday that he saw an injured woman at Detroit Receiving Hospital in fall 2002 who claimed to have been assaulted by the wife of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
“She said that the mayor’s wife beat her…” said Cenobio Chapa, who has worked with the Detroit Fire Department since 1991. “That got my attention. … It was out of the ordinary. ”
The affidavit was given to Norman Yatooma, the attorney representing the family of slain dancer Tamara “Strawberry” Greene.
Sure, Kilpatrick denounced the wild party as just a rumor. But then, he said a lot of things, didn’t he?
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