PBS hires Hispanic documentarian to work with Burns on World War II series

By: Associated Press - | Tuesday, April 17, 2007 7:13 PM PDT ∞

WASHINGTON -- PBS has hired a Hispanic documentarian to assist filmmaker Ken Burns with his upcoming World War II series, which had drawn complaints for failing to include the contributions of Hispanics.

Hector Galan, a film and television producer from Austin, Texas, will be brought in to assist Burns with the 14-hour series, which has already been produced and is scheduled for release in September.

Burns and PBS President Paula Kerger announced Galan's hiring during a private meeting at a Washington hotel Tuesday with members of various Hispanic groups, members of Congress and other public television officials. Galan also attended the meeting.

Darting into an elevator afterward, Burns said: "I feel like we listened, had a fair exchange and are moving to a win-win, positive solution to the problem."

"It's fantastic," said Galan, who produced the 1996 series "Chicano! History of The Mexican American Civil Rights Movement" for PBS.

Galan said he viewed the series over the weekend. There were images of Hispanics, he said, but no discussion of their role in the war or how the war affected their place in American society.

Hispanic groups protested that oversight, and asked that the film and educational materials be redone to add the stories of Hispanic veterans. PBS agreed to some of the requests last week.

About half a million Hispanics are believed to have fought in the war and 15 were Medal of Honor winners.

Burns' series, made over six years, tells the story of the war through people from four communities -- Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Luverne, Minn. The film's co-producer is Lynn Novick.

Galan said he is putting aside work on another film on Latin rhythms to work with Burns. He described himself as a World War II buff whose father served in the war as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers.

On the Net:

Galan Inc.: http://www.galaninc.com/site/

Florentine Films: http://www.florentinefilms.com/

German army dismisses instructor who ordered soldier to imagine shooting New York blacks

BERLIN (AP) -- The German Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it has dismissed an instructor who told a soldier to imagine hostile blacks in New York's Bronx while firing a machine gun.

The instructor was let go under a provision that permits the immediate dismissal of personnel who violate service obligations, or whose continued service would harm the order or reputation of the military, a ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, as is customary.

The incident, captured in footage posted on the Internet, led the Bronx borough president to call for discipline against those responsible.

The clip shows an instructor and a soldier dressed in camouflage in a forest. The instructor tells the soldier, "You are in the Bronx. A black van is stopping in front of you. Three African-Americans are getting out and they are insulting your mother in the worst ways. ... Act."

The soldier fires his machine gun and yells an obscenity several times in English between bursts. The instructor then tells the soldier to curse even louder.

The Defense Ministry on Monday described the incident as "completely unacceptable" but said an investigation could take several weeks.

The instructor, whom authorities have not named, has admitted being the person in the video, the ministry said. The soldier who made the video is also being investigated.

In New York, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr. demanded an apology.

"The German government obviously has work to do to correct something that is insidious. ... Clearly these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or the Bronx," he said Saturday, after the video was aired on German television.

The incident is the latest embarrassment for the German military.

A group of army instructors is currently on trial on charges they abused and humiliated recruits in 2004. Last year, newspapers published photos of German soldiers in Afghanistan posing with skulls -- including one soldier who exposed himself.

Girl tells of being attacked by sea lion off Australian coast

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- A 13-year-old girl said Tuesday she used kicks and punches to fend off a sea lion that attacked her as she was riding a surfboard that was being towed by a boat. - Ella Murphy was riding the surfboard off Lancelin, a town 80 miles north of the Western Australia state capital of Perth, when a sea lion leaped from the water, biting her face and neck on Friday.

Murphy said she initially thought the brown shape streaking beneath the surface was a shark.

"I saw it jump out of the water and just saw its teeth come toward my face," she told Nine Network television from her hospital bed. "I just kind of thought: What's going to happen? What's next? Is it the end? ... I really didn't know," she said.

"It jumped out of the water and just grabbed hold of me and shook me and dragged me back under the water," she added.

She said the sea lion, estimated to weigh 440 pounds, released her because she punched and kicked it.

Speedboat driver Chris Thomas said the sea lion resurfaced about 10 yards away from Murphy and would have attacked again if he had not maneuvered the boat between them and dragged the girl aboard.

Murphy lost three teeth in the attack and was treated for a deep tooth puncture wound in her neck.

Marine experts say such aggressive behavior is highly unusual for a sea lion.

French town launches campaign to remind British tourists to drive on the right

FLERS, France (AP) -- Police in a small town in northern France have launched a poster campaign to remind British expatriates and tourists to drive on the right side of the road -- literally.

Lt. Eric Turmet, a police official in the town of Flers in the Normandy region, said there have been two deadly accidents in the past two years caused by Britons driving on their customary left side of the road

"We had to act to avoid further tragedies," he said.

The English-language posters peppering restaurants, hotels and campgrounds in the town say: "For your safety, keep right on French roads."

Police have also printed 3,000 stickers so British families who live in town can put the message on their cars.

Thousands of British families and retirees have moved to the area because it's within easy driving distance to ferries that head across the English Channel to Britain.

Security clampdown at White House after accidental shooting by Secret Service

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Secret Service officers were injured in an accidental shooting Tuesday at the White House. - The incident occurred in a security booth at the southwest gate.

Secret Service spokeswoman Kim Bruce said one officer was injured in the leg and the other received a shrapnel wound in his face. She said the injuries appeared to be non-life threatening and that both officers were taken to nearby George Washington University Hospital.

The gun involved was a service-issued weapon, she said. She said the Secret Service Office of Inspection would conduct a review.

In a separate incident, Lafayette Park along Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed because of a suspicious package, the Secret Service said. There was a security clampdown at the White House because of both incidents.

Maryland grand jury indicts 6 in death of teen at school for juvenile offenders

WESTMINSTER, Md. (AP) -- A grand jury indicted six former staff members at a school for juvenile offenders on charges of reckless endangerment in the death of a 17-year-old student, officials announced Tuesday. - Isaiah Simmons died Jan. 23 while being restrained by staff at Bowling Brook Preparatory School.

State's Attorney Jerry F. Barnes said the charges stemmed from a 41-minute period during which Simmons was unresponsive but staff at didn't call 911.

"They thought he was faking," Barnes said.

Medical examiners ruled his death a homicide, and the FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into the case. The school has since closed.

The grand jury declined to indict the six employees on the more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter. Steven Heisler, an attorney for Simmons' family, said he disagreed with that decision and that he has asked Barnes to file manslaughter charges against the six employees.

The six named in the indictment are Michael P. Corradi of Middletown, Pa.; Dennis Harding of Baltimore; Brian G. Kanavy of Mechanicsburg; Jason W. Robinson of Westminster; Shadi Sabbagh of Keymar; and Mark R. Sainato of Keymar. Barnes did not release names for any attorneys representing the men.

If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, each could face a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Bowling Brook administrator Brian Hayden said the school, a long-standing non-profit group, fully supports its former employees.

"Hopefully, the truth will bear out through the criminal proceedings and these gentlemen will be found innocent of all charges," he said in the statement.

Bowling Brook was under contract with the state of Maryland to educate boys in trouble with the law. Youths at the residential school, including some from Pennsylvania, were relocated to other schools after it closed.

The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services placed Simmons at the school following a 2006 conviction for robbery with a deadly weapon.

Simmons' death prompted the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services to reform its crisis intervention policies.

Staff at state-owned and private juvenile facilities have been advised that youths should only be restrained if there is an immediate risk of harm, that restraints should last a maximum of 30 minutes, in 15-minute intervals, and that they must be videotaped. Simmons was restrained over a period of several hours.

Medical staff also will have to be consulted in the event of a restraint that lasts 15 minutes, Donald DeVore, Maryland's secretary of juvenile services, said Tuesday.

"These are things that, based on my experience, if they had been in place at the time that Isaiah died, might have saved his life," DeVore said.

DeVore also said that he would not allow staff to use compliance techniques that caused pain.

"There are methods for juveniles that are safe methods of dealing with kids that don't cause pain," he said.

On the Net:

Bowling Brook Preparatory School: http://www.bowlingbrookprep.org

State's Attorney: http://ccgovernment.carr.org/ccg/stateatt/index.html

Witness: Slain preacher's wife changed demeanor when her husband was around

SELMER, Tenn. (AP) -- Attorneys for a preacher's wife on trial in her husband's killing began calling witnesses Tuesday to try to show that the minister was an abusive and angry man.

Prosecution witnesses have described Matthew Winkler, a 31-year-old preacher at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in this west Tennessee town, as a good father and husband. But the defense says he terrorized his family and criticized his wife's every move.

Matthew Winkler was found dead in the parsonage in March 2006, and Mary Winkler was arrested the next day on the Alabama coast 340 miles away, driving in the family minivan with her three young daughters. She could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

One defense witness testified he saw Mary Winkler with a black eye in 2003, when Matthew Winkler was youth minister at a church in McMinnville, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville.

Rudolph Otto Thompsen III, who let Mary Winkler live with his family while she was free on bond, said Mary explained that she was playing with her girls and one of them accidentally hit her in the eye.

That didn't strike Thompsen as suspicious, and the defense offered no proof that Matthew Winkler gave his wife a black eye. But Thompsen said Mary Winkler's behavior often changed around her husband.

"She was bubbly, grinning and cutting up with everyone and then Matthew walked in," Thompsen said. "It was like you'd thrown a switch. Her head went down, her hands went together."

Another defense witness, Jimmy Jones of McMinnville, said Matthew Winkler once screamed at him and his family in 2003 because he said a barking dog kept him awake all night.

"He began to shout and raised his arms and was basically out of control," Jones said. "You couldn't reason with him."

Prosecutors rested their case Monday after the heartbreaking testimony of the couple's 9-year-old daughter.

When the prosecutor asked Patricia Winkler to state her name and birthdate, she looked over at her mother, Mary Winkler, and began sobbing.

But a few minutes later, Patricia kept her composure as she recalled how she heard a "big boom" come from her parents' room on the morning that her father was shot. She said she ran to their room and saw her father face-down on the floor.

Patricia testified Matthew Winkler was a good father and she never saw him mistreat her mother.

Last week, prosecutors played an audiotape in which Mary Winkler acknowledges shooting her husband, telling investigators her "ugly came out." But she also said her husband had threatened her.

She told Tennessee authorities that her husband criticized her for "the way I walk, what I eat, everything. It was just building up to this point. I was just tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."

The defense has said Mary Winkler, 33, intended to hold her husband at gunpoint only to force him to talk about his personal problems after a situation involving their 1-year-old daughter, Breanna. The defense did not describe the situation.

Defense attorneys have also called the shooting accidental.

The prosecution has said the Winklers were in financial trouble and that bank managers were closing in on a check-kiting scheme that Mary Winkler wanted to conceal from her husband.

Defense attorney Leslie Ballin has hinted Mary Winkler could testify.

Disabled vets sue Univ. of Michigan, citing scarcity of wheelchair seats at football stadium

DETROIT (AP) -- A disabled veterans group sued the University of Michigan on Tuesday, saying there aren't enough spaces for wheelchair users at Michigan Stadium, one of the largest football stadiums in the country.

The federal lawsuit, filed by the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America, claims university officials are intentionally sidestepping the rules of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A $226 million renovation is planned for the 107,000-seat stadium, which currently has 90 wheelchair-accessible seats. The renovation would add 72 more seats, but the suit argues that about 1,000 wheelchair-accessible seats are required.

"It's extremely disappointing that it had to come to this," said Richard Bernstein, attorney for the plaintiffs.

A message seeking comment left for a university spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

Michigan Stadium was built in 1927 and expanded several times over the years.

Glider pilot found injured on W.Va. mountain ridge had crashed in rough weather

FRANKLIN, W.Va. (AP) -- A glider pilot who crashed in rough weather was found Tuesday on a remote mountain ridge more than 24 hours later and was taken to a hospital, authorities said.

"The Maryland State Police's medevac helicopter has located him and is bringing him out," State Police Sgt. J.A. Wyatt said. The injuries appeared to be non-life-threatening, Wyatt said.

Pilot Donald Kramer of Williamsport, Pa., had called his wife using his cell phone Monday to tell her he had crashed and was injured, but Kramer lost contact with rescue teams after a power outage knocked out several cell phone towers in Pendleton County.

Search teams zeroed in on the glider's homing beacon, and found him around 10:30 a.m., Wyatt said.

The weather at the time of the crash was "blizzard-like conditions," but Kramer is an experienced glider pilot, Wyatt said. "He must have just caught a bad tailwind," he said.

A second glider accompanied Kramer, but that pilot was able to fly back to Pennsylvania, Wyatt said.

Two teens charged in dumping drain cleaner on playground; acid burned legs of toddler on slide

ESSEX, Md. (AP) -- Two teenagers were charged with breaking into a school and pouring an acidic drain cleaner on playground equipment that later burned a 2-year-old boy on a slide, Baltimore County police said Tuesday.

The two 16-year-old boys were charged Monday night with reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary and released to their parents, officials said.

A school resource officer learned about the first juvenile, which police said led them to the second, who was arrested later. Their names were not released.

The industrial strength drain cleaner, which has a high concentration of sulfuric acid, was removed from a storage facility at Victory Villa Elementary School and splashed over the school's playground equipment, police said.

The 2-year-old, Peyton Potochney, suffered second- and third-degree burns, mostly on his legs, after he went down a slide. His mother, Carol Duschl, has said the little boy likely will be hospitalized for several weeks.

Remnants of deadly storm, flooding linger in Northeast, but commuters have better day

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- Floodwater still swirled through low-lying communities Tuesday after a deadly spring storm swept the Northeast, but commuters and air travelers swept an easier time.

The nor'easter left a swath of devastation from the beaches of South Carolina to the mountains of Maine. It knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people, and the storm system was blamed for at least 17 deaths nationwide.

While some towns were starting the cleanup Tuesday, authorities in Nashua, N.H., began evacuating a town house development in an area where the Nashua and Merrimack rivers converge. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people were affected there, deputy Fire Chief Steve Gallipeau said.

More than 170,000 utility customers were without power Tuesday in North Carolina. Utilities in New Hampshire, where 30,000 were still without power, said repairs were going slowly because of continued flooding, washed-out roads and the storm's broad reach, which meant other utilities couldn't send spare crews to help.

The storm dumped up to 9 inches of rain on parts of New Jersey, and more than 8 inches fell in New York City's Central Park. The park's Sunday total, 7.5 inches, quadrupled the 101-year-old record for April 15.

Showers lingered Tuesday and forecasters said the system wouldn't move out entirely for another day or more. Flood warnings remained posted in parts of New Jersey and eastern New York.

But the Port Authority said the New York area's airports, where about 600 flights had been canceled, were operating normally on Tuesday.

At the baseball-theme Homeplate Restaurant in Mamaroneck, N.Y., water rose 3 feet inside, but owner Fred Santiago held out hope he could reopen soon, even as he dumped ruined tables and chairs out on the sidewalk.

"I was expecting worse, to tell you the truth," Santiago said Tuesday. "Maybe I'm in a state of shock, but I think we can do this. I'm not a quitter."

New Jersey was placed under a state of emergency and more than 1,400 residents were evacuated -- many by boat. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey said he expects the state to qualify for federal assistance to recover from the storm.

"We're going to well exceed it (the federal aid threshold), without question," Codey said.

The storm was especially harsh in Bound Brook, where five homes burned down after fire crews could not reach the buildings because of floodwaters.

The Raritan River was more than 10 feet above flood stage in Bound Brook late Monday and was not expected to drop below flood stage before Tuesday afternoon. The river overran Route 18 in New Brunswick, forcing Rutgers University to cancel Tuesday classes at its New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses.

Dale Johnson said he and his girlfriend fled their second-story apartment through swirling, waist-deep water.

"I want to move out. I can't take it after this one," said Johnson, 48, noting that it was his third evacuation. The community also was hard hit by remnants of Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

New Jersey Transit, where disruptions were particularly severe Monday, trains were running close to schedule Tuesday but they were skipping some flooding stations. A section of the New Jersey Turnpike near Newark Liberty Airport remained closed.

In Providence, R.I., a 1950s-era Soviet submarine used as a floating museum in the Providence River was listing Tuesday. Russian Sub Museum President Frank Lennon said the storm's extreme high tide and winds pushed the submarine onto a shoal.

Powerful ocean waves at Saco, Maine, washed away a road, crumpled the seawall and turned front lawns into beaches. At least two houses tumbled over as their foundations gave way.

At the height of the storm, snow fell in inland areas, including 17 inches in Vermont. Snowdrifts stranded tractor-trailers on highways in Pennsylvania, and washouts, mudslides and fallen trees blocked roads from Kentucky to New England.

Amtrak suspended some service in Maine for a second day Tuesday because tracks were washed out.

The storm was expected among the worst since a December 1992 nor'easter caused millions of dollars worth of damage to buildings, boardwalks and beaches.

Floodwaters killed a woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter in Maine after they were swept into a river as they tried to cross a washed-out section of road. A 15-year-old girl died Monday night after a canoe overturned outside Albany, N.Y.

In New Jersey, a man died in a car stalled in deep water in an underpass while another drowned in a flooded street. Another person was killed by a tornado in South Carolina, and four died in car accidents in upstate New York, Connecticut and North Carolina. The same storm system was blamed for five deaths earlier in Texas and Kansas.

-- Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Chris Carola in Albany, N.Y., Katharine Webster in Rochester, N.H., Clarke Canfield in Saco, Maine, and Ray Henry in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.

Chemical discharge in southwest China sickens 140 children and teachers

BEIJING (AP) -- A fertilizer plant in southwest China discharged a "huge amount" of sulfur dioxide, sickening about 140 children and teachers, state media reported Tuesday.

The plant, which produces chemical fertilizers in the county of Xifeng in Guizhou province, emitted the colorless gas into the atmosphere Monday, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing a local official.

Five teachers and 135 students from two primary schools and a middle school reported problems breathing and were taken to a local hospital, Xinhua quoted the county's executive deputy head, Huang Yonghui, as saying.

Indian independence leader Gandhi's grandson says he isn't Gandhian enough

NEW DELHI (AP) -- A grandson of Mohandas Gandhi has turned down a request to head a university established by his grandfather, saying he does not always wear simple cotton clothing as required by the school dress code.

Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the governor of West Bengal state, said in a letter to the vice chancellor of Gujarat University that he does not always wear the hand-spun or woven cotton called "khadi" that is mandatory for anyone associated with the institution, the Hindustan Times reported Tuesday.

Cotton spun into threads on a spinning wheel became a symbol of the 1940s independence struggle against British colonialists led by Mohandas Gandhi -- also known as "Mahatma," or "Great Soul."

"I was greatly honored by the offer and I even accepted it initially. But on reading the university constitution, I withdrew as I realized that I am not a 100 percent khadi user. ... I wear a lot of khadi, but also other fabrics such as woolens and handlooms," he said.

Mohandas Gandhi founded Gujarat University in Ahmadabad in 1920 to promote educational institutions run by Indians, outside of the control of the country's British colonial rulers.

He led India to independence in 1947, but was assassinated by a Hindu hard-liner a year later.

Palestinian guards beat journalists protesting kidnapping of BBC colleague

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Security guards at the Palestinian parliament on Tuesday scuffled with a crowd of Palestinian journalists who were demonstrating in support of a kidnapped British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent, pushing back reporters and beating two of them with rifle butts.

About 200 journalists had gathered outside the building, seeking information about BBC correspondent Alan Johnston. When journalists tried to enter parliament to talk to lawmakers about the case, the guards violently pushed them back and barred them from entering.

They journalists called on lawmakers to come out of the building to talk to them. Some held signs and photos that said "Free Alan."

Johnston, 44, was abducted by gunmen in Gaza City on March 12 and has not been seen or heard from since then.

On Sunday, a previously unknown group, "The Brigades of Tawheed and Jihad," said it had killed Johnston to support demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. But Palestinian officials have said they could not confirm the claim.

"We came to ask those lawmakers about the facts and the truth on the fate of our kidnapped colleague," said Saadi Alkasaef, an activist in the local journalists' union. "It's more than a month right now and we are concerned for Alan's life after the statement released two days ago. We came peacefully, but we are being assaulted now."

A planned parliamentary session went on as scheduled, but after the scuffle outside, the journalists did not attend.

4 Pakistani brothers hanged for killing 13 relatives in feud over land

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan on Tuesday executed four brothers convicted of killing 13 of their relatives in a feud over land. - The men, all in their 50s, were hanged at New Central Jail in Multan, a major city in the eastern province of Punjab, prison official Mobashir Malik said.

The four used axes to kill two uncles and their families -- wives, children and grandchildren -- in the 1999 attack in Basti Lakha, a village east of Multan.

The brothers, who accused the uncles of occupying their farmland, were sentenced to death in 2000. Also convicted was their father, who was given life in prison. He has since died.

The four lost appeals in two higher courts, and last year President Gen. Pervez Musharraf rejected their pleas for clemency, Malik said.

Such feuds are common in rural areas of Pakistan and can last for generations, claiming scores of lives.

More charges filed against kidnapping suspect in disappearances of 2 Missouri boys

POTOSI, Mo. -- Seven more charges, including attempted murder, have been filed against a former pizzeria manager accused of kidnapping two boys and holding one of them for four years.

Michael Devlin was already charged with kidnapping Ben Ownby, 13, in January in Franklin County and with kidnapping Shawn Hornbeck, then 11, in 2002 in Washington County.

He also was charged with several counts of forcible sodomy in St. Louis County, where Devlin allegedly kept the boys, and with federal counts of pornography and transporting a boy across state lines.

Washington County prosecutor John Rupp filed the additional charges Monday against Devlin, accusing the 41-year-old of attempted murder, kidnapping, armed criminal action, three counts of forcible sodomy and one count of attempted forcible sodomy.

The new charges allege that Devlin tried to suffocate "SH" after kidnapping him. The papers only give the initials, which match Shawn's name.

Rupp declined to discuss details of the charges he announced Tuesday. He said the crimes occurred through early November 2002 in Washington County but would not say if Devlin was keeping Shawn in the county, instead of at his apartment in St. Louis County. Shawn disappeared in October 2002.

Michael Kielty, an attorney for Devlin, said prosecutors have not shared details of the allegations against his client.

"Again, we haven't seen any evidence," Kielty said. "We have requested it time and time again."

Shawn and Ben were found Jan. 12 at Devlin's apartment in Kirkwood. Ben had been kidnapped four days earlier after getting off a school bus near his home in the Franklin County town of Beaufort. Shawn, now 15, had been riding his bike in the Washington County town of Richwoods when he disappeared.

Investigators still are checking for potential connections between Devlin and cases in Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan, some that date to the late 1980s. Until his arrest in January, Devlin had no criminal record.

At the news conference, Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum asked anyone from the public to come forward if they have ever loaned a vehicle to Devlin.

"We know for a fact that he drove a lot of vehicles that were not his," Nothum said. He also said Devlin was known to travel widely in Lincoln and St. Charles counties.

"We categorically deny any involvement in any other cases," Kielty said. "I'm sure if they had credible evidence, somebody would have leaked it -- they've leaked everything else."

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, the story of Shawn and Ben has been widely publicized and their names are now well-known. Also, their families have gone public, conducting several media interviews.

-- Associated Press writer Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this story.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.