Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Colorado700R]

New York Times
March 5, 2012
Pg. B10

Van Barfoot, Medal Of Honor Recipient, Dies At 92

By Richard Goldstein

Van Barfoot, a Medal of Honor recipient in World War II whose fight to fly an American flag outside his home 65 years later drew national attention, died on Friday in suburban Richmond, Va. He was 92.

The cause was a skull fracture and bleeding in the brain resulting from a fall two days earlier in front of his home in a subdivision in Henrico County, said his daughter, Margaret Nicholls.

Serving in the 45th Infantry Division, Sergeant Barfoot took part in the breakout from Italy's Anzio beachhead.

On the morning of May 23, 1944, when his company was involved in a firefight with German troops outside the town of Carano, Sergeant Barfoot moved ahead of his squad and knocked out two machine-gun emplacements, leading enemy soldiers at a third one to abandon their position and surrender.

Later that day, he disabled a German tank with a grenade. Then he wiped out one of the enemy's big guns with a demolition charge and finally helped two seriously wounded men from his squad walk to safety about a mile away.

When it was all over, he had killed 7 German soldiers and captured 17 others.

He was promoted to lieutenant, and he received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for valor, in September 1944 while he was fighting in France. The Medal of Honor citation noted his "herculean efforts" and "aggressive determination in the face of point-blank fire."

Van Thomas Barfoot was born on June 15, 1919, in Edinburg, Miss., one of nine children, and grew up on a farm. He joined the Army in 1940. He remained in the military after World War II, served briefly in the Korean War and was a senior officer in Army aviation in the Vietnam War. He retired in 1974 as a colonel.

In the summer of 2009, Colonel Barfoot moved from his farm in Amelia County, Va., to live near his daughter in Henrico County. He hung an American flag from a flagpole and saluted it every day.

But his neighborhood association, which allowed flags on angular staffs attached to homes, asked him to take the flagpole down, citing aesthetic considerations. When he refused, it threatened court action.

After the dispute became news, Virginia's two senators, Mark R. Warner and Jim Webb, along with the American Legion, voiced support for Colonel Barfoot, and a Facebook page titled "Let Col. Barfoot Fly the American Flag" was created.

When asked about the dispute during a briefing of reporters in December 2009, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that he had not spoken with President Obama about it, but that "the president believes, and I think all of us believe, that the very least we can do is show our gratitude and thanks to somebody that served our country so admirably."

Mr. Gibbs said it was "silly" to prevent Colonel Barfoot from flying his flag on a pole.

The neighborhood association surrendered. Colonel Barfoot continued to fly the flag until his final days.

In addition to his daughter, Colonel Barfoot is survived by three sons, Van Jr., Jim and Odell; a sister, Freddie Hall; 12 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. His wife, Norma, died in 1992.

"All my life, from childhood to now, I have been able to fly the flag," The Washington Post quoted Colonel Barfoot as telling supporters when he won his campaign to keep his flagpole. "In the time I have left, I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference."

As his daughter told it on Saturday: "Every day he got up at 6 a.m. and raised the flag, and every day at 5 p.m. he took it down."

[Peelz]

lost a good one.... 

and he shared my Birthday 

[Krandall]

RIP.

[Krandall]

Looking for stolen iPad, Police find 750 pounds of Meth

As Apple's popularity has grown over the past 10 years, so too have the number of crimes and thefts involving coveted products like the iPod and the iPhone. Typically, thieves engage in "smash and grab" type crimes at Apple retail stores or isolated muggings. But sometimes thieves get inventive, such as when a team of crooks a few years ago drilled a hole into the roof of a Best Buy, rappelled down and made out with a number of iPads, Mission Impossible style.

And other times, well, let's just say that not every criminal is an evil mastermind.

In the latest saga involving a stolen Apple product, we have a little bit of a Breaking Bad inspired mayhem going on.

A few weeks ago, Police in Palo Alto were hot on the trail of a stolen iPad using the "Find my iPad" feature in iOS. Now there are certainly no shortage of stories involving authorities, and sometimes enterprising iOS owners, using the feature to track down their stolen/missing iPhone or iPad.

But this story is just a little bit different.

After tracking down the iPad to an apartment complex in San Jose, the Palo Alto Police entered the apartment and were stunned to find, in addition to the iPad, one of the largest methamphetamine stashes ever seized in the US.

Somewhat comically, the officers, upon finding the apartment in question, didn't have a search warrant -  so instead, they knocked on the door and asked to come in.

Not wanting to arouse suspicion, the individual who answered the door invited the officers in.

Once inside, the officers notice a strange oder and, next thing you know, they discovered 750 pounds of meth being stored in and around the apartment.

    District Attorney Jeff Rosen said roughly 100 pounds or a little more of meth are recovered annually in the county, making this seizure "easily at least six years worth," he said.

    "I told my dad about the bust," said Rosen, "and he said, 'They have $35 million, and they can't go out and buy an iPad?"

    Police immediately arrested three people... They then contacted the district attorney's Major Narcotic Vendor Prosecution Unit, which drew up a search warrant.

750 pounds of Meth! Man, it's like Walter White and Jesse Pinkman exist in real life and have been hiding out in Palo Alto all this time.

Putting the figure into perspective, 750 pounds of Meth reportedly represents approximately 16% of all the methamphetamine that law enforcement officials seized in all of 2011.

DEA spokesperson Casey Rettig added, "A seizure of this magnitude is extremely rare."

The three individuals arrested are all in their 20s, were arraigned yesterday, and are being held on $2 million bail each.

[Peelz]

LOL!750 lbs...thats a shitload of meth!!


make for one helluva weekend!

[dragonz]

good thing you don't like Ipads eh Peelz

[disco]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17544565


Amazon boss Jeff Bezos 'finds Apollo 11 Moon engines'

excerpt:   He said he planned to ask Nasa - which still owns the rockets - for permission to display one in the Museum of Flight in his home city of Seattle.

If they're in the ocean, why wouldn't they be salvage?  How can NASA still down them?

[Krandall]

Peelz? 


Police say a five-year-old Connecticut boy brought 50 packets of heroin to school for show and tell, and his stepfather has been arrested.

Bridgeport police tell the Connecticut Post that 35-year-old Santos Roman went to the Barnum School on Monday to retrieve the drugs and found police waiting for him.

He was detained on $100,000 bail on risk of injury to a minor and drug charges.

Police say the boy wore Roman's jacket to school Monday.

When it came time for his show-and-tell presentation, the kindergartner displayed bags of heroin. The teacher confiscated the drugs and told the principal, who called police.

The boy was put in state custody until other relatives could be located.

[Peelz]

LOL heroin dealer on show and tell day....genius

[Krandall]

peelz, you're gonna have to cool it.   

Janitor Finds Meth Lab In Walmart Restroom

Walmart, America's temple of good taste and style, just got a lot better with the addition of meth labs to their restrooms. That's what a janitor found at the women's restroom in Walmart in Boaz, Alabama.

According to the police, it was a "one-pot 'shake and bake' type lab." The janitor found a plastic water bottle with meth residue and pseudoephedrine pills that, surprisingly, were not from Walmart. The police says that it takes from 15 to 30 minutes to cook meth using this method, but it results in a low quality product. Walter White would have not approved.

Boaz Police Chief Terry Davis said it blew his mind: "We've found a lot of shake and bake meth labs in different places but never inside a business."

[Peelz]

cover is blown!!!! 

[Colorado700R]

http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12108/1224864-54.stm

[Krandall]

http://gizmodo.com/5904526/20-wwii+era-planes-are-about-to-be-exhumed-from-a-secret-burmese-location

20 WWII-Era Planes Are About to be Exhumed from a Secret Burmese Location

David Cundall, a British aviation enthusiast, has spent 15 years and about $200,000 trying to recover a group of 20 WWII-era Spitfire planes that were buried in 1945 in an undisclosed location in Burma, after being dubbed surplus back in 1945.

Cundall first learned of the buried planes from an offhand remark made by an American veteran. On a recent trip to Burma, a camera was sent down through a targeted borehole, confirming the location of the crated planes.

The Spitfires were built with 2,050-horsepower Rolls Royce Griffon engines, which allow them to reach speeds of up to 440mph. There are fewer than 40 Spitfires flying today.

Though international sanctions prevent military material from leaving the country, British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent visit has aviation enthusiasts hopeful that the exhumed planes will be safely returned to England after their 67-year entombment.

[Peelz]

awesome. id love to see them.

[Krandall]

same here.. kinda makes me nervous.. They were buried in their shipping containers.. covered with wax and tar over the hydraulic parts.  If the boxes werent' damaged, hopefully they're fine.  If there's any moisture inside though, I fear for the inside of the plane.

Still an awesome find!!