It probably won't pass, given the Republican-controlled nature of the current Missouri General Assembly, but 83rd District Rep. Barbara Fraser- D-St. Louis, has filed a bill that would prohibit spanking in Missouri public schools.
The practice is already out of favor in some public schools and is a last resort in others so it would not have much of an effect in that regard, but some other portions of the bill are far more interesting.
The bill would require acts of student violence or violent behavior on school property, including school buses, or while involved in school activities, to be reported to the police.
School officials would have to report the following types of activities:
-First degree murder
-Second degree murder
-Kidnapping
-First degree assault
-Forcible rape
-Forcible sodomy
-Burglary in the first degree
-Burglary in the second degree
-Robbery in the first degree
-Distribution of drugs
-Distribution of drugs to a minor
-Arson
-Voluntary manslaughter
-Involuntary manslaughter
-Second degree assault
-Sexual assault
-Felonious restraint
-Property damage in the first degree
-Possession of a weapon
-Child molestation in the first degree
-Deviate sexual assault
-Sexual misconduct involving a child
-Sexual abuse
The law would require that information about any student with a history of violent behavior will be given to the teachers who deal with those students.
Any student who is under suspension for any violent act will not be allowed to be within 1,000 feet of any school building in the district from which he was suspended, unless he or she is attending an alternative school within 1,000 feet or lives within 1,000 feet of the school.
My earlier comment about the bill not standing much of a chance in a Republican-controlled legislature was only meant to indicate that the bill stands less of a chance because it is being submitted by a Democrat.
***
The judge in the civil suit filed by former Newton County prisoner Oscar Alvarez against former Newton County Sheriff Ron Doerge and Newton County has ordered the two sides to submit a schedule and discovery plan by March 30, according to a notice filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The discovery segment should be completed within 180 days of the day the last defendant is served, the notice said. Alvarez claims that two deputies opened his cell door while he was in jail on a misdemeanor non-support charge and allowed two prisoners to administer a beating to him. He is suing Doerge because the former sheriff was in charge of the two men, the lawsuit said. More information on the lawsuit is included in earlier editions of The Turner Report.
***
A personal note: One of the students in my fifth hour eighth grade communication arts class, Jee Choi, placed third in the annual Joplin Elks Lodge Essay Contest open to all middle school students in area public and private schools.
This year's topic, "What Old Glory Means to Me" was not an easy one to express in words, but the perspective of Jee, a Vietnamese- American, is a particularly interesting one. Anyone interested in reading what Jee and some of my other students had to say about the flag can find the essays on the Wall of Fame page on www.room210.com
***
A reader was curious about why I haven't remarked about the fact that the news programming arrangement between KOAM and Joplin's Fox station, KFJX, hasn't been mentioned in this blog, since I have been particularly critical of the similar arrangement between Nexstar's stations, KODE and KSNF.
That's a fair question.
Yes, it does bother me that we have only two local television news voices in this area when we have an opportunity to have four, but there are reasons why I have been more critical of the Nexstar stations.
1. To me, the KFJX 9 p.m. news is mainly an opportunity to see the news at an earlier time and it is mainly competing with entertainment alternatives.
2. I have not seen any effort by management at KOAM and KFJX to try to manipulate the public by disguising self-serving advertisements as news or by presenting only one side of a news story that involves them.
3. KOAM appears to be putting some money into its news operation while it's no secret (I hear it from people from all four Joplin stations) that Nexstar is doing things on the cheap as much as possible.
***
Cox Communications filed the complaint with the FCC that I mentioned earlier in The Turner Report, even though it was filed today rather than yesterday as had been anticipated.
In the 43-page complaint, Cox alleges that Nexstar Broadcasting and Mission Broadcasting "are violating their legal duty to engage in 'good faith' efforts to reach retransmission-consent deals for several stations that the broadcasters have pulled from the cable operator," Multichannel News reported today.
The complaint says, "If the commission condones the tactics and collective demands of Nexstar and Mission, acting together, then Nexstar has made it clear through its words and actions that this dispute will spread to all Nexstar and Mission television stations in markets where Cox operates cable systems, which would encompass a total of 19 stations and over 595,000 Cox subscribers."
The article also says Cox is claiming that Nexstar wants the cable company to buy $75,000 in advertising on all 19 Nexstar and Mission stations it carries. "In short," the complaint reads, "Nexstar and Mission have demanded that Cox pay in excess of $8.9 million for the privilege of continuing to retransmit the broadcast signals of five television stations that are free over-the-air in these communities."
The complaint accuses Nexstar and Mission of being involved in collusion and a conspiracy.
Nexstar COO Duane Lammers told Multichannel News he had not read the complaint but that Nexstar was complying with all FCC regulations.
In a humorous conclusion to the article, Multichannel News reported that it could not reach officials at Mission Broadcasting for comment.
If an agreement is not reached between Cox and Nexstar by Jan. 31, KODE and KSNF will be removed from Cox's cable franchises in Lamar and Carthage.
***
Nexstar's ideas of the relationship between broadcast and cable TV had changed considerably over the past six and a half years.
An FCC document, dated Sept. 25, 1998, shows Nexstar trying to convince the regulatory agency to force River Valley Cable TV, Inc., in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of Pennsylvania to carry Nexstar's WYOU-TV, a CBS affiliate. Initially, FCC officials ordered the cable company to carry WYOU because of federal requirements that cable companies must carry local TV channels if the channels want to have their signals carried.
River Valley appealed, noting that the illness of an employee who would have filed the response to Nexstar's request had kept the company from doing so. In its appeal, River Valley officials noted that they already carried a CBS station which was right in the center of their operating area, while Nexstar's station was on the periphery. The FCC reversed its decision.
In 1998, Nexstar was trying to force a cable station to carry it, even though it wasn't really in much of the cable system's territory. In 2005, Nexstar wants to charge cable companies that directly serve their viewing area.
The times are definitely a-changin'.
***
As for tonight's local TV news:
-As far as I could tell, switching between the three channels during their 10 p.m. telecasts, KSNF was the only one to report on a decision that could make a huge difference in the speed with which the evidence from area crime scenes is processed. The station carried the information that the governor will be here tomorrow and an announcement will be made concerning the city of Joplin returning its business from the Highway Patrol lab to Missouri Southern.
-KOAM offered the best coverage of the sad story of a Joplin teenager who will be taken of life support this weekend after his father gets a chance to see him for a final time. The youth was a victim of a hit-and-run. The other stations also had good coverage.
-KOAM was the only station to offer coverage of the meeting at Diamond, in which the high school there continues to explore the possibility of setting up drug testing for students who participate in extracurricular activities. As serious as the drug problem is this area, though, I would love to see one of the TV stations or The Globe explore the constitutional issues involved in drug testing.
-KSNF also carried a feature on some Minnesota residents who came to Carl Junction to help families rebuild houses as the city continues to struggle with the aftermath of the tornadoes that hit there several months ago.
This was a night where you couldn't go wrong no matter which station you were watching.