PSWA’s (Public Safety Writers Association) annual conference Las Vegas, June 17-20, 2010 at the Orleans Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.

It was a 2008 task that I had accomplished but it kept calling me back. I added a line or two here, a paragraph there. Then I decided to just go code three and put my imagination into flashjump. Here it is now June of 2010 and Bradley Ashe has grown from one page to a 119 page screenplay. I entered it into the competition and low and behold, it held the judges in a puffery.

When an extraterrestrial's planet is invaded and destroyed, his new life brings him to Earth where he finds two friends and the invaders find their new target. To defend the planet, the three must take them on head to head. Together they have only twenty-four hours to prevent the end of the world and find peace at all costs.

Bradley Ashe was a word prompt that began as this: You wake up to discover that you are surrounded by friends, people you know. As you become more cognizant you realize that these people are trying to kill you, and you don't know why. Create a story where this happens and your job is to find out why they have marked you for death. And do it in five hundred words or less.

I had written a few, ok more than a few screenplays before. The subtext of the coverages I got was that they needed to be set inside the toilet bowl while someone hit the lever. After studying several publications, namely, "The Screenwriter's Bible" by Dave Trottier and "Screenwriter's Q and A" by Esther Luttrell, and also receiving their consultations, I had begun to understand the three act premise, structure, shadowing and the big Hollywood ending. Many thanks to the both of them.

Bradley Ashe is like nothing I have ever written. It is a blend of three plays in one so you gotta keep up. It centers on the affirmation that the Earth is coming to an end. At the finish of the screenplay, with all its faults we're left feeling good about the world we live in.

If you should find yourself given a word prompt that you complete and it keeps calling you back, don't even think twice. Like Nike, JUST DO IT! I did.

http://www.johnnyrussell.net/

For a complete list of the PSWA winners follow this link: http://www.policewriter.com/writingcomp.htm

Tourists charged in Antigua blame plainclothes cops for brawl over disputed cab fare

Oh you gotta google this one, check it out. Last month American tourists who were visiting the Caribbean island of Antigua on a cruise ship stopover, refused to pay a driver who gave them a tour because they believed they were being overcharged.

The driver charged $50 for a tour ending at a beach, and the dispute started when he told them he would have to double the fee to take them back. A fight broke out after the driver drove them to a police station, two plainclothes officers were injured by the tourists, and the tourists were ultimately thrown in jail.Their defense attorney said the group will challenge the charges of malicious damage, assault and wounding the police officers. The Carnival Cruise Lines ship left without them. The oldest of the tourists was 27.

PERSONALLY

This smacks too much of the hundreds if not thousands of San Diego’s youth that I see flock across the international border to the glamour of the foreign nightlife. We have night life here in the US too; so, “what’s the draw?” you ask. Maybe I forgot to mention that eighteen is the drinking age in Mexico.

For years those living in areas of the United States located right next door to Mexico have watched American youth on the weekends as they herd south of the border. They get drunk, or in some other trouble, get arrested and their families are forced to pay astronomical sums to get their children out of jail. BTW, eighteen year olds are thrown in with the adults. Armed with this information an observation can easily be made. Whenever on vacation out of the country, be the most humble person on the planet. Like Mexico, the laws in other countries may be turned around too.

In the constitution of the United States one is supposedly innocent until proven guilty. In Mexico the law is directly opposite, which means that if arrested there, one is guilty until proven innocent. Jail is immediate and there is no American Civil Liberties in Mexico.
Stories from people who have been incarcerated in Mexican jails tell that everyone is placed into one big cell and the floor slants down like a huge funnel. In the center lies the rest room, a three inch hole called a bano.

The tourists in this incident in Antigua, an island which lies in the Caribbean Sea say the cops did not have on uniforms. In other countries it may be that some of the cops don't wear uniforms, or the police station may very well be a house. If not apprised of the customs and laws one may not know. Throughout the decades there has been many spoiled and arrogant tourists touring other countries, so the residents there have come to expect it, don’t be one. Still go and vacation out of the country, but check the ego at the border. Regardless of birthdates, tourists everywhere have one thing in common; the same astrological sign — a dollar sign.

There are those in Mexico and other tourist attractions like Antigua that are just like some of the people here in the U.S. You know; the ones who will try to take advantage of tourists. Be prepared for it. If it happens, pay the cab fare whatever it is. Making a scene, fighting with the police or becoming part of an incident in another country just about guarantees the aftermath will cost one hundred fold.

The tourist's defense is based on American law. Hellooo...News flash...When you leave American soil throw everything you know about US law out the window. There is no US Constitution over there.

SO WHAT! Scam or no scam, just pay the GD cab fare. You are in a third world country. There is no welfare, if an islander doesn't work, he/she doesn’t eat. In conclusion just a safety reminder, tourist should never venture too far away from where the other tourists are. If you do, don’t be shocked by what may happen to you: 1. Getting locked up in jail 2. Getting your butt whupped 3. Missing your cruise (the cruise ship left)4. Paying $5000 bail 5. Having to have a tender hearted resident of the island let you live there until trial. And 6. Having to attend a slow moving trial overseas

Here’s a Johnny Cochran quote that’s the best information one can get. "Get the names of the officers and call me." Life is like a chess game, think two or three moves ahead.