Free Republic

DUBLIN, N.C. Authorities said a Bladen County man whose body was found at a racetrack here apparently died of a rattlesnake bite. Lloyd Hood, 44, had been missing since Tuesday, when he spotted the 4-foot snake while walking with a friend through a wooded ravine next to Dublin Motor Speedway. Investigators said the friend - who hates snakes - went back to the car and waited while Hood tried to catch it. Hood - an avid hunter and outdoorsman - never returned, and the friend tried unsuccessfully to find him before leaving and filing a missing person report Wednesday. Chief...

PEORIA - A Pekin woman faces up to 10 years in federal prison for allegedly threatening President Bush by telling him in a letter she had put anthrax in the note. Jessica A. Moyer, 21, appeared in U.S. District Court in Peoria on charges of threatening the president and mailing a threatening communication. She said little except to her attorney, Bill Anderson, during the five-minute hearing. Moyer's address was listed in court records as 4105 N. Brookdale, Apt. 2C3, but Pekin police report no such address. The indictment was handed down April 20 but unsealed Thursday. It alleges Moyer sent...

Army recruit falls to death from hotel window The Associated Press 7/9/2004, 1:45 a.m. ET CLEVELAND (AP) — An Army recruit about to leave for basic training fell nine stories to his death from the window of a downtown hotel. John Castillo, 18, of Fremont, was with five other military recruits at the Embassy Suites when he fell from the window Wednesday night, police said. According to witnesses, Castillo said, "Look out" to the others and ran toward the window. But when he tried to stop, he slipped and fell out, police said. Castillo suffered injuries to his head, chest...

The man accused of shooting three police officers at an apartment complex in November pleaded not guilty this morning in local state court. The defendant, Ishmael Salahud-Din, sat hunched over and stared at his feet before District Judge Nanette Hassette called court into session. When he approached the judge, he entered his not-guilty plea in a soft voice. The grand jury indicted Salahud-Din, 21, last month on five counts of attempted capital murder, one count of felony escape and one count of felony possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. He is accused of shooting the three officers when...

Collier man charged in death of NHS graduate By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com June 26, 2004 His clothes covered in blood, the man walked into the Wal-Mart in East Naples. He tracked blood through the aisles, picking out a new pair of khaki shorts, a white shirt, some Band-Aids and trash bags before he headed to the register early Friday morning. He paid with a bloody $100 bill. But before he left the parking lot, several people got a good look at Sheddrick Deon Bentley, 26, of East Naples. Store employees snagged the license tag on the pickup he was driving....