Thursday, August 16, 2012

Charter Fitness Hosts St. Jude Fitness Challenge to Benefit Critically ...

CHICAGO, Aug. 16, 2012 // PRNewswire // -- Charter Fitness is hosting the St. Jude Fitness Challenge from August 6th through September 28th, 2012 at participating club locations. The eight-week event challenges Charter Fitness members to reach their fitness goals while helping raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to find new treatments for children with cancer and other serious illnesses.

Charter Fitness members can set their goals for weight loss, time worked-out, miles ran or walked or weight lifted over the eight-week period. Friends and family can monitor the member's progress on-line and pledge a monetary donation for each fitness milestone reached.

"Charter Fitness' St. Jude Fitness Challenge is a great way to help our community while helping yourself achieve your fitness goals. It's win-win for everyone," said Dan Collins, Director of Sales, Charter Fitness.

Register for the St. Jude Fitness Challenge online at http://www.charterfitness.com/stjude. The total amount of money raised to benefit the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital will be revealed on September 29th, 2012.

Charter Fitness Franchising LLC was recently approved to franchise its Charter Fitness Health Club brand nationally. The Company recently converted 38 Cardinal Fitness locations in Chicago, downstate Illinois and Northwest Indiana to the Charter Fitness brand, increasing the number of clubs to over 40 in five states. It is now the largest health club business in the Chicago, IL metropolitan area, and expects to hire 200 employees over the coming months.

About Charter Fitness Franchising LLC

Based in Orland Park, IL, Charter Fitness Franchising LLC is a health club franchise with over 40 locations in five states. Charter Fitness health clubs offer members a clean, comfortable and convenient workout experience with best-in-class fitness equipment for as low as $10 per month. Charter Fitness strongly believes in community involvement and is a member of the International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA). http://www.CharterFitness.com

SOURCE Charter Fitness

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Source: http://www.franchising.com/news/20120816_charter_fitness_hosts_st_jude_fitness_challenge_to.html

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Google Maps updates streetview for New Orleans, reminds us the jazz plays on

Google Maps updates street view for New Orleans, shows us the jazz plays on

In many ways, Google's Streetview is a document. A snapshot in time. Usually, this amounts to pictures of a sunny clear day in downtown Localsville, but it can also be a reminder of times less bright. Since Hurricane Katrina, the city has been working hard to rebuild neighborhoods and communities, and better prepare itself for the future. Today -- via Google's Lat Long Blog -- Mayor Mitch Landrieu proudly announced that Streetview has been updated to reflect those efforts, and show New Orleans in that familiar, sunny way. Whether it's Congo Square ("the birthplace of jazz"), the city's parks, or more recent features and attractions, Landrieu proudly extends an invite to all of us to come take a look, enjoy the virtual tour, and "whet our appetite." We say put the Gumbo on.

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Deep inside the body, tiny mechanical microscope diagnoses disease

ScienceDaily (Aug. 14, 2012) ? Tiny space age probes -- those that can see inside single living cells -- are increasingly being used to diagnose illness in hard-to-reach areas of the body.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center's Dr. Michel Kahaleh often threads a tiny microscope into the narrow bile ducts that connect the liver to the small intestine to hunt for cancer. He also uses the device to minutely explore the pancreatic duct as one of a few doctors in the country to use such technology in this way.

But because these devices are comparatively new, Dr. Kahaleh, chief of endoscopy at the Center for Advanced Digestive Care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, suspected that the specialists who are beginning to use them may be interpreting what they see in different ways.

That's exactly what he and his research team discovered, when they sent six different specialists at five different medical institutions recorded videos taken by a probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) deep inside 25 patients with abnormally narrowed bile ducts.

The study, published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences, demonstrates there was "poor" to "fair" agreement on the clinical significance of what the physicians were viewing in the videos -- whether what they saw represented cancer, simple inflammation, or a benign condition.

"That means physicians need to come up with a standard way of interpreting what the videos reveal in order to properly use this "amazing technology," says senior author Dr. Kahaleh, who is also medical director of the Pancreas Program at Weill Cornell. "We can see detail that was just unimaginable a decade ago -- this breakthrough is born for the bile duct and those tiny tubes and complicated organ structures that no one has ever been able to visualize before," he says. "And when physicians are certain of what they are seeing, we will be able to greatly improve patient treatment, avoiding unnecessary surgery whenever possible."

The Need to Know What You See

The human bile duct transports bile, secreted by the liver to aid in the process of digestion, to the small intestine. But inflammatory disease, the passing of gallstones or a tumor can cause the bile duct to constrict, resulting in a blockage that can lead to jaundice, cirrhosis, and other conditions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved pCLE diagnostic systems for use in the bile duct and pancreas two years ago. The pCLE is a mini microscopic probe that is threaded inside a larger "spy glass" probe. The pCLE can then image blood vessels, mucosal structures and epithelial tissue in real-time, broadcasting these images on a large monitor for physicians to examine.

But the vast majority of institutions may still use a rather hit-or-miss technique to determine if a bile duct is cancerous. The traditional technique is to thread a probe inside the duct to where it is abnormally narrowed and then to use a small brush or tiny forceps to gather some cells that can then be biopsied in a lab."But we still miss 20-30 percent of bile duct cancer or other tumors in this way, and that is unacceptable," Dr. Kahaleh says.

If a tumor is found in the bile duct, it can be removed, and a replacement can be fashioned out of the bowel. "It's a big operation, and you want to make sure it is necessary," says Dr. Kahaleh. "If there is any way to prevent surgery that would be a phenomenal advance for patient care."

In this study, the six gastroenterologists trained in using bile duct pCLE were asked to analyze seven variables seen in the 30-second to 1-minute video clips, and diagnose whether the bile duct was cancerous or not. (Only the study coordinator knew the results in advance due to confirmation from tissue biopsies after surgery, or other evidence of malignancy.)

Diagnostic agreement between the specialists was poor to fair, depending on the variable, as was the final diagnosis.

"It is clear physicians need a standard by which to understand what they see, which will also need to involve more training," says Dr. Kahaleh. "This is increasingly important, as these minimally invasive systems are proposed for use in diagnosing other health issues in the gastrointestinal tract, including ulcerative colitis and Barrett's esophagus."

"We can now see inside these tiny organs, but we just need to know exactly what we are looking at," he adds.

The study's co-authors include Dr. Jayant P. Talreja, Dr. Mihir R. Bakhru, and Dr. Bryan G. Sauer, from the University of Virginia; Dr. Amrita Sethi, from Columbia University Medical Center; Dr, Priya A. Jamidar and Dr. Uzma D. Siddiqui, from Yale University; Dr. Satish K. Singh from Boston University School of Medicine; Dr. Richard S. Kwon from the University of Michigan; Dr. Mandeep Sawhney from BIDMC in Boston; and Dr. Monica Gaidhane and Pam Kline from Weill Cornell Medical College.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jayant P. Talreja, Amrita Sethi, Priya A. Jamidar, Satish K. Singh, Richard S. Kwon, Uzma D. Siddiqui, Mandeep Sawhney, Mihir R. Bakhru, Monica Gaidhane, Pam Kline, Bryan G. Sauer, Michel Kahaleh. Interpretation of Probe-Based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy of Indeterminate Biliary Strictures: Is There Any Interobserver Agreement? Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s10620-012-2338-6

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/79owf6eMIWY/120814213250.htm

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Romney blocks media from Ryan's 1st Vegas funder

Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. pauses during a campaign rally in Lakewood, Colo., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. pauses during a campaign rally in Lakewood, Colo., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

(AP) ? Mitt Romney's campaign is blocking reporters from covering GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's first meeting with donors in Las Vegas.

Tuesday night's event at The Venetian hotel is expected to draw casino owner and Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

The decision to block access marks an apparent break from rules previously established by Romney's campaign.

Reporters usually are allowed to cover President Barack Obama's fundraisers held in public venues.

A Romney aide who was not authorized to speak for the record said the event is closed to the media because it is a "finance meeting" instead of a fundraiser. The aide said fewer than 40 people will attend, which is usually the threshold for access.

Ryan attended two Denver-area fundraisers on Monday night where media coverage also was prohibited.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-08-14-Ryan-Fundraiser/id-234c76349af5440e9a8a951f98fbbe92

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The TK Advisor -TK Financial Group Ottawa Blog about Life ...

Yesterday I met with a business owner with whom I have been working with for almost a year on the Estate plan and now we are working to create insurance solutions .
On a need bases this person is underinsured for : disability protection , life protection and critical illness protection .
The individual has a young family and a substantial mortgage . The investment advisor at the bank suggested a " corporate estate bond " which involves obtaining a permanent life policy inside a corporation and the cash values in the policy accumulate on a tax deferred basis . This structure is perfect for a individual who has cash flow , manageable debt with no or small mortgage but it is not for everyone . Before you proceed to acquire these great products look at your big picture planning .
Permanent life insurance product is NOT for every individual or corporation however , in the right situation it is a fabulous alternate investment option to accumulate wealth .
Clearly stay away from people that only see a sale at the end of their "pitch " without regard for your specific situation .
Work with a planner and there are many good ones out there who focus on you first !

Source: http://www.tkadvisor.com/2012/08/whole-life-and-universal-life-are-a-excellent-but.html

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Ministry of Finance experts multinational families turn to levy a tax ...

In addition, the higher the degree of tax progressivity of the tax base will be to shrink tax revenues will be reduced. This also makes the tax regulation weakening. Proportional to the size of the regulatory function of the tax is to raise its income tax into the scale the less, whether a tax progressivity of how high its regulatory function will be very weak. The process of tax the regulatory function resides in a tax to raise revenue, the regulatory function of the tax is ?gross?,louboutin, then the function of a tax to raise revenue is the ?skin? the skin, hair adhere to From the revenue function to talk about a tax adjustment function, it is just an illusion. Single tariff from strengthening the revenue function to start to enhance the regulatory function of the tax. Single rate appears to reduce the regulatory function of the theoretical, but actually enhance it; progressive tax rate appears to enhance the regulatory function of the theoretical, but in fact actually weakened. This is the dialectics of tax regulation.

From the general reason, the circumstances and conditions of the tax law is the more complex, they can call the ?edge ball? will be more. Conditions such as pre-tax deduction is not entirely different in practice, for the gray area, there may be room for planning; progressive tax rates, taxable income of one dollar and less a dollar, its adaptation to the tax rate is very different,air jordan pas cher, people will always trying to rely on to low-end tax rate. As a result, taxpayers to implement the ?tax planning? space generated, and that the tax law more complex, and space planning. In other words, the tax law more complex, more vulnerabilities will be drilling.

Third, the flat tax is a better choice

One comes to a tax, it seems natural and progressive tax rates, even summed up the principle of ?progressive taxation?. Progressive rates to produce perhaps the distribution of income to a growing gap between social reality linked to. However, the actual effect has not been implemented progressive tax rates make distribution to narrow the gap, on the contrary, the distribution gap is still widening. The United States is one of the most typical case. The reason, in fact, from its own progressive tax rates to make the tax system becomes complicated leaving tax adjustment function compromised. Moreover, the progressive tax rate on the impact of tax system complexity is the progressive tax system is always on the basis of the complex becomes more complex. The tax system more complex, and its regulatory function is more difficult to play.

In advocating family levy a tax fairer view, the OECD countries, this change seems to be incredible. In fact, from the turn to the individual as a unit, the family as the taxable unit is the pursuit of fairness, but another perspective of the fair.

Family and marriage naturally dynamic observation of all households through marriage or dissolution. Thus, a tax levied family,polo ralph lauren, is bound and marriage closely linked. From a sociological point of view,burberry, a tax system should not marriage ?bonus? or ?punishment? effect, but should follow the principle of ?marriage neutral?, otherwise, a tax system may have unpredictable negative effects on society . Some OECD countries have changed according to personal taxation, but also want to reduce a tax on non-neutral marriage. If other conditions remain unchanged, according to family tax than the tax on personal tax burden is heavier in the following cases: both spouses have income, the consolidated tax make applicable tax rates rise. This will no doubt marriage a ?punishment?,ralph lauren, thus encouraging marriage, cohabitation and marriage, divorce, or choose a man to seek tax avoidance. In Western countries, the social context, such a negative incentive to be more and more attention. This may be a number of OECD countries to turn to an important reason to levy a tax on an individual unit. It is necessary to achieve equitable tax burden between families, but also take into account the principle of ?marriage neutral? to prevent the tax system to produce against social risks, which in fact can not be done, unless we give up the progressive tax rate.

The tax controversies (eg, household levy or press personal levying better Breakdown of levy or levy China?s tax burden is too heavy Why our tax adjustment function play out Of why the tax misery index ranked second in the world ) result from the progressive tax rate. If changed to a single rate, these problems will be solved, many so-called problem of tax reform in China would not exist.

Since the 1970s, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy and Australia and other countries land one after another into the individual for the taxable entity from the family as a taxable entity, has been more than the OECD countries, half to reach 17 a. There are a number of countries in between, formal family tax essentially tend to be taxed according to their individual France, for example, family income, aggregate income, broken down into a number of share to Tandao every family member, personal share of the calculation of tax payable, tax payable then the family members combined, is the family tax payable. Germany, Ireland is also a similar approach, merger spouse income to calculate the total household income, and then divided by the two draw their respective spouses taxable income, each calculation of tax payable in accordance with the tax rates of the corresponding grade together is the family should be borne taxes.

Look at our Hong Kong SAR, in fact, a single tax structure. Although there is no implementation of a progressive tax, the rich Hong Kong is still the main tax of the tax, the richest 8 percent of the people bear a tax burden, about 60% of wage earners do not have to pay taxes for the salaries and wages. This also shows that to abandon the progressive tax is not necessarily the poor to pay higher taxes, the amount of pay principle can still follow.

Second, over half of OECD countries levy a tax shift imposed by family according to their individual

Complex tax system will not only bring huge social costs, and will greatly increase the uncertainty of the effective implementation of tax law, which requires strong tax collection and the ability to match. Otherwise, like high-rise building on the beach, the risk is obvious. Can make this look well-designed tax system in name only, distorted in practice, may also be due to the above reasons make the fair tax only, but in fact is not fair. Even in the high level of tax law, the collection and management ability of the U.S., has also had this problem. For example, U.S. tax law, the rich donated artwork can be tax deductible, while art prices identified as having a lot of flexibility, some rich people have used this provision to paying less tax. For middle-income class, but no such tax avoidance opportunities.

Generally speaking, the space the size of tax avoidance and tax system complexity is proportional to; the size of the capacity of tax avoidance, the taxpayer?s income level is proportional to the space of complex tax system, tax avoidance would most likely be the rich take advantage of. This causes progressive tax nominal into a regressive, or at least reach the tax law, the progressivity. Complicated tax system will lead to avoidance of competition, and strengthen tax avoidance motive, the majority of the taxpayer?s mind involuntarily directed to the avoidance up, not only the vertical equity (income a lot to pay tax, income tax Shaoshao) greatly reduced, but also make horizontal equity ( the same income tax) is difficult to achieve. At the same time the result is the loss of tax revenue, a tax to raise fiscal revenue function is impaired, and regulate the distribution function will thus significantly weakened.

In the case of an increasingly competitive global economy, low tax rates enhance the country?s competitiveness, especially in competition to attract human capital, the single tax can not be underestimated. Unfair on the grounds incurred against a flat tax in some countries, but did not appear from a single tax return to the case of a progressive tax, contrary to the implementation of the single tax list is getting longer and longer. Practice has proved that a simple, transparent flat tax can be compatible with the fairness and efficiency.
?s most complex personal income tax system. The only U.S. federal income tax law, there are four volumes of 6439, 480 kinds of tax returns. Version of the 1994 United States federal tax laws, Chapter 205, 1564, kid number printed in two volumes, more than 1400 pages. Matching 1994 federal tariff, a total of five volumes, the first four volumes on the tax rules of the federal income tax 6400. U.S. Internal Revenue Service is responsible for the management of the federal income tax, issue 480 kinds of tax forms, this issue forms to fill in the guide books, three volumes,air jordan, each volume has one foot thick. Internal Revenue Service annually to more than 100 million taxpayers sent about 80 billion in the form and fill out the manual, these forms and instructions an a connection up to 28 laps around the earth. Form 1040 for each taxpayer must fill in many forms, is very tedious and complicated, someone spotted the opportunity to write a how to fill out this form in order to obtain relief Dictionary Dictionary directory only double up to 19 page shows that the dictionary of the big.

The reason is simple. Faced with complex tax system to produce huge tax planning space, stimulate the strong motive of tax avoidance, tax avoidance ability is proportional to income, thus offsetting part of the regulatory function of a progressive tax. The actual process of progressive tax with the theoretical calculation of a progressive tax is completely different,abercrombie pas cher, because theoretically progressive tax adjustment function ignored the motive of the taxpayer?s tax avoidance, tax evasion and avoidance.

This can be used two examples to illustrate. Look at the situation in Russia. Before 2001, Russia introduced a 12%, 20% and 30% in third gear progressive rates, but serious loss of tax revenue. Not difficult to imagine, the implementation of the Russian shock therapy, social order and the rule of law in taxation environment is relatively poor, tax evasion is a common phenomenon. Russia introduced a single tax rate of 13 percent in 2001, six years from 2001 to 2007, the tax evasion phenomenon is greatly reduced, a tax revenue has tripled,polo ralph lauren pas cher, and can be described as the rapid growth. Statutory tax burden reduced by Russia?s ranking in the Forbes Global Tax Misery Index, a tax becomes not unacceptable, recognition has been improved for the majority of people. During this period, Russia?s GDP average annual real growth over 6%,louboutin pas cher, the economic prosperity of the entire tax base which continues to expand. Low tax rates to stimulate the tax base to expand, this is the important reason for a lower tax rate but an increase of tax revenue. The low tax rate would be able to get more tax revenue, indicating that more important than the rate of tax base.

In many OECD countries, tax reform, changes in the unit of assessment is of concern. Family tax or personal tax, which is a progressive tax rates lead to out of trouble. Levy a tax to the family as the unit was once a common practice in developed Western countries. In theory, a family levy can fully consider the differences of each family, the implementation of the tax deduction and tax incentives, the fairness of the tax burden between families. The family is the basic unit of society, support for the elderly, raising future generations, is the basic functions of the family, between families tax burden is fair and fair is more important than the tax burden between individual workers. Therefore, long-term household levy a tax to be regarded as the best choice. Many OECD countries to break the old system, steering a tax levied on an individual unit.

The flat tax proposed by the Americans Hall and Labrador Ziska 1981. The basic idea is to simplify the tax system, prominent feature is the implementation of a single tax rate, the abolition of the usual progressive rates. The Single Tax is the tax reform is envisaged that the complex tax system in the United States due to the complex interests of the game, the idea did not bear fruit in the United States, but have been implemented in other countries and regions. From the trend shown by the data, more and more countries and regions to implement a single tax rate. To 2009, 27 countries and territories to implement a single tax rate. Countries and regions in the implementation of a single tax rate generally lowered tax rates, the overall statutory tax burden decreased, but the tax revenue but an increase. This is not just dilute the avoidance motivation, reduce the loss of tax revenue and, more importantly, low tax rates to stimulate the economy, but also to legalize the shadow economy, thus expanding the tax base, resulting in revenue growth.

The complexity of U.S. tax has embarked on a path of no return. From 2001 to 2008, the tax code to modify the 3250 in 2008 alone, there are 500 amendments have been to reach 3.7 million words, but in 2005 is 2.1 million words, in 2001 1.395 million words, tax law since 1975, number of words has been to expand threefold. The face of overly complex tax code, even if he wanted to honestly pay taxes, often because the understanding of errors and incorrect declaration or to pay a, or pay less to be punished. From thought-avoidance,louboutin, always able to find tax loopholes. Therefore, tax declaration, 82 percent of the people to pay for it, of which 60% of people need to hire professionals proxy reporting, 22% of people need to purchase tax software to help the tax calculation. Tax planning in the United States into a high-income occupations, there are at least 50 million people relied on to eat, in addition to tax, over one hundred million taxpayers a year for the industry contribution of $ 35 billion.

From the eighties of the last century, the Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the state has taken a variety of tax reform measures, such as reducing tax rates, the highest marginal rate of tax is generally reduced, not only to reduce the wage income tax rate, but also reducing the dividend and capital gains tax rate; reducing tax rates while broadening the tax base, the original fringe benefits excluded from outside the tax base, and unemployment benefits included in the taxable income range,burberry pas cher, and reduce the deduction of preference erosion; reduce The rate of grade,abercrombie france, the majority of countries reduced to 3-5 file the United States, France, 6 files, but the overall trend is that fewer and fewer grade progressive tax rates, some countries into a file taxes, the implementation of a single tax rate, such as Iceland. polo ralph lauren

Source: http://www.sparrows.org/ministry-of-finance-experts-multinational-families-turn-to-levy-a-tax-based-on-i/

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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Family: Texas shootout gunman had mental illness

This undated photo provided by the City of College Station, Texas shows Thomas Caffall. Caffall, 43, has been identified by authorities as the shooter who opened fire from inside his home in College Station as he was being served an eviction notice, killing Brazos County constable Brian Bachmann and another man, on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/City of College Station)

This undated photo provided by the City of College Station, Texas shows Thomas Caffall. Caffall, 43, has been identified by authorities as the shooter who opened fire from inside his home in College Station as he was being served an eviction notice, killing Brazos County constable Brian Bachmann and another man, on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/City of College Station)

Police officials take measurements at a house Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012 in College Station, Texas, the day after a deadly shooting. Police said 35-year-old Thomas Alton Caffall III had "long guns and pistols" in his home when Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann showed up to deliver an eviction notice. Bachmann was fatally wounded as he approached the home and a bystander died in the shootout. Caffall died at a hospital. (AP Photo/Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dave McDermand)

In this Aug. 13, 2012 photo provided by Rigo Cisneros, an officer takes cover, center, behind a vehicle during a shooting at a house in College Station, Texas, near Texas A&M University. Brazos County constable Brian Bachmann, a veteran of 19 years, was making what was supposed to be a routine house call to serve an eviction notice at the property when the recipient, Thomas Alton Caffall, opened fire and shots were exchanged. Bachmann, Caffall and another man were killed by the gunfire. (AP Photo/Rigo Cisneros)

This undated photo provided by his election campaign shows constable Brian Bachmann, who was shot and killed while serving an eviction notice near Texas A&M University on Monday, Aug. 13, 2012 in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Bryan-College Station Eagle)

In this Monday, Aug. 13, 2012 photo, Texas A&M chief of police Elmer Schneider, right, gives his wife Dee Ann a flame from his candle during the candlight vigil on the Texas A&M campus in College Station, Texas. Police said Tuesday that 35-year-old Thomas Alton Caffall III had "long guns and pistols" in his home when Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann showed up to deliver an eviction notice. Officials say Bachmann was fatally wounded as he approached the home and a bystander died in the shootout. Caffall died at a hospital. (AP Photo/Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dave McDermand)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) ? In the months leading up to Monday's shootout near Texas A&M University that killed three, gunman Thomas Alton Caffall III had cut off contact with his family, even though his mother was seriously ill.

Caffall's family said the 35-year-old told them he had his own issues, an unspecified mental illness they declined to comment on.

On Monday, Caffall opened fire on a law enforcement officer who was trying to serve him with a court summons for being two months behind on rent. The officer was killed.

Police said officers shot and killed Caffall during the 30-minute shootout. A bystander also died and four others were wounded; police did not say whose gunfire struck them.

"It breaks our hearts his illness led to this," Caffall's family said in a statement released through an attorney.

Authorities continued their investigation Tuesday, saying Caffall was in possession of multiple weapons and fired numerous times.

W. Tyler Moore, the family's attorney, had known Caffall since he was 4 years old.

"He wasn't the same kid that he used to be, let's just say that," Moore said. "He was sweet, very bright, good sense of humor, just a good kid, a sweet kid."

Moore said the Caffall he used to know may have surfaced when, just before dying, Caffall offered an apology to the officer he had fatally shot.

College Station Police Chief Jeff Capps said Tuesday that Caffall had "some long guns and pistols" in his home, but would not give details and did not say whether the weapons had been obtained legally.

"The crime scene is still being processed," Capps said.

Capps said he wasn't aware of any previous law enforcement contact with the gunman.

Just after noon Monday, College Station police fielded frantic 911 calls about gunfire in the neighborhood near the university's football stadium. Responding officers found Brazos County Constable Brian Bachmann, 41, shot on the lawn of the house.

"Either upon approach to the house or shortly after, it appears he was shot by the suspect," Capps said Tuesday.

Bachmann had volunteered to deliver a notice for Caffall to appear in court on Aug. 23 because he was at least two months behind paying his rent, owing $1,250, said Michael McCleary, a justice of the peace in Brazos County.

"Another deputy was planning on taking the (notice), but Brian grabbed it from him and said, 'I'll take it.' He enjoyed doing it," McCleary said.

Before Caffall was taken from the scene, Rigo Cisneros, a neighbor and former medic, treated him.

"I started identifying his wounds and at that point he asked me to apologize to the officer he had shot," said Cisneros, 40.

The former medic said he has not put any thought into whether Caffall was being sincere.

"My only thought was with the officers that were wounded and killed. I could care less if I ever knew (Caffall's) name," Cisneros said.

Officials at Texas A&M, the 50,000-student school that dominates the city 100 miles northwest of Houston, said Caffall was neither a student nor school employee.

College Station resident Chris Northcliff was at least 100 yards away from the shootout when he was mortally wounded. Police confirmed his age Tuesday as 51; earlier, they said he was 43.

Robby Bounds, Northcliff's brother-in-law, said Northcliff was checking on a rental property he owned when he was shot.

"He was a very creative, very kind man," Bounds said of the married father of two children. "Everybody is still kind of shell-shocked. It's one of those things you hear about on TV and never expect to happen."

Houston resident Barbara Holdsworth, 51, was wounded in the shoulder Monday, and listed in serious condition Tuesday.

College Station Police Officer Justin Oehlke was treated for a gunshot wound in the calf and was in stable condition, police spokeswoman Rhonda Seaton said. Two other officers ? Brad Smith and Phil Dorsett ? were treated for "shrapnel injuries" and released, Seaton said.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, a database of slain law enforcement officers, Bachmann is the first Brazos County constable killed in the line of duty since Randall Millican was gunned down in December 1889. Millican held the post in the same county precinct.

Former President George H.W. Bush, whose presidential library is on the A&M campus, offered his condolences Tuesday, saying, "While we cannot understand the senselessness that led to this shocking series of events, we do know that the Bryan-College Station community ? which is like a home for us ? will come together to comfort and, just as importantly, to persevere."

___

Lozano reported from Houston

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-14-Texas%20AandM-Shooter/id-a59f87edf072456c98d34f66ee43ba06

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