Archive for the 'National headlines' Category

Henry Earl, back in the news

Lexington’s famous town drunk, Henry Earl, made Keith Olbermann’s oddball countdown Thursday night. The pundit dubbed Earl, 58, the “Babe Ruth of getting arrested” for the reported 1,333 times he has been arrested. (Henry is after this story about a Sarah Palin corn maze in Ohio.)

Below the fold is the definitive Henry Earl story that was published in the Herald-Leader on Dec. 19, 2005

Continue reading ‘Henry Earl, back in the news’

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Kentucky man to serve 40 years for abusing Florida teen

Missy Diaz of the Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that Marion Yarbrough, a 35-year-old Kentucky man, will spend 40 years in federal prison for sexually abusing a 15-year-old West Palm Beach girl.

The paper says Yarbrough met the girl last year on the mobile social networking site itsmy.com. The two chatted online several days, he wired her a Greyhound bus ticket to Tennessee, picked her up and drove her back to Kentucky (the article does not say where in Kentucky). The article says he kept the girl there for two weeks and “repeatedly sexually abused the teen, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”

Read the story here

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NC soldier expected in court

The Associated Press

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A Fort Bragg soldier accused of murder in the death of the soldier pregnant with his child is expected in court.

Sgt. Edgar Patino of Hope Mills is scheduled to appear in Cumberland County court on Tuesday. The 27-year-old Patino is charged with murder in the death of 23-year-old Spc. Megan L. Touma of Cold Spring, Ky.

Touma’s body was found June 15 at an off-post Fayetteville motel. She was seven months’ pregnant.

Investigators have said Touma and the married Patino began a relationship while both were stationed in Germany. Police said they believe the pair met in her motel room the day after she arrived at Fort Bragg.

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‘We no longer have a moral compass.’

No, this didn’t happen in the Bluegrass, but it’s a story that grabbed my attention.

A 78-year-old Connecticut man is hit by two cars, and then he lies in the street as pedestrians and motorists pass him by. It’s a scene that has caused police to question whether people have become numb to such tragedies. Take a look at the surveillance video and decide for yourself.

Delano Massey

Here’s the story:

By STEPHEN SINGER
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city’s biggest newspaper blaring “SO INHUMANE” on the front page and the police chief lamenting: “We no longer have a moral compass.”
“We have no regard for each other,” said Chief Daryl Roberts, who released the video this week in hopes of making an arrest in the daylight accident last Friday that left Angel Arce Torres in critical condition.
The hit-and-run took place about 5:45 p.m. in a working-class neighborhood close to downtown in this city of 125,000.
In the video, Torres walks in the two-way street just blocks from the state Capitol after buying milk at a grocery. A tan Toyota and a dark Honda that is apparently chasing it cross the center line, and Torres is struck by the Honda. Both cars then dart down a side street.
Several cars pass Torres as a few people stare from the sidewalk. Some approach Torres, but most stay put until a police cruiser responding to an unrelated call arrives on the scene after about a minute and a half.
The police chief told The Hartford Courant that he was unsure whether anyone called 911.
“Like a dog they left him there,” said a disgusted Jose Cordero, 37, who was with friends Thursday not far from where Torres was struck. Robert Luna, who works at a store nearby, said: “Nobody did nothing.”
One witness, Bryant Hayre, told the Courant he didn’t feel comfortable helping Torres, who he said was bleeding and conscious.
The accident — and bystanders’ callousness — dominated morning radio talk shows.
“It was one of the most despicable things I’ve seen by one human being to another,” the Rev. Henry Brown, a community activist, said in an interview. “I don’t understand the mind-set anymore. It’s kind of mind-boggling. We’re supposed to help each other. You see somebody fall, you want to offer a helping hand.”
The victim’s son, Angel Arce, begged the public for help in finding the driver. “My father is fighting for his life,” he said.
The hit-and-run is the second violent crime to shock Hartford this week. On Monday, former Deputy Mayor Nicholas Carbone, 71, was beaten and robbed while walking to breakfast. He remains hospitalized and faces brain surgery.
“There was a time they would have helped that man across the street. Now they mug and assault him,” police chief said. “Anything goes.”
Councilman Matthew Ritter said police can do only so much.
“The citizens are the city,” he said. “Everybody has a part to play. Call 911 and reach out.”

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‘We no longer have a moral compass.’

No, this didn’t happen in the Bluegrass, but it’s a story that grabbed my attention.

A 78-year-old Connecticut man is hit by two cars, and then he lies in the street as pedestrians and motorists pass him by. It’s a scene that has caused police to question whether people have become numb to such tragedies. Take a look at the surveillance video and decide for yourself.

Delano Massey

Here’s the story:

By STEPHEN SINGER
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A 78-year-old man is tossed like a rag doll by a hit-and-run driver and lies motionless on a busy city street as car after car goes by. Pedestrians gawk but do nothing. One driver stops briefly but then pulls back into traffic. A man on a scooter slowly circles the victim before zipping away.
The chilling scene — captured on video by a streetlight surveillance camera — has touched off a round of soul-searching in Hartford, with the capital city’s biggest newspaper blaring “SO INHUMANE” on the front page and the police chief lamenting: “We no longer have a moral compass.”
“We have no regard for each other,” said Chief Daryl Roberts, who released the video this week in hopes of making an arrest in the daylight accident last Friday that left Angel Arce Torres in critical condition.
The hit-and-run took place about 5:45 p.m. in a working-class neighborhood close to downtown in this city of 125,000.
In the video, Torres walks in the two-way street just blocks from the state Capitol after buying milk at a grocery. A tan Toyota and a dark Honda that is apparently chasing it cross the center line, and Torres is struck by the Honda. Both cars then dart down a side street.
Several cars pass Torres as a few people stare from the sidewalk. Some approach Torres, but most stay put until a police cruiser responding to an unrelated call arrives on the scene after about a minute and a half.
The police chief told The Hartford Courant that he was unsure whether anyone called 911.
“Like a dog they left him there,” said a disgusted Jose Cordero, 37, who was with friends Thursday not far from where Torres was struck. Robert Luna, who works at a store nearby, said: “Nobody did nothing.”
One witness, Bryant Hayre, told the Courant he didn’t feel comfortable helping Torres, who he said was bleeding and conscious.
The accident — and bystanders’ callousness — dominated morning radio talk shows.
“It was one of the most despicable things I’ve seen by one human being to another,” the Rev. Henry Brown, a community activist, said in an interview. “I don’t understand the mind-set anymore. It’s kind of mind-boggling. We’re supposed to help each other. You see somebody fall, you want to offer a helping hand.”
The victim’s son, Angel Arce, begged the public for help in finding the driver. “My father is fighting for his life,” he said.
The hit-and-run is the second violent crime to shock Hartford this week. On Monday, former Deputy Mayor Nicholas Carbone, 71, was beaten and robbed while walking to breakfast. He remains hospitalized and faces brain surgery.
“There was a time they would have helped that man across the street. Now they mug and assault him,” police chief said. “Anything goes.”
Councilman Matthew Ritter said police can do only so much.
“The citizens are the city,” he said. “Everybody has a part to play. Call 911 and reach out.”

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