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বুধবার, ২৬ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Firemen's killer left chilling note, deaths at 3

WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) ? An ex-con killed two firefighters with the same caliber and make military-style rifle used in the Connecticut school massacre after typing a note pledging to burn down his neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people," police said Tuesday as another body, believed to be the gunman's missing sister, was found.

William Spengler, 62, who served 17 years in prison for manslaughter in the 1980 hammer slaying of his grandmother, set his house afire before dawn Christmas Eve before taking a revolver, a shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle to a sniper position outside, Police Chief Gerald Pickering said.

The death toll rose to three as police revealed that a body believed to be the killer's 67-year-old sister, Cheryl Spengler, was found in his fire-ravaged home.

Authorities say he sprayed bullets at the first responders, killing two firefighters and injuring two others who remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition, awake and alert and expected to survive. He then killed himself as seven houses burned on a sliver of land along Lake Ontario.

Police recovered a military-style .223-caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle with flash suppression, the same make and caliber weapon used in the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26, including 20 young children, Pickering said.

The chief said it was believed the firefighters were hit with shots from the rifle given the distance but the investigation was incomplete.

"He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," the chief said.

The two- to three-page typewritten rambling note left by Spengler did not reveal what set off the killer or provide a motive for the shootings, Pickering said. He called the attack a "clear ambush on first responders."

He declined to reveal the note's full content or say where it was found. He read only one chilling line: "I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down, and do what I like doing best, killing people."

Pickering said it was unclear whether the person believed to be Spengler's sister died before or during the fire.

"It was a raging inferno in there," Pickering said.

A next-door neighbor said Spengler hated his sister and they lived on opposite sides of the house.

Roger Vercruysse said Spengler loved his mother, Arline, who died in October after living with her son and daughter in the house in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes across the road from a lakeshore popular with recreational boaters.

As Pickering described it and as emergency radio communications on the scene showed, the heavily armed Spengler took a position behind a small hill by the house as four firefighters arrived after 5:30 a.m. to extinguish the fire: two on a fire truck; two in their own vehicles.

They were immediately greeted by bullets from Spengler, who wore dark clothing. Volunteer firefighter and police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, driving the truck, was killed by gunfire as the windshield before him was shattered. Also killed was Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, who worked as a 911 dispatcher.

Several firefighters went beneath the truck to shield themselves as an off-duty police officer who was passing by pulled his vehicle alongside the truck to try to shield them, authorities said.

The first police officer who arrived chased and exchanged shots with Spengler, recounting it later over his police radio.

"I could see the muzzle blasts comin' at me. ... I fired four shots at him. I thought he went down," the officer said.

At another point, he said: "I don't know if I hit him or not. He's by a tree. ... He was movin' eastbound on the berm when I was firing shots." Pickering portrayed him as a hero who saved many lives.

The audio posted on the website RadioReference.com also has someone reporting "firefighters are down" and saying "got to be rifle or shotgun ? high-powered ... semi or fully auto."

Spengler had been charged with murder in his grandmother's death but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, apparently to spare his family a trial. After he was freed from prison, Spengler ? a felon who wasn't allowed to possess weapons ? had lived a quiet life on Lake Road on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario.

That ended when he left his burning home Monday morning, armed with his three weapons and a lot of ammunition.

"I'm not sure we'll ever know what was going through his mind," Pickering said.

___

Esch reported from Albany. Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York City also contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/firemens-killer-left-chilling-note-deaths-3-223847945.html

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মঙ্গলবার, ২৫ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Explainer: Naming of Parts for an Instrument of Civilian Slaughter

The PTAB 2.5M anti-armor bomblet has a cylindrical body with a dome-shaped ballistic cap at its front and it terminates in a four-fin tail unit that is structured in a drum configuration. In its Aug. 2, 2012 online posting, Jane's Air-Launched Weapons noted that the tail unit comes in both short and long versions. The entire bomblet measures 0.87 meters in length, has a body diameter of 60 millimeters and weighs 2.5 kilograms. Just behind the nose is a shaped charge weighing 660 grams and consisting of a RDX/TNT mixture, which is detonated by an ADTS-583 impact fuze. Thirty or more bomblets, or sub-munitions, fit into the RBK-250-275 cluster bombs and the RBK 500 can carry 75. The PTAB 2.5M is able to penetrate up to 120 millimeters of armor. The Soviets originally designed the PTAB 2.5M to be dropped on lines of Allied tanks steadily advancing toward the Iron Curtain countries. On Dec 12, while many were fretting or making jokes about the Mayan Apocalypse, Syrian military aircraft released RBK 250s on the civilian population of Marea, near Aleppo. For a few civilians from Marea, the world did end. ? ? Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explainer-naming-parts-instrument-civilian-slaughter-155200059.html

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সোমবার, ২৪ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Cobboc is A New Social Network for all those Web 2 . 0 Users ...

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This advertising and marketing site was launched on 15th August, 2010. ?The primary idea and purpose were to create an easy-to-use network site which might be simpler than Facebook, Orkut or any other popular web 2 . 0 websites.?

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Source: http://www.coolyourmyspace.com/social-media/cobboc-is-a-new-social-network-for-all-those-web-2-0-users.html

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Some in Conn. town couple activism with mourning

CHASE KOWALSKI, 7: Chase was always outside, playing in the backyard, riding his bicycle. A week earlier, he was visiting neighbor Kevin Grimes, telling him about completing ? and winning ? his first mini-triathlon. "You couldn't think of a better child," Grimes said. ---- Names of Connecticut school shooting victims, including Chase, are displayed on a makeshift memorial as people walk by on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012 file photo, Christmas stockings with the names of shooting victims hang from railing near a makeshift memorial near the town Christmas tree in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. In the wake of the shooting, the grieving town is trying to find meaning in Christmas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 file photo, Addison Strychalsky, 2, of Newtown, Conn., pets Libby, a golden retriever therapy dog, during a visit from the dogs and their handlers to a memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims in Newtown. As the shock of Newtown's horrific school shooting starts to wear off, as the headlines fade and the therapists leave, residents are seeking a way forward through faith, community and a determination to seize their future. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 file photo, a woman with flowers walks past a Christmas tree which has become a memorial to the Newtown shooting victims in Newtown, Conn. In the wake of the shooting, the grieving town is trying to find meaning in Christmas. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Connecticut's Bria Hartley leaves a news conference holding two teddy bears given to her by children from the Newtown Youth Basketball Association after an NCAA women's college basketball game against Hartford at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? People drawn to Newtown to share in its mourning brought cards and handmade snowflakes to town Monday while residents prepared to observe Christmas less than two weeks after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school.

On Christmas Eve, residents planned to light luminaries outside their homes in memory of the victims. Tiny empty Christmas stockings with the victims' names on them hung from trees in the neighborhood where the children were shot.

"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said Treyvon Smalls, a 15-year-old from a few towns away who arrived at town hall with hundreds of cards and paper snowflakes collected from around the state. Organizers said they wanted to let the families of victims know they are not alone while also giving Connecticut children a chance to express their feelings about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Police say 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother in her bed before his Dec. 14 rampage and committed suicide as he heard officers arriving. Authorities have yet to give a theory about his motive.

While the grief is still fresh, some residents are urging political activism in the wake of the tragedy. A grassroots group called Newtown United has been meeting at the library to talk about issues ranging from gun control, to increasing mental health services to the types of memorials that could be erected for the victims. Some clergy members have said they also intend to push for change.

"We seek not to be the town of tragedy," said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel. "But, we seek to be the town where all the great changes started."

Since the shooting, messages similar to the ones delivered Monday have arrived from around the world. People have donated toys, books, money and more. A United Way fund, one of many, has collected $3 million. People have given nearly $500,000 to a memorial scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut. On Christmas Day, police from other towns have agreed to work so Newtown officers can have the time off.

In the center of Newtown's Sandy Hook section Monday, a steady stream of residents and out-of-towners snapped pictures, lit candles and dropped off children's gifts at an expansive memorial filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards.

"All the families who lost those little kids, Christmas will never be the same," said Philippe Poncet, a Newtown resident originally from France. "Everybody across the world is trying to share the tragedy with our community here."

Richard Scinto, a deacon at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, which was attended by eight children killed in the massacre, said the church's pastor, Rev. Robert Weiss, used several eulogies this week to tell his congregation to get angry and take action against what some consider is a culture of gun violence in the country.

Praver and Scinto said they are not opposed to hunting or to having police in schools, but both said something must be done to change what has become a culture of violence in the United States.

"These were his mother's guns," Scinto said. "Why would anyone want an assault rifle as part of a private citizen collection?"

A mediator who worked with Adam Lanza's parents during their divorce has said Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, an autism-like disorder that is not associated with violence. It is not known whether he had other mental health issues. The guns used in the shooting had been purchased legally by his mother, Nancy Lanza, a gun enthusiast.

Gun control and mental health have also been topics at Newtown United meetings, along with what types of memorials would be most appropriate and any other action residents can take to feel like they are doing something.

"We don't want Newtown to go on the list with Columbine, Tucson and Virginia Tech and only have it associated with horrible acts," said Lee Shull, who moderated a Newton United meeting just days after the shootings. "We want to turn this into something positive. What can we do?"

A handful of people showed up to the group's first meeting at the town library two days after the Dec. 14 shooting. The next night, 35 attended, most scrawling ideas and notes on white paper covering the tables. A few days later there was barely room to maneuver around the meeting room when two guests showed up: Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen.-elect Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrats who told the group they planned to push for gun control legislation and needed their constituents to help them press the issue in Washington.

The group sees itself as a way to spark a local and national dialogue and action in the aftermath of a tragedy. It's also a way to do something, anything, to cope with the sadness that has settled over Newtown.

Said resident John Neuhall: "Our hearts are broken wide open and we're here out of grief and out of love for those families."

___

Associated Press Writers Pat Eaton-Robb and John Christoffersen contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-24-Connecticut%20School%20Shooting/id-e9ad6fcd542c4c489ca43e0546c400d9

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রবিবার, ২৩ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Armed guards, locked doors: Schools seek security

A long-dormant national conversation about guns has reignited: some are calling for an assault weapons ban while other feel guns themselves aren't the root of the problem. So far the shootings have sparked several gun buy-back programs and even an anti-gun video organized by big-city mayors ? but the NRA says it's the entertainment industry that is partly to blame. NBC's John Yang reports.

By Elizabeth Chuck and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

The National Rifle Association?s call to put armed guards in every public school in America has further intensified the debate over how to protect our nation?s children in class, with some districts saying they?re preparing to take just that action and other educators cautioning that doing so sends the wrong message about education.

And short of giving teachers and officers their own guns, administrators across the country are desperate to find a way to keep their pupils safe. Locked vestibules with buzzers, emergency preparedness drills, stronger glass and surveillance cameras are among measures being considered after the massacre last week at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Even before the?NRA?s Wayne LaPierre said Friday that armed police should be placed in schools, guards with guns were posted at all 14 schools in Butler, Pa.

This Sunday on Meet the Press: NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre

The district of 7,500 pupils about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh had already gone to court to get a judge's approval to have at least one armed retired state trooper in every school. They were in place as classes resumed Monday after the mass shootings Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn.

"We plan to have that on a daily basis from now on," Superintendent Michael Strutt told NBC station WPXI of Pittsburgh. By the time the next school year begins, every guard in the school system will be armed, he said.

The sense of urgency is undeniable, with a few districts willing to fight fire with fire, as in Butler. Schools in Marlboro, N.J., for example, will have armed officers in place by January, Mayor John Hornik told NBC News on Friday.

After a week of calls for tighter gun restrictions, the National Rifle Association called for putting more armed security officers in the nation's schools and expressed concerns about violence portrayed in video games, movies and music. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

State Sen. Joe Scarnati, a Republican representing northern Pennsylvania, said there was only one important question: "What do we do to protect our kids?"

"If it requires to put armed individuals in our schools to protect our kids, then we need to do that," Scarnati told NBC station WJAC of Johnstown.

But that idea doesn't sit well with other educators, like Tony Scott, superintendent of schools in Bellaire, Ohio, where a local firearms association said it would provide free shooting training to teachers after the Connecticut shootings.

"I just don't believe our teachers signed up for this," Scott told NBC station WTOV of Steubenville, Ohio. "I know I didn't sign up for it."

Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center, a joint project of the U.S. Education and Justice departments, said there's no centralized database tabulating how many school systems have an official armed presence on campus, but he estimated it at 25 percent. He called the NRA proposal "unfeasible."

"We have to ask ourselves what kind of climate we want to create in our schools. Do we want our school campus to look like the Old West with people having sidearms attached to their hip, or do we want education to happen in a positive way?" Stephens told NBC News. "That's the hard part of this."

Michael Smerconish, author Steve Siebold and David Corn of Mother Jones debate the NRA's idea that more guns and armed teachers would curb gun violence.

Some administrators are looking elsewhere for solutions.?After years of unlocked front doors and casual conversations about someday increasing security in the small school district of New Hartford, Conn., Superintendent Philip O'Reilly isn't wasting another minute.

Fearing a repeat of the tragedy in nearby Newtown, O'Reilly is planning to modify the district's school buildings so they each have a small, locked vestibule between the main entrance and the building's interior, which will hold visitors for screening.

O'Reilly wouldn't give the cost of these new entryways, but he said the money must be found.

Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

"Cost is no longer the priority. Keeping kids safe is the priority," he said.

In some cases, parents are leading the charge.

"I've had superintendents and headmasters who have been fighting for a year or two trying to do this, and the parents have been fighting them hand and fist because they didn't understand, and now the parents are coming to the school officials saying, 'Why aren't you?'" said Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, a nonprofit group based in Georgia that helps schools improve their crisis preparedness.

Michael Dorn of Safe Havens International relays tips on how schools and parents can keep kids safe.

Security experts recommend that school districts start with a security assessment. Because changing entryways or installing security cameras can be expensive, these experts said school systems need to figure out exactly what their biggest shortcomings are before plowing ahead.

"The number one request [schools have been asking for since Newtown] is to conduct a security assessment. We look at everything, from your written practices to the physical security devices and emergency plans," said Paul Timm, president of Illinois-based, school security consulting firm RETA Security.

He said his recommendations usually fall in two main areas.

"There are two categories that protect people better than anything else: access control, which includes a locked vestibule, running a closed campus, visitor management procedures; and communications.

Do we have public address systems, do we have telephones that are outfitted with emergency dialing instructions, do we have two-way radios?" Timm said. "Those two areas, more than cameras, more than metal detectors, more than burglar alarm systems, protect people."

Locked vestibules can literally stop an intruder in his or her tracks. As administrators have become more concerned about security, many schools have restricted access to just one main entry point in the hope of doing that, Timm said.

Another solution for safety-proofing schools: bullet-resistant glass. Timm recently helped a school in Hastings, Minn., replace all the tempered glass in the building with laminated glass after a student brought a gun to school, and the total cost was about $3,500.

But such a low dollar figure for security fixes is rare.

"A large percentage of our schools are not designed well for any of these things. Sometimes, something simple can be $5 million," Dorn said.

Federal funds for school safety ? the Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) project ? were eliminated in March 2011. Now the money must come from local taxpayers.

"There's not much in the budget for security at all. I want to say that before Columbine, not many schools had a line item for security in their budget," Timm said.

One security measure that doesn't come with a hefty price tag is running drills with teachers, students and administrators for various scenarios.

"It prepares us to make life-and-death situations more quickly," Dorn said. "They have an opportunity do something like lock a door, move kids out of a classroom, and [if] for various reasons don't take that action, our casualty rate doubles or triples. The human brain works faster than my laptop to make those life-and-death decisions, but only if you've had the exposure to prepare you."

Andrew Mach of NBC News contributed to this report.

The manufacturer of a children's backpack designed to stop bullets says sales have skyrocketed in the wake of the Newtown massacre. But are some parents overreacting? KPRC's Courtney Zavala reports.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/20/16042916-armed-guards-locked-entryways-cameras-schools-seek-security-after-sandy-hook?lite

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Jenny Steffens Hobick: Photos from Weeknight Holiday Dinner Party

I loved my job during the holidays - everyone was so gracious and their guests were usually very kind.? I was fortunate to spend festive evenings in bustling homes that were filled with holiday cheer.? The only problem was that those home weren't filled with my festive friends and family (except when Mike was my happy helper).?

This year we packed our holiday entertaining schedule to the max and hosted a family party (Emma's Birthday), an open house for everyone on our new street and a small dinner party.? Tonight, I'm sharing photos from our small dinner party for 5 - us, our 2 guests and Emma.

A photo of the simply set table just before dinner.

Light snacks with wine before dinner.