Janklow Says He Won't Do Community Service

KSTP Radio ^ | 03/03/04 | staff

[Fizzie]

Janklow says he won't do community service Updated: 03-03-2004 07:52:18 AM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Former South Dakota governor and congressman Bill Janklow is days away from being able to get out of jail for up to ten hours a day for community service.

But he says he doesn't plan to do it.

Judge Rodney Steele denied Janklow's request to set him free until the state Supreme Court hears his appeal.

As part of a 100-day jail sentence, Steele urged Janklow to speak to students and community groups about the legislative process and other topics he knows about.

According to court services, Janklow has decided not to do community service.

A Moody County jury convicted Janklow of manslaughter, reckless driving, speeding and running a stop sign for an August accident that killed Randy Scott of Hardwick, Minnesota.

[Fizzie]

The judge merely asked Janklow to speak to students and community groups about the legislative process and other topics he knows about. The judge did not ask Janklow to speak about reckless driving, or worse.

Apparently, Janklow likes his jail cell. Must be pretty swank, if he doesn't want to get out of there for up to 10 hours a day. On face value, what a jerk!

[TomServo]

I guess he figures with Mayors across the country breaking the law - why not a former Governor and Congressman?

[martin_fierro]

	FReeper Motorcycle Hooligan
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With each passing day / dilatory appeal, Janklow reconfirms his a$$hole status.

[lelio]

100 day jail sentence for being a habitual speeder whose luck ran out ending up in an innocent's death.

[rogue yam]

Apparently, Janklow likes his jail cell.

Maybe he's just really, really ashamed of himself and of what he has done and can't stand to appear before all of those innocent young faces?

[Askel5]

Coward.

[Paleo Conservative]

Fizzie 100 day jail sentence for being a habitual speeder whose luck ran out ending up in an innocent's death.

The judge ought to resentence Janklow.

[mombonn]

Lazy, arrogant SOB.

Too bad the sentence was so lenient.

Prayer for the family of the man he killed.

[Dog Gone]

I haven't been to South Dakota recently, but last time I was there I never found a swank place. So that's probably not it.

Frankly, if I were in jail and were offered the chance to leave to give talks (but with no reduction in prison sentence) I'd tell them to take a hike.

Lemme think, be hounded by the media during the day with lots of pictures of me being treated as a prisoner, or reading a paperback novel? Hmmmm.

[PeteFromMontana]

Apparently, Janklow likes his jail cell

Or his cell-MATE. I will refrain from posting a picture...... .......................

You're welcome

[JoeSixPack1]

Any options afforded Janklow is more options than can forever be afforded Randy Scott, excluding the last.

R.I.P. Randy

[archy]

Apparently, Janklow likes his jail cell. Must be pretty swank, if he doesn't want to get out of there for up to 10 hours a day.

He's safer in there. Outside, someone could run him over.

And I doubt if a jury would ever convict them.

[NYC GOP Chick]

What a jackass!

[Fizzie]

Dog Gone,
That might be the self-indulgent route to take, and probably very tempting for Janklow to lay low, and make it all go away in 100 days. Perhaps 100 days in jail with paperbacks is fitting penalty for manslaughter. Apparently it is for Janklow.

[Hodar]

Let's see, a person with a record of placing police sirens and lights on the family station wagon so he doesn't have to follow the rules he, as govenor, signed into laws for everyone else in the state.

Pulled over and ticketed twice (that I know of) for operationg a motorcycle without a licence (both times he claimed not to know that a motorcycle licence was required.).

Issued himself State Park Elk licenses to hunt Elk with his relatives in Custer State Park in 1985 over the Christmas break.

A record of speeding, reckless driving and other moving violations. He kills an innocent while breaking at least 3 moving violations .... and he is sentenced to 100 days?!!!

And the state wonders why people like myself, who grew up in South Dakota, went to SDSU; then moved out of state and have no intention of ever returning. South Dakota used to be a respectable place to live. Now, with people like Janklow and Daschel as representatives, there's nothing there that I want.

[Fizzie]

Wow... I didn't know 1/2 that stuff about Janklow. Now I'm REALLY "troubled" (as Daschle would say)

[Lancey Howard]

Maybe he's just really, really ashamed of himself and of what he has done and can't stand to appear before all of those innocent young faces?

That's what I'm thinking. The guy is probably so ashamed of himself and depressed with what he has to live with for the rest of his life that he just wants to do his time and then drop off the face of the earth.

Or maybe the motorcyclist has relatives who want to even the score, and Janklow has decided it's safer in jail.

[FreeReign]

Frankly, if I were in jail and were offered the chance to leave to give talks (but with no reduction in prison sentence) I'd tell them to take a hike.

Frankly speaking, and quite frankly I am being frank about this... if I had the chance to redeem myself after commiting manslaughter, by speaking with students, I would jump at that opportunity.

Lemme think, be hounded by the media during the day with lots of pictures of me being treated as a prisoner, or reading a paperback novel?

What about lots of pictures of a guy who is sorry he killed an innocent person and getting the lucky-stars chance to show such sorrow?

[Dog Gone]

Of course it's self-indulgent. This lowlife has always considered himself above all traffic laws. And 100 days is an incredibly light sentence for what he did, given his past history.

My observation is only that there's nothing in it for him, although he might have changed his tune if he knew this particular story would get national attention. He's already disgraced. He lost his job in Congress. He has absolutely nothing to look forward to for the rest of his life.

He really took a plummet from his high cliff of political success to inmate in some crappy jail. If he isn't clinically depressed, it would be a miracle. What's in it for him to get out of jail for a few hours and make a spectacle of himself? He could do these talks AFTER he's released with little fanfare if he wanted to rehabilitate his image.

If he had been sentenced to jail and to give these talks, that would be a completely different matter, but if he wants to fulfill his sentence behind bars 24 hours a day, I'm not going to second guess his decision.

[Dog Gone]

He might decide to do all that after he's released from jail. Then it would be on his terms and not with the story on the news always ending with "they took him back to jail."

Good grief, it's not like he's holding back critical information that needs to be revealed tomorrow.

I really don't care whether he ever says another word to anyone the rest of his life. Why would anyone think that his opinions are important? He's already shown to me that my values are different than his.

[kittymyrib]

By the way, how many days in jail and how many hours of community service did Ted Kennedy spend for letting a girl drown in his car and not reporting it for 16 hrs.? Equal justice? What a joke.

[Dog Gone]

Hey, don't get my blood boiling. That incident really torques me, even today. His actions were even worse than Janklow's because he was drunk, let her drown, and tried to hide it until he sobered up.

He's still in the Senate.

I think Janklow deserved a minimum of 5 years and maybe at least 10, which might equate to a life sentence. 100 days is a joke, but Kennedy's prosecution never happened.

[blam]

"100 day jail sentence for being a habitual speeder whose luck ran out ending up in an innocent's death."

Pathetic. Anyone else would be in jail for ten years. I' m beginning to think America has developed a 'royal' class (politicians).

[FreeReign]

... if I had the chance to redeem myself after commiting manslaughter, by speaking with students, I would jump at that opportunity.

Good grief, it's not like he's holding back critical information that needs to be revealed tomorrow. I really don't care whether he ever says another word to anyone the rest of his life. Why would anyone think that his opinions are important? He's already shown to me that my values are different than his.

Doggone it, you've changed the argument. I never said I think his opinions are important, or that he has good values or that I care if he says another word for the rest of his life.

All I said was that if I was in his bloodstained shoes, I would welcome the chance to tell the world I'm sorry.

Apparently, that's not for him.

[Positive]

"ending up in an innocent's death."

The only thing I appreciate about Janklow was his Conservative Republican vote in the Congress.

Nevertheless - if I were driving/riding any vehicle across an empty plains area I would look both ways before crossing an intersection.

I drive in the "land of cars" otherwise known as Southern California and I'm familiar with the tactic called "defensive driving."

Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to the deceased and his family, but I wouldn't have been in that accident.

[quantim]

Traficant was not a convicted murderer but would make quite a cellmate?

[S.O.S121.500]

Google "Jancita Eagle Deer" and see why the people of SD should be even more ashamed of this SOB than just the results of his most recent escapade.

[JoeSixPack1]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to the deceased and his family, but I wouldn't have been in that accident.

He ran a stop sign at 75mph and killed a biker. What are you talking about?

[Indrid Cold]

I'm not taking Janklow's side, because I think he got off pretty light.

But if I ever go to jail, I'm not doing community service either. Screw 'em--I'll lay there and read books while they pay for my upkeep.

[lelio]

Traficant was not a convicted murderer but would make quite a cellmate?

Traficant's got too much class to hang out with the likes of Janklow.

[AmericaUnited]

Agree, Most likely he feels doing "real community service", as opposed to lording over his constituents, is below him.

[pt17]

Janklow reconfirms his a$$hole status

Far be it from me to judge him; however, some thoughts did come to mind:

• A pusillanimous piece of pandering puke.
• A churlish, swag-bellied, ill-bred, low-life POS.
• A supercilious, sanctimonious scofflaw.

In short, a rock-bottom loser who gives losers a bad name but continues to dig anyway.

[blam]

Jancita Eagle Deer

[q_an_a]

I hope that a couple of sitting congressmen and women see this post and comments. unlike RATS, Freepers do not take law breakers to their heart and embrace them "right or wrong." This guy is a killer and I hope the family of the victim take every last dollar he has and will have.

[GraceCoolidge]

I agree with the other posters that Janklow got a ludicrously light sentence for his actions. At the same time, if he doesn't want to do community service, who cares? He may figure he'd end up being some kind of sideshow attraction, protesters showing up, media hounding, etc. Or maybe he just doesn't feel like doing it. The problem is not whether he speaks to a bunch of students.... the problem is that he got an undeservedly lenient sentence... whether he does community service or not is up to him, and I don't think it makes a bit of difference anyway. If he wants to sit in jail instead, then sit there.... I just think he ought to be sitting there a lot longer than he will be.

[VOA]

With each passing day / dilatory appeal, Janklow reconfirms his a$$hole status.

Amen to that!
IIRC, didn't Janklow serve honorably in the US Military (in Korea?)?
Even if it was a self-serving political move, it's too bad some Republican Party
official doesn't make a semi-public comment encouraging Janklow to do the community service
OR suffer some shunning from Republicans.
(I guess I'm going with the old-school police dictum of "we'll bury our own crooked ones".)

What a shame to see a Republican acting as though he thinks he's some Democrat.

He reminds me of Gene Stipe, the old-school Democrat who basically was the
"behind the scenes" power in Oklahoma for years.
Except that Stipe MAY have done his community service for some minor infraction
(drunk driving).
I don't think it was ever settled, but there was some question as to whether
he fulfilled the community service portion of his sentence by picking up
trash in a state park.

BUT, to Stipe's credit, I don't think he took Janklow's "'tude"
as in taking a tack that he was above doing such useful work that he perceived as
punishment only fit for serfs (=constituents).

[PBRSTREETGANG]

He's probably just worried that his blood sugar level will cause him to kill again.

[Positive]

What I was trying to say is that after 41 years of driving an average of around 30000 miles per year, about 1.25 million miles; I have learned to drive defensively. That's just in case I encounter some idiot running a stop sign at 75mph.

[RamingtonStall]

Ref your: Nevertheless - if I were driving/riding any vehicle across an empty plains area I would look both ways before crossing an intersection.

I drive in the "land of cars" otherwise known as Southern California and I'm familiar with the tactic called "defensive driving."

Don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to the deceased and his family, but I wouldn't have been in that accident.

=======================================================
If you are stopping at every cross road when you are driving on a major highway, you may call it "Defensive Driving", but I would call it "being a Hazard". It sounds like you are doing the kind of driving that keeps you safe but causes other drivers to do stupid stuff to get away from you aand they end up getting themselves killed.

It seems rather arrogant to declare that you would never have been hit by a speeding car coming out of a cross road with a marked "STOP" Sign, most likely blocked by crops in the farmland of South Dakota at that time of year.

Sorry for the Rant.

RamS

[JoeSixPack1]

Oh please, I spent 14 years wildcat trucking in all 48 and have 3.75 million miles logged, (that means recorded and provable).

My personal car and motorcycle driving for the last 39 years is still more than yours discounting the entire 14 years i just mentioned.

Bad argument.

Next!

[JoeSixPack1]

Sorry about the last anal response i just gave, but i was just trying to establish that the difference between arrogance and defensive driving is a hole 6 feet deep.

No offense intended.

[SteveH]

As part of a 100-day jail sentence, Steele urged Janklow to speak to students and community groups about the legislative process and other topics he knows about.

Hmm, one wonders if Janklow's fellow prison mates are aware that he is allegedly censured from practicing law on the Rosebud Indian reservation due to skipping out on charges of raping his 15-year-old babysitter in 1967? And that the victim was befriended by an alleged undercover FBI agent, and later found dead several hundred miles from home before she could testify against her alleged attacker?