$20 registration includes two games. Raffle prizes will be given throughout event, raffle tickets will be available for purchase. Lunch boxes may be purchased for $8.00 a box which includes: hot dog or hamburger, fries and a nonalcoholic drink.
On December 26, 2011 at approximately 7:57PM the Desert Hot Springs Police Department received a frantic 911 call from a woman reporting she was the victim of an attempted kidnapping that occurred at Two Bunch Palms Trail and Ocotillo Road.
The victim told police two black adult men had followed her as she walked home and one of the men attempted to grab and force her into their vehicle. Within twenty minutes of the crime officers located a vehicle matching the suspect vehicle description as provided by the victim. The sole occupant/driver Christopher Spears was contacted and detained.
The victim positively identified Spears and his vehicle. Spears was arrested and later booked into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning for attempted kidnapping. The second suspect in this investigation is still at large. Any information about this crime or the identity of the outstanding suspect can be forwarded to the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.
SUSPECT/ARRESTEE: Christopher Spears (48 year old Cathedral City resident)
Suspect #2 description:
Black male adult approximately 20-25 years of age, 6’00” – 6’01”, thin build wearing all black clothing.
Any questions regarding this press release should be directed to the Desert Hot Springs Police Department or Police Sergeant Brian Link at 760.329.6411.
Do you own flashlights? Or pay with cash instead of a credit card? And do grocery shopping for the week? I do. You probably do – and guess what, according to the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, that could make both of us terrorists.
Recently, a Department of Homeland Security video has been making its way around the Internet; it tells people in no mixed terms that “paying cash is suspicious and weird.” In an assertive, yet calm voice, the narrator tells viewers that, “if a patron appears nervous or anxious, or insists on paying cash, contact security personnel. This IS suspicious behavior.”
So basically, if you’ve had a stressful day and don’t have a credit card, you’re done for.
This suggestion, and many others, has been sent out to hotels across the United States as part of the DHS’ ongoing “See something, Say something” program. It even includes an 84-page manual, grandly titled, “Protective Measures Guide for the US Lodging Industry” – which points out that asking for privacy, among other things, is a red flag.
And that’s really what this boils down to: a war on privacy. A potential terrorist, argue the US security agencies, is much easier to track if he uses a credit card. Credit card use provides Big Brother instant access to the buyer’s contact information, purchase history – and, if need be, the ability to cut off his financial supply in an instant.
But the implementation of this idea is a rather grim prospect: instead of using an existing system to aid their efforts, agencies like the DHS and the FBI are effectively taking away the freedom of choice guaranteed in a supposedly free country.
Don’t want to live on credit? Potential terrorist. Nervous? Potential terrorist. Don’t want to be disturbed? Potential terrorist.
And it gets worse. In an FBI pamphlet distributed to military surplus stores, people who “make bulk purchases of items including weatherproofed ammunition or match containers, meals ready to eat or night vision devices including flashlights” should be reported. Because all those things are “potential indicators of terrorist activities.”
Libya’s former rebels are urging Syrians to follow their revolutionary path. Hundreds of mercenaries, some of them former terrorists, are ready to take up arms again to help overthrow President Assad.
In less than three months, Libyan rebels have gone from being hailed as liberators to being condemned as occupiers, reports RT’s Oksana Boyko. People in the capital, Tripoli, rally almost every week, calling on the armed militia to leave.
For some of Libya’s young men, hooked on adrenaline and unwilling to part with their rifles, Syria seems like the next logical destination.
“We’re all ready to join the Syrian revolution and, with the help of Allah, we’ll make sure that what happened in Libya repeats itself,” one young rebel told RT.
Portraits of Che Guevara are now ubiquitous on the streets of Tripoli, with some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary.
“With the help of Allah, we can all be like Che Guevara, fighting for peace and freedom around the world,” another rebel said.
And it seems that Che Guevara’s idea of exporting revolutions is being reborn in the Middle East. The Arab Spring has created a buoyant market for soldiers of fortune, who now appear to be moving from one revolution to another. Some are motivated by personal gain, some by conviction, but for others it’s about the adventure. They fight for their own version of freedom, and for now at least, it’s the freedom to live by the gun.
One man’s terrorist could easily be another man’s freedom fighter but, for the United States, it’s now two in one. Abdelhakim Belhadj, one of the leaders of the Tripoli militia, was once on the CIA’s most-wanted list. Today, he is the face of democratic Libya who, according to RT’s sources, led a group of several hundred Libyan rebels to Syria just last month.
The new Libyan authorities are all too eager to wave goodbye to the unruly gunmen who helped them get into power. And it seems the new ruling authority in the North African country is encouraging the export of its warrior heroes to another battle front.
“We want to help to support the Syrian people, because they are facing the same situation as we faced before,” explains Mohamed Alhuraizi of the Libyan National Transitional Council. “We appreciated the help that came to the Libyan people, and if we could provide the Syrian people with any help to get their freedom, I think we should do it,” he says.
The use of soldiers of fortune is hardly new in this troubled region. Middle Eastern rulers used them for centuries as safeguards against their own populations. Now it now looks like the story of the region’s mercenaries is continuing in a new – and no less bloody – chapter.
Friday, November 11, 2011 marks the eighty-three year anniversary of the “Great War to End all Wars – World War I. Once designated as Armistice Day but now known as Veteran’s Day, November 11th is a day set aside as a way to honor all American veterans.
“Return Fire”, the one act dramedy written by Alan Fitzsimons and directed by Dean Apple, tells the story of a little known incident that took place at Fort Stevens, Oregon on June 12, 1942. It’s the first such incident of its kind – the bombing of U.S. soil by an offshore Japanese submarine. A cast of eight locally based actors tell the story of what really happened late that June night.
The cast includes: Dean Apple, Brooke Baxley, Jake Cohen, David Drury, Marion Pettygrove, Wesley Thomas, and Jeff Wood. The play is set in an army barracks and along the beach at Fort Stevens, Oregon. The burning question behind playwright Fitzsimons’ tale is: Why did the Post Commander fail to return fire on the Japanese submarine. What was happening during the critical moments leading up to the attack and after the attack was over?
The play begins with a TV host (Dean Apple) interviewing Marion Pettygrove and Conrad Vargas two civilian veterans, who play themselves, concerning their recollections of what took place on June 12th, 1942. The play then segues back to the time of the actual incident and we follow the action from there forward. Two of the soldiers, PFC Jake Cohen and Sergeant “Pappy” Drury, take a light and comedic approach to the puzzling question, while, “Walnut” Thomas and the Post cook, Cookie Jeff Wood, are concerned that the incident isn’t getting the serious attention it demands. As a way of getting the information out to the public Brooke Baxley, a reporter from the local newspaper, gets permission to interview some of the soldiers at the Army post to see if the soldiers can shed some additional light on incident.
The attack by Japanese sub I-25 fired 17 rounds of shells onto the beach but caused no real damage except for a baseball backstop in the Fort recreation area. The larger issue is why did Army personnel fail to return fire? After all, the country was at war, and the Post should have been on 24 hour alert.
Come to the Joslyn Senior Center in Palm Desert to find out the answers on Friday, November 11, 2011, at 7 pm for this one performance only.
Tickets are only $ 5.00 and may be obtained by going online to deanapple1@hotmail.com or by purchasing tickets at the door of the Arthur Newman Theatre at the Joslyn Senior Center, located at 73-750 Catalina Way, Palm Desert.
As a side note: The play is being filmed on Friday evening by well known Coachella Valley Director of Photography and Videographer Renee Vargas, who is producing and directing a movie version using the stage play performance, as well as additional footage, to complete the movie which is scheduled for release in 2012.
Date: January 29, 2012
