Names and faces

Friday, December 14, 2012

— An imprisoned man whose infatuation with Justin Bieber included a tattoo of the pop star on his leg has told investigators in New Mexico that he hatched a plot to kill the singer, according to documents recently filed in a New Mexico court. An affidavit filed in Las Cruces said Dana Martin told investigators that he persuaded a man he met in prison and the man’s nephew to kill Bieber, along with Bieber’s personal bodyguardand two others not connected to the pop star. Investigators say the plotters wanted to castrate two of the victims, not connected to Bieber, with hedge clippers before traveling to New York City to find Bieber. Martin, a Vermont man who is serving two life sentences for the 2000 killing of a 15-year-old girl, said he was angry at Bieber because he didn’t respond to any of his letters. Martin said that Mark Staake and Tanner Ruane headed from New Mexico to the East Coast, planning to be near a Bieber concert scheduled in New York City after killing and castrating the two others. But authorities say they missed a turn and crossed into Canada from Vermont. Staake was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Ruane was arrested later. No one was killed in the purported plot.

Jackie Chan suggests in a recent interview that protests should be restricted in the freewheeling Chinese city of Hong Kong. The action star lamented that Hong Kong has become a city of protest, where people “scold China, scold the leaders, scold anything, protest against anything.” “There should be regulations on what can and cannot be protested,” Chan told the Southern People Weekly, which published his comments Wednesday. He didn’t say what kinds of protests he thought should be restricted.The star of movies such as Rush Hour and Rumble in the Bronx triggered a backlash three years ago with similar comments on the need to restrict freedom in his hometown. A former British colony, Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997 and is now a semiautonomous region. Residents are fiercely proud of the Western-style civil liberties they enjoy that are not seen on the mainland, including the freedom to demonstrate.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/14/2012