WASHINGTON - Art Buchwald, the Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, made a career out of skewering Washington's elite, then won even wider fame when he chose to let himself die rather than fight for every ounce of life. Now he's had the last laugh.

Buchwald died of kidney failure at home Wednesday, surrounded by family, nearly a year after he stunned them by rejecting medical treatments aimed at keeping him alive. As it turned out, he lived another year instead of the mere weeks he was given by doctors. He was 81 when he died.

The political satirist went out with a twist:

"Hi, I'm Art Buchwald and I just died," he announced with a grin, in a video posted on The New York Times Web site. Buchwald recorded the video interview last summer, to be shown after his death.

Buchwald said his months of dying were the time of his life. Neither he nor his doctors could explain why he kept living so long after he checked into a hospice last February, certain at the time that the end was near. "I have to thank my kidneys," he told The Associated Press last year.

So, as he did during a half-century career that touched two continents, Buchwald decided to make the most of every last minute.

He held court daily in the parlor of his hospice room as friends streamed in to say goodbye. He resumed his twice-weekly column. When it came time to leave the hospice, he spent the summer at his home on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. He wrote "Too Soon to Say Goodbye," a book about the experience, and worked book parties in Washington and New York from his wheelchair.

"He's one of the few people I know who was able to write a script for his death," Jack Valenti, former chairman and chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, told AP on Thursday.

Buchwald said the decision to forgo dialysis and let himself die was liberating. "When you make your choice, then a lot of the stress is gone. Everything is great because you accept that you are the one who made the choice."

But when death didn't come, he opined in a column that he had to scrap his funeral plans, rewrite his living will, buy a new cell phone and get on with his improbable life.

Carly Simon, who had been tapped to sing at his funeral, agreed to sing for him while he was still alive. She wrote a song for him that bears the same name as his book about dying, "Too Soon to Say Goodbye," and sang it to him last summer on the Vineyard.

Known as the "Wit of Washington" during more than 40 years here, Buchwald became synonymous with political satire. He was known for having a wide smile and loving a good cigar.

Among his more famous witticisms: "If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it."

"Arty kept us laughing, from Paris to hospice," longtime friend Ethel Kennedy said in a statement. "Now heaven will be a lot more fun."

Ben Bradlee, former Washington Post executive editor who remained friends with Buchwald after they met in Paris in 1950, said in an interview that Buchwald was "the humorist of his generation."

"We won't see his like again anytime soon," added David Williams, president and chief executive of Tribune Media Services, which syndicated Buchwald's column to U.S. and foreign newspapers, including The Washington Post. At one time, the column appeared in more than 500 newspapers worldwide.

The most recent one ran Jan. 2; it was an ode to the number 1 trillion.

Buchwald decided to stop writing again after taking a turn for the worse this month. He had undergone treatment for an infection in the stump of his right leg, which doctors amputated last January.

"That was when he said, 'No, I can't do any more columns,"' said Cathy Crary, his longtime assistant.

In a goodbye column written for posthumous publication, Buchwald said he was at ease.

"What's interesting is that everybody has his or her own opinion as to how you should go out," he wrote. "All my loved ones became very upset because they thought I should brave it out - which meant more dialysis.

"But here is the most important thing: This has been my decision. And it's a healthy one."

Buchwald attracted notice in the late 1940s in Paris. A former Marine, he dropped out of the University of Southern California in 1948 and went to France, where he landed as a correspondent for Variety after his money ran out.

A year later, he took a trial column called "Paris After Dark" - filled with scraps of offbeat information about Paris nightlife - to The New York Herald Tribune and was hired.

He started another column in 1951, called "Mostly About People," that featured interviews with celebrities in Paris. The next year, the Herald Tribune introduced him to U.S. readers through yet another column, "Europe's Lighter Side."

Paris was Buchwald's usual beat, but he went far afield in search of a good story.

He marched in a May Day parade in East Berlin, chased goats up and down Yugoslavia's mountains and went to Turkey for firsthand experience in a Turkish bath. He made a three-week trip across the Soviet Union in a chauffeured limousine.

Buchwald returned to the United States in 1962, at the height of Kennedy administration glamour. He set himself up in an office two blocks from the White House and began a long career lampooning Washington's elite.

He later discovered the allure of show business, and wrote the Broadway play "Sheep on the Runway" in 1970.

He also was known for a court battle over the Eddie Murphy movie "Coming to America." A judge ruled that Paramount Pictures had stolen Buchwald's idea and in 1992 awarded $900,000 to him and a partner.

Born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Oct. 25, 1925, Buchwald and his three sisters went to foster homes after their mother was institutionalized for mental illness. Their father, a drapery salesman, suffered Depression-era financial troubles and couldn't afford to support them.

At 17, Buchwald ran away to join the Marines and spent 3.5 years in the Pacific during World War II, attaining the rank of sergeant and spending much of his time editing a Corps newspaper.

After the war, he became managing editor of the campus humor magazine at Southern California and a columnist for the student paper. But he dropped out in 1948 and headed for Paris on a one-way ticket.

He married Ann McGarry, of Warren, Pa., in London on Oct. 12, 1952. The writer and one-time fashion coordinator for Neiman-Marcus later wrote a book with her husband. They adopted three children.

She died in 1994. In 2000, Buchwald published his first novel, "Stella In Heaven: Almost a Novel," about a widower who can communicate with his deceased wife.

"He had a very stormy relationship with Ann," Bradlee said in an online chat presented by Washingtonpost.com. "They actually got divorced before she died but I don't think he ever stopped loving her."

Buchwald wrote more than 30 books, including "Leaving Home," a 1995 memoir on his early years.

He won the Pulitzer, journalism's top honor, in 1982 for outstanding commentary. Four years later, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In November, the National Press Foundation honored "his grace, humor, astounding productivity and lifetime commitment to the craft" and was to present him with an award at a dinner in February.

Buchwald's right leg was amputated below the knee last January because of circulation problems, and he had a major stroke in 2000. He also said he battled depression in 1963 and 1987.

"You do get over it, and you get over it a better person," he once said of the illness.

Mike Wallace of CBS' "60 Minutes," who also fought depression, told the AP that when Buchwald learned it was affecting him, too, he called every night, even when Wallace was overseas on assignment. "He'd try to buck me up," Wallace said.

Buchwald is survived by son Joel Buchwald, of Washington; daughters Jennifer Buchwald, of Roxbury, Mass., and Connie Buchwald Marks, of Culpeper, Va.; sisters Edith Jaffe, of Bellevue, Wash., and Doris Kahme, of Delray Beach, Fla., and Monroe Township, N.J., and five grandchildren.

A memorial service was being planned for Washington. Buchwald is to be interred at the Vineyard Haven Cemetery in Martha's Vineyard, where his wife is buried.

- Associated Press writer Connie Cass contributed to this report.

Truck driver sentenced to life for smuggling attempt that killed 19 illegal immigrants

HOUSTON (AP) - A truck driver was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his role in the nation's deadliest human smuggling attempt - a journey that ended in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants crammed in a sweltering tractor-trailer.

Tyrone Williams, 36, was convicted last month on 58 counts of conspiracy, harboring and transporting immigrants.

A jury deliberated for a little more than 5 days before deciding to send Williams to prison without the possibility of parole for each of the immigrants who died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation during the 2003 trip from South Texas to Houston.

Williams looked down as the verdict was read and gave no visible reaction. His attorney, former U.S. Rep. Craig Washington, wept and wiped his eyes with a tissue.

Later, Washington said he was crying tears of joy.

"We're grateful to God and to the jury for saving Tyrone's life," Washington said.

Prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez looked grim after the sentence was announced as his boss, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle, spoke to reporters.

"We did everything we could to impose a sentence of death. Nineteen life sentences is not something to be disappointed about," DeGabrielle said. "One human being had the chance to let those people out. That was Tyrone Williams."

In May 2003, his tractor-trailer was packed with more than 70 immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic. As temperatures skyrocketed inside the airtight refrigerator truck, the immigrants kicked walls, clawed at insulation, broke out taillights and screamed for help.

Williams abandoned the trailer at a truck stop near Victoria, about 100 miles southwest of Houston.

"Justice is served from today's sentencing," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Julie Myers said in a written statement. "We hope this significant sentence will help dissuade potential alien smugglers away from this dangerous, dehumanizing and illegal business."

Williams' attorneys argued he never intended for the immigrants to die and didn't know they were dying until it was too late. They blamed the deaths on other members of the smuggling ring who overstuffed the trailer.

Williams' family, including his mother and father, begged the jury to spare his life during emotional testimony presented at the retrial's punishment phase.

Prosecutors said Williams earned a death sentence because he intentionally caused the immigrants' deaths by not freeing them when he knew their lives were in danger. They also noted he failed to take life-saving measures, like turning on the trailer's air conditioning, although some survivors testified they thought it had been turned on.

Relatives of the victims also testified, demanding justice and telling jurors their loved ones did not deserve to die the way they did.

Williams, an immigrant from Jamaica who lived in Schenectady, N.Y., was the only one of 14 people charged in the case who faced the death penalty.

In 2005, a jury convicted Williams on 38 transporting counts, but he avoided a death sentence because the jury couldn't agree on his role in the smuggling attempt. A court later voided the verdict, saying the jury failed to specify his role in the crime.

Williams still faces sentencing on Aug. 23 for the remaining 38 counts of harboring and transporting immigrants and for the conspiracy count. The maximum sentence for the conspiracy count is life in prison.

Police: Pregnant teens tied up home director, fled

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (AP) - Three pregnant teens living in a group home whacked the director in the head with a frying pan, tied her up and fled in a minivan, police said. - The girls, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, are from California, Texas and Illinois. Police believe they left the state after restraining the director with power cords Tuesday and tying up another pregnant teen.

The director "was able to break free and then she went up and untied the 17-year-old female and then they contacted the police," American Fork police Sgt. Shauna Greening said.

New Hope, a privately owned maternity home in Utah County, is a place for struggling pregnant teens, 30 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Girls attend school in the area and are taught prenatal care, child birth, adoption and parenting skills. A call to a phone number listed for New Hope went unanswered Thursday.

But the owner, Spencer Moody, tearfully told a Salt Lake City TV station that he would close the rural home. He said about two dozen girls had given birth after living at New Hope.

"We've had a lot of parents call and thank us for giving their girls back," Moody told KTVX-TV.

Greening would not release the teens' hometowns or the name of the director, whose purse, checkbook, credit cards, cell phone, video camera and 2005 Dodge Caravan were stolen.

"It's been there about three years, and we've never had any problems," Greening said.

The director said "she never had any indication that anything like this was going to happen. They were all sitting around doing homework before the attack occurred," the sergeant said.

The teens were sent to the home by their parents to get them away from problems with drugs or friends, Greening said. Parents have been contacted about the incident.

Detectives were checking for any use of the director's credit cards.

New Hope is among a handful of maternity homes licensed by the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, spokeswoman Carol Sisco said.

Maryland house fire kills 4, including baby and young boy; 5th person feared dead

ABINGDON, Md. (AP) - A house fire Thursday killed at least four people, including an infant, and destroyed the family's home, officials said. A fifth person was missing and feared dead. - The victims were believed to be members of the same family, although authorities were withholding their identities and their relationship to one another pending further investigation.

The fire was reported by a passing garbage truck shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Sheriff's deputies arrived first and pulled a 72-year-old man from the burning first floor of the wood-frame house in Abingdon, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore. He died at a hospital, Deputy State Fire Marshal Faron Taylor said.

The other victims were trapped inside the two-story house, authorities said: a woman in her 60s, an 8-month-old girl and a boy believed to be 3 or 4 years old. Another young child was missing.

Fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blaze. There was no evidence the home had working smoke detectors, Taylor said.

B>No rape charges, but Navy football player to be court-martialed on lesser counts

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Rape and drug charges have been dropped against a former Navy football player accused of assaulting two female midshipmen, but the U.S. Naval Academy said Thursday it will court-martial him on lesser counts.

Kenny Ray Morrison was accused of using a "date rape drug" to assault the women in separate incidents, but testimony from expert witnesses during pretrial hearings cast doubt on whether the women had been drugged.

Morrison is now charged with two counts of indecent assault and two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. He previously faced more serious charges of rape and distribution of the drug GHB.

Despite the lesser charges, academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt decided that Morrison will face the most serious form of military hearing, a general court-martial. In a statement, the academy said Rempt made the decision "after careful consideration of all available evidence."

"These cases are always sad," Rempt said. "We have midshipmen who reported being assaulted and a midshipman accused of assault."

N.H. couple found guilty for failing to pay income tax; husband holed up with armed supporters

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A man who has holed up with armed supporters in his cement-walled house for most of his tax evasion trial was found guilty Thursday, along with his wife, of failing to pay federal income taxes for a decade.

Ed Brown has said he will defend himself against capture if necessary.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said Thursday that members of his staff continued talking by telephone with Brown and had no plans to confront him.

Ed Brown's wife, Elaine, a dentist who earned most of the couple's income, has been staying with a son in Massachusetts and attended the trial.

The Browns, of Plainfield, contend the law does not require them to pay federal income tax, while the government says the Browns owe more than $625,000. The Browns stopped paying income taxes in 1996 and stopped filing returns in 1998, a prosecutor said. They could each face decades in prison.

A jury decided they employed a scheme to hide their income and avoid taxes in part by using postal money orders in increments just below the reporting threshold to pay for their hilltop compound. Courts have routinely rejected similar attempts by other taxpayers.

Marshals now have to consider how to seize the Browns' assets. The jury was deliberating whether the Browns should lose their home.

"We've established a good line of communication, all of our conversations have been amicable and friendly, and that's how we expect they will continue," Monier said.

Ed Brown stopped attending court midway through the trial, which began Jan. 9. His wife remains out on bail pending the couple's April 24 sentencing; she has said she loves her husband, but that his way of handling the case is not hers.

A man who answered the telephone at the Browns' house Thursday afternoon said Ed Brown could not come to the phone, but had expected a guilty verdict.

"He's here at the house, and he's not leaving of his own free will," said the man, who identified himself only as Bernie.

Ed Brown, a retired exterminator, has said he stayed home to protest a system that had already convicted him.

"Most Americans would cower and cringe and raise their hands and surrender like a good little slave," he told reporters at his home this week.

"I won't. Under no circumstances. I do not tolerate cowardliness, oppression, bulliness, and I certainly don't tolerate a federal agency that has absolutely zero jurisdiction in my state, never mind in my county, in my town."

Life in prison for adultery? Michigan appeals court ruling raises the possibility

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - People who cheat on their spouses know there can be a steep price to pay if they get caught. But life in prison?

It's possible in Michigan, though unlikely.

In a footnote to a ruling involving a drugs-for-sex case, a Michigan appeals court said that if state law were enforced as written, adulterers could be put away for life.

The ruling has generated a little unwanted publicity for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who acknowledged an extramarital affair in 2005.

Adultery is still a crime under Michigan law, punishable by a short prison sentence, but no one has been prosecuted for the offense since 1971. And the voters did not hold Cox's infidelity against him, electing him to a second term last year.

The issue resurfaced this week when Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson wrote about the case of Lloyd Joseph Waltonen of Charlevoix, a Lake Michigan town about 270 miles from Detroit.

Waltonen, 43, pleaded guilty last year to illegally delivering OxyContin, a prescription painkiller. He was sentenced to four to 20 years in prison.

Waltonen had also been charged with rape - or first-degree criminal sexual conduct - for allegedly giving OxyContin to a cocktail waitress in exchange for sex. But before he was sentenced, the trial judge threw out the rape charges, because the woman testified she had been a willing participant, even though she also said she had become hooked on the drug.

On Nov. 7, the Michigan Court of Appeals reinstated the rape charge, saying the law was written in such a way that it did not matter whether the woman consented.

Then, in a footnote to the unanimous, 3-0 opinion, Appeals Judge William B. Murphy said that first-degree criminal sexual conduct is defined as sexual penetration in the furtherance of another felony. Because adultery is a felony, he said, adulterous sex could in theory be prosecuted as rape.

In a column Monday, Dickerson asked Murphy's colleague Judge William Whitbeck whether rape charges could be brought against the attorney general, at least theoretically.

"Well, yeah," Whitbeck replied.

On the Free Press Web site, dozens of readers have debated whether adultery is bad enough to justify life behind bars.

In the footnote, Murphy said he doubted the Legislature had such far-reaching intentions when enacting the law. But he said the appeals court was legally unable to draw its own conclusions.

"Technically," he added, "any time a person engages in sexual penetration in an adulterous relationship … he or she is guilty" of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He added: "We encourage the Legislature to take a second look at the statutory language if it is troubled by our ruling."

A spokesman for the state Senate majority leader said the matter is not on the agenda as lawmakers struggle with a gaping budget deficit.

The attorney general is not interested, either, his spokesman Rusty Hills said. "There are a lot of footnotes in a lot of cases that don't become the law of the land," he said.

As for Cox's adulterous past, Hills said, "The voters got to weigh and sift all the relevant information and they overwhelmingly chose to re-elect the attorney general."

Northern Europe buffeted by heavy rain and strong winds, killing 18

LONDON (AP) - Hurricane-force winds and heavy downpours hammered northern Europe on Thursday, killing 18 people and disrupting travel for tens of thousands - including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose plane was forced to circle for 15 minutes before landing amid winds gusting to 77 mph.

The storms were among the fiercest to batter northern Europe in years, ripping off part of the roof at Lord's Cricket Ground in London, toppling a crane in the Netherlands and suspending travel on the Eurostar, the train service connecting Britain with continental Europe.

By early evening, weather-related accidents had killed 18 people, including a 2-year-old boy hit by falling brick from a toppled wall in London.

Rice cut short her visit to Berlin in order to leave for London before winds worsened, landing at Heathrow Airport in winds gusting up to 77 mph.

"It's not often you get winds of that sort of strength that far inland," said John Hammond of Britain's weather office. "(Rice) did well to land there, I wouldn't have fancied doing that."

German meteorologists recorded gusts up to 118 mph, forcing dozens of flight cancelations, prompting the national railroad to suspend services across a swath of the country and shutting schools.

Long-distance train services in Germany were "to a large extent suspended," said Hartmut Mehdorn, the chief executive of Deutsche Bahn, the national railroad. "We have never yet had such a situation in Germany."

At Berlin's central railway station, Luise Mazur Reinhold, 79, sat disconsolately on a bench.

"What should we do now? They threw us off the train 10 minutes ago," said Mazur, from southern Poland, who had hoped to travel to Hamburg to celebrate her husband's birthday with friends. "We had invited all these people to his 85th birthday, but now we just can't get there."

In London, harried commuters struggled through a gauntlet of road closures caused by falling debris blown from glass-paneled office buildings and medieval churches. The city's slender Millennium Bridge was closed after the suspension structure began swaying dangerously in the wind.

Rail stations across London also were closed, and the evening commute melted into chaos.

"First the buses couldn't cross the bridge because of the wind, and now this," said Paul Richards, 26, a real estate agent trying to reach London Bridge station.

He swore, and turned back to retrace his steps across the wind-swept bridge.

Traffic on the M-25 around London, the busiest highway in Europe, was backed up for miles after three trucks were knocked over by a single gust of wind at around 1 p.m.

Traffic accidents accounted for many of the fatalities, including one in Shropshire, England, where a 54-year-old man identified as Richard Heard, managing director of Birmingham Airport, was killed when his car hit a fallen branch.

Ten deaths were reported in the United Kingdom while three died in Germany; three in the Netherlands, and one each in Belgium and France.

In Amsterdam, bicyclists who ventured out despite warnings from the fire department were blown over or, in some cases, blown backward.

City workers trying to divert cars from fallen trees watched as the wind swept their traffic cones away. The fire department warned people to stay indoors to avoid falling roof tiles and branches, and Amsterdam's historic canals were littered with fallen trash barrels, piles of toppled bikes and dozens of broken umbrellas.

In Utrecht, the Netherlands, a construction crane toppled onto a university building, crumpling the roof and injuring six people.

Heathrow Airport, Europe's largest, canceled 280 flights. Other major airports - including Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam and Vienna - reported delays and cancellations.

At sea, coast guard ships and naval helicopters rescued the crew of a British container ship damaged and drifting in the English Channel.

Ferries were canceled or delayed in Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland.

In Ireland and Latvia, winds kept rescue crews from helping other ships damaged or missing after storms earlier this week. Seven fishermen from Ireland, Poland and Ukraine are missing and presumed dead off the Irish coast, while Latvian rescuers were unable to attempt to salvage a cargo ship that ran aground Tuesday off the Baltic port of Ventspils and has been leaking oil.

A ship burst loose from its moorings near Rotterdam and smashed an oil pipeline, leaking around 10,000 barrels of oil. The stench reached The Hague, 20 miles away.

Austria's national weather service said storm winds had the potential to reach 105 mph at higher altitudes in the Alps, and officials cautioned skiers and snowboarders to get off the mountains and seek shelter well before nightfall.

Man pleads not guilty to kidnapping boy; parents of second teen say they think he was abused

ST. LOUIS (AP) - The parents of a kidnapped Missouri boy said Thursday they believe their son was molested during the four years he was missing, and his grandmother claimed his captor had awakened the boy every 45 minutes, apparently as a way to control him. - The comments came the same day the man suspected of snatching 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping another boy on Jan. 8.

Michael Devlin, a 41-year-old pizzeria manager, was accused of taking 13-year-old Ben Ownby just after he got off the school bus in Beaufort. A schoolmate's tip about a white pickup truck helped lead authorities to Devlin's suburban St. Louis apartment and to the dramatic rescue of Ben and Shawn on Jan. 12.

Prosecutors said Devlin, who also is charged with kidnapping Shawn, terrorized the boy with a handgun to get him to cooperate.

The case has prompted authorities to investigate Devlin in cases involving two missing boys and one girl in eastern Missouri dating back to 1988.

During an interview with Oprah Winfrey on a show that aired Thursday, Shawn's parents said they have not asked their son what happened on the advice of child advocacy experts.

"OK, I'm going to go there and ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think he was sexually abused?" Winfrey asked Shawn's parents, Craig and Pam Akers.

Both nodded and said, "Yes."

While it is The Associated Press' policy not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, Shawn's case has been widely publicized and his name is well-known. Also, the family has gone public, conducting several national interviews.

Shawn's grandmother, Anna Quinn of St. Louis, told the AP Thursday that the boy has not spoken Devlin's name, and that he has said little to relatives about what he went through. But Shawn did tell his family that at times during his captivity, he would be awakened every 45 minutes by his captor.

"Think to yourself when you don't get enough sleep," Quinn said. "He had to do something to get his cooperation."

Shawn, who had dark floppy hair and piercings in his face when he was found, had a cleaner look in a taped interview with Winfrey. He said he always hoped for a reunion with his family.

"If it wasn't for Ben, I might not be here right now," Shawn said. "I'm thankful that he held in there for those few days. I told myself a long time ago I never wanted any kid to go through what I went through."

Shawn said he was not ready to discuss details of his abduction and the subsequent 51 months he spent living with Devlin. Winfrey said the boy told her off-camera that he was "terrified" to contact his parents during the last four years.

Devlin's attorney, Michael Kielty, declined to respond to the claim of sexual abuse, saying he hasn't seen evidence in the case. "The only thing I have is an allegation," he said.

N.G. Berrill, a psychologist and director of the consulting firm New York Forensic and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said it makes sense to look into old cases now that a suspect is in custody.

Devlin "may have tried this before and not known how to pull it off," Berrill said.

He said a serial kidnapper tends to be "an isolated, socially awkward individual … the kind of person people say that seemed OK and people didn't get to know them.

"He looks like an average Joe," Berrill said. "I suspect he has this need to keep kids. He's sort of collecting children."

Lincoln County, Mo., authorities called Devlin the "most viable lead" in the case of Charles Arlin Henderson, who was 11 when he disappeared while riding his bike in 1991 and has never been found.

The boy, known as Arlin, was, like Ben and Shawn, about 100 pounds and from a rural town about an hour from St. Louis.

"We can't discount him in an investigation into any missing child," Lt. Rick Harrell said.

Rescuers make another bid to save dolphins stuck in shallow cove off Long Island

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. - Rescuers in eight boats returned to the waters off Long Island on Thursday, hoping to coax some wayward dolphins out of a shallow cove and into deeper water where they can find food. - The dolphins, of the common variety, were first seen last week, attracting spectators and marine biologists who feared for their safety. At least six have died in the waters that separate the twin forks of eastern Long Island.

Rescuers had some success Tuesday, luring nine or more to safer waters, but strong winds forced rescuers to remain on shore Wednesday. About eight to 11 dolphins were believed to still be in the cove.

The biggest danger to the dolphins is a lack of food in the cove; they require live fish to survive, said Chuck Bowman, president of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

Although a rare occurrence on Long Island, dolphin strandings are an annual event in places farther north, including Massachusetts' Cape Cod, said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium.

Unlike the better-known bottlenose, or "Flipper" type dolphins found in southern waters, members of the common species are usually found year-round off Long Island and into New England, LaCasse said. They are usually six or seven feet long and weigh about 250 pounds or more.

Ordinarily, the dolphins stay about 30 to 80 miles off shore, he said, but were likely chasing some bait food like mackerel or squid closer to the coast.

On the Net:

The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation: http://www.riverheadfoundation.org

Train crew acted properly before Ky. crash that sparked chemical fire, early inspections show

BROOKS, Ky. (AP) - Federal officials said early inspections indicate the crew of a CSX train acted properly just before it derailed, igniting a massive chemical fire that forced evacuations south of Louisville.

The fire sent thick black clouds of smoke into the sky, prompting officials to evacuate residents and shut down a major highway. Firefighters were finishing a controlled burn of some chemicals from tanker cars.

"We have not found any anomalies in operations at this point, we've not seen any train handling issues at this point," said Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation and Safety Board. "So it seems that we need to be focusing more our efforts on examining equipment and track."

Rosenker said investigators are inspecting the track for nicks and abrasions. He said the federal agency considers the derailment an accident.

Meanwhile, seven Bullitt County residents filed a lawsuit against CSX, the rail operator, in federal court in Louisville on Thursday. They alleged that CSX officials acted negligently before the crash and chemical fire forced them to either stay in their homes or evacuate. The suit seeks a class action against CSX, and seeks an unspecified amount of money.

The massive blazes started Tuesday morning when a dozen tanker cars derailed and spilled various chemicals. Officials urged residents within a mile of the derailment to evacuate and part of Interstate 65 was shut down for most of the day.

About two dozen people near the crash site checked themselves into a hospital for symptoms related to the fire and were released.

The chemicals that spilled when the cars derailed were cyclohexane, methyl ethyl ketone, butadiene and alcohol, according to CSX. Officials said they considered the substances toxic but said they break down when burned.

Rob Orkies, fire chief for the Zoneton community, said a rail car full of paper products also burned Thursday, but firefighters won't deal with that small blaze until the chemicals were extinguished.

Rosenker said that a "hot zone" confined to a small area prevented investigators from inspecting the entire crash site.

The train - with four locomotives and 80 cars - had been headed to Louisville from Birmingham, Ala.

U.S.: Whoops! Official report of Canada spy coins not true

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reversing itself, the Defense Department says an espionage report it produced that warned about Canadian coins with tiny radio frequency transmitters was not true. - The Defense Security Service said it never could substantiate its own published claims about the mysterious coins. It has begun an internal review to determine how the false information was included in a 29-page report about espionage concerns.

The service had contended since late June that such coins were found planted on U.S. contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors traveled through Canada.

"The allegations, however, were found later to be unsubstantiated following an investigation into the matter," the agency said in a statement published on its Web site last week.

Intelligence and technology experts were flabbergasted over the initial report, which suggested such transmitters could be used to surreptitiously track the movements of people carrying the coins.

Experts said such tiny transmitters almost certainly would have limited range to communicate with sensors no more than a few feet away, such as ones hidden inside a doorway. The metal coins also would interfere with any signals emitted, they said.

Experts warned that hiding tracking technology inside coins would be fraught with risks because the spy's target might inadvertently give away the coin or spend it buying coffee or a newspaper.

Robert Moroz, who organizes an annual technology conference in Canada said one vendor in 2005 attached coin-sized transmitters to casino chips as part of a proof-of-concept demonstration.

Moroz also cited previous industry proposals - later abandoned - to build such transmitters into the euro. But he was skeptical about the Defense Department's claims even before the Pentagon said its own report was false.

"To make it work with current, commercially available technology - I don't see how it could work," Moroz said.

The now-disavowed report never suggested who might be tracking American defense contractors or why. It never described how the Pentagon discovered the purported ruse, how the transmitters worked or even which Canadian currency allegedly contained them.

The service initially maintained that its report on the spy coins was accurate but said further details about the spy coins were classified.

The report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.

On the Web:

Defense Department statement: http://www.dss.mil/dss-coin-announce.htm

Disavowed espionage report, via the Federation of American Scientists: http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/2006trends.pdf

Schoolhouse to replace Amish shooting scene takes shape

NICKEL MINES, Pa. (AP) - Members of the community are raising a new Amish schoolhouse a few hundred yards from the spot where a gunman shot five girls to death in October. - The new building will have just one room, like the torn-down school where the massacre took place, but will be more secure, with more sophisticated locks and a location reachable only by a private drive, said John Coldiron, a township official.

An Amish-owned business is building the school, but Coldiron said the entire community is pitching in. The building already had a roof and windows by Thursday, about two weeks after construction began.

"Every elder of the church, they're all out there working, hammering nails," Coldiron said.

Some workers are using power tools, even though the Amish shun most modern conveniences.

The old West Nickel Mines Amish School was torn down using heavy equipment 10 days after milk truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV shot the girls and committed suicide.

The new school is within sight of the old location, which is now an empty field bordered with no-trespassing signs.

It is expected to be finished by the end of February, with classes there beginning in March, said one of two Amish men who were at the site Thursday. Students have been attending classes in a garage since the shooting.

Neighbors said they were glad to see the progress.

"I'm happy that they're moving on and they can rebuild. But I guess it's not a surprise considering how they acted when it happened - they forgave right away," said Jessica Moyer, a mother of two.

Police: 3 pregnant teens attack Utah group home director with frying pan; flee in stolen van

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (AP) - Three pregnant teens living in a group home whacked the director in the head with a frying pan, tied her up and then fled in a stolen minivan, police said. - The director, who was tied up with power cords Tuesday, eventually broke free and called police, police Sgt. Shauna Greening said. She also freed another pregnant teen tied up in the attack, she said.

Authorities believed the teens - two 15-year-olds and one 16-year-old - left the state and a search was under way. Police said the teens also stole the director's purse, checkbook, credit cards, cell phone and video camera.

The motive wasn't clear. Parents of the girls, who are from California, Texas and Illinois, were notified, police said.

The home, which is a place for struggling pregnant teens, is in Utah County, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City. Pregnant teens are typically sent there by parents to get away from problems with drugs or boyfriends, and they attend class and learn about prenatal care, childbirth and adoption while staying at the home, according to police.

New Savannah, Ga., police chief wins fans despite embarrassing L.A. lawsuit

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - A month after Michael Berkow arrived from Los Angeles to become police chief in this city of moss-draped oaks and antebellum mansions, Savannah officials learned that he came with some baggage: a lawsuit accusing him of sexual impropriety at the LAPD.

But the mayor and other civic leaders are standing by Berkow - in large part because he is moving aggressively to bring down the violent crime rate that is tarnishing Savannah's tourist appeal as the fetching Southern belle of American cities.

"It looks like he is spending a lot of time reinvigorating our police department, and to that extent I'm a fan," said Rolfe Glover, a money manager who led a citizen task force on crime in this city of 130,000. "My view is the personal stuff is basically irrelevant for us."

Berkow, a 51-year-old former deputy chief in Los Angeles with a law degree and 30 years of police experience, was brought in with high hopes at the Savannah-Chatham County Metropolitan Police Department on Nov. 13.

Berkow arrived at the end of a year marked by public outrage over crime that crested on Christmas Eve 2005, when a mugger fatally shot a 19-year-old debutante. The slaying occurred in the downtown historic district, which draws an estimated 5.8 million visitors a year to Savannah with the same Southern charm that led Gen. William T. Sherman to spare the city from the torch during his ruinous March to the Sea.

Berkow's legal problems surfaced in December when a Los Angeles judge unsealed a sexual harassment lawsuit by LAPD officer Ya-May Christle, who claims she was demoted after she complained Berkow had been giving female officers preferential treatment in exchange for sexual favors. The lawsuit was filed last May.

The documents included a deposition taken from Berkow in October, after Savannah hired him, in which he admitted to an affair with a subordinate officer while separated from his wife, but he said the relationship was carried out off-duty and he has denied any job-related misconduct. Berkow headed the Los Angeles bureau charged with rooting out officer misconduct.

A judge in Los Angeles will rule next month on whether the lawsuit should go to trial.

"I know he is embarrassed by what happened, and I know the man is not a fool. So I don't expect that behavior to happen here," Mayor Otis Johnson said after city and county officials emerged from a meeting earlier this month to say they backed Berkow "100 percent."

Berkow addressed the lawsuit briefly, and dismissively, last week while meeting with residents of the city's Victorian District.

"Basically, anybody who's got $85 for a filing fee and a good imagination can file a lawsuit," he said. "Quite frankly, I'm spending all my time here in Savannah focused on my job."

Berkow earned the city's goodwill by putting more of the department's 350 officers on the street and producing results: Police said auto break-ins, thefts and other property crimes that normally spike during the Christmas season dropped 36 percent from the same period a year ago in the southside precinct, which includes the city's malls and major shopping centers. And violent crimes were down 15 percent.

Perhaps equally important, this is not a city where people are easily shocked.

The best-selling nonfiction book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" recounted in novelistic fashion a deadly quarrel between male lovers and the exploits of a foul-mouthed drag queen. Gay business owners fly rainbow flags outside storefronts downtown, and bars and churches co-exist sometime a block apart.

"That there are over 600 churches in Savannah speaks something to the kind of community it is," said the Rev. George A. Moore Jr. of St. Philip Monumental AME Church. "But there are about that many liquor stores, too."

Moore said he believes the police chief is "a good person," and any foibles he might have "are between him and his God."

Gay Lutheran minister faces church trial after announcing he's got a partner

ATLANTA (AP) - A minister who disclosed that he was gay before Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church hired him as its pastor could now be defrocked for announcing he has a partner.

The Rev. Bradley Schmeling was chosen in 2000 to lead St. John's, though some worried his sexuality could threaten its standing with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. But last year, the 350-member congregation threw a party for him and his partner, when Schmeling announced he had found a lifelong companion.

Bishop Ronald Warren of the ELCA's Southeastern Synod, however, asked the 44-year-old pastor to resign. When Schmeling refused, Warren started disciplinary proceedings against him for violating church rules barring sex outside of marriage.

On Friday, Schmeling will face a hearing - structured much like a trial - where a committee of 12 ELCA members will decide whether he can remain an ordained minister in the church that sits among mansion-lined hills just east of downtown.

If the committee rules against Schmeling, he could face suspension or no longer be recognized as an ordained minister in the ELCA. In the latter case, if his congregation opts to keep him as its pastor, the ELCA could also discipline St. John's.

The ELCA maintains it's simply following its own rules, which bar unmarried clergy - whether gay or straight - from having sex. The denomination believes that sex is reserved for marriage and marriage for heterosexual couples. Still, many Lutheran churches support ordaining partnered gays and perform same-sex blessing ceremonies despite the policy.

Schmeling and his supporters say they hope his case will make the church more accepting of pastors in same-sex relationships.

"We've always been a church that emphasizes the unconditional love of God, so this policy runs counter to that," Schmeling said in an interview with The Associated Press last weekend.

Other mainline Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Methodists and the Episcopalians, also have been struggling for years to resolve differences over the Bible and gay clergy.

The Rev. Irene "Beth" Stroud was defrocked by the United Methodist Church in 2005 for being in a lesbian partnership, while a Presbyterian assembly last year voted to create leeway for congregations to hire gay clergy.

Schmeling told both his bishop and congregation about his sexual orientation before he was chosen pastor. He didn't have a partner at the time.

ELCA spokesman John Brooks said that if a heterosexual pastor was in a relationship outside of marriage and he refused to repent, he would face similar disciplinary proceedings. When Warren announced in August that he was taking action against Schmeling, he said he wouldn't comment until a verdict was rendered.

In 2005, delegates to an ELCA national meeting rejected a proposal to allow sexually active gays and lesbians in committed, long-term relationships to be ordained.

Schmeling and his supporters say the policy barring sexually active gay pastors is discriminatory by forcing them to refrain from sex, while heterosexuals only have to wait for marriage.

Schmeling's hearing, which will be closed to the public, is expected to run through the weekend. Afterward, the 12-person committee - comprised of both clergy and lay people, including two members chosen by Schmeling - will have a couple of weeks to decide whether to take action, which could include a suspension or removal from ordained ministry.

"We want Bradley to be our pastor and we want to remain in ELCA," congregation president Laura Crawley said. "If he's removed from the roster, he'll continue as pastor."

On the Net:

St. John's Lutheran Church: http://www.stjohnsatlanta.org

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: http://www.elca.org

Grandmother sentenced to probation; authorities say she tried to keep girl from testifying

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - The grandmother of a sexual assault victim has been sentenced to two years' probation for helping to keep her granddaughter out of state so the girl couldn't testify against her adoptive father.

Barbara Johnson, 58, was sentenced Wednesday for a single count of aggravated intimidation of a witness.

Johnson's son-in-law was convicted in October of molesting the 12-year-old girl in 2005 and early 2006. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison last month.

Before Wednesday's sentencing, Johnson's attorney, Terry Bell, asked to have Johnson's guilty plea withdrawn, claiming she was under duress when she entered into the agreement. Reno County District Court Judge Joe McCarville denied the motion.

Johnson's daughter also pleaded guilty in the case; prosecutors say she also tried to keep the girl from testifying. She was sentenced to 18 months' probation for aiding a felon and conspiracy to aid a felon.

Anti-Defamation League honors Albanians who protected Jews during World War II

NEW YORK (AP) - World War II was over, and Anna Kohen, then a small child, was walking with her mother in Vlora, Albania, when a Muslim woman ran toward them, crying and calling her mother by an unfamiliar name.

The women hugged and cried. Later, her mother explained that the woman was from a village where she, Kohen's father and other Jews had hidden during the Nazi occupation before Kohen was born. To protect themselves, Kohen's mother and father had taken Muslim names.

"Everyone in the village knew they were Jews, but no one betrayed them," Kohen recalled Wednesday as the Anti-Defamation League praised Albania as the only occupied country where no Jews died at the hands of the Nazis, thanks to the country's Christians and Muslims.

Although records from that period are incomplete, Michael Salberg, the league's director of international affairs, estimated that several thousand Jews fled to Albania from surrounding countries in Eastern Europe.

"All of them were saved," Salberg said. "Albania is the only country occupied by the Nazis that had more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning of the war, which is a reflection of Jews having sought refuge in Albania and survived."

The league posthumously honored a Muslim Albanian man and his son for protecting six Jewish families during the war.

The organization presented its Courage to Care Award to three relatives of the late Mefail Bicaku and his son Njazi. The two led the six families - a total of 26 people - to safety in the mountains of central Albania.

For months, the Bicakus shared their home and food with the families, the league said.

The award was presented to Mefail's son Muhamet and Njazi's daughter, Elida Hazbiu, and son, Qemal Bicaku.

With Kohen translating, Muhamet Bicaku thanked the Anti-Defamation League said he was greatly honored to accept the award on his father's behalf. His father was jailed in 1961 for "collaborating with Jews" and died in 1969, he said.

"I'm very proud of what he has done," he said.

On the Net:

Anti-Defamation League: http://www.adl.org/

Methodist ministers launch petition to stop Bush library at SMU, says it's inappropriate

DALLAS (AP) - A group of Methodist ministers from across the nation launched an online petition drive Thursday urging Southern Methodist University to stop trying to land George W. Bush's presidential library.

The petition, on a newly created Web site, http://www.protectsmu.org, says that "as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate."

"Methodists have a long history of social conscience, so questions about the conduct of this president are very concerning," said one of the petition's organizers, the Rev. Andrew J. Weaver of New York, who graduated from SMU's Perkins School of Theology.

Brad Cheves, SMU's vice president for external affairs and development, said Thursday that the Methodist church is diverse in its membership and opinions and that those involved with the petition reflect only one view.

"We believe the vast majority of the Methodist membership, university and community support the library and that it will benefit the faculty, students and community for generations to come," Cheves said.

SMU emerged as the apparent winner in the library competition last month when the site selection committee said it was entering into further discussions with just SMU, the 11,000-student, private university, which is first lady Laura Bush's alma mater. The Bushes are Methodists.

Some SMU professors have opposed Bush's foreign policy, mainly the war in Iraq. Some faculty members also have complained that the library complex's think tank dedicated to the philosophy of the Bush administration would hurt the school's reputation.

But at a faculty meeting Wednesday, SMU President R. Gerald Turner said those fears were unfounded. He said among the library's benefits were increasing the school's visibility nationwide and spurring economic development in the city.

The project will be financed with a private fund drive aimed at raising at least $200 million.

While SMU's president said his university' exclusive talks with the selection committee would resume in a few days, the other finalists are Baylor University in Waco and the University of Dallas. A decision is expected in a few months.

Texas and Oklahoma shiver in grip of latest winter storm, but some students return to school

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A bone-rattling blast of sleet and snow kept Texas and Oklahoma residents shivering in the dark Thursday, while a blizzard north of Los Angeles caused big-rigs to jackknife.

Many Oklahoma schools remained closed Thursday, but Texas students headed back to class as transportation officials reopened roadways closed by ice.

At least 66 storm-related deaths have been reported in nine states since Friday, including 10 in Texas and 23 in Oklahoma.

Much of the brunt of the latest Southern storms was moving east Thursday - but the reprieve may be short-lived. Another barrage was to bring up to 8 inches snow to the Plains by late Friday.

Snow accumulations were light by some other regions' standards - the Dallas area topped out at 3 inches - but hundreds of airline flights were canceled and tens of thousands of electricity customers lost power.

About 69,000 Oklahoma homes and businesses remained without power Thursday.

Hardest hit in Oklahoma was McAlester, where many stores operated on generator power. At the E-Z Mart, store manager Becky Clayton was selling out of soda, water and potato chips. With most restaurants closed, customers also made a run on her deli.

"I was ready for summer before it ever got cold," Clayton said.

Ice coated power lines throughout McAlester, and nearly 1,000 linemen, tree-trimmers and support workers from surrounding states helped with repairs on Wednesday.

Tulsa was running out of salt as 50 spreaders worked on streets near schools and in hilly areas. "Everyone's in the same boat," said Dan Crossland, the city's street maintenance supervisor. "We're scrounging for resources."

In Texas, a 300-mile stretch of Interstate 10 from Fort Stockton to San Antonio reopened Thursday after two days, though officials said slush and icy patches remained.

More than 250 flights were canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Wednesday. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport canceled 102 flights, while San Antonio International Airport canceled 23 morning flights and Houston's two major airports had delays.

A Houston city employee was killed Wednesday when he was hit by a car while helping an accident victim, said Frank Michel, spokesman for Houston Mayor Bill White. "Very tragic," Michel said. "He was attempting to be a good Samaritan and lost his life."

Along with the fatalities in Oklahoma and Texas, the wave of storms was blamed for 11 deaths in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four each in New York and Michigan, three in Arkansas and one each in Maine, Indiana and North Carolina.

Elsewhere in the country, frigid conditions tested even those used to snow and ice. Temperatures in Maine never rose above single digits, and some communities saw dangerous wind chills. It was minus-16 degrees in Caribou.

In New Hampshire, only about 825 of the more than 50,000 homes and businesses that lost power in the ice storm remained without power Thursday, said Martin Murray, a Public Service Company of New Hampshire spokesman.

Freezing rain and snow showers closed some schools or delayed openings Thursday across the Carolinas.

In California, a four-night cold snap wiped out as much as three-quarters of the state's citrus and harmed virtually every other winter crop, from avocados to flowers.

A fast-moving cold storm dropped snow in the mountains above Malibu, left white coats of hail in the city and unleashed a blizzard Wednesday that closed Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles.

Texas citrus growers in the usually balmy Rio Grande Valley also suffered a cold snap, but it wasn't severe enough to damage crops, said John McClung, president of the Texas Produce Association.

"The weather's nowhere near cold enough to do anything here," he said, noting that Texas growers might get a small windfall because of the California freeze.

TV helicopter pilot saves stranded deer by blowing it off frozen Oklahoma lake

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - The pilot of a TV news helicopter used the wind from the aircraft's rotor to push a stranded deer to safety after it lost its footing on a frozen lake and could not get up.

A small crowd had gathered to watch the deer struggling, its hooves repeatedly slipping, near the shore of Lake Thunderbird around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

With the helicopter's camera rolling, KWTV pilot Mason Dunn used the wind from the rotor to push the deer, initially sending it into a break in the ice where the animal managed to hold onto the ice with its front legs.

Dunn then lowered the helicopter and the wind sent the deer sliding on its belly across the ice until it reached shore and scampered into a nearby wooded area.

United States criticizes Chinese anti-satellite weapons test

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States criticized China on Thursday for conducting an anti-satellite weapons test in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a ballistic missile.

"The United States believes China's development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "We and other countries have expressed our concern to the Chinese."

U.S. intelligence agencies believe China conducted the test on Jan. 11.

Happy Hour could become Happy Day in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - You've heard of "Happy Hour" but how about "Happy Day?" All-day drink specials could become a reality in South Carolina.

A state House subcommittee on Wednesday approved legislation that would allow bars and restaurants to choose one day a week, except Sundays, for all-day specials on liquor drinks.

Currently, businesses can sell and advertise liquor drink specials - though not less than half-price - from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. only. Breaking the law can be punished by at least three months in jail and a fine of at least $100.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Doug Smith, said the proposal would legalize what many businesses already do.

The proposal is up for debate next Tuesday by the state House Judiciary Committee.

Police spare tangled deer's life with stun gun

CANBY, Ore. (AP) - Confronted with a deer whose antlers were tangled in a rope swing at a rural home, two officers saw no good choices.

They weren't about to try to free the animal themselves. It weighed several hundred pounds and was thrashing wildly.

A bullet in the skull seemed the alternative.

"They thought they were going to have to kill it out of compassion," Lt. Jim Strovink of the Clackamas County sheriff's office said Wednesday. "It was going to die a slow, agonizing death."

Then Deputy Jeff Miller thought of the stun gun used to immobilize out-of-control prisoners or suspects.

Zap!

The deer stopped moving. The officers, one a sheriff's deputy, the other a state trooper, untangled the rope, which was dangling from a tree limb, and freed the buck.

Not long after, the deer "took off happy as a clam," Strovink said. "That was pretty good thinking."

Rescue team having lunch saves man having heart attack in restaurant

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - If Robert Ricard had picked the wrong restaurant for lunch, he might have died.

The 71-year-old suffered a heart attack shortly after ordering a glass of wine with friends at Bentley's Roadhouse on Saturday.

Luckily, a disaster medical team was sitting nearby.

Members of the Mich-1 Disaster and Medical Assistance Team were having lunch after a morning of training at nearby Selfridge Air National Guard Base. They immediately jumped to the rescue when a waitress yelled for someone to call 911.

Ricard twice quit breathing and turned blue. The rescuers revived him both times.

Ricard chose Bentley's from a list of five restaurants, said his friend, Bill Novak.

"These courageous and talented people brought Bob back to life right in front of my very eyes," Novak told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens. "If it wasn't for their quick reaction to what could have been a deadly situation, I don't even want to think about it."

Ricard was taken to a hospital, where he met his rescuers on Tuesday.

Malaysian farmers fight custody battle over calf

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Two Malaysian farmers have agreed to DNA tests for a 3-year-old calf to determine the bovine's parentage after they clashed in a field over its custody, according to a published report.

Farmers Zulkifli Setapa and Isa Mohamed filed police reports in November for custody of the calf, the New Straits Times reported Wednesday. Zulkifli claimed to have tethered the calf, along with four bulls, in a grazing field in Pasir Putih in northeastern Kelantan state when Isa stopped him, claiming the calf was his, the report said.

They then went to the police to settle their dispute, the report said.

Blood samples from the calf and two cows said to have given birth to the calf have been taken by the Kelantan state veterinary services department.

The calf is estimated to be worth about $572. DNA tests, to be shared by the disputing parties, will cost about $914, the newspaper said.

The report, citing an unnamed Kelantan veterinary services official, said determining the calf's parentage may be difficult as both cows had come from the same herd.

The Kelantan veterinary services department could not be immediately reached for comment.

On "Oprah," parents disclose fears that kidnapped son was sexually abused

The topic was sensitive - the sexual abuse of a kidnapped boy - yet it was broached in the most public of settings. On Oprah Winfrey's TV show, the parents of Shawn Hornbeck disclosed for the first time their belief that he was sexually molested by his captor.

The revelation, in a show airing Thursday, raised anew the thorny problem of identifying sexual assault victims and dramatically demonstrated how the line between public and private has been redrawn in this 24-hour media world.

For Winfrey, it was a powerful interview and a scoop. For some experts on child abductions and molestation, there were qualms.

"This is a time to get to know one another and build new memories and heal, and they should be leaving these kids alone," said Patty Wetterling, who became a prominent child-protection activist after her still-missing son, Jacob, was abducted in Minnesota in 1989.

Until the Winfrey show, there had been no public mention by any of the principals in the case of sexual abuse - even though it is a common motive for child abductions.

The alleged abductor, Michael Devlin, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Union, Mo., to charges of kidnapping another boy, 13-year-old Ben Ownby, who was found last week along with Shawn in Devlin's apartment four days after disappearing. Devlin - who has not been charged with sexual abuse - is to enter a plea later in connection with Shawn's abduction.

On "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Shawn's parents, Craig and Pam Akers, said their 15-year-old son hasn't told them directly but they believe he was sexually abused during the more than four years he was missing.

"OK, I'm gonna go there and ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think he was sexually abused?" Winfrey asked the parents. Both nodded and said yes.

Rona Fields, a Washington D.C., psychologist specializing in traumatized children, said she was troubled at how and where the issue was broached.

"It's not something I would think a 15-year-old boy would want to have broadcast all over the country," Fields said. "This impacts on the whole rest of his life, and it makes me cringe to think people would be so careless."

There was no immediate reply to a request for comment from Winfrey or her publicists.

While it is a policy of The Associated Press, and many other news organizations, not to identify alleged victims of sexual abuse in most cases, Shawn's case has been widely publicized and his name is well-known. Also, the family has gone public, conducting several interviews.

John Butler, news director of St. Louis radio station KMOX, noted that - as in other child-abduction cases - the media initially was doing a public service by reporting the names of missing youths, and could not suddenly withdraw them from public access.

"The name was already out there," Butler said. "If we look at it from damage to the child, the damage has already been done."

Similar dilemmas have arisen in previous abduction cases, including two in 2003. Utah teen Elizabeth Smart's name was so widely known that there was no turning back by the media after disclosure that she had been sexually abused during her nine months of captivity.

However, many news organizations - after initially identifying a missing 9-year-old San Jose, Calif., girl - did stop using the name after it became known that she had been sexually assaulted.

"Each case has to be looked at carefully based on all the facts you're aware of," said Dick Rogers, reader's representative for the San Francisco Chronicle. "The facts regarding the 9-year-old dictated restraint, while this one (the Missouri case) seems different. You hope every newsroom slows down enough to talk about it and do the right thing."

University of New Hampshire sociologist David Finkelhor, an expert on crimes against children, said the media should strive for sensitivity even in cases where an abused kidnap victim's name has been publicized.

"In abduction cases where the identity is already well known, it seems to me that special considerations ought to apply about trying to ensure the maximum amount of confidentiality," he said. "We should not start from the presumption that, because we are so personally involved in this case from having followed it, we're entitled to know everything."

Kelly McBride, an expert on journalistic ethics at the Poynter Institute, said the media should be willing to identify adult sexual assault victims if those individuals want to speak out on the record.

"When a victim's parents want to talk about that, I have a few more reservations," she said. "I don't know that anyone can make that decision for anyone else."

Number of people with traditional telephones has dropped sharply

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Americans with traditional landline telephones has declined sharply over the past three years - a trend with ramifications for phone surveys that inform policy and market research. - About one in eight households did not have a landline telephone in the first half of 2006, according to data the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected in its National Health Interview Survey. Three years earlier, it was about one in 20.

The percentage of adults using cell phones only was increasing 1 percentage point every six months from 2003 through 2005 but jumped 2 points in the most recent study, Stephen Blumberg, a senior scientist at the CDC, said Thursday.

Among all adults, 9.6 percent had only a cell phone in the first half of 2006, compared with 7.7 percent in the preceding six months. The overall number without landlines - 13.2 percent - includes those who have no phone at all.

The survey research industry is watching this trend closely as U.S. polling typically samples households via traditional landline telephones. That may underrepresent those most likely to only own cell phones - younger and poorer people and those who rent rather than own their home. But it's much more costly to interview people on their cell phones.

The implications ultimately could affect government, academic, business and media surveys on politics, the economy, employment, health behaviors and many other topics.

Recent research - including an Associated Press-Pew survey last fall of cell phone users as well as landline households - indicates the cell-phone-only crowd is not yet large enough and their views not different enough to affect the accuracy of traditional polling among the general population or voters.

"This latest increase is larger than we would have predicted," said Scott Keeter, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. "It's now about one in four young adults (18-24) who have cell phones only. So far, it's not affecting our results, but it already has the potential to affect studies focused on young people, poor people and renters - groups more likely to have only a cell phone."

But the number of people without any kind of phone service is lower now, about 2 percent, than it was a decade ago, Keeter said.

Authorities say priest embezzled as much as $1 million from 2 Virginia parishes

LOUISA, Va. (AP) - A retired Roman Catholic priest suspected of living a double life as a family man appeared in court Thursday to face accusations that he embezzled thousands from two parishes.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, did not enter a plea.

Rodis was indicted Jan. 8 on one count of felony embezzlement. Rodis had been pastor at St. Jude in Mineral and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Bumpass between 1993 and May 2006.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond has said Rodis embezzled more than $600,000 from his two parishes, but a state police investigator said the sum could top $1 million.

Authorities allege Rodis opened an account in a church's name, deposited donations in the account and then diverted them for personal use. Court records show that bank records seized from Rodis' home include a receipt for a service for wiring money to the Philippines, Rodis' home country.

The priest also is suspected of having a wife and children in violation of church rules because he and a woman are listed as husband and wife on a deed of trust for a mortgage. He has said they are not married, but neighbors say he referred to her as his wife.

Rodis left court without speaking to reporters.

"We're all in a state of shock and very, very disappointed," said Kathleen Pfeiffer, 63, of Mineral, a member of St. Jude who attended the hearing. "Nobody suspected this. He's just a very little, round, jovial guy."

Maryland house fire kills 5, including baby and young boy

ABINGDON, Md. (AP) - A house fire Thursday killed five people, including two young children, and destroyed the family's home, officials said.

The victims were believed to be members of the same family, although authorities were withholding their identities and their relationship to one another pending further investigation.

The fire was reported by a passing garbage truck shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Sheriff's deputies arrived first and pulled a 72-year-old man from the burning first floor of the wood-frame house in Abingdon, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore. He died at a hospital, according to Deputy State Fire Marshal Faron Taylor.

The other victims were trapped inside the two-story house, authorities said: a woman in her 60s, an 8-month-old girl and a boy believed to be 3 or 4 years old.

A fifth body has not been identified, State Fire Marshal William E. Barnard said.

Fire investigators were trying to determine the cause of the blaze. There was no evidence the home had working smoke detectors, Taylor said.