From time to time, I like to take note of news items that I find or are sent to me for consideration. I have two of them for you today.
The first one came to me by way of my sister who lives in Corpus Christi, Texas. Many of you may have seen this item in the news and on cable news networks. The story of a pee wee football coach who assaulted the referee after being warned by the referee repeatedly to stop using profanity. When the coach was ejected from the game, he apparently went ballistic and went after and assaulted the ref. Having lived in the area many years ago, I can attest to the seriousness of local football teams, but this goes too far. The actions of the coach have been condemned. Generally this type of behavior is not isolated. One wonders why it took such an extreme act to take corrective action.
Second, a friend sent me this article from the Grand Island Daily Independent. The story reports that a district court judge throws out a plea agreement to sentence a convicted child molester to 28-30 years rather than the 2 year sentence worked out between the public defender and the prosecutor. The article reported that Judge James Livingston stated “Schaff’s lack of remorse and understanding of how his actions affected anyone other then himself underscores the danger he presents to children, Livingston said.”
Oftentimes it seems the Media reports the outlandish decisions rendered by judges around the country. Based on the facts listed in this article…there are still judges out there who take an objective view of those cases and are not afraid to make hard decisions.
As a disclosure statement, I do know Judge Livingston from my time spent working in Grand Island.