Kenner police arrest suspected online child predator

Kenner police have arrested a Texas man on charges of using the Internet to arrange a sexual encounter with a detective posing as an underage girl.
Pat Malone Terry Jr.
Pat Malone Terry Jr., 36, of Kilgore, Texas, was arrested Monday when he arrived in Kenner at the designated location with 22 grams of marijuana he allegedly intended to share with the girl, detective Brian McGregor said.He said Terry logged into an online chat room Monday and began a sexually explicit dialogue with a detective posing as an underage girl.
Terry, who used the screen name "waterboyforyou2000," used a Web cam to send video of himself masturbating and asked to meet for sex, saying he would bring marijuana for the girl, McGregor said.
Police said Terry arrived at the designated meeting location in Kenner less than three hours after he initiated the online dialogue.
Terry, who told police he was in the area visiting relatives in LaPlace and Lutcher, was booked with computer aided solicitation of a juvenile, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile.
He is the 49th suspect arrested by Kenner police on computer solicitation charges since 2005.

For link to article:http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/kenner_police_arrest_suspected.html

Slidell man on trial in woman's death

A 47-year-old Slidell man defending himself this week against a charge of first-degree murder says he's fighting for his life.
Virgil "Scoop" Smith

But many people would say Virgil "Scoop" Smith has nothing left to lose. Smith already has received two life sentences for crimes he committed while in jail awaiting the current trial. This week, he is on trial in Covington in connection with the death of a 25-year-old woman who had persuaded his wife to leave him. On March 16, 2001, two days after his wife, Lori, informed him that she had filed for divorce, Chanda Ladner was found dead in her Slidell area home. Ladner had helped his wife escape his constant physical and emotional abuse, according to various court testimony Tuesday.

To read full article by by Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune.
Tuesday July 22, 2008, 8:48 PM

Link:http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/slidell_man_on_trial_in_womans.html

Tugboat operators involved in collision not properly licensed

Three tugs hold in place another tug following a collision between a tugboat and an oil tanker on the Mississippi River which spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil in the river Wednesday, July 23,2008.

A sheen of oil can be see on the river surface near Stone Oil in Gretna following a collision between a tugboat and an oil tanker on the Mississippi River which spilled 9000 barrels of diesel in the river Wednesday, July 23,2008.

The Coast Guard says no one was properly licensed aboard a tugboat that hit a tanker early Wednesday, causing hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel oil to spill into the Mississippi River.
Coast Guard spokesman Stephen Lehmann in New Orleans says the tugboat operator had an apprentice mate's license, and no one else on the vessel had any license to drive the boat on the river. To pilot a tugboat, the operator should have had a master's license, Lehmann said.
The Coast Guard says the revelation is part of an in-depth investigation into Wednesday's collision. The name of the tugboat operator has not been released. Meanwhile, Admiral Joel Whitehead, who commands the 8th Coast Guard District, covering much of the southern United States, has initiated a personal investigation of the collision.
A 58-mile stretch of the Mississippi River could remain closed for days because of the collision, after a tanker collided with a barge being pulled by a tugboat, slicing the barge in half and causing hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy fuel oil to spill into the waterway.
No injuries were reported in the collision, but the heavy smell of fuel has continued to plague the French Quarter and other parts of the city.
The Coast Guard said that it had extended the closure area to 58 miles to as far south as Port Sulphur in Plaquemines Parish. Ships are being told not to enter the mouth of the river at Southwest Pass unless they have business south of river closure area, the Coast Guard said. Oil has been spotted to mile 60 around Point a la Hache area.
The Coast Guard is still investigating the cause of the incident. Captains of the tugboat and the tanker have been tested for drug and alcohol use, but the Coast Guard is not releasing any specifics until its investigation is complete.
In the meantime, state environmental officials are coordinating a massive effort to consolidate the oil and prevent it from drifting farther south, where there are more levee breaks that would allow it to leach into the wetlands.

To read the full article by Ramon Antonio Vargas and Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday July 23, 2008, 5:30 PM
Link: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/ap_collision_closes_mississipp.html