I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been attending Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) meetings since April of 2007. I am fortunate in that I have maintained my sobriety since I entered the program. I have previously written about my first year in AA. I took a lot of heat from others in the program for breaking what is called the 11th tradition. This tradition basically states that AA is a program of attraction and not promotion. One of the things we are supposed to take from that is that we do not talk in the media about the fact that we are in Alcoholics Anonymous. We are supposed to lead by example not words. In the 21 months I have been in AA I have come to have a greater respect for this tradition and why it is there. Case in point is Pacman Jones, gridiron gangster extraordinaire and former player for the Dallas Cowboys. Pacman is no stranger to alcohol abuse. He recently went public with his battle with alcohol and his “successful“ stint in AA. In a recent interview, Pacman stated as follows:
“I did have an alcohol problem, but I have addressed the alcohol problem and went to AA,” he said. “I went there for 2½ months, going to AA every other week, seeing my counselors every day. Regardless … I’m doing whatever it takes for me to change my life as a man, you know. Football, I’ll always love football and always want to play football, but I still got to take care of myself as a person also.”
Good for you Pacman! All of us who take it one day at a time in the program are glad to hear that you are cured after attending meetings for 2 1/2 months every other week. All of us who struggle daily, attend meetings daily, sometimes multiple times in a day are astounded that you cured yourself in a total of 5 meetings! AA must be the miracle cure! I have been in almost two years. What the hell am I doing wrong? I should have gone to meetings with you. I would be cured, back on out on the scene with you going on a national strip club tour, fighting bouncers and judging wet t-shirt contests. What’s your secret for sobriety Pacman? I am going to write the AA national chapter and nominate you for the AA spokesperson of the decade! Pacman, you are now the role model for alcoholics everywhere. We should all seek to emulate your life. Keep up the good work!
It appears New York Giant’s “gangsta” wide receiver Plaxico Burress is going to have the honor and privilege becoming a member of the exclusive “Big Tim Sullivan Fan Club“. Once accepted you are a member for life. Other invitees to the club include rappers, Lil, Wayne, 50 Cents and Ja Rule. Membership does not carry the perks of the much more exclusive NFL but unlike the NFL there is a lot more at stake with membership in the Big Tim Sullivan Fan Club than winning or losing an NFL game. The only requirements for an invitation for membership in the Big Tim Sullivan Fan Club is that you get caught carrying an unlicensed handgun in New York. Plaxico Burress submitted his application for admission into the Big Tim Sullivan Fan Club when he recently shot himself in the leg at a NYC nightclub. So who the hell is Big Tim Sullivan?
Big Tim Sullivan was a politician and organized crime boss in NYC during the mid to late 1800s. He rose out of the slums of the 5 Points dramatized in the movie Gangs Of New York and went on to a very colorful career in politics and political corruption. He also notably helped pass the law bearing his name which requires a permit to own a handgun in New York. The Sullivan Act became law May 29, 1911. It is still the law in New York. The current version of the law carries some pretty stiff penalties including jail time. Plaxico should have checked references of other members before applying for membership by bringing his loaded piece into a NYC nightclub. Current members would have advised him that carrying a loaded weapon other than the one god gave him into a nightclub not only will not get him laid but could result in a non-NFL suspension of that privilege(at least by a women) for a year or more. Plaxico apparently has also been very active in applying to various organizations that accurately reflect the type of public persona he has worked so hard to achieve. Word on the street is that he was recently accepted to the very exclusive “If I Couldn’t Play Ball I’d Be Livin Behind A Prison Wall” club. It is rumored he was sponsored for membership by Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones. Welcome to the club Plaxico!
We are all used to seeing high profile professional athletes work their way down from making touchdowns to making license plates. Michael Vick being the obvious example. It a much rarer occurrence to see it work the other way Especially when the person was a convicted child molester. Appearances however can be deceiving……
Shift scene to small town Georgia. Horny high school teenagers trying to get in each other pants oblivious to any legal ramifications that may exist due to a an age difference of a year or two. It really doesn’t have to be Georgia does it? Half the kids I knew in high school were in the same pants and that was small town Pittsburgh. Bottom line, its going on small town and large city everywhere USA……
Here is the kicker….. In small town Georgia three plus years ago, a minor age differential between a few older teenage boys and slightly younger girls propelled several teenagers into “pedophile hell” finally ending up as convicted felons with sex offender tags following them for life.
Marcus Dixon was convicted in May 2003 for the statatory rape and aggravated child molestation of Kristie Brown. Marcus was 17 years old and Kristie was just under 16 at the time they had sex. At the time the Georgia Aggravated Child Molestation statute, a crime designed to punish true pedophiles had no exception for consenting teens so close in age as many other states such as Texas had. It also carried a mandatory 10 year prison term and mandatory registration as a sex offender upon release for prison. What amounts to a life ending set of circumstances.
There was no doubt that there was sex and there was no doubt of the age difference. Open and shut case. Amid public outrage the jury had absolutely no choice but to sentence both Marcus Dixon and Genarlow Wilson to ten years in prison. (the jury did not know of the mandatory sentence when guilt was assessed which is normal in criminal cases)
Public Outrage continued during both Dixons’s and Wilson’s imprisonment. Appeals ensued. The Georgia Supreme Court finally reversed the Dixon conviction ruling 18-year-old Marcus Dixon should have been prosecuted just on the lesser charge of misdemeanor statutory rape rather than aggravated child molestation for having sex with a 15-year-old in February 2003. The ruling let the statutory rape conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of one year and a $1,000 fine, stand. Dixon had long served that portion of his sentence and was released.
Marcus Dixon is not the only Georgia teen to be caught up in the Georgia “Pedophile Express”
Genarlow Wilson was also a young Georgia teen and promising athlete who made the mistake of letting his teen hormones jettison him to a promising prison football career with a sex offender tag to boot.
Genarlow videotaped himself having sex with a drunk teen girl slightly younger than himself. The tape proved to be judge jury and executioner. That was all the state needed to once again prosecute and prove aggravated chid molestation. Bing! Bang! Bam! Guilty and Ten Years in the Booty Hilton for the 17 year old with only the wonderful world that waits for Registered Sex Offenders to greet him upon return….
After over three years behind bars, Genarlo’s conviction was also overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court on the grounds that the punishment for teen sex was cruel and unusual as compared to the crime.
It should also be noted that in the interim the Georgia Legislature had reformed the law to bring it into the mainstream and make the conduct both Genarlo and Marcus engaged in a misdemeanors punishable by one year in jail with no sex offender tag.
Genarlo has since gone onto college and we shall see what his future holds for him…..
Let there be no mistake here. Neither of these kids were choirboys. Both were accused of the much more serious charge of felony rape but acquitted on those charges. There were many facts brought out in both cases that could lead reasonable people to disagree on whether these teens were in fact bad kids….. it was not cut and dry.
There were also serious racial overtones to both these cases. Not race cards…. In my opinion legitimate concerns about racial targeting in small town Georgia.
I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been attending Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) meetings since April of 2007. I am fortunate in that I have maintained my sobriety since I entered the program. I have previously written about my first year in AA. I took a lot of heat from others in the program for breaking what is called the 11th tradition. This tradition basically states that AA is a program of attraction and not promotion. One of the things we are supposed to take from that is that we do not talk in the media about the fact that we are in Alcoholics Anonymous. We are supposed to lead by example not words. In the 21 months I have been in AA I have come to have a greater respect for this tradition and why it is there. Case in point is Pacman Jones, gridiron gangster extraordinaire and former player for the Dallas Cowboys. Pacman is no stranger to alcohol abuse. He recently went public with his battle with alcohol and his “successful“ stint in AA. In a recent interview, Pacman stated as follows:
