Thursday, April 6, 2006
Suspected Bomber Makes Utah Court Appearance
By Jennifer Dobner
Associated Press
Published: 4/06/06
Excerpt:
A former air traffic controller sought in the investigation of homemade
bombs placed outside five Colorado homes will be returned to that state
to face possible federal charges.
Robert Burke, 54, on [April 6]
made his first appearance in U.S. District Court, where he waived his
right to fight his removal to Denver. A warrant issued there alleges he
violated federal law by possessing an unregistered firearm. The charge
carries a penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison and up to
$250,000 in fines, said David Gaouette, an assistant U.S. attorney in
Denver. ...
Police in Grand Junction and federal investigators from the U.S. Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were tipped to Burke's
whereabouts earlier this week, when a man identifying himself as a
"friend of Robert Burke" contacted a reporter at The Daily Sentinel in
Grand Junction. The man said he had information about Serco that Burke
wanted published. ...
The man
initially said he would mail the information, but then asked [reporter Gary Harmon] to
meet him in the parking lot of a motel in Provo on Thursday, [managing editor Dennis Herzog]
said. The man also said, "I think you know who I am, but there's no use
asking because I'm not going to tell you," Herzog added.
Herzog
said the paper felt it had a duty ... to contact police, even though the decision seemed to
infringe upon the boundaries of normal interactions between a newspaper
and police. ...
The rule of thumb for journalists is not to get involved, said Kelly
McBride, the ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, a
Florida-based journalism think tank. ...
But McBride said she wasn't troubled by the Sentinel's decision to call
police. She said the litmus test for such decisions should be whether
refraining from notifying authorities would likely result in someone's
death or serious physical harm.
"If the answer is yes, I think you have a moral obligation to get involved," McBride said.
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