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	Tuesday April 4, 2000		EVENING EDITION * 25¢

GUILTY!

The jury handed down a guilty verdict in the Paco case today. On one count of trafficking cocaine and one count of possesion of a schedule 4 narcotic. Without expression, judge Horn passed the sentence, 20 years!

"Wait....hold up.....The Paco Case?", you say. "I knew nothing about it!"

Well neither did we, until a few hours ago. Witchazel sources have been keeping the details of Paco's late January arrest on these charges very low key. So low, in fact, that no one outside of the band had a clue. The details of the arrest are still unclear to us at this hour. All that is clear is that Paco, Witchazel's bassist, won't be playing a show with the band any sooner than March 2008. That is when he will be first eligible for parole. No appeals are planned at this point.

Sardouchi Bros. Entertainment, Witchazel's current management company, remain "tight lipped" on the subject. The only information they offer us is that Lath Motley (current singer) will be pulling double duty by taking over Paco's role as bassist. "We feel confident that Lath will have no problem filling the shoes of the former member. This may even add to Lath's already explosive stage presence.", they state.

Fortunately we were able to reach Dave Ryles, Witchazel guitarist, for a deeper insight on the situation.

Dave replies, "We knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I guess it is fortunate that it happened now as opposed as to happening in the middle of a major tour in support of our debut release. We long ignored the signs of O's (Paco's) out of control substance abuse. I guess we figured everybody has their own way of dealing with things. When we got fed up with making excuses and covering up for him (Paco), Dan (Witchazel's drummer) led an intervention. Unfortunately, things turned disasterous, which ended up in the arrest of Paco and ultimately his conviction. When I think of all the label trouble he has put us through, and all of the potentially career building shows we were forced to miss....quite honestly, I am happy to be rid of him."

Lath Motley will be sitting in for Paco at the upcoming Witchazel/Amazing Grace show in Richmond, KY on April 29. The band claims that this will not slow down their gigging schedule nor effect the planned release of their debut album.

Sardouchi Bros. Entertainment says the band has already auditioned several bassists and continues to do so. They say, "Tryouts are completely open. Anyone wanting to join Witchazel need simply contact the band itself."

We here at the Times hope that the optimism shown by Dave Ryles is echoed thruoghout the Witchazel community.

~WFP~

Other Headlines

ABBA Pop Singer Complains to Police About Stalker

Tuesday, April 04, 2000 STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The Greta Garbo of Swedish pop music, ABBA star Agnetha Faltskog, has complained to police she is being stalked by an obsessive admirer, a district prosecutor said on Tuesday. A 34-year-old man was briefly detained at the weekend and was then released under suspicion of molesting the pop singer, prosecutor Solveig Sorlien said. Swedish tabloid newspapers said the man had become smitten by the blonde star when he was eight years old and had left his native Netherlands to buy a house near where Faltskog lived at Ekero near Stockholm. The man is still under investigation, Sorlien said. Faltskog, who will be 50 on Wednesday, is divorced from ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus and has two children. She lives reclusively, practicing yoga and taking long walks.