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East
Texas inmate found in abandoned house
BEAUMONT
(AP) — An East Texas inmate who attacked a dispatcher then
ran out of the Newton jail’s front door was captured Thursday
while hiding in the attic of an abandoned house, authorities said.
Roy
Arthur McMahon, 27, jailed on charges of aggravated sexual assault
of a child, was found in a Burkeville house that belongs to his
grandfather, a dispatcher in the Newton County Sheriff’s office
said.
McMahon,
who had been jailed more than a month, overpowered a female dispatcher
Wednesday and stabbed her repeatedly in the hand. Her injuries were
minor.
Officials
said McMahon, a trusty in the jail, ran to the home of his wife,
where he got the machete. Police believe the woman drove McMahon
to a relative’s house.
Academic
survey shows lack of concern for terror attacks
HOUSTON
(AP) — While New Yorkers are more concerned than others about
future terror attacks, an academic survey released Friday shows
most aren’t dwelling on the possibility.
In
what is billed as the first comprehensive look at urban attitudes
in post-Sept. 11 America, 22 percent of New York respondents said
they worry a great deal about a future attack there, compared with
14 percent in Chicago and 13 percent in Los Angeles and Houston.
Outside
the nation’s four largest cities, only 5 percent of respondents
are fretting about terror in their areas, according to the survey
by the Center for Public Policy at the University of Houston.
Accountant
convicted of killing his two daughters
DALLAS
(AP) — An accountant convicted of killing his two young daughters
was described by defense witnesses Thursday as a loving, caring
father who appeared to be in a deep depression the day the girls
were murdered.
John
Battaglia, 46, was convicted Wednesday of capital murder in the
May shootings of Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6. Prosecutors say he shot
the girls repeatedly while their horrified mother listened on the
phone.
Jurors
hearing testimony during the punishment phase of the trial will
determine whether Battaglia is sentenced to death or life in prison.
They convicted Battaglia after 19 minutes of deliberating Wednesday.
“I’ve
formed the opinion that he was a wonderful, loving, caring father,”
testified Vida Hughes, a 68-year-old bookkeeper who shared office
space with Battaglia in Dallas.
But
Hughes also said she overheard several heated conversations between
Battaglia and Mary Jane Pearle, his ex-wife and mother of the slain
girls.
James
Young, a friend of both Battaglia and Pearle, testified that he
always thought Battaglia was a great family man, taking the girls
to soccer games and helping them with school projects.
Defense
attorney Paul Johnson, who planned to call psychiatric experts Thursday,
has alluded to Battaglia’s rapid mood swings throughout the
trial. He has also asked witnesses if they knew Battaglia suffered
from a bipolar disorder.
K9
officer arrested on animal cruelty charges
OAK
RIDGE NORTH (AP) — An eight-month investigation into a pet’s
death has led to the arrest on animal cruelty charges of a K9 officer
with the Oak Ridge North police department who was a former Montgomery
County Officer of the Year.
Douglas
Jerome Barry, 30, was released on $500 bond. He is still on active
duty as a K9 officer with the city’s dog, Jasper.
Barry’s
personal pet, Apache, got out of his yard last August, and a neighbor
found the emaciated, hairless animal and called county animal control.
The dog died a short time later.
Sheriff’s
officers launched an investigation, as did Barry’s department.
The district attorney filed misdemeanor animal cruelty charges Oct.
8 against Barry and his wife, Kimberly, 30.
Conviction
would carry up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine. The trials are
scheduled for May 6.
Resolution
concerning graduation prayer a tie
CARBONDALE,
Ill. (U-WIRE) — As the weather calmed outside, emotions ran
high inside and ended in a perfect tie at the Lesar Law auditorium,
regarding a resolution concerning prayer at graduation.
The
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale student speakers forum,
presented by the Student Society for Civil Discourse, Wednesday
night gave students an opportunity to speak out about whether or
not to allow guided prayer at graduation.
At
the end of the forum 33 students exited through the “Against”
door and 33 students left through the “For” door offering
a resolution of confusion.
The
controversy surrounding prayer at graduation surfaced after Undergraduate
Student Government President Michael Perry delivered a prayer at
last December’s commencement ceremony. Chancellor Walter Wendler
since has left it up to the deans of the University’s colleges
to decide whether prayer will exist at each school’s May graduation
ceremony.
Speaking
first about the controversy, Sharon Rogers said she was adamant
in her belief in God, and prayer should be a right for religious
students at graduation.
“America
is deeply intertwined with religion — why take that away?”
Rogers said. “It’s like biting the hand that feeds you.”
University
of Arizona has fifth sexual assault attempt
TUCSON,
Ariz. (U-WIRE) — An attempted sexual assault took place in
a residence hall shower Tuesday evening, the fifth sexually related
incident in a week to occur in a University of Arizona dorm bathroom.
The
incident happened at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, when a man wearing
a ski mask entered a women’s restroom in La Paz Residence Hall
and attempted to sexually assault a resident as she was showering,
University of Arizona Police Department Cmdr. Brian Seastone said.
On
Saturday evening a Manzanita-Mohave resident was confronted by a
Tucson, Ariz., man, Esteban Rodriguez, who was arrested that evening
by UAPD officers at his home on the west side of Tucson.
Rodriguez
is also a suspect in an incident April 17 in which three females
reported he was watching them as they showered. One female also
reported Rodriguez touched her right buttock.
As
of Wednesday evening, Rodriguez was still in Pima County Jail, held
on $50,000 bond.
UAPD
security officers were assigned to a foot patrol of all campus residence
halls Wednesday night. Seastone said UAPD was working closely with
Residence Life to restore a sense of safety to all residents.
Maintenance
workers were working on tightening security in La Paz Wednesday
by updating the key system.
Residence
Life Director Jim Van Arsdel said a majority of the exterior doors
of the building used to have a delay time of up to 1.5 minutes before
the alarm went off, but all doors now have only a 20-second delay.
Half of full-time students
work 25 hours a week
TUCSON,
Ariz. (U-WIRE) —Nearly half of all full-time students work
25 hours a week or more, and many of them are suffering academically
as a result, according to a new national study.
According
to the document released by the state Public Interest Research Groups’
Higher Education Project, these students are more likely than their
peers to see their grades suffer.
The
report is based on data collected by the U.S. Education Department’s
National Center for Education Statistics.
Forty-six
percent of full-time students who participated in the study worked
25 hours a week or more.
On
average, students who worked that much were almost twice as likely
to report a negative impact on their grades than students who worked
less.
Of
the students who worked more than 25 hours a week, 42 percent reported
a negative impact on their school work, while 22 percent of students
who worked fewer than 25 hours a week reported a similar effect.
The
study showed working 25 hours a week appeared to be the point at
which students’ grades began to suffer.
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