AZ activist agrees to community service, not jail

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: AP

An activist accused of leaving water jugs in the desert for immigrants has decided to complete 300 hours of community service rather than go to jail.

Twenty-eight-year-old Walt Staton had vowed not to comply with his sentence for leaving the water on a southern Arizona wildlife preserve last year.

He was convicted of littering in June after he was cited last December by a Fish and Wildlife agent.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j5WYKvAjhsHNLz3mw1s4wFXl56SQD9COG3J80

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More: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14044459?nclick_check=1

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Everybody who knows the story and does not sympathize with the man...

...is an asshole. Period. Yes, I remember previous threads about this case.

[pinto]

4. I like the statement of support from the Claremont School of Theology president -

CST is standing behind Staton and respects his conviction that saving human life must sometimes trump following all the rules, said Jerry Campbell, the school's president.

"The moral progress that civilization makes over time results, in part, from the ongoing clash of ideas," he said. "Staton's action, intended to save the lives of individuals entering the country through the desert, conflicts with the position of those who are more concerned with keeping people from entering the country if they have not taken the prescribed legal steps necessary to do so. As a culture, we clearly have not yet solved the problem of how to deal humanely and justly with immigration."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. There. There's a person who's not an asshole. Props to Mr. Campbell.

Waiting for the crush-the-inferior-fetishist brigade to decry Mr. Campbell as "soft on crime" and and "enemy of American jobs".

[pinto]

2. Smart call on Staton's part, imo. And a great article from the Contra Costa Times.

Thanks for the post ~ pinto

"I had strong objections to doing community service because I felt my actions were humanitarian," he (Staton) said. "I hoped the court would reconsider punishing me. But she just gave me two weeks to think about it."

During a probation violation hearing held in Tucson on Monday, Staton changed his mind and asked the judge to let him do the initial 300 hours of community service. She agreed and also allowed him to complete the hours in Claremont.

"I still hold firm that what I did was not wrong," Staton said. "I don't want other people to be deterred from this kind of work, but me sitting in prison is not useful either."

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. How about community service in the desert bringing water to immigrants?

:evilgrin:

[WriteDown]

7. Or picking up discarded plastic bottles in said desert...

:evilgrin:

[boppers]

11. He SHOULD pick up discarded plastic bottles, discarded clothes, and other migrant refuse.

He should replace that trash with fresh, filled bottles, clean clothes, TP, etc.

[RedCloud]

6. May the Great Spirit protect you Walt! You truly get it!

Life helping life. His punishment for doing this would make any god cry.

[old mark]

8. Very interesting to read the comments from the article in the Arizona paper

regarding this trial. They lean about 4 to 1 toward calling Stanton and idiot, coward, traitor, druggie, etc - the standard RW bullshit the West has been famous for since the frontier days. It's them damn Mexicins and Injuns makin all the trouble.
Figures their Senator is John McCain - he fits right in.

mark

[winyanstaz]

9. Dying of thirst is a terrible way to go...

and as long as they pick up the water bottles later..I do not see the harm in helping people live.

[Bette Noir]

10. Giving water to thirsty people is exactly what Jesus would tell us to do.

Anyone who disapproves of this action is no Christian.