"I am an Innocent man"

As many of you know almost twenty-four hours ago Troy Davis was executed by the State of Georgia for murdering a police officer twenty-two years ago in Savannah, Georgia.  His execution was delayed by four hours when he applied to appeal his sentence both to the Georgia Supreme Court and the United State Supreme Court.  However both courts ruled against him.  Davis was declared dead at 11:08 pm est. His case has been considerably controversial and many people think the State killed the wrong man.

                When Davis was convicted of murder in 1991 he had nine witnesses testify against him.  In the twenty years since then seven of the nine witnesses have repealed their statements. The police officer he apparently killed was off duty working as a security guard. Officer MacPhail went to assist a homeless man who was being assaulted when he was shot. Some evidence linked Troy Davis to the shooting. However there was some controversial evidence on both sides of the case.  The prosecutors seemed to reach the point of unreasonable doubt that Davis committed the murder.

                However, on the flip side Troy Davis and his attorneys had twenty years to try and prove his innocence so that means that he was not completely innocent. Either way I personally do not know enough information about the case to personally make a choice or have an opinion on whether or not Davis should have been executed.  In my opinion if he really did do it then yeah he deserved his consequence. But if he was innocent then the state and country really has to do some thinking about their process of processing its “criminals”.

All I do know is that there were some very unhappy people around the world because of this execution. There were many people, celebrities, and activist groups who were against the “killing of an innocent man”. These people protested and even petitioned to try and keep Davis alive to prove his innocence. 

Either way, I think that this case will be looked at heavily studied for the years to come and it will make its way into the history books.

NEVER FORGET

As I’m sure all of you know, today marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks against America. Even though I was only in first grade when it all happened I still have some details of that day engraved in my mind  and they always will be there; to Never Forget.

The morning of September 11, 2001 is always described as a sunny, cloudless, perfect day. However, this wouldn’t last long.  At 8:46 am American Airlines Flight 11 hits the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  At this point in time not too many realized the significance of this event. Many thought it was simply an accident. When American Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the South Tower everyone knew at that point that this was no accident, it was an attack on America. This was followed by American Airlines Flight 77 hitting the western side of the Pentagon and then Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

However, the planes were just the beginning to a horrific day.  Less than an hour after being hit by Flight 175, the South Tower collapses and a half an hour after that the North Tower comes down. This is where a majority of the nearly 3,000 fatalities occurred.

Within all of the death and destruction of that day the fact that hits me the hardest is that 343 FDNY firefighters died. I think that this hits me the hardest because of my dad. He is a firefighter and every time I hear this statistic I always think of him. I can’t even imagine what the families of those heroes have gone through.  On that day then men who died were the true heroes. They climbed up the stairs into the smoke and fire instead of running away even though they knew their fate.

If you get anything out of this post, just remember to Never Forget. Don’t just honor the firemen but honor the policemen and everyone who tried to help someone else on that day. Also, honor Flight 93 because if they didn’t rise up and fight against their hijacker; who knows how many more people would have died. Another thing to remember is that freedom is never free and we can’t always take it for granted.

9/11/01 NEVER FORGET

How Far Should a Student Go In Terms of Education?

In this week’s edition of Another Opinionated Blog the topic of debate is “Is College worth it?” In a recent article in the Sunday edition of the Plain Dealer many studies and prominent educational figures were quoted on whether college is worth it or not for high school students.

The main topic of discussion in this article was the fact that so many students are coming out of a traditional, four year, residential college in a large amount of debt and in today’s economy debt is not a good thing. Also, the article made a point that not everyone, not every career needs a four year degree in order to be successful. They did however state a point that post-secondary education is necessary. Whether it be a certificate, a two year associates degree, or a four year bachelor’s degree.

In my opinion I agree 100% with this article. Why should someone spend four years and thousands of dollars on an education that they don’t necessarily need? An example in the article was a plumber. Plumbers are essential to society but they don’t need a college education and it would be a waste of time and money for a plumber to go to a traditional four year college. Yes, they need extra, post-high school training but they don’t need a four year college education. Plumbers aren’t the only profession essential the society like this.  Firefighters, paramedics, police officers, construction workers, registered nurses etc. don’t need a four year degree to be successful.

I guess it really depends on what you want to do as a career if you need to go to college. Yes some jobs for sure need a lot of education. Its just people need to take into consideration that they may not have to go to a traditional college to be successful in life.