Dateline Quad Cities

Items culled from QC Online:
Two QC residents targets of music conglomerates...

Two Quad-Cities area residents have been sued by record companies for allegedly downloading copyrighted music.

Capitol Records, Inc., UMG Recordings, Inc., Sony BMG Music Entertainment, BMG Music, Warner Bros. Records Inc. and Maverick Recording Company filed a complaint against Marte Johnson, no address available, in U.S. District Court in Rock Island Nov. 17.

BMG Music, Maverick Recording Company, Arista Records LLC and Sony BMG Music Entertainment filed a complaint against Jaime Galindo, no address available.

Both civil lawsuits allege that the defendants used the Internet to download songs and distribute them to others, or make them available to others. Both lawsuits are seeking damages for infringement of copyrighted recordings and court costs.

Both lawsuits include exhibits from Kazaa, http://www.kazaa.com, a peer-to-peer information sharing Web site. The exhibits show spreadsheets from the Kazaa Web site, which includes a list of downloaded song titles, artists, file sizes and the username.

The lawsuits seek injunctions barring the defendants from downloading or distributing copyrighted music. The companies also want unspecified damages.

Moline Cop's Drunk Driving trial to begin

The trial of a Moline police officer arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in June is scheduled to start today in Scott County.

Timothy K. Saathoff, 32, of Cordova, will be tried on one count of operating while intoxicated -- first offense. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail.

Officer Saathoff, who has been with the Moline Police Department since 2003, was arrested at 3:10 a.m. June 30, after an accident on Interstate 80 in Scott County.

Scott County deputies say Officer Saathoff had the worst score possible on the nystagmus test, which tracks his ability to visually follow an object waved from side to side.

Deputy Mike Erwin testified at an October hearing that the eye test was the main reason he charged Officer Saathoff.

Officer Saathoff said he failed the test because he suffers from nystagmus, an uncontrollable slight jerking of the eye, which can make him look drunk. He said he was diagnosed by a Rock Island optometrist.

Deputy Erwin said that the night of the arrest, Officer Saathoff said he "had no idea" how much he drank that night. [Always a good sign.] The defense contends Officer Saathoff had been drinking "some 3 1/2 hours" before the arrest.

The October testimony was part of a motion hearing where Officer Saathoff's attorney, Douglas Scovil of Rock Island, was requesting that Officer Saathoff's arrest be quashed and a tape of the arrest suppressed.

Mr. Scovil, who has represented other Moline police officers on drunken driving and other charges, argued that the deputy arrested Officer Saathoff "without probable cause or reasonable grounds to believe he committed a crime."

He said two other law enforcement officials at the scene that night -- an Iowa State trooper and LeClaire police officer -- didn't believe an arrest was appropriate.

Judge Mary Howes overruled Mr. Scovil's motions and will allow the arrest tape from the deputy's squad car to be presented at trial.

Moline Police Chief Gary Francque said Officer Saathoff has been on administrative duty at the police station since August. "We'll have to wait for the disposition of the case before we will determine anything with his employment," he said.

Kennedy files complaint over Whalen restaurant commercials

A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission over television commercials being aired by a Republican candidate for Iowa's 1st Congressional District with opponents claiming the spots are a cloaked effort to boost the candidate's image.

Brian Kennedy, who also is seeking the Republican nomination, filed the complaint over commercials being run by Mike Whalen, which promote Whalen's business the Iowa Machine Shed.

The commercials feature Whalen sitting at a table in one of his restaurants talking about his business philosophy and how he's tied to the land in Iowa.

Kennedy said the commercials are more about touting Whalen's candidacy than the restaurant, and allow him to use corporate money in the image-making effort.

Union pickets company demolishing former Case/IH plant

Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 picketed Tuesday against Champion Environmental Services' work site at the former Case IH plant in East Moline.

Union organizer Joe Farrell said Local 150 was on strike against Champion for the company's failure to pay fringe benefits to its workers.

Champion has also been cited for multiple violations steming from allowing asbestos from the site to be released into the environment.