50¢ San Luis Obispo Times February 8, 2010

Beyonce sets a Will the rain Drew Brees looks

record last night return this to lead the Saints
For a full list of week? Check to victory in next
winners look out the six day Sunday’s Super
inside forecast. Bowl.
ENTERTAINMENT 4 WEATHER 6 SPORTS 8

Obama calls for

more money
Hopes billions will save
economy from trouble
By: Max Power
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Declaring “We want our money
back,” President Barack Obama
wants to slap a tax on banks
to recoup the money that the
American public spent on bailing
out large financial institutions on
the brink of collapse.
The president said Thursday
his goal is not to punish banks,
but rather to prevent them from
a behavior of excess, including
new employee bonuses he called
“obscene.”
In brief comments at the White
House, Obama took a deeply
populist tone. He said: “My
wants to slap a tax on banks
to recoup the money that the
American public spent on bailing
out large financial
institutions on the brink of
collapse.
The president said Thursday
his goal is not to punish banks,
but rather to prevent them from
a behavior of excess, including
new employee bonuses he called
“obscene.”
In brief comments at the White
House, Obama took a deeply
populist tone. He said: “My
commitment is to the taxpayer.”
The president said big banks had
shown irresponsibility, engaged in
reckless risk for short-term profits,

Toyota’s Trouble’s
By Shizuo Kambayashi, AP file commitment is to the taxpayer.”
The president said big banks had
shown irresponsibility, engaged in
reckless risk for short-term profits,
and had gotten themselves into a
crisis of their own making.
Some firms would have to pay
and had gotten themselves into a
crisis of their own making.
Declaring “We want our money
back,” President Barack Obama
wants to slap a tax on banks
to recoup the money that the
American public spent on bailing

Car company struggles with recalls

the fee even though many did not out large financial
accept any taxpayer assistance. institutions on the brink of
Declaring “We want our money collapse.
back,” President Barack Obama Obama continued on Page 2
Written By: Tessa Davis hearing from the National High- gas pedal systems can get stuck. the 2009-10 Corolla, the 2009-
way Traffic Safety Administration The company said the problem is 10 Matrix hatchback, the 2005-10
DETROIT (AP) Toyota Motor that it did not object to the fix, rare and is caused by condensa- Avalon, the 2007-10 Camry, the
Corp. plans to start sending parts the dealers said. A Department tion that builds up in the gas pedal 2010 Highlander crossover, the
to dealers next week to fix a sticky of Transportation official, who assembly. 2007-10 Tundra pickup and the
gas pedal problem that has tar- also requested anonymity because 2008-10 Sequoia SUV. The recall
nished its image and led to the re- the announcement had not been Several dealers have said the has been expanded to models in
call of 4.2 million cars and trucks made, confirmed that the govern- fix involves slipping a shim into Europe and China.
on three continents, according to ment had no objections. an area where springs push the
people briefed on the matter. gas pedal back to its resting po- Toyota said that not all the
Toyota spokesman Mike Mi- sition after a driver has eased off models listed in the recall have
Toyota plans to reveal details chels said the company received the gas, but Toyota has not com- the faulty gas pedals, which were
of the fix on Monday morning, ac- feedback from the government, mented on the repair. made by CTS Corp. of Elkhart,
cording to two dealers who asked but he would not say what that Indiana. Dealers can tell which
not to be identified because the was or when it intends to start Dealers have been in the diffi- models have the CTS pedals.
plan had not been announced. One sending out parts. The company cult position of having no parts to Models made in Japan, and some
dealer was told by a Toyota ex- has said it plans to announce the fix the cars ever since the recall models built in the U.S., have
ecutive that the parts could arrive fix next week, but Michels would was announced on Jan. 21. pedal systems made by anoth-
Thursday or Friday. not give an exact date. er parts supplier, Denso Corp.,
The recall in the U.S. covers which function well.
The automaker told the deal- Toyota has recalled 4.2 million 2.3 million vehicles and involves
ers about the plan Saturday after Toyota contiuned on Page 4 Source: Associated Press
vehicles worldwide because the the 2009-10 RAV4 crossover,
Man Arrested
Charges to
be Filed World’s Biggest Pizza Made for Driving
Naked
Jackson’s doctor 40 people and 400 pounds of dough
to jail By: Matt Nehrenz members say they were called down Twiggs says his family held a
By: Logan Scahub to the mortuary to identify the body. Evelyn Jackson’s son, Jerry viewing for his mother prior to her
After a bizarre mix-up at a Den- Twiggs, says Pipkin notified his fam- burial. During the viewing, Twiggs’
Charges relating to Michael Jack- ver mortuary, two families are try- Black says no one can understand ily this weekend that the woman bur- sister, Johnnetta Jackson, and his
son’s death will be filed Monday, ac- ing to move forward after losing their how the mortuary made this mistake. ied when his family gathered on Janu- mother’s friend commented that Ev-
cording to a statement from the Los loved ones. ary 21 was actually not his mother but elyn Jackson looked different. They
Angeles County District Attorney’s The body used during Imogene instead Imogene Jackson. said they did not think anything of it
Office, but the statement did not spec- Imogene Jackson’s family was Jackson’s funeral was actually that of and understood that in death no one
ify what the charges would be or who shocked when they attended an open- Evelyn Lucille Jackson. Her funeral “It’s devastating for me and my looks the same.
sister Johnnetta that this travesty has
I never intended
casket viewing only to find the wom- had already taken place and her fam- Source: Associated Press
an in the casket was not their mother. ily thought she had been buried earlier happened. We hope this doesn’t hap- When Twiggs and his family were
notified of the mix-up he gave the By: Patrick Mc Kenna
pen to another family,” he said.
for Michael to
A relative, Bernard Black, says mor- in the month.
tuary staff members tried to pass off mortuary permission to exhume the
body of Imogene Jackson. A Santa Barbara man is in cus-
die.
the wrong body as Jackson. tody after officers say he drove
He says his family plans to bury around the San Roque neighbor-
“They took the clothes that were hood naked. He was arrested on
Dr. Conrad Murray intended for Mrs. Jackson and put his mother, Evelyn Jackson, Monday
morning. La Cumbre Road in Santa Barbara
them on the other woman, and as I around 3 p.m. Monday.
would be charged. Conrad Murray, said, tried to convince the children
the singer’s personal physician when that that was their mother. It’s a ter- He will view the body of his moth-
Jackson died last summer, is expected er at 9 a.m. to be certain of her identi-Witnesses reported a man was
rible situation for which no one has performing lewd acts, wearing
to be charged in the case. owned up to,” Black said. ty before laying her to rest.
only a red hat. When officers fi-
“Nothing will be filed today in the Twiggs says he does not have ill nally tracked down 47-year-old
The viewing hours had to be called Michael Jon Helman, he tried to
Michael Jackson death case. A case off. will toward Pipkin which he regards
will be filed on Monday, February 8,” as one of the most used funeral homes drive away down a dead end street
the statement reads in part. “Informa- in the black community. and wound up crashing into a po-
It wasn’t until Saturday morning, lice car.
tion on charges and the scheduled ar- a few hours before the funeral, that
raignment will be released after the Jackson’s body was found. Family
case is filed.”
Helman is being held in Santa
Barbara County Jail without bail.

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

Source: Associated Press

Military leaders meet to discuss the controversial issue

Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
testifies on the policy.
By: Brad Huge
Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
who also worked in President George
W. Bush’s administration, told the
Senate Armed Services Committee
that the Pentagon would spend
the next 11 months “thoroughly,
objectively and methodically”
examining the implications of
repealing the 1993 law.
Source: Associated Press The Defense Department would
present a transition plan to Congress
by the end of the year - after the
midterm elections in November.
Should Congress accept the plan, it
could take another year to take effect.
In the next 45 days, the Pentagon
will review how to enforce the
existing law in what Gates described
as “a more human and fair manner.”
That could mean raising the threshold
for what it takes to separate an openly
gay service member from the military.
But Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
testified Tuesday that they personally
backed President Obama’s call to end
the ban.
“The question before us is not
whether the military prepares to make
this change,” Gates told the panel,
“but how we best prepare for it.”
Lt. Dan Choi, who faces discharge
for publicly announcing that he’s gay,
praised the military brass for backing
an end to the policy.
“When somebody makes a
decision to join the military, they
don’t join the military because they’re
gay or they’re straight or to be more
straight or to be more gay,” Choi said
in an interview on CBS TV. “They do
it because they believe in the values
of our country, that it’s worth
Don’t Ask continued Page 3