September 2007 - Posts
By Martin Savidge, NBC News Correspondent
JENA, La.– Looking for the mood in Jena is like looking for the truth – it all depends on who you talk to.
The day after 17-year-old Mychal Bell was released on $45,000 bail, things are quiet. But, of course, in a town of just 3,000 it’s almost always quiet.
The satellite trucks, with the exception of our own, have shut down their generators, folded their dishes and moved on. Across the street from the LaSalle Parish Courthouse at the McCartney Slay GMC dealership the cars are back on the lot. When we were here last week for the large demonstration, the owner had moved them, fearing the worst.
Now that Bell’s out on bail, there is a sense of relief.
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By Peter Alexander, NBC News Correspondent
The irony is impossible to miss. Until he's sentenced on November 20, Warren Jeffs, the convicted leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamous sect, will be behind bars at Purgatory Correctional Facility here in Hurricane, Utah.
In fact, in the mid-1850's, pioneers named this part of southwestern Utah "Purgatory Flats." Not far from the spectacular scenery of Zion National Park, this area is known for its red rock and giant bluffs.
Anticipating Jeffs might find sympathetic residents in this part of the country, not far from the isolated towns along the Utah-Arizona border where most of his 7,500 followers live, I was surprised to find so many of those here ecstatic about his conviction.
Just 120 miles outside Las Vegas, this is one of the fastest-growing communities in the West. Years ago, settlers here thought these were the Badlands, today, developers and retirees are more likely to view them as the "Good Lands."
Read the rest of Peter Alexander's blog about Warren Jeff's conviction in the Daily Nightly blog.
By NBC's Ron Blome
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.-- Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the start of desegregation of public schools in the South. Ordered into Arkansas by President Eisenhower, the 101st Airborne escorted the Little Rock Nine into Central High School in the first federal enforcement action of the historic Brown v. Board of education ruling.
The nine students of the class of 1957 bravely endured a mob to enter a high school that today is recognized as one of the best schools in the nation. Nine current seniors at Central High join NBC News to reflect on the legacy of that historic day in 1957.
By Courtney Kube, NBC News Pentagon Producer
The Pentagon on Friday paid tribute to those members of the U.S. military who are classified as Missing in Action (MIA) and Prisoners of War (POW).
About 200 people watched as Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Marine Gen. Peter Pace escorted Patricia Scharf, widow of Col. Charles Scharf, onto the Parade Field outside the Pentagon.
Scharf's husband was an Air Force pilot who went missing-in-action during the Vietnam War and whose remains were recently identified by taking DNA from love letters he sent her more than 40 years ago.
Gates spoke first, paying tribute to the four U.S. Army soldiers who are currently missing in Iraq. "They will never be forgotten or left behind," he said, adding that they are "the latest edition to the ranks of those we honor today." He only spoke for about five minutes, thanking the families and then introducing Pace, the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Pace also spoke briefly, saying of the prisoners of war that "few have been called to sacrifice the way our POWs have been."
Then Scharf walked to the podium and described how her husband's remains were only recently identified by taking DNA off of the love letters he sent her.
Among those in the crowd were Keith and Carolyn Maupin, parents of missing soldier Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin.
Also attending from the Pentagon were Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Conway.
By Martin Savidge, NBC News Correspondent
JENA, La.– Jena is in gridlock. As thousands of protesters gather in the small Louisiana town in support of six black teens initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate, the crowds are growing.
The number of buses leaving Alexandria, 40 miles away, was said to look like a hurricane evacuation. Cell phone service is over loaded and schools and businesses are closed. Local officials have declared a state of emergency and beefed up security schools.
Protest leaders stress that this will be peaceful protest. Meanwhile the Rev. Al Sharpton proclaimed to a crowd in front of the courthouse, "This is the start of the civil rights movement for the 21st century!"
Riders on the buses have abandoned them due to stalled traffic. Instead they are moving on foot, some are holding banners and signs, while cameras are recording it all.
One older African-American woman told a younger man, "You will be able to tell others you were here this day."
Meanwhile, sidewalk vendors haven’t missed a beat and are doing a brisk trade – hawking "Justice for the Jena 6" tee-shirts for $10 a pop.
By George Lewis, NBC News Correspondent
As Judge Nancy Oesterle of Las Vegas looked out at the multitude of TV camera crews and the squadron of satellite trucks ringing the courthouse, she said, "I guess this is what they call a media frenzy! I've never seen anything like this before."
Welcome to what some wags are calling the "Cirque du O.J.", the hottest ticket in Vegas right now.
Oesterle has been appointed by the court system to brief the media on the upcoming court proceedings involving O.J. Simpson as news organizations prepare for yet another trial involving the notorious ex-jock, charged this time with a hotel-room heist at gunpoint.
Simpson told police he was just trying to recover some sports memorabilia that belonged to him, but police contend he and a group of buddies barged into the room with weapons drawn, something officers say amounts to armed robbery, burglary and a slew of other felonies.
Déjà vu
I'm a veteran of the first two O.J. trials: the criminal case where Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, and the civil trial where the Goldman family and the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson won millions of dollars in damages from O.J. (Although they've collected only a modest sum so far.)
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By Tom Junod, NBC News Producer
NEW ORLEANS – If you're in the market for a luxury mansion in New Orleans' historic, tree-lined Garden District, you're in luck. There's a
$4.5 million little beauty up for sale. And at that price you get an added bonus, some of the former tenants were witches...of the literary variety.
The 1850's era Greek Revival structure was once home to the prolific novelist Anne Rice. She set her 1990 novel "The Witching Hour" there – populating the house with the Mayfair family, a clan of male and female witches.
Rice packed up and moved from New Orleans to the West Coast several years ago, but her former haunts are still must-see stops for tourists on several of the popular "haunted city" tours. Many of her dozens of novels, including the best selling Vampire Chronicles series are set in The Crescent City.
Her former mansion comes complete with five bedrooms, six full and two half baths, an elevator, guest house, staff house and fish pond. Check out the realtor’s link here.
By Jack Chesnutt, NBC News Producer
MINDEN, NV. – In rugged terrain 90 miles southeast of Reno, a group of searchers listened to a radio for faint signs of life on Tuesday night. Was it a distress signal from aviator Steve Fossett?
Over the last two days rescuers occasionally heard a radio transmission of a recorded human voice, a "ghost ELT," Emergency Location Transmitter, is how they described it. They sent up a helicopter to try to trace the radio, but the signals were sporadic and only last a few seconds.
"We do not believe it's accurate," said Joe Sanford, the Lyon County Under-Sheriff, "but we are trying to track down all leads."
Sanford says the radio voice says, "niner-niner-four-one-one," on a radio frequency reserved for emergency signals from aircraft. The numbers bear no apparent relation to Fossett, or to the plane he was flying eight days ago, which only deepens the mystery.
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By John Rutherford, NBC News Producer
WASHINGTON – About 15 relatives of 9/11 victims donned hard hats and safety vests Friday morning to tour the construction site of the new Pentagon Memorial Park, located about 165 feet west of the point of impact of American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the building during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The 2-acre park, due to be completed by Sept. 11, 2008, will consist of trees and memorial benches dedicated to each of the 184 victims killed in the attack. Each bench will sit over a pool of water.
"This is really hallowed ground," said Jim Laychak. "This is where we lost our loved ones." Laychak lost his brother Dave on 9/11.
"This is a special day for all the family members because it marks another step in the journey towards creating this great memorial," he said.
Laychak called the memorial a "labor of love."
"It's a labor of love for the families," he said. "It's a labor of love for the people who are working on this project."
Rosemary Dillard, who lost her husband Eddie that day, said she thinks about 9/11 all the time.
"And I wonder, does everybody else think about it?" she asked. "And I wonder, will everybody else remember that day?"
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England does. He was at the Pentagon on 9/11.
"It is very fitting and proper that we remember all those who were killed here that day with this memorial," he said.
Construction of the $22 million project, funded by private donations, began in June 2006 and is on schedule for completion a year from now.
By Jack Chesnutt, NBC News Producer
MINDEN, Nev. -- Like the other two dozen pilots flying low and slow over the rough landscape of southern Nevada, John Morgan knows Steve Fossett. So, volunteering in this search is as natural as breathing.
"Oh, we're like a kind of brotherhood," said Morgan as he hugged a rugged canyon along the Walker River on Wednesday. "If he went down in this area, we could fly over it ten times and it would be tough to see."
Morgan is part of one of the biggest air searches in memory looking for traces of the small single-engine plane piloted by Fossett. The man who holds a fistful of aviation records took off from a near-by ranch Monday morning, and hasn't been seen or heard from since.
"I'd come out and help look for anyone in trouble, don't get me wrong. But helping another pilot is just something we do," said Morgan, who has known Fossett for more than 10 years. "He used to have a glider like mine, and we'd swap parts."
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By Al Henkel, NBC News Producer
Abilene – 117, El Paso – 568
So says the highway sign, an hour outside of Dallas. Those are miles by the way. I've got a long way to go.
I'm headed to Midland, then onto Alpine, Texas, on assignment for Nightly News. I've found it's just about the same time involved to drive or fly to this part of west Texas, and truth be told, I don't really mind the drive.
It affords a great opportunity to think. Nighttime on the road in west Texas is good for that.
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