Indiana man who kept exotic animals on farm trampled to death by wildebeest

By: Associated Press | Tuesday, December 7, 2004 9:25 PM PST ∞

NORTH LIBERTY, Ind. -- A 500-pound wildebeest kept with other exotic animals on a northern Indiana farm trampled its owner to death, police said. It was unclear what caused the animal, an African antelope also known as a gnu, to attack Klaus "Dick" Radandt, 64, Sunday in the barnyard behind his home about 10 miles southwest of South Bend.

The coroner said the male animal apparently repeatedly rammed Radandt and then trampled him. The man's wife found him lying on the ground; paramedics were unable to revive him.

The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the chest and head. The wildebeest's horns, which grow large and curved, had been cut to the nubs, police said.

St. Joseph County Police Cpl. Steven Shively said the couple own three wildebeests and several other exotic animals, including ostriches, emus, reindeer and llamas.

Wildebeests are not known to be particularly aggressive, but like any animal, can be unpredictable, said Jason Jacobs of the Potawatomi Zoological Society in South Bend.

Record Powerball winner ordered into rehab after second drunken driving arrest

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man who won a nearly $315 million Powerball lottery -- the largest single jackpot in history -- was ordered into substance abuse treatment Tuesday after his second drunken driving arrest this year.

In an agreement with prosecutors, Jack Whittaker, 57, will check himself into rehab by Jan. 2, must surrender his license and may not drive until he provides written proof he's completed the 28-day residential program.

Whittaker was charged with drunken driving last week, violating his $150 bond for a similar arrest in January. He was released Tuesday after posting a $1,700 cash bond, and will remain free on his original bond in the earlier arrest.

Kanawha County sheriff's Chief Deputy Phil Morris said the agreement "tells me that he's trying to get his life straightened out."

Whittaker's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

Whittaker has been in the news several times since he won the lottery Christmas Day 2002. He received a $113 million lump sum, and spent $14 million to set up a nonprofit foundation to help residents find jobs, buy food or receive an education.

He is named in two lawsuits by female employees of a racetrack who allege Whittaker assaulted them last year; and his vehicle, business and home have been allegedly broken into a number of times.

In September, a man's body was found at his home, though the death was not a crime and Whittaker was out of town. Also, he faces charges for allegedly assaulting and threatening a bar manager in January.

Weather-forecasting groundhog brought into Pennsylvania 'pork' fight

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The world's most famous groundhog was drawn into a Capitol Hill fight Tuesday over political pork as officials defended $100,000 in funding for a Pennsylvania weather museum.

Punxsutawney Phil, the 27-pound groundhog who forecasts winter's longevity by his shadow, was yanked from hibernation to promote the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center -- and its government grant.

The money, included in the fiscal 2005 spending bill sent Tuesday to President Bush, was earmarked for the museum by Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who represents the town of Punxsutawney in his mostly rural district.

Peterson said the museum funding is sorely needed and shouldn't be described as "pork" -- what political animals call what they consider unnecessary spending that serves only local or special interests.

The drowsy rodent made the 250-mile trip to Washington in his large plastic box to "defend the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center and make sure he doesn't become a pork chop," Peterson said.

"It's safe to say if you have Punxsutawney Phil's stamp of approval, you are a legitimate force in the world of weather," Peterson said.

Spending watchdogs and anti-tax groups howled at the funding as an example of federal deficit bloat.

"If they're trying to make a silk purse out of a groundhog's ear, they failed miserably," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. "This is pork, pure and simple. It fits every definition of pork.

"That groundhog didn't see his shadow, so six weeks of no pork barrel spending -- but only because Congress will be out of session," Flake said, laughing.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, which also objected to the museum spending, noted that groundhogs are primarily vegetarians and "don't even like pork," said group vice president Keith Ashdown.

But Peterson and Phil, flanked by museum officials and AccuWeather Vice President Barry Lee Myers, said the money will help draw tourism to an economically strapped region of Pennsylvania.

Fourth-grader suspended over suspected 'Jell-O shots'

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS -- An 8-year-old girl was suspended for nine days for bringing to school what appeared to be about 30 "Jell-O shots" -- though it was unclear whether they contained alcohol.

The incident occurred Nov. 29, as the girl stood after classes outside Geraldine Boudreaux Elementary School in Terrytown, a New Orleans suburb. A teacher spotted liquid dripping out of the student's bookbag and found what looked like the small cups of alcohol-laced gelatin that are sold in bars, schools spokesman Jeff Nowakowski said.

The girl told the principal that her mother, who works in a bar, makes alcoholic shots at home and sells them at work. The fourth-grader said her mother had instructed her to take the shots to school and sell them, three for $1, to make some money for Christmas, Nowakowski said.

The gelatin was turned over to the sheriff's department for testing to see if it contained alcohol.

The girl was suspended for violating school rules against possessing or trying to distribute a "lookalike," or something that appears to contain drugs or alcohol.

Under the lookalike rule, the girl's suspension will stand no matter what the sheriff's department finds.

"The school system's position is, it doesn't matter if it had alcohol in it or not," Nowakowski said.

The names of the girl and her mother were not released.

The mother must also allow school officials to test her daughter's hair for signs of drug use, Nowakowski said.

Tipster turns down $40,000 reward for murder arrest, gives to victim's fund

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An anonymous tipster who was eligible to receive a $40,000 reward for providing information that led to an arrest in a murder case has turned the money down, asking that it go instead to a charity established in the victim's name.

Ali Kemp, a 19-year-old college student, was strangled two years ago while working at a swimming pool in Leawood, Kan., an affluent Kansas City suburb. The widely publicized case generated thousands of leads, yet none of the tips produced an arrest.

But information provided by an anonymous caller led to the arrest last month of Benjamin Appleby, a former resident of the Kansas City area who was captured in Connecticut, where he was living under another name.

Appleby, 29, is charged with capital murder and attempted rape. He is being held on $1 million bond.

Crime Stoppers, a Kansas City agency that operates a hot line to help solve crimes, announced Monday that the tipster who provided the key information asked that the $40,000 go to the Ali Kemp Educational Foundation, which offers scholarships to high school students and self-defense training.

The victim's father, Roger Kemp, said he was "floored" at the news. "It just goes to show how wonderful people in Kansas City are," he said.

Crime Stoppers coordinator Craig Sarver said officials do not know the identity of any tipsters. "Everything is truly anonymous," Sarver said. "We give them code numbers."

Shoppers, store workers sprayed by gunman during armored-car robbery

Associated Press

BURLESON, Texas -- A gunman robbed an armored-car guard at gunpoint outside a Wal-Mart, then pepper-sprayed startled shoppers as he fled, forcing more than 20 people to seek medical treatment.

Six people were hospitalized with breathing problems and 16 others were treated at the store after the gunman sprinted through crowded aisles spraying customers and workers.

"He said, 'Excuse me, man,' as he went by me. Then he pulled out a cylinder and started spraying this reddish fog into the air behind him," shopper Bill Rose said.

The armored-car guard was leaving the store Monday when a man in a trench coat and a wig pointed a gun at his head. The guard dropped his bag, and the gunman sprayed him in the face with pepper spray, then grabbed the sack containing an undetermined amount of money, police said.

"He had this orangish substance all over his eyes, his nose, his mouth and his hands," shopper Erin Foreman said. "Employees started pouring milk on him."

The robber escaped through another exit and fled in a white van, which was later found abandoned.

The FBI was assisting in the investigation in Burleson, about 40 miles southwest of Dallas.

Children of famous violinist challenge handling of father's estate

Associated Press

NEW MILFORD, Conn. -- The children of the renowned violinist Isaac Stern are suing the former executor of their father's estate for more than $2 million, claiming he improperly calculated the estate's value and auctioned off many of the musician's personal items.

Stern, who died in 2001, was among the most recorded classical musicians in history and was credited with discovering Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

"We're doing this because this individual, in the guise of doing what he should be doing, took advantage of a situation and needlessly squandered my father's legacy," said Shira Stern, the violinist's daughter.

Stern's children say they are not contesting their father's will, but the actions of the executor, William Moorhead III.

They say Moorhead gave Stern's New York City apartment to his wife instead of accounting for it in the estate. When there was not enough money to pay off the musician's debts, his personal items were auctioned off, including autographed photographs, a music collection, and violins and bows.

If Moorhead had accounted for the apartment's $3.7 million value, "there never would have been any need to auction off Isaac Stern's legacy," said Mark D. Schwartz, the children's attorney.

Moorhead, who has resigned as executor, did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. Steven E. Ayres, a Stamford attorney, has been named by the court to take his place.

Napoleon memoir and will sold at Paris auction

Associated Press

PARIS -- An early draft of Napoleon Bonaparte's will -- in which the French emperor writes of his English enemies "I forgive them," but then apparently thinks better of it and scratches out the phrase -- sold at a Paris auction Tuesday for $149,505.

Napoleon dictated the will in 1821 while exiled and bedridden on the British territory of St. Helena, and it had not been previously published, auction officials said. It was sold to an anonymous French collector.

Druout also sold an 84-page memoir recounting the day-to-day adventures of the emperor's early military campaign to conquer Europe, partly written in Napoleon's own handwriting and including many spelling mistakes. It sold to an unidentified Swiss buyer for $336,400, the auction house said.

The documents went under the hammer just days after many in France commemorated the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's coronation as emperor on Dec. 2, 1804.

The 12-page will was written 16 years later by Count Charles de Montholon, a friend of the deposed French leader. It was dated April 13, 1821, a month before Napoleon died. The draft is covered with repeated correction marks, demonstrating Napoleon's indecision in drawing up his last wishes.

The draft version expressed his forgiveness for the English, but that was left out of the later and final versions, said Thierry Bodin, an art expert who worked on the show.

In the draft, Napoleon wrote "As a Christian, I forgive them." But that part was scratched out.

In the final copy, he accused the English, who were holding Napoleon as a prisoner, of trying to kill him, Bodin said. It reads: "I die prematurely assassinated by the English oligarchy."

A duel between two anonymous telephone bidders drove up the price of the will from an initial listing of $67,345.

The draft will was only recently discovered, and is believed to have never been published, auction officials said. The final version of the will, which Napoleon wrote, was handed over from Britain to France in the mid-19th century and is now located in the National Archives.

Hundreds attend funeral of rock star who was killed in car crash involving U.S. Marine

Associated Press

CLUJ, Romania -- Hundreds of fans turned out Tuesday in this Transylvanian city for the funeral of a Romanian rock star killed in a car accident involving a U.S. Marine, who has immunity from prosecution and later left the country.

Teofil Peter, a 50-year-old bass player with the popular Romanian band "Compact," died in the crash early Saturday.

Prime Minister Adrian Nastase appealed to President Bush on Tuesday to help bring the Marine to justice by waiving his immunity from prosecution. He added that the Marine's departure from Romania after the accident has caused outrage.

Nastase said the Marine would "have a fair and equal treatment" in Romanian courts.

Three Orthodox priests officiated the funeral in Cluj, 250 miles northwest of Bucharest.

About 300 mourners turned out for Peter's funeral, including 100 long-haired rock fans who came dressed in black on motorcycles. No songs were sung.

"He was a good man, a generous man who had a lot of common sense," said Ovidiu Moldovan, a 49-year-old engineer who was Peter's neighbor in childhood. "We want the Marine to come back to be tried by those who loved Peter," he added.

Romania had asked American authorities to hand over the Marine for questioning. The Marine allegedly failed to yield at an intersection and hit a taxi Friday night in Bucharest, police said. A breath test showed the Marine had been drinking, police said.

Peter had been riding in the taxi's passenger seat and was killed. The driver had minor injuries.

The U.S. ambassador to Romania, Jack Dyer Crouch, attended the funeral and talked to Peter's son.

Romanian authorities did not identify the Marine, but media reports said he was a guard at the embassy.

Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana said Tuesday a team of U.S. prosecutors arrived in Bucharest to work with Romanian investigators.

He said he told the Americans about the "public and political sensitivity of the case," and the need to have the Marine brought to justice.

"There is a common interest of Romania and America to not erode the sympathy capital that America enjoys in Romania," Geoana said.

The State Department said Monday that the United States is cooperating with the Romanians as they conduct their investigation. He said the Marine Corps also is conducting it's own investigation.

"The Romanian government has asked us to waive his immunity and we are reviewing the request," said Adam Ereli, a spokesman for the State Department.

Ereli also expressed condolences on behalf of the U.S. government to Peter's friends and family.

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