Charleston Daily Mail

Mother Awaits Reunion with Missing Son

LOGAN - The mother of a missing 2-year-old boy still has his Christmas presents waiting for him under the tree. And Amy White said that's where they'll stay until she is reunited with Dakota Jenkins, whether it is in her Logan home or a funeral home. White reported her autistic son missing Dec. 24.

Independence Air Facing End

WASHINGTON - Flyi Inc, the parent company of Independence Air, will cease operating Jan. 7 if it is unable to find a major investor or buyer, the airline said in a letter received by its employees this week. In the letter to its unionized workers, including pilots, flight attendants and mechanics, the Dulles, Va.-based airline said that without "significant external investment," it would stop flying in 10 days, and lay off workers at all of its locations between Jan. 7 and Jan. 21.

Partner Blames Ywca, Nautilus Co-Owner Claims Organization: ; Neglected City Building

Bob White points to a gaping hole in the ceiling above the basketball court at the Charleston YWCA as an example of how he believes the head of the organization has allowed the facility to deteriorate. White contends it's an effort to sever the partnership between his fitness firm, Nautilus, and the YWCA.

Library Collection Honors Death March, Hell Ship Pows From Wwii

Edward Jackfert will never forget the "Hell Ships." As an American prisoner of war at the hands of the Japanese, he was transported on one of these ships to slave labor camps in the Pacific during World War II. He doesn't want future generations ever to forget his and other American soldiers' experiences as POWs.

U.S. Attorneys Score Guilty Plea in Lincoln Election Fraud Probe, Highways Worker Admits to Bribing Voters with Whiskey, Cash

A Division of Highways worker became the latest Lincoln County resident to plead guilty to a federal election fraud charge. Clifford Odell "Groundhog" Vance admitted Wednesday that he bribed voters with pints of Kessler whiskey, $10 to $15 in cash or both during the 1988 or 1990 Democratic primary - the 49-year-old Vance said he could not remember which one.

Board Saves Martinsburg Property From Development

MARTINSBURG - An effort to save 13 acres of historic property in Martinsburg from residential development ended successfully Wednesday when the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board announced an agreement to purchase it. Area residents had been rallying to save the Boydville property since September, when a Manassas, Va.-based development group, The Rector Companies, submitted a plan to build 120 town houses and condominiums on the site.

Mcmechen Police Chief Arrested On Charges of Incest, Sexual Abuse

McMECHEN - McMechen Police Chief Franklin D. Dunn was arrested on three sex-related charges, State Police announced. The arrest warrants charge Dunn with one count of incest, one count of sexual abuse by a custodian and one count of second-degree sexual assault.

Man's Blog Sends Him to Prison

TAVARES, Fla. - A 19-year-old man who confessed on his Web log to causing a crash that fatally injured his friend was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison, 10 years of probation and a permanent suspension of his driver's license. Blake Ranking pleaded guilty last week to DUI manslaughter. Ranking was accused of grabbing the steering wheel from the back seat as a prank and sending the car into a concrete culvert in October 2004. Jason Coker, 17, was killed in the accident. Another passe...

National Weather

Almanac Yesterday's high 53

Forecasts

Tonight Mostly cloudy, with a low around 33.

Weather

Hi Lo Otlk Akron 40 29 Cldy

Moonphase

Hi Lo Otlk Anchorage 27 24 PCldy

Researcher Made No Tailored Cells, Panel Says,: ; Fabrications Deal Blow to Stem Cell Research

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's leading university said today that researcher Hwang Woo-suk did not produce stem cells individually tailored to patients as he claimed he had done in a landmark research paper. The conclusion was a fatal blow to the disgraced professor's once- vaunted reputation as a cloning pioneer who held the key to medical breakthroughs for hard-to-treat diseases.

Decades Later,: ; Someone Pays Up for Stolen Flowers

GREENWOOD, S.C. - Someone who once stole some flowers from a Piggly Wiggly more than three decades ago has apparently been feeling mighty, mighty guilty. An unsigned letter of apology was sent to the grocery store a couple of weeks ago - along with some cash.

Judge Orders Deportation: ; of Suspected Nazi Guard, Lawyer Says Sending Demjanjuk to His Native Ukraine Is Like Throwing Him 'Into a Shark Tank'

CLEVELAND - For nearly 30 years, a retired auto worker accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard has been fighting to stay in the United States. But a judge's order that John Demjanjuk be deported to his native Ukraine means the man once suspected of being the notoriously brutal guard known as Ivan the Terrible may be running out of legal options.

Jamaican Policeman Hits Airwaves with Rap

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A police commander who led a commando-style, anti-crime team that human rights groups accuse of multiple killings is hitting the airwaves with a rap-style song that pledges to restore law and order in Jamaica. Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams' song was released after a jury last week acquitted him and two other policemen on charges of murdering two men and two women and planting guns on their bodies.

Stealth Ads Spark Controversy, Graffiti On Sides: ; of Buildings Is Really Advertisement for Sony's Playstation

PHILADELPHIA - Sony Corp. scouted out an unusual place to advertise its PlayStation Portable before the holidays: the side of an abandoned building in a gritty North Philadelphia neighborhood. The black-on-white graffiti shows wide-eyed cartoon characters riding the PlayStation like a skateboard, licking it like a lollipop or cranking it like a Jack-in-the-Box.

Nation &World

Some French residents get bill for $2.5 billion TOURS, France - More than 100 people in France got a particularly large, nasty bill in the mail.

N.C. County to Pay Part: ; of Bills for W.Va. Fugitive

YADKINVILLE - Yadkin County leaders have agreed to pay more than $57,000 in hospital bills for a man wanted on a fugitive warrant from West Virginia until he became sick. Law enforcement officials in Kanawha County, W.Va., then dropped their extradition request for William Joseph Spencer, who was charged in that county with breaking and entering and failure to appear in court.

Fortherecord

Bankruptcy filings There were no petitions filed in the Daily Mail's circulation area in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District for Dec. 22, 2005.