National Roundup

Montana
Woman charged with DUI argues she was drugged
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — A Missoula woman will be given a chance to argue she should not have been charged with driving under the influence because someone put a date rape drug in her drink without her knowledge.
The Missoulian reports the Montana Supreme Court returned Leigh Paffhausen’s case back to Municipal Court, saying she should have the chance to offer evidence that her January 2010 intoxication was involuntary.
Shortly after she was charged, Paffhausen told police she believed she’d been given GHB and intended to use involuntary intoxication as a defense.
However, the District Court upheld a Missoula Municipal Court ruling that prevented Paffhausen from using that defense or calling witnesses about the use of date rape drugs in the city.
The high court’s 4-3 ruling was filed on Nov. 20.

Arizona
Court weighs challenge to use of settlement
PHOENIX (AP) — An appellate court panel is considering a court case involving Arizona’s use of $50 million from a multistate foreclosure settlement to help balance the state budget.
Critics of the Legislature’s decision to put $50 million into the general state budget wanted all of the money to be used for programs and services for borrowers and troubled homeowners.
Housing advocates are appealing a Maricopa County Superior Court judge’s ruling in favor of the state, and a three-judge panel is scheduled to hear arguments Monday.
The judge said the Legislature decides how to spend the state’s money. Housing advocates contend that the attorney general could decide how the money is used.
Some of the settlement money paid the state by lenders is being used for programs and services for borrowers.

Vermont
6 elderly women head to trial for nuke protest
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) — Six elderly Massachusetts women are due to go on trial on charges they chained themselves to the gate at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant while authorities were busy with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene last year.
The women, all members of the Shut It Down Affinity Group, are scheduled to go on trial Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court in Brattleboro.
Police say they traveled to nuke plant gate in Vernon on Aug. 30, 2011, used a chain and padlock to lock the entrance gate and chained themselves to the fence.
It was one of about 22 protests the group has mounted against the reactor’s continued operation in recent years.

New York
NYC apartment neon peace sign upsets residents
NEW YORK (AP) — Some residents of an ornate building on Manhattan’s West Side are upset about a neon peace sign that a neighbor has placed in her 17th story turret window.
The city claims the sign at the Ansonia apartment building violates zoning laws. The Environmental Control Board in April sided with the city and ordered Brigitte Vosse to pay an $800 fine and remove the sign.
She paid the fine but refused to remove the symbol. Last week she filed a Manhattan federal court lawsuit, seeking an injunction.
According to the New York Post, court papers say the peace symbol is an expression of Vosse’s “opposition to war as a solution to human problems.”
The Beaux-Art building on Broadway between 73rd and 74th streets was once the home of Babe Ruth.

Idaho
Scouts, Mormon church settle sex abuse lawsuit
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Boys Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a Portland man who said they didn’t do enough to stop a Scout troop leader from sexually abusing children.
The Idaho Statesman reports that a document filed Nov. 15 in U.S. District Court in Boise said both sides agreed to an undisclosed monetary settlement.
Oregon attorney Gilion Dumas represents the Portland man and said the settlement will be final once a judge approves a request from both sides to dismiss the suit.
The lawsuit alleges the leader of a Boy Scout troop in Nampa in southwestern Idaho sexually abused the plaintiff over three years in both Idaho and Oregon starting in 1967, and that the abuse left him with debilitating physical, emotional and mental injuries.
The lawsuit was initially filed in February 2008 in Malheur County Circuit Court in Vale, Ore., by a then 53-year-old man who sought $5 million in damages and contended the Scouts and church didn’t do enough to stop the troop leader from sexually abusing children. The lawsuit was moved U.S. District Court in Boise in 2009. Also named in the suit was the Boy Scouts Ore-Ida Council.
The suit said the troop was jointly operated by the Boy Scouts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Nampa ward of the church “called” the troop leader to educate and minister to LDS families and their kids, the lawsuit said.
A federal judge in August 2010 ruled the lawsuit must focus on alleged sexual abuse suffered in Oregon because it was too late to sue over similar claims in Idaho. The judge found Idaho’s statute of limitations prevented the plaintiff from suing in that state. The judge also found that Idaho’s two-year statute of limitations prohibited the plaintiff from suing over the immediate damages he suffered from the alleged sexual abuse in Idaho, since he claimed the abuse happened between 1967 and 1970.
The judge also said the claims of emotional distress arising from alleged abuse in Idaho must also be dismissed because at least two years had passed since the plaintiff became aware of the link between the alleged abuse and emotional distress.
Oregon’s statute of limitation doesn’t start running until a person actually discovers he was injured by abuse, the judge said, so the claims involving acts in Oregon were allowed to move forward in federal court.
Boy Scouts Ore-Ida Council declined to comment about the lawsuit, instead referring to a statement released by the national organization concerning a recent release of files involving abuse of youngsters participating in Boy Scouts programs.
“There have been instances where people misused their positions in Scouting to abuse children and, in certain cases, our response to these incidents and our efforts to protect youth were plainly insufficient, inappropriate or wrong,” the statement said. “Where those involved in Scouting failed to protect or, worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest apologies to victims and their families.”