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2007, Matthew August LeFande.
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Website and automated forms processes, Copyright
2007, Matthew August LeFande.
All
rights reserved. No claim to original government forms
Riders barred on calls for EMS
The federal government, citing privacy concerns for patients, has informed the District that it can no longer operate a ride-along program that allows the public to observe medics at work on fire engines and ambulances.
The decision, the first of its kind, will likely have far-reaching consequences for municipal fire departments that allow journalists and elected officials, as well as the public, to oversee a critical taxpayer function.
The directive was issued Oct. 11 from the Office of Civil Rights Region 3, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It asks the District to either scrap its ride-along program within 30 days or submit plans to alter the existing program. However, the language of the letter leaves little room for creating a program in compliance with privacy laws.
According to the letter, "disclosures of protected health information to persons other than health care providers, as would occur in the context of a ride-along program, would require an authorization of the individual or their personal representative."
The letter also states: "The fact that [the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department] has no way of knowing in advance which individuals will be treated or transported effectively precludes obtaining prior authorization of disclosure."
An official with HHS could not discuss whether the letter was meant to set a national precedent, but said it was part of an investigation into whether the District violated the provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The official said there are several exceptions to the act that allow patients' information to be disclosed without their consent, including oversight by a public health agency, for victims of domestic violence and disclosures to the courts.
He also said the ban did not apply to interns or trainees in the health care profession, but that the privacy rule contains no exceptions for elected officials or the public at large in an oversight capacity.
The official said that instead of issuing a mandate, the process of prohibiting ride-alongs is "complaint-driven" and that complaints can be filed by anyone, not just a patient.
The International Association of Fire Chiefs said it was not aware of other jurisdictions in which ride-alongs had been prohibited.
The decision stems from a complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights about apparent privacy violations in a June 18 article in the Washington City Paper. The article had vignettes from a reporter's ride-along with the crew of Engine 10 in Northeast as they responded to a medical calls and included the names and medical conditions of several patients. Eric Wemple, editor of the City Paper, did not return a call seeking comment.
Fire department spokesman Alan Etter said the reporter got the names directly from the patients and that firefighters violated no privacy rules. He said the fire department's understanding of the letter is that it is in violation for allowing the reporter to have access.
Fire Chief Adrian H. Thompson said he is still analyzing the directive, but the program has recently been revamped and reconstituted based on the act's requirements.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20051030-123332-4608r.htm
posted by Matthew LeFande 6:36 AM
matt@lefande.com
New Orleans Police Fire 51 for Desertion
Fifty-one members of the New Orleans Police Department — 45 officers and six civilian employees — were fired Friday for abandoning their posts before or after Hurricane Katrina.
"They were terminated due to them abandoning the department prior to the storm," acting superintendent Warren Riley said. "They either left before the hurricane or 10 to 12 days after the storm and we have never heard from them."
Police were unable to account for 240 officers on the 1,450-member force following Katrina. The force has been investigating them to see if they left their posts during the storm.
The mass firing was the first action taken against the missing officers. Another 15 officers resigned when placed under investigation for abandonment.
"This isn't representative of our department," Riley said. "We had a lot of heroes that stepped up after the storm."
Another 45 officers resigned from the force after the Aug. 29 storm. The resignations were for personal reasons ranging from relocation to new employment, Riley said.
The fired officers do not have the right to appeal, Riley said.
"The regulation says that if you leave the job for a period of 14 days without communication you can be terminated," Riley said. "I don't think they have the right to a civil service appeal."
Lt. David Benelli, president of the New Orleans police union, said he had no sympathy for those who abandoned their post.
"The worst thing you can call a police officer is a deserter," Benelli said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051028/ap_on_re_us/katrina_police_fired
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:24 PM
matt@lefande.com
CNN.com - WTC's owners ?found negligent in 1993 bombing - Oct 26, 2005
A jury ruled Wednesday that the Port Authority was negligent in the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 -- a long-awaited legal victory for victims of an attack that killed six people and wounded 1,000 eight years before terrorists brought down the buildings.
The six-person jury ruled that the Port Authority, the agency that owned the World Trade Center, was negligent by not properly maintaining the parking garage where terrorists detonated more than a half-ton of explosives in a Ryder van. Several separate trials will now be held to determine money damages.
The jury took just one day to reach its verdict after the four-week trial.
The trial cast the spotlight on an attack that was overshadowed after September 11, but was horrific nonetheless. The noontime blast blew a gigantic crater in the garage, filled the building with smoke, wrecked the towers' power and emergency systems, and spread fear across New York.
The verdict came after almost 12 years of legal delays in the civil case. The Port Authority's last appeal, to try to get the case thrown out, was rejected last year, clearing the way for the trial.
The agency vowed to appeal. "The Port Authority is confident it will prevail," lawyer Marc Kasowitz said.
The jury appeared to be swayed by a 1985 report written by the Port Authority's own security officials, who warned the 400-slot garage was a likely attack site. Plaintiff lawyers cited the report as proof that the Port Authority could have protected the building long before the attack, but did not want to because it was inconvenient and would have cost too much.
"They should have closed the garage," lead plaintiff lawyer David J. Dean said after the verdict. "Lives would have been saved, and 1,000 people would not have been hurt."
Jurors apparently agreed.
Juror Ray Gonzalez, 58, said the 1985 report was "very prominent" in deliberations. He said the Port Authority "dropped the ball. No one took (the report) seriously."
The jury determined that the agency was 68 percent liable for the bombing -- a ruling that Kasowitz found stunning.
"To hold the Port Authority twice as liable as the terrorists for the 1993 bombing stands logic, rationality, and reason on their heads," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/26/port.authority.ap/index.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:41 AM
matt@lefande.com
Charged With Assault, Mayor Takes Over Police
The mayor of the Prince George's County town of Forest Heights has been charged with two counts of assault for allegedly slamming a door on the arm of a police officer last month and knocking over a former council member last week.
Town Police Chief Michael Eubank investigated the first incident and filed charges against Mayor Joyce Beck. One day after she received notice of the charges, she fired him -- and appointed herself head of the four-member police force.
"She appointed herself as acting chief-slash-mayor," Eubank said yesterday. "I've never heard of anything like that. What police academy has she been to? What police experience does she have?"
According to Eubank, Beck was served with charging papers Monday and fired him Tuesday.
She did not return several calls seeking comment yesterday. Beck, 56, was elected in May as mayor of the town, which has a population of 2,600 and covers less than a square mile near the Potomac River.
Eubank said Beck became "standoffish" once he began the investigation.
"I remember her telling me, 'I can't possibly believe you're going to investigate such a trivial act,' " Eubank said. "But somebody on my staff was claiming they were injured. I was duty-bound."
His investigation stemmed from a Sept. 12 incident in which Beck and Lt. William Waithe disagreed about mail delivery, according to charging documents. Waithe was looking for his mailed court dockets, which notify him when he is summoned to appear in court as a witness.
He needed them for the next day and asked Beck for them, believing she had them, according to the charging document.
Beck "has a policy that she stridently enforces of receiving and opening police dept. mail prior to disseminating it to the police dept.," Eubank wrote in his application for a statement of charges. "As a result, court dockets have not been received in a timely manner to victim Waithe."
During the incident, Waithe stood outside the town clerk's office and rested his arms on the Dutch-style doors, which have a top and a bottom portion that open separately. Again, he asked Beck, who was inside the office, for his dockets.
"At that time, [Beck] walked back to the door and slammed the top portion of the door on the victim's right forearm, trapping it between the two halves," Eubank wrote. "Victim then stated, 'Ma'am, my arm, my arm.' "
She then pulled her weight off the door, according to Eubank. Waithe went to a doctor, who told him he had a bruise and gave him a prescription for a painkiller, Eubank said.
Town Council member Myles Spires Jr. said he witnessed the second incident, which took place Oct. 19 and involved Carmelita L. Smith-Barnes, a Forest Heights resident and former council member.
Spires said Beck stormed out of the Oct. 19 council meeting because "she didn't get her way about something." He could not remember what issue the council was discussing at the time because, he said, Beck always storms out of their meetings.
"We've come to expect it during every meeting," he said. "This is what she does."
But this time was a little different.
Spires said that after Beck left, she became upset when the meeting continued and even more incensed when Smith-Barnes shut the door leading to the council chambers.
Spires said Beck returned to the auditorium and shoved the door into Smith-Barnes. A charging document quotes Smith-Barnes as saying that the action "caused me to lose my standing position."
Reached yesterday, Smith-Barnes said she would reserve comment for the trial.
State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey's office will not prosecute the cases because of a possible conflict of interest: He knows the mayor and former police chief. Instead, he is trying to find another Maryland jurisdiction that will take the cases, spokesman Ramon Korionoff said.
Spires said the council is working to try to remove the mayor from office because he and other council members are worried that the mayor has put the town and its public safety in jeopardy.
"This kind of thing could destroy our town, and my constituents need to know what the mayor has done," he said.
Beck's term ends in 2007.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602429.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:35 AM
matt@lefande.com
Maverick N.Va. Judge Tosses Out DWI Cases That Presume Guilt
A Fairfax County judge who believes Virginia's drunken driving laws are unconstitutional has begun dismissing cases, including five DWI cases in a week, and has threatened to throw a veteran prosecutor in jail for arguing with him.
Judge Ian M. O'Flaherty made it known in July that he felt Virginia's DWI law unfairly deprived defendants of the presumption of innocence if breath tests showed that they had a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher, levels at which people are presumed to be intoxicated.
"We've been really racking our brains, trying to come up with some solution to it," said Robert F. Horan Jr. (D), the county's longtime chief prosecutor. "It's a crazy situation. He is, for all practical and legal purposes, the Supreme Court of Virginia in these cases, even though, on the Supreme Court, it would take four of him" to issue a majority opinion invalidating a statute.
Critics say O'Flaherty, a General District Court judge, is endangering public safety by returning drunk drivers -- some with alcohol levels of twice the legal limit -- to the roads. But some legal experts are sympathetic, saying the judge might be making a valid argument and protecting the constitutional rights of all motorists.
The judge said in an interview that he recently was made aware of a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed a Georgia murder conviction because the jury had been told to presume that, if the suspect was "of sound mind," he had the intent to kill.
As it does in all states and the District, Virginia's drunken driving law states that, for anyone with a .08 or higher reading on a breath test, "it shall be presumed that the accused was under the influence of alcohol intoxicants at the time of the alleged offense."
Prosecutors point out that Virginia's law creates a "rebuttable presumption," meaning the defendant has the opportunity to prove it wrong. But O'Flaherty said that wrongly shifts the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense.
"The Fifth Amendment," said O'Flaherty, 59, "is an absolute protection against requiring the defendant to say or do anything in the course of a trial. . . . The Fifth Amendment means the defendant can sit there, not say or do anything, and at the end of the case say, 'Can I go home now?' "
No other judge in Fairfax -- or elsewhere in Virginia, as far as can be determined -- has joined O'Flaherty. But the judge said some other jurists have told him they agree with him. "I had one judge tell me, 'I'd rule that way, but I don't have the guts to,' " O'Flaherty said. "I told him, 'You should be driving a truck.' "
Prosecutors cannot appeal a case that they have lost at trial at the General District Court level, so they began requesting that charges be dropped before cases went to trial in O'Flaherty's courtroom. O'Flaherty began denying those requests this month.
At least two cases could move toward a state Supreme Court ruling. Both were cases that prosecutors pulled from O'Flaherty's court and then indicted in Circuit Court. One will be tried today in Fairfax Circuit Court.
"This is a public safety issue," said Pat O'Connor, president of the Northern Virginia chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "My concern is that this judge is putting drunk drivers back on the road, based on a decision that none of his peers have seen fit to agree with."
The judge does have support from some in the legal community.
Ronald J. Bacigal, a criminal law professor at the University of Richmond, said of O'Flaherty: "I think he's exactly right. There are U.S. Supreme Court cases saying you can't relieve the government of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what a presumption does."
Steve Oberman, a Tennessee lawyer and head of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' DUI committee, said similar arguments about presumptions in the law had been successful in various courts across the country over the years. State supreme courts in Massachusetts and Colorado have ruled exactly as O'Flaherty has on presumptions in drunken driving cases, he noted.
But case law in Virginia has gone the other way, according to Steven D. Benjamin of Richmond, former head of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. A federal appeals court ruling on Virginia law, based on a driving-while-intoxicated arrest on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, found that a rebuttable presumption "neither restricts the defendant in the presentation of his defense nor deprives him of the presumption of innocence."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/26/AR2005102602572.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:28 AM
matt@lefande.com
3 deputies suspended after phony chase
Three Spokane County, Wash. deputies accused of staging a phony high-speed chase as a prank were suspended without pay Monday, Sheriff Mark Sterk said.
The pursuit through downtown Oct. 3 involved a uniformed deputy in a marked sheriff's patrol car chasing two plainclothes deputies who were driving an unmarked Ford Mustang.
The pursuit ended when city police officers, who rushed to assist, disabled the Mustang with a spike strip on a downtown street.
The police officers were not aware that the chase was phony and have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
Deputy Samson Palmer, the driver of the marked sheriff's patrol car, was given a three-week unpaid suspension and ordered to pay $1,226.43 in restitution to the Spokane Police Department for damage to a cruiser. The discipline will cost Palmer more that $4,530 in lost pay and restitution, Sterk said. Deputy David Ellis was driving the unmarked Mustang and was suspended for two weeks and ordered to pay $1,226.43 to the Spokane Police Department. He will lose more than $3,493 in pay and restitution, the sheriff said.
Deputy Beau Vucinich, Ellis's passenger, received a 6-day suspension for failing to perform his duty in a competent manner. The suspension amounts to more than $1,320 in lost salary.
Sterk said an investigation substantiated allegations against Palmer of neglect of duty, criminal conduct (negligent driving), improper use of emergency equipment, failure to perform duties in a competent manner and failure to operate a vehicle within department guidelines.
Ellis was determined to have violated policy by neglect of duty, criminal conduct, failure to operate a vehicle within department guidelines and failure to perform duties in a competent manner.
Palmer and Ellis each must each pay $52.78 restitution to the sheriff's office for a Mustang tire destroyed by the police spike strip.
Both drivers also were cited by the Spokane County Prosecutor for second-degree negligent driving. If found guilty, the charge carries a $538 fine, Sterk said.
The discipline ordered for the three deputies was much more severe than a civilian would have faced under the same circumstances, but the public demands greater accountability and professionalism from law enforcement, Sterk said. He called the incident a "one-time error in judgment."
http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/1024cops-chase-CR.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:12 AM
matt@lefande.com
Armed Citizen of the Week
Cpl. Kevin Doncaster, a 29-year-old Marine reservist from Tucker, Ga., was in the right place at the right time Friday night when he stopped a man who attacked a woman in a Wal-Mart bathroom, holding him at gunpoint until police arrived.
On his way to Savannah for a weekend getaway, Doncaster decided to stop at the department store for groceries.
Doncaster was speaking to a female manager around 6:22 p.m. when Hall sped past, spraying them both with pepper spray.
"I figured he was stealing something," Doncaster said. He dropped his purchases and sped after Hall.
Doncaster chased Hall into the parking lot and was sprayed again.
Having gone through extensive military training, the spray did not affect him like it would others."I've been gassed in the Marine Corps," he said. "It's part of the training, and I recognized it for what it was."
He did not know Hall, carrying three pairs of handcuffs, a collapsible baton, a knife, a Taser, and brass knuckles, had just accosted a 41-year-old grandmother in the Wal-Mart bathroom at the rear of the store.
Hall stunned the woman with the Taser and used a knife to force her into a stall. The woman fought, according to Statesboro Police Det. Rob Bryan, keeping the attacker away from her two-year-old granddaughter.
Customers and store employees, hearing the victim's screams, rescued her and the child, but Hall used pepper spray and threatened them with the Taser, and escaped.
He sprayed everyone he met as he ran, according to Statesboro Police Capt. L.C. Williams, and that's when Doncaster became involved. Catching up to Hall, Doncaster reacted as he "tried to Tase me and spray me again." He pulled a Glock .357 Sig handgun from his waistband and ordered Hall to drop the weapons and get face-down.
"I immediately pulled my weapon and told him if he sprayed me again, he'd be injured."
"I have a license to carry a concealed weapon," he said. And the reason he had the gun with him was "I always take it with me instead of leaving it in the car where it can get stolen."
Hall refused Doncaster's orders, and stood there with his spray and the Taser, "catching his breath," he said.
Hall argued back and forth with Doncaster, who kept the Glock trained on the offender. Hall taunted him, daring the Marine corporal to shoot him.
"He really wasn't expecting anyone to have a weapon except for himself," Doncaster said. "From that point on it was pretty much a standoff." Doncaster kept Hall at gunpoint for about 10 minutes, until Statesboro Police Det. Robert Bryan and Advanced Patrol Officer Ken Scott arrived and took over.
"The detective patted me on the shoulder to let me know he was behind me and said 'you're good, brother.'"
Then, Doncaster "disarmed my weapon and put it on the hood of a car. I got out my ID and concealed weapons permit and just waited," he said.
Then, Bryan asked "Who are you?" he said. "He shook my hand and thanked me."
So did an unknown bystander, Doncaster said. "I was upset, you know, after the adrenaline took over during the (incident) and then I realized I almost had to shoot this guy. "He (the unidentified bystander) came out of nowhere and calmed me down, asked if there was anything he could do for me."
Hall was charged with several offenses, including aggravated assault and "multiple cases of battery," and more charges are to follow today, Bryan said.
Hall was charged in August, 2004, with two counts of theft by taking motor vehicle at Ogeechee Technical College.
According to information from the North Carolina Department of Corrections, he was charged in a Sept. 1999 incident with "attack with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury." He was convicted in April 2000, then released Dec. 2001.
http://www.statesboroherald.net/showstory.php?$recordID=4048
posted by Matthew LeFande 3:11 PM
matt@lefande.com
DHS Bulletin
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:29 PM
matt@lefande.com
Congress passes lawsuit shield for gun industry
Congress passed a bill protecting the firearms industry from massive crime-victim lawsuits. President Bush said he will sign it.
"Our laws should punish criminals who use guns to commit crimes, not law-abiding manufacturers of lawful products," Bush said in a statement.
The House voted 283-144 to send the bill to the president after supporters proclaimed it vital to protect the industry from being bankrupted by huge jury awards. Opponents, waging a tough battle against growing public support for the legislation, called it proof of the gun lobby's power over the Republican-controlled Congress.
Under the measure, as many as 20 pending lawsuits by local governments against the industry would be dismissed. The Senate passed the bill in July.
"Lawsuits seeking to hold the firearms industry responsible for the criminal and unlawful use of its products are brazen attempts to accomplish through litigation what has not been achieved by legislation and the democratic process," House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told his colleagues.
Propelled by GOP election gains and the incidents of lawlessness associated with the passing of Hurricane Katrina, support for the bill has grown since a similar measure passed the House last year and was killed in the Senate.
Horrific images of people without the protection of public safety in New Orleans made a particular impression on viewers who had never before felt unsafe, according to the gun lobby.
"Americans saw a complete collapse of the government's ability to protect them," said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president.
"That burnt in, those pictures of people standing there defending their lives and defending their property and their family," he added, "where the one source of comfort was a firearm."
With support from four new Republicans this session of Congress, the bill passed the Senate for the first time in July. House passage never was in doubt because it had 257 co-sponsors, far more than the 218 needed to pass.
The bill's authors say it still would allow civil suits against individual parties who have been found guilty of criminal wrongdoing by the courts.
If the bill had been law when the relatives of six victims of convicted Washington-area snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo sued the gun dealer from which they obtained their rifle, the dealer would not have agreed to pay the families and victims $2.5 million.
http://www.katu.com/stories/80548.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 5:04 PM
matt@lefande.com
Reserve Deputy Accused Of Pointing A Gun At Golfers
Sure, it's frustrating to have to wait behind slow players on a golf course. But a Southern California sheriff's reserve deputy is charged with going to extremes to speed up some duffers.
Orange County reserve deputy Raymond Yi is accused of pointing a gun at two golfers and flashing his sheriff's badge.
The alleged confrontation occurred at the Los Serranos Golf and Country Club in July. Golfer Marcelo Bautista says he couldn't believe it when Yi pulled his gun and cocked the hammer.
This week a judge ruled there's enough evidence to order a trial. Yi will be arraigned in a couple of weeks.
http://www.wfmynews2.com/watercooler/article.aspx?storyid=50428
posted by Matthew LeFande 9:51 AM
matt@lefande.com
Alaska gun laws take effect Wednesday
Starting Wednesday, handgun owners won't need permits to carry concealed weapons in the seven Alaska cities where they're still required. There also will be no more restrictions on keeping a firearm in a vehicle.
A new state anti-gun control law that goes into effect will essentially bar municipalities from passing gun laws that are more restrictive than state law.
The National Rifle Association, which helped Republican state Rep. Mike Chenault write the legislation, says except for the concealed weapon permit requirements, most Alaska city and state gun laws are the same.
What the NRA wants to do is prevent cities from passing more restrictive laws in the future. It calls it state pre-emption, and Alaska will be the 44th state to have such a law on its books.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/17/alaska.gunlaws.ap/index.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 10:36 AM
matt@lefande.com
Cars stolen in US used in suicide attacks
The FBI's counterterrorism unit has launched a broad investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering some vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq, including attacks that killed US troops and Iraqi civilians, were probably stolen in the United States, according to senior US Government officials.
The FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, Inspector John Lewis, said the investigation did not prove the vehicles were stolen specifically for car bombings in the Middle East, but there was evidence they were smuggled out of the US by organised criminal networks that included terrorists and insurgents.
Cracking the car-theft rings and tracing the cars could help identify insurgent leaders and shut down one of the means used to attack the US-led coalition and the Iraqi Government, the officials said.
The inquiry began after coalition troops raided a Falluja bomb factory last November and found a Texas-registered four-wheel-drive being prepared for a bombing mission. Investigators said there were several other cases where vehicles evidently stolen in the US wound up in Syria or other Middle Eastern countries and ultimately in the hands of Iraqi insurgent groups, including al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Investigators believed the cars were stolen by local car thieves in US cities, then smuggled to waiting ships at ports in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Houston, among other cities. Terrorism specialists said they believed Iraqi insurgents preferred American stolen cars because they tended to be larger, blended in more easily with US convoys, and were harder to identify as stolen.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/cars-stolen-in-us-used-in-suicide-attacks/2005/10/03/1128191658703.html?oneclick=true
posted by Matthew LeFande 8:41 PM
matt@lefande.com
FEMA Reconsiders Gun Ban at Trailer Park
Amid complaints from gun-rights groups, FEMA said Wednesday it is reconsidering a ban on firearms at emergency housing parks built in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"We've got attorneys who are looking at that as we speak and they're trying to figure out who wrote the rules, what the intent was," FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said.
The dispute arose at a nearly 600-trailer encampment that opened last week near Baton Rouge. Katrina evacuees will be allowed to stay there rent-free while they try to find permanent housing. Similar encampments are scattered across the hurricane zone, but this was the first big one to open.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has been general policy at FEMA for several years to prohibit guns at such parks anywhere in the country.
But the National Rifle Association threatened to sue, and another gun rights group, the Second Amendment Foundation, said it, too, was looking at legal action.
"Whether it's a national disaster, whether it's by nature like Katrina, or a flu pandemic or an earthquake, the Constitution can't be thrown out the window," said NRA leader Wayne LaPierre.
He said the NRA was outraged, and he warned that the organization would take its case all the way to Congress and president.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office had asked that guns be banned at the encampment because the trailers are close together and have thin walls, according to spokesman Deputy Fred Raiford.
"If a gun was discharged in any of those trailers, it probably would go through three or four other trailers before it stopped," Raiford said.
But FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said guns would have been prohibited even without the Sheriff's Office request.
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l1&flok=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001/20051012/1620682745.htm&sc=1110
posted by Matthew LeFande 5:19 PM
matt@lefande.com
Beaten in jail, child molester is released
Since entering jail more than a year ago after admitting he sexually abused a teenage girl, Richard Frankenfield has been beaten up by other inmates, transferred to another prison and found the doors closed to work-release opportunities.
On Tuesday, Bucks County Judge John J. Rufe took pity on the Richland Township man, and ''reluctantly'' agreed to release him early under house arrest. Rufe said it is unfair that Frankenfield couldn't be protected in prison or granted access to the work-release system.
''There are many people who will say getting smashed in the nose is something he deserves,'' said Rufe. ''That is not what community corrections is all about. The government has the responsibility to protect him from attack.''
Rufe said he could tell ''Mr. Frankenfield's face has been seriously rearranged.''
Frankenfield, 47, of 1106 Pheasant Run Road, pleaded guilty in May 2004 to aggravated indecent assault, corruption of a minor and indecent assault. He admitted to repeatedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl over a number of years.
He was sentenced to 18 to 36 months in the Bucks County Prison. In January, Frankenfield said, he qualified for work-release and was transferred to the Men's Community Corrections Center in Doylestown Township. After a week in the work-release center, Frankenfield said, he was beaten up by other inmates.
After the assault, Frankenfield said he was transferred to the Berks County Prison but has been unable to take part in the county's work-release program.
Assistant District Attorney Anthony C. Cappuccio opposed the early release, arguing that Frankenfield admitted when he was arrested he ''knew what he did was wrong but he couldn't control himself. We're concerned with his ability to control himself out of incarceration. He is a high risk for reoffending.''
But Rufe pointed out that Frankenfield qualifies for parole in January and said he has ''cautious optimism'' that Frankenfield would behave himself.
Under house arrest, Frankenfield is required to remain at home except while working. He will be monitored by daily phone calls and occasional visits by county corrections staff members.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/quakertown/all-b3_2releasedoct12,0,7392204.story?coll=all-newslocalquakertown-hed
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:23 AM
matt@lefande.com
La. Police Car Theft Charges Investigated
State authorities are investigating allegations New Orleans police officers broke into a dealership and made off with nearly 200 cars - including 41 new Cadillacs - as Hurricane Katrina closed in.
"It is a very, very active investigation," Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for the Louisiana attorney general, said Friday. "We expect developments quickly."
Wartelle would not comment on why the officers may have taken the cars or whether they were used in the line of duty.
However, the cars may have been taken before the hurricane even roared into town Aug. 29, according to the president and general manager of the dealership, Doug Stead.
Stead said the cars included 88 new Cadillacs and Chevrolets, 40 used cars, 52 customers' cars and a restored 1970 El Camino and 1966 Impala.
"We put the loss on new cars at $3.7 million," Stead said. "The used cars ran another $900,000."
When reports first surfaced last month that officers may have taken the cars, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said it was not considered looting because the officers patrolled in the cars.
"There were some officers who did use Cadillacs," Riley said. "Those cars were not stolen."
On Friday, police spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said the department's only comment was that it was cooperating with the attorney general's investigation.
Police are also investigating 12 officers for allegedly looting or failing to stop looting. And about 250 police officers - roughly 15 percent of the force - could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.
Stead said he got a call Aug. 28 while evacuating the city, telling him one of the dealership's garage doors was open. The rest of his trip was spent fielding calls about his cars.
"I had eight calls from people in an hour saying they heard I was giving police Cadillacs to drive," Stead said. "It seemed like everyone knew about it, so I knew we were in trouble."
Stead said he got calls from people telling him they had seen his cars in Baton Rouge, Houston and other cities with uniformed police officers driving them. He said people saw his cars parked outside a police precinct.
Keys to the new and used cars were kept in a locked box on the second floor, Stead said. The box was taken on a forklift to the third floor, where a blowtorch was used to open it, he said. For cars without keys, the ignitions were jimmied, he said.
Two new Corvettes were left in the street outside the dealership, apparently stalled out by the floodwaters and abandoned.
The cars recovered so far have various amounts of damage, Stead said.
Because of the damaged garage doors at Stead's dealership, wind funneled into the building and a wall blew down, he said. "The sad thing is if the building hadn't been vandalized, there would have been no damage at all," the dealer said.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/oct/07/100700157.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 4:36 PM
matt@lefande.com
Bin Laden deputy complains about money, Iraq tactics
An intercepted letter from Osama bin Laden's deputy to the al Qaeda leader in Iraq complains that the terrorist network is short of cash and faces defeat in Afghanistan, a Pentagon spokesman says.
The United States obtained a recent letter that appears to be from Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 figure, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, outlining both the strategy and concerns of the terrorist network, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
In the letter, al-Zawahiri warns that some of the tactics currently employed by the insurgency, including the slaughtering of hostages and the suicide bombings of Muslim civilians, may risk alienating the "Muslim masses," Whitman said Thursday.
Reading from a summary of the letter, Whitman said al-Zawahiri concedes that al Qaeda has lost many key leaders, is resigned to defeat in Afghanistan, and that its lines of communication and funding sources have been seriously disrupted. Al-Zawahiri includes a plea for financial support, indicating he is strapped for money, Whitman said.
He could not say when the letter was intercepted or when authorities believe it might have been written.
The lengthy communication was said to detail the strategy of Muslim extremists to push the United States out of Iraq and establish an Islamic state that could expand its form of governance to neighboring countries, Whitman said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/07/pentagon.al.qaeda/
posted by Matthew LeFande 10:09 AM
matt@lefande.com
D.C. Red-Light Cameras Fail to Reduce Accidents
The District's red-light cameras have generated more than 500,000 violations and $32 million in fines over the past six years. City officials credit them with making busy roads safer.
But an analysis of crash statistics shows that the number of accidents has gone up at intersections with the cameras. The increase is the same or worse than at traffic signals without the devices.
Three outside traffic specialists independently reviewed the data and said they were surprised by the results. Their conclusion: The cameras do not appear to be making any difference in preventing injuries or collisions.
"The data are very clear," said Dick Raub, a traffic consultant and a former senior researcher at Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety. "They are not performing any better than intersections without cameras."
The analysis of a D.C. database generated from accident reports filed by police shows that the number of crashes at locations with cameras more than doubled, from 365 collisions in 1998 to 755 last year. Injury and fatal crashes climbed 81 percent, from 144 such wrecks to 262. Broadside crashes, also known as right-angle or T-bone collisions, rose 30 percent, from 81 to 106 during that time frame. Traffic specialists say broadside collisions are especially dangerous because the sides are the most vulnerable areas of cars.
The number of crashes and injury collisions at intersections with cameras rose steadily through 2001, then dipped through 2003 before spiking again last year.
The results were similar or worse than figures at intersections that have traffic signals but no cameras. The number of overall crashes at those 1,520 locations increased 64 percent; injury and fatal crashes rose 54 percent; and broadside collisions rose 17 percent.
The camera at New York Avenue and Fourth Street NW, for example -- on one of Washington's busiest commuter routes -- has generated the most tickets in the city: more than 150,000 since 1999. Although the number of monthly citations there has dropped 65 percent, crashes nearly doubled, from 12 in 1998 to 23 last year.
The number of crashes has decreased in recent years at another busy spot, Bladensburg Road and New York Avenue NE, where cameras have generated more than 73,000 tickets. The intersection had 35 crashes in 1998, 88 in 2001 and 71 last year.
The camera at Wisconsin Avenue and Brandywine Street NW has produced nearly 30,000 tickets, but its crash totals have hovered around two a year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301844.html
posted by Matthew LeFande 7:18 AM
matt@lefande.com
