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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL 'Potential variables' play a part in arrest Dear Mr. Rockefeller, During a traffic stop, my daughter was arrest ed for trafficking in cocaine. These drugs are not hers, and the driver told the police this* after their arrest. Why is she being charged? Dear Reader, As I have stated before, I hate it for the families being put through the emotional ringer when a loved one is arrested. Your question has more potential variables than you might realize, but let me see what I can do to answer your question. To begin, you need to understand the distinction with being arrested for a crime, being charged, and being prosecuted. An arrest is only based on “probable cause,” which has nothing to do with guilt or even the decision wheth er or not to prosecute your daughter. The fact of an arrest should not necessarily be all that troubling. The decision whether or not to prosecute is exclu sively up to a district attor ney, which is supposed to be based on principles of “justice” being foremost, as opposed to the media or public opinion. Prosecutors are ethically barred from even prosecuting cases where they believe some one is guilty, if there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction. If you recall, with the Duke University Lacrosse case, there was clearly “probable cause” to arrest the Duke students, based ‘Let’s win this one for Tommy’ T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina, had their “Radio.” We had our Tommy. They made a movie about “Radio,” starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., as the chal lenged young man who becomes the unofficial mas cot of the football team, bringing inspiration and good cheer to those around him. We could make a movie about Tommy too. Tommy started hanging around the practice fields at Clinch County High School some time in the 19905. He lived nearby and soon was help ing then-Coach Cecil Barber around the field and in the locker room. During home games, he would sometimes don a jersey and be our tall est, only gray-haired ball boy. A couple of scenes that stick out in my mind would have to be included in our Tommy movie: We had a big game at home, against one of our EVANS From page 4A local offices. I learned that most people wanted their elected officials to listen to them. Whether they got what they asked for was not as relevant as being shown the courtesy of being heard. Not anything is perfect anywhere. I keep up with what goes on in many of the more populous counties in Georgia and find myself grateful to live in Houston County. We do not need the acrimony, discord and dis trust that is going on in other fast growth counties, such as ours. Critics can find fault. Monday morning quarter backing is an art. Our elect ed officials are just human beings. From where I stand, I like what I see. For anyone who is dissatis fied, there always is another election. I^l jNp Jim Rockefeller The ‘Law’ man on the initial outcry of the pur ported victim, but it soon became clear that they were innocent of any crimes. The prosecutor, Mike Nifong, allowed himself to become swept up in a media frenzy and made a mockery of his role as an ethical prosecutor; he went to jail because of this. However, no one could really stop him until those poor kids had their reputa tions ruined. How is this relevant to your daughter’s case? Her arrest is not necessar ily the problem, a possible prosecution is. And, as to that, she is subject to the district attorney’s whims. In theory, the fact that she was not the driver of the car, and driver confessed to owning the drugs would suggest that the charges should be dropped against your daughter. This often does happen in traffic stop cases, e.g., if one of the occupants of a car takes the blame for the drugs, the other occupants are eventually let go. Yet, this is not a given. Where the drugs were found, the quantity of drugs, your daughter’s past criminal history, the driver’s past criminal his tory, and any intelligence culled by law enforcement Len Robbins Columnist airpub@planttel.net fiercest rivals. While the team was warm ing up, Tommy had a seizure of some type on the field. While medical professionals were treating him, the team went into the locker room to hear their pregame speech. Coach Barber checked on Tommy before he went into the locker room. Tommy was fine, the medics told the coach as they tended to him in the ambulance. Coach Barber, though, being the ultimate motiva tor, saw an opportunity. “Guys, I just talked to the paramedics,” he told the team with emotion in his voice. “And I don’t think Tommy’s going to make it. Tommy loves the Panthers, and there is nothing Tommy would want more than for you to go out there and win CSWiw Corner * J'mming * CMonoflmmminy • Oil Ohintuiys • Qifts Where Framing Is An Art 918 Carroll Street • Perry, GA 478-987-4079 Tp® IJSRMUES <X)ULI) I vm W YOUR HOME! \ i\| For Complete Termite and Pest Control Service Call: / \ 1 NATIONAL ] m I EXTERMINATING CO. I, 922-1410 1-800-344-1152 U\ { s4li skr FREE estimates and inspection JIJ | / JhST Houston Co. Oldest Exterminating Co. n.r~~yrf B f OVER 14,000 Customers /'Locally Owned & Operated Since 1974'jB|^H'{ before the traffic stop, are all relevant issues. In fact, possession of drugs can be “joint and several” (meaning the same drugs can be deemed to be in the possession of more than one person). Additionally, possession can be “actual” (on the person or in their car) or “constructive.” The latter occurs where drugs are found in a place where it can be inferred a person has “knowledge” of the existence and location of the drugs. Hence, if in your daugh ter’s case, the drugs were found in the trunk, or even the glove compartment, she is less likely to be pros ecuted, but if they were found under the passenger seat where she was sitting, she is in quite a bit more trouble. Hopefully, this explains a few things for you. Ultimately, you will want to hire a decent criminal defense attorney to protect her rights, family finances permitting. I wish you both the best of luck! Local attorney Jim Rockefeller owns the Rockefeller Law Center and is a former Houston Co. Chief Assistant District Attorney, and a former Miami Prosecutor. E-mail confidential legal questions toajr@rockefellerlawcenter. com. Visit www.rock efellerlawcenter.com for Frequently Asked Questions and Jim’s blog, The Rockefeller Report. tonight... for him. So, let’s win this one for Tommy!” The team then stormed out of the locker room, screaming “Let’s win this one for Tommy!” As they dashed to the field in a pas sionate, fiery frenzy, fans had lined up and were giving the players “high-fives.” The last person in the line was Tommy, who had apparently recovered more quickly than Coach Barber expected. j WALSH HONDA 2056 Eisenhower Pkway • Macon, GA 31206 OPINION Capitalizing on your natural talents Are you a leader who wants to enhance your skills? Do you work to develop the capa bilities of those under your authority? Are you guiding your organization toward genuine excellence? Help is available for indi viduals to capitalize on their natural talents as they work to enhance learnable leader ship skills. Now, Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, in 2001. The book guides readers to an inter net-based assessment of their natural talents, the “Strengths Finder Profile.” The Gallup organization, developer of the assessment, studied the information learned from the two diil lion individuals who took the “Profile” in the past six years. Gallup generated enhance ments that are described in this year’s publication of Strengths Finder 2.0, by Tom Rath. Purchase of this new book allows the reader to experience the improved ver sion of the on-line assess ment. For several years, I have advocated that leadership teams use Now, Discover Your Strengths as a basis for some very affirming team enhance ment activities. Based on recent experience, I am now advocating that future cli ents use Strengths Finder 2.0 and its enhanced on-line assessment tool. Most of the material describing the 34 talent themes is carried over from the original book. However, Strengths Finder 2.0 is 2/3 of That same season, after a game against another heat ed rival, players and coaches were shaking hands on the field after the game. Tommy got in line with the players and coaches, and when he got to the head coach of the opposing team, he shuffled up to the man, said “good game” meekly and stuck out his hand. When the coach reached for Tommy’s See ROBBINS, page 6A Come see Bobby Jones at Paul Walsh Honda WWW.WALSHHONDA.COM (478) 788-4510 CELL (478) 396-1960 Choose your GRAND OPENING SPFCIAT F \SrJL jLvV_>JLZi *2 for I enrollment or &£ I/3 Off program fees A |52575_ FIOSE % 501 BS By Thanksgiving,- CALL TODAY, start losing weight tonight! •Doctor recommended •Increase Energy & Stamina •Eat out in restaurants •Lose 2-5 lbs per week Individual results may vary SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 Dennis Hooper Leaders Building Leaders the cost of the origi nal (retail cost of S2O vs. S3O; discount ed cost of sl2 vs. $18). This can result in quite a savings for a team of individuals, since a copy is required for every member who takes the assessment. Conducting the on line assessment identifies your five dominant talent themes (of the 34 listed in the book). Access to the “Strengths Finder Profile” requires an alphanumeric access code, available only with the purchase of a book. I’ve asked representatives of the Gallup organizatipn if I can buy a block of access codes. They do not allow that approach - a book is required for every partici pant. (Interesting market ing technique, huh? It’s great for the publisher; not so good for my clients!) The book also provides a listing of 10 suggested “Ideas for Action” associated with each talent theme. These are ideas that an individual strong in that particular tal ent theme should consider in seeking to more routinely apply those talents in his or her daily woi;k. The improved assessment generates a personalized “What Makes You Stand Out?” report based on your individual choices made during the assessment pro cess. This description could Assessing Your j Leadership Skills -SBS/person iluSiK IVe Service Most All Major Makes & Models of :T Street Bikes, Hmssttns- Mr Factory Trained Technicians Saturday Service by Appointment Only Hours: Mon - Fri 9am-6pm Sat 9am - 3pm 153328 "TT6 Peachtree Pkwy^J Behind the Big Pea6hTin»B,yron-> be shared with you boss for collaborative thinking about how to better apply your natural talents. My one regret with the new book is that the extremely interesting infor mation in the first 75 pages of Now, Discover Your Strengths was not carried over. Of course, if one of the objectives of the publisher was to reduce the price of the book, they had to leave some material out. Because of the value of the information contained in those 75 pages, however, I am recommending to my clients that they purchase at least one copy of Now, Discover Your Strengths. Most of my work with developing leaders is in the area of learnable skills. Everything referenced above deals with unchang ing natural talents, not learnable skills. However, these two books and the “Strengths Finder Profile” have allowed my clients to understand where their natural abilities lie, so that we can explore where and how their talents can be most effectively enhanced. Stated another way, the natural talent themes identi fied by the “Strengths Finder Profile” provide a firm foun dation upon which learn able leadership skills can be built. Dennis is a local certi fied leadership develop ment coach, helping mid dle Georgia leaders build organizations of excellence. Contact him at 478-988- 0237 or dhooper2@juno. com. F. Dennis Hooper Certified Leadership Development Coach Building leaders and organizations of excellence (478) 988-0237 dhooper2@juno.conf iIUG HEADSy p<‘ ■ Sales • Service * Parts ♦ Accessaries ■■ . . BYRON, GA 478-956-4777 y „.. 1 ' m ’ Hi r* r.-v Z l w li> si :»*♦ *jr «d . S', ts .V. £&■ * > l7lEt/\3OLIC RESEARCH CENTER WEIGHT LOSS SPI 'CfA LISTS 478-330-5656 53481 5A 51253