American Scene

COLORADO

Grandma wants boy back in U.S.

LEADVILLE | A Colorado woman who says she is the mother of an American held and later released in Ireland over a purported plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist said Sunday she does not know where her daughter or grandson may be.

Christine Mott, of Leadville, said she learned from federal law-enforcement agencies that her 31-year-old daughter, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, had been arrested. Irish police said Saturday that they had released an American woman and three others arrested over the purported plot to kill Lars Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad in a 2007 sketch with the body of a dog. Police wouldn’t confirm whether those released included Mrs. Paulin-Ramirez.

Mrs. Mott said Sunday she had not heard from federal authorities, Mrs. Paulin-Ramirez or her 6-year-old grandson, Christian.

“The only thing I care about is getting that little boy back in the United States where he is safe,” she said.

Mrs. Paulin-Ramirez lived in Blue Springs, Mo., before moving to Leadville, her mother said. She told her family last year that she had converted to Islam and that they’d go to hell if they didn’t do the same, Mrs. Mott said.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

‘Granny D’ praised at memorial service

DUBLIN | Hundreds of admirers of a New Hampshire activist who was known as Granny D and walked across the country to raise awareness of campaign-finance reform have attended her memorial service.

Doris Haddock’s service at the Dublin Community Church on Sunday drew guests including federal, state and local officials. Ms. Haddock died Tuesday of respiratory illness at her home in Dublin, a small town southwest of Concord. She was 100.

At age 89, she walked 3,200 miles in 14 months for campaign finance reform. She wore a wide-brimmed straw hat and carried a yellow flag. On Sunday, admirers handed out small straw-hat pins in her memory.

Dennis Burke said in the eulogy Granny D didn’t cure diseases or end wars, but was more durable than the Old Man of the Mountain, a famous granite formation that collapsed in 2003.

NEW YORK

Cashier, 91, back at work after heist

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