Nation & world briefing
Police say sniper left phone number
Peter Nicholas, Sumana
Chatterjee and Tim Johnson
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
ASHLAND, Va. — In a startling and
unusual turn of events, authorities said
Sunday night that a sniper striking ter
ror in the Washington area planted a
secret message for police near a steak
house where he shot a 37-year-old
man, critically wounding him.
The nature of the killer’s message
remained a mystery, and a subse
quent statement by polk
a cryptic dialogue may!
between law enforce;*
and the sniper, who
people and wounded
since Oct. 2.
Police Chief Charles Moose of
Montgomery County, Md., who heac
a regional task force hunting the
sniper, exhorted the media “to carry!
this statement, carry it clearly and
carry it often.”
Then Moose said: “To the person
who left us a message at the Ponderosa
last night, you gave us a telephone
number. We do want to talk to you.
Gall us at the number you provided.”
Moose answered no questions, and a
spokeswoman, Joyce Utter, did not ex
plain what Moose meant by the per
plexing statement, only that the mes
sage bore a communication that police
wanted conveyed to the sniper.
“This should make sense to the per
son who left the mt
OnQ%b|fofi
school inhere the
I Oct.
Ith a
led that
Satur
!about
lgton was the
; sniper.
10 was not identified,
id his wife walked out
ieros&jrestaurant in Ashland,
along Interstate 95,, a major north
south artery on the East Coast. His
wife was not injured. The couple was
traveling through the area and had
stopped for food and gasoline.
The shooting marked the first time
that the assailant has hit on a week
end and the farthest the attacks have
occurred from the nation’s capital.
Saturday’s attack broke a lull of five
days since a fatal shooting in Falls
Va., a Washington suburb,
the fear that has
Washington, Maryland and
Virginia since 0ct. 2.
attack also brought new ur
to a hunt for a
victims
genders
has kept
side,
indoors,
Police
to have
tim fell was about 57 yards.
The attacker also fired a single bul
let, and had his choice of highway es
cape routes, as has been the pattern.
The restaurant sits within a half mile
of Interstate 95 and is only a few
blocks from Route 1, another major
north-south artery. Police said road
blocks went up within 10 minutes of
the emergency call notifying them of
the shooting.
The latest, <|ttaek unfolded with a
edly praised Cook’s role in the investi
gation Sunday evening statement but
did not detail what crucial informa
tion the Hanover sheriff provided.
The victim was in critical condi
tion at the Medical College of Virginia
Hospital in Richmond, 15 miles to
the south. Surgeons operated on him
Saturday for three hours.
“The prognosis is still guarded. But
since he is a very healthy man and he
is very young, the chances are fair to
good,” said Dr. Rao Ivatury, director
of trauma and critical care.
Surgeons mended the man’s stom
ach and repaired damage to his
y and pancreas.
t also removed the man’s
i&ry said, but did not re
ullet or bullet fragments,
surgeons obtain the bullet,
ities will not be able to deter
mine if it was fired from the same .223
;«aliber rifle used in the 11 other shoot
iings, nine of which have been fatal.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Nevada voters set to
ferendum
bod Keete
Cox News Service
LAS VEGAS — Smoking tobacco
in public places may be illegal in
other states, but you can light up just
about anywhere in Nevada.
Need a drink? They’re free in most
casinos, as long as you gamble.
Las Vegas Boulevard — the aptly
named Strip — is crowded with
hawkers handing out pictures of
naked women who will come to your
hotel room for a private strip tease or
something more. Prostitution is legal
in most parts of Nevada, and even in
La$ Vegas it is winked at.
And soon, you may be able to do
something else in Nevada that you
can’t do in any other state without a
prescription: legally smoke marijuana.
If Nevada voters approve, It would
no longer be a crime for anyone21 or
older to possess up to 3 ounces of pot
— enough for between ISO and 250
marijuana cigarettes — within the
state’s borders.
The reefer referendum has a long
way to go before proponents can
legally fire up a joint. Even if it passes
Nov. 5 — early voting started Satur
day — under NeVada law it must be
approved again in 2004.
So far, polls show voters split even
ly on the idea.
Proponents say legalizing pot would
free police to work on more serious
crimes like rape or murder. Oppo
nents, led by law enforcement agen
cies, say making another mind-alter
ing drug legal would lead to other
crimes, from dangerous driving to sex
ual assaults to the useofharderdrugs
“I can’t imagine how we can throw
another illicit drug into the mix and
people can believe in any way, shape
or form that it would be a good thing,”
said Sgt. Rick Barela, spokesman for
the Las Vegas Metro Police and a cop
for more than 20 years.
Nonetheless, advocates’ claims
that smoking pot is a good thing for
medicinal purposes — cancer and
AIDS treatment among them — have
put marijuana laws under pressure
nationwide, particularly in the West.
Eight states have already legalized
marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Saddam Hussein opens jails,
grants amnesty to criminals
Larry Kaplow
Cox News Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq—President Sad
dam Hussein threw open Iraq’s jail
doors Sunday in an amnesty that
brought jubilant bedlam to the dusty
courtyards of its notorious prisons.
Family members crushed into
drab, fetid prison yards for tearful re
unions with tens of thousands of
criminals, political dissidents and
army deserters.
"I'm in shock.
I don't know anything
about my future."
Faiq Abdel-Rahman
Released prisoner
U.S. officials dismissed the move
as an attempt by Hussein to rally do
mestic and international support in
the face of a mounting American-led
war threat. It was also seen as an
overture by Hussein to opponents of
his regime who are living in exile
outside Iraq since they, too, were
given amnesty.
Minister of Information Mo
hammed Sahafa read a televised
statement from Hussein stating that
Iraqis were being given amnesty for
“all crimes no matter what the kind.”
The amnesty was said to be Hus
sein’s expression of thanks to his fel
low citizens for re-electing him last
week with 100 percent approval in
a referendum.
The amnesty for those in exile
could appeal to thousands of Iraqis
living in the United States, Europe
and, perhaps most significantly, in
Kurdish autonomous areas of north
ern Iraq where the United States
might seek to base an attack on the
Iraqi regime.
Among those released were many
Shiite Muslim men who had been ac
cused of opposing Hussein’s regime,
which is dominated by Sunni Mus
lims. Although Shiites comprise
slightly more than half of Iraq’s popu
lation, they do not have the political
influence of Sunnis.
Prisoners, many appearing
healthy but dazed or tired, strode
through prison gates with their bed
ding, clothes and toiletries in sacks
or metal lock-boxes.
“I’m in shock,” 44-year-old Faiq Ab
del-Rahman said Sunday night after
spending 13 years in Abu Ghraib, a
prison about 20 miles outside Baghdad
that is infamous for torture and execu
tions. A Kurd from northern Iraq, he
was charged with espionage after his
merchant brother traveled to Iran.
“I don’t know anything about my
future, what I will do,” he said, adding
that he did not know his family’s tele
phone number.
The government made a huge me
dia event of the release, inviting foreign
reporters to the jails that have been
scenes of mass executions and torture.
Iraqi television ran video shot
from a helicopter showing prison
ers dancing with joy and chanting
praise for Hussein.
Secretary of State Colin Powell,
speaking on ABC’s “This Week,”
said the amnesty was a cynical ploy
by Hussein.
“This is typical of this man’s use of
human beings for these political pur
poses of his,” Powell said. “This is the
kind of manipulation he uses to try
to paint himself as something other
than what he is, a brutal dictator.”
“There is a threat of war,” said A.K.
Hashimi, an advisor to the Iraqi pres
ident. “It is a good idea to give every
Iraqi a chance to do his work ... all
the families are happy to get their
people back.”
OCTOBER 21-27
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All but one, Maine, is in the West.
Along with Nevada, the others are
Colorado, California; .Washington,
Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska. -
In Arizona, voters will decidf
5 whether to reduce the pet
possessing small amounts of mi
na from a felony with
time to a 8250 civil fine!
endum will also ask voters whether
Arizona should establish a state-run
system to distribute free marijuana
for medicinal use.
In Ohio, voters will consider a refer
endum in November that could allow
people arrested for marijuana or other
drugs to opt for state-funded drug
treatment instead of incarceration.
But for pot advocates, the Nevada
initiative would be the big score. If it
passes, proponents say, look for other
States to follow.
“Literally, you’re going to have
tens of thousands of people who are
Currently illegally using marijuana
who will suddenly be legally using it,”
said Rob Kampia, executive director
cl the Marijuana Policy Project, a
Washington, D.G. group behind the
Nevada measure.
The group is working on getting
similar ballot initiatives elsewhere,
and was behind referendum efforts
that failed in Florida and Washington,
D.G. “Hopefully it sends a message to
other states loud and clear: The peo
ple of one state at least are fed up with
marijuana laws today,” Kampia said.
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