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Anne Frank's Stepsister Keeps Holocaust Story Alive

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Eva Schloss calmly thrust out her forearm as if a routine gesture, revealing a row of tattooed numbers.

The 83-year-old Holocaust survivor fields plenty of requests to see them, as she travels the world telling of her time in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
  
“They ask me questions and ‘Can I give you a hug?” Schloss said this week, sitting in the lobby of a San Francisco hotel, where the London resident is on a  California speaking tour. “’I’ve never met a Jew, I’ve never met a Holocaust survivor.’ It’s quite amazing.”

If Schloss’ story was simply about a young Jewish girl surviving the hell of war, it would be eternally gripping. But there are so many more layers.

After moving with her family to Amsterdam as an 11-year old, Schloss came to know a neighbor girl who was so chatty she was nicknamed “quack quack.”  The girl’s name was Anne Frank.

“She was interested in her clothes, in her hairstyles, in boys,” Schloss recalled, emphasizing that she herself was a shy tomboy at the time.

Schloss, said the young Anne liked to have a crowd around, and was as outgoing as Schloss was reserved.  Schloss remembered another key detail about her neighbor.

“She wrote little stories already at that time,” Schloss said.  “But of course nobody expected she would become that known and write her diary.”

When the Nazis invaded Amsterdam, like the Franks, Schloss and her family were forced into hiding. She and her mother took refuge in a hidden annex in an apartment, while her father and brother hid elsewhere.
    
For two years, Schloss’ life played out in tiny rooms -- she described them as hiding places with even smaller hiding places within them.

“At night when the Gestapo came to search, which they did regularly,” she said, “we quickly went into this hiding place and hoped they would not find us.”

Schloss and her mother darted from hiding place to hiding place, seven in all. But their run came to an end when a nurse turned them in. She was briefly reunited with her father and brother for the train ride to Auschwitz, but never saw them again once the men and women were segregated.  The last thing her father told her, was to make sure to wash her hands to avoid disease.
 
“This was for my mother and me the hardest after the war to cope with,” Schloss said. "The loss of your family in this horrible way.”

After the Russians liberated the camp, Schloss’ life circled back in a strange trajectory. She and her mother returned to Amsterdam where her mother eventually married Anne Frank’s father, Otto, who had lost his own family in the death camps.  

Schloss described their 27-year marriage as a loving romance.       

“When he went on the bicycle to work and my mother went on the tram,” she said, “he always rode with the bicycle next to her.”

The discovery of Anne Frank’s diary weighed heavily on Otto Frank, Schloss recalled. He was torn about releasing the obviously personal details of his daughter’s emotion-laden writings, while realizing the historical significance.

In the end, Schloss said Otto Frank gently edited out some of his daughter’s more biting criticisms of some of the people sharing space in their hidden annex in Amsterdam. At the same time, she said he left in details about Anne’s troubled relationship with her mother.  Still, Otto Frank grappled with the publicity that would follow.

“The film was made and the play was made,” said Schloss.  “Otto never went to see either. He said ‘I couldn’t face to see my family portrayed on the screen.’” 

Schloss struggled to quell her own feelings about the brutal things she’d witnessed in the concentration camp. She eventually married and moved to London where she raised three children.

“I got married in ’52,” said. “But I never talked to my husband about it, nor to my children.”

But the decades served as a divine healer, and eventually the details, stories and recollections bubbled to the surface. Schloss,  has written two books about her experiences and now travels the country speaking. 

A pair of speaking engagements in the Bay Area quickly sold out. A talk scheduled for Wednesday night in the East Bay was moved to the much larger Kaiser Center in Oakland to accommodate the larger crowds.

Although she’s now 83, Schloss said she will continue speaking as long as she can, to educate young people about the Holocaust. She worries the years will dim peoples’ memories.

“You know there’s still a whole world,” she said. “A lot to teach and learn.”
 


Was the Last Assault Weapons Ban Effective?

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As lawmakers in Washington, D.C. consider President Obama's proposal to institute a new assault weapons ban, we thought it would be helpful to take a look at the last one.

What was the 1994 assault weapons ban?
The law banned the manufacture, transfer, and possession of certain semiautomatic assault weapons (otherwise known as simply “assault weapons” or “AWs”). The law applied to several named weapons, as well as any semiautomatic pistol or weapon that has “an ability to accept a detachable magazine” and at least two of five specific features listed in the law.

It also banned the transfer or possession of “large capacity ammunition feeding devices” (otherwise known as “large-capacity magazines” or “LCMs”).  These were defined as “a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar Device”…”that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition; but does not include an attached tubular device designed to accept, and capable of operating only with, .22 caliber rimfire ammunition.’’

Officially known as Title XI of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the ban went into effect on Sept. 13, 1994.  It was repealed 10 years later.

Did the ban have any major limitations?
According to the 2004 National Institute of Justice Assessment of the ban, it had one big one:  Assault weapons and large-capacity magazines manufactured before the effective date of the ban were “grandfathered” and thus legal to possess and transfer. That’s a whole lot of firepower:

  • In 1990, there were an estimated 1 million privately owned assault weapons in the U.S. that would have been grandfathered.
  • Americans possessed an estimated 25 million guns equipped with large-capacity magazines in 1994, and gun industry sources estimated that -- including aftermarket items for repairing and extending magazines -- there were at least 25 million LCMs available in the U.S. as of 1995, with at least 4.7 million pre-ban LCMs imported into the U.S. during the ban.


Has anyone measured the ban’s effectiveness?
The Law Enforcement Act of 1994 required a study by the U.S. attorney general to determine the effects of the ban, to be conducted within 30 months after it was enacted. The National Institute of Justice awarded a grant to The Urban Institute for an evaluation, which was titled “Impact Evaluation of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994.” That evaluation was updated in 2004 by one of the original authors (findings below). Since the ban was allowed to lapse in 2004, there hasn’t been another comprehensive national study.

What was the criminal use of assault weapons before the ban?
According to the 2004 assessment mentioned above:

  • By most estimates, assault weapons were used in less than 6 percent of gun crimes before the ban (about 2 percent in most studies and up to 8 percent in others). The relatively small number can be attributed to the higher cost of AWs and the fact that longer AW’s are difficult to conceal. Most of the AWs used in crime were assault pistols rather than assault rifles.
  • Guns equipped with LCMs — of which AWs are a subset — were used in roughly 14 percent to 26 percent of most gun crimes. Although this range was based on a small number of studies, it is generally consistent with national survey estimates stating that approximately 18 percent of all civilian-owned guns and 21 percent of civilian-owned handguns were equipped with LCMs as of 1994.


What were the effects of the ban?

According to the official NIJ assessment:

  • The share of gun crimes involving AWs declined by 17 percent to 72 percent for the locations observed in this study (Baltimore, Miami, Milwaukee, Boston, St. Louis, and Anchorage) during all or some of the  1995-2003 post-ban period. This is consistent with patterns found in national data on guns recovered by police and reported to ATF.
  • However, in the jurisdictions studied, the decline in AW use was offset throughout at least the late 1990s by steady or rising use of other guns equipped with LCMs. The failure to reduce LCM use has likely been due to the immense stock that was in place prior to the ban as well as imports, the report found.
  • The few available studies do, however, suggest that attacks with AWs and other semiautomatics equipped with LCMs result in more shots fired, more people hit, and more wounds per victim than do attacks with other firearms.

What is the trend in crimes involving assault weapons since the ban’s expiration?
As explained above, there has been no comprehensive nationwide study done since 2004. However, the Police Executive Research Forum reported several findings in "Guns and Crime: Breaking New Ground by Focusing on the Local Impact" in 2010.  Since the ban’s expiration in 2004:

  • 37 percent of police agencies who responded to this survey reported that they’ve seen noticeable increases in the use of assault weapons by criminals.
  • 53 percent reported seeing increases in large-caliber handguns, such as .40 caliber weapons.
  • 38 percent reported noticeable increases in criminals’ use of semiautomatic weapons with high-capacity magazines (holding 10 or more rounds).


Photo Credit: Getty Images

Painting in White House Reminds Obama of Newtown Victim

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Each moment President Barack Obama is in his private study in the White House, there is a reminder nearby of Grace McDonnell, a 7-year-old Newtown girl who hoped to one day grow up to be a painter.

Grace was killed on the morning of Friday, Dec. 14, along with 19 of her classmates and six staff members of Sandy Hook Elementary School, when a gunman went on a rampage through the school.

Two days after the shooting, President Obama traveled to Newtown to meet privately with the victims’ families and attend an interfaith ceremony.

During that trip, he met Grace’s family and learned about the little girl who hoped to one day be a painter living on Martha’s Vineyard, where she would spend time with her family each summer.

“Grace was 7 years old when she was struck down — this gorgeous, caring, joyful little girl,” Obama said on Wednesday during a news conference about gun control in the wake of the shooting.
“I’m told she loved pink, she loved the beach, she dreamed of becoming a painter,” Obama said.

Before the president left Newtown, Grace’s father, Chris, gave him one of Grace’s paintings.

“I hung it in my private study, just out of the Oval Office. And every time I look at that painting, I think about Grace, and I think about the life that she lived, and the life that lay ahead of her, and most of all, I think about how, when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now – for Grace, for the 25 other innocent children and devoted educators who had so much left to give,” Obama said.

While the president has a visual reminder of Grace, a fund has been set up in her memory.

If you would like to make a donation to the Grace McDonnell Memorial Fund at FCCF, you can mail it to Fairfield County Community Foundation, 383 Main Avenue, Norwalk CT 06851.

 

Dreamliner Flight From SD Grounded

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A 787 Dreamliner scheduled to leave Lindbergh field has been grounded due to ongoing problems with that model of aircraft.

That flight was scheduled to take off from here at terminal 2 at 11:30 Wednesday morning, but now Japan's two biggest airlines have grounded all of their 787's for inspections. This includes another flight in San Jose as well. 

The 787, known as the Dreamliner, is Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jet. The groundings are the result of an emergency landing in Japan last night made by a 7-87 operated by All Nippon Airway.

That flight was headed for Tokyo but had to land 45 minutes later. An "unusual smell" was detected inside the cockpit and the passenger cabin, according to a news conference held by All Nippon Airlines.

They say fire trucks were deployed after the plane landed, but there was no fire to put out. This is the latest in a string of problems for the dreamliner -- including fuel leaks, a battery fire, and a brake computer glitch.

Japan is so far the biggest market for the 787, with ANA and Japan Airlines Co. flying 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to date.

The plane relies much more heavily on electric components than previous models. Both Japan and the United States have opened broad and open-ended investigations into the 787 after a series of incidents that have raised safety concerns.

The FAA started a comprehensive review last week looking at all aspects of the new aircraft, But focusing heavily on the electric components of the aircraft.

All Nippon Airlines said instruments on the flight indicated a battery error and that All passengers and crew evacuated safely by using the plane's inflatable slides. 

 

 



Photo Credit: NBC10 Philadelphia - Dan Stamm

San Ysidro Officials Seek $200K in Legal Fees

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San Ysidro officials are asking the board to consider allowing the district to pick up a $200,000 legal tab to defend the superintendent and a trustee against criminal charges brought on by the District Attorney’s office.

The San Ysidro school district board will consider the proposal at its board meeting Wednesday at 5 p.m.

The district is seeking $100,000 each in legal fees for Superintendent Manuel Paul and trustee Yolanda Hernandez, according to the board documents.

Paul is facing six felony criminal counts –  two counts each of filing a false instrument, perjury by declaration, and accepting gifts in excess of legal limit.

Hernandez faces four felony counts -- two each of filing a false instrument and perjury by declaration.

Hernandez will not likely be allowed to vote on the measure to allocate legal fees to herself without running afoul of California government code 1090, which states: 

"Members of the Legislature, state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees shall not be financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members. Nor shall state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees be purchasers at any sale or vendors at any purchase made by them in
their official capacity.   As used in this article, "district" means any agency of the state
formed pursuant to general law or special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries.”

Prosecutors state the officials dined at expensive meals and took other gifts without reporting them and then filed state-mandated forms under penalty of perjury.

Paul and Hernandez are also involved in a separate federal investigation into a story NBC 7 Investigates first brought you in August involving the exchange of cash between a contractor and the superintendent in a restaurant parking lot.

Whether taxpayers ultimately end up footing the bill for the criminal defense of those involved in the District Attorney’s corruption probe, is a matter of history.

Last January, Sweetwater officials that were already facing charges sought funding for some $1.3 million in legal fees to fund defense of current board members Pearl Quinones, Arlie Ricasa and former trustee Greg Sandoval. That effort, which drew community uproar and criticism, failed to secure support from a board majority. Now two additional trustees have been charged (Bertha Lopez and Jim Cartmill.)

Sweetwater brought the motion forward with the blessing of their then-legal counsel Dan Shinoff, who is also the district counsel for San Ysidro school district.

In 2000, San Diegans spent $30,000 for attorneys on then-Councilwoman Valerie Stallings to defend her in a federal investigation into stock trades. (She ended up pleading guilty to two misdemeanors for taking gifts.)

South County taxpayers also footed the $194,314.90 bill for the criminal defense of Chula Vista City Councilman Steve Castaneda in 2008 after he was acquitted of perjury charges. (The council voted 3-0 to pay. He recused himself from the vote.)

The special board meeting will be held at the district's Education Center at 4350 Otay Mesa Road.

Young Dolphin Dies Despite Attempted Rescue

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A 4-foot dolphin died shortly after it was rescued on Wednesday morning in Imperial Beach, according to lifeguards.

Around 8:45 a.m. a call came into the lifeguard’s office about a small dolphin beached between Beach and Cortez Streets. Lifeguards immediately called SeaWorld, whose animal experts arrived to the scene shortly before 9 a.m.

“They really got here as fast as they could,” said IB Lifeguard Supervisor Oscar Alvarez.

Animal experts tried to place the 1-year-old male short-beaked dolphin back in the water, but it kept swimming in circles, said Alvarez. They also covered it with a wet towel. SeaWorld then decided to take the dolphin to its rehabilitation facilities.

The dolphin then died in transit. SeaWorld later called the IB Lifeguard station to let them know the lifeguards followed proper procedure and did the best they could.

Alvarez said there were no signs of trauma or injury from the dolphin.

“There was nothing out of the ordinary,” he said.

SeaWorld typically rescues hundreds of marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds every year.



Photo Credit: Getty Images

Author Blames Mom in McStay Family Mystery

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The mystery of an entire Fallbrook family that appears to have vanished is the subject of a new book.

In February 2010, Joseph McStay, his wife Summer and their sons Gianni and Joseph, Jr.  were reported missing from their home in Fallbrook, leaving virtually no clues as to what happened to them.

Now, in a book entitled "No Goodbyes: The Mysterious Disappearance of the McStay Family" author Rick Baker attempts to follow the story from the moment relatives realized the couple and their sons were missing.

With no signs of struggle found in the McStay home, homicide investigators have been baffled by the case.

So much so that at the time of  his retirement, former detective Dennis Brugos said he was still puzzled by the case of the family who left eggs on the counter, family pets in the home and a white Isuzu Trooper near the U.S. Mexico border.

Investigators said the last call from Joseph's cell phone was recorded an hour after the family left their home on Feb. 4, 2010. The call was transmitted through a cell tower in the Bonsall area.

Baker talked with NBC 7 San Diego and said he became infatuated with the case while living in Fallbrook. While working as a radio talk show host in Oceanside at the time, Baker interviewed Joseph McStay's brother and was left with many unanswered questions.

“It didn’t make any sense. The facts didn’t add up,” he said.

So Baker began tracking down neighbors, business associates, soccer buddies - anyone who could shed light into what may have happened to the family of four.

He said he also spoke with Summer's mother and sister in Big Bear and Joseph's father in Houston, Texas.

Although Baker now admits relatives of the McStay family do not support him or the book because of his conclusions.

“I think Summer did this,” Baker said without going into much detail. He claims emails show a different side of Summer the public may not know about.

"This was a woman who had a different side," he added. "A very dicey side."

Baker claims to have read hundreds of personal emails from Summer and Joseph McStay that he says he received from people he described as "volunteer investigators" who were given the documents from someone who hacked into the couple's accounts. He also says he studied their financial records through passwords provided in those emails.

Joseph's brother Mike McStay manages a website documenting the search for his relatives and the lack of confirmed sightings in the almost three years since they were last seen.

In November, he posted an update commemorating his brother's birthday. He mentioned the most recent tip lead investigators with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to La Paz, Baja California but turned up unfounded.

In a grainy video taken on Feb. 8 at the San Ysidro border crossing, a family resembling the McStays can be seen walking across the border.

Mike McStay has told NBC 7 San Diego in past interviews that he doubts the video shows his brother and his family.

Baker agreed saying he felt the video was staged.

“Summer just wouldn’t do that. She just wouldn’t take the kids across the border,” Baker said.

Baker said he hopes people will read the book and help solve the mystery. He even offers up $25,000 to someone providing a "face-to-face encounter" with a member of the McStay family.

However, the reward offer expires the day the book is slated to be published on Feb. 4.

Witness Recalls Fugitive Dragging US Marshal on I-805

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The fugitive accused of dragging a deputy U.S. marshal more than 100 yards on a San Diego freeway last July appeared in court Wednesday.

Matthew Motsenbocker appeared solemn and still as he was led into the courtroom in handcuffs Wednesday morning.

Motsenbocker faces several charges -- including assault with a deadly weapon -- for the incident on July 6 that led to the hospitalization of  the deputy US marshal who was trying to stop him. 

According to police reports, Motsenbocker was the passenger of a car pulled over on the I-805 near Balboa Avenue. 

When the driver jumped out of the car and was taken into custody, Motsenbocker reportedly got into the driver's seat and took off, investigators said. At the time, Motsenbocker was wanted on burglary and firearms charges and was under surveillance by the U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force.

"One of the agents reached into the vehicle and made an attempt to grab the keys and and turn the vehicle off," said San Diego police captain Terry McManus in a previous article.

IMAGES: I-805 Officer Shooting

The deputy U.S. marshal was dragged more than 100 yards down the road before he was tossed from the vehicle, officials said. He then managed to pull out his weapon and shoot the suspect in the torso, bringing the speeding vehicle to a halt.

The agent, although injured himself, rendered aid to Motsenbocker, McManus said.

The first witness to take the stand at Wednesday's preliminary hearing said she saw the deputy US marshal get thrown from the car and roll across lanes on the roadway.

She then saw a man step out of the car, hold his stomach and say "I've been shot." However, she could not identify the suspect in court because the man she saw step out of the car was wearing a hat. 

Emergency workers transported the injured agent to Scripps La Jolla Hospital. He was released a few days later.

Motsenbocker was also transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. 


Home Invasion Suspects Still at Large

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Encinitas Sheriff’s Station detectives are asking for the public’s help in identifying and locating two men wanted in connection with a home invasion robbery that happened in Rancho Santa Fe.

According to officials, the home invasion robbery took place on Dec. 20 between 12:15 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. at a residence in the 5000 block of El Mirlo.

A housekeeper was home when two unknown men – one of whom was armed with a handgun – forced their way inside, holding the housekeeper at gunpoint.

The men allegedly handcuffed the woman to something so she couldn’t call for help while they ransacked the home, stealing jewelry, antique clocks and other expensive items, deputies said.

The suspects fled in a blue Hyundai Elantra with the stolen items. The vehicle was later recovered by deputies, but the suspects were not located.

The housekeeper was not injured, and was discovered by her teenage children several hours later inside the home. She then alerted authorities.

On Jan. 16, detectives released official sketches of the two home invasion robbery suspects, who remain at large.

Detectives describe one suspect as a white male adult in his late 20s to early 30s, approximately 5-foot-8, 150 to 160-pounds. He has a narrow, thin face, thin nose, tan complexion and straight, shoulder-length, blond hair.

The second suspect – who allegedly held the housekeeper at gunpoint – is described as a white man in his late 20s to early 30s. He’s 6-feet-tall, 180 pounds and has a tan complexion and short, wavy or curly black and gray hair.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact authorities by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
 



Photo Credit: Encinitas Sheriff's Station

Fire Burns Close to Freeway in San Marcos

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A brush fire burned in San Marcos near the SR-78, California Highway Patrol authorities said.

Smoke was blowing onto the freeway near the SR-78 and Sycamore Avenue at about 1:45 p.m., according to a CHP report.

As fire authorities responded, the fire was beginning to burn onto the freeway. Shortly after, another fire started on the other side of the freeway, according to the CHP.

CHP issued a SigAlert, which stated that a car fire was also reportedly burning nearby.

Check traffic conditions here

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department shut down all but one lane of the eastbound SR-78, and authorities are diverting traffic at the Las Posas exit. By 2:51 p.m., all lanes were open. 

The westbound side of the freeway is open but traffic was momentarily stopped on both sides of the fire as crews arrived to battle the flames. 

By about 2:20 p.m., crews knocked down the fire. 

Check back here for updates. 

Man Kidnapped During Bogus Craigslist Dealing

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A man was allegedly kidnapped by another man in Ocean Beach during a Craigslist dealing gone wrong, authorities confirmed.

According to police, the incident began around 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 5000 block of Narragansett Avenue after a man responded to a seller’s ad on Craigslist with intentions of purchasing a camera lens.

The victim met with the seller – described as a white male adult in his mid-20s – at a hotel room to supposedly purchase the item.

When the victim arrived, police say the seller allegedly threatened him with a handgun. The suspect then forced the victim to drive him to the victim’s bank in La Jolla in an attempt to steal his money.

Once they arrived at the bank, the suspect decided the bank was taking too long to get the money, so he ordered the victim to drive away. Police say the suspect didn’t obtain any money from the victim.

The victim was not injured.

According to police, the suspect remains outstanding and could face attempted robbery and kidnapping charges. He’s described as having a thin build. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt during the botched Craigslist transaction.

The investigation is ongoing.

Just last month, a local couple was shot during a meeting with a would-be buyer who had responded to their Craigslist ad.

In that case, the couple met the buyer in a parking lot. The buyer allegedly hopped into the couple's car and pulled a gun on them. Both victims were shot, but survived their wounds.

More than a year ago, a similar crime occurred in Paradise Hills. However, that incident turned deadly.

Suspects Rashon Abernathy, 18, Seandell Jones, 19, and Shaquille Jordan, 18, were convicted this past November in the May 2011 death of Pacific Beach resident Garrett Berki, 18.

The three teens lured Berki with a Craigslist ad offering a laptop computer and then robbed him of $600 and drove away. Berki chased after the suspects and was shot to death behind the wheel of his car.

A jury convicted the teens of first degree murder, robbery and shooting.



Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Diego

Man Found Dead Behind Hillcrest Apartment Complex

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Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was found dead behind an apartment complex in Hillcrest early Wednesday morning.

At around 12:05 a.m., San Diego police officers responded to reports of a person down behind a small complex in the 3900 block of 1st Avenue.

When officers arrived, they discovered a deceased man in the parking lot. Officials declared the man’s death to be suspicious in nature.

According to detectives, residents of the nearby apartment complex reportedly saw the man drinking alcohol with two other unknown men in an outside patio area at around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Witnesses told police that at one point, the man and one of the men he was drinking with allegedly got into some sort of altercation. After the scuffle, the two men left the area, leaving the third man behind.

Residents told police they thought the man was sleeping off his intoxication in the parking lot. However, when they checked his welfare early Wednesday morning, they discovered he was dead.

Detectives say it is still unknown if the earlier altercation between the men played a role in the victim’s death. The victim has not yet been identified.

An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday to determine the cause and manner of the man’s death. No suspects have been named in the man’s death.
 



Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Diego

Assault Weapons Ban Triggers Heated Debate

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Despite California's longstanding ban on assault weapons sales and its limit on magazine ammunition rounds, the new federal restrictions now proposed by President Obama figure to become a political flashpoint in San Diego and statewide.

People who think they need those weapons won't be shrugged off quietly.

"Do I want an assault rifle? Yeah, actually I do,” Point Loma resident Michael Hunter said Wednesday outside a Morena District gun shop, when asked about the issue in the wake of the President’s news conference in Washington.

“Why? Because when people start getting crazy, you need to have an ability to defend yourself," he added.

Sheriff Bill Gore offered this comeback in a later interview: "Why can't they have bazookas out there too? Surface-to-air missiles? … There's no legitimate hunting or self-defense purpose in an AR-15, an Uzi or an assault weapon. There just isn't."

But the push-back from the gun lobby is that a federal assault weapons ban and limit on ammunition magazine rounds merely will impact law abiding citizens -- not criminals, who can acquire what they want elsewhere.

As for mentally deranged individuals, with off-the-books access?

"Are we going to put this back on every psychiatrist and say, You didn't tell us?” asked Mark Halcon, proprietor at the American Shooting Center in Kearny Mesa. “Is a psychiatrist going to be turning in people because they're afraid of losing their medical license?”

Halcon posed more rhetorical questions: "We've already had a war on drugs. How's that working out for us? And now we want to go and do a war on guns? Again, it's the law-abiding citizens who are going to be affected by this. My customers in here, my customer base, are not the ones going into the schools."

Many gun owners insist they have reasonable concerns behind their support for assault weapons.

But do some of those concerns border on paranoia?

"With the government we've got right now, I want to hang on to my assault weapons,” said a man interviewed during a break from jury duty at the downtown courthouse, walking away briskly without giving his name.

Whatever the outcome, this prelude to lawmaking is generating a wave of economic stimulus for the gun industry: a run on weapons and ammo of all kinds -- leaving inventory at many stores tapped out, with back orders stacking up for a projected several months to as long as year.



Photo Credit: NBC 7 San Diego

SDPD Assistant Chief to Retire

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One of San Diego Police Department’s assistant chiefs is retiring by the end of the month, according to the police department.

Boyd Long will be going to work for Valley View Casino. He joined SDPD in 1985 and was promoted to assistant chief in 2008, where he oversaw patrol operations.

During his 28-year career with the force, Long has also served as a commanding officer, mobile field force coordinator and Central Division lieutenant. 

He is expected to speak publicly about his retirement next week.

SDSU to Remain in Mountain West Conference

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Bye-Bye, Big East. San Diego State University has decided to follow Boise State’s move and stay in the Mountain West conference, the school’s athletic department announced on Wednesday.

The move helps the Aztecs avoid the implosion of the Big East conference that has suffered 13 recent defections.

After Boise State made its decision, SDSU faced a conference without another West Coast opponent. By staying in the MWC, the Aztecs are able to play opponents a little closer to home.

Remaining  is a huge benefit to the men's basketball team, which will be able to maintain its main rivals, such as University of Las Vegas. The Wednesday night game between the two teams is sold out.

“The geographical fit blends nicely with our institutions,” said MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson.

Under the new agreement, the Aztecs will receive their revenue from the 2012-13 season, said a statement from the athletic department. Part of that revenue will be used to pay SDSU’s exit fee from the Big West Conference, which the basketball teams entered when the football team was heading to the Big East. The Aztecs will also not have to pay an exit fee to the Big East.

In 2012, SDSU won nine MW championships in seven sports, including football and men’s basketball. Head football coach Rocky Long was also named MWC coach of the year in December.


Teacher Accused of Possessing Child Pornography

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A middle school teacher made his first court appearance today after being arrested for possessing child pornography.

Timothy Hensley is accused of possessing child pornography while working as a teacher at Bell Middle School. He was appointed an attorney by a federal judge this afternoon. He was not handcuffed and no supporters were present in the courtroom.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed in court that they started their investigation on Timothy Hensley with an internet tip.

Federal Court has also confirmed that Hensley has been put on paid administrative leave and will continue to receive his salary of $4,500 dollars a month.

Hensley has been working as an 8th grade science teacher and was named the 2009-2010 "Teacher of the Year."

Hensley was a substitute from 2003-2004 before he became a teacher at Wilson Middle School for a year. He has been at Bell Middle School since August 2005.

San Diego Unified School District officials said Hensley has not been at school this week.

ICE agents executed a search warrant on Hensley's North Park apartment yesterday morning after they found pornographic images of children on computer discs in his home.

The federal complaint against Hensley says the discs had images and videos of minors as young as 5-years-old in sexually explicit conduct. ICE agents said they contacted Bell Middle School today with the federal complaint against Hensley.

Parents say they are shocked by the news.

“I will be doing some homework and if I need to move my daughter, I will,” said parent Jenna Robinson.

The school district says student's safety is their number one concern.

Neither the school district nor ICE would release information on whether any of Hensley's students were involved in the pornographic images.



Photo Credit: NBCSanDiego

Boy Scouts Sued for Alleged Sexual Abuse

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A lawsuit was filed against the Boy Scouts of America on Wednesday by a group that claims one of its counselors sexually abused a teenage boy.

The lawsuit claims the 14-year-old victim was repeatedly sexually abused by counselor Glenn Jordan in a hot tub at Mataguay Scout Ranch near Warner Springs.

Jordan, 47, is a registered sex offender in California and served seven years in prison. He has five previous charges against him involving a minor, according to Megan’s Law. Jordan, shown in a picture below from Megan's Law, currently lives in Riverside County.

NBC 7 San Diego reached out to Jordan and the local Boy Scouts chapter for comment, but calls and emails were not returned.

Attorney John Manly is suing Jordan -- and the local and national Boy Scouts -- for negligence, assault, sexual harassment and other damages. The attorney says his client was 14 years old when Jordan allegedly abused him.   

"And finally, at 29, he has the courage to say it and to make the connection only recently between the problems in his life and what happened to him,” said Manly at a press conference on Wednesday.

That lawyer says his client suffered in silence for more than ten years, as the abuse happened between 1999 and 2000.

Manly said he also wants the Scouts to open certain files, which have details about other alleged abuses. He says the Scouts should stop protecting former leaders and volunteers who are linked to the sexual abuse of teenage boys.

“Give those files to law enforcement today, and make them public, so parents will know if their children are safe,” Manly said.

Anti-Doping Experts: Culture Must Change

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Anti-doping pioneer Don Catlin spent a quarter century trying to catch athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, snaring many of the world's biggest cheaters — but he never caught Lance Armstrong.

Catlin figures he must have analyzed about 50 of Armstrong's urine samples at his UCLA lab over the years, and the seven-time Tour de France winner, the most scrutinized athlete on Earth, always turned up clean.

"That’s fairly disturbing," Catlin said a couple of days before Armstrong’s doping confession was to air on prime-time television. "We thought we had a good program."

Going after dopers is an exercise in endless frustration, because unscrupulous athletes will always find new drugs and new methods to beat tests, and sports organizations have too much to lose by allowing stringent inspections. That is why Catlin, a chemist, has moved beyond the endless game of cat-and-mouse, and thinks the rest of the world should, too.

Testing holds a necessary place in anti-doping efforts, he says, but science alone can’t solve sports' problems. The chase will never be won — and sports will never really be cleansed — unless the focus shifts toward a voluntary system that rewards honest athletes while pressuring the dirty ones to change their ways.

Kind of like peer pressure for jocks.

"That’s what it’s been criticized for, and to that I say, 'Nothing much works these days,'" Catlin said.

Case in point is Armstrong, who fooled authorities for a decade before the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a mountain of evidence against him last year and accused him of running "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." A month earlier, his former U.S. Postal Service teammate, Tyler Hamilton, published a book about how they got away with it.

"Very scary stuff," Catlin said.

Catlin got out of the testing business six years ago, ending a 25-year career at UCLA’s Olympic Analytical Lab, which he built into one of the world’s premier testing facilities. The lab broke open the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, which was linked to many elite athletes, including track star Marion Jones and San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, by discovering the designer steroid THG. Catlin later developed a test that was used to catch Olympic gold medal sprinter Justin Gatlin with unnatural levels of testosterone.

His lab also specialized in detecting the blood-oxygen booster EPO, which Armstrong is accused of using.

Catlin left his lab in 2007 to develop the nonprofit Anti-Doping Research Institute in Los Angeles.

"The cause is good, but after 25 years you know everything about the field, and you don’t see it going away," Catlin said. "You see doping staying forever and that’s frustrating. You try to figure out, as I’m doing now, better approaches to take the problem from very different ways."

University of Texas doping historian John Hoberman doesn’t know Catlin, but, he, too, believes that the only way to save sport from doping is to reform its culture. He advocates for a refocusing on "the human chemistry" of the scourge.

The most formidable obstacle to clean competition, Hoberman says, is a kind of institutional corruption in which members of groups that profit from the "sports entertainment industry" are implicitly or explicitly allowing doping to happen. To these organizations, the "appearance of compliance" with World Anti-Doping Agency codes is enough.

"The other aspect of this is the many national and international sports officials who should be good guys, and aren’t," Hoberman said.

That is why Hoberman hopes that Armstrong — who arguably knows more about doping than any of his accusers — will implicate top cycling officials in his confession. That could help spark an unprecedented reform effort.

“If you can get everything out of him, you can make extraordinary inroads in improving the culture,” Hoberman said.

But even with Armstrong’s confession, neither Hoberman nor Catlin is idealistic enough to believe that doping is ever going to end.

"This is not the last they’re going to see of (someone like) Armstrong," Catlin said. "Look at his story and ask: Could this (still) be going on today? The answer is yes."

Aquarium Gets Adorable, Blind Baby Sea Lion

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A 1-year-old sea lion named Cruz lost his eyesight after suffering a gunshot wound to the face. He and another sea lion, Tanner, made their public debut recently at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. NBC Chicago's Rob Stafford reports.

Health Club Membership Warnings

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This is the time of year many join new gyms or expensive health clubs. Here are a few tips to help you avoid getting sucked into costly commitments.
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