| NEWS of the Day -April 24, 2011 |
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on some issues of interest to the community policing and neighborhood activist across the country
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following group of articles from local newspapers and other sources constitutes but a small percentage of the information available to the community policing and neighborhood activist public. It is by no means meant to cover every possible issue of interest, nor is it meant to convey any particular point of view ...
We present this simply as a convenience to our readership ... |
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From Google News
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Congresswoman Giffords standing on own, trying to improve gait
April 24, 2011
PHOENIX (AP) -- Doctors treating Rep. Gabrielle Giffords tell The Arizona Republic that the congresswoman can stand on her own and walk a little, and is even working to improve her gait.
Dr. Gerard Francisco says the Arizona congresswoman is able to make limited use of her right arm and leg.
Francisco -- the chief medical officer at Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann where Giffords has been recovering -- says that's a common effect of a bullet wound on the left side of the brain.
The Republic report Sunday contains interviews with people close to her and gives the latest picture of her recovery 15 weeks after a gunman opened fire in a Tucson parking lot, killing six people and wounding 13 others, including Giffords.
The newspaper said doctor overseeing her rehabilitation places her in the top 5 percent of patients recovering from her type of brain injury.
http://www.wgme.com/template/inews_wire/wires.national/26782b02-www.wgme.com.shtml
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Terry Jones plans to return to Dearborn for protest
by NIRAJ WARIKOO
Detroit Fess Press
Saying he was shocked and outraged, the Rev. Terry Jones said he intends to return to Dearborn this week to protest outside City Hall against what he called the denial of his First Amendment rights.
The Quran-burning pastor from Florida was briefly handcuffed and jailed by Dearborn police Friday after a trial stemming from an unusual complaint filed by Wayne County prosecutors.
"It was a total violation of our constitutional rights," Jones told the Free Press on Saturday in an interview from Detroit Metro Airport, where he waited for a flight back to Florida. "It was a mockery of the judicial process."
Now, Jones said he is considering filing a lawsuit against Wayne County and Dearborn authorities and he plans to rally at 5 p.m. Friday.
County prosecutors filed a complaint to make Jones stay away from a mosque for a rally last week because they said it would breach the peace. A jury sided with prosecutors Friday, and Jones was led to jail after refusing to pay a $1 bond.
"I was shocked," Jones said. "I was horrified."
He said he is concerned about a system where "you arrest people who have committed absolutely no crimes."
Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, had no comment Saturday on the potential lawsuit.
Dearborn Mayor John O'Reilly Jr. told the Free Press on Saturday that he has no problem with Jones rallying at City Hall, where the city has a free-speech zone. City officials have been urging Jones to rally there instead of the mosque.
"If he had done this in the first place, there would have been no issue to begin with," O'Reilly said. Regarding the possibility of a lawsuit, O'Reilly said the city acted properly in trying to protect public safety and respect the rights of its residents to worship.
Six churches sit near the mosque on Ford Road, and access is difficult because of the layout. Traffic would have been especially bad on Good Friday, when Jones was planning to rally, city officials said. Moreover, there was concern about outbreaks of violence because of Jones' views and past actions.
Jones said he and Wayne Sapp, another pastor from Florida who joined him for the rally, were photographed and had their pockets emptied, per standard procedure for booking criminals. Jones said "there was a lot of confusion" among Dearborn police because his case was so unique. One officer couldn't find any charge in the computer system to book him on, Jones said.
And Jones said one officer told him that he might face three years in prison if he didn't post the bond that Judge Mark Somers set. Jones later changed his mind and paid it.
"We had proven our point," Jones said, explaining his decision to post the bond.
Jones said he intends to keep on speaking about what he sees as Islamic extremism. He worries that it might come to the U.S., which was why he came to Dearborn. He said he lived in Europe and saw firsthand a growing influence of radical Islam.
"Now is the time to speak out before that happens," Jones said.
http://www.freep.com/article/20110424/NEWS02/104240568/Terry-Jones-plans-return-Dearborn-protest
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Arrest made in 1979 ‘cold case' killing
by Diana Hefley, Herald Writer
For three years Susan Schwarz has been the queen of hearts in a deck of unsolved homicides and missing persons cases.
Friday night, detectives announced that the young woman's death is no longer a mystery. Snohomish County sheriff's cold case detectives arrested a 57-year-old Seattle man who they believe is responsible for Schwarz's slaying.
Detectives have been looking for him for more than three decades.
Schwarz was shot and strangled inside her Lynnwood area home Oct. 22, 1979. Her father and younger brother have lived for years without knowing who took her life or why. Gary Schwarz told The Herald in 2008 that he would never give up on justice for his sister. He also acknowledged that he might never get answers.
"We don't live in a perfect world. Sometimes these don't get solved," he said. "You have to move on. You don't give up."
Snohomish County sheriff's cold case detectives Jim Scharf, Patrick VanderWeyst and Joe Dunn helped track down the suspect near his Seattle home. The man had been interviewed in the past about the case and for years was considered a suspect.
There was never enough evidence to make an arrest -- until now.
Detectives say they received a tip from an inmate at a Washington prison last month. The inmate had seen Schwarz's case in a deck of cold case playing cards. Scharf and his then-partner Sgt. Dave Heitzman created the county's first cold case decks in 2008 in hopes of jump-starting investigations into dozens of unsolved homicides and missing persons cases. The decks offer a reward to anyone who helps track down a killer. The 52 cases date back to the early 1970s.
The inmate tipster helped the detectives narrow in on the suspect and his circle of friends, said Scharf, a veteran homicide detective.
Detectives had been working the case over the years. More recently they'd sent additional evidence to the state crime lab to be tested. They also pored through the old case file and compiled a list of people they wanted to interview. They hedged their bets that someone would be willing to come forward with new information that could help them hone in on a suspect.
Detectives say their digging led them to a witness who had never been interviewed about the homicide. That person earlier this week admitted to being an eyewitness to the killing.
The witness "was very young at the time and had been physically abused by the suspect and threatened to be killed if they said anything. That person was living in fear all these years," Scharf said.
Schwarz, 24, knew the suspect, detectives explained Friday night. She was close friends with his wife. Detectives believe the man killed Schwarz because he blamed her for his wife leaving him and taking their son.
"We believe he resented her," Scharf said.
Items had been taken from Schwarz's Alderwood Manor home. Detectives now believe the thefts were a ruse to throw investigators off.
The suspect had talked to police in the past about the homicide and had given different accounts what what he knew, detectives said. When the cold case detectives approached him Friday evening he appeared comfortable talking to them. But by the end of the conversation, it was clear that he wasn't walking away free after more than three decades under suspicion of homicide.
He was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree murder.
"It feels really good, knowing a weight has been lifted off the witness' shoulders and the family having answers now. It feels good to get to the truth and to find out what really happened. Her family will know instead of always wondering," Scharf said.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20110424/NEWS01/704249909 |
