Pa. judge sentences 3 to learn English

[dbackjon]

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.

The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.

The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.

"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.

The judge sentenced the four men to jail terms of four to 24 months. But he gave the three men, who already had served at least four months, immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario remains imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. "If they don't pass, they're going in for the 24 (months)," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_ ... sh_or_jail

[BigApp]

outstanding! should be done more often!

[Ursus A. Horribilis]

Yeah, that is great. It would be even better if they could serve a little community service time as interpreters in court after passing the test. That would help the give back process out a little.

[dbackjon]

Agree - it is a great idea. Helps the men in question, helps society as well.

[SuperHornet]

Wouldn't fly with bleeding heart liberals in CA.

[travelinman67]

Wouldn't fly with bleeding heart liberals in CA.

SuperHornet...if I may inquire;

What is your opinion of Gray Davis?

...of "Needs-a-girdle-Gerth"?

Should Franklin-Stockton's Tom Verner have resigned, or was it just a smear campaign by CIF's Peter Saco resulting from Verner's repeated challenges of his authority?

Where'd you go to HS?
__________________________

Please, be open and sharing...seriously.

Extra credit if you've had a drink before responding.

(no...I'm not a stalker...have connections to EG fball and SS...PM me if you'd like more detail)

[SuperHornet]

You went a couple of questions too far, dude. As a former Lodi football player and track athlete (most definitely NOT a star in either case), I back Saco all the way on the Franklin thing. That WAS fairly personal for me, though, given that Verner was the DC on my Pop Warner team. The whole scenario disgusted me, even going back to when he got busted for illegally recruiting athletes from Stockton-St. Mary's.

Gerth? That idiot should have been out at least a decade before he retired. He would have nothing to do with athletics, then show up to soak in the glory when a team did something decent. Not to mention the fact that his administration consistently got cold feet when it came to facilities. I still remember one incident where the admin pulled out of a proposed baseball/softball complex that was to be freaking DONATED by the developer. Idiot!

Davis had no business in the Governor's Mansion. I was behind Arnold all the way. While I don't agree with everything Arnold's done since, I would vote to recall Davis again.

[travelinman67]

You went a couple of questions too far, dude. As a former Lodi football player and track athlete (most definitely NOT a star in either case), I back Saco all the way on the Franklin thing. That WAS fairly personal for me, though, given that Verner was the DC on my Pop Warner team. The whole scenario disgusted me, even going back to when he got busted for illegally recruiting athletes from Stockton-St. Mary's.

Gerth? That idiot should have been out at least a decade before he retired. He would have nothing to do with athletics, then show up to soak in the glory when a team did something decent. Not to mention the fact that his administration consistently got cold feet when it came to facilities. I still remember one incident where the admin pulled out of a proposed baseball/softball complex that was to be freaking DONATED by the developer. Idiot!

Davis had no business in the Governor's Mansion. I was behind Arnold all the way. While I don't agree with everything Arnold's done since, I would vote to recall Davis again.

(A ray of hope appears in California...)

Spot on with all three, SH. The Verner thing was a loaded question. Having watched his Islanders run all over every team in the Sac-Joaquin the past few years (was EG's only loss last year), the time had come to put an end to his shenanigans. I also agree it was a hard choice, knowing all the years he's committed to the fball programs throughout the area. A part of me respects him for thinking outside the box, but, like you pointed out, the ethics of his actions were disgusting.

I do not think I've ever found anyone in the Sacto area who recognized the massive, hot, steaming, pile of BS known as Gerth for what he really was...most locals had their head in the sand and only heard the political-promo lies.
I posted the same observations as yours (virtually verbatim) in an exchange with some Aggie fans over at AGS about a year ago. Gerth was a cancer at CSUS, and set all the athletic programs (as well as academics) back decades.
Unfortunately, I don't think Speedy Gonzalez is fixing anything...sounds like he's been distracted by the pissin matches he's been having with faculty over money. Yet another "token" professional bureaucrat sucking the CSU system for all he can personally get.

I suspect you and I will have similar reads on Biggs, Sperbeck, but I look forward to discussing the Causeway Classic. The Aggie's Trombetta is a force to be reckoned with: If he stays healthy and continues to develop, they've found their franchise for the next three years. In the same breath, however, I also expect Sperbeck to turn things around. Overall the team is really young, and Sperbeck is bringing in some athletic, very talented players, not just the non-offereds from the local schools. I think the Hornets best years are yet to come, but the handwriting is definitely on the wall. It'll be interesting to watch both team this year (...although I'd stil like to see both teams "upsize" more...).

It's more than a little sad...when I contrast the lack of development in the NorCal UC/CSU programs with those of other universities throughout the U.S. (visited over 80...stopped counting around 62 a few years ago), I simply get angry. For the two major campuses (UCD now being considered the "flagship" campus of the U.C. system, and CSU being the only major campus in the Capitol city of the largest state in the U.S.) to have such comparatively pathetic, underfunded, underdeveloped athletic programs is beyond inexcusable. Looking past the arguments over politics (I'll dig out my post re: the new track/football fieldhouse...I saved a .pdf of the Broad Facilities project...as I recall athletics recd around $13m, and $77m went to a student health and "wellness" center that included childcare, mental health counseling [which had already contracted out to Sacto Co., as well as a Planned Parenthood clinic], pretty much gutted any hope of a genuine athletics-only complex for at least the next decade), Title IV distributions, and so on, the simple essence of this problem at both UCD and CSUS is a lack of committment by UC and CSU administrators to bringing the same excellence in athletics that has been pursued academically. It has to be a solid, unwavering, long-term committment, not betrayed by half-hearted investments in Juco level facilities. I personally do not know how much is budgeted each year to recruiting, but having extensive experience working with recruiters nationally, I can tell that recruiting at CSUS and UCD is either un(der)funded or viewed as an afterthought at both universities.

Wow...I better stop before I stroke out.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, SH. I hope we get a chance to discuss the "state of affairs" again.

[SuperHornet]

I agree with you wholeheartedly about Gonzo. In fact, the vast majority of those on my SacBuzz message board (please come visit at http://www.sacbuzz.com) would like to dump him as well, though the umbrage over him isn't to the degree that it was for Gerth. But there was a TON of discontent over the athletic facilities bait-and-switch.

I'm not qualified to judge Biggs as I've never really had an affinity for the Manure Pile. I do have a friend that went there and one of my favorite athletes is now an assistant coach on their VB team. (Man, we gotta get her out of there!) I'm most passionate for Causeway when it comes to football and gymnastics (my dorm neighbor was on Sac's gym team).