Sex allegations against rabbi roil Israel's Orthodox community

A religious group accuses Rabbi Mordechai Elon of sexually exploiting male students. No police complaints have been filed, but the case spotlights subjects some would prefer to avoid.

By Edmund Sanders

February 27, 2010

Reporting from Jerusalem

Many Israelis pride themselves on a kind of European sophistication when it comes to public sex scandals: For the most part, they shrug them off.

But those limits are being tested by a brewing controversy concerning an Orthodox rabbi who has been accused by a nongovernmental religious organization of sexually exploiting male students.

Rabbi Mordechai Elon, 50, a popular spiritual figure from a prominent family, has not been charged with any crime, and no evidence has emerged that any of the students allegedly involved were under age 18, according to police and child-protection advocates. No students have filed police complaints, a law enforcement official said.

But the case is rattling the foundations of Israel's Orthodox community by casting a public focus on topics that some would prefer to avoid: sexual harassment by religious leaders and homosexuality among rabbis.

"It's an issue that automatically makes people uncomfortable," said Orthodox rabbi Ron Yosef, who runs a support group for those struggling to balance their sexuality and religious beliefs.

Yosef, who came out as gay a year ago, said he's found acceptance from his own congregation but has also received death threats.

The allegations brought by the religious forum are "only a symptom of a bigger problem," he said. "They need to deal with this. It's not going to disappear."

The first report of inappropriate sexual conduct involving Elon was received more than five years ago by Takana, a forum of rabbis and others from diverse parts of the Orthodox community. The group was set up to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct and serve as a mediator with law enforcement agencies in the aftermath of a 1999 case in which a rabbi was convicted of sexually assaulting male students. In statements released this month on its website, Takana accused Elon of "sexual exploitation" and engaging in "a long-term relationship that was clearly of a sexual nature."

When the group first approached Elon years ago, the rabbi told them he had "overcome his problem," according to Takana's statement. Sometime later, Takana leaders said they received a "more severe" complaint indicating a "more substantial problem."

After consultations with the attorney general in 2006, it was agreed that Takana would handle the matter privately, in part because there was no evidence of criminal activity and no students came forward to press charges, according to a statement from the attorney general's office.

Though Takana has no government enforcement powers, its role as a go-between is viewed as critical in dealing with the sensitive issue of sexual misconduct, in which victims often are reluctant to come forward publicly or fear making allegations against religious leaders.

Under pressure from Takana, Elon agreed in 2006 to stop teaching at religious schools and was ordered to limit his contact with young male students. He retired and relocated from Jerusalem. But in recent weeks some Takana leaders received information that Elon had violated that agreement, so they issued their statement.

Since then, as many as 15 young men have come forward with similar stories, Israel's Channel 10 reported.

After Takana posted its statement, Elon dismissed the allegations as "blood libel" from "a person whose stability is doubtful."

Friends and former students have rushed to Elon's defense, describing him as a warm, generous man whose affectionate manner might have been misunderstood. Critics say law enforcement agencies and even Israeli newspapers appear to have given Elon special treatment because of his standing in the religious community and his family's stature.

Elon's father was a Supreme Court vice president, and his brother served in the Knesset. Some observers say that similar allegations against a secular high school teacher would have been handled more aggressively.

One newspaper reportedly knew about the allegations against Elon for years but refrained from publishing anything, according to reports elsewhere.

"The non-disclosure in this case was an act of kindness to Elon but engenders a sense that a double standard was applied," Tel Aviv University law professor Zeev Segal wrote in Haaretz newspaper.

Law enforcement agencies have not opened a formal investigation, though they said they were considering such a step.

Key details remain unclear, including the nature of Elon's actions and the number and ages of young men allegedly involved.

Moshe Meir, educator at the Shalom Hartman Institute, said the Elon case offers Israel a chance to confront negative attitudes in the Orthodox community about homosexuality.

"If indeed it appears that Rabbi Motti Elon has homosexual tendencies, this is no crime," Meir said. His possible transgression "is the abuse of authority, not the sexual identity."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-israel-rabbi28-2010feb28,0,1677677,print.story

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Gun rights case likely to be landmark Supreme Court ruling

Justices will hear a challenge to Chicago's handgun ban and decide whether the 2nd Amendment can be used to strike down state and local gun restrictions.

By David Savage

February 28, 2010

Reporting from Washington

When the Supreme Court takes up a challenge this week to Chicago's strict ban on handguns, it will hear two contrasting visions of how to make the city safer and to protect its residents from gun violence.

On one side are the law-abiding city dwellers who say they need guns to protect themselves from armed thugs. Among them is Otis McDonald, who says he is worried about the armed drug dealers on the streets in his Morgan Park neighborhood.

"I only want a handgun in my home for my protection," said McDonald, 76.

On the other side are prosecutors and police who say the city's ban on handguns gives them a legal basis for confronting gang members and drug dealers.

"If an officer sees a bulge in a pocket, he can stop and frisk that person," said Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez.

In Chicago, New York and elsewhere, police say these stop-and-frisk searches make the streets safer by disarming thugs. "If this [ban] is overturned, we think there would be an increase in violence," Alvarez said.

Regardless of who prevails, the case of McDonald vs. Chicago figures to be a landmark in the history of the 2nd Amendment and its "right to keep and bear arms." It will decide whether the 2nd Amendment applies only to federal gun laws or if it can be used across the nation to strike down state and local gun restrictions.

A ruling overturning the Chicago ordinance would open the door to gun rights suits nationwide. "You will see a wave of lawsuits against state and local gun laws. This is just the first shot in a broad-based gun rights offensive," said Dennis Henigan, a lawyer for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence in Washington.

The city's lawyers say firearms have been regulated throughout American history -- and without interference from federal judges. In the 1770s, Boston, Philadelphia and New York prohibited discharging a gun within the city. Even in the Wild West, cattle towns like Dodge City, Kan., required cowboys to turn in their guns.

But defenders of the 2nd Amendment say their goal is to restore the "right to keep and bear arms" to its proper place as a constitutional right.

In the end, the Supreme Court could decide that the right to have a gun applies only at home. If so, Chicago and other cities could adopt strict limits on public possession of a handgun even if the current ordinance is struck down.

But gun rights advocates say the 2nd Amendment applies more broadly and protects a right to have a gun for self-defense. In Washington, they filed a suit seeking a right to have a gun on the streets. In California, lawyers for the National Rifle Assn. say they plan to challenge the policy in Los Angeles County and elsewhere of refusing to issue "concealed carry" permits to most gun owners who want to carry a weapon in public.

But before such claims go forward, the Supreme Court must decide whether the 2nd Amendment reaches beyond federal laws. Though the answer may seem obvious today, the Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment, has historically been as limiting only laws from Washington.

The 1st Amendment begins, "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Until the early part of the 20th century, it shielded Americans only from federal restrictions on free expression.

The 2nd Amendment says, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Throughout the 19th century, and until quite recently, the high court maintained that this clause was intended to give states the power to control armed militias.

But in recent decades, most Americans have come to believe the 2nd Amendment protects their right to have a gun, regardless of whether they serve in a militia.

Two years ago, the high court agreed. By a 5-4 vote, the justices struck down a handgun ban in Washington, D.C., and said the 2nd Amendment gives individuals a right to have a gun for self-defense. However, since the district is a federal enclave, the justices did not rule on whether state and local ordinances could be challenged under the 2nd Amendment.

Gun rights advocates say the justices should declare that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right, like free speech, and is protected from infringement by local, state or federal laws.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley countered that bringing more guns into the city would make matters worse. "Does anyone really believe that the founders of our nation envisioned that guns and illegal weapons would flood our streets and be used to kill our children and average citizens?" he asked at a news conference in Washington.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on Tuesday and issue a ruling by late June.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-court-guns28-2010feb28,0,2564174,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Obama signs one-year extension of Patriot Act

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed a one-year extension of several provisions in the nation's main counterterrorism law, the Patriot Act.

Provisions in the measure would have expired on Sunday without Obama's signature Saturday.

The act, which was adopted in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, expands the government's ability to monitor Americans in the name of national security.

Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:

-- Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.

-- Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

-- Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

Obama's signature comes after the House voted 315 to 97 Thursday to extend the measure.

The Senate also approved the measure, with privacy protections cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government's authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_14484917

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From Fox News

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Unemployment Benefits to Expire Sunday After Senate Stalemates On Extension

Unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits will expire Sunday for millions of voters because the Senate was unable this week to pass a short-term extension, a failure that reflects partly the partisan gridlock that has stalled the Democratic legislative agenda and partly the Senate rules that allows one lawmaker to block legislation.

Unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits will expire Sunday for millions of voters because the Senate was unable this week to pass a short-term extension, a failure that reflects partly the partisan gridlock that has stalled the Democratic legislative agenda and partly the Senate rules that allows one lawmaker to block legislation.

But the Senate will likely be able to renew them with a Tuesday vote. Democrats are expected to take up a broader bill next week, the second in their “jobs agenda” that will extend the benefits, among many other provisions – including popular tax extenders – for one year.

The bill is expected to pass by the end of next week.

The latest stalemate, however, produced a rare, late-night partisan floor brawl between two scrappy senators.

In the red corner is Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., whose decision not to seek re-election this year has made him a wildcard. He has blocked a $10 billion bill that extends the benefits for 30 days because he wants to lay out how the extension will be paid for, preferably with unallocated stimulus funds.

In the blue corner is Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who, along with other Democrats told Bunning no way because the extension is an emergency and shouldn't come with any offsets.

The battle lasted for hours Thursday when Durbin sought unanimous consent, a move that forced Bunning to object each time to uphold his filibuster.

“It is unthinkable, unforgivable that we would cut off unemployment insurance payments to these people, that we would cut off COBRA payments, which helps them to pay for their health insurance while they're unemployed,” he said. “And yet, that's what's going to happen Sunday night. It's because the senator from Kentucky has objected to extending unemployment insurance payments and COBRA health insurance payments for 30 days.”

Bunning decried the move and was joined by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who accused Democrats of a “sneak attack.” Corker vowed to stay on the floor with Bunning all night.

Durbin said he was defending out-of-work Americans, that he would love to be home because he is “no spring chicken."

Bunning told Durbin that he would not object if the senator agreed to adopt his or any amendment that would pay for the bill.

But Durbin said Bunning rejected a chance earlier in the week to offer that amendment for an up or down vote.

When Bunning tried to offer an amendment Thursday that would offset the spending, Durbin objected.

“The present level of debt is unsustainable,” Bunning said. “I have too many grandchildren that want to grow up in the same America that I grew up in,” he said.

In the end, it was a draw, although Bunning won the battle.

While Democrats have ganged up on Bunning for his actions, Republicans have blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the benefits expiring. Reid had a chance to renew unemployment benefits with the first jobs bill that passed before he decided to dramatically scale back the proposal.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate/ci.Unemployment+Benefits+to+Expire+Sunday+After+Senate+Stalemates+On+Extension.opinionPrint

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Suspected Al Qaeda-Linked Militants Kill 11 in Philippines

February 27, 2010

Associated Press

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines — 

Suspected Al Qaeda-linked militants raided a village in the southern Philippines early Saturday, killing 11 people in the country's worst militant attack on civilians in nine years.

Gunmen believed to be members of the extremist Abu Sayyaf group and backed by other armed groups attacked the militia detachment in the center of the village of Tubigan on the island province of Basilan, said Lt. Steffani Cacho, spokeswoman for the military's Western Mindanao Command. One government-armed militiaman was killed as well as 10 civilians.

Basilan provincial police chief Antonio Mendoza said the gunmen strafed and torched several houses before escaping. He said 10 other villagers were wounded.

The attack came in the wake of the recent killing of an Abu Sayyaf commander and the arrest of two key members. Government forces had been told to be on alert for reprisal attacks.

It was the worst attack on civilians since 2001, when militants seized dozens of villagers and later beheaded nine farmers and shot to death another in Basilan's Lamitan township. There were no immediate details on how the 10 villagers were killed Saturday, Cacho said.

Mendoza said the attack came a day after security forces rescued two Chinese nationals in nearby Sumisip township. The two men were abducted by suspected militants from a plywood factory in Maluso in November. A Filipino worker who was seized along with them had been beheaded by the kidnappers.

Cacho said the army sent reinforcements to the village, but there were no other reports of additional casualties.

Basilan Island is close to the southern port city of Zamboanga, about 550 miles south of Manila. It is one of several islands where the Abu Sayyaf is active.

Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad — wanted for murder and kidnappings, including last year's abduction of three Red Cross workers — was killed last weekend during a raid on his camp on Jolo Island farther south of Basilan.

A day earlier, police captured Mujibar Alih Amon, an alleged Abu Sayyaf logistics officer who took part in the 2000 abduction of American Muslim convert Jeffrey Schilling, who later escaped, and 21 Western tourists and staff of a Malaysian resort earlier that year.

Last week, security forces captured Jumadali Arad, who was allegedly the operator of the speedboat used in the abduction of 20 hostages snatched from a southwestern resort in 2001. The hostages included three Americans, two of whom were later killed.

In the last six years of U.S.-backed counterterrorism strikes, Philippine security forces have killed or arrested more than 800 suspected militants, including 12 in February alone, said Justice Undersecretary Ricardo Blancaflor.

The Abu Sayyaf, which is fighting to create an Islamic caliphate in the predominantly Christian nation, still has about 400 fighters. It is on the U.S.-list of terrorist organizations.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,587564,00.html

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Georgia Officials Say $1.6 Million Seized in Drug Raids Across Country

Saturday , February 27, 2010

Associated Press

ATLANTA — 

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a multi-agency squad has seized more than $1.6 million in a joint narcotics investigation that spanned the country.

The bureau tells WSB-TV in a story Saturday that agents arrested 12 suspects in Georgia and Louisiana in connection with the trafficking of marijuana.

Agents said they seized about 100 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $500,000, 10 vehicles, about $1 million in real estate, 50 firearms, about $120,000 cash, and about $20,000 in drug assets.

The arrests were made on Feb. 17. Agents determined that the marijuana was grown in Mendocino, Calif., and then transported to Douglasville through New Orleans.

They said mid-level dealers then distributed the marijuana into Atlanta and the surrounding areas.

More arrests and seizures are anticipated in the investigation.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,587602,00.html

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D.C. Couple Gets Surprise Marijuana Delivery From Fed Ex

February 27, 2010

FOX News

A Capitol Hill couple got more than they bargained for after what they thought was a routine Fed Ex delivery. The box they received contained $120,000 worth of pot, MyFoxDC.com reported.

Melanie Sloan knows a scam when she sees it. She's a former prosecutor and works for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, so when a big package was dropped on her porch Monday evening, something didn't seem right.

"I noticed that the package was ours but the name on the box wasn't and it was shipping center return address in Anaheim, California. So I thought that was strange," says Sloan.

Still she thought it could be for a neighbor or even a gift for their 11-month-old baby girl. So they decided to open it. Inside the box was another box wrapped with insulation.

"It's layer upon layer of tightly wrapped plastic wrap. And it looks like there is dirt on the inside of that. So my husband pokes through the plastic wrap and touches it and he said it's not dirt its coffee grounds. Then I did know what it was. I knew it would be drugs," says Sloan.

Turns out it was 35 pounds of marijuana or the equivalent of $120,000 worth of pot. They called DC Police immediately and Melanie had serious concerns she too might be treated like another unsuspecting recipient of a drug package, Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye M. Calvo.

"That's a pretty memorable story. And anybody that has some kind of drug issue would be naturally nervous, especially those of us with dogs," says Sloan.

In the summer of 2008 - a swat team busted through the Mayor Calvo's front door, shot and killed his dogs and interrogated him for hours. Calvo was found to be an innocent victim in an all too familiar game.

Here's how the game works: the dealer has the package delivered to an address where they don't believe anyone is home during the day and they pick it up the package before anyone gets home. But in this case that didn't happen.

MPD is investigating where the package came from and who it was intended for. Meantime Fed Ex says it does work with law enforcement to screen packages.

For Melanie Sloan says she's still on edge, but thankful nothing worse could have happened.

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,587599,00.html

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From MSNBC

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Protests, grand jury challenge ‘toughest sheriff'

PHOENIX - With a sheriff's helicopter beating overhead, the man known as "Sheriff Joe" stood behind a line of officers as 10,000 people marched past — but this was not the usual show of affection and support for Joe Arpaio.

"Joe must go! Joe must go," whole families chanted, as they rounded the corner in front of the county jail complex run by the five-term Maricopa County sheriff famed for his confrontational tactics, his harsh jail policies and a gift for publicity. The parade of mostly brown-skinned people wanted to show they hated his trademark immigration patrols.

For years, Arpaio has been the rare politician whose popularity remained rock solid no matter the criticism. He was the self-proclaimed "America's toughest sheriff," unbeatable at the polls.

Today, however, some indicators have changed for the 77-year-old lawman — and it's not just the marching in the streets.

His approval ratings dropped to 39 percent in one recent poll. Critics are emboldened by a federal grand jury that's examining abuse-of-power allegations against him and a second federal investigation that he says focuses on his immigration enforcement.

Political blood feud?

Arpaio and Andrew Thomas, the top Maricopa County prosecutor and a chief ally, face intense criticism for mounting what many people see as a political blood feud. They filed criminal charges against two county supervisors and the county's presiding criminal judge, and they've also ignited a spate of costly lawsuits. Arpaio and Thomas say they can't ignore credible allegations of corruption.

The charges against one supervisor were dismissed by a judge on Feb. 24. Thomas said he would seek to have charges against the other two officials dismissed and planned to turn the three investigations over to special prosecutors.

County Manager David Smith said sheriff's investigators went to the homes of 70 county and court staffers on nights and weekends last year in an attempt to intimidate.

Arpaio's message was clear, according to Smith: "We know where you live. We know where to find you. Do something we don't like, and you're at risk." Fear was behind a decision by county officials to sweep their offices for possible listening devices, at a cost of $14,000; no bugs were found.

Dozens of lawyers rallied outside a courthouse in late December to protest the criminal charges against Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe. And a prosecutor from a neighboring county who took over an earlier case against one county supervisor eventually turned against Arpaio and Thomas, likening their actions to "totalitarianism."

Thomas said he wasn't worried about his allegiance to the sheriff. "The only thing I worry about is making sure I've done my utmost to do my job," the prosecutor said.

Hunger for publicity

In the eyes of critics, Arpaio is a racist bully driven by a hunger for publicity who has helped manufacture criminal charges against people who crossed him politically. They say he treats powerless people harshly because it's popular with voters.

But to his supporters, he is a standup guy who is doing what the public wants and is motivated by nothing more than a sense of duty. They say he's the only local police boss who has gotten off his duff to do something about illegal immigration and local corruption.

Love him or hate him, Arizonans are buzzing with one question: Will this latest round of controversy bring Sheriff Joe down?

Arpaio's response: He has survived other storms.

In a voice that sometimes evokes John Wayne, he attributes his longevity to a strong work ethic and a willingness to speak with reporters, which helped make him a nationally known figure. He also brags about his success in raising $1.2 million in campaign money over one year in a down economy.

He plans to seek another term in two years. "If people don't want me, go vote for somebody else," Arpaio said. "But it ain't going to happen."

He wasn't always Sheriff Joe.

After a stint in the Army, the native of Springfield, Mass., worked as a police officer in Washington and Las Vegas until he was hired by the federal agency that would become the Drug Enforcement Administration.

He went to Turkey to try to infiltrate opium producers, made stops in San Antonio, Baltimore and Boston, and became a regional director in Mexico City, where his job was to persuade Latin American governments to go after traffickers. His final stop was as the DEA boss in Arizona.

After retiring from that job and then helping his wife, Ava, run her travel agency, Arpaio decided to run for sheriff and unseated the incumbent in 1992.

Early on, he won points with voters for housing inmates in canvas tents during Phoenix's triple-digit summer heat, making them wear pink underwear, banning cigarettes and porn magazines, and serving a green bologna diet. He created old-time chain gangs. Complaints mounted about brutality in his jails.

One case came in Arpaio's first term. Scott Norberg, jailed in 1996 for allegedly assaulting a police officer, died during a struggle with detention officers who had bound him into a restraint chair and pushed his head into his chest.

The county and its insurance carrier paid $8.25 million to settle a lawsuit over Norberg's death, which had been ruled accidental by asphyxiation by the county medical examiner. As in other, similar investigations into deaths in Arpaio's jails, no charges were brought against the officers involved. "They did nothing wrong," Arpaio said.

Michael Manning, a lawyer who won $20 million in damages for five deaths at Arpaio's jails, said the sheriff created a culture of cruelty inside the walls and that he masterfully plays on prejudices against illegal immigrants. And yet the public repeatedly has re-elected him and so shares blame, Manning said

"You can't escape the fact that if people would read and understand more about politicians like Arpaio, fewer would vote for him," he said.

Sheriff Joe loves to stick it to critics, whose complaints he calls "garbage."

During the Jan. 16 protest outside the jail, Arpaio drew a horseshoe-shaped phalanx of TV cameras while the marquee name on the other side, singer Linda Ronstadt, also grabbed attention.

To prevent the protest from inspiring disruptions among inmates, the sheriff cranked up music inside — with a Sheriff Joe twist: He blared one of Ronstadt's records.

"I let people know I'm the sheriff," Arpaio said, pronouncing his title as "the SHUR-ff." "I'm not a social worker."

Since early 2008, Arpaio has run 13 crime and immigration sweeps — sending as many as 200 deputies and volunteer posse members into a designated locale to set up a mobile command post and seek out traffic violators, people wanted on criminal warrants and others.

He launched one sweep just a day after his federal immigration arrest powers were taken away.

Arpaio used state immigration laws to enforce his two latest sweeps, but now says he has the inherent power to enforce federal immigration law. He recently called a press conference to announce plans to train all 881 of his deputies to crack down on illegal immigration.

'False pretenses'
Mayors of some cities have complained that they didn't want or need the crackdowns in their communities and accused Arpaio of targeting Hispanics on minor infractions, like having a broken headlight.

In April 2008, when Arpaio's deputies poured into the town of Guadalupe, then-Mayor Rebecca Jimenez challenged the basis of the patrols, squaring off with him as a TV camera rolled.

"You came under false pretenses," Jimenez said, gripping an Arpaio press release.

Arpaio denied the charge that his immigration efforts are more focused on skin color than on violations of law. He pointed out that his parents immigrated from Italy, that he was the target of slurs about his heritage when he was a kid, that his daughter-in-law is Hispanic.

He said critics call him and his deputies racists because they have no defense of illegal immigration.

"I just happen to be catching the people from Mexico because they are the ones we come across," he said.

Thomas P. Morrissey, a retired federal agent who has been a friend of Arpaio since the early 1990s and eats lunch with him once a month, said the sheriff is popular because he responds to the community's needs.

"He is doing the job that people want him to do," Morrissey said.

Clearly, Arpaio retains much support, even in seemingly unexpected places.

Hector Reyna, a self-employed welder who came here 25 years ago as an illegal immigrant and has since become a U.S. citizen, said Arpaio won his vote in 2008 because the sheriff busted drug dealers in his neighborhood. "He is the only man Hispanic criminals fear," Reyna said.

But Joe Delgado, a retired manufacturing worker who once favored Arpaio's tent jails, said he'd soured on Sheriff Joe because of his raids on businesses suspected of hiring illegal immigrants, leading some to move back to their home countries. "That bothers me, because they made my old neighborhood nice," Delgado said. "They really fixed it up."

Even supporters of his immigration efforts like state Sen. Russell Pearce, a former top deputy under Arpaio, acknowledge concern. "You always have to be worried," Pearce said. "If they are going to investigate whether you have crossed your T's and dotted your I's on every issue, I doubt there is anybody without fault."

Arpaio has easily won re-election, and his approval ratings held strong for years — with polls by Arizona State University saying he hovered around 80 percent in 2000 but dropped to 60 percent in late October. A more recent survey by the Behavior Research Center found Arpaio's approval rating dropped from 54 percent in late July 2008 to 39 percent in January.

In any case, Arpaio plans to run for a sixth term in 2012.

'My Way'
"Even though his support has declined, I believe he would be considered a favorite, but it depends on what the opposition comes up with," said ASU pollster Bruce Merrill. So far, Democrats haven't even come up with a candidate to oppose the Republican sheriff.

Arpaio sees his removal from office as a matter solely up to the voters and invokes his favorite tune — "My Way," the Frank Sinatra version — to explain his philosophy on his future.

"'My Way' is my way, because the people want me to do it that way," Arpaio said. "Sometimes, I'll try to change the lyrics when I try to sing it, 'I took the blows and did it your way.' Instead of mine, I'll say your."

The federal grand jury may ultimately decide whether it's Arpaio's way or the highway.

Asked directly if it wouldn't be easier just to retire, Arpaio pondered the subject for a moment. He took a deep breath and sighed. Once out of office, he wouldn't get many calls from reporters, and the public wouldn't care about him anymore.

"Everybody is going to forget Sheriff Joe," Arpaio said. "So what's left? What is left that motivates me to continue on, and there's only one thing: The people want me. I feel very good when I walk down the street. People come up and say, 'Thank you.'"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35628448/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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