NEWS:

ONE'S news summation is a regular feature. The editors welcome items on any subject that might interest, alarm or entertain the readers of this magazine. For the purposes of documentation, we require that the entire page be sent, including the name of the newspaper or publication and the date. If it's a book, give author, publisher, date.

Buried on the back pages of two Los Angeles newspapers recently were short items of vital importance to everyone old enough to be murdered by house guests. The papers gave different versions of the affair in a confusion shared by the subject of the stories. Ray M. Knisley, 26, cook and ex-Marine, testified that he shot and killed George E. Strong, senior inspector in the city attorney's office, 27 Oct. 52. Although the murder was committed in "self-defense" when the victim advanced on him as though to assault him, Knisley fled toward Phoenix and didn't decide to surrender until he had reached Las Vegas. (L.A. Daily News 17 Dec 52). This account quotes Knisley's statement that he and his victim had an argument. However the second paper places the murder after "the city employe made improper advances" (L.A. Herald Express 17 Dec 52). Although reasoning finds a slight difference between arguments and passes, Superior Judge Thomas L. Ambrose acquitted the defendant and ordered his release. Such decisions make homosexulaity a capital offense as the opinion is handed down that the victim got what was coming to him. The reader of tiny

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items on back pages is left wondering why the murderer's word is accepted as truth in only these cases, what Knisley was doing as a house guest in Los Angeles away from his wife and child in Phoenix, the relative size of the victim and the murderer, why this particular pervert took a whole weekend to make his first pass and if he didn't why the ex-Marine stayed on, if Strong made his advances with a rifle and why Knisley was so uncertain of the justice of his act as to fly the city and surrender 14 hours later several hundred miles away.

Last December also saw suits totaling $450,754 filed against Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker and seven of his officers who participated in 51's Bloody Christmas beatings. Of the seven all but two were found guilty in recent Superior Court trials. (L.A. Daily News 17 Dec 52). It is interesting to note that Charles E. Minter, currently serving a 1 to 10 year sentence for brutality, was not dismissed from the Force and only after being in the Chino State Prison two weeks decided to resign.

Other worries of the local police included the arrest of Jerry Dean Pickham for holding up 17 bars. Pickham was waiting a call to duty as policeman in Redondo Beach. (L.A. Herald-Express 25 Nov 52). In Los Angeles two officers broke into a home at 2 A.M. to serve a warrant on Jefferson Adams for non-support, and were met by deaf James Scruggs, 72, who carried a rifle. Officers

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