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Anyone who thinks that gun control laws will prevent criminal from getting guns, read this. If a gun can get to a prisoner in jail, imagine what happens on the street. Maybe we need a new gun law? NOT!
Handgun Found Inside Bexar County Jail Cell
Bexar County, San Antonio, Texas
January 15, 2002
A handgun was found inside a cell Tuesday night at the Bexar County Jail, authorities said.
Jailers discovered the .25 caliber handgun at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of the jail.
The weapon was not loaded, authorities said. No bullets were found, although authorities said they believe inmates flushed them down a toilet.
Jail personnel said they believe the weapon was smuggled into the jail from the outside. Authorities found a four-foot-long string near a work release area. They believe someone tied the weapon to the string and then some inmates pulled it up.
"There's no reason for it to happen," said Tony Saucedo of the Deputy Sheriff's Association, a law enforcement union. "The issues have been brought forward many times. We're short of staff."
This is the first time a weapon has been smuggled inside the jail, authorities said.
The area where the handgun was found is called a high bond area, a location where suspects are held for various crimes -- including murder.
A shake-down late Tuesday and Wednesday failed to turn up any other weapons, authorities said.
An investigation is being conducted and no suspects have been arrested or charged.
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Diverdan ><>
Gun laws are made for law abiding citizens and do not affect criminals. Here is some food for thought.
By Caitlin Francke
Sun Staff
Originally published January 30, 2000
The case against Donnell Harris seemed rock-solid: When Baltimore prosecutors charged Harris with carjacking two men and shooting one of them, they were armed with a confession from his accomplice, testimony from the two victims and a cache of .38-caliber bullets found at Harris' house.
But when Harris pleaded guilty, he was sentenced only to inpatient alcohol treatment. He left after a month.
Days later, Harris and another man shot and killed a teen-ager and stuffed the body in the trunk of a car.
Like most gun-wielding criminals in Baltimore, Harris did not receive the mandatory five-year, no-parole sentence required by state law for those who use a gun to carry out their crimes.
In this city, where 300 or more people have been killed every year for the past decade, the tough gun law that was designed to help stop shootings and homicides is virtually ignored.
An analysis by The Sun of nearly 3,000 court records and interviews with criminologists, defense lawyers, prosecutors and judges reveals that fewer than one in four people charged with gun crimes will get the required five-year prison sentence.
The gun law was passed in 1972 after then-Gov. Marvin Mandel became alarmed by shootings near city schools. One student was killed. Searches by police turned up more than 125 handguns in students' hands.
The law was designed specifically to eradicate gun violence by setting up mandatory penalties for violent offenders.
During a two-year period ending last year, 1,660 people were hauled into Baltimore's Circuit Court to face the strict handgun charges for hundreds of armed robberies, attempted murders, carjackings and homicides. In each case, the defendants, by law, faced prison terms of at least five years.
The Sun's analysis shows what happened instead. Between Jan. 1, 1997, and March 31, 1999:
Eighty percent of the tough gun charges were dropped or placed in the inactive file by prosecutors, many times in an effort to win guilty pleas on the companion -- often lesser -- charges.
Of the 1,000 people convicted on those related gun charges, more than half did not go to prison for five years, the minimum sentence they should have received under the law.
Scores of defendants were released after pleading guilty, sentenced to the amount of time they had already spent in jail awaiting trial.
One-third of those charged with using guns on city streets -- about 530 people -- were freed without a trial even though a grand jury or prosecutors found there was probable cause to believe they had committed the crimes.
Light sentences and abandoned cases, analysts say, have likely contributed to the city's persistently high rate of shootings and homicides.
The city's violent street culture "is way worse than being in the infantry in Vietnam," says Harvard University criminologist David Kennedy. "When we're dealing with chronic offending groups who have been arrested 10 times, you've got to use authority. You can't counsel people out of this."
Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy gives two reasons why the gun law has rarely been enforced here: To take all such cases to trial would overwhelm an already clogged system. And, she says, reluctant or recanting witnesses handicap many cases.
"The vast majority of our shooting cases involve one bad boy shooting another," Jessamy says. "The culture is built on street vengeance and retaliation, and not giving assistance and support and testimony to police and prosecutors."
"There are some innocent victims, but they are not the vast majority … not by any stretch of the imagination."
In Kennedy's 18-month analysis of the city's murder culture, he found evidence that supports Jessamy's view. His study showed that the city's violent crime is concentrated among a relatively small number of people. Each suspect in a homicide had been arrested more than nine times, and each victim had been arrested more than eight times. Sixty percent of the slayings involved people tied to the drug trade.
But many familiar with the legal system say Jessamy's "bad boy" reasoning does not excuse the scattershot prosecution of gun violence by her office and by her predecessors, which, they say, has helped turn parts of this city into urban war zones.
While Jessamy says her office is targeting the city's most violent criminals, hundreds more continue to slide through the system.
Warren A. Brown, one of the city's most active defense attorneys, said in a recent interview that he was so troubled by the light sentences his clients were getting that he approached prosecutors last spring to warn them.
"There is a mentality out there on the streets that is created by the way these cases are meted out that says, 'It ain't all that bad,' " Brown says.
"As a professional defense attorney, I am going to keep trying to get these deals for my clients. As a resident of this city, it's frightening.
"It sends a bad message out there that we are not taking guns seriously."
Jessamy says she is doing all she can to crack down on gun violence with limited staff. Two years ago, she secured federal funds to create a unit dedicated solely to handgun violence, the Firearms Investigation Violence Enforcement unit.
That division has convicted more than 400 people for gun crimes in the past two years and is widely praised for its success. More than one-quarter of the convictions resulted in prison terms of 10 years or more. But the unit has only five prosecutors.
Since taking office, Jessamy has not taken meaningful steps to solve the witness problem, a common one for urban prosecutors, interviews and records show. Her office does not have a system to maintain contact with witnesses; nor do her prosecutors routinely enforce laws requiring them to come to court.
Jessamy says she has been hobbled by lack of funds. She has not been able to hire additional investigators to help prosecutors monitor witnesses and is asking the city and state for about $6 million to increase staff. Police help, she said, but they are often swamped with other duties.
"People don't want to be found," Jessamy said. "If we had more people to develop relationships with these people earlier on, kind of keep their hands on them … it would help."
She has nine investigators to track down witnesses and work with her 160 prosecutors. Philadelphia has 37 for 260 prosecutors; Chicago has 150 investigators for 935 prosecutors.
What has emerged with the recent rise in criminal cases is a move-the-docket culture in the city courthouse that numbs judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers to the violence outlined neatly in court files.
In one case, a man convicted of battling with a police officer while armed with a loaded .44-caliber revolver was sentenced to the seven months he had served awaiting trial. Prosecutors asked for 10 years, but Judge David B. Mitchell refused, saying the man had "only one gun in his possession."
In another, Judge Clifton J. Gordy remarked that an 18-month sentence was "a pretty good plea" in a shooting case undercut when the victim did not come to testify.
In Harris' case, the armed carjacker was sentenced to the 18 months he served awaiting trial and alcohol treatment -- and then went on to kill a man.
"I feel like the system murdered my son," says Therese Burrell, the mother of Dameon Burrell, Harris' second victim.
"They had a criminal right in their hands, and they chose to send him right back onto the street and not even give him the sentence the law states that he is supposed to get."
Burrell, 34, said she believes her son, who had been arrested twice on marijuana possession charges, was involved with drugs -- activity she tried to prevent by giving him extra pocket money so he would not "hustle."
Last year, Harris was sent to jail for the rest of his life for murdering Dameon Burrell.
Harris' first victim, Roger Mixon, is also devastated. He went to court several times to testify, only to see the case delayed. Finally, prosecutors told him they had worked out a deal that would send Harris to prison for 13 years, 10 without parole.
He was never told about the real sentence.
"We came to court to try to get Harris in jail. That guy Burrell would probably still be living now," Mixon says. "You got witnesses against a guy, and you let him right back out on the streets?"
Asked about the cases discussed in this article, Jessamy; her deputy, Sharon A. H. May; and her assistant, E. Francine Stokes, responded on behalf of the prosecutors.
May says that in the Harris case, prosecutor Jan Alexander wanted Harris in prison for 12 years but the defense persuaded the judge that Harris needed treatment for alcohol abuse.
Circuit Judge Mabel E. H. Hubbard, now retired, says she did not remember the case. But she says it would be "unusual" for her to give such a short jail term for a violent crime.
"If I gave somebody a 12-year sentence, suspend all but 18 months, I had absolutely no expectation that he would slap someone on the shoulder after that, let alone kill somebody," Hubbard says. "I take my best guess."
That is not what the authors of the law intended.
The law was meant to stop gun violence by creating escalating penalties for people caught carrying or using guns.
Defendants are usually charged with "using a handgun" as part of an armed-robbery or attempted-murder case. The idea was for defendants to receive a conviction on the crime and a separate conviction for using the gun.
First-time offenders must serve no less than five years without parole. If caught again, defendants must have a five- to 20-year sentence tacked onto the end of any other prison term.
The law is clear: The sentences are mandatory. The sentences can't be suspended. Five years, no parole.
"No court shall enter a judgment for less than the mandatory minimum sentence," the law states.
But nearly 30 years later, the law has not been effective in curbing violence in Baltimore. It is a standard charge issued by police and grand juries, but almost never used in the courtroom except as a plea-bargaining chip.
One result is that federal prosecutors have decided to take on more and more city gun cases in a project called DISARM.
In the past five years, prosecutors have used the tough federal laws to go after about 275 defendants, most from Baltimore. In 1999 alone, federal prosecutors indicted 96 people from Baltimore. The average sentence received was about 7.8 years.
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Consider how Baltimore prosecutors handled a case against a man nicknamed "Brew."
At 18, Vernon Wright seemed an ideal candidate for the state's mandatory gun sentence, court records suggest.
On Feb. 20, 1998, armed with a .22-caliber revolver loaded with nine bullets, Wright went looking for someone to rob.
He found Charles Davis, 46, who worked two jobs to support his family. He ran a paint store during the week and delivered pizzas for Little Caesar's on weekends.
When Davis walked to his car that February night, $12 in his pocket from his pizza delivery for a house in the 1100 block of Elbank St., Wright was waiting for him. The teen pointed his gun at Davis, screaming, "Give me your money! Don't look at me!"
Davis quickly gave him the cash. But Wright wanted more, grabbing at Davis' pockets. Davis fought back. The two struggled, and Wright shot Davis once in the right calf. Davis wrenched the gun away, and the teen vanished down the block.
His leg bleeding, Davis returned to the pizza store on York Road. He called police, and a month later he identified Wright from police photographs.
When the case went to court, Davis was ready to testify. Wright faced a maximum sentence of 20 years and a minimum sentence of five years. Davis said that each time he went to the courthouse, the case was delayed.
"It finally came down to, 'We'll call you if we need you.' They never called, and the next thing I knew, the trial was over," Davis says.
In April, prosecutor Andrea Mason dropped the gun charge with the mandatory five-year sentence, and Wright was sent to prison for three years after pleading guilty to armed robbery.
Davis says he spoke with Mason before the guilty plea and relayed to her that he didn't think a 20-year prison term was the best way to resolve the case. But he said he wasn't told about the actual sentence until later.
"It's a pretty crummy sentence," Davis says. "It hardly fits the crime. That's almost like a vacation."
The prosecutors' explanation for the low sentence?
May, the deputy state's attorney, says Davis was "reluctant" to testify because "he did not want to lose time from work." Stokes says Mason thinks she told Davis about the sentence when they talked before the guilty plea.
Told of May's comments, Davis responded: "Excuse me? I went down three days in a row, and nothing happened. I think they have gotten it slightly wrong. They were not very cooperative or accommodating."
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The attempted-murder case against Antonio Fowlkes is an example of what happens when a victim is reluctant to testify against his assailant. It is also an example of how prosecutors often don't do all they can to bring the victim or witnesses to court.
On Dec. 2, 1996, Fowlkes shot 19-year-old Keith Patterson with a .38-caliber handgun after a neighborhood dispute. As bullets flew, Patterson leapt from a stoop and started to run away, but a bullet hit him in the buttocks.
Fowlkes and his accomplices vanished into the neighborhood, but several witnesses told police he was the shooter, court records say. He was arrested three weeks later.
Patterson twice failed to show up to testify. Prosecutor Stephanie L. Royster had sent him a letter and summonses to appear in court, but her efforts to secure his testimony stopped there.
When he didn't come to court, Royster could have postponed the trial and ordered him picked up by police -- but Judge Clifton J. Gordy wanted the case off his docket.
So Fowlkes' fate was decided in June 1997 in nine minutes of hushed conversation among the prosecutor, the defense lawyer and the judge.
"Make me an offer he can't refuse," the judge told Royster, referring to the defense attorney.
She asked for two years on attempted murder. Defense attorney David R. Eaton counteroffered with 18 months.
"Sold," Gordy said. Eighteen months it was, with credit for the six months Fowlkes had served awaiting trial.
But Gordy was concerned.
"Now, does it have to be attempted murder?" Gordy asked. "I gave a guy seven years, suspend all but 18 months on attempted murder? That's kind of like hard to justify on the campaign trail."
"How about assault?" the defense attorney suggested.
Laughter.
Sold.
The prosecutor dropped the mandatory five-year gun sentence, and Fowlkes pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and illegally carrying a handgun.
Fowlkes, then 18, was soon back on the streets -- and back in trouble.
Late at night on July 26, 1999, prosecutors say, Fowlkes was armed again. On an East Baltimore side street, Fowlkes and another man got into a gunbattle.
Twenty yards away, Carlton Valentine; his brother, Arnell Davis; and their cousin, Wayne Johnson, were sitting on the steps of Valentine's home at 821 N. Bradford St., drinking beer and trying to escape the stifling summer heat.
Hearing the shots, the three scrambled off the steps and lay flat on the sidewalk. "It was like the O.K. Corral," Davis says. "The bullets were flying." When the shooting momentarily ceased, the men tried to rush indoors. But more bullets whizzed down the street. One hit Valentine in the back.
"He told me, 'Brother, I'm shot. I got shot in the back,' " Davis, a forklift operator, recalls. "Wayne was screaming for help. I said, 'Man, we're going to get those guys.' "
Valentine, an auto mechanic and father of four, died at Johns Hopkins Hospital 50 minutes later.
Davis, who identified Fowlkes for police as one of the shooters, was furious when told of Fowlkes' previous conviction.
"There shouldn't be no plea bargains," Davis says. "It's bad when you can't sit on your own steps."
In an interview, Judge Gordy says that campaign concerns had nothing to do with his decision in Fowlkes' first case and that the comment was made "in a moment of levity which no one took seriously, including me."
He says the 18-month sentence was a "pretty good plea" since the victim did not come to court. Fowlkes had been awaiting trial for about six months, and Gordy says he did not want to delay the case more because of the defendant's right to a trial within 180 days of arraignment. All parties agreed to the sentence, he says.
"It looked like to me the choice of a postponement, which is a nasty word now, and it was then to me, or a dismissal. I obviously wasn't inclined to postpone the case, nor was the state able to proceed," Gordy says. "I feel horrible now, but I didn't have these facts in front of me. Hindsight is always beneficial."
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Sometimes there is little that police, prosecutors or judges can do to persuade witnesses to testify. In all the cases cited by The Sun, victims or witnesses identified the assailants to police, but some stopped cooperating between the police station and the courtroom.
Some witnesses are afraid of retaliation. Some want to settle the score themselves. Some simply get lost in the empty months after police close a case with an arrest and before prosecutors pick it up to take it to court.
Dontaya Preston, 21, has escaped two attempted-murder charges -- and two potential life sentences -- in the past three years because his alleged victims refused to come to court.
Preston is described in court records as a drug dealer who uses a gun to settle scores, even pointing one, police say, in the face of a neighbor who came to the aid of his girlfriend when the pair were arguing.
On an October night in 1996, a man named Pernell Beckette was standing on a dimly lighted corner just south of North Avenue.
Word on the street was that Beckette had stolen a drug dealer's stash. The punishment was swift, severe and bloody.
Bullets ripped through the air. One. Then another. And another. And another, slamming into Beckette's back and neck as he tried to flee. Police found him bleeding on the concrete, left for dead.
After he recovered, Beckette broke the code of silence on the street. He told police who shot him. He picked out the shooter from police mug shots.
Then he vanished.
Police searched for months, even traveling to New York, desperate to make a case against Preston, known on the streets as "Beefcake."
Nearly a year later, with no witness to testify, prosecutor Sylvester Cox had to place the charges in the inactive file.
Preston had also been charged with assault and resisting arrest for fighting with the police officer who picked him up on the Beckette case. So prosecutors forged ahead with that case.
Preston pleaded guilty to assault for trying to wrench the officer's gun away from him during a struggle on the floor of an all-night store. He was given a sentence that amounted to the time he had already served.
The Sun recently found Beckette, 38, living with relatives on Long Island, N.Y., still with all six bullets lodged in his flesh. One "floats" around his neck, he said.
He is unrepentant about his decision not to testify.
"I didn't follow suit with that," Beckette says matter-of-factly when asked about the case. "I was just hoping that they would prosecute him for another murder."
He says he worried there would be retaliation against his family, who still live in the neighborhood.
"I know who shot me but, like I said, I didn't want it to backlash."
Preston was accused of shooting another man, Nawann Blandon, records say. Prosecutor Twila Driggins did not take the case to trial because the victim could not be located.
Preston's attorney, Robin Zoll, says no one will ever know who shot Blandon because he did not come to court.
"Who knows?" Zoll says. "The victims don't come to court in many of these cases. In all but one of the attempted-murder cases I have had in the past year, the victims did not come to court."
"One explanation for this may be that they do not want to be part of the court process but would rather settle their scores on the street."
Preston is awaiting trial on two felony drug cases and assault.
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Police call Larry Haynes "an animal." With a rap sheet dozens of pages long, he has snaked through Baltimore's justice system time and again.
In 1997 alone, police allege, Haynes threatened his girlfriend at gunpoint in September, shot a man after a bar argument in October, had a loaded .22-caliber revolver in the trunk of a car in November and shot another man in December.
But Haynes has never been sent to jail for longer than a year.
Why? Witnesses recanted or did not show up for trial. Prosecutors dropped charges, or judges refused to give tough sentences.
Police say Haynes' string of violent crimes began in February 1995. Two women said Haynes and another man burst into a house in the 1000 block of Castle St., brandishing a "real big gun," and made off with $39. Officers spotted Haynes running down Castle Street, jamming his .44 revolver into his waistband.
Officer Kenneth Jeffries gave chase. The two struggled. Haynes pushed the revolver inside Jeffries' vest and tried to pull the trigger. But the hammer of the gun got tangled in the straps of the vest, and it never went off.
Jeffries finally ripped the weapon out of Haynes' hands. After his arrest, Haynes had a message for him.
"I didn't get ya' this time, but I got something for your ass next time," he told Jeffries, according to court records.
Soon the armed-robbery case began to unravel. The two women recanted their allegations to a defense lawyer, then vanished before prosecutors could question them further. Prosecutors had to drop the charges, including two counts of the mandatory five-year-penalty gun charge.
A jury convicted Haynes in September 1995 of resisting arrest and illegally carrying the revolver.
He faced as much as 23 years behind bars. Prosecutor William D. McCollum asked Judge Mitchell to send Haynes to jail for at least 10.
"What we are dealing with here is a violent assault, assault involving weapons of mass destruction, weapons that are carried for the sole purpose of intending serious harm or death," McCollum argued.
But Mitchell was not swayed. "There was only one gun in his possession," the judge said.
The sentence? The seven months he had already served.
A year later, Haynes was back in trouble. He was accused of robbing and shooting three men on Oct. 26, 1996, as they lay face down on an East Baltimore street. Paul Preston and his friends were hit in their heads, backs and arms.
One stray bullet hit a 14-year-old girl as she walked down Port Street with a friend. All survived. Six weeks later, Preston identified Haynes for police.
The case was scheduled for trial nearly a year after the shooting. It was the first time Preston had seen Haynes since that night on Port Street. He told the prosecutor, Royster, that he wasn't sure Haynes shot him.
So Royster felt she had to cut a deal. In August 1997, she dropped the most serious charges, which could have sent Haynes to prison for life. Haynes pleaded guilty to carrying a handgun and second-degree assault.
He was sent to jail for a year, with credit for the eight months he had already served.
In a recent interview, Preston said he "wasn't sure right off the bat" whether it was Haynes who shot him. Haynes was heavier after time in prison and had a different haircut, he said. But after the guilty plea, Preston said he learned from "word on the street" that Haynes was the man who shot him. "I wish now I had testified."
In November 1997, Haynes was accused of shooting a man in a dispute over a beer, but that case was not prosecuted when the victim did not appear. The next month, he was charged in another shooting, but prosecutors dropped that case when the victim changed his story.
Mitchell declined to comment on the first case, saying he had no memory of it. He referred instead to statements he made in court.
Jack B. Rubin, who has defended Haynes against several criminal charges, said when prosecutors don't have witnesses to prove their case, they have to drop it.
"If these allegations are true, of course he's dangerous," Rubin says. "But the presumption is that he's not. No prosecutor can make a case without evidence."
For those trying to quell the city's violence, men like Haynes are all too familiar.
"He's basically an animal that plays with no rules, he doesn't follow any, and the system protects him," says Jeffries, the police officer who battled with him. "It happens every day, and after a while you become numb to it. If you were to take it personally, it would give you a heart attack.
"He'll do it again."
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Diverdan ><>
The key to gun control is gun education.
I support the instant background checks to purchase a handgun. I also support immediate and harsh punishments for those that violate existing gun laws, especially those that violate ATF regulations when selling handguns.
Every time I sell a gun, I give the buyer the standard ATF form to fill out. I am not a dealer and am not required to do this by law but this form has all the info you would want in something later happens. I keep the form on hand in the event the gun is later used in a crime, stolen, found, and traced back to me. The investigators can see for themselves who I sold the gun to and the buyer claiming to have met the criteria for a purchase. I support a law that requires this standard ATF form to be filled out on every gun transaction, public and private. Did you know that I can legally buy a handgun and then sell it the same day to someone without even getting a bill of sale? If the buyer is a hardened criminal, I can claim ignorance. Requiring all sellers to have the standard ATF form filled out makes the sale easier to trace and the offender easier to locate in the event the firearm is used for an unlawful purpose.
As a police firearms instructor who has used justified deadly force against another on duty, I know that shooting someone is not a pleasurable experience. It is a last resort and it is a live saving event, your own.
I have one handgun I carry both on and off duty for protection, an AR-15 patrol rifle, one shotgun for bird hunting, and one rile for deer hunting. That is a total of 4 firearms I own. As you can see I am not a gun fanatic and every gun I own has a purpose.
I consider myself a reasonable and prudent person and would like to see other reasonable and prudent people carry a gun IF THEY WISH. It is called a constitutional right, just as freedom of religion is a constitutional right.
Texas has a concealed carry law or Concealed Handgun License. I am happy to see the law in place and support those that have passed the background check, went through the training, and choose to carry a handgun.
When George H. went nuts at Luby's in Killeen Texas, there was a woman in there who watched both her parents die in front of her eyes. She had a gun but had left it inside her car because Texas did not have a CHL law at the time. She has suffered tremendous psylogical damage because she keeps on saying "What if?" Until you have been the victim of a violent crime, you may not wish to carry a gun. That is your choice and I respect that. Hopefully when the shi* hits the fan, there is someone around you that is trained and packing that could save your life if the need arises.
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Diverdan ><>
OT: Yes, I am the one
who set the world record. How did you hear about it?
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Diverdan ><>
Joemoney
Let's look at the facts:
The state of Florida passed a law to allow citizens to carry firearms for personal protection. This is known in most states as the CHL or concealed handgun license. The violent crime rate in Florida dropped drastically. Crimes against tourist and the elderly increased.
The state of Texas also passed a CHL and the violent crime rate dropped. Major crime is defined by the federal government as those crimes that MUST be reported to the feds in a format known as UCR (Unified crime report). This includes robbery, murder, aggravated assaults, arson, burglary, sexual assaults, and a couple others I can't remember right now.
Why did the violent crime rate drop and crimes against tourist and the elderly increase?? The reason is the bad guys cannot tell if Joe Blow next to them is carrying a gun or not. But they do know that tourist entering Florida DO NOT CARRY guns. This is also why the elderly were targeted. Elderly individuals are less likely to carry guns.
These are the hard facts. Get use to them. I have been a cop for 14+ years and strongly support a law abiding citizens right to keep and bear arms. If the French had the same type of mentality instead of banning firearms, the Germans would not have had the overnight success of running over the country in WWII.
Food for thought.
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Diverdan ><>
Supercircuts Link 4
http://216.190.224.33/servlet/cat/product/CVL32.html
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Diverdan ><>
Supercircuits Link 3
http://216.190.224.33/servlet/cat/product/CVL33.html
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Diverdan ><>
Supercircuits Link 2
http://216.190.224.33/servlet/cat/product/PC136UW-1.html
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Diverdan ><>
Supercircuits link:
http://216.190.224.33/servlet/cat/product/PC134UW.html
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Diverdan ><>
Sevu expands with supercircuits
I got my new supercircuits catalog in the mail to day and discovered a pleasant surprise. Expecting to find the outdoor secureview as usual, I found the outdoor AND INDOOR secureview on page 37 in a 1/4 page add, color photos included.
On page 22 I found a 3/4 page ad for the 150 system and the mini 50 underwater video cameras with photos. This is the first time I have seen the 150 and mini 50 in the supercircuits catalog. But that wasn't the biggest surprise.
ON PAGE 85 was the Vehicle Inspection Cam! The VIC is selling for $3499.95 with two pictures of the product and the red splash sign "NEW" above the photos.
For those of you not familiar with supercircuits, they are a Texas based security company that sells all types of security cameras, VCR's, monitors etc. Supercircuits is a BIG DEAL and I have been to their headquarters just northwest of Austin. See for yourself at supercircuits.com where the outdoor secureview is featured on the main web page.
Bashers have no business or credibility here. Sevu is definitely making progress! To me, this development was worth a press release. Because SEVU's management chooses not to issue a press release on every issue and move they make gives them more credibility in my eyes. Just wait until you do get a press release, it will be a big one.
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Diverdan ><>
Cabos -
In March, I will be a quest speaker at a Public Safety Divers seminar located at Southwest Texas State University here in Texas. My topic will be the use of underwater video cameras for underwater evidence documentation. I will have three SEVU cameras with me including this one we have modified into a hand held camera for a solo diver.
http://www.corridor.net/smartdivers/images/uwcam.jpg
I have been a speaker/instructor at this annual seminar for this past three years and have covered multiple topics. This conference is attended by dive teams from across the Southern US and last year even the Royal Canadian Mounted Police dive team attended. I have contacted SEVU and have been pushing for them to deploy a version of this camera in the way we have it modified for dive team rescue/recovery use.
I think this would be a hot item that would sell for less than $200 and become a dive team standard for underwater evidence collection, documentation, and preservation. Many years ago dive teams were nothing more than a "grab and slab" operation where the body was found, dragged out, and wrapped in a bag. The teams have evolved into underwater crime scene technicians were the hands are preserved for forensic evidence under the finger nails, the boots/shoes are preserved to match soil samples with the surrounding area, etc.
SEVU could be missing a golden opportunity here by not breaking into the public safety diving field. I do not know of any other 12V UW cameras that are used in this way. SEVU could and should be the first.
Dan
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Diverdan ><>
Trebor,
Send your report to me email and I will get it posted!
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Diverdan ><>
Dang it Shamus,
Don't scare me like that! I looked and there was no stock trading until FINALLY someone made a trade, well after the opening bell.
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Diverdan ><>
UNCONFIRMED REPORTS:
SEVU flight 3Q2001 just crashed into the 4Q mountains. The only survivors were those that bailed out early with the shirt on their backs and bed sheets for parachutes.
Tower signing off permanently
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Diverdan ><>
OT: Have been in out of the country for a while diving some wrecks off the coast of Honduras. Much fun. Will reply to the PM's soon.
Dan
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Diverdan ><>
I was talking about your
personal attacks on Rich. You failed to make your point where you said I was attempting to hide info.
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Diverdan ><>
Madhat, I have offered twice to
become a central Texas rep for Secureview. Both times I emailed SEVU I didn't get a reply. The third time Rich said they already had a rep in the Ft. Worth area representing Texas. I am well connected in law enforcement throughout the central Texas area and have connections in NY where I am from (Even though Frank calls me a red neck). The McGruff style crime prevention and neighborhood meetings are very popular here in Texas and this would be a perfect time to present a secureview. It bothers me that SEVU did not accept my offer because I am a motivated individual and believe I can make sales. This being a new product, the potential is (was) exciting to me.
I just wonder how many others have been turned away.
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Diverdan ><>
Absolute lie Frank...
I never ever said I was trying to HIDE SEVU's defects, I remained optimistic and didn't continually exploit them as some did. You created that statement and believe your own lies. (Pathological?) After your about face, you continually bashed the company with redundant statements exploiting ONLY THE NEGATIVE. Take your trash to RB, not here.
Like EVERYONE HERE, I didn't want to loose money. You did an incredible about face and lost your credibility. Here are some of your quotes that UNDOUBTEDLY drew in investors. How do you think they feel about you now????
Famous Frank Quotes:
"I am still all in on SEVU and in fact am currently looking for buried treasure in my back yard so I can buy more at these outrageously cheap prices!!!! GOOD LUCK TO ALL"
"I guess the Status Quo continues, pending the release...
of News of a significant Milestone having been reached or the beginning of trading on AMEX... My feeling is that we have little time left to wait..."
Where did you get that info from Frank??? A little inside info?
", I expect many developments over the next couple months....including listing on AMEX, Analysts coverage, Institutions buying a bunch of shares, large Contracts with the Military and overseas entities, Mass production accelerating to meet the expected X'mas demand, large stores securing supplies, other means of distribution not even discussed or envisaged yet...
"SecureView" will soon be available everywhere and if you have secured a good supply of shares ahead of time, you should be a very HAPPY Camper..."
"In a nutshell SEVU/McBride control the patents and allow a couple of small outfit to manufacture similar products... Nothing to worry about..."
And what happens when people disagree with you???
"My advice to people un-happy with their investment is to sell and move to "greener" pastures, as investments must bring FUN besides money... BTW, if you continue on the present tangent, language-wise your next post is likely to get deleted..."
"Something else that also must be addressed is the constant bashing on these boards. Take the personal vendettas elsewhere, exchange Xmas cards, do anything to help this waste of our collective time."
I could go on and on... you should get the picture since everyone else has.
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Diverdan ><>
Frank, you pumped this stock for over
a year and took down many people with you! Do you really want me to embarrass you by digging up your old post how "Millions" of units would be sold and those that disagreed with your cheerleading opinion "don't understand OTCBB" stocks? You were the number 1 cheerleader of the stock and got your panties in a wad when you were not part of the PP. You then and only then did you do an about face. Once your pocket book was not getting in on the PP, you suddenly found religion.
Your credibility is shot to say the least. It is only you that fail to see that. Didn't you send Rich some PM's saying you would not bash if you could get in on the PP. Sound familiar Frank? After what YOU did to investors, it is no wonder you are hiding out in the Islands.
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Diverdan ><>
Rich is blamed for the performance of the company.
Funny how SEVU flight 2001 3Q is about to crash less than 2 months AFTER his death. Maybe it was Rich that was keeping the company above water all this time????
The towel is in my hand ready to be thrown into the ring.. if the tax man hasn't taken away the ring already. From the different PM's, I know that some of you have lost a substantial amount of money. Thank Frank for his years of pumping.
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Diverdan ><>
Tower this is SEVU Flight 2001-3Q over?
"Go ahead SEVU Flight 2001-3Q this is ground control"
"Tower we are experiencing some severe turbulence, are low on fuel, and have dropped in altitude from 28 hundred feet down to 50 feet... request emergency landing over?"
"Ground control to SEVU Flight 2001-3Q, Negative on the emergency landing, you have entered the 4Q mountain range and must gain altitude to clear the 4Q... suggest you jettison extra weight. Drop the PP immediately."
"Tower this is SEVU, the PP was converted into fuel to sustain minimal altitude and we are going to crash land if a course change is not made immediately over?"
"SEVU Flight 2001-3Q this is ground control, change heading immediately to avoid disaster at the 4Q mountains by directing all residual resources to the sales aileron. Take heading of 2 0 0 2 Inet. DO NOT PUT THE FLIGHT INTO AUTO PILOT! I repeat, do not turn on the auto-pilot. Over."
"Roger ground control this is SEVU, we are focusing on sales aileron, heading 2002 Inet. The 4q mountains are getting closer and some passenger investors have downed parachutes... we have just lost cabin pressure.. some investors have jumped.. We are declaring an emergency.. We are changing course to Inet... the sales ailerons are slow to respond...."
To be continued.....
What will the headlines be?
"The crash of SEVU Flight 2001 3Q" (Frank can claim it was shot down with a stinger missile)
or
"SEVU Flight 2001 3Q makes miracle recovery"
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Diverdan ><>
Again in all fairness...
The internet sales structure was not in place during the 3rd Q and the seamaster color cam had not been release yet. This came about at the beginning of the 4th Q. I sincerely believe the last Q of this year, during the christmas buying season, will be the turning point for SEVU.
I don't think I am being unreasonable or overly optimistic. If the 4th Q 2001 isn't HUGE as a results of the new product and internet sales, I also will throw in the towel. George is getting his chance, let him play out his hand.
Yes Frankie, you can quote me on that in Feb 2002.
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Diverdan ><>
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
The 3rd Q numbers are not good. I can read just like everyone else here and was initially depressed with the PR. I would like to bring up a major point here that some of you may have overlooked. I am not ready to throw in the towel here and this is why:
SEVU recently began a full market push with the on-line sales with Internet retailers: www.mvp.com; www.bluelight.com; www.thesportsauthority.com; www.sportchalet.com; www.dunhamssports.com; www.mcsports.com; www.oshmans.com; www.buy.com; www.foxsports.com; www.iqvcsports.com; www.fogdog.com; www.gijoes.com; www.dickssportinggoods.com; www.gartsports.com; www.sportmart.com; www.boatingchannel.com.
The release of the seamaster UW cam with color and 2X capability just began late last month.
My point??
ALL OF THIS OCCURRED AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD Q!
This is what I believed happened. The SEVU team knew the 3rd Q sales numbers were not going good. More money was needed for either production or operations and a full scale push was needed to get the product out. A private placement was done to raise operating funds and some major changes have obviously been made to limit expenses.
IN ALL FAIRNESS, George has only been flying solo with the company since October 7th, when Rich passed away. AGAIN ALL OF THIS WAS AFTER THE END OF THE THIRD Q. I am not ready to throw in the towel due to a bad 3rd Q when some many positive advances have happened since then.
The 4th Q will make or break SEVU IMHO. George is in sole control of the company, the internet sales site are in full swing, the seamaster is out, and the PP should have raised enough funds to supply any potential demand. This is also the Christmas season where sales typically surge.
If the 4th Q sales do not drastically improve and the secureview is not selling with all this new on-line internet exposure, then I may be ready to admit defeat. Until then, I have seen some very positive changes with a new CEO and will wait for the end of the 4th Q to pass judgement.
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Diverdan ><>
ManHat, I agree that things may look bad.
My strong feeling is that the PP is a done deal and this money was needed and was used for more production of the secureview. There is no denying that SEVU is getting good exposure with some very strong selling companies as seen in the last PR. The question remains... will the end justify the means? Time will tell as will the next Q reports.
Put yourself in the SEVU shoes. If you are on the verge of strong success and needed $$ fast for production... what would you do? A public offering? Perhaps that would have been better for us but what about those in the SEVU family that have been working for months with little or no salary?
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Diverdan ><>
Care to expand upon that last comment ITL?eom
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Diverdan ><>
My understanding is Wal-Mart and Sams
are CUSTOMERS for the parking lot system and not vendors for the secureview at this point. Does someone else have some different news?
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Diverdan ><>
Hmmmm.. no trades. Is everyone waiting 4 reports? eom
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Diverdan ><>
I was about to say:
"It takes money to....."
But Big Bizz beat me to it.
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Diverdan ><>
Moron, Frank has the secureview for testing
and evaluation remember? Still waiting on the results of the water test in the bathtub. Be sure to be inside the tub at the time of testing Frank for full effect and up close fine detail scrutiny. The secureview should see even the smallest things, but if that doesn't work, try the new color seamaster with 2X magnification. Make sure the water isn't too cold for obvious reasons.
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Diverdan ><>
It is obvious that George
has faith in the company and products to make such a large purchase on the open market. In other words, he put his money where his mouth is. I can only see good things happening here and look forward to the numbers.
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Diverdan ><>
From Bloomberg: George buys in the open market
http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?T=marketsquote99_news.ht&s=AO_gQ_hRxSW5zaWRl
Insiders: Top Sellers and Buyers for the Week Ending Nov. 2
By Princeton Newsroom
Washington, November 6 (Bloomberg) -- The following lists the Top purchases and sales of stocks by insiders as reported by the Washington Service.
15 Largest Insider Sales (10/26/01 - 11/02/01)
Co. Insider Value Rel. Trade Dates Shares Holdings
($ 000s) (000s) (000s) HNZ WILLIAMS DAVID R 7,567 OD 10/03/01-10/05/01 180.0 166.1 SSD FITZMYERS THOMAS 3,530 CE 10/23/01-10/26/01 71.1 226.2 AMHC CIGARRAN THOMAS G 3,308 CB 10/22/01-10/22/01 100.0 557.5 LNDC SCHNEIDER RICHARD 2,492 D 10/16/01-10/16/01 755.1 62.6 APC LINDAHL III GEORG 2,351 OD 10/30/01-10/30/01 41.0 172.1 RMCI GAVIN JOHN J 2,195 P 10/24/01-10/24/01 66.5 28.2 GCI MCCORKINDALE DOUG 1,655 CB 10/16/01-10/16/01 25.0 448.4 BLK GOLUB BENNETT W 1,257 SH 10/23/01-10/23/01 30.0 N/A ITT ANDERSON DAVID J 1,206 CF 10/31/01-10/31/01 25.0 33.3 ITT WILLIAMS EDWARD W 1,183 VP 10/10/01-10/10/01 24.0 10.1 FDO MAHONEY JR GEORGE 861 OD 10/15/01-10/15/01 30.0 399.3 SHFL LAHTI JOSEPH J 816 D 10/26/01-10/26/01 56.3 175.1 SSD TOWNSEND D M 731 O 10/24/01-10/25/01 15.0 N/A STKL KENDALL JEREMY 660 CB 10/19/01-10/19/01 355.0 301.3 SSP CASTELLINI DANIEL 653 CF 10/23/01-10/23/01 10.0 43.4
15 Largest Insider Purchases (10/26/01 - 11/02/01)
Co. Insider Value Rel. Trade Dates Shares Holdings
($ 000s) (000s) (000s) CSGS FISHER WILLIAM E 1,604 VP 10/31/01-10/31/01 50.0 50.0 MPH FORSYTHE GERALD R 1,261 D 10/25/01-10/30/01 100.0 1,614.4 EPD ANDRAS OSCAR S 829 CE 09/20/01-09/21/01 20.0 N/A AZO ODLAND STEPHEN A 562 CB 10/15/01-10/15/01 10.0 N/A MKTGD BARBERA J JEREMY 448 CB 10/15/01-10/29/01 100.0 N/A HXPR CYPRES GARY M 404 CB 10/29/01-10/29/01 351.1 2,093.3 SEVU BERNARDICH III GE 354 CB 10/05/01-10/26/01 3,331.2 N/A CYN CLOYDE JAN R 350 OD 10/17/01-10/17/01 8.4 25.4 KFY REILLY PAUL C 346 D 10/16/01-10/16/01 50.0 N/A GASE GRANT III W KING 260 CF 10/01/01-10/01/01 200.0 200.0 HI RENDA LARREE M 175 D 10/02/01-10/02/01 3.0 3.0 GAP CORRADO FRED 171 CF 10/15/01-10/15/01 10.0 11.8 MXF GONZALEZ CLAUDIO 164 D 10/30/01-10/30/01 10.0 20.0 KFY CAHOUET FRANK V 157 D 10/03/01-10/16/01 20.5 N/A USON MAYOR RICHARD B 146 D 10/08/01-10/09/01 30.0 101.4
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Diverdan ><>
Frank, feel free to try your non-returned secureview
in an underwater environment. Maybe try it in the bathtub first just to make sure it works before going into the open water. If it works, then Unified Marine may pick it up on more web sites. Let us know.
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Diverdan ><>
Apparently this is aready old news.
That is what happens when you have a broken home computer.
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Diverdan ><>
What is impressive is that each
link is consistent with the next in that the pics and prices are the same. Consistency is a good thing here and this PR is most impressive.
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Diverdan ><>
MVP Sportsline Link: This link also has
the secureview sale.
http://mvp.sportsline.com/srcModelList.asp
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Diverdan ><>
Dicks Sporting Goods Link:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?searchId=76887193&keywords=seaview
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Diverdan ><>
G I Joes link:
http://www.gijoes.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?searchId=76886746&keywords=seaview
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Diverdan ><>
Bluelight Link:
http://www.bluelight.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?searchId=76886207&keywords=seaview&y=14&...
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Diverdan ><>
Gart Sports Link:
http://www.gartsports.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?searchId=76885655&keywords=seaview&y=8&....
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Diverdan ><>
MCSports Link:
http://www.mcsports.com/searchHandler/index.jsp?searchId=76885231&keywords=seaview&y=8&x...
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Diverdan ><>