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Show Class Ads Get Read. Pa&e 4 StatesmanCsunDUSHews Friday. Aug. 31,2007 Health insurance Guaranteed Student Issued www.Janetanderson. mvmedlcalquotes.com Drivers Boy, 9, charged in fatal beating of 11-month-old at day care center TRENTON, NJ.(AP)-An 11-month-old boy was fatally beaten at a home day center, and authorities have charged a 9-year-old boy also attending the day care with the death and the center's owner with putting the child in harm's way. Authorities said the older boy repeatedly hit Tahir Francis in the head a week ago, causing skull fractures. Tahir was taken to a hospital and died about six hours later while undergoing surgery. "I want to know what kind of home the 9-year-old comes from," father Tafawah Francis told The Associated Press on Thursday. "He doesn't understand, you can't do these things to a baby." The child was buried on Wednesday, the Francis said. "Right now, it's still devastating, and I don't know when it will not be devastating," he said. "We're trying to cope as best we can." Francis said that while he doesn't blame the center's owner, Beverly Bryant, 64, for his son's death, he does think she tried to cover up what happened. "I found out about the bleed- wanted, Must be 18 with clean driving record. Have own car. Flexible hours. Perfect for student! To apply, meet with Ray, 874 So. Main, Smithfield, 563-6088. Hourly wage plus tips! Also, gas reimbursement. A Great Job! when she found out about ing in my son's brain, and I the beating and that "maybe asked her what happened and something went wrong with the she wouldn't tell me," Francis communication" between her said. "She knew and she tried and Francis' father when she to cover it up." called him. He said Bryant, who oper"She called 911 immeated the licensed day care cen_^_^^_ diately, she ter out of her called (Tahir's) basement in mother, and she Woodbridge called neighin central New bors to help," Jersey, called "Right now, it's still Fleming said. him at work "This was a to say his son devastating, and I was being don't know when it medical emergency that was rushed to the will not be devasoccurring." hospital with tating. We're trying head injuries. Fleming said to cope as best we After that, that Bryant had 99 Francis said, watched over Bryant would can. the 9-year-old say nothing. for the past Tafawah Francis, father seven years and Bryant has that he had been charged never shown signs of violence. with endangering the welfare "From everything I understand, of a child and was ordered to he was just a normal kid," close the center. Her lawyer, Fleming said. Christian Fleming, said she pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Fleming also said his client initially thought the todThe 9-year-old has been dler was having a seizure and charged with the juvenile "didn't suspect any sort of equivalent of aggravated manslaughter and has been released assault." on house arrest to his parents. Tafawah Francis said he and his wife started taking Tahir Bryant's lawyer said that to Bryant's facility five months "things were moving quickly" Speak U p ago after researching day care centers in the area. Originally from Jamaica, he and Tahir's mother lived in New York City before moving to Carteret a few years ago, he said. "She did take good care of our son," Tafawah Francis said. "This was the only thing that ever happened that indicated she couldn't take care of our son, and it was a fatal problem." Bryant's husband, Stanley Bryant, is a case worker in Middlesex County for the state Division of Youth and Family Services. Spokeswoman Kate Bernyk said Bryant has worked for the agency since September 2003. The state office of the public defender will investigate to avoid a conflict of interest, Bernyk said. In 2003, also in Woodbridge, a 10-year-old boy was accused of luring a 3year-old boy from a library and bludgeoning him with a baseball bat. The younger boy died the next day. The 10-year-old pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to up to 18 years in the custody of the state juvenile justice system. Former housing director sentenced to probation for insurance fraud WELCOME BACK AGGIES! PIZZERIA | "JfiUSfi* With any entire purchase get a Personal h s S * FH zzaokie l Mondays • Thurodnyo Only m a j not combino wlUi a n y oLhar otTara o r spoclnJa BACKPACK TRADE-IN AUGUST 20 - SEPTEMBER 7 TRADE IN YOUR OLD BACKPACK FOR 15%OFF A NEW BACKPACK AU-aAOeVVIIXBg DONATED TO A CHAWTABLEOWOAHgOTK3N UtahState UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE www.bookstore,usu.edu SALT LAKE CITY (AP)- A federal judge has ordered the former director of a city housing program to serve one day in jail and perform 10 hours of community service after pleading guilty to health insurance fraud. Rosemary Kappes divorced her husband in 1996, but kept him on her employer-paid health insurance for another eight years. The couple reconciled before the divorce was finalized, although they have not remarried, Kappes has said. "I think it's a very, very, very small crime," U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said Wednesday. Kappes, 62, of Lay ton was the director of the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City. She resigned her position this summer during a federal investigation. A federal grand jury indicted her on 22 counts of health care fraud and 13 counts of mail fraud. She also faced one count of theft from a program receiving federal funds. Prosecutors contend that Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah paid $14,000 of claims submitted by health care providers who treated Ray Kappes. Since an audit uncovered the insurance fraud, Rosemary Kappes has repaid the company $28,000. "This is the most humiliating experience of my life," she said in court Wednesday. Kappes was arraigned and sentenced during the same hearing, first entering a plea of not guilty to one judge, before Benson took over the hearing and accepted her guilty plea. Spinach recall calls for oversight to protect nation's food supply FRESNO, Calif. (AP)Consumer advocates and some lawmakers say that a Salinas Valley company's recall of spinach because of a salmonella scare shows that the federal government must do more to protect the nation's food supply, but industry officials call it proof that their voluntary regulations are working. Metz Fresh, a King Citybased grower and shipper, recalled 8,000 cartons of fresh spinach Wednesday after salmonella was found during a routine test of spinach it was processing for shipment. More than 90 percent of the possibly contaminated cartons never reached stores, company spokesman Greg Larson said. California's leafy greens industry adopted the voluntary regulations last year after a fatal E. coli outbreak, but advocates said a national, mandatory inspection and testing program overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is needed. "Eight thousand cartons left the plant for distribution in the U.S. That's 8,000 too many," said Jean Halloran, a food safety expert with Consumers Union. "At this point, we are relying on the leafy green industry to police itself." Some growers said Metz Fresh's ability to catch the bacteria showed that the new testing regimes are working. No illnesses have been reported from eating spinach linked to the company. "I think the test of the industry is how we react to these types of situations," said grower Joseph Pezzini, who heads the board that administers the new produce safety rules. "No one was harmed by the product and that's important." Larsen said the recalled spinach, which was picked Aug. 22, had tested negative in earlier field and production tests. Metz Fresh began telling stores and restaurants on Aug. 24 not to sell or serve the lettuce after a first round of tests came up positive. "The first thing we are looking at right now is making sure this product, as much as possible, is under our control," he said. "The next step is to back up and take a hard look at how this happened." Metz Fresh has complied with the California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement, a set of voluntary food safety rules drafted after last year's E. coli outbreak in fresh spinach killed three people and sickened 200. By joining the program, participants also agree to have their fields and plants checked for compliance. In two separate plant and field visits earlier this month, California auditors found no signs of danger at Metz Fresh, said Scott Horsfall, who oversees the industry-sponsored program. "I'm not trying to put a pretty face on it, but the overall system is working very well," Horsfall said. "Consumers can have a high degree of confidence in this product, notwithstanding this recent problem." But some legislators said the latest recall showed the FDA had yet to improve a patchwork produce safety system critics believe is vastly understaffed and poorly monitored. "This in no way should be seen as a success story," said state Sen. Dean Florez, who chairs a committee on foodborne illnesses. He said that Metz Fresh should have caught the salmonella before any of its spinach reached consumers, and that he has written the state's agriculture secretary demanding answers about "this breakdown in California's food safety system." U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, DIowa, is crafting legislation that would set up national food safety practices for growing and processing fresh produce that run the highest risk of causing food-borne illnesses. "This is a food safety concern for consumers who wonder if it is OK to serve this produce to their families, and it is an agricultural concern for growers who face another blow to sales of their product," said Harkin, who chairs the Senate :* Committee on Agriculture, •"-.;: Nutrition and Forestry. "It is long overdue for the FDA to \ exercise more oversight of food •'] safety practices." , >'•;_ FDA and state public health .-'•.;; officials said Thursday they ,.v< were investigating the compa- )}$ nys records, tests and prod- ; Jjjijj ucts. ' • \ •'•'* The recall covers 10- arid , -.':j 16-ounce bags, as well as 4^-v-V-j pound cartons and cartons that "• contain four, 2.5-pound bags,, • ^ with the following tracking' -: •;.•.! codes: 12208114,12208214 and" * 12208314. The California Department of Public Health and the Food And Drug Administration are investigating the Metz Fresh processing facility in King City. ! Salmonella sickens about ] 40,000 people a year in the liS. ' and kills about 600. ..-.,. • J |
