National Roundup

Ohio Kings Island settles suit alleging coaster injury LEBANON, Ohio (AP) -- A final lawsuit has been settled against Kings Island amusement park nearly five years after its Son of Beast wooden roller coaster ride injured more than two dozen people. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the suit was settled Monday, averting a trial scheduled for this week in Warren County. The newspaper reports that terms were not disclosed. Injured rider, 20-year-old Jonathan Yanik of Ashland, Ky., had sued the Mason, Ohio, park over a shoulder injury. His was the last remaining of five suits brought against the park. Three others were settled, and a fourth ended with a judgment of about $76,000 in compensatory damages against the park followed by a settlement. The coaster has been closed on-and-off since it opened in 2000. It most recently has been closed since 2009, when a woman said a blood vessel burst in her brain while she was riding. Oregon Guilty plea in Columbia Sportswear boss plot OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon authorities say a man accused of plotting to kidnap Columbia Sportswear Chairwoman Gert Boyle has pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against his two other co-defendants. Clackamas County Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner told KGW-TV that Jose Luis Arevalo made the plea Monday. The Oregonian reports that Arevalo pleaded guilty to kidnapping, robbery, burglary and criminal conspiracy. Ramon Alberto Midence and Nestor Gabriel Caballero Gutierrez face similar charges. Arevalo told investigators he drove to Boyle's house "for the purpose of kidnapping her," and that he was to receive $20,000 for his role. Boyle foiled the Nov. 10 abduction attempt by telling one man she had to disable her security alarm, then tripping a silent alarm that called police to her home in a Portland suburb. New Jersey Suit: Four Loko caused man lasting heart damage ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey man who says he suffered permanent heart damage after drinking the alcohol- and caffeine-laced Four Loko beverage is suing its manufacturer. Tire salesman Michael Mustica of Knowlton Township filed the lawsuit last week against Phusion Projects. The lawsuit, first reported last week by The Press of Atlantic City, claims that during a visit to Atlantic City in October, Mustica drank 2? cans of Four Loko and suffered heart arrhythmia. Each can of Four Loko contains 12 percent alcohol -- the equivalent of three cans of beer. Phusion spokesman Chris Hunter declined to comment Monday to The Star-Ledger of Newark but says the company still believes mixing alcohol and caffeine is safe. Phusion agreed to remove caffeine from the drink in November after complaints from the Food and Drug Administration. Georgia Parents sue state over child support jail time ATLANTA (AP) -- A civil rights group has filed a class action lawsuit that aims to secure lawyers for indigent parents who have been jailed or are in danger of being jailed for failing to pay child support. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court by the Southern Center for Human Rights on behalf of six parents who couldn't pay child support amid the tough economic times. Several of the plaintiffs have been jailed for months because they cannot pay the fee. The lawsuit said Georgia law bans authorities from jailing a parent who doesn't have the ability to pay child support. But it says the plaintiffs don't have the opportunity to prove they are indigent because they don't have an attorney. Nevada Las Vegas man says Franciscan friar assaulted him LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Las Vegas man says a Franciscan friar sexually assaulted him when he was a boy more than 20 years ago. 38-year-old Tim Coonce said in a civil lawsuit filed in Clark County that Brother Tom Thing sexually assaulted him when Coonce was a seventh-grader at St. Christopher Elementary School in North Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Monday that Coonce claims Thing acted as a father figure to him, earned his trust and then assaulted him multiple times, including at a Mount Charleston cabin and on a trip to California. Court documents indicate Thing was one of several alleged abusers named in a 1995 lawsuit in Santa Barbara. Thing could not be reached for comment. Officials at St. Christopher told the Review-Journal they had never heard of Thing. Pennsylvania Judge finds GenOn liable for fouling Conemaugh PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A federal judge in Pittsburgh says GenOn Northeast Management Co. is liable for fouling the Conemaugh River with metal discharges from a power plant in Indiana County since 2005, opening the door to a maximum civil penalty of more than $300 million. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell must still decide what penalty to impose. But according to one of the environmentalists who sued the company, the more likely outcome is that GenOn will attempt to settle the 2007 lawsuit before the judge imposes a penalty. David Masur, the director of PennEnvironment, says the decision should force GenOn to comply with federal and state clean water rules as well as to pay a penalty large enough that the company doesn't profit from polluting. GenOn officials did not immediately respond to a phone and e-mail requests for comment. Maine Massachusetts man set to go on trial in marriage case PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A Massachusetts man is on trial in Maine on charges he arranged sham weddings between people from Maine and Africans seeking to become legal residents of the United States. Monday was the opening day of the trial in federal court in Portland of 37-year-old Rashid Kakande (kah-KAHN'-dee) of Woburn, Mass. He is charged with arranging payments of up to $5,000 for Mainers willing to marry people from Uganda and other African countries in the United States with expiring tourist or student visas. He is said to have arranged 15 marriages between 2003 and 2007. The Portland Press Herald says most of the weddings were held in apartments in Lewiston. If convicted, Kakande could be sentenced to five years in prison. Published: Wed, Mar 23, 2011