Black Barbie Sold for Less Than White Barbie at Walmart Store

Walmart is raising eyebrows after cutting the price of a black Barbie doll to nearly half of that of the doll's white counterpart at one store and possibly others.

Famous 1940s test used dolls and kids to gain insight into race perspectives.

More PhotosA photo first posted to the humor Web site FunnyJunk.com and later to the Latino Web site Guanabee.com shows packages of Mattel's Ballerina Barbie and Ballerina Theresa dolls hanging side by side at an unidentified store. The Theresa dolls, which feature brown skin and dark hair, are marked as being on sale at $3.00. The Barbies to the right of the Theresa dolls, meanwhile, retain their original price of $5.93. The dolls look identical aside from their color.

Editors at Guanabee.com said the person responsible for the photo told the Web site that it was taken at a Louisiana Walmart store. The person did not return e-mails from ABCNews.com.

A Walmart spokeswoman, who could not verify the exact store shown in the photo, said that the price change on the Theresa doll was part of the chain's efforts to clear shelf space for its new spring inventory.

"Pricing like items differently is a part of inventory management in retailing," O'Brien said.

But critics say Walmart should have been more sensitive in its pricing choice.

"The implication of the lowering of the price is that's devaluing the black doll," said Thelma Dye, the executive director of the Northside Center for Child Development, a Harlem, N.Y. organization founded by pioneering psychologists and segregation researchers Kenneth B. Clark and Marnie Phipps Clark.

"While it's clear that's not what was intended, sometimes these things have collateral damage," Dye said.

Other experts agree. Walmart could have decided "that it's really important that we as a company don't send a message that we value blackness less than whiteness," said Lisa Wade, an assistant sociology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles and the founder of the blog Sociological Images.

Last year, Wade posted a blog entry on another case where a black doll was apparently priced less than its white counterpart at an unidentified store. Wade said that when white dolls outsell black dolls, it's usually because black parents are more likely than white parents to buy their children dolls of a different race.

"Most white parents wouldn't think to buy a black doll for their child, even if they believe in equality and all those things," she said.

Superintendent accidentally discharges muzzleloader in class

Dwain Haggard’s high school history lesson on Friday backfired.

Haggard, who used to be a Civil War reenactor, was showing the five students in Reed Point High’s American history class his replica antique black powder muzzleloader when the gun fired and lodged a ball in the front wall of the classroom.

“I can’t explain how it was loaded,” Haggard said.

Haggard has been district superintendent since 2007, and each year he’s visited the high school’s American history class to show off his Civil War-era equipment. When he shows the muzzleloader, he finishes the demonstration by firing a cap, which makes a small “pop” when he pulls the trigger, he said.

But this time, “when I dropped the hammer on it, to all of our surprise, it went off,” he said.

Jake Bare, a junior at Reed Point High, was in the class when the gun fired. He said it caught everybody off guard.

When Haggard pulled the trigger, there was a loud bang,and the room filled with smoke, Bare said.

“Holy criminy, you just shot the map,” he said.

Indeed, the ball shot through the “o” in the word “North” at the top of the map and lodged in the wall, Haggard said.

The gun was never pointed at the students once Haggard inserted the cap. He was facing away from the students, pointing the gun toward the ceiling when he pulled the trigger.

The students were “never really in danger,” he said.

After settling down the students and dismissing class, Haggard said, he called the school board to explain what happened and then called the parents of the five students.

“None of them were upset with me,” he said.

One father, he said, laughed until he cried.

The board and his staff have been supportive, he said.

He described the incident as “bitter irony.” As superintendent, Haggard has worked with the school to increase safety at the school, updating its drills and the training staff receives

Woman says Bank of America wrongly repossessed home

A Hampton woman is suing Bank of America, saying one of its contractors wrongly repossessed her home, padlocked the doors, shut off the utilities, damaged the furniture and confiscated a pet parrot, though her mortgage payments were on time.

Angela M. Iannelli, 46, suffered "severe emotional distress, embarrassment and ridicule" as a result of the company's "de facto foreclosure process and seizure proceedings," attorney Michael Rosenzweig wrote in the suit, filed Monday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

The suit accuses Bank of America and its contractor, Ebensburg-based Snyder Property Services, of trespass, unfair business practices, defamation, libel and other offenses during the October foreclosure of Ms. Iannelli's home in the 5000 block of Fountainwood Drive. She is seeking an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages.

Bank of America instructed Snyder Property Services to "enter, seize, padlock, 'winterize' and take possession" of Ms. Iannelli's house, the lawsuit said, cutting water lines and electrical wiring, pouring anti-freeze down her drains and "stealing" her pet parrot, Luke.

She returned home to find her locks had been changed, her furniture and carpets had been damaged, her belongings had been scattered and the bird missing. A notice on her door told her to contact Bank of America, which "initially falsely denied responsibility or knowledge of the invasion and refused" to help her, the suit said. The bank also acknowledged they knew the parrot's whereabouts, it said.

In further calls, Bank of America representatives told Ms. Iannelli they couldn't help her, told her to stop calling, said they were "tired of hearing from her" and put her on hold, told her to call back later and hung up on her, the suit said.

About a week later, Bank of America told her it had "made a mistake" and told her where she could find her parrot, but said she would have to travel to Ebensburg to retrieve it.

She eventually drove to Ebensburg to get her parrot back.

Mr. Rosenzweig said that, with the exception of one payment, Ms. Iannelli's mortgage payments had been on time. Bank of America had not sent her a notice of a 60-day deficiency nor given her 30 days to fix it, as state law requires, he said.

The suit says the company was knowingly deceptive and lacks a policy to check the validity of its foreclosures or stop wrongful ones from happening. A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment.

Only after she retained an attorney did Bank of America offer to repair the damage it had caused, the suit says, but they were inadequate.

Some of the home's damage is irreparable, Mr. Rosenzweig said.

"The damage to her emotionally is irreparable, too," he said. "She's afraid to set foot in the house. She's just ill over it."

Accused Facebook flasher charged

Prosecutors have filed indecent exposure charges against a West Seattle man accused of sending an explicit -- and unappreciated -- photo of himself to a woman he met through Facebook.

Speaking with police, the woman said she met James Alan Douglas through the popular social network. While she was using the site primarily to make business contacts, Douglas, police came to believe, was looking for romance.

According to charging documents, the woman determined she and Douglas had different interests not long after she connected with him through a mutual friend. She told police Douglas repeatedly asked for her private e-mail and for photos of herself; she let Douglas know she was married and not interested in him.

The two continued exchanging messages -- none, prosecutors note, of a sexual or romantic nature -- when she received an e-mail containing a photo of Douglas naked in a car, according to charging documents.

"He sent unsolicited pictures of his exposed penis to a woman he had recently met through Facebook, without any prior conversations involving sexual content or suggesting that she might be receptive to such photographs," Senior Deputy Prosecutor Carol Spoor told the court.

Confronted by a King County detective following the Dec. 10 e-mail, Douglas allegedly admitted to sending the photo but claimed the woman was interested in a relationship with him.

"He said he sent the pictures so she could see what he looked like," the detective said in charging documents. "He said he sent (the woman) those pictures because he figured she wanted to see him."

Douglas, 45, allegedly went on to claim that he was dating "six or seven" other women, including one he considered his girlfriend. He allegedly told officers he hoped to meet that woman in person some day.

In addition to charging Douglas with indecent exposure, prosecutors alleged he acted with sexual motivation. He has not been jailed in the case.

Man, calves escape serious injury in crash

OSO, WASHINGTON -- A man apparently lost control of his car on Highway 530 today after his steering wheel came loose.

His 1978 Buick plunged down an embankment and into a dairy barn, just missing several calves.

The crash happened around noon in the 19900 block of the highway, Washington State Patrol trooper Keith Leary said.

The driver, 59. had minor injuries and avoided hitting any of the animals, Leary said.

The car ended up inside the barn, ensnared by electrical wires. Fire crews worked to safely help the man out.

The wreck avoided hitting the animals. "The baby cows are very cute," Leary said.

Woman charged in breast milk assault on jailer

OWENSBORO, Ky. – A woman in jail for public intoxication was accused of assaulting a jailer by squirting breast milk at her. WYMT-TV reported that a 31-year-old woman was arrested Thursday on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. But as she was changing into an inmate uniform, she squirted breast milk into the face of a female deputy who was with her.

The woman now faces a felony charge of third degree assault on a police officer. Her bond was set at $10,000.

Man leads deputies on chase with 84-year-old mom in passenger seat

A 55-year-old San Carlos Park man had his 84-year-old mother in the passenger seat as he tried to flee from Lee deputies on Tuesday.

Leon Hamilton Wolniewicz, of the 19000 block of Tesoro Way, was charged Tuesday night with fleeing from a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, driving while license suspended/second offense, resisting a law enforcement officer without violence and two counts of battery. He remained jailed Wednesday pending posting of $10,500 in bonds.

According to a Lee County Sheriff's Office report:

A slow-speed chase started after a child abuse investigation involving Wolniewicz, his son and an unidentified woman. As the deputy was doing paperwork, he saw a 2006 BMW go down the street.

The deputy followed the car which is registered to Wolniewicz' mother. The deputy attempted to stop the car, but it kept going about 20 mph and made abrupt turns. The car stopped, but the driver revved the engine and took off again, now traveling about 40 mph. The car stopped again and Wolniewicz ran, but was found in nearby bushes. His mother was confused and told deputies she didn't recall what happened. The deputy also found a bottle of pills in the car with some pills missing.

Wolniewicz' son was taken to the grandmother's house for the night. He was not injured

Kentucky deputy tries to shoot his way out of cell

COLUMBIA, Ky. – A Kentucky sheriff says a claustrophobic deputy has lost his job after accidentally locking himself in a jail cell and trying to shoot his way out of it. Adair County Sheriff Ralph Curry told WKYT-TV that no one was hurt when Charles Wright fired his weapon.

It happened Monday, the first day a new $12.4 million county judicial center was open to the public after more than a year of construction.

Curry says the former deputy has claustrophobia and has agreed to pay for the damage he did to the cell.

Boozy chimp sent to rehab
 
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian chimpanzee has been sent to rehab by zookeepers to cure the smoking and beer-drinking habits he has picked up, a popular daily reported on Friday. An ex-performer, Zhora became aggressive at his circus and was transferred to a zoo in the southern Russian city of Rostov, where he fathered several baby chimps, learned to draw with markers and picked up his two vices.

"The beer and cigarettes were ruining him. He would pester passers-by for booze," the Komsomolskaya Pravda paper said.

It added he has now been transferred to the city of Kazan, about 500 miles east of Moscow, for rehabilitation treatment.

Teachers in trouble after honoring O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul for Black History Month

LOS ANGELES - Three Los Angeles elementary school teachers accused of giving children portraits of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul to carry in a Black History Month parade have been removed from their classrooms, a school district spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Children from other classes at the school displayed photos of more appropriate black role models, such as Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tubman and President Obama, Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said.

The incident occurred Friday at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles, where the student body is more than 90 percent Latino.

District Superintendent Ramon Cortines placed the teachers - all white men who teach first, second and fourth grades - on administrative leave on Tuesday while an investigation is conducted, Pollard-Terry said.

"The superintendent will not let anyone make a mockery out of Black History Month," she said.

The issue was brought to district officials' attention by the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after the organization received a complaint early Monday, chapter President Leon Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he felt the teachers acted in concert to mock black heroes and children's innocence.

"These are not the people we want our young people to emulate or believe these people represent the best of the African-American community," Jenkins said. "It's hard for the NAACP to believe this was a mistake."

Simpson, a former American football star, is serving a nine-year prison sentence for robbery and kidnapping. He was famously acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

RuPaul is a drag queen performer. Rodman, a former basketball star, has gained notoriety for bad boy behavior on and off the basketball court.

Some parents at the school on Wednesday said the issue was overblown.

Sharon Tinson, who has two daughters at the school and attended Friday's celebration, said she had been surprised to see Simpson displayed in the parade. But she noted that Simpson, like Rodman, was a great athlete before falling from grace. RuPaul simply has an alternative lifestyle, she added.

She noted the event also included a tribute to pop singer Michael Jackson, who has also had a checkered career.

"I kind of laughed at it," Tinson said. "I wasn't offended."

Gabriel Blackson, whose son attends the school, said he also took a larger view of the ruckus.

"These guys were heroes before. People make mistakes," he said. "I think they show kids they can be somebody, to push them to be somebody."

Jenkins said he is calling for the teachers to be fired.

Oregon DMV pulling plug on Muzak in several offices

Sick of getting elevator-music versions of Celine Dion and Aerosmith songs stuck in their brains, workers at 13 Oregon DMV offices are more than ready to help the state save money.

Please, they’ve begged, make the Muzak stop!

Caught in a budget crunch, Driver and Motor Vehicles Services is happy to give them “The Sound of Silence.” (You'll probably be humming that one the rest of the day. Sorry).

Oregon taxpayers pay up to $160 a month to pipe Muzak’s acoustic wallpaper into lobbies where drivers come to take tests, renew licenses and register vehicles.
 
Customers from Medford to Beaverton have also complained.

“People complain on many topics,” said DMV spokesman David House, “but this is one we have some control over.”
 

Man turns in ex-boyfriend for allegedly performing circumcisions on men without license at Sparta home

SPARTA, Michigan -- Neighbors say Thomas Alan Heugel presented himself as an ordained minister and emergency medical technician who helped people by performing minor procedures, like body piercing or removing skin tags.

Authorities say his medical dabbling crossed into the criminal, and accuse him of performing circumcisions without a medical license on adult men.

"He needs to be taken off the streets," said a man who identified himself as Heugel's former boyfriend. The man, who did not want to be identified, said he witnessed Heugel, 56, performing the surgery on men and reported the Sparta man to the police.

Heugel was arraigned Wednesday in Kent County District Court, charged with Health Profession-Unauthorized Practice and Occupational Code-Performance Occupation Without a License. If he's convicted, the felony unauthorized practice charge has a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

Kent County sheriff's investigators say Heugel was performing circumcisions on men, in addition to massages and body piercing.

Heugel allegedly passed himself off as a medical doctor to his patients and performed the procedures at his home on Cherry Street.

"I don't know what the attraction is," sheriff's Lt. Kevin Kelley said of the procedure. "I don't know, and the detective doesn't know."

Kelley said Heugel advertised on Craig's List and a Web site called "adam4adam.com" and then wore what looked like uniforms worn by a medical professional.

Heugel also administered a local anesthetic in at least one case, according to Kelley. None of the known procedures appear to have been botched, police say.

Heugel was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond. He could not be reached for comment, and no one answered the door at his home.

Neighbor Maria Horn, 53, says she used to be Heugel's friend, but later took the side of his ex-boyfriend when the two split up.

She said he represented himself as an ordained minister, an emergency medical technician and had vehicles modified to look like vintage police cruisers.

After losing his job as a car salesman, Horn said Heugel began performing the circumcisions, including one procedure on a man from Canada.

She said he would also remove skin-tags and pierce ears, in addition to other activities.
Police worry there may be other victims.
 

Nozzle, hose seen dangling from car

Police first learned that a man might be driving drunk on Monday night after receiving reports of a truck traveling on the bypass with a gas station's hose and nozzle still dangling from his tank.

St. Joseph County police first received reports of the truck traveling west on U.S. 20/U.S. 31 after the dangling hose reportedly struck several passing vehicles and became tangled up in the truck's tires.

Police caught up with the vehicle on Indiana 2, near Quince Road, where officers questioned the man who was driving and reported smelling alcohol on him.

According to police, the 46-year-old South Bend man failed several sobriety tests and was taken to the St. Joseph County Jail, where his blood-alcohol level tested 0.13, higher than the legal limit of 0.08.

The man told police that he had just bought gas at the Speedway gas station at 1110 East Ireland Road. An employee at the store said the man had bought gas at the store with a credit card, before leaving with the hose still attached to the car.

Police returned the hose and nozzle to the gas station, but said they have no estimate on the damage to the pump.

Curvy women 'like a drug to male brain'

Men can get the same high looking at a woman's hourglass figure as drinking alcohol or taking drugs, new research reveals. According to the US study, looking at a curvaceous figure activates the part of the brain associated with feelings of reward.

Scientists say their findings make sense of the view that curvier women, such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles, are sexually appealing. Researchers used a sample of 14 men with an average age of 25 and showed them pictures of the posteriors of seven women.

They then showed them pictures of the same women after cosmetic surgery to move fat from their waists to their backsides without changing their overall weight.

Brain scans of the men revealed that looking at the women after surgery activated parts of the brain linked with rewards, including regions associated with responses to drugs and alcohol.

Researcher Steven Platek, an evolutionary cognitive neuroscientist at Georgia Gwinnett College, in Georgia, said: "There's more to it than buying magazines.

"These findings could help further our understanding pornography addiction and related disorders, such as erectile dysfunction in the absence of pornography.

"The findings could also lend to the scientific inquiry about sexual infidelity."

Mr Platek, who detailed the findings in the journal PLoS ONE, said this may be evidence that body fat influences judgments of female beauty due to society's norms rather than the way the brain is wired.

 
What could possibly go wrong?

A New Zealand company is to begin production of a commercial jet pack which will sell for about £50,000.

People will be able fly more than a mile high at speeds of up to 60mph - without even a pilot's licence, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Martin Aircraft Company, in Christchurch, aims to make 500 jet packs a year.

The 200 horsepower dual-propeller packs are the brainchild of inventor Glenn Martin who unveiled his machine last year.

It is capable of travelling 30 miles in 30 minutes on a full tank of fuel. Because it weighs less than 115kg, the jet pack does not require a pilot's licence.

And recent tests have seen the newest model reach heights of up to 2,400 metres and top speeds of 60mph.

But only now has sufficient investment been found for the company to begin production of the craft, which will also begin at an undisclosed site outside New Zealand.

Martin Aircraft Company chief executive Richard Lauder said the pack could be perfect for the emergency services, private users and even the military.

He said: "This could be life-saving stuff. For us this is an excellent commercial step."

Mr Lauder would not identify the partner other than to say it was an international aircraft company.

William Kelly Shot A Man In The Groin For Mistreating His Daughter

Navarre, FL (The Weekly Vice) - William Russel Kelly Junior, a 48-year-old Navarre man was jailed after he allegedly shot a man in the scrotum and thigh because he "beat his daughter".

According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, a deputy was responding to a noise complaint around 1:00 a.m Monday when he heard people shouting and then saw a man and woman running towards him - shouting that they had been shot.

The woman, 18-year-old Amanda Kelly, stated that her father shot her boyfriend "because he hates him, dude". The victim, 29-year-old Randall Carter, was bleeding from the groin area. He was treated at a local hospital and released.

Kelly, who works on Elgin Air Base, was found by officers with a silver Taurus .45-caliber revolver he referred to as "The Judge". He admitted shooting the young man and stated to police that he "shot him in the nuts with bird-shot because he was beating my daughter".

Kelly was booked into the Santa Rosa County jail and charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability. He was released after posting $20,000 bond.

The Inbox of an Accidental Facebook Voyeur

“Just wanted to let you know it seems like your always on my mind these days,” someone wrote to me last night on Facebook. “Sorry if thats creepy but what can I say.” It was creepy, but mostly because the message wasn’t intended for me, and its sender is an Iowa high-school student whom I’ve never met.

An as-yet-unexplained Facebook glitch flooded my inbox last night and this morning with 128 private messages written by complete strangers to their friends — or, in the case of the person who wrote, “I might kill you for this,” their enemies. The misdirected missives range from mundane logistics (”hey whats ur adress so i can send u my bat mitzvah invites?”) to family squabbles (”Until I start hearing some thank yous from you, I will be unable to give you rides home after dance”) to love triangles (”I am EXTREMELY jealous of you”) to unrequited-love notes in foreign languages (”léger nuage de malaise hé oui, entre nous deux“).

It’s obviously troubling that any of this landed in my inbox, even if the bug only affected “a small number of users for a short period of time,” according to Facebook. But as a seemingly random slice of the unseen Internet, the errant messages are also totally fascinating.

Kelly has applied for a job at Starbucks. Michelle’s brother sliced his head open in a harrowing tractor accident. A Milwaukee native is “sooo mad at annabelle.” Middle schoolers in Georgia have a quiz today on Newton’s Laws. And in Kentucky, weekend plans are solidifying: “we need to go to that place and get alcohol. ALSO GET TOGETHER AT MY HOUSE FRIDAY NIGHT. COME.”

I learned that people still use o_O to indicate they’re confused and that “no stalk” means you’re not stalking someone — as in, “no stalk but your formspring stuff has been coming up on my feed.”Much of the chatter referred to Facebook itself, like the teenager who wrote, “look at [so-and-so's] wall and the convo she has on her statuses with TIM!” (It was hard not to feel like I was reading the Burn Book in Mean Girls.)

But more than anything, the Facebook users whose messages I received were grappling with matters of the heart. There’s a love triangle unraveling in Chicago that’s worthy of a David Mamet play: “The jealousy, the vibes, and what I hold dear to me made this whole weekend hard. The cuddling, truth or dare game, the texting back and forth for long periods of time, and the whispering back and forth for a long time got to me.” Another couple’s racy instant-message conversation found its way to my Facebook account. A seemingly broken-hearted man in Madrid wrote in Spanish, “You know you love me.”

The deluge of personal revelations reminded me of an exhibit of Jane Austen’s letters that is at the Morgan Library right now. While Austen generally avoided personal revelations and lolspeak in her correspondence, it’s the banal stuff that really shines. “My Cloak is come home, & here follows the pattern of its’ lace,” she writes to her sister, and it’s as compelling as a Facebook message I received: “hey if liz cant do the sleepover this weekend… wanna just come over. we can have girl talk without them haha. oh i wish icould drink… that wuld be funn..”

Spokane wedding crasher now has jail date

She showed up at weddings uninvited, mingled with guests and never left empty-handed.

But a Spokane woman’s wedding-crashing scheme unraveled last summer when an old high school classmate – and off-duty police officer – recognized her at a wedding where she wasn’t an invited guest.

When the hosts discovered missing gifts, they realized they’d been looted.

Now Pamula W. McBride, 46, will serve 45 days in jail for stealing gift cards and personal checks from a wedding in Nez Perce County, Idaho, last June.

Police also suspect McBride stole similar items from the gift table at Scott Drago’s wedding reception at Cataldo Hall on the Gonzaga University campus July 18, nearly one month after she stole from a wedding at the Lewiston Elks Lodge.

“We had so many guests at the wedding that we didn’t really notice until we went to open gifts the following day,” Drago said. “You don’t get very many gifts and you’re wondering, ‘Gee, something’s wrong here.’ ”

McBride, who did not return a cell phone message seeking comment, was sentenced Thursday in Nez Perce County District Court for felony grand theft stemming from the Lewiston incident. She has until March 6 to report to jail.

Police tracked McBride through stolen gift cards after the Lewiston wedding party noticed missing gifts and the off-duty police officer told them he’d seen a high school classmate who seemed nervous when he asked what she was doing.

The hosts gave police descriptions of possible stolen gift cards, and stores were asked to watch for them. Soon, Macy’s, Costco and Home Depot reported a woman using the stolen cards. In at least one case, she showed her driver’s license.

The cards had been purchased with credit cards, so police were able to locate the original buyers and confirm that the cards were meant for the newlyweds and not McBride.

When police learned of additional stolen cards, they tracked down the buyers and learned of the Drago wedding in Spokane.

Police contacted Drago and his bride, Elisa, on their honeymoon in Hawaii and told them of the stolen cards.

“It took at least three full days of just tracking people down and all that kind of stuff,” said Spokane Police Officer Brian Eckersley. “It made a solid case for Idaho.”

Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick mentioned Eckersley’s work on the case when he won the city of Spokane’s employee of the month award this month.

In an interview with Eckersley last summer, McBride confessed to the thefts and said she’d been feeling depressed and didn’t know why she’d done it.

“Pamula said she was embarrassed about what she did and does not have a good reason for it,” Eckersley wrote, according to court documents.

She first told Eckersley she’d received the gift cards as a bonus from her employer, but then confessed they were stolen, according to court documents.

Eckersley found envelopes addressed to the Dragos in McBride’s SUV.

Police were able to return some of the cards to the victims by returning the items McBride had purchased with the stolen cards, then reimbursing the cards.

Drago, who lives in Rosalia, Wash., said the case has made him and his friends more cautious.

“Boy, if you have a wedding, you’ve got to make sure that you have somebody watching your gifts,” he said. “I know if we go to a wedding, we’ll just send the gift to the house a few days later.”

Man hit by same train twice in 2 weeks
 
IRVINE – A 57-year-old Costa Mesa man who had his hand severed by a Metrolink train two weeks ago was apparently hit by the same train again Tuesday morning, police said. His injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

Around 7:30 a.m., police and firefighters went to the Irvine Transportation Center after receiving a report of a man who had fallen onto the tracks.

Paramedics treated injuries to the man's left arm and right hand. His left hand was severed two weeks ago in another incident.

The man, who has not been identified publicly, said that he had fallen from the passenger platform and been run over by the train. He told authorities the same thing two weeks ago.

As of noon, Irvine police were still at the Irvine Transportation Center and at the hospital with the man, said Sgt. Mike Meyers of the Irvine Police Department.

In the earlier incident, on Feb. 8 at 7:20 a.m., the man apparently fell onto the tracks at the Laguna Niguel station; he was then dragged 87 feet by a northbound Metrolink train. The train cut off his left hand at the wrist.

That incident was investigated as an accident, said Lt. Andy Ferguson of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

"We talked to a relative who thought it was an accident," Ferguson said, adding that the man didn't say anything about suicide.

In the Feb. 8 incident, the man apparently fell onto the tracks around 7:20 a.m., while the train was still in the station, and was then dragged as it left.

In Tuesday's incident, the man had been on the passenger departure platform for the northbound Metrolink train, which was stopped. Police are investigating how he ended up on the tracks.

Lt. John Hare of the Irvine Police Department said that a mental health examination of the man will be requested.

Collier County deputies crash Segways; 1 breaks ankle

A Collier County sheriff’s deputy broke his ankle early Monday when he and another deputy crashed their Segways.

Cpl. Kevin Alexander and Cpl. Justin Dill were patrolling on Hunter Boulevard around 12:30 a.m., Sheriff’s Office
spokeswoman Natalie Felber said. When the two deputies moved to let a vehicle pass, their tires locked together and they crashed.

Dill suffered a broken ankle in the crash.

At this time no discipline is planned for either deputy, Felber said.

“Both deputies have been trained to operate the Segway,” she said. “We don’t have any information that leads us us to believe that they were operating the Segways irresponsibly.”

Theme park takes the pee

A Surrey theme park is calling on members of the public to submit their urine samples in a bid to find the country's most pungent smelling wee.

Thorpe Park, near Chertsey, wants it to become the signature stench of its brand new attraction, SAW Alive - billed as the world's most extreme live action horror maze.

Bosses are offering a £500 cash prize to the person who submits the winning sample and is asking entrants to attend the park on Friday, 26, February between 11am and 2pm.

The distinctive smell of the winning entry will be recreated and feature in the new attraction, which features six traps depicting the most grisly and iconic scenes from the six SAW films.

It will be pumped into the iconic washroom scene, recreating a "realistic and truly gut wrenching sensory experience" designed to test the nerve of all who enter.

Laura Sinclair, Thorpe Park's entertainments manager, will be responsible for selecting the most stomach turning urine sample.

She said: "We want SAW Alive to be as authentic and terrifying as possible to make visitors feel as if they are living in a real life horror film.

"To do this we need to really push the boundaries of what our guests experience from a sensory point of view with the use of smells, special lighting and effects such as electrocution and vibrating floors that will create a full on attack of the senses.

"We've begun creating some of the stenches of SAW Alive but need the help of the public to create the most realistic and unsavoury urine odour. We are looking for a sample that will really get the public gagging."

Louisville Safeway employee accused of 'indecent exposure' behind the meat counter

Nicholas Lorenzo (Boulder County Sheriff's Office | via Camera)A Louisville man suspected of masturbating while working behind the meat counter at a Louisville Safeway is headed toward trial.

Nicholas Lorenzo, 25, was arrested Jan. 31 after a woman told police that she was shopping in the Safeway at 707 South Boulder Road with her infant when she approached the meat counter and was asked by an employee if she was finding everything, according to an arrest affidavit.

The woman told investigators that she noticed some motion from behind the glass door, and then saw the employee — who was later identified as Lorenzo — "holding his penis," the affidavit said. The woman said he was masturbating while talking with her, and when he saw the shocked look on her face, he put his penis back in his pants, according to the affidavit.

When police confronted Lorenzo about the allegations, he admitted to "having his penis out of his pants," the affidavit said.

Man accused of stealing panties at open houses

A Hales Corners man has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of theft after police say he attended real estate open houses in the Milwaukee area and stole women's underwear from the homes.

According to Wauwatosa police:

Robert Remiker, 58, attended open houses in the 2300 block of North 62nd Street in Wauwatosa, as well as Greenfield and Franklin. Realtors and other visitors to the Wauwatosa open house said they saw Remiker opening drawers and taking items. When he was stopped by police, they found plastic bags containing eight pairs of underwear and printouts of Internet listings for area open houses.

Remiker told officers he was taking the items because he missed his ex-wife. He said he had about 50 more pairs at the home he lived in with his parents.

A look into his criminal history showed he had been arrested in 2004 for disorderly conduct and trespassing in the town of Brookfield for peeping into a neighbor's bathroom by attaching a stick to a mirror and putting it near a window.

He is expected to appear in court Thursday.

One horse power truck

A Polish farmer is facing jail for being drunk in charge of both a horse and a lorry at the same time.

Leszek Stepien, 62, of Skwierzyna, used his farm horse to tow his broken down truck to the garage but had drunk so much he couldn't steer straight.

The impromptu carriage ground to a halt when the farmer managed to steer straight into the path of an oncoming car, sending the truck tumbling onto its side.

Stepien wasn't about to take the blame for the collision, however. Uninjured, he sprang from the cab and proceeded to berate the poor beast, yelling: "This is all your fault."

Police were less than amused by the bizarre scene that greeted them, and revealed that the foolish farmer faces dire consequences for his flash of inspiration.

"Luckily the horse wasn't injured but the owner is facing charges including animal cruelty and drink driving," said one officer, who revealed that Stepien had drunk enough to put him over twice the legal drink-driving limit.

Police: Man sent 500 texts on stolen phone

An Iowa City man has been accused of sending more than 500 text messages on a stolen phone.

Iowa City Police said on Feb. 19, Christopher W. Smead, 21, took a cell phone from the men’s locker room at Core Fitness. Police said Smead used the cell phone without the owner's consent, including making phone calls and sending text messages.

Police said the text messages started at 1:55 a.m. on Feb. 19 and did not end until Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. Police said records from Verizon show that more than 500 text messages were sent between 1:55 a.m. and 11:43 p.m. on Feb. 19. Records were not available for Feb. 20, police said.

Police said Smead admitted to taking and using the phone. He was charged with fifth-degree theft.

Smead was also charged with an unrelated offense by the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety. Police said on Jan. 30, witnesses saw Smead in the UI Main Library with a handgun tucked into the back of his pants. Police said officers found a BB gun, air cartridge and pellets on Smead when they responded to the library.

Smead was charged with possession of an air pistol, a simple misdemeanor.

Police said Smead failed to appear in court after being charged with carrying the air pistol. When he was arrested for the theft charge, Smead pleaded guilty and is currently serving a 30 day sentence for his offenses.

Spy pen jolts talks between airport, Delta

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The world’s busiest airport and the world’s biggest airline were locked in critical negotiations last summer when the talks lurched off the runway.

Executives from Delta Air Lines were chatting after a meeting with city of Atlanta negotiators ended when they discovered a high-tech pen on the table. It appeared to be surreptitiously recording their conversation.

Ben DeCosta, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s general manager, admits that he left the gadget — he loves gadgets — on the table with its recorder running. But he insists that he did not intend to record Delta’s negotiators, and he even charged later that Delta stole his pen.

The extraordinary story emerged in public documents obtained last week by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The pen is the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen, which has an on-off switch and 4 gigabytes of memory. It translates some words into Mandarin or Arabic, records audio and costs $199. It also writes.

James Greenwald, one of Delta’s representatives in the meeting, called it a “James Bond” pen. The Delta team found the pen and had planned to erase the audio it had captured.

That June evening, city records report DeCosta called a Delta executive who had attended the meeting, said he couldn’t find his pen and wanted to know who took it.

The Delta official, Harold Bevis, told DeCosta that he was disappointed the airport chief recorded the meeting and said he would erase the recording, city records show. DeCosta denied the claim and said he wanted the pen back. He later called Delta’s complaint a ploy to get him out of contract negotiations.

The city agreed, in response to a demand from Delta, to investigate the airline’s accusation against DeCosta. The investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence that DeCosta intentionally sought to record the private conversations of Delta’s team.

DeCosta declined to comment last week. He announced a month ago that, after 11 years as the airport’s top executive, he will retire when his contract expires June 30.

Delta said in a statement Friday it respected the investigation’s conclusions and considers the matter closed.

The investigation sheds light on the fractious relationship between DeCosta and Delta, particularly when it came to negotiations over extending Delta’s lease at Hartsfield-Jackson. DeCosta believed some portions of the lease extension were too Delta-friendly and could limit competition from other airlines. When DeCosta announced last month that he would leave the city in June, Delta released a one-sentence statement thanking the airport manager for his service and wishing him well.

The drama began June 9. About 20 to 30 Delta and city of Atlanta officials attended a steering committee meeting, and DeCosta said he turned on the pen’s microphone to record a presentation on construction costs, investigators wrote. DeCosta said he left the meeting briefly, and the pen was gone when he returned.

Georgia law prohibits the recording of a conversation in a private place unless one party consents. In the final eight minutes of the recording, Delta officials were the only participants in the conversation and said they had not authorized the recording.

“Mr. DeCosta’s use of the pen to record Delta’s private conversations appears to violate [state] statute and is clearly improper,” wrote Catherine O’Neil, an attorney representing Delta.

DeCosta, meanwhile, told city officials his version of the story and his suspicion of Delta’s motives.

“DeCosta stated that he believes that the issue surrounding the pen and a request for an investigation was a tactical maneuver by Delta to discredit him during the course of the negotiations since he was in staunch opposition with some of their desires ...” the investigative report says.

DeCosta told city officials he never agreed not to record any of the steering committee meetings. Delta argued that both sides understood the meetings were not to be recorded. The investigative report included an April 22 letter from Delta Vice President John Boatright to DeCosta complaining that minutes from an April 2 committee meeting contained several inaccuracies.

“We were not even aware such minutes were being prepared and assume no other recording of our meetings is occurring,” Boatright wrote.

City investigators met DeCosta at his home on Dec. 11 to listen to the pen’s recordings. There were 145 minutes of conversation between the city and Delta. After that, there were eight minutes of Delta officials talking. Those eight minutes of the recording were inaudible, investigators wrote.

An official close to the discussions said last week that the company was split internally over whether to pursue the investigation of DeCosta. This official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on this issue, said some at Delta viewed DeCosta as an impediment to negotiations and thought the pen incident might help to push him aside. Others argued that DeCosta deserved the benefit of the doubt.

The negotiations continued while the city’s law department investigated Delta’s complaint against DeCosta. Then-Mayor Shirley Franklin said the extension was “not perfect,” but she was far less critical of the deal. She viewed Delta as a trusted partner of the city and pointed to the company’s growth in Atlanta as an example of the benefits of the “partnership.” Franklin, her chief operating officer Greg Giornelli, Delta CEO Richard Anderson and other airline officials discussed the proposed deal with a group of AJC editors and reporters in late October. DeCosta was out of the country and did not attend the meeting.

The two sides approved a seven-year lease extension on Dec. 21.

Less than a month later, on Jan. 13, acting City Attorney Roger Bhandari signed off on the findings in the 10-page investigative report. DeCosta announced his plans to leave the city on Jan. 25.

Atlanta’s new mayor, Kasim Reed, has said he wants to develop a “strong relationship” with Anderson. The airline CEO says he wants the same.

As for the pen, city officials returned it to DeCosta at the end of the Dec. 11 interview.

NRA gun instructor shoots student by accident

A gun instructor accidently shot a student in the foot Saturday during an NRA class to receive certification to carry a concealed weapon, Orlando police said.

Robert Frauman Jr., 50, was taken to Florida Hospital after instructor Michael Phillips' firearm discharged about 11:45 a.m., police said.

Phillips, 32, could not be reached for comment. The accident happened at Summit Church, located in a former movie theater near the Fashion Square mall.

The bullet went through a table before it hit Frauman, said Kristy-Lee Lawley, the church's communications director. She said Frauman, a member of the church, was "recovering well" and the bullet didn't break any bones.

Frauman was one of three students in the class, which was not a church-sponsored event, Lawley said. She said the church offered an upstairs conference room for free after some church members requested to have the class there. Lawley said the church is empty on Saturdays and this was the first class of its kind there.

"We won't be having anything like that in our church in the future," Lawley said.

The church with 2,500 members is headed by Pastor Isaac Hunter, son of the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of the Longwood-based megachurch Northland, A Church Distributed. The churches are not affiliated.

The NRA has a rule against bringing ammunition into a class, said Tom Wagner, a NRA instructor in Orlando who was not involved in Saturday's shooting. He said the association has "no problem yanking a certification if the rules are being broken."

This was not the first time something's gone wrong during a gun demonstration in Orlando. In 2004, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration shot himself in the thigh with a .40-caliber Glock pistol while talking to schoolchildren about gun safety.

Man beaten with high-heel on Waffle House Valentine's date

Pooler police say violence erupted during one couple's Valentine's Day outing, as the suitor's former lover burst into the restaurant and beat the man with her high-heel shoe.

Early Sunday morning, officers were called to the Waffle House at 1012 E. U.S. 80, finding a "blood-covered floor and tables in a state of disarray," according an incident report filed by Pooler police.

A 33-year-old man had suffered cuts and scrapes on his face, marks left by the "spiked heel from a shoe," police reported.
The victim told officers that he and his girlfriend were at a booth when a pair of sisters - one of whom is the mother of his children - came in and started an argument.

He tried to ignore them, police reported, even as they began hitting him. A Waffle House manager told police the women also hurled sugar and salt containers through a window.

At some point, the assailants went to the parking lot and damaged the man's car, police reported.

They then returned inside, and the man struck at least one of the women, according to the report.

That's when the women took off in a car; a Savannah-Chatham police officer spotted the getaway vehicle and followed it to Memorial University Medical Center, Pooler police reported.

One of the women was treated for a cut above her right eye before both were taken to the Pooler police department.

The suspects - identified as Kenya White, 29, of Meldrim; and Marrisha White, 32, of Hinesville - were each charged with battery and criminal damage to private property, according to the incident report. They were taken to the Chatham County jail.

Paramedics treated the victim at the scene, police reported.

Boss's voice mail records worker's alleged drug deal

Des Moines man is accused of unwittingly leaving his boss a voice-mail message documenting a drug deal in which he was involved.

State records indicate that Joseph Stankiewicz was on medical leave from NAPA Auto Parts in November when he called the company's human resources director, Carolyn Miller, and left a message on her voice-mail system.

When Stankiewicz finished his message, he allegedly failed to disconnect his phone properly and Miller's voice mail continued to record everything in the vicinity of Stankiewicz's phone.

The recording captured a freewheeling, profanity-laced conversation between two men who NAPA officials concluded were Stankiewicz and a man named Donny. On the tape, the two men discuss money that one of the men owed the other for prescription narcotics. The two also discuss another trade involving 22 pills of OxyContin or Percocet, two addictive painkillers.

Miller listened to her voice mail the day after Stankiewicz left his message. After discussing the matter with the company's legal counsel, NAPA Auto Parts officials decided to fire Stankiewicz for violating a company policy that prohibits the illicit sale of drugs.

Stankiewicz said Thursday that his doctor had been prescribing him Percocet and he has a friend named Donny. But he said that while the first part of the recording was the message he left for Miller, the second part of the message involving the drug deal didn't include him.

"I don't have a clue where they got the rest of that message," he said. "And, you know, I'd have to be pretty stupid not to hang up my phone."

At a recent state hearing dealing with his request for unemployment benefits, Stankiewicz testified that Des Moines Police Detective Rahn Bjornson investigated the matter and determined there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Stankiewicz argued that NAPA officials wanted to fire him because of a recent workers' compensation claim that he filed.

Administrative Law Judge Steven Wise denied Stankiewicz's request for unemployment benefits, saying he was absolutely convinced Stankiewicz was the man heard on the recording.

"The voice sounds the same, and he begins the conversation by telling Donny he had to call his job and if (human resources) called back, to be quiet while he talked to her," Wise observed.

Police: Man rides on car hood in his underwear

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – Police expect to file charges against a 57-year-old man who was wearing only underwear in frigid temperatures when he hopped on the hood of his girlfriend's moving car during an argument. Police have yet to identify the man or his 28-year-old girlfriend, saying they'll release the names once they sort out what charges to file.

Police were called about 3:20 a.m. Thursday by someone reporting a man riding on the hood of a car, screaming at the woman driving it.

The woman had a bruise under her left eye and police said they found drug paraphernalia in the car.

Uniontown is about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. The region has been hit by heavy snows and overnight temperatures were in the teens on Thursday.

Style Weekly fires reporter who used obscenity in e-mail

Richmond, VA - Style Weekly yesterday fired a reporter who sent an e-mail that used an obscenity to describe a disabled man, the reporter confirmed.

Reporter Chris Dovi said he referred to William Weeks, a blind motivational speaker, as a "blind [expletive]" in an e-mail last Friday that Dovi meant to send to an editor.

The e-mail instead went to Scott McCaskey, a public relations spokesman for Weeks. Yesterday, McCaskey issued a news release that contained Dovi's e-mail and said the e-mail "reveals society's ongoing prejudice against the disabled."

Dovi said yesterday that he had grown frustrated with McCaskey for repeatedly calling and e-mailing him about getting Style to cover Weeks' presentation Feb. 25 in Richmond.

Dovi, a former reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said his insulting language was an expression of his frustration with McCaskey, a senior associate for Norfolk-based Goldman & Associates Public Relations.

"I am not making excuses for myself here," Dovi said. "I shouldn't have been flip."

Dean Goldman, president of Goldman & Associates, said he is concerned that such language is acceptable within Style Weekly: "It represents a culture within an organization."

Jason Roop, Style's editor in chief, declined to answer questions but released a statement.

It says Dovi regretted the e-mail but that his disparaging language "violated the core values we hold sacred at Style." The statement adds that the newspaper has apologized to Weeks.

It also says that Dovi covered issues affecting people with disabilities, the homeless and jail inmates during his three years with Style.

Midnight bathroom run ends in a trip to the jail

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL — Deanne Elsholz said her husband urinated on the bathroom floor.

David Elsholz just wanted to go back to sleep.

It was almost midnight Monday at their mobile home at 5951 Woodsman Drive in the Angus Valley community.

Deputies who arrived later said the place was cluttered with Natural Light beer cans, and both husband and wife appeared to be drunk.

"What are you doing?" Deanne, 44, asked David, 50, when she heard his urine spraying the floor, according to what she told authorities.

She said her husband then slapped her about the head with a towel and, in retaliation, she threw a glass from her nightstand at his face. It hit him in the nose, a report states, and blood poured down his chest and arms.

Then, Deanne "ran into the bathroom and slipped on David's pee," the report states.

She told deputies David kicked her in the ribs while she was on the ground, and she crawled to get her phone and called 911.

David's story was that he was sleeping and woke up to use the bathroom.

After urinating, he went back to bed but Deanne started yelling at him, the report states.

"David told her he didn't want to argue and he just wanted to sleep."

Then she hit him with the glass, he told authorities.

Deanne was deemed the aggressor in the brawl and arrested. She is charged with domestic battery — something David has been charged with twice in recent years, according to the Pasco Sheriff's Office.

Deanne is being held without bail in the Land O'Lakes jail. She complained of rib pain and was taken to a local hospital to be checked out. Doctors said she was fine, the report states.

Stranded snowboarder burnt cash

A snowboarder stranded in the Alps for six hours was rescued after attracting attention by setting fire to his money.

Dominik Podolsky, 22, of Munich, was stuck after the ski lift was switched off at dusk in Hochzillertal, Austria, reports the BBC.

As darkness fell and the temperature dropped to -18C, he began to burn paper handkerchiefs and the contents of his wallet with a cigarette lighter.

He started with restaurant bills and business cards before he was finally spotted by ski lift cleaners as he burned the last of his euros.

Mr Podolsky was taking the lift down a mountain in Austria when he became trapped about 10m (33ft) above ground. He had forgotten his mobile phone and his shouts for help were not heard.

"I thought about jumping down, but then I'd have probably broken both legs and would have frozen to death," Mr Podolsky told reporters.

He used techniques learned through military service to fight off hypothermia, but his limbs began to go numb and he kept falling asleep.

After treatment in a local hospital for hypothermia, he was able to take a train home that night.

Mr Podolsky says he is considering suing the company that operates the lift. A spokesman said it was not meant for downward trips and Mr Podolsky had apparently ignored signs warning against boarding it.

St. Louis man outraged by description on Pizza Hut receipt

A St. Louis man will take action after finding what he calls a racist remark on his receipt from Pizza Hut.

"At first I thought maybe this was some type of promotional," said Karl Mayberry. "This had to be the name of a pizza that I didn't know."

But it wasn't. The words Mayberry saw on his Pizza Hut order ticket did not describe the pizza at all. He believes they described him. Where his name should have been, there were two adjectives instead.

"It was 'big' and 'black,'" he said.

Mayberry could not believe it. The pizza had come from the store on Lindell. He compared receipts with another Pizza Hut just to be sure.

"Lo and behold, the same spot where the name would go is where the racist remark went from the Pizza Hut on Lindell," he said.

Mayberry was hurt and offended. After receiving his complaints, Pizza Hut officials responded. They gave Mayberry two $50 gift cards and a letter of apology. In it, they said they were both disappointed and embarrassed by the situation.

A company spokesman told NewsChannel 5 that Pizza Hut policy dictates they use only name, address or phone number to identify people.

"We have taken corrective action, including an employee training at this restaurant, to make sure our policies are adhered to," said Chris Fuller, Pizza Hut spokesman.

Mayberry believes it's too little, too late. What's more, he said this happened on Martin Luther King Day.

"To be an African-American male and have that type of injustice done to you, especially by a Caucasian, on Martin Luther King holiday, it just threw me so hard," Mayberry said.

After what happened, Mayberry feels the apology he received isn't enough, so now he's planning on taking legal action.

"It's good that they did manage to step up and do something, but still they have not addressed Karl Mayberry's problem," he said. "First you've got to deal with Karl then you deal with everyone else."

Mayberry said he was the only customer in the restaurant that day and the employee could have easily asked his name. Since the incident, Mayberry gave the gift cards to a local homeless shelter. He said he's lost his taste for Pizza Hut's pizza.

Police: Man Offered Woman Asphalt For Sex

Spartanburg, S.C. - A North Carolina man was arrested after deputies say he exposed himself to a woman and offered to pave her driveway in exchange for sex.

Billie Bobbie Harrison, 24, of Winston-Salem, is charged with one count of indecent exposure.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office says Harrison and another man drove up to the home of a 55-year old Chesnee woman on Tuesday. The men asked her about paving her driveway. The victim says the conversation took a perverted turn when Harrison began to make sexual comments about her jewelry, then exposed himself to her and offered to pave the driveway in exchange for sex.

The victim went inside her house and called 911. Deputies pulled over the men's truck not far from the home and arrested Harrison. He was released from jail early Wednesday morning after posting $3,000 bail.

Harrison denies exposing himself or making sexual comments.

"I never showed her myself. I don't know why they arrested me," said Harrison during a phone interview.

Deputies say the woman, who is a Sunday school teacher, was able to provide specific details about Harrison's underwear and other parts of his body.

The victim's husband was irate when he came home minutes after the men left and his wife told him what happened.

"I asked the deputy if he could give me five minutes alone with him before they hauled him away, but they wouldn't let me," said the husband.

Bull charges into Peoria home

PEORIA, IL — Excuse anyone who heard about Sally Joyner's weekend and figured she was full of bull.

Even she didn't expect to be taken seriously when calling for help Saturday morning.

"I called 911 and said, 'Please don't think I'm crazy, but a bull just crashed through my front door,' " Joyner said Tuesday.

Joyner was in her house at 1105 E. Brookview Lane about 11 a.m. Saturday. Joyner was in the kitchen and her 16-year-old granddaughter, Samantha Thompson, was lying on a couch in the living room, both above ground level.

"I was sitting here in the kitchen and all of a sudden I heard this loud crash," Joyner said. "I jumped up and looked down the stairs and there was a humongous bull in our foyer."

Looking down the stairs leading to the home's entry area, Joyner noticed the full glass front door was gone and glass was piled an inch thick on the floor. Joyner and Thompson were both stunned.

"I was screaming," Joyner said. "I went down a couple stairs and then I thought, 'What am I doing?' "

First, Joyner called police. Then she dialed her husband, Steve.

"When I called him at work, he couldn't understand what I said," Joyner said. "I tried to tell him a bull just came through the front door. He was just saying, 'What?' I told him, 'You need to get home.' "

According to a police report from the Peoria County Sheriff's Department, three bulls escaped in the area. Two were seen running in Detweiller Park and one wandered into the Brookview subdivision, where the Joyners live.

Sally Joyner said the couple's home is near both the park and the Heart of Illinois Arena, a horse arena at 9201 N. Galena Road. The police report didn't explain where the animals had been before escaping.

Gary B. Wessels, 64, of 1800 W. Main St. in Galesburg was in charge of the bulls when they got loose, the report said.

During a phone call with the Journal Star, Wessels declined to explain where the bulls escaped from or how they did it. Other than to say he later found the crashing bull, Wessel would not discuss the incident.

"It's none of your business," Wessels said.

Sally Joyner said the couple's insurance company is working with Wessel to replace the door, which the report estimated was valued at $1,500.

She was told authorities found the bull on railroad tracks not far from Galena Road.

Joyner was thankful the bull's voyage indoors was confined to the ground-level foyer, and that he didn't go up or down stairways leading off the front entrance to the home.

"A flower pot and all the glass were going down my stairs," Joyner said. "He fought around in the foyer for a while and then finally went back out the same way he came in.

"I'm glad he found his way back out. I don't know how a bull thinks. With me being as hysterical about it as I was, he probably wanted to get out of here."

Celebrity chef Beppe Bigazzi upsets viewers with his cat casserole

A top Italian food writer has been suspended indefinitely from the country’s version of the television programme Ready Steady Cook for recommending stewed cat to viewers as a “succulent dish”.

RAI, the public broadcasting network, said that it had dropped Beppe Bigazzi, 77, for offering the recipe on La Prova del Cuoco, which is broadcast at midday on the main channel. Its switchboard was inundated with complaints from viewers and animal rights groups. Bigazzi said that casserole of cat was a famous dish in his home region of Valdarno, Tuscany.

“I’ve eaten it myself and it’s a lot better than many other animals,” he told viewers. “Better than chicken, rabbit or pigeon.” He said that for optimum flavour the meat should be “soaked in spring water for three days” before being stewed.

Elisa Isoardi, the programme’s presenter — who has a cat called Othello — tried to steer Bigazzi off the subject. Reports said that during the commercial break she and the show’s producers tried to persuade him to apologise to viewers but he refused.

Carla Rocchi, the head of ENPA, the Italian society for the protection of animals, said that killing cats was illegal. Francesca Martini, the Deputy Health Minister, said it was “absolutely unheard of for a public service broadcaster to tell people how delicious cats are to eat”. She called for the producers to be investigated for criminal offences involving incitement to mistreat animals.

Bigazzi, a consumer affairs journalist and author of Cooking with Common Sense, has been one of the stars of La Prova del Cuoco for the past ten years. He is noted for his exuberant style and previously caused uproar by boiling lobsters live on the show. Yesterday he said that he had only been joking about the recipe, and he had been misunderstood.

He added: “Mind you, I wasn’t joking all that much. In the 1930s and 1940s, when I was a boy, people certainly did eat cat

in the countryside around Arezzo.” Food historians said that Italians in cities such as Vicenza devised cat recipes in times of economic hardship. Inhabitants of Vicenza are still nicknamed magnagati (cat eaters), and in some butchers’ shops rabbits are sold with their heads to assure buyers that they are not cats.

From pet to pot

• In his 1529 treatise on cookery, Ruperto de Nola recommended spit-roasting cat basted with garlic and olive oil. He wrote: “Take the garlic with oil mixed with good broth so that it is coarse, and pour it over the cat and you can eat it for it is a good dish”

• The Spanish expression pasar gato por liebre derives from the practice of hunters trying to sell skinned cats as hares. When butchered, the animals are supposed to look almost identical

• In 2007 Australians at a cooking contest in Alice Springs sought to curb the feral cat population by using them in a dish. One judge found the cat casserole so tough that she had to spit it out

• Last month legal experts in China responded to pressure from the country’s middle class and proposed a ban on eating cat and dog meat. Both are traditional Chinese dishes but if the law is passed people caught eating cats could face 15 days in prison

Racy texts from Tampa doctor to his patient

Tampa, Florida - New details are emerging about the case of a Tampa psychologist accused of having sex with his patient.

Dr. Daniel R. Lerom is listed in documents as having a long-standing sexual relationship with his Lakeland patient, listed only as "HK" in a lawsuit filed with Hillsborough County Circuit Court.

Each time they two had sex, documents say, the doctor would bill her Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance for their "sessions."

Text messages show that the 49-year-old doctor told his patient, "My body felt great all over after last night. "

 "I wish you were here in the shower with me to warm me up." 

"If I were there, I would rub you and kiss you all over." 

The doctor even referred to himself as her "Red Hot Lover," or RHL for short.

A lawsuit filed by the patient and documentation from the Florida Surgeon General's Office show that the two had oral sex and intercourse in hotel rooms, his office on West Kennedy and the patient's home in Lakleland.

The patient also gave her doctor a key, sources say.

Ken Kramer is a researcher for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, a group that investigates psychiatric abuse. 

Kramer was very upset to learn about the details in this case. "It's a felony. It's against the hippocratic oath.  It's something you just don't do."

He wants to know why this case hasn't gone to the authorities.

10 Connects checked documentation with the State Attorney's Office in both Hillsborough and Polk counties, and even though this incident would be considered a felony, no charges have been filed.

Kramer himself sent an email to the state asking why.

The Department of Health confirmed that they have not filed the case with the State Attorney or law enforcement.

Kramer says, "This is not OK to do. It's psychiatric rape. It's not OK. It's against the law. You cannot do this."

Dr. Lerom is now being sued by his former lover.

Documents show that he began counseling the woman back in 1995.  In February of 2009, she broke off her engagement and began having a relationship with the doctor, sources say. 

When the doctor's wife found out, he ended the alleged affair.

The woman was institutionalized shortly thereafter.  She had reportedly suffered a mental collapse.

Give up your iPod for Lent, bishops urge

LONDON (Reuters) – British church leaders are encouraging people to give up their iPods for Lent, instead of more traditional vices such as chocolate, to help save the planet.

The Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, are among those calling for a carbon fast for Lent -- a period ahead of Easter which Christians traditionally consider a time of penance and reflection -- which begins on Wednesday.

As well as spending a day without using technology such as mobile phones or iPods, the 46 daily suggestions also include eating by candlelight, cutting meat and vegetables thinner so they cook faster and flushing the toilet less often.

"Instead of giving up chocolate for Lent, why not fast for justice ... to help those suffering from the effects of climate change," said Jones.

Man Stinks Up Port Orchard Wal-Mart, Thinking It's Funny

SOUTH KITSAP, WA — The South Kitsap Wal-Mart was evacuated Sunday after a 51-year-old Belfair man allegedly dumped “Stink Bombs” liquid and sprayed “Super Fart Spray” inside the store.

South Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews were sent to the store at about 12:40 p.m. Sunday for a reported hazardous-material incident. A man was reportedly throwing onto the floor a liquid that was creating a severe smell and causing headaches.

Deputies estimated about 75 shoppers and store employees were evacuated.

The man admitted dumping liquid onto the floor that made people nauseated. He said there were more bottles of the liquid in his glove compartment.

Deputies found bottles labeled “Stink Bombs,” which included a warning that the liquid is an irritant containing ammonium sulfide. He also handed the deputy a can called “Super Fart Spray,” which he said he also sprayed.

The man said he did it because he thought it would be funny.

The man’s girlfriend, a 46-year-old Belfair woman, said she was shopping and didn’t know what he was doing.

Fire crews kept the rest of the liquid and the man was banned from the Wal-Mart. A report was forwarded to the prosecutor’s office for review.

KFC offers chicken as a reward for return of Colonel bust

KFC is offering $500 worth of grilled chicken as a reward for information leading to the return of a bust of Col. Harland Sanders that was taken from a Berea, Kentucky, KFC last month.

"We want the Colonel back in our Berea restaurant, and we want the authorities to have the chance to 'grill' the 'chickens' who stole him," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard wrote in an e-mail.

The bronze bust, valued at about $1,200, was taken from the lobby of the KFC on Chestnut Street Jan. 24. Four young men who looked to be of high school or college age had been the only customers during the time frame that the bust disappeared. They and the Colonel are thought to have left in a silver passenger car.

Maynard said the chain considered offering cash, "but we think KFC's world-famous chicken is a better motivator than money."

Anyone with information about the Colonel's whereabouts should contact the Berea Police Department.

Trooper finds woman's story for work inexcusable
 
A Uniontown, PA woman was charged with making false reports to police after she allegedly made up a story about getting hit by a car on her way to work because she was running late and didn't want to get fired.

Courtni Jennyne Roberts, 20, of Park Street told a state police trooper that a black car hit her while she was walking outside Uniontown Mall in South Union Township on Feb. 5.

Trooper Marc Ziegler, in an affidavit filed by Magisterial District Judge Joseph M. George Jr., indicated he was dispatched to Uniontown Hospital around 4:50 p.m. to talk to Roberts about the alleged hit-and-run.

Advertisement  She reportedly told police that the car hit her left leg just above her knee.

Ziegler said that through further investigation he learned that the injury Roberts claimed to have was inconsistent with injuries sustained when a car hits a person.

"Upon further questioning, the defendant confessed that she was late for work and lied about the incident in order to prevent termination from employment," Ziegler wrote.

Roberts also was cited for disorderly conduct.

Man allegedly steals ambulance with patient inside

MADISON, Wis. – Authorities say a drunken man stole an ambulance from a Wisconsin ski area with the patient and paramedics still inside. The Dane County Sheriff's Department says emergency responders were treating a patient in the back of the ambulance at the Tyrol Basin Ski and Snowboard Area in Mount Horeb on Monday night. They say a 24-year-old Illinois man got into the vehicle and drove it around the parking lot.

The sheriff's department says deputies arrested the man. But it is unclear how he was stopped.

Fitch-Rona Medical Service Deputy Chief Dale Dow says the ambulance's emergency brake was on and paramedics were still in the back when the man got inside. He says he doesn't know what happened after that.

No other details were immediately available.

Camel burger newest "healthy" option on Dubai menu

DUBAI (Reuters) – A traditional Emirati restaurant in Dubai has added a new entree to its menu billed as a fat-free choice for carnivorous but health-conscious diners: the Camel Burger.

For 20 UAE dirhams ($5.45), the Local House restaurant offers a quarter pound camel burger, loaded with cheese and smothered in burger sauce, the Xpress weekly newspaper reported on Thursday.

Ali Ahmad Esmail, Local House assistant manager, told the paper that the burger patties were fat- and cholesterol-free. But he declined to say how the outlet tenderized the tough camel meat.

"It's a trade secret," he said.

Camel meat is widely eaten in some Arab countries, but is not typically sold in supermarkets or served in restaurants.

The paper reported that Local House said it was the first to introduce the burger in the United Arab Emirates. A fast food outlet in neighboring Saudi Arabia put baby camel burgers on its menu last year.

The camel burger, a hit with residents and tourists, could soon also be on offer in the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower formerly known as Burj Dubai, where Local House may open a branch, the paper said.

The burger is served with fries or potato wedges, and the paper suggested it could be washed down with a soft drink or a camel milkshake, also available in Dubai.

Thief robs arcade with cup of coffee

BERLIN (Reuters) – A thief in the German town of Hamelin robbed an amusement arcade by threatening the attendant with a cup of coffee, authorities said on Tuesday.

"He wasn't going to pour coffee over her, he was going to hit her with the cup," a spokesman for local police said.

Brandishing the steaming cup he had just ordered, the thief forced the 26-year-old to open the till and fled with cash.

Police would not say how much money he had taken from the attendant, who had been alone in the arcade. "We don't want to encourage others to try this," the spokesman said.

Cafeteria worker, girl, 13, suspended following fight

WATERBURY -- A food fight touched off a real fight at Gilmartin Elementary School last Thursday that resulted in criminal charges for a staff member and a stu­dent, police say.

A 13-year-old girl picking up her lunch around 1 p.m. threw vegetables at 55-year-old lunch aide Rosa Robles, police spokesman Lt. Christopher Corbett said. The girl, whom police cannot name due to her age, then sat down. School officials said she’s in fifth grade.

Robles walked up to the girl and threw vegeta­bles in her face, according to a police report.

“How do you like it?” Robles said, according to the report.

The girl responded by punching Robles in the face, touching off a fight, according to the police report. The lunch aide suffered a cut lip. The girl got a cut lip and scratches to the face, police say.

Robles, of 50 Mitchell Ave., was charged with risk of injury to a minor, assault in the third de­gree and breach of peace. School officials placed her on paid leave while they investigate.

The girl was suspended, and will remain so, while the school investigation is conducted, said Paul Guidone, chief operating officer for Water­bury schools.

Lighting dog poop on neighbors porch yields arson charge in Greeley

Don't try to place flaming dog poop on the front porch of your neighbor.

That little stunt has landed a University of Northern Colorado student in deep doo-doo in Greeley.

Andrew Charles Donahue, 18, was booked early Sunday after he was caught red-handed with a bag of dog poop and matches headed for the front porch of Wayne Pickens, 57, a longtime Greeley resident and small businessman.

Donahue was booked for investigation of attempted first-degree arson, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and possession of alcohol by a minor, according to Sgt. Joe Tymkowych, spokesman for the Greeley Police Department.

"He was intoxicated," said Tymkowych about Donahue.

"Absolutely it's dangerous," Tymkowych said of Donahue's alleged stunt. "It's a foolish prank and puts citizens at risk."

Early Sunday, Pickens said he called the cops on his neighbors - a bunch of University of Northern Colorado students who were partying too loud for Pickens liking.

Then, at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, someone rang Pickens' doorbell. When he went to the front door, Pickens saw his Sunday Denver Post ablaze on his front porch.

He extinguished the burning newspaper.

Pickens thought the pranksters might be back although he "assumed they weren't going to be that stupid."

He waited in ambush in his yard just in case.

Next door, he said, he could see the young men. A couple of guys were in the house, and two more were in the front yard with a flashlight picking up dog poop and putting it in a bag.

When they headed over to his house and were about to light the bag of poop, Pickens pounced. His wife - who had already called the cops - was snapping pictures.

Pickens said the situation got a little tense when a couple of the other young men threatened to free the UNC student he had tackled.

But he kept the suspect in custody until officers arrived.

The UNC student, Donahue, was arrested.

"I just want to be able to sleep through the night," Pickens said of his actions. "It may empower other people" who hear what I did, he added.

Tymkowych said pictures were taken of the bag of poop and the kitchen matches were entered as evidence.

"This is unusual," said the police sergeant. "If it was in retaliation for calling in a noise complaint, we don't have a lot of those. We have a good working relationship with UNC and they take a dim view" of these kinds of stunts.

Undertaker lifts lid on last requests

An undertaker has lifted the lid on the bizarre last requests of his clients after 50 years in the funeral business.

One 84-year-old widow refused to be buried in the joint graveyard plot her husband had bought before his death, and insisted on being buried with her stuffed pet parrot instead.

And another - reveals Franjo Jozic from Zagreb, Croatia - was buried by her family with her coffin lined in banknotes.

But some requests can never be fulfilled, the 72-year-old explained.

"We get quite a few family members who approach us after a funeral and ask us if we can dig up their relatives to recover jewellery.

"But the strangest was a woman who wanted us to dig up her mother so she could get her artificial hip joint. She said she'd paid for it and she wanted it back," he said.

Man reports armed robbery after attempting to buy crack with credit card

FLINT, Michigan — A man was arrested after reported to police he was robbed at gunpoint when he allegedly attempted to buy crack with a credit card before midnight Thursday at Wolcott Street and University Avenue.

The victim reported a 2003 Chevy Malibu had been stolen, and the vehicle was listed as stolen out of Lapeer, according to police reports.

The victim was listed as the alleged suspect in the stolen vehicle complaint in Lapeer, and he was lodged in the Genesee County Jail.

Daughter blames mother for global warming

Dear Dr. Donohue — My daughter complains that I flatulate more often than most
individuals. Furthermore, she claims that the gas an individual passes
contributes to global warming. I don't know if I am physically able to keep my
gas to myself to go green. Is my daughter really right?

Is your daughter for real? No human can stop the production of intestinal gas.
Every human passes gas, including your daughter. People do so from 10 to 20
times a day.

Colon bacteria are responsible for gas production.

The major gases in colon-produced gas are nitrogen, carbon dioxide, methane and
hydrogen. Traces of sulfur-containing gases are responsible for its unpleasant
odor.

Greenhouse gases — the gases that blanket the earth and warm it— include carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrogen and fluorocarbons. Most of the carbon dioxide that
contributes to greenhouse effect comes from the use of fossil fuels — gas, oil,
gasoline and coal. The majority of methane gas that adds to the greenhouse
effect is derived from livestock, coal mining, drilling for oil and from
garbage landfills.

Carbon dioxide is the byproduct of many industrial processes. If your daughter
is truly worried over your contribution to the greenhouse effect, she should
realize that her breathing contributes a significant amount of carbon dioxide
to it. She blows out carbon dioxide with each exhalation. Humans contribute
more than 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the yearly production of this
greenhouse gas. No one suggests we stop breathing.

Man points gun at neighbor over snow shoveling
 
NEW CASTLE, Del. – New Castle County Police said a man pointed a gun at a neighbor who was shoveling snow on Saturday at the Hampton Walk Apartments. A man told police a neighbor came outside while he was shoveling, pointed a gun and threatened to shoot him if he didn't stop shoveling snow onto his car.

A man, 43, was arrested and charged with aggravated menacing.

Sledding fail: Independence Township man hospitalized after homemade rocket explodes

Calling to mind any number of Home Improvement episodes, police say a 62-year-old Independence Township man was hospitalized Sunday after strapping a homemade rocket to his back while sledding.

Fox 2 reports the rocket -- a combination of gunpowder, match heads and gasoline stuffed in a motorcycle muffler -- exploded during a downhill ride at a party he hosted.

“Apparently, he has this sledding party every year, and he always does outrageous things at it, but he’s never blown himself up before,” Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe told the Detroit Free Press.

As you might imagine, authorities believe alcohol played a role, but no charges have been filed as the investigation continues.

The Oakland Press reports the man suffered second-degree burns on 18 percent of his body and is in stable condition at POH Regional Medical Center.

Fox 2 has a photo gallery of the accident remnants, but unfortunately no known video exists.  If it did, we imagine it would look something like this:

Man upset over gas pump drives SUV through window
 
PINSON, Ala. – A man was charged with attempted murder after authorities said he drove his truck through the window of a service station. Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy Christian said a 49-year-old man pulled into a BP station on Alabama 75 in Pinson Sunday morning and got into a dispute with the clerk because the pump was turned off. Christian said the station has a pay-first policy.

Christian said the suspect went back to his Ford Explorer and drove through the plate glass window and into the counter.

Christian said a deputy eventually subdued the suspect with a stun gun.

He was treated by paramedics and then jailed on charges of attempted murder and resisting arrest. His bond is set at $63,000.

Judge admonished after attorney paid with coupons
 
SAN FRANCISCO – A California judicial commission has admonished a retired judge for ordering that an attorney who settled a class-action lawsuit be paid in $10 coupons for women's apparel. The lawsuit accused Windsor Fashions Inc. of invading customers' privacy by requesting personal information during credit card transactions.

As part of the January 2009 settlement, the company issued coupons to the plaintiffs, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Brett Klein ordered that the attorney fee of $125,000 be paid similarly.

The Commission on Judicial Performance, which disciplines state judges, said Tuesday that Klein was biased and abusive. It also said he improperly communicated with the press by e-mailing his decision to a small newspaper.

Klein later rescinded his order to pay the attorney with coupons. He retired in November.

Police: Drivers spot naked, tattooed man on roof

SANTA ANA – Santa Ana police had to evacuate a family including a child from their home after a naked man with a white supremacist tattoo was on their roof and tried to hide in their closet, police officials said.

Drivers on the 5 freeway called police about noon Wednesday saying there was a naked man on the roof of a home performing a sexual act "to or at" drivers, Cprl. Anthony Bertagna with the Santa Ana Police Department.

The naked man is Charles Edward Meaux Jr., 36, a transient in Santa Ana. Meaux has an FFF tattooed above his left eyebrow that stands for Fight For Freedom and is associated with a non-active white supremacists group, police said.

The naked man was Charles Edward Meaux Jr., 36, a transient in Santa Ana, Bertagna said. Meaux has an "FFF" tattooed above his left eyebrow that stands for Fight For Freedom and is associated with a non-active white supremacists group, Bertagna said.

Meaux ran into the home at the 2000 block of North Bush St., put on some clothes at the residence, and hid in a closet upstairs, Bertagna said.

The police evacuated a husband, wife and child and found Meaux. He resisted arrested and was shot with a stun gun before taken into custody.

He was arrested a week earlier in a similar incident, Bertagna said. Meaux has a criminal history in Orange County that begins in 1995.

Meaux pleaded guilty to burglary in 1995 and was sentenced to two years in state prison. He also pleaded guilty to theft in 1999 and was sentenced to four years in state prison.

Meaux pleaded guilty in 2006 to possession of a deadly weapon and driving under the influence and was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation. Two years later he pleaded guilty to loitering in a public place to engage in illegal drug activity and received another three years of probation.

He pleaded guilty in 2008 to resisting a peace officer and in 2009 to making criminal threats and trespassing.

Man charged with putting porn on former employer's web site

FORT WALTON BEACH -- A former employee of Gary Smith Ford was arrested Jan. 13 and charged with offense against intellectual property after he allegedly logged onto the company's site and put pornographic images in the banner.

Joseph Paul Madison, who is 29, also put obscene wording in the vehicle's descriptions and changed the prices of vehicles that were for sale by his former employer, according to his Fort Walton Beach Police Department arrest report.

Madison logged into the company's server and made the changes to vehicles for sale by Gary Smith Ford on Autotrader.com, the report said.

 
Man fined 'for blowing his nose'

An Ayrshire businessman says he has been fined by the police for blowing his nose while stuck in a traffic jam.

Michael Mancini, 39, from Prestwick, said he was in standing traffic in Ayr town centre with the handbrake on when he used a tissue to clean his nose.

He claimed he was waved over by four police officers and given a fixed penalty for not being in proper control of his car, reports the Daily Mail.

Mr Mancini said: "I still had the tissue in my hand and was totally stunned when he said I was getting a fixed penalty notice for not being in control of my car.

"I thought it was some kind of Beadle's About moment - a wind-up. The traffic was at a complete standstill and I had my handbrake on."

The self-employed furniture restorer is refusing to pay the £60 fine and the case may now proceed to court.

The Daily Mail says the policeman involved was PC Stuart Gray, nicknamed 'PC Shiny Buttons' for his zealous approach to the job.

Last year, he issued a £50 fixed penalty for littering to a man who accidentally dropped a £10 note in the street.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said: "A 39-year-old man is the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal in connection with an alleged traffic offence."

Swan stuck fast in frozen river

A swan had to be rescued by firemen after it fell asleep in an icy river - and woke up to find its feet had frozen solid.

German Hannes Langer, 35, spotted the swan trapped at the edge of the river Aue in Horneburg, Germany, while out walking his dog and raised the alarm.

He said: "I wondered why it didn't fly off when my dog spotted it and started barking - then I saw that it was actually frozen solid in the ice."

Police who turned up were unable to get near enough to free the swan and called the fire brigade - which sent eight firemen to save the trapped bird.

The swan was eventually freed unharmed but there were still several injuries.

Fire Brigade spokesman Martin Forster said: "Several of our men were bitten by the swan which didn't seem to be particularly grateful for the help.

"Once we had checked the bird was OK we let it go - and it swam off without any problems.

"The sudden cold spell probably caught the bird by surprise as the water froze fairly quickly. I imagine it was pretty surprised when it tried to fly off in the morning."

Peruvian doctors amputate wrong leg, then right one

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian doctors amputated the healthy leg of an 86-year-old man, then amputated the other leg when they realized their mistake.

"I was shocked when I lifted the sheets and saw they had taken his left leg," the man's daughter, Carmen Villanueva, told Peruvian radio station RPP.

"The ulcer was on his right leg and they had to amputate that one too to keep the infection from spreading," she said.

The Alberto Sabogal Hospital in the coastal district of Callao just north of Lima said it had suspended the doctors involved in the botched surgery for a life-threatening ulcer, pending an investigation.

German reptile smuggler jailed in New Zealand
 
WELLINGTON (AFP) – A German has been jailed in New Zealand after being caught trying to smuggle more than 40 endangered reptiles out of the country in his underwear.

Hans Kurt Kubus, 58, who received a 14-month sentence, admitted trading in endangered species but claimed he was a collector rather than a dealer.

He was arrested in the southern city of Christchurch last month as he was about to board an overseas flight with 44 geckos and skinks hidden in a hand-sewn package concealed in his underwear.

"This is the most serious case of its kind detected in New Zealand for a decade or more," prosecutor Mike Bodie told the court, adding the geckos may have been worth 2,000 euros (2,746 US dollars) each on the European market.

He said Kubus was carrying a number of pregnant female animals which would have provided more animals than necessary for a personal collection and it could be surmised that the surplus would be sold.

Thief posed as Chicago Cub, charges say

A Nevada man is accused of posing as a Major League Baseball player to steal a car.

Matthew T. Van Meter, 24, is charged in Utah state court with felony counts of theft and forgery. Charging papers accuse Van Meter, of Elko., Nev., of using the name and documents identifying him as Chicago Cubs outfielder Tyler Colvin.

Van Meter, the charges say, on Tuesday signed documents with a Ken Garff auto dealership in West Valley City to buy a 2010 Dodge pickup worth $50,000. Van Meter promised to pay for the truck the next day and drove away in it.

The court documents say Van Meter also has an outstanding theft warrant in Tacoma, Wash. On Thursday night, he was being held in the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $20,000 bail.

Colvin is a 24-year-old Georgia native who appeared in just six games with the Cubs last season but is regarded as one of the team's top prospects. It was not clear Thursday night whether Van Meter had any legitimate connection to Colvin.

Impromptu billboard porn film stops traffic

MOSCOW (Reuters) – An enormous television screen showing a pornographic film caused a midnight traffic jam in central Moscow Thursday as stunned motorists slammed on the brakes to gawk at the writhing naked bodies.

The owner of the advertising screen, which sits atop a main road about two km (1.2 miles) south of the Kremlin, told the state-run RIA news agency that hackers had broken into the screen's computer system and turned on the porn.

"They were either acting out of hooliganism or were from a rival company," Viktor Laptev, commercial director of advertising firm Panno.ru, told RIA.

A short clip showing cars slowing to a halt to look at the screen sprung up on youtube.com and internet sites Friday across Russia, a country which banned nudity on television before the Soviet Union fell in 1991.

Authorities said they are investigating, RIA added.

Police: Drunken man in cowboy gear threatens dog

IOWA CITY, Iowa, – Iowa City police say a drunken man dressed like a cowboy broke into a house and threatened to kill the resident's dog. Police said 24-year-old Derrick Thomas Alger of Iowa City was arrested early Thursday morning on charges of trespass, intoxication and carrying a dangerous weapon.

Officers said Alger reportedly threatened a cab driver with a handgun shortly after midnight. They say Alger, who was dressed in shorts, boots and a cowboy hat, fled the scene, but entered the rear door of a private residence, where he demanded to know who the residents were and threatened their barking dog.

Police arrested Alger outside the house and said he had a blood alcohol level several times the legal limit for driving.

Alger has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment.

Man Arrested for Urinating on Steaks
 
CANTON, Ohio -- A Canton man remains in jail after being arrested for urinating on a meat counter at a Wal-Mart store.

According to Lt. Linda Brown of the Canton Police Department, Robert T. Jenkins, 21, of Canton, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. Friday morning and charges with felony vandalism and disorderly conduct.

Police say Jenkins was arrested after they responded to a call from an employee at the Wal-Mart store on Atlantic Blvd. NE, claiming a man walked up to the meat counter and began urinating on the steaks, destroying more than $600 dollars in meat.

According to Lt. Brown, it is not yet known if alcohol or drugs played a role in Brown's actions.

He is currently being held in the Stark County jail in lieu of $25,000 bond.

Trustee's speech to kids turns into sex talk

HITCHCOCK, TX — What was supposed to be a motivation speech to a collection of sixth- through eighth-grade girls at Crosby Middle School instead turned into an explicit sex talk, including descriptions on how to perform oral and anal sex, Hitchcock school officials said.

The motivational speaker turned out to be a Hitchcock school board member, Shirley Price.

Hitchcock Superintendent Mike Bergman said the Jan. 15 pep talk was supposed to be a motivational speech.

Price, who was born with physical handicaps, still managed to earn a doctoral degree and also won a seat on the school board.

Bergman said when Price was introduced, she asked that the school’s principal leave the room. Most of the teachers remained, but they did not step in when Price’s speech turned inappropriate, Bergman said.

“Somehow she got some story that she heard that students were having sex on campus and went into a speech about sexual type things,” Bergman said. “There was no motivational speech at all.”

The speech reportedly turned graphic and included instructions on how to perform oral and anal sex and included several curse words, Bergman said.

Students apparently were told to keep the contents of the speech secret, Bergman said.

Attempts to reach Price, who does not have a working listed land line phone and whose mobile phone answered with a generic “not available” recording, were unsuccessful.

The district has been flooded with calls from outraged parents who were unaware of the presentation until a couple of parents spoke at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

After that meeting, Price apologized and met one-on-one with some of the parents, Bergman said.

The district did not inform parents of the presentation until a letter was sent home with students Friday.

The letter, which does not name Price, said that a school trustee’s speech was “off-target and objectionable.”

“The topic discussed was not the agreed upon topic,” the letter says.

Bergman’s letter said the controversy would be a topic for discussion at the next regular school board meeting.

Meanwhile, the district tightened its policies on presentations to students. It now requires the school principal to be present for all presentations.

Teachers also would be given more leeway to interrupt a presentation deemed inappropriate, no matter who the speaker is, Bergman said.

Man wakes up inside coffin

An elderly Polish beekeeper had a shock after passing out after being stung - and waking up inside a coffin.

Doctors believed that Jozef Guzy, 76, from Katowice in southern Poland had suffered a heart attack after he was stung and he was declared dead.

His wife Ludmila said: "I could not believe it when they said he was dead and the doctor put a white sheet over him and three hours later local undertakers pulled up and put him in a coffin and closed the lid."

The coffin was then driven to the undertakers and put in a storeroom, but the mistake was discovered when Guzy woke up and started to shout for help.

Undertaker Darius Charon said: "He was shouting and banging on the coffin - he made enough noise to raise the dead so we couldn't miss him."

Mr Guzy was taken to hospital and was released after a few days. Now the doctor who falsely diagnosed him as dead has apologised.

Mr Guzy added: "The undertaker saved my life. The first thing I did when I got out of hospital was take him a pot of honey."

Whites only' basketball league announced

Is a new professional basketball league announced this week for real, or is it all just some sort of joke or publicity stunt by former pro wrestling promoter Don "Moose" Lewis?

The Augusta Chronicle reported on Tuesday that the All-American Basketball Alliance plans to kick off its inaugural season in June and hopes that Augusta will be one of 12 cities to host teams.

But here's the kicker: According to a press release the newspaper and other Augusta media outlets received from the new league, "only players that are natural-born United State citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league."

That's right. Lewis, who calls himself  the commissioner of the AABA, will exclude blacks and all foreigners from his new league, which the newspaper said will be based in Atlanta.

According to the Chronicle, Lewis said he wants to emphasize "fundamental basketball" instead of "street ball" played by "people of color."

"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," Lewis told the paper. "I don't hate anyone of color."

Lewis pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' suspension for bringing a gun into the Washington Wizards locker room, and said, "Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?"

But is Lewis, a former promoter of the International Wrestling Union, serious about his plans for such an exclusionary league, which he hopes will have teams in a dozen southeastern cities such as Augusta, Albany and Chattanooga, Tenn.?

The AABA apparently has no Web site, and efforts early Thursday to reach Lewis through the telephone number listed on the league's press release were unsuccessful.

"I am a sports enthusiast myself, but I just don't think that idea's going to fly in Augusta, Ga.," Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver told WJBF-TV.

Oh deer! 10-to-12 point buck breaks into Ill. home
 
BELLEVILLE, Ill. – An Illinois man says it didn't take him long to decide not to mess with the uninvited, antlered guest he found in his kitchen.

Belleville resident Mark Page and his wife were sleeping Saturday when the sound of breaking glass and — was that hooves? — woke them up.

Page went downstairs to find a 10-to-12 point buck in the kitchen with its head in the sink.

He says he looked at the animal for "not even a fraction of a second" before turning tail and heading back upstairs. He says he doesn't mess with deer, especially big ones.

The animal also was spooked and barreled through a closed window to escape.

Page says the deer jumped through a different window to get into his home.

He says the animal was injured, but police couldn't find it.

Women seek sperm abroad as donations fall
 
LONDON (Reuters) – A drastic lack of sperm donors in Britain means women wanting babies are resorting to importing semen from abroad or using do-it-yourself insemination kits bought on the internet, fertility experts said on Friday.

A change in the law in 2005 which removed sperm donors' right to anonymity has led to a sharp fall in the number of donations and a nationwide shortage, according to research by Allan Pacey of Sheffield University's Medical School.

"We are really in a terrible position in the UK," Pacey wrote in a study in the Obstetrician and Gynaecologist journal.

In some clinics waiting times can be at least a year for the first treatment, experts say, and if that fails there are further delays before another round of treatment can be offered.

Data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) show a steady decline in the number of patients in Britain receiving treatment with donor sperm, falling from almost 9,000 in 1992 to just over 2,000 in 2007.

Pacey said the fall was partly due to patients opting for other treatments like intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, which involves injecting a single sperm directly into an egg.

But he said it was also due to a "a serious shortfall in the number of sperm donors available in UK clinics."

Pacey said he had heard reports of long waiting lists and the shortage of sperm forcing some fertility services to close.

"More worryingly, however, is anecdotal evidence that women patients are travelling to clinics overseas to seek treatment," Pacey wrote. "There have also been reports of women purchasing fresh sperm online for DIY (do-it-yourself) insemination."

Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services in central England, said the study reflected exactly the problems experienced by patients and staff at her clinic.

"It's definitely what we have been finding," she told Reuters in a telephone interview. "And the shortage of donors has meant a very drastic reduction in the quality of treatment we can offer, not only in terms of increased waiting time, but also in the reduction of choice about donor characteristics."

HFEA chief Lisa Jardine said last July the authority may reconsider the British ban on payments for sperm and egg donors in an effort to encourage more people to come forward as donors and to stop couples travelling abroad for treatment.

Canada history magazine drops double-entendre name

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada's second-oldest magazine, The Beaver, is changing its name because its unintended sexual connotation has caused the history journal to become snagged in Internet filters and has turned off potential readers.

The Beaver was founded in 1920 as a publication of the Hudson's Bay Company, then a fur trader and now a department store chain. It has long since become a broader magazine about Canadian history and will change its name to Canada's History with its April issue, editor-in-chief Mark Reid said on Tuesday.

When The Beaver started publication, the name evoked only Canada's thriving fur industry. Ninety years later, the fur trade has diminished and the magazine's name has become slang for female genitals.

Readers complained that Internet filters were blocking emails and newsletters from The Beaver, Reid said. The society also had concerns about attracting readers.

"Market research showed us that younger Canadians and women were very very unlikely to ever buy a magazine called The Beaver no matter what it's about," said Reid, adding he has mixed feelings about the name change. "For whatever reasons, they are turned off by the name."

Print subscriptions to the Winnipeg-based magazine, which publishes six issues a year, range between 45,000 and 50,000. It is published by Canada's National History Society.

Changing the name also makes sense because the fur trade, while an important part of early Canadian history, isn't meaningful to all Canadians today, especially as the population's makeup has changed through immigration, Reid said.

Readers have been generally understanding about the need for the change, he said.

 
Federal agents investigating 'Unfaithful' Tiger Woods Gatorade bottles
 
DENVER - Federal food safety inspectors are investigating the bootleg Gatorade bottles turning up in local stores.

On Saturday night, 9NEWS reported shoppers were finding bottles with photos of Tiger Woods and his wife and the word "unfaithful."

9NEWS sent a crew to a Denver Safeway and found additional mislabeled bottles on the shelves.

A temporary worker for Gatorade says the company sent sales reps and temps into stores Saturday to remove those bottles.

Gatorade told us it has contacted local authorities.

9Wants To Know Investigator Kyle Clark has learned the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigations is looking at the situation as a possible tampering or adulteration case.

Samples of the Gatorade are being tested to see if anything other than the label was altered.

Even if the drink is uncontaminated, it is possible that whoever is behind this could face a federal tampering charge if prosecutors decide that person changed the label on a consumer product with the intent to injure a business.

9Wants To Know investigators tracked an e-mail hidden in the label's small print to Jason Kay of Longmont.

Kay admitted he helped a friend pull of what he called a "pop art" project.

"He doesn't want to be contacted," Kay said. "The artist wants to remain anonymous because there are similar future projects in the works."

Kay said the object of the project was to create conversation.

Bottles turning up in the Denver area have hand-written numbers on the bottom indicating each is one of 100.

Kay said there are actually about 1,000 such "unfaithful" bottles planted in stores from Longmont to Denver. He said the hand-numbered ones are just the "collectors' edition."

He admitted the stunt was "very expensive" but wouldn't discuss the details of making the labels or sneaking them into stores.

"I used my connections," Kay said.

Kay acknowledged he had been contacted by Gatorade. He would not say if his friend, who he described as an artist from out-of-town, had also been identified by the drink maker.

He rejected the idea that the project was aimed at making money.

"The artist is not going to make a dime off of these. Money was not the point of the venture," Kay said. "If other make money from this, that's their business."


POLICE: Bar masturbator caught Vaseline-handed

Accused of repeatedly exposing himself at a SeaTac bar, a 41-year-old man has been charged with indecent exposure with sexual motivation.

On Jan. 3, King County prosecutors claim in charging documents, Basim Salim Abdul-Rahim was seated in the bar of the 13 Coins restaurant when a bartender there noticed he was staring at her. The woman became concerned when she realized Abdul-Rahim was fondling himself.

Abdul-Rahim fled before police arrived, a King County detective said in court documents, leaving behind a container of Vaseline.

Two days later he allegedly returned to the restaurant, prompting the bartender to call the police to report that a man who'd repeatedly exposed himself was siting at the bar, according to court documents. Deputies arrested Abdul-Rahim, finding his hands coated with petroleum jelly.

Confronted by police, Abdul-Rahim allegedly admitted to frequenting the bar but denied following the bartender, according to prosecutors' statements.

Questioned about his Vaseline-covered hands, he said he'd been having phone sex with his wife, prosecutors alleged. She denied the claim but offered that her husband had previously been convicted on similar charges in Clallam County.

Abdul-Rahim, also known as James Thomas Triblett, was jailed but has since been released after posting bond.

Mouse nest found on policeman's desk

Exterminators called in to deal with a mice infestation at a London police station found a nest on one officer's messy desk.

Pest controllers were called to an office in Kennington used by weapons and technology experts at the Metropolitan Police after reports of 'mice everywhere'.

They found that a family of mice had set up home in a pile of paperwork on one police worker's messy desk, reports the Daily Telegraph.

An internal police report reminds workers of the Met's clear desk policy under which desks should be cleared at the end of each day so cleaners can do their jobs.

It states: "Employees came across a number of mice at a police building.

"Action was taken to remove the mice from the premises and there have not been any sighting of mice since."

A spokeswoman for the Met said that the 'paperwork home' set up on one desk by mice consisted of 'paperwork that did not relate to operational police matters'.

"Some of the desks were so messy it was a wonder anyone could find anything," said one officer.

"It got to the stage where mice droppings were found on desks and that's when everyone thought 'it's time to do something about our desks'.

"That's when one guy found a mouse nest in his paperwork. It's fair to say he was a little embarrassed."

Trainee hypnotist puts himself into a trance

A newly trained hypnotist accidentally put himself into a trance for five hours while practising in front of a mirror.

Helmut Kichmeier, 27, was found by wife, Joanna, staring into thin air in their north London home, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Kichmeier, whose stage name is Hannibal Helmurto, had learned to put himself into a trance to help him swallow swords on stage.

He had been taught the skill by hypnotherapist Dr Ray Roberts to assist in a new act for the Circus of Horrors show.

But as he practiced the skill in front of the mirror at 10am he set himself into a deep sleep until 3pm, when he was found by his wife.

It was only after she phoned Dr Roberts and put the receiver to Mr Kichmeier's head that he was able to be talked out of the trance.

Mrs Kichmeier said her husband had looked just like a zombie when she came into the room to find him.

She said: "I tried to ask him what was wrong but he didn't answer and it was then I looked at the sofa behind him and saw a book named Hypnosis Medicine of the Mind.

"It was opened on page 45 and a chapter named hypnotic anaesthesia and I realised there was something wrong.

"It was only then I noticed a letter next to the book a letter from his mentor, Dr Roberts, and I knew what I had to do."

Jesus appears on iron

A woman was stunned when she spotted Jesus - on her iron.

Mary Jo Coady, 44, of Methuen, Massachusetts, spotted the image while doing a load of ironing.

She says the stunning resemblance to Jesus Christ has reassured her that "life is going to be good".

The 44-year-old Catholic said the image looks just like Jesus and proves "he's listening".

She said she won't be using the iron any more and plans to purchase a new one.

According to the Boston Globe, she shared the photo on Facebook, and was reassured by friends that they, too, saw Jesus on the iron.

"So I said, 'OK, I'm not crazy'," Mrs Coady said.

Avatar to be a blue movie on DVD

Fans of blockbuster movie Avatar are being promised a 'blue' alien sex scene when the film comes out on DVD.

The sex scene was cut from the cinema version of the 3D sci-fi adventure, director James Cameron told a press conference.

It features the giant blue avatar of paraplegic US Marine Jake Sully locking hair with his love interest, Neytiri.

Cameron said: "We had it in and we cut it out so that will be something for the special edition DVD - if you want to see how they have sex."

Actress Zoe Saldana, who plays Neytiri, said the sex involves the same process the alien race uses to communicate on its fictional home planet.

In the film, communication takes place by locking hair with flora and fauna, in a process known as "synching".

Saldana said: "If you sync to your banshee and you're syncing to a tree, why not sync into a person?

"It was a very funny scene to shoot because there were so many technical things that sometimes you have to keep in mind that paying attention to all those might disrupt the fluidity of how a scene is supposed to take place."

The actress said the scene was left out originally because the film was aimed at a family audience.

Website for beautiful people kicks off fatties

A dating website for "beautiful people" says it has booted off 5,000 members for piling on the pounds over Christmas.

BeautifulPeople.com said it acted after users posted photos of themselves celebrating Christmas and the New Year - revealing they had "let themselves go".

"We responded to complaints by moving the newly chubby members back to the rating stage. This is the same as having them re-apply," said Greg Hodge, the managing director.

"Their re-applications were reviewed by existing members and only a few hundred were voted back in. Over 5,000 were rejected."

Most of those expelled came from the US and Canada, but nearly 900 were from Britain, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The social networking site, which boasts 550,000 members worldwide, allows its members to decide on who should be allowed to join.

Mr Hodge said: "Every year we see that some of our members from western cultures eat and drink to excess over the holidays and clearly their looks suffer," he said.

"The USA has been grossly over-indulging since Thanksgiving - it's no wonder that so many members have been expelled from the network. We hope they will be back after shedding the festive pounds.

"In the UK and Canada, Christmas and the New Year are all about over-eating, over-drinking and watching TV on the sofa."

In an attempt to soften the blow to those given the boot, the website sent details of fitness centres where they could work off their holiday excesses.

German officer accused of having sex in church

BERLIN – Police in southern Germany said an officer has been suspended from duty after allegedly having sex in a Catholic church during a service. Regional police spokesman Hans-Peter Kammerer told the German news agency DAPD on Monday that the 26-year-old faces possible disciplinary measures and a criminal complaint for allegedly disturbing religious activities.

He said a visitor discovered the officer with a woman in the church in Rennertshofen, near the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt, during an early-morning service last Thursday. The couple then fled, but a church employee recognized the officer.

The man was suspended the following day. Disturbing religious activities can carry a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Police Confirm Lamb's Head Found In IKEA Display

WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- Police found an animal head earlier this month inside a microwave on display at IKEA.

A furniture employee reported the gruesome discovery Dec. 16, and West Chester police confirmed Wednesday that they arrived to find a dismembered lamb's head inside the device.

"Earlier this month, a coworker informed management of a small lamb's head found in the kitchen area of our showroom," said IKEA spokeswoman Kitalena Mason. "We quickly removed the item and thoroughly cleaned the area. We reported the incident to West Chester police, who now are leading an investigation into the matter. No other such incident has occurred."

Officers said they considered the incident to be a prank, and no lambs were reported killed in the area.

No suspects have been identified in the incident.

Authorities said such items could be found in stores, including the nearby Jungle Jim's International Market.

Toledo woman pleads not guilty to broken drive-through window

A Toledo woman, who allegedly put her fist through a fast-food drive-through window after being told her order couldn't be filled, appeared in court Saturday on a felony vandalism charge.

Melodi Dushane, 24, of 1332 Felt St. became "upset that chicken nuggets weren't available" and "punched out the drive-through window," according to Toledo police.

Police were called Friday to the McDonald's restaurant at 90 Main St., where Ms. Dushane was arrested.

Before Ms. Dushane was booked into the Lucas County jail, she was treated at Mercy St. Charles Hospital for injuries sustained when she allegedly punched at the window.

Ms. Dushane pleaded not guilty to the charge yesterday in Toledo Municipal Court.

She was released on a supervised recognizance bond.
She was ordered not to have any contact with the restaurant and will return to court on Jan. 28.

'Ed Gein: The Musical' debuts in Menasha, Wisconsin

MENASHA, WI — It wasn't the type of source material Rodgers and Hammerstein would have ever touched, but that didn't stop "Ed Gein: The Musical" from making its big-screen debut Saturday at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Communication Arts Center.

Gein's gruesome story, that of a murderer and grave robber from Plainfield, was the impetus behind the production of the feature-length movie directed by Steve Russell and starring Dan Davies as the title character.

There were four showings scheduled Saturday, with 300 presale tickets sold. The first showing nearly filled the 350-person auditorium, however, proving the film to be quite a draw.

"Some people say Gein shouldn't be brought up, but I think that's just ridiculous," Russell said. "You can't forget your past, good or bad, and it's part of Wisconsin's history."

Jason Buss, the assistant director, hopes the word-of-mouth generated from the Menasha debut will propel the film forward.

"This wasn't put together as a gorefest to gross people out," Buss said. "We don't make fun of the victims and we don't glorify what he did. The focus was to get it out there and share it with people."

The audience at the world premiere was in a festive mood and applauded throughout the film, even with some technical sound difficulties.

The musical/comedy played off several popular songs, as Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" became "All Cooked Up;" "The Sound of Music's" "My Favorite Things" turned into "My Demented Things" and "Annie's" "It's the Hard Knock Life" took on a new meaning in the raucous final scene at a mental hospital.

Despite the light-hearted tone of the songs, it was still ultimately a film about Gein. In one fantasy sequence, a woman picks out the color and shape of the lampshade she'll be.

Leigh Moore, a self-described serial-killer buff, was thrilled after the showing as she shopped for an "Ed Gein: The Musical" T-shirt.

"It was great. It was hilarious. It was in very bad taste," said a smiling Moore.

Duaine Stillman, a Waupaca resident who grew up around the time of Gein, enjoyed the historical aspects to the film.

"To me, it brought back memories," Stillman said. "It was the talk of the town back then — it was really something. My wife said she didn't want to go, but I think anyone from around that area (should see it)."

Alice Andress came because her granddaughter played a character in the movie.

She wasn't quite as thrilled as some of the others.

"Other than that my granddaughter was in it, I thought it was pretty sick," she said. "Frankly, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else."

Much of the movie focuses on Gein's upbringing and his mental problems, which at least one moviegoer found to be the most interesting part.

"It gave a whole new perspective to mental illness," Judy Zwiers said. "As tragic as everything was, it opened up my eyes to people with mental illness. And it had such a nice sense of humor to it."

The filmmakers expect the movie to be in theaters across the state soon, followed by a DVD release.

That way, even more will be made of aware of Gein's story.

"I hope moviegoers get a slightly different understanding of why Ed Gein was the way he was," Russell said.

"He wasn't born that way, he was created that way. And I hope they have a good time and enjoy some good music."

Man brings live grenade to police substation

A man brought three grenades — one of which was live — to a San Antonio Police Department Northwest Side substation early Wednesday, officials said.

The department's bomb squad was called to the Prue Road substation, in the 5000 block of Prue Road, around 6:30 a.m. when a man brought the devices in his vehicle, Sgt. Michael Oliva said.

Michael Navarro, 49, left the grenades in a cardboard box in his vehicle, then told Oliva and others he brought them to the station to dispose of them.

“We looked at him like, ‘What?'” Oliva said. “Bringing grenades to the (station) is pretty unusual.”

Navarro found the grenades in his late grandfather's house when the elder man died about 10 years ago, Oliva said. The devices had been at Navarro's home ever since.

A San Antonio Police Department report states Navarro didn't think the devices were dangerous until a recent conversation with a co-worker.

Oliva said the bomb squad took the devices, including the live grenade that still had a pin in it. The other two devices were determined to be training grenades, he said.

The substation entrance was taped off and kept clear while the bomb squad investigated.

Oliva said the man was right to have notified police of the devices but officers would have preferred he left the devices at home and not transported them.

Boozer Busted After Calling 911 for Bar Ride

Tattooed Florida man tased, arrested in "emergency" bar call

Pinellas County jail Most barhoppers might call a taxi to help them get to their next destination, but Gregory Oras figured he'd give 911 a try.

The 37-year-old from Oldsmar over on Florida's west coast was busted yesterday after he called the emergency number three times looking for a ride, according to tampabay.com.

In one of the calls, made as he was leaving a bar, Oras told cops he had a broken nose, bleeding ears and people shooting at him.

When Pinellas County sheriff's deputies showed up, Oras wasn't badly injured, but had a bad attitude. He had to be tasered after he reportedly kicked a deputy.

As if Oras' attitude wasn't ugly enough, his mug shot shows him sporting several tattoos on his face and neck. A lengthy description of his tattoos in the police report notes another tat spelled out across his fingers, the word "cannibalism," as well as "doomed" spelled out on his back. There are several crosses, skulls and spiderwebs, as well as an elephant, dragonfly, snowman, naked pixies, a squirrel, a bat, a naked woman, a 2-headed child, a batman symbol with breasts, a pumpkin head and something described as an "evil eddie cartoon character."

Man arrested after Wal-Mart incident

Rodger C. Wynn, 52, was arrested on charges of theft, aggravated menacing and disorderly conduct while intoxicated from the incident that occurred at 5:05 p.m. Saturday at 4000 Red Bank Road.

An affidavit said Wynn stole a 12-pack of Steel Reserve beer and a set of T-Fal cookware, a total value of $56.49.

Wynn threatened to “blow off” the arresting officer’s head during his arrest, according to a police report. He was transported to the police station where he allegedly continued his disorderly behavior and urinated several times in the interview room.

Wynn is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Monday in Hamilton County Court

Teacher's Holocaust denial causes uproar

Las Vegas, NV - A Northwest Career and Technical Academy teacher is accused of denying the Holocaust happened and telling students that the Nazis lacked the technology to kill so many Jews, one senior said.

Jewish students said the teacher's comments have circulated widely and have created a poisonous atmosphere at the public school, which has led other students to make anti-Semitic jokes and threats against them.
 
One such threat is being investigated by Clark County School District police as a possible hate crime, district officials and involved students and parents confirmed on Thursday.

The investigation involves a text message sent to multiple students that said: "Men are supposed to act like men and not be pansy asses ... only girls are allowed to be that way you slut(t)y Jews ... Please feel free to (forward message) or I will slit your throats personally ... And yes I'm related to Hitler."

Lori Sublette, the teacher accused of denying the Holocaust, has not apologized to students for her comments, said 17-year-old Katie Piranio, a student in Sublette's "advocacy class," a weekly course intended to prepare teens for life after high school.

When the Review-Journal reached Sublette on Thursday and asked if she had denied the Holocaust happened, the teacher did not answer the question.

"I would have to talk to my principal (Frank Pesce)," Sublette said. "I'm not in the position to respond to anything like this."

District spokesman Michael Rodriguez said disciplinary action is being taken against the teacher but would not provide details, saying the issue is a "personnel matter."

Outraged parents are criticizing both school and district officials for what they view as a "cowardly" and blasé response to the incident at the campus on West Tropical Parkway, near Durango Drive.

Piranio said the teacher originally made the comments on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Students were discussing ways to decorate the classroom door for a holiday contest.

The discussion went off on a tangent when a student brought up the Holocaust. The World War II genocide is estimated to have killed more than 6 million European Jews and millions of Gypsies, homosexuals and other religious and ethnic minorities.

Students said Sublette disputed much of what is known about the Holocaust.

"It was ridiculous what she was saying," Piranio said. "I was afraid to challenge her, because she was so into what she was saying."

Piranio said Sublette told students that history textbooks have inaccurate information and Holocaust photographs were doctored or distorted. She also said Sublette said in class that some Holocaust photographs were actually taken during an earlier time period in Russia.

After Piranio's father complained to school officials, Sublette called him to apologize, but only for giving her "opinion" in class, Katie Piranio said.

As a matter of district policy, teachers are not supposed to speak about subjects outside their expertise. Sublette is a full-time gym teacher with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from the University of Washington and a master's degree from Arizona's Grand Canyon University, according to the school's Web site.

Sublette was in her classroom when the Review-Journal called her Thursday. Students said she is still teaching.

While one parent said he did not think the school was trying to "pooh-pooh" the issue, others were outraged.

"Let's wake up," said Ilana Levinsky, whose daughter is in Sublette's gym class. "I don't think she needs to be teaching.

"The last thing we need is another (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad teaching in the Clark County school system," said Levinsky, referring to the Iranian president who disputes the Holocaust happened.

Phyllis Friedman, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League of Nevada, said Las Vegas is home to many Holocaust survivors and their children. Friedman said the city has a progressive reputation in educating the public about the genocide.

Friedman was unaware of the allegations against the Northwest Career and Technical Academy teacher until Thursday.

"I hope to all get-out it's not true," she said. "Unfortunately, Holocaust deniers are out there, much to my amazement."

Target fires 7 workers for buying Zhu Zhus

David Lawrinowicz of Lancaster, NY, had worked at Target for nearly eight years before the company fired him Wednesday — for buying two Zhu Zhu Pets.

Not stealing them, buying them. Lawrinowicz, who worked the overnight at the Cheektowaga location on Walden Avenue, helped unload a shipment of the hot holiday toy at the start of his shift around 11 p.m. Before leaving for the day at 5 a.m. the next morning, he and six other employees lined up to buy a few of the plush hamsters each. Overnight employees are allowed to make purchases during the company’s off hours.

None of the workers bought more than the limit of four Zhu Zhu Pets per customer. In fact, Lawrinowicz bought just two of them for his daughter Jessica. There were more hanging on the store’s racks when the employees cashed out.

A few days later, Lawrinowicz said he was called into the human resources office and told employees were not allowed to purchase “popular items” until the store opens at 8 a.m. There was no write-up, and he went back to finish his work.

Two weeks later, he and the other co-workers including his team leader were called in and fired by a choked-up, apologetic store manager. They were told the company’s policy about buying “two-day ad items” had been clearly posted in a sign over the employee time clock.

“There was no such thing. I look in that spot every day when I punch out and there was nothing there,” said Lawrinowicz.

Target said the company has certain guidelines in place regarding employees shopping during their shifts.

“These guidelines are in place to provide our guests with the same purchasing opportunities as our team members. We are committed to making the items our guests want as available as possible to ensure a positive guest experience,” said Target representatives in a statement.

Target said the policy is made clear in its employee handbook, and that reminders of it “are often communicated” through postings, newsletters and verbal “huddles.” Policy violations are punishable by action up to and including termination.

Lawrinowicz said, though it was hard physical work, he enjoyed working for Target and bears no animosity toward the company. But he can’t help feeling his termination and that of his colleagues is overly harsh, especially right before the holidays.

“I told them I would bring the things back. It’s not worth losing my job over. It’s an $8 toy,” he said. “But they said there was nothing they could do.”

Robber relies on 'bangers'

A Chinese robber threatened to blow up a restaurant with sausages, disguised as explosives, strapped to his body.

The 23-year-old man ate a meal at the restaurant, in Benxi, Heilongjang province, before grabbing the owner's daughter.

He put a knife to her neck and demanded cash from the till - but the restaurateur and other diners overpowered him.

They called the police - but when officers arrived the man, named He, jumped to his feet and revealed his 'explosive' belt.

Police managed to restrain He and took him outside to an open space - and called bomb disposal experts, reports the Huashang Morning Post.

"When they experts arrived, they laughed out loud as they quickly realised the explosives were actually sausages," said a police spokesman.

He said he staged the robbery because he was depressed after splitting up with his girlfriend. He told police he had been "inspired" by the shape of the sausages.

Law firm offers divorce vouchers for Christmas

A London law firm has come up with a 'must have' Christmas present for unhappy couples - divorce gift vouchers.

Lloyd Platt & Co claims to have had hundreds of enquiries since putting the vouchers, which offer couples half-hour or hour-long advice sessions with a lawyer, on sale.

They cost from £125 plus VAT and the firm says it has already sold 54 in three weeks, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Senior partner Vanessa Lloyd Platt said: "Christmas can be a very stressful time for families as we have always seen by the huge increase of people seeking advice in January.

"The vouchers seem to appeal to an enormously wide spread spectrum of people looking for that 'must have' gift for Christmas."

She said that purchasers had included husbands, wives, mistresses, and people using them to suggest to friends and family members that they should get a divorce.

However, the scheme has been criticised for encouraging couples to split rather than resolve their differences.

Dave Percival, who organises the annual National Marriage Week, said: "It's typical ambulance chasing by lawyers who are doing this for business reasons.

"Anyone looking to buy this would be much better off paying for couples to get counselling."

 
Doctors to operate on 'Tortoise Woman'

A Chinese woman is to have surgery to remove a 25kg tumour from her back after doctors agreed to operate for free.

Sun Fengqin, 47, from Inner Mongolia - dubbed 'Tortoise Woman' - could not afford to pay for the operation.

So doctors at Xijing Hospital agreed to waive their fee for the complicated surgery, reports the Xi'an Evening Post.

Plastic surgeon Guo Shuzhong said Sun suffered from a nerve fabric tumour which could only be removed surgically.

"The main risk is a massive haemorrhage," he said. "During the surgery, we may need to transfuse her with up to 10,000cc of blood - equal to three times the blood in her body."

Sun says the tumour started as a yellow birthmark on her back but has grown so big that she now struggles to walk upright.

"By the time I was 20 years old, the tumour had grown into the size of a rice bag, but it is now so big and heavy that I have to lean forward when I walk," she said.

 
Cow 'jumped 6ft onto roof'

A suspected burglary has been solved in Somerset - after a neighbour spotted a cow jumping on to a roof.

The householder, of Blagdon, thought she had been broken into after coming home to find her roof badly damaged.

She called in the police - but then a neighbour came forward with some surprising information, reports the Daily Telegraph.

William de Cothi, 17, had photographed the animal after he spotted it on the roof about six feet off the ground.

The Sixth Form student said: "I was looking out of my window when I saw the cow.

"At first I thought that it was an illusion and that it was in the background and not really on the roof. But after a closer look I could see it was actually on the roof.

"I have heard cows can jump quite high, so I think that is how it got up there. I got my family to come and look later and they laughed. It was absolutely amazing."

Local PC Ray Bradley said: "This was initially recorded on my figures as a burglary so I am glad I can take it off.

"If it wasn't for the door-to-door enquires and this photo we wouldn't have found out it was a cow responsible."

Montana groom pleads not guilty to bachelor party charges

Besides the ceremonial wedding band, Jordan B. Iddings will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet during his weekend nuptials.

The 24-year-old Frenchtown man stands accused of sexually assaulting a woman and head-butting a Missoula police officer at his bachelor party last month, and pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. However, the court-ordered monitoring bracelet is a condition of his continued release from jail.

Dressed in slacks and a suit coat, Iddings appeared for the arraignment hearing alongside his attorney, Lance Lovell, of Billings. He entered not guilty pleas to a felony count of assault on a peace officer, and misdemeanor charges of sexual assault, disorderly conduct and two separate counts of assault.

Lovell asked the judge to allow his client to travel to Alaska next month to work on a fishing boat until trial, which is slated for April 19. District Judge Ed McLean said he would permit the travel on the condition that Iddings wear an electronic monitoring bracelet until he leaves Montana.

The judge also ordered him to stay out of bars and not consume any alcohol, and told Iddings that he must submit to random drug and alcohol testing. Lovell explained that the fishing boat primarily stays at sea, where Iddings will not be able to go to bars or consume alcohol.

"If he's observed in any bars in any community, he's to be arrested immediately and held in custody without the benefit of bail," McLean said.

Iddings was released from the Missoula County Detention Facility on bail shortly after his arrest. He leaves for Alaska on Jan. 7, and will return to Montana for the entire month of April before heading back to Alaska for work, according to his attorney.

Lovell stressed that the case is still in the early stages of evidence discovery and the investigation is ongoing. Attorneys on both sides are still trying to develop a clear picture of what happened the night of the party, he said.

"It was quite an event, I guess, but it's very difficult to see what the witnesses are saying," Lovell said. "Right now I don't think either side has a very clear picture of exactly who said what. It's very easy for bartenders to say things, but it's much more difficult to prove it. We need to get to the bottom of it and we're working diligently to do that."

Iddings and five other members of his bachelor party were arrested on Nov. 19 after Iddings allegedly groped a woman in a Missoula bar and, when the woman slapped him, punched her in the face, according to charging records. The group then moved to another downtown bar and allegedly began fighting with bartenders who refused to serve the men and told them to leave.

Witnesses told police that Iddings, who was shouting profanities outside of the bar, had been a primary aggressor. Iddings was uncooperative with police, and as the officers walked Iddings to a patrol car to arrest him, he suddenly lunged at a sergeant and head-butted him, striking the officer's right temple with his forehead, according to the court papers.

A co-defendant in the case, Ryan Schnabl, is charged with tampering with evidence and theft, both felonies, and misdemeanor assault. Schnabl allegedly stole a video camera from a limousine driver hired to chauffeur members of the bachelor party from bar to bar. The driver told police that he began recording members of the group during the melee at Red's bar because the bachelor party was out of control, and the men were trying to fight "anyone who got in their way."

When Schnabl spotted the driver with the camera, he ran toward him, punched him in the side of the head and took the camera away, records state. Other members of the party began moving toward the driver, who was so frightened that he pulled out a small revolver to defend himself. He told police he almost pulled the trigger, records state.

Iddings is not allowed to have any contact with Schnabl or any of the alleged victims in the case, but a judge is allowing Schnabl to attend Iddings' wedding on Dec. 19. The men are not allowed to consume any alcohol.

Lawyer: Road rage 'product of economy'

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, OH – A 35-year-old Harrison man accused of attacking a man with a hammer during a road rage incident Wednesday on Harrison Avenue told his lawyer “he just snapped.”

Brian Clark said he had just lost his job after his company ACT sales closed its doors for the last time Tuesday. So when William Scudder beeped his horn at him, he lost it, Clark explained further.

“This is a product of the economy,” Clark’s lawyer, Hugh McCloskey Jr., said during an arraignment hearing Thursday morning.

Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Betsy Sundermann didn’t buy that argument, telling the judge “This was a road rage incident. They were strangers.”

Clark is facing charges of aggravated assault and criminal damaging in the 3:40 p.m. incident.

“You don’t go around hitting people with hammers because the economy is bad,” said Scudder, a 51-year-old long-distance truck driver who was coming home after two weeks on the road. “We’re all under pressure.”

Scudder, who was less than two miles from his home, said he did everything he could to de-escalate the situation, but that Clark, “meant to do harm to me and my vehicle.”

“I could have whipped him, but I chose not to,” Scudder said. “I wasn’t scared, just tired from being out of the road.

“I wanted to go home,” Scudder added.

Scudder said he and Clark, who was in a yellow Monte Carlo, were driving on Harrison Avenue when they came up on a crash in which a Cadillac had rear-ended a car. Clark stopped, talking to the people in the crash, Scudder said.

“I was sitting there and sitting there, so I tooted my air horn,” Scudder said. “That was enough, that set him off.”

Scudder said Clark came up the side of the truck and tried to pull him out of the cab, but wasn’t strong enough. Scudder said he weighs 290 pounds, to Clark’s 150 pounds.

That’s when Clark went back to his car and got the claw hammer, Scudder said.
An incident report says Clark hit one of the truck’s headlight rings with a hammer and kicked the grill. Then Clark hit Scudder in the arm with the hammer, leaving a red mark, according to court records.

Scudder said when Clark hit the truck, he got out of the cab and tried to stop him from damaging the truck.

When Clark realized he was no match for the bigger man, he fled in his car, Scudder said. Deputies tracked him to his home, arresting Clark two hours later.
“I just wanted to go home, play with my dogs, and talk on my CB, you know, hillbilly stuff,” Scudder said.

Texting Man Pulls Bank Prank; Police Don't LOL

When a Crest Hill, IL man texted his girlfriend, he was J/K about a bank robbery, but police weren't LOL.

Jeremy S. Donaldson, 33, was inside a Harris Bank branch in Joliet just before 1 p.m. on Monday. Outside, his girlfriend sat in the car and waited, wondering what was taking so long.

Donaldson, bored in line, sent her a cell phone message as a prank.

"He sent her a text message saying a man with a gun was inside the bank," said Deputy Chief Mike Trafton.

But the 36-year-old woman didn't realize it was supposed to be a joke. Faster than you can say "OMG," the girlfriend called 911 to report a bank robbery, and several police quickly showed up.

"We take any such report very seriously and had a very heavy police response with many officers rushing to the bank," said Trafton.

The Joliet police weren't laughing, and neither was Donaldson. He was arrested on a felony charge of disorderly conduct and booked into the Will County Jail.

His only message now is "BRB.

Dallas officer accused of faking burglary story to hide his sex act in squad car

A Dallas police officer is under criminal investigation after being accused of faking a burglary report to hide the fact that he was elsewhere, allegedly having sex with a woman in his patrol car, police said.

Officer Keith Ashley, who joined the department in 2001, has been placed on restricted duty. He declined to comment Tuesday.

"We do have it in public integrity," said Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop, who oversees the investigations bureau. He said he could not comment further because the investigation was under way.

Ashley came under scrutiny after a Nov. 24 incident in which teachers at the Lighthouse Christian Academy on West Illinois Avenue in west Oak Cliff reported that they had seen him engaged in sexual acts in the back of his squad car while it was parked in a school parking lot.

At the same time, he was supposed to be on a burglary call at an apartment complex on Preakness Lane. Ashley wrote in a report that he was flagged down by an apartment complex employee, who told him that a former employee was trying to break into an apartment.

Police investigators are looking into whether Ashley concocted the entire police report. He had worked off-duty security at the complex.

The woman whom Ashley reported as the apartment complex employee in the police report told WFAA-TV that she no longer worked at the complex and that she had spoken to an investigator.

Angela Russell, one of the teachers, told WFAA that she looked out the window of the school and saw a squad car with the back driver's side door open.

"I saw a leg hanging out of the door, and me and another teacher observed a police officer in the vehicle, and when we looked closer we realized they were engaging in improper conduct," she said.

She said the children saw what was going on, too. She approached the officer as the woman was leaving.

"I asked him, 'What's going on here? Do you know there are children in this building and this is a school and there are children here?' " she said. "Oh, and he gave us a story as to why it was going on, and then he left, and I immediately called and complained about it."

Ashley told commanders that the woman in the car with him was his wife and that they were having marital problems and he was consoling her.

Russell, who said she spoke with two police investigators last week, said she was infuriated and unsettled by the incident.

"Our children want to be police officers," she said. "We have a wall inside our school that if your father or mother or anybody in your family that's a police officer are put up on this wall, we say a prayer for you."

Ashley was previously in the news after he lost control of his squad car and struck a fence in May 2008. An iron rod from the fence broke the windshield and struck his chest.

 
Kung fu monkeys turn tables on trainer

A Chinese man who trained monkeys martial arts to entertain shoppers was shocked when they turned the tables on him.

Lo Wung's taekwondo monkeys have become a regular feature outside a shopping centre in Enshi, Hubei province, where they were trained to show off their martial arts skills on each other.

But one quick-thinking monkey saw his chance when Lo slipped - and caught him with a perfect flying kung fu kick to the head. The rest then joined in the affray.

Hu Luang, 32, who caught the incident on camera, said: "I saw one punch him in the eye - he grabbed another by the ear and it responded by grabbing his nose.

"They were leaping and jumping all over the place - it was better than a Bruce Lee film."

At one point the monkey trainer grabbed a staff to hit the monkeys, only to find himself facing a stick-brandishing monkey that cracked him over the head.

Lo only managed to get the monkeys under control by tangling them up in the rope that had been used to stop them running off.

Flashing teen found guilty after being hit by car

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A New Zealand teen who was flashing her breasts at passing cars has been found guilty of disorderly behavior for the prank, which ended with her in a hospital after a distracted driver ran into her. Cherelle May Dudfield, 18, pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared in Invercargill District Court, the Southland Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

Dudfield, egged on by her friends, was flashing passing motorists from a traffic island in the middle of a four-lane road in the southern city of Invercargill on Sept. 27.

The alcohol-fueled prank went awry when one of the vehicles crashed into her as she tried to run to the side of the road, police Inspector Olaf Jensen said.

"She was extremely lucky as the vehicle had slowed because of her behavior," he told The Associated Press. "She rolled up onto the bonnet (hood) and cracked the windscreen before she came down with some minor injuries and was taken to hospital."

The prank occurred in the city center, where a ban on alcohol use is in force, he noted.

Dudfield was fined $198.

Murder Mystery Dinner Train runs over man lying on tracks

A man struck on railroad tracks Monday night in North Fort Myers by a Murder Mystery Dinner Train was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident happened about 9:15 p.m., said Tony Schall, sheriff’s spokesman.

The dinner train was heading south on the Seminole Gulf Railway toward Fort Myers, Schall said.

“There was a male laying on the tracks for whatever reason, and he was run over,” he said.

A deputy on the scene said it appeared the man was alive and perhaps fell asleep on the tracks about a half mile north of Slater Road. “It’s quite a ways to walk off the beaten path,” Schall said.

He said it’s too early to speculate why the man was on the tracks.

Police: Man shoots suspected prowler with arrow

KELSO, Wash. – Kelso, Wash., police said a man used his compound bow to interrupt an apparent break-in at a nearby vacant home, wounding a fleeing man in the buttocks. Police said the man grabbed his hunting bow late Sunday night and chased a suspected prowler for more than three blocks. When the fleeing man refused to stop, the bowhunter shot him with a broadhead arrow.

A 32-year-old Longview man later sought treatment at St. John Medical Center for an arrow wound to the left buttock. Doctors removed the arrow tip and the man was listed in satisfactory condition Monday.

Kelso Police Capt. Vern Thompson said there were no immediate arrests and the investigation continues. He said charges against both men are possible.

Court splits jackpot between rival gamblers

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) – A French court has split the jackpot from a casino slot machine between the woman who put in the money and the man who pulled the lever, ending months of argument between the two.

Marie-Helene Jarguel walked off with over 2 million euros ($2.91 million) in March after a bet of 50 euros on a one-armed bandit, only for her gambling partner Francis Sune to contest her gain based on the fact that he activated the machine.

A court in the southwestern city of Montpellier ruled on Tuesday that Jarguel should keep 80 percent of the earnings while the rest should go to Sune, a judicial source said.

The ruling was a legal innovation. The judges noted that there was "no judicial definition of the winner in a slot machine game."

Waterbury woman arrested after demanding sex with married couple, police say

WATERBURY, CT - A city woman has been arrested after a married couple from Monroe complained that she harassed them numerous times about having three-way sex.

Anna Bambino, 30, of Pierpont Road, was charged Friday with breach of peace. She was released on a written promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court.

Bambino called the Monroe woman six times demanding that she and her husband engage in a threesome, police said. Bambino is single, according to her MySpace.com profile.

Monroe Police have been investigating the incident since September. Bambino apparently knows the Monroe woman through a friend, but doesn't have a history with her, a Monroe police sergeant said Saturday night.

When police interviewed Bambino, she admitted to making the calls and said she was intoxicated at the time.

On her MySpace.com page, she lists herself as a student. Her interests include paranormal activity and ghost hunting.

School suspends 'Potato Chip dealer'

A 12-year-old 'potato chip dealer' has been suspended from a Liverpool school where fatty drinks and snacks are banned. Joel Bradley was caught allegedly selling a bag of chips at a marked-up price reports the Liverpool Echo.

The student at the Cardinal Heenan High School was given a day's suspension because it was the second time he had been caught.

His father, Joe Bradley, said his son was being "victimised" for the enterprise, which could earn him as much as $20 a day.

Mr Bradley, from Norris Green, admitted he too had once been caught selling canned drinks, chocolate bars and crisps from a van outside the school.

He said: "I think the school has made a beeline for him because of what I've done."

Cardinal Heenan's head teacher Dave Forshaw said: "We are a healthy school and proud of it.

"If parents are not happy then they are perfectly free to take their children to a school that allows pupils to sell these things and allows a father to sell them outside on the pavement."

The head teacher said pupils were caught around "three or four times a week" selling snacks at the school.

"We have six to seven regular sellers we pinpoint," he said

 
 Police: Massachusetts suspect mutulated fingers to hide ID

BOSTON – Police say a Boston man wanted for drug trafficking tried to hide his identity by cutting off his fingertips. State Police spokesman David Procopio said Monday that Francis Viliar admitted to police that he paid someone $400 to slice off the fleshy pads at the ends of his fingers.

The 36-year-old was arrested Friday after state police pulled him over for speeding in Brockton. He was charged with giving a false name and carrying a dangerous weapon.

During booking, officers discovered that his fingertips were covered in scar tissue. FBI specialists were still able to identify Viliar, who had 13 warrants, using ridges from the prints.

Viliar's attorney, Lawrence Perlmutter, declined to comment late Monday.

Head of archdiocese schools faces drunken driving charge

Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee David E. Lodes told police he was driving home from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when he was arrested on drunken driving charges last month, according to a criminal complaint filed in Waukesha County.

Lodes, 59, of the Town of Delafield, is charged with driving while intoxicated, a second offense. If convicted of the misdemeanor, he faces up to six months in jail and revocation of his driving license for up to 18 months. He was convicted of drunken driving in August 2004, the complaint says.

Lodes could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

According to the complaint:

Lodes stopped his silver-colored Lexus SUV at a traffic light in a northbound lane of state Highway 83 near I-94 about 9 p.m. Nov. 18.

Behind Lodes was a yellow pickup truck, and behind the truck was a squad car containing a Delafield police officer. The light changed to green, but Lodes' car did not move. After about eight seconds, the squad pulled to the left of Lodes, who was slumped forward and leaning against the driver's side window. When the driver of the yellow pickup honked, Lodes suddenly accelerated into the intersection.

The officer followed Lodes, who turned east onto Golf Road. Lodes' SUV weaved on Golf, and the officer pulled him over.

Lodes, the complaint says, had difficulty operating his electric window; the police officer had to explain to Lodes how get the window to go down. "When asked about his driving that evening, the defendant crossed his arms and looked away from the officer," the complaint says.

"The driver continued to remain silent for several moments. The officer then asked the driver what was going on. The defendant stated, 'Nothing.'&ensp"

Lodes told the officer that he had a few drinks earlier in the evening but refused to specify how many. He said he was returning from an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

The officer returned to his squad car to check Lodes' record. By the time he returned to the SUV, Lodes had passed out, according to the complaint.

The officer woke Lodes, who had difficulty getting out of his vehicle and was very unsteady on his feet. He threw up his arms, the complaint says, and declared: "I'm drunk," the complaint says.

Lodes then failed field sobriety tests.

Lodes refused to take a preliminary breath test but later submitted to a blood test. The blood draw was sent to the State Laboratory of Hygiene in Madison.

Lodes is a former science teacher who served for 14 years as superintendent of the Arrowhead School District. He became head of education for the archdiocese's 10-county area in October 2007.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said she spoke to Lodes and that "he is extremely embarrassed by this."

She said Lodes was seeking treatment.

"We're going to support him as he pursues his treatment," she said.

"He is a human being, and alcoholism is a disease."

Thomas the Tank Engine is 'sexist'

Children's favourite Thomas the Tank Engine has been attacked by a Canadian academic for being sexist.

Shauna Wilton, a professor of political sciences at the University of Alberta, also highlighted the class divide which sees Thomas and his friends at the bottom of the social ladder and the wealthy Fat Controller at the top.

She launched her study after watching the animated programme, which is shown in over 130 countries, with her three-year-old daughter.

She then analysed the plots, characters and other aspects of 23 different episodes to draw her conclusions, which she then presented at a conference of political science in Canada.

She was critical of the fact the show only has eight female characters out of the 49 who feature.

"The female characters weren't necessarily portrayed any more negatively than the male characters or the male trains, but they did tend to play more secondary roles and they're often portrayed as being bossy or know-it-alls," she said.

Any attempt to break out of this controlled hierarchy to gain individual power, show initiative or dissent is met with punishment, usually because it goes wrong, she said.

But Prof Wilton insisted she show was not all bad, and featured some positive political values like contributing to the community, tolerance of others and good communication.

All I want for Christmas is ...

Watch your loved one's face light up this Christmas by giving them - a ring embedded with your actual teeth.

Artist Polly van der Glas offers to turn your pearly whites into a ghoulish gift.

You can literally give someone a smile with a knuckle ring fitted with four of your molars, or let someone special wear a single incisor as a necklace.

Melbourne-based Polly says she sources donor teeth from friends and family "who have been kind enough to offer parts of themselves". They are then sterilised before being turned into jaw-derived jewellery.

Although she admits teeth "are particularly difficult to come by, so any donations are gratefully accepted."

The 28-year-old says she got her interest in the body from her grandfather who was a professor of microbiology at Guy's Hospital Medical School.

She explains: "I have been collecting hair, teeth and fingernails for years, they line the shelves of my apartment in beautiful jars, where the textures and colour variations are amazing (fingernails actually look like delicate shells when collected together in a jar).

Polly is also launching a range of teeth cast in precious metals which she describes as "a bit easier to wear for those who are squeamish but like the concept".

Prices range from £250 for a sterling silver single human tooth signet ring to £420 for a knuckle ring set with four human teeth.

Man robbed by woman he met on Facebook

A meeting expedited via a popular social network led to a string of dates in Madison over the past few days, ending with a robbery.

The victim, a man from Detroit, told police he came to Madison to spend a week going out with a woman he met on Facebook.

According to Madison police, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when the woman was supposed to give him a lift to the Greyhound bus depot on South Stoughton Road, she drove to the old depot site on South Bedford Street. She got out of the car to get his luggage and produced “a little bitty gun” from her coat pocket instead, robbing the man of his money and wallet, he told police.

She took his cell phone and luggage too, police reported.

The woman was described as a white female in her 30s with brown eyes, light skin with freckles and reddish-brown hair worn in a ponytail.

Considering the meeting was arranged by Facebook, police said, “we have significant leads here.”


Authorities say angry driver crashed into DMV

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Arapahoe County officials said a disgruntled driver crashed his truck into a DMV because it was closed. Arapahoe County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Doty said she thinks a driver was upset because he didn't make it to the office in time to get in. The sheriff's office was investigating surveillance video of the crash that happened at about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

The truck broke two office windows and damaged a window frame but no one was injured.

Full moon brings out inner 'werewolf'

SOME people are more violent and exhibit ``werewolf'' tendencies during a full moon, a study published in the respected Australia Medical Journal reveals.

The findings of the 11-month research at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital could force police and other emergency services to shake-up how and when they deploy staff.

Many in the industry have already claimed for years there is a direct link between a full moon and more violent episodes, however, many police have disregarded anecdotal evidence as only a coincidence.

The hospital's clinical research nurse in toxicology Leonie Calver said the study centred on 91 patients who attended the emergency department, displaying ``violent and acute behavioral disturbance'' between August 2008 and July 2009.

``Of the 91 patients, 21 (23 percent) presented during the full moon _ double the number for other lunar phases,'' Ms Calver said.

``Sixty-six percent were under the influence of alcohol and/or recreational drugs and five attacked staff.

``Some of these patients attacked the staff like animals (by) biting, spitting and scratching. One might compare them with the werewolves past, who are said to have also appeared during the full moon.

``It has been reported that the practice of rubbing magic ointment on the skin or inhaling vapour from a magic potion by an alleged werewolf induces metamorphosis.

``Not surprisingly, the main ingredients of these ointments and potions were belladonna and nightshade, both of which can produce delirium, hallucinations and delusion of bodily metamorphosis.''

She said violent people seemed to want to take alcohol and drugs more during a full moon.

Balloon proposal falls flat

A man's romantic proposal to his girlfriend in a hot air balloon fell flat when he dropped the engagement ring.

The ring fell 500ft into woodland below after James Ng's embarrassing gaffe, reports the Daily Telegraph. Mr Ng, 27, had hidden the £2,000 diamond ring in his camera case. As the pair floated above Ohio in late October, the case slipped from his hand.

"My first thought was don't tell her, and buy another ring - but it took me forever to afford the one I had," he said.

His girlfriend, Sonya Bostic, a 27-year-old teacher, caught on, so Mr Ng dropped to one knee and proposed using a plastic tie twist. She said yes.

Unable to believe the ring was lost for good, the vicar started mapping the co-ordinates of the balloon's journey from the sky.

Over the following week, as his fiancée proudly wore a £5 Wal-Mart ring on her engagement finger, Mr Ng and a friend cut through brambles with machetes, searching for the camera bag.

"We had maps and a very clear plan of all the ground we needed to cover," said Mr Ng.

After seven arduous days of searching the three-mile-square area, they found the camera bag. The only thing still inside it was the ring.

"I think the first thing I said was holy cow," said Mr Ng. "Then I called Sonya right away."

Woman accused of drunken ride in Christmas parade

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – A woman has posted $500 bond on a charge of public intoxication after police said she passed out on a horse she rode in the Shelbyville Christmas parade. According to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, a 46-year-old woman was found slumped over on her horse outside a motel.

Police said they had been notified of a possibly intoxicated rider in a red coat on a white horse in the parade Saturday night.

Officers said they had to catch her twice to keep her from falling.

Reality TV stars charged over rat-eating episode

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian police have charged two stars of British reality TV show "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" with animal cruelty after an RSPCA complaint over an episode that involved killing and cooking a rat.

Italian chef Gino D'Acampo and British actor Stuart Manning were charged at the weekend in relation to the British TV show that was filmed in northern New South Wales in Australia.

A police spokeswoman said sealed court attendance notices were delivered to the two men, aged 30 and 33, as they were about to leave Australia for England.

She said they were charged with animal cruelty for acts in connection to the program after complaints from the RSPCA, but did not give names or other details.

The two men are scheduled to appear in court on February 3.

"The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable. The concern is this was done purely for the cameras," David O'Shannessy of the New South Wales RSPCA told the BBC.

TV network ITV was not immediately available for comment.

"I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here," which is now in its ninth series, pits contestants against each other in a knock-out contest which involves a series of scary and stomach-churning tasks in a remote setting.

D'Acampo was the winner of the latest series.

Man arrested for leaving baby in vehicle while drinking in strip club

The Web page for cosmetic dentist Dr. Omar Abdo offers "a new beautiful smile."

But Abdo probably isn't smiling now.

Early Thursday, Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies allege, the owner of Jupiter Prosthodontics left his 8-month-old daughter in a locked car, engine running, while he had a drink with a dancer at the Flashdance strip club.

He told a deputy he had made a "bad judgment call," according to a report.

Abdo, 39, of West Palm Beach, is charged with child neglect and child cruelty.

He left the Palm Beach County Jail Thursday evening after posting $20,000 bond, records show.

As a condition, he is forbidden contact with the baby except with another person present.

According to the sheriff's report, around 1 a.m. Thursday, deputies were on foot patrol in the parking lot of the club, at 4458 Purdy Lane, at S. Military Trail south of Forest Hill Boulevard in suburban West Palm Beach.

They came across Abdo's white Jeep Cherokee. Its doors were locked and the engine was running.

Inside, the deputy could see small feet moving beneath a blanket.

In the club, the report said, a manager pointed out Abdo, still in his scrubs, having a drink with one of the dancers.

When the deputy told Abdo he'd found his car running in the lot, he "responded that he left his vehicle running because his baby was sleeping inside the vehicle and he was only inside the establishment for a few seconds," the report said.

It said surveillance video would later show he was inside for about an hour.

Deputies then cuffed Abdo and led him outside, where they used his keys to open the car.

Inside, the baby was face down in a bassinet in the backseat, "hysterically crying," the report said.

Abdo's wife, Dr. Lana Al-Karmi, who works at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Riviera Beach, rushed to the club to claim her daughter, authorities said.

"She was extremely upset," sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said today.

A VA spokeswoman said today Al-Karmi did not want to comment. Abdo coud not be reached for comment.

Sheriff's records show deputies were called to Club 179 times in the last year.

"Flashdance feels this behavior was reprehensible," an employee who didn't want to give his name said today. "Our policy always is and has been full cooperation with any police agency."

According to his Web page, Abdo graduated dental school in 1992. He was a professor at Nova Southeastern University School of Dental Medicine in Fort Lauderdale until 2005.

Woman accused of indecent exposure

FORT PIERCE — A Fort Pierce Police officer got more than he asked for during a Friday morning traffic stop, according to a Fort Pierce Police Department arrest report.

About 3 a.m., the officer stopped Ellena Lucia Barron, 46, for an unnamed traffic violation

The officer asked Barron, of the 800 block of Dayman Avenue, for her license and registration and she said, “I just dropped my friend off and some weed eaters.”

Barron, looked dazed, the officer said, and wouldn’t look him in the eye, said she needed to go to her vehicle’s trunk.

At the trunk Barron lifted her blouse, revealing her breasts.

When the officer asked why, she said, “It thought that’s what you wanted to see.”

As of Saturday, Barron was charged with indecent exposure and was in the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $250 bail.

Trucker pulled over with cardboard windscreen

A truck driver was pulled up by police in China - after driving for hundreds of miles with a sheet of cardboard covering his broken windshield.

Mr Li drove by sticking his head out of the side window - in freezing conditions - or by peering through tiny holes in the cardboard, reports China News Network.

Traffic officers ordered him to pull over after spotting him on the Jinggang'ao Highway in Henan province.

"The weather was extremely cold, but we saw a lorry with a cardboard windshield - and the driver had his head out of the side window all the time," said a police spokesman.

Mr Li jumped down from the cab with a face that was purple from the cold. He told officers he had been in an accident in Hubei province several days earlier but did not have time to repair it properly because of his tight delivery schedule.

He admitted to police that he had driven with the temporary cardboard windshield for an incredible 400 miles.

"When there were a lot of vehicles I would drive with my head out of the window," he told police.

"I would drive like that until my neck got too sore and numb, when I would drive by looking through the little holes in the cardboard."

Police escorted the truck to a nearby service station, and ordered Li to repair his vehicle properly before going back on the road.

Prostitutes Offer Free Climate Summit Sex

Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference. Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

Copenhagen's city council in conjunction with Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards out to 160 Copenhagen hotels urging COP15 guests and delegates to 'Be sustainable - don't buy sex'.

"Dear hotel owner, we would like to urge you not to arrange contacts between hotel guests and prostitutes," the approach to hotels says.

Now, Copenhagen prostitutes are up in arms, saying that the council has no business meddling in their affairs. They have now offered free sex to anyone who can produce one of the offending postcards and their COP15 identity card, according to the Web site avisen.dk.

According to the report, the move has been organized by the Sex Workers Interest Group (SIO).

"This is sheer discrimination. Ritt Bjerregaard is abusing her position as Lord Mayor in using her power to prevent us carrying out our perfectly legal job. I don't understand how she can be allowed to contact people in this way," SIO Spokeswoman Susanne Møller tells avisen.dk.

Møller adds that it is reprehensible and unfair that Copenhagen politicians have chosen to use the UN Climate Summit as a platform for a hetz against sex workers.

"But they've done it and we have to defend ourselves," Møller says.

DIY train buffs go loco

Train buffs are facing jail after building their own ramshackle locomotive and taking it on the public rail network.

The six-seater train - made out of garden furniture and salvaged train parts - was powered by an electric motor and even had its own refreshments car in the shape of a crate of beer.

Police in Erfut, Germany, were alerted after residents of properties adjoining the railway spotted the unorthodox vehicle - and were aware that there should have been no traffic running.

Police however had to call in a helicopter to find and follow the makeshift train as the police cars could not follow it along the tracks.

The helicopter pilot was able to radio ahead to other officers who set up a makeshift barrier at a station to stop it.

Railway bosses had been asked to suspend all services to avoid a collision although the train buffs had chosen to have their drive when there had been no trains scheduled.

"It seems to be one of those mad pub ideas that actually happened. They didn't seem to realise they could have caused a serious accident if they'd got anywhere near a real train," said one officer.

Six men who were arrested on the unauthorised vehicle are currently facing public safety charges.

Police jail man for rubbing burger in wife's face
 
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – A 25-year-old Port St. Lucie man was arrested for allegedly rubbing a hamburger on his wife's face during an argument. Police said Daniel Boss and his wife got into it late Thursday night and started calling each other names. At some point, the woman apparently poured soda on Boss' hamburger, causing him to grab the sandwich, rub it in her face and start throwing food.

Boss left, but his wife went to the police station to report the incident. Officers arrested him three hours later on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge.

It could not be determined if Boss had an attorney.

Man dressed as elf causes mall evacuation

Southlake Mall was evacuated Wednesday night after a man dressed as an elf allegedly told the mall Santa that he was carrying dynamite.

But when the bomb squad examined three packages left near Santa, the incident was declared a ho-ho-hoax.

The bad elf, William C. Caldwell III, was being held without bond Thursday in the Clayton County Jail, charged with having hoax devices, making terroristic threats, false imprisonment, simple assault, reckless conduct, disorderly conduct and false public alarm.

The incident began about 6:45 p.m. when Caldwell, 45,  got in line at Southlake Mall to have his picture made with Santa.

When Caldwell, who was wearing an elf suit, reached the front of the line, " he told Santa Claus that he had dynamite in his bag," Morrow police Capt. James Callaway said. "He said that two times to Santa Claus."

Santa notified mall security and Morrow police quickly arrested the 5 feet tall, 108 pound Caldwell.  The mall was evacuated and the bomb squad was called in to examine the packages.

No dynamite was found, but the mall remained closed the remainder of the evening. Police have not said what was in the bags.

Callaway said that despite Caldwell's attire, he was not a part of the mall's Santa operation.

"He has no relationship with Southlake Mall whatsoever," Callaway said.

Armed cops subdue angry shopper denied a refund at Oakland Mall

Four Troy, Michiugan police officers, armed with rifles, stormed into an Oakland Mall store today after a man angry that he couldn’t return an Xbox without a receipt threatened to kill someone.

“It was an interesting day here at the GameStop,” said store employee David Roman.

According to Lt. Michael Lyczkowski, the 43-year-old Detroit man went into the store at about 11 a.m. After a store employee wouldn’t allow him to return the Xbox, the man became irate and made threats. A store employee called 911, saying the man went out to get something from his vehicle.

When police arrived, they used a tactic called active shooter response, meaning a team of officers works to stop an immediate threat. Roman said coworkers told him officers put employees and a handful of customers in a back room and threw the man up against a counter, handcuffing him.

The man, whose name is not being released pending the issuance of charges, did not have a firearm. But officers found a stun gun in the man’s handbag, which is illegal in Michigan, Lyczkowski said.

“He said he needed it for protection,” Lyczkowski said.

No one was injured in the incident and the man remains in police custody. Lyczkowski said the man could face charges for possession of a stun gun, a four-year felony, and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Woman arrested for trying to record 'Twilight' on digital camera

Taping three minutes of “Twilight: New Moon” during a visit to a Rosemont movie theater landed Samantha Tumpach in a jail cell for two nights.

Now, the 22-year-old Chicago woman faces up to three years in prison after being charged with a rarely invoked felony designed to prevent movie patrons from recording hot new movies and selling bootleg copies.
 
Samantha Tumpach, 22,  is charged with one count of criminal use of a motion picture exhibition, a Class 4 felony, according to Rosemont police Sgt. Keith Kania.

But Tumpach insisted Wednesday that’s not what she was doing — she was actually taping parts of her sister’s surprise birthday party celebrated at the Muvico Theater in Rosemont.

While she acknowledged there are short bits of the movie on her digital camera, there are other images that have nothing to do with the new film — including she and a few other family members singing “Happy Birthday” to her 29-year-old sister at the theater.

“It was a big thing over nothing,” Tumpach said of her Saturday afternoon arrest. “We were just messing around. Everyone is so surprised it got this far.”

She was nabbed when a worker saw her shooting video during the movie, Rosemont police said.

Managers contacted police, who examined the small digital camera, which also records video segments, Cmdr. Frank Siciliano said. Officers found that Tumpach had taped “two very short segments” of the movie — no more than four minutes total, he said.

Tumpach was arrested after theater managers insisted on pressing charges, he said. She was charged with criminal use of a motion picture exhibition. She remained jailed for two nights in Rosemont’s police station until being taken to bond court on Monday, where a Cook County judge ordered her released on a personal recognizance bond that didn’t require her to post any cash.

Rosemont police, though, seemed to sympathize with her situation, she said. “They were so nice to me,” she said.

Tumpach insisted she recorded no more than three minutes while in the theater — and said not all of the video she shot was of the movie. There’s footage of she and her relatives singing to her sister, she said. “We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her in the theater,” Tumpach said.

She also took pictures of family members in the theater before the film began, but an usher who saw the photo session never issued them a warning, Tumpach said.

As ads and previews ran on the big screen, she fiddled with the camera — which she got in July and is still learning how to work — and was surprised to see it took clear videos of the screen.

The footage she shot also includes the pre-film commercials, as well as her talking about the camera and the movie.

“You can hear me talking the whole time,” Tumpach said.

She plans to fight in court the felony filed against her because she said she did nothing wrong — and certainly didn’t try to secretly tape the movie.

“It was never my intention to record the movie,” she said.

Mother, kids charged in beating

Officers arrested a 32-year-old Athens woman and her two children early Monday after she broke into a restaurant to beat a woman who was sleeping with her boyfriend, Athens-Clarke police said.

Bernice Valdez-Mendoza apparently learned about the infidelity at 3:30 a.m., when her boyfriend's cell phone inadvertently called her, and she could hear the man and woman preparing to have sex, according to police.

Valdez-Mendoza drove to El Paisano, 478 North Ave., police said, where she tried to get into the locked restaurant by pounding on a window with her fists.

When that failed, she picked up a flower vase nearby and shattered the restaurant's large window and climbed inside with her children - a 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy - and found the boyfriend with the woman in a back room, police said. The boyfriend manages the restaurant, and the 20-year-old victim is an employee, according to police.

Valdez-Mendoza punched and whacked the other woman with a pool stick, then dragged her by the hair into the dining room, where she continued to hit and kick her, police said.

Each time the victim tried to get up, Valdez-Mendoza's children helped to push her down and blocked the doorway, according to police.

A witness called 911, police said.

The victim managed to break free and run away, police said, and officers couldn't find Valdez-Mendoza's boyfriend, who fled during the attack.

Although badly bloodied, the victim refused medical treatment at the scene, police said.

Valdez-Mendoza, of 122 Old Pittard Road, was charged with aggravated assault, false imprisonment and two counts each of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and third-degree child cruelty, police said.

Her son and daughter were charged with aggravated assault and false imprisonment and taken to the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, police said.

Teacher charged with vandalizing Portland school

An elementary school teacher was charged Monday, Nov. 30 with allegedly vandalizing Portland East Middle School.

Brenda Sue Rawls, 50, is accused of using sardine juice, condoms and lubricant to vandalize a mini-fridge, a teacher’s desk and three lockers, according to the affidavit filed in Sumner County General Sessions Court. The incident is alleged to have occurred on Aug. 16.

According to Sumner County Sheriff Bob Barker, the vandalism was allegedly committed in retaliation against a teacher that made comments about Rawls.

Rawls is charged with vandalism under $500, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal trespassing.

Authorities say a seventh grader assisted with the vandalism. After the incident, Rawls and the student allegedly discussed what they had done and returned to the school with air fresheners in an attempt to clean up the lockers, according to the affidavit.

Rawls allegedly admitted to purchasing the sardines, condoms, lubricants and air freshener used in the incident as well as using her key to allow the student into the building, but denies involvement of the vandalism, according to the affidavit.

The total damage, including three damaged textbooks, is estimated at $250.

Rawls, who had been a teacher a Portland East, was transferred to Watt Hardison Elementary on July 31.

Her bond was set at $1,000. She is scheduled to appear in Sumner County General Sessions Court on Dec. 16.

'Cavemen' inherit billions

Two penniless brothers who are so poor they live in a cave could be set to inherit a share of a £4 billion fortune.

Zslot and Geza Peladi live in the cave outside Budapest, Hungary, and sell scrap they find on the street for pennies.

Now they and a sister who lives in America are said to be on the verge of inheriting their grandmother's massive fortune after a life of poverty.

They learned of their good fortune after homelessness charity workers in Hungary were contacted by lawyers handling the estate of the brothers' maternal grandmother who died recently in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany.

"We knew our mother came from a wealthy family but she was a difficult person and severed ties with them, and then later abandoned us and we lost touch with her and our father until she eventually died," said Geza, 43.

Under German law however direct descendents are automatically entitled to a share of any estate.

Geza added: "If this all works out it will certainly make up for the life we have had until now - all we really had was each other - no women would look at us living in a cave.

"But with money maybe we can find a partner - and finally have a normal life. We don't know yet if she even told our grandmother about us - I understand it was only while they were carrying out genealogical research that lawyers found we existed."

Volunteer Gyula Balazs Csaszar - who works for Budapest's Maltans charity - told ATV television: "We were contacted by a lawyer asking us to find the brothers. He claimed he could help their lives with a large sum of money."

The grandmother's name was not revealed to prevent fraudsters trying to cash in on the inheritance but a spokesman for the legal firm said: "We know who we need to speak to and that is the two brothers who we are pretty sure are the grandchildren - there is no need for anyone else to be informed."

Now the brothers are obtaining copies of their mother's death certificate and proof of their family connection before travelling to Germany to claim their inheritance.

Toledo man arrested in Salvation Army kettle theft

A robber who claimed to "hate Christmas" made off with a red kettle full of donations for the Salvation Army on Saturday night outside The Andersons store on Illinois Avenue in Maumee, according to Maumee police.

The unidentified man approached the volunteer bell ringer about 6:25 p.m. He grabbed the kettle and tripod from which it was hanging. The bell ringer grabbed the chain, and the two fought for the kettle, according to Maumee police reports.

Maumee Police Sgt. David Tullis said the robber pushed the volunteer, and pulled the kettle away from her. He put the kettle and tripod in the back of a pickup truck after telling her, "I can't stand you and your bell-ringing. I hate Christmas."

Several hours later, Toledo police recovered what was believed to have been the same pickup truck. It was found near Dorr Street and Reynolds Road.

Sergeant Tullis said the truck was reported stolen in Maumee Friday night.
Yesterday, the empty kettle and tripod were found in separate locations in South Toledo.

The robber was described as a white male in his 40s, between 5 feet, 2 inches and 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing 200 to 240 pounds. He has graying brown hair, a scruffy beard, and moustache. He was wearing dirty blue jeans, a grey hooded sweatshirt, a green shirt, and green hat.

Sergeant Tullis said it's unknown how much money was in the kettle, although the bell ringer believed there was a large sum.

"This is pretty unusual," he said. "At this time of year, we have merchandise theft all the time. It's just very common where people go in stores and rip off the store, but you very rarely see where someone rips off charitable donations like this.

"This is a pretty big item in a crowded area," Sergeant Tullis added. "I would say the guy was either desperate or mentally ill or intoxicated."

Salvation Army of Northwest Ohio officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. The organization is attempting to raise $470,000 this year through its annual Red Kettle Drive, which provides assistance to needy individuals and families in the area.


Wanted: Expert to study lap dancers

Leeds University in England is advertising for a $50,000-a-year researcher - to study lap dancing.

The post, in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, is for:

"Research Officer - The rise and regulation of lap dancing and the place of sexual labour and consumption in the night time economy".

The Government-funded position will see the successful applicant interview 300 lap dancers in in two northern English towns.

The study, which comes with a salary of $50,513, is aimed at finding out who becomes lap dancers and what their working conditions are like, as well as how the number of bars have multiplied.

The ad stipulates the successful applicant will need to have "prior experience of conducting research in the female sex industry".

But Susie Squire, political director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, complained: "This is the ultimate non-job and will both anger and bemuse taxpayers.

"It may be a dream job for some men, but it's just another nightmare of public sector waste for the ordinary people who pay for it."

Cops: Woman makes threat to help boss make flight

MIAMI – A South Florida woman has been charged with calling in a bomb threat to keep her boss from missing a flight. An arrest report said a 31-year-old woman was charged Thursday with making a false report of planting a bomb. Miami International Airport officials received a call and an e-mail Wednesday claiming that a bomb was on an American Airlines plane. Police searched the specified aircraft but didn't find a bomb.

Investigators tracked the e-mail to the woman's computer.

During questioning, the woman reportedly told police that her boss had been booked on the flight to Honduras, but she had caused him to be late for the flight. She thought the bomb threat would give her boss time to make it.

The woman was being held on $7,500 bail.

Woman sees image of Jesus on her iron

METHUEN, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts woman who recently separated from her husband and had her hours cut at work says an image of Jesus Christ she sees on her iron has reassured her that "life is going to be good."

Mary Jo Coady first noticed the image Sunday when she walked into her daughter's room.

The brownish residue on the bottom of the iron looks like the face of a man with long hair.

The 44-year-old Coady was raised Catholic. She and her two college-age daughters agree that the image looks like Jesus and is proof that "he's listening."

Coady tells The Eagle-Tribune she hopes her story will inspire others during the holidays. She says she plans to keep the iron in a closet and buy a new one.

Useless robber hands himself in

A luckless crook surrendered to police after four robberies flopped in the same day.

Ralf Lautenbach, 24, fled after trying to hold up two hotels which set security guards on him - and then abandoned a break in at the local tax office in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Germany.

Finally the failing would-be crook handed himself in after he was trapped in his getaway car after using it to ram a bank security cash van.

"He needs a change of job," said one officer.

Toilet mystery on Cathay Pacific flights

Cathay Pacific flights have been disrupted by a spate of mysterious toilet blockages.

The problem has been so serious that one flight from Riyadh had to land in Mumbai when the crew discovered none of the plane's 10 toilets were working, reports the BBC.

In other cases, the number of passengers boarding flights had to be restricted because of loo problems.

Airbus engineers are now fitting new toilet pipes to the airline's fleet and carrying out deep cleaning.

Cathay spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said although the exact cause of the blockages was unclear, passengers themselves may be partly to blame.

"You would be amazed what we find in the pipes when we clean the system - not just face towels but medicine bottles, socks, items of clothing and even children's stuffed toys," she said.

The toilets use high-speed vacuum pipes to take waste at up to 110kph (68mph) into a holding tank, which is then emptied between flights.

Patient in 23-year 'coma' was conscious all along

A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time.

Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail.

"I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state.

Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct".

But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally.

Mr Houben said: "All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt."

His case has only just been revealed in a scientific paper released by the man who 'saved' him, top neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys.

"Medical advances caught up with him," said Dr Laureys, who believes there may be many similar cases of false comas around the world.

Mr Houben, a former martial arts enthusiast, was paralysed in 1983.

He is never likely to leave hospital, but as well as his computer he now has a special device above his bed which lets him read books while lying down.

Mr Houben said: "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth.

"I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead."

Dad leaves boy and goes into strip club

INDIANAPOLIS – A man was arrested after police said he left his 5-year-old son in a tractor-trailer while he ducked into an Indianapolis strip club to drink. The 39-year-old was arrested at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday on child neglect and public intoxication charges after calling police to report his truck stolen and his child missing. Police said the man was too drunk to remember where he had parked.

They found the boy inside watching cartoons on a television inside the cab. The keys were in the ignition, and the doors were unlocked.

Police said the suspect put his son in jeopardy by leaving him exposed in a high crime area.

The man was taken to the Marion County jail, where his wife picked up him and the child.

Agent showing house finds pile of bones

GIBSON, La. – A real estate agent showing a house got to the basement and found about 100 human bones in a corner. James Kenny, a forensic investigator with the Terrebonne Parish Coroner's Office, says the bones found Saturday were so old that dirt had saturated the marrow inside them. He says they probably are remains of Native Americans buried long before the house was built.

Kenny says he learned that the previous residents would often find bones while mowing the lawn or doing yard work, and would put them in the basement.

Half of the split-level house is on top of a circular mound, which parish officials suggest may be an Indian burial mound.

Neither the agent nor the home's owner would talk to The Courier of Houma.

Man shows off naked picture on cell phone

Before she could say "no", a Cartersville man showed a woman a picture of a man's genitalia in a grocery store parking lot.

Stephen Joseph Woods Jr., 29, was at the Aldi store in Acworth when he confronted the woman, according to police. He was arrested earlier this week and charged with distributing obscene materials.

The woman, who the AJC is not identifying, told Acworth police a man approached her and asked if she "wanted to see something," according to the warrant. Woods then showed her the image on his phone.

Police executed two search warrants, including one for the phone and one for the photographs. Three photos of a man's genitals were found on the phone, according to the warrant.

The photos were printed, and the woman identified one of the images as the one she had been shown.

Woods was arrested late Wednesday night and released several hours later after posting $2,500 bond.

'Flat out' couple saved from eviction

A couple who kept their whole apartment block awake with their non-stop love-making have won a case to halt their eviction.

Judges ruled it could not be proved they were having sex at the time

Desperate neighbours in Stockholm, Sweden, had asked the court to kick Bjorn Forsberg, 28, and Michelle Larsson, 26, out for breaching the noise nuisance terms of their lease.

But judges ruled: "It cannot be determined which flat was responsible for the noise or exactly what they might have been doing inside."

One disgruntled neighbour said:" Their screams of passion were so loud I could hear them three floors away. I don't think they were playing cards."

Massachusetts woman seeks funds for turkey's eye surgery

REHOBOTH, Mass. – A Massachusetts woman is seeking donations from fellow pet lovers to help pay for eye surgery for her turkey named Jerry. Lyndsey Medeiros and her husband adopted three-year-old Jerry and another turkey from a Rhode Island farm last week. But Jerry has cataracts, and the eye problems mean he can't eat independently or join his female companion, Penelope, in flying.

Medeiros has posted an ad on Craigslist seeking donations for the surgery. She said the procedure could cost up to $2,600. Her farm in Rehoboth, Mass., cares for other animals with health problems.

Police catch accused red-handed bank robber who fled by bus

ST. PETERSBURG — Police arrested a man Friday they say robbed a bank and then had a dye pack explode on him while using a bus to escape.

A tip led police to a room at the Landmark Motel at 1930 4th St. N. Police said they knocked on the door, and Thomas John Castro, 54, answered with a bag of crack cocaine. He was arrested before midnight Thursday.

Castro was charged with possession of cocaine and armed robbery.

Police say Castro is the man who entered a Wachovia branch at 125 Fifth St. S on Thursday and gave a teller a threatening note asking for money. That man was wearing a disguise.

The robber then attempted to escape on a public bus, police say. That's when a red dye pack hidden with the stolen money exploded, which police say is very loud and noticeable. He then exited the bus and was last seen fleeing on foot.

Castro's arrest record is 16 pages long and shows past arrests for trespassing, burglary and grand theft.

It is unknown whether Castro was covered in red dye at the time of his arrest.

Tree too heavy for crane

A Californian couple got the shock of their lives when they returned home to find a 90ft crane had cut their house in two.

The crane had been trying to move a 150-year-old oak tree, but it was too heavy and the crane toppled backwards.

Nobody was in the house in Santa Rosa at the time and nobody was hurt - a dog in the garage was also unharmed.

Michelle and Kevin McCarthy returned to their home about an hour after the accident.

He said: "I think we're just in shock right now."

Neighbour Alisa Dales, who was standing nearby when the crane toppled, said the accident happened in 'slow motion'.

"The whole crane and truck started to go over," she told Press Democrat.

"It was like slow motion, and then it went boom. It was the loudest noise I've ever heard."

Fit for purpose?

An epileptic actress has been criticised over plans to try and induce a fit on stage as part of a public performance.

Rita Marcalo has stopped taking medication ahead of next month's production of Involuntary Dances at Bradford Playhouse, reports the Daily Telegraph.

She is facing criticism for putting herself at risk and the voyeuristic nature of the 24-hour event which is being funded by a £13,889 Arts Council grant.

The over-18 audience will be provided with sleeping bags and breakfast - and will be woken by a siren the moment she suffers a seizure so they can film it on their mobile phones.

Ms Marcalo, who has suffered epilepsy for 20 years, will use strobe lighting, fasting and raising her body temperature to try and bring about a seizure.

She said: "One of the reasons I am doing this is because epilepsy is an invisible disability.

"If you Google or YouTube 'epileptic seizures' you come up with all kinds of mobile phone footage which has been filmed without the patients' consent.

"Part of me doing this is to address the voyeurism. I am saying, I am choosing to let you do this."

Philip Lee, chief executive of Epilepsy Action said many of the charity's members would consider the performance "inappropriate".

"I am concerned about the potential danger of a patient stopping their medication to induce a seizure. Seizures can bring with them the risk of injury from jerking or falling or in the worst cases, death."

Man who was Tased on buttocks sues city of Boise

Gerald Amidon is suing several Boise police officers for compensatory and punitive damages, claiming his civil rights were violated when he was shocked and threatened with a stun device last winter.

Amidon filed a lawsuit against the officers in U.S. District Court last week — after his lawyer said the City of Boise declined to settle the case.

Gerald Amidon filed a tort claim against the city in July, saying Boise police officers Cory Bammert, Deidra Harr, Guy McKean and Mark Abercrombi used excessive force during Amidon's Feb. 14 arrest and caused him physical injuries and mental anguish.

Boise Community Ombudsman Pierce Murphy investigated the claim earlier this year and determined that an officer used a Taser on Amidon twice and threatened to use it in his anus and on his genitals during the arrest.

Murphy also found a police supervisor erased a taped interview with Amidon and never completed a required report on the use of force in the arrest.

Both actions violated police policies, Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson said.

All officers involved in the case still work for the police department.

Boise police officials said in February officers were responding to a report of a domestic fight — "an urgent, dangerous and potentially violent situation, with the safety of a woman and child at the forefront of their thoughts and actions."

A neighbor had reported a fight between a man and a woman. Officers learned the man had been recently released from jail and a 3-year-old boy was in the house, according to police reports.

The officers said that when they arrived and pounded on the door, the man inside yelled profanity back at them.

He also pushed against the door as they tried to push their way in.

Murphy's investigation found that the officers did not identify themselves.

Murphy said Amidon had been told by the woman in the house that she'd called a friend to come over and beat him up - so he had the wrong idea about who was trying to get in.

It was after police got inside the home and began their investigation when they used a Taser on Amidon.

Amidon was charged with three misdemeanors — unlawful entry, battery, and false imprisonment — in connection with the case but those charges were dismissed by Ada County prosecutors in September.

A tort claim indicates to the city that a citizen is considering a lawsuit against it.

Amidon filed his tort claim in July. Lawyers for the City of Boise did not file a response in 90 days, which resulted in an automatic denial of Amidon’s claims on the state level.

Once the denial was official this fall, Amidon’s lawyer filed a complaint of civil rights violation lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Nov. 13, naming four specific Boise police officers and several other officers, identified “John Does,” as defendants in the lawsuit. Defense attorney Ron Coulter said Tuesday city officials did not try to settle the case and that Amidon was ready to go to trial.

Attorneys with the City of Boise said Tuesday they have yet to be served with the summons for the lawsuit. When they do, they have 20 days to file a response. Assistant City Attorney Scott Muir said the city will defend the lawsuit.

That would start the whole process of scheduling a jury trial, which could take a year or longer to be scheduled in U.S. District Court.

Amidon will find out in December if he will go to prison for an unrelated criminal case.

Amidon pleaded guilty to a charge of felony grand theft in September, according to Ada County court records.

Amidon was originally charged with felony burglary and grand theft in January, in connection to an incident where he was accused of breaking into a local construction business and and taking equipment — including an air powered wrench — worth over $1,000, according to court records.

The burglary charge was dropped after Amidon pleaded guilty to grand theft. Amidon is scheduled to be sentenced by 4th District Judge Michael McLaughlin Dec. 2.

Chicago Area boy dials 911 after parents take away his Xbox video game

A 15-year-old boy told Buffalo Grove police that his parents had taken away his video game system and asked whether they were within their rights.

They were, police told him.

The teen called 911 about 12:50 p.m. Sunday but then hung up, said Cmdr. Steve Husak. Officers went to the house, and after hearing the story, told the youth that his parents have the authority to take away his Xbox as punishment.

He also was advised to listen to his parents, Husak said. Husak did not know why the boy was being punished.

Mail carrier found drunk inside Marion home

Police arrested a mail carrier after she was found drunk inside a residence while on the job in Marion earlier this month, authorities said Tuesday.

Kristine A. Pflughaupt, 46, of Marion, was charged with public intoxication Nov. 3 after she was found sitting on the kitchen floor of a house at 260 Sixth Avenue, eating leftover noodles from Marie O’Kelly’s refrigerator.

Marion police Lt. Steve Etzel said Pflughaupt entered the home through an unlocked front door. She apparently was intoxicated when she was dropped off to complete her route, he said.
“She was in uniform and had mail and a mail-carrying bag with her,” Etzel said.

O’Kelly, 95, said she was watching TV in another room when she heard a noise. She thought her daughter had arrived, but became suspicious when no one came to greet her.

When she went to check, O’Kelly said she found Pflughaupt sitting on her kitchen floor. She was using her hands to eat leftover noodles, and they were running down Pflughaupt’s shirt. O’Kelly didn’t recognize her as the mail carrier.

“I said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and she didn’t answer me,” O’Kelly said. “She just kept eating those noodles.”

Police and firefighters arrived around 4:45 p.m. and Pflughaupt was arrested. Preliminary breath tests showed her blood alcohol content to be .281, police said.

Pflughaupt, a 17-year employee of the U.S. Postal Service, was taken to the Linn County Jail.
Marion Postmaster Rick Leyendecker said Pflughaupt is currently on unpaid leave. The incident happened his second day as Postmaster.

Any disciplinary action will be determined after police finish their criminal investigation, Leyendecker said.

“I just have to let the investigation run its course,” Leyendecker said.

O’Kelly said she was shook up, but was not injured in the incident.

“It was a shocker, is what it was,” O’Kelly said.

According to online court records, Pflughaupt has three convictions for operating while intoxicated, including one just three months ago. Her prison sentence was suspended in that incident.

Man at Port St. Lucie bar throws darts at other patrons, is arrested

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 44-year-old man who threw darts at patrons of Mickey Finns bar and returned to the establishment after being kicked out was arrested, according to a recently released affidavit.

The bartender “cut off” serving drinks to Scott D. Leonard, of the 100 block of Southeast Todd Avenue, late Sunday or early Monday “due to Mr. Leonard’s behavior as he was throwing darts at other patrons.”

A bouncer “escorted” him out the rear entrance of the establishment in the 200 block of Southwest Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

“Mr. Leonard was angered with this and proceeded to pull down his pants and underwear and defecated onto the rear parking lot,” the affidavit states.

Police spoke to several patrons at whom Leonard threw darts and none wished to press charges. The owner didn’t either. An officer called for a cab and watched Leonard get in and leave.

Not long after that, the officer again was dispatched to Mickey Finns, and a worker said the cab dropped off Leonard and that Leonard wanted to drive his own vehicle home.

A worker told police that Leonard started his vehicle and moved it a short distance. Leonard has a restricted, business-purposes-only drivers license, the affidavit stated. The worker grabbed the keys, and Leonard started to cause a ruckus, the affidavit stated.

Leonard was arrested on a misdemeanor disorderly intoxication charge and taken to the St. Lucie County jail.

Police: man selling marijuana door to door

A teenager who had been going door to door trying to sell marijuana early Thursday was arrested after he went to the residence of a Brownsville police officer, police said.

Anthony Carrazco, 19, was arrested at the officer’s apartment at approximately 3:30 a.m. when he tried to sell the officer three ounces of marijuana, said police spokesman Jimmy Manrrique. He was later charged with one count of possession of marijuana and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon.

The officer at the apartment found a 9mm handgun in Carrazco’s possession, said Manrrique. Because the apartment was located near a school zone, the charges were upgraded to state jail felonies, he added.

Later Thursday morning, Carrazco went before a municipal judge who set his bond at $10,000 and sent him to Carrizalez-Rucker-Rucker Detention Center.

The apartment is in the downtown area near UTB-TSC; however, the address was not released because of security reasons.

"(Carrazco) went to an apartment building in the downtown area," Manrrique said. "He had over three ounces of marijuana in his possession and obviously looking for people to buy marijuana from him."

An intoxicated Carrazco went door to door looking for a buyer and when a man opened the door, he made the offer, police said.

"(Carrazco) asked him if he wanted to buy marijuana," Manrrique said. "This person he approached is a Brownsville police officer. The officer said he would be right back and went to go get his badge and handcuffs."

Carrazco was cooperative and didn’t offer any resistance.

Once Carrazco was under arrest, the officer searched him and found a 9mm handgun in his bag where he kept the drugs, the spokesman said. The officer also called on-duty officers to his house, where they picked up Carrazco.

 
FAA to investigate cellphone use on Atlanta flight

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what led to the two-and-a-half hour delay of a Tuesday flight from Atlanta to Houston, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday morning.

An AirTran spokesman said a man traveling with a group Tuesday afternoon refused to turn his cell phone off before takeoff. But the woman sitting behind the man said it wasn't a phone at all, and feels the entire incident was the result of poor communication.

"He was not talking on a cell phone, it was a camera," said Nancy Deveikis of Marietta. "He was looking at pictures."

A flight attendant asked the man twice to turn off the device, Deveikis said. But it was clear the man did not speak English, she said. Although the man was traveling with others, the rest of the group was seated throughout the plane.

When the man did not respond to the flight attendant, she took the camera from him, Deveikis said. Deveikis, who presented ajc.com with her boarding pass for the flight, said she watched the exchange from directly behind the man in seat 28A and the female flight attendant.

"She grabbed it from his hand and basically said I'll be holding this until you get off the plane,"Deveikis said.

It’s unclear whether he was talking on the phone, snapping photos or texting, AirTran spokesman Christopher White said. But to airline officials and flight attendants, it didn’t matter. The Boeing 717 had pulled away from the gate, and the phone was on, White said.

“Flight attendants were telling him, ‘Turn off the phone, turn off the phone,’” White said.

“We can’t taxi with the cell phone on, and we certainly can’t take off,” White said. “Language barrier or not, you start to butt up against interfering with a flight crew.”

Deveikis said she never heard the one flight attendant use the word "phone" when speaking to the man.

“Passengers are required to follow instructions of the flight attendants," regional FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. AirTran reported the incident to the FAA, Bergen said. The federal Transportation Security Administration will not handle the incident, saying it is a customer-service issue between the passenger and the airline, a TSA spokesman said.

Houston-bound Flight 297 was scheduled to leave Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday. But the pilot decided to return the plane back to the gate, and the man and the group he was traveling with were asked to exit the plane.

Another person in the group – someone who could speak English – got off as well to act as an interpreter, White said.

So, why didn’t he leave his seat to help in the first place?

“He told flight attendants that he could have helped during the taxi time, but he didn’t want to get up,” as passengers are to be seated at that time, White said.

Deveikis said the flight attendant who took the phone told other members of the group, "If you're English-speaking, then maybe you should get off the plane, too."

Another flight attendant, Deveikis said, was in tears as she left the plane following the incident. A new crew later returned to fly the plane, she said.

AirTran gave the 72 other passengers on the plane the option to stay on that flight or switch to another one without paying any fees, White said. Of the remaining passengers on the plane, 12 decided to take another flight.

The 11 others in the 13-passenger group got back on the plane, which took off for Houston, White said. TSA officials spoke to the man with the electronic device as well as the other person who was acting as an interpreter, and they took a later flight to Houston, White said.

Deveikis said she remembers the original members of the group reboarding.

Deveikis, who often flies to Houston for business, chose to remain on the flight. She said the man with the camera and his entire group reboarded the plane. The whole incident, which scared other passengers who weren't clear what was happening, could have easily been avoided.

"Just one flight attendant snowed everyone into believe she had an irate passenger," Deveikis said.

Still, airline officials contend the right action was taken.

“It’s a fine line that we have to play,” White said. “Is there any safety or security reason to bring the plane back? Yes, there was a safety reason.”

White declined to identify the passenger. No charges were filed. And, for AirTran, the case is closed.

“Once we determine there is no other problem, it’s our responsibility to get everyone back on and get the plane taken off as quickly as we can,” White said.

Golden burglar makes himself at home in victim's shorts

A homeowner in Golden held a burglary suspect in stolen boxer shorts at gunpoint last week, police said today.

The homeowner, who was not named by police, said he came home at 5 p.m. on Nov. 9 and found Timothy P. Gonzales, 24, of Golden in his home wearing only the homeowner's underwear.

The homeowner said when he arrived at his house in the 1200 block of Mesa Court he found a white Lexus parked in his garage and items in his home that were out of place.

He fetched his pistol from a bedroom and called out, police said. Gonzales answered, he told police. The man confronted Gonzales and ordered him to leave the house.

Gonzales allegedly argued that the pistol was not real and "moved aggressively" toward the homeowner, who fired a warning shot, police said. When police arrived the homeowner was still holding Gonzales at gunpoint.

Police said investigators think Gonzales had been in the home most of the day. He showered, did laundry and put food he bought in the refrigerator, police said in a statement.

The home is for sale, and Gonzales pretended to be the home owner when two real estate agents brought by clients who wanted to look at the home, police said.

Police also said they found materials used to make methamphetamine on a work bench in the garage.

Gonzales remains in the Jefferson County Detention Center under $50,000 bond. The charges against him include burglary, menacing, possession of burglary tools, possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.

Public records show Gonzales has been arrested several times before on drug, burglary, domestic violence and other charges.

Clerk sells man winning lottery game by mistake
       
BRIDGETON, N.J. – No one is complaining about a mistake made by a store clerk in southern New Jersey. Indian Fields Market owner Domenic Galle said a man walked into the store and asked for a Deuces Wild scratch-off lottery ticket Monday night. Galle said the clerk gave him an Aces High ticket instead. The clerk chased after the man when she realized she made a mistake. But he was gone.

Galle said he walked in an hour later with a $100,000 winner.

The winner did not want to release his name.

Would-be ninja impaled by metal fence

Seattle police say an intoxicated 25-year-old man, who told officers he believed he was a ninja, was impaled on a metal spike Monday night after a failed attempt to jump a 5-foot fence.

Around 11:15 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Seventh Avenue after a 41-year-old man called police to say he had been assaulted, said police spokeswoman Renee Witt. Officers arrived and found the impaled would-be ninja, Witt said.

It turns out the older man, who was heavily intoxicated, tried to go into a sports bar in the 600 block of King Street, Witt said. The younger man, who isn't a bar employee, barred the man from going inside-- and an argument between the two men escalated into a fight.

At one point, the men chased each other in the street, she said.

In an attempt to get away, the younger man "thought he'd basically be able to jump over this fence, and he didn't quite make it," Witt said.

As a police account of the incident notes, "Clearly he was overconfident in his abilities."

That's when the older man called police to say he'd been assaulted.

As police arrived to search for a suspect, one officer heard the 25-year-old's screams and found him stuck on the fence with the metal spike jutting out from his buttock, Witt said. The man was bleeding profusely.

He was taken to Harborview Medical Center, she said. Questioned at the hospital, the man told police he believed he was a ninja.

Since the two men "were in the middle of the street, chasing each other around," Witt said officers determined neither man would be arrested on suspicion of assault. 
 

Team Drills For Scotch Whiskey Left In Antarctic Ice From 1909 Expedition

WELLINGTON, New Zealand  —  A beverage company has asked a team to drill through Antarctica's ice for a lost cache of some vintage Scotch whiskey that has been on the rocks since a century ago.

The drillers will be trying to reach two crates of McKinlay and Co. whiskey that were shipped to the Antarctic  by British polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as part of his abandoned 1909 expedition.

Whyte & Mackay, the drinks group that now owns McKinlay and Co., has asked for a sample of the 100-year-old scotch for a series of tests that could decide whether to relaunch the now-defunct Scotch.

Workers from New Zealand's  Antarctic Heritage Trust will use special drills to reach the crates, frozen in Antarctic ice under the Nimrod Expedition hut near Cape Royds.

Al Fastier, who will lead the expedition in January, said restoration workers found the crates of whiskey under the hut's floorboards in 2006. At the time, the crates and bottles were too deeply embedded in ice to be dislodged.

The New Zealanders have agreed to try to retrieve some bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed by 12 Antarctic Treaty nations.

Fastier said he did not want to sample the contents.

"It's better to imagine it than to taste it," he said. "That way it keeps its mystery."

Richard Paterson, Whyte & Mackay's master blender, said the Shackleton expedition's whiskey could still be drinkable and taste exactly as it did 100 years ago.

If he can get a sample, he intends to replicate the old Scotch and put McKinlay whiskey back on sale.

"I really hope we can get some back here," he was quoted as telling London's Telegraph newspaper. "It's been laying there lonely and neglected. It should come back to Scotland where it was born.

"Even if most of the bottles have to remain in Antarctica for historic reasons, it would be good if we could get a couple," Paterson said.

What a cat-astrophe!

A ferocious feline turned her owners into a pair of scaredy cats in their Midtown apartment yesterday, holding them hostage at claw-point until the cops came to their rescue.

Rosa Davila and her son, Victor Marte, 27, cowered behind a bedroom door at their pad on West 42nd Street about a half an hour while the raging Russian blue held them at bay.

The fur began flying shortly after 3 p.m. when 16-pound Carmen, who was suffering from health problems, launched herself at the unsuspecting Marte.

"All of a sudden Carmen got violent and started making strange noises," a tearful Davila told The Post after the hair-raising incident.

"I yelled, 'Carmen! Calm down!' I wanted her to jump off, but then she started attacking my son. I was in shock -- I was very scared for my son."

Davila and her son made a dash for it, but the 10-year-old Carmen gave chase, hissing all the way.

Marte managed to scramble back into the bedroom to safety, leaving his mother to tame the beast.

Davila then tried to herd the cat into the bathroom, but she wouldn't go, so she sprinted for the bedroom, slammed the door shut and called 911.

With Carmen still screeching outside, Davila said she told the operator that her cat was attacking her son and they needed help.

Twenty-five minutes later, rescuers pulled up to the building near Dyer Avenue, she said.

"I thought we'd show up and there'd be a bobcat or something in there," said one responding officer.

But instead of a wild animal, they found the furious furball.

Using a stick, they were able to quickly corral her into a cat carrier, ending the dramatic standoff.

"I was surprised to see so many police -- like it was for a tiger," Davila said, weeping as she recounted the attack, which left her son with scratches to his legs.

"I was so surprised because I knew she was moody, but this just doesn't make sense," she said.

Carmen began acting strangely a few months ago, wanting food "every five minutes" and gaining weight, she said.

The vet diagnosed the animal as a borderline diabetic with a thyroid condition.

But Davila was unable to afford treatment, so Carmen just kept eating.

Police took the cat to the Manhattan Animal Care and Control Center, where she will be held for 10 days.

Depending on her health and behavior, she may be available for adoption thereafter, since a heartbroken Davila said she can't afford to pay for Carmen's diabetes treatment.

"I just don't want people to think she's a bad cat," she said. "I think she just had a reaction to her medical condition."

Pelican crossing blamed for supercar mishap

A driver blamed a low-flying pelican after he drove his $1,700,000 Bugatti supercar into a salt marsh.

Police in Texas said the motorist was at the wheel of his Bugatti Veyron when a pelican swooped across the road and distracted him.

He dropped his phone and lost control of the car, which then veered off the road into a salt marsh.

The accident took place in La Marque, about 35 miles south-east of Houston, reports Sky News.

La Marque police lieutenant Greg Gilchrist said he did not know whether the car could be salvaged, but added that "salt water isn't good for anything".

The man, whose identity has not been released, was not injured in the accident.

The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest and most expensive production car in the world, capable of reaching 253 mph.The driver had recently bought the nearly new car which had just 500 miles on the clock. Gilbert Harrison who retrieved the car from the lake for the driver said it was probably a write off. "He was calm," Mr Harrison said. "If it had been me, I'd have been cussing, but he was calm. I imagine inside he was probably pretty upset."

Man with part of nose missing turns himself in

TUSCUMBIA, AL - The search is over for the man who allegedly came into a home, fought with the two men who lived there, and stole their money. Florence police say William Cole turned himself in Thursday.

WHNT NEWS 19 was the only television station to capture video of Cole. He spoke with us, too. Watch the interview above this story on WHNT.com.

Cole is missing part of his nose after getting in a fight with a man living in the home. The man bit off most of his nose during the struggle.

The robbery happened just after 11:30 a.m. on Monday at a home in the 900 block of John Street. Police say one man was asleep, the other sitting inside, when Cole opened the door and walked in. Police say Cole had a screwdriver and a knife in his pocket. The robber went to a back room and grabbed a coat with $100 in the pocket. Police believe the robber visited the house earlier in the day with another guy.

"He'd seen the victim put money in his wallet in that coat," says Williams.

As Cole tried to leave, the victim confronted him and they started to fight. A second man, who'd been asleep woke up, and got involved. When the second victim ran to get a gun, Williams say things got very physical between the robber and the first victim.

"As the confrontation was going on, the offender got his nose bitten off," says Williams. "We're guessing from the bridge to the tip of the nose and it was a pretty good piece."

The robber still managed to get away with the cash, but without a chunk of his nose.

Cole was already a wanted man. WHNT NEWS 19 featured him in the Shoals Area CrimeStoppers report on Monday night. The Florence Police Department has a warrant for Cole's arrest for first-degree theft of property. He is accused of stealing a woman's purse. Cole also has three other bench warrants for failure to appear in court.
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Robinson woman arrested after pretending to have cancer, using money from fundraiser for breast implants

Authorities say a Robinson woman told them she lied about having breast cancer and then spent $10,000 raised for her at a charitable benefit on breast implants in an attempt to save her failing marriage.

McLennan County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested 24-year-old Trista Joy Lathern on Wednesday on state jail felony theft by deception charges. She remains free on $7,500 bail after surrendering to county officials Wednesday afternoon.

Lathern’s attorney, Phil Frederick, said neither Lathern nor he would comment on the arrest. Chief Deputy Randy Plemons said the investigation into Lathern’s alleged actions is ongoing and might result in additional charges being filed. He declined additional comment.

According to an arrest complaint obtained by sheriff’s investigator James Pack, Lathern’s husband said he was unaware that his wife didn’t have breast cancer until Pack told him last month. Lathern claimed to have breast cancer and said she was undergoing chemotherapy, according to reports filed in the case.

Lathern “went as far as shaving her head to deceive and further her appearance of being a cancer patient,” Pack wrote in the complaint.

Lathern’s cancer claims came under scrutiny in October, almost two months after friends organized a benefit for her at the Hog Creek Icehouse in Speegleville and raised about $10,000 that those who attended thought was going toward her treatment.

“Several victims have come forward advising that they felt deceived out of their money as a result of this fundraiser,” Pack noted. “Several local businesses donated items to this fundraiser to be auctioned off.”

Besides an auction and meals, at least three bands, including John Epperson and Drivin’ Blind, donated their time to play at the Aug. 16 benefit. Fliers for the event, which also featured a bake sale and a raffle, said Lathern has two small boys and had lost her health insurance coverage.

“We are good friends of the family, who is greatly devastated by the actions of their family member,” Epperson said in an e-mail. “We choose not to comment on the situation.”

Investigation starts

The sheriff’s office started its investigation Oct. 1 after an attorney for an undisclosed Waco plastic surgeon reported that the doctor, who learned of the Hog Creek Icehouse benefit for Lathern, became suspicious when she inquired about breast implants but never mentioned that she was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

“The surgeon advised the attorney that he felt he was possibly in possession of stolen money that Trista had raised and gave as a cash down payment in the amount of $3,509” for breast augmentation, Pack wrote.

Pack spoke to Lathern on Oct. 15, and she reportedly told him that she never had cancer and never underwent chemotherapy, although she said she had a benign area removed from her left breast in February.

“Trista said that she and her husband had been having marital problems, and she thought by telling him she had cancer that would bring them closer together,” Pack wrote in the affidavit.

She said that after the fundraiser, she gave $3,500 to the local plastic surgeon for breast augmentation but later had the surgery done in Austin for about $6,800.

“Trista said after the fundraiser she tried to bring attention to herself by having a breast augmentation performed, hoping it would help mend her marriage,” the report says.

Wayne Redding, owner of Hog Creek Icehouse, said his business has hosted about 30 benefits in the 2 1/2 years it has been at its current location.

He said they don’t ask a lot of questions there, adding that they are happy to provide a venue for a Sunday afternoon benefit if it can help those in need. That may change, he said.

“I guess people are capable of doing anything, but out of all the benefits we have had here, and we have had a lot, we never have had anyone be deceptive about it,” Redding said. “This is an unusual situation. But, yes, we definitely will want to rethink how we handle benefits and whether to make our place available.”

Martinez native accused of dressing up as hero

MARTINEZ, CA -- Steven Douglas Burton was a member of the marching band at Alhambra High School in Martinez, where he struggled to fit in and wasn't known for being athletic. So when he showed up at his 20-year reunion with a buzz cut and dressed in a crisp Marine Corps uniform, fellow members of the class of 1988 were more than a bit surprised.

So were military officials, who said Burton had never served in the military - nor had he spent a day fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, as he claimed. He actually works at a bank in Palm Springs.

On Thursday, Burton appeared in a federal courtroom in Riverside and pleaded not guilty to charges that he masqueraded as a decorated military veteran. He was dressed in street clothes, not the Marine uniform he liked to wear with a bevy of what prosecutors said were fake medals, including the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart.

Burton, 39, is to go to trial in U.S. District Court in January on a misdemeanor count of unauthorized wearing of military medals or decorations. If convicted, he could be sentenced to as much as a year in prison.

Burton was released on $10,000 bond and declined to comment afterward by phone. His attorney, Michael DeFrank, would not discuss the case but said, "There will come a day when the record will reflect some of the answers to the questions you may have. Today is not that day."

Suspicions at reunion
Burton was arrested with the help of Colleen Salonga, a former high school classmate who is an actual Navy commander, authorities said.

Salonga saw Burton at their 20th high school reunion in October 2008 at the Concord Hilton. He wore the uniform of a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps, displaying the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and other medals, federal prosecutors said.

Suspicious, Salonga asked Burton to have his picture taken with her. She turned over the photo to the FBI, authorities said.

Federal and military investigators confirmed that Burton had never been in the armed forces, court papers said.

Kristine McNary, 40, of Fallon, Nev., also attended the reunion and remembered that Burton was "dressed to kill."

"Many people at functions such as reunions try to exaggerate their personal accomplishments, which sometimes can be an embellishment of the truth," McNary said. "I'm a bit appalled that he would do such a thing, but I'm also not overly surprised."

John Villarreal, 39, of San Ramon, another reunion attendee, said Burton was never the athletic type in school.

"I never would have put him together as a highly decorated Marine, but I didn't care," Villarreal said. "It was silly for him to wear the whole regalia at the reunion."

At the same time, he added, "I don't think they should prosecute him. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars. I think maybe he should write a formal apology to Marines everywhere."

Marines seeking identity
As recently as August, Burton was "blogging on a Web site and claiming to have done multiple tours of duty in the Middle East, both in Afghanistan and Iraq," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Akrotirianakis said. "He also claimed to have fought in Fallujah."

Burton posted a picture of himself standing on a beach at Coronado Island in San Diego County, not far from a Navy training base, wearing the uniform of a Marine master gunnery sergeant, authorities said.

Doug Sterner, an expert on fake medal recipients, said Burton's beach picture had been circulating for months among the military community, with former Marines "trying to figure out who this guy is."

The Navy Cross is the highest medal that can be awarded by the Navy, second only to the Medal of Honor. Fewer than 7,000 people have received it, Sterner said.

Stolen Valor Act
"A large number of men and women who have received it have never lived to wear them," said Sterner, 59, of Pueblo, Colo. "And so when I see somebody like Burton sporting a Navy Cross and obviously has never served, it really bothers me."

Burton is one of 50 to 60 people who have been charged under the Stolen Valor Act since President George W. Bush signed the law in 2006, Sterner said. The act, which expanded a law that had applied only to the unauthorized wearing of the Medal of Honor, makes it illegal to wear, make, sell or falsely claim to have earned military decorations.

Differing views
A former neighbor of Burton's in Palm Springs, Casey Soffel, 37, described him as a "very tall and timid, quiet guy." He is also "very patriotic," she said, and frequently flies the U.S. flag from a pole in the middle of his front lawn.

"There are true war heroes out there," Soffel said. "If he's truly faking that he was a war hero, that's not right."

But Beth Allan, 42, who lives across the street from Burton, said, "They're blowing this out of proportion. If he did it, under what circumstances? I mean, you dress up for Halloween. My opinion is that he's a mild-mannered, nice guy who has been thrown to the wolves."

Tampa man calls 911, asks for sex; he gets jail instead

TAMPA — Joshua Basso said his cell phone ran out of minutes Wednesday, so he called the one number that he knew is always free — 911 — with an unusual request.

He wanted someone to have sex with him.

When 911 operators hung up on him, he called back four times, police said.

Fifteen minutes after his last call, police arrested Basso at his home, at 4202 N Nebraska Ave., on charges of making a false 911 call. He was taken to the Hillsborough County Jail, where he remains without bail.

Basso has been arrested a dozen times in Hillsborough on charges including grand theft of a motor vehicle, violation of probation, domestic violence battery, possession of marijuana, trespassing and burglary, jail records show.

Police: Ex-clerk discounted hardware to woo man

NITRO, W.Va. – A former home improvement store clerk in West Virginia has been charged with discounting $20,000 worth of merchandise to win a man's heart. Nitro police arrested 20-year-old Katie Lynn Smith Thursday on a fraudulent schemes charge. She had worked at Lowe's.

A criminal complaint in county court says a security video shows Smith selling the man a pressure washer worth several hundred dollars for $3.66. That's the price of an 80-pound bag of concrete.

The complaint says Smith admitted incorrectly ringing up nearly $20,000 worth of merchandise in four months for "a male she desired as a boyfriend."

Smith's phone number isn't listed and police spokesman Ray Blake says she doesn't have an attorney yet.

Police couldn't say whether the scheme helped her romantic prospects.

Man awakened in ditch with moonshine and rifle
       
ATHENS, Tenn. – When Ricky Butler went to sleep on a rural, East Tennessee roadside, he didn't have to worry about comfort but apparently he was feeling insecure. McMinn County deputies found the 31-year-old Decatur man sleeping on his back in a roadside ditch, with a loaded rifle on his chest and an almost empty jar of moonshine in the bib of his overalls.

Butler told deputies who woke him up Sunday that he didn't know where he was. He also told them the jar had been full.

Deputies said Butler also had a machete and hand-rolled cigarettes believed to be marijuana.

He is free on bond, charged with public intoxication, possession of drugs and unlawful possession of a weapon.

A public defender has been appointed but has not yet spoken to Butler, whose telephone number isn't listed.

Photo of 55ft snake shocks China

A photograph purporting to show a 55ft snake found in a forest in China has become an internet sensation.

It was originally posted in a thread on the website of the People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper in China.

The thread claimed the snake was one of two enormous boas found by workers clearing forest for a new road outside Guping city, Jiangxi province.

They apparently woke up the sleeping snakes during attempts to bulldoze a huge mound of earth.

"On the third dig, the operator found there was blood amongst the soil, and with a further dig, a dying snake appeared," said the post.

"At the same time, another gold coloured giant boa appeared with its mouth wide open. The driver was paralysed with fear, while the other workers ran for their lives.

"By the time the workers came back, the wounded boa had died, while the other snake had disappeared. The bulldozer operator was so sick that he couldn't even stand up."

The post claimed that the digger driver was so traumatised that he suffered a heart attack on his way to hospital and later died.

The dead snake was 55ft (16.7m) long, weighed 300kg and was estimated to be 140 years old, according to the post.

However, local government officials in Guiping say the story and photograph are almost certainly a hoax as giant boas are not native to the area.

Brits 'among world's ugliest'

Britons are among the ugliest people in the world, according to a controversial website that only allows 'beautiful' people to join.

Fewer than one in eight British men and just three in 20 women who have applied to BeautifulPeople.com have been accepted, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Existing members of the website rate how attractive potential members are over a 48 hour period, after applicants upload a recent photo and personal profile. Swedish men have proved the most successful, with 65% being accepted, while Norwegian women are considered the most beautiful with 76% making the grade.

Since the website was opened to UK members 295,000 people have applied, with only 35,000 being approved.

The 'elite dating site for beautiful people only' was founded in 2002 in Denmark and went live across the globe last month.

Over the past two weeks, the site has rejected nearly 1.8 million people from 190 countries, admitting just 360,000 new members.

Beautiful People managing director Greg Hodge said: "Asking why British people are doing so badly is a tough question. It hurts me - I'm English.

"I think there is less emphasis on appearance in the UK than overseas. If you go to some countries they are very into how they look - very health and body conscious.

"The UK attitude is a bit more about kicking back and relaxing, and having a few drinks in the pub after work."

Man is punchbag for stressed women

A Chinese man has launched a secret sideline - by renting himself out as a punchbag for stressed women.

Xiao Lin, a gym coach in Shenyang, in northeast China's Liaoning province, has not told his family about his new venture.

He told the Liaoshen Evening Post: "It fits in well with my day job. I needed more sparring partners anyway.

"By being a punchbag for women, I can make some money and also practice my self-defence skills and work on my fitness at the same time."

Lin charges 100 yuan (nearly £9) for 30 minutes for his services and says he has already had two customers since launching his new business.

"The first woman was about 25-years-old. She paid for half an hour but soon got tired and spent the rest of her time just chatting to me," he said.

"The second customer also only lasted for a few minutes but they both looked much happier afterwards. It does people good to let off some steam."

Man accused of defecating in CVS

An Iowa City man has been accused of defecating in a pharmacy Friday.

According to criminal complaints, Robert E. Lee, 57, of 1902 H St., entered the CVS pharmacy, 2425 Muscatine Ave. at 4:17 p.m. Police said Lee walked to the front area of the store, lifted up his shirt, dropped his pants and defecated on the floor before walking out.

When police talked with Lee, they said he smelled of alcohol, had unsteady balance and his speech was slurred. He had a blood-alcohol content of .24, three times the state's legal limit.

Lee was charged with fifth-degree criminal mischief and public intoxication, both simple misdemeanors.

A man who identified himself as Robert answered the phone at the number listed for 1902 H St. but said he was not Robert Lee

Bibb inmate used flip-flop to unlock cell, escape

The inmate who escaped from the Bibb County jail Saturday night used his rubber flip-flop to unlock the door to a cell he was sharing with four other people, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Deante Gholston, 20, was recaptured early Sunday morning and is being held at the Bibb County jail on a new charge of escape and his original charge of armed robbery. His bond is $47,800, according to jail records.

Sheriff Jerry Modena cites a staffing shortage, overcrowding and a defective lock as the reasons why Gholston was able to escape from a locked cell.

At 7:30 p.m. when Gholston escaped, Modena said the jail was within one or two people of its 966-inmate capacity. To alleviate crowding in the general population, five people had been moved to a cell located adjacent to the sally port, an area where deputies unload newly arrested people from their cars and take them into the jail.

The cell typically is used as a place where deputies can quickly separate prisoners if a fight breaks out in the area. It’s not designed for housing inmates for long periods of time, he said.

Modena said jailers made a mistake in putting Gholston in the cell. They should have moved inmates accused of misdemeanors and non-violent offenses into the cell.

“He should not have been in there,” Modena said of Gholston, who is accused of robbing Golden Beauty Supply, 2525 Pio Nono Ave. Suite D, on March 10.

“We were understaffed,” he said, explaining the jail was operating with between six and eight fewer employees than needed at the time. The sheriff’s office has 15 vacant positions in the jail and nine jailers are serving in the military.

The sheriff’s office is conducting a disciplinary investigation, Modena said.

Somehow, Gholston was able to unlock the cell door and an alarm sounded. When jailers checked the cell they found the door ajar, but four people were inside. After closing the door, they discovered Gholston was missing, Modena said.

After leaving the cell Gholston ran out of the sally port and climbed over the outer fence, he said.

Modena said deputies believe the lock on the cell was defective. It’s been repaired where the lock can be used, but Modena said deputies will avoid using the cell until they can consult with the manufacturer.

“I’m afraid to take that chance,” he said.

Other locks in the jail have been checked and are in working order, he said.

Deputies started searching the streets near the jail as soon as they realized Gholston was missing. A CrimeStoppers tip led deputies to the Millerfield Road area of east Macon where they found a vacant apartment where they believe Gholston hid for a while.

They later found him at about 6 a.m. Sunday at Latanya Village Apartments, 2565 Millerfield Road. Gholston was taken into custody without incident, Modena said.

He said there’s no sign that anyone assisted Gholston in his escape or helped hide him.

Dog 'revives' heart attack victim

A Polish man claims his pet dog revived him after he suffered a heart attack.

Stricken Piotr Wagner, 50, collapsed with agonising chest pains as he watched telly at the family home in Kazimierza Biskupiego.

But as Pearl - a two-year-old Jack Russell cross - turned a heart shaped patch on her flanks towards her master, he told doctors he felt the pain melt away.

A grateful Mr Wagner said: "I want everyone to know about my big-hearted dog."

Doctors say they are baffled by the apparent cure.

"He certainly had a heart attack but it seems to have suddenly stopped and he is now healthy and back to normal," said one.

Man calls 911 to say marijuana missing

It began at 12:52 a.m. Tuesday as a report of a vehicle break-in at the Freeloader Tavern, 501 Lancaster Drive SE, said sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Sheila Lorance.

A man told dispatchers that while he was in the bar, someone broke into his truck, stole $400 cash, a jacket and about 3/4 ounce of marijuana, valued at about $180.

Deputy Ryan Clarke went to the tavern but was unable to find the driver.

About an hour later, the driver called 911 again, angry that deputies had not arrived.

Lorance said the dispatcher had difficulty understanding the caller because the driver was driving and stopping several times to vomit.

Deputies eventually found the man at 49th Avenue and Fontana Court SE, where he had parked. The man, who was found about 100 feet from his truck, told deputies that he was looking for the people who stole his "weed."

Clarke said the driver was drunk.

Clarke took a theft report from the man regarding his missing items but explained the implications of possessing marijuana, Lorance said. If the driver, who did not have a medical-marijuana card, was found in possession of marijuana, he would have been charged with possession of a controlled substance.

Calvin Hoover, 21, of Salem was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants.

Woman forced to wear diapers to work wins $150,000 settlement

A woman who claimed that she had to wear adult diapers to her job with a construction company because it would not provide portable toilets was granted a $150,000 settlement in a gender-discrimination suit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Four other female employees of Danella Construction Corp., of Plymouth Meeting, who also claimed that they were discriminated against because of their sex, split an additional $50,000, according to a consent decree filed in federal court yesterday, which is pending judicial approval.

Lisa Drozdowski, 37, of Levittown, who began working as a flagger for Danella in 2005, said that although men at construction sites would urinate in holes or behind backhoes and trucks, she was sometimes had to walk a quarter mile to her car and drive 5 to 10 minutes to find the nearest restroom.

If other female flaggers were present, they would shield each other from passing cars and co-workers with blankets while they relieved themselves, she said.

But several times, while Drozdowski was the only woman on a job, by the time she was granted a bathroom break, it was too late and she had urinated on herself, she said.

A single mother of three at the time that she was employed with the company, between 2005 and 2006, Drozdowski said that she couldn't quit because she had to support her family.

So, she said, she started wearing Depends adult diapers to work every day.

"It was humiliating," she said. "But I needed the job."

Drozdowski also said that when she asked to be promoted to a laborer's position she was told by management that the company did not hire female laborers.

When she complained about both issues, she said, the company stopped giving her work. A retaliation claim was also included in the suit brought by the EEOC.

In a statement provided by Danella's lawyer, Sandra A. Girifalco, the company flatly denied the claims and said that it has always provided restrooms at its work sites.

"No one was ever denied a job because of their gender," the statement said. "No one, male or female, was ever denied the opportunity to go to a restroom when the need to go was known."

According to the statement, the company entered into the consent degree to end "expensive and distracting" litigation.

"The amount [Danella] agreed to pay took into account the cost of continuing the litigation and was far less than the EEOC initially sought," the statement said.

Cologne on bathrobe arouses suspicions

Police are investigating the suspicions of a Bidwell Parkway woman who believes a man has been secretly visiting her apartment and wearing her nightclothes.

Police said the woman suspects four such visits over the last two weeks —the most recent Tuesday, when she discovered a coffee cup missing, and Wednesday, when she found her closet door opened, clothing on hangers moved and a bathrobe smelling of men’s cologne.

Woman Calls 911, Says Boyfriend Won't Marry Her

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Clarksville police said they arrested a woman on Wednesday morning after she repeatedly made non-emergency calls to the city's 911 system.

Hee Orama, 34, was arrested after police said she recently made frequent calls to 911 complaining about a man lying to her about marrying her.

Police said they responded to two calls from Orama and explained that this was not an emergency situation and to stop calling.

Orama then called again and was cited by police and told she would be arrested if she kept calling them with non-emergencies.

Police said the woman then called a 911 dispatcher a few minutes later but would not say why she called. Police then arrested Orama and took her to the Montgomery County Jail.

Orama's bond was set at $250.

Police said Orama's calls cost city workers many hours addressing the situation. 911 supervisor Julie Vogle said they receive non-emergency calls frequently, which often forces two or three officers to respond.

"If the officers are running emergency traffic, that's putting several lives in danger, including the citizens," said Vogle.

Police said they also arrested Orama last week for repeatedly calling 911 because she couldn't find her car.

Bill collector accused of demanding sex for debt relief

A bill collector was arraigned today after Roseville police said he offered to make a city woman’s bill go away in exchange for a sex act and then exposed himself to her before leaving her home.

George Herron, 43, of Detroit was ordered held on $10,000 bond on criminal sexual conduct and aggravated indecent exposure, both misdemeanors, in Roseville’s 39th District Court, police said.

They said he is an account representative for Rent-A-Center and went to the 21-year-old woman’s home Oct. 22 to discuss a delinquent account. During the discussion, he turned the conversation into a sexual nature, offering to make her bill go away in exchange for a sex act, police said.

Herron then exposed himself to her while taking her hand and placing on himself. The woman pulled away and Herron completed the sex act upon himself before leaving her home, police said.

Later, police said, Herron called the woman and again expressed an interest in exchanging a sex act for eliminating her debt to the company. She then reported the incident to police.

Treasure hunt novice strikes gold

A Scottish game warden who bought a metal detector for a new hobby discovered a £1m hoard of Iron Age jewellery - on his first outing.

Five days after taking delivery of the £240 metal detector and seven steps into his first treasure hunt, David Booth unearthed four 2,300-year-old torcs made of pure gold.

It has been described by experts variously as "prime Iron Age bling" and the most significant discovery of Iron Age metalwork in Scotland, reports The Times.

Mr Booth, 35, a warden at Blair Drummond Safari Park in Stirlingshire, said: "I saw a glimpse of one of them, then uncovered the rest of the hoard.

"They were in a wee group. Half me was saying, 'that does look important', but I was thinking I couldn't be that lucky on my first go.

"I took them home, gave them a wee clean up and went online. I looked at some torcs and kind of guessed this was iron age history."

After taking delivery of his detector, Mr Booth practised for an hour in his kitchen and garden before going out into a local field with the landowner's permission.

"I parked up and got the metal detector out," he recalled. "There was an area of flat ground behind the car, and I thought, I'll just scan this first, before I head out into the field. Literally about seven steps behind where I had parked, I found them."

His next move was to e-mail a picture of his find to the Treasure Trove Unit, at the National Museums of Scotland.

Mr Booth stands to earn a reward equivalent to the market value of his record find - he says £1m "would be lovely" but he'd settle for paying off his Ford Focus.

Naked man hit by train, arrested

A young Stafford man was arrested last night in connection with an incident during which he was running around naked and got hit by a slow-moving train, police said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy said the subsequent investigation revealed that the 18-year-old suspect had eaten magic mushrooms prior to the bizarre incident.

Kennedy said police were called at 7:30 a.m. Saturday by a woman who’d seen a young man running completely naked on Camden Drive in Clearview Heights subdivision.

She said the man was yelling at himself when he looked at her and asked if she was OK. The woman responded that she was, then asked if the suspect was OK, Kennedy said.

The suspect then began screaming and cursing at the woman, who ran into her home and called the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Jason Hierwarter responded and found several residents who had seen the naked display. But deputies were unable to immediately find the man.

About 30 minutes later, Kennedy said, police were notified that a CSX train had struck a naked man in the area of Butler and Cool Springs roads.

The train conductor told police that the trains were traveling about 9 mph when he saw the man near the tracks.

After he sounded the horn to warn the man, he got on the tracks and walked directly toward the oncoming train, police said.

The conductor put on the brakes, but couldn’t stop before hitting the man, who disappeared from view following the contact.

The conductor found the man sitting under the third car of the train convoy. He ran off before deputies and medical workers arrived.

Deputy Shawn Lindsay found the suspect a short time later and got into an altercation with him. He broke free after striking a deputy and ran into the woods screaming and cursing.

Kennedy said he was finally taken into custody by four deputies. The teenager, who was kicking and cursing the whole time, was bleeding heavily and had a “significant” laceration on his forehead, Kennedy said.

The suspect was taken to Stafford Hospital, where he stayed until last night.

James Lampiris, who lives in the Clearview Heights area, is charged with indecent exposure, obstructing railroad operations, obstructing justice, trespassing on railroad property, being drunk in public and four counts of assault and battery on a police officer.

Boise woman pleads guilty to ramming car, throwing ranch dressing

Tiffany M. Wallace will find out next month if she will go to prison or go on probation in connection with a road rage incident in June where she is accused of using her pickup truck to ram into another car several times in a hospital parking lot.

Boise police say that happened minutes after Wallace threw plastic containers of ranch dressing and coins at the car as part of a traffic dispute with the other driver June 1.

Wallace pleaded guilty to a charge of felony aggravated battery Monday. In exchange for the guilty plea, Ada County prosecutors dropped a charge of felony use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.

A sentencing hearing for the 18-year-old Wallace is scheduled for Dec. 11 in front of 4th District Judge Timothy Hansen.

The charge of aggravated battery is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and prosecutors are recommending a 10-year-prison sentence, with two years fixed.

But prosecutors are also recommending that Hansen retain jurisdiction on Wallace — which is also known as a rider program — where she would spend six months getting treatment in an Idaho Department of Correction facility. Then it would be up to Hansen to decide if Wallace should serve her prison sentence or be placed on felony probation for the 10 years.

Wallace's attorney can ask for a lesser sentence.

Boise police arrested Wallace June 1. Police say Wallace she used her pickup truck to ram a Kia sedan several times over a road rage incident that began on Fairview Avenue and ended at the Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center.

The male driver of the Kia told police the conflict began after he was cut off by a woman driving a pickup truck on Fairview Avenue near Orchard Street. The male driver told police that the woman driving the pickup then began driving aggressively — cutting him off, tailgating, and pulling the pickup next to him, where she yelled at him and threw coins and small plastic containers of ranch dressing at the car.

The driver said he tried to get away from the pickup but the driver continued to follow him.

The driver called 911 and was told by an Ada County dispatcher to drive into the Saint Al's parking lot to meet a police officer.

That's when the driver of the Kia said the driver of the pickup ran into the back of his car at least three or four times. When police arrived, they found the sedan had a severely damaged back end, with the rear bumper falling off and taillights broken. The car's sides and trunk were also covered by spots of ranch dressing and there appeared to be dents from the coins, police say.

The pickup was still in the parking lot. That's when police arrested Wallace and booked her into the Ada County Jail.

Wallace reportedly told police she was angry about something else before she began driving that day.

Wallace admitted to Hansen Friday that she rammed the truck into the car but did not explain why.

Court records indicate that Wallace has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and manic depression.

Sheboygan teen auctioning chance to rename him on eBay

For the right price, Calvin Gosz will be anyone you want him to be — literally.

The out-of-work Sheboygan teen is auctioning off the right to change his legal name in an eBay auction slated to end early Sunday.

The auction, titled “I will legally change my name to anything,” seeks a minimum bid of $5,000. Four days in, Gosz has a handful of people tracking the page but no bids.

“I’m hoping it’d be something more like Ronald McDonald rather than a straight expletive,” said Gosz, 19, who moved to Sheboygan from Florida in September. “I’m hoping that it’ll be like some rich guy that like doesn’t know what to do with his money and is really bored.”

Gosz said he is living with his dad but is hard up for money and finding no luck in the 10 to 15 applications he submitted in the last month and a half.

“I’ve gone all over, and if I show up for a job … there’ll be 10 other people applying for it,” he said.

The auction is scheduled to end at 1:51 a.m. Sunday.

“The title says it all. I will legally change my name to anything and will provide legal documents for the change after the auction and payment is received,” the item description reads. “Literally will change it to anything: corporation names, toilet humor, random letters, you name it I'll change it.”

Gosz said the only feedback on eBay has been from several people e-mailing to ask if he’s serious. He says he is, though, “If someone just wants me to have a name of random letters, I’d have to change that after a little while.”

Gosz said the idea was inspired by another name.

“It just randomly kind of came to me when I met someone that was named Mercedes,” Gosz said. “I thought, ‘Oh, maybe somebody would pay for a name like that.’”

Six former employees of Ruby Tuesday will share a $225,000 award in a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Sexually charged comments were an unwelcome part of the job at Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Stroudsburg, according to six women who filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Last week the six plaintiffs settled with Ruby Tuesday's Stroudsburg restaurant for $225,000.

General Manager Christopher Mendoza made sexually charged remarks to adult and teen female employees. Sometimes he also remarked about customers, according to the complaint filed in August 2008.

Looking at a pregnant customer, Mendoza allegedly said: "She must be really horny. My wife was always horny. I am surprised my kids don't have problems with all the times we've had sex," the complaint states.

Former Ruby Tuesday waitress Michelle Gydosh complained that the sexually harassing environment was so intolerable that she was unable to continue working there.

Five co-workers joined Gydosh in the lawsuit, with each woman making similar claims.

Gydosh said that from August 2006 onward, Mendoza repeatedly made embarrassing sexual remarks about her body, such as "your breasts look good today" or "your breasts look really nice."

According to the complaint, Mendoza constantly told Gydosh that she was "hot" and that he wanted to "make a porn video" with her.

Mendoza propositioned Gydosh, telling her he "wanted to throw her over the counter and (expletive) her," and repeatedly told her what he would do to her sexually if he were not a married man.

In June 2007, Gydosh became ill during her shift and a co-worker asked Mendoza if Gydosh could go home.

"All she needs is a good (expletive) up her (expletive), and I'd be good for that," Mendoza replied, according to the complaint.

"Gydosh complained immediately to an assistant manager, who was present when Mendoza made the comment. The (assistant manager) failed to take any action to assist her," the complaint states.

Disgusted, Gydosh left the restaurant and submitted a written complaint through Ruby Tuesday's complaint hotline. Gydosh also complained directly to Krista Williams, regional service manager, and to Jim James, district manager.

Gydosh told them she could not return to work until the sexually hostile work environment was resolved.

She made a total of four written and two direct complaints, but the company took no action to correct the environment, the complaint says.

Gydosh did not return to work at Ruby Tuesday. She filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in August 2008.

The EEOC brought the suit on behalf of the six women, claiming Ruby Tuesday subjected them to sexually explicit, insulting and derogatory comments and conduct, which created a sexually hostile and offensive work environment.

The suit also claimed Ruby Tuesday failed to undertake prompt, effective remedial action to stop the misconduct.

In a consent decree, Ruby Tuesday agreed to provide workplaces free from sexual harassment. The company was given 10 days to pay $255,000 to victims in this breakdown:

Michelle Gydosh, $101,000

Melissa Johnson, $32,000

Rosemary Singer, $57,000

Dawn Kovacs, $60,000

Nicole Wallace, $5,000

The company will also post a notice of the decree in the Stroudsburg restaurant for three years, and write a new sexual harassment and complaint procedure plan.

Ruby Tuesday confirmed that Mendoza no longer works for the company.

Mendoza has faced sexual discrimination claims before. In 1999, he was manager of a Denny's restaurant in Allentown. A hostess accused him of following her around the restaurant with a vibrating sex toy in his pocket, buzzing his genitals and singing to himself.

Wildlife officer loses alligator in school

A US wildlife officer's decision to bring a 5ft alligator into his daughter's school for a show-and-tell backfired when it escaped.

Dave Brady had recently captured the reptile and thought he'd bring it into his daughters class, with its mouth taped shut, in Florida.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Stan Kirkland said it proved a hit with the class: "They were impressed," he said.

Things started to go wrong when Mr Brady loaded the alligator back into his truck after the school visit in Panama City Beach.

"Most people don't think they can jump, but they have an amazing ability to jump," Mr Kirkland said. "They can not only jump, they can run."

The alligator successfully jumped out of the truck and ran off towards a local pond where it has so far managed to avoid recapture.

Mr Kirkland asked people to keep an eye out for the alligator: "It's green, it's 5ft long and it was last seen on the lam," he added.

 
  
 
Police: Man makes up knife attack to miss work

EDGEWATER, Colo. – Police said a man stabbed himself, then said he was attacked by three men dressed in black who were either Hispanic or skinheads, in a ploy to miss work. Police arrested a 29-year-old man after he allegedly admitted he made up the assault and said he was responsible for the knife wound to his leg and other superficial cuts on his body. He faces charges of false reporting and obstructing a police officer.

Police said the man reported the attack to the video store where he works on Monday. The reported assault drew five police agencies to the scene and K-9 units.

Police spokesman Steve Davis said the man admitted the story was a lie after repeated questioning from detectives.

Passenger accidentally activated ejector seat

A passenger in an air force display team shot himself 100 metres into the sky when he accidentally activated the ejector seat.

The man was reaching for something to steady himself during a mid-air manoeuvre when he pulled on the black and yellow emergency handle between his legs.

As soon as it was activated, the ejection sequence activated two rockets attached to the back of his chair, shooting him through the jet's perspex canopy.

The man, who has not been named, later floated back down to Earth on a parachute which opened automatically.

South African Air Force bosses scrambled a helicopter to pick up the passenger after the blunder near Langebaanweg airfield, 80 miles north of Cape Town.

The incident happened shortly after he took off for a joyride in the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II jet with an experienced pilot from South Africa's Silver Falcons air display team.

Experts said the man was lucky to escape unharmed following the bizarre incident.

Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish
 
A 10-ton fishing boat has been sunk by gigantic jellyfish off eastern Japan.
 
Nomura's jellyfish: The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler The trawler, the Diasan Shinsho-maru, capsized off Chiba`as its three-man crew was trying to haul in a net containing dozens of huge Nomura's jellyfish.

Each of the jellyfish can weigh up to 200 kg and waters around Japan have been inundated with the creatures this year. Experts believe weather and water conditions in the breeding grounds, off the coast of China, have been ideal for the jellyfish in recent months.

Japanese fishing village celebrates US election resultThe crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The local Coast Guard office reported that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident.

One of the largest jellyfish in the world, the species can grow up to 2 meters in diameter. The last time Japan was invaded on a similar scale, in the summer of 2005, the jellyfish damaged nets, rendered fish inedible with their toxic stings and even caused injuries to fishermen.

Relatively little is known about Nomura's jellyfish, such as why some years see thousands of the creatures floating across the Sea of Japan on the Tsushima Current, but last year there were virtually no sightings. In 2007, there were 15,500 reports of damage to fishing equipment caused by the creatures.

Experts believe that one contributing factor to the jellyfish becoming more frequent visitors to Japanese waters may be a decline in the number of predators, which include sea turtles and certain species of fish.

Ohio woman hopes trick-or-treater may find ring

TERRACE PARK, Ohio – A Halloween trick or treater in Ohio may have gotten a bigger treat than expected — a diamond ring. A woman in suburban Cincinnati said she thinks she may have lost her wedding ring when she was tossing candy into trick or treaters' bags on Halloween.

Elizabeth Olson, of Terrace Park, said she had the ring enlarged and thinks it may have slipped off her finger when she was throwing candy into the bags, buckets and pillowcases.

Olson is asking people to keep an eye out for the ring and to return it to her if they find it.

Gun-toting teletubby robs woman on London street

Halloween took a bizarre and frightening turn in London this weekend when a man dress as a children's television character, a purple teletubby, robbed a woman at gunpoint near the city's core.

London police say a costume-wearing, gun-toting teletubby confronted the woman near the intersection of Talbot and Mill streets just after midnight and demanded cash.

The woman, in her 20's, gave an undisclosed amount of cash to the robber, who then ran south on Talbot.

The woman wasn't injured but her misfortune wasn't hers alone. A second man dressed in costume was later stopped in the area by police and questioned — but police had the wrong teletubby.

"He was deemed not to be the teletubby we were looking for," Const. Kevin Lui said. "Unfortunately, Halloween provides (robbers) more cover than any other night."

The woman said the man who robbed her was between 6'2" and 6'4", 200 to 240 pounds and had a muscular build, short, dark hair and was clean shaven.

Teletubbies is a children's television series aimed at pre-schoolers that also gained a cult following by some older than the target audience. The purple teletubby, named Tinky Winky, gained notoriety after evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell claimed the character was a homosexual role model because he carried a magic bag that looked like a lady's purse.

Mechanic accused of damaging vehicles for repair charges

There’s a shade-tree mechanic, and then there’s a shady mechanic.
Folks who encountered Christopher Walls, 41, 2805 W. Walnut St., No. 20, Johnson City, might think he’s the latter.

Johnson City police arrested Walls Thursday evening as he was leaving a restaurant parking lot just after he’d finished repairing the starter on a man’s disabled vehicle.

As it turns out, police believe Walls was the one who disabled the starter in the first place, then acted as if he came to the man’s rescue.

He’s charged with two counts of theft under $500 for swindling two people out of money for unneeded repairs to their vehicles, police said.

According to a JCPD news release, Walls’ method was to disable a vehicle, then wait nearby for the owners to return.

When their vehicle wouldn’t start, Walls would arrive and offer his services as a mobile mechanic.

After repairing the vehicle, Walls charged the victims $40 to $200 for his work.

Police were first alerted to Walls’ activity by a Linville Falls, N.C., woman whose van wouldn’t start when she exited Smokey Bones on North Roan Street after having dinner. Her husband and a friend couldn’t get the van started, then Walls appeared in a pickup truck with a flashing amber light on top, according to a police report.

Walls told the victim that he was a mobile mechanic and offered to repair her vehicle. After looking at the van, Walls told the woman she needed a starter and quoted a price to her.

“They told him they would not have enough, and so he said maybe all they needed was for him to clean the starter brushes,” an officer wrote.

After doing the alleged work, Walls charged the woman $109. The woman called police and reported Walls’ suspicious activity.

During the investigation, the officer located Walls in the Red Lobster parking lot just as he had finished repairing a Weber City, Va., man’s vehicle.

David Kern told police that he had dinner and went out to his car and it wouldn’t start. He waited 45 minutes before anyone offered to help, then Walls appeared.

Walls told Kern that they had a fused wire on their starter and he offered to fix it. He did the repair and Kern needed to go to an ATM to get money to pay for the repair when police arrived and killed the deal.

Walls was arrested on the theft charges and a charge of driving on a revoked license.

Police said Walls had $341 in cash he could not account for, pieces of cut wire and a receipt book with receipts written for numerous repairs.

Walls remains jailed on a $10,000 bond. He’s scheduled for a court hearing on Monday.

Police said anyone who believes they have been a victim of this type of scam should report it to their local law enforcement agency.

Racy Radio Promotion Raises Eyebrows

MADISON, Wis. -- A local radio station is standing behind a concert ticket giveaway Wednesday night that encouraged listeners to send in nude photos of themselves.

But some people have come forward saying the Clear Channel Station, Madison's Z104 FM and its nighttime DJ, just went too far.

"Take a naked picture, send it to me -- tyler@z104fm.com -- just like you would normally text message," said the DJ, Tyler Kruze, Wednesday night. "The best picture is picking themselves up 4th row Sean Kingston tickets. I pick the winner at 9:30 tonight."

 "In an impromptu contest, he invited his listeners to send a photograph of themselves doing their household chores, in the buff. I mean, this is the type of stuff people write to Ann Landers and Dear Abby about. It's kind of humorous to see the outrageous stunt that Tyler did," said Mike Ferris, operations manager for Clear Channel Madison.

But it was hardly funny to those listeners who got in touch with WISC-TV. One woman said she was shocked and appalled. Others called the stunt sick, ridiculous and disgusting.

Ferris said that seven listeners sent in pictures and entered the contest.

"Of course, we verified that they were all over 18, and then he edited the photographs and put them in an online gallery," Ferris said.

But Ferris couldn't clearly explain how their ages were verified, WISC-TV reported.

When asked how they verified that all the contests were over 18 years old, Ferris responded, "Did you see the photographs?"

When it was pointed out that some viewers have raised questions about possible child pornography issues, Ferris replied, "I don't think that's where this is going. And frankly, I'm offended that that's even the implication."

Ferris said the stunt was harmless and that he stands by his late night DJ.

"I think the people are overreacting. I simply think it was a fun, impromptu contest that Tyler Kruze hosted that supplied a handful of listeners with an opportunity to win tickets, with a little bit of frivolous fun," Ferris said.

By early Thursday morning, all of the pictures have been removed from the station's Web site.

Later on Thursday, Kruze started his shift with an apology, saying, "Last night, I conducted a contest that some people may have found in poor taste. For listeners and parents alike, I want to say I am sorry."

While Kruze did say that only listeners over 18 should send in pictures, some parents said they believe it still isn't sending the right message to children who might have been listening.

Parents cheering on their volleyball players at a sectional game in DeForest Thursday said they aren't happy with the message the promotion sends.

"My 9-year-old (said), 'Who is going to send naked pictures of themselves to a radio station?' So even he thought it was ridiculous," said parent Beth Jannusch, of Verona.

"Whose hand is it going to fall into?" said Dan McGinnis, who was watching his niece play volleyball Thursday. "You never know; it's getting put on the Internet. You're never going to get it back and it's going to never go away and could haunt you for a long time."

Parents said the issue is more concerning given recent teen "sexting" scandals, in which teens send others these types of pictures.

"My daughter is a middle-schooler and last year there was a girl in her class who sent a picture of herself exposed to someone else, and it's worrisome," Jannusch said.

"Certainly, we talk about that kind of stuff and as my girls have gotten older how that stuff can come back to haunt you," said parent Kathy Schleif, of Madison.

But some other parents said they think it was all in good fun.

"Yes, it does send the wrong message but sometimes people take everything so seriously, if we can just lighten up a little bit," said Judi Nonn, of Cross Plains.

Many of the parents who spoke with WISC-TV said they were surprised to hear that the pictures were posted on the Internet earlier Thursday, although the photos have since been removed.

Several media attorneys who WISC-TV spoke with said there could be some sort of indecency violation but it's unclear because the photographs weren't explicitly described on the air.

Teens cited for burger ‘rap' in drive-thru

AMERICAN FORK -- Four Utah County teenagers are upset after their trip to an American Fork McDonald's, where they tried to rap out their order through the drive-thru. They didn't leave with a Happy mMeal; rather they were given a citation by police for disorderly conduct.

The teens claim they were just having some fun. It was their rendition of a popular rap that can be seen and heard in videos on YouTube. But McDonald's employees and police say it wasn't about the rap -- it came down to the teens refusing to stop and causing an incident at the restaurant.

The four teenagers -- one of whom is 18, the rest 17 -- tried singing out their order through the intercom, in rap style. Employees said they couldn't understand, and that eventually led to police being called.

Sgt. Gregg Ludlow, with the American Fork Police Department, said, "The order taker asked them to please speak their order so she could understand them. Again they refused. This went on for a couple of different times, then the manager got on and asked them to speak their order or leave. Again they just continued, so the manager went outside and told them to speak their order or leave, and these individuals, according to the manager, they began swearing and drove off."

One of the teens, Spencer Dauwalder, said nobody was in line, and he and his friends left without ever purchasing anything.

 "We thought, you know, just teenagers out having fun," Dauwalder told KSL Newsradio in a phone interview. "We didn't think it would escalate to that."

The McDonald's manager took down the license plate number and called police. Officers tracked the car down and gave all four teens the equivalent of a speeding ticket on the charge of disorderly conduct for disrupting business.

Speaking about the incident on KSL's Doug Wright show, one of the teens defended what happened and questioned why police took a joke so seriously. They said their parents were siding with them.

"They weren't mad at us. We told them our side of the story, and they said, just like you said, it's a little ridiculous and it kind of just goes in a downward spiral of all of this. They're more upset at the McDonald's and how the manager handled the whole situation," the teen told Doug Wright.

So far, McDonald's isn't talking about the incident or offering up any recordings of it. The teens all face a fine, if they are convicted.

Spencer's mother, Sharon Dauwalder, said the parents planned to fight the charges.

"It was basically harmless," she said. "It wasn't interfering with anything, and it's just hard to believe a ticket would be issued for that."

There are claims the teens used vulgar language and the workers felt threatened. Spencer Dauwalder said one swear word was used by one of his friends, and it wasn't spoken in a threatening manner.

iPhone Halloween

PALM HARBOR, FLA. — To describe these $1,000 Halloween outfits as mere costumes would seem a bit low-tech.

They feature 42-inch flat-screen TVs that can display text messages, maps or make phone calls.

They're powered by a battery pack that hangs between the legs.

And they've already created a YouTube sensation, seen by more than 300,000 visitors.

This Halloween, John Savio and Reko Rivera will be "guyPhones,'' life-sized versions of the actual iPhone outlined in chrome vinyl.

Few costumes this year will top the intricacy or geekiness of Rivera and Savio's masterpieces, built over 90 hours from the messy man-cave that is Savio's room in his parents' Palm Harbor home.

Using iPhones on their shoulders, the tech-heads can output the popular phones' display onto man-sized screens attached to their chests. Needless to say, they attract a lot of attention.

A YouTube video of Savio, 24, and Rivera, 23, of Oldsmar dancing in disguise has been viewed 320,000 times as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, fueled by posts on tech blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget and jeered by commenters around the world.

Just jealousy, Rivera said of the insults. Not everyone can be a walking, talking, dancing cell phone. He takes the jabs in stride.

"We do what makes us happy," he said. "And this makes us happy."

Middle school buddies with a history in moviemaking, Savio and Rivera said they're naturals at nerd-crafting. Savio's an Apple fanatic with an audio accessories company. Rivera dressed as an (unusable) iPhone two years back and a space commando named Master Chief last year, wielding his own detailed assault rifle and backlit armored helmet.

But this year's set of suits bring with them their own commitment. The costumes' harnesses strain their shoulders, the TVs radiate heat and the black plastic shells scrape their ankles as they wobble-walk, Savio and Rivera said.

Not to mention that the two have lost sleep, upset a girlfriend (Savio's declined comment) and come disastrously close to a sword-wielding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle at a recent costume contest.

The costumes are worth the hassle, they said — and the price.

Rivera, who works as a scare actor at Howl-O-Scream, and Savio, who was laid off from his video job a few months back, said they're banking on prize money from Halloween contests and the resale of their TVs to earn back their expenses.

Visitors to Tampa's Guavaween and Holiday's Slim & Chubbies Bar and Grill on Saturday may see the two in action, where they hope to continue their costume contest win streak. Their first contest at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa netted them $500 and a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino gift card.

They're pocketing the money and planning on selling the card, they said. They don't drink. They're too busy tinkering.

"We don't go out and spend money on drinking," Savio said. "We spend money on technology."

Cops: Fla. man stole ferret by shoving it in pants

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – It's one thing for shoplifters to hide plunder in their pants. But a live ferret? Police said a homeless man in north Florida did just that. And he made it out the door before being challenged. Rodney Bolton, 38, was charged with theft over the $129 animal that police say he took from a pet store in Jacksonville Beach.

A 17-year-old witness confronted Bolton in the parking lot and was bitten by the animal after the man allegedly shoved it in the teen's face.

That confrontation makes the ferret a "special weapon" under Florida law. So Bolton also faces battery charges for dangerously wielding the animal.

Calls to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department to see if Bolton has a lawyer were not answered early Thursday.

Black-faced suspects quickly apprehended

Suspects in an attempted burglary at a Carroll apartment Friday night weren't too difficult to identify.

A resident of 1844 Randall Road called 911 to report two men with their faces painted black were trying to break into an apartment.

Moments later, Carroll police officers pulled over a car matching the suspects' vehicle a couple blocks away and found the two occupants with faces blackened by a permanent marker.

Matthew Allan McNelly, 23, and Joey Lee Miller, 20, were arrested without incident.

Police said the caller described two males with painted faces and wearing black hooded sweatshirts attempting to enter an apartment at 11:32 p.m. The caller then said the suspects drove off in a large white car.

An officer observed a white 1994 Buick Roadmaster turning onto 18th Street from Randall Road, and the vehicle was stopped about a block away at the corner of 18th and North Main.

Since the caller had also reported the suspects were wearing what appeared to be gun holsters, the suspects were taken into custody at gunpoint.

Police said McNelly, of 418 W. Third St., and Miller, of 433 Valley Drive, weren't wearing holsters and had no weapons.

Each was charged with second-degree attempted burglary. McNelly was also charged with driving while intoxicated.

McNelly and Miller made initial appearances in Carroll County Magistrate Court on Monday. Magistrate A. Eric Neu set bond at $7,500 cash or surety for each and scheduled preliminary hearings for Tuesday, Nov. 10.

McNelly and Miller posted bond later Monday and were released.

Second-degree burglary is Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine. Driving while intoxicated is a serious misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.

Susan Finkelstein Offered Sex for World Series Tickets, Say Cops

BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS/AP) - How desperate was Susan Finkelstein to have World Series tickets?

VERY desperate, investigators say. So desperate, in fact, they say the 43-year-old suburban Philadelphia woman posted an ad on the Web site Craigslist in which she described herself as a "gorgeous, tall, buxom blonde diehard Phillies fan" desperately seeking Series tickets, according to CBS station KYW-TV in Philadelphia.

Her ad, according to police, suggested she'd offer something extra. "I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other!"

The price was apparently negotiable.

What sealed the deal was when an undercover officer responded to the digital ad, and Finkelstein allegedly offered to perform various sex acts in exchange for the coveted tickets. Police did not say precisely what this Phillies fanatic was willing to do to see her beloved team play the Yankees.

No, Finkelstein didn't get the tickets. Instead, she was arrested and charged with prostitution, and got her face plastered across television -- and on Crimesider.

If you happen to have extra tickets we suggest you look elsewhere. Finkelstein's listed phone number has been disconnected.

Giant breasts shock China

Parents and teachers in China are protesting after a sculpture of a tiny girl with giant breasts was installed in a city park.

The sculpture depicts a 20cm tall girl with breasts that are five metres high and wide, reports News Express.

Parents have protested at the installation in Foshan City, Guangdong province, which they say is highly embarrassing.

One local mum, called Liang, complained: "The park used to be a great place for families, but now what attracts my son the most is the huge breasts.

"I have tried to educate him with some scientific knowledge, but all he thinks when he sees the statue are smutty thoughts."

And a kindergarten teacher, who brought her class to visit the park, says it shocked some of them to tears.

"The little girls were scared and cried loudly, asking me if they would grow those huge things, and boys laughed crazily," she said.

A park spokesman said the statue was intended as a permanent fixture in the park but admitted it had been repeatedly damaged - with one person even trying to fit it with a giant bra.

"It's normal to have disagreements about art, we can understand it," said the spokesman.

Lake Tahoe man arrested for indecent exposure at art studio

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — A North Lake Tahoe man faces indecent exposure charges after law enforcement officials say he entered a local art studio twice last week with his genitals uncovered.

Nathan Newkirk, 31, of Incline Village, has been released on $1,500 bail from the Washoe County detention facility in Reno after a Wednesday, Oct. 21, arrest at an art studio on the 100 block Country Club Drive.

According to a report from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, Newkirk entered the studio around 10 a.m. to inquire about lessons. His unzipped pants caught the attention of a worker at the studio, along with the fact he wasn't wearing underwear.

The worker dismissed the behavior as odd, the report said, and Newkirk left the premises before returning a short time later, still exposing himself, at which point the studio worker felt it necessary to call deputies.

They arrived and arrested Newkirk without incident. No court date has been set.

Albertson's clerk denied break gets $200,000

A Marin County supermarket clerk who urinated on herself at the checkout counter after her supervisor refused to let her take a bathroom break is entitled to a $200,000 damage award, a state appeals court has ruled.

The woman, identified only as A.M., had returned to work at an Albertson's Inc. store in Fairfax in 2004 after undergoing cancer treatment that left her mouth dry and required her to drink water constantly. The store told her to let the managers know when she needed a bathroom break and they would cover for her.

The arrangement worked for more than a year. Then in February 2005, a new supervisor who had never worked with A.M. was on duty one night and turned down three of her requests for a break, saying the supervisor was busy.

After the supervisor hung up the in-store phone, A.M. urinated while standing at the check stand.

She cleaned herself in the bathroom and drove home in tears, contemplating suicide, the court said. Emotionally fragile from her childhood in war-torn El Salvador, her cancer and past experiences as a crime victim, she left her job soon afterward and was committed to a psychiatric hospital for several days, the court said. She returned to work in August 2005.

A Marin County Superior Court jury found in June 2008 that Albertson's had failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for A.M.'s disability and awarded her $12,000 for lost wages, $40,000 for medical expenses and $148,000 for emotional distress.

Albertson's appealed the verdict, arguing that it had accommodated A.M. for more than a year and that she should have told the supervisor about her medical condition or simply gone to the bathroom without permission.

But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said the jury had been entitled to find that Albertson's was at fault for not informing the supervisor about A.M.'s condition and need for bathroom breaks.

Although an employer may have accommodated a disabled worker's needs over an extended period, "a single failure to make reasonable accommodation can have tragic consequences," Justice Timothy Reardon said in the 3-0 ruling.

The court initially upheld A.M.'s damages last month and published its ruling as a statewide precedent last week.

Lawyers for Albertson's were unavailable for comment. The company could appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Illinois man pleads guilty to stealing $470,995 from Bernards company

An Illinois man will be sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday to stealing $470,995.53 from a township company by accepting paychecks for a job he didn't have.

Anthony Armatys, 35, was scheduled to go on trial later this week before Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong sitting in Somerville but pleaded guilty Monday as part of an agreement with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.

Armatys pleaded guilty to receiving the money in direct deposits from Avaya, a telecommunications firm whose corporate headquarters is in the township, for a job as a senior systems analyst/systems architect that he accepted in September 2002.

Armatys filled out the necessary paperwork with Avaya's human resources department, but he then turned down the job because of the terms of his employment contract with his then current employer, said Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest.

A new computer system at Avaya terminated Armatys from the company's human resources database but failed to remove him from the company's payroll system, Forrest said. Armatys continued receiving a paycheck from the company until February 2007.

The investigation began when Avaya auditors discovered that payroll checks had been mistakenly deposited into Armatys' account.

The investigation also discovered Armatys had withdrawn funds from an employee retirement savings account administered by Fidelity Investments into which Avaya had made contributions.

In a tape recorded telephone call to Fidelity Investments to transfer funds from the retirement savings account to his personal account, Armatys claimed to be an employee of Avaya and provided the necessary banking information for the transfer, Forrest said.

"Avaya is pleased the information we provided led to this outcome," said Lynn Newman, a spokeswoman for Avaya.

Armatys, free on $50,000 bail, will be sentenced Jan. 8, 2010.

As part of the plea agreement, Armatys also agreed to make restitution.

Deputies: Woman who rear-ended farm trailer admits to drinking vodka, smoking crack, taking other drugs before crash

Kara Leanne Griffin, 24, of the 200 block of 9th Street NW of Golden Gate Estates, was arrested at 11:30 p.m. Thursday and charged with DUI and leaving the scene of an accident.

Witnesses said Griffin rear-ended a farm trailer being pulled by a tractor at 2131 23rd Avenue SW in the Estates. They also said she had nearly hit a pedestrian and ran over mailboxes, reports say.

Griffin was groggy, and was taken to NCH North Naples Hospital. She had a blood alcohol level of .088 percent, reports say. She told the deputy she drank vodka, smoked crack and had taken Oxycodone, Clonopin, Baklaphine, Lirica, Tegradol, Paxcil, Dilantin and Lamiktal, reports say.

Officer accused of pointing gun at 'House of Screams' character

The haunted house in Essex is billed "The House of Screams," but it was the character of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre killer who ended up frightened when authorities say an off-duty Baltimore police officer pulled his gun and pointed it at the actor during a skit at the Eastpoint Mall.

Baltimore County police officers arrested Southeastern District Sgt. Eric Michael Janik, 36, and charged him early Monday with first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment. He was released on $25,000 bail and suspended by the Baltimore Police Department.

"I've never had anything like this happen to me," said Michael Brian Morrison, a 32-year-old contractor who helps run the privately owned haunted house and played the part of "Leatherface." The owners rent space from the Baltimore County mall on Eastern Avenue and attract 1,500 to 3,000 people a night.

Morrison is at the end of the haunted house tour and threatens people with a chainsaw that has its sharp chain removed. He chases people outside for "one last scream." He said Janik's group, which went through Sunday a little after 10 p.m. and included a female city police officer and the sergeant's 9-year-old daughter, were rowdy.

He said the sergeant held his screaming daughter close to scary characters and that when it came time to give chase, "I went after the adults" because the girl was crying.

A Baltimore County police report says Morrison approached Janik while he revved the gas-powered saw and when he got three to four feet from him, "Janik pointed a black handgun as his chest."

Morrison said he put his hands in the air and the police report says Janik stated, "It's o.k. I'm a cop." He said the officer's daughter was tugging the sleeve of the arm holding the gun and that after he put the weapon away, the sergeant approached him to shake his hand.

The report says the officer went back to his car, where a county officer first encountered him sitting in the front passenger seat. Janik rolled down the window and the officer noted in the report that "a strong odor of alcohol" could be detected. The report says that both Janik and the other officer in the car, Lisa Michelle Hinkley, showed their city police badges.

"When asked if he had at any time pulled his handgun out of its holster for any reason while attending the haunted house, Defendant Janik stated 'no,'" the police report says. Janik told the officer that his daughter "may have pulled on his shirt and accidentally showed it."

But police said they interviewed witnesses, including a tour guide and another worker, who said the sergeant pointed the gun at Morrison's chest. Police said they returned to Janik and wrote in a report that he "changed his version of events and stated that he did pull his weapon out and pointed it at the ground." He told the officer that Morrison "did not stop advancing toward him" and that while he knew it was part of the show, he pulled his gun "to stop him."

Police said in the report that the green Carlton chain saw "did not cause a threat of bodily harm." The report also says that Janik had slurred speech, but they did not administer a breath test.

Janik, reached by telephone at his home, declined to comment. His attorney with the city Fraternal Order of Police union, Shaun Owens, also declined comment.

Baltimore police chief spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Janik could be suspended without pay at a formal hearing later this week.

"These allegations are incredibly concerning and we are committed to holding our officers accountable," Guglielmi said. "We won't tolerate any behavior that undermines the integrity of the agency and the hard work of our police officers."

Morrison said that the haunted house opens again Wednesday and that he'll be back in his familiar role. "I'll probably be a bit more leery," he said.

Convicted Sex Offender burns himself to death

A convicted sex offender burned to death when he set himself on fire as authorities served a warrant at his rural Tulsa County home Thursday.

Tulsa County sheriff's deputies and state Pardon and Parole Board officers were sent to a house in the 14100 block of East Apache Street to contact Johnnie Joe Hobbs, 47, Capt. John Bowman said.

After finding the house empty, the squad peered into a cargo van that sat in the cluttered yard about 3 p.m. Hobbs, who was in the van, reached out and slammed the door shut, Bowman said.

He then doused the van with gasoline and ignited it, Bowman said. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Bowman said Hobbs had spent time in prison and had indicated that he would do anything to avoid capture.

"There are a lot of people that will do a lot of things to keep from going back to jail," he said. "To use a flammable liquid to ignite where they are, I have not seen that before."

Investigators from the Tulsa Fire Department searched through the charred van into the evening, working around piles of garbage that were scattered about the property on the northeastern edge of Tulsa County.

Bowman said that because of the volatile nature of the incident, firefighters didn't immediately enter the van to douse the flames. There were concerns that Hobbs might have been armed, but no weapons were found after a preliminary search.

About 30 minutes after Hobbs set the vehicle ablaze, authorities entered it and discovered his body in the cab, Bowman said.

The deputies had intended to serve three protective orders on Hobbs, and the parole officers were sent to revoke his suspended sentence for a Muskogee County conviction, Bowman said.

A relative of Hobbs' gave officials a key to the house, and two of his siblings were in the area as the van burned, Bowman said.

Hobbs was the subject of protective orders in both Tulsa and Rogers counties, court records indicate.

He also had been convicted of showing obscene material to a child, lewd molestation and making lewd proposals to a child

Two Mexican Midget Wrestlers Killed by Fake Prostitutes

MEXICO CITY —  Mexican authorities say two professional wrestlers found dead in a low-rent hotel in the capital may have been drugged to death by female robbers.

Autopsies are being performed on the two midget wrestlers, one of whom went by the name "La Parkita" — or "Little Death" — and wore a skeleton costume in the ring. The other was known as "Espectrito Jr."

Authorities say two women were seen leaving the men's hotel room before the bodies were discovered.

Prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera said Wednesday that gangs of female robbers are experienced at using drugs to knock men out and rob them, but they may have used too strong a dose.

That may have been because of the wrestlers' small stature, although larger men have also died in similar crimes.

Attorney may face disciplinary action over ad seeking secretary on Craigslist

A Chicago Immigration attorney is facing sanctions after he demanded "sexual interaction with me and my partner" as a job condition from a woman seeking a position as legal assistant at their firm.

After the woman responded to an ad that Samir Chowhan placed in the "Adult Gigs" section of Craigslist, he told her in a follow-up e-mail that she would also need to "perform for us sexually" as "part of the interview process."

Chowhan is accused of lying to the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission and with conduct that "tends to bring...the legal profession into disrepute," according to a complaint filed Wednesday by the commission, which investigates complaints of attorney misconduct.

Chowhan is also charged with neglect and misrepresentation in two Immigration cases in which he allegedly failed to timely file paperwork.

Chowhan first denied he posted the online ad but later admitted it, according to the complaint.

He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In May, Chowhan posted the ad seeking an "energetic woman" for "general secretarial work, some paralegal work and additional duties for two lawyers." The ad sought a resume, photographs and "a description of your physical features, including measurements."

A woman, who thought the request unusual but assumed the firm was looking for an attractive secretary, responded the same day and included her measurements and a photo, the complaint said.

Chowhan e-mailed back.

"In addition to the legal work, you would be required to have sexual interaction with me and my partner, sometimes together sometimes separate," the complaint quoted the e-mail as saying. "This part of the job would require sexy dressing and flirtatious interaction with me and my partner, as well as sexual interaction."

The e-mail went on to say that other women had been hired who "have not been able to handle the sexual aspect of the job later. We have to be sure you're comfortable with that aspect, because I don't want you to do anything that you're not comfortable with. So since that time, we've decided that as part of the interview process you'll be required to perform for us sexually."

"When are you available to interview?" the e-mail allegedly read. "I am free to interview today."

The woman was "frightened" by the e-mail and didn't follow through, according to the complaint. She complained to the commission in June.

A panel will review the charges against Chowhan and can recommend he be disciplined.


Man stuffs mouth with 16 cockroaches in record bid

LANSING, Mich. – A Michigan pet store employee got himself a mouthful of cockroaches — on purpose. The Lansing State Journal reported Sean Murphy on Friday stuffed 16 Madagascar hissing cockroaches into his mouth. He was trying to set a new Guinness World Records mark and said the old record was 11.

Murphy initially got 12 squirming cockroaches into his mouth, but then kept adding them until he got to 16. He says it was a "big surprise" since he's never fit that many in his mouth before "in one try."

The employee of Preuss Pets in Lansing says each cockroach was at least 2 1/2 inches long. Murphy says he might try for 20 next year. A video of the feat was posted on the newspaper's Web site.

Murphy's effort would need to be certified by Guinness for it to be official.

Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

DULUTH, Minn. – A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers.

Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.

SC man drives 80 miles to give explosives to cops

UNION, S.C. – Authorities say a South Carolina man's good intentions almost caused an explosive situation.

After the man's uncle died, he discovered that his relative had collected potentially explosive materials including grenades, dynamite and black powder.

The man, who was not identified by police, feared the materials might fall into the wrong hands, so he drove 80 miles to his uncle's house and loaded his truck with some of the items. Then he drove back to his home county of Union on Wednesday to give the materials to police.

Union County Sheriff David Taylor says the man brought the items to him because the two know each other.

Taylor says deputies closed off several streets and called the bomb squad when they learned about the items. The materials were later destroyed.

No charges are expected.

Man in woman's swimsuit exposes self to Oklahoma City woman, police say

Police arrested an Oklahoma City man early this week after a woman said he approached her wearing a woman's swimsuit, panty hose and makeup and exposed his genitals.

The victim told police she was smoking a cigarette on her porch when the man, whom she at first thought was a woman, walked toward her, the report states. He was wearing a pink, one-piece swimsuit and asked her "Where'd my friend go?"

The woman said she felt uneasy and asked the man to go away, according to the report. He used his left hand to pull the bathing suit to the side and his right hand to pull out his genitals, shaking them and saying, "Hey, look at this."

Officers found the man, identified by police as Ortega, walking in a nearby area, the report states. Without being questioned, Ortega said the victim was lying and he never showed her his genitals.

Police took Ortega to jail after the victim identified him as the man who exposed himself to her.

Online corrections and court records show Ortega is on probation for a six-year suspended sentence related to a 2007 felony attempted kidnapping case in Oklahoma County. Ortega pleaded guilty to the charge in November.

Two arrested in horse sex case

A man who was identified in court papers four years ago as having taken part in a horse-sex party that led to the death of his friend is now accused of performing sex acts with a horse at a Maury County farm.

James Michael Tait, 58, 2348 Double Branch Road, was arrested and charged Thursday with three counts of animal cruelty. Kenny Thomason, 44, 2348 Double Branch Road, also faces two counts of the same charge.

“This is one of the most upsetting days I've ever dealt with,” Maury County Sheriff Enoch George said Friday.

Maury County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Nathan Johns said authorities became aware of the acts after a complaint was made by a citizen.

Tait allegedly engaged in sex acts with a stud horse at the Double Branch Road farm over a span of several months, according to an arrest warrant.

 Detective Terry Chandler said Thomason was aware the animal-human sex was occurring on the property.

Johns said authorities went to the property Friday and found several animals. A veterinarian was called to check on the animals’ health and the horses remain on the property for the time being, Johns said. He did not know how many animals may have been involved in sexual activities or if any were injured.

Captain Jimmy Tennyson said authorities recovered pictures of Tait engaging in the acts with the horse.

In 2005, Tait was identified by police as having videotaped his friend Kenneth Pinyan having sex with a horse at a farm in Enumclaw, Wash., about 40 miles south of Seattle. Pinyan eventually died from internal injuries he suffered from having sex with the equine, authorities said.

Sgt. John Uruquhart, public information officer for the King County Sheriff's Department in Washington, said the investigation in 2005 revealed about 100 pornographic videos depicting Tait and others performing sex acts with animals, including the fatal incident. Uruquhart said essentially nothing was done because there were no Washington laws against bestiality and there wasn't sufficient evidence the horse had been injured.

“The best charge they could come up with was trespassing,” he said.

Ultimately, Tait pleaded guilty to trespassing and was sentenced to one year of probation and was handed a $300 fine.

After the incident, Washington State lawmakers banned bestiality and filmmakers were inspired to make a critically-acclaimed documentary about Pinyan's life titled “Zoo,” Uruquhart said.

The officer said he isn't at all surprised Tait has been accused of doing the same thing four years later.

“I just want this guy to go away,” he said.

 Tennyson said Tait remained jailed Friday in lieu of $125,000 bond.

Johns said he did not know how or when Tait came to Tennessee or how he knows Thomason.

Defendant erupts into tirade at prosecutor

A Halifax Crown attorney filed a complaint with police after a man she is trying to have declared a dangerous offender lost his cool and shouted at her in a courtroom Tuesday morning.

"I hate your (expletive) guts," Christopher Edward Newhook yelled at prosecutor Catherine Cogswell during a profanity-filled outburst in Halifax provincial court.

"I wish I could cut your (expletive) head off with a rusty hacksaw blade."

The Chronicle Herald was the only media outlet to have a reporter in the courtroom at the time.

Mr. Newhook, who is being sentenced for stabbing a man in the head two years ago in Halifax, also called Ms. Cogswell a maggot, parasite and goof and said her mother was a goof for having her.

Judge Bill Digby called for a recess and the two sheriff’s deputies assigned to the courtroom took Mr. Newhook downstairs to the courthouse holding cells.

When the dangerous offender hearing resumed 35 minutes later, a police officer had been posted in the spectators gallery and a third sheriff’s deputy stood guard over Mr. Newhook.

The defendant, who sat about three metres away from Ms. Cogs-well, maintained his composure for the rest of the day.

Outside court, Ms. Cogswell told reporters that she felt threatened by Mr. Newhook’s behaviour and would be giving a statement to police.

"Mr. Newhook has had violent, aggressive and very profane outbursts during the course of the proceedings, but today it became more extreme," Ms. Cogswell said.

"He was looking right at me as he was hollering the threats. As a result, I left the courtroom and made a phone call to the police department and indicated that I refused to go back into the courtroom until I had a police escort with me.

"Halifax Regional Police, no questions asked, sent down a police officer right away. And Judge Digby asked for and received an extra sheriff, and they’ll be in attendance for the rest of the hearing."

Police later charged Mr. New-hook with uttering threats and intimidation of a justice system participant.

Mr. Newhook, 40, has served four federal prison terms for violent offences in Ontario and has spent almost half his life behind bars. He has associated with skinheads and white supremacists and has committed many of his crimes against visible minorities.

An attack on a Vietnamese shopkeeper in Toronto in April 1989 left the man blind in one eye. Mr. Newhook also assaulted two black women on a bus in Toronto in September 1995 and an aboriginal man in Hamilton, Ont. in May 2000.

The evidence shows Mr. Newhook is a racist and a psychopath with alcohol-abuse issues whose risk of reoffending is so high that he must be locked up indefinitely to protect the public, the Crown argued during the hearing.

"Mr. Newhook is a threat to cause violence to anybody, anytime, anywhere and for any reason," Ms. Cogswell told the court.

On April 3, 2007, Mr. Newhook stabbed a man just above his right eye during a dispute in a North Street rooming house where he was living. Mr. Newhook thought the man had ratted him out to the landlord for making too much noise. He pleaded guilty that June to aggravated assault and possession of a knife and the Crown launched a dangerous offender application. The hearing sat for five days last May and two days this week.

Ms. Cogswell pointed out Tuesday that the stabbing in Halifax took place less than six months after Mr. Newhook was released from prison after serving an entire two-year sentence for a September 2004 assault with a weapon in Kingston, Ont. In that case, a rent disagreement led him to attack a man with a piece of wood and throw him through a plate glass window.

The defence wants Mr. New-hook declared a long-term offender, meaning he would receive a determinate prison sentence followed by up to 10 years of strict supervision in the community.

Lawyer Jean Morris said her client would be willing to complete programming and treatment in prison that would help him cope in the community while under supervision.

Judge Digby reserved his decision on the dangerous offender application until March 1.

Ms. Cogswell said she didn’t let Mr. Newhook’s outburst distract her from the job at hand.

"I felt scared and intimidated but at the same time I wasn’t going to back down from my legal position, which I needed to put forward," she said.

Crown attorneys have been pressing the province to install secure prisoner docks in courtrooms. Mr. Newhook was sitting on an open bench, with a sheriff on either side of him, when he went on his tirade.

"This is a circumstance that rears its head every day," Ms. Cogswell said. "I’m not very far removed from him in terms of where I sit. . . It’s a very dangerous situation that we work in.

"This is something that Crown attorneys across Canada have been saying for years, that we’re not safe enough in the buildings and in the courtrooms. This is a prime example. This is an old building and it’s not very safe, not very secure."

Justice Department spokeswoman Jennifer Gavin said precautionary measures were taken by adding the third sheriff to the courtroom.

She said the department would not be able to comment further on courtroom security Tuesday.

Woman Sees Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Pork Chop

It might not be worth as much as a grilled cheese sandwich said to bear the image of the Virgin Mary, but a North Carolina woman believes she's found a well-known Christmas character in her pork chop.

Sue Church stopped by the FOX8 studios on Tuesday morning to show us a pork chop that resembles Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Some have suggested the meat actually resembles the antler-wearing dog in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The aforementioned grilled cheese sandwich fetched $28,000 in an eBay auction in 2004, a decade after it was discovered.

Counterfeiting charges for man printing $50s in lap-dance scheme

CHEYENNE -- A local man has been charged in federal court with counterfeiting money, allegedly to pay an exotic dancer for a private session at a motel.

Rickey A. Kempter, 50, of Cheyenne faces up to 20 years in prison on charges of making and possessing counterfeit U.S, currency.

A judge is scheduled Wednesday to determine if there is enough evidence to send Kempter to trial on the charges.

According to federal court documents, Kempter met two dancers Oct. 6 at the Green Door Lounge on East Lincolnway, one of whom he called later to arrange a private dance at the Lariat Motel on Central Avenue.

The dancers told Cheyenne police that they took a taxi to Kempter's residence, where they picked him up and drove around town for about 30 minutes, court documents show.

The taxi driver told investigators that they dropped off one of the dancers and proceeded to the motel, where Kempter asked him to hold a roll of $50 bills.

"(The driver) noticed that the money was 'funny looking' and that several of the $50 Federal Reserve notes were not cut evenly," court documents show. "(The driver) further noticed that several of the $50 Federal Reserve notes had the same serial numbers."

The driver then called his boss, who notified police.

Investigators said they questioned Kempter, who said he wanted to "front like the money was there" to pay $800 for a private dance. He admitted to making the bills on a printer at his home, court documents show.

According to the documents, Kempter told investigators he planned to go home and pay with real money, but none was found at his residence.

Eventually, Cheyenne police contacted the U.S. Secret Service.

The criminal complaint alleges Kempter made and possessed $1,200 worth of counterfeit $50 bills.

Kempter's attorney, Mark E. Macy, declined to comment, saying he has not had much time to speak with his client.

Man Charged After Making Coffee Naked

SPRINGFIELD, Va. - A Springfield, Virginia man is facing an indecent exposure charge after a passerby spotted the man naked in his kitchen and reported it to police.

Eric Williamson, 29, is a commercial diver who grew up in Hawaii and rents home with several co-workers. Williamson told FOX 5's Will Thomas his roommates were not home and he walked into the kitchen to make coffee about 5:30 a.m. Monday.

"Yes, I wasn't wearing any clothes but I was alone, in my own home and just got out of bed. It was dark and I had no idea anyone was outside looking in at me," Williamson said.

The complaint came from an unidentified woman who was walking with a 7-year-old boy. A Fairfax County Police spokesman said officers arrested Williamson for indecent exposure because they believe he wanted to be seen naked by the public.

Officer Bud Walker said officers also consulted the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and they were given the green light to proceed with the charge.

Williamson, who is father of a 5-year old girl, said he feels like the victim.

"I am a loving dad. Any of my friends and anyone knows that and there is not a chance on this planet I would ever, ever, ever do anything like that to a kid," he said.

Williamson is meeting with a lawyer to fight the charge and may attempt to seek damages from Fairfax County Police. If convicted on the misdemeanor charge, he would face up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Gunman prays with clerk, then finishes robbery

INDIANAPOLIS – Police said a gunman spent nearly 10 minutes on his knees praying with the clerk at an Indianapolis check cashing business before fleeing with her cell phone and $20 from the register. Security video from the Advance America branch clearly showed the man's face during Monday's stickup, and a 23-year-old man surrendered Tuesday on a preliminary charge of robbery.

The robbery took an unusual turn after the gunman came around the counter as the clerk told police she began crying and then talked about God. The man said he had a 2-year-old child to support and asked for prayers about overcoming his hardships.

Sgt. Kevin Wethington said the clerk's actions "certainly didn't hurt" prevent more troubles in the store on the city's east side near Washington Square Mall.

Man Arrested, Claims To Be Meatloaf

CINCINNATI -- A man claiming to be Meatloaf was arrested Sunday after trying to take the wheel of a taxi cab.
 
Police said Eric Brown grabbed the wheel of the taxi, while the car was traveling on Interstate 75.

Brown was dressed in a vampire costume and was wearing make-up, which made him resemble the musician and actor.

Brown was charged with disorderly conduct while intoxicated.

Woman seeks divorce over nickname

A Saudi woman is seeking a divorce after discovering her husband had nicknamed her 'Guantanamo' on his mobile phone.

The woman made the discovery while examining the list of contacts in her husband's phone when he left it at home one day, the Al-Watan newspaper reports.

The Riyadh newspaper did not name the woman or her husband, who may live to regret comparing life with his wife with the US detention centre in Cuba. His wife has since decided to end their 17-year marriage and is seeking a divorce.

But the newspaper suggested she might settle for "substantial" financial compensation from her husband and stay married to him.

Corpse mistaken for Halloween display

The dead body of a 75-year-old man was left on a Los Angeles balcony for several days because neighbours thought it was a Halloween display.

The body of Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed was found slumped over a chair on the balcony of his third-floor apartment with a single gunshot wound to the eye.

Neighbours had seen the body nearly a week before but hadn't called police because they thought the corpse "looked like a Halloween dummy".

Cameraman Austin Raishbrook was at the apartment in the Marina del Rey district when the authorities were finally alerted to the body, reports the Daily Telegraph.

"The body was in plain view of the entire apartment complex and they all didn't do anything. It's very strange. It did look unreal, to be honest," he said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are treating the death as an apparent suicide.

Enraged Boca Raton chef: "I swear to God I'll shoot you in the forehead!"

BOCA RATON — One too many orders for mozzarella caprese was apparently the breaking point for a Boca Raton chef who threatened to shoot the waitress who placed the order, according to police.

While waiting tables at Pizza Time restaurant on Southwest Second Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, Cathy Vultaggio hung a ticket for the popular salad of the fresh cheese and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and basil.

Chef and manager Mark DeCraepeo got upset and said if he received one more ticket for mozzarella caprese, "I swear to God I'll shoot you in the forehead," according to a Boca Raton police report. Vultaggio and co-worker Kristee Como told police that DeCraepeo then slammed a black gun inside a holster on the counter top.

"Now you see I'm [expletive] serious. I'll put a bullet right in your forehead," he hollered, according to the women.

A few hours later the women phoned police to report the incident. DeCraepeo allegedly told authorities that he had a gun but could not recall what he said to the women earlier that day.

The 51-year-old Coral Springs resident was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit a felony and taken to the Palm Beach County Jail. Bail was set at $50,000.

A woman who answered the phone at Pizza Time this morning said no one there wanted to discuss the incident.

The price of vanity plates: XXXXXXX car tag nets man $19,000 in tickets

For Huntsville resident Scottie Roberson, the letter X -- seven of them, to be exact -- led to more than $19,000 in Birmingham parking tickets.

Roberson said he has been to Birmingham only once in the past five years and left without a ticket. He said city officials told him the tickets were issued by mistake because of his vanity plate -- XXXXXXX.

  Roberson, 38, said the plate is an homage to his days of building custom cars, when he was given the nickname "Racer X." He uses seven X's, he said, because seven is his favorite number.

  When Birmingham parking patrols find cars without license plates parked illegally or at expired meters, they enter seven X's in place of the plate number, city officials said. The parking citation form calls for a plate number, and the practice is to use X's when no number is available.

  About a year ago, Roberson began receiving letters stating he had outstanding parking tickets, sometimes as many as 10 in one day in 10 places, he said.

  In November, after multiple calls to city officials, Roberson received a letter stating that two of the tickets had been dismissed. But the notices just kept coming.

  Roberson said he has been receiving notifications about tickets for a year.

  "Whenever I call, nobody seems to want to help me," Roberson said. "One woman said not to worry about it because they didn't have the manpower to come arrest me."

  City spokeswoman April Odom acknowledged on Thursday that Roberson had wrongly received the tickets because of the system and said the fines were being dismissed.

  City officials are working to change the entry system to keep Roberson from receiving any additional tickets, Odom said.

  "Maybe we need to go with nine X's, or maybe we just need to leave that part blank altogether," Birmingham Traffic Engineer Gregory Dawkins said.

Court House Masturbator Arrested

Police say a man walked inside the St Landry Parish Courthouse, and waited in the hallway, like dozens of people do every day.  But, it's what he did while standing there that landed him behind bars.

Opelousas police say Frank Lahay exposed himself in the public hallway of the St Landry Parish Courthouse, when he then began to perform sexual acts on himself, in full public view.

The surveillance video from inside the courthouse shows the 28 year old man in the hallway.

Officials say the Krotz Springs man is exposed the entire time, using his baggy shirt to cover up when people walk by.

This went on for over an hour, before the secretary realized what the man was up to.

She alerted her supervisor, and the man was arrested.

Fishnet fetish?

A guy caught shoplifting some unusual items in St. Paul recently told police they were for his Halloween costume.

A 33-year-old man was stopped outside the Kmart at 245 E. Maryland Ave. on Oct. 6 at 10:10 p.m., a police incident report said. Spiral Lightninghawk had set off the security system, the report said.

Lightninghawk had been "observed selecting some Halloween black fishnet stockings, women's underwear and two DVDs," the report said. He was seen going into the men's restroom, exiting and then heading to the front checkout lanes. He passed by them without paying and left the store, the report said.

When Lightninghawk left, "we could easily see rectangular items beneath his T-shirt (which were the DVDs)," the report said.

Lightninghawk was brought to the security office and all four items, valued at $55.96, were recovered, the police report said. Police cited him for misdemeanor theft and he was escorted from the store.

While in the men's room, Lightninghawk had apparently also put on the women's panties and fishnet stockings, and his pants over them to conceal them, said Sgt. Paul Schnell, police spokesman.

"He indicated he was trying to develop his Halloween costume, but didn't have the money to buy the items," Schnell said.

What were his costume plans? "I have no idea," Schnell said.

The family that learns to build pipe bombs together ...?

A Prior Lake couple allegedly thought it would be "a good educational tool" for their son and his friends to learn how to make homemade explosives from PVC pipe and gunpowder.

They had no idea, they reportedly said, that the teens would go on a destructive spree, using pipe bombs to explode mailboxes in Burnsville, Lakeville and rural Scott County.

One of the incidents drew Bloomington's bomb squad, according to charges.

The allegations surfaced in two criminal complaints filed last month by the Scott County attorney's office against Robert and Roberta Masters, who each face felony charges of manufacturing explosives and aiding offenders in a felony.

Their first court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 2.

Robert Masters, 48, is suspected of accompanying his son last spring to Fleet Farm in Lakeville, where, over two visits, they bought 2 pounds of gunpowder using a credit card. The powder, which is used to arm muzzle-loading firearms, cannot be bought by anyone under the age of 18.

Masters then showed his son and his son's friends how to assemble explosives on the family's workbench, and he and his wife encouraged the teens to learn more by watching how-to videos on YouTube, according to the criminal complaints.

Not long afterward, mailboxes in Burnsville, Lakeville and Scott County began exploding.

Five teens are under suspicion of taking part in at least six bombings. A sixth is believed to have been a witness in at least one of them. The teens are identified solely by their initials in the complaints because they are juveniles.

One of the teens said the group began blowing up mailboxes at random but later targeted the homes of people they knew, the complaints said.

A woman answering the phone at the Masters' residence Wednesday said, "I have nothing to say," and hung up the phone.

The criminal complaints offer this version of events:

On May 30, a Scott County deputy investigated a mailbox that had been destroyed in Credit River Township, outside Prior Lake. The homeowner said that a week earlier, someone had thrown eggs at her house and placed on her front stoop a bag of paintballs, which had char burns as if it had been lit on fire.
The homeowner's daughter said the family was acquainted with her brother's 16-year-old classmate, identified only as A.L.U. in charges. A.L.U.'s female friend had once approached her brother and asked about damage to his house.

On June 14, a Scott County deputy called in the Bloomington Police Department's bomb squad to remove a 6- to 8-inch pipe bomb from another mailbox in New Market Township.
In that incident, the homeowner's son reported receiving a text message on his cell phone from his estranged 16-year-old girlfriend, initials L.J.L., which read: "fine, now I will have to do something to you and it won't be TP ... that's for middle schoolers ... I bet you live out on Red Fox Drive, don't you"

When questioned by police, the girl initially denied any involvement in the bombings, but later admitted she accompanied a group of teens as a spectator on three occasions, according to charges.

Police stopped by A.L.U's home June 19 and found Roberta Masters, 52, there picking up her son. The criminal complaint states the mother told the teen not to talk to the detective, though he came to the door and answered questions anyway.
That night, Robert Masters met with several parents of the other suspects in the bombings to coordinate what each family would tell police, according to charges.

Witnesses later reported the couple said "they did not want the police to parent their child. ... They also suggested getting all of the families together to tell them not to talk to police, to get their stories straight and make amends with all of the victims."

Roberta Masters allegedly told the group she "thought bomb making was educational and did not want to stifle her son's curiosity."

On another occasion, Robert Masters allegedly called one of the teens' fathers and said he allowed the kids to make smoke bombs and blow them up in their back yard, but "the kids had taken it to the next level."
Interviewed by investigators, one teen suspect said the Masters family "knew that the kids were building bombs and told them to be careful," but he did not think the Masters family knew they were using the bombs to blow up mailboxes.

At least two teens told investigators the Masters family had urged them not to talk to police and to keep their names out of it.

Detectives searched the Masters family's home on July 1 and removed 22 items, including white PVC pipe, funnels that appeared to have gun powder residue on them, illegal "Black Cat" fireworks and other combustibles, according to charges.

Cops: 300-lb man in dress tries to steal rum, cola

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Police said a person believed to be a man disguised as a woman in a black dress tried to steal a bottle of rum and cola drinks from a local drug store. The store's loss prevention officer unsuccessfully tried to stop the person, who is described as about 20 years old, 6-foot-3-inches tall and weighing 300 pounds.

Police said the person handed the rum back to the store employee, threw the drinks on the ground and fled after trying to bite the employee when the worker tried to restrain him.

Train mooning stunt backfires

A German man who mooned at a train got his trousers caught in a carriage door and ended up being dragged half naked out of the station.

The 22-year-old journalism student shoved his backside against the window of a low-slung double-decker train after staff forced him off in Lauenbrueck for travelling without a ticket.

A police spokesman in the northern city of Bremen said: "It's a miracle he wasn't badly hurt. This sort of thing can end up killing you."

The man somehow managed to keep his legs from the train wheels as he was dragged along, dangling by his trousers, for about 200 metres, reports Metro.

His ordeal ended when a passenger pulled the emergency brake. Rescues services were called in, causing rail services between Bremen and Hamburg to be suspended for over an hour, delaying 23 trains.

The man - unharmed except for cuts and bruises - now faces charges of dangerous interference in rail transport, insulting the train staff, and may face sizeable a compensation claim for the delays he caused.

"He was full of remorse when I talked to him," the police spokesman added. "And he advised others not to try the same thing."

 
Conman gives himself away on Facebook

A fraudster who went on the run from US authorities gave himself away - because he couldn't help himself from posting on Facebook.

Cameroon-born Maxi Sopo's messages made it clear he was living the high life in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

He also added a former US justice department official to his friend list who ended up helping to track him down, reports the BBC.

US officials say Mr Sopo and an associate falsely obtained more than £125,000 in credit from banks.

In recent status updates Mr Sopo said he was "loving it", described himself as "living in paradise" and said he was "just here to have fun".

"He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies," said Assistant US Attorney Michael Scoville.

"He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing," he added.

The 26-year-old, who is now in custody in Mexico City, initially sold roses in Seattle nightclubs after arriving in the US in 2003. He then allegedly moved on to bank fraud.

The former justice department official whom Mr Sopo befriended on the social networking site said he had only met the fugitive a few times in the city's nightclubs and had no idea that he was on the run.

He was able to discover exactly where Mr Sopo was living and the information was passed to the Mexican authorities who arrested him last month.

'Lottery winner' causes riot at Ohio coat store

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Police said a riot erupted at a coat store after an Ohio woman announced she had won the lottery and would pay for everyone's purchases — only she didn't have any money. Columbus Police Lt. Michael Deakins says 44-year-old Linda Brown announced that she would spend $500 on every person at a Burlington Coat Factory store on Tuesday, prompting customers to line up at the cashier and call their relatives.

When police arrived hours later, 500 people filled the store and another 1,000 were trying to get inside. Police said Brown was arrested on three outstanding warrants but was not charged pending a mental health evaluation. Police did not know if Brown had an attorney. Her phone number was not listed.

Burlington Coat Factory did not respond to requests for comment.

No oral sex, says SUV crash waitress

A WOMAN accused of performing a sexual act on a man when he crashed in Darwin's rural area is outraged at the allegation and says it is "absolutely wrong".

Allyson White said the standout burn mark left by her seatbelt across her chest was proof the claims of "amorous activities" with the driver were not true.

"I was not sucking his d*** - and it's pretty obvious that wasn't the case ... you only have to look at the mark on my chest," she said.

"Clearly I had my seatbelt on, so it's impossible that I'd be leaning over sucking his d*** unless he is hung like a donkey or I've got a f****** rubber neck.

"If it was true I'd just cop it sweet and think 'how embarrassing, I got caught sucking someone's d***' - but it is not true and that's what is p****** me off.

"It didn't happen like that at all - he was just going too fast."

Police told in Thursday's Northern Territory News how they believe a driver crashed his car while involved in "amorous activities" with his female passenger.

They said the 33-year-old man was distracted by the woman and veered off the road, smashing his single cab SUV into a concrete drain on Pioneer Rd in Humpty Doo.

But Ms White said it was a lie and she wanted to set the record straight.

Even the unnamed driver's statement to police had no hints of any fellatio taking place.

"I don't understand where that story has come from," she said.

"It may have looked bad when police first arrived as my girls were hanging out all over the place. I also had a $5 note wedged between my boobs so they probably just assumed I was a sex worker or something and he'd already paid me.

"But $5 is a bit cheap for a head job."

Ms White, 34, said she had been at the Howard Springs Tavern celebrating a friend's birthday when they decided to go back to a friend's place in Humpty Doo.

She said they stopped into the Humpty Doo Tavern where she usually works to invite other friends, including the unnamed driver, along to the bash.

He did not know how to get to the house so she jumped in his car to give him directions.

"We are just friends and it's pissing me off as people think I have done this behind my boyfriend's back - it makes me feel like a dirty bitch when I've done nothing wrong."

"Fair enough he shouldn't have been driving but I didn't realize he was drunk and would never have got in the car if I did."

Ms White was taken by St John Ambulance to Royal Darwin Hospital with chest injuries following the crash.

The driver was charged with drink driving after allegedly blowing .147 per cent, as well as driving without due care and driving without a license.



Man found asleep in closet with body

A Houston man has been charged with three misdemeanor drug offenses after police found him asleep in a closet with a dead man in a vacant Cypress home Sunday.

Cody Jean Plant, 21, also was charged with abuse of a corpse after prosecutors alleged he treated the body “in an offensive manner.”

However, the charge was dropped Monday after a judge examined the allegations in a probable cause hearing. The original charging document did not elaborate on the charge.

Harris County Precinct 4 Constable deputies found Plant and the body of another man, whom they declined to identify, in a closet of a vacant house in the 15700 block of Knauff Ranch Court after the owner and his family reported voices and signs of forced entry about 1 p.m. Sunday.

“There were two guys in the closet. They appeared to be sleeping — one was snoring and the other was deceased,” said Assistant Chief Deputy Mark Herman. “It appeared that they were doing some sort of narcotics — at least the one that they woke up. He was under the influence of something, obviously.”

Plant also was arrested last May and charged with driving while intoxicated. His attorney said he has not spoken to Plant but that the situation sounds like a misunderstanding.

“Once we get to the bottom of this, I think he'll be cleared,” said attorney Ralph Manginello.

Plant was charged with one count of possession of a dangerous drug and two counts of possession of a controlled substance of more than three grams and less than 28 grams. All are class A misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of a year in jail. Officials would not identify the substances. He remains in Harris County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail.

Nazi gnomes court controversy

An artist has caused controversy in Germany by staging an exhibition of garden gnomes giving Nazi salutes.

Ottmar Horl has crafted 1,250 of the plastic dwarfs and will parade them in military formation in Straubing, Bavaria, the heartland of Hitler's war-time support.

Horl, 49, says the display shows the "symptoms of a political disease".

He managed to get around strict anti-Nazi legislation in Germany by saying the gnomes are a satire on Hitler.

However, locals have dubbed the models the devil's dwarves.

Garden gnomes remain a firm favourites in Germany despite falling out of fashion in Britain. Experts estimate the gnome population is at 25 million.

But there is a growing trend towards gnomes who make obscene gestures, commit suicide or engage in sexual activity, and courts have ordered figures to be removed if they offend neighbours.

Man misses birth of his child after fondling nurse, police say

Adam Jay Manning was arrested after he allegedly fondled a nurse who was helping in the delivery of his child at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden. Police arrested a Bountiful man early Friday for allegedly groping a nurse who was helping a woman who was in labor with his baby at an Ogden hospital.

Adam Jay Manning, 30, brought a pregnant woman in labor to McKay-Dee Hospital around 3 a.m. Friday, said Ogden police Lt. Loring Draper. When a nurse came to assist the couple, Manning looked the nurse "up and down" and made an observation about her appearance, Draper said.

"He makes a comment about how cute she looks," Draper said.

The nurse ignored Manning and continued helping the woman in labor, who was in a wheelchair and waiting to be taken to a delivery room. Manning continued his pursuit of the nurse, however, by telling her something looked wrong with her neck, Draper said. He attempted to massage the nurse's neck and then reached out and grabbed her breast, Draper said.

The nurse pushed Manning away and moved to the other side of the wheelchair, Draper said. She reported the incident to police, who arrested Manning on suspicion of felony forcible sexual abuse.

He was being held in the Weber County jail.

Manning pleaded guilty in February 2008 to shoplifting, a class B misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a year of probation that included classes at New Horizons, a mental health and substance abuse treatment center. In June, Manning pleaded guilty to criminal mischief, also a class B misdemeanor. He was sentenced to fines and a year of probation, which he allegedly violated -- a judge issued a warrant for his arrest Sept. 14, court records show.

Draper said it's unclear whether the woman in labor was married to Manning or if she was a girlfriend. She gave birth to the baby after Manning's arrest.

"Obviously, he wasn't there for the birth of the child," Draper said.

Oklahoma man charged in reported harmonica attack 
 
A Broken Arrow man is facing the music after being accused of beating his roommate on the head with a harmonica.

According to Decai Liu’s arrest report, his roommate was in the bathroom getting ready for work when Liu burst in and started beating him with the instrument.

Liu, 52, was charged Thursday with assault with a dangerous weapon in the attack last Saturday in the 4500 block of West Norman Street in Broken Arrow, court records show.

When officers arrived about 9:30 a.m., the roommate was covered in blood from cuts on his head and face. Medics took him to St. Francis Hospital, the report states.

Police tried to arrest Liu, but he allegedly resisted and head-butted one of the officers. They eventually subdued him with pepper spray, according to the report.

Liu’s roommate told police that “I don’t know what his problem was,” the report indicates.

In addition to the felony assault charge, prosecutors also filed charges of resisting an officer and assaulting an officer, according to court records. Liu is being held at the Tulsa Jail in lieu of $6,500 bail.

Officers took the harmonica as evidence

Charges filed against Wisconsin woman who stripped to avoid arrest

A 36-year-old Sheboygan woman is facing numerous charges after police say she stripped in front her children in an attempt to avoid arrest and later kicked a police officer in the groin and exposed herself in the window of a squad car.

The incidents occurred as police tried to arrest Julia E. Laack for stealing beef jerky and a lighter from a Sheboygan gas station, according to a criminal complaint. Laack — who according to online court records has no criminal record in Wisconsin — had a blood-alcohol level of 0.112 at the time, a preliminary breath test showed.

Laack, of 1603 S. 13th St., is charged with felony battery of a peace officer and misdemeanor retail theft, resisting an officer and two counts of disorderly conduct. The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years behind bars, if she is convicted on all counts.

According to the complaint:

Surveillance video showed Laack stash a bag of beef jerky in her purse at Tidy Car, 810 N. 14th St., as she shopped with her husband and two children on Thursday. As the group checked out, Laack also grabbed a lighter and shoved it down the back of her pants.

When police came to Laack’s home about 4 p.m., she refused to come to the door and began screaming and swearing at three children in the house. She told a teenager that the incident was all his fault, said she was going to “beat his … (butt)” and began shoving him.

Police then entered the home and tried to calm Laack down. With her children in the room, she stripped down to her underwear and told police they couldn’t arrest her because she was going to be naked.

Laack then tried to punch an officer and was forced to the ground. Officers had gotten a handcuff on one wrist when she turned around and kicked an officer in the groin.

Police put a spit hood on Laack when she continued to kick and bite at officers, but she manipulated it and spit into the mouth of a female officer who had re-dressed her. While in the squad car on the way to the police department, Laack exposed her butt against the rear window and told the female officer her children are going to die.

McRage over wrong size french fries.

QUINCY — .The cashier gave them a small french fries, not a large. For most McDonald’s customers, a forgivable mistake. Not for these two, police said.

The man and woman turned violent, hurling coins and plastic safety cones at cashiers in the North Quincy restaurant, injuring one, police said. The incident Tuesday night was the second assault on fast food employees in less than a week on the South Shore.

Christina Galipeau, 22, of 70 Bay State Road, and Eugene Jackson, 33, of Dorchester, pleaded innocent on Wednesday to assault charges at their arraignment in Quincy District Court.

Judge Kevin O’Dea released Galipeau on her own recognizance and ordered a $1,000 bail for Jackson, who was wanted on two warrants issued in other courts in drug and assault cases.

O’Dea ordered Galipeau and Jackson to stay out of the McDonald’s at 275 Hancock St. and to make no contact with the cashiers.

When police were called at 11:23 p.m., Jackson, Galipeau and her sister had already left in their car.

A cashier who took their order told police that when Galipeau complained of getting the wrong size fries, she gave her a large fries and handed her change. The women exchanged words, and the cashier said Galipeau threw the change at her, hitting her in the face.

Jackson picked up a two-foot tall cone from the mopped floor and hurled it at the cashier and another employee, a 54-year-old woman, police said.

In the parking lot, Jackson allegedly threw another plastic cone at the second cashier, who had run outside to write down their license plate number. The second cashier was struck in the face, leaving a cut on her nose.

The first cashier and Galipeau fought and pulled each other’s hair before the altercation ended, according to the report.

Quincy police traced the car to Galipeau’s home and officers arrived as the trio pulled up to the house.

Jackson was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (plastic cone) and giving false information to a police officer. Galipeau was charged with assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot).

Last Thursday, a couple apparently upset that their food order was slow in arriving, allegedly punched and kicked another customer at the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Norwell. Jared Garfagna, 31, and Sara Mohn, 24, both of Marshfield, allegedly yelled profanities at restaurant employees and attacked another man who asked them to stop because children were in line.

Garfagna and Mohn were each charged with assault.

For the busy executive -- an anti-H1N1 suit

For the executive who doesn't have time to come down with the flu, a Japanese company has invented a new form of protection -- the anti-H1N1 suit.

Menswear company Haruyama Trading claims the suit can protect wearers from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, as it is coated with titanium dioxide, a chemical commonly used in toothpaste and cosmetics and that breaks down when reacting with light, supposedly killing the virus upon contact.

Shinto Hirata, vice director of merchandising at Haruyama, says the suit is proven to kill 40 percent of the latest flu virus in about three hours and will retain its protective capability even after being washed several times.

"If a person with the flu virus coughs, it might get on someone else's suit and from there, another person might get infected," he told Reuters Television.

"Small children might catch the virus after touching their father's suit. We came up with this idea to protect all businessmen and their families."

The suit was developed after joint research by several companies including Haruyama and Gaea, which specialises in anti-bacterial and deodorising coatings.

Gaea has been using its own method for over 10 years to coat various fabrics, including anti-flu face masks, towels and physicians apparels, which are widely available.

Despite the new layer of protection, the suit seems fairly similar to others worn by Japanese white-collar workers. It comes in four colours and styles and costs around $590 (372.12 pounds).

"I bought this suit to protect my new-born baby at home. My wife is worried about the swine flu as well," said one buyer, 32-year-old Japanese businessman Eiji Hiratsuka.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 340,000 people have been infected with H1N1 worldwide and the disease is responsible for 4,100 deaths.

Swedes quash lesbian town rumour

Swedish tourism officials are struggling to quash rumours in China that the country is home to a women-only town where residents are desperate for men.

Several Chinese media outlets have published reports claiming that 25,000 women live together in Chako Paul City, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Millions of Chinese men have since searched the internet for more details of the city, said to have been founded by a man-hating widow in the forests of northern Sweden in 1820.

According to the rumours, the residents have turned to same-sex relationships to satisfy their desires, and any men attempting to gain entry risk being "beaten half to death" by the blonde sentries at the gates.

The far-fetched fantasy appears to have been swallowed by so many Chinese men that Swedish officials have issued a formal denial that the town exists, or ever existed.

"I have no idea where something like this could have come from," Claes Bertilson, of the Scandinavian country's Association of Local Authorities and Regions, told The Local newspaper.

"At 25,000 residents, the town would be one of the largest in northern Sweden, and I find it hard to believe that you could keep something like that a secret for more than 150 years."

The mythical town has reportedly been mentioned in stories on the Xinhua and Harbin News news agencies and featured in a segment produced by the Shanghai Media Group.

It is unclear where the story originated, although officials have suggested that a publicity stunt by the northern Swedish town of Palaja in the 1980s may have been lost in translation.

The male-dominated town arranged for busloads of women to be driven through in an effort to attract more female residents.

Naked Slidell burglar identified by police

A naked burglar who made himself a meal and showered inside a Slidell home on Monday has been identified as a Luling man who may have been suffering from a medical problem during the bizarre break-in, authorities said Wednesday.

The man, whose name has not yet been released by authorities, has been in touch with police to discuss turning himself in, Slidell Police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said. Family members contacted police after seeing the man's picture in media reports on the incident, and they were able to put officers in touch with the suspect, Foltz said.

While police are making arrangements for the man to turn himself in, it is unclear if he will be booked with a crime, Foltz said. Police were told that the man was suffering from a medical condition related to his diabetes at the time of the break-in that may have influenced his actions, he said.

Tampa police say man took kids to drug deal, hid cocaine in his buttocks

TAMPA — Police say a 30-year-old man took his children with him to a cocaine deal Friday night and then tried to hide the drugs in his buttocks.

About 10:40 p.m., police used an informer to set up a drug buy with Leroy Filmore at the Oasis Motel, 6720 N Nebraska Ave.

When he arrived in the parking lot, officers boxed in his car.

Police said Filmore then tried to hide drugs inside his buttocks. When officers strip-searched him, they say they found 14 grams of cocaine in a plastic bag.

Filmore, 3624 E Powhatan Ave., was arrested on charges of cocaine possession with intent to sell. He remains at the Hillsborough County Jail without bail.

His children were left in the custody of their grandmother, and police contacted the Department of Children and Families to investigate.

Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan apologizes for off-color bar talk caught on tape, posted on YouTube

More than 6,500 people have already watched the YouTube video — posted on Tuesday evening by a user named "MrMeyerjoe" — of Ryan talking in a bar about his sister-in-law's looks and sexual abilities.

The video was the topic of talk radio programs across the state, and media from across eastern Wisconsin showed up Thursday for a news conference Ryan gave to apologize to the community.

Ryan also is facing a sexual harassment complaint from the city's former human resources director, whom he fired in August.

"Over the past 48 hours, multiple events have put my reputation and my personal lifestyle in question," he said. "This situation has made it quite obvious to me that it is time to choose between my personal lifestyle and the job of running this city, and I choose the job."

He said he plans to hire a medical professional "to guide me through my personal life to make sure that I'm heading in the right direction," but he refused to say if that will be specifically related to alcohol use.

Asked if he has a drinking problem, Ryan said, "No, I do not."

The few city and county leaders who would speak publicly Thursday voiced support of Ryan, praising his work during five months as mayor. They hope, albeit with some uncertainty, that public attention will return to his political agenda.

Ald. Bill Wangemann, also a city historian who has been a public employee since 1963, called the video "character assassination."

"I don't give it much credibility. … We don't know who took it, or where it was taken, or when it was taken," Wangemann said.

That kind of video can be very damaging for a politician, though, said Bruce Browne, an English and communication arts professor at the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan and adviser to the student newspaper.

"I think the truth of the matter is that this can carry a political sledgehammer, simply because this kind of media can easily go viral," he said.

"If it's on YouTube today, it may well be on Jon Stewart tomorrow, and it may well be all over the blogosphere after that. The speed with which these things go is so much accelerated that this can get out of hand."

Ryan said the two-minute video was shot in July without his knowledge. Wisconsin statues require that only one person in a conversation know that exchange is being recorded.

He said he learned of the video Wednesday but has not seen it. In an interview on WHBL-AM radio, he said there are "probably" additional videos out there and urged anyone who has them to release them now and "get it over with."

Northern Idaho woman mistakes own hearing aid for candy

Here’s a cautionary tale for those tempted to dip into the Halloween candy early.

Not one to wait until the last minute, Violet Bishop has already purchased goodies to dispense to trick-or-treaters.

Well, the other night the 87-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident was about to watch “Dancing With the Stars.” And she wanted a snack.

“I was lying there and decided that a sweet morsel of chocolate would be rather gratifying,” she said.

So she went to the kitchen and got a small box of Milk Duds from her Halloween stash.

“I took the box with me and went back to my bedroom.”

Keeping an eye on her TV, she got on her bed.

“I reached for my Milk Duds box and poured a couple of morsels in my hand and threw them back and started to munch.”

So far, so good.

“As I enjoyed the chocolate and caramel taste, it appeared that one of my Milk Duds was not as fresh as the others. One was rather crunchy and I could not get it to soften up, no matter how hard I tried.”

The transplanted Texan was puzzled.

Finally, she removed the dud Dud from her mouth. She wanted to see what the problem was.

“I found out.”

Apparently, as she had shifted into position on the bed, a hearing aid had fallen out of her ear and dropped right into the little box of candies.

She couldn’t have done that on purpose if she had tried.

The hearing aid was now coated with chocolaty goodness. Fortunately, it wasn’t destroyed nor was there any dental damage.

It cost Bishop $199 to get it cleaned up and made ship-shape again. But she learned her lesson.

“As much as I love my Halloween candy, I’ll be sure to notice what I’m eating.”

Pictures prompt charge of abuse of corpse

A funeral director at Earthman Funeral Home has been charged with abuse of a corpse after investigators found digital photos dating back five years of the director posing with his penis touching the feet of a nude female cadaver.

According to court documents, James Howard Patton, 38, is free on a $1,500 bond after being charged with a class A misdemeanor.

An investigator with the Houston Police Department was looking into allegations of Internet harassment lodged against Patton by his ex-girlfriend when an April 2 search warrant turned up several photos on Patton's computer.

It was unclear from court documents whether there was more than one corpse and one incident.

Lisa Marshall, a spokeswoman for Earthman's parent company, Service Corporation International, said the photos recovered from Patton's computer were taken in 2004, before he was employed by Earthman at 8303 Katy Freeway.

She said Patton was taken out of service when the allegations surfaced and no longer works for the funeral home.

“These are very disturbing allegations,” Marshall said. “I hope people understand that this incident is unusual and is not indicative of what we're like as an industry.”

Patton could not immediately be reached for comment.

Angry Taco Bell customer shoots at restaurant employees
 
A Taco Bell customer, angry that workers wouldn't serve him during a late-night food run, fired at employees early Tuesday as they left the Miami restaurant.

A woman was hit in the leg and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in good condition.

It all started about 3:40 a.m., when the man pulled up to the drive-thru window at the Taco Bell at 630 NE 79th St., police said.

He waited to order, but employees told him the store was closed. He demanded food, and when he was told once again that they were not open, he got angry, police said.

The man, said to be in his 20s and driving a white SUV, then went to the front of the store. A manager again told him he had to leave.

``He purposely waited in the parking lot until employees exited the store, at which point he started to discharge his weapon,'' said Willie Moreno, a Miami police spokesman.

Sex toy case doesn't pique high court interest

The U.S. Supreme Court wants no part of slippery sex toys.

The justices today turned away an appeal from two Florida men who sought a patent on a “lubricious” sexual device made from a material similar to Corning Inc.’s Pyrex. A federal appeals court rejected the patent, saying it didn’t cover a genuine innovation.

Floridians Steven D. Ritchie and H. David Reynard, owners of Know Mind Enterprises, argued unsuccessfully that borosilicate glass had been around for more than a century before anyone thought to use it in a sexual device. Traditional glass sex toys use soda-lime, the most common form of glass.

Glass with boron oxide is smoother than soda-lime glass. That means it becomes slippery with less lubricant, according to the lower court decision.

The high court rebuff is a victory for Vast Resources Inc., which sells sexual devices under the name Topco Sales. Ritchie and Reynard sued the company for patent infringement in 2006.

The justices made no comment, rejecting the appeal as part of a list of orders released today in Washington.

Monroe woman killed by pet black bear

A Monroe County woman was attacked and killed by her pet black bear Sunday evening while trying to clean the animal's cage, state police at Lehighton and the Pennsylvania Game Commission said.

Kelly Ann Walz, 37, of the 7200 block of Dogwood Lane, Ross Township, was mauled to death about 5 p.m. by the 350-pound bear, state police said.

Walz kept the bear inside a 15-by-15 foot steel and concrete cage near her residence, said Tim Conway, information education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Northeast region.

Conway said Walz threw a shovelful of dog food to one side of the cage to distract the bear while she cleaned the other side of the cage. At some point, he said, the bear turned on her and attacked.

Conway said the bear was shot and killed. No information was available Sunday about who shot the bear.

''These animals, even though they may be very docile one day, you never know,'' Conway said. ''They are wild animals and they're very powerful and they could easily destroy your day.''

Conway said he believed Walz had owned the bear since 2000, making it about 9 years old. Conway said she also owns a Bengal tiger and an African lion.

''I don't know what makes an individual want to have a pet or animal like this in captivity,'' he said. ''I just don't.''

Conway said he believed all of the animals were licensed with the Game Commission, as required by law. He said that while bear attacks in captivity are rare, they do happen each year across the country.

''People make mistakes,'' he said.

An investigation into the bear attack is continuing, state police said. The Monroe County coroner could not be reached Sunday for comment.

Alabama woman lets daughter ride in box on top of van
        
ALBERTVILLE, Ala. – An Alabama woman has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after police say she let her daughter ride in a cardboard box on top of their van. Albertville Police spokesman Sgt. Jamie Smith said the 37-year-old woman was arrested Sunday after police received a call about a minivan on a state highway with a child riding on top.

Smith said the woman told police the box was too big to go inside the van, and that her daughter was inside the box to hold it down.

Smith said the mother told officers it was safe because she had the box secured to the van with a clothes hanger.

The 13-year-old daughter wasn't harmed and was turned over to a relative. A jail worker said the mother was out on bond Monday.

Police: Massachusetts Couple Beats Man at KFC Over Slow Order

NORWELL, Mass. —  A couple, upset over the slowness of their Kentucky Fried Chicken order, assaulted a man who asked them to stop yelling profanities for the sake of children in line, police said.

Police said the couple was arrested Thursday after witnesses told police the couple beat the man as he was leaving the fast food joint.

According to police, 31-year-old Jared Garfagna, of Marshfield, punched the man in the head, then Garfagna's girlfriend, 24-year-old Sara Mohn, kicked the victim.

Mohn was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Garfagna will be summonsed to court for assault and battery. It's unclear if either have hired an attorney.

The victim had cuts on his eyelid and wrists but refused medical treatment.

Dead Nerd Uses Converted Computer for Coffin

The cremated remains of a man who died of a smoking-related illness have been placed in a hollowed-out computer by his family, who thought it would be a fitting memorial for the self-proclaimed nerd. No word on whether the computer urn is running Linux.

The deceased's brother hatched the unusual memorial after his brother, Alan, "left for that great data bank in the sky." He removed the hard drive and power supply from a classic SPARCstation computer from the 1990s and affixed it with a plaque bearing his brother's name and the dates of his birth and death.

And just when you think it couldn't get any nerdier, take a close look at the epitaph from "Star Trek": "Beam me up, Scotty, I'm done here." It's a phrase that Alan reportedly said shortly before passing away.

"The case worked quite well at his memorial party," the brother wrote in an email to the techie site Slashdot. "His friends and family were able to leave their final good-byes on post-it notes. Anyone who wanted to keep their words private could just slip their note into the case through the floppy slot."

No joke: UF officials remove zombie plan from site

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida's response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday the university removed a link to a disaster recovery exercise, which detailed how the school could respond to an outbreak of the undead. The link was taken down late Thursday afternoon.

Orlando says officials felt the joke "didn't really belong" on the site, which also included plans for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out the university's response to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning."

Orlando says the employee who wrote the gag wasn't punished.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida's response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday the university removed a link to a disaster recovery exercise, which detailed how the school could respond to an outbreak of the undead. The link was taken down late Thursday afternoon.

Orlando says officials felt the joke "didn't really belong" on the site, which also included plans for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out the university's response to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning."

Orlando says the employee who wrote the gag wasn't punished.

Woman throws table leg through window, chokes boyfriend when he won't buy her more Natural Ice beer, police say

FORT PIERCE, FL. — A woman accused of throwing a table leg through the window of her home after her boyfriend refused to buy more beer faces a felony charge, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

The boyfriend told police Tuesday night his long-time live-in girlfriend, Andrea Elizabeth Bathgate, got angry because the beer supply was exhausted and asked him to purchase more.

The affidavit gave this account:

The boyfriend, said Bathgate, 31, had been imbibing Natural Ice beer, described in the affidavit as “an economy brand high-alcohol beer beverage,” all day. The boyfriend didn’t want to buy her any more because she was “aggressive” when intoxicated. The boyfriend told Bathgate she needed to stop drinking, and refused to buy more beer. She cursed at him repeatedly, he told police.

The boyfriend told Bathgate to leave and that he’d leave if she wouldn’t. Bathgate allegedly tried to choke him before putting a “boxcutter razor” in her purse and walking out.

She broke a leg off a table outside and “threw the hard missile through a window of the residence, causing deadly shards of glass to be forcefully launched into the occupied residence,” the affidavit states.

Bathgate was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge and a felony charge of throwing a missile into a dwelling.

Florida college ready for flesh-eating zombie attack

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No one expects a zombie apocalypse. But the University of Florida is making sure officials are ready for a night of the living dead, just in case. The school has a plan for responding to the undead on its Web site among outlines for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out how university officials would respond to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning."

A University of Florida spokesman says the exercise was written by an employee at the school's academic technology office to "add a little bit of levity" to disaster preparation discussions.

Council slammed for over-50s sex guide

Council officials in Manchester have been criticised for spending £8,000 of taxpayers' money on a sex guide for the over-50s.

The illustrated 47-page booklet offers tips for those seeking to spice up their marriage or looking for new love after divorce.

It contains tips on how to use a condom, discover your erotic side and combat impotency problems, reports the Daily Mail.

Critics say that, instead of paying for a sex guide, the council should concentrate on improving routine services such as schools, rubbish collection and public amenities.

Tory MP Ann Widdecombe said: "I think this guide is an incredible waste of money. If someone hasn't learnt how to have sex by the time they have turned 50 then a booklet is certainly not going to help."

The booklet is based on information gleaned from focus groups for the over-50s. It includes real-life experiences and information provided by pensioners celebrating their sex lives.

One, called Pam, 68, writes: "We're more experienced, more mature and more confident and we're able to talk about what we want which makes us better lovers."

Martin Rathfelder, 57, of patient watchdog Manchester LINK, said he was 'all in favour' of the guide which could teach his generation things they didn't know.

He said: "For some of us the world's changed since we were boys and girls - for example there was no HIV when I was young.

"It's important there isn't a taboo over this. Some of us do foolish things and might not feel entirely at ease if we're the oldest person in the sexual health clinic."

Goodwill employees show true meaning of 'goodwill'

MARSHFIELD, WI. -- A recent pair of old shoes donated to the Marshfield Goodwill smelled like cold, hard cash.

And it's left two employees at the store surprised nearly two weeks after finding about $13,000 tucked under a pair of old dress shoes, and returning it to its original owner.

The box had come in with a normal delivery of used goods, but as Jerry Schmitz, 30, and Len Nyen, 55, unpacked the shoes -- each pair is taken out of boxes and bound by rubber bands -- they came across crisp $100 bills, all from 1981, packed in a small yellow envelope.

"My mind kind of went blank for a couple minutes," said Schmitz of Spencer, who has worked as a donation attendant since June. "And I didn't really know what to think. I guess I was in a state of shock, you know."

It would have been easy to pocket the money, but Nyen and Schmitz took the box to their manager, Dan Linzmeier, a move he said didn't surprise him -- though the contents did.

"I was thinking I was going to find one of three things," Linzmeier said. He's seen everything from dead animals to handguns.

Linzmeier, who has worked for Goodwill for about five years, said on a weekly basis employees might find enough loose change or $1 bills that add up to no more than $20.

The money has been returned to its owner thanks to a little investigative work. Using receipts that were in the shoebox, the men traced the information to a receipt they had written for the donor.

The woman, who does not want to be named, said in a press release that her husband, now in a nursing home, grew up during the Depression and always kept some money at home. She never knew about the $13,000, and said he must have forgotten about it.

Getting the money back to the woman was "amazing," the men said. The woman met them in person, Nyen said, so she can say 'hi' if she ever sees them around town. She also gave them a "generous reward," he said.

"My partner and I both worked Friday and the following Saturday," Nyen, of Marshfield said. "The Saturday morning I said, 'How do you feel?' He said, 'I feel good.' I said, 'I feel good, too.'"

Schmitz said there was never a thought of keeping the money for themselves.

"I knew it wasn't mine," he said. "And if I would've lost that kind of money I would hope someone would be trustworthy (enough) to give it back."

Goldfish ends up as food after fight over jewelry

A Pasadena woman angered when her former common-law husband took back jewelry he'd given her returned the gesture, police said, taking goldfish from his apartment —  then ate them.

The two had argued over jewelry he had given her but then took back, Pasadena Police Department spokesman Vance Mitchell said. When the man refused to return the jewelry, she took seven goldfish from his west Pasadena home in the 1100 block of Queens Road to her apartment, Mitchell said. The man called police.

Officers went to the woman's home to see if they could retrieve the fish.

“She said, ‘They're in there,' and pointed to the kitchen,” Mitchell said.

Finding a plate with four fried fish, officers asked where the others were. The woman answered, “I already ate those,” Mitchell said.

Because the fish were bought when the couple lived together, they were considered community property, he said.

“There was nothing we could do,” Mitchell said. “If he wants to pursue it, it's a civil case.”

Martin County homeowner says suspect covered in feces jumped into pool

MARTIN COUNTY, FL. — A nude man covered in feces broke into someone’s backyard and jumped into the pool Saturday, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office report.

Robert Stark Higgins, 21, of the 5300 block of Southeast Dell Street, Stuart, was charged with burglary to an occupied dwelling, disorderly conduct and misdemeanor theft. He was being held at the Martin County Jail in lieu of $10,500 bail.

A resident in the 9000 block of Southeast Nero Street told deputies he heard Higgins crash through the screen of his pool and take a splash about 9 p.m. Saturday. The resident recognized Higgins as someone he had seen in the neighborhood, the arrest affidavit said. Higgins took a towel and fled, the report said.

Deputies used a K-9 to track Higgins to a home in the 9000 block of Athena Street. Higgins told deputies he had been drinking beer and vodka, according to the affidavit.

Norwalk psychic charged with lying about Greenwich Avenue attack

GREENWICH -- Despite her intuitive powers, psychic Janet Lee probably did not see an arrest in her future, especially justweeks after alleging she was the victim of an assault outside her store on Greenwich Avenue.

However, the self-proclaimed "foremost psychic in New England" was arrested by Greenwich police over the weekend afterdetectives said she lied about being attacked in town by rival psychics over the summer.

Lee, 35, of 143 Wolfpit Ave., Norwalk, was charged Saturday with falsely reporting an incident, interfering with anofficer and providing a false statement after turning herself in to police on an arrest warrant.

Lee called police on July 11 from Greenwich Hospital to report she had been beaten by a man outside her office at 16Greenwich Ave. around midnight. Police said Lee walked herself to the hospital after the alleged attack.

Four days before the attack, Lee also contacted Norwalk police to report that she had been receiving threatening phonemessages pertaining to her business and her son.

However, Detective Robert A. Brown Jr., who investigated the case, said he did not believe Lee was attacked outside heroffice in town. Brown said he believes Lee may have been assaulted by someone she knew in Norwalk.

"There were numerous inconsistencies with her story and her timeframe," said Brown. "This, more than likely, happened inNorwalk because the evidence shows she was in Norwalk during the timeframe it had taken place.

Brown said he did not know what Lee's motive might be.Norwalk police did not comment Monday on whether they were still investigating any of Lee's claims.

Lee's attorney, Mark Sherman, said despite the arrest, the psychic was sticking by her story that rival psychics wereresponsible for the assault and harassing messages. Lee said in July she had heard of another psychic coming to town, but did not know any further information about them.

"She still maintains that this assault is somehow connected to a rival psychic business," said Sherman. "We have themedical reports from Greenwich Hospital to substantiate all the claims."

Lee said in July that the man attacked her with his fists, telling her he was going to kill her and leaving her with ablack eye and a cut on her face. Police said there was no video footage outside Lee's store during the time frame she saidshe was attacked.

Lee says she has a large clientele and describes herself as a "life coach."

Sherman said he felt the latest charges against Lee were "absurd." "Janet is a highly regarded psychic who specializes in predicting the future, not fabricating the past," Sherman said.

Lee is scheduled to be arraigned in state Superior Court in Stamford on Oct. 7.

Pennsylvania teen uses fork, cookie cutter to brand friend

NEW SALEM, Pa. – State police have charged a southwestern Pennsylvania teen with branding a friend using heated metal objects because the boys thought it was "cool." Trooper James Pierce, of the Uniontown Barracks, says Tuesday he filed one count of illegal tattooing and body piercing against a 15-year-old New Salem boy with Fayette County juvenile probation officials.

Pierce said the suspect branded his friend, a 15-year-old boy from Uniontown, by heating a fork, key ring, cross, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, and a crucifix over several hours on Sept. 19-20. The brands were on the second boy's arms, shoulder and chest.

Pierce said the boys "thought it was cool" but the victim's parents didn't and alerted authorities.

The boys are not being identified because of their age.

Woman files paternity claims against six prisoners

A pregnant woman has filed paternity claims against six separate inmates of a Romanian prison.

Mum-to-be Raluca Dionescu from Iasi says any one of the convicts she met while working part-time at the jail could be the father.

The prisoners - aged between 24 and 35 - will have to submit to blood and DNA tests.

Dionescu, who was employed as a cleaner at the prison near Iasi, admitted she had enjoyed steamy sessions with the inmates in the prison's laundry room.

She said: "I couldn't resist some of the men. I didn't think of them as criminals or the crimes that they committed.

"What I want now though is to find out which one is the father of my child. I don't know what will happen after that though, whether I, or the father, will want to bring up the child together."

Homeless Georgia sex offenders directed to woods

MARIETTA, Ga. — A small group of homeless sex offenders have been ordered to move from a makeshift camp in a densely wooded area behind a suburban office park.

The sex offenders had been directed to the camp by probation officers. The officers said it was a location of last resort for the sex offenders who are barred from living in many areas by one of the nation's toughest sex offender policies.

Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren said the decision to make the sex offenders move was made by the Georgia Department of Transportation — the owner of the property.

Warren said he did not know where the sex offenders would go next.

Gas Station Owner Explains "Big Fat" Gaffe

SACRAMENTO, CA - The owner of an AM/PM gas station explained Monday what led to an incident that offended one of his customers.

Lou Saechou told News10 he regretted the words used by a clerk to identify Helen Hodges in a note to a fellow clerk following a mix-up at a gas pump last week, but said the clerk had few options.

The incident happened Thursday night at the station on Marconi Avenue at the Capital City Freeway.

Hodges, 31, bought $10 worth of gas in an automated cash transaction at the pump island but assigned the money to the wrong pump. When Hodges went inside the store to ask for a refund, the clerk told her she needed to fill out a form with her name, address and phone number.

"He told me it would take two weeks to get my money," Hodges recalled. She demanded a cash refund and left the store to run an errand to allow the clerk time to find the money.

When Hodges returned a short time later, a second clerk handed her a $10 bill with a receipt attached. On the receipt, the first clerk had written "black lady big fat."

"I'd like to apologize," Saechou told News10. "We're sorry she saw the note." Saechou said the clerk did the best he could without the identifying information he had asked Hodges to provide.

"It says 'black lady,' and I can understand that because I am a black lady," Hodges told News10. "But I don't get 'big fat.' I don't get that part."

Hodges said the clerk could have used a description of her car or clothing instead. She said it was her 6-year-old son who noticed the slight, which hurt even more.

Saechou called Hodges Monday to offer the clerk's side of the story. Hodges later told News10 she wasn't satisfied with the explanation because it didn't sound like a sincere apology.

"The lesson they should learn is my money helps run that store," Hodges said. "And I won't be going back."

Two injured in series of crashes on Appleton's north side

Authorities found no immediate answers as to what led an Appleton man through a series of four Sunday crashes within seven minutes along County OO.

Investigation is ongoing into the crashes that began at about 3:45 p.m. near County A. The driver, Kiriko T. Masasi, 23, struck a guardrail there before hitting two vehicles at the Bennett Street intersection. Masasi’s eastbound vehicle finally came to rest in the westbound lanes after a head-on collision with three other cars east of Richmond Street.

The distance covered about four miles. Masasi remained in critical condition at Neenah’s Theda Clark Medical Center today.

Lt. Nick Scorcio of the Wisconsin State Patrol said alcohol is a potential factor given the erratic nature of Masasi’s driving, though he declined to discuss any specific evidence of intoxication.

“When you look at the type of driving, certainly that’s something we’re going to look at,” Scorcio said, “but similarly, you sometimes see drivers having a medical condition.”

No citations have yet been issued, nor referrals for prosecution.

Witnesses told police Masasi’s vehicle was “flying” down County OO while approaching Richmond Street.

Masasi struck a traffic standard in the center median at the intersection before crossing into the opposite lanes of travel.

Two of those drivers escaped without injury. A 4-year-old passenger in one of the vehicles also was not injured.

Holly Jerrett, 29, of Appleton — the driver of the third vehicle — sustained serious, but not life-threatening injuries. She was listed in good condition at Theda Clark today.

Those in the vehicles struck at Bennett Street weren’t injured.

Investigation could take significant time.

Scorcio had no information on Masasi’s speeds.

Each of the four crashes will be investigated separately with priority placed on the collisions east of Richmond Street, he said.

Firefighters accidentally run over victim they were sent to help

ST. PETERSBURG — The callers to 911 Thursday afternoon said there was a man bleeding from the face near the fire station. Two firefighters piled into Rescue 5 to go help him. They opened the garage bay door, turned on the emergency lights and pulled forward.

Then they heard a "thump."

The firefighters accidentally ran over the very person they were sent to help.

"They never even saw him," said St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata.

Authorities said the man who was run over is Ted Allen Lenox, a 41-year-old homeless man. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was at Bayfront Medical Center Thursday night.

Alcohol was a factor, according to a St. Petersburg police report, which was not specific.

The accident took place about 3:45 p.m. outside Master Fire Station 1 at 400 Dr. Martin Luther King St. S. The facility houses St. Petersburg Fire Rescue's headquarters and two fire companies.

Lenox was struck as he lay outside garage bays on the north side of the building. Vehicles coming out of those bays exit onto Fourth Avenue S.

According to police and fire officials, Emergency Medical Technician Jason Springer, 36, climbed into the driver's seat of Rescue 5. Paramedic David Bucholz, 32, rode shotgun.

But neither apparently knew that Lenox was lying just 2 to 3 feet in front of Rescue 5's bay, authorities said.

It was unclear Thursday whether the 911 callers said how close Lenox was to the station, and if they did, whether that information was relayed to the crew.

"Neither Springer or Bucholz saw, or could have seen, Lenox in the position he had placed himself in," the police report states.

The vehicle that ran over him is a Ford F-650, a 10-ton truck with a boxy rear bay used to store medical equipment and treat patients. The vehicle sits high.

"They couldn't see him in front of the truck," said Lt. Granata. "You can't see the ground."

Rescue 5's front wheels didn't hit Lenox, but the undercarriage caught and rolled him. The crew stopped after they felt the truck's rear tires roll over his legs.

He was pinned underneath. Firefighters raised the vehicle, pulled the injured man out and treated him. His condition was unavailable Thursday.

Lenox often hung around downtown, police said. His family could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The firefighters involved in the accident remain on duty, Granata said.

He wished that the crew would have been told prior to leaving the station that the man was right at the foot of the garage.

"We would have just walked out the door and looked," he said.

Pilot arrested on suspicion of flying plane over ex-girlfriend's house

CONCORD — A local pilot suspected of harassing his former girlfriend for more than a year was arrested Wednesday evening on suspicion of felony stalking and violating a restraining order after he flew a plane low over the woman's house, police said.

Tom Huey of Concord was taken into custody shortly after landing his Beech single-engine plane at Buchanan Field Airport at 6:40 p.m.

According to Sgt. Tiffiny Leftwich, police were waiting for Huey after they received a dozen complaints from residents around the Canterbury Village neighborhood that a small plane was flying low over their homes.

Leftwich said the pilot's target for harassment was his ex-girlfriend, who lives near the area.

"It began back in April of 2008," Leftwich said. "That's when our investigation started."

Reports of a low-flying plane circling residential homes in Concord stopped for several months after July 2008. But the complaints resumed earlier this month.

The alleged harassment against Huey's ex-girlfriend then took a new turn last week when several leaflets — which included racial slurs and identified a female resident by name — were found near her home. Police at the time were unable to confirm the leaflets were dropped from a plane.

Huey's ex-girlfriend had filed a restraining order against him in July 2008 but was unable to serve him until Wednesday afternoon. That is when two members of the Concord Police Department

met Huey at the Concord airport and served him with the papers ordering him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend.

Leftwich said Huey gave no indication he would act out once receiving the restraining order and even told officers his plane, which he usually housed in a hangar at the airport, was down for repairs.

Reports of a low-flying plane started coming in a few hours later. The community blog Claycord.com alerted its readers, several of whom live in the Canterbury Village area, to capture the plane on film and contact the FAA.

After eight passes over the neighborhood and 12 complaints made to the police, the plane landed and police were waiting.

Huey was booked at County Jail in Martinez and his bail was set at $155,000.

Giant baby draws spectators to Indonesian hospital

KISARAN, Indonesia – Indonesia's heaviest-ever newborn drew curious crowds Friday to a hospital where the boy named Akbar — or the Great in Arabic — came into the world at a record 19.2 pounds (8.7 kilograms).

Akbar Risuddin was born to a diabetic mother in a 40-minute cesarean delivery that was complicated because of his unusual weight and size, Dr. Binsar Sitanggang said.

"I'm very happy that my baby and his mother are in good health," father Muhammad Hasanuddin said Friday. "I hope I can afford to feed the baby enough, because he needs more milk than other babies."

Crowds pushed to get a peek of the extraordinary boy, who measured nearly 24 inches (62 centimeters) when he was born Monday, at the Abdul Manan hospital in the northern town of Kisaran on the island of Sumatra.

"This is fantastic," Dewi Miranti, a mother from a nearby village, said as she peered through a window with about a hundred other people. "He looks very well and is cute."

The baby's extreme weight was the result of excessive glucose from his mother during pregnancy, Dr. Sitanggang said.

"He is greedy and has a strong appetite, nursing almost nonstop," the doctor said.

The boy was the third child of Hasanuddin, 50, and mother Ani, 41, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name. His two "little" brothers weighed 11.6 pounds (5.3 kilograms) and 9.9 pounds (4.5 kilograms) at birth.

The former Indonesian record holder was a 14.7-pound (6.7-kilogram) baby boy born on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta, in 2007.

Guinness World Records cites the heaviest baby as being born in the U.S. in 1879, weighing 23.75 pounds (10.4 kilograms). However, it died 11 hours after birth. The book also cites 22.5-pound (10.2-kilogram) babies born in Italy in 1955 and in South Africa in 1982.

Rescue Team Uses Saw to Free Trapped Penis

It's unlikely anybody on the Costa Mesa Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team signed up for this.

The highly trained team usually responds to calls involving people trapped in structures and vehicles. On Tuesday, squad members responded to a trapped penis.

In an ill-conceived attempt to increase the size of his member, a man placed his penis through the "hole of a steel, ring-shaped dumbbell weight fastener," according to the Daily Pilot. The fasteners are used to secure weight plates on dumbbell bars.

"They said his comment was, 'This will make me the chief of my tribe,'" Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard told the Pilot.

It did -- if becoming chief of the tribe means restricting blood flow and causing one's penis to swell to the point that the device cannot be removed. When he arrived at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, doctors tried to convince the man he needed immediate treatment.

That's where the multi-skilled urban search and rescue team and a surgical saw came in. The Pilot reported that squad members cut through the inch-thick ring -- producing sparks that flew across the room -- during a two-hour process.

"They also slid a little piece of metal between the collar and his thing, so if it slipped past it wouldn’t hit his thing," Broussard told the Pilot.

Keith Jones, deputy fire chief in Costa Mesa, told the OC Register that the man's penis remained fully intact.

Drunk Boris Yeltsin tried to hail taxi in his underpants

Boris Yeltsin got so drunk during a US visit he was found outside the White House in his underpants, trying to hail a taxi as he wanted a pizza.

The following night, a guard mistook him for an intruder after the former Russian president was discovered stumbling drunkenly around the basement of the official visitor's residence.

The embarrassing details about the extent of Mr Yeltsin's drinking habits have been revealed by Bill Clinton, reports the Daily Mail.

The former US president made the disclosures to Taylor Branch, a writer and former flatmate, whom he invited to compile a new 'oral history' of the presidency based on 79 taped interviews.

According to excerpts in USA Today of Branch's new book, the 707-page The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History With the President, Mr Clinton kept the tapes of the interview hidden in his sock drawer.

Mr Branch, however, would make his own tape after each interview in which he would immediately record what Mr Clinton had told him.

Mr Yeltsin was reportedly staying at Blair House, the White House guest residence, in 1995 when the Secret Service discovered him standing alone and barely clothed on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The president, who died two years ago, told them in slurring words that he wanted a pizza, wrote Mr Branch.

Mr Clinton was more coy about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, merely saying he "just cracked" under personal and political pressure.

Mr Branch said he sent his book to Mr Clinton to proof-read but he did not ask for any changes.

 
Store launches underpants for left-handed men

LONDON (Reuters) – A British store is launching a range of underpants for left-handed men, an innovation it says will save them both time and embarrassment in front of the porcelain.

The new range, by UK-based Hom, will have a horizontal opening instead of a vertical slit accessed from the right-hand side, breaking a tradition that has lasted for 75 years.

"In our view, this is a vital step toward equality for left-handed men," said Rob Faucherand of Debenhams store.

Almost 10 percent of British men are believed to be left handed but men's Y-fronted underpants have traditionally had a right-handed opening from the time they were invented in 1935.

"As a result," Debenhams said, "left-handed men have to reach much further into their pants, performing a Z shaped maneuver through two 180 degree angles before achieving the result that right handed men perform with ease."

Previously, it added, boxer shorts, with an adaptable, ambidextrous opening in the middle, have been the underpants of choice for left handed men.

The new pants mean that left handed men can finally go to the bathroom as quickly and efficiently as their right-handed colleagues, the store said.

"Switching the opening from vertical to horizontal may sound like a small step, but it's the major breakthrough that many have been waiting for," added Faucherand.

Men Fight Over Makeup

Police officers were summoned to intervene in a fight that erupted at a Roberts Avenue home Saturday evening after one man applied makeup to another while he was unconscious.

When they arrived on the scene, Lawrenceburg Police Officers met with the twenty-five-year-old victim. He reported that he some others, including his neighbor, had been drinking at his home the previous night. After a while, he said he passed out on the porch. He awakened later, he said, to discover someone had applied makeup to his face, painted his fingernails, and written obscenities all over him.

The victim told the officer that he became angry and when his neighbor came back to his home they became involved in a confrontation. During the ensuing scuffle, he reported that his neighbor punched him in the face a few times. The reporting officer noted, however, “The makeup made it impossible to see if there were any injuries.” The officer noted, however, that he could detect some redness around one eye.

In the end, the officer reports, “Both parties appeared to be intoxicated and were told to stay away from each other.”

Not guilty verdict for woman accused of indecent exposure

AMPORTSMOUTH — A city woman accused of yelling racial slurs at a neighbor and bending over to cover her beagle's waste while naked from the waist down, was found not guilty of indecent exposure and harassment.

A month after Susan Bell, 42, testified in her own defense during a Portsmouth District Court trial, Judge Sawako Gardner issued the not guilty findings without any elaboration.

"Absolutely not," Bell said when asked by her attorney, Robert Watkins, if she was pantless on the February date alleged. "I wouldn't do that even if I was 120 pounds, never mind my weight."

"If Susan Bell was standing outside with only a T-shirt on, I think there would have been more than one complaint," Watkins told the court, noting the single report came from someone with whom Bell had been bickering for some time.

Legal debate focused on the fact that the police complaint alleged Bell exposed her genitals, while the alleged victim previously testified that she saw Bell's buttocks.

"Nothing in the testimony says genitals," Watkins argued.

Bell was also charged with a misdemeanor count of harassment alleging she called the same neighbor vulgar names from her apartment directly below. She disputed that charge by testifying that she was speaking on the telephone at the time and was referring to her African American mother-in-law while invoking the N-word.

"I was arrested for using the N-word which is a violation of her civil rights, if she was black, but she isn't," Bell testified. "It wasn't to her, about her, it had nothing to do with her whatsoever."

Reward offered in case of duct-taped cat

A $1,000 reward is being offered for the conviction of whoever body-wrapped a cat in duct tape and abandoned it in a North Philadelphia yard.

Only its head was uncovered.

"Whoever did this is very sick," said George Bengal, director investigations for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is headquartered in North Philadelphia.

"I've never seen a cat totally wrapped like a mummy before," he told 6ABC.

A resident of the 2200 block of Edgley Street found the cat yesterday afternoon.

"It's a damn shame," Irissa Torian told CBS3.

The female cat - nicknamed "Sticky" by workers at the PSPCA - was sedated so the tape could be cut away with scissors and saved as evidence.

Afterward, the cat was doing well.

"She's a very friendly little thing," said Gail Luciani, PSCPA spokeswoman. ". . . She was purring while we were preparing to take the tape off, while we were getting her sedated."

"We're lucky that the tape was not on the cat for a long time. It came off easily," she said.

"I don't have an estimate of how old she is. She is an adult," she added.

Missouri man shoots himself in the head while teaching firearms safety

An Imperial, MO. man is dead after accidentally shooting himself in the head while teaching his girlfriend firearms safety.

Sheriff Glenn Boyer said that on Friday, deputies responded to 4307 Rock Valley Court in Imperial for a shooting. Investigators found 40-year-old James Looney with a gunshot wound to the head.

According to witnesses, Looney was demonstrating how to use the different safety mechanisms on several guns to his girlfriend. The witnesses said Looney would put the guns to his head, and before pulling the trigger, would ask her if she thought the gun would go off. With the first two guns, the safety mechanisms worked. The third gun fired.

Looney was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next morning.

According to witnesses, Looney was going to take his girlfriend to the shooting range the next day, but insisted on the lesson on firearm safety the day before.

Deputies believe alcohol was involved.

Mass. postal worker admits to stealing 30,000 DVDs

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A former postal service employee has pleaded guilty to stealing more than 30,000 DVDs that moved through a western Massachusetts post office.

Myles Weathers, formerly of Springfield, took DVDs that were mailed by Netflix to customers for a year beginning in January 2007.

Federal prosecutors say the movie rental company alerted Springfield post office officials that a suspiciously high number of DVDs were disappearing. As many as 100 movies a week were disappearing.

Weathers was arrested in February 2008 after investigators filmed him taking DVDs from packages and slipping them into his backpack.

He faces 10 months to 16 months in prison and restitution costs of about $38,000 at his Dec. 23 sentencing.

Weathers' attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

No curvy mannequins in shop windows

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iranian police warned shopkeepers Tuesday not to use mannequins without headscarves or which exposed body curves, official news agency IRNA reported.

"Using unusual mannequins exposing the body curves and with the heads without Hijabs (Muslim veil) are prohibited to be used in the shops," Iran's moral security police in charge of Islamic dress codes said in a statement carried by IRNA.

Iranian police have stepped up a crackdown on both women and men, boutiques and small companies which fail to enforce strict religious dress codes since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in 2005.

The measures are the latest in a country-wide campaign against Western cultural influences in the Islamic Republic, where strict dress codes are enforced.

"Both showing necktie and bowtie behind the windows ... and (the) selling (of) women's underwear by men are prohibited," said the police statement.

In the past, crackdowns tended to be launched at the start of Iran's hot summers and petered out soon after. But last year they extended into winter and included a drive against tight women's trousers and even men with spiky "Western" hairstyles.

Those who violate dress codes are usually cautioned on a first offence, sometimes after a brief visit to a police station. But they can be detained for longer, taken to court and required to have "guidance classes" after repeat offences.

Dress codes are most often flouted in wealthier, urban areas. Conservative dress is the norm in poorer, rural areas.

Merced police used Taser on unarmed, legless man in a wheelchair

The Merced Police Department's Internal Affairs Division is investigating a complaint alleging that an officer twice used a Taser against an unarmed, wheelchair-bound man with no legs.

The incident occurred Sept. 11.

The man who was Tasered, 40-year-old Gregory Williams, a double-leg amputee, spent six days in jail on suspicion of domestic violence and resisting arrest, although the Merced County District Attorney's Office hasn't filed charges in the case.

Williams, who was released from jail Friday, said he was violently manhandled and Tasered by police, even though he claims he was never physically aggressive toward the officers or resisted arrest.

Even worse for him, Williams says he was publicly humiliated after his pants fell down during the incident. The officers allegedly left him outdoors in broad daylight, handcuffed on the pavement, nude below the waist. Williams said the arrest also left him with an injured shoulder, limiting his mobility in his wheelchair.

And although the two lead arresting officers are white, and Williams is black, it remains unknown whether race was a factor in the incident. Those two officers remain on duty.

Williams said the officers never used any racial epithets toward him. Although he does believe race and class played a role in his arrest, he also feels the police just wanted to be "downright nasty" to him. "They did what they did because they can get away with it," he said. "They've been doing it so long, it doesn't matter who they do it to. They just think they can get away with it."

A handful of residents who live in Williams' apartment complex claim they witnessed the incident and support Williams' charges. A short video clip, shot by a neighbor in the complex and obtained by the Sun-Star, clearly shows Williams sitting on the pavement with his pants down, his hands cuffed behind his back.

A Merced police report obtained by the Sun-Star tells a somewhat different story from that of Williams. The report, written by the responding officers, suggests that police had tried to reason with Williams before the arrest, to no avail. The officers wrote in the report that Williams was uncooperative and refused to turn over his 2-year-old daughter to Merced County Child Protective Services, among other allegations.

In the report, police also say a hostile crowd had gathered as the officers attempted to perform their duties.

The Merced Police Department's spokesman officially declined to comment on the matter, saying he can't legally speak about it because of the internal investigation.

The Sun-Star interviewed Williams and several neighbors who said they witnessed his arrest.

Laundry dilemma: Homeless man charged with indecent exposure, pants in the wash

A homeless man was arrested in East Naples on Saturday after deputies say he was sitting outside a coin-operated laundry with no pants on, claiming it was because the pants were being cleaned inside.

James T. Lowe, 59, was arrested by Collier County Sheriff’s deputies at 6000 Radio Road and charged with indecent exposure in public, trespassing, having an open container of alcohol in a public area and resisting an officer without violence.

The report indicates that Lowe had been removed from the property and charged with trespassing once before, and had returned, so the deputy made contact with an employee at the Naples Meat Shop. That employee, whose name was crossed out, told deputies Lowe sits outside the shop and harasses customers, asking for money.

Another witness, whose name was also removed from the report, told deputies that she walked out of the Circle K gas station next door and passed Lowe, who lifted up one of his legs as she walked by, exposing his genitalia to her. She said he was not wearing any pants.

Arresting Deputy Jeffrey S. Magner reported making contact with Lowe while he sat against the window of the laundromat at 6000 Radio Road, and states he was wearing a jean jacket around his waist, but no pants. However, the report notes, "it was not completely covering his genitalia. At this time, there were several adults and small children walking around the plaza and in and out of the coin-operated laundry."

According to the report, he told deputies his pants and personal belongings were in the coin-operated laundry being cleaned, explaining why he had no pants on.

The report further states that Lowe appeared impaired, and had a plastic mug with a "Bud Light" logo on the ground next to him, filled with a partially-consumed substance that smelled like alcohol. While taking him into custody, the report states, deputies also found a baggie of white pills on Lowe, but were unable to identify them through poison control.

The report states that Lowe attempted to walk away from officers while they were trying to handcuff him, resulting in the resisting arrest charge.

World's hairiest man to undergo surgery

The world's hairiest man is to undergo plastic surgery after failing to win a part in a television drama.

Yu Zhenghuan, 32, has 96% of his body covered with a thick layer of black hair, reports Zhejiang Online.

He was confident of landing a lead role in a production of Chinese classic Journey to the West which tells how a monkey helps his Buddhist master.

"I thought I was the best candidate, as I look like a monkey and my nickname is Monkey Man," said Yu.

"I read through the book and found professional hair dressers to make me into a real monkey man. But I failed the audition because I am not good looking enough.

"I am going to have surgery to get rid of the hair and facial plastic surgery to make myself look more like a pretty monkey, and let the director regret his decision."

Zheng Quan, president of the hospital, said Yu probably suffered from hirsutism, a disease caused by a hormonal imbalance.

He says that it will take three to five sessions of treatment to remove Yu's body hair, then a course of plastic surgery to enlarge his eyes, and reduce the size of his nose and lips.

Yu first found fame aged just seven when he was a child star in a movie entitled Monkey Boy's Treasure Safari.

"I love acting but a lot of people believe I only got success because of my thick hair, which is not true. I just want to prove to them that I have talent and I don't need this hair to be someone," he said.

Did lawyer crash courthouse groundbreaking photo?

The row of shovel-wielding dignitaries at the groundbreaking for Austin's new federal courthouse this month included members of Congress, federal judges and others with a hand in planning and funding the $100 million-plus project.

At the end of the row was George Lobb.

It's not clear how Lobb, a 31-year-old lawyer who sometimes practices in federal court, got there. But there he was, wearing a gray suit, a hard hat and a wide grin for the cameras.

"The night after the groundbreaking, I was watching the news and I saw a shot of the group. I was like, 'What the hell was he doing in there?' " said U.S. Magistrate Judge Andy Austin. "It was almost like this Forrest Gump thing."

Austin said he was more "confused and mystified" than angry.

Reached by phone this week and asked how he ended up in the shot, Lobb went silent, then said he would call back a reporter later in the day. He never did and failed to return follow-up phone messages.

According to the State Bar of Texas, Lobb went to law school at the University of Houston and was licensed to practice law in May 2008. Austin said he has been court-appointed on a handful of criminal cases in federal court. State court records show he has about a dozen clients with pending criminal cases, mostly misdemeanors.

The Sept. 2 groundbreaking was attended by perhaps a couple of hundred people, including Austin City Council members, the police chief and assistant U.S. attorneys. After a series of speeches under a tent set up on San Antonio Street next to Republic Square Park, the dignitaries moved to the block of land to the west, the site of the future courthouse.

Lobb brought his own shovel to the event, which he had painted orange and white, and at one point asked Austin and other judges to sign it, Austin said.

When Shala Geer-Smith, a spokeswoman for the General Services Administration who was helping organize the event, spotted Lobb lining up for the photo with the shovel, she handed him one of the gold-painted ceremonial shovels, Austin said.

"She didn't know who it was and didn't want to risk offending him by asking," Austin said.

When the group lined up for pictures, Lobb took his place to the far right.

"I was annoyed that he did it," Austin said. "It's going to be the photograph that you kind of look back on. ... The groundbreaking is kind of the singular event when you recognize all that work you have done getting up to that point."

This week, Austin alerted the General Services Administration officials that Lobb may have taken a ceremonial shovel from the event. They called Federal Protective Service officials, who apparently have retrieved it, Austin said.

"This guy had nothing to do with the courthouse," he said.

Krazy Glue victim gets probation

A Fond du Lac woman who allegedly aided in a revenge scheme that involved gluing her husband's penis to his stomach sat behind him in court Thursday and requested no jail time on criminal charges he was facing.

Fond du Lac County Circuit Court Judge Richard Nuss ordered a withheld sentence for Donessa T. Davis Sr., 37, of Fond du Lac, and placed him on probation for two years on two counts of misdemeanor battery.

Davis became known worldwide at the end of July when his wife, Tracy Hood-Davis, and three other women were accused of seeking revenge for his cheating ways.

In the criminal complaint, Davis was originally accused of stealing his wife's father's ashes, threatening to kill her and hitting a child.

A felony charge of child abuse was amended to the two misdemeanors, and charges of theft and domestic abuse-related harassment and telephone harassment were dismissed and read into the court record.

Davis, who pleaded no contest to the charges, spent 44 days in the Fond du Lac County Jail after Hood-Davis contacted police about the allegations.

The criminal complaint alleges Davis left numerous threatening voicemails and text messages on Hood-Davis' phone.

A portion of the complaint reads: "… She received a message from Donessa indicating that he had Tracy's father's ashes and that if he did not receive a call from Tracy, then every hour he was going to pour a cup of Tracy's father's ashes out."

Public Defender Margaret Vinz noted the charge of child abuse is an isolated incident, and Fond du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Devra Ayala said Hood-Davis relayed no fear of Davis.

The sentence was a joint recommendation by the attorneys.

Hood-Davis stood up in court and requested that Nuss not order any additional jail time, noting the need for child support.

"The kids have been separated from their dad for over a month and a half," an emotional Hood-Davis said. "The kids want him home. And he needs to be out to pay child support to help support the family."

Nuss ordered that Davis have no violent contact with Hood-Davis and no unsupervised contact with his children until his probation agent deems it OK.

If Davis violates his probation, he faces a potential of one year and six months in jail.

Davis, who was calm in the courtroom despite numerous camera crews positioned behind him, took time to choose his words for the judge.

"I feel horrible about what had taken place," Davis said. "It was unfortunate and I regret it. … It is something that will never happen again."

Nuss said he agreed the charges of battery were an isolated incident and noted that Davis does not have an extensive criminal background.

In the revenge incident, Therese A. Ziemann of Menasha allegedly lured Davis into a Stockbridge motel room and persuaded him to allow her to tie him up. After he was restrained, she brought in Tracy Hood-Davis of Fond du Lac, Wendy L. Sewell of Kaukauna and Michelle M. Belliveau of Neenah, according to the criminal complaint.

Ziemann allegedly cut off his underwear, slapped him and used Krazy Glue to glue his penis to his abdomen, the complaint states.

Ziemann is charged with being party to the crime of false imprisonment, fourth-degree sexual assault and battery.

The other women still have pending Calumet County cases on one count of party to the crime of false imprisonment.

Unfaithful woman seeks 2nd chance by wearing sign

SANDUSKY, Ohio – An Ohio woman who said she was unfaithful has chosen a very public way of asking her boyfriend not to break up their engagement. Jess Duttry, 19, stood outside a supermarket parking lot in northern Ohio this week with a handwritten sign that said "I cheated" and "Honk if I deserve a second chance." On the back, Duttry had scrawled, "I honestly love him."

She said she choose to stage her vigil Wednesday evening after her fiance took back his ring earlier that day when she confessed she'd cheated on him this summer.

It's not clear if he saw the message, but Duttry said dozens of people honked, and some got out of their cars to hug her and wish her well.

West Virginia man impersonated governor to steal info

HINTON, W.Va. — Bad grammar and spelling tripped up a man who was trying to steal Social Security numbers and other information from jobseekers by impersonating West Virginia's governor, police said.

Matthew Don Reed of Hinton is being held on $10,000 bond on charges of impersonating a public official, impersonating a state Division of Natural Resources officer and forgery of a public document. A call to the 32-year-old's attorney was not immediately returned.

Reed told people he met online that he was a Division of Natural Resources officer and persuaded them to submit job applications with copies of their birth certificates and other information, State Police Sgt. T.L. Bragg told The Register-Herald.

Then he hired a Chicago man to send letters to people interested in jobs. That man got suspicious and called state officials after Reed gave him a letter purportedly from Gov. Joe Manchin to send to an applicant.

It lacked the governor's seal and was riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors.

"It's nice to have you as an employee of West Virginia," the letter said. "Your super (boss) Matt talk a lot of thangs about you. I hope you stay with us a long time. If you got ? please ask Matt."

Investigators are also looking into whether Reed solicited applications for fake state police jobs. Police are still investigating whether he used any personal information from applicants.
 

Notre Dame catering employee's thrill from big tip turns into fear

SOUTH BEND — Talk about a big tip.

Earlier this year, a former catering employee at the University of Notre Dame mistakenly was paid more than her share of a gratuity — about $29,000 more.

Instead of returning the money, a recent lawsuit filed by the university alleges that Sara Gaspar spent the extra cash on bills and a new car. Now, the college wants its money back.

 Gaspar, meanwhile, says she tried to alert the university about the large sum that showed up in her bank account, but that when her messages weren't returned, she decided it was meant to be.

"I guess because it was there and I was in a bad situation, I went out and spent it," Gaspar said when reached by phone.

A spokesman for Notre Dame on Tuesday said officials could not comment on the case because it was a pending legal matter.

Gaspar, 47, started working for the university's catering department, Catering By Design, in January, according to court documents.

On April 17, the employee was to be paid a gratuity of $29.87, but because of a "mistake," court documents say a total of $29,387 was deposited into her account.

Although, the lawsuit claims Gaspar never notified the university about the inappropriate gratuity, Gaspar insists she did.

The woman says she called the university at least three times, saying, "I think there's a problem."

But Gaspar says catering officials told her there was no mistake and that supervisors told her only that they would pass the message on to the human resources department.

When she didn't hear back, Gaspar said she assumed the gratuity was intentional. After years of medical problems and hard times, she believed she was finally catching a break.

"I was so excited," Gaspar said. "I thought, I could pay some of these bills."

The former employee has also since contacted an attorney and says she was told that because the money was under "gratuity" and not "wages" that she was entitled to it.

The enormous tip indeed went toward medical bills and a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta, Gaspar said.

It wasn't until May that university officials discovered the mistake and contacted Gaspar, according to court documents. Notre Dame is now seeking repayment of the $29,387 plus attorney fees and other court expenses.

However, Gaspar says there is no money to be collected. It's all gone.

"I don't have anything," she says.

Gaspar was fired from her job with the catering department after the university found the tip blunder. She now works part time at a local restaurant, while living with her mother in Granger.

The thrill of the big tip has now turned to fear.

"How am I ever going to win against them?" she says. "Nobody wants to take this case."

Cops: Son traded dad's Lincoln for crack

A man who traded his father's Lincoln for $50 in crack was arrested Wednesday, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office says.

Deputies went just after 4 a.m. to the 5000 block of South Geneva Avenue, where the 74-year-old man said his 39-year-old son had taken his car.

Deputies were still at the home when the son walked up the street, sheriff's spokesman Chris Curtice said. They learned that the son had traded the car for drugs near G Street in downtown Fresno. Deputies saw the car near Ventura Avenue and G and tried to pull it over, but the driver ran from the car, which was still rolling. He was caught after a foot chase, but the Lincoln struck two parked cars.

The son was booked on suspicion of vehicle theft. The other man was booked on suspicion of evading an officer and resisting arrest.

Shoplifter claims to be governor's wife

A woman who stole fuel and a bag of Cheetos from a Pooler convenience store claimed she was the wife of Gov. Sonny Perdue when confronted by a clerk, according to police.

The female suspect pumped a little more than 15 gallons of gas, worth $37, into a white Ford Explorer at the Clyde's Market on U.S. 80 near Pooler Parkway shortly after noon Friday, according to a report of the incident.

She then went inside, picked up the Cheetos bag and offered a check and debit card, but both payment modes were declined, police reported.

The clerk asked how the customer would pay, to which the woman "said she was the governor's wife," and "then started to whisper into her phone, stating she was talking to the FBI," according to the incident report.

The woman then collected her purse from the counter and the Cheetos - valued at $1.29 - before driving off, police reported.

Based on a description given by the clerk, officers later tracked a possible suspect to a residence not far from the gas station, but it was not immediately clear if an arrest had been made.

Cops: Woman spanked stranger's child

OVER-THE-RHINE – A woman took a stranger’s toddler son over her knee and spanked him three times inside a Salvation Army store on Clay Street after he said something that annoyed her, police said Wednesday.

Gloria Ballard was arrested on an assault charge in the Tuesday incident. In a court appearance Wednesday, she asked for a public defender and a not guilty plea was entered for her. She was also ordered to stay away from 2-year-old Sean Goode and his mother, Donnay Jones.

Outside court, Ballard denied wrongdoing and said she gave the boy a hug and gently patted his backside because he was upset.

Jones said her son got spanked after Ballard told her she should make him behave.
“She was basically trying to tell me what to do with my son,” Jones told WLWT-TV. She told Ballard she would handle her own business and son. Then, she said, Ballard took Sean from her and spanked him, causing him to cry.

“I was shocked,” Jones told WCPO-TV on Wednesday.

Ballard, 43, faces a charge that carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. She said she is a mother and grandmother who was just trying to help.

“And I got this,” Ballard said, while holding a paper that described the charge.

Man charged with 5th DWI for scooter-on-interchange incident

Daniel Samplanski, 35, of Milwaukee was charged Tuesday with drunken driving on a three-wheeled electric scooter - in the middle of the Marquette Interchange.

How does one drive a piece of health care equipment onto the ramp from southbound I-43 to eastbound I-794? According to the criminal complaint, Samplanski was too drunk to say. When sheriff's deputies stopped him at 2:24 a.m. Friday, he said the scooter belonged to a neighbor and he had taken it to a bar earlier in the evening. He also admitted drinking a 12-pack of beer.

"I got confused. I'm drunk. What am I doing on the (expletive) freeway? I am trying get off," he told deputies, who recorded the stop on video.

The complaint states Samplanski has at least four prior alcohol-related driving convictions in the past 10 years. If convicted in the scooter outing, he faces up to six years in prison. His blood was drawn at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, but the complaint does not indicate his blood-alcohol concentration.

Camera used to catch alleged urine culprit

A 51-year-old Edison man who had allegedly relieved himself multiple times since June inside the elevators of two medical buildings was arrested last week, police said.

Antonio Vega, 51, was caught on tape after repeated dousings of the elevator floor, door, and carpet prompted a police investigation complete with digital video surveillance.

Vega, a laboratory service representative, would be inside buildings 7 and 11 on Schalks Crossing Road to pick up blood and urine samples and transport them to the lab he works for, police said.

Investigators gave no motive for Vega's alleged actions, which garnered him a charge of criminal mischief and a $2,000 elevator repair bill.

Sharbell Development Corp., which owns the buildings, began noticing what appeared to them to be urine inside the elevators several months ago.

"It appeared as if someone was urinating in the corner of the door, down the inside of the elevator, on the flooring and carpet and into the tracks of the door," a press release from the police department said. "The cleaning crews cleaned out the urine each time."

Police said the company filed a complaint in August and an investigation began. Officer Bruce Stankiewicz would go to the area and elevators at various times, but he was unable to locate a suspect, police said.

Stankiewicz's investigation sustained several near misses, with the officer arriving to find urine already in the elevator. Police said they later determined that the failure to locate a suspect initially was due to an error in the time that the earliest incidents were reported.

Detective Eric Potts was brought on the case, and was able to employ a motion detector pinpoint camera and miniature Digital Video Recorder to monitor activity in the elevator. Police said that, over three days, a man later identified as Vega was observed heeding nature's call.

Potts finally confronted Vega last Thursday as Vega left the building and placed him under arrest. Vega was later released on his own recognizance.

 
Woman, 107, seeks 23rd husband

A 107-year-old Malaysian woman is looking for her 23rd husband - because she fears her marriage is on the rocks.

Wook Kundor married a man 70 years her junior four years ago, reports the BBC.

But now she fears her husband will not return home after completing treatment for drug addiction in Kuala Lumpur.

She told reporters she felt "lonely" without her husband, ahead of the Muslim feast at the end of Ramadan.

Wook Kundor, of Kuala Terengganu state, plans to visit her husband, Muhammad Noor Che Musa, if her neighbours would drive her to the capital.

She said she would re-consider her plans if the 37-year-old told her he still had feelings for her.

Speaking to The Star newspaper in Malaysia she said: "Lately, there is this kind of insecurity in me.

"I realise I am an aged woman... My intention to re-marry is to fill my forlornness, and nothing more than that."

Her husband, who used to be her lodger, had previously said it was "God's will" that he fell in love with her.


Couple robbed while inside dumpster

WICHITA — A man and woman decided to give the phrase "dumpster diving" a new twist over the weekend, crawling inside one on North Waco so they could be alone.

But while they were engaged in what Wichita police described as "an intimate moment," they were robbed by a man armed with a pocket knife.

It all unfolded shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday in the 700 block of North Waco, police said, when the man and woman, both 44, crawled into a dumpster for privacy.

A short time later, a 59-year-old man and his 64-year-old companion interrupted the couple inside the dumpster.

With the older man encouraging him, the 59-year-old man pulled out a pocket knife and took shoes, jewelry and the 44-year-old man's wallet.

Police were notified, and officers found the two suspects a short time later. The stolen property was recovered.
 

Lawsuit over mock holdup

On the day before Christmas 2007, a masked gunman entered a health-center pharmacy and demanded OxyContin, according to a lawsuit filed in Burlington County.

Pharmacy technician Babette Perry of Mount Laurel said the man burst in and told her he was holding another worker hostage, according to her account of that day.

Perry, 46, says she tried to call for assistance but the phone wasn't working.

"Ms. Perry believed that the gunman was capable of shooting her or holding her hostage," according to the lawsuit, filed last month.

Afterward, Perry found out the incident had been staged. The "hostage," Polly Costantini, director of human resources at the Hampton Behavioral Health Center, told her it was a safety drill designed by Hampton and its parent company, Universal Health Services Inc. of King of Prussia, the lawsuit states.

Hampton and Universal are named as defendants in the suit.

The gunman was an employee of the company, and a decoy had been set up on the phone to thwart Perry's call for help, according to the suit.

Matthew Klein, general counsel for Universal Health Services, refused to comment on the case. Perry's attorneys could not be reached.

According to the lawsuit, Perry was never told she would be subjected to such a drill and was not trained to handle such a situation.

Babette Perry could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit.

Since the staged holdup, the lawsuit states, Perry has been seeing a therapist, has suffered from insomnia, and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

She stayed home from work on the anniversary of the drill and has been prescribed medication for depression, anxiety, and panic disorder, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit charges Hampton and Universal with assault, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Alabama boy fakes kidnapping to hide bad grades

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – An 11-year-old boy gets high marks in storytelling after staging a hoax to cover up his bad grades. Police said the boy faked his kidnapping Friday to avoid bringing home a bad report card, saying that a man with a pistol snatched him after he left Ed White Middle School. The boy said the man forced him into a "beat-up car" and threatened to kill him.

The student said he escaped by jumping out of the car but wasn't able to grab his bookbag, which contained the report card.

He ran to his grandparents' house and later confessed to lying. His grandfather called police to apologize.

Sgt. Mark Roberts said police were suspicious that the boy was able to "escape" with his band instrument, but not his bookbag.

Roberts said the boy faces no charges at this time.
 

Plush gig? Not always -- costume character jobs can pack wallop

They get kicked, punched, groped and cursed at during the course of their normal workdays — and that's usually just from the kids.

Workers in character costumes at theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and SeaWorld, and at restaurants in Orlando's tourist corridor, often discount the indignities and injuries associated with their jobs and uncomfortable outfits.

Costumed characters were back in the public eye after prosecutors recently found a Pennsylvania man guilty of groping a Disney employee portraying Minnie Mouse at the Magic Kingdom. He told investigators that he was just having fun and meant no harm.

This was the second time the same employee had been molested by a guest. In 2002, she was playing Mickey Mouse when, authorities say, a mentally ill man who was obsessed with Disney characters put his arm around her and made sexually suggestive movements. The man was found incompetent to stand trial and the charges — battery and lewdness — were eventually dismissed.

Although current costumed employees at area theme parks declined to share their stories, former workers, including some who played chain-saw killers and Chuck E. Cheese, shared the ups and downs behind the disguises.

'Blanketed in this suit'

"It's a lot like being a mime, because you have to exaggerate what you're doing," said Kelly Frank, a former Disney and Universal costumed character who now runs her own mascot-costume business. "You're blanketed in this suit that covers your emotions and a lot of what you're doing."

Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez said the company's theme parks employ more than 2,000 costumed workers. Tom Schroder of Universal Studios declined to disclose the number of costumed employees because the company does not "traditionally break out employees by their type of work," he wrote in an e-mail to the Orlando Sentinel.

Frank recalls most of the fun of performing as a costumed character happened backstage — away from the guests.

'Mickey, Mickey! ... Minnie?'

One of her most colorful stories is about the break-room interaction between a young child and performer dressed as Sorcerer Mickey.

The boy cried "Mickey, Mickey!" and ran to embrace the character, but he accidentally grabbed the young woman's chest inside the costume, Frank said. The child responded with a confused, "Minnie?"

In an e-mail to the Sentinel, Suarez wrote that "in order to protect the [Disney] magic" she could not comment about the construction of character costumes.

But performers who wore similar costumes described their limitations under the heavy suits.

Casey Rivers, who now lives near Fort Drum, N.Y., said having her vision impaired by the large, stiff head of her Chuck E. Cheese outfit made an awkward situation worse when a child shoved her down a stairwell at a Portland, Ore., restaurant about 18 years ago.

Fall 'a horrendous thing'

Not only could she not see or regain her balance, but as she tumbled down the steps, the giant smiling mouse's head popped off and rolled down the stairs.

"Kids were screaming, 'Chuck E. Cheese is a girl!'" said Rivers, who almost two decades later laughs about the incident. Other nearby children were horrified, though.

"It traumatized a lot of kids," she said. "I know that some of those little girls — one was about 3 — well, it was a horrendous thing."

Theme-park characters — whether scary or sporting permanent smiles — can incite strong reactions from guests.

Most trouble 'in good fun'

Josh Adelman, who played a chain-saw-wielding killer with scary makeup at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights in 2003, remembers when startled park guests attacked him.

Despite the scuffle, he didn't hold the guests' behavior against them.

"Ninety-five percent of the time, it's all in good fun," Adelman said.

He followed the company's protocol for handling the awkward situation: "Don't fight back, and go to the nearest [supervisor] to point them out," he said.

Adelman thinks of the stint as one of his favorite jobs.

When he wasn't onstage, Adelman and his fellow ghouls watched scary movies — "for inspiration, I guess" — and ate lots of candy, he said.

Payoff: 'Ecstatic child'

In spite of the heat, abuse and the occasional character's head popping off, most former performers said they'd work as characters again — or recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, short-term job.

Donna-Lynne Dalton, business agent for Teamsters Local 385, which represents characters, laundry workers, parking attendants and ranch hands, performed as a costumed character at Walt Disney World for nine years and misses the rush.

"There's nothing like that genuinely ecstatic child that is so excited to see you," Dalton said. "At that point [all the discomfort] doesn't matter anymore."

Most Popular costumed characters at Orlando theme parks:

•Mickey Mouse

•Minnie Mouse

•Pluto

• Goofy

• Donald Duck

•Daisy Duck

• Winnie the Pooh

•Tigger

•Chip and Dale

• Homer Simpson

•Marge Simpson

•Scooby-Doo

•Curious George

• Spider-Man

•Popeye

•Betty Boop

•Shamu

In-Store Porn Leads To Arrests

Two 20-year-old men were arrested Wednesday in connection with playing a pornographic DVD at a local Walmart on store display televisions, police said.

Cody Allen Sexton, 20, and Kenny Dean Andrews, 20, of Muldrow were booked into the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center on a felony obscenity complaint, according to jail records.

“They thought they were just pulling a prank,” said Sgt. Levi Risley of the Fort Smith Police Department.

Sexton and Andrews — an employee of the store — allegedly removed a promotional DVD from a DVD player built into a display in the furniture aisle at Walmart, 8301 Rogers Ave., at about 10:45 p.m. Sept. 3, according to police reports.

The DVD player was connected to six televisions in the store.

“The pornographic DVD was visible to the general public as they were shopping,” according to a police report.

Eventually, a customer notified a manager and the DVD was removed from the player, according to the police report.

Authorities released the store surveillance video to KFSM Channel 5 to air on the Crime Stoppers segment on the 10 p.m. newscast Tuesday and within six minutes of the broadcast, someone called Crime Stoppers with the identity of the two suspects, said Risley.

340 pound Pizza delivery guy gets weight loss surgery at employer's expense  
 
An Indiana court has ruled that a pizza shop must pay for a 340-pound employee's weight-loss surgery to ensure the success of another operation for a back injury he suffered at work -- raising concern among businesses bracing for more such claims.

The Indiana Court of Appeals decision, coupled with a recent Oregon court ruling, could make employers think twice before hiring workers with health conditions that might cost their companies thousands of dollars down the road.

"This kind of situation will happen again . . . and employers are undoubtedly worried about that," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, N.J., an offshoot of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Boston's The Gourmet Pizza must pay for lap-band surgery for Adam Childers, a cook at the store in Schererville, under last month's Indiana ruling that upheld a 4-3 decision by the state's workers' compensation board.

Childers, who was then 25, weighed 340 pounds in March 2007 when he was accidentally struck in the back by a freezer door. Doctors said he needed surgery to ease his severe pain, but that the operation would do him no good unless he first had surgery to reduce his weight, which rose to 380 pounds.

His employer agreed to pay for the back surgery but argued it was not obligated to pay for a weight-loss operation that could cost $20,000 to $25,000 because Childers already was obese before he was hurt.

The board and the court, however, said the surgery was covered because his weight and the accident had combined to create a single injury. They said Boston's didn't present evidence that his weight had been a medical problem before the accident.
Boston's attorney, Kevin Kearney, South Bend, said the company has asked the court to hear the case again.

Tom Lynch, CEO of Lynch, Ryan & Associates, a Wellesley, Mass.-based consulting firm, said the ruling could make employers wary of hiring people who are overweight or have other conditions that might expose them to workplace injury.

"Legally, you cannot refuse to hire this 350-pound person because they're 350 pounds. That's illegal. But you might find some other reason not to hire them," he said.

Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.

Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call-centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000 km underwater fiber optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.

Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.

Ex-deputy given probation for jail-food prank
 
A former Franklin County deputy who was fired for feeding a jail prisoner a tainted sandwich agreed to a plea deal yesterday that places him on probation for five years.

Joseph M. Cantwell, 38, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor health-code violations for giving Joseph Copeland a bologna sandwich that had been rubbed against another prisoner's penis.

In exchange for the guilty pleas, City Prosecutor Lara Baker dropped charges of dereliction of duty and disorderly conduct.

Baker called Cantwell's behavior "grossly inappropriate" for a jail deputy. But Cantwell lost his job and had no previous criminal record, she said.

Franklin County Municipal Judge Harland H. Hale fined Cantwell $500 but suspended a 90-day jail sentence, provided that he complete his probation.

Cantwell, of Park Point Lane in Lewis Center in Delaware County, and another deputy, Phillip Barnett, photographed the sandwich incident in the Downtown jail. Both were fired by Sheriff Jim Karnes in May.

Barnett was not charged with a crime.

Copeland and two other prisoners have sued the county.

"I'm really heartfelt sorry for the shame and embarrassment I caused (to) everyone linked to this incident, especially my fellow deputies and the sheriff," Cantwell said.

Defense attorney Jonathan Tyack said Cantwell has not found another job.

Man nabbed after trying to 'scare' lesson into cat

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A Boynton Beach man was trying to teach his cat a lesson when he fired his gun, but the efforts landed him in jail. Police said a 43-year-old man was upset that his cat used his bed instead of a litter box. So he took the cat to the garage and fired a handgun into a flotation device to "scare it." The cat was not injured, but the man was charged with shooting in an occupied dwelling and using a firearm while under the influence.

He's being held on a $5,000 bond.

The incident "was blown out of proportion and it was a prank, but I also understand why people are upset," Tyack said. "No one was asking for jail time."

Baby born at 9:09 on 9/9/09 weighs 9 lbs, 9 ounces

LA CROSSE, Wis. – No doubt. The nines have it. Chuck Berendes of La Crosse said he will never forget the birthday of this third child, born Wednesday on the ninth day of the nine month in the year 2009. Nor will Berendes and his wife, Polly, forget Henry Michael's arrival time — at 9:09 a.m. by Cesarean section at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center in La Crosse.

But they got the biggest laugh when the newborn was placed on the delivery room scale following his birth. Berendes said it was metric scale so the doctor did the math in his head, but to make sure, he had the nurse also do the conversion. Berendes said they broke into laughter when the nurse told them Henry weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces.
 

Robber returns to ask victim out, police say

Columbus, OH - A man suspected of robbing a North Side woman apparently couldn't resist returning to her home to ask for a date.

Stephfon Bennett, 20, didn't succeed in his quest, authorities say. Bennett is in the Franklin County jail, charged with aggravated robbery. Bond has been set at $100,000.

Daniel Martinez Batista and Diana Martinez were robbed at gunpoint by three men at 10:40 p.m. Saturday in a parking lot outside an apartment on Parkville Court, a Columbus police report said.

The three robbers fled when a neighbor threatened them. Batista's wallet was stolen, and Martinez's purse was taken, the report said.

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 Less than two hours later, one of the three robbers returned to where Martinez lives to ask her out, police said.

"We are not exactly sure what he was thinking at the time," Columbus police Sgt. Shaun Laird told WBNS-TV (Channel 10).

"She recognized him right away when he returned, and was able to have her cousin call 911."

Police arrived within minutes and arrested Bennett.

Police are looking for two other men who they believe participated in the robbery.

Man allegedly flings jellyfish at teens at beach

MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. – A 41-year-old man was arrested on Monday at at Madeira Beach after witnesses said he repeatedly pretended to drown, then allegedly began tossing jellyfish at nearby teenagers. According to a sheriff's office report, Keith Edward Marriott caused "concern for his safety" when he repeatedly submerged himself and floated back to the top of the water. He was also "loud and disruptive."

He then started throwing the sea creatures.

Marriott was arrested and charged with disorderly intoxication and carrying a concealed weapon. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Marriott was carrying a pocketknife in his shorts.

Jail records indicate that Marriott was being held on $250 bond. A message left after-hours at the public defender's office was not immediately returned late Tuesday night.

Aussie toddler 'held ransom' for pizza: report

MELBOURNE (AFP) – An Australian fast food delivery man tried to hold a four-year-old boy hostage as a row over a pizza supreme turned into a Mexicana stand-off, it was reported Wednesday.

The driver seized Darwin woman Lisa Paardekooper's nephew Cain when she refused to pay for the pizza because it was more than an hour late, she told the Northern Territory News.

"He said give me the pizza back or the money," Paardekooper said. "He stuck his hand through the gate and grabbed Cain."

Paardekooper said the driver eventually let the boy go when she raised her fist to him.

The newspaper said police investigated the incident, which occurred last Saturday. The boy's mother, Cindy, said the way the driver treated her child was unacceptable.

"He grabbed my son, four years old... as ransom for the pizza. Grabbing a child, that's child abuse, that's assault," she said.

The delivery driver's employer told the newspaper that the driver still had his job.

"I can't believe he intended to harm the child," restaurant manager Tessie Muscat Couturier said.

Player charged with attempted murder of coach

A 21-year-old man was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting his baseball coach over the weekend because the coach wouldn’t allow him to bat in the game.

Deangelo Williams, of the 10400 block of South State Street, was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree murder, according to a release from police. Williams is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Tuesday morning.

The shooting happened Sunday in Abbott Park about 2:20 p.m. near East 95th Street and South Michigan Avenue, police said.

An adult baseball team called the Chicago Cardinals was scheduled to play two games in the park Sunday, but trouble began after the first game when the team’s coach pulled a pitcher from the game, authorities said.

Williams, who pitched during the first game, took offense when the coach, listed on the Cardinals’ Web site as Glynn Hall, decided to put in another player, according to police.

The pitcher went to fetch a gun and shot the coach four times, police said. The coach was initially taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was listed in good condition.

The Cardinals were playing another adult league team called the Chicago Hit Men when the incident occurred, authorities said.

J.C. McDowell, founder and president of the league, said the incident was "unforeseen."

McDowell said players are chosen by their coaches and usually have a recognized relationship. He said tryouts are initially conducted but there is no way to screen players.

Chicago Cardinals coach Glynn Hall, 44, was resting at his home Monday afternoon after being shot in his back, neck and twice in his arm, according to McDowell.

Hall shared a “father-son” relationship with the suspect, McDowell said. The suspect is a pitcher who had just led his team to a playoff berth in an earlier game.

“Everybody was wondering why they were arguing because nothing should have been wrong,” McDowell said. “We later found out he wanted to bat and Glynn wouldn’t let him because his average was low.”

The 18-and-over league is aimed at keeping young adults off the streets and strengthening their baseball skills, McDowell said.

Half of Brits injured by biscuits

Injuries range from being scalded by hot tea or coffee while dunking to breaking a tooth while eating biscuits, reports the Daily Telegraph.

An estimated 25 million adults have been injured while eating during a tea or coffee break - with at least 500 landing themselves in hospital, the survey found.

The custard cream was found to be the worse offender. It beat the cookie to top a table of 15 generic types of biscuit whose potential dangers were calculated by The Biscuit Injury Threat Evaluation.

Custard creams get a risk rating of 5.63, this compared to 1.16 for Jaffa cakes, which was the safest biscuit of all in the evaluation.

Research company Mindlab International were commissioned by Rocky, a chocolate biscuit bar, to conduct the research.

It found almost a third of adults said they had been splashed or scalded by hot drinks while dunking or trying to fish the remnants of a collapsed digestive.

It also revealed 28 per cent had choked on crumbs while one in 10 had broken a tooth or filling biting a biscuit.

More unusually, three per cent had poked themselves in the eye with a biscuit and seven per cent bitten by a pet or "other wild animal" trying to get their biscuit.

Mindlab International director Dr David Lewis said: "We tested the physical properties of 15 popular types of biscuits, along with aspects of their consumption such as 'dunkability' and crumb dispersal."

Groom fixes teeth to marry dentist's daughter

An Isle of Wight man was told to get his teeth fixed before a dentist would let him marry his daughter.

Gordon Taylor, 32, was told he must have a series of fillings and cosmetic surgery before he could walk down the aisle with Sarah Lewis, 26.

Her father, Dr Philip Lewis, even made him wear a 'snap-on smile' cosmetic denture for the wedding in Cowes.

"I didn't mean to neglect my teeth, I guess it was just the lifestyle I was leading," said Mr Taylor.

"When I met Sarah, I guess her family noticed them more than most because her father is a dentist."

Dr Lewis, 56, admitted he was horrified by the sight of his future son-in-law's teeth.

"The thought of my daughter walking down the aisle to Gordon with his teeth the way they were was not a good one," he said.

Sarah's mother Joy, who works as a receptionist at Dr Lewis's surgery, added: "Gordon is a lovely chap but he had awful teeth, really awful teeth."

And his bride said she was thrilled Mr Taylor had agreed to undergo the dental work to win her hand.

"I will always love him regardless but I know the finished look will certainly please him as well as our family and friends," she said.

Grandma charged in bomb threat

A 51-year-old woman who was barred from visiting her grandchildren at their school is facing a third-degree felony charge after a bomb threat was called in to the Northeast Side campus.

Velma Gladys Brewster was charged with making terroristic threats to Windcrest Elementary School at 465 Faircrest. She was arrested Thursday and released from jail after posting bail. Bond for the third-degree felony charge was set at $10,000.

When staff arrived at school on Thursday, they heard a voicemail message warning of a bomb threat, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant.

Administrators recognized the female voice that left the message – which had been left Wednesday night – as Brewster's, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant.

The trouble with Brewster began the day before, when the school's principal issued a trespass warning after the woman attempted to visit her granddaughters without permission from her daughter, police said. According to the warrant, Brewster was asked to leave the campus after causing a disturbance about 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The threatening message was left at 6:44 p.m. Wednesday, police said, but school employees did not check the voicemail system until about 7 a.m. Thursday.

The threat prompted the school to evacuate up to 678 students and 85 faculty employees, while the Windcrest and North East Independent School District police departments investigated.

The San Antonio Police Department's bomb squad also assisted in a search for explosives, but no suspicious devices were found at the scene.

Fayette County man fires cannonball through neighbor's house

Police said a man in Georges Township, Fayette County, fired a metal cannon that sent a two-pound lead ball into his neighbor's house.

William Edward Maser, 54, fired the cannon in his yard on Tent Church Road Wednesday evening, said Trooper Brian Burden of the Pennsylvania State Police. He said he was not sure how regularly Mr. Maser fired his cannon.

The cannon shot a lead ball through the side of his neighbor's house, breaking a window and traveling through a wall before landing in a clothes closet. No one was injured.

The cannon is an 80-pound homemade replica of cannons used during the French and Indian War. It has been impounded as evidence.

Mr. Maser regularly participates in battle re-enactments, Trooper Burden said.

He has been charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conflict.

'Drunk' Frenchman concedes chess match after dozing off

NEW DELHI (AFP) – A top-rated French chess player had to concede a game at a major tournament when he dozed off during a match after reportedly showing up drunk, local media said on Friday.

Russian-born Vladislav Tkachiev was declared "lost on time" on Thursday after officials at the Kolkata Open Grandmasters found he was unable to continue his game and had to be carried off, the Indian Express said.

"What happened is unfortunate," tournament co-organiser Soumen Majumder told the paper.

"It's in bad taste. Once the event is over, we will hold a meeting and decide how to proceed against this player."

Tkachiev, 35, completed only 15 moves against India's Praveen Kumar in his third-round game lasting over an hour.

"Each time he fell asleep, players around would try to wake him up with a shake of the shoulder," the paper reported alongside photos showing Tkachiev with his head resting on the table.

"Some even offered him water and Tkachiev, having briefly refreshed himself at the change-room while his opponent waited, dozed off again and eventually had to be carried off."

The paper added that chess star Nigel Short of England expressed disgust at the incident, advising the organisers to promptly eject the player from the tournament.

Wife of Japan's New Prime Minister Says She Traveled to Venus in UFO

If men are from Mars, do first ladies visit Venus?

The wife of Japan's incoming prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, claimed in a book called "Most Bizarre Things I've Encountered" that she flew in a UFO to Venus in the 1970s, where she made fast friends with the natives, the Times of London reported.

“While my body was sleeping, I think my spirit flew on a triangular-shaped UFO to Venus,” wrote Miyuki Hatoyama. “It was an extremely beautiful place and was very green.”

The space-bound spouse has also been a musical actress, cookbook writer, designer and TV personality — and says that she was friends long ago with Tom Cruise, whom she knew in a previous life when he was Japanese.

She would be regarded as nutty anywhere in the world, but in Japan’s staid political culture she is unique, the Times reported, embraced as a "tarento" or "talent" — an artist and entertainer who is encouraged to be more flamboyant and colorful than everyone else.

Mrs. Hatoyama began her career in the Takarazuka Revue, a troupe of female singers and dancers who perform romantic musicals for middle-aged Japanese women, the paper reported.
She was living in California with her first husband when she met a young Mr. Hatoyama, who was studying engineering at Stanford University.

Delray Beach man arrested after calling 911 to say he is hungry

DELRAY BEACH - A Delray Beach man was arrested early Wednesday and charged for twice calling 911 to ask for a ride and telling a police officer he was hungry.

Benjamin Dewer, 26, who, according to a police report, was under the influence of alcohol, was charged with making a false 911 call. He placed the call at 1:07 a.m. and police responded to the scene in the 1000 block of South Ocean Boulevard.

When a police officer approached Dewer, who was sitting on the sidewalk, he told the officer: "I need a ride to the park and I am hungry."

Dewer, who the police report lists as unemployed, then walked away and called 911 a second time.

"I need a ride and I am hungry," he told the police officer again.

Dewer is being held in Palm Beach County Jail, with bail set at $1,000.

Fingered protesting: Man bites man  

It has come to this in the health-care debate and protests: A 65-year-old protester has lost his finger on the front lines of the war. It was bitten off.

So goes the tale from KTLA-TV, reporting on an episode of a health-care rally in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where the Ventura County Sheriff got a call Wednesday night.

"About 100 (demonstrators) sponsored by MoveOn.org were having a rally supporting health care reform,'' the station reports, and "a group of anti-health care reform protesters formed across the street. A witness from the scene says a man was walking through the anti-reform group to get to the pro-reform side when he got into an altercation with the 65-year-old, who opposes health care reform.

"The 65-year-old was apparently aggressive and hit the other man, who then retaliated by biting off his attacker's pinky, according to Karoli from DrumsnWhistles.

"The man took his finger and walked to Los Robles hospital.''

For some health care -- that's The Ticket.

Mother Forgives Man Who Allegedly Slapped Her Child

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- A Wal-Mart shopper who became so angry about a crying child that he allegedly slapped the girl in the face appeared in court Wednesday.

Investigators said the incident happened Monday at the Stone Mountain store on Rockbridge Road.

A police report said the man, Roger Stephens, 61, of Stone Mountain, had warned the child’s mother, Sonya Mathews, that if she didn’t quiet down the child, he would do it for her.

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According to the report, after the mother failed to quiet the girl, Stephens came up to them and slapped the child several times in the face. 

The report then quotes Stephens as saying, “See, I told you I would shut her up.”

Mathews then screamed at Stephens and called for security, the report said. Stephens was stopped by another shopper, according to the report.

The girl, identified in the report as Paige Mathews, 2, was not injured, but did suffer some redness in the face. She was treated at the scene and released, the report said.

CBS Atlanta spoke with Mathews by phone Wednesday morning.

She said she forgives the man who slapped her daughter and says he must have mental issues.

Delsey Morone said she'd be the top story at 6 p.m. if someone put his hands on her child.

"I would definitely defend my child. It probably would have turned into an altercation between us both," said Morone.

Stephens was charged with cruelty with children in the first degree, which is a felony. He is being held in the Gwinnett County Detention Center without bond.

Thumbprint rule at Tampa Bank of America stymies armless man trying to cash check

TAMPA — Steve Valdez used one of his prosthetic arms to slip a check to the teller at Bank of America downtown.

"She said, 'Obviously you aren't going to be able to give us a thumbprint,' " Valdez recalled.

The teller went to get the branch manager to find out what to do, Valdez said.

Valdez was born without arms, and this wasn't his first time cashing a check at someone else's bank.

The check was from his wife, so he took it to her bank Thursday, thinking that would make it simple.

Not this time.

He could not understand why his two forms of photo ID were unacceptable.

He said the manager gave him two options: open an account or come back with your wife.

He did neither.

Instead, he went back to his desk at the Hillsborough County Public Works Customer Satisfaction Center, called his wife and told her never to make him go to her bank again.

"There were a few extra expletives," joked the 54-year-old Tampa native and Hillsborough High graduate.

Bank of America spokeswoman Nicole Nastacie said the policy of requiring people who don't have an account at the bank to put a thumbprint on personal or business checks is a decade-old practice instituted to prevent fraud.

Tampa attorney Maureen Deskins has handled more than 10 cases of discrimination against the disabled.

She said under state law, once a disabled person asks a public establishment to alter its rules or guidelines within reason, it's up to the establishment to prove that request is unreasonable.

Deskins said she would need to know more in order to say whether this situation was a violation of the disabilities act. The bank's overall policy determines whether, under the law, Valdez had been treated unfairly.

Even so, Bank of America called Valdez to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused him, Nastacie said.

"We should have offered alternative requirements if an individual is not able to give a thumbprint," she said.

Valdez said that even as representatives were apologizing they were explaining that the branch manager was just following bank policy.

"That's just shocking to me," he said. "This can't have been the first time this has ever come up."

 
Dog given parking ticket

An Australian traffic warden fixed a parking ticket to a dog's lead after it was 'parked' illegally outside a shopping centre.

The dog was tied to a fence outside Darwin's Rapid Creek market when it was approached by two city council traffic wardens, the Northern Territory News reports.

One of the inspectors wrote out a ticket - and taped it to the dog's lead.

Witness Ray McEvoy said he couldn't believe his eyes.

"I watched an elderly lady and her very faithful blue heeler roll up at the market. The lady tied the dog to the fence and gave him a bowl full of water. And off she went into the markets," he said.

"Then two traffic inspectors came along. They had a bit of a talk and, to my amazement, wrote out a warning infringement notice for the dog and taped it to his lead rope."

Council spokesman Grant Fenton said a dog was considered to be "at large" if the owner was not there.

"You can't tie up a dog and leave it," he said.

Women sue plumber who spurred change in indecent exposure law

Two women whose experiences with a Sioux Falls plumber helped close a loophole in South Dakota's indecent exposure laws have sued both him and his former employer.

Char Wollan of Sioux Falls and Tammy Vink of Tea both say an employee of Hander Inc. Plumbing and Heating named Troy Smykle purposely exposed his genitals to them while working in their homes in 2007 and 2008.

The civil lawsuit, filed last week in Minnehaha County, seeks monetary damages from Smykle and from Hander. The lawsuit accuses the company of failing to do a background check and allowing Smykle to continue working for the firm after the incident in Vink's home.

"I made phone calls to them and didn't even get an apology," Vink said. "They had prior knowledge, and they didn't do anything about it."

The incident in Wollan's home took place two months after the complaint was lodged, and the lawsuit says similar incidents from Smykle's past should have been uncovered during the hiring process.
Reports about previous allegations should have come from previous employers, Hander Inc.'s lawyer Steve Sanford said. Smykle worked for Hander for seven years without incident, he said, and had customers who asked for him by name.

"It's a classic example of the perils of being an employer," Sanford said. "It was something we had no hint of."

Vink and Wollan's lawyer, Jack Der Hogopian, said the company should have known. Smykle had been fired from at least one other job because of indecent exposure complaints, he said, and other women came forward with similar allegations after Wollan's criminal complaint in 2008.
"This isn't sitting behind a counter," Der Hogopian said. "If you're putting someone in people's homes, you have a greater responsibility to protect them."

Sanford said the company did its due diligence. In the incident involving Vink, Smykle said he removed his pants because he had burned himself.
"We believed him the first time, and it checked out," Sanford said. "The second time, he was gone."

Smykle pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace after the incident in Wollan's home, but charges of indecent exposure were dropped. At the time, South Dakota law did not recognize indecent exposure unless it occurred in public.

Sen. Sandy Jerstad, D-Sioux Falls, invited Vink and Wollan to speak on behalf of a bill meant to close that loophole in January. Jerstad's bill died in a House committee, but language barring indecent exposure within the home was inserted into another bill that attached felony penalties to indecent exposure when a minor is present.
"The wording was changed, but the essence of the bill is still there," Jerstad said. "I think the legislation we were able to pass can prevent things like this from happening again."

Chopper rescue for drunk pilot

A drunk German pilot had to be guided to land by a rescue helicopter after he radioed the control tower to ask where it was 'hiding'.

The 65-year-old amateur pilot had allegedly drank beer and wine before taking to the skies above Thuringia in his Cessna light aircraft, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Once airborne, he served himself some cocktails while at the controls.

Two hours later he was apparently so inebriated that he was unable to read the instruments telling him where the Schoengleida airfield was.

"Come on, I know you're down there," he radioed. "Where the bloody hell have you hidden yourself?"

Control tower staff say he also sang a few songs, cracked a mother-in-law joke and told them to "pull their fingers out as I've got a party to go to".

The tower scrambled a rescue helicopter which homed in on the Cessna 50 miles west of the airport and gave instructions for the pilot to follow it back.

Officials at Schoengleida said the pilot, who has not been named, made a safe landing.

The man was unsteady on his feet and smelt of alcohol as he wobbled from the cockpit to his parked car. Concerned airfield authorities alerted police.

He was stopped on the way home, breathalysed and found to be nearly four times over the legal limit for driving. Now he has lost his driving licence - and his pilot's licence.

 
Ohio judge silences defendant with duct tape

CANTON, Ohio – An Ohio judge unhappy with repeated interruptions from a robbery suspect ordered a deputy to put duct tape over the defendant's mouth. Canton Municipal Court Judge Stephen Belden says the taping last Thursday was the best way to restore order at a hearing for 51-year-old Harry Brown of Canton.

Brown complained that his court-appointed attorney wasn't prepared and angered the judge with interruptions. After a warning, the judge told the bailiff to tape Brown's mouth shut.

When the tape was removed, the defendant said the judge wasn't being respectful. The judge ended the hearing and sent the case to a grand jury.

Arrestee held for stealing beef jerky rips out police light fixture

A man who was arrested for stealing two packages of beef jerky made things worse for himself when he allegedly ripped out a light fixture while in a lockup at a North Side police station early Monday.

About midnight officers responded to a theft in progress in the 6800 block North Sheridan Road and saw a man walking northbound from a 7-Eleven, according to Rogers Park District police Lt. John Franklin.

The man was arrested at 6802 N. Sheridan Rd. after allegedly leaving the 7-Eleven at 6801 N. Sheridan Rd. with two packages of beef jerky he did not pay for, according to Franklin.

He was placed into a squad car where he allegedly began trying to kick out its back windows before officers placed him into another more protected car, according to Franklin.

Once he got to the Rogers Park District police station, 6464 N. Clark St., police put him in a jail cell where he allegedly ripped put a fluorescent light fixture, breaking glass and causing over $300 worth of damage, according to the lieutenant.

The suspect was transported to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was undergoing a mental evaluation.

The suspect, whose name was not being released immediately, was charged with misdemeanor damage to property and retail theft but authorities were trying to escalate the charges to felonies as of 4:30 a.m., according to the lieutenant.

Belmont Area detectives are investigating.

Armed Missouri woman forces plane to abort landing

FULTON, Mo. — Police say a 69-year-old woman forced a plane to abort its landing Saturday night when she went onto the runway and fired a gun.

Judy Davis of Fulton was being detained when police arrived and found a loaded .22 caliber handgun in her pants pocket. Mexico, Mo., radio station KXEO reports that she was arrested on a charge of unlawful use of a weapon and released after posting $4,500 bond.
 

Police say Davis walked into the terminal and said she was planning to shoot down a plane. She told investigators she was upset because the plane had repeatedly flown too close to her house.

Officials say federal authorities have been contacted and will be helping with the investigation.

Date goes from bad to worse

FERNDALE — A first date went from bad to worse when police say a man not only skipped out on a restaurant bill but stole his new girlfriend's car while she was still seated at the table.

A Detroit man faces trial on charges he stole his date's car after they ate and he asked her for her keys so he could get his wallet out of her vehicle.

"She gave him her keys and he went out the door," said Ferndale police Detective Sgt. Patrick Jones. "From where she was sitting she saw him get in her car and he drove off at a high rate of speed."

The woman called police from the restaurant.

Terrance Dejuan McCoy, 23, is charged with unlawfully driving away the woman's 2000 Chevrolet Impala, a five-year felony. He waived a preliminary examination Thursday in Ferndale 43rd District Court and was ordered to stand trial on the charge in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Police said McCoy stole the car April 24 shortly after he and the woman, 27, of Southfield ate at the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, 280 W. Nine Mile Road.

"It sounds like a bad date to me," Jones said. "She picked him up that night at his apartment, then he stole her car and didn't even settle up the bill for dinner."

The woman told police she also had a backpack with $300 cash inside the car, along with a laptop computer, iPod and a digital camera.

The stolen car turned up May 5 in Detroit with the radio missing.

The woman told police she met McCoy a week before she saw him drive away in her car. They first met at the Greektown Casino and she knew McCoy only as "Chris," police said.

They talked on their cell phones several times and McCoy sent her a picture of himself that she kept on her cell phone, police said.

The woman called Ferndale police immediately from the restaurant, but officers were unable to locate the woman's car, police said.

"We were able to identify him because she had a picture of him and we had his cell phone number," Jones said.

McCoy was later arrested and Ferndale police picked him up at the Wayne County Jail on July 28.

The suspect has two previous convictions for unarmed robbery in 2005 and was wanted for absconding from probation in Farmington Hills, Jones said.

He is jailed on $25,000 cash bond.

Woman accused of birthday gas station robbery with stun gun

LARGO — Some people celebrate their birthday with cake or perhaps a party.

Rose Tyrka of Largo did things a little differently Sunday when she turned 59.

Armed with a stun gun, police say, she robbed a gas station and then tried to rob a fast-food restaurant.

Now she finds herself in the Pinellas County Jail charged with felony counts of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery. She's being held in lieu of $200,000 bail.

It all started about 5 p.m. Sunday when Tyrka pulled the stun gun on an employee at a Shell gas station at 2400 East Bay Drive, an arrest report by the Largo Police Department said.

After taking $130 from the cash register, Tyrka used the weapon on the employee, striking him in the abdomen, the report said. An employee at the Shell station said Wednesday that the employee, who was not named in the report, quit after the incident.

The robbery was caught on video surveillance.

Four hours later, Tyrka entered a Subway sandwich shop at 11180 66th St. N and approached employee Loretta Rose, Pinellas Park police said.

First, Tyrka ordered some broccoli and cheese soup and a double chocolate chip cookie, Rose said.

"She was pretty much the nicest customer I'd had all night," said Rose, 23. "She was as sweet as can be."

Tyrka took her food and went out to her Toyota Corolla. She returned a few minutes later, wearing a baseball hat, and asked for a sandwich. Rose made Tyrka a footlong BLT and rang her up, she said. Tyrka put two $5 bills on the counter, then grabbed the stun gun from her bag.

"I went to grab (the money) and it happened so fast," Rosa said. "She grabbed my wrist and said 'I don't want to do this, but I have three starving grandchildren and I have to. It won't hurt much. It'll be over before you know it.' "

Rose pulled away from Tyrka and ran for the back door, grabbing a knife on the way out. When she couldn't get the attention of the business next door, Rose went back through the restaurant and exited the front door.

She was getting ready to confront Tyrka with the knife when a co-worker came out of the restaurant next door and called 911, Rose said.

Tyrka left her car in the parking lot, which helped Pinellas Park police identify her, said spokesman Capt. Sanfield Forseth. She fled on foot without any money and was arrested by Largo police on Tuesday.

Tyrka's stun gun packed 300,000 volts, Forseth said.

"I'm only like 120 (pounds), so I probably would have hit the floor and then, God only knows what else could have happened," said Rose, who has worked at the Subway for six years.

Police say Tyrka admitted to the crimes and said she is addicted to pain medication and that she needed the money to buy fentanyl patches.

Nude model arrested in pic shoot at The Met in NYC

NEW YORK – It seems the only nudes allowed at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art are the ones in the collection.

Police say they arrested a 26-year-old woman who was posing naked for a photographer, and in full view of visitors, in the museum's arms and armor department on Wednesday.

Model Kathleen "K.C." Neill faces a charge of public lewdness.

Defense attorney Donald Schechter says the museum is full of nude art, and to call what the model and her photographer were doing obscenity "is ridiculous."

Photographer Zach Hyman directed the shoot. He's been getting some attention locally for photographing nude models on subways.

Hyman has said he's inspired by nude paintings at the Met and his photos are not pornographic.

Kung fu artist ends hair-raising career to become nun

KAIFENG, China (Reuters) – A Chinese kung fu artist who tows cars and cuts paper with her braided hair has given up her crowning glory to officially become a Buddhist nun.

Zhang Tingting completely shaved off the hair that she says has "kung fu power" and extraordinary strength so that she can enter a temple as a nun.

"I really always wanted to cut my hair off, but I couldn't because of the performances. But this time I've given it up for good," Zhang told Reuters. "It feels great."

The 52-year-old artist has performed across China for decades, after taking up martial arts when she was 17. She began living the life of a nun two years ago.

Before bidding her meter-long braid farewell, she pulled six passenger cars some 50 meters (164 ft) through a Beijing suburb, then repeated the feat with ten cars, for about 30 meters, in her hometown of Kaifeng, Henan Province.

Although Zhang and her plait are now permanently separated, the hair has been preserved. Authorities are considering sending it on a pilgrimage to sacred Buddhist sites in Tibet, or displaying it in a local museum.

The Guinness World Record for the heaviest single vehicle to have been pulled by a person's hair is held by He Jianma from China, who dragged an 8.28-tonne bus 30 meters this May.

Planning director fired for alleged misconduct on golf course

The director of Snohomish County Planning and Development Services was fired last week after an independent investigation found that he had exposed himself to a woman during a golf tournament in June.

Craig Ladiser, who had headed the county planning department since 2004, had been on leave from his job since June 29 for what he said in an e-mail to his senior staff was a family emergency.

Deputy County Executive Mark Soine notified Ladiser that he was being terminated on Thursday, a day after an investigation by the Seattle law firm Perkins Coie concluded that Ladiser was "very intoxicated" when he "deliberately exposed himself" to a female staffer of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, which sponsored the June 24 golf tournament.

Ladiser, who made $149,000 annually as development director, could not be reached for comment. The Seattle Times requested a copy of the investigative report and related e-mail under state public-disclosure laws.

According to the report, Ladiser drank two drink glasses of Jack Daniel's after he arrived at the Golf Club at Redmond Ridge and continued to drink heavily as he played in a foursome that included Michael Pattison, government-affairs manager for the Master Builders.

Witnesses said two nearby golfers were discussing tee length and one, the woman identified in the investigation as Jane Doe, held up a tee to Ladiser's foursome. Ladiser then walked up to the woman, unzipped his pants and said something to the effect of "I'll show you the size of my tee," the report says.

Sam Anderson, executive officer for the Master Builders Association, said Pattison contacted Ladiser the following day. Ladiser said he had no memory of the incident. Ladiser then called Anderson.

"He was very apologetic, very remorseful," said Anderson, who said Ladiser acknowledged that he had a drinking problem and said he planned to seek treatment.

Ladiser e-mailed Jane Doe on June 29. He said, "I have just heard of something that happened last Wednesday. I want to say with all my heart that I am truly sorry for what I did and assure you it will not happen again. I am seeking counseling immediately and will tender my resignation at the County. I have no excuses for the behavior. I am truly sorry."

When the woman learned that Ladiser had not resigned, but rather requested a leave to deal with "family issues," she contacted County Executive Aaron Reardon and detailed the alleged incident.

County spokesman Christopher Schwarzen said the executive immediately contacted the Prosecutor's Office and requested an outside investigation to determine whether the allegations were true. The investigative report was delivered to Reardon last Wednesday and led to Ladiser's termination.

As county planning chief, Ladiser was point man for the county's development and permitting. He was pressured by both environmentalists, who opposed what they saw as lax standards for new housing developments, and developers who argued that fewer restrictions would keep housing more affordable.

At the height of the county construction boom in 2006, the staff in Ladiser's department grew to 260. But declining permit revenues and a slump in the construction industry forced him to lay off more than half the staffers over the past two years.

County Council members were informed last week that Ladiser had been terminated but weren't told the reason.

On Monday, Councilman John Koster said Ladiser was a "straight-shooter" who did a difficult job as well as it could be done.

"Half the people are mad at you all of the time. If Craig erred, he would err on the side of helping people through the permitting process," Koster said.

Papa John's founder pays $250K for beloved Camaro

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the help of a $250,000 reward, the founder of the Papa John's pizza chain has finally reunited with the muscle car he sold years ago to help keep his family's business afloat.

John Schnatter sold the gold-and-black 1971 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 for $2,800 in 1983. The money helped save his father's tavern in Jeffersonville, Ind., and he used the rest to start what would become a worldwide pizza business.

But he still missed his beloved Camaro and spent years searching for it. He created a Web site on the search, held promotional appearances and eventually offered $250,000 to whoever found it.

It turns out he didn't have to leave Kentucky, where the pizza chain is based in Louisville. The car only changed hands twice from the original buyers, ending up with Jeffery Robinson in Flatwoods, about 165 miles to the east.

"When I first saw it I still wanted to look it over to make sure it was the car even though I knew it," Schnatter told The Associated Press. "That kind of hit me emotionally. I was kind of numb."

The original buyers of Schnatter's car heard about the search when he appeared in a TV interview before an NFL game this month. An online search led them to the car blog Jalopnik, which has followed the search and tipped off Papa John's.

Robinson, who bought the car about five years ago for $4,000, recently delivered the Camaro to Schnatter, earning the $250,000 reward. The original buyers will get $25,000 for their help tracking it down.

Schnatter says it looks very much the same as it did when he sold it in 1983, but with a larger motor and fatter tires for drag racing.

The car will be displayed at the company headquarters in Louisville, replacing a replica Schnatter commissioned while he searched for his original car.

In honor of the reunion, Papa John's planned to offer all Camaro owners a free pizza at stores on Wednesday.

Police say speeder claimed to be CIA official

MOUNT CARMEL, Tenn. – Police in northeast Tennessee say Scott Gibson isn't the deputy director of the CIA — and he'd have to pay his $75 speeding fine even if he were. On June 29, a Mount Carmel speed camera clocked the 56-year-old Rogersville resident going 66 mph in a 55 mph zone. He was sent a ticket.

Assistant Police Chief Mike Campbell says Gibson mailed back a copy of the citation with a handwritten note, claiming he wasn't subject to local speed zones because he was the deputy chief of the CIA.

The federal agency told police Gibson never had been an employee.

Gibson was arrested for criminal impersonation and released on $500 bond. Campbell says federal charges are also pending.

A telephone listing for Gibson did not take incoming calls.

Repair shop finds goat in car trunk

A woman came into the Tires Plus in Winona just before noon, asking if the shop had time to replace a belt.

Prusci started the paperwork.

"Oh, by the way," the woman said. "I have a goat in my trunk."

Prusci didn't think he heard her right.

"A what?"

"Yes, a goat," the woman said. "And it's alive."

She planned to butcher the animal later but was passing through Winona on her way to St. Paul when the car broke down, Prusci remembered her saying.

The woman, and a man and child who were waiting for her outside, left while Prusci and other workers began the repairs.

After about 10 minutes, they could hear the goat crying.

"We cracked open the trunk, you know, so it could breathe," Prusci said. "And sure enough, there it was. It kind of poked its head up."

The goat had been painted purple and gold - the colors for the Minnesota Vikings. Shaved into its side was the No. 4 - the number of Brett Favre, who made his Vikings debut Friday night in a preseason game in the Twin Cities.

The goat was lying on its side, tied at its feet. Prusci said it had some pretty big horns.

The workers closed the trunk - they couldn't have a goat wandering around the shop. But when they checked on the animal later, it wasn't moving as much.

They called animal control.

About an hour later, the woman arrived to pick up the car. Prusci told the woman that he didn't approve of what she'd done to the goat. She paid and left.

But as the woman walked toward her car, an animal control vehicle and two police cars pulled up, Prusci said.

He's not sure what happened next.

Winona Police Sgt. Chris Nelson confirmed Prusci's story Saturday morning, saying the goat was in the care of a local veterinarian.

Animal control officer Wendy Peterson, who investigated the incident, could not be reached for comment. It is unclear if the woman or man were cited.

As for Prusci, he's just thankful to hear the goat is OK.

"It was definitely the most out-of-the norm thing I've ever seen."

Man uses live mortars as dumbells

A man from China decided to keep fit using two old mortars before a friend noticed the devices were still live.

Former army officer Xie Long, 87, said: "A colleague told me they were defused and because they were heavy and in the right shape I took two home to use as dumbbells. "Even my two sons used to use them as well for training. I can't believe we trained with them for 30 years with nothing happening." The mortars were discovered by chance when a friend from the local police force who also specialised in explosives visited Long at his home in the Hechuan district of Chongqing. "When I saw one of the mortars, I was sweating. The firing pin was in the position of readiness, and can explode if violently hit or shaken," said police officer Li Guangkui. Li said: "Once exploded, the result is beyond imagination."

Police have defused the mortars, and they will now be put on display in a military museum.

Mints Believed To Be Crack, Land Man In Jail

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A man is suing the Kissimmee Police Department for an arrest over mints. When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag, they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him.

May told Eyewitness News they wouldn't let him out of jail for three months until tests proved the so-called drugs were candy.

May said he was just minding his business, driving home from work, when a Kissimmee police officer pulled him over near 192.

"I don't know how it occurred," he said.

May was pulled over for an expired tag on his car. When the officer walked up to him, he noticed something white in May's mouth. May said it was breath mints, but the officer thought it was crack cocaine.

"He took them out of my mouth and put them in a baggy and locked me up [for] possession of cocaine and tampering with evidence," May explained.

The officer claimed he field-tested the evidence and it tested positive for drugs. The officer said he saw May buying drugs while he was stopped at an intersection. He also stated in his report May waived his Miranda rights and voluntarily admitted to buying drugs.

May said that never happened.

"My client never admitted he purchased crack cocaine. Why would he say that?" attorney Adam Sudbury said.

May was thrown in jail and was unable to bond out for three months. He didn't get out until he received a letter from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office that test results showed no drugs were found.

"While I was sitting in jail I lost my apartment. I lost everything," he said.

While May was behind bars, the Kissimmee Police Department towed his car and auctioned it off. He lost his job and was evicted. Now May is suing the city for false arrest and false imprisonment. He wants to be compensated for the loss of his car and job.
May's attorney and the city of Kissimmee discussed a possible settlement last year, but failed to reach an agreement.

Chihuahua stolen by man with Brittany Spears tattoo

WILTON MANORS - Hudson Hayward Hemingway, a nearly 4-month-old Chihuahua with pink earrings, has been dognapped, her owner says.

Brian Dortort, 48, of Oakland Park, on Thursday said he has spent weeks searching for Hudson, who cost him more than $1,000, after a thief stole her July 28 outside Georgie's Alibi, a popular bar in Wilton Manors.

Dotort threw a birthday party for a friend at the bar that night, and was carrying the dog in a specialty pet bag, he said. One of the dog's admirers insisted he hold the dog and grabbed her, he said. Dotort didn't suspect the dog would be stolen, he said, so he briefly left the dog in the man's possession to pick up litter from a nearby table.

In an instant, the thief disappeared with Hudson, Dotort said.

The dog, about the size of a softball, is described as light-cream colored with a pink belly and pink ears. She has a pink earring in each ear.

Wilton Manors police investigated the theft and identified a suspect whose whereabouts are unknown, police spokesman David Jones said. It's up to the Broward State Attorney's Office to decide whether there's enough evidence for an arrest warrant to be issued, police said.

Dortort described the thief as a thin man about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He weighs about 160 pounds, has short brown hair and tattoos, including one on his arm or neck that says " Britney Spears."

Barber tries to rob store over bad beef jerky

CLEVELAND – Police said a Cleveland barber became so upset by what he considered bad beef jerky that he returned to the store where he bought it and tried to rob the owner. Police said the 28-year-old barber walked into the store where he bought the snack, just two doors down from his barbershop, and tried to rob the owner Thursday night.