Middlesex DA investigates reports of bullying at Groton School

The Middlesex district attorney's office is investigatingreports of bullying at the Groton School involving an incidentafter which one of the alleged bullies killed himself because he hadbeen pressured to leave the school, according to the boy's father.

Cara O'Brien, a spokeswoman for Middlesex District AttorneyGerard T. Leone Jr., would only say his office is reviewing reportsfrom local police about allegations of bullying at the school. It isnot clear if any criminal behavior occurred on campus, she said.

Groton Police Chief Donald Palma could not be reached forcomment last night. He told the Globe last week that police were"looking to see if there is any criminal matter involved or if therewas any bullying involved."

Walter Perkins, 59, a lawyer living in South Riding, Va., saidthat his son, Hunter, a 16-year-old sophomore at the prep school,was one of three students accused of putting lewd, doctored picturesof a classmate on the Internet about three weeks ago and that theimages contained "homosexual overtones."

Walter Perkins said all three students were sent home, and Hunterfatally shot himself Oct. 11 in the basement of their house inVirginia.

The suicide occurred about three days after Perkins showed Hunteran e-mail from the Groton headmaster, Richard B. Commons, outliningan agreement the men had reached that Hunter would withdraw from theschool because of the incident. Perkins said his son did not want toleave Groton, which he had come to love.

"My poor son, God love him," Perkins said. "He thought the wholeworld hated him."

When asked by a Globe reporter to see the e-mail last night,Perkins said he could not come up with it.

A spokesman for the Groton School did not return messages lastnight. School officials declined to comment on the allegations ofcyberbullying.

Perkins said that after he and Hunter left Groton's campus aboutthree weeks ago, Commons said in phone calls and e-mails that theboy should withdraw from the school, rather than plead his case in adisciplinary hearing, which would go on his permanent record.

Perkins said Commons said his son "was guilty of one of the mostserious crimes imaginable" and had perpetrated a hate crime. Thefather also said his son had been on antidepressants.

Shelley Murphy of the Globe staff contributed to this report.Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com.

28groton.ART

SA: Climate charge a bigger threat than terrorism: Rann

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2004
SA: Climate charge a bigger threat than terrorism: Rann

ADELAIDE, Aug 27 AAP - Climate change posed a greater long-term threat to Australia
than terrorism, South Australian Premier Mike Rann said today.

"The metabolism of the world's modern economy is on a collision course with the metabolism
of our planet," Mr Rann said.

"Action on climate change is not just about the environment, it is about economics
and a future for our children.

"In the long term, climate change poses a greater threat to Australia than terrorism."

The premier's comments came ahead of a meeting of Australia's energy ministers in Adelaide today.

Mr Rann also called on Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Mark Latham
to commit to a special Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on climate change
within three months of the upcoming federal election to set hard targets on emission reductions.

He said climate change had the potential to have a major impact on the daily lives
of all Australians with changes to agricultural production, increased flooding, increased
bushfires, less available water, more air pollution and greater potential for infectious
diseases among the risks.

The premier also called for Australia to sign the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

"For all its flaws we must sign up to Kyoto because is is the only international treaty
there is," he said.

"To attract investment in renewable energy, we need to provide financial incentives
for electricity generators to move away from dirty coal-fired electricity to alternatives
such as biomass, solar, wind energy, hydro and hot rocks.

"Yet the federal government is paralysed.

"It continues to refuse to ratify the Kyoto protocol and the prime minister simply
refuses to discuss Kyoto or greenhouse policy."

AAP tjd

KEYWORD: CLIMATE

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Australians' health and wealth improving: ABS report

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2004
Fed: Australians' health and wealth improving: ABS report

CANBERRA, April 21 AAP - The health of Australians is improving and they are getting
richer but the environment is still being degraded, a new report has found.

The report, compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), examines a range
of measures of the nation's progress.

It found children born in 2001 were expected to live three years longer than those born in 1991.

A baby boy is expected to reach 77 years of age, while a baby girl should live to almost 83.

One of the explanations is a continuing improvement in Australia's infant mortality
rate, which dropped 29 per cent to seven babies per 1,000 during the past decade.

The story was not so good for indigenous Australians, with the infant mortality rate
estimated at 16 per 1,000 births.

The ABS said it did not have a definitive estimate of the life expectancy of indigenous
Australians, but said in all cases they were much lower than other Australians.

Australians have also enjoyed an improvement in their wealth, the report found.

Real net national disposable income per capita grew by about 2.8 per cent a year over
the past 10 years, while the real income of those people considered less well-off improved
by eight per cent.

But the incomes of better-off groups improved even more.

Real wealth per person, as opposed to income, increased overall by around 0.6 per cent
a year between 1993 and 2003.

Another area to have suffered during the past decade has been the nation's native fauna.

The number of birds and animals either extinct, endangered or vulnerable rose by 40
per cent during the past decade.

There has also been an increase in the number of invasive weeds and exotic animal species
that have found their way into the country.

On the plus side, the rate of land clearing decreased by 40 per cent between 1991 and 2001.

There has been a small increase in personal crimes, which include assaults. They increased
from 4.8 per cent of people experiencing a crime in 1998 to 5.3 per cent of people experiencing
a crime in 2002.

But there was little change in the proportion of house break-ins, attempted break-ins
and motor vehicle thefts.

AAP sw/cmc/tnf

KEYWORD: PROGRESS

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Black Hawk pilots to resume flight training on Monday

AAP General News (Australia)
02-14-2004
Qld: Black Hawk pilots to resume flight training on Monday

Black Hawk pilots are expected to resume flight training on Monday despite the crash
of an RAAF helicopter west of Brisbane during a mock combat exercise this week.

The defence force halted Black Hawk flight training after a helicopter came down with
eight people on board at Mt WALKER on Thursday.

Six of the eight soldiers on board were injured, but none suffered life-threatening injuries.

Four remain in hospital.

The helicopter from the Oakey Army Base clipped trees and crashed into a paddock.

AAP RTV rad/jhm/rh/rt/wz/jas

KEYWORD: BLACKHAWK (BRISBANE)

2004 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Qld: Police spreading the net in search for Daniel

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2003
Qld: Police spreading the net in search for Daniel

Police are appealing for information from motorists who regularly use the overpass
near where missing Queensland teenager DANIEL MORCOMBE was last seen over a week ago.

The 13-year-old has not been seen since December the 7th as he waited for a bus near
his Palmwoods home on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

A witness has told police they saw a blue old model, four-door sedan parked near DANIEL
at the bus stop near the Kiel Mountain Bridge at about the time he disappeared.

Detective Inspector JOHN MALONEY has called on anyone who picks up and drops off at
the Keil Mountain Road overpass or its vicinity at anytime to come forward.

DANIEL is described as 150 centimetres tall with black hair, blue eyes, of slim build
and a fair complexion.

He was last seen wearing a red Billabong t-shirt and blue three-quarter length cargo-style
shorts.

AAP RTV ch/sc/swe/rp/psm/

KEYWORD: MORCOMBE (BRISBANE)

2003 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

Fed: Study shows soccer has become our most popular team sport

00-00-0000
Fed: Study shows soccer has become our most popular team sport

New research says soccer has taken over from cricket as the most popular team sportplayed in Australia, new research shows.

The Roy Morgan Sponsor MAP interviewed around 100,000 people aged 14 or over duringthe past four years.

It says the high profile 2002 World Cup in Japan and the prominence of Australian soccerstars overseas have contributed to the rise in the sport's popularity.

It is a hit with both genders, being the most popular team sport for men, while onlynetball is more popular as a team sport for women.

It found there were 1.22 million people playing soccer nationwide in March this year,ahead of cricket with just over 1 million and basketball with 892,000.

AAP RTV ka/wz

KEYWORD: SOCCER (SYDNEY)

Fed: Star wars could trigger global arms race, Australia told

00-00-0000
Fed: Star wars could trigger global arms race, Australia told

By Rob Taylor, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

CANBERRA, Feb 27 AAP - Australia was today told the US-developed son of star wars shieldagainst ballistic missile attack could trigger a fresh global arms race.

In a stark reminder of regional concern over US plans to develop a missile shield capableof destroying incoming missiles, China's embassy in Canberra said the high-tech systemwould be a risk to regional security.

An embassy spokesman said Beijing feared US development of a so-called theatre missiledefence (TMD) would undermine the global strategic balance.

"It …