News: Men (Not) Behaving Badly

USA: Judge Accused Of Sexually Abusing Male Inmates Found Not Guilty

I know you remember this case that Booker Rising highlighted a few weeks ago. A former Alabama judge was cleared Monday of charges accusing him of paddling and sexually abusing male inmates. Former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was found not guilty on seven counts. A judge threw out the remaining 14 charges.

Prosecutor Nicki Patterson portrayed Thomas as a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" figure who carefully crafted an image as a mentor to troubled youth, while secretly paddling and sexually abusing young inmates for pleasure. We see a double life -- a hidden life," she said. Defense attorney Robert "Cowboy Bob" Clark described Thomas as the victim of lying felons who were unhappy with the punishments he gave them. "He ain't no pervert," Mr. Clark told the jury.

Some of the men testified he picked them up at jail, took them to a private office in the courthouse and gave them the choice of going back to jail or going free by taking a paddling with their pants and underwear down. Some men testified they turned around during the paddlings to see the judge sexually aroused or exposed. One testified the judge made him masturbate, and a forensic scientist reported finding the man's semen on the judge's carpet. Another former inmate said the judge tried to force him to have oral sex.

USA: Hotel Owner Tells Hispanic Workers To Change Names

Hat tip to reader Dragon Horse for this story. Larry Whitten marched into Taos, New Mexico in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel. The tough-talking former Marine from Texas immediately laid down some new rules in the mostly Hispanic town. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they'd be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names. No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN), but Martin. No more Marcos, but only Mark.

Whitten says it's a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce. "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," he said. The messages and comments he made in interviews with local media, including referring to townsfolk as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society," further inflamed tensions.

Martin Gutierrez, one of the fired employees, said that he felt disrespected when he was told to use the unaccented Martin as his name. He said that he told Whitten that Spanish was spoken in New Mexico before English. "He told me he didn't care what I thought because this was his business," Mr. Gutierrez said. "I don't have to change my name and language or heritage," he said. "I'm professional the way I am."