Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 31 augusT 2017
Postal workers charged with taking bribes to deliver drugs

By KATE BRUMBACK where the drugs could be with law enforcement and work from somebody that trafficking scheme and got
Associated Press shipped and then inter- the packages contained they believed to be a drug extra money for packages
ATLANTA (AP) — Sixteen cepted the packages and fake drugs. dealer. For a simple few ex- delivered by their recruits,
postal workers in Atlanta delivered them to a person “Postal employees are en- tra bucks in their pockets, Horn said.
and the surrounding area they believed was a drug trusted with a vital function they were willing to not only Another man, who was not
accepted bribes to de- trafficker using the postal in our communities. They bring what they believed a postal worker, was also
liver packages of cocaine, system to ship multiple kilo- often are visiting people’s to be dangerous drugs into charged after prosecutors
federal prosecutors said grams of cocaine at a time homes and having per- our communities, but they said he introduced some
Wednesday. into the area, U.S. Attorney sonal interaction with our also jeopardized the safety of the postal workers to the
In exchange for brib- John Horn said. citizens,” Horn said. “The of their co-workers and the supposed drug trafficker
ery payments, the postal But it was actually a sting defendants in this case al- residents they served.” and coordinated logistics
workers provided special operation: The supposed legedly breached that Some of the postal workers of the plan in exchange for
addresses on their routes drug trafficker was working critical trust by accepting recruited others to join the money.q
Confederate street names: Protest turns tense in Florida

By TERRY SPENCER Legislature voted in 2016
Associated Press to remove the statue of
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Florida native and Confed-
Protests over whether a erate Gen. Edmund Kirby
Florida suburb should strip Smith that has represented
the names of Robert E. Lee the state in the U.S. Capi-
and two other Confed- tol building since 1922. But
erate generals from city the change has stalled be-
streets briefly turned tense cause of a fight over what
Wednesday when a lone figure should replace him.
pro-Confederate protester In Hollywood, a proposal to
charged at about 100 anti- change the street names
Confederate demonstra- first arose 15 years ago, but
tors. never gained traction.
Hollywood police quickly Two years ago, vandals
tackled Chris Tedino, 21, of painted over street signs
Miami, throwing him and bearing the names of Lee
his Confederate flag to the and fellow Gens. Nathan
ground. About five officers Bedford Forrest and John
carried him away as his op- Bell Hood.
ponents cheered. The con- Several street names dating
frontation occurred outside to the city’s 1925 founding
Hollywood City Hall just Protestors march outside Hollywood, Fla., City Hall on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2017, demanding that honor military officers both
the city strip the names of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Bell
hours before the city com- Hood from city streets. U.S. and Confederate. The
mission was scheduled to (AP Photo/Terry Spencer) debate finds echoes else-
decide whether to remove ing alone, holding a flag crowd, killing one person, school — told the demon- where in the U.S.
the three names from resi- that was half-Confederate during a counterdemon- strators that street names In Kentucky, group of black
dential streets of this Fort battle flag and half a black stration. He blamed the an- should be changed and lawmakers, pastors and
Lauderdale suburb. X on a white field. He was ti-Confederate protesters that other Confederate advocacy groups called
If the measure passes, Hol- yelling at the other group, for the violence in Virginia. monuments throughout the anew this week for the re-
lywood would join Gaines- calling them “traitors.” “I was at Charlottesville South should be moved to moval of a Jefferson Davis
ville, home of the Univer- A self-proclaimed member and I will not forget what museums and not kept in statue in that state’s Capi-
sity of Florida, and the Gulf of the League of South, a you people did,” Tedino places of honor. tol. That landmark build-
coast town of Bradenton pro-Confederacy group, yelled at his opponents. The question of wheth- ing is home to five statues
as Florida cities that have Tedino said he had joined “But revenge is coming.” er Confederate leaders of famous Kentuckians,
removed Confederate me- a white supremacist rally Earlier, Tameka Hobbs, an should continue to be hon- including former President
morials. Those two cities re- earlier this month in Char- assistant history professor ored has been debated Abraham Lincoln and Da-
moved statues. lottesville, Virginia, where at Florida Memorial Univer- for years at state and local vis, the only president of the
Tedino had been stand- a car later slammed into a sity — a historically black levels in Florida. The Florida Confederacy.q

Attorneys: West Virginia clerk apologizes to lesbian couple

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN Abramovich and Saman- the clerk’s office has The lawsuit alleged the it and the next same-sex
Associated Press tha Brookover sued Gilmer agreed to issue a public clerks violated the couple’s couple that sought a li-
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) County Deputy Clerk Deb- apology in a news release equal-protection rights un- cense would get the same
— A lesbian couple are re- bie Allen and Clerk Jean that also will announce the der the constitution, citing or worse from her office.
ceiving a public apology Butcher, saying Allen told monetary settlement and the U.S. Supreme Court’s The clerk’s statement will
and $10,000 in damages the couple while process- include a promise to refrain 2015 ruling upholding the promise that “all people
from a county clerk’s of- ing their application that from such treatment in the rights of same-sex couples seeking services and doing
fice in West Virginia where they were an “abomina- future, Americans United to wed. The couple also business with the county
they were disparaged tion,” what they were do- for Separation of Church alleged that when Brook- will be treated courteously
when applying for a mar- ing was wrong and that and State and the Mayer over’s mother complained and with respect regardless
riage license last year, the God would “deal” with Brown law firm, the two to Butcher about the treat- of their sexual orientation
couple’s attorneys said them. groups that filed the suit, ment by her deputy clerk, or gender identity,” Ameri-
W e d n e s d a y . A m a n d a As part of the settlement, said in a statement. Butcher said they deserved cans United said.q