Georgia Police Releases 911 Call From Home Of 8 Victims Murdered Execution Style... Drug Debt Possible Motive

MSNBC----


(Victim no. 8 has now died in the Georgia trailer park shooting.)

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(Family members of the murder victims found at the New Hope Plantation mobile home park in Georgia are searching for answers. They call the Killer a "Coward".)

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(7 Family members found slain in Brunswick, Ga.)

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BRUNSWICK, Georgia - A frantic caller told authorities he had just come home to find several relatives apparently beaten to death and another barely breathing, according to an emergency call tape released Monday from the weekend attack at a mobile home park in southeastern Georgia.

"My whole family is dead!" screamed Guy Heinze Jr., 22. "It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know what to do, man."

When authorities arrived Saturday morning, they found seven people dead and two clinging to life. One of the survivors died Sunday, raising the death toll to eight.

Police have refused to say how they were killed or why and have said they don't know if the attacker is still in the area. Police have not identified a suspect and are offering a $25,000 reward for information.

"We still believe there is a person or persons responsible for this somewhere out there, and we're looking for them," Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said Monday.

Heinze, who spoke with the emergency call operator from a neighbor's house, was later arrested on drug and other charges, including lying to police.

Asked if Heinze was involved in the slayings, Doering said Sunday: "I'm not going to rule him out, but I'm not going to characterize him as a suspect."

On the emergency call, Heinze said his father, uncle and cousins were among the dead. After handing off the phone to an employee at the mobile home park, Heinze apparently returns to the trailer and is overheard on the call screaming that his cousin Michael, who had Down syndrome, was still breathing and that his face was "smashed in."

"Michael's alive, tell them to hurry!" Heinze said, in the background. "He's breathing! He needs help!"

Survivor in critical condition

Police on Sunday said one person rescued at the scene, 19-year-old Michael Toler, had died at a Savannah hospital. The only survivor, whose name and age has not been released, remains in critical condition.

Police have said the attacker was not among the dead or the last survivor. They also said they have no evidence to suggest suicide was involved.

Neighbor Margaret Orlinski, who called police after Heinze came screaming to her home, told an emergency operator that a baby also lived in the mobile home where the victims were found.

"I know there's a little baby," Orlinski says on the recording. "Shoot, there's a little babe. I don't know if the baby was in there or not."

Heinze doesn't mention a baby on the police recording. Police have declined to give ages of the victims, but Doering has said there were "no infants" among them.

Police have urged residents to be aware and cautious, and the uncertainty has created fear among some in the town.

Resident Toni Mugavin said she wonders if she needs to sleep with a gun under her pillow, afraid the killer is still on the loose. Mugavin expressed frustration with the lack of information about what happened.

"There's no manhunt, no suspect," said Mugavin, 50. "There's nothing specific they're telling us."

Run-down mobile home

The slayings happened in a dingy mobile home built on the grounds of a historic plantation, nestled among centuries-old, moss-draped oak trees. The park consists of about 100 spaces and is near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

The 1,100-acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was conducting autopsies Sunday on four of the victims. GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Glynn County police would be in charge of releasing any results, and Doering refused to comment on them. He said autopsies on the remaining four victims would begin Monday.

Tedious Investigation

Doering defended his vague statements about the case, saying he didn't want the public to know details that might compromise what he called a "tedious" investigation.

Still, the dearth of information has frustrated residents, said Mary Strickland, who owns The Georgia Pig, a popular local barbecue place.

"If it is a murder-suicide then let people know so they don't think there's some lunatic out there," Strickland said. "We got a lot of people who panic and the more information you put out there, the better you make them feel."



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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps

NC / Federal Immigration Officials Intentionally Deports US Citizen To Mexico

Charlotte Observer----

N.C. native wrongly deported to Mexico

Federal investigators ignored evidence the man is a U.S. citizen, documents show

The U.S. government admitted in April that it had wrongly deported an N.C. native, but newly released documents show that federal investigators ignored FBI records and other evidence showing that the man was a United States citizen.

At the time of Mark Lyttle's deportation, Immigration officials had criminal record checks that said he was a U.S. citizen. They had his Social Security number and the names of his parents. They had Lyttle's own sworn statement that he had been born in Rowan County.

None of this stopped them from leaving Lyttle, a mentally ill American who speaks no Spanish, alone and penniless in Mexico, where he has no ties.

Lyttle's 350-page U.S. Department of Homeland Security file, released to The (Raleigh) News & Observer, shows that the government deported him based entirely on some of his own conflicting statements, even though agents knew that Lyttle is bipolar and has a learning disability.

“I tried to tell them I was a U.S. citizen born right here in Rowan County,” Lyttle says now. “But no one believed me.”

Lyttle is one of a growing number of people who have been swept up in the federal immigration detention system since 2001, when terrorist attacks prompted an unprecedented effort to find and deport illegal immigrants. The U.S. government deported 350,000 people in the fiscal year that ended in October 2008.

When The News & Observer first reported on Lyttle's case in April, officials with U.S.Immigration & Customs Enforcement or ICE, said that Lyttle had caused the mistake declaring that he was from Mexico. They maintain that position now.

“Individuals who misrepresent their true identity and make false statements to ICE officers create problems both for law enforcement and themselves,” ICE spokesman Ivan Ortiz-Delgado said in a written statement.

Lyttle swore to immigration agents on two occasions that he was Mexican, but he also swore that he was a U.S. citizen born in Rowan County. His Homeland Security file does not reflect any attempt by ICE officials to confirm Lyttle's citizenship claims.

The agent who took Lyttle's statement that he was born in North Carolina dismissed it, saying in a report that Lyttle “does not possess any documentation to support his claim.”

A few dozen pages were withheld from the file released by ICE. But the file provided to The News & Observer shows no search for a Rowan County birth certificate and no attempts to reach the family members Lyttle named before his initial deportation.

The ICE file states that Lyttle's Mexican citizenship “was established based on interview results and numerous background system checks.” But repeated background checks, from an FBI fingerprint database and the National Crime Information Center, showed he was an American citizen.

Asked by The News & Observer why they had not accepted the findings in these background checks, ICE officials said they were reviewing their information and could not provide a response after a week.

The inconsistencies in his case were not discussed when Lyttle appeared before an Atlanta immigration judge and was ordered deported on Dec.9. On Dec. 18, he was loaded onto a plane and left at an airport just across the border from Hidalgo, Texas.

On Dec. 29, he returned to the U.S. border threatening to hurt himself and the border patrol agents. “Subject appears to be mentally unstable,” the report notes.

Lyttle, who now lives with his mother in Georgia, says that during his travels he didn't take medications that treat his mental illness and was subject to cycles of manic activity and depression.

Lyttle again told immigration agents he had been born in Rowan County. This time the file shows that they checked for his birth certificate there. They didn't find it because Lyttle is adopted. In cases of adoption, birth certificates are stored in Raleigh, said Shirley Stiller, the deputy register of deeds in Rowan County.

Lyttle was deported a second time, within hours. With no documents to prove legal residency in any country, he soon found himself on an international odyssey.

Mexican authorities sent him to Honduras, where he was imprisoned before being sent to Guatemala.

In late April, he found the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City. Within a day, officials there contacted Lyttle's brother at the military base where Lyttle told them he was serving, got copies of his adoption papers and issued him a U.S. passport.

Three days after his arrival in Guatemala City, his brother had wired him money and Lyttle was on a flight to Atlanta.

U.S. Immigration officials worked Lyttle's case for 31/2 months and held him in immigration detention for more than six weeks.

“This is not rocket science,” said Jacqueline Stevens, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara who brought Lyttle's case to light on her blog and is now writing a book about it. “It took someone in Guatemala one day to prove he was a citizen.”

Lyttle, 32, has spent much of his adulthood bouncing among mental institutions, halfway houses and prisons. He has been convicted of more than a dozen crimes, including assault and sexual battery.

He also lost touch with his mother, who had moved during his time in prison, and did not have phone numbers for his two brothers, who are in the military. His father is deceased.

When he entered prison, his country of birth was listed as Mexico. Prison officials say Lyttle made that claim, but in an interview with The N&O, Lyttle said he never invented such a story. Regardless, he was flagged for a federal immigration check.

In September and November 2008, he met with immigration agents three times, each time signing a different sworn statement.

Lyttle says he claimed to be Mexican at the first interview because he thought it was pointless to argue with the agent, who was convinced that he was an illegal immigrant. His birth father was Puerto Rican, and Lyttle says he is often mistaken for Mexican.

He says he figured he would take a free trip to Mexico.



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Sources: News Observer, Charlotte Observer, Huffington Post, US Dept of Homeland Security, ICE, Google Maps

Are Charlotte Politicians Attempting To Place Blame Of Poor, Lax Leadership & Corrupt Policies On Local Citizens?

Charlotte Observer----

Boards let Citizens shape Policy

Hundreds of residents have a chance each month to steer issues like parks, zoning and water rates.

They do it by serving on the dozens of advisory boards and committees appointed by local governments.

For some, the volunteer work can be a steppingstone for higher office.

For most others, the boards offer a way to help shape decisions made in the city and county without the more substantial time commitment and cost of serving as an elected official.

Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts said the advisory boards have “played a very important role in helping us formulate policy,” and have helped the county earn high marks from its rating agencies about public accessibility to government.

Appointments to the boards happen throughout the year, and both the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County currently are accepting applicants for vacancies that will be filled in the coming weeks.

While all the boards give their members an ear to the local political process, some committees are more popular and can wield more influence than others.

For example, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission reviews all petitions for zoning changes. And the joint Citizens Capital Budget Advisory Committee helps recommend how much in construction bonds voters are asked to approved.

Still others also help to shape growth and development in the community.

Members of the city's Bicycle Advisory Committee successfully pushed for a policy requiring the city to study whether a road is wide and safe enough for a bicycle lane when the street is being repaved, said chair Hal Bouton. Some committee members also helped shape a master plan around bicycling needs, approved by the city last year.

Bouton, a retired president of WTVI, said he signed up for the bicycling group as a way to help give back to the community. It's also given him an inside look at how many decisions about transportation are made.

City Councilman Warren Cooksey said he knew he wanted to run for office some day, and saw the planning commission as a way to learn more about land-use issues, which he called one of the most significant matters over which the council has control. He also served on the board for the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Cooksey said his seven years on the planning commission let him give input into zoning and development decisions without worrying about the political pressure or concern that elected officials can face. He said that's helped him while on the council to think more about the long-term impact about proposals coming before the board and not “the pressure of the moment.”

While he and other local leaders laud the work of the advisory committees, they also acknowledge there is some room for improvement.

Some argue the boards aren't visible enough, and aren't always on the radar of the elected officials. Cooksey said a city council committee has been charged with looking at ways to make advisory boards more effective.

Others say they want to make sure the boards better reflect the local community. City Clerk Stephanie Kelly and others said they'd like to see more women seek appointment to the boards.

County commissioner Vilma Leake said she has encouraged some in her district to apply, adding she thinks many people don't realize the groups exist.



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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps

Recession Continues To Hurt Small Businesses...How Can We Save Them?

MSNBC----


(TODAY Show's Mike Leonard travels to a country store in Vermont that carries some unique products.)

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Chris Fine has been selling remote-controlled cars, boats and other hobby items for 27 years.

These days, he’s hoping he’ll be able to hang on another few months.

“I hope I make it to December because I’m going to do everything in my power,” Fine said on a recent day in which he had sold a paltry $26 in items by midday. “I’ve got to figure out a way to survive.”

As the recession has gripped the nation over the past year and a half, Fine said monthly sales at his store, Mid-Hudson Hobbies in Middletown, N.Y., and online business, Fine Design, have tumbled by more than 50 percent.

Perhaps most disturbing, Fine said entire swaths of business — such as his customer base in hard-hit Michigan — have fallen away completely amid rising unemployment rates there and elsewhere.

For many, he suspects, it’s an easy choice between buying a new hobby item and paying the utility or food bill.

“This is disposable income,” he said. “If people have any extra income, they come in.”

Although the recession has been a struggle for all U.S. retailers, there is evidence that it has been especially difficult for the nation’s smaller, independent retailers. With Americans cutting back drastically on their spending, some stores have lost business as shoppers have turned to cheaper discount chains, while others have found that their customers have simply gone without the kind of discretionary items some small retailers sell.

Sales at privately held retailers fell 3.63 percent on average for the first seven months of this year, as compared to an average drop of 1.34 percent for publicly held companies in the same period, according to Sageworks Inc., which provides financial data on privately held companies. The data is based on financial records from thousands of accountants.

The focus on penny pinching is especially hard for small retailers that deal in widely available items, like books or music, and may find it difficult to match the prices at big chain or online discounters.

“Those are the ones that have had the biggest challenge and have really had to find ways to add value to their service,” said Jeff Milchen, co-founder of the American Independent Business Alliance, which helps community businesses band together to promote their businesses.

In addition to the drop in business, experts say small businesses may be having a tougher time in part because they don’t necessarily have the cash reserves to make it through a deep trough. The credit crunch has exacerbated that problem, leaving some small retailers unable to obtain credit to either ride out the storm or keep the inventory they need to stay in business.

“Independent businesses obviously are smaller and don’t have the financial wherewithal to survive a sustained downturn maybe in the same way that their bigger counterparts do, and so that’s obviously a concern,” said Stacy Mitchell, a senior researcher with the Institute for Self-Reliance, which promotes local community development.

Faced with few other options, many small business owners may also find that they have to rely on their personal savings or credit cards to stay afloat, meaning that any businesses troubles can quickly translate into personal financial problems as well.

Burning through savings

To keep his hobby business going even as sales have plummeted, Fine and his only remaining employee – his brother – have stopped taking paychecks, and he’s burned through much of his savings. Nevertheless, he said he’s behind on his home mortgage and worried about whether he’ll be able to pay next month’s rent on his store.

Meanwhile, he’s watching many of his competitors go out of business, along with several other local businesses in the downtown area where he’s located.

He said he’s also facing stiffer competition from his suppliers, some of whom have dropped prices on their own mail-order retail business in order to attract more customers.

On a recent night, Fine said he was up until 5:30 a.m. tinkering with his Web site and racking his brain for other ways to pump up his business. It’s a position he never dreamed he’d find himself in.

“It’s very frustrating to be at this point in my life, at 50 years old, to have to worry about this,” he said.

Perhaps the worst part of Nishan Shepard’s day is the drive home.

“I go home every day and see a new store boarded up,” said Shepard, who has run Rockridge Kids in Oakland, Calif., for the past 17 years.

As he’s watched so many of the other local businesses in this once-vibrant shopping district succumb to the recession, Shepard said he’s also struggled to accept that his business has had to change substantially.

Customers that once regularly splurged on high-priced toys are now shopping for cheaper items, or not at all. Last holiday season, he said, “We didn’t sell a product that was $79.99 and up.”

To cope with the recession, Shepard said the store, which sells toys, strollers, furniture and other items, has started agreeing to discount an item when a customer requests it, something he’d never previously done in 17 years business.

Meanwhile, he’s also increasingly overhearing one customer offer to sell another customer their used strollers or other items, effectively taking a sale away from him right in his own store.

To avoid drastic measures such as cutting his staff of nearly 20, Shepard said he’s rooted around for ways to save money on things like phone bills and warehouse space. He said that’s allowed him to keep his competitive advantage: expert advice and customer service.

Meanwhile, Shepard himself is dealing with a drop in income as well as a substantial hit to his retirement savings, meaning he’s had to cut back on spending himself.

“It does bother me to some degree, but it also makes me understand when my customers come in and don’t spend as much as they might have two years ago, or are looking for bargains,” he said.

Pockets of Hope

Despite the difficult times, Milchen, of the American Independent Business Alliance, said he is heartened to see that many businesses have fought aggressively to keep customers coming in. In the past year and a half, he said, there’s been much more interest in small businesses banding together to form community alliances for marketing and other purposes.

He’s also seeing more consumer interest in community-supported agriculture, in which locals buy produce directly from area farms. As people think more carefully about what they spend money on, he thinks some are also giving more consideration to where their dollars are going.

“There are clearly people who have shifted their spending to Wal-Mart, and I think there’s another group of people who have responded to the recession by making an extra effort to support businesses that are owned by their neighbors,” said Mitchell, of the Institute for Self-Reliance.

After months of fretting, Shepard said he and some other local business owners recently realized that they simply have to get comfortable with the idea that business will not be like it once was.

Shepard also realized that he had been spending so much time worrying about the business that he’d stopped taking time to enjoy his work. He likens it to the period after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when many stores opted to close their doors.

“We decided to stay open, first of all because I’m stubborn (but also because) I just wanted to hear those kids come in, laughing and playing at the train table. I knew it would make me feel better,” he said.

These days, he said, “I’ve started listening to the kids again. … That’s what keeps me going.”


Sources: MSNBC

NAACP Seeks To Revive Charlotte's Tired, Complacent, Divisive Chapter....Are They Too Late?

Charlotte NAACP To Pick New Leader



After a year of sparse activity, leaders of Charlotte's African American community are seeking to revive the local chapter of the NAACP.

Local members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will go to the polls today to pick a new president they hope can guide the branch out of obscurity and become a uniting voice for the black community.

The vote comes after the previous president was removed in 2008 and the board was restructured.

“Any community the size of Charlotte needs an active and vigorous NAACP chapter,” said N.C. Rep. Kelly Alexander Jr., a former chapter and state NAACP president whose father revived the local chapter in 1940.

Candidates Kojo Nantambu, 57, and Michael Lawson, 64, are running to lead the newly restructured chapter.

Nantambu, pastor of Green Oak Missionary Baptist Church, worked as a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools parent advocate. Lawson, a retired businessman, is the chairman of the African American Caucus of the Mecklenburg Democratic Party.

Both pledge strong leadership and a clean break from the past. In 2008, the national NAACP removed local branch President Ken White over questions about his leadership.

Nantambu says he wants to fill the void left by the NAACP. And he wants to recruit young people who have been inspired by the election of the first African American president.

“We need to resurrect (the NAACP) so that it has the same kind of presence and effectiveness that it's had in days gone by,” Nantambu said. “There is still a lot of things in the community that have not been settled, racially and legally.”

Lawson also wants to tap youth.

“Our seniors are the foundation of the organization and the backbone of its membership,” he said. “However, we need the youth to reinvigorate the NAACP, get active, do the legwork, go door-to-door and kick-start an active and progressive agenda for tomorrow.”

Established in 1919, the chapter struggled through several dormant periods until 1940 when Kelly Alexander Sr. revived the state's oldest chapter.

Akin Ogundiran, chair of the Africana Studies department at UNC Charlotte, said a strong local chapter can give the black community more stature and pull. It can focus the many different voices among black leaders.

“The strength is not in having the same opinion,” he said. “The strength is how to define a common goal and using opinions to work out how to reach that common goal.”

Weeks after the inauguration of the first African-American president, the NAACP celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Alexander said the days of marching and demonstrating and demanding access are mostly over because overt barriers have pretty much fallen. He said the focus is shifting toward helping people actually realize the opportunities that are now available.

“It's one thing to be able to integrate a hotel – i.e. the people who operate the hotel can't keep you out because of your race.

“It's quite another thing to be able to check in and be able to pay the tab to check out.”

Members of the Mecklenburg County Chapter of the NAACP can cast their votes from 2 to 7 p.m. today at Little Rock AME Zion church, 401 N McDowell St.






Charlotte NAACP Leader loses his post

(National group cites missed meetings for dismissal; he says critics disliked his quiet style)

National NAACP officials have removed Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Ken White from office and ordered the local group's executive board to undergo comprehensive training by the end of April.

The moves come after months of controversy within the chapter over questions about the leadership of White, a retired corporate executive who took the reins in 2005.

In late February, the Rev. Nelson Rivers, chief of field operations for the NAACP national office, sent White a letter saying he'd been removed from the presidency for missing six meetings in a one-year period.

White tried to appeal his dismissal, but was rebuffed. He announced his resignation Monday, saying the chapter's problems center more on personality differences than deficiencies in its fight for civil rights.

Quiet strategy criticized

White, a chemist and retired executive for BASF and Goodyear, brought a corporate deal-maker's sensibility to the civil rights post. While some NAACP stalwarts favor street protests, White wanted a seat at boardroom tables, where he figured he could win more ground through quiet negotiation.But that approach brought criticism from others who said he wasn't outspoken enough on issues such as allegations of police brutality.

White blamed his dismissal on what he called a small, vocal group of critics within the chapter. He said he didn't want to get into "mudslinging" for fear it would detract from the NAACP's mission.

"The mission supercedes divisiveness," he said. "It's more important than any individual personality."

He said membership jumped by 35 percent after he took over, and now stands at roughly 500 members.

Terry Belk, a longtime civil rights activist in Charlotte, called White's dismissal welcome news. He said White bickered with other leaders in the group, but didn't speak out forcefully against racial injustice. He cited as an example the lack of public protest from the NAACP over the case of Darryl Turner, a 17-year-old grocery store employee who died last month after being shocked by a police stun gun.

"We've been missing," Belk said. "We haven't been getting out into the community as a result of the infighting."

White defended his record, noting, for instance, that he led a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police task force on racial profiling, and served on panels that helped increase the number of African American police sergeants and majors.

"The (civil rights) struggle has changed," he said. "You've got to have a seat at the table. You've got to be able to talk to people at the level where decisions are made that affect the entire community."

National Office steps in

White said his critics used the NAACP's meeting attendance rule to oust him.

The NAACP's constitution says that if a chapter president fails to make any six meetings within a 12-month period, he or she can be removed from office if at least three members of the chapter's executive committee notify the national office.

The Rev. Rivers' letter, obtained by the Observer, says three members sent a petition to the national office. It doesn't give their names. NAACP national officials couldn't be reached for comment Monday.

Rivers' letter also said the branch has been placed under administratorship -- requiring the local branch's executive board to attend a comprehensive training session by April 30.

White tried to appeal his dismissal, but received a letter dated March 28 from Dennis Courtland Hayes, president and CEO of the NAACP, saying the decision was final.

Under NAACP rules, First Vice President Rosemary Gladden has assumed the presidency. She didn't immediately return a call Monday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Darrel Stephens said in an e-mail that he was disappointed to hear of White's resignation. He said White had helped the Police Department become more responsive to community issues.

"He is a very thoughtful man who worked hard to strengthen relationships and lead us forward," the chief wrote.

The chapter's recent troubles first gained public notice last fall after the N.C. Secretary of State's office said it was looking into allegations the chapter might have mishandled donated money from its 2006 Ashanti Awards banquet.

But in December, the secretary of state's office sent a letter to the chapter saying it found no evidence that contributions were mishandled. That investigation was separate from inquiries by the NAACP national office, however. Vincent Frisina, a member of the local group's executive committee, said he still has questions about chapter finances. He hopes the national group can get to the bottom of things.

"I do want to see an active, productive NAACP chapter for the community," he said. "This is a positive step."



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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, NAACP, WCNC, Google Maps

US Banks Awarded Bailout / Taxpayer Dollars Are Turning A Profit

MSNBC, NY Times----


(Although the FDIC insurance fund that guarantees bank deposits is running low, there are ways to make sure your money is safe. NBC's Tom Costello reports.)

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(Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel Elizabeth Warren joins a Morning Joe panel to talk about how the TARP funds were spent and why America is not out of the woods yet.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

The profits, collected from eight of the biggest banks that have fully repaid their obligations to the government, come to about $4 billion, or the equivalent of about 15 percent annually, according to calculations compiled for The New York Times.

These early returns are by no means a full accounting of the huge financial rescue undertaken by the federal government last year to stabilize teetering banks and other companies.

The government still faces potentially huge long-term losses from its bailouts of the insurance giant American International Group, the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the automakers General Motors and Chrysler. The Treasury Department could also take a hit from its guarantees on billions of dollars of toxic mortgages.

Welcome surprise

But the mere hint of bailout profits for the nearly year-old Troubled Asset Relief Program has been received as a welcome surprise. It has also spurred hopes that the government could soon get out of the banking business.

“The taxpayers want their money back and they want the government out of our banking system,” Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican and a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel examining the relief program, said in an interview.

Profits were hardly high on the list of government priorities last October, when a financial panic was in full swing and the Treasury Department started spending roughly $240 billion to buy preferred shares from hundreds of banks that were facing huge potential losses from troubled mortgages. Bank stocks began teetering after Lehman Brothers collapsed and the government rescued A.I.G., and fear gripped the financial industry around the world.

American taxpayers were told they would eventually make a modest return from these investments, including a 5 percent quarterly dividend on the banks’ preferred shares and warrants to buy stock in the banks at a set price over 10 years.

But critics at the time warned that taxpayers might not see any profits, and that it could take years for the banks to repay the loans.

As Congress debated the bailout bill last September that would authorize the Treasury Department to spend up to $700 billion to stem the financial crisis, Representative Mac Thornberry, Republican of Texas, said: “Seven hundred billion dollars of taxpayer money should not be used as a hopeful experiment.”

So far, that experiment is more than paying off. The government has taken profits of about $1.4 billion on its investment in Goldman Sachs, $1.3 billion on Morgan Stanley and $414 million on American Express. The five other banks that repaid the government — Northern Trust, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T — each brought in $100 million to $334 million in profit.

The figure does not include the roughly $35 million the government has earned from 14 smaller banks that have paid back their loans. The government bought shares in these and many other financial companies last fall, when sinking confidence among investors pushed down many bank stocks to just a few dollars a share. As the banks strengthened and became profitable, the government authorized them to pay back the preferred stock, which had been paying quarterly dividends since October.

But the real profit came as banks were permitted to buy back the so-called warrants, whose low fixed price provided a windfall for the government as the shares of the companies soared.

Despite the early proceeds from the bailout program, a debate remains over whether the government could have done even better with its bank investments.

If private investors had taken a stake in the banks last October on par with the government’s, they would have had profits three times as large — about $12 billion, or 44 percent if tallied on an annual basis, according to Linus Wilson, a finance professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, who analyzed the data for The Times.

Why the discrepancy? Finance experts say the government overpaid for the bank assets it bought, because its chief priority was to stabilize the teetering financial system, not to maximize profit.

“Had these banks tried to raise money any other way, they probably would have had to pay quite a bit more than the government received,” said Espen Robak, head of Pluris Valuation Advisors, which analyzes the value of large financial institutions.

A Congressional oversight panel concluded in February that the Treasury paid an average of 34 percent more than the estimated fair value of the assets it received.

Of course, many finance experts suggest that the comparison is academic at best, because there is no way to know what might have become of the banks or the financial system as a whole had the government not acted.

“Taxpayers should heave a sigh of relief that the investment in the banks protected them from even more catastrophic losses from more bank failures,” said Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

A more direct comparison of profits can be made with the investment performance of other governments that poured money into ailing banks last fall.

The Swiss government, for example, said last week that it had pulled in a handsome profit for taxpayers on a $5.6 billion bailout it gave to UBS, the troubled Swiss bank, at the height of the financial crisis in October. The government netted $1 billion on its investment, a gain equal to a 32 percent annual return.

“They are substantially in the money,” Guy de Blonay, a fund manager at Henderson New Star in London, said after the announcement.

More profits?

American taxpayers could still collect additional profits on their investments in two other big banks that have repaid their preferred stock but not their warrants: JPMorgan Chase and Capital One. They are expected to yield over $3.1 billion in gains for the Treasury in the next month or so, although the full tally will depend on how much they will pay to buy back their warrants.

And the government is owed about $6.2 billion in interest payments from banks that have not yet repaid their federal money.

But all the profits taxpayers have won could still be wiped out by two deeply troubled institutions. Both Citigroup and Bank of America are still holding mortgages and other loans that were once worth billions of dollars but whose revised values are uncertain. If they prove “toxic” because they cannot attract buyers, they could leave large holes in the banks’ balance sheets.

Neither bank is ready to repay its bailout money anytime soon, even though the banks’ stock prices have surged in the last month, leaving the government sitting on paper profits of about $18 billion between them.



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Sources: NY Times, MSNBC, Huffington Post, Google Maps

Did Charlotte Politicians & City Inspectors Intentionally Allow Developers To Build Shoddy Homes For Minority Citizens?

Charlotte Observer----


Homeowners discovering homes built too close

Hundreds of single-family homes in Charlotte may have been built too close together and have air-conditioning units placed in the property setback, according to the city of Charlotte's planning department.

The City of Charlotte requires that Single-family homes have open space on each side of a house, separating them from neighbors.

But in a number of new suburban subdivisions, the homes are squeezed so tight that air-conditioning units or decks are in the no-build zones.

The city made a cursory review of subdivisions after Rodney Lee, a homeowner in the Winget Pond community off Steele Creek Road, discovered three years ago his HVAC unit and deck spilled into his setback. The zoning for his house required at least 3 feet from his home to his property line, and his HVAC unit ended 1 foot from the end of his property, Lee said.

The city has agreed to place a variance on Lee's property and others in his neighborhood with setback violations, absolving them and future owners of code violations.

But Lee is upset that city and county inspectors never caught the problem, and that the homebuilder, Ryan Homes, didn't expand the size of the lots to accommodate the homes. Lee believes the builder increased its profit by building homes that are too big for the lots.

“They should have built a smaller house or resized the lot,” said Lee.

After Lee complained, city officials tried to determine if the problem is widespread.

The city's planning department said in a June memo that “hundreds of properties” are affected. Multiple builders were responsible, and the problem was scattered throughout the city.

Jim Bartl, Mecklenburg's Director of Code Enforcement, is responsible for inspections of homes while they are under construction. He said builders aren't required to get site plans for single-family homes under construction, so inspectors usually can't catch the problem before building starts.

He also said preconstruction site plans often don't show where the HVACs will be placed.

“I think the biggest problem is a lack of contractor understanding of what they can and can't do,” Bartl said. “We think information is the best answer. This is a tough one to catch in advance. Almost anytime you catch it, it's already in the wrong spot.”

Bartl said the city and county have discussed sending HVAC contractors an automatic notice about setbacks when they pull permits. HVAC units could be placed in the backyard, Bartl said.

Ryan Homes couldn't be reached for comment.

Lee and other Winget Pond homeowners have sued Ryan Homes and others involved in building the community, seeking financial damages. Their lawsuit has been dismissed.

Walter Abernethy, director of code enforcement for the city, said he doesn't plan on sending violation notices to all homeowners with setback problems.

“We'll have to look at this from a practical perspective,” Abernethy said.

Single-family homes often have different zoning, which can mandate different setback distances. If you are concerned whether your home, air conditioner, or deck has encroached into your setback, contact the city of Charlotte or code enforcement for more information.



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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Google Maps

North Carolina's Greatest Legacy (Including Charlotte) Is Building More Jails & Imprisoning (Not Educating) Minority Citizens

Cuts mean fewer prisons and programs




- As a result of tough-on-crime sentencing laws approved by legislators 15 years ago, North Carolina's Inmate population is booming and will soon outpace the number of prison beds.

Despite this, the state budget signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue this month orders seven small prisons closed, eliminates 972 corrections jobs and cuts programs aimed at keeping juvenile offenders from becoming hardened criminals.

Administrators say the state Department of Correction can safely absorb the cuts in the short-term by increasing the number of inmates at other facilities. But judges, legislators and others with a stake in the criminal justice system worry that the growth, if unchecked, will soon result in prisons so crowded as to be unsafe for inmates or staff.

Last year, the state budgeted more than $1.5 billion for prisons and probation. That's 3.5 times what was spent in 1985, when adjusted for inflation. The number of inmates has more than doubled over the same period, from 17,430 to about 39,000. The system has about 20,000 workers, making it the largest employer among state agencies.

“We can't just keep putting more and more people in prison,” said Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Democrat from Carrboro who co-chairs the legislative committee that oversees justice and public safety. “We can't afford it.”

At the heart of the issue is the conflict between strained state resources in the worst economic recession in a generation and the unwillingness of legislators to budge on laws that require criminals to serve more time.

The $74 million in budget cuts and prison closures requires the relocation of about 950 inmates and cuts programs that are popular with inmates and the public, such as family visitation, gyms and the community work crews that provide cheap labor for local governments. Money for the crews that collect litter along the state's highways was also reduced.

The budget also cut $33 million and 122 jobs from the state Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, eliminating the Governor's One-on-One program, which provides mentors for at-risk youth. Legislators cut two state-funded wilderness camps for children with behavioral problems. Support Our Students, an afterschool program aimed at keeping youngsters out of trouble, is also being discontinued.

Inmates going to other prisons

Many of the positions are vacant, but about 620 employees at the N.C. Department of Correction will lose their jobs if other positions for them can't be found in the system. Inmates at the prisons being closed will be transferred to other facilities. In some cases, cells now used to hold one inmate will be modified to bunk two, while custody classifications at some facilities will be lowered to increase dormitory-style housing.

Jennie Lancaster, chief deputy secretary at the state Department of Correction, said there are limits to how many facilities can be converted to hold more prisoners, especially at the higher security levels.

“We need to run a safe system,” said Lancaster, a former warden who has worked in the state's prisons for 32 years. “We have said to legislators, we consider this a temporary solution. … The state is going to have to either keep adding prison beds or find a way to slow down growth in the prison population.”

A review by the legislature's fiscal research office this year projected that by 2018 the state's prison population will outpace the planned beds by 7,488 inmates. That projected shortfall takes into account 2,268 prison beds scheduled to be added through new construction by 2012 at a budgeted cost of $101 million.

Each maximum-security bed the state adds costs as much as $136,500 in construction, not including the recurring annual expense of feeding and guarding those additional inmates. On average, it costs the state $27,310 a year to keep someone behind bars.

Sentencing guidelines tweaked

Much of the growth in North Carolina's Prison System is driven by two legislative changes made in the mid-1990s as a response to rising crime rates. In 1994, legislators required offenders to spend more time in prison before becoming eligible for parole. Two years later, legislators ended statewide caps on the prison population.

Legislators passed two laws this year sponsored by Kinnaird that will decrease the inmate population in future years by tweaking sentencing guidelines. But a third bill that would have cut the prison terms of many felons by three months and added that time to the length of post-release supervision failed to even come up for a vote.

“The three bills together would have had a tremendous impact, essentially stopping the growth,” Kinnaird said. “But they (legislators) couldn't go along with that.”

Kinnaird said cuts to juvenile programs and funding for the state's mental health division could exacerbate the expected growth in inmate population.

“The Department of Correction is very nervous,” Kinnaird said. “Double-bunking sets up a very dangerous situation. You only have to look at California to see the disaster of having 6,000 inmates in facilities built for 3,000. The increased violence becomes harder and harder to control.”

Often cited as a worst-case scenario, the California prison system is one of the most crowded in the nation, with many of its facilities holding more than double the number of inmates they were designed for. A federal court concluded this month that overcrowding and poor health care is resulting in an avoidable inmate death each week. An Aug. 5 riot and fire at a prison outside Los Angeles left 250 inmates injured and 55 hospitalized.

District Court Judge Marcia Morey of Durham said eliminating programs in North Carolina aimed at helping juvenile offenders and at-risk children is short-sighted, and will potentially cost taxpayers far more down the road.

“I think we're going to pay,” said Morey, who advocates for stronger state services for juvenile offenders. “When you cut community-based services, curfew checks and counseling, you're going to see the results out the back door. It's a recipe for increased juvenile delinquency, which will escalate into adult crime.”

Another issue is that more than a third of those entering prison are ex-offenders who either violated the terms of their probation or were arrested on new charges.

Bill Rowe, a lawyer for the liberal N.C. Justice Center, advocates doing more to help those released from prison to find jobs, housing and vocational training.

“The current system of incarceration and re-incarceration is not working and is eroding the safety of our communities,” Rowe said.

Texas worth imitating?

A coalition of groups supporting reform heard a presentation last month by Jerry Madden, a GOP legislator from Texas who helped revamp that state's corrections system to blunt overpopulation.

Texas is one of nine states in a program run by the national Council of State Governments aimed at lowering prison spending and inmate numbers by investing in programs that improve law enforcement and living conditions in targeted neighborhoods where data show the most crime occurs. Since 2006, Texas has managed to halt growth in its prison population while lowering rates of violent crime.

“I think we came to the conclusion it was smarter and a wiser utilization of our money to invest in programs that can change people's lives, save taxpayers money and at the same time make the community safer,” Madden said Friday.

N.C. Department of Correction administrators and some legislators say they're interested in instituting similar initiatives. The new budget allocates $100,000 for studying programs within the state and across the nation that have reduced the numbers of people going to prison.

But reducing sentence lengths for criminals is likely to be a tough sell at the legislature.

You can't just let a lot of folks out

Sen. Phil Berger, a Republican from Eden, said the state needs to spend whatever it takes to build enough prisons to keep up with the number of inmates entering the system.

“There is recognition, even amongst Democrats, that you can't just let a lot of folks out of prison,” said Berger, the state Senate's GOP leader. “Many of those people are in prison for a reason, and when they get out early or you reduce sentences, we see examples of folks creating havoc once they're released.”

Kinnaird said she is hopeful a bipartisan solution can be found before overpopulation becomes a crisis.

“If we can convince a conservative Republican from Texas there is a different way to go, I think we have a very good chance of explaining to people here that we're approaching this all wrong,” Kinnaird said. “We can't keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”





Feds consider sites in N.C., Md. for new prison

Winton, N.C. — The Federal Bureau of Prisons is considering building a new privately owned and operated facility in eastern North Carolina to keep up with demand for bed space.

Officials are looking at putting the facility for about 1,380 low-security prisoners from the Washington, D.C., area in Winton, a small town along the Chowan River in Hertford County.

The other site being considered is in Princess Anne, along Maryland's Eastern Shore.


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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Newsobserver, WRAL, US Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

The Liberal Lion, Soul Of The Democratic Party & Family Rock Is Laid To Rest Amongst His Slain Brothers....Pres. Obama's Eulogy

MSNBC----


(In a eulogy to Ted Kennedy, President Obama remembers Kennedy as one who used his hardship to become more sensitive to the plights of others.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(The late Mass. lawmaker was buried on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery alongside slain brothers John and Robert. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(The Kennedy clan pays a final tribute to their "General" and rock.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest alongside slain brothers John and Robert on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday evening, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.

Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of a political era — outside Kennedy's funeral in rainy Boston, and later in the day in humid, late-summer Washington. With flags over the Capitol flying at half-staff in his memory, his hearse stopped outside the Senate where he served for 47 years.

"Go now, to your place of rest. And meet the Lord, your God," said the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, the House chaplain.

A few miles away, Kennedy's freshly excavated gravesite was on a gently sloping Virginia hillside, flanked by a pair of maple trees. His brother Robert, killed in 1968 while running for president, lies 100 feet away. It is another 100 to the eternal flame that has burned since 1963 for John F. Kennedy, president when he was assassinated.

Kennedy died Tuesday at 77, more than a year after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

One son, Patrick, wept quietly as another son, Teddy Jr., spoke from the pulpit of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston. Teddy Jr. recalled the day years ago, shortly after losing a leg to cancer, that he slipped walking up an icy driveway as he headed out to go sledding. "I started to cry and I said, `I'll never be able to climb up that hill,'" the son said.

"And he lifted me up in his strong, gentle arms and said something I will never forget. He said, `I know you can do it. There is nothing that you can't do.'"

Rain beat down steadily as Kennedy's coffin was borne by a military honor guard into the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and again when it was brought back out for the flight to Washington and the military cemetery in Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington.

In life, the senator had visited the burial ground often to mourn his brothers, John and Robert, killed in their 40s, more than a generation ago, by assassins' bullets.

"He was given a gift of time that his brothers were not. And he used that time to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow," Obama said in a eulogy that also gently made mention of Kennedy's "personal failings and setbacks."

As a member of the Senate, Kennedy was a "veritable force of nature," the president said. But more than that, the "baby of the family who became its patriarch, the restless dreamer who became its rock."

Those left behind to mourn "grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good he did, the dream he kept alive" Obama said inside the packed church.

Hundreds lined nearby sidewalks, ignoring the rain, as the funeral procession passed.

"I said to myself this morning, 'No matter what the weather, I'm going, I don't care if I have to swim," said Lillian Bennett, 59, who added she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and determined to get as close as she could to the invitation-only funeral.

"The Mass of Christian burial weaves together memory and hope," said the Rev. Mark R. Hession, parish priest at the church in a working class neighborhood of Boston.

Part of history

There was plenty of both in a two-hour service filled with references to Kennedy's political accomplishments and personal recollections of his private life. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and tenor Placido Domingo provided musical grace notes.

Kennedy's widow, Vicki, his sole surviving sibling, Jean, and Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, carefully arranged the cloth funeral pall atop the coffin.

Like others, Teddy Jr., touched on his father's legacy.

"He answered Uncle Joe's call to patriotism, Uncle Jack's call to public service and Bobby's determination to seek a newer world. Unlike them, he lived to be a grandfather," he said.

Joseph Kennedy Jr. died in World War II, John F. Kennedy was the nation's 35th president when he was assassinated in 1963 and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was killed five years later as he campaigned for the presidency.

Saturday's events marked the end of four days of public and private mourning meant to emphasize Kennedy's 47 years in the Senate from Massachusetts, his standing as the foremost liberal Democrat of the late 20th century yet a legislator who courted compromise with Republicans, a family man and last heir to a dynasty that began in the years after World War II.

Thousands of mourners filed past his flag-draped coffin earlier in the week when Kennedy lay in repose at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. Republicans and Democrats alike recalled his political career in a bipartisan evening of laughter-filled speechmaking on Friday.

Even the church had special meaning for the family. Kennedy prayed there daily several years ago during his daughter Kara's successful battle with lung cancer.

Bi-partisan Memorial

Friday night, Kennedy was remembered at a bipartisan memorial service whose speakers included Sens. John McCain and John Kerry, Vice President Joe Biden and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, JFK's daughter.

"Now Teddy has become a part of history," said Schlossberg, "and we are the ones who will have to do all the things he would have done, for us, for each other and for our country."

Saturday's ceremony evoked the funerals of Kennedy's slain brothers. It was at RFK's rites in 1968 that Edward Kennedy famously memorialized Robert.

"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it."

Sources: MSNBC

Weekly Address: Katrina Tragedy: Let Us Never Forget...Pres. Obama Says Progress Has Been Made

Whitehouse.gov----



(Entertainers Mike Myers and Kanye West plead help for Katrina victims.)





Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, August 29, 2009

This weekend marks the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the Gulf Coast. As we remember all that was lost, we must take stock of the work being done on recovery, while preparing for future disasters. And that is what I want to speak with you about today.

None of us can forget how we felt when those winds battered the shore, the floodwaters began to rise, and Americans were stranded on rooftops and in stadiums. Over a thousand people would lose their lives. Over a million people were displaced. Whole neighborhoods of a great American city were left in ruins. Communities across the Gulf Coast were forever changed. And many Americans questioned whether government could fulfill its responsibility to respond in a crisis, or contribute to a recovery that covered parts of four states.

Since taking office in January, my Administration has focused on helping citizens finish the work of rebuilding their lives and communities, while taking steps to prevent similar catastrophes going forward. Our approach is simple: government must keep its responsibility to the people, so that Americans have the opportunity to take responsibility for their future.

That is the work that we are doing. To date, eleven members of my Cabinet have visited the Gulf Coast, and I’m looking forward to going to New Orleans later this year. To complete a complex recovery that addresses nearly every sector of society, we have prioritized coordination among different federal agencies, and with state and local governments. No more turf wars – all of us need to move forward together, because there is much more work to be done.

I have also made it clear that we will not tolerate red tape that stands in the way of progress, or the waste that can drive up the bill. Government must be a partner – not an opponent – in getting things done. That is why we have put in place innovative review and dispute resolution programs to expedite recovery efforts, and have freed up hundreds of millions of dollars of federal assistance that had not been distributed. This is allowing us to move forward with stalled projects across the Gulf Coast – building and improving schools; investing in public health and safety; and repairing broken roads, bridges and homes. And this effort has been dramatically amplified by the Recovery Act, which has put thousands of Gulf Coast residents to work.

As we complete this effort, we see countless stories of citizens holding up their end of the bargain. In New Orleans, hundreds of kids just started the school year at Langston Hughes elementary, the first school built from scratch since Katrina. The St. Bernard Project has drawn together volunteers to rebuild hundreds of homes, where people can live with dignity and security. To cite just one hopeful indicator, New Orleans is the fastest growing city in America, as many who had been displaced are now coming home.

As we rebuild and recover, we must also learn the lessons of Katrina, so that our nation is more protected and resilient in the face of disaster. That means continuing to rebuild hundreds of miles of levees and floodwalls around New Orleans, and working to strengthen the wetlands and barrier islands that are the Gulf Coast’s first line of defense. In Washington, that means a focus on competence and accountability – and I’m proud that my FEMA Administrator has 25 years of experience in disaster management in Florida, a state that has known its share of hurricanes. And across the country, that means improving coordination among different agencies, modernizing our emergency communications, and helping families plan for a crisis.

On this anniversary, we are focused on the threat from hurricanes. But we must also be prepared for a broad range of dangers – from wildfires and earthquakes, to terrorist attacks and pandemic disease. In particular, my Administration is working aggressively with state and local governments – and with partners around the world – to prepare for the risk posed by the H1N1 virus. To learn more about the simple steps that you can take to keep you and your family safe from all of these dangers, please visit www.ready.gov.

So on this day, we commemorate a tragedy that befell our people. But we also remember that with every tragedy comes the chance of renewal. It is a quintessentially American notion – that adversity can give birth to hope, and that the lessons of the past hold the key to a better future. From the streets of New Orleans to the Mississippi Coast, folks are beginning the next chapter in their American stories. And together, we can ensure that the legacy of a terrible storm is a country that is safer and more prepared for the challenges that may come. Thank you.



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Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Youtube, Wikipedia, Google Maps

Thousands Of Bostonians & Many Others Pay Last Respects To The Liberal Lion

MSNBC----


(Crowds lined the route of a motorcade that carried the casket of the late Senator Ted Kennedy on from the family's Cape Cod compound to the city of Boston Thursday, where the Senator's body will lie in repose for public viewing at the JFK Library through Friday. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.)

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(Bostonians mourn one of their own.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Mourners filed by the casket of Sen. Edward Kennedy as he lay in repose Thursday in his slain brother's presidential library, paying their respects to one of the longest-serving U.S. lawmakers and the last political giant of the Kennedy family.

Thousands of people had waited for the public viewing at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, lining up for hours before the doors opened around 6 p.m. ET. Officials were allowing people to enter in groups of 35 to 40.

The casket arrived after a motorcade traveled 70 miles from the family compound in Cape Cod past sites of significance to his life. Thousands of people along the route cheered as the motorcade drove through Boston, bidding farewell to the last of the famed Kennedy brothers and mark the end of a national political chapter that was both triumphant and tragic. He is to be buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, near Washington, D.C.

With a bugler playing taps, a rifle squad firing a salute and pallbearers representing each branch of the military, Kennedy will be laid to rest in a private funeral. Plans call for Kennedy to be buried in early evening near his slain brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

The motorcade started its trip in Hyannis Port, at the Cape Cod home where Kennedy's family attended a private Mass. Eighty-five Kennedy relatives traveled with the senator's body to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, where the Senate's third-longest-serving member will lie in repose.

Among those accompanying Kennedy were nieces Caroline, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, and Maria Shriver, daughter of his late sister Eunice; and his son Patrick Kennedy, a U.S. congressman.

Kennedy's body will lie in repose for a two-day public viewing. A contingent of friends and family sat vigil, including a federal judge, the family of an Iraq war soldier, a Sept. 11 widow, former staffers, and longtime friends.

For many who lined the route that the hearse carrying his body took from Cape Cod to Boston, it was hard to untangle Kennedy’s larger-than-life role as statesman from his role as neighbor and local celebrity, whether he was taking a turn conducting the Boston Pops or throwing out the first pitch for the Red Sox.

“It was Teddy’s home team. It just seemed appropriate to leave him the cap,” said James Jenner, 28, placing a Sox cap he was wearing near the entrance to the library. “It symbolizes everything that he loved about his home state and everything he was outside the Senate.”

Before the motorcade departed, mourners crowded the end of the barricaded road leading to the family compound.

Virginia Cain, 54, said she walked about 2 miles from her summer home in Centerville so she could watch the procession and witness history.

“I can remember where I was when President Kennedy died, and I’ll remember where I was when the senator left Hyannis Port,” she said.

A bouquet of white and yellow lilies lay on the lawn of David Nylan’s vacation rental near the Kennedy home, where a U.S. flag flew at half-staff in Kennedy’s memory.

“The Kennedys and Hyannis and the Cape, they just kind of go hand in hand,” said Nylan, 38, who said people had been stopping near his house to leave flowers since Kennedy died late Tuesday.

On Main Street in downtown Hyannis, flags, flowers and personal notes lay at the base of a flagpole outside the John F. Kennedy Museum, where about two dozen people gathered.

Someone had placed an old Kennedy campaign sign with a new inscription: “God bless Ted, the last was first,” referring to his ascension to political greatness after his two older brothers were assassinated.

Several enlarged photos showed events in Kennedy’s life — meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., reading to a school girl. A rosary hung over a picture of Kennedy standing in his office.

Echoes of the Kennedy history were hard to miss as the motorcade traveled through the city.

Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, put her hand over her heart as the procession rolled down Hanover Street in the North End neighborhood, past St. Stephen’s Church, where his mother, Rose, was baptized and where Kennedy later eulogized her. The crowd applauded, and his niece Caroline and other family members acknowledged them with a wave from their cars.

“When a member of the Kennedy family passes, it’s like family. It feels like family,” said Jeanne Pagano, 54, who was on the sidewalk outside the church. “I really loved the man and the family. I loved them.”

Joanne Caruso, of Newton, picked up her sons — 12-year-old Tonino and 9-year-old Christian Sarandrea — early from summer camp to say goodbye to Kennedy. The boys carried a photo of their father, Antonio, with Kennedy.

“We get to be a part of a historic history, a historical moment,” Tonino said as they waited. “The day we went to see Mr. Kennedy.”

After leaving the church, the motorcade traveled across the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway created by the Big Dig highway project, which Kennedy helped shepherd through the Senate. The park occupies the same stretch of land once dominated by an elevated expressway named after John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, Rose’s father and a patriarch of the Kennedy-Fitzgerald clan.

Kennedy’s motorcade then paused at Faneuil Hall, where the historic bell rang 47 times — once for each of Kennedy’s years in the Senate.

From there the motorcade passed the Massachusetts Statehouse with its life-size statue of John F. Kennedy, which was opened to tourists Thursday for the first time since just after the Sept. 11 attacks.

There, too, onlookers watched silently, waiting for the motorcade to turn and pass 122 Bowdoin Street, where Kennedy opened his first office as an assistant district attorney and where President Kennedy lived while running for Congress in 1946.

People gather to pay respects
After passing by the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in the city’s Government Center complex, the motorcade headed to the library, where Kennedy’s body will lie in repose until his Saturday funeral. Just before arriving at the museum, the motorcade will pass the JFK stop on the city’s subway system.

Scott Howe, 46, and his 15-year-old son, Austin, from Laurel, Md., were among those gathering outside the library and planned to pay their respects to Kennedy on Thursday night.

“He seemed to really care about his constituents,” Scott Howe said. “The Kennedy family — despite the money they had, had a big streak of altruism.”

The family planned an invitation-only private memorial service for Friday evening at the library.

All the living presidents were expected to attend the funeral Mass on Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica — commonly known as the Mission Church — in Boston’s working-class Mission Hill neighborhood. President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver the eulogy.

Shortly before the Mass, 44 sitting senators and 10 former senators will be among a group of about 100 dignitaries who will pay their respects to Kennedy at the library before making their way to the church.

Included in the group is former Sen. Birch Bayh of Indiana, who pulled Kennedy from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed near Springfield, Mass., in June 1964. The pilot and a legislative aide were killed, and Kennedy suffered a broken back that caused him pain the rest of his life.

“The Impossible Dream,” Kennedy’s favorite song, from the musical “Man of La Mancha,” will be played at one of the services, according to the person familiar with the arrangements.

The city may soon have one more Kennedy landmark. Planning is already under way for a building to house a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his assassinated brothers — former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.

Kennedy will be buried Saturday evening near his slain brothers — former President Kennedy and former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — at Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia.




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Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps