WEST JEFFERSON - Police report that a 27-year-old man, his 20-year-old wife and the couple's infant child were returning to their 50 1/2 S. Main St. apartment after cashing their tax return check on Jan. 23, when they were approached in a stairwell by two white males in ski masks.

Ronald Killian III, 20, and Charles R. Hutchins III, 19, held the couple against a wall and threatened them with a knife. The two men "threatened to kill the baby if they didn't get what they wanted." The two fled with what the chief described as a large amount of money.

The Jan. 23 robbery was one of three that occurred within a couple of days in and around London.

Killian and Hutchins face first-degree felony charges for the armed robbery.

Meanwhile, in a state that allows its law-abiding citizens to carry a concealed handgun for self-defense, a different outcome resulted when this Washington couple were confronted by an armed robber outside their Tacoma home:

Click on the Read More..." link below for the full story.

A new survey has been added to the OFCC PAC website, inquiring as to whether or not your votes for incumbent Representatives and Senators in 2004 would be effected by another failure to pass a CCW reform bill into law.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 — The Bush administration Friday raised the national terror alert from yellow to orange, citing a U.S. intelligence warning of a "high risk" of terrorist attack, a senior administration official said. It's the second highest level in the color-coded system. The worldwide alert comes on the heels of intelligence indications of plans for a “major attack” as early as next week.

The alert says, in part: "Attacks on places of worship and schools, and the murders of private American citizens and other westerners, demonstrate that as security is increased at official U.S. facilities, terrorists and their sympathizers will seek softer targets. These may include facilities where Americans or possibly other foreigners are generally known to congregate or visit, such as residential areas, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, schools, hotels, outdoor recreation events or resorts and beaches. Americans should increase their security awareness when they are at such locations, avoid them, or switch to other locations where Americans in large numbers generally do not congregate. There is a possibility that American citizens may be targeted for kidnapping or assassination."

OFCC PAC Commentary:
There is no good reason why law-abiding Americans should be disallowed their right to self-protection, in a church, a school, a daycare, a commercial building, etc. in a post-9/11 world.

Click here to read the entire State Department World Wide Caution.