Free Republic

Representative Keith Ellison (a Muslim Democrat from Minnesota) has been assigned to a Congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism. That would be like assigning me to head a task force for universal suffrage. That wouldn't be a wise appointment. Now some groups are calling for Chairman Joe Kaufman (a Democrat from Florida) to remove Ellison ... and perhaps with good reason. It's ironic that a man with direct contact with radical Muslim organizations would be placed on a task force on anti-Semitism. Ellison has ties to both the Muslim American Society and our favorite Council on American-Islamic Relations ... both of...

IT equipment is thought to be as harmful as the airline industry Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the production, operation and disposal of computers is to be the aim of a new government taskforce. Computers and other IT equipment have been blamed for causing as much global warming as the airline industry. The taskforce will oversee the piloting of a "green PC" service in which individual machines use 98% less energy than standard PCs. IT equipment is thought to generate 35m tonnes of harmful CO2 gas each year.

LONDON (Reuters) - Interpol said on Wednesday it was launching a special task force to tackle a growing problem of pedophiles using fake "modeling" sites on the Internet to gain access to children. The sites do not contain sexually graphic images, but serve as a front, enabling pedophiles to contact the site owners and gain physical access to the so-called child models, or to buy images of the children being abused. "This trend requires the urgent attention of law enforcement, but the significant investigative resources required are simply not available in most national police forces, which is why Interpol is...

Task Force Grizzly soldiers prepare for a night operation in Pashmul, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, in mid September. Operation Medusa, which lasted approximately 20 days, was a successfully operations that effectively pushed enemy insurgents from this region of the country. Army photo by Sgt. Mayra Kennedy Task Force Grizzly Soldiers Eliminate Insurgents Operation Medusa which lasted approximately 20 days, was a successful operation that effectively pushed enemy insurgents from this region of Afghanistan. By U.S. Army Sgt. Mayra Kennedy 345th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment PANJWAYI, Afghanistan, Oct. 10, 2006 -- A small number of soldiers from the 207th Infantry Brigade...

The LA County Gun Task Force has served another search warrant on the home of another member of the fifty caliber community. On Monday September 18th, eighteen police cars swarmed the neighborhood where the FCSA member lives and served a search warrant signed by Judge Steven Kleifield of the LA County Superior Court. The officers were at the residence for several hours and confiscated all semi-automatic firearms belonging to the victim. The probable cause for issuing the search warrant was not available in the body of the affidavit so the reason for the search is unknown at this time. It...

Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia of San Diego announced Friday the members of a newly-formed task force on illegal immigration. The all-Republican group will hold town hall meetings across the state in the coming months to determine the costs illegal immigrants impose on local communities and the state, Plescia said in a news release. It will hear testimony from law enforcement, elected officials, business owners and the public. The information it gathers may be used to write legislation to address the issue, according to the release. The panel includes Assembly members Shirley Horton, R-Chula Vista; Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine; Audra Strickland,...

The University of California's procedures for reporting executive pay are "wholly unacceptable" and must be overhauled, a task force said Thursday. More financial oversight and public accountability is needed after reports showed UC gave executives millions in bonuses and other perks while student fees were raised to offset funding cutbacks, according to findings presented to UC's governing Board of Regents. The report pointed to a university culture of secrecy, further complicated by vague policies and lack of oversight. The report blamed President Robert C. Dynes and other leaders for failing repeatedly to fully disclose executive packages to regents and said...

TAJI, Iraq – Task Force Baghdad Soldiers captured a terror suspect and seized bomb making materials from his home during a cordon and search operation conducted in a Taji neighborhood on the evening of Sept. 20. The Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment Soldiers, also seized 20 flares, four rocket-propelled grenades, and additional evidence indicating the suspect had been building bombs. The Soldiers took the suspected terrorist into custody for questioning.

CAMP STRYKER, Iraq – Task Force Baghdad Soldiers uncovered a large weapons cache in the outskirts of western Baghdad while conducting a morning patrol on Sept. 24. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team, have been successful in finding weapons caches within their area of operations. In less than a month they have found six weapons caches of significant size, two of which were extremely large. Capt. James H. Alexander, Jr., an operations officer with 2nd Bn, 130 Inf. Regt., attributes this success to the troops on the ground. “I’m very impressed with these Soldiers, they...

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 15, 2005 – The Crescent City will be dry long before originally thought, the commander of Task Force Unwatering said here Sept. 14. "All I'm thinking about is water," said Army Col. Duane Gapinski, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers task force that is draining the floodwaters from New Orleans. The corps has made incredible progress, officials said. Since Hurricane Katrina flooded the city Aug. 30, engineers and workers have been feverishly damming up breached levees, strengthening canal walls and getting huge pumps on line. The results are plain to see. "Right now in the metropolitan...

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss., Sept. 6, 2005 – A private airport here has been converted into a forward operating base from which more than 1,500 soldiers and airmen from the Alabama National Guard are supporting disaster-relief operations for Jackson, George and Greene counties in Mississippi as part of Task Force Alabama. "We are providing humanitarian assistance, zone recons, and we're providing a presence," the task force's chief of staff, Army National Guard Lt. Col. Nicky Medley, said. Like many storm victims, task force soldiers are living in austere conditions. Most soldiers are sleeping outdoors, a few in vehicles. Some soldiers also...

BAGHDAD – Tips from Iraqi citizens led to the discovery by U.S. Soldiers of a weapons cache Aug. 23. Soldiers of D Company, 172nd Infantry Regiment, Task Force 1-118th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade heard small-arms fire near their position while conducting security operations north of Baghdad. The Soldiers moved toward the sound of the gunfire but found a deserted fighting position that contained two mortar rounds, 12 mortar fuses, and a 155-millimeter artillery shell. While the Soldiers searched the area, Iraqi civilians approached and said they knew where to find more weapons. The men of D Co. found two 203-millimeter...

The scenes of the Hurricane Katrina disaster are beyond horrific. As they play across our television screens, they look more like the pictures of last December's Southwest Asia tsunami than anything we've ever seen in America. No one can even collect the dead, because an increasingly desperate search for the living goes on into the night. As the Red Cross and FEMA organize disaster relief, and as Americans reach into their hearts and their pockets to donate to help fellow Americans, there is another part of America working hard. There is one thing the tsunami and Katrina have in common:...

During the election process, Iraqi police will provide security at the polling sites; Iraqi army troops will provide additional security in the vicinity. By U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel W. Bailey 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment FORWARD OPERATING BASE NORMANDY, Iraq, Aug. 31, 2005 — To ensure Iraqis in the Diyala Province are confident they can vote safely for the upcoming constitutional referendum and in the December national elections, Task Force Liberty soldiers are keeping a close eye on the polling stations to make sure everything runs smoothly. With the start of voter registration, U.S. soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 34th Armored...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2005 – Multinational forces from Task Force Freedom detained 17 suspected terrorists in Iraq on Aug. 28, U.S. military officials reported today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons from a vehicle during separate operations in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon-and-search operation in northern Mosul. Soldiers from the same unit seized another weapons cache in western Mosul consisting of a one 60 mm mortar, several rifles including AK-47s assault rifled, rocket-propelled grenade launchers,...

U.S. soldiers bring toys -- and smiles -- to the young patients during a visit to the Baghdad hospital. CAMP TIGERLAND, Iraq, Aug. 15, 2005 — Task Force Baghdad soldiers spent part of the day July 31 bringing smiles to a Baghdad children’s hospital during a humanitarian aid mission. U.S. Army Command Sgt. Major James Mays, from Pineville, La., senior enlisted noncommissioned officer of the 256th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division; and Lt. Col. (Dr.) Joseph Dore, from Charlotte, N.C., brigade surgeon, hosted the mission at the General Children’s Hospital in Baghdad, bearing toys and stuffed animals for young...

HADITHA, Iraq (Aug. 10, 2005) -- Insurgents in the Haditha region of the Al Anbar province were met by a group of unfamiliar faces Aug. 5 when the Marines of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment arrived in support of Operation Quick Strike. The Marines traveled about 100 miles southeast of their area of operation in Al Qa’im overnight to help 3rd Bn., 25th Marines, clear the towns of Haqliniyah, Bani Dahri and Barwanah just south of the city of Haditha. The task force conducting Quick Strike included many different units task organized for the mission. Each unit, including those from...

As U.S. soldiers were investigating a tip about a terrorist associated with a recent attack which killed one U.S. soldier and 24 Iraqi children, a car bomb detonated. BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 9, 2005 — A terrorist failed to cause significant U.S. casualties or damage in a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack Aug. 6 in east Baghdad. Two U.S. soldiers and one Iraqi civilian sustained minor wounds from the attack. The vehicle, described by soldiers on the scene as a Volkswagen van, approached the halted convoy of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division around 9:30...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday created a task force charged with improving the economy and quality of life in California's San Joaquin Valley, a quickly developing region beleaguered by high unemployment, suburban sprawl and some of the nation's dirtiest air. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley establishes a 26-member panel that includes government representatives and those from the private sector. "I want to make this task force a model for how state governments can work together more effectively with local governments and the regional economy," the governor said. "The valley is home to the...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the co-chairman of a congressional task force to examine United Nations reform, said Friday he was impressed with U.N. officials' apparent desire to fix the world body. Gingrich, a Republican, said U.N. officials recognized that the opportunity was right after years of promises that had brought no significant change. "There was no argument today about the fact that there are systems that just don't work, there are patterns that just aren't acceptable," Gingrich told reporters during a visit to the United Nations. He was accompanied by fellow co-chair George Mitchell, a...

-OPERATION FALCON- (Or Operation Horsefeathers ?) A massive roundup of fugitives has been carried on over the past few days, on a nationwide scale.Newscasters tell us - breathlessly-10,000 fugitives have been "taken off the streets" !! Really ? Such fugitive roundups are nothing new. I was involved in them (peripherally) once or twice a year for at least 5 years before I retired.They work like this: Every police department in the nation has a backlog of fugitive warrants. Most are for failure to appear minor offenses,but a hefty percentage involve non-appearance on more serious matters. Periodically, the US Marshal's Service...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A task force has found that public trust in Washington state's election system was damaged by last year's tight gubernatorial race that took two months to resolve, and it recommended a package of reforms. The task force, created by Gov. Christine Gregoire in the wake of her razor-thin victory, recommended moving the primary date to earlier in the year, requiring voter identification at the polls, and color-coding provisional ballots so they won't be counted before voters' registration is confirmed. In a 23-page report obtained by The Associated Press, the task force declared that imperfections and mistakes in...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pentagon task force investigating certain defense contracts won by Boeing Co. has concluded that there were some anomalies but will not call for a criminal investigation.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2004 — Three Marine Corps disaster relief assessment teams are on the ground or about to arrive in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and at least two P-3 aircraft are conducting initial reconnaissance of damaged areas as a wide range of other Defense Department assets works its way to tsunami-stricken regions of the Indian Ocean. U.S. Pacific Command has marshaled assets ranging from carrier strike groups to water purification ships to aircraft to provide emergency support for victims following the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the...

A City Hall investigation that could bring censure hearings against besieged San Jose Councilman Terry Gregory gathered steam Friday when a task force issued subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify about allegations of Gregory soliciting gifts from businessmen. The city council's ethics task force, charged with examining accusations that Gregory sought and received gifts and pressured companies to give contributions to a special events fund, voted to issue subpoenas to: • Dennis Fong, majority owner of the Tropicana Shopping Center. In May, a Mercury News editorial reported that Fong gave Gregory a free case of wine, valued at about $1,400....

Vote this Tuesday. We need President George W Bush. Please vote this Tuesday. To All Northern Arizona University students, if you are interested in helping out the President this is your LAST chance.The NAU College Republicans have kicked off their 72 hours task force !We need people to phone bank, precinct walking, work on Pro-Bush rallies and on Tuesday we need poll watchers. Stop by the GOP Headquarters (across from City Hall in the Enterprise Rent a Car parking lot) If you have ANY time at all, please visit our website for details how you can help RIGHT NOW: http://www.naurepublicans.com...

local6.com Statewide Task Force Created To Investigate Voter Fraud Complaints POSTED: 10:25 PM EDT October 21, 2004 UPDATED: 12:00 AM EDT October 22, 2004 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has set up a statewide task force to investigate voter fraud complaints, saying problems are popping up in so many places it doesn't make sense to investigate them separately. The department has received complaints about voter registration or absentee ballot issues in Bay, Leon, Orange, Alachua, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and also plans to work with investigators in Duval County who are already looking into fraud allegations...

WASHINGTON — U.S. military planners have assembled a special task force charged with finding and neutralizing Jordanian terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (search), U.S. officials told FOX News. Known as Task Force 626, the operation is assembled along the same lines as that of Task Force 121 (search), which searched months before capturing Saddam Hussein and is still hunting Usama bin Laden.

Readers of Tom Clancy are probably familiar with his book, Rainbow Six, which focuses on the work of an elite team of terror fighting commandos, who were formed to respond to terror attacks, especially those involving hostages. The team was formed in the sequel to his book Executive Orders, where the US Capitol building was destroyed by a terrorist acting on his own, and the US was hit by multiple attacks including one involving bioweapons. As Clancy readers will tell you, quite often Clancy’s fictional writings draw striking parallels to reality. We need look no further than the tragedy that...

The folks at the Council on Foreign Relations sure have an exquisite sense of timing. Within days of the release of a new CFR report urging the U.S. appeasement of Iran, the 9/11 Commission fingered the Islamic Republic as -- at a minimum -- an important enabler of al Qaeda terrorism. Another two weeks have now passed and the mullahs also appear to be tearing up a European-brokered deal on their nuclear program to resume uranium enrichment. ... Last December Mr. Kerry himself blasted the Bush Administration in a speech to the Council, saying it "stubbornly refuses to conduct a...

Ill Advised: George Bush was the American Muslim choice in 2000. Many are now saying they got bad information. Invisible Men By Najeeb Hasan Once a footnote to electoral history, Muslims are growing politically in America but in what direction? LAST SATURDAY, in a San Jose Convention Center meeting room, about 150 members of the South Bay's Muslim community gathered expectantly for a South Bay-wide Muslim town-hall meeting. The meeting, sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), would be one of 40 such meetings scheduled in major cities across the nation by the American Muslim Task Force, an...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN A Mexico cover-up of U.S. terror threats? Task-force investigators find U.S. space center, George Bush International Airport among targets -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: April 13, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com – a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for the last 25 years. © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com While Washington is focused on finger-pointing over responsibility for 9-11, some of the 100 members of the Houston Task Force on Terrorism say Mexico is not fully cooperating on preventing the...

Anti-coalition forces in western Iraq are "pretty much in disarray," Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., commander of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, told journalists today during a Baghdad press conference. Deployed to Iraq since September, Swannack's Task Force All-American patrols the Anbar province in western Iraq, which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. All of his 18,000-member force is slated to complete re-deployment back to Fort Bragg, N.C., sometime in May, and will be relieved by 24,000 Marines. "Systematically, we have captured or killed the individuals directing the insurgency (in western Iraq)," Swannack said. The Jan. 11...

Insurgents operating against the coalition and Iraqi security forces have become "desperate and isolated" in their attempts to stop progress, the commander of the latest task force to arrive in Iraq said today. During a briefing from Baghdad, Army Brig. Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia, told reporters that insurgent activity continues in the north, where his unit took over military operations in early February. "We see this enemy taking the shape of former regime elements, extremists, as well as foreign fighters and international terrorists," he said. "Those cells, I believe, are becoming extremely desperate and isolated."...

Meetings with military and civilian officials and visits with U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad Feb. 23 marked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's fourth visit to Iraq since the country's liberation. The day was to have culminated with the secretary having dinner with troops at the Baghdad International Airport dining facility. But when he was inundated with requests from soldiers and airmen to allow a friend to take their picture with him, Rumsfeld spent most of the visit doing just that. Hundreds of troops lined up along the long wall of the building, patiently waiting their turn, and...

A bronze statue of a soldier mourning a fallen comrade traveled from Tikrit, Iraq, to Fort Hood, Texas, this week to become the focal point of a memorial to the soldiers of Task Force Ironhorse who have died during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The statue arrived at Fort Hood's Robert Gray Army Airfield Feb. 16, along with the first 60 soldiers in the task force to redeploy from Iraq, said Capt. Charles Armstrong, secretary of the general staff for the rear detachment. Armstrong said the statue will be moved today to a 4th Infantry Division storage site as preparations for the...

The group charged with putting together a detailed plan to integrate the three military exchange services into one organization has launched a Web site. The Unified Exchange Task Force, formed in May, is using the new site to inform exchange beneficiaries on what is happening to their important benefit, explained retired Air Force Maj. Gen. C.J. Wax, task force director and former commander of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. "This Web site provides a one-stop source of information and a place where beneficiaries can get their questions answered," he pointed out. According to a news release, the site...

Subject:Congressional Judicial Abuse Task Force Update STOP BAD JUSTICE UPDATE 1-14-04 From: "Joe Norman" First, I would like to thank the many that have called Congressmen/women who are on the JUDICIAL ABUSE TASK FORCE to express your concerns for the state of the judiciary. Your efforts are much appreciated. Second, I talked with the JUDICIAL ABUSE TASK FORCE representative of Congressman Lamar Smith yesterday and it was evident the office had heard from many of you. The TASK FORCE has changed its name to HOUSE JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY WORKING GROUP and will hold meetings in the next few weeks to decide...

Coalition forces have "turned the corner" in western Iraq, said Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., 82nd Airborne Division commander, during a Baghdad press conference today. The general also said the coalition is "on a glide path to success" in the region. He said attacks against Task Force All-American forces have decreased almost 60 percent in the past month. The task force covers Anbar province in western Iraq. The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is part of the force. Swannack said the soldiers are making great progress against the former regime cells and the financial network that funded those cells....

AR RAMADI, Iraq – Soldiers from Task Force “All American” continued missions to increase stability and security for the people of Al Anbar yesterday. During the last 24 hours, the 82nd Airborne Division and subordinate units conducted 170 patrols, including four joint patrols with Iraqi national elements, and three offensive operations, which resulted in the capture of 12 enemy personnel. Last night in 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division’s area, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search of two target areas in Fallujah. The operation resulted in the capture of 10 enemy personnel and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) said on Monday it would hear Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s case for keeping his energy task force papers secret.   The high court said Cheney's Justice Department (news - web sites) lawyers could present detailed arguments on why he should not have to comply with a judge's order to hand over details of White House contacts with the energy industry.

NEWS RELEASEHEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND7115 South Boundary BoulevardMacDill AFB, Fla. 33621-5101Phone: (813) 827-5894; FAX: (813) 827-2211; DSN 651-5894   November 9, 2003Release Number: 03-11-05 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TASK FORCE OPERATIONS PROVE SUCCESSFUL AR RAMADI, Iraq – Soldiers from Task Force All-American continue to conduct missions directed at stopping violence toward the Iraqi people and Coalition forces and also promoting peace and development throughout their area of operations. The 82nd Airborne Division, also known as the All American Division, went on 168 patrols, eight of which were joint patrols carried out with members of the border guard and Iraqi...

ROME, April 26 (Xinhuanet) -- A small force of Italian troops, military police and environment and cultural experts will leave for Iraq on Sunday on a week-long mission, Italian Environment Minister Altero Matteoli said Saturday. Matteoli, in Paris for an environment summit, said the task force would leave Rome at 5:00 Sunday. The task force includes two Environment Ministry officials, two experts from the Cultural Heritage Ministry, a Foreign Ministry representative and diplomat Antonio Armellin, who is charge of overseeing Italian aid operations in Iraq. "Our aim is to carry out an initial assessment of the situation focusing on water,...

The world's leading museums are to join forces to send an emergency team to Iraq to help rebuild its shattered cultural heritage. The Louvre, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, New York's Metropolitan and the Hermitage in St Petersburg are among those preparing to contribute to a task force led by the British Museum. The alliance is being co-ordinated by Neil MacGregor, the British Museum's director, who last week pledged to send his own curators to help assess the extent of the cultural "catastrophe" suffered by the Iraqi capital. Up to 170,000 priceless antiquities – many hailing from the earliest...

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usshot262979152oct26,0,7319464.story Official: Sniper duo stopped at least 5 times at roadblocks By Knut Royce and Tom Brune WASHINGTON BUREAU. Earl Lane contributed to this story from Montgomery, Ala. Knut Royce is a special correspondent. October 26, 2002 Washington - The car used by the two suspects in the Washington-area sniper attacks was stopped "at least five times" at roadblocks thrown up immediately by police after many of the shootings, according to a senior federal law enforcement official. But because the officers were unaware that the car, a 1990 blue Chevrolet Caprice, was the vehicle used in the shootings and...

Did anybody else watch this press conference? Did you all hear the same thing I did, which was: Questioner: You're saying the tail-light, the cream-colored Astro van, the firearm, and the description are "not credible." What DO we have, that people might look for? Moose: Again, we will not be releasing any uncorroborated information. Translation: We got nothin'.

Japan quakes as bad loans taskforce moves in By George Trefgarne, Economics Editor (Filed: 04/10/2002) The Nikkei index in Japan plunged below 9,000 to its lowest level for 19 years yesterday, as bank shares dived. The index closed down 112.90 at 8,936.43, a level last seen on August 12, 1983. The trigger for the fall was the appointment of a taskforce set up by the new head of the Financial Services Agency to deal with the massive bad loans held by Japanese banks. Some Japanese fear a radical solution that will see widespread bankruptcies, although this would be resisted by...

On 20 July the US 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division, which had been operating the brigade-sized Task Force Rakkasan out of Bagram and Kandahar in Afghanistan under the aegis of Operation ‘Enduring Freedom’, handed over command to the 82nd Airborne Division’s Task Force Panther, which will take over security and combat operations in the region. US and coalition forces continue to operate throughout Afghanistan to ensure Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces do not present a danger to US, coalition and friendly Afghan troops. The 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division arrived in Afghanistan in January 2002 and worked alongside units such as...

<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A wildlife surveyor for the Mescalero Apache Tribe pleaded innocent Friday to setting a fire on an arson-plagued reservation parched by drought and torn by political infighting.</p> <p>Paul James Valdez, 27, of Tularosa, who worked for the tribe helping take the census of federally protected Mexican spotted owls, was arrested Wednesday on charges of setting the half-acre Lower Cooley Fire on June 2.</p>

<p>MESCALERO, N.M. (AP) — A Mexican spotted owl survey taker employed by the Mescalero Apache Tribes natural resources agency was arrested Wednesday for arson.</p> <p>Paul James Valdez, 27, was charged with intentionally starting a fire on the southern New Mexico reservation on or about June 2. He was also charged with furnishing false information to a federal agent.</p>