Cells are turned upside down as the Albany County Sheriff's Office searches for anything illegal inside the facility. They brought in extra manpower Monday for a shakedown.
When it's over and the inmates are locked back in their cells, the sheriff's office is left with a cart full of contraband.
Acting Sheriff Craig Apple said, "We've been slowly finding contraband. Last week we had a female come in with a hypodermic needle. It is problematic not just for inmates but for officers as well. We want to keep them safe."
The sheriff's office searches the tiers frequently, but Monday's shakedown entails them searching the jail from the top to the bottom. They are looking for marijuana, matches and everything illegal in between.
They bring in extra staff, like K9s for these special searches.
Monday morning, while the dogs searched the cells so did the CERT team. They searched every book, every box and every bed.
In the end, they turned up a rope being braided from sheets and screws put into the sides of shoes.
On a piece of plastic, those screws can become a weapon.
But these are small finds compared to what used to turn up.
Apple says, "We were finding cigarettes, lighters, all kinds of contraband. A toothbrush scraped up against the concrete, you can sharpen into a nice shank."
Apple says that this is happening less and less thanks to what is going on outside the jail. They have an increased presence out in the parking lot with deputies stationed a few times a year to check visitors.
Apple said the road checks net a number of arrests and serve as a deterrent. "A lot of contraband is being stopped out on street before gets in here, that is the goal," he said.
But Back inside Monday there were no serious finds. No weapons, no drugs. For the sheriff's office, finding nothing is a good thing.
2011年10月10日星期一
2011年9月27日星期二
Auburn panel learns about extensive illegal dumping
Selectmen said they were surprised last night to learn how extensive illegal dumping and nuisance properties are in town.
After a presentation by Andrew R. Pelletier, director of development and inspectional services, board Chairman Doreen M. Goodrich said, “This has opened our eyes.”
Mr. Pelletier presented photographs of what he called “intentional dumping” of waste carpets, furniture, electronics, appliances, tires and other bulk items, “which tend to run the trash bill way up,” as well as containers of hazardous waste. He said “rude and disrespectful” people leave trash in desolate places, at the end of dead-end streets and in local wetlands.
He cited one case in which he found the identification of a Cape Cod resident who had dumped a load of trash at the end of Hardscrabble Road.
He said donation boxes and trash bins are also used to illegally dispose of unwanted furniture and other waste.
Mrs. Goodrich said she had counted 36 donation boxes in town.
In other cases of “misguided intentions,” Mr. Pelletier said, some residents tend to store “a good piece of equipment I can fix” many times over, filling their yards with junk equipment.
He also focused the board’s attention on nuisance properties, such as vacant buildings that can be in dangerous disrepair.
“It can be very hard to find the owners,” he said, and showed photographs of several collapsing buildings, some accessible to vagrants. One photograph showed a used hypodermicneedle
“Health and safety are our primary concern. Nuisance is our secondary concern,” he said.
Mr. Pelletier said he hoped to make a proposal at the May annual town meeting to establish a revolving account to be used to control illegal dumping and nuisance properties.
He also recommended that anyone who needs help disposing of unwanted items visit the town’s Public Health Division website at town.auburn.ma.us and look under “How to dispose of special wastes.”
He also asked that anyone who sees illegal dumping taking place immediately dial 911 and, if safe, take a photograph of the license plate so illegal dumpers can be found and fined.
After a presentation by Andrew R. Pelletier, director of development and inspectional services, board Chairman Doreen M. Goodrich said, “This has opened our eyes.”
Mr. Pelletier presented photographs of what he called “intentional dumping” of waste carpets, furniture, electronics, appliances, tires and other bulk items, “which tend to run the trash bill way up,” as well as containers of hazardous waste. He said “rude and disrespectful” people leave trash in desolate places, at the end of dead-end streets and in local wetlands.
He cited one case in which he found the identification of a Cape Cod resident who had dumped a load of trash at the end of Hardscrabble Road.
He said donation boxes and trash bins are also used to illegally dispose of unwanted furniture and other waste.
Mrs. Goodrich said she had counted 36 donation boxes in town.
In other cases of “misguided intentions,” Mr. Pelletier said, some residents tend to store “a good piece of equipment I can fix” many times over, filling their yards with junk equipment.
He also focused the board’s attention on nuisance properties, such as vacant buildings that can be in dangerous disrepair.
“It can be very hard to find the owners,” he said, and showed photographs of several collapsing buildings, some accessible to vagrants. One photograph showed a used hypodermic
“Health and safety are our primary concern. Nuisance is our secondary concern,” he said.
Mr. Pelletier said he hoped to make a proposal at the May annual town meeting to establish a revolving account to be used to control illegal dumping and nuisance properties.
He also recommended that anyone who needs help disposing of unwanted items visit the town’s Public Health Division website at town.auburn.ma.us and look under “How to dispose of special wastes.”
He also asked that anyone who sees illegal dumping taking place immediately dial 911 and, if safe, take a photograph of the license plate so illegal dumpers can be found and fined.
2011年9月21日星期三
Puncture is in Vein
Having barely folded up his campy Captain America comic book costume in the box labeled “Burn This,” Chris Evans returns to prove he has enough kilowatts to shine in a script chosen for something besides money. In Puncture, he gets a real workout. It’s a harrowingly grim true story about a functioning Houston attorney named Mark Weiss, who was also a functioning playboy addicted to drugs and prostitutes while running a personal-injury law firm with his responsible, straight-laced best friend and married business partner, Paul Danziger (played by Mark Kassen, who co-directed the film with his brother Adam) when, in 1998, they took on a case defending an E.R. nurse who was pricked by a needle and contaminated with H.I.V. while on the job.
It seemed like a viable, by-the-books case until it backfired, exposed the corruption and wrath of the health care industry, and turned into a David and Goliath story that made headlines, wrecked their health and nearly destroyed their careers.
Uncovering the shocking statistics (800,000 medical workers in 1998 were suffering from hypodermic needle accidents resulting in hepatitis C and AIDS), Mark Weiss was aghast to discover a safety needle that prevents such catastrophes from ever happening, yet which hospitals refused to buy because of the purchasing contracts they signed with pharmaceutical suppliers. Battling corporate greed, price fixing and the elimination of legal competition, Mark Weiss found himself targeted by powerful drug companies that got a kickback for every conventional needle sold.
He went to court, lobbied the U.S. Senate, and tried a case that challenged the antitrust laws, all while hopped up on cocaine himself. When he finally found a sympathetic senator (Kate Burton) who agreed to support his demand for law reform, the organized, politically grounded drug merchants headed her off by making sizeable contributions to her re-election campaign. Devastated and facing ruin, Weiss sapped his energy and bankrupted his partner, but Chris Evans shies away from nothing in the raw-emotions department. Trying to clean up his act, the withdrawal scenes are especially grueling.
This is a thinking man’s film, meticulously researched and assembled by people who actually lived through the events it depicts, raising issues that impact the viewer on several levels at once. Puncture is about an abuse for profit that endangers the lives of everyone who has ever entered a hospital for treatment of even the most minor illness. It is also a responsible and dramatically implosive human drama about one man with the courage to stand up for a just cause, saving people’s lives while combating the demons in his own. Chris Evans is as dynamic in the small scenes as he is in the crashing melodramatic ones.
After he crosses over to the dark side and dies of an overdose, his partner, who opposed the safety needles and begged to have the case dropped, changes his focus and takes the monolithic drug industry to court. The result changed the medical industry, and thanks to one afflicted man’s persistence, safety needles have now saved thousands of lives. Still, as the film’s coda points out, some daunting facts remain: safety needles are still unpopular with drug suppliers because they cannot be sterilized for reuse, and are therefore too expensive to manufacture. Some hospitals still use the old needles, resulting in the spread of disease.
And plastic needles are still used in poor countries with epidemics to save money. Like any good cautionary tale, Puncture tells a suspenseful story responsibly, creating food for thought and leaving the audience both enlightened and entertained.
It seemed like a viable, by-the-books case until it backfired, exposed the corruption and wrath of the health care industry, and turned into a David and Goliath story that made headlines, wrecked their health and nearly destroyed their careers.
Uncovering the shocking statistics (800,000 medical workers in 1998 were suffering from hypodermic needle accidents resulting in hepatitis C and AIDS), Mark Weiss was aghast to discover a safety needle that prevents such catastrophes from ever happening, yet which hospitals refused to buy because of the purchasing contracts they signed with pharmaceutical suppliers. Battling corporate greed, price fixing and the elimination of legal competition, Mark Weiss found himself targeted by powerful drug companies that got a kickback for every conventional needle sold.
He went to court, lobbied the U.S. Senate, and tried a case that challenged the antitrust laws, all while hopped up on cocaine himself. When he finally found a sympathetic senator (Kate Burton) who agreed to support his demand for law reform, the organized, politically grounded drug merchants headed her off by making sizeable contributions to her re-election campaign. Devastated and facing ruin, Weiss sapped his energy and bankrupted his partner, but Chris Evans shies away from nothing in the raw-emotions department. Trying to clean up his act, the withdrawal scenes are especially grueling.
This is a thinking man’s film, meticulously researched and assembled by people who actually lived through the events it depicts, raising issues that impact the viewer on several levels at once. Puncture is about an abuse for profit that endangers the lives of everyone who has ever entered a hospital for treatment of even the most minor illness. It is also a responsible and dramatically implosive human drama about one man with the courage to stand up for a just cause, saving people’s lives while combating the demons in his own. Chris Evans is as dynamic in the small scenes as he is in the crashing melodramatic ones.
After he crosses over to the dark side and dies of an overdose, his partner, who opposed the safety needles and begged to have the case dropped, changes his focus and takes the monolithic drug industry to court. The result changed the medical industry, and thanks to one afflicted man’s persistence, safety needles have now saved thousands of lives. Still, as the film’s coda points out, some daunting facts remain: safety needles are still unpopular with drug suppliers because they cannot be sterilized for reuse, and are therefore too expensive to manufacture. Some hospitals still use the old needles, resulting in the spread of disease.
And plastic needles are still used in poor countries with epidemics to save money. Like any good cautionary tale, Puncture tells a suspenseful story responsibly, creating food for thought and leaving the audience both enlightened and entertained.
2011年4月6日星期三
Police Warn of Hypodermic-Needle Danger
North Reading police are warning residents to avoid handling syringes after receiving several reports of needles being found in local neighborhoods.
Police received numerous calls in March and early April from people who found dirty syringes on the side of the road. The reports were not isolated to any particular area of town, according to police.
"We've seen an increase in needles improperly disposed of on the side of the road," said Police Chief Edward W. Nolan. "It is a real concern."
North Reading police believe that a state law passed in 2006 allowing people to purchase and carry hypodermic needles without a prescription has contributed to the increase in syringes being found in local neighborhoods.
Lawmakers passed the measure with the aim of preventing the spread infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C through shared needles by allowing anyone to purchase clean ones.
It had been illegal to possess a hypodermic needle without a prescription prior to the law change. According to press reports at the time, Massachusetts became the 48th state to remove the prescription requirement.
According to police, the number of syringes recovered from public places since the law took effect in 2006 has more than tripled. Police believe the change in the law has devalued the street worth of syringes, making them more accessible to illicit drug users.
The discarding of dirty hypodermic needles has become an issue across the Boston area. In late March, two Lynn elementary school students were pricked by a needle that one found on the street on his way to school.
According to press reports, one student used the needle to give his friend a pretend flu shot. School Superintendent Catherine Latham told the Daily Item of Lynn that both students sought medical attention, but she declined to disclose their conditions, citing privacy laws.
North Reading police realize that incident may not be an isolated one.
"We are very concerned about a child picking up a contaminated needle," Nolan said.
North Reading police urge residents to avoid touching needles if they find them on the side of the road. They also should not let their pets come into contact with the needles, police said.
Police received numerous calls in March and early April from people who found dirty syringes on the side of the road. The reports were not isolated to any particular area of town, according to police.
"We've seen an increase in needles improperly disposed of on the side of the road," said Police Chief Edward W. Nolan. "It is a real concern."
North Reading police believe that a state law passed in 2006 allowing people to purchase and carry hypodermic needles without a prescription has contributed to the increase in syringes being found in local neighborhoods.
Lawmakers passed the measure with the aim of preventing the spread infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C through shared needles by allowing anyone to purchase clean ones.
It had been illegal to possess a hypodermic needle without a prescription prior to the law change. According to press reports at the time, Massachusetts became the 48th state to remove the prescription requirement.
According to police, the number of syringes recovered from public places since the law took effect in 2006 has more than tripled. Police believe the change in the law has devalued the street worth of syringes, making them more accessible to illicit drug users.
The discarding of dirty hypodermic needles has become an issue across the Boston area. In late March, two Lynn elementary school students were pricked by a needle that one found on the street on his way to school.
According to press reports, one student used the needle to give his friend a pretend flu shot. School Superintendent Catherine Latham told the Daily Item of Lynn that both students sought medical attention, but she declined to disclose their conditions, citing privacy laws.
North Reading police realize that incident may not be an isolated one.
"We are very concerned about a child picking up a contaminated needle," Nolan said.
North Reading police urge residents to avoid touching needles if they find them on the side of the road. They also should not let their pets come into contact with the needles, police said.
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