Nation briefs 09/23/02

Fla. commissioner wants to govern from abroad

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Bob Sindler wants to participate in democracy by serving as an Orange County commissioner while defending it as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve.

But he is drawing criticism for his plan to represent his district via phone and computer while he serves at an undisclosed location -- likely overseas, possibly central Asia -- for up to a year.

"I promise you the next year will be tough, but you'll be in good hands," Sindler told constituents, referring to his two office staffers. "It will be difficult, but we have some very important things to do in the world to keep democracy safe."

Sindler could ask the governor to appoint a temporary replacement. But he hasn't, upsetting those who count on him for support.

Jury convicts second man in 1991 killings

AUSTIN, Texas -- A man was convicted of capital murder Sunday for killing a 13-year-old girl at a yogurt shop 11 years ago.

Michael Scott, 28, was the second defendant convicted in the slayings of four girls at the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt Shop. Police said he confessed to shooting and strangling Amy Ayers after he was arrested in 1999, but his defense attorneys argued police intimidated Scott.

He could be sentenced to death or life in prison when the penalty phase of the trial starts Monday. He also could be tried for the other deaths, prosecutors said.

Ayers, Eliza Hope Thomas, 17, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Harbison, 17 and 15, were killed at the yogurt shop where two of the girls worked. The girls were bound, gagged and shot in the head, and the store was set on fire Dec. 6, 1991.

In a 20-hour videotaped statement, Scott provided details that only the killer would know, investigators said. Some details matched those given by a high school classmate, Robert Springsteen IV, who last year was convicted and sentenced to death in the murders.

A third suspect, Maurice Pierce, 27, is awaiting trial.

Mother in taped beating says she was upset TINLEY PARK, Ill. -- A woman caught on videotape beating her child in a store parking lot said Sunday she lost her temper because she was having a bad day.

Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, told reporters Sunday she hit her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, in the head and back and pulled her hair -- but did not punch her.

On a surveillance videotape of the Sept. 13 incident, which has been televised nationally, Toogood appears to make punching motions toward her daughter, who is mostly hidden within the sport-utility vehicle.

"Martha didn't deserve what she got," Toogood said. "I just lost my temper."

The girl, Martha Toogood, was placed in foster care when her mother turned herself in to authorities, who said the girl had no visible injuries.

Authorities said Toogood left the Kohl's department store in northern Indiana angry because she was denied a cash refund for two pairs of jeans; she denied that the failed refund attempt was connected to the beating.

Vandals strike symbolic shelter built for Sukkot

BOULDER, Colo. -- Swastikas were drawn on a temporary wooden shelter built on the University of Colorado campus to celebrate the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot.

"My first response was shock and terrible sadness, and I would not want my daughter to go to CU and come to the sukkah and find this," said Joshua Fallik, an art teacher who reported the vandalism Saturday.

The Sukkot holiday began Friday and lasts for a week. Students probably won't be able to pray at the sukkah because of the desecration, Fallik said.

A police officer said the crime was classified as defacing property.

The sukkah, built by the Jewish student group CU Hillel and by Lubavitch of Boulder, also has been the focus of American Civil Liberties Union attention. The ACLU is questioning whether the sukkah could be considered a promotion of a particular religion on campus.

-- From wire reports