Eddie Murphy has to pay Spice girl $51,000 a month

Comedian ends legal dispute with former Spice Girl Melanie Brown

Eddie Murphy has been ordered by a judge to pay $51,000 a month in child support for his 22-month-old child Angel Iris until she turns 18…totaling in $10 million. According to The Daily Telegraph, Murphy has also agreed to start seeing the child he has with former Spice Girl, Melanie Brown. Murphy first questioned whether the child was his until paternity tests proved he was the father. “I don't know whose child that is,” Murphy said on Dutch TV show RTL Boulevard in 2006, “until it comes out and has a blood test.” Both Brown and Murphy were embroiled in a 15-month long legal dispute. “Mel is delighted that the case is over,” a friend of Brown said. “She just wanted what was right for the girl.” To see more child support stories click here

13-year-old has had 75 run-ins with police in Metro Vancouver

METRO VANCOUVER — A 13-year-old boy who slashed a man with a knife because he wouldn’t give him a cigarette has been in court and involved with police 75 times in the past year.
The youth, who has been in and out of foster care, was on probation when the latest attack occurred aboard SkyTrain near Columbia Station, according to the Transit Police Service.
He was charged Tuesday with assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon in connection with the attack, which left a 23-year-old Ontario man with severe cuts to his left hand. The man was heading home after watching a Canucks game at a Vancouver restaurant when he refused to give the boy a cigarette and was slashed.
People on the train who witnessed the attack pushed the emergency intercom and requested immediate assistance. As the train came into Columbia Station, people from the train pointed out the youth to a SkyTrain attendant, who got the boy off the train and then called for police. Another SkyTrain attendant began first aid on the victim and then took him to hospital.
Transit police spokesman Tom Seaman said the youth needs help.
“What’s happened in his life to have him blow up so easily and so quickly in anger?” he asked.
The youth, who was being held at the Burnaby Youth Detention Centre, cannot be named because he’s a young offender.
But police say he’s no stranger to them.
At the time of his arrest, the youth was breaching curfew and other probation restrictions, including possessing and owning a weapon, police said. He was convicted on six charges in 2008 and was scheduled to to court on four outstanding issues in Surrey.
Most of the incidents involved violent offences with weapons such as knives, or were alcohol-related, transit police said.
“This young man has been in foster care for a good period of his life,” said Police Chief Ward Clapham.
“It just breaks my heart. On the one hand this is not acceptable, this type of behaviour is a very serious crime. On the other, wow, here’s a 13-year-old, look at his record and the level of violence ... and he continues to slip through the cracks.”
Clapham said the incident underscored the need for the community to pull together. He said he was calling on the 21 municipalities in Metro Vancouver to help people like this boy — either through treatment or jail — before the situation gets any worse.
“This is real, it’s happening more and more often,” Clapham said. “We as police can only do so much. ... No blame, let’s get our heads together and deal with it.”
Ministry of Children and Family Development spokesman Kelly Gleeson would not give details of the youth’s past, or even confirm that he was in foster care, due to privacy concerns.
“That being said, any youth — in care or not — that has repeated dealings with the youth justice system is obviously of concern,” Gleeson said in an e-mail. more

Brooks County teen arrested for burning 3 cats

Authorities charged a Brooks County teen with aggravated cruelty to animals following the burning death of two cats and the disfiguration of a third.
Brooks County Sheriff Mike Dewey announced on Monday that 17-year-old Cory Ward has been charged with three counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.
Ward is accused in the death of two cats and the disfiguration of a third cat in the area of Eagle Run Trailer Park.
On December 20, 2008, area resident Jim Ragan found two cats that were severely burned.
Both cats were taken to Baytree Animal Hospital.
On December 22, 2008, Mr. Ragan found a third cat that had also been burned and had two broken legs.
Two of the cats were taken to the University of Florida Veterinary Hospital where they later died.
The third cat continues to improve at home with surgery scheduled in the next few weeks.
"After extensive investigation and follow-up on leads provided to us by concerned citizens we were able to solve this case," said Sheriff Mike Dewey. "We appreciate the many individuals who came forward with information and offers to help with the medical costs and the reward money."
Sheriff Dewey quickly condemned cruelty against animals.
"Individuals who commit such heinous acts as the burning of these innocent animals, if not caught and held accountable for these acts may go on to commit more serious crimes in the future," he said.
Aggravated animal cruelty is a felony and carries a penalty of one to five years in prisonand a maximum fine of $15,000 plus restitution.
Currently, medical costs for the treatment of the three cats have totalled almost $16,000.

Hearing begins for teacher in Alex Barton case

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Teacher Wendy Portillo's attorney said Monday his client admits to making a lapse in judgment, but thinks the loss of an exemplary career is far too great a penalty.
Portillo is appealing her one-year unpaid suspension she got in November for allegedly holding a class poll to see whether then-5-year-old Alex Barton could stay in class. Alex was being tested for a type of autism at the time.
St. Lucie County Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon testified briefly before the lunch break that he considered firing Portillo for the incident, but took into account her 12-year career in the district.
“The younger the child, the more this issue becomes an impressionable one. The learning environment was broken in this particular action,” Lannon said.
Sue Ranew, assistant superintendent of human resources for the district, said she and Lannon had lost respect and confidence for Portillo, along with other students, parents and members of the community. She said parents had requested their children not be placed in Portillo's classroom should Portillo be returned to class.
The hearing is expected to take several days to conclude. Both Lannon and Ranew said they believe Portillo violated the code of ethics several times because of the incident.
“The incident of May 21 was very egregious on the part of Ms. Portillo,” Ranew said. “The amount of notoriety has reduced her effectiveness as an educator in the classroom at this time.”

Woman accused of having sex with 12-year-old boy

DAYTON - The Montgomery County Prosecutor’s office has approved a rape charge against a 55-year-old woman who allegedly had sex with a neighborhood 12-year-old boy on her birthday.
Gloria J. Murphy, 55, of 5440 Rawlings Drive, was arrested at 8 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 30, by Dayton police after the boy notified an adult he had sex with Murphy, according to police.

Gloria Murphy, 55
The encounter happened late Wednesday, Jan. 28 — Murphy’s birthday — and lasted into the early hours the next day, Patrick Welsh said.
Murphy did not force the boy to have sex, but since the he is younger than 13, it is considered rape, Welsh said.
Police are not releasing any more details to protect the child, Welsh said. Murphy is in jail on $25,000 bond and is expected to appear in court on Feb. 9 at 3:30 p.m.
A background check found Murphy has no previous arrests or criminal conviction in Montgomery County.

Arrest Warrant Issued for Jason Caffey Over Unpaid Child Support Claims

Chicago Bulls forward, stands accused of failing to pay child support. The child support payment battle for Caffey has been going on since 2007. Jason Caffey is said to have ten children, with eight different women. Caffey attempted to seek a court order from a bankruptcy judge, to protect him from child support lawsuits from mothers. Per reports, it is alleged that Caffey owes more than $200,000 in unpaid child support.Jason Caffey, a former basketball player, has played for Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks. During his basketball career, it is reported that Caffey had multi-million dollar playing contracts.Lorunda Brown is a mother of Jason Caffey's six year old son, the arrest warrant is in direct connection with her lawsuit against Caffey for unpaid child support and unpaid legal fees.Unpaid child support woes are not news in the sports world.

In recent months, several high profile athletes and former multi-million contract holders have been accused of failing to pay child support.Evander Holyfield, former heavyweight boxing champion, has been accused of failing to pay child support. This claim came after reports that Holyfield Atlanta mansion was in risk of foreclosure. The $10 million Atlanta mansion Holyfield owned was on the auction block due to non-payments and his child's mother accused him of failing to pay two months of child support.

Matt Leinart, an Arizona Cardinal's quarterback, has also had child support battles in recent past. July of 2007, Leinart and his ex-girlfriend went to court to battle out child support payments and accusations over who does more of parenting for the former couples son.Brynn Cameron originally claimed to require $30,000 a month for her son with Leinart. Matt Leinart however challenged her claims and a judge ordered him to pay $15,000 a month instead. The former couple has also had additional court visits in order to hash out a custody agreement. Leinart wanted a judge to permit him more time with his son and custody arrangements. more

State cracks down on late payments

A new central database could allow the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office to more effectively pursue enforcement measures for outstanding child support debts, including the suspension of hunting, fishing and driver’s licenses.As part of a new pilot program unfolding in eight Indiana counties, the Child Support Division of the Prosecutor’s Office will cooperate with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, using the database to enforce suspensions of recreational licenses.The License Suspension Statute, which allows the Child Support Division to suspend driver’s licenses to enforce payments, has been on Indiana’s books for years. The statute also permits the suspension of recreational licenses, but until recently there was no way to enforce the suspensions in an organized fashion, said Bill Welch, deputy prosecutor and supervisor for the Child Support Division.Before, if the court suspended a hunting or fishing license, nothing could prevent the offender from simply getting a new one, Welch said. The new database allows the Department of Natural Resources to keep track of license suspensions statewide.Gov. Mitch Daniels announced Phase I of the pilot program in October 2008. Modeled after successful efforts in Maine, Washington, Tennessee and Mississippi, the goal of the program is to increase the state’s child support collections, according to a press release from the governor’s office. The first phase used the statewide child support computer system to target the most extreme cases, in which non-custodial parents owed at least $25,000 and hadn’t made payments for a year or more. The governor’s office estimated this applied to about 4,000 cases in the eight participating counties.The implementation of Phase I made little difference in child support payments in Monroe County, Welch said, because almost all of the offenders were either already facing felony charges, were incarcerated for other reasons or already had their licenses suspended. Of the 50 Monroe County cases extracted in Phase I, only five didn’t involve these issues. Four out of five reached an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office.“The actual effectiveness of that program in getting child support paid was very limited, but what it did allow us to do was work out the bugs,” Welch said.By the end of January, the Child Support Division was scheduled to proceed to Phase II, which targets cases with lower debts. Welch said the computer singled out about 175 cases for Phase II.The Child Support Division has reviewed each case and will soon send out letters advising offenders that their driver’s and recreational licenses could be suspended if they do not contact the Prosecutor’s Office.“If they contact us at any point in that process, the license suspension stops because we would much rather have the child support than suspend anybody’s license,” Welch said. “The person has lots of chances.”Welch said suspending driver’s licenses could be counterproductive if it prevents the offender from getting to work, but the suspension of recreational licenses provides incentive to start making payments. “It does work. There have been occasions where we have threatened to take the license and get a court order and they have, in fact, come up with the money to pay their child support,” Welch said.The Department of Child Services estimated that in 2008, Indiana collected $580 million in current and overdue child support payments, a $45 million increase from 2007. more

Columbus man headed to prison for not paying child support

Failure to pay child support will send a Columbus man to prison.
Andre B. Phillips, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal non-support Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court. Assistant Lawrence County Prosecutor Mack Anderson said at one point Phillips owed $4,900 for the care of one child.
Judge Charles Cooper sentenced him to eight months in prison and ordered him to pay the arrearage. Phillips told Cooper he wanted to go prison and get his sentence “over and done with” even though it would create a hardship for him.
“The situation is, it got me messed up,” he said. “My wife is disabled. I was her caretaker. I know I have a son. I have eight children and I do the best to take care of all eight children,” Phillips said. “I feel like I’m being shafted but I got to do what I got to do to be home with my wife.”
Also Wednesday, Curtis Adkins, 31, of 411 Rear Third Ave., Chesapeake, pleaded guilty to one count of deception to obtain a dangerous drug.
Adkins is accused of getting one prescription for oxycodone and then going back a second time and telling the doctor the first prescription had been destroyed in a fire when in fact that was not the case.
Cooper sentenced him to four years community controlled sanctions under intensive supervised probation (CCS/ISP), also known as probation, and ordered him to successfully complete a rehabilitation program at the STAR Criminal Justice Center.
Brandi Beckleheimer, 21, of Ashland, Ky., was sentenced to four years CCS/ISP after a recent guilty plea to a theft from the elderly charge.
Judge D. Scott Bowling also ordered her to pay $2,200 restitution within the next two months. Beckleheimer was a home health care worker who was accused of stealing from an elderly client.
John R. Lindbeck, 66, of 503 Third St., South Point, admitted he violated his probation after he was caught drinking. Bowling sentenced him to four years in prison. Lindbeck was on probation for an earlier domestic violence conviction.
Ernest S. Stapleton, 28, of 3032 S. Fourth St., Ironton, admitted he violated his probation by failing to report to his probation officer as requested. Cooper sentenced him to nine months in prison.
Stapleton’s attorney, Derick Fisher, said Stapleton was not going to make excuses for violating his parole but pointed out part of the problem was that Stapleton was homeless for a period of time and had been ill.
“He wants to face the music,” Fisher said. He asked that Stapleton be allowed a brief furlough so he could spend time with his infant son before being sent to prison.
But Assistant Lawrence County Prosecutor Mack Anderson pointed out that while he has sympathy for a new father wanting to spend time with his child, Stapleton got into trouble by not cooperating with authorities.
Cooper denied the furlough request but said a family visit at the courthouse could be arranged.
Stapleton was on probation for earlier arson and vandalism convictions.

County suspends all bench warrants

Indianapolis - Arrest warrants have vanished for thousands of deadbeat parents as a result of a new court policy.
Vicki Sadler and her daughter are awaiting $9,000 in back child support. But last week, the bench warrant for the father's arrest was wiped off the books - along with 4,000 others.
In Marion County, deadbeat parents who skip court no longer face the threat of jail.
"It's more than frustrating. The system itself is frustrating. It's unbelievable," Sadler said. "And then to find out they're untouchable."
"It's going to make it more difficult, there's no question about that," said John Owens, Chief Deputy Prosecutor for Child Support.
Owens' office deals with 72,000 open cases in any given month. Back in 2005, his office rolled out it's "Top Ten Most Wanted" on outstanding warrants. But now, even the worst of the worst can walk free because of a new policy.
"There could be some improvements," said Marion County Court Administrator Glenn Lawrence.
He said the warrants were suspended to allow no-shows the chance to explain why. He also said the county recently settled a case in which a defendant was denied due process.
"They might put them in jail and not bring them immediately before the court," Lawrence said. "So we felt it best to go ahead and do a blanket expungement [sic] of those outstanding - whatever they were - bench warrants."
Marion County's Civil Division says it would typically get between 12 and 15 bench warrants a day for delinquent parents failing to show up in court. But that all stopped abruptly about a week ago.
"Immediately, we had to recall and do away with all of the warrants we had in file and try to run them up around the state of Indiana to notify the sheriffs not to serve our warrants, because they were no longer active," said Marion County Sheriff's Department Capt. Norman Buckner.
Now, the courts can only order what's called a "body attachment".
"It's not really an arrest. It's a notice to bring them before the court," Lawrence said.
The challenge is finding the deadbeats during court hours. With the warrants erased, traffic stops will no longer show police the individual is wanted. more

Mom Arrives at Day Care to Find Infant Son Alone, Locked Inside

A woman broke the window of a Darwin, Australia, childcare center with a brick when she arrived to find the building locked, the lights out and her tiny son trapped inside.
Yula Williams, 30, said she could hear her eight-month-old baby Xavier "screaming and crying," the Northern Territory News reported.
"It made me terrified to know that my son was inside the center, locked and in the dark," she said.
Williams had dropped her son off at the center in the Darwin suburb of Wagaman on Tuesday morning and went to work.
She had dropped her car off at a local mechanic and arranged for one of her cousins to collect her son from the center before it closed at 6 p.m.
But the arrangements fell through close to the day care's closing time, so she tried to call, but the phone kept going to voicemail
"We got here at 10 minutes to six, everything was locked up," she said.
After scanning all the security screens the frantic mother climbed the back of the building to call Xavier's name.
"I couldn't hear him from the outside but when I walked around and called through the vents to the bedrooms I heard him scream," she told ABC radio in Darwin.
Desperate to get to her tiny son, Williams then picked up a brick from the garden bed and smashed it through a window.
Police said they were continuing to conduct investigations into the incident.

17 year old male student wears female clothes to Central High School

(Memphis 1/26/2009) - At Central High School students wear the usual school uniform, changing a little week because of homecoming.
But what one 17 year old male student has been wearing to class caught the principal's attention last week.
"Female bloomers, leggings underneath with some type of straight leg jeans and a shirt that wasn't quite uniform either." says Central High's Principal Greg McCullough.
It wasn't the first time.
"He was wearing pink tops, pink flat slip on shoes, carrying a purse. Normal girl stuff he would wear." says Central High Senior Trayton Guy.
Principal McCullough says the boy's choice of feminine clothes was disrupting class.
"There were complaints from students, parents and teachers that it was a distraction in their classroom that it was causing conversations in their classroom that were not about education." says McCullough.
"They would talk about him and pick on him everyday." says Trayton Guy.
When the 17 year old was told to change his dress, he wasn't happy saying it was his right.
Some agree.
"As long as he is abiding by the rules, doing what he is suppose to in school, nobody should bother him. He isn't messing with nobody else in the school." says Central High Senior Lawrence Goolsby.
"They come to school every year. Plenty of people come to the school every year. They just now wanting to say something." says Chiquita Maxwell, a Central High Student.
The school dress code doesn't permit attire that disrupts learning.
Parents say rules are rules. more

Jurors weep at details of 'Baby Grace' torture

GALVESTON, Texas -- Jurors wept Tuesday watching a woman describe how teaching her 2-year-old daughter proper manners turned into a daylong torture session in which the toddler was beaten with belts, dunked in cold water and flung across a room so violently that she died.
Kimberly Trenor, 20, detailed the abuse in a videotaped statement played for jurors during the first day of her capital murder trial.
Trenor, 20, told investigators in the statement that she hit her daughter with a thick leather belt to teach her to say "please" and "yes, sir."


This undated file photo released by Sheryl Ann Sawyers shows her granddaughter Riley Ann Sawyers, 2, whose body washed ashore in a storage bin in Galveston Bay, Texas, on Oct. 29, 2007. Jurors wept Tuesday Jan. 27, 2009 watching Kimberly Trenor, 20, describe how teaching Riley Ann Sawyers, her 2-year-old daughter, proper manners turned into a daylong torture session in which the toddler was beaten with belts, dunked in cold water and flung across a room so violently that she died. - AP Photo


The little victim was dubbed "Baby Grace" by investigators who worked to identify her decomposed remains after the body was found in a plastic container in October 2007 on a tiny island in Galveston Bay.
Trenor's 25-year-old husband, Royce Zeigler II, is to be tried separately on murder charges. His attorney argues that Trenor is responsible for the child's death.
But Trenor insisted it was her husband who became so enraged when the toddler didn't behave better that he hurled her several times across a room, ultimately fracturing her skull and killing her. more

Fooftball coach pleas not guilt after high school player dies

Ky. Coach Pleads Not Guilty in Player's Death
Louisville community tries to buoy football coach charged in 15-year-old player's heat death

At a church where he's a deacon and the high school where he coaches football, David Jason Stinson is well-liked enough to find himself surrounded by supporters despite prosecutors charging him in a player's death.
On Monday, Stinson pleaded not guilty to reckless homicide in the death of 15-year-old Pleasure Ridge Park High School offensive lineman Max Gilpin, who collapsed at a sweltering Aug. 20 practice after running sprints, sometimes in pads and helmet.
"They're dragging a very good man through the mud and I don't understand why," football booster Rodney Daugherty said of the coach.
A judge released Stinson without bond at the courthouse that attracted at least a dozen community members voicing their support for the first-year head coach. Gilpin's family also was at the hearing, but did not speak to reporters.

However, Jeff Gilpin and Michele Crockett, the player's divorced parents, have jointly sued the school's coaching staff, accusing them of negligence and "reckless disregard," with details of their son's health made part of the lawsuit.
It includes statements by Crockett, who disclosed that her son had taken the dietary supplement Creatine for a time but stopped in July when football practice started.

Creatine is an over-the-counter supplement and among the side effects listed by the National Institute of Health are cramps or muscle breakdown, heat intolerance and electrolyte imbalances, although it is unclear if any of those came into play in Gilpin's death. more

Maryland Teacher arrested for sex acts with 15 year old student

A 24-year-old Maryland woman has become the latest high school teacher to be arrested and charged with having sexual activity with an underage student.

Police say teacher Autumn Leathers had a sexual relationship with a teenage student.(Courtesy Allegany County Criminal Investigation Unit )More Photos
Autumn Leathers, of Frostburg, Md., was charged Thursday with child abuse, fourth-degree sex offense, perverted practice and second-degree assault. She is alleged to have been having sexual relations regularly this summer with a 16-year-old boy from Mountain Ride High School in Frostburg. Leathers taught at the school, but it was unclear whether the boy was one of her students.
An administrative supervisor with the Allegany County Criminal Investigation Unit, who asked not to be named, said Leathers' alleged trysts with the student took place in her home and began this spring.

"The sexual acts took place when he was 15 years old," the supervisor said, noting that the couple was still together when Leathers was arrested.
"It was a continuous course of contact that began in May 2008," the supervisor said.
Police said they were tipped off Wednesday by an adult, though the supervisor declined to say how the tipster knew of the alleged affair.

The Criminal Investigation Unit supervisor wouldn't disclose what type of sex acts Leathers was accused of participating in with the teen but said police, as a matter of procedure in cases like this, were investigating whether there were other students involved.
School officials said Leathers has been placed on leave and faces termination proceedings. She is now free after having posted a $10,000 bond. more

Ex-pastor gets prison for having sex with 10 year old 'wife,'

MONTREAL: A Canadian man who described himself as a pastor was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl he claims was his wife.
Daniel Cormier, 57, was convicted in October after members of the now-defunct Church of Downtown Montreal became suspicious of his relationship with the girl.
Cormier, who led the church, has maintained he did nothing wrong when he married the girl, then 10 years old, in 1999 during a ceremony at his church.
"I would say that there's no remorse," prosecutor Anne-Andree Charette said outside the courtroom. "He just tried to find justifications."
The girl, now 19, testified she was too young to grasp the concept of marriage but said she remembered the sexual abuse in vivid detail.

The Associated Press generally does not name the possible victims of sexual abuse.
Cormier is currently on trial in another case where he is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl — also during his time as a pastor. He denies the accusation.

woman took four children shoplifting at Wal-Mart.

But instead of a lesson in good deals, authorities say Bradley taught them the basics of shoplifting and then left the four to try it themselves.
When they were caught, Latoya Bradley, 24 of Lehigh Acres, fled and abandoned the children there, the Lee County Sheriff's Office said.
Bradley remained in custody Monday at the Lee County Jail on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, child cruelty and larceny petit theft.
Lazzaro Danielson, who tracks shoplifters at the Lehigh Acres store, saw Bradley come in wheeling a shopping cart that carried three children. Another girl, a 12-year-old, walked beside her.
They walked over to the infant clothing section, and Danielson said he saw Bradley show the 12-year-old how to discreetly take baby clothes off the rack and place them underneath the three children in the cart. Bradley then left the children in the section to take more clothes, but watched from afar, he said.
Danielson followed the children, and when they tried to leave the store he confronted them.
"When (Bradley) saw me take the kids, she took off," Danielson said.
He took the children, two of whom were Bradley's, into his office to wait for Lee sheriff's deputies to arrive. Danielson uncovered 17 items in the cart with a total value of about $49.
After taking statements from the children, deputies tracked the red car Bradley had been driving to a home on Quentin Avenue South and arrested her.
"When we told deputies her name, they already knew who she was," Danielson said.
The Department of Children and Families opened an investigation Monday. Bradley is slated to go before a judge today in the case. more

Prep School Student Admits to Killing Mother in Argument Over Grades

TOWSON, Md. — A Maryland teenager calmly admitted in court Monday that he beat his mother to death with a baseball bat after an argument over his grades at a prestigious private school.

Lewin C. Powell III, 16, wore a dark suit and showed no emotion as he answered questions from Baltimore County Circuit Judge Kathleen G. Cox about whether he understood the significance of his guilty plea to first-degree murder.

Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced April 3. Powell's attorneys plan to ask for all but 15 years of the sentence to be suspended and to have their client sent to the Patuxent Institute, a maximum-security psychiatric facility with a program for young offenders.

Powell did not stir when a prosecutor read a statement of facts that detailed the prolonged attack on his mother and a similar beating of his father, who survived.

"He's always taken responsibility for what he's done," Shanell Kathleen Harleston, one of Powell's attorneys, said after the hearing. "He never wanted to prolong it."

Powell killed his mother, Donna R. Campbell-Powell, in May after an argument about his grades at McDonogh School, a prestigious private school in Owings Mill where he was a sophomore. But Harleston said the initial subject of the dispute with his mother was immaterial.

"This is a lifetime of problems that he's been dealing with that suddenly came to a head," Harleston said. "This particular day was the first time he had ever argued back. ... He just snapped that day."

Harleston would not specify what led to Powell's emotional difficulties, but the teen told police after he was arrested that his parents had pushed him too hard and he couldn't take it anymore, according to a statement of facts read in court Monday by Assistant State's Attorney Charles R. Gayle.

Harleston said Powell was not abused by his parents.

In exchange for Powell's guilty plea, prosecutors dropped all other charges, including a count of attempted murder for the attack on his father, who suffered two skull fractures when his son beat him with the same aluminum bat.

State's Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said after the hearing that he did not believe Patuxent was an appropriate placement for Powell. Prosecutors will argue that Powell should serve his sentence in a state prison.

If he receives a life sentence, Powell could be eligible for parole after 12 years with good behavior. Parole for an offender serving a life sentence in Maryland requires the approval of the governor, which hasn't happened since 1994.

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell lived with his parents in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Baltimore suburb of Towson. He had no history of violent behavior and took honors-level classes at McDonogh, where annual tuition exceeds $20,000. more

9-year-old motorist injures elderly woman

A 9-year-old girl was behind the wheel of a car that ran into an 80-year-old woman and broke both her legs in a Walgreens parking lot Friday night on the South Side.

At 7 p.m. a woman parked her car in the lot of a Walgreens on the 6330 block of South King Drive, leaving her young daughter and the girl’s aunt inside, according to Grand Crossing District police Lt. Timothy Bickham.

While the aunt was talking on a cell phone inside the car, the child jumped into the driver’s seat and put the car into gear, the lieutenant said.

The car moved and struck an 80-year-old woman who was in the parking lot, pinning her under the vehicle and breaking both her legs, according to Bickham, who said the vehicle also struck another car.

The 80-year-old woman was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was in “stable” condition, according to police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor.

Bickham said no one else was injured and the aunt told police the girl accidentally put the car into gear.

The aunt inside the 2000 Dodge Intrepid, Cynthia Harris, 23, of the 7800 block of South Laflin, was charged with endangering the life of a child and cited with the traffic violation of permitting an unauthorized person to drive, according to Taylor.

The mother of the 9-year-old, 26-year-old Elnora Moody, of the 6400 block of South King Drive, was charged with driving on a suspended license, no insurance and parking in a fire lane, according to Taylor, who said both Moody and Harris are scheduled to appear in traffic court on March 12.

A video camera captured an image of the child getting out of the driver’s seat, Bickham said.

Bickham said the police Major Accidents Investigation Unit is investigating.

3 year old girl was found alone in Chuck Cheese

Authorities say the girl told them her name is Keyshanna. She was found without an adult in the restaurant at the Festival Shopping Center shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday.

The sheriff's office says in a news release it has not concluded its investigation and will release more details once investigators determine exactly what happened.

The sheriff's office said earlier the girl was brought to the restaurant Sunday afternoon, possibly by someone the girl called "Uncle Damon."

Teen pleads not guilty to impersonating officer

CHICAGO - A 14-year-old boy accused of impersonating a police officer and going on patrol for five hours has pleaded not guilty.

The teenager appeared in a Chicago juvenile courtroom on Monday in a purple sweater with his hands cuffed behind his back.

A judge ordered that he be held at the juvenile center because he could pose a danger to himself.

On Saturday the teen, wearing an officer's uniform, walked into a police station and was assigned to go on patrol in a squad car. Police say he did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the car.

The Rev. Roosevelt Watkins said, until recently, the boy lived with him for nearly a year. Watkins says the teen is fascinated with everything to do with police work and that his favorite television shows are police dramas.

Teens charged with stealing pizzas, wings from delivery man

BOYNTON BEACH — Police say two female teenagers were arrested on charges of beating a Papa John's delivery man and stealing dinner they allegedly ordered: pizza, wings and a cheese steak that cost $55.

Boynton Beach police officers arrested the teenagers Thursday and found the still-warm pizzas in a closet. Arrested were Valerie Blanc and Michelle Turner, both 19.

A witness told detectives she saw the two suspects leave the house and attack the pizza delivery man. He had been trying to deliver three pizzas - extra cheese, pepperoni and ham - in addition to a 10-piece order of buffalo wings with blue-cheese dressing and a 2-liter bottle of Coke when he was attacked.

Both teens were charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery.

Baby found wandering,mother arrested

HAMMOND, LA (WPRI) - Police in Louisiana arrested a 22-year-old East Providence, Rhode Island woman after her 18-month-old baby was found wandering in the parking lot of motel.
An eyewitness told Hammond Police that she found the child walking alone in 35-degree weather late Monday night wearing " a thin nightie and a pair of socks".
Police say around 10 pm, they found the empty second-floor room used by the mother, Kimberly Briggs and her boyfriend, who is the father of the child, with the door open. According to police, the playpen and baby bed were empty, and there was a daiquiri on one of the tables.
While inside, officers left a note for the two parents telling them to call police once they got back.
Briggs called police a couple of hours later asking where her child was. She originally told police she had asked someone to watch the baby while she went to pick up her boyfriend from work. But, later admitted to police that the story was not true, and that she had left her baby alone in a playpen in the room.
Police believe the baby went down the stairs and into the parking by itself. They also say Briggs admitted she had been drinking and taking medicine before the incident.
The father was not arrested because he was working at the time. Kimberly Briggs, now faces a charge of one count of criminal abandonment.
Meanwhile, her child was taken to a foster home by the Louisiana state Office of Community Service.

High school coach charged in player's death

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky high school football coach has been charged with reckless homicide in the death of a player who collapsed at practice on a hot day.
Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel says a grand jury indicted Pleasure Ridge Park head football coach David Jason Stinson on Thursday. The school is in Louisville.
Pleasure Ridge sophomore Max Gilpin collapsed on Aug. 20 and died three days later at a hospital.
A call to Stinson's attorney, Alex Dathorne, was not immediately returned.
Stengel says Stinson is expected to appear at an arraignment Monday in Louisville.

Teacher charged with two counts os statutory rape

PURVIS, Miss. — Authorities say Zachary Riley, who had been contracted to coach cheerleaders at local schools, was booked into the Lamar County Jail on two counts of statutory rape and one count of child molestation.
The 23-year-old Riley, of Sumrall, had taught routines to units at Purvis High and Presbyterian Christian School.
After an investigation by the Mississippi Highway Patrol's Bureau of Investigation, Riley was taken into custody on Wednesday.
Sheriff Danny Rigel said Riley had been placed in his jail because the incident had taken place in Lamar County.

Bus driver guilty of braking hard to throw kids

HUNTLEY, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois school bus driver has been found guilty of intentionally slamming on the brakes to throw misbehaving children from their seats.
A judge in Huntley, Ill., found Julieta Clinton guilty on Tuesday of reckless conduct and child endangerment as part of a plea deal in which Clinton did not admit guilt.
McHenry County prosecutors say Clinton was driving 54 youngsters to school last April when she became frustrated with their unruly behavior and braked hard twice.
Her attorney says it was an accident.
One youngster was treated at a hospital and 18 others were treated at the scene.
The children ranged in age from 5 to 10.
Clinton is scheduled to be sentenced on April 3. She could face up to a year in prison.

Baby Found Safe After Being Left In Stolen Car

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- An 18-month-old boy was found safe Sunday morning after deputies said his mother let a man borrow her car with her son inside.
Investigators said 24-year-old Julinia Moreno let her friend, Joshua Barnes, 24, borrow her car with Moreno's son in the back seat. Deputies said Barnes drove to a known drug house on Pine Street in Altamonte Springs.
While he was inside investigators said another man, 36-year-old David Carver, stole the car then abandoned the baby in someone's front yard.
The toddler, Jamir Worg, was found wandering in 40-degree weather outside a home on Cornwall Court in Longwood .
"He was just sitting there and when he saw me he just got up and walked toward me and he just gave me his arms and I was like, 'Where's your mommy?'" said lupita Jimenez, the woman who found the boy.
"Well actually I'm at my house, I opened my door and there's a kid right here dropped off," said Jimenez to the 911 operator.
"We've been looking for him. You still have him right? "asked the operator.
"Yes, yes right here," she responded.
According to investigators, Carver traded the car for drugs. Deputies found the car at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Sanford.
Officers said they found two drug dealers inside and they admitted they traded Carver drugs for the car. They revealed his location and Carver was arrested.
"It says a lot about the drug. If it's that powerful it would make a human being abandon a one-year-old child. That's a very scary thing," said James Clark of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
The child was taken to South Seminole Hospital and was in DCF custody.
The three suspects, David Carver, Joshua Barnes and the child's mother, Julinia Moreno, were being held at the Seminole County jail and faced a judge Monday morning.
Moreno is expected to be released some time Monday. Carver and Barnes have bonds set at $5,000.

6 year old boy left sleeping on school bus for 2 hours in sub zero temperatures

CHICAGO — A Catholic school in Chicago is investigating how a 6-year-old boy was left sleeping on a school bus for more than two hours in subzero temperatures. St. Malachy School officials say Kinjari Penson fell asleep Thursday on the way to an after-school program at a Chicago church. The first-grader didn't wake up until the other children returned to the bus. The temperatures had dropped to 11 below zero. The boy complained that his feet hurt from the cold and was treated for hypothermia at a hospital. He has been released. His parents say they're outraged. Principal Bridgid Miller says the school is working on new safeguards. Experts have said they are aware of up to 75 such incidents nationwide every year.

Debris Kills Boy, 6, at Monster Truck Show in Washington

TACOMA, Wash. — Debris flew into the grandstands at a monster truck show in Washington state, killing a 6-year-old boy and injuring another spectator, witnesses and city officials said Saturday.
A red truck came apart while doing doughnuts during the freestyle competition of Friday night's Monster Jam show, the witnesses said. Debris from the truck flew 30 to 50 feet over a safety barrier into the stands.
"Parts were falling off and a piece flew up and hit a little boy," Christine Moe told King Television of Seattle.
Police Officer Mark Fulghum said officers serving as security at the Tacoma Dome investigated the accident.
"At this point, there's nothing to indicate that there's anything criminal," Fulghum told The Associated Press on Saturday night. "Right now it looks like a tragic accident."
The Pierce County medical examiner's office identified the boy killed as Sebastin Hizey of Puyallup.
The boy's father, Jessie Hizey, issued a statement to KIRO-TV on Saturday that said his son was hit in the head by a Frisbee-sized piece of metal, weighing between 7 and 12 pounds.
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"I cannot get the images" out of my head, the father said.
The man who was injured was taken to a hospital Friday night, but Robert McNair-Huff, community relations manager for the city, said the man's identity was not available Saturday.
Some spectators told the TV station they had to throw cups off the stands to get the attention of medics. The show continued after the two were hurt, and many spectators left.
"They just kept going," Moe said. "We grabbed our kids and just bee-lined out of there."
Laurie Deranleau, 32, a nurse from Westport, told The News Tribune, "Everybody sitting around thought they should have dropped the show and gave the family some respect. Nobody was paying attention to the show."more

Mystery Surrounds Removal of Young 'Adolf Hitler' and Nazi-Named Sisters

Exactly why the state of New Jersey removed 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell and his two younger sisters from their parents' home last week remains a mystery.
A state official was adamant Friday that a child would never be removed from his parents based solely on his name. But a First Amendment expert said that the boy's name might have had something to do with it.
Young Adolf Hitler was removed one week ago — along with his sisters JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 23 months, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, 9 months — by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. A family court hearing for the children's parents, Heath and Deborah Campbell, was postponed Thursday.
Although privacy laws prevent authorities from discussing specifics of the case, DYFS spokeswoman Kate Bernyk reiterated Friday that the agency "would never remove a child simply based on that child's name."
But a name like Adolf Hitler could have contributed to their removal, said Rod Smolla, dean of the Washington and Lee Law School.
"I doubt that the name alone would be enough to trump the First Amendment interests that the parents have, but if it were coupled with other things, it could be a factor that tells us that society has a legitimate reason to intervene with regard to the children," Smolla said.
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Bernyk, speaking generally, told FOXNews.com Friday that the agency removes children from their parents only when "there's an imminent danger to the child's safety or well-being."
The children were taken on Jan. 9 without incident from the family's home, Sgt. John Harris of the Holland Township Police Department told FOXNews.com on Wednesday.
"I’ve dealt with the family for years and as far as the children are concerned, I have never had any reports of any abuse with the children," Harris said. Speaking of the children's father, he said, "As far as I know, he's always been very good with the children."
He said the DYFS did not tell police why the children were taken from their parents.
"They’re very confidential when it comes to their dealings because people make accusations and they have to follow up on them and, God forbid, an accusation’s not true," Harris said Wednesday. "You don’t need to parade people through the media and stuff."
The police department referred all inquiries about the case to the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office, which did not return phone calls Friday.
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'Indiana Teacher Fired for Duct Taping Kid'''s Mouth Shut'

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A school board in Indiana has fired a middle school teacher who placed duct tape over a special-needs student's mouth to keep him from talking in class.
The board of Tippecanoe School Corp. voted Wednesday to cancel Pamela Dahnke's contract. She was an eighth-grade health and nutrition teacher at Battle Ground Middle School in West Lafayette.
Superintendent Scott Hanback says the September taping incident "cannot be tolerated."
The board also says Dahnke failed to implement the student's program for special needs and that she returned to the school after being told to leave.
The Journal & Courier of Lafayette reported Wednesday that Dahnke said she was unaware the board had made a decision. A call to a listing for Dahnke was not answered Friday.

Man took gun to elementary school was arrested for

Louis Marcelle told a deputy that he and two friends went to Sunrise Elementary School to inquire about GED classes, which the school offers. He said he saw several students while he was in the front office and they told him they were in trouble.

When told he needed identification to sign up for the classes, Marcelle told deputies he left and saw the students in the hallway. He said he showed them the weapon and was “trying to teach them a lesson,” the report noted. Marcelle said he did not threaten the students.

Two students told deputies Marcelle showed them the weapon and allegedly said, “violence is not the answer” and walked away. The students told officials Marcelle did not threatened them.

Deputies recovered the weapon, along with ammunition hidden in some bushes. Officials later discovered the gun was stolen from Levy County in 2007. Marcelle was taken to the Marion County Jail.

Father who killed his three-month-old son by throwing him down the stairs is jailed for life

Craig Goddard was sentenced to life for the murder of his baby son Alfie Goddard
An angry father was sentenced to life today for the murder of his baby son, whom he squeezed and dropped from a height after becoming frustrated with him.
Craig Goddard was told he must serve a minimum of 11 years in jail for the murder of his three-month-old son Alfie.
Goddard, 24, was appearing at Sheffield Crown Court for sentencing along with his former partner Lindsay Harris, 19, who has admitted perverting the course of justice.
Sentencing Goddard, Mr Justice Beatson described Alfie's death as 'truly tragic'.
He said: 'A young life has been lost and the two of you marked by the consequences of what has occurred for the rest of your lives.'
The judge told Goddard: 'Alfie wouldn't settle and you became upset.
'You shook him, rocking him from side to side, and grabbed and squeezed him too hard - hard enough to fracture three ribs.
'Then, in a moment of anger, you dropped him from a height of five feet.'
Mr Justice Beatson said social services could not be blamed.
He said: 'You accept, as does Miss Harris, that what happened was the responsibility of those who were present in that house.'
As the judge explained his sentencing, spiky-haired Goddard, wearing a checked shirt and blue jeans, nodded and looked close to tears.
He had earlier sat with his head bowed as the details of the case were revealed to the court.
The court heard Goddard had dropped baby Alfie down the stairs, causing fatal head injuries.

Lindsay Harris, 19, mother of three-month-old Alfie Goddard, admitted perverting the course of justice
He died at Sheffield Children's Hospital in May, last year.
Alfie had suffered head injuries consistent with 'squeezing by vigorous shaking followed by the child impacting on the floor'.
The court was told Craig Goddard suffered from anger management issues.
Details of the child's death were outlined by prosecuting barrister Simon Jackson QC.
He said Goddard gave varying accounts to police officers about how his son had died.
In one interview he said: 'Alfie must have fallen down the stairs when I had blacked out at the top of the stairs and Alfie must have gone down the stairs.'
In another interview, Goddard said he did not mean to do anything and the youngster would not settle.
'I just got frustrated, I didn't mean to hurt him. I've just got this anger thing, I didn't mean to hurt him. I just lost my temper.'more

Little Adolf Hitler Campbell and his sister JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell have been removed from their home

Authorities removed Adolf Hilter Campbell and his sisters from their parents' Hunterdon County home, Holland Township police chief David Van Gilson said Tuesday.
New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services took the 3-year-old as well as JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 1, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who turns 1 in April, the chief said.

Van Gilson said he didn't know why the children were taken or who had custody. He said his department received no reports of abuse or negligence.
The children's father, Heath Campbell, reached Tuesday evening at a relative's home, first declined comment and later said the children were not removed.
The Division of Youth and Family Services would not confirm or deny the report.
A spokeswoman said the division doesn't comment on specific families.
The chief said the children were removed last week. He said a township officer was present.
"Whatever children were at the home were taken," the chief said.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday before Superior Court Judge Peter A. Buschbaum at the Hunterdon County Justice Center, the chief said. He said a hearing on Tuesday was postponed when Campbell indicated he wanted a private attorney. more

Former Police Officer Arrested for Not Paying Child Support

On January 8, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. the defendant walked into the Road Town Police Station to conduct business in the Administration Office, when he was spotted by the Senior Court Officer.


The defendant had not paid for a period of over six (6) months.

He had informed local court marshals that he would have paid the money in December, 2008, but he did not pay as promised.

If the defendant does not pay the sum of $2,717.50 by 3p.m. on 8th January, 2009, he will be transported to Her Majesty’s Prison where he will be detained for six (6) months until the monies are paid.

If the monies are not paid after six (6) months period, he will spend a further six (6) months in prison.

Supreme Court overturns child custody ruling

The high court’s 3-2 ruling overturned the decision of a circuit judge who had given Michael W. Schroeder primary custody of his 5-year-old son, Thomas.The Supreme Court majority said Circuit Judge Timothy Bjorkman erred when he found it would be in the child’s best interests to live with his father. Schroeder failed to provide for his son’s basic needs when he refused to pay the full amount of court-ordered support for more than two years, the justices said.The two dissenting justices said they believe the circuit judge’s decision should be upheld because the decision focused on which parent was most responsible for alienating the boy from the other parent.Schroeder and the boy’s mother, Joleen Pietrzak, already had broken up after a brief relationship when the child was born in 2001, according to court records. The two fought for several years over custody, visitation and child support payments.Pietrzak was awarded custody of the child, and Schroeder initially was ordered to pay child support of $150 a month until a permanent determination was made. He was eventually ordered to pay $363 a month in child support, but he continued to pay only $150, according to court records.The Supreme Court in an earlier ruling upheld the $363-a-month order.

TI video about child support

T.I. cuts $8,000 check for overdue lawyer fees

ATLANTA -- Rapper T.I. went to court and promptly paid an $8,000 overdue lawyer bill for the mother of two of his sons, telling a judge the debt was an oversight.

Lawyers for LaShon Dixon asked a Fulton County judge to intervene after the 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, failed to pay in November. He had agreed to the payment as part of an ongoing child support case.

T.I. had a check for the money owed, effectively settling the matter. During the Tuesday hearing, which lasted more than four hours, he told the judge the order to pay got lost when he changed assistants.

"It was just a clerical error, totally innocent," he said. "I will accept full responsibility for that."


The two-time Grammy winner was ordered in September to pay more than $3,000 a month to Dixon _ to whom he had been paying about $2,000 per month _ as well as the boys' private school tuition, uninsured medical bills and expenses related to their extracurricular activities.

T.I. and Dixon are still negotiating child support and custody of the boys, ages 7 and 8. He also has two sons with his fiancee, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, of the defunct R&B group Xscape. more

A Toronto-area man must continue paying child support of twins that are not his

A Toronto-area man must continue paying child support to his former wife despite DNA tests proving he is not the biological father of her 16-year-old twins, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled.


Pasqualino Cornelio will also not recoup any of the child-support money he paid out since the couple separated a decade ago, Justice Katherine van Rensburg wrote in her decision.


In making her recent ruling, the judge referred to a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that said if someone acts as a parent and provides support for a child during a marriage, they are obliged to continue that financial support after separation or divorce -- even if the child is not biologically theirs.


"While the failure of Ms. Cornelio to disclose to her husband the fact that she had an extramarital affair and that the twins might not be his biological children may well have been a moral wrong against Mr. Cornelio, it is a wrong that does not afford him a legal remedy to recover child support he has already paid, and that does not permit him to stop paying child support," Judge van Rensburg wrote.


Mr. Cornelio had argued his former spouse, Anciolina Cornelio, provided him with "incomplete and misleading information" that led him to believe he was the biological father of the twins.


He told the court his ex-wife failed to disclose an extramarital affair before the twins' birth, concealing the fact that he may not be their father.


Mr. Cornelio was seeking repayment of the child support he paid out since the couple separated in 1998, or at least from May of 2002, when the pair agreed to joint custody and child support.


But the judge pointed out that Mr. Cornelio knew at the time of separation that his wife had an extramarital affair with someone named Tony, who may have fathered the twins -- but he sought joint custody regardless. He only began pursuing the issue after Ms. Cornelio began seeking increased child-support payments.
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Cornered, suspect in 3 slayings kills self

CANDLER – By all accounts, Richard Heatwole just snapped.
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New Year's Eve marked the end of a long, bitter divorce that left him with rights to see the kids on the weekends and a court order to be out of the family home by 5 p.m. that day.
His golf driving range business was losing money, according to court papers, and two months before he was threatened with jail time for not paying child support.
Investigators on Friday were still sorting out the details of what happened from the time Heatwole was to hand his former wife the keys to their Candler home and his apparent suicide in a police standoff 100 miles away.
Deputies found Angie Heatwole, 49, dead about noon Thursday morning in a downstairs bedroom of the house at 272 Old U.S. 19-23 in Candler.
Divina Gracia Agulto, 43, who had been renting a room there, was dead upstairs. Next door, Lesley Curtis Moore Keogh was dead on her front porch.
Agulto lived in Buncombe County since at least 2005, when she had a Fairview address, records show. She listed a Bronx, N.Y., address in 2003. Family members could not be reached Friday.
Before moving to Candler, records show Keogh lived in Asheville, Pennsylvania and Florida. A woman who identified herself as related to Keogh declined comment when reached by phone Friday.
Charles Rice rented the house at 264 Old U.S. 19-23 to Keogh for about five years. Rice said Keogh lived at the home by herself.
“She was a very pleasant lady, who always paid her rent on time and fed the birds,” Rice said. “She didn't work. She had another means of support.”
Authorities would not divulge Friday how the three people died.
About the time investigators found their bodies, Heatwole was seen arriving with his 6-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter at his cousin's house in Taylorsville.
He said nothing about the three people investigators say he had just killed.
“We know that they were going through a divorce, we know that they had some disagreements over some different property that was to change hands between the two,” said Lt. Ross Dillingham of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office “We know that may have precipitated this incident, but for a definite on what happened, I don't know.”
Richard Heatwole married Angela Neilson on Sept. 4, 1997.
Their first child, Hailey, was born the next year. Their second, Hayes Alexander, was born in 2002.
A year later, Richard Heatwole adopted Chelsea Ann Heatwole, according to court papers.
Richard Heatwole operated a driving range called Big D's. Angie Heatwole worked at her family's fabric shop in Asheville.
They sent their kids to Evergreen Community Charter School and bought a house at the end of a long gravel drive in Candler. It had a trailer on the front of the property that Richard Heatwole used as his business office.
“I'd see him in passing, and he threw his hand up,” said neighbor Clyde Curtis, who lived across the highway. “He seemed friendly enough.”
The inch-thick court file on the Heatwole divorce doesn't say exactly what went wrong in the marriage.
The couple went through mediation in September 2006 and a month later reached a child-custody agreement.
Hailey and Hayes would see their father on the weekends and they would split holidays between the two parents.
Chelsea, who was 10 years older than her little brother, would be allowed to visit her father any time she wanted.
But the Heatwoles couldn't agree on what to do with the house.
She offered to sell him her share for $57,000. He didn't take it.
She wanted to put the property on the market but he wouldn't clean up trash and a junked truck to make it presentable to a buyer, according to the court papers. He continued to live there, refused to cut the grass and rented out a room.
The two sides and their attorneys fought for two years.
In November, a judge ordered Richard Heatwole to be out of the house by Dec. 31 at 5 p.m. He had to have his tenant out as well and leave the place in marketable condition.
On top of that, Heatwole was $1,759 behind in child support payments.
The court in September had threatened him with jail sentence, according to records. He paid his bill in full on Nov. 10, the day before a scheduled court hearing on the matter.
Deputies arrived at the Candler home looking for Angie Heatwole at 11:45 a.m. Thursday.
The deputies issued an Amber Alert for her two youngest children after finding her dead.
The alert sent to TV stations and newspapers caught the attention of a couple who had seen Heatwole drive up to a cousin's house in Taylorsville.
Authorities in Buncombe County had arrest warrants for kidnapping issued in the middle of the night, Dillingham said. Heatwole was charged with kidnapping because he had violated the terms of his custody agreement.
Meanwhile, the SWAT teams at the Alexander County Sheriff's Office and the neighboring Catawba County Sheriff's Office were assembling for a raid on the home of Michael Daniels, Heatwole's cousin. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation was on the way.
Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan and his detectives headed for Taylorsville with the warrants in hand.
At 1 a.m., an officer used a patrol car loudspeaker to tell Heatwole he was surrounded and demand that he surrender.
It would be five hours before the Heatwole children were safe and out of the house.
Dillingham, the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office lieutenant, estimates as many as 60 officers were outside Daniels' mobile home on Ode Kerley Lane when the call to surrender went out.
At 2 a.m. officers heard a gunshot inside the mobile home.
Heatwole had apparently killed himself with a .410 shotgun, Alexander sheriff's Capt. Keith Warren said.
Daniels shouted to police from his back door that his cousin had killed himself. But officers couldn't be sure they weren't walking into a trap. And Daniels was afraid he would be shot if he came out, Sheriff Hayden Bentley said.
So officers continued the standoff for nearly four more hours, talking to Daniels first by loudspeaker, then by a phone they dropped on his doorstep.
They tried to talk Heatwole's daughter into coming out when she stuck her head out the door.
Officers shot out some outdoor lights to keep themselves out of sight of those inside.
To prove Heatwole was dead, Daniels agreed to take an SBI camera into his house. It transmitted video to officers of Heatwole's body on the floor.
They entered the house without incident at about 5:30 a.m., arresting Daniels and ushering the children into a patrol car. more

DNA test doesn’t stop Oklahoma man's child support liability

When an Oklahoma man’s ex-wife told him she was pregnant, he asked if he was the father.
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"She said, ‘Yeah, 100 percent sure you’re the dad,’ so I didn’t question it past that,” the man said.
But that man, who asked to remain anonymous because of pending litigation, says testing shows otherwise. He provided The Oklahoman with a copy of genetic test results dated Nov. 10 from Identigene showing he is not the father. State law, though, compels him to continue paying child support even though he’s not a biological parent — and there are more like him.
Nearly 25 percent of about 3,000 paternity tests conducted by the state Department of Human Services from July 2007 through June ruled out the supposed father as the biological parent. Nationally, that number reaches nearly 30 percent, according to the American Association of Blood Banks.
State limitsDHS only performs genetic testing within the first two years of a child’s life, which is the state limit on contesting paternity.
After the two years, "it comes into the best interests of the child and protecting the child to ensure that there’s a source of reliable support,” said Jeff Wagner, spokesman for the DHS Child Support Enforcement Division.
The child the Oklahoma man pays child support for is nearly 5 years old. more

N.Y. lawmakers: No more taxes on child support

TROY — Rensselaer County legislators on both sides of the aisle have sponsored resolutions asking Congress to once again fund programs that support child support collection enforcement.
Such programs used to be funded by the federal government, but as part of the Deficit Reduction Act, signed into law in 2006 by President George W. Bush, funding was cut. To use the programs, child support recipients have to pay a $25 fee after $500 in child support is collected.
"The child support enforcement program has proven to be an effective program, assisting families in obtaining the money they need for basic necessities," said Democratic Minority Leader Ginny O'Brian, who sponsored the minority's resolution. "Child support accounts for up to 30 percent of the total income for some poverty-level families, and to take a fee out of that money is just not right."
Republican Legislator Martin Reid, sponsor of the majority's resolution said, "The majority has introduced a resolution calling for the child support fee to be rescinded. We feel the fee is unfair and unnecessary, and Congress should act immediately to end the practice."
Many who oppose the fee cite the impact it has on needy families. "The child support fee unfairly takes money away from families who are already facing challenges," said Republican Legislator Lester Goodermote. "Our residents pay enough in taxes and fees and this is one governmental

surcharge that should be junked as soon as possible." more

I was laid off my job, can I get a break on child support?

Q I was one of hundreds of people laid off from my job recently. I’ve been looking for a new job, but I haven’t found anything yet. With no income, I haven’t been able to make any child support payments to my ex-wife. I’m not a deadbeat dad; I’m just out of work. Can I get my payments lowered or suspended until I find work?
A. Maybe. You can hire a lawyer and seek court approval for a modification of your court-ordered child support payments. However, by the time your case gets heard, you may already have a new job or you may be impossibly far behind on your payments.
Another option is to talk to your ex-wife to see if she would let you pay less than you owe, or perhaps nothing, until you find a new job, with the understanding that you will attempt to make up the missed payments when you are able.
Even if your ex-wife is not agreeable to your plan, you should still try to pay as much as you can each month. Later, if you find yourself in court defending your lack of payments, you will be able to demonstrate that you paid all you could afford, even though you were out of work.
But don’t forget: Interest adds up quickly on unpaid and underpaid amounts. Plus, the law does allow a judge to send you to jail for failing to make the child support payments.

federal judge has rejected a lawsuit to stop Massachusetts from imposing new child support guidelines.

BOSTON — A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit that sought to stop Massachusetts from imposing new child support guidelines.
Fathers and Families, a Boston-based group that pushes for reform of child custody and support policies, last month sued Judge Robert Mulligan, the state’s chief administrative judge over new guidelines that went into effect Jan. 1. The group claims the new guidelines are unfair and do not take into account the costs of raising children.
Judge Douglas Woodlock on Monday denied the group’s request for an injunction to stop the new guidelines from being used in family court. The judge said it would be inappropriate for the federal courts to get involved in a battle over state regulations. more

Fathers’ group sues to stop new child support rules

A nonprofit organization opposing revisions to the Massachusetts child support guidelines that took effect on Jan. 1 appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock in Boston this morning to ask for a halt to their implementation.
Fathers & Families, a Boston-based group that advocates for “children’s right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce,” filed suit against Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan and other trial court judges on Dec. 23. That same day, the group filed a request for a preliminary injunction in hopes of preventing judges in Massachusetts from applying the new guidelines to cases involving child support after Jan. 1, 2009.
Ned Holstein, executive director of Fathers & Families, served on the 12-member task force convened by Mulligan in 2006 to rework the guidelines. He told Lawyers Weekly in an interview for a story last November about the new guidelines that he tried in vain to convince the task force that the revisions would prove too expensive for many non-custodial parents. When the task force unveiled the new guidelines in November, Holstein wrote a dissenting report that characterized them as flawed and unfair.
In its lawsuit, Fathers & Families argues that Mulligan and the Trial Court violated the federal equal protection clause by implementing discriminatory rules, the federal due process clause by passing a law by “judicial fiat,” and the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights by passing a law without the participation of the other two branches of state government.
The group also argues that the new guidelines are “arbitrary and capricious” where the Trial Court did not consider, as statutorily required, any “data on the cost of raising children.”more

Dad Ordered to Pay Child Support Kills Son

NEW ORLEANS — A man who initially told police gunmen kidnapped his 2 1/2-year-old son was arrested Saturday, accused of committing an "extremely hideous" murder because he was ordered to pay child support, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said.
Danny Platt confessed, told police where to find the child's body and will be booked with first-degree murder of Ja' Shawn Powell, Riley said at a news conference.
"He had said he would kill either his wife or his child before he paid child support," which he recently had been ordered to do, Riley said.
Riley said he did not know the amount of child support and would not describe how the boy was killed, saying the coroner would do that after the autopsy was complete. The coroner's spokesman did not immediately return a call.
"The mother is in a safe place," Riley said.
Although he had visiting rights, Platt, 22, of New Orleans, had never visited the boy until he picked him up Friday, Riley said.
Police put out a notice Saturday asking people to look for the boy and saying his father had told them three men with dreadlocks and AK-47 rifles had piled out of an SUV and kidnapped Ja' Shawn shortly before midnight Friday. more