ABC News: U.S.: Unemployed Man Discovers $150K in His Garden

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Unemployed Man Discovers $150K in His Garden Aug 31st 2011, 19:41 Wayne Sabaj may have one of the greenest thumbs around. The unemployed Illinois man wandered into his garden and unearthed a crop of cash -- about $150,000 worth. "Now what do I do with this?" Sabaj wondered. He was making a pork roast that night and wanted something to accompany it so he went out to his garden. It's a farmer's delight and has everything from beets to onions to sprouts. As he searched for broccoli, instead he found a bag full of cash, nestled among the peppers. He took the discovery back inside to his father, Mitchell. But while some may have been delighted at the find, the younger Sabaj was disheartened. "We're in trouble now," Sabaj told his father. He was worried that the money may have come from a bank robbery and didn't want anything to be pinned on him. So he called the Sherriff's Office in McHenry County, Illinois, to come pick it up. When they arrived, they found another bag almost in plain view. Sabaj stood by his decision to let them take the money back to the station, where the contents' total worth was determined to be $150,000. "I'm sure Wayne was battling with moral decisions at that point, " said Lt. James Popovits, of the McHenry County Police. ABC News Wayne Sabaj,Illinois,wandered into his garden... View Full Size Dallas Rewards Teen for Returning Found Money Watch Video Treasure Found at Recycling Plant Watch Video Man Finds $3K During Dumpster Dive Watch Video Sabaj's moral dilemma was probably even more tortuous because he, like about 9 percent of the country's population, is unemployed. He used to work on million-dollar homes as a carpenter. Now he says that market has dried up and jobs are sparse. He currently is living with his father. But despite his financial struggle, Sabaj said turning in the money was the right thing to do. "That could have been somebody's life savings, you know? That wouldn't be fair if I just kept it," Sabaj told ABC News. Now this isn't an everyday occurrence in the unincorporated McHenry county. In fact, authorities have no idea of where the money came from. They have determined that there were no residential or commercial burglaries in Illinois where the money could have originated. Now they are checking with other states and are testing the money for forensics. According to Popovits, they are searching for the owner, even leaving a note in the spot where the money was found. But if that owner never comes and a source for the cash is never determined, the money could go back to the man that found it first, Sabaj. It would not be a quick process. The money would have to go unclaimed for a year and, even then, Sabaj would have fill out extensive paperwork before the money is his. That is assuming he still wants it. Police have suspicions that they money was not legally gained. "Let's just say it [money] wasn't found in bags typically used for storing money," said Popovits. Sabaj said he doesn't think about the money much. "I don't even think I'll get it back and even if I do, the government's just going to take a third of it back," Sabaj joked. "You just can't worry about it."

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ABC News: U.S.: Obama to Seek Stimulus Funds – But 'You Won't Hear the S Word'

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Obama to Seek Stimulus Funds – But 'You Won't Hear the S Word' Aug 31st 2011, 18:44 Aug 31, 2011 2:42pm   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print ABC News' Rick Klein (@rickklein) reports: With President Obama set to unveil his plan for job creation at a Joint Session of Congress next week, a former White House economic adviser said today that economic "stimulus" will be part of the package – but won't be labeled as such. "You won't hear the word 'stimulus' — the 's word' — because that just is politically unappealing right now," Jared Bernstein, who left his post as Vice President Joe Biden's top economist in June, told us on ABC's "Top Line" today. "But you will hear targeted measures, which I think is actually a more apt description of what I think the president will talk about." "He'll want extend the payroll tax holiday. He'll want to extend unemployment insurance. He'll have some ideas for infrastructure. Maybe something to help repair the schools — that's an idea that a number of us have been pushing – a program called FAST: Fix America's Schools Today, which could get hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work repairing the backlog of maintenance in the nation's stock of public schools." "So there are good ideas out there, and it's really a matter of the politics," Bernstein added. Bernstein, now a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the jobs measures already enacted under the Obama White House – including the stimulus package that passed in early 2009 – represented a "middle-ground" approach of targeted tax relief and additional spending. He said those efforts "have actually helped a lot" in terms of boosting the economy – though, of course, more must be done. "The facts of the case are that measures that the administration has taken, that Congress has supported, that the Federal Reserve has taken, have actually helped a lot. It's just that the hole — the economic hole — has been so deep that there's just been no conceivable measure that on its own could fix everything," Bernstein told us. "It's just not reached the kind of escape velocity that you need for the private sector to kind of take the baton over. So we still need the kinds of measures we've been doing. We just stopped too soon," he added. Bernstein warned that the White House can't be timid, even while acknowledging the political difficulties. "The most direct way to create jobs is direct job creation," he said. "The most direct measures we did I think were the most successful. Some of those were in the infrastructure side, some of those were fiscal relief to the states, which helped them retain literally hundreds of teacher, police, firefighters, sanitation workers. Some of them were measures that — so some measures like that we probably could have and should have done more on in terms of getting as close as we could to direct job creation."   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print

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ABC News: U.S.: Warren Jeffs' History of Self-Inflicted Harm in Jail

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Warren Jeffs' History of Self-Inflicted Harm in Jail Aug 31st 2011, 18:36 Warren Jeffs' condition at a Texas prison hospital has improved from critical to serious, but that might not stop the polygamist sect leader from inflicting further illness and injury on himself in the future, according to one Jeffs expert. "I don't think Warren wants to be alive," said Sam Brower, author of the Jeffs biography "Prophet's Prey." "He's going to continue to be a problem for Texas authorities." Jeffs, 55, was hospitalized Sunday for illness at least partly related to his refusing to eat and drink, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Monday. He told guards he had stopped eating since his conviction of sexual assault of minors earlier this month, she said. Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was sentenced to life in prison for the assaults on two girls, ages 12 and 15, whom he claimed were his spiritual wives. Lyons disputed earlier reports that Jeffs was in a coma, but confirmed that he had been sedated. Jeffs was transferred from a public hospital, where he was taken when he was in critical condition, to a prison medical center Tuesday. Utah Department of Corrections Warren Jeffsis shown in this undated photo.... View Full Size FBI Hunts 'Most Wanted' Polygamist Watch Video Woman Takes On 'Most Wanted' Polygamist Watch Video FBI's Most Wanted Polygamist In Custody Watch Video The sect leader has caused harm to himself while incarcerated before, including fasting, banging his head against a wall, trying to hang himself with his pajamas, and kneeling for such long periods of time that he developed hernias on his knees. Jeffs' History of Self-Inflicted Violence, "When he was jailed in Washington County, he had these lucid moments where he started realizing he really screwed up," Brower said. Jeffs' brother, Nephi Jeffs, told Brower the self-proclaimed prophet admitted to him that he was a fraud. "I'm not the prophet, I've never been the prophet. I'm the most immoral man on the face of the earth," Warren Jeffs reportedly said to his brother, according to Brower. He also said he had "immoral relations" with his brother and sister. While serving time in the Washington County jail, he tried to hang himself and threw himself against cell walls headfirst. He was also hospitalized for dehydration and depression, according to court documents. In 2009, he was temporarily force-fed while in an Arizona jail. Officials put a feeding tube into his nose and would strap him to his bed so that he could not kneel any longer, according to Brower. Blood from where the feeding tube was removed was visible in photos from when Jeffs was moved from Arizona to Utah, Brower said. "He's setting himself up to be a martyr. He doesn't want his followers to know he's trying to kill himself, so if he calls it fasting, his followers can say he was on a fast and God took him," Brower said, adding that Jeffs predicted his own death before his most recent trial. When Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month, Brower said he assumed that the tougher conditions in state prison would take a toll. "I had a feeling that the prison walls would start closing in on him pretty soon," Brower said, noting that at county jail, Jeffs had free access to phones that he could use to continue to lead his church followers. "He could still communicate, still bully, still micromanage his followers there, but the minute he went to state prison and was subjected to cavity searches, head shaving, all of a sudden he's not the top dog anymore. He's not in control anymore," Brower said.

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ABC News: U.S.: Memorial Flap: Does Inscription Make MLK Look 'Arrogant'?

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Memorial Flap: Does Inscription Make MLK Look 'Arrogant'? Aug 31st 2011, 16:53 MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images Poet Maya Angelou says the inscription on the newly unveiled Martin Luther King , Jr. Memorial makes the civil rights leader look like an "arrogant twit." The official dedication to the memorial was postponed due to Hurricane Irene, but the monument on the National Mall is open to visitors. In an interview with the Washington Post, Angelou took aim at the inscription which reads "I was a drum major for justice, peace, and righteousness."  The inscription paraphrases King's famous comments delivered at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1968.  In February 1968, two months before he was killed, King said, "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.  And all of the other shallow things will not matter." Angelou told the Washington Post Tuesday that the omission of "if" in the inscription changes the meaning of King's words. "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit," Angelou told the Washington Post.  "He was anything but that. He was far too profound a man for that four-letter word to apply." Angelou is a member of the memorial's "Dream Team,"  a group of celebrities who donated their resources and time to the memorial's construction. She was also a personal friend of Dr. King. "He had a humility that comes from deep inside. The 'if' clause that is left out is salient. Leaving it out changes the meaning completely," she told the paper. Angelou, 83, went on to say that the inscription "minimizes the man." It is one of 14 quotes carved on the monument. Emails to the King Center seeking comment about the memorial's inscription were not returned.  This isn't the first controversy surrounding the construction of the memorial. Lei Yixin, the sculptor chosen to mold King's figure, is Chinese, not American, and some have taken issue with his depiction of King. Ed Dwight, a sculptor who worked on the project, said Yixin's design does not properly portray King's peaceful nature. "He totally missed the boat here. Dr. King didn't look like that. He never wore clothes like that," Dwight told ABC News last week. "People are upset about his arms folded, the very strong look he has on his face. "If you flew in here from Mars, you'll never know what he did, because there's nothing on the memorial that says what he did — nothing about Selma, nothing about Memphis," he said. "Maybe rightly so they wanted to use these elevating, high lofty sayings, but I was more concerned about young kids walking in there and not being able to interpret what all that means." Because King's family has copyrighted the civil rights leader's words and images, the memorial foundation had to pay more than $800,000 in fees to use King's likeness in the memorial. The 30-foot-tall monument's inspiration came from a line in King's "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered 48 years ago on the National Mall during the March on Washington: "Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope." Visitors can walk to the main memorial through the "Mountain of Despair," a large rock cut in two. At the center of the memorial stands the "Stone of Hope," with a statue of King on the far side, overlooking the Tidal Basin. Encircling the monument are marble walls on which 14 of King's most famous quotes from his speeches, sermons and writings are etched. But missing from the quotes lining the memorial is his iconic "I Have a Dream" line. The architects say they chose to not include the line since so much of the memorial was already based on the speech, and they wanted to highlight his other celebrated passages. The memorial was 15 years in the making, beginning with a resolution signed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton to establish a memorial "honoring the life, the dream and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." on the National Mall. ABC News' Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.

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ABC News: U.S.: 'Sexist' Tee Riles JCPenney Shoppers

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'Sexist' Tee Riles JCPenney Shoppers Aug 31st 2011, 16:58 Aug 31, 2011 12:57pm   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print JCPenney has pulled a controversial shirt from its website that consumers declared "sexist." The girls' shirt reads: "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me." "We've immediately discontinued sales of that T-shirt. It was only online," Ann Marie Bishop, a spokeswoman for JCPenney, told ABCNews.com.  "We agreed that the shirt does not deliver an appropriate message." The shirt was being marketed to girls between the ages of 7 and 16, for the price of $9.99. A caption next to photos of the shirt read: "Who has time for homework when there's a new Justin Bieber album out? She'll love this tee that's just as cute and sassy as she is." Soon after the shirt went online, outraged customers  began making noise, and the online petition website Change.org put up a notice with the message: "Stop selling clothing with sexist messages for girls." As of midday, more than 1,600  people had signed a petition addressed to JCPenney Chairman and CEO Mike Ulman III: "Under the guise of being 'cute,' J.C. Penney is promoting merchandise that encourages girls to value looks over brains; to leave academics to the boys, and to aspire to nothing more than fawning after Justin Bieber," it read. Those who signed the petition renounced the "too pretty to do homework" message and pledged not to shop at JCPenney anymore. One woman going by the handle Aunti Kincade wrote: "Why would I buy something so stupid as this T-shirt for my smart, brilliant granddaughters? It is ignorant — and so is the buyer who thought it was cute! Wake up JCP. It's 2011, not 1911!" Ironically, given the message on the hackle-raising shirt, it comes from a brand called Self Esteem, which specializes in "sassy" T-shirts targeted at young girls. Another shirt in the line reads: "I love my best friends, girls rock, girls have more fun" with a JCPenny caption that says:  "Boys drool, and girls rule! Let her show off her mantra and sassy style with this cute tee." JCPenney said it did not khow many of the "too pretty to do homework" shirts had been sold. "We want to apologize to our customers," Bishop said. "We're reaching out to our customers who are unhappy to apologize and to let them know that the T-shirt is no longer available." ABC News' Sheila Marikar contributed to this post. SHOWS: Good Morning America   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print

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ABC News: U.S.: Va. Legislation May Halt Abortion Providers

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Va. Legislation May Halt Abortion Providers Aug 31st 2011, 09:39 New state board of health regulations issued last Friday lay the groundwork for stricter regulation of abortion providers in Virginia -- a shift in policy that abortion rights advocates feel unjustly targets women's clinics with the intent of limiting women's access to abortions. The new rules are the product of a law passed this winter that reclassified abortion clinics as hospital facilities. In accordance with the law, the state board of health has formulated specific health and safety regulations for the clinics. These rules, which are now in preliminary form, will be voted on by the board Sept. 15 and, if approved, most likely signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnel before the year's end. According to the new regulations, all abortion clinics and physician offices providing abortions would have to meet specific building and safety requirements -- such as five-foot wide hallways, 250-square-foot operating rooms and specific ventilation systems -- that are normally only required for outpatient hospitals. Similar regulations were passed by Kansas' legislature earlier this year but have been blocked by a federal judge. Alex Wong/Getty Images Anti-abortion activists kneel down and pray... View Full Size Oklahoma Judge: No Ultrasound Required Watch Video Man Accused of Abortion Bombing Plot Watch Video Toomey: Roe v. Wade Was 'Mistakenly Determined' Watch Video Though the board of health cites patient safety as its primary motivation for the new laws, women's clinics affected by the new regulations argue that they are being specifically targeted by an anti-abortion rights state government that seeks to regulate abortions out of existence in Virginia. "My initial reaction to these laws is that Governor McDonnell is pandering to his political base, not that he's concerned with the medical needs of Virginia's women and their families. We've been providing safe, up-to-code abortions for over 30 years and these facilities have served us well," says Jill Abbey, who oversees four women's clinics in Virginia that collectively provide about 3,500 abortions each year. "Colonoscopies, dental surgery and plastic surgery are much more invasive than the abortions we provide, and they are not being asked to live up to this kind of strict regulation. That tells you right there that this is not about safety, it's about politics," Abbey says. Under the proposed regulations, she believes that none of her four clinics would be able to operate at this time. According to Ted Miller, a spokesman for Naral Pro-Choice America, none of the 21 clinics providing abortions currently meet the rigorous standards laid out in the draft regulation. "Abortion providers are already the most regulated health care providers in the state, and abortion remains one of the safest medical procedures," he said. "They're specifying what fabric can be used on window coverings, the ceiling height, how loud the air conditioning can be. What does this have to do with women's safety? This has to do with politics." Women's Safety or Anti-Abortion Aims? For the conservative Family Foundation in Virginia, these regulations constitute the "biggest pro-life victory in Virginia in a decade," says Chris Freund, vice president of policy and communications at the foundation. The foundation has been advocating for these regulations for nearly a decade, Freund says, in response to its concerns that abortion clinics in the state are under-regulated.

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ABC News: U.S.: Security Camera Snaps Cop Having Sex

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Security Camera Snaps Cop Having Sex Aug 31st 2011, 15:34 Aug 31, 2011 11:34am   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print A uniformed state police officer in Santa Fe, N.M., was caught apparently having sex on the hood of a car in broad daylight by a government-placed security camera intended to catch vandals. A graphic photo of the act was released by the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office this week following a public information request from the media. The officer was  fully clothed, with his utility belt still around his waist. The officer has been put on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation, according to the New Mexico State Police. The camera was placed on the remote La Bajada Ranch by law enforcement to catch vandals, according to ABC's Albuquerque affiliate KOAT. "It's strictly a personnel matter,"  Sgt. Tim Johnson, the public information officer for the New Mexico State Police Department of Public Safety, told ABCNews.com. "We received the information from the sheriff's department in Santa Fe County. An internal personnel investigation was initiated immediately and was completed." Johnson said a decision on disciplinary action is still pending. Johnson said that "no criminal wrongdoing occurred" and that the situation "comes to integrity issues." When asked if the officer was on duty at the time the photo was taken, Johnson said he could not answer that yet, but said the "person was  in uniform." SHOWS: Nightline   Email Smaller Font Text Larger Text | Print

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