Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 26, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A5 winnipegfreepress. com WORLD WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2015 A 5 Metric Ingredients Imperial - hot oil for deep frying - 2 eggs, beaten 2 125 ml sugar 1/ 2 cup 5 ml cinnamon 1 tsp 2 ml nutmeg 1/ 2 tsp 500 ml applesauce 2 cup 250 ml corn kernels 1 cup 50 ml wheat germ 1/ 4 cup 2 ml baking powder 1/ 2 tsp 500 ml biscuit mix 2 cup - powdered sugar - APPLE CORN FRITTERS Directions In a large saucepan; preheat 2 to 3 inches of oil to 375 F ( 190 C). In a medium bowl; mix eggs, sugar, spices, applesauce and corn. Stir in wheat germ, followed by baking powder and biscuit mix. Mix just until blended; do not overmix. For each fritter, drop 1/ 4 cup ( 50 ml) batter into hot oil. Cook about 4 minutes, turn and continue cooking an additional 4 minutes. Sprinkle warm fritters with powdered sugar. Servings: 10 L AFAYETTE, La. - John Russell Houser was deeply troubled long before he shot 11 people in a movie theatre in Louisiana, but decades of mental problems didn't keep him from buying the handgun he used. Despite obvious and public signs of mental illness - most importantly, a Georgia judge's order committing him to mental- health treatment against his will as a danger to himself and others in 2008 - Houser was able to walk into an Alabama pawn shop six years later and buy a .40- calibre handgun. It was the same weapon Houser used to kill two people and wound nine others before killing himself at a Thursday showing of Trainwreck . Three people remained hospitalized Saturday. Court records reviewed by The Associated Press strongly suggest Houser should have been reported to the state and federal databases used to keep people with serious mental illnesses from buying firearms, legal experts said. " It sure does seem like something failed," said Judge Susan Tate, who presides over a probate court in Athens, Ga., and has studied issues relating to weapons and the mentally ill. " I have no idea how he was able to get a firearm." Houser never should have been able to buy a gun, said Sheriff Heath Taylor in Russell County, Alabama, whose office denied him a concealed- weapons permit in 2006 based on arson and domestic- violence allegations, even though the victims declined to pursue charges. Houser racked up plenty of complaints, but no evidence has surfaced of any criminal conviction that would have kept him from passing the background check required for many gun purchases. Federal law does generally prohibit the purchase or possession of a firearm by anyone who has ever been involuntarily committed for mental- health treatment. That's what happened to Houser in 2008 after his family accused him of threatening behaviour, warning authorities he had a history of bipolar disorder and was making ominous statements. His wife removed his guns and together, the family persuaded a judge to issue a protective order keeping him away once he left the hospital. At that point, court officials should have reported Houser's involuntary mental commitment to the Georgia database that feeds the FBI's background- check system, which provides for a delay of up to three days when records suggest a buyer may be ineligible. Questions about gaps in the system also arose after James Holmes bought firearms to kill 12 people and wound 58 others in a Denver suburb three years ago, and after Dylann Storm Roof allegedly used a gun he bought this year to murder nine churchgoers in Charleston, S. C. But while both young men showed signs of trouble, neither had criminal convictions, nor were they hospitalized against their will. Roof had admitted to illegal drug possession in a pending criminal case, however, which under federal rules would have been enough to disqualify him from a gun purchase even though he wasn't convicted. But the FBI background- check examiner never saw Roof's arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state records, and the three- day hold timed out without a clear answer, so the gun dealer used his discretion to complete the sale. When Houser tried to buy his gun on Feb. 26, 2014, the system only briefly delayed his purchase, according to a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The seller was advised the following day that the sale could proceed. It was Carroll County Probate Judge Betty Cason who authorized authorities to detain Houser in 2008, according to court records. Her court also issued the order involuntarily committing Houser to the West Central Regional Hospital in Columbus, according to legal filings from an attorney representing Houser's wife and other family members. Judge Tate, who was not involved in Houser's case, said an involuntarily commitment order normally prompts a judge to file a report with the Georgia Crime Information Center, which keeps about 5,000 records on people who cannot buy guns because they have been judged insane, involuntarily hospitalized or legally depend on someone else to manage their affairs. Those state records feed the FBI's database. It was not clear Saturday whether Cason filed such a report. She did not return a phone message seeking comment. Like many states, Georgia has a highly decentralized court system, spread over 159 counties. Experts have long worried probate judges are not reporting every mental- health commitment. The former director of Georgia's criminal records database, Terry Gibbons, wrote in a 2013 email obtained by the AP " some courts are reluctant to report mental- health records due to perceived privacy/ HIPPA concerns." Gibbons has since retired and could not be reached for comment Saturday. " I suspect there may be some courts where the reporting is not done because they are just having trouble keeping up with the day- to- day work of people coming into their offices needing their help," Tate said. A month after Houser bought the gun last year, the family that bought his foreclosed home filed suit to evict him. By May 2014, a judge ordered him out. Houser finally left, but only after tampering with the gas lines, throwing paint and pouring concrete in the plumbing, among other vandalism, the sheriff said. But no charges were filed. This March, Kellie Houser finally filed for divorce, saying their relationship was irretrievably broken and his whereabouts were unknown. He called her the next week, threatening her again, she wrote in a court document. Then, she got a call from Houser's mother, saying he had threatened to kill himself outside his mother's retirement community if she didn't give him money. She wrote that she urged the mother to seek to have him hospitalized again. Instead, police said, the woman gave her son US$ 5,000. Houser kept writing on right- wing extremist message boards after leaving Alabama. He praised Adolf Hitler and advised people not to underestimate " the power of the lone wolf," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the hate- group watchdog that tracked Houser since 2005, when he registered to meet with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Outside the theatre, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Friday " now is not the time" to discuss gun control, a position backed Saturday by rock musician and gun enthusiast Ted Nugent, who was in Lafayette for a sportsmen's exposition and came by to lay some flowers. Asked whether Houser should have been allowed to purchase a gun, Nugent said " I think it's inappropriate to even approach that subject. I think it's all about prayers for the victims and the families." - The Associated Press TULSA, Okla. - An Oklahoma 16- year- old will be charged as an adult alongside his older brother in the stabbing deaths of his parents and three siblings, authorities said Saturday. The suspect will face the same counts as his 18- year- old brother, Robert Bever, who is accused in a booking document of five counts of first- degree murder and a count of aggravated assault in the Wednesday- night attack. Police have not released the 16- yearold's name, but Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler confirmed Saturday both siblings have been booked on first- degree murder complaints. It wasn't immediately clear in jail records when either sibling is due in court. Trial as an adult means the 16- yearold could get a maximum sentence of life in prison or life in prison without parole if he's convicted of first- degree murder, Kunzweiler said. While the death penalty is legal in Oklahoma, the U. S. Supreme Court in 2005 banned the execution of anyone under the age of 18 at the time a crime was committed. The brothers are accused of fatally stabbing their parents, two brothers and a sister. An unidentified 13- yearold sister was in serious but stable condition in a hospital, and an unnamed two- year- old sister wasn't harmed and was placed in state custody. Detectives continued to search for a motive, scouring social- media sites believed to belong to Robert Bever in hopes of finding clues. Cpl. Leon Calhoun, a spokesman for the department, said both siblings were co- operating with investigators. - The Associated Press Troubled shooter able to get gun Bought weapon despite plain illness By Ray Henry, Jay Reeves and Rebecca Santana Adult charge for teen in slayings By Justin Juozapavicius BRYNN ANDERSON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jill Broussard ( left) hugs Renee Roberts Saturday during a memorial for the victims of a deadly shooting at a movie theatre in Lafayette, La. TULSA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE Robert Bever: same charges as brother ATLANTA - A massive mountainside carving outside of Atlanta is once again stirring controversy, as Georgia officials try to decide what, if anything, to do about the sculpture that memorializes three of the South's Civil War heroes but causes offence to blacks and others. The Stone Mountain carving of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas ( Stonewall) Jackson is the largest high relief sculpture in the world. Controversial since its 1970 unveiling, the sculpture has drawn renewed scrutiny since last month's fatal shooting of nine black worshippers at a church in South Carolina. The white man charged in the slayings, Dylann Storm Roof, had posed with the Confederate battle flag in photos posted online before the attack. Authorities say he was motivated by racial hatred. The Atlanta National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called this month for the carving's removal. Atlanta's city council urged Gov. Nathan Deal to study additions of famous Georgians such as Martin Luther King Jr. That would require action from Georgia's General Assembly. Members don't return to the Capitol until January. Change seems unlikely. Deal and state lawmakers from both parties have declined to say much on the subject. " The idea that somehow you're going to erase history is ludicrous," Stan Deaton, a senior historian with the Georgia Historical Society said. " There are no monuments to the Third Reich, but I'm pretty sure there are books falling off the shelves about Hitler, the Second World War and Nazis." State Rep. Dar'shun Kendrick, a 32- year- old black Democrat, said she doesn't want to take time away from other issues to debate the monument. - The Associated Press Huge Civil War carving's fate mulled A_ 05_ Jul- 26- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A5 7/ 25/ 15 10: 30: 12 PM ;