COLLIN COUNTY – Officials believe a 44-year-old Collin County man seen driving a riding lawnmower toward Farmersville on Thursday morning was stabbed multiple times, said Collin County sheriff's spokesman John Norton.
The man, whom deputies would not name, was flown to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he underwent surgery. He was listed in critical condition Thursday afternoon and was expected to survive, Lt. Norton said.
A driver on County Road 648 south of Farmersville in eastern Collin County saw the man about 8:30 a.m. and called 911. The victim was disoriented and not able to say much, Lt. Norton said.
A room in the house where the man was living in the 1500 block of County Road 648 had been ransacked, and blood was found in the area. Officials learned from family members that the man's car was missing.
Anyone with information about the missing tan-colored 1996 Nissan with California license plate 3RYB370 is asked to call the Collin County sheriff's office at 972-547-5100.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Talvin DeMachio in Hostage Situa
A Dallas policeman shot in the thigh early Wednesday while responding to a hostage situation was in good spirits after surgery, a police spokeswoman said.
Officer Jeremy Borchardt, 29, lost a lot of blood after being shot in the leg. He was transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital, police said.
Officer Borchardt, a seven-year veteran of the force who had been scheduled to receive a promotion to senior corporal today, was in stable condition late Wednesday afternoon. His wife was at his side.
Dallas police Chief David Kunkle later conferred Borchardt's promotion at an impromptu hospital ceremony.
“He’s obviously in a lot of pain. All seems to be well,” Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said. “He’s glad to be alive.”
Ronald Robinson, 37, of Dallas, is accused of shooting Officer Borchardt and holding a woman hostage in a Radisson hotel room. He later died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Police were negotiating for several hours with the gunman, who had been beating the 33-year-old woman. She emerged from the room sometime after 7 a.m. and told officers that the suspect was dead, police Lt. Rick Watson said.
The female hostage was in stable condition at Parkland with a gunshot wound to the leg and another superficial wound in the back, Cpl. Crowther said. The woman’s relationship to the suspect was not immediately clear.
Lt. Rick Watson said the situation began unfolding about 4:14 a.m., when Dallas Fire-Rescue was called to a room on the fourth floor of the hotel in the 1200 block of West Mockingbird Lane near Stemmons Freeway. When firefighters arrived, a woman was yelling, but a man refused to let them in the room, Lt. Watson said.
Dallas Fire-Rescue called for Dallas police. The first officer to arrive was Gerald Runnels, who heard what sounded like a woman being beaten.
“I tried to talk to the suspect through the door and he just wasn’t cooperating with me at all. That’s when I called for cover and a supervisor,” Officer Runnels said, adding that he was alone at the door for several minutes.
1200 block of W. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas
“I was trying to talk him down, calm him down. I could hear him hitting the lady. I could hear the lady screaming and hollering for help, that kind of thing,” Officer Runnels told reporters outside Parkland’s emergency room. “That’s when I got on the radio and said, ‘Step it up. I’ve got a real problem here.’”
Five officers, including Officer Borchardt and Senior Cpl. Roger Rudloff, arrived.
Cpl. Rudloff said they could hear the woman being attacked “pretty violently.”
“If somebody’s in a room getting beat up, I mean, that’s our job to go in and get them,” he said.
Officers asked for a manager to give them a master key. As Officer Borchardt stood to the side of the door and attempted to unlock it, the suspect shot several times through the wall, hitting the officer in the leg, police said.
Officer Runnels and Cpl. Rudloff dragged the officer, bleeding profusely from a large bullet wound, down the hall, into the elevator and through the lobby to a waiting ambulance.
“I’m looking at this officer who I work with every day in the eyes who got shot and I’m thinking, ‘I need to get him to the hospital to get him help,’” Officer Runnels said.
Medics rushed Officer Borchardt to nearby Parkland.
"He was joking around as we went into the O.R.," Cpl. Rudloff said. "He was concerned about his family and his three kids."
Police asked all guests in floors above the fourth in the 13-story hotel to remain in their rooms while the negotiations continued with the gunman. A hotel restaurant was evacuated.
Otho Rogers and his wife, of Melrose, N.M., were staying in the room across the hall. Mr. Rogers opened the door and a SWAT officer with a rifle told him to get back inside.
“I just heard the police screaming back and forth. They kept yelling at him to get down,” Mr. Rogers said.
Eventually, all guests from the fourth floor were escorted to the hotel ballroom, he said.
Christopher Jossell of Chicago opened his door and saw a trail of blood. He returned to his room and watched the events unfold on TV. He said he was worried about the officer.
“You see all this blood and you don’t know what to think,” he said. “Whatever is going on, somebody is hurt.”
John Wilson of Lubbock was lodging on a different floor when he sensed that something was amiss. When he called the front desk, he was told there was a hostage situation. So he turned on the television and waited, missing his return flight from Love Field.
“I just stayed in my room until they said I could come out,” he said.
The Police Department was working with the American Red Cross to launch an emergency blood drive Wednesday in his honor.
Chief Kunkle said responding to cases of domestic violence is a fairly routine part of an officer’s job.
“This is one of those situations that officers can do very little to provide for their own safety. Because as I said, my understanding is the officer was shot even before they got to the doorway,” he said. “There was virtually nothing that can be done to keep those kind of incidents from happening.”
Officer Jeremy Borchardt, 29, lost a lot of blood after being shot in the leg. He was transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital, police said.
Officer Borchardt, a seven-year veteran of the force who had been scheduled to receive a promotion to senior corporal today, was in stable condition late Wednesday afternoon. His wife was at his side.
Dallas police Chief David Kunkle later conferred Borchardt's promotion at an impromptu hospital ceremony.
“He’s obviously in a lot of pain. All seems to be well,” Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said. “He’s glad to be alive.”
Ronald Robinson, 37, of Dallas, is accused of shooting Officer Borchardt and holding a woman hostage in a Radisson hotel room. He later died of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Police were negotiating for several hours with the gunman, who had been beating the 33-year-old woman. She emerged from the room sometime after 7 a.m. and told officers that the suspect was dead, police Lt. Rick Watson said.
The female hostage was in stable condition at Parkland with a gunshot wound to the leg and another superficial wound in the back, Cpl. Crowther said. The woman’s relationship to the suspect was not immediately clear.
Lt. Rick Watson said the situation began unfolding about 4:14 a.m., when Dallas Fire-Rescue was called to a room on the fourth floor of the hotel in the 1200 block of West Mockingbird Lane near Stemmons Freeway. When firefighters arrived, a woman was yelling, but a man refused to let them in the room, Lt. Watson said.
Dallas Fire-Rescue called for Dallas police. The first officer to arrive was Gerald Runnels, who heard what sounded like a woman being beaten.
“I tried to talk to the suspect through the door and he just wasn’t cooperating with me at all. That’s when I called for cover and a supervisor,” Officer Runnels said, adding that he was alone at the door for several minutes.
1200 block of W. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas
“I was trying to talk him down, calm him down. I could hear him hitting the lady. I could hear the lady screaming and hollering for help, that kind of thing,” Officer Runnels told reporters outside Parkland’s emergency room. “That’s when I got on the radio and said, ‘Step it up. I’ve got a real problem here.’”
Five officers, including Officer Borchardt and Senior Cpl. Roger Rudloff, arrived.
Cpl. Rudloff said they could hear the woman being attacked “pretty violently.”
“If somebody’s in a room getting beat up, I mean, that’s our job to go in and get them,” he said.
Officers asked for a manager to give them a master key. As Officer Borchardt stood to the side of the door and attempted to unlock it, the suspect shot several times through the wall, hitting the officer in the leg, police said.
Officer Runnels and Cpl. Rudloff dragged the officer, bleeding profusely from a large bullet wound, down the hall, into the elevator and through the lobby to a waiting ambulance.
“I’m looking at this officer who I work with every day in the eyes who got shot and I’m thinking, ‘I need to get him to the hospital to get him help,’” Officer Runnels said.
Medics rushed Officer Borchardt to nearby Parkland.
"He was joking around as we went into the O.R.," Cpl. Rudloff said. "He was concerned about his family and his three kids."
Police asked all guests in floors above the fourth in the 13-story hotel to remain in their rooms while the negotiations continued with the gunman. A hotel restaurant was evacuated.
Otho Rogers and his wife, of Melrose, N.M., were staying in the room across the hall. Mr. Rogers opened the door and a SWAT officer with a rifle told him to get back inside.
“I just heard the police screaming back and forth. They kept yelling at him to get down,” Mr. Rogers said.
Eventually, all guests from the fourth floor were escorted to the hotel ballroom, he said.
Christopher Jossell of Chicago opened his door and saw a trail of blood. He returned to his room and watched the events unfold on TV. He said he was worried about the officer.
“You see all this blood and you don’t know what to think,” he said. “Whatever is going on, somebody is hurt.”
John Wilson of Lubbock was lodging on a different floor when he sensed that something was amiss. When he called the front desk, he was told there was a hostage situation. So he turned on the television and waited, missing his return flight from Love Field.
“I just stayed in my room until they said I could come out,” he said.
The Police Department was working with the American Red Cross to launch an emergency blood drive Wednesday in his honor.
Chief Kunkle said responding to cases of domestic violence is a fairly routine part of an officer’s job.
“This is one of those situations that officers can do very little to provide for their own safety. Because as I said, my understanding is the officer was shot even before they got to the doorway,” he said. “There was virtually nothing that can be done to keep those kind of incidents from happening.”
RadioShack Fires 400 Employees by E-Mail
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - RadioShack Corp. notified about 400 workers by e-mail that they were being dismissed immediately as part of planned job cuts.
Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."
Related news
Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.
Jackson said the electronic notification was quicker and allowed more privacy than breaking the news in person.
"It was important to notify people as quickly as possible," she said. "They had 30 minutes to collect their thoughts, make phone calls and say goodbye to employees before they went to meet with senior leaders."
Employees met with supervisors and human resources personnel before leaving. At coffee bar areas on each floor, the company provided boxes and plastic bags for employees to pack their personal belongings.
"Things went very smoothly. Everyone left very graciously and very professionally," Jackson said.
Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.
"If I put myself in their shoes, I'd say, 'Didn't they have a few minutes to tell me?'" D'Souza said.
Laid-off workers got one to three weeks pay for each year of service, up to 16 weeks for hourly employees and 36 weeks for those with base bay of at least $90,000, the company said.
The company announced Aug. 10 that it would cut 400 to 450 jobs, mostly at headquarters, to cut expenses and "improve its long-term competitive position in the marketplace." RadioShack has closed nearly 500 stores, consolidated distribution centers and liquidated slow-moving merchandise in an effort to shake out of a sales slump.
Shares of RadioShack rose 29 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $18.21 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Employees at the Fort Worth headquarters got messages Tuesday morning saying: "The work force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated."
Related news
Company officials had told employees in a series of meetings that layoff notices would be delivered electronically, spokeswoman Kay Jackson said. She said employees were invited to ask questions before Tuesday's notification on a company intranet site.
Jackson said the electronic notification was quicker and allowed more privacy than breaking the news in person.
"It was important to notify people as quickly as possible," she said. "They had 30 minutes to collect their thoughts, make phone calls and say goodbye to employees before they went to meet with senior leaders."
Employees met with supervisors and human resources personnel before leaving. At coffee bar areas on each floor, the company provided boxes and plastic bags for employees to pack their personal belongings.
"Things went very smoothly. Everyone left very graciously and very professionally," Jackson said.
Derrick D'Souza, a management professor at the University of North Texas, said he had never heard of such a large number of terminated employees being notified electronically. He said it could be seen as dehumanizing to employees.
"If I put myself in their shoes, I'd say, 'Didn't they have a few minutes to tell me?'" D'Souza said.
Laid-off workers got one to three weeks pay for each year of service, up to 16 weeks for hourly employees and 36 weeks for those with base bay of at least $90,000, the company said.
The company announced Aug. 10 that it would cut 400 to 450 jobs, mostly at headquarters, to cut expenses and "improve its long-term competitive position in the marketplace." RadioShack has closed nearly 500 stores, consolidated distribution centers and liquidated slow-moving merchandise in an effort to shake out of a sales slump.
Shares of RadioShack rose 29 cents, or 1.6 percent, to close at $18.21 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Neighbor killed; police check child molestation claim
for personal reference only:
FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (AP) -- A lawyer in this quiet suburban community was charged with killing a 58-year-old neighbor he suspected had molested his 2-year-old daughter, prompting police to investigate whether the molestation occurred.
Jonathon Edington, is accused of stabbing neighbor Barry James to death on Monday after his wife told him that James had inappropriate contact with the child.
"The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," said Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman.(Watch how stabbing shocks quiet neighborhood -- 1:32)
Police said Edington, 29, climbed through James' bedroom window and stabbed him nearly a dozen times in the chest. James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body.
Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James' family, said the molestation claim is unsubstantiated.
"There's nothing that would arouse any suspicion," Ambrose said Thursday. "It's totally without precedent. It's just unfounded. It comes as a complete surprise to his family."
Police found Edington standing at his kitchen sink with blood on his hands and arms, the Connecticut Post reported.
"We have no indication (the molestation claim) is true or not true," Capt. Gary MacNamara said Wednesday, adding that authorities had not received a complaint about the neighbor immediately before the killing.
Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said. "Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," MacNamara said.
Edington's landlord, Karen Brophy, told the Post that Edington's wife had told her in a phone call about three months ago that James had exposed himself.
Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has no criminal record, police said.
James served two days in prison in May 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Department of Correction.
"He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building."
Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said.
'Something had to happen that was terrible'
As for Edington, Maynard said: "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred." Edington "seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by."
Maynard told the New York Post that Edington was "a nice, low-key man."
"It seemed like he really loved his daughter. He was really good with her," the Post quoted Maynard as saying.
The Post, citing the Edingtons' landlord, reported the Edingtons moved to the neighborhood in March.
Pat Wysocki, a neighbor who has known the James family for 39 years, described Barry James as a "very nice fellow" who worked for a funeral home and said she found it hard to believe he would molest a child.
Ambrose, the James family attorney, said in a statement cited by The Connecticut Post that James had a "caring and compassionate nature" and the allegations "are weighing heavily on his family in light of their already burdensome suffering."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
FAIRFIELD, Connecticut (AP) -- A lawyer in this quiet suburban community was charged with killing a 58-year-old neighbor he suspected had molested his 2-year-old daughter, prompting police to investigate whether the molestation occurred.
Jonathon Edington, is accused of stabbing neighbor Barry James to death on Monday after his wife told him that James had inappropriate contact with the child.
"The daughter gave the mother information which was alarming and disturbing. The mom relayed it to her husband. That was the spark," said Edington's attorney, Michael Sherman.(Watch how stabbing shocks quiet neighborhood -- 1:32)
Police said Edington, 29, climbed through James' bedroom window and stabbed him nearly a dozen times in the chest. James' 87-year-old mother discovered his body.
Peter Ambrose, an attorney for James' family, said the molestation claim is unsubstantiated.
"There's nothing that would arouse any suspicion," Ambrose said Thursday. "It's totally without precedent. It's just unfounded. It comes as a complete surprise to his family."
Police found Edington standing at his kitchen sink with blood on his hands and arms, the Connecticut Post reported.
"We have no indication (the molestation claim) is true or not true," Capt. Gary MacNamara said Wednesday, adding that authorities had not received a complaint about the neighbor immediately before the killing.
Police had gone to the neighborhood before, when Edington called to complain that he could see James through a window, police said. "Either he was partly clothed or revealed parts of his anatomy that were inappropriate," MacNamara said.
Edington's landlord, Karen Brophy, told the Post that Edington's wife had told her in a phone call about three months ago that James had exposed himself.
Edington, a graduate of Syracuse University and Fordham University Law School, has no criminal record, police said.
James served two days in prison in May 2001 on a drunken driving charge, according to the state Department of Correction.
"He had some bizarre behavior over the last month," said Darrell Maynard, a neighbor. "He drove his car through his garage, hit the other neighbor's building."
Another time a neighbor found James intoxicated on the street, Maynard said. James shouted obscenities at children, he said.
'Something had to happen that was terrible'
As for Edington, Maynard said: "Something had to happen that was terrible for this to have occurred." Edington "seemed like a computer geek or something. He was not anybody you would ever feel you were threatened by."
Maynard told the New York Post that Edington was "a nice, low-key man."
"It seemed like he really loved his daughter. He was really good with her," the Post quoted Maynard as saying.
The Post, citing the Edingtons' landlord, reported the Edingtons moved to the neighborhood in March.
Pat Wysocki, a neighbor who has known the James family for 39 years, described Barry James as a "very nice fellow" who worked for a funeral home and said she found it hard to believe he would molest a child.
Ambrose, the James family attorney, said in a statement cited by The Connecticut Post that James had a "caring and compassionate nature" and the allegations "are weighing heavily on his family in light of their already burdensome suffering."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Friday, August 25, 2006
Six flights disrupted by security concerns
Personal reference only:
UNDATED Security concerns disrupted six U-S flights today.A college student's checked luggage contained traces of dynamite. It was found on flight from Argentina to New Jersey. Authorities are checking why the student got off at the stop in Houston, where the traces were detected.
In other incidents:
-- An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago was forced to land in Bangor, Maine. No word on why.
-- A U-S Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City after a federal air marshal subdued a passenger who had pushed a flight attendant.
-- A Continental Airlines flight from Texas to California was held in El Paso, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered a missing panel in the lavatory.
-- A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a U-S Airways flight from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
-- And an Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin was evacuated this morning during a scheduled stop in western Ireland. A bomb threat turned out to be unfounded.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
UNDATED Security concerns disrupted six U-S flights today.A college student's checked luggage contained traces of dynamite. It was found on flight from Argentina to New Jersey. Authorities are checking why the student got off at the stop in Houston, where the traces were detected.
In other incidents:
-- An American Airlines flight from England to Chicago was forced to land in Bangor, Maine. No word on why.
-- A U-S Airways jet was diverted to Oklahoma City after a federal air marshal subdued a passenger who had pushed a flight attendant.
-- A Continental Airlines flight from Texas to California was held in El Paso, one of its scheduled stops, after the crew discovered a missing panel in the lavatory.
-- A utility knife was found on a vacant passenger seat of a U-S Airways flight from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
-- And an Aer Lingus flight from New York to Dublin was evacuated this morning during a scheduled stop in western Ireland. A bomb threat turned out to be unfounded.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
Texan foils U.K. burglary via Beatles Webcam
for personal reference only
Man watching over Internet spots crime in progress, alerts local police
LONDON - An American helped foil a burglary in northern England while watching a Beatles-related Webcam, police said Friday.
The man from Dallas was using a live camera link to look at Mathew Street, an area of Liverpool synonymous with the Beatles and home to the Cavern Club, where the band regularly played.
He saw intruders apparently breaking into a sports store and alerted local police.
We did get a call from someone in Dallas who was watching on a Webcam that looks into the tourist areas, of which Mathew Street is one because of all the Beatles stuff," a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said.
"He called directly through to police here." Officers were sent to the scene, and three suspects were arrested.
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
Man watching over Internet spots crime in progress, alerts local police
LONDON - An American helped foil a burglary in northern England while watching a Beatles-related Webcam, police said Friday.
The man from Dallas was using a live camera link to look at Mathew Street, an area of Liverpool synonymous with the Beatles and home to the Cavern Club, where the band regularly played.
He saw intruders apparently breaking into a sports store and alerted local police.
We did get a call from someone in Dallas who was watching on a Webcam that looks into the tourist areas, of which Mathew Street is one because of all the Beatles stuff," a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said.
"He called directly through to police here." Officers were sent to the scene, and three suspects were arrested.
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Scientists decide Pluto’s no longer a planet
Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved Thursday to demote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planethood that is being billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic and cultural influences. But the decision is already being hotly debated.
Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.
"Pluto is dead," said Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology who spoke with reporters via a teleconference while monitoring the vote. The decision also means a Pluto-sized object that Brown discovered will not be called a planet.
"Pluto is not a planet," Brown said. "There are finally, officially, eight planets in the solar system."
The vote involved just 424 astronomers who remained for the last day of a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague.
"I'm embarrassed for astronomy. Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.
"This definition stinks, for technical reasons," Stern told Space.com. He expects the astronomy community to overturn the decision. Other astronomers criticized the definition as ambiguous.
The resolutionThe decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.
Planets: The eight worlds starting with Mercury and moving out to Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Dwarf planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."
Small solar system bodies: All other objects orbiting the sun.
Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.
"Pluto is a dwarf planet by the ... definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," states the approved resolution.
Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however.
"There will be hundreds of dwarf planets," Brown predicted. He has already found dozens that fit the category.
Contentious logic The vote came after eight days of contentious debate that involved four separate proposals at the group's meeting in Prague.
The initial proposal, hammered out by a group of seven astronomers, historians and authors, attempted to preserve Pluto as a planet but was widely criticized for diluting the meaning of the word. It would also have made planets out of the asteroid Ceres and Pluto's moon Charon. But not now.
"Ceres is a dwarf planet. it's the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt," Brown said. "Charon is a satellite."
The category of "dwarf planet" is expected to include dozens of round objects already discovered beyond Neptune. Ultimately, hundreds will probably be found, astronomers say.
The word "planet" originally described wanderers of the sky that moved against the relatively fixed background of star. Pluto, discovered in 1930, was at first thought to be larger than it is. It has an eccentric orbit that crosses the path of Neptune and also takes it well above and below the main plane of the solar system.
Recent discoveries of other round, icy object in Pluto's realm have led most astronomers to agree that the diminutive world should never have been termed a planet.
'A farce'Stern, in charge of the robotic probe on its way to Pluto, said the language of the resolution is flawed. It requires that a planet "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." But Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all have asteroids as neighbors.
"It's patently clear that Earth's zone is not cleared," Stern told Space.com. "Jupiter has 50,000 Trojan asteroids," which orbit in lockstep with the planet.
Stern called it "absurd" that only 424 astronomers were allowed to vote, out of about 10,000 professional astronomers around the globe.
"It won't stand," he said. "It's a farce."
Stern said astronomers are already circulating a petition that would try to overturn the IAU decision.
Owen Gingerich, historian and astronomer emeritus at Harvard who led the committee that proposed the initial definition, called the new definition "confusing and unfortunate" and said he was "not at all pleased" with the language about clearing the neighborhood.
Gingerich also did not like the term "dwarf" planet.
"I thought that it made a curious linguistic contradiction," Gingerich said during a telephone interview from Boston (where he could not vote). "A dwarf planet is not a planet. I thought that was very awkward."
Gingerich added: "In the future, one would hope the IAU could do electronic balloting."
Years of debateAstronomers have argued since the late 1990s on whether to demote Pluto. Public support for Pluto has weighed heavily on the debate. Today's vote comes after a two-year effort by the IAU to develop a definition. An initial committee of astronomers failed for a year to do so, leading to the formation of the second committee whose proposed definition was then redefined for Thursday's vote.
Astronomers at the IAU meeting debated the proposals right up to the moment of the vote.
Caltech's Mike Brown loses out in one sense. The Pluto-sized object his team found, called 2003 UB313, will now be termed a dwarf planet.
"As of today I have no longer discovered a planet," he said. But Brown called the result scientifically a good decision.
"The public is not going to be excited by the fact that Pluto has been kicked out," Brown said. "But it's the right thing to do."
Textbooks and classroom charts will, of course, have to be revised.
"For astronomers, this doesn't matter one bit. We'll go out and do exactly what we did," Brown said. "For teaching this is a very interesting moment. I think you can describe science much better now" by explaining why Pluto was once thought to be a planet and why it isn't now. "I'm actually very excited."
© 2006 Space.com. All rights reserved
ALL ABOUT PLUTO
• Pluto's day: 6.4 Earth days.
• Pluto's year: 248 Earth years.
• Average distance from sun: 3.7 billion miles, or 5.9 billion kilometers.
• What's in a name? Pluto is also the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was suggested by many people, but credit was given to an 11-year-old girl from England.
• Click for more from "The Nine Planets
Even though Pluto may have lost its official status as a planet, the frozen world and its kin are still worthy of study, says Louis Friedman, executive director of the nonprofit Planetary Society. “Anytime we visit a new world — planet, moon, asteroid, comet, whatever — we make exciting and surprising new discoveries about the evolution of our solar system and about our own planet,” he said.
NASA's New Horizons probe is in the midst of a 9½-year journey to study Pluto and other icy mini-worlds, and NASA's Paul Hertz said Thursday's decision would have no effect on the mission. “We will continue pursuing exploration of the most scientifically interesting objects in the solar system, regardless of how they are categorized,” he said.
Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.
"Pluto is dead," said Mike Brown, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology who spoke with reporters via a teleconference while monitoring the vote. The decision also means a Pluto-sized object that Brown discovered will not be called a planet.
"Pluto is not a planet," Brown said. "There are finally, officially, eight planets in the solar system."
The vote involved just 424 astronomers who remained for the last day of a meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague.
"I'm embarrassed for astronomy. Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.
"This definition stinks, for technical reasons," Stern told Space.com. He expects the astronomy community to overturn the decision. Other astronomers criticized the definition as ambiguous.
The resolutionThe decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.
Planets: The eight worlds starting with Mercury and moving out to Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Dwarf planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."
Small solar system bodies: All other objects orbiting the sun.
Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.
"Pluto is a dwarf planet by the ... definition and is recognized as the prototype of a new category of trans-Neptunian objects," states the approved resolution.
Dwarf planets are not planets under the definition, however.
"There will be hundreds of dwarf planets," Brown predicted. He has already found dozens that fit the category.
Contentious logic The vote came after eight days of contentious debate that involved four separate proposals at the group's meeting in Prague.
The initial proposal, hammered out by a group of seven astronomers, historians and authors, attempted to preserve Pluto as a planet but was widely criticized for diluting the meaning of the word. It would also have made planets out of the asteroid Ceres and Pluto's moon Charon. But not now.
"Ceres is a dwarf planet. it's the only dwarf planet in the asteroid belt," Brown said. "Charon is a satellite."
The category of "dwarf planet" is expected to include dozens of round objects already discovered beyond Neptune. Ultimately, hundreds will probably be found, astronomers say.
The word "planet" originally described wanderers of the sky that moved against the relatively fixed background of star. Pluto, discovered in 1930, was at first thought to be larger than it is. It has an eccentric orbit that crosses the path of Neptune and also takes it well above and below the main plane of the solar system.
Recent discoveries of other round, icy object in Pluto's realm have led most astronomers to agree that the diminutive world should never have been termed a planet.
'A farce'Stern, in charge of the robotic probe on its way to Pluto, said the language of the resolution is flawed. It requires that a planet "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." But Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all have asteroids as neighbors.
"It's patently clear that Earth's zone is not cleared," Stern told Space.com. "Jupiter has 50,000 Trojan asteroids," which orbit in lockstep with the planet.
Stern called it "absurd" that only 424 astronomers were allowed to vote, out of about 10,000 professional astronomers around the globe.
"It won't stand," he said. "It's a farce."
Stern said astronomers are already circulating a petition that would try to overturn the IAU decision.
Owen Gingerich, historian and astronomer emeritus at Harvard who led the committee that proposed the initial definition, called the new definition "confusing and unfortunate" and said he was "not at all pleased" with the language about clearing the neighborhood.
Gingerich also did not like the term "dwarf" planet.
"I thought that it made a curious linguistic contradiction," Gingerich said during a telephone interview from Boston (where he could not vote). "A dwarf planet is not a planet. I thought that was very awkward."
Gingerich added: "In the future, one would hope the IAU could do electronic balloting."
Years of debateAstronomers have argued since the late 1990s on whether to demote Pluto. Public support for Pluto has weighed heavily on the debate. Today's vote comes after a two-year effort by the IAU to develop a definition. An initial committee of astronomers failed for a year to do so, leading to the formation of the second committee whose proposed definition was then redefined for Thursday's vote.
Astronomers at the IAU meeting debated the proposals right up to the moment of the vote.
Caltech's Mike Brown loses out in one sense. The Pluto-sized object his team found, called 2003 UB313, will now be termed a dwarf planet.
"As of today I have no longer discovered a planet," he said. But Brown called the result scientifically a good decision.
"The public is not going to be excited by the fact that Pluto has been kicked out," Brown said. "But it's the right thing to do."
Textbooks and classroom charts will, of course, have to be revised.
"For astronomers, this doesn't matter one bit. We'll go out and do exactly what we did," Brown said. "For teaching this is a very interesting moment. I think you can describe science much better now" by explaining why Pluto was once thought to be a planet and why it isn't now. "I'm actually very excited."
© 2006 Space.com. All rights reserved
ALL ABOUT PLUTO
• Pluto's day: 6.4 Earth days.
• Pluto's year: 248 Earth years.
• Average distance from sun: 3.7 billion miles, or 5.9 billion kilometers.
• What's in a name? Pluto is also the name of the Roman god of the underworld. It was suggested by many people, but credit was given to an 11-year-old girl from England.
• Click for more from "The Nine Planets
Even though Pluto may have lost its official status as a planet, the frozen world and its kin are still worthy of study, says Louis Friedman, executive director of the nonprofit Planetary Society. “Anytime we visit a new world — planet, moon, asteroid, comet, whatever — we make exciting and surprising new discoveries about the evolution of our solar system and about our own planet,” he said.
NASA's New Horizons probe is in the midst of a 9½-year journey to study Pluto and other icy mini-worlds, and NASA's Paul Hertz said Thursday's decision would have no effect on the mission. “We will continue pursuing exploration of the most scientifically interesting objects in the solar system, regardless of how they are categorized,” he said.
Police may have ID'd girl missing for 8 years
VIENNA, Austria - An 18-year-old woman who was kidnapped eight years ago and held captive in a cellar managed to escape, and her alleged abductor committed suicide by jumping in front of a train, authorities said Thursday.
Natascha Kampusch was found in a yard in a residential area northeast of Vienna on Wednesday afternoon. She was identified by a scar on one of her arms from a childhood operation, authorities said, ending one of Austria’s biggest police mysteries. She had disappeared while walking to school as a 10-year-old.
The alleged kidnapper has been identified by Austrian media as 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil. A DNA analysis was under way to confirm his identity, Austrian television reported.
Armin Halm, spokesman for Austrian’s federal police, said the woman told investigators her name was Natascha Kampusch and said she was kidnapped and kept for years in a cellar under a garage in a house in Strasshof, just outside Vienna, police said.
Besides the telltale scar, she also was identified by her father, mother and half sister. Results of a DNA test were expected later Thursday, Austrian television reported.
“We are quite sure it’s her,” Halm said.
Kept to himselfErich Zwettler, of Austria’s federal police, said neighbors told officers the alleged kidnapper was not very sociable and kept to himself, state broadcaster ORF reported on its Web site.
ORF reported that an 80-year-old man found the woman, whom he described as very thin and pale. The man, who was not identified, said the woman was running and screaming and in a state of panic.
Kampusch vanished in Vienna on her way to school on March 2, 1998, triggering a massive search that extended into neighboring Hungary.
Zwettler was quoted by the Austria Press Agency as saying the woman appeared to have a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome, a survival mechanism in which a hostage begins to empathize with a captor.
Investigators said the woman had been examined by a doctor and that she did not have signs of injuries. But police are investigating whether she was beaten or sexually abused.
Nikolaus Koch, a lead investigator, said on Austrian television that the police had contact with the alleged kidnapper about three months after the girl disappeared but that he had a “sturdy alibi” at the time.
Halm said the woman spent the night in “a secure location” in the presence of a female police officer with specialized psychological training. She was due to undergo more questioning throughout the day, he said.
Kampusch’s sister said in remarks broadcast on Austrian television that her mother almost had a nervous breakdown when police notified her Wednesday, adding that she always held onto the hope that her daughter would come back one day.
“She always said she was still alive,” said the sister, who was identified as Sabina Sirny.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
personal reference only
Natascha Kampusch was found in a yard in a residential area northeast of Vienna on Wednesday afternoon. She was identified by a scar on one of her arms from a childhood operation, authorities said, ending one of Austria’s biggest police mysteries. She had disappeared while walking to school as a 10-year-old.
The alleged kidnapper has been identified by Austrian media as 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil. A DNA analysis was under way to confirm his identity, Austrian television reported.
Armin Halm, spokesman for Austrian’s federal police, said the woman told investigators her name was Natascha Kampusch and said she was kidnapped and kept for years in a cellar under a garage in a house in Strasshof, just outside Vienna, police said.
Besides the telltale scar, she also was identified by her father, mother and half sister. Results of a DNA test were expected later Thursday, Austrian television reported.
“We are quite sure it’s her,” Halm said.
Kept to himselfErich Zwettler, of Austria’s federal police, said neighbors told officers the alleged kidnapper was not very sociable and kept to himself, state broadcaster ORF reported on its Web site.
ORF reported that an 80-year-old man found the woman, whom he described as very thin and pale. The man, who was not identified, said the woman was running and screaming and in a state of panic.
Kampusch vanished in Vienna on her way to school on March 2, 1998, triggering a massive search that extended into neighboring Hungary.
Zwettler was quoted by the Austria Press Agency as saying the woman appeared to have a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome, a survival mechanism in which a hostage begins to empathize with a captor.
Investigators said the woman had been examined by a doctor and that she did not have signs of injuries. But police are investigating whether she was beaten or sexually abused.
Nikolaus Koch, a lead investigator, said on Austrian television that the police had contact with the alleged kidnapper about three months after the girl disappeared but that he had a “sturdy alibi” at the time.
Halm said the woman spent the night in “a secure location” in the presence of a female police officer with specialized psychological training. She was due to undergo more questioning throughout the day, he said.
Kampusch’s sister said in remarks broadcast on Austrian television that her mother almost had a nervous breakdown when police notified her Wednesday, adding that she always held onto the hope that her daughter would come back one day.
“She always said she was still alive,” said the sister, who was identified as Sabina Sirny.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
personal reference only
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Algae, jellyfish invade Mediterranean
FREGENE, Italy - Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water ...
In the 1975 blockbuster film “Jaws” it was a great white shark that kept holidaymakers off the beach. It is a less lethal but perhaps equally worrying menace that has closed stretches of the Mediterranean to swimmers this summer: jellyfish and seaweed.
Thousands of holidaymakers in parts of Italy and Spain have been told not to enter the water due to the threat of stings and poisoning from unusually large outbreaks of algae and jellyfish, which some ecologists say are yet another symptom of global warming
The seaweed, a toxic algae called ostreopsis ovata, has forced the closure of usually bustling beaches in Italy and caused considerable discomfort for those who entered the water.
Rosario Vizzini rushed his seven-year-old grandson Samuele to hospital when bright red welts appeared on his arms and legs after a day on the beach in northern Sicily. “The first thing they asked me was if he had been swimming, and in fact he had.”
The algae can cause skin irritations and respiratory problems and an outbreak caused a large stretch of beach near Rome to be closed for several days.
Just like in “Jaws”, local officials have been reluctant to accept the closure of beaches. In Fregene, a beach close to Rome, the mayor ignored the swimming ban and a possible $96 fine by taking to the water in an “I love Fregene” T-shirt, as a way to convince tourists his town was safe.
After the algae cleared, the coast was infested with jellyfish -- a problem that has also plagued some of the most popular beaches in Spain this August.
Tropical Mediterranean?Many scientists see the jellyfish and algae outbreaks as signs the Mediterranean is under stress, and even that it is becoming “tropicalized” -- its ecology changing due to warmer temperatures and invasive species from hotter climes.
“We already knew that the Mediterranean has started to be invaded with tropical species and its biodiversity has changed,” said biologist Isabella Barone, from the University of Palermo. “Most are not dangerous but this seaweed is as it releases toxins.”
Not a native species of the Mediterranean, the algae originates in the South Pacific, experts say, but it has been in the sea between Africa and Europe for decades, probably flushed out of the tanks of freight ships.
Raul Garcia, a fisheries expert at environmental group WWF, said the algal bloom -- a concentration of the algae on the surface -- has only become a problem in the last few years, possibly due to hotter summers.
Surface temperatures in the Mediterranean hit 84 degrees Fahrenheit during August, according to the British Meteorological Office, compared to a long-term average of 75 to 80 degrees.
Other factorsWhile the heat promotes jellyfish breeding and may change the blooming process of the algae, other factors have contributed.
Algal blooms are boosted by nitrate- and phosphate-rich pollution from farming and human waste, while jellyfish are enjoying a reduction in the number of their natural predators like loggerhead turtles and the bluefin tuna which have been devastated by overfishing, Garcia said.
Reduced river flows during hotter summers might also lead to increased numbers of jellyfish near the shore as they are no longer kept out at sea by freshwater currents.
Research by the Mediterranean Science Commission found there are 500 species of fish, crustaceans and mollusks living in the Mediterranean that are not native.
It is not new for tropical species to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, the Straits of Gibraltar or via freight ships, but warmer water and weaker indigenous species mean they now colonize the sea, rather than dying off, Garcia said.
“When these organisms arrived in the Mediterranean they didn’t find a healthy ecosystem,” said Garcia. “They found they didn’t have enemies or competition.”
Changes to the ecology will increase over the coming decades if temperatures continue to increase as predicted by many climate scientists.
A report by British and Dutch climate researchers released last month estimated that by 2080 Mediterranean beaches will be too hot for tourists to bear and by then they will be vacationing in places like Ireland and Scandinavia.
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
for reference only
In the 1975 blockbuster film “Jaws” it was a great white shark that kept holidaymakers off the beach. It is a less lethal but perhaps equally worrying menace that has closed stretches of the Mediterranean to swimmers this summer: jellyfish and seaweed.
Thousands of holidaymakers in parts of Italy and Spain have been told not to enter the water due to the threat of stings and poisoning from unusually large outbreaks of algae and jellyfish, which some ecologists say are yet another symptom of global warming
The seaweed, a toxic algae called ostreopsis ovata, has forced the closure of usually bustling beaches in Italy and caused considerable discomfort for those who entered the water.
Rosario Vizzini rushed his seven-year-old grandson Samuele to hospital when bright red welts appeared on his arms and legs after a day on the beach in northern Sicily. “The first thing they asked me was if he had been swimming, and in fact he had.”
The algae can cause skin irritations and respiratory problems and an outbreak caused a large stretch of beach near Rome to be closed for several days.
Just like in “Jaws”, local officials have been reluctant to accept the closure of beaches. In Fregene, a beach close to Rome, the mayor ignored the swimming ban and a possible $96 fine by taking to the water in an “I love Fregene” T-shirt, as a way to convince tourists his town was safe.
After the algae cleared, the coast was infested with jellyfish -- a problem that has also plagued some of the most popular beaches in Spain this August.
Tropical Mediterranean?Many scientists see the jellyfish and algae outbreaks as signs the Mediterranean is under stress, and even that it is becoming “tropicalized” -- its ecology changing due to warmer temperatures and invasive species from hotter climes.
“We already knew that the Mediterranean has started to be invaded with tropical species and its biodiversity has changed,” said biologist Isabella Barone, from the University of Palermo. “Most are not dangerous but this seaweed is as it releases toxins.”
Not a native species of the Mediterranean, the algae originates in the South Pacific, experts say, but it has been in the sea between Africa and Europe for decades, probably flushed out of the tanks of freight ships.
Raul Garcia, a fisheries expert at environmental group WWF, said the algal bloom -- a concentration of the algae on the surface -- has only become a problem in the last few years, possibly due to hotter summers.
Surface temperatures in the Mediterranean hit 84 degrees Fahrenheit during August, according to the British Meteorological Office, compared to a long-term average of 75 to 80 degrees.
Other factorsWhile the heat promotes jellyfish breeding and may change the blooming process of the algae, other factors have contributed.
Algal blooms are boosted by nitrate- and phosphate-rich pollution from farming and human waste, while jellyfish are enjoying a reduction in the number of their natural predators like loggerhead turtles and the bluefin tuna which have been devastated by overfishing, Garcia said.
Reduced river flows during hotter summers might also lead to increased numbers of jellyfish near the shore as they are no longer kept out at sea by freshwater currents.
Research by the Mediterranean Science Commission found there are 500 species of fish, crustaceans and mollusks living in the Mediterranean that are not native.
It is not new for tropical species to enter the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, the Straits of Gibraltar or via freight ships, but warmer water and weaker indigenous species mean they now colonize the sea, rather than dying off, Garcia said.
“When these organisms arrived in the Mediterranean they didn’t find a healthy ecosystem,” said Garcia. “They found they didn’t have enemies or competition.”
Changes to the ecology will increase over the coming decades if temperatures continue to increase as predicted by many climate scientists.
A report by British and Dutch climate researchers released last month estimated that by 2080 Mediterranean beaches will be too hot for tourists to bear and by then they will be vacationing in places like Ireland and Scandinavia.
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
for reference only
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Gay Activist ARRESTED for FELONY ASSAULT
the Jerome Berbiar case, in which a well-known activist was arrested and charged for 7 felonies 2 MONTHS AFTER THE INCIDENT.Jerome and a male friend were sitting parked in a car on Davisidero near Chestnut. Two women said they were looking for parking on 31 March when they noticed them. The women pulled up adjacent in fron of the car, but after several minutes realised that Berbiar was not leaving the space. Another vehicle behind them then got ready to leave, they said, and they reversed their car until they were parallel with Berbiar's so they could back into the other space.Berbiar then began honking his horn and screaming that he was blocked in. One of the women told him theyt had been waiting for him to leave, asked him why he had been waiting for him to leave, asked him why he had been 'fucking around', and told him he needed to wait.Berbiar then opened his car door and began slamming it into the side of the woman's vehicle while threatening them to let him out. He then retrieved The Club from his car and began beating the doors and windows of the women's vehicle. Finally he bagan to ram his vehicle into the women's car until they moved it out of his way.Community members were quick to rally to Berbiar's defense pointing out that the police investigation only included one side of the story and that the multiple felonies did not seem to fit the alleged crime especially since this was his first offence.What if he had a phobia about being blocked in or caged in, a phobia he may not even be aware he had? Would this be mitigating circumstances?How about if he had feared for his life, not knowing if being blocked in was part of an attempt to hijack him to cause harm because he is gay? Perhaps he had once had a friend who was so assaulted, or had seen it in a film. Would this be a defence?
25th Anniversary of AIDS epi: Remember the Women
A letter sent to BAR from Marcy Fraser, RN, MBA:'As we all commemorate the 25th 'anniversary' of the Aids epidemic, I pause to remember the early years of that horrible time in San Francisco. I worked for five years on the Aids Ward at SF General Hospital starting in 1982. As a new nurse, I was excited, scared, and challengedon many levels. We had no treatments back then, and our predominantly young and gay male patients died difficult and painful deaths. It felt like war, and it felt like we were losing.In the 1980s many in our community worked a day job and at night we cared for sick and dying friends at home. Funerals came often, and whole worlds of friends disappeared from our lives. I recall when the health department announced the 10,000th death from Aids. The city seemed empty, depressed, and hope was scarce.In the 1990s, I served on the Ryan White CARE Council - the city was flush with new money and we were building a response to a changing epidemic. We had people to care for and politics to respond to. We had more to learn than we could have imagined.IOt has been difficult to talk about it, to remember it, yet for my generation of LGBT people it was an experience that changed us forever. I developed a deep bond with the people I worked with in those days. It is unique in my relationships and it is precious to me. I look at photographs of dead friends and they looklike children to me now. We wondered how we would survive such losses, but there was work for us to do.Finally, your front page article failed to mention or to interview even one woman ['25 years into Aids epidemic, SF examines its system of care' June 1]. A legion of women nurses, doctors, social workers, and volunteers served in agencies, clinics hospitals and on boards and they are a part of the history of the epidemic. Their contributions must be included. . Therefore, I list some names here of women who were and are leaders, caregivers, and mentors: PAT CHRISTEN, ALISON MOED, CONNIE WOFSY, VAL ROBB, DIANE JONES, ROMA GUY, ALISON LAVOY, RUTH BRINKER, SANDRA HERNANDEZ, JEANNEE PARKER MARTIN, ANNE HUGHES, CATHERINE LYONS, and many more.
CASTRO STRAITS: Fundie Christians vs Castro
On any given weekend, usually a Friday or Saturday night, on the corner of Market and Castro, a group of non-denominational Christians group in open-air prayers for the relief and cure of Aids and other diseases, saying they don't care about people's sexuality because Christ did not.Regardless, they are oft met with mean glares and occasional confrontations.
Sunday, June 18, 2006 1st Moscow Gay Pride met with Violence
MOSCOW, May 27 -- Riot police broke up an attempt by gays and lesbians to stage Moscow's first gay pride parade Saturday. Gay activists who attempted to lay flowers near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin wall and then assemble across from city hall were heckled and assaulted by skinheads, Orthodox Christians and radical nationalists.Police said they had arrested about 120 people, both supporters and opponents of the parade. Gay activists were dragged away by riot police when they began speaking to reporters, but opponents of the parade, including a nationalist member of parliament, were allowed to speak and chant, "Moscow is not Sodom."Police officers detain a gay activist outside the Kremlin, part of a contingent who planned a gay rights march to Moscow's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (By Sergei Ponomarev -- Associated Press)var technorati = new Technorati() ;technorati.setProperty('url','http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052701002_Technorati.html') ;technorati.article = new item('Moscow\'s First Gay Pride Parade Disrupted by Police and Hecklers','http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052701002.html','MOSCOW, May 27 -- Riot police broke up an attempt by gays and lesbians to stage Moscow\'s first gay pride parade Saturday. Gay activists who attempted to lay flowers near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier outside the Kremlin wall and then assemble across from city hall were heckled and assaulted by...', Several international activists and politicians traveled to Moscow in a show of support for Moscow's gays and lesbians. Volker Beck, a member of the German Parliament from the Green Party, marched with the group and was struck in the face by skinheads outside city hall. He was briefly detained after the incident. A Canadian journalist was also assaulted by opponents of the parade, who threw smoke bombs and eggs before police moved in to disperse them."Lesbians and gays have to cope with major problems in Russia," Beck said at a news conference earlier in the day. "There is a massive threat of violence, and it is also frightening that there is no clear support from the state for the rights of lesbian and gay citizens. On the contrary, the mayor of Moscow deprives people who advocate tolerance and equal rights of the freedom to demonstrate."The city had banned the parade on the grounds that it was anathema to the values of most residents and therefore presented a threat of violence. A city court upheld the ban Friday.Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said in a radio interview Friday that a gay parade "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia."He added: "As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades to be conducted."Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but the gay community in Moscow remains largely underground. Some gay activists had objected to the parade, which was the culmination of a gay pride festival, saying it was likely to provoke a backlash that could damage efforts to build tolerance.Other activists, backed by international supporters from the United States and Western Europe, decided to go ahead with the demonstration. Unable to march legally, they decided to place flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Saturday afternoon but to act as individual citizens to avoid being charged with staging an illegal protest.A phalanx of riot police sealed off Alexander's Garden where the tomb is located. Women singing hymns and skinheads jostled with the several dozen gay activists when they arrived.Nikolai Alexeyev, a leading gay rights activist, was arrested at the monument. "This is a great victory, an absolute victory -- look at what's happening," he shouted as he was taken away.After the marchers were prevented from reaching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a small group of activists followed by an even larger crowd of reporters made their way to a square across from city hall where their opponents had already assembled."We are going to clean ourselves of the dirt of the last 15 years," said Nikolai Kuryanovic, a member of parliament for the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, speaking at the foot of a monument to Yuri Dolgoruky, the founder of Moscow. "This provocation failed."Riot police looked on as Kuryanovic spoke, but moved in as soon as Yevgenia Debryanskaya, a leading lesbian activist, began to speak to reporters just in front of Kuryanovic. She was dragged away.Police also stood by as skinheads crowded around Beck and Scott Long of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, who had unfurled a rainbow flag."The police were encouraging the skinheads," Long said. "It was disturbing but not surprising. Luzhkov spent months encouraging violence by his public homophobia."
22 May: HURRICANE SEASON Begins 1 June
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that from next week through Nov. 30 13 to 16 named storms will develop in the Atlantic; eight to 10 of them will become hurricanes; and four to six of those will develop into major hurricanes. Colorado State University goes a little further and says there's an 81 percent one of those major hurricanes will strike the Atlantic coast.Last year, which gave us Katrina, Rita and a ruined New Orleans, was a record-breaking season that produced 28 named storms, 15 of them hurricanes and seven of those major, of which four hit the United States. The ocean temperatures are not as ominous this year as last, but still, according to NOAA, we are midway through a 20-year strong storm cycle.Hurricane forecasting has become immensely more sophisticated and accurate, but the number of people at risk has increased. According to the Associated Press, there are 34.6 million on the at-risk Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including 17.3 million in Florida. That's a lot of people to convince to evacuate if a killer hurricane threatens, but the images of the desperate people of New Orleans waving from the roofs of their flooded homes should provide some incentive.Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, praised by Bush for doing a "heckuva job," became the hapless symbol of the bungled federal response after Katrina washed him out of office. For whatever irony it's worth, the 13th named storm of this season will be called Michael.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
On TV: Spike Lee's portrait of the debacle of Katrina
for personal reference only:
By MELANIE McFARLANDP-I TELEVISION CRITIC
As Hurricane Katrina raked her claws across her home, New Orleans resident Gina Montana remembers repeating one word out loud, over and over again: "Stabilize."
Call it a mantra. Call it a prayer. A year after Katrina and the floods that followed her drowned the Crescent City, it has yet to get a meaningful response.
Beyond the historic tragedy we acknowledge Katrina's aftermath to be, the government's spectacular failure of New Orleans stands as a glaring mark of shame on our country. One of America's major cities is still face down in the mud, with its citizens still uprooted and unable to return home, its true culture under threat of being scattered and Disneyfied.
Spike Lee's HBO documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts," stands as both a reminder and a dedication to the resilient spirit of its people and their pride in New Orleans' complex, difficult history.
Outstripping those ideas in significance, though, is the film's wealth and breadth of historical accounts and multifaceted analysis. Experts of every stripe illustrate the absurdist levels of bureaucratic bungling that left New Orleaneans to starve and swelter in the broiling heat.
The oral accounts of the city's residents reveal angles otherwise unexamined by the mainstream national media. The poorest citizens, most of them black, have a lengthy, distressing relationship with those levees. Put together, theirs is a tale of a population that has been taken advantage of and abandoned by its country for decades.
"When the Levees Broke" is a beautiful elegy for the city, set to a haunting original score by jazz composer and NOLA native son Terence Blanchard. Simultaneously, it is a tapestry that connects the disaster to sources beyond the hurricane. Engineering neglect may have been the primary cause of New Orleans' destruction, but in Lee's documentary, political ignorance, corporate greed and inhumane, unethical behavior by oil, insurance and land developers join forces to stymie its restoration.
And there are sequences that rob you of any words, like watching Blanchard walk his elderly mother through the muddy shell she once called home. The acute pain in her sobs has no name. You can only cry along with her.
Lee began filming "When the Levees Broke" three months after Katrina, visiting the Gulf Coast eight times and culling close to 100 interviews, the majority of them emotionally devastating, some darkly humorous.
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document.write('');
Lee and cameraman Cliff Charles train most of their focus on New Orleanians like Montana. Some have poetic observations like Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander; others, including the acerbic, witty Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, lace their bitter accounts with poisonous punch lines.
The four-part documentary also contains the obligatory celebrity takes, although interviews with Sean Penn, Kanye West, New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis, CNN's Soledad O'Brien and Harry Belafonte are brief and appropriate to their place in the story.
The director limits his scope to people who had the expertise to grant context to the event, or direct ties to New Orleans -- activists, journalists, residents of the flattened Ninth Ward and other parishes -- before and after the catastrophe. There are no interviews with White House officials blasted throughout the four hours, though the litany of news clips is more than enough to hang them on.
No opportunity for ex-FEMA director Michael "Brownie" Brown to tell his tale even if, as author Michael Eric Dyson points out, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff deserves more of the blame.
Lee corners Gov. Kathleen Lee Blanco, Mayor Ray Nagin and other local politicians, and lets citizens who had to live with their mistakes put their best and worst decisions into context.
Perhaps the strongest points in "When the Levees Broke," aside from the unflinching frames of destruction, are when Lee puts names and stories to anonymous news images and stories. We hear from Herbert Freeman Jr., whose mother was the dead woman in the wheelchair covered in a blanket, a symbol of the Convention Center's horror.
There's Kimberly Polk, who found out her 5-year-old daughter, Sarena, had drowned when the news reported the finding of a child's body with a backpack still attached.
Lee tracks down Dr. Ben Marble, the man who famously turned Dick Cheney's congressional expletive back on him during a New Orleans photo op and incorporates his footage into the film. "I thought it would be poetic justice to quote the Dick to the Dick," the emergency room physician explains in his interview.
Years from now, "When the Levees Broke" likely will stand as a monumental document that gave voices and faces to the victims in a way few other outlets have, creating a damning portrait of how government ineptitude cost American lives.
Splintered structures, refuse stacked on city streets and crushed homes are physical debris that can be cleared away. The ponderous psychological weight Katrina's victims are destined to drag around for decades is unbelievably gut-wrenching: nightmare memories of children finding parents' bodies, sons watching elderly mothers dying, and babies ripped from their father's arms. These are acts committed not by Katrina, but officials unprepared to handle such a grave emergency and unschooled in the necessity for empathy and consideration in the midst of such madness. Only this documentary has taken pains to make us understand this.
For all of the ways it retriggers our stunned outrage at the abandonment of Americans and the shortchanging of the nation's underclass, "When the Levees Broke" carefully reminds us of the beauty within New Orleans culture that refuses to die. The jazz, the food, the joyous mix of ethnicities are all woven throughout each act, adding urgency to the call for the city to be restored and its culture preserved.
One might think that four hours of this is too much; by the end, you realize that it's barely enough.
WATCH IT
"When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" at 9 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Tuesday on HBO, with all four hours running in a block on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m.
By MELANIE McFARLANDP-I TELEVISION CRITIC
As Hurricane Katrina raked her claws across her home, New Orleans resident Gina Montana remembers repeating one word out loud, over and over again: "Stabilize."
Call it a mantra. Call it a prayer. A year after Katrina and the floods that followed her drowned the Crescent City, it has yet to get a meaningful response.
Beyond the historic tragedy we acknowledge Katrina's aftermath to be, the government's spectacular failure of New Orleans stands as a glaring mark of shame on our country. One of America's major cities is still face down in the mud, with its citizens still uprooted and unable to return home, its true culture under threat of being scattered and Disneyfied.
Spike Lee's HBO documentary, "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts," stands as both a reminder and a dedication to the resilient spirit of its people and their pride in New Orleans' complex, difficult history.
Outstripping those ideas in significance, though, is the film's wealth and breadth of historical accounts and multifaceted analysis. Experts of every stripe illustrate the absurdist levels of bureaucratic bungling that left New Orleaneans to starve and swelter in the broiling heat.
The oral accounts of the city's residents reveal angles otherwise unexamined by the mainstream national media. The poorest citizens, most of them black, have a lengthy, distressing relationship with those levees. Put together, theirs is a tale of a population that has been taken advantage of and abandoned by its country for decades.
"When the Levees Broke" is a beautiful elegy for the city, set to a haunting original score by jazz composer and NOLA native son Terence Blanchard. Simultaneously, it is a tapestry that connects the disaster to sources beyond the hurricane. Engineering neglect may have been the primary cause of New Orleans' destruction, but in Lee's documentary, political ignorance, corporate greed and inhumane, unethical behavior by oil, insurance and land developers join forces to stymie its restoration.
And there are sequences that rob you of any words, like watching Blanchard walk his elderly mother through the muddy shell she once called home. The acute pain in her sobs has no name. You can only cry along with her.
Lee began filming "When the Levees Broke" three months after Katrina, visiting the Gulf Coast eight times and culling close to 100 interviews, the majority of them emotionally devastating, some darkly humorous.
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Lee and cameraman Cliff Charles train most of their focus on New Orleanians like Montana. Some have poetic observations like Shelton "Shakespeare" Alexander; others, including the acerbic, witty Phyllis Montana LeBlanc, lace their bitter accounts with poisonous punch lines.
The four-part documentary also contains the obligatory celebrity takes, although interviews with Sean Penn, Kanye West, New Orleans native Wynton Marsalis, CNN's Soledad O'Brien and Harry Belafonte are brief and appropriate to their place in the story.
The director limits his scope to people who had the expertise to grant context to the event, or direct ties to New Orleans -- activists, journalists, residents of the flattened Ninth Ward and other parishes -- before and after the catastrophe. There are no interviews with White House officials blasted throughout the four hours, though the litany of news clips is more than enough to hang them on.
No opportunity for ex-FEMA director Michael "Brownie" Brown to tell his tale even if, as author Michael Eric Dyson points out, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff deserves more of the blame.
Lee corners Gov. Kathleen Lee Blanco, Mayor Ray Nagin and other local politicians, and lets citizens who had to live with their mistakes put their best and worst decisions into context.
Perhaps the strongest points in "When the Levees Broke," aside from the unflinching frames of destruction, are when Lee puts names and stories to anonymous news images and stories. We hear from Herbert Freeman Jr., whose mother was the dead woman in the wheelchair covered in a blanket, a symbol of the Convention Center's horror.
There's Kimberly Polk, who found out her 5-year-old daughter, Sarena, had drowned when the news reported the finding of a child's body with a backpack still attached.
Lee tracks down Dr. Ben Marble, the man who famously turned Dick Cheney's congressional expletive back on him during a New Orleans photo op and incorporates his footage into the film. "I thought it would be poetic justice to quote the Dick to the Dick," the emergency room physician explains in his interview.
Years from now, "When the Levees Broke" likely will stand as a monumental document that gave voices and faces to the victims in a way few other outlets have, creating a damning portrait of how government ineptitude cost American lives.
Splintered structures, refuse stacked on city streets and crushed homes are physical debris that can be cleared away. The ponderous psychological weight Katrina's victims are destined to drag around for decades is unbelievably gut-wrenching: nightmare memories of children finding parents' bodies, sons watching elderly mothers dying, and babies ripped from their father's arms. These are acts committed not by Katrina, but officials unprepared to handle such a grave emergency and unschooled in the necessity for empathy and consideration in the midst of such madness. Only this documentary has taken pains to make us understand this.
For all of the ways it retriggers our stunned outrage at the abandonment of Americans and the shortchanging of the nation's underclass, "When the Levees Broke" carefully reminds us of the beauty within New Orleans culture that refuses to die. The jazz, the food, the joyous mix of ethnicities are all woven throughout each act, adding urgency to the call for the city to be restored and its culture preserved.
One might think that four hours of this is too much; by the end, you realize that it's barely enough.
WATCH IT
"When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" at 9 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Tuesday on HBO, with all four hours running in a block on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Judge Declares Government's Wiretapping Program Illegal; Justice Department Appealing
For personal reference only
A federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday (August 17) that the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and must immediately be stopped. the first judge to shoot down the National Security Agency program, and she said in a 43-page ruling that the program violates rights to free speech and privacy.Though the ruling was a blow to the administration's program — which President Bush again defended last week by saying that threats like the recent U.K. plot to blow up planes are "why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people" — CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said it won't be the last word on the matter. Toobin said the ruling is unlikely to stop the wiretapping activities anytime soon.The Justice Department is appealing the ruling, which won't take immediate effect so that Taylor can hear the department's request for a stay pending its appeal, according to AP. At a news conference in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Alberto Gonzales reiterated that the program is legal. "We're going to do everything we can do in the courts to allow this program to continue," he said. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said the administration "couldn't disagree more with this ruling."The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They have said many of their overseas contacts were likely targets of the program, which involves secretly taping conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries, AP reported. The government has steadfastly refused to divulge any details about the program, which was described to Judge Taylor by the ACLU.The administration had argued that the program was within the president's authority but that proving so by describing how it works would require revealing state secrets. The ACLU cast doubt on the state secrets argument, according to AP, saying the White House had already revealed enough information about the program publicly for Taylor to rule on its constitutionality. — Gil Kaufman
A federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday (August 17) that the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and must immediately be stopped. the first judge to shoot down the National Security Agency program, and she said in a 43-page ruling that the program violates rights to free speech and privacy.Though the ruling was a blow to the administration's program — which President Bush again defended last week by saying that threats like the recent U.K. plot to blow up planes are "why we have given our officials the tools they need to protect our people" — CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said it won't be the last word on the matter. Toobin said the ruling is unlikely to stop the wiretapping activities anytime soon.The Justice Department is appealing the ruling, which won't take immediate effect so that Taylor can hear the department's request for a stay pending its appeal, according to AP. At a news conference in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Alberto Gonzales reiterated that the program is legal. "We're going to do everything we can do in the courts to allow this program to continue," he said. White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said the administration "couldn't disagree more with this ruling."The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They have said many of their overseas contacts were likely targets of the program, which involves secretly taping conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries, AP reported. The government has steadfastly refused to divulge any details about the program, which was described to Judge Taylor by the ACLU.The administration had argued that the program was within the president's authority but that proving so by describing how it works would require revealing state secrets. The ACLU cast doubt on the state secrets argument, according to AP, saying the White House had already revealed enough information about the program publicly for Taylor to rule on its constitutionality. — Gil Kaufman
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Can surgery cure Tourette Syndrome?
for reference only
By Sara James
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 5:33 p.m. PT Aug 11, 2006
Pictures from Peter Jensen’s past tell the story of a family man— a devout husband and father, someone eager to enjoy life.
Roshana Jensen, Peter Jensen's wife: What really attracted me to him was his sense of humor and his laughter. He was very caring for other people. In some ways, I guess, you can consider it your little fairy tale marriage— we never fought.
The fairy tale began in 1998 when the then 23-year-old Utah man wed Roshana, whom he’d met at a church function. They would go on to have four children together.
Peter Jensen: I think getting married was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.
But behind the joy lurked a chronic problem the couple thought was under control: Peter has Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive involuntary movements and vocalizations called 'tics.' Diagnosed at age 11, Peter’s symptoms were largely suppressed by medication until well into adulthood.
Roshana Jensen: We had almost two years where it was very, very mild, and it was wonderful.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: And when did it get bad?
Roshana Jensen: It started getting bad after our twins were born.
Nationwide, doctors say 200,000 people suffer from Tourette Syndrome. In most cases the tics are relatively minor: repetitive shrugging or blinking, or more notoriously, shouting obscenities. And, as was the case for Peter for many years, often the frequency and severity of tics can be limited with medication.
But sometimes, a person’s body gradually adjusts to medicine until it no longer works... and that’s exactly what happened to Peter. By November 2004, when NBC first met him, the 29-year-old husband and father was at war with himself.
Roshana Jensen: The best way I can think to describe it is its like running a marathon every single day and then taking yourself and beating yourself against a rock for three or four hours.
It was painful to witness for his family, and excruciating for Peter, who was powerless to control urges that compelled him to pummel his own body.
Click for related content
Sara James: A profound and heartbreaking interview
Over the last few years, his physical tics became so violent he damaged his ribcage, his vocal outbursts so frequent, he had trouble completing a simple thought. Doctors considered his case one of the most severe in the country.
Peter Jensen: It’s almost like you’re in the middle of a sprint, a 50-yard dash and you’re running. It’s as constant effort just to get each word out - to be able to just talk.
Roshana Jensen: It's my lifeline quite literally. Without this hope there’s just a loss of so much. The loss of a father, the loss of a husband – and unless we can hold on to that hope, there’s nothing there.
Peter Jensen: It’s a constant effort to get each word out. Eating is quite difficult. It comes to a point where it takes me an hour - 2 hours just to eat. And by the time I’ve done so many of these motor movements and tics, I’ve become so exhausted, I’ve almost lost interest in the food.
With simple tasks so difficult, meeting the responsibilities of being a husband and father were virtually impossible. Peter had to quit his job as a bank teller. He couldn’t drive, couldn’t do work around the house. Wife Roshana had to take care of four children 5 years old and under and her husband, too. Tourette Syndrome was destroying Peter and taxing his marriage.
Then last year, out of nowhere, a possible answer: The couple learned of a landmark trial. Doctors from the University Hospitals of Cleveland wanted for candidates for experimental brain surgery aimed at suppressing severe Tourette’s. Even though they realized the operation was risky, the couple leapt at the chance. In a rare, tic-free moment, Peter explained why.
Peter Jensen: I really don’t have any other choice. If this doesn’t work, if something else doesn’t come along, my body will just wear down eventually.
James: Is then this your last hope?
Peter Jensen: Right now it is. Yes.
But for Peter, waiting for the clinical trial became a race against the clock. By December 2004, one month after NBC began following Peter, his Tourette’s got dramatically worse.
Roshana Jensen: Even taking a shower was getting to the point where it was dangerous cause he would fall.
Roshana told us she had no choice but to place her husband in a nursing home. She said Peter’s tics had become so relentless that he was unable to feed himself... the doctors had warned Peter’s dangerous weight loss, in addition to the constant wear and tear on his body, could ultimately kill him.
Roshana Jensen: Right now what’s been keeping him going is the fact that he’s got a feeding tube, otherwise he would literally starve to death.
When our producer asked peter a strightforward question, he made several attempts over a span of several minutes to respond, but he couldn’t.
Roshana Jensen: You try to talk to him the tics get in the way, and the converation thread is lost very easily.
What made the situation doubly hard, Roshana said, was that Tourette’s Syndrome not only had strained their marriage, but makes it impossible to talk about that strain.
Roshana Jensen: The more stressed he gets, the more he tics.
James: So in essence, to even talk about it would be to make your husband sicker.
Roshana Jensen: Yes.
In her effort to maintain some semblance of family life, Roshana brought the children to the nursing home to visit Peter a few times a week.
But by this stage, even seeing the children seemed too much for Peter. Indeed, he was so choked with emotion that it seemed to prompt an especially intense flare up of his tics.
James: Are they frightened by the tics?
Roshana Jensen: I don’t think they’re frightened by him. A lot of the time, it’s just uncomfortable. His tics can be very loud and that’s not comfortable to them. If you get too close to him you’re bound to get hit. And they just don’t understand that he’s not doing it on purpose.
In June 2005, six months after moving to the nursing home and with his connection to his children increasingly fragile, the Jensens got the big news they’d been praying for.
Doctors were finally ready to begin the trial so Peter could head east, to the University hospitals of Cleveland. Doctors said this high-risk, experimental brain surgery might halt his tics once and for all, and save him from an early death. Of the five patients in their clinical trial, Peter would be first.
James: Peter, you have brain surgery scheduled for tomorrow. What are your hopes for the surgery?
Peter Jensen: Very optimistic... that it’ll all work.
But would it? Everything was riding on it: the life of a dying man, the well being of his young family, and the hopes of others like Peter Jensen were waiting in the wings.
Peter Jensen suffered from Tourette Syndrome so severe, it was slowly killing him. Just two days after his arrival at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, he was prepped for a dramatic high stakes experimental brain surgery, one that doctors hoped would suppress his life threatening condition.
Dr. Brian Maddux, neurologist: There’s a sense of urgency with him. He is, I think, the most severely affected of the patients and so I think it was a natural thing to reach out to him and get it done first.
Neurologist Brian Maddux and his colleague Neurosurgeon Robert Mascunias said Peter was the first of five men in the landmark clinical trial they’d been plotting for months.
Dr. Maddux: Does brain stimulation work for Tourette’s? Does it make tics less frequent, less severe? That’s the central question.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: So your hope is that this procedure will cure him of his tics, but you can’t make that promise?
Dr. Robert Mascunias, neurosurgeon: That’s correct. It is absolutely an experiment.
This delicate, complicated, two-stage surgery came with the rare but very real risks of any operation on the brain --- coma, paralysis, even death. But it also offered the tantalizing possibility that Peter might get his life back and once again be able to be a father and husband if the operation went well.
Roshana Jensen: The surgery really is our last hope.
James: Is this the ‘Hail Mary’?
Roshana Jensen: This is the Super Bowl, I guess. You either make the touchdown or you don’t.
Doctors would be operating under especially adverse conditions—Peter was, in essence, a ticing timebomb, which is why they fitted him with a device called “halo.” It’s designed to keep his head immobile even if the rest of him twitched and twisted.
Peter says he feels a sense of purpose. If his surgery works, it will be welcome news indeed for some of the hundreds of thousands of other Americans afflicted with Tourette who, like him, have no other resort.
A lighthearted goodbye masked a bundle of worries and tangled emotions that would have to be sorted out after surgery—no matter what happened.
Doctors anticipated a long, complicated day in the operating room. They planned to identify the cells clustered deep in Peter’s brain which they believed were misfiring and prompting his tics. Once the offending area was located, doctors would implant two tiny electrodes which they would later calibrate to stop the tics.
James: So in essence, you’re trying to create an override.
Dr. Mascunias: That’s our hope.
Using sophisticated MRI and CAT scans, lead surgeon Mascunas determined his coordinates to locate a section of the Thalmus at the top of the brain stem which has some responsibility for motor control. Then the pioneering surgery got underway.
Dr. Mascunias: We’ve exposed the part of the brain through which the electrode will go.
With the aid of state-of-the-art imaging, doctors used a hair-thin probe to search for the offending cells.
They reasoned that the target area for Tourette’s would prove to be the same area which had been found to alleviate tremors for some Parkinson’s patients.
Like several other especially invasive brain surgeries, it was imperative in this deep brain stimulation that Peter be awake so that he could respond to doctors’ questions and commands.
They needed to make certain that nothing they did impaired his mental—or motor—ability.
But keeping someone undergoing brain surgery under light sedation—especially someone with Tourette Syndrome—was tricky and potentially hazardous. Even with the halo, there is the possibility of some sudden movement, and that could be deadly.
Eight hours after the surgery began, doctors believed they’d implanted the electrodes in exactly the right spot.
Dr. Mascunias: Everything went smoothly and well.
Roshana Jensen: Thank you for pursuing this and giving him a chance at life again.
Dr. Mascunias: I pray it works with all my heart.
It was a prayer echoed by Roshana, who had borne the weight of Peter’s problems and all it had done to the family for years. We found her, pensive and alone, confronting the monumental change this operation could make in Peter’s life, and in hers, too.
Roshana Jensen: It’s just the end of a long road, so I’m just realizing it.
When peter came out of the O.R., his tics were gone. But doctors said that was only temporary—a result of the trauma of the operation itself—and it was too early to know whether the surgery had worked. But Peter was all smiles. He was happy, it seemed, that the danger was behind him, happy just to hold Roshana’s hand again.
Several days later in a second operation, doctors installed a sort of pacemaker beneath Peter’s collarbone to power the electrodes. It would take several more weeks to adjust the device and learn, whether it would work.
Would Peter be able to walk, to talk, to eat, to play with his children without the storm of extraneous movements which made everyday life sheer torture?
Would Tourette’s Syndrome patient Peter Jensen be freed from the tics that were so bad they were killing him? Peter’s wife Roshana was both hopeful and anxious.
Roshana Jensen: I just wish that I could have a normal husband there, and a normal dad that could be there and do all the things without the stress and the worry of the tics behind it.
But Roshana couldn’t stay in Cleveland for the next few weeks while doctors activated and programmed Peter’s device. The Jensen children needed their mom back. So a few days after Peter’s second surgery Roshana flew home to Utah.
In the month that followed, while she was consumed by the challenges of taking care of four little children on her own, Roshana was also elated by a telephone call from Cleveland... and a simple chat with her husband unlike any talk they’d had in years.
Roshana Jensen: He was out sightseeing. He was walking around. He was talking. He was doing just about everything a normal person would do.
He could carry on a fluid conversation. It was exciting. It was really good to hear. It just gave a lot of hope, just that, you know, it’s only gonna get better from here.
But the day before Peter’s scheduled trip home, Roshana got shocking news. While Peter’s brain surgery seemed to have stopped his Tourette’s, incredibly, he’d had a mental breakdown.
Roshana Jensen: What’s happened is that he’s basically had a psychosis episode. It was to the point where he was delusional, that people were chasing him, tracking him. He was trying to jump out of cars.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: Paranoid and delusional?
Roshana Jensen: Yes, very paranoid. It’s been a lot of tears this morning.
It was hard for loved ones to hear that peter was now confined to a psychiatric ward at the hospital.
What had happened? Neurologist Brian Maddux, one of the clinical trial’s lead doctors, was puzzled himself.
James: What do you think was the cause of his psychotic episode?
Dr. Brian Maddux: We believe that the operation itself did not prompt it. And we believe that the activation of the stimulator did not prompt that. But I can’t tell you any of that with 100 percent certainty.
James: Is it possible there was an underlying pre-existing condition that suddenly was revealed after you got rid of the tics?
Dr. Maddux: It certainly is possible.
James: The bottom line is that you aren’t entirely sure what caused Peter Jensen’s breakdown?
Dr. Maddux: Nope. That’s right.
Click for related content
Sara James: The marvels of science and the human spirit
After spending 12 days in University Hospitals of Cleveland’s psychiatric ward, Peter seemed to get better -- well enough that doctors gave him the okay to return to Utah.
Nevertheless, Roshana made a major decision: that Peter was not yet ready to return home.
Roshana Jensen: I’ve got 4 little kids, and they’re saying that these episodes, well, they can’t guarantee they won’t occur again. They’re hoping they won’t. But it’s very hard for me to want to bring that back home. Right now it’s very hard to know what to expect anymore.
After arriving in Utah, Peter moved into a halfway home for people working through health problems.
In spite of his struggle, Peter told us there had been much to celebrate.
Remember, almost two years ago, his violent, relentless tics left him unable to eat on his own or walk normally and he couldn’t carry on a conversation.
But thanks to a dramatic reduction in tics, his life underwent a remarkable turnaround.
Peter Jensen: I’m doing real well. I feel good and adjustments take time, but things are really going well.
The man who was virtually helpless was now able to cook and eat on his own, even shave himself. And for the first time in years, peter was able to hold a book steady enough to read. In fact, he enrolled in school to learn how to do architectural drawings on computer. He even began tutoring.
In December 2005, Peter was still living in the halfway house. He visited with Roshana and the children once a week. It appears this separation will be permanent.
Roshana told us after all they’ve endured, she can still be Peter’s friend and supporter, but not his wife, and has asked for a divorce.
Roshana Jensen: It’s very hard for him. He’s struggling with it, but he’s been very good in saying, you know, “It’s okay, I understand.”
Peter Jensen: It’s better for me to focus on me right now so I can get myself healthy and strong so I can do what I need to do.
Not a fairy tale ending, to be sure. But then, not an ending at all. For Peter Hensen, a pioneer, he’s proved that other Tourette’s sufferers like him can reclaim their lives. He’s embarking on a new beginning—one not defined by Tourette Syndrome.
And for a man who was on the brink of the abyss, starving to death, tortured by his own body, this indeed is a life transformed.
Peter Jensen: It is a beautiful thing right now to be able to live and be alive and to see birds fly through the air. It has made me appreciate a lot of things and how many blessings we have.
Four other people with Tourette Syndrome have now had the same surgery that Peter Jensen had. Doctors say the procedure was a success for most, but not all, of the patients.
By Sara James
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 5:33 p.m. PT Aug 11, 2006
Pictures from Peter Jensen’s past tell the story of a family man— a devout husband and father, someone eager to enjoy life.
Roshana Jensen, Peter Jensen's wife: What really attracted me to him was his sense of humor and his laughter. He was very caring for other people. In some ways, I guess, you can consider it your little fairy tale marriage— we never fought.
The fairy tale began in 1998 when the then 23-year-old Utah man wed Roshana, whom he’d met at a church function. They would go on to have four children together.
Peter Jensen: I think getting married was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.
But behind the joy lurked a chronic problem the couple thought was under control: Peter has Tourette syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive involuntary movements and vocalizations called 'tics.' Diagnosed at age 11, Peter’s symptoms were largely suppressed by medication until well into adulthood.
Roshana Jensen: We had almost two years where it was very, very mild, and it was wonderful.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: And when did it get bad?
Roshana Jensen: It started getting bad after our twins were born.
Nationwide, doctors say 200,000 people suffer from Tourette Syndrome. In most cases the tics are relatively minor: repetitive shrugging or blinking, or more notoriously, shouting obscenities. And, as was the case for Peter for many years, often the frequency and severity of tics can be limited with medication.
But sometimes, a person’s body gradually adjusts to medicine until it no longer works... and that’s exactly what happened to Peter. By November 2004, when NBC first met him, the 29-year-old husband and father was at war with himself.
Roshana Jensen: The best way I can think to describe it is its like running a marathon every single day and then taking yourself and beating yourself against a rock for three or four hours.
It was painful to witness for his family, and excruciating for Peter, who was powerless to control urges that compelled him to pummel his own body.
Click for related content
Sara James: A profound and heartbreaking interview
Over the last few years, his physical tics became so violent he damaged his ribcage, his vocal outbursts so frequent, he had trouble completing a simple thought. Doctors considered his case one of the most severe in the country.
Peter Jensen: It’s almost like you’re in the middle of a sprint, a 50-yard dash and you’re running. It’s as constant effort just to get each word out - to be able to just talk.
Roshana Jensen: It's my lifeline quite literally. Without this hope there’s just a loss of so much. The loss of a father, the loss of a husband – and unless we can hold on to that hope, there’s nothing there.
Peter Jensen: It’s a constant effort to get each word out. Eating is quite difficult. It comes to a point where it takes me an hour - 2 hours just to eat. And by the time I’ve done so many of these motor movements and tics, I’ve become so exhausted, I’ve almost lost interest in the food.
With simple tasks so difficult, meeting the responsibilities of being a husband and father were virtually impossible. Peter had to quit his job as a bank teller. He couldn’t drive, couldn’t do work around the house. Wife Roshana had to take care of four children 5 years old and under and her husband, too. Tourette Syndrome was destroying Peter and taxing his marriage.
Then last year, out of nowhere, a possible answer: The couple learned of a landmark trial. Doctors from the University Hospitals of Cleveland wanted for candidates for experimental brain surgery aimed at suppressing severe Tourette’s. Even though they realized the operation was risky, the couple leapt at the chance. In a rare, tic-free moment, Peter explained why.
Peter Jensen: I really don’t have any other choice. If this doesn’t work, if something else doesn’t come along, my body will just wear down eventually.
James: Is then this your last hope?
Peter Jensen: Right now it is. Yes.
But for Peter, waiting for the clinical trial became a race against the clock. By December 2004, one month after NBC began following Peter, his Tourette’s got dramatically worse.
Roshana Jensen: Even taking a shower was getting to the point where it was dangerous cause he would fall.
Roshana told us she had no choice but to place her husband in a nursing home. She said Peter’s tics had become so relentless that he was unable to feed himself... the doctors had warned Peter’s dangerous weight loss, in addition to the constant wear and tear on his body, could ultimately kill him.
Roshana Jensen: Right now what’s been keeping him going is the fact that he’s got a feeding tube, otherwise he would literally starve to death.
When our producer asked peter a strightforward question, he made several attempts over a span of several minutes to respond, but he couldn’t.
Roshana Jensen: You try to talk to him the tics get in the way, and the converation thread is lost very easily.
What made the situation doubly hard, Roshana said, was that Tourette’s Syndrome not only had strained their marriage, but makes it impossible to talk about that strain.
Roshana Jensen: The more stressed he gets, the more he tics.
James: So in essence, to even talk about it would be to make your husband sicker.
Roshana Jensen: Yes.
In her effort to maintain some semblance of family life, Roshana brought the children to the nursing home to visit Peter a few times a week.
But by this stage, even seeing the children seemed too much for Peter. Indeed, he was so choked with emotion that it seemed to prompt an especially intense flare up of his tics.
James: Are they frightened by the tics?
Roshana Jensen: I don’t think they’re frightened by him. A lot of the time, it’s just uncomfortable. His tics can be very loud and that’s not comfortable to them. If you get too close to him you’re bound to get hit. And they just don’t understand that he’s not doing it on purpose.
In June 2005, six months after moving to the nursing home and with his connection to his children increasingly fragile, the Jensens got the big news they’d been praying for.
Doctors were finally ready to begin the trial so Peter could head east, to the University hospitals of Cleveland. Doctors said this high-risk, experimental brain surgery might halt his tics once and for all, and save him from an early death. Of the five patients in their clinical trial, Peter would be first.
James: Peter, you have brain surgery scheduled for tomorrow. What are your hopes for the surgery?
Peter Jensen: Very optimistic... that it’ll all work.
But would it? Everything was riding on it: the life of a dying man, the well being of his young family, and the hopes of others like Peter Jensen were waiting in the wings.
Peter Jensen suffered from Tourette Syndrome so severe, it was slowly killing him. Just two days after his arrival at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, he was prepped for a dramatic high stakes experimental brain surgery, one that doctors hoped would suppress his life threatening condition.
Dr. Brian Maddux, neurologist: There’s a sense of urgency with him. He is, I think, the most severely affected of the patients and so I think it was a natural thing to reach out to him and get it done first.
Neurologist Brian Maddux and his colleague Neurosurgeon Robert Mascunias said Peter was the first of five men in the landmark clinical trial they’d been plotting for months.
Dr. Maddux: Does brain stimulation work for Tourette’s? Does it make tics less frequent, less severe? That’s the central question.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: So your hope is that this procedure will cure him of his tics, but you can’t make that promise?
Dr. Robert Mascunias, neurosurgeon: That’s correct. It is absolutely an experiment.
This delicate, complicated, two-stage surgery came with the rare but very real risks of any operation on the brain --- coma, paralysis, even death. But it also offered the tantalizing possibility that Peter might get his life back and once again be able to be a father and husband if the operation went well.
Roshana Jensen: The surgery really is our last hope.
James: Is this the ‘Hail Mary’?
Roshana Jensen: This is the Super Bowl, I guess. You either make the touchdown or you don’t.
Doctors would be operating under especially adverse conditions—Peter was, in essence, a ticing timebomb, which is why they fitted him with a device called “halo.” It’s designed to keep his head immobile even if the rest of him twitched and twisted.
Peter says he feels a sense of purpose. If his surgery works, it will be welcome news indeed for some of the hundreds of thousands of other Americans afflicted with Tourette who, like him, have no other resort.
A lighthearted goodbye masked a bundle of worries and tangled emotions that would have to be sorted out after surgery—no matter what happened.
Doctors anticipated a long, complicated day in the operating room. They planned to identify the cells clustered deep in Peter’s brain which they believed were misfiring and prompting his tics. Once the offending area was located, doctors would implant two tiny electrodes which they would later calibrate to stop the tics.
James: So in essence, you’re trying to create an override.
Dr. Mascunias: That’s our hope.
Using sophisticated MRI and CAT scans, lead surgeon Mascunas determined his coordinates to locate a section of the Thalmus at the top of the brain stem which has some responsibility for motor control. Then the pioneering surgery got underway.
Dr. Mascunias: We’ve exposed the part of the brain through which the electrode will go.
With the aid of state-of-the-art imaging, doctors used a hair-thin probe to search for the offending cells.
They reasoned that the target area for Tourette’s would prove to be the same area which had been found to alleviate tremors for some Parkinson’s patients.
Like several other especially invasive brain surgeries, it was imperative in this deep brain stimulation that Peter be awake so that he could respond to doctors’ questions and commands.
They needed to make certain that nothing they did impaired his mental—or motor—ability.
But keeping someone undergoing brain surgery under light sedation—especially someone with Tourette Syndrome—was tricky and potentially hazardous. Even with the halo, there is the possibility of some sudden movement, and that could be deadly.
Eight hours after the surgery began, doctors believed they’d implanted the electrodes in exactly the right spot.
Dr. Mascunias: Everything went smoothly and well.
Roshana Jensen: Thank you for pursuing this and giving him a chance at life again.
Dr. Mascunias: I pray it works with all my heart.
It was a prayer echoed by Roshana, who had borne the weight of Peter’s problems and all it had done to the family for years. We found her, pensive and alone, confronting the monumental change this operation could make in Peter’s life, and in hers, too.
Roshana Jensen: It’s just the end of a long road, so I’m just realizing it.
When peter came out of the O.R., his tics were gone. But doctors said that was only temporary—a result of the trauma of the operation itself—and it was too early to know whether the surgery had worked. But Peter was all smiles. He was happy, it seemed, that the danger was behind him, happy just to hold Roshana’s hand again.
Several days later in a second operation, doctors installed a sort of pacemaker beneath Peter’s collarbone to power the electrodes. It would take several more weeks to adjust the device and learn, whether it would work.
Would Peter be able to walk, to talk, to eat, to play with his children without the storm of extraneous movements which made everyday life sheer torture?
Would Tourette’s Syndrome patient Peter Jensen be freed from the tics that were so bad they were killing him? Peter’s wife Roshana was both hopeful and anxious.
Roshana Jensen: I just wish that I could have a normal husband there, and a normal dad that could be there and do all the things without the stress and the worry of the tics behind it.
But Roshana couldn’t stay in Cleveland for the next few weeks while doctors activated and programmed Peter’s device. The Jensen children needed their mom back. So a few days after Peter’s second surgery Roshana flew home to Utah.
In the month that followed, while she was consumed by the challenges of taking care of four little children on her own, Roshana was also elated by a telephone call from Cleveland... and a simple chat with her husband unlike any talk they’d had in years.
Roshana Jensen: He was out sightseeing. He was walking around. He was talking. He was doing just about everything a normal person would do.
He could carry on a fluid conversation. It was exciting. It was really good to hear. It just gave a lot of hope, just that, you know, it’s only gonna get better from here.
But the day before Peter’s scheduled trip home, Roshana got shocking news. While Peter’s brain surgery seemed to have stopped his Tourette’s, incredibly, he’d had a mental breakdown.
Roshana Jensen: What’s happened is that he’s basically had a psychosis episode. It was to the point where he was delusional, that people were chasing him, tracking him. He was trying to jump out of cars.
Sara James, Dateline correspondent: Paranoid and delusional?
Roshana Jensen: Yes, very paranoid. It’s been a lot of tears this morning.
It was hard for loved ones to hear that peter was now confined to a psychiatric ward at the hospital.
What had happened? Neurologist Brian Maddux, one of the clinical trial’s lead doctors, was puzzled himself.
James: What do you think was the cause of his psychotic episode?
Dr. Brian Maddux: We believe that the operation itself did not prompt it. And we believe that the activation of the stimulator did not prompt that. But I can’t tell you any of that with 100 percent certainty.
James: Is it possible there was an underlying pre-existing condition that suddenly was revealed after you got rid of the tics?
Dr. Maddux: It certainly is possible.
James: The bottom line is that you aren’t entirely sure what caused Peter Jensen’s breakdown?
Dr. Maddux: Nope. That’s right.
Click for related content
Sara James: The marvels of science and the human spirit
After spending 12 days in University Hospitals of Cleveland’s psychiatric ward, Peter seemed to get better -- well enough that doctors gave him the okay to return to Utah.
Nevertheless, Roshana made a major decision: that Peter was not yet ready to return home.
Roshana Jensen: I’ve got 4 little kids, and they’re saying that these episodes, well, they can’t guarantee they won’t occur again. They’re hoping they won’t. But it’s very hard for me to want to bring that back home. Right now it’s very hard to know what to expect anymore.
After arriving in Utah, Peter moved into a halfway home for people working through health problems.
In spite of his struggle, Peter told us there had been much to celebrate.
Remember, almost two years ago, his violent, relentless tics left him unable to eat on his own or walk normally and he couldn’t carry on a conversation.
But thanks to a dramatic reduction in tics, his life underwent a remarkable turnaround.
Peter Jensen: I’m doing real well. I feel good and adjustments take time, but things are really going well.
The man who was virtually helpless was now able to cook and eat on his own, even shave himself. And for the first time in years, peter was able to hold a book steady enough to read. In fact, he enrolled in school to learn how to do architectural drawings on computer. He even began tutoring.
In December 2005, Peter was still living in the halfway house. He visited with Roshana and the children once a week. It appears this separation will be permanent.
Roshana told us after all they’ve endured, she can still be Peter’s friend and supporter, but not his wife, and has asked for a divorce.
Roshana Jensen: It’s very hard for him. He’s struggling with it, but he’s been very good in saying, you know, “It’s okay, I understand.”
Peter Jensen: It’s better for me to focus on me right now so I can get myself healthy and strong so I can do what I need to do.
Not a fairy tale ending, to be sure. But then, not an ending at all. For Peter Hensen, a pioneer, he’s proved that other Tourette’s sufferers like him can reclaim their lives. He’s embarking on a new beginning—one not defined by Tourette Syndrome.
And for a man who was on the brink of the abyss, starving to death, tortured by his own body, this indeed is a life transformed.
Peter Jensen: It is a beautiful thing right now to be able to live and be alive and to see birds fly through the air. It has made me appreciate a lot of things and how many blessings we have.
Four other people with Tourette Syndrome have now had the same surgery that Peter Jensen had. Doctors say the procedure was a success for most, but not all, of the patients.
Arrest made in JonBenet Ramsey case
BOULDER, Colo. - A man suspected in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in a surprise breakthrough in one of the nation’s most lurid murder cases — a decade-old crime some feared would never be solved.
District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work. She would not disclose any details about the suspect, but the Ramsey family’s attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived in nearby Conyers, Ga.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and said he was already being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
The Ramsey family attorney, Lin Wood, refused to say if the Ramseys knew the suspect and said he knew nothing else about the man. JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991. The couple moved back to Atlanta after their daughter’s slaying.
Wood said the arrest was vindication for JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had come under suspicion in the slaying. The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey’s death June 24 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
“It’s been a very long 10 years, and I’m just sorry Patsy isn’t here for me to hug her neck,” Wood said.
Murder and ransom noteJonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
The image of blonde-haired JonBenet in a cowgirl costume and other beauty pageant outfits has haunted TV talk shows ever since, helping feed myriad theories about her killer.
Investigators said at one point that JonBenet’s parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion” in the slaying. But the Ramseys insisted an intruder killed their daughter, and no one was ever charged.
In the months after the slaying, Patsy Ramsey went before the cameras, vigorously defending herself and her husband, chastising the media and blasting local law enforcement as incompetent.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.
Click for related content
Discuss:What do you think about this case?
Timeline: Key events in the JonBenet Ramsey case
In a statement Wednesday, John Ramsey said: “Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today’s development almost 10 years after our daughter’s murder.”
Lib Waters of Marietta, Ga., visited the gravesites of Patsy and JonBenet Ramsey in the Atlanta suburb immediately after hearing news reports about the arrest.
Waters, who described herself as a longtime friend of the Ramsey family, taped a piece of notebook paper to JonBenet Ramsey’s headstone that read: “Dearest Patsy, Justice has come for you and Jon. Rest in peace.”
Work of an intruder, judge concludedIn 2003, a federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the evidence she reviewed suggested an intruder killed JonBenet. That opinion came with the judge’s decision to dismiss a libel and slander lawsuit against the Ramseys by a freelance journalist, whom the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter’s murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with the judge’s declaration.
Wood said Wednesday’s arrest further vindicated his clients.
“I am sure there were still doubts in the minds of individuals whose thinking had been poisoned against this family because of the years of false accusations,” Wood said.
“Today is additional vindication of the family, but I think that knowledgeable individuals familiar with the evidence in the case have known for many years that this family was falsely accused, that they were innocent and that what they lived through in the last 10 years was an American tragedy.”
Wood said he and the Ramseys “have been totally amazed and impressed with the professionalism of law enforcement” under Lacy’s direction. Lacy became district attorney in 2001.
KUSA-TV of Denver, citing no sources, reported that the suspect has confessed to certain elements of the crime.
Bob Grant, a former Adams County district attorney who worked on the case, said there was never enough evidence to convince him that any potential suspect could be successfully prosecuted.
“I wasn’t convinced it was an inside job, nor was I convinced it was an outside job,” he said. “All the outside suspects were cleared after exhaustive investigation, and there were a whole lot of outside suspects.”
A reminder of events:
1996
Dec. 26
ZUMA PressJonBenet Ramsey, 6, is found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colo., home. Patsy Ramsey says she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
Dec. 31
Ramsey family hires attorney, publicist and investigators.
1997
Feb. 24
Ramsey spokesman says family members know they are “at the top of the list of possible suspects.”
April 18
District Attorney Alex Hunter says Ramseys are under an “umbrella of suspicion.”
April 30
Ramseys interviewed by police in first formal sessions.
May 14
Two detectives, including the first to arrive at the Ramsey home, are removed from the case.
Oct. 10
Police Chief Tom Koby admits mistakes made early in the case.
1998
June 23-25
Ramseys are questioned by police, their first interviews in more than a year. JonBenet’s brother Burke, 9 at the time of her death, is interviewed for six hours.
Sept. 15
Grand jury begins investigation.
1999
Oct. 13
District attorney says no indictments will be issued, cites a lack of sufficient evidence.
2002
Dec. 20
New District Attorney Mary Keenan takes over investigation and promises a fresh look.
2003
March 31
A federal judge in Atlanta concludes that the weight of the evidence is more consistent with the intruder theory than with the theory that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet.
April 7
Keenan issues a statement agreeing with the judge.
June
Retired detective Tom Bennett is hired by the Boulder district attorney’s office to lead a refocused investigation.
2004
June 4
The Ramseys’ attorney says DNA found in JonBenet’s underwear did not match any samples in an FBI database of convicted violent offenders.
Source: The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press. Reference only.
District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work. She would not disclose any details about the suspect, but the Ramsey family’s attorney in Atlanta said the man was a schoolteacher who once lived in nearby Conyers, Ga.
Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and said he was already being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
The Ramsey family attorney, Lin Wood, refused to say if the Ramseys knew the suspect and said he knew nothing else about the man. JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991. The couple moved back to Atlanta after their daughter’s slaying.
Wood said the arrest was vindication for JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had come under suspicion in the slaying. The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect a least a month before Patsy Ramsey’s death June 24 after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
“It’s been a very long 10 years, and I’m just sorry Patsy isn’t here for me to hug her neck,” Wood said.
Murder and ransom noteJonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
The image of blonde-haired JonBenet in a cowgirl costume and other beauty pageant outfits has haunted TV talk shows ever since, helping feed myriad theories about her killer.
Investigators said at one point that JonBenet’s parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion” in the slaying. But the Ramseys insisted an intruder killed their daughter, and no one was ever charged.
In the months after the slaying, Patsy Ramsey went before the cameras, vigorously defending herself and her husband, chastising the media and blasting local law enforcement as incompetent.
Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.
Click for related content
Discuss:What do you think about this case?
Timeline: Key events in the JonBenet Ramsey case
In a statement Wednesday, John Ramsey said: “Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today’s development almost 10 years after our daughter’s murder.”
Lib Waters of Marietta, Ga., visited the gravesites of Patsy and JonBenet Ramsey in the Atlanta suburb immediately after hearing news reports about the arrest.
Waters, who described herself as a longtime friend of the Ramsey family, taped a piece of notebook paper to JonBenet Ramsey’s headstone that read: “Dearest Patsy, Justice has come for you and Jon. Rest in peace.”
Work of an intruder, judge concludedIn 2003, a federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the evidence she reviewed suggested an intruder killed JonBenet. That opinion came with the judge’s decision to dismiss a libel and slander lawsuit against the Ramseys by a freelance journalist, whom the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter’s murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with the judge’s declaration.
Wood said Wednesday’s arrest further vindicated his clients.
“I am sure there were still doubts in the minds of individuals whose thinking had been poisoned against this family because of the years of false accusations,” Wood said.
“Today is additional vindication of the family, but I think that knowledgeable individuals familiar with the evidence in the case have known for many years that this family was falsely accused, that they were innocent and that what they lived through in the last 10 years was an American tragedy.”
Wood said he and the Ramseys “have been totally amazed and impressed with the professionalism of law enforcement” under Lacy’s direction. Lacy became district attorney in 2001.
KUSA-TV of Denver, citing no sources, reported that the suspect has confessed to certain elements of the crime.
Bob Grant, a former Adams County district attorney who worked on the case, said there was never enough evidence to convince him that any potential suspect could be successfully prosecuted.
“I wasn’t convinced it was an inside job, nor was I convinced it was an outside job,” he said. “All the outside suspects were cleared after exhaustive investigation, and there were a whole lot of outside suspects.”
A reminder of events:
1996
Dec. 26
ZUMA PressJonBenet Ramsey, 6, is found dead in the basement of her Boulder, Colo., home. Patsy Ramsey says she found a ransom note demanding $118,000 for her daughter.
Dec. 31
Ramsey family hires attorney, publicist and investigators.
1997
Feb. 24
Ramsey spokesman says family members know they are “at the top of the list of possible suspects.”
April 18
District Attorney Alex Hunter says Ramseys are under an “umbrella of suspicion.”
April 30
Ramseys interviewed by police in first formal sessions.
May 14
Two detectives, including the first to arrive at the Ramsey home, are removed from the case.
Oct. 10
Police Chief Tom Koby admits mistakes made early in the case.
1998
June 23-25
Ramseys are questioned by police, their first interviews in more than a year. JonBenet’s brother Burke, 9 at the time of her death, is interviewed for six hours.
Sept. 15
Grand jury begins investigation.
1999
Oct. 13
District attorney says no indictments will be issued, cites a lack of sufficient evidence.
2002
Dec. 20
New District Attorney Mary Keenan takes over investigation and promises a fresh look.
2003
March 31
A federal judge in Atlanta concludes that the weight of the evidence is more consistent with the intruder theory than with the theory that Patsy Ramsey killed JonBenet.
April 7
Keenan issues a statement agreeing with the judge.
June
Retired detective Tom Bennett is hired by the Boulder district attorney’s office to lead a refocused investigation.
2004
June 4
The Ramseys’ attorney says DNA found in JonBenet’s underwear did not match any samples in an FBI database of convicted violent offenders.
Source: The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press. Reference only.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Plot to bomb 10 British planes headed for US
Details emerge on alleged plot to bomb airliners
Officials: Leader still at large in Pakistan, test run was planned for weekend
LONDON - British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
Officials told NBC News that the alleged mastermind of the plot is still in Pakistan and has yet to be captured.
Some plotters had already purchased tickets on a flight to stage a test run planned for this weekend. The test run would have determined how easily the plotters could have gotten their materials past security and on board the planes.
The actual attack would have followed within days, officials told NBC News.
Police arrested 24 people saying they were confident they captured the main suspects in what U.S. officials said was a plot in its final phases that had all the earmarks of an al-Qaida operation. However, ABC News quoted unidentified U.S. officials who had been briefed on the plot as saying five suspects were still at large and being urgently hunted.
President Bush called the plot a “stark reminder” of the continued threat to the United States from extremist Muslims.
Senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that the plot was on British officials’ radar for about two weeks and that several of the people involved had been monitored for several months when this plot came into view.
Asked whether there were a significant number of suspects involved in the plot still on the loose who could still carry out an attack, the official said, “They didn't get them all.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff described the plot on Thursday as “well-advanced and well-thought-out and ... really resourced to succeed.”
The alleged planBritain disclosed no details about the plot or those arrested, although one police official indicated the people in custody were British residents, most of whom lived in east London. A French official in contact with British authorities described the arrested as originating from predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
British authorities said the suspects were arrested in London, its suburbs and Birmingham following a lengthy investigation, including the alleged “main players” in the plot.
Click for related content
Analysis: Plot may have been ‘the Big One’
Message Board: Are you afraid to fly?
At least one of the plotters attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, and more than one of the accused prepared a martyrdom tape, a counterterrorism official told NBC News.
Investigators say the plotters had not decided on specific flights to attack, but within the past few days were clicking around the Internet, looking at non-stop flights from the U.K. to the U.S. that left around the same time, NBC News’ Pete Williams reported.
U.S. officials say British investigators had the terror cell under close surveillance for several months, keeping the U.S. informed, then adding more specifics just within the past several days.
For the past several days, the FBI has feverishly looked for any potential ties to terrorists in the U.S., but has not found any.
“We literally in the last couple of weeks have had hundreds of FBI agents around the country tracking down every lead, and we have not found to date any plotters here in the United States,” FBI Director Robert Mueller told NBC.
Aviation experts say airport screening devices have a hard time picking up the chemicals the plotters planned to use, something officials verified with a test Thursday morning at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Officials raised security to its highest level in Britain — suggesting a terrorist attack might be imminent — and banned carry-on luggage on all flights. Huge crowds backed up at security barriers at London’s Heathrow Airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.
Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and set them off with detonators disguised as electronic devices.
“I can’t tell you that the particular explosives they had designed would have succeeded in bringing the planes down, but certainly you don’t even want to come close to taking that kind of a risk,” Chertoff said on MSNBC TV’s “Hardball.”
A counterterrorism official with knowledge of the plot and Thursday’s arrests told NBC News that the plotters, who ranged in age from 17 to 35, planned to use false-bottomed sports drink bottles to bring the liquids on board.
The terrorists on each plane would combine the separated liquids mid-flight to create an explosive solution.
An American law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation said it appeared the liquid to be used was a “peroxide-based solution” to be detonated by an electronic device that was not specified, but could be anything from a disposable camera to a portable digital music player.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because British authorities had asked that no information be released.
Alerts raised worldwideNews of the arrests and extreme security measures in London, a major international aviation hub, sent ripples throughout the world. Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe, and British Airways canceled all its flights between the airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled.
Washington raised its threat alert to its highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States.
The alert for all flights coming or going from the United States was also raised slightly.
Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terrorists had targeted United, American and Continental airlines.
A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California.
‘Stark reminder’Visiting Green Bay, Wis., to raise support for a Republican candidate, Bush said that the plot was a “stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists.” Despite increased security since Sept. 11, he warned, “It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America.”
ABC News quoted sources as saying Western intelligence agencies had identified three of the alleged ringleaders. It said two were believed to have traveled recently to Pakistan and later had money wired to them from Pakistan, purportedly to purchase airline tickets for suicide bombers.
While British officials declined to publicly identify the 24 suspects, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris they “appear to be of Pakistani origin.”
Pakistan’s government said later its intelligence agents helped Britain crack the plot and had arrested two to three suspects.
“Pakistan played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tasnim Aslam said, but she declined to give details.
‘Homegrown’The suspects arrested in Britain were “homegrown,” though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a British police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.
Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe.
Hamza Ghafoor, 20, who lives across the street from one of the homes raided in Walthamstow, northeast of London, said police circled the block in vans Thursday and that they generally swoop into the neighborhood to question “anyone with a beard.”
“Ibrahim didn’t do nothing wrong,” Ghafoor said, referring to a suspect. “He played football. He goes to the mosque. He’s a nice guy.”
The suicide bombing assault on London subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, was carried out by Muslim extremists raised in Britain.
The police official said the plotters intended to simultaneously target multiple planes bound for the United States.
“We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we’ve prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
First time red alert status invokedPrime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed Bush on the situation Wednesday. Blair issued a statement praising the cooperation between the two countries, saying it “underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it.”
Chertoff said the plot had the hallmarks of an operation planned by al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11 attack on the United States.
“It was sophisticated, it had a lot of members and it was international in scope. It was in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot,” Chertoff said, but he cautioned it was too early in the investigation to reach any conclusions.
It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a “severe risk of terrorist attacks.”
“We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted,” Chertoff said.
He added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the United States.
‘Close to the execution phase’Chertoff said the plotters were in the final stages of planning. “We were really getting quite close to the execution phase,” he said, adding that it was unclear if the plot was linked to the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot.
In the mid-1990s, officials foiled a plan by terrorist mastermind Ramzi Youssef to blow up 12 Western jetliners simultaneously over the Pacific. The alleged plot involved improvised bombs using liquid hidden in contact lens solution containers.
In June 1995, U.S. and Filipino authorities uncovered a plot very similar to the one revealed Thursday in the U.K.
In that plot, called the “Bojinka Plot,” bombs were to be placed aboard 11 jumbo jets and detonated by timing devices as the planes flew over the Pacific Ocean, killing an estimated 4,000 people.
Most of the jets were to be American carriers and most of the dead would have been Americans.
The bombs were small, using a Casio watch as a timer and contact lens bottles filled with nitroglycerine. They were to be secreted behind the wall panels in the plane's lavatory.
The bombs would have been timed to go off over a number of hours to heighten the terror.
The plan, also called the “Day of Hate,” was conceived by Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, and his uncle, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11.
Only a fire in Yousef's Manila apartment thwarted it. Mohammed later modified the plan, took it to Osama bin Laden, and it became the blueprint for the 9/11 attacks. Read more in the Daily Nightly Blog: "'Very good reason' to believe it's al-Qaida".
Officials: Leader still at large in Pakistan, test run was planned for weekend
LONDON - British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as “mass murder on an unimaginable scale.”
Officials told NBC News that the alleged mastermind of the plot is still in Pakistan and has yet to be captured.
Some plotters had already purchased tickets on a flight to stage a test run planned for this weekend. The test run would have determined how easily the plotters could have gotten their materials past security and on board the planes.
The actual attack would have followed within days, officials told NBC News.
Police arrested 24 people saying they were confident they captured the main suspects in what U.S. officials said was a plot in its final phases that had all the earmarks of an al-Qaida operation. However, ABC News quoted unidentified U.S. officials who had been briefed on the plot as saying five suspects were still at large and being urgently hunted.
President Bush called the plot a “stark reminder” of the continued threat to the United States from extremist Muslims.
Senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that the plot was on British officials’ radar for about two weeks and that several of the people involved had been monitored for several months when this plot came into view.
Asked whether there were a significant number of suspects involved in the plot still on the loose who could still carry out an attack, the official said, “They didn't get them all.”
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff described the plot on Thursday as “well-advanced and well-thought-out and ... really resourced to succeed.”
The alleged planBritain disclosed no details about the plot or those arrested, although one police official indicated the people in custody were British residents, most of whom lived in east London. A French official in contact with British authorities described the arrested as originating from predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
British authorities said the suspects were arrested in London, its suburbs and Birmingham following a lengthy investigation, including the alleged “main players” in the plot.
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At least one of the plotters attended a terrorist training camp in Pakistan, and more than one of the accused prepared a martyrdom tape, a counterterrorism official told NBC News.
Investigators say the plotters had not decided on specific flights to attack, but within the past few days were clicking around the Internet, looking at non-stop flights from the U.K. to the U.S. that left around the same time, NBC News’ Pete Williams reported.
U.S. officials say British investigators had the terror cell under close surveillance for several months, keeping the U.S. informed, then adding more specifics just within the past several days.
For the past several days, the FBI has feverishly looked for any potential ties to terrorists in the U.S., but has not found any.
“We literally in the last couple of weeks have had hundreds of FBI agents around the country tracking down every lead, and we have not found to date any plotters here in the United States,” FBI Director Robert Mueller told NBC.
Aviation experts say airport screening devices have a hard time picking up the chemicals the plotters planned to use, something officials verified with a test Thursday morning at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Officials raised security to its highest level in Britain — suggesting a terrorist attack might be imminent — and banned carry-on luggage on all flights. Huge crowds backed up at security barriers at London’s Heathrow Airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.
Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid explosives disguised as beverages and other common products and set them off with detonators disguised as electronic devices.
“I can’t tell you that the particular explosives they had designed would have succeeded in bringing the planes down, but certainly you don’t even want to come close to taking that kind of a risk,” Chertoff said on MSNBC TV’s “Hardball.”
A counterterrorism official with knowledge of the plot and Thursday’s arrests told NBC News that the plotters, who ranged in age from 17 to 35, planned to use false-bottomed sports drink bottles to bring the liquids on board.
The terrorists on each plane would combine the separated liquids mid-flight to create an explosive solution.
An American law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation said it appeared the liquid to be used was a “peroxide-based solution” to be detonated by an electronic device that was not specified, but could be anything from a disposable camera to a portable digital music player.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because British authorities had asked that no information be released.
Alerts raised worldwideNews of the arrests and extreme security measures in London, a major international aviation hub, sent ripples throughout the world. Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe, and British Airways canceled all its flights between the airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya. Numerous flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled.
Washington raised its threat alert to its highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States.
The alert for all flights coming or going from the United States was also raised slightly.
Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terrorists had targeted United, American and Continental airlines.
A U.S. intelligence official said the plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in New York, Washington and California.
‘Stark reminder’Visiting Green Bay, Wis., to raise support for a Republican candidate, Bush said that the plot was a “stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists.” Despite increased security since Sept. 11, he warned, “It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America.”
ABC News quoted sources as saying Western intelligence agencies had identified three of the alleged ringleaders. It said two were believed to have traveled recently to Pakistan and later had money wired to them from Pakistan, purportedly to purchase airline tickets for suicide bombers.
While British officials declined to publicly identify the 24 suspects, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris they “appear to be of Pakistani origin.”
Pakistan’s government said later its intelligence agents helped Britain crack the plot and had arrested two to three suspects.
“Pakistan played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tasnim Aslam said, but she declined to give details.
‘Homegrown’The suspects arrested in Britain were “homegrown,” though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a British police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.
Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe.
Hamza Ghafoor, 20, who lives across the street from one of the homes raided in Walthamstow, northeast of London, said police circled the block in vans Thursday and that they generally swoop into the neighborhood to question “anyone with a beard.”
“Ibrahim didn’t do nothing wrong,” Ghafoor said, referring to a suspect. “He played football. He goes to the mosque. He’s a nice guy.”
The suicide bombing assault on London subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, was carried out by Muslim extremists raised in Britain.
The police official said the plotters intended to simultaneously target multiple planes bound for the United States.
“We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot and we are confident that we’ve prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
First time red alert status invokedPrime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in the Caribbean, briefed Bush on the situation Wednesday. Blair issued a statement praising the cooperation between the two countries, saying it “underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it.”
Chertoff said the plot had the hallmarks of an operation planned by al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11 attack on the United States.
“It was sophisticated, it had a lot of members and it was international in scope. It was in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot,” Chertoff said, but he cautioned it was too early in the investigation to reach any conclusions.
It is the first time the red alert level in the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked, although there have been brief periods in the past when the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines the red alert as designating a “severe risk of terrorist attacks.”
“We believe that these arrests (in London) have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the plot completely thwarted,” Chertoff said.
He added, however, there was no indication of current plots within the United States.
‘Close to the execution phase’Chertoff said the plotters were in the final stages of planning. “We were really getting quite close to the execution phase,” he said, adding that it was unclear if the plot was linked to the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said authorities believe dozens of people — possibly as many as 50 — were involved in the plot.
In the mid-1990s, officials foiled a plan by terrorist mastermind Ramzi Youssef to blow up 12 Western jetliners simultaneously over the Pacific. The alleged plot involved improvised bombs using liquid hidden in contact lens solution containers.
In June 1995, U.S. and Filipino authorities uncovered a plot very similar to the one revealed Thursday in the U.K.
In that plot, called the “Bojinka Plot,” bombs were to be placed aboard 11 jumbo jets and detonated by timing devices as the planes flew over the Pacific Ocean, killing an estimated 4,000 people.
Most of the jets were to be American carriers and most of the dead would have been Americans.
The bombs were small, using a Casio watch as a timer and contact lens bottles filled with nitroglycerine. They were to be secreted behind the wall panels in the plane's lavatory.
The bombs would have been timed to go off over a number of hours to heighten the terror.
The plan, also called the “Day of Hate,” was conceived by Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, and his uncle, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11.
Only a fire in Yousef's Manila apartment thwarted it. Mohammed later modified the plan, took it to Osama bin Laden, and it became the blueprint for the 9/11 attacks. Read more in the Daily Nightly Blog: "'Very good reason' to believe it's al-Qaida".
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