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Show Friday, September 3 2004 D3 TATE&lEGION Mitchell pleads no t guilty to Sm art charges Owner of anti-Bus- h Atherton also denied Clark's request that Mitchell not enter a plea during Thursday's hearing, and ordered him to stand before the court to enter the ' pleas despite dark's request to allow him to remain seated at the defense table. Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, attended the hearing and remained quiet until sighing and shaking his head when Mitchell pleaded not guilty to the two sexual abuse charges. He didnt speak to reporters after the hearing. Prosecutors and defense attorneys also wouldn't comment. After months of delay and legal wrangling, Mitchell's case sped through court this week. Tuesday, he was found competent to stand trial, and Wednesday he was indicted by an unsealed grand jury document. However, it's not clear whether that pace will hold up. dark said the defense was planning "numerous motions to suppress" evidence, but he said those wouldn't be ready until the defense could sift through documents from the grand jury hearing. Atherton set a Oct. 15 deadline for those motions. Travis Reed THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - SALT LAKfe CITY Brian David Mitchell pleaded not guilty on Thursday to kidnapping and other charges in the knifepoint abduction of Elizabeth Smart. Mitchell, who stood handcuffed and shackled at a podium, answered "not guilty" six times for each of the charges read to him by Judge Judith Athertoa Trial was set for two weeks beginning Feb. 1. Atherton denied a request from Mitchell's attorney, Kim dark, to aOow a preliminary hearing, which, until Wednesday, had been the next expected step in the case. But that was made unnecessary when a judge unsealed a grand jury indictment against Mitchell that had been kept secret reportedly, even from the defense for nearly a year. The grand jury indictment means Elizabeth now a high can put off pubschodjuriwr licly testifying about the nine months she was allegedly held, against her will by Mitchell, 50, and his wife Wanda Barzee, 58. LAURA SEITZAP Smart loofes on as charges are read against Brian David Mitchell in a Salt Lake City Courtroom on Thursday. Ed Mitchell, a street preacher and self proclaimed prophet, and Barzee are both charged with kidnapping the then-14-- y ear-ol- d Elizabeth from her bedroom in 2002. The girl was allegedly taken into the foothills near the home, sexually assaulted and kept as Mitchell's second wife. The two face kidnapping charges, two counts of aggra- -- vated sexual assault, two . counts of aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. The couple has been in custody since Elizabeth was found with them along a suburban street in March 2003. An indictment from the grand jury carries the same weight as a decision by a judge to indict a suspect and move the case to trial. The only difference is that hearings and testimony presented to the grand jury are secret. Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom wouldn't say why he requested the grand jury indictment, but speculation is that it was intended to enable Elizabeth now a high school junior to put off publicly testifying about the nine months she was allegedly held against her will by Mitchell, 50, and Barzee, 58. The indictment also applies to Barzee, who has been twice deemed incompetent to stand trial, and is undergoing treatment at a state mental hospital She is scheduled to be reevaluated next August. Court documents say Mitchell was motivated by a "revelation from God" to take Elizabeth. Idaho residents press for compensation THE deadline was simply a suggestion to ensure the National Academies of Science's Board on Radiation Effects Research has as much public response as possible before it begins compiling its report, which is due for release in March. Residents in Gem County, one of four in Idaho that a 1997 National Cancer Institute report cited as having excessive levels of iodine-13- 1 exposure, are takat her word. ing They have begun sending a form letter demanding compensation as part of a campaign being led by Tona Henderson, a . bakery owner whose extended family has had about 32 cases of cancer. "We'd like to ask them what are they going to do for us instead of to us," Henderson said. ASSOCIATED PRESS IDAHO FALLS, Idaho About 150 Idaho residents submitted comments by this week's deadline on the need to expand to people in key counties in the state the federal government's compensation program for victims of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing in the atmosphere more than a generation ago. But the mounting interest in the issue is not abating, and comments will still be accepted, said Isaf the radiation scientist leading the latest assessment on the connection between cancer and fallout from the atmospheric testing in the 1950s and 1960s in Nevada. said the Aug. 31 J ft IdaThe other ho counties are Blaine, Custer and Lemhi Although the 1990 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has been amended, the last time in 1999, the $50,000 payments to Nevada testing fallout victims remains limited to residents with certain kinds of cancers who lived in 21 counties in southern Utah, Nevada and Arizona during the Cold War. "I didn't think people in Idaho were ever going to connect cancers to the Nevada tests and make a political issue of it," said Valerie Brown, a former Pocatello resident who devel-ope- d thyroid cancer in 1975 at age 24. "It isn't a big issue if you're not affected, but once you get Cancer, everything changes." high-exposu- Cancer survivor Preston Truman of Malad City has been pressing for more than 30 years to get compensation for everyone exposed to radiation from theTxjmb tests. Although he qualifies for compensation because he lived in southern Utah, he is refusing to accept it until the program is expanded. He thinks the latest campaign could finally involve enough people to make the politicians act. "They spent 15 years on the National Cancer Institute re-port. If they study it again for that long, everybody who qualifies is going to be dead," Truman said. "If you look at where the clouds went, it's obvious Idaho and Montana got hit, and that they got it as bad as we did in Utah." e s 'tpv& L A T N I O A M sticker questioned THE OTY A man was paid a visit by two Secret Service agents after neighbors complained about an Bush sticker on his car. SALT LAKE nt The black-and-whit- e, postcar- paper printed off a Web site and taped on Derek Kjar's car had a cartoonish depiction of Bush's head wearing a crown, with the words "King George off with his head." Stickers of that image are widely available on the Internet. Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Denver field office, confirmed that Kjar was investigated, but said agents had ruled out a threat to the president. He said it was the agency's job to investigate all reported threats to figures under Secret Service protection including Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. "We are bound by law," Garner said. "We take them very seriously, regardless of who the protectee is." Still, the visit put a scare in Kjar, and has some civil rights attorneys crying fouL "It's political hyperbole," said David Hudson, a research attorney who works for the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. "However distasteful you might d-sized state-issue- license. "Migraine Headache?... Maybe. Maybe Not!" UT-- If you suffer from migraine headaches, or any other type of headache, ana are currently taking medication to alleviate your pain, then you need to call the Headache Sufferer's Hotline and discover what your doctor may not know about the real cause of most headaches. Learn what medical studies have e proven to be the headache treatment to date. And the best of all is that this treatment doesn't involve taking any pills or surgery of any kind! To hear the truth about headaches most drug companies don't want you to know, call the. . . Toil-Fre- e 24 Hour Recorded Message At Provo, most-effectiv- . if E think it is, it's pure political spcccti Kjar said two agents visited him at his job at a dry cleaning service and interviewed him for about an hour and 15 minutes. He said they asked him about a broad range of things, including whether he had any ties to terrorist groups or enjoyed reading historical accounts of assassinations. They also asked Kjar about his friends and family, and even wanted to know how he split up bills with his roommates, he said. He said the agents asked him to take the paper off his car and give it to them, and never gave it back. Kjar said he feared the agents were going to "take me away." Now, he thinks his right to free speech was violated, but he said he's not sure if he'll pursue legal action. "I kind of feel trapped, like I'm not allowed to express my opinions. I felt like my freedom of speech was shot to hell right there." In the meantime, Kjar said he's concerned about having a file with the Secret Service. He said the agents showed up with a stack of paperwork containing his personal information and the photograph d from his driver's ASSOCIATED PRESS a RICA N O ceLeBRaciON cuLtURaL paRa La UNipcacioN oe La comuNiDaD SEPTIEMBRE MIDAS io pm, vieRNes oe i p a c s, 51 R t e s a n i 6 & saBaDO y LuNes De 10 am pra sur uNiveRSity aveNue Jtscficiifls, a 6 3, 4 10 pm provo, utaH ' ' ys a s, i WV llillwl U h La A . ; i c c ajN i c o s pr?s zia pel coNgnesista chris y miss latwa vtan 2004 seaaN pakte oe r 7 esta celeERacidN cuLtvuaL mm--.sS.-- VP tlUMNM . ra; tr ID fnUNIVISIO TwkfamItlcM KUTH.TV |