Barbed Wire

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II left many thousands with bittersweet recollections of the injustice done them, memories mingled with a sense of pride in the Japanese American tradition. The memories of two former internees and a Japanese American combat veteran of the war were at the core of a weekend panel discussion, "Reflection on Internment. " The discussion, held at the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library, was organized in connection with a traveling exhibition, "A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution," mounted by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Library Association.

An inmate who would have been eligible for parole in four days escaped early yesterday morning from his minimum-security cell at the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna. Leon Werkheiser Jr., 21, who was serving a seven-year sentence for assaulting a police officer and drug-related offenses, apparently escaped by pushing out the screen in the window of his cell, scaling a 16-foot fence and climbing over or through barbed wire atop the fence, said State Police spokesman Cpl. William Eubank.

A would-be robber had it in the bag, at least for a short while, yesterday morning until two security guards nabbed him at the Brink's facility in Southwest Philadelphia. The suspect, wearing a Brink's shirt, walked onto the property - a virtual fortress surrounded by a 10-foot-high cyclone fence topped with barbed wire - and hoisted a 50-pound bag, said Keith Sadler, the police department's chief inspector. The bag contained $640,000, police said. Two armored car guards at the facility in the 7400 block of Holstein Street grabbed the suspect, who was not identified, when he started to run across a parking lot. Contact staff writer Dwight Ott at 215-854-2797 or dott@phillynews.

A South Philadelphia phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from the front of his house yet again - something that's happened repeatedly in the last several years. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from the surveillance camera of Addes' neighbor shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic petals one by one, from the front of the house on 10th Street near Jackson Street, and placing them in her bag around 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said he put out the flowers because his mother used to like them.

The grim calculus of responsible Holocaust art hangs morbidly over "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. " It's a movie made with the right ethical credentials, having assimilated the Primo Levy/Elie Weisel critiques about Holocaust narratives - if you're going to attempt them, you've got to honor the essence of the Holocaust, and the essence is murder. So, "Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is morally defensible, but very hard to watch, since the important characters in this story (based on a highly regarded John Boyne novel)

A SOUTH PHILLY phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from in front of his house for the seventh year in a row. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from Addes' neighbor's surveillance camera shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic petals one by one from the front of his house on 10th Street near Jackson and placing them in her bag around 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said he put the flowers out because his mother used to like them and he switches them up four times a year with the changing of the seasons.

A SOUTH PHILLY phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from in front of his house for the seventh year in a row. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from Addes' neighbor's surveillance camera shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic flowers, one by one, from the front of his house on 10th Street near Jackson, and placing them in her bag about 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said that he put the flowers out because his mother used to like them, and he switches up them up four times a year with the changing of the seasons.

A Magnolia man was in critical condition at Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center in Camden last night after being struck by a PATCO train yesterday as he stood on the tracks of the high-speed line in Cherry Hill Township between the Ashland and Woodcrest stations. The man, identified as Joseph Scalia, 33, was spotted on the tracks by the train operator, who slowed the westbound train almost to a halt before it struck him at 9:33 a.m., said PATCO spokesman William Lynch. Scalia suffered a fractured skull and a fractured rib, and broken bones in his face.

THIS MONTH, Berlin will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the city's infamous wall. Made of stark concrete and barbed wire, and dotted with watchtowers, it divided the heart of Berlin into eastern and western sectors. Hundreds died there trying to cross into freedom. Berlin became a city early in the 14th century, when two feudal villages merged. Unified for hundreds of years, its division into eastern Soviet and western Allied zones grew out of the devastation of World War II. Berlin was divided for just over 44 years, until the collapse of East Germany (another arbitrary relic of the cold war)

Nine years ago, Marvin Munstein set out to make his synagogue in Northeast Philadelphia complete. What Congregation Ner Zedek-Ezrath Israel lacked, Munstein felt, was a memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust. A committee was formed, he said, but it initially could not raise enough interest or money from the congregation's 450 families - 10 percent of whom can claim at least one Holocaust survivor. Munstein's dream came true yesterday when he helped unveil a three-panel memorial depicting the attempted destruction of the Jews, and the formation of the state of Israel.

A South Philadelphia phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from the front of his house yet again - something that's happened repeatedly in the last several years. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from the surveillance camera of Addes' neighbor shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic petals one by one, from the front of the house on 10th Street near Jackson Street, and placing them in her bag around 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said he put out the flowers because his mother used to like them.

A SOUTH PHILLY phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from in front of his house for the seventh year in a row. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from Addes' neighbor's surveillance camera shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic flowers, one by one, from the front of his house on 10th Street near Jackson, and placing them in her bag about 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said that he put the flowers out because his mother used to like them, and he switches up them up four times a year with the changing of the seasons.

A SOUTH PHILLY phlebotomist's blood is boiling after the fake flowers he tied down with barbed wire were stolen from in front of his house for the seventh year in a row. And his refusal to remain a wallflower led him to turn over surveillance footage of the thief to police. "It's not the crime of the century, but it's the principle of the thing," said victim Ronald Addes. The video from Addes' neighbor's surveillance camera shows a woman standing on her toes, plucking out the 14 plastic petals one by one from the front of his house on 10th Street near Jackson and placing them in her bag around 2 a.m. March 21. Addes said he put the flowers out because his mother used to like them and he switches them up four times a year with the changing of the seasons.

Elaine Goldberg had finally straightened out her life. Bright, pretty, and smart, she turned 21 on Sept. 12. She was ready to put her past behind her. She had reenrolled as a nursing student at Gwynned-Mercy College in Montgomery County. She had kicked a persistent drug problem. As she told her friends on her Facebook page on Oct. 27, "30 days clean today-hollllaaa. " After ending a tumultuous relationship and having a miscarriage, she was back living with her family in Northeast Philadelphia, said her sister, Careen, 17. "She wanted to go places," Careen Goldberg said.

THIS MONTH, Berlin will mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the city's infamous wall. Made of stark concrete and barbed wire, and dotted with watchtowers, it divided the heart of Berlin into eastern and western sectors. Hundreds died there trying to cross into freedom. Berlin became a city early in the 14th century, when two feudal villages merged. Unified for hundreds of years, its division into eastern Soviet and western Allied zones grew out of the devastation of World War II. Berlin was divided for just over 44 years, until the collapse of East Germany (another arbitrary relic of the cold war)

WHEN VINCE FUMO was told that he'd serve his eye-blink of a sentence in a federal lockup in Ashland, Ky., his legal flacks whined that its 525-mile distance from Philly would create a travel hardship for his friends and family. They also complained that Ashland lacked drug-and-alcohol-treatment programs, services that Fumo requires because - who knew? - our lying, greedy, justice-obstructing ex-senator is also a pill-popping booze hound. Me, I'm wondering if Fumo's front men omitted an even more compelling reason he wouldn't want to bed down at Ashland: Milton Street is there.

The grim calculus of responsible Holocaust art hangs morbidly over "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. " It's a movie made with the right ethical credentials, having assimilated the Primo Levy/Elie Weisel critiques about Holocaust narratives - if you're going to attempt them, you've got to honor the essence of the Holocaust, and the essence is murder. So, "Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is morally defensible, but very hard to watch, since the important characters in this story (based on a highly regarded John Boyne novel)

They were young men, mostly teenagers, who came from the United States, Britain and Canada. Only one in seven had ever before seen combat. More than 130,000 troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches on D-Day. They were supported by over 5,000 ships and 11,000 airplanes. It was the largest air, land and sea operation the world had ever seen. It has never been equaled since. Planning was intense, success by no means assured. The Allied forces faced Hitler's extensive Atlantic Wall, fortified with tank-top turrets, barbed wire and a million mines.

A would-be robber had it in the bag, at least for a short while, yesterday morning until two security guards nabbed him at the Brink's facility in Southwest Philadelphia. The suspect, wearing a Brink's shirt, walked onto the property - a virtual fortress surrounded by a 10-foot-high cyclone fence topped with barbed wire - and hoisted a 50-pound bag, said Keith Sadler, the police department's chief inspector. The bag contained $640,000, police said. Two armored car guards at the facility in the 7400 block of Holstein Street grabbed the suspect, who was not identified, when he started to run across a parking lot. Contact staff writer Dwight Ott at 215-854-2797 or dott@phillynews.

The plywood door to the interrogation room creaks open. "Please watch your step," warns Donald Randall, a Navy petty officer second class. "There's barbed wire on my right, and the floor is falling through. " There are countless things in Guantanamo that the military strives to keep secret. The infamous Camp X-Ray is no longer one of them. In fact, guided tours of the now-vacant, decaying prison camp are encouraged, presuming you're one of the few outsiders permitted to visit the remote naval base.