State briefs 11/12/04

Man charged in St. Louis County sword attack

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis County man has been charged with assault for allegedly attacking his wife's lover with a sword. According to police, Jimmy M. Crafton Jr., 36, caught his wife sneaking out with her lover, cut the man in the head with a sword and tried to cover his tracks with a story about a home invasion. He was charged Tuesday with first-degree assault and armed criminal action and was being held on $100,000 bail. The victim, Jose A. Diaz, suffered severe brain damage and was not expected to survive.

Thefts create costs, delays for Habitat group

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For what it will cost the city's Habitat for Humanity chapter to recover from thefts of home-building materials this year, the not-for-profit agency could put up an entire house. Wood, copper pipe, tools and other items have been stolen from partly built houses and from the agency's own warehouse, where someone cut a fence last weekend and drove off with $7,500 worth of lumber on a Habitat flatbed. Rick Caplan, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Kansas City, estimated the total cost of the nine robberies at about $50,000.

-- From staff, wire reports