LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY "I don't know
what they actually
accomplished, but
I'm glad it's over."
Jeffrey Bauer,
a U.S. Postal Service worker in Pittsburgh, speaking of the G-20 summit that shut down much of the city's downtown last week Article, 4A
Medical-copter
crash fatal to 3
GEORGETOWN, S.C.
- Investigators say a medical helicopter that crashed in coastal South Carolina had run into poor weather and was trying to land.
The Friday night crash killed all three crew members on board. The helicopter had just dropped off a patient at a Charleston hospital, and no other patients were on board.
National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said there was poor weather, including rain, in the Georgetown area about 60 miles northeast of Charleston.
Sumwalt said the cause of the crash is still being determined, but it appears there was no fire or structural failure on the aircraft while it was in flight.
The helicopter belonged to OmniFlight, a Texas-based company that operates 100 aircraft in 18 states.
OmniFlight said pilot Patrick Walters, 45, of Murrells Inlet; flight nurse Diana Conner, 42, of Florence; and paramedic Randolph Claxton Dove, 39, of Bladenboro, N.C., died in the crash.
OmniFlight spokesman Joel Hochhalter said the helicopter had never had mechanical problems, but safety board records show it was damaged in May 2008.
Maryland dad shot wife, kids, himself
MOUNT AIRY, Md. - A home-improvement worker and school janitor who apparently was struggling to survive the recession killed his sleeping wife and two children before turning the 12-gauge shotgun on himself, Maryland State Police said Saturday.
Charles L. Dalton, 38, left no suicide note, and police haven't clearly identified a motive for the deaths, spokesman Greg Shipley said.
"It is possible that financial difficulties were part of the motive," he said.
Police announced the findings one day after the bodies of Dalton; his wife, Jennifer, 37; and their children Charles Jr., 14, and Emmaline, 7, were found in their home in Mount Airy, a Frederick County town of 8,800 about 30 miles west of Baltimore.
Shipley said the bodies of Jennifer Dalton and the children were found in their beds. Charles Dalton's body was in the master bedroom next to the bed, he said.
Dalton also fatally shot the family's beagle in a crate inside the home's front door, he said.
Investigators believe the deaths occurred Thursday night or Friday morning.
GI who died in '65 finally back home
OMAHA, Neb. - The remains of a U.S. soldier who has been missing since a 1965 helicopter crash in South Vietnam have been returned to Nebraska.
A coffin containing Spc.
Donald Grella's body was flown from Hawaii to Omaha on Saturday. Grella's sister, Shirley Haase of Omaha, accompanied his remains.
Haase learned in July that Grella's body was among the remains found at a helicopter crash site near An Khe, Vietnam, in 2006.
The helicopter went down on Dec. 28, 1965, during a supply mission. The pilot radioed before the crash that bad weather and darkness made flying difficult. Grella was 25.
It was three years before the crash site was excavated.
Grella will be buried in his hometown of Laurel. A funeral is scheduled for Saturday at the Laurel-Concord High School gym.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 09/27/2009