Biblical Signs, Football Fields and Facebook
In Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, the events occurring on September 11th spurred the public high school cheerleaders to focus on the Bible. They constructed catchy banners with inspirational messages on them and allowed the players to charge through them onto the field before each game. That all ended in September of 2009.
A parent expressed concern that the Biblical phrases may be a breach of the First Amendment rights of church and state separation. The parent was concerned that there may be a lawsuit should the school continue to allow these signs to be placed on the football field. The school board agreed and banned the banners from games.
The barring of the banners did not have a good reception but now, students and fans are filling the stadium with their own banners, filled with Biblical phrases. The town is small, with about 9,600 students in it. The town, including students, took the cause to heart. They call themselves the Warriors for Christ, a play on the school's team name, the Warriors
.
Over the course of the last few months, the group has sold more than 1600 t-shirts bearing a variety of Biblical phrases on them as well as statement such as "You Can't Silence Us" and "Living Faith Outloud."
In federal courts, the rulings have allowed public school students to promote their faith but they may not do so in school-sponsored clubs. Cheerleaders would be considered school sponsored. The woman who brought the attention on the signs, Donna Jackson, says she wanted to protect the school from possible litigation.
The separation of church and state has always been a hazy line, especially in the south where religion is on display that is more prominent. Those in this city are definitely committed. More than 16,000 people have joined a Facebook group favoring the signs to be in use in the game while only 77 have joined a group in favor of the banning.
Although many do favor allowing, the banners to be in use in the game most have stopped pushing the school board to change its mind. Simply, they know that if a lawsuit did come against the board, this already cash strapped county could be in further trouble.
Continue reading "Biblical Signs, Football Fields and Facebook" »
Several experts say a class-action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of the victims has little chance of succeeding. Tom Baker, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School commented “This is the kind of case that the medical liability system doesn't help us with."
The teacher's aides, Kristina Marie Kallies and Julie Parish have resigned and charged with assault on a minor and endangering the welfare of children. Kallies has not been located by police and Parish has appeared in court and was released on bond. The teachers resigned after the allegations were made, although both teacher's aides claim they are false allegations.
The parents filing the lawsuits want to keep their children in school and around their classmates during these furlough days and hope to have their case heard by Judge David Ezra in the U.S. District Court. They are hoping to get a temporary injunction in place. This lawsuit states that the state has "violated the procedural safeguards" in place through the federal law that protect and prohibit unilateral modifications for any type of special education and related services. 
Microsoft vice president Roz Ho provided an open letter to customers of the Sidekick stating that only a small number of users are still without their personal data. However, such a warning may not be enough to keep customers. In recent conversations at T-Mobile's website, talk was about leaving the company. Users seemed to be interested in filing a class action lawsuit against Sidekick and owner Microsoft.
The mother, Anita Young, has filed a lawsuit against the teacher, claiming that the special education teacher, Trinda Barocas, told an aide that the boy was likely to misbehave on the field trip and said that, "maybe he could be sick enough not to attend and we won't have to deal with it" the lawsuit states. The mother claims that the teacher knew how severe the child's allergy was. She says the child was frustrated and angry, and would fight with her about going to school, during the time of alleged abuse. The child is now in a different school and the mother claims the child is doing much better and is happy to be at school.
On the flip side, the two men claim that the company itself was the one using bots at the website. Robots have been used in many types of skill games, to pit human against robot. The most well known of these situations was with Deep Blue, a chess playing robot that was able to beat Garry Kasparov, the 1997 Chess World Champion. The machines perform the task of calculating moves endlessly, without tiring. 
In 2005, the school put in place a policy that banned images of the Confederate Flag at the school, William Blount High School, located in Maryville. The ban was put in place after heightened racial tension occurred at the school, after an altercation between an African American and a white student occurred. The school had racist graffiti appearing on walls and even one incident in which a noose was drawn next to the Confederate flag.
The company deleted the material for the eBook reader's accounts, who had paid for them, and refunded the customer's cost. Amazon cited that there were problems regarding the copyright use of the material. In September, Amazon announced that it would replace the deleted eBooks for anyone who purchased them, and that they would offer $30 gift certificates for those who did not wish to receive the eBooks again. The Kindle also allows for users to place notations within the eBooks for their personal use. Amazon also stated these would be restored.
It is possible that the 
Fees up of to $480 are being withdrawn from customer accounts without their permission, the injunction claims. Consumer accounts have been overdrawn by the action, while others have experienced bounced checks and over the limit fees. As a result, credit reports may have been harmed. The injunction hopes to stop the withdrawal of funds from current and previous DIRECTV customers until a court can determine if the action is lawful.
The LA Times reports that Dannon has settled the lawsuit. It also agreed to a $35 million fund to be set up to reimburse consumers who purchase these products. The company does not admit to any wrongdoing in the case. It settled the case to, "avoid the distraction and expense of litigation" says the company's spokesman Michael Neuwirth.
