WHO NEEDS A LAWYER? Ever since the Springfield Police Department’s
two top detectives were put on administrative leave, defense attorneys have
been clamoring for their personnel files. Detectives Paul Carpenter and James Graham were assigned to
SPD’s now-disbanded major-case unit, meaning that they worked on
solving all of the biggest crimes. As soon as they were sent home sans badges and guns (in
October and January, respectively), lawyers looking for ways to puncture
police credibility started asking for their disciplinary files. So far, Springfield’s top attorneys
haven’t had any luck getting those files. But one guy without so much
as a high-school education has. Thomas Munoz, who tried in vain to interest several of these same
lawyers in his federal claim of wrongful arrest, is now the pro se
plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against Carpenter, Graham, and SPD Detective
Rick Dhabalt.
Munoz subpoenaed their files and has so far received more than 600 pages of
documents. He paid the 15 cents per page fee with tip money he earned as a
busboy at a local restaurant.
IT’S AND ABE-ON-ABE WORLD
Nobody ever believes Springfield resident Brenda Warren when she says
that her grandfather shook hands with Springfield’s favorite son, Abraham Lincoln. Well, why would you? Warren, after all, is a spry 62
years old; Honest Abe’s big 2-0-0 is coming up in 2009. “I don’t have anyone who can corroborate
it, because they’re all dead,” Warren says. Explaining the age
gap, Warren says that the grandfather in question, Abraham Gordon, fathered
Warren’s mother at the age of 53, and Warren was born late in her
mother’s life. According to family lore, young Abe Gordon, who was
born in 1851, met Lincoln in Shelby County as Lincoln was on his way to
Washington, D.C., to assume the presidency. For the rest of his life Gordon
remembered the encounter, saying that Lincoln “was a very homely man,
but he was a kind man.”
Sounds about right.
MANGIA! AND BEVA!
Springfield’s aldermen are always looking out
for the little guy. This week the City Council passed an ordinance
creating a new liquor-license classification allowing some restaurants to
sell wine and beer to go, which, as one city official put it, will
“make it easier on the guy buying their pizza.”
Bless his heart. However, Monday’s meeting of the public-affairs
committee featured spirited opposition from Springfield Ward 7 Ald. Judy Yeager, who objected,
saying that she thought the law was designed just for eateries with house
microbrews and wines. Don’t worry about restaurants’ turning
into package-liquor stores, Springfield corporation counsel Jenifer Johnson assured
Yeager: “It wouldn’t be economical for someone to go to Bella
Milano and buy a case of beer.”
Besides, it keeps people from making an extra stop,
says Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, who describes himself as “not much of a wine guy. “I’m more of a longneck,” Edwards
says.
This article appears in May 18-24, 2006.
