Four deputies pull Florida man from alligator's jaws; victim loses part of arm
By: Associated Press | Wednesday, November 29, 2006 7:13 PM PST ∞
Alligator trappers, from left, Scot Barbon, John Wilson and Dallas Haynie, pull in an alligator off their boat in Lake Parker after catching it on baited hooks in Lakeland, Fla., on Wednesday. Adrian J. Apgar, 45, lost part of his left arm when an alligator attacked him Wednesday, but he was alive after four sheriff's deputies jumped into muddy water and pulled him from the reptile's jaws. Officials believe this to be the same alligator that attacked Apgar, but have not confirmed it.
Associated Press
LAKELAND, Fla. -- A 45-year-old man lost part of his left arm when an alligator attacked him Wednesday, but he was alive after four sheriff's deputies jumped into muddy water and pulled him from the reptile's jaws.
The deputies were responding to multiple calls about a man yelling for help around 4 a.m. They could not shoot the animal because it was too dark and they might have hit the victim, the sheriff's office said.
Adrian Apgar was taken to the hospital in critical condition with an apparent broken right arm, leg injuries and a partially amputated left arm. It was not immediately clear why he was in the water such an early hour.
The deputies, who weren't injured, took Apgar about 40 feet to an ambulance.
Hurricane season ends without single hurricane striking United States
MIAMI (AP) -- The mild 2006 Atlantic hurricane season draws to a close Thursday without a single hurricane striking the United States -- a stark contrast to the record-breaking 2005 season that killed more than 1,500 people and left thousands homeless along the Gulf Coast.
Nine named storms and five hurricanes formed this season, and just two of the hurricanes were considered major. That is considered a near-normal season -- and well short of the rough season government scientists had forecast.
"We got a much-welcome break after a lot of the coast had been compromised in the last several years, but this is a one-season type break," said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In May, scientists predicted 13 to 16 named storms and eight to 10 hurricanes, with four to six of them major.
The 2005 hurricane season was the busiest on record, with 28 named storms, including 15 hurricanes, four of which hit the United States, including Katrina and Rita.
Bell urged people not to become complacent about the next season, which starts June 1. Forecasters say the Atlantic is still in an active hurricane period that began in 1995 and could last another decade or more.
This year, a warm-water trend known as El Nino developed more quickly than expected in the Pacific, squashing the formation of storms in the Atlantic and creating crosswinds that can rip hurricanes apart. At the same time, upper-level air currents pushed most hurricanes out to sea, away from the U.S. mainland.
Only two storms, Tropical Storms Alberto and Ernesto, hit the U.S. mainland in 2006. Neither caused significant damage.
The season effectively ended with Hurricane Isaac, the last named storm, which dissipated Oct. 2.
On the Net:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
Two mysterious figures from strip club could prove crucial in N.Y. shooting probe
NEW YORK (AP) -- Investigators believe two mysterious men -- one of whom may have had a gun -- could hold the key to learning why police unleashed a 50-bullet barrage that killed a groom leaving his bachelor party at a strip club hours before his wedding.
One man was last seen dressed in black, standing in front of a sport utility vehicle with silver rims and exchanging glares and insults with the groom, Sean Bell. Another man was last seen wearing a beige jacket and running away from Bell's car as five officers fired.
Law enforcement officials provided partial descriptions Wednesday of the two missing witnesses and details about their possible roles based on accounts from undercover officers and at least one civilian.
The shooting has ignited outrage in New York, and civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton visited the scene of the shooting Wednesday to console the victims' relatives.
Union officials have suggested that the fourth man could have fled with a gun -- a scenario investigators haven't ruled out.
According to an undercover officer, the other witness -- the man in black -- argued with Bell and his companions as they exited a Queen strip club where Bell was having a bachelor party. The officer was part of a vice team investigating complaints about prostitution and drug dealing at the club.
The man, while in front of a black SUV parked outside the club, reached into his pocket as if he had a weapon as Bell challenged him to a fight and one of Bell's companions, Joseph Guzman, said, "Yo, get my gun. Get my gun," according to the officials, citing the undercover detective's account. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation has not been completed.
The officials said the exchange prompted a second undercover detective to follow Bell and three other men as they walked away toward their car, apparently suspecting the men meant to arm themselves and attack the man in black.
The first undercover officer said he lost sight of the group -- including the fourth man he described as wearing a beige jacket -- as they rounded a corner with the second undercover trailing them on foot. Moments later, the second undercover started shooting at the car when Bell, while trying to drive away, bumped him and smashed into an unmarked police van.
Through his lawyer, the detective has insisted that he clearly identified himself as a police officer as he tried to stop them. He also claims he spotted Guzman, then sitting in the passenger seat, make a sudden move for his waistband before he and four other officers fired.
The third victim, Trent Benefield, told police in a brief interview at the hospital that there was never a fourth person. He also claimed Bell became spooked and tried to take off because he didn't know the undercover was a police officer.
But the shooting detective insists that the group he followed numbered four, and that at some point he saw the fourth man run away from the car and disappear into the night.
"There was a fourth person involved -- no doubt," his attorney, Philip Karasyk, said Wednesday.
Another witness seems to back the account: She has told police she looked out the window of her nearby home after hearing gunfire and spotted someone running away from the direction of the shooting scene. She too described a man wearing a beige jacket, the officials said.
On Tuesday, a team of officers searched for fresh evidence near the shooting scene underneath an airport monorail, based on a tip that a man had ditched a weapon there, the law enforcement officials said.
Meanwhile, a law enforcement official close to the case said prosecutors are waiting to examine 911 calls, police radio communications and ballistic reports, which could determine the origin of the deadly shots. Despite a clamor for answers about what happened, the official said it is a complex investigation that requires thoroughness.
All five officers were placed on paid administrative leave while the Queens District Attorney's officer pursues possible criminal charges.
Guzman, 31, shot at least 11 times, and Benefield, 23, hit three times, have remained hospitalized.
The community outrage over the shooting was evident Wednesday in signs taped up on a brick wall of an auto body shop near the shuttered strip club. "Death to Police Brutality and Murder," said one hand-printed sign. "Off the Pigs Who Shoot Our Kids," said another.
A flower wreath on an easel showed a photo of the 23-year-old Bell, his fiance and one of their young daughters, with the words: "Love Yourself, Stop the Violence."
Associated Press Writer Pat Milton contributed to this report.
Memphis mayor dusting off boxing skills for charity fight against Joe Frazier
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- It won't be the "Thrilla in Manila," but Mayor Willie Herenton promises a good show when he steps into the ring with former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier.
The mayor, a 66-year-old former amateur boxer, and 62-year-old "Smokin' Joe" are fighting a three-round exhibition bout Thursday for charity.
More than 30 years removed from his legendary 1975 battle against Muhammad Ali in the Philippines, Frazier said he had no intention "to do too much damage on the mayor."
"He don't play too rough, then I won't play too rough," he told WMC-TV as he arrived at the Memphis airport Tuesday night.
Frazier, who held the heavyweight title from 1968 to 1973 and retired from boxing in 1976, runs a gym in Philadelphia and stages occasional exhibition bouts.
The exhibition at the Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis will raise money for the city's drug court, which offers rehabilitation services to drug abusers as an alternative to jail.
Herenton turned to boxing while growing up in poverty in Memphis and credits the sport with building the self-confidence that helped him become the city's first black mayor. He's now in his fourth term.
The mayor, who helped bring the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight title fight to Memphis in 2002, has been having fun promoting Thursday's match and talking about his accomplishments as an amateur boxer.
"If they can see me at this age, can they imagine what I was like in my teens? I was awesome," he said with a laugh.
Celine Dion cancels Las Vegas shows due to illness
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Celine Dion has canceled the next five performances of her Las Vegas show, as well as an appearance at the Billboard Music Awards next week, because of a highly contagious respiratory infection, show producers said Wednesday.
The 38-year-old Grammy award-winning singer is being treated for Mycoplasma bronchitis, a contagious bacterial infection, and has been ordered to rest during her recovery, producers said.
Performances of "A New Day" at Caesars Palace, a revue created by former Cirque du Soleil artistic director Franco Dragone, were canceled from Wednesday through Sunday, after which Dion was scheduled to take a holiday break from the five-show-a-week regimen.
The show will not resume until Dec. 28.
Dion also backed out of a scheduled appearance at the Billboard Music Awards on Monday in Las Vegas.
Kris Lingle, "A New Day" spokeswoman, said ticket-holders would receive refunds or could book other show dates.
Dion last canceled performances in April, days ahead of her 500th show at the Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino.
The singer began a three-year, $100 million contract at Caesars in March 2003, then extended it through next year.
Holiday shoppers in London tie silver bells to bags to deter theft
LONDON (AP) -- London's police are putting a new jingle into Christmas.
The Metropolitan Police are distributing silver bells for shoppers in London's central retail district to attach to their bags, which will jingle if thieves strike.
"Operation Yuletide" aims to curb pickpocketing and theft of shopping bags and cell phones in the busy Oxford Street and Marylebone High Street areas of central London.
Superintendent Jon Morgan and officers are hitting the streets to advise shoppers on crime prevention during the weeks leading up to Christmas.
An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people travel through the Oxford Circus Underground station every day and the numbers skyrocket just before Christmas, police said.
"With the bells warning people if their bags are moved, we want to ring in the festive season and give the criminals a wake up alarm call they will not easily forget," Morgan said.
One dead in fire at St. Louis fraternity house; authorities eye fireworks in deadly Neb. blaze
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A fire at a fraternity house near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus killed a student early Wednesday, less than two weeks after a fatal blaze at the home of a Nebraska fraternity.
Three students lived at the Pi Kappa Alpha house in St. Louis, and two got out when the fire broke out around 3:30 a.m., university spokesman Bob Samples said.
Police identified the victim as Brian Schlittler, 25, a senior from the St. Louis area.
"It's a tragedy," Samples said. "We want to find out how it happened and work from there."
No one else was hurt. Authorities were investigating how the fire began at the small brick and wood-frame house.
One of the residents arrived home to find a couch on fire in the living room, Bel-Ridge Police Chief Gordon Brock said. The student ran through the house, knocking on the bedroom doors of the other two students.
The student told police he roused Schlittler, who indicated he was preparing to leave, Brock said.
"The other two left the house and turned around to see that Schlittler hadn't followed," Brock said. "By the time they turned around, it was too rough to go back in there."
Brock said Schlittler's bedroom was upstairs, and flames blocked his passage downstairs. Schlittler was a large man, and the only windows upstairs were too narrow to allow his escape.
The heat from the fire was extreme -- a small car parked in the house's driveway was virtually melted by the heat.
Dozens of students congregated outside the fraternity house soon after the fire, many of them crying. Counselors were being brought in to help console students, faculty and staff, Samples said.
The Pi Kappa Alpha chapter Web site lists 36 active members. It has two houses, the other with four occupants, Samples said.
Missouri-St. Louis has about 16,000 students, making it the third-largest campus in the state.
In Nebraska, investigators said fraternity members told them fireworks were set off in or around a house in Lincoln shortly before a fire that killed one student and injured three earlier this month.
According to a search warrant affidavit released Tuesday, investigators confiscated dozens of bottle rockets, 1.5-inch firecrackers and larger fireworks at the Phi Kappa Tau house at Nebraska Wesleyan University.
Assistant Police Chief Jim Peschong said it would be "very inappropriate" to assume the fireworks caused the fire. Peschong said it could be weeks before investigators make a final determination. The Nebraska state fire marshal has ruled out arson.
The university said Wednesday that once police and fire investigations are complete, it will discipline those responsible for the forbidden fireworks -- and for 4.4 grams of marijuana that also were found in the house.
Grant Johnson, who is president of the Wesleyan student body and a member of the fraternity, said Wednesday that his room was next door to Stewart's. Fireworks were not a part of that night's celebration of new members, he said.
A man who lives about 50 yards behind the fraternity house, Karl Van Derslice, said Wednesday he didn't hear any loud partying or fireworks.
Associated Press Writer Chris Leonard in St. Louis contributed to this report.
French police detain man who claimed to sell mummy hair on Internet
GRENOBLE, France (AP) -- Police detained a French postman behind an Internet operation selling strands of hair and tiny pieces of cloth allegedly taken from the mummy of Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II. If authenticated, Egypt wants the hair back.
The suspect, identified as Jean-Michel Diebolt, allegedly obtained the items from his late father, a French researcher who analyzed the 3,200-year-old mummy in the 1970s, judicial officials said on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.
The 50-year-old suspect, a postman who also writes for a local newspaper, was detained late Tuesday at his home in the town of Saint-Egreve, a suburb of Grenoble in southeast France, the officials said. He was released Wednesday but is being investigated for allegedly possessing stolen goods, they said.
Police seized a dozen small plastic sachets and boxes containing minuscule samples of hair and cloth that he alleged came from Ramses II.
"Selling strands of hair from the mummy of Ramses II: euro2,000," or about $2,600, read the entry on the Web site. It said strands of cloth from the mummy also were available.
Diebolt's wife, Sonia, insisted in an interview that the pieces were authentic and that she didn't know if the late scientist had the right to possess them.
Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, told The Associated Press in Cairo that he had sent a letter to France's ambassador "wondering if those claims are true" and "saying that we want the hair back."
If confirmed, Hawass said France should carry out "a big investigation into the matter."
The French Foreign Ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation, and an investigation was under way.
France's Atomic Energy Commission said in a statement Wednesday that its researchers had conducted two analyses of the mummy in 1977 for the French Museum of Mankind.
One was a disinfection procedure using radiation, the other was on an analysis of three hair fragments from the mummy's shroud -- not extracted from the head.
The mummy of King Ramses II, who ruled Egypt from 1270 to 1213 B.C., is conserved at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In 1976, the remains left Egypt for the first time, sent to France for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus that had been eating away at the mummy.
Associated Press Writer Nadia Abou el-Magd contributed to this report in Cairo.
Six bulls shot so far in Montana's bison hunt
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) -- The second year of Montana's bison hunt is moving along without a hitch, said Mel Frost, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
As of Tuesday, six bulls had been killed since the hunt's Nov. 15 opening, Frost said. Two of those six were shot on opening day. Three were shot on the north side of Yellowstone National Park and three on the west side.
No problems have been reported, Frost said.
The hunt has been divided into two time periods. The first one ends Dec. 31 and includes 25 either-sex bison tags.
"There aren't many permits," Frost said. "But also, there aren't many bison out (of the park) right now."
This week's snow and cold weather could spur more bison to leave the park, she added.
Bull bison usually begin leaving Yellowstone in the fall, while cows and calves leave in the winter.
The second time period runs from Jan. 1-Feb. 15. It offers 70 either-sex tags and 45 cow/calf tags. The majority of them are good only on the park's west side, where more bison traditionally gather as the winter progresses.
A total of 140 tags have been issued for this season's hunt.
On the Net:
Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks: www.fwp.mt.gov
Buffalo Field Campaign: www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
Tennis stars Agassi, Graf lose $3 million on mansion sale
TIBURON, Calif. (AP) -- Retired tennis stars Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf have agreed to sell their mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay for $20 million -- $3 million less than it sold for five years ago.
The 13,000-square-foot estate is being sold to Stuart Peterson, the chief of a hedge fund that invested early in the YouTube video-sharing Web site, according to Bill Bullock, whose real estate firm represents the couple. YouTube agreed last month to be acquired by Google for $1.65 billion dollars.
Agassi and Graf live most of the year in Las Vegas and had been asking $24.5 million for the property, which features 11 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a home theater, two pools, a tennis court and helicopter landing pad.
Agassi's financial advisers wanted him to get rid of the little-used compound to save on the cost of upkeep, Bullock said.
The deal was expected to close in January.
Father, 3 others indicted in Texas case of teenage brothers allegedly tortured, starved
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- A grand jury has indicted four people accused of beating and starving two teenage boys and torturing them with a battery charger.
The boys' father, stepmother, stepbrother and a man who lived with the family were indicted on aggravated assault charges Tuesday. Each was being held Wednesday in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Prosecutors allege that the boys, ages 15 and 16, also were forced to sleep in a closet and were fed habanero peppers as punishment. The case came to the attention of public officials after one of the boys was found begging for food at a convenience store in September.
Those charged include the boys' father, Steve Lively, 40, and stepmother Melissa Lively, 37. The boys' 19-year-old sister, Amy Lively, has denied all charges against the couple and claims the boys lied to authorities.
Police allege the boys' stepbrother, Jason C. Lively, 19, beat them with a bat, pinched them with pliers and shot them repeatedly with a BB gun. His attorney, Dwight McDonald, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.
Kyle B. Sexton, 20, who lived with the Livelys, also was indicted. His attorney, Fred Stangl, also did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
St. Nick not welcome at Vienna kindergartens
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- St. Nick, nein! A ban on St. Nicholas at Vienna's kindergartens is taking some of the ho-ho-ho out of the holidays for tens of thousands of tots this year.
And it's creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim population by showing Europe's Santa the kindergarten door.
Municipal officials insist their decision is prompted more by psychology than political correctness.
Instead of joy, the sight of a strange bearded figure at the door evokes fear in most kids, they argue. And they point out that the policy on St. Nicholas is more than a decade old -- though they concede it is being enforced more rigorously than in the past.
While Santa rules in the far north, the jolly elf has little tradition in Austria and surrounding countries. As in past years, some booths at Vienna's main Christmas market are again plastered with stickers depicting Santa with a diagonal red bar across his fluffy white beard -- the work of a group in Austria, Switzerland and Germany that sees Santa as a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas and a threat to local traditions.
Instead, kids grow up with traditional Dec. 6 visits from St. Nicholas or Nikolo -- a bearded, mitered figure in bishop's garb dating back to the 4th century who hands out sweets to good girls and boys. Christmas is reserved for the "Christkind" or Christ Child, who sneaks into homes and deposits presents under the tree and sometimes brings the tree itself.
As for naughty kids, there is St. Nick's sidekick, who in Austria goes under the name of "Krampus" -- a hairy behorned figure who gives them lumps of coal and threatens them with a swipe of his switch unless they mend their ways.
But suggesting St. Nick is as scary as Krampus is just plain dumb, argue opponents of the "No to St. Nick" policy.
For child psychiatrist Max Friedrich, the ban is "total nonsense." He described Nicholas as a "positive figure who encourages and rewards children," in comments Wednesday to the daily Oesterreich.
In the United States, battles over Christmas focus on religious symbols in public schools and on government property, not on Santa Claus. Displaying a creche, retelling the story of Jesus' birth and singing Christmas carols have all been the subject of court fights over whether they violate the constitutional prohibition against mixing government and religion.
Officials in several Austrian provinces said they had no plans to banish St. Nick from their kindergartens.
Grete Laska, the councilwoman who holds Vienna's youth portfolio, says both Krampus and St. Nick "create fear (and) have no place" in city kindergartens, particularly when parents and schools encourage children not to accept gifts from strangers. The kindergartens can hold Christmas parties -- but without St. Nick.
Such arguments don't hold with people like Anna Seiler, with two grandchildren in kindergarten.
"One of them was all sad recently, saying that Santa won't be visiting this year," she said. "I think the parents should get together and complain."
A pediatric nurse, Seiler dismisses arguments that children fear St. Nick. A surgeon dressed as St. Nick "comes every year to the kids on our ward," she said. "They love it."
"I think it's for ethnic and cultural reasons," said Seiler, suggesting it was in deference to Vienna's Muslim population -- 400,000 and growing.
Mouddar Khouja of the Official Religious Islamic Community in Austria said his group has no problems with St. Nick in kindergartens -- or anywhere else in Austria.
"We accept the Christian orientation of this country," he said. "We don't want to ban Nikolo."
Most schools in Vienna do not celebrate Muslim holidays, although those with large Muslim student populations may opt to observe them.
Markus Kroiher, head of the youth wing of the centrist People's Party declared his party "would not allow the dismantling of Christian traditions out of a falsely interpreted 'political correctness."'
Heinz-Christian Strache, whose far-right anti-foreign Freedom Party showed strongly in Oct. 1 elections, called the assertion that St. Nick frightens kids a "cover ... bordering on absurdity."
"Whoever comes to Austria must realize it's a Christian country. Christian traditions are part of the equation," said Strache aide Hans-Joerg Jenewein.
