http://www.fr33agents.com/164/london-cops-waterboard-pot-suspects/

From the Asbury Park Press:

Beaten in raid, man gets $350G

EXCESSIVE FORCE ALLEGED

A Toms River man, who claimed he was in an apartment to measure for curtains when he was kicked and stomped on by law enforcement officers during a drug raid four years ago, has won a $350,000 settlement in exchange for the dismissal of his excessive force lawsuit, his attorney said.

Jon Caldwell, 54, suffered chest trauma and fractured ribs after law enforcement officers “put their boots on his neck and started beating him by kicking and stomping on him,” according to the lawsuit, which attorney Eugene Melody said was filed in September 2006.

The lawsuit contends that on Dec. 17, 2004, the then-Dover Township Police Department and the Ocean County Narcotics Strike Force were executing search warrants on a pair of apartments in the Park Ridge Apartment complex on Walnut Street. The raids were part of an ongoing investigation into the distribution of marijuana in the Toms River area, according to the suit.

[...]

“Several men in SWAT-type gear broke down the door to his apartment and tackled him, slamming him face first to the floor. These men, . . . members of the Narcotics Strike Force, put their boots on his neck and started kicking and stomping on him,” the suit states. “None of these men ever identified themselves as “law enforcement’ to Mr. Caldwell or asked him what he was doing in the apartment.”

After law enforcement realized Caldwell had nothing to do with the drug raid, they let him go, the suit states. The next day, Caldwell was admitted to Community Medical Center, Toms River, according to the suit. His medical bills total nearly $100,000, according to the suit.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — America’s wildlife refuges are so short of money that one-third have no staff, boardwalks and buildings are in disrepair, and drug dealers are using them to grow marijuana and make methamphetamine, a group pushing for more funding says.

“Without adequate funding, we are jeopardizing some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife and wild lands,” said Evan Hirsche, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association and chairman of the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement.

The cooperative said in a report released Thursday to Congress that the nation’s 548 refuges and the 100-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System — about the size of California — is underfunded by 43 percent. The refuge system needs at least $765 million a year but is receiving $434 million, the report says.

A decrease in law enforcement has left the refuges vulnerable to criminal activity, including prostitution, torched cars and illegal immigrant camps along the Potomac River in suburban Washington, methamphetamine labs in Nevada and pot growing operations in Washington state, Hirsche said.

Here’s a thought, Evan. I won’t even go into the logic of stopping government “maintenance” of wildlife refuge altogether, but rather present a revenue-positive, easy solution which will take no effort other than a bunch of legislators voting for it.

Legalize drugs. Legalize prostitution. End all official discrimination against people who lack the proper papers.

Viola! We haven’t managed to stop the torching of cars, but we’ve managed to wipe out these three most pernicious dangers to “some of the world’s most spectacular wildlife and wild lands,” as you put it. And the $331 million per year you want will be chump change compared to the money saved by ceasing to prosecute those victimless crimes in America.

The wildlife will thank you.