California tackles prep steroid use
Irvine, Calif. California high school sports officials have approved three new regulations aimed at curbing steroid use among teen athletes, making it the first state in the nation to take such action.
The California Interscholastic Federation voted Friday to require parents, players and school officials to sign contracts promising that athletes won’t use steroids; regulate what dietary supplements coaches can distribute to athletes; and require coaches to earn a certification that includes steroids-abuse education.
The new rules take effect this fall, though coaches have until 2008 to earn the certificate. The council, which oversees high school sports in California, decided against requiring mandatory drug testing.
The California Interscholastic Federation is the first U.S. high school sports organization to take action aimed at curbing steroid use, but other states may follow suit later this spring, said Roger Blake, the group’s assistant executive director.
California lawmakers passed a measure last year that would have required students to pledge not to use performance-enhancing substances, but it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former “Mr. Universe.” He said parts of the bill mistakenly focused on dietary supplements and not the more dangerous steroids.
Man, 94, in wheelchair, dies after beating
Leesburg, Fla. A 94-year-old man who used a wheelchair was badly beaten inside his garage and died at the hospital later in the day, police said.
Police believe Irwin R. Null went into his garage Friday morning to meet a man who was interested in buying his van. Null was selling the vehicle because he could no longer drive.
Null’s 91-year-old wife heard him moaning a while later, but she could not get inside the garage because his wheelchair was blocking the door.
She called 911 and police broke down a side door. Officers found the retired truck driver and World War II veteran lying on the floor with a head wound pleading for help.
Police Capt. David L. Marden said nothing appeared to have been stolen from the home or victim.
Marden said Saturday that police were creating a sketch of the man Null was meeting on Friday and would like to talk to him. The man had not yet been identified, and was not being called a suspect.
Senior gets 10 years for selling painkillers
Tazewell, Va. A 74-year-old man who illegally sold prescription drugs was sentenced to 70 years in prison, but the judge suspended all except 10 years of the term.
Lloyd Edgar Williams Sr. pleaded guilty in January to distributing the powerful pain killer oxycodone and conspiracy to distribute.
Prosecutors said Williams, who sold the drugs out of a store he ran, also was convicted of distributing oxycodone in 1991 and served a prison term.
Williams’ attorney argued the defendant was in poor health and any prison term would amount to a life sentence, but Judge Henry Vanover said Friday that Williams was old enough to know better.
However, the judge suspended all but 10 years of the 70-year sentence.
Meter man charged with stealing $30,000
White Plains, N.Y. The man who was in charge of emptying parking meters in the town of Mount Kisco has been accused of stealing more than $30,000 in quarters.
Jason Berke, 29, was charged with grand larceny, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Friday.
Defense lawyer James Lenihan said Berke pleaded innocent at his arraignment Thursday night. “Nobody has bothered to tell me how they even determined that my client did anything wrong,” Lenihan said.
Pirro said that from April to December 2004, Berke would deposit coins once a week in change machines at grocery stores to get cash.
The thefts stopped after village officials, suspecting a loss of parking-meter revenue, changed the meter collection procedures, the district attorney said.
If convicted, Berke would face up to seven years in prison.