More than 40 per cent of Americans believe Jesus Christ will return to Earth by 2050, according to a poll.
Published: 7:28PM BST 22 Jun 2010
Americans are largely optimistic about the future, according to the poll from the Pew Research Center For The People and The Press/Smithsonian Magazine.
By mid century, 71 per cent believe cancer will be cured, 66 per cent say artificial limbs will work better than real ones and 81 per cent believe computers will be able to converse like humans.
But Americans are also braced for a major energy crisis and a warming planet, according to the survey. More than half, or 58 per cent, fear another world war in the next 40 years and 53 per cent expect a terrorist attack against the United States using a nuclear weapon.
The poll also shows a sharp dip in overall optimism from 1999, when 81 per cent said they were optimistic about life for themselves and their families. The current poll found just 64 per cent were.
Sixty-one percent said they were optimistic about the future of the United States, compared to 70 percent in 1999. And 56 percent predicted the US economy would be stronger in 40 years, compared to 64 percent of those polled in 1999.
The results were compiled from telephone and online interviews with 1,546 adults in April. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points, according to Pew.
Here are some other findings of the poll:
• 71 per cent believe cancer will be cured by 2050.
• 81 per cent believe computers will be able to converse like humans.
• 68 per cent of those under 30 predict a world war by 2050.
• 53 per cent say ordinary people will travel in space
• Nearly three-quarters, or 74 per cent, of those polled believe it likely that "most of our energy will come from sources other than coal, oil, and gas".
• Yet 72 per cent believe the world is likely to experience a major worldwide energy crisis by 2050.
• 66 per cent say the Earth will definitely or probably get warmer but it breaks down strongly along political lines, with just 48 per cent of Republicans saying so and 83 per cent of Democrats.
• 42 per cent say it is likely that scientists will be able to tell what people are thinking by scanning their brains but 55 say this will definitely or probably not happen.
• 89 per cent believe a woman will be elected US president by 2050.
• 86 per cent say it is at least probable that most Americans will have to work into their 70s before retiring.
• 41 per cent say Jesus Christ will return within the next 40 years while 46 per cent say this will definitely or probably not happen.
• 63 per cent anticipate the demise of paper money
• 61 per cent say almost no one will send letters by 2050.
• 31 per cent expect the planet will be struck by an asteroid.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/7847625/Jesus-will-return-by-2050-say-40pc-of-Americans.html
For anyone interested in how many predictions have been made about the end of the world as early as the year 44 a.d. go here:
Library of Date Setters of
The End of the World!!!
Over 200 predictions and counting!
Yes the end is coming, but all human predictions are wrong!
http: //www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Dutch police use 'decoy Jews' to stop anti-Semitic attacks
Dutch police are to use "decoy Jews", by dressing law enforcers in Jewish religious dress such as skullcaps, in an effort to catch anti-Semitic attackers.
Bruno Waterfield
Published: 2:36PM BST 22 Jun 2010
Lodewijk Asscher, Amsterdam's mayor, has ordered the new decoy strategy to cut the number of verbal and physical attacks on Jews, amid fears that anti-Semitic "hate crime" is on the rise.
"Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighbourhoods often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked," according to local reports.
Amsterdam police already disguise officers as "decoy prostitutes, decoy gays and decoy grannies" in operations to deter street muggings and attacks on homosexuals or the city's red light district.
Police in the Dutch city of Gouda have claimed the use of officers disguised as apparently frail old age pensioners has helped cut street crime.
"If we receive several reports of street robbery in a certain location, we send out the granny. That soon quietens things down," said a spokesman.
Secret television recordings by the Jewish broadcasting company, Joodse Omroep, broadcast at the weekend, have shocked Amsterdam, a city which prides itself on liberalism and which is home to the Anne Frank museum.
The footage showed young men, often of immigrant origin, shouting and making Nazi salutes at a rabbi when he visited different areas of the Dutch capital.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/7846704/Dutch-police-use-decoy-Jews-to-stop-anti-Semitic-attacks.html
Bruno Waterfield
Published: 2:36PM BST 22 Jun 2010
Lodewijk Asscher, Amsterdam's mayor, has ordered the new decoy strategy to cut the number of verbal and physical attacks on Jews, amid fears that anti-Semitic "hate crime" is on the rise.
"Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighbourhoods often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked," according to local reports.
Amsterdam police already disguise officers as "decoy prostitutes, decoy gays and decoy grannies" in operations to deter street muggings and attacks on homosexuals or the city's red light district.
Police in the Dutch city of Gouda have claimed the use of officers disguised as apparently frail old age pensioners has helped cut street crime.
"If we receive several reports of street robbery in a certain location, we send out the granny. That soon quietens things down," said a spokesman.
Secret television recordings by the Jewish broadcasting company, Joodse Omroep, broadcast at the weekend, have shocked Amsterdam, a city which prides itself on liberalism and which is home to the Anne Frank museum.
The footage showed young men, often of immigrant origin, shouting and making Nazi salutes at a rabbi when he visited different areas of the Dutch capital.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/7846704/Dutch-police-use-decoy-Jews-to-stop-anti-Semitic-attacks.html
Brother killed during dispute, buried in family's yard
21-year-old charged with killing younger brother
Posted: 06/21/2010
By: Bill Logan
SPRING HILL, Fla. - Hernando detectives say a 21-year-old man killed his brother and then buried him in the yard of his parent’s Spring Hill home.
Stanley Eckard is accused of killing 19-year-old Sean Eckard.
As the Hernando County Sheriff’s office continued to comb the crime scene Tuesday morning for clues that might explain what may have led to the murder, some neighbors said the Eckard home was the “problem house” on the block.
Investigators told ABC Action News that Sean Eckard went missing Friday. Then about 3 a.m. Saturday, Stanley was spotted by his mother burying something at the side of the house.
When she asked him what he was doing, he told her he was burying some things that belonged to his girlfriend, according to deputies. Later, Stanley's sister pressured their father to check the area. When he started digging, he came upon his younger son's remains.
When questioned by detectives, Stanley Eckard admitted to strangling his brother and then checked his heart beat to see if he was dead, according to the arrest affidavit.
He told detectives he planned to dig up his brother's body and move it when his parents were out of town in a couple of weeks.
The sheriff’s office charged Stanley with the second degree (not premeditated) murder of his brother and is being held without bond.
Sean's body is set to be removed later today by Crime Scene techs, once they finish the odious investigation in and around the shallow grave, just steps from the pool where the boys often swam, played, and sometimes fought.
From: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_citrus_hernando/spring_hill/Cops%3A-Brother-killed-during-dispute%2C-buried-in-family%27s-yard
Posted: 06/21/2010
By: Bill Logan
SPRING HILL, Fla. - Hernando detectives say a 21-year-old man killed his brother and then buried him in the yard of his parent’s Spring Hill home.
Stanley Eckard is accused of killing 19-year-old Sean Eckard.
As the Hernando County Sheriff’s office continued to comb the crime scene Tuesday morning for clues that might explain what may have led to the murder, some neighbors said the Eckard home was the “problem house” on the block.
Investigators told ABC Action News that Sean Eckard went missing Friday. Then about 3 a.m. Saturday, Stanley was spotted by his mother burying something at the side of the house.
When she asked him what he was doing, he told her he was burying some things that belonged to his girlfriend, according to deputies. Later, Stanley's sister pressured their father to check the area. When he started digging, he came upon his younger son's remains.
When questioned by detectives, Stanley Eckard admitted to strangling his brother and then checked his heart beat to see if he was dead, according to the arrest affidavit.
He told detectives he planned to dig up his brother's body and move it when his parents were out of town in a couple of weeks.
The sheriff’s office charged Stanley with the second degree (not premeditated) murder of his brother and is being held without bond.
Sean's body is set to be removed later today by Crime Scene techs, once they finish the odious investigation in and around the shallow grave, just steps from the pool where the boys often swam, played, and sometimes fought.
From: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_citrus_hernando/spring_hill/Cops%3A-Brother-killed-during-dispute%2C-buried-in-family%27s-yard
Man attacked by nearly 12-foot long alligator at Silver Springs
Victim was bitten on head and neck
Posted: 6:15 AM 06/23/2010
Last Updated: 1 hour and 6 minutes ago
The Associated Press, WFTV.com
Silver Springs, Fla. - A worker was attacked by a eleven-and-a-half foot long alligator at a Marion County theme park.
Officials say 55-year-old Pete Butt, an environmental contractor was putting dye in a canal to monitor the flow of water at Silver Springs Nature Park Tuesday around 6 p.m. when he was attacked by the 500 pound gator.
“When we arrived on scene, we found the patient with lacerations to the neck and he also had a broken jaw,” Miranda Iglesias of the Marion County Fire Department told WFTV.com.
The victim was taken to a Gainesville hospital in critical condition with wounds to his head and neck. He is expected to survive.
A co-worker of Butt's said the alligator had lived at the park for years and had never attacked anyone before Tuesday.
"Fifteen years ago this gator would hide underneath our dock. And when we would come out for our decompressions he would be in that area. This same gator has been here all along," said Eric Hutchenson.
A trapper working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission captured the alligator Tuesday night. The animal was euthanized.
The gator will be harvested for its meat and hide, and then sold, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission.
From: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/state/man-attacked-by-12-foot-alligator-at-silver-springs
Posted: 6:15 AM 06/23/2010
Last Updated: 1 hour and 6 minutes ago
The Associated Press, WFTV.com
Silver Springs, Fla. - A worker was attacked by a eleven-and-a-half foot long alligator at a Marion County theme park.
Officials say 55-year-old Pete Butt, an environmental contractor was putting dye in a canal to monitor the flow of water at Silver Springs Nature Park Tuesday around 6 p.m. when he was attacked by the 500 pound gator.
“When we arrived on scene, we found the patient with lacerations to the neck and he also had a broken jaw,” Miranda Iglesias of the Marion County Fire Department told WFTV.com.
The victim was taken to a Gainesville hospital in critical condition with wounds to his head and neck. He is expected to survive.
A co-worker of Butt's said the alligator had lived at the park for years and had never attacked anyone before Tuesday.
"Fifteen years ago this gator would hide underneath our dock. And when we would come out for our decompressions he would be in that area. This same gator has been here all along," said Eric Hutchenson.
A trapper working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission captured the alligator Tuesday night. The animal was euthanized.
The gator will be harvested for its meat and hide, and then sold, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission.
From: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/state/man-attacked-by-12-foot-alligator-at-silver-springs
Dude Bails on Girlfriend as Two Were Attacked While Walking on Canal Path
By James King, Tuesday, Jun. 22 2010 @ 1:08PM
Valley canal paths have become a fairly popular venue for doom and gloom as of late, with a Tempe man found either murdered or a suicide victim a few weeks ago and the stabbing and robbery of a Phoenix man yesterday morning.
Phoenix police Sergeant Trent Crump tells New Times that about 10 a.m. yesterday, a 39-year-old man and his 46-year-old girlfriend were walking on Indian Trail near 36th and Van Buren streets along the canal bank in Phoenix.
The two were on their way home from grabbing breakfast when they were approached by a man on a bike.
The suspect, Crump says, got off his bike and sucker-punched the male victim in the face before throwing the woman to the ground.
The male victim, in an extraordinary display of chivalry, jumped to his feet and took off running -- leaving the woman behind with the robber.
The robber chased the man, Crump says, caught up with him a couple hundred yards away, stabbed him in the shoulder, and stole his wallet.
The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash as he fled on his bike, and the male victim -- who was treated and released for non-life threatening injuries -- probably has some explaining to do to his girlfriend.
Crump says, as far as he can tell, the attack is not related to a murder or suicide that happened along a canal path in Tempe earlier this month.
According to Crump, the theory the fuzz are currently working with is that someone at the restaurant where the two had eaten breakfast saw the victims had money, followed them to the canal path, and attacked them.
The best description the victims had for police, Crump says, was that the suspect was white and wearing a hat.
Um, that should really narrow it down.
From: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/06/phoenix_man_attacked_while_wal.php
Valley canal paths have become a fairly popular venue for doom and gloom as of late, with a Tempe man found either murdered or a suicide victim a few weeks ago and the stabbing and robbery of a Phoenix man yesterday morning.
Phoenix police Sergeant Trent Crump tells New Times that about 10 a.m. yesterday, a 39-year-old man and his 46-year-old girlfriend were walking on Indian Trail near 36th and Van Buren streets along the canal bank in Phoenix.
The two were on their way home from grabbing breakfast when they were approached by a man on a bike.
The suspect, Crump says, got off his bike and sucker-punched the male victim in the face before throwing the woman to the ground.
The male victim, in an extraordinary display of chivalry, jumped to his feet and took off running -- leaving the woman behind with the robber.
The robber chased the man, Crump says, caught up with him a couple hundred yards away, stabbed him in the shoulder, and stole his wallet.
The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash as he fled on his bike, and the male victim -- who was treated and released for non-life threatening injuries -- probably has some explaining to do to his girlfriend.
Crump says, as far as he can tell, the attack is not related to a murder or suicide that happened along a canal path in Tempe earlier this month.
According to Crump, the theory the fuzz are currently working with is that someone at the restaurant where the two had eaten breakfast saw the victims had money, followed them to the canal path, and attacked them.
The best description the victims had for police, Crump says, was that the suspect was white and wearing a hat.
Um, that should really narrow it down.
From: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2010/06/phoenix_man_attacked_while_wal.php
Man in custody in deadly hit-and-run that killed girl, 11
June 23, 2010
Sun-Times Media Wire
Police are talking to a “person of interest” after seeking a white van that stopped for a moment but fled the scene when it hit and dragged an 11-year-old girl who died less than an hour after the South Side crash Tuesday night.
The crash happened at 6:45 p.m. on the 2500 block of East 79th Street, according to a South Chicago District police sergeant.
An 11-year-old girl was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m. at University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital from a motor vehicle crash at the 79th Street address, according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
No one else was hurt, the sergeant said.
A man was driving a 1993 Chevrolet van east on 79th Street when the van struck an 11-year-old girl who was crossing the street at the corner of 79th and Colfax, according to the sergeant.
As of 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, police were talking to a “person of interest,” police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.
The van was found in the 1800 block of South Western Avenue at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday by Ogden District officers and a 67-year-old man was arrested about 2 a.m. Wednesday on the 2000 block of South Western Avenue by an outside unit, police said.
The girl was dragged several feet and suffered a head injury that was possibly internal. The driver initially stopped, but a crowd who had seen the crash started converging onto the van and he apparently became fearful of the crowd and drove away, according to the sergeant.
That corner is known to usually have a lot of pedestrians out and about, according to the sergeant.
Police know who the white van is registered to but the driver has not turned himself in as of 2 a.m., according to the sergeant who said the van sustained damage to its front passenger side bumper area.
The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2424000,hit-and-run-suspect-custody-062310.article
Sun-Times Media Wire
Police are talking to a “person of interest” after seeking a white van that stopped for a moment but fled the scene when it hit and dragged an 11-year-old girl who died less than an hour after the South Side crash Tuesday night.
The crash happened at 6:45 p.m. on the 2500 block of East 79th Street, according to a South Chicago District police sergeant.
An 11-year-old girl was pronounced dead at 7:30 p.m. at University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital from a motor vehicle crash at the 79th Street address, according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
No one else was hurt, the sergeant said.
A man was driving a 1993 Chevrolet van east on 79th Street when the van struck an 11-year-old girl who was crossing the street at the corner of 79th and Colfax, according to the sergeant.
As of 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, police were talking to a “person of interest,” police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said.
The van was found in the 1800 block of South Western Avenue at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday by Ogden District officers and a 67-year-old man was arrested about 2 a.m. Wednesday on the 2000 block of South Western Avenue by an outside unit, police said.
The girl was dragged several feet and suffered a head injury that was possibly internal. The driver initially stopped, but a crowd who had seen the crash started converging onto the van and he apparently became fearful of the crowd and drove away, according to the sergeant.
That corner is known to usually have a lot of pedestrians out and about, according to the sergeant.
Police know who the white van is registered to but the driver has not turned himself in as of 2 a.m., according to the sergeant who said the van sustained damage to its front passenger side bumper area.
The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2424000,hit-and-run-suspect-custody-062310.article
Ten dead among 54 shot aross city over weekend
June 21, 2010
Sun-Times Media Wire
Ten people were killed and at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue.
The latest victims were found naked, shot to death and lying face down on railroad property near West 91st Street and South Holland Road on the South Side about 8:50 a.m Monday, according to a Calumet Area sergeant. Both were shot at some point Sunday night.
The victims, black males believed to be between 16 and 20, remained unidentified as of late Monday afternoon.
On Monday, a 28-year-old man was found shot in the chest about 3 a.m. in the 7500 block of South Halsted Street near a South Side church, according to Gresham District police. A passing motorist found the man, identified as Credale Woulard of the 7700 block of South Ada Street, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. He was dressed in women's clothing and was found lying dead on the sidewalk.
In the South Side Englewood neighborhood, 44-year-old Darryl Dunn was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in the 7200 block of South Marshfield Avenue at 2:02 a.m. Monday, authorities said.
About 1:52 a.m. Monday, 25-year-old Larry Johnson, of the 14000 block of Park Avenue in Lansing, was shot in the 6400 block of South Ingleside Avenue in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood. He died nearly two hours later at a hospital, police said.
Durwin Hackman, 20, of the 3100 block of West 172nd Street in Hazel Crest, was killed in a shooting that also injured two others about 11:10 p.m. in the 700 block of West 111th Street in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood. The three victims were involved in a verbal altercation over a female when other males began to shoot before fleeing the scene.
Three men, two related, were found fatally shot in the West Side's Lawndale neighborhood early Saturday in what police consider gang-related slayings. The victims were 25-year-old Waseem Smith, 45-year-old Barry Smith and 28-year-old Leon Smith, according to the medical examiner's office. They were shot just after 3 a.m. in the 2300 block of South Springfield, police said. Police found two of the men in separate cars and the third lying on the street outside one of the cars.
A 19-year-old man died Sunday night after being shot in the head Friday night in the 1800 block of West 87th Street, police said. Pierre York, of the 8600 block of South Wood Street, was walking down the street with a friend when they were confronted by a gunman, who fled after shooting York, police said.
In addition to the homicides, at least 10 people were shot early Monday, including a baby girl and four men who were injured when gunfire erupted during an outside barbecue on the Near West Side early Monday.
The shooting happened at 12:11 a.m. in the 1300 block of West Hastings Street, according to a Monroe District police lieutenant. Several people attending the barbecue heard shots fired and "everybody started running," the lieutenant said.
One shot struck a 1-year-old girl, who suffered a graze wound to the neck. Four men were also shot, police said. One of the victims, a 34-year-old man, was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The other three men suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
On Sunday, at least 11 people were injured in shootings, including a 16-year-old girl who was critically wounded when shots rang out during a fight on a South Side street.
The girl was standing outside in the 1200 block of East 78th Street at 8:15 p.m. when several fights broke out and one person pulled out a handgun, according to a South Chicago District police captain. The girl was struck in the back and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition.
On an especially violent Saturday, at least 22 people were injured. That included five people hurt in four shootings in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, just blocks from the annual Puerto Rican festival.
And following Friday's violent storms, at least one person was injured in a shooting on the South Side.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2415428,weekend-shooting-roundup-062110.article
Sun-Times Media Wire
Ten people were killed and at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue.
The latest victims were found naked, shot to death and lying face down on railroad property near West 91st Street and South Holland Road on the South Side about 8:50 a.m Monday, according to a Calumet Area sergeant. Both were shot at some point Sunday night.
The victims, black males believed to be between 16 and 20, remained unidentified as of late Monday afternoon.
On Monday, a 28-year-old man was found shot in the chest about 3 a.m. in the 7500 block of South Halsted Street near a South Side church, according to Gresham District police. A passing motorist found the man, identified as Credale Woulard of the 7700 block of South Ada Street, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. He was dressed in women's clothing and was found lying dead on the sidewalk.
In the South Side Englewood neighborhood, 44-year-old Darryl Dunn was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in the 7200 block of South Marshfield Avenue at 2:02 a.m. Monday, authorities said.
About 1:52 a.m. Monday, 25-year-old Larry Johnson, of the 14000 block of Park Avenue in Lansing, was shot in the 6400 block of South Ingleside Avenue in the South Side Woodlawn neighborhood. He died nearly two hours later at a hospital, police said.
Durwin Hackman, 20, of the 3100 block of West 172nd Street in Hazel Crest, was killed in a shooting that also injured two others about 11:10 p.m. in the 700 block of West 111th Street in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood. The three victims were involved in a verbal altercation over a female when other males began to shoot before fleeing the scene.
Three men, two related, were found fatally shot in the West Side's Lawndale neighborhood early Saturday in what police consider gang-related slayings. The victims were 25-year-old Waseem Smith, 45-year-old Barry Smith and 28-year-old Leon Smith, according to the medical examiner's office. They were shot just after 3 a.m. in the 2300 block of South Springfield, police said. Police found two of the men in separate cars and the third lying on the street outside one of the cars.
A 19-year-old man died Sunday night after being shot in the head Friday night in the 1800 block of West 87th Street, police said. Pierre York, of the 8600 block of South Wood Street, was walking down the street with a friend when they were confronted by a gunman, who fled after shooting York, police said.
In addition to the homicides, at least 10 people were shot early Monday, including a baby girl and four men who were injured when gunfire erupted during an outside barbecue on the Near West Side early Monday.
The shooting happened at 12:11 a.m. in the 1300 block of West Hastings Street, according to a Monroe District police lieutenant. Several people attending the barbecue heard shots fired and "everybody started running," the lieutenant said.
One shot struck a 1-year-old girl, who suffered a graze wound to the neck. Four men were also shot, police said. One of the victims, a 34-year-old man, was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The other three men suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
On Sunday, at least 11 people were injured in shootings, including a 16-year-old girl who was critically wounded when shots rang out during a fight on a South Side street.
The girl was standing outside in the 1200 block of East 78th Street at 8:15 p.m. when several fights broke out and one person pulled out a handgun, according to a South Chicago District police captain. The girl was struck in the back and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition.
On an especially violent Saturday, at least 22 people were injured. That included five people hurt in four shootings in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, just blocks from the annual Puerto Rican festival.
And following Friday's violent storms, at least one person was injured in a shooting on the South Side.
From: http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2415428,weekend-shooting-roundup-062110.article
Man denies dismembering father in Buckinghamshire
Last updated at 19:03 GMT, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 20:03 UK
A man has appeared before Reading Crown Court and denied murdering his father, whose remains were found in Buckinghamshire.
The dismembered body parts of Samuel Alexander, 70, of Drayton Parslow, were found buried in concrete in his garden.
Mark Alexander, 22, of Fleet Street, London, denied murdering his father between August 2009 and February 2010.
He has also denied three related charges and is due before court again on 26 July.
It is alleged that he perverted the course of justice by giving false information, knowing that a missing person inquiry had been started.
He is also charged with perverting the course of justice by dismembering a body and disposing of it, and disposing of a body with intent to pervert an inquest.
Samuel Alexander, a retired university lecturer, was originally from Egypt and was also known as Sami Yacoub El-Kayoubi.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/beds_bucks_and_herts/10384926.stm
A man has appeared before Reading Crown Court and denied murdering his father, whose remains were found in Buckinghamshire.
The dismembered body parts of Samuel Alexander, 70, of Drayton Parslow, were found buried in concrete in his garden.
Mark Alexander, 22, of Fleet Street, London, denied murdering his father between August 2009 and February 2010.
He has also denied three related charges and is due before court again on 26 July.
It is alleged that he perverted the course of justice by giving false information, knowing that a missing person inquiry had been started.
He is also charged with perverting the course of justice by dismembering a body and disposing of it, and disposing of a body with intent to pervert an inquest.
Samuel Alexander, a retired university lecturer, was originally from Egypt and was also known as Sami Yacoub El-Kayoubi.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/beds_bucks_and_herts/10384926.stm
Baby mauled by sheepdog at Market Drayton farm
Last updated at 07:26 GMT, Wednesday, 23 June 2010 08:26 UK
A seven-month-old baby from Shropshire is recovering after being badly bitten by a dog.
William Jaundrell, from Wellington, had been to his grandparents' farm at Peplow, near Market Drayton, last Thursday when the dog jumped into his mother's car as he sat inside.
He is being treated for serious leg injuries at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
The dog, a Border Collie, has been put down.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/shropshire/10387120.stm
A seven-month-old baby from Shropshire is recovering after being badly bitten by a dog.
William Jaundrell, from Wellington, had been to his grandparents' farm at Peplow, near Market Drayton, last Thursday when the dog jumped into his mother's car as he sat inside.
He is being treated for serious leg injuries at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
The dog, a Border Collie, has been put down.
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/england/shropshire/10387120.stm
Sister hits moose on way to visit sister who hit moose
One woman in 100 Mile House hospital, the other recovering in Vancouver
By Laura Baziuk, The Province June 22, 2010
A pair of Kitimat sisters have had their fill of close encounters with moose on the loose.
A month ago, Yvonne Studley, 49, was badly injured when she hit a moose with her vehicle, so last Friday her sister decided to visit her in Vancouver General Hospital.
But sister Connie Everitt, 51, fared little better — she also hit a moose and ended up in hospital.
In the first accident a month ago, Studley was on her way home from a business trip when a moose ran in front of her car.
The animal went through the windshield and landed on her, inflicting a broken wrist, arm and hand, five fractured ribs and bleeding in her brain.
The pregnant moose died near the collision.
The calf did not survive.
When Studley came out of her coma, her sister Connie Everitt and her husband Steve decided to visit her.
She and her husband were in two cars last Friday afternoon. Everitt, in the first car, was going around a corner near 70 Mile House when she saw "a brown blur."
"I knew right away it was a moose," she said. "I slammed on the brakes with both my feet.
"It was like two explosions. [The moose] came through the windshield on the passenger side, and then the body flipped around and the shoulder came into the side window."
She was taken to the hospital at 100 Mile House with mostly soft-tissue injuries.
The coincidence of hitting a moose just like her sister "really threw me for a loop."
"My first thought was, 'Are the moose going out [on a] hunting season for my family?"' Everitt said. "So far, we win three because we got three of them dead."
Moose are involved in about eight per cent of all wildlife vehicle collisions, according to the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program's website.
"Moose will often try to avoid vehicles by running along a highway," added Jeff Knight, spokesman for B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation.
"If it's safe to do so, it's best to pull over or slow down until the animal leaves the road."
Everitt was released from hospital Saturday, and Monday visited her sister, who she said was getting better.
"You can never tell when a moose or some other wildlife will run out in front of you," she said. "My sister almost died from this. If I'd had anyone as my passenger, they would have died."
From: http://www.theprovince.com/Sister+hits+moose+visit+sister+moose/3184606/story.html
By Laura Baziuk, The Province June 22, 2010
A pair of Kitimat sisters have had their fill of close encounters with moose on the loose.
A month ago, Yvonne Studley, 49, was badly injured when she hit a moose with her vehicle, so last Friday her sister decided to visit her in Vancouver General Hospital.
But sister Connie Everitt, 51, fared little better — she also hit a moose and ended up in hospital.
In the first accident a month ago, Studley was on her way home from a business trip when a moose ran in front of her car.
The animal went through the windshield and landed on her, inflicting a broken wrist, arm and hand, five fractured ribs and bleeding in her brain.
The pregnant moose died near the collision.
The calf did not survive.
When Studley came out of her coma, her sister Connie Everitt and her husband Steve decided to visit her.
She and her husband were in two cars last Friday afternoon. Everitt, in the first car, was going around a corner near 70 Mile House when she saw "a brown blur."
"I knew right away it was a moose," she said. "I slammed on the brakes with both my feet.
"It was like two explosions. [The moose] came through the windshield on the passenger side, and then the body flipped around and the shoulder came into the side window."
She was taken to the hospital at 100 Mile House with mostly soft-tissue injuries.
The coincidence of hitting a moose just like her sister "really threw me for a loop."
"My first thought was, 'Are the moose going out [on a] hunting season for my family?"' Everitt said. "So far, we win three because we got three of them dead."
Moose are involved in about eight per cent of all wildlife vehicle collisions, according to the Wildlife Collision Prevention Program's website.
"Moose will often try to avoid vehicles by running along a highway," added Jeff Knight, spokesman for B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation.
"If it's safe to do so, it's best to pull over or slow down until the animal leaves the road."
Everitt was released from hospital Saturday, and Monday visited her sister, who she said was getting better.
"You can never tell when a moose or some other wildlife will run out in front of you," she said. "My sister almost died from this. If I'd had anyone as my passenger, they would have died."
From: http://www.theprovince.com/Sister+hits+moose+visit+sister+moose/3184606/story.html
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Mom Accused of Pimping Daughter for Cocaine
KTLA News
12:26 AM PDT, June 18, 2010
BRILLIANT, Ohio -- Police have arrested a woman they say let a man have sex with her 14-year-old daughter in exchange for money and crack cocaine.
The 46-year-old woman is charged with compelling prostitution of a minor and complicity to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Police Capt. Sean Norman says a 21-year-old man living with the mother and daughter told investigators the woman allowed him to have sex with the girl and demanded cash.
Police believe the woman began allowing men to have sex with her daughter for cocaine and money four years ago, when the girl was 10.
The mother told police she caught her 42-year-old boyfriend about four years ago having sex with her daughter, who was then 10-years old, Norman said.
The mother said she allowed the sex to continue in exchange for crack cocaine, he said.
The mother, who is being held at the county jail, also has been charged with probation violation.
She pleaded guilty in March to drug trafficking.
She initially was sentenced to six months in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center, but the facility wouldn't accept her because of medical problems.
The woman then was placed on three years of probation. She faces up to five years in prison on the drug charge.
Norman says the girl, now in the custody of Children's Services, has sexually transmitted diseases and other medical problems.
The mother's name is not being printed to protect the child's identity.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-ohio-mom-prostitution,0,4108546.story
12:26 AM PDT, June 18, 2010
BRILLIANT, Ohio -- Police have arrested a woman they say let a man have sex with her 14-year-old daughter in exchange for money and crack cocaine.
The 46-year-old woman is charged with compelling prostitution of a minor and complicity to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Police Capt. Sean Norman says a 21-year-old man living with the mother and daughter told investigators the woman allowed him to have sex with the girl and demanded cash.
Police believe the woman began allowing men to have sex with her daughter for cocaine and money four years ago, when the girl was 10.
The mother told police she caught her 42-year-old boyfriend about four years ago having sex with her daughter, who was then 10-years old, Norman said.
The mother said she allowed the sex to continue in exchange for crack cocaine, he said.
The mother, who is being held at the county jail, also has been charged with probation violation.
She pleaded guilty in March to drug trafficking.
She initially was sentenced to six months in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center, but the facility wouldn't accept her because of medical problems.
The woman then was placed on three years of probation. She faces up to five years in prison on the drug charge.
Norman says the girl, now in the custody of Children's Services, has sexually transmitted diseases and other medical problems.
The mother's name is not being printed to protect the child's identity.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-ohio-mom-prostitution,0,4108546.story
Man's Legs Amputated after Fall into Meat Grinder
Fire crews say the man's legs had been severed above the knees.
KTLA News
8:14 AM PDT, June 21, 2010
VERNON -- A man working at a meat packing plant in Vernon lost his legs when he fell into a meat grinder, according to police.
The accident happened around 3 a.m. Saturday at Jobbers Meat Packing Inc., located in the 3300 block of Fruitland Avenue.
Vernon police received a frantic 911 call about a worker trapped inside a large meat-grinding machine.
Firemen responding to the call realized the man's legs had been severed above the knees.
Crews used heavy cutting tools to take apart the machine and pull the man out.
Another fire crew loaded their vehicle with buckets of ice for the severed legs.
The victim was transported in critical condition by ambulance to a local hospital. He was conscious and breathing when firefighters removed him from the machine, according to a co-worker.
The victim hasn't been identified, but he's described as an adult Latino.
Friends and family showed up at the meat packing plant, and they were taken to the hospital to be with him.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-meat-grinder-leg-severed,0,479882.story
KTLA News
8:14 AM PDT, June 21, 2010
VERNON -- A man working at a meat packing plant in Vernon lost his legs when he fell into a meat grinder, according to police.
The accident happened around 3 a.m. Saturday at Jobbers Meat Packing Inc., located in the 3300 block of Fruitland Avenue.
Vernon police received a frantic 911 call about a worker trapped inside a large meat-grinding machine.
Firemen responding to the call realized the man's legs had been severed above the knees.
Crews used heavy cutting tools to take apart the machine and pull the man out.
Another fire crew loaded their vehicle with buckets of ice for the severed legs.
The victim was transported in critical condition by ambulance to a local hospital. He was conscious and breathing when firefighters removed him from the machine, according to a co-worker.
The victim hasn't been identified, but he's described as an adult Latino.
Friends and family showed up at the meat packing plant, and they were taken to the hospital to be with him.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-meat-grinder-leg-severed,0,479882.story
Jail for an 'act of gross stupidity'
A NEWPORT man, whose stepson accidentally shot himself through the head while posing for a photo, is starting a five-year jail sentence.
Michael James Hole, 51, of Hawthorn Avenue, Somerton, was charged with possessing a prohibited firearm and child cruelty, after his 15-year-old stepson Lewis Bailey, shot himself through the head on March 2 this year.
Prosecutor Martyn Kelly told Cardiff Crown Court that Hole found the .25 semi-automatic Beretta pistol a few weeks before the incident and when Lewis returned home from school on March 2, Hole showed him the gun.
Mr Kelly said Hole, in an act of “gross stupidity,” asked Lewis to pose with the pistol to his head so he could take a photo, as Lewis had done on a previous occasion.
Lewis pulled the trigger of the gun twice and nothing happened, but when he put it to his head and pulled the trigger the gun went off.
Hole called the ambulance, telling them the teen had shot himself in the head in the front bedroom and the door of the house was open.
When paramedics arrived, Lewis was conscious, shaking and crying.
After phoning the ambulance, Hole contacted his sister and brother-in-law and then went to his brother’s house. Mr Kelly said Hole believed Lewis was dead and wanted to kill himself.
He was arrested in the early hours of March 3 on Nash Road, Newport. During interview Hole told police he hid the gun in a drain in Moorland Avenue and that after the gun went off he stood in shock as Lewis fitted on the floor and thought he was dying.
Hole did not mean to cause Lewis harm and thought the gun was a replica or a fake.
Lewis has since “regained a completely normal life”.
Mr Kelly said Lewis had returned to school and is due to take his GCSEs in a few weeks.
Representing Hole, Gareth Williams said it was a single “grossly negligent incident” but there was no malice intended.
He said: "He is sorry beyong belief and beyond words.”
In a letter read to the court, Hole’s wife Edwina Hole, described Hole as the “glue that held the family together”.
The Recorder of Cardiff, Nicholas Cooke QC said the firearms offence attracted a mandatory five year sentence, but he found there were exceptional circumstances to reduce the term.
Hole was sentenced to four years for possessing the pistol and a further year for child cruelty, less the 104 days he has served on remand.
Hole was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but as the investigation unfolded, DCI Steve Mogg said it became clear Hole had no intention of hurting Lewis and said he is satisfied that Hole did not know the gun was loaded at the time.
The gun was in a very poor condition, was missing a safety catch and had no magazine in the weapon, with just one bullet in the chamber.
DCI Mogg said: "He had the weapon, allowed this young lad to pose with it as if it was a toy, which is totally unacceptable. They were playing with this gun as if it was a toy, posing for photographs, these are not toys, they are lethal weapons.
"There's a very fine line between an injury of this nature causing death or lifelong, substantial, serious harm to his health but he's walked away, he is to count himself very lucky that he didn't die and has got no long term ill effects which is the good news story to come out of all of this."
The bullet went straight through the teenager's head and DCI Mogg said in his 24 years of policing, he has never seen anything like this when someone has been shot in the head from point blank range and survived.
DCI Mogg added: "It's miraculous and amazing seeing someone coming through that, it could have been one millimetre either side and he could have died."
From: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/8229400.Jail_for_an__act_of_gross_stupidity_/
Two Langford teens charged in murder of Kimberly Proctor
Three months after Kimberly Proctor’s badly burned body was found by the edge of a creek, two Langford teens have been charged with the 18-year-old’s murder.
The males, ages 16 and 18, have been charged with first-degree murder, sexual assault, forcible confinement and indignity to human remains.
In a news conference Saturday morning, a visibly upset Cpl. Darren Lagan, spokesman for Island district RCMP, said the murder is the worst he’s seen in a decade on the force.
“Investigators have used the words ‘horrendous,’ ‘disturbing,’ ” Lagan said.
The RCMP remain tight-lipped on any details that might identify the two. They were both under the age of 18 at the time of the murder and their identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
However, Lagan did say that Proctor was familiar with her killers.
“This was not a random act. Kimberly, for whatever reason... was the intended victim.”
Proctor was last seen at a bus stop the morning of March 18. Her badly burned body was found the next day on a rock ledge next to Millstream Creek, beneath a bridge on the Galloping Goose Trail. It took police three days to identify her remains.
Both the investigation and media coverage of the murder ranged well beyond B.C., even reaching television news south of the border because of the role social networking sites played in revealing personal information about Proctor and fueling speculation about her murder.
Comments Proctor made on her profile on vampirefreaks.com — a website dedicated to the goth subculture that has been connected with the Dawson College shooting in Montreal in 2006 — fueled speculation that Proctor’s death was related to bullying.
Lagan, though, said while Proctor had been bullied in the past, there was no indication that it was an important factor in her death. He also warned against singling out any one aspect of the teen’s life.
“This could have been anyone’s daughter,” he said. “Her family deserves Kimberly to be seen as who she was and vampirefreaks.com is not a true representation of who she was.”
West Shore RCMP inspector Mark Fisher added that there was no way the family could have avoided the tragedy.
“Kim walked into this unknowingly and she didn’t deserve this.”
Friends and family have described Proctor as a typical teen who raised dozens of animals and was sewing her prom dress with her grandmother.
While Proctor’s family is asking for privacy, her parents released a videotaped statement Saturday morning.
Clutching his wife’s hand, Fred Proctor’s choked back tears as he tried to explain what the tragedy meant.
“Our home is quiet now,” he said. “This has left a huge void in our lives. We’ll never know what she could have become or would have been or what future we would have had with her.”
Discovery of the teen’s body kicked off a massive investigation. A core of 40 RCMP investigators and additional officers from other forces logged 20,000 hours trying to determine who was responsible.
While some investigators will continue to work on the case, Lagan said police expect no further arrests.
“Our investigators are confident they have arrested the individuals responsible for Kimberly’s homicide,” Lagan said.
That will come as some comfort for Proctor’s mother, Lucia, who remained silent through most of the videotaped statement, but managed just one thought.
“All we can hope for now is for justice to be done for Kimberly.”
The accused have been remanded into custody and are expected to appear in Victoria Youth Court Monday morning.
- - -
On Saturday evening, RCMP announced the charges that had been laid against both suspects:
•1) Murder in the First Degree (Section 231, Criminal Code of Canada). Murder is considered first degree murder, when it is planned and deliberate
•2) Forcible Confinement (Section 279(2) Criminal Code of Canada)
•3) Sexual Assault (Section 271 Criminal Code of Canada)
•4) Indignity to Human Remains (Section 182(b) Criminal Code of Canada)
"Both accused have now been remanded into custody, pending their first court appearances, scheduled for 9:30 am, Monday morning, June 21st, 2010, in Victoria Youth Court," the RCMP release stated.
From: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Langford+teens+arrested+murder+Kimberly+Proctor/3177235/story.html#ixzz0rMNK5Zzj
Cop Arrests Man For Taking Wife To Emergency Room
June 18, 2010 6:27 PM
John Pless
What was supposed to be a honeymoon and week of vacation has turned into a nightmare for a couple who work at Erlanger Medical Center.
Eric Wright was arrested by a Chattanooga Police officer when he rushed his wife Aline to the emergency room at Erlanger with stroke symptoms.
The couple married this last Sunday and were taking their only vacation allowed for the year at Erlanger when Aline got very sick Wednesday night. Her face was drooping and her speech was slurred. Eric is a medic and served tours with the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Aline is a registered nurse. Both knew they had to get to an emergency room fast.
"I would like an apology from the officer because he indeed delayed my care," Aline Wright said.
Mrs. Wright became a registered nurse after she lost a leg to cancer a few years ago. Her chemotherapy caused a heart condition that could create a blood clot and trigger a stroke.
So Eric carried his wife, who was not wearing her prosthetic leg, into his car and drove straight to Erlanger. The trouble began at the corner of Holzclaw and McCallie where Mr. Wright said he had his emergency flashers on and blew his horn. He was on his cellphone talking to his co-workers at Erlanger, letting them know he was on the way with an emergency.
"And I proceeded cautiously through the red light and at that time an officer in a cruiser pulled from Holzclaw and onto McCallie behind me and followed me from that point," Mr. Wright said.
Wright said he continued to Erlanger blowing his horn with his emergency flashers on and went through another red light.
"Before we reached the front doors of the emergency room, the sliding automatic doors, the policeman got between us and the door and started to say to my husband I am going to arrest you," Mrs. Wright said.
Mr. Wright said as he carried his wife around Officer Jim Daves his colleagues in the ER helped them to a room to begin immediate evaluation and treatment.
"Officer Daves and I never made physical contact," Mr. Wright said.
In officer Dave's written affidavit, he writes "defendant stopped in the ER entrance and jumped out and ran. Police made contact with Defendant at the passenger side of his vehicle and I grabbed the defendant’s arm and he pushed me away scraping my arm with his fingernail. Defendant yelled and said it was an emergency…”
“Defendant pushed through the crowd and carried a female back into the emergency room and place her in a room with no permission of the hospital staff,” Daves writes.
But the ER staff was in fact waiting for Wright and his wife.
"The officer followed me into the emergency room and repeatedly entered the patient room to approach me and repeatedly interrupted the patient care," Wright said. "The other medical professionals had to push him aside and inform him it's not appropriate and he needed to wait outside."
Wright said Daves told him to turn himself into the Hamilton County Jail, where he would be charged with a felony. Wright said when he asked what felony he would be charged with, Daves said "I'll think of something you sh-- head."
So Wright went to the jail Thursday night as a NewsChannel camera was rolling. Wright waited for quite a long time before a jail employee told him there were no warrants against him.
But Friday morning, as Wright was in the hospital room where his wife Aline was admitted, Daves had Erlanger security arrest him and take him to the jail. Wright is charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, two red light violations and registration violation.
Both Wrights said that Officer Daves never asked about the medical emergency or whether they needed help getting into the ER.
"I am still very concerned that he [Daves] did not have any concern or interest in the medical situation that was taking place, rather than what seemed to me to be an interest in a traffic violation," Mr. Wright said.
Wright's wife said because of Officer Daves actions her husband has been suspended from Erlanger since he was charged with a felony. That means he won't be bringing a paycheck home and she will be out of work while her medical condition is being evaluated and treated.
"Instead of us uniting and being together as a family he's having to deal with being charged with trying to save his wife," Mrs. Wright said.
The director of Erlanger's Heart-Stroke Center, Dr. Francis Fesmire, wrote a letter saying Eric Wright did the right thing by rushing his wife to the ER, and had he waited for an ambulance that would have added 20-30 minutes time to her arrival at the hospital. Dr. Fesmire is asking police to show some mercy and drop the charges.
Chattanooga Police Public Information Officer Lieutenant Kim Noorbergen said the department will not comment about the incident.
Wright is scheduled to be in Judge Clarence Clarence Shattuck's Hamilton County General Sessions Court July 9 at 8:30. He is free from jail after posting a $7,500 bond.
From: http://www.newschannel9.com/news/couple-992252-emergency-wife.html
John Pless
What was supposed to be a honeymoon and week of vacation has turned into a nightmare for a couple who work at Erlanger Medical Center.
Eric Wright was arrested by a Chattanooga Police officer when he rushed his wife Aline to the emergency room at Erlanger with stroke symptoms.
The couple married this last Sunday and were taking their only vacation allowed for the year at Erlanger when Aline got very sick Wednesday night. Her face was drooping and her speech was slurred. Eric is a medic and served tours with the Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Aline is a registered nurse. Both knew they had to get to an emergency room fast.
"I would like an apology from the officer because he indeed delayed my care," Aline Wright said.
Mrs. Wright became a registered nurse after she lost a leg to cancer a few years ago. Her chemotherapy caused a heart condition that could create a blood clot and trigger a stroke.
So Eric carried his wife, who was not wearing her prosthetic leg, into his car and drove straight to Erlanger. The trouble began at the corner of Holzclaw and McCallie where Mr. Wright said he had his emergency flashers on and blew his horn. He was on his cellphone talking to his co-workers at Erlanger, letting them know he was on the way with an emergency.
"And I proceeded cautiously through the red light and at that time an officer in a cruiser pulled from Holzclaw and onto McCallie behind me and followed me from that point," Mr. Wright said.
Wright said he continued to Erlanger blowing his horn with his emergency flashers on and went through another red light.
"Before we reached the front doors of the emergency room, the sliding automatic doors, the policeman got between us and the door and started to say to my husband I am going to arrest you," Mrs. Wright said.
Mr. Wright said as he carried his wife around Officer Jim Daves his colleagues in the ER helped them to a room to begin immediate evaluation and treatment.
"Officer Daves and I never made physical contact," Mr. Wright said.
In officer Dave's written affidavit, he writes "defendant stopped in the ER entrance and jumped out and ran. Police made contact with Defendant at the passenger side of his vehicle and I grabbed the defendant’s arm and he pushed me away scraping my arm with his fingernail. Defendant yelled and said it was an emergency…”
“Defendant pushed through the crowd and carried a female back into the emergency room and place her in a room with no permission of the hospital staff,” Daves writes.
But the ER staff was in fact waiting for Wright and his wife.
"The officer followed me into the emergency room and repeatedly entered the patient room to approach me and repeatedly interrupted the patient care," Wright said. "The other medical professionals had to push him aside and inform him it's not appropriate and he needed to wait outside."
Wright said Daves told him to turn himself into the Hamilton County Jail, where he would be charged with a felony. Wright said when he asked what felony he would be charged with, Daves said "I'll think of something you sh-- head."
So Wright went to the jail Thursday night as a NewsChannel camera was rolling. Wright waited for quite a long time before a jail employee told him there were no warrants against him.
But Friday morning, as Wright was in the hospital room where his wife Aline was admitted, Daves had Erlanger security arrest him and take him to the jail. Wright is charged with assaulting a police officer, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, two red light violations and registration violation.
Both Wrights said that Officer Daves never asked about the medical emergency or whether they needed help getting into the ER.
"I am still very concerned that he [Daves] did not have any concern or interest in the medical situation that was taking place, rather than what seemed to me to be an interest in a traffic violation," Mr. Wright said.
Wright's wife said because of Officer Daves actions her husband has been suspended from Erlanger since he was charged with a felony. That means he won't be bringing a paycheck home and she will be out of work while her medical condition is being evaluated and treated.
"Instead of us uniting and being together as a family he's having to deal with being charged with trying to save his wife," Mrs. Wright said.
The director of Erlanger's Heart-Stroke Center, Dr. Francis Fesmire, wrote a letter saying Eric Wright did the right thing by rushing his wife to the ER, and had he waited for an ambulance that would have added 20-30 minutes time to her arrival at the hospital. Dr. Fesmire is asking police to show some mercy and drop the charges.
Chattanooga Police Public Information Officer Lieutenant Kim Noorbergen said the department will not comment about the incident.
Wright is scheduled to be in Judge Clarence Clarence Shattuck's Hamilton County General Sessions Court July 9 at 8:30. He is free from jail after posting a $7,500 bond.
From: http://www.newschannel9.com/news/couple-992252-emergency-wife.html
Man says Legionaries of Christ founder was his father, abused him
By RACHEL ZOLL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
06/22/2010
NEW YORK — A Mexican man said Monday that he is the son of the founder of a once-influential Roman Catholic religious order, and accused his father of repeatedly molesting him.
In a lawsuit, Jose Raul Gonzalez, 30, accused the late Rev. Marcial Maciel of abuse beginning at age 7. Gonzalez said Maciel led a double life, explaining his long absences from the family by saying he was a CIA agent and oil executive.
Despite the power the Legionaries of Christ once held with Vatican officials, the Holy See recently concluded that Maciel, the order's founder, led a life that was "devoid of any scruples" and included molesting young boys.
Gonzalez said the abuse began when Maciel took him on trips in South America, England and elsewhere. Leaders of the Legion knew for decades that Maciel was a pedophile and did nothing to stop him, Gonzalez said in his legal claim against the group.
"He always said to us that he was an enemy of the lies, but he was the most liar, the biggest liar," said Gonzalez, at a news conference with his attorney, Jeff Anderson.
Jim Fair, a U.S. spokesman for the Legion, said he could not comment on the lawsuit, but Fair noted that the Legion had said that Gonzalez' paternity claim "apparently was true."
Maciel died in 2008 at age 87. Legion officials acknowledge that Maciel fathered at least one other child, a girl, and abused seminarians, but insist they only just discovered his misdeeds.
For decades, former Legion members who said they had been abused by Maciel tried unsuccessfully to persuade Vatican officials to take action against him.
Gonzalez's mother, Blanca Lara Gutierrez, has said that Maciel had two children with her and adopted another.
From: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/AF2B1AD0D9454C348625774A00106F05?OpenDocument
ASSOCIATED PRESS
06/22/2010
NEW YORK — A Mexican man said Monday that he is the son of the founder of a once-influential Roman Catholic religious order, and accused his father of repeatedly molesting him.
In a lawsuit, Jose Raul Gonzalez, 30, accused the late Rev. Marcial Maciel of abuse beginning at age 7. Gonzalez said Maciel led a double life, explaining his long absences from the family by saying he was a CIA agent and oil executive.
Despite the power the Legionaries of Christ once held with Vatican officials, the Holy See recently concluded that Maciel, the order's founder, led a life that was "devoid of any scruples" and included molesting young boys.
Gonzalez said the abuse began when Maciel took him on trips in South America, England and elsewhere. Leaders of the Legion knew for decades that Maciel was a pedophile and did nothing to stop him, Gonzalez said in his legal claim against the group.
"He always said to us that he was an enemy of the lies, but he was the most liar, the biggest liar," said Gonzalez, at a news conference with his attorney, Jeff Anderson.
Jim Fair, a U.S. spokesman for the Legion, said he could not comment on the lawsuit, but Fair noted that the Legion had said that Gonzalez' paternity claim "apparently was true."
Maciel died in 2008 at age 87. Legion officials acknowledge that Maciel fathered at least one other child, a girl, and abused seminarians, but insist they only just discovered his misdeeds.
For decades, former Legion members who said they had been abused by Maciel tried unsuccessfully to persuade Vatican officials to take action against him.
Gonzalez's mother, Blanca Lara Gutierrez, has said that Maciel had two children with her and adopted another.
From: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/AF2B1AD0D9454C348625774A00106F05?OpenDocument
Quarrel leads to two shooting deaths on I-64
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/21/2010
EAST ST. LOUIS — As blood ran down her arm, Ashley Oliver ran for her life.
The Cahokia woman, 25, staggered through stalled traffic about 2 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 64 just east of the Poplar Street Bridge.
Ashley Oliver
"She was running to cars saying 'Please help me! Please help me!" said Scott Cross, 38, of East St. Louis. "We were going to help until we saw that gun."
Cross said he watched as a gunman caught up with and fatally shot Oliver in the middle lane of the highway and then killed himself.
"We didn't know what to do," said Haaneyfan MacDonald, 45, a passenger in Cross' minivan. "I couldn't believe it."
Police identified the gunman as Oliver's boyfriend, Tommie Hill, 25, of East St. Louis. He had been fighting with her in her red Oldsmobile Alero.
Oliver had already been shot inside the Alero or near it when she fled and began banging on nearby cars for help.
"She was running for her life," said Illinois State Police Sgt. Dave Wasmuth. "He chased her down and killed her."
Oliver was pronounced dead at Memorial Hospital in Belleville. Police said Hill's 7-year-old daughter was in the Alero and witnessed the shooting but was not hurt. Wasmuth said later that the girl was in her mother's care.
For a while, as traffic crawled by in the passing lane, Hill's body lay in the middle eastbound lane of the highway. Police later shut down a section of I-64, where it converges with Interstate 70 and Interstate 55, for about three hours.
The semiautomatic handgun used by Hill was seized by police.
Hill's mother, Sharon Cameron, came to the scene Sunday. She said the couple had had a rocky relationship for at least four years. She said her son was unemployed and had been depressed recently.
"There's just too much killing going on," said Cameron, 41, of East St. Louis. "People are killing each other and don't have no reason."
Hill's uncle, Tyrone Cameron, said he had spoken to his nephew about an hour before the shooting and they had wished each other a Happy Father's Day.
Tyrone Cameron said Hill and Oliver "had their ups and downs, but I never thought it would come to this."
From: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C151854D439DC81086257749000FEC4A?OpenDocument
Man Accused Of Molesting 2 Girls
POSTED: 7:30 am EDT June 22, 2010
UPDATED: 7:38 am EDT June 22, 2010
CARLISLE, Pa. -- Carlisle police have charged an 18-year-old man with sexually molesting two young girls at a party.
Police said Donald Carr Jr. gave the 12- and 13-year-old girls alcohol on Friday night and molested them.
Police found Carr after someone saw one of the girls walking down the street apparently intoxicated.
From: http://www.wgal.com/news/23987377/detail.html#
Police Charge 65-Year-Old Man With Killing Roommate
POSTED: 2:17 pm EDT June 21, 2010
UPDATED: 2:48 pm EDT June 21, 2010
LANCASTER, Pa. -- A Lancaster city man called 911 just before 2 a.m. Sunday and told the dispatcher he had "shot his friend" and that "I think he's dead," police said Monday in a news release.
That led investigators to charge 65-year-old Luther E. Benner of 139 Whittier Lane with shooting to death his roommate early Sunday.
The victim was 46-year-old Robert C. Zwally, 46, who lived with Benner at the home.
Police in the news release detailed a grisly scene at the home when investigators arrived after the 911 call. They found Zwally with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest lying in a half bathroom, and they arrested Benner, who had "what appeared to be blood stains on Benner's body" and face.
When an officer asked Benner for identification, Benner said he had ID and that "I shot him," according to the news release. Benner repeated that statement multiple times and said that Zwally had come at him with a gun and "shot at me first, so I shot him," police reported.
Officers said Benner was intoxicated when they arrested him.
According to police, investigators found a semiautomatic handgun lying on a chair with the hammer cocked in a firing position and a round in the chamber.
Officers said they interviewed a woman identified only as Zwally's girlfriend, who told investigators that she was in the home and overheard the two men arguing followed by a gunshot.
During a search of the home, detectives found a bullet that was fired through the ceiling and that there were signs of a "struggle at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor and investigators located fresh blood in that area," the news release said.
Benner was interviewed by detectives again and changed his story, police said.
Benner admitted that he not been truthful with police and said he "approached Zwally, who had been in the bathroom alone with the door closed" when they began fighting over the handgun, according to the news release. During the struggle, Zwally was shot, police said.
Benner said after shooting he fired a round into the ceiling and that Zwally never fired a shot, according to the police news release.
From: http://www.wgal.com/news/23978786/detail.html#
Monday, June 21, 2010
The Sourtoe Cocktail
Champagne seasoned with an amputated toe
Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition, and is exactly what is sounds like: An actual human toe that has been dehydrated, preserved in salt, and served in a drink.
According to the story, Yukon local Captain Dick Stevenson found the toe preserved in the jar of alcohol while cleaning a cabin in 1973. After discussing it with friends, Captain Dick preserved and started serving the toe in a "Sourtoe Cocktail" at the Eldorado hotel bar.
The first toe is said to have belonged to a miner and rum runner named Louie Liken, who had his frostbitten appendage amputated in the 1920s. Likens preserved it in a a jar of alcohol in his cabin, until Captain Dick Stevenson found it some 50 years later.
Unfortunately the first toe only lasted for seven more years after that. According to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, "In July 1980, a miner named Garry Younger was trying for the Sourtoe record. On his thirteenth glass of Sourtoe champagne his chair tipped over backwards and he swallowed the toe. Sadly, Toe #1 was not recovered."
Since then seven more toes have been donated to the bar. Number two was given after an amputation due to an inoperable corn, number three was from a victim frostbite (it was also swallowed accidentally), four was an anonymous toe (stolen by a hunter), toes five and six were donated by a Yukon old-timer in return for free drinks for his nurses, toe seven was an amputation due to diabetes and toe eight arrived in a jar of alcohol with the message "Don't wear open toed sandals while mowing the lawn."
The original rules were that the toe must be placed in a beer glass full of champagne, and that the toe must touch the drinker's lips during the consumption of the alcohol before he or she can claim to be a true Sourtoer.
The rules have changed in the past 27 years. The Sourtoe can now be had with any drink now, but one rule remains the same: "You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow -- But the lips have gotta touch the toe."
From: http://atlasobscura.com/place/sourtoe-cocktail
Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition, and is exactly what is sounds like: An actual human toe that has been dehydrated, preserved in salt, and served in a drink.
According to the story, Yukon local Captain Dick Stevenson found the toe preserved in the jar of alcohol while cleaning a cabin in 1973. After discussing it with friends, Captain Dick preserved and started serving the toe in a "Sourtoe Cocktail" at the Eldorado hotel bar.
The first toe is said to have belonged to a miner and rum runner named Louie Liken, who had his frostbitten appendage amputated in the 1920s. Likens preserved it in a a jar of alcohol in his cabin, until Captain Dick Stevenson found it some 50 years later.
Unfortunately the first toe only lasted for seven more years after that. According to the Sourtoe Cocktail Club, "In July 1980, a miner named Garry Younger was trying for the Sourtoe record. On his thirteenth glass of Sourtoe champagne his chair tipped over backwards and he swallowed the toe. Sadly, Toe #1 was not recovered."
Since then seven more toes have been donated to the bar. Number two was given after an amputation due to an inoperable corn, number three was from a victim frostbite (it was also swallowed accidentally), four was an anonymous toe (stolen by a hunter), toes five and six were donated by a Yukon old-timer in return for free drinks for his nurses, toe seven was an amputation due to diabetes and toe eight arrived in a jar of alcohol with the message "Don't wear open toed sandals while mowing the lawn."
The original rules were that the toe must be placed in a beer glass full of champagne, and that the toe must touch the drinker's lips during the consumption of the alcohol before he or she can claim to be a true Sourtoer.
The rules have changed in the past 27 years. The Sourtoe can now be had with any drink now, but one rule remains the same: "You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow -- But the lips have gotta touch the toe."
From: http://atlasobscura.com/place/sourtoe-cocktail
Man charged with stabbing wife, son, grandson
By Matthew Harris and Andrew Staub (TIMES SHAMROCK WRITERS)
Published: June 21, 2010
SUGARLOAF - Wielding a makeshift spear, a 66-year-old Wilkes-Barre man killed his 62-year-old wife, stabbed his son and wounded his young grandson late Saturday night after arguing about Father's Day plans, police said Sunday morning.
Harun Ngolo, 28 Simpson St., stabbed his wife, Maria Jeringa Ngolo, several times with a knife attached to a long wooden pole about 11 p.m. Saturday after she said she wanted to visit a casino today, police said.
Police responding to the incident also found 3-year-old Noah Cobin with cuts on his legs, and Harun Ngola's 28-year-old son, Moses Ngolo, sprawled on the floor with stab wounds to the stomach and chest, police said. Both were hospitalized.
Ngolo faces charges of homicide and aggravated and simple assault.
"Again, this is another case of domestic violence turned deadly," Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said during a morning news conference. "We've said it before in these cases that this does not have to happen, that there is help available for people. It's important that they try to get out of the situation, and the person who perpetuates these crimes can get help."
The dispute began late Saturday night, when Harun and Maria Ngolo began arguing in their second-floor bedroom, police said. Earlier in the night, Harun Ngolo had brought a "garden tool" from the basement to the bedroom for protection, a tool authorities say he later used to strike his wife, son and grandson during the argument, police said.
While he was watching a movie with his son in a third-floor room, Moses Ngolo told police he heard his parents arguing - a disagreement that climaxed with Maria Ngolo screaming, "Moses, help. He's killing the baby, he's killing me," according to court documents. Grabbing a metal bar from a music stand in his room, Moses Ngolo kicked in his parents' door and entered the dark room only to be stabbed by his father when he tried to grab the toddler, police said.
After running downstairs to call 911, Moses Ngolo returned to his parents' bedroom and found his mother on her knees and his father swinging his weapon at her, police said. A fleeing Moses Ngolo later collapsed in the front door downstairs, where police later found him, according to court documents.
Responding police officers kicked in the bedroom door and found a blood-stained Harun Ngolo standing above his wife, the spear laying on the floor by the bed, police said. Authorities also found Cobin on the bed, with slashes on his legs, according to court documents.
Cobin and Maria and Moses Ngolo were all taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, where doctors pronounced Maria Ngolo dead at 12:43 a.m. Sunday. Cobin has since been released, Musto Carroll said, while Moses Ngolo remains in the hospital in fair condition.
An autopsy on Maria Ngolo will be performed this morning, Luzerne County Coroner John P. Corcoran said.
As Harun Ngolo arrived at District Justice Daniel O'Donnell's office about 11:30 a.m. Sunday for arraignment, the diminutive man who immigrated from Zaire in 1994 trudged into the door, refusing to answer reporters' questions.
Before being escorted to a waiting police van outside, Ngolo sat in a room with two officers and shook his head.
Harun Ngolo remains in Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he was remanded without bail until his preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.
From: http://thedailyreview.com/news/man-charged-with-stabbing-wife-son-grandson-1.857406
Published: June 21, 2010
SUGARLOAF - Wielding a makeshift spear, a 66-year-old Wilkes-Barre man killed his 62-year-old wife, stabbed his son and wounded his young grandson late Saturday night after arguing about Father's Day plans, police said Sunday morning.
Harun Ngolo, 28 Simpson St., stabbed his wife, Maria Jeringa Ngolo, several times with a knife attached to a long wooden pole about 11 p.m. Saturday after she said she wanted to visit a casino today, police said.
Police responding to the incident also found 3-year-old Noah Cobin with cuts on his legs, and Harun Ngola's 28-year-old son, Moses Ngolo, sprawled on the floor with stab wounds to the stomach and chest, police said. Both were hospitalized.
Ngolo faces charges of homicide and aggravated and simple assault.
"Again, this is another case of domestic violence turned deadly," Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said during a morning news conference. "We've said it before in these cases that this does not have to happen, that there is help available for people. It's important that they try to get out of the situation, and the person who perpetuates these crimes can get help."
The dispute began late Saturday night, when Harun and Maria Ngolo began arguing in their second-floor bedroom, police said. Earlier in the night, Harun Ngolo had brought a "garden tool" from the basement to the bedroom for protection, a tool authorities say he later used to strike his wife, son and grandson during the argument, police said.
While he was watching a movie with his son in a third-floor room, Moses Ngolo told police he heard his parents arguing - a disagreement that climaxed with Maria Ngolo screaming, "Moses, help. He's killing the baby, he's killing me," according to court documents. Grabbing a metal bar from a music stand in his room, Moses Ngolo kicked in his parents' door and entered the dark room only to be stabbed by his father when he tried to grab the toddler, police said.
After running downstairs to call 911, Moses Ngolo returned to his parents' bedroom and found his mother on her knees and his father swinging his weapon at her, police said. A fleeing Moses Ngolo later collapsed in the front door downstairs, where police later found him, according to court documents.
Responding police officers kicked in the bedroom door and found a blood-stained Harun Ngolo standing above his wife, the spear laying on the floor by the bed, police said. Authorities also found Cobin on the bed, with slashes on his legs, according to court documents.
Cobin and Maria and Moses Ngolo were all taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, where doctors pronounced Maria Ngolo dead at 12:43 a.m. Sunday. Cobin has since been released, Musto Carroll said, while Moses Ngolo remains in the hospital in fair condition.
An autopsy on Maria Ngolo will be performed this morning, Luzerne County Coroner John P. Corcoran said.
As Harun Ngolo arrived at District Justice Daniel O'Donnell's office about 11:30 a.m. Sunday for arraignment, the diminutive man who immigrated from Zaire in 1994 trudged into the door, refusing to answer reporters' questions.
Before being escorted to a waiting police van outside, Ngolo sat in a room with two officers and shook his head.
Harun Ngolo remains in Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he was remanded without bail until his preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Thursday.
From: http://thedailyreview.com/news/man-charged-with-stabbing-wife-son-grandson-1.857406
Church takes man's life savings
Last updated 05:00 21/06/2010
A Napier church took at least $20,000 in donations from a disabled rest home resident with head injuries and rejected pleas not to take the last of his life savings.
Rest home manager Lucy Dever said the church now had the last of Mr Abraham's life savings and he could not afford dental care for rotting teeth.
Mr Abraham, 54, was a partial tetraplegic with head injuries, after being hit by a car in 1986, Ms Dever said.
"He's got no family or next-of-kin on our list, and they've taken everything from him. It is unethical, immoral and I believe un-Christian.
"He used to have a nest egg but now he has no life savings. He believes if he doesn't give it to them, he won't go to heaven."
About a year ago, when she discovered the rate at which Mr Abraham was handing over his life savings – he gave about $10,000 in 2008 – she spoke to church pastor Bruce Collingwood.
"I explained that he is not a wealthy man. He is nearly on the poverty line and the money he had, he needed. Sure, some could go to the church, but not all of it.
"The pastor said it was Whetu's choice and said it was tithing [taking a tenth of a person's income for the church]," Ms Dever said.
She questioned how it could be tithing as Mr Abraham was "certainly not" on an income of at least $100,000 for the church to take 10 per cent.
Ms Dever said the church rejected her appeal to stop accepting large donations from Mr Abraham and came to the rest home to give him a donation certificate so he could claim a third of the money back from Inland Revenue.
"I guess they wanted that from him too," she said.
The following year the church received $11,895 from Mr Abraham including one donation of $5000 in May.
Mr Abraham said he gave the church money because of his faith.
"Hopefully, my understanding is simple, you help them, they help you. They used to come and visit me [in the rest home] but it's not often now."
Mr Abraham said he also catered for weddings at the church, buying from a local bakery, but he stopped doing that when "I didn't get recognised".
Ms Dever said she spoke again to Mr Collingwood in April this year when she discovered Mr Abraham had exhausted his life savings.
"He [Mr Collingwood] said there was nothing wrong with what they were doing and he has a different outlook on money.
Mr Collingwood declined to comment yesterday.
"I don't like the spin of the media. No comment at all thank you."
A Victoria University religious studies lecturer, Geoff Troughton, said tithing generally meant taking a tenth of a person's income but the word had different meanings for different churches and cultures.
He said Pentecostal churches like Elim were often a "more enclosed complete social world" and tended to take a stronger position on biblical teaching on giving donations than other churches such as Anglican.
From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3832919/Church-takes-mans-life-savings
Fox mauls British boy in school playground
By Vince Soodin and Bryan Flynn of The Sun in London From: NewsCore June 21, 2010 9:43PM
A THREE-year-old British boy was rushed to the hospital after he was mauled by a fox at a school playground.
The terrified boy suffered cuts to his hands and feet when the animal savaged him after he tugged on its tail, UK newspaper The Sun reported.
The youngster, who was not named, was treated in the hospital for bites and scratches, and went home to recover.
It was thought that the boy was at a party at Dorothy Stringer High School in Brighton, southern England, when he saw the creature's tail poking out from beneath a raised classroom.
He went over and yanked it - and the fox turned and attacked. Horrified onlookers raced over and pulled the child clear.
An inspector from an RSPCA animal shelter called in after Saturday's incident could not trap the fox, which scurried off after the attack.
Staff at the school told the inspector that the fox lived under the building for about a year.
A spokesman said: "The child had approached the fox. The fox had not approached the child. The child had touched the fox's tail and was bitten.
"Fox attacks are rare," he added.
The attack came two weeks after a fox crept into a London home and attacked nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis while they were in their cribs.
Isabella underwent an emergency operation and was on a ventilator. She may need plastic surgery for arm wounds. Her sister suffered serious facial and arm injuries.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/fox-mauls-uk-boy-in-school-playground/story-e6frfku0-1225882473738
A THREE-year-old British boy was rushed to the hospital after he was mauled by a fox at a school playground.
The terrified boy suffered cuts to his hands and feet when the animal savaged him after he tugged on its tail, UK newspaper The Sun reported.
The youngster, who was not named, was treated in the hospital for bites and scratches, and went home to recover.
It was thought that the boy was at a party at Dorothy Stringer High School in Brighton, southern England, when he saw the creature's tail poking out from beneath a raised classroom.
He went over and yanked it - and the fox turned and attacked. Horrified onlookers raced over and pulled the child clear.
An inspector from an RSPCA animal shelter called in after Saturday's incident could not trap the fox, which scurried off after the attack.
Staff at the school told the inspector that the fox lived under the building for about a year.
A spokesman said: "The child had approached the fox. The fox had not approached the child. The child had touched the fox's tail and was bitten.
"Fox attacks are rare," he added.
The attack came two weeks after a fox crept into a London home and attacked nine-month-old twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis while they were in their cribs.
Isabella underwent an emergency operation and was on a ventilator. She may need plastic surgery for arm wounds. Her sister suffered serious facial and arm injuries.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/fox-mauls-uk-boy-in-school-playground/story-e6frfku0-1225882473738
French 'cannibal' on trial for killing and eating cellmate
NewsCore June 21, 2010 11:16PM
A FRENCHMAN went on trial today for allegedly killing his prison cellmate and then slicing open his chest to remove and consume his heart - but eating his lung by mistake.
Nicolas Cocaign, 39, appeared in court in the northern city of Rouen for allegedly killing Thierry Baudry in January 2007 by punching and kicking him, stabbing him with a pair of scissors and suffocating him with a rubbish bag.
Cocaign then allegedly sliced open Baudry's chest with a razor blade, removed a rib and pulled out an organ which he believed was the man's heart, but which in fact was a lung.
He was accused of eating part of the lung raw and then frying the rest of it with some onions on a makeshift cooker in the cell in Rouen prison.
"I wanted to take his soul," Cocaign, who at the time of the crime was in custody awaiting trial for attempted armed robbery, allegedly told an investigating judge probing the case.
A verdict is expected to be reached on Thursday.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/french-cannibal-on-trial-for-killing-and-eating-cellmate/story-e6frfku0-1225882492534
A FRENCHMAN went on trial today for allegedly killing his prison cellmate and then slicing open his chest to remove and consume his heart - but eating his lung by mistake.
Nicolas Cocaign, 39, appeared in court in the northern city of Rouen for allegedly killing Thierry Baudry in January 2007 by punching and kicking him, stabbing him with a pair of scissors and suffocating him with a rubbish bag.
Cocaign then allegedly sliced open Baudry's chest with a razor blade, removed a rib and pulled out an organ which he believed was the man's heart, but which in fact was a lung.
He was accused of eating part of the lung raw and then frying the rest of it with some onions on a makeshift cooker in the cell in Rouen prison.
"I wanted to take his soul," Cocaign, who at the time of the crime was in custody awaiting trial for attempted armed robbery, allegedly told an investigating judge probing the case.
A verdict is expected to be reached on Thursday.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/french-cannibal-on-trial-for-killing-and-eating-cellmate/story-e6frfku0-1225882492534
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sex Substitutes
The Science of Sex
Basic Sex Differences (4) Sex Substitutes; Excerpts from Section 14 of The Tyranny of Ambiguity. Taken from http://heretical.com/
BASIC INSTINCTS: PRIMARY SEXUAL EXPRESSIONS OF MALES AND FEMALES. SUBSTITUTES. Clearly people do not usually have all the sex they desire, so substitutes are found. Based on the basic sexual instincts of males and females, an examination of sex substitutes can be made.
MALE SEX SUBSTITUTES. Males are basically pleasure-seekers. The primary sexual activity of the male is physical sexual activity; that is, copulating. A major group of male sex substitutes satisfy the male's pleasure-seeking instincts. Another major group of substitutes take the form of a build up of tension followed by its resolution.
Males substitute for sex anything which builds up to a climax and is then resolved. A very obvious example is competitive sport, which combines the instincts for an accumulation of tension and its resolution with competition. It satisfies both the aggressive and competitive instincts and finally the male is given a ranking, a number, which is a measure of his success.
It is not true that males are only interested in the short term, but they do desire resolvement as quickly as possible so that their energies can be directed most efficiently. The energy being expended on an unresolved target may be being completely wasted.
Males may substitute power, or business, or the pursuit of a particular objective for sex.
DRUGS AS A SEX SUBSTITUTE. Psychoactive substances such as marijuana, heroin and alcohol can be used as sex substitutes because they stimulate the pleasure centres which normally provide encouragement, that is, reinforcement, to have sex. One reason opiate addicts are thin is because they lose their desire to eat due to the pleasure reinforcement of eating being relegated to comparative insignificance by the sensations provided by their drug of addiction. They also usually have a very much suppressed sex drive.
In a famous laboratory experiment the brain of a rat was wired directly to its pleasure centre. The rat received a preset dose of pleasure whenever it pushed its nose against a button on the side of its cage. The amount of pleasure which was delivered was gradually increased until above a certain threshold the rat spent all its time repeatedly pushing the button and, thus neglecting to eat, starved to death.
It seems that our natural addiction to sex is hijacked by these substances, which provide a similar sense of well-being to that obtained by sex, by stimulating or supplanting normal endorphin production. This might be particularly true of opiate addiction. Further, the nature of these substances is that an individual takes some of the drug and after some time, wants more. A reinforcing cycle is established. There may be parallels to be drawn with the Satiation/Insatiation Effect but most substance abuse is by males because they are predominantly pleasure-seekers, while females are predominantly relationship-carers.7
There are certainly accounts of users falling in love with their drug, for example someone describing how they became addicted to heroin: they "Just, well, fell in love with it, I suppose." I remembered a similar experience myself when once becoming re-addicted to tobacco; I had the same sensation briefly, of falling in love with it.
As to whether marijuana is addictive, it is certainly true that a tolerance to it can be acquired and this is halfway to addiction. Marijuana is definitely psychologically addictive. Clearly if a tolerance can be acquired then some adjustment is required to return to the normal state, and this is an essential component of the addictive cycle.
FEMALE SEX SUBSTITUTES. Food is a major female sex substitute. Females also substitute intimacy with each other for an intimate relationship with a male. Many females are clearly preoccupied with domestic pets. By this stage of these investigations it has become clear that domestic pets, perhaps especially cats, are a female sex substitute. Cats are a substitute for sex, or at least what females are biologically conditioned for in sex. There were the quotes in Section 3, particularly "My cats are my children."
SUBSTITUTION AND SUBLIMATION. There is however a definite distinction to be made between substitution and sublimation. It is proposed that the first stage in the evolution of neurosis and its sublimation is music and religion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES
7. Many drugs involve risk, including the risk of losing control of the addiction, and the use of psychoactive drugs is normally discouraged by elders. This might be compared with sex, which for a young male might be discouraged or forbidden, especially until a few decades ago, and there may be a danger of discovery of a clandestine relationship.
F21US1 reported having met two female intravenous heroin users who experienced orgasms at their moment of injection. Possibly the ritual in which many addicts indulge prior to their fix may be analogous to foreplay, with the injection in these two separate cases then inducing orgasm.
From: http://heretical.com/toa/toa-s14d.html
Basic Sex Differences (4) Sex Substitutes; Excerpts from Section 14 of The Tyranny of Ambiguity. Taken from http://heretical.com/
BASIC INSTINCTS: PRIMARY SEXUAL EXPRESSIONS OF MALES AND FEMALES. SUBSTITUTES. Clearly people do not usually have all the sex they desire, so substitutes are found. Based on the basic sexual instincts of males and females, an examination of sex substitutes can be made.
MALE SEX SUBSTITUTES. Males are basically pleasure-seekers. The primary sexual activity of the male is physical sexual activity; that is, copulating. A major group of male sex substitutes satisfy the male's pleasure-seeking instincts. Another major group of substitutes take the form of a build up of tension followed by its resolution.
Males substitute for sex anything which builds up to a climax and is then resolved. A very obvious example is competitive sport, which combines the instincts for an accumulation of tension and its resolution with competition. It satisfies both the aggressive and competitive instincts and finally the male is given a ranking, a number, which is a measure of his success.
It is not true that males are only interested in the short term, but they do desire resolvement as quickly as possible so that their energies can be directed most efficiently. The energy being expended on an unresolved target may be being completely wasted.
Males may substitute power, or business, or the pursuit of a particular objective for sex.
DRUGS AS A SEX SUBSTITUTE. Psychoactive substances such as marijuana, heroin and alcohol can be used as sex substitutes because they stimulate the pleasure centres which normally provide encouragement, that is, reinforcement, to have sex. One reason opiate addicts are thin is because they lose their desire to eat due to the pleasure reinforcement of eating being relegated to comparative insignificance by the sensations provided by their drug of addiction. They also usually have a very much suppressed sex drive.
In a famous laboratory experiment the brain of a rat was wired directly to its pleasure centre. The rat received a preset dose of pleasure whenever it pushed its nose against a button on the side of its cage. The amount of pleasure which was delivered was gradually increased until above a certain threshold the rat spent all its time repeatedly pushing the button and, thus neglecting to eat, starved to death.
It seems that our natural addiction to sex is hijacked by these substances, which provide a similar sense of well-being to that obtained by sex, by stimulating or supplanting normal endorphin production. This might be particularly true of opiate addiction. Further, the nature of these substances is that an individual takes some of the drug and after some time, wants more. A reinforcing cycle is established. There may be parallels to be drawn with the Satiation/Insatiation Effect but most substance abuse is by males because they are predominantly pleasure-seekers, while females are predominantly relationship-carers.7
There are certainly accounts of users falling in love with their drug, for example someone describing how they became addicted to heroin: they "Just, well, fell in love with it, I suppose." I remembered a similar experience myself when once becoming re-addicted to tobacco; I had the same sensation briefly, of falling in love with it.
As to whether marijuana is addictive, it is certainly true that a tolerance to it can be acquired and this is halfway to addiction. Marijuana is definitely psychologically addictive. Clearly if a tolerance can be acquired then some adjustment is required to return to the normal state, and this is an essential component of the addictive cycle.
FEMALE SEX SUBSTITUTES. Food is a major female sex substitute. Females also substitute intimacy with each other for an intimate relationship with a male. Many females are clearly preoccupied with domestic pets. By this stage of these investigations it has become clear that domestic pets, perhaps especially cats, are a female sex substitute. Cats are a substitute for sex, or at least what females are biologically conditioned for in sex. There were the quotes in Section 3, particularly "My cats are my children."
SUBSTITUTION AND SUBLIMATION. There is however a definite distinction to be made between substitution and sublimation. It is proposed that the first stage in the evolution of neurosis and its sublimation is music and religion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTES
7. Many drugs involve risk, including the risk of losing control of the addiction, and the use of psychoactive drugs is normally discouraged by elders. This might be compared with sex, which for a young male might be discouraged or forbidden, especially until a few decades ago, and there may be a danger of discovery of a clandestine relationship.
F21US1 reported having met two female intravenous heroin users who experienced orgasms at their moment of injection. Possibly the ritual in which many addicts indulge prior to their fix may be analogous to foreplay, with the injection in these two separate cases then inducing orgasm.
From: http://heretical.com/toa/toa-s14d.html
Excerpt from The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin
For my part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs – as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2nd ed., John Murray, London, 1874, pp. 946
'Worst ever' animal cruelty case as cat is microwaved, tumble dried and frozen
Jun 19 2010
THUGS cooked a cat in a microwave, stuck it in a tumble drier, put it in a freezer and then tried to drown it in a bowl of dishwater - and it survived.
Police described the attack as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen. A man was arrested and the cat was being cared for by the RSPCA.
The one-year-old cat's owner - a boy of four - was heartbroken by the cruelty inflicted on his pet.
It's believed the man who was arrested was his uncle. Police were also quizzing two 16-year-old boys.
Officers in Teignmouth, Devon, were alerted when mobile phone video footage of the sickening episode was handed to police.
PC Phil Colley said the cat was smoking after being put in the microwave for 10 seconds.
He added: "I was horrified when I saw the footage. I felt sick.
The cat has suffered a terrible ordeal and it is not certain it will recover."
Rspca inspector Jim Farr said: "Of all the appalling things I have seen, this is at the top of the list."
From: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2010/06/19/worst-ever-animal-cruelty-case-as-cat-is-microwaved-tumble-dried-and-frozen-86908-22344363/
THUGS cooked a cat in a microwave, stuck it in a tumble drier, put it in a freezer and then tried to drown it in a bowl of dishwater - and it survived.
Police described the attack as the worst case of animal cruelty they had ever seen. A man was arrested and the cat was being cared for by the RSPCA.
The one-year-old cat's owner - a boy of four - was heartbroken by the cruelty inflicted on his pet.
It's believed the man who was arrested was his uncle. Police were also quizzing two 16-year-old boys.
Officers in Teignmouth, Devon, were alerted when mobile phone video footage of the sickening episode was handed to police.
PC Phil Colley said the cat was smoking after being put in the microwave for 10 seconds.
He added: "I was horrified when I saw the footage. I felt sick.
The cat has suffered a terrible ordeal and it is not certain it will recover."
Rspca inspector Jim Farr said: "Of all the appalling things I have seen, this is at the top of the list."
From: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2010/06/19/worst-ever-animal-cruelty-case-as-cat-is-microwaved-tumble-dried-and-frozen-86908-22344363/
Drunk Mom Poops Her Pants During Traffic Stop
Published: June 10, 2010
Updated: June 10, 2010 - 11:49 AM
ELYRIA, Ohio -- It was a sobering moment for an Elyria mother when police arrested her on a DUI charge last Friday afternoon.
Officers said 46-year-old Wendy Phillips was driving drunk with her 4-year-old daughter in the backseat.
Elyria police stopped Phillips about a block away from the police station Friday, June 4.
She pulled out in front of a cruiser and drove off the side of the road, almost hitting a stop sign police said.
Officers said she threw out a bottle as officers approached her vehicle. Police said it was a vodka bottle. Oddly enough, the bottle broke in the Courthouse driveway.
Officers said Phillips was unable to stand safely on her own when pulled over.
Apparently, being pulled over literally scared the crap out of Phillips.
"I pooped my pants. I ate too much corn," she told officers.
Phillips was charged with DUI, child endangering and reasonable control.
Phillips has a previous drunk driving charge as well.
From: http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/jun/10/2/police-drunk-mom-poops-her-pants-during-traffic-st-ar-104389/
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Panic Beats (1982)
Mondo Macabro
The Spanish horror industry had pretty much come to a halt by 1975, even though that was the year General Franco died and censorship was no longer a burden for the country's filmmakers. By 1976, Spanish horror star extradonaire Paul Naschy started directing his own films (he was already starring in and writing them) and was really able to put his imagination and creativity in full swing -- 1982’s PANIC BEATS (LATIDOS DE PANICO) continues this tradition, giving us Naschy at his most outrageous best, and it’s a fine introduction for those not familiar with his eccentric world of cinema.
PANIC BEATS begins with a totally nude woman with welts on her body, running through a misty forest full of decayed skeletons. A knight on horseback is chasing her, and we soon learn that he is Alaric de Marnac (a wicked character Naschy first created for HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB), viciously killing her for her unfaithful ways. After the credits role, we are taken to the present where a descendent of Marnac named Paul (Naschy) is married to the wealthy Geneviève (Julia Saly) was has some serious heart problems. Paul decides to take her to his ancestral home in the country for some peace and quiet, but the superstitious-filled setting opens a Pandora’s Box of terrible occurrences.
Extras include a documentary on Spanish horror entitled “Sand and Blood” (19:28). Originally produced for U.K. television, it presents a nice overview on the subject, with a number of film clips and poster art on display, as well as on-camera interviews with Naschy, Caroline Munro, Jorge Grau, José Ramón Larraz, the late Amando Do Ossorio and others. Even better is an all-new featurette entitled “Paul Naschy On... His Life In Cinema,” which runs nearly 30 minutes. Here, Naschy (speaking in Spanish and supported by English subtitles) discusses his early influences, his first starring role, the success of WEREWOLF SHADOW, as well as PANIC BEATS, a film he seems to be very passionate about. Among Naschy’s anecdotes is the fact that the film was actually shot in a house formerly owned by the late General Franco! Naschy gives a great, enthusiastic interview, so hopefully his participation will be graced on the countless number of his classics yet to make it to DVD! Also included is an impressive still and poster gallery (including some behind-the-scenes photos and shots of the poster-decorated theater when the film premiered in Spain), as well as a Mondo Macabro promo trailer of current and future releases.
(George R. Reis)
From: http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/n-s/panicbeats8283.htm
'Wicked' woman saw four innocent men arrested after slashing her own face and crying rape
Last updated at 10:21 PM on 18th June 2010
A woman who sparked a £150,000 police investigation by ripping her clothes and giving herself a black eye, then lying about a violent sex attack, has been told she will be jailed.
Four students spent nearly three days behind bars as a result of the convincing injuries Leyla Ibrahim inflicted on herself, with one of the suspects attempting to kill himself.
But detectives became suspicious of the 22-year-old’s story and the men were released without charge.
It emerged Ibrahim invented the attack after a row with a male friend when he refused to lend her the money for a taxi home after a night out.
Deciding she ‘wanted to teach people a lesson’, a court heard she cut and tore the blue frilly dress she was wearing as well as her black leggings and bra, leaving her breasts partially exposed.
She also hacked off clumps of her own hair, gave herself a black eye and a suspected broken cheekbone, scratched her breasts and legs and finally left one of her shoes at the scene of the supposed attack.
Last night, however, the former children’s holiday rep was behind bars after being convicted of perverting the course of justice.
She wept as the judge denied her bail, telling her a prison term ‘of some length’ was inevitable for ‘wickedly fabricating a grave crime’ which had caused ‘countless anguish’.
Ibrahim’s elaborate plot began following a night out in her home town of Carlisle in January last year, a court heard.
After being taken for X-rays on her injuries, she told police two youths had knocked her to the ground as she walked home along a footpath, subjecting her to a violent sexual assault.
She told detectives she grabbed a pair of scissors from a sewing kit in her handbag, only for one of the pair to snatch them from her and cut off a clump of her hair.
More than 40 officers were assigned to the case, and four local students were arrested and questioned for a total of 64 hours, during which time one attempted to kill himself.
But police became suspicious when it emerged Ibrahim’s injuries were inconsistent with being attacked and they began investigating her behaviour.
Tim Evans, prosecuting, told Carlisle Crown Court the trigger for the allegations was that Ibrahim had been ‘angry and upset’ at being forced to walk home after a male friend refused to lend her money for a taxi or let her share his.
She put her head in her hands after a jury took just two and a half hours to come to a unanimous guilty verdict, and her distraught mother Sandra and sister Samira ran from the court in tears.
Ibrahim, who came to Britain from Libya with her family when she was nine and worked at a petrol station at the time of the alleged attack, was told by Judge Paul Batty QC she would be jailed.
‘Not only did these false allegations have an effect on four young men, but also a considerable effect on your own family,’ he said.
‘You were convicted on clear and compelling evidence of wickedly fabricating a grave crime, causing countless anguish to all involved.’
He added: ‘A custodial sentence is inevitable because this crime strikes to the heart of the criminal justice system.’
Afterwards district crown prosecutor Linda Vance said such cases were rare and that Ibrahim had only been charged after ‘careful consideration’.
‘False allegations undermine genuine victims of rape and the continuing efforts of the criminal justice system to improve the confidence of those victims,’ she said.
Ibrahim is due to be sentenced next month.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287625/Woman-sparked-150-000-manhunt-slashing-face-crying-rape-faces-jail.html
"I killed, cut off heads" says repentant Mexico hitman
Robin Emmott and Julian Cardona 06/19/2010
The kills started with a telephone call and often ended with a beheading, but they were all just jobs for the drug hitman, one of maybe hundreds that have scarred Ciudad Juarez's streets. He now says the tortured faces of the dead haunt him.
Recounting his years as a hired killer, he says most of his jobs began with a voice down the phone telling him where to meet. At the safe house he would find the weapons and the hit squad. They would pass around a photo of their target -- a police chief who owed money, a politician who got in the way -- and wait for the signal, sometimes for days.
The target can be at home, at the office, outside a mall, or on patrol, but the killers rarely struggle to find their prey. Bodyguards are regularly bought off.
Several shots to the back of the head or a tight ring of bullets through the car door and into the body is enough.
The killers are told to cut off the victim's head if he talked too much. They will saw off his arms and fingers if he stole drugs and cash. And they'll chop up his body if they've been told to.
"There are things people do that they shouldn't, and that is the punishment," the hitman and former Mexican police officer told Reuters from a secure location in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Fearing for his safety, he asked to have his identity kept secret. He spoke in almost a whisper, his eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. A row of broken teeth were just visible behind his bottom lip.
Hitmen working for murderous drug gangs are turning Mexico, a top U.S. oil supplier and trade partner and a prominent emerging market economy that has scored points for political stability, into a conflict zone that is alarming Washington, tourists and foreign investors.
President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on the drug cartels in late 2006, sparking fresh turf wars and attacks on police, and more than 25,000 people have since been killed across Mexico, many of them tortured, beheaded or strung from bridges. June is on pace to be among the bloodiest months yet.
KILLERS NOW ABOUND
This hitman used to get up to $15,000 (10,142 pounds) in cash for each murder. "They pay peanuts now," he said, waving his arm out of a large skylight over a group of abandoned houses in Ciudad Juarez, where a staggering 5,500 people have died in drug violence over the past 2-1/2 years.
Everybody is a cartel killer these days, he said. Drug dealers, addicts, low-level cops, teenagers. "They kill women and children, they're very careless," he said, insisting he was a professional since his first execution at age 17.
"I killed, cut off heads," he said coldly.
Now in this late 30s, he worked for years along the U.S. border, in the states of Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Well before the drug war escalated, he moved to Ciudad Juarez where top trafficker Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman from northwestern Sinaloa state sent his henchmen to take on the rival Juarez cartel and win over smuggling routes into the United States.
"I had a lot of work in 2008, sometimes several jobs a day," the hitman said, flinching, in a solemn reference to the explosion of violence in the manufacturing city.
He was paid to murder businessmen, local government officials and senior policemen, never small-time smugglers. The hitman apparently worked for Guzman, but refused to say the kingpin's name. "You know who I mean," the hitman said.
After 20 years in the business, he couldn't take it anymore and he got out. "I've changed my life." He holds a Bible, he is repentant, he is a born-again Christian and he has a wife. He says the past weighs on his conscience.
"So many times you see how the people end up, their heads shot to pieces. It gets ingrained in your mind, however evil the guy was who had to die, it stays in your brain."
POLICEMAN TO HITMAN
He says at first he was nervous, shaking. He did it drugged, but he knew how to handle a handgun because he had been well-trained as a police officer in his home state of Durango, northwestern Mexico.
Durango, where many poor farmers have turned their land over for marijuana cultivation, is where middle-aged Guzman held a wedding ceremony with a new 18-year-old bride in 2007. It is 'narco' territory, and it's where the hitman learned the business.
A high-school dropout, he and his group of school friends smuggled marijuana down from the lush mountain farms to Durango city, passing through army checkpoints at designated times.
"There were arrangements," he said. He joined the police force a little later but only lasted a year, enough time to learn how to use an automatic weapon.
He witnessed Mexico's deep police corruption first hand in Durango and picked up what he needed to know about kidnapping, extortions, bribing officials and contract killings.
"That's when I became what I am, I was in Sinaloa, Durango, I was in charge of three areas with other friends, we managed criminal operations, persecutions, kidnappings."
Carrying various cell phones and always on the move, he learned to live a low-key lifestyle: drive an old car, never travel with weapons, and permanently on call.
"There are people in Juarez who handle us, distribute us between jobs. We come from all over, we just come in to do what we come to do, we make the kill and get out, disappear."
From: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100618/tpl-uk-mexico-drugs-hitman-81f3b62.html
The kills started with a telephone call and often ended with a beheading, but they were all just jobs for the drug hitman, one of maybe hundreds that have scarred Ciudad Juarez's streets. He now says the tortured faces of the dead haunt him.
Recounting his years as a hired killer, he says most of his jobs began with a voice down the phone telling him where to meet. At the safe house he would find the weapons and the hit squad. They would pass around a photo of their target -- a police chief who owed money, a politician who got in the way -- and wait for the signal, sometimes for days.
The target can be at home, at the office, outside a mall, or on patrol, but the killers rarely struggle to find their prey. Bodyguards are regularly bought off.
Several shots to the back of the head or a tight ring of bullets through the car door and into the body is enough.
The killers are told to cut off the victim's head if he talked too much. They will saw off his arms and fingers if he stole drugs and cash. And they'll chop up his body if they've been told to.
"There are things people do that they shouldn't, and that is the punishment," the hitman and former Mexican police officer told Reuters from a secure location in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
Fearing for his safety, he asked to have his identity kept secret. He spoke in almost a whisper, his eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. A row of broken teeth were just visible behind his bottom lip.
Hitmen working for murderous drug gangs are turning Mexico, a top U.S. oil supplier and trade partner and a prominent emerging market economy that has scored points for political stability, into a conflict zone that is alarming Washington, tourists and foreign investors.
President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on the drug cartels in late 2006, sparking fresh turf wars and attacks on police, and more than 25,000 people have since been killed across Mexico, many of them tortured, beheaded or strung from bridges. June is on pace to be among the bloodiest months yet.
KILLERS NOW ABOUND
This hitman used to get up to $15,000 (10,142 pounds) in cash for each murder. "They pay peanuts now," he said, waving his arm out of a large skylight over a group of abandoned houses in Ciudad Juarez, where a staggering 5,500 people have died in drug violence over the past 2-1/2 years.
Everybody is a cartel killer these days, he said. Drug dealers, addicts, low-level cops, teenagers. "They kill women and children, they're very careless," he said, insisting he was a professional since his first execution at age 17.
"I killed, cut off heads," he said coldly.
Now in this late 30s, he worked for years along the U.S. border, in the states of Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora.
Well before the drug war escalated, he moved to Ciudad Juarez where top trafficker Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman from northwestern Sinaloa state sent his henchmen to take on the rival Juarez cartel and win over smuggling routes into the United States.
"I had a lot of work in 2008, sometimes several jobs a day," the hitman said, flinching, in a solemn reference to the explosion of violence in the manufacturing city.
He was paid to murder businessmen, local government officials and senior policemen, never small-time smugglers. The hitman apparently worked for Guzman, but refused to say the kingpin's name. "You know who I mean," the hitman said.
After 20 years in the business, he couldn't take it anymore and he got out. "I've changed my life." He holds a Bible, he is repentant, he is a born-again Christian and he has a wife. He says the past weighs on his conscience.
"So many times you see how the people end up, their heads shot to pieces. It gets ingrained in your mind, however evil the guy was who had to die, it stays in your brain."
POLICEMAN TO HITMAN
He says at first he was nervous, shaking. He did it drugged, but he knew how to handle a handgun because he had been well-trained as a police officer in his home state of Durango, northwestern Mexico.
Durango, where many poor farmers have turned their land over for marijuana cultivation, is where middle-aged Guzman held a wedding ceremony with a new 18-year-old bride in 2007. It is 'narco' territory, and it's where the hitman learned the business.
A high-school dropout, he and his group of school friends smuggled marijuana down from the lush mountain farms to Durango city, passing through army checkpoints at designated times.
"There were arrangements," he said. He joined the police force a little later but only lasted a year, enough time to learn how to use an automatic weapon.
He witnessed Mexico's deep police corruption first hand in Durango and picked up what he needed to know about kidnapping, extortions, bribing officials and contract killings.
"That's when I became what I am, I was in Sinaloa, Durango, I was in charge of three areas with other friends, we managed criminal operations, persecutions, kidnappings."
Carrying various cell phones and always on the move, he learned to live a low-key lifestyle: drive an old car, never travel with weapons, and permanently on call.
"There are people in Juarez who handle us, distribute us between jobs. We come from all over, we just come in to do what we come to do, we make the kill and get out, disappear."
From: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100618/tpl-uk-mexico-drugs-hitman-81f3b62.html
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"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches."
"Being is substance and life; life manifests by movement; movement is perpetuated by equilibrium; equilibrium is therefore the law of immortality.
"The doctrine of equality!... But there exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice itself, while it is the end of justice.... "Equality for equals, inequality for unequals" that would be the true voice of justice: and, what follows from it, "Never make equal what is unequal."
