Michael Phelps dodges jail in drunk driving case

Friday, December 19, 2014 | 4:19 PM    

BALTIMORE, United States (AFP) — Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps looked to the future Friday, including the Rio Olympics in 2016, after he dodged a stint in prison for drunk driving.

The most decorated Olympian of all time struck a remorseful tone when he appeared in a Baltimore courtroom where he acknowledged the DUI charge against him.

As his defence lawyer pleaded for leniency, it emerged that the 29-year-old is attending Alcoholics Anonymous sessions after completing 45 days of intensive rehab at the Meadows addiction treatment centre in Arizona.

“During my 45-day programme, I was able to find out a lot about myself that I never knew,” Phelps, in a dark suit and heavy-rimmed glasses, told Judge Nathan Braverman.

He added: “I’m looking at a much brighter future than I have had in the past.”

Phelps — still under a six-month suspension from competitive swimming — could have landed in prison for driving too fast after a few too many at Baltimore’s chic Horseshoe casino in the early hours of September 30.

But Braverman opted to heed a state prosecutor’s recommended penalty — a one-year suspended sentence, plus 18 months of supervised probation, during which Phelps must abstain totally from alcohol.

Phelps will be free to go outside the United States to train and compete, the judge said, but wherever he is he must stick firmly to his alcohol addiction treatment.

“It sounds like you know what you need to do,” Braverman told Phelps, adding that he hoped the case would in time become “a footnote to a legendary career”.

Phelps was arrested for driving under the influence once before, when he was 19, in rural Maryland. His traffic record also included a 2006 speeding rap.

Friday’s outcome clears the way for Phelps — whose 22 Olympic medals include 18 golds — to resume his return to top-notch competitive swimming.

Due to the six-month suspension imposed by USA Swimming in the days after his arrest, Phelps will not be taking part in the 2015 world swimming championships in Russia, his attorney Steven Allen told the court.

However, Phelps “is in the process of training for the upcoming Olympics” in Rio de Janeiro, said the lawyer, who gave no further details.

Police pulled over Phelps in a white Range Rover SUV after he was clocked doing 84 miles (135 kilometers) per hour in a 45 mph zone in Baltimore’s undersea Fort McHenry Tunnel.

After the arresting officer whiffed alcohol in the vehicle, Phelps underwent a breathalyzer test that found a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent — well above the Maryland legal limit of 0.08 per cent.

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Michael Phelps dodges jail in drunk driving case

Michael Allen, Jeadin White cop ICWI U-13, U-15 MVP titles

CAVALIER Soccer Club and Duhaney Park Football Club were the toast of the 2014 ICWI-sponsored KSAFA Under-13 and Under-15 football presentation at the ICWI office in New Kingston recently.

Cavalier Soccer Club defeated Santos in the Under-13 final and they received $25,000 and 20 medals, while Santos walked away with $20,000 and also 20 runners-up medals. Third-placed Real Mona received $15,000 and Allman Woodford received $10,000 for placing fourth.

Michael Allen of Cavalier SC was MVP for the Under-13 competition and he received a $25,000 grant from Paul Lalor, president and CEO of ICWI Limited.

In the Under-15 presentations, Duhaney Park, who defeated Santos in the final 1-0, received $25,000 and 20 medals. Santos walked away with another $20,000 for placing second, while Real Mona were third, receiving another $15,000.

Goalkeeper Jeadin White of Duhaney Park was the MVP for the Under-15 competition and he also received a $25,000 grant from Lalor.

Guest speaker Lalor was very pleased with the running of the competition as well as the conduct of the teams. He was also delighted with the talent he saw on display in both competitions and is looking forward to the 2015 season.

He noted that his company was very happy to be a part of the nurturing of children at this young age and that it fitted in well with their philosophy of corporate responsibility.

KSAFA President Stewart Stephenson was also pleased with the running of the competition and the overall discipline of the teams.

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Michael Allen, Jeadin White cop ICWI U-13, U-15 MVP titles

Michael J. Fox sues medical lab

Michael J. Fox is suing a medical research laboratory.

The Back to the Future star — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991 – and his eponymous foundation filed a lawsuit against New Jersey laboratory Coriell Institute for Medical Research last Friday claiming the clinic mishandled 25,000 study samples, destroying years of progress in Parkinson’s research.

The lawsuit – for breach of contract and negligence – claims the company failed to properly store samples after an employee left a freezer door open and as a result, the thawed medical specimens are now unsuitable for testing.

The not-for-profit organisation claim in the legal documents that over $3.5 million of research material was ruined, considerably setting back their five-year research project.

The 53-year-old actor – who has children Sam, 25, twins Aquinnah and Schuyler, 19, and Esme, 12, with wife Tracy Pollan – has previously claimed the neurological disorder has “enriched” his life because it made him step back and appreciate what was important.

He said: “If I didn’t have Parkinson’s then my life would have been more of the same – acting, travelling and being away from my family. My illness forced me to spend time with my family, to work on my foundation, and my life is so much richer because of it. It’s altered my reality in such a positive way.”

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Michael J. Fox sues medical lab

Michael J. Fox sues medical lab

Michael J. Fox is suing a medical research laboratory.

The Back to the Future star — who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991 – and his eponymous foundation filed a lawsuit against New Jersey laboratory Coriell Institute for Medical Research last Friday claiming the clinic mishandled 25,000 study samples, destroying years of progress in Parkinson’s research.

The lawsuit – for breach of contract and negligence – claims the company failed to properly store samples after an employee left a freezer door open and as a result, the thawed medical specimens are now unsuitable for testing.

The not-for-profit organisation claim in the legal documents that over $3.5 million of research material was ruined, considerably setting back their five-year research project.

The 53-year-old actor – who has children Sam, 25, twins Aquinnah and Schuyler, 19, and Esme, 12, with wife Tracy Pollan – has previously claimed the neurological disorder has “enriched” his life because it made him step back and appreciate what was important.

He said: “If I didn’t have Parkinson’s then my life would have been more of the same – acting, travelling and being away from my family. My illness forced me to spend time with my family, to work on my foundation, and my life is so much richer because of it. It’s altered my reality in such a positive way.”

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Michael J. Fox sues medical lab

Michael Carr hails training camp before world juniors

Head coach of Jamaica’s World Junior Athletics team, Michael Carr, is  hailing a five day camp being put on for the athletes as visionary and necessary.  

At the last two World Junior Championships, Jamaica garnered 8  medals combined, five in  2012 in Spain and three in 2010 in Canada. 

Both were seen as disappointing, with a lack of preparatory work including a camp for the athletes given as reason for the low medal counts.     

But coach Carr who was also with the team in 2012, says he requested a camp as soon as he learnt he was appointed.    

“It is something that is very important and is needed in preparation for these games because remember they are coming from all over Jamaica”, he said. “And to meet at the Games or a day before is sometimes not the best thing to do”, he said.

“It can be very challenging even for us coaches in terms of even putting the relay teams together”, the Wolmer’s High Girls’ coach stated.

With the camp also infusing unity within the team, coach Carr says as it was in the early 2000s, the camp should be made mandatory.

“The camp gives us an opportunity to know the athletes some more, (and) see what condition they are in. So if and when things happen at the Championships, we know who we can turn to, to do what”, Carr explained.

“So the camp is a wonderful thing and I think it is something that should be happening ahead of every championship meet”, he further expressed. 

The 40 member squad is being housed at Mico University in Kingston, as well as GC Foster College in St Catherine.

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Michael Carr hails training camp before world juniors

Michael Jackson: a provider 5 years after his death

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s been five years since Michael Jackson died, yet his career is more alive than it has been in decades.

Just last month, the singer moonwalked across a Las Vegas stage in a nationally televised hologram performance. A new album recently debuted at No 2 on music charts. And a travelling Cirque du Soleil show based on Jackson’s songs has logged nearly 500 performances worldwide.

The result has been an estate that has earned more than $600 million since the King of Pop’s untimely death at age 50.

Some of the earnings support Jackson’s three children and mother. Yet an analysis by The Associated Press shows much more has gone to erase the singer’s massive debts and to run the estate that powers his robust posthumous career.

As would be expected, the last five years have brought their share of change and adjustment for Jackson’s children, known to the world as Prince, 17; Paris, 16; and Blanket, 12. They were at their father’s rented mansion on June 25, 2009, when he was given an overdose of the anaesthetic propofol in his upstairs bedroom. And they were at the hospital several hours later when he was pronounced dead. It would take more than two years before Jackson’s doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

A father who taught his children philanthropy, threw them lavish birthday parties and meticulously masked them from the paparazzi is gone. Michael Jackson, however, continues to provide.

Nearly $20 million had been spent to support Jackson’s children and his mother, Katherine, through 2012. Payments to the family have increased each year since June 2009, according to court records. Adulthood will bring a sizeable inheritance for each child.

In the meantime, lawyers have busily untangled Jackson’s finances, which itself has been expensive. Among the disbursements between mid-2009 and the end of 2012:

– More than $91 million on taxes and licenses, including $45 million paid to the federal government for taxes.

– More than $25 million in compensation for the estate’s executors, Jackson’s longtime attorney John Branca and family friend and music executive John McClain. The men receive a percentage of the estate’s earnings.

– More than $17 million to lawyers who represent the estate, Katherine and her grandchildren.

– Nearly $4 million to properly store and archive the trove of personal belongings and unreleased music that Jackson amassed during his lifetime.

While Jackson craved success, his priority in later years was his children. The trio is a large part of the singer’s legacy, and the music, dance moves and business pieces he left behind assure them a comfortable, if not care-free, lifestyle.

Jackson’s children live with their grandmother in a hilltop home in the celebrity enclave of Calabasas, home to the Kardashian family, Britney Spears and many others. The estate pays for private schools and tutors, a chef, private security and family vacations, giving the Jackson children the stability their father strived to provide.

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Michael Jackson: a provider 5 years after his death