Just discovered via the PACER system that Judge Kern of the Federal Court in Tulsa has granted Sheree Hukill and Joe Wiley’s motion to strike two attachments to one of Marilyn Goff’s filings. The two exhibits are related to a previous bit of litigation involving RSU. Yours truly was the special process server in that case, and the first exhibit was my affidavit from that case. I swore when I executed it and I swear now that everything in it is true. I kept meticulous notes through the ordeal, and I very carefully recreated the entire experience.

I am now a licensed process server, and I will just say this: no one I have served since that time has more flagrantly and blatantly evaded service of process like Joe Wiley, Jan Carroll, Debra Hedrick, and Becky Noah at RSU. Some of the other defendants also evaded, they just weren’t as good at it. And others of them were decent people and accepted service like grown up adult people living in an orderly society. Additionally, I was not alone most of the time I was attempting service, and I can provide witnesses to corroborate my story.

Unfortunately, Judge Kern has ruled that the information about Defendant Wiley’s previous behavior in regards to service of process is unrelated to the case at hand. I disagree, but he’s the judge. We’ll see where the case goes from here. I think a lot of it will hinge on just what the audit report from the Department of Education says when (if?) it is finally released to the public.

Details and PDFs of the judge’s orders are on the Goff v. Wiley page.

Though RSU President Joe Wiley’s days at RSU can’t end too soon for some folks, he’s officially still at RSU until June 30 (according to announcements made by RSU and FHU). It appears, however, that he’s already making some decisions at FHU and being quoted in press reports, most notably this Christian Chronicle report that FHU will be “giving” Mac laptops and other Apple items to students.

[UPDATE: Shortly after posting this, I discovered that President Wiley took the helm of FHU, April 14, 2008. But, he's still listed as President of RSU on the RSU website. I guess Claremore really isn't shed of him yet.]

The only problem is that “giving” is used in the loosest sense of the word. You know that sense where it means the complete opposite of what it normally means.

The article states:

Beginning this fall, Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., will give all students an opportunity to have an Apple MacBook and an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Note that the students are given an opportunity; the equipment will cost. Big time.

According to the article, the program, called iKnow,

will cost students the equivalent of one additional hour per semester.

And according to the FHU iKnow website, the average college student will spend approximately $1718 on technology in four years. Have no fear, though, because FHU has come up with a plan that costs only $349…per semester. Yes friends and neighbors, Bro. Joe and the brilliant minds at FHU have come up with a plan that will do away with that $1718 figure and replace it the much lower $2792!!! Oh wait, only in the land of higher ed is that a good deal. And, as a bonus, Apple will have the pleasure of having its products subsidized by federal grants and student loans! Nice work if you can get it.

But it’s OK. President Wiley’s glad they’re enhancing the “experience.”

Freed-Hardeman President Joe Wiley said the move isn’t about the equipment; it’s about the overall campus experience.

“I have always tried to look at new, innovative ways of learning,” said Wiley. “I am a big believer in using technology to enhance learning.”

I guess if I came up with a plan to cost my students over $1000 more than they used to pay I would focus on the “experience” rather than the price, too.

T-minus 69 days and counting (as of post time) until Dr. Wiley and his superlative math skills are all theirs.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been considering the constitutionality of the lethal injection as a means of capital punishment. The Court today released its opinion in BAZE ET AL. v. REES, COMMISSIONER, KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, ET AL.

The plurality opinion of the Court (7-2) ruled that lethal injection is allowable. Ginsburg and Souter filed a dissenting opinion.

Anyway, the ruling clears the way for states — including Oklahoma — who use lethal injection to get back to processing death row inmates and scheduling executions. I previously commented on this issue when Oklahoma AG Drew Edmondson ordered a halt to executions pending the Supremes’ decision.

I pointed out then as I do now that Oklahoma law specifically states two failsafe options in case lethal injection is ruled cruel and unusual punishment (see my previous post, linked above).

First, we revert to electrocution. If electrocution is cruel and unusual, we revert to firing squad. These are both moot points now, though, as lethal injection gets the nod from the Court.

As for the decision of the Court, as usual, the best, most well-reasoned, and originalist analysis of the case at hand comes from the concurring opinion of Justices Thomas and Scalia:

JUSTICE THOMAS, joined by JUSTICE SCALIA, concluded that the plurality’s
formulation of the governing standard finds no support in the
original understanding of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments
Clause or in this Court’s previous method-of-execution cases; casts
constitutional doubt on long-accepted methods of execution; and injects
the Court into matters it has no institutional capacity to resolve.
The historical practices leading to the Clause’s inclusion in the Bill of
Rights, the views of early commentators on the Constitution, and this
Court’s cases, see, e.g., Wilkerson v. Utah, 99 U. S. 130, 135–136, all
demonstrate that an execution method violates the Eighth Amendment
only if it is deliberately designed to inflict pain. Judged under
that standard, this is an easy case: Because it is undisputed that
Kentucky adopted its lethal injection protocol in an effort to make
capital punishment more humane, not to add elements of terror,
pain, or disgrace to the death penalty, petitioners’ challenge must
fail. Pp. 1–15. (Opinion Syllabus, emphasis added).

Sometimes songs just get you, and this one gets me. When I first heard it on Johnny Cash’s “American IV” album I almost cried. It is literally the saddest song I have ever heard. It communicates with razor sharpness the tragedy of an innocent, though dangerous, mistake that has deep and eternal consequences. “I orphaned his children/I widowed his wife” always puts a lump in my throat.

Here are the lyrics.

Early one morning
With time to kill
I borrowed Jebb’s rifle
And sat on a hill
I saw a lone rider
Crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him
To practice my aim

My brother’s rifle
Went off in my hand
A shot rang out
Across the land
The horse, he kept running
The rider was dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I set off running
To wake from the dream
My brother’s rifle
Went into the sheen
I kept on running
Into the south lands
That’s where they found me
My head and my hands

The sheriff he asked me
Why had I run
And then it came to me
Just what I had done
And all for no reason
Just one piece of lead
I hung my head
I hung my head

Here in the court house
The whole town was there
I see the judge
High up in the chair
Explain to the court room
What went through you mind
And we’ll ask the jury
What verdict they find

I felt the power
Of death over life
I orphaned his children
I widowed his wife
I begged their forgiveness
I wish I was dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I hung my head
I hung my head

Early one morning
With time to kill
I see the gallows
Up on a hill
And out in the distance
A trick of the brain
I see a lone rider
Crossing the plain

And he’d come to fetch me
To see what they’d done
And we’d ride together
To kingdom come
I prayed for God’s mercy
For soon I’d be dead
I hung my head
I hung my head

I hung my head
I hung my head

Now, do download it at iTunes.

I have made a few posts updating the most recent wrongful termination case against Wiley and Company at RSU. Due to the interest in the story, I have synthesized everything regarding the case on one new page. It also contains links to the court documents, which are public documents. The federal courts have great access, but they charge a fee per page. Just thought I might save some folks the cash.

Check it out here.

I have been meaning to share this for some time. I discovered a sure-fire hiccup cure when I was first working in radio. Imagine me alone in a small radio station on the graveyard shift with a case of the hiccups that is relentless. All I have as resources are the meager contents of the small station house. I finally hit upon a winner. And it’s not the namby-pamby sugar, hold-your-breath, or water-upside-down cures that are dubious at best. This one is sure-fire, but you can’t be scared.

The cure? White (clear) vinegar. Pour a bit in a small juice glass. Then knock it back like a shot (not that I have ever done a shot). It’ll knock the wind out of you, that’s for certain, but I have never had it fail to cure a case of the hiccups, regardless of how relentless they are.

Go forth and be brave.