The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • A4

THE MORNING CALL NEWS 4 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011 protection-from-abuse order last November, Elonis posted on Facebook a lengthy diatribe about the fact it is illegal to say he wants to kill his wife. "I'm not actually saying it I'm just letting you know that it's illegal for me to say that," he posted. Elonis testified the post was borrowed nearly verbatim from a television comedy troupe called The Whitest Kids U'Know. In the short video sketch which Elonis' attorney, Benjamin Cooper, played for the jury an actor discusses the legal consequences of talking about killing the president. Assistant U.S.

Attorney Sherri A. Stephan presented testimony from Daniel Hall, the chief of security at Dorney Park Wild-water Kingdom. Hall said Elonis had been fired for posting an inappropriate photo and comment on Facebook regarding a In the photo, Elonis posed in an elaborate demon costume with a blade against a simulated gash across the woman's throat. A caption with the photo said "I wish." The co-worker, Amber Morrissey, testified she felt threatened because she had leveled a sexual harassment complaint against Elonis that led to his demotion. Later, when Elonis posted missives describing a 911-style attack on the park and suggesting he had keys to the park's gates that he would use to gain access for an attack during the park's Halloween Haunt event, Morrissey said she was so frightened that she picked out a hiding place inside the park.

Hall contacted the South Whitehall Township police and the FBI. "I was extremely concerned," Hall testified. "Someone who had a key to one of the gates could sneak in, in costume, and we would never know." Tara Elonis, 25, of Mertztown, Berks County, said she sought her restraining order after Elonis began writing about killing her. "If I only knew then what I know now, I would have smothered your ass with a pillow, dumped you in the back seat, left your body in Toad Creek and made it look like rape and murder," Anthony Elonis wrote, in an Oct. 10, 2010, Facebook post.

In his post about limitations on threats against his wife, Elonis included a diagram of his father-in-law's house to show how a person could launch an attack and make a clean getaway. Tara Elonis described it as an accurate depiction of the property. "I felt like I was being stalked," she said. "I felt extremely afraid for me and my children and my family's lives." peter.hallmcall.com 610-820-6581 TRIAL Continued from NEWS 1 the Facebook posts which also included threats to kill Berks deputy sheriffs, state troopers and an FBI agent constitute "true threats one of the narrow categories of speech not protected by the First Amendment. The standard for identifying a true threat, U.S.

District Judge Lawrence Stengel said, is whether a reasonable person would perceive a statement as a threat of death or bodily harm. Elonis testified he took steps to avoid running afoul of the law by posting disclaimers and researching the limits of First Amendment protection for free speech. Two days after his wife obtained a Minister Vladimir Putin for dragging the nation backward with his authoritarian style, and has cautioned the two-term former president against assuming the mantle a third time. Gorbachev's reputation is weaker in eastern Europe than it is in the West. "Respected by some, he's also vilified by large sectors of the population who hold him personally responsible for Russia's reduced international power and the economic and social woes the country experienced after the collapse of the Soviet Union," Sanborn said.

Still, it's Gorbachev's considerable stature as a transformational leader that drew students like junior Maddie Laskosld to the event. Laskosld, of Goshen, said she sees flashes of Gorbachev's legacy in the Occupy Wall Street movement and is struck by his bold moves to bring information and free speech to a discontented public. The former leader weighed in on recent uprisings, spanning the "Arab spring" to the Wall Street protests, calling them the emergence of the new world order that didn't materialize immediately after the Cold War. "I perceive these protests with understanding. I understand the causes.

I understand why people are protesting and rising," Gorbachev said to loud applause. "Why do leaders want to decide everything at the expense of the people? Why do people have to answer for all the mistakes of their rulers?" Laskosld called it an honor to listen to the former leader talk about the transition from communism to democracy. "It's nice to see everyone starting to talk about Gorbachev as if he's this great movie star." GORBACHEV Continued from NEWS 1 spoke to about 3,600 people at the Easton college as part of a speaking tour of North America that includes stops in Wyoming, Montreal, Juarez and Vancouver. While Gorbachev, 80, waxed historic on his accomplishments during an era that felled the union, the latter half of his talk focused more on the present and how the decisions made and attitudes adopted after the breakup of the Soviet Union shaped the current global landscape. Gorbachev's speech, which was preceded by a private reception with a small group of students, faculty and trustees, helped launch the planned Oechsle Center for Global Education at Lafayette.

The center is named after Walter and Christa Oechsle. In a primer held for students in advance of the event, Josh Sanborn, chairman of the Russian and East European Studies Program, called Gorbachev one of the most significant figures of the 20th century who "did more than any other individual to bring the Cold War to an end." Many of the students in the audience were not yet born when Gorbachev became head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985 or instituted radical political reforms the next year, or when the first free elections in 70 years were held in 1989 or when the nationalist movement broke up the Soviet Union in 199L His perestroika and glasnost policies were designed to combat corruption in government while improving the socialist system and energizing the economy. "The moment came when we needed to conclude that the small steps that we had MICHAEL KUBEL THE MORNING CALL Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's speech Wednesday night helped launch the planned Oechsle Center for Global Education at Lafayette. been taking were not producing the expected results, were not allowing people to move At that time we needed to do something bolder. We understood that if we just change the ideology and liberalize the culture, that was not enough.

We understood it was necessary to change the system," Gorbachev continued. He and President Ronald Reagan are credited with helping bring an end to the Cold War as they drew down their superpowers' nuclear arsenal. The world did not properly capitalize on the opportunities that emerged after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev said. "We did not succeed in staying the course in our relations," he continued. "The entire world situation did not develop properly.

There should have been positive movement toward a new world order. Instead we have crisis. We are are facing problems of the environment. We are facing problems of poverty. We are facing problems of food shortage.

"AH of these problems are because we don't have a system of global governance. I must say I have been disappointed over these past years by many developments we have witnessed." Now, Gorbachev runs a foundation in Moscow while continuing to keep a foot in politics. He helped form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia with billionaire Alexander Lebedev in 2008. Recently, he's been vocal in criticizing Russian Prime Parkinson's Disease Wellness Program Two Days ONLY! October 22nd-23rd Saturday and Sunday Saturday, November 5 8:30 am 1 pm Candlelight Reception and Conference Center 4431 Easton Ave. Bethlehem, PA To register, call St.

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