Murder In A North Georgia Town...25 Years On

A couple years ago I wrote an article about a brutal double murder that happened here in my hometown back in 1985. A local minister and his wife, both 66, were beaten to death in their home on the night of November 7th. No one was ever arrested for these crimes.

As the 25th anniversary of this henious act came about, I was contacted by a writer for our local newspaper. His name is Mark Millican and Mark was planning a big story for the Daily Citizen News on the quarter century milestone since the murders took place, and the fact that nobody was brought to justice for committing them. Mark had read my article and wanted to talk to me about the research I did for it. He also interviewed me for his article, as well as incorporated parts of my original piece into his. The story ran yesterday in our local paper and I was thrilled with it. Outstanding is the only word that comes to mind which captures how I feel about the work that Mark did on this.

My article ran on several crime blogs when I first wrote it and Gregg Olsen's Crime Rant is one of them. Gregg is a bestselling author of true crime novels as well as fiction. His work has been featured on some of the most popular documentary programs on television today. Several people commented on my story on Gregg's site and I didn't know about a lot of these remarks until Mark found them and brought them to my attention. I was floored.

It has always been my dream that one day this murderer would be brought to justice. Mark's work on this case is the caliber of journalism that breaks things wide open. In presenting this story again I am pleased to provide links to Mark's work for our local paper. Please feel free to write him and congratulate him on a job most certainly well done.

http://http//daltondailycitizen.com/local/x1364887918/Double-murder-still-haunts-Dalton

http://http//daltondailycitizen.com/local/x2073124768/New-evidence-in-old-case

Keith Olbermann Reinstated

From Yahoo! News

Well that was fast! MSNBC president Phil Griffin announced Sunday night that "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann will return to the air on Tuesday. The announcement comes just two days after he was suspended "indefinitely" for contributing to three 2010 candidates without prior consent from the network.

"After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy," Griffin said in a statement. "We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night."

Olbermann's suspension jolted the media world Friday, leading to a flurry of coverage online, on cable news and even on the front page of the New York Times.

Left-leaning supporters also got involved. Progressive Change Campaign Committee set up a petition to bring back the top liberal host on Friday. Within two days, 250,000 people signed up.
There was speculation that Olbermann -- who's left several networks before -- might not return at all. And sources told Politico that Olbermann was suspended after refusing to give an on-air mea culpa.

The suspension brought into the focus the ongoing tensions between the nonpartisan NBC News and the partisan hosts on MSNBC.

[Rewind: Fired NPR host offered hefty contract at Fox]

Even though Olbermann is paid for opinion, the undisclosed donations presented a clear conflict of interest for someone who recently anchored an election night. MSNBC already received some criticism last week for having its liberal hosts and commentators anchor election night. So the news that one of them also donated to Democratic candidates only gave more ammo to conservative critics of the cable network.

Among media watchers, the episode also raised questions about the current Olbermann-Griffin relationship. Olbermann has a reputation for being difficult to manage and once told the New Yorker that "Phil thinks he's my boss."

Griffin put out only two short statements on Friday and Sunday. But MSNBC host Rachel Maddow -- who subbed for Olbermann and got her 9 p.m. show with his support -- devoted a segment Friday to Olbermann's suspension.

[Rewind: MSNBC's election night lineup draws criticism]

Maddow talked of a double standard where Fox News allows Republican hosts like Sean Hannity and Mike Huckabee to take a role in politics that goes beyond journalism and into advocacy. For Maddow, the incident showed how MSNBC is different in suspending Olbermann for giving to candidates while Fox didn't take a similarly hard line when it came to Hannity's contribution to Michelle Bachmann.

"Let this incident lay to rest forever, the facile, never-true-in-any-way, lazy conflation of Fox News, and what the rest of us do for a living," Maddow said. "Everybody likes to say, 'Oh, that's cable news. It's all the same. Fox and MSNBC, mirror images of each other.' Let this lay that to rest forever."

Maddow continued: "Hosts on Fox raise money on the air for Republican candidates. They use their Fox News profiles to headline fundraisers. Heck, there are multiple people being paid by Fox News now to essentially run as Republican candidates. There is no rule against that at Fox. They run as a political operation. We're not."

[Photos: More moments with Olbermann]

Olbermann, however, stayed silent after Friday's suspension. And he didn't respond to the rumors flying around all weekend.

But on Sunday afternoon, Olbermann sent a message to fans on Twitter. "Greetings From Exile! A quick, overwhelmed, stunned THANK YOU for support that feels like a global hug & obviously left me tweetless XO"

Perhaps he'll have more to say Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth II Joins Facebook

Britain's Queen Elizabeth is now on Facebook and millions are rushing to "like" her. Here's an article from the Huffington Post.

LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II is now on Facebook – but she's not going to be your friend.

Britain's queen has launched a series of official pages offering the website's 500 million users daily updates on her engagements, the royal household said Sunday.

The 84-year-old British monarch will be featured in videos, photos and news items on the site, which will be available starting Monday, alongside other members of the country's royal family, including Princes William and Harry.

Users will be able leave messages or comments for Buckingham Palace on the site and find details of royal events close to their homes.

However, because the pages will be corporate – and not a personal account – people won't be able to request to become friends with the queen.

A royal official said the queen had personally approved the plan, but acknowledged she has not actually used the site herself.

"The decision went right up to the queen," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the plan. "If you are going to have an online presence in 2010, you just have to be on Facebook."

The Facebook page is the queen's latest social media venture – the royal family already have an account on the Flickr photography website, joined Twitter in 2009 and set up a video channel on YouTube in 2007.

Buckingham Palace set up its own website in 1997, which now allows people to apply for palace jobs online, track the royal family via Google Maps or read details in a section devoted to the queen's prized corgi dogs.

Her Facebook site will include Britain's court circular, the official daily record of the royal family's engagements. It lists all royal diary appointments from the previous day and was created by George III in 1803, reportedly after he became frustrated with inaccurate newspaper reports.

http://http://www.facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy

Thought For Today

"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone." - Gertrude Stein