British army demotes mascot goat after it marches out of line

By: Associated Press | Saturday, June 24, 2006 5:50 PM PDT ∞

Undated photo released by the Ministry of Defence of a British army regiment's ceremonial pet goat which was demoted in disgrace after it marched out of line before a host of international dignitaries during a parade to mark Queen's Elizabeth II's birthday, a military spokesman said Saturday June 24 2006. The military mascot, a 6-year-old male goat called Billy, pictured with handler Lance Corporal Dai Davies, was downgraded from the rank of lance corporal to fusilier _ the same status as a private _ after army chiefs ruled his poor display had ruined the ceremony on June 16 at a British army base in Episkopi, western Cyprus. The regiment, the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, has traveled with a pet goat since soldiers adopted one of the animals during the Crimean War.
Associated Press

LONDON -- A British army regiment's ceremonial pet goat was demoted in disgrace after it marched out of line before a host of dignitaries during a parade to mark Queen Elizabeth II's birthday, a military spokesman said Saturday.

The military mascot, a 6-year-old male goat called Billy, was downgraded from the rank of lance corporal to fusilier -- the same status as a private -- after army chiefs ruled his poor display had ruined the ceremony earlier this month at a British army base in Episkopi, western Cyprus.

Lance Cpl. Dai Davies, 22, the goat's handler, was unable to keep control during the June 16 march. The mascot darted from side to side, throwing soldiers off their stride, Capt. Crispian Coates, a spokesman, said by telephone from the base in Cyprus.

"The goat, which has been the regiment's mascot since 2001, was supposed to be leading the march, but would not stay in line," Coates said. "After consideration, the commanding officer decided he had no option but to demote Billy."

Ambassadors from Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands were among those who attended the march along with U.N. dignitaries.

Since the goat's demotion, soldiers of a lower rank are no longer expected to salute Billy as a sign of respect, Coates said.

Capt. William Rose, a soldier present at the parade, said the goat "was trying to head-butt the waist and nether regions of the drummers."

The 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, has had a long tradition of traveling with a pet goat used in ceremonies. The Welsh regiment was presented with a goat from the royal herd in 1746, and Billy is a descendant from the same bloodline, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

A total of 11 ceremonial pets -- including a ferret, an Indian black buck and a ram -- are kept by the British army, but regiments do not take the mascots to combat zones. British legislators were told last month that keeping the pets costs the equivalent of $55,000 a year.

Patsy Ramsey, mother of slain JonBenet Ramsey, dies at 49

Patsy Ramsey, who was thrust into the national spotlight by the unsolved 1996 slaying of her daughter, 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant JonBenet, died Saturday following a long battle with ovarian cancer, her lawyer said. She was 49.

Ramsey was diagnosed with the disease in 1993 and suffered a recurrence several years ago, attorney L. Lin Wood said. She died at her father's home in Roswell, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, with her husband, John, at her bedside.

"It is not unexpected but it is a sad day," Wood told The Associated Press.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family's home in Boulder, Colo., on Dec. 26, 1996.

Patsy Ramsey said she found a ransom note on the back staircase demanding $118,000 for the safe return of JonBenet. John Ramsey said he found his daughter's body in a basement room eight hours later.

Boulder police said early on that Patsy and John Ramsey were under an "umbrella of suspicion" in JonBenet's death. The Ramseys said an intruder killed their daughter. A grand jury investigation in Boulder ended with no indictments, and no arrests have been made in the case.

In 2003, U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes in Atlanta concluded that the evidence she reviewed suggested an intruder killed JonBenet. That opinion came with the judge's decision to dismiss a libel and slander lawsuit against the Ramseys by a freelance journalist, who the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter's murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with Carnes' declaration.

"Hopefully her legacy will not be tied to the false accusation related to the brutal murder of her daughter," Wood said of Patsy Ramsey Saturday.

Scott Robinson, a Denver defense lawyer who has followed the case from the start, said JonBenet's killing is unlikely to ever be solved and accused police of mishandling the case by focusing on the Ramseys from the start.

"Once the forensic evidence was made public it was clear that the police accusation that they were under the umbrella of suspicion was not only unfair but insulting," Robinson said.

Patsy Ramsey was born in Parkersburg, W.Va., on Dec. 29, 1956. She was crowned Miss West Virginia in 1977.

"Those who were fortunate enough to really know Patsy didn't just like her, or admire her, but truly loved her," longtime friend Linda McLean of Parkersburg, W.Va., said in a statement Saturday. "She was probably the most beloved person I've met.

"Watching how she maintained her strong faith through all her heartache gave the rest of us strength," McLean said.

JonBenet was named after her father, with the name pronounced in a French-inspired manner as zhawn-ben-AY. She followed her mother into beauty pageants, learning how to walk, gesture and perform and collecting a wardrobe of elaborate costumes, including that of a Las Vegas showgirl and a cowgirl.

The little girl's titles included Little Miss Colorado; Little Miss Charlevoix, Mich.; Colorado State All-Star Kids Cover Girl; America's Royale Miss, and National Tiny Miss Beauty.

John and Patsy Ramsey left Colorado after JonBenet's death and wrote a book, "The Death of Innocence," which was published in 2000.

They had homes in Atlanta and in Michigan, where John Ramsey ran unsuccessfully for the Michigan House in 2004, finishing second among six candidates vying for the Republican nomination.

The Ramseys discussed their daughter's death during the campaign.

"We can't just hold our breath and hope the killer will be found and then go on with our lives," Patsy Ramsey said in 2004. "We have to move ahead now. We can't let evil win."

Patsy Ramsey is survived by her husband and their 19-year-old son, Burke.

She will be buried next to JonBenet in St. James Cemetery at Marietta, Ga., said Terry Pendley, owner of Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta, Ga. Services were scheduled for Thursday.

Associated Press Writer Robert Weller in Denver reported from Denver; Daniel Yee in Atlanta contributed to this report.

---- Associated Press

Producer Aaron Spelling: Not just a master of 'jiggle,' he was a master of TV

NEW YORK (AP) -- If viewers still identify Aaron Spelling with starlets whose brassieres didn't fully rein them in, that might say as much about the viewers as it does about him.

The fact is, once upon a time the audience was eager to watch those "three little girls who went to the police academy" fight crime with a jiggle and a wink. In 1976, "Charlie's Angels" became an instant hit. All Spelling had to do was come up with it.

Same as he did with dozens upon dozens of other TV projects of a dizzying variety spanning a half-century.

Consider a recent pair of long-running series he produced for The WB: a show about witches ("Charmed") and a show about a Protestant priest ("7th Heaven"). That enough variety for you?

Sure, Spelling can be simply defined. But not just as the architect of "jiggle TV," or as a partner with Mike Nichols on the much-honored drama "Family" (1976-80), or as the real captain of "The Love Boat" (1977-86), or as the innovator who made groundbreaking TV films about AIDS, anorexia and nuclear war, or as the doting dad who sprang Tori Spelling on the world as one among a crop of teen idols on "Beverly Hills 90210" (1990-2000).

Simply defined, he was the embodiment of nothing less than television's vast, crowd-pleasing capabilities. And his passing Friday at 83 is the latest suggestion that TV, at least as we know it, is passing, too.

Artistry on TV is always in limited supply, and no one ever said Spelling displayed more than his share.

But even rarer is the visionary who can satisfy the audience's tastes -- the impresario who knows what viewers want, sometimes even before they do, and then gives it to them. On this, Spelling's track record certifies the exacting calibration of his gut.

Stephen Collins, who plays the Rev. Eric Camden on "7th Heaven," describes Spelling as a hardworking, shy man endowed with extraordinary creative instincts.

"He didn't worry about what other people thought," Collins said in an interview Saturday. "If he had a strong gut feeling, he would follow it."

In a business at the mercy of viewer fickleness and disposable crazes, Spelling seemed always ready for the next thing -- ready to recognize it and usher it in, renewing himself in the process.

Example: With ABC's cancellation of "Dynasty" in 1989 after eight seasons, Spelling -- for the first time since 1960 -- had no series on the air. He was 66. He was obviously finished.

But then, a generation after having saved the moribund ABC with a string of hits including "Charlie's Angels," Spelling handed the struggling, young Fox network "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place," thus establishing the next act in his storied career.

What explains his skill, enormous output and longevity? Was it thanks to the common touch he brought with him to Hollywood from his native Texas as (in his self-appraisal) a poor Jewish boy from the wrong side of the tracks? Was it because he helped write the rules of TV entertainment in the first place?

Whatever the case, he was indisputably a master of television, even TV as it is now, rocked by change and, some insist, living on borrowed time. And if he felt perplexed by the current turmoil -- the splintering of audiences across countless channels; on-demand and multi-platform breakthroughs that seem to challenge all conventional TV wisdom -- Spelling had too sure a foothold in TV's grand traditions to be jeopardized.

But the audience he leaves behind might reasonably wonder: Now what?

Who in the industry now can boast of a comparable crowd-pleasing touch?

And if TV evolves into a wellspring of sound-and-motion bubbling from iPods and cell phones as well as PCs and wall-size plasma screens, what then? What impresario could possibly surface, like Spelling did a half-century ago, to master that new media?

Associated Press Writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Teen dies from fall in elevator shaft at Mexico hotel

READING, Pa. (AP) -- A Pennsylvania teenager vacationing with his family at a resort hotel in Mexico fell to his death in an elevator shaft, according to relatives and U.S. authorities.

Andrew Smith, 16, died after falling Wednesday at the Royal Solaris hotel in Cancun, his mother told The Reading Eagle for Saturday's editions.

The U.S. consulate in Cancun confirmed that Smith died Wednesday of an accidental fall but provided no details.

Smith and a friend were waiting on the fourth floor of the hotel for an elevator when his son pushed on plywood boards and fell into the shaft, said Smith's mother, Nancy. The partition had no warning sign.

Hotel officials declined to comment.

Andrew Smith would have been a junior this fall at Wilson High School, where he played on the football team.

State questions doctor after 10 patients die of overdoses

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- A state agency is investigating a physician after 10 of his patients died from lethal mixtures of drugs or overdoses of prescription medicines.

The Arkansas State Medical Board has accused Dr. Randeep Mann of prescribing excessive amounts of controlled substances to patients he knew or should have known had histories of drug abuse. The Russellville physician's license was temporarily suspended in April until a July 6 hearing.

"Vulnerable patients were prescribed excessive amounts of controlled substances or addictive and harmful drugs," wrote a consultant hired by the state board, Dr. Carlos Roman. "Medical records are mostly illegible."

The board could revoke Mann's license if it decides his care constituted "grossly negligent or ignorant malpractice."

Mann's attorney, Drake Mann, who is unrelated, said the issue wasn't the doctor's prescriptions, but the patients' abuse of the drugs.

"The rules of the board prohibit grossly negligent or ignorant malpractice," Drake Mann said. "And the board is attempting to hold a physician responsible for a patient's noncompliance."

Medical board attorney Bill Trice said Randeep Mann was aware of his patients' histories of drug addiction and abuse.

ACLU wants boys allowed in Michigan high school cheer tourney

DETROIT (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union wants Michigan's governing body for high school athletics to reconsider a policy keeping boys out of the postseason tournament for competitive cheerleading.

But the Michigan High School Athletic Association questioned the timing of the ACLU's request, because the rules about boys in competitive cheer tournaments were approved in December 2003, The Detroit News reported. The changes take effect this summer.

"There certainly was enough time for a response to be made earlier than five weeks before those rules officially take effect," athletic association spokesman John Johnson said.

Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, said Saturday that the policy was only recently brought to her group's attention.

In a letter to the athletic association dated Friday, Michael J. Steinberg, legal director of ACLU Michigan, said his group wished to "strongly urge" a change in the rules. Steinberg told the newspaper litigation is possible.

"Postseason competition is a big thing in high schools, and to forbid participation on the basis of sex hurts both boys and girls," Steinberg said.

When Michigan high schools start the 2006-07 year in August, boys will no longer be able to participate in the competitive cheerleading postseason tournament. The ACLU says that violates federal law.

No boys are allowed to participate in any girls' high school sport in Michigan postseason tournaments, a decades-old rule, Johnson said. The rule hasn't been enforced in cheerleading, which was instituted as a girls sport in the 1993-94 school year, he said.

Under the 2003 policy change, boys may still compete in regular-season competition if competing schools agree.

Rev. Melvin H. Watson, who trained MLK, dies at 98

ATLANTA (AP) -- The Rev. Melvin H. Watson, who helped train Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders, has died. He was 98.

Watson, who lived in Atlanta, died Monday following surgery at Crawford Long Hospital, said Walter Earl Fluker of Atlanta, executive director of the Leadership Center at Morehouse College and Watson's son-in-law.

Watson exerted a quiet influence for more than half a century as senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Atlanta and as a religion professor at Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Religion and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

Many of his students became civil rights leaders.

"He was one of the great teachers of his generation, and his teaching skills and mentoring capacity was as comprehensive outside the classroom as in the classroom," said the Rev. Otis Moss Jr. of Cleveland, who studied with Watson.

King turned to Watson for advice when he was studying at Boston University and serving as pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., Fluker said.

In a series of letters, Watson critiqued King's views of socialism and philosophy and recommended books to read, Fluker said.

"In one letter, King is bragging about his new programs at Dexter and Watson writes back -- I paraphrase -- 'the abundance of activity is a smoke screen for effective ministry.' He counseled King to slow down and take care of his people," Fluker said.

Germany, Austria warn they may have to shoot wandering bear

KUFSTEIN, Austria (AP) -- Authorities in Germany and Austria said Saturday they may allow hunters to shoot a marauding brown bear nicknamed Bruno after recent efforts to capture him alive failed.

Anton Steiner, the forestry minister in the Austrian state of Tyrol, said the bear was a potential danger to humans. It has been on the loose since last month.

"We see shooting it as the only possibility," Steiner said. "I know it's not a popular decision.

He acknowledged the protests that accompanied earlier proposals from neighboring Germany to shoot the bear.

Steiner said there would be no organized hunt. Instead, the ministry would simply authorize hunters to kill the bear if they encountered it.

Otmar Bernhard, the deputy environment minister of the German state of Bavaria, said authorities there were contemplating organizing a hunt if the bear reappeared on the German side of the border.

The bear -- a fugitive from Italy officially named JJ1 but dubbed Bruno by German media -- ambled into Germany last month, becoming the first wild bear seen in the country since 1835. He is part of a program in northern Italy to reintroduce the animals in the Alps.

The 220-pound bear is an unwelcome visitor because he has killed livestock and approached homes. Authorities say his lack of shyness could make him dangerous to humans.

After proposals to shoot the bear provoked protests, officials backed off in favor of trying to capture Bruno alive and send him to a nature preserve.

A team of Finnish tracking dogs and their handlers were unable to corner the bear so it could be shot with a tranquilizer dart, so the team returned home, officials said.

Despite the pursuit, Bruno has wandered brazenly through towns and farms, at one point sitting down near the police station in the Bavarian lakeside resort of Kochel am See. He has killed sheep and goats, yanked rabbits from their hutches and looted beehives of honey.

At one point, he was hit by a car but suffered only a glancing blow from the rearview mirror before continuing on his way.

Lack of witnesses inhibiting prosecution of suspected polygamists

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A prosecutor is considering postponing or dropping cases against eight residents of a polygamous community charged with sex offenses involving marriages to underage girls because he is having trouble locating witnesses.

The cases involve members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in the neighboring towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, whose followers believe plural marriage is necessary to earn heavenly exaltation.

The first trial -- of Kelly Fischer, 39 -- is scheduled to begin July 5 in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman, Ariz., with one for Dale Evans Barlow, 48, to follow on July 11.

However, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said he's not sure whether any witnesses are available.

"So far, we haven't been able to serve the victims in either case," Smith said Friday. "We've not had any luck serving people. They are running, they are hiding, they are changing houses, they are not answering the door."

Deputies were able to serve only one of four subpoenas on potential witnesses during a search of homes in Colorado City on May 25, Smith said.

The eight men have pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

Polygamy is prohibited in the Arizona constitution but is not a crime. It is, however, a felony to engage in sexual activity with anyone under age 18 unless that person is a legal spouse. Those felonies carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison or probation.

Polygamy is a crime in Utah.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon church, renounced polygamy in 1890, and the FDLS split from it. The Mormon church excommunicates members found to be practicing polygamy.

New Jersey man convicted of forging comatose woman's signature to sell house

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- A man has been convicted of forging his comatose girlfriend's signature on the deed for the house they lived in and selling the property after she died.

A jury found Fermin Galvez, 43, guilty Friday of forgery, theft and other charges.

Galvez's girlfriend -- 55-year-old Alba Morales -- was dying of cancer and hospitalized in a coma in January 2005 when Galvez visited a lawyer's office with an unidentified woman posing as Morales, said John Anderson, an assistant Essex County prosecutor.

With a forged signature on the deed and his girlfriend supposedly present, Morales was able get his name added.

Morales died five days later. Galvez sold the house for $245,000, cutting out Morales' legal husband and children from their inheritance, Anderson said.

Galvez stayed in the house after the closing and managed to convince police who came to evict him that he still had a claim, the prosecutor said.

He was indicted in December after Morales' family showed prosecutors the deed transfer took place while Morales was comatose.

It was unclear Saturday how ownership of the home would be settled.

MySpace generation looks online to preserve school memories

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- John Shin refuses to buy a copy of his high school yearbook. Instead, he's turning to the Internet to preserve and share memories of his sophomore year.

The 15-year-old has posted a collection of school-related photos and videos, as do many of his classmates. They're able to exchange virtual notes, vote for the most likely to succeed and take part in other yearbook traditions.

The Tuckahoe High School student is trying to persuade as many as his friends as possible to sign up at MyYearbook.com -- and save some money, too.

"I'm going to bring everyone who matters to me to MyYearbook," said John, who attends school in Eastchester, a suburb just north of New York City. "I'm confident in that, and besides, they're like $70."

But skeptics wonder if the free Web site can ever truly replace the traditional printed chronicle of high-school memories -- even for the generation that's grown up with the Internet.

"Students continue to say they prefer print yearbooks for obvious reasons," said Rich Stoebe, director of communications for Jostens Inc., which sells yearbooks, class rings and other scholastic memorabilia.

After all, will anyone want to haul a laptop to the 25th class reunion? And what happens if the technology changes, or something happens to the dot-com?

Jostens and other yearbook companies have responded to changes in technology by offering a supplemental DVD offering student-compiled music, photos and video.

Jostens reported $348.5 million in yearbook sales in 2005. By comparison, MyYearbook.com just started bringing in money -- about $40,000 a month with strategically placed banner ads on its site.

Still, the teenage siblings who created MyYearbook.com, Catherine and David Cook of Stillman, N.J., are confident their generation will trust the Internet with their school memories.

"We just think yearbooks are obsolete," said Catherine Cook, 16. "If you think about it, all you're going to do with it is put it on the shelf and never really look at it."

MyYearbook.com allows users to create a profile with separate sections for high school, college, graduate school and professional life. Students who sign up are automatically linked to others at their school.

Acting as their own editors, they can select friends from their classmates.

Members can "autograph" each others' yearbook pages. The site also connects students through school club and sports pages. Like other so-called social-networking sites, it allows members to upload photos and post messages.

Students have access to multimedia and interactive components that old-fashioned yearbooks can't offer, including a place for creating polls and storing music and videos.

Users also can vote for the biggest flirt, best athlete, most popular students at the school.

After graduation, voting starts over for their college or professional life. Meanwhile, portions of the school sections are preserved, unchanged, with the same friends, classmates, clubs and superlatives, said Geoff Cook, Catherine and David's older brother who invested $250,000 in the venture.

The site is independent of school authorities and available year-round. If inappropriate usage is detected, it can be reported to MyYearbook.com and staff there will delete it.

Catherine Cook and her brother, 18-year-old David Cook, founded the site in 2005 and built it up to about 950,000 members in about a year. They developed the idea after becoming frustrated with the cost and layout of their own yearbooks.

Teenagers want different things out of their yearbook than their parents did, and thrive on the up-to-the-moment aspects of the Web site, said Geoff Cook, 28.

Eventually, the Cooks hope to attract more than the 80 million members of the leading social networking site, MySpace.com.

In 2004, 16.4 million high school students were living in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. MyYearbook.com plans to grow its membership by sticking with students after they leave high school. About 30 percent of the users on MyYearbook.com are college students, Catherine Cook said.

A similar site, Facebook, has 7.7 million users, mostly in college. The site's layout is similar to a yearbook, but the creators never intended to replace the traditional book, said Chris Hughes, a Facebook spokesman and co-creator.

At Tuckahoe High School, most of John Shin's friends have decided against buying a yearbook in favor of the online version, while others have chosen both, he said. Of about 270 students at the school, 63 use MyYearbook.com.

The Cooks are considering using a print-on-demand service to offer a hard copy of MyYearbook.com pages. Students could keep it on a shelf like a traditional yearbook, at a fraction of the cost, they said.

"I tend to think people don't want to (buy a hard copy)," Geoff Cook said in an e-mail. "But we are exploring it."

On the Net:

Myyearbook.com: http://www.myyearbook.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com

Jostens: http://www.jostens.com