9 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, October 16, 2009 - 3A * The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 16, 2009 - 3A NEWS BRIEFS HUDSONVILLE, Mich. Woman embezzles parents' savings Authorities have charged a west Michigan woman with embezzling at least $100,000 from her parents' life savings of $275,000. Eloise Russo is accused of tak- ing the money to pay for gam- bling losses, a $10,000 gift and a $16,000 new car for her sister. The 53-year-old woman is free on bond following her arraignment Wednesday - two days after her father, Thomas Sherwin of Hud- sonville, died at age 90. Russo was appointed guardian to her father and her 83-year-old mother, Ada, in April 2007. Otta- wa County Probate Judge Mark Feyen removed her from the post in July 2008 after allegations of fraud emerged. " Russo's lawyer, Kelly Lambert, tells The Grand Rapids Press his client only borrowed the money and always intended to return it. NEW YORK Man posing as lawyer scams immigrants A convicted bigamist posing as a veteran immigration lawyer scammed thousands of dollars from Guyanese immigrants and gave them advice so bad they now face deportation, prosecu- tors said Thursday. Wilmer Rivera Melendez promised green cards but pur- sued avenues that would never yield them, changed his phone number to evade his "clients" when they started asking ques- tions and even startled some by proposing they marry him in order to get legal residency, prosecutors said. Melendez, 60, denied the alle- gations, which add to a series of far-flung and colorful brushes with the law. Records show he was imprisoned for bigamy in Georgia; prosecutors said he also was convicted in an office bur- glary in the U.S. Virgin Islands and broke out of an Ohio jail through a ceiling hole in 1971. MEXICO CITY Overweight " police officers put on diet The NYPD have their dough- nuts. Mexico City police offi- cers have their tacos. Too many, apparently. The Mexican capital is puttingits 1,300 heaviestpolice officers on adiettoncerned about expanding waistlines in the force. Mexico City Public Safety official Noral Prias said 70 percent of the capital's 70,000-member force is overweight. However, the diet program will start with 1,300 officers with the most serious weight-related health problems. She said the officers will be given blood and cholesterol tests to determine a personalized diet plan for each. "We can't tell them, 'Don't eat sandwiches and tacos,"' Frias said. "What we can tell them is if you eatonesandwich today, if you eat three tacos today, then bal- ance it with some vegetables." FORT COLLINS, Colo. Boy believed to have floated away in balloon found safe at home A 6-year-old boy was found hiding in a cardboard box in his family's garage Thursday after be- ing feared aboard ahomemade he- lium balloon that hurtled 50 miles through the sky on live television. The discoverymarked a bizarre endto asagathatstartedwhen the giant silvery balloon floated away from the family's yard Thursday morning, sparking a frantic res- cue operation that involved mili- tary helicopters and briefly halted some departures from Denver In- ternational Airport. Then, more than two hours after the balloon gently touched down in a field with no sign of the boy, Sheriff Jim Alderden turned to reporters duringa news confer- ence, gave a thumbs up and said 6-year-old Falcon Heene was "at 0 the house." "Apparently he's been there the whole time," he said. - Compiled from Daily wire reports NY State Sen. acquitted of felony assault President Barack Obama greets the crowd after par ticipating in a town hall meeting yesterday at the Universit y of New Orleans in New Orleans. Obama is hearing directly from area people about Gulf Coast rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina. Obama defends G Coast recovery plans Surveillance tapes show state senator assaulting girlfriend NEW YORK (AP) - A freshman state senator was acquitted yes- terday of smashing a glass into his girlfriend's face, but was convict- ed of a lesser charge for dragging her bleeding from his apartment in a violent scene caught on vid- eotape. State Sen. Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat, would have lost his Senate seat if convicted of second-degree felony assault. He faces up to a year in prison at his sentencing Dec. 4 on a mis- demeanor count of third-degree reckless assault for injuring Karla Giraldo while pullingher through a lobby as she resisted, crying and latching on to banisters. While a misdemeanor convic- tion doesn't automatically force Monserrate to vacate his Senate seat, it opens the door for col- leagues to consider passing a res- olution to either censure or expel him. That would require a 32-vote majority following a committee investigation. Republicans hold 30 seats and would need just two Democrats to join them to remove Monserrate, whose term runs through 2010. Monserrate, 42, said he tripped while holding the glass, and rushed her to a hospital. Giraldo also said it was an accident. The wound above her left eye required between 20 and 40 stitches. "A terrible accident occurred to my girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, a person that I love, and I have to live with that forever. There were nowinnershere," Monserrate said outside court after the verdict. The outcome of the case rested mainly with Giraldo's testimony. She said on the witness stand that her language barrier (Giral- do's native language is Spanish) prevented her from communicat- ing properly with the staff at Long Island Jewish-North Shore Medi- cal Center. But she also dodged the pros- ecution's questions, sometimes answering only when the judge ordered her to and often contra- dicted previous statements she made. Assistant district attorney Scott Kessler said during closing arguments that she wasn't cred- ible, and she lied on the witness stand to protect her abusive boy- friend. But Judge William Erlbaum, ruling in a non-jury trial, said Giraldo's testimony carried more weight than that of the medical personnel, and it had to be taken at face value. "There are two people who have actual knowledge about what happened in that apartment," Erl- baum said. "Can one know she's not being forgiving or that she's not being compassionate? One can't know that." Prosecutors said Monserrate- a Marine and ex-cop - smashed Giraldo's face during an argument at his apartment Dec. 19 sparked by another man's card he found in her purse. Surveillance tape shows Mon- serrate take the card to the trash chute outside his apartment, wave it at Giraldo, and toss it down. They spent the next two hours fighting, according to testimony from a downstairs neighbor who said she banged on the ceiling with a broom to get them to quiet down. She heard a woman crying and a thump. Grainy surveillance footage later showed Giraldo making a beeline for the neighbor's door, as Monserrate grabbed her and dragged her downstairs. District attorney Richard A. Brown, speaking after the verdict, said the conviction justified the Obama fires back at critics on his first trip to the Gulf Coast NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Insist- inghe's "justgettingstarted," Pres- ident Barack Obama defended his administration yesterday against complaints from some residents of the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast thatfederalhelp inrecoveringfrom the 2005 disasters hasn't improved much since he took office. "We've got a long way to go but we've made progress," Obama told a town hall at the University of New Orleans. "We're working as hard as we can and as quickly as we can." As a candidate, Obama criticized former President George W. Bush's response to Katrina, when the gov- ernment showed up late and unpre- pared and the Federal Emergency Management Agency became the object of widespread scorn. Thestorm killedsomet1,600peo- ple in Louisiana and Mississippi - and damage has been estimated at roughly $40 billion. The damage is still starkly visible in New Orleans - in blighted neighborhoods of creaky houses, boarded-up busi- nesses, structure after structure awaiting demolition and critical recovery work not yet started. Obama wanted to use his first visit as president to the Gulf Coast to listen to residents' concerns about the recovery effort. And although most questions were on unrelated subjects, one man gave him an earful. "I expected as much from the Bush administration, but why are we still being nickeled and dimed in our recovery?" asked Gabriel Bordenave, 29, of New Orleans. "I wish I could write a blank check," Obama replied, promot- ing Bordenave to shout back, "Why not?" Obama claimed progress since he entered the White House in January. He cited reconstruction projects that have moved forward after having been stalled by dis- agreements over whether the state or federal government would foot the bill. FEMA is working "around the clock to clear up red tape and to eliminate bureaucracy on backlogs that go back years," he said. According to FEMA, 76 of the 120 Louisiana reconstruction proj- ects that were stuck at the begin- ning of his presidency have been resolved, sending more than $1.4 billion in additional federal aid to Louisiana. "I know since a lot of these problems have been going on since Katrina, people understandably* feel impatient," Obayna told the crowd of, several hundred who won tickets in an Internet lottery to attend. "On the other hand, a lot of these things are not going to be fixed tomorrow." Obama said officials from his administration have made 35 trips to the Gulf Coast since March - and "notjust to make appearances, but to listen and to learn and help you move forward." In his opening remarks, Obama acknowledged residents' frustra- tion about the pace of recovery. As evidence, he cited firefighters working from a trailer at a newly reopened school in the Lower Ninth ward that he visited earlier Thursday. "It's clear how far we have to go before we can call this recovery a success," Obama said, noting sew- ers and roads that still need repair, houses and hospitals that are still vacant and schools and neighbor- hoods still waiting to thrive. - All Day Fish Fry Platter for $6.99 f~claO~s - eazt 77e 610-CL Domestic Bottles Start At $1 -re 0apyHor in0ufet4 T. Police hero in Ill.university shooting faces suspension '1 laynnrdst ~.nn na Nn T4A Wsa.n ss ,aNmajte otna ws nrsnrrkinn 4an i iv ividy iii u ot.-ruuu i u uu tiff vvu.u i uu-ivcAt to u w ividyi iai u rdminy 3u uutui It 00I3.0E Northern Illinois University police chief criticized for gruff demeanor CHICAGO (AP) - Atough-talk- ing police chief hailed as a hero for leading his men into a North- ern Illinois University classroom last year after a gunman opened fire is now seen by some as a vil- lain, of sorts, and is in danger of losing his $199,000-a-year job. The persona that won Donald Grady laurels from survivors of the Valentine's Day shooting that left five students and the gun- man dead is a now liability, say a growing number of critics who accuse Grady of being combative and uncooperative. Criticism of NIU's 6-foot-5 top cop came to a head recently after an editor of the campus newspa- per accused Grady of threatening and shouting at him during an interview that became a three- hour tirade. "It's time to put an end to this mess. It's time for a change," the Northern Star student paper wrote in a blistering editorial calling for Grady's removal. It accused him of an "empirical reign" and of employing intimi- dation to get his way. School officials put the 56-year-old Grady on paid leave for 30 days starting last week while a panel reviews the alle- gations by editor in chief Justin Weaver. A finding by next month could result in Grady's dismissal, NIU spokeswoman Kathy Buett- ner said. Grady responded to an e-mail yesterday saying he couldn't dis- cuss the matter. But NIU police Sgt. Ramon Holland defended his boss in a let- ter in Wednesday's Northern Star, praising Grady for pushingofficers to improve their skills and to meet the highest ethical standards. The newspaper's main concern was Grady's strained relations with other area agencies, said Weaver. The 22-year-old from Beloit, Wis., said that threatened to undermine overall campus security. "Because of that, combined with the hostile work atmosphere that a lot of people in the univer- sity say he creates, we believe we'd be better served with some- one more willing to work with other agencies," he said. DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott is among the officials who have publicly backed the paper's call for Grady's ouster or resig- nation. "NIU has isolated itself under his leadership," Scott said. The sheriff hastened to praise Grady's immediate response to the attack on Feb. 14, 2008. As 911 calls came in about gun- shots, Grady, a former sprint star, bolted from his office and ran the 400 yards between his office and Cole Hall against waves of screaming students fleeing the complex. Grady and several officers rushed into the classroom. The shooter, 27-year-old former NIU student Steven Kazmierczak, already was dead of a self-inflict- ed gunshot. But survivors praised Grady for displaying bravery when he couldn't have known that, and for quickly administer- ing aid and comforting injured students. Grady also won kudos for bol- stering campus security earlier and for drawing up plans for crisis scenarios - including a shooting on the 25,000-student campus. For weeks after the tragedy, students applauded Grady when he walked by, some even hugging him. But his critics say that however good Grady may be in a crisis, he's less well-suited for the day-to-day grind of a campus police chief. Controversy has dogged Grady, who also is from Beloit, Wis., during his career. After becoming Wisconsin's first black police chief in the mostly white town of Bloomer in 1989, he cre- ated a stir by issuing nearly 300 tickets, including to himself, for violations of a snow-shoveling ordinance. When he became Santa Fe, N.M., chief in 1994, he ordered officers to stop accepting free cups of coffee on the job and banned bolo ties. Police responded with a 103- to-5 no-confidence vote in their boss. After digging in his heels for two years, Grady resigned, saying his reforms had encountered too much resistance. And at NIU, well before the shooting, staff of the student newspaper had already com- plained that he often withheld standard crime reports, requir- ing the paper to file Freedom of Information Act requests. He has failed so far to release an official report on the Valentine's Day shooting. Asked earlier this year why he hadn't done so, Grady said he would rather not hear the gunman's name again, that he didn't want to give Kazmierczak the notoriety he sought. He also said there's no dispute about what he deemed the most important facts. "You want to know who the suspect is? You know that. He's dead," said Grady, his stern, booming voice rising. "You want to know how many guns he had? You know that. You want to know how many victims there were? You know that. What else do you need to know?" OW TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20TH from 11am to 6pm WJ4ER E BISTRO SPORTS BAR and GRILL 4735 Washtenaw Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48108 A VALID ID. AND RECENT PHOTO FOR MORE INFO VISIT WWW.SUNI?4-Mt)RRAY4.OM ,,..a. RO ft OCT Ot f t