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Pedestrian gets no respect in Miami Springs

Wilmer Valderrama Speaks to Students

Actor Wilmer Valderrama from That '70s Show and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen before speaking at Miami Dade College’s North Campus. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute presented its Ready to Lead program on Saturday to promote college readiness to Hispanic high school students. (THEO KARANTSALIS/NEWZ DAWG PRESS LLC)

Attorney General: Hire More Disabled

By THEO KARANTSALIS

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder released a memorandum on Wednesday asking department managers to work toward a ‘two-percent hiring goal of people with disabilities.’

“President Barack Obama has a comprehensive agenda to empower individuals with disabilities and enhance access to employment for all Americans,” reads the memorandum for heads of department components from Holder, dated May 27, 2009. As Attorney General, I am committed to making the Department of Justice (DOJ) a model employer with a diverse workforce that includes people with disabilities.”

All federal agencies are required to comply with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Management Directive 715, which requires hiring goals to increase employment and advancement of people with disabilities.

Holder asks that all DOJ “managers, supervisors, and hiring officials” strive to employ more individuals with disabilities.

"We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination,” President Obama is quoted as saying in the memo.

Holder said that policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities.

"When over 20 percent of the population consists of persons with disabilities, two percent of employees with disabilities as an aspirational goal for governmental jobs hardly reinforces the mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that persons with disabilities are incorporated into the mainstream of American society," said Matthew Dietz, a Miami civil rights attorney.

Dietz recommends that disabled applicants attach a copy of the attorney general's memo with their application.

Librarian vs. Facebook, Inc. Discussion

Hi, My name is Theo Karantsalis and I work as a librarian.

Quick background: I spent a decade after high school stripping cars at a junkyard in Berkeley alongside hippies who taught me a lot about life and how to deal with people. Plus, I learned that it’s a lot easier to take things apart as opposed to putting them back together.

For the last 30 years, I've been a student at no fewer than 10 colleges throughout the US. I graduated with a masters degree from UM and a second masters in library science from FSU.

I've been online since 1982.

I write for several newspapers, including The Miami Herald, and am an avid blogger.

Motto: Don’t be boring.

My goal with the Facebook challenge was to draw attention to the importance of safe Internet practices. I also wanted to test an innovative approach to promote the Library and Internet Research classes I plan on teaching in the Fall. (I'm certain to have a full class now.)

I received quite a few e-mails from people who want to know about some of the court cases. I'll let you decide whether each one was frivolous or not.

1. Theo vs. USA
My friend died in 1986 during an operation over the skies of Libya. I asked for information related to the case for 20 years, then filed a FOIA action. The government released data that I published at Harvard Law School.

2. Theo vs. Wells Fargo
In 2008, I received a letter from Sprint saying that "a customer logged in through the Checkfree service on the Wells Fargo banking website and, when they clicked on the link to see their current Sprint invoice, they were erroneously presented with your invoice instead. The customer called to report this to Sprint immediately. This issue was caused by a system coding error that mixed up two invoices when two customers were on the system at the same time with the same billing cycle."

I’m not even a customer of Wells Fargo bank. How did they get access to my private information?

3. Theo vs. City of Miami Springs, et al
I filed a lawsuit against several government entities seeking access to sidewalks and bicycle paths. I made repeated efforts to resolve this dispute without litigation, including phoning, e-mailing and appearing at council meetings to point out ADA violations.

I am an MS Activist with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I also served as a Miami-Dade County Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee member and worked to make bicycling and walking safe methods of transportation and recreation in Miami-Dade County.

I subscribe to Eleanor Roosevelt's thought that each of us must do that which we think we cannot do. I encourage you to leave a comment -- good or bad -- and I will respond. Let's talk.

Most importantly, I value each and every one of you at more than 30 cents.

Theo

New Trial for Convicted Miami Springs Cop Killer

By THEO KARANTSALIS

In 1994, Merrit Alonso Sims was convicted of murdering Miami Springs Police Officer Charles Stafford.

Sims, 43, of Liberty City, was sentenced by Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Thomas Carney to the electric chair and sat on death row for the next 13 years.

On July 12, 2007, the Florida Supreme Court vacated Sims’ convictions and sentence and remanded the case to be re-tried in Miami-Dade County court.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different.”

According to the decision, as Stafford was handcuffing him, Sims struck the officer in the head with his police radio, robbed him of his police pistol, and shot him twice. Sims admitted shooting Stafford, but asserted from the outset that he had done so in self-defense after Officer Stafford had choked him, used racial epithets and repeatedly threatened to kill him.

The new trial is scheduled to start in July and will be heard by Judge John W. Thornton.

Photo credit: Merrit Alonso Sims, courtesy of Florida Department of Corrections.

Dalai Lama to donate $100,000 to FIU religion department

The Miami Herald article here.

Theodore D. Karantsalis contributed to this report.