A Las Vegas criminal court judge has set a competency hearing for Cole Ford charged with shooting a shotgun at the home of Siegfried & Roy.The former NFL place kicker could face up to 27 years in prison if he is convicted of all charges.
Judge James Bixler previously assigned a public defender to represent Mr. Cole in the upcoming criminal trial.Judge Bixler urged Mr. Cole to cooperate fully with a psychological evaluation and then bound the case over for a December 28th competency hearing.
Mr. Ford?s attorney said he will likely present an insanity defense.
Mr. Ford told the court he would like to get the case resolved and waived his right to a preliminary hearing on the probable cause giving rise to his arrest and criminal charges.
Judge Bixler advised Mr. Ford, “If you want to get your case resolved, talk to the doctor.”
Mr. Ford played for the Oakland Raiders after being drafted from USC in 1995 by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Supporters of presidential candidate John Kerry know Richard De Vere as the magician who helped the Democrat win the New Hampshire primary.Mr. De Vere served as the candidate’s warm-up act for about ten days leading up to the vote in New Hampshire.He worked television and live rallies to get out the vote for his client before returning to Blackpool and his very successful show.
Mr. Kerry, did not have as great a run as Mr. De Vere.
The Liverpool Internet News has a well-written feature about Mr. De Vere and his rise from interested child to icon in the resort town of Blackpool, England.
He decided against a career in the family business ? thermal underwear ? after seeing shows in Blackpool, Liverpool or Manchester.He also found his magic talents helped his popularity in school, “It turned me from the most unpopular boy in the class into someone mildly interesting.”
Mr. De Vere was originally booked for 22 weeks in Blackpool.He went from the limited engagement to a long-run and new shows.In fact, Mr. De Vere and his dog Schnorbitz, were cast in bronze and displayed at the Pleasure Beach.
Mr. De Vere recalled for the newspaper how he tried to show off the bronze statute to his grandmother: “As we neared the statue I had to tell the cab driver to keep going, past the statue. I had seen that there were cigarette ends sticking out of every orifice and a traffic cone on my head. My granny has still never seen it.”
Mr. De Vere will appear in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Royal Court in Liverpool on December 22nd through January 16th.
Halloween brought Chuck?s House of Magic not only the traditional increased sales, but also an electrical fire that destroyed the shop.Chuck and Joyce Gruberman worked out of the Chuck?s House of Magic site since 1994 but after losing inventory and their store in the fire, the couple ran their business out of their home.
The couple will move the business once again when they move to a new storefront in Homewood, Illinois.They?ll take on the former location of Laura?s of Homewood, the women?s apparel store that recently moved to another location.
Their old shop had more than 13,000 square feet of selling space and storage but their new location has just over 3,700 square feet ? sort of a multum in parvo but using magic merchandise instead of magician?s milk.
Mr. and Mrs. Gruberman wanted to be open before the Christmas season was complete but it does not look like that will happen.
We wish the couple the best of luck and hope Inside Magic readers in the Homewood, Illinois area will stop by once Chuck?s opens in their new location.
You can read about Chuck?s House of Magic in a Chicago Tribune article titled, ?Businesses Serve Communities with Class? by clicking here
Chris De Palma is featured in the Ventura County (California) Star today for his seemingly divergent vocations.The 48-year-old magician performs and serves as an entertainment program planner for business functions.He also owns American National Funding Group Inc., a broker service to land financing for businesses.
As a magician and business entertainment planner for the last 25 years, Mr. De Palma has worked with Disney Talent and Casting, the Hilton Hotels, Coca-Cola, Amgen and Bank of America.In fact, this Tuesday, December 14th, Mr. De Palma will be working the Disney Studio Christmas Party at the studio in Burbank, California.
Mr. De Palma?s show includes illusions as well as business-related effects; for instance, he transforms a pile of business account-receivable forms into cash — the dream of many business people.He developed his brokerage business from interaction with business clients in his entertainment work.
“Over the years I’ve become friends with many of my entertainment business clients,” De Palma said. “In some cases, they have told me about their need for funds to expand their operations or take care of current financial needs. This motivated me to launch my new funding group.”
You can see Mr. De Palma at work by visiting his magic website and viewing some of the videos.His style is friendly and funny and professional. His website is no chopped liver, either.
Check out Mr. De Palma?s website (the magic one) here.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a citation to the company responsible Montecore and other animals in the “Siegfried & Roy” show.This ended 14 months of investigation and controversy following the near-fatal tiger attack on illusionist Roy Horn.
Jim Rogers of the USDA declined to tell the Associated Press ? or even post a statement on the USDA webpage ? why or how the agency came to the decision to issue a citation.
Mr. Rogers declined to discuss why the company received the citation, but said it does not carry any penalties. He described it as a warning and said it concluded the agency’s investigation into the attack.
“When we write a ticket we are essentially telling somebody to stop doing something,” he said. “If they continue to engage in the activities that got them the ticket in the first place, we can take further action.”
Dave Kirvin, a Siegfried & Roy spokesman, said Friday the company was not aware of the citation.
Earlier this year, the USDA abandoned attempts to get producers to hand over a videotape of the attack after Nevada senators threatened to intervene. Footage of the attack has never been made public.
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