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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Referee dishes out five red cards in dressing room

LONDON (Reuters) - A referee sent off five players in the dressing rooms after a post-match brawl at an English League Two (fourth tier) game between Bradford City and promotion-chasing Crawley Town.

"I can't believe this has happened," Bradford manager Phil Parkinson, who had three players shown red cards after the 2-1 home defeat on Tuesday night, told the BBC.

"I have never been in a situation before where a ref has come into the dressing room, pulled players on one side and sent them off. He wouldn't allow me in there."

Six Crawley players and one from Bradford were booked during the match with Bradford's Andrew Davies, who was sent off, now set for a five-match ban after being shown red cards twice previously this season.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

6,060 years in prison for former Guatemalan soldier

(CNN) -- A Guatemalan court convicted a former soldier for his role in a 1982 massacre and sentenced him to more than 6,000 years in prison.

Pedro Pimentel Rios is the fifth former soldier convicted of atrocities for the killing of 250 people in the village of Dos Erres during the country's civil war.
Pimentel was extradited from the United States to Guatemala in July 2011.

Relatives of the victims said justice was late, but it finally came.
"By the grace of God I feel quite happy, because really you can see that justice is being done. ... It was an atrocity, what they did," said Ramiro Osorio, whose parents and siblings were killed in the massacre.

The evidence presented by the prosecution and the testimonies of the witnesses proved that Pimentel was involved in the killings, Judge Irma Valdez said Monday.
He was sentenced to 30 years each for 201 of the Dos Erres killings and another 30 on a charge of crimes against humanity.

The former soldier told family members of the victims in court that he was shocked by what happened, but denied involvement in the massacre and argued that Guatemalan authorities were influenced by foreign interests in the case.
"Now a group of liars are graduating, and this trial is the exam, and they passed it. Everything they said was believed," he said.

The judge ruled that Pimentel was part of a special unit known as the Kaibiles, who stormed the village, thinking that residents were hiding left-wing guerrillas.
Last year, four other former soldiers -- Carlos Antonio Carias Lopez, Reyes Collin Guali, Daniel Martinez Mendez and Manuel Pop Sun -- were also sentenced to more than 6,000 years in prison for the same massacre.


That trial was one of Guatemala's first against former soldiers who served in the dictatorship era.
More than 200,000 people were killed or "disappeared" between 1966 and 1996, the United Nations estimates. The organization documented 669 massacres in Guatemala during the nation's 36-year civil war, which ended in 1996.

Thomas Robert Harter Jumps Off Bridge To Avoid DUI Test

A New Orleans man went to extreme measures to avoid taking a DUI test: He jumped off a 20-foot-high bridge.

On Sunday, Thomas Robert Harter was pulled over by police and asked to take a sobriety test after another motorist reported his car swerving and speeding, according to Newser.

Although Harter got out of the car without being asked, and was waving his arms in the air, police say he was swaying smelling of alcohol and wearing a green St. Patrick's Day necklace. When the officer asked for his vehicle registration, Harter got back into his car and exited again, holding a pile of paper scraps and a stack of CDs, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, still swaying.

At that point, the officer asked Harter to take a field sobriety test and he agreed, before suddenly "bolting" and leaping into the water 20 feet below.

One officer managed to grab him, but couldn't hold on to Harter, who was wearing jeans, boots and a camouflage T-shirt.

Harter fell into the lake and disappeared into the water, which was rough, with winds between 15 and 20 mph, and cold, about 60 degrees, according to Causeway General Manager Carlton Dufrechou.

The southbound lanes were closed for about a half hour as rescuers looked for him.

"We were concerned that the current would just take him away," Dufrechou told the Times-Picayune.

Luckily, Harter managed to grab a utility building at the base of the bridge. He was hauled out of the 60-degree water intact and arrested for what will be his eighth drunk-driving charge, according to WWL-TV.

He was also charged with resisting arrest and careless driving, and booked as a fugitive on outstanding warrants for a hit and run.

He is being held on a $15,000 bond on the alleged driving violations, according to Fox News, but Dufrechou thinks that's better than the alternative.

"He's a lot better off than being crabmeat," he told reporters.

White Grandfather Cuffed For Walking With Black Granddaughter


Scott Henson (pictured), a self-described White Texas redneck, was cuffed last Friday by a swarm of policemen, because he was walking his Black 5-year-old grandchild down the street. The Austin resident spoke to NewsOne about how he was accosted by police for being in the company of his grandchild, Ty (pictured).

Ty’s mother is not Henson and his wife’s biological child; the couple decided to raise her after her own father died. Still, the woman calls Henson and his wife “Mom” and “Dad,” and naturally, her daughter refers to the couple as her grandparents.

Henson’s grandchild typically spends Friday nights with her grandfather and his wife, so that the little girl’s parents can get a break. Last Friday, Henson, who is a journalist and creator of two popular blogs GritsforBreakfast and Huevos Rancheros, took his grandchild to a skating rink near his home as a reward for being a high achiever at school. The kindergartener grew tired of skating, so the pair decided to walk home rather than have his wife pick them up from the rink.

After walking a distance from the rink, Henson felt as if he was being followed. Suddenly, someone called out to them, and it turned out to be a deputy constable.

“She told me to take my hand out of my pocket and to step away from Ty, declaring that someone had seen a White man chasing a Black girl and reported a possible kidnapping. Then she began asking the 5-year-old about me. The last time this happened, Ty was barely 2, and I wasn’t about to let police question her. This time, though, at least initially, I decided to let her answer. “Do you know this man?” the deputy asked. “Yes, he’s my Grandpa,” Ty said. “What did you say?” the deputy repeated. “He’s my Grandpa!” Ty yelled, then rushed back over to me and grabbed hold of my leg. “Okay,” the deputy responded.

The constable asked for Henson’s name and address, and he chose not to answer stating that if he was not being held for anything, he would like to take the child home. The woman complied and allowed Henson to leave.

Just as Henson and Ty were approaching their home, a police cruiser that had passed them by after the constable released them suddenly turned around and threw on his flashing lights. Four more police cars joined, surrounding Henson and Ty. Officers jumped out of their vehicles with tasers drawn, demanding that Henson throw up his hands and step away from the child. The officers grabbed the child and put her in the backseat of a vehicle. By now there were a total of nine to ten police cars surrounding Henson and his granddaughter.

“ I gave them the phone numbers they needed to confirm who Ty was and that she was supposed to be with me (and not in the back of their police car), but for quite a while nobody seemed too interested in verifying my story. One officer wanted to lecture me endlessly about how they were just doing their job, as if the innocent person handcuffed on the side of the road cares about such excuses. I asked why he hadn’t made any calls yet, and he interrupted his lecture to say, ‘We’ve only been here two minutes, give us time” (It had actually been much longer than that). Maybe so, I replied, sitting on the concrete in handcuffs, but there are nine of y’all milling about doing nothing by my count so you’ve had 18 minutes for somebody to get on the damn phone by now so y’all can figure out you screwed up.”

According to Henson, the same deputy constable who had questioned him earlier walked in on the scene and briefly looked his way as she spoke to police personnel. Soon after, a supervisor arrived and began questioning the officers. The woman came over to Henson and began explaining how the police department has to take complaints about possible kidnappings seriously. By this point, though, Henson felt he was guilty in the eyes of law enforcement for the “heinous crime of babysitting while white.”

After Henson was released, there were no apologies issued. After being interrogated, Ty was given a flashlight as a consolation prize. According to Henson, the deputy constable who could now barely look him in the eyes, “You knew better. This is on you.”

Meanwhile Ty, who was visibly shaken after witnessing how authorities treated her granddad, is left with a negative perception of law enforcement. “I hate for a 5-year-old to be subjected to such an experience. I’d like her to view police as people she can trust instead of threats to her and her family, but it’s possible I live in the wrong neighborhood for that.”

Attempts were made by News One to obtain a quote from the Austin police department regarding the Henson case but our calls were not returned.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Teen pregnant 'from swimming in pool'


A mother is suing a hotel in Egypt after claiming her 13-year-old daughter got pregnant from swimming in a pool, a report claims.

Magdalena Kwiatkowska is convinced her daughter is a virgin and came into contact with some sperm as she swam in the hotel pool, British tabloid The Sun reports.

Mrs Kwiatkowska is now reportedly seeking compensation after returning to the family home in Poland.

"The mother is adamant that her daughter didn't meet any boys while she was there," a travel industry source was quoted as saying.

"She is determined to go ahead with the case."

Tourist authorities in the Polish capital Warsaw confirmed they received Mrs Kwiatkowska's complaint, the newspaper said.