July 7, 2003

Editor loses job over 'Caddyshack' embellishment ESPN - The sports editor of the Roswell Daily Record has been fired for fabricating part of a news story about a golf tournament in which he quoted a fictional character from the movie "Caddyshack." Gregory M. Jones was dismissed by the Daily Record on June 17, the day after his article about a Father's Day golf tournament at the Roswell Country Club appeared on the sports page, editor Mike Bush said. Jones quoted "Spangler" as saying he invented a new kind of grass for the tournament. The quotation in Jones' story is taken directly from "Caddyshack." " 'This is a hybrid ... of bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, featherbed bent and northern California sensemilia (sic),' " Spangler said. " 'The amazing stuff about this, is that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on the stuff.' " 3:52:24 PM

Man gets life in prison for spitting CNN - An Oklahoma man arrested on suspicion of beating his wife faced year in prison and a fine. But when he spit in an arresting officer's face, he got a life sentence instead, officials said Wednesday. 2:02:27 PM

Suspects are charged in Manila bombings International Herald Tribune - Prosecutors on Monday charged suspected leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Al Qaeda-linked group, with plotting and financing almost simultaneous bombings that killed 22 people in one of the Philippines' worst terrorist attacks. 10:00:30 AM

Tech Digest Austin American Statesman - Microsoft Corp., which started paying a dividend this year, might raise it soon to satisfy investors who think the company should use some of its $46 billion in cash to benefit shareholders. 7:34:57 AM

Hackers' vandalism contest doesn't disrupt Internet San Mateo County Times - A battle among hackers erupted on the Internet on Sunday as some factions disrupted a loosely coordinated "contest" among other groups trying to vandalize thousands of Web sites around the world. Unknown attackers for hours knocked offline an independent security Web site, zone-h.org, that was verifying reports of online vandalism and being used by hackers to tally points for the competition. U.S. government and private technology experts warned last week that such vandalism was likely.  7:33:52 AM

Lies take hold on Iraqis Salt Lake Tribune - Zionists are spreading drugs and prostitution, they say, and Americans -- not Saddam Hussein loyalists -- bombed a procession of U.S.-trained police cadets. U.S. occupiers also are withholding electricity on purpose, the story goes. Lies and half-truths -- readily believed by a nation of people who learned long ago to be skeptical of rulers' motives -- are complicating America's mission in Iraq, fueling anti-U.S. sentiment as troops struggle to quell a growing uprising. "They want to destabilize Iraq," said Ali Mohammed Said, a 26-year-old law school graduate who blamed U.S. soldiers for a blast on Saturday that targeted a graduation parade of U.S.-trained police cadets in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Seven were killed. "They want to drive a wedge between us so we fight each other while they stand by and watch," he said. 7:23:20 AM