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Thursday, December 04, 2008, 7:54 pm
India names Pakistani masterminds, date plot to 07
NEW DELHI (AP) — A Pakistani militant group apparently used an Indian operative as far back as 2007 to scout targets for the elaborate plot against India's financial capital, authorities said Thursday, a blow to Indian officials who have blamed the deadly attacks entirely on Pakistani extremists.
As investigators sought to unravel the attack on Mumbai, stepping up questioning of the lone captured gunman, airports across India were put on high alert amid fresh warnings that terrorists planned to hijack an aircraft.
Also Thursday, police said there were signs that some of the six victims of the attack on a Jewish center may have been tortured. "The victims were strangled," said Rakesh Maria, a senior Mumbai police official. "There were injuries noticed on the bodies that were not from firing."
Members of an Israeli rescue group which had a team in Mumbai said it was impossible to tell if the bodies had been abused, however, because no autopsies were conducted in accordance with Jewish tradition.
The surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, told interrogators he had been sent by the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and identified two of the plot's masterminds, according to two Indian government officials familiar with the inquiry.
Kasab told police that one of them, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Lashkar's operations chief, recruited him for the attack, and the assailants called another senior leader, Yusuf Muzammil, on a satellite phone after hijacking an Indian vessel en route to Mumbai.
The information sent investigators back to another reputed Lashkar operative, Faheem Ansari, who they hope could be key in pulling together different strands of the investigation.
Ansari, an Indian national, was arrested in February in north India carrying hand-drawn sketches of hotels, the train terminal and other sites that were later attacked in Mumbai, said Amitabh Yash, director of the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police.
During his interrogation, Ansari also named Muzammil as his handler in Pakistan, adding that he trained in a Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad — the same area where Kasab said he was trained, a senior police officer involved in the investigation said.
In Pakistan, Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters he had no information on Lakhvi or Muzammil but that authorities would check.
Ansari "told us about a planned Lashkar attack on Bombay, on southern Bombay," said Yash, referring to Mumbai by its previous name. "He gave us eight or nine specific locations where the attack would be carried out," he said, adding that Ansari had detailed sketches of the places and escape routes from the sites.
Ansari said he carried out the reconnaissance in the fall of 2007, which also included the U.S. consulate, the Bombay stock exchange and other Mumbai sites that were not attacked.
Ansari is now in Indian custody, according to Yash. It was unclear if he was being questioned again, but Maria said they were working to determine if Ansari played a role in how the attackers "got such intricate knowledge of the sites."
Indian authorities have faced a torrent of criticism about missed warnings and botched intelligence, and revelations that Ansari disclosed details of the Mumbai plot 10 months ago will be added to the list. Linking an Indian national to the plot also undermines India's assertion that Pakistan is solely responsible.
The attacks have heightened tensions between the contentious neighbors. They have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and both have nuclear weapons.
Yash said during extensive interrogations Ansari confessed to scouting Mumbai, arranging a safe-house there for Lashkar militants and provided details on his involvement in the group. "We got everything out of him, whatever he knew," he said.
Ansari linked up with Lashkar while working at a printing press in Dubai. He was taken by sea to Pakistan to the Lashkar camp in Muzaffarabad and received a false Pakistani passport and citizenship papers, which police recovered when he was arrested.
In 2007, Ansari said, he traveled to Katmandu, Nepal, and then crossed back into India and settled in Mumbai, where he conducted reconnaissance for a future attack, Yash said.
He was arrested Feb. 10 in the northern city of Rampur after suspected Muslim militants attacked a police camp, killing eight constables. He said he was there to collect weapons to bring to Mumbai for a future attack.
Yash said Ansari's arrest did not derail Lashkar's plans for an attack. "When they found that their mole in Bombay had been caught...they carried out the operations in a different way," he said.
Meanwhile, police officers said they were trying to get as much detail as possible from Kasab.
"A terrorist of this sort is never cooperative. We have to extract information," said Deven Bharti, the head of the Mumbai crime branch.
Indian police are known to use interrogation methods that would be regarded as torture in the West, including questioning suspects drugged with "truth serum."
Bharti provided no details on interrogation techniques, but said "truth serum" would probably be used next week. He did not specify what drug would be used.
During questioning, details of Kasab's recruitment by Lashkar began to emerge, said police, describing him as fourth grade dropout from an impoverished village who was gravitating to a life of crime.
"Lashkar recruited him, preying on a combination of his religious sentiments and his poverty," said Maria.
The revelations came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with leaders in Islamabad after visiting India's capital — part of a U.S. effort to pressure Pakistan to share more intelligence and pursue terrorist cells believed to be rooted in the country.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari promised Rice his country would take "strong action" against any elements in Pakistan involved in the siege.
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department designated as terrorists four individuals who hold leadership positions in Lashkar, including Lakhvi, and ordered any of their U.S. assets to be frozen. Also named were Muhammad Saeed, the group's leader; Haji Muhammad Ashraf, its chief of finance; and Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, a financier with the group.
Meanwhile, India put its airports on alert following threats of possible airborne attacks. Security forces swarmed New Delhi's international airport early Friday after the sound of gunfire was heard, police said, but no one was injured or killed. Police said it was not a terrorist incident.
The warning received by the airports "spoke of possibility of aircraft being hijacked by terrorists," India's air force chief, Fali Homi Major, told reporters Thursday.
The alert focused on three major airports — New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai — but security was stepped up across India.
Several extra layers of security were set up and some passengers' bags were scanned for explosives.
"Passengers have been asked to pass through six-stage security checks," said Brij Lal, a senior police official organizing security at the airport in the northern city of Lucknow.
Nirmala Sharma, a passenger who flew from New Delhi to Lucknow, said her bags were checked a half dozen times and she went through a metal detector three times. "Sometimes it seemed tedious, but it seems to be the need of the hour," she said. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 7:46 pm
Carmakers' bailout pleas hit Senate skepticism
In this Nov. 18, 2008 file photo, Ford CEO Alan Mulally, left, Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli , center, and General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner testify at a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing on the automotive industry bailout on Capitol Hill in Washington. Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday, Dec. 2 to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive. (The Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Desperate U.S. automakers ran into fresh obstacles from skeptical lawmakers Thursday as they appealed with rising urgency — and a new dose of humility — for a $34 billion bailout. Without help, said one senator, "we're looking at a death sentence."
With lawmakers in both parties pressing the automakers to consider a pre-negotiated bankruptcy — something they have consistently shunned — the Big Three were contemplating a government-run restructuring that could yield results similar to bankruptcy, including massive downsizing, in return for the bailout billions. But there was no assurance they could get even that.
And that wasn't all the unwelcome news. Congressional officials said one leading proposal — to tap an already approved fund supposedly set aside for making cars environmentally efficient — wouldn't give the carmakers nearly as much money as they say they need.
The auto executives pleaded with lawmakers at a contentious Capitol Hill hearing — their second round in as many weeks — for emergency aid before year's end. But with time running out on the current Congress, skepticism about the bailout appeared to be as strong as ever.
"In all due respect, folks, I don't think there's faith that the next ... three months will work out, given the past history," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.
"No thinking person thinks that all three companies can survive," said Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.
Chris Dodd, chairman of the Banking Committee, was the senator who spoke of a death sentence — though he also said, "We're not going to leave town without trying" to help.
The auto executives are to make their case at a House hearing on Friday, and Congress could take up rescue legislation next week in an emergency session.
But Democratic congressional leaders were leaning on the White House to act on its own. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote to President George W. Bush on Thursday asking him, as they have repeatedly, to use the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund to help the automakers — something the administration has consistently refused to do.
But Bush, too, was skeptical.
In an interview with NBC News, he said, "No matter how important the autos are to our economy, we don't want to put good money after bad. In other words, we want to make sure that the plan they develop is one that ensures their long-term viability for the sake of the taxpayer."
President-elect Barack Obama was keeping his distance, and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who has been dealing with both the financial bailout and the auto rescue proposal, said, "He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been." Frank is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, which will conduct Friday's hearing.
Repentant after a botched first crack at bailout pleas, the executives from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC all agreed during Thursday's session that a multibillion-dollar bailout deal would include a supervisory government board that could order major overhauls of the companies if deemed necessary for survival.
United Auto Workers union President Ron Gettelfinger, aligned with the industry in pressing for the aid, told senators that any kind of bankruptcy, even a prepackaged one, was not "a viable option." Gettelfinger said consumers would not buy autos from bankrupt companies, no matter the terms of the arrangement.
He also warned that without action by Congress: "I believe we could lose General Motors by the end of this month." He said the situation was dire and time was of the essence.
The Big Three CEOs told the senators they hoped to make amends for past blunders. "We made mistakes, which we're learning from," GM chief Rick Wagoner said. Ford CEO Alan Mulally also acknowledged big mistakes, saying his company's approach once was "If you build it, they will come."
"We produced more vehicles than our customers wanted, then slashed prices," he said. But as a result of these past mistakes, "we are really focused," he said.
The Bush administration wants the aid to be drawn from an existing $25 billion program to help the industry retool its plants to make their vehicles more fuel-efficient.
But congressional budget analysts have privately told top Democrats that would yield only $10 billion to $15 billion in short-term loans. Congressional officials described that finding only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose it.
The auto executives made the trip from Detroit in new-model hybrid autos made by their respective companies, two weeks after a first appeal for $25 billion in which they were chided for flying on private jets to beg for money.
Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli promised that his company, recipient of a previous government-subsidized rescue loan in the 1970s that it repaid, would reimburse taxpayers by 2012 this time and would devote itself to manufacturing "fuel-efficient cars and trucks that people want to buy."
Asked whether the carmakers would agree to a setup like the one established for Chrysler's 1979 bailout, with a federal restructuring trustee who had some of the same powers as a bankruptcy court, all three executives indicated they would. Ford's Mulally added, "I probably need to think about that a little bit. It sounds right, but I just don't know all of the implications."
Lawmakers still complained of sticker shock, noting that the bailout's price tag had jumped $9 billion since the trio last appeared just two weeks ago.
Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Banking Committee, pressed the automakers to explain why, and explain how the sum would not simply "prop up a failed business model for a few months ... and how are you going to pay it back?"
Democrats, too, questioned whether an auto bailout would amount to investing taxpayer money in a failing enterprise.
"Be honest and tell me ... just tell me if things stay the way they are now, are you going to be back in a year" asking for more money? asked Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.
Protesters who briefly interrupted the hearing were a reminder of what polls show is thin public support for a rescue. "The bailout is a sellout!" demonstrators chanted as they were escorted from the hearing room by police.
Dodd said he wants to help the industry, but he also said that detailed plans submitted this week on how the companies would use the money to right themselves still left a lot of questions unanswered. Doing nothing, though, "plays Russian roulette with the entire economy of the United States," Dodd said. "Inaction is no solution."
Gene L. Dodaro, the top official at Congress' watchdog agency — the Government Accountability Office — agreed with Dodd that the financial industry rescue fund set up in October "is worded broadly enough" to permit it to be tapped for the automakers.
Dodaro testified that the Federal Reserve also has the authority under existing law to make loans to the domestic auto industry if it so chooses.
Dodd said that both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had been invited to testify at Thursday's hearing but had declined. He later criticized the treasury chief for traveling to China at a time of economic peril in the U.S.
"Time to come home — we have a serious problem here," Dodd said. "I need the Federal Reserve to step up as well."
Though the current total request is $34 billion, Ford's proposal says it might have to come back with a second request for an additional $4 billion if the recession persists into 2010, raising the total even higher. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 7:42 pm
Democrats want a more assertive Obama
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are growing impatient with President-elect Barack Obama's refusal to inject himself in the major economic crises confronting the country.
Obama has sidestepped some policy questions by saying there is only one president at a time. But the dodge is wearing thin.
"He's going to have to be more assertive than he's been," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told consumer advocates Thursday.
Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs play a more significant role on economic issues.
"At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time," Frank said. "I'm afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He's got to remedy that situation."
Obama has maintained one of the most public images of any president-elect. He has held half a dozen press conferences, where he has entertained question after question about the economy, the mortgage crisis, and the flailing auto industry. He called for passage of extended unemployment benefits — which has passed — and even a stimulus package if possible before Jan. 20. But he has stayed away from trying to dictate remedies for the toughest problems Congress is confronting: the auto industry's troubles and how to spend the $700 billion bailout.
Frank's remarks came as the Bush administration considers whether it needs the second half of the $700 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program aimed at helping the financial sector before Obama takes office on Jan. 20.
An Obama official said the Bush administration reached out to the transition team about tapping into the money. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said Obama's transition team urged the administration to talk to bipartisan congressional leaders and assemble a meeting between the White House and Congress. The official said the Obama team offered to participate in a bipartisan meeting if it would be helpful.
Earlier this week, Obama was asked whether he worried that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson might begin spending the next installment of the money before he assumes the presidency. Obama demurred.
"Until Secretary Paulson indicates publicly that he's drawing down the second tranche, the second half of the TARP money, it would be speculation on my part to suggest that that money's going to be used up," he told reporters at a Chicago news conference Wednesday.
Obama did stress that a significant component of the fund should be used to reduce the number of foreclosures. But he did not specify a particular remedy.
He also declined to take a stand in a debate over the source of money for an auto loan package. The dispute has divided Democrats and hindered progress on assistance for the industry. At issue is whether to take money from the $700 billion designated for the financial sector or to take it from a previously approved loan aimed at manufacturing more energy efficient cars.
"I think it's premature to get into that issue," Obama said at the conference.
Presidents-elect typically spend the transition period assembling their cabinets, their White House staff and preparing to take the reins of power. But this transition is occurring at an extraordinary time, with bad economic news mounting by the day and with one of the country's major industries begging for a hand to keep from collapsing.
Two Democratic senators involved in trying to salvage the auto companies have said Obama could help move the process along and should become more engaged.
"The Obama team has to step up," Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and one of the lead negotiators, said Nov. 21 in Hartford, Conn. "In the minds of the people, this is the Obama administration. I don't think we can wait until January 20."
Two days later, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, a point man in helping his state's main industry, called on Obama to help resolve the dispute over money for the auto loan package.
"It would be very helpful if the president-elect would become more involved in resolving the issue over the source of the funds," he said. "I want him to offer his assistance. He is a person who can really bring people together."
Frank, shrewd and quick-witted, also poked fun at Obama's calls for a "post-partisan" governing environment in Washington. Frank predicted that regulatory legislation aimed at preventing abuses related to subprime mortgages and credit cards stood a much better chance next year, when Democrats have greater majorities in the House and Senate.
"It is a grave mistake to assume that parties are irrelevant to this process," he said. "My one difference with the president-elect, about whom I am very enthusiastic, is when he talks about being post-partisan.
"Having lived with this very right wing Republican group that runs the House most of the time, the notion of trying to deal with them as if we could be post-partisan gives me post-partisan depression," Frank said. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 4:09 pm
In Atlanta: Painting the Field
The Georgia Dome is prepping for this weekend's match-up. Video shot by Doug Engle, Multimedia Editor of Ocala's Star-Banner.
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Thursday, December 04, 2008, 3:57 pm
In Atlanta: Painting the field
The Georgia Dome is prepping for this weekend's match-up. Video shot by Doug Engle, Multimedia Editor of Ocala's Star-Banner.
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Thursday, December 04, 2008, 3:48 pm
UF student dies two days after scooter accident
The University of Florida student who was injured Tuesday when a motorist struck his scooter died Thursday at Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville police reported.
Michael R. Van Wagner, 22, died from his injuries shortly before 2 p.m., according to police.
Wagner had been hospitalized at Shands in critical condition following the Tuesday afternoon crash.
Police reported Monica Renee Toliver, 40, of Gainesville was heading east on University Avenue when she hit the back of a Gainesville Regional Utilities truck. She continued to drive east on the sidewalk before returning to the street.
About 100 yards west of NW 17th Street, her vehicle then struck Van Wagner, who was riding a scooter. Van Wagner was not wearing a helmet, police said.
The student and his vehicle were propelled into the back of a pickup that was stopped ahead at the intersection. The force of the impact pushed both the scooter and the pickup into the intersection.
No charges have been filed in the case while police continue to investigate both crashes, said police spokeswoman Officer Summer Hallett.
Toliver showed no obvious signs of impairment on the scene, according to police. She did submit to having blood drawn for analysis and was allowed to leave the crash site.
Van Wagner had been a student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UF and was listed as a junior, according to the university. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 3:47 pm
Deputies: Mom scammed churches, saying kid needed kidney
Misty Dawn Everly, 34A woman has been arrested after authorities say she took her preschooler to four Levy County churches, falsely claimed that the child needed a kidney transplant and asked for prayer and money to take the child to a specialty hospital for the surgery.
Misty Dawn Everly, 34, Dunnellon, was arrested Tuesday and charged with one count of scheme to defraud and for violating her probation for a Marion County grand theft conviction. Levy County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Roger Bell said charges are pending against Everly on three additional counts of scheme to defraud.
According to court records, on Nov. 23 Everly went to a church in Bronson and, while holding her four-year-old child, told the congregation that the child needed a kidney transplant as a result of kidney cancer. According to church members, Everly claimed she had received a phone call from St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., informing her that a child there was on life support and Everly needed to get her own child to the hospital as soon as possible for the transplant.
Everly reportedly asked for prayer as well as money for the trip. After praying for the child, the congregation took up an offering and gave the $420 collected to Everly.
Investigators determined that after the church service had ended, Everly crossed the street and told the congregation of another church the same story.
Sheriff’s Capt. Evan Sullivan said Everly repeated the pattern on Nov. 30 in Williston, asking for and receiving prayer and cash from two more church.
Bell said officials at St. Jude's Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis were unable to find any record of Everly or the child having appointments or any other contact with them for a kidney transplant or for any other reason.
According to Bell, Everly’s story to the churches was evidence that she intended to defraud more than one person under false pretenses and by misrepresentation.
Everly was arrested in Marion County on the Levy County charges Tuesday and also for violating her probation on a 2006 conviction for writing bad checks totaling between $300 and $5,000. Everly previously served a two-year probation for a Polk County conviction for writing bad checks. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 3:42 pm
Four arrested in Levy County burglaries
Desmond Jim Hurley, 18Four people have been arrested in connection with Cedar Key-area commercial burglaries that included the theft of business safes.
Cedar Key residents Desmond Jim Hurley, 18, Robert Ray Mann II, 25, Paul Edward Neese, 19, and a 17-year-old male Cedar Key School student were each charged with three counts of burglary and three counts of grand theft.
According to Cedar Key Police and the Levy County Sheriff’s Office, the first incident happened at 2:21 a.m. on Sept. 29 on State Road 24 at the Cypress Station convenience store. Investigators said a safe and cash were taken from the store east of Cedar Key.
The next incident was a break-in on Nov. 2 when The Market grocery store on State Road 24 in downtown Cedar Key was broken into and the safe and money taken. A third incident was reported Nov. 18 when the establishment Coconuts on Dock St. was broken into and cash taken.
Police Chief Virgil Sandlin and sheriff's Lt. Scott Tummond served a search warrant at the home where the 17-year-old lives and reported finding a bank deposit bag that belonged to Cypress Station as well as the safe stolen from the business. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 2:51 pm
Hong Kong Finds More Tainted Eggs
SHANGHAI — Hong Kong food safety authorities said late Tuesday that for the fourth time in less than two months they had found a batch of eggs imported from China that were contaminated with illegal levels of melamine, the industrial chemical blamed for sickening hundreds of thousands of young Chinese children, six fatally.
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Thursday, December 04, 2008, 2:47 pm
Scott no longer interested in Auburn
One of the side effects of Tommy Tuberville's resignation as Auburn's football coach Wednesday came from this area, as Dixie County running back Rodney Scott no longer is committed to the Tigers, according to Bears' coach Brent Wilkerson.
"As of right now, Rodney is uncommitted," Wilkerson said. "He's looking at a few other places."
Topping the list are South Florida and hard-charging Mississippi with coachless Auburn a distant third, according to Wilkerson.
"USF has always been somewhere he's looked at seriously, and Ole Miss has made a real good push of late," Wilkerson said. "Both of those schools really want him."
Scott has an official visit scheduled for Mississippi this weekend and is canceling a trip set for Auburn later this month. Wilkerson said Scott also is planning to cancel a trip to South Carolina, which was set to take place in a few weeks.
New Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called Thursday to offer Scott a scholarship, but the Tigers are late getting into the game and would have some makeup work to do to catch up with the Rebels and the Bulls, according to Wilkerson.
Florida expressed some interest in Scott, working him out at running back and cornerback during last summer's Friday Night Lights. However, Wilkerson said he hasn't heard from Gator coaches in months. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 2:45 pm
Two more arrested in violent Dunkin' Donuts robberies
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Authorities say two more suspects have been arrested in connection with violent robberies at Dunkin' Donuts stores in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The Broward County Sheriff's Office said Thursday the suspects were caught trying to flee the country by ship. No further details were immediately available.
Earlier this week, three other suspects were taken into custody for the robberies at branches in Delray Beach, Tamarac and Sunrise.
At the Delray Beach store on Nov. 26, authorities say one man outside and three customers inside were shot. Their injuries were non-life threatening. The Tamarac branch was robbed a day later and two suspects shot a man in the back and stole cash from customers. The victim remains hospitalized in critical condition. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 2:27 pm
Where are the best Christmas lights in North Florida?
The Sun is compiling its annual list of where to find Christmas lights in North Central Florida. If you know of a home or business that with the best and brightest display, let us know. E-mail the address and phone number of the location to Features Editor Sarah Sain at sarah.sain@gvillesun.com. And don't forget to send a photo if you've got one!
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Thursday, December 04, 2008, 2:26 pm
Report: Suspect says victim told her to get rifle, cock it and shoot
SILVER SPRINGS - Janice Lou Benton was upset with the man she had taken in after he got out of jail. He had slapped her in the face on Wednesday outside a local bar and, later, he kept on being rude.
So Wednesday night, following his instructions - to get her rifle, cock it and pull the trigger - she shot her 51-year-old house guest in the forehead as he knelt and rolled a cigarette on her kitchen steps.
This bizarre tale is the account she and her son gave to a Marion County sheriff's detective investigating the homicide at 255 N.E. 118th Ave. Road.
Benton, 67, was arrested overnight on a charge of second-degree murder.
She told Detective Rhonda Stroup that she met the deceased about two weeks ago at The Pub Bar in Ocala. The man, whose name was not released pending notification of his family, had recently gotten out of the Marion County Jail. Benton brought him home.
He wanted a sexual relationship, she said, but she wasn't interested. On Nov. 26 some friends came over, and another man spent the night with her. Her guest didn't like that and made rude remarks about it.
Then at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, the day of the killing, they went to the Back 40 Lounge to drink. At the bar, Benton said, she talked with other male friends, and, again, the man didn't like that.
She went across the street to an ATM machine to get money, Benton said, and he followed her. They argued and he slapped her. After that, he went back to the bar, where other patrons bought him drinks. Benton bought a drink for another male friend but refused to buy one for her house guest.
She called her son Donald Benton to come and pick up the man. The son arrived at the lounge and stayed for an hour. Then he and his mother left together. She had changed her mind about giving the man a ride.
Janice Benton and her son Donald were at home when a sheriff's deputy pulled into the driveway with the the 51-year-old house guest in the patrol car. She told the deputy he could stay as long as he was not rude, according to the Sheriff's Office report.
Once the deputy had left, however, she said he became rude and told her to "just go ahead and kill him," the Sheriff's Office report says. She said he told her to get one of her guns and so she did.
The victim then told her "to cock the gun, which she did and when he told her to go ahead and pull the trigger, she pointed the gun at the decedent and pulled the trigger," the report says.
At the time of the shooting, she was standing near the kitchen sink.
Donald Benton, who was there at the time, told Stroup that the victim was about four feet from his mother. He said the man was on his knees rolling a cigarette on the step leading to the kitchen when he was shot. Deputies found a bag of loose tobacco under his body.
Janice Benton told Stroup she didn't know at the time whether the gun was loaded, and she said that the victim posed no threat to her when she got the gun and fired it.
Afterward, she put the .22-caliber rifle back in the rack above her bed, which held two other rifles, returned to the kitchen and "stood over the decedent in disbelief," the report says.
Another of her sons - Roger McCoy - was also in the house and called 911 at about 9:30 p.m.
At the scene Wednesday night, sheriff's investigators spoke with Benton's children, Don Benton and McCoy, and with McCoy's girlfriend. At about 3:30 a.m. Thursday, a deputy led Janice Benton to a patrol vehicle and took her to jail.
Detectives revisited the home later Thursday with a search warrant to look for evidence.
The murder suspect declined to speak with a reporter at the scene. But Don Benton told the Star-Banner that his mother and the man had been arguing inside the home near the back door when she went to her bedroom and got the rifle. Her son said she returned to the back door and fired one shot that struck the man in the head.
Don Benton placed his index finger on the reporter's forehead to show the shot's direction.
"It's their first time arguing. She just picked up the rifle and shot him. I wish I would've took it away from her,” Don Benton said.
Although the Benton family - including children and other relatives - live in separate dwellings, they reside within close proximity of each other on one piece of land.
McCoy told the Star-Banner that he was in his room when he heard a shot.
"I didn't see anything. I just heard one shot," he said. When he came out of the room, he saw the man lying on the floor.
The victim was "one hell of a worker," said Paul Stack, 76, who knew him. "But he had to drink. He couldn't do without it."
Stack said he hired the man to do yard work and he was one the best workers he ever had. However, Stack said, alcohol was the victim's biggest demon.
"He had to have money to drink," Stack said. He had to let the man go, Stack said, because the man got drunk one day and pushed a neighbor.
"He had a bad habit of putting his hands on people," Stack said. Tired of his drinking, Stack said he took the victim to the bus station last month, gave him $150 and told him to go somewhere and start over.
"He was going to Fort Lauderdale, but he changed his mind because he met a woman and decided to stay for a while," Stack said.
The shooting death was Marion County's 23rd homicide of the year and the seventh involving domestic violence.
Austin L. Miller can be reached at austin.miller@starbanner.com or 352-867-4118. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 1:26 pm
Fla. representative hangs up on Obama twice
MIAMI — First she hung up on President-elect Barack Obama — twice. Now Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is fielding calls from angry constituents who think she did it on purpose.
The Miami congresswoman says she and the Democrat had a good laugh Wednesday after she apologized profusely for assuming his calls were a prank.
"I was just flabbergasted," Ros-Lehtinen said Thursday. "I just hung up on the most powerful man on earth — twice."
She said Obama called to congratulate her on her re-election, saying he was looking forward to working with her as the ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs committee.
But she assumed it was a radio station prank. Typically, when high-ranking officials call, an aide calls in advance to verify. That was the procedure recently when Ros-Lehtinen received a call from Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"But this one was just out of the blue he's calling me. And I said, 'Boy, you're a much better impersonator than that guy on Saturday Night Live,' and he's laughing and he's thinking I'm kidding," she said.
Obama tried convincing her that he truly was the president-elect, but Ros-Lehtinen says she "wished him the best of luck and told him I was going to hang up on him."
A few minutes later, Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, called the congresswoman with Obama on the line to tell her it wasn't a joke.
"I said I really do appreciate it. I love these pranks more than anybody and I'm honored that you would prank me, but I'm gonna hang up."
And she did.
It took a call from Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, to persuade Ros-Lehtinen that Obama really did want to talk to her. She asked Berman to tell her an inside joke about a colleague that only they would know to make sure the phone call was legitimate.
When Obama finally called back, the congresswoman said they talked about policies on Cuba and Israel.
He told her "anytime my ego gets too pumped up, I think Michelle will remind me that you hung up not once, but twice on me," Ros-Lehtinen said.
Obama's office has not commented on the mix-up. -
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 12:44 pm
Wall Street responds coolly to more bad news
NEW YORK — Wall Street showed further signs of stability Thursday as investors calmly took in a flurry of downbeat economic and corporate data and largely held on to the gains they've made for more than a week.
The major stock indexes declined but the pullback appeared orderly. The market, which has closed higher in seven of the last eight sessions, appeared to largely take in stride discouraging retail sales reports Thursday and big job cuts at AT&T Inc. and DuPont Co. as well as a weaker-than-expected profit forecast from the drugmaker Merck.
Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading at Canaccord Adams in New York, said traders have become somewhat more immune to the parade of terrible economic data since the market's two-day plunge on Nov. 19 and 20 that wiped 873 points, or 10.6 percent, from the Dow Jones industrials. He contends the bad readings have been built into many investors' expectations.
"The mind-set has changed a little. You just don't have that panic selling all day," he said.
The mostly moderate moves, with the exception of a huge sell-off Monday, have led some analysts to believe that some order may be returning to the market after months of extreme volatility.
"I think you're just going to have down 100, up 200 days," Rovelli said, calling 300-point and 400-point moves in a day less likely as Wall Street becomes more accustomed to horrible economic reports.
But Wall Street still faces a great deal of uncertainty — for example, plunging consumer spending levels — that are still expected to set off volatility in the weeks and months ahead. Sales reports issued Thursday showed that retailers suffered a miserable November, deepening fears that the critical holiday period could be the most dismal in decades.
The Labor Department's November employment report could, if it's worse than expected, send stocks sharply lower when it is released on Friday. The market is well aware that consumers who aren't working don't spend, and that consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of economic growth.
"It's all about jobs and right now the outlook is pretty downbeat," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist with Edward Jones in St. Louis.
In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 84.35, or 0.98 percent, to 8,507.34.
Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 8.64, or 0.99 percent, to 862.10, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.62, or 0.91 percent, to 1,478.76.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.14, or 0.91 percent, to 452.89.
The number of stocks declining on the New York Stock Exchange outpaced those advancing by about 3 to 2. Volume came to a moderate 520.8 million shares.
On Wednesday, Wall Street looked past another stream of bad economic news and finished sharply higher after fluctuating between positive and negative territory for most of the day.
Bond prices showed investor demand remains elevated. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 2.65 from 2.67 percent late Wednesday.
The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, stood at 0.02 percent, flat with late Wednesday.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.
The market's relative calm spurred questions about whether it would be able to establish a bottom in the face of further bad economic news.
"You can't rule out that further bad news won't affect the market," said Brian Gendreau, investment strategist, ING Investment Management. "But I would have to think that an awful lot of bad news is already priced in."
Investors also were watching as the heads of the Detroit automakers appeared before Congress with hopes of persuading skeptical lawmakers to save their troubled industry. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are collectively seeking $34 billion in emergency aid.
GM fell 39 cents, or 8 percent, to $4.51, while Ford rose 2 cents to $2.87. Chrysler isn't publicly traded.
While it might not come easily from Capitol Hill, investors largely expect some sort of aid for the ailing companies.
Among the economic data arriving Thursday, the Labor Department said new claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week but the number of people continuing to receive government aid reached a 26-year high.
The Commerce Department said factory orders plunged by 5.1 percent in October. It was the steepest decline in eight years.
Investors showed little reaction to calls by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for the government to increase efforts to stop soaring home foreclosures.
Retail stocks largely advanced even the companies posted huge sales declines for November. The Goldman Sachs-International Council of Shopping Centers sales index fell 2.7 percent to its lowest reading since its inception in 1969. Expectations had been so low that investors appeared relieved that the month was over and that the sales reports were in hand.
Macy's Inc. said its same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, fell 13.3 percent. Same-store sales are a key measure of a retailer's health. Macy's advanced 39 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $7.78.
Target Corp. said its same-store sales for the month fell 10.4 percent. The stock slipped 2 cents to $34.46.
The sales declines at both companies were bigger than Wall Street had forecast.
Many shoppers looking for discounts turned to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The world's largest retailer posted a better-than-expected 3.4 percent increase in sales. In the U.S., grocery sales helped results. Wal-Mart rose 54 cents to $54.92.
AT&T fell 61 cents, or 2.1 percent, $28.47 after reporting it is cutting 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its work force, because of the economic downturn.
Chemicals maker DuPont said it will cut 2,500 jobs, mostly serving the U.S. and European automotive and construction markets, due to lower demand. DuPont rose 5 cents to $23.66.
Meanwhile, Merck & Co. said its profit will fall in 2009 due to restructuring costs, generic competition and slower sales of key products. Its forecast was below Wall Street estimates for next year. Merck fell 84 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $25.62.
Light, sweet crude fell 65 cents to $46.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude, which soared to a record $147.27 in July, is now trading at its lowest levels in four years, having plunged in response to the weakening global economy.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.00 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.03 percent, Germany's DAX index slipped 0.07 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.17 percent.
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