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Nation in brief

Dog trainer: Role in escape 'not normal for me'

By wire services
Published March 1, 2006

ATHENS, Tenn. - A dog trainer said she had always been a law-abiding citizen and can't explain why she helped a convicted murderer escape a Kansas prison in a pet crate.

"This is pretty not normal for me," a teary-eyed Toby Young said Monday in a jailhouse interview.

"My whole life, I've always done good things. I've never even had a speeding ticket - well, no, I had one speeding ticket," said Young.

Young, 47, waived extradition Monday, but a dispatcher at the county jail said she was still in custody Tuesday. He declined to say when Kansas officers were to pick her up.

Young, who helped prisoners train dogs for adoption, hid convicted murderer John Manard in a pet crate and helped him escape from the Lansing, Kan., prison Feb. 12. They were captured late Friday after a highway chase.

Young said her van wasn't searched as she helped Manard escape because the guards had every reason to trust her.

They spent two weeks living in a cabin at a lakeside resort in Alpine, about 90 miles north of Chattanooga. Young told the Daily Post-Athenian newspaper she enjoyed the two weeks with Manard but declined to say if she had a romantic relationship with him.

TREVORTON, Pa. - Flames tore through an apartment house early Tuesday in central Pennsylvania, killing five people, authorities said.

Investigators did not know what sparked the blaze in the three-story brick building, which housed 10 tenants about 35 miles north of Harrisburg.

The victims were believed to be two women, ages 19 and 86; an 11-year-old boy; and a man and woman, both 37, said Coroner James F. Kelley.

About 75 firefighters needed about five hours to contain the flames, Fire Chief Dan Schlegel said.

SAN FRANCISCO - The city has agreed to delay enforcing a voter-approved ban on owning or selling handguns until a judge can consider a National Rifle Association lawsuit challenging the law.

The ban was put to voters in November by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors. The NRA sued the day after 58 percent of the voters approved it.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said Monday the city would delay enforcement until at least June 19.

If upheld, San Francisco's measure would outlaw handgun possession by city residents and prohibit the manufacture and sales of guns and ammunition in the city.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A woman who slipped from her boyfriend's grasp and fell to her death from a 23rd-floor apartment was sitting on a ledge trying to touch her feet to a window one story below, the boyfriend told police.

Kevin P. Eckenrode told detectives Rachel M. Kozlusky asked him to help her reach the lower window, according to court papers.

"He grabbed (her) under the armpits . . . and lowered her to the window below," police Detective Donald Heffner wrote. "During this time she slipped out of his hands and fell to her death."

[Last modified March 1, 2006, 00:58:09]