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Show DAILY Thursday, February 8. 2007 HERALD A7 Archaeologists find prehistoric Romeo Five indicted in and Juliet' locked in eternal embrace multiniillion Iraq Luca Bondioli, an anthroTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS pologist at Rome's National Prehistoric and Ethnographic ROME It could be human- Museum, said double prehistoric burials are rare especially ity's oldest story of doomed but some love. in such a pose have been found holding hands Archaeologists have unor having other contact. earthed two skeletons from The find has "more of an the Neolithic period locked in emotional than a scientific a tender embrace and buried value." But it does highlight outside Mantua, just 25 miles how the relationship people south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the have with each other and with star crossed tale of "Romeo death has not changed much from the period in which huand Juliet." Buried between 5,000 and manity first settled in villages 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric and learning to farm and tame animals, he said. pair are believed to have been "The Neolithic is a very fora man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as mative period for our society," he said. "It was when the roots their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archae- of our religious sentiment were formed." ologist who led the dig. The two bodies, which "As far as we know, it's cuddle closely while facing unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone each other on their sides, were from Milan. "Double burials probably buried at the same from the Neolithic are unheard time, possibly an indication of sudden and tragic death, Bonof, and these are even hugdioli said. ging." The burial site was located "It's rare for two young people to die at the same time, Monday during construction and that makes us want to work for a factory building in the outskirts of Mantua. know why and who they were, Alongside the couple, archaeol- but it will be very difficult to find out." ogists found flint tools, includHe said DNA testing could ing arrowheads and a knife, Menotti said. determine whether the two were related, "but that still Experts will now study the leaves other hypotheses; the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site's 'Romeo and Juliet' possibility is age and how old the two were just one of many." when they died, she said. Lara Jakes Jordan THE Mike Schneider ASSOC IATED.PRESS CAPE CANAVERAL, Ha. NASA said Wednesday it would review its psychological screening process in light of an astronaut's arrest on charges she tried to murder a woman she believed was her rival for a space shuttle pilot's affections. Deputy NASA Administrator Shana Dale said the space agency would evaluate the process "to determine if any modifications are advisable." The review will look at how astronauts are screened for psychological problems and whether Lisa Nowak showed any problems in her dealings with other astronauts. Some recommendations could be issued as early as June. Nowak returned to Texas and headed to Johnson Space Center for a medical assessment Wednesday, a day after being charged in Florida. Before her arrest, she had shown no signs of instability, Dale said. "As you know it's a very tight knit community that cared, about each other," Dale told reporters at a news conference in Houston. Nowak's commercial flight was met on the tarmac by a police car, and the astronaut, her head covered by a jacket, was escorted down the stairs and into the waiting squad car, then driven away. "She looked thin, looked tired," said John Gruttadaurio, a passenger who was aboard Nowak's flight from Orlando, Fla. NASA spokeswoman Nicole would -- Cloutier-Lemaste- ASSOCIATED WASHINGTON Three mj ; Archaeological Society provided by the Archaeological Society SAP in Mantua, northern Italy, on Wednesday, shows a pair of human skeletons found Monday Feb. 6 at a construction site outside Mantua. Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons, believed to be a man and a woman, from the Neolithic period, buried between 5000 to 6000 years ago. This photo not say if the medical assessment included a psychological evaluation. Less than 24 hours earlier, Nowak had been in a Florida courtroom on charges of attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and three other crimes stemming from what police described as a love triangle involving a fellow astronaut. She was released on bail and ordered to stay away from the other woman and to wear a monitoring device. Nowak became an astronaut after winning a series of Navy service awards, and she flew on Discovery in July, where she and crewmate Stephanie Wilson were known as "the Robochicks" because they operated the shuttle's ro- would not have a long-terimpact on the space program. "This is a tragic event that impacted many lives, but this is a unique situation that we're facing," Dale said. NASA officials declined to comment when asked if Nowak's arrest meant the end of her NASA career. "That's speculation," said Bob Cabana, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center. Nowak's children were with her husband, Richard, who works for a contractor at the Johnson Space Center, Cabana said Nowak was being replaced as a ground communicator for the next space shuttle mission, a job in which she would talk to the astronauts from Houston during their flight. botic arm. Dale said Nowak's arrest ings that say school systems are generally immune from school system responsible for paying damages unless it can Teachbe shown that they actually the safety of their children. ALLENTOWN, Pa. "I'm disgusted," said Yolan-d- a took "affirmative" steps that ers and administrators at Central Elementary School knew Colbert, 36, whose three put youngsters in danger, ana1 children attend AUentown that the action taken "shocks they had a problem with F.H., schools. "These who had been aca the conscience." cused of going into a bathroom are the most vulnerable, and if Freund said in an interview stall and sexually assaulting a adults cannot protect them, we that he was making a narrow have some serious issues in the legal argument, not a genboy. But instead of calling police eralized statement about the AUentown school district." and removing F.H., district The district denies wrongdo- district's responsibility to its officials covered up the attack ing and has asked a judge to youngsters. Various state and and allowed him to remain in dismiss the lawsuit. But it has federal laws, not to mention "basic morality, common sense not disputed that assaults occlass, leading to the sexual assault of three more and professional duty ... clearly curred, and its legal response has only further inflamed pubobligate schools to protect stuparents say. lic opinion in one of the state's The allegations, contained dents," he said. in a $15 million federal lawBut his argument rankled poorest school districts. suit against the AUentown In federal court last month, parents. "I understand there is a civil school system, have created the district's lawyer, John an uproar in Pennsylvania's Freund III, argued that school case, but it still makes me very officials cannot be held responuncomfortable that a school city, with outsible under the Constitution district would stand up and say raged parents demanding the under any circumstance, 'We simply for failing to protect superintendent's ouster and state lawmakers working on a youngsters from assaults by don't have to protect our chilother students. dren,' " said Emily Mebust, the legislative fix. The case has also illustrated He cited federal court rul parent of a kindergartner. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS how difficult it can be under the law for parents to hold a first-grad- e third-large- items. Army Reserve officers were indicted Wednesday, accused of taking part in a scam that steered millions of dollars for Iraq reconstruction projects to a contractor in exchange for cash luxury cars and jewelry. An American businessman in Romania was charged as the for the military officers and the contractor. The husband of one of the reservists was accused of helping smuggle tens of thousands of dollars into the United States that the couple used to pay for a deck and a hot tub at their New Jersey house. Together, the five used the $26 billion Iraqi rebuilding fund "as their own personal ATM machines," Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty said in announcing the charges. "These defendants actually took bricks of stolen cash ... and smuggled them out of Iraq and back to the United States for their own personal use," McNulty said. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, marks the latest development in an investigation of $8.6 million in Iraq contracts awarded to construction mogul Philip H. Bloom. Bloom, an American citizen who ran construction and services companies under Global Business Group, has admitted to laundering at least $2 million that was stolen from reconstruction funds managed Coalition Proby the U.S.-le- d visional Authority in Iraq. He awaits sentencing. McNulty said the five people indicted Wednesday stole or otherwise misused $3.6 million from the CPA fund. Col. The three reservists Curtis G. Whiteford of Utah, Lt. Col. Debra M. Harrison of New Jersey and Lt. Col. Michael B. Wheeler of Wisconsin were responsible for helping supervise the funding and progress of the CPA contracts in Iraq, southwest of Baghdad. In return for steering contracts to Bloom between 2003 and 2005, prosecutors said, the military reservists and their accomplices shared an estimated $1 million in cash, and were showered with Porsche and Nissan sports cars, a Cadillac Pa. school accused of covering up boy's sexual assaults on Michael Rubinkam SUV, real estate, a Breitling watch, business-clas- s plane tickets, computers and other PRESS U.S. NASA to review psychological screening of astronaut THE scam bid-riggi- ng Ariel David st Photo to 5 lines of text your ad for 30 days in the Daily Herald Up Run 10 community weekly newspapers Heraldextra.com heraldextra.com One of Bloom's friends, businessman Seymour Morris Jr., allegedly acted as a for the military officers and the construction company by illegally wiring money and securing the goods. Morris is a U.S. citizen who lives in Romania, and owns a Cyprus-base- d financial services business. Charges against the five include bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and transporting stolen property. The indictment was unsealed the day after authorities arrested Morris in Romania. It also followed tough questioning Tuesday by House Democrats of the former U.S. occupation chief in Iraq over how he doled out up to $12 billion in Iraqi money without accounting for it. At that hearing, in front of the a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, L. Paul Bremer III repeatedly said he had spent money. Iraqi not U.S. Bremer ran the country for 14 months. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents helped unravel the scheme by examining money trails and other data gleaned from computers, cell phones, global positioning systems and other devices, said Kumar Kibble, the agency's deputy assistant director for national security. Stuart Bowen, the government's special inspector general in Iraq, said his team of 10 investigators are pursuing 80 cases of waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars in reconstruction contracts. Last week, former CPA comptroller and funding officer Robert Stein, 52, of N.C., was sentenced to nine years in prison for receiving kickbacks from Bloom in exchange for contracts. Bribery and fraud "has not been a significant component of the American tion experience over there, but where we found it, it has been e, egregious," Bowen said. "And this is an egregious example of it." first-grade- rs A judge has yet to rule on the school system's request for a dismissal. No trial date has been set. The lawsuit, filed by the parents of three of the alleged victims, said school system officials concealed the assaults "in an effort to veil the longstanding violence" in certain AUentown schools. The assaults began in December 2003, a few months after F.H., a special education student with a history of behavioral problems, was transferred to Central Elementary from another school in the district, according to court papers. After learning of the first assault from a second-grade- r who witnessed part of it, administrators kept quiet and allowed F.H. to remain in school, the lawsuit said The ' sexually assaulted three more over the next four months, according to first-grade- 03 Includes: Harrison's husband, William Driver, was charged with helping smuggle over $300,000 into the U.S., part of which was used for home improvements, prosecutors said. '"V RICH SCHULTZThe ' Morning Call Paulette Hunter, of AUentown, Pa., holds up a sign during a school board meeting in AUentown, Jan. 25. the parents. The final assault, for which F.H. was found guilty in juvenile court of rape and sent to a detention center until he turns 18, took place after he was put out on "hallway detention" of view of any teacher and next to a bathroom used by the lawsuit said. first-grader- mm If it dossn't sell, vjq'II teneivit far FREE! )ai!tJvSICttl!lJ 'Privatt party adwiivers only. 0n vehicte pt td. Somt fwtrlctiom appty. |