Society's ChildS


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US: Parents Defend Atlanta School Caught Up in Scandal

Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:39 UTC
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© Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.comParents of area school children line up to ask APS board member LaChandra Butler Parks, front with back to camera, and other school officials questions during a town hall meeting by Parks at Jean Childs Young Middle School in Atlanta on Tuesday, August 2, 2011.
Parents of students at an Atlanta public school where cheating was alleged to have occurred on a statewide test on Tuesday night defended their school and teachers at a town hall meeting.

"We've been extremely pleased with the instruction my children have received," said Quinnie Cook-Richardson, one of several parents at the troubled West Manor Elementary School who spoke at the meeting.

Her son's teacher had him reading within a year, she said, adding, "They are an example of what is right with Atlanta Public Schools."

Cook-Richardson was among a parade of parents who defended a school where the principal has been asked to resign because of the scandal surrounding the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.
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Laptop

US: Missouri Makes Teach-Student Facebook 'Friending' Illegal

Samantha Murphy
MSNBC
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:15 UTC

Missouri has passed a law making it illegal for state teachers to friend their students on Facebook.

Governor Jay Nixon signed Missouri State Bill 54, which bans students and teachers from communicating and being "friends" on the social networking site. The law was created to prevent inappropriate relationships between children and teachers.

"Teachers cannot establish, maintain or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian or legal guardian," the law states. "Teachers also cannot have a non work-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student."

The law is not limited to Facebook and applies to any social networking site. Although Facebook fan pages will still be allowed, direct communication between teachers and students on the site will be banned.
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Heart - Black

US, New Jersey: Slippery Rock Couple Die in Bizarre Killing

Carol Ann Gregg
Allied News
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
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© unknownColin Abbott
Son arrested in N.J., awaiting extradition

The Slippery Rock community has lost two new residents who looked forward to being involved in the community.

Kenneth and Celeste Abbott--ages 65 and 55, respectively--had come to Slippery Rock to enjoy their retirement, according to Mike Bencic, local businessman and owner of the Slippery Rock Sliders, in which Abbott was an active shareholder.

According to court reports, it has been determined that the couple was killed in early June, and their remains were burned on their property on West Liberty Road in Brady Township.

Pennsylvania State Police received a call on July 13 from New Jersey State Police requesting a welfare check of the Abbotts, according to Cpl. Daniel Herr with the state police crime division at the Butler barracks.

In a police affidavit filed with district court in Slippery Rock, Melissa Elich, Mrs. Abbott's daughter, had contacted New Jersey State Police, indicating that her stepbrother, Colin Abbott, had told her the Abbotts had been in a fatal car crash in New Jersey.
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Heart - Black

Canada: Calgary Mom Killed Baby, Tried to Kill Other Son


CBC News
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:46 UTC
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© Courtesy, Family, FacebookStacey Joy Bourdeaux, 33, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Dec. 27, 2004, death of 10-month-old Sean Ronald Fewer, as well as attempted murder and failing to provide the necessities of life to her five-year-old son in late May 2010.
A Calgary mother admitted on Wednesday that she smothered her infant son seven years ago and tried to kill her five-year-old son last year.

Stacey Joy Bourdeaux, 34, pleaded guilty in Court of Queen's Bench to manslaughter in the death of her son Sean Fewer in 2004.

Bourdeaux also pleaded guilty to failing to provide the necessities of life and attempted murder of her older son last May.

When Bourdeaux's 10-month-old son was found in his crib not breathing in December 2004, it was believed he had died of natural causes.

But that was reassessed after Bourdeaux brought her five-year-old son to Alberta Children's Hospital in 2010.

He was shaking, incontinent and unable to stand, symptoms police said were consistent with some form of trauma.
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Bomb

Mosman, Australia: Teen rescued after 10-hour bomb ordeal


ABC News
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:25 UTC
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© Facebook/AAPMadeleine Pulver endured 10 hours attached to a possible bomb before police we able to free her
Police say no explosives have been found at a Sydney North Shore home where a young woman was trapped for 10 hours with a suspected bomb strapped around her neck.

Eighteen-year-old Madeleine Pulver was reunited with her parents shortly after midnight after the ordeal at the Mosman house.

Police called in British military experts for help during the stand-off, which was reportedly part of an extortion attempt.

The drama began when Ms Pulver called police to the Burrawong Avenue house at about 2:30pm on Wednesday.

She was inside alone with the box-shaped device strapped to her neck when officers arrived.
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Question

India Probes 'Ghost Ship' Grounding


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Agence France-PresseIndia's maritime authorities are probing how an unmanned oil tanker managed to drift undetected into the country's coastal waters before running aground off the coast of Mumbai
India's maritime authorities were on Wednesday probing how an unmanned oil tanker managed to drift undetected into the country's coastal waters before running aground off the coast of Mumbai.

The head of India's maritime watchdog the Directorate General of Shipping, S.B. Agnihotri, said an investigation has been launched into how no-one spotted the MT Pavit, which ran aground at a north Mumbai beach on Sunday.

"We will in our inquiry be looking at this particular issue," he told reporters on Tuesday amid concerns about coastal security, which was supposed to have been improved after the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"We are looking at these 100 hours when the detection has not happened."
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Question

Pretoria, South Africa: Mystery deepens as another man vanishes

Karabo Seanego and Yolande Du Preez
IOL News
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:16 UTC
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© Independent NewspapersRyan Abdo, 31, is the third person to disappear in Pretoria in less than a month
More people are disappearing without a trace in the city.

University of Pretoria student Duncan Allan, 22, is still missing and police say their leads so far have left them empty-handed.

Now Ryan Abdo, 31, has also vanished and his family are in a desperate search for him.

Abdo is the third person to disappear in less than a month.

Earlier, Gerrie van Rensburg, the son of Dominee Jacie van Rensburg, moderator of the NG Church in the Western Transvaal, was allegedly kidnapped but later found in the boot of his car in Waltloo.

Duncan's father, Tim Allan, said the family still had not heard anything from him. "We don't know what has happened to our son."
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Phoenix

Los Angeles, US: Ex-Marine held in North Hollywood arson fires

Andrew Blankstein
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:05 UTC
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© Irfan KhanLos Angeles Times Vincent Bruno, 71, and his 96-year-old mother, Berndetta, walk by their blackened motor home in Sun Valley. Kurt K. Billie has been arrested on charges of setting a series of fires that caused at least $1 million in damage
Kurt K. Billie was convicted in 2001 of setting a series of fires outside a U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan.

An ex-Marine arrested Tuesday on charges of setting nearly two dozen fires in North Hollywood served time for several highly publicized arson fires at several restaurants and bars just outside the U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Kurt K. Billie, 34, was booked on suspicion of arson early Tuesday after he was seen setting fire to a small motor home about 4 a.m. in the 7500 block of Troost Avenue, authorities say. He was arrested by Los Angeles police a short distance away.

According to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation, Billie is suspected of setting at least 19 fires in that area since mid-July, including a dozen fires over one three-day period. Most of the fires were ignited in vehicles parked in carports. But in some cases, the flames spread to nearby structures.
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Heart - Black

US, Connecticut: Cops: Rape Suspect Forced Teen Victim to Call Him 'Master'

Daniel Tepfer
CT Post
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
A Bristol man forced a 14-year-old Stratford girl to call him master and be his slave as he raped her in the backyard of her home last month, police said.

David Feeney, 45, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Superior Court here to one count each of first-degree sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. He elected a jury trial.

The case was continued to Sept. 6.

In the arrest affidavit unsealed Tuesday, police state that Feeney initially contacted the girl through an Internet site. The contacts increased to several a day through text messaging and then on the telephone.

Police said in messages and phone calls Feeney ordered the girl to address him as her master and she, who is black, as his slave.
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Stop

13 killed in Nigeria as bus runs over robbery victims


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:07 UTC
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© AFP/GraphicThe incident happened on Tuesday on the Lokoja-Okene road south of the capital Abuja
Thirteen people were killed when a speeding bus ran over robbery victims forced to lie face down on a main road south of Nigeria's capital, police said Wednesday.

"I can confirm 13 dead. The incident happened on Tuesday on the Lokoja-Okene road. The bus was heading to Abuja when robbers stopped it and ordered the passengers to disembark," police spokesman Yemi Ajayi told AFP.

"As the passengers were ordered to lie face down, (another) bus ran over them at top speed, killing 13 and injuring many others, " he said.
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