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Fort McMurray Today — Fort McMurray RCMP caught the biggest fish they’ve ever reeled in here. Thursday evening, RCMP executed a warrant at a residence in Grayling Terrace, and came up with 82 ounces (2.5 kilograms) of cocaine with an estimated street value of a quarter of a million dollars. Police also seized 300 tabs of ecstasy, valued at $6,000, a loaded prohibited semi-automatic handgun, and $30,000 in cash. The residence also held some Hells Angels support clothing. Police also searched the vehicles at the residence, where more cocaine was found. Police say it’s the biggest cocaine seizure in Fort McMurray history.RCMP Cpl. Ann Brinnen said the bust will be a big dent in the local drug scene. “It’s certainly contributing to solving the issues surrounding drugs in Fort McMurray,” she said. “We see it as disruption in organized crime, which ultimately affects all Albertans and all other Canadians, and again, as an organization, we are committed to reducing the threat and impact of organized crime.” In July, an Edmonton man charged with importing 69 kg of cocaine at the Coutts, Alta. border station had four years added to his eight-year sentence by the Court of Appeal. The court said “there would be no cocaine problem in Canada without the cocaine importer, acting as a principal or a courier.” Local residents Aaron Patrick McDonald, 26, and 21-year-old Letisha Dawn Peters are facing nine charges, including possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of ecstasy for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000, possession of a prohibited firearm, and five additional Criminal Code offences involving the seized firearm. On Friday, Both McDonald and Peters were released on cash bail, $20,000 for McDonald, and $10,000 for Peters. The pair will make their first appearance in Fort McMurray Provincial Court on Sept. 27. |
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VALLEY GARLIC FESTIVAL ~~~~~~ September 24-25, 2005 Saugerties, NY This festival is for all you garlic lovers out there. The 17th Annual Hudson Valley Garlic Festival will be held in Saugerties, nestled in the Hudson Valley, 100 miles north of New York City and 50 Miles South of Albany. USA Today had this to say, "This is a paradise for garlic lovers. Well known chefs give cooking demonstrations, and people can sample Cajun garlic shrimp, fried dough with garlic and garlic pickles. There's even garlic cotton candy for kids, and garlic dog biscuits." |
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FLORIDA FLASHBACK Wrestling fans hollered 'Hello, Gorgeous' Joy Wallace Dickinson Sentinel Staff Writer September 18, 2005 They were busy scrubbing at Orlando's American Legion Arena, promoter Milo Steinborn told reporters on an autumn day in 1953, his tongue planted firmly in his cheek and his thoughts planted firmly on the box office. To prepare for that night's wrestling match, the mat in the arena's wrestling ring had been polished until it gleamed, Steinborn said. The star attraction was one of the most famous men in America. Only the best would do. Ladies and gentleman, it's the peroxide prince, the curly-haired Hercules, the glamorous grunter, the marcelled mangler, the razzle-dazzle wrestler -- Gorgeous George! Sure, it's hard to imagine now, but in 1953, bleached curly locks on a guy were a real shocker, and Gorgeous knew how to make the most of them. Lots of presidents had long hair, he told an interviewer, the Sentinel's Jean Yothers. Four had been wrestlers, he said, ticking off the names of Presidents Buchanan, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and the Numero Uno, George Washington -- whose profile Gorgeous rather resembled. Wrestling with history Born George Wagner in Nebraska in 1915, he began professional wrestling in his teens and continued for a decade with little success. He wasn't big -- just 5 feet 9 and 215 pounds -- and he was a just-average wrestler, according to a Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame biography. He thought about giving up, but instead he invented tactics that changed not only his fortunes but the sport itself and other facets of entertainment as well. "Muhammed Ali, Little Richard, Liberace, and numerous other figures in both sports and entertainment" owed something to Gorgeous, the biography says. "One is hard-pressed to think of a more influential public figure, let alone a professional wrestler." He called himself "The Human Orchid," and eventually drove a Cadillac in a hue to match. His ring entrances were legendary and took almost as long as his matches. He was the originator of entrance music ("Pomp and Circumstance"), and threw gold-plated bobby pins called "Georgie pins" to the ladies in the audience. In Orlando in 1953, he told reporters he had tossed way more than 2 million of them. Fans loved his theatrics, both before and during the matches. They flocked to see him in record numbers, both in live matches and in the new medium of television. Watching on her first TV set in the Pennsylvania steel country, my grandmother Florence Dickinson adored him, and when she rode the train south for winter visits, my dad took her to the American Legion Arena near Lake Ivanhoe to see the wrestling matches; I think she might have even seen Gorgeous. Positively Gorgeous It wouldn't be surprising if Grandma had seen the peroxide prince. Often, the most unexpected connections turn up between people. For example, guess who counts himself among those inspired by Gorgeous George? Bob Dylan, that's who. In his autobiographical book Chronicles: Volume One, the folk great recalls a pivotal moment in Hibbing, Minn., when he was a struggling teenage musician, finding little encouragement. But sometimes all it takes is a wink or a nod to get going again. "That happened to me when Gorgeous George the great wrestler came to my hometown," Dylan writes. There he was, a high school boy performing without anyone paying much attention to him in the lobby of the National Guard Armory. Suddenly the doors burst open, and there was Gorgeous himself, roaring in like a storm "in all his magnificent glory with all the lightning and vitality you'd expect," Dylan writes. "He had valets and was surrounded by women carrying roses, wore a majestic fur-lined gold cape, and his long blond curls were flowing." The wrestler didn't break stride but looked straight at Dylan, his eyes flashing. And he sent the boy a wink that seemed to say the young singer was doing all right. Dylan never forgot it. It was "all the recognition and encouragement" he would need for years to come. That story put my grandmother's 1950s fondness for Gorgeous in a whole new light. I used to think she was being a naive old lady to fall for the fake glitter of a corny charade. Now, I think she was a lot smarter than that. Like the boy who would become Bob Dylan -- like Gorgeous, another self-created American wonder -- she saw beyond the peroxide curls. She saw all the verve and fun of a man who didn't follow the prescribed path but carved a new one of his own, and was having the time of his life. Orlando Sentinel, 633 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, FL 32801. Copyright © 2005, Orlando Sentinel |
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September 19, 2005 Nevada high court urged to toss out deadly biker brawl case By BRENDAN RILEY ASSOCIATED PRESS CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Lawyers for seven Hell's Angels involved in a southern Nevada brawl in 2002 that left three bikers dead and several others injured are pressing their argument that the outlaw bikers can't get a fair trial because of major flaws in indictments naming them. In briefs filed on a Friday deadline with the state Supreme Court, the attorneys argued the indictments were unclear, grand jurors were improperly instructed and the indictments improperly allege a single conspiracy involving both Hells Angels and members of the rival Mongols gang. The briefs were ordered by the high court after justices blocked a Las Vegas trial of the seven Hells Angels that was to start July 25. The court will hold oral arguments Nov. 17 and at a later date rule on whether the trial should proceed. Regarding the prosecution claim of a single conspiracy, defense attorneys Mike Powell and Mike Kennedy wrote that "few things are more certain than the Hells Angels and the Mongols did not agree to cooperate with one another to accomplish any common objective or purpose." "That is the fundamental flaw of a single conspiracy between all defendants," the lawyers said. Powell and Kennedy also said there have been repeated federal court findings that those charged with a single conspiracy must have reached an "actual meeting of the minds" in advance of a crime. Dominic Gentile, attorney for the Mongols, argued in a separate brief that his clients didn't "agree to a confrontation" with the Hells Angels, and had told police before the deadly brawl that they wanted no trouble. Deputy Clark County District Attorney Chris Owens submitted a brief stating the defense lawyers misread the law on indictments. He said an allegation of a single conspiracy is adequate, and to say two separate conspiracies should be alleged "is emotionally tempting, but wholly inconsistent with the law." Owens also said the gangs, bitter rivals for decades, have shown "a willingness to participate in this continuing conspiracy." He said the gangs' separate rules require members to be ready to fight and even kill rivals. Regarding the clarity of the indictments, Owens wrote that the Supreme Court "has never required the (prosecution) to state all factual evidence it intends to prove at trial." He also said grand jurors who indicted the bikers were properly instructed, and there wasn't a need for instructions on self-defense issues. The Hells Angels defendants include Sohn Regas, Calvin Schaefer, Dale Leedom, Rodney Cox, Maurice "Pete" Eunice, James Hannigan and Raymond Foakes. An eighth defendant, Frederick Donahue, is at large. Mongols Roger Pinney, Alexander Alcantar, Kenneth Dysart, Pedro Martinez Jr., Victor Ramirez and Benjamin Leyva face a separate trial next February for their roles in the fight. In the brawl, inside Harrah's Laughlin hotel-casino during the 2002 Laughlin River Run, two Hells Angels members and one Mongol gang member died. Surveillance cameras showed bikers wielding guns, knives and clubs in a chaotic scene. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. |
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WORD of the DAY |
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apophasis \uh-PAH-fuh-sis\ noun : the raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it Example sentence: Did you know? *Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence. |
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1-01-87 |
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