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Getting pepper spray in Massachusetts has never been easy. New fees make it even harder. Will local legislators help make the Bay State the 'spray state?' In theory, buying a can of pepper spray isn't really all that hard. In most parts of the country, getting hold of such self-defense sprays poses little challenge for citizens of legal age with $20 in their pocket and a desire to temporarily incapacitate any shady character that comes too close. Having a relatively speedy Internet connection helps, too. By just typing the words "pepper spray" into any Internet search engine, dozens of self-defense-related...

Only in Massachusetts. Can you imagine copyrighting that? You'd make a fortune. The most recent example comes from the string of horrible attacks here in the local area: two attempted rapes and two actual rapes in three different towns, Westborough, Hopkinton and Framingham. Police are working on the assumption that it's the same man, of slender build and with a Spanish accent. And because the attacks have occurred at apartment complexes, police told me yesterday they are also aggressively pursuing the possibility that the assailant works for a local lawn care company or one of the maintenance crews that takes...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A deputy used pepper spray on a 12-year-old girl and wrestled her to the ground when she ignored repeated orders to stop jaywalking, the sheriff's office said Friday. Broward County sheriff's deputy Michael Roberto was issuing jaywalking tickets to students crossing a busy highway Thursday when he asked the girl to stand next to his motorcycle so he could give her a citation, the deputy's report said. But the girl, who was not immediately identified, became upset and began to curse, Roberto said in the report. The girl also walked away and ignored four more orders...

Tear Gas May Violate Treaties Associated Press March 02, 2003 SAN FRANCISCO - Army Maj. Gen. David Grange is proud to have ordered his troops to use tear gas on hostile Serb crowds in Bosnia six years ago. "We didn't kill anyone," said the now-retired Grange. "It saved lives." His only complaint was that red tape prevented him from using tear gas more often. The Pentagon is drafting guidelines under which American solders could use riot control agents such as tear gas and pepper spray in Iraq to control unruly prisoners and separate enemy soldiers from civilians, Defense Secretary Donald...

Attorneys for Humboldt County reject bid by activists; retrial set to begin May 12 in Eureka February 4, 2003 Anti-logging activists have offered to drop a costly federal civil rights lawsuit against Humboldt County authorities if they agree to ban use of pepper spray on protesters who refuse to voluntarily surrender for arrest. But attorneys for defendants in the case said Monday they're prepared to go ahead with retrial of the contentious case that drew national attention. During protests in 1997 at the Eureka office of former Rep. Frank Riggs, R-Windsor, and at Pacific Lumber Co. headquarters in Scotia, nine...

A massive police response to a report of a riotnear a Roslyn Heights community center left residents angry yesterday and questioning a police policy of using anti-terrorism tactics against what locals said was a peaceful gathering of people for a baby shower. Residents said the incident started with a simple verbal argument between a man and a woman as the shower ended about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. It ended amid clouds of pepper spray after about 50 police officers from four precincts, including mounted police, highway patrol officers, a helicopter and Nassau's Bureau of Special Operations, mobilized when a police sergeant...

Girls attack Muni bus driver BY RICHARD BYRNE REILLY Of The Examiner Staff Six teenage girls upset that a Muni driver ordered them off the bus at the end of the route so he could take a break wound up attacking him and spraying him in the eyes with pepper spray. "It's a weird case for sure," said Officer Larry Bertrand, one of the first cops to respond to the scene in Potrero Hill. Driver Phillip Taylor was halfway through his shift Wednesday night when he decided to take a break at the end of the bus route, which is...

Middle East - AP Teen Girls Arrested for Pepper Spray Tue Aug 27, 3:47 PM ET LONDON (AP) - Two teenage girls were arrested Tuesday after allegedly using pepper spray on a flight from Dublin to London, police said. The 16-year-old Italians — part of a 24-student school trip — were met by officers as the bmi british midland flight landed at Heathrow Airport. Five people, including passengers and crew members, were treated by an airport ambulance crew for the effects of the spray, but none required hospital treatment, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said. The two students were not believed...

PORTLAND, Oregon - Riot police used pepper spray and struck some demonstrators with batons after ordering hundreds of people to leave a protest near a hotel where President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) attended a fund-raiser. Protesters hammered on the hoods of police cars as pepper spray wafted through the air. Protesting Bush's foreign policy, they chanted "Drop Bush, Not Bombs." Bush supporters in formal attire were jostled and taunted by protesters as they arrived for a fund-raiser for the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith ( news, bio, voting record). After elbowing through the demonstrators,...

A King County deputy was shot and killed Saturday in a confrontation with a naked man on a busy arterial in the suburban Newcastle area. A suspect was arrested about an hour later. "The deputy's gun was used to shoot the deputy several times,'' Sheriff Dave Reichert said. The officer responded to a report of a naked man disturbing traffic in the 7300 block of Coal Creek Parkway, said spokesman Greg Dymerski of the King County Sheriff's Department. At one point during the struggle, Dymerski said the officer used pepper spray in an attempt to stop the suspect. The deputy...

The sole remaining lawsuit that grew out of a tree-cutting protest in downtown Eugene five years ago was settled out of court Thursday with a $30,000 city payment to three demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed by police. In the settlement, neither side admitted wrongdoing. But the city agreed to require all officers with the rank of sergeant and above to attend two training sessions on police response to nonviolent protests. The sessions are to be conducted by an outside consultant in 2003 and 2004. Spokesmen for both sides said the protest and its turbulent aftermath taught them bitter lessons but left...

    Remembering June 1stCould the pepper spraying and tree cutting happen again?By Alan PittmanFive years ago, the city of Eugene was in such a rush to start building the Broadway Place project that they roasted tree sitter Jim Flynn alive, dousing him with can after can of pepper spray while he dangled 40 feet up in a tree. Early on a Sunday morning, police in a fire truck rescue bucket cut Flynn's pants to his crotch to expose more flesh, allowing the spray to burn his genitals and anus. Officers punched Flynn in the arms and ribs over...