Friends plan vigil for contractor held hostage

Friends plan vigil forcontractor held hostage
EAGLESWOOD TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Friends of an American held hostage in Saudi Arabia by a group linked to Al-Qaida awaited word of his fate as a deadline imposed by his captors was ticking down.
A U.S. Embassy official in the Saudi capital said today that contacts with Saudi authorities were ongoing but would not comment further on the hunt for Paul M. Johnson Jr.
A candlelight vigil for the kidnapped contractor was planned for tonight behind a firehouse in this rural community about 20 miles north of Atlantic City.
"We all hope Paul comes back," Dan Pomponio, a neighbor of Johnson's sister in Little Egg Harbor, said Wednesday. "You can only cross your fingers and hope."
The gathering in Johnson's hometown was to take place within a day of a deadline set by his captors, who threatened Tuesday to kill him in three days unless Saudi authorities release Al-Qaida prisoners. They did not give a specific time.
Nurse at Virginia hospitaldies of tuberculosis
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- A nurse at Chesapeake General Hospital died of tuberculosis, prompting officials to notify hundreds of people who may have come in contact with her.
City health director Nancy Welch said patients and visitors who were on a medical-surgical unit on the second floor of the hospital between October and April will receive letters advising them to be tested for TB.
Family and friends of the nurse, and the staff at Chesapeake General Hospital, also are being tested. The nurse's name was not immediately released.
The nurse, who lived in Virginia Beach, died at a medical center in Norfolk on Saturday. Local health departments are tracking anyone who had contact with her in those two cities.
The nurse had been coughing, a key symptom of TB, since October. Officials said she thought she had an upper respiratory infection, and only recently sought treatment. She had resigned from her job at Chesapeake General in April.
Man guilty in fatal crash
DEDHAM, Mass. -- A man was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to two years for a drunken driving crash that killed a former U.S. embassy worker in Iran who spent 444 days in captivity after he was taken hostage in 1979.
Richard C. Clinch, 24, was found guilty of motor vehicle homicide while drunk for causing the April 2002 crash in which his vehicle rear-ended a pickup truck driven by Malcolm Kalp, 63. The truck struck a guardrail and overturned. Kalp was pronounced dead at the scene.
William Cintolo, Clinch's lawyer, said his client was trying to avoid debris in the road and that he passed field sobriety tests. "I thought there was serious questions in regards to intoxication," Cintolo said. He said he had not yet decided whether to appeal.
Kalp was officially listed as the U.S. Embassy's commercial officer when he and 65 others were taken hostage on Nov. 4, 1979. His captors said he worked for the CIA. Kalp tried to escape three times, and was beaten and held in solitary confinement for more than a year.
Brazen computer thieves
HONG KONG -- Thieves snatched two computers from a Hong Kong trade fair, a particularly brazen act considering that the victims were security companies showing off the latest crime-stopping technology.
The thieves stole two laptop computers worth $2,500 from the Asia Securitex 2004 trade show on Wednesday, police spokeswoman Carrie So said.
"If you can't expect good security here, where can you expect it?" exhibitor Shinah Lunty was quoted as saying in the South China Morning Post newspaper. Lunty told the newspaper that her mobile phone, worth $260, was also stolen.
Hong Kong police inspector Bob White said he suspected a mainland China gang targeted the exhibition because it was seen as a place for "easy pickings," the newspaper reported.
City bans public nudity
ASHLAND, Ore. -- Want to streak through downtown or drop your pants in the park? You could be slapped with a $250 fine.
City councilors in the southern Oregon town have passed an anti-nudity ordinance, prohibiting genital exposure downtown and in public parks.
Some residents opposed the ordinance, saying it infringes on personal freedom.
"I prefer that we not be legislating morality," said resident Paul Copeland. "I have a problem with the proposed language of the ordinance. If your neighbor is mowing his lawn naked or doing objectionable things, I don't believe the police are the right way to resolve your dispute."
He suggested making nudity legal if it were a political or artistic expression.
Associated Press