Perception is Reality

Winter recreation is a great time of year. We enjoy ice fishing, sledding, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing to name a few.  I felt it was appropriate to talk about ice safety.

Ice on ponds, rivers, and lakes can be affected by many things. The strength and the thickness of the ice must be known before any activity by you or a family member takes place on it. Safety is of paramount importance. 

The rule of thumb for ice safety is as follows: 

• 2 inches of new clear ice is ok for walking on.
• 4 inches of new clear ice is ok to spend time fishing on.
• 5 inches of new clear ice is ok to snowmobile on.
• 8-13 inches of new clear ice is ok to drive a vehicle on.

REMEMBER – RIVER ICE IS USUALLY 15 – 20 PERCENT WEAKER THAN POND OR LAKE ICE. 

Slush is a danger sign. It indicates that the ice is no longer freezing from the bottom and indicates it is weak and or deteriorating.

Temperatures, precipitation (snow, sleet, rain) are all factors that affect the strength of the ice. 

Never check the ice alone or try to rescue a victim of an ice failure. Why?  Because you could end up going from rescuer to victim very quickly. If you fall through the ice, try to climb out toward the direct you came from. You know the ice was strong up to that point.

In closing, be aware that ice thickness and strength can vary from location to location. By following the few safety tips you can be safer and enjoy the many winter activities in our great outdoors

Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, and Donald W. Washington, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, today announced the indictment of Jeremiah Munsen, 18, on federal hate crime and conspiracy charges for his role in threatening and intimidating marchers who participated in a civil rights rally in Jena, Louisiana, by displaying two hangman's nooses from the back of a pickup truck.

The indictment alleges that on Sept. 20, 2007, Munsen, along with another individual, conspired to threaten and intimidate the African-American marchers because they were exercising a federally protected right to travel between states. According to the indictment, Munsen and his co-conspirator fashioned two nooses out of extension cords while discussing the Ku Klux Klan and the civil rights rally in Jena. Munsen and his co-conspirator then attached the nooses to a truck and traveled to Alexandria (near Jena, Louisiana) where they repeatedly drove slowly past a group of marchers gathered at a bus depot waiting for buses that would return them to Tennessee. In addition to the civil rights conspiracy charge, the indictment also charges the defendants with a federal hate crime.

"This indictment accuses the defendant of conduct that constitutes a federal civil rights conspiracy violation and a federal hate crime," U.S. Attorney Donald W. Washington said. "It is a violation of federal law to intimidate, oppress, injure or threaten people because their race and because those people are exercising and enjoying rights guaranteed and protected by the laws and Constitution of the United States. Our civil rights laws protect the civil rights of all Americans, and they remind us that we are all members of one particular race - the human race."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Alexandria Police Department investigated this case, which is being prosecuted jointly by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This information was obtained from the FBI web page.

Have you received a suspicious e-mail from FBI Director Robert Mueller or another FBI official? If so, it is a fake. The FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) have increasingly received reports of fraudulent schemes misrepresenting FBI agents, officials, and/or FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III. The fraudulent e-mails give the appearance of legitimacy due to the usage of pictures of the FBI Director, seal, letterhead, and/or banners. The types of schemes utilizing the names of FBI agents, officials, or the Director's name are typically lottery endorsements and inheritance notifications.

Other fraudulent schemes representing the FBI claim to be from our domestic as well as overseas offices. The schemes cover a range from threat and extortion e-mails, website monitoring containing malicious computer program attachments (malware), and online auction scams.

The social engineering technique of utilizing the FBI's name is to intimidate and convince the recipient the e-mail is legitimate.

The FBI does not send out e-mails soliciting personal information from citizens.

Please be cautious of any unsolicited e-mail referencing the FBI, FBI Director Mueller, or any other FBI official endorsing any type of Internet activity.

To receive the latest information about cyber scams please go to the FBI website and sign up for e-mail alerts by clicking on one of the red envelopes. If you have received a scam e-mail please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint at www.ic3.gov. For more information on e-scams, please visit the FBI's New E-Scams and Warnings webpage.

Bay View residents beware. This scam has been verified by the FBI (their link is included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your e-mail address book and social network. 

It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us good citizens take  these summons for jury duty seriously . 

A new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty,  the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. 

If you give out this information - bingo -  your identity has just been stolen. The type of fraud has been reported in 11 states.

This is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone  to try to bully people into  giving information by pretending they are with the court system. 

The FBI  and the Federal Court System have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Snopes site: says this is real fraud.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

FBI site: warns about the fraud.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

Burial Procession immediately after funeral to:

Good Hope Cemetery
4101 South 43rd Street
Milwaukee, WI 53220

BAY VIEW  REMEMBER OUR FALLEN HEROES

 Army Pfc. Jason F. Lemke,January 05, 2008, of West Allis, Wis.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.; died Jan. 5 in Ibrahim Al Adham, Iraq, of wounds sustained when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device.

To ALL Veterans - It has come to my attention that there is a phone scam that is targeting veterans.  The caller will ask you to join the Patriot Guard, and tell you there are “membership fees" involved. 

The caller will say something about the Patriot Guard having "over 7000 members" nationwide, which is obviously untrue.  DO NOT give out ANY personal information or credit card numbers.

THIS IS A SCAM!!!   PLEASE, if you receive such a call, call  John Curran at (608) 935-3231, and he will gather information for local authorities, as well as the Better Business Bureau, to try to put a stop to this scam.

Please pass on this informnation to your friends.

Jim was in his early 50s, retired from the Marine Corps, and started a second career. However, he just couldn't seem to get to work on time. Every day, 5, 10, 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, real sharp, so his boss was in a quandary about how to deal with it.

Finally, one day the boss called him into the office for a talk. "Jerry, I have to tell you, I like your work  ethic, you do a bang-up job, but you're being late so often is quite bothersome."

"Yes, I know, boss," said Jim, "and I'm working on it."

"Well, good. You're a team player; that's what I like to  see. It's odd, though. You're always coming in late. I  know you're retired from the Marine Corps. What'd they say  when you came in late there?"

"They said, 'Good mornin', General.'"

The men and women of this organization have joined together to support all veterans. Consider joining the Patriot Guard Riders. For more information please read on . . .