Steal and be very ashamed

A young woman sentenced to walk a downtown sidewalk wearing a sandwich board announcing her crime as a condition of her probation for burglary said the experience was humbling and humiliating, but definitely better than serving jail time.

“I understand the judge’s reasoning,” said Breanna Klewitz, 23, of her two-hour walk on a sidewalk in front of the Dougherty County Courthouse, Georgia, wearing signs that read, “I am a thief” and “I stole what you worked for.”

“If you do something wrong, you have to accept some responsibility,” she said. “Sitting in a jail cell does provide anonymity. I wish the world didn’t have to know me by face and by name. But I understand his reasoning.

Chief Superior Court Judge Loren Gray sentenced Klewitz to five-years probation as a first offender for her role in a June burglary at a local fast-food restaurant, where she worked as an assistant manager. Besides a $US1086 ($1376) fine, the judge ordered her to make signs with 8-inch letters, visible from at least 25 feet, and wear them while walking the block-long sidewalk along a busy downtown street.

One of her co-defendants, Jerry Brantley, 22, was sentenced to three years in prison, and another, Trever Moore, 19, received the same sentence as Klewitz. The date for Moore’s walk of shame has not been announced.

Klewitz said she was amazed at the words of encouragement from passers-by during her two-hour walk on Wednesday.

“They said, ‘Hang in there,’ ‘We’re praying for you,’” she said. “The only thing I could think of is, rather this than jail. It’s definitely made me a better judge of character and who I hang out with.”

Gray said he wants people who steal to know that their crimes will be exposed. Sending defendants like Klewitz to jail for the weekend, allows them to escape public scrutiny and is a burden on taxpayers, he said.

“I used to do this rather regularly, particularly with shoplifters,” the judge said. “Having to announce it to all the world in front of the courthouse is better to me than sending them to jail on weekends.

“This particular sentence imposes a brief period of shame, indignity, whatever you will,” he said. “Rather than incarceration, this is a better way of molding attitudes and shaping mind-set.”

Gray said he believes the sentence he gave Klewitz is probably most effective in smaller cities like Albany, where people are more likely to know each other.

“I know of a couple of other judges who have employed this,” he said. “I think it probably works best in the smaller jurisdictions like ours. I don’t think it would work well in Atlanta, where there’s little chance of media coverage. In a small community, I think it’s more damming than sending someone off to prison.”

Judges in other parts of the country have also handed out sentences that included public humiliation.

In Springfield, Massachusetts, last year, a city employee who swindled the school system, had to wear a sign stating, “I stole $10,000 from the school department. This is a serious crime. This is part of my punishment.”

A former softball coach in McCook, Nebraska, opted last year to repay money he was accused of stealing, rather stand outside a ballpark wearing a sign that said, “I stole from the McCook Rebels softball team.”

Evel Knievel sues Kanye West

TAMPA, Fla. – Evel Knievel has sued Kanye West, taking issue with a music video in which the rapper takes on the persona of “Evel Kanyevel” and tries to jump a rocket-powered motorcycle over a canyon.

Knievel, whose real name is Robert Craig Knievel, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tampa on Monday claiming infringement on his trademark name and likeness. He also claims the “vulgar and offensive” images depicted in the video damage his reputation.

“That video that Kanye West put out is the most worthless piece of crap I’ve ever seen in my life, and he uses my image to catapult himself on the public,” the 68-year-old daredevil said Tuesday.

A spokesman for West said the 28-year-old rapper no comment. The lawsuit seeks damages and to halt distribution of the video.

In the video for “Touch the Sky,” released earlier this year, West dons the familiar Knievel star-studded jumpsuit and jumps a canyon in a vehicle “visually indistinguishable” from the one used by Knievel in his failed attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in 1974, the lawsuit said.

The video, which features Pamela Anderson as West’s girlfriend, contains “vulgar and offensive sexual images, language and conduct involving `Evel Kanyevel’ and women apparently trying to gain his sexual interest,” according to the lawsuit.

“The guy just went too far using me to promote his filth to the world,” said Knievel, who lives in Clearwater and has been in poor health in recent years. “I’m not in any way that kind of a person.”

The lawsuit also names Roc-A-Fella Records, video director Chris Milk and AOL for distributing it.

West was so disappointed at not winning best video for “Touch the Sky” at the MTV Europe Music Awards last month that he crashed the stage when it was presented to Justice and Simian for “We Are Your Friends.”

In a tirade riddled with expletives, West said he should have won the prize because it “cost a million dollars, Pamela Anderson was in it. I was jumping across canyons.”

Knievel failed spectacularly in the 1974 jump. He was secured inside the cockpit and the Sky-Cycle was fired up. But his parachute opened just as he cleared the ramp. After soaring about 1,000 feet, he wound up landing about 20 feet from the river on the rocky south bank. He sustained only scrapes and bruises.

In the video, West’s vehicle crashes to the bottom of the canyon in flames.

Hitler’s Grandson?

Mt Dew Can Tree

Materials: Approx 400 Mountain Dew cans
Time: 3 Months of soda drinking / 4 days of building

See it all HERE.

Infrared Iraq