Avoid New Mexico's Dona Ana County traveling friends... they locked a guy in solitary for two years without a trial. No judge, no sentence, no charges. True story

Slevin was awarded $22 million in damages by a federal jury for his ordeal, which involved being confined to a small cell with no natural light for 23 hours a day.

Meanwhile, his relatives were trying to find out: where's Stephen?

for most of his 22-month detainment, was that he was in "deplorable" conditions of his solitary "pod," court documents state, except for a 14-day period in May 2007, when he was sent to New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas, N.M., for a psychiatric review. He had lost a third of his body weight by that point, documents say, and had bed sores and a fungal infection on his skin.

It wouldn't be until months later that Slevin's sister, whose name and location [attorney Matt] Coyte did not give, found out what her brother was going through: Forced to pull out his own tooth because he was denied access to a dentist, he told reporters on Tuesday. Toenails curling around his foot because they were so long. Basically forgotten about in his dark cell for more than 22 months.

“There was no doctor looking after him. There was a nurse, the nurse practitioner.”
But the so-called nurse practitioner only had a bachelor’s degree in psychology and no actual medical qualifications, KOB reported.

Dona Ana County officials were tight-lipped about the case, refusing to answer questions about whether any jail employees were reprimanded or fired over Slevin's treatment.

So, I won't be driving through that county... ever.


News excerpts from http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243856-letters-from-solitary-confinement-reveal-dwi-mans-despair but you'll find the same info everywhere around the internet... this is appalling. Nothing about being a citizen with constitutional rights was ever applied to this man until his lawyer got the County of Dona Ana of New Mexico sued.

And if you think this is just an isolated incident, and that this Dona Ana County doesn't have problems?

(Mayor Elect) Daniel Salinas, of Sunland Park, was arrested overnight Monday on bribery and conspiracy charges alleging he gave acting Police Chief Luis Monarez his job in exchange for persuading Monarez’s sister not to run against a Salinas ally for City Council, according to Dona Ana County Assistant District Attorney

Salinas had already posted $50,000 cash following his arrest in late February on extortion and other charges related to accusations that he and the city manager tried to force an opponent out of the mayor’s race with a secretly recorded video of him getting a lap dance.

Side note, from the DSC show on 100.7 Jack FM news, the opponent mentioned above was running for Mayor, and while giving a job interview and accompanied by his election campaign manager, the interviewee started up music and stripped off her top. Bingo, caught on film, total set up. Feb 24 podcast #4 of 4 http://www.sandiegojack.com/global/Story.asp?s=12880043

That set off a widespread probe that has resulted in eight arrests of current and former city officials on bribery, extortion, voter fraud and other charges.

From the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/sunland-park-nm-mayor-elect-accused-in-lap-dance-video-arrested-again-for-other-alleged-plot/2012/03/20/gIQA20JfPS_story.html

Why did I post this? We all drive, and occasionally we drive through some scary places. I don't want you to go through there without being warned. Seriously.

stolen cars

what do you think the ratio of stolen cars, to located cars, to convictions for car thefts is... and how many cops are working on stolen car reports....

vs

how many cops are working speed traps / radar speed limit enforcement.

Yeah, I have a low opinion of law enforcement priorities. Based on facts, and the local newpaper reporters doing diligent investigative journalism. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/12/about-40-of-all-tickets-written-in-san.html

Here in San Diego, if your car is stolen, you can forget it. go to your insurance company, and deal with them. 

Zora Duntov and the Chevrolet skunkworks built 40 special 1959 Biscaynes, Police specials... Zora used his as the test mule

348/350 HP law-enforcement pursuit vehicles, featured in Motor Trend (Dec. 58) and Muscle Car Review (Feb 2008)

They were faster than that years best factory Ferrari according to Musclecar Review.. well, Zora's was the test mule and got the special treatment you'd expect the boss and leader of the Chevy racing program to get... it was capable of 135mph

the photos are from this auction listing, that states it's thought to be the last one left, and was originally delivered to the Oregon St Police http://mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=CA0810-96579

I wish I had more of infographics like this to share, this is awesome, and found on SwissStache... "What cop car lights look like"

from http://swissstash.tumblr.com/

I can't find a bigger source of infographics, but I also couldn't find any I found interesting at http://infographics.alltop.com/

About 40% of all tickets written in San Diego are in just 4 locations, and 2 are basically College student areas

11% near SDSU at College Avenue between El Cajon Boulevard and Montezuma Road

5% in Pacific Beach, Garnet Avenue between Ingraham Street and Balboa Avenue

another of the top 5 most ticketed is also in Pacific Beach, coming down Mt Soledad rd to Balboa

So, are cops targetting young speeders? Seems like it. But keep in mind what I posted http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/01/speed-limit-enforcement.html about cops giving speeding tickets, they prefer to ticket in the 2nd or higher price bracket... not in the 5 to 15 mph over, but over 15 mph over the posted speed limit when fines really get expensive... because a million people driving the same way 5 miles over the limit as they do at the limit, versus a few people driving way over the limit who will get fined enormously for driving near or over the limit of their braking and avoidance ability is another way to see the issue, but keep reading to see that it really is all about the money.

So reading on the article, you find that the first one I wrote about, the 11% of all tickets in San Diego, the most of any place in San Diego, are at the bottom of the hills on either side of a speed limit drop zone of 600 feet (for nothing different in the road condition, no schools) because it's a senior citizen residential block where the speed drops from 35 to 25 (again... at the bottom of two hills when you've got gravity speeding you up), and to quote the reporter "Nearly all the tickets were issued in the senior zone when drivers exceeded 40 miles per hour, causing fines to increase by $125 or more."  confirming what I said about the 15 and over ticketing method causing fines to increase by $125 or more.
Using today’s fine amounts, the drivers ticketed on the College Avenue stretch during the year reviewed were fined more than $600,000. If all of the drivers paid those fines — and some do not — the city’s take would be more than $109,000 with the rest going to the county or the state.

Here is where you can see its all about the money... putting in a stop light will cost about a half million, writing tickets will earn about 20% more than that, about $600,000

More than that, the reporter, Matt Clark doesn't hold back.. I like that! He puts the matter in clear perspective when he points out
In the College Avenue zone (the one I've been talking about), 39 accidents occurred and cops handed out 1,678 tickets between July 2005 and June 2010,

Other areas of the city had more accidents — and fewer speeding tickets.

Three people died in 104 accidents on University Avenue between Park Boulevard and Utah Street in North Park. Officers issued five speeding tickets.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/18/11-city-speeding-tickets-written-one-spot/?page=1#article

All fired up? Or would you like to read a really good rant about speed traps and how people got fed up and fought back? http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/01/here-comes-rant-moneymaking-speedtraps.html