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From Los Angeles Times

Shelves of forgotten souls

In Building 60 at Oregon State Hospital, thousands of copper canisters of cremated remains sat unclaimed, identified only by a number. In recent years, measures have been taken to reunite relatives with their lost loved ones.

by Stephen Ceasar, Los Angeles Times

May 13, 2011

Reporting from Salem, Ore.

The two copper canisters once shared the darkness of a decaying and abandoned room at Oregon State Hospital with about 3,500 others. Each etched with a distinct number, the containers held the unclaimed ashes of mental patients and others who had lived and died at the hospital and other state institutions.

No. 1864 held the remains of an 11-year-old boy committed as a "feeble-minded epileptic." He died in 1935.

No. 2664 contained the ashes of a grandfather committed for "senility." He died in 1941.

The dead remained together for decades in a forgotten isolation perhaps not uncommon to them in life. Then in 2004, state lawmakers and the public learned of the grim cache at the deteriorating hospital, now 128 years old.

Today, No. 1864 and No. 2664 are no longer with the group, the result of one man's efforts and a push by the hospital and lawmakers to reunite the remains with their families. As the man discovered, recovering these remains can unearth long-hidden memories and guilt, but also bring a measure of closure.

Officials now hope that the launch this year of an online database detailing the 3,476 canisters yet to be claimed will help other relatives reunite, or unite for the first time.

::

Don Whetsell remembers little of his older brother, Kenneth.

The brothers would sit at the foot of the bay windows in their Warrenton home in northwest Oregon in the 1930s. Painted by moonlight and with their gazes fixed beyond the windowpane, they would point at the light source and call out its name. Only a toddler, Whetsell would yelp "mook," as his brother, who was seven years older, cackled with laughter.

There were also dark nights when, through the walls, Whetsell could hear Kenneth's epilepsy taking hold, the disorder quaking him violently.

"Dad would carry Kenny. He'd cry and carry him," Whetsell said. "There was nothing you could do for him. Just comfort him and carry him."

Kenneth was sent to Oregon State Hospital in 1934, when he was 10. About a year later, he died there, and was cremated and labeled No. 1864.

Whetsell also remembers little of his grandfather Nathan McComber.

He was a "gruff old man" who would give his grandson a nickel to help sharpen the axe from his days as a railroad worker. When in a good mood, the old man let Whetsell sit in his truck and pretend to drive.

McComber's mind eventually degenerated to the point that he could not remember his own wife, Zella. One night, a frightened Zella called authorities, who arrested him.

In 1939, a judge committed the 70-year-old to Oregon State Hospital. About two years later, he too died there. He became No. 2664.

"They were there one day and gone the next," said Whetsell, too young at the time to comprehend where his brother and grandfather had gone.

As Whetsell got older and began asking family members questions, he was often rebuked. "My mom just didn't like to talk about Kenny, so I just accepted the fact that it was a hurt point for her," he said.

Whetsell went on with his life.

He left home at age 19 to fight in the Korean War and later sold construction equipment. He married, had three children and eventually retired in the Portland suburb of Tigard as a great-grandfather.

His brother and grandfather were a distant thought in his mind.

::

To get inside Building 60 at Oregon State Hospital, the tour guide had to search for the key.

It was 2004, and Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney and others were touring the Salem facility after news reports of abuse, neglect and deplorable conditions. They saw dilapidated buildings, leaking roofs, fingernail scratches on walls and pigeon feces littering the campus. Courtney spotted Building 60 — it looked like a shed — and asked to go inside.

"They open this room and it is loaded with dust and dirt, an old rickety table and shelves and shelves of these cans," Courtney said. "So I asked what they were, and he said, 'Cremains.' "

"I kept looking at can after can. Nothing in my life had prepared me for that. I didn't believe it," he said.

Many of the canisters were corroded, some tinted green from oxidation, some fused together from water damage. Though the majority contained the remains of mental patients from Oregon State Hospital, others held the ashes of prison inmates and of patients from four medical facilities, including Oregon State Tuberculosis Hospital.

Oregon State Hospital opened as the Oregon State Insane Asylum in 1883. At its peak in the 1950s, it housed more than 3,000 patients. The 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was filmed there.

But in the 1970s, with a push for more community-based care across the country, patient levels dropped and the hospital began falling into disrepair.

The cremated remains had been moved about the campus over the years and eventually landed in Building 60. After their discovery, they were viewed as a symbol of all that was wrong with the state's mental health system and were a catalyst for securing $459 million from the Legislature for new state hospitals in Salem and nearby Junction City.

Patients began moving into the new 620-bed facility in Salem in February. Built on the same grounds, it has both new and refurbished buildings.

"They are the reason for the awakening of Oregon to the tragedies of the past," Courtney said. "It's all because of the 'Room of Forgotten Souls.' "

::

In 2005, a then 73-year-old Don Whetsell was perusing the Oregonian newspaper when he came across an article chronicling a man's attempts to recover the cremated remains of his grandmother from the hospital.

The story triggered something in Whetsell. He knew that his brother and grandfather had also died there. Then it hit him: He couldn't remember a funeral or ever leaving flowers atop their headstones. He realized he didn't know if they even had graves.

"I thought, 'Gosh, they may be there,' " he said. "I told myself that if they were there, I was going to find them."

::

In 2007, lawmakers passed legislation making it easier for people to learn whether family members were among the unclaimed remains. The measure exempted the list of the dead from privacy laws, making the information easily available, and paved the way for the creation of the online database.

Before the law, claiming remains was a cumbersome process. Family members had to prove they were related to a deceased patient before officials could reveal information. Since 2005, 139 remains have been claimed, including 19 since the database went online at the end of January.

The copper canisters are now kept in black plastic containers and stored in a room next to the basement offices of the hospital's records service, which operates the database.

Sometime next year, the remains are scheduled to be moved again, this time into a memorial on the grounds. Plans are far from being finalized, but architects intend to incorporate Building 60 into the design, said Daniel Mihalyo, whose firm, Lead Pencil Studio, was hired to create the memorial.

Families would still be able to recover the remains of relatives. Mihalyo envisions surrounding Building 60 with a garden and hopes to house the remains in personalized, handmade vessels, rather than the machine-made copper canisters.

"People will leave with a sense that the unclaimed remains of the individual will be looked after for as long as it takes," Mihalyo said.

::

Don Whetsell's phone rang. It was the Oregon State Hospital records service.

It was 2009, four years after Whetsell had read the article about the grandmother's remains. A series of health problems had delayed his search for his relatives, but he had recovered and submitted the paperwork.

There was news: The remains of his brother and grandfather were there.

He teetered between smiles and tears. "I felt sad and maybe a little guilty that I hadn't pursued it before this time," he said. "I hadn't even wondered about where they were."

Whetsell saved money for a plot and buried his grandfather's ashes along the Oregon coast next to his grandmother, "where he belonged," he said. He hopes to save enough to bury his brother by August, next to their parents' grave in Tillamook.

"If I can do it now, it will make up for us not doing it when we should have," he said. He doesn't know why his family never claimed the ashes, though he remembers that his family lived in poverty at the time.

On a recent afternoon, Whetsell rose to his tiptoes to retrieve the black container marked No. 1864 from his bedroom closet. He sat at his dining room table, removed the copper canister and placed it softly on the table. He gingerly took a sip of coffee as his eyes welled up.

"You can't imagine — even with Kenny being gone that long and me being so much younger and not having that much life with him," then he paused, staring at the urn. "How much you can love someone like that."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cremated-remains-20110514,0,4423214,print.story

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From the New York Times

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Pornography Is Found in Bin Laden Compound Files, U.S. Officials Say

WASHINGTON — The enormous cache of computer files taken from Osama bin Laden's compound contained a considerable quantity of pornographic videos, American officials said on Friday, adding a discordant note to the public image of the Islamist militant who long denounced the West for its lax sexual mores.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity about classified material, would not say whether there was evidence that Bin Laden or the other men living in the house had acquired or viewed the material.

The discovery of the pornography, first reported by Reuters, may not be surprising in a collection of five computers, 10 hard drives and dozens of thumb drives and CDs whose age and past ownership is not known.

But the disclosure could fuel accusations of hypocrisy against the founder of Al Qaeda, who was 54 and lived with three wives at the time of his death, and will be welcomed by counterterrorism officials because it could tarnish his legacy and erode the appeal of his brand of religious extremism.

In a 2002 “letter to the American people,” Bin Laden denounced American culture for its exploitation of women's bodies in dress, advertising and popular culture.

“Your nation exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools, calling upon customers to purchase them,” he wrote. “You plaster your naked daughters across billboards in order to sell a product without any shame. You have brainwashed your daughters into believing they are liberated by wearing revealing clothes, yet in reality all they have liberated is your sexual desire.”

A team of intelligence analysts under the C.I.A.'s direction has been working to review the material seized from Bin Laden's house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by the Navy Seal team that killed him. Officials have said the material shows that Bin Laden was making notes about new ways to attack the United States and sending instructions by courier to subordinates and Qaeda affiliates.

Asked about the contents in an interview with Bloomberg Television, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said, “I'm not sure we have any plot” that the intelligence review had found.

“On the other hand, he did seem to have a goal around the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11,” Mr. Holder said. “Certainly, he wanted to harm and was in the advanced operational stage of pulling the levers in the Al Qaeda organization.”

But the Obama administration also released unflattering video footage of a gray-bearded Bin Laden, wearing a cloak and a ski cap and clutching a remote control while watching his own statements on television. The suggestion that he must have dyed his beard for video recordings and was intensely concerned with his image could erode his reputation in the Muslim world as a charismatic and selfless leader.

Also on Friday, Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, confirmed that American interrogators had questioned Bin Laden's three wives for the first time on Thursday, 10 days after they were taken from the compound by Pakistani security forces. He declined to give more details, saying, “I can't characterize the interaction.”

The three widows, Khairiah Sabar, Siham Sabar and Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, who is also known as Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, had been held and questioned for days by Pakistani officials before the C.I.A. interrogators spoke to them. Ms. Abdulfattah, who is Yemeni, was shot in the leg during the assault on Bin Laden's compound by Navy Seal commandos.

American officials have many urgent questions for them: where other top Qaeda operatives are, where Bin Laden lived before moving to Abbottabad and whether any Pakistani military or intelligence officers visited the compound. But the wives are believed to have lived cloistered lives, and it is unclear what they may know or be willing to tell.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/world/asia/14binladen.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Cities Nationwide Heighten Vigilance on Terror

MIAMI — In large and midsize cities across the country, police chiefs and domestic security officials say they have drastically increased counterterrorism operations under the assumption that a “lone wolf” or a small group of terrorists will try to strike on American soil to avenge the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Although there are no known specific or credible threats, many of the officials said they are convinced that operatives of Al Qaeda or sympathizers will be highly motivated in the weeks and months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, according to interviews with more than a dozen police chiefs and senior counterterrorism officials.

The officials said they were especially concerned that a terrorist plot would focus on a target perceived to be “soft,” like a train station or a shopping mall.

“In the short term, we are facing more danger from lone wolf actors who will see Bin Laden's death as justification in their minds to mobilize and do something here,” said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, head of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau in the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the past dozen days, several senior police officials said they had not seen so much frenetic counterterrorism action since the weeks after Sept. 11, 2001. The activities have included numerous briefings with F.B.I. and Homeland Security officials in Washington, as well as conference calls with joint terrorism task force members and local officials, some as often as twice a day.

“I personally think the chances of an attack are highly likely,” said Boston's police commissioner, Edward Davis. “The terrorists have utilized Bin Laden's death to turn up the rhetoric on this extremism. I think simply due to the odds, something will happen somewhere in the United States. We have to be extremely vigilant.”

There is something of a consensus that trying to prevent an attack by one person or several people poses a more complicated challenge than trying to stop a more elaborate — and perhaps easier to detect — plot involving a dozen or more participants.

President Obama echoed the concerns in an interview on Friday with WLTV, the Miami Spanish-language Univision affiliate, saying, “There is no doubt that when it comes to the American people that after having killed Bin Laden there may be a desire on some Al Qaeda members to exact revenge, and that's something that we have to be vigilant about, and we're monitoring all these situations.”

As for the kind of terrorist plot they expect to see, most officials pointed to the arrests in New York City on Wednesday of two men who the authorities said had intended to carry out a grenade-and-guns attack against a synagogue in Manhattan.

Officials also mentioned their concern about the suicide bombing attack on Friday at a military training center in northwest Pakistan, which killed 82 people and wounded at least 150. Taliban leaders later said the attack was to avenge the killing of Bin Laden, though the Pakistani police said they doubted that claim.

Homeland Security and F.B.I. officials have told state and local police officials that the Bin Laden killing could lead to quicker timelines for gestating terrorist plots that had previously been intended to coincide with the Sept. 11 anniversary.

State and local police departments in most cities have increased the number and visibility of patrols, particularly at busy sites like airports, train stations, ports and ballparks. At N.B.A. playoff games in a handful of cities, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami, the police have increased their presence at arenas.

“It is more likely something will happen here,” said the Los Angeles police chief, Charlie Beck. “Do I think over all the world is safer? Yes. But you don't end the terrorism threat just by getting rid of Bin Laden.”

In the writings and computer files seized from Bin Laden's hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, American intelligence officials found evidence that the Qaeda chief was fixated on attacking the United States above all other global targets. He had urged Qaeda lieutenants to recruit non-Muslims “who are oppressed in the United States,” including African-Americans and Hispanics, to help organize a spectacular attack timed to the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said.

Several local police and counterterrorism officials said they were struck by intelligence that indicated midsize American cities were considered for attacks. A thwarted attempt to bomb an airliner bound for Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, was traced to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Intelligence reports have “mentioned they were looking at sites other than New York and Washington,” said Philadelphia's police commissioner, Charles H. Ramsey, who is president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

“We are located between the two, and Philly would be one of those places they might consider,” Commissioner Ramsey said. “We have to be very concerned about the lone wolf person who is acting out of their own personal reasons as opposed to something more organized.”

Midsize cities, like Milwaukee, Austin, Tulsa and Miami, have also increased their counterterrorism efforts and preparedness, officials said. “It does not have to be a sophisticated terror plot to bring commerce to a halt,” Police Chief Edward A. Flynn of Milwaukee said. “The challenge for us in terms of physical security is attaching our deployments to credible information.”

Miami is on higher alert, said its police chief, Miguel A. Exposito, and its counterterrorism efforts have been aided by much more information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.

Several police chiefs said they were worried about “active shooter scenarios,” like an attack on a place like a shopping mall by a lone gunman sympathetic to Al Qaeda. “Shopping malls could be targets, or mass transit, trains, buses — places that would be relatively easy to do with a high body count,” said Commissioner Ramsey of Philadelphia.

On the Las Vegas Strip, where several of the Sept. 11 terrorists spent time in the weeks before the attacks, patrol officers have been added in the days since Bin Laden's death, Sheriff Douglas C. Gillespie of Clark County said.

Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, said Bin Laden's death amounted to “a wake-up call” for police chiefs and state and local counterterrorism officials. “When you take out the No. 1 terrorist,” Mr. Wexler said, “you need to go on offense and not defense. It doesn't take much to wreak havoc.”

The increased counterterrorism activities and warnings to a skittish public have led to false alarms. During the morning rush after President Obama announced Bin Laden's death, a backpack left in a train station restroom in Riverside, Calif., led to an evacuation of passengers.

False alarms have occurred around the country, an inevitability when the public is encouraged to report suspicious activities.

“I think this is going to be the reality for the next few months,” said Chief Beck in Los Angeles. “This is a similar period to just after 9/11 when we had a huge increase in reports of suspected terrorists. The public is paying attention.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/us/14threat.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Georgia Gives Police Added Power to Seek Out Illegal Immigrants

ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia on Friday signed into law one of the nation's toughest immigration measures, empowering local police officers to question certain suspects about their immigration status.

The law is similar to measures in Arizona and Utah that have drawn legal challenges and economic boycotts. Mr. Deal, a Republican, said he would have preferred a comprehensive immigration overhaul from the federal government.

“Illegal immigration is a complex and troublesome issue, and no state alone can fix it,” he said. “We will continue to have a broken system until we have a federal solution. In the meantime, states must act to defend their taxpayers.”

The law takes effect July 1. Already, civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, say they are considering lawsuits against Georgia. Business groups, including the state Chamber of Commerce, have raised fears that the law will diminish tourism. In Arizona and Utah, court injunctions have delayed carrying out the laws while their constitutionality is determined.

One of the Georgia law's authors, Matthew L. Ramsey, a Republican state legislator, said the measure was written to withstand legal challenges. Lawmakers set clear guidelines on when the police are allowed to request a suspect's immigration status, he said. The law allows state and local police officers to request immigration documentation from criminal suspects and, if they do not receive it, to take the suspects to jails, where federal officials could begin the deportation process.

“States don't have the legal authority to deport. We don't have the legal authority to secure our borders,” Mr. Ramsey said. "But our goal is, within a constitutional framework, to eliminate incentives for illegal aliens to cross into our state."

The law also creates stricter requirements for businesses hiring workers and harsher punishments for anyone who harbors or employs an illegal immigrant. There are 425,000 illegal immigrants in Georgia, the seventh most of any state, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates. Two other Southern states, Alabama and South Carolina, are also considering similar immigration bills that are expected by many experts to pass this year.

Tom Smith, a finance professor at Emory University, said Georgia businesses were bracing for the impact. Some studies suggest that that Arizona's law has cost the state as much as $250 million in convention business, he said.

“People are looking at the history in Arizona and thinking, ‘Could a law in Georgia could have the same impact?' ” Professor Smith said. “We're waiting to see whether that will happen in Georgia now.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/us/14georgia.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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NY beach community becomes dumping ground of death

CAPTREE STATE PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Killers have long chosen isolated locations to secretly dump their victims: Gary Ridgway got the Green River Killer moniker for leaving women he murdered along the waterway near Seattle, some of New York serial killer Joel Rifkin's 17 victims were found in shallow graves on eastern Long Island or in creeks in Brooklyn, and in 2008 the FBI found the body of a slain mobster buried in a Long Island industrial park.

Authorities on Long Island suspect a serial killer may be responsible for the deaths of four prostitutes found in December dumped just steps from an isolated beach highway, but news this week that other killers have used the same strip of Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach as a dumping ground of death ratcheted up an already intense investigation.

"It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Spota released additional clues this week about four other victims, including two women whose torsos were left years ago 45 miles away in the woods off the Long Island Expressway. Their heads and limbs were found near the beach this spring. An unknown man and a toddler are among the latest Ocean Parkway murder mysteries confronting detectives.

And that's not all: Remains found at two locations along the same highway in neighboring Nassau County have yet to be identified. Ten sets of remains, and an unknown number of killers.

The FBI in 2004 established a database to track serial killings along U.S. highways. Since that time, it has compiled information on 595 victims and 275 suspects. Many of those crimes are believed to involve victims of over-the-road truckers or others who were found at truck stops, gas stations or restaurants along major highways. A Suffolk County police spokeswoman said all pertinent information about their investigation has been sent to the FBI, although the parkway doesn't allow access to commercial truckers.

The FBI last month provided high-tech aerial photography of the Ocean Parkway region to assist local authorities in their search for additional victims, and state and local police have expanded their search area for victims to two adjacent highways. Those data are still being analyzed.

Some Long Islanders aren't surprised killers would find the remote stretch of highway, populated by fewer than 250 year-round residents, as an attractive dumping ground.

"It makes sense," says Don Gaynor, of nearby Bay Shore, about 35 miles east of New York City. "There's very little lighting. There are no security cameras of any kind. And when you get down here at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, you could be the only car on the road for half an hour, so it's a very easy place to dump anything that you don't want people to know about, and your chances of getting caught are nil to none."

Ocean Parkway, built in the 1930s to accommodate sun worshippers headed to the newly opened Jones Beach, is a mostly four-lane highway that dissects the barrier island south of Long Island for more than 15 miles. Along the south side runs a network of state and town-run beaches, featuring pristine white sand and azure ocean water. The island is so narrow that authorities have fretted for years that a major hurricane could create a breach between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay.

Commuters hoping to avoid traffic jams on Long Island's primary roadways often use the parkway as a long shortcut to get to their destinations because there are rarely any snarls; more miles to drive, but quicker to get there.

The north side, where all the remains have been found, is largely a daunting thicket of tick-infested underbrush, including poison ivy and evergreens — an uninviting area that apparently enticed several killers. The only reason anyone might stop on that side of the roadway, where parking is prohibited, would be to deal with car trouble. Detectives have scoured parking ticket records as part of their hunt for a killer.

Dr. Michael Baden, the chief forensic pathologist with the state police and host of the HBO cable TV show "Autopsy," said the killers likely chose the location because it's an area with which they're familiar and they're likely aware that it's sparsely populated, especially in the winter, when there are few beach visitors.

"It's a place the perpetrator knows about, usually near where he grew up or where he travels to or from. It's a place where it would be easy to throw a body and not be found," Baden said. "The initial issue is to go to a place where very few cars go and nobody will see you."

Ridgway, one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history, led authorities to the site of some of his victims following his arrest in 2001. Advances in DNA technology enabled authorities to link a saliva sample he gave authorities in 1987 to some of the bodies. He is serving life without parole.

Rifkin picked up many of his 18 victims while they worked as prostitutes in New York City, and he left their remains at various locations in the metropolitan area.

Rifkin, who admitted committing the murders, has said in recent prison interviews that none of the bodies found along Ocean Parkway was of one of his victims.

Baden, who travels by train from New York City to Albany on business, said he often peers out the window along the tracks that run parallel to the Hudson River.

"It's amazing how many interesting spots you find along the railroad tracks," he said. "Tremendous areas that nobody would ever see if someone were to leave a body there."

At Captree State Park, just up the road from where the remains were found, 62-year-old Carmine LiBretti, of Bayport, said the revelations unfolding since December are startling.

"I've been coming here since I was a kid, and it's pretty scary to find out that somebody's dumping bodies like that," he said. "You know, you don't know if (the killers) are from around here or from another town or another state.

"I went fishing here with my dad years ago, with my brothers. In fact I got married right out here 32 years ago. I said to my wife, 'We got married there, and now they're finding bodies.' What the hell, man?"

Ray Marshall of Hicksville added the mystery is baffling. "I can't understand how they can dump bodies and nobody ever saw them," he said. "Somebody should have seen something."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gtRlGugMwfX1N-PFa9FowUNepKRA?docId=a58d1da7b323436d94c4376dee7c2100

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From the Department of Homeland Security

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Emergency Alerts Delivered to Your Phone: What Our New PLAN Means to You

• The messages incorporate broadcast delivery technology and will not be impacted by cellular network congestion – a fancy way of saying the alerts will get through even if cellular networks are swamped. As we all know, traditional text messages and telephone calls get stuck during heavy cell traffic, so these critical and potentially life-saving alerts will always get through.
  
  
• The messages are location based and will provide alerts to you about threats where you are currently located. For example, if you are visiting New York City, you will receive the same alerts as people who live in New York City. And let's say you moved to Los Angeles but didn't change your cell phone number, you would still receive the alerts because you're in the warning area.
  
  
• And as far as cost, the service comes at no expense to the emergency managers who send the messages.

• A committee of wireless industry representatives, public safety officials, and experts from the alert and warning community recommended the requirements for establishing a mobile alerting system.
  
  
• Wireless carriers choose to voluntarily participate in this program in accordance with rules and recommendations adopted by the FCC.
  
  
• Wireless carriers are responsible for making their networks and mobile phones compatible with the new system.
  
  
• Public safety officials who want to use the new capability are responsible for being able to communicate emergency alerts for transmission to the cellular networks. Remember that only authorized federal, state or local authorities can issue emergency alerts, the same way they do through the radio and TV broadcast emergency alert system.
  
  
• FEMA is working with state and local officials and organizations to help them use the technology and develop best practices and procedures for sending emergency alerts to their specific area or region.

Why was New York City announced early?

Several of our wireless partners – AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile and US Cellular – were able to work with New York City to get the technology ready to implement early, by the end of 2011. This was an exciting development – but it in no way means that we are limiting PLAN to only New York City.

The technology for delivering these messages is available now, and the development and distribution of the phones will make the system ready for everyone to use by April, 2012.

Will PLAN track mobile phone users?

No. PLAN is used only to deliver emergency alerts. In the same way that emergency alerts do not track individual homes when they are displayed on TV sets, PLAN will not be used to monitor wireless device usage or monitor consumers' locations.

Will I be swamped with messages I don't want?

No. PLAN is a technology that will be incorporated into the phone itself. Consumers do not need to sign up for this service. You will not be able to turn off a Presidential alert, but you will be able to turn off other alerts. Don't worry, the President isn't going to flood you with running commentary on your local events. Just like with sending alerts to your radio and tv, it's our insurance that the President can always communicate with the public even if they aren't by a TV or radio.

How much will consumers pay to receive PLAN alerts?

Participating carriers will not charge consumers a fee to receive PLAN alerts.

How much will it cost states and localities to participate in PLAN?

We anticipate that any costs will be minimal. State and local authorities will only need a compatible software program to access the system to send alerts and warnings. Many emergency managers already use programs that are compatible with the system.

Does PLAN replace the Emergency Alert System?

Absolutely not. As I mentioned above, the Emergency Alert System is for notifications via the TV and radio and PLAN is for notifications via your smartphone. PLAN and the Emergency Alert System are components of IPAWS.

PLAN was never intended to serve as the only way to alert the public of an emergency. Just like we use multiple digital channels to communicate with the public (full website, mobile site, Twitter or Facebook), PLAN is another tool that will complement the Emergency Alert System and state and local alerting systems.

Will PLAN be available everywhere?

Participation in PLAN by wireless carriers is voluntary. Some carriers will offer PLAN over their entire networks and all of their devices, while others will offer it over parts of their service areas. Ultimately, we expect that PLAN will be available in most of the country. Consumers should check with their wireless carriers to determine the extent to which they are offering PLAN.

How will subscribers know if their carrier offers PLAN?

Under FCC rules, wireless carriers that have limited participation in PLAN will be required to notify existing and new customers of this fact. Consumers should check with their wireless carriers to determine the extent to which they are offering PLAN.

Will consumers need a new phone or a smart phone to receive alerts?

That depends. Some phones may require only software upgrades to receive alerts, while in other cases, a subscriber may need to purchase a new PLAN-capable phone. Consumers should check with their wireless carrier regarding the availability of PLAN-capable phones.

What is the incentive for a consumer to upgrade to a PLAN-capable phone?

This one is easy – PLAN will help us save lives. We hope that everyone will be able to benefit from this tool when it is fully available.

We know there will continue to be a lot of questions about PLAN, and we will do our best to answer them here. In that spirit, I wanted to share another article that gives a good sense of how PLAN is just one part of our work.

http://blog.fema.gov/2011/05/emergency-alerts-delivered-to-your.html

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From ICE

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ICE recognizes local law enforcement efforts in child kidnap case

EVERETT, Mass. - In the city of Everett, the police department proudly displays a motto which reads, "Serving with Pride Since 1870." U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) shared that pride today while recognizing two officers for their proud service and dedicated professionalism that helped end a nationwide search for a three-year-old girl who was discovered living in Everett after being abducted in Texas last year.

Everett Police Lieutenant Demetri O'Malley and Officer Jeffrey Gilmore were recognized for launching an investigation in July 2010 with ICE HSI in Boston, the Bryan Police Department in Texas, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Acting on an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen, the officers and ICE HSI special agents began the search for a man who allegedly boasted about how he abducted his two-year-old daughter from Texas in December 2009. Working with authorities in Bryan, Texas, investigators identified the father and determined that the child had been reported missing to the NCMEC. The investigation led authorities to an address in Everett, where the father was arrested and the child recovered unharmed.

"On behalf of the citizens of Everett, I am pleased to officially recognize and publicly thank these officers for their intervention in this case," said Everett Police Chief Steven A. Mazzie.

"I would also like to acknowledge their relentless efforts that resulted in the safe return of this child to Texas."

Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Boston presented the officers with plaques and expressed appreciation for their efforts to bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.

"ICE places a high priority on working cooperatively with local law enforcement agencies and recognizes the enormous benefits of teaming up with these front-line officers to help us fight crime in our communities," said Foucart. "We acknowledge the professionalism of these officers and this department and their efforts to keep our neighborhoods safe."

ICE HSI Special Agent Greg Squire and Susan Ragucci, a criminal research specialist, were also recognized by the NCMEC, which showcased their efforts in this case in correspondence that cited them for their outstanding efforts to, "connect the dots and make this recovery possible."

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1105/110513everett.htm

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