Saturday, March 31, 2007

Jim Tarbell, Crime Victim, Gets It Right

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of CityBeat.

Recently, The Enquirer reported about Jim Tarbell being the victim of crime.  As the paper properly noted, Tarbell has been the target of several crimes in the past few years.  Nevertheless, he remains an advocate for downtown and Over-the-Rhine—frequently visible on the street level, more than any other elected member of City Hall.  So, if anyone on Council knows the culture of crime in Over-the-Rhine first hand, it is Jim Tarbell.  Telling, isn’t it, that Tarbell opposes the City’s anti-marijuana ordinance?  His reasons for opposing the measure are even more telling.

First, some history on Tarbell and crime as detailed by the recent Enquirer article (which can be accessed permanently here, and is available for free through Newsbank for anyone with a public library card—a much better deal than paying The Enquirer three bucks):

Check out the following excerpt from the recent Law and Public Safety Committee meeting, where Tarbell voted against renewing this ridiculous law. 

Don’t let the Fascist Five’s rhetoric about 62 guns fool you.  When they say one of those guns could have been used to kill someone, they are using twisted logic of the most contorted sort.  Maybe they are right, but maybe they are wrong! 

As the old pro-gun bumper-sticker says, “Guns don’t kill people.  People kill people.” More specifically, criminals kill people—so the more a system perpetuates turning people into criminals, the more killers the system manufactures.

Cecil Thomas, John Cranley, and the Fascist Five are applying band-aid solutions in a re-election year so they can earn votes for being hard on crime.  Meanwhile, they are creating more criminals, more potential killers, and creating an environment for more crime on the streets.

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David E. Gallaher says:
31 Mar 2007  at  07:44 pm | #

I’m not willing to beatify my neighbor, Tarbell, based on this.
Jim, if you read this, I hope you can give us a real reason to beatify your hairless hindquarters, but, in the meantime, I’m not holding my breath.

David E. Gallaher says:
31 Mar 2007  at  08:09 pm | #

BTW, is the publisher of the Inkwar, Maggie, pulling every last string, almost, here in the Queen City?
She has a hard-on for guns.
Wondering.

Fran says:
01 Apr 2007  at  07:40 am | #

At the end of the clip Councilmember Thomas shows the caliber of leaders in Cincinnati. He states Mr. Tarbell mentioned three states that had changed the law re. marajuana, which resulted in a reduction in violent crime. I went back and listened and Mr. Tarbell spoke about Denver, Seattle, and Portland. These were not states when I attended school but I guess I didn’t go to the same school as Cecil, thank God.

Ananon says:
01 Apr 2007  at  08:08 am | #

In one year City Council has created 2010 criminal records through this ordinance. That is over six per day, everyday. The futures of these people are irreversibly changed for the rest of their lives. Want a security clearance, no. Want a job, no. Want tuition assistance, no. Want to be in a government database for criminals, yes.

Councilmember Thomas says, “just have the record expunged.” What is the cost to have that done? Are we governing to provide additional victims for a corrupt system that lines the pockets of lawyers? Are we allowing special interests to operate behind the scenes to provide billing hours?

Councilmember Tarbell spoke wisely when he stated this bill will produce great harm in the future. The future is here and we have the results of eleven months of this operation. The Law Dept. spent $41,000 more in 2006 than in 2005 defending 910-23 cases. According to Tarbell and Portune, in their years of service they have never seen more judges weigh in opposing this ordinance. Tarbell also said he had never seen the prosecutor show less interest in enforcing this ordinance.

The police presentation ends with:


The Department does not believe the enforcement of CMC 910-23 places an undue strain on the jail population.

Maybe the police dept. doesn’t see the whole picture. Maybe, they see it through the filter of “tough on crime” politicians. They got what they wanted. Now, it is our turn.

Prison Industrial Complex says:
01 Apr 2007  at  12:03 pm | #

I had always heard people say Cecil(uncle)Thomas couldn’t string a sentence together, but man this guy really is an idiot. He doesn’t know the difference between states and cities. Vote the dope off of council!

Hillaryisadike says:
01 Apr 2007  at  07:06 pm | #

"Tarball” is just too stupid to move…

anon says:
01 Apr 2007  at  10:58 pm | #

"Are we governing to provide additional victims for a corrupt system that lines the pockets of lawyers? Are we allowing special interests to operate behind the scenes to provide billing hours?”

EXACTLY. ALl of this is about economics and big profits than crime. Simply put they want to make money off of inmates. Besides billable hours to lawyers, you have a multitude of others making hefty profits off of inmates: architects, engineers, vendors for commisions, food, clothes, and contract housing, and the list goes on and on, etc… I would bet that there would be very little, if any, public “bidding” on these contracts.

Here’s an interesting article about these “tough on crime” laws and jails. Bottom line, THEY AIN’T WORKING!

High Cost of Prisons Not Paying Off, Report Finds
The U.S. spends more than any other nation—$60 billion a year—to house inmates, but sees little good as a result, a bipartisan panel says.

by Jenifer Warren

SACRAMENTO — Americans spend $60 billion a year to imprison 2.2 million people — exceeding any other nation — but receive a dismal return on the investment, according to a report to be released today by a commission urging greater public scrutiny of what goes on behind bars.

The report, “Confronting Confinement,” by the National Prison Commission, says legislators have passed get-tough laws that have packed the nation’s jails and prisons to overflowing with convicts, most of them poor and uneducated. However, politicians have done little to help inmates emerge as better citizens upon release.

(...)

If these were public schools or publicly traded corporations, we’d shut them down,” said Alexander Busansky, executive director of the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons, established by a private think tank in New York. Rather, the commission said, Americans view prisons with detachment or futility, growing interested when a riot makes the news and then looking away, “hoping the troubles inside the walls will not affect us.”

(...)

Among the highlights in the 126-page report:
* Violence remains a serious problem in prisons and jails, with gang assaults, rapes, riots and, in Florida, beatings by “goon squads” of officers.

Crowding is one cause, with most lockups so packed that they feature a “degree of disorder and tension almost certain to erupt in violence.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0608-05.htm

randy says:
02 Apr 2007  at  08:27 am | #

When will the FOP allow the police to be tested for pot?

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