Wis. gov.-elect wants to lure retirees back home - Washington Post

MADISON, Wis. -- Gov.-elect Scott Walker wants to lure out-of-state retirees back home with tax cuts and parties, saying the state needs their investment dollars.

Speaking at a symposium of startup companies in Madison on Thursday, Walker said there's little reason for senior citizens to stay in Wisconsin besides grandchildren. But he feels they're a powerful investment force for startups in the state.

He hopes to coax them back by phasing out state taxes on retirement accounts and traveling to Sun Belt retirement enclaves in places like Naples, Fla., and Sedona, Ariz., to hold "welcome back" parties.

"We don't just want you back, we want your money back," he said. "We're just going to send a signal it's OK to come back here."

Walker, a Republican, didn't elaborate on what retirement taxes he wants to end and left the symposium without taking questions from reporters. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, didn't immediately respond to a message.

Jim Flaherty, a spokesman for Wisconsin AARP, said he hadn't heard of Walker's welcome-back plan and the chapter isn't sure what retirement taxes he has in mind.

"It appears he wants to help senior citizens get back to Wisconsin and help them grow old with dignity," Flaherty said. "We'd have to see what it looks like. If it helps our demographic, we would certainly support it."

Walker may have a tough sell. The sagging economy and other factors have made it difficult to sell homes - especially in places like California and Arizona - and retirees would be trading sunshine and swimming pools for blizzards and ice.

Sandy Lantz, 65, and her husband, James, 58, relocated nearly five years ago from Walworth in southern Wisconsin to Sun City Center, a Florida retirement community. They left the state after James Lantz's display-design business went under in the early 2000s and they lost two homes.

Now she works as a diet technician at a local hospital and heads up the Sun City Center Wisconsin retirement club. Her husband drives a golf cart to his job as security director at two retirement communities. They still have children and grandchildren in Wisconsin, but she said nothing Walker could say would bring them back.

"I wouldn't return just because of the snow, and that's honest," she said. "It's wonderful (here). There's a community association here, they have a clubhouse, a swimming pool, clubs. We're really happy here and our lives have turned around."

Meda Cates, membership director for Sun City Grand, a retirement community in Surprise, Ariz., said she doesn't expect Wisconsin retirees there to leave.

"Sometimes people live here and go back to Minnesota and Wisconsin and they're not happy because this lifestyle here is so geared to retirees," she said. "They're with a community of people just like them."

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Evidence Found in Creek in Case of Missing North Carolina Girl - Fox News

Investigators combing a creek in rural North Carolina recovered evidence that could provide "valuable information" in the case of missing 10-year-old Zahra Baker.

The Hickory Police Department said in a statement that search teams found the evidence on Wednesday in Caldwell County. 

Zahra, of Hickory, N.C., a bone cancer survivor who used a prosthetic leg and hearing aides, was reported missing on Oct. 9.

The latest evidence, which is being sent to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's lab, was discovered in a creek, police sources told NewsChannel 36. 

The Charlotte Observer reports that a team of 40 investigators -- accompanied by a medical examiner -- searched the water and ground surrounding Gunpowder Creek in Caldwell County on Wednesday.   

Zahra was reported missing by her father, Adam Baker, under what police have described as suspicious circumstances. Authorities believe that the girl is dead.

Zahra's stepmother, Elisa Baker, is jailed on an obstruction of justice charge. Investigators say she admitted writing a bogus ransom note found at the scene of a fire in the family's backyard on the day Zahra was reported missing. A Catawba County grand jury indicted her on the charge last week.

The 42-year-old woman is cooperating with authorities, sources tell FoxNews.com. 

Investigators recovered a bone last week near a home in Caldwell County where the girl once lived with her father and stepmother. They believe that the bone, which is still undergoing testing, is Zahra's. Police also found a prosthetic leg in some brush that it is confirmed to have belonged to the girl.

Adam Baker and his daughter moved from Australia to North Carolina after he wed Elisa Baker, whom he met on a social networking website. 

The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that Zahra's biological mother, Emily Dietrich, is en route from Australia to North Carolina. Dietrich has had no contact with the girl since she was a baby, according to the newspaper.

"I felt robbed before she was taken. Now I just feel broken," Dietrich reportedly told Australia's Channel 7 News.

Click here to read more on this story from the Charlotte Observer 

FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin and the Associated Press contributed to this report 

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'Pedophile Guide' Author Confident E-Book Will Be Back on Amazon - Fox News

"The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure" is currently not available on Amazon following calls for a boycott of the online retail giant, but the man who wrote the e-book is confident that it will be back. 

Meanwhile, pedophiles who are upset that they can't buy Phillip Greaves' e-book will have no trouble finding and purchasing other books that advocate sexual relations with children, an online search reveals.

Greaves, a 47-year-old retired nurse's aide in Pueblo, Colo., said Thursday that nearly 300 copies of his self-published e-book were sold on Amazon.com's Kindle Store in the past day, prior to its disappearance from the site. He said he also received more than 3,000 complaints about the $4.79 e-book, which seeks to make "pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them," according to the product description that was posted while the book was available for sale.

Greaves, in an interview with FoxNews.com on Thursday, said he does not promote pedophilia, but that it "is something that I have sympathy for because of my own childhood."

He said he was exposed to sex when he was 7 years old. "I was not molested, but I was exposed to sex at an early age … Sometimes those relationships are positive. No, I do not advocate pedophilia. I just feel that I understand it."

He said he was "very impressed" that Amazon initially stood by its decision to sell the title, and he is now waiting for it to be reviewed by the online retailer.

"They're re-reviewing it," said Greaves. (Amazon did not reply to numerous requests for comment on whether it has discontinued selling the e-book and whether it is reviewing its content.)

Greaves added that in the wake of a spike in sales and the controversy surrounding his e-book, he now wants to try his luck at penning a full-length novel. "It may include some [pedophilia-related material], but it's not going to be the primary focus," he said.

Meanwhile, consumers searching for other pedophilia-related titles will not suffer from a shortage of material, a quick search reveals.

Titles like "Diary of a Pedophile," "Father Pedophile," "The 'Pedophile' Sham: Undermining the Torah Matrix" and "Fun With Pedophiles, The Best of Baiting" were readily available on Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com as of early Thursday, less than a day after Amazon apparently removed Greaves' title. 

"The 'Pedophile' Sham: Undermining the Torah Matrix," was offered for sale on Amazon in paperback and hardcover versions, and on BarnesandNoble.com in paperback.

Its product description reads: "In The 'Pedophile' Sham, author Arthur S. Joseph dares to defy the common notions and beliefs regarding pedophilia. With convincing authority and no punches pulled, Joseph explains why every normal being should proudly be a pedophile -- yes, proudly. Along with the Torah and kabalistic insights, The 'Pedophile' Sham is the only source of enlightenment that establishes new definitions for the entire family."

Joseph, of Los Angeles, recently retired from a successful career as a dentist and served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, according to the Amazon.com listing. Attempts to reach Joseph and the publisher of the book, AuthorHouse, were not successful.

At BarnesandNoble.com, consumers can purchase titles like "Fun With Pedophiles, The Best of Baiting" by Doug Stanhope for as little as $10.65. The 104-page paperback was published in late 2006 by Shake the Baby Press, according to the listing.

At Borders.com, shoppers can purchase T.J. Davis' "Diary of a Pedophile" for $14.95. The 2003 paperback is currently on back order, according to the listing, but buyers can expect delivery within eight weeks.

Calls to Borders, Amazon and Barnes & Noble seeking comment were not immediately returned on Thursday.

Kelly Saindon, a Chicago-based family law attorney and former prosecutor, told Fox News she found it problematic that Amazon.com had offered "offensive" titles like "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure."

"I know they're sitting on their First Amendment rights, saying they have a right to do so, but your First Amendment rights end when they infringe upon mine," she said. "And what about the rights of the children that pedophiles attack? Who's looking out for them?" 

On Wednesday, Amazon initially stood by its decision to sell the e-book. But later in the day, the link to the e-book was no longer functioning.

"Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable," the company said in a statement to TechCrunch.com. "Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions."

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