Comedy

creepy

2012-02-16T20:06:00.001-08:00

Police say Sherwin Shayegan lingers around teams’ benches for his shot at celebratory piggyback rides like this one. (credit: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
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AP News, Local, News
Related tags
Odd Crime, Piggyback bandit, Seattle crime

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The stocky man showed up in a basketball uniform for a game at Century High School in North Dakota. Players and coaches assumed he was a fan who had come with another team, so nobody objected when he began to pitch in around the bench.

“He helped lay out uniforms, got water. He even gave a couple of kids shoulder massages. Creepy stuff like that,” said Jim Haussler, activities director for the Bismarck Public School District.

After the game was over, the man joined the winning team on the court and asked if he could get a piggyback ride. One bemused player gave it to him.

“He makes himself appear as if he’s limited or handicapped. I think he plays an empathy card, so to speak,” Haussler said. “We didn’t realize what we were dealing with until several days later.”

What they were dealing with the night of Feb. 4 was the Piggyback Bandit — Sherwin Shayegan of Bothell, Wash., a 28-year-old man who ingratiates himself with high school sports teams, then hoists his 5-foot-8, 240-pound frame onto the backs of the student athletes.

Shayegan’s antics stretch back to 2008 and had been mainly confined to Washington and Oregon. But since last fall, he has worked his way east to Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, leaving a trail of befuddled athletes in his wake.

Shayegan has asked for piggybacks, attempted to pay for piggybacks and just sprung one upon an unsuspecting kid. He favors basketball games, but he also has leapt onto hockey, soccer and football players.

He has pretended to interview athletes for a term paper, acted as a team manager or just tried to blend in with the crowd for a piggyback payoff.

Why he does it is unclear, as is who came up with the “Piggyback Bandit” nickname that now follows him wherever he goes. Shayegan, contacted on his cellphone Tuesday, politely declined to speak of the piggyback rides until he could talk to an attorney.

“I’d prefer not to comment, if that’s OK,” he said.

sorry mom

2012-02-15T20:31:00.001-08:00

A man accidentally shot his elderly mother while trying to break up fighting pit bulls inside their Plantation home Tuesday night, police said.

The son told NBC Miami that he and his mother have seven pit bulls in their house at 4541 W. Broward Blvd. – they own three and take care of four for friends.

Tuesday night the dogs became aggressive and started fighting each other, Plantation Police spokesman Detective Robert Rettig said.

The 84-year-old mother, identified by police as Sonia Piccione, tried to separate them, and her 50-year-old son used a pistol to shoot at the dogs, but ended up hitting his mother, Rettig said. The son, Billy, who only wanted to give his first name, said his bullet hit his mother in the leg.

"I saw the dogs were fighting. She was on the ground," Billy said. "And I tried to break them up, and the one dog came at me," and with time of the essence, he shot, he said.

ohio just anotha creepy place

2012-02-13T18:30:00.001-08:00

CINCINNATI, Ohio (CBS Cleveland) — A Cincinnati high school is paying its students to come to school.

The Dohn Community High School has launched a $40,000 incentive program to get students to come to class.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, students will get Visa gift cards for showing up everyday for school, being on time for class and not getting into trouble. Seniors would get $25 while underclassmen would get $10.

The school would also put $5 into a savings account for the student that earns a gift card.

Despite taking criticism for the program, Dohn Principal Ramone Davenport brushes it aside.

“People will say you’re rewarding kids for something they should already be doing anyway,” Davenport told the Enquirer. “But they’re not doing it. We’ve tried everything else.”

Dohn students have come around to the idea, excited about being rewarded for coming to school.

“I’m very excited to get the money,” 16-year-old student Arneqka Lester told the paper. “It makes me want to come to school on time, not that I don’t. But some students don’t have the money and this will help them. It’s a good idea.”

The school is trying out this new idea after the Ohio Department of Education designated the school an “academic emergency” on its report card. About 14 percent of students graduated from Dohn during the 2010-2011 school year.

CBS Cleveland has reached out to Dohn Community High School for comment.

cops

2012-02-03T09:21:00.001-08:00

Vermont state troopers have been driving around with a picture of a pig on their cruisers, courtesy of a creative inmate. A state trooper inspecting his vehicle found that one of the spots on a cow in the Vermont state crest decal on the door had been changed to the shape of a pig, the Burlington Free Press reports. Further investigation revealed that some 60 secretly altered decals have been added to police cars in the last couple of years.

The decals were made by prison inmates in a shop that also produces license plates. "This is not as offensive as it would have been years ago. We can see the humor," said Vermont's Public Safety Commissioner, an ex-cop, adding that the mystery artist should have used his talents elsewhere. "If that person had used some of that creativity, he or she would not have ended up inside." New decals will be ready for the cruisers by Monday.

rip Mike

2012-02-02T08:35:00.001-08:00

Influential American artist Mike Kelley was found dead yesterday at age 57, in what police say appears to be a suicide. A friend told investigators he had been depressed following a recent breakup, the New York Times reports. Kelley specialized in large-scale pieces, often incorporating sculpture, video, or performance, and his work tended toward what the art world terms "abjection"—a preoccupation with visceral, shocking, gross-out imagery. He's been featured extensively in gallery shows, and will be included in the upcoming Whitney Biennial. One of his pieces was also used as the cover of the Sonic Youth album Dirty in 1992.

taking our freedom!

2012-02-01T20:49:00.001-08:00

House Set to Ban Welfare Payments at Strip Clubs
GOP moves forward on bill to halt welfare payments at strip clubs, casinos.

By Alex M. Parker
January 31, 2012 RSS Feed Print

As the recession continues onward, House Republicans are worried that those receiving welfare payments may be having a bit too good of a time.

The chamber will again vote Wednesday on a bill which would ensure that electronic withdrawals of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars aren't allowed to be withdrawn from ATMs at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores. TANF replaced national welfare programs after the welfare reforms of 1996.

The measure, sponsored by Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles Boustany, had originally been approved by the House in December as part of a larger funding measure for welfare programs, but it was dropped from the final law. Now, it will get a stand-alone vote, along with several other measures which face an uncertain future in the Senate.

"The abuse of [electronic benefits transfer] cards must stop," Boustany said when the measure was first proposed in December.

[See a collection of political cartoons on Super PACs.]

The calls for greater restrictions on how welfare dollars are spent have grown as media reports have continued to highlight TANF payment misuse. In 2010, then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blocked the use of welfare ATM cards at casinos and strip clubs, after it was reported that $5 million in TANF dollars were spent at casinos over three years. This bill would implement that ban nationwide.

While supporters claim that the bill is necessary to safeguard taxpayer dollars, critics claim it is stigmatizing those hit with hard times to score political points. Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore, claimed that the bill would "humiliate and marginalize" poor people.

"It many neighborhoods, the closest ATM is located in a nearby liquor store," Moore said when the bill was debated in December.

The bill is one of four measures which will see a vote Wednesday, according to a Republican source. While their chances of surviving in the Senate are slim, Republicans will likely use the votes to try to bludgeon Democrats—just as Democrats hope to use symbolic votes on measures such as the "Buffett Rule" to paint the GOP in a bad light.

Coming off of the heels of a Congressional Budget Office report showing that federal employees are paid, on average, more than their private sector counterparts, the House will also take a vote on a bill which would freeze the pay of federal employees and members of Congress. Another bill would slash the budgets for committees in the House.

Congress will also be voting on a bill which would repeal the CLASS Act, part of the Affordable Care Act which the president has already declined to implement.

crime of the century

2012-01-31T08:47:00.001-08:00

A Montara man walking two lapdogs off leash was hit with an electric-shock gun by a National Park Service ranger after allegedly giving a false name and trying to walk away, authorities said Monday.

The park ranger encountered Gary Hesterberg with his two small dogs Sunday afternoon at Rancho Corral de Tierra, which was recently incorporated into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said Howard Levitt, a spokesman for the park service.

Hesterberg, who said he didn't have identification with him, allegedly gave the ranger a false name, Levitt said.

The ranger, who wasn't identified, asked Hesterberg to remain at the scene, Levitt said. He tried several times to leave, and finally the ranger "pursued him a little bit and she did deploy her" electric-shock weapon, Levitt said. "That did stop him."

San Mateo County sheriff's deputies and paramedics then arrived and Hesterberg gave his real name, the park spokesman said.

Hesterberg, whose age was not available, was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information, Levitt said.

He was then released. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Witnesses said the use of a stun gun and the arrest seemed excessive for someone walking two small dogs off leash.

"It was really scary," said Michelle Babcock, who said she had seen the incident as she and her husband were walking their two border collies. "I just felt so bad for him."

Babcock said Hesterberg had repeatedly asked the ranger why he was being detained. She didn't answer him, Babcock said.

"He just tried to walk away. She never gave him a reason," Babcock said.

The ranger shot Hesterberg in the back with her shock weapon as he walked off, Babcock said.

"We were like in disbelief," she said. "It didn't make any sense."

Rancho Corral de Tierra has long been an off-leash walking spot for local dog owners. In December, the area became part of the national park system, which requires that all dogs be on a leash, Levitt said.

The ranger was trying to educate residents of the rule, Levitt said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/30/MN921N0LQT.DTL#ixzz1l3UHnOQZ

cup o joe

2012-01-26T21:31:00.001-08:00

American's weakness for coffee is proven once again in a new survey conducted by Accounting Principals .

In a telephone survey of 1,000 Americans who were currently employed, ages 18 or older, the participators were asked how much money they spend on "work-related" expenses.

Despite recent tough economic times, results showed that 50 percent of the American workforce regularly spent money on coffee. This totaled, on average, $1,000 a year on coffee alone.

Broken down ever further, it was found that more men splurge on coffee than women (54 percent versus 45 percent). And the younger crowd, ages 18-34, spent almost twice as much on coffee than their older co-workers ($24.74 versus $14.15 weekly).

Why do workers seem to dismiss their budget (if they have one) when it comes to treating themselves to their favorite cup of joe?

Jodi Chavez, senior Vice President of Accounting Principals, told The New York Times , "They budget in new furniture or their commute, but not a coffee here or there. So over the course of a week or month people don't realize what this expense is."

It's not only going out for a daily coffee that is a guilty pleasure. Buying a lunch every day is also an expense that the workers don't take into account.

Sixty-six percent of Americans buy their lunch every day for an average expense of $37 a week. That adds up to almost $2,000 a year on lunch.

Men spend more than women in this category, again ($46.60 versus $26.50 weekly). And, again, the 18-34 year olds spend more than the over-45 crowd ($44.78 versus $31.80).

Those coffees and lunches here or there do add up. So much so, that the amount of money spent on lunch per year exceeds the average worker's commuting expenses.

The survey revealed that the average commuting expense totals an average of $1,500 a year, $500 less than what it costs for lunch per year. Yet, workers still preferred to have their employers reimburse their commuting costs instead of lunch.

Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpps/money/study-workers-spend-1000-yearly-on-coffee-dpgoh-20120126-fc_17400358#ixzz1kdM5gAIz

hurts me teeth

2012-01-24T22:36:00.001-08:00

– Paper clips and stainless steel posts: Basically the same thing, right? A former Massachusetts dentist has pleaded guilty to a host of charges, including the accusation that he used parts of paper clips rather than stainless steel posts to support root canals in an attempt to save money. Michael Clair's main charge, however, is Medicaid fraud to the tune of $130,000; he was suspended by Medicaid in 2002, but prosecutors say he continued performing work on Medicaid patients and submitted the claims in the names of other dentists in the practice.

Clair, 53, apparently ran a very scary dental practice: He is also charged with assault and battery, larceny, tampering with evidence, and witness intimidation. Last but not least, he was charged with illegally prescribing prescription medication—Hydrocodone, Combunox, and Percocet—to other staff members, who gave some of the drugs back to him. The general public should be pleased to hear that he no longer practices dentistry. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his license had been revoked in three other states, the Herald News reports.

nice move

2012-01-20T19:15:00.001-08:00

-A Wisconsin man charged with domestic abuse told cops that a “ghost” was actually responsible for injuries suffered by his wife, according to police.

The bizarre claim by Michael West, 41, did not prevent the Fond du Lac man’s arrest for strangulation, battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. West is pictured in the mug shot at right.

2 for 1

2012-01-20T09:13:00.001-08:00

A British woman who's become a celebrity in the U.K. because she was born with two fully formed vaginas may finally be able to cash in on her crotch ... TMZ has learned she's just been offered $1 MILLION to bone on camera.

Her name is Hazel Jones -- and the 27-year-old beauty has been making the media rounds across the pond to discuss "uterus didelphys" ... a condition which caused her to develop 2 sets of female reproductive organs. In other words, two vaginal canals with two openings.

they never accused him of being smart

2012-01-19T11:41:00.001-08:00

Winter Haven, Florida -- Deputies are searching for the man they say shot a change machine several times in an effort to steal money from it.

Surveillance video shows on the night of January 4, a man wearing a gray hoodie covering his face entered the Busy Bubbles laundromat on Cypress Gardens Road. He promptly walks to the change machine and fires a shot into it with a semi-automatic handgun.

After briefly inspecting the machine, he proceeds to fire several more rounds into it, before leaving as quickly as he came in. He was not able to get any money from the machine.

The suspect is described as a black male, approximately 5'11" tall, 185 lbs., wearing a gray hoodie and dark baggy pants.

like a rock

2012-01-19T10:06:00.001-08:00

Africa | Americas | Asia | Europe | Middle East
British admit to Cold War-style espionage using 'fake rock'
January 19, 2012 | 4:56 am

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British admit to Cold War-style espionage using 'fake rock'

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- In a rare acknowledgment of espionage reminiscent of the Cold War, a former British government official admitted that a fake rock discovered in 2006 by the Russian FSB secret service in a Moscow park concealed a listening device planted by British spies.

Speaking on a three-part BBC documentary starting Thursday -- "Putin, Russia and the West" -- Jonathan Powell, chief of staff at the time to Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair, said, "The spy rock was embarrassing, they had us bang to rights. Clearly they had known about it for some time and had been saving it up for a political purpose."

Hidden Russian TV cameras recorded video of the rock and of men handling it. The video was widely broadcast at the time along with footage showing the rock being taken apart to reveal the delicate listening mechanism inside.

The Russian regime waited for some time before claiming publicly that it was a British device. Russian leader Vladimir Putin ordered a crackdown on several foreign-funded organizations, claiming they were a front for western government intervention in Russia’s internal affairs. A Russian-British diplomatic row followed.

Tony Brenton, British ambassador to Moscow at the time, said in a BBC radio interview Thursday that the rock episode was “a considerable headache."

"The Russians chose their time carefully and it was politically very damaging,” Brenton said. “It was unfortunate that one of the people involved was also dealing with our relations with Russian non-governmental organizations and therefore the Russians were able to use the rock incident to launch accusations against the support we were giving to Russian non-governmental organizations.”

Brenton added that British-Russian relations were deteriorating at the time and the incident “led us down the route which led us to the Litvinenko murder … to attacks on me personally, to attacks on BP and Shell.”

In November 2006, Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian security service officer turned investigative journalist, died in a London hospital of radiation poisoning. His reporting targeted corruption inside the Russian government. In a deathbed statement he accused Vladimir Putin of being in involved his poisoning.

the old tampon trick

2012-01-19T00:54:00.001-08:00

JANUARY 18--Armed with flaming tampons--yes, flaming tampons--two young Pennsylvanians attempted to blow up a vehicle after severely vandalizing it, according to police.

The bizarre January 7 incident outside a bar in Metal Township resulted in the arrest of Patricia Deshong, 25, and Quentin Deshong, 22, on a variety of charges, including attempted arson, public drunkenness, and criminal mischief.

According to State Police troopers, the Deshongs seriously damaged a 2006 Ford Fusion, which had its windshield and windows either cracked or broken, was covered with dents, and had blood on the front passenger seat. The car’s hood was also open and various hoses had been disconnected.

The Deshongs are pictured in the above mug shots.

As for the flaming tampons, a probable cause affidavit notes that investigators “discovered that the gas cap was removed and tampons were used to possibly ignite the gas tank." Additionally, “Tampon was used in the engine compartment where the oil fill cap is located.” Since “ashes were at the gas cap area and the oil fill cap area,” troopers concluded that the tampons had been set ablaze at each spot.

The affidavit does not indicate why the Deshongs allegedly vandalized the vehicle, which is owned by Falon Clark, a 25-year-old woman whose Facebook page still includes Patricia Deshong among her friends. Hours after her car was trashed, a message on Clark’s Facebook page noted that she was “lookin for some revenge…”

A friend of Clark’s, Gary Boggs, told troopers that Patricia Deshong had thrown a beer bottle through the rear window of his Ford F-150 truck. The affidavit does not specify when this alleged attack occurred, nor does it describe the relationship between the Deshongs.

After arresting the Deshongs--both of whom were under the influence of alcohol--troopers discovered that Patricia was in possession of a license plate from the trashed Ford, as well as the vehicle’s registration card. As a result, she was charged with theft.

When the Deshongs arrived at the police station, troopers reported, Patricia “made threats stating that she was going to fucking kill” a trooper following her release. As a result, she was charged with making terroristic threats.

The Deshongs spent a few days behind bars before they each posted $25,000 bond to secure their release last Tuesday. Neither Deshong responded to Facebook messages seeking comment about the alleged tampon torching attempt. (2 pages)

21

2012-01-18T09:16:00.001-08:00

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. (CBS Charlotte/AP) — A student at Gardner-Webb University collapsed in class and died on her 21st birthday after thanking God on Twitter for living another year.

A spokesman says Ariane Noelle Patterson was in a religion class at the Boiling Springs school when she collapsed Tuesday afternoon.

Patterson tweeted that day, “Thank you God for a nother year of life.”

Spokesman Noel Manning says Patterson’s cause of death is under investigation. He says the school is investigating whether Patterson had previous health problems.

Manning says an emergency medical technician who is a student in the class and nurses helped with CPR until an ambulance arrived.

Patterson died at Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby.

She was a senior majoring in religious studies and went to high school in Rutherford County.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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[what's this]
21 Comments
Corey Clamp

Oh the irony…

January 18, 2012 at 11:43 am | Reply | Report comment
Larz Larzen

and He gave her eternal life – and that more abundantly.

January 18, 2012 at 11:49 am | Reply | Report comment
Michael

Amen Larz

January 18, 2012 at 11:58 am | Reply | Report comment
roflkartoffel

How does a college student thin ‘another’ is 2 words?

Oh, that’s right, religious college. Makes sense now.

January 18, 2012 at 11:51 am | Reply | Report comment
Christian

Probably for the same reason you typed “thin” instead of “think.” Why so quick to judge, let alone blame religious college as the source of her spelling mistake?

January 18, 2012 at 11:59 am | Reply | Report comment
john

oh snap!

January 18, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Seth

You misspelled the word “think” in your comment. missing a letter are ya?

January 18, 2012 at 12:01 pm | Reply | Report comment
Spelling?

How do you spell “think” again? lol
Grammar police just got busted.

January 18, 2012 at 12:02 pm | Reply | Report comment
Micah Vanella

Probably the same reason you forgot a “k” in your post. Stop being so judgmental.

January 18, 2012 at 12:03 pm | Reply | Report comment
Kevin

I know, right? No one ever misspells anything while posting random thoughts online! Oh wait…

January 18, 2012 at 12:06 pm | Reply | Report comment
Charles

Quick to judge, are we? Has not the thought crossed your mind that the typographical error is simply a media story writer mistake? Gimme a break.

January 18, 2012 at 12:10 pm | Reply | Report comment
Ian

Perhaps she was killed for using the word nother

January 18, 2012 at 11:51 am | Reply | Report comment
Charles

Ian, wake up. That was simply a media story typographical error. Sheesh!

January 18, 2012 at 12:07 pm | Reply | Report comment
jarsh

So sad.

Let this be a lesson: Don’t tempt irony.

January 18, 2012 at 11:53 am | Reply | Report comment
Rod

This woman is now happier than she has ever been! EVER! Just by seeing the “title” of her twitter page says it all!! She has gone home to be with her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!! Praise God! My prayers are with her family and friends, but just “knowing” where she is now is really all that matters! Thank you God and thank you Jesus!

January 18, 2012 at 11:56 am | Reply | Report comment
Jesus

Yeah Rod, I’ll bet her family is THRILLED

January 18, 2012 at 12:03 pm | Reply | Report comment
rickey roma

Sounds like she had a serious health problem and was thanking God for another year…know she may not have many…terrible reporting, no facts, no nothing just the sensational part….poor grammar and spelling as well….glad to know our kids are being taught so well in school these days..

January 18, 2012 at 12:01 pm | Reply | Report comment
Tim

I can’t imagine anything more boring.

January 18, 2012 at 12:03 pm | Reply | Report comment
Micah Vanella

I can: you commenting on a story that you consider boring.

January 18, 2012 at 12:05 pm | Reply | Report comment
Shells

So let me get this straight. When someone survives a horrible disease, it’s God’s responsibility, and God is wonderful. When someone just drops over dead, it’s also God’s responsibility, and God’s wonderful? Boy, you can spin everything positively if you try! Come on, people, let’s not spend our time talking about contradictory notions that are completely unsubstantiated with facts or evidence. Let’s just app

Notif

mcwhores

2012-01-16T10:56:00.001-08:00

A Los Angeles woman was arrested after she offered sexual favors in exchange for chicken McNuggets, Burbank police said.

Khadijah Baseer of Los Angeles reportedly opened customers’ car doors in the drive through of McDonald’s on the 1700 block of Olive Avenue about 11 p.m. Wednesday, asking for free chicken McNuggets in exchange for sexual favors, Officer Joshua Kendrick said.

A man told police Baseer approached him but he refused the offer.

* Map Maps
* 1700 W Olive Ave, Burbank, CA 91506, USA

Baseer was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of prostitution.

fun for the whole family

2012-01-16T09:22:00.001-08:00

DEARBORN, Mich. (WJBK) - A woman is in the hospital after witnesses say she was assaulted at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in Dearborn over the weekend.

Family members tell FOX 2 the woman was celebrating her grandson's seventh birthday Sunday afternoon when she asked patrons at a nearby table to clean up their language. "She said, 'please don't use that language with children,'" said the victim's daughter told. "They told her to 'shut the f--- up and turn around.'"

That's when the daughter says a man jumped over tables and started swinging at people. "He punched her in the face and dragged her by her hair," she added.

The 50-year-old victim was taken to nearby Oakwood Hospital where family members say she underwent a CAT scan and was treated for lacerations to her face and mouth.

FOX 2 has learned the family was refunded their money by restaurant management.

The incident is the third time in recent months FOX 2 has reported violent encounters at different Chuck E. Cheese's in the metro Detroit area.

Family members requested they not be identified in this story.

dont swim here

2012-01-13T09:17:00.001-08:00

A Cincinnati landlord found to have violated state anti-discrimination laws after she hung a "white only" sign outside her swimming pool lost an appeal with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on Thursday.

The ruling clears the way for the case to be referred to the state attorney general's office for possible state civil charges and the possibility of being forced to pay compensatory and punitive damages.

The commission ruled the sign, which read "Public Swimming Pool, White Only," violated state housing discrimination laws, and dismissed landlord Jamie Hein's claim that it was simply a decorative antique.

The commission's ruling followed a complaint by Michael Gunn, a former tenant who brought his 10-year-old biracial daughter to a Memorial Day weekend pool party on Hein's property attended by about 20 other guests.

Gunn said Hein later questioned him about the "chemicals" his daughter used in her hair and blamed the girl, the only non-Caucasian at the party, for making the pool water "cloudy."

Gunn told the commission that about a week later he saw the "white only"

havent we all wanted to change our names

2012-01-10T09:07:00.001-08:00

Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop Arrested in Wis.

Updated: Monday, 09 Jan 2012, 9:44 AM PST
Published : Monday, 09 Jan 2012, 5:35 AM PST

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Authorities in southern Wisconsin are facing a tongue twister thanks to the arrest of Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop.

The unusually named 30-year-old man was in jail Sunday in Madison. Police say he violated his bail conditions from a previous run-in with the law.

Court records show that his name used to be Jeffrey Drew Wilschke. He legally changed it in October.

The Capital Times reports that Zopittybop-Bop-Bop was arrested last week after residents complained of excessive drinking and drug use near Reynolds Park in Madison. Authorities say he was arrested in another local park last April after police found a loaded handgun in his backpack.

He's tentatively charged with carrying a concealed knife, and possession of drug paraphernalia and marijuana.

Jail records don't list his bail amount or an attorney.

Read more: http://www.myfoxla.com/dpps/news/offbeat/beezow-doo-doo-zopittybop-bop-bop-arrested-dpgapx-20120109-fc_16921634#ixzz1j4mLX0U9

judge judy

2012-01-10T08:45:00.001-08:00

Cops: Incensed By Judge Judy, Florida Woman, 62, Attacks Husband, 65, With Hammer

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A Florida woman who reportedly became incensed while watching TV’s Judge Judy was arrested Sunday after she allegedly struck her husband on the head with a hammer.

Janet Knowles, 62, was charged with aggravated battery following the bizarre 10:30 AM incident at a residence in Jupiter. Knowles, seen in the above mug shot, is locked up in the Palm Beach County jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

According to a Jupiter Police Department report, she attacked Larry Knowles, 65, since "she was upset because Judge Judy was on the television,” and "Larry was watching Judge Judy and that made her mad." The syndicated program stars Judith Sheindlin, an irascible former New York jurist.

The report does not specifically indicate why Knowles was so upset about Judge Judy, who is pictured above. The victim, who was seated in a recliner when twice hammered, suffered large cuts to his head and forearm, according to cops.

future leaders of USA

2012-01-06T08:51:00.001-08:00

A group of burglars stole a coin collection worth thousands and proceeded to pour it into a coin-counting machine, resulting in a $450 payoff. Authorities say one of the thieves—who also stole jewelry and tools—was the Oregon victim's son. "The crooks were idiots, just simply an idiot," said Dan Johnson, Sr., the owner of the coins. "To not know the value of what they had taken, just to get pocket change for it. Makes me feel good he was a stupid person and didn't realize what he had." (And yep, that "stupid person" is Dan Johnson, Jr.)

The Coinstar machine wouldn't take some 500 silver quarters the burglars had stolen; they carted those off to the bank, KPTV reports. The institution is returning those coins, but the rest of the collection is proving more elusive. Johnson yesterday pored over the coins from the machine in an attempt to find those from his collection, which contained coins from the early 20th century. "I lost an inheritance that was meant to go forward for my children and grandchildren," he said. Apparently one of those children couldn't wait.

I blame society on this one

2012-01-06T08:45:00.001-08:00

On December 27, Oklahoma City Police arrested a man suspected of wearing a bra and crotch-less underwear at a northwest Oklahoma City clothing store for pregnant women.

The clerk at Modern Maternity in Penn Square Mall told police 48-year-old Jeff Watson of Norman had shopped at the store before. She said she believed he bought clothes at the maternity store because he had a big belly.

The clerk said while Watson was browsing for clothes, he asked her for her phone number and to go out to lunch. The clerk refused.

The clerk said Watson bought some items then took his purchases back to a dressing room then called her over to help him. The clerk said when she went to the dressing room, Watson was wearing only a bra and electric blue crotch-less panties. She said Watson kept asking her to look at him. She refused and told Watson to leave.

After Watson left, the clerk called her district manager, who told her to call the police and file a report. Watson was arrested on a complaint of indecent exposure.

didnt see this one coming

2012-01-05T14:50:00.001-08:00

A Colorado woman dropped her pants at a museum and rubbed her rear end all over a painting valued at $30 million, according to police.

Carmen Tisch, 36, was arrested after scratching, punching and, well, rubbing her butt against Clyfford Still's "1957-J no.2" and causing an estimated $10,000 damage to the artwork at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Police believe she was drunk during the late December incident.

"You have to wonder where her friends were," a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office told the Denver Post.

Tisch was charged with felony criminal mischief on Wednesday and has been held on a $20,000 bond since the incident in late December, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney's Office.

The oil-on-canvas abstract expressionist painting was spared additional damage when the woman tried to urinate on it but apparently missed.

ya just dont see this everyday

2012-01-05T10:07:00.001-08:00

Horse falls into hole after manhole cover gives way in Altadena
January 5, 2012 | 8:06 am

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Horse named Cowboy after falling down manhole cover. A horse named Cowboy found it a tough trot home in Altadena when he stepped on a manhole cover that gave way.

The man riding the horse, Damon Scott, managed to leap from the horse to safety. But the horse became trapped in the manhole along Lincoln Avenue, KTLA-TV reported.

Scott and two other riders tried to pull Cowboy out. Scott even climbed into the hole to loosen Cowboy's saddle.

"As he was in the hole, he was bucking, kicking and trying to get out," Scott said. "He couldn't because he was tired. So he just leaned to the side. He started hollering and crying. All I could do was try to call somebody for him to help him out."

Cowboy made his own way out after at least a 10-minute struggle.

Scott said Cowboy suffered gashes on his legs, and one leg might be fractured. The horse was wearing casts and was expected to recover.

rip buddy

2012-01-05T09:58:00.001-08:00

Angelo Bowers, a stand-up comedian and actor who performed in Los Angeles comedy clubs, was killed in a late-night Hollywood traffic collision that police say was caused by a drunk driver.

The driver caused two collisions just minutes apart, involving different vehicles on the streets of Hollywood. The second collision killed Bowers and seriously injured a friend in the car with him, fellow comedian Josh Adam Meyers, KTLA-TV reported.

A 21-year-old man driving under the influence of alcohol was involved in a hit-and-run crash near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue on Jan. 3 about 12:40 a.m., police say.

Five minutes later, the driver hit a second car at Vine and Yucca streets. The violent collision caused serious injury to both drivers of the vehicles, as well as a passenger.
Bowers was the passenger in the car struck by the alleged drunk driver and died of his injuries at a hospital several hours later. Meyers is recuperating from his injuries.

The drunk driver is expected to be booked on murder charges once his medical condition improves.

best part about babies is making them

2011-12-26T14:55:00.001-08:00

A wealthy Chinese couple have been evicted from their home, after the country’s strict one-child-family enforcers discovered they had eight babies.

The unnamed couple, from the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, had four boys and four girls over a two-month period last year – with the help of two surrogate mothers – but kept the children a secret.

They were exposed when envious staff at a photography studio alerted the media, sparking public outrage.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078050/Rich-couple-beat-Chinese-child-family-law-secretly-having-EIGHT-babies.html#ixzz1hgU0t11i

havent we all wanted to do this

2011-12-26T14:51:00.001-08:00

BATAVIA, N.Y. — A western New York woman is accused of slugging a 70-year-old Walmart greeter who asked to see a receipt for merchandise the woman was carrying out of the store.

State Trooper Tracy Patterson says 26-year-old Jacquetta Simmons of Batavia was charged with two counts of assault for the attack that knocked 70-year-old Grace Suozzi to the ground. Patterson says Suozzi suffered fractures to the side of her face.

Simmons ran out of the store after the confrontation shortly before 11:30 Saturday morning but was detained by employees and customers until police arrived.

Simmons was arraigned in Town of Batavia Court by Justice Michael Cleveland. She was later released from Genesee County Jail on $40,000 bond, to reappear in court Jan. 23. Police didn’t know if she has a lawyer.

he was never accused of being smart

2011-12-23T11:09:00.001-08:00

Authorities say a Tampa Bay area man ordered a beer at a bar, left to rob a nearby bank then came back to finish his beer.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office says 52-year-old John Robin Whittle was arrested at the Hayloft Bar in Port Richey on Thursday afternoon. Deputies say he's the man who robbed a Wells-Fargo bank branch earlier, but not before stopping off at the Hayloft for a brew.

A bartender there says Whittle ordered a beer, disappeared for about 30 minutes and then returned to his beer. Deputies say they arrested him at the bar about 10 minutes after he left the bank.

Whittle remained in jail early Friday on $10,000 bond. No attorney was listed for him.

Historical figure maybe, maybe not

2011-12-23T11:07:00.001-08:00

Russell D. Mace, 55, of Pumpkin Hill Road, has a criminal record in Connecticut dating to 1982. He served time in federal prison after being convicted of bank robbery in 1989, according to an arrest warrant made public after Mace appeared in court Monday morning.

Both Mace and his wife, Erin Mace, 35, were arraigned in state Superior Court in Bantam and remain jailed on bond. She has not been charged in the robbery but is accused, along with her husband, of a purse-snatching outside a New Milford supermarket in November.

Police said they quickly honed in on Mace after viewing surveillance film of the holdup at a Union Savings Bank branch because of previous dealings with him and because what police said is the getaway car, a white Toyota with a missing hubcap and broken side mirror, had been involved in a traffic accident they investigated a few days earlier.

At least one supervisor inside the East Street bank anticipated trouble because a teller and a customer said they had seen a man "pooping" in the parking lot "and not being discreet" minutes before the 3:35 p.m. robbery, according to police.

Read more: http://www.newstimes.com/policereports/article/Nervous-bowels-alleged-bank-robber-in-jail-2412992.php#ixzz1hO15KohN

what to do when you suck at singing

2011-12-22T20:44:00.001-08:00

A karaoke singer whose performance was met by a cascade of boos at an Ohio bar allegedly punched three people in the face after he was asked to leave the watering hole Tuesday night, police report.

Isiah Johnson, 20, was singing karaoke at Cabana Jack’s “when people started booing at him,” a bartender told cops. In response to the razzing, Johnson “threw down the microphone,” according to a Sandusky Police Department report.

At that point, Johnson, pictured in the above mug shot, was escorted from the bar. After returning, he was again asked to leave. That’s when Johnson allegedly began punching guys in the face (three men were hit, cops noted).

Johnson was eventually pinned to the ground by two other men until police arrived. He was “noticed to be under the influence of intoxicants,” reported cops who charged Johnson with three counts of assault, obstruction, resisting arrest, persistent disorderly conduct, intoxication, and underage consumption.

The police report does not indicate what song Johnson was allegedly butchering when the Cabana Jack’s crowd turned on him.
TAGS
karaoke attack, Ohio, assault

* ‹ previous Buster
Trio Of Mean Girls Admits Icing High School Classmate’s Birthday Cake With Human Feces

seems legit

2011-12-22T12:38:00.001-08:00

A Greece man was charged with driving while intoxicated after police found him allegedly trying to drive an injured deer to the hospital on Sunday night.

Andrew Caswell, 29, of Jamestown Terrace, had apparently struck the deer on Hincher Road and was driving it to Unity Hospital for treatment, said Greece Police Capt. Steve Chatterton.

Chatterton said residents of Hincher Road had called police late Sunday to report that a deer had been struck by a car, and that there was what appeared to be an argument among a small group of men near where the deer had been hit.

At the scene, residents gave a description of the car and told officers they’d heard the men say they were going to bring the deer to the hospital.

just what the town needs, dirty sex

2011-12-22T09:31:00.001-08:00

A Missouri city is fighting back against an adult sex-shop by not turning on the store’s water as the owner takes his case against the town to federal court.

The battle over Don Kleinhans’ Pure Pleasure Boutique in Pevely, Mo., began more than a year ago when he applied for a business license but was denied by the town. He decided to open his store last December despite the fact of not having a business license.

Pevely city administrator Jason Eisenbeis told CBS St. Louis that Kleinhans was denied a business license because the store violated a town ordinance of being 1,000 feet within an elementary school and a church.

“It’s not exactly in our eyes legal,” Eisenbeis said in reference to Kleinhans keeping the shop open. “They were issued summons for almost a year on a daily basis … We’re spinning our wheels here.”

Despite not having running water in the store, Eisenbeis said they have portable toilets outside the shop and electricity.

Kleinhans originally filed a lawsuit against the city in January to acquire a business license, saying it court records that it is not an “adult store” and that it is a “novelty shop.”

The city won another round against the sex shop on Monday as Pevely’s Board of Aldermen voted 6-0 to deny Kleinhans a business license again.

“The city of Pevely and the Board of Aldermen are sticking to their guns,” Eisenbeis told CBS St. Louis.

The case is back in the hands of a federal judge as Kleinhans hopes to keep the sex shop open. There are three other Pure Pleasure sex shops in Missouri.

CBS St. Louis has reached out to Kleinhans for comment.

thats gotta hurt

2011-12-22T08:21:00.001-08:00

A South Carolina man has been charged with attempted murder after throwing a bowling ball at a woman’s head.

York County authorities arrested Omar Sheree Stevenson, 33, for the Dec. 18 incident at the Strikers Family Sports Center in Rock Hill.

Police say Stevenson threw a 12-pound bowling ball at the victim’s head when she refused to let him buy drinks for her.

The bowling ball hit the victim in the forehead while she was sitting on a bench. Authorities say the victim’s skull was visible from the impact, according to the police report obtained by CBS Charlotte.

The victim was transported to Piedmont Medical Center where she received stitches and was released. She did not suffer a fractured skull or a concussion.

Stevenson is currently being held at the York County Detention Center.

WALMART-COPS-DRUNKS-SCOOTERS-Enough said

2011-12-21T09:56:00.001-08:00

An early morning game of drunken bumper cars--using Walmart handicap scooters--was broken up Saturday morning by Louisiana cops who arrested a 22-year-old man who copped to driving to the store while intoxicated.

Officers with the West Monroe Police Department arrived at the Walmart around 2:30 AM in response to a call about a disturbance. Store management told cops that a group of intoxicated suspects were “playing ‘bumper cars’ with the handicap scooters in the store,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

A police sergeant contacted Christopher Butler, who appeared “very intoxicated.” Butler, pictured at right, admitted driving his 2004 Ford truck to the retailer after consuming “five to six beers.” A subsequent Breathalyzer recorded Butler’s blood alcohol content as .133 (the legal limit is .08).

Butler’s fellow bumper car enthusiasts apparently escaped arrest.

surprised she didnt dial 911

2011-12-19T18:12:00.001-08:00

A Florida middle school teacher is facing a battery charge after she threw an assortment of food items back through a drive-thru window following a dispute with a McDonald’s employee, according to cops.

The incident, which was captured by a restaurant surveillance camera, occurred around 9:45 Saturday morning at a McDonald’s in Lakeland. Simone Paolercio, 39, had ordered about $20 worth of food when she got into a dispute with a worker manning the drive-thru window.

The video can be found below.

Jessica Balderas, a McDonald’s worker, told cops that “there was a disagreement over two hashbrowns,” according to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office report. Paolercio reportedly became “irritated” and “wanted them to take the food back and refund her money.”

After a manager arrived to speak with Paolercio, the educator tossed some of the food items back through the drive-thru window when the man refused to provide a refund. Paolercio later admitted that she "chucked it" through the window when her refund demand was rejected.

Some of the airborne grub struck Balderas in the face and chest, according to investigators. When Paolercio denied hitting Balderas with the breakfast items, a deputy advised that footage showed "a hashbrown fly out of the bag and through the air." Paolercio, cops noted, "said she could not argue with the surveillance video."

Paolercio, pictured in the above mug shot, “fled the area in her vehicle” following the confrontation. After being tracked to her residence, she was arrested on the misdemeanor charge.

A sixth grade teacher at Lakeland Highlands Middle School, Paolercio was booked into the county jail Saturday, and released from custody yesterday.

Paolercio has worked as a teacher in Polk County since 2004, according to a school web page. The geography instructor has a history degree from the University of South of Florida “and a Master Degree In Education” from American InterContinental University. In a Facebook posting yesterday, Paolercio’s husband threatened legal action over his wife's collar. “I will never step foot in a McDonald's again,” wrote Chris Paolercio, a long-haul trucker. "A lawsuit will be coming for what they did....."

things to do with a bug sprayer

2011-12-18T14:03:00.001-08:00

Police have charged Jerome Isaac, 47, of Brooklyn with two counts of murder and one count of arson following the burning death of Deloris Gillespie.

Isaac walked into a Brooklyn police station on Sunday morning wreaking of gasoline. He approached police and told them that he had started a fire.

The tragedy happened at 203 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights.

Residents told CBS 2′s Dave Carlin they first heard screaming, then saw the smoke, and finally realized that a woman was on fire inside of the building’s elevator.

Things not found on a list of Good Ideas: Walking into a fourth grade class and headbutting a student

2011-12-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A mother in DeKalb County wants answers after her 11-year-old told her another parent came into his classroom and headbutted him.

Lynetrice Preston's son Keyondre is a fourth-grade student at Allgood Elementary School in Stone Mountain. Keyondre told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri another student's father came into his class Friday and asked for him.

"He put his hands behind my back like this and hit me on the head like that," Keyondre told Napier Viteri.

He said the man pushed him in the chest and threatened him because of an argument with the man's child.

"He said you tell your people I got people too," Keyondre said.

Preston said she wants to know how the man got into the school unsupervised.

"It's very scary that a parent can just walk into the school and walk to a classroom and do that to a student," Preston said.

She took Keyondre to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Thursday night because he still has headaches from the incident.

"The parent still comes to the school right now. I feel like he shouldn't be allowed to come in the school. I'm very angry," Preston added.

A DeKalb County Schools representative told Napier Viteri the district is investigating the incident and whether there was physical contact between the parent and Preston. They are also looking into whether staff followed protocol. All people entering the school are required to sign in and have an escort.

Preston said she spoke with a detective, who told her some students witnessed the attack. She is planning to seek a warrant next month in court. Keyondre said in the meantime, he is frightened of walking to school alone.

"My mom have to walk me to school every morning because I'm scared that he might try to do something else to me," he said.

Mall Santa asks boy with autism if he wants a jail cell for Christmas

2011-12-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

MEETING Santa Claus for the first time was meant to be a jolly experience for Cameron Sleeth, 6.

But the excitement of meeting St Nicholas turned into a nightmare his mother wishes she could forget.

Tammy Sleeth said her two sons, Cameron, who has Asperger's syndrome, and Liam, 7, who has autism, were thrilled to have the chance to hear Santa say "ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas" and tell him what presents they hoped for this year.

But when she took her family to Logan Hyperdome, in Shailer Park, Queensland, on Thursday, what was planned to be a fun time turned into a distressing turn of events.

In a scene reminiscent of the film Bad Santa starring a foul-mouthed Billy Bob Thornton, the shopping center Santa made a mockery of her sons including Cameron who was wearing a T-shirt that read, "think before you judge, I have autism"

"The boys went up to Santa, my six-year-old was so excited to see Santa and he was doing a little dance in front of Santa, I thought it was cute, he was happy," she said.

"Then Santa looked at Cameron's shirt and looked at me and said 'has he had his medication tonight?' and I said 'excuse me?'. I was just disgusted."

They were among dozens of children lining up to meet Santa.

Mrs Sleeth, from Boronia Heights south of Brisbane, said the boys started to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas but she was left shocked at his response.

"They started saying what they wanted and then about two or three seconds later he said to them 'what about a jail cell?'," she said.

"After he said that I thought I didn't hear right and then he said it again, 'do you want a jail cell?'
"My six-year-old responded, 'jail cell' and I was mortified, I thought how dare you, he's not playing up, he's not being naughty."

Mrs Sleeth said she was in tears after the incident and doesn't want to take her sons to meet Santa again.
"I'm glad Cameron didn't understand it and even after Santa said it Cameron was still giving him hugs," she said.

"I certainly knew what he was going on about and I thought that's disgusting, how dare he insinuate my child needs to be institutionalised."

Centre manager Rob Mansfield said the man involved in the incident was being investigated and was no longer working in the center.

He said the Sleeths where being sent a package which included children's toys.

another reason I dont have antlers

2011-12-16T00:39:00.001-08:00

He figured it was his house too, so when Terry Nowakowski's ex-girlfriend locked him out Tuesday afternoon, he decided to break down the door.

When he stepped inside, authorities said, he was greeted with antlers.

His ex-girlfriend, Chelsea Harrison, armed herself with a mounted deer head and "began striking him in the face and body with the ends of the antlers until she lost her grip dropping it to the floor," a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report states. Nowakowski, 20, managed to flee and call for help.

He told deputies he and Harrison, 23, are broken up, but have a 3-year-old daughter together. They both own the home at 4129 Loury Drive in Zephyrhills, so they live at the same residence for financial reasons and "for the good of the child," the report states. Their daughter witnessed the fight, authorities said.

The argument started when Nowakowski walked outside and called his current girlfriend "which he believes angered Chelsea," the report states.

Nowakowski said Harrison locked the door, so he tried to get inside by removing a screen. When he poked his head inside the window, he said, Harrison punched him in the face.

That's when he decided to break down the door.

His face was swollen and cut from the alleged antler attack. Harrison denied the accusation.

Harrison, who faces a charge of domestic battery, was released from jail Thursday.

watch out for shoplifters stealing manson cds

2011-12-13T17:19:00.001-08:00

Anyone who thinks that "loss prevention specialists" (a.k.a. security guards) at grocery stores have easy jobs should talk to David Morrison, the head of security at Fred Meyer in Longview. But just wait to talk to him until he's out of emergency surgery.

Longview police spokesman Ofc. Chuck Davis tells Seattle Weekly that Morrison was working around noon on Monday when he saw a 31-year-old unidentified suspect steal four items: a Marilyn Manson CD (album unknown, hopefully Smells Like Children), a bike inner-tube, a bike lock, and a quart of oil.

Police say Morrison attempted to detain the man, and that's when the hatchet came out.

"He swung at Morrison with hatchet, severing the lower half of his left ear," Davis says. "The ear was recovered and the victim was taken to [Oregon Health & Science University] for surgery to his ear."

Davis says that police know who the suspect is, but are not identifying him yet. The man apparently left the stolen items in a cart after cutting the guard, then he fled in a Honda Accord, which was recovered later and will be searched today.

Once caught, the man will face a barrage of felony charges, including robbery and assault.

It's unclear whether doctors were able to reattach the man's ear.

old news-still funny

2011-12-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

Police say they arrested 63-year-old Marian Wegiel (WEE'-gil) on Monday evening in his neighbor's corral. He told police that was comforting the female horse because she had been scared by a loud noise.

Neighbors say they saw Wegiel inappropriately touching the horse, which was crying in pain.

Besides fourth-degree sexual assault, Wegiel is charged with cruelty to animals, criminal trespass and breach of peace. He is due in court on Nov. 1.

Wegiel did not immediately return a call for comment.

Inventor of Segway comes out in support of gay marriage...because that's how he rolls

2011-12-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

The inventor of the Segway has joined a coalition fighting to keep same-sex marriage legal in New Hampshire, the group announced this week.

Standing Up for New Hampshire Families welcomed entrepreneur Dean Kamen to its growing list of supporters. They are trying to fend off a push by state Republicans to repeal a marriage equality law that Democrats passed while in power.

“We’re grateful to have Dean join the growing ranks of leaders and regular people who are publicly standing up for all New Hampshire families,” said Lew Feldstein, co-chair for Standing Up for New Hampshire Families.

"We look forward to working with Dean and with others to ensure that no one takes away the freedom of our citizens, all of our citizens, to marry,” said James Wright, former President of Dartmouth College and SUNHF Leadership Council member.

The New Hampshire House is expected to vote in January on one plan to reverse the law, followed by the Senate. Although the state's retiring Democratic governor John Lynch has refused to sign any repeal, that hasn't stopped Republicans from trying.

The Concord Monitorreports that two former political operatives for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign in the state — Michael Dennehy and Patrick Hynes — are leading repeal efforts. Dennehy and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kevin Smith have signed up as lobbyists for the National Organization for Marriage, the newspaper reports.

You haven't done a very good job at parenting if your kids drink underage, they beat you up for throwing away their beer because they are underaged, and they're drinking Bud Light

2011-12-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

A brother and sister are in the St. Clair County Jail charged with beating up their mother over beer.

Brittany M. Ferguson, 20, and Lindell K. Ferguson, 18, both of Fayetteville, have each been charged with multiple counts of domestic battery in connection with an incident that left their 42-year-old mother bleeding, scratched and bruised in their Fayetteville home, according to St. Clair County Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Hundelt.

The siblings were charged last week by St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly.

According to police, they received a domestic disturbance call around 7:40 p.m. Nov. 22 in the 2100 block of South First Street in Fayetteville. When police arrived, Lindell and Brittany Ferguson had already fled the home. Their mother, whose name was not released by police, was bleeding profusely from her nose, her left eye was black and swollen and she had numerous scratches on her arm. She refused medical attention. Another adult, a 47-year-old man who also lives in the home but is not believed to be the father of Brittany and Lindell, had also been battered.

The victim told police the disturbance started because she threw out several cans of Bud Light beer from her refrigerator because her daughter, Brittany, was not of legal drinking age. The disposal of the beer angered Brittany, according to police, and she attacked her mother. Lindell joined his sister in the beating of their mother.

The pair were arrested Nov. 28. Brittany and Lindell remain in custody in the St. Clair County Jail in lieu of a $10,000 bail each.

Signs on your car that might attract cops: Exhibit A

2011-12-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

A Wyoming man's vehicle caught the attention of at least one person in Dickinson, N.D., on Tuesday, since he or she called police upon seeing it.

A sign on the vehicle stated "driver being drugged by LSD," said Dickinson Police Capt. Joe Cianni.

"In the dust was written 'Help FBI toxins,' " Cianni said. "The sign taped to the rear window said something like 'vehicle being followed for a felony driver.' "

However, officers determined the man did not need help and was not an immediate threat, he said.

"He just had a lot of stuff taped to his van to draw attention to himself," Cianni said.

2011-12-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

Mother who tried to sell her baby for $7,000 will need to sell her other child to make bond

2011-12-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

A Miami mom was arrested and charged with trying to sell her 8-month-old son for $7,000, authorities said Monday.

Kenia Quiala Bosque, 30, was arrested Sunday after an investigation by the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Authorities say Bosque, of Hialeah, had arranged to meet a Monroe County man in Miami on Saturday to exchange the child for the money.

When the Monroe County Sheriff's Office received a tip about the transaction, the FDLE arranged to have an undercover agent be at the baby handoff.

When the Monroe County Sheriff's Office received a tip about the transaction, the FDLE arranged to have an undercover agent be at the baby handoff.

But after Bosque failed to show up, and fearing for the child's well-being, deputies and agents went to her home and had enough evidence to make an arrest, authorities said.

"We are just so glad we were able to obtain this information in time to intervene before anything could happen to endanger this child," Sheriff Bob Peryam said in a statement.

Bosque was booked into Miami-Dade County jail and was being held on $5,000 bond Monday. It was unknown whether she has an attorney.

Her children were placed in the custody of relatives, authorities said.

Ain't no party like a Lehigh University rave party 'cause a Lehigh University rave party don't stop until 35 people are hospitalized in a "mass casualty incident"

2011-12-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

Lehigh University Police Chief Edward Shupp expected the crowds but not the aftermath of the rave party at Lehigh on Saturday that sent dozens to area hospitals in what is being called a "mass casualty incident" that involved drugs and alcohol and strained emergency responders.

Area hospitals reported treating 44 people who attended the event at Rauch Fieldhouse. Shupp said the majority were treated for dehydration due to alcohol and substance abuse. One student said his friend broke her ankle.

University police also reported six arrests around Rauch, including four people under 21 who were intoxicated and taken to a hospital. One arrest was for disorderly conduct when a person was denied entry into Rauch.

"It may be viewed differently by different people, but we handled it the best that we could. You just can't plan for something like this. It could happen anywhere," Shupp said.

The show starred DayGlow, a touring troupe that features disc jockeys, techno music, stilt-walkers, acrobatic dancers and gallons of fluorescent paint, which is sprayed on eager audience members.

The sold-out event was coordinated by California-based New Castle Entertainment and attracted 4,200 concert-goers, including members of the public as well as students from Lehigh and other colleges.

University spokesman Jordan Reese defended Lehigh's handling of the show, saying management of the fieldhouse, which is on the Murray H. Goodman campus next to Stabler Arena, prepared adequately.

"Stabler staff contacted other venues that hosted this particular event and made preparations, as they always do, to ensure the facility would be well-staffed and the promoter was compliant with safety requests," Reese said.

In September, 15 people were hospitalized for overdosing on drugs or alcohol at a sold-out DayGlow paint party in Syracuse, N.Y. About 5,000 people attended that party, according to news reports.

With a beefed-up staff of university officers and Bethlehem city police officers, Shupp said the university "wasn't at all overwhelmed."

Shupp said those in attendance were patted down and searched before being allowed to enter.

"No drugs were observed by officers. No one was charged with any kind of drug possession. Could someone have done something in their car or home before the event? There's no way of knowing," he said.

But Robert F. Mateff, director of Northampton County Emergency Management, said the rave party turned into "a mass casualty incident" that "put a strain" on the county's emergency response system.

"We are going to follow up with Lehigh University about this, as we do with any big incident," Mateff said Monday. "They need to examine this event."

DayGlow got under way at 8 p.m. Mateff said Dewey Fire Company's ambulance squad called for help after 9 p.m. Ambulance units from Suburban Rescue, Bethlehem Township and Easton responded, he said.

Twenty people from the rave were taken to Lehigh Valley Health Network's hospitals in Bethlehem and Salisbury Township and 24 went to St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network's Bethlehem Township and Fountain Hill hospitals, representatives said.

"Even with the best-laid plans in place, things can happen and we had to call in more medical units than we expected," Shupp said.

Reese, in an email message, stressed that although the event was held on Lehigh property, it was not university-sponsored. "It was public," he said.

New Castle Entertainment, Reese said, leased the fieldhouse for the show and provided security.

Jason Weinstein, a producer for New Castle, said it was the first DayGlow event the company has promoted and there were 50 people working security, including police.

Weinstein said he didn't want to use the term "casualties," saying, "Some fans overdid it before they arrived. They were all adults and made those choices before they arrived."

Asked what New Castle could have done to prevent injuries, Weinstein said, "All performance agreements were made directly with DayGlow. We only helped market the event."

He also said New Castle would promote future DayGlow events.

Reese said Lehigh officials were able to express their concerns to New Castle.

Alcohol was not served at the show, and visibly intoxicated people were prohibited from entering, Reese added. He also said Lehigh police provided "essential services," following standard procedures for an event at Rauch.

Lehigh officials do not know who was hospitalized or their condition.

"We are concerned about those who did require medical care, regardless of whether or not they are students," he said.

Brad Nerreau, a Lehigh student who was at the event, said his friend was sent to the hospital after someone jumped on her ankle, breaking it.

"This was the most wild thing I've ever experienced," said Nerreau, who fell to the floor after entertainers blasted the crowds with paint. "When the crowd was jumping up and down some kid landed on her ankle and it just snapped. All I know is that there were a lot of kids on all different kinds of drugs."

Matt Breitel, a photographer for the student newspaper Brown and White, called the event "a giant mess," that he said caught the university off guard.

Lehigh officials already have decided that the show will not return.

"The dance party will not be coming back to Stabler in the spring as a result of what occurred," Reese said.

On the main campus during the DayGlow event, another six students in possibly unrelated incidents were arrested on alcohol-related charges and taken to St. Luke's Hospital, according to the campus police log released Monday afternoon.

If you're going to rob a business, make sure the patrons can't run faster than your mode of getaway transport

2011-12-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

Patrons at a club on the New South Wales central coast have chased down a man who robbed the premises at knifepoint then tried to escape on a bicycle.

Police say the masked man walked into the soccer club on Millington Way at Buff Point shortly before 6:00pm (AEDT) yesterday.

He allegedly walked behind the bar and threatened two staff members with a knife before taking cash from the register.

Several patrons threw beer glasses at the man before he left the club and got on his bicycle.

The patrons then chased the man, tackled him and held him until officers arrived.

Police say they believe the man is responsible for a similar robbery of the same club in October.

The 23-year-old man has been charged with two counts of armed robbery.

He is being held in custody to face Wyong Local Court today.

why I dont live here

2011-12-02T09:28:00.001-08:00

A 19-year-old Afghan woman imprisoned for more than two years after she reported being raped by a relative is finally set to be freed—because she has agreed to marry her rapist, reports the Guardian. The woman, Gulnaz, who is the subject of a censored documentary, has resisted until now the pressure to marry her attacker, who may end up killing her because of his "humiliation," reports the New York Times. But the presidential palace announced last night that Gulnaz has agreed to become her attacker's second wife. "She feels like she has no other option than to marry him," said British filmmaker Clementine Malpas. "I know she wants honor, and I also know she doesn't want to marry this man. And of course I am worried about what the future holds for her because of this decision."

Gulnaz was sentenced to 12 years for adultery after she reported being raped by a cousin in an attack that left her pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter in prison. Her predicament is not unusual. Close to half of the nation's 600 female prisoners are behind bars for similar situations. Supporters have criticized the US and other Western nations for not taking a tougher stance on women's rights in the nation where they have committed troops and aid. The documentary that exposed Gulnaz's case was funded by the European Union, but diplomats then blocked it out of fear that it would harm their relationship with Afghanistan, notes the Times.

hey so what did you do today

2011-12-01T21:24:00.001-08:00

NEW YORK (CBS New York/AP) – Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced Thursday that a Manhattan woman has been charged with self abortion.

Yaribely Almonte, 20, is accused of wrapping the fetus of her unborn daughter in plastic and dumping it in a garbage bin outside of her West 191st Street apartment.

Authorities are investigating whether the woman ended her pregnancy by drinking an herbal concoction billed as an abortion-causing tea, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press Thursday.

The body was found on Tuesday by the building superintendent, who was sorting recyclables, police said. Almonte was arrested and charged on Wednesday night.

Under New York state law, an abortion can only be performed on a fetus older than 24 weeks if the procedure is necessary to save the woman’s life.

The Medical Examiner has yet to determine the cause of death. Almonte was released with an order to appear in court in January.

best way to jog

2011-12-01T08:45:00.001-08:00

Word to the wise: Maybe it's not the smartest thing to jog in what looks like a gas mask and body armor, and then jam a package in a post office box.

It could touch off what happened Tuesday at the busy San Jose post office on Lundy Avenue: a full-scale police response, complete with the bomb squad and a robot.

But San Jose police said the suspicious-looking jogger seen fidgeting with a package at a drop-off box was only working out in hard-core, albeit odd-looking, exercise gear.

"The guy said he was wearing a cardio mask," said Sgt. Jason Dwyer. "It was his cardio day, and he was trying to lose weight."

That's not what a post office customer thought when the man in the weird mask and vest was stuffing a package in a blue mail box about 12:30 p.m. The customer called police, and in a flash, the post office was on lockdown until 4:30 p.m., with 150 employees and customers tucked away in the back. The San Jose police bomb squad, the Fire Department's hazardous materials unit and the postal inspector descended on a normally quiet strip of North San Jose. A robot detonated the package, which turned out, police said, to be a bunch of calendars.

"My friends kept messaging me, Is this you? Is this you?" recounted Long Hoang, who lives near the post office and is a student at Cal State East Bay in Hayward.

It was.

About 12 weeks ago, Hoang became an avid follower of the CrossFit exercise regimen, which he said, exuberantly,
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combines "this really creative combination of weight lifting, gymnastics and rowing." He wears the mask to simulate high-altitude training. Hoang, who is 5 feet 4 inches, said he's lost at least 20 pounds, and is now 142 pounds.

Many neighbors in the area frequently spot him running in his gear, doing squats and lunges at corners while he waits for the light to turn green.

oh they broke the code

2011-11-30T09:36:00.001-08:00

Some lucky judge in Kansas gets this one: A convicted kidnapper is suing the couple he held hostage because he says they broke an "oral contract" to hide him from police in exchange for money, reports the Topeka Capital-Journal. Instead, they snuck out of the house when he fell asleep and called the cops. “As a result of the plaintiffs breech (sic) of contract, I, the defendant suffered a gunshot to my back, which almost killed me. The hospital bills alone are in excess of $160,000, which I have no way to pay.”

Two other lawsuits might shed some light. First, kidnapper Jesse Dimmick sued the city of Topeka for $75,000 over that gunshot to the back. (Police say a rifle went off accidentally during the arrest.) After Dimmick filed that suit, the couple he held hostage sued him for $75,000 for the stress he caused, apparently hoping to collect any money he got from the city. Then Dimmick filed his countersuit against them for $235,000, representing himself “without the aid of proffessional (sic) legal counsel.”

the creepy 459 kind

2011-11-29T13:09:00.001-08:00

SONOMA COUNTY (CBS SF) — A Sacramento man apparently made himself at home for the holidays Sunday in a Sonoma County residence, a county sheriff’s sergeant said.

Jonathon Humphrey, 20, is suspected of burglarizing the Fremont Diner in Sonoma Valley and a residence less than two blocks away on South Central Avenue, Sgt. Dave Thompson said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded around 3:45 p.m. to an alarm at the diner at 2698 Fremont Drive southeast of Sonoma, Thompson said.

The suspect forced the door open and took cash, Thompson said.

Around 7:15 p.m., a guest staying at a nearby residence on South Central Avenue in unincorporated Sonoma County arrived home and found a man watching TV in the living room, Thompson said.

The back door of the residence had been kicked in and the intruder told the guest he knew the homeowner, Thompson said. The guest then called 911.

I'd say it runs in the family

2011-11-29T13:07:00.001-08:00

Three brothers suffer heart attacks on same day

Updated: Tuesday, 29 Nov 2011, 2:04 PM EST
Published : Tuesday, 29 Nov 2011, 7:39 AM EST

CATANIA, Italy (NewsCore) - Three Italian brothers suffered heart attacks on the same day, killing two of them.

The third was already in the hospital at the time, visiting his elderly mother, and was immediately treated by medics, the Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday.

Guido Garofalo, 45, was the first to succumb while on a family picnic Sunday on the steep slopes of Sicily's Mount Etna volcano. His brother Alberto, 53, was overcome with grief on seeing him drop dead and suffered a cardiac arrest shortly afterward. He died despite the efforts of first responders sent to the scene.

The two victims' older brother Salvatore, 57, remains in stable condition after being treated for a blocked artery at the Garabaldi hospital in Catania, eastern Sicily.

A sister, who lives in Rome, has not been informed of the tragic deaths yet because she suffers from the same congenital heart disease, the paper said.

Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/offbeat/112911-three-brothers-suffer-heart-attacks-on-same-day#ixzz1f8AaFEUk

just gotta figure out this funny lil drinkin problem

2011-11-26T13:42:00.001-08:00

An East Boston man with seven previous OUI arrests and a lifetime license suspension is behind bars after being charged for an eighth time with driving drunk.

State Police arrested 52-year-old Albert Diaz Wednesday night in front of Chelsea High School after a Trooper witnessed him allegedly committing several driving violations in Revere.

Police say Diaz reeked of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes, and flunked a field sobriety test.

State Police later found out that Diaz had already had his license suspended for life over previous OUI violations.

Diaz was arrested and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, marked lanes violations, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, operating a motor vehicle after revocation for OUI, speeding and failure to wear a seat-belt.

what a great idea

2011-11-25T17:44:00.001-08:00

A woman trying to improve her chance to buy cheap electronics at a Walmart in a wealthy suburb spewed pepper spray on a crowd of shoppers and 20 people suffered minor injuries, police said Friday.

The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale at the Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley.

The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping, when the woman began spraying people "in order to get an advantage," police Sgt. Jose Valle said.

"Faces were red," shopper John Lopez told ABC News Radio. "This one guy was coming up to my wife going, 'Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance!'"

Matthew Lopez, 18, told the Los Angeles Times he heard screaming and yelling.

"Moments later, my throat stung. I was coughing really bad and watering up," he said.

In the aftermath, video showed dozens of shoppers milling around while employees urge them to back up and make room.

It was the only major violence reported at a Southern California store involving Black Friday Thanksgiving holiday sales.

Ten people were slightly injured by the pepper spray and 10 others suffered minor bumps and bruises in the chaos, Valle said. They were treated at the scene.

"People could have gotten trampled," he said. "Good thing there were no small kids."

The woman got away in the confusion, but it was not immediately clear whether she got an Xbox, Valle said.

"Walmart is going through register receipts to see if it was purchased," he said.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray kept shopping.

"This was an unfortunate situation. We're glad everyone seems to be OK," Walmart said in a statement. "We're working with law enforcement to provide what information we have, such as surveillance video, to assist in their investigation."

The woman could face felony battery charges if she is found, Valle said.

the reason everyone hates security guards

2011-11-24T12:29:00.001-08:00

EVERETT, Wash. -- A Safeway security guard is taking heat for the way he questioned a 4-year-old shoplifter in Everett.

Little Savannah Harp recently took a trip to the grocery store with her dad. While they were shopping, Savanna took a package of dried fruit from a shelf.

"She grabbed a bag of apricots - dried apricots - opened them, ate a couple, put it back and the security guard watched her do it," said the girl's mother, Alissa Jones.

Savannah's father didn't notice his daughter's sticky fingers, but a store security guard did.

The guard stopped the pair as they left the store and led them back to a break room.

"He proceeded to tell them, 'Your daughter stole and she's banned from the store, and we're pressing charges. And she needs to sign this form saying she understands she can't come into any Safeways,'" Jones said.

Savannah can't read or write, but the guard, whom Safeway had hired under contract, had her scribble on the paper just the same.

"It's pretty troubling," Jones said. "It's not like she even knows what she was doing."

Savannah's parents aren't the only ones concerned about the way the situation was handled. Company officials said they are outraged by the incident and have fired the security guard.

"Our policies on shoplifting are intended to protect our customers, but built on common sense. And everyone understands what common sense is," said company spokesperson Cherie Myers. "We are as appalled as the parent is. Our division president was absolutely appalled, called the mom and apologized."

if it works for 39 years-keep doing it

2011-11-24T12:20:00.001-08:00

For the first time in 39 years, Psychology 101 students at Sacramento State may find themselves being taught by a hungry Parrott. For decades, professor George Parrott has told students that if they fail to bring homemade snacks for the class to share, there will be no class. The university told him to end the requirement after he walked out of a snackless class two weeks ago and students complained, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Parrott says the snack requirement helped students to get to know each other, to learn how to form teams and to set schedules and check up on each other—as well as ensuring nobody goes hungry during 3-hour lab sessions. When he was an undergraduate, he says, classes were a lot smaller and students formed close ties among themselves. Now, "it's a commuter rat race. Students drive in and go home and never connect with their fellow students."

whats for dinner, vodka and racism

2011-11-24T10:41:00.001-08:00

Some dumbass at the Wodka Vodka company thought he could post a billboard reading, "Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing" ... and everything would be cool. He was wrong.

The billboard -- posted in New York -- was taken down after the company received scores of phone calls and complaints from the Anti-Defamation League.

A rep for the ADL released a statement saying, "In a crude and offensive way of trying to make a point that their vodka is high quality and inexpensive, the billboards evoke a Jewish holiday to imply something that is cheap and of lesser value when compared to the higher value of a Christian holiday."

The rep added the billboard "reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes.”

According to the Washington Post, the guy in charge of the moronic campaign is Brian Gordon -- who says he is Jewish and didn't intend to offend anyone ... explaining the billboard was supposed to convey that Hanukkah is an "understated" holiday

that sucks

2011-11-23T09:25:00.001-08:00

A Santa Clarita teenager applying for a job at a hobby shop dropped off his resume then grabbed a $129 Airsoft gun and strolled out the door, police said Tuesday.

The 17-year-old, whose name was not released because he's underage, explained his thinking this way:

“Honestly, I wasn't planning on stealing anything," he told KTLA-TV. "I was actually trying to get a job. And... what can I say? I'm a teenager, that's stupid.”

An airsoft gun is a replica firearm that propels plastic pellets.
Authorities with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s station went to Airsoft & Hobby World on Bouquet Canyon Road shortly after the Nov. 14 petty theft.

Sgt. Darren Harris confirmed the teenager presented a resume to a store employee, but the worker told him applicants must be at least 18 years old.

“The subject said, ‘That sucks,’ and wandered around the store,” Harris said.

The case has been assigned to a detective, and the investigation is ongoing, Harris said. The teen has not been arrested.

junk in the trunk

2011-11-20T20:27:00.001-08:00

MIAMI (AP) -- A woman who wanted to work at a nightclub started searching for someone who could perform plastic surgery at a cheap price to give her a curvier body. Police say what she found was a woman posing as a doctor who filled her buttocks with cement, mineral oil and flat-tire sealant.

The suspect - who police say was born a man and identifies as a woman - apparently performed the surgery on herself, and investigators say she may have victimized others. Oneal Ron Morris, 30, was arrested Friday after a year on the lam and has been charged with practicing medicine without a license with serious bodily injury.

Police photos show Morris as a small-framed woman with bee-stung pouty lips, arched eyebrows, oversized hoop earrings - and a large backside. She was released from jail on bond. A phone listing for Morris could not be found, and it's unclear if she has an attorney.

Miami Gardens Police Sgt. Bill Bamford said Sunday that Morris bounced from house to house for a year, driving a black Mercedes and staying out of investigators' sight "like a ghost." An officer drove by one of those possible houses nearly every day on his way to work and saw the car outside on Friday, and he arrested Morris soon after.

The victim, who is not being named due to medical privacy laws, paid $700 for a series of injections in May 2010. She was referred to Morris by a friend.

Morris injected some type of tube in several sites around her bottom, pumping it full of a toxic concoction. Morris reassured the woman when the pain became too intense, police said.

Bamford said Morris told the woman, "`Oh don't worry, you'll be fine. We just keep injecting you with the stuff and it all works itself out.'"

Bamford said the victim was reluctant to come forward. She quickly went to two South Florida hospitals due to severe abdominal pain and infected sores on her buttocks accompanied by flu-like symptoms. But she left each time, too embarrassed to tell doctors what she'd done.

Her mother eventually took her to a hospital on Florida's west coast, where alarmed doctors pressed her for information. They alerted the Department of Health.

"The doctors knew no licensed physician in his right mind would ever do this," Bamford said.

Nevada man gets probation for pushing his wife over a cliff, tells judge he was not at fault

2011-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A 63-year-old North Las Vegas man was sentenced to five years on probation after admitting he pushed his wife off a 20-foot cliff into Lake Mohave.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Glenn Duane Moss initially faced felony attempted murder and other charges, but pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor assault charge in U.S. District Court.

The case was handled in federal court because the Colorado River reservoir is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston told Assistant Federal Public Defender Shari Kaufman that he didn't believe the shove in November 2010 was "a recreational push."

Court records say a personal watercraft operator pulled Lucia Moss from the water and took her away from the area to call 911.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This one starts with some parents smoking weed with their kids, continues with an argument, a.22 pistol, a baseball bat and a machete. Then a Pakistani immigrant shows up and it gets weird.

2011-11-14T15:38:00.000-08:00

According to a report filed by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, on August 21, Deborah Minton and Diane Rocha were sitting on the front porch of their home on Aldine Mail Route when a white Ford F-150 drove up and disgorged two enraged women: Deborah Minton's daughter Robin Minton and Consuelo "Connie" Shaukat, Deborah Minton's son's girlfriend. The two women had come for Rocha — they claimed that she had reported them to CPS for allowing their teenaged children to get stoned with them, and they were allegedly threatening to harm her for same.

According to the report, mama Minton told Rocha to go inside. She said she would handle her daughter and Shaukat. She reportedly told the two women to leave, but they shoved her aside and barged into her house. The elder Minton followed behind, but her daughter shoved her up against a wall and held her there while Shaukat pursued Rocha.

Rocha fled into a bedroom, but could still hear the ruckus coming from the hallway. When she cracked the door, she says she saw the younger Minton restraining her own mother while Shaukat yelled threats at her about reporting her to CPS. Shaukat allegedly tried to kick the door down, but left, saying that she would track her down soon enough and then vengeance would be hers. At that point, Shaukat and the younger Minton took off.

Fast-forward to Saturday, September 3. Robin Minton and Connie Shaukat were allegedly at it again. This time, the two women brought three men with them: Connie's ex-husband, Pakistani immigrant Adnan Shaukat, and two as-yet-unidentified accomplices. And this is where it starts to get weird.
According to married couple Paul and Kimberly Ryals, they had just finished swimming in their pool at their north Houston home when they heard dogs barking. Kimberly Ryals says she looked out the window and saw Connie (a friend of a former employee of hers) and Robin (the sister of a former employee of hers) scaling her chain-link fence.

Ryals knew that these women believed that she too had been involved in reporting them to CPS, so she says she went to her bedroom to fetch a .22 caliber pistol. Then, along with her husband, she made a break for the back door. When she turned around, she and her husband saw that Connie Shaukat was already in the house clutching a wooden baseball bat. At that point, Paul Ryals went on the attack, grabbing Connie by the neck with his left hand and the bat with his right. Kimberly Ryals says her husband and Connie both fell to the floor during this struggle, so she walked up to Connie and shot her twice with the pistol. According to the report, both slugs found their mark, but despite being shot in both the back and the back of the neck, "Shaukat continued to fight and did not appear to be hindered."

Meanwhile, by this time Robin Minton had come around to the back door. Kimberly Ryals popped off a round at her but missed. Connie Shaukat and Minton then both fled out the rear door, whereupon Kimberly Ryals called police.

And then they saw Adnan Shaukat and his buds coming after them.

Adnan Shaukat allegedly had a pair of bolt-cutters in one hand. By this time, Paul Ryals had tooled up with Connie's bat, so he was ready. Paul says Adnan charged him and swung the bolt-cutters at him and missed. Paul says he then conked Adnan on the head with the bat, and then turned to glean the whereabouts of the other two men. He says that one of them had a hand grenade in his hand.

Just then Adnan charged again with the bolt-cutters. Apparently they were now outside, because Paul Ryals says he staved off this counterattack by availing himself of the machete he keeps in his work truck.

And so they dueled, bolt-cutters versus machete...and then grenade guy ran up and dropped the bomb next to him. (It later transpired that the grenade was a harmless replica.) Grenade dude then grabbed the machete, and then Paul Ryals was tussling with him instead of Adnan.
By then a third man had picked up the bolt-cutters and started whaling on Paul Ryals. Paul says he fell to the ground and cried out to his wife for help, all while all three of the men were kicking him. Kimberly Ryals says she picked up a glass ashtray and beat Adnan Shaukat about the head with it vigorously.

But Kimberly Ryals evidently forgot about Minton and Connie Shaukat, because while she was brandishing the ashtray, those two women sneaked up behind her.

According to the report, Connie Shaukat started laying into her with a garden hoe, causing her to fall to the ground and go into the fetal position, whereupon Connie and Robin kicked her repeatedly. She says she looked up and saw an unidentified man looming over her with a metal tool. She told him police were on their way. Both Ryalses say that sirens were heard just then, and all the suspects fled. Kimberly Ryals says her lacerated head required nine staples to mend, and both she and her husband say they had multiple bruises and contusions.

Only Adnan Shaukat was arrested in the immediate aftermath — he's been charged with second-degree felony burglary and is still behind bars. The same charges now face Minton and Connie Shaukat, both of whom were picked up in October.

And despite being shot twice, Connie Shaukat didn't slow her roll one bit. In fact, if her Facebook page is to be believed, since this incident has occurred, she has divorced Adnan and gotten remarried, five days after this insane melee, to the very same man who bailed her ex-husband out of jail.

Operation Rocky

2011-11-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Police have arrested 19 suspects after fooling them into ringing officers by promising free beer if they got in touch.

In an undercover operation, Derbyshire Police sent letters to dozens of people who had evaded arrest for several months.

They were asked to ring a marketing company to collect a free crate of beer.

A total of 19 suspects fell for the hoax and called the number, which put them straight through to Chesterfield Police Station.

A time and date was arranged for the free alcohol to be delivered but instead the suspects were arrested.

The sting formed part of Operation Rocky, a campaign targeting serious crime which is running across north Derbyshire until the end of November.

We use a variety of methods to arrest those suspected of committing criminal offences and we will continue to use new tactics when necessary.

Chief Inspector Graham McLaughlin, who is leading the operation, said: "These suspects are people who have managed to evade arrest for some time so we have used different tactics to find them.

"It has been very cost effective as it can take a lot of time and money to track people down.
"We use a variety of methods to arrest those suspected of committing criminal offences and we will continue to use new tactics when necessary."

Those arrested are alleged to have committed offences including burglary, robbery and serious sexual assault.

Suspects were arrested from addresses in Chesterfield, Staveley, Alfreton and Ilkeston as well as Sheffield and Nottingham.

If you get kicked off the college basketball team, do you: A) appeal, B) try another school, or C) get naked, carjack a cop and run over his dog?

2011-11-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

A Fresno Pacific University basketball player went on a naked rampage Monday night near campus after being told that he had been kicked off the team, Fresno police said Tuesday.

Leonard Tyrell Young, 21, ran naked through a convenience store parking lot, tried to steal a police car, beat a police officer and police dog and withstood three Taser strikes before finally being subdued, police said.

He was booked Tuesday into Fresno County Jail on suspicion of carjacking, resisting arrest, vandalism, harming a police dog and being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to jail records.

Young, a native of Philadelphia, was dismissed from the Sunbirds on Monday night for a violation of team standards, according to the university.

About 11:30 p.m. Monday, officers went to Chestnut and Butler avenues in southeast Fresno after getting reports of a naked man running in the street. Callers said he seemed intoxicated and was pounding his fists on cars.

The first officer who arrived watched Young, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 170 pounds, until other officers could assist him.

Young's friends, who said they were members of the Fresno Pacific basketball team, told the officer that Young had been kicked off the team about an hour earlier. They said he "tore up" his apartment in the nearby Cypress Pointe complex, then ran naked into the street.

Witnesses at a gas station said Young assaulted two women in the parking lot, knocking one to the ground. Young also reportedly pounded his fists on the bullet-proof glass at the store and on several cars in the parking lot.

As officer Brian Sturgeon was getting his dog, Jack, out of his police car, Young ran up to him. Sturgeon pushed Young back, but Young got in the front seat and put the car in drive.

Sturgeon and Young grappled, and Jack bit Young on his thigh. Young hit the dog as he tried to drive off. Sturgeon and Jack were only partially in the car as they tried to stop Young.

Sturgeon managed to put a foot on the brake pedal, but Young drove the car at about 10 mph across the street. It came to a stop at the gas station.

Officers tried to pull Young from the car. Officer Zack Chastain shot his Taser at Young, but it had no effect. He tried twice more, but he could not slow Young.

Young kept a strong grip on the steering wheel as Sturgeon and officer Theran Higginbotham tried to pull him from the car. Finally, a blow to Young's wrist with a flashlight loosened his grip on the steering wheel, and he was pulled out of the car and handcuffed.

No officers were injured, and Jack was unharmed.

Fresno Pacific Athletic Director Dennis Janzen said that Young -- a transfer from Coppin State in Maryland who was on track to be eligible to play in January -- was doing well in school, as well as on the basketball court.

"We are extremely concerned about what happened and very saddened that it even occurred," Janzen said. "At this point, Lenny is no longer a member of the team."

my kinda landlord

2011-11-04T16:43:00.001-07:00

First, there was Fred Garvin, male prostitute. Now, there's an 83-year-old city council candidate from Centerville, Iowa, who has been charged with prostitution.

Ben Clifford Dawson, 83, of Centerville, was charged with prostitution and assault with the intent to commit sexual abuse after he allegedly offered to let a 33-year-old woman repay part of a $7,000 loan by allowing him to perform sex acts on her. That's not soliciting - it's prostitution, according to local authorities.

Dawson also grabbed the victim and began kissing their neck without consent, according to police. Dawson was released from the Appanoose County Jail after posting $2,000 bond.

Police said it was not the first such complaint about Dawson.

“The same sexual actions or requests have been recorded in the past in reports from at least three separate former female tenants of the defendant,” police reported.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/weird/83-Year-Old-Man-Charged-as-Male-Prostitute-133177598.html#ixzz1cmckATVL

Man who stole checks at interview doesn't get the job but does get 3-6 of free room and board

2011-11-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

Clyde Frampton Sr., the man who stole checks from a prospective employer during a job interview, was sentenced this week to three to six years.

Police said Lincoln Cold Storage's manager contacted police in October 2010 after noticing that a dozen blank business checks were missing from the office.

When he reported the missing checks to the bank, he was told four had been cashed, payable to Frampton, for $1,600.

The manager recognized Frampton's name because he'd interviewed him for a job opening.

The 42-year-old was arrested and since has pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery.

who knew?

2011-11-03T21:36:00.001-07:00

The United States Postal Service has no shortage of public headaches—but the Wall Street Journal takes a look at a quirky problem that's a little more under-the-radar: your bad handwriting. The USPS employs 1,900 clerks who show up for work at one of two "Remote Encoding Centers" and then try to make sense of horrifically unreadable addresses. Their ranks used to be much larger: 32,000 clerks at some 55 RECs. Thanks to technological advances, computers can decode most chicken-scratch. Scanned images of the unreadable ones end up in Salt Lake City or Wichita.

The desired deciphering rate? 1,100 letters per hour. Clerks pored over 714,085,866 first-class letters last year that the computers couldn't read; 27% of the addresses stumped the workers, too. Those get plucked out of the mail stream and handled by one of the last "peek-and-poke clerks." The "nixies" (those that even that clerk can't decipher) get looked at one final time. All those that still can't be delivered then go to Atlanta's Mail Recovery Center, where letters that appear to possibly contain cash or documents are opened. The rest end their lives in the shredder.

Police Help Batman with Flat Tire

2011-11-02T13:54:00.000-07:00

HOWARD COUNTY, Md. - Holy flat tire!

After years of relying on help from the Caped Crusader, law enforcement finally got the chance to pay him back.

Police in Howard County ran into Batman on southbound Route 29 Halloween morning.

The superhero was driving his Batmobile to a D.C. hospital to visit with sick children when he got the flat.

Officers cleared the vehicle from the roadway while the Dark Knight got a lift to the hospital and kept his appearance.

Police were able to snap a few pictures just to prove their story.

McRib contains same chemical as yoga mats and shoe soles. You'd better cut back to just one a day

2011-11-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

by KING 5 News
Posted on November 2, 2011 at 8:12 AM

You know that old anti-smoking joke that kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray?

It turns out, wrapping your lips around a McDonald’s McRib is somewhat like eating a yoga mat.

Time Magazine’s Healthland blog reports that among the McRib’s 70 ingredients are azodicarbonamide, ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80.

While the amounts are very small, the blog notes that azodicarbonamide, “a flour-bleaching agent that is most commonly used in the manufacture of foamed plastics like in gym mats and the soles of shoes, is found in the McRib bun.”

The blog says azodicarbonamide is banned in Europe and Australia as a food additive.

penalty-death next time

2011-11-02T08:58:00.001-07:00

Some rear action has landed cheeky soccer players in trouble with Iranian officials. Two players are being fined $37,000 each and suspended from their Persepolis team for a celebratory "butt squeeze" following a goal against Damash Gilan in a televised game. The "shameless act upset, angered, and outraged" Iranian sports fans, said cleric Jalal Yahyazadeh, who is a member of parliament in the nation where homosexuality is illegal. "What happened is absolutely not acceptable because it was a very ugly thing."

The Iranian soccer federation's media committee demanded that "elements who damaged the country's sporting spirit be dealt with firmly," and the federation moved to suspend the two men. The Daily Mail described the butt grab as typical "laddish behavior" among team members, but the Iranian player whose rear was grabbed appears to be annoyed in a video of the incident, and roughly pushes his teammate's hand away. Seconds after the goal, before the butt squeeze, two other teammates embrace and kiss.

jokes on you

2011-11-01T22:28:00.001-07:00

A 10-year-old Aiken trick-or-treater pulled a gun on a woman who said she would take his candy on Halloween.

According to a police incident report, the 28-year-old victim told authorities she recognized some boys from her neighborhood while they were trick-or-treating about 6:30 p.m. Monday near Schroeder and George streets and jokingly told them she would take their candy.

One 10-year-old in the group of about 10 juveniles responded with “no you’re not …” and then pointed a 9 mm handgun at her.

According to Aiken Public Safety Lt. David Turno, the clip was not in the gun at the time, but the boy did have a loaded clip in his possession.

The boy’s brother, also 10, told authorities he also had a gun.

The second weapon was recovered Tuesday morning.

The boy who pulled the weapon was brought to the police station where he was turned over to the custody of his parents.

Turno said the boys got the weapons from their grandfather without permission.

Learn the Secret, Surefire Way to Get the Phone Numbers of Hot Women You Meet on the Street

2011-11-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

JERSEY CITY — When a Jersey City woman ignored the advances of a man trying to chat with her on a street in the Lafayette section Sunday night, he got angry and robbed her instead, officials said.

Officers dispatched to Grand Street and Johnston Avenue around 8 p.m. spoke to the 22-year-old Paterson woman who said her $500 phone was just taken, reports said.

The victim said she was walking to a friend's home when a man approached her from behind saying "What's up, girl? Let me talk to you for a minute," reports said. She ignored the man who said "Come on girl, don't be like that," reports said, adding that he gave his name and said "I'm from around here. Let's talk."

The woman said she began running because the robber "creeped her out," but he chased her down, snatched the cell phone from her hand and said "I got your phone (expletive), what's up now?"

The man then fled west on Johnston toward Van Horne Street, where the victim lost sight of him, reports said, adding that police have identified a suspect in the case.

Drunken Wrestling Demo Ends With 1 Arrest, 1 Hospitalized

2011-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

BOULDER, Colo. -- A drunken wrestling demonstration last week ended with one man in jail and another man hospitalized with serious injuries, police said.

Boulder police were called late Friday night on a reported assault in a business office at 1048 Pearl St.

In the office, officers found at least two very intoxicated men and a third man with a bloody face lying on the floor, police said.

One of the assault victims, Elliot Rodstein, 23, said he and his brother, Eric Rodstein, 28, had been drinking at a brewery with Richard James Mastic, 27. The three men had been sharing the office for about three months, Elliot said.

At the brewery, Mastic began telling the brothers that he'd been a wrestler and was coaching wrestling now, according to a police report.

Mastic is an assistant coach at Boulder United Wrestling, a youth wrestling program, according to the organization's website.

When the men went back to their office, Mastic said he wanted to demonstrate his wrestling moves on Elliot, but he defended himself and pushed Mastic away, the police report said.

This made Mastic mad, Elliot told police, and his brother, Eric, tried to step in and calm Mastic down.

Elliot said Mastic punched him in the face and then began to attack his brother, punching Eric in the face and causing him to fall to the ground, the report said.

While Eric was still lying on the ground, Mastic kicked him in the face, Elliot said.

Elliot said he ran outside and got help.

An arriving police officer found Mastic sitting at a desk, writing down an account of what happened.

The officer asked Mastic to put down his pen for the officer's safety, but Mastic refused, the police report said. The officer handcuffed Mastic.

Mastic told police the fight began when Elliot tackled him. Mastic said when he asked Elliot why he tackled him, Elliot replied, "because you asked me to tackle you."

The officer asked Mastic if he told Elliot to tackle him, and Mastic replied, "I'm not sure," the police report said.

Mastic said Elliot tackled him a second time, but Mastic was able to wrestle away from him, the report said.

Mastic told police he was still on his hands and knees when Eric kicked him in the face. But an officer checked Mastic's face and saw no signs that he'd been kicked. Police said the only injuries that Mastic appeared to have were scrapes on the knuckles of his right hand.

Mastic said he became very angry when Eric kicked him, so Mastic tackled him and his head hit the ground.

Police said they found Eric with a bloody face, lying on a bloody floor in the office. His lower left eye was swollen and appeared to be collapsed inward. He also had a large cut on his lip, the police report said.

Eric was transported to Boulder Community Hospital where a doctor said he had a large facial fracture. Police said Elliot's lip was swollen and there was also a hole in the office wall that Mastic had made.

Police said Mastic and Elliot were very intoxicated. Police said they were unable to interview Eric because he was badly injured and incoherent.

Mastic was arrested for first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury and third-degree assault causing injury, police said.

Man experiencing chest pains decides to try to remove his own pacemaker, with predictable success rate

2011-11-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

By Carlos Sadovi
Tribune reporter
4:43 p.m. CDT, November 1, 2011

A man living in a group home in the Uptown neighborhood died Monday night after he tried to remove his heart pacemaker from his chest, officials said.

Channing Askew, 47, of the 4700 block of North Winthrop, was pronounced dead at 11:33 p.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Chicago Fire Department paramedics were called to the home after the man told a worker in the group home that he was experiencing chest pains and asked them to call an ambulance.

After the worker called for the ambulance, Askew returned to his room where he remained until paramedics arrived, police said.

When they did, he complained to them about chest pains and was then taken to the ambulance where he fell unconscious, police said.

As paramedics were trying to revive him, they took off his shirt and discovered he had a puncture wound on the upper left side of his chest, police said.

At some point police were called when it became apparent that the man had been stabbed, police said.

After the man was taken to the hospital, a doctor told police that the man had apparently tried to remove his pacemaker himself, police said. It was not known what the man used in that attempt.

The man may have had underlying mental and medical issues, police said. A representative of the group home could not provide any information.

No autopsy was conducted by the Cook County medical examiner's office who ruled his death natural, due to heart disease.

hasnt this happened to us all?

2011-11-01T11:09:00.001-07:00

A man caught having sex with a donkey told a court in Zimbabwe the animal was actually a prostitute who turned into a donkey in the night.

Sunday Moyo, 28, was found by police officers performing a sex act on the donkey, who was lying on the ground tied to a tree, just after 4:00am local time, a court in Zvishavane, about 185 miles (300 kilometers) south of the capital Harare, heard.

He was arrested Monday in the Mandava township of Zvishavane and charged with bestiality, the New Zimbabwe newspaper reported.

Admitting the crime, Moyo told the court, "Your worship, I only came to know that I was being intimate with a donkey when I got arrested. I had hired a prostitute and paid US$20 for the service at Down Town night club, and I don't know how she then became a donkey."

He also claimed he was in love with the animal, telling the court, "I think I am also a donkey. I do not know what happened when I left the bar, but I am seriously in love with [the] donkey," The Herald newspaper reported.

Moyo was remanded in custody until Oct. 27 and will be examined by two governme

Read more: http://www.myfoxla.com/dpps/news/offbeat/man-claims-prostitute-turned-into-donkey-dpgonc-20111026-fc_15652797?obref=obinsite#ixzz1cTipRUYP

come audit my class kids, free snacks

2011-11-01T08:20:00.001-07:00

Using students as guinea pigs and making deals with companies to make money off his research. These are serious allegations against an OU professor.

A former teaching assistant is speaking out about the questionable experiments. This graduate student and several others went to the university to report what they say are questionable practices.

Now that professor is on a leave of absence, and another professor has left the university as well. And we must warn you, some of the video and pictures in this story are graphic.

"In November we started smelling something fishy going around," the suspicious student said.

This graduate student asked us to protect his identity. But he wanted to expose what he says one of his professors was doing to him and other students.

"There's a lot of people who got hurt as a result of his actions which could have easily been avoided," the student said.

The graduate student gave us some videos, which show some of the procedures performed on his teaching assistants, and other student volunteers. Many times these procedures were painful and sometimes led to internal bleeding and awful bruises.

Besides the injuries, many students were told to keep certain research practices secret.

And this student said sometimes, results were even altered by the professor, who was allegedly getting payments from companies for his research, while on the university dime.

Reporter: "Did the university know he was doing these procedures?"

Student: "Yes, but the thing is he told them we were doing this in a sterile environment, using sterile equipment, sterile gloves, taking all the precautions needed and they trusted him."

after winning office the most logical idea is to shop lift

2011-10-31T21:34:00.001-07:00

Neiman Marcus store.

The 45-year-old Castro Valley Democrat, wife of a Bay Area judge, pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court and is free on $15,000 bail pending further proceedings Nov. 15.

Sam Singer, spokesman for Hayashi, said the arrest occurred after she left the store while using her cellular phone.

"The incident in San Francisco was a mistake and a misunderstanding," Singer said. "The assemblywoman strongly believes in the justice system and is hopeful that this matter will be cleared up soon."

Hayashi, who is scheduled to be termed out of office next year, chairs the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee.

The veteran lawmaker was placed under citizen's arrest by security officers outside Neiman Marcus

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/29/4015232/california-assemblywoman-mary.html#ixzz1cQPk1lA4

yes come have pizza and work your fingers to the bizone!

2011-10-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

For years, it has been touted as a form of vacation diplomacy: a U.S. government program that selects college students from across the globe to come work at beach resorts, amusement parks and other seasonal jobs. In the process, the visitors are expected to imbibe American culture, practice English and take home fond memories.

But in August, students complained that their work conditions were closer to a sweatshop than a summer break, sparking demands for government intervention and a firestorm of bad publicity that federal officials are trying to tamp down.

More than 300 young foreigners, packing candy in a warehouse in Pennsylvania, staged a high-profile walkout and protest against their employers and the State Department, which oversees the program. They alleged that they had been worked to exhaustion and had met few Americans except supervisors who pressed them to pack faster and threatened to have them deported.

“My parents agreed to send me because it would be a way to improve my English,” wrote Aysel Kiyaker, a student from Turkey who paid $3,000 for her airfare and work visa. “They told us the job would be easy and fun and they would have pizza parties for us.”

Instead, Kiyaker found herself lifting heavy boxes on long shifts in the rural factory, owned by the Hershey Co. “After work my whole body was numb,” she wrote in an affidavit for the National Guestworker Alliance. She said one friend was threatened after she complained, and another was fired for not working fast enough. “After that happened, people were more afraid.”

The nonprofit guest-worker group took up the students’ cause and filed a formal complaint against the State Department, as well as Hershey and the Council for Educational Travel USA (CETUSA), charging that they had exploited the students as cheap labor. The strike ignited a media frenzy and raised alarms in Congress, in part because of concerns that American workers were being displaced.

CETUSA, which manages the program for the State Department, denied the allegations. Company officials suggested that the striking students had been misled by union activists and said other students had been placed at Hershey for seven summers without any problems. Hershey officials said they owned the building but had no role in hiring or supervising the students, which were handled through subcontractors.

“If any of them were dissatisfied, we were not hearing it,” said Terry Watson, CETUSA’s president. “We sponsor thousands of students every summer. The great majority of them have a wonderful experience and go home spreading the good word of America.”

But the bad publicity stunned and embarrassed the State Department. Officials there promised to investigate the alleged abuses and review the program, which brings more than 100,000 foreign students to the United States every summer. Department officials said they are planning a major overhaul to prevent such problems from recurring and to reinforce the program’s diplomatic purpose.

“We want to make sure it meets our goals for worthwhile exchanges that promote better relations with other countries,” said Michael Hammer, an acting assistant secretary of state, adding that the summer jobs are supposed to be part of a “positive cultural experience.”

In July, before the Hershey case erupted, the department tightened program rules after reporting an increase in “fraudulent job offers, lax job vetting” and other problems. Yet Hammer said that more than 90 percent of students report being satisfied with their experiences — and that many reapply for a second summer.

Vlad Bicu, 26, a student from Romania, worked in Colonial Williamsburg for two summers and returned in June to work at an amusement park in Ohio. Each time he has saved his wages to travel around the United States before returning home. “I have seen all America now,” Bicu said this week while visiting New York. “Your Grand Canyon is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

Yin Fung Tan, 23, a student from Malaysia, spent the summer at Morey’s Piers, an amusement complex on the New Jersey shore, earning an average of $300 a week as a cashier and ride operator. The most important thing she learned was “to look people in the eye and speak to them,” she said. “In our culture we never do that.”

Company officials at Morey’s Piers said they recruit more than 700 foreign students each summer, traveling to job fairs from Singapore to Dublin. All start at $7.25 an hour and work alongside American students. “They learn from each other, and it changes their lives,” said Denise Beckson, director of human resources.

But labor activists asserted that the alleged abuses were far more typical than officials acknowledge. They said even students in lighter hospitality jobs are often underpaid, poorly housed and threatened with losing their visas or right to return if they complain.

“While the State Department was asleep at the wheel, this entire program has turned into a captive labor source where students are exploited for profit,” said Saket Soni, executive director of the guest-worker group. He said the program left U.S. workers “locked out” of steady jobs and foreign students “locked in.”

The State Department already has rules in place to protect foreign student workers, who must be paid minimum wage and are banned from certain risky or sensitive jobs, such as patient care and adult entertainment. Department officials said they are planning to add further safeguards before the next students arrive.

In the Hershey case, however, officials said only that their investigation is “ongoing” and that they have taken no action against CETUSA, Hershey or its subcontractors. In detailed formal complaints, the guest-worker group described systematic efforts to intimidate students who complained and charged that government investigators had worked in tandem with factory managers.

CETUSA, in turn, has fought back with competing affidavits from former Hershey workers. It quoted Lenka Vavrova, a Polish student, as saying she was “ashamed” of her co-workers for causing a fuss. They all knew what to expect at the candy factory, she wrote. “If they did not like it, they should have chosen something else.”

what a fun way to end a va-cay

2011-10-28T22:37:00.001-07:00

The deaths of two people aboard a cruise ship that docked this morning at Boston’s Black Falcon Terminal were unrelated and not the result of foul play, authorities have concluded.

“The decedents were among separate parties and their deaths were not related to one another,” the Suffolk district attorney’s office said in a statement. “In the absence of criminal charges, no further details will be released.”

A 67-year-old woman from Tiverton, R.I., died early yesterday afternoon after “succumbing to a chronic illness,” Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement.

Authorities are investigating how a 23-year-old man from Littleton, N.H., died yesterday evening.

The vessel was returning to Boston after a seven-day trip to Bermuda.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to both families during this difficult time,” the company said.

Passengers disembarking the gigantic Norwegian Dawn cruise ship this morning at the terminal said they hadn’t heard about the deaths.

The Norwegian Cruise Lines website says the 965-foot-long ship has a capacity of 2,224 people, with 1,073 crew. A physician and nurse are on each ship to provide medical care and services at customary charges. Commonly used medications are kept on board and may be prescribed by the ship’s doctor, the website said.

when its got to be homemade

2011-10-28T22:36:00.001-07:00

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (CBS Seattle) — A Washington man loses his arm from a homemade guillotine.

The guillotine unexpectedly dropped on his shoulder Thursday morning at a camp he was living at, severing his arm.

He left the arm behind after the accident and rushed to Bellingham Urology Specialists.

Evelyn Leuther, who works at the clinic, told CBS Seattle a woman passing by said, “I hope that’s a Halloween costume,” referring to the man missing his arm at the shoulder.

But the gore was real. Seconds later, another woman ran by screaming for someone to call 9-1-1.

Doctors and nurses from the office rushed to help.

“It was a sight,” she said. The scene lasted for 10 minutes before an ambulance took him to the hospital two blocks away.

Do Not Pass Go

2011-10-27T09:36:00.000-07:00

Monopoly Game Leads to Santa Fe Knife Attack
By Associated Press on Thu, Oct 27, 2011

SANTA FE (AP) — A Santa Fe woman has been arrested on suspicion of repeatedly stabbing her boyfriend over a game of Monopoly.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that police arrested 60-year-old Laura Chavez Wednesday after finding a 48-year-old man with stab wounds and bleeding heavily from his head and right wrist.

According to a probable cause statement from Santa Fe police, Chavez and the victim began fighting because Chavez thought he was cheating.

Chavez was arrested on suspicion of aggravated battery on a household member with a deadly weapon, battery upon a peace officer and assault upon a peace officer.

Man who got home from Taco Bell and realized there wasn't enough meat in his XXL Chalupas does the logical thing: He goes back and firebombs the joint with a Molotov cocktail

2011-10-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Cops Hunt Man Who Firebombed Taco Bell Because His Chalupas Had Too Little Meat

Georgia police are hunting for the aggrieved Taco Bell customer who threw a Molotov cocktail at the restaurant’s drive-thru window after phoning in a complaint that there was not enough meat in the chalupas he had purchased.

The bizarre incident occurred around 5 AM Sunday at a Taco Bell on North Slappey Boulevard in Albany. The small blaze did not cause injuries or damage to the building.

According to a police report, Taco Bell manager Cynthia Thompson told cops that, shortly before the firebombing, a man called the restaurant to complain about a reported meat shortage in his “two XL Chalupas.” The caller told Thompson that “after getting home realized that there was not enough stuffing inside of his chalupas, and demanded his order be corrected.”

When Thompson explained that she “could not accommodate him because the business was closing,” the man replied, “You must be one of them niggers up there.” He added, “That’s alright, I’ll just come and redecorate the place.”

Thompson said that shortly after the call she and other Taco Bell employees “could smell gasoline but was unaware of where it was coming from. They then realized the fire outside of the drive thru window.”

Investigators found the makeshift incendiary device--a “melting plastic bottle with a liquid substance still inside”--outside the Taco Bell, where a large sign beckons patrons to “Come Try The New XXL Chalupa. Bigger Is Better.”

The search for the firebomb suspect has been hampered since the video feed from the drive-thru window was of poor quality, cops reported.

Store sends autistic girl a $25 gift certificate to apologize for asking her to leave because of her service dog. Betcha can't guess what happened when she went back to use it...

2011-10-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

An Edmonton woman has filed a human rights complaint after her autistic nine-year-old daughter and service dog were told to leave the west-end Winners for the second time in three months.

"I don't believe that anybody should feel like a second-class citizen in any place ... and especially as a child," said Alison Ainsworth, Emily's mother.

The discount clothing store ordered Ainsworth's daughter, Emily, and her dog Levi to leave the premises last July, but later apologized to the family.

The store sent Emily a formal apology, a card featuring a puppy on the cover and a $25 gift card.

The apology was written by Mike Faulkner, Edmonton district manager for TJX Canada, the parent company of Winners.

"I followed up with the store and the manager involved and he was very apologetic," Faulkner wrote. "He certainly didn't mean any offence at all and was upset to hear that you and your daughter were upset.

"My biggest concern is that your daughter doesn't feel welcome so if you don't mind spoiling her a bit, I'd like to give her a $25 gift card to pick something she'd like from any of our stores."

On Sunday, Emily, Levi and her mother visited the store to use the gift card when they were told by store staff that Levi, whose harness identifies him as a service dog, was not allowed into the store.

"We were asked to leave the store," she said. "My child's service dog was not permitted in their establishment anywhere.

"And if that's true, then that includes my child because there is no separation between the two of them."

Emily said leaving the store made her sad.

"I was disappointed that I didn't get anything from the store, even my dress that my mom picked out nicely for me," she said.

Ainsworth described the incidents as uneducated and unfounded bullying.

"It's demoralizing," she said. "It's demeaning."

Ainworth doubts the sincerity of the store's apology.

"Had they taken it with seriousness, then I think their staff would have become educated," said Ainsworth.

"For us as a family to go back in and to be kicked a second time...it's almost as though we were lured into an establishment under the guise that it was a safe place to go."

While it may not look as though Emily needs a service dog, Levi is imperative to Emily's well-being, said Ainsworth.

Levi gives Emily a sense of stability, Ainsworth said.

'We are looking into the particulars regarding this customer's experience and will reach out to her directly.'

"He's very grounding and he gives her opportunity to participate in community and school and home in a way that would otherwise be challenging for her," she said.

Without Levi, Emily could get lost or leave the store with a stranger, she said.

"It's really the difference of life and death."

Ainsworth filed a complaint with police and the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

She's hoping the store will go beyond a simple apology this time.

"They have an unique opportunity now not only to educate their store associates, but they can educate the public as well."

The parent company of Winners says allowing service animals in its stores is standard policy.

"We are looking into the particulars regarding this customer's experience and will reach out to her directly, as well as take whatever actions we believe are appropriate," said Doreen Thompson, TJX spokeswoman.

"Another" 9-Year-Old Drove For A Drinking Dad...only in Florida

2011-10-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - For the second time this month, authorities have charged a father with allowing his 9-year-old child to be a designated driver.

Nathan Walter Sikkenga, 31, or Gillette, Wy. told troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol in Orlando on Saturday that he and his wife "were under the influence of alcohol" and instructed their son to drive the van, according to an arrest report released Tuesday.

The van crashed into a security gate arm bar. An Orange County Sheriff's deputy who witnessed the crash told responding troopers that a child was behind the wheel and the father was sitting in the front passenger seat, the report states.

Sikkenga was charged with felony child endangerment. No current telephone listing could be found for Sikkenga and it wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney. He was let out on bond and had asked for his lawyer when police read him his Miranda rights.

On Oct. 8, police say a Detroit-area man had his 9-year-old daughter drive him to the store because he had been drinking. Surveillance video from a gas station shows him telling a clerk that his daughter was his designated driver.

Brownstown Township, Mich., Detective Lt. Robert Grant said the girl was sitting behind the wheel in a child's booster seat before 3 a.m., when an officer opened the driver's side door of the full-sized panel van her father uses for work. He said she was surprised when police pulled her over.

She said to the officer, "What did you stop me for? I was driving good," Grant told the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

The girl told police that her father had been drinking whiskey all night and that he had allowed her to drive before. Her parents are separated.

The father, who told officers he was teaching his daughter to drive, was arrested and refused a Breathalyzer test, Grant said. He was charged with second- and fourth-degree child abuse during an Oct. 10 arraignment.

He also was charged with being a habitual offender and could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Woman in front passenger seat arrested for calling shotgun

2011-10-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

GLOUCESTER TWP. — A Camden woman, facing arrest on some outstanding warrants, allegedly tried to distract police by making a fake 9-1-1 call Monday night.

Ptl. Paul Bertini pulled a car over for a traffic violation at 11:35 p.m. on Blackwood-Clementon Road, police said.

During the stop, an emergency 9-1-1 call was received by township police reporting that there was a man armed with a shotgun at the nearby Wawa Food Market on Little Gloucester Road, said police.

The driver of the vehicle, Robert Webb, 28, of Camden, was arrested on several active warrants and charged with hindering his own apprehension by allegedly providing police with a false name, police said.

Passenger Janora Carter, 25, was arrested on several active warrants. Police subsequently determined she had placed the 9-1-1 call about the man armed with a shotgun hoping the officer who’d pulled them over would be called to the Wawa and let them go without arresting her and Webb on their warrants, said police.

Webb’s warrants caused him to be committed to the Camden County Jail in default of $2,224 bail, police said.

Carter was charged with placing a false 9-1-1 call and reporting a fictitious incident to a law enforcement officer and was lodged in the county jail in lieu of $1,695 bail.

Thank God he had that laundry detergent

2011-10-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Some bets just shouldn't be made.

Just ask a 21-year-old Vallejo man who made a $100 bet with his friends that he could fit into a baby swing at a local park.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the unidentified man -– who should be thanking police for not releasing his name –- lubed himself up with liquid laundry detergent and jammed himself into the kiddie swing's leg holes about 9 p.m. Friday.

But he got stuck, his legs swelled and he couldn't get out.

To make matters worse, his friends abandoned him.

The newspaper reported that nine hours passed before a groundskeeper heard him screaming for help at 6 a.m. the next morning.

Vallejo firefighters tried to free him, but ultimately took him to a hospital –- still in the swing.

"The man sustained non-life-threatening injuries to his body, but there's no word yet on the condition of his ego," the Chronicle reported.

Let's hope he collected his $100.

things not to do with lube

2011-10-25T08:37:00.001-07:00

A Vallejo man was found in a child's swing Saturday morning after reportedly being stuck for about nine hours, police said.

At about 6 a.m., a groundskeeper of Blue Rock Springs Park heard a man screaming when he arrived at work. He then called the police to investigate.

Upon arrival, police found a 21-year-old man stuck in a child's swing, which has two leg holes.

The man told police that he had been stuck in the swing since 9 p.m. Friday after he allegedly made a $100 bet with his friends. He proceeded to lube himself with laundry detergent to get into the swing, police said.

The friends then reportedly left him swinging through the night.

Vallejo firefighters then were called to rescue him by cutting the swing chains off. He was then transported to Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, where firefighters used a cast cutter to cut the swing off his body, firefighters said.

He sustained non-life threatening injuries.

"So me and FDR walk into a speakeasy..."

2011-10-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

EASTWOOD (WSYR-TV) - Bill Leahy loves being the center of attention. He cracked-up co-workers for years at sales meetings, always wondering what it would be like under the bright lights of a theater.

"I graduated in 1938. I was the smallest kid in the class, counting the girls," said Leahy. "So, I decided maybe I should tell jokes or something. I'm too small to do anything else."

At the ripe old age of 90, Bill finally got his big break in show business on Sunday, with a gig as the opening act at the Palace Theater in Eastwood.

"She was a beautiful girl. She had a full set of teeth and everything," quipped Leahy in a series of stories.

The comic from Skaneateles was faced with tremendous sadness when his wife died earlier this year.

Leahy decided a new hobby would be the only way to find distraction and stand-up comedy seemed like a natural goal.

Leahy's son, Steve, says his father has always loved telling funny stories.

"He actually did about half an hour at his 90th birthday party, and someone saw him there who wanted to book him," said Steve Leahy. "There's been other interest for him to do shows and he has endless material."

A proud son stood beside his dad on stage, with giant cue cards to keep Bill on track. For his standup debut, Leahy billed himself as the "sit-down comic".

"Because I'm too old to stand up," said Leahy.

The Palace theater hosted a crowd of about 500 people during Leahy's debut, with half of the turnout credited to the opening act. The featured show was performed by another Central New Yorker with big dreams. Kelly Kinsella, who grew up in Liverpool, tested out her one-woman show, "When Thoughts Attack", with hopes of bringing it to Broadway. She wasn't worried about having a rookie warm-up the audience. Kinsella credits Leahy with attracting a new crowd for her show...more senior citizens.

With a few salty words thrown in, Leahy shared his favorite funny stories and welcomed the applause of a supportive audience. He left the stage with advice for other 90 year old guys who aren't done having fun.

"Get a nice 80 year old woman who knows how to tap dance," said Leahy.

Even after 90 years, Leahy knows life is too short to stop dreaming.

Don't like your change in coins? How about this karate knife?

2011-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Bayonne convenience store owner charged Monday night with stabbing a customer with a brass knuckle dagger said yesterday that he was protecting himself and his family when he slashed the customer, who had threatened him and had begun to trash his store.

But the victim, a Brooklyn man, said last night that he only threatened physical violence after he was shoved by the store owner and then attacked with a “karate-looking” knife.

Mokhtar Samuel, 37, the owner of Misty Deli & Grocery at 462 Avenue C, has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and possession of a weapon, police said.

According to police, the Brooklyn man entered the store at around 7:45 p.m. Monday and purchased cigarettes. An argument ensued about the number of coins he was receiving in change and Samuel attacked him with a “No. 4 blade brass knuckle dagger with a 7-inch-long blade,” police said, adding the victim was cut on two fingers.

Free on bail, Samuel said yesterday at his store that his wife politely handed the man change in coins and the man threw it in her face and began cursing.

“The quarter is money or not money? — It’s money,” Samuel said.

After telling the customer to leave, Samuel said the customer began ripping items off shelves and threatened to kill him, and refused to leave the store.

“I see my kids (ages 2, 4 and 6) cry, cry, cry and my wife scared inside,” he explained. “I [was] waiting for the cops and the cops is not coming.”

Samuel said he eventually got his dagger from behind the counter and waved it to scare off the customer. “I tell the police officer, you can check the camera. I not touch the guy with the knife,” he said.

But according to Jeffrey Griffith of Brooklyn, he had turned to leave the store when Samuel shoved him from behind.

“I told him if he touched me a again I was going to (expletive) him up. So then he ran and grabbed a karate-looking knife. Then he was coming at me with this crazy-looking knife and we must have had a fight for 15 minutes ... I kept telling him stop,” Griffith said last night in a phone interview.

According to police, Griffith brandished his own 3-inch knife, but that was to protect himself.
But the convenience store owner said yesterday that the Brooklyn man tried to plunge the blade of that 3-inch knife into his heart.

Griffith, who said he was in Bayonne visiting his daughter and his fiancee, has not been charged with any crimes.

Samuel believes he acted properly. “I have saved my life, my kids’ life and my wife’s life,” he said.

"Heroin For Sale"

2011-10-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

PORTLAND -- A North Portland home was raided Tuesday after fliers throughout the neighborhood advertised drug sales at the address, police said.

Of the seven adults inside the home during the raid, six were arrested on various drug charges. A teenager in the home was placed in protective custody.

Early Tuesday morning police executed a search warrant at a home in the 3900 block of N Massachusetts Avenue, according to Lt. Robert King with the Portland Police Bureau.

Officers said they found nearly 20 grams of marijuana, more than 10 grams of heroin, a sawed-off shotgun, thousands of dollars in cash and the materials for a methamphetamine lab inside the home.

"The neighborhood response team began this investigation over a year ago because of numerous neighborhood complaints," King said. "At one point a neighbor gave officers an 8" by 10" flier found in the neighborhood that said 'Heroin for sale' and gave the address and the names of the dealers."

Neighbors were grateful that the investigation led to arrests.

"It was taxpayer money at work. It was great," said neighbor Doug Barrett. "It's what we've been longing for, so it was a great relief and we told them so."

"They came out smiling; they were happy to see us," said Sgt. John Birkinbine of the positive response from the neighbors. "A lady brought a bucket full of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies to us to tell us thank you. We felt like fire fighters for a few minutes. It was good."

tears to my eyes

2011-10-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

In this true-life love story, Gordon, 94, and Norma Yeager, 90, were married for 72 years. Norma agreed to marry him after her high school graduation, and for the next seven decades, the two went on to build a family and a bond that made it so that they were never far from one another. It was at an intersection of Highway 30 near Marshalltown, Illinois, last week where their fairytale would change. State troopers said Gordon pulled in front of an oncoming car, reports KCCI-TV. The couple was taken to the ICU of the local hospital, where they continually held hands despite their injuries.

Gordon died at 3:38pm still holding his wife's hand with their family around them. Norma followed exactly an hour later. "It was really strange, they were holding hands, and dad stopped breathing but I couldn't figure out what was going on because the heart monitor was still going," said their son. "The nurse checked and said that's because they were holding hands and it's going through them. Her heart was beating through him and picking it up."

"She's not a very smart alcoholic -- at all."

2011-10-19T10:07:00.000-07:00

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. -- A local mother is in custody after police said she raced down Interstate 95 while drunk with her family in tow.

Investigators said Patricia Siciliano's own son had to call police to rescue the family.

According to police, the boy told officers that his mother was drunk and out of control at the time.

"She was doing a 100 (mph) down I-95 and I told her I didn't want to die. And then she wouldn't get out of the car so I had to pull it over. I had to pull like her, like, move her over and she started hitting me. I have bites, cuts and punches all over my face," the boy said.

The teen told police the family was heading home from Destination Daytona, near Ormond Beach, where they had attended a Blue Oyster Cult concert.

Police said the car eventually ran out of gas and the family ended up on the side of the road.

The teen can be heard crying during the 911 call he made.

Dispatchers said the teen told them Siciliano started punching his father in the face.

Right before a deputy arrived, the boy can be heard saying, "She's not a very smart alcoholic -- at all."

Officials said Siciliano proved him right by wrestling with deputies and even spitting on them.

Siciliano is charged with domestic battery, child abuse without great harm, resisting arrest without violence and three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.

meth

2011-10-19T10:03:00.001-07:00

Wichita police arrested a man after a fight involving a sword and steak knives progressed to the parking lot of a south Wichita motel Monday night.

The 37-year-old man attacked a 57-year-old man with the sword, apparently because he was upset with some issues involving the service of legal papers between the 57-year-old and a woman, Lt. Doug Nolte said Tuesday. The fight happened around 7:10 p.m. Monday at Afton Motel, 855 S. Broadway.

The woman was not present.

Nolte said the 37-year-old kicked in the door to a room occupied by the 57-year-old and told him that his actions toward the woman "were unacceptable." The 37-year-old threatened the intruder with a black sword with a 2-foot blade after refusing to leave the motel room, Nolte said.

The older man rushed to the kitchen and grabbed two steak knives to confront his attacker, Nolte said. The fight progressed to the parking lot, where witnesses told police they saw the younger man cut the other man's finger with the sword.

When officers arrived, the 57-year-old had pinned his attacker against a wall outside the motel, Nolte said.

Police found methamphetamine and marijuana on the 37-year-old, according to the incident report.

If you lost a couple of boulders on I-91 the other day. The VT State police has them and you can pick them up. Also, they have a few questions.

2011-10-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

Tracey Haddock loves her car. In fact, it's the first car she bought brand new. It looks sharp from the driver's side, but take a walk around the other side of the vehicle and it's a different story.

On Oct. 4, Haddock struck a boulder in the southbound lane of Interstate 91 on her way to work. An early morning wake-up call between Fairlee and Thetford that Haddock says she could not avoid.

"All of a sudden I saw the rock and I was just like ahhh, what is this? And I swerved and I hit it, and the airbag went off and I somehow got to the side of the road," Haddock said.

She snapped a photo of the boulder. And while crews removed it and her car using heavy machinery, Haddock wondered where the rock came from.

"This had to have fallen, in my opinion, off a flatbed truck. Even a dump truck, I don't see how it could bounce out that high unless is was that overloaded," she said.

And this highway mishap happened again. The second boulder versus car incident happened on the Ompompanoosic Bridge over the weekend, about 8 miles south. But the similarities of the two events are striking.

"They were roughly 8 miles apart. Both occurred early in the morning," Vt. State Trooper Chuck Schulze said.

The huge rocks were also both in the southbound lanes and they both were not near any cliffs which could have given way. Two different vehicles struck the rocks, suffering heavy front-end damage. At this time, police do not know definitively if the incidents are connected, but are hoping the public can shine some light on the mystery.

"Anybody who noticed anything in the early morning hours; any truck out there, anything suspicious, you know if they just give us a call," Schulze said.

Haddock's car is totaled. Luckily, she was not hurt and neither were the other drivers. But Haddock says it could have been much worse and she wants to know who or what is responsible.

"They are negligent for either hooking down their load right or taking the chance of hurting somebody. And if they didn't know and they heard about it, then I think they should come forward and say that they were hauling and that they didn't realize that a rock had fallen," Haddock said.

A rocky mystery on the interstate that drivers hope will be solved quickly, putting the case in the rearview mirror.

Police did not say if the boulder mystery could lead to criminal charges. It would likely start out as a traffic violation, like a citation for not having a secure load.

When asked why you threw a four-year-old off a swingset, you may want to come up with a better excuse than 'My granddaughter wanted to get on the swing'

2011-10-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A Roswell woman said a man threw her 4-year-old daughter to the ground while she was on a swing at an Alpharetta park.

The victim’s mother said the girl was traumatized by what happened at Wills Park over the weekend.

“I want him to sit in jail and think about what he did so this doesn’t happen again,” said Christole Abdelmaseh.

Abdelmaseh told Channel 2 Action News reporter Mike Petchenik that she heard a man yelling at her daughter, then witnessed the attack.

“He lifted the swing up even higher. He looked around and said, ‘Get off.’ Then he slammed it down and slammed her onto the ground, onto her back,” said Abdelmaseh.

Abdelmaseh said she ran over to check on her crying daughter and confronted the man who’d done it.

“You do not slam a child to the ground and his response to me was, ‘My granddaughter wanted to get on the swing,’” said Abdelmaseh.

She said she called the police and plans to press charges. Abdelmaseh said her daughter has been traumatized by the experience.

“She’s had nightmares about the bad man who slammed her to the ground and gave her a boo-boo,” said Abdelmaseh.

Alpharetta police said they took a report on the incident, but were under the impression Abdelmaseh wasn’t going to press charges. Officers said the case is still active and she can press charges if she wants to.

speechless

2011-10-18T08:21:00.001-07:00

It sat in front of him, on top of a pillow that rested on a milk crate.

He sprinkled baby powder on it -- what looked like a huge watermelon encased in a compression bandage -- but the unmistakable smell of urine couldn't be completely smothered.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" 47-year-old Wesley Warren Jr. said in the poorly lit apartment. "It's freakish."

What sat in front of where Warren was seated in shorts -- what is actually attached to him -- was more than 100 pounds of scrotum, the protective sac of skin and muscle that contains his testicles.

"It's not easy to get around," he said, standing and groaning as he lifted his scrotum off its makeshift pedestal and carefully let it hang almost to the floor. "It makes me stay in most of the time."

If there is a more unusual medical condition afflicting someone from Southern Nevada, the medical community or patient hasn't come forward with it. Warren has gone public, even though he knows there will be those who laugh at him, because he desperately wants a costly surgery to correct the scrotal elephantiasis that became part of his life nearly three years ago.

Daily bouts of depression -- "I want to have real friends and a relationship with a woman" -- throw him into the depths of despair. "But I'm not suicidal. I'm too strong for that."

Much like Victorian England's Joseph Merrick, whose life with severe deformities became the subject of both the play and movie, "The Elephant Man," Warren has concluded that to escape his present life he must allow himself to be exhibited.

Unlike Merrick, who used freak show exhibitions to stay alive, Warren at least has enough money through social programs to put food in his stomach and a roof over his head.

In hopes of getting the money for a possible corrective procedure that physicians have told him can cost about $1 million, Warren swallowed his pride by outing himself recently on shock jock Howard Stern's national satellite radio and cable TV freak segment.

But he used the pseudonym "Johnathan from Las Vegas" to let people know that his penis is so buried in his scrotal tissue that he can't direct his urination and often sprays the area around him.

He also told -- to more laughter on the set -- of how he can't sit down for a bowel movement and must catch it in the same kind of pail used in casinos for coins.

"I don't like being a freak, who would?" Warren said. "But I figured that the Stern show is listened to by millions of people and they might want to help me. I hope some millionaire or billionaire will want to help me."

Many people have reached him through his benefitballsack@yahoo.com email address, he said.

How much financial help he's received, Warren won't say.

"What I've got is a start," he said, his eyes tearing up.

If Warren lived in the tropical sectors of Africa, Asia, Central and South America, this case of disabling elephantiasis, or gross enlargement of his genitals to elephantoid size, would probably end up being attributed to a mosquito-spread parasitic infection. Known as lymphatic filariasis, the infection sees long, threadlike worms block part of the body's lymphatic system, causing fluids to collect in the tissues, which can lead to a great swelling called lymphedema.

"In Africa and Asia, it is not so unusual as in the United States, and those who have it see it as a curse from God," said Dr. Mulugeta Kassahun, a Las Vegas urologist who grew up in Ethiopia. Those with the disabling condition in Africa, Kassahun said, often must use it to beg for food.

But Warren lives near downtown Las Vegas on Maryland Parkway and says he has never traveled to tropical areas outside of the country. And doctors who have examined him have found no trace of the infectious disease that produces the massive elephantiasis of the scrotum that ancient Indian and Persian writings first described centuries ago.

What Warren attributes his condition to is an accidental striking of his testicles by his own leg as he twisted and turned upon awakening from a sleep in late 2008.

"I never felt such pain," he said. "It was like a shooting pain through my entire body. When it stopped, it was like a huge tractor trailer went off the top of me. I think it ruined my lymph nodes down there."

The pain quickly went away but he said the next morning when he awoke his scrotum was "the size of a soccer ball."

Trauma is a possible cause for Warren's condition, said Kassahun, who has examined him, "but known cases are very rare."

Warren said after the initial swelling he immediately went to University Medical Center for help, where he was given a two-week regimen of antibiotics for what was thought to be an infection. He said he was in the hospital for four days and doctors there told him to go see his primary physician.

Then working on commission finding appropriate sites for ATM machines in the Las Vegas Valley, Warren said he went to doctors off and on for months, including a lymphedema specialist, without finding help. "I kind of gave up," he said.

But the swelling became so large that he could no longer work. He went on disability. And in early 2010 he again entered UMC, hoping that doctors could find a way to take him out of his misery.

Kim Voss, an associate administrator at the hospital, said that during an eight-week period a team of doctors, including urologists, surgeons, internists and infectious disease specialists, wrote up 20 different documentations of what they found.

In references to Warren's condition, medical practitioners interchangeably use scrotal elephantiasis, scrotal lymphedema or scrotal edema, a condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in tissues of the body, to describe his condition. Doctors don't know if his condition could grow even more pronounced.

UMC's medical team did find that Warren had a hernia and fixed that.

Though the infectious disease generally tied to the elephantiasis was not found, Voss said multiple courses of antibiotics and anti-viral medications were given to Warren in hopes that they would take down the massive swelling. When they didn't, she said doctors told him about a surgery that could be performed through Medicaid.

Urologist Kassahun informed Warren that a team of urologists and plastic surgeons would be needed to cut away the excess tissue and to perform the reconstructive surgery that would include skin grafts. Every attempt would be made to save and reconstruct Warren's penis and testicles, but it was possible that they would have to be completely excised.

"I told him that if there was major bleeding we might not be able to save them," Kassahun said.

That news shook Warren.

"Basically, he was telling me there was a good chance that I would be castrated and have to go to the bathroom through a tube for the rest of my life," he said. "I really would like to have a relationship with a woman. I should be in the prime of my life right now."

Even though scrotal lymphedema is exceedingly rare outside certain tropical regions of the world, Kassahun told Warren that it was possible that the UCLA Medical Center in California may have surgeons who could better deal with his situation.

At UCLA, where Warren recently paid nearly $600 for an evaluation, he said doctors seemed more confident about saving his penis and testicles. They also told him that it would cost nearly seven figures for the procedure. Even if Nevada's Medicaid program would allow him to go out-of-state for surgery, Warren said UCLA doctors informed him that they doubted that would work.

its ok susie, you drive

2011-10-17T21:01:00.001-07:00

A Brownstown Township man is facing child endangerment charges for allegedly letting his 9-year-old daughter play chauffeur after he’d apparently been drinking.

It happened in Brownstown Township at around 3 a.m. October 8. Someone called police after watching the girl get behind the wheel as the pair stopped at a gas station.

Australian drinking establishments turn to rubber sidewalks to reduce injuries. Isla Vista soon to pave entire town with rubber

2011-10-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

YATALA, Australia -- Australia's hard-partying pub culture is beginning to show its softer side.

Spurred by the unwanted and rowdy side effects that sometimes accompany a night on the town, drinking establishments have turned to a novel approach to save overindulging revelers from broken bones and bruised egos: rubber sidewalks.

The installation of the matting made from recycled rubber tires started as an effort to cut down on clanking keg noise but has experienced a major bounce recently as scores of bars have replaced their concrete walkways with the spongy surface.

"They're even putting it inside clubs now, especially around dance floors," said Steve Thomas, head of sales and marketing for A1 Rubber, one of the Australia's largest developers of the sidewalks.

In a country desperate for solutions to curb rising alcohol-related crimes and injuries, the matting has come to be seen as a legitimate attempt to soften impacts from scuffles and stumbles.

Sydney's bar bouncers are among the surface's fans.

"Anything to do with safety, and this certainly qualifies, should seriously be looked at across the board," said Peter Mercouris, a principal at Australian Investigation & Security Management, which provides security at several Sydney pubs. "But we need to remember the person that is consuming the alcohol must be responsible for themselves."

Australian authorities and medical experts say alcohol has fueled a startling increase in assaults and related injuries in recent years, even as other crimes have dropped. Since 1996, the rate of assault per 100,000 Australians has risen on average by two percent each year. In 2009, in the latest government statistics available, violent assaults in Australia were at a record high of 175,277 incidents, up 30 percent over the past decade.

"The violence these days is quite significant," said Peter Remfrey, secretary of the police association of New South Wales, Australia's most populous state. "The victims of these alcohol-related crimes have a right to come home healthy."

Barry O'Farrell, the newly-elected premier of New South Wales, put it more succinctly, "People are sick of having drunks ruin their nights out."

Nobody sees the rubber sidewalks as a cure-all for Australia's drinking woes, but it has still become something of a booming niche industry surrounding the pubs.

A1 Rubber, located in the small industrial town of Yatala in Queensland state, has seen 35 percent annual sales growth since 2005 and is opening new warehouses in Sydney and South Australia in the coming year to meet demand, said Thomas, the marketing and sales chief. The 50 companies in Australia that make or install the matting generate about $100 million in revenue a year, up from about $70 million in 2005.

keepin the streets safe

2011-10-13T23:59:00.001-07:00

Even superheroes aren't above the law. Self-appointed Seattle crime-fighter Phoenix Jones was in court today following his arrest in a pepper-spray debacle. No charges have yet been filed against Jones' mild-mannered alter-ego (read: real identity), one Benjamin Fodor; prosecutors told the judge today they want more time to make a decision, the Seattle Times reports. Fodor was arrested after blasting pepper spray at people; he says he was breaking up a fight.

And his run-in with the law hasn't stopped him from his mission. After the hearing, Fodor ripped off his shirt, Superman-style, to display his superhero costume. "I will continue to patrol with my team, probably tonight," he told reporters. "In addition to being Phoenix Jones, I am also Ben Fodor, father and brother," he noted. "I am just like everybody else. The only difference is that I try to stop crime in my neighborhood and everywhere else."