Web Posted December 31, 2004
Updated December 31, 2004

Good evening sports fans. This issue, like the one mailed last week, is short but it has a few nuggets of gold and silver for you oil addicts. A new Car Wars group, the Minnesota Elite Team of Autodueling Lunatics, now has a fully-functional Web site and message board. The autoduelists on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean, the French Autoduel Association, are still running on eight cylinders with their PBEM games.

On the subject of PBEM, Tim Gould of the Championship Autodueling Circuit, informed me of a new PBEM Car Wars league. The Web address is in the Web Watch section. (Tim mentioned to me the CADC is planning to return to combat racing in the next year.)

On Saturday I picked up the hardcover version of Darwin's World Second Edition. Darwin's World is a post-apocalyptic worldbook for use with d20 Modern. Many ideas from the Fallout and Wasteland CRPGs are presented in Darwin's World Second Edition. The text has been written as a general resource for running any type of post-apocalyptic campaign. I highly recommend the book to all auto-combat gamers. The official Web site of the game has many resources, several that are free.

I have updated the WADA Gaming Group and PBEM League Registries once again. Please tell me if they are accurate. If they are not, attach your comments to the missiles you will send to my position.

The next issue will be sent out next Sunday as part of my effort to get this newsletter back on a semi-normal schedule.

Drive offensively,

Michael P. Owen
 

Report to the Stakeholders
http://www.sjgames.com/ill

The Daily Illuminator
March 05, 2004

I've written a report about the state of our business; if you have a stake in Steve Jackson Games as a gamer, retailer, distributor, or creator, it's for you. It's far too long to post as an Illuminator; read it here.

-- Steve Jackson
 

Excerpt from Report to the Stakeholders: 2004
http://www.sjgames.com/general/report.html

Car Wars was another disappointment. Our 2002 relaunch of the line started well but then stumbled over about three problems in a row . . . then
I got a credible offer for the digital game rights, which didn't work out . . . then I got another credible offer, but that didn't work out either. At the
moment, the game is very much in a holding pattern.
 

ARMY TANK CONFISCATED IN ONLINE AUCTION
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/02/11/offbeat.germany.tank.reut/index.html

Reuters News Service and CNN
Wednesday, February 11, 2004 Posted: 12:56 PM EST (1756 GMT)

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- German police seized a 10-ton armored personnel carrier that two men had put up for auction online, authorities said on Tuesday.

"The men bought the tank from the Greek army and brought it to Germany. They were evidently looking to turn a profit," said a police spokesman in the state of Hesse.

The 24.5 foot long amphibious Russian BTR 60, found in the town of Raunheim, no longer had guns but was still fully armor-plated, which meant it contravened German law.

The Greek and German owners had to breach the armor to render it useless for combat and then proceeded with the sale, fetching $11,000, but are being investigated for possibly violating weapons laws.

The tank can be driven on German roads with a proper permit.
 
 

GUNS, DRUGS FOUND IN RAIDS ON HELLS ANGELS
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/151027_hellsangels04.html

By Paul Shukovsky
Seattle Post-Intellingencer Reporter
Thursday, December 4, 2003

Federal agents raided a Hells Angels clubhouse as well as the homes of five alleged members of the motorcycle gang in Washington yesterday as part of an undercover investigation stretching across the West.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent the last two years documenting a violent conspiracy involving guns, explosives and drug trafficking.

The predawn raids yesterday in Tacoma, Silverdale, Kirkland, Spokane and Wenatchee were timed to coincide with raids in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Anchorage and Fairbanks, according to the bureau.

Fifty-five members of the biker gang were arrested in the coordinated sweeps. Kelvin Crenshaw, special agent in charge of the ATF's Seattle division, said yesterday that his agents joined forces with local police officers in Washington and Alaska to arrest nine Hells Angels. Search warrants were executed at clubhouses in Spokane, Fairbanks and Anchorage, he said.

Agents across the West found evidence of stolen explosives and seized about 50 guns, a firearm with a silencer and a quarter-pound of suspected methamphetamine.

"We purchased some stolen military explosives," Donald Kincaid, in charge of the ATF in Los Angeles, said, adding that they were identified as military property by lot numbers and other distinguishing marks.

At a news conference in Los Angeles, agents displayed motorcycle jackets, memorabilia and rifles, shotguns, semiautomatic weapons and pistols seized from a clubhouse.

A federal indictment, which remained sealed yesterday, charges dozens of Hells Angels with assaulting members of the rival Mongols gang at the Hells Angels annual gathering in April 2002 in Laughlin, Nev., criminal justice sources said. Three people died in an orgy of violence that erupted between the gangs.

ATF agents were able to obtain a video of the murderous brawl, sources said.

One alleged Hells Angel was led in shackles into a federal courtroom in Seattle yesterday afternoon to face an 11-count indictment that could lead to life in prison if he is found guilty.

Jeffrey Carney, about 42 years old, was charged with 10 counts of violence in aid of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to commit those
crimes and one count of carrying a firearm in connection with a violent crime.

His attorney, John Lundin, told the court yesterday that Carney has long-established ties to the community and he should be able to be released on bond later this week after a detention hearing is held.

Lundin was heard telling Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tessa Gorman and Andrew Friedman that Carney is "desperate to get out before Friday" in order to attend a motorcycle show this weekend.

Two other alleged members of the Hells Angels, Ronald Arnone and Steven Pearce, appeared yesterday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on the same charges.

Two other arrests in Washington came east of the Cascades.

The men ultimately will face charges in the case in U.S. District Court in Nevada.

The Hells Angels are believed to have 2,500 members around the world and engage in a wide range of crimes including trafficking in drugs, guns and explosives, extortion, the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine and motorcycle theft, according to the ATF.

"The Hells Angels are considered the largest and most heavily armed of all the outlaw motorcycle gangs," according to an ATF statement.

If the government is successful in proving its case that the gang members conspired to commit violence in aid of racketeering, it could be the first step in dismantling the Hells Angels.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or <paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com>.

This report includes information from The Associated Press.
 
 

HELLS ANGELS INDICTED IN CASINO BRAWL
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/151195_hellsangels05.html

The Associated Press and The Seattle Post-Intellingencer
Friday, December 5, 2003

LAS VEGAS -- Authorities and unsealed documents confirmed yesterday that dozens of Hells Angels motorcycle gang members have been indicted on racketeering and other federal charges stemming from a deadly 2002 casino brawl and other violent crimes in the West, authorities said.

The two-year federal investigation culminated yesterday with the announcements of indictments in Las Vegas and Phoenix. The day before federal agents swarmed Hells Angels headquarters and clubhouses in California, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska and Washington state.

In all, 57 arrests were made, including five in Washington. Not all the arrests were related to the casino case. Authorities seized drugs, bulletproof vests, stolen vehicles, explosives and more than 100 weapons.

"These individuals thrive on a culture of violence," said Stephen Herkins, assistant special agent in charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"Our streets are safer today as a result of these indictments," Herkins said at a Las Vegas news conference announcing an 11-count indictment.

In that indictment, 42 Hells Angels members face 10 federal counts of violence in aid of racketeering and one count of using and carrying firearms in the deadly incident with members of the rival Mongols motorcycle gang at the 2002 Laughlin River Run, an annual motorcycle rally near the Nevada-Arizona border.

Daniel Bogden, U.S. attorney in Nevada, said 34 of the men have been arrested. Eight others named in the indictment were being sought.

One of the men charged in the Las Vegas indictment appeared in federal court in Seattle yesterday.

The man, characterized in court yesterday as a former member of the Hells Angels, was ordered released on bond pending further court hearings in Nevada.

Defense Attorney John Lundin asserted that his client, Jeffrey Carney -- one of 42 people charged across the west yesterday with violence
in aid of racketeering -- quit the gang more than a year ago, has established family ties in the Seattle area and works here in the motorcycle-repair business.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman acknowledged that it is unlikely that Carney is a danger to the community or that he will flee. But she did
note that Carney was an active participant in the violent brawl between the Hells Angels and Mongols in April 2002.

In Phoenix, 16 people affiliated with the Hells Angels were indicted on federal racketeering charges accusing them of participating in a criminal organization that committed murder, tampered with witnesses and dealt drugs, among other crimes.

The grand jury indictments had been sealed to allow authorities to make arrests.

The Las Vegas indictment outlines what prosecutors describe as a "highly organized criminal enterprise" in 23 states and 25 countries that is involved in threats, violence, murder, robbery and conspiracy to distribute drugs.

Federal prosecutors alleged the Hells Angels created a "climate of fear" by assaulting members of rival motorcycle clubs.
 
 

GRENADE FOUND IN RECYCLABLES; AREA CLEARED
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=glance16e&date=20031016&query=dot+com

Thursday, October 16, 2003
The Seattle Times

WOODINVILLE -- Officials with the King County Sheriff's Office evacuated the Cascade Recycling Center yesterday morning after employees discovered a hand grenade in a trash container.

Bomb-disposal technicians confirmed that the grenade was real, said Sgt. Kevin Fagerstrom, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. Technicians realized the grenade's explosive charge had been disabled, so they did not need to dismantle the grenade, Fagerstrom said.

The grenade fell out of a container filled with recyclable materials, prompting the two workers sorting the contents to call 911.

Two adjacent businesses also were evacuated while technicians examined the grenade. All businesses reopened about two hours later.

Officials were not sure whether the grenade had been dumped as a joke or if it had been added carelessly to a bin of recyclables, Fagerstrom said.
 

DARWIN'S WORLD RPG: POST-APOCALYPTIC ADVENTURES
http://www.darwinrpg.com
 

MINNESOTA'S ELITE TEAM OF AUTODUELING LUNATICS (METAL)
http://metalclub.topcities.com
http://metalcwclub.conforums.com/index.cgi
 

UNGER ONLINE'S CAR WARS PBEM LEAGUE
http://www.ungeronline.com/CarwarsOnline.html
 

FRENCH AUTODUEL ASSOCIATION (FADA)
http://car.wars.free.fr
http://tdehais.9online.fr