Free Republic

Daughter of officer linked by letter to 1930 murder of judge says other cops had same name and he's innocentNot my father. Those are the words of Mary Burns, who is furious that the reputation of her dead father, former police officer Charles Burns, has been dragged through the mud, linked in a mysterious letter to the 1930 disappearance and death of Judge Joseph Crater. "It wasn't my father," Mary Burns, 54, said yesterday from her home in Marlton, N.J. "My father was a good guy. I feel I need to fix this." "This" is the disclosure in various media...

W NEW YORK - For the fifth straight year, it was a victory Takeru Kobayashi could truly relish. Kobayashi, 27, captured the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Monday, gobbling a nauseating 49 dogs in 12 minutes — but missing his own world record of 53 1/2, set at last year's July Fourth competition. The win means the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt will return to Japan for the ninth year out of the past 10. New Jersey's Steve Keiner, who won in 1999, is the only American to capture the title in the past decade. Kobayashi, of Nagano, stands 5...

The high-school senior who cheated death by suddenly backing out of a doomed Coney Island plane ride thanks God she's alive — but feels excruciating guilt over the pal's dad who took her place and died, a friend said yesterday. "She feels guilty. Wouldn't you?" said Brother Rene Roy, principal of the tiny Catholic school in West Virginia that stricken teen Melissa McCulley attends. Two of McCulley's best friends, Danielle Block and Jo Beth Gross, both 18, as well as Block's dad, Courtney, and the plane's pilot died in the tragic beach crash Saturday.

NEW YORK (AP) - A small plane on a sightseeing tour over Coney Island went into a tailspin and slammed into the famous beach Sunday, killing all four people aboard but injuring none of the stunned sunbathers who witnessed the crash. The victims died at the scene of the afternoon crash of the Cessna 172S, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker said. There were relatively few people on the beach at the time, and no one on the ground was hurt. Eyewitnesses said the plane was circling above the Brooklyn beach when its engine suddenly stalled, and the aircraft quickly...

For decades, talk about a revival of Coney Island was shrugged off by the area's veterans as a distortion in a fun house mirror. Such talk was about a Coney Island of the Mind that did not match the reality of a shrunken and forlorn stretch of boardwalk concession stands and down-at-the-heels amusement rides. But despite a long history of shattered dreams, there are signs that perhaps this time a rebirth is in the offing. Not only is a new stadium for the minor-league Brooklyn Cyclones drawing full houses, but the vacant lots that were the legacy of the arson-plagued...

Aiming a ball at a target to drop a clown into a tub of water is old school at the Coney Island Boardwalk. Now people eagerly shoot the Freak. The Freak, as signs and the barker say, is a live human target. Coney Island has seen a lot, from real-life crime to the Painproof Rubber Girl. But even in a place where trouble and cheap spectacle are the norm, "Shoot the Freak" has been turning heads. Up to six customers at a time can stand on the Boardwalk, a few yards from Stillwell Avenue, and aim their rifles down an...

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Cyclone, perhaps the world's best-known roller coaster, turns 75-years-old today. The Coney Island landmark first opened to thrill seekers on June 26, 1927, and still offers a 60 mph ride on 1.6 miles of track, including 12 drops. When it first opened, a ride on the Cyclone was 25 cents. These days the same ride will cost you $5 _ except for today, between noon and 5:00 p.m., when rides will sell for 75 cents to celebrate the Brooklyn coaster's silver anniversary. There will also be Ragtime music, a 1920s swimsuit contest and a...