Free Republic

Inspired by a government order that regions should have their own flags, Penza has designed a gold and green banner with an image of Jesus in the center. The flag, a radical departure from Penza's coat of arms with three distinctive sheaves of wheat, is ruffling the feathers of non-Christian groups even though it has yet to be approved by the federal government, which gets the final say on all flags. On the simple flag, a large head of Jesus stares out from a gold background. A green stripe runs along its left side. Yury Leptev, the deputy head of...

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e0444a0-lb67000 f n FLASH-RAG0-LAW_ENFORCEME 08/28 144 LAW ENFORCEMENT BULLETIN CHILD ABDUCTION ALERT RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF DEPT REPORTED A CHILD ABDUCTION OCCURRING 0208 HRS AUGUST 28, 2002 AT 72895 GLORIANA DR IN PALM DESERT VICTIM: NICHOLAS MICHAEL FARBER, WHITE MALE, AGE 9, DOB: 3-9-93, BROWN HAIR WITH BLOND HIGHLIGHTS, 53 INCHES, 55 LBS, LAST SEEN WEARING FRUIT OF THE LOOM BRIEF UNDERWEAR ONLY. JUVENILE WAS ABDUCTED BY 2 MALES. SUSPECT #1 HISPANIC MALE 20-30 YRS, 5'8" TALL, 175 LBS, DARK SHORT GREASED BACK HAIR, GOATEE MUSTACHE, LAST SEEN WEARING DARK CLOTHING AND BLACK BACKPACK. SUSPECT #2 EITHER A DARK HISPANIC OR...

Mission operators are looking for a signal from CONTOUR, several hours after a scheduled maneuver to send the spacecraft from Earth's orbit onto a path to encounter multiple comets. CONTOUR's STAR 30 solid-propellant rocket motor was programmed to ignite at 4:49 a.m. EDT and deliver 1,920 meter-per-second boost which CONTOUR needed to escape Earth's orbit. At about 140 miles (225 kilometers) above the Indian Ocean, the spacecraft was too low for NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas to track it at the scheduled time of the burn. The CONTOUR mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory...

The head of NASA's Mars program on Wednesday challenged researchers from Southwest Research Institute to contribute ideas and technology toward a "scientific assault" of the Red Planet in this decade and beyond. Orlando Figueroa, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mars Exploration Program, was the keynote speaker at a two-day workshop on Mars experiments and technologies at the San Antonio research facility. The workshop is part of the institute's self-funded $2.4 million initiative to build Mars expertise in such fields as space science, materials, geochemistry, instrumentation and vehicle and power-supply research. James L. Burch, vice president of the...

Young Chinese Girl Missing After Landing at SFO Source: kcbs Publication date: 2002-08-02 (KCBS) - A countywide search is underway for a missing 12-year-old Chinese girl, who was last seen at San Francisco International Airport Thursday afternoon. KCBS reporter Bob Melrose said 12-year old Yukun Jia of Beijing has not been seen since 2pm Thursday, when she and the group she was with cleared customs at San Francisco International Airport. The tour group did not report her missing until sometime after 5pm, when they realized she was not with them during a tour of Stanford University. Police say that...

KANSAS CITY, KS -- Police issued an Amber Alert Thursday night in connection with the abduction of a 14-year-old girl from a hotel at 3900 Rainbow. Winter Kethley has brown eyes and curly brown hair. She is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to call (816) 474-TIPS.

JERUSALEM - A skeleton discovered near the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found may be the 2,000-year-old remains of John the Baptist, an American professor announced Thursday. But Israeli archaeologists disputed his theory as being far-fetched and said the burial site unearthed is probably that of an 18th century Bedouin man. Professor Richard Freund, director of the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford in Connecticut, was part of an expedition at Qumran in the Judean Desert that made the discovery on Monday. Freund said there was "circumstantial evidence" that the well-preserved skeleton may...

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Authorities believe 7-year-old Danielle is dead, source says It is increasingly likely that a murder charge will be sought against David Westerfield – possibly as early as today – for the death of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, even though her body has not been found. A law enforcement source close to the investigation told The San Diego Union-Tribune that "investigators and prosecutors are of the belief she is dead." The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the murder charge would include special allegations that could lead to the death penalty if Westerfield is convicted. San Diego police Chief ...

SAN DIEGO – Hundreds of volunteers joined the search Saturday for a missing 7-year-old girl after the arrest of a neighbor and the discovery of bloodstained evidence lent grim urgency to the task of finding her. The volunteers, carrying bright red tags to mark potential evidence, set out early for the foothills and desert east of San Diego to hunt for any sign of Danielle van Dam, whose gap-toothed smile adorns thousands of missing person fliers. Danielle's parents, Damon and Brenda van Dam, said they were encouraged by the arrest Friday of David Westerfield, a 49-year-old neighbor, on suspicion of ...

TIJUANA, Mexico – The search for a missing 7-year-old girl who police believe was abducted from her Sabre Springs home shifted Thursday to Mexico, authorities said. A high-ranking Mexican official said investigators searched for Danielle van Dam in a gritty Tijuana neighborhood close to the border crossing with San Diego. Mexican investigators have received more than one tip that Danielle may be hidden in a home in Colonia Libertad, said Antonio Martinez Luna, head prosecutor for Mexico's Baja California State. The Tijuana neighborhood is known as a base for drug and illegal immigrant smugglers. In San Diego, a police spokesman ...

Bedroom closet doors taken for examination By Joe Hughes UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 21, 2002 DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune Investigators lay the closet doors in the bed of a truck to haul them away to be checked for fingerprints. Police returned to the home of missing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam yesterday, this time taking two sliding closet doors from the girl's bedroom in an effort to find additional fingerprints. Police believe someone entered Danielle's bedroom while she was asleep and abducted her. They are hoping to recover evidence that may have been left behind. The visit marked the fourth time ...

SAN DIEGO – Investigators in the Danielle van Dam case are looking for similarities to other abductions over the years, including an unsolved 1974 crime in which a girl was kidnapped and killed three miles from Danielle's home, authorities said Tuesday. The body of Patricia Lee Kuzara, 7, was found in a field on Midland Road in nearby Poway, Calif., on Sept. 29, 1974. She had been beaten to death. Her killer was never found. "We are taking a fresh look at this case," sheriff's homicide Lt. Jerry Lewis said, as the search for Danielle continued. Detectives admit it may ...

SAN DIEGO – Day 17 began like many of the others. In the morning, Damon and Brenda van Dam faced a media throng on the front lawn of their Sabre Springs home. And once again, the couple said there was nothing new in the search for their 7-year-old daughter, Danielle. Damon van Dam was then off to Borrego Springs for another day of helping volunteers comb the desert for clues about his daughter's whereabouts. Brenda van Dam went to a volunteer command center, now set up in Poway, Calif., to see off search teams as they congregated in 10-person crews, ...

The continuing search for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam drew law enforcement officials to the canyons of Poway yesterday, while the missing girl's father spent the day in the desert recruiting volunteers to help look for clues. San Diego police said they had no specific information that the missing Sabre Springs girl had been in canyons around Espola and Poway roads but thought it would be a good area to search, said San Diego police spokesman Dave Cohen. The area is about five miles northeast of the van Dam home, where Danielle was reported missing Feb. 2. She was last seen ...

Reporters, crews line street while awaiting news By Pauline Repard and Hala Ali Aryan UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS February 16, 2002 Two weeks after the disappearance of Danielle van Dam, droves of reporters and photographers continue to camp out in her Sabre Springs neighborhood, poised for any new developments in the case. Mountain Pass Road, where Danielle's family lives, is packed with television satellite and microwave trucks, radio station vans and numerous sport-utility vehicles and sedans for photographers, reporters and television producers. On a recent night, there were more than 25 media vehicles. Mixed in are undercover police vehicles occupied around ...

Tomorrow, Friday, the John and Ken show (Los Angeles KFI 640 AM ) will visit the San Diego neighborhood of Danielle van Dam. They will interview the neighbors and attempt to learn more about David Westerfield and the situation surrounding Danielle's disappearance. Streaming audio will be available for those outside of the listening area. Show starts at 3pm, Pacific time.

San Diego police conceded Tuesday that the odds of finding Danielle van Dam alive are diminishing and that an arrest in the case could be weeks away. "We are not real hopeful on her condition," homicide Lt. Jim Duncan said. Against that grim backdrop, searchers continued to scour areas around the Sabre Springs neighborhood where 7-year-old Danielle was reported missing 11 days ago. Searchers combing a riverbed near Danielle's school, Creekside Elementary, found a blue backpack stuffed with old papers, a blue denim shirt and some underwear. They were collected into evidence bags by San Diego police. Duncan, lead investigator ...

Investigators pursuing about 250 tips; storm drains searched again Joe Hughes UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 12, 2002 As the search for 7-year-old Danielle van Dam entered its 10th day, $75,000 in rewards was announced in connection with her disappearance. Danielle's parents said they were offering $25,000 from "resources pulled from our family" for information leading to their daughter's return. "We hope the reward will motivate someone who knows where she is to step forward and return her to us or help us find her," Brenda van Dam, Danielle's mother, told dozens of media members as she stood with her husband, ...