Good Evening!
After keeping up with the situation in my hometown of Banjoville, it was so wonderful to see this headline tonight.
Georgia official: KKK won’t be allowed to ‘adopt’ highway – CNN.com
Citing safety concerns and the organization’s history, Georgia transportation officials said Tuesday they would not allow a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan to “adopt” a one-mile stretch of highway in North Georgia.
The Klan chapter wanted to clean a stretch of Georgia State Route 515 in Union County, Georgia, according to paperwork obtained by CNN.
The application was filed by the International Keystone Knights of the KKK on May 21.
Keith Golden, commissioner for the state Department of Transportation, wrote the chapter’s secretary that officials determined the mountain roadway, with a speed limit of 65 mph, was not a safe place for cleanup volunteers to work.
Golden’s letter to April Chambers cited other concerns.
“The impact of erecting a sign naming an organization which has a long-rooted history of civil disturbance would cause a significant public concern,” he wrote. “Impacts include safety of the traveling public, potential social unrest, driver distraction or interference with the flow of traffic.”
Video at the link.
I know that April Chambers, the Keystone KKK secretary is reported to have said….”We’ll see them in court.” The ACLU has received a request for assistance and is looking into it…DOT rejects Klan application to adopt highway, legal challenge likely | ajc.com
Harley Hanson, who filed the application for the Klan, has pledged to sue if he was rejected.
Missouri lost a lengthy legal battle to ban the KKK from adopting a road in that state.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal urged state Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden to reject the Klan. In an e-mail to Golden on Tuesday, Deal’s chief of staff, Chris Riley, said the governor “does not support the approval of the application.”
In other news…
George Zimmerman wife arrested: George Zimmerman’s wife arrested, charged with perjury This is really no surprise, she lied on the stand and the Judge was not “happy” about it. There is something to be said for seeing the mug shots of both the Zimmermans on that link.
In an affidavit, prosecutors revealed new details about Shellie Zimmerman’s alleged efforts to hide money from the court.
Four days before she testified to having no knowledge of the funds, the affidavit says, Shellie Zimmerman began a series of transfers into her account — totaling $74,000 from April 16 to April 19.
The affidavit says about $47,000 more was transferred from George Zimmerman’s account to his sister’s. Shellie Zimmerman withdrew about $18,000 more in cash, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors say the Zimmermans used a rudimentary “code” to discuss the money in recorded jailhouse phone calls — referring to $100,000, for example, as “$100.” At least two of the calls, the state alleges, were made while Shellie Zimmerman and her husband’s sister were at a local credit union making the transactions.
Zimmerman told his wife to “pay off all the bills” with the money, prosecutors said, including an American Express card and a Sam’s Club card. He also instructed her on how to pay his bail.
According to the affidavit, after her husband was released on bond days after the hearing, she transferred more than $85,000 back into his account. A branch manager at their credit union told prosecutors he knew the couple and saw Shellie Zimmerman talking to her husband on the phone April 16.
The manager said he had helped Shellie Zimmerman transfer control of George Zimmerman’s account, at one point speaking directly to George Zimmerman by phone.
I have a couple more news links for you:
Top conservative says read my lips: Don’t sign ‘no new tax’ pledge
As a conservative Republican, Lindsey Graham has never had a problem promising not to raise taxes. Like almost every other Republican member of Congress, he has signed the anti-tax pledge put forth by Grover Norquist’s group Americans for Tax Reform.
But now Graham says the debt crisis is so severe that the tax pledge — which says no tax loopholes can be eliminated unless every dollar raised by closing loopholes goes to tax cuts — has got to go.
“When you eliminate a deduction, it’s okay with me to use some of that money to get us out of debt. That’s where I disagree with the pledge,” said Graham.
Jeb yesterday…Graham today…hmmmm…
And, remember that post I did about the only newspaper in the city of New Orleans going to digital? Well, here ya go: Times-Picayune lays off nearly one-third of its staff | NOLA.com
Managers at The Times-Picayune are informing more than 200 members of the newspaper staff today that their last day at the company will be Sept. 30. The Times-Picayune, according to company executives, is shrinking its overrall staff — including news, advertising, circulation and other departments — by 32 percent, or 201 employees.
Times-Picayune editor Jim Amoss talks about the recently announced changes coming to the newspaper and its online partner, nola.com. Watch videoIn the news operation alone, 84 of the 173 people currently employed in the Times-Picayune newsroom were notified Tuesday that they will lose their jobs and be given severance packages.
Finally, I want to leave you with a couple of cartoons…Mike Luckovich is back! 6/13 Mike Luckovich cartoon: Economic policies | Mike Luckovich
6/12 Mike Luckovich cartoon: Adopt-a-highway | Mike Luckovich
