From the archives

San Francisco 49er Antonio Bryant avoided a charge of driving under the influence during a quiet arraignment the week of Dec. 30, 2006 because the wide receiver refused to take a field sobriety test after San Mateo police officers pulled him over for allegedly speeding on Highway 101 the prior month.

Instead, Bryant, 25, was charged with reckless driving and resisting arrest in the Nov. 19, 2006 incident. Both charges are misdemeanors which let Bryant and his attorney avoid his scheduled court appearance by filling out paperwork for the court clerk.

Bryant was arrested Nov. 19 on charges of reckless and drunken driving after his 2005 orange Lamborghini was seen speeding "well over 100 mph” down Highway 101 several hours after the 49ers beat the Seattle Seahawks. Bryant also was allegedly verbally abusive with the police, refusing to leave his car and eventually forcing officers to use leather restraints to keep him in a patrol car.

Feds deny Virgin America

Burlingame-based Virgin America was tentatively denied rights to operate by the U.S. Department of Transportation the week of Dec. 30, 2006 until it could prove 75 percent of the company was owned or controlled by U.S. citizens.

The decision disappointed local officials who emphasized the amount of work already put into the deal and the local revenue, jobs and taxes the airline would provide.

Under federal law, a U.S. airline must prove that the president, two-thirds of the board of directors, and at least 75 percent of the voting interest are made up of U.S. citizens. The DOT questioned Virgin America’s close ties to the U.K. based Virgin Group. Virgin announced its plans to work with the DOT to accommodate the requirements and get planes in flight.

Accused brothel head pleads not guilty

An Oakland man accused of helping import Asian women for prostitution in San Mateo County and Colorado pleaded not guilty the week of Dec. 30, 2006 to four counts of pimping and pandering while his alleged cohorts faced similar charges in federal court.

Authorities believed Korean and Chinese women seeking transport into the United States worked at the brothels to pay off their expenses.

Ri Luo, 41, ran an escort service in Pacifica and Foster City that was actually a front for a prostitution ring that extended down the Peninsula and Colorado, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Kwor "Tommy” Chou, 29, of Colorado, was arrested with Luo Nov. 21, 2006 by the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force but only the Oakland man was extradited the prior week to appear in the local court. Local prosecutors were trying to extradite Chou, too, but he posted bail in Colorado already and hadn’t been heard from since.

Iraqis execute Saddam

Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left his country in shambles, was taken to the gallows and executed the week of Dec. 30, 2006, Iraqi state-run television reported.

It was a grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three U.S. presidents. Despite his ouster, Washington, its allies and the new Iraqi leaders remained mired in a fight to quell a stubborn insurgency by Saddam loyalists and a vicious sectarian conflict.

Also hanged were Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court. State-run Iraqiya television news announcer said "criminal Saddam was hanged to death and the execution started with criminal Saddam then Barzan then Awad al-Bandar.”

From the archives highlights stories originally printed five years ago this week. It appears in the Thursday edition of the Daily Journal.