Portland Press Herald from Portland, Maine • 3

A10 Portland Press Herald Thursday June 11 2009 CONTINUED ROM THE RONT PAGE i The Associated Press Law enforcement officers stand outside Holocaust Memorial Museum after the shooting Wednesday faiJBMMEaEg TS i Ww I i bi malMter rat iot! I i IBisIgilb I W' teriH 1 nwJL a i 5 IKr i HliHBI vpI zwj ffe MmJCTKf 1 Wgw feM Xjzs 'ra SHOOTING Continued from Page Al he heroically in the line of At the White House President Obama said: outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti Semitism and prejudice in all its forms No American institution carrying a re volver knife and sawed off shot gun At the time police said von Brunn wanted to take the mem bers hostage because of high interest rates and the economic dif ficulties James von Brunn fie Stephen Johns Ill on a field trip with more than 40 students said she heard two or three gun shots Soon after she recalled a security guard ordered the group to run to the exit had to sprint as fast as we is more important to this effort than the Holocaust museum and no act of violence will dimin ish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant Von Brunn has a racist anti Semitic Web site and wrote a book titled the Best alleging a Jewish conspiracy destroy the white gene Writings attributed to von Brunn on the Internet say the Holocaust was a hoax In 1983 he was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the ederal Reserve Board Auschwitz the myth became Reality and Ger many cultural gem of the West became a pariah among world it says The museum which opened in 1993 and has drawn nearly 30 trillion visitors houses exhibits and records relating to the Holo caust of more than a half century ago in which more than 6 million Jews died at the hands of Nazis Its Web site says the museum millions of people each year about the dangers of un checked hatred and the need to prevent The museum was crowded could out the she said In a statement from government Information and Diaspora Minister Villi Edel stein said the shooting was ther proof that anti Semitism and Holocaust denial have not passed from the And the Council on American Islamic Relations a prominent American Muslim organization said in a statement: con demn this apparent bias moti vated attack and stand with the Jewish community and with Americans of all faiths in repu diating the kind of hatred and intolerance that can lead to such and served more than six years in prison He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting with schoolchildren and other tourists at the time of the attack but they all escaped injury Ashley Camp 14 of orsyth disturbing Within minutes after the attack federal agents were dispatched to von condo in Annapo lis Md to check his computer A neighbor Harold Olynnger said he and his wife had not been al lowed back in their condo since early afternoon because agents feared the home might contain explosives Joseph Persichini assistant director in charge of the Wash ington BI field office said the shootings were being investi gated as a possible hate crime or a case of domestic terrorism According to a relative von Brunn attended Washington University in St Louis and is an artist Navy records show von Brunn enlisted in 1942 as an apprentice seaman before accepting an appointment as a naval midship men in the volunteer reserves in March 1943 On his application the 21 year old listed his reason for signing up as His records show he had language qualifications in both English and rench He was discharged from the Navy in 1956 A cousin Virginia Gerker of St Louis said in an interview she seen him in 50 years She said her family had him and believed him to be men tally ill Lawmakers invested in bailed out firms More than 20 House members had large personal stakes in firms that were rescued By PAUL KANE and CAROL LEONN1G The Washington Post WASHINGTON Top House lawmakers had considerable holdings in major financial in stitutions that took billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts at the end of last year according to annual financial disclosure reports released Wednesday rom stock holdings to retire ment funds to mortgages more than 20 House leaders and members of the House inan cial Services Committee had large personal stakes in the Wall Street powerhouses whose col lapse last year led to an unprec edented government interven tion in the marketplace In some instances those lawmakers like millions of other investors sold their holdings at steep losses while others retained the stocks at greatly diminished value House Speaker Nancy Pe losi Calif and her husband lost hundreds of thousands of dollars investing in American International Group which has received $170 billion in govern ment loans and cash injections making it by far the largest re cipient of federal bailout dollars Republican Whip Eric Cantor Va and his wife held stock re tirement plans and other invest ments worth at least $183000 and as much as $495000 in firms benefiting from federal govern ment rescue efforts including INMATE Continued from Page Al the crime lab can provide us with some evidence to tighten up the Wright said the facility is equipped with security cameras but he would not comment fur ther on evidence in the case Investigators and Department of Corrections officials would not say what kind of medical at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley At least 18 members of the' House inancial Services Com mittee which oversees the banking and housing industries at the core of the economic meltdown held stock last year in firms that received federal bailout assistance The release of the annual disclosure forms was not sched uled to occur until riday but the House office briefly posted many of them online Wednesday apparently by ac cident A firm called LegiStorm captured the data and posted them on its Web site The Senate will release its forms Wednes day The disclosure forms require lawmakers to reveal a broad range of personal holdings and liabilities but not the precise val ue Lawmakers are not required to disclose any information about their primary residence only on rental properties that they own and they do not have to reveal the terms of those mortgages Also Congress requires only that lawmakers list the place of employment and board mem berships for spouses not their annual salaries or fees received by spouses Some ethics watchdogs were critical of members of Congress for investing directly in compa nies they oversee wonder if voting on things be cause good for the country or because it would increase their personal said Melanie Sloan executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington cording to Janet Weinstein would definitely have opted for some kind of segrega she said The prison does not inform inmates of the crimes of other prisoners but they often find out officials said The medical provider is Correctional Medical Ser vices which also provides care at other state facilities Associate Corrections Com missioner Denise Lord said the state recently renewed its DIGITAL TV DIGITAL TUTORIALS Continued from Page Al prepare they said That prepa ration for over the air viewers includes finding the right con Verter box and antenna install i ing the equipment and getting familiar with it People with cable or satellite need to do anything to get a digital signal One of the reasons that Presi dent administration wanted to extend the deadline was that a federal program to provide $40 coupons for convert er boxes had run out of money Stimulus money has since been tapped to re fund that program and as of June 8 Mainers had redeemed a total of more than 125000 coupons for a combined value of $5 million according to the National Telecommunica tionsand Information Adminis tration In Maine an estimated 78000 households about 14 percent of all the households with 1 TVs get TV reception over the air according to the NTIA WCSH and WMTW will also get help this week from the CC Because this is the final EDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION staff are in Maine this week to answer questions from consumers preparing for riday the deadline for TV stations to convert to a digital signal Below is a list of CC seminars at local Radio Shack stores where people can ask questions about converter boxes antennas digital signals and anything else pertaining to digital TV reception TODAY STANDISH: 11 am to 1 pm Colonial Marketplace 55 Colonial Drive 642 7744 OXORD: 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm 1600 Main St 743 5988 RIDAY SOUTH PORTLAND: 3 pm to 7 pm Maine Mall 773 2720 SATURDAY SOUTH PORTLAND: ll am to 2 pm Maine Mall 773 2720 HELPLINES THE EDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION and several service companies it has contracted with have set up telephone help lines to deal with problems people may have when the final transition to digital TV is made riday EDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: (888) CALL CC INSTALLS INC: (800) 582 4250 BEST BUY: (877) 229 3889 DEPLOYMENT ESSENTIALS: (866) 550 4388 COUPONS TO APPLY for coupons worth $40 toward the cost of a digital converter box log on to wwwdtv2009gov or call (888) 388 2009The coupons are scheduled to be available until July 31 conversion date CC officials are in Maine holding public question and answer sessions about digital reception at loca tions around the state The CC also gave WMTW and WCSH a list of toll free num bers for TV service companies contracted by the CC to help viewers with digital reception and equipment problems The stations can refer their viewers to those companies for help and advice tends to be finicky and Maine is a big state with lots of mountains and valleys which present said Nandan Joshi a DTV coordi nator with the CC working in southern Maine this week think the big advantage of other stations going earlier is that it raised awareness of the whole When the other Maine stations made their transitions earlier this year many Mainers found out digital signals are much more sensitive to obstacles than analog signals And not all converter boxes and antennas are created equally Some people who got analog signals of certain stations found out they could not get the digital signals of those same stations The bottom line for many viewers is that they may have to experiment with equipment and equipment location to get over the air reception said Steve Thaxton president of WCSH In terms of specific advice on how to best get their digital signals over the air offi cials at both WCSH and WMTW recommended exterior anten nas for best results They also recommend a combination VH UH antenna since some of digital TV signals are on VH and some are on UH WCSH which had been on ana log channel 6 will be on digital channel 44 in the UH spectrum WMTW had been analog chan nel 8 and has been broadcasting a digital signal on channel 46 But after the switch it will be on digital channel 8 on the VH spectrum The managers also recommend rescanning for channels after transi tion and whenever you move your antenna Congress first told broadcast ers in 1996 that they would have to switch to digital signals to make room on the airwaves for emergency frequencies wireless services and future technolo gies In January 2008 the CC auctioned off the freed up space on the airwaves for more than $19 billion Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791 6454 or at rrouthlerapressherald tention Weinstein received after the attack estranged wife Janet Weinstein said she has been unable to learn about the medical attention or whether he had expressed any fear for his safety know if it was a head injury or internal bleeding or what it she said by tele phone Wednesday time it got worse and he died they have doctors She said Sheldon was keenly aware of the animosity prison ers felt toward someone con victed of gross sexual assault on a child At Windham Weinstein wrote that he kept to his room and join other inmates for recreation time to avoid the who would harass him because of his crime Janet Weinstein said Sheldon Weinstein who is from New Hartford NY was arrested in 2007 and was serv ing a two year term for sexu ally assaulting a young girl in Berwick Janet Weinstein was notified about her death the night he died though the prison official who contacted her said it appeared to be of natural causes But then the official whose name she did not recall started asking questions she said was asking questions of myself and sister that sort of led me to believe that Shelly had asked for she said In Windham sex offenders are segregated but they are not in Warren although requests to be segregated can be made ac contract with CMS at the prison for two years and said that in each state facility that has been accredited by a national inspec tion team including Maine State Prison CMS has been part of that review Lord would not say whether the workers placed on leave from the prison are guards medical staff or both She said prison officials are troubled by the incident think I speak forfhe warden when I say everyone there wants a safe facility for everyone not just some Lord said think the testament to that is we have very few incidents of this Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland said there is no indication that any guard is responsible for death Janet Weinstein said she heard nothing from Sheldon after he was transferred to Warren He had fallen from a top bunk in Windham breaking a shoulder and leg in multiple places could have been avoided This was wanton disregard for his safety wanton disregard for his need for help after he was she 'Said She said police told her that one or more people would be charged in death but she said small comfort since whoever did it is already in prison are they going to do to them take their dessert away from she said Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791 6327 or at: dhench gpressherald com AIRPOINT Continued from Page AT and software glitches that have overwhelmed its call centers and ability to process orders The rough transition has an gered many customers and led them to buy Internet and phone service from competitors Regulators in Maine New Hampshire and Vermont have been trying to get on top of the situation in daily con tact now with the company as it aims to return phone service to as levels by June 30 The issues raised by the Public Advocate however about technical problems Rather they involve service and pricing prac tices that the Public Advocate says EairPoint agreed to follow The Maine Public Utilities Commission attached several conditions meant to benefit con sumers when it approved the Verizon sale last year These terms were negotiated between the company the PUC Public Advocate and other parties or example: EairPoint agreed to offer basic DSL ser vice for $15 a month with a two year contract This offer was to be in effect for two years after the sale closing The goal was to expand Internet access and keep some level of high speed service very affordable But airPoint advertis ing that option the Public Advocate complains The least expensive DSL option offered on Web site $3399 a month Another example: airPoint agreed to reduce basic tele phone exchange rates to $1469 a month But airPoint advertise that on its Web site It only offers more costly plans that bundle basic phone service with long distance and other op tions If customers call and ask about basic service the Public Advocate says airPoint reps seem confused about the price To remedy these problems the Public Advocate wants airPoint to agree to two additional years of discount DSL pricing and to widely advertise the $1469 basic telephone service Two attorneys for the office Wayne Jortner and William Black summed up the phone service issue in a recent letter to EairPoint are concerned that airPoint is foregoing a sig nificant opportunity to win back some of its customers and to in crease its access line revenues EairPoint should be able to use its new reduced rates largely funded by a contribution from Verizon that we negotiated) to gain market share and to en hance its good In a separate complaint Jort ner and Black say airPoint poli cies are hurting local telephone and Internet companies that de pend on it for wholesale servic es another violation of the sale conditions These policies deal with how companies gain access to pieces of network to serve their customers After reviewing the Public Ad letter airPoint said it will schedule a meeting with the staff But Jeff Nevins a company spokesman said some of the charges are inaccurate In a general sense Nevins said airPoint is holding back on plans to aggressively market phone and Internet services until it solves all the techni cal problems and restores the network to as status at the end of this month In recent weeks airPoint has been airing television com mercials to reintroduce itself to customers The ads are part of an image campaign Nevins said that will set the stage for a new marketing effort one thing you don't want to do is market things and not be able to fulfill them to custom he said Jortner however satisfied by that explanation EairPoint has decided it can makeimore money promoting bundled products he speculated and is downplaying low price service If the two parties work something out in meetings Jortner said his office may file a formal motion with the PUC charging EairPoint with violat ing terms of the sale or its part the PUC is moni toring the dispute but not tak ing sides It will follow up if it receives a formal motion to determine whether the sale con ditions have been violated are only allegations from the Public Advocate at the said Rich Kania a senior utility analyst at the agency Staff Writer Tux Turke! can be contacted at 791 6462 or tturkelpressheraldcom.