The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a federal jury convicted a former high-ranking Mahoning County sheriff’s officer yesterday in the beating of two inmates and ordering the beating of a third.

From the story:

Former sheriff’s Maj. Michael J. Budd, 44, of Boardman near Youngstown, was convicted in U.S. District Court in Cleveland on charges of using his position to deprive the three inmates of their civil rights.

He could face up to 10 years in prison on each count at his sentencing July 7 before Judge Lesley Brooks Wells.

A jury in a separate trial had deadlocked on the counts last month but convicted him on a fourth count of conspiring to deprive an inmate of his civil rights.

Budd, who joined the sheriff’s office in Youngstown in 1991, resigned after his conviction last month.

This is only the latest of several corrupt officials to have had troubles with the law in Mahoning County in recent memory. When it comes to administration of the concealed carry law, a different kind of corruption appears to be coming from the very top.

According to Attorney General Petro's 2004 annual report, the Mahoning County sheriff's office issued 1.77% of the licenses issued in the state (18th overall), but had 8.49% of the denials (2nd overall) - a denial rate of 1 denial for every 21.8 concealed handgun licenses issued. The only county with more denials was Hamilton. However, that county issued 173% of the licenses that Mahoning did. Initial calculations suggest that Mahoning County has, by far, has the highest denial per issuance rate in the state.

OFCC has been notified of several instances of CHL-holders who say they have been forced to wait months and months before receiving their licenses in this county. Instances of denials for non-disqualifying reasons are also being reported to OFCC.

Judging by these reports, civil rights proponents need to be looking out for CHL-applicants in Mahoning Co. every bit as much as they do for prison inmates.

April 13, 2005
Houston Chrinicle

Perhaps the most enduring image of the National Rifle Association is Charlton Heston, brandishing a rifle above his head, stirring the crowd with his oft-repeated, "From my cold, dead hands!"

It is a tough act to follow.

Sandra S. Froman, the NRA's first vice president, is expected to be elected president by the NRA's board of directors on Monday, after the group's annual convention, which begins Friday in Houston.

She will not be trying to outdo the man who played Moses.

"Every president of NRA brings to the office their own skills, their own personality," Froman said Tuesday, shortly after arriving in Houston to prepare for the convention.

Heston, suffering from Alzheimer's, stepped down in 2003 after five years as a dynamic head of the organization.

"He was charismatic, well-known, I mean, a movie star," said one of the NRA's harshest critics, Peter Hamm, a spokesman for The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "He served the organization's wrong-headed goals well."

Kayne Robinson, who became president immediately after Heston, leaves office next week after a quiet and brief tenure.

Froman plans to use the position to emphasize women's issues, especially self-defense.

"Being a woman and a nontraditional, if you will, president of NRA, may bring some attention to the organization," said Froman, who will be the group's second female president.

The first was Marion Hammer, who was elected in 1996.

Click here to read the entire story in the Houston Chronicle.

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April 15, 2005
Toledo Blade

Again, the fallacy of "gun-free school safety zones" confirms the failure of "gun control." The deaths of 10 people in such a zone in Minnesota could have been prevented.

The first step toward such prevention is to come to grips with the reality that "gun-free" zones do nothing except disarm the innocent, leaving them prey for cold-hearted killers who could care less about murdering innocents, to say nothing of ignoring signs and laws banning firearms.

We have seen proof of this again and again, especially in Ohio. After passage of concealed carry, many ill-advised businesses posted signs banning firearms. A surprisingly large number of these places, including banks, have experienced an unusually high rate of firearms-related crime.

One solution: armed citizens, including teachers.

While some may object to this idea, it works very well in Israel, where on several occasions, armed teachers have prevented terrorists from accomplishing their goal of killing school children.

"Gun control" is not, has not been, and never will be the answer. One Ohio anti-gun organization touts that violence is never the solution.

It is this writer's position that justifiable violence is very effective at protecting the innocent.

Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens is a proven deterrent to violent criminal actions, and should be respected as part of the solution to this problem, for the children.

Bruce A. Beatty
Luckey

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Headlines across the state Friday touted local law enforcement participation in a national roundup of fugitives that the U.S. Marshals Service dubbed "Operation FALCON."

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Federal and local law enforcement officers from across the country announced the arrests Thursday, saying 10,340 fugitives now are in custody.

The arrests, which were made the week of April 4, were part of a national sweep that the U.S. Marshals Service dubbed "Operation FALCON."

"They were the baddest of the bad," said Chris Riley, supervising deputy of the Marshals Service in Cincinnati.

Nationwide, authorities seized 243 guns, nabbed 162 suspected killers and arrested 553 accused sexual predators. The roundup involved more than 900 federal, state and local agencies...

How can gun ban extremists continue to operate under the delusion that they have a "choice" about being in the presence of people with firearms? How any sane person can continue to argue that Ohioans should not make plans to protect themselves after reading these stories about the predators among us?

1. A fugitive from San Diego, Steven Anthony Teel, was found in Cincinnati after investigators in California and Ohio compared notes. He's accused of pouring hot grease on his girlfriend.

2. Zari Caudill, who was wanted on a rape charge, is accused of using his wife and two small children as shields when police confronted him at his home in Cincinnati. He relented and no one was hurt.
3. John F. Gibbs, of Tennessee, was arrested April 7 at a Columbus motel. Gibbs was wanted for kidnapping with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, bribery of a witness and evading apprehension while risking death.
4. Armon Glover was arrested April 6. He was wanted for parole violations stemming from charges of felony assault, child endangerment, burglary and resisting arrest.
5. Wesley Allen Long was arrested April 4 in Columbus. He was sought after being indicted for allegedly raping a 6-year-old boy.
6. Tyrone Anthony Wilson was arrested in Columbus April 8. He was wanted in several states on two counts of murder and a firearms crime.
7. Dayton's biggest arrest was the April 7 apprehension of fugitive Michael Ray Cohen, wanted for domestic violence, rape, aggravated burglary and fleeing police, said Debra Armanini, first assistant prosecuting attorney for Montgomery County.
   Cohen was considered "armed and dangerous," and wouldn't have been apprehended without the assistance of the U.S. Marshals and cooperation between agencies, Armanini said.

8. Another arrest, on April 9 in Dayton, involved a suspect in three murders. Deputies found a loaded semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number, body armor and a fictitious Nevada identification card when they searched him, said Bill Taylor, supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal, who headed up the Dayton operation.

It should offer Ohioans a true sense of proportion about how many fugitive predators walk among us when law enforcement officials admit that these 10,340 are just the "worst of the worst".

Click on the "Read More…" link below for other examples of crime perpetrated on defenseless victims in Ohio. Use them as education. Learn from them. Refuse to be a victim.