Around the Nation

CALIFORNIA

Judge voids Boy Scouts’ lease

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge outlawed the Boy Scouts of America’s use of public land because a lease implies the city endorses the group’s “inherently religious programs and practices.”

U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. scuttled the Scouts’ lease of a bayside aquatics center at Fiesta Island. Last year, he barred a similar lease to use a city park.

Citing church-state separation, the American Civil Liberties Union had sued the city and the Boy Scouts on behalf of a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple.

Judge Jones, a 1994 appointee of President Clinton, called the Scouts “an admittedly religious, albeit nonsectarian, and discriminatory organization.”

The Scouts plan to appeal.

OKLAHOMA

Nichols’ dismissal motion denied

McALESTER — A judge denied a motion yesterday to dismiss the state murder case against Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, saying there was no basis for claims that evidence important to his defense was withheld.

Nichols’ attorneys claimed in the motion, filed last week that the state was withholding evidence that there were other suspects in the Oklahoma City bombing who have never been charged.

Documents Nichols’ attorneys claim were withheld from them included a U.S. Secret Service document describing security video footage of the attack.

ARKANSAS

Mayor embarks on sub-tugging tour

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — It’s not too late to join North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays for the start of a special journey.

Mr. Hays is inviting anyone to join him as he witnesses the USS Razorback submarine leave Istanbul for North Little Rock on May 5. Tomorrow is the deadline.

The submarine will be the primary attraction at the city’s proposed $10.5 million Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum along the Arkansas River. The Razorback is one of 12 U.S. submarines present at the official Japanese surrender that ended World War II.

Mr. Hays said Tuesday that he was the only one going so far. He plans to ride the tug pulling the submarine to Gibraltar and return home from there. He also said tickets for the May 2-9 trip cost $2,150. The trip also will include sightseeing.

FLORIDA

Teen inmate says he was beaten

MIAMI — The state is investigating charges by a teenager he was beaten at the same Miami lockup where another inmate died from untreated appendicitis.

Jerry Byron, 16, charged with selling cocaine, said he was beaten and choked by two detention officers April 16, the Miami Herald reported yesterday. It was in the same module where 17-year-old Omar Paisley died last year when his appendix ruptured and it went untreated.

Juvenile-justice officials said they are awaiting the results of an investigation by the Department of Children and Families.

GEORGIA

Authorities break up cockfighting ring

WINDER — Law-enforcement officers arrested the leader of a cockfighting ring and 260 participants in Winder after an eight-month investigation.

Larry and Misty Fleming, both 32, were arrested on the premises of their mobile home, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The arrests come on the heels of weekly complaints from neighbors that a constant flow of cars, mostly from other counties and states, would descend on a shed on the Flemings’ 11-acre property every Sunday to the cacophony of fighting birds and rowdy gamblers.

Officers found bloody roosters, some with metal blades on their legs, tearing each other apart. More than 100 birds were found, a pile of dead carcasses cast to the side of the ring.

INDIANA

Patient dies in crash of medical copter

LYNNVILLE — A helicopter on a medical evacuation crashed in rural southwestern Indiana early yesterday, leaving a heart patient dead and the three crew members on board injured, officials said.

It was not clear whether Jerry Leonard, 63, died as a result of his heart condition or injuries received in the crash, said state police Sgt. Todd Ringle. An autopsy was planned.

Mr. Leonard was being flown from Huntingburg to an Evansville hospital when the helicopter crashed about 20 miles outside Evansville, Sgt. Ringle said.

Sgt. Ringle said the pilot of the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter “started to make a turn, and as he was doing so, he started to tumble.” The cause of the crash was being investigated.

MISSISSIPPI

Court upholds verdict in ’60s race killing

JACKSON — An appeals court panel has upheld the conviction of a reputed Ku Klux Klansman in the murder of a black man whose death supposedly was intended to lure Martin Luther King to an assassination attempt.

Ernest Avants was convicted in 2003 and is serving a life sentence for his part in the killing of Ben Chester White of Natchez. Avants’ attorneys said the trial judge erred in blocking introduction of more evidence that could have discredited a prosecution witness.

A panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed that argument on Tuesday.

“There was evidence of his guilt for the charged offense,” wrote Appeals Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale.

Avants was acquitted of murder in a 1967 state trial, but a federal charge of aiding and abetting murder was filed years later when authorities realized that the killing had taken place on federal land in a national forest.

MISSOURI

City archdiocese settles abuse case

ST. LOUIS — The Archdiocese of St. Louis will pay nearly $1.7 million to a family whose son was sexually abused over three years by a Roman Catholic priest now serving 15 years in prison, the family’s attorney said yesterday.

Robert Ritter said he and attorneys for the church settled Tuesday in the case of the Rev. Gary Wolken, the former associate pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church.

In pleading guilty in December 2002 to two counts of statutory sodomy and six counts of child molestation, Wolken admitted exposing himself to the son of a family friend, inappropriately touching him and having oral sex with him from 1997 to 2000. The abuse began when the child was in kindergarten and often took place while Wolken baby-sat.

NEVADA

Man arrested over Kerry threats

LAS VEGAS — A man has been charged with sending an e-mail threatening Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

Robert V. Ruppert, 53, of Las Vegas, was set to be arraigned May 3. He was arrested last week. A federal indictment released Tuesday charges Mr. Ruppert with making a threat to the candidate and states he “did knowingly and willfully threaten to kill, kidnap and inflict bodily harm upon Senator John Kerry.”

The e-mail was sent to CNN anchorman Wolf Blitzer and the White House, according to court documents.

“There was no ambiguity. It was a direct threat,” Secret Service spokesman Paul Masto said.

NEW JERSEY

Philanthropist flees to Cuba in tax case

TRENTON — A philanthropist who sold millions of dollars worth of prized musical instruments at a discount to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has fled to Cuba to avoid tax-fraud charges, authorities said yesterday.

A federal judge issued an arrest warrant for 76-year-old pet-products tycoon Herbert Axelrod after the multimillionaire failed to show up for an arraignment on charges that he hid income from the Internal Revenue Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Guadagno said Axelrod’s yacht is moored in Cuba, and he is staying at the Marina Hemingway, a four-star resort in Havana. The United States has no extradition treaty with Cuba.

Mr. Guadagno said that Mr. Axelrod was aware of the charges against him and that the court hearing that had been scheduled for yesterday.

NEW YORK

Stamp dealers rig auction bids

ALBANY — Several dealers of rare stamps have agreed to create a $680,000 restitution fund to settle a lawsuit that accused them of rigging bids at stamp auctions for 18 years, authorities announced yesterday.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York City by attorneys general from New York, California and Maryland. It accused the dealers and their associates of secretly rigging bids before auctions, then sharing in illegal payoffs.

Participants in the scheme — lasting from 1979 to 1997 — typically conducted a secret auction before public bidding and agreed that only the winner of the secret auction would bid on the stamps at the public auction.

NORTH DAKOTA

Officer shocked by finding body

GRAND FORKS — The retired deputy who found Dru Sjodin’s body had been out searching for her several times and says it became like looking for his own daughter.

Dick Roue, 59, who worked for 22 years for the Polk County, Minn., Sheriff’s Department, said he saw “something black” Saturday morning on a little plateau while looking into a steep ravine near Crookston, Minn. It was Miss Sjodin’s coat.

“I stood there, and let it sink in a little bit first. Even though that was what we were looking for, it was still a shock,” Mr. Roue told the Grand Forks Herald for a story published yesterday. “It was kind of, ’Oh, my God.’”

Miss Sjodin, a student at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, disappeared Nov. 22. Mr. Roue said he helped out in the search several times.

OHIO

Blind file lawsuit over vote machines

CINCINNATI — The National Federation of the Blind has accused Ohio elections officials of violating federal law by failing to buy blind-accessible voting machines.

In a federal lawsuit filed in Cincinnati, the organization asked a judge to order state officials to purchase voting equipment that would allow the blind to vote without assistance from a third party, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported yesterday.

Ohio’s existing system requires a friend, family member or poll worker to read the ballot to blind voters and cast their vote for them.

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell approved the purchase of voting machines for the blind in March, but the Ohio Controlling Board delayed the purchase pending recommendations from the Ohio House and Senate.

PENNSYLVANIA

Veterans told to stop throwing candy

IRWIN — Borough officials want the Veterans of Foreign Wars to stop throwing candy to children during the Memorial Day parade, saying the event is meant to be a solemn remembrance of the area’s war dead.

The borough council suggested tossing small flags to children instead, but the decision will be up to VFW Post 781 in North Huntingdon Township. The post’s vice commander, John Bussard, said he has no problem eliminating the candy.

The council also has asked DARE, an antidrug group sponsored by the police department, not to pump pop music from the group’s parade truck and asked fire departments not to sound truck sirens as they pass.

TEXAS

3 accused of killing in fight over drugs

GILMER — Three men killed another man over drug sales and then dismembered the body to prevent the victim from being identified, authorities said.

The three suspects were hiding in the woods when a rancher found the body of Joe Carroll Nickelbur Jr. on Monday, said Upshur County Sheriff Anthony Betterton. When the rancher left to call authorities, the three suspects moved the body, cut off the head and set the body on fire, he said. The body was identified by Mr. Nickelbur’s numerous tattoos.

Gregory Scott Narramore, 33; his brother, Jeremy Jay Narramore, 29, and Jason Fredrick Baughman, 24, were charged with murder.

WASHINGTON

Muslim chaplain warned to stay quiet

FORT LEWIS — An Army captain who converted to Islam and was accused of helping al Qaeda has been warned about talking to outsiders, ABC News reported yesterday.

Capt. James Yee, 36, is a Muslim convert who served as a chaplain at Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, where he had daily interaction with al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners. Last September, Capt. Yee was detained on suspicion of espionage, but all charges were eventually dropped.

The dropping of charges has generated bad publicity for the Army. Earlier this month, Capt. Yee got a letter from his commander at Fort Lewis, warning him that speech that “undermines the effectiveness of loyalty, discipline, or unit morale is not constitutionally protected.”

WISCONSIN

Madison imposes more smoking limits

MADISON — The liberal university city of Madison has joined at least 72 other U.S. communities that ban smoking in bars, restaurants and most public buildings.

The City Council debated the issue for nearly three hours before voting overwhelmingly early yesterday to enact Wisconsin’s toughest smoking ban.

The city will become a virtually smoke-free zone when the prohibitions go into effect in July 2005. Smoking will be banned from workplaces, bars, private clubs, retail tobacco stores and up to 25 percent of motel, hotel, and bed-and-breakfast rooms.

Violators will face fines of $125 for a first offense and up to $500 for repeat offenses.

From wire dispatches and staff reports.