De Jesus kidnapping suspect indicted on capital murder charge

By Calvin Palmer

A man suspected in the kidnapping and death of Susana De Jesus, who went missing from a Pearland shopping center in February, was indicted today by a Brazoria County grand jury on a charge of capital murder.

Nicholas-Michael Edwin Jean, 21, is accused in the death of the 37-year-old De Jesus whose decomposed body was found in a truck trailer parked near Reliant Park, south Houston, on March 11. She had been shot.

De Jesus disappeared on February 2 as she left the women’s clothing store where she worked.

Jean led investigators to the body in the 9000 block of Knight Road after he was captured on March 10, following a day-long manhunt that began with an attempted carjacking of a Pearland resident.

He admitted being present when De Jesus was killed shortly after he took her from a Pearland parking lot as she left a dress shop, where she was assistant manager. He has not said who killed her.

Police also arrested Wallace Charles Ledet IV, 25, of Pearland, whom they believe was Jean’s accomplice, and charged him with aggravated kidnapping.

Police said Ledet told investigators that he was in his Ford F-150 with Jean when Jean saw a black 2008 Cadillac in a Pearland shopping center parking lot and told him to pull in.

As two women walked toward the Cadillac, Jean pulled a pistol from a bag, got out, approached the women and ordered De Jesus into her Cadillac, Ledet told an investigator.

As the car left the parking lot, Ledet said he drove away in his truck but did not follow the car. He said he was not present when De Jesus was killed.

[Based on a report by the Houston Chronicle.]

Pussies galore in woman’s home lead to 186 counts of animal cruelty

By Calvin Palmer

A New Jersey woman found living with 93 cats in her feces-covered million-dollar home has been charged with 186 counts of animal cruelty, two per cat.

Wanda Oughton, of Chester Township, was served with the summonses yesterday by an officer of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals who was accompanied by a police officer.

A hearing has been set for April 9 when authorities will ask a judge to require Oughton to undergo a mental health assessment.

Twenty two of the cats removed from the house on Thursday are being lodged at a veterinary hospital in Roxbury.

The SPCA is looking for shelter for the remaining 71 cats. Lt. Rick Yocum said many of the state’s shelters are already overloaded.

Yocum said officials would seek a court order to remove the remaining cats at the hearing in April.

The SPCA was tipped off by a concerned deliveryman who brought a package to Oughton’s home and officers raided her house on Thursday.

They found the 12-room house filled with urine and fecal matter from cats who ruled the two-story brick-faced structure isolated at the end of a cul-de-sac in an upmarket neighborhood in western Morris County.

Oughton has refused to leave her home, living there with an adult daughter and the remaining cats.

Chester Township Health Officer Diane Trocchio said that is Oughton’s right and that she does not have authority to condemn the house unless there is a public health issue.

Oughton has lived in Chester Township since 2005, according to property records. The house was up for sheriff’s sale last year, but Oughton paid back taxes in late January, canceling the sale.

SPCA officials said they have received many calls about possible adoption of the cats and also have received donations from as far as Houston and Chicago to help pay for their care.

Yocum said some of the cats removed from the house are being treated for upper respiratory infections and flea infestations.

It also must be determined which are domesticated cats and which are wild cats before considering adoptions, he said.

[Based on reports by The Star-Ledger and newsday.com.]

Dikes and levees hold firm in Fargo

By Calvin Palmer

Despite a strengthening wind this morning, the dikes and levees protecting Fargo, North Dakota, stood firm, with no reports of problems caused by wind-driven waves.

The wind was blowing out of the northeast at between 22 and 29 mph but U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Frank Worley said waves were only about 1 to 2 inches high.

“Wave action right now looks pretty small,” Worley said. “The wind is blowing, the snow is blowing, but we’re not looking at 1-foot waves or anything like that. … The good news is the river has gone down, so the effect will be minimized.”

Yesterday members of the National Guard raced ahead of the snowstorm to place plastic sheeting over the levees to stem any possible erosion.

Worley added that everything appeared to be holding today.

The snow that fell during the night was making driving conditions hazardous and people were warned against driving.

“The conditions are treacherous,” said Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney. “Please, please stay off the roads.”

The level of the Red River fell to 38 feet by noon today and the National Weather Service forecast it would fall to 36 feet by Thursday morning.

A level below 37 feet is sufficient to ease fears of imminent flooding.

But forecasters predict a high river level in mid-April and the Mayor of Fargo, Dennis Walaker, said that is the city’s biggest concern.

“We would like to have this winter end as soon as possible,” he said.

[Based on a report by newsday.com.]

Estranged wife of suspected gunman hid in bathroom during shooting

By Calvin Palmer

Wanda Luck, the estranged wife of the gunman suspected of killing eight people at a North Carolina nursing home, survived by hiding in a bathroom inside a locked area for Alzheimer’s patients, according to her mother.

Authorities say Robert Stewart, 45, killed seven residents and one nurse during Sunday’s shooting at Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage.

Margaret Neal, said today that her daughter Wanda, a nursing assistant at the nursing home, is devastated by the alleged actions of her estranged husband.

Neal said her daughter had left Stewart about a month ago and moved back to home on the Neal family property.

Authorities are investigating whether Stewart’s relationship with Luck was a motive behind the attack and have said his actions were not a random act of violence.

Moore County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Neil Godfrey said today investigators are still interviewing witnesses and others to make sure they have gathered all available information.

Godfrey said they had spoken with Luck but declined to comment on what she told detectives or her state of mind.

He also refused to discuss the possible reasons investigators believe Stewart — nicknamed “Pee Wee” by his hunting buddies because, one said, he’s about 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds — attacked the nursing home and Alzheimer’s disease care center.

“It would simply be speculation on the motive,” he said.

Stewart and Luck first married as teenagers in July 1983. They divorced three years later, according to marriage records in Moore County.

Even as they married several other people, Stewart still talked about Luck, said Sue Griffin, who was Stewart’s wife for 15 years before he and Luck reunited and married each other a second time in June 2002.

Griffin said Stewart would often compare her and Luck, complaining that, “Wanda doesn’t do it like that.”

“I’d look at him and say, ‘Well, I ain’t Wanda,'” Griffin said. “As time went on, I could tell he wasn’t quite over her.”

[Based on a report by newsday.com.]

CT scan reveals second face in bust of Nefertiti

By Calvin Palmer

A CT scan performed on the bust of ancient Egypt’s Queen Nefertiti has revealed a second hidden face.

A team led by Dr. Alexander Huppertz, director of the Imaging Science Institute at Berlin’s Charite hospital and medical school, discovered a detailed stone carving that differs from the external stucco face on the bust.

Queen Nefertiti on display at the Altes Museum, Berlin. Picture courtesy of AFP.

The findings are published today in the monthly journal Radiology.

Compared to the outer stucco face, the hidden limestone visage had less depth in the corners of the eyelids, laugh lines around the corners of the mouth and cheeks, less prominently regal cheekbones and a tiny bump on the ridge of the nose.

“We acquired a lot of information on how the bust was manufactured more than 3,300 years ago by the royal sculptor,” said Huppertz.

The 3-D surface reformation of the inner limestone sculpture indicated that it was created in several steps, and the artist’s makeover may have reflected the aesthetic ideals of the era.

“Changes were made, but some of them are positive, others are negative,” Huppertz said.

The study could also help preserve the bust.

“Non-invasive CT technology and very advanced 3-D post-processing tools allow us greater insight into the internal composition and conservation status of the sculpture,” Huppertz said.

“This knowledge will greatly contribute to the preservation of this priceless antiquity.”

John H. Taylor, a curator of the British Museum’s Ancient Egypt and Sudan department in London, said the scan raises interesting questions about why the features were adjusted.

“One could deduce that the final version was considered in some way more acceptable than the ‘hidden’ one, though caution is needed in attempting to explain the significance of these changes,” Taylor said.

He added: “The findings are particularly significant for the information they shed on the constructional process and the subsurface condition of the bust, which will be of value in ensuring its long-term survival in good condition.”

Nefertiti, renowned as one of history’s great beauties, was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton, remembered for having converted his kingdom to monotheism with the worship of one sun god, Aton.

German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt brought the figure to Berlin in 1913, a year after it was unearthed on the banks of the Nile.

It is a prime attraction at the city’s Altes Museum but will move into its own hall at the newly renovated Neues Museum when it reopens to the public in October.

The bust has long been a source of friction between Egypt and Germany. Cairo alleges that Borchardt fraudulently spirited it out of the country and has demanded its return.

German authorities have said they are willing to return it to Cairo temporarily for display and the study’s findings could help determine whether it could safely make the trip.

[Based on reports by AFP and Associated Press.]

Texas seeks to block stem cell research

By Calvin Palmer

President Barack Obama’s executive order lifting the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research may be thwarted in Texas.

A provision by the state Legislature in the Senate budget bill last week would ban state funding from supporting research involving the destruction of human embryos.

Leading scientists in the state sent a letter of objection to the Legislature yesterday.

“Such an amendment would be detrimental to Texas,” the letter stated. “A ban would halt ongoing research projects and negatively impact the ability of Texas academic health institutions, both public and private, to competitively recruit and retain world-class scientists, professors and students in the biological sciences.”

The bill, which passed the Senate Finance Committee 6-5 with little discussion, is scheduled to come before the full Senate floor tomorrow. The House is working on its own budget bill.

The ban could well prevail because it is contained in a larger bill moving forward. Opponents said the policy should be fully debated in stand-alone legislation.

The provision’s author state Sen Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said critics are exaggerating the provision’s impact. The provision makes “explicit what was already the implicit state policy”.

“In absence of clear state policy, the rider just says we’re not going to use state funds to destroy human embryos,” said Ogden. “Many Texans have moral concerns about this type of experimentation on human life.”

Sen Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said he and other opponents are discussing whether to try and remove the provision during the Senate floor debate.

“We should embrace science, particularly science that’s going to lead to the treatment and cure of disease,” said Watson. “We hold ourselves out to be a state that’s open to wanting to attract the greatest researchers in the world, but we send a very negative message with something of this nature.”

Watson said the language of the bill is so broad it probably prohibits embryonic stem cell research in state buildings or by state employees even if a grant for the work came from some other entity, such as the federal government.

Sen Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, said she voted for the bill to move it along but is hopeful the provision is removed as the process unfolds.

One Houston researcher said the bill would feed the perception the state is “a scientific backwater” and make retaining embryonic stem cell researchers difficult.

But Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, said that the provision would mean the scientific community would consider Texas a beacon for those who want to respect life and be progressive in biomedical research.

How is it possible to be “progressive” by banning leading-edge research? And I suppose that beacon is the same one that lights up Creationism as a viable scientific theory.

The statement to the Legislature was signed by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, three University of Texas Health System academic health institutions and Rice University.

They include Nobel Prize winners Robert Curl and Ferid Murad and President Bill Clinton’s science adviser, Neal Lane.

Do you get the feeling that these people might know what they are talking about and are seeking to bring benefits to us all, while Ogden and Graham, with their medieval mentality, would seek to deny us those benefits?

Their moral stance always begs the question as to whether they would refuse treatment of a loved one if that treatment was based on stem cell research. I don’t suppose their loved one would have the right to life in those circumstances.

[Based on a report by the Houston Chronicle.]

Black sedan sought after hit-and-run kills USC student

By Calvin Palmer

Los Angeles police yesterday appealed to the public to help them find the driver of a black sedan involved in a callous hit-and-run accident that killed one USC student and critically injured another.

“We need to find the vehicle,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese. “We need to find it quickly.”

The accident, at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, left Adrianna Bachan, 18, dead and Marcus Garfinkle, 19, clinging to life.

Witnesses say Garfinkle was carried about 500 feet on the hood of the car and pressed against the windshield before the driver stopped and a passenger removed him from the car. The vehicle then drove off.

Police say the driver had run a red light before the accident.
 
The callous behavior of the driver and passenger has shocked investigators and relatives.

Adrianna’s mother, Carmen Bachan, said: “The passenger got out of the car and threw the young man on the street after they destroyed my baby.”

Albanese said police are looking for a black sedan – possibly a Lexus, Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla – that sustained heavy damage to its front end and a cracked windshield. Repair shops have been asked to look out for the vehicle.

The busy intersection was far from deserted in the early hours of Sunday morning when the two first-year students found themselves in the path of a speeding car.

Will Sturgeon, a 19-year-old freshman in environmental studies, said he was walking back to campus from a party with a friend when he heard a loud crash.

“We look over and we see this girl in the air and hitting the ground,” he said.

Sturgeon and others called authorities while his friend blocked traffic. They flagged down a passing fire engine.

Sturgeon said he thought the two students might have crossed the street outside of the crosswalk, because Bachan’s body ended up about 15 yards away from it.

News of the accident quickly spread through the campus and it was a major talking point yesterday.
 
“A lot of people were talking about it on campus,” said freshman Gieselle Allen, 19, who is studying screenwriting.  “It’s in the Daily Trojan and it’s all over people’s Facebook pages. I just think it’s sad.”

Other students said it was difficult to understand how the driver could speed off without helping the students.

“Everybody is pretty shocked,” said Robert Hooks, 21, a senior who is studying political science. “How do you just leave somebody on the side of the road like that?”

Bachan, the daughter of a Croatian father and a Cuban mother, was born in Los Angeles. She grew up in Montecito and went to Santa Barbara High School, where she was an honors student and played soccer.

Kelly Wirht, chapter president of Bachan’s sorority, Pi Beta Phi, said: “Adrianna was both an amazing woman and an outstanding member of our chapter. She will be greatly missed.”

Michael Jackson, USC’s vice president of student affairs, said university officials have been proactive in trying to cope with the heavy amount of pedestrian and vehicle traffic around campus.

Jackson said the Jefferson-Hoover intersection sees an enormous amount of pedestrian traffic because some 10,000 students live north of Jefferson Boulevard.

He said university officials have worked with the city to improve the intersection and a new system, which allows pedestrians to cross at several points while all traffic is stopped, was implemented a couple of years ago.

He said officials plan to re-examine the intersection after Sunday’s fatality but added that it is difficult to stop someone from running a red light.

[Based on a report by the Los Angeles Times.]

Federal judge blocks charges in ‘sexting’ case

By Calvin Palmer

A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked a prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three northeastern Pennsylvania teenagers accused of “sexting” scantily clad and topless pictures of themselves.

U.S. District Judge James Munley ruled against Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr, who has threatened to pursue felony charges against the girls unless they agree to participate in a five-week after-school program.

One picture showed two the girls in their bras. A second photo showed another girl topless after stepping out of the shower.

The girls’ case was taken up by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

Legal director Witold Walczack said in a statement: “We are grateful the judge recognized that prosecuting our clients for non-sexually explicit photographs raises serious constitutional questions.

“This country needs to have a discussion about whether prosecuting minors as child pornographers for merely being impulsive and naive is the appropriate way to address the serious consequences that can result” when teens send sexually suggestive photos of themselves and others to one another.”

Skumanick, who has said he can prosecute the teens as “accomplices” in the production of child pornography, said he would consider an appeal.

The ruling “sets a dangerous precedent by allowing people to commit crimes and then seek refuge from state arrest in the federal courts,” he said.

Au contraire, the ruling seems to me to be a mature and reasonable response to try and prevent the law from being an ass.

The photos surfaced in October, when officials at Tunkhannock Area High School confiscated five cell phones and found that boys had been trading photos of scantily clad, semi-nude or nude teenage girls. The students with the cell phones ranged in age from 11 to 17.

Skumanick met with about 20 students and their parents last month and offered them a deal in which they would not be prosecution if they took a class on sexual harassment, sexual violence and gender roles.

Three students refused and sued Skumanick last week.

The suit, filed by the ACLU, said the teens did not consent to having the picture distributed and that the images are not pornographic.

The ACLU said Skumanick’s threat to prosecute is “retaliation” for the students’ refusal to participate in the class.

Munley wrote: “The girls make a reasonable argument that the images presented to the court do not appear to qualify in any way as depictions of prohibited sexual acts. Even if they were such depictions, the plaintiffs’ argument that they were not involved in disseminating the images is also a reasonable one.”

Under Pennsylvania’s child pornography law, the possession or dissemination of photos of a minor engaged in sexual activity, “lewd exhibition of the genitals” or nudity that is meant to titillate is a felony.

The judge said he “offers no final conclusion on the merits of plaintiffs’ position” and scheduled a hearing on the case for June 2.

Needless to say Skumanick Jr is a Republican, showing once again just how hopelessly out of touch some Republicans are with life as it is lived in the 21st Century.

Given his political affiliations, I am more than surprised that Skumanick has not brought charges of witchcraft against these girls. It would be in keeping with his outmoded and pious mindset.

There are times when the full weight of the law should be brought to bear against child pornographers.  To any right-minded individual, this case is clearly not one of those occasions.

And as someone who belongs to a political party that rails against the waste of taxpayers’ money, Skumanick would do well to reflect on just how much money he is wasting on this futile endeavor.

Only someone possessed by religious or moral zeal would fail to see the crass stupidity of his actions.

I always thought district attorneys were men and women of the world rather than anally retentive martinets. I suppose Skumanick feels like he has to justify his $161,000 annual salary, especially since he is seeking re-election this year.

[Based on a report by the Associated Press.]

Churchill’s breakfast menu included whisky and a cigar

By Calvin Palmer

On his last flight to the United States as Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill wrote his own breakfast menu. It  included whisky and a cigar.

The menu of the BOAC flight in June 1954, at the height of the Cold War, did not meet up with the Prime Minister’s expectations so he wrote one out for himself.

The meal was to be served on two trays.

For the first, he listed “Poached egg, Toast, Jam, Butter, Coffee and milk, Jug of cold milk, Cold Chicken or Meat.

“2nd Tray. Grapefruit, Sugar Bowl, Glass orange squash (ice), Whisky soda.”

He then adds: “Wash hands, cigar.”

He had tried to amend the printed menu but in the end wrote his own on the other side.

The menu was kept by the air steward and it is to be sold at auction along with press cuttings from the trip.

Auctioneer Richard Westwood-Brookes said: “This is one of the most remarkable pieces of Churchill memorabilia we have seen.

“It shows what a hearty breakfast he ate and it was all washed down with a whisky, after which he smoked a cigar.

“It is the type of indulgence we’ve come to associate with Churchill and it reassuring to know he ate so well in his 80th year.”

He added: “There are some smudges and ink stains but it is a wonderful piece of history.”

The menu is expected to fetch up to £1,500 ($2,138) when it is sold at Mullock’s auctioneers in Ludlow, Shropshire, on appropriately enough, April 23, St George’s Day.

It is worth remembering that in the world’s last great conflagration, Hitler, who detested tobacco and refused to allow anyone to smoke a cigarette in his presence, was defeated by a triumvirate of smokers – Churchill, FDR and Stalin.

Now look where we are today, with the health Nazis in the ascendancy.

One can only imagine the verbal lashing Churchill would mete out to them, if he were alive today.

Alas, there is no champion to fight the tyranny being thrust upon smokers.

Even Barack Obama, once a smoker and probably still an occasional smoker for all we know, forgot about his fellow smokers when he signed the increased federal tax on tobacco.

And do you really think the revenue so raised will go to funding any healthcare program?  That is a just a sop to sanctimonious illiberal people so that they will nod approvingly, thankful that their tax burden will not be raised.

The money from the raised tobacco tax has probably already been accounted for by what AIG has received in bailout money.

Instead of a New Deal for the economy, how about a New Deal for smokers, protecting our rights and our pockets?

And if states need to make up their budget shortfall this year, why not tax bottled water? If people are willing enough to pay for something they can get by turning a tap — faucet in America –  they will gladly pay any extra charge in tax.

In a fair and just society, the healthy should be taxed on their habits just as much as the unhealthy.

Time for a cigarette.

[Based on a report by The Daily Telegraph.]

Two ‘heroes’ catch baby after 30-ft fall from window

By Calvin Palmer

Two Massachusetts men were hailed as heroes after they caught a baby girl who fell more than 30 feet from the window of an apartment building yesterday evening.

Robert Lemire, 45, of Methuen, was walking down a street in Lawrence when he saw the baby hanging outside the window after seeing several toys fly out of the same window.

He dashed across busy Haverhill Street, yelling for help as he dodged cars.

His cries were heard by Alex Day, 23, who was in the middle of a bible study on the first floor of the building.

Day joined Lamire who had just finished explaining what was going on when the baby fell. Both men reached out their arms and caught the 18-month-old girl.

“Alex pretty much got the top and I got the diaper end, or the bottom half or whatever you call it,” Lemire said.

Day saw divine intervention at work in the baby’s rescue.

“Yeah, I think God had a lot to do with this,” he said. “Definitely, by God.”

The baby, Caliah Clark, was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

“These two guys are heroes,” said Lawrence Police Chief John Romero.

The child’s father, Randall Clark, said he was watching a two-month-old baby in another room when the incident occurred, Romero said.

The window had no child guard.

“There are a number of things we are doing to investigate on our end,” he said. “At this point, we are investigating to determine what led up to this incident.”

The Department of Social Services was notified and was expected to investigate.

[Based on reports by The Boston Globe and Boston Herald.]