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Automated Officers: Red Light Cameras

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Have you ever seen those signs on the road that say "Red Light Photo Enforced?" Unlike the speeding camera photo enforcement I've seen, this one delivers on its' promises. Some of you may have encountered these pesky devices. When you or someone nearby approaches a red light too fast a noticeably bright flash will be apparent at night. This was one or multiple cameras taking a digital photo of your license plate, and in some cases, a quick video of the violation. Someone just got a ticket for running a red light. Looking up nearby locations, I found 4 red light cameras in Waterloo and these pesky things are becoming more common. As these devices are working 24/7 on either busy or dangerous intersections, there very few methods of getting around them. These methods decrease as your destination has fewer possible routes you can take and the installation of more of these cameras.

Since there is no officer to actually give you a moving violation, which goes on your record and affects your insurance rate, a photo enforced citation comes simply with a fine (ranging anywhere from $75 to $300). Does this actually remove dangerous drivers from the road? No, but they will have a financial impact.

To share a personal story, my hometown back in Illinois had none of these red light cameras. With less than one week from returning from my Afghanistan deployment, I encountered one of these on a road I take often around 1:15 AM that night. I was about to make a right hand turn, slowing down to observe oncoming traffic, when I saw a bright flash of light all around me. I was still a little shaken from my deployment, so I did the first thing that training has taught me... Drive out of the kill zone. I thought I was being mortared. About a month later, i got a fine of $100 with the video and photos to "prove" I ran a red-light right turn. There was a means to schedule a court date to refute charges, but if I lost, I would have to pay an additional $100. In the video they took, you could see my brake lights on, slowing to the turn, the camera flashes, and my car literally burning rubber to get out of there. I decided just to pay the fine. I find out that not only my neighborhood had these installed at almost every light, but a few other neighborhoods did the same thing. Half my unit received these fines within the first few weeks of being back. Almost everyone that tried to fight it, lost, and had to pay the court fee as well as their fine.

As many others in my town feel psychologically, these police ran cameras show how our cops aren't there to "Serve and Protect." They're just another form of tax collector not even willing to fine us themselves.

 

Disneyland - The Greatest Place on Earth?

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This topic is strangely hard to research. There are many individuals in the United States as well as others that believe the Disney Corporation is one of the most evil corporations in the world. Why? That is the hard part to research. Whether we talk about their media branch (Disney Channel, Disney Records, or Walt Disney Studios), their theme parks, or their toy lines, Disney has the best lawyers to represent the "good" of the company. There are many rumors which are difficult to prove or disprove. Here's some for you to judge. The main focus will be the theme parks in this discussion, as that is the primary interaction between the people and the corporation. At this link, incidents are listed based on the attraction. As Disney owns a known 40 square mile tract of land and more land in their reserves within Florida, they have their own internal security force, prison, EMT's, fire fighters, utilities, and so fourth. When an incident occurs in Disneyland, the first responders (IE, their security) categorize each incident into 4 distinct categories: 1) Guest Negligence via non-compliance, 2) Guest's negligence of their own health, 3) Act of God (Nobody's Fault), 4) Negligence on the park's behalf.

Here's the questions that aren't easy to find. How many lawsuits are filed against Disney's Theme Park branch per year? How many of those are losses in Disney's books? Should Disney's first responders be pay-rolled by Disney itself or government funded employees mandated by the state?

Granted, millions travel through Disney Theme Parks every year and come back with good experiences (other than long lines and overpriced goods). However, how safe are we to know that even the emergency staff will side with Disney if something was to happen? This brings me more fear than the tower of terror does.

When doing my "day in the life" essay I found out just what it takes to be a court reporter. I found it extremely interesting that in order to be a court reporter you had to be able to pass a test in which you need to type 225 per minute as well as have 97% accuarcy. I tried my hand at this at

http://www.typingtest.com/

This will tell you how fast you can type as well as your accuracy to give a score. (If you don't score 225 wpm don't let this crush your dreams people who still pick at the keys. Yeah, you know who you are.)

When interviewing my cousin I couldn't help but wonder if this job will be in high demand over the next couple of years. I wondered if technology could possibly take over the need for a person to be typing. However, this article would give much different information. It explains that court reporters are indeed the "guardians of the record".

http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2009/12/28/court-reporter.html

The U.S. news states that this is actually one of the 50 best careers of 2010. I found this article to be extremely informative. I also found out that on average a court reporter makes almost $50,000 a year. This field is also predicted to grow more than 18 percent between 2008 and 2018. I would say that looking into this career would be a definite option and looks like the future is promising for this job as well.  

Mark Becker's plea of insanity

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Most of us have heard about the devastations that the community of Aplington-Parkersburg has gone through in the last few years. The first devastation that the community went through was the tornado that went through Parkersburg and destroyed many houses. The Community rebuilt and didn't let the horrific experience dampen there community pride. One of the main advocates for rebuilding the Community was the long time Football Coach Ed Thomas. Ed was seen as a key supporter in the community and everyone knew who he was and what he has done to better the community.  The second devastation that happened was on June 24th of 2009 when Coach Ed Thomas was shot by Mark Becker. Becker has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Both the prosecution and defense do agree that Becker has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, so his mental state is playing a huge factor in whether he will be convicted or not for the murder.  Living in Cedar Falls for most of my life and having friends who went to Aplington-Parkersburg it hit close to home to me. I remember something on the news about how the previous day Becker had been detained by Cedar Falls police for breaking and entering a house in Cedar Falls. He was taken to Allen Hospital and was suppose to stay for a 48hr psych evaluation. However something went wrong and he was released that day. Which led to the next day's proceedings to Occur.  One question that comes to mind to me is, is our legal system at fault as well because the procedure wasn't followed through. Also some say that he didn't know what he was doing but I wouldn't think you would be able to put bullets in a gun and drive to the school and shoot your former coach. I think this is a very big controversy in the Cedar Valley. Below is just one of the latest articles about the case.

"Jury Deliberating Becker's case"

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/highschool/news/story?id=4941821

Animal Abuse Laws Enforced

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http://www.wcfcourier.com/news/politics/article_51982555-5faa-540a-9608-b61fee165caf.html

This is an article from the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. In March of 2009 there was a law passed that allowed families to ask for protection not only themselves from their abusers but also for the family pets.  The threat of a family pet being harmed is seen as an issue in abuse case. I personally wouldn't want any of my animals harmed so i think its only human nature that we want to protect of animals from abuse.

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