The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Saturday that long before she entered political life, the new mayor of East Cleveland, Saratha Goggins, stabbed a boyfriend to death.

Saratha Goggins told the newspaper on Thursday that she stabbed O’Neal Price, 48, to death in 1982.

Her disclosure came after the paper obtained a certified copy of a coroner’s report that says she admitted stabbing Price during a fight in the kitchen of his home on Sept. 30, 1982.

According to the Plain Dealer, Goggins would not discuss specifics but said she acted in self-defense.

Court records available for public inspection contain no mention of Goggins being prosecuted.

Goggins said in interviews she petitioned a judge to seal the records in September 1991. She recalled being convicted but said she could not remember the charge. She declined to say whether she was jailed or otherwise punished.

"It was an unfortunate incident that occurred in a time of my life," she said. "There is nothing I can do to change it."

It wasn't Kerry's fault when he fell on the ski slopes while snow boarding (he blamed the Secret Service, telling reporters "I don't fall down").

And of course now it's not Kerry's fault he led gun owners to believe he owns a (presumably fully automatic) "Communist Chinese assault rifle" as a "reminder of his service" in Vietnam.

September 27, 2004
United Press International

New York, NY, Sep. 27 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has denied a report he owns a Chinese assault rifle, the New York Times reported Monday.

The issue came to light in October's "Outdoor Life" magazine, which features questions and answers with Kerry and President George Bush. Asked what his favorite gun was, Kerry's published response was: "My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam.

"I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."

However, Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan told the Times Kerry actually owns two guns, a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun and the rifle, which Meehan said Kerry "keeps as a relic" and had never fired.

While the magazine claimed it had done an "exclusive interview with the two presidential candidates," Meehan said many of the remarks attributed to Kerry had in fact been written by campaign staff, who filled out the magazine's questionnaire.

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Newsmax.com is reporting that NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the Times "If Kerry brought the gun home from the war as a souvenir he could be subject to court-martial."

Related Story:
Op-Ed: John Kerry and assault weapons: Takes one to own one?

If you have not voted in the past four years, if you have moved, or if you need to register to vote for some other qualifying reason, please act quickly as you must register no later than 30 days prior to the election. From the Secretary of State's office website:

Where may I register to vote?

You may register to vote at the following locations.

September 26, 2004
Dayton Daily News

Re "Bush gun pledge just weasel words," Sept. 10: The sunset clause on the assault weapons ban was put into the legislation for the simple reason that many rightly believed there was no need for it. Now that the 10 years has elapsed, I challenge the Dayton Daily News to provide evidence that there is a need to renew it.

The editorial's hyperbole about "preventing a flood of high-powered guns into American communities" speaks to the DDN's ignorance. The ban isn't about caliber or kinetic energy, it is about cosmetics. Your typical deer or elk hunting rifle is more powerful than the class of firearms addressed in the legislation.

The DDN betrays its partisanship when it claims that there is "broad public support for the legislation." I challenge the DDN to provide evidence that there is such support. Most people don't even know the law exists unless they have been impacted by it.

Lastly, the editorial demonstrated a lack of familiarity with the law (or disingenuousness) when it claimed that the law only affects 19 specific firearms; the law also defined the prohibited class based on a combination of features, so that the true number of affected firearms is more like 10 times the number cited.

If the DDN wants to engage in Bush-bashing, it should at least get its facts right instead of parroting gun-control propaganda.

Clyde H. Spencer
Fairborn

The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that a 'patient' robber has quietly been robbing banks in northeast Ohio.

The robber has hit the same Fifth-Third bank, inside a Tops supermarket, on two separate occasions within four weeks, advising tellers he has a gun.

In an August 23 robbery, the 24-year-old female teller at the Fifth Third Bank was handed a note and the robber "stared at her as if he was crazy and meant business," a police report said. According to the newspaper, the teller told police she was scared for her life.

Police say the robber is unusual because he apparently has robbed the same bank twice, does not try to hide his appearance and is cool and patient, qualities that have helped him slip in and out unnoticed.

Since posting the signs, Ohio-based Fifth-Third, which posts signs banning concealed handguns from its branches, has been robbed time and again by armed criminals. Should be any surprise that an armed robber would be at ease in a disarmed victim zone such as the people at Fifth Third have created?