Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Violation Of Air Space Not Intentional

SEATTLE (AP) - A passenger aboard a float plane that violated the airspace around Air Force One while President Barack Obama was in town Tuesday was stunned to find out about the fuss that resulted, saying the incursion wasn't intentional.

The military scrambled fighter jets, and the two sonic booms from the Oregon Air National Guard F-15s startled many people in Western Washington.

The Cessna 180 float plane was flying to a seaplane base on Lake Washington, next to Seattle, from Lake Chelan in Eastern Washington, said passenger Laura Joseph. She told The Associated Press that neither she nor the pilot, Lee Daily, knew about Obama's visit or the air restrictions that accompany such a high-profile trip.

The Secret Service interviewed Daily after he landed at Kenmore Air on the north end of the lake, which had been shut down for the duration of the presidential campaign stop.

North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman John Cornelio said the civilian aircraft left the restricted area before the two jets arrived from the Portland, Ore.-based 142nd Fighter Wing and that there was no intercept. He confirmed the jets produced the sonic booms.

In a statement Tuesday evening, the Oregon Air National Guard said the jets were cleared to accelerate to supersonic speed minutes after takeoff. The Guard said the booms were heard by people from Longview, Wash., to the Puget Sound area.

Joseph, of Normandy Park, said she saw an F-15 outside the window as the plane approached Seattle.

"I saw a jet, just a white jet going by," she said. "I thought it was kind of odd to see a military jet."

The fighter only passed by the float plane once and didn't take any other action, Joseph said.

Joseph said she and Daily didn't know anything was wrong until they landed and were told they had to talk to the Secret Service. She also said she didn't hear the sonic booms.

"Oh my God, I can't believe -- is this the top news thing?" she said.

Joseph said she and Daily were allowed to leave after being interviewed by the Secret Service and haven't heard anything yet about possible sanctions.

Obama was in Seattle to stump for Sen. Patty Murray on a three-day campaign swing for endangered Democrats. Air Force One was on the ground at King County International Airport/Boeing Field in south Seattle at the time of the incident shortly after 1:30 p.m. The president's plane departed Seattle at 3:47 p.m.

The Air National Guard said the jets returned to Portland shortly before 3 p.m.

The two sharp booms, a few seconds apart, rattled windows in Seattle. Fire and police officials throughout the region said they were swamped with calls.

Oregon Air National Guard Staff Sgt. John Hughel said the F-15s were scrambled by NORAD from Portland International Airport. He said the guard has two fighters always on alert to patrol the air space from central California to the Canadian border.

www.wavy.com

The DISLIKE Button On Facebook

Now here's something to think about. I'm not sure this is entirely correct and I am not about to go to my facebook page and click the "dislike" button to see what happens (if it is there). In fact, I think that I have only seen it a few times in cases of disliking something I thought I liked and changed my mind. Have you seen it? Have you used it? Did anything happen?


A new Facebook scam is making the rounds, and it's taking advantage of a non-existent Facebook feature many users crave: the dislike button.

First, let's clear things up: There is no such thing as an official Facebook dislike button. It's possible that Facebook will implement a similar feature in the future, but right now it simply doesn't exist.


So, if you see a status update containing the message "I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!" or "Get the official DISLIKE button now" followed by a link, you should know that it's another one of many scams that aim to extract your personal data.

If you click on the link, you'll land on an elaborate Facebook dislike button "install" page (note that if the dislike button were real, you wouldn't need to install it; Facebook would automatically add it to user profiles). If you follow the instructions, you'll be asked to give the app permission to run, after which you'll be asked to complete a survey, similar to the surveys found in many other scams we've seen recently.

Interestingly enough, the app ultimately points you to an existing Firefox add-on called FaceMod, which dubs itself the "Facebook Dislike Button (the Original)," but the add-on doesn't seem to be connected to the scam. We haven't verified whether the add-on works as advertised or if it's dangerous, but one thing is certain: It is not coming from Facebook and it is not an official Facebook dislike button.

As usual, we advise you not to click on suspicious links on Facebook, especially if they promise something that sounds impossible or unlikely. Do not give away your personal information, unless you're absolutely sure why and who you're giving it to. If you've fallen for the scam, remove the offending app(s) from your Facebook profile; furthermore, remove the related message from your status, News Feed, and your Likes and Interests in the "Edit my Profile" menu.

www.usatoday.com

N.Y. Governor to Meet With "Ground Zero" Mosque Developers But No Plans to Relocate

New York Gov. David Paterson expects to meet in the near future with developers of a proposed Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near Manhattan's Ground Zero, The Washington Post reported Tuesday, but a key voice in the discussion denied to Fox News any plans to relocate."

Paterson last week offered his help and the possibility that state land could be used for an alternative site for the project.

The Post reported Tuesday that Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said that the governor's staff is talking with developers, but no formal discussions have taken place on the the $100 million building.

"However, we expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future," he said.

After a similar report appeared Monday in an Israeli newspaper, Sharif El-Gamal of SoHo Properties, which owns the property at Park 51, said it's absolutely wrong to suggest that the site is being abandoned.

"No. No. No," El-Gamal said.

'The reports that we may be abandoning the project are completely incorrect. We are committed to our plans of building Park 51 to serve the community of lower Manhattan. Our mission is one of peace, understanding and tolerance," he said.

The 13-story Islamic cultural center and mosque that would be located two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood until Sept. 11, 2001, has raised a national argument over the First Amendment and anger over the terror attacks.

Supporters say the mosque and its founders do not represent the beliefs of anyone associated with the attack on the U.S. that day, and its construction will represent the freedom of religion that America prizes.

Opponents say it's not a constitutional question, but one of right and wrong since no one wants to deny the Muslim community the right to practice its religion, but to show a greater respect and sensitivity for the tragedy.

The issue has caused a major debate among politicians, including President Obama, whose various comments over the weekend have forced lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to stake positions on whether they support the mosque's location or prefer the developers to move it.

Congress and the White House have no recourse to prevent its construction, and local officials last week approved new construction at the site, which is currently an old Burlington Coat Factory building that suffered damage from landing gear from one of the planes that hit the Twin Towers.

Late Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is in a tough race for re-election, suggested SoHo Properties find an alternate location. The statement was cast as a break from the president on an increasingly unpopular issue.

The White House said Tuesday it got the heads-up from Reid that he was going to side against the mosque's site.

"We had a sense of what they were going to do," White House spokesman Bill Burton said, describing Reid as an independent individual and strong leader in the Democratic Party.

However, one imam who complained that Muslims are being prevented from building mosques elsewhere around the country chastised Reid.

"It has political capital, but very negative political capital. It speaks to the worst of politics to advance aspirations for the White House, Senate or House or people already in the Senate, the majority leader of Senate, because the race is so close in Nevada. I'm talking about Harry Reid," Mahdi Bray, executive director of Muslim American Society Freedom.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who strongly opposes Park 51 as the site for the mosque, will attend a previously scheduled appearance at a fundraiser Friday night for Chris Gibson, a GOP congressional candidate in upstate New York, who says political opponents have tried to distort his stance that there should not be a mosque near Ground Zero.

"As someone who wore our nation's uniform and helped fight against those who share the extremist views of our attackers on that fateful day, I am disappointed political operatives would distort my words on the matter of how we best honor the victims of the 9/11 attacks," he said in a written statement.

"I do not support the construction of a mosque and have always felt it's neither the time nor place for it," he said.

www.foxnews.com

What About The Ground Zero Chruch??

Archdiocese Says Officials Abandoned Project

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials on Tuesday of turning their backs on the reconstruction of the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, while the controversial mosque near Ground Zero moves forward.

The sidelined project is the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, a tiny, four-story building destroyed in 2001 when one of the World Trade Center towers fell on top of it. Nobody from the church was hurt in the attack, but the congregation has for the past eight years been trying to rebuild its house of worship.

While the mosque project cleared red tape earlier this month, negotiations between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the church stalled last year -- and will not be revived, according to government officials. Though the particulars of the two projects are completely different and on the surface unrelated, the church and its supporters see a disconnect in the way the proposals have been handled.

An archdiocese official said Tuesday that the situation has created "consternation" for those still struggling to jump-start talks over the church.

"We have people that are saying, why isn't our church being rebuilt and why is there ... such concern for people of the mosque?" Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the archbishop, told FoxNews.com. He said "religious freedom" would allow a place of worship for any denomination to be built, but accused officials with the Port Authority of making no effort to help move the congregation's project along.

"Unfortunately, they have just been silent -- dead silent, actually," said Karloutsos, whose father was ordained at St. Nicholas. "They just simply forgot about the church."

The Port Authority and the church announced a deal in July 2008 under which the Port Authority would grant land and up to $20 million to help rebuild it in a new location -- in addition, the authority was willing to pay up to $40 million to construct a bomb-proof platform underneath.

Within a year, the deal fell through and talks ended. Port Authority officials told Fox News that the deal is dead.

The archdiocese and Port Authority offer sharply conflicting accounts of where things went wrong. The Port Authority has previously claimed the church was making additional demands -- like wanting the $20 million up front and wanting to review plans for the surrounding area. They say the church can still proceed on its own if it wishes.

"The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building," a spokesperson with the Port Authority told Fox News.

But Karloutsos called the Port Authority's claims "propaganda" and said the church has complied with all conditions. He said the government should honor agreements that date back to 2004, under former New York Gov. George Pataki.

Pataki, speaking with Fox News on Tuesday, agreed that the church should be rebuilt.

"I don't understand it," Pataki said. "Why the Port Authority now has so far put roadblocks in the way of its reconstruction is beyond me. It's not the right thing to do."

George Demos, a Republican candidate for New York's 1st Congressional District, has also drawn attention to the church negotiations. He released a written statement last week calling the Port Authority "disingenuous and disrespectful" for claiming the church project could go forward.

"For the last year, the Port Authority has refused to meet with church officials and is now reneging on its commitment to rebuild the church," Demos said.

Demos said the stalled church plans are an "outrage," considering New York City's Landmarks Preservation Committee vote in early August to deny historical status protection to the building where the mosque is set to be built, clearing the way for the project to move forward.

The church project has not attracted the kind of national attention the mosque has. President Obama injected the mosque into the national political conversation when he appeared to endorse the plans at a Ramadan dinner at the White House Friday. The White House later clarified that Obama was supporting the developers' right to build the mosque, not the project itself.

The president's comments set the stage for mounting criticism from Republicans, who widely oppose the project and now want other Democrats to declare where they stand on what for months was a largely local issue.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has supported the church as well as the mosque, defended the mosque proposal Tuesday.

"I think it will add to the diversity of the area," Bloomberg said. As for Obama's comments, he said: "He understands the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as well as anyone."

www.foxnews.com

47 Year Old Onley, Virginia Man On Trial For Murder Of Camp Counselor In 1991

A trial is underway for a 47-year-old Virginia man long-suspected by police of raping and killing a Poconos camp counselor nearly 20 years ago.

Jeffrey Plishka of Onley, Va., and the son of internationally-known Metropolitan Opera bass Paul Plishka is charged in the sexual assault and murder of 24-year-old Laura Ronning, a St. Petersburg, Fla., woman who was working Camp Cayuga in Wayne County when she was killed in 1991. Testimony in the trial started Monday in Wayne County Court in Honesdale.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case that stymied them for nearly two decades, but they say new DNA testing procedures enabled them to link blood on a gun taken from Plishka's home in 1991 to Ronning. At the time, Plishka lived on a farm in Wayne County near the camp where Ronning worked. His opera-singing father was born in neighboring Lackawanna County in Old Forge.

Ronning disappeared in July 1991 after setting out on her day off to hike at Tanners Falls not far from Camp Cayuga, a 350-acre facility that caters to kids between 5 and 15 from New York City and Philadelphia. When Ronning failed to return to camp that night, state police initiated a search. Her body was found the next morning. Police say Plishka participated in the search and made bizarre statements about her disappearance during the search.

Although prosecutors said DNA evidence found on a gun taken from Plishka's home links him to the crime, Plishka's attorney says the sample could have come from someone else.

Court officials expect the trial, which started with jury selection Aug. 9, to last about two more weeks.

http://www.mcall.com/

To refresh your memory here's an article written last year concerning the trial and charges..............

Last update Jul 31, 2009 @ 05:51 PM

Virginia's Eastern Shore 11th Annual Motorcycle Rally this Weekend

The Virginia's Eastern Shore Annual Motorcycle Rally will be this weekend, August 20 & 21st in Parksley.

There will be bike events, kids events, a bike show, vendors, cold beer, bold drinks and good food.

The gates open on Friday, August 20th at 4:00 PM. There will be live music Friday night with the bands "Mid-Life Crisis" and "Russell Lynch & the Southern Drunken Republicans" playing.

VCW Wrestling will be live and on hand at the Motorcycle Rally. There will also be a European bike hospitality tent with free hot dogs, drinks and cigars for those who have European motorcycles sponsored by Paddock Automotive.

Daily admission is $10, weekend admission is $15, campers for the weekend is $10, tents are $5, tents for rent are $25 and children 10 and under get in free.

Please call (757)665-6977 or visit www.parksleyvfc.org for more information. The event is sponsored by the Parksley Volunteer Fire Company.
www.shoredailynews.com

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Four Suspects Arrested For Drugs In Pocomoke City

POCOMOKE CITY — State troopers on patrol in a part of Pocomoke police say is a “high crime/open air drug market” arrested four men for possession of crack cocaine."

The state police officers “approached four loitering suspects,” charging documents state, and “they attempted to walk away when spoken to.” As police were interviewing the men and checking for weapons, police said, “one of the individuals pushed the trooper’s hand away, which led to a full search.” Police said they found crack cocaine “on him and in the immediate area of the other suspects.”

Arrested were James Edward Douglas, 20, of Bank Street in Pocomoke City; Mar-Tel L. Blake, 20; Jarren K. Hinmon, 21; and David D. Dickerson, 19. All four men were charged with crack cocaine possession, police said, and Hinmon also had an outstanding bench warrant for his arrest, issued in May and related to charges of armed robbery and assault. Hinmon was held on $50,000 bond. Court records show Douglas was also charged with malicious destruction of property.

www.delmarvanow.com

O'Malley swears in Judge Michele Hotten

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Gov. Martin O'Malley has sworn in Maryland's first African-American woman appellate judge.

Judge Michele Hotten is now a member of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's intermediate appellate court.

She will represent the court's Fourth Appellate Circuit for Prince George's County.

Hotten fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge James Salmon.

She has been an associate judge for Prince George's County Circuit Court for 15 years.

www.wtop.com

Mother Arrested For Posting Picture Of Baby With Bong On Facebook

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, Fla. (AP) - A central Florida mom who thought it would be funny to post a picture of her baby with a bong on her Facebook page has been arrested.

Nineteen-year-old Rachel Stieringer was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia. A Texas resident called Florida's abuse hot line after seeing the picture online of the baby posing with his face in the bong.

Two weeks ago the mom had defended her actions , claiming there were no drugs or tobacco in the bowl, and her child was not breathing in smoke.

But child protection officers from the Florida Department of Children and Families launched an inquiry into her actions.

"We are alarmed that any parent would take pictures of their child next to what is obviously drug paraphernalia," said spokesman John Harrell.

The mother had spoken via the social networking site Facebook, and insisting the pictures were a joke.

She said: "If u look at the picture u can see that there is no bowl in the TABACCO pipe.

"And i took a pic to show one (expletive) person and it was a mistake. I would never ever ever let him get high."

The mom said that as part of the investigation she was ordered to take a drugs test, and her son was being checked by doctors.

She added: "Do you realize how serious this is? i can go to jail and he can be taken away from me. WHY would you do something so (expletive) stupid?

"i know what i did was stupid but i would NEVER put by baby in harm. im so nice to everyone idk (I don't know) why you would do this to me."

Clay County Sheriff's deputies say Stieringer turned herself in July 29 and was released on $502 bond.

A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families said Monday the baby had no injuries and drug tests came back negative.

A message could not be left at Stieringer's home Tuesday morning. The phone number was busy on several attempts.

(The grandparents are now caring for the child.)

www.myfoxorlando.com

Mother Of Toddlers Suffocated Sons Before Driving Car Into River

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - A South Carolina mother who claimed her children drowned when their car careened into a river was charged with murder Tuesday after authorities said she confessed to suffocating the two toddlers and then faking the accident.
Sheriff Larry Williams said 29-year-old Shaquan Duley told investigators she was distraught about money troubles and unemployment and that she killed her children by putting her hand over their mouths after a dispute with her own mother. He says Duley then strapped the children into her car and drove it into a river Monday morning.
"This was a young lady that was in trouble, in trouble in more ways than she realized," Williams said. "She was in trouble and she didn't know where to turn."
Williams said the responsibilities of being a mother were simply too much for Duley, who didn't show signs of remorse during an overnight interview with authorities.
Two-year-old Devean C. Duley and 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley were dead in their child seats by the time divers got to the car Monday near a rural boat landing on the North Edisto River in Orangeburg, some 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.
The Highway Patrol was notified around 6:15 a.m. Monday that a woman needed help getting her children out of a car. Duley, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.
Duley was to be arraigned later Wednesday.
Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
www.startribune.com

Algae Bloom In Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Waters

NORFOLK (AP) -- Huge ribbons of algae blooms have appeared in lower Chesapeake Bay, the result of a scorching summer and recent rains.

The dark veins of algae have been reported from Mathews County south to Norfolk, as well as other areas of the bay. The cranberry-colored algae have lined the beaches of Newport News and seeped into deeper waters, where crabbers work.

Environmentalists view algae blooms as a sign of a Chesapeake Bay in peril.

Christy Everett of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said last week the blooms are yet another sign that the bay's water quality is "out of balance."

The foundation provided to The Associated Press aerial photographs of the blooms taken July 31.

An excessive amount of nutrients washed into the bay by heavy rains help create dense patches of the cranberry-colored algae. Heat hastens the process. As the water cools, the algae decomposes and consumes oxygen while sinking to the sea floor.

If sufficiently dense, algae will remove all the oxygen and leave the water a dead zone.

While not harmful to people, dead zones can kill baby oysters, crabs, underwater grasses and schools of fish.

Margaret Mulholland, an oceanography professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, studies how algae blooms are formed and their environmental effects. She said it is not known if algae blooms have grown more common in the bay.

Species that can avoid the oxygen-depleting algae do, she said.

www.wvec.com

Baltimore Grand Prix Scheduled For Labor Day Weekend 2011

The first Baltimore Grand Prix will be run over Labor Day next year instead of Aug. 5-7, the city and Baltimore Racing Development announced today.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and BRD announced the move today, and also said they will make a series of improvements to the track layout to allow for more fan attractions.

"We are very excited to be able to schedule the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix for the weekend that we originally wanted," Jay Davidson, president of the Baltimore Grand Prix and Baltimore Racing Development, said in a release today. "We have always planned to market the Baltimore Grand Prix as a destination event, and we are expecting race fans from throughout the region and around the world to travel to the race. Having the Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend makes it even easier for fans to make travel plans to attend this action-packed 'three day festival of speed' in downtown Baltimore."

The firm said it worked closely with the city and the IZOD IndyCar Series in order to make the Labor Day weekend dates possible. "I'm very pleased that BRD and IndyCar are now able to accommodate the city's preferred date for the Baltimore Grand Prix," Rawlings-Blake said in a release. "Labor Day Weekend will provide another full day for racing fans to enjoy all that Baltimore has to offer and with any luck, slightly cooler temperatures."

The new design of the course includes moving a pit lane from Russell Street on the west side of Oriole Park to the east side of the complex in the shadows of the historic B&O Warehouse.

With the new pit location, the race track will now circle Oriole Park and open up fan opportunities. Two new turns have been added on Conway Street to slow the cars as they approach pit lane. The new layout also features reconfigured turns 10 and 11, as the previous tight turns become fast, sweeping "S" turns back onto Pratt Street. The first four turns remain unchanged.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/

Govenor's Panel To Help Implement Health Care Law

RICHMOND

Gov. Bob McDonnell, an outspoken critic of the federal health care overhaul passed by Congress, has appointed an advisory council to develop strategies for implementing it.

McDonnell on Monday named the 24 members of his Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council, assembling a group that includes hospital and insurance executives, business leaders, state officials and legislators from both parties. The group will help chart a plan for implementing the complex federal health care overhaul even as Virginia wages a court battle to overturn a key provision of the new law.

The panel will hold its first meetings this weekend in Roanoke.

Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit challenging a provision of the health care act that will require individuals to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the government. But the court fight could drag on for years. In the meantime, McDonnell said, the health care bill "is the law of the land."

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced Monday that Virginia will get a $1 million federal grant to improve its process for reviewing health insurance premium filings. The state's Bureau of Insurance will conduct targeted audits of insurers with the largest market share or those requesting the largest premium increases to determine whether changes are needed in the existing rate review process. The grant also will pay for technology upgrades.

McDonnell called the federal law "dizzying" and said the state has work to do to prepare for its full implementation in 2014. But the governor also wants the panel to look beyond the federal law and devise state approaches to improving health care services, reducing costs and addressing work force shortage issues.

"I'm hoping that this can be a model that other states can use..." McDonnell said.

One of the council's major tasks will be developing recommendations to contain the rapidly escalating costs of Medicaid, the state and federal program that serves the poor, elderly and disabled. McDonnell said the program has become the second-fastest growing expenditure in the Virginia budget, and spending likely will increase because of new eligibility standards in the federal law.

The group is expected to deliver initial recommendations to McDonnell by December. Secretary of Health and Human Resources Bill Hazel will chair the council.

Other members include Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, a pharmacist and senior member of the House Appropriations Committee; Jim Carlson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Amerigroup, the Virginia Beach-based managed care company; and Chuck Hall, the executive director of the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board.

Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, also a council member, said he hopes the group can craft consensus solutions and "rise above the partisan fray" that clouded debate over the federal health care law.

"This gives us an opportunity in Virginia to take all that partisanship and put it in the closet, lay it aside and come together and work on a common issue that affects all Virginians," Houck said.

www.hamptonroads.com

Days Of 'Legal Pot' Could Be Few In Baltimore County

The Peace of Sunshine store off the main drag in Catonsville has lately been making more than half its weekly sales in K2, a "legal pot" known also as "spice." But owner Lawrence J. Zwick says he has sold his last bag. As soon as he heard Monday morning that Baltimore County might make it a crime to sell the smokable leaf, he says, he packed up his inventory of two boxes and shipped it back to the distributor.

"Oh, I'm going to miss it," said Zwick, a 44-year-old retired Coast Guard warrant officer who for four years has owned the the store specializing in T-shirts, jewelry, incense and hookahs. "But I'd rather run a legitimate business than not running a business at all."

Minutes before, Kevin Kamenetz, a member of the County Council, had wrapped up a news conference across the street announcing his plans to introduce a bill next month making it illegal to sell, distribute, possess, buy or use K2, or any product with chemical compounds that are known to mimic the effects of marijuana. The bill proposes penalties of $500 fine, 60 days in jail or both.

The potpourri-like product appeared in the United States about a year ago, and has already been banned in several states in the Midwest and across Europe. Ocean City Police Chief Bernadette A. DiPino says local shops there have been cooperating with her written request in June to voluntarily take K2 off the shelves.

The product sells in plastic bags for about $20 a gram. That's nearly six times the price of marijuana, according to Agent Donny Moses of the Baltimore Police Department.

Kamenetz, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for county executive, said K2 "has become an issue for parents in this area. … If the state is not going to act, if the federal government won't act, local government" has to step in, he said, to "protect our kids and help our parents do a better job."

A former Baltimore prosecutor, Kamenetz says he got wind of the issue recently when a Catonsville newspaper did a story about K2 being sold in the area. He couldn't say how widespread the product is in stores in the county.

Susan Flaherty of Catonsville was troubled about the newspaper article that focused on Zwick's store, especially because she has two teenage sons.

"For them to be able to go into a local shop and buy this, it's ridiculous," said Flaherty. She said as far as she knows, her sons have not tried K2 — she said they hadn't heard of it until she spoke to them to warn them away from the stuff.

Zwick, who has two children of his own, says he's been selling K2 since January, and it's gotten up to $4,000 and $5,000 a week in sales. He said the customers are from "all age ranges," and he never sells to anyone under 18.

Kamenetz emphasizes reported side effects, including racing heartbeat, high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and headaches. He called K2 a "fairly dangerous drug."

Jessica Wehrman, a spokesman for the American Association of Poison Centers, says the country's 60 poison centers have received 1,018 calls about K2 this year. As a comparison, in 2008, the most recent year for which complete statistics are available, Wehrman says over-the-counter and prescription painkillers accounted for more than 331,000 calls.

Dr. Bruce Anderson, operations director at the Maryland Poison Center, says the center has received few calls about K2. Anderson said he was not dismissing the potential danger of K2, but he said many of the reports about the ill effects of K2 are "consistent with anxiety" reactions that could have more to do with user's psychological state than the substance itself. It's hard to know, he says, because it's hard to know what the ingredients are.

"It's not even regulated at all," said Anderson. "Who knows what it is?"

www.baltimoresun.com

Two Men Rescued Near Hog Island By Coast Guard

The Coast Guard rescued two men from a sail boat Monday morning after they ran aground near Hog Island.

The Coast Guard received a call at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday from a crewmember aboard the sailing vessel Poco Plus Five reporting that the vessel was aground and taking on water.

A Coast Guard Station Wachapreague rescue boat crew responded and arrived on scene within half an hour. The rescue boat crew could not get within a quarter mile of the sailing vessel because of surf conditions.

An HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., arrived on scene and lowered a rescue swimmer who assisted in hoisting the two men.

The men were then transported to Accomack County Airport, Va.
,
There were no reports of injuries.


www.shoredailynews.com

Bodies Of Two Toddlers Found In Submerged Car

By SEANNA ADCOX, Associated Press ORANGEBURG, S.C. – After the bodies of two toddlers were pulled Monday from a car submerged in a South Carolina river, their mother was arrested and authorities were investigating how it happened — and whether it was an accident.

The two were recovered from the North Edisto River after the car was found near a rural boat landing, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said.

County Coroner Samuetta Marshall identified them as 18-month-old Ja'van T. Duley and 2-year-old Devean C. Duley, both of Orangeburg. She would not speculate on a cause of death until autopsies are completed Tuesday.

The boys' mother, whose name was not immediately released, was being held Monday on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident, Williams said.

He said the Highway Patrol was notified about 6:15 a.m. Monday about an accident and a woman who needed help getting her children out of the car.

The children were still strapped in their child seats when divers found them and recovered their bodies about 45 minutes after being called to the scene.

"Early in the investigation, the state patrol felt there was not enough indicators to substantiate that there was an automobile accident," Williams said. "We are looking into all possibilities as to what happened."

The woman, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.

"She showed some emotion, but I can't say she was overly distraught," the sheriff said. "Through her statements, there are some things we think are not believable."

Williams said authorities were attempting to contact the children's father, who did not live with the family.

The sheriff said investigators are considering how a traffic accident could have happened at the boat ramp, about 20 yards upstream from a main road that crosses the slow-moving river. A mobile home, a house and mechanic's shop are a short distance away.

Local residents said they were suspicious.

Shakeyia Baxter said the main road was heavily traveled in the mornings and would have been especially busy on Monday — the first day of school. Baxter stopped by the boat ramp, which is littered with empty beer cases and discarded soda bottles, on her way home from work at a McDonald's to tuck silk flowers into a sign that warns of high levels of mercury in the fish.

"My heart goes out to them," said Baxter, a 30-year-old mother of two. "I would have been doing everything I could to get those kids out of that car seat."

Orangeburg is about 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital.

The incident was reminiscent of the deaths of two other toddlers in South Carolina.

In 1994, in a case that made headlines worldwide, Susan Smith left her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons strapped in their car seats as she rolled her car into a lake in Union County in the northwest part of the state.

She was convicted in their deaths and is serving a life prison term.

www.yahoo.com

Monday, August 16, 2010

Off-road Truck Racing Accident In Mojave Desert - 8 Killed

LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. — Zachary Freeman loved to fish, dirt bike and camp — but most of all, he loved to watch off-road truck racing in the vast Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles.

That love would cost the 24-year-old pipe welder and seven other off-road enthusiasts their lives when a truck competing in the annual California 200 careened off the sand track Saturday and into the crowd, instantly killing Freeman and his best friend.

On Sunday, his girlfriend and his stepfather mourned at a simple cross-and-stone memorial set in the thick sand and waited in the blistering heat for a locksmith to arrive to change the ignition lock in Freeman's truck so they could take it home. His keys had been lost in the chaos; the coroner found only a lighter in his pocket.

"I'm just in shock. It's not real yet, it hasn't soaked in," said Randall Peterson, his grieving stepfather.

Freeman's girlfriend, Nicky Carmikle, sobbed as she knelt down and placed her boyfriend's camouflage baseball hat in the center of the stone circle surrounding the wooden cross.

Carmikle recalled how she had stepped away from the race for a few minutes to use the bathroom and returned to find the truck upside down, bodies everywhere and people screaming in panic.

"His shoes are still over there. I can't even look," she said, gesturing to a bag full of abandoned clothing, shoes and blankets, some stained with blood. "It just isn't fair, it isn't right."

Those who witnessed the accident said the crowd pressed close to the track and could almost touch the trucks as they hurtled and bounced over the desert sand.

Shortly after the race began, one driver took a jump at high speed, hit his brakes on landing and rolled his truck sideways into spectators, sending bodies flying on a section of track that had no guardrails or anything else to keep the crowd back. Eight people were killed and 12 were injured. "You could touch it if you wanted to. It's part of the excitement," Carmikle said. "There's always that risk factor, but you just don't expect that it will happen to you."

California Highway Patrol Officer Joaquin Zubieta said Brett M. Sloppy, 28, of San Marcos, was behind the wheel of the truck involved in the crash. Zubieta said alcohol was not a factor in the crash and there were no plans to arrest Sloppy, who the CHP estimates was going 45 to 50 mph at the time of the crash. Zubieta said state vehicle codes don't apply because the race was a sanctioned event held with the approval of the federal Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land used for the race.

The BLM issued a statement saying safety was the responsibility of the race organizer, South El Monte-based Mojave Desert Racing. MDR's permit required racers to travel 15 mph or less when they were within 50 feet of fans, and allowed no more than 300 spectators for the event, the agency said.

BLM spokesman David Briery said the agency would cooperate with the CHP's investigation.

"We followed all our rules," he said by phone. "We don't think we did anything wrong."

Phone and e-mail messages left for MDR were not immediately returned.

Tens of thousands of people were spread out along the 50-mile track, but the site of the crash, a stretch known as the "rockpile," is one of the most popular areas to gather because the trucks become airborne, witnesses said. Some said they got within 4 feet of the unmarked track, watching trucks fly over a series of jumps. Several jagged rocks jut from the rutted dirt track at the bottom of the hill.

The driver "hit the rock and just lost control and tumbled," said Matt March, 24, of Wildomar, who was standing next to the jump. "Bodies went everywhere."

Derek Cox, a friend of victim Andrew Therrien, told KABC-TV in Los Angeles that Theirren, 22, pushed children out of the way as the truck barreled toward them. He was killed in the accident.

"I owe my son's life, as well as many others. They were inches away from him and he saved their lives," Cox said of the Riverside resident. "He's a hero in my book."

March said he and other fans lifted the truck, which came to rest with its oversized wheels pointing toward the sky, and found four people lying unconscious underneath.

It took rescue vehicles and helicopters more than half an hour to reach the remote location, accessible only by a rutted dirt road. Spectators said off-duty police and firefighters in the crowd joined paramedics hired by the race organizer to help the injured and place blankets over the dead.

Six people died at the scene and two others died after being taken to a hospital, authorities said. Most of the 12 injured people were airlifted to hospitals.

Paramedics brought six people — five adults and a child — to Loma Linda University Medical Center, spokesman Herbert Atienza said Sunday. He had no information on their condition.
Officials said Sloppy, the driver, wasn't hurt. It was not clear why he lost control of the truck, a white modified Ford Ranger with "Misery Motorsports" painted on the doors.

A Facebook page that appeared to belong to Sloppy and included a picture of his truck was updated Sunday with a note: "Soo incredibly lost and devistated my thoughts and prayers go out to all the familys and friends involved.. Thank you too all my friends for sticking with me even thru these tragic times I love you all."

Nearly 40 friends responded with messages of support by Sunday afternoon.

The race is part of a series held in the Mojave Desert's Soggy Dry Lake Bed, about an hour's drive from the nearest city, Lucerne Valley.

The course winds through empty desert dotted only with rocky outcroppings and desert shrubs. Several families were still camping Sunday on a dried-up lake bed below the crash site. Buggies and dirtbikes zoomed back and forth, kicking up dust that could be seen for miles.

There were no barriers at the site of the crash. Fans said these races rarely have any kind of safety guards.

"That's desert racing for you," said fan John Payne, of Anaheim. "You're at your own risk out here. You are in the middle off the desert. People were way too close and they should have known. You can't really hold anyone at fault. It's just a horrible, horrible accident."

Briery said he didn't know if the BLM would conduct an internal investigation, and he added it was too early to say if the agency would change its permit rules to ensure stricter enforcement of safety requirements.

The BLM is required by Congress to make public lands accessible to reasonable requests, and the area used Saturday is one of the few available to off-road enthusiasts, he said.

The CHP does not normally investigate crashes at organized events, but took the lead on this probe because of its scope.

Aside from Freeman and Therrin, those killed were Brian Wolfin, 27, Anthony Sanchez, 23, and Aaron Farkas, 25, all of Escondido; Danica Frantzich, 20, of Las Vegas; and Dustin Malson, 24, of Ventura. The name of the eighth victim, a 34-year-old man from Spring Valley, had not been released by Sunday night.
AP Photos
www.google.com

Hundreds Kiss In NYC In Honor Of The End Of WWII

NEW YORK -- Hundreds of couples donned sailor hats and nurse's caps and smooched in Times Square on Saturday to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The couples were re-enacting the famous Life magazine photograph of a nurse being passionately kissed by a sailor at the end of the war. A 26-foot statue replicating the original photo was also erected for the celebration.

World War II veterans and their children on hand for the kiss said they want today's generation to remember the sacrifices of those who fought in the war.

"I want to keep that day alive," said Rocco Moretto, 86, a retired infantry staff sergeant now living in Queens.

Moretto, who stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day and arrived in Times Square in his uniform, kissed his friend Margie Zwick, who served in the Women's Army Corps.

"It was terrific," he said of the kiss. "It's been a long time coming."

The Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive! grass roots campaign was holding a series of events around the country marking the day.

Edith Shain, who said she was the nurse in the original photo, died in June at the age of 91.

Rap Concert At VCU Raises Some Eyebrows

Richmond, Va. --

Rap artist Asher Roth loves college, but it's the reasons why that are causing controversy ahead of his performance at Virginia Commonwealth University's Welcome Week for incoming freshmen.

Along with fellow hip-hop artist B.o.B., Roth -- whose hit single "I Love College" was all the rage last year -- is set to perform at a Back to School Jam concert Aug. 28 at the Siegel Center.

In keeping with the themes of Roth's other work, "I Love College" extols certain nonacademic portions of the collegiate experience, such as excessive beer consumption, marijuana use and casual sex. At one point, the song devolves into the chanting of the words "chug" and "freshmen."

Event price tag: $100,000, to be paid for through student activity fees from Monroe Park Campus students.

"Having this artist come to the campus normalizes inappropriate, illegal and unhealthy behaviors," said Denise D. Miller, president for the Regional Drug Free Alliance and chairwoman for the Parents Council of Commonwealth Parenting.

"It also lowers the expectations for the students," she said, adding that she was disappointed to see the school spend so much on a performer who condones that behavior.

The performers were chosen by the school's Programming Commission, which consists of 12 student executives from various student activity committees, according to VCU public-relations specialist Tom Gresham.

Gresham added that university staff "provides logistics-related parameters that could preclude a performance, but the decision is the students.'" Staff members who worked with the commission could not immediately be reached.

Karen Khoury of New Jersey, mother of incoming freshman Ally Khoury, 18, was not pleased about the Roth performance.

"I think the message that the college is sending by allowing this performer is one of 'we condone this behavior, but just don't let us catch you doing it,'" she said. "I certainly don't consider myself a prudish parent. But had I seen this earlier, I probably would have written some sort of a complaint."

The "I Love College" video opens with a disoriented Roth awakening amid scantily clad females. It then revisits the frat party the night before, the highlights of which include beer pong, beer funneling, mattress tossing and drawing on and shaving the heads of passed-out partygoers.

VCU has held the Back to School Jam since 2002. The event usually consists of a dance party, and the cost the past three years has been between $15,000 and $23,000.

This is only the second time the event has included a concert; the other was in 2006, when rapper T.I. performed at a cost of $116,000. The following year, T.I., or Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., was arrested and later served 10 months in prison on federal weapons charges.

Adele McClure, president of the Monroe Park Student Government Association, said the programming commission settled on B.o.B. and Roth after soliciting input from students via Twitter, Facebook and surveying.

McClure said she understands the concerns of some parents and administrators but that on a daily basis, students listen to worse music than what Roth puts out.

She said she considered asking Roth not to perform "I Love College" but decided against it since "College" is the only song many students know. "If he was singing any other song, people would be like, 'Who is this guy?'"

Hannah Badawy, a senior at VCU, said she had no serious objections.

"Honestly, I think it's fine. He's an artist. He can sing about whatever he wants, and people should be smart enough not to do all of that and let it get to their grades," she said. "You should know not to do that every single day."

Badawy added: "On the weekends, it's fine."

www.timesdispatch.com

INMATE RELEASED IN ERROR: STILL MISSING

Hmmm....a photo of the inmate would have been nice SINCE HE'S BEEN MISSING SINCE AUGUST 12th!!


August 15, 2010

SALISBURY --- As of late Sunday evening, police are still on the lookout for an inmate released in error from the Wicomico County Detention Center.

Wicomico County spokesman James Fineran, said Trevor Johnson was let out in error around 6:30 p.m. August 12.

He was being held for a narcotics charge and probation violations on $200,000 bond.

The inmate who was intended to have been released was Tyrai Johnson, for whom family members had posted $50,000 bond.

Fineran said the mix up was a procedural error.

Contacted at his home Sunday evening, Wicomico County Detention Center director George Kaloroumakis said the inmate was probably still unlocated.

"Under these circumstances, we’ve had some luck before. Someone talks to them and says it will work out best for them if they turn themselves in," Kaloroumakis said. "Maybe he'll come back to us on his own, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I like to think if he was located I would be the first to know."

www.delmarvanow.com


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Mechanicsville, Md. Online 'sextortion' of teens on the rise

Every young girl in America needs to be aware of these activity's it's happening every day. If you do not want a nude picture of yourself plastered all over the internet then don't send ANYONE nude or semi-nude picture. All it takes is one ticked-off boyfriend, I know that young lovers think they will be together always and forever but that seldom happens, very seldom. 


So to all the young ladies out there please keep your clothes on and never, ever send a nude photo to anyone, it may seem fun and exciting at the time but it could very well ruin your life, maybe not at the time, maybe not this year, but picture to yourself 10 years from now applying for a job and the new employer googles your name and viola ... up pops that nude photo you text your first love when you were 18 years old, or better yet, 20 years from now you're washing dishes for the family and your little-one is at the computer and says "mommy is this you?" Think about it, it happens every day, ask Miss America.


The nightmare began with a party: three teenage girls with a webcam, visiting an Internet chatroom and yielding to requests to flash their breasts. A week later, one of the girls, a 17-year-old from Indiana, started getting threatening e-mails.

A stranger said he had captured her image on the webcam and would post the pictures to her MySpace friends unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos for him. On at least two occasions, the teen did what her blackmailer demanded. Finally, police and federal authorities became involved and indicted a 19-year-old Maryland man in June on charges of sexual exploitation.

Federal prosecutors and child safety advocates say they're seeing an upswing in such cases of online sexual extortion. They say teens who text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off their bodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless they pose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle of exploitation.
One federal affidavit includes a special term for the crime: "sextortion."

No one currently tracks the numbers of cases involving online sexual extortion in state and federal courts, but prosecutors and others point toward several recent high-profile examples victimizing teens in a dozen states:

• In Alabama, Jonathan Vance, 24, of Auburn was sentenced to 18 years in prison in April after he admitted sending threatening e-mails on Facebook and MySpace extorting nude photos from more than 50 young women in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

• In Wisconsin, Anthony Stancl, 18, received 15 years in prison in February after prosecutors said he posed as a girl on Facebook to trick male high school classmates into sending him nude cell phone photos, which he then used to extort them for sex.

• A 31-year-old California man was arrested in June on extortion charges after authorities said he hacked into more than 200 computers and threatened to expose nude photos he found unless their owners posed for more sexually explicit videos. Forty-four of the victims were juveniles, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said he was even able to remotely activate some victims' webcams without their knowledge and record them undressing or having sex.

The cases have prompted law enforcement officials and advocates to caution teens about their activities. Privacy is nonexistent on the Internet, and once indiscretions appear online, they are virtually impossible to take back. A nude photo sent to a boyfriend's cell phone can easily be circulated through cell phone contacts and wind up on websites that post sexting photos. Once there, it's available for anyone who wants to trace it back to the person who made it.

"Kids are putting their head in the lion's mouth every time they do this," said Parry Aftab, an attorney and online child safety advocate.
Teens can be more vulnerable to blackmail because they're easy to intimidate and embarrassed to seek help. And the extortionists are often willing to make good on their threats, said Steve DeBrota, an assistant U.S. attorney in Indianapolis who has been involved in sextortion investigations.

"You are blackmailable," said Aftab, " ... and you will do anything to keep those pictures from getting out."

In the Indiana case, the teenage girl's mother called police when she found out about the threats. Authorities subpoenaed Internet service providers to track the chats and e-mails to their source, a computer in Mechanicsville, Md., according to court documents.

According to court documents, the computer's owner, Trevor Shea, told agents he had engaged in similar schemes with about 10 girls, most of them 17 or 18 years old.

His trial is set for Aug. 30. He has pleaded not guilty and his attorney, Michael Donahoe, said he is working on a possible settlement.

VIA: Yahoo news

The HMiC Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero

WASHINGTON -- After skirting the controversy for weeks, President Barack Obama is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying a nation built on religious freedom must allow it.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama told an intently listening crowd gathered at the White House Friday evening to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."

The White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic community center two blocks from where nearly 3,000 people perished when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted it was a local matter.

It was already much more than that, sparking debate around the country as top Republicans including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich announced their opposition. So did the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group.

Obama elevated it to a presidential issue Friday without equivocation.
While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed "hallowed ground," Obama said that the proper way to honor it was to apply American values.

Harkening back to earlier times when the building of synagogues or Catholic churches also met with opposition, Obama said: "Time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it. So it must be and will be today."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has been a strong supporter of the mosque, welcomed Obama's words as a "clarion defense of the freedom of religion."
But some Republicans were quick to pounce.

"President Obama is wrong," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero."

Entering the highly charged election-year debate, Obama surely knew that his words would not only make headlines in the U.S. but be heard by Muslims worldwide. The president has made it a point to reach out to the global Muslim community, and the over 100 guests at Friday's dinner in the State Dining Room included ambassadors and officials from numerous nations where Islam is observed, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.


While his pronouncement concerning the mosque might find favor in the Muslim world, Obama's stance runs counter to the opinions of the majority of Americans, according to polls. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week found that nearly 70 percent of Americans opposed the mosque plan while just 29 percent approved. A number of Democratic politicians have shied away from the controversy.
Opponents, including some Sept. 11 victims' relatives, see the prospect of a mosque so near the destroyed trade center as an insult to the memory of those killed by Islamic terrorists in the 2001 attacks.

Judge orders identities of commenters be revealed

Anonymous bloggers beware. You may not be as anonymous as you think.

Forward Township Supervisor Thomas DeRosa has won a court victory in the action that he filed in November to uncover the identities of people who posted comments on an online bulletin board that he said defamed him.

On Wednesday, the ACLU, which had intervened in the case, turned over the Internet Protocol addresses of six individuals who made specific posts that Mr. DeRosa mentioned in his court filings.
That action follows an announcement Tuesday night by West Mifflin Area school director Albert Graham, who vowed to take legal action to obtain the names of individuals who he said had posted threats against his life on the West Mifflin page of the discussion board Topix.com.

Web service providers have protection from comments made by third-party posters under a federal 1996 telecommunications law. But some courts require them to release the names of posters' identities if a strong enough case is made for defamation.

The ACLU's actions in the Forward case followed a July 22 ruling by Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. that information about the individuals who made the postings about Mr. DeRosa be turned over. The ACLU will not file an appeal in the case, said Sara Rose, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

Richard Rattanni, who operates elizabethboro.com, where the comments were posted, said he was disappointed in the ruling.
"I think it's bad for our First Amendment rights to just hand them over," said Mr. Rattanni, who is not facing any legal action in the matter.

"It's going to send a big rippling effect through every discussion board and make people afraid to post."

Neither Mr. DeRosa nor his attorney could be reached for comment on the court decision. But in his filings Mr. DeRosa said the alleged defamatory comments posted to elizabethboro.com related to his actions as a township supervisor and accused him of corruption and damaged his reputation.

While the IP addresses that were supplied to Mr. DeRosa don't immediately identify the individuals, they do identify their Internet service providers and now Mr. DeRosa and his attorneys can petition those providers to release the names.

That process may take a while, Ms. Rose said, since the Internet service providers will likely be required to give the individuals notice that their identities are being sought and allow them the opportunity to take court action to stop the release.

That's exactly what's going on in a case in West Mifflin, where police Sgt. Robert Husfelt is seeking the identity of individuals who he said defamed him on the West Mifflin page of Topix.com -- the same site where the comments about Dr. Graham appeared.

In Sgt. Husfelt's case, a subpoena was served on the operator of the Topix site seeking the identities of the users who posted messages about him, and Topix provided the IP addresses of the posters to him, but did not know their identities, according to court filings. The messages were about an event during which Sgt. Husfelt and his wife were target shooting in a wooded area in West Mifflin, court documents indicate.

In July, a motion was granted for Sgt. Husfelt's attorneys to subpoena Comcast Communications to get the identities of the individuals who made the postings, but the court gave Comcast seven days to notify the subscribers that their identities were being sought and gave subscribers 21 days to file papers contesting the subpoena.

One of the four individuals who received the notice, with the help of the ACLU, filed a motion for protective order because the individual said it was not clear he or she was one of the people who posted the perceived defamatory comments and because the disclosure would violate the right to anonymous speech under the First Amendment.
As a result, Comcast has been barred by the court from releasing any identities until the issue is settled. On Aug. 9, Sgt. Husfelt's attorney filed a motion to file an amended complaint.

Though Ms. Rose is not involved in the case of Dr. Graham, she said there could be an element of immediacy if he files court action and a judge believes there is a true threat to his safety or that of his family.

Dr. Graham became a public target on the Topix website after his name surfaced in late April in an investigative report by the firm Gentile-Meinert, which outlined work alleged to have been done at his home by district maintenance workers during their regular work hours.

Dr. Graham said on Tuesday night that he is afraid to leave his home and he fears for the safety of his wife and three children.
However, West Mifflin police Chief Ken Davies said he did not believe the postings regarding Dr. Graham -- one of which suggested a plastic bag be tied over his head and another that suggested he be thrown into his pool with a rock attached to his foot -- posed imminent danger to Dr. Graham or his family.

"If they were more direct we would have taken action, Chief Davies said.

He said he referred Dr. Graham to the district attorney's office and the FBI's task force on Internet crimes.

The chief said he is interested to see if the identities can be obtained from the Topix site through court action.

Ms. Rose said that most Internet service providers do provide the names of posters if they receive a court order requiring them to do so.

"Unless you go to a public computer where you don't have to set up an account to use it and you absolutely can't be traced, there is always the possibility that someone will be able to uncover your identity," she said.


VIA: Post-Gazette.com