STANLEY, N.C. — The bodies of two young cousins were recovered Monday from the collapsed rubble of a 24-foot-deep pit that was being dug with a backhoe by a man on his North Carolina property.
Rescuers had been digging for Chloe Jade Arwood, 6, and James Levi Caldwell, 7, since Sunday, when the girl’s father, Jordan Arwood, who was digging the pit, called 911. Officials were on the scene near Charlotte within minutes but couldn’t get to the children.
Sheriff’s deputies also removed firearms and a marijuana plant from the mobile home. The 31-year-old father is a felon who is not allowed to have guns. He was convicted in 2003 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
Arwood had been digging with a backhoe on the site earlier in the day, Sheriff David Carpenter said. He would not say what was being built or whether Arwood was doing it alone or had professional help.
Dion Burleson, a Lincoln County spokesman, described the pit as 20 feet by 20 feet with a sloped entrance leading to the 24-foot bottom. The children were at the bottom of the pit retrieving a child-sized pickaxe when the walls fell in on them, Carpenter said.
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See you at the latrines:
"Marine to lose rank for desecration" by MICHAEL BIESECKER | Associated Press, January 17, 2013
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Marine who pleaded guilty Wednesday to urinating on a dead Taliban fighter in Afghanistan will probably be demoted one rank under a plea agreement, although a military judge called for a much harsher sentence.
Related: Pissed-Off Afghans
Can you blame them?
Related: Pissed-Off Afghans
Can you blame them?
Staff Sergeant Edward W. Deptola pleaded guilty to multiple charges at court-martial, including dereliction of duty for desecrating remains, posing for photographs with corpses, and failing to properly supervise junior Marines.
The judge, Lieutenant Colonel Nicole Hudspeth, would have sentenced him to six months confinement, a $5,000 fine, demotion to private, and a bad-conduct discharge. But she is bound by terms of the plea agreement the sergeant reached with military prosecutors. A general could reduce the sentence.
Deptola and another Marine were charged last year after video showed four Marines urinating on three dead Afghans in July 2011. In the video, one Marine looked down and quipped, “Have a good day, buddy.”
Deptola, a Southold, N.Y., native, is married with two children, but officials declined to give his age.
Other Marines received lower sentences. Staff Sergeant Joseph W. Chamblin pleaded guilty to similar charges last month. He lost $500 in pay and was reduced in rank to sergeant. Three other Marines were given administrative punishments.
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Also see: NC Camp Lejeune water contaminated in 1953
Who pissed in it?
Related: Around AmeriKa: The Navy and North Carolina
The Camp LeJeune Killings
Sunday Globe Special: Burn Pit
You might as well throw those medals into the pit, too.
