Alabama Code, Section 13A-12-200.2, 4, 12

Distribution, possession with intent to distribute, production, etc., of obscene material prohibited; penalties; distribution of fines.
(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or offer or agree to distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value. Material not otherwise obscene may be obscene under this section if the distribution of the material, the offer to do so, or the possession with the intent to do so is a commercial exploitation of erotica solely for the sake of prurient appeal. Any person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and may also be imprisoned in the county jail or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than one year. A second or subsequent violation of this subdivision is a Class C felony if the second or subsequent violation occurs after a conviction has been obtained for a previous violation. Upon a second violation, a corporation or business entity shall be fined not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

(2) It shall be unlawful for any person, being a wholesaler, to knowingly distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or offer or agree to distribute, for the purpose of resale or commercial distribution at retail, any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value. Material not otherwise obscene may be obscene under this section if the distribution of the material, the offer to do so, or the possession with the intent to do so is a commercial exploitation of erotica solely for the sake of their prurient appeal. Any person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) and may also be imprisoned in the county jail or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than one year. A second or subsequent violation of this subdivision is a Class C felony if the second or subsequent violation occurs after a conviction has been obtained for a previous violation. Upon a second violation, a corporation or business entity shall be fined not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000).

(3) It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly produce, or offer or agree to produce, any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value. Material not otherwise obscene may be obscene under this section if the distribution of the material, the offer to do so, or the possession with the intent to do so is a commercial exploitation of erotica solely for the sake of prurient appeal. Any person who violates this subsection shall be guilty of a Class C felony.

(4) If a person is held under this section in the county jail, one-half of any fines collected and due to be deposited to the State General Fund for violations of this section shall be paid by the Comptroller to the general fund of the county where the person is held for the operation of the county jail.
(Acts 1989, No. 89-402, p. 791, §4; Act 98-467, p. 893, §6.)

Prurient Appeal: Under the Miller v. California decision of the US Supreme Court, prurient interest appeal is determined by the average person applying contemporary community standards, that is, an average person must find that a given work appeals to the prurient interest of someone, not necessarily to the prurient interest of the average factfinder. The appeal to material's intended and probable recipient group is the determinative factor. Generally, the standard applied is the average adult standard. It is error to focus only on the most sensitive, least sensitive or younger members of the community. However, where the material is aimed at a deviant segment of society, it should be judged by its impact upon that group.

Definition of Prurient: marked by or arousing an immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire; especially : marked by, arousing, or appealing to sexual desire

Section 13A-12-200.4
Affirmative defenses. It shall be an affirmative defense to a charge of violating Sections 13A-12-200.2 and 13A-12-200.3 that the act charged was done for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose.

Section 13A-12-200.12
Special operating license for adult-only enterprises; advertisement; revocation of license.
(a) Any business establishment that operates as an "adult bookstore," "adult movie house," "adult video store," or other form of adult-only entertainment enterprise shall obtain in addition to any licenses required by existing law a special operating license, except that a video rental store that does not engage predominantly in and whose principle business is not the sale or rental of adult material, if it is maintained in compliance with Section 13A-12-200.5(2) or is located in an area restricted to adults. Persons who apply for the license shall provide on the application detailed information concerning ownership and financing, and pay an investigation fee of five hundred dollars ($500) to the county or municipality wherein the business establishment will be located.

(b) If granted the license, the local government, in its discretion, may restrict the type of advertisement that the business establishment can display outside the establishment.

(c) The license shall be revoked if the business establishment is convicted of violating this division.

(Act 98-467, p. 893, §8.)

Third Wave and the Electronic Medium

For the last few days, I have been having a conversation with a professor about the the pros and cons of using Myspace, Facebook, Blogger, and Yahoo!Groups to promote and rely information about my university's feminist group. ..and what finds its way onto the Feministing blog today but how young feminists are connecting through the internet.

Myspace and Facebook are the trendiest of the group and probably what most 18-22 year old collegiate women are using these days. Blogger is not as socially driven and Yahoo!Groups is less suited to casual glances and scanning and to be effective, the people on the list must regularly contribute and read what others contribute. Myspace and Facebook take less effort by integrating social networking, flexible (though imperfect) design, video clips, and music into easily scannable profiles. They are much more interactive than other electronic communication options.

The downside to all of these options is, of course, that it requires an internet connection and access to a computer. For some of the students that attend my university, that is not a viable option. Access to computers and the internet has expanded dramatically over the last ten years and will continue to do so, but it cannot be expected that every latent or active feminist out there has regular internet access. Confining our communication to the internet or relying so heavily on it might result in a certain elitism, certainly less exclusive than previous generations, but it's definitely still out there.

The internet is becoming a defining utility and community of this generation. It is impossible to escape it. So what do we do about the people who are left out of it that still have a lot of themselves to give to this movement? How can we keep up with each other if our means of communications are so separate?

My last blog was a little disorganized and I didn't really take the time with it that I usually do when writing a blog.

Mobile since August 13, 2007

Moving:
Big thanks to Tyler and James for helping me get my stuff out of the UHaul and into the house. Your help was very much appreciated. And of course, moving day had to be eventful somehow*. Well, it was no hurricane but it was a torrential downpour that started about five minutes after the UHaul pulled into the parking lot next to the townhouse. I have never moved in a torrential downpour before, but let me tell you, it was not a lot of fun. And because I am just that lucky, the rain stopped approximately five minutes after the UHaul pulled away from the townhouse.

*Note: The first time I moved to Mobile: July 2, 2005, my roommate had a nervous breakdown from which he has yet to fully recover and Mobile County went through "mandatory evacuation" for Hurricane Dennis and I had to leave like two days later. Two months later, when I convinced my landlord to let me break my lease at the house, I moved into an apartment at Lafayette Square. My parents drove off with the Uhaul at approximately 4 p.m., by 10 a.m. the next morning I had lost power due to Hurricane Katrina and got to experience my first hurricane with little to no supplies.

School:
It is unbelievably good to be back in school. I cannot express in words how happy I am so just think of it as a glow. I am all aglow. My nine hours this semester are: Comparative Nationalism with Mara Kozelsky, 20th Century US History with John Turner, and Major European Thinkers with Michael Monheit. Comparative Nationalism will probably turn out to be my favorite class this semester simply because of the subject matter. My major research paper will probably be Irish Nationalism and Gender, focusing on the involvement of women in the IRA and the independent groups they formed in response to the sexism they experienced within the larger nationalist organizations. US History involves a lot of small assignments which I do not enjoy as much as larger research projects, but we are talking a lot about religion in the US, which is a important subject to me and the other graduate teaching assistants are also taking it so there is a lot of camaraderie. Major European Thinkers will probably be my most challenging class because my history education has been fairly light on theory and this is more or less a philosophy course. My research paper will probably end up being on Simone de Beauvoir because of her work on feminism.

Extracurriculars:
The teaching assistantship is turning out to be a lot of fun. It is a wonderful opportunity to make friends in the department and to get a new perspective on the department. It helps when I work with such kickin' people. On Saturday afternoon, I attended a speaking engagement organized by Feminists for Progress, the on-campus feminist group. The speaker was the Alabama president of the National Organization of Women. She spoke in hopes of inspiring a reorganization and rebuilding of the Mobile chapter. I will probably end up joining both the Mobile NOW chapter and the on campus group. Since both will be/are relatively new organizations, there is a lot of potential for growth and flexibility, a good chance for me to get my feet wet.

Life:
Outlook is pretty optimistic at the moment. Just have a good feeling about my direction in life. I do not feel as restless as I have been feeling for the past fifteen months or so which says something because I have been close to jumpin' ship many a day and saying to hell with all of my plans. But I am finally in a stable situation where I am doing something I love, I am around people I like,  and the work I am doing is leading me to better things. What I need to do now is to maintain my focus on school, work on building and maintaining healthy friendships, and be more consistent with my work out routine (which should and optimistically will involve): aerobic exercise 3-5 days a week, yoga/pilates at least 2 days a week, weights at least 2 days a week, which will lead me to where I want to be physically.

Relationships:
Perhaps it is my general optimism that leads me to this. After 16 months of being single, I think I am in a position mentally and emotionally to actually begin and maintain a good relationship. That being said, I do not think I will be jumping into anything carelessly, but the idea of a relationship does not send me running for the hills anymore and being emotionally involved with another person does not seem quite as intimidating as it did a year ago. So anything could happen.

BeerFest:
Last night was BeerFest in Mobile. It was a lot of fun. Had quite a bit of good beer, cannot say I actually had a bad sample. BrewFest in Birmingham this summer had a better selection of beers but I wish I had gone to the night session instead of the afternoon session. And speaking of beer festivals, there is another festival in Pensacola on September 15th. The biggest advantage to this festival over BrewFest and BeerFest is that Florida does not have the same restrictive beer laws that Alabama does so there will be a selection of beers available to try that I have not had the opportunity to try yet. Additionally, several homebrewers' organizations will be there with their beers, so the variety is potentially endless and there is a good chance there will be beers available at this beer festival that are not offered at any other time during the year. So, just saying, it would be a unique experience to say the least, particularly for an Alabama resident who loves beer.

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change. You would be forced to break up with someone who was ruthless, cold-blooded, and sarcastic. Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something precious. You'll treasure marriage and treat it as sacred. In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

So I'm pretty happy with the way things are going right now. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, but you know why? Because I'm so anxious for the next day to be here so I can live it that I don't want to have to deal with that boring little thing called sleep. That's a pretty vast change from the way I felt about sleep say... three months ago.

This semester is going to be a bitch. The nine hours I'm taking in school aren't going to be easy and I've never had these professors before so I'm up for testing and trials. Still, I am more optimistic about the future than I have been in quite some time. The classes I'm taking are pretty interesting. 20th century US History, Comparative Nationalism, and Major European Thinkers. Not sure what I'll do in my US History class but I think my research paper in Comp Nat'l will be on women's activism and identity within Irish Nationalism. GoogleBooks and WorldCat pull up some pretty good books so if I can either get them through ILL or amazon/alibris for cheap, I'll be pretty happy.

Another good thing. Beer Fest. Excited about it. Going downtown with several members of the history department. Should prove to be fun and more than a little interesting.

And.. the Alabama NOW president is speaking at the UU Fellowship tomorrow at 2pm. I plan on going, think it will be good for me to meet the USA Feminists for Progress. See what kind of group they have going.

Think I'll get started on my readings for next week or finish cataloguing my books on GoodReads. Will report fully on BeerFest sometime Sunday.

Boston was...

was amazing. I had a great time catching up with Jamie and Clayton. It's been a long time coming.

I also: had a world class dinner at the Boston Harbor Hotel, went whale watching, walked all over the city of Boston, wandered through the stacks at Harvard's main research library, people-watched and took silly pictures at MIT, enjoyed some delicious and completely new-to-me beer, met some great people (some of whom are from my own little corner of the world), and in general, had a smashing time that I hope to revisit sooner than later. Boston has not seen the last of me nor me of it if I have any say in the matter.

It's funny how some things come to people as easily as breathing does to others. It doesn't seem a matter of choosing but of acceptance. And with that comes a little peace.

P.S. First chance I get (when I can get this book out of storage), I’m re-reading this: Bauschatz, Paul: The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture, University of Mass, Amherst, 1982.

The Tortoise and the Hippo

Owen and Mzee's Blog

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Jason Lynx
Date: Jun 28, 2007 9:12 PM





NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the

tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong

bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal

facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about

300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki

River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore

when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on

December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.



"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a

male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to

be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu,

who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.





"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized.

It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother.

Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond.

They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added.

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother.

If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive,

as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.





"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and

by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their

mothers for four years," he explained.





but by the moments that take our breath away."





This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter

much when we need the comfort of another.

We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures.

"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."




_____________________________________

Update:

The strength of a unique male bond between a young hippopotamus and a 130-year-old tortoise will be tested later this spring when conservation workers introduce a female hippo to the mix.
The pending introduction serves as an intriguing plot twist to the unlikely story of a hippo and tortoise brought together at Haller Park wildlife sanctuary in Mombasa, Kenya, in the wake of the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami. The conservationists hope the two hippos will bond with no objection from the tortoise, named Mzee. Such an outcome will allow Mzee's return to the safety of his original enclosure.
While other tortoises, monkeys, and antelope roam in that enclosure, Mzee has shown no affection toward any of them. But he has surprisingly become attached to the young hippo, Owen.
Owen, who weighed an estimated 660 pounds (300 kilograms) when he arrived at the park, was two-thirds the size of Mzee. He is now twice Mzee's size and still growing.
"He will grow to anywhere between three and four tons—he's gonna be a big male hippopotamus," said Paula Kahumbu, the general manager of Lafarge Ecosystems, the Kenyan environmental restoration firm that manages the wildlife sanctuary.
"He's already quite playful, already quite strong," she said. "He could injure Mzee at any moment. He's very childlike in his behavior. As he gets older he will get rougher. Mzee is not a flexible animal—he could be injured."
But how Mzee and Owen will react to the presence of Cleo, the female hippo, and a subsequent separation is unknown, Kahumbu said. If one cannot live without the other, some sort of accommodations will be made.
Tsunami Friends
For now, the hippo and tortoise are best buddies. The story of their friendship, formed in the wake of the tsunami, has been helping people in the region cope with their own losses, Kahumbu said.
When the giant waves struck the coast of Kenya, Owen was wallowing with his herd in the ocean near the mouth of the Sabaki River. Too small to escape the waves with his family, he was stranded on a coral reef.
The next day residents of the village of Malindi rescued Owen with fishing nets.

But his rescuers were unable to simply reintroduce Owen to another pod of hippopotamuses, because the oldest male would see him as a threat and kill him.
Conservationists therefore decided to transport Owen to Haller Park, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away. There the hippo immediately ran to Mzee, a 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise who resides at the Haller Park sanctuary. The park is a restored ecosystem that also serves as an orphanage for abandoned wildlife.
At first the tortoise wanted nothing to do with the hippo, but Owen persisted. Some conservationists suggest that Owen, in search of a mother figure, may have been attracted to Mzee's round shape and gray color, which resemble an adult hippo.
The first night at the sanctuary, Owen fell asleep next to Mzee. The following morning photographer Peter Greste took a picture of the pair, which was subsequently published in newspapers around the world.
Hans Klingel is a zoology professor at the University of Braunschweig in Germany and an authority on hippopotamus behavior. He said given hippos' social nature, Owen's attraction to Mzee makes sense.
"They are social animals," he said in an email. "In that sense, they join whoever is available."
In the year since the tsunami struck, the bond between hippo and tortoise has strengthened, and now the two are inseparable. They rouse each other for meals, spend hours wallowing in the pond together, and snuggle up side by side each night.
According to Haller Park staff, Owen behaves more like a tortoise than a hippo. He eats tortoise food, such as leaves and carrots, and ignores the grasses that hippos normally consume. He sleeps at night, not during the day as wild hippos do. And he doesn't respond to hippo calls.
While Owen's attraction to Mzee may be explained by a baby's need for a mother figure, tortoises are not known for affectionate or social behavior, Kahumbu said.
Nevertheless, Mzee follows Owen around, nudges him to go for walks, initiates play in the water, and even stretches his neck out so Owen can give him a lick.
There has been growing evidence of physical communication between the pair, with Owen nibbling Mzee's back feet to get him to walk in a desired direction. The two have even developed a sort of vocal communication of their own, Kahumbu said.
The vocalizations are not the honking of hippos or the grunts and hisses of tortoises, but rather a soft whimpering that emanates from one and is mimicked by the other.
"It's very high pitched; definitely not a stomach sound, as some had suggested," Kahumbu said. "They're vocalizing towards each other."
What the animals are trying to communicate is not yet understood, but researchers think it is a contact call made to get the other's attention.
Introducing Cleo
Concerned that Owen's affection for Mzee may lead to an unintended injury, Kahumbu and colleagues are constructing a new enclosure at the sanctuary for Owen and the female hippo, Cleo.
The researchers hope Owen and Cleo will bond and take to their new grounds, which will be in the public view. They are also trying to accustom Owen to the presence of humans.
The move is expected to take place this April or May. At that time Mzee will be moved with Owen to the new enclosure to help keep the young hippo calm.
Once the two hippos are comfortable with each other, Mzee will be returned to his original grounds with other tortoises.
"We hope Mzee will not be too traumatized by being separated from Owen," Kahumbu said.

Elizabeth Ann (Bess or Bessie) Carter Smith Carson (12/7/1897).

Here's what I know:

Name: Elizabeth Ann Carter, later Smith, later Carson
Born: 12/7/1897 (or 1898) [SSDI]
Died: 3/16/1967 in Michigan [SSDI]

Marriage One: James Elias Smith, approx 1918 [JES WWI draft card]

Marriage Two: Alfred Ray Carson, approx 1940 [Port Arthur News, June 1940]

1900 Census: Bess lived in Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas. Lived with father W. Sherman Carter (b. July 1865), his mother Ann (b. Feb. 1832), siblings: Clara (Nov.? 1891), Matilda (Sept. 1892), Myrtle(?) (May 1895). Lists no mother, which makes me think that Bess' mother had died by then.

1910 Census: Bess lived in Texarkana, Miller County, Arkansas. Lived with father W. Sherman Carter, his wife Ada M., and her siblings: Clara (18?), Tillie (16), William (5), James (3), Richard (2), Kelley (sp?)(1). All of the children were born in Arkansas.
W. Sherman Carter, born approx. 1865, born in Tennessee. Father born in Virginia, Mother born in Kentucky. Contractor/brickworks. The 1880 Census puts him (or who I assume is him) puts him living in Martins Store, Weakley County, TN with his mother Ann, father William, and two sisters: Sophia/Sofia (19) and Delia (12). [Died after 1956. He is fairly light complexioned, similarly to my father (the young teenager on the left), so I assume my great-grandmother's complexion and Native American heritage come from her mother's side of the family. I could be wrong, of course.] Below are links to pictures of my great, great grandfather:

--Sometime between 1910-1920, she had lost her left arm and right leg due to blood poisoning.

1920 Census: Bess lived in Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas. Lived with James Elias Smith and their three children. According to the this census, her father was born in Kentucky and her mother born in Tennessee.

--Last child was born 1927. Husband James Elias Smith died/disappeared between 1927-1930.

1930 Census: Bess lived in El Paso, was a house servant for an Earl Barron. Shows that she is a widow. Her children stayed in the El Paso Protestant Children's Home. Her children are/were: James Everett Smith, Sr. (my grandfather), Clara Nell, Mabel Irene, Edward Charles, Annie Laurie, Wilma, and William Carter.

-1933-1940: Bess took children out of children's home and moved them to Port Arthur. Grandfather James Everett Smith joined CCC then the army.

1940-lived in Port Arthur, married Alfred Ray Carson, staff Sargent in US Army, born approximately 1912.

-lived in Port Arthur, TX for many years, then after death of A.R. Carson, moved to Michigan with son, Edward Charles.

-died 1967 in Michigan.

Notes: She was dark complexioned and my dad says that she was part Native American, but he doesn't know how much so or from what side of the family. Below are two links to pictures of my great-grandmother in 1942 with my aunt Patricia.

Questions: How did a double amputee marry a staff Sargent from a well known Port Arthur family who was 14 years younger than her? How did she meet him when she was living in Little Rock, then El Paso, neither of which are close to Port Arthur (east coast of Texas near Galveston)? Who was Bess' mother? Where was William Sherman Carter in 1870?

Posted to: Carter, Miller AR, Arkansas Genealogical Society, Arkansas Family History Association