From The Planet

News and Commentary For 8/16/06

Nation Page

Suspect arrested in Ramsey case-
A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, a 42-year-old American, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online. The Ramsey family's attorney in Atlanta pronounced the arrest vindication for JonBenet's parents, John and Patsy Ramsey, who had long been under suspicion in the slaying..........Wood said Karr confessed to elements of the crime. A law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Karr had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials.....Authorities said Karr was being held in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. CBS reported he will be brought back to the United States this weekend.
I never really got a good reading on this case as it is not within my interest zone. I speculated it was the son. A case of jealously that sis was getting all the attention. I am thankful that does not seem to be the case.

Update: A former American school teacher said publicly Thursday he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she was killed and called the 6-year-old's death "an accident." ...He said Karr insisted his crime was not first-degree murder but that she died during a kidnapping attempt that went awry.
"He said it was second-degree murder. He said it was unintentional. He said he was in love with the child, she was a pageant queen," Suwat said....Suwat quoted Karr as saying he tried to kidnap JonBenet for a $118,000 ransom but that his plan went awry and he strangled her. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

Tour de France Father in law found dead-
The father-in-law of embattled Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was found dead, and a family spokesman said Wednesday authorities were investigating it as a possible suicide. David Witt, 57, was discovered in his car Tuesday afternoon in a San Diego parking garage.
The Coast Guard caught Mexican drug lord Francisco Javier Arellano Felix deep-sea fishing off Mexico, decapitating a murderous cartel that drug smuggling tunnels under the U.S. border, officials said Wednesday.

Was he on crack ?
Arellano Felix, 36, was captured when the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Monsoon boarded a U.S.-registered sport fishing boat at 9 a.m. local time Monday about 15 miles off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. DEA agents discovered Arellano Felix's fishing plans and asked the Coast Guard to seize the boat in international waters. The Arellano Felix gang, along with the Gulf Cartel and the Federacion, are the largest Mexican drug cartels.


Politics Page

Whoa Baby!
Rep. Bobby Jindal barely had time to call 911 when his wife woke with labor pains Tuesday. Minutes later, he helped deliver his own son.Slade Ryan Jindal arrived before the ambulance did at about 3:25 a.m. Jindal, coached over the phone by a nurse at the doctor's office, put the baby in the arms of his wife, Supriya, and tied off the umbilical cord with a shoestring. Their third child, born two days before his due date, weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and measured 21 inches long. Mother and baby were resting comfortably Tuesday at a nearby hospital.

Another Dynasty Dance
Presidential son Jack Carter easily won the Democratic primary to challenge U.S. Sen. John Ensign, while Nevada voters set up an intriguing governor's race and delivered a razor-thin victory to a GOP candidate vying for an open U.S. House seat.
Former President Carter's son easily advanced to the November general election, drawing 78 percent of the vote in Tuesday's Democratic primary.


Goofball Page

Life at the Good life mobile home park
Police have arrested a man who they believe watched women shower, exposed himself and performed sex acts at nine mobile home and RV parks in Mesa. Dan Martin, general manager of the Good Life RV Park, said a female resident reported that a man using an outdoor shower at about 7:30 a.m. last month exposed and fondled himself. When police confronted Holt Monday at his home, they say he admitted to most of the crimes but grabbed a gun hidden in a television cabinet and pointed it at himself. Detectives retreated from the home and called in a SWAT team. After a three-hour standoff, police launched a chemical agent and Holt surrendered peacefully.

Work for us. Be a proud dumpster diver!
Bankrupt Northwest Airlines Corp. advised workers to fish in the trash for things they like or take their dates for a walk in the woods in a move to help workers facing the ax to save money......The four-page booklet, "Preparing for a Financial Setback" contained suggestions such as shopping in thrift stores, taking "a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods" and not being "shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."
Only the worst for our employees !!


Sports Page

Barry Bonds hit his 724th career home run Wednesday night, a solo shot leading off the second inning against San Diego's Chan Ho Park. Bonds is now 31 shy of tying home run king Hank Aaron's record of 755. Bonds has 16 homers this season for the San Francisco Giants. Sure he can do it on steroids but can he do it on beer and cigars like the Babe did !?

Oops, strike that
Lee Suggs has never felt healthier -- or more confused. Suggs returned to practice with the Cleveland Browns on Wednesday, one day after his trade to New York was voided when the Jets said the oft-injured running back had failed his physical.