WORLD
SIRTE, Libya – Negotiators lowered
expectations ahead of the opening
of the Darfur peace talks Saturday,
with almost no key rebel leaders
present to negotiate an agreement
with the Sudanese government.
The talks were announced in early
September by U.N. Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon to try to end more than
four years of fighting that have
killed more than 200,000 people in
Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
With the absence of the major rebel
players, hopes faded for a quick peace
agreement, and mediators played
down the conference’s goals, insisting
that focus would now be to “create
conditions” for effective peace talks
to take place.
They said negotiations will also give
a larger role to groups representing
civilians, which have had little say so far.
Mediators did not know by noon
Saturday how many faction leaders and
delegates would attend the talks’ opening,
but the chief U.N. mediator, special
envoy Jan Eliasson, said six or seven
groups could be there by Saturday.
“People keep coming. There’s a slow
trickle,” he said.
The talks’ first priorities are to
reach an immediate cease-fire, discuss
the return of Darfur refugees to their
destroyed villages and obtain financial
compensations for war victims, Eliasson
said.
NATION
WATAUGA, Texas – A 5-yearold
boy playing on train tracks fell
and then froze up when he heard
a locomotive approaching, leaving
him unable to move before the train
struck and killed him, police said.
Kevin Bradford and two other boys had
sneaked past their grandmother to look for
dinosaur bones on Thursday, police said.
Workers aboard the Union Pacific train
traveling through this small North Texas
town saw the boys on the tracks but
couldn’t stop in time despite braking,
Union Pacific spokesman Joe Arbona
said.
Kevin’s 7-year-old brother and
5-year-old cousin made it safely off
the tracks and ran home. Kevin’s foot
got caught in the tracks and he fell,
officials said.
Watauga Police Chief Rande
Benjamin said Kevin’s death was
an accident, and charges would
not be filed. A report was sent to
Child Protective Services for review.
Texas ranks second in the U.S. for
pedestrian-train fatalities. From January
through July, 29 pedestrians died
on Texas railroads, according to the
Federal Railroad Administration.
LOCAL
MARTINSVILLE – A career police
officer who was the central figure in
a public corruption case is scheduled
to report Tuesday to begin serving an
eight-month prison term.
Former Henry County Sheriff H.
Franklin Cassell will report to U.S.
Penitentiary-Canaan in northeastern
Pennsylvania, near Scranton. The
all-male prison has 1,536 inmates,
most of whom are in a high-security
institution.
Under a plea agreement, Cassell
pleaded guilty in May to one count
of making false statements to federal
investigators. Prosecutors dropped
four other charges related to allegations
that the sheriff looked the
other way as drugs and guns seized
by the department were resold to the
public.
At his sentencing last month, a
U.S. District judge in Roanoke also
fined Cassell $15,000 and placed him
on two years probation following his
release.
All of the prisoners work at jobs,
such as food service, painting, working
in a warehouse or landscaping. The
starting pay is 12 cents an hour.