“Jefferson County Sheriff offers no apology for military procession - KSDK” plus 4 more |
- Jefferson County Sheriff offers no apology for military procession - KSDK
- Crime links to doping race scandal - Age
- Motorsport: Two-wheel legend becomes four-wheel rookie - New Zealand Herald
- The road rules you don’t know ...but should - Sydney Morning Herald
- P1: Italian Teams Sicilian GP preview - Motorsport.com
| Jefferson County Sheriff offers no apology for military procession - KSDK Posted: 10 Sep 2009 09:04 PM PDT By Casey Nolen KSDK -- Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer is getting attention from across the country because of an email he sent in response to a complaint. A driver wrote Sheriff Boyer to complain that she was stopped by the procession for a fallen soldier. In late August, the family of Sgt. 1st Class Brian Woods learned the husband and father of two, was killed in action, serving in Afghanistan. As has become customary for fallen soldiers, Woods' casket and his family were escorted home to Jefferson County by Sheriff's Deputies and Patriot Guard Riders. "Well, I received the original email on (August) 29th and she was complaining about a funeral escort," Boyer said. But when the procession passed through the intersection of Interstate 270 and Gravois, one driver apparently took exception to having to wait, and complained via email to the sheriff. Out of respect for the woman's privacy, the sheriff declined to say who sent him the email, but in the text of the email, her chief complaints seem to be that she didn't care for the timing of the procession and she didn't care for the way she was treated by members of the Patriot Guard. "The Patriot Guard Rider was trying to explain to her that it was a funeral procession and it would be only honorable to wait, couldn't have been more than five minutes," said Mike Gibbs of the Patriot Guard Riders. The woman implicated that one of the Patriot Guard Riders treated her rudely, and while Sheriff Boyer does not believe it, he said he was not going to dispute the claim. "It's my opinion that her complaint was invalid and self-serving," Boyer said. "She was mad because she was inconvenienced." And Sheriff Boyer, himself a Vietnam veteran, told her so in several paragraphs, which have found their way online, garnering an out pouring of support for a patriotic rebuff, by a man who says he saw a very different treatment of returning soldiers when he served some thirty years ago. "It's not about my feelings as an individual. It's about this young sergeant that gave his life. And we, collectively as a nation, should honor that sacrifice," Boyer said. The sheriff also told the driver the reason she's able to register such a complaint is because of her freedoms, which soldiers' fight for every day. Also, in an effort to continue to honor Sgt. Brian Woods' sacrifice, his friends are holding a benefit for his family in House Springs on October 3. The event is at Durham Park, between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Kids 12 and under can get in for free; adults are $10. ********** Below is the initial email from the woman to Sheriff Boyer:  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Crime links to doping race scandal - Age Posted: 10 Sep 2009 08:43 PM PDT OFFICIALS fear widespread infiltration of Victorian racing by organised crime after revelations that underworld figures own a horse at the centre of a doping scandal and other pacers and thoroughbreds. The underworld link to harness racing horse Em MaGuane - which last month tested positive for the stimulant EPO - along with several other positive tests has sparked serious integrity concerns in the lead-up to the Melbourne spring carnival. Some racing and organised crime investigators suspect EPO, or erythropoietin, known as an illegal performance enhancing drug used by cyclists to boost red blood cells, may be in far wider use because it is difficult to detect. Harness Racing authorities are conducting two inquiries into EPO use and are awaiting further analysis of an irregular sample involving a third horse. Thoroughbred racing investigators are conducting a separate EPO inquiry into horses trained by a father-son team. A source said a racing identity linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs has recently offered to sell EPO to several trainers. One of Em Maguane's owners at the time the horse was swabbed in May is harness racing driver and trainer Gary Sargent. In early July, several weeks before Em Maguane's three positive EPO tests became the subject of a steward's inquiry, Sargent was charged by the Australian Federal Police in connection to a drug importation over which Kevin Frederick ''Dick'' Carey, the brother of former AFL star Wayne Carey, was also charged. Sargent was arrested on July 2 by federal agents at the Whittlesea stables of a prominent harness racing trainer. Another owner of Em MaGuane, through the Royal Flush Syndicate, is Paul Sequenzia, the brother-in-law of slain underworld figure Mark Moran and a close associate of the Moran family. Sequenzia, who has owned scores of harness horses and gallopers and is a big punter, is believed to have had a behind-the-scenes role in training Royal Flush's horses. In 2001 Sequenzia was charged by police for trafficking and possessing amphetamines. The case was abandoned three years later due to concerns about police corruption. On Tuesday, Sequenzia, Sargent, Mr Quinlan and the Royal Flush's manager, Sean Triplett, appeared at a steward's inquiry into the EPO finding. There is no suggestion Mr Quinlan or Mr Triplett, who is involved with the Western Bulldogs, have underworld links. Today, stablehand and syndicate member Larry Grantham- who Mr Sequenzia and Mr Quinlan have said was in charge of the horse before it was swabbed - is set to appear at the inquiry. In April 2008, Sargent was a driver on another Royal Flush horse, Bus To HarLand, which was named after legendary Port Melbourne footballer Graham ''Buster'' Harland. His son, Darren Harland, also owns thoroughbred horses with members of the Sequenzia family. Darren Harland, who has been convicted of assault charges, was also close to Jason Moran and was once found with a loaded pistol outside prison while visiting Moran. Another prominent harness racing identity close to Sequenzia and members of the Royal Flush syndicate is driver and trainer Ahmad Taiba, who drove Em Maguane twice in 2007. In 2004, NSW stewards caught Ahmad Taiba's brother Hass betting through an illegal bookmaking operation at Sydney's Warwick Farm run by prominent Melbourne bookie Frank Hudson. Hudson has been able to retain his bookmaker's licence despite his underworld links. Sequenzia and Darren Harland's ownership and punting activities have long been of interest to stewards. Several years ago, Harland and another member of the Sequenzia family were involved with a horse named Myalansky after the Chicago gangster Meyer Lansky. Ahmad Taiba recently trained a horse called ''Kiwi Joe,'' the name of a well-known Melbourne drug trafficker. Facing charges with Sargent and Kevin Carey over the alleged July illegal drug importation is Benjamin John Horn, the boyfriend of Trish Moran, who was married to another now-deceased member of the notorious Moran clan, Jason. The Carey brothers' links to the Moran family were first revealed when Wayne Carey gave character evidence in court for Jason Moran. In August last year, an inquiry into the integrity of racing by retired County Court judge Gordon Lewis found that criminal activity in the sport was ''rampant'' and that the oversight system was failing. In response, Racing Minster Rob Hulls pledged to introduce reforms, including a new integrity chief to oversee racing and liaise with police. Much illegal activity Judge Lewis referred to was uncovered by the Australian Crime Commission, but has never been acted on by racing authorities because they lack access to commission information.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Motorsport: Two-wheel legend becomes four-wheel rookie - New Zealand Herald Posted: 10 Sep 2009 07:24 PM PDT
2:08PM Friday Sep 11, 2009 MELBOURNE - Former World Superbike champion Troy Bayliss will have to adjust to rookie status when he lines up in this weekend's V8 Supercar long-distance race at Phillip Island. Bayliss will follow in the footsteps of former bike star Wayne Gardner when he gets behind the wheel of a Paul Morris Motorsports-prepared Commodore with Dean Fiore at the 500km classic. Since claiming his third World Superbike title less than a year ago, Bayliss has made the successful transition from two to four wheels with test days completed with TeamVodafone, Jack Daniels Racing and Paul Morris Motorsports. He then accepted an invitation to join Fiore for the island enduro and the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama. After spending time with the Triple F Racing team and working on his fitness for the event, Bayliss said he felt prepared for this weekend's gruelling race. "I've been training a lot to prepare my body for the race and overall I am feeling ready and really looking forward to the weekend," Bayliss said. "While we haven't had any testing since last month, I have been using other methods to prepare for the event. "The guys have sent me DVDs from last year's race and I've also spent some time with the team practising our driver changes so overall I am feeling ready." Bayliss said that while he might be a V8 Supercar rookie he has vast experience at the Phillip Island circuit, where he has been a multiple winner in motorcycle racing. "I've raced at Phillip Island a lot on a bike and overall I definitely think my knowledge of the track will come in handy this weekend as I have a lot to learn throughout the course of the event," Bayliss said. Fiore will also be making his endurance debut at Phillip Island and said he was keen to partner Bayliss to observe a seasoned professional racer. "Given that Troy is a three time World Superbike champion there is a lot I can learn from him," Fiore said. "I'm looking forward to working alongside him and seeing how he approaches each race." - AAP  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The road rules you don’t know ...but should - Sydney Morning Herald Posted: 10 Sep 2009 05:30 PM PDT  streetSign There are traps for drivers in our more obscure road rules. There are traps for drivers in our more obscure road rules. Road rules – there's a million of them. Or, to put it another way, if you print out the current NSW Road Rules on A4 paper, your printer will spit out 337 pages. There are so many rules, regulations and special clauses that even with a Rain Man-like memory for facts and figures you'll struggle to take them in. Just the ones solely relating to driving next to trams are far too numerous to cover in this article. For instance, while you probably know it's illegal to exceed 60km/h in a 60km/h zone, did you know it's against the rules to spray mud on people waiting at a bus stop? Talk about a nanny state. Before we explore some of the other obscure ones, let's check a few definitions. If you visit the Roads and Traffic Authority website and follow the link to NSW Road Rules, you'll discover that, logically, an animal being ridden is defined as "a vehicle" and a person in a wheeled toy is defined as "a pedestrian". Some rules depend on available light and the Government helpfully provides an official definition of "darkness". In case you are wondering, this occurs at "(a) any time during the night [and] (b) any other time when there is insufficient daylight to render a person dressed in dark clothing discernible at a distance of 100 metres". Interesting. But how do you work out at what distance that person wearing dark clothing is standing? Particularly if you can't see him/her. Of course, everyone knows wearing a seatbelt is compulsory. Ah-ha, but did you know you don't need to wear a belt under certain circumstances when driving at less than 25km/h. Nor while reversing. Or if you've come a cropper with the law. There's a thoughtful exemption in the following circumstance: "If the vehicle is a police vehicle and has a caged, or other secured, area designed for the carriage of passengers." In other words, the people in the back can't be further booked for not wearing a seatbelt. That might, of course, be the least of their problems. In normal circumstances, an unbelted driver with two unbelted passengers will blow nine demerit points. They'll lose their licence in one fell swoop if they do it in a special double demerit bonus period. Downright inexplicable, though, is the provision that: "Taxi drivers are not required to wear seatbelts." Even less explicable is that so many of them, in Sydney at least, choose to take advantage of this bizarre privilege, deliberately forgoing use of the greatest life-saving device of the age. Still, we should have some sympathy for our taxi drivers – how would you like to be stuck in a city you didn't know, in a vehicle you couldn't drive properly? Smoking in cars containing children is now a $250 on-the-spot fine offence, though this is under the Public Health Act. (That's right, there are myriad rules that aren't even listed in the official road rules.) No doubt this latest law came in after careful consideration was given to which would benefit the public coffers more: letting you smoke, or fining you to stop. If a passenger lights up, the driver still cops the fine. If, however, one of the kids lights up, the situation is less clear. Minutiae is legion in the rules. Riding in a boot, cargo tray or trailer is outlawed. A motorcyclist must ride a motorcycle with at least one hand on the handlebars. You cannot tether an animal to a vehicle that is moving "unless the driver is permitted to do so under another law of this jurisdiction". A person must not get on, or into, a moving vehicle unless (a) the person is engaged in the door-to-door delivery or collection of goods, or in the collection of waste or garbage [or] (b) the vehicle is not travelling at a speed over 5km/h. The rules describing every possible scenario at every type of roundabout are complicated enough to make you realise why "who dares wins" is so often the accepted practice. There's even a suggestion that many of the road rules apply to people on bicycles. As if. A person must not start a vehicle, or drive a vehicle, in a way that makes unnecessary noise or smoke, though this seems to be universally waived in the case of Harley-Davidsons. Rule 299 prohibits a television receiver or visual display unit in (or on) the vehicle "operating while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked, if any part of the image on the screen is visible to the driver from the normal driving position". Such a screen isn't allowed to distract other drivers, either. Putting it on Channel Nine should guarantee that. A hand-held phone is too dangerous for you to use while driving, though the danger apparently disappears in the hands of the driver of a police or emergency vehicle. A hands-free phone is equally illegal "if it causes you to lose proper control of your vehicle". Losing proper control of your vehicle is also an offence when not using a hands-free phone. Go figure. The use of lights is governed by many of the laws. They include this curious provision: "If the driver is overtaking a vehicle, the driver may briefly switch the headlights from low beam to high beam immediately before the driver begins to overtake the vehicle." Rule 291-2 would appear to target drivers of English cars of a certain age. "The driver ... must not drive the vehicle without adequate precautions being taken to prevent waste oil or grease from the machinery ... from dropping on the roadway." A recent change to the NSW Road Rules makes it an offence to drive a wheeled recreational vehicle such as a tricycle, pedal car or set of rollerblades on a road with a dividing line, a median strip or a speed limit that is more than 50km/h. If fining children in billycarts $54 is what it takes to keep this great land safe, it's a price we must pay. Speaking of hits to the hip pocket, the contravening of most road rules in NSW involves a fine and the allocation of demerit points. Driving with an animal in your lap is an offence worth $324 and three demerit points, unless you do it in a school zone. In that case your fluffy Pomeranian has cost you $405 and four points. A similar penalty is applied if you ride a motorcycle with Fido on the fuel tank. An exception is provided for the purposes of farming, so it's always worth arguing the nearby presence of sheep and your fluffy Pomeranian's ability to round them up. The most exotic penalties are reserved for "street racing and burnout offences" under the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Car Hoons) Act of 2008. These include the possibility of an $1100 fine for a burnout, or three times that for an "aggravated burnout". That's for your first. Do it a second time – or engage in street racing – and nine months' imprisonment is on the cards. These laws extend to "a hoon driver's mate who willingly participates in, urge[s] others to participate in, photograph[s] or film[s] to promote or organise hoon activity". And police can go beyond just clamping, impounding and confiscating some offending vehicles. Certain confiscated vehicles can now be released to the RTA for crash testing "to investigate the potential effects of certain modifications on overall crashworthiness". The announcement of this provision added that the "wrecks of these vehicles will be displayed". So stand by for beaten-up WRXs and Supras strung up like captured partisans in occupied Europe. What's the most bizarre road rule you know? Have your say at drive.com.au/blogs The reasons for the rules While some of our road rules are laughable, there is a serious side to them. One can debate the cynical way our speeding and parking laws are enforced but laws in general are no bad thing. Having a comprehensive set of rules for drivers, pedestrians, car-makers and road builders (and the firepower to make sure they are adhered to) has a dramatic effect on saving lives. Wherever people drive unsafe cars badly and neglect to wear seatbelts or helmets through ignorance or misplaced machismo (the latter very much the case in southern Europe), the road toll skyrockets. The latest Global Status Report on Road Safety, released by the World Health Organisation in June, reports 1.2 million people die on the roads each year. The survey gives India the dubious honour of having the world's highest annual road toll, with 106,000 traffic deaths, compared with about 89,000 in China. Other reports have drawn a direct link between the extent of corruption and road fatalities. The more of the first, the more of the second. Wealthy countries, such as Australia, came out of the WHO survey well. Although every fatality is one too many, our 1616 deaths in 2007 (the report used 2006 and 2007 figures) is more than two-thirds down on our 1970 figure, when measured per capita. The WHO report found 90 per cent of road deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, despite these having less than half the world's vehicles. The reason? A lack of "road safety laws relating to key risk factors that are sufficiently comprehensive in scope".  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| P1: Italian Teams Sicilian GP preview - Motorsport.com Posted: 10 Sep 2009 04:39 PM PDT THE ITALIAN POWERBOAT P1 TEAMS TURN UP THE HEAT Getting Ready to Rumble in Sicily With the Sicilian Grand Prix momentum heating up, the Italian teams are going to the mattresses on their "home" turf. In Evolution Class the 3rd place Cigarette Smash Poker team manager Eugenio Voltolina got creative in an effort to Cigarette and Buoy get a leg-up on his competition. His team says he was inspired by the legendary Greek mathematician Archimedes who made very brilliant deductions while in Syracuse, but it seems Voltonlina just used some "sea" smarts and common sense. The Cigarette Racing Team, with the help of partner Adria Yachts Group, built a replica of the Syracuse, Sicily race course off the coast of Rimini, one of his IBS Yachts locations. The team has been testing different set-ups to prepare for the difficult Sicilian circuit which includes approximately 13 buoys and several sharp turns. The team is also testing with the help of its technology partners, Studio Ti, Magneti Marelli, Garmin, Victory Engineering and Flexitab. In Rimini, Luca Formilli Fendi and Matteo Nicolini, are taking the training for the final decisive race of the season very seriously. The Cigarette team invested heavily in technology this year with Flexitab's new water intake, trim tabs, and new Soft Shock Seat which was a project from Sea Horse International, Genset, Andreani Group and Sparco. The team hopes to pull it all together in this Grand Prix finale. The 2nd place Naples rivals, the SNAV OSG team added another sponsor for the Sicily race, Garelli Italia motorcycles and mopeds. Though the technology might not help on the water, Giancarlo Cangiano will be up-to-speed in the pits on his new XO Scooter! Marco Pennesi and Max Ferrari are scheduled to be back for the Sicily show-down. Though the Metamarine Pignolo 53 team cannot compete in the points standings because of its missed races, there are still Italian bragging rights and the manufacturer of the Metamarine hull will clearly want to defend his hull's reputation for strength and speed. In SuperSport, the Baia Attolini team and Seagull Chaudron may literally battle it out. Though the Chaudron Spirit of the Ukraine also has a Maltese and Ukrainian team member, count on Angelo Tedeschi to be saying a novena to beat his rivals to the podium. Though the two Al & Al teams, Big Sergio and Blue Shaft, have not been in serious contention in the points standings, with the Saho Italian team back in the mix as a Wild Card in a Donzi that was known to show speed in the 2008 season, there should be some additional stiff competition in the back of the pack as well as in the front. -credit: p1  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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