|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
|
|
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
|
|
Tocco’s TimeRunning Out?
Fort Worth schools trustee Elaine F. Klos has asked an attorney to look into the possibility of removing superintendent Thomas Tocco from that position before his contract expires at the end of 2004. According to Klos, Tocco’s contract makes it difficult to actually fire him, but allows the board the option of downgrading the superintendent’s position, which would reduce his salary by 25 percent. As the Weekly went to press Tuesday night, Klos said she was planning to tell the board in closed session what she’s done — although she won’t ask trustees to take any action immediately. Last month, a year-long study of construction contracts within the district by independent auditors Whitney Penn confirmed potential overcharges totaling over $4.7 million. “We need to go over the audit report and see what options we have, and if a majority of the board feels one way or another,” she said. “Personally, I feel strongly that he has not done what we hired him to do.”
Bush League Tactics
The president, the DEA, and a federal court stacked the deck to convict a friendly toker, but Static is convinced that history will eventually condemn Bully Bush and his henchmen as being no better than Sen. McCarthy’s Red baiters on this one. On Jan. 31, a jury convicted Ed Rosenthal, 58, of conspiracy and three federal counts of marijuana cultivation. Rosenthal, an Oakland, Calif., city officer, will be sentenced in June and faces at least five years in prison.
After the trial, jurors went ballistic when they learned that the federal judge refused to allow Rosenthal’s attorneys to present evidence that he was growing medicinal marijuana for co-ops with city and state approval. (California is one of eight states that have legalized medical pot.) Five jurors issued a public apology to him on Feb. 4 and said they would have voted for acquittal if they had been given all the facts. “It’s the most horrible mistake I’ve ever made in my entire life, and I don’t think that I personally will ever recover from this,” a juror said. Jurors sat in protest in federal court after the U.S. attorney’s office tried to get Rosenthal’s bail revoked; wisely, the judge allowed him to remain free on $200,000 bond.
Email this Article...
