Coming Soon.

Sunshine Week (March 11-17) is the news media's industrywide effort to alert the public to the importance of open government and the right of access to public information and public meetings.

It's official. Nathan "Bud" York of Warrensburg has announced his candidacy for the office of Warren County sheriff, challenging incumbent Larry Cleveland of Queensbury.

QUEENSBURY---The arrest of a Queensbury woman this past week by Sheriff Larry Cleveland and the Warren County Sheriff's Department gives a troubled view of the unequal, disparate treatment of people in the county's criminal justice system.

You've heard of racial profiling?

Is the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office engaging in the practice of Schiavo profiling and just plain police harassment?

Some call it doublespeak.

Others call it speaking with a forked tongue.

Charlie Crist is doing both.

Florida Attorney General Crist and the state's chief financial officer, Tom Gallagher, engaged in a debate this past week and have another scheduled for Monday, Aug. 28.

ERIE COUNTY, OHIO----Visiting judge Richard Knepper has gone over the top.

Not only has he violated judicial ethics by continuing to act in a case after he has recused himself but he has by his rantings in open court established on the record that there is absolutely no semblance of impartiality or fairness in northern Ohio in any matter concerning disbarred attorney Elsebeth Baumgartner.

SANDUSKY, OHIO---It's common knowledge in northern Ohio that Erie County prosecutor Kevin Baxter is, in common laymen's terms, out to get Elsebeth Baumgartner for her charges of corruption and wrongdoing against himself and other judicial and legal officers in northern Ohio.

He didn't have to endorse anyone in the campaign for the Florida Senate, 8th district which includes Jacksonville.

However, Gov. Jeb Bush endorsed former state Senate President Jim King.

Does the Florida Attorney General's office investigate fraud on the consumers of the state?

If so, their primary focus should be Charlie Crist.

His advertising for his gubernatorial campaign is an affront to the people of Florida and is pure fiction and hyperbole.

The verdict is in.

The criminal justice system is broken.

There is a total breakdown in the honor and integrity of government.

BERKLEY, MICH---It really is time to rein in the judges and to take away their black robes.

Most of them, particularly at the town and village courts where having passed the bar exam isn't a requisite, have no concept of the Bill of Rights and believe that the black robe gives them right to do whatever they chose.

Is there something unclear about this notice?

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Taking someone else's work for your own use without permission or compensation is copyright infringement.

The legal definition of copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it.

You've heard of Truth in Advertising, right?

Did you know that there's no truth-in-advertising law governing federal political candidates? Candidates have a legal right to lie to voters about almost anything they want---and usually do. That's why most of those campaign promises never see fruition.

On April 30 and May 1, the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics will be hosting their 10th annual symposium. Their case study for this year's gathering has been titled "The Legacy of the Terri Schiavo Case: Why is it so hard to die in America?"

CHESTERTOWN---Do as I say, not as my family does is the message Chester Town Justice James McDermott is struggling to deliver from the bench.

But the hypocrisy isn't sitting well among some local residents who ask who is James McDermott to be sitting in judgment of anyone when his own backyard isn't clean.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

  The good news is that Guy Tunnell, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, has resigned after becoming caught in an attempted cover up in the beating death of a black teenager at a Bay County boot camp that he helped establish. He tried to hide the videotape showing the beating, much like Michael Schiavo and George Greer tried to keep the public from seeing videotapes of Terri Schiavo.

Why do Michael Schiavo and his attorneys feel the need to try to dirty the Schindler family?

Why is the St. Petersburg Times reporting on a complaint filed against the Schindler family? Did they report the complaint about Michael Schiavo's falsified resume, his falsified college degree, the falsified employment application with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department….the judicial misconduct complaints about Judge George Greer?

Michael Schiavo issued a statement concerning the resignation of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay from Congress.

Who cares?

In his infamous Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln orated "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom....and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

It's time for the people of the State of Florida to enforce that these words are as strong today as they were 140 years ago. Government is of the people, by the people and for the people--not the political powers that be.

There's a serious problem in Ottawa County, Ohio.

A person charged with a crime has a constitutionally protected presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.

A person has a constitutionally protected right to a fair trial.

Gee, when some people "flip" someone off, it’s called an obscene gesture and some people even get arrested for it.

But when a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court allegedly flips someone off, its called an Italian hand gesture.

The contempt trial of former Oak Harbor, Ohio attorney and pharmacist Elsebeth Baumgartner resumes today in Ottawa County.

But all it's only a dog and pony show, there is no semblance of a fair and impartial trial and she has been denied virtually every constitutional right that she is guaranteed.

Judges across America are becoming increasingly nervous, claiming that their judicial independence is being threatened. The real problem is that they're afraid of judicial accountability and the ever increasing demands by the public that the judiciary be held accountable for their actions, to cease their judicial activism and their wrongful rulings which are unjustly destroying people's lives.

"Election violations are misconduct that this Court will not tolerate" and not only does the "violator suffer consequences, but the entire judiciary suffers the consequences".

That's the stated position of Chief Justice Barbara Pariente of the Florida Supreme Court.

In the Fall, 2005 issue of the County Court Courier, Broward County Judge Peggy Gehl said that Chief Justice Pariente made it very clear that election violations by judges won't be tolerated.

Judge Gehl is also a member of Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission.

So this begs the question----why hasn't the JQC and Florida Supreme Court addressed the alleged election violations of George W. Greer in his 2004 campaign for reelection to the position of Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge of Pinellas and Pasco Counties?

The good ole boy network seems to be alive and thriving in the South---southern Florida to be exact.

The judges and the lawyers in the Pinellas County legal system are busy patting themselves on the back and giving each other awards----and benefiting handsomely from guardianships and estates.

CHESTERTOWN---The Post-Star reported a two-car accident which occurred Monday in Chestertown, Warren County.

They probably wouldn't have had they known who the driver of the car was that reportedly caused the accident by allegedly failing to stop at the stop sign and flashing red light at the notoriously dangerous intersection of Routes 8 and 9 in Chestertown.

It was none other that Margaret M. McDermott, daughter of Chester town justice James McDermott.

The preamble to Florida's Code of Judicial Conduct says that our legal system is based on the principle that an independent, fair and competent judiciary will interpret and apply the laws that govern us.

There's no exemption in there for Pinellas County's George W. Greer, the judge who signed Terri Schindler Schiavo's death warrant.

On April 30 and May 1, 2006, the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics will be hosting their 10th annual symposium. Their case study for this year's gathering has been titled "The Legacy of the Terri Schiavo Case: Why is it so hard to die in America?"

I didn't realize it was hard to die in America. I always thought it was rather easy. Become fatally injured, suffer a terminal disease, put a gun to your own head and I'm almost entirely certain it's an easy task to die… in America.

STARKE, FLA---Florida law says it's unlawful to withhold nutrition and hydration from a person.

Failing to provide proper care to an animal including feeding it is animal cruelty and a felony.

Apparently a lot of people are concerned about The North Country Gazette and the false imprisonment of people who dare to exercise their First Amendment rights in challenging wrongdoing and corruption in government.

Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland is mad.

Timing is everything and Cleveland's timing speaks volumes.

Vindictiveness, revenge, retaliation.

Some people seem to think that if they tell the same lie enough times, it'll become true.

Just like with Pinellas County Court Judge George W. Greer.

No matter how many times those St. Petersburg Times writers and columnists tell us that George Greer is the defender of our liberties and followed the rule of law in the Terri Schindler Schiavo case, it just isn't so.

Hudson Falls Village Justice Michael Feeder is no stranger to controversy.

He’s been voted out of office by town of Kingsbury residents and with the sentence that he handed Banana Boy and his bunch this week, it’s not hard to understand why.

It always surprises us when we're surfing around the Internet to come across an article written by us but appearing on someone else's website without any permission for reprints having been made and certainly not given.

If Pinellas County Probate Court Judge George W. Greer epitomizes civil liberties, then we're all dead, not just Terri Schiavo.

The Pinellas County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has named Greer the 2005 recipient of the Gardner W. Beckett Civil Liberties Award which will be presented to Greer on Thursday, Dec. 8 at the group's Bill of Rights Banquet.

For 12 years, 82-year-old Frances Mirowski has begun each morning the same way---feeding bread crumbs and peanuts to the birds and squirrels in her yard---its relaxing, entertaining and yes, gives her a purpose in life, something to look forward to every day.

"Your story is (sic) Elsebeth Baumgardner (sic) is false and bizarre", the feedback form to The North Country Gazette said, submitting a comment on a story.

The author of the comment was referring to the article which appeared Monday entitled "Fair Trial Rights An Issue in Ohio Free Speech Case".

On Thursday, Nov. 10, the father of North Country Gazette publisher June Maxam suffered a massive stroke. He is a patient at Eden Park Nursing Home in Glens Falls. He has not been hospitalized. The nursing home claims he cannot swallow and that they are "maintaining his dignity". The current plan is to place him in a hospice, withhold all nutrition and hydration and wait for him to die.

Voters in Rensselaer County will choose a new county judge on Election Day and the choice is a no-brainer.

There's only one candidate in the race who possesses the maturity and integrity to don the judicial robes. That's Democrat Robert Jacon, 61, a longtime East Greenbush attorney and former town justice.

Michael Schiavo is making political endorsements?

Does he have some kind of Napoleon complex or narcissistic disorder or is it political retribution to Republicans for their support of his wife's right-to-life and a fair chance in the court system?

There appear to be more foxes guarding Florida henhouses than chickens in them.

Apparently Florida Speaker of the House Allan Bense is one sly fox that doesn't think that the public should have the right to amend the state Constitution and he's going to make them pay to deny themselves the right to put the issue on the ballot.

It was early evening, about 8:30 when he decided to go for a drive. He backed his 2002 Chevy Malibu out of the driveway of his St. Petersburg home where he lived alone. His wife had died in 1998.

A culture of corruption.

That's what the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party calls it.

When there were alleged ethics violations concerning Pinellas County probate judge George W. Greer of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court, attorney general Charlie Crist didn't seem concerned.

"Greek Cypriot friend, Attorney General Charlie Crist, is running for Governor of Florida", screams the headline in The Hellenic News of America, serving the Greek American community.