Judge rejects appeal in ex-coach’s conviction for offering boy $25 to bean autistic teammate

Eds: Restores dropped word penultimate graf, want. Moving on general news and sports services.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — A judge refused to reduce the sentence of a former youth baseball coach convicted of offering a player money to bean a 9-year-old autistic teammate.

Mark Downs Jr., 29, had argued in his appeal that his former attorney wasn’t effective. But Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman ruled Monday that Downs’ arguments were without merit. He let stand Downs’ one- to six-year prison sentence imposed last year.

Downs was convicted of corruption of minors and simple assault for offering $25 to an 8-year-old boy to hit his mildly autistic teammate with a ball while warming up before a June 2005 playoff game. The younger boy testified at trial that, on Downs’ instructions, he purposely threw a ball that hit his teammate in the groin, then threw another that hit him in the ear.

Prosecutors said Downs didn’t want the autistic boy in the game because he didn’t play as well as his teammates. League rules require each player to play at least three innings.

Downs remains free on bond while he continues an appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

Couple dine and dash at upscale Minneapolis restaurant, but get caught at another

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The owner of the high-end Temple Restaurant was fuming when a couple ran out on a $410 bill after spending five hours over several appetizers, two entrees of freshwater prawns, a steak and plenty of cocktails.

“I was thinking, I hope to God I see these people again,” said owner Thom Pham.

Three hours later, he got his wish.

He walked into Azia, another upscale eatery he owns, and found the pair finishing off some expensive drinks after a second dinner that included a rack of lamb.

“I thought, ’Oh my God, I can’t believe my wishes are so powerful,”’ Pham said.

When the couple tried to flee, Pham, a former judo instructor, chased Reginald Wilder into an alley, forced him to the ground and held him until police arrived. Lance Burrow was arrested a half block away.

According to a police report, Burrow was dressed as a woman and wearing a wig.

“They were clearly either very dedicated fans of Mr. Pham’s restaurants, or they were incredibly unlucky,” said Lt. Amelia Huffman, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis Police Department.

“I call it ’instant karma,”’ said Pham.

Burrow, 20, is scheduled to make a court appearance July 25.

Wilder, 43, pleaded guilty and was required to make restitution of $705.86. In addition to a 17-month prison sentence, which was stayed, he also was ordered to serve 150 days in the Hennepin County workhouse. But he did not show up on July 2 as scheduled, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

For those of you who missed it, here is the latest from CNN on giving Libby a pass for his crimes .

PHOENIX — A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, according to police in Williams, Ariz.

Police said Roosevelt Sims was headed to Los Angeles but was asked to leave the train shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday at a railroad crossing five miles outside Williams.

“He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees,” Lt. Mike Graham said.

Police said there is no train station or running water at the crossing, which is about two miles from the nearest road, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.

Amtrak personnel told police dispatchers that Sims was drunk and unruly.

The Sims family said Sims is diabetic and was going into shock.

Sims’ brother, Brian Mason, said his family tried to call Sims on his cell phone that night, but Sims was incoherent.

When officers arrived at the crossing, police said, Sims ran into the woods, leaving his luggage and medication behind.

Cell phone records show that Sims’ phone was last used in Litchfield Park, Ariz., 180 miles from Williams.

Williams police told CBS 5 that Amtrak has used the abandoned crossing as a drop-off site in the past. Graham said that whether drunk or not, no one should be dropped off there.

“You don’t put anyone off in an area like that,” Graham said.

Amtrak said the company is looking into the matter.

“I just want to find him,” Mason said. “I’m not mad at anybody.”

“I want to find a way to make sure he’s OK,” Mason added.

“Our thoughts and prayers are that there’s no way he’s out there in those woods,” Graham said.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Vice President Dick Cheney’s office refused to cooperate with an agency that oversees classified documents, then tried to abolish the office when it challenged the actions, House oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman said.

The National Archives’ Information Security Oversight Office is charged by presidential order with ensuring that classified information and documents are properly handled by executive branch agencies.

According to a letter from William Leonard, director of the oversight office, Cheney’s office argued it did not meet the definition of an executive branch agency and therefore was exempt.

Leonard also wrote that Cheney’s office suggested his agency be abolished under a revision of the presidential order now under consideration. (Watch how Cheney’s office defines its role Video)

“I question both the legality and wisdom of your actions,” Waxman, D-California, wrote in a letter Thursday to Cheney.

“Your decision to exempt your office from the president’s order is problematic because it could place national security at risk,” wrote Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Cheney’s office would neither confirm nor deny it tried to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office.

“We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law,” said Megan McGinn, deputy press secretary for Cheney, when asked about the Waxman letter.

The executive order — intended to maintain the integrity of classified documents — was established by President Clinton and revised by President Bush in 2003.

The 2003 version directed the Information Security Oversight Office to oversee a program of education and supervision of classified document protection and maintenance. According to Waxman, the office has worked with different White House groups, including the National Security Council.

But when the National Archives’ office attempted to visit Cheney’s team in 2004, it was prevented from doing so by Cheney’s staff, Waxman wrote in the letter. The office had complied with the order in 2001 and 2002 but started refusing to do so in 2003.

In 2006, Leonard wrote to Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington, to contest the office’s refusal to comply and was told that the vice president’s office “does not believe it is included in the definition of ‘agency’ as set forth in the order,” nor is it an “entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information,” according to letters released Thursday by Waxman’s committee.

In a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales requesting intervention on the matter, Leonard questioned the rationale presented by the vice president’s office.

“If the is not considered an entity within the executive branch, I am concerned that it could impede access to classified information by the OVP staff, in that such access would be considered a disclosure outside the executive branch,” Leonard wrote in January.

Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said the department had received the letter and that matter is under review.

The vice president’s office has been criticized for being secretive before.

Last month, it was revealed that the administration was withholding visitor logs to Cheney’s residence. The administration says the secrecy is needed so Cheney can get candid advice from visitors.

In 2001, the office refused to divulge the names of energy executives who had consulted with Cheney on U.S. energy policy.

The decision was challenged and upheld by the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court referred the case back to a lower court.

You got to be dumber than a box of hair to think that Harry Potter is actually a religion.

But, as one of my good friends once said, there is nothing so stupid that someone won’t do it … at least once. I am so glad this mindless tripe is clogging our court systems.

From the AP: A suburban Atlanta mother who believes the best-selling Harry Potter books promote witchcraft said Tuesday she may take her quest to ban the writings from her county schools to federal court after a state judge rejected her latest effort.

     Laura Mallory, who said two of her four children attend public schools in Gwinnett County, told reporters it may be time to rethink her arguments with the help of an attorney.

     ‘‘I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up,’’ said Mallory, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing.

     Her comments came after Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor said evidence previously presented by Gwinnett County school officials supported their decision not to remove the books from school libraries.

     Batchelor rejected Mallory’s appeal of the local school district’s decision, which was upheld earlier by the state Board of Education.

     Mallory has tried to ban the books from county school library shelves since August 2005, arguing that the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft.

     School board members have said the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination. In May 2006, the county denied Mallory’s request. In December, the state Board of Education upheld the county’s decision.

     J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, published by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, tell stories of children with magic powers. They have been challenged numerous times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association.

     At Tuesday’s hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

     ‘‘I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again,’’ Mallory said. ‘‘I think we need him.’’

     Mallory said she has testimony from children who have read the Harry Potter books and have thought about acting out spells described in the books.

     ‘‘They don’t want the Easter Bunny’s power,’’ Mallory said. ‘‘The children in our generation want Harry’s power, and they’re getting it.’’

     But Victoria Sweeny, an attorney representing county school officials, said the officials were well within their right not to remove the books from library shelves. She said the court is bound by that decision.

     ‘‘I’m not here to defend Harry Potter,’’ Sweeny said. ‘‘I’m here to defend the Gwinnett County Board of Education’s right to make lawful decisions.’’

The folks who stood by a watched it happen but did nothing should be sentenced to be his bitches.

Apathy has led to more evil in this world than anything else. Just ask the people who survived the concentration camps.

Too bad the fascists at the school board seem to have forgotten the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press. The courts in THIS country generally have extended that to student media. I home someone sues the bastards for violating the teacher’s civil rights — something she cannot legally sign away in an agreement with the school board.

Those folks need to move to a country where suppression of free speech and the press is encouraged, like, say, Iran or maybe China.

It’s nice to see the gobbering tub finally get his. So far, it’s only an investigation, but we can always hope.