Ex-cop at center of manhunt called 'depraved,' 'cowardly'

The fired LAPD officer suspected of terrorizing Southern California in a bloody rampage opened fire on two Riverside police officers with a rifle in a "cowardly ambush" early Thursday morning, Riverside police Chief Sergio Diaz told reporters at a morning news conference.

A 34-year-old officer who was an 11-year veteran of the department was killed in the attack. He was training a 27-year-old officer, who was shot in the upper body but survived, Diaz said. Their names were not released.

Diaz, a former Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief, said he believed the attack was random, coming less than 20 minutes after the suspect -- identified as Christopher Jordan Dorner -- had opened fire on two LAPD officers in Corona near the Magnolia Street exit ramp on Interstate 15.

PHOTOS: The Manhunt

Those officers were among 41 special details dispatched to protect LAPD officers whom Dorner, in an online manifesto, allegedly threatened to hunt down in revenge for being dismissed from the force.

"My opinion of the suspect is unprintable,'' Diaz said. "The manifesto I think speaks for itself as evidence enough of a depraved and abandoned mind and heart.''

The suspect allegedly opened fire as the Riverside officers were stopped at red light at the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and Arlington Boulevard around 1:35 p.m. Bullets pierced the patrol car's windshield, hitting both officers in the chest, Diaz said.

Law enforcement officers from agencies around the Inland Empire descended on Riverside after the shooting to assist with the manhunt. Officers tooting rifles and shotguns stood vigil outside the Riverside police station, which has been placed on "high alert.''

Diaz described the situation as surreal.

"We're hoping to wake up and find this is a bad dream,'' he said

Corona police Chief Michael Abel said the suspect opened fire on two LAPD officers after they were flagged down by a resident who recognized Dorner's Nissan Titan pickup truck. After a short pursuit, Dorner shot at the officers with a rifle, grazing one on the head. The LAPD officers returned fire but their patrol car was disabled and they could not continue the pursuit.

The LAPD officer who was shot was hospitalized and a full recovery is expected, said LAPD Dep. Chief Jose Perez. He was not identified.

Diaz's news conference, held in a Riverside police station near the Tyler Mall, was flooded with television news crews and other media.

Diaz said the department decided to delay releasing the names of the slain and wounded officers because of fears that Dorner, in his quest to hunt down police officers and their relatives, may target their families.

With the city on edge, Diaz urged parents to continue sending their children to school -- which he said was the safest place for them -- and for local businesses to stay open. There's no evidence that Dorner remained in Riverside, or that that he was targeting anyone in the city, Diaz said.

Diaz said he did not know the suspect while he was with the LAPD, and did not have any role in the grievance proceeding that led to Dorner's dismissal in 2009.

"We're going to find him. You can't have this many people looking for you and not be found,'' Diaz said.

Some schools in the area were closed.

A note posted on the Notre Dame Catholic High School website said the school was closed because of the shooting. The school is not far from the scene of the attack.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman with the Riverside Unified School District said officials were trying to reassure parents that the district's campuses were safe and that they were working closely with authorities.

"Of course, we are being vigilant, even more extra than we normally do," said district spokeswoman Jacquie Paul.

Despite the outreach some parents have chosen to keep their children at home, she said.

PHOTOS: The Manhunt

The district oversees about 42,000 students from kindergarten through high school. She said students would be excused if their parents decided to keep them home. 

"We're very understanding of parents who are nervous, because we understand where they are coming from."

Assistant Supt. David Hansen of the Corona Norco Unified School District said some parents in his district had also kept their students home.

Hansen said all schools were operating normally. He said a automatic phone message was sent to parents telling them that officials were aware if the shootings, and to ensure them they were working closely with police.

"There's anxiety all around because this has been on the news," Hansen said.

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Afghan boys from nominated film to walk red carpet

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Fawad Mohammadi has spent half his life peddling maps and dictionaries to foreigners on a street of trinket shops in Kabul. Now the 14-year-old Afghan boy with bright green eyes is getting ready for a trip down the red carpet at the Oscars.

It will also be his first time out of the country and his first time on a plane.

Mohammadi was plucked from the dingy streets of the Afghan capital to be one of the main stars of "Buzkashi Boys," a coming-of-age movie filmed entirely in a war zone and nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category.

The movie is about two penniless young boys — a street urchin and a blacksmith's son — who are best friends and dream of becoming professional players of buzkashi, a particularly rough and dangerous game that somewhat resembles polo: Horseback riders wrangle to get a headless goat carcass into a circular goal at one end of the field.

It's also part of an American director's effort to help revive a film industry devastated by decades of civil war and by the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist movement that banned entertainment and burned films and theaters during its five years in power.

Sam French, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Afghanistan for about five years, said his 28-minute movie was initially conceived as a way of training local film industry workers — the first installment in his nonprofit Afghan Film Project.

"We never dreamed of having the film come this far and get an Oscar nomination," French, 36, said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he is preparing for the Feb. 24 Academy Awards and raising money to fly the two young co-stars in for the ceremony.

The two boys playing the main characters — Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz — can barely contain their excitement about going to the Oscars.

"It will be a great honor for me and for Afghanistan to meet the world's most famous actors," said Mohammadi, whose real-life dream is to become a pilot. He's also hoping to go see the cockpit during the flight.

The farthest Mohammadi has ever traveled was to the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif when he was younger.

Mohammadi's father died a few years ago, leaving him with his mother, five brothers and a sister. He started selling chewing gum when he was about 7 years old and soon expanded his trade to maps and dictionaries.

He learned to speak English hustling foreigners on Chicken Street, the main tourist area in Kabul with shops selling multicolor rugs, lapis bowls and other crafts and souvenirs, and gained a reputation for being polite, helpful and trustworthy. He was even able to enroll in a private school, thanks to the generosity of some other foreigners unrelated to the film project.

In the movie Mohammadi plays the blacksmith's son, Rafi, whose father wants him to follow in his footsteps.

"His life was so much harder than mine," Mohammadi said. "The blacksmith made him go out on the streets. I came myself here (to Chicken Street). My family didn't make me come. I wanted to make money to feed myself and to feed my family. He didn't have a home. They lived in the blacksmith shop."

Ironically it's not Mohammadi but Paiz, the youngest son of a well-known Afghan actor, who plays the homeless boy Ahmad.

Paiz, also 14, already was an experienced actor: He's appeared in films since the age of 5 and has gone to the Cannes Film Festival.

Paiz and Mohammadi had a lot to learn from each other and became friends. He gave Mohammadi tips for acting and handling himself in live interviews, while Fawad taught him about life outside his sheltered surroundings.

"When I saw Fawad was such a good actor even though he was a street boy and he was so brave in acting, I was very surprised and I said to myself, 'Everybody can achieve what they desire to do,'" Paiz said during an interview this week, shivering in the snow-covered courtyard of the Afghan Film Institute while a local TV series was being filmed nearby.

French, who co-wrote the script and produced "Buzkashi Boys" with Martin Roe of the Los Angeles-based production company Dirty Robber, launched a fundraising drive that's raised almost $10,000 so far to help bring the boys to Los Angeles for the ceremony. Any extra money will be placed in a fund to provide for Mohammadi's education and help his family. The boys will travel with an escort and will stay with the extended Afghan family of one of the film's producers, French said.

French said he's aware of the pitfalls in working with child actors from developing countries.

The makers of "Slumdog Millionaire," the rags-to-riches blockbuster about three poor Indian children, have struggled to make a better life for the young stars, and four boys who acted in "The Kite Runner" had to leave Afghanistan out of concern they could be ostracized or subject to violence because of a rape scene in the movie.

French said he and others involved in the "Buzkashi Boys" took pains to involve the community and made sure to avoid any scenes that could be offensive.

"We're not filmmakers who just do a film and leave. We remain there and present," he said. "We had lots and lots of tea with lots and lots of people."

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says there have been three documentary features nominees filmed at least in part in Afghanistan since 2007 — all about the U.S. military. The Kite Runner, which was nominated for original score in 2007, was set in Afghanistan but not filmed there.

Afghanistan had a burgeoning film industry starting in the early 20th century, but it suffered from fighting during the civil war and the Taliban campaign to stamp out entertainment. Actors and film industry workers like Paiz's father and the actor who plays the blacksmith, Wali Talash, fled the country. They returned only after the 2001 U.S.-led assault that ousted the Islamic movement and its al-Qaida allies.

Talash, 56, said he hopes the "Buzkashi Boys" will show the world the rich culture of Afghanistan, which too few in the world know beyond reports of roadside bombs and suicide attacks.

"I hope if this movie wins that it will be an earthquake that will shake the industry and help Afghan filmmakers get back on their feet," he said.

Mohammadi, meanwhile, says he knows the money and fame he earned from the movie can carry him only so far. He still sells maps, though not so often as before, because he has school.

"For my work I used to know a lot of foreigners and I still do, but before they used to know me as a map seller. Now they know me as an actor," he said, waving a plastic-covered map as weary Afghans walked by on the muddy street. "Most of them take pictures with me and sometimes they buy maps from me even if they don't need any just because they spotted me in the movie."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Loeper in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Fundraising site — https://rally.org/buzkashiboys

Film website — http://www.buzkashiboys.com/

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Well: The 'Monday Morning' Medical Screaming Match

I did not think I would ever see another “morbidity and mortality” conference in which senior doctors publicly attacked their younger colleagues for making medical errors. These types of heated meetings were commonplace when I was a medical student but have largely been abandoned.

Yet here they were again on “Monday Mornings,” a new medical drama on the TNT network, based on a novel by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and one of the executive producers of the show. Such screaming matches may make for good television, but it is useful to review why new strategies have emerged for dealing with medical mistakes.

So-called M&M conferences emerged in the early 20th century as a way for physicians to review cases that had either surprising outcomes or had somehow gone wrong. Although the format varied among institutions and departments, surgery M&Ms were especially known for their confrontations, as more experienced surgeons often browbeat younger doctors into admitting their errors and promising to never make them again.

Such conferences were generally closed door — that is, attended only by physicians. Errors were a private matter not to be shared with other hospital staff, let alone patients and families.

But in the late 1970s, a sociology graduate student named Charles L. Bosk gained access to the surgery department at the University of Chicago. His resultant 1979 book, “Forgive and Remember,” was one of the earliest public discussions of how the medical profession addressed its mistakes.

Dr. Bosk developed a helpful terminology. Technical and judgment errors by surgeons could be forgiven, but only if they were remembered and subsequently prevented by those who committed them. Normative errors, which called into question the moral character of the culprit, were unacceptable and potentially jeopardized careers.

Although Dr. Bosk’s book was more observational than proscriptive, his depiction of M&M conferences was disturbing. I remember attending a urology M&M as a medical student in which several senior physicians berated a very well-meaning and competent intern for a perceived mistake. The intern seemed to take it very well, but my fellow students and I were shaken by the event, asking how such hostility could be conducive to learning.

There were lots of angry accusations in the surgical M&Ms in the pilot episode of “Monday Mornings.” In one case, a senior doctor excoriated a colleague who had given Tylenol to a woman with hip pain who turned out to have cancer. “You allowed metastatic cancer to run amok for four months!” he screamed.

If this was what Dr. Bosk would have called a judgment error, the next case raised moral issues. A neurosurgeon had operated on a boy’s brain tumor without doing a complete family history, which would have revealed a disorder of blood clotting. The boy bled to death on the operating table. “The boy died,” announced the head surgeon, “because of a doctor’s arrogance.”

In one respect, it is good to see that the doctors in charge were so concerned. But as the study of medical errors expanded in the 1990s, researchers found that the likelihood of being blamed led physicians to conceal their errors. Meanwhile, although doctors who attended such conferences might indeed not make the exact same mistakes that had been discussed, it was far from clear that M&Ms were the best way to address the larger problem of medical errors, which, according to a 1999 study, killed close to 100,000 Americans annually.

Eventually, experts recommended a “systems approach” to medical errors, similar to what had been developed by the airline industry. The idea was to look at the root causes of errors and to devise systems to prevent them. Was there a way, for example, to ensure that the woman with the hip problem would return to medical care when the Tylenol did not help? Or could operations not be allowed to occur until a complete family history was in the chart? Increasingly, hospitals have put in systems, such as preoperative checklists and computer warnings, that successfully prevent medical errors.

Another key component of the systems approach is to reduce the emphasis on blame. Even the best doctors make mistakes. Impugning them publicly — or even privately — can make them clam up. But if errors are seen as resulting from inadequate systems, physicians and other health professionals should be more willing to speak up.

Of course, the systems approach is not perfect. Studies continue to show that physicians conceal their mistakes. And elaborate systems for preventing errors can at times interfere with getting things done in the hospital.

Finally, it is important not to entirely remove the issue of responsibility. Sad to say, there still are physicians who are careless and others who are arrogant. Even if today’s M&M conferences rarely involve screaming, supervising physicians need to let such colleagues know that these types of behaviors are unacceptable.

---

Barron H. Lerner, M.D., professor of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center, is the author, most recently, of “One for the Road: Drunk Driving Since 1900.”

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BlackBerry's new phone is off to a good start in Britain and Canada

The BlackBerry Z10 went on sale in Canada on Tuesday and sales are up more than 50% from previous BlackBerry phone launches. (Frank Gunn, Associated Press / February 5, 2013)

By Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times

February 8, 2013

The long-awaited BlackBerry Z10 won't be available in the U.S. until March, but it's already out in other countries and sales are hot, according to the maker.

BlackBerry's Z10 touch-screen smartphone has gotten off to a better start in Britain than any of its previous models, the company said.

To be precise, the Z10 is "selling almost three times better" than previous BlackBerry models have in their first week, according to a Bloomberg report that cites BlackBerry Chief Executive Thorsten Heins as the source.

The Z10 is also doing well in BlackBerry's homeland of Canada, with sales up more than 50% from previous BlackBerry phone launches, Heins said.

That's great news for BlackBerry, which is relying on the Z10 and its new Blackberry 10 operating system to remain relevant in the smartphone market.

But the Z10's big test will come next month when the Z10 makes its debut in the U.S. It will be carried by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile.

None of the companies have given release dates for the phone, but Verizon has said the phone will be available for $200 with a new contract.

salvador.rodriguez@latimes.com

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Boy Scouts postpone decision on admitting gays

A decision on whether the Boy Scouts of America will keep its policy that excludes gay members and leaders will not be voted on until the organization's annual meeting in May.

By Michael Muskal and Molly Hennessy-Fiske

February 6, 2013, 9:18 a.m.

IRVING, Texas -- The Boy Scouts of America decided Wednesday to put off a decision on whether to lift a national ban of gay members and leaders, saying the issue of sexual orientation was too complex and needed more time for study.

The decision to wait came after the organization recently announced that it would consider changing its policies and might allow local chapters to decide whether to admit gays as Scouts and leaders.

“After careful consideration and extensive dialog within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy,” Deron Smith, the BSA director of public relations, said in a statement.

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“To that end, the executive board directed its committees to further engage representatives of Scouting’s membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns. This will assist the officers’ work on a resolution on membership standards,” he stated.

The approximately 1,400 voting members of the national council will take action on the resolution at the national meeting in May in Grapevine, Texas, he said.

It was the Scouts that put the issue back on the agenda for the current executive board meeting, held in its headquarters in Irving. But the move also came amid declining membership, questions by corporate sponsors and public pressure from activists who oppose the current national ban.

“Today the Boy Scouts of America have chosen to remain irrelevant by delaying the vote,” said James Dale, who was expelled from the Scouts in 1990 for being openly gay. “For over 23 years, since I was expelled from the Scouts, I have held out hope that the Boy Scouts would end their discriminatory policy. With each passing day the Scouts will continue to lose members, sponsors and funding. No parent or child should associate with an organization that sends a toxic message telling children they are immoral if they are gay.”

GLAAD, the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy group, condemned the decision to wait.

“An organization that serves youth and chooses to intentionally hurt dedicated young people and hard-working parents not only flies in the face of American principles, but the principles of being a Boy Scout,” GLAAD President Herndon Graddick stated.

“The Boy Scouts of America is choosing to ignore the cries of millions, including religious institutions, current Scouting families, and corporate sponsors, but these cries will not be silenced. We're living in a culture where hurting young gay people because of who they are is unpopular and discriminatory. They had the chance to end the pain this ban has caused to young people and parents; they chose to extend the pain.”

Those seeking to keep the ban were also vocal. A majority of the Boy Scout organizations are sponsored by local churches, many of which have religious objections to homosexuals.

About 100 people gathered outside Boy Scouts headquarters in suburban Dallas carrying signs that said “Save our boys from homosexual acts;” “God votes no gays” and “Don't invite sin into the camp.”

Texas Values, a conservative group that organized a prayer vigil this week in support of keeping gays out of the Scouts, said the Scouts organization was right to delay a decision.

“It's a temporary victory,” Jonathan Saenz said of Wednesday's vote. “Good for them -- they're obviously listening. We are encouraged and we're glad they're going to delay the decision. When you deal with such fundamental principles, it's not something you want to tinker with overnight.”

Robert Davis, 48, of Benbrook, Texas, wore his Longhorn Council Scouting uniform and brought his two sons to the protest Wednesday.

“I think it's a good sign,” he said of the organization’s vote. “The Boy Scouts of America is one of the last moral high grounds in this country. I hate to see it die.”

Among politicians, both President Obama and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have been part of the debate.

“My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life,” said Obama, who as U.S. president is the honorary president of BSA, in a Sunday interview with CBS.

Perry, the author of the book “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For,” said in a speech Saturday that “to have popular culture impact 100 years of their standards is inappropriate.”

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Chris Brown returns to court for probation issues

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Brown, accompanied by Rihanna, briefly returned to court Wednesday to face allegations he failed to complete his community labor sentence for Rihanna's 2009 beating, but the judge asked for more information and scheduled another hearing in two months.

Rihanna blew Brown a kiss as he entered the courtroom, and they left together after the short proceeding in which Superior Court Judge James Brandlin set the next hearing for April 5.

Prosecutors alleged this week that investigators could not find credible evidence he completed his community labor.

A motion filed Tuesday also raised for the first time in Brown's felony assault case several incidents that prosecutors said demonstrate Brown has ongoing anger management issues.

Brandlin noted during the brief session that a prosecution filing did not request revocation of Brown's probation and he, therefore, would not revoke it.

They cited a Jan. 27 fight between Brown and fellow R&B star Frank Ocean, and a 2011 outburst in which Brown threw a chair through a window after he was asked about the Rihanna attack on "Good Morning America."

The filing represents a dramatic shift in the case against Brown, who was repeatedly praised by the judge overseeing his case for his completion of domestic violence courses and his community service work in his home state of Virginia. That changed in September, when prosecutors raised concerns about Brown's community service after he logged 701 hours in seven months — an amount that had previously taken him more than two years to achieve.

Los Angeles investigators traveled to Richmond, Va., to investigate Brown's service, which was only described in broad strokes by Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood, who was overseeing the singer's community labor.

"This inquiry provided no credible, competent or verifiable evidence that defendant Brown performed his community labor as presented to this court," Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote.

Brown's attorney Mark Geragos blasted the court filing, saying the prosecutor ignored interviews "where sworn peace officers stated unequivocally that Mr. Brown was supervised and did all of the community service."

"I plan on asking for sanctions from the DA's office for filing in frivolous, scurrilous and frankly defamatory motion," he said Tuesday.

It will be up to a new judge to evaluate the prosecutor's allegations; Brown's case was transferred to Brandlin after a recent shuffling of judicial assignments.

After pleading guilty to the Rihanna attack, Brown was given permission to serve 180 days of community labor in his home state of Virginia, but only as long as he performed manual labor such as graffiti removal and roadside cleanup.

Given problems with documentation and statements from some witnesses who contradict Brown's claims of work, prosecutors asked Brandlin to order Brown to repeat his service in Los Angeles.

Brown spent one-third of the hours he logged in Virginia working night shifts at a day care center in rural Virginia where his mother once served as director and where the singer spent time as a child.

A detective who checked on Brown's work nine times at the Tappahannock Children's Center found the singer, his mother and a bodyguard at the center on each visit.

The records said Brown waxed floors or performed "general cleaning" at the center.

A professional floor cleaner contracted to work at the daycare center told investigators he had been cleaning the floors during the months Brown reported working at the facility.

"Claims that the defendant cleaned, stripped and waxed floors at that location have been credibly contradicted," prosecutors said in the filing.

Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, no longer had a formal role at day care center but had her own set of keys and coordinated her son's work at the facility, prosecutors said.

Murray stated in her filing that Norwood's report on Brown's service was "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting."

Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley declined to discuss the allegations.

"We believe it would inappropriate to comment on a matter that's before the court," Lepley said.

According to the motion, officials with Virginia's probation office told investigators that Brown's arrangement to be supervised by Norwood was "extremely unusual" and had not been approved by the agency. No one from Virginia's probation department oversaw Brown's hours, prosecutors said.

The motion noted that the only records the department has to indicate Brown was supervised were officers' overtime sheets. Five of 21 days that officers logged overtime for Brown were spent providing security for the singer's concerts.

The allegations are the latest pre-Grammy controversy for Brown, who was arrested shortly after the 2009 ceremony for his attack on Rihanna. He has since returned to the awards show by performing and winning an award in 2011 for his album "F.A.M.E."

Brown and Ocean are competing against one other for the Best Urban Contemporary Album category at Sunday's Grammys.

___

AP writers Anthony McCartney and Ryan Pearson contributed to this report.

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Personal Health: Effective Addiction Treatment

Countless people addicted to drugs, alcohol or both have managed to get clean and stay clean with the help of organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous or the thousands of residential and outpatient clinics devoted to treating addiction.

But if you have failed one or more times to achieve lasting sobriety after rehab, perhaps after spending tens of thousands of dollars, you’re not alone. And chances are, it’s not your fault.

Of the 23.5 million teenagers and adults addicted to alcohol or drugs, only about 1 in 10 gets treatment, which too often fails to keep them drug-free. Many of these programs fail to use proven methods to deal with the factors that underlie addiction and set off relapse.

According to recent examinations of treatment programs, most are rooted in outdated methods rather than newer approaches shown in scientific studies to be more effective in helping people achieve and maintain addiction-free lives. People typically do more research when shopping for a new car than when seeking treatment for addiction.

A groundbreaking report published last year by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University concluded that “the vast majority of people in need of addiction treatment do not receive anything that approximates evidence-based care.” The report added, “Only a small fraction of individuals receive interventions or treatment consistent with scientific knowledge about what works.”

The Columbia report found that most addiction treatment providers are not medical professionals and are not equipped with the knowledge, skills or credentials needed to provide the full range of evidence-based services, including medication and psychosocial therapy. The authors suggested that such insufficient care could be considered “a form of medical malpractice.”

The failings of many treatment programs — and the comprehensive therapies that have been scientifically validated but remain vastly underused — are described in an eye-opening new book, “Inside Rehab,” by Anne M. Fletcher, a science writer whose previous books include the highly acclaimed “Sober for Good.”

“There are exceptions, but of the many thousands of treatment programs out there, most use exactly the same kind of treatment you would have received in 1950, not modern scientific approaches,” A. Thomas McLellan, co-founder of the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia, told Ms. Fletcher.

Ms. Fletcher’s book, replete with the experiences of treated addicts, offers myriad suggestions to help patients find addiction treatments with the highest probability of success.

Often, Ms. Fletcher found, low-cost, publicly funded clinics have better-qualified therapists and better outcomes than the high-end residential centers typically used by celebrities like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. Indeed, their revolving-door experiences with treatment helped prompt Ms. Fletcher’s exhaustive exploration in the first place.

In an interview, Ms. Fletcher said she wanted to inform consumers “about science-based practices that should form the basis of addiction treatment” and explode some of the myths surrounding it.

One such myth is the belief that most addicts need to go to a rehab center.

“The truth is that most people recover (1) completely on their own, (2) by attending self-help groups, and/or (3) by seeing a counselor or therapist individually,” she wrote.

Contrary to the 30-day stint typical of inpatient rehab, “people with serious substance abuse disorders commonly require care for months or even years,” she wrote. “The short-term fix mentality partially explains why so many people go back to their old habits.”

Dr. Mark Willenbring, a former director of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said in an interview, “You don’t treat a chronic illness for four weeks and then send the patient to a support group. People with a chronic form of addiction need multimodal treatment that is individualized and offered continuously or intermittently for as long as they need it.”

Dr. Willenbring now practices in St. Paul, where he is creating a clinic called Alltyr “to serve as a model to demonstrate what comprehensive 21st century treatment should look like.”

“While some people are helped by one intensive round of treatment, the majority of addicts continue to need services,” Dr. Willenbring said. He cited the case of a 43-year-old woman “who has been in and out of rehab 42 times” because she never got the full range of medical and support services she needed.

Dr. Willenbring is especially distressed about patients who are treated for opioid addiction, then relapse in part because they are not given maintenance therapy with the drug Suboxone.

“We have some pretty good drugs to help people with addiction problems, but doctors don’t know how to use them,” he said. “The 12-step community doesn’t want to use relapse-prevention medication because they view it as a crutch.”

Before committing to a treatment program, Ms. Fletcher urges prospective clients or their families to do their homework. The first step, she said, is to get an independent assessment of the need for treatment, as well as the kind of treatment needed, by an expert who is not affiliated with the program you are considering.

Check on the credentials of the program’s personnel, who should have “at least a master’s degree,” Ms. Fletcher said. If the therapist is a physician, he or she should be certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

Does the facility’s approach to treatment fit with your beliefs and values? If a 12-step program like A.A. is not right for you, don’t choose it just because it’s the best known approach.

Meet with the therapist who will treat you and ask what your treatment plan will be. “It should be more than movies, lectures or three-hour classes three times a week,” Ms. Fletcher said. “You should be treated by a licensed addiction counselor who will see you one-on-one. Treatment should be individualized. One size does not fit all.”

Find out if you will receive therapy for any underlying condition, like depression, or a social problem that could sabotage recovery. The National Institute on Drug Abuse states in its Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment, “To be effective, treatment must address the individual’s drug abuse and any associated medical, psychological, social, vocational, and legal problems.”

Look for programs using research-validated techniques, like cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps addicts recognize what prompts them to use drugs or alcohol, and learn to redirect their thoughts and reactions away from the abused substance.

Other validated treatment methods include Community Reinforcement and Family Training, or Craft, an approach developed by Robert J. Meyers and described in his book, “Get Your Loved One Sober,” with co-author Brenda L. Wolfe. It helps addicts adopt a lifestyle more rewarding than one filled with drugs and alcohol.

This is the first of two articles on addiction treatment.

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Crimes against tourists are latest blow to Mexico tourism

Police say five masked and armed men broke into a bungalow and raped six Spanish tourists.

By Hugo Martin

February 6, 2013, 2:03 p.m.

Despite past assurances that tourists are safe in their country, Mexican tourism officials are again faced with trying to explain away another report of crime against foreign visitors.

The latest incident took place in the resort town of Acapulco, where six Spanish tourists on vacation were raped Sunday by masked gunmen.

Unlike many crimes involving drug violence in the country's interior states, the rapes took place near the beach, where the tourists were renting bungalows near four-star hotels.

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Mexico's secretary of tourism issued a statement expressing sympathy for the tourists and said local authorities would investigate the crime.

Crime tied to drug violence has reduced the number of tourists from the U.S. to Mexico in recent years but Mexican tourism officials have responded by targeting travelers from countries such as Russia, Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

Despite the violence, Mexico predicts it will host 24.7 million foreign visitors in 2012, surpassing last year's record of 23.4 million.

But the latest crime report will only make it harder for Mexico to shrug off the incidents of crime in tourist towns as isolated and rare, experts say.

"It doesn't matter if Mexico is safe or not because the perception is they are not," said Carl Winston, director of the school of hospitality and tourism at San Diego State University.

But some travel agents say they have not seen a drop off in tourists from the U.S. booking trips to Mexico.

Coastline Travel Advisors in Garden Grove is in the process of booking a group of 30 people to visit Loreto in Baja California.

"We haven't had anyone afraid to visit Mexico or ask if it is safe," said Kate Malczynski, a spokeswoman for the company. "Our agents know what is best and what areas are safe."

ALSO:

Mexico tourism grows thanks to non-U.S. visitors

Texas warns students on spring break to avoid Mexico

22 Carnival Splendor cruise ship passengers robbed in Mexico

Follow Hugo Martin on Twitter at @hugomartin

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L.A. Archdiocese considering $200-million fund-raising campaign

By Los Angeles Times staff

February 5, 2013, 2:44 p.m.

In the midst of renewed public outrage over its handling of priest molestation cases, the Los Angeles Archdiocese is considering a $200-million fund-raising campaign.

The archdiocese has hired a New York company, Guidance in Giving, to study the feasibility of a capital campaign that would shore up the church’s finances.

The archdiocese is $80 million in debt, according to a recent church financial report. In 2007, the archdiocese agreed to a record $600-million settlement with more than 500 alleged victims of priest abuse.

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Prosecutors move to revoke Chris Brown's probation

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke Chris Brown's probation, saying there is no credible evidence he completed his community service sentence for beating Rihanna, and citing several other incidents that they say point to anger management issues.

The motion filed Tuesday by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office focuses heavily on issues with Brown's community labor in Virginia, citing numerous discrepancies and claiming the R&B singer essentially was unsupervised.

Brown's attorney Mark Geragos blasted the filing, telling The Associated Press that it was frivolous and defamatory and he planned to seek sanctions against prosecutors.

The prosecution's motion also notes several incidents in which Brown has lost his temper, including throwing a chair through a window after a "Good Morning America" interview in which he was asked about his beating of Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 Grammy Awards. The report also cites Brown's Jan. 27 fight with R&B singer Frank Ocean, including Ocean's claim that Brown threatened to shoot him in the brawl over a parking space.

Sheriff's officials have said they are unlikely to seek charges against Brown for the recent fight with Ocean, since Ocean has posted online that he does not intend to seek criminal or civil penalties. Ocean told investigators that Brown shouted that he and his entourage "can bust on you too," which authorities wrote was a street slang term for shooting someone.

Brown is due in court Wednesday for a probation hearing.

"The motion filed by the DA's office is shameful and a disgrace," Geragos said. "In essence, it calls everyone a liar in the Richmond Police Department and the Virginia Probation Department."

He claimed prosecutors ignored interviews "where sworn peace officers stated unequivocally that Mr. Brown was supervised and did all of the community service."

"I plan on asking for sanctions from the DA's office for filing in frivolous, scurrilous and frankly defamatory motion," he said. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office declined to comment on Geragos' statements.

Brown's time serving community service in Virginia has been under scrutiny for months, and Tuesday's motion asked a judge to order the singer to repeat his entire 180-day service sentence in Los Angeles. Brown had been given permission to perform cleanup and manual labor duties in Virginia, but LA prosecution investigators found no evidence that he completed his work as ordered.

Richmond, Va., Police Chief Bryan Norwood was supposed to be supervising Brown and submitted paperwork last year indicating the singer had completed his sentence. But prosecutors cite numerous shortcomings and possible misstatements in those records, which show the singer performing double shifts in the city and at a day care center where his mother once worked.

"This inquiry provided no credible, competent or verifiable evidence that defendant Brown performed his community labor as presented to this court," Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote.

The records submitted by Norwood are "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting."

Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley declined to discuss the allegations.

"We believe it would inappropriate to comment on a matter that's before the court," Lepley said.

According to the motion, officials with Virginia's probation office told investigators that Brown's arrangement to be supervised by Norwood was "extremely unusual" and had not been approved by the agency. No one from Virginia's probation department oversaw Brown's hours, the filing states.

The motion notes that the only records the department has to indicate Brown was supervised were officers' overtime sheets. Five of 21 days that officers logged overtime for Brown were spent providing security for the singer's concerts.

One-third of Brown's hours were logged at a daycare center where the singer spent time as a child and where his mother once served as director, an analysis performed by The Associated Press in September showed.

The center is an hour's drive from Richmond, and the prosecution motion says a detective checked on Brown on only nine occasions when he was working there. Each time, the singer was found at the center, accompanied by his mother and a bodyguard but no law enforcement personnel.

The hours Brown recorded as working at the center were done overnight when children were not present. Some of the records stated Brown waxed floors or did "general cleaning."

"Claims that the defendant cleaned, stripped and waxed floors at that location have been credibly contradicted," the prosecution motion states. A professional floor cleaner contracted to work at the daycare center told investigators he had been cleaning the floors throughout the months Brown reported working at the facility.

Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, no longer had a formal role at the Tappahannock Children's Center but had her own set of keys and coordinated her son's work at the facility, the motion states.

The filing also alleges Brown violated his probation with several violent outbursts that haven't resulted in arrests or charges. In addition to the fight between Brown and Ocean, the motion cites a 2012 incident in Miami in which Brown was accused of taking a woman's cellphone and the March 2011 incident in which Brown threw a chair through a window after appearing on "Good Morning America."

Brown and Ocean are both nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album category at Sunday's Grammys. Ocean, who has said his first love was a man, told authorities that someone may have shouted a gay slur during the fight, but he wasn't sure.

Ocean suffered cuts on his right index finger and minor cuts to his left temple.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

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