Lone Star Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 While perusing some online news sites, I came across a couple stories that piqued my curiosity: City to workers: Wear underwear, deodorant New dress code instructs employees to observe 'strict personal hygiene' BROOKSVILLE, Fla. - A Florida city is cleaning up with a new dress code that requires city workers to wear underwear and use deodorant. The city council in Brooksville north of Tampa recently approved a dress code that instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene." It also prohibits exposed underwear, clothing with foul language, "sexually provocative" clothes and piercings anywhere except the ears. Repeat offenders can be fired. The city council approved the dress code 4-1 as part of a wider effort to update existing policies and ordinances. The one vote in opposition came from Mayor Joe Bernadini. He said the underwear edict "takes away freedom of choice." Kind of makes one wonder what 'dress code issues' they've had in the past that brought this one to a head...... The second story was a video story about how inmates are crying because they want their D TV. Prisons scramble to make digital TV switch By JIM DAVENPORT Associated Press Writer Published: September 5, 2008 COLUMBIA, S.C. — The big switch to digital TV has prison officials scrambling to keep one of the most important peacekeeping tools in prisons across the nation — broadcast television. When the nation’s broadcasters make the switch from analog to digital signals next Feb. 17, televisions that aren’t hooked up to cable, satellite or a converter box will be reduced to static. While TV might seem like an undeserved luxury for inmates, prison officials and inmates say the tube does more than fill year after year of idle hours — it provides a sense of normalcy and is a bargaining chip that encourages good behavior. The TV industry has spent months preparing consumers for the switch, running ads and offering government-funded coupons that can be redeemed for the converter boxes needed to display the digital signal on older TVs. But officials worry that prisoners may be left to stare at blank screens because they don’t qualify for the $40 coupons. “They won’t give us the switches, we called them,” said South Carolina Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint. “We asked them for the coupons and they said they’re only available for households. I said, ’We’re the big house.’ But they didn’t buy it.“ Ozmint said state money won’t be used to buy the undetermined number of converters South Carolina needs to keep its TVs running in common areas. Officials in many states haven’t figured out exactly how many converter boxes will be needed — and what the exact cost will be. In North Carolina, 699 televisions in 26 of the state’s 78 prison facilities get over-the-air broadcast TV. For instance, one prison in Taylorsville has 40 over-the-air TVs, Department of Corrections spokesman Keith Acree said. The agency is trying to determine whether multiple televisions can be hooked up to a single converter box, or if each TV will need a converter box, he said. In Florida, corrections department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said officials are asking for donations for the digital boxes and could buy the converters themselves. But that’s something that may need legislators’ approval because Florida law bars spending money on perks like cable TV for inmates. “It’s important because it’s an inmate idleness issue,” Plessinger said. “(We’re) concerned about inmates acting up if they’re bored.“ Plessinger, Ozmint and others — including those who have served time — see television more as necessity than perk. Norris Henderson, who spent 27 years in Louisiana’s Angola prison, said it’s a myth that inmates idle away the day watching soap operas and game shows. “If anything has a priority, it’s the news,” Henderson said. Where inmates watch TV, and for how long, depends on the state and prison. Some inmates watch television in communal day rooms, while other prisons let inmates have small TVs in their cells. Checo Yancy, who spent 20 years in Angola, said TVs rarely are turned on when inmates are working — but there are exceptions. On Sept. 11, 2001, inmates watched in horror as the aftermath of the terror attacks on New York and Washington unfolded. “Inmates were just as heartbroken as people on the outside,” said Yancy, who now helps run the Louisiana chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants. “I saw guys cry that particular day because it was a tragedy.“ Dr. Terry Kupers, a psychiatrist and prison expert at The Wright Institute, a psychology school in Berkeley, Calif., said there is clear evidence that TV privileges can positively affect prisoners. At Indiana’s Wabash Valley super-maximum security prison, he said, far fewer behavior problems were reported among inmates in isolation after they were given small televisions and prison officials spent more time talking with them. “You don’t want to be managing prisoners who have nothing to lose,” Kupers said. In Alabama, prisons don’t have access to cable or satellite and wardens began studying the issue in August, said prison agency spokesman Brian Corbett. Officials are counting how many converter boxes are needed and plan to round up the federal coupons for the gear, Corbett said. While prisons can’t seek the coupons directly, nothing prevents people from passing them along to others, said Bart Forbes, a spokesman for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The Federal Bureau of Prisons receives cable TV service, so officials don’t anticipate any interruptions, spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said. Federal inmates are allowed limited viewing in common rooms with some restrictions — for instance, they can’t watch R-rated movies. In Pennsylvania, inmates received notices telling them they’d have to pay for converter boxes for the TVs they are allowed to keep in their cells or hook up to prison cable systems, state corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said.
FireMedic65 Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 It's not uncommon for places to have set dress codes like that. It is written very clearly that you must be well kept, good hygiene and not dress inappropriately. Also states you are not allowed to wear thongs and must wear underwear. If it is not written in a policy, people will get away with it. It's about being professional and presentable to fellow workers and the public. As for prisons scrambling for digital tv conversions. Big deal. Most of the people in prison are there for meaningless crimes. They are human too. This is not some third world country where we throw every criminal in a dirty cell with a blanket and a bucket to piss in.
Dustdevil Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 You didn't used to have to tell Floridians how to clean and dress themselves. Then half the population of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts moved down there, and now the simple concepts of civility don't seem so simple anymore. Very sad.
Richard B the EMT Posted June 19, 2009 Posted June 19, 2009 On earrings, the FDNY, and the FDNY EMS, has written policy of post-style earrings only, anything dangling, and especially "Door Knocker" style earrings are non regs compliant. This is for both men and women uniformed employees. On the D-TV converter boxes, mine are horrible, plus, I have spent almost $200 on antennas, and I am still not satisfied. Hell, I can see the Empire State Building, where many of the transmitters are, from my windows, but can't get the signals I am supposed to be able to get.
Lone Star Posted June 19, 2009 Author Posted June 19, 2009 As for prisons scrambling for digital tv conversions. Big deal. Most of the people in prison are there for meaningless crimes. They are human too. This is not some third world country where we throw every criminal in a dirty cell with a blanket and a bucket to piss in. You know, I guess that would have to be based on your definition of 'meaningless crimes'... Jaywalking is a 'meaningless crime'...murder is not. A reporter going to jail for not revealing his/her sources is a 'meaningless crime', whereas drug dealing and sexual based crimes are not..... Last time I checked, incarceration was supposed to be a PUNISHMENT, but yet inmates seem to be living 'higher on the hog' than alot of people that have never committed a crime in their life! Free room and board (you haven't heard of an inmate getting evicted because of not paying rent, have you?), medical care (how many law abiding citizens can't even afford the minimum health care that inmates recieve?), no utility bills, (again, when's the last time you heard of an inmate getting his heat/water/electricity turned off due to nonpayment?), laundry service, the list goes on... On top of all this, we have to provide for an inmates 'entertainment' as well? You didn't used to have to tell Floridians how to clean and dress themselves. Then half the population of New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Massachusetts moved down there, and now the simple concepts of civility don't seem so simple anymore. Very sad. When I took the bike to FL to visit a buddy of mine, the day I left I got hit by the same storm cell at least 5 different times between Tampa and Lake City. I seriously thought about turning around and heading back to Tampa. The only thing that kept Me riding through all the weather mess was the thought that I may end up getting stuck in FL! Then it dawned on me.....people don't move to FL, they try to leave and mother nature strands them there!
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