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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Horse Killer Sentenced

Compiled From Wire Services

A federal judge has sentenced Rhode Island native Barney Ward to 33 months in prison for arranging the killing of four show horses so their owners could collect $570,000 in insurance money.

The judge in Chicago also ordered Ward to pay $200,000 restitution to the American Livestock Insurance Company of Geneva, Ill., in connection with the killing of a fifth horse.

The dead animals included Roseau Platiere, insured for $75,000 by Rhode Island trainer Paul Valliere of North Smithfield, and Charisma, insured for $250,000 by Brown University graduate George Lindemann Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., heir to a fortune valued at $800 million. Federal investigators said Lindemann and Valliere were dissatisfied with their horses’ performances.

A veterans group filed suit in federal court claiming the sports arena being constructed as a new home for the Washington Bullets and Capitals is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The suit filed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America asks the court to order that the MCI Center be built in compliance with the ADA, which was passed in 1990.

“The vast majority of proposed wheelchair locations provide wheelchair users with obstructed views of the action,” said the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “As currently designed, spectators at 70 to 80 percent of the proposed wheelchair locations at the MCI Center would be unable to see the field of play when able-bodied patrons stood up … they would miss the critical moments of events they pay to see,” said the PVA, which represents 17,000 veterans with spinal injuries.

Lawrence Phillips, former Nebraska star running back and the St. Louis Rams’ No. 1 unsigned draft pick, could serve six months in a Nebraska jail for probation violation if he is convicted of drunken driving in California.

Phillips was arrested by the California Highway Patrol early Thursday morning after racing past a patrol car at high speed while running on a flat tire, then failed two breath tests with blood-alcohol levels of 0.15 and 0.16. California’s legal limit is 0.08.

Phillips is on probation in Lincoln, Neb., for an incident last fall.