A federal judge sent a message to the commercial fishing community on Wednesday that getting caught employing illegal immigrants will land you in jail. Despite calls for leniency from prosecution and defense attorneys, U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson gave Yvonne Michelle Peabody, operator of the Peabody Corp., 90 days in prison for employing undocumented workers over a four-year period.
The Newport News-based Peabody Corp. owns a fleet of trawlers used mostly for scalloping. Michelle Peabody, as she is known, and her father, company founder William Frankie Peabody, pleaded guilty to employing illegal immigrants. The elder Peabody was sentenced Wednesday to five months of home confinement with electronic monitoring. Jackson also ordered Michelle Peabody to serve four months of home detention after she gets out of custody.
The Peabodys previously agreed to pay $6.9 million in fines and forfeitures, which represents the profits they made using the undocumented workers. But the question of jail time remained unanswered as Jackson considered the backgrounds of the defendants and other factors.
The court finds your conduct to be egregious, Jackson told Michelle Peabody, noting that the government should could have easily charged her with felony crimes.
As company vice president, Michelle Peabody handles day-to-day operations and was held largely responsible for employing 126 illegal immigrants over a four-year period, through 2006, a problem that law enforcement officials said is pervasive in the fishing industry.
Jackson gave a number of reasons for giving Peabody prison time but noted in particular her role as chairwoman of the law enforcement subcommittee of the regional fisheries council while conducting the illegal activity. The maximum sentence for her crimes was a year in prison.
Her attorney, Kenneth D. Bell, in arguing for leniency, said hed never seen in 25 years of practice someone with no criminal record getting jail time for a first misdemeanor offense.
He had to say that, but he didn't believe it in his heart.
Michelle Peabody apologized to the judge and tried to explain why it happened. We never as a business or a family sat down and decided to hire illegals, but we did. Were very sorry and Im very sorry, she said.
Peabody faced tougher punishment than her father because she also pleaded guilty to unauthorized access of a government computer. She admitted that she obtained sensitive information from her one-time Coast Guard boyfriend. The boyfriend, Morris Wade Hughes, was convicted of related charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Posted by: James Samuel ||
05/02/2008 15:13 Comments ||
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#3
90 days, hell! Give her 9 YEARS, and make her do every damned day of it. Send a BIG message!
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/02/2008 17:23 Comments ||
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#4
Should've moved the operation up here to New Bedford or Fall River. She'd be a lefty goddess. Deval Patrick would probably do Make It In Massachusetts commercials with her.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.
But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury. She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count - an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said there was no rule against it.
So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky's legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.
Class.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/02/2008 08:25 ||
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#2
Squirrels? Pretty good eating. Red squirrels are almost too small, and since a high percentage of their diet is often pine seeds, they can get an off taste.
Grey squirrels and fox squirrels, on the other hand, provide more meat than you think, and the meat is similar to dark-meat turkey. As good or better in a crock pot as chicken or turkey or rabbit. More flavorful than you think. Don't knock it till you try it.
I don't know about flying squirrels like they mention in the article. Most states don't allow hunting at night, and that's usually the only time flying squirrels (except maybe Rocky) are out and about.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/02/2008 6:00 Comments ||
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#3
MMMM squirrel stew!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/02/2008 7:46 Comments ||
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#4
"Bullwinkle, what are you doing? . . . Why are you looking at me like that? . . . Bullwinkle, please, put down the fork . . . no, Bullwinkle, no! NOOOOOO! . . . "
Posted by: Mike ||
05/02/2008 8:03 Comments ||
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#5
I think someone proposed that the English should eat the invasive gray squirrel that was threatening their local red squirrel. But that idea died when they pondered what squirrel would taste like if it had been boiled for a few hours, like other English cuisine.
#7
Restaurants in London are better than restaurants in Paris. There is plenty on bad cooking on this side of the Atlantic too.
The boiled and salted cooking was due to the War and socialism after the War. Things have improved enormously since Thatcher. Try any country pub for Sunday lunch and you will never say a bad word about English food.
#9
It's been close to 50 years, so I don't remember the taste of squirrel, but I do remember our country cousins (we lived in town) bringing Nannie a mess of squirrels more than once when I was little. She skinned them and fried them up & made pan gravy, and I do remember they were pretty good.
Being basically lazy (and having no one to supply me with squirrel meat - or venison, dammit!), nowadays I have to resort to saving chickens, cows, pigs, salmon, and canned white tuna. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2008 12:40 Comments ||
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#10
I believe in recycling deer, turkey, hog and fish as well...
#14
THis is similar in premise to RUSH LIMBAUGH's suppor back in the 1990's for CONSERVATIVE-FREE MARKET answers/responses to the Radical Enviro agenda, i.e. that producers will not let any natural specias wid pan-societal, for-profit economic value or worth disappear???
#15
See also DER SPIEGEL > GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS:THE STRUGGLE TO SATSIFY CHINA AND INDIA'S HUNGER, + THE HUNGRY CHILDREN OF CHYNOW [Poland] + DEFUSING GERMANY'S DEMOGRAPHIC TIMEBOMB + [IIRC]DEADLY VIOLENCE: THE FURY OF THE GLOBAL HUNGRY/POOR.
Hartlepool Police launched a knives amnesty last Friday and within days they were given the sword which has sharpened edges. Police say they are delighted to see such a dangerous weapon handed in and warned people who buy swords like this to decorate their homes that they can have deadly consequences in the wrong hands.
Inspector Peter Knights, of Hartlepool Police, said: "I am delighted to see a weapon of this nature has been surrendered. All too often we see items such as this used and abused by people which leads invariably to serious injury or death. The message remains: Surrender the weapons to the unarmed Hartlepool Police."
The Mail is backing the campaign that is aimed at getting deadly weapons off the streets and preventing youngsters from getting involved in knife culture. They're all vegans so they don't need knives to eat.
As well as the sword, a number of knives have been handed in and police are urging people to hand in any more knives at Hartlepool Police Station.
Insp Knights added: "Some kitchen knives have been handed in and another ornamental knife that looks like it is missing a handle, but it could still cause some damage. We are hoping that people will still come in and dump their weapons in the bin so that they will be as defneceless in the face of armed criminals as we are."e.
#2
Is the lunacy over there really as bad as it sounds?
I've moved to: Is there any reason not to believe it's as bad over there as it sounds? I am thinking of starting a pool on when the US will first grant political asylum to a national from another Nato member.
#3
"the sword which has sharpened edges" As in there's just one of them? And it's been removed from the hands of the citizenry, where surely it would have put someone's eye out?
What's next, confiscating all pointed sticks? Rasberries? How to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana?
#4
It would indeed be a wonderful world if everyone surrendered all of their weapons as well as anything that could be used as a weapon.
Mainly it would be a wonderful world, because I would secretly keep a butter knife, and as the only armed person on the planet, I would be able to rule the world.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/02/2008 12:10 Comments ||
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Problem with those type of stats is that they dont show how may of the people killed were bad people...
My Sister was burgled and had a Samurai sword stolen from her house. She wont be buying another one, having thought about what could have happened had she disturbed them. In the event she lost a few pounds worth of "stuff", a tv and a few other bits.
I was mugged just once when I was a teenager, by a gang of heroin addicts. It cost me £5 paper round money.
As I've got older, I've got bolder & probably wouldnt give in so easily now. I've had a windscreen smashed & a motorbike nicked over the years. Obviously not happy about any of these things (wasnt around when they were happening) but I can live with that level of crime (both things were insured) knowing that there are very few real no go areas in the whole of the land. I've not lived a particularly sheltered life, either.
#9
Typically, these Buy-Back programs are launched in conjunction with some proposed legislation. Of course, its impossible to quantify any positive results from such ridiculous programs but if there is any down-tick in knife related crimes they will claim responsibility. Look for some MP to be introducing the Dont run with Scissors law real soon.
#10
The men who defended Rorke's Drift and the Residency at Lucknow wouldn't even spit on today's Britons. Today's lot are gutless wankers indeed.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/02/2008 17:28 Comments ||
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#11
Next up: Screwdrivers. Use a coin instead!
Posted by: Dar ||
05/02/2008 17:41 Comments ||
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#12
Just wait until they get their next vicious serial killer. For maximum effect it will be a home invader who ties up people and strangles them or something.
Director Spike Lee has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative statements have proved a thorn in the side of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama. Lee advises the preacher to do the right thing and keep quiet. "The more he opens his mouth, the more damage he does," he told the Guardian yesterday.
For good measure, Lee hinted at a political conspiracy behind Wright's recent, contentious attempts to justify his remarks. "It looks like he's being paid to keep talking," he said. . . .
"Jeremiah Wight needs to be quiet," Lee said yesterday. "If he loves Obama he needs to shut up right now. It makes me question his motives for talking. I'm starting to wonder whether somebody has been contributing to the building funds of his church. Seriously." . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
05/02/2008 08:07 ||
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#1
He is being subsidized by a prominent Hillary supporter, a black woman. I would not be horribly surprised if he is getting (at least the promise of) some big bucks if he can ruin Obama.
Of course, unless he got paid first, he won't see a dime.
#2
"Jeremiah Wight needs to be quiet," Lee said yesterday.
No, you idget, You and the rest of your community need to loudly and clearly denounce not just the man but the crap he was mouthing. But you won't will you? You just want him to be quiet. It's just don't let whitey know what we really believe, right? Tell's us far more about who you are.
Posted by: Big Arugula ||
05/02/2008 9:15 Comments ||
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I will believe it the second I see the black leadership rise up en mass and denounce Wright. Until then, the chickens have come home to roost so quit your damn sulking.
LAHORE: Saddar Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Shahid Nizam Durrani on Thursday suspended three policemen for thrashing three eunuchs after they turned down their (cops) unwanted sexual advances. The cops belonged to Manga Mandi Police. The incident took place during the day at Manga Mandi Chowk. The policemen including ASI Zulfiqar and Constables Shahbaz and Shafiq stopped three eunuchs identified as Baba Sonia, Baba Bano and Sobia and asked them for sexual favours. The eunuchs replied that they only sang and danced and did not pimp themselves. The cops got angry and started beating the eunuchs, which prompted passers-by to stop the cops. The eunuchs went to SP Durrani and complained. The cops were also present. The SP held an inquiry into the incident, found the cops guilty and suspended them.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2008 00:00 ||
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A Muslim victim of sexual assault needs testimony from 4 adult males, to prove the case. I guess a eunuch is an adult male, under sharia.
A US soldier who guarded Saddam Hussein and his cronies yesterday revealed he has an almost complete set of signed Iraqs most wanted playing cards. The US military developed the special deck to help troops identify the fugitive members of Saddams government.
And as they were rounded up and taken to Camp Cropper near Baghdad Airport Sergeant Mark Heinbaugh was able to get them to sign their card. Even Saddam gave his signature, under the word Victor in red ink the guards codename for him. Those on the cards were all high-ranking Baath Party members or from the Revolutionary Command Council.
Each card contains the wanted persons name, a picture if available, and their job. The highest-ranking cards, starting with the aces and kings, were used for the people at the top of the most-wanted list. Saddams card was the ace of spades.
Marks other signed cards were of Saddams cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti dubbed CHEMICAL ALI for his use of chemical weapons. He was the king of spades. He is now on death row for the massacre of 200,000 Kurds.
Saddams cigar-smoking deputy prime minister TARIQ AZIZ, 72, was the eight of clubs. Mark said he was "living in a mess" at the camp, throwing his unfinished food on the floor and leaving it to rot. Aziz has lung disease and is so ill that he is expected to die before his trial.
Saddams half-brother, BARZAN EBRAHIM AL TIKRITI was the five of clubs. He was hanged last January. Mark said: "He was aggressive. He tried to grab one of our guards and drag him into his room by his neck and shoulder."
Saddams minister of the interior MAHMUD DHIYAB AL-AHMAD scribbled "with my respect" on his card the seven of spades.
The infamous Anthrax Annie HUDA SALIH MAHDI AMMASH, the five of hearts, used her card to protest her innocence.
She scribbled: "Leadership? Yes. Scientist? Indeed. But WMD??!! By no means. A truth thatll shine one day . . . by the grace of god not far away." Mark said: "We also called Annie Shadyside. Before the war she had worked as a scientist in the US and had been treated for cancer in Shadyside, Pennsylvania."
Mark, 45, who was serving with the Pennsylvania National Guard, was dispatched to Camp Cropper for a year from March 2004 three months after Saddams capture. Saddam was hanged in 2006.
Mark added: "A lot of the detainees were happy to sign the cards. They said it made them look like celebrities. They were happy to be remembered. I think I am the only soldier with practically a full set of signed cards. And I got a signature from Saddam himself.
"A friend was guarding him and got him to sign my ace of spades.
#1
What an amazing story. Sergeant Mark Heinbaugh has created something that may well end up in the Smithsonian someday. Way to go, Sergeant! Thanks for the link, Seafarious.
My mom chucked all my Star Wars cards. I looked up the values in the early 90s to find she'd tossed roughly $4.50 worth of cards because every kid had the red, blue and gold sets.
Now they are probably worth something but I might have tossed them after Jar Jar so my mom gets off.
#9
not cards but comic books for me. My family moved and I had 8 shelves of comic books in pristine condition, we were moving and my mom said we could buy more when we got to our new place....
Real agony to remember that.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/02/2008 22:58 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Director Spike Lee has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative statements have proved a thorn in the side of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama. Lee advises the preacher to do the right thing and keep quiet. "The more he opens his mouth, the more damage he does," he told the Guardian yesterday.
