THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2002
NATION & WORLD
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9A
8
Malnourished teen dies in hospital
The Associated Press
HAZLETON, Pa. — A severely malnourished teen who authorities said was starved by his mother and stepfather died yesterday, four days after he was found wandering a Florida town weighing 62 pounds.
On Saturday, 18-year-old Chester Lee Miller knocked on a stranger's door in Milton, Fla., and asked if he could take a shower and rest. The woman gave him a sandwich and something to drink, then phoned for help.
The 5-foot-3 teen told police his stepfather in Hazleton, Pa., had put him on a bus to Florida and told him to go look for his real dad.
Miller's mother and stepfather, Lyda Miller, 37, and Paul Hoffman Sr., 38, were charged in Pennsylvania on Tuesday with aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person. Hazleton Police Chief Edward Harry said investigators planned to charge the couple with homicide.
At a hearing Tuesday, Hoffman said he was on disability for mental illness and that he was "deeply sorry" for his actions.
"I have no idea why I did it," he told the judge.
Janice Goodman said the boy arrived on her doorstep Saturday with sunken eyes, barely able to stand. She said he had been turned away from the home of an uncle in the nearby town of Bagdad.
"He looked like a Holocaust victim," she said. "I felt worried for his safety. I felt as though he was going to die right there."
Officials in Milton, Fla., said they did not know how long the teen was there before he was hospitalized.
"He said he had been here maybe a week, but we aren't sure. he wasn't malnourished, we weren't sure how clear his mind was," Detective Mike Daughtery said Tuesday.
Investigators said he told Goodman "his parents had been very mean to him."
Prosecutors said the boy's
mother and stepfather confined him to one room, beat him every day, fed him only scraps and didn't let him out of the house to go to school or see friends.
Two other children living in the couple's home were removed into state custody when the couple was charged. They appeared to be in good health, officials said.
Investigators believed that the neglect started in May, Harry said. He said the couple admitted abusing the boy, but didn't explain why. The couple did not yet have attorneys.
The family lived in downtown Hazleton, a small city 80 miles north of Philadelphia. Miller's grandmother lived in an apartment across the hall. His cousin, Clifford Shipps Jr., 22, said the teen seemed healthy and weighed at least 110 pounds when he last saw him about six weeks ago.
"We were wrestling around in the living room, and he seemed fine to me," Shipps said. "He had all kinds of energy. He's always
been small."
Shipps said he hadn't seen any signs the teen was being neglected. He said the family chastised the teen for his grades and occasionally made him stand in a corner as punishment. He said Miller was "slow" and acted younger than his age.
Investigators said they had located the boy's birth father and planned to interview him.
School officials in Florida said Miller had gone to middle school in Milton and attended high school for two-thirds of a year before transferring to a charter school for students with behavioral problems.
Milton High School Principal Don Lewis Lynn said he wasn't aware the teen had had any health or disciplinary problems.
Miller ended the 10th grade at Hazleton High School last year. His parents notified the school in May that he planned to move back to Florida and would not return in September, school officials said.
Florida man charged with killing family
The Associated Press
LAKE WORTH, Fla. Authorities charged a 29-year-old man yesterday with murdering five members of his family over the weekend, saying he apparently believed some of the victims were molesting his daughter.
Michael Roman, 29, told police details only the killer could have known after he was arrested Tuesday in Orlando, Police Chief William Smith said.
In a jailhouse interview, Roman told Orlando TV station
"I did something these people deserved," Roman said. "I started talking one by one and when my uncle admitted it, I shot him in the head."
WKMG he suspected his uncle and cousin were abusing his 11/2-year-old daughter and confronted them Saturday night.
Police said Roman admitted to stealing a gun from a home in Orlando and driving more than 150 miles to Lake Worth to kill his uncle, his uncle's girlfriend and her three grown children, including a pregnant woman.
Smith said the victims were stabbed and shot to death. He declined to comment on motive, but noted that no complaint had been filed alleging sexual abuse.
Roman was charged with first-degree murder. It was not immediately known whether Roman had a lawyer. The public defender's office in Orlando did not return a call seeking comment.
the victim of a hit-and-run accident, but later spotted her photo inside the house where the bodies of her children — Juan Carlos Valentin, 17, Elizabeth Valentin, 22, and Damaris Valentin, 19, who was eight months pregnant were found
The body of Carmen Valentin, 42, was discovered Sunday by police in a roadway in Lake Worth, south of West Palm Beach. Police thought she was
Behind the home, police found the body of Ismael Gomez, 52, inside a tarp-covered truck. Gomez was Valentin's boyfriend.
Relatives of the victims said Roman left a note saying he was moving away and that he was sorry about what happened.
Soldiers prepare to prevent riots
BRIEFS
GANDHINAGAR, India Soldiers moved into position yesterday to prevent new religious rioting in western India after gunmen killed 32 people at a Hindu temple. India blamed Pakistan, raising new tensions between the hostile neighbors.
Pakistan said it wasn't connected with the gunmen, who Indian authorities said belonged to a previously unknown group called Tehreek-e-Kasas, or "Movement for Revenge."
Those killed at the Swaminarayan Temple on the outskirts of Gandhinagar included at least one government commando, two policemen and the two attackers. Seventy-four people were wounded, including at least 23 police officers.
Sept. 11 hijacker appears on U.S. radar
WASHINGTON—A Sept. 11 hijacker briefly came on a U.S. intelligence agency's radar screen in early 1999 in what appears to be the first known detection by counterterrorism officials of one of the 19 plotters who took part in the attacks.
The National Security Agency, which gathers intelligence by eavesdropping on communications, "received information in which a 'Nawaf al-Hazmi' was referenced. The parties involved were unknown to NSA," said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking yesterday on the condition of anonymity.
The intelligence official
declined to provide more detail on the early 1999 reference. The NSA did not immediately provide the information to other intelligence agencies, the official said.
Al-Hazmi was one of the five hijackers on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. In early 2000, he separately came to the attention of the CIA and FBI. It is unclear when the NSA information was matched with what the other counterterrorism agencies had learned.
Subway strike slows London's commutes
LONDON-Commuters struggled to get home yesterday night during another one day subway strike and a business leader warned the shutdown of London's Tube would damage businesses and Britain's image.
"It is time to worry and to fear a return to the bad old days, when a minority in a union can force misery on millions," said Digby Jones, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry.
He was referring to public sector strikes in 1978-79, during what became known as the "Winter of Discontent." Garbage piled up in the streets and corpses went unburied during those strikes, which helped topple the Labor government of James Callaghan and bring Margaret Thatcher to power.
The Labor Party under Prime Minister Tony Blair has distanced itself from the unions, which have looked more willing to act on their dissatisfaction over Blair's policies.
The Associated Press
10 3 5 2 3 7 2 9 6
Cut this portion out and return to us
The University Daily Kansan. 119 Stauffer-Flint
Name: ___
E-Mail: ___
Week #4
O Kansas at Tulsa O
O Troy State at Missouri O
O Michigan at Illinois O
O Nebraska at Iowa State O
O Emory & Henry at Davidson O
O Texas at Tulane O
O Louisiana Tech at Texas A&M O
O Texas Tech at New Mexico O
O Iowa at Penn. State O
O Harvard at Brown O
O Alabama at Arkansas O
Pick The Teams To Win And Win Great Prizes!
Weekly Winners Will Receive A Free T-Shirt & a Mojo's Philly
MoJoS
Ain't no thing like a Mojo wing!
714 Vermont 841-1313
contest Rules:
Contest Rules:
Grand Prize Winners Will Receive A Free Year of Sunflower Broadband High Speed Internet Access
- The contest is open to current KU students only. Those selected as winners will be required to show a dual certificate.
• Contestants must submit their applications on the form printed in The University Daily Kansas on or clear photographs of the official form. Photocopies of the forms are available at the classified counter of the University Daily Kansas, first floor of Flint Hall.
• Entry forms may be dropped off at an "entry box" at one of those locations no later than noon the Friday before the game in question.
• Mails may be mailed to the Rick the Kansan. The University Daily Kansas, 1435 Ilyazhk Blvd., Lawrence KS 66081, Mailed enclosure: 1 he
• Five winners will be selected at random from entries that select more correct answers to the representation for the Kansan. Note: If there are fewer than five, the remainder will be chosen, first who whented and if necessary all entries.
• The five winners will be notified by e-mail the following Monday before midnight. If a winner fails to reply to the notification by e-mail before midnight Tuesday, the Kansan has the right to select another "winner" from the "winning" pool. No more than 5 winners will be selected each week. However, the Kansan is under no obligation to select five each week.
• Winners will be required to come to the Kansan to have their picture taken by 5 p.m Thursday. If a winner fails to keep an appointment to have their picture taken, the Kansan has the right to select another "winner" from the "winning" pool. No more than 5 winners will be selected each week. How else, veren the Kansan is not obligated to present five each week.
• Selected winners will be featured in the weekly "Beat the kansas" selections column the following Friday. Note: Those selected winners column will not be eligible for that particular week. Contestants are not eligible to win two weeks in a row.
• At the end of the season, a grand prize winner will be selected from all the entries received that "beat the Kansas" during the season—not just from the pools of five each week. In other words, even if a "winning" contestant is not one of the five picked for the prizes during the season, that entrant will be eligible for the final grand prize.
• Any decision by the Kansan judges is final.
• Kansan employees are not eligible.
---