Nation in brief: Suspect denies 1964 racial slayings
A reputed Ku Klux Klansman accused in the 1964 slayings of two black men pleaded not guilty Thursday, and in a measure of how things have changed across the South, the judge he stood before was a black woman.
With his wrists and ankles shackled, 71-year-old James Ford Seale repeatedly addressed the judge as “ma’am,” a social courtesy whites typically denied to blacks in Mississippi 43 years ago.
Seale was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy. Prosecutors said Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19, were seized and beaten by Klansmen, then thrown into the Mississippi River to drown.
A second white man long suspected in the attack, reputed KKK member Charles Marcus Edwards, 72, has not been charged.
SHAWNEE, Kan.
Boy, 5, brings gun to school
A 5-year-old boy took an unloaded semiautomatic handgun to school and showed it off to at least one classmate, police said.
School officials had not decided what disciplinary action would be taken against the boy, but a federal law requires expulsion for students who bring a gun to school, said LeighAnne Neal, a spokeswoman for the Shawnee Mission School District.
Shawnee police Capt. Ron Copeland said the boy’s father had found the .22-caliber handgun while cleaning out a drawer at home. After he showed it to the child and relayed a message about the dangers of guns, the boy’s mother said to get rid of it.
SAN FRANCISCO
Wife clubs cougar attacking husband
Wildlife officials on Thursday credited a woman with saving her husband’s life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced. Nell Hamm said she beat the cat with a four-inch-wide log, and eventually it let go.
After the attack, game wardens closed the park about 320 miles north of San Francisco and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened. The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal mauled the man.
Jim Hamm, 70, was in fair condition Thursday. He had to have his lips stitched up and underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body.
WARWICK, R.I.
School bans talking in lunchroom
A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted new lunchroom rules this week requiring students to remain silent while eating. The move comes after three recent choking incidents in the cafeteria.
No one was hurt, but the principal of St. Rose of Lima School explained in a letter to parents that if the lunchroom is loud, staff members cannot hear a child choking.
Principal Jeannine Fuller did not immediately return a call seeking comment, but a spokesman for the Diocese of Providence described the silence rule as a temporary safety measure.