O/T stories 10/10
PUSSSYKATT
NY POST/By ERIC LENKOWITZ and KATE SHEEHY
-----------------------------
Meet Maria Bengochea - the woman who wasn't dead. For 13 months, the
46-year-old Lower East Sider's name was on the list of people missing and
confirmed dead at the World Trade Center.
Her name was even read aloud at Ground Zero during the 9/11 anniversary, along
with more than 2,800 of the dead and presumed dead.
But Bengochea was very much alive the day of the attacks, watching the horror
unfold on her father's TV set in Guatemala, where was on vacation.
It's unclear how Bengochea's name made the list or how officials discovered the
error before it was removed Monday.
An NYPD spokesman told The Post it's under investigation.
Bengochea had worked as a cleaning woman at 1 World Financial Center for 18
years.
She says she first found out she was listed among the dead on Sept. 11, 2002,
after an old friend in Florida heard her name announced during commemorative
services on TV.
Denise Muller knew Bengochea was alive, so wondered why her name was among
those read during the nationally televised ceremony.
"She was hysterical, crying," Bengochea told The Post.
Bengochea said she felt "terrible" to learn her name was read along with the
others.
"I cried and cried.
But, she added, "Maybe this means a long life for me. I'm here for a reason."
Although Bengochea did not report the snafu to local or federal agencies,
Sylvia Foster - the daughter Bengochea had evicted two months before the
attacks - was dealing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Foster had sought temporary assistance from the FEMA shortly after 9/11.
She said she went to the agency seeking relief money to cover bills - until her
mother returned from Guatemala.
"I went to tell them she had worked down there," Foster said. "My problem was
my mother is the head of the household, and she was stuck in Guatemala because
there were no planes."
She said she only asked them, "Can you help me until my mother is able to get
back?"
Foster - whose 3-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son live with Bengochea -
said she was only given "food money for Pathmark."
Four days after the attacks, Bengochea, stuck in Guatemala, became engaged to
longtime boyfriend Pablo Alvarez, but she said she couldn't get excited about
it because of the tragedy.
"I was engaged, but I couldn't be happy," she said.
She was relieved, however, that she had decided to take her vacation two months
early.
"I'm very blessed," she said. "Something told me to vacation that September" -
although she added that her "vacation was destroyed."
Bengochea said that when she finally was able to leave Guatemala for New York
on Oct. 4, she "cried the whole way."
She is still shaken over the mix-up.
"Every time I think about it, I can't sleep," she said. "[The public] thought
I'm dead. Thank God, I'm OK."
* * *
VOODOO FUROR IN BODY SNATCH
NY POST/By JAMIE SCHRAM and BRAD HUNTER
-----------------------------
A New Jersey man said yesterday he was "disgusted" with the news that his
father’s body was stolen from its crypt and used by a bizarre voodoo cult to
cast spells. Mike Perna’s father, Leonard, died in 1986 but cops say members
of the Afro-Cuban Palo Mayombe cult stole his body from its crypt in January
1999 for use in perverted religious ceremonies.
"I was furious when I found out," said Perna, 41. "But I’m happy there may be
a chance to get his body back."
Two Newark men - Eddie Figueroa, 56, a former maintenance worker with the
Newark Housing Authority, and his son, Eddie Jr., 36 - were arrested Monday
after cops discovered Perna’s bones and other human skulls and body parts in
a secret basement temple of their Central Avenue home.
The pair are being held on charges of receiving stolen property and desecrating
human remains.
Another man, Franklin Sanabria Jr., pleaded guilty May 1 to stealing Perna’s
remains so he could become a Palo high priest. Sanabria said he turned over the
remains to other cult members.
Perna believes his father’s body was targeted because cult members thought he
was a powerful mobster whose remains would make a good spell.
"He owned a bar and then became an insurance adjuster," his son said. "These
guys thought they had a mob boss."
Perna - a newspaper delivery driver - said his whole family has been deeply
traumatized by the shocking desecration.
"It’s like going through his death all over again. Dad was a kind man but
this would have made him very angry."
Cops raided the temple after receiving a tip about the rituals being held
there. Cauldrons filled with three human skulls and other bones along with
religious artifacts were removed by investigators for analysis.
Officials said there has been a rash of body thefts in the area and they worry
that Palo - an offshoot of Santeria - is spreading.
* * *
9/11 PRACTICE RUNS
NY POST/By BRIAN BLOMQUIST
------------------------------
WASHINGTON - The hijacker of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon rented
small planes in New York and Maryland three weeks before the 9/11 attacks for
practice runs, it was reported yesterday.
Hani Hanjour made flights in the area of both the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon in the previous month, law-enforcement sources told CBS News.
Investigators believe Hanjour made the trips, in rented small aircraft, to
examine landmarks and possible approach routes to the targets.
Information about Hanjour, the suspected hijacker pilot of American Airlines
Flight 77, was disclosed by what a source called a "senior detainee."
Meanwhile, the leader of a large, Chicago-based Muslim charity was charged
yesterday with funneling "terrorist blood money" to Osama bin Laden.
Enaam Arnaout, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen who has five aliases, was slapped
with seven charges, including racketeering, money laundering and supporting
terrorists.
Arnaout headed the Chicago office of the Benevolence International Foundation,
a charity that the feds charge financed bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network.
Many Muslim contributors were unaware of the bin Laden connection, officials
said.
"It's sinister to prey on good hearts to fund the works of evil," Attorney
General John Ashcroft said as the indictment was announced.
Ashcroft said documents found in the organization's offices in Bosnia provided
"chilling" evidence linking Arnaout to bin Laden.
The feds said Arnaout served bin Laden as communications director in the al
Masada mujahedeen camp in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s.
They said they've discovered a letter from bin Laden to Arnaout, as well as
documents kept by the organization that summarize a key meeting in 1988, when
al Qaeda was founded, including the oath of allegiance, or bayat.
The BIF organization was raided last December, and its assets were frozen.
* * *
DATE-RAPE DRUG COASTER FAILS TEST
NY POST
--------------------------------
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Colleges around the country are buying millions of coasters
that test for "date-rape" drugs in drinks. In tests at Michigan State, however,
the coasters failed to react to the date-rape drug known as GHB, said forensic
scientist Anne Gierlowski.
* * *
LITERAL FORTUNE IN BOOKS
NY POST
-------------------------------
The nondescript copy of Ian Fleming's second James Bond novel, "Live and Let
Die," hardly looks like it belongs in an upscale auction house, let alone sell
for tens of thousands of dollars. Until you open it.
"To Sir Winston Churchill: From whom I stole some words," reads Fleming's
inscription to the former British prime minister, scrawled in blue ink on the
inner dust jacket of the first edition.
The 1954 novel is among more than 350 inscribed first editions of 20th century
literary classics, including James Joyce's "Ulysses" and Ernest Hemingway's
"For Whom the Bell Tolls," to be sold at Christie's Manhattan auction house
Friday.
Literary experts say it's one of the most significant collections of signed
books at any auction.
"It's certainly the talk of the book world right now," said Ken Lopez,
president of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.
The books are the personal collection of Roger Rechler, a Long Island
real-estate developer who amassed the works over the last decade.
Most of the novels and poetry anthologies in the collection are highly regarded
works of literature, desirable as first editions but even more so for the
inscriptions.
* * *
Woman left to discover jar containing her baby
Lisa Adams Exclusive/UK DAILY RECORD
A WOMAN who had an abortion was stunned to find the foetus left in a jar after
a hospital blunder.
Nicola McManus made the horrific discovery when she was left in a room to
answer a phone call from her husband.
The jar was labelled with her name.
She said: "I fell apart. I couldn't believe anyone could be careless enough
just to leave it lying there. That image will live with me forever."
Mum-of-three Nicola, 27, received a a full apology from the hospital but plans
to sue North Glasgow NHS Trust, claiming the handling of the abortion left her
psychologically scarred.
She took the RU486 abortion pill, which requires no surgery and is supposed to
make terminations easier.
However, she said it no quick fix and she was offered no counselling by
Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital.
She said: "They explained the procedure and got me to sign some forms. But no
one actually sat down and asked me if this was what I really wanted to do.
"I was struggling to get my head around it. They made me feel just like a
number."
Nicola, from Lennoxtown, near Glasgow, was nine weeks pregnant when she had the
abortion in August.
She and husband Frank, 26, who is epileptic, decided a fourth child would be
too much to cope with.
Nicola's eldest son, Nathan, six, has behavioural problems and demands a large
chunk of her time, as do Aiden, four, and baby Bethany.
The abortion pill works by causing a miscarriage. Nicola lay for hours in the
ward waiting for it to take effect, then felt intense pain.
She said: "I wanted Frank to hold my hand but was told he could only stay
during visiting hours. I was in a lot of pain and felt so alone."
Then, said Nicola: "They gave me a bed pan to take to the loo and something to
cover it up. Eventually, I felt it happen. I was really upset. I've never felt
so low."
She was relieved when Frank phoned to find out how she was.
Nurses showed her in to a side room to take the call and that's when she saw
the jar containing the foetus.
She said: "I was mid-conversation and saw it. I told Frank and he tried to
comfort me but I wasn't listening any more. I was crying.
"I was clearly upset when I returned to the ward and the nurses asked what was
wrong. How could they not know?"
Nicola filed an official complaint and received an apologetic letter from the
trust which said the room was not normally used by patients.
General manager Mary McGinley wrote: "Unfortunately, the products of conception
from your termination were in a labelled jar ready to be sent to pathology and
awaiting collection.
"The ward sister apologises for the obvious distress this has caused you."
Until now, the abortion pill has only been given in hospitals but family
planning clinics and GPs were recently given the go ahead to use them.
Women may even be allowed to take the drug alone at home.
But Nicola fears a lack of medical support could leave some women traumatised.
She said: "Women need more counselling before abortions, not less.
"I will never get over what happened to me."
* * *
A spirited amen for 'Potter'
By ELLEN TUMPOSKY
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
LONDON — The "Harry Potter" books — denounced by some fundamentalists as
promoting the occult — are recommended reading for Christians in a new
booklet from an ecumenical group here.
"Transparencies," published for parish groups by Churches Together in Britain
and Ireland, a group encompassing Catholics and Protestants, encourages readers
to take a look at J.K. Rowling's books. It says the stories of the boy wizard
"ask people to look again at the selfish material world and the presence within
it of Christian values — truth, love and supremely, selfgiving and
sacrifice."
"We're encouraging Christians to read and take seriously the culture around
them and not get stuck in a Christian ghetto," says Simon Barrow, assistant
general secretary of the group. Churches Together released the booklet
yesterday, a few weeks before the release of the second Potter film, "Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."
The booklet says that at the outset of his story, when Harry is living with his
relatives the Dursleys, he is "one of the powerless and the voiceless." He "is
at the bottom of the heap, ignored, enslaved. But Harry has a destiny that is
known by others in another world."
The Potter books, which have sold more than 90 million copies worldwide, have
been attacked by evangelical Christians in Britain and America who say they
glamorize the occult. England's Canterbury Cathedral refused to let the first
movie in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" film there,
because of concern over worshipers' protests. And last year, Britain's largest
chain of toy stores refused to stock Potter toys for Christmas.
* * *
China Says Viruses Infect 80 Percent of Computers
BEIJING (Reuters) - Viruses have infected at least 80 percent of China's
computers, the official China Daily newspaper said on Thursday, highlighting
the vulnerability of one of the world's biggest PC and Internet markets.
The findings were the result of a six-week survey conducted by the National
Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, the newspaper said.
"Only 16 percent of computer users we sampled this year reported they were free
from any virus attack, while last year nearly one in three users said they
suffered no computer infections," the newspaper quoted the center's chief
engineer, Zhang Jian, as saying.
Half of the infected machines had suffered data losses, problems browsing the
Web, or other damage, the newspaper said.
Computer viruses are small programs often sent via e-mail or hidden in other
software. Once inside a computer, they can do malicious tasks like erase data
or reproduce and send copies to other machines over the Internet.
However, a recent worm called "Bugbear" -- which records keystrokes makes them
vulnerable to hacking attacks -- appeared not to have affected many systems in
China, the newspaper said.
Only a small percentage of Chinese have access to computers and the Internet,
but with a population of nearly 1.3 billion, the absolute numbers are still
huge.
China added 12 million new Internet users in the first six months of this year,
pushing its total to more than 45 million, official data show.
* * *
WEIRD BUT TRUE
Bill Hoffmann, NY POST Wire Services
--Charles Haffey has legally changed his name to "I Am Who I Am." Haffey - or,
um, Who I Am - 55, of Lake City, Fla. says he took the name from a biblical
passage in which Moses asks God who he is, and hears: "I am who I am or I will
be who I will be." "That's kind of wordy, so I'm just going for 'I Am Who I Am'
as my full legal name," he said. "My first name, of course, would be 'I Am.' "
--The guys that gave us the '50s classic "Rock Around the Clock" may be old,
but they still love sex. Bill Haley's Comets - whose members are 69 to 81 years
old - have recorded "Viagra Rock" in tribute to the staying power the
anti-impotence drug offers. While Haley died of a heart attack in 1981, his
group still performs onstage - and, apparently, in the bedroom.
--You’ve heard of crooks using getaway cars - but a getaway lawn mower?
That’s what happened when a burglar made his escape aboard a red riding lawn
mower in the town of Fairfield, Ill., carrying more than a $1,000 in jewelry,
police said. "We believe he rode the mower to the crime scene as well," said
police Sgt. Steven Sons.
--Some of the street signs in Davie County, N.C., make you think twice about
visiting. There's "Staya Way" and "Getta Way," "Keepa Way" and "Outatha Way."
People who live on those streets insist they're really friendly. "When we named
the road, we didn't even think it was odd," said Keretha Shore, who lives on
Staya Way. "We just thought it was funny."
--How do you make high-school kids behave? Make them wear embarrassing
T-shirts. That's what's happening at Rancocas Valley HS in Mount Holly, Pa.,
where students who wear inappropriate clothes must don T-shirts that say, "I
violated the dress code" and "Property of the discipline office." And it's
working, according to Ashley Smith, a 16-year-old junior, who had to wear one
of the shirts. "After you have to wear the shirt once, you're not going to
violate the dress code again. They are so ugly!" she winced.
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