Alexandria - A group that advocates for the rights of people who have given up homosexual behavior wants information about “ex-gays” included in Alexandria’s sex education curriculum.
The Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, a Virginia-based nonprofit, said in a letter to the Alexandria school board that information about formerly homosexual people should be included because definitions for homosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders and transvestites are in lesson plans. The curriculum has raised questions for its inclusion of these definitions.
“Why is there no mention of the ex-gay community in the lesson plan when every other sexual orientation is discussed and supported? Many ex-gays and their families are fine people,” Regina Griggs, executive director of the group, wrote in a Jan. 22 letter. “They do not think something is wrong with them because they decided to fulfill their heterosexual potential.”
In a subsequent interview, Griggs said she does not believe there is any scientific evidence showing homosexuality is natural, and that people attracted to the same sex can control the attraction.
The group said it provides both religious and secular information about its cause.
“As you begin to dig into the schools and find out what they’re teaching, it’s kind of scary,” she said. “We just can’t allow this to go on in our schools.”
Alexandria schools spokeswoman Amy Carlini said discussion about including the material will take place between school staff and an advisory panel charged with reviewing the curriculum.
» Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays has been involved in the Montgomery County Schools sex education debate, sitting on the committee that reviewed the new curriculum. They advocated unsuccessfully for information about ex-gays in the curriculum.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Lives of 3 Boys Change After Kidnapping
BEAUFORT, Mo. - Shawn Hornbeck has a glitzy new Web site and is getting a brand new home. Mitchell Hults has a new truck, a $5,000 scholarship and free tickets to see his favorite comedian.
When asked what kind of big gifts have flowed toward 13-year-old Ben Ownby, his uncle laughed.
"Um, nothing," said Loyd Bailie. "Lots of people calling."
That's just fine with Ben's parents, Don and Doris. They endured four torturous days after their son was abducted Jan. 8, trying to keep hope alive even as the chances of finding Ben alive grew desperately thin.
After an outpouring of community support when Ben was missing, the family is just happy to be out of the spotlight and healing with their son, Bailie said.
They're not looking for gifts from strangers.
"We're looking at material things here that, yeah, they would be nice to have, but the most important part about this whole thing is that Ben is back and Ben is doing well," Bailie said. The parents didn't want to comment for this story, he said.
The three boys unwittingly swept up in the global media storm dubbed the "Missouri Miracle" have taken very different paths in the public eye. Through family decisions and outside pressure, two have become icons while one has faded into the shadows.
Mitchell, 15, has become the hero of the story - the eagle-eyed youth who spotted a pickup speeding from the sight of Ben's abduction. The tip led authorities to the apartment of 41-year-old Michael Devlin, where they found both Shawn and Ben. Devlin is charged with two counts of kidnapping.
Shawn has become the tale's miracle. Captive four years, the boy last seen by his parents as a spunky 11-year old came home a lanky teenager, a 15-year-old with faint sideburns, bushy hair and a lip ring.
Ben and Shawn appeared together publicly for the first and last time on Jan. 12, when police brought them from Devlin's home to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department. They walked into the building in front of a crowd of shocked and tearful onlookers.
Interviews suggest the boys have not spoken since. The boys and their families have taken markedly different stances with the media.
Just days after the boys were freed, Shawn appeared with his parents, Craig and Pamela Akers, on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Don and Doris Ownby appeared, too, but decided to keep Ben off camera.
Craig and Pamela Akers became adept with the media years ago. They formed the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to bring attention to Shawn's case and the plight of other missing children.
The foundation became a focal point of attention this week. It launched a new Web site, complete with photos of Shawn and message boards where more than 1,100 notes have been posted for the boy and his family.
On Tuesday, a St. Louis company announced it will build a new home on the Akers' property in Richwoods. Ground will be broken Friday, but the family - which has asked for privacy so Shawn can begin the healing process - is not scheduled to attend.
Mitchell was honored at a school assembly earlier this month. On Wednesday, he received a new Dodge pickup from Daimler-Chrysler during the St. Louis Auto Show.
Mitchell was a special guest honored at Gov. Matt Blunt's State of the State address Wednesday night. On Friday, University of Missouri-St. Louis leaders will present the teen with the $5,000 scholarship award.
Mitchel got backstage passes for a show Thursday night in Columbia featuring his favorite comedian, Larry the Cable Guy. The comedian even posted a message on his Web site praising Mitchell:
"When I first saw Mitchell giving a description of the truck earlier in the week, I told my wife, 'now that's a good country boy right there.'"
The Ownbys are elated by the accolades for Mitchell, whose heroics saved their son.
"I just couldn't be more proud," Bailie said. "Give credit where credit is due. Mitchell was the hero in this thing."
Ben and his family have taken a more quiet path. The seventh-grader has still not returned to school, instead attending counseling sessions to help him overcome the trauma of his abduction and captivity, Bailie said.
The Ownbys are paying for the sessions out-of-pocket, although their health insurance is covering much of the cost, Bailie said.
The family already feels indebted to friends and neighbors in Franklin County who helped hunt for Ben and brought food by the house to feed volunteers.
"There was enough that we could have kept a camp going for several weeks," Bailie said.
When asked what kind of big gifts have flowed toward 13-year-old Ben Ownby, his uncle laughed.
"Um, nothing," said Loyd Bailie. "Lots of people calling."
That's just fine with Ben's parents, Don and Doris. They endured four torturous days after their son was abducted Jan. 8, trying to keep hope alive even as the chances of finding Ben alive grew desperately thin.
After an outpouring of community support when Ben was missing, the family is just happy to be out of the spotlight and healing with their son, Bailie said.
They're not looking for gifts from strangers.
"We're looking at material things here that, yeah, they would be nice to have, but the most important part about this whole thing is that Ben is back and Ben is doing well," Bailie said. The parents didn't want to comment for this story, he said.
The three boys unwittingly swept up in the global media storm dubbed the "Missouri Miracle" have taken very different paths in the public eye. Through family decisions and outside pressure, two have become icons while one has faded into the shadows.
Mitchell, 15, has become the hero of the story - the eagle-eyed youth who spotted a pickup speeding from the sight of Ben's abduction. The tip led authorities to the apartment of 41-year-old Michael Devlin, where they found both Shawn and Ben. Devlin is charged with two counts of kidnapping.
Shawn has become the tale's miracle. Captive four years, the boy last seen by his parents as a spunky 11-year old came home a lanky teenager, a 15-year-old with faint sideburns, bushy hair and a lip ring.
Ben and Shawn appeared together publicly for the first and last time on Jan. 12, when police brought them from Devlin's home to the Franklin County Sheriff's Department. They walked into the building in front of a crowd of shocked and tearful onlookers.
Interviews suggest the boys have not spoken since. The boys and their families have taken markedly different stances with the media.
Just days after the boys were freed, Shawn appeared with his parents, Craig and Pamela Akers, on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Don and Doris Ownby appeared, too, but decided to keep Ben off camera.
Craig and Pamela Akers became adept with the media years ago. They formed the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation to bring attention to Shawn's case and the plight of other missing children.
The foundation became a focal point of attention this week. It launched a new Web site, complete with photos of Shawn and message boards where more than 1,100 notes have been posted for the boy and his family.
On Tuesday, a St. Louis company announced it will build a new home on the Akers' property in Richwoods. Ground will be broken Friday, but the family - which has asked for privacy so Shawn can begin the healing process - is not scheduled to attend.
Mitchell was honored at a school assembly earlier this month. On Wednesday, he received a new Dodge pickup from Daimler-Chrysler during the St. Louis Auto Show.
Mitchell was a special guest honored at Gov. Matt Blunt's State of the State address Wednesday night. On Friday, University of Missouri-St. Louis leaders will present the teen with the $5,000 scholarship award.
Mitchel got backstage passes for a show Thursday night in Columbia featuring his favorite comedian, Larry the Cable Guy. The comedian even posted a message on his Web site praising Mitchell:
"When I first saw Mitchell giving a description of the truck earlier in the week, I told my wife, 'now that's a good country boy right there.'"
The Ownbys are elated by the accolades for Mitchell, whose heroics saved their son.
"I just couldn't be more proud," Bailie said. "Give credit where credit is due. Mitchell was the hero in this thing."
Ben and his family have taken a more quiet path. The seventh-grader has still not returned to school, instead attending counseling sessions to help him overcome the trauma of his abduction and captivity, Bailie said.
The Ownbys are paying for the sessions out-of-pocket, although their health insurance is covering much of the cost, Bailie said.
The family already feels indebted to friends and neighbors in Franklin County who helped hunt for Ben and brought food by the house to feed volunteers.
"There was enough that we could have kept a camp going for several weeks," Bailie said.
Man Who Killed at 11 Released
PONTIAC, Mich. - Nathaniel Abraham lost his freedom as a child and gained it as a man. But those surrounding him in court on Thursday said he should take his first unsupervised steps in nearly a decade with great care and caring people.
A judge released Abraham from all state supervision, more than nine years after the then-11-year-old used a rifle to shoot and kill a man outside a Pontiac convenience store.
The 20-year-old man who stood before Oakland County Probate Judge Eugene Moore for his final status hearing on Thursday bore little resemblance to the scared boy whose feet couldn't touch the ground while he sat at the defense table during his 1999 murder trial.
Abraham, a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than he was at the time of his arrest, has been living in a halfway house in Bay City, 70 miles north of his family in Pontiac. It was in Pontiac that he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1997 death of 18-year-old Ronnie Lee Greene. Though convicted as an adult, Abraham was sentenced as a juvenile by Moore.
Abraham was the first young person charged with murder to be prosecuted under a 1997 Michigan law that allowed adult prosecutions of children of any age in a serious felony case.
Moore gave a lengthy speech in court Thursday, chronicling Abraham's progress. Highlights included obtaining a high-school diploma in 2005 after being three to four grade levels behind and a growing sense of responsibility for himself and empathy for others.
Moore cited a few missteps, such as fighting and stealing cleaning supplies for his girlfriend, but said "none were very serious" and Nate now had the "guts" to succeed.
"Show us all that you have become a caring, productive member of society," said Moore, who has been stern yet supportive of Abraham over the years.
"I know you can do it. Do it."
Abraham turns 21 on Friday and was expected to be released at that time, but Moore signed the release order Thursday. With that, Abraham was a free man, walking out the door in a pinstripe suit and a fedora. It was a stark contrast from when police arrested the then-sixth-grader at his school, his face painted for Halloween.
Before walking out of the courtroom, he thanked all those involved in his case and said he owed a debt to them. He singled out Moore for taking a chance.
"You saw something in me before a lot of people did," Abraham said. "Sure enough, I'm not going back into society to cause any other families any hurt or harm."
Abraham's arrest in 1997 sparked debate on the treatment of juveniles accused of violent crimes.
Prosecutors at the time said Abraham had hidden the rifle, told people he intended to kill and voiced worry about gangs coming after him. The defense argued the shooting was accidental and that he was aiming at trees and not at Greene.
Abraham's release follows years in a maximum-security facility and a short stay at a medium-security camp. Opinions diverge on how much he's changed in that time.
For Oakland County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley and Greene's family, the remorse has been lacking and they don't believe he has been fully rehabilitated.
The offenses might be viewed as minor to others, but Carley said it's only been during the past few months that he stole the supplies from the halfway house and on another occasion left without telling anyone.
"There are so many problems," she said. "This is not success."
Robin Adams, Greene's mother, said she doesn't think Abraham is ready for release, and would prefer that he have an electronic tether on his leg for law enforcement to keep track of him. Still, she hopes he has great deal of private supervision and support.
"I think he should have people right with him," she said. "The main thing is that he get on with his life, and give himself over to the Lord."
Abraham's lawyer, Daniel Bagdade and Abraham's mother, Gloria Abraham-Holland, see a man who has earned a second chance, though they, too, know it will require the help of others.
During his years of lockup, social workers and prosecutors expressed concerns about Abraham's temper. He has been punished for mouthing off and threatening one of his counselors after being fouled during a basketball game, and has taken anger-management training.
But on Thursday, those who worked with Abraham during his time in state custody said he had worked hard at controlling his anger and expressed hope that he would make a success of his future.
"I know he can do it with the help of the Lord and the support of his family," said Abraham-Holland, who added that the family was to gather Friday to celebrate her son's birthday.
"He's come a long way and we're proud of him. We're standing by him."
Bagdade, who has represented Abraham since his arrest, said his client has an apartment in Bay City, where he plans to work in maintenance for a manufacturing company and attend classes at Delta College. He would also like to parlay eight years' worth of lyrics and poetry into a music career.
Even with the help of others, Bagdade said there is no reason that Abraham can't responsibly exercise his independence.
"He's going back to his own apartment - his own apartment," said Bagdade, with a look of relief after a decade of defending Abraham. "He's going to sleep in his own bed and watch what he wants to watch ... without anyone telling him what to do."
A judge released Abraham from all state supervision, more than nine years after the then-11-year-old used a rifle to shoot and kill a man outside a Pontiac convenience store.
The 20-year-old man who stood before Oakland County Probate Judge Eugene Moore for his final status hearing on Thursday bore little resemblance to the scared boy whose feet couldn't touch the ground while he sat at the defense table during his 1999 murder trial.
Abraham, a foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than he was at the time of his arrest, has been living in a halfway house in Bay City, 70 miles north of his family in Pontiac. It was in Pontiac that he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1997 death of 18-year-old Ronnie Lee Greene. Though convicted as an adult, Abraham was sentenced as a juvenile by Moore.
Abraham was the first young person charged with murder to be prosecuted under a 1997 Michigan law that allowed adult prosecutions of children of any age in a serious felony case.
Moore gave a lengthy speech in court Thursday, chronicling Abraham's progress. Highlights included obtaining a high-school diploma in 2005 after being three to four grade levels behind and a growing sense of responsibility for himself and empathy for others.
Moore cited a few missteps, such as fighting and stealing cleaning supplies for his girlfriend, but said "none were very serious" and Nate now had the "guts" to succeed.
"Show us all that you have become a caring, productive member of society," said Moore, who has been stern yet supportive of Abraham over the years.
"I know you can do it. Do it."
Abraham turns 21 on Friday and was expected to be released at that time, but Moore signed the release order Thursday. With that, Abraham was a free man, walking out the door in a pinstripe suit and a fedora. It was a stark contrast from when police arrested the then-sixth-grader at his school, his face painted for Halloween.
Before walking out of the courtroom, he thanked all those involved in his case and said he owed a debt to them. He singled out Moore for taking a chance.
"You saw something in me before a lot of people did," Abraham said. "Sure enough, I'm not going back into society to cause any other families any hurt or harm."
Abraham's arrest in 1997 sparked debate on the treatment of juveniles accused of violent crimes.
Prosecutors at the time said Abraham had hidden the rifle, told people he intended to kill and voiced worry about gangs coming after him. The defense argued the shooting was accidental and that he was aiming at trees and not at Greene.
Abraham's release follows years in a maximum-security facility and a short stay at a medium-security camp. Opinions diverge on how much he's changed in that time.
For Oakland County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley and Greene's family, the remorse has been lacking and they don't believe he has been fully rehabilitated.
The offenses might be viewed as minor to others, but Carley said it's only been during the past few months that he stole the supplies from the halfway house and on another occasion left without telling anyone.
"There are so many problems," she said. "This is not success."
Robin Adams, Greene's mother, said she doesn't think Abraham is ready for release, and would prefer that he have an electronic tether on his leg for law enforcement to keep track of him. Still, she hopes he has great deal of private supervision and support.
"I think he should have people right with him," she said. "The main thing is that he get on with his life, and give himself over to the Lord."
Abraham's lawyer, Daniel Bagdade and Abraham's mother, Gloria Abraham-Holland, see a man who has earned a second chance, though they, too, know it will require the help of others.
During his years of lockup, social workers and prosecutors expressed concerns about Abraham's temper. He has been punished for mouthing off and threatening one of his counselors after being fouled during a basketball game, and has taken anger-management training.
But on Thursday, those who worked with Abraham during his time in state custody said he had worked hard at controlling his anger and expressed hope that he would make a success of his future.
"I know he can do it with the help of the Lord and the support of his family," said Abraham-Holland, who added that the family was to gather Friday to celebrate her son's birthday.
"He's come a long way and we're proud of him. We're standing by him."
Bagdade, who has represented Abraham since his arrest, said his client has an apartment in Bay City, where he plans to work in maintenance for a manufacturing company and attend classes at Delta College. He would also like to parlay eight years' worth of lyrics and poetry into a music career.
Even with the help of others, Bagdade said there is no reason that Abraham can't responsibly exercise his independence.
"He's going back to his own apartment - his own apartment," said Bagdade, with a look of relief after a decade of defending Abraham. "He's going to sleep in his own bed and watch what he wants to watch ... without anyone telling him what to do."
'Grey's Anatomy' Star in Counseling for Gay Epithet
LOS ANGELES - Isaiah Washington, who does the healing as a doctor on "Grey's Anatomy," is the patient now.
He's in therapy for his use of an anti-gay slur against a castmate.
"With the support of my family and friends, I have begun counseling. I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again," Washington said in a statement Wednesday. "I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally."
Washington took a break from filming Tuesday to meet with gay rights activists and offer help in educating the public about the cruelty of such words, an offer the activists called sincere.
Whether Washington was receiving outpatient counseling or had entered a facility was not specified, and the statement did not indicate whether he would miss work on the show.
Washington's publicist, Kelly Mullens, declined to comment further. A call to ABC about the effect on production of the hit TV show was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes issued her own statement, at once criticizing Washington for his use of the word "faggot" about co-star T.R. Knight and lauding Washington's decision to seek help.
"I speak for all the executive producers here at `Grey's Anatomy' when I say that Isaiah Washington's use of such a disturbing word was a shocking and dismaying event that insulted not only gays and lesbians everywhere, but anyone who has ever struggled for respect in a world that is not always accepting of difference," Rhimes said.
She said she's been working within "the `Grey's family" and with ABC and the Touchstone Television studio to address the issue "in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing."
"We applaud and encourage Isaiah's realization that he needs help and his subsequent choice to seek immediate treatment for his behavioral issues," Rhimes said.
She expressed appreciation to fans during this "stressful time" and said those involved with the show would continue to "make the best television we can."
It was during an on-set quarrel last October with co-star Patrick Dempsey that Washington reportedly used the slur about Knight, who was not present. Although Washington apologized publicly at the time, the issue boiled up again at the Jan. 15 Golden Globes when he denied using the epithet.
After being criticized last week by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and ABC, Washington issued an apology.
He met Tuesday with the heads of GLAAD and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, who said Washington agreed to efforts to fight bias but that no specifics were reached.
ABC and Touchstone Television are owned by Walt Disney Co.
He's in therapy for his use of an anti-gay slur against a castmate.
"With the support of my family and friends, I have begun counseling. I regard this as a necessary step toward understanding why I did what I did and making sure it never happens again," Washington said in a statement Wednesday. "I appreciate the fact that I have been given this opportunity and I remain committed to transforming my negative actions into positive results, personally and professionally."
Washington took a break from filming Tuesday to meet with gay rights activists and offer help in educating the public about the cruelty of such words, an offer the activists called sincere.
Whether Washington was receiving outpatient counseling or had entered a facility was not specified, and the statement did not indicate whether he would miss work on the show.
Washington's publicist, Kelly Mullens, declined to comment further. A call to ABC about the effect on production of the hit TV show was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes issued her own statement, at once criticizing Washington for his use of the word "faggot" about co-star T.R. Knight and lauding Washington's decision to seek help.
"I speak for all the executive producers here at `Grey's Anatomy' when I say that Isaiah Washington's use of such a disturbing word was a shocking and dismaying event that insulted not only gays and lesbians everywhere, but anyone who has ever struggled for respect in a world that is not always accepting of difference," Rhimes said.
She said she's been working within "the `Grey's family" and with ABC and the Touchstone Television studio to address the issue "in a way that underscores the gravity of the situation while giving us all a foundation for healing."
"We applaud and encourage Isaiah's realization that he needs help and his subsequent choice to seek immediate treatment for his behavioral issues," Rhimes said.
She expressed appreciation to fans during this "stressful time" and said those involved with the show would continue to "make the best television we can."
It was during an on-set quarrel last October with co-star Patrick Dempsey that Washington reportedly used the slur about Knight, who was not present. Although Washington apologized publicly at the time, the issue boiled up again at the Jan. 15 Golden Globes when he denied using the epithet.
After being criticized last week by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and ABC, Washington issued an apology.
He met Tuesday with the heads of GLAAD and Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, who said Washington agreed to efforts to fight bias but that no specifics were reached.
ABC and Touchstone Television are owned by Walt Disney Co.
Father Kills Daughter; Doubted Virginity
AMMAN, Jordan - A Jordanian man fatally shot his 17-year-old daughter whom he suspected of having sex despite a medical exam that proved her chastity, an official said Thursday. The man surrendered to police hours after the killing, saying he had done it for family honor.
A state forensic pathologist, who works at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Amman where an autopsy was performed, said in a phone interview that the girl had run away from home several times for unknown reasons.
Weeks ago, the girl had returned home from a family protection clinic after doctors had vouched for her virginity and the father had signed a pledge not to harm her, the pathologist said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case.
"The tests proved that she was a virgin," the pathologist said. The girl returned home only after her father signed a statement promising not to harm her, he added.
The father shot the girl four times in the head on Tuesday. On Wednesday, an autopsy was performed that again showed "she was still a virgin," the pathologist said.
Authorities have not disclosed the names of the father or the daughter or even their hometown, saying only that they lived in a southern province.
The crime is the first "honor killing" this year in Jordan, where many men consider sex out of wedlock to be an almost indelible stain on a family's reputation. On average, about 20 women in the country are killed by their relatives in such cases each year. Women have been killed for simply dating.
Global human rights organizations have condemned such killings and appealed to King Abdullah II to put an end to them.
In response, the government has abolished a section in the penal code that allowed for "honor" killers to get sentences as lenient as six months in prison. Instead, the government has told judges to consider honor killings on a par with other homicides, which in Jordan are punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
But attempts to introduce harsher sentences have been blocked by conservative lawmakers who argue that tougher penalties would lead to promiscuity.
Queen Rania also has called for harsher punishment for such killers.
A state forensic pathologist, who works at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Amman where an autopsy was performed, said in a phone interview that the girl had run away from home several times for unknown reasons.
Weeks ago, the girl had returned home from a family protection clinic after doctors had vouched for her virginity and the father had signed a pledge not to harm her, the pathologist said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case.
"The tests proved that she was a virgin," the pathologist said. The girl returned home only after her father signed a statement promising not to harm her, he added.
The father shot the girl four times in the head on Tuesday. On Wednesday, an autopsy was performed that again showed "she was still a virgin," the pathologist said.
Authorities have not disclosed the names of the father or the daughter or even their hometown, saying only that they lived in a southern province.
The crime is the first "honor killing" this year in Jordan, where many men consider sex out of wedlock to be an almost indelible stain on a family's reputation. On average, about 20 women in the country are killed by their relatives in such cases each year. Women have been killed for simply dating.
Global human rights organizations have condemned such killings and appealed to King Abdullah II to put an end to them.
In response, the government has abolished a section in the penal code that allowed for "honor" killers to get sentences as lenient as six months in prison. Instead, the government has told judges to consider honor killings on a par with other homicides, which in Jordan are punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
But attempts to introduce harsher sentences have been blocked by conservative lawmakers who argue that tougher penalties would lead to promiscuity.
Queen Rania also has called for harsher punishment for such killers.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
SEX OFFENDER APPLIES TO SCHOOL — AS A 12-YEAR-OLD
[this'd make a good story-line for Abby's character]
PHOENIX — A charter school alerted authorities to a 29-year-old sex offender who tried to enroll there, pretending he was just 12, in what sheriff's officials said Friday may have been an attempt to lure children into sexual abuse.
The Yavapai County sheriff's office also said Neil Havens Rodreick II conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy. One of them, 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, called himself Rodreick's grandfather when he tried to enroll him at Mingus Springs Charter School as "Casey Price."
"This is the weirdest case I've seen in 18 years," sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. "If it wasn't so sad it would be funny."
The Yavapai County sheriff's office also said Neil Havens Rodreick II conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy. One of them, 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, called himself Rodreick's grandfather when he tried to enroll him at Mingus Springs Charter School as "Casey Price."
"This is the weirdest case I've seen in 18 years," sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. "If it wasn't so sad it would be funny."
A total of four men were in custody in the case Friday on various charges, including fraud, forgery, identity theft, and failure to register as a sex offender.
Officials at the charter school in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix, told deputies that papers the "grandfather" presented appeared to be fake and that "boy" looked much older than 12.
'Very upset'Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a pre-teen boy," Quayle said.
Detectives have evidence that Stiffler and Snow enrolled Rodreick in other Arizona schools, and have notified law enforcement in those jurisdictions, Quayle said.
It was unclear whether Rodreick had actually attended any schools, but Quayle said, "I think what we're looking at is that he's being used to troll for other kids."
She said detectives learned in interviews with the men that Rodreick convinced Stiffler and Snow that he was a boy after meeting him two years ago over the Internet. Rodreick apparently shaved his body hair and used makeup to keep up the guise.
Additional chargesDeputies who served a search warrant at a Chino Valley home Thursday found Stiffler, Snow, Rodreick and Brian J. Nellis, 34. Quayle said Nellis was apparently Rodreick's cell mate in an Oklahoma prison, where both served time for sex offenses.
Stiffler was booked on counts of forgery and hindering prosecution and was being held on $100,000 bond. Each of the three others was being held on $50,000 bond on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender. Prosecutors said decisions on any additional charges would be made by Monday.
All four men made initial court appearances Thursday and were assigned public defenders. County Public Defender Janet Lincoln said her office had not seen any reports or met with the men by Friday afternoon and would have no comment.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
Officials at the charter school in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix, told deputies that papers the "grandfather" presented appeared to be fake and that "boy" looked much older than 12.
'Very upset'Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a pre-teen boy," Quayle said.
Detectives have evidence that Stiffler and Snow enrolled Rodreick in other Arizona schools, and have notified law enforcement in those jurisdictions, Quayle said.
It was unclear whether Rodreick had actually attended any schools, but Quayle said, "I think what we're looking at is that he's being used to troll for other kids."
She said detectives learned in interviews with the men that Rodreick convinced Stiffler and Snow that he was a boy after meeting him two years ago over the Internet. Rodreick apparently shaved his body hair and used makeup to keep up the guise.
Additional chargesDeputies who served a search warrant at a Chino Valley home Thursday found Stiffler, Snow, Rodreick and Brian J. Nellis, 34. Quayle said Nellis was apparently Rodreick's cell mate in an Oklahoma prison, where both served time for sex offenses.
Stiffler was booked on counts of forgery and hindering prosecution and was being held on $100,000 bond. Each of the three others was being held on $50,000 bond on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender. Prosecutors said decisions on any additional charges would be made by Monday.
All four men made initial court appearances Thursday and were assigned public defenders. County Public Defender Janet Lincoln said her office had not seen any reports or met with the men by Friday afternoon and would have no comment.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press
Monday, January 01, 2007
Airline workers say they saw UFO
CHICAGO - Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O’Hare Airport last fall.
The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn’t have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday’s Chicago Tribune.
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O’Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn’t see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.
Just weather?“Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon,” Cory said. “That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things.”
The FAA is not investigating, Cory said.
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said company officials don’t recall discussing any such incident from Nov. 7.
At least one O’Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.
“To fly 7 million light years to O’Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable,” he said.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn’t have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday’s Chicago Tribune.
The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O’Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn’t see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.
Just weather?“Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon,” Cory said. “That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things.”
The FAA is not investigating, Cory said.
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said company officials don’t recall discussing any such incident from Nov. 7.
At least one O’Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.
“To fly 7 million light years to O’Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable,” he said.
© 2006 The Associated Press.
SADDAM: A Dictator's Life & Death
Iraqi party demands death penalty for Saddam
Iraq's dominant political party yesterday demanded that Saddam Hussein face the death penalty, despite the reservations expressed by new President Jalal Talabani in an interview with The Washington Times over the weekend. Leading members of the Shi'ite Muslim-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 140 seats in the 275-member national parliament, insisted that Saddam must be executed for the crimes committed under his brutal reign. Ali al-Dabagh, a party spokesman, called Saddam "the No. 1 criminal in the world."
Eliminating the death penalty "is something that cannot be discussed at all," Mr. al-Dabagh told the Associated Press in an interview. Sheik Hassan Shimmari, another United Iraqi Alliance lawmaker, said the death penalty for Saddam and his senior aides is justified by both Islamic tradition and Iraqi law. "It is surprising the president should adopt such a position," he told reporters in Baghdad. In his interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, said he was sticking to his long-standing personal opposition to the death penalty worldwide, but conceded that he was in the minority even within the three-member presidential council that he heads. Iraq's two deputy presidents, Shi'ite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Sunni Sheik Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, both support the death penalty if Saddam is convicted. Many of the president's fellow Kurds, who were the victims of atrocities under Saddam, also favor executing the former dictator. Mr. Talabani said he would not sign an execution order, if one were given. "It is for me difficult to sign this ... if the courts will decide [that], the others can do it. ... It does not mean I said that Saddam must not be executed. It is up to the courts, not to me," he told The Washington Times. In a separate interview with the BBC released yesterday, Mr. Talabani said, "My two partners in the presidency, the government, the [parliament], all of them are for sentencing Saddam Hussein to death before the court will decide." He suggested he might "go on holiday" and let his two partners in the presidency sign the death warrant. Separately, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops entered the rebellious town of Madain, south of Baghdad, but found no evidence of a group of more than 100 hostages reportedly being held by insurgents. Although Sunni Muslim leaders called the kidnapping accounts a hoax, U.S. military officials said the operation to regain control of Madain was a major success for the new government's fledgling security forces. The office of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said that 10 rebels and large amounts of weapons were seized in the operation. In a separate incident, Iraqi insurgents struck in the heart of Baghdad yesterday, killing a senior Iraqi security official and his nephew in their home. The target of the attack, Maj.-Gen. Adnan Midhish Kharagoli, was an adviser to Iraq's defense minister, Iraqi officials said. Saddam was captured by U.S. forces in December 2003 and now sits in a heavily guarded jail near Baghdad's airport. No trial date has been set. The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority abolished the Saddam-era death penalty law in 2003. The law listed some 114 offenses for which the death penalty could be applied. Over the objections of some U.S. coalition partners, the Iraqi interim government revived the death penalty in August 2004, limiting it to cases involving murder, drug trafficking and endangering national security. A State Department spokes-man, speaking on background, said the United States wants Iraq to rebuild its legal system, but said the issue of capital punishment was one for the Iraqis themselves to work out. "We have no objection to the death penalty, since we have it in our own country, but it's a matter for the Iraqis decide," the spokesman said. "We are certainly not pushing for it." This article is based in part on wire service reports.
From a humble birth, Saddam Hussein rose to power and kept it by eliminating opponents and suppressing dissidents. How he shaped Iraq and the world.
RISE TO POWER
April 28, 1937 Saddam Hussein is born near Tikrit
1955 Moves to Baghdad 1956 Joins the Arab Baath Socialist Party
1957 Denied admission to the Baghdad Military Academy
1959 Attempts to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq and is sentenced to death, although he later escapes to Syria and then to Egypt
1962-1963 Studies law in Cairo, but does not earn a degree
Feb. 8, 1963 Returns to Iraq after the Ramadan Revolution and is elected to the Baath Party July 1968 Participates in a coup to overthrow Iraq's president and the regime
Nov. 9, 1969 Elected vice chairman of the Revolution Command Council
June 1, 1972 Nationalizes all of the oil companies in Iraq
March 11, 1974 Helps implement the 'Autonomy Law' for Iraqi Kurdish Citizens, who are forced to go to Iran
July 16, 1979 Elected president of Iraq and chairman of Revolution Command Council.
REGIONAL CONFLICT
Sept. 4, 1980 Initiates a war with Iran
1982 Former President Ahmed Hassan Bakr dies mysteriously. It is widely suspected that Hussein was involved
1987-1988 Saddam launches the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds: 180,000 Kurds disappear and 4,000 villages are destroyed
March 1988 The Kurdish town of Halabaja is gassed: 5,000 people are killed and 10,000 are injured
Aug. 8, 1988 Agrees to a ceasefire with Iran. Iraq wins the conflict
August 1988 Kurdish villages on the Turkish border are gassed. Thousands die.
GULF WAR I
Aug. 2, 1990 Saddam seizes Kuwait
Jan. 16, 1991 The United States bombs Baghdad
February 1991 President George H.W. Bush declares a ceasefire; the Persian Gulf War ends 1993 Saddam breaks the peace terms from the end of the Persian Gulf War. The U.S. bombs Iraq
October 1998 Saddam fails to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors, resulting in a four-day bombing raid by the United States
1999 Throughout the year continual airstrikes on Iraq 2000 It is reported that Saddam has used humanitarian funds to build presidential palaces and personal enrichment
GULF WAR II
2002 Saddam allows U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Iraq
February 2003 Dan Rather interviews Saddam, who says he would not go into exile, claims Iraq does not have any weapons that go against U.N. resolutions
March 19, 2003 The United States and other Coalition forces start bombing campaign in an effort to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power
April 9, 2003 Baghdad falls to U.S.-led forces; Saddam's whereabouts unknown
July 22, 2003 Saddam's sons and henchmen, Uday and Qusay, are killed in a firefight with U.S. troops
Dec. 14, 2003 Saddam is captured by U.S. forces
Oct. 19, 2005 Saddam goes on trial in Baghdad. He questions the validity of the court that will try him and his seven co-defendants. All plead not guilty to charges of ordering the killing of 148 Shias from the village of Dujail.
Aug 21, 2006 Saddam and six other defendants are put on trial for mass killings in the so-called 'Anfal Campaign' of 1987-88
Nov. 5, 2006 Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shias in Dujail in 1982. He is sentenced to death Dec. 26, 2006 Iraq's highest appeals court upholds Saddam's death sentence
Iraq's dominant political party yesterday demanded that Saddam Hussein face the death penalty, despite the reservations expressed by new President Jalal Talabani in an interview with The Washington Times over the weekend. Leading members of the Shi'ite Muslim-led United Iraqi Alliance, which holds 140 seats in the 275-member national parliament, insisted that Saddam must be executed for the crimes committed under his brutal reign. Ali al-Dabagh, a party spokesman, called Saddam "the No. 1 criminal in the world."
Eliminating the death penalty "is something that cannot be discussed at all," Mr. al-Dabagh told the Associated Press in an interview. Sheik Hassan Shimmari, another United Iraqi Alliance lawmaker, said the death penalty for Saddam and his senior aides is justified by both Islamic tradition and Iraqi law. "It is surprising the president should adopt such a position," he told reporters in Baghdad. In his interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, said he was sticking to his long-standing personal opposition to the death penalty worldwide, but conceded that he was in the minority even within the three-member presidential council that he heads. Iraq's two deputy presidents, Shi'ite Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Sunni Sheik Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer, both support the death penalty if Saddam is convicted. Many of the president's fellow Kurds, who were the victims of atrocities under Saddam, also favor executing the former dictator. Mr. Talabani said he would not sign an execution order, if one were given. "It is for me difficult to sign this ... if the courts will decide [that], the others can do it. ... It does not mean I said that Saddam must not be executed. It is up to the courts, not to me," he told The Washington Times. In a separate interview with the BBC released yesterday, Mr. Talabani said, "My two partners in the presidency, the government, the [parliament], all of them are for sentencing Saddam Hussein to death before the court will decide." He suggested he might "go on holiday" and let his two partners in the presidency sign the death warrant. Separately, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops entered the rebellious town of Madain, south of Baghdad, but found no evidence of a group of more than 100 hostages reportedly being held by insurgents. Although Sunni Muslim leaders called the kidnapping accounts a hoax, U.S. military officials said the operation to regain control of Madain was a major success for the new government's fledgling security forces. The office of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said that 10 rebels and large amounts of weapons were seized in the operation. In a separate incident, Iraqi insurgents struck in the heart of Baghdad yesterday, killing a senior Iraqi security official and his nephew in their home. The target of the attack, Maj.-Gen. Adnan Midhish Kharagoli, was an adviser to Iraq's defense minister, Iraqi officials said. Saddam was captured by U.S. forces in December 2003 and now sits in a heavily guarded jail near Baghdad's airport. No trial date has been set. The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority abolished the Saddam-era death penalty law in 2003. The law listed some 114 offenses for which the death penalty could be applied. Over the objections of some U.S. coalition partners, the Iraqi interim government revived the death penalty in August 2004, limiting it to cases involving murder, drug trafficking and endangering national security. A State Department spokes-man, speaking on background, said the United States wants Iraq to rebuild its legal system, but said the issue of capital punishment was one for the Iraqis themselves to work out. "We have no objection to the death penalty, since we have it in our own country, but it's a matter for the Iraqis decide," the spokesman said. "We are certainly not pushing for it." This article is based in part on wire service reports.
From a humble birth, Saddam Hussein rose to power and kept it by eliminating opponents and suppressing dissidents. How he shaped Iraq and the world.
RISE TO POWER
April 28, 1937 Saddam Hussein is born near Tikrit
1955 Moves to Baghdad 1956 Joins the Arab Baath Socialist Party
1957 Denied admission to the Baghdad Military Academy
1959 Attempts to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq and is sentenced to death, although he later escapes to Syria and then to Egypt
1962-1963 Studies law in Cairo, but does not earn a degree
Feb. 8, 1963 Returns to Iraq after the Ramadan Revolution and is elected to the Baath Party July 1968 Participates in a coup to overthrow Iraq's president and the regime
Nov. 9, 1969 Elected vice chairman of the Revolution Command Council
June 1, 1972 Nationalizes all of the oil companies in Iraq
March 11, 1974 Helps implement the 'Autonomy Law' for Iraqi Kurdish Citizens, who are forced to go to Iran
July 16, 1979 Elected president of Iraq and chairman of Revolution Command Council.
REGIONAL CONFLICT
Sept. 4, 1980 Initiates a war with Iran
1982 Former President Ahmed Hassan Bakr dies mysteriously. It is widely suspected that Hussein was involved
1987-1988 Saddam launches the Anfal Campaign against the Kurds: 180,000 Kurds disappear and 4,000 villages are destroyed
March 1988 The Kurdish town of Halabaja is gassed: 5,000 people are killed and 10,000 are injured
Aug. 8, 1988 Agrees to a ceasefire with Iran. Iraq wins the conflict
August 1988 Kurdish villages on the Turkish border are gassed. Thousands die.
GULF WAR I
Aug. 2, 1990 Saddam seizes Kuwait
Jan. 16, 1991 The United States bombs Baghdad
February 1991 President George H.W. Bush declares a ceasefire; the Persian Gulf War ends 1993 Saddam breaks the peace terms from the end of the Persian Gulf War. The U.S. bombs Iraq
October 1998 Saddam fails to comply with United Nations weapons inspectors, resulting in a four-day bombing raid by the United States
1999 Throughout the year continual airstrikes on Iraq 2000 It is reported that Saddam has used humanitarian funds to build presidential palaces and personal enrichment
GULF WAR II
2002 Saddam allows U.N. weapons inspectors to return to Iraq
February 2003 Dan Rather interviews Saddam, who says he would not go into exile, claims Iraq does not have any weapons that go against U.N. resolutions
March 19, 2003 The United States and other Coalition forces start bombing campaign in an effort to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime from power
April 9, 2003 Baghdad falls to U.S.-led forces; Saddam's whereabouts unknown
July 22, 2003 Saddam's sons and henchmen, Uday and Qusay, are killed in a firefight with U.S. troops
Dec. 14, 2003 Saddam is captured by U.S. forces
Oct. 19, 2005 Saddam goes on trial in Baghdad. He questions the validity of the court that will try him and his seven co-defendants. All plead not guilty to charges of ordering the killing of 148 Shias from the village of Dujail.
Aug 21, 2006 Saddam and six other defendants are put on trial for mass killings in the so-called 'Anfal Campaign' of 1987-88
Nov. 5, 2006 Saddam Hussein is found guilty of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shias in Dujail in 1982. He is sentenced to death Dec. 26, 2006 Iraq's highest appeals court upholds Saddam's death sentence
Gerald Ford Dies at 93
Updated: 3:58 p.m. PT Dec 27, 2006
LOS ANGELES - Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th president and the only one never elected to nationwide office, has died. He was 93.
“My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age,” former first lady Betty Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. “His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.”
He died at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, his office said in a statement. No cause of death was released. Funeral arrangements were to be announced Wednesday.
He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93.
“The American people will always admire Gerald Ford’s devotion to duty, his personal character and the honorable conduct of his administration,” President Bush said in a statement Tuesday night. “We mourn the loss of such a leader, and our 38th president will always have a special place in our nation’s memory.”
Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.
“I was deeply saddened this evening when I heard of Jerry Ford’s death,” former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement. “Ronnie and I always considered him a dear friend and close political ally.
“His accomplishments and devotion to our country are vast, and even long after he left the presidency he made it a point to speak out on issues important to us all,” she said.
An accidental presidentFord was an accidental president, Nixon’s hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straightforward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.
Minutes after Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal and flew into exile, Ford took office and famously declared: “Our long national nightmare is over.”
But he revived the Watergate debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.
The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the U.S. during his presidency with the fall of Saigon in April 1975. In a speech as the end neared, Ford said: “Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.” Evoking Abraham Lincoln, he said it was time to “look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Ford was the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, who also was forced from office by scandal.
He was in the White House only 895 days, but changed it more than it changed him.
Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain.
After the Watergate ordeal, Americans liked their new president — and first lady Betty, whose candor charmed the country.
She remained one of the country’s most admired women even after the Fords left the White House when she was hospitalized in 1978 and said she had become addicted to drugs and alcohol she took for painful arthritis and a pinched nerve in her neck. Four years later she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, a substance abuse facility next to Eisenhower Medical Center.
Unassuming JerryIt was rare that Ford was ever as eloquent as he was for those dramatic moments of his swearing-in at the White House.
“My fellow Americans,” he said, “our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”
And, true to his reputation as unassuming Jerry, he added: “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. So I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.”
At a joint session after becoming president, Ford addressed members of Congress as “my former colleagues” and promised “communication, conciliation, compromise and cooperation.” But his relations with Congress did not always run smoothly.
He vetoed 66 bills in his barely two years as president. Congress overturned 12 Ford vetoes, more than for any president since Andrew Johnson.
In his memoir, “A Time to Heal,” Ford wrote, “When I was in the Congress myself, I thought it fulfilled its constitutional obligations in a very responsible way, but after I became president, my perspective changed.”
In the 1976 election, Ford survived an intraparty challenge from Ronald Reagan only to lose to Democrat Jimmy Carter. In the campaign, he ignored Carter’s record as governor of Georgia and concentrated on his own achievements as president.
Carter won 297 electoral votes to his 240. After Reagan came back to defeat Carter in 1980, the two former presidents became collaborators, working together on joint projects.
Controversial pardonSome suggested the pardon was prearranged before Nixon resigned, but Ford, in an unusual appearance before a congressional committee in October 1974, said, “There was no deal, period, under no circumstances.” The committee dropped its investigation.
Ford’s standing in the polls dropped dramatically when he pardoned Nixon unconditionally. But an ABC News poll taken in 2002 in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in found that six in 10 said the pardon was the right thing to do.
The decision to pardon Nixon won Ford a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, acknowledging he had criticized Ford at the time, called the pardon “an extraordinary act of courage that historians recognize was truly in the national interest.”
He was undaunted even after the two attempts on his life in September 1975. Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a 26-year-old follower of Charles Manson, was arrested after she aimed a semiautomatic pistol at Ford on Sept. 5 in Sacramento, Calif. A Secret Service agent grabbed her and Ford was unhurt.
Seventeen days later, Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was arrested in San Francisco after she fired a gun at the president. Again, Ford was unhurt.
Both women are serving life terms in federal prison.
Asked at a news conference to recite his accomplishments, Ford replied: “We have restored public confidence in the White House and in the executive branch of government.”
As to his failings, he responded, “I will leave that to my opponents. I don’t think there have been many.”
Pivotal events Ford spent most of his boyhood in Grand Rapids, Mich.
He was born Leslie King on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Neb. His parents were divorced when he was less than a year old, and his mother returned to her parents in Grand Rapids, where she later married Gerald R. Ford Sr. He adopted the boy and renamed him.
Ford played center on the University of Michigan’s 1932 and 1933 national champion football teams. He got professional offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, but chose to study law at Yale, working his way through as an assistant varsity football coach and freshman boxing coach.
Ford got his first exposure to national politics at Yale, working as a volunteer in Wendell L. Willkie’s 1940 Republican campaign for president. After World War II service with the Navy in the Pacific, he went back to practicing law in Grand Rapids and became active in Republican reform politics.
His stepfather was the local Republican chairman, and Michigan Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg was looking for a fresh young internationalist to replace the area’s isolationist congressman.
Ford beat Rep. Bartel Jonkman by a 2-to-1 margin in the Republican primary and then went on to win the election with 60.5 percent of the vote, the lowest margin he ever got.
He had proposed to Elizabeth Bloomer, a dancer and fashion coordinator, earlier that year, 1948. She became one of his hardest-working campaigners and they were married shortly before the election. They had three sons, Michael, John, and Steven, and a daughter, Susan.
Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
LOS ANGELES - Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon’s scandal-shattered White House as the 38th president and the only one never elected to nationwide office, has died. He was 93.
“My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age,” former first lady Betty Ford said in a brief statement issued from her husband’s office in Rancho Mirage. “His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.”
He died at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, his office said in a statement. No cause of death was released. Funeral arrangements were to be announced Wednesday.
He was the longest living president, followed by Ronald Reagan, who also died at 93.
“The American people will always admire Gerald Ford’s devotion to duty, his personal character and the honorable conduct of his administration,” President Bush said in a statement Tuesday night. “We mourn the loss of such a leader, and our 38th president will always have a special place in our nation’s memory.”
Ford had been living at his desert home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., about 130 miles east of Los Angeles.
“I was deeply saddened this evening when I heard of Jerry Ford’s death,” former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement. “Ronnie and I always considered him a dear friend and close political ally.
“His accomplishments and devotion to our country are vast, and even long after he left the presidency he made it a point to speak out on issues important to us all,” she said.
An accidental presidentFord was an accidental president, Nixon’s hand-picked successor, a man of much political experience who had never run on a national ticket. He was as open and straightforward as Nixon was tightly controlled and conspiratorial.
Minutes after Nixon resigned in disgrace over the Watergate scandal and flew into exile, Ford took office and famously declared: “Our long national nightmare is over.”
But he revived the Watergate debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as president. That single act, it was widely believed, cost Ford election to a term of his own in 1976, but it won praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on.
The Vietnam War ended in defeat for the U.S. during his presidency with the fall of Saigon in April 1975. In a speech as the end neared, Ford said: “Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.” Evoking Abraham Lincoln, he said it was time to “look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Ford was the first unelected vice president, chosen by Nixon to replace Spiro Agnew, who also was forced from office by scandal.
He was in the White House only 895 days, but changed it more than it changed him.
Even after two women tried separately to kill him, the presidency of Jerry Ford remained open and plain.
After the Watergate ordeal, Americans liked their new president — and first lady Betty, whose candor charmed the country.
She remained one of the country’s most admired women even after the Fords left the White House when she was hospitalized in 1978 and said she had become addicted to drugs and alcohol she took for painful arthritis and a pinched nerve in her neck. Four years later she founded the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, a substance abuse facility next to Eisenhower Medical Center.
Unassuming JerryIt was rare that Ford was ever as eloquent as he was for those dramatic moments of his swearing-in at the White House.
“My fellow Americans,” he said, “our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”
And, true to his reputation as unassuming Jerry, he added: “I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots. So I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.”
At a joint session after becoming president, Ford addressed members of Congress as “my former colleagues” and promised “communication, conciliation, compromise and cooperation.” But his relations with Congress did not always run smoothly.
He vetoed 66 bills in his barely two years as president. Congress overturned 12 Ford vetoes, more than for any president since Andrew Johnson.
In his memoir, “A Time to Heal,” Ford wrote, “When I was in the Congress myself, I thought it fulfilled its constitutional obligations in a very responsible way, but after I became president, my perspective changed.”
In the 1976 election, Ford survived an intraparty challenge from Ronald Reagan only to lose to Democrat Jimmy Carter. In the campaign, he ignored Carter’s record as governor of Georgia and concentrated on his own achievements as president.
Carter won 297 electoral votes to his 240. After Reagan came back to defeat Carter in 1980, the two former presidents became collaborators, working together on joint projects.
Controversial pardonSome suggested the pardon was prearranged before Nixon resigned, but Ford, in an unusual appearance before a congressional committee in October 1974, said, “There was no deal, period, under no circumstances.” The committee dropped its investigation.
Ford’s standing in the polls dropped dramatically when he pardoned Nixon unconditionally. But an ABC News poll taken in 2002 in connection with the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in found that six in 10 said the pardon was the right thing to do.
The decision to pardon Nixon won Ford a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, acknowledging he had criticized Ford at the time, called the pardon “an extraordinary act of courage that historians recognize was truly in the national interest.”
He was undaunted even after the two attempts on his life in September 1975. Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a 26-year-old follower of Charles Manson, was arrested after she aimed a semiautomatic pistol at Ford on Sept. 5 in Sacramento, Calif. A Secret Service agent grabbed her and Ford was unhurt.
Seventeen days later, Sara Jane Moore, a 45-year-old political activist, was arrested in San Francisco after she fired a gun at the president. Again, Ford was unhurt.
Both women are serving life terms in federal prison.
Asked at a news conference to recite his accomplishments, Ford replied: “We have restored public confidence in the White House and in the executive branch of government.”
As to his failings, he responded, “I will leave that to my opponents. I don’t think there have been many.”
Pivotal events Ford spent most of his boyhood in Grand Rapids, Mich.
He was born Leslie King on July 14, 1913, in Omaha, Neb. His parents were divorced when he was less than a year old, and his mother returned to her parents in Grand Rapids, where she later married Gerald R. Ford Sr. He adopted the boy and renamed him.
Ford played center on the University of Michigan’s 1932 and 1933 national champion football teams. He got professional offers from the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers, but chose to study law at Yale, working his way through as an assistant varsity football coach and freshman boxing coach.
Ford got his first exposure to national politics at Yale, working as a volunteer in Wendell L. Willkie’s 1940 Republican campaign for president. After World War II service with the Navy in the Pacific, he went back to practicing law in Grand Rapids and became active in Republican reform politics.
His stepfather was the local Republican chairman, and Michigan Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg was looking for a fresh young internationalist to replace the area’s isolationist congressman.
Ford beat Rep. Bartel Jonkman by a 2-to-1 margin in the Republican primary and then went on to win the election with 60.5 percent of the vote, the lowest margin he ever got.
He had proposed to Elizabeth Bloomer, a dancer and fashion coordinator, earlier that year, 1948. She became one of his hardest-working campaigners and they were married shortly before the election. They had three sons, Michael, John, and Steven, and a daughter, Susan.
Ford was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Is Prince Harry heading to Iraq?
Earlier this week a report surfaced in Britain’s Sun that Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, is headed to Iraq. Upon hearing this news I was intrigued to get to the bottom of the source. It turns out The Sun is quoting the younger Prince’s girlfriend, 21-year -old South African Chelsy Davy.
The Daily Telegraph reports the Prince wants to go so the news isn’t exactly shocking, but a lot of people are wondering if it is a good idea. There is no doubt Harry is eligible to go, and his unit is scheduled for a six-month tour. Officials at Britain’s Ministry of Defense say no decision has been on whether the Prince will be allowed to ship out.
There is concern the Prince’s high profile could make him a target for suicide bombers, and put his fellow troops in harms way. As a Second Lieutenant, Harry would have command of 11 men and four light tanks, all at the age of 22. While I don’t hold Prince Harry’s age against him, he is known as a bit of a party boy. In fact, The Sun’s last headline about the young royal spawn told tales of a 14-hour drinking binge at his regiment’s Christmas Bash.
The fact that Prince Harry wants to go is a credit to him and the Royal family. He comes by it honestly; his uncle, Prince Andrew, spent 22 years in the Royal Navy and flew dangerous missions during the Falklands War.
What’s disturbing about The Sun’s report is where it come from: Chelsy Davy. It seems Prince Harry may share more in common with his Uncle Andrew than a military career. In her hey-day, the Duke of York’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, was constantly opening her mouth to the press and causing the palace headaches during and after their marriage.
Chelsy may be new to the fold, but she may want to take a few lessons from Prince William’s girlfriend Kate Middleton. Not only is Kate the most-searched “Royal” on the Internet, she is also invited to royal events.
Chelsy, take notes: Blind quotes in the tabloids, does not a princess make.
The Daily Telegraph reports the Prince wants to go so the news isn’t exactly shocking, but a lot of people are wondering if it is a good idea. There is no doubt Harry is eligible to go, and his unit is scheduled for a six-month tour. Officials at Britain’s Ministry of Defense say no decision has been on whether the Prince will be allowed to ship out.
There is concern the Prince’s high profile could make him a target for suicide bombers, and put his fellow troops in harms way. As a Second Lieutenant, Harry would have command of 11 men and four light tanks, all at the age of 22. While I don’t hold Prince Harry’s age against him, he is known as a bit of a party boy. In fact, The Sun’s last headline about the young royal spawn told tales of a 14-hour drinking binge at his regiment’s Christmas Bash.
The fact that Prince Harry wants to go is a credit to him and the Royal family. He comes by it honestly; his uncle, Prince Andrew, spent 22 years in the Royal Navy and flew dangerous missions during the Falklands War.
What’s disturbing about The Sun’s report is where it come from: Chelsy Davy. It seems Prince Harry may share more in common with his Uncle Andrew than a military career. In her hey-day, the Duke of York’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson, was constantly opening her mouth to the press and causing the palace headaches during and after their marriage.
Chelsy may be new to the fold, but she may want to take a few lessons from Prince William’s girlfriend Kate Middleton. Not only is Kate the most-searched “Royal” on the Internet, she is also invited to royal events.
Chelsy, take notes: Blind quotes in the tabloids, does not a princess make.
Broncos' CB Killed in Drive-by Shooting
DENVER (AP) - Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams was killed early Monday when his white stretch Hummer was sprayed by bullets after a nightclub dispute following a New Year's Eve party.
Police have no motive and no indication the 24-year-old player was targeted in the drive-by shooting of the limousine. The burst of violence occurred hours after the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention.
"All of us are devastated by this tragedy," Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said in a statement. "To lose a young player, and more important, a great young man such as Darrent Williams, is incomprehensible. To lose him in such a senseless manner as this is beyond words."
Police have no motive and no indication the 24-year-old player was targeted in the drive-by shooting of the limousine. The burst of violence occurred hours after the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention.
"All of us are devastated by this tragedy," Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said in a statement. "To lose a young player, and more important, a great young man such as Darrent Williams, is incomprehensible. To lose him in such a senseless manner as this is beyond words."
A little after 2 a.m., the limousine was fired on from a vehicle that pulled up along its side, hitting three people, police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. As many as a dozen bullet holes were visible on the driver's side of the vehicle. One window was blown out.
Another man and a woman who were shot were not identified. They were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital.
Coach Mike Shanahan said the killing left him "speechless with sadness."
"We all know that Darrent was an excellent player, but as a person, he was a first-class young man who brightened every room with his smile, attitude and personality," Shanahan said. "I cannot express how heartsick I feel at this loss."
Jackson said there was a dispute at a nightclub several blocks from the shooting where Williams and his group had attended a party. He said the argument didn't specifically involve Williams, according to witnesses, and the confrontation wasn't physical, just taunts.
Another man and a woman who were shot were not identified. They were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital.
Coach Mike Shanahan said the killing left him "speechless with sadness."
"We all know that Darrent was an excellent player, but as a person, he was a first-class young man who brightened every room with his smile, attitude and personality," Shanahan said. "I cannot express how heartsick I feel at this loss."
Jackson said there was a dispute at a nightclub several blocks from the shooting where Williams and his group had attended a party. He said the argument didn't specifically involve Williams, according to witnesses, and the confrontation wasn't physical, just taunts.
"Why this happened, we're not sure," Jackson said.
Police were searching for a white Suburban or Tahoe with dark-tinted windows. Jackson wouldn't identify any of the other passengers nor would he confirm whether any other Broncos players were in the limo, which can hold 23 people.
The club identified by police advertised a New Year's Eve event celebrating the birthday of Denver Nuggets basketball player Kenyon Martin. Mark Warkentien, Denver's vice president of basketball operations, spoke with police, who instructed him not to comment, team spokesman Eric Sebastian said.
The club — variously called Shelter or Safari — is on the second floor of an building in a once-seedy stretch south of downtown that has a growing number of trendy bars, clubs and restaurants. Outside, the building was unmarked except for a big sign from a former occupant, Jonas Bros Furs. Inside, the ceiling was strung with Christmas lights and set off with several fireplaces.
Hours after the shooting, the limo sat in a snowbank beside Speer Boulevard, a main street through downtown. Police and technicians worked amid snow and ice from recent storms, using small yellow plastic markers to indicate possible evidence.
The previous active NFL player to die was Thomas Herrion of San Francisco. He had a heart attack following an exhibition game in Denver on Aug. 20, 2005.
Williams was a second-round draft choice in 2005 out of Oklahoma State and teamed with Champ Bailey to give Denver one of the NFL's top cornerback tandems. Williams finished the season with 88 tackles, 78 of them solo, and four interceptions.
His college coach, Mike Gundy, called the death a "tragic loss for the Broncos family, Oklahoma State University and anyone who knew Darrent Williams. It's a loss that goes far beyond the football field."
Police were searching for a white Suburban or Tahoe with dark-tinted windows. Jackson wouldn't identify any of the other passengers nor would he confirm whether any other Broncos players were in the limo, which can hold 23 people.
The club identified by police advertised a New Year's Eve event celebrating the birthday of Denver Nuggets basketball player Kenyon Martin. Mark Warkentien, Denver's vice president of basketball operations, spoke with police, who instructed him not to comment, team spokesman Eric Sebastian said.
The club — variously called Shelter or Safari — is on the second floor of an building in a once-seedy stretch south of downtown that has a growing number of trendy bars, clubs and restaurants. Outside, the building was unmarked except for a big sign from a former occupant, Jonas Bros Furs. Inside, the ceiling was strung with Christmas lights and set off with several fireplaces.
Hours after the shooting, the limo sat in a snowbank beside Speer Boulevard, a main street through downtown. Police and technicians worked amid snow and ice from recent storms, using small yellow plastic markers to indicate possible evidence.
The previous active NFL player to die was Thomas Herrion of San Francisco. He had a heart attack following an exhibition game in Denver on Aug. 20, 2005.
Williams was a second-round draft choice in 2005 out of Oklahoma State and teamed with Champ Bailey to give Denver one of the NFL's top cornerback tandems. Williams finished the season with 88 tackles, 78 of them solo, and four interceptions.
His college coach, Mike Gundy, called the death a "tragic loss for the Broncos family, Oklahoma State University and anyone who knew Darrent Williams. It's a loss that goes far beyond the football field."
Players and coaches didn't have to report to work Monday but about 20 of them gathered at team headquarters to console each other, including receiver Javon Walker, who the Rocky Mountain News said was in the limo when Williams was killed.
"Any time you lose a guy who was close to everyone, it hurts," punter Paul Ernster said. "From the get-go, he was like one of your good friends."
Anthony Criss, Williams' high school football coach in Fort Worth, Texas, said: "When he was younger, he always gravitated to the wrong crowd. I remember he went to church and the minister was talking to him about needing to pray and stop hanging around with the wrong people, and he started straightening up and doing the right thing."
In December, Williams spoke of returning to his hometown this offseason to talk to youngsters about staying out of gangs. Williams, who has two young children in the Fort Worth area, recently talked to Criss about establishing a free football camp for youth players.
"He wanted to be a good parent, a good father, a good example for his kids," Criss said. "He will be missed."
Last April, Nuggets guard Julius Hodge was shot while driving on Interstate 76 in Denver. In 2003, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, who played at Colorado State, was shot outside a Denver sports bar.
"Since then, I carry myself in a different type of way," Porter said Monday. "I respect my situation whenever I go out. I take a whole different outlook when I go out. I make sure I feel like I'm safe and if I'm not, I'm not going."
"Any time you lose a guy who was close to everyone, it hurts," punter Paul Ernster said. "From the get-go, he was like one of your good friends."
Anthony Criss, Williams' high school football coach in Fort Worth, Texas, said: "When he was younger, he always gravitated to the wrong crowd. I remember he went to church and the minister was talking to him about needing to pray and stop hanging around with the wrong people, and he started straightening up and doing the right thing."
In December, Williams spoke of returning to his hometown this offseason to talk to youngsters about staying out of gangs. Williams, who has two young children in the Fort Worth area, recently talked to Criss about establishing a free football camp for youth players.
"He wanted to be a good parent, a good father, a good example for his kids," Criss said. "He will be missed."
Last April, Nuggets guard Julius Hodge was shot while driving on Interstate 76 in Denver. In 2003, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, who played at Colorado State, was shot outside a Denver sports bar.
"Since then, I carry myself in a different type of way," Porter said Monday. "I respect my situation whenever I go out. I take a whole different outlook when I go out. I make sure I feel like I'm safe and if I'm not, I'm not going."
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