Criminal Justice

• Greg Hampikian, biology and criminal justice, was featured in a KTVB Channel 7 news report on DNA testing in the Wayne Williams child murder case from the 1980s. Hampikian is part of the Innocence Project, which uses DNA testing to determine if someone is innocent of a crime for which they have been convicted. The story also ran on KIFI TV in Idaho Falls.
• Greg Hampikian, biology and criminal justice administration, organized a two-day workshop for teachers on Forensic Science and Molecular Biology. 26 High School and University Teachers took part. The instructors examine some of the gold weapons seized from Sadam Hussein in Iraq.
• A Reader’s View by Michael Blankenship, criminal justice, on capital punishment and Sister Helen Prejean’s upcoming lecture, ran in the Idaho Statesman.
• Faculty and students in the Department of Criminal Justice had a great showing at the recent conference of the Western and Pacific Association of Criminal Justice Educators in Reno Oct. 8-11. Combined, their presentations contributed to about one-third of the conference. Presentations included:

Jonathon A. Cooper, M.A. student, “Potential Impacts of Perceptions of Neighborhood Disorder on Perceptions of Serious Crime and Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety: A Test of the Broken Windows Model of Crime Control.”

Marianne Hudson, M.A. student, “Juvenile Sex Offenders.”

Suzann C. K. Lathrop, M.A. student, “Domestic Violence in Native American Communities: A History of Oppression as a Contributing Factor to this Social Problem.”

Lisa Bostaph, assistant professor of criminal justice, Andrew Giacomazzi, chair and associate professor of criminal justice, Elizabeth Hannah, assistant professor of community and environmental health, “Co-location of Victims’ Services and Beyond: A Site-Specific Evaluation of a Family Justice Center in the Inland Northwest.”

Richard Kirkendall, M.A. student, “Religion in the Prison System.”

Michael Blankenship, professor of criminal justice, “Workshop: Technology in the Classroom.”

Brian Iannacchione, adjunct professor and former M.A. student, and Jeremy Ball, assistant professor of criminal justice, “The Effects of Blakely on Sentencing Departures in the State of Washington.”

Marc Ruffinengo, M.A. student, “Measuring Protective Behaviors: Do Perceptions of Disorder Matter?”

Marc Ruffinengo, M.A. student, David Mueller, associate professor of criminal justice, “An Analysis of ACJS Conference Papers.”

Yesterday began my long journey from the most isolated mid-size city in America (Boise, ID) to our nation’s capitol. This is my first time on the Potomac.

Traveling from Boise to D.C. means first stopping in SLC, then in to Chicago to change planes to get to D.C. Kudos to Southwest Airlines, with whom LGM has a long established relationship. SWA was on time or early every leg of the flight. Great job as always.

Midway airport kind of sucks. It was messy and noisy, and I had the worst piece of pizza there that I have ever had. What up, Chicago?! Dulles Airport in suburban Virginia is the exact opposite: clean, neat, quiet, and orderly. I am a big fan. However, Dulles, which is only 15 or 20 miles from Fairfax where I was headed, is actually a poor choice for travelers wanting to get to suburban Virginia. The only bus that leaves Dulles goes ALL THE WAY into D.C. before coming BACK to Virginia. In all, the bus ride was a 3.5 hour trip - the longest leg of my trip. Monday = taxi to the airport!

After the 14.5 hour trip to D.C. I was exhausted and slept in a bit. I still managed to get into D.C. before lunch, on Saturday. I can still recall my anticipation as I emerged from the Metro Rail line at the Smithsonian stop, placing me smack dab in the middle of the Mall. Awesome! I only had a few hours, and there is so much to see, so I started with the museums since they close at 5:30.

“The Smithsonian” is actually 14 museums housed around the mall, and includes everything from the National Art Gallery, the Space and Flight Museum, Museum of Natural History, the Newseum, the Native American Museum, and the Museum of American History just to name a few.

I started my day at the National Art Gallery. First things first, though. EVERYTHING in D.C. is under construction or being renovated. EVERYTHING. A large portion of the galleries in the National Gallery were closed off. It is still an awesome place. My faves of course are the Art History 101 things. I am no art expert, but can at least get through the basics. I have developed a real affinity for the work of Paul Gauguin, so I took lots of shots of the Gaugin room:

This is Gauguin’s “Breton Girls Dancing” done in 1888 prior to his departure to Tahiti. I remember seeing the Pieta in Rome WAY back in 1995, and it absolutely took my breath away. Really it brought tears to my eyes. “Breton Girls” did the same. It is simply an unbelievable experience to stand in front of this work.

I then had some girls take this lousy picture of me standing next to one of Gauguin’s works done in Tahiti (obviously) in 1892. This piece was donated to the National Art Gallery by none other than Idaho’s Harriman family, the founders and developers of Sun Valley.

Leaving the Gallery left me with a real sense of longing. It was hard to turn and walk away from Van Dyk, Gauguin, Monet, Giotto and all the rest. When would I see them again?

I lit out for the Capitol Building (you need tickets for a tour), and the Library of Congress. The Capitol, like everything else in D.C. is being renovated. The grounds looked terrible. I chose to go the free LOC. The tour was unremarkable, really. You can’t see anything there. The stacks are completely off limits to everyone except for staff. So, you get to walk through the lobby and then see a few exhibits they have thrown up. They did have the collection of Thomas Jefferson on display. Congress bought Jefferson’s personal library of almost 6,500 books for $23,950 in 1815. The lousy Brits had burned all our books when they set fire to D.C. (two buildings) during the war of 1812. Not long after getting Jefferson’s books, the LOC burned again, and we lost 2/3 of Jefferson’s collection. Lame. OH - - - FACT: The Library of Congress has the largest collection of pornography (pr0n) in the world by virtue of the fact that they have two of everything ever published. Below, a great example of their porn collection: the fountain in front of the library:

After the library I really only had time for one more visit. I have to admit, I really didn’t care about the Space and Flight Museum, the American History Museum was closed for remodel, the Newseum was too far away, and the Natural History Museum was just a bit to much to see in the hour or so I had left. So i made my way to the new Native American Museum. It featured some first rate exhibits, a great cafe with native foods, and is a beautiful edifice:

We are also reminded that it was more than just smallpox blankets that took out the Indians:

From there I wandered through the National Sculpture Garden:

On my way to the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Ave. There, I got some folks to take a photo of me with the lone sailor:

The Navy Monument was probably the most moving moment for me of the day - and that was in a day filled with anticipation, beauty, and rare treasures. Finished at the Navy Memorial and being on Pennsylvania Ave., you know where I was headed next.

It’s amazing sometimes the lessons you learn in ways you’d never expect. I had that experience over the last couple of days while kicking around my neighborhood with my scary Pit Bull. You know Pit Bulls. These are the out-of-control dogs that that kill as easily as they pee. They maim for fun. Rape and pillage are part of their breeding. Yeah, right.

An animal’s behavior is a product of its owner. Period. And you know who knows this: kids.

My terrifying Pit Bill, Panache, likes to run. Lots of times, I open the front door of my house and just let her bound across the street. We’ve got an apartment complex over there and there are always lots of kids out in the parking lots doing what kids do. And whenever Panache goes bounding out of the house at a full sprint, the kids all squeal in delight, “Doggie!!!” They love her, and Panache reciprocates by incessantly licking them all. Contrast this with another neighbor.

I just got a new bike and I’ve been dialing it in. When I spin it around the block I like to take Panache (and Bella) with me me so they can get a little work-out. They spend too much time inside. The other day I had the two of them out with me and Panache went running up to the stairs of a neighbor’s house. The stairs and the whole front yard were enclosed with a fence. Behind the fence stood a man and his dog.

As Panache approached the fence to greet them both the man yelled at her “HHEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYY.” He yelled in terror as if he were about to meet his maker. He yelled in anger and fear. He then yelled at me: “IS THAT A PIT BULL??!?!?” I calmly lied, “no,” and calmly rode on. Panache and Bella followed. The man and his dog live to this day.

What is it that happens to us when we age? It seems what we gain in reason we lose because of our ability to comprehend the evil that man can do. But make no mistake: Panache and Pit Bulls are not killers by nature. They are made that way by evil men whose antisocial nature is fed only by malice. And we could all learn a lot and live a lot easier if we’d sometimes learn to again live with the nature of a child.

Panache and Bella strike a terrifying pose on the couch

In my new line of research on Idaho’s wine country I discuss the development of wine regions in Caldwell and Eagle, and the problems and opportunities associated with wine tourism in both places. Wine is becoming a big deal in Idaho, in case you missed it.

Anyway, last Saturday the 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards in Eagle uncorked the first bottle of wine produced from Eagle grown grapes - a huge achievement! Things are clearly looking up around here as a cultural center but with a nod to our historic agricultural based past. The Idaho Statesman even just did a three day series on the Idaho Wine Country, culminating in a reader based taste test of Idaho Wines.

So I was really disappointed to see the info-graphic from the online poll in the Statesman that showed that 34% of Idahoans NEVER drink wine. Now I had a lot of statistics classes in college so I know this isn’t scientific, but still - 34%?! C’mon people!

This is a bit interesting as I consider the work of the late Professor Hal K. Rothman. Rothman proposed that regions that build economies based upon tourism will eventually lose their character because of the infiltration of not only tourists but outside capital and managers. So, if more than one-third of the population of the Treasure Valley “never” drink wine and Eagle and Caldwell are building up their wine tourism industry, these cities they are a changing.

I think for the better.

So here is the problem with web browsers:

*Firefox 2.0 won’t render fonts properly on my PC or load Google Calendar, but I can use Zotero.
*IE 7 hangs repeatedly on my PC, renders fonts great, but I can’t use Zotero.
*Safari looks great on my PC, but I can’t get to my banking software, and I can’t use Zotero with it.

Now for the Mac

*Firefox crashes repeatedly on the Mac
*My banking software won’t work on Safari
*IE 7 irrelevant on a Mac

So I may just try to install a copy of VMware and Ubuntu 8.04 on my Mac and see if that helps. Don’t know what I’ll do for the PC @ work.

Today, at 2:15 pm MST, three Ph.D.’s will decide my fate - at least where graduate school is concerned. Yes, today, I defend my thesis.

If all goes well, I’ll have my M.A. in hand, and I can go gently into that good night somewhere here in the academy, live long and prosper and all that. If not, I have a back up plan, you know.

Over the holidays, I started cooking at a restaurant here in town - good deal for me and the new owners who were trying to get the thing off the ground. Lots of fun to cook, socialize, and experiment with food in a big kitchen. So, tonight is my last night doing that (getting my M.A. is unrelated), but before I departed, I decided to do an interpretation of the classic steak dinner, with bar food. Here it is:

Served in the classic fry basket, are: Hand cut sirloin finger steaks topped with onion rings and crumbled blue cheese; Idaho Potato Skins with sour cream and green onions; fried asparagus spears; and a side of homemade ranch dressing in a classy plastic 1 oz cup. There you have it, the steak dinner, reinterpreted for the pub.

So can I come cook at Canyon Crest with my masters degree and my domination of the deep fryer?

Dave I hope you don’t mind the props, but this is a story we have to tell.

So our inimitable business partner - attorney, and chef, Dave Haley - has just been hired as the Executive Chef at what will be one of the largest events centers in Idaho. After a legal career spanning over 20 years, Dave is now running a cooking staff of 24 people that can serve 400 people in 15-20 minutes. Incredible!

Canyon Crest in Twin Falls, Idaho, features a 400 seat convention center, an 85 person lounge, and a restaurant that seats 135. That doesn’t include all the outdoor seating that overlooks spectacular views of the Snake River!

The rest of the LGM crew will be taking a trip down in a couple of weeks for a VIP dinner. Should be big fun. Congratulations, Dave, and best wishes to Dan Willie, the man with the vision to develop Canyon Crest. We hope its a smashing success!

For a quick taste of what’s in store, the Twin Falls Times News put together this video and news story. You will mbe MORE than impressed!

It seems like only yesterday - no, no, it doesn’t. It seems like I have been in graduate school FOREVER. I actually knocked out several units as a senior, and then started officially in the Fall of 2005. Then, that was interrupted by the founding of Pronetos (very cool), and divorce (also very cool only at the time I didn’t think so). So we arrive here in the Spring of 2008, defending my thesis on the last possible day to graduate in the Spring. HOORAY!

Kim Pierce, indefatigable History Dept. admin, put together the last minute flyer for my defense:

As most of you know too, the thesis itself is stored on Pronetos, and updated regularly using our document version control feature. Very cool for anyone who wants to put a pre-print or working paper up for others to see and comment upon while it is in the drafting stages.

So what’s next for me after the defense, and my masters degree (Master of Arts in Applied Historical Research)? Well, I have to choose between fully funded fellowships in doctoral programs at Harvard, Oxford, and Université Paris-Sorbonne.

April fools!

(but if anyone IS looking to fund a graduate student at any of those fine universities, please let me know . . .)