[Paleopsych] AP: Bush pardons two Tennessee moonshiners

[Premise Checker]

Bush pardons two Tennessee moonshiners
http://www.southernstandard.net/news.php?viewStoryPrinter=26654

[Mr. Mencken would have been mighty pleased by this. He would have been less 
pleased by the pardoning of a bank robber and a lawyer with Republican 
connects, which was not in the AP wire as printed in the Tennessee paper but 
was mentioned in the NYT write up of an AP report. Quite possibly both papers 
had the same report and simply chose different excerpts.

[A fine Christmas gift to moonshiners!]

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

    President
    Bush has pardoned two Tennesseans convicted decades ago of moonshine 
charges.
    "It's a good Christmas present," said Charles E. McKinley, 75, of Pall Mall.
    Also pardoned was Carl E. Cantrell, 57, of Monteagle, who said, "It was the
    biggest relief I ever had."
    The pardons this week restore full U.S. citizenship to the men, including 
the
    rights to vote and buy a gun, their attorneys told The Knoxville News 
Sentinel.
    But their records will reflect both the felony convictions and the pardons.
    Cantrell said in the mid-1960s he and two friends set up a still on the side 
of
    Monteagle Mountain, surrounded by trees. "It don't take a genius to make 
it," he
    said.
    Soon afterwards, the site was raided and he was convicted of Interal Revenue
    Service liquor law violations and given three years probation.
    McKinley said he was driving a friend around in 1949 and they stopped at his
    friend's still to get something to drink. Driving away, they were arrested 
by the
    feds. McKinley was convicted of IRS liquor law violations and given two 
years of
    probation.
    He said he never intended to sell moonshine, only drink it. "I just got in 
the
    wrong place at the wrong time," he said.
    McKinley added that he may have to change his political support since he's 
been
    helped by a GOP president.
    "I'd almost be a Republican after that."
    Cantrell expressed surprised by the pardon.
    "Really, to tell you the truth, I thought that nothing would be done about 
it,"
    he said.
    Cantrell said he is looking forward to being able to vote and buy a gun.
    "I wasn't trying to cause nobody no harm," he said. "I was just trying to 
make a
    living."

Bush Grants 11 Pardons
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/24/politics/24pardons.html

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (AP) - President Bush has granted 11 pardons, bringing 
to 69
    the number of clemency orders he has issued since taking office five years 
ago,
    the Justice Department said Friday.

    Three moonshiners and a bank robber were among those pardoned, as was a 
Denver
    lawyer whose employer has Republican political ties. The pardons were issued
    Tuesday, in keeping with a tradition of granting clemency during the holiday
    season.

    All of the individuals applied for clemency, and their applications were 
reviewed
    by the Office of the Pardon Attorney and forwarded to the president for a 
final
    decision.