Daily Star Design Clips

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, September 30, 2009 NATION • A5

EPA seekstougher lawon chemicals

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — With moreand more toxic chemicals turningup in people’s bodies and the envi-ronment, the Obama administra-tion asked Congress Tuesday todraft a tougher law for how thegovernment regulates tens ofthousands of chemicals.

Environmental ProtectionAgency Administrator Lisa Jack-son called the 32-year-old statutegoverning toxic substances aflawed tool for protecting thepublic from the more than 80,000chemicals that have been intro-duced on the market. Thosechemicals, which do not includepesticides or drugs, are used ineverything from cell phones toplastic drinking-water bottles.Not all of them are still in use, ex-perts said.

“The American people arelooking to the government for as-surance that chemicals have beenassessed using the best availablescience and unacceptable riskshaven’t been ignored,” Jacksonsaid in a conference call with re-porters before a formal announce-ment in San Francisco. “Unfortu-nately, the current law does notallow us to grant them that assur-ance.”

Jackson said recent scares withlead in toys, dioxin in fish and phthalate esters — plastic-hard-ening chemicals used in intra-venous bags, where they can entera patient’s bloodstream — aremaking the public “understand-ably anxious and confused.”

The Obama administrationwants Congress to craft a law thatwill require chemical manufac-turers to provide enough informa-tion so that the EPA can evaluatethe risks, and to give the agencythe authority to act against chem-icals it determines to be danger-ous.

In addition to asking Congressto enact a stronger law, Jacksonsaid the agency would immedi-ately launch a review of six chemi-cals that have raised concerns.

Those substances include:• Bisphenol A, or BPA, which

is used in plastic beverage con-tainers and, some evidence sug-gests, can effect the brain and be-havior in fetuses, infants andchildren.

• Perfluorinated chemicals,used in nonstick cookware and insome waterproof clothing, willalso be checked out because ofsome research linking them to in-fertility in women.

Environmentalists applaudedthe EPA’s action Tuesday, sayingit was long overdue. Sen. FrankLautenberg, D-N.J., said hewould introduce a bill incorpo-rating the administration’s sug-gestions.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

The U.S. should spend $6 bil-lion to fortify and rebuild portsof entry along its border withMexico, a government-appoint-ed task force recommended.

The Southwest Border TaskForce also urged spending moremoney to hire thousands of cus-toms officers to staff the entrypoints.

The $6 billion “is needed ininfrastructure funding immedi-ately, including modernizationto highway, railway” and sup-porting facilities, the task forcesaid.

Homeland Security SecretaryJanet Napolitano created thegroup in June to advise her onhow to keep drug-cartel-fueled

violence in Mexico from spillingacross the border and to improveU.S.-Mexican commerce.

The task force on Tuesday rec-ommended that Mexico do more

thorough inspections of south-bound traffic and work with theU.S. to professionalize Mexico’slaw enforcement agencies.

“Unless Mexican law enforce-

ment is engaged, there will con-tinue to be problems policing theborder,” the task force said.

The Homeland Security Advi-sory Council, a panel of securityexperts that confers with theDepartment of Homeland Secu-rity, will decide in a meeting to-day whether to endorse the rec-ommendations and forwardthem to the department.

Napolitano, the former gover-nor of Arizona, and other Obamaadministration officials havebeen working with Mexican au-thorities to quell the drug-relat-ed violence. Mexico and the U.S.are performing more joint inves-tigations and inspections to findguns and money before theyreach the drug cartels.

LOCAL ANGLEThere are land ports of entry in six Arizona border cities: Douglas, Naco,

Nogales, Sasabe, Lukeville and San Luis.The Mariposa Port of Entry, in west Nogales, already is scheduled to get

a $212 million upgrade that will include more inbound and outboundlanes, new buildings, booths and canopies, and more parking. The upgradeis the largest port-of-entry project funded in the stimulus bill, accountingfor more than half of the $400 million dedicated to ports on the South-west border.

Work is set to begin in October and is expected to take four years. Thecurrent port, built in the 1970s, was designed to handle 400 trucks a day,but it now gets as many as 1,600. The new facility will have a capacity for2,000 to 3,000 trucks a day.

Brady McCombs


WASHINGTON — A Republi-can congressman who calledPresident Obama an “enemy ofhumanity” said Tuesday that heshould have made clear that hewas referring to the president’spolicies related to abortion.

Trent Franks of Arizona said ina speech to conservatives Satur-day in St. Louis that, given Oba-ma’s decision to fund interna-tional family planning organiza-tions that support legal abor-tion, “we shouldn’t be shockedthat he does all these other in-sane things.”

“A president that has lost hisway that badly, that has no abili-ty to see the image ofGod in these little fellowhuman beings, if hecan’t do that right, thenhe has no place in anystation of governmentand we need to realizethat he is an enemy ofhumanity,” Franks saidto the How to Take BackAmerica conference,organized by conserva-tive interest groups, includingthe Eagle Forum.

Franks, 52, said in a statement

Tuesday that he was referring to“unborn humanity” and should

have clarified his re-marks. His statementlisted a series of actionsObama has taken relat-ed to abortion.

“While I absolutelyshould have made themeaning of my state-ment more clear, thefacts remain that theseradical pro-abortionpolicies do not have

place in a government foundedon the principle that all men arecreated equal, and endowed by

their creator with certain un-alienable rights and chief amongthose rights is the right to life,”Franks, who represents Ari-zona’s 2nd District, said in thestatement.

A White House spokesmanhad no comment.

A video recording of Franks’speech was provided by the lib-eral interest group People for theAmerican Way, whose president,Michael Keegan, said Franks’ re-marks “show a stunning lack ofrespect for our president and theoffice of the presidency.”

AZ lawmaker clarifies remark critical of Obama

$6B urged for border-port upgrades

Trent Franks,R-Ariz.

A14 • TUCSON & REGION Wednesday, October 7, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Robbery victim shootsassailant at carwash

An 18-year-old man sufferedlife-threatening injuries Tues-day when he tried to rob anotherman at a midtown carwash andwas shot by the victim, Tucsonpolice said.

The incident occurred at a self-service carwash on East 22ndStreet near South Beverly Avenuejust before 4:30 p.m.,said Sgt.Di-ana Lopez,a police spokeswoman.

A 50-year-old man waswashing his car when he was ap-proached by the 18-year-oldman, Lopez said.

The younger man pulled out agun and attempted to rob theolder man, she said. The olderman pulled out his own gun andshot the 18-year-old.

The younger man ran away andgot into a vehicle that was beingdriven by another person. A shorttime later, the 18-year-old manshowed up at a hospital with life-threatening injuries,she said.

The 50-year-old man was notinjured. He was being ques-tioned by police.

The driver of the car who tookthe wounded man to the hospitalalso was in police custody.

Jamar Younger

Fourth man sought in home invasion

Tucson police are seeking afourth man who assaulted awoman during a west-side homeinvasion last month, police said.

Tucson police have already ar-rested Manuel Garcia Salvador,17, Jesse James Perez-Geehan, 17

and MarcosLamont Bus-tamante, 34 inconnectionwith the Sept.16 home inva-sion in the1300 block ofWest SilverlakeRoad, said Sgt.Diana Lopez, aTucson Police

Department spokeswoman.The four forced themselves

into the home, assaulted thewoman at the door and re-strained her, Lopez said.

The intruders took numerousitems from the house, includingthe woman’s vehicle, she said.

Bustamanteand Salvadorwere arrestedshortly afterthe home in-vasion.

Perez-Gee-han was ar-rested the fol-lowing day,she said.

They arefacing chargesof aggravatedassault, armedrobbery, kid-napping, autotheft andfirst-degreeburglary, shesaid.

No infor-mation on the

fourth suspect was released bypolice.

Jamar Younger

Police identify manfound dead in his yard

The man found dead in thefront yard of his university-areahome Sunday night has beenidentified as 37-year-old SteveNordlof, Tucson police said.

Nordlof was dead when Tuc-son police arrived at the home inthe 700 block of East DrachmanStreet about 9 p.m., police said.

Preliminary findings deter-mined Nordlof was not the vic-tim of a homicide, though no of-ficial cause of death has been cit-ed, Tucson Police Departmentspokeswoman Sgt. Diana Lopezsaid.

Brian J. Pedersen

Woman suspected in bank holdup caught

A woman suspected of rob-bing a west-side bank this weekwas arrested Tuesday evening,police said.

Norma Sabrina Verdugo, 33,was bookedinto PimaCounty jail onsuspicion ofrobbery after aholdup at aWells FargoBank at 1370N. SilverbellRoad, said Sgt.Diana Lopez, a

Tucson Police Departmentspokeswoman.

Verdugo walked into the bankjust after 6 p.m. on Monday andimplied she had a weapon beforefleeing with an undisclosedamount of money, Lopez said.

Jamar Younger

Drug found in vehicleleads to pair’s arrest

A routine traffic stop alongInterstate 10 Thursday resultedin the discovery of a half-poundof methamphetamine hidden ina bag of potato chips, police said.

Enrique Orozco, 36, VanessaConcepcion Gaxiola, 27, both ofTucson, were arrested and bookedinto the Pima County jail oncharges of possession and trans-portation of dangerous drugs, ac-cording to an Arizona Departmentof Public Safety news release.

The DPS pulled over the 2003Chevrolet around 2:30 p.m. onwestbound I-10 near Marana fora moving violation and anequipment violation, the releasesaid. A narcotics dog alerted au-thorities to the drugs — valued at$9,500 — stuffed inside a bag ofbarbecue-flavored Lay’s chips inthe back seat, the release said.

Brian J. Pedersen

Man gets probationfor money laundering

A 68-year-old man who ad-mitted to laundering money for aTucson-based drug traffickingring was given three years ofprobation Monday.

Jan Louis Beauchat must alsoforfeit the $137,000 he receivedfrom Walter K. Riedesel, one of14 people indicted over the pasttwo years as part of a drug traf-ficking ring with ties to the EastCoast, according to documentsfiled in U.S. District Court.

Beauchat admitted in June2008 he sold $137,000 worth ofrock ’n’ roll memorabilia postersto Riedesel, knowing the pay-ments were made from proceedsof drug trafficking, court recordsshow.

Riedesel and nine other de-fendants have pleaded guilty todrug trafficking charges.

Brian J. Pedersen

LAW AND

ORDER

On StarNet: Find an interactivemap of reported crimes in the

City of Tucson, updated every morn-ing with the previous day’s data, atgo.azstarnet.com/crime

Jesse JamesPerez-Geehan

Marcos Bustamante

Manuel Salvador

By Kim SmithARIZONA DAILY STAR

A 53-year-old man alreadycharged with killing his sister inSeptember 2003 was arraignedTuesday on first-degree mur-der and kidnapping charges inthe deaths of a Pima Countycouple.

“Not guilty” pleas were en-tered on behalf of MichaelJonathon Carlson by his attor-ney, Harley Kurlander.

Carlson is accused of killingKenneth Alliman, 49, and Re-becca Lou Lofton, 52, on May25, according to an indictmentunsealed Tuesday.

Carlson left Texas and movedto Alliman’s and Lofton’s prop-erty on Trico Road in mid-May,according to Pima CountySheriff’s Department officials.On June 2, Alliman and Loftonwere reported missing.

Carlson was arrested on anoutstanding Texas warrant forparole violation on June 16 andduring questioning, Carlson ad-mitted he’d lured his sister,Maria Thoma, to the CienegaCreek Wash area under the pre-text of digging up hidden moneyand shot her three times with ashotgun, court documents indi-cate.

Her body was discoveredOct. 1, 2003, near the MarshStation trestle.

Carlson also confessed he’dshot Alliman and Lofton todeath and then burned theirbodies over a three-day period,authorities said.

On June 22, Pima CountySheriff’s deputies found burnedfragments of human remains ina fire pit at the Trico Road prop-erty.

A status hearing in the dou-ble homicide case is scheduledfor Nov. 17 before Pima CountySuperior Court Judge RichardNichols.

By Brian J. PedersenARIZONA DAILY STAR

A 69-year-old Tucson manwas indicted last week oncharges he created a fake ab-ducted child recovery companyto bilk a man of $65,000.

Philip Wolfe-Fierson ischarged with five counts of wirefraud, according to the indict-ment filed in U.S. District Courtin Tucson.

Wolfe-Fierson was contactedin the spring of 2007 by a Cali-fornia man who was looking for away to get back his 2-year-olddaughter, who had been taken il-

legally to Argentina by the girl’smother,court records show.

The man found a companyonline called Delta International,which purported to specialize inabducted child recovery, courtrecords show. Wolfe-Fiersonwas the owner of Delta Interna-tional,court records show.

The man began contactingDelta and in April 2007 faxed aneight-page contract to Wolfe-Fierson and agreed to pay $65,000to have his daughter brought backto California,court records show.

The man made four paymentstotaling $65,000 to Delta be-

tween March and August 2007but in October 2007 received anemail from Wolfe-Fierson say-ing Delta had terminated theircontract,court records show.

Wolfe-Fierson spent 30months in federal prison afterpleading guilty to an unknowncharge in August 2001, courtrecords show.

He was placed on five years ofsupervised release, which wasset to end Sept. 2, according tocourt records.

Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at 573-4224 or [email protected]

5 counts of wire fraud for local man

Charged in ’03 killing, manarraigned in 2 more deaths

Driver in gang killing gets 1.5-year termBy Kim Smith

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The getaway driver in a fatalgang-related shooting was sen-tenced to 1.5 years in prisonMonday, said Deputy PimaCounty Attorney Lewis Brandes.

A Pima County jury convictedJose Uribe, 18, in June of hinder-ing prosecution, fleeing fromlaw enforcement and two countsof criminal trespass, but he was-n’t sentenced by Judge HowardHantman until Monday because

he fled before his trial and wasn’tarrested until recently.

Uribe is believed to havedriven Jesus “Jesse” Garcia, 24,away from the Circle K nearSouth 12th Avenue and WestDrexel Road shortly after Garciashot Roy David Fierros, 17, todeath in October 2008.

Brandes told jurors duringUribe’s trial that Uribe was ar-rested after crashing into a trail-er near South First Avenue andEast Drexel Road and hiding out

for a period of time. Authoritiesbelieve Uribe broke into two trail-ers while hiding, stole clothes andchanged into them in one of thetrailers,the prosecutor said.

Jurors didn’t know it, but af-ter Uribe was arrested, he post-ed $5,500 bail and fled, possiblyto Mexico. Brandes had no de-tails on how Uribe came to bearrested again.

Garcia is now serving a lifesentence with parole possibleafter 25 years.

Norma Verdugo

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR TUCSON & REGION • A15

The deceased are from Tucson unlessotherwise noted. Occupations arestated when available.

ACEVEDO, Hortensia A., 85, home-maker, Oct. 1, Carrillo’s.

BAINS, Richard R., 88, sales manag-er, Sept. 21, Desert Rose.

BAYSINGER, Mary E., 89, schoolteacher, Oct. 2, Adair Dodge.

BURKE, Delia, Santa Cruz, 57, Sept.30, furniture upholsterer, Sept. 30,Adair Dodge.

CARRILLO, Robert S., 68, railroad,

Oct. 2, Carrillo’s.CZESKI, Rose A., 85, registered

nurse, Oct. 2, Adair Dodge.DEAN, Joseph L., 58, plumber, Sept.

24, Desert Rose.DIMERCURIO, Mary H., 63, home-

maker, Oct. 1, Adair Dodge.FRUCHTERMAN, James R., 78,

lawyer, Sept. 24, Desert Rose.JARILLO, Jovita, 82, homemaker,

Oct. 5, Carrillo’s.HANANO, Mary Mitsuye, 94, retail

customer service, Sept. 29, AdairDodge.

HANSEN, Victor, 59, technician, Sept.24, Desert Rose.

HAVENS, Mary E., 77, bookkeeper,Sept. 17, Desert Rose.

HEWITT, Fred M., 82, Bisbee, ranch-er, Sept. 29, Adair Dodge.

HOAGLAND, Charles F., 96, Sept. 20,Desert Rose.

LECK, Jennifer D., 51, Sept. 8, DesertRose.

MAMEDOV, Dzhasim, 77, factory em-ployee, Oct. 3, Adair Dodge.

MARASCHIELLO, Sebastian C., 92,English teacher, Oct. 2, AdairDodge.

MARSH, Erika M., 27, student, Oct. 1,Carrillo’s.

MCWILLIAMS, Deborah, B., 65, ac-countant, Sept. 27, Desert Rose.

MEDINA, Lilliana, 46, Nogales, Ariz.,homemaker, Oct. 3, Adair Dodge.

MOORES, Damien, C., 32, construc-tion contractor, Sept. 25, AdairDodge.

MORRIS, James, A., 65, engineer,Sept. 27, Desert Rose.

PALLANES, Maria J., 78, teacher, Oct.2, Carrillo’s.

PERIGO, Curtis K., 88, mechanicalengineer, Sept. 18, Desert Rose.

PIERSON, Curtis L., 63, auto me-chanic, Sept 27, Desert Rose.

RENTERIA, Gloria A., 50, not avail-able, Sept. 26, Adair Dodge.

SPITZER, Ruth, 86, teacher, Sept. 29,Adair Dodge.

STEPHENS, Timothy I., 56, electri-cian, Sept. 17, Desert Rose.

STEWART, John L., 88, draftsman,Sept. 21, Desert Rose.

TAVOLINO, Eileen T., 79, homemaker,Oct. 2, Adair Dodge.

TAYLOR, Sable R., 47, housekeeper,Sept. 25, Adair Dodge.

TURNER, Margaret A., 83, caregiver,Sept. 22, Desert Rose.

VALENZUELA JR., Francisco R., 43,chef, Sept. 26, Carrillo’s.

VETTA, Penelope L., 31, retail storeassistant manager, Sept. 28, AdairDodge.

WRIGHT, Gregory D., 40, journey-man, Sept. 28, Adair Dodge.

ZENTZ, Dale, 57, mechanical mainte-nance, Oct. 5, Adair Dodge.

ZIELBAUER, Virginia J., 76, home-maker, Oct. 1, Adair Dodge.

DEATHS


A Tucson woman is facing alife sentence with or without thepossibility of parole after a PimaCounty jury convicted her Tues-day of first-degree murder in thestabbing death of her son.

Paramedics and Tucson policewho were summoned to DellaLisa Vermeule’s home in the3300 block of North GeronimoAvenue in July 2008 found Ver-meule and her son, Spencer Car-bone, 31, suffering from stabwounds.

Carbone died at UniversityMedical Center, and Vermeule,50, was arrested upon her releasefrom the hospital three days laterand charged with first-degreemurder.

On Friday, Vermeule told ju-rors that on the day her son died,she was under a lot of stress be-cause she was ill and worriedabout family issues. She’d beento the hospital earlier that morn-ing with a kidney ailment, butshe decided to come home whenshe was told she would have towait in the emergency room foreight to nine hours.

When she got home, Ver-meule testified that her son“started getting on her,” askingher for money.

They began to argue, and inthe middle of the argument, shesaw a butcher knife on her son’sbedroom entertainment center,Vermeule said.

“I spotted it. He spotted it andwe both reached for it,” Vermeuletestified.“We had a struggle overit. I didn’t know if he was goingto do me or do harm to himself.”

Vermeule told her attorney,county Assistant Public Defend-er John Sando, that she couldn’tremember who got the knifefirst, but her son was the last oneholding the knife.

Once she realized he’d beencut on the arm, she pleaded withhim to stop, but he kept backingher up toward the bathroomdoor, Vermeule said.

Some point after realizing she,too, had been stabbed, Vermeulesaid her son must have discoveredhe’d been stabbed in the side, be-cause he went into the living roomand collapsed into a chair.

Her son asked her to hold him,and she obliged, Vermeule testi-fied. She applied pressure to hiswound and rocked him while afriend called 911.

Vermeule said she vaguely re-members going to the hospitaland into the operating room.

When she regained con-sciousness, she was shackled to abed and had a police officerstanding guard over her, Ver-meule said.

She was told her appendix hadbeen removed, her spleen rup-tured and her colon had to be re-constructed.

During Deputy County At-torney Nicol Green’s cross-ex-amination, Vermeule deniedtelling police that her son cameout of a bathroom wielding theknife at her. She also deniedsaying her son was trying toharm himself.

Vermeule further deniedtelling police that one of herfriends could have stabbed herson or that she could havestabbed herself.

The defendant also adamant-ly denied exclaiming “You (ex-pletive) drove me to it” after herson collapsed, as one of herfriends had testified.

Vermeule will be sentencednext month by in Pima CountySuperior Court by Judge PaulTang.

Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241or [email protected]

Life without parolepossible for womanguilty of killing son

A14 • TUCSON & REGION Wednesday, October 14, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

READER-SUBMITTED PHOTO

Yep, that’s a ringtail all right Christian Roessler got a late-night visit from a ringtail and was able to cap-ture the state mammal of Arizona on film. See this photo, as well as pic-tures of other Arizona animals, at go.azstarnet.com/wildlife.

We’re looking for your best photos for our online galleries. So whether you want to share im-ages from college or high school sports events or a shot of Arizona’s wildlife, we want them all.Just go to go.azstarnet.com/galleries to upload your pictures.

Suspectin robberyshoots self,police say

By Brian J. PedersenARIZONA DAILY STAR

A man suspected of robbing asouth-side pizza place Mondayshot himself in the leg while com-mitting the crime,police said.

John B. Catania, 31, waswounded in his right thigh, saidSgt. Fabian Pacheco, a TucsonPolice Department spokesman.The wound was not life-threat-ening.

Just after 10 p.m. Monday, po-lice received a 911 call from awoman saying her boyfriend hadbeen shot. When police went tothe 3500 block of East Lee Street,

they foundCatania, whosaid he hadbeen shot bytwo men,Pacheco said.Catania said hedidn’t knowwhy he’d beenshot.

About ahalf-hour earlier, police had alsoreceived a report of a robbery atthe Little Caesar’s Restaurant,1998 E.Irvington Road.

Witnesses told police that therobber shot himself as he placedhis handgun in the front waist-band of his pants,Pacheco said.

Robbery detectives linkedCatania to the restaurant throughevidence at the home whereCatania was found,Pacheco said.

Catania was arrested on suspi-cion of armed robbery and wastaken to a hospital.

He is expected to be bookedinto the Pima County jail after heis released from the hospital,Pacheco said.

Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at 573-4224 or [email protected]

John B.Catania


The three people suspected ofkilling an Arivaca girl and her fa-ther in May may be getting sepa-rate trials.

In Pima County SuperiorCourt, attorneys for ShawnaForde, 41, Albert Robert Gaxiola,42, and Jason Eugene Bush, 35,told Judge John Leonardo Tues-day that they believe the facts ofthe case necessitate separate tri-als.

Bush and Gaxiola werebrought before Leonardo to dis-cuss possible trial dates; Forderefused to be brought to courtfrom the Pima County jail.

Leonardo scheduled a Nov. 23court date to discuss severing thecases. He also indicated that ifthe cases are separated, the firsttrial would likely be scheduledfor January 2011.

Prosecutor Rick Unklesbaytold the judge that he had giventhe defense attorneys almost allthe evidence in the case, al-though he is still awaiting FBIand lab reports.

The trio are accused in theslayings of Brisenia Flores, 9, andRaul Flores, 29, and in the at-tempted murder of Gina MarieGonzalez.

Gonzalez called 911 on May 30to report that several men and awoman claiming to be police of-ficers forced their way into herhome.

She told authorities that oneof the men killed her daughterand husband, and wounded herin the leg.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik saidat the time that Raul Flores wassuspected of being a drug dealer,and the three suspects targetedthe house with the intention ofstealing money and drugs.

Forde’s relatives say Forde hadtalked about robbing drug traf-fickers on the Arizona-Mexicoborder to fund a group calledMinutemen American Defenseto fight illegal immigration anddrug trafficking.

Bush, another member ofMinutemen American Defense,also is charged with two murdersin Washington state.

Separate trialssought for 3 inArivaca deaths

DEAN KNUTH / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Attorneys for Jason Bush, above, Shawna Forde and Albert Robert Gaxiola want separate trials in thekillings of Brisenia Flores, 9, and Raul Flores, 29. In that event, the trials will likely start in January 2011.


One of four men who pleadedguilty to committing a home in-vasion last March was sen-tenced to three years in prisonTuesday.

Alex Peter Lopez, 18, wassentenced in Pima County Su-perior Court by Judge RichardFields on two counts of armed

robbery.Lopez, Ronnie J. Anderson,

25, Diamond J. Taylor, 20, andAlbert Bell III, 24, walked inthrough the unlocked back doorof a home in the 1200 block ofEast Grant Road just after mid-night March 24, Tucson policesaid.

Once inside, Taylor pointed ashotgun at six of the seven Uni-versity of Arizona students in-side the house and forced themto empty their pockets while theother men ransacked the house,according to court records.

Taylor racked the shotgun

several times throughout the in-cident and struck one of the vic-tims in the head with the gunbefore the four men fled thehouse with a TV, a laptop com-puters, cash and jewelry.

The thieves left in a Ford Ex-pedition. One of the victims fol-lowed them and pointed the ve-hicle out to police, who hadbeen contacted by a friend ofone of the victims, who hadstayed out of sight during theincident.

The friend and the victim hadbeen exchanging instant mes-sages through the social net-

working site Facebook at the be-ginning of the incident, and thevictim alerted her friend aboutwhat was going on.

Police officers stopped thevehicle nearby in the 1200 blockof East Edison Street, and all ofthe men ran from the SUV.

Bell was found hiding in atrash can, and Lopez was innearby shed.

Both suffered bites from a po-lice dog while being arrested.

Anderson and Taylor were ar-rested at a home in the 400block of East Prince Road.

Bell and Anderson both

pleaded guilty to three counts ofaggravated assault with a deadlyweapon. Bell was sentenced totwo years in prison, and Ander-son was given three years.

Taylor pleaded guilty tothree counts of armed robberyand is facing up to 12ƒ years inprison when he’s sentenced onNov. 19.

On Tuesday, Lopez apolo-gized for his actions and sworehe would never end up beforeFields or any other judge again.


Man gets17 yearsfor boy’smolesting


A 73-year-old Marana manwas sentenced to 17 years inprison Tuesday for molesting ayoung boy more than a decadeago, said Deputy Pima CountyAttorney Ryan Schmidt.

Three brothers told theirguardian on Oct. 27, 2006, thatArnold L. Geib had molestedthem numerous times when theywere small children, according tocourt documents.

Their guardian then contactedMichigan authorities becausethat was where they were livingat that time. After Michigan au-thorities contacted the PimaCounty Sheriff’s Department,detectives learned the alleged in-cidents happened while Geibwas living in Sahuarita.

One of the brothers was 5years old at the time he was mo-lested; another is mentally chal-lenged.

Geib was indicted on multiplecharges on Dec. 4, 2006. He ac-knowledged last month that hecommitted certain acts with oneof the brothers, Schmidt said.

He pleaded guilty to molesta-tion of a child and attemptedsexual assault, Schmidt said. Hecould have received probation orup to 21« years in prison.

Judge Clark Munger of PimaCounty Superior Court sen-tenced him Tuesday.

Geib previously had been ar-rested in Pima County in 1982 onsuspicion of kidnapping andchild molestation. He pleaded toa lesser charge of child fondling,court documents show.

In 1989 in California, he failedto register as a sex offender. Hehas other felony and misde-meanor arrests and convictionsnot related to sexual abuse, ac-cording to court documents.

Man gets 3-year sentence for March home invasionHe, 3 accomplicesheld UA studentshostage with gun

All 45 cats taken from home on west side are euthanized

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

All 45 cats taken from thehome of an elderly woman onthe west side have been eutha-nized because they were sick orin poor health, the Pima Ani-mal Care Center said.

The cats were seized fromthe home in the 100 block ofSouth Grande Avenue on Mon-day afternoon, said JayneCundy, an Animal Carespokeswoman.

The cats had a variety ofhealth problems, includingsome that were underweightand others with severe respira-tory problems, she said.

A veterinarian made the de-termination to euthanize themafter examining the animals,Cundy said.

The woman, in her mid-70s,was cited for unsanitary shelter,failure to provide veterinary careand a lack of proper ventilation.

Veterans’ widows target of scamARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson police are looking fora man running a bank scam onwidows of deceased militaryveterans.

The man defrauded an eld-erly woman of several thou-sand dollars recently, saidOfficer Chuck Rydzak, a Tuc-son Police Departmentspokesman.

The man usually claims he isa law enforcement officer in-

vestigating fraud on the vic-tims. He is suspected of run-ning a similar scam in Califor-nia, Rydzak said.

He is described as beingabout 30 years old, 6 feet talland weighing about 160pounds with dark brown eyes.

The man has a swirl-styletattoo on the right side of hisneck.

Anyone with information isasked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Resort asksfor prayersin 2 deaths


SEDONA — The owners ofa resort where two peoplewere overcome in a sweatlodge and later died are askingfor prayers in hopes thatsomething positive will comeout of what they say was atragic and unexpected acci-dent.

Angel Valley Retreat Cen-ter owners Michael andAmayra Hamilton said in astatement Tuesday that aprayer ceremony had beenconducted at the sweat lodgesite for the victims, and theirfriends and families. Theysaid a heart-shaped memori-al had been laid with stonesfor 38-year-old Kirby Brownof Westtown, N.Y., and 40-year-old James Shore of Mil-waukee, who died Thursdayevening.

ARIZONA

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Friday, October 23, 2009 TUCSON & REGION • A19

The deceased are from Tucson un-less otherwise noted. Occupationsare stated when available.

ANTONELLI, Margaret, 90, home-maker, Oct. 13, Bring’s Broadway.

BEEL, L. Maxine, 91, homemaker,Oct. 12, East Lawn.

BEITEL, Donald E., 90, aerospace,Oct. 10, East Lawn.

BLAIR, J.C., 82, mining, Oct. 20, AdairAvalon.

BLOHM, Joanne, 74, pottery artist,Oct. 14, Bring’s Broadway.

BUTCHER, Lebert E., 74, military,Oct. 14, East Lawn.

CAMPBELL, Don B., 86, dentist,

Oct. 10, East Lawn.CARAMELLA, Mae, 96, homemaker,

Oct. 14, Bring’s Broadway.CARTER, Timothy R., 58, mechanic,

Oct. 18, East Lawn.COLVIN, Beal H., 89, machinist,

Oct. 16, Bring’s Broadway.COTTON, Mary, 97, loan clerk, Oct. 15,

East Lawn.FINLEY, Murray, 92, railroad manage-

ment consultant, Oct. 18, Bring’sBroadway.

HAGEN, Warn, 54, homemaker,Oct. 15, Bring’s Broadway.

JACOBSON, Esther, 92, homemaker,Oct. 7, East Lawn.

LEE, Robert A., age unavailable, min-

ing manager, Oct. 16, Adair Avalon.MALIN, Leona J., 92, homemaker,

Oct. 17, Bring’s Broadway.MANN, Vernon LeRoy, 86, minister,

Oct. 15, East Lawn.MASCARELLA, Lois N., 81, facilities

coordinator, Oct. 17, East Lawn.MAURER, Kenneth C., 76, police offi-

cer, Oct. 13, East Lawn.MONROE, June, 80, secretary,

Oct. 17, Bring’s Broadway.NAYLOR, Betty H., 82, homemaker,

Oct. 17, East Lawn.ORRED, Eva Vivien, 86, homemaker,

Oct. 15, East Lawn.ROADY, Florence H., 96, homemaker,

Oct. 18, East Lawn.

ROSENBERG, Albert, 65, investor,Oct. 12, East Lawn.

SAMPSON, Marshall D., 93, lawyer,Oct. 16, East Lawn.

SESSA, Laura M., 89, registerednurse, Oct. 13, East Lawn.

SHELKSOHN, Owen D., 33, softwareengineer, Oct. 9, Bring’s Broadway.

THEISS, Francine, 84, dental hygien-ist, Oct. 18, Bring’s Broadway.

WILSON, Vernon, 85, educator,Oct. 15, Bring’s Broadway.

YAGER, Vera, 83, assistant directorfor special education, Oct. 14,Bring’s Broadway.

DEATHS

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tantalizing beef brisket sand-wiches, steaming chicken matzoball soup, hummus and pita,pierogi, shish kebabs, decadentdesserts and many more mouth-watering foods will be offered atthe second annual Jewish FoodFestival and Family Fun Fair.

The festival and cook-off isscheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.Sunday at Brandi Fenton Memo-rial Park, 3482 E. River Road.

The one-day event will fea-ture live musical entertainment,a food cook-off, craft vendors,

Judaica gifts from CongregationOr Chadash sisterhood gift shop,children’s activities and foodfrom some of Tucson’s hottestrestaurants.

Admission is $3 for adults.Children under 12 get in free.Parking is plentiful and free.

Admission proceeds will ben-efit the Community Food Bank,Congregation Or Chadash andInterfaith Community Services.

For more information,go onlineto www.jewishfoodfestival.comor call Congregation Or Chadashat 512-8500.

By Phil VillarrealARIZONA DAILY STAR

U.S. Border Patrol agents dis-covered a smuggling tunnel un-der the border in Nogales, Ariz.,on Wednesday. It was the firstpassageway agents have found inthe Tucson Sector in nearly fourmonths.

The 30-foot tunnel, 150 yardseast of the DeConcini Port of En-try, was fortified on the Mexicanside with shoring, but on theAmerican side it appeared unfin-ished, U.S. Border Patrol spokes-man Mario Escalante said.

The tunnel was not connectedto the drainage system. Escalantesaid there was no evidence as towho was using the tunnel.

“They already had an openingon the north side at the time wefound it,” Escalante said. “It’shard to say who was using it, butthe point of a tunnel system (is touse it).”

The tunnel seems to haveoriginated on the Mexican sideof the border, whereit starts off

3 feet wide by 3 feet high. Onthe American side, the tunnel isdirt-only and shrinks in size to18 inches in circumference.

“On the Mexican side it’sproperly done, but from thatpoint on it’s kind of a hand-dugtunnel,” Escalante said.

Escalante said an outside con-tractor would fill in the hole withconcrete in a remediationprocess today at the latest.

Lucero Salazar Cruz, a spokes-woman with the Nogales, Sonora,police,said city police involvementin the discovery was limited to se-curing the entrance. She said theMexican army has jurisdictionover the case.

The Mexican army officials inSonora could not immediatelyconfirm information related tothe tunnel.

Reporter Mariana Alvarado contributed tothis article.Contact reporter Phil Villarreal at 573-4130 or [email protected]

BRUCE McCLELLAND / ARIZONA DAILY STAR 1984

MINORITY VIEWPOINTJulian Bond, then a Georgia state senator, addressed several hundredpeople at the UA on Oct. 23, 1984. He talked about the Reagan admin-istration and its impact on minorities. He believed the Reagan admin-istration had been a disaster, and said, “The most effective spokesmanfor privilege sits in the White House, and the gains of the past 20 yearsare being whittled away.” He did express optimism that a sizable num-ber of people did not share President Ronald Reagan’s vision.

TUCSON TIME CAPSULE

Tucson Time Capsule is a daily feature, a photographic record of Tucson as it was. If you have a memoryof an event, please go to go.azstarnet.com/timecapsule, where you can find all of the Time Cap-sule photos. You can also add your own historical Tucson photos to the collection. Please observe copy-right laws.

Jewish food fest, cook-offwill benefit food bank, too

Pair found slain were‘violently attacked’

Tucson police on Thursdaysaid a pair found slain at a north-side apartment were “violentlyattacked.”

Police still have not releaseddetails nor a motive in the attackbut they did identify the pairwho lived together at the apart-ment in the 2800 block of NorthMountain Avenue, north of EastGlenn Street, where their bodieswere found

The victims are MalcolmWheeler, 23, and Crystal Julian,34.

An acquaintance called policeto the apartment home reportingsuspicious activity just before 5p.m. Wednesday, police said.

No suspects had been identi-fied. Anyone with information isasked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.

Staff report

Head-on collisionnear Bisbee kills two

Two people died in a head-oncollision Thursday morning nearBisbee, authorities said.

George Root, 48, of Tucson,and William I. Enriquez, 38, ofBisbee, were pronounced dead atthe scene after a 1-ton Ford truckand a 2006 Ford station wagoncollided on Arizona 80 near theMule Mountain Tunnel, accord-ing to the Arizona Department ofPublic Safety.

Root was a passenger in thetruck when it struck the stationwagon, which was driven by En-riquez, DPS said.

Two other men suffered in-juries in the collision, DPS said.

Jason Tarket, 30, the driver ofthe truck, was in fair condition.William M. Enriquez, 19, a pas-senger in the station wagon, wasstill in the emergency room lateThursday, according to Univer-sity Medical Center.

Jamar Younger

Man dies of woundsin group-home attack

A 50-year-old man who wasstabbed at a group home lastmonth died this week as a resultof his injuries, police said.

Michael DeWeese was pro-nounced dead Tuesday. He wasstabbed Sept. 29 at a group homein the 1500 block of East Drach-man Street, said Sgt. FabianPacheco, a Tucson Police De-partment spokesman.

The suspect, Andrew Garcia,19, was found in the surroundingneighborhood on the day of thestabbing and taken into custody,Pacheco said.

Garcia is now booked intoPima County jail on suspicion offirst-degree murder.

DeWeese and Garcia got into afight over tobacco before De-Weese was stabbed severaltimes, police said. They bothlived at the home, police said.

Jamar Younger

Another fire quelled at recycling plant

A fire burned through a pile ofrecycled materials at a north-west-side recycling plantThursday, authorities said.

Firefighters arrived at theblaze just after 4 p.m. and foundmaterials on fire at RecycleAmerica, 3909 N. RunwayDrive, near Interstate 10 andWest Prince Road, said Capt. Tr-ish Tracy, a Tucson Fire Depart-ment spokeswoman.

It took firefighters about an

hour to control the blaze, Tracysaid.

The fire was caused by somediscarded materials burning atthe bottom of the pile, she said.No buildings were damaged andno one was injured, she said.

Another fire burned a pile ofrecycled debris at the plant May19, she said.

Jamar Younger

Contraband costsinmate 33 months

A federal prison inmate inTucson was sentenced Thursdayto 33 more months for possess-ing contraband.

Prosecutors say 31-year-oldJoseph William Nichols of Tuc-son pleaded guilty in August andwill serve the additional sen-tence after he completes his cur-rent 66-month term for a Texasbank robbery .

Authorities say Nichols wasassigned to the kitchen staff at thefederal penitentiary in Tucson onAug. 12, 2007, when a supervisornoticed Nichols was acting suspi-cious and appeared to be hidingsomething in his clothing.

Prison officials searchedNichols and found a 6-inch-longplastic shank, made from a plas-tic chair in his prison cell, hiddenin the hemline of his pants.

They say a search of thekitchen resulted in the discoveryof two packages hidden under anupside-down pan on a table. Thepackages contained five serratedknife blades, nine box-cutter ra-zor blades, 10 syringes with hy-podermic needles, four rolls ofmarijuana and other items.

The Associated Press

LAW AND

ORDER


City of Tucson, updated every morn-ing with the previous day’s data, atgo.azstarnet.com/crime

Smuggling tunnel foundunder border in Nogales By Jamar Younger

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The Tucson Police Depart-ment is joining with the PimaCounty Attorney’s Office andprivate businesses to rid thewalls throughout Tucson ofgraffiti.

Tucson police Chief RobertoVillaseñor announced Thursdaythe department has taken overthe city’s Graffiti AbatementProgram and will use officers tohelp fight graffiti and catch tag-gers.

The initiative will include anew graffiti hotline availablethrough 88-CRIME to reportsuspect information.

The department also will part-ner with other businesses to cleangraffiti and raise money for re-sources to fight the vandalism.

Here are some specifics of theprogram:

What is it?The Tucson Police Depart-

ment has formed the TargetingAll Graffiti — TAG — unit, whichwill work with a graffiti removalcompany to identify suspectedtaggers and investigate graffitivandalism.

The unit and the company,Graffiti Protective Coatings, willshare a database that will includephotographs and other informa-tion about graffiti incidents.

The removal company willtake photos of graffiti whilecleaning the vandalism.

People can now call 88-CRIME to give information onsuspected taggers. Residents canstill call 792-CITY to reportgraffiti in their neighborhoods.

Who’s involved?In addition to TAG-unit offi-

cers, Graffiti Protective Coat-ings and the County Attorney’sOffice, Target Corp. will workwith local businesses to raisemoney and volunteer to clean upgraffiti.

Clear Channel Radio is airingpublic-service announcementsthat warn graffiti artists about

the consequences of vandalism.

Who will the program target?

The program will target graf-fiti artists and taggers who van-dalize property.

TAG officers will use tips, thedatabase and other informationto identify names and monikersof graffiti artists.

Anyone arrested for tagging orusing graffiti can face criminal-damage and vandalism charges.

Why are authoritiestargeting graffiti?

Villaseñor referred to thegraffiti problem in Tucson as an“epidemic” and “quality of life”issue.

City officials cited the diffi-culty of cleaning up graffiti, onlyto have it reappear as soon as thenext day.

“This is a crime committedfrequently in the dark of thenight,” said Pima County Attor-ney Barbara LaWall.

Problem areasThe areas with the worst graf-

fiti problems include neighbor-hoods near East Broadway andNorth Camino Seco, downtownnear Stone Avenue and Broadwayand the area near South 12th Av-enue and West Irvington Road,according to Graffiti ProtectiveCoatings.

How much will it cost?The program has a budget of

$720,000 a year, which had al-ready been allotted for the ef-fort, Villaseñor said.

The TAG-unit police officerswere reassigned from the Vio-lent Crimes Task Force, whichhas been disbanded.

The task force was chargedwith breaking up loud partiesand other incidents that lead toviolent crimes. Two othersquads will still perform thoseduties, police said.

Contact reporter Jamar Younger at 573-4115 or [email protected]

TPD unit to combat‘epidemic’ of graffiti

CHASE K

¤

AMKiss

Stamp

A24 • TUCSON & REGION Friday, October 30, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

By Rhonda BodfieldARIZONA DAILY STAR

Republican candidate ShaunMcClusky filed a complaintagainst the Pima County Demo-cratic Party on Thursday, alleg-ing a flier that went to house-holds last week violated cam-paign-finance laws.

The Democratic Party, whichhas called the complaint a frivo-lous and “last-minute desperateattempt of a losing candidate,”sent a two-sided flier to house-holds last week. On the front is apicture, in black and white, of asmiling Republican Gov. JanBrewer, surrounded by head-lines, largely culled from editori-als from around the state andblasting the budget battle as a“bad rerun” and criticizing theinfighting dividing Brewer and

lawmakers.Text along the top and bottom

warns, “Don’t let the Republi-cans do to Tucson what they’vedone to Arizona.”

On the back, the flier states,“Right-wing Republican ex-tremism is not working up inPhoenix, it certainly won’t workfor Tucson,” and shows faceshots of the three Republicancandidates.

The flier states that BenBuehler-Garcia wants to repealimpact fees, which it argueswould shift the burden to tax-payers of paying for infrastruc-ture such as roads, utilities andpublic safety. It states that ShaunMcClusky wants to raise taxes,eliminate economic develop-ment and cut programs for fami-lies. It also says Steve Kozachik

opposes a Convention Centerhotel, even though such a deci-sion would force the gem show toleave Tucson.

McClusky cited an Arizonastatute that requires a politicalcommittee making an inde-pendent expenditure relating “toany one candidate or office”within 10 days of the election tosend a certified copy of the cam-paign literature to the candidatementioned in the piece.

McClusky has not said on thecampaign trail that he wants toraise taxes. He is backing Prop.200, which would mandatehigher public-safety staffing ra-tios, which local DemocraticParty Chairman Jeff Rogers con-tends would either decimate cityprograms or force a tax increase.McClusky has suggested cutting

funding to the region’s economicdevelopment arm, saying it isnot doing a good job at luringhigh-paying jobs to town.

Buehler-Garcia has not saidon the stump that he wants torepeal impact fees, although hedid lobby against them as a lob-byist for the Tucson Metropoli-tan Chamber of Commerce andhas said they depress home-ownership rates.

Kozachik, meanwhile, has saidthat if Tucson is going “grow anddevelop as a major community,we need to have a ConventionCenter hotel downtown.” He hasalso said, however, that he doesnot support asking taxpayers tofund it, instead saying the cityshould encourage the privatesector to develop the hotel.

“Permitting renegade organi-

zations to drop last-minutecharges is a disservice to the vot-ers of Tucson,” McClusky wrotein the complaint. Alleging thatthe campaign was not independ-ent from the candidates, as re-quired by the law, he demandedan investigation subpoena phoneand e-mail records between theparty and the candidates.

City Clerk Roger Randolphsaid he received the complaintand was looking into it, but hadno further comment.

“ ‘Right-wing extremist’ isjust a nasty label designed tomake conservatives look likethey’re not rational,” said PimaCounty Republican ChairmanBob Westerman, who said heagrees with McClusky that themailer was not legal. He said hethought such mudslinging

would backfire against the De-mocrats.

Rogers, however, said themailer was clearly allowed underthe law. The piece refers to threecandidates and does not singleany candidate out, which puts itoutside of the statutory refer-ence cited by McClusky. It alsofalls outside the 10-day period.

And, he said, there was no col-lusion with the candidates, say-ing the charge was baseless andthat the themes in this electionare simply similar to the candi-date platforms.

He accused McClusky of try-ing to “either gain publicity ortarnish the Democratic Party orits candidates.”

Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at 573-4243 or [email protected]

JIM DAVIS / ARIZONA DAILY STAR 1979

MAYORAL MALLEABILITYA mayor presides over a lot of openings and dedications and is used toworking with whatever equipment is provided. So when Tucson Mayor LewMurphy addressed the crowd at the opening ceremonies for the Gemcodepartment store at 7151 E. Speedway, it was probably no big deal that hislectern was contrived from two shopping carts. The new store was part ofthe Lucky Stores chain. It covered 102,000 square feet and would carrythe grocery brands Lady Lee and Harvest Day.

TUCSON TIME CAPSULE

Tucson Time Capsule is a daily feature,a photographic record of Tucson as itwas. If you have a memory of an event,please go to go.azstarnet.com/timecapsule, where you can find allof the Time Capsule photos. You canalso add your own historical Tucsonphotos to the collection. Please ob-serve copyright laws.

McClusky files complaint over Dems’ mailer

Family sues driverin fatal DUI collision

The family of a 54-year-oldman killed last year in a head-on,alcohol-related collision hasfiled a wrongful death lawsuitagainst the driver of the other carand her parents.

Christine Meneses is suingElizabeth Tuccini on behalf ofher siblings and grandmother,according to the lawsuit, filedThursday in Pima County Supe-rior Court.

Tuccini, 22, was found guiltyof negligent homicide two weeksago in the December 2008 deathof Marco Salazar.

Deputy Pima County Attor-ney Victoria Otto presented evi-dence Tuccini was drunk anddriving at a high speed when shecollided head-on with Salazartwo miles north of the MaranaRoad exit on the Interstate 10frontage road.

Tuccini's blood alcohol levelwas 0.157 about 90 minutes afterthe crash; the legal limit in Ari-zona is 0.08.

Tuccini admitted to authori-ties she’d mixed a pint of Jäger-meister with Red Bull before get-ting behind the wheel of herpickup.

The lawsuit,which was filed onMeneses’ behalf by attorneyKevin Moore, seeks unspecifiedcompensatory and punitive dam-ages from Tuccini and her par-ents,whose car she was driving.

Kim Smith

DPS seizes pot loadstotaling over 1,300 lbs.

A pair of marijuana seizures inCochise County netted morethan 1,300 pounds of contrabandWednesday, the Arizona Depart-ment of Public Safety said.

A DPS officer discovered 1,222pounds of marijuana in a com-partment underneath a flatbedtruck that had been stopped formaking an unsafe lane change onArizona 90 south of Benson at4:30 p.m. Wednesday, accordingto a DPS news release.

The two men who were in theflatbed fled into the desert afterbeing pulled over and could notbe found, DPS said.

DPS officers also discovered97 pounds of marijuana in thetrunk of a 1996 Toyota Camrythat had been pulled over for fol-lowing too closely on Interstate10 west of Benson just before 9a.m. Wednesday, DPS said.

The vehicle’s driver, 25-year-old Michael Florez, was drivingon a suspended license and wasbooked into the Sierra Vista jailon suspicion of possession ofmarijuana and suspicion oftransportation of marijuana forsale, DPS said.

Brian J.Pedersen

2 jailed in bank heiston northeast side

Tucson police arrested twomen Tuesday in connection witha northeast-side bank robberyearlier that day.

JuJuan M. Gibson, 20, andDanny J. Simmons, 23, werebooked into the Pima County jailon two counts each of suspicionof armed robbery, suspicion ofaggravated robbery and suspi-cion of aggravated assault with a

deadlyweapon, ac-cording to aTucson PoliceDepartmentnews release.

A bank rob-bery was re-ported around4:15 p.m. at aCompass Bankbranch withinthe Albert-son’s grocerystore at 6660E. TanqueVerde Road,the releasesaid.

Witnessessaid two menhad robbedthe bank atgunpoint andleft after get-

ting an undisclosed amount ofmoney, the release said.

Detectives were given a de-scription of the getaway car, andit was found unoccupied nearEast Pima Street and NorthRook Avenue, the release said.

Gibson and Simmons weretaken into custody about 6:30p.m. Tuesday at an address asso-ciated with the vehicle, the re-lease said.

Brian J.Pedersen

Tubac man, 41, diesafter motorcycle crash

A 41-year-old Tubac man diedMonday from injuries received ina motorcycle accident over theweekend just off Interstate 19south of Amado, the Arizona De-partment of Public Safety said.

Martin Petersen was found ly-ing unresponsive on the I-19frontage road by two Border Pa-trol agents at 3:10 a.m. Saturday,said Officer Quent Mehr, a DPSspokesman.

Petersen’s motorcycle was ly-ing on its side in the middle ofthe road, Mehr said.

No cause has been deter-mined for the crash. No evi-dence was found indicating themotorcycle was run off the roador had made any type of evasivemaneuver before the crash,Mehr said.

It appears Petersen was notwearing a helmet, Mehr said.

Brian J.Pedersen

City panel to discussrace, justice system

The Tucson Police Depart-ment and the city of Tucson’sOffice of the Independent PoliceAuditor are hosting a public fo-rum Thursday to discuss the im-pact of race on policing thecriminal justice system.

Representatives from locallaw enforcement agencies andcourt systems have been invitedas panel members for the event,scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. at PimaCollege’s West Campus, 2202 W.Anklam Road.

The forum is free and open tothe public. For information call791-4593 or 791-4441.

1 dead, 1 injured in Safford-area crash

A single-vehicle crash killedone person Thursday on U.S.Highway 191 near Safford, ac-cording to the Arizona Depart-ment of Public Safety.

Another person suffered seri-ous injuries from the crash, whichoccurred at 1:50 p.m. on the high-way north of Safford,DPS said.

No other information wasavailable.

Jamar Younger

LAW AND

ORDER


city of Tucson, updated every morn-ing with the previous day’s data, atgo.azstarnet.com/crime

JuJuan Gibson

DannySimmons

ARIZONA

Burns releases hold on nonbudget legislationBy Howard Fischer

CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — Senate Presi-dent Bob Burns is scrapping theblockade he imposed on keylegislation last session to getlawmakers to focus on thebudget.

Burns said Thursday he willallow the people he has chosento run various committees todecide which measures to de-bate and bring up for a votewhen lawmakers reconvene inJanuary.

That is in line with what has

historically been the practice, atleast until this past sessionwhen Burns ordered that noth-ing dealing with changes in statelaw or policy be heard untilthere was a budget plan.

The result was a huge back-log of bills, with severalmonths’ worth of legislationbeing voted on in just weeks. Italso meant that the majority ofproposals, including many bythe Republicans who controlthe Legislature, never got aSenate hearing, much less be-came law.

Yet, it still took lawmakersuntil the last possible minute ofthe fiscal year — actually slight-ly beyond — to adopt a newspending plan.

Despite that, Burns toldCapitol Media Services thatdidn’t make how he handled thelast session a mistake.

“The exercise that we wentthough last year, which was toget people more up to speed onsome of the budget issues, Ithink served a purpose,” he said,considering the size of thedeficit and no clear consensus

on how to handle it.In the end, lawmakers ap-

proved a plan that largely reliedon spending cuts and some bor-rowing, only to have Gov. JanBrewer veto key elements be-cause they did not also approveher demand to let voters decidewhether to temporarily hike thestate sales tax.

Burns said the budget, whichstill is not in balance for thisyear, remains the top priority.But he said there is no reason torepeat the “exercise” of haltingaction on everything else.

SURVEILLANCE PHOTO VIA TUCSON POLICE

A bank-camera photo, released by Tucson police, shows a robbery inprogress at a Compass Bank branch inside a grocery store.

Ruling: Public records includeall the embedded electronic info

By Howard FischerCAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX — Governmentofficials cannot deny public ac-cess to the electronic tidbitsthat are embedded in theirrecords, the Arizona SupremeCourt ruled Thursday.

In a precedent-setting deci-sion, the justices said the elec-tronic tags, word-processing,database and spreadsheet pro-grams attached to files and doc-uments are as much a part ofthe public record as the actualprintout itself.

The court was quick to saythe new ruling does not man-date that documents be storedin an electronic format. Nordoes it require governments tocreate new files.

But Justice Scott Bales, writ-ing for the unanimous court,said if there is an electronicrecord, the public is entitled tothe entire record, including theembedded data.

Thursday’s decision is sig-nificant as more and more pub-lic records are created by — andstored in — computers.

Dan Barr, an attorney for the

First Amendment Coalition,which filed a legal brief in sup-port of public access to what isknown as “metadata,” said thedecision will make public-records requests quicker andcheaper. He said it also willmake research easier.

Most immediately, it will en-able those who demand a recordto see, at the very least, exactlywhen it was created.

Virtually all computer fileshave embedded data: Clickingon a document in a directorylisting reveals its electronicproperties, including not justthe type of document it is butalso its origination date. Thatcan provide valuable informa-tion, particularly when there isa question of whether a docu-ment was actually writtenwhen claimed.

But the ruling is a defeat for theAttorney General’s Office, whichargued that lawmakers never in-tended for that information to bepart of the public record.

The case involves DavidLake, a Phoenix police officerwho had filed an administrativecomplaint and federal lawsuit

alleging employment discrimi-nation. Lake also submitted apublic-records request to thecity for notes kept by his super-visor documenting the officer’swork.

Lake, suspecting some docu-ments created on a computerhad been back-dated, asked forthe metadata, including “theTRUE creation date, the accessdate, the access dates for eachtime it was accessed, includingwho accessed the file as well asprint dates, etc.” When the citysaid that data was not a publicrecord, Lake sued.

A trial judge and the stateCourt of Appeals rejected hisarguments, saying what Lakesought did not fit within thewhat are considered “publicrecords” under Arizona law.

But Bales said the Court ofAppeals made the mistake oftrying to separate the metadatafrom the document itself. Hesaid the question is simplerthan that: Does the record re-quested include not just the in-formation normally visible butalso the embedded data? Balessaid the answer clearly is yes.

Sweat-lodge guru cancelsseminars in wake of deaths


PHOENIX — Motivationalspeaker and author James ArthurRay is canceling his remaining2009 seminars in the wake ofthree deaths that occurred aftera sweat-lodge ceremony he ledthis month in northern Arizona.

Ray announced on his blog onThursday that he needs to dedi-cate all his “physical and emo-tional energies” to bringing clo-sure to the matter.

Ray is the subject of a criminal

investigation by Arizona authori-ties looking into the Oct. 8 sweat-lodge ceremony at a high-pricedretreat outside Sedona. Besidesthe three deaths, 18 others amongmore than 55 people inside thesweat lodge were hospitalized. Nocharges have been filed.

Ray has not spoken to YavapaiCounty investigators but says heis cooperating fully and writesthat he is “helping the authori-ties and the families get to thebottom of what happened.”

A18 • TUCSON & REGION Friday, November 6, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The city’s police radar van is sched-uled to snap photographs of speed-ers at these locations today, accord-ing to the Tucson Police Department:• 6 to 9:30 a.m.: In front of

Townsend Elementary School, inthe 2100 block of North BeverlyAvenue.

• 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: On East29th Street between South Cray-croft Road and South Swan Road.

• 1:30 to 4 p.m.: In front of Los Ami-gos Elementary School, in the2200 block of East Drexel Road.

• 4:30 to 8 p.m.: On East Broadwaynear Santa Rita Avenue.

TODAYChess club — Oro Valley Public Li-

brary, 1305 W. Naranja Drive. Foradults and serious youth players.1-5 p.m. Nov. 6. Free. 229-5300.

Comin’ Home 20th anniversarydinner — El Conquistador CountryClub, 10555 N. La Canada Road,Oro Valley. Dinner, silent auctionand a surprise retired militaryguest speaker. Organization pro-vides assistance to homeless vet-erans. Reservation deadline: Nov.6. $60. 820-1622.

Great Beginnings Infant Care —University Medical Center, 1501 N.Campbell Ave. Learn how to takecare of a newborn, the milestonesto watch for in your baby’s devel-opment, and the latest informa-tion on home and car safety. 5-7:30 p.m. Nov. 6. $15. 694-6667.

IONS monthly presentation — Mar-shall Conference Center,TucsonMedical Center, 5301 E. Grant Road.“The Living Classroom: Teachingand Collective Consciousness”byChris Bache, an award-winningteacher, author and researcher. Pre-sented by the Institute of NoeticSciences. 6:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 6. $5suggested donation. 798-6300.

Scarecrows in the Gardens —TucsonBotanical Gardens, 2150 N.AlvernonWay. Handcrafted scarecrows of allshapes and sizes. 8:30 a.m.-4:30p.m. Nov. 6. Included in garden ad-mission: $7; $3 kids. 326-9686.

Southwest American Indian artlecture series — Morning StarTraders, 2020 E. Speedway. 2 p.m.Nov. 6. Free. 881-2112.

Urban Yarns at the Library — Joel D.Valdez Main Library, 101 N. StoneAve. Bring your hooks, needles andlunches. No instruction provided.Noon-1 p.m. Nov. 6. Free. 791-4010.

SATURDAYAnnual Treasure House estate sale

— Plaza Palomino, Red Sky

Restaurant space, 2900 N. SwanRoad. Annual sale of upscale an-tiques, furniture, silver, china, col-lectibles and other decorative andunique household treasure. 10a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 7. Free. 250-6680.

Writing Inspired by Butterflies —Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N.Alvernon Way. Participants willwrite memoir, essays, myth, poetryor children's stories with authorConnie Spittler.Writers will thenshare their work with the class. Pre-registration required.Three ses-sions. 10 a.m.-noon Nov. 7. $52; $45TBG members. 326-9686, Ext. 19.

ShredFest 2009 — Better BusinessBureau of Southern Arizona, 434 SWilliams Blvd. This event gives res-idents a secure way to recycle olddocuments, and for the first timecollects old cell phones, comput-ers, laptops, parts, peripherals andoffice equipment. 9 a.m.-noonNov. 7. $10 suggested donation perbox of paper shredded. 888-6161.

Junior Scientist Kids Day — Univer-sity Libraries Science-EngineeringLibrary, 744 N. Highland Ave.Geared for elementary- and mid-dle-school children. Hands-on, sci-ence-related activity tables. 9:30a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 7. Free. 621-6375.

Adoption training — Southern Ari-zona Center Against Sexual As-sault, 1600 N. Country Club Road.For professionals who servewomen who experience unintend-ed pregnancies. 8:15 a.m.-1 p.m.Nov. 7. Free. 327-2387.

Used-book sale — St. Philip’s In theHills Church, 4440 N. CampbellAve. Proceeds benefit the churchlibrary. 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 7.Free. 299-6421.

Computer class — Joel D. ValdezMain Library, 101 N. Stone Ave. Top-ics can include résumé writing, on-line job searching, e-mail accountsand more. Registration required. 10a.m.-noon Nov. 7. Free. 594-5500.

More listings at dailystarcalendar.com

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

RADAR VAN LOCATIONS

Murder ofwoman drawslife sentence


A handyman who murderedan 89-year-old Sahuaritawoman was sentenced Thurs-day to life in prison with releasepossible after 25 years.

In Pima County SuperiorCourt, Judge John Leonardoalso gave Edward Terrazas Vil-la an extra four years for bur-glary and car theft, which willbe served consecutively withthe life sentence, DeputyCounty Attorney RichardWintory said.

Villa was convicted lastmonth of first-degree murderin the death of Robin Satinskyand of stealing her car.

Wintory told jurors thatSatinsky was reported missingin late October 2007 after wor-ried family members andfriends couldn’t reach her forseveral days.

Satinsky’s car was found in aparking lot near South 12th Av-enue and West Valencia Road inTucson on Nov. 7, and her bodywas found seven months laterby a motorcyclist who brokedown south of Pima MineRoad.

Satinsky was clothed only ina nightgown and socks. Herlegs and mouth had been duct-taped, and an autopsy revealedshe’d been strangled.

While investigating the case,detectives learned Villa hadbeen doing work for Satinsky,and he’d once been arrested forstealing her car, although henever had been prosecuted forthat.

In addition, they learnedVilla worked across the streetfrom where Satinsky’s car wasfound, and his DNA was foundin the car. Artwork and teaservices belonging to Satinskywere found in Villa’s storageunit, Wintory said.

The prosecutor argued thatVilla killed Satinsky to cover upthe fact that he’d stolen her cara second time.


Man convicted in fatal DUI rearrestedBy Kim Smith

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A 19-year-old who could re-ceive probation next month in afatal DUI-related crash was ar-rested early Wednesday morningon suspicion of driving under theinfluence and drug possessioncharges.

A convenience-store clerkcalled the Pima County Sheriff’sDepartment early Wednesdaymorning to report two underagepeople were trying to buy alco-hol, said Deputy Pima CountyAttorney Heather Lane.

When a deputy tried to pullthe suspects’ car over in thestore’s parking lot, the driver re-peatedly tried to evade him, butthe deputy was able to box thecar in, Lane said.

The passenger fled, but MiguelRodriguez, the driver, was taken

into custody, Lane said.Rodriguez had cocaine with

him, and a breath test came backpositive for the presence of alco-hol, Lane said.

Pima County Superior CourtJudge Deborah Bernini orderedRodriguez held without bond onthe new case Wednesday after-noon and imposed a $200,000bond in his old case, Lane said.

Rodriguez was convicted Oct.30 of driving with an illegal drug inhis system and leaving the sceneafter causing a fatal crash, but hewas allowed to remain free pend-ing his Dec.11 sentencing hearing.

The charges stemmed fromthe July 2008 death of LenoraFlorez, 45.

Rodriguez turned left in frontof Florez,causing her to crash intohim near Old Nogales Highwayand Old Vail Connection Road.

Florez, who was not wearing aseat belt, died almost immedi-ately.

Rodriguez left the scene andwas arrested about 45 minutesafter the crash.

The jury convicted Rodriguezof having marijuana in his sys-tem but acquitted him of drivingunder the influence of marijua-na. They also acquitted him ondrug-possession and drug-paraphernalia charges.

Assistant Pima County PublicDefender CeCelia Valentine de-clined to comment on Ro-driguez’s new arrest.

When Bernini sentences Ro-driguez, she could place him onprobation or give him up to fiveyears in prison.


DEAR ABBY By Jeanne Phillips • Universal Press Syndicate

DEAR ABBY: My boss wantsmy cell-phone number for“work purposes.” He has troublewith limits, and I am reluctant togive it to him. I don’t want to re-ceive text messages, unsolicitedcalls or contact outside of work.My private life is just that — pri-vate.

Am I out of line? I realizethat many people use their cellphones as their only phonesand others don’t mind receiv-ing calls, but am I required todo so?

I think this has upset my bosseven though I have explained myreason. I don’t use my cell phoneon the job; it’s in my purse exceptduring personal time. Must Igive up my privacy to keep myjob? — WANTS PRIVACY

DEAR WANTS PRIVACY: Aslong as your boss has your homephone and can reach you in caseof some emergency, I see no rea-son why he should be pressuringyou for your cell-phone number.

Stick to your guns, and don’tapologize for it.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a 16-year-old girl whose parents have beenmarried for almost 19 years.Mom started school two yearsago to become a nurse.

She has always been inde-pendent, but since she wentback to school and is making herown money, she wants to bemore free. Mom works eight to12 hours a day. She leaves earlyand comes home late. She neverstays for dinner, nor does she doanything with us as a familyanymore. She used to work inthe same study as Dad, but shemoved upstairs.

Mom is seeing a marriagecounselor, and she wants a di-vorce and to move away. Shepromises she won’t see less ofus, but she will be more than ahalf-hour away. She works non-stop and is constantly going outwith her friends. I miss her, and I

want my old mom back! Is thereany way I can stop her from go-ing? Am I selfish for wanting herto stay? — SHAKEN IN VIR-GINIA

DEAR SHAKEN: You have mysympathy. Your mother appearsto be so preoccupied with herselfthat she has forgotten she’s amother. Under the circum-stances, all of your feelings arenormal. Of course you want yourmother and your old life back,and those feelings aren’t “self-ish.”

While you can’t stop yourmother from leaving, you canask her if you can join her duringa couple of her therapy sessionsso you can air your feelings in asafe environment and get someof the answers you’re lookingfor. You deserve some answers,and you are old enough to hearthem.

Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com orP.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

FOR THE LATEST ON UPCOMING CONCERTSvisit go.azstarnet.com/upcomingconcerts and go.azstarnet.com/upcomingconcerts_phoenix.

To subscribe, call 1-800-695-4492.It’s a Tucson thing.


FORT COLLINS, Colo. —The parents accused of pullinga spectacular hoax by report-ing that their 6-year-old sonhad floated away aboard a he-lium balloon have agreed toplead guilty in a deal that couldsend them both to jail but pro-tect the wife from deportation.

Richard Heene is to pleadguilty today to attempting toinfluence a public servant, afelony,said his attorney,DavidLane.

Heene’s wife, Mayumi, aJapanese citizen who could bedeported if convicted of moreserious charges, will pleadguilty to a lesser charge of falsereporting to authorities, amisdemeanor.

Lane said the threat of de-portation “fueled” negotia-tions with prosecutors. An at-torney for Mayumi Heene saidher immigration status was afactor in reaching the deal butwould not comment further.

Prosecutors announcedcriminal charges against thecouple Thursday.

The Oct. 15 saga gripped aglobal audience, first withfear for the safety of 6-year-old Falcon Heene and thenwith anger at his parents

when au-thoritiesaccusedthem ofperpetrat-ing thehoax todrum upattentionfor a possi-ble realityshow.

Lanesaid thedeal doesnot call forremovingFalcon orthe cou-ple’s othertwo chil-dren — ages

8 and 10 — from the parents’custody.

The plea deal would sparethe Heenes the maximum jailtime, but Richard Heene couldstill get up to 90 days andMayumi up to 60,Lane said.

Without the deal, thecharge against Richard Heenecarries a possible sentence oftwo to six years in state prisonand a fine of up to $500,000.The charge against his wife ispunishable by up to sixmonths in the county jail anda fine up to $750.

Mayumi Heene’s attorney,Lee Christian, said he expectsher to serve any jail time in awork-release program thatwould involve some deten-tion and some time at home.

The parents still face a civilinvestigation by the FederalAviation Administration.Possible penalties range froma letter of reprimand to a fine.The balloon briefly forcedsome planes to switch to adifferent runway for takeofffrom the Denver airport.

Prosecutors said theHeenes agreed to turn them-selves in and went to courtThursday to sign documentspromising to appear before ajudge today. They held handsas they walked into the court-house. Their children werenot with them.

Richard Heene also had abooking photo taken at acounty jail and was released.He would not comment.

Lane said prosecutors in-sisted on a “package deal”that required Richard Heeneto plead guilty to a felony soMayumi Heene could pleadguilty to a misdemeanor andavoid deportation.

“He feels like he’s got to dowhat he’s got to do to save hiswife from being deported,”Lane said.

The Heenes are amateurstorm chasers and had twiceappeared on the ABC realityshow “Wife Swap.”

Former business partnerssaid Richard Heene wanted ashow of his own called “TheScience Detectives” or “ThePsyience Detectives.”

Richard Heene, 48, deniedthe saga was a publicity stunt.Two days later, deputiesquestioned both parents sep-arately, and authorities saidMayumi Heene admitted theincident was a hoax.

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Friday, November 13, 2009 NATION • A13

Plea dealtoday inballoonboy hoax

RichardHeene

MayumiHeene


NEW YORK — CNN movedswiftly to replace Lou Dobbs inits nightly lineup with John King,who said Thursday that all viewswould be welcome on his politi-cally oriented talk show when itdebuts early next year.

Dobbs’ abrupt exit prompted avictory lap by advocacy groupsthat had sought his ouster for out-spokenness, particularly on illegalimmigration. But CNN PresidentJon Klein said their pressure hadnothing to do with the decision.

Klein said veteran political re-

porter King was the perfectchoice for the passionate, non-partisan reporting that CNNwants for its image. King will beleaving the Sunday political talkshow over which he has presided,creating another opening.

King will compete directlywith another political hour,Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” onMSNBC. (Shepard Smith’s gen-eral-interest newscast on FoxNews Channel is the cable newsratings leader in the time slot.)The CNN personality said hehoped to establish a show offer-

ing more meaty fare than thoseof his competitors.

“Anybody who has a majorstake in a major topic will be in-vited to be on the show,” said

King, whose Washington-basedprogram has no name yet.

Dobbs was a CNN original whowas one of the TV business’sleading financial journalists be-fore taking on many other topicspost-9/11,and increasingly offer-ing his own opinion.

Hispanic groups charged thatDobbs’ emphasis on illegal immi-gration promoted an atmosphereof intolerance.

“We had hundreds of thou-sands of people who said,‘Enough is enough,’ ” said AlexNogales, president and CEO of

the National Hispanic MediaCoalition. “That he is gone fromCNN is a great blessing and agreat victory for our community.”

CNN supported Dobbs, par-ticularly as the opinionated fareboosted his ratings. But his showincreasingly became inconsis-tent with CNN’s effort to presentitself as the down-the-middlealternative to Fox and MSNBC,and Klein pressured Dobbs to doa straight newscast. Complicat-ing things was Dobbs’ new roleas a radio commentator, and thepersonas were often confused.

John KingMeaty fare

Lou DobbsAbrupt exit

Veteran reporter King to take Dobbs’ place at CNN

BOLIVIA

Less rain, more sunshrink Lake Titicaca

LA PAZ — Evaporationblamed on global warming hasreduced Lake Titicaca, one of theworld’s highest navigable lakes,to its lowest level since 1949, au-thorities said Thursday.

Diminished rainfall and a risein solar radiation have in the pastfour years led to critically lowwater levels that now threatenfish-spawning areas and plantlife, the Lake Titicaca Authoritysaid in a statement.

Titicaca’s waters havedropped 2.65 feet since April andflora and fauna are apt to bedamaged if they drop anotherfoot, the statement said.

Navy Capt. Jorge Ernesto Es-pinoza told ATB television thatSouth America’s largest lake isreceding by about an inch a week.

The lake, straddling Boliviaand Peru at 12,493 feet elevation,is a 3,240-square-mile oasis onan arid high plain an hour’s drivefrom the Bolivian capital of LaPaz.

About 2.6 million people de-pend on the lake for their suste-nance.

BRAZIL

Amazon deforestationdown 46%, gov’t says

BRASILIA — Deforestation inthe Brazilian Amazon droppednearly 46 percent from August2008 to July 2009 — the biggestannual decline in two decades,the government said Thursday.

Analysis of satellite imageryby the National Institute forSpace Research shows an esti-mated 2,705 square miles of for-est were cleared during the 12-month period, the lowest ratesince the government startedmonitoring deforestation in1988.

“The new deforestation datarepresents an extraordinary andsignificant reduction for Brazil,”President Luiz Inacio Lula daSilva said in a statement.

The numbers have been fallingsince 2004. The governmentcredited its aggressive monitor-ing and enforcement measuresfor the drop, as well as its promo-tion of sustainable activities inthe Amazon region, an area innorthern Brazil the size of theU.S.west of the Mississippi River.

But Paulo Gustavo, environ-mental policy director of Con-servation International, said amajor factor is the drop in worldprices for beef, soy and otherproducts that drive people toclear land for agriculture in therainforest.

BRITAIN

Questioning of Blairon war to be public

LONDON — Former PrimeMinister Tony Blair will be ques-tioned publicly about the Iraqwar during Britain’s long-await-ed inquiry into mistakes madebefore and during the conflict,the inquiry chairman said Friday.

Chairman John Chilcott saidBlair and other senior politicianswill be questioned early nextyear on their roles and decisionsover the war.

Prime Minister Gordon Brownannounced in June that he wouldhold an inquiry into the 2003U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. He ini-tially had said the hearingswould be private but changed hisstance after bereaved familiesand anti-war campaigners said aprivate inquiry would commandlittle confidence.

Chilcott, a former civil ser-vant, said the first round of hear-ings will start Nov. 24 and lastuntil February. He said senior of-ficials and military officerswould give evidence first, andpoliticians including Blair wouldthen be questioned.

NORWAY

World’s tallest manhas tasty company

OSLO — The world’s tallestliving man has unveiled the

world’s largest gingerbread manat an Ikea outlet in Norway’scapital, Oslo.

Guinness Book of WorldRecords spokeswoman JustineBourdariat said 8-foot-1-inchSultan Koesen of Turkey dis-played the 1,435-pound biscuit.Baked locally in the traditionalgingerbread-man shape, it beatthe previous gingerbread cookierecord of 1,307 pounds set in2006 in Smithville, Texas.

Ikea spokesman JanThommesen said Guinness Bookof World Records representativeKelly Gerret awarded the furni-ture store a world-record diplo-ma Thursday as part of the pub-lication’s World Records Day.

Koesen was declared the tallestliving man by the Guinness Bookin September.

AUSTRALIA

Extradition is OK’dfor alleged Nazi helper

ADELAIDE — The govern-ment on Thursday approved theextradition of an alleged Nazicollaborator accused by Hungaryof a World War II killing.

Home Affairs Minister Bren-dan O’Connor said Australiatakes war crimes seriously andwill not be a haven for criminals.

Australian citizen CharlesZentai, 88, is accused by theHungarian government of beingone of three men who torturedand killed a Jewish teenager inBudapest in 1944 for failing towear a star identifying him as aJew.

Zentai, who emigrated toAustralia in 1950, says he is in-nocent and was not even in Bu-dapest at the time. He turnedhimself in to Australian police inthe western city of Perth lastmonth after the Federal Courtruled he was eligible for extradi-tion.

FRANCE

Sarkozy: Nation has‘no place for burqa’

PARIS — President NicolasSarkozy says there is no place forfull face and body veils such asthe burqa, or for the debasementof women, in France.

Sarkozy says all beliefs will berespected in France but “be-coming French means adheringto a form of civilization, to val-ues, to morals.”

Sarkozy said Thursday duringa speech on national identitythat “France is a country wherethere is no place for the burqa.”France has a large Muslim com-munity but only a small minorityof French Muslim women wearburqas, common in Afghani-stan, or other face-coveringveils.

Sarkozy said in June thatburqas would not be welcome inFrance. Since then a parliamen-tary panel has been looking intothe possibility of banning themin public.

RUSSIA

Research moduledocks at space station

MOSCOW — A cargo ship hasdelivered a Russian researchmodule to the InternationalSpace Station.

Russia’s space agency said thespacecraft carrying the Poisk module docked with the orbitalstation Thursday after a two-day trip from Earth.

Poisk is Russian for “search.”The space agency, Roskosmos,said the small module will beused for scientific research andexperiments once it is securedand linked to the station withcommunications cables. Thatwill require a spacewalk, sched-uled for January.

The Russian-made modulecan also serve as an additionaldocking port.

The decade-old internationalspace station has expanded andnow has a crew of six. The cur-rent crew includes two Russians,two Americans, a Canadian anda Belgian.


AROUND THE

WORLD

A20 • WORLD Friday, November 13, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

ALASTAIR GRANT/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A MAN WITH STRONG FOLLICLESManjit Singh breaks a Guinness world record by pulling a double-deckerbus weighing 9.5 tons for 69.55 feet across Battersea Park in Londonwith ribbons attached to his hair. Singh, 59, who set the mark Thursday,previously had failed to break the record for pulling a double-deckerbus with his ears.

FINAL1

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ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, November 18, 2009 NATION • A11

Lead found in toys with Barbie, Disney logosTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Children’stoys carrying the Barbie and Dis-ney logos have turned up withhigh levels of lead in them, ac-cording to a California-basedadvocacy group — a finding thatmay give consumers pause asthey shop for the holiday season.

The Center for EnvironmentalHealth tested about 250 chil-dren’s products bought at majorretailers and found lead levelsthat exceeded federal limits inseven of them. Lead can cause ir-reversible brain damage.

Among those with high leadlevels: a Barbie Bike Flair Acces-sory Kit and a Disney TinkerbellWater Lily necklace. The groupsaid it also found excessive lead ina Dora the Explorer Activity Tote,two pairs of children’s shoes, aboys belt and a kids poncho.

California Attorney General

Jerry Brown has sent letters toTarget, Wal-Mart and the otherretailers who sold the sevenproducts, warning that chil-dren’s goods on their storeshelves were found to contain il-legal levels of lead and should bepulled immediately.

The findings released Tuesdaycome about a year after a prod-uct safety law that ushered instrict limits on the amounts oflead and chemicals allowed inproducts made for children 12years and younger. Congresspassed the law after a slew of re-calls of lead-tainted toys in 2007,including several Mattel-relatedrecalls that involved more than 2million toys.

Mattel said it licensed theBarbie name to Bell Sports forthe bike accessory kit found withhigh lead, but did not make or

sell it. Bell said the kit was anolder product that passed safetytests in 2007, but the companydidn’t know it was still on storeshelves.

Disney said the Tinkerbellnecklace was tested by its licens-ee, Playmates Toys, before beingdistributed — and that it com-plied with all federal and stateconsumer safety regulations.

The Center for EnvironmentalHealth in Oakland, Calif., saidthe Barbie toy was bought atTuesday Morning and the Tin-kerbell jewelry was purchased atWalgreens. The other productsthe center said had high leadcame from TJ Maxx, Sears, Wal-Mart and Target.

The center’s executive direc-tor, Michael Green, said parents“need to know that there arestill some lead problems on

store shelves.”The center did an initial round

of testing on products and sentthe ones singled out as havinghigh lead to an independent lab-oratory for additional testing andconfirmation.

The Consumer Product SafetyCommission, which regulatestoys and thousands of otherproducts, is looking into thematter.

Commission Chairman InezTenenbaum held a meeting withparents and consumers Tues-day in New York to praise thenew safety protections provid-ed in the consumer law, knownas CPSIA. She said lead recallsare down this year and that CP-SIA should give consumersgreater confidence while shop-ping for toys during the holidayseason.


Smoke rises from cooling towers at a coal-fired power plant in Kaifeng, in central China. Nearly three-quar-ters of the worldwide increase in carbon dioxide emissions from 2007 to 2008 occurred in China.

TSA takes 6 years to draftrule on repair-site security


WASHINGTON — Eightyears after the 9/11 attacksbrought a new focus on securityat airplane maintenance facili-ties, and six years after Congressfirst required action, the gov-ernment still hasn’t tightenedits vigilance.

Concerned that terroristsmight use a repair station tosabotage airliners, Congress in2003 passed a law ordering theTransportation Security Ad-ministration to come up withsecurity requirements for re-pair facilities, and gave theagency eight months to do it.

In 2007, after no rule hadmaterialized, Congress againpassed a law ordering TSA toput security requirements inplace within one year. Thatdeadline expired in August2008.

This week, faced with a con-gressional hearing Wednesdayon the issue, TSA finally posteda proposed rule to its Web siterather than wait for publicationin the Federal Register. Officialsacknowledged they wanted toget it out ahead of the hearing.

It’s still not a done deal.Industry and other interest-

ed parties will have 60 days tocomment on the proposal onceit’s published, and there is notelling when it will take effect.It’s not unusual for there to be agap of months or years betweenthe proposal of a regulation andissuance of a final rule.

Aviation maintenance and se-curity experts who reviewedTSA’s proposal told The Associ-ated Press that it prescribes thekind of security program com-mon in industry and throughoutgovernment: A qualified securi-ty program chief, photo identifi-cation for employees, controlledaccess to airplanes and parts, asecure facility or propertyperimeter and backgroundchecks of employees.

“These (security) concernsare not new, they have longbeen known by the govern-ment. Why it has taken so longfor them to act defies logic,”said John Goglia, who was thefirst Federal Aviation Adminis-tration mechanic to serve onthe National TransportationSafety Board.

TSA could have at anytime

copied the generally tight secu-rity programs in place in theEuropean Union, he said.

So far there haven’t been anyincidents involving U.S. airlin-ers that have been tied to secu-rity lapses at repair stations,but experts said lack of securitystandards remains a glaringconcern.

TSA spokesman Greg Soulesaid it took time for the agencyto craft a rule that takes into ac-count the diversity of the 4,100domestic and 700 foreign repairstations certified to work onU.S.-registered aircraft. Thestations range from small busi-nesses that are miles from air-ports and work on specializedparts like seatbelts, to hugehangars and warehouses insideairport grounds.


WASHINGTON — Pollutiontypically declines during a reces-sion. Not this time.

Despite a global economicslump, worldwide carbon diox-ide pollution jumped 2 percentlast year, with most of the in-crease coming from China, ac-cording to a study published on-line Tuesday.

“The growth in emissionssince 2000 is almost entirelydriven by the growth in China,”said study lead author CorinneLe Quere of the University ofEast Anglia. “It’s China and In-dia and all the developing coun-tries together.”

Carbon dioxide emissions, thechief man-made greenhousegas, come from the burning ofcoal, oil, natural gas, and alsofrom the production of cement,which is a significant pollutionfactor in China. Worldwideemissions rose 671 million moretons from 2007 to 2008. Nearlythree-quarters of that increasecame from China.

The numbers are from theU.S. Department of Energy’s OakRidge National Laboratory and

published in the journal NatureGeoscience.

According to the study, the2008 emissions increase wassmaller than normal for thisdecade. Annual global pollutiongrowth has averaged 3.6 percent.This year, scientists are forecast-ing a nearly 3 percent reduction,despite China, because of themassive economic slowdown inmost of the world and in theUnited States.

The U.S. is still the biggest percapita major producer of man-made greenhouse gases, spewingabout 20 tons of carbon dioxideper person per year. The worldaverage is 5.3 tons, and China isat 5.8 tons

Last year, U.S. emissions fellby 3 percent, a reduction ofnearly 192 million tons of carbondioxide. Overall European Unionemissions dropped by 1 percent.The U.S. is still the No. 2 biggestcarbon polluter overall, emittingmore than the next four largestpolluting countries combined:India, Russia, Japan and Ger-many. China has been No. 1 sincepushing past the United States in2006.

CO2 emissions riseWorldwide carbon dioxide emissionsfrom the burning of fossil fuels andproduction of cement rose 2 percentfrom 2007 and 2008.

SOURCE: U.S. Department ofEnergy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory11/18/09

AP

Countries’ change in carbon dioxideemissions from 2007 to 2008, inmillions of tons

LARGEST DECREASE

U.S.Europe*AustraliaSpainItalyFinlandU. KingdomGermanyDenmarkCzech Republic

* Includes 27 countries

-192-43

-20-19-10

-7-7-7-3-3

LARGEST INCREASE

ChinaIndia

RussiaSaudi Arabia

BrazilSouth AfricaSouth Korea

IndonesiaIran

Poland

1343232292219191510

490 million

CO2 output up despite economy, propelled by China¡

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ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, November 18, 2009 NATION & WORLD • A13

By Charles Hutzler and Jennifer Loven


BEIJING — President Oba-ma’s first visit to China under-scored a shifting balance of pow-er: two giants moving closer tobeing equals.

In this week’s choreographedshow of U.S.-Chinese good will,Obama’s pledge to treat China asa trusted global partner won areturn promise of shared efforton world troubles — but notmuch else.

Standing stiffly together inthe Great Hall of the People aftera morning of talks, Obama andPresident Hu Jintao talked ex-pansively Tuesday of commonburdens and joint efforts onglobal warming, nuclear disar-mament, the anemic economyand other big issues. They dealtcoolly with differences over hu-man rights and trade, leavingthem out of public view or re-served for coded language.

Their first formal summit fea-tured none of the rancor thatspoiled many previous summitsbetween the nations.

But Obama went into themeetings with a weaker handthan most past presidents. Thebattering that economic reces-sion and wars in Iraq andAfghanistan have given U.S.prestige is felt nowhere morekeenly than in a China that isbusily growing and accruingglobal clout.

“The U.S. has a lot to ask fromChina,” said Xue Chen, a re-

searcher on strategic affairs atthe Shanghai Institute for Inter-national Studies. “On the otherhand, the U.S. has little to offerChina.”

Obama’s outreach here contin-ued the type of pragmatic bridge-building he has used in Europeand the Middle East in hopes ofearning goodwill that will pro-duce payoffs down the road.

In China, though, the chal-lenge is of a different magnitude.The Chinese government isAmerica’s biggest foreign credi-tor, with $800 billion of federalU.S. debt that gives it extraordi-nary power in the relationship.Its military buildup is rubbing upagainst America’s influence inAsia. And Beijing feels the globalrecession, sparked by U.S. finan-cial industry excesses, vindicatesits authoritarian leadership.

Gone are the days when a U.S.president could come to Chinaexpecting the release of a dissi-dent or a trade concession as anatmospheric sweetener. ForObama, he not only didn’t getthat, but not one notable shift bythe Chinese toward U.S. posi-tions in key areas such as cli-mate, nuclear challenges in Iranand North Korea, human rightsor monetary policy.

For Obama, going back homefrom a weeklong Asia trip withlittle more than hopes that he’slaying groundwork for better co-operation could sour, fast, onAmericans. He was elected in partbecause of his promises to restorethe battered U.S.image abroad.

One sign, albeit small, thatpeople are growing weary withObama’s pragmatic humilityoverseas: A mini-furor erupted inthe U.S. when he bowed to greetthe emperor of Japan in Tokyo onSaturday. Conservative com-mentators are calling it grovelingbefore a foreign leader.

The effect could stretch beyondforeign affairs. Many Americans

still think of the U.S. as an unas-sailable superpower and don’twant presidents who make themthink otherwise. Problems in thisarea could make it more difficult toforge ahead with already divisivehealth-care reforms, make boldchoices on a new strategy for thedrawn-out war in Afghanistan, orget re-elected.

For China, Hu and other lead-

ers clearly delighted in the showof face Obama gave them. Farfrom crowing, however, Hu gaveObama a respectful welcome bysoldiers in dress uniforms andin-depth discussions that ranovertime.

At a state banquet Tuesdaynight, the People’s LiberationArmy band serenaded Obama,Secretary of State Hillary Rod-

ham Clinton and much of theChinese leadership with Ameri-can songs including “I JustCalled to Say I Love You” and“We Are the World.”

The joint statement that Oba-ma and Hu issued was thebroadest of its kind in 30 years offormal relations. It containedexpressions of cooperation in re-lations between their two often-mistrustful militaries, on a hu-man-rights dialogue, on spaceexploration and on shoring upAfghanistan and Pakistan — aswell as the big topics of climatechange, economic recovery anddefanging North Korea’s andIran’s nuclear programs.

Chinese leaders, however, arewary of Obama’s charisma.Though they prevented a na-tionwide broadcast and cen-sored Web transcripts of ameeting Monday he held withChinese students in Shanghai,students who attended said theyfound Obama and his rise to thepresidency inspiring. Bloggerscheered his appeal against cen-sorship of the Internet.

“It’s wonderful to have thePresident Obama here,” LuHualin, a middle-age office ad-ministrator in Beijing’s businessdistrict, said Tuesday. “I didn’twatch the town hall, but it’spretty obvious that the Chinesereally like him for the energy, in-tellect and charisma he brings tothe conversation. I think we’llwelcome anyone who has anagenda to better the world andwork toward world peace.”

Obama’s visit to China yields few concessionsANALYSIS

GOP attacks Web site on created stimulus jobsMCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — The fed-eral Web site that tracks spend-ing from the Obama adminis-tration’s $787 billion economicstimulus program reports thatthe program has created thou-sands of jobs in congressionaldistricts that don’t exist, in-cluding Arizona.

According to www.recov-ery.gov, Arizona has 22 con-gressional districts, including a00 and an 86th. In reality, thestate has eight districts.

In total, the site said Arizonahas saved or created 12,300 jobswith the federal funding. Thesite lists most of the money go-

ing to the eight congressionaldistricts, but also lists 30 jobssaved or created in the 15th Dis-trict, which doesn’t exist.

California, according to theWeb site, has seven more con-gressional districts than the 53 itactually has, including a 99thDistrict. In South Carolina, thesite reported Tuesday evening,$40.7 million in economic stim-ulus funds have gone to sevenspurious congressional dis-tricts, including 00 and 25.South Carolina has six U.S.House districts.

“The inaccuracies on recov-ery.gov that have come to lightare outrageous,” said Rep. David

Obey, the Wisconsin Democratwho chairs the House Appropria-tions Committee. “The adminis-tration owes itself, the Congressand every American a commit-ment to work night and day tocorrect the ludicrous mistakes.”

Republican lawmakers weremore scathing Tuesday, withsome accusing the administra-tion of a cover-up. No House Re-publicans and only three GOPsenators voted for the stimulusbill, which President Obamasigned into law on Feb.17.

“The government Web sitecharged with reporting waste,fraud and abuse is its very ownworst offender,” said Rep. Joe

Wilson of South Carolina.The White House didn’t re-

spond to repeated requests forcomment.

Ed Pound, a spokesman forthe Recovery Accountabilityand Transparency Board, toldABC News that human errorcaused the mistakes.

“We report what the recipi-ents submit to us,” he said, ac-cording to ABC.

Computer experts ques-tioned that explanation, how-ever, noting that many of theWeb site’s state links included aDistrict 00, suggesting thatthere was a technical glitch inhow the data were received.

Ford, Subaru, VW earn top safety marksTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Ford,Subaru and Volkswagen sitatop the insurance industry’sannual list of the safest newvehicles, according to a closelywatched assessment used bycar companies to lure safety-conscious consumers to show-rooms.

The Virginia-based Insur-ance Institute for HighwaySafety awarded its “top safetypick” on Wednesday to 19 pas-senger cars and eight sport util-ity vehicles for the 2010 modelyear. The institute substantiallyreduced the number of awardscompared with 2009 because oftougher requirements for roofstrength.

Ford Motor Co. and its Volvounit received the most awardswith six, followed by five awardsapiece for Japanese automakerSubaru and German automakerVolkswagen AG and its Audiunit.

Toyota Motor Corp., BMWAG, Mazda Motor Corp. and

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. wereshut out in the annual review.

The vehicles are selected forbest protecting motorists in

front, side and rear crash testsbased on institute evaluationsduring the year. The vehicles arerequired to have electronic sta-bility control to qualify for theaward. Earlier this year, the in-stitute said vehicles would needto receive its highest score in itsroof-strength evaluation toqualify the safety pick designa-tion.

“With the addition of ourroof-strength evaluation, ourcrash test results now cover allfour of the most common kindsof crashes,” said institute presi-dent Adrian Lund. “Consumerscan use this list to zero in on thevehicles that are on the top rungfor safety.”

The institute awarded its topprize to 94 vehicles in 2009and attributed the decline inawards this year to the roof-strength requirement. TheHonda Accord and Ford Fusionboth dropped off the list be-cause 2010 versions didn’t earnhigh-enough scores on the rooftest.

HOW THEY RATEThe Insurance Institute for Highway Safety named 27 vehicles as winnersof their top safety pick award for the 2010 model year.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Byrd being honoredfor record 56+ years

WASHINGTON — The Senateis a resolutely superlative place,so it was resolved that the augustbody will open its session today

by salutingSen. Robert C.Byrd, Con-gress’ longest-serving mem-ber.

“I look for-ward to serv-ing you for thenext 56 yearsand 320 days,”

Byrd said in a statement markingthe occasion.

Byrd has cast more than18,000 votes and, despite fragilehealth that has kept him fromthe Senate floor during much ofthe year, has a nearly 98 percentattendance record over thecourse of his career.

Which, by Byrd’s count, hasspanned 20,774 days. Byrd’sservice today ties the record setby Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz.,who served from 1912 to 1969.

WYOMING

8-state gas pipelinenow fully operational

CHEYENNE — A 1,679-milepipeline crossing eight states isnow completed and funnelingnatural gas from Wyoming andColorado to the eastern edge ofOhio.

The long-awaited Rockies Ex-press Pipeline became fully op-erational Nov. 12 after the recentcompletion of the final 195-milesection between Warren andMonroe counties in easternOhio. The $6.8 billion pipelinecarries 1.8 billion cubic feet ofgas, enough to heat 4 millionhomes, and took three years tocomplete.

FLORIDA

Madoff’s Mercedes,boats fetch $1M+

FORT LAUDERDALE — Dis-graced financier Bernard Mad-off’s yacht named Bull, twosmaller boats and a Mercedes-Benz convertible were sold atauction Tuesday for more than$1 million combined.

Madoff’s 1969 Rybovich, a re-stored 55-foot fishing boat, soldfor $700,000 to an unknownbuyer. A 38-foot Shelter Islandrunabout named Sitting Bullwent for $320,000, and the 24-foot Maverick center-consoleLittle Bull fetched $21,000. TheMercedes, a 1999 model ownedby Ruth Madoff, sold for$30,000.

The private auction was heldby the U.S. Marshals Service,which seized Madoff’s propertyand assets after his massivePonzi scheme was exposed. All

proceeds will benefit Madoff’swronged investors, and Madoffhimself is serving 150 years.

UTAH

Kidnapper of Smartadmits guilt, apologizes

SALT LAKE CITY — Sevenyears after she was abducted atknifepoint, Elizabeth Smart fi-nally has an apology — and aguilty plea — from one of herkidnappers.

“I am so sorry, Elizabeth, forall the pain and suffering I havecaused you and your family,”Wanda Eileen Barzee, 64, saidTuesday. “It is my hope that youwill be able to find it in your heart

to forgive me.”The appeal

came minutesafter Barzeepleaded guiltyto federalcharges of kid-napping andunlawfultransportationof a minor infederal court.

Smart, now 22, was 14 whenshe was taken from the bedroomof her Salt Lake City home,sparking a search that riveted thenation. Nine months later, inMarch 2003, Barzee and hernow-estranged husband, BrianDavid Mitchell, were arrested af-ter they were spotted walking ona suburban street with Smart.

PENNSYLVANIA

Letter from Lincolnto boy, 8, goes on sale

PHILADELPHIA — A letterPresident Abraham Lincolnwrote to a boy whose friendsdidn’t believe he had met thecommander in chief is being soldin Philadelphia.

Lincoln sent the letter from theto George Patten, 8, two weeks af-ter his March 1861 inauguration.The youngster had been mockedby classmates for saying he’d metLincoln with his father, a journal-ist. His teacher wrote Lincoln touncover the truth.

Instead, the president wroteto the boy: “Whom it may con-cern, I did see and talk with mas-ter George Evans Patten, lastMay, at Springfield, Illinois. Re-spectfully, A Lincoln.”

The Raab Collection is offer-ing the letter for $60,000.

WASHINGTON

Would-be ninja hassome learning to do

SEATTLE — Police say a manwho thought he was a ninja wasimpaled on a metal fence whenhe tried to leap over it.

An officer who was looking foran assault victim nearby Mondaynight heard the man screamingfor help. Police supported him toprevent further injuries untilmedics arrived and took him to ahospital, where he was in seriouscondition Tuesday.

Wire reports

AROUND THE

NATION

Robert C. Byrd

Wanda EileenBarzee

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Obama listens to Chinese President Hu Jintao as they attend a state dinner reception Tuesday atthe Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The presidents’ translators are behind them.

FDA says Prilosec, Nexium cut blood thinning by PlavixTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Federalhealth officials said Tuesday apopular variety of heartburnmedications can interfere withthe blood thinner Plavix, a drugtaken by millions of Americansto reduce risks of heart attackand stroke.

The Food and Drug Adminis-tration said the stomach-soothing drugs Prilosec andNexium cut in half the blood-thinning effect of Plavix, knowngenerically as clopidogrel.

Regulators said the key ingre-dient in the heartburn medica-tions blocks an enzyme the

body needs to break down Plav-ix, muting the drug’s full effect.Procter & Gamble’s PrilosecOTC is available over-the-counter, while AstraZeneca’sNexium is only available with aprescription.

“Patients at risk for heart at-tacks or strokes who use clopi-dogrel to prevent blood clotswill not get the full effect of thismedicine,” the agency said in astatement.

Plavix is marketed by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-MyersSquibb. With global sales of$8.6 billion last year, it’s theworld’s second-best selling

drug behind Pfizer’s cholesteroldrug Lipitor.

Because Plavix can upset thestomach, it is often prescribedwith stomach acid-blockingdrugs.

The FDA says patients whoneed to reduce their acid shouldtake drugs from the H-2 blockerfamily, which include Johnson &Johnson’s Mylanta andBoehringer Ingelheim’s Zantac.FDA scientists say there is noevidence those drugs interferewith Plavix’s anti-blood clot-ting action.

Nexium and Prilosec are partof a class of drugs known as

proton pump inhibitors, butFDA regulators said they don’thave enough information to saywhether other drugs in thatclass shouldn’t be used withPlavix.

The FDA said the warningson Plavix have been strength-ened based on a 150-patientstudy submitted by Sanofi overthe summer.

But some consumer advo-cates said the agency’s actionfell short, arguing that regula-tors should have placed the in-formation in a “black box”warning label, the most seriousavailable.

LARGE CARSBuick LaCrosseFord TaurusLincoln MKSVolvo S80

MIDSIZE CARS

Audi A3Chevrolet Malibu (built after Oct.2009)Chrysler Sebring (four-door withoptional ESC)Dodge AvengerMercedes C ClassSubaru LegacySubaru OutbackVolkswagen Jetta (four-door)Volkswagen Passat (four-door)Volvo C30

SMALL CARSHonda Civic (four-door with op-tional ESC, except Si)Kia SoulNissan CubeSubaru Impreza (except WRX)Volkswagen Golf (four-door)

MIDSIZE SUVs

Dodge JourneySubaru TribecaVolvo XC60Volvo XC90

SMALL SUVs

Honda ElementJeep Patriot (with optional sidethorax air bags)Subaru ForesterVolkswagen Tiguan

SOURCE: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, November 25, 2009 NATION & WORLD • A13

MEXICO

Astronaut set to helpstart a space agency

MEXICO CITY — A NASA as-tronaut says he wants to helpMexican officials start the coun-try’s first space agency.

Astronaut Jose Hernandezsays he has no plans to leave hisjob at NASA, but hopes to helpMexico’s program get off theground.

Hernandez, the U.S.-born sonof Mexican migrant farm work-ers who spent much of his child-hood moving between Mexicoand the U.S., lobbied for a spaceprogram in meetings with Mexi-can lawmakers Tuesday. Legis-lators have set aside 10 millionpesos ($775,000) for the Mexi-can Space Agency in next year’sbudget, but the program has notyet been officially established.

RUSSIA

Joint Chiefs chairmanin arms-control talks

GENEVA — President Oba-ma’s top military adviser attend-ed the latest talks with Russia toreplace an expiring Cold War-era arms-control agreement, theU.S. said Tuesday.

Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairmanof the Joint Chiefs of Staff, metwith Russian officials from Sun-day to Tuesday, U.S. spokesmanin Geneva Michael Parmly said.

Obama and Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev want to con-clude a new treaty by Dec. 5,when the 1991 START I accordcutting nuclear arsenals expires.

BOLIVIA

5 cocaine labs seizedin Indian village

LA PAZ — Bolivian police saythey have busted five cocainelabs and arrested two people in aremote Indian village after aconfrontation in which an offi-cer was shot.

Maj. Alex Alfaro says Indiansin Qaqachaca village held policeat bay with dynamite blasts, al-lowing some to escape. One offi-cer was wounded in the leg.

IRAQ

Google documentingIraq national museum

BAGHDAD — Google is docu-menting Iraq’s national museumand will post photographs of its

ancient treasures on the Internetearly next year, Google chief EricSchmidt announced Tuesday.

The museum was ransacked inthe chaotic aftermath of SaddamHussein’s ouster in April 2003,and only reopened to visitorsearly this year. Schmidt, whotoured the museum with U.S.Ambassador Christopher Hill onTuesday, said it was importantfor the world to see Iraq’s richheritage and contribution toworld culture.

“The history of the beginningof — literally — civilization ismade right here and is preservedhere in this museum,” Schmidtsaid at a ceremony attended byIraqi officials.

BRAZIL

New power outagehits posh Rio areas

BRASILIA — Rio de Janeiro’sposh beach neighborhoods lostpower for hours in swelteringsummer weather Tuesday,prompting restaurants to tossout spoiled food and businessowners to send their employeeshome.

The outage came two weeksafter a massive blackout leftmore than 60 million people inthe dark and raised questionsabout the nation’s ability to hostthe 2014 World Cup and the 2016Olympic Games in Rio.

Light SA, which supplies elec-tricity to the city of 6 million,said only 12,000 clients were af-fected starting before dawn inthe tony Rio district of Leblon.

But lights were also out in Co-pacabana, Ipanema and Lagoa;all told, the four neighborhoodshave more than 250,000 resi-dents and are key tourist desti-nations.

The power company said theoutage began when it cut offpower to fix a problem with anunderground cable.

ITALY

Mafia boss who fakedparalysis is rearrested

ROME — A convicted Mafiaboss who got out of jail by fakingparalysis and anorexia has beenarrested at a restaurant aftermore than two months on therun, police in Sicily said Tuesday.

Officers arrested Carmelo DiStefano on Monday as he dinedat a seaside village near the Sicil-ian city of Catania, which he hadreached behind the wheel of asports car.


AROUND THE

WORLD

Obama: US will back Afghan increaseTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — War-weary Americans will supportmore fighting in Afghanistanonce they understand the perilsof losing, President Obama de-clared Tuesday, announcing hewas ready to spell out war plansvirtually sure to include tens ofthousands more U.S. troops.

He is expected to make hiscase to the nation in a Tuesdaynight televised speech, even asthe military completes plans tobegin sending in reinforcementsin the spring.

Eight years after the Sept. 11attacks led the U.S. into Af-ghanistan, Obama said it is stillin America’s vital national in-terest to “dismantle and de-stroy” al-Qaida terrorists andextremist allies. “I intend to fin-ish the job,” he said.

Obama said he would an-nounce after Thanksgiving hisdecision on additional troops.

Republican critics have beenpressing him for months to de-cide on the next step in Af-ghanistan, but Obama has saidrepeatedly that he is more con-cerned with making a decisionthat is right rather than quick.

With U.S. combat deathsclimbing on Obama’s watch and

more than half the Americanpublic opposed to escalation,the president seemed to ac-knowledge Tuesday that he hasa lot to explain.

“I feel very confident thatwhen the American people heara clear rationale for what we’redoing there and how we intendto achieve our goals, that theywill be supportive,” he said,speaking at a White House newsconference with Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh.

“I can tell you, as I’ve said be-fore, that it is in our strategic in-terest, in our national securityinterest, to make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist alliescannot operate effectively” inthe area, he said. “We are goingto dismantle and degrade theircapabilities and ultimately dis-mantle and destroy their net-works. And Afghanistan’s sta-bility is important to thatprocess.”

Military officials expect an in-fusion of 32,000 to 35,000troops to begin in February orMarch, the largest expansionsince the beginning of the warand one that could bring the costabove $75 billion annually.

Obama held his 10th war-council meeting Mondayevening, and officials said it washis last. The Situation Room ses-sions that began in Septemberwere the most visible markers ofa debate inside the administra-

tion about how to address aresurgent Taliban and other in-surgents and whether the U.S. iscreating its own enemies thelonger it remains.

War commander Gen. Stan-ley McChrystal has warned thatthe war risks failure without alarge troop infusion. Althoughhe preferred a higher figure —about 40,000 — McChrystal isexpected to tell Congress nextweek that this lesser additionstill gives him the tools to bettercombat insurgents.

The Afghan war bill hit $43billion annually this summer,with the 21,000 forces Obamahas already added to the fightthis year. The White House hasgiven Congress this rough yard-stick for future troop increases:About $1 billion a year for each1,000 troops atop the currentrecord figure of 68,000.

NATO and other allies collec-tively have 45,000 troops.

If the full expansion that U.S.military planners anticipatedoes happen, it would take up totwo years to get all the addition-al U.S. forces into the land-locked country.

The United States is quietlypressing NATO and other alliesto increase forces as well.

DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Soldiers of the South Carolina National Guard patrol a village south of Kabul, Afghanistan. President Obama is ready to spell out his plans forprosecuting the war, saying he is confident the American public will support a troop increase likely to number in the tens of thousands.

SC lawmakers begin road to impeachmentTHE NEW YORK TIMES

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Over theprotests of Gov. Mark Sanford’slawyers,South Carolina lawmak-ers on Tuesday began the prelim-inary steps of a process that couldlead to the governor’s impeach-ment and removal from office.

A subcommittee of the HouseJudiciary Committee, made upof four Republicans and threeDemocrats, held its first meetingto review a resolution to impeachthe governor for secretly leavingthe state in June to see a womanin Argentina with whom he washaving an extramarital affair.

Members voted unanimouslyto broaden the review to include37 ethics charges thataccuse the governor ofmisusing state aircraftfor personal or politicalreasons, repeatedly vi-olating a policy thatrequires officials to usecoach-class tickets,and misappropriatingcampaign funds.

In a separate action,the state ethics com-mission will hold hearings on the37 allegations early next year.

The night before the meeting,

Sanford released the full ethicscomplaint and a lengthy legal

review of the impeach-ment process, in whichhis lawyers said neitherthe secret trip nor theethics charges weregrounds for impeach-ment. The state consti-tution’s standard of“serious crimes or seri-ous misconduct in of-fice” seeks “to makesure only the most

egregious offenses would lead toimpeachment, and not merelypersonal moral failings, neglect

of duty or a temporary absencefrom the state,” they said.

But the lawmaker who draftedthe resolution, state Rep. F. Gre-gory Delleney Jr.,said no crime isnecessary to impeach an officialfor serious misconduct.

“Impeachment is a politicalprocess — it’s not a legal process,”Delleney, a Republican, told theother members of the subcom-mittee.

“The South Carolina House ofRepresentatives alone defineswhat meets the constitutionalthreshold of serious misconductin office,”Delleney said.

Mark Sanford

US TOLL INAFGHANISTAN• Deaths: 845• Wounded: 4,564

Latest identifications

• Spc. Jason A. McLeod, 22, ofCrystal Lake, Ill.; assigned tothe 704th Brigade Support Bat-talion, 4th Brigade CombatTeam, 4th Infantry Division,Fort Carson, Colo.

• Staff Sgt. Matthew A. Pucino,34, of Cockeysville, Md.; as-signed to the 2nd Battalion,20th Special Forces Group ofthe Maryland Army NationalGuard in Glen Arm, Md.

• Sgt. James M. Nolen, 25, ofAlvin, Texas; and Pfc. Marcus A.Tynes, 19, of Moreno Valley,Calif.; both assigned to the 2ndBattalion, 508th Parachute In-fantry Regiment, 4th BrigadeCombat Team, 82nd AirborneDivision, Fort Bragg, N.C.

SOURCE: Department of Defense

Official: Census taker found hanging killed selfTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A Ken-tucky census worker foundnaked, bound with duct tape andhanging from a tree with “fed”scrawled on his chest killed him-self but staged his death to makeit look like a homicide, authori-ties said Tuesday.

Bill Sparkman, 51, was foundstrangled Sept. 12 with a ropearound his neck near a cemeteryin a heavily wooded area of theDaniel Boone National Forest insoutheastern Kentucky. Author-ities said his wrists were looselybound, his glasses were taped tohis head and he was gagged.

Kentucky State Police Capt.Lisa Rudzinski said an analysisfound that “fed” was written“from the bottom up.” He wastouching the ground, and tosurvive “all Mr. Sparkman hadto do at any time was stand up,”she said.

Authorities said Sparkmanwas not under the influence ofany drugs or alcohol at the timeof his death. His clothes werefound in the bed of his nearbypickup truck.

“Our investigation, based onevidence and witness testimo-ny, has concluded that Mr.Sparkman died during an inten-

tional, self-inflicted act thatwas staged to appear as a homi-cide,” Rudzinski said.

Sparkman’s mother, HenrieSparkman of Inverness, Fla.,bristled at the conclusion: “Idisagree!” she wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Authorities said Sparkmanalone manipulated the suicidescene, which was so elaboratethat a man who discovered thebody was convinced Sparkmanwas murdered.

Rudzinski said Sparkman“told a credible witness that heplanned to commit suicide andprovided details on how andwhen.”

Authorities said Sparkmantalked about it a week before hissuicide and the person did nottake him seriously.

Sparkman also had recentlytaken out two accidental life in-surance policies totaling$600,000 that would not payout for suicide, authorities said.

UN chief Ban to world’s men:End violence against women


UNITED NATIONS — Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-moonlaunched a Network of MenLeaders Tuesday to act as rolemodels in the global campaign toend the “pandemic” of violenceagainst women.

Ban said it is unacceptablethat about 70 percent of womenexperience some form of physi-cal or sexual violence from men— “the majority from their hus-bands, intimate partners orsomeone they know.”

He urged men, young and oldand around the world, to join thenetwork and pledge to work toend violence against women andgirls wherever it occurs, from thehome to war zones.

The secretary-general saidmen “have a crucial role” be-cause they are a major part of theproblem and are key to the solu-tion.

Unless men change their atti-tudes and behavior, he warned,“violence against women willcontinue.”

Ban spoke at a commemora-tion of today’s 10th anniversaryof the International Day for theElimination of Violence AgainstWomen and at a news confer-ence.

He was joined by several

members of the new networkand activists campaigning to endviolence against women.

The secretary-general said heis “encouraged by the momen-tum” of the campaign helaunched in 2008 but felt that asa son, husband, father andgrandfather it was essential tolaunch “a dedicated Network ofMen Leaders.”

Men must teach one anotherthat real men do not violate oroppress women — and that awoman’s place is not just in thehome or in the fields but inschools, offices and boardrooms,Ban said in a statement.

That view was echoed in avideo message from ArchbishopDesmond Tutu, the SouthAfrican Nobel peace laureate andone of the 14 initial members ofthe network, who decried themany forms of violence againstwomen and girls including traf-ficking, child marriage and do-mestic abuse.

“You are a weak man if you useyour physical superiority to as-sault and brutalize women,”Tutu warned.

ON THE NETendviolence.un.org

¡

FINAL K

AMKiss

Stamp

A14 • WORLD Wednesday, November 25, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR


LONDON — An inquiry intoBritain’s role in the Iraq warkicked off Tuesday with top gov-ernment advisers testifying thatsome Bush administration offi-cials were calling for SaddamHussein’s ouster as early as 2001— long before sanctions were ex-hausted and two years before theU.S.-led invasion.

Critics hope the hearings,which will call ex-Prime MinisterTony Blair and are billed as themost sweeping inquiry into theconflict, will expose alleged de-ception in the buildup to fight-ing. However, they won’t estab-lish criminal or civil liability.

As the inquiry began, a smallgroup of anti-war protestersgathered near Parliament. Threewore face masks of George Bush,Blair and Prime Minister GordonBrown — their hands and facescovered in fake blood.

“Five years we’ve waited forthis, and finally we’re gettingsomewhere,” said Pauline Gra-ham, 70, who traveled from theScottish city of Glasgow to see thehearings. Her grandson GordonGentle,19,was killed in the south-ern Iraqi city of Basra in 2004.

Sir Peter Ricketts, who waschairman of Britain’s Joint Intel-ligence Committee in 2001, saidBritain had hoped for a strength-ened policy of containment — re-ducing the threat posed by Iraqthrough sanctions, weapons in-spections and security measures.The strategy had been in placesince the 1991 Gulf War whenIraqi forces invaded Kuwait.

But Ricketts said some in theBush administration had a dif-ferent vision.

“We were conscious that therewere other voices in Washing-ton, some of whom were talkingabout regime change,” Rickettssaid, citing an article written bynational security adviser Con-doleezza Rice warning thatnothing would change in Iraquntil Saddam was gone.

The panel will question dozensof officials over the next year —including military officials andspy agency chiefs. It will also seekevidence but not testimony fromex-White House staff.

Bereaved families and activistshave long called for an inquiryinto the U.S.-led war that left 179

British soldiers dead and trig-gered massive public protests.The Labour-led government losta significant share of parliamen-tary seats because of the war.

But with no lawyers on thepanel, few believe the inquirywill answer one of the most basicquestions — whether the warwas legal.

Blair will be questioned onwhether he secretly backed U.S.President George W. Bush plan’sfor invasion a year before Parlia-ment authorized military in-volvement in 2003.

“There were no weapons ofmass destruction and we knowthat, so what are we going to getout of this?” asked Mabel Saili, a49-year-old office administra-tor. “It’s too little too late.”

Led by a panel appointed byPrime Minister Gordon Brown,the inquiry can only offer repri-mand and recommendations inhope mistakes won’t be repeatedin the future.

In the United States, the 9/11Commission examined some is-sues around prewar intelligence,and a Senate select committeeidentified failures in intelligencegathering in a July 2004 report onprewar intelligence assessments.

But the Iraq inquiry is envi-sioned to be a comprehensive lookat the war. Brown set up the in-quirytoaddresspublic criticism ofthree key aspects of the conflict:the case made for war; the plan-ning for the invasion; and the fail-ure to prepare for reconstruction.

Any significant findings couldpose embarrassing questions forthe government ahead of a gen-eral election next year. Both theLabour Party and the oppositionConservatives voted for the in-vasion.

MUSLIMS IN PRAYERPilgrims pray near the Hiraa cave on the outskirts of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. According to tradition, Islam’s Prophet Mohammed received his firstmessage to preach Islam when he was praying in the cave.

HASSAN AMMAR / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Saddam’s oustersought in 2001,UK panel hears

US TOLL IN IRAQ• Deaths: 4,368• Wounded: 31,572

Latest identifications

• Sgt. Briand T. Williams, 25, ofSparks, Ga.; assigned to the 1stBattalion, 10th Field ArtilleryRegiment, 3rd Heavy BrigadeCombat Team, 3rd Infantry Di-vision, Fort Benning, Ga.

SOURCE: Department of Defense. Deaths asof Tuesday. Wounded as of Tuesday.

Claim coma survivor ‘speaks’ is doubtedTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS — With a care-taker holding his hand, a Belgianman who was diagnosed ascomatose for 23 years typed outa message Tuesday that he feltreborn after decades of loneli-ness and frustration.

A leading bioethicist, howev-er, expressed skepticism thatthe man was truly communi-cating on his own.

Car-crash victim RomHouben was diagnosed as beingin a vegetative state but appearsto have been conscious thewhole time, doctors here said.An expert using a specializedtype of brain scan that was notavailable in the 1980s says he fi-nally realized Houben was con-scious and provided him withthe equipment to communicate.

Assisted by a speech therapistwho rapidly moved his fingerletter by letter along a touch-screen keyboard, Houben toldAP Television News that years ofbeing unable to move or com-municate left him feeling“alone, lonely, frustrated, butalso blessed with my family.”

The therapist, Linda Wouters,told APTN that she can feelHouben guiding her hand withgentle pressure from his fingers,

and that she feels him objectingwhen she moves his hand towardan incorrect letter.

“It was especially frustratingwhen my family needed me. Icould not share in their sorrow.We could not give each othersupport,” Houben wrote duringthe interview.

“Just imagine. You hear, see,feel and think but no one can seethat. You undergo things. You

cannot participate in life.”Arthur Caplan, a bioethics

professor at the University ofPennsylvania, said he is skepticalof Houben’s ability to communi-cate after seeing video of his handbeing moved along the keyboard.

“That’s called ‘facilitatedcommunication,’ ” Caplan said.“That is ouija board stuff. It’sbeen discredited time and timeagain. When people look at it,

it’s usually the person doing thepointing who’s doing the mes-sages, not the person they claimthey are helping.”

Caplan also said the state-ments Houben allegedly madewith the computer seem unnat-ural for someone with such aprofound injury and an inabilityto communicate for decades.

Asked how he felt when hisconsciousness was discovered,Houben responded through theaide that: “I especially felt relief.Finally be able to show that Iwas indeed there.”

“Just like with a baby, it hap-pens with a lot of stumbling,” hewrote.

The doctor who discoveredthat Houben had been wronglydiagnosed said that he is re-ex-amining dozens of other cases.

Dr. Steven Laureys said he hasdiscovered some degree of con-sciousness using state-of-the-art equipment in other patientsbut won’t say how many. Helooks at about 50 cases fromaround the world a year but noneare as extreme as that of RomHouben, who was fully con-scious inside a paralyzed body.Many center on the fine distinc-tion between a vegetative stateand minimal consciousness.

YVES LOGGHE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rom Houben uses his touchscreen and assistance from speech thera-pist Linda Wouters to communicate during an interview.

Canada reports some bad reactions to H1N1 shotsTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON — Canadian doc-tors have been advised not touse a batch of 170,000 doses ofH1N1 flu vaccine while authori-ties investigate reports of aller-gic reactions among recipients,drug maker GlaxoSmithKlinePLC said Tuesday.

Authorities routinely moni-tor vaccines for any signals ofproblems, such as the allergicreactions that do occur, rarely,every year.

Company spokeswomanGwenan White said that Glaxo-SmithKline advised medical

staff in Canada last week to re-frain from using one batch ofthe vaccine while they look intoreports that that it might havecaused more allergic reactionsthan normal.

“One batch has seen a slight-ly increased rate of anaphylax-is,” she said. Anaphylaxis is alife-threatening type of allergicshock.

Six people in Canada hadsuffered an allergic reaction,said Tim Vail, the spokesmanfor Canada’s health minister.The batch contained about170,000 doses. It was not im-

mediately clear how many hadbeen administered, althoughVail said the majority had been.

GlaxoSmithKline said it hasdistributed a total of 7.5 milliondoses of the vaccine acrossCanada.

“We’re not seeing any thingwild or spooky or crazy aboutour vaccine at all,” Vail said, ar-guing that it may have been astatistical anomaly that the re-actions occurred.

The vaccine chief of the WorldHealth Organization, MariePaule Kieny, said Monday thatthe number of people who went

into anaphylactic shock aftergetting the vaccine in Canadawas “a bit higher than normal”but that the numbers were stillsmall. She said Canadian au-thorities are investigating thecomponents of the vaccine to seeif there might be a problem withany of them.

GlaxoSmithKline, the world’ssecond largest drug maker byrevenue, is investigating onlythe one batch of its swine fluvaccine in Canada. White saidno other doses of its swine fluvaccine around the world areaffected.

China executes 2 in caseof deadly baby formula


BEIJING — China executed adairy farmer and a milk salesmanTuesday for their roles in the saleof contaminated baby formula —severe punishments that Beijinghopes will assuage public anger,reassure importers and put torest one of the country’s worstfood safety crises.

The men were the only peopleput to death in a scheme to boostprofits by lacing milk powderwith the industrial chemicalmelamine; 19 other people wereconvicted and received lessersentences. At least six children

died after drinking the adulter-ated formula, and more than300,000 were sickened.

Beijing is eager to show it hasresponded swiftly and compre-hensively to eliminate problemsin its food-production chain thathave spawned protests at homeand threatened its export-relianteconomy. The milk powder con-tamination struck a nerve withthe public because so many chil-dren were affected,but it was onlyone in a series of product recallsand embarrassing disclosures oflax public-health safeguards.

Melamine, which is used tomake plastics and fertilizers, hasalso been found added to petfood, eggs and fish feed, al-though not in levels dangerous tohumans. The chemical, which ishigh in nitrogen, fooled inspec-tors. It can cause kidney stonesand kidney failure.

China has tightened regula-tions and increased inspectionson producers and exporters incooperation with U.S. officials,who have noted a drop in thenumber of product recalls onChinese exports.

But Beijing continues tostruggle to regulate small and il-legally run operations, oftenblamed for introducing chemi-cals and additives into the foodchain. The country has 450,000registered food production andprocessing enterprises, butmany — about 350,000 — em-ploy just 10 people or fewer. TheU.N. said in a report last yearthat the small enterprises pres-ent many of China’s greatestfood-safety challenges.

Zhang Yujun, the farmer, wasexecuted for endangering publicsafety, and Geng Jinping for pro-ducing and selling toxic food,according to the official XinhuaNews Agency.

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, December 2, 2009 NATION • A13

STORM LEAVES SNOW FOR PLAY IN ALAMOGORDOVeronica Smith, 7, rolls a giant snowball around her front yard in Alamogordo, N.M. A wintry storm swept oversoutheastern New Mexico Monday, leaving plenty of snow for Veronica on Tuesday.

MICHAEL JOHNSON / ALAMOGORDO DAILY NEWS

Heated Senate debate tackleshealth bill’s effect on Medicare


WASHINGTON — A Republi-can senator asserted Tuesdayduring a rancorous floor debatethat President Obama’s health-care overhaul will shorten thelives of America’s seniors by cut-ting Medicare.

“I have a message for you:You’re going to die sooner,” saidSen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., anobstetrician-turned-lawmaker.

A senior Democrat decriedsuch comments as scare tacticsdesigned to kill legislation thathe said would improve somebenefits for seniors. At times, thedebate recalled the raw chargesand countercharges of the sum-mer’s town-hall meetings.

Finance Committee ChairmanMax Baucus, D-Mont., defendedthe health-care legislation, say-ing it would make Medicare asmarter buyer and improve pre-scription coverage and preven-tive benefits for seniors.

“I hate to say it … these arescare tactics,” Baucus said.“Sometimes you’ve got to call aspade a spade.”

The Senate was debating anamendment by Sen. John Mc-Cain, R-Ariz., that would re-move from the bill more than$400 billion in Medicare cuts tohome health providers, hospi-tals, hospices and others.

Polls show that seniors areconcerned that expanding cov-erage for the uninsured willcome at their expense. Medicarespending actually would keep

growing under the Democrats’legislation, but at a slower rate.

Despite the partisan sparringover Medicare, the first health-care amendment offered was bi-partisan, a measure to increasepreventive care for women co-sponsored by Sens. BarbaraMikulski, D-Md., and OlympiaSnowe, R-Maine. Their amend-ment would give the Health andHuman Services secretary au-thority to require health plans tocover additional preventive serv-ices for women and was inspiredin part by controversial recom-mendations last month thatwomen undergo fewer mammo-grams and Pap smears to test forcancer. Republicans seized onthose recommendations as earlysigns of rationing of care they saywould happen under the Demo-

crats’ nearly $1 trillion health bill.However, the amendment

doesn’t specifically addressmammograms or spell out whatadditional services would becovered, leaving that to the dis-cretion of the HHS secretary.The Congressional Budget Of-fice said the amendment wouldcost $940 million over a decade.

“We know that some in Wash-ington have wanted government-run health care for years. And it’shard to escape the conclusion thatthese same people saw the currenteconomic crisis as their moment,”said Minority Leader Mitch Mc-Connell, R-Ky. “Earlier this year,some in the administration saidthat a crisis is a terrible thing towaste. Americans are hoping thisbill isn’t what they meant. Butthey’re concerned it is.”

, PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sen. John McCain, right, with Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell,left, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, speaks to reporters on saving Medicare.

Sexualoffendermandateignored


ATLANTA — More thanthree years after Congress or-dered stepped-up monitoringof sex offenders, only onestate has adopted the govern-ment’s strict new require-ments, and some others areweighing whether to ignorethe law and just pay a penalty.

So far, Ohio is the lone stateto meet the new federal stan-dards. Elsewhere, efforts havebeen hampered by high costsand legal challenges from thenation’s 686,000 registeredsex offenders. Advocatesworry that the delays are put-ting public safety at risk.

“This means more of thesame — that we’re losing sexoffenders when they crossstate lines and disappear,” saidErin Runnion, who lobbied forthe law after her 5-year-olddaughter, Samantha, was kid-napped and killed in 2002.

“It’s incredibly frustrating.How many children do wehave to lose to repeat sex of-fenders before we start takingthese guys seriously?”

The initial deadline forstates to comply was in July.Then the deadline was ex-tended to July 2010, althoughseveral states have signaledthey may still be unable tomeet it. States that do notadopt the mandates risk los-ing millions of dollars in fed-eral grants.

The law was designed tokeep closer tabs on sex of-fenders, including an esti-mated 100,000 who are notliving where they are sup-posed to be. It would create anational sex offender registryand toughen penalties forthose who fail to register.

The president of the Na-tional Center for Missing andExploited Children said statesneed more money to adoptthe law, and he called on Con-gress to help.

“We understand that thereare challenges in becomingcompliant, but the greatestchallenge is that states areoverwhelmed. And they’regoing to need resources to ad-dress this,” Ernie Allen said.

Last year, a federal judge inNevada declared the law un-constitutional because itwould subject offenders toadditional penalties afterthey have served their time.The Ohio Supreme Courtheard similar arguments lastmonth from more than26,000 sex offenders whowere convicted before the lawwas signed.

Critics have also com-plained that juvenile offend-ers would appear on registriesin some states. And becausethe law requires offenders toregister in person, it couldunfairly burden people in ru-ral areas who would have farto travel.

In addition to the legalchallenges, states are alsostruggling with the cost,which could climb into themillions of dollars.

“We have states being verylaid back, and states wherelegislators are pulling outtheir hair trying to comply,”said Alisa Klein of the Associ-ation for the Treatment ofSexual Abusers. “And there’slots of states waiting for an-other state to bust a move andsay, ‘We’re not going to com-ply.’ ”

FAA: No sleeping in the cockpitTHE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

WASHINGTON — Federalregulators said Tuesday theywould not allow pilots to sleep inthe cockpit as part of a proposedrule for reducing pilot fatigue.

Some airlines and aviationsafety experts have endorsed shortnaps as one ingredient of a strate-gy to reduce fatigue. But PeggyGilligan, the Federal Aviation Ad-ministration’s associate adminis-trator for aviation safety, said theagency could manage pilot fatiguewithout permitting napping.

“We do believe the crew has tocome to work prepared for theschedule they are undertaking,”Gilligan told the Senate Com-mittee on Commerce, Scienceand Transportation. “We can

manage and mitigate their fa-tigue through the regulationssufficiently that they should bealert throughout that flight.”

The FAA committed to over-haul its pilot flight and duty rulesafter a regional jet crashed in Feb-ruary in Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50people.

Investigators determined thatpilot fatigue,as well as poor train-ing and pilot error, probably con-tributed to the crash.

The FAA appointed an aviationrulemaking committee to recom-mend new flight and duty rules,which date from the 1940s. Cur-rent rules limit a pilot to eighthours of flying in a 24-hour peri-od, but permit a duty day of 16hours.

Gilligan said Tuesday the FAAis behind schedule on the pro-posal and won’t be done with ituntil early next year. The pro-posal would then have to be re-viewed by the U.S. Departmentof Transportation and the WhiteHouse before it could be releasedfor public comment by airlinesand other parties.

The FAA hasn’t made its com-mittee recommendations public,but Tuesday’s hearing offered in-sights into some of the proposals.

Gilligan said the proposed rulewould target the time of day a pi-lot flies and whether he or sheflies many trips in a given day.The latter would have a greaterimpact on regional airlines —which fly shorter trips.

GEORGIA

Recount seems likelyin Atlanta mayor race

ATLANTA — The race forAtlanta mayor appeared head-ed for a recount early today,with the two candidates sepa-rated by only 620 votes.

Former state Sen.Kasim Reedhad the slight lead with 99 per-cent of precincts reporting, butMary Norwood told supportersthat she was not conceding andwas open to a recount. Both had50 percent of the vote.

Under Georgia law, the run-ner-up can petition for a re-count when the margin of vic-tory is less than 1 percent of thetotal vote. Voters cast 84,076ballots, so the winning marginwould be less than 1 percent.

Both tried to gain a criticalmass of racial crossover votes.Norwood was trying to becomethe city’s first white mayor inmore than three decades; Reedwho is black, claimed victory.

OHIO

Suspected serial killerindicted in 11 murders

CLEVELAND — A registeredsex offender attacked 14women and killed 11 of them,leaving their remains in andaround his home, a prosecutorsaid Tuesday in announcing agrand jury indictment againstthe suspected serial killer.

Anthony Sowell, 50, is in-dicted on murder charges in thedeaths of 11 women, plusdozens of other counts, includ-ing kidnapping, abuse of acorpse, attempted murder, as-sault and rape.

Authorities said Sowell luredvulnerable women to his homeand that, “once inside, he tor-mented them, threatened themand assaulted them. He mur-dered 11 of them.” Authoritieshave said the victims werehomeless or living alone andhad drug or alcohol addictions.

NEW YORK

Mistrial — and 4thhung jury for Gotti

NEW YORK — A judge de-clared a mistrial Tuesday at theracketeering trial of John “Ju-nior” Gotti after a jury failed toreach a verdict against the son ofthe notorious Gambino crimefamily mob boss — the case’sfourth hung jury in five years.

The anonymous jurors de-liberated 11 days before notify-ing the judge they were hope-lessly deadlocked over racket-eering conspiracy and murdercharges. Prosecutors accusedGotti of ordering gangland hitsto settle scores and of secretlypocketing drug money despiteinsisting he’d gone straight.

U.S. District Judge Kevin P.Castel freed Gotti — behindbars for more than a year — on$2 million bond while the gov-ernment decides whether toseek a fifth trial.

Gitmo detainee seeksdismissal of charges

NEW YORK — A Guan-tanamo detainee has asked thatcharges be dismissed in the1998 bombings of two U.S.embassies in Africa, citing along wait for trial.

Lawyers for Ahmed Ghailanifiled papers Tuesday in a NewYork City federal court seekingto have the indictment dis-missed. The lawyers said theirclient’s case raised the questionof whether national securitycan trump an indicted defen-dant’s constitutional right to aspeedy trial. Authorities allegeGhailani was a bomb-maker,document forger and aide toOsama bin Laden. The attacksat embassies in Tanzania andKenya killed 224 people, in-cluding 12 Americans.

Ghailani was brought to theUnited States earlier this year.The Tanzanian, captured inPakistan in 2004, was held inGuantanamo since 2006.

TEXAS

Lawyer: Army ordersHasan mental exam

FORT WORTH — An attor-ney for the Army psychiatristcharged with killing 13 peopleat Fort Hood says the Army isordering a mental evaluationfor his client.

Attorney John Galligan saidhe received notice Tuesdaynight that the Army wants toperform the exam on Maj.Nidal Hasan.

Hasan is charged with 13counts of premeditated murderin the Nov. 5 shooting spree onthe Texas post. The evaluationwould determine whetherHasan had mental responsibilityat the time of the crime andwhether he’s competent tostand trial. Galligan said theexam is premature becauseHasan remains in intensive care,and because authorities saymore charges may be pending.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Council votes 11-2for gay marriage

WASHINGTON — The Dis-trict of Columbia Council tooka major step toward joiningNew Hampshire, Connecticut,Iowa, Vermont and Massachu-setts in legalizing same-sexmarriage Tuesday, approvingthe change by a vote of 11 to 2.

Although the outcome wasexpected from the heavily De-mocratic city, the move re-mains controversial because ofopposition from socially con-servative churches. The coun-cil’s vote Tuesday is not final.

Wire reports

AROUND THE

NATION

¡

FINAL

AMKiss

Stamp

DEAR ABBY By Jeanne Phillips • Universal Press Syndicate

DEAR ABBY: I am a 30-year-old woman who has recentlydiscovered my biological family.I have a wonderful half-brotherand several other amazing peo-ple I can now call family.

The issue I’m struggling withis my profound attraction to myhalf-brother. I know it’s morallywrong, and I may be confusingthe newfound relationship withhim. Your perspective would bevery much appreciated. — CON-FLICTED IN SOUTHERN CALI-FORNIA

DEAR CONFLICTED: Phys-ical attraction is a reflex — andnot something we can control.Our BEHAVIOR, on the otherhand, is something we CANcontrol.

This is a case of wrong time,wrong place. If you had been amember of the royal family inEgypt 3,000 years ago, you couldhave married your half-brotherand continued the dynasty. Butthis is 2009 and the U.S.A., soyou’re just going to have to satis-fy your physical attraction withsomeone less incestuous.

DEAR ABBY: Is it rude to la-bel one’s leftover food whenstaying with relatives? My hus-band, daughter and I visit hisfamily often. When we go out toeat and bring leftovers back tothe house, we usually label themif we want to eat them later.

It has never seemed out of theordinary to me. I was raised thatway. My mother always said thatif I didn’t want something eatenby one of my siblings, then Ishould label it.

Recently, my husband’s sister(who is 16) asked if she could eatthe rest of some pizza we hadbought the night before. I polite-ly responded that I planned tohave it for lunch. She remarkedthat she thinks it is funny thatwe are so protective of our food.

It got me to thinking — is our be-havior odd? — TAKEN ABACKIN WASHINGTON

DEAR TAKEN ABACK:Considering that you come froma family in which anything in thefridge was considered fair gameamong your siblings, it’s not oddat all. And when your sister-in-law said what she did, youshould have explained that toher. Had you done so, shewouldn’t have questioned it.

DEAR ABBY: My 20-year-old daughter,“Marissa,” is self-centered, lies compulsively anddoes not consider the conse-quences of her actions. She hasbeen diagnosed with narcissisticpersonality disorder. We havejust learned that she is nowpregnant, and her father and Iare not happy about it.

We will eventually be meetingthe parents of the child’s father.Is it our responsibility to discussMarissa’s problems with them?Or should we keep our mouthsshut and pretend we are happy?— TRYING TO DECIDE IN WIS-CONSIN

DEAR TRYING TO DE-CIDE: Does the young manknow about your daughter’s di-agnosis and what it means? Ifnot, then HE should be told andthe implications explained tohim.

Because your daughter’s per-sonality disorder will affect theirson and the grandchild, his par-ents should also be informed.Ideally, he is the person whoshould do it. But if he doesn’t,lay all the cards on the table be-cause the other grandparentsshould be prepared.

And no, you do not have to“pretend” to be happy about thesituation. And neither do they.

Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com orP.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069

NEW YORK

Philbin has hipreplaced successfully

NEW YORK — Regis Philbinhad successful hip replacement

surgery Tues-day, and plansto return to hissyndicateddaytime talkshow earlynext month.

An e-mailfrom “Live!With Regis andKelly” says:“Word from

the hospital is that everythingwent perfectly this morning dur-ing Regis’ hip replacement sur-gery,and his doctor said that Reg-is couldn’t be in better shape.”

RHODE ISLAND

Actor Woods settlessuit against hospital

WARWICK — Actor JamesWoods on Tuesday settled a law-

suit against ahospital inRhode Islandwhere hisyoungerbrotherMichael diedin 2006.

Woodsclaimed KentHospital was

negligent in the death of his 49-year-old brother, who had aheart attack and died in its emer-gency room after going therewith a sore throat and vomiting.

The hospital’s chief executive,Sandra Coletta, acknowledged ata news conference with Woods

outside court that mistakes weremade.

She said the hospital is creat-ing an institute in MichaelWoods’ honor and investing$1.25 million over next two yearsto study redesigning health careand reducing errors. JamesWoods said his brother’s chil-dren will be provided for.

Gibson leaving ABC‘World News’ Dec. 18

NEW YORK — ABC saysCharles Gibson will sign off fromthe “World News” anchor desk

on Dec. 18.The 66-

year-old Gib-son, who an-nounced hisretirement inSeptember,has been atABC News formore thanthree decadesand plans to

continue as an occasional con-tributor.

CALIFORNIA

Judge bars releaseof J. Lo home videos

LOS ANGELES — Homevideos featuring Jennifer Lopezand a movie project based onthem won’t be coming to ascreen near you because a judgeblocked their distribution Tues-day.

Los Angeles Superior CourtJudge James C. Chalfant issuedthe preliminary injunctionagainst Lopez’s ex-husband,Ojani Noa, and manager, EdMeyer, who have sought to dis-tribute the footage.

Lopez wed Noa in 1997, buttheir marriage lasted just 11months.


ENTERTAINMENT

BRIEFS

Regis Philbin

Charles Gibson

James Woods

A14 • NATION & WORLD Wednesday, December 2, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Relativelypeacefullife returnsfor Iraqis

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

BAGHDAD — From the rick-ety upper deck of the small tourboat cruising the Tigris River, itwas easy to imagine Baghdad as apeaceful city again.

The boat listed badly when itturned, the dock was old andrusty, and the Tigris was blem-ished by trash floating along itsbanks, but that didn’t dim any-one’s spirits on a sunny after-noon. Certainly not those of boatdriver Muslim Hadi Naji, whosevessel had been anchored upriver,unused,for most of the decade.

“This is the first Eid we areoperating,” Naji said of the reli-gious festival that ended formost Muslims on Monday, butwhich was being celebrated intoTuesday. “It’s better than before— a lot better than before.”

Iraq has just passed throughwhat may be its least violentmonth since the U.S. invasion6ƒ long years ago. Political vio-lence remains a daily occur-rence, but fewer Iraqi civilians,policemen and soldiers died inNovember than in any of the past79 months, according to officialfigures. Two U.S. soldiers died ofcombat-related injuries.

Whether the relative quiet willlast is anybody’s guess. A massivebombing in downtown Baghdadon Oct.25,which killed at least 155people and badly damaged gov-ernment buildings, proved thatal-Qaida in Iraq, which claimedresponsibility, is still active andIraqi security is still porous.

Sectarian violence may haveebbed, but tensions remain raw,and an unresolved dispute over along-delayed election law hasn’thelped. Sectarian killings, assas-sinations and attacks on Iraqijournalists remain common.“Sticky bombs,” adhered to theundersides of vehicles, are aweapon of choice, along withfirearms, Katyusha rockets androadside bombs.

Abu Nawas Park, one of Bagh-dad’s few green refuges, wasjammed with people and had acarnival air. Hawkers sold nuts,tea and balloons, horse-drawncarriages offered rides; and chil-dren chased one another aroundplaygrounds.

Azzam Ibrahim, his wife, Nid-hal Sachit, their two daughtersand grandson were among thosewho voted — cautiously — withtheir feet and visited the parkalong the Tigris with thousandsof others Tuesday.

Exiting from their turn on thetour boat, Ibrahim said the fami-ly spent the first two days of Eidal-Adha, the holiday that followsthe holy pilgrimage to Mecca,Saudi Arabia, “checking thepulse” of security, determininghow safe it was to move aroundthe city. Only in the final twodays did they go out.

The Iraqi government releasedfigures Tuesday showing that122 Iraqis died from violence inNovember. The reported toll was88 civilians, 22 police officersand 12 soldiers.

The toll is a far cry from thesectarian bloodshed of just a fewyears ago. In September 2006,3,389 Iraqi civilians and 150 se-curity forces died, according tothe Web site icasualties.org.

N. Korea revalues its currencyTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea —North Korea has revalued itscurrency for the first time in ahalf century, reportedly trig-gering chaos in the impover-ished nation by moving to as-sert state control over a grow-ing market economy.

The development came atthe end of a year of turmoil asleader Kim Jong Il apparentlyrecovered from a stroke. Thecommunist country alsostoked tensions by launching along-range rocket and con-ducting its second nucleartest, drawing U.N. condemna-tion and beefed-up sanctions.

North Korea revalued itscurrency — known as the won— at an exchange rate betweenold and new notes of 100 to 1,China’s Xinhua news agencysaid in a dispatch from Py-ongyang. It cited a verbal no-

tice Tuesday from North Ko-rea’s Foreign Ministry to em-bassies in the capital.

The surprise move report-edly sent shockwaves throughNorth Korea, with reports ofshops being closed and citi-zens angry and panicked.

The exchange of old notesstarted Monday and will con-tinue until Sunday, Xinhua re-ported.

State-run shops in Py-ongyang were closed Tuesdaymorning, with one unidenti-fied saleswoman saying theywould reopen a week later afterthe government sets newprices, Xinhua said.

Pyongyang residents rushedto black markets to convertstashed-away money into dol-lars and Chinese yuan, SouthKorea’s Yonhap News Agencyreported, citing unidentifiedNorth Korean traders operat-

ing in China.The North Korean won was

officially traded at 145 to thedollar, according to DongYong-sueng, a senior fellow atSamsung Economic ResearchInstitute in Seoul. But morethan 3,000 won were neededto buy $1 on the black market,he added.

The revaluation had SouthKorean media and North Koreawatchers guessing as to themotive for the change. Somesaid the government was try-ing to impose limits on privatecommerce.

“This is a way to strike a blowagainst people who are engagedin market economic activitiesthat are beyond state control,”said Marcus Noland,deputy di-rector of the Peterson Institutefor International Economics inWashington and an expert onNorth Korea’s economy.

A CHRISTMAS SPECTACLE IN PARISAlong the Champs-Elysées, the headlights of rush-hour vehicles can hardly compete with the thou-sands of lights laced into the trees along the famed avenue and framing a huge Ferris wheel, in thebackground. There’s nary a traffic light in sight. The photo was taken Tuesday.

REMY DE LA MAUVINIERE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRANCE

Iraqi shoe throwertargeted by copycat

PARIS — The Iraqi journal-ist who threw his shoes atPresident George W. Bush inBaghdad last year had a taste ofhis own medicine Tuesdaywhen he nearly got beaned by ashoe thrower at a news confer-ence in Paris.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi ducked,and the shoe hit the wall be-hind him. “He stole my tech-nique,” al-Zeidi quipped later.

The identity of the new shoethrower — and his motivation— weren’t immediately clear,but he appeared to be an Iraqi.

The confrontation didn’tstop there. Al-Zeidi’s brother,Maithan, chased the attackerin the audience and — whatelse? — pelted him with a shoeas he left the room.

The Paris news conferencewas held so Al-Zeidi could talkabout his experiences.

IRAN

Five yachtsmenfrom Britain freed

TEHRAN — Iran has re-

leased five British sailors de-tained after their racing yachtwas stopped in the PersianGulf after entering Iranian wa-ters last week.

The official IRNA newsagency said the yachtsmenwere let go after an interroga-tion by Iranian authoritiesfound that their entry intoIranian waters had been a mis-take.

The report said the Britishwere released early today.

ARGENTINA

Latin America’s firstgay nuptials blocked

BUENOS AIRES — An Ar-gentine couple’s attempt tounite in Latin America’s firstgay marriage was thwartedTuesday when city officials de-cided to block the wedding be-cause of conflicting judicialrulings.

Jose Maria di Bello and AlexFreyre showed up at theBuenos Aires civil registry of-fice despite a national judge’sruling late Monday that over-turned a city court’s decisionto permit them to wed. Thefirst judge ruled again Tuesdaythat they could wed.

The couple, dressed in blacksuits, silver ties and a red bandsymbolizing AIDS awareness,waited for hours in the munic-ipal office as officials debated

which judge to obey.They were surrounded by

supporters and a swarm ofmedia.

The final decision fell toMayor Mauricio Macri, whooriginally had given the greenlight to the wedding.

The city decided it wouldnot allow the marriage untilthe Supreme Court has ruledon the case.

Gay-rights groups said theywere angry and would marchto City Hall in protest.

BRITAIN

Woman accidentallysmothers her baby

LONDON — A breast-feed-ing mother accidentallysmothered her 4-week-oldchild aboard a United Airlinesflight from Washington, D.C.,bound for Kuwait, a Britishtabloid reported Tuesday.

The Sun newspaper said themother, whom it identified asa 29-year-old Egyptian-bornwoman, fell asleep as shebreast-fed on the jet andawoke to find that the childhad been smothered.

The paper said the planewas diverted to London’sHeathrow Airport in an un-successful attempt to save thebaby’s life.


AROUND THE

WORLD

¡

FINAL

AMKiss

Stamp

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Friday, December 4, 2009 NATION • A13

US turning more isolationist recently, survey saysMCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — At the verymoment when President Obamais looking to thrust the U.S. evermore into global affairs, fromAfghanistan to climate change,the American public is turningmore isolationist and unilateral-ist than it has at any time indecades, according to a new pollreleased Thursday.

The survey by the Pew Re-search Center found a pluralityof Americans — 49 percent —think that the U.S. should “mindits own business international-ly” and leave it to other countriesto fend for themselves.

It was the first time in morethan 40 years of polling that theranks of Americans with isola-tionist sentiment outnumberedthose with a more international

outlook, Pew said.“The U.S. public is turning

decidedly inward,” Pew said.The U.S. is also growing more

unilateralist, with 44 percentsaying that the country “shouldgo our own way in internationalmatters, not worrying aboutwhether other countries agreewith us or not.”

That was the highest percent-age since the question was firstasked in 1964.

The country also has grownpessimistic about U.S. clout inworld affairs.

By a margin of 41 percent to 25percent, those polled think theU.S. is playing a less importantrole in the world than 10 yearsago.

It was the first time since the1970s — when the U.S. had

withdrawn from Vietnam, beenhurt by an Arab oil embargo andseen its citizens held hostage in

Iran — that a plurality of Ameri-cans thought their country wasweaker than it had been a decadebefore.

The shift in sentiment comesafter more than eight years ofwar in Afghanistan and almostseven in Iraq, and in the midst ofthe worst economy since theGreat Depression.

Just 32 percent of those ques-tioned favors increasing U.S.troops in Afghanistan, and only46 percent say it’s likely thatAfghanistan will be able to with-stand the threat posed by theTaliban.

The survey of 2,000 U.S.adults was taken from Oct. 28-Nov. 8 — before Obama’s speechon Afghanistan Tuesday night.It has an error margin of plus orminus 3 percentage points.

The public turn toward isola-tionism comes as Obama plansto escalate the U.S. role inAfghanistan with more troopsand as he engages with othercountries and international in-stitutions on issues rangingfrom climate change to theeconomy.

Next week, he will visit Den-mark to attend an internationalconference on climate change,then Norway to accept the NobelPeace Prize.

On other points, the Pew pollsaid:

• A plurality of Americans, 44percent, now say that China isthe world’s top economic power,while just 27 percent say it’s theU.S. That’s a sharp reversal fromnearly two years ago, when 41percent thought the U.S. was

the No. 1 economic power, and30 percent thought it was Chi-na.

• A majority of Americans, 53percent, see China’s growingpower as a “major threat.” That’svirtually unchanged from whatthe quadrennial poll found in2001 and 2005.

However, 642 members ofthe Council on Foreign Rela-tions, who are seen as opinionleaders and also were polled byPew, had the opposite view. Just21 percent of them saw China asa major threat, down from 38percent in 2001 and 30 percentin 2005.

For them, Pew said, “Chinahas been transformed from amajor threat to the United Statesto an increasingly important fu-ture ally.”

It was ‘our fault,’ Secret Service chief says of party-crashersHEARST NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — The SecretService, whose agents aretrained to protect the president,attempted to do the same Thurs-day for President Obama’s socialaides by insisting that the agencywas solely responsible for the se-curity lapse that allowed twoparty crashers to talk their wayinto last week’s White Housestate dinner.

“This is our fault and our faultalone,” Mark Sullivan, SecretService director, told the HouseHomeland Security Committee.

But lawmakers from both par-ties — contending that this wasnot a harmless security lapse butrather a threat to national secu-rity — told Sullivan that at leastpart of the blame rested with theWhite House social staff, whichwas in charge of invitations forthe gala.

Secret Service agents andWhite House aides typicallymonitor entrances for guests,such as those attending lastweek’s dinner in honor of IndianPrime Minister ManmohanSingh.

However, there were no socialaides present when Secret Ser-vice personnel allowed Tareqand Michaele Salahi to enter theWhite House after they insisted

they had been invited to the din-ner.

“Every single time that I haveentered the White House, therehas always been somebody fromthe White House there at thevery first point,” said Rep. Loret-ta Sanchez, D-Calif.

Sullivan said that he did notknow who made the recommen-dation to have only the SecretService at the checkpoints. Thesecurity plan in effect that nightrequired the White House staffto be available by phone to clearany discrepancies on the list, hesaid.

“We should have called forsomeone to come out,” Sullivanacknowledged.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas,said the Salahis would not havebeen admitted if White House’ssocial staffers, overseen by Oba-ma’s social secretary DesireeRogers, had been stationed at theentrances with the Secret Ser-vice.

The agents who mistakenlypermitted the Salahis to enterhave been placed on administra-tive leave, Sullivan said.

Separately, Obama said in aninterview with USA Today andthe Detroit Free Press that “thesystem didn’t work the way itwas supposed to” at the state

dinner. Nonetheless, he said hestill feels safe in the WhiteHouse and “could not have moreconfidence in the Secret Ser-

vice.”Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-

Miss., chairman of the commit-tee, had invited the Salahis and

Rogers to testify. However, theSalahis didn’t show up and theWhite House invoked the Con-stitution’s separation-of-pow-

ers doctrine to explain thatRogers wouldn’t appear beforethe panel.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., criti-cized the White House for“offhandedly” announcing dur-ing a White House briefingWednesday that Rogers would bea no-show, instead of notifyingCongress directly.

King accused the WhiteHouse of “stonewalling” to tryto save Rogers, an Obama allyfrom Chicago, and itself fromembarrassment.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, posed the basic questionunderlying the investigation:“How in the world could thiscouple get past the Secret Ser-vice without having their nameson the list and get right up to thepresident of the United States?”

Sullivan replied: “Sir, I’veasked myself that question athousand times over the lastweek.”

Rep. Christopher Carney, D-Pa., called the Salahis “patho-logically egomaniacal.”

Some lawmakers also specu-lated about why the Salahis didnot appear at the hearing.

“Perhaps it’s because theywere on the invited-guest list,”joked Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz.

COURTESY OF THE WHITE HOUSE

President Obama as he greeted Michaele and Tareq Salahi in the Blue Room of the White House on Nov. 24.

MCT12/04/09

Isolationist viewsHow Americans respond to the statement, “The U.S. should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can”:

Agree Disagree

’95 ’97 ’99 ’01 ’02 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’09

49%

44%

Source: Pew Research Center survey of 2,000 U.S. adults (most recent, Oct. 28-Nov. 8, 2009); margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points

0

15

30

45

60%

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Friday, December 4, 2009 NATION • A17

$3.5B to be used to turnfailing schools around


WASHINGTON — The Oba-ma administration will spend atleast $3.5 billion to push local of-ficials around the country toclose failing schools and reopenthem with new teachers andprincipals.

Education Secretary ArneDuncan hopes to see the 5,000worst-performing schools,about 1 percent of all U.S.schools, turned around in fiveyears. The administration isbeefing up the federal schoolturnaround program, which wascreated under the No Child LeftBehind law championed by for-mer President George W. Bush.

“As a country, we need to getinto the turnaround business,”Duncan said in a statement.“Adults need to have the courageto make these tough decisionsand do right by our kids.”

The president doesn’t have thepower to close and reopen schoolshimself. That authority rests withlocal school districts and states.

But federal officials have anincentive in the turn-around program, whichgives money to statesfor school districts tooverhaul the worst-performing schools.Districts will have tocompete for grants.

Applications for themoney, made availableThursday to states,should result in a list ofabout 1,200 schools that stateshave targeted for turnaround,the Education Department said,adding that the eventual goal is5,000 schools.

To get the money, a districtmust do one of four things:

• Fire the principal and at least

half the staff and reopen theschool with new personnel.

• Turn a school over to a char-ter school operator or othermanagement organization.

• Close the schooland send students tohigher-achievingschools in the district.

• Replace only theprincipal and take othersteps to change how theschool operates.

A special focus will beon fixing middle schoolsand high schools, espe-cially “dropout facto-

ries” where two in five kids don’tmake it to graduation.

Duncan, a former Chicagoschools chief, has experiencewith school turnarounds:Chicago targeted several publicschools for turnaround whileDuncan was still in charge.

Arne Duncan

Nature adapts to climate changeand so must we, experts warn


With the world losing the bat-tle against global warming so far,experts are warning that humansneed to follow nature’s example:Adapt or die.

That means elevating build-ings; making taller and strongerdams and sea walls; reroutingwater systems; restricting cer-tain developments; changingfarming practices; and ultimate-ly moving people, plants and an-imals out of harm’s way.

Adapting to rising seas andhigher temperatures is expectedto be a big topic at the U.N. cli-mate-change talks in Copen-hagen next week, along with theprojected cost — hundreds of bil-lions of dollars, much of it goingto countries that cannot afford it.

That adaptation will be a ma-jor focus is remarkable in itself.Until the past couple of years,experts avoided talking aboutadjusting to global warming forfear of sounding fatalistic orcausing countries to back off ef-forts to reduce emissions.

“It’s something that’s beenneglected, hasn’t been talkedabout, and it’s something theworld will have to do,” said Ra-jendra Pachauri, chairman of theIntergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change. “Adaptation is go-ing to be absolutely crucial forsome societies.”

Some biologists point to hownature has handled the changingclimate. The rare Adonis bluebutterfly of Britain looked as if itwere going to disappear because

it couldn’t fly far and globalwarming was making its habitatunbearable. To biologists’ sur-prise, it evolved longer thoraxesand wings, allowing it to fly far-ther to cooler locales.

“Society needs to be changingas much as wildlife is changing,”said Texas A&M biologistCamille Parmesan, an expert onhow species change with the cli-mate.

One difficulty is that climatechange is happening rapidly.

“Adaptation will be particu-larly challenging because the rateof change is escalating and ismoving outside the range towhich society has adapted in thepast” when more natural climatechanges happened, U.S. Nation-al Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-ministration chief JaneLubchenco, a marine biologist,told Congress on Wednesday.

President Obama and Con-gress are talking about $1.2 bil-lion a year from the U.S. for in-ternational climate aid, whichincludes adaptation. The U.N.climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said$10 billion to $12 billion a year isneeded from developed coun-tries through 2012 to “kick-start” things. Then it will geteven more expensive.

The World Bank estimatesadaptation costs will total $75 bil-lion to $100 billion a year over thenext 40 years. The InternationalInstitute for Environment andDevelopment, a London thinktank,says that number is too low.

It may even be $200 billion a

year or $300 billion a year, saidChris Hope, a business schoolprofessor at the University ofCambridge and part of the IIEDstudy.

Nevertheless,Hope said failingto adapt would be even more ex-pensive — perhaps $6 trillion ayear on average over the next 200years. Adaptation could cut thatby about $2 trillion a year, he said.

As much as three-quarters ofthe spending will be needed in thedeveloping world,experts say.

“Those are not the countriesthat caused the problem,” Hopesaid. “There’s a pretty strongmoral case for us giving them as-sistance for the impacts thatwe’ve largely caused.”

As for helping plants and ani-mals, British climate scientistMartin Parry said the world willhave to create a triage system tofigure out which living thingscan be saved, which can’t and areeffectively goners, and whichdon’t need immediate help.

“It’s a brutal way to go aboutthings,” Parry said.

And what about people?Some islands, such as the

Maldives, and some coastalcities will not be able to surviverising seas no matter what pro-tections are put in place, saidSaleemel Huq, a senior fellow atthe International Institute for En-vironment and Development whoruns an adaptation center inBangladesh. In those cases, hesaid, the world will need“planned relocation” of peopleand cities.

Copenhagen police set for summitTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COPENHAGEN — In Den-mark’s biggest security opera-tion since World War II, policeare mobilizing thousands of offi-cers and — for the first time — awater cannon for next week’sU.N. climate summit.

Copenhagen police demon-strated the German-made 22-ton vehicle to media Thursday,showcasing it mainly as a beefed-up firetruck that could spray wa-ter on burning cars or trash bins ifprotests get out of hand.

But police spokesmanMichael Engell said it was possi-ble to add tear gas to the 1.5 mil-lion-gallon water tank, implyingthat the cannon could also beaimed at rioting protesters. Po-lice said they have never before

used such a vehicle.At least 100 world leaders, in-

cluding President Obama, willconverge on the normally tran-quil city in the next two weeks totry to forge a new pact againstglobal warming.

Roughly 15,000 delegates havesigned up for the conference —and many more protesters are ex-pected to march through thestreets of the capital.

Most demonstrations are ex-pected to be peaceful manifesta-tions urging world leaders tocraft an ambitious climateagreement, but police say theyare ready if things get rowdy.

“We do not want to be at warwith anyone,” Copenhagen po-lice operations chief Per Larsensaid. “But we will act according-

ly if something unacceptablehappens. This is not a threat butconsumer information.”

Lene Vennits,one of the organ-izers of a planned demonstrationon Dec.12,criticized the police fordeploying a water cannon.

“It sends a signal that the cli-mate summit is about violence,”she told The Associated Press.

Still, anarchist and anti-capi-talist groups have suggested theywill seek confrontations with po-lice.

It’s unclear how many will showup in Copenhagen.

The Bella Center conferencefacility on the outskirts of thecapital has been turned into afortress, sealed off by massiveconcrete blocks and 6-foot-highmetal fences.

A12 • NATION & WORLD Wednesday, December 9, 2009 / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

HONORING 4 SLAIN POLICE OFFICERSAbout 20,000 mourners honored four slain police officers Tuesday at a memorial service in Tacoma, Wash. A procession of 2,000 cars followedthe caskets of Sgt. Mark Renninger and Officers Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold and Greg Richards to the Tacoma Dome, where the service washeld. The Lakewood officers were killed by a gunman on Nov. 29 before the start of their shift. Authorities say Maurice Clemmons singled themout at a coffee shop in a suburb south of Seattle. Clemmons was shot to death by a Seattle police officer after a two-day manhunt. “Our dadwas a hero to many, even long before he became a policeman,” said Richards’ teenage son, Austin. “The way he lived his life spoke volumes.”

ELAINE THOMPSON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

US settles suitover Indian landfor $3.4 billion

THE DENVER POST

WASHINGTON — After 13years of bitter litigation, the fed-eral government agreed Tuesdayto settle for $3.4 billion a lawsuitthat claims it badly mismanagedmillions of acres in Indian trustland over more than 100 years.

The agreement, which muststill be approved by Congress andthe courts, requires the federalgovernment to pay out $1.4 bil-lion to 300,000 American Indianplaintiffs, compensating themfor what they claim is decades oflost income from grazing, loggingand mineral royalties.

It also sets up a $2 billion fundto buy back interest in an unrulymaze of “allotment lands” thatdot reservations across the West.

The federal government will re-turn those lands to tribal owner-ship,reversing a controversial pol-icy of privatization that dates backto 1887, was reversed in the 1930s,and is seen by many in IndianCountry as contributing to a lega-cy of poverty and underdevelop-ment that continues to this day.

“We are here today to right apast wrong, to forge a solution toan ongoing and worsening prob-lem,and to lay out a path to the re-sponsible management of Indiantrust assets in the 21st century,”Interior Secretary Ken Salazar saidat a press conference Tuesday.

The settlement marks the endof seven full trials, 22 court deci-sions, and — for the federal gov-ernment — one of the largestclass-action cases in its history,involving about one of every 10American Indians.

For the plaintiffs, the an-nouncement finalizes a monu-mental legal struggle that hadbecome a symbol of governmentneglect and mismanagement,

one that a district judge last yearcalled an “irreparable breach offiduciary duty” by the Depart-ment of the Interior.

Although the settlement wasfar less than the $27 billion plain-tiffs once claimed they were owed,Attorney General Eric Holdercalled it “fair to the plaintiffs (and)responsible for the United States.”

Elouise Cobell, a Blackfoot In-dian and the lead plaintiff,said shewouldn’t describe it as fair, butwas “one way that Indian peoplecan actually get some money paidto them for historical wrongs.”

“If it was me, I would fight onfor another hundred years,” Co-bell said Tuesday. “But the de-ciding factor is, I live in IndianCountry, and I see every singleday people dying without theirmoney, and you just can’t take itanymore. Now, at least we canget them something paid.”

That sentiment partly reflectsthe frustration of American In-dians over the byzantine litiga-tion that began in 1996 and hasbeen to courts of appeal 10 timessince then. Among the difficul-ties, federal officials appeared tohave lost millions of criticalrecords dating back decades thatwere supposed to record incomefrom trust lands and what wasdone with the money.

Years of trying to reconstructthe accounts led to the collectionof more than 300 million pagesof old ledgers and accounts in acavern in Kansas — an ad hocarchive — but even those effortswere eventually abandoned.

Last year, a federal judge con-cluded the accounts could neverbe reconstructed and awardedthe plaintiffs $455 million, ajudgment that was later over-turned on appeal.

Ohio uses just 1 drugfor execution — a first


LUCASVILLE, Ohio — Ohiomade history in September whenan execution was botched sobadly the governor called it off.The state made history againTuesday, executing an inmatewith just one drug for the firsttime in the United States.

Kenneth Biros, 51, was pro-nounced dead shortly after onedose of sodium thiopental beganflowing into his veins at theSouthern Ohio Correctional Fa-cility. The U.S. Supreme Courthad rejected his final appeal twohours earlier.

Experts had predictedthat sodium thiopental— used in many parts ofthe world to put petsdown — would takelonger to kill than theprevious method. Butthe 10 minutes it tookBiros to die was about aslong as it has taken otherinmates in Ohio andelsewhere to succumb to thethree-drug combination.

The mother, sister and brotherof Biros’ murder victim, TamiEngstrom, applauded as thewarden announced the time ofdeath.

“Rock on,” Debi Heiss, En-gstrom’s sister, said a momentearlier as the curtains weredrawn for the coroner to checkon Biros.“That was too easy.”

Ohio’s switch to one drug wasborn of a botched execution at-tempt on another inmate in Sep-tember, but critics of the three-drug method have long arguedthat it amounts to cruel and un-usual punishment in violation of

the U.S. Constitution because itcan subject the condemned toextreme pain while leaving themimmobile and unable to cry out.

The three-drug method con-sists of sodium thiopental,a com-mon anesthetic, along with pan-curonium bromide, which para-lyzes muscles, and potassiumchloride, which stops the heart.The single-drug techniqueamounts to an overdose of theanesthetic — a method that injec-tion experts and defense attor-neys agreed would not cause pain.

Biros’ executioners struggledfor several minutes to find suitable

veins, inserting needlesrepeatedly in both armsbefore completing theprocess on just his leftarm. He winced once,and his attorney, JohnParker, said he was con-cerned by all the needlesticks. But prison offi-cials declared nothingamiss.

Prisons director Terry Collinssaid the process worked as pre-dicted.

In 2008, the U.S. SupremeCourt upheld lethal injection in acase from Kentucky involving athree-drug method similar tothe one used in Ohio and practi-cally every other death penaltystate. After a seven-monthmoratorium on the death penal-ty while the high court decidedthe case, executions resumedacross the country.

Biros killed his 22-year-oldvictim in 1991 after offering todrive her home from a bar, thenscattered her body parts in Ohioand Pennsylvania.

KennethBiros

US lags badly in life expectancy


PARIS — The United Statesranks near the bottom in life ex-pectancy among wealthy na-tions despite spending morethan double per person onhealth care than the industrial-ized world’s average, an eco-nomic group said Tuesday.

Life expectancy at birth in theU.S. was 78.1 years in 2007, ac-cording to the Organization forEconomic Cooperation and De-velopment.

That’s a year less than the or-ganization average of 79.1, andputs the U.S. just ahead of theCzech Republic, Poland andMexico, where spending onhealth care is many times lessper person, the Paris-basedgroup said in its latest survey ofhealth trends among its 30 richmember countries.

Total U.S. spending on healthcare was $7,290 a person in

2007, nearly 2ƒ times the or-ganization average of $2,984.The figures include spending byboth individuals and govern-ments.

“It suggests that the U.S. isnot getting great value for itshealth spending, in terms of lifeexpectancy,” said Gaetan Lafor-tune, one of the report’s co-au-thors.

He said the U.S. needs to look“closely at spending that haslittle or no value in terms of im-proved health.”

“Life expectancy is only part-ly driven by how a country’shealth care system performs,”Lafortune said.

Outside factors such as thecountry’s higher rates of obe-sity and violent death, as wellas mishandling of chronicconditions leading to avoid-able hospital stays, play a big-ger role in life expectancy rates

than health care spending,Lafortune said.

Spending on health care inthe U.S. grew more quickly be-tween 1997 and 2007 than inFrance, Italy, Germany andSpain, averaging 3.4 percentannually over the period. TheU.S. growth rate was still belowthe organization average of 4.1percent.

The U.S. far outspent thenext biggest health carespenders, Norway and Switzer-land, despite the fact that thosecountries’ life expectancies aretwo to four years longer, accord-ing to the report.

The report notes that, in ad-dition to the U.S., Denmark andHungary also have lower life ex-pectancies than would be pre-dicted by their relative wealthand levels of health care spend-ing.

On the other hand, theJapanese and the Spanish livelonger on average than their na-tional income and their healthcare spending would predict.

The U.S. also underperformsother rich countries in thehealth of its youngest.

U.S. infant mortality, at 6.7deaths per 1,000 live births,was well above the organizationaverage of 3.9 in 2007. OnlyMexico and Turkey had worserates of infant mortality. InLuxembourg, the top per-former, the infant mortality ratewas only 1.8.

The report noted that re-search suggests many factorsbeyond the quality of a coun-try’s health system, such as in-come inequality and individuallifestyles and attitudes, influ-ence infant mortality rates.

Per capita spending on phar-maceuticals rose by almost 50percent over the last 10 years inorganization countries, reach-ing a total of $650 billion in2007. The U.S. was the world’sbiggest spender on pharmaceu-ticals, spending $878 per per-son, with Canada next at $691per person and the organizationaverage at $461.

Despite huge outlays, nation ranksnear the bottom among rich nations

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, December 9, 2009 NATION • A13

McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON — PresidentObama and the Democratic Par-ty end the year far weaker thanthey started it, according to aMcClatchy-Ipsos poll releasedTuesday.

Obama has the lowest ap-proval rating of his presidency —49 percent — slipping below 50percent in the poll for the firsttime and entering a danger zonefor presidents heading into amidterm election year.

The sinking numbers extendto his party as well. The Democ-ratic Party has lost double-digitground to the Republican Partyon every issue, including theeconomy, other domestic issuessuch as health care and foreignaffairs.

On the economy, for example,it clings to a 1-point edge overthe Republicans, down sharplyfrom the 31-point advantage itenjoyed a year ago.

Underlying it all: a sourmood. The American peoplehave the worst view of thecountry since Obama’s elec-tion, with just 36 percent sayingit’s on the right track and 60percent saying it’s on the wrongtrack.

The numbers show how

much Obama and the Democ-rats have lost since their tri-umphant victory a year ago,when they won the WhiteHouse and added to their ma-jorities in the House of Repre-sentatives and the Senate. Thefigures also underscore thechallenging environment theyface as they head into 2010,when the House and a third of

the Senate are up for election.“The public is declaring the

honeymoon over,” said MichaelGross, the vice president of IpsosPublic Affairs, which conductedthe polls.

The biggest drag is the econo-my, Gross said.

“To an extent, people werewilling to give Obama the benefitof the doubt. But until there are

some big gains in jobs or tangiblebenefits in people’s lives, thepresident and the DemocraticParty are going to bear the bruntof the public anxiety.”

The survey found 49 percentapproving of the way Obama isdoing his job, dropping from 53percent in October. It found 49percent disapproving.

Dropping below 50 percent isa warning sign of political peril ifnot corrected.

Since 1962, presidents withapproval ratings below 50 per-cent have lost an average of 41seats in midterm House elec-tions. That’s precisely thenumber that would cost De-mocrats control of the Housethis time.

Obama still has the approvalof 77 percent of Democrats,though that dropped below 80percent for the first time. Re-publicans remained stronglynegative, with just 16 percentapproving and 81 percent disap-proving.

His bigger challenge might beindependents, with approvalamong the swing bloc droppingto 41 percent and disapprovalleaping to 55 percent, a jump of14 percentage points since Octo-ber.

Obama approval rating just 49% Monitoring of drugsfor safety lags longafter Vioxx episode


WASHINGTON — The Foodand Drug Administration stillhasn’t restructured its staff tobetter monitor drug safety,more than three years after ex-perts recommended keychanges in the wake of theVioxx scandal.

That’s according to congres-sional investigators who foundthat the FDA has yet to followthrough on changes suggestedin 2006 to help the agency de-tect problems with drugs takenby millions of Americans.

Those recommendationscame after the embarrassingand dangerous episode withVioxx, a blockbuster pain drugthe FDA approved in 1999, onlyto pull from the market in 2004after linking it to heart attackand stroke.

Agency officials have madesome changes to drug over-sight, according to a Govern-ment Accountability Office re-port, but the FDA continues togive the bulk of its decision-making power to scientistswho approve new drugs, ratherthan those who monitor theside effects of drugs on themarket.

“It is not yet clear if or whenFDA’s decision-makingprocess will be substantiallyimproved as a result of its ef-forts,” according to the GAOreport, a copy of which was ob-tained by The Associated Press.

Within the FDA bureaucra-cy, scientists tasked with re-viewing new drug applicationshave traditionally had the mostsay over questions of safety,even after drugs are approved.But outside experts say leavingsuch key decisions to the sci-entists who first cleared thedrugs could lead to inadequate

safety actions, putting pre-scription drug users at risk.

“There’s this desire on thepart of the people who first ap-proved the drug to say, ‘Wepredicted everything and it’sfine,’ ” said Dr. Diana Zucker-man of the National ResearchCenter for Women and Fami-lies in Washington.

Zuckerman and others saysuch decisions should be madewith equal input from theFDA’s office for monitoring re-ports of side effects collectedfrom across the country.

The GAO, the Institute ofMedicine and other expertshave long recommended thatthe so-called Office of Surveil-lance and Epidemiology begiven equal authority on drugsafety with the agency’s Officeof New Drugs. But GAO inves-tigators report that FDA leadersstill have not transferred keyresponsibilities to surveillanceofficials.

“No more time should bewasted at the FDA in establish-ing independence for its post-market surveillance,” Sen.Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, saidin a statement.

Grassley — one of theagency’s toughest critics inCongress — asked the GAO tofollow up on its 2006 recom-mendations to the FDA.

The watchdog agency’s re-port calls on the FDA to set atimetable for transferring newresponsibilities to the surveil-lance office.

Despite a formal memo be-tween the offices designed toput them on equal footing, thenew drug office still retainsnearly all the power over regu-latory decisions, according tothe GAO report to be releasedWednesday.


WASHINGTON — The federalgovernment improperly postedan internal guide to its airport-passenger screening procedureson the Internet in a way thatcould offer insight into how tosidestep security.

The document outlines who isexempt from certain additionalscreening measures, includingmembers of the U.S. armedforces, governors and lieutenantgovernors, the mayor of Wash-ington, D.C., and their immedi-ate families.

It offers examples of identifi-cation documents that screenersaccept, including congressional,federal air marshal and CIA ID

cards; and it explains that diplo-matic pouches and certain for-eign dignitaries with law en-forcement escorts are not sub-jected to any screening at all. Itsaid certain methods of verifyingidentification documents aren’tused on all travelers during peaktravel crushes.

The Transportation SecurityAdministration, which over-sees airport security, said thedocument is outdated. It wasposted in March by TSA on theFederal Business Opportunitysite. The posting was improperbecause sensitive informationwas not properly protected,TSA spokeswoman Kristin Leesaid.

As a result, some Web sites,using widely available software,were able to uncover the origi-nal text of sections that hadbeen blacked out for securityreasons.

On Sunday, the WanderingAramean blog pointed out thedocument in a posting titled“The TSA makes another stupidmove.”

According to the blog, TSAposted a redacted version of thedocument but did not delete thesensitive information from thefile. Instead of removing the text,the government covered it upwith a black box. But the text wasstill embedded in the documentand could be uncovered.

TSA asked that the documentbe removed from the FederalBusiness Opportunity site onDec. 6 after the security lapsewas reported in a blog.

But copies of the document —with the redacted portions ex-posed — circulated on the Inter-net and remain posted on otherWeb sites not controlled by thegovernment.

Lee said TSA takes the inci-dent seriously and a review isunder way.

Noting that the transporta-tion agency uses multiple layersof security, Lee said, “TSA isconfident that screening proce-dures currently in place remainstrong.”

SUSAN WALSH / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Obama’s sinking numbers extend to the Democratic Party aswell. It lost ground to the GOP on every issue, including the economy.

Sensitive airport-security info is leaked

EU’s urging to share Jerusalem as capital angers IsraelTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Euro-pean Union foreign ministers onTuesday urged Israel and thePalestinians to make Jerusalemtheir shared capital, prompting aswift, angry reaction from Israel.

For their part Tuesday, thePalestinians announced a boycottof products made in Israeli settle-ments in the West Bank.Palestin-ian Economics Minister HassanAbu Libdeh said the governmenthas already confiscated $1 millionworth of products, including

foods, cosmetics and hardware,and that he hoped to remove allsuch goods from Palestinian storeshelves next year.

In Brussels, EU foreign minis-ters reiterated that the 27-mem-ber bloc would not recognize Is-rael’s annexation of the easternpart of Jerusalem it occupied inthe 1967 war. The ministerscalled for Israel to shareJerusalem as a capital with a fu-ture Palestinian state.

Although the EU has long op-posed the annexation of east

Jerusalem, the statement angeredIsrael and was sure to deepen Is-rael’s sense that the Europeans fa-vor Palestinian positions. Presi-dent Obama has been trying, sofar in vain, to nudge the sides to-ward renewed peace talks.

“The EU will not recognizeany changes to the pre-1967borders including with regard toJerusalem, other than thoseagreed by the parties,” said theministerial statement. It was re-ferring to the Mideast war inwhich Israeli forces captured

east Jerusalem from the Jordan-ian army.

“If there is to be a genuinepeace, a way must be found(through negotiations) to resolvethe status of Jerusalem as the fu-ture capital of two states,” it said.

The EU ministerial statementdropped an earlier Swedish draftresolution which explicitly stat-ed that east Jerusalem — the dis-puted part of the holy city —should be the capital of a Pales-tinian state after Israel warned itwould damage the bloc’s ability

to take part in any resumed peacetalks as a negotiator.

The Israeli Foreign Ministryreacted immediately.

“We regret that the EuropeanUnion chose to adopt the text,”Is-raeli Foreign Ministry spokesmanYigal Palmor said in a statement.He said the statement “does notcontribute” to promoting peaceand ignores the Palestinians’ re-fusal to resume talks.

Palestinian President Mah-moud Abbas refuses to resumepeace talks, which broke down a

year ago, unless Israel halts allsettlement construction.

The Palestinian prime minis-ter, Salam Fayyad, welcomedTuesday’s EU statement. He saidit gives Palestinians “a bettersense of hope and possibilityabout tomorrow.”

The competing claims to eastJerusalem remain perhaps themost explosive issue in the Is-raeli-Palestinian conflict.

East Jerusalem is home tosensitive Jewish, Muslim andChristian holy sites.

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, December 9, 2009 WORLD • A15


KAMPALA, Uganda — Pro-posed legislation would imposethe death penalty for some gayUgandans, and their families andfriends could face up to sevenyears in jail if they fail to reportthem to authorities. Even land-lords could be imprisoned forrenting to homosexuals.

Gay-rights activists say thebill, which has prompted grow-ing international opposition,promotes hatred and could setback efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.They believe the bill is part of acontinentwide backlash becauseAfrica’s gay community is be-coming more vocal.

“It’s a question of visibility,”said David Cato, who became anactivist after he was beaten up fourtimes, arrested twice, fired fromhis teaching job and outed in thepress because he is gay.“When wecome out and ask for our rights,they pass laws against us.”

The legislation has drawnglobal attention from activistsacross the spectrum of views ongay issues. The measure wasproposed in Uganda following avisit by leaders of U.S. conserva-tive Christian ministries thatpromote therapy for gays to be-come heterosexual. However, atleast one of those leaders has de-nounced the bill, as have someother conservative and liberalChristians in the United States.

Gay-rights activists say thelegislation is likely to pass. Butthe bill is still being debated andcould undergo changes before avote, which has not been set.

The legislation in its currentform would mandate a deathsentence for active homosexualsliving with HIV or in cases ofsame-sex rape. “Serial offend-ers” also could face capital pun-ishment, but the legislation doesnot define the term. Anyoneconvicted of a homosexual actfaces life imprisonment.

Anyone who “aids, abets,counsels or procures another toengage of acts of homosexuality”faces seven years in prison ifconvicted. Landlords who rentrooms or homes to homosexualsalso could get seven years, andanyone with “religious, political,economic or social authority”who fails to report anyone vio-lating the act faces three years.

Gay-rights activists abroadare focusing on the legislation. Aprotest against the bill is plannedfor Thursday in London; protestswere held last month in NewYork and Washington.

David Bahati, the legislatorsponsoring the bill, said he wasencouraging “constructive criti-cism” to improve the law, but in-sisted strict measures were nec-essary to stop homosexuals from“recruiting” schoolchildren.

“The youths in secondaryschools copy everything from theWestern world and America,” saidhigh school teacher David Kisam-bira. “A good number of studentshave been converted into gays.Wehear there are groups of peoplegiven money by some gay organi-zations in developed countries torecruit youth into gay activities.”

Uganda’s ethics minister, JamesNsaba Buturo, said the death-sentence clause would probablybe reviewed but maintained thelaw was necessary to counter for-eign influence. He said homosex-uality “is not natural in Uganda,” aview echoed by some Ugandans.

“I feel that the bill is good andnecessary, but I don’t think gaysshould be killed. They should beimprisoned for about a year andwarned never to do it again.

“The family is in danger inUganda because the rate atwhich vice is spreading is ap-palling,” said shopkeeper JohnMuwanguzi.

Ugandamulls deathpenalty forsome gays

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