Deana L. Watkins, 45, of Reubens, entered an Alford plea in Asotin County Superior Court for first-degree theft, a class-B felony. An Alford plea means that while not admitting guilt, Watkins feels a jury would find her guilty if presented with evidence against her,]]> A woman accused of stealing a substantial amount of money from an elderly family member was sentenced to 90 days in jail Thursday.

Deana L. Watkins, 45, of Reubens, entered an Alford plea in Asotin County Superior Court for first-degree theft, a class-B felony. An Alford plea means that while not admitting guilt, Watkins feels a jury would find her guilty if presented with evidence against her,bangles, Asotin County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Curt Liedkie explained. Watkins pleaded innocent to first-degree theft on May 20, and a trial was scheduled for Sept. 1.

Although Watkins has no criminal history,key rings, Judge Ray D. Lutes imposed the maximum sentence under standard range. She must also pay restitution to the victim in the amount of the money she spent. Watkins did not have anything to say to the judge prior to sentencing, but let her attorney, Richard Laws,earrings, speak for her.

"She’s maintained from the very beginning that she lacked the necessary intent to deprive Mr. Watkins permanently of anything, but she does understand how it looks and how it could look in front of a jury," Laws said.

According to court documents, while caring for 90-year-old Clarkston resident William (Murphy) Watkins, Deana Watkins spent at least $160,000 of his money in just less than two years. From January 2008 to September 2009, Murphy Watkins’ $80,000 checking account was whittled down to around $500, documents say. This included monthly deposits of $1,900 to $2,500 from Social Security and retirement and a $42,000 CD she cashed and deposited into her own account.

Liedkie said it’s difficult to tell how much money Watkins actually spent, because she didn’t keep a record of the transactions. Documents used to charge Watkins say she stole in excess of $5,000.

Watkins, who married into the family, had power of attorney over Murphy Watkins. Although the agreement was never official, lacking a doctor’s signature, the family operated as though it was.

"Her name was on the account," Liedkie said.

Her expenditures started small — withdrawals of $300, groceries or clothing — and quickly escalated. Family members believe during the two-year time period, Deana Watkins purchased a washer and dryer, a new car, two pickup trucks,watches, a riding lawn mower,tiffany, a boat, a 24-foot trailer and a 30-day trip to Texas.

She also withdrew around $30,000 for a down payment on a house that her and Murphy Watkins — who lived in a nursing home after breaking his hip — planned to share.

Sheriff’s reports indicate Murphy Watkins was "very upset" when he learned about Deana Watkins’ activities and insisted they had no agreement that allowed her to spend his money. Deana Watkins, however, told detectives they had a verbal agreement.

Roy (Skip) Watkins, Murphy Watkins’ nephew, said Murphy trusted Deana Watkins, and that trust was breached.

"I don’t think anyone realizes the emotional stress this has caused for Murph," he said in the courtroom Thursday. "He was devastated when he found out that his account was depleted to $585."

He added that despite her power of attorney, Deana Watkins did not pay many of Murphy Watkins bills, including medical and prescription insurance and numerous doctors’ bills.

"She started out in good faith by cleaning and running errands for Murph, and then it progressed to power of attorney, and then her greed became excessive and snowballed," he continued.

Following the proceedings, Roy Watkins said the family intends to file a civil suit against Deana Watkins.

Gaboury may be contacted at kgaboury@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.

Mark Campion said Thursday that doctors suspected his wife -- Sandra Brown -- had dengue fever,money clips, although he did not know whether that had been confirmed through testing.

Jerome went up 5-0 in the first half over a Buhl team missing two of its key defenders due to injuries.

"We pretty much got handled," said Buhl head coach Bill Fields.

With a significant number of players back from last season's Division 3 state runner-up squad, another march is definitely possible.

"We've hung our hat on defense and our defense is playing quite well," said South Haven coach Benno Trenkle. "In scrimmages and early season play we've given up just three goals. With that and getting a little ]]> State tournament runs have become commonplace for South Haven boys soccer.

With a significant number of players back from last season’s Division 3 state runner-up squad, another march is definitely possible.

"We’ve hung our hat on defense and our defense is playing quite well," said South Haven coach Benno Trenkle. "In scrimmages and early season play we’ve given up just three goals. With that and getting a little more consistent offense I think we can make a pretty deep run in the playoffs. I think we’re more dangerous offensively than we’ve been the past few years."

The Rams have started the season well, beating Fort Wayne (Ind.) Concordia Lutheran in a day-long soccer event involving many of Indiana’s top teams before returning to Michigan to win the Westside Shootout, topping Lakeshore in a shootout in the final.

Trenkle still sees room for improvement.

"We’re a little inconsistent," Trenkle said. "We have really good halves. We’ve had a hard time getting going in the first half. In the second half we play more like we should. We’ve been trying guys in different spots and trying different combinations, and you’re going to get that."

The Rams return seven to nine starters, Trenkle said,watches, due to occasional lineup changes, and a handful of other players who saw significant action.

The top returning scorer is senior Randy Bautista, a first-team all-state pick. Trenkle expects Chad Dotson and others to help Bautista with the scoring.

"We have a nice team coming back," Trenkle said. "There’s a lot of high expectations, both fans and players, too."

Lakeshore has few starters returning from last year’s 19-2-1 squad, but coach Brian Samuel expects another strong campaign.

Evidence of that came in the season-opening Westside Shootout,Beads necklace, when the Lancers reached the final and tied last year’s Division 3 state runner-up South Haven 0-0 before falling in a shootout.

"With two returning starters, it is easy to say we are rebuilding," Samuel said. "That is not the case. Our upperclassmen are hungry and the young guys want to win. As long as we stay patient and understand that there will be bumps in the road we will be very competitive."

Nick Rueb and Alex Moneta, both juniors, are returning letterwinners and are team captains.

Seniors who lettered last season are goalkeeper Kyle Mitowski, Fernando Vences, Erik Faust, Cody Womeldorf and Wes Shenker.

Mitowski saw some action last year but mostly served as a back-up to Drew Kalinowski.

"Kyle Mitowski has big shoes to fill, but he is excited to get playing time and prove to himself that he is a dominant keeper," Samuel said.

Eight seniors are out to lead a St. Joseph squad that went 12-8-1 a season ago.

Kevin Chaddock and Andrew Lignell lead the Bears up front,pendants, and each scored 14 goals last year to share team-high honors.

Those two and senior midfielder James Ellspermann are tri-captains.

"We have a lot of team speed, particularly at forward," said St. Joseph coach Jody Haumersen.

Another returner for the Bears is junior goalkeeper Evan Hampton.

Haumersen says goals for the Bears include division, conference and district titles.

Berrien Springs coach Nick Lesch has a much different team than last season,earrings, but he still has hopes of a successful campaign.

The Shamrocks lost 12 seniors from last season’s 7-9-2 squad, including 10 starters. The lone starter back is junior Enoch Tsibu-Beckson,key rings, last year’s leading scorer with 19 goals.

He’s expected to be a team leader on a 22-player squad with only three seniors.

Berrien Springs has started 1-3.

"We’re off to a challenging start," Lesch said. "Our outlook is to grow stronger from each match and gain experience from each match. I really think we’re going to surprise a lot of teams."

Bridgman, a Division 4 district winner last year, got off to a rough start with three losses to much bigger schools in a season-opening invitational in Portage.

The Bees bounced back with a 9-1 win over New Buffalo, however. Bridgman lost four-year goalkeeper Jeff Jakeway to graduation but returns much of its roster.

Lake Michigan Catholic won the Red Arrow Conference last season and finished 19-5-1, but graduated eight senior starters.

Key returnees include junior Trey Smithers, the second-leading goal scorer last season, and junior Anthony Sarno, who led the Lakers with 10 assists. Also back are sophomore sweeper Connor Roden and sophomore defender Taylor Bowser.

The Lakers are off to a 2-2 start this season.

Michigan Lutheran is looking to improve from last year’s 6-13 mark with five three-year letterwinners returning.

Justin Ciboch scored 10 goals last season and leads the offense.

A solid defensive core includes David Kenyon, Josh Ciboch, Michael Koester and sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Lucius.

Grace Christian will be looking to repeat as district champions. The Patriots beat Lake Michigan Catholic, 2-0, in a Division 4 district final last season.

Grace fell to Hudsonville Freedom Baptist in the regional.

Bangor is only in its second year with a varsity program and looks to build off an 8-11-3 mark in its first season.

Top returners include juniors Mario Diaz and Daniel Lopez. Diaz had 30 goals and 23 assists to earn honorable mention all-state honors while Lopez scored 14 goals.

Coach Ernesto Diaz thinks his group is capable of a district championship.

Benton Harbor will not field a boys soccer team this fall.

Three. Three in the past four years -- in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

Exeter's quest for a fourth -- this time in the newly aligned Division I level -- begins Tuesday when it hosts Hollis-Brookline.

Anna Grant, who has experienced two of those three championships, was gearing up for the season with her teammates Tuesday a]]> How many Class L championships has the Exeter High School girls soccer team won now?

Three. Three in the past four years — in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

Exeter’s quest for a fourth — this time in the newly aligned Division I level — begins Tuesday when it hosts Hollis-Brookline.

Anna Grant, who has experienced two of those three championships, was gearing up for the season with her teammates Tuesday at an afternoon practice session.

Grant is one of nine seniors on the team, five of whom are returning seniors — Allison Wilson,key rings, Connie Boutilier, Aly George, Abby Hughes and Grant.

"We should be good," says the 17-year-old from Stratham, who made a verbal commitment to play college soccer at Siena College this past July. "We lost some good players (to graduation), but we’re pretty much the same team. We should be pretty experienced."

Their success will depend upon everyone performing their roles and coming together as a team.

"I have a feeling everyone wants to win it," says Grant. "Everyone knows what it’s like to win."

Grant said Exeter wasn’t expecting to win the championship after losing pretty much its entire starting lineup from the 2008 team. The skill and play of their younger players, however, was a huge and welcome surprise. So was the team’s chemistry.

"We played really well as a team," says Grant.

Megan Curran returns for her 10th season as the head coach.

"We have a solid core group back," says Curran. "Expectations are high."

Three of those players have played on two of those championships and will continue their soccer careers at the college level — Walker (Northeastern University), George (undecided) and Grant.

"They definitely have a taste of that (championship) experience,tiffany," says Curran.

Grant, who received Honorable Mention All-State honors last year, returns as the team’s stopper,bangles, while Walker,bracelets, who received second-team recognition for her play at sweeper,Charm bracelet, returns to that all-important position, and Abby Short, who received Honorable Mention recognition last year as a freshman, returns as a striker.

George, meanwhile, is back at center midfield, and Boutilier returns at outside back.

Michaela Janowski, meanwhile, last year’s JV goalie, is a senior this season and expects to be the starting goalie.

"There’s a lot of people fighting for spots," says Curran, noting it’s still so early in the season and they haven’t had a full team practice yet this season due to injuries.

There were five injured players sitting on the sideline on Tuesday.

"Nothing serious," says Curran, noting the injuries are minor, injuries which just require rest.

"We have a long way ahead of us," adds Curran, noting that at this point of time they’re focusing on their first game of the season, and Hollis-Brookline, which has moved up from Class I to Division I, is a very good team.

"We’ll have our hands full," says Curran.

Curran is assisted by Jillian Goldman and Steve Holmes.

He's sweating and exhausted - his wife has a steadying hand on his back, as if he might keel over at any moment - but excited too.

"I really love SBY,cuff Links," he says.

Pak Fahru lives in a kampung - a slum -]]> Pak Fahru, 65 but wizened and hunched like a man of 100, smiles a gap-toothed smile.

He’s sweating and exhausted – his wife has a steadying hand on his back, as if he might keel over at any moment – but excited too.

"I really love SBY,cuff Links," he says.

Pak Fahru lives in a kampung – a slum – in Bogor, a city south of Jakarta. He has travelled seven hours on four hot, crowded buses to catch a glimpse of Indonesia’s president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, at his final campaign appearance before this week’s general election.

Tens of thousands of people, dressed in the blue and white of SBY’s party,necklaces, have crammed into central Jakarta’s Bung Karno Stadium to wave flags and shout slogans in support of the popular incumbent.

Why do you support SBY? I ask Pak Fahru.

"Because he is our president," he says.

But why will you vote for SBY instead of Megawati, or Vice President Jusuf Kalla?

"Because I feel like I know SBY."

But what specifically has he done that you support? How has he made your life better?

Pak Fahru isn’t really sure. Like a lot of Indonesians, he loves SBY, but he can’t quite articulate why.

Fifty five-year-old Fatma, on the other hand, has no problem expressing why she plans to vote for SBY.

"Manis, manis,key rings, manis," she drips: Sweet, sweet, sweet.

"He is sweet and handsome.

"Everything he says sounds wonderful."

It’s a common response from Indonesia’s middle-aged women. They go positively weak at the knees for this plump, big-nosed, 59-year-old man.

Many in Bung Karno Stadium don’t intend to vote for SBY at all. They can’t, because they’re too young. They’ve come to the rally because it’s a giant, free party where they can dance to pop music and, no doubt, bump into members of the opposite sex.

Rohandi, 21, will be voting for the first time on Wednesday. He thinks SBY’s done great things for education, and sees him as a kind of national protector.

"When people are in trouble, he will come," Rohandi says.

Like Superman?

"Like a superhuman, yes," he says.

Indeed, if the polls are correct,money clips, SBY is about the pull off a victory of superhuman proportions