Obama shortens sentence for Benicia man

 Back in October, President Barack Obama announced shortened sentences for 98 convicted criminals. One of them was a man from Benicia named Rico Mayo. 

   On Feb. 9, 1998, Mayo was convicted by the Eastern District of California for the possession of five or more grams of cocaine base, the use of a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime and the possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison with five years’ supervised release. Under Obama’s orders, Mayo’s sentenced was commuted to expire on Friday, Feb. 24. The specifics of Mayo’s crimes could not be verified. 

   In November, the number of commutations granted under Obama had surpassed 1,000: more than those granted by the last 11 presidents that preceded him. The commutations are granted by the president to individuals who he feels were given harsh sentences and possess the potential to rebuild their lives outside of prison. 

   “We must remember that there are personal stories behind these numbers,” Neil Eggleston, a counsel to the president, wrote in a blog post after the October announcement. “These are individuals -- many of whom made mistakes at a young age -- who have diligently worked to rehabilitate themselves while incarcerated”

   For additional information on Obama’s commutations, visit justice.gov/pardon/obama-commutations. 

Author Event features former Benicia herald columnist

(Originally published in the 12/13/15 edition)

   Conservative author and former Benicia Herald columnist Jim Pugh will be doing an Author Event at Bookshop Benicia today to promote his book “Flim Flam Man: A Legacy of Lies.”

   “Flim Flam Man” is a collection of political columns that Pugh wrote for the Benicia Herald and Vallejo Times-Herald between 2009 and 2013. Many of Pugh’s columns expressed his displeasure with Barack Obama’s presidency, which resulted in praise from the area’s right-leaning residents and criticism from left-leaning residents.

   “I knew when I first started writing the column that I was going against the grain because this area is pretty much left-wing,” he said. “Just about everything I wrote kind of ruffled a lot of people, and we got a lot of feedback mostly on the Internet. (Then-editor) Marc Ethier was running an online version of the Forum page, so there was a lot of activity in that time.  Most of that activity was not in favor of my column.”

   Pugh stopped writing his column because of health reasons, but he got an idea to compile all of his columns into one book which he says was a long process.

   “The last year or so I’ve been tied up in getting this book published, which wasn’t all that easy,” he said. “It’s a lot harder than most people realize, but we got it done. We got Random House to do it*, and I think that it turned out to be a pretty nice job.”

   Pugh says his goal is to open readers up to some of the negative things he feels Obama has done as president.

   “We’ve had a man in the White House for the past six years who has done some remarkably negative things to this country,” he said. “Nobody seemed to care or have a reason to do anything or say anything about it. What I’d like to do is open people’s eyes and let them see what exactly has happened to this country in the last seven years.”

   “If they can’t get it from this book, they’re not going to get it anywhere,” he added. 

   Pugh has made his dislike for Democrats clear, but he considers himself more of an independent these days after being disappointed with the Republican Party in the last few years. However, he says he will vote for a Republican in the 2016 presidential election but only if they nominate a candidate he likes.

   “When I vote, I will vote Republican, provided the candidate is acceptable,” he said. “If not, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’d hate to vote for somebody I didn’t like.”

   At the Author Event, Pugh will be doing a meet and greet with store patrons and answer their questions. He believes it will be a good opportunity to talk with residents.

   “I’d just like for people to come in and meet the author,” he said. “If they want to buy a copy of the book, they can do that, but they don’t have to.”

   The Author Event will be held at 3 p.m. today at Bookshop Benicia, located at 636 First St. For more information, contact the store at (707) 747-5155. 

*In actuality, the book was published by AuthorHouse, a self-publishing company. However, it is a subsidiary of Random House.