LOS ANGELES - All of her life, Zoila Meyer believed she was an American. She even won election to the City Council of Adelanto.
 

But now she is facing a threat of deportation for illegally voting, because she never became a citizen after being brought to this country from Cuba when she was 1 year old.

"To be honest with you, I'm scared. How can they just pluck me out of my family, my kids?" the 40-year-old mother of four said in a telephone interview Friday.

"If they can do this to me, they can do it to anybody," she said.

After Meyer was elected to the council in Adelanto in 2004, someone told officials that she was born in Cuba, prompting an investigation.

Eventually, "the police came to me and said, 'Zoila, you're not a citizen. You're a legal resident but you're not a citizen,'" said Meyer, who now lives in the San Bernardino County desert town of Apple Valley, near Adelanto.

She resigned after 10 weeks in office in Adelanto, a town of about 23,000.

Meyer, whose story was first reported in the Victorville Daily Press, applied to become a naturalized citizen and continued with her life: raising her children and attending two local colleges to earn degrees toward her goal of working in the justice system as a forensic nurse.

However, because she was not a citizen, Meyer faced a felony charge of illegally voting in the 2004 election.

In April 2006, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent voting and was placed on probation, fined and ordered to pay restitution.

What Meyer didn't realize is that fraudulently voting is a deportable offense.

On June 18, Meyer said, immigration officials showed up at her home and told her to appear at their San Bernardino office.

Her husband drove her to the office on Tuesday, "and they handcuffed me," Meyer said. "They put me in jail and they frisked me and processed me."

"I said 'You're doing this because I voted?"'

The case is unusual but immigration officials were just doing their job when they arrested Meyer, said Lori Haley, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"People are arrested on immigration charges from all walks of life," she said. "She can plead her case before an immigration judge, if she feels that she has reason to seek release for removal. ... Everybody has due process when they're arrested."

Meyer was released pending a July 18 appearance before an immigration judge who will determine whether she will be deported to Canada, the last point of entry into the U.S. recorded in her immigration record.

Meyer said she and her parents had visited Canada and she had gone many times to Mexico without anyone ever asking her to prove her citizenship.

Meyer said she does not support illegal immigration but she thinks immigration procedures should be changed to prevent misunderstandings.

"It makes me feel like we're all just numbers," she said of her case. "I see people writing 'this is my country.' It really isn't. It belongs to the government and they decide who stays and who goes .... You think you're free; you're really not."

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, California (Reuters) - More than 50 homes in Lake Tahoe went up in flames on Sunday as a fast-moving forest fire hit this resort community, prompting U.S. Forest Service officials to order residents out.
 

Another 500 structures were threatened by the fire, which has consumed more than 500 acres of private and federal land, but no one has been injured, said South Lake Tahoe Police Lt. Martin Hale.

The cause of the blaze, first reported at about 2 p.m., was unknown, said Kit Bailey of the Forest Service. He added however that it was likely caused by humans because the weather was clear.

Winds of 30 mph with gusts of 45 mph made it difficult for the 350 to 400 firefighters to get a handle on the fire, Bailey said. Chunks of ash dropped miles from the fire.

Helicopters filled their buckets from Lake Tahoe and aircraft dropped retardant on the fire but officials could not estimate when the fire might be controlled or contained.

This stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountains straddling California and Nevada has tinderbox-like conditions because of a unseasonably dry winter and recent near-record high temperatures, officials said.

About 1,000 residents were evacuated from the community.

"Neither my husband nor I brought clothes," said Renee Gorevin, 50, who planned to stay with friends. "I brought my dog and made sure my son and daughter got out."

More than 80 percent of the Lake Tahoe Basin is owned by the U.S. Forest Service.

Deportation, not to be confused with extradition, generally means the expulsion of someone from a country. In general, the term now refers exclusively to the expulsion of foreigners (the expulsion of natives is usually called banishment, exile, or transportation). Historically, it also referred to penal transportation.

Deportation can also happen within a country, when for example an individual or a group of people is forcibly resettled to a different part of the country. If ethnic groups are affected by this, it is also referred to as population transfer. The rationale is often that said groups might assist the enemy in war.

During World War II, Volga Germans, Chechens, and others were deported in the Soviet Union by Stalin and Japanese Americans were deported in the United States of America by Franklin Roosevelt.

In the 19th century, the United States of America government, particularly under Andrew Jackson, deported numerous Amerindian tribes. The most infamous of these deportations became known as the Trail of Tears.

Almost all countries reserve the right of deportation of foreigners, even those who are longtime residents. In general, deportation is reserved for foreigners who commit serious crimes, enter the country illegally, overstay their visa, or face trial by another country (see extradition). It can also be used on non-criminal visitors and foreign residents who are considered to be a threat to the country. Deportation is generally done directly by the government's executive apparatus rather than by order or authority of a court, and as such is often subject to a simpler legal process (or none), with reduced or no right to trial, legal representation or appeal.

Deportation often requires a specific process that must be validated by a court or senior Minister. It should therefore not be confused with Administrative Removal, which is the process of a country refusing to allow an individual to enter that country.

Reasons for Deportation from United States

Any alien that is in the United States may be subject to deportation or removal if he or she:

Is an inadmissible alien according to immigration laws in effect at the time of entry to the U.S. or adjustment of nonimmigrant status;

Is present in the U.S. in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act or any other U.S. law;

Violated nonimmigrant status or a condition of entry into the U.S.;

Terminated a conditional permanent residence;

Encouraged or aided any other alien to enter the U.S. illegally;

Engaged in marriage fraud to gain admission to the U.S.;

Was convicted of certain criminal offenses;

Failed to register or falsified documents relating to entry in to the U.S.;

Engaged in any activity that endangers public safety or creates a risk of national security; or

Engaged in unlawful voting.

Former 'Playboy' playmate deported
Argentinean model wants special immigration status and re-entry to U.S.

FREE VIDEO
Click to view video: "Immigration Bombshell" Immigration Bombshell
Jan. 25: The Situation's Tucker Carlson asks attorney Michael Feldenkrais why he thinks his Argentinean client should get special access back into America just because she's a Playboy cover girl.

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TRANSCRIPT
MSNBC
Updated: 3:09 p.m. CT Jan 26, 2006


Tucker Carlson
Anchor, 'The Situation'
• Profile

Here‘s a believe it or not story. Talented foreigners around the world are flashing their skills to get into this country, of course. But very few have the assets of Argentine bombshell Dorismar. The former “Playboy” playmate was rounded up by immigration authorities and deported with her husband on January 5 after living illegally in Miami for five years.

Now her attorney is trying to get the calendar pinup back into this country by classifying her as, quote, “an alien of extraordinary ability.”

Tucker Carlson was joined by Dorismar‘s attorney, Michael Feldenkrais, to discuss this quest for special immigration status.
Story continues below ↓

To read an excerpt from their conversation, continue to the text below. To watch the video, click on the "Launch" button to the right.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST 'THE SITUATION': What exactly is Dorismar‘s extraordinary ability?

MICHAEL FELDENKRAIS, DORISMAR‘S ATTORNEY: Well, the INS has already considered her as an extraordinary ability, and that‘s probably her looks, her singing abilities, and her looks, I guess.

CARLSON: You can‘t see the screen, but we unfortunately have—we‘ve blotted out her extraordinary ability that you‘re talking about. And that‘s her rear end, of course. She was named by “Mirror” magazine as a woman who possessed one of the top 25 rear ends in all of entertainment. You‘re saying that because this girl has a cute butt, she should be a U.S. citizen?

FELDENKRAIS: Well, not necessarily U.S. citizen. But she should be allowed to be able to work in this country. She should be allowed to come in and do her performances, do whatever it is that she needs to do to proceed with her continued dream of becoming a, quote unquote, supermodel and so on and so forth. Absolutely. She should have the right to work, come in, maybe even leave, go in and out of the country. Absolutely.

CARLSON: So that—you think that that‘s a valid criterion for entry into the country, having an extraordinary body, having a cute butt. That‘s sort of—you know, all the girls with the dumpy butts don‘t get in. But the ones with the cute ones do.

FELDENKRAIS: In reality it‘s not a matter of her having a cute butt and somebody having a bad butt. But the reality is there is a classification for people who have risen to the level where she has in the scenario of...

CARLSON: Risen to the level. She stars in “Latinas gone Crazy.” Now, no offense. I haven‘t actually seen the video. But I mean, it‘s not like—I mean, she‘s not Barbra Streisand. You know what I mean? “Latinas Gone Crazy.” Do we need more “Latinas Gone Crazy” actresses in this nation, truly?

FELDENKRAIS: Well, I don‘t know if we need them or we don‘t need them. But the reality is that she is—that‘s her job. That is our job like my job is to be an attorney. Your job is to be—and each one of us has our own abilities. Her ability is to become a model that shows what men like to see in magazines like “Playboy” and so on.

CARLSON: Do you think—is there a porn shortage in this country, do you think? I mean, is there a lack of homegrown porn actresses? Is this a crisis?

FELDENKRAIS: I do not believe it‘s a crisis. There‘s definitely a lot of talent out there. And but that doesn‘t stop us from...

CARLSON: Why should we flood the market with cheap foreign imports, thereby forcing our own porn actresses out of work and oppressing their wages?

FELDENKRAIS: I don‘t think we‘re flooding them. I think one person, two people. This is not an area where you‘re going to have 200 million people coming in as porn actresses. But you will have a select few, a very good few, that will be able to do what she does. And you‘re not necessarily letting the floodgates and allowing half a million people come in just because they have a cute butt. No.

CARLSON: Let me just stop you, because we‘re out of time. But also just to stand back in awe of you, Michael Feldenkrais. If I am ever in trouble in the state of Florida, I‘m going to hire you.

You have cracked not a single smile. You are arguing with a straight face that your client ought to be allowed into the United States because she has a good body? You‘re unbelievable. You‘re a lawyer‘s lawyer, and I appreciate your coming on our show. Thank you.

FELDENKRAIS: Thank you for having me.

A mother seeks son wrongly deported from U.S.
Amid Tijuana's chaos, hunt under way for young, mentally disabled man
Maria Isabel Carbajal, Victoria Chabes
Maria Carvajal, right, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Victoria Chabes, talks with people on a street in Tijuana, Mexico, on Saturday, as she searches for her son Pedro Guzman, 29, a developmentally disabled U.S. citizen wrongly deported to Mexico. He has been missing since he was sent to Tijuana last May 11.
View related photos
David Maung / AP

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Updated: 6:10 p.m. CT June 17, 2007

TIJUANA, Mexico - Clutching a photo of her son, Maria Carvajal walks Tijuana’s sweltering streets searching for the mentally disabled man she says was deported more than a month ago despite being a U.S. citizen and then disappeared in this chaotic border city.

Carvajal says she has searched hospitals, shelters and jails here looking for her 29-year-old son, Pedro Guzman of Lancaster, Calif., who was jailed for a misdemeanor trespassing violation, then sent to Mexico on May 11.

Guzman’s relatives sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department last week in federal court, claiming Guzman was a U.S. citizen and had been wrongfully deported and demanding that U.S. authorities help find him.
Story continues below ↓

“I’m searching for him because he’s my son. But it should be (U.S. authorities) searching for him,” Carvajal, a 49-year-old fast-food restaurant worker from Lancaster, said Sunday in Tijuana. “They made the mistake. Not me.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Guzman had been deported and said the agency had done so correctly. “ICE has no reason to believe that it improperly removed Pedro Guzman,” read a statement.

U.S. official: ‘We are doing things to help ... ’
Officials at the U.S. consulate in Tijuana say they have made calls to help search for Guzman and asked other consulates in Mexico if they have information.

“We are doing things to help that we are not obliged to do,” said consulate spokeswoman Lorena Blanco.

Carvajal, a brown-haired woman with glasses who carries a piece of paper bearing a photo of her son, said he called the family on May 11 to say he was deported but the phone cut off before she could find out where he was.

She said she never thought she would end up having to search Tijuana’s hospital and morgues for her son, but vowed to keep on doing it because “I have to.” She is not carrying her son’s birth certificate with her, saying her main concern is finding him.

Guzman can’t read or write and has trouble processing information. Carvajal fears he could be an easy victim for robbers.

The lawsuit says Guzman was asked about his immigration status in jail and responded that he was born in California of Mexican parents.

Sometime after that, the Sheriff’s Department identified him as a non-citizen, obtained his signature for voluntary removal from the United States and turned him over to Customs and Immigration Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, for deportation.

ACLU: Birth certificate from L.A. county
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which helped file the lawsuit, says it has Guzman’s birth certificate showing he was born at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

It also says that Guzman had previously done jail time for drug possession, so he had a record that could have been cross-checked before a deportation decision was made.

The Sheriff’s Department has said it followed procedures correctly.

In California, Guzman’s brother, Michael Guzman, said last week that during a phone call to the family the 29-year-old said he had been deported and asked a passer-by where he was. The family could hear the person respond: “Tijuana.”

Michael Guzman said his parents were from Mexico, but seven children, including Pedro, were born in California. Pedro, who takes the surname of his father, speaks both English and Spanish.

Carvajal said she keeps seeing glimpses of people on the Tijuana streets that she thinks are her son and runs toward them. But each time she finds she is mistaken.

“I have to fight for my son,” she said.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for lying about ties to terrorist groups.

Imam Fawaz Damra, the spiritual leader of Ohio's largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994.

That conviction was upheld in March, clearing the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin deportation proceedings.

Damra, 44, was arrested early Friday without incident, the immigration office said.

"With today's arrest, ICE begins the process of removing from the United States a criminal alien who has unequivocally supported terrorists and terrorist organizations," Brian Moskowitz, special agent with the federal office in Detroit, said in a statement.

A message left seeking comment from Damra's immigration attorney, David Leopold, was not immediately returned.

The Palestinian-born Damra, who is the imam, or spiritual leader, at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.

In Damra's trial last year, prosecutors showed video footage of Damra and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a major terrorist group by the State Department since 1989.

Jurors also were shown footage in which Damra called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" during a 1991 speech and said "terrorism and terrorism alone is the path to liberation" in a 1989 speech.

U.S. District Judge James Gwin sentenced the Palestinian-born cleric to two months in prison and four months in home detention. Damra served the prison time from November 2004 to January of this year.

Gwin also stripped Damra's citizenship but informed prosecutors they could not begin deportation proceedings until after the appellate ruling.

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BOSTON, June 20, 2007
Army Spec. Alex Jimenez (AP Photo)

Quote

"She may never be able to return to the United States, to visit her husband's grave if necessary."
Attorney Matthew Kolken


(CBS/AP) While the U.S. military searches for a soldier missing in Iraq, kidnapped by insurgents possibly allied with al Qaeda, his wife back home in Massachusetts may be deported by the U.S. government.

Army Spec. Alex Jimenez, who has been missing since his unit was attacked by insurgents in Iraq on May 12, had petitioned for a green card for his wife, Yaderlin Hiraldo, whom he married in 2004.

Their attorney, Matthew Kolken, said 23-year-old Hiraldo illegally entered the United States in 2001 to reunite with her husband, whom she had met in her native Dominican Republic and later married at his New York State Army base in 2004.

Her husband's request for a green card and legal residence status for his wife alerted authorities to her status, Kolken said.

She now faces deportation, reports CBS station WBZ correspondent Beth Germano, and would be barred from applying for a green card for 10 years.

Her attorney is seeking a hardship waiver, which so far the government won't grant.

"I can't imagine a bigger injustice than that, to be deporting [the wife of] someone who is fighting and possibly dying for our country," Kolken told WBZ.

All this comes as the military continues to search for Jimenez and another soldier, Pvt. Brian Fouty, missing in Iraq since May 12, the only trace an ID card found during a raid on an al Qaeda safe house.

"She may never be able to return to the United States, to visit her husband's grave if necessary," Kolken said.

Their third wedding anniversary was last week.

An immigration judge has been sympathetic, putting the case on hold since Alex Jimenez was reported missing. But her case is in limbo, and her future in this country uncertain.

She is currently with family members in Pennsylvania.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has asked federal immigration officials not to deport Hiraldo.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Kerry said the grief and stress being felt by Hiraldo should not be compounded by worries about her immigration status.

"Under no condition should our country ever deport the spouse of a soldier who is currently serving in uniform abroad," Kerry said. "I feel even more strongly in this case, given the terrible uncertainty surrounding Army Specialist Alex Jimenez."

In his letter, Kerry urged that no action be taken against Hiraldo while her husband remains missing.

"I believe this is a very real test of our government's compassion for a military family which has already made enormous sacrifices for the United States," he wrote.

n the wake of the deportation of two CARICOM journalists from Antigua, Barbados Free Press writes: “Many Caribbean governments carry a veneer of civilized behaviour and adherence to democratic principles but quickly show near-despotic roots when the media actually does its job.”

Thirty miles west of the San Francisco Bay are the Farallon Islands, shards of granite once known as "the Devil's Teeth."

Every spring, hundreds of thousands of migratory sea birds fly there to breed and feast on sea life in the waters nearby.

Recently, some of those birds began to abandon their nests. The birds may be acting as an early indicator of profound shifts now under way in global currents of wind and water — a consequence of climate change.

Scientists have monitored the birds on the Farallon Islands for 40 years. It's a wildlife refuge, closed to tourists and settlers. There are no docks there; scientists take sailboats close to the island, then board a yellow dinghy that takes them close to the cliffs. A crane then hoists them onto dry land.

As the boat rises, an amazing sight comes into view: hundreds of thousands of birds' nests.

"Pretty much every square inch of the island is used by one species or another," says biologist Pete Warzybok. "Between the 12 species breeding here they cover every bit."

Warzybok works with PRBO Conservation Science, a non-profit group that studies the sea birds for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Welcome to the Farallons National Wildife Refuge," he says. Shrieking western gulls launch do dive-bomb attacks on the visitors nearby.

The harsh surroundings on the islands — bare rocks, howling winds, and wicked winter storms — are "perfect for sea birds," he says: "They make the most of it, and they usually thrive out here."

The seabirds thrive because those howling winds have turned this refuge into one big feeding trough. Almost every spring, they churn the ocean in a way that pulls bottom waters to the surface.

Scientist Russ Bradley says these giant upwellings are usually full of tiny animals called krill. And that's what sea birds eat.

"It's really the base of the ocean food chain in this area," Bradley says. "As the krill goes, so goes the system."

Bradley says that point was pounded home three years ago, when something knocked this ecosystem out of whack, as sea bird populations crashed. The Cassin's Auklet, a nocturnal species with a distinctive call that was once among the islands' most common birds, seemed to fall right through the floor.

The sudden demise of the auklet turned it into a poster species for the effects that global climate change can have on wildlife. Three yeas ago, after flying in and breeding as usual, many of the auklets abruptly flew away, abandoning their nests.

"They laid eggs, but they just could not continue the effort," says Warzybok. "It takes a lot of energy to breed, and there just wasn't enough food out there to support that effort, so they abandoned the eggs."

Warzybok and Russ Bradley read through 40 years of field notes kept by sea-bird experts on the islands. They found nothing close to what they had seen. But one year later, Bradley says, they saw it happen again.

Bradley isn't sure what forced this change. He believes that in recent years, the jet stream has changed its path in ways that may be linked to the gradual warming of the globe. This change in the jet stream may, in turn, have disrupted the winds that normally sustain birds on the Farallons.

This year, the birds are doing slightly better. Cassin's Auklets stayed on their nests, but the chicks have not done well. Many are small are weak and some have died of starvation. Apparently, krill once again are scarce in the water around the islands.

If these changes spread they could disrupt up one of the most productive ocean currents in the world. It runs from Alaska down to Baja California and it is full of commercially important fish that feast on krill. If these fish stocks were to crash, the economic impact could be huge and lasting.

When she moved into her retirement condominium on a golf course, Eleanor Weiner admired the lush, pristine views of the fairways and greens, a landscape she never had to mow or maintain. Not long after, as she prepared dinner, a golf ball shattered the kitchen window, whistled past her head and crashed through the glass on her oven door. Ms. Weiner retrieved the ball from her oven and stalked outside to confront the golfer who had launched the missile.
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Pete Cuppels, Middlebrook Country Club owner, said the ruling “could be like the Roe v. Wade of golf law.”

“He told me that’s what I get for living on a golf course,” said Ms. Weiner, who has lived for a dozen years alongside Rancho Las Palmas Country Club near Palm Springs, Calif. “That was the first time I heard that, but it surely hasn’t been the last.”

The intersection of errant golf shots and private property is not a new phenomenon. But with new gear that enables average golfers to hit a ball 250 yards, and with golf communities sprouting nationwide — 70 percent of new courses include housing — it is becoming an increasingly prominent problem. Most homes built near this country’s 16,000 golf courses may not be in the cross hairs of slicing duffers, but thousands are.

“It’s not only an ongoing problem, it’s been made worse by technologically advanced golf equipment that makes golf balls go farther — and farther sideways,” said David Mulvihill, a managing director at the Urban Land Institute, who has studied golf course development.

“So homes that have been on a golf course for decades without incident are suddenly in the path of guys whacking giant-headed drivers. The golf course designers are trying to adjust with wider fairway corridors, but because of liability issues, no one is willing to put on paper what the acceptable setbacks are.”

Before buying a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, Ariz., Jenny Robertson scrutinized it, with her mother’s help, according to feng shui principles to assess its harmony with its surroundings. Mrs. Robertson, who is not a golfer, barely looked at the tee box 150 yards from her backyard.

“We did not consider the feng shui of bad golfers,” she said. “When I go outside, it’s like dodgeball out there. I wish I knew that you have to be careful where you live on a golf course.”

Some people have become virtual prisoners in their homes. Earla Smith lives at Lookout Mountain Golf Club in Phoenix. Look out, indeed.

“The second day I was in the house, I kept hearing a banging outside,” Ms. Smith, 85, said. “It was golf balls hitting the outside walls. Three or four windows were broken. I sat out on the patio and I was lucky I wasn’t killed. I had a 70-inch picture window broken on the front of the house, and that doesn’t even face the golf course.”

In Rehoboth, Mass., Joyce Amaral collected 1,800 golf balls from her property abutting Middlebrook Country Club, then lugged them into court when she sued the club. Ms. Amaral’s house was hit so regularly, her landscapers wore hard hats. Balls set off the burglar alarm and dented her car.

Although the club existed decades before the house was built, a court ruled that the balls — and the golfers looking for them — were a trespass. The parties settled this month, with the club agreeing to shorten the No. 9 hole, which should keep the Amaral property out of the line of fire.

But Pete Cuppels, the club’s owner, said the settlement would probably put his low-cost nine-hole course out of business.

“I’ve already had to take $50,000 from my retirement account to pay for legal fees, both the plaintiff’s and mine,” Mr. Cuppels, 68, said. “We modified the hole before the settlement, and we’ve already seen a big drop in return business. I feel worse that my name is on a ruling that could be like the Roe v. Wade of golf law. If the precedent is that golf course owners are responsible for every crooked shot hit by a novice or a good golfer, we’re all in trouble.”

Most courts, however, instead rule that homeowners assume risk when they move adjacent to a golf course, said Dalton B. Floyd Jr., a South Carolina lawyer whose practice regularly involves golf-related litigation and who has been a consultant to the Professional Golfers Association of America.

“The golf course owners have a duty to exercise ordinary concern,” Mr. Floyd said. “And in some instances, there may be a design problem that can be corrected by moving tees, greens, trees or using nets. There are always exceptions, and sometimes it can get very serious. But it is also part of golf that the golfer doesn’t always know where that ball will end up.”

Some follow golfing etiquette: You break a window, you pay for it. But several homeowners said golfers rarely offer restitution.

“Nobody leaves their business card in the broken glass,” said Joe Jonas, who lives near a course in St. George, Utah. “The one time I did catch the guy, he gave me an address and phone number that turned out to be phony. He was playing in a church outing.”

Course designers and golf professionals agree that the worst place to build a house is the right side of a hole about 150 to 200 yards from the tee. Directly behind or to the side of a green is risky, too, even if the home is high above it.

The deck behind Dave Feigin’s town house on the popular Crystal Springs Golf Course in Hardyston, N.J., is 50 feet above a green. Yet a steady stream of sliced shots make their way onto his deck and yard. Mr. Feigin keeps two five-gallon buckets overflowing with balls he has found.

“I give most of them away, but I keep and play those beautiful $4 golf balls,” he said.

Other homeowners have found ways to peacefully accommodate their proximity to courses. Ms. Weiner and Ms. Smith turned to Screenmobile, a company that specializes in heavy-duty screens for doors and windows. Screenmobile said it received more than 400 calls from homeowners last year.

Ms. Smith said the screens helped considerably. But asked what advice she would give a friend considering such a location, she said, “Don’t do it.”

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumes in the Hague on Monday with no clear indication whether Taylor will attend after boycotting the opening three weeks ago.
 

Taylor, who is charged with instigating murder, rape and mutilation during Sierra Leone's civil war, said at the start of proceedings it would not be a fair trial.

Prosecutors delivered their opening statements regardless of Taylor's absence from the U.N.-backed special court and were due to present evidence on Monday even if he again stays away.

At the trial opening, Taylor gave his reasons for his boycott in a letter read to the court by his lawyer, who later walked out saying his client wanted to represent himself.

Taylor has since been able to meet in the Hague with the Freetown-based court official in charge of organizing and funding his defense, which Taylor had said lacked resources.

In his letter to the court Taylor, once one of Africa's most feared warlords, said his defense team was outgunned by the prosecution, and had not been able to prepare his case.

"It is therefore with great regret that I must decline to attend any further hearings in this case until adequate time and facilities are provided to my defense team," he said.

HORRIFIC WARS

Prosecutors hope the trial will end impunity for African strongmen as well as send a signal that international justice can operate efficiently and fairly. However, some observers fear Taylor is intent on disrupting proceedings.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to the 1991-2002 civil war which killed an estimated 50,000 people.

Even among Africa's horrific wars, the fighting in Sierra Leone stands out for its exceptional brutality -- casual murder, mass rapes, the hacking of limbs from civilians and the press ganging of child soldiers as young as eight.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up jointly by the country's government and the United Nations in 2002 to try those deemed most responsible for human rights violations during the later stages of the civil war.

Prosecutors promised to produce strong and compelling evidence, including letters and witness testimony, that Taylor directed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels as they carried out a campaign of terror against Sierra Leone's civilians.

Last week in Freetown the court handed down its first verdicts, finding three leaders of a militia guilty of war crimes that included killing, raping and mutilating civilians.

They are due to be sentenced on July 16.

Taylor's trial is being held in The Hague because of fears it could spur instability if held in Freetown.

June 24, 2007

Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables killed at least 228 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, an official said Sunday.

Sardar Ahmed, minister of health for Sindh province, said 185 more bodies were counted in the city morgue after Saturday's storm. Karachi's mayor initial said 43 people were killed.

The country's economic hub, a dynamic but chaotic city with fragile infrastructure, frequently seethes with tension and street protests, some sparked by massive power outages. The atmosphere has been particularly tense since May 12, when political unrest left more than 40 people dead.

Anwar Kazmi, a senior official at the Edhi Foundation, which runs the morgue, said many of the victims came from a cluster of villages with mud houses and other flimsy structures on Karachi's eastern outskirts.

Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing homes but snapped power lines electrocuted at least 20 people people, Ahmed said.

Electricity was still disrupted in some neighborhoods Sunday. Residents angry after a night without power to run fans or air conditioners in the sweltering summer heat staged street protests, Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said.

Work on restoring the electricity supply had started and municipal workers were clearing storm-toppled trees, billboards and other debris from streets in the city on the Arabian Sea coast, he said.

A relief camp was set up to provide food, medicine and shelter to people whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the eastern outskirts, said Murtaza Baluch, mayor of the neighborhood of mainly farm and factory workers.

Dozens of people died in storms in Karachi last year and choked drains left many streets flooded with rain water, but Kamal said new drains were built, preventing massive flooding this year.

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