Arizona trial starts for six accused of helping IRA bombers
AMID tight security at a courthouse in Tucson, Ariz., jury selection began March 1 in the federal trial of a half-dozen supporters of a united Ireland accused of acquiring bomb detonators for the Irish Republican Army.
Four of the defendants are Irish nationals. They are charged with conspiring to ship 2,900 detonators to New York City from Tucson by bus in three boxes marked as clothing and with trying to buy a Stinger shoulder-fired missile and three or four .50 caliber sniper rifles for the IRA.
Prosecutors say some detonators wound up in Northern Ireland for use in bombs during 1991 and 1992. Mass. fishermen irked
DOZENS of Massachusetts fishermen converged on Boston Feb. 28 to protest the closing of prime fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean aimed at saving some species of fish.
A planned blockade of Boston Harbor failed to materialize. But a flotilla of several dozen boats from New Bedford sailed into Boston causing no disruption to traffic, officials said.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and other regulatory agencies planned to shut down sections of prime fishing areas starting March 1 to try to preserve depleted stocks of haddock and other ground fish.
In addition to the planned closures, the fishermen are unhappy with new regulations that would require them to use nets with larger holes, through which undersized scallops and other small fish can escape. The fishermen say the nets will cost them thousands of dollars and are not yet available. Boy Scout ruling
BOYS who won't swear duty to God cannot be banned from the Boy Scouts of America, a California appellate court has ruled.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal on Feb. 28 allowed twins Michael and William Randall of Anaheim, both 12, to remain Boy Scouts. They had been kicked out for refusing to say ``God'' in the Scouts' oath.
Judge Thomas Crosby cited the state's anti-discrimination act that prohibits businesses from excluding people because of religious beliefs.
The twins were kicked out in 1991 and reinstated by a lower court in 1992. Last year, the Girl Scouts of America changed their oath to allow members to substitute ``God'' with another word or words they deem appropriate.
