“Man charged with Haiti sex abuse pleads not guilty - The State” plus 4 more

Man charged with Haiti sex abuse pleads not guilty - The State
South Korea, Japan press North Korea to return to talks - Turkish Weekly
Antlers on a plane? It’ll cost extra bucks - Newark Star-Ledger
River Parkway? - Louisville Courier-Journal
Obama says Nobel award a 'call to action' - Delaware Online

Man charged with Haiti sex abuse pleads not guilty - The State

Posted: 08 Oct 2009 05:18 PM PDT

A bond hearing that began Thursday was reset for Oct. 19. Prosecutors argue in court papers that Perlitz should remain behind bars, saying he poses a "clear and continuing danger" to children.

They characterize him as a sexual predator who used a charitable institution to sexually molest vulnerable children for a decade. They said Perlitz told an investigator that the alleged victims of molestation "need to move on and get over it."

According to the indictment, school volunteers and staff members were afraid to come forward with the allegations because Perlitz controlled the school's operations and "utilized the fear of unemployment and the difficult economic situation in Haiti." The indictment alleges Perlitz used his relationship with a religious leader and board members of a fund maintained by the school's fundraising arm to continue to conceal or try to hide his sexual conduct.

The investigation is continuing, prosecutors say.

According to court filings, Perlitz admitted "some boundaries were crossed" when he allowed children to stay overnight in his room but he denied any sexual contact with minors. The school initially served mostly street children as young as 6 and later grew to include a residential program for high schoolers.

During the bond hearing Thursday, Perlitz attorney William Dow III said his client should be released from prison pending trial. Dow said Perlitz has surrendered his passport and would be monitored electronically if released.

"There's no evidence, no claim that anyone in the United States has been endangered by my client," Dow said. "He is a man not only with a clean record but an admirable record who enjoys the support of many, many people."

Dow offered to pledge properties of Perlitz's relatives worth $1.9 million to $2.3 million to ensure he doesn't flee and proposed that Perlitz stay with a couple at their home in Fairfield.

Magistrate Joan Margolis said she might consider a larger bond of $4 million to $5 million and she raised issues related to the housing arrangement.

Prosecutors argued that electronic monitoring only tells authorities where a person is, not what they are doing.

"There are simply no conditions of release that can assure the safety of children in the community and his appearance in court," prosecutors wrote in court papers.

They cited the length of the alleged crimes, Perlitz' extensive international travel and the access he had to millions of dollars in donations.

Perlitz previously lived in Fairfield County, Conn. Each count in the indictment carries up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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South Korea, Japan press North Korea to return to talks - Turkish Weekly

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:49 AM PDT

By Stacy Maruskin

For those of us living in Turkey, it is an unquestionable fact that the Turkish-Armenian Protocol is a

Antlers on a plane? It’ll cost extra bucks - Newark Star-Ledger

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 06:18 AM PDT

By The Associated Press

October 09, 2009, 9:15AM

You can make waves after your next flight on Allegiant Air, but it's going to cost you extra to check your boogie board.

The Las Vegas-based airline charges a $50 fee to check the rectangular piece of foam used by bodyboarding enthusiasts. Bowling balls, skateboards and bows and arrows also will cost you a fee to check on Allegiant.

Anything airlines can justify extra charges for based on extra handling "will get just that — extra charges," says airline and travel consultant Bob Harrell.

Those are just a few of the little-known fees airlines charge these days that passengers may not be aware of. Here are some others.

Firearms. Packing heat? You may not realize it in this age of hyper-vigilant security, but you can check firearms on many airlines. Rifles and shotguns, which must be unloaded, are subject to a $50 handling charge on all Air Canada flights. If your baggage count exceeds the maximum number of items allowed, you'll be charged for an additional bag as well as the handling charge. Allegiant also charges a $50 fee.

Antlers. Frontier Airlines considers antlers a special, or fragile, item. A rack of antlers must be checked, and will cost you $100. Air Canada socks you with a $150 handling charge to check antlers and horns.

Pets. Your dog or cat can travel with you in your cabin, but it will cost you. You'll pay even more on some airlines if you check your pet to travel in the belly of the plane with the checked luggage. Delta Air Lines, for instance, charges $100 one-way for your pet to travel in the cabin or $175 for your pet to be checked on a flight within the United States. On Delta, pets permitted in the cabin include dogs, cats and household birds.

Unaccompanied minors. Most airlines charge a fee to parents who send their children on a flight alone. Airline personnel keep an eye on the kids during the flight and when it lands. American Airlines charges $100 for the service. Delta charges $100, while JetBlue Airways wants $75 and Southwest Airlines charges $25. Parents are generally allowed to walk the child to the gate, where they are then looked after by crew members for the duration of the trip.

Infants. Irish no-frills carrier Ryanair Holdings charges 20 euros, or roughly $29, one-way for children under 2 years old to fly, something U.S. carriers currently allow for free, as long as the child sits on an adult's lap. While all carriers are weighing new sources of revenue amid the weak economic environment, U.S. carriers have so far not said they might charge for infants in the future. "This one I have not seen any chatter at all," says Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com.

Duffel bags. On AirTran, their size is measured to the point of fullness for soft-sided bags, but measured top to bottom on hard-bottom duffel bags, regardless of how empty or full the bag is. If the bag is measured at over 70 inches in length, the carrier will charge you $79 on top of the checked bag fee. Avoid the oversized bag fee by merging the few items into another bag or by carrying a smaller bag.

River Parkway? - Louisville Courier-Journal

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 10:29 AM PDT

The decision by the preservation group River Fields to drop two lawsuits seeking to halt widening of the bridge over Harrods Creek may not produce the optimal answer to the fate of the bridge, but it certainly is an improvement over the status quo.

The one-lane bridge, which is nearly 100 years old, was closed last Nov. 26, when city and state engineers decided its guardrails weren't strong enough to deflect a motor vehicle. The city tried to launch a $2.3 million project to strengthen the structure and widen it to accommodate two lanes of traffic, but work was stopped twice by a federal judge in response to the pair of lawsuits. However, after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati declined River Fields' request for another halt, the organization filed notice this week that it would drop the case.

The bridge's shutdown closed part of upper River Road to through traffic, frustrated some business owners in the Prospect area, delayed rush-hour travel and clogged traffic on the portion of Wolf Pen Branch Road that served as the detour between River Road and U.S. 42.

Reopening the bridge, a project that will not meet its December completion goal because of the delay, will ease those problems, and that certainly will be a welcome development. It should not, however, mark the end of consideration of traffic issues in the Harrods Creek-Prospect area.

River Fields' argument, in part, was that a one-lane bridge was a historic and treasured element of a scenic byway, and it was joined in its litigation by four other local organizations. Clearly, those concerns are important to some people, and the one-lane bridge did serve the useful purpose of slowing traffic and diverting some commuters to other routes built to handle a higher volume of vehicles. But the broader public interest requires ending the disruptions brought on by the closure and impasse.

A bigger question for the government and community remains, however: What purpose is River Road to serve?

It seems reasonable to predict that a two-lane bridge will attract more travelers who might otherwise use U.S. 42 or Interstate 71, even though metro traffic officials don't think that will happen. If it does, it would channel more motorists onto what is now a two-lane road with heavy traffic, twists and turns, many driveways and an unnerving number of cyclists. It seems a formula for making an ill-equipped parkway out of a road designed to be a more sparsely used scenic diversion.

Further open, robust discussion of whether that's what the community wants and, in any case, of how best to implement its vision safely is essential.

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Obama says Nobel award a 'call to action' - Delaware Online

Posted: 09 Oct 2009 10:21 AM PDT

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Most of Obama's work came after nominations for the Nobel prize were closed. To be considered, he had to be nominated by Feb. 1, less than two weeks after taking office. It is unclear who nominated him for the honor, which carries a $1.4 million prize.

The plaudit appeared to be a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized him for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The committee chairman said after awarding the prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, for his mediation in international conflicts, that it should be seen as a "kick in the leg" to the Bush administration's hard line in the buildup to the Iraq war.

Five years later, the committee honored Bush's adversary in the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore, for his campaign to raise awareness about global warming.

'Captured world's attention'

Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, said. "In the past year, Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."

He added that the committee endorsed "Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.' "

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel's death.

The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel's guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.

Travel and Leisure

Friday, October 9, 2009