posted 07-31-2002 09:33 PM            

In my thread, "Things are getting worse by the minute", I am documenting a lot of the things that are going wrong in this world ecologically. but in this thread, I want to document some of the unusul behavior patterns that are emerging now.

To begin this thread, I have chosen two articles to illustrate two of the extremes in human behavior that I must admit have really surprised me.

___________________________________________________________________

Today: July 31, 2002 at 17:00:11 PDT

Man Has Fatal Heart Attack on Train

By JAY LINDSAY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON- Authorities are investigating why a man who suffered a fatal heart attack on a commuter train had to wait about 20 minutes for medical attention while the train made its regular stops.

An assistant conductor, meanwhile, defended the crew, saying she performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on 61-year-old James Allen and that it would have been dangerous for the train to rush through stations without stopping.

Allen died Tuesday in the emergency room at Boston Medical Center, where he was taken when the train stopped in Boston, said Brian Pedro, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority.

Pedro on Wednesday said MBTA police were reviewing the emergency procedures of Amtrak, which provides crew for the commuter rail line, to see if there was negligence. Amtrak placed the train's conductor on administrative leave.

"We don't want to make this a witch hunt," Pedro said, saying that much was unknown about the nature of Allen's medical problems.

Allen, a coastal erosion specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, was stricken as the Framingham-to-Boston train arrived at its Auburndale stop. Although the crew was told of the emergency, passengers said the train continued on, stopping at West Newton and Newtonville before arriving at Boston's Back Bay station.

Paramedics had been dispatched to that station, where Allen got medical attention about 20 minutes after the attack apparently occurred.

MBTA general manager said Michael Mulhern said the train crew's response made little sense.

"This is truly a case where questions need to be answered," he said. adding that the "serious lapses in judgment" would be investigated, along with Amtrak's operating procedures.

In a statement, Amtrak said it would conduct a review of its emergency procedures with the MBTA. Spokeswoman Cecilia Cummings declined to comment further.

Amtrak has said it won't seek a new contract with the MBTA in June, when the pact expires. Pedro said the MBTA will insist on a greater say over emergency policies when a new company takes over.

Assistant conductor Susan Bergeron said it would have been dangerous for the train to simply blow past its stops. She said the crew did what it thought was best for the victim.

"The number one priority in everybody's mind is to save that man and help him," Bergeron said. "Everybody did their part, what they did best, to try to help that man."

Allen's wife of 30 years, Marlene, and their two children issued a statement saying the family was "in a state of shock and grief" and felt "it would be inappropriate to make any comment at this time."

Passengers said Allen was unconscious and apparently not breathing as the train pulled into the Auburndale station.

The train left Auburndale at 8:52 a.m. and the crew asked commuters over the public address system if anyone had medical expertise, passengers said. When the train pulled into West Newton, passengers asked a conductor if an ambulance would be there, said Dale Boam, of Natick.

"The conductor said, 'No, we have to go to Back Bay. There's not going to be anyone here - they can't get down the stairs,'" Boam said.

Newton Police Captain Michael Castro said that he has never heard of a problem with access at either of the Newton stations.

"The stairways are not excessively narrow," he said.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/jul/31/073106313.html

___________________________________________________________________

Today: July 31, 2002 at 11:40:16 PDT

Mob Kills 2 in Ill. After Van Crash

By LIZ AUSTIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO- Two men whose van jumped a curb and crashed into pedestrians died after an angry mob pulled them out and beat them with bricks, witnesses and police said.

Autopsies on Wednesday showed that Anthony Stuckey, 49, and Jack Moore, 62, both of Chicago, died from multiple injuries and blunt trauma, a spokeswoman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said. Both deaths were ruled homicides.

Witness Taquita Mixon said Stuckey and Moore collapsed to the ground when they were attacked after the crash.

"They hit them with bricks that came off the side of the building," Mixon told the Chicago Tribune. "They didn't have a chance. It was a brutal beat-down."

Virginia Stuckey said her son was an unemployed day laborer and factory worker who had lived with her since January.

"I really can't believe that anyone would kill someone like that," Stuckey, 72, said.

The three women who were hit remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon, two of them in fair condition and one in critical condition. At the scene, on a well-traveled street in the South Side neighborhood of Oakland, the van was gone and all that remained was police tape across bushes and trees in front of the building.

The accident happened just after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when the rental van apparently lost control and crashed into people on a porch, police Sgt. Robert Cargie said.

The occupants of the vehicle were then "attacked by a group in the area," he said.

Police said Moore and Stuckey lived nearby. It was not clear who was driving; the investigation was continuing.

Virginia Stuckey said her son was helping Moore move some items from an apartment. Stuckey said her son could not have been driving the van because he did not have a driver's license.

Mixon told the Tribune she was at the window of her apartment across the street when she saw the van swerve toward the house and strike three women.

"It all happened so fast, it seemed like he floored it or something," Mixon said.

She told the Tribune she called 911 and returned to see a crowd around the van, some of them helping the women. Mixon said she saw five or six men pull the driver and passenger out of the van and then punch, kick and beat them.

"I'm still in shock," said Kathryn Cooper, 56, Moore's cousin. "They should have known it was an accident. Why just take people and beat them?"

Stuckey died at Cook County Hospital and Moore died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Autopsies were planned.

Virginia Stuckey said doctors told her son died from blunt trauma.

"I hope they send them to prison ... they didn't have to do that," she said.

The Rev. Bamani Obadele, who lives nearby, said people in the community don't support that kind of street vigilantism.

"It was dead wrong," he said.

Police spokesman Officer Thomas Donegan said he is not sure about the number of people involved with the beating. No one had been charged as of Wednesday morning, he said, because detectives were still piecing together what happened.

"It will be a while before there will be charges," Donegan said.

Two of the women who were hit were at Mount Sinai Hospital. Shauna Lawrence, 26, was in critical condition, and her cousin Jenny Lawrence, 18, was in fair condition, spokeswoman Barbara Atwood said.

posted 07-31-2002 09:55 PM            

In an annual pre-Easter message to priests released Thursday by the Vatican, the pope addressed an issue that has seriously embarrassed the church in the United States and elsewhere.

"As priests, we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of ordination," John Paul said.

He said they had succumbed "to the most grievous forms" of what he called, using the Latin phrase, the "mystery of evil."

"Grave scandal is caused, with the result that a dark shadow of suspicion is cast over all the other fine priests who perform their ministry with honesty and integrity and often with heroic self-sacrifice," the pope said.

John Paul said the church "shows her concern for the victims and strives to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations."

It was the first time the pope publicly addressed the issue since widespread accusations of sexual misconduct by priests surfaced in the United States in recent months. The accusations have led to the fall of one bishop, from Palm Beach, Fla., actions taken against dozens of priests around the country, and the tarnishing of the reputation of Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston for failing to take action against a child-molesting priest.

A top cardinal who presented the pope's letter defended the church's efforts to uphold morality and punish wrongdoers within its ranks. He refused to answer any specific questions, however, including whether the Vatican was planning new measures to screen candidates for the priesthood and whether Cardinal Law still had the pope's confidence.

The pope's pre-Easter letter generally expresses his closeness to his corps of priests around the world without taking up such a burning issue as sexual abuse.

The problem has worldwide implications for the church.

In a message in November to the bishops of Oceania, John Paul said that "sexual abuse (in that region) by some clergy and religious has caused great suffering and spiritual harm to the victims."

In January, the Catholic Church in Ireland agreed to a landmark $110 million payment to children abused by clergy over decades. More than 20 priests, brothers and nuns have been convicted of molesting children.

Sexual abuse cases involving cover-ups have also been reported in England, France and Australia, among other countries.

John Paul has been described as particularly saddened by sexual harassment allegations leveled against the archbishop of Poznan in the pope's native Poland. Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, who worked with John Paul at the Vatican and was sent by him to Poland in 1982, denied the allegations in a letter read in parishes Sunday.

For years, the Vatican viewed such reports as attempts to discredit the church, as part of an orchestrated campaign against celibacy or efforts to win money through lawsuits.

Ray Flynn, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and one-time mayor of Boston, said the pope's message was a strong signal that abuse will not be tolerated.

"This historic message for reform in the way church leaders deal with allegations of sexual abuse by priests against children, is not a suggestion, but an ultimatum," Flynn said. "Changes and reforms will take place and they will be universal," said Flynn, who is now president of the Catholic Alliance, a nonpartisan advocacy group.

At a Vatican news conference to present the pope's letter, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos said John Paul was "supportive" of bishops and priests in dioceses shaken by the scandal.

But the Colombian prelate, who heads the Congregation for the Clergy, refused to answer specific questions about the sex scandal, reading a written statement that defended the church's efforts to uphold morality and punish wrongdoers within its ranks.

He cited a study showing that 3 percent of American clergymen had the "tendency" to abuse minors and that 0.3 percent were pedophiles

0.3 percent is still too many. 1 out of 33. if you break that down there are likely at least 1-2 in every community.

posted 08-01-2002 12:12 AM            

I agree Alpha.

Krissa, I just looked at those stories and shook my head in disbelief. What have we become and why? How could a culture with so much potential sink to such a level?

I learned early on to respect the beliefs and feelings of others, to help anyone who needed my help (and I do mean anyone), to work out solutions to problems without resorting to violence, and most importantly, to follow my heart.

Is it really so difficult for people to learn these simple things? - Sometimes I just have to wonder.

posted 08-01-2002 01:04 AM            

July 31, 2002, 7:46AM

Time Warner to charge flood victims for cable boxes

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - Flood victims whose cable converters were destroyed during this month's heavy rains are being charged $300 for the damaged boxes by the company, officials said today.

Karen Hartley, vice president for marketing and communications at Time Warner, said it is the company's policy to bill for damaged boxes, which are leased from the cable company. "We are sympathetic to them," she told the San Antonio Express-News. "But we are going to charge them for their boxes."

The policy is upsetting some whose homes were flooded. Dannielle Guerra said his parents are being charged $600 for two ruined boxes. They lost their Canyon Lake home and now live in a trailer. "I'm just appalled that a company such as Time Warner would expect this (payment)," Guerra said. "If we damaged it ourselves, I could completely understand, but it was damaged by a flood."

Hartley said that so far, she has received about five calls reporting damaged boxes. She said customers who suffered flood damage can have their homes rewired free of charge, but they must pay for the converters.

"People have their boxes stolen," she said. "It would be really hard to treat one person differently than another. If someone is robbed, that's not their fault either."

posted 08-01-2002 03:01 AM            

It was just 10 months ago the human spirit was set ablaze after the WTC disaster. The outpouring of volunteers, relief aid, donations, cards and letters and even gloves overwhelmed city and state officials in New York during that sorrowful time. Never before had we seen the country so unified, so giving. Let us not forget what we learned about giving of ourselves in times of need. Don't wait for another monumental tragedy to strike before you reach out to help someone.

posted 08-01-2002 01:39 PM            

Crime Victims Becoming Inconvenience for Cal Shoppers

Sunday, June 09, 2002

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - "Pretty callous" is how the Santa Cruz police chief describes it. Convenience store surveillance tapes show a man being shot in the back of the head in what police believe was a gang dispute. But before police arrived on the scene business continued as usual. The tapes showed
customers continuing their shopping while the victim was on the floor, even stepping over the dying man to get to the counter. The man later died at a hospital.

[Thanks to azcentral.com for this disturbing story.]

http://www.sendoutmail.com/archives/list.asp?a=3&i=BizarreNews&rn=107

___________________________________________________________________

Driving Students Attack Examiners After Failing

Friday, April 19, 2002

PARIS, France - Imagine you have just failed your driving test, perhaps even for the tenth time. You would probably feel embarrassed, angry, and frustrated. Well, some French learner drivers are taking their angst out on the test examiners, threatening them at gunpoint, and often attacking their cars. Jean-Francois Verdier said that "Threats at gunpoint are not rare.
Some, frustrated by their failure, burst tires or smash car windows." Hopefully this will all change soon. It's being proposed that potential drivers will have to wait 24 hours after taking the exam to receive
results. This way if they fail, they only have themselves to beat up, figuratively speaking.
http://www.sendoutmail.com/archives/list.asp?a=3&i=BizarreNews&rn=71
___________________________________________________________________

Kids Attack Giant Mr. Potato Head & Rip Off His Arms

Friday, March 22, 2002

BELPER, Derbyshire - A 7-foot fiberglass statue of Mr. Potato Head was given to the town of Belper, Derbyshire in England
as a gesture of goodwill. Belper's sister city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the headquarters for the potato's manufacturer provided the giant toy. Little did the folks at Hasbro know the controversy the toy would cause. Initially placed in the center of Belper, residents vetoed the potato and called it an eyesore. It was then moved to a children's playground and even a Wild West theme park. Poor Mr. Potato head had his arm ripped off and hat broken in an attack last week outside a school. He was rushed to a fiberglass specialist and is now serving as a mascot in a Safeway supermarket parking lot. A tourism company in Rhode Island recently said they might need to borrow the giant spud for a tour of America. A tourism
development officer said, "I think we'd be quite happy to send him home."

posted 08-02-2002 01:41 AM            

Mass. Statehouse Kills Initiatives

By JUSTIN POPE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON- More than 200 years after citizens dumped tea in the harbor and took up arms in defense of liberty, the cry of tyranny is being raised again in Boston - this time against the people's elected representatives.

The state Legislature devoted much of the session that ended Wednesday to trying to quash citizen initiatives, prompting the newspapers to caricature the House speaker as an autocrat with a scepter and crown.

Lawmakers in the cradle of democracy ignored voter mandates to roll back the income tax, balked at funding a Clean Elections law, and refused to vote on whether to put a measure banning gay marriage on the 2004 ballot, even though supporters had collected 130,000 voter signatures.

Massachusetts voters can pass ballot initiatives, but only the Legislature can put up the money needed to carry them out. To many, voter initiatives are a foolish way to make laws, and some legislators consider it their duty to serve as a check on the passions of the people.

"While we have a responsibility to the voters who voted for the referenda, we also have a responsibility to the voters who want a good education system and good roads and want government to run," said Rep. Dan Bosley, a Democrat from North Adams. "Do we do the popular thing, or do we do what we think is right based on the knowledge that we have, which may indeed be a little more sophisticated than what the general public has?"

This year, more than any other in recent memory, legislators trusted their own judgment, saying a $600 million revenue shortfall made voter-approved initiatives like tax cuts impossible.

The budget passed by lawmakers could cut health insurance for 50,000 unemployed and homeless people. But critics say the Legislature went overboard, taking advantage of a weak governor and undermining a citizen initiative process adopted in 1918 to check the power of a Legislature once dominated by a tight circle of Yankee elites.

"They've become so much out of touch with real people, and they despise us so much and the process that lets us interfere," said Barbara Anderson, whose group Citizens for Limited Taxation campaigned for a ballot measure to roll back the income tax in stages from 5.95 percent to 5 percent.

Voters approved the measure in 2000, but the Legislature essentially refused to put the final cut into effect this year and froze the rate at 5.3 percent.

The most controversial standoff came over the Clean Elections law, passed by voters in 1998, that makes taxpayer money available to candidates who agree to limits on their spending and fund-raising. The Legislature refused to release the necessary money.

Lawmakers claimed that the law diverted money from worthier causes and that taxpayers should not have to help candidates they do not like. Clean election supporters countered by saying incumbents are just afraid of competition. T

he dispute provoked a constitutional crisis - and much ridicule - when the state's highest court ordered Statehouse office furniture, vehicles and land auctioned off to pay for the law.

The Legislature eventually agreed to fund it for a year. Then the Legislature refused to put the gay marriage ban on the ballot. Few thought the measure would pass. But "whether one agrees with these propositions or not, if people go out and get the signatures, it seems to me they ought to be entitled to a vote," said former Gov. Michael Dukakis, now a politics professor at Northeastern University.

Dukakis recalled a different era, when legislators actually trimmed their own ranks at the voters' behest, cutting the Legislature from 240 members to 160 in 1979. "That was not an easy vote, if you're looking at one's colleagues and one-third of them aren't going to be there," he said.

Such a thing seems unimaginable today. There are various theories about what has changed. There are now veto-proof Democratic majorities in both houses, opposed only by Republican acting Gov. Jane Swift.

The state is in a budget crisis. And there is also House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who led the charge to derail Clean Elections. He has been drawn on editorial pages as a monarch and has been accused by some of ruling the House with an iron fist. The Boston Democrat did not return calls seeking comment.

Massachusetts is one of the few Eastern states to have ballot initiatives; the others are mostly out West.

Pamela Wilmot, acting director of the group Common Cause, acknowledged voter initiatives do not always produce good laws. But she said: "It's their government, their right to make mistakes."

-- http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/aug/01/080108354.html

posted 08-02-2002 01:50 PM            

12 years for UK vampire slaying
August 2, 2002 Posted: 9:21 AM EDT (1321 GMT)

LONDON, England -- A British teenager has been jailed for 12 years for murdering his elderly neighbour and drinking her blood in a vampire ritual.

Vampire-mad art student Mathew Hardman, 17, cut out Mabel Leyshon's heart after stabbing her 22 times at her home in Llanfairpwll, North Wales, last November.

He sliced the 90-year-old's chest open and cut her heart out before wrapping the blood-soaked organ in newspaper and placing it next to two pokers arranged in the shape of a crucifix at her feet, the court was told.

Hardman put the heart into a saucepan containing the pensioner's blood and drank the blood -- believing the ritual would make him immortal, the jury heard.

The teenager was obsessed by vampires and killed Leyshon in a bid to become one of the creatures, the court heard.

He denied any involvement in the murder and said his alleged fascination with vampires was no more than a "subtle interest."

After the jury at Mold Crown Court, Wales, returned its verdict, trial judge Mr Justice Richards lifted an order banning his identification.

Prosecutor Roger Thomas said Hardman committed the murder in a bid to become immortal.

"We submit that in November 2001 he was fascinated by and believed in vampires," Thomas said.

"He believed they existed, believed they drank human blood and believed most importantly that they could achieve immortality -- and he wanted to be immortal."

The murder sent shockwaves through the tourist village of Llanfairpwll PG, best known for having the longest place name in Britain. Its 56-letter full name -- Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch -- is so long that locals abbreviate it.

"The injuries are the worst I have seen in my career," Detective Superintendent Alan Jones told reporters after the murder.

North Wales Police deployed a 60-strong murder team who consulted experts in witchcraft and took DNA samples from more than 100 local people.

Six weeks after Leyshon's death, officers searched Hardman's bedroom, where they found a stash of books, magazines and Internet material devoted to vampires.

Among the books was Bram Stoker's Dracula, as well as a hardback library book entitled The Devil: An Autobiography.

Vampire Web sites
Examination of Hardman's computer showed that he had logged on to Web sites including The Vampire Rights Movement and The Vampire/Donor.

The donor site reads: "The site exists to serve all who might be part of vampire community: gothic lifestyle vampires and non-lifestyle vampires alike, energy feeders, sanguinarians (drinkers of blood); donors, would-be donors, and other loved ones."

Hardman, who had turned 17 only a few weeks before the murder, had already dropped a chilling hint of what was to come during a conversation with a teenage German girl student, who was on an exchange visit to Llanfairpwll, the court was told.

He told her that he believed it was "a perfect place for vampires" because there were a lot of old people there, and if any of them died after being bitten it would be assumed that they had had a heart attack.

She said that after talking about "gothic" fashions, vampires and the paranormal he accused her of being "one of them" and begged her to bite his neck so that he too could become a vampire.

By the time he was arrested he had regularly accused locals of being vampires. Hardman had also deliberately punched himself on the nose to draw blood in a bid to "tempt" them to bite him.

Police were called and as an officer handcuffed Hardman he repeatedly yelled "bite my neck, bite my neck."

posted 08-03-2002 02:47 AM            

August 02, 2002

Texas Man Gets Life For Burning Wife

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSTON- A man who said he doused his estranged wife with gasoline and set her ablaze because he thought she was a witch was sentenced Friday to life in prison.

A jury convicted Keeper Ray Hudson, 47, of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon earlier in the day, then immediately began hearing testimony in the trial's sentencing phase.

His wife, Angela Hudson, survived the April 2001 attack. Before his sentencing, Hudson said his wife didn't deserve to be set on fire, but he thought he had to do it.

"In my mind she was a witch trying to destroy me and my children," he said. "I was going to destroy her before she could destroy me and my children. It's as simple as that." Prosecutors told jurors Hudson believed "if he couldn't have her no one could."

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/aug/02/080200531.html
__________________________________________________________________

Here's one story form The Arizona Republic that kind of bothered me. Having been a volunteer firefighter for almost 20 years, I have to wonder how something like this happened.

3 bodies unnoticed in crash near Loop 101

Trio, truck discovered hours later in Loop 101 culvert

By Brent Whiting and Judi Villa

The Arizona Republic
Aug. 02, 2002 12:00:00

quote:

---

For more than five hours, while detectives investigated a routine two-car collision and firefighters treated the injured and morning commuters zipped by, three bodies lay undetected in a freeway drainage culvert near Loop 101 in Scottsdale.

No one, not the five or six witnesses who stopped nor the drivers or passengers from the other two cars, told arriving investigators anything about a third vehicle swerving off the roadway after the 1:30 a.m. crash Thursday.

Only after a Channel 5 (KPHO) news crew flew over the area around 7 a.m. was the grisly discovery made, long after the police and emergency crews had left the scene of what they thought was a routine accident call.

"Our officer really had no cause, no reason at all to go searching for another accident," said Officer Steve Volden, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. "And it was literally not visible from the roadway."

---

quote:

---

Volden said a witness to the two-car crash returned to the scene Thursday morning after news reports about the bodies were found. That person reported that he may have seen a dark vehicle go off the freeway and a cloud of dust, Volden said, but he believed the vehicle continued on to the off-ramp.

That information was not given to investigators at the time of the early morning investigation.

---

posted 08-06-2002 01:13 AM            

`Rifle' Mention At Airport To Cost Him

August 3, 2002
By PAUL MARKS, Courant Staff Writer

Eighty-year-old Fred Hubbell, tired and cranky after facing a gantlet of searches at Bradley International Airport, made a sarcastic remark about a rifle that he quickly came to regret.

Suddenly he found himself in handcuffs - with a firsthand sense of what the Transportation Security Administration means by "zero tolerance."

It was a new experience for the retired engineer and World War II veteran. He got to stroll through the crowded concourse Thursday escorted by a state trooper while onlookers wondered if he was some kind of terrorist.

He had a mug shot taken. He was fingerprinted. He spent about 20 minutes in a locked holding cell, as his worried wife waited outside. He was read his Miranda rights and offered the chance to phone a lawyer, which he declined.

What Hubbell said, by his recollection, was innocent enough.

Near the end of the second full-scale pat-down he and his wife, Grayce, had undergone by Transportation Security Administration guards, just steps from boarding a 7:30 a.m. flight they had almost missed, he saw the screener poking into his wallet.

Having been a first lieutenant in the Army and owner of his own metal-plating business for 25 years, Hubbell said he is used to speaking his mind. Sometimes, he admitted, it has got him in hot water.

"I said, `What do you expect to find in there, a rifle?'" he said. When the trooper asked me, `Do you think that was an appropriate remark?' I said, `I do.'" That's when Hubbell was taken into custody by Trooper Wayne Foster.

Dana Cosgrove, head of the federal security force that moved into Bradley last week, sees it differently.

"What he said (regarding the wallet) was, `You better look at it real good; there may be a rifle in there.' And all that the people around him in the waiting room heard was the word `rifle.'"

Anxiety levels after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are high enough at airports, Cosgrove said, which is why cracks about guns, bombs or terrorism are cause for arrest. The airport's public address system issues regular reminders in both English and Spanish.

"I want to be sure that when people step on that plane they're 100 percent comfortable," Cosgrove said.

The exact words Hubbell said and how he said them are immaterial now. A Stratford native now living in Texas, he was on his way home after visiting a boyhood friend in Madison. The last thing he wants, he said, is a trip back to Connecticut to contest the charge.

Issued a citation for "creating a public disturbance," Hubbell said he will settle the matter by mailing a check to state Superior Court to cover the $78 fine plus court costs.

"I was a bad boy, and I know that," he said during a telephone interview Friday, "and I shouldn't have said what I said, especially under the circumstances that we're living under today."

But his misstep - which, of course, caused him and his wife to miss their Dallas-bound plane and got them home several hours later than expected - is an object lesson on what the Transportation Security Administration means by "zero tolerance." Hubbell actually got off easy: Most such arrests result in misdemeanor "breach of peace" charges, which require a court appearance.

State police Sgt. Paul Vance said the lesser charge was used for Hubbell because no threat was made, and "it wasn't a situation where a person became obnoxious or irate."

posted 08-06-2002 01:25 AM            

Monday August 5, 2002 2:50 AM

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A 17-year-old Canadian passenger on a US Airways flight from Toronto was arrested for using a lighter on his shoe, authorities said.

The teen told police he was burning loose material off his tennis shoes as the plane taxied into Pittsburgh International Airport Saturday. The boy's father was seated next to him.

Authorities said the teen would not be identified because of his age. He was cited for disorderly conduct and released into the custody of his father, said Allegheny County Police Sgt. Robert Clark.

Federal authorities interviewed the boy and his father after a flight attendant found the boy flicking a butane lighter and took it away from him, Clark said.

Police met the plane at the terminal around 8 p.m. and checked the roughly 40 passengers on board, according to KDKA-TV. ``There is no such thing as a joke at an airport anymore,'' Clark said.

Police said the boy and his father were connecting in Pittsburgh on a flight to California, but US Airways asked them to make other travel arrangements. In another incident, FBI agents arrested a man early Sunday for allegedly trying to pass through a security checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with razor blades in his shoes.

The man had set off a metal detector Saturday night and when he removed his shoes, as requested, four razor blades fell to the floor, airport spokesman Bob Parker said. He told authorities the blades fell from his shirt pocket when he bent over, Parker said.

The 29-year-old's name was not released. He was being held on investigation of a state weapons charge.

posted 08-06-2002 08:04 PM            

Medical Center Recalls Body Parts
By JUAN A. LOZANO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

GALVESTON, Texas- A medical center whose handling of cadavers has come under FBI investigation said Tuesday that it is recalling body parts sent to research institutions around the country, warning they may carry the AIDS virus or other infections.

The University of Texas Medical Branch said records kept by a former employee are so poor that there is a chance the parts - including feet, knees and elbows - have been used in tissue transplants.

"We deeply regret this has happened. We make no excuses for it," said Steven Lieberman, associate dean for educational affairs.

The medical center ordered the recall because the unpreserved remains may not have been properly tested for hepatitis and HIV before they were shipped.

The remains are primarily used to train doctors in surgical techniques and are not intended for use in transplants. But the medical center said it could not be sure that ligaments, cartilage and other tissue was not used that way.

The medical center called the risk to public health "negligible and probably zero," but said it could not guarantee that transplant patients are safe from infection.

It urged researchers who received parts under its Willed Body Program between November 2000 and May 2002 to send the parts back.

For now, a list of the sites that received the body parts won't be made public because of an ongoing federal investigation of the Willed Body Program, the medical center said.

The parts may have been sent to as many as 60 research programs nationwide. The medical center began notifying the institutions this week, and it said researchers should protect themselves when handling the remains.

"With these precautions, the risks go way down," Lieberman said.

Lieberman said he could not account for how many parts had been shipped out during the 18-month period in question. He said the medical center is not legally required to test the parts for infectious diseases, but such testing is expected within the medical community.

The Willed Body Program received about 300 bodies a year that had been left to science. Typically, the cadavers are used to train medical students and for research. When doctors are finished with the cadavers, any remains are usually cremated and returned to the families.

The Willed Body Program was shut down earlier this year and is already under investigation by the FBI, which is looking into allegations that an employee sold donated remains and that donors' ashes were mingled.

The employee, Allen Tyler Jr., 56, worked in the program for 36 years before being fired May 9. He supervised the handling of donated cadavers and was responsible for shipping bodies and body parts.

Tyler, who has not been charged with any crime, has refused to comment and did not return a message Tuesday.

Medical center officials said they began detecting discrepancies in Willed Body Program records in March. The FBI began investigating in May.

Several lawsuits have been filed against the medical center by family members who lost the cremated remains of loved ones.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/aug/06/080606765.html

Again I ask myself "what is wrong with these people?"

posted 08-14-2002 02:55 AM            

'Office rage' hits new levels

More than half of all office staff in the UK have become so angry at work they have nearly punched a colleague, according the results of a survey today.

Some 53% of workers have been brought to the brink of violence by "office rage", with loud-mouthed colleagues cited as the main cause.

Malfunctioning computers, excessive workloads and interruptions during telephone conversations were also found to make employees' blood boil.

The research, carried out by recruitment agency Pertemps, found that women were the most likely to nearly resort to violence while their male colleagues were more inclined to shout.

Pertemps chairman Tim Watts said: "The latest annual British Crime Survey reveals 1.3 million incidents of violence at work, involving 604,000 workers."

There are several pieces of legislation relating to violence in the workplace, including the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

"It is important that employers are aware of their responsibilities in this area."Regular consultation between employers and employees to identify potential areas of conflict was vital to prevent workers being pushed over the edge, he added.

The study, based on research among 450 office workers across Britain, found that 64% of those surveyed get angry at colleagues shouting across the office and talking over people at meetings.

IT problems caused 53% to lose their temper, followed by excessive workloads (51%) and interruptions while on the phone (37%).Some 60% lost their temper regularly at work but although men shouted more than women (67% compared with 46%), women had the strongest desire to hit people who had upset them (51% compared with 39%).

Asked how they coped with anger, nearly a third of respondents (31%) said they ignored the person responsible.

Twenty per cent, the majority of whom were women, made a cup of tea, while 15% cursed under their breath. Eight per cent admitted to hitting their malfunctioning computer.

The survey found that productivity is affected when staff are in a bad mood with 74% saying they did not work as well while angry.

Fifteen per cent said they worked slower when their boss was angry for fear of making a mistake.

Anger was said to have a detrimental effect on morale by 81% of respondents while 47% said longer hours, more responsibility and tighter deadlines had led to more cases of office rage in the last couple of years.

http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=666786&in_review_text_id=638524

posted 08-15-2002 01:44 AM            

Girls Oppose Parental Notification

By TODD RICHMOND
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MADISON, Wis.- Nearly half of the young girls surveyed in Wisconsin said they would quit going to Planned Parenthood if their parents had to be told they wanted prescribed contraceptives, according to a study.

The study suggested that parental notification could lead to more teen pregnancies, abortions and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Congress and 10 states, including Wisconsin, have considered legislation requiring that parents be informed if their children are seeking prescribed contraceptives, the study noted.

The study, appearing in Wednesday's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, was funded by grants from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Urban Initiatives and Research, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin Inc.

Researchers surveyed 950 girls ages 12 to 17 at 33 Planned Parenthood clinics around Wisconsin in 1999. The girls were asked to complete a confidential survey as they waited for appointments.

The study found 47 percent said they would stop using all sexual health care services at Planned Parenthood if their parents were notified they were seeking birth control pills or devices.

"If a teen thinks that their access to medical services is compromised in one area, they are making the assumption it could apply to other areas as well," Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin spokeswoman Lisa Boyce said.

Ninety-nine percent of the girls said they would have unprotected sex or use condoms if they couldn't get prescribed contraceptives, the study found.

---

On the Net: Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin: http://www.plannedparenthoodwi.org/

Journal of the American Medical Association: http://www.jama.com/

posted 08-27-2002 10:55 PM            

Ky. Plant Cited for Bathroom Policy

By BRUCE SCHREINER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLERMONT, Ky.- Employees at the Jim Beam bourbon distillery are getting sour over restrictions on bathroom breaks.

Workers on the bottling line are fuming about being limited to four breaks per 8 1/2 hour shift, only one of which can be unscheduled.

Extra trips to the bathroom can result in reprimands.

Workers with six violations can be fired.

The United Food and Commercial Workers local said some of the 100 affected employees have urinated on themselves because they were afraid to leave the line.

Some wear protective undergarments and others have feigned illnesses to go home and avoid getting violations, said Jo Anne Kelley, president of the union local.

"It's a shame when you feel you have the need to go to the bathroom, but you ask yourself, `Do I soil myself or do I protect my job?'" Kelley said.

The state has slapped the distiller with a citation. Jim Beam appealed; a hearing officer on Wednesday is expected to recommend to a review commission whether to sustain or overrule the citation.

The commission's decision can be appealed in court.

Jim Beam Brands, headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., said its policy strikes a balance between employees' physical needs and the company's productivity needs. The company, which consulted a urologist before imposing the limits, said the time between breaks will generally be about two hours and never more than three.

"Our policy is fair and reasonable and it does respect the real needs that our employees have," said Jack Allen, human resources director at the Clermont plant, nestled between lush Kentucky hills about 25 miles south of Louisville.

The policy, which took effect in October, was instituted only at the Clermont plant because some workers abused the privilege of unlimited bathroom breaks, the company said.

Workers can be exempted with a doctor's note.

So far, 29 have gotten waivers for medical necessity and can go as often as needed, Allen said.

Margaret Boone, who has worked at the distillery for 34 years, has one violation on her record. "I've held it and it's miserable," said Boone, who has since obtained a medical waiver.

"You can only concentrate on looking at the clock and wondering when break time is going to be."

---

On the Net: Jim Beam Bourbon: http://www.jimbeam.com

posted 08-31-2002 02:53 AM            

Bulldozer Strikes Wrong House

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOLLYWOOD, Fla.- A couple was at the dinner table when a bulldozer rumbled into their home and tore the ceiling down.

The bulldozer operator had the wrong address, officials said.

Yesenia Reyes and her husband were eating in the kitchen of their rented home at 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the bulldozer roared up and began a demolition job. Their three children were away at the time.

"He came in through the back, and he just took the ceiling down. He almost came through my son's bedroom," Reyes said.

The Reyeses bounded for their door and yelled at the operator, stopping him in time to leave part of the roof intact. No one was injured.

The president of Zara Inc., the private contractor that employed the operator and had been demolishing homes in the area, said his company would repair the damage done, estimated by Hollywood Fire-Rescue officials at $5,000.

"I can fix it in two days," said George Zaragozi, company president. "He made a mistake and thought it was supposed to be demolished."

posted 09-04-2002 01:30 AM            

SUSAN BELL In Paris

GENDARMES have surrounded members of a French sect in the western town of Nantes over fears the group may commit mass suicide next month when they believe the end of the world is nigh.

The members of the Neo-Phare sect, including a doctor, a teacher and a tax inspector, follow the teachings of self-proclaimed guru Arnaud Mussy who predicts that Nantes will be consumed by the apocalypse on 24 October.

Mr Mussy has predicted the end of the world on two other occasions this year, once in February and once in July. Having twice got his dates wrong, the guru has settled on 24 October as the definitive day when all life will cease and the earth will be invaded by flying saucers carrying "beings of light".

Investigators, who are keeping the sect under close surveillance, say they fear that "the last voyage to Venus" for which the sect members are reported to be preparing next month is a code for a mass suicide reminiscent of the deaths of 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple cult, whose charred bodies were found, laid out in a star pattern, in 1995 in an Alpine forest.

Investigators believe two cult members drugged and shot dead the 14 others before setting themselves and the bodies on fire in a forest clearing known as the Well of Hell.

Neo-Phare was created in 1997 by the 36-year-old Mr Mussy, about whom little is known except that he is a former hitchhiker and keen numerologist with a taste for the esoteric. He took control of a banal association called Phare-Ouest and transformed it into his sect, preaching the coming of the apocalypse when only "the apostles of the new world, born out of the final cataclysm, will be spared".

Investigators say that a key feature of the sect’s operations is the creation of a "Divine Family". This entailed the separation of couples judged by Mr Mussy to be "badly matched". New couples were then created under the guru’s guidance.

The sect first came to the attention of authorities in February 2000, when gendarmes in the Maine department noted the presence of some 20-odd people who shared beliefs in the end of the world, the existence of extra-terrestrials and an after-life. Membership is reported to have peaked last year at 63 people according to investigators.

Authorities first became seriously alarmed when members shut themselves up inside a house in a small village in the Loire vineyards. "When we realised that they had been shut up inside for a long time without giving any sign of life, we began to worry, said a local gendarme. It was the first time we had contemplated the possibility of a mass suicide."

Police surveillance annoyed Mr Mussy so much that earlier this year he moved members of his sect to Cellier, another small village on the banks of the River Loire. It was there in July that one member committed suicide by throwing himself under a car and another attempted to kill himself by jumping from the window of a château. He survived the fall. A third sect member was later talked out of the same jump by a passerby.

Mr Mussy moved his sect to a house in Nantes two months ago. "Some believers claim the guru went into a trance and God spoke to him, ordering him to recompose the couples who belong to the sect," an investigator told Le Parisien yesterday.

posted 09-07-2002 11:19 PM            

See the story of Kitty Genovese here: http://www.lihistory.com/8/hs818a.htm

And see the great Phil Ochs's lyrics about what happened to her here: http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html

As for what's wrong . . . There's a massive disconnect in I-Thou relationships.

posted 09-20-2002 10:50 PM            

Woman Sought in Videotaped Beating

By TOM COYNE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MISHAWAKA, Ind.- Police searched for a mother and her 4-year-old daughter Friday after the woman was captured by a department store security camera punching the girl in the head and shaking her violently.

"We want to get the girl the medical attention she needs," Police Chief Anthony A. Hazen said. "We want to get her to an emergency room and let them examine her.
That's our biggest concern right now."

Police identified the woman as Madelyne Gorman Toogood, age 24 or 25, and the child as her daughter Martha Toogood.

Toogood was charged Friday with battery to a child. Her attorney briefly telephoned police Friday, investigators said.

Police did not know the attorney's location.

"The attorney is aware of the serious nature of this, and we hope that the discussion will lead to the woman turning herself in," St. Joseph County Prosecutor Christopher Toth said.

The video, broadcast nationwide, showed the woman placing her daughter onto the back seat of a sport utility vehicle in the parking lot of a Kohl's store, then pummeling, slapping and shaking the girl for several seconds.

The Sept. 13 episode happened after the woman left the story angry over being refused a cash refund, authorities said.

A doctor who saw the tape said the child could have suffered head, neck and brain injuries, said Mike Samp, a police investigator.

Toogood's sister, 31-year-old Margaret Daley, who authorities say was with her at the store, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse.

Police said relatives of Toogood were not helping with the search.

"They've said they are going to cooperate, but so far they haven't given us any ironclad information or produced the little girl," Hazen said.

He said several locations were under surveillance.

Police received more than 1,000 calls about the video, which was first aired Wednesday night by local stations seeking the identity of the woman and girl.

One person who tipped off police was Lyn Johnson, principal of Walt Disney Elementary School in Mishawaka, where two of Toogood's older children attended school.

Johnson said she recognized the woman immediately and called police. She said that she did not know Toogood but that the pupils were good students.

"They are wonderful children," she said.

The vehicle shown in the video had Texas license plates, and police eventually found it at a Mishawaka apartment complex.

Police said it was not registered to either of the women shown on the tape.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/sep/20/092001646.html

posted 09-21-2002 02:34 PM            

Today: September 21, 2002 at 10:00:16 PDT

Lawyer: Videotaped Mom to Surrender

By TOM COYNE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

MISHAWAKA, Ind.- A weeklong search appears over for a mother who punched, shook and slapped her 4-year-old daughter in a beating captured on a department store videotape and televised around the country.

Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 26, was expected to turn herself in Saturday afternoon, Mishawaka police said. Her lawyer, Steven Rosen, contacted police Friday.

"It was a bad choice, and it was captured on Candid Camera," Rosen said. "She's very remorseful. She regrets it."

Police in Mishawaka, about 85 miles east of Chicago, were to meet Toogood at an undisclosed location and interview her, then bring her to the police station for additional interviews with prosecutors and child protective services, Police Chief Anthony Hazen said Saturday.

"She's worried about losing her child," Hazen said.

The woman was caught on the tape at a department store parking lot Sept. 13 hitting her daughter repeatedly and shaking the child. Authorities feared the girl, Martha Toogood, might have been seriously injured and had been searching for them since then.

An arrest warrant issued Friday charged the mother with battery to a child.

Prosecutor Chris Toth told MSNBC that it wasn't known if the girl would be with her mother Saturday. "Hopefully, it will end up with the little girl being examined by doctors," Toth said.

Rosen said Toogood's extended family members and friends told him the child was fine.

The girl was with her mother Friday night, and the woman's two sons, ages 5 and 6, were in "good, safe hands," he said in Saturday's Chicago Sun-Times.

Toogood grew up as part of a group of Texas-based Irish Travellers, itinerant laborers who often make their living with home-improvement and business-repair work, such as paving, painting and roofing, Rosen said.

Mishawaka authorities said they had no indication Toogood has ever been accused of abuse. However, they said she did have a history of retail store fraud.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Saturday an arrest warrant was issued for her April 9 after she failed to pay a $202 traffic ticket for having no driver's license.

In May, Fort Worth police issued another warrant after she failed to appear in court to face theft charges stemming from an alleged March 27 shoplifting incident at a Kohl's store there.

In the Indiana department store video, she is seen placing her daughter onto the back seat of a sport utility vehicle in the store's parking lot, then hitting the child for several seconds. The episode happened after the woman left the store angry over being refused a cash refund, authorities said.

Toogood's sister, Margaret Daley, who authorities say was with her at the store, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of failure to report child abuse. Prosecutors later added a charge of assisting a criminal. Daley, 31, was released Friday after posting $2,150 bond.

Police received more than 1,000 calls about the video, which was first aired Wednesday night by local stations seeking the identity of the woman and girl.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/sep/21/092102800.html

quote:

---

"She's very remorseful. She regrets it."

---

Tough S***!!!

quote:

---

"She's worried about losing her child"

---

I hope she is worried and hope she loses them all!!!

quote:

---

Rosen said Toogood's extended family members and friends told him the child was fine.

The girl was with her mother Friday night, and the woman's two sons, ages 5 and 6, were in "good, safe hands," he said in Saturday's Chicago Sun-Times.

---

Yeah Right!!! - Sure!!! - Give me a break!!!

quote:

---

The episode happened after the woman left the store angry over being refused a cash refund, authorities said.

---

That's still no excuse for hitting a child!!!

I am shocked that the police are waiting for her to turn herself in!!! - Again I ask " What is wrong with these people?"

And speaking of police... New York's finest are at it again.

Exclusive: Police Brutality Case Caught On Tape

Man In Video Punched, Maced Repeatedly

POSTED: 8:12 p.m. EDT September 19, 2002
UPDATED: 10:16 p.m. EDT September 20, 2002

NEW YORK -- The tape tells the story: A man already in handcuffs was struck and maced by a New York City Police Department officer.

The incident happened in the very same precinct where Abner Louima was brutally attacked. In fact, the officer involved was assigned there right after the Louima torture case to diversify the stationhouse.

Now, that officer is charged with a vicious assault that was all captured on home video.

In the video, one can see 26-year-old Anthony Carty, already in handcuffs, being subdued by at least six police officers.

Many of the onlookers shouted to officers to "ease up," and moments before that, witnesses say Carty was sprayed with pepper spray or mace.

Then, while being escorted to a waiting patrol car and held by three other police officers, Officer Charles Dorcent, a five-year veteran of the NYPD, struck Carty, who was already handcuffed.

The incident then enraged a growing crowd of spectators

According to Carty, the whole incident began as an innocent argument during a softball game here in Prospect Park. While it's still unclear why the officers from the 70th Precinct responded, Carty says several players and officers got into a heated argument. That's when Carty an officer maced a player, and that's when Carty says he intervened.

That's also where the videotape begins.

The man behind the lens of this home video camera provided the tape exclusively to Newschannel 4. Because of the nature of the images, and concern for his safety, he has chosen not to appear on camera even in silhouette.

After the incident, he followed Dorcent to make sure his face, precinct, and even the plate number of officer Dorcent's patrol car were recorded.

While the images of Carty being stuck are disturbing, the person who shot the tape told Newschannel 4 that he was more outraged when Carty was maced at least two more times by another officer before being placed into the backseat of the patrol car.

"This is an obvious and outrageous abuse of police power," said Carty's attorney, Rudolf Silas.

Silas says what officers may not have known at the time is that the macing sent Carty into respiratory distress. Carty has a history of asthma. Silas says while Carty was inside the patrol car, his wife tried to tell officers about her husband's asthmatic condition, only to be arrested herself.

A short time later, police officers did remove Carty from the car, and put him into an ambulance.

"There is no allegation of a weapon being used, no allegation of alcohol or any drugs (being used that would influence) his behavior," Silas said. "From the look of the video it appeared as though he was wobbly, not fully conscious, and certainly not flailing his legs flailing his arms, biting ... not doing anything that might be perceived as provocation."

At the hospital, Carty was treated for several bruises and received eight stitches to his upper lip -- injuries his attorney says are a direct result of the beating at the hands of Dorcent.

On Thursday, in an exclusive interview police Commissioner Ray Kelly agreed to talk about the incident.

"It was an inappropriate use of force," Kelly said. "The officer was immediately suspended. Internal Affairs Bureau investigators took the complainant to the district attorney's office. An investigation with the district attorney's office was conducted, and the officer was ultimately arrested."

Sources tell Newschannel 4 its likely Dorcent may not be the only officer facing possible criminal charges. The incident occurred on Aug. 11. However, law enforcement sources confirm that it was nearly three weeks before any action was taken.

When Newschannel 4 asked the commissioner if his office was concerned that the incident had not been reported to either Internal Affairs, or the district attorney's office until three weeks after the incident, Kelly said the following: "All aspects of this incident -- of the event and the surrounding circumstances of the event -- are under investigation by our Internal Affairs Bureau."

Silas believes without the videotape evidence, this case would have likely been swept under the rug.

"I'm convinced but for this tape ... the tape makes it very clear that this was an unprovoked assault, it takes it out word against word, and it lays it out in an objective fashion for all of us to view and reach their determinations," Silas said.

On the day of the incident, Carty was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and obstruction, and those charges are still pending.

Newschannel 4 contacted the attorney for Dorcent, and he declined comment on the case. Dorcent was arrested by internal affairs, and he was charged with assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.

posted 09-23-2002 03:41 PM            

By Tom Coyne
Associated Press Writer

Monday, September 23, 2002; 12:14 PM

MISHAWAKA, Ind. –– A woman caught on videotape beating her 4-year-old daughter in a department store parking lot said Monday that none of her three children have ever been abused before.

"People might think I'm a monster, but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never," Madelyne Gorman Toogood told CNN.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That's all I can say."

Toogood, 25, was charged with felony battery to a child, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. She planned to plead innocent at her arraignment Monday afternoon, defense lawyer Steven Rosen said, because they had not yet had time to review the prosecutors' case.

"When you don't know the evidence you enter a formality plea of not guilty," Rosen said after meeting with Toogood and prosecutors Monday morning.

Rosen did not say what was discussed at the meeting. Toogood did not speak with reporters afterward.

Toogood's daughter has been in foster care since she was taken by authorities Saturday. Toogood also was to appear at a custody hearing Monday. He said Toogood would have a chance for a supervised visit on Tuesday.

Toogood told reporters Sunday she hit her daughter, Martha, in the head and back and pulled her hair – but did not punch her.

On a surveillance videotape of the Sept. 13 incident, which has been televised nationally, Toogood appears to make punching motions toward her daughter, who is mostly hidden within the sport utility vehicle.

"Martha didn't deserve what she got," Toogood said. "I just lost my temper."

Martha was placed in foster care when her mother turned herself in to authorities, who said the girl had no visible injuries.

Authorities said Toogood left the Kohl's department store in northern Indiana angry because she was denied a cash refund for two pairs of jeans; she denied that the failed refund attempt was connected to the beating.

Rosen said he believed the hitting took place because Martha misbehaved in the store, taking toys out of packages and wandering away, prompting store employees to page Toogood twice.

Toogood said she hopes to be reunited with her daughter and that she, her daughter, and her husband, John, plan to start parenting classes.

"Anything that they want us to do, we will do," Toogood said.

She said her two young sons are staying with family.

Toogood said she and her husband have been living in Mishawaka for about six months. She said they are Irish Travellers – a nomadic group that police say has been linked to fraudulent home repair.

Toogood said her husband, a roofing, paving and power-washing contractor, is a legitimate businessman.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55279-2002Sep23.html
____________________________________________________________________

Today: September 23, 2002 at 11:20:23 PDT

Girl in Video Beating in Foster Care
By TOM COYNE
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH BEND, Ind.- A judge Monday ordered that a 4-year-old girl whose mother was caught on videotape beating her remain in temporary foster care.

St. Joseph Probate Court Judge Peter J. Nemeth gave child-protection officials two weeks to recommend who should care for the girl.

Martha Toogood has been in foster care since Saturday, when her mother turned herself in on a charge of felony battery to a child.

Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, planned to plead innocent at her arraignment Monday afternoon, defense lawyer Steven Rosen said, because they had not yet had time to review the prosecutors' case.

"When you don't know the evidence you enter a formality plea of not guilty," Rosen said after meeting with Toogood and prosecutors Monday morning.

Charles Smith, director of the St. Joseph County office of family services, said the agency would prepare recommendations on what Toogood must do to regain custody.

The office also will review a request from her relatives to care for the girl.

"We're going to have to get a feel for that family," Smith said.

Rosen said Toogood would have a chance for a supervised visit Tuesday. Authorities said Martha had no visible injuries.

Authorities said Toogood left a Kohl's department store in northern Indiana angry because she was denied a cash refund for two pairs of jeans; she denied that the failed refund attempt was connected to the beating.

On a surveillance videotape of the Sept. 13 incident, which has been televised nationally, Toogood appears to make punching motions toward her daughter in the parking lot, who is mostly hidden within the sport utility vehicle.

Toogood said she hit her daughter in the head and back and pulled her hair - but did not punch her.

Rosen said he believed the hitting took place because Martha misbehaved in the store, taking toys out of packages and wandering away, prompting store employees to page Toogood twice.

"Martha didn't deserve what she got," Toogood told reporters Sunday. "I just lost my temper."

Toogood told CNN Monday that none of her three children have ever been abused before.

"People might think I'm a monster, but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never," she said.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That's all I can say."

Toogood said she hopes to be reunited with her daughter and that she, her daughter, and her husband, John, plan to start parenting classes.

"Anything that they want us to do, we will do," Toogood said.

She said her two young sons are staying with family.

Toogood said she and her husband have been living in nearby Mishawaka for about six months. She said they are Irish Travellers - a nomadic group that police say has been linked to fraudulent home repair.

Toogood said her husband, a roofing, paving and power-washing contractor, is a legitimate businessman.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2002/sep/23/092306728.html

posted 09-23-2002 04:05 PM            

By Martin Griffith
Associated Press Writer

Monday, September 23, 2002; 12:16 PM

RENO, Nev. –– As more than 30 armed federal agents stood by, Bureau of Land Management officials seized 227 head of cattle they say two Western Shoshone sisters were grazing illegally on public land.

Mary and Carrie Dann, who have been at odds with federal authorities for nearly three decades over grazing and land ownership, sharply criticized the operation Sunday in Pine Valley in northeast Nevada.

They maintain the Western Shoshone tribe still owns much of Nevada under an 1863 treaty and the BLM has no jurisdiction over their ranching operation.

"It's domestic terrorism," Carrie Dann said. "Our homelands are threatened by the mightiest and most powerful nation in the world. To do this and take away our livelihood is morally and ethically wrong."

But BLM spokeswoman Jo Simpson said the courts have ruled the land in question is owned by the public, not the tribe.

"The courts have extinguished the treaty and directed BLM to manage those lands as public lands," she said. "Certainly, an impoundment is something we don't want to do. But the Danns' continued trespass has resulted in severe overgrazing and degradation of the land."

Simpson warned that the BLM would seize about 800 horses in the same area in the future if the Danns fail to remove them.

In May, the BLM seized and sold 157 head of cattle it says rancher Raymond Yowell and the Te-Moak Band of Western Shoshone were grazing illegally on public land in Elko County.

BLM officials said 99 percent of ranchers comply with terms of federal grazing permits, and they only are cracking down on flagrant violators.

The Danns received a notice last month from the BLM that their grazing privileges were being canceled, and an appeal period expired Sept. 16, said Julie Fishel of the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

The Danns maintain the treaty between the Western Shoshone and United States simply granted the United States limited access – not ownership – to 23.6 million acres. The Western Shoshone tribes live mainly in Nevada, California, Idaho and Utah.

Earlier this year, a preliminary report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, accused the U.S. government of violating international human rights laws in its treatment of the Danns.

Even though the report made no determination of their legal land rights, it said the United States should provide the Danns an effective remedy to ensure respect for their claims to property rights on ancestral lands.

–––

On the Net:

Bureau of Land Management-Nevada: http://www.nv.blm.gov/

Western Shoshone: http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/shoshone

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55304-2002Sep23.html
___________________________________________________________________

Today: September 23, 2002 at 8:24:17 PDT

Few Support Confederate Museum
By CAIN BURDEAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS- Just around the corner from a towering statue of Robert E. Lee, an aging museum that houses one of the nation's most valuable troves of Confederate flags, uniforms and artifacts is threatened with eviction.

But even in a city that's known for fighting to preserve its history, few people seem willing to take up this cause.

"The silence is deafening," said Dr. Glen Cangelosi, president of the Confederate Memorial Hall Foundation. "I'm flabbergasted when I go around trying to get support for the museum, what a hot potato it is."

That has left museum officials largely to go it alone in their legal battle to retain ownership of the red-brick building that is home to some 5,000 artifacts.

Among the gems: Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard's uniforms; a crown of thorns given to imprisoned Confederate President Jefferson Davis by Pope Pius IX; letters and photos of black Confederates; one of four original, hand-woven Confederate banners.

The building itself is a piece of Confederate history. For 111 years, Confederate veterans, their widows and descendants have been bringing odds and ends to the museum. It is so Romanesque and church-like that it got the name "The Battle Abbey of the South."

In 1893, 60,000 mourners descended on the "abbey" for a second wake of Jefferson Davis. A decade later, 30,0