Josh Powell won't be buried next to sons; officers buy plots

To keep Josh Powell from being buried near the sons he killed, Crime Stoppers of Tacoma-Pierce County purchased the plots around Charles and Braden Powell's grave.

Josh Powell's family reportedly wanted him interred in the same cemetery on a hill overlooking his sons, whom he attacked with a hatchet before killing them and himself in a gas-fueled explosive fire Feb. 5. 

Det. Ed Troyer of the Pierce County sheriff's office, who is also director of the nonprofit Crime Stoppers, said he and Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor placed a down payment on the plots surrounding the boys' grave. 

"We might not be able to keep Josh Powell from being buried in the cemetery, but we can keep him away from the boys," he said in a phone interview with The Times. "Bottom line is, it's not fair for murder victims to have the murder suspect laid to rest next to them. It's hurtful to the community and dishonors the boys."

Crime Stoppers, a nonprofit that tries to help solve and prevent crimes, announced the news prominently on its website and asked for donations to help cover the cost of the plots, which is expected to be about $5,000. Troyer says he's hoping the community will step up.

The news that Josh Powell's relatives were looking at nearby plots caused a uproar among Washington authorities and the family of the boys' missing mother. An attorney for the boys' maternal grandparents said she would stop at nothing to derail the Powell family's plan.

"For him to be buried near those kids is just unthinkable," Seattle attorney Anne Bremner told the Associated Press. She represents Charles and Judith Cox of Puyallup, Wash., whose daughter is Powell's missing wife, Susan.

Adding to the outrage, of course, is that Susan Powell disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the Powells' Utah home in December 2009, and Josh Powell was the chief person of interest. He told authorities he'd taken his young sons for a camping trip to the desert in the middle of the night during a snowstorm, and when he returned, she was gone. He moved to Washington state soon after, moving in with his father, Steve Powell -- who was arrested last fall on child pornography and voyeurism charges.

Josh Powell lost custody of his sons after his father's arrest. He rented a house in nearby Graham, which he set on fire after a caseworker brought the boys over for what was to have been a supervised visit. He locked her out of the house, attacked his children with a hatchet and set the house ablaze.

Troyer said they would let the Cox family decide what to do with the plots.

"Susan Cox is still missing," he said, adding that the family can have the option to bury her next to her boys if she is found. Authorities presume she is dead, but the Utah investigation continues. 

Powell's relatives had selected a plot at Woodbine Cemetery 80 to 100 feet from the plot where Charles, 7, and Braden, 5, were interred Monday, the AP reported. More than 1,000 people attended the boys' funeral on Saturday. 

Puyallup City Manager Ralph Dannenberg told The Times on Wednesday that the sale to the Powells was on hold while Bremner pursued plans to seek a restraining order.

The city doesn't have guidelines for handling such a thorny situation, Dannenberg said.

"We are a municipal cemetery. We don't have anything in our codes or procedures about denying anyone" a plot to purchase, he said. "But with legal action pending, it's in the best interest of both parties to hold off."

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Photo: Family members hug Saturday after the funeral for Charlie and Braden Powell in Tacoma, Wash. Credit: Ravell Call / Deseret News

At Heart Attack Grill, diner's symptoms weren't fake

 

The Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas promises that its food will clog arteries, expand waistlines and lead to the loss of lovers. It offers a parody of a medical-based dining experience, with food servers called "nurses," diners called "patients" and the food itself called "prescriptions."

All told, perhaps it's small wonder that other patrons thought a man who appeared to be having a heart attack Saturday night was part of a stunt pulled by the restaurant. 

But no, the man really was in distress.

“It was no joke,” said restaurant owner Jon Basso, according to the Associated Press. Although Basso promotes himself as "Dr. Jon," employees called for real medical help instead, the AP reported. A video on YouTube showed the man being wheeled out on a stretcher by medical responders.

One server, aka "nurse," told Fox5 in Las Vegas that the man -- who reportedly had been eating a triple bypass burger -- began having chest pains, sweating and shaking. Calls to the restaurant went unanswered Wednesday.

Authorities in Las Vegas have not disclosed the man's name or condition, the AP reported, but Basso told the local Fox affiliate that the man was recovering from what was described only as a "medical episode."

News of the event was circulating Wednesday through social media venues and news sites -- but not on the Heart Attack Grill's website. It wasn't responding. 

One tweet read: "PR stunt for the Heart Attack Grill? No, he actually needs ambulance"

Another: "A customer has a heart attack at The Heart Attack Grill. The rest writes itself."

The restaurant, whose slogan is "taste worth dying for," is no stranger to criticism. It's come under fire over the years for its menu offerings. Among them is the 8,000-calorie "quadruple bypass" burger, with four half-pound patties, eight slices of cheese and a lard-doused bun. The restaurant's  "flatline fries" are not cooked in oil, but instead lard. 

The Heart Attack Grill offers free meals to people weighing more than 350 pounds. 

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Photo: The Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas. Credit: Julie Jacobson / Associated Press

Josh Powell used house to fool social workers, didn't live there

In a meeting with residents of the neighborhood where Josh Powell blew up a rented home, killing himself and his two sons, authorities said Powell never lived in the home. In fact, they said, he used it to deceive social workers. 

Pierce County sheriff's detectives told residents that the home was set up for Powell's scheduled supervised visits with his sons, reported the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. Powell had lost custody of his sons last year after police found child pornography on his father's computer; Powell was living with his father at the time.

"He set it up like a rental place, with pictures of the family," Sgt. Denny Wood said at the meeting Monday attended by about 50 people. 

In reality, the News Tribune reported, investigators believed Powell was still living with his father, Steven Powell.

Pierce County sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer told KIRO-FM: "There was no furniture. There were some kids toys, a little bit of clothing, some pictures of Susan [Powell] on the wall, and that was about it. It was very, very sparse, not like it was set up for anybody to actually live in."

Sheriff's officials didn't respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The meeting Monday was called so residents in the Graham, Wash., neighborhood could ask questions related to the investigation of the explosion in which Powell killed himself and his sons. Chaplains were available to residents who are still coping with the tragedy, the News Tribune said. 

Police have been working to piece together Powell's last days. A weekend search of a Graham recycling center turned up papers and other items Powell had dropped off. Police also were testing a blood-stained mattress they retrieved from a storage locker Powell rented. 

On Feb. 5, Powell set the home ablaze. Minutes before, a state Child Protective Services worker had dropped off the boys for what was to have been a supervised court-ordered visit. She was about to follow the children into the house when Powell blocked her entrance and locked the door.

Minutes later, the house exploded in a gasoline-fueled inferno. Police said Tuesday they believe Powell had been researching the explosive properties of gasoline, The News Tribune said. 

Investigators are still looking for the body of Powell's wife, Susan, who went missing in December 2009 in West Valley City, Utah.

Powell had been considered a person of interest in his wife's disappearance, and police believe he may have killed his sons because they were recently beginning to recall details from the night their mother disappeared. 

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Photo: An investigator collects evidence from the charred rubble of the home where Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons Feb. 5 in Graham, Wash. Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

Mormons apologize for baptizing parents of Nazi hunter Wiesenthal

Simon Wiesenthal's parents should not have been posthumously baptized, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has acknowledged. And on Monday, an official with the church apologized.

The uproar began last week when it was discovered that a member of the Mormon Church had submitted for posthumous baptism the names of Wiesenthal's parents, and that the couple, Asher and Rosa Rapp Wiesenthal, were baptized by proxy last month.

Simon Wiesenthal, who died in 2005, was a Jewish rights advocate and a survivor of the Holocaust. He spent decades hunting down Nazis and bringing them to justice. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, established in 1977, is named after him.

The Mormon Church member, who is not being identified by the Salt Lake City-based church, used a genealogical database to submit the names for proxy baptism. Such baptisms have proved controversial in the past, and the latest incident was certainly no exception.

“We are outraged that such insensitive actions continue in the Mormon Temples," the Wiesenthal  center's associate dean, Abraham Cooper, said in a statement Feb. 9. "Throughout his life, Simon Wiesenthal especially revered his beloved mother who was deported and murdered at Belzec death camp in 1942. Such actions make a mockery of the many meetings with the top leadership of the Mormon Church dating back to 1995."

In a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune on Monday, the church was quick to apologize. "We consider this a serious breach of our protocol, and we have suspended indefinitely this person’s ability to access our genealogy records," said spokesman Scott Trotter.

Over the years, the baptisms have been a particular source of contention between Jewish groups and the church. As incidents have cropped up, the church has apologized and pledged to implement safeguards to avoid similar situations.

In 1995, Mormon Church officials and Jewish groups struck an agreement to remove the names of several hundred thousand Holocaust victims from its genealogical database. In 2006, the church avoided a conflict when it removed Simon Wiesenthal's name from its genealogical records.

Then, in 2010, leaders from the church and the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, a Jewish group based in New York, came to an agreement in which the Mormon Church said it would use a new computer system to remove the names of any Holocaust victims from its database.

The church wrote at the time: "Over the years, survivors of the Holocaust have pointed out to the church that its practice of posthumous proxy baptism has unintentionally caused pain due to the inclusion of names of those who perished in the Holocaust."

Some might wonder: What exactly are posthumous baptisms? 

Members of the Mormon Church believe that people retain the right to make choices in their afterlife, including accepting a baptism. In a posthumous baptism, church members stand in for the deceased and are baptized on their behalf.

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Photo: Simon Wiesenthal in 1999. Credit: Ronald Zak / Associated Press 

Josh Powell: Recycling center search yields books, papers and map

A search of a recycling center in Washington state that Josh Powell visited the day before he killed his sons and himself has turned up some papers, books and a map of Utah, all belonging to Powell. 

Over the weekend, volunteers sifted through 10 tons of paper at the recycling plant in Graham, Wash., eventually turning up the items that belonged to Powell. Some of the books were reportedly inscribed with his wife's name.

The Pierce County sheriff's office said the items also included what officials described as Powell's "testament," the Associated Press reported. Police did not say what the so-called testament contained.

"We'll take what we have and analyze it and determine if it has evidentiary value or if it leads us to another location," Sgt. Ed Troyer told KIRO-FM on Monday.

Since last week's gasoline-fueled inferno, police have been trying to piece together Powell's activities in the days leading up to the murder-suicide, which included the trip to the recycling center.

Investigators are also testing a blood-stained mattress they found in a storage locker Powell had rented.

Investigators are still looking for the body of Susan Powell, who went missing in December 2009 in West Valley City, Utah.

Powell had been considered a person of interest in his wife's disappearance, and police believed he may have killed his sons because they were recently beginning to recall details from the night their mother disappeared. 

On Saturday, more than 1,000 people turned out for a public funeral for Charles, 7, and Braden, 5, the two young brothers killed last week by their father. They were remembered as "clever" and "curious" boys.

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Photo: Josh Powell at a September 2011 custody hearing. Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

Funeral for Powell boys draws 1,000-plus in Tacoma, Wash.

At a Saturday memorial service attended by more than 1,000 people, family and teachers remembered Charlie and Braden Powell, the two young brothers killed last week by their father, as "clever" and "curious" boys.

At the public funeral, their grandfather, Chuck Cox, thanked people for praying for them, saying "it helps us to know that there are good people in the world," the Associated Press reported.

The boys' remains were placed in a single coffin adorned with flowers. The service at the Life Center Church in Tacoma, about 20 miles north of where the boys were killed, drew people from as far away as Utah, where the boys once lived.

The boys died in a gasoline-fueled fire set by their father, Josh Powell, when they went to visit him last Sunday at his home in Graham, Wash.

Powell was a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell, in December 2009.

Many of the boys' teachers shared memories during the memorial service.

The Salt Lake Tribune, which was covering the event live, said Charlie's kindergarten teacher told those at the service that the boy "was an amazing young man. He had an appreciation of nature I had never seen in someone so young," she said.

Many remembered the 7-year-old as a child fascinated with science and insects, often trying to sneak worms or caterpillars into the classroom. Charlie was about to get glasses and loved to write, dreaming up plans to market his book, according the Associated Press.

"He is safe in his mother's arms," said Tammy Ougheon, Charlie's kindergarten teacher in Utah, the wire service quoted her as saying.

The younger brother, Braden, was also remembered fondly by his teachers, who said he enjoyed playing with cars and trains.

The 5-year-old had "a sharp mind and big imagination" and was a "budding puzzle master ... with contagious, joyful energy."

"His little spirit lives on in the hearts of all who knew him," said Kristie King, an instructor at a YMCA that Braden attended.

The family will have a private interment Monday.

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Photo: Chuck Cox reaches out to touch the casket holding his grandsons, Charlie and Braden, as he walks with his wife, Judy, during a funeral service Saturday in Tacoma, Wash. Credit: Ted S. Warren / Associated Press

 

Josh Powell: 911 dispatcher admits to being 'clumsy,' 'faltering'

The 911 dispatcher who took a social worker's first phone call before Josh Powell killed his two boys himself told NBC's "Dateline" that he was "clumsy" and that he wishes he had recognized the urgency of the situation.

In the days after Powell killed his two young boys and himself in a fiery explosion, public outcry has condemned how social services, family courts and emergency responders handled the long-troubled Powell family saga.

But much ire has been directed at the 911 dispatcher . At first he did not seem to take seriously the initial phone call by the social worker, who said Powell locked her out of his home when she arrived with the boys for a supervised visit. 

In an interview that aired Friday night, the dispatcher said, "I just wish that I had understood better what the circumstances were and the lethal quality of this call and all the dangerous potential that was there."

Elizabeth Griffin-Hall, the social worker, became increasingly frustrated as the phone call went on, with the dispatcher asking her what color car she was driving, how to spell Powell's last name and his date of birth.

In his first interview, the dispatcher said he missed cues about the emergency in the call by Griffin-Hall.

"As I re-listen to the call I recognize now that I missed, for example, the fact that she said that she smelled gas. Now I heard her say that, but she... immediately followed that comment with 'I want to move my car out of the driveway.' Well, sitting in an idling vehicle, you would smell gas, so I didn't give it the significance that it deserved. I should have asked her more about that."

The dispatcher also said that despite his second-guessing, he believes that a quicker response time would not have helped much.

"What if we had gotten deputies there two minutes later," he said. "They would not have immediately kicked the door and rushed in. They would have staged and cordoned off the area and treated it like a hostage situation."

When asked by Morrison what his response was when he later learned that Powell blew up the home with the boy inside, he said:

"It was horrible... especially for someone who has done this as long as I have and to re-listen to the call and to hear how clumsy and faltering I sounded and laboring with what turned out to be a horrible situation but that I didn't recognize as such."

The story of the Powell family began the night of Dec. 7, 2009, when Josh Powell, living with his wife in Utah, packed his two boys into the car in the middle of the night -- in the midst of a heavy snowstorm -- purportedly to take them camping. His wife, Susan Powell, has not been seen since.

He initially told authorities that his wife may have decided to disappear, or perhaps committed suicide.

Josh Powell, who was described by Griffin-Hall, the social worker, as "really, really evil," initially had custody of his boys and moved with them to his father's house in Washington state not long after his wife's disappearance.

But in September, police executing a search there allegedly discovered thousands of pornographic pictures and videos -- including furtively taken shots of neighbor children in various states of undress -- on a computer belonging to Powell's father, Steven.

On Saturday, a funeral was held for Charles, 7, and Braden Powell, 5, in Tacoma, Wash., where hundreds turned out.

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Photo: An investigator collects evidence this week from the charred rubble of the home where Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons Sunday, in Graham, Wash. Credit: Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Gay marriage foes vow to take Washington measure to voters

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to announce Thursday when she will sign a measure to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. Meantime, foes of the concept were making plans to try to overturn it at the ballot box. 

The state House passed the bill Wednesday, 55 to 43, and the state Senate passed it last week, 28 to 21.

Gregoire, who has made no secret of her support for the legislation, is expected to sign it sometime next week. She watched the House vote from the wings with the bill's sponsor, Sen. Ed Murray, the Associated Press reported. 

In a statement afterward, the governor called the vote "a major step toward completing a long and important journey to end discrimination based on sexual orientation."

Two Republicans crossed party lines to support the bill.

One of them, Rep. Maureen Walsh, said during debate: "Someone made the comment that this is not about equality. Well, yes it is about equality.

"My daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago. I thought I would agonize about that," the Seattle Times quoted Walsh as saying. "But nothing is different. She's still a fabulous human being and she's met a person that she loves very much and someday, by God, I want to throw a wedding for that kid. I hope that's what I can do." 

Three Democrats voted against the legislation, which will make the state the seventh to permit same-sex marriage. It is already legal in six states -- New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont -- and the District of Columbia.

But even before the Legislature had voted, opponents were making plans to overturn the measure at the ballot box. They have until June 6 to submit at least 120,577 signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot. If they succeed, the law would not take effect pending results of the vote. A simple majority would decide whether to retain the law, the Seattle Times reported.

If foes fail to gather enough signatures, same-sex couples could begin to wed in June. 

Stephen Pidgeon, a lawyer from Everett, Wash., is one of the leaders of the opposition. He reportedly is planning a parallel effort to define marriage as between a man and a woman, which would need to gather about double the number of signatures -- 241,153 -- by July 6 to put it on the ballot. The other potential ballot measure would repeal a law, which requires fewer signatures.

"We have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm about the initiative," Pidgeon told Reuters last week. "People are gearing up, and we're going to move ahead strongly, and I believe quickly. We already have hundreds of churches that have already pledged thousands of signatures."

The National Organization for Marriage was also expected to join the effort to overturn the measure. On its website Wednesday night, the group posted a news alert: 

"BREAKING NEWS: WA State House Passes SSM 55-43. Get Ready for a Referendum" 

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Photo: Gov. Chris Gregoire, left, embraces state Rep. Jamie Pedersen after the House voted to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state Wednesday. Gregoire is expected to sign the bill next week. Credit: Elaine Thompson / Associated Press

Gay marriage: Prop. 8 ruling cheered, but U.S. impact not clear

The appeals court ruling that struck down California's Proposition 8 was being hailed Wednesday as a victory not only for gays and lesbians in this state, but for those in other states as well, with some activists saying it could fuel the fight for same-sex marriages.

"The outcome certainly helps buoy efforts all over the country," said Brian Moulton, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. 

The voter-approved Proposition 8 limited marriage to the union of one man and one woman, and Moulton said that the decision by a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to strike it down was a "big victor, but one that’s part of a larger set of big steps" to come.  

Other gay and lesbian activists, however, said the decision was so narrowly worded that any momentum would be largely symbolic.

Statehouses in New Jersey, Maryland and Washington are working on legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry. Meanwhile, both supporters and opponents of same-sex unions are appealing directly to voters. Referendums in Minnesota and North Carolina would limit the definition of marriage to the union of one man and one woman, and a measure being considered for the Maine ballot would broaden the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

Washington is the closest to approving gay marriage -- both houses of the Legislature have passed such a measure -- and the governor has indicated that she will sign the bill when it lands on her desk. In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has vowed to veto any legislation should it reach his office. And in Maryland, the issue is being debated in committees. 

In Minnesota, where the issue of gay marriage is set to come before voters in November, gay and lesbian activists heralded the Proposition 8 news as a positive development, even though the ruling only affects California. 

"It affirms what Minnesotans already know," said Gia Vitali, a spokeswoman for Minnesotans United for All Families. "There’s no reason for government to restrict the freedom to marry."

The Minnesota group is made up of several gay rights groups hoping to defeat the referendum passed last year by the state Legislature. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, issued a symbolic veto of the referendum last summer and said he believed the referendum defining marriage as between a man and woman would be defeated.

The ruling, while welcomed, will have little effect in North Carolina, gay rights groups there said.

In May, North Carolina voters will decide whether to amend their constitution to outlaw civil unions and domestic partnerships, said Stuart Campbell, executive director of Equality North Carolina. His group cheered the news out of California, but didn't expect much of a ripple effect.

"It doesn’t have any impact on us," Campbell said. "It’s encouraging… but it has no practical effect on our state."

In Maine, gay marriage groups are hoping to legalize same-sex marriage through an upcoming fall ballot. Three years ago, legislators there passed a bill to legalize gay marriage , which the governor signed, but in November 2009 voters reversed that effort via referendum, 53% to 47%.

Equality Maine has submitted signatures to place the matter on the ballot. They believe that based on evolving public opinion, the strategy may pay off. 

Same-sex marriage is legal in six states -- New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont -- and the District of Columbia.

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Photo: Ellen Pontac, of Davis, Calif., celebrates in Sacramento with her partner, Shelly Bailes, after a federal appeals court struck down California's Proposition 8 on Tuesday. Credit: Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee

Arizona high court: Limited-English candidate won't be on ballot

Alejandrina Cabrera, a candidate with limited English skills, will not be on the upcoming City Council ballot in San Luis, Ariz., the state's Supreme Court decided Tuesday.

Cabrera, who was born in Yuma, Ariz., but raised in Mexico, had spent 10 years working as a political activist in San Luis, an agricultural border town of 25,000, and decided to run as a City Council candidate there.

But Mayor Juan Carlos Escamilla filed a lawsuit in December challenging Cabrera's fluency in English.

In a case that involved the testimony of an Australian linguist from Brigham Young University, Yuma County Superior Court Judge John Nelson ruled that Cabrera's grasp of English was not strong enough for her to hold public office.

Cabrera and her lawyers argued that she knew enough English to represent San Luis residents. Almost 99% of the town's residents are Latino, and Spanish is spoken virtually everywhere. 

The Arizona Supreme Court took up the case over the weekend. The court didn't hear oral arguments,  but instead based its decision on briefs submitted late last week. The initial deadline to print San Luis' ballots passed last week but was extended through Tuesday to await the court's  ruling. 

Many said the legal challenge to Cabrera's candidacy was motivated by the town's fierce political infighting. Cabrera has twice filed unsuccessful recall petitions against Escamilla. 

Another candidate, Juan Castillo, who is backed by Cabrera supporters, has already declared his intent to replace Cabrera on the ballot.

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Photo: Alejandrina Cabrera speaks with reporters in San Luis, Ariz., after her attorneys filed their appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court. Credit: Ricardo Lopez / Los Angeles Times