Sarah, the subject of this week’s cover story on heroin addiction, speaks to CL Senior Writer Mara Shalhoup about how she got hooked on the drug — and how, six years later, she finally quit.
Georgia prison officials finally have been sanctioned by a federal judge, six years after teenage inmate Damon Lee’s death and nearly five years after CL’s Mara Shalhoup’s horrifying story drew attention to the case.
U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands found prison officials in contempt of court in the lawsuit brought by Lee’s mother, Johnnie Kitchen. And he said he’d tell the jury that prison officials “deliberately violated” Lee’s rights.
Publishing this heart-wrenching story was one of my proudest moments at CL, although the tale is so sickening that even the most hardened newsman would wish it never happened. Lee, convicted of trying to steal a car and given a ridiculously harsh sentence, was isolated in a cell with a much larger inmate with a history of violence. And it gets worse …
Here’s the intro to Mara’s story:
On the night of Oct. 27, 1996, Damon Tyrone Lee — barely 17 and moments into one of his worst-ever decisions — was placed in a patrol car and driven to the Ware County jail. The trip marked the beginning of the end of Lee’s abbreviated life. He would leave jail for prison, be transferred from one correctional hellhole to the next, and pass his last five years behind bars.
In his order, an obviously angry Sands said prison officials “cannot or refuse to produce key information that they are charged by law” to keep, and that prison officials wouldn’t identify those officials responsible for placing Lee in a cell with Leon Murphy. Here’s Bill Rankin’s story today on the ruling.
How can you go wrong with nude drawing classes at a bar? Hope the kids at local art schools are taking advantage of this education.
– Mr. Kimberly at Neon Poisoning on last Saturday’s anniversary celebration at the Vortex. The party included performances by Kingsized, Dames Aflame and a nude drawing class.
Dames Aflame fans note: Neon Poisoning’s Flickr page includes some excellent photos from the evening, including a couple of MonkeyZuma without her monkey mask. See if you can spot her.
Remember the whole salmonella Peanut Butter thing that happened with Georgia’s aptly named “Con”agra foods? According to the Washington Post, the FDA knew about it and did nothing. I don’t mean they knew about it just before it happened. I mean they knew there were problems at the plant for years.
– Aging Hipster on the FDA’s failure to act when it learned in 2005 of salmonella problems at a Sylvester, Ga., peanut butter factory. Federal officials believe that peanut butter from the plant has caused at least 370 cases of salmonella poisoning since last August.
Here’s a sign of just how massive the cutbacks in journalism are going to be at the shrinking AJC: The newspaper used an AP wire story about the sentencing of Mayor Shirley Franklin’s ex-son-in-law, who was a large-scale drug dealer convicted in South Carolina. And the story also does not include a rather troubling aspect of the case — which Creative Loafing’s Mara Shalhoup had on the Web FOUR DAYS AGO — that the mayor’s former son-in-law is implicated in a double murder.
– Doug Monroe at Peachtree Screed on CL’s coverage of Mayor Franklin’s ex-son-in-law’s criminal activities. The story by Mara Shalhoup to which Doug refers is here.
Far from being “redundant†in the way the critics imply, the streetcar closes a long-existing gap in rail service.
– Joe Winter at Joeventures.com addressing critics of Peachtree Street streetcar. Creative Loafing’s Mara Shalhoup wrote about the streetcar last week.
What makes the AJC think anybody wants to hear an Atlanta newspaper’s opinion about whether Don Imus, a New York radio host, should be fired?
– Rusty at Radical Georgia Moderate, on the AJC’s editorial disapproval of now-unemployed host Don Imus.
CL’s John Sugg explained yesterday that the AJC’s outrage at bigotted radio commentary is like the pot calling the kettle nappy.
I also found out yesterday that the members of Obama’s campaign from Illinois were in need of a press area for Saturday’s rally, and as luck would have it, my office happens to be the best location (Yipee!). And my office is also the closest bathroom location so if the Senator feels compelled to relieve himself …I am right there…LOL (ok, so I am pushing my luck here).
– Angee at NewKarma in Atlanta, an Obama campaign volunteer apparently eager to have the senator from Illinois use her office toilet. The audaciously hopeful Obama will be in Atlanta on Saturday. Information about the event is here.
