Darth Paul

Wow! This topic has survived for a while.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_...thrax_scientist Suspect in anthrax-letter deaths kills himself By MATT APUZZO and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers 11 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and severely rattled the post-9/11 nation may have been part of an Army scientist's warped plan to test his cure for the deadly toxin, officials said Friday. The brilliant but troubled scientist committed suicide this week, knowing prosecutors were closing in. The sudden naming of scientist Bruce E. Ivins as the top — and perhaps only — suspect in the anthrax attacks marks the latest bizarre twist in a case that has confounded the FBI for nearly seven years. Last month, the Justice Department cleared Ivins' colleague, Steven Hatfill, who had been wrongly suspected in the case, and paid him $5.8 million. Ivins worked at the Army's biological warfare labs at Fort Detrick, Md., for 18 years until his death on Tuesday. He was one of the government's leading scientists researching vaccines and cures for anthrax exposure. But he also had a long history of homicidal threats, according to papers filed last week in local court by a social worker. The letters contained anthrax powder were sent on the heels of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and turned up at congressional offices, newsrooms and elsewhere, leaving a deadly trail through post offices on the way. The powder killed five and sent numerous victims to hospitals and caused near panic in many locations. Workers in protective garb that made them look like space men decontaminated U.S. Capitol buildings after anthrax letters were discovered there. Major postal substations were closed for years. Newsrooms were checked all over after anthrax letters were mailed to offices in Florida and New York. The Justice Department said Friday only that "substantial progress has been made in the investigation." The statement did not identify Ivins. However, several U.S. officials said prosecutors were focusing on the 62-year-old Ivins and planned to seek a murder indictment and the death penalty. Authorities were investigating whether Ivins, who had complained about the limits of testing anthrax drugs on animals, had released the toxin to test the treatment on humans. The officials all discussed the continuing investigation on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The Justice Department is expected to decide within days whether to close the "Amerithrax" investigation now that its main target is dead. If the case remains open, that could indicate there still are other suspects. Ivins' attorney asserted the scientist's innocence and said he had cooperated with investigators for more than a year. "We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law," said Paul F. Kemp. Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. Relatives told The Associated Press that he killed himself. Kemp said his client's death was the result of the government's "relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo." For more than a decade, Ivins had worked to develop an anthrax vaccine that was effective even in cases where different strains of anthrax were mixed — a situation that made vaccines ineffective — according to federal documents reviewed by the AP. In 2003, he shared the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service for his work on the anthrax vaccine. The award is the highest honor given to Defense Department civilian employees. Ivins conducted numerous anthrax studies, including one that complained about the limited supply of monkeys available for testing. The study also said animal testing couldn't accurately show how humans would respond to anthrax treatment. The Fort Detrick laboratory and its specialized scientists for years have been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax mailings. In late June, the government exonerated Hatfill, whose name has for years had been associated with the attacks. Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft called him a "person of interest" in 2002. Investigators also had noticed Ivins' unusual behavior at Fort Detrick in the six months following the anthrax mailings. He conducted unauthorized testing for anthrax spores outside containment areas at the infectious disease research unit where he worked, according to an internal report. But the focus stayed on Hatfill. Ivins' friends, colleagues and court documents paint a picture of a flourishing scientist with an emotionally unstable side. Maryland court documents show he recently received psychiatric treatment and was ordered to stay away from a woman he was accused of stalking and threatening to kill. Social worker Jean C. Duley filed handwritten court documents last week saying she was preparing to testify before a grand jury. She said Ivins would be charged with five capital murders. "Client has a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, plans and actions towards therapists," Duley said, adding that his psychiatrist had described him as homicidal and sociopathic. Authorities have been watching Ivins for some time. His brother, Tom Ivins, said federal agents questioned the scientist about a year and a half ago. Neighbors said FBI agents in cars with tinted windows conducted surveillance on his home. A colleague, Henry S. Heine, said that over the past year, he and others on their team had testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that has been investigating the anthrax mailings. On July 10, police responded to Fort Detrick to speak with Ivins. He was ultimately removed from his job and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation because of concern he had become a danger to himself or others. The victims of the attacks had little in common. Robert Stevens, 63, a photo editor at the Sun, a supermarket tabloid published in Boca Raton, Fla., was the first to die. Thomas Morris Jr. 55, and Joseph Curseen, 47, worked at a Washington-area postal facility that was a hub for sorting the capital's mail. Kathy Nguyen, 61, who had emigrated from Vietnam and lived in the Bronx, worked in a stock room at Manhattan Eye Ear & Throat Hospital, a Children's Hearing Institute. Ottilie Lundgren, 94, who lived in Oxford, Conn.

Two brutal and unusual animal slayings in the past week make me wonder if someone is working up the courage to go for his first human kill. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,377042,00.html Arizona Family's Pet Chihuahua Found Cut in Half Monday, July 07, 2008 Phoenix police are investigating a startling animal-cruelty case in which a 6-month-old Chihuahua was found cut in half. The distraught Medina family had to remove photos of their dog "Taco" from the walls of their Phoenix home after the dog's owner, Humberto Medina, made the gruesome discovery. Medina said the photos are too painful to look at because his last memory of Taco was of the pet torn in two pieces in their backyard. Medina believes the crime was racially motivated. "I don't understand why they did (this)," Humberto Medina told MyFOXPhoenix.com. "He was just a little dog. He cannot hurt anybody." Detective Stacie Derge said the Phoenix Police Department does not have any suspects for the crime. She did not have further details to release. Anyone with information is asked to call 602-262-6151 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS. http://www.azfamily.com/news/homepagetopst...h.3da45c8a.html Valley family finds goat slaughtered in their yard 09:26 PM Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 By 3TV PHOENIX - A Valley family tonight is left with more questions than answers after they awoke this morning to find their pet goat cut up and gutted. Goat brutally murdered azfamily.com The carcass was left to rot in their backyard. The goat was sliced open from the sternum to the hind legs all of the muscle removed. Her internal parts were thrown a few feet away. The animal was left literally bone dry. "The way everything has been cut clean you can tell it's defiantly been knife cut," Ryan McRoberts said. For the McRoberts family their goats are just like any other household pet, cared for and loved like the other dogs or cats. "I don’t know what kinda sick guy would come out here and do this," he said. The one that was killed is Ryan's daughter's pet. They have yet to tell the seven year-old her goat "Lizzy" is gone. It doesn’t look like the work of wild animals, besides they live off of 39th Avenue and Greenway in Phoenix, not exactly coyote country. They believe someone hoped the fence last night and in their backyard took the time to slaughter the poor goat. The brutality of the killing has their minds wondering. Was it the work of the fictional vampire like creature the chupacabra or maybe some strange and dangerous cult. "My dad is a preacher and he was talking about satanic people taking stuff out of goats and all sorts of stuff," Ryan said. They have called the Sheriff's department. They hope they can catch who ever is responsible before they strike again.

Thanks! I hope to be around a little more often if I've not been gotten by gas prices and superbugs.

Gut superbug causing more illnesses, deaths By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer - Wed May 28, 4:03 PM PDTProvided by: ATLANTA - The number of people hospitalized with a dangerous intestinal superbug has been growing by more than 10,000 cases a year, according to a new study. The germ, resistant to some antibiotics, has become a regular menace in hospitals and nursing homes. The study found it played a role in nearly 300,000 hospitalizations in 2005, more than double the number in 2000. The infection, Clostridium difficile, is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces. But the spores are difficult to kill with most conventional household cleaners or antibacterial soap. C-diff, as it's known, has grown resistant to certain antibiotics that work against other colon bacteria. The result: When patients take those antibiotics, competing bacteria die off and C-diff explodes. This virulent strain of C-diff was rarely seen before 2000. "The nature of this infection is changing. It's more severe," said Dr. L. Clifford McDonald, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expert who was not part of the study. There are other factors that play into the rise of C-diff cases as well, including a larger of number of patients who are older and sicker. "And there may be some overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics," said Dr. Marya Zilberberg, a University of Massachusetts researcher and lead author of the study. The Zilberberg study was based on a sample of more than 36 million annual discharges from non-governmental U.S. hospitals. That data was used to generate the study's national estimates. The research is being published in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC publication. Using other scientists' estimates, the study concluded that 2.3 percent of the cases in 2004 were fatal — about 5,500 deaths. That was nearly double the percentage of C-diff-related cases that ended in death in 2000. Many of the people who died had other health problems. The study did not try to determine if Clostridium difficile was the main cause of death in each case, Zilberberg said. But earlier research concluded the infection is the underlying cause of thousands of deaths annually, and the problem is getting worse. C-diff has become an acute health concern in Canada, where it was blamed for 260 deaths at seven Ontario hospitals recently, and 2,000 deaths in Quebec since 2002. The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology is currently working with U.S. hospitals to study prevalence of the infection and what infection control measures seem to work best. "This is not a time for alarm, but more a time for educating health professionals to understand this particular pathogen," said Kathy Warye, chief executive of the Washington, D.C.-based association

Sad but true, Hippyroo. Sad but true.

Hah hah! yeah when I first saw Mudvayne I thought "Hey, it's the Darth Maul family reunion!"

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, AP 35 minutes ago ACWORTH, Ga. — Three boys, ages 8 and 9, were being held Monday in a detention center on charges of kidnapping and raping an 11-year-old girl near a suburban apartment complex, officials said. The alleged attack happened Thursday and the girl's mother reported it to authorities Sunday, Acworth police Capt. Wayne Dennard said. "The victim said they were playing outdoors and the girl was forced into a wooded area where she was sexually assaulted, where one of the boys raped her," Dennard told The Associated Press. The three boys _ an 8-year-old and two 9-year-olds _ were charged with rape, kidnapping, false imprisonment and sexual assault, Dennard said. They were due in juvenile court Monday afternoon. Their names were being withheld because of their age. Dennard would not comment further. Acworth Police Chief Mike Wilkie said said one of the boys was accused of threatening to hit the girl with a rock before the alleged assault. Wilkie also said the investigation is "far from over," and investigators are looking into claims that after the alleged attack, the girl talked about it with her friends at a slumber party. The father of the 8-year-old boy said his son had been falsely accused and had not had sex with the girl. The sexual activity was consensual, and the girl accused her playmates only after her parents had learned she had sex, said the father, Brandon LeBlanc. "There was no violence involved," LeBlanc said. "This is a clear case of a girl who didn't want to get in trouble with her parents." He added, "In order to save her hide, she tried to blame it on rape." The girl's mother, however, told WGCL-TV in Atlanta, "They do need to be taught a lesson because if they do it to her, they could do it to somebody else. And who knows when they become teenagers what they can do to other girls." The case involves children from a working class apartment complex on the northern outskirts of metro Atlanta. LeBlanc said the kids all played together, biking or throwing a ball around in the apartment complex's parking lot. He said his son is a third grader at a Baptist school who loves the Atlanta Falcons and is a batboy for his church's softball league. Prosecutors had not received the case report from police on Monday, nor had they decided whether to try the suspects as adults. "That decision hasn't been made," said Kathy Watkins, a spokeswoman for the Cobb County District Attorney's office. She had no further comment. Acworth, 30 miles northwest of Atlanta along the shores of Lake Allatoona, is a town of about 17,000. Acworth police said their department has never before investigated allegations of rape where all the parties were this young. "This wouldn't be normal anywhere, but especially not Acworth," Dennard said.

Unfortunately, as you said, past punishment hasn't helped these people at all. Studies seem to indicate that people with sexual predatory tendencies don't respond well to treatment. The recidivism rate is very high amongst people with this problem. They need to be removed from society permanently. Last I had heard, the evidence against them was so solid that the hate crime angle didn't have to be pursued to make any charges stick? What changed?

My, this has started quite the debate, hasn't it? The punishment never sems to fit the crime and I don't claim to have a workable solution. We'll just have to wait to see if anything resembling justice is done here.

This is one of the worst things I've heard in a while.

W.Va. Torture Victim Knew at Least 1 Suspect Accused in Week of Abuse, Prosecutor Says 09-12-2007 10:01 AM By JOHN RABY, Associated Press Writer BIG CREEK, W.Va. (Associated Press) -- A young black woman who authorities say was tortured for days at a remote hillside home, sexually assaulted and forced to eat rat droppings was not a random target, the county prosectutor said Wednesday. One of the six suspects arrested in the case, Bobby Brewster, had a previous relationship with the victim, Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham told The Associated Press. He said Brewster had been charged in July with domestic battery and assault after a domestic dispute involving the same woman. "She obviously had some sort of social relationship," Abraham said. "That is based on the fact that she was present at his residence on a prior date." Megan Williams, 20, was found beaten and bruised at Brewster's mother's home in rural Big Creek on Saturday. Abraham said he plans to pursue kidnapping charges against the suspects, and the FBI is looking into possible civil rights violations.

Woman's Ordeal in W. Va. Shed, Described As Week of Torture, Leads to Hate Crime Investigation 09-12-2007 8:22 AM By JOHN RABY, Associated Press Writer BIG CREEK, W.Va. (Associated Press) -- Inside a shed on a remote hillside of this coalfield community, authorities say a young black woman was tortured for days, sexually assaulted, beaten and forced to eat rat droppings. Her captors, all of them white, choked her with a cable cord and stabbed her in the leg while calling her a racial slur, poured hot water over her and made her drink from a toilet, according to criminal complaints. It wasn't until an anonymous tip led Logan County Sheriff's deputies to the property on Saturday that her ordeal ended and she was able to limp to safety, arms outstretched as she cried, "Help me!" "I don't understand such a horrific crime being committed here," said Johnny Meade, pastor of the community's Apostolic Church of God in the Name of Christ Jesus. The FBI is now looking into possible civil rights violations, agency spokesman Bill Crowley said, authorities in West Virginia said they were investigating the case as a possible hate crime. At one point, an assailant cut the woman's ankle with a knife and used the N-word in telling her she was victimized because she is black, authorities said. They said the young was also forced to eat dog feces. Investigators are still trying to determine how the woman ended up at the property and whether she knew any of the six people arrested or two others, suspected of driving her to the home, who are being sought, said Logan County Chief Sheriff's Deputy V.K. Dingess. Police tape now surrounds the entrances to the beige-and-brown mobile home where Megan Williams, 20, was found. An extension cord runs from the home to the cramped shed, which authorities say she was held in with a portable stereo, a locker and a power saw. The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault, but Williams and her mother agreed to release her name. Carmen Williams said she wanted people to know what her daughter endured. "I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter," Carmen Williams said Tuesday from her daughter's hospital room. "I didn't know there were people like that out here." The suspects in the case have previous arrest records going back several years, according to records from Logan County Magistrate Court. Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said, "I have some familiarity with all those individuals." Since 1991, police have filed 108 criminal charges against the six. Frankie Brewster, 49, faced the most serious charges among them. Karen Burton, 46, of Chapmanville had the most charges in all, with 33; and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, had 20. Brewster, who owns the Big Creek mobile home, was charged in 1994 with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to lesser charges of manslaughter and wanton endangerment. She was released from prison in 2000 after serving five years in the death of 84-year-old Polly T. Ferrell, court records show. In the Williams case, Brewster was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and giving false information during a felony investigation. Brewster's son, Bobby R. Brewster, 24, also of Big Creek, was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony. Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, was charged with sexual assault and malicious wounding. Karen Burton was charged with malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony. Alisha Burton and George A. Messer, 27, of Chapmanville, were charged with assault during the commission of a felony and battery. In May, Alisha Burton was accused of striking Messer with a shovel and smashing the window of a woman's car. The charges are pending. All six remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bail each. Public Defender Dwyane Adkins, appointed to represent Bobby Brewster, declined to comment on the case. The other defendants' court-appointed lawyers were either in hearings or did not immediately return telephone calls Wednesday. The home at Big Creek is quiet now. Newborn pups sleep in the entryway to the small shed, their mother protectively barking at approaching strangers. Megan Williams, her right arm in a cast, may be well enough to leave the hospital within a few days, her mother said. "I just want my daughter to be well and recover," Carmen Williams said. "I know the Lord can do anything."