There may be more to pork Pres. elect Ronald William Prestage than meets the sty

Though he tried to enter U.S. Capitol with a gun, Prestage (center) 

once presented President Bush with Katie, the first pardoned female turkey.

(photo credit:  Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

When Ronald William Prestage, 59, was arrested last week for trying to take an unlicensed gun into the U. S. Capitol, many wondered what the frequent lobbyist was thinking.  According to the New York Daily News, Prestage did nothing suspicious to bring attention to himself, but the 9-mm. Ruger handgun was found during a routine search.  Prestage was arrested and taken into custody by the U. S. Capitol police.

Well reports and sources that have surfaced afresh after Prestage’s arrest indicate that his bag might not be the only thing that bears looking into.  Prestage is the president of Prestage Farms of South Carolina, LLC (PFSC), which provides turkey to the Louis Rich brand of Kraft Foods.  The parent company, Prestage Farms (PF) lists on its website that their mission is to “produce top quality pork and turkey at a competitive cost”.   (Continue reading full story here.)

Pork President elect caught trying to enter U.S. Capitol with unlicensed gun

Prestage arrested after trying to enter U.S. Capitol with a gun.

(photo credit:  Hannah Hess/CQ Roll Call)

A story in The State newspaper today underscores just how easily a tragedy can happen and why tightened security is still imperative.  Ronald William Prestage, 59, was stopped this morning as he tried to enter the U. S. Capitol with a loaded 9mm handgun in his bag.  This is the 2^nd time in a week that someone has been caught trying to enter the Capitol with a gun.

Prestage is the president of Prestage Farms of South Carolina, LLC., and is a well-known pork and turkey lobbyist in the hallowed halls of the Capitol.  Fortunately even frequent visitors are required to submit to a routine search and this is when security found the gun in Prestage’s bag.  He was arrested and taken into custody by U. S. Capitol Police on charges of “carrying a pistol without a license”.

Shootout at Forsyth County GA courthouse; deputy injured, attacker dead

Scene of shootout at Forsyth County GA Courthouse

(Photo Credit:  MyFoxNewsAtlanta.com)

CNN is reporting that a man is dead after trying to attack and take over a courthouse in Forsyth County, GA.  Just hours ago today the man, identified as Dennis Ronald Marx, 48, of Cumming, GA, drove his SUV straight up to the courthouse steps with intentions of wreaking havoc.  Authorities are calling it a “frontal assault”.

Marx screeched to a stop practically on top of the courthouse doors and immediately began throwing out spike strips that appeared to be homemade.  Spike strips are used, usually by police, to slow down or stop a criminal by causing his tires to go flat.  He also fired through the windshield hitting a deputy in the leg.  (Continue reading full story here.)

Are police responsible for Isla Vista shooting massacre?

Balcony of one of 10 crime scenes

in Isla Vista Shooting Rampage.

(Photo Credit:  David McNew/Getty Images)

Time and time again, we hear stories of mass shootings and wonder why no one in the perpetrator’s circle saw any signs of trouble.  If they did see signs, why did no one care enough to report these signs to someone who could help?  CNN is reporting today that the Isla Vista killing of multiple innocent people last week had been carefully planned over the past few years and there were many close calls that could have derailed the scheme.

There were more than enough red flags and, sadly, some of the blame must be squarely placed on the shoulders of those charged to protect and to serve…the police.  To be fair, the police probably get tips all day, every day about this or that.  And often they might have to make decisions on whether to give priority to a robbery in progress (potentially saving lives now) or to a tip called in by a concerned family member about a relative exhibiting odd behavior (potentially saving lives in the future).

Sadly the mass slaughtering of innocent people by Elliot Rodger, 22, was a tragedy that could have been prevented.  (Continue reading full story here.)

Channeling Elvis; Chris Brown and James DeBarge making jailhouse pop

Chris Brown (left) and James DeBarge (right) are locking down the beats while in jail.

(Photo Credit:  Chris Brown via his Facebook page/ 

James DeBarge via his Twitter Page)

The old saying goes that politics makes strange bedfellows.  Well now it can also be said that prison makes strange bedfellows.  The Los Angeles County jail is currently playing host to two of the smoothest voices in R&B music.  Chris Brown and James DeBarge are prisoners in adjacent cells and making the most of their time.

Brown was on probation stemming from his altercation with pop star Rhianna.  He allegedly assaulted someone who was trying to photobomb his picture with a fan and was thrown in jail for violating parole. He was originally scheduled to be released July 6^th, but may be set free as soon as sometime in June.  Brown has been charting since the early 2000’s and is known for such songs as ‘Kiss, Kiss’, ‘Run It’, ‘Fine China’, and ‘Wall To Wall’.

DeBarge, once married to Janet Jackson, (Continue reading full story here.)

High School student arrested; turns out she is 31, lied to family and school

Yes it's the same person.  Gregg County Police mug shot (left),

Charity Johnson via her Facebook page (right).

Two teens arrested for suspected arson in California, and a student arrested for filming women taking showers were among some of the stories involving teens that made the news this week.  But perhaps one of the most shocking arrests was the arrest of Charity Johnson, a high school student in Texas.

Everyone thought the 10^th grader was 15, but she was at least twice that age.  According to her arrest records, Johnson is 31 years old, older than some of the teachers who were educating her.

The story unfolded like something out of a Charles Dickens novel.  (Continue reading full story here.)

Amber Alert saves the kids; too late for mom murdered by dad

Anthony and Nicholas Jordan rescued after their father

killed their mother and kidnapped them from school.

(photo credit:  South Carolina Law Enforcement Division)

The relatives of Anthony Jordan, 7, and Nicholas Jordan, 8, can breathe a sigh of relief after learning that the boys were found alive and safe this morning.  A five-state Amber Alert was issued by Lodi, New Jersey police Friday night after it was discovered that the boys were taken from their school by their father, John Robert Jordan, 47.

Jordan was estranged from his wife, and the children’s mother, Tracey Jordan, 39.  They were in the process of getting divorced.  Tracey had already moved on and was dating (Read full story.)

"Show and Tell" gone wild; teacher gives student lap dance at school

Felicia Smith was charged with improper relationship with a student after

giving a boy a lap dance at school

(photo credit:  gadailynews.com)

The headlines have been teeming recently with stories of teachers having illicit affairs with underage students entrusted in their care.  What they all have in common is that these rendezvous are shrouded in secrecy.  Not so in the case of Stovall Middle School teacher Felicia Smith, 42, who gave a whole new meaning to hands on learning.  On Thursday Smith was charged with improper relationship with a student after giving a 15-year-old boy a lap dance in front of the whole class.

Smith put a chair in the front of the classroom on February 26 and the students urged the birthday boy to go up front and have a seat.  Music started playing and Smith proceeded to give the child a full body lap dance.  Someone filmed the entire performance, which lasted almost four minutes, and the video is now in the custody of the Aldine (Texas) Police Department.

According to authorities, Smith sat down on the student’s lap and began grinding.  She then stood up and danced for him while rubbing all over his body.  As the other students cheered her on, Smith knelt before the young man and placed her face between his legs.  After the music ended Smith embraced the student and said, “I love you baby.  Happy Birthday.”

Smith’s defense is a classic case of pointing the finger.  She told police that she only gave the child a lap dance because the other students urged her to do it for the boy as a birthday surprise.  The student told police that he did slap her on the behind a couple of times as she was bent over dancing in front of him.
School officials reported that Smith has been removed from the classroom while the investigation is ongoing, but did not say whether she is on paid or unpaid leave.  It is safe to say the students will not soon have another ‘show and tell’ period like this during their stay at middle school.

Pres. of S. Korea blasts ferry captain; says actions 'tantamount to murder'

Recovery efforts continue in tragic sinking of S. Korean Ferry, Sewol

(photo credi:  Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

"You must've said, 'Daddy, save me,'" wept one father.  His shout and the cries of other mourners were so chilling, that in a CNN news video, police guarding the recovery area of the sunken South Korean Ferry were seen wiping tears from their own faces.  Last Wednesday the ferry, Sewol, sunk while carrying high school students on a field trip.  Today, South Korean President Park Guen-Hye bluntly lashed out at the ferry’s captain and crew, calling their actions as the tragedy unfolded “tantamount to murder”.

English.news.cn is reporting that as of today 87 are confirmed dead, 174 have been rescued, and 215 still are unaccounted for.  As details begin to unfold, investigators are alleging that Captain Lee Joon-Seok made several errors in judgment.  The ferry made a turn without properly slowing down.  When the ferry started going down Captain Joon-Seok was not actually at the wheel of the ship.  He had given the helm to a third mate who’d had no prior experience sailing rough waters.

Joon-Seok has defended his actions saying he felt if he’d ordered evacuations, it would have been worse for the students because they would have been spread out in the waters, and there were not many ships in the vicinity to assist with rescue efforts and lift the kids out of the water.  So he ordered the passengers to remain in place until further notice.

President Guen-Hye was furious and dismayed because despite ordering others to remain onboard, Captain Joon-Seok and some of the other crew were among the first to leave the ship when the rescuers came, instead of staying behind and tending to the welfare of the students entrusted in their care.  Captain Joon-Seok was arrested after the accident on multiple charges to include negligence and abandoning ship. Over the weekend several more of the crew were arrested, bringing the total to seven.

Real life 'Scandal'; actor charged with threats to murder wife and kill himself

Columbus Short at NAACP Image Awards, February 2014

(photo credit:  Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NAACP)

Roughing up his wife, fighting in bars, and now threatening murder-suicide; these are not scenes from another thrilling Shonda Rhimes script, but the actual life of actor Columbus Short, a cast member on her hit ABC series ‘Scandal’.  Just yesterday Short’s wife, Turee Tanee, filed for divorce from him for the third time and has also been granted a restraining order.  There is a laundry list of accusations, but the shocker is that Tanee alleges that Short held a knife to her throat and threated to kill both of them.

Fans had already stirred up a social media frenzy about the highly-anticipated ‘Scandal’ finale tonight, but now many are riveted to see what the outcome will be for Short in real life.  Rhimes reportedly ordered Short to straighten up his act after he was involved in a bloody fisticuffs in a bar on March 15^th.  She made it clear that the show “will not tolerate negative press”.

Short and Tanee have been married since 2005 and are the parents of a 2-year-old daughter.  This isn’t the first time Short has been in the news.  There was a huge controversy when Short, a former much-in-demand backup dancer, admitted to having had a fling with his then boss Brittany Spears in 2004.  He was a dancer and choreographer for her Hotel Onyx Tour when tales of them kissing on tour fueled the breakup of his first marriage to Brandi, pregnant at the time with their now 9-year-old son.

Tanee alleges that this latest incident occurred on April 7^th, with Short coming home drunk and ended with her barely managing to escape.  She was only able to flee a short distance because she says Short had flattened her tire.  The judge immediately ordered Short to leave the home.  There is a hearing scheduled on May 8^th to determine if the restraining order will become permanent.

Another mom arrested for leaving children alone in car; system needs fixing

Tearful Shanesha Taylor after being arrested for leaving children 

alone in car while she went on job interview

(photo credit:  Jupiter Sinclair)

She is Shanesha Taylor, 35 with two small kids, ages 2 months and 6 years.  For whatever reason, her life is, by all accounts, a shambles.  She is homeless, a single mother, and almost at the end of her rope.  She gets called in for a job interview and suddenly there is a small ray of hope that things are about to look up, that she may be able to provide a better life for her babies.  She jumps at the chance and, to her dismay; things go from bad to worse.  She came out of her 45-minute interview to find police waiting to arrest her for child abuse.

Taylor says she left her children in the car, with the windows cracked for air, because she had no money to pay a babysitter.  A passerby heard a child crying in the car and called the police.  According to Scottsdale Police Officer Mark Clark, “She was upset.  This is a sad situation all around.  She said she was homeless.  She needed the job.  Obviously not getting the job.  So it’s just a sad situation.”  You can see the whole story on this video posted by CBS 5 Arizona news.

There have been so many stories of people who just snapped when the situation got too hard.  There are far too many tales of mothers who killed their children, mistakenly thinking they were doing them a favor.  They couldn’t stand to hear their babies crying from hunger or shaking from the cold due to the mother not having the money to pay the electric bills.  Some even murdered their children out of frustration and anger towards the absent father who was giving no help.  The nation was shocked earlier this month by one such story when a desperate and pregnant mom of three tried to kill her kids by driving her van into the ocean and later said that she was trying to take them “to a safer place”.

So even though Taylor may have been wrong to leave the kids in the car, she gets credit for trying, for not giving up and throwing in the towel.  There may yet be some good to come out of this story as over $43,000 has been raised through a campaign to help Taylor.  The money is to cover her $9000 bail and also try to raise enough money so that she and her kids can live (rent, electric, food) for a few months until she finds a job and starts receiving paychecks on a regular basis.  For information on how you can help click here to go to the campaign fund site.

Finally, let us hope this is a wakeup call to all of the fathers out there who love their kids, but cannot stand the mother.  If you are going to be an absentee father, and if you will not (or are not able to) financially provide for your children’s well-being, please be there to tend your children for a little while, especially if their mother is trying to find a job.  Not only will you end up spending more time with your babies, you just might literally save their lives.

Call 911 for Columbia PD: conspiracies, threats, coverups, now domestic violence

Tobin Barton, Officer of the Law, arrested for Criminal Domestic Violence

(photo credit:  thestate.com)

Once again the Columbia Police Department (CPD) made the news, in a not-so-desirable way, over the weekend.  Authorities responded to a possible assault call in the wee hours of Saturday morning.  Upon arriving at a residence in the northeast area at about 1 a.m., officers were surprised to find that it was one of their very own they would have to handcuff and haul off to the slammer.  CPD Officer Tobin Barton, 36, was charged with criminal domestic violence after an argument with his girlfriend allegedly turned physical.

Columbia residents have suffered more than their fair share of public humiliation regarding the CPD recently.  There have been allegations of secret recordings, police being ordered to plant drugs and a gun to get a city employee fired, threats and just last week a crime analyst slapped the City of Columbia with a lawsuit claiming her lover and former police chief Randy Scott wrongfully forced her to resign or be terminated on the spot.  

Columbia has had six police chiefs in the last seven years.  After a long and controversial search process current Huntington, West Virginia Police Chief William Holbrook has been selected to be the new CPD chief.  His resignation from the Huntington PD isn’t effective until April 7^th. 

Hopefully all the turmoil brewing in the CPD won’t cause Holbrook to change his mind about coming to our fair city.  CPD needs a leader, and fast, to whip things into shape.  Unfortunately it seems as if the agitation at the CPD is now spilling over into the community with officers taking their stress home.  Hurry Holbrook, hurry.  And it might not be a bad idea if you’d come riding in on a white horse with a long-handled broom to start sweeping things clean down at the CPD station.

Teen Serial Killer: I stopped counting at 22

Murdering Newlyweds:  Meet the Barbours    Photo credit/AP-New York Post

Most people expect their honeymoons to be exciting and memorable. But Pennsylvania newlyweds Elytte Barbour, 22, and Miranda Barbour, 18, added murder to the mix. Just three weeks after their wedding the couple has been arrested for the murder of 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara, accused of luring him to his death with a Craigslist ad promising companionship. According to the groom, the couple just wanted the thrill of killing someone together.

According to CNN, Miranda Barbour told investigators that she was no stranger to murder. She alleges that she committed her first murder at the age of 13 shortly after she joined a satanic cult. She says she doesn’t know the exact number of people she has killed, but it is somewhere under 100. She says she has killed in Texas, Alaska, North Carolina, and California, but has murdered more people in Alaska than anywhere else.

The police questioned the Barbours after discovering that their telephone number was the last number that LaFerrara had called. Miranda gave her first chilling interview to The Daily Item reporter Francis Scarcella, after contacting him to say that she would only speak with him. Read the entire interview here. The police investigation is just beginning so it remains to be seen if the couple will be convicted; however, one of the most frightening concerns is that Miranda Barbour is quoted as saying she has no remorse and, if released, she will kill again.

Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin's Brother-In-Law Murdered

Arthur L. Givens

Photo credit:  Courtesy of TheState.com

Residents of Columbia, South Carolina, were stunned by the news that a murder in Charlotte, North Carolina, had connections with two of Columbia’s most prominent families. Donald Everett Gist, 38, was shot to death in broad daylight this past Friday. According to authorities this was no random act. Police have offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Arthur L. Givens in connection with the murder.

Givens is a known felon with a history of violent offences. Although no motive has been released, police stated that they have reason to believe that Givens and Gist knew each other. Gist was shot outside of a convenience store around 1:15pm Friday afternoon and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Gist is the brother-in-law of Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who was just re-elected to a second term in November. Mayor Benjamin was in Colorado attending a leadership-in-governance conference at the time of the shooting, but he and the Gist family issued a joint statement expressing their shock and grief.

In addition to being the Mayor’s brother-in-law, Gist’s family is also very influential in the state of South Carolina. His sister is a circuit court judge, the Honorable DeAndrea G. Benjamin. His father is Attorney Donald Gist, senior partner of the Gist Law firm. Gist is survived by his wife and son, his parents, his sister, and a host of relatives and friends.