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■Fans listen as guitarist Zach Sloan (left), bassist James Ryan and lead vocal
ist Kyle Close, members of the band Adamo, perform at Fitzwilly's Saturday
night during the Northgate Music Festival. The three-day festival featured
more than 150 bands at 11 venues.
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By Robert Weller
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
racket.
heavy mA DENVER — An Air Force Academy
lyerontai i cadet who had been accused of rape and
to crash a glider into a dining hall
was allowed to remain at the school for sev
eral more months, during which he was
arrested for sodomizing a woman in a
wheelchair and accused of raping another
cadet, according to files obtained by The
Associated Press.
Even after his arrest in Los Angeles for
sodomy, the Air Force got cadet Doncosta
Seawell released from custody and took him
to the academy, according to the files.
He was accused of rape by a fellow cadet
three months later.
“This is outrageous that this guy fell
through the cracks of the military justice
system, and went on to do such harm to
other victims,” said Cynthia Stone of the
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Seawell’s alleged victims have been among
the women who have accused the academy of
’ailing to prosecute sex offenders — claims
that helped lead to sweeping changes at the
academy and Defense Department investiga
tions of sexual assault cases.
An investigation determined that there
had been 142 reports of sexual assault at the
academy in the past decade, and some of the
victims said they were punished for report-
-tfling the assaults.
Seawell, a senior cadet flight instructor
and academy boxer, was expelled in October
and a court-martial sentenced him to
o years imprisonment for the attack on the
civilian woman.
He first came to the attention of academy
investigators two years earlier, when cadet
acKenzie Isaekson said he sexually
saulted her. He denied assaulting the
Hawaii lawmakers
pondering changes to
I law capping gas prices
HONOLULU (AP) — In Hawaii, where
| motorists have long complained about the
high cost of gasoline, the nation’s first cap
on pump prices is just a few months away.
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woman, and no charges were brought.
The following year, just a month after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the flight instruc
tor threatened to fly a glider into the build
ing that houses the dining hall, according to
the Office of Special Investigations report
obtained by The Associated Press under a
Freedom of Information request.
He was charged with Conduct
Unbecoming an Officer and Gentleman
and sent for a mental evaluation, according
to the files.
This is outrageous
that this guy fell through
the cracks of the military
justice system.
— Cynthia Stone
Colorado Coalition Against Assault
Two months later, on Dec. 28, 2001, he
was arrested in Los Angeles for the attack on
a woman in a wheelchair, whom he allegedly
approached via Internet instant messaging.
It was then that Air Force agents reviewed
Seawell’s record and found the report of the
glider threat, according to the OSI report.
Seawell remained at the school for six
more months, and allegedly approached
freshman cadet Kira Mountjoy-Pepka by
way of Internet chat.
Mountjoy-Pepka accused Seawell of
attacking her in April 2002. In interviews
last year on ABC’s “20/20” and on Oprah
Winfrey’s show, Mountjoy-Pepka claimed
she was scolded by academy officials for
NEWS IN BRIEF
Or maybe not: State lawmakers may
delay the July 1 effective date by making
changes to the law they approved in 2002.
Some legislators say they want to address
concerns about the law, which critics say
actually could have driven prices higher
had it been in effect last year.
It’s uncertain how long revisions could
delay a cap; one proposal would put it
being a “slut.”
No charges were filed in her case.
Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker
said privacy rules, as well as the presump
tion of innocence, may have played a role in
Seawell’s continued presence at the school.
“We’d have to review the records to see
what caused this,” he said.
Seawell, meanwhile, is back in the brig
on the sodomy charge. He had been
released on probation but was jailed again
after being arrested for soliciting sex over
the Internet from an undercover officer pos
ing as a 14-year-old.
Last week, in an interview with The
Gazette of Colorado Springs from a military
prison in California, Seawell denied having
sexual intercourse with Mountjoy-Pepka,
but said they had engaged in sexual activity
on several occasions.
“I’ve never raped, maimed or intention
ally caused anyone bodily harm,” he said.
The OSI files say that Mountjoy-Pepka
visited Seawell three times after the alleged
rape, and that there was some sexual activi
ty. Legal analysts said this would have
weakened any attempt to prosecute Seawell.
Mountjoy-Pepka said Seawell, who had
a gun despite academy rules prohibiting
possession of personal weapons, had threat
ened to kill her.
The academy’s top four commanders
were replaced in April of last year after
dozens of alleged victims of sexual assaults
contacted Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., and
others in Congress. The commanders said
they had not realized the sexual assault
problem had reached such levels.
“What we are hoping for now is that the
Air Force Academy is starting to put into
place policies that are going to stop this and
support those victims who have already had
such harm done to them by him,” Stone said.
off for at least a year.
On Sunday, AAA reported the average
price for a gallon of regular unleaded
gas in Honolulu was $2.04. On the Big
Island it was $2.12 per gallon and on
Maui $2.37. The national average
reached a record $1.80 a gallon Friday,
according to the Lundberg Survey of
8,000 gas stations.
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■airie
Prairie
-05$J
larke ratchets up attack
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) — White House allies and Republicans
'estigating the Sept. 11 attacks pressed Sunday to hear open testi-
lony from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, with one com-
issioner calling her refusal a “political blunder of the first order.”
Rice said in a TV interview that she wants to meet with the ram
ies of the Sept. 11 victims because she knows they are disappoint-
rfshe cannot testify publicly.
“Nothing would be better... than to be able to testify,” Rice told
‘BS’s “60 Minutes.”
President Bush, spending a long weekend on his Texas ranch,
;ave no ground, and several aides said he will not change his mind
m letting Rice testify. But Bush sent her and other top administra-
on officials out for television interviews to rebut fresh attacks on
e way his administration has handled the threat of terrorism.
Sharpening his criticism, former counterterrorism chief Richard
iarke said President Clinton was more aggressive than Bush in try
ing to confront al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden’s organization.
Have you received a MTP or Public Intoxication?
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