Nation digest 09/21/02

Devices cause evacuation of part of Georgia town

BARNESVILLE, Ga. -- Several blocks in downtown Barnesville were evacuated Friday as police and bomb units investigated several suspicious devices.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Rusty Andrews said eight or nine canisters were found over a three- or four-block area in Barnesville, a town of about 6,000 people 50 miles south of Atlanta.

A bomb squad detonated four of the devices, but no live explosives were found. They were described as 4-by-9-inch canisters, with red and white wires and size-C batteries attached.

Several hundred people were evacuated around 8 a.m.

"If they are hoax devices, they have certainly been fixed up to resemble live explosive devices," Andrews said. "The ones we have found to this point are all similar in appearance."

Kentucky governor admits to having affair

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Gov. Paul Patton on Friday tearfully admitted to having an "inappropriate personal relationship" with a woman who is suing him for sexual harassment. He denied he used his influence to assist or damage her business, a nursing home, as she has alleged.

"I have now apologized to the people of Kentucky and asked for your forgiveness," the married governor said. "I do believe that now I am on the right path."

Patton, 65, a Democrat and chairman of the National Governors Association, said he already apologized to his wife of 25 years, Judi, and members of their family.

Patton initially denied the allegations made by Tina Conner. "The denial was another mistake," Patton said Friday.

Conner said she met Patton for sex numerous times in 1997 through 1999. She said Patton continued to call her and said she broke off the relationship in October 2001 and found state regulators at her nursing home two months later.

Judge annuls marriage of woman with Alzheimer's

DENVER -- A judge annulled the marriage of a woman with Alzheimer's disease after concluding that her husband, accused of spending nearly $300,000 of her fortune in Las Vegas, was only after her money.

Denver District Judge John Coughlin ruled Thursday that 79-year-old Glenna Birmingham was not mentally competent when she wed 41-year-old Wando Stevens in Las Vegas on New Year's Eve.

He rejected claims by Stevens that the two were in love.

"This court finds Mr. Stevens is a liar," the judge said. "If the district attorney pursues this case, I hope they can prove he was a thief."

Tips on crematory not acted on for 10 months

LaFAYETTE, Ga. -- Authorities received tips about decomposing bodies on the grounds of a Georgia crematory 10 months before they began investigating.

During those months, authorities say, 66 more bodies were delivered to the crematory and likely added to the hundreds of bodies already abandoned on the premises, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.

The probe of the Tri-State Crematory began in February and turned up 339 bodies strewn about or buried on the property. The crematory operator, Ray Brent Marsh, is now awaiting trial for allegedly accepting money for cremations that were never performed.

Authorities had received a tip about the crematory in April 2001, when a driver reported seeing decomposing bodies while making a delivery to the crematory.

No scissors allowed at airport ribbon ceremony

IMPERIAL, Pa. -- When it was time to cut the ribbon on a new exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport, there were no scissors to be found. The reason? Security.

A replica of a Tyrannosaurus rex was dedicated at the terminal Thursday, but security measures prevented anyone from using scissors to cut the ribbon.

They had to tear the ribbon instead.

Scissors and other objects that could be used as weapons were banned from the airport after Sept. 11.

-- From wire reports