Nation briefs 05/27/03

Board votes to expel all students involved in hazing

GLENVIEW, Ill. -- The 31 high school seniors suspended as a result of a videotaped hazing incident in suburban Chicago have been expelled, but will be allowed to receive their diplomas on time, school officials said.

At a meeting late Sunday, the Glenbrook High School District 225 Board of Education also voted to uphold the suspensions of all of the students.

The students will be banned from the school grounds and all school activities, including the graduation ceremony, but the school will freeze their grades at previous levels instead of automatically flunking them, said Superintendent Dave Hales.

Videotape of the May 4 event shows juniors from the school being showered with mud, paint, feces and garbage as onlookers, some holding beer cups, cheered.

Fifteen students have been charged with misdemeanor battery, while two students and two adults were charged with alcohol-related misdemeanors for allegedly providing beer to underage drinkers.

Woman set on fire during argument at gas station

MARIETTA, Ga. -- A woman has been charged with aggravated battery for allegedly dousing another woman with a half-gallon of gasoline and setting her on fire during an argument at a gas station.

Anjail Durriyyah Muhammad of Gadsden, Ala., was charged with aggravated battery, a felony punishable with up to 20 years in prison. She was being Monday held in the Cobb County jail.

Authorities identified the victim as Nodiana Antoine, who was hospitalized in critical condition Monday with burns over more than 64 percent of her body.

The arrest warrant said Muhammad maliciously caused bodily harm by seriously disfiguring Antoine's feet, arms and torso by pouring gasoline on her and lighting her on fire Sunday morning.

Pierce did not say what started the argument between the two women. Both had gasoline on their clothes.

Search continues for missing sailor aboard ship

NORFOLK, Va. -- The Navy ended its search of the Atlantic Ocean Monday for a sailor reported missing a day earlier but was still searching the ship where he was last seen. The Navy said it was not ready to consider him lost at sea.

Petty Officer 1st Class Shaun Dale failed to appear at a roll call 10 a.m. Sunday aboard the USS Nassau, and a search of the 833-foot amphibious assault ship and the Atlantic waters began.

Second Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ernest Duplessis said Monday that the USS Nassau has resumed course for North Carolina, where it was scheduled to disembark its contingent of Marines from Camp Lejeune.

"The sea portion of the search has ended," Duplessis said. "We are continuing to search on board, and the sailor remains in a 'missing' status.

"Hopefully, he will turn up," Duplessis said.

Just days earlier, another sailor fell overboard from the same ship and is presumed dead.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Dwayne Williams, 23, of Philadelphia, tripped and fell from the Nassau Friday while chasing a football about 900 miles off the Virginia coast, officials said. The Navy had ended its search Sunday without finding Williams' body.

Duplessis said he did not know how often sailors are lost at sea or how unusual it might be for two sailors to go missing from the same ship in such a short time.

-- From wire reports