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NEWS TRACKER

1. BBC, reporter apolo-gize for breach of Queen Elizabeth II’s confidence. 8A

2. BlackBerry maker seeks start of comeback attempt. 5B

3. Revived Matthew Zaku tney leads S t . Mary’s Vikings to regional golf repeat. 1B

4. Amy Bowland Sand-ers named PSO artistic services director. 2A

5. Conf ron t ing global tumult and Muslim anger, Presi-dent Barack Obama exhorts world leaders to stand fast against violence and extrem-ism. 5A

Chance of storms

McCracken County sheriff’s deputies arrested a teenager for murder and other charges Tues-day, just over three months after a wreck killed a Paducah man, Sheriff Jon Hayden said.

Tuesday’s arrest followed an investigation by the sheriff’s de-partment and the McCracken

County Commonwealth Attor-ney’s Offi ce. The teen was also charged with fi rst-degree assault, fi rst-degree wanton endanger-ment, fi rst-degree criminal mis-chief, operating a motor vehicle under the infl uence and driving without an operator’s license.

The teen drove a Hummer H2 involved in a June 20 wreck near the intersection of Blandville

Road and Mayfi eld-Metropolis Road just before 9 a.m. Hayden said that the driver was seen by witnesses speeding and weaving in and out of traffi c. A prelimi-nary investigation on the morn-ing of the crash showed that the Paducah Sun delivery driver, Ezra Moffett Jr., 34, attempted

Teen faces murder charge in June crash

BY CORIANNE [email protected]

Campaign and other temporary advertising signs pop up along state highways like fall-blooming fl owers as elections near.

Those signs illegally placed on state highway rights of way in western Kentucky will be re-moved to maintain safety, ac-cording to the Kentucky Trans-portation Cabinet.

“Political signs and other ad-vertising signs can limit sight-distance, especially near intersec-tions, blocking the view of drivers attempting to spot oncoming

traffi c,” said Jim LeFevre, chief district engineer for the cabinet’s District 1, based in Reidland. “The signs also create a safety hazard for highway mowing crews.”

Wire supports from political signs are also hazardous when they are hit by mowers and be-come airborne. Removal costs taxpayers when highway person-nel spend time picking up signs ahead of mowing crews, accord-ing to a Transportation Cabinet release.

State law and cabinet policy prohibit political or other adver-tising signs on state rights of way,

including signs attached to util-ity poles or fences. Homeowners who maintain their lawn to the pavement edge should also keep yard signs behind the right of way line.

Enforcing sign laws can be diffi cult because right of way boundaries vary by highway and location. The Transportation Cabinet’s District 1 covers 2,800 miles of road stretching across 12 counties, all west of Crittenden, Lyon and Trigg counties.

State offi cials reported that

State to remove illegal campaign, other signsBY ADAM SHULL

[email protected]

A lack of suffi cient medical evidence prompted the dismissal of all charges against Metropolis, Ill., resident John Pruett in the death of his 15-month-old son.

Special Prosecutor David Rands said he fi led a motion on Tuesday to dismiss two murder charges against Pruett.

“We had this case looked at by two different med-ical experts. One conducted an autopsy on the child and both experts determined the time at which the child was injured was not the time he was in John Pruett’s sole custody,” Rands said. “Because of that we didn’t think we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt and that raised doubt about the defendant’s guilt.”

Pruett was accused of causing the death of his son, Jackson Pruett, in April 2010. A trial had been set for Oct. 29 through Nov. 5, and a pre-trial was set in Massac Circuit Court on Tuesday morning. Rands’ motion canceled the court proceedings, re-lieving Pruett of both charges.

Rands said the medical offi cials who investigated the case were the chief medical examiner for St. Louis, who performed the autopsy on Jackson Pru-ett, and an authority in child death cases.

Although the charges against Pruett have been dismissed, police will continue to investigate the

Both charges dismissed in Massac infant death

BY MALLORY [email protected]

FRANKFORT — Two of the three inmates executed in Kentucky since 1976 didn’t contest their fates and went willingly to their deaths. One at-torney worries that, under the state’s new proposed lethal injection rules, the inmate’s attorney won’t be notifi ed in

time to stop the process if a future vol-unteer has a change of heart.

Tom Griffi ths, a Lexington attorney, was one of 11 people to address a pub-lic hearing Tuesday in Frankfort about Kentucky’s proposed execution meth-od. A death row inmate could change his mind in the days or hours leading to an execution but still be put to death

if not given the chance to speak to an attorney, Griffi ths said.

“It doesn’t allow for any input at all,” Griffi ths said.

The hearing was part of the legal pro-cess that could allow the state to resume executing inmates by the spring. The

Public hearing held on execution methodBY BRETT BARROUQUERE

Associated Press

ALLIE DOUGLASS | The Sun

Sheriff’s deputies and members of the McCracken County Fire De-partment investigate a June 20 wreck on Blandville Road. A teen was arrested Tuesday in connection with the wreck, which killed Paducah Sun delivery driver Ezra Moffett Jr.

ALLIE DOUGLASS | The Sun

Downtown boothSmoke Shack BBQ workers Jerry Hawthorne (left) and Duanne Luckett (right) from Columbus, Ohio, piece together a 30-foot-tall sign Tuesday to display Smoke Shack’s titles won and logos in preparation for Barbecue on the River. Win-ning two titles at the 2011 Barbecue on the River, Smoke Shack BBQ began serving its barbecue approximately 12 years ago. This will be its second time participating in the events, which run Thursday-Saturday at Paducah’s downtown and riverfront. Tonight will bring the separate Porkstock, a fundraiser concert for people who purchase tickets.

Contributed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Campaign and other temporary advertising signs placed illegally along state highway rights of way, such as this one, will be removed to maintain safety, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabi-net. Collected signs will be moved to the state highway garage in each county and kept for five working days.

Please see INFANT | 3A

Please see WRECK | 3A

Please see HEARING | 3A

Please see SIGNS | 3A

WEDNESDAY,WEDNESDAY, September 26, 2012 September 26, 2012 www.paducahsun.comwww.paducahsun.com Vol.Vol. 116116 No.No. 270270

Sanders named Symphony’s new artistic services manager

The Paducah Symphony Orchestra has named Amy Bowland Sanders its artistic services manager.

Sanders, a Paducah native, has more than 15 years of experience in marketing and public relations and was previously employed by The Paducah Sun in retail advertising. She spent the past several years as the fundraising manager of the Tennessee Medical Association’s political action committee, IMPACT-TN in Nash-ville, Tenn.

“I am thrilled to join the Paducah Sym-phony Orchestra in this capacity and look forward to the opportunities in serving my community through my new position,” Sanders said.

Sanders will manage the marketing and communication efforts of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. She will also coordi-nate the PSO’s educational programming

for youth and children.Program aiding high schoolers gets $2.6 million in grant funding

A Murray State University program pro-moting math and science curricula to low-income and potentially college-bound high school students received a $2.6 million grant, a 5 percent boost over previous funding.

MSU’s Adventures in Math and Science received the five-year federal grant to in-crease the number of students served in Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. The funding came through a U.S. Department of Education Upward Bound Math and Science grant, one of 109 awarded from a $38.2 million allocation.

Doris Clark-Sarr, AIMS director, said the program assists variations of low-income students and those from homes without a parent who has graduated from college. This year’s award will allow them to enroll 126 students, up from 100 in previous years.

“We also work with parents,” Clark-Sarr said. “It’s important for parents to under-stand financial literacy. We work with the students year-round through the school year and the summer. We try to get them classes they may not have had.”

AIMS students take part in residen-tial summer classes on MSU’s campus. Clark-Sarr said 80 percent of the pro-gram’s budget is spent on the six-week program, primarily for lodging and instruc-tor costs. AIMS also accepts donations and raises funds to cover expenses.

Workshops on financial aid, test taking and financial literacy are held throughout the year. Participating seniors have an option to complete summer work to gain college credits.

Students from Paducah Tilghman and Lone Oak high schools have participated in past years.

Flamenco Talk to perform today

West Kentucky Community & Techni-cal College welcomes Flamenco Talk for its annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration today.

Flamenco Talk is an arts organization with a mission to preserve and promote Hispanic culture through the art form of flamenco.

Flamenco, a folk art and culture from Spain, includes colorful costumes, sing-ing, guitar playing, dancing, and rhythmic punctuation such as hand claps.

Flamenco Talk will perform in the Cle-mens Fine Arts Center on the WKCTC campus at 1 p.m. today. The performance is free and open to the public. The group will also present a free lecture demon-stration for WKCTC students, faculty and staff at 11 a.m.

Samples of authentic Hispanic food prepared by the WKCTC culinary depart-ment will be served at 11:30 a.m. in the Clemens Student Center.

“Flamenco has become very popular all over the world and is taught in many countries,” said Carolyn Perry, WKCTC Spanish associate professor. “Flamenco Talk is from Louisville and is one of the elite groups teaching and performing the art of Flamenco, and we are so excited to have them on our campus.”

Perry said Flamenco Talk was also chosen to perform at WKCTC to bring at-tention to the college’s study and road program and its upcoming trip to Spain next spring. The trip is scheduled for May 25 to June 7, and community members are invited to go. Madrid, Seville, Granada and Barcelona are among the places that will be visited.

For more information, contact Pat Blaine at 270-534-3207 or [email protected].

2A • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • The Paducah Sun Local/Region paducahsun.com

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Tuesday’s lotteryKentucky

Pick 3-midday: 8-4-5Pick 3-evening: 5-4-9Pick 4-midday: 5-2-0-5Pick 4-evening: 6-7-4-7Cash Ball: 8-12-14-31 CB 2 Cash Ball Kicker: 3-7-4-4-35 Card Cash: 8H-7D-JC-6D-5DDecades of Dollars: 1-12-14-22-33-40

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McCracken District Court

Briefs

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Last Monday was an emotional but happy day at the READY Pro-gram in downtown Champaign, as staff members welcomed back a graduate who’s offi cially a U.S. Marine.

Marcus Taylor started attend-ing the READY Program, the alternative school for Ford and Champaign counties, after be-ing expelled for two years from Champaign Centennial High School, said Donna Kaufman, the director of alternative edu-cation for the regional offi ce of education. He recently complet-ed Marine Corps Recruit Train-ing in San Diego.

Taylor, who is 18, came for a lunchtime celebration in his dress blue uniform and was full of smiles as he talked with staff members about his experiences so far in the Marines.

“We are so proud of you, young man,” said Orlando Thomas, who is the Champaign schools’ director of pupil servic-es, who works with Champaign students who are at the READY Program.

Taylor told Kaufman, Thomas and others about his experi-ences at boot camp, alternately smiling and sometimes staring

down at his hands, fi dgeting in bright white gloves.

He spoke of how he learned to swim in three days in full gear, because he didn’t want to have to stay back and become a part of another company.

He talked about how he didn’t dare talk when he got fi ve min-utes for his meals, because talk-ing might mean he and a group of other recruits might be pun-ished by having their meal end-

ed early, which meant they’d be hungry.

He said he felt like a Marine after climbing a mountain - known as “the Reaper” - as a part of The Crucible, the fi nal phase of boot camp.

“When you get to the top, you’re basically a Marine,” Tay-lor said.

While he said he’s still the same person as before boot camp and as a student, he

admitted some things have changed, like his morals.

“Everything I stand for is dif-ferent,” he said. And he’s more confi dent now, too.

“I could run through that wall,” he said, indicating a wall in Kaufman’s offi ce.

After Taylor’s leave is over, he’ll return to Camp Pendleton for more training, and then will be trained in an occupation.

He said he’s still feeling out the lifestyle of a Marine and may serve his enlistment term and then go on to college.

If he does, he said he wants to pursue something hands-on, like engineering.

But he may stick with the Ma-rines.

“If I love it, I am going to make it a career,” Taylor said.

Kaufman said Taylor was the kind of student who took ad-vantage of opportunities and support services while at the READY Program.

“He worked very hard,” she said, and even won student of the year there.

He participated in the Cham-paign schools’ Summer Youth Employment Program, after which an administrator report-ed to Thomas: “This kid has something special ... he will do something great.”

Graduate returns home as a MarineBY MEG DICKINSON

Associated Press

Associated Press

With his proud father Darrin Short (left) holding his cap, Mar-cus Taylor gives a hug to Donna Kaufman, the director of alter-native education, during his visit to the READY Program Sept. 17 in Champaign, Ill. Taylor graaduated from the READY Pro-gram, the alternative school for Ford and Champaign counties, after being expelled for two years from Champaign Centennial High School.

Sun files

The Paducah Symphony Orchestra’s Paducah Pops performances, such as this one at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center, are some of the most well-attended concerts for the local orchestra throughout the year. The PSO’s new artis-tic services manager, Amy Bowland Sand-ers, will help promote such concerts as she manages the orchestra’s marketing and communication efforts.

April 11

Saul Humberto, 36, 322 Elm-wood Ave., Kansas City, Mo., no operator’s license; 7 days condi-tional discharge for 2 years. Pay $244 in fi nes and court costs.

Jesse A. Francis, 28, 316 Anita Dr., Paduca, fi rst-offense failure of owner to maintain required insur-

ance/security; 7 days conditional discharge for 2 years. Pay $244 in fi nes and court costs.

Philip S. Pipes, 23, 226 Rock Creek Circle, Paducah, operating on a suspended/revoked opera-tor’s license; 7 days conditional discharge for 2 years.

Joyce A. McKinley, 49, 1135 N. 12th St., Paducah, failure to produce insurance card; 14 days

conditional discharge for 2 years, serve 4 days.

April 12

Jason Elmer Rains, 34, 1105 Miller St., Paducah, fourth-degree assault domestic violence minor injury; no violent contact with vic-tim, anger management, 180 days

serve 75, 49 credit time served, 105 days conditional discharge for 2 years. Pay $685 in fi nes.

Darren A. Moore, 23, 3700 Hin-kleville Road #16, Paducah, drug paraphernalia buy/possess; con-tinue drug counseling, show prog-ress, 45 days serve 6 concurrent, 39 days conditional discharge for 2 years. Pay $285 in fi nes.

William Jack Hite, 30, 6562 U.S.

45 South, Brookport, Ill., posses-sion of marijuana buy/possess; forfeit items seized, random drug screenings, 7 days conditional discharge for 2 years. Pay $100 in fi nes.

Alex C. Driver, 20, 713 Oaks Road, Paducah, fourth-degree as-sault minor injury; anger manage-ment, 120 days conditional dis-charge for 2 years, restitution. Pay

$460 in fi nes. Kristin Henderson, 20, 205 Ella

Drive #1, Paducah, third-degree unlawful transaction with a mi-nor, person 18-20 possession/purchase/attempting purchase/have another purchase alcohol; drug and alcohol assessment, 30 days serve 1 credit time served, 29 days conditional discharge for 2 years. Pay $660 in fi nes.

Line UpToday

Lone Oak Kiwanis, 7 a.m., Lone Oak Little Castle. 217-0402

Disabled American Veterans, Miles Meredith Chapter 7 of Paducah, weekly Commander Cof-fee Call, 9 a.m. to noon. Service officer available.

Thursday

Senior Medicare Patrol, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., 1400 H.C. Mathis Drive; 442-8993. Protect yourself from Medicare errors, fraud and abuse. Learn to detect potential errors, fraud and abuse. Report errors or suspected fraud to SMP.

Paducah Toastmasters, noon,

The Pasta House Co.; Joe Shall-better, 506-1791, or Clay Camp-bell, 703-2700.

Downtown Kiwanis Club, lunch,

noon, Elks Club, 310 N. Fourth St. 441-0825.

Wine tasting to benefit St.

Nicholas Family Clinic, 5 p.m., Pasta House Co., 451 Jordan Drive. Guest bartender: Bob Hoppmann & Friends.

Kiwanis Club of South Paducah,

dinner meeting, 7 p.m., 1640 S. Sixth St. Cathy Brown, 488-3363.

■ ■ ■

Items for the Lineup must be received in writing five days in advance. Mail to: Lineup, The Paducah Sun, P.O. Box 2300, Paducah, KY 42002-2300; fax the newsroom at 442-7859; or email [email protected]. Announcements are published day of event. Information: 575-8677.

Agenda

The Agenda is a listing of gov-ernment meetings today.

■ McCracken County Planning Commission — 1:30 p.m., court-

house.■ Paducah Area Transit System

Board — 3 p.m., PATS office, 850 Harrison St.

to get out of the way of the Hummer, but was hit head-on.

Moffett was pronounced dead at the scene. The teen driver and his 17-year-old passenger were taken to Western Baptist Hospital. Hayden said the driver re-fused to give urine or blood samples, so the department obtained a warrant to get them.

Hayden said the assault

charges stemmed from the injuries to the passenger in the Hummer. The wanton endangerment charge was in relation to an incident only moments before the wreck, where the Hum-mer narrowly missed hit-ting another car head-on. Substantial property dam-age and loss was the basis for the criminal mischief charge, Hayden said.

Detectives collected evidence at the scene and from the teen driver the

day of the wreck, Hayden said, and it was analyzed by the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab and Accident Reconstruction Unit. In ad-dition to physical evidence, numerous witnesses were interviewed that saw either the crash or events that led up to it. Both vehicles involved in the crash are still in police custody, and Hayden said the investiga-tion remains open.

The suspect is still 17, Hayden said, although he

said there is a chance that the teen could be certifi ed by the court system to be tried as an adult. Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Seth Hancock said the identity of the teen would be kept confi dential until a grand jury returned an indictment on the charges that were fi led Tuesday.

Call Corianne Egan, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8652 or follow @CoriEgan on Twitter.

case, Rands said.“There is no statute of

limitations on murder,” he said. Rands would not comment further on who may be charged or what type of charges may result. Rands also said on Tuesday that he was disappointed in the case’s outcome.

“This is a bad situation for everybody involved,” he said. Pruett’s attorney, John Schneider, was un-available for comment on Tuesday evening.

Contact Mallory Panuska, a Paducah Sun staff writ-er, at 270-575-8684 or follow @mallorypanuska on Twitter.

all signs should be be-hind sidewalks. In areas without sidewalks, all signs should be behind the ditch line and outside areas commonly mowed or maintained by high-way crews. Often, utility poles will mark the edge of highway rights of way. On four-lane highways with controlled access or limit-ed access, no signs should be placed on the highway side of the fence line or the fence.

Illegally placed signs picked up by highway crews will be moved to the state highway garage in

each county and kept for fi ve working days. Owners may claim them by show-ing identifi cation and completing a claim form. Unclaimed signs will be discarded.

“Employees who are re-moving signs are acting in the best interest of all mo-torists and of maintenance crews,” said Steve Waddle, state highway engineer, in a release. “We appreciate the public’s cooperation and understanding.”

Call Adam Shull, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8653 or fol-low @adamshull on Twit-ter.

Kentucky Justice Cabinet must submit the proposed regulations to the Legisla-tive Research Council by Oct. 15. The regulations then go to legislative com-mittees for consideration. If there are no delays, state offi cials expect to appear before Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd in February or March to ask him to lift an order barring inmates from being put to death. That order cited problems the judge found with the state’s three-drug lethal injection method.

Kentucky is trying to switch to a method similar to the one used by other states, with either a single dose of the anesthetic so-dium thiopental or pen-tobarbital, a short-acting barbiturate.

The state may use two drugs — the anti-seizure medication midazolam, better known as Versed, and hydromorphone, an analgesic known com-monly as Dilaudid — if the chemicals used in a single-drug execution are not available seven days in advance.

The state estimates the cost of a single execution under the new process at $81,438. Under the three-drug method, the estimat-ed cost to all the agencies involved was $63,516. The increase appears attribut-able to rising costs for the services provided by mul-tiple agencies.

Death penalty opponents offered multiple critiques of the proposed method, ranging from access to at-torneys to the two-minute time limit a condemned inmate is given to make a fi nal statement. In the last days of a condemned

inmate’s life, prison offi -cials restrict access to the inmate, and only prison offi cials and prosecutors automatically receive legal updates at the prison on the day of an execution.

Public defender Tim Ar-nold said attorneys need access to phones as well as their clients as the execu-tion nears to discuss legal options, particularly if the inmate opts to stop all ap-peals.

“We need to have some communication to the cli-ents,” Arnold said.

Mikhail Victor Trout-man, a volunteer for the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, described the two-minute time limit as unconsciona-

bly short.“The average bowel

movement lasts longer from beginning to end,” Troutman said.

Because the proposed method doesn’t call for the state to wait for a fi nal rul-ing on a stay of execution, a defense attorney must have a way to notify his client of a court ruling once the pro-cess begins, public defend-er David Barron said.

“What if something oc-curs during the execution?” Barron said.

While critics dominated the comments, victim ad-vocates and relatives called on executions to begin sooner rather than later.

“We, sir, didn’t get two minutes to say our good-

bye,” said Katherine Nich-ols of Shelbyville, head of Kentuckians’ Voice for Crime Victims, whose brother James Carl Duck-ett Jr. was slain in a case that remains unsolved.

Beverly Walters of Shep-herdsville, who carries a photo of her daughter Patricia Vance, who was killed by death row inmate Randy Haight, wants ex-ecutions to start quickly.

“I’ll be glad to push his drugs,” Walters told The Associated Press.

paducahsun.com From Page One/Region The Paducah Sun • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • 3A

SIGNS

CONTINUED FROM 1A

WRECK

CONTINUED FROM 1A

HEARING

CONTINUED FROM 1A

INFANT

CONTINUED FROM 1A

FORT CAMPBELL — Af-ter years of taking the lead on the battlefi eld, Army leaders from Fort Campbell are learning how to take a backseat role when they return to Afghanistan this fall to serve as military ad-visers.

About 1,900 troops from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Divi-sion, will serve as a Security Force Assistance Brigade with a mission to prepare the Afghan security forces for the coming withdrawal of NATO troops.

It’s a much different role than during the brigade’s previous deployment dur-ing the U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan. During 2010 and 2011, the brigade’s bat-talions and cavalry units fought in eastern Afghani-stan’s mountains to root out Taliban safe havens.

With the surge troops gone, the teams will be a minority among Afghans just as insider attacks on NATO forces by Afghans have been rising this year. NATO has re-examined the vetting and training of some of the Afghan security forces and now a higher-level of approval is required

for some joint patrols in an effort to protect its soldiers from Taliban infi ltrators.

While the brigade part-nered before with the Af-ghan National Army and police forces, the brigade this time will leave most of the planning and opera-tions up to Afghan military leaders, providing support rather than leading mis-sions.

Maj. Eldridge Browne, from the brigade’s 2nd Bat-talion, 327th Infantry Regi-ment, acknowledged it may be a challenge for some of the brigade’s leaders to step back and serve more as teachers than battle space owners.

“They are a sovereign nation and their soldiers are very capable and so we will advise them, but at the end of the day they are go-ing to make the decisions,” Browne said. “Is it hard for our guys? Yes.”

Another big challenge is only about half the brigade is deploying, which includes mostly offi cers and senior noncommissioned offi cers. They will be organized into small 12-16 man assistance teams that can work inde-pendently or in conjunction with the brigade’s artillery support, intelligence, sur-

veillance and other assets.Leaders from the brigade

practiced working in the small teams during live-fi re training exercises at Fort Campbell this month.

Capt. John Ford, with 1st Battalion, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, said the training was the fi rst time he worked with his new team mem-bers in a real life scenario. Whereas he would normal-ly command more than 90 combat ready soldiers, his small team is made up of a mix of backgrounds meant for teaching rather than fi ghting.

“A lot of the guys are not the type I am used to de-ploying with. It’s a lot of se-nior leaders, guys that have specifi c job sets, like com-munications, personnel or logistics,” Ford said.

In the practice scenario, the teams were moving in a vehicle convoy when they were attacked with simu-lated roadside bombs in a complex coordinated as-sault. The assistance teams practiced requesting air support and mortar fi re to take out enemy forces, while security detachments kept the teams safe from at-tacks.

Seth Jones, a senior po-litical scientist at the RAND

Corporation who has worked with U.S. Special Operations Command, said the military advisers need to stand shoulder-to-shoul-der with the Afghans, but they will be hindered some-what, but not completely, by the recent restrictions on partnering because of insider attacks.

“It is becoming more diffi cult because there are growing restrictions on partnering out in the fi eld,” Jones said.

Jones noted that Special Operations have deployed small teams to work inside Afghan villages for years and have effectively found ways to keep themselves protected from attacks.

“The secret is really em-bedding yourself in local communities, understand-ing the tribal, subtribal and clan structure and work-ing with local Afghans and building a strong intelli-gence network within the local populations,” he said.

Ford said the teams are trained to keep vigilant against insider attacks while they work with the Afghans, but he is also em-phasizing the team’s rela-tionship and interpersonal skills that could help spot threats.

Army leaders take role as advisersBY KRISTIN M. HALL

Associated Press

OWENSBORO — Orga-nizers of an annual blue-grass festival in western Kentucky have decided not to move the dates of next year’s event. The Inter-national Bluegrass Music Museum’s ROMP: Blue-grass Roots & Branches Festival in Owensboro is usually held during the last weekend in June, but orga-nizers decided to poll fans to see if they would favor moving it up next year to the last weekend in May.

The Messenger-Inquir-er reports the museum’s board of trustees voted during their meeting on Monday in Nashville, Tenn., to keep the event on

the last weekend in June even though survey results favored an earlier date.

“The board wanted to stay with the success we’ve had,” Gray said, adding that more than 90 percent of those who attended this year said they were “very likely” to come back next year.

She said this year’s crowd was estimated at 21,000 people which was “the biggest gate we’ve ever had.” Meanwhile, Gray said the board also voted unanimously to move for-ward with a plan to reno-vate an old State Offi ce Building and turn it into an International Bluegrass Music Center.

Bluegrass Festival keeps June schedule

Associated Press

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An Associated Press story published in Monday’s Paducah Sun reads a lot like AP stories you’ve been reading for the past ten years.

According to the story, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Com-mission on Tax Reform is recommending a “broader” tax base to make Kentucky more competitive. This commission may be new, but with the same old consultants, you can expect the same old recommendations.

Gov. Paul Patton announced in 2002 that Frankfort was ready to reform the tax code, and the tax commission he appointed recommended a broader tax base, with sales taxes on more products and services. Patton’s successor, Ernie Fletcher, sang the second verse, which sounded a lot like the fi rst.

Gov. Beshear must have stumbled upon the old tax com-missions’ reports collecting dust on a shelf in the closet. In January he an-nounced the creation of a new tax commis-sion to promote the same old thing. Beshear even turned to the same consultant as Patton, economist William Fox of the University of Tennessee.

The commission, which is slated to make its formal rec-ommendations in November, has already telegraphed its “fi ndings.” Not that there’s any suspense. It was a foregone conclusion that the panel would tell us that Kentucky should be taxing a lot more products and services.

B ut they couch the pro-posed new taxes in dif-ferent terms — they want

to “remove tax exemptions.” Among the exemptions: food.

“I think food could be consid-ered a sacred cow,” said state Rep. Bill Farmer of Lexington, who parts with his fellow Re-publicans over taxes and is lead-ing the fi ght in the legislature for new taxes. “But it’s a $500 million sacred cow. That’s a lot of money.”

Yes, it is a lot of money — es-pecially to the poor who are al-ready struggling to put food on

the table. Food is not a sacred cow, it’s a necessity.

Although the specifi c rec-ommendations haven’t been revealed, the likely proposal will include new service taxes on funerals, auto repairs, bar-bershops and beauty salons, landscaping, club memberships, legal services and dry cleaning.

One recommendation is particularly odious — taxing tax accounting.

The tax code is so complex most folks can’t comprehend it, so taxpayers have to pay profes-sionals to calculate how much of their earnings they have to pay in income taxes. And now, to add insult to injury, the state wants to tax the accounting that determines how much tax we have to pay?

Call it a tax tax.A University of Kentucky

economist on the commission warned that without new revenues the state could see a growing budget shortfall and “fi nd itself at a com-petitive disadvantage to neighboring states

for business growth, retention and recruitment.”

What, prospective businesses will be turned off by taxes that are too low? The need to attract new businesses — and taxpay-ing residents — is an argument against, not for, new taxes.

Farmer said, “Basically, 10 years ago the Fox report got put on a shelf. We’re now realizing that 10 years ago we should have done something.” He’s right, but not in the way he meant it. The “something” should have been cutting state spending.

High taxes are leading Illi-nois residents and businesses to leave the Prairie State. Some cross Ohio River into Kentucky — but only because it’s on the way to Tennessee, which has no personal income tax except on dividend and interest income and happens to be kicking Ken-tucky’s tail in economic growth.

If the tax commission’s fi nal report is just a warmed-over version of the previous reports, it should be shelved alongside the others.

“No One Murdered Because Of This Image.”

That was a recent headline from The Onion, the often hilarious parody newspaper.

The image in question is really not appropriate to de-scribe with any specifi city in a family newspaper. It’s quite simply disgusting. And, suf-fi ce it to say, it leaves nothing to the imagination.

Four of “the most cherished fi gures from multiple religious faiths were depicted engaging in a lascivious sex act of con-siderable depravity,” accord-ing to The Onion, and yet “no one was murdered, beaten, or had their lives threatened, sources reported Thursday.”

“Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confi rmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and continued on with their day.”

There was one conspicuous no-show for the celestial orgy: the Muslim Prophet Muham-mad.

The Onion’s point should be obvious. Amidst all of the talk of religious tolerance and the hand-wringing over free speech in recent days, one salient fact is often lost or glossed over: What we face are not broad questions about the limits of free speech or the importance of religious toler-ance, but rather a very specifi c question about the limits of Muslim tolerance and the unimportance of free speech to much of the Muslin world.

It’s really quite amazing. In Pakistan, Egypt and the Pal-estinian territories, Christians are being harassed, brutalized and even murdered, often with state support, or at least state indulgence. And let’s not even talk about the warm re-ception Jews receive in much

of the Muslim world.And yet, it seems you can’t

turn on National Public Radio or open a newspaper or a highbrow magazine without fi nding some oh-so-thoughtful meditation on how anti-Islamic speech should be considered the equivalent of shouting “fi re” in a movie theater.

It’s an interesting compari-son. First, the prohibition on yelling “fi re” in a theater only applies to instances where there is no fi re. A person who yells “fi re” when there is, in fact, a fi re is quite likely a hero. I’m not saying that the people ridiculing Muhammad — be they the makers of the “Innocence of Muslims” trail-er or the editors of a French magazine — have truth on their side. But blasphemy is not a question of scientifi c fact, merely of opinion. And in America we give a very wide legal berth to the airing of such opinions. Loudly declar-ing “It is my opinion there is a fi re in here” is not analogous to declaring “It is my opin-ion that Muhammad was a blankety-blank.”

You know why? Because Muslims aren’t fi re, they’re people. And fi re isn’t a sentient entity, it is a force of nature bereft of choice or cognition of any kind. Just as water seeks its own level, fi re burns what it can burn. Muslims have free will. If they choose to riot, that’s not the

same thing as igniting a fi re.Indeed, the point is proven

by the simple fact that the vast majority of Muslims don’t riot. More than 17 million people live in greater Cairo. A tiny fraction of a fraction of that number stormed the U.S. Embassy to “protest” that stu-pid video. And yet, the logic seems to be that the prime authors of Muslim violence are non-Muslims who express their opinions, often thou-sands of miles away.

I absolutely agree that our devotion to free speech can cause headaches and chal-lenges. But so can any number of non-negotiable facts of life. Anyone with a child knows that having a kid creates all sorts of problems and incon-veniences. But few decent par-ents respond to those prob-lems and inconveniences by loving their kid any less. And as a general rule, only evil, incomprehensibly stupid or selfi sh people would consider getting rid of their kid to avoid the inconvenience.

There’s nothing wrong with exercising sound judgment, even caution, when it comes to offending anybody’s most cherished beliefs. But the First Amendment isn’t the problem here, the dysfunctions and inadequacies of the Arab and Muslim world are.

James Burnham famously said that when there is no alternative there is no problem. If free speech in America causes a compara-tive handful of zealots to want to murder Americans, the correct response is to protect Americans from those zealots (something the Obama ad-ministration abjectly failed to do in Libya) and relentlessly seek the punishment of any-one who succeeds. Because, as far as America is concerned, there is no alternative to the First Amendment.

EDITOR:For me to go out to a movie there has to be

something unusual in the offering.“2016: Obama’s America” got me there.

Obama’s ideological soul mates in the main-stream media made sure he was an unknown quantity in 2008, and to a great extent he remains so.

The fi lm gives a very clear explanation of just who he is, his ideological orientation and, more importantly, his willful intent toward America and why. It also explains just how close he is to his goal of hollowing out this nation that he considers evil. It shows how he played on the psychological need of millions of Americans to be liberated from some sort of pathological guilt for supposedly being racist and prove that they are not so by being able to say they voted for him.

America took a chance on Barack Obama and, to say the least, he has not made good on it. To give him another term in the face of all the negative results would be recklessness.

This president is dangerous because he has masked his true intentions and committed us to a path of national bankruptcy. He has had the support and cooperation of many liberals in Congress. But it doesn’t have to end that

way.If the people who vote in November have

seen this documentary it will be diffi cult for them to vote for him because it reveals the shocking truth about him. At some point he will have to show his hand and his game will be over, but will it be too late for America? I believe not if the states do their constitutional duty and save the republic. Washington will not.

MICKEY OWEN SR.Boaz

‘Offensive’ speech is not the problem

Editorial

4A • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • The Paducah Sun Opinion paducahsun.com

OLD NEWSTax panel’s proposal

a foregone conclusion

Write to usThe Paducah SUN welcomes letters from readers. Published letters

must include a daytime phone number, signature and address. All are

subject to editing for clarity and brevity. Writers should limit letters to

a maximum of 300 words; shorter letters are preferred. Letters may

be mailed to Viewpoints, The Paducah Sun, P.O. Box 2300, Paducah,

KY 42002-2300. Writers are limited to one letter per month. Writers

may e-mail letters to [email protected].

“It’s a $500 million sacred cow. That’s a lot of money.”

Rep. Bill Farmer

Letter

Jonah Goldberg

Voters need to understandObama’s intent, danger posed

EDITOR:It was sad to see the debacle at the Demo-

cratic National Convention regarding the issue of “God is out” then “God is in” the Democrat-ic Party platform. The disdain for religion was evident in the voice vote.

There are large numbers of good, Christian folks who are Democrats. Hopefully, this will show them how their party has left them and, too, that they will realize that the roots of the Democrat policies lie in concepts of man and not of God.

RICK BRENEMANLone Oak

Convention platform fightshows Dems’ disdain for faith

paducahsun.com Nation The Paducah Sun • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • 5A

UNITED NATIONS — Confronting global tumult and Muslim anger, Presi-dent Barack Obama ex-horted world leaders Tues-day to stand fast against violence and extremism, arguing that protecting religious rights and free speech must be a universal responsibility and not just an American obligation.

“The impulse towards in-tolerance and violence may initially be focused on the West, but over time it can-not be contained,” Obama warned the U.N. General Assembly in an urgent call to action underscored by the high stakes for all nations.

The gloomy backdrop for Obama’s speech — a world riven by deadly protests

against an anti-Islamic video, by war in Syria, by rising ten-sion over a nuclear Iran and more — marked the dramat-ic shifts that have occurred in the year since the General Assembly’s last ministerial meeting, when democratic uprisings in the Arab world created a sense of excitement and optimism.

Obama had tough words for Iran and condemned anew the violence in Syria as Bashar al-Assad tries to re-tain power.

Six weeks before the U.S. presidential election, an unmistakable campaign element framed Obama’s speech as well: The presi-dent’s Republican rival, Mitt Romney, has tried to cast him as a weak leader on the world stage, too quick to

apologize for American val-ues.

Romney, speaking at a Clinton Global Initiative

forum just miles from the U.N., avoided direct criticism of Obama in deference to the apolitical settings of the

day, but he said he hoped to return a year later “as presi-dent, having made substan-tial progress” on democratic reforms.

Obama, likewise, avoid-ed direct politicking in his speech but offered a pointed contrast to his GOP oppo-nent’s caught-on-tape com-ment that there is little hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

“Among Israelis and Pal-estinians,” Obama said, “the future must not be-long to those who turn their backs on a prospect of peace.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s opening state-of-the-world speech to the General Assembly’s presi-dents, prime ministers and monarchs sketched the cur-

rent time as one when “too often, divisions are exploit-ed for short-term political gain” and “too many peo-ple are ready to take small fl ames of indifference and turn them into a bonfi re.”

The leaders are assembled here as anger still churns over a made-in-America vid-eo that mocked the Prophet Muhammad.

The video helped touch off protests throughout the Muslim world that have left at least 40 people dead, in-cluding the U.S. ambassador to Libya.

Obama, a onetime profes-sor of constitutional law, de-livered what amounted to a lecture on what he present-ed as the bedrock impor-tance of free speech, even if it comes at a price.

Obama summons world leaders to reject extremismAssociated Press

LAS VEGAS — Las Ve-gas oddsmakers say $300 million or more changed hands worldwide on a con-troversial referee call that decided the Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks.

Sports book chief Jay Ko-rnegay said Tuesday that bettors at The LVH casino registered shock, some cel-ebration, then anger when the outcome swung the game in favor of Seahawks bettors.

“We’ve seen regular refs blow calls. That’s always been part of the sport,” Ko-rnegay said. “But this one was just a blatant bad call at the end of the game that decided the outcome of the game.”

The Seahawks won 14-12 after referees ruled that Se-attle receiver Golden Tate came down with the ball in a pile of bodies in the end zone after a Hail Mary pass on the play’s last game.

The Glantz-Culver line for the game opened favor-ing the Packers by 4½. Had the fi nal play been ruled

an interception — as many players, analysts and fans believed was the right call — Green Bay would have won by 5 points.

The offi cials ruled on the fi eld that Tate had simul-taneous possession with Green Bay safety M.D. Jen-nings, which counts as a reception. The NFL upheld the call on Tuesday.

“I’m not complaining, but it did feel a little dirty,” said Wesley Wong, 25, of Toronto, who said he had a combined $1,000 on the game on wagers on Seattle and a low scoring total.

Gambling expert RJ Bell of Las Vegas-based Pregame.com said an es-timated two-thirds of bets worldwide were on the Packers, with about $150 million more bet on Green Bay than Seattle.

“Due to one call by the re-placement refs, the bettors lost $150 million, and the bookie won $150 million for a total swing of $300 million on one debatably bad call,” Bell said.

Wong said he made a last-minute parlay bet on Seattle and the under to try to make up for losses on Sunday.

$300 million changed hands with NFL call

BY KEN RITTER AND OSKAR GARCIA

Associated Press

Associated Press

President Barack Obama, who is in town for the 67th session of the General Assembly at United Nations, speaks Tuesday at UN Headquarters.

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6A • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • The Paducah Sun Nation paducahsun.com

Associated Press

Anna Gristina exits Manhattan criminal court with her attorney Norman Pattis on Tuesday in New York. The suburban mother of four charged with moonlighting as a multimillion-dollar madam pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution.

NEW YORK — A prostitu-tion case that evolved into a sensational tale of a sub-urban mother moonlight-ing as a high-end Manhat-tan madam ended Tuesday with a guilty plea sparing her further jail time but not without some parting shots by prosecutors and the judge suggesting the hype was of her own making.

Assistant District At-torney Charles Linehan accused Anna Gristina of making empty boasts — picked up by surveillance before her arrest — that she had connections in the FBI, New York Police Depart-ment and other law enforce-ment agencies who would tip her off when needed.

“We have no evidence to support any of these

claims,” Linehan said in state court. “(Gristina) ran a brothel for many years — that is all.”

Judge Juan Merchan also scolded Gristina for draw-ing needless attention to herself, including bringing her young son Nicholas to court on Tuesday amid a throng of news cameras.

“I can’t see the benefi t of exposing him to this,” he said.

Gristina and her lawyer left court without speaking to reporters.

The 45-year-old native of Scotland pleaded guilty to a single count of promot-ing prostitution, stemming from a July 2011 tryst that authorities say she arranged involving two women and an undercover offi cer posing as a client named Anthony.

The prostitution charge

carried a possible sentence of 2 1⁄3 to seven years in prison. But the judge said he would give her only six months — an amount al-ready covered by the time served before her release on bail in June.

The judge warned that a bigger problem for Gristina — a legal U.S. resident from the Scottish Highlands — is that she could be deported as a result of the conviction.

Sentencing was set for Nov. 20.

Gristina’s lawyers had painted a picture of benign domesticity: They said their client lived on a 12-acre property in Monroe, about 50 miles north of New York City, and rescued animals and helped abandoned pet pigs fi nd new homes. She also had said she was mere-ly starting a dating service.

Mom charged with being NYC madam pleads guilty

BY TOM HAYSAssociated Press

HUNTSVILLE, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stop the execution of a former Army recruiter who had received three previous reprieves from the court after be-ing condemned for his role in the shooting death of a woman he and a buddy met in 2002 at a Fort Worth, Texas, bar.

Attorneys for Cleve Fos-ter, 48, argued he was in-nocent of the slaying of 30-year-old Nyaneur Pal and that his legal help was defi cient at trial and early in the appeals process.

The victim, known as

Mary Pal, was a Sudanese immigrant. She was shot in the head and dumped in a ditch on Valentine’s Day 2002.

Three of the nine Su-preme Court justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomay-or — would have stopped the punishment, the court indicated in its brief ruling less than two hours before Foster could be taken to the Texas death chamber.

By then, Foster already had been moved to a tiny cell steps away from the death chamber to await le-thal injection, the ninth this year in Texas.

“I didn’t do it,” Foster,

maintaining his innocence, told The Associated Press recently from death row. “And if it means I’m going to the gurney and the taking of my life, so be it.”

Last year — in January, April and September — the justices stopped his sched-uled punishment. Once, he was moments from being led to the death chamber.

Maurie Levin, a Univer-sity of Texas law professor representing Foster, argued the Supreme Court needed to block it again in light of their ruling earlier this year in an Arizona case that said an inmate who received poor legal assistance should have his case reviewed. But

lower courts have said it was a narrow ruling and doesn’t apply to all states, Texas among them, be-cause procedures on the books already address the problem.

One federal district judge ruled that even if the Arizo-na ruling could be applied to Texas, Foster’s claims were meritless.

“No court has ever found that his underlying argu-ments have any merit de-spite Foster’s repeated en-treaties and trips through the criminal justice sys-tem,” Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, told the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court refuses 4th stay of executionBY MICHAEL GRACZYK

Associated Press

NEW YORK — The United States and the U.N.’s new Syria mediator grappled for a new strategy Tuesday toward stopping 18 months of brutal government crack-downs and civil war in the Arab country as President Barack Obama again called for the end of Syrian Presi-dent Bashar Assad’s regime.

Secretary of State Hill-ary Rodham Clinton and Lakhdar Brahimi spoke for an hour on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assem-bly, according to a senior U.S. offi cial, charting paths that might help unite Syria’s opposition and engineer a peaceful transition away from the four-decade Assad regime. Their talks came just hours after Obama told

world leaders that Assad must leave “so that the suf-fering of the Syrian people can stop and a new dawn can begin.”

“In Syria, the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people,” Obama said.

It has been more than a year since Obama fi rst

called for Assad to step down, but the violence has only swelled since. That has put his administration somewhat on the defensive as it seeks ways short of mil-itary intervention or arm-ing Syria’s still little-known rebel forces to pressure the Syrian government into a peaceful political transition.

US, UN grapple for peace plan in SyriaBY BRADLEY KLAPPER

Associated Press

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paducahsun.com Nation The Paducah Sun • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • 7A

VANDALIA, Ohio — Ohio has emerged as the presi-dential race’s undisputed focus. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are making multiple stops this week alone in a state that’s trend-ing toward the president, endangering Romney’s White House hopes.

The popularity of Obama’s auto industry bailout, and a better-than-average local economy, are undermining Romney’s call for Ohioans to return to their GOP-leaning ways, which were crucial to George W. Bush’s two elec-tions. Ohio has 18 electoral votes, seventh most in the nation, and no Republican has won the White House without carrying it.

Romney is scrambling to reverse the polls that show Obama ahead. On Tues-day, he made the fi rst of his four planned Ohio stops this week, joining his run-ning mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, for a rally near Dayton. On Wednesday, Obama will visit the college towns of Kent and Bowling Green, and Romney’s bus tour will stop in the Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo areas.

“If this president per-sists on the road of making it harder and harder for small businesses to grow and thrive, he’s going to slowly but surely weaken our economy and turn us

into Greece,” Romney told supporters Tuesday in Van-dalia. He said the Obama administration has put gov-ernment between patients and their doctors, and is picking winners and losers in private business.

“That is not the America that built Ohio!” Romney declared.

His tone was urgent, but the points were standard campaign language from Romney. His allies hope they will start resonating in this crucial state.

Not even Florida has seen as many presidential TV campaign ads as Ohio, and neither nominee goes very long without visiting or talk-ing about the state. When Obama touted his “decision to save the auto industry” on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, he mentioned not the major car-making state of Michigan but Ohio, which focuses more on car parts. “One in eight jobs in Ohio is dependent on the auto in-dustry,” Obama said.

Four new polls under-score Romney’s serious problems in Ohio. Surveys by NBC and Fox News found Obama ahead by 7 percentage points. A poll by a group of Ohio newspapers showed him leading by 5. A Washington Post poll re-leased Tuesday found the president leading Romney by 8 points. All of Obama’s leads were outside the polls’ margins of error.

Romney, Obama zero in on OhioBY CHARLES BABINGTON

AND KASIE HUNTAssociated Press

Associated Press

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney cam-paigns in the rain on Sept. 14 at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio. Ohio is the presidential race’s undis-puted epicenter, and it’s tilting toward Barack Obama.

Associated Press

President Barack Obama greets people after speaking at a campaign event on Sept. 17 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The revival of the local economy and the popularity of Obama’s auto industry bailout are hampering Mitt Rom-ney’s call for Ohioans to return to the GOP-leaning ways that were crucial to George W. Bush.

NEW YORK — In a split-screen race for the presidency, Republican Mitt Romney and Presi-dent Barack Obama were on their best campaign behavior in public Tues-day, all the while slashing away at each other in paid television ads.

In separate appear-ances in New York, they swapped criticism on foreign policy. But they did it politely, without mentioning each other by name.

Romney found fault with Obama’s approach to education, but did so

after paying a public com-pliment to Arne Duncan, who has the administra-tion’s Cabinet portfolio for the subject.

There was an outbreak of self-deprecating humor from Romney, as well, as he received a glowing in-troduction from former President Bill Clinton before speaking to the an-nual Clinton Global Ini-tiative.

“If there’s one thing we’ve learned this elec-tion season, it’s that a few words from Bill Clinton can do any man a lot of good. ... All I got to do now is wait a few days for that bounce to happen,” Romney quipped.

Presidential campaign is nice, and then again not

BY DAVID ESPO AND KASIE HUNT

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Hardly any endeavor so unnerves members of Congress as policing each other’s con-duct. Now, a temporary ethics panel that went in to rescue a troubled investiga-tion of senior Rep. Maxine Waters has emerged with a warning Tuesday to avoid partisan infi ghting when investigating congressional wrongdoing.

New rules, it said, are needed when potential con-fl icts of interest arise for lawmakers and their staffs.

In fact, the House Ethics

Committee is designed to encourage bipartisan coop-eration — it has fi ve mem-bers from each political party. But that system suf-fered a total breakdown by last February, when politi-cal bickering caused all fi ve Republicans and the rank-ing Democrat to step aside from the Waters case to avoid the public perception of a tainted investigation.

The new panel brought in to fi nish the Waters in-vestigation issued a strong rebuke Tuesday, saying the ethics committee’s mission “calls upon members to step out of their partisan

framework....” It called for committee members to “constantly evaluate their actions ... to ensure that they are living up to the highest standards of this committee.”

The unusual statement comes after the group’s fi ndings last week in the case of Waters, D-Calif., second-ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, who could head that panel if Demo-crats win back the House.

Acting chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and the top acting Democrat, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, said

in a statement that the pan-el concluded in a 10-0 vote that there was no “clear and convincing” evidence that Waters tried to steer federal bailout money to a bank where her husband is an investor.

The temporary panel also determined unanimously that while Waters under-took efforts to avoid a con-fl ict of interest, her chief of staff and grandson, Mikael Moore, tried to assist mi-nority-owned OneUnited Bank despite his boss’ in-struction not to do so be-cause of her husband’s in-vestment in the bank.

House panel: New rules needed in probesBY LARRY MARGASAK

Associated Press

8A • Wednesday, September 26, 2012 • The Paducah Sun World paducahsun.com

LONDON — Britons got a rare glimpse of Queen Eliz-abeth II’s personal views Tuesday when a promi-nent BBC reporter told a live radio audience about a conversation he had with the queen in which she ap-parently described telling a minister of her concern about the continued liberty of radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.

The BBC and the re-porter, Frank Gardner, apologized within hours for breaching the queen’s con-fi dence. Still, the remarks raised questions about the queen’s role in British pub-lic life.

Why did Gardner’s comments cause

such a stir in Britain?

The queen never gives interviews or holds press conferences and as a con-stitutional monarch is prohibited from getting in-volved in politics. She usu-ally keeps her views within a trusted circle, making the revelation that she had spo-ken to a government min-ister about the likelihood that al-Masri had broken the law quite unusual. For some, it raised the idea that she had perhaps gone too far, taking an active stance in a key issue involving na-tional security.

What’s the point of being queen if you can’t speak out?

As a constitutional mon-arch, the queen does not make policy. According to the British monarchy’s offi -cial website, the queen does not ‘rule’ the country but plays important ceremoni-al and formal roles. She is described as acting “solely on the advice of her Minis-ters.” She does not have the power to start a prosecu-tion or to make judgments in a criminal case.

How about her family?

The queen’s eldest son, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, has sometimes an-

gered critics with his habit of writing to ministers about policy matters. He has also made his outspo-ken opinions on modern architecture well known, occasionally angering de-velopers and architects. In 2009, architects Nor-man Foster, Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry accused Charles of using his royal position to attack plans to turn a former army bar-racks in London into luxu-ry homes.

Charles has also tried to shape the public debate on genetically modifi ed foods (he opposes the technology) and has championed organ-ic farming and a number of environmental causes.

So did the queen go too far by discussing the al-Masri case?

That depends who you ask. There is no indication

in the BBC report that the queen tried to infl uence the government on al-Masri, a radical cleric who has fought British efforts to deport him for years. But critics of the monarchy still maintain she stepped beyond her traditional, ac-cepted role.

“We’re told the queen is above politics and never gets involved, yet she has apparently admitted that she had interfered in a controversial issue,” said Graham Smith, chief of the anti-monarchy group Re-public. He suggested the comments indicated that the queen often meddles behind the scenes.

But prominent historian Andrew Roberts said the queen was perfectly justi-fi ed. He said her comments were consistent with her constitutional role, which allows her to “advise, en-courage and warn” govern-

ment ministers without di-rectly intervening.

“This is exactly what the monarch should be doing,” he said. “As usual, she’s got it bang-on right.”

He said most public fi g-ures respect the queen’s expectation of confi dential-ity — particularly the prime ministers she has met with weekly since 1952.

Who is Frank

Gardner?

Gardner is the BBC’s se-curity correspondent, a se-nior position that involves reporting on terrorism-related issues including al-Qaida, the prison at Guan-tanamo Bay, and the war in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was shot by al-Qaida extremists during a report-ing trip in Saudi Arabia, an attack that killed his

cameraman and left Gard-ner partially paralyzed. He now uses a wheelchair or a walker for television ap-pearances. In 2005 he was awarded the honorary title OBE (Offi cer of the Order of the British Empire) for his service to journalism.

Why did he break the queen’s confidence?

It’s not clear. It sound-ed to some listeners as if Gardner was engaged in high-level name dropping with the BBC hosts inter-viewing him and momen-tarily forgot that he was on a live radio show.

Did he violate royal protocol?

The queen’s representa-tives were, as ever, discreet. Her press offi ce declined to criticize Gardner or even comment on the fl ap. There is, however, an unwritten but widely respected con-vention that comments made by the queen during a formal audience or at an informal get-together are regarded as private and not to be repeated.

She frequently has brief, light discussions with ad-mirers at royal events, however, and those casual comments are often re-peated to the press.

Yet in Britain’s com-plex system, which relies on precedents rather than a written constitution, it is very rare to hear the queen’s thoughts on the great issues of the day. It was this break with con-vention that drew so much attention to the BBC radio show — and such a quick apology.

Breach of confidence: Don’t quote the queenBY GREGORY KATZ

Associated Press

Associated Press

Queen Elizabeth II arrives for a Service of Thanksgiving in Saint Macartin’s Cathedral in June in Enniskillen, North-ern Ireland. The BBC apologized Tuesday for revealing details of a conversation with Queen Elizabeth II in which the monarch allegedly voiced concerns about the U.K.’s inability to arrest a radical cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri.

MISRATA, Libya — One of the young Libyan reb-els credited with captur-ing Moammar Gadhafi in a drainage ditch nearly a year ago died Tuesday of inju-ries after being kidnapped, beaten and slashed by the late dictator’s supporters — the latest victim of per-sistent violence and insta-bility in the North African country.

The death of Omran Sha-aban, who had been hos-pitalized in France, raised the prospect of even more violence and score-settling, with the newly elected Na-tional Congress authorizing police and the army to use force if necessary to appre-hend those who abducted the 22-year-old and three companions in July near the town of Bani Walid.

Libya is battling lingering pockets of support for the old regime, and its govern-ment has been unable to rein in armed militias in a coun-try rife with weapons. Earli-er this month, a demonstra-tion at the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi turned violent, killing four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

Shaaban was praised as a

“dutiful martyr” by the Na-tional Congress, although his family says he never re-ceived a promised reward of $800,000 for capturing Gadhafi on Oct. 20, 2011, in the former leader’s home-town of Sirte. The eccen-tric dictator was killed later that day by revolutionary fi ghters.

The Libyan government said it would honor Shaa-ban with a funeral befi t-ting a hero. His body was greeted at the airport in his hometown of Misrata by more than 10,000 people for a procession to a soc-cer stadium for funeral prayers.

Photos on social media websites showed a wooden coffi n with a glass window that revealed Shaaban’s face, with white gauze cov-ering his head.

In the capital of Tripoli, several hundred protesters gathered outside the head-quarters of the National Congress to demand that the government avenge Shaaban’s death.

Shaaban’s family said that he and three friends had been en route home to the western city of Mis-rata from a vacation in July when they were attacked by

gunmen in an area called el-Shimekh near Bani Walid.

Shaaban and his friends, who like many Libyans were armed, fi red back, the family said.

Two bullets hit Shaaban, and he was paralyzed from the waist down, his rela-tives said. The men were captured by militiamen from Bani Walid, a town of about 100,000 people that remains a stronghold of Gadhafi loyalists and is iso-lated from the rest of Libya.

President Mohammed el-Megarif visited Bani Walid this month and secured the release of Shaaban and two of his companions. A fourth is still being held.

When Shaaban was fi -nally brought home, he was “skin and bones” — still paralyzed, frail and slipping in and out of con-sciousness, according to his brother, Abdullah Sha-aban.

“It was clear he was beat-en a lot,” Abdullah Shaa-ban said. “His entire chest was sliced with razors. His face had changed. It wasn’t my brother that I knew.”

Omran Shaaban later was fl own to France for medical treatment.

Death of young Libyan rebel raises calls for vengeance

Associated Press

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