Killer Claims He is ‘Harmless’ On MySpace Page May 19, 2008

DENVER — MySpace has removed the Web page of a convicted killer who had written on the site that he is “pretty harmless” and asks for “someone to write to.” (See cached version.)

 

Mario Owens, 23, an inmate of the Colorado Department of Corrections for a 2004 murder, was convicted last week of first-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with the 2005 slayings of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe.

 

Marshall-Fields was scheduled to testify against Owens in a murder trial. But just days before his courtroom appearance Marshall-Fields and Wolfe were ambushed and shot numerous times in their car as they was crossing an intersection in broad daylight.

Arapahoe County prosecutors are asking Owens receive the death penalty for the double-murder. The jury began the sentencing phase Monday morning. It is expected to last two weeks.

 

Owens’ MySpace page, titled “Sir Mario The Great,” is maintained by his cousin, because Colorado prison inmates are not allowed to access to the Internet.

 

In the “About Me” section of his page, Owens writes, “I was recently caught up in some b/s, so ya boy on lockdown in Canon City, Colorado. I don’t get to the computer much, so I’ll have my cousin update me on this myspace joint when I’m not able to get to it. I’m really just here to find new friends. I have a lot of time on my hands, as you can tell, so I just want someone to write to back and forth. Ya know what I mean? It really doesn’t matter what it’s about, I just need something to take time off from here sometimes. You could think of it as being Pen Pals and what not. I’m pretty harmless.”

 

He doesn’t mention he is serving a life sentence for murder or that he was recently found guilty of killing two other people and could get the death penalty.

 

He writes about his desire to find female pen pals and lists the address of the Canon City prison.

 

“I moved to Colorado not too long ago, so that’s where you’ll find me right now. I’m a pretty cool and laid back type of guy. I enjoy a a lil laugh from time to time. I like to do the normal things like everybody else, such as listening to music, watching movies, shooting ball, and just hanging out with my peoples,” he wrote. “Hopefully you all will just give me a chance. I’m not really asking for much. I’m just asking for a little letter from time to time. You could even feel free to send me a picture or something here and there also.”

 

His profile was posted in December and removed from MySpace by Monday afternoon. Before it was taken down, he had eight friends, including two women. His page showed photos of his favorite rap albums and several personal photos.

 

Ironically, two of the songs in his playlist are Lil Wayne’s song “Snitch” and “Shooter.” Prosecutors argued during trial that Owens’ motto was “You snitch, you die.”

 

Even without Marshall-Fields’s testimony, Owens was found guilty of killing Gregory Vann in an Aurora park during a Fourth of July party in 2004.

Couple Killed In Accident After Daughter’s Graduation May 19, 2008

LITITZ, Pa. — A Lancaster County couple was killed in a car accident while on their way home from their daughter’s college graduation on Sunday.

 

Jay and Jean Good, of Lititz, died when their car collided with a truck on Route 222 near Reading. The couple’s daughter, Jacy, who had just graduated hours earlier from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, was critically injured in the crash.

 

The Good’s son, Jared, was in another car following and witnessed the crash.

Jean good taught 8th-grad language arts at Ephrata Middle School. Crisis team members were called in to talk with student on Monday, who learned of their teacher’s death that morning.

 

“It’s a tremendous loss. Jean was one of our A-flight teachers here, you know, some of the best of the best. She had a great compassion for kids, a great professionalism to education. She loved to teach,” said Ephrata Middle School Principal Kevin Phillgrove.

 

The couple’s church plans to hold a prayer service Tuesday night for 21-year-old Jacy Good, who is now in critical condition at Reading Hospital.

Soldiers Shave Heads to Support Cancer Kids May 19, 2008

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Under a huge tent just outside the medical unit at Camp Liberty, shielded from the blazing sun, soldiers watch and cheer as two men at a time get their heads shaved. Clumps of hair fall to the hot sand below.But they’re not just fighting the Iraqi heat. They’re showing solidarity with sick kids they don’t even know.

It started with a dare on St. Patrick’s Day 2000, when two guys shaved their heads to support children with cancer. Thus was born the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. In eight years, the awareness and fundraising organization says, events have taken place in 18 countries and the United States, “raising over $34 million and shaving more than 46,000 heads.”

Maj. Stephen Roberts knows a lot about bald heads. He’s a pediatric oncologist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. And he’s seen a lot of his young patients lose their hair to chemotherapy.

The kids he guides through treatment don’t seem fazed by it. “They’re just amazing, inspiring kids,” Roberts said. “They’re going through something more difficult than most of us can imagine and they do it with a level of grace and strength that I don’t think I could match.”

This year, Roberts planned to participate back home in Washington, but he deployed to Iraq. So he organized the shearing on the base.

Many of the the soldiers who stepped up on this hot spring day have been touched by cancer in their families. Sgt. Sean Bonney, who’s sporting a thick growth of gray hair soon to be shaved off, has a cousin who had childhood cancer and survived. He says he’ll be thinking of her. “They’re in the fight of their lives,” he said. “I just want to encourage them to hang in there and fight on.”

Spc. Krystyne Wilson, a medic, says her uncle died of leukemia before she was born. “I’ll never get to know my uncle,” she says, “and maybe if there were things like this going on back in those times then he could be able to be here today.”

Back in the Washington suburbs, the other half of Roberts’ fundraiser is taking place in an Irish bar. Doctors, parents, friends, supporters — and several little patients — gather as more volunteers go under the razor.

Justyn Exman, 5, is one of those doing the honors — guided by a professional barber. He looks like he’s having fun, as he plows through the man’s hair like a suburban father mowing the grass.

Nearby at a table, 6-year-old Briarra Manis is drawing a picture with crayons. Last year she went through treatment and her hair is growing back in an adorable pixie style. As she watches the adults on stage she says, “They act funny.” But, she adds, “I think they want to help me.”

One young girl with a long ponytail sits in the chair, ready to face the scissors. She’s donating it to an organization that makes wigs for cancer patients.

Back in Iraq, the female soldiers can’t participate; Army regulations don’t allow shaved heads for women. But that doesn’t stop them from cheering the guys on — or making donations.

Roberts says research into childhood cancer has made an astounding difference. “Most of the diseases we treat used to be a death sentence,” he said. “In the 1950s, 80 percent of kids with cancer died. Today, 80 percent will be cured forever. In the early 1970s leukemia was 100 percent fatal; now 90 percent of kids are cured.”

Roberts is in the chair. The barber starts from the bottom and moves up. Big swaths of white scalp gleam in the desert sun. “I’ll save on the shampoo,” he says. But he’d better load up on the sunscreen.

Chesney Sought Fan Support Before ACM Awards May 19, 2008

LAS VEGAS – Kenny Chesney may not have wanted online voters to decide one of country music’s top awards, but he still asked his fans to click for him.

Chesney criticized the process Sunday night after his supporters propelled him to a fourth straight entertainer of the year win at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

“I don’t think it’s right that they pick the one award that means the most, that all the artists sacrifice the most for,” Chesney told reporters backstage after thanking fans for voting for him as he accepted the award onstage.

But that didn’t mean Chesney hadn’t played along. Chesney’s MySpace page still carried a large banner Monday urging fans to “bring it home for KC,” with links to the academy’s online page and messages from fans lower on the page.

The page also included a May 1 posting urging fans to vote, with a video of Chesney saying that awards are important for history’s sake — so people can look back to see what musicians had accomplished.

Chesney made clear Sunday night that his criticism was an industry complaint about the process for one award — not a dig at his fans or at the awards show overall. It was the first time in the show’s 43 years that the top prize was decided by a fan vote.

Traditionally, the awards are decided by ACM members, mostly industry insiders; that didn’t change for the other awards. The industry’s other major awards show, the County Music Association Awards, also decides its winners by a vote of members who are industry professionals.

A spokeswoman for the Academy of Country Music said Monday that senior officials for the academy were not immediately available to comment because they were traveling.

Bob Romeo, executive director of the academy, has called the change to fan voting a “historical accomplishment” in the award show’s program, and said it fosters more interaction with viewers and participants.

Chesney saw it another way.

“They’ve taken it from what the award really represents (and turned it) into a sweepstakes to see who can push people’s buttons the hardest on the Internet,” Chesney said.

With his fourth win as entertainer of the year, Chesney ties Garth Brooks and trails only Alabama, which won five in a row. Chesney also was this year’s leading nominee with 11, and ended up winning twice. His other win was for vocal event of the year.

Al Gore Wins $1 Million From Israeli Fund May 19, 2008

TEL AVIV, Israel – Al Gore received a $1 million prize on Monday for his environmental work from an Israeli fund.

The Dan David Foundation awarded the former vice president its annual “present” prize for alerting the world to the crisis from the overuse of fossil fuels. It also gave prizes in “past” and “future” categories.

The Nobel laureate received the award at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University.

In his address, Gore said, “We do face a planetary emergency. The phrase sounds shrill to many, but it is unfortunately quite accurate.”

Gore said 10 percent of the prize would go to young researchers and the rest to the Alliance for Climate Protection, an advocacy group he confounded and which works to change public opinion worldwide about the urgency of the climate crisis.

Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 with the United Nations panel on climate change for their environmental work. After learning of his Nobel win, Gore said he was donating half his share of the prize money to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

‘Indiana Jones’ Meets with Mixed Reviews May 19, 2008

CANNES, France (AP) Indiana Jones received louder applause going in than he did coming out.

His latest adventure, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” earned a respectful though far from glowing reception Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, avoiding the sort of thrashing the event’s harsh critics gave to “The Da Vinci Code” two years ago.

Yet Indy’s fourth big-screen romp is not likely to go down as one of the most memorable. Some viewers at its first press screening loved it, some called it slick and enjoyable though formulaic, some said it was not worth the 19-year wait since Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford made the last film.

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“They should have left well enough alone,” said J. Sperling Reich, who writes for FilmStew.com. “It really looked like they were going through the motions. It really looked like no one had their heart in it.”

Alain Spira of French magazine Paris Match found “Crystal Skull” a perfectly acceptable “Indiana Jones” tale, a sentiment echoed by the solid applause the movie received as the final credits rolled.

“It’s good. It’s a product that is polished, industrial, we’re not getting ripped off in terms of quality,” Spira said. “You know what you’re going to see, you see what you get, and when you leave you’re happy.”

The applause was louder at the outset, though. Fans at the early afternoon showing, which preceded the film’s glitzy formal premiere with cast and crew Sunday night, cheered and clapped wildly at an announcement that the screening was about to start. Some even hummed the Indiana Jones fanfare as the lights went down.

The applause at the end was more subdued.

Cast and crew were unconcerned about how critics might dissect the film.

“I’m not afraid at all. I expect to have the whip turned on me,” Ford told reporters after the screening. “It’s not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people, and I fully expect it.

But, he said: “I work for the people who pay to get in. They are my customers, and my focus is on providing the best experience I can for those people.”

The filmmakers kept the movie shrouded in secrecy, skipping the rounds of press screenings often held for big studio movies and going for a big blowout at Cannes.

Spielberg said he and his collaborators decided “that the fair thing to do and the fun thing to do would be to view it where the entire world is come together every year at this wonderful festival, and we thought that was the best place to introduce Indiana Jones to you again after 19 years.”

The film received none of the derisive laughter or catcalls that mounted near the end of the first press screening for “Da Vinci Code.”

There were a few titters from the “Crystal Skull” crowd early on over co-star Cate Blanchett’s thick, Boris-and-Natasha accent as a Soviet operative racing against Indy to find an artifact of immeasurable power. The rather corny romantic ending also drew a chuckle or two.

In between, the film packed a fair amount of action, though some viewers found the middle portion dull. Conchita Casanovas, of Spain’s RNE radio, said she was “bored to death.”

The new movie hurls archaeologist Jones into the Cold War in 1957. He survives a nuclear blast in the desert in typically creative fashion and is reunited with “Raiders” flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).

As speculated, the film has an alien connection, though far more subdued than the “Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars” story Lucas once envisioned.

There are melancholy nods to Sean Connery, who played Indy’s dad in 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” but declined to return for the new movie, and the late Denholm Elliott, Indy’s college dean in two of the previous movies.

And the film reveals the relationship between Indy and his new sidekick, an angry young motorcycle rebel played by Shia LaBeouf.

As with “Da Vinci Code,” which went on to gross $758 million worldwide, “Crystal Skull” is so hotly anticipated that it will be virtually immune from critics’ opinions. The film is expected to put up blockbuster box-office numbers when it opens globally Thursday.

“The movie was absolutely effective enough to score with audiences everywhere,” said Anne Thompson, deputy editor of Hollywood trade paper Variety. “This played way better than ‘Da Vinci Code.’ No one was gunning for it. They were excited going in, hooting for it in a positive way.”

Dozens of fans prowled outside the Palais, the Cannes headquarters, holding signs saying they needed tickets for “Crystal Skull.”

Amelia Sims, a 19-year-old University of Georgia student studying abroad, held a sign reading “I (heart) Indy.” She managed to get a pass to the press screening and loved the movie.

“I guess I’ve been waiting 19 years for this,” Sims said. “You could say I’ve been waiting my whole life.”

But Christian Monggaard, who is reviewing “Crystal Skull” for Danish newspaper Information, said he grew up with the “Indiana Jones” films and came away from this one disappointed, finding the climax an “overblown special-effects extravaganza.”

“Talk about a woman scorned,” Monggaard said. “A fan scorned is even worse.”

Dwayne Wade’s Mothers Day Gift May 19, 2008

Well, this puts my bouquet of flowers to shame; Dwayne Wade bought his mom a church for Mother’s Day. (Show off.) No, I kid, it’s a great story. D-Wade’s mom Jolinda turned her drug addicted life around seven years ago when, after years of urging by her children, she got help and got clean. Along the way, she devoted her life to spreading the word of God, starting her first ministry while in prison. And now, thanks to her son, she’s got her own — Temple of Praise. And now, thanks to Wade, I feel horrible for passing on that extra bed of baby’s breath. (Sorry, mom.)

Desparate Housewives Season Finale Spoilers May 19, 2008

Don’t read on if you did not see last night’s season finale of ‘Desparate Housewives’ and don’t want the surprises ruined!

On Sunday’s season finale of Desperate Housewives, the show flashed ahead five years.

The highlights:

–Susan (Teri Hatcher) apparently isn’t wed to Mike (James Denton) anymore. She is seen entering her house and calling out, “Honey, I’m home” — to a mystery man!

–Bree (Marcia Cross) is a star caterer and author of a cookbook. She also is back on with her husband Orson (Kyle MacLachlan).

–Gaby (Eva Longoria) is now a mom: Her two little girls are seen playing with her makeup and her clothes.

– One of Lynette’s (Felicity Huffman) twins, who are now teens, gets arrested for stealing a car.

– Katherine (Dana Delaney) is elated because her daughter Dylan phones her to tell her she’s getting hitched.

Andy Roddick Withdraws from French Open May 19, 2008

DUESSELDORF, Germany – Andy Roddick, the highest-ranked American man, withdrew from the French Open on Monday because of a right shoulder injury.

The sixth-ranked Roddick, who lost in the first round at Roland Garros the last two years, pulled out of the semifinals of the Rome Masters on May 10. He then skipped the Hamburg Masters last week, but had been expected to play this week at the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf.

“Andy is pulling out with an upper back shoulder injury, the same thing that he had in Rome,” said John Roddick, Andy’s brother and the U.S. captain at the World Team Cup. “He’s pulling out of here and he’s also going to miss the French Open, too.”

John Roddick said he hoped his brother would be ready for the grass-court tournament at Queen’s Club, a key warmup for Wimbledon.

“The shoulder doctor we use is out of New York City so he was right there, and Andy had an MRI and there’s some inflammation so he pulled him from here and the French,” John Roddick said. “I don’t think it’s going to be anything that’s terribly long and I would be surprised if he was not ready to go for Queens. But as for now he needs to take a good 10 days, 12 days, just rest.”

Andy Roddick won his only Grand Slam title at the 2003 U.S. Open. He has reached three other major finals, losing to Roger Federer twice at Wimbledon and once at the U.S. Open.

At the French Open, Roddick’s best showing came in his debut in 2001 when he reached the third round. He reached the second round in 2004 and ‘05, but has lost in the first round four times.

His success this year in Rome had given Roddick hope ahead of the French Open, which starts Sunday.

“He’s been playing well all year and he was excited to be playing on the clay and really had a good frame of mind in practice and in his matches,” John Roddick said. “He felt really comfortable on the clay this year, so he really liked his chances of doing better than he has, and he did it in Rome. He was optimistic about his draw in France and wanted to come over and try to play well. So for him it’s disappointing.”

Angry Flight Attendant Charged with Setting Fire on Plane May 19, 2008

FARGO, North Dakota (AP) – A flight attendant angry about his work route smuggled a lighter aboard an airplane and set a fire in a bathroom, forcing an emergency landing, authorities said Thursday.

The Compass Airlines flight carrying 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely in Fargo on May 7 after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported. The plane was flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, authorities said.

Eder Rojas, 19, appeared in court Thursday, following his arrest a day earlier in Minneapolis, and was ordered held without bail, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

His public defender did not return a phone call seeking comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Jordheim, who is prosecuting the case in Fargo, would not comment.

Court documents said Rojas, of the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, told authorities he was upset at the airline for making him work the route. He is accused of taking a lighter with him through the security checkpoint, authorities said.

“Rojas further stated that he was preparing his cart to serve the passengers, he set the cart up, went back to the lavatory and reached in with his right hand and lit the paper towels with the lighter,” court documents said.

Pilot Steve Peterka told authorities that an indicator light came on about 35 minutes into the flight, showing smoke in the rear bathroom.

Peterka called Rojas, who was assigned passengers in the back of the plane, and asked him to check the bathroom, documents said. Rojas, another flight attendant and a passenger were credited with quickly putting out the flames with fire extinguishers, authorities said.

Investigators later found a lighter in one of the overhead bins. Rojas confessed after authorities interviewed him, the complaint said.

Compass is a subsidiary of Northwest Airlines, based in Eagan, Minn. Rojas has been fired, said Northwest spokesman Rob Laughlin. Northwest did not say how long Rojas worked for the airline.

FBI agent Ralph Boelter said Compass Airlines officials showed “extraordinary cooperation” in the investigation.