4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY HARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2007
》 STABBING
Suspect's brother guilty
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Jeff Hausner pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting a homeless man with a knife, and prosecutors agreed to drop an attempted murder charge.
Jeff Hausner's brother, Dale Hausner, was charged with seven counts of murder in the shooting spree, which wounded at least 17 people and killed seven. Jeff Hausner's former roommate, Samuel Dieterman, was charged in two of the killings.
Investigators initially said Jeff Hausner's April 14 stabbing of the homeless man was linked to those serial shootings. But Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Tuesday that prosecutors have since decided that Jeff Hausner was not involved in the shootings.
"This defendant, although related to one of the so-called serial shooters, was not part of those crimes, as far as we know," Thomas said after the hearing.
Jeff Hausner, 40, faces a maximum of nearly nine years in prison when he is sentenced April 20.
Police said he attacked the homeless man after the man approached him and Dieteman outside a supermarket.
Jeff Hausner's lawyer, Candice Shoemaker, said the cases were connected only "because of the presence of Mr. Dieteman. Jeff feels he was wrapped into everything that was going on."
Police said Dieteman had nothing to do with the stabbing.
Jeff Hauser did not agree to testify in the case against his brother and Dieteman as part of the plea agreement, prosecutor Vince Imbordino said. Thomas would not say whether he would be called to testify.
Sheemaker said her client just wanted the case resolved.
"He didn't want to go to trial given that the top charge was attempted murder, a charge which carries substantially more (prison) time," she said.
Authorities spent weeks looking into his involvement after arresting Dale Hausner and Dieteman last August in the serial killer investigation. Investigators said Dale Hausner and Dieteman cruised Phoenix-area streets late at night in a car, randomly blasting at people with shotguns.
The attacks are thought to have started May 17, 2005, with the fatal shooting of Tony Mendez, who was riding his bicycle at night along a downtown street.
》 WILDFIRE
Firefighters contain California blaze
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A wildfire that damaged a home and forced 1,200 residents to evacuate the hills southeast of Los Angeles was contained, firefighters said Tuesday.
Investigators believe the 2,036-acre brush fire in Anaheim Hills ignited Sunday after someone set a stolen Honda Civic ablaze. Hot, dry Santa Ana winds fanned the flames to a three-square-mile area.
Highway security videotape could hold clues about who torched the stolen car and triggered the fire. Jennifer Seaton, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Corridor Agencies, said the agency gave surveillance video and data from a toll station on Highway 241 to fire investigators.
Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries. A third, who was accidentally cut on the face by an ax, was hospitalized in moderate condition, said Capt. Stephen Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority.
A "red flag" alert for fire danger was issued going into the weekend and the forecast of winds, extremely low humidity and heat proved true as Southern California stayed on pace to have the driest winter in decades.
The car was set on fire about a half-mile south of the station, Seaton said. The license plates did not match the 2004 white Honda Civic, said John Nicoletta, a city spokesman.
Miller said lower temperatures, in the 70s, and light wind helped some 800 firefighters contain the blaze.
The last time it was this dry was in 1923-1924, when 2.5 inches of rain was recorded through March 22, 1924. Only about 2.4 inches of rain has fallen in downtown Los Angeles since July 1.
The fire destroyed two smaller structures along with the house. Residents of about 500 homes were evacuated, but most were able to return Sunday night.
"We believe that the suspect or suspects drove the vehicle to that location and may have been picked up by an associate or other associates, which allowed them to leave the scene quickly" he said.
Mike Meadows/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Los Angeles fire department helicopter makes a water drop just under the Griffith Park Observatory in support of firefighters working on brush fire in Los Angeles on Monday. Even as firefighters predicted full containment of the 2,036 acre Anaheim Hills fire on Tuesday, crews Monday had to jump into new blazes, five acres in the Ventura County and an acre in Los Angeles. The rugged Griffith Park.
DID YOU WANT ANTIBIOTICS WITH YOUR PORK? WE DIDN'T THINK SO.
That's why we're serving naturally raised pork.
The pork we serve in Lawrence is free of antibiotics and added growth hormones,fed a vegetarian diet and raised humanely. We think meat raised this way,naturally,tastes better.
Serving naturally raised pork is another step in our ongoing Food With Integrity journey - bringing you the best ingredients from the best sources.
- SERVING NATURALLY RAISED PORK IN LAWRENCE -
9TH & MASS