local news
Pirates
continued from page 1
sage,’’ said Diego Rodriguez, special
agent in charge of the FBI’s New York
Field Office. ``Even on the high seas
you are not beyond the reach of
American justice.’’
Pirates have increased attacks off
yacht. Special forces boarded the ves-
sel and found the Americans had been
shot, according to the military. Pirates
have blamed the deaths of the
American hostages on the U.S. Navy,
saying the pirates felt under attack.
The group is the latest to be
brought to Norfolk to face
charges.
Last April, a federal grand
jury indicted 11 in separate
attacks on two U.S. Navy ships,
the USS Ashland and the USS
Nicholas. The Virginia-based
ships were part of an interna-
tional flotilla protecting shipping in
the pirate-infested waters off Africa.
In November, five Somali men were
convicted on federal piracy charges
related to the attack on the USS
Nicholas. They are expected to be
sentenced this month.
A sixth pleaded guilty. Trials for the
remaining five are pending.
Even on the high seas
you are not beyond
the reach of American
justice
the coast of East Africa despite an
international flotilla of warships dedi-
cated to protecting vessels and stop-
ping the pirate assaults.
U.S. naval forces were tracking the
Americans’ captured yacht with
unmanned aerial vehicles and four
warships, and negotiations were
under way when the pirates fired a
rocket-propelled grenade.
Then gunfire was heard aboard the
Bob riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death by pirates.
Lent Next
continued from page 1
the parades start to the packed streets of the
French Quarter.
Ashley Scharfenstein, 24, jived to the
music at a street party in the Treme neigh-
borhood before strolling off to the French
Quarter.
``Wherever the music takes us, we’re
going,’’ said Scharfenstein, who was
dressed as a black peacock.
Even the police were having a ``fantas-
tic’’ Fat Tuesday with no major incidents
reported, said Officer Garry Flot, a New
Orleans Police spokesman.
For many, the celebration was ending
even before dark after a long day of elation.
Christian Wilkins, a 35-year-old bar-
tender dressed in gold tights and nothing
more except his ``Legalize It’’ custom-
made beads, was among the most depleted.
Completely lost in the maze of streets in
the Faubourg Marigny, near the French
Quarter, the Baltimore native walked back
and forth shouting, ``Oh, God! I am so
lost!’’
The problem was manifold: he was total-
ly drunk, staying at a friend’s house and
alone. He held his cell phone in his hand
trying to pull his friend’s address from the
contact list. ``I am so lost it is wicked
retarded,’’ he said, managing a smile.
Finally, with some help, he found the
address. ``I’m so wasted,’’ he admitted,
before he staggered off to find the place
where he could lay his head. ``I got to go.’’
Partiers wearing satirical costumes — a
Mardi Gras staple — found plenty of fodder
in this year’s headlines.
Retired hospital executive Pat Kent
dressed up as a gun-toting priest. He said he
and a friend were going as the ``krewe of
guns in church.’’
``Today I’m packing for Jesus,’’ he said.
Kent said his costume was in protest of a
new Louisiana law allowing people to carry
weapons in church.
Allen Logue, 58, walked through the
French Quarter clad as a one-man oil spill
cleanup crew. The oil field consultant from
Barataria, La., didn’t have to do much shop-
ping to build his costume. He already had a
hard-hat helmet and BP-branded sweat shirt
from work he did for the company in
Alaska.
``The only thing I had to shop for was the
Jim Beam and that was to ease the pain of
the oil spill,’’ Logue said.
Sylvia Beyer, 57, of New Orleans led a
group of five women in grass skirts and hats
with the BP logo. On the back of their shirts
were slogans, such as Broken Promises,
Brazen Polluters and Bloody Pathetic. As
they walked along, they passed out
makeshift voodoo dolls with a photo of for-
mer BP CEO Tony Hayward pasted to each.
``We just wanted to stick it to BP. We put
more time into these costumes than BP did
in their disaster plan,’’ Beyer said.
The new national healthcare program pro-
vided inspiration for New Orleans residents
Hal and Sharon Moser. Hal Moser strolled
along Bourbon Street dressed in a
hospital gown with bloody bandages
and a fake ax pasted to his head.
``I’ve got a split-open headache
from it,’’ Moser said. His wife
dressed as a nurse.
The
Transportation
Security
Admin istration also took hits. One
group outfitted as TSA inspectors car-
ried signs referring to body cavity searches.
Locals were in a triumphant mood, and
not without reason.
New Orleans — America’s poster child of
disaster — has come a long way since
Hurricane Katrina. Its beloved New Orleans
Saints won the Super Bowl last year, and it
has largely overcome the disaster of the BP
oil spill.
This year, the timing of Mardi Gras
helped. It fell later than usual and coincides
with spring break for college students.
Students have been out in force — giving
more punch to the annual celebration.
Two friends on spring break from
Wilmington College made a 12-hour drive
from Ohio.
Garret Lingoe, 21, a junior, clutched a
beer at midmorning Tuesday as he talked in
awe of Mardi Gras. ``I didn’t know I was
coming here until about five days ago and
I’m sure happy I did.’’
Seth Howard, a 23-year-old senior,
echoed his sentiments. ``Everybody down
here is just so nice and laid back.’’
Ali Miller, 23, an early childhood educa-
tion major at Southeastern Louisiana
University, was jubilant as she walked
“Wherever the music
takes us, we’re going,’’
said the black peacock.
Tuesday morning after a long night of
drinking in the French Quarter.
``There is nothing like New Orleans,’’ she
said. ``I would never ever want to grow up
anywhere but here! And Mardi Gras is the
craziest time you could ever have in life —
I don’t know what else to say.’’
Mardi Gras was being celebrated across
the Gulf Coast, in cities including Mobile,
Ala., and Biloxi, Miss. In the Cajun country
of southwest Louisiana, masked riders on
horseback continued the tradition of riding
from town to town making merry along the
way.
Flag
continued from page 1
Medford.
Phoenix-Talent schools Superintendent
Ben Bergreen had demanded the flag be
removed from school property, citing a pol-
icy prohibiting symbols that could be offen-
sive to minorities.
Bergreen said he had received a copy of
the letter, but did not want to comment,
because there might be a lawsuit.
Married with four children, Webber has
maintained the flag is not a political or
racist statement, but an expression of his
``redneck’’ identity, also expressed in a tat-
too on his left arm.
``We’re doing the best we can,’’ Webber
Webber has maintained the flag is not a
political or racist statement,
but an expression of his “redneck’’ identity,
said of the financial hardship the loss of his
job means to his family. ``I must say, my 8-
year-old makes me proud. She took my pic-
ture from the Mail Tribune (newspaper) to
school for show and tell. She was telling the
kids in her class, `This is my dad standing
up for what he believes in and I’m proud of
him for that.’’’
In the letter to the school bus company,
Rutherford attorney Douglas R. McKusick
cited a 2002 federal court ruling that upheld
the right of a city worker in Kansas to dis-
play a vanity license plate on his truck with
a Confederate battle flag and the words,
``Heritage, Not Hate,’’ while parked at
work.
In another case last November, the Sixth
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
right of a Tennessee school district to sus-
pend a student for wearing a T-shirt and belt
buckle bearing the image of the Confederate
battle flag.
March 9, 2011 The Portland Skanner page 3