National Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

EAST
SECRET SERVICE SAYS MAN POSED THREAT TO PRESIDENT
Secret Service agents believe an upstate New York man driving a blue, 1997 Toyota sedan with the license plate BRF-6546 posed a threat to the safety of President Bush shortly after the president’s arrival in New York to raise money for his re-election campaign yesterday and his address to the United Nations general assembly this morning.
According to a report by the local affiliate of the ABC television network, Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials were hunting for a missing man identified as Lawrence James Ward, addressed at 102 North Main Street in the upstate town of Bainbridge, who reportedly invited a friend to his home on September 9 and told the friend to take whatever items he wanted from the house because he would be going away. The friend also noticed a picture of Mr. Bush in Mr. Ward’s home with the words “Dead Man” scrawled on it, and then contacted the Secret Service, according to WABC.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, Tom Mazur, said the agency would not confirm or deny that Mr. Ward, 57, was under investigation for the alleged threats. Calls to Mr. Ward’s home in Bainbridge were not returned. A spokesman for the Bush campaign, a spokesman for the police department, and several law enforcement officials patrolling the Midtown hotel where Mr. Bush addressed supporters last night said they were unaware of any threats to the president.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
MIDWEST
IMAM SENTENCED TO TWO MONTHS
AKRON, Ohio – The leader of Ohio’s largest mosque was sentenced yesterday to two months in federal prison and four months of house arrest for lying about his connections to terrorist groups when he applied for American citizenship.
Palestinian-born Fawaz Damra, imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, could have received up to five years in prison on the charge of obtaining American citizenship in 1994 by providing false information.
Prosecutors had requested the maximum sentence, but U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin said he did not view the citizenship application offense as a terrorism issue the way prosecutors had tried to suggest.
Sentencing guidelines for first-time offenders called for probation to six months in prison. Prosecutors also urged Judge Gwin to immediately revoke Mr. Damra’s citizenship, but Mr. Damra’s attorneys asked him to wait until after the appeal, which could take years. Judge Gwin did not immediately rule on the matter.
U.S. Attorney Gregory White said after sentencing that revoking Mr. Damra’s citizenship is more important than getting a longer prison sentence. Judge Gwin allowed Mr. Damra to remain free on bond. He said the imam could start serving his sentence after the Muslim holiday of Ramadan ends in November.
– Associated Press
SECURITY GUARD SHOT TO DEATH AT CAPITOL
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – An unarmed security guard was shot to death inside the state Capitol yesterday by a gunman who then fled in a car, authorities said.
The officer was killed with one shot to the chest, said Colonel Larry Schmidt, chief deputy director of the secretary of state police. Authorities did not immediately provide a motive. After firing the shot, the gunman left the building, put the weapon in the trunk of his car, and drove away, Colonel Schmidt said. He said the guard died in a hospital operating room.
Springfield police said they were investigating another shooting about an hour earlier at a military surplus store about 2 miles from the Capitol involving a man who matched the description of the shooter.
The Capitol has no metal detectors, and its security guards are not armed.
– Associated Press
WASHINGTON
PENTAGON OPENS OPERATIONS CENTER
The Pentagon has established a new military headquarters whose mission is to defend the nation’s capital and to assist civil authorities in responding to a terrorist attack here.
The Joint Forces Headquarters for the National Capital Region is based at Fort McNair, a small Army post in Washington on the banks of the Anacostia River whose fortifications did not stop the British from invading in 1814 and burning the White House and Capitol. The idea of the new Joint Forces Headquarters is not to fend off foreign armies but to prevent if possible – and respond to, if not – surprise attack by terrorists using nuclear, chemical, biological, or other unconventional means, Army Major General Galen B. Jackman said yesterday.
“There are vulnerabilities in the nation’s capital,” he said without being specific. One of those vulnerabilities is the proximity of the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings to commercial air traffic, as shown by the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon.
– Associated Press