NHTSA the myth of deaths per vehicle mile continues...
1) Lack of training kills again: Lancaster man dies in motorcycle wreck
2) Freedom Fighter, Music Manager, Film Producer Aaron Russo Dies at 64
3) Report criticizes management of S.C. prisons
4) Key lawmakers debating Barnwell dump’s future were unaware of high tritium levels
5) NHTSA PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2007
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1) Lack of training kills again: Lancaster man dies in motorcycle wreck
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FF Note: Seems this rider died more as a result of lack of proper training than helmet usage. I wonder if he had a license or permit? I wonder why the police do not note and report to the press if the victim had a license or permit?
Lancaster man dies in motorcycle wreck
A 47-year-old Lancaster man died Saturday afternoon when his motorcycle ran off the road and crashed in Kershaw County, according to the S.C. Highway Patrol.
Edward Lytle Cook died around 1 p.m. when his 1997 Harley Davidson motorcycle ran off the right side of S.C. 903 and struck an embankment, the Highway Patrol said.
Cook, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown from the motorcycle, troopers said.
The wreck is under investigation.
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2) Freedom Fighter, Music Manager, Film Producer Aaron Russo Dies at 64
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FF Note: I had the opportunity to meet Aaron Russo during his 2004 bid for the LP
presidential nomination. Aaron and a couple of local LP leaders met me at the Mellow
Mushroom on King Street. We enjoyed a lively conversation about America and his bid for the
presidential nomination. Also I enjoyed a couple of nice beers and dinner. Later that
evening we all attended the local LP meeting at another location in the Market. Aaron had a
lot of great ideas and lived his life as he chose. If you have not yet seen "America:
Freedom to Fascism" please take the time to get a copy: http://www.freedomtofascism.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/25/AR2007082501113.html
Music Manager, Film Producer Dies at 64
The Associated Press
Saturday, August 25, 2007; 7:45 PM
LOS ANGELES -- Aaron Russo, who managed Bette Midler and went on to produce such films as
"Trading Places," has died. He was 64.
Russo died from cancer before dawn on Friday, surrounded by family at Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center, said Heidi Gregg, his girlfriend of more than two decades. Russo had been battling
the disease for nearly six years, she said.
"He was my best friend for 27 years," said Gregg. "Aaron was a freedom fighter, a film
maker and a lover of life."
Russo was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn in 1943 and raised in Long Island.
He began promoting rock and roll shows at a local theater while still in high school,
according to a biography he wrote and posted on his Web site. When he later opened his own
nightclub in Chicago, Russo promoted some of the most successful rock acts of the 1960s
including Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead, he wrote.
In the 1970s, Russo managed Bette Midler, producing the Tony award winning "Clams on the
Half-Shell Revue" starring the singer. During that time he also managed The Manhattan
Transfer.
Russo eventually turned to producing feature films including "The Rose" which starred
Midler in 1979 as a self destructive rock star, and later "Trading Places" in 1983 which
starred Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd.
Russo was also a long time political activist, making an unsuccessful run for Nevada
governor as a Republican in 1998. In January 2004, Russo declared his candidacy for the
Libertarian Party's presidential nomination but lost.
In 2006, Russo finished work on a documentary titled "America: Freedom to Fascism," which
was billed as an expose of the Internal Revenue Service.
"He was an absolutely amazing man," said Ilona Urban, his press secretary. "He was pointed
and once he knew there was a direction to go, you couldn't get him to turn left or right.
He was very committed. "
In addition to Gregg, Russo is survived by their children Sam Russo, 22, and Max Russo, 25.
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3) Report criticizes management of S.C. prisons
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http://www.thestate.com/news/story/155314.html
Exclusive: Report criticizes management of S.C. prisons
Committee’s staff raises concerns about safety, operations, personnel issues, misuse of
resources
By CLIF LeBLANC
cleblanc@thestate.com
A road map to a legislative investigation of state prisons alleges the public, prisoners
and employees are either at risk or being mistreated.
The staff of a committee examining complaints of mismanagement has compiled a 12-page,
preliminary report in preparation for a committee meeting Monday.
The report, obtained by The State, covers five broad areas of concern in what is described
as a politically charged Corrections Department. It highlights about 45 incidents or
examples. The report states the complaints are based on first-hand accounts but should not
be considered findings of fact.
Some key complaints are:
• Prison safety — ranging from escapes and other security lapses to covering up a sexual
assault of an employee by a convicted rapist for election-campaign reasons
• Questionable operations —abusive treatment of inmates, which includes use of a stun gun
on a prisoner in a restraint chair. Prisoner surgeries for broken jaws are increasing, the
report states.
• Misuse of resources — inmate labor and agency equipment were spent on a hunting and
fishing reserve at a Sumter County prison. In addition, the report states the agency has
done business with a tree-clearing company owned by a convicted felon who has personal ties
to a prison employee.
Questions also are raised about prisons director Jon Ozmint’s selection of an inmate
housekeeper and whether he gave her special treatment.
• Personnel issues — a hostile work environment that uses arbitrary procedures to punish
detractors and requires lie detectors to track leaks and alters employment test scores for
some applicants.
Ozmint challenged the report as “tired, recycled complaints raised by disgruntled
employees,” and questioned the fairness of the committee staff. Senate staffers talked to
anyone, “who might have some dirt on us,” yet have not given the agency a chance to
respond, he said.
Ozmint said the report “found no major problems that are valid. No mismanagement. No
corruption that we had failed to uncover.”
The report is intended as a starting point for the eight-member panel, which will select
the issues it will examine more closely through sworn testimony or audits.
Committee chairman Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, declined to respond to the report, saying
it was intended only for the panel’s use. He said the staff on Monday would provide details
not contained in the report. Fair would not elaborate.
The document was compiled after numerous interviews with prison workers, former employees,
inmates and their relatives, as well as the public. They came forward voluntarily, though
many feared retaliation from the agency, the report states.
Their complaints — presented privately to a staff of two legislative lawyers and a former
senior prison official — have not been substantiated by the committee.
PRISON SECURITY
Rules intended to keep prisons safe have been ignored, compromised or broken under Ozmint’s
administration, according to the preliminary report.
Violations of generally accepted prison practices resulted in:
• A female employee being taken hostage and repeatedly assaulted by a convicted rapist Nov.
3 at Ridgeland Correctional Institution in Jasper County.
After the rape, prison leaders did not immediately intervene as procedures require, the
report states. It said they hoped to contain the tense situation out of concern it “could
have a negative impact on the gubernatorial election.”
Five days later, Gov. Mark Sanford became the second governor in 28 years elected to a
consecutive term. The Corrections Department is a Cabinet agency that answers directly to
the chief executive.
Authorities handled the standoff “in accordance with best practices,” Ozmint said in a
nine-page written response to the newspaper.
He said the governor’s office was notified a hostage had been taken and when the situation
was resolved. “We will not dignify a baseless lie with any further response.”
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer called the allegations of political considerations “both
irresponsible and disgusting.”
Committee member Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, questioned why the convicted rapist was at
a medium-security prison in the first place.
Rapist Lloyd Isaac was a maximum-security risk and had been moved to Ridgeland, a
medium-security prison. Isaac was moved to serve as an informant for an agency
investigator, the senator wrote in a Feb. 22 letter to Ozmint.
Isaac is awaiting trial in February on charges of kidnapping, hostage-taking and rape in
that incident, prosecutor Duffie Stone said. If convicted, Isaac would be sentenced to life
without parole, Stone said.
• Two inmates escaped in December 2003 from Ridgeland after telling agency leaders — in
writing — they would do so.
It was the tandem’s second escape within weeks from the same prison. Normal procedures are
to place escaped inmates in a more restrictive prison, the report states.
Ozmint did not respond to the newspaper’s questions about that complaint.
The report cites three other escapes, two of which occurred from Columbia’s Broad River
Correctional Institution after guards lost track of prisoners. The most recent was this
month by a murderer and a burglar after a supervisor failed to count prisoners correctly.
Both were captured.
Ozmint said those were “mistakes made in selected instances.” Overall, escapes are down
dramatically. Figures he released show there were 17 escapes last fiscal year, half the
rate in 2003.
• During an August 2005 parole hearing at Lee Correctional Institution, a major provided a
violent criminal a six-inch knife that had been seized as contraband. The major directed
the prisoner to pull it on two women correctional officers, the report states.
Providing a weapon to an inmate is a felony punishable by up to 10 years. The major was
neither disciplined nor charged, the report states.
Ozmint said in a March 1 letter to Knotts the prisoner did not threaten the women. The
episode was an exercise to show they were negligent in their search procedures, Ozmint
wrote. The women missed the shank when they patted down the inmate.
“It was a great idea, except for the use of the actual shank” Ozmint wrote.
Such exercises usually occur in classrooms and do not involve the use of inmates, the
report notes.
The women said the episode was intimidation by the major for filing a sexual harassment
complaint against him, the report states.
Other security issues mentioned include missing guns and keys inside prisons, and an inmate
in a maximum-security prison having a drawing showing all internal and external access
points with which inmates might not be familiar.
PRISONER TREATMENT
Several inmates or their relatives reported assaults while prisoners were handcuffed.
Corrections employees also reported abuse. They say there is an increase in the number of
broken jaws and medical treatment. The report offers no details.
Ozmint said the complaints are false. “There has been no increase in allegations or
confirmed instances of excessive force complaints.”
He said stun guns are not authorized in prisons.
Earlier this year, an inmate was awarded $600,000 from a lawsuit alleging beatings. It is
being appealed, Ozmint said.
Prisoners also complained they have been denied food for breaking grooming and talking
rules.
Ozmint has said a federal court upheld a similar practice in Wisconsin. But other courts
have ruled against it.
WASTED RESOURCES
Prison facilities at the Wateree Correctional Institution near the rural Sumter County town
of Rembert have been upgraded using inmate labor and agency materials and equipment, the
report states.
Other details alleged include:
• A staff house has been converted into “a guest cottage.” A boat shed and fishing pier
were built.
• About 30 deer stands constructed at Trenton and MacDougall correctional institutions were
shipped to Wateree.
• A cattle-hauling vehicle was repainted, had chairs installed and got a new roof to
convert it for use in dove hunting.
Agency administrators invite guests to hunt or fish.
The report contains no figures on the cost of the improvements.
Ozmint, who has complained for years the Legislature does not provide enough money to run
prisons adequately, called the allegations false and reckless.
“No residence at Wateree ... has been renovated as described. We will gladly show you every
residence.”
In another complaint, a tree-cutting company owned by an inmate was hired for at least
three jobs, despite notification to agency administrators.
“Allegedly, there was a personal relationship between a staff member and the inmate,” the
report states.
The company was the lowest bidder, and state law requires the agency to accept the low bid
in all contracts, he said.
Ozmint said he banned the company from doing business with the prisons as soon as he
learned of the connection with the inmate.
Other concerns listed include use of prison computers to view sexually explicit images and
complaints of misuse of agency vehicles.
OZMINT’S HOUSEKEEPER
Dianne Graddick, convicted of murder in Aiken County two decades ago, works for the Ozmint
family as a housekeeper. Ozmint calls her a model prisoner and a woman of Christian
character.
She was one of several inmates recommended to work in the house by wardens, Ozmint said.
Ozmint changed Graddick’s security rating to allow her to work at his house and live in a
nearby prison that has no fences. Ozmint said he made the change for convenience of her
daily transports to the house, which is on prison property.
A maximum-security prison is nearby, but moving inmates from there is more restricted.
Graddick works at the 4,500-square-foot house weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ozmint said.
She earns $18.25 every two weeks.
Guards do not routinely patrol the house while Graddick works.
Ozmint said he has the authority to override any agency policy.
“If anybody else wants to ... take the director’s job and live surrounded by eight prisons
and 6,500 inmates ... then they should be welcome to chose the inmate of their choice to
work in their home around their wife and children,” Ozmint said.
Laws grant the department head “exclusive management and control of the prison system.” But
statutes do not say explicitly the director may override any rule.
Committee chairman Fair and committee member Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, question
Ozmint’s choice.
“It certainly raises concerns ... about his decision-making,” said Leventis, a longtime
critic of Ozmint. “It seems like (Graddick’s selection) would have created a special class
of inmates who have special dispensation from the director. There’s not anyone else that
could tidy up around his house?”
HOSTILE WORKPLACE
Hirings, promotions and firings have become tools to target critics and reward favorites,
the report states.
Employment test scores and inmate and vehicle-use records are altered, often “to cover
mistakes.”
The scores are adjusted to hire favorites over more qualified candidates, the report
states.
Several staffers complained about the use of lie-detectors to determine who is sharing
information with whom, even when a criminal investigation is not under way.
Ozmint called the complaints “intentionally misleading and ... false in all respects.”
The agency uses lie detectors appropriately within the law and policy, and will continue to
do so, he said.
Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664.
IF YOU GO
A Senate committee examining complaints of mismanagement in the state prison system is
meeting to review a preliminary report by its staff.
When: 1 p.m., Monday
Where: Room 209 of the Gressette office building on the State House grounds
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4) Key lawmakers debating Barnwell dump’s future were unaware of high tritium levels
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http://www.thestate.com/politics/story/155268.html
Panel lacked pollution data
Key lawmakers debating Barnwell dump’s future were unaware of high tritium levels
By SAMMY FRETWELL
sfretwell@thestate.com
Key lawmakers say they weren’t told about high radioactive pollution levels at a nuclear
waste dump while they deliberated keeping the Barnwell County landfill open to the nation.
The state health department and the landfill’s operator, Chem-Nuclear, did not provide
information last spring showing more than 30 monitoring wells contained radioactive tritium
exceeding a federal safe drinking-water standard, said eight of the 18 House agriculture
committee members who voted on the bill.
Maps showing contamination levels and well locations were kept out of public view by the
health department — at Chem-Nuclear’s request — until The State newspaper obtained them for
a story last weekend.
“We should have known about this; I’m appalled it was not brought to our attention,’’ said
Rep. Ted Vick, D-Chesterfield.
“It’s like pulling teeth to find out what the truth is,’’ said Lexington County Republican
Mac Toole, the agriculture committee’s first vice chairman.
Last spring, House agriculture members killed the bill to keep the 36-year-old landfill
open to all states past July 2008. But many expect Chem-Nuclear to try to change their
minds next year. Chem-Nuclear is a division of Energy Solutions of Utah, a national
nuclear-services company that stands to lose money if the site closes to all but South
Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey.
S.C. health officials and Chem-Nuclear have long acknowledged a leak of tritium occurred in
the 1970s, but said this week the 235-acre site is not polluting anyone’s drinking water
and complies with federal radiation standards.
Still, the 2004 and 2006 maps, obtained recently by The State newspaper under the Freedom
of Information Act, provide details many environmentalists, state lawmakers and Barnwell
County residents say they were never told about. Among the details:
• Tritium levels exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking-water
standard in about a third of the monitoring wells at the waste dump and below the site.
• Some of the tritium levels exceeded the EPA standard by hundreds of times and were higher
than tritium readings on parts of the nearby Savannah River Site nuclear-weapons complex,
the newspaper found. The EPA standard is 20,000 picocuries per liter; about 19 wells
averaged at least 1 million picocuries, with some of those averaging 10 million picocuries.
• About a dozen of the tainted monitoring wells are outside the landfill, just north of a
small community that relies on private wells for drinking water.
Community residents say DHEC has never tested their water. The agency has apologized and
began testing this week.
The contamination also drains into a creek that feeds the Savannah River, a major
drinking-water source in the Hilton Head Island area.
Tritium is a radioactive contaminant that can increase a person’s risk of cancer. It also
signals the flow of other, more dangerous pollutants from nuclear-waste landfills.
Chem-Nuclear’s landfill is the only one in the country that takes all types of low-level
radioactive waste from every state. Since opening in 1971, the landfill has buried more
than 28 million cubic feet of the nation’s low-level atomic garbage. Some of this is
lightly contaminated clothing from hospitals, but other nuclear refuse is more highly
radioactive atomic-reactor parts.
Energy Solutions spokesman Tim Dangerfield deferred comments Friday to the S.C. Department
of Health and Environmental Control.
The agency issued a statement saying staff members toured the Barnwell site with
legislators and were available to answer any questions. The agency also had included a link
on its Web site with all “pertinent information,’’ the statement said.
House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee members said DHEC
has a responsibility to do more than respond to questions.
“I expect more,’’ said Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens. “This is a state agency charged with
protecting the public’s health and providing the Legislature the information it needs.”
Rep. Robert Brown, D-Charleston, questioned DHEC’s relationship with Chem-Nuclear. “It
sounds to me like Chem-Nuclear is running DHEC. I don’t like it.’’
Duncan and Brown were members of a five-person subcommittee that conducted public hearings
last spring. But they, along with subcommittee members David Umphlett, R-Berkeley, and Paul
Agnew, D-Abbeville, claim they were left in the dark about the 2004 and 2006 plume maps.
Full agriculture committee members who said they did know about the maps were Rep. David
Hiott, R-Pickens, and Kenneth Hodges, D-Colleton.
Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.
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5)Share the road with motorcycles: PSA Materials from NHTSA
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Share the road with motorcycles: PSA Materials from NHTSA
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/McycleSafetyplanner2007/index.html
Tips on Using this Promotional Planner
The intent of this promotional planner is to provide you with marketing materials, earned media tools and marketing ideas that you can distribute to fit your local needs and objectives while at the same time partnering with other states, communities and organizations all across the country on this promotional program.
This planner includes messaging that you may choose from to support your initiatives surrounding Motorcycle Safety Month. The materials available to you can be used in several capacities and all carry the tagline, "Share the Road with Motorcycles" to remind drivers to be cognizant of motorcycle riders during the busier riding months, and serves to reinforce our message platform.
Please select, tailor, and distribute this planner in a way that best fits your local situation and objectives.
Press-Ready materials are large files. Right-click and "save target as" to download them for ease of viewing...
http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/McycleSafetyplanner2007/index.html
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6) NHTSA PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2007
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FF Note: NHTSA recorded zero miles traveled in South Dakota home of Sturgis. Therefore it is likely other states are under reported. This of course leads to a grossly exaggerated deaths to vehicle miles traveled. Their stats are junk.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/whatis/bb/2007/pages/NHTSAPerfMeas.htm
NHTSA PERFORMANCE MEASURES 2007
The Department has made transportation safety its highest priority. The Secretary has mandated an ambitious DOT-wide safety goal to reduce the traffic fatality rate to no more than 1 fatality per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by the end of 2008. This target was determined by conducting an analysis of the projected effectiveness of several safety programs from NHTSA, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). While NHTSA plays a significant role in helping the Department to achieve this target, ultimately this goal can only be met through the combined efforts of other agencies in the Department, the States, local communities, and other highway partners. (For details on the part of FHWA and FMCSA efforts aimed at achieving the DOT highway-related fatality goal, please see the performance sections of their respective budget requests.)
...
While 20 percent of passenger vehicle crashes result in injury or death to occupants, an astounding 80 percent of police-reported motorcycle crashes result in injury or death to involved riders. In 2004, the motorcycle rider fatality rate increased to 39.89. Motorcycle rider fatalities have increased each year since reaching a historic low of 2,116 fatalities in 1997. In 2004, NHTSA’s annual assessment reports 4,008 motorcyclists were killed, an increase of 89 percent between 1997 and 2004. Without this substantial increase in motorcycle rider fatalities between 1997 and 2004, overall highway fatalities would have experienced a marked reduction of about 3 percent over this same time period.
...
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