The LuLac Edition #3149, February 20th, 2016

LAW AND ORDER 


ELMY CHARGED

Former Wilkes Barre Area School Board member Lou Elmy in happier days. (Photo: Times Leader).

Right before the election when Lou Elmy was running for Council against Tony Brooks in Wilkes Barre District B, I had a conversation with a local Democrat when we were reviewing the race a few days before the voting. She said, “Sometimes it’s better to have a bad Democrat than a good Republican”. At that time Elmy was being criticized for hiring his family and just being an inarticulate flunky who had been dining at the public trough for years. Then there was the issue of signs in the campaign which everybody involved in politics has to deal with at some time or another. If you have signs, you expect some of them to be stolen or vandalized. His campaign finance reports, again he wasn’t alone in having issues.
However the news that Elmy was charged with distribution and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and possessing a firearm while being a habitual drug user according to the Times Leader and The Citizen’s Voice. The drug charge carries a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison. Elmy was placed on administrative leave from the Luzerne County prison where he worked as Counselor. According to reports there may be more to this story especially if any of his personal charges might be related to his role in the prison.
This is ironic because last year Elmy ran on a platform to keep the Wilkes Barre neighborhoods from “the out of control drug trade”.
What is astounding to me is the press coverage. You get a former School Director and political crony and relative of formerly indicted officials and no front tabloid page? Really? Elmy is of course proven innocent until he is judged. (His hearing is on March 2nd). But right now there are serious questions about a prison counselor who had interactions with inmates on a daily basis. Residents want to know if Elmy’s personal battles of drug use might have blended into his work life.
Elmy’s arrest just might trigger an investigation into the entire Prison including Work Release and other aspects of how the facility runs. Division head Alan Nesbitt told the press that federal authorities have not informed prison officials of any allegations linked to Elmy’s prison employment. The key word there folks is “informed”. The feds aren’t here to check out the oysters at Kevin’s or the Hockey at The Arena.
More to come.

PRISON GUARD STABBED, INMATE GIVEN A PASS 

(Photo: Dailymail.com)

I saw this story on Face book this week and it outraged me right from the very first sentence. From Greene County, Pennsylvania. An inmate, a lifer stabbed a prison guard not once, not twice, but 12 TIMES and no charges were filed. Now as you read the story you’ll see that the guard had no life threatening wounds and he did not die. But that is not the point. After the brutal murder of Nanticoke’s Eric Williams by a permanent resident there should be more than a shrug of the shoulders by prison authorities if an employee is attacked.
I get the fact that the inmate is never going to be released.
I get the fact that pieces of crap like this have essentially nothing to lose.
But maybe they should lose something. Like maybe a cot. Like maybe a meal.
Or perhaps a conference with some prison guard’s families who unlike the guards may or may not have weapons.
This is still another example of why we need the death penalty in a two year window. A life sentence should not be a license to main or kill.
While this incident in Greene County had a somewhat positive outcome, the next time it may not.
Just as the family of Eric Williams. Here’s the story:
The inmate who stabbed a corrections officer at SCI-Greene nearly a dozen times in November will not be charged.
State police Trooper Daniel Barnhart, who investigated the Nov. 19 stabbing, said they decided against filing charges after speaking with Greene County District Attorney Marjorie Fox and the injured corrections officer.
Barnhart said the inmate’s life sentence for murder was also a leading factor against filing charges since he will not be released from prison. Neither the inmate nor the corrections officer have been identified.
Fox declined to discuss the incident except to say “nothing will be filed at the present time.”
The inmate ambushed the guard in the pod area of the general population B-Block and used a shank during the attack that lasted for nearly a minute. The corrections officer suffered 10 cuts and lacerations, most of which were superficial wounds, although one cut to the back of the head required stitches, police said.
The guard subdued the prisoner and other correction officers were able to come to his aid to restrain the attacker. Investigators did not release a motive for the attack at the prison in Franklin Township.
The guard was taken to WHS-Greene hospital where he was treated and released.
Tracy Shawley, the assistant to the SCI-Greene superintendent, said Tuesday the officer is “doing fine” but still has not returned to his post following the attack.