[IMC-bristol] Fwd: [Imc-legal] Example filing for media credentials in Florida

Always Shariff alwaysshariff at yahoo.co.uk
Tue, 7 Jan 2003 05:48:57 -0800 (PST)


Hi,
I thought a lot of people in this list will be interested in this.
'Avin' it again 'n again
Always
============================================================================
--- Dwight Hines <dwighthines@mindspring.com> wrote:
> From: Dwight Hines <dwighthines@mindspring.com>
> To: <imc-legal@lists.indymedia.org>, <k.skvorak@verizon.net>
> Subject: [Imc-legal] Example filing for media credentials in Florida
> Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 06:55:20 -0500
> 
> I filed all of this yesterday and don't know when I will get an answer.  The
> only goody that comes from being credentialed is access to the media room to
> be able to examine the daily logs.  I question the filing but it is easier
> right now to do this so I can get the information without delays.  Court
> would slow things down too much right now.
> 
> 
> 
> OFFICE OF THE SHERIFF
> 
> CONSOLIDATED CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
> 
> 501 EAST BAY STREET  JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 32203-2975
> 
> 
> NATHANIEL GLOVER
> Sheriff
> 
> APPLICATION FOR PRESS PASS
> 
> 
> THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT:
> 
> NAME IN FULL         HINES      DWIGHT                            E.
>                    (last name)     (first name)             (middle name)
> 
> 
> DATE OF BIRTH _____AUGUST 27, 1944______MALE_XX__FEMALE___
> 
> RACE   WHITE  SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER #
> 
> IS A DULY AUTHORIZED AND ACCREDITED NEWS REPRESENTATIVE OF:
> 
>                    Independent Media (Internet)
>        Business name of media or agency
> 
> 
> 
> P.O. Box 1431          Middleburg             Florida           904-289-9400
> Address                 City                  State                 Phone
> 
> 
> IT IS REQUESTED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INDIVIDUAL BE ISSUED PRESS CREDENTIALS
> BY YOUR OFFICE.
> 
>                    
> ________________________________
>  Signature               Title
> 
> 
> 
> DATE ISSUED ____________________________
> 
> APPROVED ______________________________
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A Nationally Accredited Agency               An Equal Opportunity Employer
> ==========================================
> 
> Dwight E. Hines, Ph.D.
> P.O. Box 1431
> Middleburg, Florida 32050
> 904-289-9400
> dwighthines@mindspring.com
> 
> January 6, 2003
> FAX 904-630-6458
> 
> Officer John M. Turner, Public Information Officer
> 501 E. Bay Street
> Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
> Jacksonville, Florida 32202-2975
> 
> Dear Officer Turner:
> 
>     I am writing this letter as a supplement to the form you gave me this
> afternoon for an application for media credentials.
> 
>     A) I am a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, #22350.  As
> such, I am active in the IRE information and discussion list that is on the
> web and I receive their professional publications and have access to the
> numerous data bases that they have compiled over the years.  I am proud to
> be a member of this group.
> 
>     B) I have published my work in national and international refereed
> journals.  
> 
>     C) My most recent writings, including some of the writings about the
> courts, have been published on Wordplay, a small internet discussion list
> with distribution to members in United States, Canada, England, Australia,
> Israel, and Latin America.
>     I have also published some of my writings on BlueEar;
> Forensic-Linguistics; Cyberia-Law; and Cybertelecom.
>   
>     D)  I am a member of RapLink (Regional Action Partnership link), based
> in Australia, and have published in their newsletter.
> 
>     E) My media credentials have been accepted in the State of Florida
> Circuit Courts for preferred seating and for the purpose of my arguing to be
> allowed to intervene in a case concerning sealed documents.   I was granted
> standing in the courts in two different arguments.  In two different
> situations, the motions to allow me to intervene were granted.  It is
> important to note that in both cases, I identified myself as a private
> citizen and as a writer.
> 
>     F) My media credentials were accepted by the Supreme Court of Florida on
> February 4, 2002, for the purpose of making an appearance and an argument on
> Jury Innovations.  The video of me arguing, as well as others who argued the
> issues, is available on the Florida Supreme Court webpage:
> http://wfsu.org/gavel2gavel/archives/02-02.html
>     Again, it is important to note that I identified myself to the Court as
> a private citizen and as a writer.
> 
>     G) More recently, Judge Henry Adams, United States District Court,
> Jacksonville, Florida, Eleventh Circuit, accepted my credentials for
> coverage of the trial of former Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer Waldon.
> 
>     
>     H) I am a member of Criminal Justice Journalists, an international group
> that has an active discussion list that I participate in on a regular basis.
> Again, I am proud to be a member.
> 
>     I) I am presently working on a book on corruption.  The primary focus of
> the book is police corruption with a secondary focus on jury integrity.  I
> plan to have my data collection finished soon.  The electronic publisher of
> the book will be Gutenberg.  The hard copy publisher is not yet determined.
> 
>     J) I was credentialed by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and given a
> photo identification badge, with fingerprints, in 1981.  I lost the
> identification some time ago.   The credentials are still active since there
> was no notification that there was any change in my status by either of us.
> 
>     K) While I was the Editor of the International Desk  for the Journal of
> Mind and Behavior, I was credentialed by the Government of Nicaragua as a
> writer, in 1981. Those credentials are still valid.
> 
>     L) In 1996, the Government of Cuba accepted my credentials as a writer
> and I was allowed to travel relatively freely there and those credentials
> are still valid.  
> 
>     M) In my travels and writings, eg, Vietnam, there have been no problems
> with my being approved by the United States Treasury Department, Office of
> Overseas Assets Control and United States Customs, as well as the Internal
> Security Department of Vietnam, for travel to those countries for the
> purposes of research for my writings.
> 
>     I believe that this letter, with selected examples of my writings, shows
> that I more than meet any qualifications that have been established in the
> decisions by the Courts of Florida and the United States for media standing.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> Dwight E. Hines, Ph.D.
> 
> Copy:
> Independent Media Legal Group
> 
> K. Skvorak, IndyMedia, Eastern Section
> 
> S. Thacker, Reporter's Committee Freedom Press
> 
> Criminal Justice Journalists
> 
> Media Access Project
> =====================================
> Columns/Essays:
> 
> Net-Waltzing Matilda
> 
> Limelight Theatre: The Shame
> 
> President James Carter and the Secret Service Giants
> 
> 
> 
> Net - Waltzing Matilda to Colorado and
>  Back to Australia and Back to Iowa
> 
> Dwight Hines
> Florida, USA
> 
>     The United States and Australia have some common grounds for helping
> each other -- lots of rural areas with poor to average internet connections.
> The wonderful thing about the solutions that are starting to be used in the
> States is that they can be applied technologically to Australia, and vice
> versa.   However, the problems to be solved are not only technological, but
> . . .  .
> 
>     Stop.
> 
>       This is not going to be another whine and moan and then a nifty tekkie
> article  on getting the rural hicks on the internet at a decent speed.   We
> don't need that.  What we do need are examples, like the Ruby Ranch Gang of
> 12, in Colorado.   If you go to www.rric.net/ you will find an incredible
> amount of information on how to set up a system for near neighbors to have
> fast internet connections.   It took a lot of work, primarily legal work
> because of the nature of government and utilities in the States, but it
> appears worth it.  Check it out, email them for advice, and get your Matilda
> moving.
>     
>     There are other sources that may be of help to you, such as Seth's
> discussion list, 
> [Send "Subscribe C-FIT_Community" To Listserv@RealMeasures.dyndns.org],
> where I first read about Ruby Ranch.   Seth would, as would other members of
> the list, welcome your letting us know what you are doing in the great
> spaces and how and why.
> 
>     For a bit of a wilder ride, you can try to contact Dave Hughes,
> dave@oldcolo.com, and ask him how he is going to connect 5,000 people with a
> bilingual wireless net in Wales this month.   You can also ask him where he
> gets some of his statistics about there being over 5,000 wireless ISPs now
> in existence, with prairie.net having 150 communities in rural Iowa.
> 
>     It used to be that to deliver services, organizations would have a
> strategic plan.  The fundamental belief of strategic planning in the 1960's
> and into the 90's was that "strategy preceded structure".  You would decide
> what you want to accomplish and then go out and buy the components, whether
> they be computers or trucks or food items or locations, that would allow you
> to accomplish your goals.   The fundamental thinking began changing in the
> mid 90's to  "structure precedes strategy".  The use of computers, networked
> computers,  are the structure that dictate what strategies we can feasibly
> develop.  This is no minor semantic play, this is a severe change in the way
> networks are used.   Indeed, one only has to look at the efficiency of
> criminal networks as opposed to law enforcement networks to see how much
> more rapidly adaptable one strategy is over another.
> 
>     Given that RapLink, C_Fit_Community, and other groups are ultimately
> interested in helping people obtain a higher quality of life, one has to
> wonder if examples like Ruby Ranch don't teach us that the odyssey, the
> path, is as important as the final result, if not more so.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Limelight Theatre: The Shame!
> 12 Angry Men
> November 8, 2001 -- December 1, 2001
> St. Augustine, Florida
> copyright © 2001 by dwight hines
> 
>     The small theatres in this country are a rare treat.  Rare because they
> are small and rare because they often have talent that is exceptional.
> Indeed, at the Limelight Theatre in St. Augustine, Florida, you can see
> plays, live plays, that are the equal to, and often surpass, performances in
> Boston and New York.   The recent performances of Reginald Rose's excellent
> work, 12 Angry Men, is a good example.  But it was marred, flawed, and not
> quite right for a number of reasons.  And it is the shame of the Limelight
> Theatre.
> 
>     It is the shame because this is a timely play.  At a time when racial
> profiling and statistics on people imprisoned by race are finally starting
> to gain nationwide and international attention, Rose goes into the deep
> seated feelings that still exist in this country.  Feelings as deep and
> strong, and ugly, as they were when he wrote the play.  Feelings that would
> have put a young man in prison for the rest of his life -- because he was of
> a suspect race.
> 
>     It is a shame because this past month, the Russian Duma voted to have
> jury trials beginning next year for the crimes of rape and murder, and they
> could gain some good insights about what happens when you turn people loose
> with a seemingly simple task of deciding the guilt or innocence of someone.
> Ecuador, in their own special gutsy way is also changing their judicial
> system to allow for more of an adversarial system; a system as the actors
> show with good subtlety, is not always as strong as it should be.  It is a
> shame because there were no Russian or Spanish speaking people at the
> performances I attended.  So no one talked to the tourist bureau who would
> let these visitors know that the play was about their now and their future.
> So those who visited St. Augustine this short month had fine history, fine
> weather and fine food, if they ate at the right restaurants, but they missed
> something that would have intrigued them in other ways.   From what I
> overheard of their conversations while sitting on a bench on St. George
> Street in the Old City, many other ways.
> 
>     It is a shame because at a time when people often complain about how the
> judges let people off with light sentences or set free the wrong people,
> Rose lets us see that the wrong people are not always what they seem.  That
> our preconceptions of who the right people are means we don't ask the hard
> detailed questions, the questions that must be asked to find out if the
> facts are really facts or merely convenient illusions to mask our hates.
> 
>     It is a shame because there are debates in this country now on what type
> of justice terrorists are going to have: military tribunals or civilian
> trials.  Whatever the outcome of those debates, and they will last for a
> long time, seeing this play would be helpful because it presents some of our
> system in plain ways.  Ways so plain and so downright emotional at times,
> that you wish that Limelight had made plans for showing this play to groups
> of college students in the area with the idea that they might just make this
> a regular occurrence in St. Augustine.  A regular occurrence so those who
> are in law enforcement, or those who are just interested in some good
> entertainment would not have to miss it due to the overly short schedule of
> performances.  As the present cast faded out they could fade in new
> performers, ones they could coach and be sure knew and felt their roles as
> well as they did.
> 
>     It's a shame because there were no special arrangements to have at least
> ten percent of the seats allocated, at discounts, to law enforcement and
> court personnel and their families, to let them see what they are defending
> and protecting, because for some, it may be easy to miss the obvious. Like
> the law enforcement officer who told me this past week, the Bill of Rights
> is a "pile of manure".  Maybe seeing this play would make him realize the
> value of jury trials, instead of vigilante justice.
> 
>         It's a shame that the schedule is so short that most folks didn't
> get to see it because they figured the television version, with all it's
> technological abilities to focus closely on the actors' faces was an
> adequate version of Rose's work.  Having a short schedule, during a holiday
> season, meant that word of mouth about how powerful the play is when you
> have all the people in your field of vision, 12 angry men right there and
> you feel you are sitting at the table with them, doesn't have time to work.
> Compared to this play, these performances, and I saw more than one, the
> television and movie versions were mild and weak, made for the masses who
> now watch Judge Judy.
> 
>     It's a shame because right now, in an adjacent county in Florida,
> Bradford County, length of time records are being broken in selecting a jury
> for the trial of 4 men who are going to be tried for allegedly beating a
> prisoner to death, a prisoner on death row.  A prisoner with a suspect last
> name.  And one of the reasons that the jury selection is breaking records is
> that many in the County have already made up their minds on the guilt or
> innocence of these officers.   This week, 800 more jurors will be summoned
> for questioning.  It would be good to know that those who have already made
> up their minds have at least seen the importance of a conscientious jury,
> and maybe seeing just a little of themselves in this play would cause some
> reflection.  That is what good drama does, it helps us to see ourselves.
> 
>     It's a shame because the Supreme Court of the State of Florida will be
> hearing arguments on how to improve the jury system in Florida on February
> 4, 2002, and the arguments are not about abolishing the system, but about
> making slight improvements, improvements that partly reflect the changing
> demographics of Florida.   Knowing that our jury system is not just an
> anachronism but a living thriving part of our democracy and not linking
> those arguments to drama as profound as this one, is a true shame.  There
> were very few young people at the performances.
> 
>     It's a shame because St. Augustine has a nationally and internationally
> known scholar who has written more than a dozen books on critical thinking
> and spends most of her time traveling to other parts of the country
> presenting workshops and seminars,  but was not invited to write about how
> this drama is an aid to critical thinking skills.  This drama has lots of
> palatable and tasty examples of critical thinking.
> 
>     Finally, to cast off this cast, like they were throw-a-ways, is a major
> shame.  Individually, and more importantly, collectively, they did it right.
> 
>         Shame on you Limelight Theatre.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> President James Carter and The Secret Service Giants
> Play Softball Against
> The Buffaloes of Yesteryear of Plains, Georgia
> 
> Annual Peanut Festival
> Plains, Georgia
> September 29, 2002
> copyright  © dhines 2002
> 
> It was a shocker.  The Buffaloes of Yesteryear of Plains, Georgia, had never
> lost to the Secret Service Giants.   It was believed by many that they would
> never be defeated by the SSG.  Indeed, the bookies across the U.S., and
> offshore, were giving outrageous odds against the Secret Service.  That
> should have been a clue that this was no simple ball game.
> 
>     As you sat on the second row in the bleachers, right behind and to the
> right side of the catcher, where you always sit, Mrs. Carter arrived and sat
> in the row immediately in front of you and to your right.   You noticed she
> was doing the Plains Wave (fanning your right hand back and forth before
> your face to keep the gnasty gnats away), and you offered her some of your
> insect repellent.  She accepted and you knew you were home free for any
> questions you had.  Of course, being in the presence of The Undoubted Finest
> Lady in The United States meant that your mind went blank every time you
> tried to think of something intelligent to ask.  Finally, you tell her you
> bought her book on Mental Illness, read it, and gave it to your children.
> She said, profoundly: "Good."  After another few minutes of heavy thinking,
> you asked her if there was any question that she wished people would ask her
> but don't.  She said, again profoundly: "No."  Before you could ask any more
> questions, and even before you could think of any questions, she left to go
> meet all the Secret Service Giant families who were there.
> 
>     Mrs. Carter is a natural with people.  Just totally natural.  It doesn't
> matter if they are children, like the ones at the game, or adults in a
> northern ghetto, or people in mental institutions.  She treats them all with
> the sincerity that is who she is.  No patina or facade here, she and Mr.
> Carter just like people.  As you watched her meet all these wives and
> children who have husbands and wives that see her and Mr. Carter more than
> they see them, you realized that next year she will be back and if they
> return, she will remember their names and be able to talk with them about
> others who couldn't make it there.   And their naturalness has an effect on
> the others.  Like Mackenzie, Madison, Caleigh, Robert and others who shared
> their popcorn with me during the whole game, even though they knew I was
> rooting for the men in blue T-shirts, The Buffaloes, and they were rooting
> for the men in Yellow T-shirts because they were their Dads.   So, you know
> these Secret Service parents are raising their children to share under
> awkward conditions, when the person you're sharing with is for the opposite
> team.  And  the two teenage beauties in front of me were very specific in
> telling the popcorn people that I was on the wrong side.  These folks know
> about sharing.
> 
>     The cat on Caleigh's face was painted on at the Peanut Festival on
> Saturday and she was protecting it because she likes cats.  Her Dad likes
> cats too, then Mrs. Carter was back and was explaining how Jimmy said he was
> going to pitch just one inning.  It was now the fourth inning and Mr. Carter
> had not only pitched, but caught one line drive, and grabbed a grounder and
> threw it to first for an out.  He was not just a figure, he was a player,
> getting on base twice as more proof that the man was player.  Mr. Carter
> pitched all seven innings.  The Giants did not blow the Buffaloes away but
> played disciplined defense and offense, and a Giant's wife, sitting to my
> immediate left with a whole backpack of popcorn said that they had been
> practicing in Albany, and then little light bulbs went off inside my head
> and I knew, just as Mrs. Carter was describing what it was like to jog along
> the top of the Great Wall of China, that we were witnessing not just a fine
> softball team in the Giants but the finest United States Secret Service
> Super Sting in history.  The USSSSS was beautiful.  So simple, so elegant,
> it takes your breath away, just thinking about it.
> 
>     Mrs. Carter told me the rotation for Secret Service agents in the
> Protective Services Department is 3 years.  The annual softball game has
> been going on for three years.   There is heavy betting on the game, serious
> betting that has increased in seriousity since the the Secret Service has
> been losing for three years in a row.  It's important to know that
> protective services are the new kids on the Treasury Secret Service block.
> They've only been around since about the late 1800s.  They do take some
> teasing from the older departments, like counterfeiting and the younger
> departments, like credit cards and computers.   Those departments have
> called them glorified baby sitters.  Actually saying things like it's a
> shame you're not doing real crime fighting work!    Now, if you add a last
> ingredient to the list, that gambling is extremely profitable, helps support
> other crimes, and is difficult to bust in a large scale meaningful way,
> you've got the setting for the USSSSS.
> 
>     First, they had to lose some games.  This was hard for them.  It went
> against their pride.  It went against their reputation, and it went against
> their competitive natures.  But they did it and they did it well.  Next,
> they had to use reverse informants in such a way as to feed false
> information to the bookies who were setting odds.  This is not easy to do.
> Bookies make tons of money because they know how to obtain and evaluate
> information.   Reversing an informant means that you make him feel like he
> is giving you information while, in fact, you are giving him information.
> This may sound confusing, but you can learn a lot by the questions an
> investigator asks and doesn't ask.  If the investigator is smooth and
> doesn't over act or over or under emphasize, he can give information that
> the informant believes to be true.  The informant informs the Bookie and the
> stage is set.  In this case, bookies were misinformed in New York, Boston,
> Chicago, California, Detroit, Miami and in the islands, the offshore.
> 
>     Sunday night after the game was the night of people going missing.  All
> bookies.  All on the lam because they had all made the mistake of believing
> something that was too good to be true.  They bet their barns on bad
> information.  
> 
>     One woman, the only bookie we were able to contact, yelled as she was
> leaving the islands in her as yet unconfiscated yacht:  "Who would have
> thought you couldn't trust the Secret Service?  What is this world coming
> to?  I'm getting out.  You can't trust anyone and I'm too old for this.
> Just think, the Secret Service doing this to us.  And it took them three
> years to set it up.  The gall."
> 
> Our hats are off to the Giants, and we wish President Carter a happy 78th
> birthday, and we hope the Buffaloes are healing and will be ready to play a
> good game next year.
> 
> And for all those writers out there who fell for this sting and reported the
> odds the bookies were giving in favor of the Buffaloes and feel like you've
> been used terribly,  I'm here for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Imc-legal mailing list
> Imc-legal@lists.indymedia.org
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-legal


=====
___________________________________________________________
I am normally found in http://www.alwaysshariff.co.uk.co

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