Politics As Usual
Shining a Light on Power and Policy
Tom Shine covers congressional politics for ABC News.
RECENT POSTS
- "The Stories Are Shocking In Their Simplicity And Brutality..."
- "Pipes Have Voltage, Get Shocked In The Shower"
- She May Have to Take the Stand "For Mommy" a Second Time
- The Army Calls A Reverse And Orders Football Star Caleb Campbell To Serve
- "I Have Broken The Cycle Of Obesity..."
- "When I Joined the Navy, I Didn’t Know I Was Gay"
- You Might Not Be Able To Afford The Groceries, But Your Shopping Cart Will Be Clean
- For the Petersons 'The Price is Right'
- 8,763 DISABLED VETS DIED BEFORE THEIR CASES WERE REVIEWED
- HOLY PATRICK LEAHY, BATMAN!
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
« Previous | Main | Next »
'Free Lamar Owens'
April 16, 2007 8:08 AM
All the talk last week that wasn't about DON IMUS was about the THREE DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE players pronounced innocent of rape charges by North Carolina's Attorney General. But there is another case involving another well known school and former star athlete that is not getting nearly as much attention.
The school is the NAVAL ACADEMY and the former athlete is an African American named LAMAR OWENS. He was the academy's OUTSTANDING FOOTBALL QUARTERBACK who was accused of raping a female classmate in January of 2006 after both spent a good part of the night drinking. He said the sex was consensual, she said it was forced. The case went to trial and he was found NOT GUILTY OF RAPE. A military jury did find Owens GUILTY OF "CONDUCT UNBECOMING OF AN OFFICER AND DISOBEYING AN ORDER" but according to BALTIMORE SUN reporter Bradley Olson, it did not recommend any punishment. While awaiting the final decision of the Secretary of the Navy, Owens, according to the article, was sent to the Washington Navy Yard and sometimes spent the day "COUNTING OPEN PARKING SPACES."
Olson in his article says friends created a "FREE LAMAR OWENS" group on FACEBOOK.COM to "solicit" positive statements of support and members of the powerful Washington lobby firm of Cassidy and Associates escorted the former football star and his dad to Capitol Hill where they met with members of Congress to ask for their help.
While 2 of the DUKE LACROSSE players were invited back to school to finish their education, late last week NAVY SECRETARY DONALD C. WINTER made a different kind of decision. He EXPELLED LAMAR OWENS with no degree and demanded that he REIMBURSE the NAVAL ACADEMY for MORE THAN $90,000 in tuition.
According to the SUN article Kimberly Owens, Lamar's mother, is hoping the NAACP and the leadership of the AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH will get involved on behalf of her son. one person already working to "FREE LAMAR" is Charlotte Cluverius a former military lawyer and instructor at the Naval Academy who is now in private practice. She calls the Navy Secretary's decision "OUTRAGEOUS."
April 16, 2007 in Weblogs | Permalink | User Comments (1)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Shine and Moran. Are your offices next to each other? Both of you must burn alot of midnight oil to come up with "timely" commentary.
Posted by: Myron Draper | Apr 16, 2007 1:44:58 PM
Post a comment
