Quad-City Times. Oct. 17, 2014.
Traffic cameras get public trial
Compile a list of hot button political issues and automated traffic enforcement is bound to be near the top.
That’s why we’re wonderfully surprised to see Iowa’s Supreme Court take the appeal of state traffic camera law out of the Des Moines, Iowa Judicial Branch Building, and to a night session at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, just an hour away from where the case began.
Sioux City attorney Michael Jacobsma challenged the constitutionality of his town’s traffic camera ordinance for the same reason many Quad-Citians flinch: It holds the car owner, not necessarily the driver, responsible for the photographed infraction.
Iowa’s first challenge of automated traffic enforcement came from Thomas J. Seymour in his lawsuit against Davenport for its automated enforcement. Then, the court held that state law did not preclude Davenport’s own traffic camera ordinance. But the court in that ruling specifically did not address other issues, like owner liability.
“This court is not a roving commission that offers instinctual legal reactions to interesting issues that have not been raised. ,” the court wrote in the 2008 decision.
So students and other Iowa citizens at Buena Vista College got a real treat Wednesday night: A vigorous argument on a legal issue that touches just about every driver in the state. Jacobsma is challenging his $168 fine, claiming the local ordinance is unclear about holding drivers, not owners responsible.
“Why doesn’t the ordinance really spell it out?” Justice Brent Appel asked. “The concern arises that this looks like a little bit of trickery.”
That’s the impression of many Iowans who view cameras as a municipal money-maker, not an accident preventer.
We’ve supported regulated use of traffic cameras because Davenport stats suggest they work, reducing accidents, slowing traffic and freeing up police officers for other duties. But the issues raised by Jacobsma in his appeal - and by some ticketed Quad-Citians in letters to the editor - deserve resolution by the court.
Hearing this case Wednesday evening in front of a college audience bolsters the court’s transparency and public confidence. Thanks to the justices for choosing to hear this case publicly, just an hour away from the camera in question.
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The Hawk Eye. Oct. 19, 2014.
Troubling development: Ames refuses to play a football game in Des Moines for fear of player and fan safety. We can’t let that happen again.
This shouldn’t happen in Iowa, especially in the shadow of the state capitol.
But on Friday, Des Moines East High School’s football team was scheduled to host Ames’ team. The game wasn’t played, and East had to forfeit.
The reason was that on the buildup to the game, there were things posted on social media promising violence during the game.
Ames administrators took those threats a bit too serious, especially since there was going to be more than enough police presence at the game, and they refused to send their team to Des Moines.
That we’re even writing about additional police presence to protect players and fans at a high school football game anywhere in Iowa is troubling.
This is the stuff that shouldn’t happen in Iowa.
After consulting with the Iowa High School Athletic Association, East officials were given three choices.
They could move the game to Ames, play it on Saturday or forfeit. Why Ames got to dictate the terms of a road game on their schedule wasn’t explained, but those were the options given the East administration.
East took the forfeit, then school officials unloaded a barrage of criticism at Ames officials, and we can’t really blame them for the emotional outburst.
“It’s unfortunate our students are punished because people living north of here think they know more than us,” Phil Roeder, spokesman for the Des Moines school district told the Des Moines Register.
There have been too many deadly events at high schools across the country, so we get the hesitation when things are posted on social media about threats of violence. But when a Friday night high school football game is canceled in Iowa - in the state’s capital no less - it should grab our attention.
Officials never should be in a position where they have to say they fear for their students’ well being.
Schools should be safe havens, even at athletic events. Threats of violence cannot be tolerated.
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The Des Moines Register. Oct. 19, 2014.
Lawmakers need to fix ’forfeiture’ law in 2015
A few weeks ago, two former heads of the federal civil forfeiture program called for abolishing the initiative, which enables police to seize the cash and assets of motorists who are suspected of acquiring the cash and assets through the commission of crimes.
But the system doesn’t require that those people actually be convicted of a crime. And Brad Cates and John Yoder now describe the program they once championed as corrupt and a “gross perversion of the status of government amid a free citizenry.”
They are right.
The federal civil forfeiture law, along with most of the state forfeiture laws, gives police the broad authority to seize the property of people in a process that then forces the property owners to prove the cash and goods are not the proceeds of criminal acts. In many cases, the seized cash is used for the benefit of law enforcement agencies, giving them a strong interest in using the forfeiture laws.
The Des Moines Register reported last month that an Iowa State Patrol trooper seized $100,000 in cash from two California poker players who were pulled over last year on Interstate Highway 80 in Poweshiek County. Their offense? They failed to use the car’s turn signal when changing lanes. At the time, the two men were driving back to California from a World Series of Poker event in Illinois.
One of the men, who has a California medical marijuana card, was ticketed for possession of drug paraphernalia (a device to chop marijuana for smoking). Although that was the only charge tied to the traffic stop, the State Patrol decided to keep the $100,000. The two men had to spend a big chunk of money to hire a lawyer to get their money back, because the trooper did not have to show probable cause to believe the money came from criminal actions.
The Register recently asked Attorney General Tom Miller if he saw any problems with Iowa’s forfeiture law. He called the law “an important tool needed by law enforcement to deny criminals (especially drug dealers) the fruits of their crimes.” He said isolated cases of abuse may occur, but “this is a training issue for law enforcement officers and prosecutors.”
He’s correct: The abuse is a training issue. Like many colleagues around the nation, the Iowa officers involved in the poker-players stop have been trained, at taxpayer expense, in a controversial drug-interdiction program called Desert Snow.
As the Washington Post recently reported, Desert Snow hosts an annual competition for the title of Royal Knight, honoring the law officer who has seized the most cash and contraband in the previous 12 months. Desert Snow also encourages officers to post photos of themselves with the cash and contraband they have seized.
Adam Gregg, Miller’s opponent in the Nov. 4 election, says citizens “should be considered innocent until proven guilty - but our civil forfeiture laws often turn this principle on its head.” He said he wants lawmakers to consider “removing any appearance that law enforcement is self-interested in seizing property by requiring funds or assets seized to be used for non-law enforcement purposes.”
That is one step that is needed to end abuse of the forfeiture law. As long as police agencies know that all or some of the cash they seize will be funneled back into them, the roadside shakedowns are going to continue.
When the Legislature convenes in January, lawmakers’ “To Do” list needs to include changing the forfeiture law so the government has to prove the cash or property represent the fruits of criminal activity, instead of turning America’s “innocent until proven guilty” principle upside down and requiring the citizen to prove a negative - that the cash or property were not derived from a crime.
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Globe Gazette. Oct. 16, 2014.
Awareness, education keys to suicide prevention
Many of us can’t begin to understand it. We find it sad, unthinkable. We talk about offering help and education and anything else we can think of to try to reach those in need before it’s too late.
But despite these efforts, some people choose to end their own lives. All the more baffling, in an era where life expectancy in the United States is at its all-time high and rates dropped or held steady for nearly all leading causes of death, the suicide rate in 2012 reached its highest point in 25 years.
Experts don’t know the reasons for sure, but we do know we have to keep working to convince those living in desperation that someone wants to help them find another way to deal with their issues, that suicide doesn’t have to be a final option.
That’s why there are events like the annual Out of Darkness Community Walk in Mason City.
Some 150 people gathered in Southbridge Mall recently for the three-mile walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It was a time for people to come together to talk about suicide, including many who lost someone close to them.
Myrna Jorgensen of St. Ansgar was participating with a team from Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado who all had lost someone to suicide. Their T-shirts delivered the message of the day: “Life Is Worth the Walk.”
“It can definitely happen to anyone,” said Kayla Hauge of LeRoy, Minnesota, who lost her father, Rob Eilertson of Northwood, to suicide and organized the team.
Coordinator Wendy Martinez of Mason City lost her brother, Ernie-Lee Martinez, to suicide 10 years ago. While she said suicide is obviously something “people don’t like to talk about,” there is “no greater feeling than walking into a room like this where people understand your pain and what you have been through.”
Said Leon Christianson of Lake Mills, who lost his youngest brother to suicide, survivors are part of a club that “no one wants to join.”
Still, this “club” gathered to walk, to reminisce, to console one another in ways only survivors can. And to raise money — almost $9,000 in this event alone — to go toward the cause of prevention, education and awareness.
Awareness and education are and must continue to be major goals for our society. We need to continually strive to come to grips with potential causes of suicide and learn to deal with them.
As reported in an Associated Press story, the increase nationally is “kind of surprising,” said Emory University researcher Solveig Cunningham, who studies death rates.
We’re getting better at medically managing conditions like diabetes and heart disease, she said, but perhaps “we’re not able to manage mental health as well, resulting in devastating results.”
Some also have said the sale and abuse of prescription painkillers in the last decade have been contributing factors, The AP reported.
Education and awareness will help. So can reminders of professional help being as close as a phone call — 800-273-TALK (8255), the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 24/7. Those who call are connected to a skilled, trained counselor who can start the help process. Or simply call 911.
No, no one likes to talk about suicide. But increasing numbers provide stark evidence that it is a societal situation that demands our increased attention.
Potential victims have to know help is available; so do their families. There is no time to wait. How will you help?
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