Real Conservatives Cannot Afford To Sit This One Out.

Ann C. Mulkern
Denver Post Staff Writer

The next president must possess core conservative principles or risk losing the election and much of what America stands for, Rep. Tom Tancredo told a cheering crowd today at a conservative convention.

The Littleton Republican who is considering a presidential run presented his political vision in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

In a packed and cheering ballroom, Tancredo said it's imperative to crack down on illegal immigration and reject "the cult of multi-culturalism" that he says is destroying American values. Tancredo also declared the need to return to traditional conservative ideals, including opposition to legalized abortion.

"With the world at war, and the very survival of Western Civilization at risk, with the Supreme Court potentially one death or retirement away from reversing Roe Vs. Wade," Tancredo said, referencing the case that legalized abortion, "real conservatives cannot afford to sit this one out."

Tancredo was one of several potential and declared presidential candidates appearing at the conference, an annual Washington D.C. gathering of the right wing of the Republican Party. In presidential election season, it serves as an audition for candidates wanting to capture conservative activists and impress the national media with their ability to draw crowds.

Tancredo has formed a presidential exploratory committee, saying he sees the need for a true conservative in the race. He touted his conservative credentials and used three Biblical references during his speech.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., also spoke.

Conservative Political Action Conference members will take a straw poll Saturday indicating which candidates they most support.

Walking on to the stage to the strains of the theme from the movie "Rocky," Tancredo said he's a "huge long shot" and compared himself to the hero of the Oscar-winning boxing movie.

Tancredo alternately spoke about his potential to win the presidency, saying he knows it's David vs. Goliath, but that "David won." But he also seemed to concede he won't advance when he said he wants "a candidate in this presidential election that I can vote for."

"I'm so tired of voting because the person is the lesser of two evils," Tancredo said. "I want to be able to vote for somebody &I believe is leading a crusade, somebody who I actually want to participate in that crusade because they inspire me to do so.

"I may not be that person, I understand," Tancredo said. "But look for that in whoever it is you're going to support."

Some Tancredo supporters at the event said they believe he can win the nomination, despite the fact that lead candidates are raising an estimated million dollars a week. Tancredo's congressional bank account had $189,000 when he made the last required disclosure at the end of 2006.

"I absolutely think he can get elected," said Nathan Rager, 21, of Virginia. "He's the most well-known conservative in this race."

According to Rager, Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani has a liberal record. Romney's record on conservative issues isn't consistent, he said. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., "is just an amnesty supporter," he said, referring to McCain's support of a legal status for illegal immigrants.

Republican K.C. McAlpin of Virginia didn't vote for President Bush in either 2000 or 2004, choosing instead an independent candidate. He wouldn't say whom. He said he'll do so again rather than vote for McCain, Romney or Guiliani.

Tancredo, McAlpin said "is an authentic conservative."

Romney supporter Ruth Malhotra, 23, of Georgia, however, said while Tancredo's done a "amazing work" on the immigration issue, he's "not presidential material.

"When you're looking at someone to lead our country, you need a strong record of leadership, more broadly defined," Malhotra said. "I don't think Tom Tancredo is the best person to lead our country."

During his speech, Tancredo demonstrated his fondness for controversy. He repeated his tempest-provoking remark made last year that Miami is like a Third World Country. He talked about the letter he received from then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. In that letter, Bush said Florida people celebrated diversity.

"I'm all for celebrating diversity," Tancredo told the crowd. "When you make a state religion out of it, that's when you have a problem."

He said that the country needs a leader who knows we need a strong national defense "because our enemies are psychopaths and our allies are the French."

When comparing himself to the fictional Rocky character, Tancredo joked that one of the differences between himself and Sylvester Stallone was that "probably Sylvester Stallone does not smoke cigars. But I do."

The crowd erupted in large cheers and hoots. Last month, a Capitol police officer came to Tancredo's congressional office after a neighbor smelled smoke and called police. Tancredo was smoking a cigar, which is legal in lawmakers' offices.

"Although we are in the middle of a place that's run by what I refer to as the lifestyle Nazis here in Washington D.C., that don't let you do things like smoke in public places, in my office in the capitol anyway, the smoking lap is lit, even if my next door neighbor doesn't like it."

Sphere: Related Content

At Last Supermodel Naomi Campbell Confesses To Cocaine Addiction.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has spoken about her battle with cocaine addiction. Campbell said she was first offered the drug at 24.

Five years later she ended up in rehab and now attends daily Narcotics Anonymous meetings wherever she is in the world in a bid to stay clean.

"I was at a concert in a European country and I was offered cocaine," she told GQ magazine as she recounted her introduction to the drug.

"It made me feel invincible. Like I could conquer the world. I was just completely over-confident, but it's all a misconception because when you wake up the next day it's all gone and you feel awful. And the more you take drugs, the more you want. And that's how you become an addict."

But Campbell, 36, was defiant when told her drug-taking was against the law.

"Yes, so go get the drug-dealers, not the takers. Drug-taking has been going on for centuries and everybody does it," she said.

The star, who was born in Streatham, south London, also spoke frankly about Kate Moss's drug problems. Moss was pictured in a newspaper in 2005 allegedly chopping out lines of cocaine.

The pair are close friends and Campbell said: "She is hurting herself and when it's exposed she doesn't have the space or time to help herself because everyone is looking at her. It's hard."

Campbell is pictured in an accompanying GQ photoshoot which sends up her bad girl reputation. It includes a shot of her lying naked in a bath while two police officers look on. Another picture sees her pointing a gun at the camera.

Elsewhere in the interview with former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, Campbell weighed into the size zero debate and said the decision by Spanish fashion bosses to ban skinny models from the catwalk was "ridiculous".

"I see girls walking down the street or working in Selfridges who are 10 times skinnier. Nobody attacks them," she said.

During a separate interview in the US, Campbell said she regretted attacking her maid with a mobile phone.

She pleaded guilty to misdemeanour assault last month for hitting Ana Scolavino in the back of the head with the phone last March in a row over a missing pair of jeans.

A judge ordered her to undertake five days of community service and to attend a two-day anger management course.

"I felt very remorseful for having thrown the phone at someone that didn't deserve it," Campbell told US TV show Extra.

"I have a deep sense of shame for the things I've done."

The model blamed the attack on "tiredness, lack of sleep (and) just so many things".

Sphere: Related Content

Brighton High School - Faced A Year Of Tragedy

Julia Lyon
The Salt Lake Tribune

The death of sweet, smiling Kirsten Hinckley at Trolley Square was a public tragedy that everyone felt a part of.
But inside the walls of Brighton High School, where the school flag flew at half-staff last week, the students could now painfully count up to four. Four times they have learned a friend or classmate has been taken away, some in freak accidents, the last in a hail of gunfire.
This is something the Brighton family has experienced alone.
It's not that every kid knew every student who died - this is a big high school, after all - but they all felt the ripple of grief that has made for a strange year.
"As bad as it [has been], it [has] opened our eyes," said Spencer Esplin, a Brighton senior. "There are things you don't realize until it actually happens. Death is one of them."
With each loss, students became better prepared to deal with the next, more able to understand how classmates felt when they lost a best friend. They were connected by the school's quartet of tragedies, as the city has been linked since Trolley Square.
"We all went to school with Kirsten even if we didn't know her personally," said Stefanie Hall- mark, a junior.
Jim Hodges, a Brighton High social studies teacher, said losing a peer - or several - means students learn a lesson that's a true cliche: On
Advertisement

life's short route, you lose people you love.
That's even the case for teachers who see current or former students' lives cut short.
James Henrie, a Brighton junior who Hodges described as "one of my beloved students," fell to his death during a hike in Big Cottonwood Canyon last June. Two other students also died in the past year: Ryan Stewart after an ATV accident and Savannah Staley at home.
When someone dies, sometimes people feel powerless, he said. By giving back as students at Brighton have through fundraisers for the Hinckley family, they can take back a little bit of control - even if they can't change what happened.
"I think it's a sense of doing something positive out of a tragedy," he said.
Guiding students through fundraisers for Kirsten's family is Jan Moncur, a Brighton teacher who knows first-hand what loss means. Her son died in 2005 while training to return to Iraq. The tragedy came two years after Nathan Dalley, Brighton's 1994 senior class president, died serving in Iraq.
Losing her own child opened Moncur's eyes to the possibility of losing a Brighton student, too.
"Until you lose a child you will never understand the pain, you will never understand the heartache, the loneliness, the want for one more hug, one more phone call," she said. "So I find myself looking at kids differently, thinking it may be my last time I see you."
Whether the mourning ever ends is debatable. For some, it will last a lifetime. But homework, tests and prom will keep coming.
Milestones such as graduation will make the kids remember: She or he would have been here.
No death can be entirely forgotten.
Through student donations and competitions for prizes, the school raised about $6,000 in three days last week that will be given to the Hinckley family. The classes that donated the most money won a chick-flick movie and tubs of ice cream with chocolate syrup, something Kirsten's friends say she would have loved.
This week the students will tie a quilt to give to Kirsten's mother, Carolyn Tuft, who remains in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds.
Two sophomore boys wrote a song in memory of Kirsten that they will sell on a CD to raise money for the Hinckley family.
Students' regret is that they didn't do more to acknowledge the deaths of their other classmates until Trolley Square's shocking violence spurred them to action. They want to honor future deaths differently, now that the students have learned how to help and how to heal.
"This is the event that made us realize what we need to do," said Matt Balk, a junior.

Sphere: Related Content

Train Tragedy Families Go To Court

Grieving families of those who died in the Ufton Nervet rail crash will launch a High Court bid today for the legal aid they need to be represented at the inquest into the tragedy.

Seven people were killed in the November 2004 crash after Brian Drysdale, 48, of Radstock Road, Newtown, left his car on a level crossing.

The eight-carriage train, carrying about 180 passengers, ploughed into his car at high speed, resulting in Mr Drysdale’s death, that of the train’s driver, Stanley Martin, 54, from Torquay, and five of the train’s passengers.

The inquest, which was due to be held in October 2005, was adjourned pending the outcome of the High Court case.

The families of those who died were refused legal aid to be legally represented at the inquest and their lawyers will challenge that decision at London’s High Court today before top judge, Mr Justice Owen.

Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said at the time of the inquest’s adjournment he decided to give the two families, the Main and Webster families – who were denied legal aid for their solicitors more time to launch their judicial review bid.

The families lost three relatives between them. David Main, of Speen, near Newbury, lost his partner Anjanette Rossi, 38, who worked for West Berkshire Council, and his nine-year-old daughter Louella in the disaster.

The Webster family, from Moretonhampstead, Devon, lost their daughter Emily, aged 14.

Emily Webster’s father, Peter Webster, described the refusal of legal aid as “outrageous” and “an absolute disgrace”.

The other victims of the crash were Barry Strevens, 55, from Wells, Somerset and Royals fan Charlie Matthews, 72, from Warminster.

During the tragedy, the front train wheels derailed immediately but the train stayed upright. However, when the train passed over a set of points further down the line every carriage came off the tracks.

The front of the First Great Western train ploughed into the embankment, while the rear power car on the train continued to propel the train forward, according to a Health and Safety Executive report on the tragedy.

Source: getreading.co.uk

NowPublic

Tags: eight-carriage | Ufton | Torquay | Radstock | Nervet | TRAGEDY | resulting | represented | refused | ploughed | pending | passengers | outcome | Lawyers | launch | KILLED | judge | Inquest | driver | died | decision | daughter | crash | continues | challenge | carrying | adjourned | webster | stanley | peter | October | november | Newtown | martin | London | justice | Emergencies | drysdale | court | brian | BEDFORD

Sphere: Related Content

Argentina frees man sought in India arms scandal

Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian businessman being held in Argentina and wanted for questioning in India in a high-profile arms scandal, has been released from custody, a federal judge said on Monday.

Federal Judge Mariana Arjol said an appeals court in Misiones province ordered the conditional release of Quattrocchi after he was detained by Argentine authorities on Feb. 6 at an airport in the northern city of Puerto Iguazu.

It was not immediately clear when he was freed but Arjol said her court had rejected the request for release.

"They appealed and the (appeals) court granted it," she said.

Indian authorities accuse Quattrocchi of taking $7 million in bribes as a middleman in the $1.2 billion purchase of artillery from Swedish arms maker Bofors AB in 1986 for the Indian army.

Quattrocchi has denied any wrongdoing and left India in the early 1990s. He has since lived in Malaysia and Europe.

Argentine authorities say Quattrocchi appeared to be traveling en route to the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.

He is believed to have been a friend of Sonia Gandhi, the powerful, Italian-born chief of the ruling Congress Party.

The arms scandal seriously dented the reputation of her late husband, then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and contributed to the fall of his government in elections in 1989.

A Delhi court exonerated Gandhi of wrongdoing in 2004, 13 years after he was assassinated by a suspected Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger suicide bomber.

Other key figures in the Bofors case also have died and the company has since changed its name.

Sphere: Related Content

To Push Death Penalty Or Not

TINA A. BROWN,
Courant Staff Writer

Five of the state's top prosecutors - who usually ask the questions in court - were forced to answer them on the witness stand Friday as defense lawyers for a convicted murderer mounted a challenge to the constitutionality of the state's death penalty.

Compelled to testify by the state Supreme Court, the prosecutors appeared in Superior Court in Hartford to answer questions about how they decide whether to seek the death penalty. Seven more top prosecutors are scheduled to testify next month.

Lawyers for Jesse Campbell III, who faces a possible death sentence for murdering two Hartford women, claim Connecticut's death-penalty law is unconstitutional because prosecutors act in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner when considering capital punishment.

Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane and state's attorneys from four judicial districts all said they rely on the death penalty law - which spells out crimes for which the death penalty can be sought and factors that must be considered - plus the code of prosecutors' ethics.

Questioned by Ronald Gold, one of Campbell's lawyers, all five said their offices had no written standards or guidelines.

Campbell was convicted by a Superior Court jury in Hartford in 2004 of capital felony, murder and other charges in the killings of LaTaysha Logan and Desiree Privette and the wounding of Privette's aunt, Carolyn Privette, in Hartford.

Capital felony carries only two penalties - death or life in prison. The jury deadlocked when considering whether Campbell should be executed, and Judge Edward J. Mullarkey declared a mistrial in the penalty phase. A new jury will decide Campbell's penalty.

The only state's attorney not subpoenaed to testify was Hartford's James Thomas, whose office is prosecuting Campbell.

Friday's highly unusual proceeding attracted a crowd of spectators, including lawyers, assistant state's attorneys, clerks, interns and at least one judge. The prosecutors had tried to quash defense lawyers' subpoenas, but state Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz rejected their motion in August, forcing them to testify in Mullarkey's courtroom.

Kane, the state's top law enforcement officer, testified first, followed by state's attorneys from the Windham, Middlesex, New Britain and Ansonia/Milford judicial districts.

Kane gave the most detailed answers. He said in his current position, as supervisor of all state's attorneys in Connecticut, and during his more than a decade as New London state's attorney, he used an "operating assumption" that if assistants in his office planned to charge a defendant with capital felony, they would discuss the matter with him first.

"Because of the nature of the case, I expect the assistants to talk to me. I expect assistants to have common sense in cases that would have a significant relevance or impact," Kane said.

Gold's question about the thought process that Kane uses when deciding not to seek the death penalty drew objections from the assistant state's attorneys prosecuting Campbell, Vicki Melchiorre and Dennis O'Connor. They claimed the question violated Kane's "prosecutorial discretion," and Mullarkey agreed.

While Kane was sometimes jovial, Windham County State's Attorney Patricia Froehlich was often lawyerly, but clearly realized her role had been reversed.

"I'm accustomed to being on the other side," she said at one point.

"I know I can't object," she said later. "I can't answer it that way."

Ansonia/Milford State's Attorney Kevin Lawlor was the only witness who said he had received extensive training on how to weigh capital punishment.

Middlesex State's Attorney Timothy J. Liston said several factors were critical. "You better have the facts and the law behind you before you can charge," he said. He added that since he took his job five years ago, "we haven't had a case that met all the criteria."

New Britain State's Attorney Scott J. Murphy said he went by the book the one time he charged a defendant with capital felony. That book was the state law.

All of the prosecutors said they were aware that a panel of senior state's attorneys was created to advise their less experienced colleagues when they had questions about charging a defendant with capital felony. But none of the five said they had used that process.

The hearing is scheduled to resume March 23.

Sphere: Related Content

Hotel in Wallingford Robbed

News Channel 8

Police in Wallingford are investigating an armed robbery at a hotel.

It happened at the Courtyard Marriott on Northrop Road around 2:00 AM.

Police say a man went into the hotel, took out a gun, and demanded money from a night auditor.

The robber did take some cash from the registers.

Police say the man is black and about 20 to 25 years old, with short hair.

At the time of the robbery, he had on a black fleece, dark jeans, and white sneakers.

Nobody was hurt. Anybody with information is asked to call Police at (203) 294-2849.

Sphere: Related Content

Lisa Ann Taylor Faces Radio Interview

The two women accused of running a house of prostitution in Gwinnett County's Sugarloaf subdivision maintained their innocence in a radio interview on Friday.

The attorney for one of the pair said that most of the evidence in the case was illegally obtained, and should be thrown out of court.

Lisa Taylor and Nicole Probert took to the airwaves to promote a charity event to benefit Apert's Syndrome.

"It is a disfiguring brain defect that affects one in 160,000 children," Taylor said. "Those that suffer from it undergo numerous surgeries."

It is being held at an adult membership swinger's club in southwest Atlanta.

The two call themselves adult entertainers, but deny they are prostitutes.

"I've never denied I do photo shoots," said Taylor. "It's on my website -- $300 for the first hour, $200 for every hour after that. (But) zero escort activity."

They faced a skeptical team from Q100.5's "Bert Show."

"Is there anything we could ask that's going to get some admission of guilt?" asked Jeff Dahler. "You're not going to do that."

Probert replied, "There's not going to be any admission of guilt, because we're innocent."

It has been nearly two months since the two were arrested, but the case has still not gone before a Grand Jury.

"My guess is they're still doing the investigation," said Probert's attorney, Steve Sadow. "But the case they have is not strong."

And Sadow said the case could get weaker. He said wiretaps investigators conducted on Taylor and Probert's phones are not authorized under Georgia law in a prostitution case.

"Truly believe the wiretap was illegal and any evidence that they got from the wiretap, including the searches will be thrown out," Sadow said.

Gwinnett District Attorney was not available for comment. The case is expected to go before a Grand Jury in the next 30 to 45 days.

Source: 11alive.com

NowPublic

Tags: disfiguring | Sadow | Dahler | ZERO | wiretap | Website | Undergo | thrown | SUFFER | Subdivision | shoots | running | prostitution | photo | obtained | numerous | Maintained | investigation | interview | innocence | illegal | Guilt | going | faced | Evidence | ESCORT | deny | defect | brain | attorney | Asked | affects | ADULT | admission | accused | Taylor | Sugarloaf | Probert | People | MADAM | jeff | Gwinnett | Georgia | county | Atlanta

Sphere: Related Content

Marked 18th To End It All

Phil O'Brien

He had his whole life ahead of him.

Paul Jones came to Wigan to mark the beginning of his adult life. He had just turned 18 and decided to celebrate the milestone birthday with his first ever visit to a nightclub.
The journey from his Wrexham home to Wigan on Friday night ended in tragedy as he drowned in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal next to the Wigan Pier Nightspot.

A close friend of the teenager's family, Paul Pemberton, has spoken of the devastation that they and the whole Wrexham community of Rhos have felt.
He said: "The family are in shock and struggling to deal with what has happened.

"They have asked me to say what a wonderful lad Paul was. He had his whole life ahead of him and to have it cut short like this is terrible.
"It was his first night out, he had never been to a club before. He was really fired up and excited about it for weeks beforehand and it was going to be a really big night for him.

"I know (his mum) Gaynor was on pins worrying about him in case something happened, and tragically her worst fears were confirmed."
Mr Jones leaves his mum and dad, Jeff and Gaynor, as well as his 20-year-old sister Stacey.
He was in the second year of an electrical engineering course at Yale College in North Wales.

His parents first heard of the tragedy when they received a phone call at around 3.30am on Saturday informing them that their son had been pulled from the canal and was in hospital.
They were not told the exact details, and faced a grim drive
from North Wales to Wigan Infirmary, only to learn of his death.
Mr Pemberton said: "You can only imagine how that must have been. They were not aware of what was going to face them when they got there. It was terrible for them.

"I have been on holiday with the family and seen Paul swim, he was a strong swimmer, which makes it even more of a shock.
"There have been so many people calling and sending flowers. That is so nice, and something the family really appreciate."
Flowers have also been placed at the spot where he died next to the Orwell pub.

He had come out of the Pier at around 2am and drowned after jumping into the water off a bridge over the canal.

Sphere: Related Content

Strange!!! Ashes to Dust

Tradedy strucked yesterday 21st Feb, 2007 7:05pm which was Ash Wednesday in a little locality in kaduna state of Nigeria. James Nkem, 21, slumped and died while his Grand mother was applying the ash unto his forehead.

She told reporters that she querried him for not going to church before she left for the evening Mass in the St. Patricks' catholic church only for her to come back and still found him at home playing computer games. She immediately prayed for him and came forward to bless him with the ash she brought back home from the church and the shocker of her life happened.

Source: maiklarson.blogspot.com

NowPublic

Tags: strucked | querried | locality | Nkem | slumped | shocker | reporters | PRAYED | playing | kaduna | immediately | going | Games | died | Computer | church | Catholic | bless | applying | Wednesday | patricks | Nigeria | Life | James

Sphere: Related Content

Brothers Killed After Their Cars Collide

Two brothers were killed in a head-on traffic collision with each other.

Jessie West, 24, and James West, 33, were killed Sunday, not far from their home. James West was driving when he lost control and crossed into the path of his brother's oncoming car, police said.

"We've never had anything quite like this," Van Buren County sheriff's Sgt. Virg Franks told the Kalamazoo Gazette.

Police said skid marks left at the scene suggested the crash was accidental. Family and friends told police there were no bad feelings between the brothers.

Jessie West was wearing a seat belt and was trapped inside his car when police arrived. James West, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from his car. Both were pronounced dead at the scene, The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph and the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune reported.

Jessie West worked as a supervisor at Gallagher's Eatery /&/amp; Pub in Paw Paw and left early Sunday, saying he wasn't feeling well. His brother worked as a truck driver and moved into the home about eight months ago, said Jessie's longtime neighbor, Josh Hunsberger.

Source: news.aol.com

NowPublic

Tags: Virg | Herald-Palladium | Buren | worked | Wearing | trapped | thrown | suggested | skid | sheriff | scene | pronounced | police | oncoming | marks | KILLED | Friends | feeling | driving | crossed | crash | belt | arrived | accidental | van | sunday | St. Joseph | South Bend | Kalamazoo | Jessie | James | Franks | Emergencies | county | collide | cars

Sphere: Related Content

Colombia clowns killed on stage

Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in the eastern Colombian city of Cucuta, police say. The attacker jumped into the arena and fired before fleeing, police chief Jose Humberto Henao told Efe news agency.

Local reports say the audience of about 20 people, mostly children, thought the shooting was part of the show before realising both men had been killed.

Last year, a prominent circus clown, known as Pepe, was also shot dead by a unknown assailant in Cucuta.

The motive for the latest killing remains unclear, police said. Local media reports suggest two attackers may have been involved.

One clown was shot in the head as he performed on stage, about an hour into the Circo del Sol's evening show.

The second, named as 18-year-old Franklin Leal, from Cucuta, was then shot as he stood by the ticket booth, according to the newspaper La Opinion.

The travelling circus had set up in a suburb of Cucuta, capital of Norte de Santander province near the Venezuelan border, about 10 days earlier, the paper says.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

NowPublic

Tags: Leal | Humberto | Henao | unclear | travelling | Ticket | SUBURB | stage | shot | Shooting | says | Reports | remains | realising | PROVINCE | police | performed | Newspaper | news | named | motive | mostly | Media | latest | KILLED | jumped | fleeing | FIRED | Earlier | days | clown | circus | border | booth | audience | Attacker | arena | according | VENEZUELAN | santander | norte | jose | franklin | Cucuta | Crime | colombia

Sphere: Related Content

Preparer who falsified tax returns sentenced to 8 months

A Virginia Beach tax return preparer was sentenced Tuesday to eight months in prison after admitting that he falsified 65 to 70 returns, costing the government more than $100,000.

Alonzo C. Nelson, 47, of Norfolk, operated Nelson Income Tax Service at 2329 Virginia Beach Blvd. The Internal Revenue Service began investigating him in 2004 after agents noticed that the number of his clients receiving tax refunds was between 95 and 99 percent.

In March that year, an undercover IRS agent had a tax return prepared at Nelson's business. Nelson increased the deductions on the return to increase agent's refund from $13 to $1,973, according to a federal prosecutor's statement filed in court.
"We want you to make more money," Nelson told the agent, the statement said.

IRS agents raided Nelson's office in May 2004. In an interview with agents, he admitted to falsifying as many as 70 returns, including for his business, the statement says.

The IRS estimates that it lost about $105,000 in the falsified tax returns. Authorities could not be reached late Tuesday to say whether the taxpayers would be held liable for those undeserved refunds.

In U.S. District Court on Tuesday, a federal judge also sentenced Nelson to five months of home detention and prohibited him from preparing tax returns while serving one year of probation.

Source: content.hamptonroads.com

Tags: UNDERCOVER | Tax | statement | SENTENCED | return | REFUND | receiving | prosecutor | Prison | preparer | Operated | noticed | months | investigating | Increase | Government | filed | federal | FALSIFIED | deductions | court | costing | CLIENTS | business | Agent | admitted | according | Virginia | tuesday | SERVICE | REVENUE | NORFOLK | NELSON | march | internal | Income | Crime | Blvd | beach

Sphere: Related Content

Widow given fire alarm after returning to home after tragedy

FIREFIGHTERS joined with Moe Willoughby as she returned to her home for the first time since her husband tragically died in a fire there last year.

John Willoughby died in their home in Ploverly, Werrington, Peterborough, in September, after a cigarette which had not been properly extinguished caused a blaze in their home.

Devastated Moe (59) assisted the Cambridgeshire Fire Service in their Christmas campaign to urge people to have smoke alarms fitted in their homes – she believes if she had had one in her own home, John (74) may have been saved.

And on Saturday, Moe moved back into her home for the first time, joined by a team from Dogsthorpe Fire Station who were on hand to fit smoke detectors in her house and to carry out a fire safety check.

Station officer Gavin Hammond said they were grateful to Moe for her support. He added: “We’re encouraging people to take up the opportunity of a free fire safety check and free smoke alarms. All they have to do is contact their local fire sstation.”

Source: peterboroughtoday.co.uk

NowPublic

Tags: Willoughby | Werrington | Ploverly | Dogsthorpe | urge | tragically | TRAGEDY | Smoke | Safety | returned | properly | moved | joined | HUSBAND | given | fitted | extinguished | died | detectors | cigarette | caused | campaign | Blaze | believes | assisted | alarm | Widow | SERVICE | September | Saturday | peterborough | John | hammond | Emergencies | Christmas | cambridgeshire

Sphere: Related Content

Colombian Minister Resigns Amidst Scandal Over Ties With Militias

Simon Romero

THE Colombian Foreign Minister has resigned as President Alvaro Uribe's government struggles with a scandal that has revealed ties between paramilitary cocaine-trafficking squads and some of Mr Uribe's most prominent supporters.

The resignation of Maria Consuelo Araujo on Monday came just days after Mr Uribe, the US's closest ally in South America, expressed support for her. But fallout from the arrest last week of five politicians, including Ms Araujo's brother, Alvaro, a senator, on charges of working with paramilitary squads in a kidnapping case, made her presence in the cabinet untenable.

Hours after Ms Araujo's resignation, Mr Uribe named Fernando Araujo as her replacement. Mr Araujo, who only recently escaped from six years as a hostage in rebel captivity, is not related to his predecessor.

Mr Uribe called Mr Araujo "a reflective citizen, who has suffered in this national tragedy". The US President, George Bush, who is scheduled to visit Colombia in three weeks, has stood by Mr Uribe, partly to counter the enhanced regional influence of the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.

But the support for Mr Uribe's government is coming under fresh scrutiny as the US Congress weighs a request from the Bush Administration for $US3.9 billion ($5 billion) in military and anti-narcotics assistance for Colombia, which is the largest recipient of US aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan.

"There is a Democratic Congress that is much more sensitive to human rights issues," said Alejo Vargas, a political scientist at the National University of Colombia in Bogota.

Prosecutors believe Senator Araujo helped finance the paramilitaries and was possibly involved in the kidnapping of a political rival. The Colombian Supreme Court has recommended that prosecutors also investigate his father.

Eight pro-Uribe parliamentarians have been jailed since the scandal broke in November, another is on the run and an army colonel has been suspended.

The chairman of the US congressional subcommittee that oversees aid to Colombia, Senator Patrick Leahy, said on Monday that Ms Araujo's resignation and the recent arrests were "positive" but left questions unanswered. He said assurances were needed that the Colombian Government had "severed links to these terrorist groups".

Colombia's paramilitary groups were set up in the 1980s by rich landowners looking for protection from rebels. But as they pushed back insurgents, the paramilitaries often killed people just on suspicion they had colluded with the rebels.

For years, they have boasted about their ties to the political class and business leaders. Local army commanders sometimes helped them carry out attacks.

More than 31,000 paramilitaries have demobilised under a peace deal with Mr Uribe's government. However, human rights groups say powerful paramilitary bosses have been allowed to keep their criminal and drug-smuggling operations intact.

Fernando Araujo was the development minister in the government of Andres Pastrana when he was was kidnapped in December 2000 by the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. One of 59 high-profile hostages held by the guerillas, he escaped on New Year's Eve.

Sphere: Related Content

Sex in fast lane halts traffic on road

Israeli police investigating why a car was blocking traffic in the fast lane of a major highway Sunday found a couple inside having sex.

A police spokesman said the female driver and her male passenger gave in to their passions without pulling over to the side of the road, causing congestion and leaving other motorists having to swerve to dodge their stationary vehicle.

A patrolman gave the woman a ticket for holding up traffic.

Source: news.yahoo.com

NowPublic

Tags: Traffic | swerve | STATIONARY | spokesman | pulling | police | PASSIONS | passenger | MOTORISTS | leaving | lane | investigating | Highway | Having | Halts | driver | Dodge | COUPLE | congestion | causing | blocking | sunday | sex | Reuters | People | Jerusalem | ISRAELI

Sphere: Related Content

Britney, A Lost Little Girl?...

I feel sorry for Britney: here she is going through an obviously distressing time and she doesn’t seem to be able to balance it out.

Life has been a whirlwind of events for Britney Spears lately: she and hubby Kevin Federline have separated; she is a single mom of two very young children; her ex is asking for custody and accusing her of unsuitability as a mother.

Her highly publicized fling with male model Isaac Cohen has fallen through, with Cohen disclosing very personal information about a lonely and insecure Britney. And partying out with Paris Hilton /&/amp; co. has not proven to be a solution to whatever is troubling her.

The 25-year-old’s on-going little breakdown is amply covered by the media and her latest fait accompli is on every front page of every newspaper. In an act of rebellion, the pop princess sheared off her locks, all of them, in a Los Angeles beauty salon.

The salon owner was offering the precious pop star hair on eBay, along with a leftover Red Bull Britney allegedly drank, a blue Bic lighter and the clippers she used. “We still don't know why Britney chose our shop. We'll probably never know,” said the shop owner's husband, JT Tognozzi.

The Tognozzi couple has also said part of the resulting proceeds will go to charity. After their ad was removed from eBay on Monday, according to NBC News, the couple launched a new, official site, buybritneyshair.com, where the ‘products’ continue to be available for sale.

“This is the ultimate Britney Spears Experience,” the Tognozzis promise on their site.

Another recent rumor about the troubled singer is that she checked in and out of rehab last week, with the speed of sound.

According to People Magazine, Britney checked herself into Eric Clapton's Crossroads Centre in Antigua and then checked out a mere 24 hours later. At the same time, the singer’s former personal assistant, Felicia Culotta, revealed that Britney was going through a very difficult period.

“There's just so much you can do to help a person,” Culotta wrote in a letter to Hollywood.com. “I cannot save her from herself, nor can I commit her to any type of treatment programme against her wishes and will.”

Fortunately for her, Britney seems to have good days as well. At the beginning of February, she attended a New York fashion show, looking quite composed and merry. When asked about life as a single, she told reporters: “It's awesome! I'm loving it.”

Whether she was just putting on a happy face for the media or not, the singer has also been spending a lot of time working in the studio, trying to finish her new album. Perhaps getting back to the work she enjoys will give her a new balance.

Source: playfuls.com

NowPublic

Tags: unsuitability | on-going | amply | accompli | Tognozzi | Culotta | whirlwind | troubled | Singer | separated | publicized | proven | partying | owner | Newspaper | Model | Media | lonely | latest | lately | INSECURE | information | hubby | Highly | going | fling | fallen | fait | Events | eBay | Distressing | disclosing | CUSTODY | covered | COUPLE | checked | breakdown | balance | Asked | accusing | spears | People | Paris | New York | Kevin | ISAAC | hollywood | Hilton | Federline | Cohen | Britney | Angeles

Sphere: Related Content

Anna rivals in court to fight for the body

Two men claiming to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby come face to face today in a Florida courtroom as the battle over the former centerfold's body continues.

Broward County Court Judge Larry Seidlin will determine whether the body should be released to Smith's companion, lawyer Howard K. Stern, or her estranged mother, Virgie Arthur.

Photographer Larry Birkhead - who, along with Stern and at least two other men, claims to have fathered Smith's daughter - plans to attend a custody hearing in Los Angeles via conference call so that he can appear in person in the Fort Lauderdale courtroom.

"Larry is \[there\] to express what he believes are Anna Nicole's last wishes," a source close to Birkhead said, without elaborating.

Stern wants to bury the former reality TV star in the Bahamas next to her son. Arthur wants her daughter laid to rest near the family home in Texas.

The judge is also expected to decide whether Stern will remain executor of Smith's will. Smith, 39, left everything to a trust controlled by Stern for her son, Daniel Smith.

But Daniel, 20, died of an apparent accidental drug overdose on Sept. 10, just three days after his mother gave birth to daughter Dannielynn. in the Bahamas.

Stern and Birkhead, who have had a prickly relationship, have not seen each other since Smith died Feb. 8 of still-unknown causes.

Fox TV last night aired a creepy home video - shot by a laughing Stern - of an incoherent Smith, her face painted garishly like a clown.

"Is this a mushroom trip?" Stern asks three times, mocking the zonked-out Smith, who was eight months pregnant when the video was taken.

"This footage is worth money," Stern remarks. at another point.

Source: nydailynews.com

NowPublic

Tags: Virgie | wishes | wants | video | source | rivals | Released | plans | LAWYER | hearing | express | estranged | died | daughter | CUSTODY | COURTROOM | conference | companion | claims | centerfold | believes | battle | attend | Texas | Stern | Smith | Seidlin | People | nicole | Larry | judge | Howard | FORT LAUDERDALE | Florida | daniel | court | county | Birkhead | Bahamas | arthur | anna | Angeles

Sphere: Related Content

UK letter bomber 'a woman'

British police believe the person responsible for a string of letter bombs earlier this month is a woman, the Daily Mirror tabloid reported on Monday.

Citing unnamed police sources, the Mirror said police had analysed a series of labels used to address four of the seven devices, which had revealed that the handwriting was that of a woman.

"Analysis of the handwriting on some of the bomb packaging leads us to believe it's the work of a woman," an unidentified senior police source was quoted as saying by the tabloid.

"We have a number of suspects in mind and are expecting to make arrests this week."

The spate of letter bombings injured eight people over a three-week period ending about two weeks ago.

Six of the seven companies targeted in the bombings provide services or technology to law enforcement agencies.

Media speculation about the identity of the bomber has focused on a disgruntled motorist or animal rights extremists.

Source: news24.com

NowPublic

Tags: analysed | unnamed | tabloid | source | Series | revealed | reported | police | LABELS | handwriting | Earlier | devices | Bomb | ADDRESS | mirror | London | daily | Crime

Sphere: Related Content

Man Faces A Maximum Sentence Of 335 Years Imprisonment

United States Attorney Carol C. Lam announced that today John Harrell, Daniel Anderson, Kenneth Hodgell, John Reitz, and Gregg Stavros pled guilty to federal fraud and tax charges relating to their roles in a cult-like investment scheme that operated out of San Diego beginning in the late 1980's. All the guilty pleas were entered in U.S. District Court in San Diego, California, before the Honorable Thomas J. Whelan.

The indictment charged the defendants with operating a fraudulent enterprise that purported to raise millions of dollars from investors for several stated purposes, including, but not limited to, qualifying for the release of funds to be used for various insurance-related ventures, financing and operating insurance-related companies, mining and refining gold, issuing a consumer rebate card, operating community social development centers, and financing medical research and development.

In truth, however, the defendants spent all of the investor money, over $20 million, on themselves. For example, the defendants used investor money to pay their rent, to pay for privately chartered flights, and to rent cars for themselves. The rental car bill alone was over $400,000 per year. The defendants targeted many of their victims through churches.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason A. Forge, who prosecuted the case, Harrell, the leader of the criminal enterprise, admitted to a conspiracy that defrauded investors out of over $20 million, as well as 14 counts of wire fraud and 13 counts of money laundering. Harrell, who was not offered a plea agreement, faces a maximum sentence of 335 years imprisonment.

The remaining defendants all pled guilty to wire fraud and tax charges; they each face a maximum sentence of 8-10 years. United States Attorney Lam said, “For years, these defendants exploited the trust of fellow parishioners, relatives, and others. Now, they’ll have years to reflect on the consequences of their actions.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel R. Dzwilewski said, “Today’s successes in this investigation demonstrate the FBI’s commitment to dismantling criminal enterprises. Mr. Harrell and his coconspirators utilized a complex fraud scheme to steal millions through promises of high rates of return with no risk.

He also preyed on his victims’ religious faiths and their suspicion of government. Today’s result will allow the U.S. Attorney’s office to seek a sentence which will make others think twice before defrauding the American public.”

“The prosecution of individuals who hide their income and evade taxes is a vital element in keeping the public’s confidence in our tax system. Honest taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for those who intentionally conceal income from the government,” said Kenneth J. Hines, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, San Diego Field Office.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Forge, “The investigation which culminated in today’s guilty pleas has now led to the convictions of 15 defendants and the seizure of over $2.4 million in cash.”

DEFENDANTS Case Number 03cr0850W
John Harrell
Kenneth Hodgell
John Reitz
Daniel Anderson
Gregg Alan Stavros
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 - Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 - Wire Fraud
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h) -Conspiracy to Launder Money
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956 - Money Laundering
Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201 - Income Tax Evasion
Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1) - False Return
AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division

Sphere: Related Content