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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Something bad happened’ to teen

Compiled from wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Oranjestad, Aruba One of three young men who took an Alabama teenager to the beach during a high school graduation trip to Aruba said “something bad happened” to her, police said Friday.

Deputy Police Commissioner Gerold Dompig told The Associated Press that the man was leading police late Friday to the scene. He refused to identify which young man had made the statement.

Natalee Holloway, 18, disappeared May 30 while on a five-day trip to the Caribbean island with 124 classmates and seven chaperones celebrating their graduation from Mountain Brook High School, near Birmingham. Police found her U.S. passport and packed bags in her hotel room.

Three men – two brothers from Suriname and a Dutch student – were arrested Thursday. The three detainees were ages 17, 18 and 21.

Klansman faces charges for pipe bomb plot

Chattanooga, Tenn. A Ku Klux Klansman helped build seven pipe bombs that a federal informant told him would be rigged to vehicles used by Haitians and Hispanics, a federal agent testified Friday at a detention hearing.

Videotapes of meetings between the informant and Daniel Schertz, 27, showed them making the bombs and discussing how they would be used, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Lorin Coppock testified.

Schertz also “offered on numerous occasions” to participate in bombings that were concocted as part of the investigation, the agent said.

In a six-count indictment unsealed Friday, Schertz is accused of teaching and demonstrating how to make and use a bomb to further a violent crime, making such devices and possessing a pistol with armor-piercing bullets.

He was arrested May 19 in South Carolina following a seven-month investigation. A July trial date has been set.

Shertz’s attorney, Mike Caputo, said he wanted to see the government’s evidence before commenting. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Brooks also declined to discuss the case.

S.F. archdiocese settles 15 priest abuse claims

San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco agreed Friday to settle 15 pending lawsuits involving allegations of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests for $21.2 million, the church said.

Under the settlement brokered by a retired judge who is still mediating about 40 cases, the archdiocese will pay out $6.6 million, with the rest coming from its insurers. Several other cases have gone to trial.

“During the course of the recent trials and settlement discussions, we have heard the victims’ anger and grief over the impact that the abuse has had on their lives and the lives of their families and friends,” said San Francisco Archbishop William Levada.

“It is our hope that the settlement of these cases will facilitate the process of healing for these victims,” he added.

Ten of the 15 cases involved allegations against one priest, the Rev. Joseph Pritchard, who died in 1988.

Redd nominated for intelligence post

Washington President Bush Friday nominated retired Vice Adm. John Redd, who served as executive director of the presidential commission on intelligence, to run the National Counterterrorism Center in McLean, Va., and called on Congress to renew the USA Patriot Act to help law enforcement officials like such as Redd hunt and capture terrorists.

Visiting the new Northern Virginia facility, which is responsible for analyzing intelligence on terrorism and for the strategic planning of counterterrorism operations, Bush said Redd is a “man of enormous experience” who will be a “good boss” at the NCTC.