#1 I bought strawberries from Whited's strawberry kiosk (or tent) on Mainstreet, Oneonta, a couple of days ago. I ate most of them before I got home that night. I love this time of year when fresh fruits and vegetables become available and abundant. What fruit or vegetable are you happiest to see again each year? Why? Do you have a particular market, neighbor, or friend that is you favorite supplier? Give them a plug, or a thank you.
#2 In a post this week I floated the idea that the State of Alabama could easily and immediately save several million dollars each year by abolishing the death penalty. Opinions?
#3 Spring breaks happened last month. Summer break is coming in a month or so. The Alabama legislature is considering legislation requiring the school summer break to be at least two and a half months in the summer, locking in the traditional schedule, and precluding local school board discretion.. Do you favor the traditional long summer break, or a year round school calendar with smaller breaks between sessions, or something else? Why?
#4 Sounds of Sumatanga, (fourth annual) is happening this Saturday at Camp Sumatanga. It will be a great day of music and fun down by the lake. Or inside if it rains. Check the website for details. Do you have any memories of Camp Sumatanga to share? Feel free. If not, come Saturday and make some.
1. I love Greene St. Market in downtown Huntsville. I can't wait for fresh tomatoes!
ReplyDelete2. I know next to nothing about the economy/finance in general, but I always support abolishing the death penalty.
3. I don't have kids, so I don't have an opinion. Spring Break turned out to be our busiest week at the skating rink.
4. I'm sad I don't get to go to SoS this year, but I'll be in Nashville for Prairie Home Companion! Look out for Aldersgate UMC selling nachos. I have too many good camp memories to count.
1. Fresh peaches!Close to Hartselle is Reeves orchard. They are wonderful as are hazelrigs and all the chilton county ones.
ReplyDelete2. yes
3.
4. The food, morning watch, vespers, chigger bowl, top of the mountain, parades around the chigger bowl, Bingo, Amos Moses, singing after meals (It's Love that makes the World go Round, Ole King Cole, etc) canteen, crafts, beautiful mountains, lake, streams. I could go on and on. Elementary, Jr High and Sr High camps.
1.I love ALL the fresh fruits and vegetables this time of year. My personal favorite is the Nashville Farmers Market tied with my unending devotion and love of the weekend farmers markets in Denver.
ReplyDelete2. yes
3. We are going to have a balanced calendar next year. I am excited to have breaks that also provide time for additional support/extension for students who need something more. We will have an 8 week summer break (we have students Aug. 1st), a 2 day fall break + a 3 day intercession (support/extension for selected students all others have an extended fall break), typical Thanksgiving/Christmas break, and 1 week Spring Break + 1 week intercession. Teachers have the option to work intercession and will be paid for their time. If students are selected for intercession our standard attendance policy will apply. I am excited to see how it works next year. I would hate for the district to be limited in the ways that it can meet the needs of students. Plus, research shows that learning loss is significant particularly among low income students and English Language Learners past the 8 week break mark. Long summer breaks can also be extra difficult for low income families when the school is no longer feeding their students breakfast and lunch.
2. - This is only one reason I am against the death penalty. At least if they are sentenced to life mistakes can be corrected. After execution what do they say - "Oops, wrong person, sorry."
ReplyDeleteTuesday, March 27, 2012FBI admits errors in DNA testing could affect hundreds of cases.
Washington - Two men sent to prison more than 30 years ago are now learning the scientific evidence used against them at trial was wrong. Kirk Odom and Santae Tribble were each convicted in part on testimony their hair was discovered at two different crime scenes in the district. Odom was convicted of rape, Tribble of murder.
But DNA analysis now shows the hair in each case belongs to someone else, a fact that has moved the U.S. Attorney to launch a new review of hundreds of cases.
Kirk Odom and Santae Tribble came forward after reading stories about Donald Gates.
A man who went to prison in part because an FBI agent said his hair was found at the scene of a murder. But DNA evidence proved otherwise and Gates was released from prison in 2009. Odom and Tribble wondered if they could get the same justice.
Attorneys from the public defender’s service began an investigation and have now filed a motion to vacate their convictions.
A stocking was recovered nearby and inside investigators said were hairs from the assailant, one that matched Santae Tribble.
In fact, FBI Special Agent James Hilverda said, "The hair that aligned with Santae Tribble matched in all microscopic characteristics, all characteristics were the same."
But DNA testing now shows the hair did not come from Santae Tribble.
"We are announcing today that we are going to go back and do a sweeping review of cases going back decades,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Machen, “Some in the 70s and 80s and even earlier if we can find the records of cases where hair analysis was used in part to secure convictions."
The U.S. Attorney’s Office just completed another review of more than 200 cases called into question by the wrongful conviction of Donald Gates, a man who went to prison in part due to the hair analysis testimony of an FBI agent