More On The Teen Inmate Suicide

Inmates under suicide watch at the Harrison County jail are not allowed to have a bed sheet, which raises the question of how a 17-year-old was found hanged with a bed sheet Christmas Eve.

“That’s a big question in the investigation,” said Sheriff Melvin Brisolara. “We may have some answers by Monday.”

A multi-agency investigation continues as the family of James Mack Allen prepares for his funeral services today. The funeral begins at 12:30 p.m. at Riemann Family Funeral Home on Three Rivers Road in Gulfport. Visitation begins at 11:30 a.m.

Allen was booked at the jail Dec. 23 on an auto-burglary charge and was placed on suicide watch after he tried to take his own life, the sheriff said. Allen was housed alone in a room with large panels of windows, next to the jail control tower. The next night he was found hanged in a private bathroom area.

Inmates deemed to be suicidal are given “a suicide gown, a suicide blanket and flip-flops,” Brisolara said.

So the question is:  Where did the sheet come from?

There is yet another mystery

Another aspect that remains unclear is how the teen managed to write a suicide note.

“The note was found on the floor,” Brisolara said. “No writing table or pen or anything else were in the cell so we don’t know when he wrote it.

The sheriff said inmates under a suicide watch typically are checked every 15 to 20 minutes. About 17 minutes lapsed between the rounds to check on Allen at 4:46 p.m. and 5:08 p.m., when he was found hanged Dec. 24.

It also remains unclear why the teen was not in a standard isolation room or near the jail’s medical center.

More questions than answers.

University To Get A New Name

So far, a committee looking into what the new name of the Mississippi University for Women should be has received about 150 suggestions.

The committee, established by MUW President Claudia Limbert, will narrow the prospects in coming months. The group is scheduled to meet in January.

Although some of the school’s alumni oppose a change, school leaders have said a name change is needed to revamp the public university’s image and make it appeal to more students.

MUW began admitting men in 1982 after a long legal battle and now has about 16 percent male enrollment.

Some of the names suggested so far include: Mississippi Magnolia University, Mississippi Heritage University and Eudora Welty University.

Join in!  If you have an idea for the name of MUW, then send it along.

A Christmas Tragedy

A 17-year-old charged as an adult with vehicle burglary hanged himself Christmas Eve with a bed sheet at the Harrison County jail and died late Christmas morning, Sheriff Melvin Brisolara said.

James Mack Allen of Gulfport hanged himself within the short time between deputies’ rounds, Brisolara said, and left a suicide note to his dad. Deputies administered CPR, and he was taken to a hospital where he remained on life support until about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

“We had him on suicide watch,” Brisolara said. “Only 17 minutes went by from the time he was last checked on…If someone is determined to commit suicide — in a facility like ours you can’t watch somebody ’round the clock. We had him isolated.”

Brisolara said Allen, who was booked into the jail Tuesday by Gulfport police, had attempted suicide the night before, prompting his placement in isolation and on suicide watch.

Brisolara said there were 927 inmates on the jail roster, with 29 deputies working security each shift.

Seems some check into the Harrison County jail, but do not check out the traditional way.  The previous admin was responsible for the beating death of an inmate.

He was on ’suicide watch’ but you let him after something to do himself in?  Seems a little bit silly.

Merry Christmas

I will be taking a few days of zen and would like to thank all those who have visited this site.  May you all have a great time with family and food and fun…Merry Christmas……will be back in awhile…..Peace…Out

LVT, The Series–Part 2

I have been asked how will the LVT assist a community–it is best stated by the Center for the Study of Economics and The Henry George Foundation Of America:

Why Would a Community Implement Land Value Taxation?

•           A shift to LVT, even when structured in a revenue-neutral manner, usually results in net tax reductions for the vast majority of residents.

•           The problem of inaccurate or radically higher assessments is reduced because of the reduction in reliance on the building portion of the property tax.

•           The damage that taxes like sales and income taxes do to working families and local commerce can be lessened.

•           By reducing or eliminating the tax on improvements, there is a greater incentive to build, to build with higher quality materials, to maintain, to avoid blight, and to redevelop economically depressed areas.

•           Cities are almost always on the “short end of the stick” when economic development dollars are handed out.  This program helps achieve the same goals with no public investment.

•           When cities DO get permission to give out tax abatements, they lead to a revenue loss to the community with no assured payoff later.  LVT is purely revenue neutral to the city.  There is no tax shifting to citizens and property owners who have already done their bit.

•           A tax on land also has the advantage of being a “value capture tax.”  A new public works project may make adjacent land go up considerably in value, and thus, with a tax on land values, the tax on adjacent land goes up.  Thus, the new public improvements would be paid for by those most benefited by the new public improvements — i.e., those whose land value went up most.

•           A tax on land has been shown to result in better land use patterns and more in-fill development.  This has the benefit of reducing sprawl.

•           Several Nobel Prize winners in economics have stated their approval of government revenue being raised from taxes on land.

•           Support for LVT cuts across political lines.  Free-market economists like how it reduces distortions in economic decision-making.  Environmentalists like how it reduces sprawl and helps fund public transportation.  Developers appreciate how it makes new homes more affordable for their customers.  Citizens like the reduction in taxes.

This is a proposal that has come to call, especially now when the economy is tankinbg and communitiesd will soon be feeling the raising problem of sagging revenues.  Yes there is a plan to inject lots of cash into communities to head off the approaching economic storm.  But ask yourself, when those cash cows are gone where will the renvenue come from to continue the improvemnts to the community?

LVT will save communities from the revenue crisis that they are ALWAYS having.

Sell NO Baby Before Its Time

A DeSoto County lawmaker has proposed a bill to make the sale of babies in Mississippi illegal.

Sen. Doug Davis, R-Hernando, says he was surprised to learn that the state has no law prohibiting the sale of children.

If passed, the new law would mean anyone convicted of “baby-selling” would be fined up to $20,000 and sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

In August, a Yalobusha County woman was caught attempting to sell a child in exchange for $2,000 and a vehicle. Because there currently is no state law forbidding the sale of children, local authorities could only charge the woman with child neglect.

LVT, The Series–Part 1

In the 19th Century, American economist, Henry George proposed the idea of the Land Value Tax and he immediately got opposition from “mainstream” economist because it is pro-community.  That opposition continues today, modern economist are the high priest of a political system that is pro-wealth and pro-elitist.  They prefer privatization and the exhaustion of all the natural resources.  Land is a natural resource because unlike manufacturing more cannot be produced.

One of the easiest ways to generate income for public programs is the Land Value Tax.

Traditional forms of revenue generation are not doing the trick.  They are unreliable and not very equitable.  Plus the taxes are on the backs of those that can least afford it.  This proposal does not stifle the free markets, labor or production.  For those reasons the Land Value Tax (LVT) is more than capable of funding government and its programs while not penalizing the people.

Taxes penalize the people, the workers, tax codes reward people for avoiding their tax obligations.  The only way to make a government self-sufficient is the LVT.  At present the only answers are taxes such as payroll, excise, sales, but the truth is that all taxes and tax schemes that are proposed then passed have done little to help the financial health of a state.

When the LVT is used then most other taxes can be eliminated altogether.  It will revive the housing sector, the production sector and the consumer sector.  For when the people have more cash on hand they will spend it, something that is not going to happen if there is an increase in taxes.  And the increase will do little to bail out the government from a monetary meltdown.

The benefits to the community are numerous, among them are:  1) economic–the LVT encourages land to be put on the market at lower prices–will lead to an end to land speculation, 2)–social–the tax revenue will benefit the whole society from education to public works, 3)–logistics–the tax is not easily evaded and easily collected.

The best answer to reviving a community, city or state is to impliment the LVT.  Without it there will be constant shortfalls in revenue which will mean more cuts to services to the community. Then other taxes will need to be raised to make up for the shortfalls.  The LVT can and will avoid any of this suffering.

How Silly Can People Get?

With the economy tanking and these people are worried aboiut their ownership of a gun?

The Saturday after Barack Obama was elected president, people jammed Cook’s Gun Shop in Biloxi, eager to purchase the guns they believe might be off-limits beginning next year.

Manager Michael Creel said sales began to increase last year, but really ramped up after the election.

“It started about a year ago when the election started to heat up,” he said. “People were afraid that if the Democrats won they would institute more control on guns. It kept building, and the Saturday after the election it was pandemonium in here.”

Gun-shop owners and managers throughout South Mississippi are reporting similar trends, which also are reflected across the country.

The FBI reported earlier this month that in November it completed more than 1.5 million background checks, a 41.6 percent increase over November 2007 when the agency performed just over 1 million checks.

Obama has said in the past he believes state and local governments should have some say over gun control. He also has said he believes in a “common-sense approach” to curtail the number of illegal guns that end up on the streets.

Those comments have caused gun owners all across the U.S. to buy guns now before any new laws go into effect.

This whole thing is just flippin’ silly…..too much BS from Hollywood and the end of days….personally, I am thionking about how to feed my family without using a gun….Peace.

Casino Revenue Down

The economic crisis is effecting everyone…..how long will it last is the question all are waiting for the answer.

November was the third straight month that revenues at the 11 Coast casinos fell below the 2007 levels.

Numbers just released by the Mississippi Tax Commission show the Coast casinos won $96 million this year compared to $103 million in November 2007.

The River casinos took a much bigger hit from the slow economy, down $12 million in November after falling $7 million in October.

Total earnings for the state were $205 million compared to $225 million in 2007.

I believe that I read that Louisana’s casinos had a 6% rise in profits for the same period.

Clean Coal Plant?

First of all, there is no such thing as clean coal–the emissions can be cleaned up a bit–but as far as coal goes–it is not clean–none of it!  Clean coal is an oxymoron like military intelligence and jumbo shrimp.

Mississippi Power is moving forward with plans to build a clean-coal plant in Kemper County,

He said the company soon will file a request for certification to build the $2.2 billion facility with the Public Service Commission.

The plant would create energy from lignite coal and capture the carbon dioxide for other uses.

Topazi said the plant could be operational as early as November 2013. The company’s efforts will need regulatory approval before construction can begin.

Mississippi Power serves about 188,000 customers in 23 southeastern counties.