African-Americans Bloggers Recognized by Newspaper Journalist

Howard Witt recognizes African-American bloggers. Witts was surprised by the way many African-American bloggers got the word out about Shaquanda Cotton. The power of the African-American bloggers impact crosses all borders including beyond the borders of the United States.

Witt expresses his belief that Internet blogging is more powerful in getting out information about injustices that are occurring within these community. Witt is right. Many appointed leaders in some communities are stymied in effecting change among the status quo. It is when the citizens organize en mass that change occur. Governor Rick Perry, did not want millions of African-Americans showing up in a small town in Texas, called Paris. Bottom line.

Perhaps, the virtual civil right movement will be utilized to build protest movements in other ciites where injustices is melded out on a daily basis.

Note: African American Political Pundit posted about bloggers blogging about race a few days ago, read here.

OH say can You see..

Winter and March's wind has been rough on our red white and blue. The weather has been harsh on many of the old flags in the community,

I was surprised by the dirty ripped and torn flag flying in Southgate near Krogers.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the flag was to be without blemish. Can you name other places where you're seen some of the tattered-looking flags in our community?

...by the dawn's early light.

Governor Rick Perry and Shaquanda Cotton

Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribute writes:

The sentences of many of the 4,700 delinquent youths now being held in Texas' juvenile prisons might have been arbitrarily and unfairly extended by prison authorities and thousands could be freed in a matter of weeks as part of a sweeping overhaul of the scandal-plagued juvenile system, state officials say.

4,700 delinquent youths


Among this number, Shaquanda Cotton is included. Cotton refused to admit guilt to an incident where a complaint was filed against her. Cotton was given a seven year indeterminate sentence. Cotton would serve this sentence in a high risk juvenile correction facility.

Outrageous.

The Texan of the Year, Governor Rick Perry appointed a special master to investigate juvenile facilities in Texas.

Jay Kimbrough, a special master appointed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to investigate the system after allegations surfaced that some prison officials were coercing imprisoned youths for sex, said he would assemble a committee to review the sentence of every youth in the system.

This was good news for students like Shaquanda Cotton because the committee could make determination to release youths who were were being held in an arbitrary manner, including Shaquanda Cotton.

Among the leading candidates for early release is Shaquanda Cotton, a 14-year-old black girl from the small east Texas town of Paris, who was sent to prison for up to 7 years for shoving a hall monitor at her high school while other young white offenders convicted of more serious crimes received probation in the town's courts.

Arbitrary manner lifts the blame off of racialist practices in the two institutions, the schools and the courts and places it simply on administrative mishandling.

But if the teenager is released, Kimbrough noted, the decision will have nothing to do with whether she was the victim of racial discrimination in the schools and courtrooms of Paris, as civil rights groups have alleged. Instead, it will be based on whether she has been treated arbitrarily by prison officials since she has been incarcerated.

Texas' juvenile prison system, known as the Texas Youth Commission, was first rocked by scandal last month after revelations surfaced that two administrators at a youth prison in west Texas had allegedly coerced sex from inmates for years and that prison officials and local prosecutors chose not to pursue the cases.

The "if" requires silence. If Shaquanda Cotton is released, buried in the if is that protesters needs to tone it down on the issue of race. And Cotton and her mother are muted in the process, a form of coercion.

Civil rights advocates have long been concerned that Texas' system of indeterminate sentences for youths places too much discretion in the hands of prison authorities, who retain the power to hold or release youths at will. Now the sex scandal--and the concern that some victimized youths may have been threatened with longer detentions to keep them quiet--has prompted Kimbrough to examine the entire practice.

Nearly 90 percent of juveniles incarcerated inside Texas youth prisons were sent there on indeterminate sentences that could run as long as their 21st birthdays. But many of those inmates become eligible for release after serving only nine months, if prison authorities are satisfied that they have completed all the steps, or "phases," of an elaborate behavioral modification program.

"The system is wide open for abuse and corruption," said the ACLU's Harrell. "How difficult would it be for a 12-year-old kid to file a complaint on an assistant superintendent of a facility when that assistant superintendent is actually the one who is sexually abusing her and that same person gets to decide when she gets out? Basically the official gets to say, 'Comply and keep quiet or I'll keep you here until you're 21.' "

Sad. Shaquanda Cotton case should be a wake up call to every city to question and challenge the schools and the legal system unfettered discretionary sentencing practices. The harm in the rush to incarcerate falls unfairly on the shoulders of the young. Many of these youth may not have any legal representative in the process.

When doves cry, somebody needs to listen:

If kids have behaved violently, then those are the ones that may very well have a justification for their sentence extension," Harrell said. "But most of the cases I have heard about have to do with petty instances, like Shaquanda's contraband socks."

The "phases" system also contains a built-in Catch-22 for youths, like Shaquanda, whose legal appeals are still making their way through the courts. One of the first phases that must be satisfied is a requirement that youths admit their guilt--an admission that would instantly compromise their appeals.

Congressional Gold Medal for Fort Wayne Tuskegee Airman

The United States will honor the Tuskegee Airmen and Fort Wayne Harold L. Gaulden will be among those who will receive a Congressional Medal. William Douglas, of McClatchy Newspapers writes

[o]n March 29, the United States will honor the Tuskegee Airmen by awarding the group the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by Congress. About 300 airmen, out of the nearly 1,000 trained at Tuskegee, will attend the ceremony in the Capitol's rotunda.

It was less than three months ago that H.L Gaulden tried to explain the significant of the coin that was in his hand at a community Kwanzaa event held at Weisser Park Center. The coin was not the real thing, he shared. The design was being worked out, and that was the hold up. Gaulden was unsure when the medal would be ready, as he touched the replicate. The Tuskegee Airmen were collectively awarded the Congressional Gold Medal but Gaulden wanted folks to know that this time he and the rest were going to get the real thing. Not just the old funny looking coin he was holding in his hand.

The real thing must have seemed as elusive as the opportunity for Tuskegee airmen to fly planes in combat. But Gaulden knew it was going to happen. He just had to continue to wait.

Gaulden who was born and raised in Grambling, Louisiana served as a member of the 386 Fire and Rescue Squad, according to an article by Linda Oliver, during World War II.

In 1941, the all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron was activated in Illinois and became the core of what later became called the Tuskegee program. At the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the university founded by Booker T. Washington, trainees went through ground, tactical and flying training under the leadership of Benjamin O. Davis Jr., one of the few African-American soldiers at that time to have graduated from West Point

, according to the DC Traveler.

President Franklin Roosevelt, wife Eleanor Franklin was reported to have flown with the Tuskegee Airmen. The late Charles Anderson, the famed pilot was reported to have taken Mrs. Franklin on an hour long flight. Pilots were believed to be inferior pilots based on their skin color. The "Chief" as Anderson was known was reported to be the first African-American pilot to hold an air transport license, according to an article by Shelly Hatfield.

The Chief was one of those who earned their wings, as the Fighting 99th squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group. Anderson would become the chief flight instructor thus his nickname. Anderson will not be among the 300 men at the Capitol, he died April 13, 1996.

According to a Mcclatchy-tribune,

Democratic Rep. Charles B. Rangel of New York and Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan introduced identical bills in 2005 to give the airmen the congressional medal. The Senate bill passed in October 2005 and the House followed in February 2006. President Bush signed the bill into law in April.

Rangel introduced his bill because he knew about Tuskegee's legacy and personally knew former fliers like Brown. Levin's interest developed from Michigan's connection to the Tuskegee program. In its later years, some of Tuskegee's training shifted to Michigan's Selfridge and Oscoda fields. And former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young trained through the Tuskegee program as a navigator bombardier.

Gaulden will finally receive his bronze Congressional Medal. The gold medal will remain behind in Washington D.C. at the Smithsonian. But one thing for certain, Mr. Gaulden will tell those who want to hear all about it.

Fort Wayne Community Schools on Academic Watch

Fort Wayne Community Schools Superintendent Wendy Robinson presented the school board with the task at hand in improving students achievement. Ese Isiorho reports,

The district as a whole is on “academic watch” under Public Law 221. A report the Indiana State Board of Education released in August puts schools and districts in one of five categories, from best to worst: “exemplary,” “commendable,” “academic progress,” “academic watch” and “academic probation.”

The district also has failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and the percentage of students passing the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress test has been below the state average for the last 10 years.

This is not just a student problem. Parents will need to get involved to insure that everyone is doing what is needed for their students.




Fort Wayne Community Schools is scheduled to hold its annual Title I "Parents as Partners" spring conference from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., March 27 at Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1331 Gay St. More than 150 parents from the district's 11 Title I schools are expected to attend the event, according to Frost.

Bloggers Need to leave Paris Texas and Shaquanda Cotton alone

Phillip Hamilton of the Paris News is a little upset with bloggers. Hamilton is a little upset to the bloggers who stated that Shaquanda Cotton sentence was seven years. Hamilton wants these same bloggers to know Cotton is not in prison, but a dormitory-style facility. And last but not least, Hamilton wants these same bloggers to know that Cotton's case is about a criminal act and not about racism.

How come so many bloggers reached the same conclusion and Hamilton didn't?

The problem is that bloggers and talk-radio blabbers in the Metroplex and elsewhere have taken the spark the Chicago Tribune story started and fanned it into flames of outrage against our community. Now, other media are flocking to Paris to write about what one CNN producer told me last week is the "broader story" about how Shaquanda's case is affecting Paris.

Shaquanda's case isn't affecting Paris, but outside influences certainly are.

And that's what got bloggers blogging.

Drugs-Anna Nicole Smith

No surprise here. Overdose of medication. If you're worth as much money as was Anna Nicole Smith who was going to stop her from taking drugs? TMZ reports on Smith cause of death. Where does this leave Howey and the baby? Two overdoses under this watch? Do we really think he's the one to look out for the best interest of the child?

Fort Wayne-Allen County Consolidation Plan

Fort Wayne core base is shrinking. Fort Wayne has begun a comprehensive plan that places the majority of African-American families close to an environmental dump. Do you think Kenneth Eng was a ghost writer for our city. Please leave comments.

Brought to you by Kenneth Eng via Paula Mooney

New Jobs on the Internet and Generating Income Working from Home

John Chow says there is money to be made online. John Chow dot com is a blog that helps bloggers make money online. Chow is offering to link to your blog if you the blogger review his blog. Chow's site is so popular, I don't think I would be considered for a link until I reached 65 years of age. But, I just reviewed his blog. So let's see how long it will take for my blog to show up on John Chow's. Chow is about keywords ranking. One of the presenters on this post will discuss the importance of keywords.

But I'm not waiting on John Chow to reach out to me. So here's my March 26, 2007 carnival. This post is about new jobs on the Internet, generating income working part-time from home, and a prediction on what will be the future online jobs.

New Jobs on the Internet

Listen there are millions of bloggers online, and millions of these bloggers are competing for ad dollars. Blogging is not just about personal journals or diaries. Blogging can sometimes generate dollars. Some bloggers are making thousands of dollars a week, a month, or a year. Some earn hundreds of dollars a week, a month or a year. But many newbies like myself make mere pennies. I've made a total of $13.35 in the few months that I began my crusade to earn big buck while blogging. If posting alot gets you paid, I would be paid but it does not bring in the bacon. What brings in the bacon?

I am going to let folks who have been blogging longer than me provides some tips and answers. The Positivity Blog presents 5 lessons I have learned from John Chow posted at Personal Development with The Positivity Blog.

I have so much trouble with trackback links, create a link, that I have put them on my to do list. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out keywords to place in my posts. And I find out that there are even tricks to keywords. What exactly does keywords mean, is there a place to go to find a list of keywords. Will keywords help me get noticed in this space out there called blogosphere? Matt OConnor presents Why Keywords Are Your Friend posted at Adventures In Internet Marketing. Keywords is part of what drives John Chow's site.

There were some words that created a huge spike in my traffic. As a local blogger, huge for me would not measure at all on the well known sites. But, I was excited. My traffic was driven by two links and two issues. The links were Chittlin's and Chopsticks and Isis Kali. The first link to drive my post was Isis Kali 's blogger, Jeanette Ponder who was mentioned in an associated press news paper article for not making the ranking for the HotEnough website. Some in the blogosphere, question why Jeanette Ponder was not ranked higher.

The reason I got so many hits for Jeanette Ponder because the newspaper writer fails to list her blogsite. in the article.

The second link was Chittlin's and Chopsticks who wrote about Shaquanda Cotton, a young child sitting in prison. The sentencing of this young girl will shock your sensibilities. It is a must read. I was very fortunate in getting linked to these two bloggers at the right time. I want to take this moment and say thank you.

Traffic is important for generating income because if you don't have enough traffic you won't be considered for some advertising, such as pay per post. Praveen presents My Simple Trading System: How Much Money From PayPerPost posted at My Simple Trading System.

In the meantime, while I'm trying to drive my traffic. I am wondering, how do I get more clicks and value for my adsense ads. I get quite a few impressions but pennies! There must be a trick to this. I see the term optimizing alot when it comes to adsense. Optimization?

Lead Optimize presents Flower Shop Model posted at Gravity Unknown . Com. For me optimizing is a work in progress. I still believe I'm missing something more important when it comes to adsense. Vahid Chaychi presents AdSense Arbitrage Secrets Revealed ! posted at Weboma.com Personal Development with The Positivity Blog . The tip found in this posting was helpful and even a list of keywords.

And for those who are working out of your home, Vahid Chaychi presents The First Step to Start an Online Work at Home Business posted at Weboma.com. Other bloggers chimes in on Generating Income Working from Home

Sundance presents PayPerPost.com posted at Ideal Internet.
Steve Messall presents The Quest Begins posted at QuestForAMillion.net.


I am not a one subject blogger, and this may be a problem in generating income. From reading some of the high traffic bloggers, it appears they are focused on a topic or are considered experts on a topic. They write long and interesting posts on a topic and that's enough to drive their traffic. People keep coming back to these sites. I think that has to do with getting money too. I think you have to focus on working on ways to generate income. almomento presents How to Change Your Money Fate posted at BurstCreativity

Online marketing is directed at bloggers with lot of readers. These bloggers have created careers from their blog or blogs. There could be a future in blogging beyond personal journals, if you are an excellent storyteller, creative and have some technical skills. What will the future bring? Jobs Predictions in the Future Steve Faber presents Top Careers for the Next Five Years posted at Debt Free.


That concludes this edition of new jobs on the Internet and generating income working from home.

How Long? Not Long..Free Shaquanda Cotton

Mary Madewell reports that the Paris branch of the NAACP calls for a timely release of Shaquanda Cotton.

The Paris Branch of the NAACP called for a timely release of Shaquanda Cotton from the Texas Youth Commission after a four-hour executive committee meeting Saturday.

The group also asked that an emergency item be placed on Monday night’s Paris City Council agenda to consider naming a diversity task force.

The group also called for an expedited appeal of the Cotton case by the Texarkana Court of Appeals in motions approved unanimously by nine board members at Saturday’s meeting.

With the media attention, official in Paris are getting a little nervous. Judge Superville suggest that folks look at all the facts in another article by Madewell.

County Judge Chuck Superville says he fears for the community’s safety and is calling for the national media and other organizations to investigate the facts before drawing conclusions about the Shaquanda Cotton case.

.

I called Judge Superville's office and left a message. I found this statement to the media about the failure to release Shaquanda Cotton on bond insightful:

The March 2006 case is on appeal with the Texarkana Court of Appeals. The court conducted a 10-hour hearing in August 2006 to consider a request that Cotton be released on bond.

The judge said Cotton could have been released at that time but would not speculate why the appellate court did not grant the bond. The judge said he presented the facts of the case and that attorneys for both the prosecution and for Cotton presented arguments.

The real deal..they just did not give a care.

Another statement by Judge Superville:“That theme was repeated witness after witness—that the mother made it impossible to help Shaquanda,” Superville said. “She blamed everyone except the child for misbehavior.”

Weak as dirty dishwater, can we say foster care.

The spotlight of Cotton's case has illuminated some deep seated racial tension in Paris, Texas. Free Shaquanda Cotton and let the citizens work peacefully in making the necessary changes. Dallas South Blog, Shawn Williams has some interesting comments on his blog. Here's another blog.

The lecture circuit or Paul Helmke's job

What is Mayor Dick going to do after he leaves office? I've been asked the question so many times. I don't know ! But, I figure it's a question in need of an answer. First, I am going to speculate. Richard comes from a statistical quality orientation, and was a founder of the local TQM Network.

What is TQM Network?

The TQM Network is a program of the Northeast Indiana Business Assistance Corporation (NIBAC) a 501c3 non-profit organization. NIBAC, originally founded by Graham Richard, and a local group of like-minded professionals dedicated to grass roots economic development through assisting others to improve individually and organizationally in the areas of competitiveness, profitability and quality. Through Cheri Becker’s diligent leadership and an active board of directors, we began working toward their vision for Northeast Indiana to become known internationally for the quality of its products, services, people and work life.

Well where does the money come from?

To begin the journey toward achieving that vision, in the early 1990’s a group of area manufacturers and community representatives collaborated to receive grants to fund this vision. A total of $385,000 from the State of Indiana through the Strategic Development Fund Grant (SDF) was secured and matched with almost $425,000 of private local capital to seed the development of a highly innovative program called the TQM Network.

Where is this cutting edge business located?

Downtown..

The TQM Learning Center is located in the FourthWave Building (formerly NIPSCO), at the southeast corner of Main and Barr - across the street from the Performing Arts Center. Parking is immediately east of the building, with entry from eastbound Main or northbound Lafayette

.

Would that be the old Nipsco building where FourthWave is located?

You betache..

TQM Learning Center - Leadership & Learning Center
300 East Main Street, Suite 120
Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Does this have anything to do with the Lean six sigma implemented for city workers?

Oh yeah, the employees and city department served as guinea pigs.

Six sigma was the starting point for improvement in the city. The TQM Network provided bargain-priced training, and companies like ITT and Raytheon lent black-belt level employees to the city to work on improvement teams with city employees.

As a quest speaker, Scott Lasater, Director of the Lean Six Sigma Enterprise Institute will lead this session. For the last decade, Scott Lasater has been known around General Electric as 'The guy who taught Six Sigma to Jack Welch (CEO, GE)'. As Master Black Belt and Director of Global Lean Six Sigma Training, he has trained over 5,000 business leaders internationally. His primary focus has been developing and coaching GE customers as Black Belts and their senior executives in the deployment of Lean Six Sigma. In the last three years alone, his Black Belt students saved in excess of $450 Million for their own organizations.

What is Mayor Dick up to of late?

,,Mayor Richard will share the latest innovation he is forging, the new High Performance Government Alliance - a partnership with the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce and the TQM Network. Mayor Richard will describe how the City and other Indiana governmental entities will be using business and education partnerships and broadband technology to be globally competitive. This powerful alliance has the potential to save tax-payers millions and radically improve the quality of life in Indiana.

Who are some of the partners?

American Society of Quality
American Society of Quality, Section 0905
American Society for Training & Development
BAE Systems
Barnes & Thornburg
Barrett & McNagny
Briljent
Business Excellence Consortium – Milwaukee School of Engineering
Cavanaugh Consulting Group
City of Fort Wayne
CH2MHill
Concentra
Crystal Ball
EH Design & Consulting
Economic Growth Partnership
Fort Wayne Metals
Goal QPC
JMP
IFN Technologies
Indiana Data Center
Indiana Institute of Technology
Industrial Solutions Group
IPFW
Ivy Tech Community College
Minitab
National Serv-All
Northeast Indiana Innovation Center
OnCall PSN
Parkview Health
Raytheon
ReVision LLC
SAS Systems
Springboard Thinking Group
WCM Associates

Do you think their any conflict of interest?

Oh yeah big time.

Do you think the Harrison Square Park will generate business for TQM Network?

Now that's a question we should ask Mayor Dick. If you can't find him in city hall you know where to find him, just go right down the street to his 501(C)(3). And you have to pay a $100 to hear him speak.

What about Mayor Dick's book?

Performance is the best politics?

About workers doing their jobs, I don't know, but you can buy the book here. Can't say the same for the Mayor but at least he wants the little guy to earn his money.

And what about wiring the city?

Verizon needed to keep its customer, but here's Mayor Dick's take on it.

Jason Freier's interview with Journal-Gazette

Jason Freier Hardball Capital partner, answers five questions. Gives five interesting answers.

Hat tip to Downtown Fort Wayne Baseball.

Brain Drain- the lack of PHD Professors on the College Campus

The problem with the school system is spilling over onto the college scene. And why the problem impacts the economical grown of the State of Indiana. Karen Franciso of the Journal Gazette reports on what could be viewed as potential political intervention in Ivy Tech appointment of a new president. It appears that Ivy Tech has become a retirement home for elected official seeking second careers.

“You don’t have to be too politically sophisticated to see (Ivy Tech) has become a place where elected officials have been hired in droves,” said Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause/Indiana. “(The college) seems to have grown tremendously over a short period of time. I have to chuckle as I read the stories about the politics involved in the search. It seems rather inevitable that would be case.”

Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne is not Ivy Tech, but the IPFW University is filled with political appointments. The reason that is offered given is that the university is unable to attract PHD professors. These are educated scholars who are not seeking to make nice to incompetents influencing appointments. Unfortunate for those students who are paying top dollars to be educated by professors who had earned their doctorates in a specific field of expertise. Deferring the title of professor on present and former elected official does not give them credentials just legitimize the instructor for evaluating and teaching those students who believe such instructors are qualified to teach the class. Such instructor may be ill equipped to engage such students in the learning process and such a policy that promotes unqualified instructors can only contribute to Indiana mantra of suffering from Brain Drain . How can you teach what you have not been trained to teach?

A community college researcher suggests that Indiana will be at a disadvantage if it doesn’t develop a strong, politically autonomous system. “Community colleges are essential in any industrial-based economy moving to a knowledge-based economy,” said James Jacobs, associate director of the Community College Research Center at the Teachers College at Columbia University. “The states that are recognizing that are advancing faster than the states that aren’t.”

There are few well paying jobs for students leaving high school. Many decide to go on to college to get a degree to increase their chances later when searching for a job. However, many of these students are ill prepared for a four year degree and sit in remediation classes. The university is no longer a degree college to these students but a money making machine, siphoning off dollars from naive students and parents. Classes that are non credits but cost the same as credit classes. The university is able to collect funding from these students and the students may end up without a degree.

The competition for these students have caused many local colleges and university to seek money elsewhere by investing in real estate. These university are investing in building dormitories in hope of attracting students who would select a technical school over a university curriculum. All the major universities in Fort Wayne has build dormitories.

What might be unique about Indiana, however, is that community colleges elsewhere tend to fall to the bottom of the education funding food chain – after K-12 schools and higher ed. With its tremendous political clout, Ivy Tech has quietly become the favored party.

Many of these students have a better chance with taking online courses for free rather than attending college with professors who are politically appointee. The more these students began seeking online course for free from prestigious school the sooner the university will be required to hire qualified professors. Parenst should demand to seek the diplomas of all college professors before spending a dime.

Hat tip to Indiana Law blog.

Notes was unable to find who had PHD's from the IPFW website.

Regional Seminar-Building the Future with Vision and Action

Rev. James M. Burton Rev. James M. Burton will serve as the keynote speaker for the Building the Future with Vision and Action seminar. Rev. Burton is with the Greater Faith, M.B. Church located in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The seminar will take place in Chicago, IL. This seminar will be a two day workshop (April 13-14, 2007) at the Holy David Community Development Center. Address provided is Rainblow P.U.S.H> Coalition 930 East 50th Street, Chicago, IL.

The seminar will include several host and hostess: Chicago Television WGN-CW Channel 9 Director of Community Relations Merri Dee, Minister James Taylor,Jr. CEO of Just Talent INC., and Mikal Clay "The Hair Doctor". Mayor Rudy Clay of Gary Indiana will partly sponsor the seminar.

Get additional information about the seminar by clicking on the flyer.

United for a Change Gospel Hour

In the chair for the United for a Change Gospel Hour on WHNT 96.3 FM is the one and only radio pastor, Pastor. Fredrick Latham. Pastor Fredrick Latham
Pastor Latham will provide to the community, gospel music, spiritual messages and information about community events on WHNT 96.3FM . Pastor Latham's, locally produced, radio program will air on Sunday morning from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

And if anyone ask you who told you so, just tell them FAAIW said so.

Love me some Peanut Butter

Fort Wayne creative minds at work, wins a college scholarships. News-Sentinel reports,

Alexandra Yoder, 12, won a $25,000 college scholarship after taking first place in the “Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest.”

Let children be children and look what they can do! It has nothing to do with the school but their own creative juices.

The sixth-grader’s creamy concoction, self-titled Peanut Butter Rolls “Sushi Style,” bested nine other finalists in judging Thursday at the Culinary Loft in New York City’s SoHo area. Yoder, a sixth-grader at St. Vincent de Paul School in Fort Wayne, wrapped Jif peanut butter, granola, strawberries, bananas and strawberry cream cheese inside a crepe.

Hackers Dark side

There are folks who use computers who can not resist obtaining other folks data. This is a good article on how to collect data to use as evidence in a court of law. It is a crime..it's called cybercrime. This is for businesses, but good information for personal computer home users.

All Eyes on the Fort Wayne-Allen County Health Department

Amanda Iacone reports its more secrecy, when the FORT WAYNE-ALLEN COUNTY HEALTH Department would not release the name of a returning employee. It's called control in implementing discriminating practices among select personnel. It's definitely not about competency.

The investigation, which involved GPS tracking devices placed in vehicles, led to the resignation, firing or retiring of six employees and unpaid suspensions for two others.

The person more than likely was wrongfully terminated and was going to sue them big time.

Two other employees were suspended for “loafing on the job” and using work vehicles for non-work related purposes. The pretext was unauthorized use of a company vehicle.

Pruitt was among the six health inspectors the department threatened to fire because of the investigation. She said she retired instead.

She said the punishments were uneven and that the department’s policies were unevenly upheld. Those who were terminated were accused of the same violations as those who were suspended, Pruitt said.

Waldron said the disciplinary procedures were fairly and impartially applied in each situation.

“The actions that were taken were based on each individual’s situation and the egregiousness of the offenses,” Waldron said in a statement Friday.

From Michael Schroeder of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

At the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health, the recent in-house investigation led by Mindy Waldron relied on GPS equipment secretly hidden in cars to track workers’ movements. The investigation began after Waldron heard comments from the public that some of the department’s employees weren’t where they were supposed to be. The probe’s findings led to the firing or resignation of six workers. Two other workers were suspended without pay and the department late last week was taking steps to fire another worker.

Unlike the health department, most employers who use the technology do so in full view of their employees. That means they must sell employees on the technology that some construe as an electronic baby sitter by showing other aspects of its usefulness, including safety.

Can we say criminal action..read here,Folks.

Disclaimer here. More stuff that did not make sense here and here

Crime does pay

Just ask the former LaGrange County Department of Child Services bookkeeper who has to only serve six months on work release and on home detention. So who do we put in jail? And she only has to back $36,000 from using a state credit card.
Angela Mapes writes

But an audit by the State Board of Accounts released in August showed that between January 1995 and January 2006, Davisson bought at least $176,000 worth of documented, but improper, items and an additional $253,000 worth of purchases that were missing the required vouchers

.

Mother says Free Shaquanda Cotton