Bizarre

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday August 05, 2008, 2:16 PM

Staten Island commune leader Jeff Gross didn’t have much luck keeping his distance from the woman he identified as his shooter the night of her acquittal.

Just hours after the verdict, Gross, who has since moved to Colorado, was sitting in the lobby of the Staten Island Hotel in Grasmere when the front doors opened and two women walked in.

One of the women was Stephanie Johnson-Foster.

The other, Rebekah Johnson, who spent her first night of freedom in more than a year at the hotel with her mother and sister.

Gross later recounted the chance meeting to a newspaper photographer.

“Nothing happened,” he said.

It does seem coincidental, but I can’t imagine the fright for the shooting victim.

Phew…at least my sport is clean…

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=joyce/080804

Even though it is on Page 2 of ESPN, it is a really good article that shows that shot putters shy away from steroid usage, some considering it a mental crutch.  My favorite paragraph stating…

“There’s nothing that you can do with steroids that you couldn’t do without them,” says Geoff Capes, the world’s top-ranked shot-putter in the late ’70s and the fifth-place finisher competing for Great Britain at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. “They can’t give you strength that you couldn’t come by naturally. Among the elite [shot-putters], it doesn’t come down to who’s doing steroids or not. The big natural athlete is going to come through.”

If only the rest of the sporting world subscribed to this mentality…

So, with the Olympics starting in a few days, just remember…us shotputters, we may be fat and lazy, but at least we ain’t ‘roiders…lol

Quote of the Day; August 5th, 2008

“If we had no sexual harassment we would have no children,”

I promise you, this is not a case of me taking a quote out of context to elevate the humorous/shocking nature of the clip. In fact, once I tell you where these words were written, it will only get worse:

A Russian judge was the author of that sage insight when he ruled against a woman attempting to sue her boss for sexual harrassment. A close second in the contest for quote of the day came from the beleaguered plaintiff:

“He always demanded that female workers signalled to him with their eyes that they desperately wanted to be laid on the boardroom table as soon as he gave the word,” she earlier told the court. “I didn’t realise at first that he wasn’t speaking metaphorically.”

Morning News; August 5th, 2008

1) Mercifully, the Mets had the night off. However, the gods did not similarly smile upon the Yanks, who lost both the game and, possibly, Joba.

2) Oil prices are down to their lowest level since May 5th ($118 per barrel), which will help stave off (a little) the upside risk of inflation.

3) In response to Senator Obama’s suggestion that Americans make sure their tires are properly inflated in order to save gas (a move embraced by the Joe Lieberman, NASCAR, and, well, the Department of Energy (which notes that “”Keep tires properly inflated and aligned to improve your gasoline mileage by around 3.3%.”), the McCain campaign has begun distributing tire pressure gauges labeled “Obama’s energy plan.”

4) Updating our abortive attempt to get a little pool/prediction contest regarding the veep picks, the New York Times has a handy guide to the candidates thought to be still under consideration by the two campaigns.

5) The Times has a story on last night’s acquittal of the commune shooter. Hopefully there’ll be more to come- to explain why it is that she was acquitted.

Jury Acquits Ganas Shooter; Commune Leader Not Pleased

I’m not sure how much you guys have been following this saga, but the trial of Rebekah Johnson, the estranged member of the local Ganas community, concluded this evening. The jury, after deliberating for less than five hours, acquitted her.

Here are the facts of the case: she shot one of the community leaders outside his home two years ago. She fled and was at large for a year before she was caught in Philadelphia. The apartment she was living in when she was discovered contained firearms and ammunition. These points are beyond debate- they are a matter of record. So, given those two facts- why was she acquitted?

Two things come to mind: first, the jury simply possessed a reasonable doubt regarding the factual culpability of the woman; or second, the defendant could have argued that she was innocent by reason of (temporary) insanity- but I haven’t read that anywhere. In any case, I am stumped. Any thoughts?

The commune leader was understandably disturbed by the verdict:

“This is a very dangerous person who is now on the street,” Jeff Gross told the Advance. “My life is at risk. The lives of Ganas are at risk.”

Rebekah Johnson was found not guilty on charges of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and attempted grand larceny.

“I’m shocked and stunned. I don’t know what to say. I can’t explain it,” Gross said of the verdict. “Maybe the jury can explain it to you, to the press,” he said. Gross said he thought the jurors appeared to be in a light, jovial mood after the verdict.

“There was such overwhelming evidence. She was 10 feet from me, I recognized her immediately.”

On whether he would go back into hiding, as he did while Ms. Johnson was a fugitive from the law, Gross said: “It’s possible. I don’t know yet…. I don’t have a plan in place.”