New Mexico Tribe Bans Newspaper After Story of Killing

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-- The leaders of a small tribal community nestled in northern New Mexico's mesas and red rocks hoped their tribe could heal from the horrific killing of one of their own.

Then the slaying was recounted on the front page of the Jemez Thunder: "Gruesome murder at Jemez Pueblo." In seven paragraphs, the story described how a tribal member stabbed, slashed and disemboweled another man.

In some places, the story might draw outrage for its details. In Jemez Pueblo, the newspaper was also banned.

The tribe was well within its rights as a sovereign government to prohibit, as the governor did, the distribution of the newspaper at the tribal visitors center and a convenience store.

"The pueblos enjoy sovereign immunity where free speech and the First Amendment are concerned," said Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Mexico.

The tribe was in the news just a week ago, when it banned trick-or-treating on Halloween. The tribe said it was not part of its traditional culture and was a safety concern because of the small community's unlit roads.

The community of about 2,500 sits an hour's drive northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city. The tribe deeply embraces its traditions, including preserving their Towa language.
Tribal lands are apart from the U.S. government. Tribes have their own separate governments, and their own laws. The federal government prosecutes violations of crimes such as murder.

The 1,000-circulation, English-language newspaper is based in the nearby non-tribal community of Jemez Springs, sells for 75 cents and usually runs between 24 to 32 pages, said Robert Borden, who owns it along with his wife, Kathleen Wiegner. The Bordens and a reporter make up the staff, although it also pays some columnists.

Borden said he's written positive stories about the pueblo in the past.

He wrote the story about the killing based on an FBI criminal complaint filed in federal court. He noted he also wrote that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. It was published at the bottom of the front page of the paper's Oct. 15 edition, below stories about a horse-riding program and artists being sought for a bridge program.

Lucas Toledo, 22, faces a murder charge in the killing of Matthew Panana, 21, on Sept. 29.
Jemez Pueblo Gov. Joshua Madalena banned the sales, saying the story was sensationalized. Madalena said the paper's failure to exercise restraint shows it is "out of touch with the community's perspective."

Borden, who has published the newspaper since 1995, said he was disheartened rather than angry at the response.

He and Madalena were planning to meet Wednesday for what Borden said would be "a wide-ranging discussion."

Madalena said the discussion needs to be held "to make sure the newspaper is respectful toward the pueblo and the other communities" in the 30-mile Jemez Valley.

Madalena said Tuesday the close-knit community did not need to know the details of the killings. He said the story reopened wounds and was hurtful to the tribe.

The community "is hurt by the fact that this occurred at all," Borden responded. "I didn't hurt the community."

View the original article here

FDA Tests Confirm Listeria at Texas Food Plant

Federal health officials found the listeria bacteria at a San Antonio food processing plant that Texas authorities have linked to four deaths from contaminated celery, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

The federal agency said it found the pathogen in multiple locations in the SanGar Produce & Processing Co. plant, confirming the testing announced last month by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The Texas health authority shut the plant down Oct. 20 and ordered a recall of all produce shipped from there since January. A hearing on the case is set for Nov. 17 in Austin.

"It comes as no surprise to us," Texas health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said Wednesday of the FDA's findings. "If there was any doubt out there, this erases it. It's another layer of confirmation that this plant had serious issues."

FDA spokeswoman Patricia El-Hinnawy said in an e-mail the agency would not comment on the results.

Jason Galvan, an attorney for SanGar, said he couldn't immediately comment on the FDA report.

"The FDA and the state have not turned over to us the documentation supporting their findings. We cannot comment on these most recent findings until the documentation is provided for independent evaluation by our experts," Galvan said.

After the closure of the plant, which also produced lettuce, pineapple and honeydew, the company alleged the state health inspector who took samples from the plant Oct. 11 could have contaminated them by being dressed improperly and touching surfaces -- an assertion the state department denied.

SanGar has said its own tests would disprove the health department's findings.

The state health department initially traced six of 10 known cases of listeriosis during an eight-month period to celery processed at the SanGar plant, including four deaths. The department last week linked a seventh case to SanGar, Williams said. The agency is investigating the origins of the other three cases.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 500 people die of listeriosis each year in the U.S., and about 2,500 people become seriously ill.

Those with weaker immune systems -- including pregnant women, young children, the elderly and those battling serious illness -- are most at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying because of listeriosis, the CDC says. Healthy adults and children occasionally are infected with the disease but rarely become seriously ill.

The health department has prohibited SanGar from reopening the plant without agency approval.
"We're working with them to clean up their business so that they may be able to reopen in the future," Williams said. "The bottom line is we need to be sure the company can produce safe food before it reopens."

View the original article here

FBI: 5th Virginia Shooting Linked to Earlier Cases

Published November 03, 2010

| Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The FBI says the latest shooting at a military building in Virginia is connected to four other shootings reported last month.

The fifth shooting, at a Coast Guard recruiting station at suburban Washington strip mall, was reported Tuesday morning. No one has been injured in any of the shootings.

Lindsay Godwin, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office, said Wednesday that investigators have not identified a suspect. Details about the kind of gun used have not been disclosed.

Last month overnight shootings were reported at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Pentagon, and a Marine Corps recruiting station. The museum was targeted twice.

View the original article here

Killed Student's Arrested Teammates Seek Dismissal

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Four college football players who were arrested after their teammate was fatally shot by police are seeking an immediate dismissal of the charges against them.

Defense attorney Bonita Zelman said the charges were a cover-up for police brutality and she is opposing a request from prosecutors to postpone the students' next court appearance, currently scheduled for Thursday.

"If they don't have enough evidence now to bring the case against them, they didn't have enough to charge them," Zelman said Tuesday night.

The office of District Attorney Janet DiFiore has asked Mount Pleasant Town Judge Robert Ponzini for a two-week adjournment, saying the four students' cases are part of an ongoing investigation into the Oct. 17 shooting death of Pace University student Danroy Henry. Henry, 20, of Easton, Mass., was shot to death in his car near the scene of a disturbance outside a bar in Thornwood, about 25 miles north of New York City.

Police say Henry sped away and hit two officers after another officer knocked on his car window. Michael Sussman, a lawyer for Henry's family, claims that witnesses, including passengers in the car, contradict the police account. The district attorney is coordinating an investigation.

The teammates were arrested in the chaotic aftermath of the shooting. Three allegedly interfered with getting medical aid to Henry and one was charged with breaking a store window.

Postponement requests rarely raise any opposition. But Zelman told the judge she "strenuously" objects, saying the prosecution's claim of an ongoing investigation "is simply insufficient excuse on which to deny our clients their right to a prompt arraignment."

Zelman said last month that her clients -- Daniel Parker, Joseph Garcia and Yves Delpeche, all 22, and Joseph Romanick, 21 -- were brutalized by officers at the scene. She has not publicly identified any officers.

Police say they have received no brutality complaint.

After the shooting, Henry was handcuffed and placed on the pavement by officers. Mount Pleasant police Chief Louis Alagno said last week that Henry received treatment from officers within three to five minutes of the first report of a shooting.

But some witnesses have alleged that Henry was neglected for up to 15 minutes after he was shot. Zelman said last month that Parker, of Lauderhill, Fla., knows CPR and begged police to let him try to save Henry, but instead "they put a gun to his ribs and they told him to back ... up or he would be next."

She claimed Garcia, of Floral Park, N.Y., and Delpeche, of Brooklyn, N.Y., were zapped with stun guns when they tried to intervene. Romanick, of Slidell, La., also was brutalized and was wrongfully charged with breaking a store window, she said.

Westchester County police said Parker, Garcia and Delpeche were charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction because they interfered with getting medical aid to Henry. Parker and Delpeche also were charged with resisting arrest. Police say only Delpeche had to be subdued by stun gun.

Romanick was arrested by Mount Pleasant police and charged with criminal mischief.

Zelman said she's fighting the postponement and seeking dismissal so "these false criminal charges won't be hanging over the heads of these innocent kids any longer." She also said some of the defendants' relatives have arranged to fly in from out of state.

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the district attorney, said a request for an adjournment is common in the early stages of an investigation.

View the original article here

Gunman Saw Nevada Walmart as 'Goliath' Before Shooting

RENO, Nev. -- A disgruntled Walmart employee decided to "take on Goliath" the night before he allegedly shot three of his managers and barricaded himself in the Reno store for six hours, according to court documents released Tuesday.

A probable cause declaration, filed in Reno Justice Court and first reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal, indicated John Gillane believed the Walmart superstore in Reno where he worked for the last nine years as his "Goliath."

According to the document, Gillane intended to use two handguns to confront managers in an office and force them to contact the corporate office so he could have a dialogue about his unspecified grievances.

Gillane, 45, confronted one manager at gunpoint in an office, court records show. He then made the man call over two other managers, the document said.

Police say all three managers were shot Friday as they fled from Gillane in a hallway.

Two victims shot in the torso remained in stable condition at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno. A third was released from the hospital after treatment Friday. They have requested that their names not be released.

During interviews with police, Gillane said he had personal, financial and work-related problems, the court document said.

He expressed frustration with Walmart management, specifically two of the men he's accused of shooting. The third manager was a man Gillane said he liked, although he shot the man twice.

"Gillane stated that he had almost not followed through with his plan because he realized he would go to jail and not be able to see his daughter and would be fired," the document said. "Nonetheless, Gillane said he determined to carry out his plan and then turn himself into police."

Gillane, who worked in the store's receiving department most recently, remains in the Washoe County jail on three counts of attempted murder and battery. He has declined media interviews until he retains an attorney.

View the original article here

Bone Found in Search for Missing North Carolina Girl

Published November 03, 2010

| Associated Press

HICKORY, N.C. -- Police in Hickory say they've recovered a bone that may be related to the case of a missing 10-year-old girl.

A police statement issued Wednesday said the bone is being sent to the state medical examiner's office to see if it's linked to Zahra Baker, whose father reported her missing Oct. 9. The bone was recovered in neighboring Caldwell County, where the family lived until mid-September.

Police have already found a prosthetic leg identified as Zahra's.

Authorities say they believe the girl is dead. No one is charged in her disappearance.

The girl's stepmother, 42-year-old Elisa Baker, is jailed on an obstruction of justice charge. She admitted writing a bogus ransom note found at the scene of a fire in the family's backyard on the day Zahra was reported missing.

View the original article here

U.S. Men Among 3 Accused in al-Shabab Terror-Funding Plot

Published November 03, 2010

| Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri man and a Minnesotan are among three facing charges in a plot to funnel money to a Somalia terror group.

An indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Mohamud Abdi Yusuf of St. Louis of providing material support to al-Shabab. Yusuf and Abdi Mahdi Hussein of Minneapolis also are accused of conspiring to structure financial transactions.

A third man, Duane Mohamed Diriye, is also charged and remains at-large.

The U.S. government alleges that from 2008 through at least July 2009, Yusuf used aliases in wiring funds to al-Shabab supporters in Somalia. Hussein allegedly worked a money-transferring businesses.

Both men made court appearances Tuesday. Yusuf's public defender declined comment, and it wasn't known if Hussein had an attorney.

View the original article here