Olier Mordrel

Olier Mordrel (29 April 1901 – 25 October 1985) is the Breton language version of Olivier Mordrelle, a Breton nationalist and wartime collaborator with the Third Reich who founded the separatist Breton National Party. Before the war, he worked as an architect. His architectural work was influenced by Art Deco and the International style of Le Corbusier. He was also an essayist, short story writer, and translator. Mordrel wrote some of his works under the pen names "Jean de La Bénelais", "J. La B", "Er Gédour", "A. Calvez", "Otto Mohr", "Brython", and "Olivier Launay".
Early life.
The son of a Corsican woman who had married General Joseph Mordrelle (died in 1942), Olier Mordrel was born in Paris and spent most of his childhood there (paradoxically, the place where he also learned Breton). After studies at the École des Beaux-Arts, he became an architect in Quimper for ten years.
He joined Breiz Atao in 1919 and became president of "Unvaniez Yaouankiz Vreiz" ("Youth Union of Brittany") in 1922. Together with Roparz Hemon, he created the literary magazine "Gwalarn" (1925), and was included in the Breton delegation to the First Pan-Celtic Congress in Dublin (alongside François Jaffrennou, Morvan Marchal, and Yves Le Drézen). Subsequently, Mordrel became co-president of the Breton Autonomist Party (Parti Autonomiste Breton, or PAB), and then its secretary for propaganda. During the same year, he started mixing his political and aesthetical ideals, adapting Art Deco to Breton themes, and aligning himself with the Breton art movement Seiz Breur.
In 1932, he created the Breton National Party (PNB), a nationalist and separatist Breton movement that would be outlawed by Prime Minister Édouard Daladier in October 1939, for its connections with Nazi Germany. In an article he contributed to the 11 December 1932 "Breiz Atao", Mordrel launched an anti-semitic attack, one aiming to add National-socialist rhetoric to his discourse against French centralism: "Jacobin rime avec Youppin" - translatable as "Jacobin rhymes with Yid". The same year, he conceived the Strollad Ar Gelted Adsavet (SAGA, "Party of Risen Celts") and its Nazi-like platform - which included Bretons in the Nordic "master race".
Mordrel also launched "Stur", a magazine which displayed the swastika in its title, and the 1936 "Peuples et Frontières" (initially titled "Bulletin des minorités nationales de France"), which served as the voice for separatist minority ethnic groups throughout Europe. A noted contributor was the Alsatian Hermann Bickler, who later became a Gestapo commander. On 14 December 1938 Mordrel and François Debeauvais were each sentenced to one-year suspended imprisonment for "attack on the nation's unity".
Architecture.
Throughout this period Mordrel was working as an architect. He created a number of buildings in Quimper which were the most advanced examples of modern architecture in the city, adopting the Streamline Moderne style. The most important of these is the Ty-Kodak building at the new-town area of cité Kerguelen. It has been described as "the most original and much the most beautiful" of modern buildings in the city. It was constructed in 1933. The building has a wrap-around structure comparable to work by Le Corbusier and alternates smooth white surface with blue tiling. According to the architectural critic Daniel Le Couedic, the "gentle sweep" of the broad white bands around the corner is contrasted dramatically with the strong angular and stabilising vertical structures of the windows. It is signed with the architect's name on the boulevard facade.
Several other Mordrel buildings are no longer extant, including his Garage d’Odet, a garage/factory designed to use modernist style to achieve space for maximum efficiency of manufacturing and repair.
"Bretonische Regierung".
Just before World War II erupted in 1939, Mordrel, Debeauvais, and their families (including Debeauvais's wife, Anna Youenou, who has since published an account of the travel) left for Berlin, via Belgium and the Netherlands. While in Amsterdam, the two leaders issued a "Manifesto" calling for the Bretons not to back the French forces. A "Lizer Brezel" ("Letter of War") they wrote to PNB members in January 1940 stated that "a real Breton does not have the right to die for France" and "our enemies are first and foremost the French, it is them who have not ceased causing misfortune to Brittany".
A military tribunal in Rennes tried Debeauvais and Mordrel "in absentia" and sentenced them to death for separatist activities, treason, maintaining active a banned group, and instigation to desertion or treason. In early May, the Germans awarded Mordrel the leadership of a self-designated government in exile, the "Bretonische Regierung"; nonetheless, the two Bretons were not given the status of "leaders of Brittany", and the German passports they carried read stateless ("Statenlos"). They were allowed to travel only because of their connections with influential German army officers. With the start of the German occupation of France, the activists returned to Brittany on 1 July, re-founded the PNB, and Mordrel started printing "L'Heure Bretonne" (edited by Morvan Lebesque).
During the Occupation.
By the end of June and early July, Breton independentists could take it for granted that Brittany could be independent when a military governor was appointed to rule over the five départements of ancient Brittany. After a self-designated Congress in Pontivy founded the Breton National Committee, Mordrel took charge of the PNB in late October, and subsequently led a campaign against Vichy France that was tacitly encouraged by the Germans. His relation with Célestin Lainé became tense after Lainé's paramilitary Lu Brezhon started competing with the National Committee in October. Mordrel's actions against Vichy did not have the intended effect, and the PNB's appeal was minimal; at the same time, Germany had started placing its trust with Vichy leader Philippe Pétain, and in the end, supported Mordrel's ousting from the Committee in December. He seems to have been disappointed with the PNB's position himself. In November, he stated: "Our force is within ourselves. Neither Vichy nor Berlin will render the Breton people the necessary status for self-determination, regrouping, and giving itself a path. Our fate is being decided in our fibres... Let us not expect anything that is not from ourselves". He resigned his positions with the PNB and its journal, being replaced by Raymond Delaporte.
Mordrel was assigned residence in Germany: first in Stuttgart, then, from January 1941, in Berlin. However, he was barred from Brittany and from separatist activism. Leo Weisgerber offered him the position of Celtic languages professor at the University of Bonn and orchestrated his return to Paris in May. He was allowed to settle in
Mayenne, where he was frequently visited and consulted by his Breton friends - including Jean Merrien, Rafig Tullou, Jean Trécan, and René-Yves Creston; throughout 1943, he kept contacts with his fellow writer and Occupation regime figure Louis-Ferdinand Céline. In September Mordrel was allowed to return to Rennes, where, while both the PNB leadership and Vichy agents called on the Germans to expel him, he was kept as an alternative by the Nazi authorities. After 1942 he was again even allowed to edit "Stur".
1945, exile, and return.
After the Allied invasion during the battle of Normandy, Brittany was taken on 13 August 1944 and Mordrel was forced to flee to Germany. In February 1945 Mordrel began talks with French fascist leader Jacques Doriot and his Parti Populaire Français, Mordrel acting on his own. The two sides agreed on a programme of Breton independence within a "Swiss-like" federation. After being briefly active in the umbrella group created by Doriot, he had to flee to Italy, where his wife died in the difficult conditions to which the couple on the run was reduced to. Seeing no way out, he gave himself up to the American army. He was detained and interrogated for several months by the secret service. He saved his life by telling everything he knew of his fellow Breton separatists, the members of the Irish Republican Army and relations with different German secret services. In an agreement with the head of the British secret services, he was released but was officially declared to have escaped from prison because the new French authorities claimed him for execution. Again “on the run”, but with the backing of the American secret services, he found refuge in Brazil, then Argentina, and finally in Francoist Spain. He was again sentenced to death "in absentia", in June 1946, but continued to contribute material to the magazine "Ar Vro" as "Brython".
Mordrel returned to France incognito in 1972 and continued writing for "La Bretagne Réelle" as "Otto Mohr" (a name he had used in 1940), as well as editing several books - including a history of the Waffen-SS ("Waffen SS d'Occident"). In the 1980s, he was among the founders of "Kelc'h Maksen Wledig" ("Emperor Maxentius' Circle"), together with such figures of the far right as Yann Ber Tillenon and Georges Pinault; later, he was active in the GRECE, an organization associated with extremist politics, led by Alain de Benoist. Nonetheless, in the 1981 presidential race, Mordrel backed Socialist candidate François Mitterrand.
Mordrel's son Tristan Mordrelle (pen name André Chelain) is a far-right historical revisionist who runs the "Association bretonne de recherche historique" (ABRH) and edits its journal "L'Autre Histoire".


Siert Bruins

Siert Bruins (2 March 1921 – 28 September 2015), also known as Siegfried Bruns and nicknamed the Beast of Appingedam, was a Dutch member of the SS and SD during World War II.
Biography.
Bruins was born in March 1921 in Weite, Netherlands. He had 3 brothers. Together with his father Harm and his brother Derk-Elsko he became a member of the Dutch political party NSB.
During the war both Bruins brothers joined the Waffen SS and fought at the eastern front, where Derk-Elsko received the Knights' Cross. When Siert became wounded he returned to the Netherlands and became member of the German Sicherheitsdienst. He was active around Delfzijl hunting members of the resistance. During the last days of WW II Bruins fled to Germany, where he could escape from the Dutch jurisdiction because he was granted the German nationality as a former nazi-soldier on basis of a 1943 law.
In Germany he lived in the village of Breckerfeld, where he was discovered by Simon Wiesenthal. He changed his name to Bruns and operated a farm in horticulture. It appears he has visited his mother in Assen in the trunk of a car several times. The wife and two sons of Bruins were during the trial in 1978 not aware of his crimes.
Derk-Elsko Bruins also lived in Germany after the war, where he died on 5 February 1986 in Gerolstein. Siert Bruins died in September 2015 at the age of 94.
Prosecutions and convictions.
He was sentenced to death "in absentia" by a Dutch court in 1949 for his murder of Dutch farmer and resistance member Aldert Klaas Dijkema. Germany refused to render him to the Netherlands. The death sentence was later revised into a lifelong sentence.
In 1978, Bruins was tracked to the German town of Altenbreckerfeld by Simon Wiesenthal. He was arrested and placed on trial in Germany, where he was found guilty of the murder of two Jewish brothers, Meijer en Lazarus (Laas) Sleutelberg, in Farmsum, in the north of the Netherlands; he served five years in prison. The bodies of the brothers have never been found, because Bruins refused to talk.
In 2003, the Dutch minister Donner tried to convince the German authorities to send Bruins to the Netherlands, but without success.
Dutch journalist Gideon Levy told the German authorities about other crimes of Bruins. In October 2013 he was placed on trial in Hagen, Germany. Though Bruins admitted to being present when Dijkema was executed in the night of 21 September 1944 in Appingedam, near the Brons factory, he claimed that the shot was fired by his SS superior, Oberscharführer August Neuhäuser. Neuhäuser was convicted of the murder in The Netherlands. He died in 1985.
In January 2014, presiding judge Heike Hartmann-Garschagen ruled that there were too many gaps in the evidence and dropped the case against Bruins. Bruins could not be convicted of murder, because no witnesses could be called, "the exact circumstances of the crime can no longer be established," she said. An alternative conviction, for manslaughter, was not possible due to statute of limitations. In the Dutch conviction from 1949 it is stated that according to a confession of Neuhäuser, both men, Bruins and Neuhäuser have shot Dijkema in the back, each with 4 bullets.


Buck McGovern

Charles "Buck" McGovern (March 6, 1873 – August 29, 1962) was a Pennsylvania law enforcement officer, soldier, and politician best known for his role in the 1902 recapture of the condemned Biddle brothers after their escape from prison.
An obituary called him a "rambunctious warhorse of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh [whose] 50-year career had carried him to far continents and through a thousand-and-one battles as a politician, Rough Rider, two-gun policeman and detective."
The Biddle Brothers episode served as a springboard for McGovern's later political career. He served in a private capacity to Theodore Roosevelt during the presidential campaign of 1912. After serving in the cavalry during World War I, patrolling the border and participating in the Battle of Ciudad Juarez, McGovern was chosen as the Chief of the Pittsburgh City Detective Bureau in 1922. He resigned this position soon after in order to help with the election campaign of Governor Gifford Pinchot. The next year he was chosen as a State Department of Justice special agent, and from 1927-1935 he served as an Allegheny County Commissioner. An avid historian, McGovern also hosted a longstanding weekly radio program on WJAS Pittsburgh throughout the 1930s and 1940s.
McGovern died on August 29, 1962, and was buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh.


Joseph Russoniello

Joseph P. Russoniello (born October 12, 1941) is an American attorney who served two terms as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. Russoniello served his first term from 1982 to 1990 and his second term from 2008 to 2010.
Education and early career.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Russoniello graduated in 1959 from St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City. He received a B.S.S. degree from Fairfield University in 1963 and a J.D. degree from New York University Law School in 1966. After graduating from law school, Russoniello was appointed a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and later served as an Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco before joining Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in 1975.
U.S. Attorney: first term (1982–1990).
From January 1982 to March 1990, Russoniello served his first term as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California. He personally prosecuted Larry Layton of the Peoples Temple for his part in the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan in Jonestown, Guyana, and tried several other high profile criminal and civil cases.
His office prosecuted the Hitachi and Mitsubishi corporations for their theft of IBM secrets; Jerry Whitworth and James D. Harper Jr. in separate espionage cases; and dozens of white collar crime cases involving financial institution fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, public corruption, defense procurement fraud, other government contract fraud, export control violations, copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting.
Until his resignation, he was a member of the United States Attorney General's Advisory Committee, served as chairman of its White Collar Crime Subcommittee and was a member of the Economic Crime Council of the Department of Justice.
Private practice and dean: (1990–2007).
Before returning to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Russoniello was Senior Counsel and resident in the San Francisco office of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP where he was a member of the Litigation department and the practice group for Business Crimes & Regulatory Defense. Russoniello also served as Dean of the San Francisco Law School for five and a half years until his resignation in July 2007.
U.S. Attorney: second term (2008–2010).
In 2008, Russoniello was nominated again to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (which encompasses the 15 counties from the Oregon-California border to Monterey, including the San Francisco Bay Area). Upon taking office, Russoniello indicated that his priorities during his second term would include national security, helping to get guns off the street and prosecuting Internet child pornography distribution. He is also overseeing his office's prosecution of Barry Bonds, former San Francisco Giants outfielder and all-time Major League Baseball home run king, on perjury charges, as well as Ed Jew, former Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on extortion and bribery charges.
Russoniello was succeeded in August 2010 by Melinda Haag.
Other affiliations.
Russoniello is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the Edward McFetridge Inn of the American Inns of Court, the American Board of Trial Lawyers, the American Law Institute and numerous civic and legal organizations.
Russoniello was, until his recent appointment as United States Attorney, a member of the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).


Severn Railway Bridge

The Severn Railway Bridge (historically called the Severn Bridge) was a bridge carrying the railway across the River Severn between Sharpness and Lydney in Gloucestershire, England. It was built in the 1870s by the Severn Bridge Railway Company, primarily to carry coal from the Forest of Dean to the docks at Sharpness; it was the furthest-downstream bridge over the Severn until the opening of the Severn road bridge in 1966. When the company got into financial difficulties in 1893, it was taken over jointly by the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway companies. The bridge continued to be used for freight and passenger services until 1960, and saw temporary extra traffic on the occasions that the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering work.
The bridge was constructed by Hamilston's Windsor Ironworks Company Limited of Garston, Liverpool. It was approached from the north via a masonry viaduct and had twenty-two spans. The pier columns were formed of circular sections, bolted together and filled with concrete. The twenty-one regular wrought iron spans were then put in place, as well as the southernmost span, the swinging bridge over the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. The bridge was long and above high water. of iron were used in its construction.
A number of accidents took place at the bridge over the years, with vessels colliding with the piers due to the strong tides. In 1960 two river barges hit one of the piers on the bridge, causing two spans to collapse into the river. Repair work was under consideration when a similar collision occurred the following year, after which it was decided that it would be uneconomical to repair the bridge. It was demolished between 1967 and 1970, with few traces remaining.
Construction.
For more than fifty years before the Severn Railway Bridge was opened, there had been discussion and various proposals for rail routes to cross the Severn downstream of Gloucester, either by a bridge or a tunnel, but most of these did not leave the drawing board. The exception was a tunnel near Newnham on Severn in 1810; this had been excavated partway under the river when water broke in, and the tunnellers were lucky to escape with their lives. The damage was irreparable and the project abandoned. In 1845, an ambitious project by Isambard Kingdom Brunel was to bridge the Severn near Awre for his projected South Wales Railway, bypassing Gloucester completely. This plan got as far as receiving the approval of Parliament but did not proceed. Other schemes were mooted and in 1871, six different schemes were under consideration. Finally the Severn Bridge Railway's scheme was approved by Parliament and received Royal Assent on 18 July 1872.
The Severn Railway Bridge was built by the Severn Bridge Railway Company to transport coal from the Forest of Dean on the Severn and Wye Railway. At the time it was expected that the amount of coal freighted would increase year by year and the existence of a bridge would remove the necessity for the coal to be shipped via Gloucester. Work began in 1875 and was completed in 1879; the wrought iron bridge, which was long and above high water, had twenty-two spans and had stone abutments made from local limestone. The first span across the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, which ran parallel to the Severn at this point, operated as a swing bridge. The twenty-one fixed spans, in order of erection from the southeast (Sharpness) side, consisted of thirteen of length , five of length , two of length , and a single span of length . The bridge incorporated of iron. It was approached from the south-east by a two-arch masonry viaduct on the canal embankment leading to the swing bridge, and on the northwest by a 12-arch viaduct about high.
The river, with its large tidal range (the Severn bore) and strong currents, made construction difficult. The pier columns were formed of cylindrical sections, about in diameter. Near the west bank, the bedrock was a long way below the shifting sands so much work had to prepare firm foundations. Staging was used through which the sections were lowered by chains, and when in place, filled with concrete. Near the east bank, a primitive piling machine was used to drive the sections through a ridge of clay. The staging was extended upwards for use while assembling the spans.
The spans were assembled on site. Staging was laid and rails put in place to carry a travelling crane. The long beams were hoisted in place first, followed by the vertical bracings, and then the outer and inner plates of the top chordal trusses and the diagonals. The whole structure was bolted together at first, and later riveted by blacksmiths using hand-operated forges. Some individual spans were completed within a week, with contractors being complimented on the efficiency of their work.
The main contractor was Hamilston's Windsor Ironworks Company Limited of Garston, Liverpool. They were tasked with the founding and erection of the pier cylinders on the riverbed, and the erection and riveting of the twenty-one bowstring spans and the swing bridge over the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. They were also responsible for another swing bridge on the North Docks Branch of the line close to the New Docks at Sharpness. The company manufactured the castings and the wrought-iron structures for the bridge. Project manager George Earle was later given a watch praising his ability and enthusiasm for carrying out the project. The engineers for the project were George Wells Owen and George William Keeling.
History.
The bridge carried a single-track railway line. When it came into service, it took approximately off the journey from Bristol to Cardiff, with trains no longer having to pass through Gloucester. The bridge predated the construction of the Severn Tunnel, around downstream, by seven years. The opening ceremony for the bridge took place on 17 October 1879; nearly 400 dignitaries travelled in twenty-three first class carriages across the bridge and back again, with fog detonators exploding on each of the spans during the return trip. A banquet followed at the Pleasure Grounds near Sharpness station.
During construction, it was anticipated that the Severn Bridge Railway would mainly receive its revenue from carrying coal from the Forest of Dean. However, the company ran into financial difficulties as coal was not carried in the volumes that had been anticipated, nor had tourist travel risen to the expected levels. Miners in the Forest of Dean went on strike about low pay and poor conditions and the coal trade there continued to be depressed. The opening of the Severn Tunnel, providing an alternative route from England into South Wales, was a serious blow to the bridge. By 1890, the company was unable to pay the interest on its debentures and faced bankruptcy. As a result, it was taken over jointly by the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway in 1893, becoming the Severn and Wye Joint Railway.
Several fatalities occurred during the construction of the bridge. A baulk of timber fell on one man when a rope slipped, and another died when he fell from the part-completed structure, injuring himself on the staging as he fell. Only a few days after the bridge's opening, a rowing boat trying to pass underneath was caught in a giant eddy and capsized, one occupant being drowned. Over the succeeding years a number of accidents happened at the bridge involving larger vessels. The trow "Brothers" was lost after a collision with one of the piers in 1879, and the "Victoria", employed in the bridge's construction, was wrecked in the 1880s. In 1938, a tug and two barges got into difficulties and were carried along broadside by the tide into the bridge; a connecting hawser snagged one of the piers and the vessels capsized, with several fatalities.
In 1943, a flight of three Spitfire fighter aircraft was being delivered by ATA pilots, including one woman, Ann Wood, from their factory in Castle Bromwich to Whitchurch, Bristol. As it was low tide, the lead pilot Johnnie Jordan flew under the bridge. Some time later, Ann Wood repeated this underflying – without realising that this time it was high tide and there was less headroom but she just squeezed through. These were not the only instances of pilots buzzing the bridge, and on one occasion a Vickers Wellington bomber, a much larger aircraft, was seen to fly under it. The practice became so common that RAF police were called in and tasked with the recording of serial numbers of offending aircraft. After a few courts-martial the incidents ceased.
Railway operation.
Until the Severn Road Bridge was opened in 1966, the Severn Railway Bridge was often referred to simply as the Severn Bridge. There was a small station known as on the Lydney side, adjacent to the Gloucester to Newport Line, which the Severn Bridge Line crossed over. The bridge was used as a diversionary route for passenger services when the Severn Tunnel was closed for engineering work. The south-to-north chord at Berkeley Loop South Junction used for this route was closed when the bridge was abandoned. The remaining line from Berkeley Rd Junction to Sharpness Docks remains and on the north side of the Severn estuary, the line from the former Otters Pool Junction at Lydney to the Severn Bridge has long been lifted but a short section of the track exists as part of the Forest of Dean Railway network.
While the bridge provided a considerably shorter railway route from London to South Wales, its use was limited in that the route was single track, and also because the bridge was only strong enough to carry locomotives up to a 2-6-0. By the early 1960s traffic was restricted to trains serving Lydney, both passenger trains to Berkeley Road and freight to Stoke Gifford, with GWR 1600 Class locomotives typically heading the trains.
There were plans by British Railways to improve the bridge in order to provide additional capacity for diverted main line trains.
1960 accident.
On 25 October 1960, in thick fog and a strong tide, two barges (named the "Arkendale H" and "Wastdale H") which had overshot Sharpness Dock, collided with one of the columns of the bridge after being carried upstream. Two bridge spans collapsed into the river. As they fell, parts of the structure hit the barges causing the fuel oil and petroleum they were carrying to catch fire. Five people died in the incident.
During the collapse of the bridge the diameter gas main that ran alongside the railway line was damaged leaving households across the Forest of Dean without mains gas. Locals who were around at the time talk of people from the gas company banging on the doors early in the morning and being told not to use their gas, and of having to be supplied with bottled gas for weeks and months until the mains could be restored. Gas engineers from across the UK were brought in to help with visiting every house affected before the household could use the mains gas again.
Local people favoured repairing the bridge as it was an important community link, in particular used by children of Sharpness to travel by train to their school at Lydney on the opposite side; they now had to be taken on a detour via Gloucester. An underwater survey in December 1961 found extensive damage to Pier 16. Rebuilding costs were estimated to be £312,000 (£ million in ) as against dismantling costs of £250,000 (£ million in ). The Western Region of British Railways planned to go ahead with reconstruction but shortly before the work was due to start, a capsized tanker caused further damage to Pier 20, and this same pier was struck again when the contractor's crane broke adrift. These accidents added a further £20,000 to the estimated costs of repair, and in 1965, BR decided that the bridge was damaged beyond economic repair and opted for demolition.
Demolition.
Demolition began in August 1967. The contract was awarded to Nordman Construction after an unsuccessful tender process. The company brought in the "Magnus II", a floating crane with a lifting capacity of , which could remove all but two of the spans. These longer spans were pulled sideways off the piers, expecting that they would break into manageable pieces under their own weight. They proved stronger than this and remained intact, needing to be broken up in the river, with much sinking into the bed instead of being recovered.
In May 1968, another firm, Swinnerton & Miller, completed the main demolition work with the help of explosives, but clearing of the debris took another two years.
Evidence of several of the piers remains. The most significant is a large circular tower, sited between the canal and river. This had formed the base of the swinging section and housed the steam engine to power it. A large stone arch also remains on the landward side of the canal, the original abutment to the swinging section. Some piers reduced to their stone foundations and the wrecks of the petrol barges that caused the original damage are visible at low tide. The river at this point has always been hazardous to shipping because of the strong tidal currents, which caused the 1960 collision.
During the demolition, the support vessel "Severn King", an old Aust Ferry boat that had become surplus after the new Severn road bridge replaced the ferry in 1966, broke its mooring in the tide, grounded on the remains of the bridge and flooded.
A wooden motor barge, the "Halfren" of 1913, was also used in the demolition work, for collecting small pieces of wreckage. Worn out by this work and the frequent groundings, it was abandoned on the shore at Aust.


Thomas Chaloner (character)


Maru Sira

Dedduwa Jayathungalage "D.J." Siripala (Sinhala: දෙද්දුවා ජයතුංගලාගේ සිරිපාල; 1949 – August 7, 1975), also known by the pseudonym Maru Sira("Maru: deadly, Sira": Short form of Siripala), was a Sri Lanka young criminal and bandit active from the late 1960s until the mid 1970s. He was in death row following a conviction for a serial murder. His controversial execution (hanging) led to many debates by creating the popular question "kill by hanging or hang after killing". Siripala achieved fame through several prison escapes while his romance with Ranmanika made his story memorable
Early life.
Siripala was born to a native Sinhala-Buddhist family in Sri Lanka. D.J. David Appuhamai and L. Punchi Nona had seven children, five sons, and two daughters. D.J Siripala was the sixth child born in 1949, ("exact month and day of his birthday are unkonwn"). They lived in Milla Gaha Watta, Liyangoda, Pannipitiya in Colombo District. Liyanagoda was a rural village in the late 1940s, he grew up in a strongly religious family culture. Being a youngster in an extended family Siripala received care from his brothers and sisters, especially his eldest brother took care of his young brothers and sisters as their father worked away from home. Siripala's father was an attendant in a home for the elderly in Anuradhapura district. Siripala started schooling at Vidyadana Vidyalaya (a small school in his village).
Debut as a criminal.
Siripala started his life in Anurdapura Town as a teenage gangster as he lost his family's care. In the late 1950s, Siripala initially made his living as a manual laborer in the Anuradhapura town area.In the mid-1960s, he has become a member of a gang in Anuradhapura. The gang was known for juvenile crimes such as looting, pickpocketing and drinking illicit liquor.
Family life.
Siripala met Ranmanika in the early 1970s. Ranmanika was a widow with seven children, her husband had died of a snake bite. Ranmanika decided to sell illicit liquor to make her living.
Siripala's frequent visits to her liquor cache made an intimacy between them which later turned into a love. Ranmainka (born 1944) was four years older than Siripala. Though they never married, they had a strong relationship as husband and wife. Ranmenika gave birth to Siripala's daughter in 1975. He never knew that Ranmanika was pregnant with his daughter, by the time he had been convicted for a murder and was in the death row. He escaped the prison for the third time to see his daughter who was three days old.
Death.
Siripala made his third prison escape successfully three days after his daughter's birth in 1975. His trial was taken up "in absentia" for murdering a man in March 1974. After the trial, the court prescribed the death penalty. He escaped from prison, but soon afterward prison authorities captured him in a hideout, but he had already visited his newly born daughter. Following his conviction, prison authorities placed him on death row. Siripala was hanged on August 5, 1975, at Bogambara Prison in Kandy.
Controversy over Siripala's death.
On the night before the execution (August 4, 1975), the prison authorities gave Siripala a strong dose of sedatives (Largactil) to prevent another escape attempt and keep him calm. The sedatives caused Siripala to collapse into a state of unconsciousness and lifelessness from which he did not recover. Prison authorities were unable to formally prepare him for the execution. Hence, they carried him to the gallows on a stretcher and laid him on the trapdoor. The noose was then placed around his neck and the executioner ("hangman") opened the trapdoor. Due to the shortfall (2 ft. 2 in.) caused by his slumped position, Siripala died from slow strangulation. If he had been standing, he would have died instantly from a cervical fracture. During that prison process of Siripala's execution, Ranmanika who was waiting outside at the prison doors ran along the streets in Kandy city yelling "my husband was killed and hanged".
Aftermath.
News of Siripala's controversial death led to public outrage and controversy. The then president appointed a committee to look into the controversies created by Siripala's death on gallows. His death affected the debate on capital punishment in Sri Lanka.
Siripala's skull.
The Medical Faculty of Ruhuna University keeps Siripala's head as an exhibit. As family members of Siripala mentioned (as of 2021), medical authorities keep his head without the consent of the family members of Siripala. It is believed that his head was removed from his body during the exhumation for the autopsy and judicial-medical purposes following the Presidential Committee (in 1976?).
In popular culture.
"Siripala and Ranmenika" (සිරිපාල සහ රන්මැනිකා).
Was a popular Sinhala movie produced in 1978, following the story of Siripala and Ranmanica. It depicts the life events Siripala encounters in his short life.
"Living with the Killer (Marūwā smaga Wāsē") (මරුවා සමග වාසේ).
"Living with the Killer/one who makes the death (Marūwā)" is the motto Siripala had tattooed on his chest. Marūwā smaga Wāsē' was a popular Sinhala movie produced in 1978. It depicts Siripala's aggressive behavior in terms of his plights and reactions towards what he encounters in his life.
"Song".
Popular 1970s Sinhala Baila singer Anton Jones wrote and sang a song that questions the epic death of young Siripala. Song raises the question was he "killed by hanging or hanged after killing". In the present popular social culture this question is used as a slogan, quote in social expressions to insinuate injustice, illegality, or unfairness.
Marusira and Sira.
The terms "Maru Sira or Sira" have become popular expressions in the contemporary social media. Young generation use these terms to express their feelings or views. These terms are often used regarding social issues, crimes, and anger. The terms are used to communicate social disparity and annoyance. For instance, the term Maru Sira has over 234,000 (as of 2021) entries in the Google search engine. Media platforms such as Facebook have many personal profiles, pages, and groups named "Maru Sira or Sira".


Division Street Bridge (Spokane, Washington)

The Division Street Bridge is a road bridge located in Spokane, Washington that carries Division Street across the Spokane River just north of Downtown Spokane, roughly a half-mile east (upstream) of Spokane Falls. There have been multiple iterations of the bridge throughout its history. The current bridge is a concrete span and was built in 1992 and is officially known as the Senator Sam C. Guess Memorial Bridge.
The original bridge was a wooden truss structure built in 1882, which was replaced in 1892 by the steel bridge. The designer, Hugh L. Cooper from New York, designed the bridge to hold a dead load of 4800 pounds per linear foot, which he claimed was a weight far greater than any standard freight train at the time. The bridge was designed with two streetcar tracks, roadbed for horse and wagon (and, later, automobile) traffic, and pedestrian sidewalks.
History.
1888 span.
The first iteration of the Division Street Bridge was constructed in 1888 out of wood, allowing Division Street to be carried over the Spokane River for the first time.
1892 span.
A new bridge was constructed out of steel in 1892, replacing the wooden span. It was built by the San Francisco Bridge Company. During a flood in 1894, a railroad bridge upstream from downtown Spokane was washed out and collided with the steel span at Division Street. The beams that would later break in 1915 bore signs of significant damage and were repaired by re-welding.
1915 collapse.
At 6:11 am on Saturday, December 18, 1915, two Washington Water Power trolley cars were crossing the steel bridge, one headed north and the other south, when the repaired beams gave way. Approximately 150 feet of the bridge's northern section fell. The northbound streetcar had nearly reached the far side and its snow scrapers snagged on debris on the north side, preventing it from rolling back into the river. All four occupants escaped without major injury. Because of the early hour and freezing weather, there were no pedestrians or automobiles crossing the bridge at the time.
The southbound streetcar, heading for downtown with 17 passengers, was close to the middle of the span when it fell. The Spokane River is around 30 to 40 feet deep at that point, but the fallen bridge deck had lodged onto old pilings below the surface and thus kept the car from being completely submerged in the freezing water.
All the fatalities and injuries came from the southbound car. A steel girder had sliced through the top half of the car, killing several people outright, and then pinned several more people in the water underneath it. The other victims avoided drowning by clinging to the wreckage, although the entire affair quickly became coated with ice.
The Spokane Fire Department responded to the scene but was coming from the south end of Division Street and was unable to reach the survivors from that point. After a 30-minute detour across another bridge, the Fire Department was able to lower ladders into the water on the north side to rescue the survivors and recover the remains of the deceased.
The bridge designer, Hugh L. Cooper, happened to be in Spokane working on another project at the time of the collapse. After inspecting the bridge, he felt that the damage suffered from the 1894 collision was largely responsible for the failure of the structural members. Another engineer also examined the disaster and questioned the quality of the steel that was used in its construction.
There were a total of five fatalities and 12 injuries as a result of the collapse. A wooden span was quickly constructed to replace the bridge until a more permanent replacement bridge could be constructed out of concrete.
1917 replacement.
The replacement span was a three-vault concrete bridge. It remained until 1992 when it got replaced by the fourth iteration of the bridge due to age and need to accommodate a higher amount of traffic
Current span (1992 replacement).
The current-day Division Street Bridge was opened in 1992 and is officially known as the Senator Sam C. Guess Memorial Bridge. The concrete bridge features six lanes of travel lanes, three in each direction, as well as a separated sidewalk on each side. The bridge also provides two access points to the Spokane River Centennial Trail that runs beneath the bridge, parallel to the Spokane River.


Kirkland Correctional Institution

Kirkland Correctional Institution is a state prison for men located in Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina, owned and operated by the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Kirkland has a special role in South Carolina's prison system as the point of intake and assessment for all male state prisoners, the site of the state's Maximum Security Unit, and a health care facility. The prison was first opened in 1975, and houses a maximum of 1707 inmates, plus another 50 in the Max unit and 24 in the infirmary. In September 2017, death row inmates were moved to Kirkland Correctional Institution.
The state's Broad River Correctional Institution is adjacent to the north.


Bobby Singh (cinematographer)

Bobby Singh (1974 - 25 December 2012) was a noted Indian cinematographer who worked in Bollywood, most known for films like "Gangster" (2006), "Life in a Metro" (2007), "The Dirty Picture" (2011) and "Queen" (2014). He died following an asthma attack in Goa on 25 December 2012 at the age of 38.
Career.
Singh started his career in 1999, as an assistant cameraman in "Shehzaade" directed by Raj N. Sippy, was assistant cameramen in "Sarfarosh" (1999) and later also did additional photography for "Ghajini" (2008) directed by A. R. Murugadoss. Eventually, he made his debut as an independent cinematographer with crime thriller "Gangster" (2006) directed by Anurag Basu, and starring Shiney Ahuja, Emraan Hashmi and debutant Kangna Ranaut. He worked again with Basu in acclaimed "Life in a Metro" (2007). His next big film was Milan Luthria's National Film Award-winning biopic "The Dirty Picture" (2011) starring Vidya Balan.
He died suddenly following an asthma attack on 25 December 2012, at the age of 38. At the time, he was on a holiday in Goa, with wife and son. At the time of his death he had completed the shooting of "Special Chabbis", which was released posthumously in February 2013. He had shot 90 percent of Kangana Ranaut starrer "Queen" directed by Vikas Bahl, which was eventually released in 2014.
Personal life.
He is survived by his wife Radhika and son Sumer living in Mumbai, while his parents live in Ahmedabad. One of his family dogs died after bobby's death.


John Linley Frazier

John Linley Frazier (January 26, 1946 – August 13, 2009), also known as the The Killer Prophet, was an American mass murderer who killed five people in Santa Cruz County, California, the first of three men who would go on killing sprees in Santa Cruz County in the 1970s, the others being Herbert Mullin and Edmund Kemper.
Biography.
John Linley Frazier was born in Ohio on January 26, 1946. Following a car accident in the late 1960s, he had become a religious fanatic who obsessively studied the Bible. He believed the voice of God was telling him to commit homicides in order to prevent the environment from being destroyed by rich men like Victor Ohta. God, Frazier told friends, had chosen him to save the environment.
Murders.
Background.
The murders took place a little over a year after the Tate–LaBianca murders by Manson Family members in Los Angeles as well as the Zodiac Killer murders in San Francisco.
Frazier had convinced himself that he was the John referred to in the New Testament’s Book of Revelations, and efforts by his wife and mother to get Frazier to seek therapy were unsuccessful. A week before the murders, he told his wife that "some materialists might have to die" for him to fulfill his destiny.
Perhaps his most extravagant belonging was his home, in the oceanfront resort area of Soquel, a few miles south of Santa Cruz. Perched atop a hilltop overlooking Monterey Bay, the mansion had been designed by a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Day of the murders.
On October 19, 1970, Frazier entered the home of wealthy ophthalmologist Victor Ohta and murdered Ohta, his wife, their two sons, and Ohta's medical secretary. He shot the five of them with a .38 caliber revolver and pushed their bodies in the home's swimming pool.
After the killings, Frazier typed a note on a typewriter owned by Ohta, which he left on the window of Ohta's Rolls Royce. The note read:
Halloween, 1970. Today World War III will begin, as bought to you by the People of the Free Universe. From this day forward, anyone and/or everyone or company of persons who misuses the natural environment or destroys same will suffer the penalty of death by the People of the Free Universe. I and my comrades from this day forth will fight until death or freedom against anyone who does not support natural life on this planet. Materialism must die, or Mankind will stop.
KNIGHT OF WANDS
KNIGHT OF CUPS
KNIGHT OF PENTACLES
KNIGHT OF SWORDS
He set fire to the home and blocked the roads to the property with the doctor’s car and the secretary’s car. Frazier fled in Virginia Ohta’s station wagon, which he later abandoned and burned in a railroad tunnel.
Arrest.
Neighbors informed police that they had seen Frazier patrolling Soquel, California, armed with a gun. The firearm, a .38 caliber revolver, was believed to have been used in the slayings. There were also reports of Frazier being seen driving the Ohtas' missing station wagon.
Two sheriff's deputies, Bradley Arbsland and Rodney Sanford, went into the woods and found the cabin reported to be where Frazier lived. Upon entering the cabin they found it to be empty but noticed signs of recent activity. The two deputies staked out the vicinity of the cabin for 20 hours, hiding in some nearby brush. The next morning, October 23, at 7:30 A.M., the two deputies captured Frazier while he slept. He was captured four days after murdering the Ohta family.
Trial and aftermath.
The jury found Frazier to be legally sane, and he was tried and convicted of five counts of murder.
On the trial's first day, Frazier appeared in court with a new look representing the two sides of a hippie. One side had long hair and a long beard and the other side was totally bald with no beard, hair or eyebrow. He later shaved his head completely on advice from his attorney. Frazier was sentenced to death on November 29, 1971. However, in 1972 the death penalty was abolished in California and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
The Ohta family's two daughters, 18-year-old Tara and 15-year-old Lark, were away at boarding school during the murders. However, Tara died by suicide seven years afterwards.
Death.
On August 13, 2009, Frazier hanged himself in Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.


Shooting of Stephen Waldorf

Stephen Waldorf was a 26-year-old film editor who was shot and severely injured by Metropolitan Police officers in London, England, on 14 January 1983, when he was misidentified as escaped prisoner David Martin.
Background.
On 5 August 1982, David Martin was caught while breaking into a private cinema in Portman Close, in London's West End; he was disguised as a security guard but he escaped by shooting his way out, severely wounding a police officer. A month later he was arrested at his last known home address in Crawford Place off Edgware Road while disguised as a woman, but during a struggle drew two handguns before being shot in the neck by an armed police officer. On 24 December 1982 he escaped from a cell at Marlborough Street Magistrates' Court and went into hiding. The police were convinced that a Susan Stephens, whom Martin had met before his arrest, and who had visited him in prison, was his girlfriend, so she was kept under surveillance. Police suspicions were reinforced when Martin telephoned Stephens several times and they met to go to the cinema, then later for a meal, in the following weeks.
The shooting.
On the evening of 14 January 1983, police officers in unmarked cars were following a hired Mini in which Stephens was sitting on the back seat, occasionally looking out of the rear window. The driver was Lester Purdey and the front-seat passenger was freelance film editor Stephen Waldorf, whom the police thought was Martin. When the Mini came to a stop because of rush hour traffic congestion in Pembroke Road, Earls Court, a detective was sent forward to confirm the identity of the front-seat passenger. The only one who knew Martin was Detective Constable Peter Finch, who had been one of the arresting officers when he was detained the previous September, so he approached the car along the pavement on foot with his revolver already drawn. Finch later said that at this point the driver glanced at him through the window, then said something to the passenger, who turned and reached toward the rear seat.
Finch opened fire, shooting twice at the passenger-side rear wheel of the Mini, then four times at Waldorf himself. Detective Constable John Jardine then ran up to the back of the Mini, and fired five shots at Waldorf through the rear window. During the shooting, Purdey jumped out of the car to escape, and Waldorf attempted to follow him, even though he had already been hit several times, and ended up slumped across the driver's seat. Detective Constable John Jardine then fired twice at Waldorf through the open driver's door. Finch, meanwhile, had made his way round to the driver's side, where he leant into the car, aimed his revolver between Waldorf's eyes and said, "OK, cocksucker," before pulling the trigger, but the gun did not fire. Finding that he had already used all his ammunition, Finch then pistol whipped Waldorf until he lost consciousness.
Hit five times and severely wounded in his head, abdomen and liver, the handcuffed and unconscious Waldorf was then hauled by his arms onto the pavement. Stephens, screaming and protesting, was also dragged from the vehicle. Stephens was taken to hospital and treated for injury.
Aftermath.
David Martin was rearrested shortly after the shooting. Sue Stephens had continued to be kept under police surveillance and attended a restaurant in Heath Street, Hampstead, north-West London, where she met up with Martin, who had dyed his distinctive blond hair dark. He was challenged by police and ran into Hampstead tube station, ran down the stairs of London's deepest tube station, south along the northbound track where eventually he was arrested at Belsize Park station without incident. He had a shotgun hidden inside his coat, and told the driver of a northbound Northern line train that he was a signal engineer. He was found guilty at Old Bailey of the attempted murder of PC Nicholas Carr and was sentenced to life in prison. He hanged himself in prison in 1984.
Detectives Jardine and Finch stood trial for attempted murder and attempted wounding of Waldorf, but were acquitted of all charges in October 1983 after the judge, Mr Justice Croom-Johnson, directed the jury. Waldorf eventually made a full recovery and was paid £150,000 compensation by the Metropolitan Police. Susan Stephens was also awarded £10,000 for malicious wounding.
"Open Fire", a TV drama about David Martin and the shooting of Stephen Waldorf, was made by London Weekend Television and shown on the ITV network on 12 November 1994.


Timeline of the Insurgency in Northeast India

This is a timeline of the Insurgency in Northeast India, an ongoing armed conflict between the separatist rebels and the Indian government.
Timeline of the conflict.
2010s.
2014.
November 2014


Hal Ledyard

Harold "Hal" Ledyard (July 7, 1931 – April 21, 1973) was a professional gridiron football player in the National Football League and Canadian Football League.
After backing up future Pro Football Hall of Famer Y. A. Tittle in 1953, Ledyard joined the United States Army, where he played quarterback for the Fort Jackson base football team in 1955. Ledyard joined the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1956 and spent three seasons as the team's starting quarterback before being replaced by Frank Tripucka before the 1959 season. Ledyard signed with the Toronto Argonauts in 1959, but was waived before the season began.
After not being signed during the 1960 football season, Ledyard returned to the CFL in 1961 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, splitting playing time with Dick Thornton and future Canadian Football Hall of Famer Ken Ploen. During his time in Winnipeg, Ledyard was known as "The best relief pitcher in football" due to his success relieving Ploen. He was a part of the Blue Bomber teams that won the 49th and 50th Grey Cups.
Hal Ledyard is the father of retired professional hockey player Grant Ledyard.
Ledyard died April 21, 1973 in a drowning accident at Big Sur.


Vlado Taneski

Vlado Taneski (; 1952 – June 23, 2008) was a Macedonian serial killer. A career journalist for over twenty years, Taneski was arrested in June 2008 in his hometown of Kičevo for the murders of two women on whose deaths he had also written freelance articles; when arrested he was also being investigated over the death of an additional woman. These articles had aroused the suspicion of the police, since they contained information which had not been released to the public. After DNA tests connected Taneski to the murders, he was arrested and imprisoned on 22 June 2008 and was found dead in his cell the following day, after an apparent suicide.
Personal life.
Vlado Taneski was born in 1952 in Kičevo, SFR Yugoslavia, the second of three children. His parents were both conservative disciplinarians and he had a particularly tense relationship with his mother. His father was a World War II veteran. After studying journalism in Croatia, Taneski began an interest in poetry and writing. At age 21 he met his future wife, a law student named Vesna, with whom he had two children.
Taneski worked at a radio station, while Vesna went on to become the city's first female lawyer. Taneski's journalistic career spanned over 20 years, and by the 1980s he worked as a reporter for Skopje-based newspapers "Nova Makedonija" and "Utrinski Vesnik". In 2002, his father committed suicide, and, a few months later, his mother accidentally overdosed on medicine. In 2003, exacerbating the financial problems he was facing, Taneski was laid off from the newspaper, and in 2004, his wife received a promotion and moved to Skopje.
Murders.
Taneski's victims were:
All these women were poor, uneducated cleaners, which was also how Taneski's mother had earned a living. The victims had known Taneski's mother personally, which may have been the reason for their selection as victims.
Investigation and suicide.
Taneski came under suspicion for murder after having written articles about the three murders, and was questioned on several occasions. According to police, Taneski's articles contained information which had not been released to the public. For example, differing from all other reports published in the Macedonian press on the murders, Taneski knew that the killer used a telephone cord to bind Temelkoska and that the same cord was left at the scene by the murderer.
Taneski was arrested on June 20, 2008 after his DNA was matched to semen found on the victims. Examination of the Taneski family's rural cottage uncovered a cache of pornographic material, ropes and cords matching those used to tie the victims, and items belonging to the victims. Taneski was charged with the murder of two of the women, and the police were preparing to charge him with the murder of the third. Details of the case were printed on June 21, and police were also planning to question Taneski on the May 30, 2003, disappearance of the 73-year-old retired cleaner, Gorica Pavleska. After being transferred to Tetovo, Taneski was found dead in his shared prison cell on June 23. He had apparently drowned in a plastic bucket of water. An inquest concluded that, in the absence of other evidence, his death was suicide.


Gerhard Jynge

Gerhard Vilhelm Jynge (1877 – February 21, 1945) was a Norwegian newspaper editor.
He became the editor of "Oplandenes Avis" in 1908 and the sub-editor of "Verdens Gang" in 1911, served as the first editor of "Haugesunds Dagblad" from June 8, 1912 to December 1913, became the editor of "Dagsposten" in Trondheim in 1914, and was the editor of "Aalesunds Avis" from 1917 to 1921. He became an appellate judge pro tem in Bergen in 1921, and a regular judge in 1928. He died on February 21, 1945, when the steamship "Austri" was sunk by British aircraft in Bømla Fjord.


Fred Rivara

Fred Rivara (born May 17, 1949) is a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington at Seattle Children's Hospital known for his research into the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence in the 1990s. Rivara has also researched bicycle helmets, intimate partner violence, and alcohol abuse, among other topics.
Education.
Rivara earned his doctor of medicine in 1974 from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1980, he completed a master's in public health at the University of Washington.
Career.
Rivara's career spans 30 years. His research has covered topics such as alcohol abuse and domestic violence, and he has been a vocal advocate for the use of bicycle helmets to reduce injury. Rivara says that his work has helped to drastically reduce the number of children who are injured while riding bikes. He founded the Harborview Injury and Research Center in Seattle and the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention. At the University of Washington, Rivara is vice chair of the Department of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and. Rivara is also editor-in-chief of the journal "JAMA Pediatrics".
Gun violence research.
In the 1990s, Rivara received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research the relationship between gun ownership and gun violence. His research found that the chances of homicide or suicide increase threefold when there is a gun present in a home, while the risk of suicide for teens increases as much as tenfold. Rivara and his colleagues published their research in the "New England Journal of Medicine" in 1993 in a series of articles on their findings.
“[Our research] underwent peer review and was thought to be very solid and worthwhile research,” Rivara told PRI program The Takeaway in a 2015 interview. “The CDC stood by our research—they had funded it and they stood by it. Unfortunately, it raised the attention of the National Rifle Association, who then worked with pro-gun members of Congress to essentially stop funding firearm research.”
The NRA then lobbied Congress, saying that since guns aren't a disease, CDC funds should not be allocated to them. A bill passed that prevented the CDC from setting aside funds for gun research.
Awards.
Some awards Rivara has received include:


Andargachew Tsege

Andargachew Tsege (Ge'ez: አንዳርጋቸው ጽጌ; born 9 February 1955), also known as Andy Tsige or Andy Tsege, is a prominent Ethiopian politician who is the current CEO of ESAT, an influential a nonprofit and independent media outlet in Ethiopia. He previously served as the secretary-general of Ginbot 7, a political party that was labeled as a terrorist group by the Ethiopian government until 2018. On 23 June 2014, he was abducted by Ethiopian security forces while in transit in Yemen's Sana'a International Airport and was held in an unknown location in Ethiopia. On 29 May 2018, Andargachew was freed by the Ethiopian government following political reform by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed .
Early life.
Andargachew was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He attended Teferi Mekonnen School and later as a Mechanical Engineering student at Addis Ababa University. While attending Addis Ababa University Tsege became very active in the student movement. Following the Ethiopian revolution of 1974 when a military dictatorship, Derg, seized power he drop out of Addis Ababa University joined the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and went underground, like most of the Ethiopian youth, in their struggle against the Marxist regime.
During the Derg’s Red Terror campaign of 1974, his younger brother Ameha Tsege was murdered by the security forces and Andargachew fled Ethiopia. Later, due to an ideological difference in the EPRP party, Tsege crossed into Sudan. In 1979 he was granted asylum in the United Kingdom (UK), where he later gained citizenship. In the UK he studied Philosophy at University of Greenwich in the early 1980s and wrote his dissertation on the German philosopher Immanuel Kant.
Return to Ethiopia.
When Derg was overthrown in 1991, Tsege went back to Ethiopia to help the newly formed Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government led by his former university friend Meles Zenawi. Within two years, he was disillusioned with the ethnicity-oriented politics advocated by EPRDF and left the government. He moved back to London and started writing articles that were critical of the regime and its divisive politics.
The 2005 general election.
In 2005, Tsige returned to Ethiopia and published a book in Amharic which loosely translates to "Freedom fighter who does not know freedom", an analysis of the state of Ethiopian politics at the time. Soon, with an invitation from then deputy leader of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party Berhanu Nega, he joined the party and helped the party in the ill-fated election of May 2005.
In June 2005, Tsige was imprisoned during the crackdown by the Ethiopian government after the election. After his release, he returned to London, where he was able to campaign against the regime by testifying at different government or international organisations including the US congress and European Commission of Human Rights as well as think tanks such as Chatham House. He became the principal spokesperson for the CUD party in exile and was instrumental in mobilizing the global Ethiopian diaspora for a worldwide campaign to secure the release of the CUD leaders and all prisoners of conscience.
Post 2005 general election.
In May 2008, he founded Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy with Berhanu Nega, one of the exiled leaders of CUD. He was elected as Secretary General of Ginbot 7.
On 22 December 2009, an Ethiopian court sentenced Tsige to death, in absentia, while 33 others were sentenced to life in prison along with four others who were also sentenced in absentia.
On 7 November 2013, Ginbot 7 claimed it foiled an assassination plot that targeted Tsige, secretary of Ginbot 7, as well as commanders and high-ranking officers of Ginbot 7 Popular Force.
On 23 June 2014, he was once again imprisoned by the Ethiopian regime. He was arrested by Yemeni security forces, in collaboration with Ethiopian intelligence service members, at Yemen's Sana'a International Airport while in transit from the United Arab Emirates to Eritrea. He was detained in an unknown location and no official statement was forthcoming from either the Yemeni or Ethiopian governments.
In February 2015, an early day motion was tabled within the UK parliament, recognising Tsige's 60th birthday, and calling for pressure to be applied to the Ethiopian government, in order to secure his release. In October 2016 Tsige's family wrote to ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair to use his "advisory role with the Ethiopian government" to call for Tsige's release. Blair's Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative had an embedded team of advisors in Ethiopia.
In October 2017, it was reported that both the president of the Law Society and the chair of the Bar Council had urged the UK's Foreign Secretary to work to secure Tsege's release.
2018 Reform and Release from Prison.
Following the ascent of Abiy Ahmed to the premiership which results an opening of the political scene, on 29 May 2018, Andargachew was released from prison, resulting in celebrations in the city of Addis Ababa. On May 2019 Andargachew announce his retirement from party politics following the merge of Ginbot 7 in the new party Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice but he continues as an advisor for Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice party. Later on July 2019 Andargachew published his second book "Tiwlid AyeDenager Egnam EniNager" Volume 1.
In January 2020 it was announced that Andargachew becomes the CEO of one of the prominent private television in Ethiopia ESAT. Later in November 2020 he published his third book "Yetafaghu mastawesha" which is a story that narrators his abduction from Yemen airport to his experience as prominent political prisoner for four years in unknown location in Addis Ababa.
Personal life.
Andargachew is married to Yemserach Hailemariam (Yemi). They have three children together (Hilawit, Menabe and Yilak). His family live in London. In 2015 Hilawit was awarded the Christine Jackson Young Person Award by the charity Liberty in recognition of her ongoing battle for the release of her father. Andargachew is a fan of Arsenal FC.


Capital punishment in the District of Columbia

Capital punishment is abolished in the federal District of Columbia. However, a number of executions were carried out under the District's jurisdiction before abolition. These executions should be distinguished from cases such as the 1942 execution of the six Nazi saboteurs which took place in the District, but under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government.
History.
Before 1973, the District of Columbia was exclusively governed by the United States Congress, which included establishing all local laws. Until 1962, D.C. was the last jurisdiction in the United States with mandatory death sentences for first-degree murder (the last state with mandatory death sentences for first degree murder was Vermont). Mandatory death sentences were abolished by the HR5143 (PL87-423), signed into law by President John F. Kennedy on March 22, 1962. Rape was also a capital offense.
The D.C. capital punishment law was nullified by the United States Supreme Court decision in "Furman v. Georgia" in 1972 and formally repealed by the D.C. Council in 1981. In the 1992 Congress-ordered referendum, District residents voted against reinstating the death penalty (the District is a liberal stronghold which usually give at least 85% of its votes to the Democratic candidate in presidential elections). In 1997, Mayor Marion Barry proposed a bill allowing capital punishment for the murder of public safety employees, which was rejected by the Council's Judiciary Committee.
The first recorded execution in District of Columbia, was the hanging of James McGirk in 1802. Hanging was the method of execution used in the District until 1928, when it was replaced by the electric chair. The last execution under the authority of the District took place in 1957, when Robert Carter was put to death.
The President of the United States has sole pardoning power in the District.


McWilliams v. Dunn

McWilliams v. Dunn, 582 U.S. __ (2017), is a United States Supreme Court ruling that clarified "Ake v. Oklahoma" in relation to the case of convicted murderer, rapist and robber James E. McWilliams.
The Court ruled 5-4 in favour of Williams on the grounds of the defendant not having access to an independent mental health expert during his trial with the lower appellate court not considering this in the previous appeal, as written in the opinion authored by Justice Breyer.


Chris Freeman (Australian musician)

Christopher James Freeman (c. 1950 – 1992) was an Australian multi-instrumentalist and teacher who specialised in six-string and 12-string guitar for classical and flamenco music.
Life and career.
Freeman was taught ukulele by his father when aged seven and learned guitar from the age of eight. He began working on multi-tracking from the age of 16.
Freeman attended Geelong Grammar School in 1966, starting at Timbertop and was in C Unit. Hes formed the "Dementers" a three member guitar vocal group with Dale Hollands and Jonathan Gibson. The trio sang occasionally in the Timbertop chapel. Prince Charles attended Timbertop in this year and heard the trio. He owned a placid blue Fender electric guitar at this time and displayed a solid rhythm in performing songs like the Trogg's hit "Wild Thing". He was a capable student, joining to the higher maths classes, and possessed a sharp (sometimes wicked) sense of humour. He was popular with fellow students and teachers. Despite his asthma, he was a determined cross country runner participating in the Marathon school run and compulsory long distance weekend hiking events. In 1970 he attended Taylor's Coaching College in Melbourne and during lunch time he and friends would go to Allen's Music to play guitars and sing current Beatle songs. He liked John Lennon's songs such as "Across the Universe". He was never shy when it came to performing music. He drove a white Volkswagen "V" dub and lived in Melbourne's eastern suburbs and started performing at the Green Man coffee shop.
In 1967, when aged 17, Freeman's left hand middle fingertip was severed in a car accident. He had it replaced with a silver one crafted in a playing position. Nicknamed "Silver Finger", he learned to work around the injury using his left hand "only to press down on the strings". At the age of 21 he travelled to Spain and was taught by flamenco guitar virtuoso Manitas de Plata.
He released three solo albums, "Thesilger" (1976), "Shifting Sands... Night & Day" (1978) and "Best of Chris Freeman" (1991). He also issued four albums with keyboardist John Shaw, "Chris Freeman and John Shaw" (1981), "Synthesized Orchestration" (1983), "Synthesized Orchestration Vol. 2" (1984) and "The Best of Chris Freeman and John Shaw" (1990).
In 1976 he self-financed his debut album, "Thesilger", (named for the replacement finger) on T. S. F. Records. Mike Daly of "The Age" felt that Freeman "experimented with quaint effects involving digital harmoniser and distorted vocals – with mixed results". Two years later Freeman followed with "Shifting Sands... Night & Day". When performing solo, he used a backing tape with orchestral tracks previously recorded on a Fairlight CMI.
In May 1981, Freeman combined with keyboardist and orchestral arranger John Shaw to issue an album, "Chris Freeman and John Shaw", independently on Chris Freeman Records and distributed by EMI Records. Aside from his own work he also covered "Gymnopedie" by Satie and "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by Tárrega. Daly described this album as "a very different proposition" compared to Freeman's debut: here the "melodies are dominated by [his] lyrical adaptation of the rich flamenco style". "The Sydney Morning Herald"s Susan Molloy found it was "of precious quality and outstanding beauty" displaying a variety of styles "from classical to flamenco to rock and roll, from disco to calypso-reggae and soft country rock".
As well as recording and performing Freeman also taught flamenco and classical guitar techniques. In early 1982 he toured with the Peter Stuyvesant International Music Festival. He issued two further albums with Shaw, "Synthesized Orchestration" (1983) and "Synthesized Orchestration Vol. 2" (1984). In 1990 Freeman and Shaw compiled their collaborations on CD, "The Best of Chris Freeman and John Shaw". The following year he released a solo compilation album, "Best of Chris Freeman".
Freeman died in 1992, aged 41 or 42, after an asthma attack. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane described him as a "[g]ifted multi-instrumentalist" who "garnered considerable praise for his work, but he never embraced the notion of mainstream acceptance".


Helge Hansen (resistance fighter)

Helge Hansen (1923 – 2003) was a Norwegian resistance member during the German occupation of Norway, and later a politician, chemist and factory manager.
Personal life.
He was born in as the son of Peder Håkon Jarl Hansen (1890-1986) and Sigrid Berger (1898-1994). The family settled in Stavanger, and he was attending the Stavanger Cathedral School at the outbreak of World War II. His father, a member of the Norwegian Communist Party, was imprisoned and incarcerated at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the war. His brother Johan was sent to Nacht und Nebel camp Natzweiler. He was also the brother of later politician and government minister Vesla Vetlesen.
Second World War.
During World War II, while his family lived in Stavanger, Hansen became involved both in intelligence and in production of illegal newspapers. He was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1942, and imprisoned at the Lagårdsveien prison. He became famous for his escape from custody in December 1942, and managed to flee to Sweden. In Sweden he was trained in use of arms and in sabotage. He returned to Stavanger in September 1944, with the aim of establishing a sabotage group in the Stavanger district. 29 November 1944 the factory Hillevåg Knottfabrikk was burnt down by the group. Shortly after, the two and only assassinations in the Stavanger district were carried out, when the denouncer Herbert Geiche and Stapo torturist Leonard Wickstrøm were shot.
After being involved in a shooting incident 15 January 1945, where he was hit in the shoulder, he decided to try to flee to Sweden by crossing the mountains on ski. During this travel he came across Knut Haukelid's Milorg group. He joined Haukelid's group, and took part in Operation Sunshine, an anti-demolition operation intended to protect essential Norwegian industry against possible German sabotage operations towards the end of the war.
Later career.
After the war Hansen was engaged in politics. He was elected to the Stavanger City council, representing the Communist Party. He was later expelled from the Communist Party, and some years later joined the Labour Party. He completed his education as a chemist in Stockholm. From 1947 he worked at the soap factory Nordkronen in Stavanger, first as a chemist, and later as manager of the factory.


Arthur Damude

Arthur Byron Damude (15 October 1889 – 15 September 1941) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Thorold Township, Ontario and became an insurance agent by career and also served as reeve of Fonthill, Ontario from 1923 to 1929.
Damude made an unsuccessful attempt to win an Ontario provincial legislature seat in 1929.
He was first elected to Parliament at the Welland riding in the 1935 general election after an unsuccessful campaign there in 1930. Damude was re-elected in 1940, but died of asthma complications at his home in Fonthill on 15 September 1941 during his term in the 19th Canadian Parliament. Damude was predeceased by his wife and is survived by one son.


Paul Tergat

Paul Kibii Tergat (born 17 June 1969) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. He became the first Kenyan man to set the world record in the marathon in 2003, with a time of 2:04:55, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners of all time. Runnerworld called him the "Most comprehensive runner of all time".
Towards the end of his career he concentrated exclusively on the marathon. Tergat set several world records and won many titles on the track, in cross country, and on the road. He lives and trains in Eldoret.
Early life.
Paul Tergat was born on 17 June 1969 in Riwo, Baringo District, in Kenya's Rift Valley Province. He attended Riwo Primary school and later joined Kapkawa Boys High School. Unlike many athletes, Tergat realised his talent after graduating high school.
Career.
Tergat won five straight IAAF World Cross Country Championships titles, 1995 to 1999, which was a record. Says Tergat, "Cross country is what I always liked most. It was my world, my passion. Before the IAAF introduced the short course in 1998, all the world class athletes from 1500 m to the marathon were in the same race."
He won the Lisbon Half Marathon in 2000, setting a new course record and personal best of 59:06. He won the race again in 2005 with a time of 59:10. Tergat's achievements also include 5 victories in the traditional Saint Silvester Road Race, the most important event in Latin American street racing. He holds the record for the present 15 km distance, which he established in 1995. His performances in the Saint Silvester race have earned him celebrity status in Brazil.
He has had an intense rivalry with his friend Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia. In the Olympic Games 10,000m finals of both 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was defeated by Gebrselassie by slim margins. In 2000, the margin of victory was only nine hundredths of a second.
Tergat finished second to Gebrselassie in the 1997 and 1999 World Championships in Athletics at 10,000 m, and finished third in the 1995 version of that race, behind Gebrselassie and Moroccan Khalid Skah.
On the track, Tergat broke Gebrselassie's 10,000-metre world record on 22 August 1997 in Brussels with a time 26:27.85 minutes. The record was broken again by Gebrselassie in 1998 (time 26:22:75), but Tergat's time remains a Kenyan record (as of 2014). On the road, Tergat broke the half marathon world record on 4 April 1998 in Milan by running in 59:17 minutes. (Tergat had run 58:51 minutes at the Stramilano half marathon in 1996, but a misplaced cone made the course slightly too short and no record was allowed.) The previous record, 59:47 minutes was set by Moses Tanui in 1993. Tergat's world record was broken in 2005 by Samuel Wanjiru, another Kenyan.
When Tergat raced Gebrselassie in the London Marathon in 2002, it was Tergat who beat Gebrselassie; Tergat was in second place behind then world record holder Khalid Khannouchi. The three runners raced again in the 2007 version with Tergat being the only one of them to finish.
He became an IOC member at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013.
Marathon career.
Tergat finished second in his first three marathons: London Marathon in 2001 and 2002 and Chicago Marathon in 2001. He continued marathoning by two fourth places: Chicago 2002 and London 2003.
He set the marathon world record of "2:04:55", on 28 September 2003 at the Berlin Marathon. That is an average pace of "0:02:57" per kilometre (20.3 km/h) or "0:04:46" per mile (12.6 MPH). In his world record race, Tergat badly abraded his foot. He later said it felt like the sole of his shoe fell off. He also took a momentary wrong turn near the finish. Tergat's countryman Sammy Korir, who was a pacesetter for the race, nearly caught up to him. Korir took second place in 2:04:56, then the second-fastest marathon performance in history. Tergat's world record was broken in 2007 by Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia. Tergat's time remained the Kenyan record until 2009, when winner Duncan Kibet and 2nd placed James Kwambai both timed 2:04:27 at the Rotterdam Marathon
Tergat won the New York City Marathon 6 November 2005, in a thrilling sprint finish through New York's Central Park, prevailing over defending champion Hendrick Ramaala 2:09:29.90 to 2:09:30.22.
That year, Tergat inaugurated the Baringo Half Marathon, setting up the professional race on a course near his home town.
A week prior to the London Marathon on 23 April 2006, Tergat pulled a calf muscle. Calling the injury "cruel," he was forced to withdraw from the star-studded race, which would have featured a long-awaited showdown with Haile Gebrselassie. The race was won by Felix Limo of Kenya.
Marílson Gomes dos Santos won the 2006 New York City Marathon; Tergat finished third. Gomes made a move at mile 19 and Tergat did not respond, saying "I'll be honest, I didn't know exactly who he was." Tergat steadily closed the gap over the final five miles.
Tergat finished sixth (2:08:06) at the 2007 London Marathon in April 2007. The entry list was competitive, including Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie, who dropped out just past the 30-K mark. Kenya's Martin Lel won the race in a time of 2:07.42, after a dramatic, gutsy finish.
On 30 September 2007 Ethiopian long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie broke Tergat's record marathon time of 2:04.55, finishing the Berlin Marathon in 2:04:26. Moments after finishing the race, Gebrselassie apologised to his friend Tergat for breaking the record, during a congratulatory phone call. Gebrselassie later explained "I am sorry – this record belonged to Paul Tergat," Gebrselassie told a news conference when asked about the phone call. "Paul is my friend."
He expressed a desire to compete in 2008 Olympics, but was not selected to represent Kenya. He finished 4th in the New York Marathon later that year.
In 2009, he won the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan, timing 2:10:22.
In October 2009, he was the guest of honour at the relaunch of the Belgrade Race Through History. Although he never won the competition in the late 1990s, he was the only competitor to run in all of the first four editions and never finished outside of the top three. He stated his desire to close his career at the race and praised the way it promoted Serbia's cultural heritage.
He was named by New York Road Runners as the recipient of the 2010 Abebe Bikila Award in recognition of his long-distance achievements, becoming the first Kenyan male winner. In his acceptance he said "The history of marathon running is incomplete without the solid and indelible mark of the late Abebe Bikila's contribution, and I am so proud to be associated [with this]".
Personal bests.
"+" indicates mark set en route during a longer race
"a" indicates course slightly downhill
Other activities.
In January 2004 Tergat was named a UN World Food Programme (WFP) "Ambassador Against Hunger". When he was a child, Paul Tergat's family was too poor to send him to school with food. According to Tergat, he would not have gotten a full education were it not for the World Food Program, which provided lunch at his school.
Tergat set up the "Paul Tergat Foundation" in 2005. It is meant to help disadvantaged Kenyan sportspeople.
He runs a Sports Marketing and PR company known as Fine Touch Communications (organises the annual Sportsman of the Year Awards in Kenya in conjunction with Safaricom, a leading mobile telephony provider in Kenya. He's also considering launching a clothing line under the name "Tergat" in the coming months.
Like many other Kenyan athletes, Tergat is enlisted to Armed Forces. He is based at the Moi Air Base in Nairobi.
As of April 2015, Tergat was linked with the role of leading a new interim committee to oversee Athletics Kenya (AK) after rumours surfaced that the Sports Cabinet Secretary, Hassan Wario, would soon dissolve AK.


SS Kolno

Kolno was a cargo ship that was built in 1936 as Nordcoke by Lübecker Flenderwerke AG, Lübeck, Germany. In 1940, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and was renamed Nordlicht. In 1945, she was seized by the Allies at Hamburg, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and was renamed Empire Conwear. In 1946, she was passed to the Soviet Union and renamed Armavir (ru. "Армавир"). In 1947, she was sold to Poland and renamed "Kolno". She served until 1971 when she ran aground off Falsterbo, Sweden, following which she served as a hulk until scrapped in 1983.
Description.
The ship was built in 1936 by Lübecker Flenderwerke AG, Lübeck. She was completed in December of that year.
The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of , and a draught of . As built, she was assessed as , .
The ship was propelled by a compound steam engine which had two cylinders of 20 inches (51 cm) and two cylinders of 43 inches (110 cm) diameter by 43 inches (110 cm) stroke. The engine was built by Lübecker Flenderwerke.
Most notable for a ship of her time is, that Nordcoke was equipped with large-scale hatch openings, which measured 10 by 10 metres, covered by steel hatch covers. The background of this new system was a faster handling of her cargoes, mainly coal and iron ore by means like mechanical grabs and further time-saving during opening and closing of those folding-type steel covers.
History.
"Nordcoke" was built for F Krupp, Essen. Her port of registry was Hamburg and the Code Letters DJSI were allocated. She was operated under the management of Norddeutsche Kohlen- und Koks Werke AG. In 1940, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and was renamed "Nordlicht".
In May 1945, "Nordlicht" was captured by the Allies at Hamburg. She was passed to the MoWT and renamed "Empire Conwear". Assessed as , the United Kingdom Official Number 180741 was allocated. She was operated under the management of James Westoll Ltd. Her port of registry was London. In 1946, she was allocated to the Soviet Union and was renamed "Armavir". Her port of registry was Archangelsk.
In 1947, she was sold to Żegluga Polska Line and was renamed "Kolno". Her port of registry was changed to Szczecin, and the Code Letters SPFB were allocated. On 14 March 1967, "Kolno" was in collision with the Danish cargo ship in the Odense River. On 7 January 1970, "Kolno" ran aground off Falsterbo, Sweden. She was subsequently rebuilt for use as a floating boilerhouse and based at Świnoujście until she was scrapped in April 1983.


Margaret Hogg

Margaret Hogg (c. 1939 – October 1976) was a manslaughter victim whose body was preserved in Wast Water, Lake District National Park, Cumbria for eight years. Wast Water is England's deepest lake.
Life and career.
Margaret Hogg had worked as an airline stewardess and her husband, Peter Hogg, was a pilot. He was 19 years older than she. He had achieved front-page news on 16 August 1974 when he landed at Luton Airport as the captain of a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar of Court Line that he had piloted overnight from a refuelling stop at Gander, Canada, bringing Clarksons holidaymakers back from St. Lucia. This was the airline's last flight as Court Line had ceased trading the previous day.
Marital stress, murder and disposal in Wastwater.
Margaret had a three-year affair with banker Graham Ryan, and often flaunted it before Peter. In October 1976 she attacked her husband, hitting and kicking until he "grabbed her round the neck and squeezed hard". She suffocated and he wrapped her body in a carpet, tied it to a block of concrete, drove north overnight from Surrey and dumped it in Wast Water lake in the Lake District National Park.
The body settled at a depth of 34 metres (110 ft), only a short distance away from much deeper parts of the deepest lake in England. Due to the lack of oxygen the body did not decompose, but over time was preserved by the formation of adipocere.
Discovery of body.
In 1983, the lake was searched for the body of Veronique Mireille Marre, a missing French student.
Subsequently, the remains of Margaret Hogg were found tied in the fetal position with co-ax cable with a dry-cleaning bag over her head and the body wrapped in a hessian cover, by a diver, Neil Pritt, on 29 February 1984, who initially thought them to be just a roll of old carpet. Shortly after the recovery, the body was identified by friends. The police investigation was made easier by noting "Margaret 11.11.63 Peter" that was engraved on the inside of the gold wedding ring recovered on the floor of the mortuary at West Cumberland Hospital.
Peter Hogg, the prime suspect, initially denied the murder before making a confession. He was sentenced to four years for manslaughter, obstructing a coroner, and perjury in his divorce proceedings.
Veronique Mireille Marre.
The body of Veronique Mireille Marre was eventually found in April 1984. Her remains were found on a mountain at the bottom of a cliff, but no cause of death could be officially given.


Ranong human-smuggling incident

The Ranong human-smuggling incident was a human smuggling disaster in Ranong, Thailand in April 2008. 54 people suffocated to death in a seafood container while being smuggled from Song Island, Myanmar, to Phuket, Thailand.
Incident.
On the night of 9 April 2008, 121 Burmese workers were transported illegally by fishing boat from Song Island in Myanmar to a landing near Ranong, Thailand. All were illegal migrant workers seeking transport to Phuket, where they planned to seek jobs as day laborers. Each had paid smugglers 6,000 baht (US$190) or 10,000 baht (US$316) for the journey. All 121 people were herded into an airtight seafood refrigeration unit on the back of a truck. It measured 6 metres by 2.2 metres (20 feet by 7 feet), meaning standing room only for the passengers.
Thirty minutes into the journey, conditions in the container became stifling. The workers banged on the sides of the container to alert the driver, but he failed to stop and warned everyone to remain quiet so as to avoid alerting the Thai Police as they passed through checkpoints. He turned on the air conditioning, but it failed after a few minutes. When the driver finally stopped on a quiet road running along the Andaman Sea 90 minutes later many, mostly women, had already collapsed. After seeing the bodies, the driver fled.
The dead were 36 women, a 8-year-old girl, and 17 men.
Aftermath.
Relatives of those killed received 35,000 baht compensation for each relative who died, Suwanna Suwanjutha, director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, announced in July 2008. On 28 December 2012 four Thais found guilty of human smuggling were sentenced to between three and ten years imprisonment for their involvement. The four were convicted of gross negligence resulting in death and of breaking immigration laws.
The truck owner, Damrong "Run" Phussadee, of Rungruengsup Ltd, was sentenced to 10 years for his involvement. Jirawat "Ko-Chun" Sopapanwaraku, who owned Choke Jaroen Pier where the migrants arrived by boat, was jailed for six years. Chalhermchai "Joe" Waritjanpleng was sentenced to nine years in prison. Ms Panchalee "Pueng" Chusung's six-year sentence was halved after she confessed. "Three of them were granted bail of between US$13,000 [about 400,000 baht] and US$6,500 [about 200,000 baht] while they file appeals", the official said, adding that the fourth defendant was held in custody after failing to meet bail terms. The truck driver, Suchon Bunplong, fled the scene, but was later arrested and then confessed to his involvement. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2008, but his confession to trafficking illegal immigrants saw that jail term being halved to six years, Maj Gen Apirak Hongthong, Phuket Police Commander at the time, told the "Phuket Gazette" in June 2008.


Locust Abortion Technician

Locust Abortion Technician is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Butthole Surfers, released in March 1987. All songs were written and produced by Butthole Surfers, except for "Kuntz", which was by Thai artists Phloen Phromdaen and Kong Katkamngae, who were originally uncredited for their work. The album was originally released as vinyl on Touch and Go, and was remastered to CD on Latino Buggerveil in 1999.
Background.
"Locust Abortion Technician" was the first Butthole Surfers album to not be recorded in a professional studio. After growing tired of living on the road, the band relocated to Winterville sometime in 1986, where they rented a small two-bedroom house, and used their meager savings to purchase an old Ampex 8-track tape machine and two microphones. Having set up a temporary home studio, the band set off to record what would become their third full-length LP. Despite the band downgrading from the equipment used on their previous record, guitarist Paul Leary believes that the inferior equipment forced the band to be more creative than they might otherwise have been.
Additionally, the new studio freed the band from having to worry about recording costs, allowing them to experiment even more than on previous releases. Jeff Pinkus has also said that the home studio gave them the luxury of taking extended breaks for drug use.
Many of the album's tracks also underwent extensive in-studio development. Although doing this had become a Butthole Surfers tradition, "Locust Abortion Technician" was one of their last recordings done in such a manner; on subsequent releases the band would go into the studio with more fully formed songs. Pinkus has expressed the opinion that the earlier, more chaotic recording sessions resulted in much of the spontaneous creativity that had propelled the group's early albums.
Music.
"Locust Abortion Technician" is an experimental blend of punk rock, heavy metal, and psychedelic music. This fusion led the band to be associated with the emerging grunge and sludge metal sounds. It also employs elements of worldbeat rhythms, noise music, progressive guitar, and folk music, and has been described as art rock, noise rock and alternative metal. The song "Sweat Loaf" utilizes a warped riff parodying the verse riff from the Black Sabbath song "Sweet Leaf". Not all the tracks are guitar-oriented, though; the song "Kuntz" was created by processing an original Eastern recording by a Thai artist through Gibby Haynes' "Gibbytronix" system. The song "22 Going On 23" is an early example of a song dealing directly with a woman's coping, or lack thereof, of sexual assault.
This album marked the debut of bass player Jeff Pinkus, as well as the return of co-drummer Teresa Nervosa, who had left the band in December 1985. It was also the first Surfers full-length album to feature lead singer Gibby Haynes' Gibbytronix vocal effects, which feature on the songs "Sweat Loaf" and "Human Cannonball" (though Gibbytronix were employed on "Comb" on the "Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis" EP a year earlier).
The Butthole Surfers regularly play songs from "Locust Abortion Technician" during their live concerts, including "Sweat Loaf", "Graveyard", "Pittsburgh to Lebanon", "U.S.S.A.", "Kuntz" and "22 Going on 23".
Artwork.
"Locust Abortion Technician"'s front cover illustration of two clowns playing with a dog was painted by Arthur Sarnoff, entitled "Fido and the Clowns".
Reception and legacy.
Steve Huey, reviewing the album for Allmusic, writes:
The aural equivalent of a nightmarish acid trip and arguably the band's best album (or worst, depending on your point of view), Locust Abortion Technician tops the psychedelic, artsy sonic experimentation of Rembrandt Pussyhorse while keeping one foot planted firmly in the gutter. The record veers from heavy Sabbath sludge (even parodying that band on "Sweat Loaf") to grungy noise rock to progressive guitar and tape effects to almost folky numbers in one big, gloriously schizophrenic mess.
The album received critical acclaim upon initial release, appearing in the year-end lists of noteworthy publications such as "Melody Maker", "NME" and "OOR". It would go on to feature in Robert Dimery's "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and "Terrorizer" magazine's "The 100 Most Important Albums of the 80s", while "Alternative Press" ranked it at #28 on their list of the "Top 99 Albums of '85 to '95". In 2018, Pitchfork included the album on their list of "The 200 Best Albums of the 1980s", writing:
From the John Wayne Gacy-indebted cover art to the turbid sounds within, the group’s third LP took a chainsaw to hardcore, psychedelic rock, country blues, Black Sabbath, and, on closer “22 Going on 23,” the sound of mooing cows and the agonizing confession of a sexual assault victim. Butchering every notion of good taste in their path, the Butthole Surfers revelled in the most cartoonish and nightmarish aspects of reality without regret.
Kurt Cobain listed it in his top 50 albums of all time. Doug Martsch included the album among the 10 records that shaped the music of his band Built to Spill.
Track listing.
All songs written and produced by Butthole Surfers, except where noted.


Dwaine Wilson

Dwaine Wilson was an award-winning running back during his brief Canadian Football League career.
A graduate of Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, he played 2 seasons for the Montreal Concordes (part of the Montreal Alouettes franchise history.) In 1984, he played 16 games and in 1985 he played 13 games.
In 1984, he rushed 226 times for 1083 yards, which won him an all star and CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award. In 1985 his production fell off, with 435 yards, in what would be his last season.
Wilson drowned on April 12, 2008 while boating with friends at Lake Elsinore, California.