Monday, November 17, 2014

PHILADELPHIA DETECTIVE INVOLVED IN KELLY DRIVE PILEUP

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Five people, including a Philadelphia police detective, were injured after a three-car pileup on Kelly Drive during the evening rush hour.

Police say it was just before 6:30 p.m. Monday when a Chevy Trailblazer heading into the city lost control at the curve and went into the path of two vehicles going the opposite direction. The Trailblazer ended up on its roof.

Philadelphia Fire Department Lt. William Finegan was on his way to work in Center City when he came upon the accident scene and called 911.

"Honestly, the hardest part of the job was calling in the run because we're on Kelly Drive, there's no landmarks out here so you can't say, 'I'm at Broad and Vine.' So just giving them landmarks to get here, that was the hardest part," Finegan said.

Three people were trapped in their vehicles.

Firefighters and paramedics had to work carefully get them out and onto stretchers to waiting ambulances.

The accident scene forced the shutdown of a section of busy Kelly Drive for several hours, as joggers looked on.

An off-duty major crimes detective injured one of his legs.

Authorities say the injuries to all victims are non-life-threatening.

Lt. Finegan is just glad he was at the right place at the right time to be able to help.

"For the amount of damage to the vehicles, the patients were relatively uninjured, so they're Powerball lucky," Finegan said.

The investigation is ongoing, but police say it does not appear drugs or alcohol played a role in the accident.

TEEN CHARGED AS AN ADULT IN PENNRIDGE H.S. ATTACK

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A student who is charged in a violent attack at Pennridge High School faced a judge on Monday.

Only Action News was there as 15 year old Kodi Hendricks went to COURT for his preliminary hearing in Perkasie, Bucks County.

He allegedly forced a female student at knife-point into a school bathroom, where police say he tried to rape her last month.

Police say Hendricks also threatened a teacher who stopped the ASSAULT.

The 15 year old suspect is charged as an adult.

He waived his preliminary hearing today and remains JAILED on the charges.

CHARLES MANSON GRANTED LICENSE TO WED DEVOTED FAN



CORCORAN, Calif. (AP) - Mass murderer Charles Manson has gotten a license to marry a 26-year-old woman who visits him in prison.

The MARRIAGE LICENSE obtained Monday by The Associated Press was issued Nov. 7 for the 80-year-old Manson and Afton Elaine Burton, who left her Midwestern home nine years ago and moved to Corcoran, California - the site of the prison - to be near Manson. She maintains several websites advocating for Manson's innocence.

The license does not specify a wedding date and indicates the couple has 90 days to get married or they will have to reapply.


Burton, who goes by the name "Star," told the AP that she and Manson will be married next month.

"Y'all can know that it's true," she said. "It's going to happen."

"I love him," she added. "I'm with him. There's all kinds of things."

Burton gave an interview a year ago to Rolling Stone magazine in which she said she and Manson planned to marry. But Manson, who became notorious in 1969 as the leader of a roving "family" of young killers, was less certain about tying the knot.

"That's a bunch of garbage," Manson said in the December 2013 interview. "That's trash We're playing that for public consumption."

Asked Monday about those comments, Burton said, "None of that's true," adding that they're waiting for the prison to complete their paperwork.

California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton confirmed to the AP that the license had been transmitted to the prison.

Thornton said each California prison designates an employee to be a marriage coordinator who processes paperwork for an inmate's request to be wed. In most cases, she said, the department of corrections approves of such weddings as "a tool of family reunification and social development." But Manson is a unique case.

Burton said the wedding might have happened earlier if Manson did not have "some situations" at the prison.

Thornton explained that in February, Manson had three violations for possession of a weapon, threatening staff and refusal to provide a urine sample.

Burton said the prison holds marriages on the first Saturday of each month. She expects to be married in an inmate vising room at the prison.

Thornton confirmed that Manson can have a wedding at the prison and invite an officiate from outside the prison to perform the ceremony.

He and his prospective spouse also would be allowed to invite 10 guests who are not inmates.

However, as a life prisoner with no parole date, he is not entitled to family visits, a euphemism for conjugal visits.

Why marry Manson under those conditions? Burton said it would allow her to get information not available to non-relatives.

""There's certain things next of kin can do," she said.

She said she believes Manson is innocent and will get a new trial.

Manson has been incarcerated since 1969 in the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. He was a habitual CRIMINAL before that and spent most of his life in prison.

He and two women followers, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel, remain imprisoned. Another follower, Susan Atkins, died of cancer behind bars.

They were convicted in the gruesome killings of actress Sharon Tate and four others at her estate on Aug. 9, 1969, and grocers Leno and Rosemary LaBianca who were killed the following night.

Manson would not be eligible for parole until 2027.

LOCAL LEADERS ANNOUNCE PAPAL VISIT

It is official - Pope Francis is coming to Philadelphia! And local officials talked about some of the details of the papal visit at a news conference Monday morning.

Luckily, area leaders have been planning for the possibility that the pope would personally attend the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, for quite some time.

Back in March, Pope Francis told a delegation from Philadelphia that he would be coming. But, they were sworn to secrecy. That included Governor Tom Corbett and his wife, Susan.

Susan Corbett says, "It was there that the governor had the honor of inviting the pope to Philadelphia. And the Holy Father answered our invitation by whispering three words in Tom's ear: I will come."

The secret is out now.

The announcement was made at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which will serve as the backdrop for the eyes of the world on the pope as he celebrates the first event on Saturday September 26, 2015, and then celebrates mass on Sunday September 27, 2015.

Among those bursting with pride is Mayor Michael Nutter, who is relishing the idea of the eyes of the world being on Philadelphia during the pope's visit.

At Monday's news conference Nutter said, "Philadelphia is, in fact, a world-class city. I'm looking forward to showcasing our culture and community with people from across America and around the world, and welcoming them to the most welcoming city in the United States of America - Philadelphia."

The World Meeting of Families will be a five day event, but Pope Francis will be here for the last two days.

There will be a Festival of Families, with concerts and entertainment on Saturday. Then Sunday the stage will be transformed to an altar, where the pope will celebrate mass in front of, perhaps, well over a million people.

It will be the biggest logistic and security challenge the city has ever faced.

Mayor Nutter says a massive planning effort is already underway.

Nutter explained the obstacles, saying, "How will people access the Parkway? What streets need to be shut down? How do we communicate with people? This is a massive undertaking. We'll do it and we'll do it well. But a significant amount of planning has to take place."

It will be expensive, but Nutter says he's hoping for state and federal funding and corporate giving. The organizers alone are raising $45 million for the event.

The visitors will pump a lot of money into the local economy as they fill restaurants and hotel rooms.

There won't be enough rooms to go around, so organizers are signing up host families.

The executive director of the event, Donna Crilley-Farrell, says, "There is a way for families within our region to sign up to be host families. Because without that we cannot accommodate all of our visitors coming from all over the world."

The mayor said there will be multiple agencies - local, state, federal, and even Italian - assisting with security. He says we do big things here in Philadelphia. Big events, we do them well, and this will be no exception.