Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era from Lancaster, Pennsylvania • 5

Intelligencer Journal New Era, Lancaster, Pa. From Page One Tuesday, March 8, 2011 a5 s- David ordan Edward Major Michael Stewart Hayward Stewart Trial: Homicide testimony of corrupt, polluted sources. They argued that there is no physical evidence linking the four men to the crime. Prosecutors have conceded that point. Jordan is representing himself, a rare occurrence at a homicide trial here.

In emotional testimony Monday afternoon, Nunns older daughter told the jury about the night her mother died. The girl, now 14 and not being identified by the Intelligencer JoumalNew Era, said she was in the bathtub with her younger sister when they heard someone come to the front door. I heard gunshots, and like a pounding noise, and a scream, the girl said. The scream came from her mother, she said. The girl called her mother, then went downstairs to check on her.

I found my mom in a pool of blood, she said. The girl was stoic on the stand as she told jurors how she then called her uncle and 911. In a recording of the 911 call, the girls can be heard screaming while asking a dis patcher for help. The older daughter broke down only when Jordan began questioning her. She didnt respond verbally to his greeting she just waved.

But she went on to answer his questions through tears. Earlier, in a 45-minute opening statement, Jordan pointed at jurors, made movie references to describe events of the night in question and accused prosecutors of charging innocent black people. Im here standing today to make some history in this courthouse, Jordan said, lime in, because its showtime. He made comical references at times, saying he didnt know Edward Major from a can of paint and that he was going to hang lying witnesses like wet clothes. You will have your clothes pins, and we will hang em up one by one, Jordan told the' jury.

They are crooked, just like Denzel Washington in Training Day. Testimony continues this morning before President Judge Joseph C. Madens-pacher. bhambrightlnpnews.com bleeding on the kitchen floor. The daughters, then ages 8 and 6, came downstairs to find the unthinkable, Miller said.

The accused had met at a house on Seymour Street earlier in the night to discuss prospects for a robbery, Miller said. This happened because four men decided they were going to get paid, Miller said. Jordan suggested going to Nunns house, Miller said, because he knew her to deal drugs. The group agreed, Edward Major grabbed a gun and the four took off, Miller said. However, when they got inside Nunns home, they found she was no pushover.

Edward Major would later tell acquaintances that Nunn had exchanged words with him, Miller said. She got mouthy, Miller said, reciting what Edward Major had told his friends. He wasnt going to let some woman tell him what to do. Defense lawyers claim that convictions rest on the Continued from A1 for the Oct. 24, 2004, killing of the 24-year-old Nunn.

So are his three alleged accomplices: David Jordan, 29, of Lancaster Township; Hayward Stewart, 34, of Lancaster city; and Stewarts cousin, Michael Stewart, 32, of Columbia. Prosecutors are seeking first-degree murder convictions for all four. Defense attorneys, however, claim that the real killer or killers havent been charged. They say that two key prosecution witnesses, Kevin Major and Penny Dotson, lied to police under oath about their involvement in Nunns death. Youre not going to be left out, defense attorney Christopher Lyden told the jury in his opening statement.

They are going to lie to you, too. Nunn was shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the hand. An autopsy showed that a gun was being held directly against her chest when one of the shots was fired. The hand injury w'as a defense wound, according to testimony. Nunn was left for dead, Libya Continued from A1 the rockets and the tanks, but not Gadhafis air force, said Ali Suleiman, a rebel fighter at Ras Lanouf.

We dont want a foreign military intervention (on the ground), but we do want a no-fly zone. We are all waiting for one. Arab Gulf countries joined the calls for a no-fly zone, with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates saying a conference of his countrys neighbors that the U.N. Security Council should shoulder its historical responsibility for protecting the Libyan people. Still, Western military intervention does not seem imminent and the warnings may be an attempt to intimidate Gadhafi with words before deeds.

British and French officials said the no-fly resolution was being drawn up as a contingency and it has not been decided whether to put it before the U.N. Security Council, where Russia holds veto power and has rejected such a move. Western officials have said a no-fly zone does not require a U.N. mandate, but they would prefer to have one. In the battles over the weekend, Gahdafis forces unleashed their strongest use of airpower yet in the nearly three-week-old uprising.

A powerful assault by warplanes, helicopter gun-ships and heavy barrages of artillery, rockets and tank fire drove the opposition forces out of the town of Bin Jaw-wad, 375 miles east of the capital. The counteroffensive blunted what had been a steady advance by a force of 500 to 1,000 rebel fighters pushing down the coastal highway along the Mediterranean Sea west toward Tripoli. The rebels were forced back to Ras Lanouf, about 40 miles to the east. The past three days of fighting killed 30 rebels and wounded 169, said Gebril Hewadi, a doctor at Al-Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi. The rebels are now struggling to set up supply lines for weapons, ammunition and food, with many living off junk food, cookies and cans of tuna.

They are waiting for rocket launchers, tanks and other heavy weapons to arrive with reinforcements from their headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi. The fighting also appears to have shut down oil operations at Ras Lanouf and the larger nearby oil port of Brega, which were already operating at minimal capacity. Ahmed Jerksi, an oil official at Brega, said that port had stopped working the past few days because all the personnel had fled. He and Mustafa Gheriani, an opposition spokesman in Benghazi, said they believed Ras Lanouf had stopped as well, but it could not be directly confirmed on the ground. The fighting in Libya, which produces nearly 2 percent of the worlds oil and delivers most of it to Europe, continued to push oil prices ever higher.

Traders are worried the strife may spread to other oil-rich nations. Crude prices settled at $105.44 on Monday. They peaked earlier in the day at $106.98 per barrel, the highest since Sept. 26, 2008. Libya appears to be sliding toward a civil war that could drag out for weeks, or even months, as rebels try to oust Gadhafi after 41 years in power.

The opposition already controls the entire eastern half of the country from Ras Lanouf to the Egyptian border. Libyas main population centers lie along the countrys main east-west highway on the Mediterranean coast, and rebels are trying to push the front line westward toward the capital. Their biggest obstacle along the way is Sirte, Gadhafis hometown and a bastion for his forces, just west of Bin Jawwad. Taking Sirte would be a major morale boost to the opposition and give it almost a clear way to TVipoli. The opposition also holds several cities in the west close to TVipoli.

But the government appeared to have taken back one of them, Zawi-ya, after days of heavy fighting. Monday saw the heaviest bombardment yet in the city, just 30 miles outside TVipoli, said one resident. He said tanks and artillery opened fire around 9 a.m. and by the afternoon, rebels had been driven out of Zawiyas main square. The tanks are everywhere, said the resident, who fled the city in the afternoon.

The hospital is running out of supplies. There are injured everywhere who cant find a place to go. Gadhafis warplanes give him an extra edge in the fight against rebels. At the very least, they intimidate rebel fighters fighting in the open desert. Still, so far Gadhafi has not brought or not been able to bring the full firepower of the air forces against the rebellion.

In Sundays fighting, the massive artillery and rocket bombardment did more to break the rebel ranks. That may be in part because of the weakness of his air arsenal and worries over the loyalty of its personnel. Over the decades, Gadhafi built a large air force, estimated at around 500 combat aircraft and helicopters. On Google Earth, dozens of Soviet-era MiG and TUpolev fighters can be seen lined up at air bases in Sirte and in the deserts of the southwestern part of the country. But well over half of the aircraft are believed to be unable to fly, because they are outdated and because under decades of sanctions Libya was unable to procure spare parts, according to GlobalSe-curity, a U.S.-based website that monitors world militaries.

Several years ago, Libya signed a deal with France to repair its 1970s-era French Mirage fighters, but only four of them were brought up to speed. Two of those repaired Mirages are now in Malta, illustrating another of Gadhafis worries the loyalty of his pilots. Early on in the uprising, two air force colonels defected and flew their Mirages to the Mediterranean island nation. The crew of a Sukhoi fighter ditched their aircraft in flight, parachuting away and letting it crash south of Benghazi, rather than bomb targets. In fighting Saturday, rebels succeeded in shooting down a warplane Bill: Teacher layoffs and said he is willing to consider changes to the trigger that enables districts to begin furloughs.

But hes not in favor of retaining the seniority requirement. I clearly do not want to have it that seniority be the only factor that determines who gets laid off, Boyd said. The bill needs to address whats best for kids. We want to keep the best of the best (teachers) in the system. County school officials said they support the legislation.

It would be far easier for consistency in the classroom to furlough for economic reasons, said Michael Leichliter, superintendent of Penn Manor School District. Hempfield superintendent Brenda Becker and Manheim Central school chief Bill Clark also said they support the legislation. If we could furlough for economic reasons, we could lessen the blow to any one department or program, Becker said in an e-mail. It would be better for our students and more palatable for our community if we could simply scale back some programs across the board rather than totally eliminate portions or all parts of a program. Boyds bill is expected to come up for a vote next week in the House Education Committee.

bwallacelnpnews.com according to the legislation. Folmers bill would require that districts furloughing teachers also reduce their administrative staffs by the same ratio of employees. But a provision in that bill would allow districts to seek relief from the requirement if it is likely to cause significant harm to the operations of the school district. During a hearing March 2 on Boyds legislation, the Pennsylvania State Education Association objected to the criteria that would be used for layoffs. Districts should be required to show evidence they have cut spending in non-academic areas and raised taxes to the maximum limits before considering layoffs, PSEA treasurer W.

Gerard Oleksiak said. He also objected to eliminating the seniority provision of the current law and replacing it with arbitrary measures which appear to be left up to each individual school district. We know that experience matters, Oleksiak said. Leaving seasoned, experienced educators in the classroom is a tangible benefit to our states students. Without stricter controls on layoffs, some school boards would be tempted to emphasize lower taxes over quality educational programs, he said.

Boyd admitted his legislation is a work in progress Continued from A1 changes would encourage schools to cut teachers and increase class sizes simply to keep taxes low. But school district officials say they need more leeway in controlling the size of their teaching staffs, whose salaries and benefits represent 40 percent or more of most districts budgets. Currently, teachers can be furloughed only if a district has had a major enrollment decline, eliminated courses or programs or consolidated or reorganized its schools. Layoffs also must be implemented on a last hired, first furloughed basis, and all laid-off teachers have a right to fill future job openings in the district from which they are furloughed. Economic conditions dont factor into layoff decisions, and Boyd thinks thats wrong, especially given the current difficult economic times.

For the past several years, Lancaster County school districts have been reducing their teaching staffs through attrition, but with steep state and federal funding cuts looming next year, theyve had to make more drastic cuts for 201 1-12. While nearly every district has announced plans to eliminate support staff and admin istrators and impose wage freezes, few school districts have announced teacher furloughs. Eastern Lancaster County School District will furlough 15 teachers at years end, and Manheim Township is planning to lay off five educators. Elancos cuts are in response to an enrollment decline. Manheim Townships layoffs will coincide with the planned elimination of technology courses and its Work Prep program at the high school and the scrapping of its fourth-grade instrumental music program and other music classes.

Few county school districts are experiencing enrollment declines, and district officials have complained that they shouldnt have to cut programs simply to reduce their teaching staffs. Boyds legislation would allow districts to furlough teachers if the cuts are necessary to help them stay within their property tax limits imposed under Act 1. Districts would have to provide public documentation on the need for layoffs and wait at least 10 days before voting on them. The furloughs would be based not on seniority but on teacher performance, certification status and other specific qualifications established by the school entity, Drug: Charges in N. Y.

onships in the Novice Pairs division with partner Mark Ladwig. In 1994, after winning the gold medal in beginner freestyle skating at the Keystone Winter Games, Blakinger then only 9 years old expressed a desire to compete in the Olympics. A former Girl Scout, she was honored locally with the Young Poets Award in 2000 and received a Scholastic Writing Award the same year for a short-short story. She was a member of the Spanish National Honor Society and the debate club at Country Day, and she was a writer for the schools literary magazine. Blakinger wrote on her Facebook page that she took a few years off from college to work as a freelance journalist.

She also wrote that she broke her back, but didnt say how although she said the injury healed relatively quickly. There is no information available to indicate when or why she stopped competing on ice. tknapplnpnews.com mentioned, in previous reports. She graduated from Country Day in 2002. A message left Sunday at her parents home in Lancaster was not immediately returned.

Newspaper records indicate Blakinger majored in English and minored in film at Cornell, where she attended the College of Arts Sciences and appeared regularly on the deans list. According to Blakingers Facebook page, she transferred to Cornell from Rutgers University, where she had majored in neurobiology. She was a writer and editor for the Cornell Daily Sun. She expected to graduate from Cornell this year. Blakinger wrote for the Freestyle section of the Intelligencer Journal while she was a student at Country Day.

She was named to the 2001 ChevroletUnited States Figure Skating Association Scholastic Honors Team. During a skating career that lasted several years, she placed first at the 2000 South Atlantic Regional Champi Continued from A1 according to a report in the Ithaca Journal. Police arrested Blakinger in a hotel parking lot after a man who lives near the hotel called 91 1 to report a man and a woman acting suspiciously in the parking lot. She appeared uncomfortable, uneasy, having a hard time standing still and of an altered state of mind, the neighbor told police, according to reports. She was arraigned in Ithaca City Court and sent to Tompkins County jail without bail, according to police.

An officer at the Tompkins County sheriffs office confirmed Sunday that Blakinger remains in jail there. Mike Gray, a senior investigator with Ithaca police, said Monday that the case still hasnt gone to resolution yet. Its still in the hands of the district attorney. Andrew McElwee, assistant district attorney for Tompkins County, said Monday that Blakinger pleaded guilty on Feb. 24 to criminal possession of heroin with intent to sell in the third degree.

The plea agreement reduces her mandatory jail time, McElwee said. A second-degree conviction would have required 3'k years in a New York state prison. McElwee said Blakinger is scheduled for sentencing on April 8. Based on the plea agreement, he said, he expects her to spend 2'h years in a state facility, with credit for time served. Blakingers arrest was widely reported in newspapers and websites such as the New York Daily News, Washington Post and Huff-ington Post, in part because it followed a series of narcotics arrests at Ivy League schools, including a large student-run drug ring at Columbia University earlier that month.

Blakingers connection to Lancaster County was not IgeS yo(jr RYO A i 1 carton Not valid with-other offers. This coupon expires 43 211 Redeemable at: Store 21 1954 Old Phila. Pike i u' Lancaster, PA 717-291-0264 SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy..