Omaha World Herald. May 4, 2018
Omaha police right to address sloppy work on homicide cases
The Omaha Police Department has significantly strengthened its reputation in many ways in recent years. Chief Todd Schmaderer has shown skilled leadership at the helm. The department has improved its community relations and strengthened its clearance rate for solving homicide cases.
But the embarrassing spectacle in District Court last week, involving revelations of grievous examples of sloppy work by some Omaha police detectives, harmed the department’s reputation. Some detectives took anywhere from eight months to more than 2½ years to turn over evidence and reports. Those failures, as well as the dismissive attitude displayed by a detective in court testimony, were glaringly at odds with the high standard of professionalism Schmaderer has insisted on for the department.
To address the situation, Schmaderer has announced several actions: changed procedures to ensure timely submission of reports, personnel changes and assignment of cases to sergeants rather than naming one investigator the lead detective.
Responsible action on this issue is needed for multiple reasons: To buttress public confidence. To send the message throughout the department that all members are expected to carry out their duties at the needed standard. And to ensure that the criminal justice system operates properly, with all needed information available to lawyers handling the cases.
Consider some of the failures reported by The World-Herald’s Todd Cooper in covering the issue:
- A DVD of an interview of a witness to a slaying, found years later under a homicide detective’s desk.
- A photo lineup of possible homicide suspects, with no corresponding report.
- A lost interview with an 11-year-old girl who pinned the killing on a man who wasn’t charged.
One detective, currently placed on desk duty, didn’t help matters last week with his courtroom behavior in responding to questions from Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley about an interview not turned over until two years after it took place.
Riley asked if the detective was sure he had called the county attorney immediately after booking in the evidence. “Sorta kinda,” the detective answered, in a flippant reply hardly appropriate to court testimony. The detective had not, in fact, made that notification.
No one disputes that Omaha’s homicide detectives have difficult jobs involving an enormous amount of work, and the department’s achievement in improving its homicide clearance rate - 70 percent last year, well above the national average of 50 percent - is impressive and reflects well on the detectives and the department overall. Schmaderer cited that fact in saying the problems were limited to a small number of detectives.
Nonetheless, the recently highlighted failures raise concern. Our legal system has a crucial obligation to show that justice is carried out with appropriate fairness and efficiency. When the Police Department fails to process cases properly, that confidence is undermined.
With the new changes - and any further ones if needed - the Omaha Police Department needs to send the message, clearly and firmly, that all members are expected to fulfill their duties with the highest professional standard.
_______
Scottsbluff Star Herald. May 2, 2018.
Bluff National Monument, Agate Fossil Beds to neighboring communities
Imagine $11 million coming into the community from outside the area. Think of the jobs the influx of revenue could create.
Communities in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming do not have to imagine - it is happening.
Visitors to Scotts Bluff National Monument and Agate Fossil Beds National Monument spent $11 million in communities within a 60-mile radius of the parks, according to a new National Park Service report. The spending supported 164 jobs and had a cumulative impact of $12.3 million to the local economy.
A 60-mile radius around Scotts Bluff National Monument takes in Scottsbluff, Gering, Mitchell, Bayard, Bridgeport, Torrington, Alliance and many other communities.
“Scotts Bluff National Monument is a stopping point for many visitors from across the country and around the world,” Superintendent Dan Morford said in the press release. “We are delighted to share the story of the Westward Expansion and the experiences this area provides. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”
The monument’s peak visitation is during the warmer months; however, visitors from around the world make a stop at the monument throughout the year. While visiting, they may stop at Legacy of the Plains Museum, spend the night in a local hotel, eat breakfast, grab a latte, lunch, some souvenirs and fill up their gas tank before leaving our community.
The report shows the lodging sector gets the biggest boost with $18.2 billion nationally from direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. Lodging and/or camping takes up 32.9 percent of visitors’ spending followed by food and beverages taking in 27.5 percent. The spending for gas and oil is about 12.1 percent, souvenirs and other expenses take in 10.1 percent, admissions and fees are at 10 percent and local transportation makes up 7.5 percent of spending.
Tourism around our national parks supports 306,000 jobs nationally with a cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy of $35.8 billion - proof that tourism is big business and a business communities need to take very serious.
Western Nebraska is very fortunate to have not one, but two national parks in our backyard.
In Gering’s backyard, towering 800 feet above the North Platte River, on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails sits the Scotts Bluff National Monument. The facilities are going through some major updating this year in preparation for next year’s 100th anniversary.
Hike or drive to the top of the monument and you can see Long’s Peak in Wyoming, Chimney Rock and the vast, beautiful landscape of western Nebraska.
Drive northwest a few miles to Mitchell then turn north on State Highway 29 for 34 miles then 3 miles east on River Road and you will find yourself at our second national treasure, Agate Fossil Beds.
These local treasures draw visitors in from around the state, country and world. They bring their money and they leave some of it here to help boost our local economy.
These are just the results of only our national parks. We have much more to offer. Our national parks and other tourist attractions will be on display next week during National Tourism Week.
As locals, we tend to take both of these parks for granted, but we shouldn’t. They are a fantastic economic development tool. They bring in revenue and give our visitors a taste of western Nebraska’s definition of nice.
If they like the nice we provide, when they get home, they will tell their friends and co-workers who might make the trip to western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming on their next vacation, adding to our local tourism-generated revenue.
___
Lincoln Journal Star. May 2, 2018
Initiative’s end must inspire sensible tax reform
A year that began with much justified sound and fury about Nebraska’s need to reform its tax structure will end without a single meaningful reform in that arena.
The final nail in the coffin came Friday, when the organizers of a petition drive that promised $1.1 billion in property tax relief abruptly halted their efforts. With it died the last vestiges of the three tax-reform bills that entered this year’s short legislative session.
Now, it’s time to regroup. Reconfiguring Nebraska’s tax structure is perhaps the single-most pressing problem statewide.
But, rather than rushing through to pass something, last week’s unexpected development provides time to craft a thoughtful solution and enact sensible tax reform in a way that will reduce the disproportionate burden shouldered by farmers and ranchers without bankrupting the state.
To be clear, simply reducing taxes is not necessarily a good thing. Cutting taxes without replacing the lost revenue means either a dramatic reduction in the services Nebraskans expect of state government - or a resultant increase in other taxes to cover. In our eyes, the inability to identify replacement revenue was the fatal flaw of the petition drive’s endgame.
In essence, such a system is partly to blame for today’s discrepancy, with decreasing state aid to K-12 education fueling unsustainable increases in local property taxes.
Accordingly, any tax plan must be revenue neutral and not rely solely on the allure of potential gains - which, by definition, may not materialize - in increased investment to fund itself.
That work will likely produce more enemies than friends, as every option needs to be on the table. Limiting what is fair game for reform only limits how much can be achieved.
Further complicating meaningful reform are the disparate groups and ideas that must coalesce around any proposal. To be successful, any tax plan must bridge the urban-rural divide, shepherd in a camp that feels a penny of new revenue generated is anathema, improve Nebraska’s insufficient school aid formula and ensure Nebraska’s general and rainy day funds remain sound.
Nothing will make everyone universally happy. But a hard-fought give-and-take can yield enough of a compromise to leave them all satisfied enough with the outcome - which is better than the inaction that’s plagued Nebraska in this pursuit for years.
By no means will this process be easy. But Nebraskans elected leaders to solve the tough problems - and one continues to stare them in the face. Even as this $1.1 billion albatross no longer hangs around the state’s neck, the need for a fix remains.
Though 2018 is guaranteed to end without any improvements to Nebraska’s outdated tax structure, 2019 mustn’t end with the same resignation.
Ample time now exists to come up with a suitable solution. The political will must be there to match it.
______
McCook Daily Gazette. May 4, 2018
This won’t be a piece about the pro-choice, anti-choice, pro-abortion, anti-abortion issue, although perhaps it should be.
Instead, it’s about different types of mammals, and humankind’s relationship with them.
Like many issues, it seems straightforward enough.
The U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee voted to amend the next Farm Bill that would make it a federal crime to slaughter dogs or cats for human consumption or sell the meat from them.
Under the federal Animal Welfare Act, violators would face up to a year of prison time or a $2,500 fine.
The amendment addresses “an issue of utmost concern for pet owners,” according to Jocelyn Nickerson, Nebraska state director for the Humane Society of the United States.
“Adopting this policy signals that the United States will not tolerate the disturbing practice in our country,” said Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) who introduced the amendment and argued that was a necessary symbolic show of support for other nations that have banned the practice.
But it isn’t long until the logic breaks down.
“As disgusting as it is … said Karrezza O’Sullivan via Facebook … “why really is (pet eating) not allowed, given you can kill pigs, goats, sheep, cows, deer, bear, wolves, ducks, chickens, beavers, raccoons, squirrels, possums etc.?”
The more radical animal rights groups quickly exploited the argument and will use it to advance legislation harmful to Nebraska’s livestock industry, given the chance.
The argument could be made that a ban on eating cats and dogs is actually a racist move, aimed at immigrants from cultures where the practice is more common. The same argument is leveled against marijuana laws which some say were created to target Hispanic and African-American minorities in the middle of the 20th century.
The Nebraska Grocery Industry Association points out that as disgusting as supporting the right to eat a cat or dog is, other less black-and-white, culturally defined decisions have to be considered:
(asterisk) Is it humane or inhumane to eat horsemeat, which is still common fare in Europe?
(asterisk) Is it acceptable or unacceptable to eat veal, considering it is made from the meat of very young calves (which affects consumers’ willingness to accept it, according to research)?
(asterisk) Is it OK or not OK to eat the testicles of bulls and pigs, removed from them while they’re still alive (which are still a delicacy in many western parts of this country, including Nebraska)?
No, we don’t advocate eating domestic pets, but it’s an issue that should be settled in the courts by the rule of law rather than by knee-jerk, emotional reactions. Don’t try to apply logic to politically correct arguments
___
Please read our comment policy before commenting.