The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 13, 2010 Page: 3 of 40
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THE CANADIAN RECORD
TH U R5 DAY 1 3 MAY ZD 1 □
LETTERS
Help cure arthritis
MY NAME IS MADDIE Shields. I am 11 years old. My job is
to take part in walking for the cure for Juvenile Arthritis. If
you would like to help make a difference you can help my team,
the Move and Groove Posse, raise money for the research and
tools it takes to find a cure.
Your donation is tax deduct-
ible. Together we can find
the cure!
Why am I involved? Be-
cause right now 1 in 5 peo-
ple suffer from the pain of
arthritis. By the year 2030,
67 million people in the U.S.,
or 1 in 4 adults, will be living
with arthritis. Many people
don't know this but people of
all ages can get arthritis.
I have had arthritis since
the age of seven. After phys-
ical activities, my right knee
would be swollen and I would
cry because of the pain. Af-
ter^ visit to the doctor I discovered I had juvenile arthritis.
Just recently after a trip to the Scottish Rites hospital, I dis-
covered my arthritis had spread to my fingers and other knee.
I have to take medication every day to help control my arthritis.
I continue to take medicine to help with keeping the swelling
down and have to take one shot a week to control my disease.
I know that if I start hurting while doing an activity, I have to
stop that activity.
I just got back Monday from my last check up. Now, with
my medication, my disease is under control. I've learned how to
balance my life with arthritis and stay active and all is good.
MADDIE SHIELDS
FIELD NDTES...CONTINUED
Texas deserves transparency
in a scientific commission
A Guest Editorial by Barbara Ann Radnofsky
Antique Treasures, K&S Leasing, Bartlett's Entex-prises Inc.,
Happy State Bank, Lowe's Pay N' Save, Canadian Arts Alli-
ance, Canadian Banking Center, The Railhead, Alexander's
Grocery & Deli and The Canadian Record.
Other major contributions to the event's success were made
by Joni McMordie, Ginny and Randy Bailey, Bonnie and Jason
Abraham, Anderson Raneh, Vaea Corrales, the Shannon Fam-
ily, Kim and Mike McKinney, Sandy and Jim Waterfield, Ca-
nadian Animal Health and Nutrition, Coffee Heating and Air,
Duncan and Boyd, Rocky and Polly Farrar, Karen and John
Murphy, Olivia and Barry Sims, Canadian Oil and Gas Co. LC,
7 Cross Ranch and Canadian Water Well.
"We have the entire community to thank for the success of
the event," said Julian. "From the facilities to the overwhelm-
ing support of volunteers, the event ran more smoothly than we
could have hoped."
"I am thrilled any time we have the opportunity to show off
our community," she added. "We make a great 'first impres-
sion' when we get people to visit Canadian. It's hard to know
what this single event will mean for Canadian, they fall in love
and come back time and time again."
SEE MUSIC FESTIVAL PHDTDS DN PAGES ID-II
THANKS TO ALL THOSE who have commented on my col-
umn about the need for an assisted living facility in Canadian
and who inquired about my mother, sending their prayers and
kind wishes. For those who have asked, her mailing address
is: Nancy Ezzell, The Seasons, Apt. 304, 401 SW 24th Avenue,
Perry ton, TX 79070. She misses Canadian but is doing well and
hopes to resume writing her column for The Record soon.
TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMIS-
SION Presiding Officer John Bradley, with
the aid of the state Attorney General and
Texas Supreme Court lawyers, expanded the
power of his Commission, which has to date
received most publicity for its delayed inves-
tigation of a controversial arson case. Experts
claim that the 1992 arson/murder conviction
of Cameron Todd Willingham resulted from
seriously flawed methods in investigating a
fire which may well have been accidental.
Shortly before an October 2009 sched-
uled expert presentation criticizing scien-
tific methodologies in the Willingham case,
Texas Governor Perry removed the head of
the Commission and two members. Incoming
Chairman Bradley postponed the hearing.
Accounts of the Commission's April 23,
2010 resumed hearing reflect the Willingham
case discussion taking less than fifteen min-
utes, including a report that nothing substan-
tive has yet happened in the investigation and
the declaration that a non-quorum will meet
in secret to discuss the case in an obvious at-
tempt to avoid Texas requirements for open
meetings of state boards.
Chairman Bradley has stated that he has
created a subcommittee system with help
from lawyers from the state Attorney Gen-
eral and Texas Supreme Court.
The President of the Texas Criminal Law-
yer's Association, Stanley Schneider, has de-
clared the subcommittee system very likely
violates the Open Meetings Act. In a letter to
the public, written shortly after his appoint-
ment (http://www.fsc.state.tx.us/documents/
TFSCEDITORIAL.pdf), Chairman Bradley
explained the "Commission was created to
determine only whether there was negligence
or misconduct by an accredited laboratory
conducting forensic analysis of certain kinds
of evidence in specific cases."
Mr. Bradley proposed to make confiden-
tial several important functions of the Com-
mission which he explained were open to the
public. He claimed "most state agencies with
investigative and deliberative functions are
protected by laws designed to keep such in-
formation confidential until a final decision
is released. Unfortunately, the law creating
the Commission does not include the protec-
tions?'
Bradley admitted in his letter that the
Commission "does not decide whether per-
sons are guilty or innocent of criminal offens-
es." There is no presumption of confidential-
ity for the Commission's wox-k; the opposite is
true.
In his written request seeking more power
and less transparency, Commissioner Brad-
ley made no reference to our state's Public In-
formation Act which declares: "it is the policy
of this state that each person is entitled, un-
less otherwise expressly provided by law, at
all times to complete information about the
affairs of government and the official acts of
public officials and employees. The people, in
delegating authority, do not give their publie
servants the right to decide what is good for
the people to know and what is not good for
them to know. The people insist on remaining
informed so that they may retain control over
the instruments they have created."
Instead, Mr. Bradley wrote that he had
asked the Attorney General's office to advise
on how to "make improvements" to make con-
fidential a complaint receipt, investigation,
deliberation, and final report preparation.
From his recent statements, he's gotten the
advice he wanted.
Bradley also proposed to expand the pow-
er of the Commission to include "development
of best practices in the various fields of foren-
sic science." His letter suggesting the Com-
mission be given more power admits that the
law does not give his Commission legal au-
thority to perform additional work or to make
secret its activities. The membei's are tasked
with rooting out professional negligence or
misconduct by labs, facilities or entities con-
ducting forensic analysis. Texas law requires
the Commission to "timely" investigate any
allegation of professional negligence or mis-
conduct that would substantially affect the in-
tegrity of the results.
Independent of Mr. Bradley, Texas en-
tered the 21st century, with laws including
post conviction DNA testing through the con-
victing court, standards for DNA analysis
and database entry, and a compensation law
for the wrongly convicted. The Texas legisla-
ture established the Tim Cole Advisory panel
on wrongful convictions. The Cole Panel will
report, by Jan 1,2011, on causes and preven-
tion of wrongful convictions and effects of
state laws on eyewitness identification, re-
cording interrogations, post-conviction DNA
testing, and writs of habeas corpus based on
relevant scientific evidence. The Cole Pan-
el will consider an "Innocence Commission"
to investigate wrong convictions, paving the
way for such potential improvements as state-
wide safeguards for eyewitness identification
requirements.
Commissioner Bradley and the Foren-
sic Science Commission he now dominates
should not exceed the legislature's charge to
investigate past errors and should not violate
Texas law and policy for open meetings and
records. Transparency for Mr. Bradley's ac-
tivities serves the policy of the people's right
to know. The Texas legislature, courts, ded-
icated lawyers and the Cole Advisory Pan-
el can continue with the adoption of modern
criminal justice reform without delegating
new powers to Mr. Bradley, or caving into his
penchant for secrecy.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Barbara Ann Radnofsky,
2010 Democratic nomineefor Texas Attorney
General, has been listed for the past 17 years
in Best Lawyers in America.
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
BETTE* NBWSPAfB*CONTEST
Award Winner
West
Texas Press
Association
f" EST. 1926
MEMBERSHIPS
National Newspaper Association
Texas Press Association
West Texas Press Association
Panhandle Press Association
We are members of the Society oF
Professional Journalists and staunch
advocates of the SPJ Code of Ethics
OUR POLICY
LETTERS TD THE EDITOR
are always welcome, and will be
published if they are signed and
cannot be considered libelous.
We will not publish anonymous
letters under any circumstance.
All letters must be accompanied
by a phone numberfor
verification purposes. Letters
may be edited for length.
Each letter should be received
at our office no later than
Wednesday noon for publication
in that week's newspaper.
PLEASE DIRECT LETTERS TD:
The Canadian Record
P.D. Box 838, Canadian, TX 79014
(806)323-5738 (Fax),
or editor[icanadianrecord.com
ALL E-MAILS ACKNOWLEDGED UPON RECEIPT
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 120, No. 19, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 13, 2010, newspaper, May 13, 2010; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220839/m1/3/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.