Scientist testing theory that Sonoma Coast rocks were mammoth back scratchers

By: Associated Press Wire Reports | Monday, May 16, 2005 9:08 PM PDT ∞

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) -- Did Ice Age mammoths once use rock towers along the Sonoma Coast to scratch an itch?

A scientist is sending sections of area rock stacks to Texas A&M University for radiocarbon testing to prove his theory that the hairy beasts once rubbed against the rock formations to scratch. That's common behavior today among animals like horses and cattle.

The ancient action left the rocks with a polish that is still visible today, claims state archaeologist Breck Parkman.

"If I am right and the polish came from mammoths, they will be able to extract carbon and date it," said Parkman. "They should date to 15,000 to 30,000 years ago, the end of the last Ice Age."

Two years ago, Parkman discovered that Sunset Rock, a popular practice site for climbers, has a polished finish on much of the outside surface from the ground to a height of 14 feet. He attributes it to Columbian mammoths and mastodons rubbing their hides on the rocks.

Since then, he has found seven other blue schist rocks with similar markings.

Herds of mammoths, mastodons and prehistoric horses once roamed the coastal area, which used to be a vast grassland and would have been seven miles from the ocean.

The radiocarbon tests are being underwritten by Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, a Guerneville-based group that usually funds environmental projects.

Man sentenced in child rape case

SANTA BARBARA (AP) ---- Repeated sex offender Timothy Todd Furness was sentenced to 70 years in prison for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old Goleta girl last summer.

Before Furness, 38, was sentenced Thursday by Superior Court Judge George Eskin, a letter was read from the young victim who said her life has changed since "that horrible day."

"I very much think that he should go to jail for as long as possible, not just because of what he did to me, but also I don't want this to happen to someone else," the girl wrote. The letter added, "I can no longer go outside alone."

Furness abducted the girl from the Foothill School playground July 3, and sexually assaulted her in a deserted church parking lot. A half-hour later, Furness flagged down a sheriff's patrol car and confessed to kidnapping and raping the girl.

"The community needs to be protected from Mr. Furness, not because he's evil but because he can't control his nature," Eskin said Thursday while imposing the 70-year sentence. The prosecutor sought 136 years to life.

"Mr. Furness knew he had a problem," the judge said, noting the defendant was on probation for child molestation convictions in San Luis Obispo County only months before he abducted the girl.

Eskin found Furness guilty during a nonjury proceeding in February.

Official defends misdemeanor charge in bunny killings

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A law enforcement official is defending a controversial decision to charge a teen with a misdemeanor in the bludgeoning death of a pair of pet rabbits.

Police and hundreds of animal rights activists had asked the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to charge the 13-year-old boy with a felony. They argued that the brutal killings indicated the boy was emotionally unbalanced and needed help.

The teen, a foster child whose identity was not released, was charged last week with animal cruelty for allegedly beating the rabbits, Benito and Irving, with chunks of brick and tar in his neighbor's yard in March.

A third rabbit injured in the attack, Fiona, died later.

Oakland Assistant District Attorney Walter Jackson said Friday he chose a misdemeanor charge because he hopes it will lead to a plea bargain that will allow the courts to move quickly to help the teen.

"Everything we need to do and I need to do can be done through this mechanism," he said.

Asia Gray, the rabbits' owner, said she was initially disappointed by the charge, but said she'll be satisfied if the boy is held responsible for the deaths and gets help.

A spokesman for the Richmond-based House Rabbit Society, which initiated the letter-writing campaign, said any act of cruelty is unacceptable.

The boy told police he had chased the bunnies under Grey's back steps and pelted them with rocks to drive them out.

But Grey isn't buying the story.

"He knew if he wanted to play with them he could just come up to them and call the bunnies," she said.

The teen is scheduled to appear in court May 25 for a pretrial hearing.

Monterey white shark appears to thrive after release

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) -- A great white shark that spent a record 198 days in captivity before her release from the Monterey Bay Aquarium thrived during her first month in the wild, according to data from a temporary tracking tag released Monday.

The female shark swam up to 200 miles offshore and to depths of about 800 feet in the 30 days since her March 31 release at the southern tip of Monterey Bay, said Randy Kochevar, an aquarium marine biologist and researcher with the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics project.

The findings are limited but answer a pressing question as the aquarium embarks on another season of shark research that could lead to another in captivity. The data confirm that the shark's stay in Monterey didn't hurt its ability to thrive once it was set free.

"An animal of that size and that age could not survive more than a few days without food," Kochevar said. "When we see an animal that has been actively moving around for 30 days, we know this is an animal that is successfully hunting. ... This is an animal that's doing just fine."

The shark was captured off Orange County by halibut fisherman in August and spent several weeks in an offshore pen in Malibu before being moved to the Monterey aquarium in September. Nearly 1 million people saw her swim around the massive Outer Bay exhibit during her stay in Monterey. The previous captivity record was 16 days.

In late March, she was returned to the Pacific near Point Pinos after she began exhibiting hunting behavior and biting tank mates. She also had gained 100 pounds, and there was concern she might quickly grow too big for easy removal.

The satellite tracking tag was attached and set to pop off after 30 days. It was found May 5 west of Point Arguello, near Santa Barbara.

The tag, which recorded the shark's location and other data every 10 seconds, also found she spent most of its time in surface waters with a temperature of about 58 degrees Fahrenheit. In deeper dives, temperatures dropped to less than 48 degrees.

Her preferences are "consistent with those returned from tags we've placed on other young sharks as part of the project," said Kevin Weng, a researcher with Hopkins Maine Station of Stanford University, which is one of the aquarium's partners in the white shark field project.

Because the tracking device was designed to pop off after a month, the shark's whereabouts are now unknown. But there's still a chance she might be found again: The shark carries identification numbers that would be visible if she's ever caught.

"Because she was a fairly small animal, we were really hesitant to try to attach multiple tags to her," Kochevar said. "These pop-off tags are a relatively large piece of equipment for an animal to drag around."

Coach beaten unconscious in fight during girls rugby match in California town

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. (AP) -- A girls rugby coach was beaten until he was bloody and unconscious during a weekend match, and police are seeking criminal charges against several adults.

"I never saw them coming," said Craig Stewart, 55, who was kicked in the head and face by another coach and parents during a game Saturday, according to witnesses and police.

The violence erupted during a tournament game between the Rohnert Park Girls Rugby Club and Stewart's team, the Alameda High School Riptide club team.

The conflict began when referee Paul Berman, 33, ordered a spectator off the field. He was punched in the face three times by the brother of the coach of the Rohnert Park team, police Sgt. Art Sweeney said.

Stewart intervened to help Berman and held the attacker on the ground until police arrived, detectives said. The Rohnert Park coach and up to eight spectators then descended on Stewart, Sweeney said.

Stewart was taken to Kaiser Medical Center in Santa Rosa with cuts and a head injury. He was recovering at home Sunday. Berman was treated on the scene for a split lip.

Several of the adults had fled by the time police arrived on the scene. Authorities were working to identify those involved in the fight. No one had been arrested by late Sunday.

Charges against the attackers could include battery and assault with a deadly weapon, Sweeney said.

Twenty-eight arrests at alleged Amador cockfighting farm

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Authorities raided a biweekly cockfight in Amador County and seized 58 roosters, thousands of dollars in cash and arrested 28 people associated with the illegal sport, Undersheriff Karl Knobelauch said Monday.

Participants scattered into the woods near Fiddletown on Sunday as dozens of law enforcement officers from nine counties and humane society agents raided the 10-acre property. One suspect dropped $4,000 as he attempted to flee, Knobelauch said.

Most of the suspects were arrested as the cockfights were about to begin, but five were apprehended when they emerged from the trees. Another man was arrested Monday when he arrived at the sheriff's office to collect his car, Knobelauch said.

All faced misdemeanor charges including attending a cockfight and possessing cockfighting implements.

Currently, California is alone among its neighbors in making cockfighting a misdemeanor, but a state Senate committee advanced a bill Monday allowing felony charges for a second offense. In Washington state, the governor signed a law Monday making cockfighting a felony.

"Unfortunately, we've become a bit of a refuge for cockfighting," said Eric Sakach, director of the West Coast regional office of the Humane Society of the United States.

The property owner, Richard Warren Bohn, 53, was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and training and possessing fighting cocks. The Amador County district attorney is considering additional charges, Knobelauch said. Bohn is free on $1,000 bond pending a June 15 court appearance.

"There was nothing going on here," Bohn said in a telephone interview. "It was no big deal. I think they were misled and I think they made a mistake."

Bohn said he knew nothing of any gambling, denied owning fighting cocks, and knows of no one who had large amounts of money.

"I have chickens. You know why? They taste good," Bohn said.

Knobelauch said an investigation had been underway for several years of cockfighting events that typically drew about 50 spectators every two weeks to Bohn's property, which was under surveillance. Sakach said authorities found three cockfighting arenas.

Authorities found 800 chickens, of which 350 were fighting cocks and the remainder hens or birds too young to fight. They seized only 58 cocks that were being prepared for Sunday's alleged fight, but cataloged the others. Bohn was served with a court order requiring him to care for and account for each of the birds until the case against him is resolved.

It took the dozens of animal control officers and humane society representatives hours to describe, catalog and band each of the 800 chickens.

"The birds don't like being handled," Knobelauch said. "They're birds with an attitude."

Amusement park manager found guilty of reckless homicide in death of woman on ride

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- An amusement park manager was found guilty Monday of reckless homicide in the death of a woman who was thrown from a ride last year, but he avoided a murder conviction.

Charles Stan Martin was originally charged with second-degree murder in the death of June Carol Alexander, 51, who died in March 2004 after her safety harness broke on the ride, sending her tumbling 60 feet to the ground.

Before beginning deliberations, the judge asked the jury to consider three charges -- second-degree murder, reckless homicide or criminally negligent homicide. The jury took only two hours to reach its verdict.

Martin faces up to four years in prison when he's sentenced in July. He could have received up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the murder charge.

Alexander's husband, Richard Alexander, said he was pleased with the verdict.

"I think the jury did good," he said. "That's all I have to say."

In closing arguments, District Attorney Al Schmutzer said Martin short-circuited safety systems on the swinging gondola ride at the amusement park in Pigeon Forge because he cared more about selling tickets than protecting the lives of his customers.

"He played Russian Roulette with everybody who rode that ride," Schmutzer said.

Defense attorney Bryan Delius agreed the case was about "money over safety," but he said the responsibility fell on the ride's Italian manufacturer, Zamperla Inc.

The company "manufactured a ride that was junk," he said, adding that Zamperla representatives made some slapdash repairs to the ride when it premiered at two industry trade shows in 1998.

Prosecutors said amusement park officials stopped calling the manufacturer after the ride's warranty ran out -- even after an Indiana man complained in July 2003 that his seat harness opened and he was nearly thrown.

Investigators also discovered two "jumper wires" in the ride's electrical system that bypassed its safety mechanisms, which were designed to halt the ride if a harness became unlocked.

Martin, 56, told the jurors he had not noticed the wires. Two engineering experts testified for the defense that the ride had a defect in its circuitry that prevented it from running without the jumper wires.

Alexander's family has sued Martin, the amusement park and the ride's manufacturer in federal court for a total of $96 million in damages.

Gay rodeo in Sparks draws 1,000 for bull riding, wild drag race

SPARKS, Nev. (AP) -- About 1,000 people watched bull riding, a wild drag race and other events at a gay rodeo in Sparks over the weekend.

Sixty-eight competitors took part in the High Sierra Rodeo Association's Comstock Stampede Rodeo at the Gandolfo Rodeo Arena.

The rodeo drew spectators from across the country, including Jymmye Jaymes of Alexandria, Va., who is queen of the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association.

"Rodeo is a big family," said Jaymes, 53, who has been a drag queen for 27 years. "You see people you haven't seen for a while."

While Texas is conservative, Anne Budd of San Antonio said, it has accepted gay rodeo.

"I am who I am because God made me that way," said Budd, who is Miss Texas Gay Rodeo. "And God does not make mistakes."

Jo and Ann Kenny, who live on a small ranch near Marysville, Calif., took advantage of the trip to Reno to get hitched at the Eldorado Hotel & Casino. Nevada does not recognize such unions.

Ann, a construction supervisor, competed in the rodeo. Jo, a nurse, helped with competitors' cuts and scrapes as a rodeo volunteer.

"For one cowboy, I glued his head back together so he could finish his weekend events," Jo told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Other events were steer roping, chute dogging and barrel racing.

Proceeds from the rodeo will go to the Hopes Food Bank in Reno for people with the HIV virus and children with AIDS, said Mitch Gill, High Sierra rodeo president.

All gay rodeos donate proceeds to charity.

About 5,000 people are expected for the International Gay Rodeo Association Finals in Reno in November 2006. It will mark the rodeo's 30th anniversary since it began in Reno in 1976.

Ban on lingering hugs provokes dispute at Oregon middle school; girl received detention

BEND, Ore. (AP) -- A 14-year-old girl received detention over a lingering hug she gave her boyfriend at school, infuriating her mother and putting school officials on the defensive.

School officials said they had warned Cazz Altomare that lingering hugging was unacceptable, but she continued to disobey the rule when she received the detention earlier this year.

Rules at Sky View Middle School in Bend permit "quick hello and goodbye hugs," but administrators said some students have been taking advantage of it.

"It's not like we are the hug Nazis," Laurie Gould, spokeswoman for the Bend-La Pine School District, said Monday. "Kids hug, they hug hello and they hug goodbye, but if you take it farther, you make people uncomfortable."

Cazz got detention after giving her boyfriend a protracted hug in the hallway at Sky View Middle School in Bend.

Her mother, Leslee Swanson, was infuriated by the punishment. When she went to pick her daughter up from detention, she gave her a good, hard hug.

"I'm trying to understand what's wrong with a hug," Swanson, 42, said in a story Sunday in The Bulletin of Bend. People should not "blindly accept these fundamental rights being taken away from them," she said.

Gould said "usually kids don't get detention just for hugging."

All middle schools in the Bend-La Pine district restrict hugging to some degree, as well as hand-holding and some other forms of physical affection.

"Really, all we're trying to do is create an environment that's focused on learning, and learning proper manners is part of that," said Dave Haack, the principal of Cascade Middle School, also in Bend.

Students only end up with detention after repeated warnings earlier this year, he said.

Outside Pilot Butte Middle School on a recent lunch break, two seventh-grade girls said they disagreed with the policies.

"I think we should be able to hold hands or hug at least," said Annie Wilson, 12. "Because it's not doing anything bad."

SoCal men charged with animal cruelty in opossum deaths

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (AP) -- Two men trying to stop opossums from harassing a cat have been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly setting them on fire and killing them with a pitchfork.

Nick Barragan and William Wallace allegedly killed the mother and three young opossums March 26 outside Wallace's home.

They were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court on one felony animal cruelty count each. If convicted, they face 16 months to 3 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000, the district attorney's office said Monday.

Witnesses told police they saw Barragan, 20, and Wallace, 21, poking and throwing things at an animal hiding in a bush, and tried unsuccessfully to flush it out with a garden hose, authorities said.

One then doused the bush with what appeared to be gasoline and lit it on fire, then both men stabbed the marsupials with a pitchfork as they scampered away on fire, according to police reports and court documents. The men buried the opossums in the back yard.

Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus said the men crossed the line from pest extermination to torture.

"They were just doing it to be cruel," she said. "I mean, why else stab three babies with a pitchfork?"

Brian Sampson, supervisor of animal services at the Inland Valley Humane Society, said a wildlife officer can help trap animals that people want to get off their property.

Arizona authorities find teen's body concealed in woman's grave; friend confesses to killing

PHOENIX (AP) -- A 17-year-old boy who disappeared last year was killed during an argument with a friend and then buried at a cemetery, concealed in a woman's freshly dug grave, authorities said.

Richard Waive Palmer, 26, was being held in a Maricopa County jail Monday on a charge of second-degree murder. He confessed last week to killing Robert K. Martin in April 2004 by hitting him over the head with a baseball bat during an argument, authorities said.

Investigators exhumed the body last week. Authorities still need to compare dental records to make a positive identification.

"Had this guy kept his mouth shut, we would've never, ever found out what happened to this victim," Detective Tony Morales said.

Authorities learned that Martin, of Naperville, Ill., went to Phoenix to see Palmer and to buy marijuana for resale in Chicago, where the drug's street value is higher, Morales said.

Palmer told police he killed Martin, then put the body in the back of an enclosed truck and later in a rented storage facility, Detective Jan Butcher said.

Late one night in May 2004, Palmer took the body to Resthaven Park Cemetery, and found a freshly dug grave. He shoveled about 4 feet into the ground, and put Martin's body in the hole, near the top of a woman's coffin, authorities said.

Detectives had originally suspected Palmer, but had no evidence of a crime. They questioned Palmer again last week after a private detective hired by Martin's family told authorities he had made incriminating statements during an interview.

Odds and Ends

HONG KONG (AP) -- At the strike of a gong Monday, 12 competitors scrambled up a 46-foot tower covered with Chinese buns and snatched away, relaunching a local tradition after a 26-year break.

Secured by safety ropes, the contestants tossed plastic-wrapped buns into bags on their backs as hundreds of spectators watched from below. The climbing sent some buns flying from the tower.

The buns -- stuffed with lotus seed paste -- were divided into three zones, with the higher buns worth more points. The competitor racking up the most points in three minutes was the winner.

The victor had climbing in his blood. Kwok Ka-ming, who scored 453 points -- 30 more than his closest competitor -- is a firefighter by trade.

"This win is unexpected," Kwok said. "When I got up there, I found it was very difficult. Up there you can't hear anything. I just focused on snatching."

The bun-snatching contest on the suburban island of Cheung Chau was canceled after a bun tower collapsed in 1978, injuring 100 people.

Officials revived the tradition, part of an annual "bun festival," this year after implementing improved safety measures. Workers built a sturdier tower and bun snatchers received mountaineering training. A preliminary competition reduced the pool of climbers to 12 finalists.

The festival originated hundreds of years ago when Cheung Chau residents dressed up as gods to ward off evil spirits they believed to be responsible for a plague, according to one account.

AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Thinking of a muffin and cuppa joe on your way to Saturn?

Nutraffin, a spicy bite-sized muffin made from carrots, soy milk, peanut and wheat flour, is perfect for space travel.

A team of Oklahoma State University students designed the product to win a contest at the NASA Food Technology Commercial Space Center at Iowa State University.

"Nutraffin is an interesting product and has a great potential of future space flight," said Cheryll Reitmeier, the contest coordinator.

The muffin is high in fiber, protein and essential vitamins and minerals required by astronauts. It has a high calorie content that provides an energy boost and is low in sodium and iron.

The annual competition was established in 2001 to increase food science awareness, officials said. Food scientists from NASA and commercial food companies evaluate the student products.

The Oklahoma State team will present Nutraffin to NASA scientists this fall.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) -- So exactly how do you stop a charging deer in Wal-Mart? You take away its credit card.

Shoppers at the Wal-Mart here wish they would have thought of that. It would have been a whole lot easier.

A deer without a grocery list entered through the doors of the supermarket part of the store Thursday.

The store's greeter didn't see the deer enter through the exit, but she did see the critter when it hit the slick floor and fell. It quickly recovered and went scurrying down the aisles.

After doing a little looking around, the deer was tackled by a customer. Others of the human persuasion then tied the deer's legs so it couldn't kick, placed it in a shopping cart and pushed it outside.

Officials took the animal to nearby Ta-ha-zouka Park and released it.

HONG KONG (AP) -- The battle for casino supremacy in Macau has moved to a new frontier.

The Macau government has tentatively agreed to grant land for the "City of Dreams" resort, featuring an underwater casino hall with a capacity of 450 gaming tables and 3,000 slot machines, one of its developers, Melco International Development Ltd. said in a statement.

The hall "will be surrounded by water and marine life," Melco Group Managing Director Lawrence Ho said in the statement.

The $1 billion project also will house deluxe service apartment blocks, 2,000 hotel rooms, a shopping mall and a 4,000-seat performance hall over about 5 million square feet in floor space.

The resort will be on Cotai strip, which developers hope to fashion as Macau's answer to the Las Vegas Strip, the statement said. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2005 and the complex has a target opening date of mid-2008.

Steve Wynn is also building a casino in Macau. He just opened his $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas last month.

Macau is expected to surpass Las Vegas as the world's biggest gambling market in 2005, with the territory's casinos projected to bring in more than $5 billion in gambling revenue as newly affluent mainland Chinese flood to Macau to gamble.

About 40 miles west of Hong Kong, former Portuguese colony Macau returned to Chinese rule in 1999.