JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

EXTINCTION AND A SICK COURTHOUSE AND A LATE EMAIL ON THE GERSTEN MESS

GORILLAS HEAD RACE TO EXTINCTION

Our BBC carried this disturbing REPORT


The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.

Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.


This year's Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said the organisation's director-general, Julia Marton-Lefevre.
"The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing, and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis.


One in three amphibians, one in four mammals, one in eight birds and 70% of plants so far assessed are believed to be at risk of extinction, with human alteration of their habitat the single biggest cause

In Borneo, home to the second orangutan species, palm oil plantations have expanded 10-fold in a decade, and now take up 27,000 sq km of the island. Illegal logging reduces habitat still further, while another threat comes from hunting for food and the illegal international pet trade.
So fragmented have some parts of the Bornean forest become that some isolated orangutan populations now number less than 50 individuals, which IUCN notes are "apparently not viable in the long term.


For us in South Florida the report contained this disturbing news on coral reefs:

This is the first time we've assessed corals, and it's a bit worrying because some of them moved straight from being not assessed to being possibly extinct," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of IUCN's species programme.

We know that some species were there in years gone by, but now when we do the assessment they are not there. And corals are like the trees in the forest; they build the ecosystem for fish and other animals.




Rumpole says: Right after the issue of innocent people languishing in prison, this is what keeps us up at night when we aren’t drinking.

NEW LOOK- SAME OLD RUMPOLE:


Longtime and careful readers of the Blog may note we have tweaked the look of the blog. We have had very very bad experiences working with Google Blogger. Therefore, we proceed at a snails pace lest (there’s that word again) we screw it up and lose everything. The Broward Blog on the other hand has upgraded their blog to include new features like music! There was a question in the comments section as to what music we would choose, and our initial choice was Badlands by Springsteen, followed by I am An Innocent Man, by Billy Joel. What would your blog song be?


SICK COURTHOUSE

Check out the Federal Blog (the new place for the link is on the top, under “Our Favourite Blogs) and read the article on the Sick Federal Courthouse. The Dyer Federal Courthouse has been found to have significant amounts of mold. There is an especially high concern about the effects of the mold due to the untimely and surprising death of our friend, colleague, and Federal Magistrate Ted Klein. Everyone who knew Ted knew that he was a vigorous man who jogged regularly and took excellent care of his health. His surprising death to a lung infection of some sort (we do not know the details) has led to some to the conclusion that the courthouse may have tragically contributed to Magistrate Klein’s early death. In any event, the Federal Blog has the DBR article by Julie Kay, who reports that Chief Judge Moreno has commissioned a new study on the possible health effects of the mold in the courthouse.

Rumpole says: This is too serious an issue to throw federal money at for a new study, and then wait around and debate the findings. Close that courthouse NOW. Do not require people to work in a place that may be harming their health. If it is found out that the mold is a serious health issue, then it would be too late to reverse the damaging health effects on those who work there.


See You In Court, hopefully not Mag court.


PS. We received this late email. Now I am not going to blow this one. I have read it carefully. The following is an email about former Commissioner Joe Gersten (no i).
(whew. Got it right).

Anonymous wrote:

Read the House Committee on Government Reform report on the Gersten case and reconsider your remarks, Rumpy. Gersten was never a "fugitive" in a civil contempt case. The state attorney's office ignored exculpatory evidence, including a false murder accusation against Mr Gersten in the shooting death of the transvestite prostitute 'Champagne', suborned by hooker Claudia Lira.When Kenneth Elswick was pulled over while driving Gersten's Mercedes the arresting officer (the late Mr Garcia) claimed he stopped the vehicle because the tags were on the stolen vehicle 'watch list';this was not possible due to the fact that Elswick had changed the license plates that morning as evidenced by the impound records. After arresting the car thieves, Officer Garcia spent the afternoon driving around town, all the while using the car phone to call some of the same numbers the crooks had used when they were in possession of the vehicle; interestingly, though not immediately germane, Officer Garcia was arrested later that evening when he approached an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute in a sting operation. Kenneth Elswick was never charged with any crime in connection to the case, not even when wiretap on Mr Gersten's phone recorded his offer to Joe to change his story for ten thousand dolars. A neighbor walking her dog saw Joe's car in his driveway at the time that the prostitutes claimed they were 'partying' with him. Claudia Lira told Wayne Pearce that she had been paid $400 by 'the FBI' to get Joe into trouble. All drug tests on Joe, including hair testing, were negative. I could (and will) go on and on. Some of your statements border on the libelous.

Rumpole replies: True or false- Gersten is a fugitive from prosecution in Miami? Or is it that having had some shrimp on the barbie he just can't bear to leave Australia? Maybe the Dingo ate his airline ticket!!!!???

As to the rest of the information in the email, we think we have seen this before, and you left out some information: What about the guy who opens and closes the umbrella, on a perfectly clear warm day while the Gersten motorcade drives by? Why were there known french hit men in town, and by the grassy knoll when Gersten's car was stopped? And what about the film shot by Abraham "El Flaco" Zapruder which was taken immediately into custody by the same city of Miami Police officers and to this day has never been revealed? A rush to judgment I say. A conspiracy well beyond what our little minds could ever comprehend.


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let me guess - was anonymous Gersten's lawyer or brother David?

Great 'spin'. Especially 20 years after the fact.

Now exactly why did he flee to Australia instead of showing up in Court?

Anonymous said...

Rumpole my dear close personal friend (try saying that and keeping a straight face).

The new blog is cool. I like the bottom features that allow me to go back and forward to new and old post right at my finger tips. The format looks ok.

Only problem is that the old format kept the main fonts on the left side that appear in all pages allighed correctly no matter if you choose large type or small. Now with the new fonts the alligment is off. Try it by going to the top right hand corner of explorer and click page than click text size and click large fonts (as I get older I tend to need large type especially when reading rumors).

See ya in court looking for my dear close friend Rumpole with some cough and flu meds.

Rumpole said...

10:15- explain this to me again like I am an idiot. I do not understand. 1) I have no idea what cool features you are talking about. Clicking between new and old posts? Huh?

2) Fonts. I know what a font is. Top right hand of explorer has three buttons. Nothing there I can see about fonts. Now just what is the problem with the left side of the page?

I like to think I am close personal friends with all my dear readers. Ok- maybe one exception, but just one.

Anonymous said...

look at the bottom page to the last message left by a reader and new buttons allow clicking back and forth between you post.

in windows explorer 7.0 right top corner a button titled "PAGE" Click now choose "TEXT SIZE" click now choose the text size you want from small to largest and look at your blog after choosing the largest font option.

Phil R that you?

Rumpole said...

I still don't get it. I don't see the buttons, and I must not have explorer 7.0.

As to Phil R, I just put up a comment he sent in for yesterdays post. Apparently he has an alibi. Have at it.

Anonymous said...

rip Officer of the Miami-Dade`Police who passed to day in that horrible shooting of 4 officers.

We need more $$ for police to protect them from such violent crime.

Anonymous said...

I love rumpy putting that Gersten nut in his place with the Kennedy assassination stuff. Very funny.

Also, I'm sort of into the Shumie/Weisman feud, but it needs a little more pizzaz.

Anonymous said...

If anyone can confirm if Phil R was out of town last week, as he claims, it might go a long way to proving his innocence.Was he on the Oergon coast as he says in his comment yesterday? And don't they have internet service there?

Cobitz and Phil R should take a poly.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: rip Officer of the Miami-Dade`Police who passed to day in that horrible shooting of 4 officers.

We need more $$ for police to protect them from such violent crime.


How about reinstating the assault gun ban? How about telling the NRA and the GOP to go F___ themselves and having real gun control?

Anonymous said...

With regard to sick courthouses, someone should do an epidemiological and environmental study of our very own REG Justice Building. Over the past twenty years an alarmingly high number of people who regularly work in the building (judges, clerks, lawyers, officers, etc.) have died young of cancers. Perhaps it is old asbestos, paint or similar building material, radon gas concentrated in the closed building, radiation from the old computer monitors, dioxins or other contaminants from the nearby Miami River and Wagner Creek, electromagnetic fields from old electrical wiring, or something else. Whatever it is, the number of cancers in the building seems just too high to be coincidental and should be investigated before more people die.

Anonymous said...

The State wasn't really after the Joe Gersten stolen car case. They were after Joe Gersten's knowledge of bond deals, contracts, and other corrupt going-ons at Miami International Airport.

Anonymous said...

Sy lasted 30+ years in the courthouse with out any problem. We should not jump the gun here. When you have a large collection of people, statistically you will find a certain percentage dying from cancer. There are literally hundreds of clerks, Judges, lawyers, JAs, who have worked in the REGJB for 20 plus years with no enviromental health problems.

Anonymous said...

The "assault" gun ban was not even about assault weapons, but about the cosmetic features of semi-automatic rifles that made them LOOK like assault weapons. Assault weapons shoot in selective fire (semi-auto or automatic) and have been tightly regulated for 73 years by the 1934 National Firearms Act. Gun control only creates defenseless law-abiding citizens and armed-criminals. In fact, the stricter the gun control the higher the violent gun crime rate. Take for example NYC and Washington D.C. where guns have been banned for a long time, yet the violent crime rate remains high. Compare those places to Vermont where there is no gun control and no license is needed to carry firearms concealed or otherwise, yet the crime rate is quite low. The problem doesn't lie in the guns but in the lack of morals and respect for the law of those people criminally misusing them.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't the Caleb center courthouse closed because it was a sick building? Don't know if it's just rumor, but I heard that when Judge Bloom was there she kept getting sick and that's one of the reasons why the building was condemned.

And with all the nasty people at REG it certainly wouldn't surprise me if it was full of all sorts of sickness. Have you ever stood in the hallway on the 6 floor outside the jail division courtroom. It reeks.

Anonymous said...

If you want mold, visit any floor above the sixth floor at 73 west flagler. Our historic courthouse is an embarrassment and danger to the community.

Renovations were supposed to be DONE by 2004. They haven't even started. But plans for a Marlins ballpark are in full swing, right?

Anonymous said...

Caleb Courthouse was closed because Judge Rippingille kept getting sick and an enviromental study showed all kinds of molds and nasty stuff there.

Anonymous said...

bring back the trialmaster, i miss his input and intelligence.