Tuesday, January 06, 2004

 

News Across the Country ...

From Bakersfield, California: Man sentenced to a year in paintball shooting

A man will spend a year in jail after he was convicted of assault for his role in a drive-by paintball shooting that injured a girl in September.

Daniel Lee Wilson, 18, was sentenced Monday on charges of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. Wilson was driving the car while his friend was leaning out the window shooting at pedestrians near Centennial High School.

From Allentown, Pennsylvania: Pazuhanich is sworn in as judge, but charges will delay duties

Former Monroe County District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich was sworn in by a notary Monday to become the county's newest judge.

But Monroe County President Judge Ronald E. Vican said Pazuhanich — who is facing charges of child molestation and public drunkenness — will not be holding court.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Associated Press: Little League treasurer, a mom of 3, charged with grand theft

The treasurer of the Maumee Little League was charged with three counts of grand theft after being accused of stealing more than $30,000 from the group, police said.
Catherine Eppard, the mother of three Little-Leaguers in the Toledo suburb, also was charged Friday with three counts of tampering with records and one count of misdemeanor theft.

From Sioux City, Iowa: Council adopts revised adult entertainment ordinance

Sex and the city got a thorough discussion among City Council members Monday night with the lawmakers adopting a more detailed adult entertainment law that reflects 21st Century technology.

No one from Sioux City's adult book stores or representing Doctor John's Lingerie Boutique testified on the proposal. The owner of Doctor John's has sued the city claiming the zoning laws are too restrictive. The owner wants to open a store on Singing Hills Boulevard on land zoned for general business, which does not allow for adult entertainment-type stores.

In a related story from the Dallas-Fort Worth Star Telegram: Sex-shop rules may get tougher

ARLINGTON - City officials plan today to ask the City Council to place restrictions on viewing rooms in sexually oriented businesses.

The businesses targeted are sexually oriented movie theaters, bookstores, adult video arcades and strip clubs that have private viewing rooms.

City Attorney Jay Doegey said the council recently clarified the code for sexually oriented nightclubs and cabaret-type establishments last spring, but the regulations did not address issues common to sexually oriented businesses that have separate viewing or reading rooms.

From the Sacramento Bee: Family again a victim of hate

ANDERSON -- Police awakened members of an African American family just after dawn Friday when an 8-foot-tall wooden cross was discovered burning in their yard, officials said.

(Police Chief Neil Purcell) said it was the second time in as many weeks that the single mother, her 5-year-old child and two 14-year-old foster children had been the victims of a hate crime.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Man accused of trying to post bail with counterfeit bills

A man got his mother to try to post bail with $500 in poorly made counterfeit bills from his wallet, city police and Clark County authorities say.

His mother, Angela R. Beckham, 44, of Vancouver, picked up his car and his dog, and police also gave her Ludwig's wallet for safekeeping.

At 5:30 a.m. Ludwig asked his mother to bail him out with money in his wallet. She handed $500 to a clerk, who saw the money was phony, told her to wait and called police.

The police report, made available Monday, described the counterfeit bills as bad copies that were the wrong size.

When asked by police she knew it was funny money, Beckham said she was surprised but should have known because she works as a cashier.

posted by Anne 1/06/2004 05:17:00 AM