Tour boat lacked crew, officials say
Lake George, N.Y. A tour boat that capsized on a New York lake, killing 20 people, did not have the required number of crew members aboard, leading state regulators to suspend licenses for all five vessels belonging to the company that operated the tour, officials said Monday.
The Ethan Allen, which overturned Sunday on Lake George while carrying 47 elderly tourists, was required by state boating regulations to have two crew members, said Wendy Gibson, spokeswoman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Authorities have said the only crew member aboard was Capt. Richard Paris.
Also Monday, authorities said the passengers aboard the tour boat were sitting on long benches and slid sharply to one side of the vessel just before it flipped over.
State police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said that investigators do not know what initially caused the Ethan Allen to tip. But he said passengers either slid or were thrown to one side of the boat after it began lurching. “And that, of course, would automatically mean an even bigger shift of weight,” he said.
The captain of the 40-foot glass-enclosed boat told authorities it was hit by waves from at least one other vessel and turned over as he tried to steer out of them, authorities said earlier Monday. The boat flipped so fast that none of the 47 passengers – all senior citizens, most of them from Michigan – could put on a life jacket.
Libby’s lawyer blames Miller for jail time
Washington A lawyer for I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, said Monday that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her attorneys are responsible for Miller’s 85 days in jail, reiterating that she was given permission a year ago to tell a prosecutor about private conversations she had with Libby.
Libby’s attorney, Joseph Tate, escalated the sharp dispute over exactly when Libby freed Miller to be questioned by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating whether any government officials broke the law by leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Miller was released from jail Thursday after serving more than 12 weeks for refusing to testify about her July 2003 conversations with Libby, on the grounds that she was protecting her source.
Man says interest in history led to theft
Madison, Wis. Some book worms live outside the law.
Matthew Brooke, 26, allegedly smashed a display case at the Wisconsin Historical Society to steal a Revolutionary War-era volume worth $5,000. He was charged Friday with felony theft of library materials and criminal damage to property.
Brooke went to the Historical Society on Thursday, according to a criminal complaint, and smashed the window on a second-floor antique display case with his elbow. He allegedly swiped the “Pennsylvania Evening Post” from inside the case.
The book is a collection of the newspaper’s issues dating from January to April 1777.
A police officer found the book stuck in the waistband of Brooke’s pants, the complaint said. Brooke told detectives he took the book because he wanted to read a story on page 106 about a historical figure named William Hill.