more from that creepy spokane mayor
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - New allegations of misconduct surfaced Tuesday against Mayor James West, who has rejected demands for his resignation amid allegations he offered city jobs to men he met in gay online chat rooms.
According to The Spokesman-Review, state Sen. Pam Roach said that when West served in the Legislature, he made an inappropriate sexual comment to her about her teenage son. The newspaper also said a man claimed that he was inappropriately touched during a pat-down search when West was a sheriff's deputy in the 1970s.
Through his attorney, Bill Etter, West denied the published reports.
"Mr. West denies each and every one of these allegations," Etter said.
The new allegations were part of a series of articles the newspaper has published about West, a conservative Republican and longtime opponent of gay rights. The Spokesman-Review has also reported allegations that West molested two boys in the 1970s when he was a Boy Scout leader, and that he offered gifts, favors and jobs at City Hall to young men he met online. [...]
Roach told the newspaper that West made the comment in the Senate chamber around 1990, when her then-18-year-old son was working as a tour guide in the state Capitol and West was a state senator.
"West told me, 'I want to do to your son what no mother would want to know,'" Roach said the former senator told her.
- Nicholas K. Geranios, "New Allegations Surface Against Spokane Mayor Accused of Sex Scandal," Associated Press May 24, 2005
posted May 24, 2005 in politicsharper lee briefly surfaces
Author Harper Lee, who has shunned publicity since the publication of her book To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960, has made a rare public appearance.
Lee, 79, stopped giving interviews after she won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1960 coming-of-age book, exploring racial prejudice in the American south.
The writer appeared in person to receive an award from the Los Angeles public library.
She was invited by Veronique Peck, the widow of actor Gregory Peck.
He won an Oscar for his starring role as lawyer Atticus Finch in the 1962 film version of the book and became a lifelong friend of Ms Lee.
The film's co-star Brock Peters, who played the black man falsely accused of rape, presented the award to her.
After receiving the award, Lee said: "I'll say it again. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart."
- "Harper Lee makes rare appearance," bbc news (via maud newton)
posted May 24, 2005 in printbaghdad photo
Unrelenting violence has gripped Iraq in recent weeks despite the formation of its government earlier this month, posing a challenge to the country's new leaders.
- Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters
posted May 24, 2005 in politics