The News Journal, Wilmington, Del. Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 Section Movie Times B2 Elsmere expects a crowd for Christmas parade B3 Police report B3 Obituaries B4, B5 News tips for Local: newsdeskdelawareonline.com Citystate editor: Greg Burton, 324-2882 ONLINE POLL tSlHWB Ti3 Q. Did the Phillies make the right choice in signing Jon Lieber? Q. Should state money be used to buy land for Punkin Chunkin? Yes: 32 No: 65 Uncertain: 3 Unscientific pol.
TOTAL VOTES 467 toOe mm sunKen oil goes sout Bay Detection buoys placed off Mispillion River more online produced tar-ball pollution on New Jersey ocean beaches from Cape May to Atlantic City, according to Coast Guard records, as well as on sands and marshes along Delaware Bay Investigators reported Tuesday that the oil gushed from two holes in the bottom of the Athos I after the ship hit a U-shaped, 15-foot-long section of pipe protruding from the river bottom. Officials have been unable to explain how the pipe came to rest See SPILL B6 Officials were concerned Wednesday when traces of oil turned up in cooling water intakes at the Premcor Delaware City plant, but refinery officials said operations were unaffected. Threats to cooling water inlets prompted a shutdown last week of the twin Salem I and II nuclear plants in Lower Alloways Creek Township, N.J. The Nuclear Regulatory commission listed both units as still off-line Wednesday Coast Guard officials have es timated that between 30,000 and 473,500 gallons of oil spilled from the single-hulled Athos I as it approached a Citgo asphalt refinery dock near Paulsboro, N.J. Hughes said Tuesday that fog, wind and foul weather limited the activities of response crews Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving state officials unsure of the oil's location and movements.
In 19, a spill of much lighter crude oil in the Delaware Bay's Big Stone Beach Anchorage east of Kent County Hughes also said state officials are taking stock of resources needed to clean up oil or tar balls if they begin washing up along the Delaware Bay "We are right now worried enough about its appearance on land that we're doing a mock rehearsal about how we get large numbers of laborers who are hazmat trained," said John A. Hughes, secretary of Delaware's By JEFF MONTGOMERY The News Journal State environmental workers are scanning for submerged oil from a Nov. 26 tanker spill as far south as Milford, Delaware's environmental chief said Wednesday. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary John A. LIGHTING THE MENORA For continuing coverage, go to delawareonline.com.
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Buoys fitted with oil-catching devices have been dropped in the water as far south as the Mispillion River in an attempt to detect moving oil below the surface. Iraq cash in new dinars pays off rtA t- I v- i mm ifi mimiii in The News JournalBOB HERBERT Rabbi Chuni Vogel (left) lights the Menorah with the help of Sanford Oringer, a resident at the Milton Hattie Kutz Home in Wilmington. Hanukkah, which began at sundown Tuesday, means "dedication" and commemorates the rededication of the Temple of the Maccabees in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. after its desecration by Syrian forces.
The Jewish Festival of Lights lasts eight days and eight nights. Some see profit in Delaware entrepreneurs hope investment Del. seeks gag order in trooper lawsuit Man pleads guilty to holdups Thongvong may face life in prison By MARY ALLEN The News Journal Laos-born Khamknone Thongvong came to the United States with his parents and siblings during his childhood, his attorney said, and grew into a life that many would consider the American dream. He had a wife and three children, owned a home and worked as a welder. Then Thongvong had a car wreck while buying sandwiches on a lunch break and his future began falling apart, its collapse fueled by back pain and the drugs he sought to ease it, including heroin, Thong- vong's attorney, Khamknone Christopher S.
Thongvong Koyste, said outside U.S. District Court on Wednesday. Thongvong, of Newark, is facing at least 10 years in prison and possibly as much as a life term plus 500 years after pleading guilty in federal court to a four-month spree of holdups in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Seventeen heists were in New Castle County. Targets included video stores, liquor stores, hotels, restaurants and a beauty supply store.
In May 2003, when Westtown East Goshen, police Detective Robert Balchunis arrested Thongvong, 38, and his wife. Brenda Thongvong near a Chadds Ford, Blockbuster video store, they were riding around with a loaded assault rifle and 80 rounds of ammimition. Balchunis was looking specifically for suspects in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Andrews said. He was one of several police officers working overtime in a cooperative effort between agencies in all three states.
Khamknone Thongvong pleaded guilty to 25 counts of robbery and one count of possessing a semiautomatic assault weapon in a crime of violence. The weapon conviction carries a sentence of See THONGVONG B5 counts without legal authority or, more likely, he must admit no such accounts were ever set up in the first place, and that his budget speech fudged the facts. That might not sound like a major sin, but opponents will leap on it if only because Gordon and Freebery are famous for pillorying their foes for the slightest misstatement But then, Gordon and Freebery have always tended to exempt themselves from the standards they apply to everybody eLse. That's something Paul Clark might find out the hard way Al Mascitti's Web log, First Statements, appears at www.delawareonline.com. Contact him at 324-2866 or amasrittiaV so-- dan, is just 6ne of a plethora of people who are dealing in the country's currency The Internet is filled with dinar dealers with sales pitches that scream, "Buy New Iraqi Dinars Today and Watch Your Fortune Grow!" The theory behind the sales pitches is that if the political situation in Iraq stabilizes and the country's economy gets back on its feet, the value of the currency will rise, yielding the holder a tidy profit.
"Our boys in Iraq are buying them because they're a good investment," Jones said. Some soldiers in the first Gulf War made money buying the Kuwaiti dinar, whose value fell to less than 10 cents when Saddam Hussein invaded the country The Kuwaiti dinar now trades at more than $3. But financial experts caution that speculating in currency, particularly the By J.L MILLER The News Journal In a tiny corner of Delaware known primarily for apples and scrapple, one young entrepreneur's Internet business has already made him a millionaire in dinars, the national currency of Iraq. Given the fact that one U.S. dollar will buy roughly 1,460 dinars, becoming a millionaire in Iraqi currency is not exactly a breathtaking achievement.
But rural Bridgeville resident Jason Jones is doing a thriving business selling Iraqi dinars on eBay, the Internet auction site. "I've had a lot of customers. I've been selling them for three or four months, to maybe about 200 different customers," said the 25-year-old Jones, who works as a press operator. "I've sold about a million dinars," he said. Jones, who buys his dinars from a contact in Jor MORE ONLINE To read the lawsuit and for related coverage, go to delawareonline.com.
MacLeish, Public Safety and Homeland Security Secretary David B. Mitchell and his department. Durstein's motion says a gag order is needed to ensure a fair trial. The lawsuit accuses Chaffinch of telling sexually offensive jokes and demeaning stories about women at work, and talking about sexual relations and his sexual desires and skills. She also alleges he has thwarted women's attempts to get promoted.
Conley further claims MacLeish was involved in leaking confidential information from her personnel file to the news media after the case was first filed. Mitchell put Chaffinch on paid administrative See CONLEY -B6 The News JournalSCCTT NATHAN Jason Jones of Bridgeville purchases Iraqi dinars from Jordan and sells the currency on By MARY ALLEN The News Journal The Attorney General's Office has asked a federal judge to issue a gag order prohibiting attorneys and others from discussing the sexual harassment lawsuit a state police captain has filed against the agency and its superintendent, Col. L. Aaron Chaffinch. In addition to attorneys, the requested order would apply to public statements from people involved in the case as plaintiff or defendants and people who would be witnesses.
The witnesses were not named in court documents. Deputy Attorney General Ralph K. Durstein III filed the request in his capacity as attorney for the law enforcement officials. He would not discuss it Wednesday Conley filed her lawsuit Oct. 27 in U.S.
District Court. In addition to state police and Chaffinch, it names Lt. Col. Thomas who's still An example came earlier this week when Chancery Court Chancellor William Chandler blistered the county's outside attorney for failing to turn over information requested by Richard Korn in his taxpayer suit challenging the administration's accumulation of a state $230 million surplus. Korn contends the extra money must either be spent or returned to the people in the form of lower taxes.
As part of the suit, Korn's lawyer, Ron Poloquin, requested details about several "reserve accounts" Gordon claimed in his budget speech last spring to have created: By what authority had Gordon created them, where were they, and how much he'8 sold about 1 .000,000 dinars. By any account, it's calling the shots See DINARS B6 eBay-He Al Mascitti his true successor. When the county Christmas tree was lit Monday, there was Clark by Gordon's side. When Gordon was going to cancel his Dec. 2 monthly meeting with umbrella civic group leaders, Clark ran it instead.
Clark, who took a leave of ab 7 fe 'J 1 apparent sence from his job to devote himself to learning county government, has alienated some people who think he is displaying the "I am the county" attitude that helped lead Gordon and his top aide, Sherry Freebery into federal racketeering charges. For example, council, with Clark in the forefront has fast-tracked proposed flood-control legisLition, a pet project of Gordon's. Clark also tried with the best intentions, he said to install a finance department employee in the auditor's office. The idea was shot down, but die presumption smacked of Gordon and Freebery Even Gordon and Freebery can't get away with such highhandedness anymore. was in them? The county's answer was to turn over 4,700 pages of documents while contending these questions had no reLition to the lawsuit To say Chandler was unimpressed is like saying George Bush had a mild interest in attacking Iraq.
Defendants "directed plaintiffs to look for the needle in the proverbial haystack of documents, implying that the accounts do exist" Chandler wrote. The response, he declared, constituted a failure to reply under Chancery Court rules; he gave the county until Friday to answer the questions. That puts Gordon on the horns of a dilemma. Either he must admit he set up the ac-, Many people thought Chris Coons' election as New Castle County executive marked the end of a dark era in county government. The events of the past few weeks show how premature that hope was.
County Executive Tom Gordon's administration, in its final weeks in office, is working as hard as ever at making itself look good. And some observers think Gordon has found an acolyte in new County Council President Paul Clark. Clark has spent many hours since the election with Gordon -just picking his brain before he leaves office, Clark said. But Gordon seems determined to (Show that Clark, lot Coons, is.
