Police spotted the mistake right away and pursued Emile, who was dressed in street clothes. He was captured after he tried to rob the same SunTrust Bank he was originally accused of robbing in April. Emile was unarmed and simply handed a teller a note asking for money, and no one was hurt. He will be arraigned in federal court in North Carolina on Oct. 5.
The timing couldn't be worse for Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody. He has been criticized for nepotism for hiring 10 family members since being elected, and he fired two deputies last week for having inappropriate sexual contact with two female prisoners.
Nondenominational governmental prayers are fine, courts have ruled, but any that advance or support one faith over another violate the First Amendment. Barber supported a resolution to remove the prayer from the agenda and hold it before the official meeting, the Danville Register & Bee reported for Tuesday's issue, but the ACLU called those changes "cosmetic," and the group is helping resident "Jane Doe" file the suit.
Barber responded to the lawsuit by inferring that something nefarious was at work: "They are just picking on the little guy. They filed the lawsuit but they didn't even name a defendant. … I don't think it's fair to the citizens. How do we know the ACLU isn't making up a name?"
The ACLU, which has litigated and supported civil-rights litigation for nearly a century, would file a lawsuit in federal court using a phony plaintiff? Using a pseudonym in such cases is hardly novel (e.g. Roe v. Wade). According to the complaint filed with the lawsuit, "Doe" has been a Pittsylvania County resident for 15 years and has attended board meetings regularly for the past three years. She only contacted the ACLU recently about the prayer, however, because she read about a recent appeals court case in which sectarian legislative prayer was ruled unconstitutional.
"She sues pseudonymously because she fears that she will be retaliated against and ostracized in the community if her true identity becomes known," the complaint said, especially since "Doe" wants to continue to attend board meetings. Indeed, the board continued holding such prayers despite a warning from the ACLU, and 200 supporters came to a board meeting to show support for the invocations.
A partial sample of one prayer the board delivered went, "God, without you, and Jesus, without you, there would be no life on earth, and we would not be able to sit down and express our Christian values before the good people of Pittsylvania County." Mr. Barber, one of those "good people" isn't interested in being lectured on the supervisors' "Christian values" during government business.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that a Democratic tracker (a staffer with audio/video equipment tasked with shadowing an opponent) has either been removed or asked to leave at least 10 public Allen campaign events by George's campaign since May. An Allen spokesman said, "George Allen has been doing events and fundraisers for state and local candidates all throughout Virginia and there's nothing unusual about a campaign or organization asking a Democrat staffer to leave, whether they are a tracker or not."
Never mind that outside groups have also been tracking George, and the Post reported that the state GOP has been tracking Democratic former Gov. Tim Kaine, George's likely opponent, since summer.
You can't blame George for his lack of hospitality toward trackers. He torpedoed his own re-election bid in 2006 when he called an Indian-American tracker "macaca" twice during a speech and told his audience to welcome the man to America. And George said it directly to the tracker's camera. Earlier this year, he asked an African-American reporter "What position did you play?" even though the man did not play sports.
Eventually these kind of statements stop being gaffes – they're just candid honesty!
That's George Allen, still trying to get the macaca off his back, today's Worst Virginian in the World!
