Around the weird:news of the bizarre
- Thread starter Desertwind
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I've got but it's already extremely long, so I'll post the scond part tommorrow.
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SUN VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- California's supply of cat litter fell by 10 tons during the weekend when a tractor trailer flipped and lost its load on Interstate 5.
A California Highway Patrol spokesman said the truck overturned about 6 a.m. Saturday close to an off-ramp from the Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
There were no injuries in the wreck, although the gray clay splashed over two lanes, which were closed for four hours as state transportation workers labored to clear the scene.
No rainfall was reported by the National Weather Service for the Los Angeles area at the time, and no clumping was reported at the crash site.
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VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A man mistook a municipal building in southern Austria for a bank and tried to rob it early Tuesday, police said.
The 34-year-old man thought a municipal building in the southern village of Poggersdorf was a bank because it had an ATM machine in the lobby, said Hermann Klammer, head of the criminal division at Carinthia province's police department.
The man fled the building after a woman he allegedly threatened with an air gun told him she had no money and that he had made a mistake, Klammer said.
"At first, I thought he was making a bad joke," Austrian broadcaster ORF quoted the woman, Helga Aichwalder, as saying.
The man, who is from Carinthia but was not identified by name, was arrested shortly after the incident and has admitted the act, Klammer said.
"This is an extremely odd case. I've never come across anything like this," Klammer said.
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School officials in Louisville reassigned a teacher after he burned two American flags in his class to apparently motivate his students for an assignment, according to a report.
A Jefferson County Public Schools official said Dan Holden, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Stuart Middle School, burned a small flag in each of his two classes.
Officials said he told administrators he was trying to motivate his students for a weekend writing assignment on the freedom of speech.
The school district didn't find out about it until a reporter asked questions the next day, the report said.
Officials said they have received only one complaint, none from parents.
However, officials said there are two important issues involved. One is the safety of students in regard to having an open flame in the classroom. The other is the propriety of burning a flag.
"The issue is the possible endangerment of children by having an open flame in the classroom," School District representative Lauren Roberts said. "That is definitely a safety issue. And then also the issue of the actual burning of a flag and the symbolism of that is highly offensive to many people. And could there have been a better way to have demonstrated those concepts to those students without going to that extreme?"
The district has contacted fire officials and said Holden could face criminal charges.
Holden has been a teacher in Jefferson County schools since 1979 and has been at Stuart Middle School since 2001. He has no disciplinary record.
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RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Willy the tortoise made a break for freedom - well, break may be too strong a word. It was more like a slow crawl. But after a month on the lam, the 40-pound tortoise with a 2-foot-wide, gold-colored shell is back in the wading pool at his owner's home.
Kellie Copeland-Burnup reported the tortoise escaped about July 1.
A local emergency medical services technician spotted Willy on Sunday along a rural road about five miles away. During six weeks on the run, Willy averaged .005 mph, well short of a new land speed record.
The tortoise is now inside a chain-link dog kennel in Copeland-Burnup's back yard although she knows he is capable of digging under a fence.
"I'll be keeping an eye on him," Copeland-Burnup said.
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OLYMPIA, Washington (AP) - A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say.
Some have taken to carrying pepper spray to ward off the masked marauders and the woman who was bitten now carries an iron pipe when she goes outside at night.
"It's a new breed," said Tamara Keeton, who with Kari Hall started a raccoon watch after an emotional neighborhood meeting drew 40 people. "They're urban raccoons, and they're not afraid."
Tony Benjamins, whose family lost two cats, said he got a big dog - a German Shepherd-Rottweiler mix - to keep the raccoons away.
One goal of the patrol is to get residents to stop feeding raccoons and to keep pets and pet food indoors.
Lisann Rolle said she began carrying an iron pipe when she goes outside at night after being bitten by raccoons when she tried to pull three of them off her cat Lucy. She obtained rabies shots afterward as a precaution.
"I was watching her like a hawk, but she snuck out," Rolle said. "Then I heard this hideous sound - a coyote-type high pitch ... It was vicious. They were focused on ripping her apart."
The attacks have been especially shocking because raccoons came within five feet (1 1/2 meters) of cats without any problem in previous years, Benjamins said.
"We used to love the raccoons. They'd have their babies this time of year, and they were so cute. Even though we lived in the city, it was neat to have wildlife around," he said, "but this year, things changed. They went nuts."
In one case five raccoons tried to carry off a small dog, which managed to survive.
The attacks, all within a three-block area near the Garfield Nature Trail in Olympia, are highly unusual, said Sean O. Carrell, a problem wildlife coordinator with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, adding that trappers may be summoned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove problem animals.
"I've never heard a report of 10 cats being killed. It's something were going to have to monitor," Carrell said.
Meanwhile, residents have hired Tom Brown, a nuisance wildlife control operator from Rochester, Washington, to set traps, but in six weeks he has caught only one raccoon. He and Carrell said raccoons teach their young - and each other - to avoid traps.
Brown said he had seen packs of raccoons this big but none so into killing.
"They are in command up there," he said.
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Sweden's state broadcaster SVT showed a little too much when it mistakenly showed a porn movie in the background of a news broadcast.
Viewers of a 5-minute news update at midnight Saturday could see explicit scenes from a Czech porn movie on a TV screen behind a news anchor.
The monitor - one of many on the wall of a control room visible behind the studio - normally shows other news channels during broadcasts. But staffers who earlier in the evening had watched a sports event on a cable channel - which often shows X-rated films after midnight - had forgotten to switch it back, said news director Per Yng.
"This is highly embarrassing and unfortunate," Yng said. "It must not happen again."
A producer quickly spotted the sex scenes and ran into the control room and turned off the monitor, Yng said. He said there had been no complaints from viewers about the mishap, but "enormous interest from media."
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NEW YORK (AP) - A Brooklyn priest is protesting a $115 parking ticket he got while tending to a dying hospital patient last month. "On humanitarian grounds, the law should not be interpreted and applied so stringently that it will prohibit a religious leader from doing his work," said the Rev. Cletus Forson of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Bay Ridge.
Forson got the ticket around 9:30 p.m. on July 26 when he parked in a no-standing zone in front of Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park. The story was first reported in the Daily News on Tuesday.
Forson said he knew the spot was illegal but he didn't have time to look for a legal spot because he had just received a call from a parishioner desperate to find a priest to administer the sacrament of the sick to her mother. He placed his clergy parking permit on the dashboard and went in.
"I couldn't get any parking," Forson said. "It is my obligation to get there and administer to the needs of the sick."
Forson said that the patient's daughter and a nurse he spoke with both gave him the impression that the situation was serious and he could not wait until the next morning to visit the woman.
He found his car had been ticketed when he emerged from the hospital after about 20 minutes.
"I was disappointed that a car parked in a restricted zone with a clergy sign on it cannot be interpreted to mean that a priest is visiting someone who is sick," he said.
Forson appealed the ticket but Administrative Law Judge Michael Ciaravino refused to overturn it.
St. Andrew the Apostle paid the fine but the head pastor, Monsignor Guy Massie, wrote a letter saying the church was doing so with protest.
City Finance Department spokesman Owen Stone stood by the city's decision, saying Forson was parked in an ambulance zone.
"They need to keep those clear," he said. "Blocking that puts lives at risk, that's why the ticket got upheld."
Forson denied that he was blocking ambulances and said several other cars were parked in the same area where he parked.
"There were four cars in front of me," he said. "It's not like it was only my car that was there."
City Councilman Vincent Gentile wrote to Finance Department Commissioner Martha Stark on Aug. 11 demanding that the ticket be dismissed.
"He was rushing to the hospital to administer the Catholic last rites to a dying patient," Gentile said. "To me this is just another episode in the continuing saga of the city out of control with ticketing."
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ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - Curiosity didn't kill the cat. But a kitten got stuck behind the dashboard of a woman's SUV after climbing through a hole in the glove compartment.
The woman went to the Rockaway Township Municipal Building for help after food wouldn't lure the tabby out.
Rockaway Township animal control officer Dan McDonald and veterinarian Steven Hodes tried to grab the cat. But the frightened animal just crawled deeper into the dash.
The vet managed to inject the kitten with an anesthesia and they pulled the drowsy feline out unharmed without having to dismantle the dashboard.
McDonald said the woman has a friend who might adopt the kitten.
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CEDARBURG, Wis. (AP) - Eighty-five-year-old Benjamin Steinbach said he'll stick to using his riding lawn mower on his grass and not take it on sidewalks to run errands around town. But a miffed Steinbach said Monday he still doesn't understand why the practice is prohibited.
Steinbach has been getting around on the mower since the state took away his driver's license two years ago, citing health reasons. He's been driving the mower at least a few times a week a half mile to a nearby supermarket and hardware store. He has even gone nearly a mile to pay a bill at City Hall, in this quaint suburban town.
Cedarburg Police Chief Tom Frank said he had never seen or heard of Steinbach's mower-driving until a reporter recently asked him about it. He said state law allows only a few vehicles on sidewalks, such as motorized wheelchairs, scooters and the new Segways.
Steinbach said that he did not believe riding the mower on the sidewalk caused any problems.
"I think that's ridiculous," he said of the prohibition of the practice. "But I'll have to live with that."
Steinbach said he walks a lot and expected to do more now that he knew that riding the mower on the sidewalk was prohibited.
But Frank said Monday that a local service club had contacted his department about the possibility of providing Steinbach with a wheelchair, and an officer would meet with Steinbach and inform him of that.
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LONDON (AFP) - Smoking scenes in "Tom and Jerry" cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer's complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves.

In one episode of the classic US cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat. In another, Tom's opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.
Following an investigation prompted by the anonymous viewer's complaint, regulator Ofcom said Monday that children's TV channel Boomerang has agreed to edit out scenes deemed to glamorise or condone smoking.
"We note that, in 'Tom and Jerry', smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned," said Ofcom, recalling how the cartoons were made in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when smoking was not so controversial.
"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."
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LONDON (AFP) - Inspired by a Monty Python sketch, a charity fundraiser in London with an odd-ball sense of humour submitted himself to being slapped in the face with a couple of wet fish.
Ben Fillmore, 24, turned up at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park in central London as promised at high noon to be publicly humiliated with two fresh Scottish rainbow trouts at the hands of student Lucy Berry, 23.
She had paid 210 pounds (310 euros, 395 dollars) on Internet auction site eBay to be part of Fillmore's quest to raise a total 10,000 pounds for The Stroke Association.
"It felt OK," Fillmore confided to reporters afterwards. "My face feels a bit taut and the fish really stinks. It felt very slimy -- but it was definitely worth it."
The stunt was an homage to "the fish-slapping dance" in which John Cleese and Michael Palin, both in safari outfits, take turns wacking each other with fish in a classic episode from television's "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
Berry has so far raised a total of 2,000 pounds for the charity, which helped his mother survive a stroke six years ago.
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Police say reports that rattlesnakes were let loose during a showing of Snakes on a Plane at a north Phoenix theater have taken moviegoers for a ride.
There is some shred of truth to the story, Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said. A 10-inch-long rattlesnake was found Friday in a hallway at AMC Desert Ridge 18, near Tatum Boulevard and Loop 101. But it likely slithered inside on its own, Tranter said.
A security guard swept the snake outside and held it in a Tupperware container until a member of the Arizona Herpetological Association could take it away. Snake handlers had been called earlier in the day to retrieve a rattler from outside the theater.
An AMC spokeswoman told the news organization Reuters that the rumors were true, but Tranter has been refuting the story to news outlets from across the U.S.
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JIM THORPE, Pa. (AP) - A man who showed up in court drunk to be sentenced for drunken driving told the judge he routinely drinks 12 beers a day "and then some."
Carbon County President Judge Roger Nanovic sentenced 25-year-old Joshua Beury yesterday to 30 days to six months in prison for contempt of court and the second-offense DUI charge.
Beury received a similar sentence on Monday for charges related to a November 6th crash which his blood-alcohol level registered 0.17, about twice the legal limit.
Beury told Nanovic he'd had two beers the night before the hearing, when his blood alcohol registered .20. He said he was on medication for bipolar disorder and other mental health issues.
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BOMBAY, India (AP) - When Hitler's Cross restaurant opened four days ago in a Bombay suburb, local politicians and movie industry types were on hand to celebrate beneath the posters of the Nazi leader and swastikas.
The owner insisted then - and still does - that the name and theme of his new eatery is only meant to attract attention, even if it has outraged Bombay's Jewish community.
"It's really made people very upset that a person responsible for the massacre of 6 million Jews can be glorified," Elijah Jacob, one of the community's leaders, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
But owner Puneet Sablok has refused to back down, and apart from Bombay's 4,500 Jews, there's been little controversy in India, where Holocaust awareness is limited, Hitler is regarded as just another historical figure and swastikas are an ancient Hindu symbol, displayed all over to bring luck. There are just 5,500 Jews in all of India.
"It's just to attract people. There is no intention to hurt anyone," said Sablok about his spacious restaurant, which serves pastries, pizza and salad in Navi Mumbai, a northern suburb of Bombay, which is also known as Mumbai.
Those objecting to the restaurant plan to ask the local government to force a name change, said Daniel Zonshine, Israel's consul general in Bombay.
"Instead of Hitler's name being an example of extreme evil, this is like giving legitimacy to Hitler. It's not right to advertise his name in public," Zonshine said.
But while India is ordinarily sensitive to causing religious offense - recently taking action to bar "The Da Vinci Code" movie and cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad - at least one local leader said the name Hitler didn't bother him.
"People are unnecessarily making this into an issue," said Sudhir Jadhav, a local ruling party leader. "We have no plans to protest outside the restaurant or ask him to change the name."
Diners were also quite happy eating in Hitler's Cross.
"Hitler was a bad man, but what's wrong with having food here?" said Ashwini Phadnis, 22, a microbiology student as she tucked away a piece of chocolate cake.
Engineering student Anand Dhillon sat with friends, sipping soft drinks. "I think the name is quite interesting. Tomorrow if someone keeps a name like Saddam Mutton Shop or George Bush Footwear, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?" he shrugged.
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ALBANY, N.Y. - Duarnis Perez became an American citizen when he was 15, but he didn't find out until after he had been deported and then jailed for trying to get back into the country.
He was facing his second deportation hearing when he learned he was already a U.S. citizen. Still, federal prosecutors fought to keep him in custody.
Last week, a federal judge scolded prosecutors for the mistake.
"In effect, the government is arguing that an innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the custody of the United States," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn wrote. He ruled that Perez never should have been deported.
The case has gotten the attention of immigration observers, who call it a striking example of the gaps in an overworked immigration system.
Perez became a citizen when his mother was naturalized in 1988 but apparently wasn't aware of it. His lawyer, J. Jeffrey Weisenfeld of New York, declined to release details other than to say that Perez, now in his early 30s, remains in the United States.
"He would like to get on with his life quietly," Weisenfeld said. "It was an unpleasant experience for him."
Perez was deported to the Dominican Republic in 1994 after a drug conviction.
In 2000, he was caught trying to re-enter the United States from Canada. But he wasn't informed he was a citizen until the spring of 2004, after serving three-and-a-half years in prison for that 2000 arrest.
It was not clear why Perez's status wasn't discovered when he first faced deportation. Messages left over three days seeking comment on the case from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington were not returned.
In early 2005, Perez filed a lawsuit to vacate the illegal re-entry conviction. He also has sued the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice, claiming they had no right to imprison him, and against the Legal Aid Society in Albany, which represented him on the illegal re-entry charge.
Immigration watchers wonder if he can sue for being deported in the first place.
"Beyond legality, it's just an issue of common sense and humanity,' " said Daniel Kowalski, a Texas attorney who publishes Bender's Immigration Bulletin, a publication that tracks immigration issues.
U.S. immigration courts handled 368,848 matters in 2005, a 23 percent increase over the 299,474 cases addressed in 2004, according to U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review.
A spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the government has no practical way to inform people of their citizenship in such cases because of the complexities involved.
"The responsibility rests fully on the shoulders of the new citizen, so the questions of the citizenship of children are adequately addressed," said Chris Bentley. "Many times, we honestly won't know about it."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Lord, who prosecuted Perez, declined comment when asked if the government would appeal. In a brief, she argued Perez was at fault for not knowing his status, saying he "cannot base his failure to discover the circumstances on the alleged omissions of others."
Estelle McKee with the University of Wisconsin Law School said the responsibility is shared.
"The immigration service has to prove someone is removable. It's their job," she said. "It's remarkable to go through an entire removal process and not know the person is a citizen."
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LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - A southern Alberta woman has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly biting off part of another woman's forehead.
Police in Lethbridge were called out Monday to deal with two women having a fistfight.
Police say they watched as one of them grabbed the other and bit a five-centimetre piece of flesh out of her forehead.
The victim was treated in hospital and released.
Chastity Fawn Mills is to appear in court Sept. 26.
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SUN VALLEY, Calif., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- California's supply of cat litter fell by 10 tons during the weekend when a tractor trailer flipped and lost its load on Interstate 5.
A California Highway Patrol spokesman said the truck overturned about 6 a.m. Saturday close to an off-ramp from the Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
There were no injuries in the wreck, although the gray clay splashed over two lanes, which were closed for four hours as state transportation workers labored to clear the scene.
No rainfall was reported by the National Weather Service for the Los Angeles area at the time, and no clumping was reported at the crash site.
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VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A man mistook a municipal building in southern Austria for a bank and tried to rob it early Tuesday, police said.
The 34-year-old man thought a municipal building in the southern village of Poggersdorf was a bank because it had an ATM machine in the lobby, said Hermann Klammer, head of the criminal division at Carinthia province's police department.
The man fled the building after a woman he allegedly threatened with an air gun told him she had no money and that he had made a mistake, Klammer said.
"At first, I thought he was making a bad joke," Austrian broadcaster ORF quoted the woman, Helga Aichwalder, as saying.
The man, who is from Carinthia but was not identified by name, was arrested shortly after the incident and has admitted the act, Klammer said.
"This is an extremely odd case. I've never come across anything like this," Klammer said.
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School officials in Louisville reassigned a teacher after he burned two American flags in his class to apparently motivate his students for an assignment, according to a report.
A Jefferson County Public Schools official said Dan Holden, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Stuart Middle School, burned a small flag in each of his two classes.
Officials said he told administrators he was trying to motivate his students for a weekend writing assignment on the freedom of speech.
The school district didn't find out about it until a reporter asked questions the next day, the report said.
Officials said they have received only one complaint, none from parents.
However, officials said there are two important issues involved. One is the safety of students in regard to having an open flame in the classroom. The other is the propriety of burning a flag.
"The issue is the possible endangerment of children by having an open flame in the classroom," School District representative Lauren Roberts said. "That is definitely a safety issue. And then also the issue of the actual burning of a flag and the symbolism of that is highly offensive to many people. And could there have been a better way to have demonstrated those concepts to those students without going to that extreme?"
The district has contacted fire officials and said Holden could face criminal charges.
Holden has been a teacher in Jefferson County schools since 1979 and has been at Stuart Middle School since 2001. He has no disciplinary record.
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RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Willy the tortoise made a break for freedom - well, break may be too strong a word. It was more like a slow crawl. But after a month on the lam, the 40-pound tortoise with a 2-foot-wide, gold-colored shell is back in the wading pool at his owner's home.
Kellie Copeland-Burnup reported the tortoise escaped about July 1.
A local emergency medical services technician spotted Willy on Sunday along a rural road about five miles away. During six weeks on the run, Willy averaged .005 mph, well short of a new land speed record.
The tortoise is now inside a chain-link dog kennel in Copeland-Burnup's back yard although she knows he is capable of digging under a fence.
"I'll be keeping an eye on him," Copeland-Burnup said.
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OLYMPIA, Washington (AP) - A fierce group of raccoons has killed 10 cats, attacked a small dog and bitten at least one pet owner who had to get rabies shots, residents of Olympia say.
Some have taken to carrying pepper spray to ward off the masked marauders and the woman who was bitten now carries an iron pipe when she goes outside at night.
"It's a new breed," said Tamara Keeton, who with Kari Hall started a raccoon watch after an emotional neighborhood meeting drew 40 people. "They're urban raccoons, and they're not afraid."
Tony Benjamins, whose family lost two cats, said he got a big dog - a German Shepherd-Rottweiler mix - to keep the raccoons away.
One goal of the patrol is to get residents to stop feeding raccoons and to keep pets and pet food indoors.
Lisann Rolle said she began carrying an iron pipe when she goes outside at night after being bitten by raccoons when she tried to pull three of them off her cat Lucy. She obtained rabies shots afterward as a precaution.
"I was watching her like a hawk, but she snuck out," Rolle said. "Then I heard this hideous sound - a coyote-type high pitch ... It was vicious. They were focused on ripping her apart."
The attacks have been especially shocking because raccoons came within five feet (1 1/2 meters) of cats without any problem in previous years, Benjamins said.
"We used to love the raccoons. They'd have their babies this time of year, and they were so cute. Even though we lived in the city, it was neat to have wildlife around," he said, "but this year, things changed. They went nuts."
In one case five raccoons tried to carry off a small dog, which managed to survive.
The attacks, all within a three-block area near the Garfield Nature Trail in Olympia, are highly unusual, said Sean O. Carrell, a problem wildlife coordinator with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, adding that trappers may be summoned from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove problem animals.
"I've never heard a report of 10 cats being killed. It's something were going to have to monitor," Carrell said.
Meanwhile, residents have hired Tom Brown, a nuisance wildlife control operator from Rochester, Washington, to set traps, but in six weeks he has caught only one raccoon. He and Carrell said raccoons teach their young - and each other - to avoid traps.
Brown said he had seen packs of raccoons this big but none so into killing.
"They are in command up there," he said.
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Sweden's state broadcaster SVT showed a little too much when it mistakenly showed a porn movie in the background of a news broadcast.
Viewers of a 5-minute news update at midnight Saturday could see explicit scenes from a Czech porn movie on a TV screen behind a news anchor.
The monitor - one of many on the wall of a control room visible behind the studio - normally shows other news channels during broadcasts. But staffers who earlier in the evening had watched a sports event on a cable channel - which often shows X-rated films after midnight - had forgotten to switch it back, said news director Per Yng.
"This is highly embarrassing and unfortunate," Yng said. "It must not happen again."
A producer quickly spotted the sex scenes and ran into the control room and turned off the monitor, Yng said. He said there had been no complaints from viewers about the mishap, but "enormous interest from media."
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NEW YORK (AP) - A Brooklyn priest is protesting a $115 parking ticket he got while tending to a dying hospital patient last month. "On humanitarian grounds, the law should not be interpreted and applied so stringently that it will prohibit a religious leader from doing his work," said the Rev. Cletus Forson of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Bay Ridge.
Forson got the ticket around 9:30 p.m. on July 26 when he parked in a no-standing zone in front of Maimonides Medical Center in Borough Park. The story was first reported in the Daily News on Tuesday.
Forson said he knew the spot was illegal but he didn't have time to look for a legal spot because he had just received a call from a parishioner desperate to find a priest to administer the sacrament of the sick to her mother. He placed his clergy parking permit on the dashboard and went in.
"I couldn't get any parking," Forson said. "It is my obligation to get there and administer to the needs of the sick."
Forson said that the patient's daughter and a nurse he spoke with both gave him the impression that the situation was serious and he could not wait until the next morning to visit the woman.
He found his car had been ticketed when he emerged from the hospital after about 20 minutes.
"I was disappointed that a car parked in a restricted zone with a clergy sign on it cannot be interpreted to mean that a priest is visiting someone who is sick," he said.
Forson appealed the ticket but Administrative Law Judge Michael Ciaravino refused to overturn it.
St. Andrew the Apostle paid the fine but the head pastor, Monsignor Guy Massie, wrote a letter saying the church was doing so with protest.
City Finance Department spokesman Owen Stone stood by the city's decision, saying Forson was parked in an ambulance zone.
"They need to keep those clear," he said. "Blocking that puts lives at risk, that's why the ticket got upheld."
Forson denied that he was blocking ambulances and said several other cars were parked in the same area where he parked.
"There were four cars in front of me," he said. "It's not like it was only my car that was there."
City Councilman Vincent Gentile wrote to Finance Department Commissioner Martha Stark on Aug. 11 demanding that the ticket be dismissed.
"He was rushing to the hospital to administer the Catholic last rites to a dying patient," Gentile said. "To me this is just another episode in the continuing saga of the city out of control with ticketing."
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ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - Curiosity didn't kill the cat. But a kitten got stuck behind the dashboard of a woman's SUV after climbing through a hole in the glove compartment.
The woman went to the Rockaway Township Municipal Building for help after food wouldn't lure the tabby out.
Rockaway Township animal control officer Dan McDonald and veterinarian Steven Hodes tried to grab the cat. But the frightened animal just crawled deeper into the dash.
The vet managed to inject the kitten with an anesthesia and they pulled the drowsy feline out unharmed without having to dismantle the dashboard.
McDonald said the woman has a friend who might adopt the kitten.
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CEDARBURG, Wis. (AP) - Eighty-five-year-old Benjamin Steinbach said he'll stick to using his riding lawn mower on his grass and not take it on sidewalks to run errands around town. But a miffed Steinbach said Monday he still doesn't understand why the practice is prohibited.
Steinbach has been getting around on the mower since the state took away his driver's license two years ago, citing health reasons. He's been driving the mower at least a few times a week a half mile to a nearby supermarket and hardware store. He has even gone nearly a mile to pay a bill at City Hall, in this quaint suburban town.
Cedarburg Police Chief Tom Frank said he had never seen or heard of Steinbach's mower-driving until a reporter recently asked him about it. He said state law allows only a few vehicles on sidewalks, such as motorized wheelchairs, scooters and the new Segways.
Steinbach said that he did not believe riding the mower on the sidewalk caused any problems.
"I think that's ridiculous," he said of the prohibition of the practice. "But I'll have to live with that."
Steinbach said he walks a lot and expected to do more now that he knew that riding the mower on the sidewalk was prohibited.
But Frank said Monday that a local service club had contacted his department about the possibility of providing Steinbach with a wheelchair, and an officer would meet with Steinbach and inform him of that.
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LONDON (AFP) - Smoking scenes in "Tom and Jerry" cartoons are now banned in Britain, following a viewer's complaint to the government agency that polices the airwaves.

In one episode of the classic US cartoon series, Tom is seen smoking a roll-up cigarette in a bid to impress a female cat. In another, Tom's opponent in a tennis match was seen smoking a large cigar.
Following an investigation prompted by the anonymous viewer's complaint, regulator Ofcom said Monday that children's TV channel Boomerang has agreed to edit out scenes deemed to glamorise or condone smoking.
"We note that, in 'Tom and Jerry', smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned," said Ofcom, recalling how the cartoons were made in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s when smoking was not so controversial.
"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."
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LONDON (AFP) - Inspired by a Monty Python sketch, a charity fundraiser in London with an odd-ball sense of humour submitted himself to being slapped in the face with a couple of wet fish.
Ben Fillmore, 24, turned up at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park in central London as promised at high noon to be publicly humiliated with two fresh Scottish rainbow trouts at the hands of student Lucy Berry, 23.
She had paid 210 pounds (310 euros, 395 dollars) on Internet auction site eBay to be part of Fillmore's quest to raise a total 10,000 pounds for The Stroke Association.
"It felt OK," Fillmore confided to reporters afterwards. "My face feels a bit taut and the fish really stinks. It felt very slimy -- but it was definitely worth it."
The stunt was an homage to "the fish-slapping dance" in which John Cleese and Michael Palin, both in safari outfits, take turns wacking each other with fish in a classic episode from television's "Monty Python's Flying Circus".
Berry has so far raised a total of 2,000 pounds for the charity, which helped his mother survive a stroke six years ago.
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Police say reports that rattlesnakes were let loose during a showing of Snakes on a Plane at a north Phoenix theater have taken moviegoers for a ride.
There is some shred of truth to the story, Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said. A 10-inch-long rattlesnake was found Friday in a hallway at AMC Desert Ridge 18, near Tatum Boulevard and Loop 101. But it likely slithered inside on its own, Tranter said.
A security guard swept the snake outside and held it in a Tupperware container until a member of the Arizona Herpetological Association could take it away. Snake handlers had been called earlier in the day to retrieve a rattler from outside the theater.
An AMC spokeswoman told the news organization Reuters that the rumors were true, but Tranter has been refuting the story to news outlets from across the U.S.
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JIM THORPE, Pa. (AP) - A man who showed up in court drunk to be sentenced for drunken driving told the judge he routinely drinks 12 beers a day "and then some."
Carbon County President Judge Roger Nanovic sentenced 25-year-old Joshua Beury yesterday to 30 days to six months in prison for contempt of court and the second-offense DUI charge.
Beury received a similar sentence on Monday for charges related to a November 6th crash which his blood-alcohol level registered 0.17, about twice the legal limit.
Beury told Nanovic he'd had two beers the night before the hearing, when his blood alcohol registered .20. He said he was on medication for bipolar disorder and other mental health issues.
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BOMBAY, India (AP) - When Hitler's Cross restaurant opened four days ago in a Bombay suburb, local politicians and movie industry types were on hand to celebrate beneath the posters of the Nazi leader and swastikas.
The owner insisted then - and still does - that the name and theme of his new eatery is only meant to attract attention, even if it has outraged Bombay's Jewish community.
"It's really made people very upset that a person responsible for the massacre of 6 million Jews can be glorified," Elijah Jacob, one of the community's leaders, told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
But owner Puneet Sablok has refused to back down, and apart from Bombay's 4,500 Jews, there's been little controversy in India, where Holocaust awareness is limited, Hitler is regarded as just another historical figure and swastikas are an ancient Hindu symbol, displayed all over to bring luck. There are just 5,500 Jews in all of India.
"It's just to attract people. There is no intention to hurt anyone," said Sablok about his spacious restaurant, which serves pastries, pizza and salad in Navi Mumbai, a northern suburb of Bombay, which is also known as Mumbai.
Those objecting to the restaurant plan to ask the local government to force a name change, said Daniel Zonshine, Israel's consul general in Bombay.
"Instead of Hitler's name being an example of extreme evil, this is like giving legitimacy to Hitler. It's not right to advertise his name in public," Zonshine said.
But while India is ordinarily sensitive to causing religious offense - recently taking action to bar "The Da Vinci Code" movie and cartoon drawings of the prophet Muhammad - at least one local leader said the name Hitler didn't bother him.
"People are unnecessarily making this into an issue," said Sudhir Jadhav, a local ruling party leader. "We have no plans to protest outside the restaurant or ask him to change the name."
Diners were also quite happy eating in Hitler's Cross.
"Hitler was a bad man, but what's wrong with having food here?" said Ashwini Phadnis, 22, a microbiology student as she tucked away a piece of chocolate cake.
Engineering student Anand Dhillon sat with friends, sipping soft drinks. "I think the name is quite interesting. Tomorrow if someone keeps a name like Saddam Mutton Shop or George Bush Footwear, there's nothing wrong with that, is there?" he shrugged.
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ALBANY, N.Y. - Duarnis Perez became an American citizen when he was 15, but he didn't find out until after he had been deported and then jailed for trying to get back into the country.
He was facing his second deportation hearing when he learned he was already a U.S. citizen. Still, federal prosecutors fought to keep him in custody.
Last week, a federal judge scolded prosecutors for the mistake.
"In effect, the government is arguing that an innocent man who was wrongly convicted should not be released from the custody of the United States," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn wrote. He ruled that Perez never should have been deported.
The case has gotten the attention of immigration observers, who call it a striking example of the gaps in an overworked immigration system.
Perez became a citizen when his mother was naturalized in 1988 but apparently wasn't aware of it. His lawyer, J. Jeffrey Weisenfeld of New York, declined to release details other than to say that Perez, now in his early 30s, remains in the United States.
"He would like to get on with his life quietly," Weisenfeld said. "It was an unpleasant experience for him."
Perez was deported to the Dominican Republic in 1994 after a drug conviction.
In 2000, he was caught trying to re-enter the United States from Canada. But he wasn't informed he was a citizen until the spring of 2004, after serving three-and-a-half years in prison for that 2000 arrest.
It was not clear why Perez's status wasn't discovered when he first faced deportation. Messages left over three days seeking comment on the case from Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington were not returned.
In early 2005, Perez filed a lawsuit to vacate the illegal re-entry conviction. He also has sued the Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Justice, claiming they had no right to imprison him, and against the Legal Aid Society in Albany, which represented him on the illegal re-entry charge.
Immigration watchers wonder if he can sue for being deported in the first place.
"Beyond legality, it's just an issue of common sense and humanity,' " said Daniel Kowalski, a Texas attorney who publishes Bender's Immigration Bulletin, a publication that tracks immigration issues.
U.S. immigration courts handled 368,848 matters in 2005, a 23 percent increase over the 299,474 cases addressed in 2004, according to U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review.
A spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the government has no practical way to inform people of their citizenship in such cases because of the complexities involved.
"The responsibility rests fully on the shoulders of the new citizen, so the questions of the citizenship of children are adequately addressed," said Chris Bentley. "Many times, we honestly won't know about it."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Lord, who prosecuted Perez, declined comment when asked if the government would appeal. In a brief, she argued Perez was at fault for not knowing his status, saying he "cannot base his failure to discover the circumstances on the alleged omissions of others."
Estelle McKee with the University of Wisconsin Law School said the responsibility is shared.
"The immigration service has to prove someone is removable. It's their job," she said. "It's remarkable to go through an entire removal process and not know the person is a citizen."
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LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - A southern Alberta woman has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly biting off part of another woman's forehead.
Police in Lethbridge were called out Monday to deal with two women having a fistfight.
Police say they watched as one of them grabbed the other and bit a five-centimetre piece of flesh out of her forehead.
The victim was treated in hospital and released.
Chastity Fawn Mills is to appear in court Sept. 26.
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Desertwind
Head of the Day Shift
85-YEAR OLD LOSES MOWER-GETS SCOOTER
Milwaukee, WI.--An 85-yr-old man who lost his drivers license and was told he couldn't keep driving his lawn mower on the sidewalk has a new ride. An anonymous women donated a mororized scooter to Benjamin Steinbach and he said "Gee, I got to learn to drive all over again"/ Steinbach had used a mower since officials took away his drvers license two years ago for health reasons. He'd been making trips to the supermarket, and other stores on a lawn mower, which is illegal-- The donar contacted the center after reading aobut him
Source- The Associated Press
Milwaukee, WI.--An 85-yr-old man who lost his drivers license and was told he couldn't keep driving his lawn mower on the sidewalk has a new ride. An anonymous women donated a mororized scooter to Benjamin Steinbach and he said "Gee, I got to learn to drive all over again"/ Steinbach had used a mower since officials took away his drvers license two years ago for health reasons. He'd been making trips to the supermarket, and other stores on a lawn mower, which is illegal-- The donar contacted the center after reading aobut him
Source- The Associated Press
Desertwind
Head of the Day Shift
HAIR FOR FIDO-WIG-MAKER'S DESIGNS HAVE GONE TO THE DOGS
Ruth Regina, a wig maker in Bay Harbor Islands, Fla. has been designing human wigs for decades, but recently turned her attention to pooches
:I see all the little booties and sunglasses and bridal gowns they make for dogs, so I thought, why not hairpieces?" Regina says. So far, no one is buying her bowser wigs, but the idea takes for as much as $1,000. She says it depends on the owners preference--and notes that the size of the dog and the type of hair in the wig will determine the price!! Although her main focus right now is on mutts, Regina says "she hopes to expand her "Yappy Hour" collection to include cats--P-L-E-A-S-E
Ruth Regina, a wig maker in Bay Harbor Islands, Fla. has been designing human wigs for decades, but recently turned her attention to pooches
:I see all the little booties and sunglasses and bridal gowns they make for dogs, so I thought, why not hairpieces?" Regina says. So far, no one is buying her bowser wigs, but the idea takes for as much as $1,000. She says it depends on the owners preference--and notes that the size of the dog and the type of hair in the wig will determine the price!! Although her main focus right now is on mutts, Regina says "she hopes to expand her "Yappy Hour" collection to include cats--P-L-E-A-S-E 
Dynamo1
Head of the Swing Shift
"Here's Your Sign" #56899142
Car crashes when woman lets dog take wheel
MSNBC/AP news item Updated: 3:33 p.m. CT Aug 28, 2006
BEIJING - You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
A woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday.
No injuries were reported, although the vehicles involved were slightly damaged, it said.
The woman, identified only be her surname, Li, said her dog "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive," according to Xinhua.
"She thought she would let the dog 'have a try' while she operated the accelerator and brake," the report said. "They did not make it far before crashing into an oncoming car."
Xinhua did not say what kind of dog or vehicles were involved, but Li paid for repairs.
Car crashes when woman lets dog take wheel
MSNBC/AP news item Updated: 3:33 p.m. CT Aug 28, 2006
BEIJING - You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
A woman in Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia region, crashed her car while giving her dog a driving lesson, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday.
No injuries were reported, although the vehicles involved were slightly damaged, it said.
The woman, identified only be her surname, Li, said her dog "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel and often watched her drive," according to Xinhua.
"She thought she would let the dog 'have a try' while she operated the accelerator and brake," the report said. "They did not make it far before crashing into an oncoming car."
Xinhua did not say what kind of dog or vehicles were involved, but Li paid for repairs.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A police officer had two girls shoplift for her and then lied about her name and occupation when the group was apprehended, prosecutors charged.
Renell Cohen, 35, picked out bras that were later stolen by the girls when they left a Wal-Mart at the Franklin Mills Mall, authorities said.
Security cameras were trained on the group during the July store visit after an assistant manager thought Cohen was acting suspiciously.
Cohen, a four year veteran of the police department, was fired Tuesday, the same day theft, corruption of minors and other charges were upheld against her at a preliminary hearing in Family Court.
The girls told authorities they were between 14 and 16.
"The facts of this case are really troubling," Assistant District Attorney Janet Turnbull said.
The girls stole merchandise worth $259.52, while Cohn went on to purchase goods worth about $87.
ROGERS, Ark. (AP) - A man who fell asleep in his driveway woke up when his wife came home and turned into the driveway to park the car.
Kristine Bolson of Rogers said she drove into her driveway shortly after midnight Tuesday and heard a loud cracking sound, a Benton County Sheriff's Office report said.
When she got out of her vehicle, she heard moaning and found her husband, Richard Gonzalez, on the ground near her vehicle. Bolson said she did not initially see her husband in the driveway.
According to the report, Gonzalez said he had been drinking and he must have passed out. He was taken to St. Mary's Hospital where he was treatment for abrasions and contusions.
JEANNETTE, Pa. (AP) - Meow. A district judge has been asked to decide whether that word is a harmless taunt or grounds for misdemeanor harassment. Jeannette police charged a 14-year-old boy for "meowing" whenever he sees his neighbor, 78-year-old Alexandria Carasia.
The boy's family and Carasia do not get along. The boy's mother said the family got rid of their cat after Carasia complained to police that it used her flower garden as a litter box.
The boy testified Tuesday that he only meowed at the woman twice. Carasia testified, "Every time he sees me, he meows."
The boy's defense attorney, David Martin Jr., argued that the charge should be dismissed.
"This should never have been filed," Martin said. "This is not something that police should be wasting their time with or wasting the court's time."
Jeannette District Judge Joseph DeMarchis decided to wait 90 days before ruling. DeMarchis said his decision will be based on how the boy and his neighbor get along in the meantime.
CHICAGO (AP) - Cook County prosecutors say a 29-year-old man traveling with his mother desperately didn't want her to know he'd packed a sexual aid for their trip to Turkey. So he told security it was a bomb, officials said.
Madin Azad Amin was stopped by officials on Aug. 16 after guards found an object in his baggage that resembled a grenade, prosecutors said.
When officers asked him to identify it, Amin said it was a bomb, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto.
He later told officials he'd lied about the item because his mother was nearby and he didn't want her to hear that it was part of a penis pump, Scaduto said.
He's been charged with felony disorderly conduct, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman with the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Amin faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
MIAMI (AP) - A husband helped his wife deliver the couple's baby after they got stuck in rush hour traffic and then got lost on the way to the hospital.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic delayed Lilliam and Gerardo Miranda's trip to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Wednesday morning. Gerardo Miranda said he was so nervous he made a wrong turn about a mile from the hospital.
"She said, 'Stop, stop, stop. There's no more time,'" Gerardo Miranda said.
He pulled their Chevrolet Cavalier over near the Orange Bowl while his wife called 911. The dispatcher guided Miranda, telling him to use his shoelaces to tie off the umbilical cord.
About a half hour after the couple left their Kendall home, 7-pound, 5-ounce Fabio was born. The couple's third child was more than a week early.
Both mom and baby were taken to a hospital in good condition.
"This didn't happen with our other children," Lilliam Miranda said.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- A Yavapai County sheriff's deputy patrolling a senior housing development outside Prescott Wednesday spotted a 5-foot-tall marijuana plant growing between two residents' driveways.
Deputy Justin Dwyer got out, identified the plant and interviewed the residents, spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. They told the deputy they thought the plant was "just an attractive weed, and they had been watering it because it looked so nice."
Quayle said it appeared the plant was growing wild and probably sprouted from a stray seed. Dwyer told the homeowners he would have to confiscate it and asked them to call deputies if more were found.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- A mountain lion ran into a home Tuesday and escaped through a window about an hour later. Soon after he arrived home from work, Clifton Sanches said he heard his dogs barking loudly outside.
"I got up to shut the dogs up and a mountain lion came through my window, it came right through my screen door," Sanches told KKTV.
He went to a neighbor's house to call for help and he and sheriff's deputies waited outside the house. About an hour later, the big cat butted its head against a screened window before breaking through and running away.
Two mountain lions were spotted in Colorado Springs last month. Wildlife officials shot and killed one of the cats because it seemed lethargic and ailing
"To have a mountain lion sighting is one thing. To have a mountain lion actually enter a structure is really rare," Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Michael Seraphin said.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A homeless woman refuses to stop bathing naked in Munich's public fountains despite being repeatedly fined for breaking public nudity laws.
Bild newspaper reported on Thursday the 44-year-old woman named "Bille", who weighs about 150 kg, can be seen almost every day with her bottles of soap and shampoo bathing in one of the Bavarian capital's 183 public fountains.
"She's already been charged on 21 occasions for such things as causing public disturbance as well as breaking and entering," a Munich police spokesman said.
A social worker told Bild that Bille keeps rejecting a room in a homeless centre.
"We can't force her," he said.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - One poster reads, "Public Toilets - From Embarrassment to Pleasure." Another implores you to wash your hands, because germs die that way.
Hoping to herald a new "national restroom culture," Malaysia's National Toilet Expo and Forum opened Thursday at a shopping mall in the suburb of Subang Jaya outside of Kuala Lumpur, attracting curious shoppers to some 60 exhibition booths.
"I'm sorry to say it, but we Malaysians are not very hygienic when it comes to public toilets," said one visitor, Doreen Lee, 32, referring to how some users don't flush, or squat on toilet seats, leaving dirty shoe prints.
"This is a good way of creating awareness about how to behave," Lee said.
The organizers of the expo, Quality Restroom Association, said in a promotional brochure they were seeking to create a "national restroom culture" and educate the public about cleanliness.
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who opened the event early Thursday, called for a "toilet revolution," the Bernama national news agency reported.
"Try to imagine dirty, nauseating toilets, likely the most negative image we can portray about ourselves to visitors and tourists," said Najib, according to Bernama. "That is why the government feels this must be a national effort."
Public toilets in Malaysia have long disgusted residents and tourists with their lack of basic items such as toilet paper, soap and sometimes even toilet seats. Many fall prey to vandals.
The Southeast Asian nation is trying hard to rid itself of this image, with the government considering fines for vendors with dirty washrooms. Shopping malls and other commercial establishments that do not have clean toilets may also not have their business licenses renewed.
Booths showed modern toilet stalls, model toilets, ceramic bathroom equipment and also products such as a dissolvable cube that can be placed in urinals to keep it clean and odor-free, without flushing.
Additionally, Kuala Lumpur city authorities announced on Wednesday it would be setting up 20 modern self-cleaning public toilets near popular shopping districts in the city, starting this month.
The air-conditioned units have an automatic seat cleaner that will wash, scrub and dry the pan after every use. The entire toilet will be cleaned in a similar manner after every five users.
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City" on a list of 35 major metropolitan areas ranked for their drinking habits.
Forbes said Tuesday it used numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank cities in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.
Minneapolis-St. Paul was ranked second overall; followed by Columbus, Ohio; Boston; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., in a tie for ninth.
Rick DeMeyer, 28, said Wednesday as he was celebrating his birthday at G-Daddy's BBC he could understand Milwaukee's ranking.
"I have had people stay with me from London and Chicago, and they can't get over how much we drink," he said. "I guess we do."
But officials at Visit Milwaukee, the area's convention and visitors bureau, contend that the city has come a long way in ridding itself of its beer-guzzling image.
Milwaukeeans have plenty of other ways to entertain themselves without drinking alcohol, said Dave Fantle, a spokesman for the group. He noted a new convention center and baseball park had been built and the Milwaukee Art Museum expanded in recent years.
"We've gone from Brew City to new city," he said.
PADDOCK LAKE, Wis. (AP) - A sales representative on the way to a business call made an unscheduled stop - in the middle of the highway - after noticing the cash swirling around his car.
"I was a little west of Paddock Lake and all of a sudden there was money flying in my windshield and grill," Ted Neitzke said.
Neitzke, 58, of Random Lake, said he stopped, got out of his car and began collecting the bills while dodging the traffic.
"So here's this guy - me - in the middle of Highway 50 with a tie picking up money," he said. "It was just kind of sliding along the road. When a car or truck would drive by, it would go one way, and when another one would drive by, it would go the other way."
He managed to pick up a dozen $20 bills and two $1 bills, a total of $242.
Then he called the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department.
"I was just hoping it wasn't anybody's rent money or somebody who needed it," he said. "I figured it was the right thing to do."
The sheriff's report said the money Neitzke collected about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday was placed in an evidence locker, and if no one claims it, Neitzke will get it.
Sheriff's spokesman Horace Staples said not everyone would have turned in the cash.
"When people do that, it's very unique," Staples said. "Normally people would look around and pocket the money."
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A southeast Missouri man will go to jail for breaking into his ex-wife's e-mail and sending pornographic pictures of her to her relatives.
Alfred Seals, 47, of Cape Girardeau, pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor tampering with computer data, and was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Seals gained access to his wife's e-mail account without her consent, then e-mailed the woman's family a Web site link and message stating, "something nice to see," according to a probable-cause statement.
The link took users to a Web site that contained several pornographic pictures Seals took of the woman when they were married.
The woman immediately suspected her ex-husband and went to police.
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - A judge detained and questioned a row of spectators when a cell phone rang for a third time in her courtroom, later ordering two people to serve community service for contempt of court.
When no one admitted having the ringing phones Wednesday, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Diane Boswell told all five people in the row to sit in chairs reserved for jail inmates. They stayed there for more than an hour until the morning court call ended.
Boswell found three people in contempt of court because they initially refused to say who had the ringing phones.
Cynthia Cannon of Gary agreed to pay a $100 fine after admitting that her phone was one of those that went off. The judge ordered her to do community service, but Cannon declined, saying she can't work or sit for long periods of time due to a disability.
Verdell Berry Jr., of Merrillville, said he had two phones. One was off, the other he turned off when Boswell warned the gallery about the phones. The sound of it powering down is what she heard, Berry said.
He admitted he didn't speak up to explain that when Boswell first asked.
Shonique Freeman, of Gary, said she knew it was Berry's phone, but she didn't offer the information, either.
Boswell ordered both Berry and Freeman to serve 40 hours of community service.
"The next time you come to court, don't bring your cell phone," Boswell said. "And when the court asks a question, answer the question."
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) - Police Chief Pat Miller learned first hand that the law has teeth: Oxnard police dog Beemer thought he was taking a bite out of crime when he chomped down on the chief's leg.
Beemer, a Belgian Malinois shepherd, bit Miller on the left hamstring this week before the dog's handler pulled Beemer away.
"It hurt. The dog literally picked me off the ground. He ripped my pants and bloodied my leg up pretty good," Miller said Wednesday in recounting the police chase that started in Ventura and ended in Oxnard.
Miller, 53, was on his way to a meeting when he got involved in the chase of a white Ford Explorer on Tuesday. SUV driver Jason Donner, 24, of Ventura was being chased by a Ventura squad car at the time.
Donner later pulled onto a side street and jumped from his moving vehicle, ending up in a Mandalay Bay channel. Miller, who was wearing plain clothes, drove to the other side of the channel and helped chase Donner into a garage.
Oxnard police officers then arrived and Beemer was released, mistaking the Ventura chief of police as the suspect.
"My first thought was, 'What the hell are you doing out there?'" Oxnard police Chief John Crombach said. Miller and Crombach are close friends who once worked together on the Ventura department.
"But Pat came up in an era when officers signed up to protect the community - no matter what. I just wish he would remember he is over 50 now."
Beemer also helped in the capture of Donner, who was booked for investigation of evading police and trespassing and for warrants, police said.
CANBERRA, Australia - Australian soldiers are indulging in expensive cosmetic surgery - including breast enlargements, nose jobs and face lifts - at taxpayers' expense, according to media reports Friday.
Official Australian Defense Force policy states that personnel can undergo plastic surgery at public expense for medical or psychological reasons that threaten their ability to work.
An army cook underwent a nose reduction operation Wednesday, while female service personnel have had breast enlargements after claiming that depression and poor confidence were hurting their work, News Ltd. newspapers reported.
Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said Friday he has ordered an investigation.
Cosmetic surgery consultant Pamela Noon told the newspapers her business has performed surgeries on six military personnel in the past year.
"While a feature might affect somebody's self-confidence, I can't see how it would help their ability to protect the country," Noon was quoted as saying.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A German outsize shoemaker said he will fly to China next week with three pairs of size 57 ladies shoes as a special and much-needed gift for Yao Defen, believed to be the world's tallest woman.
Georg Wessels, who lives in Germany and the Netherlands, said he had spent years trying to track down Yao, who is from a poor farming family in eastern China's Anhui province and 2.36 metres (7.74 ft) tall, according to Chinese doctors.
"I wrote to China to ask her what kind of shoes she would like and in what colour. She answered she didn't care at all what colour they were she would just be so happy to have some proper footwear," Wessels said.
The largest shoes he has made so far were a size 69 for Matthew McGrory, who has the world's biggest feet, according to the Guinness World Records.
Yao, began treatment in June for a brain tumour which is largely responsible for her extraordinary height by stimulating her body to release excessive amounts of growth hormone.
GENEVA (AFP) - A Swiss regional train has been blocked for nearly a week after a pet snake slithered from its owners' clutches and hid in the partition walls of the carriage, a local rail company has said.
"We immediately took the train out of service," Eric Luthy, a spokesman for the Neuchatel Regional Transport company, said Thursday.
Since last Saturday, reptile experts and infrared devices have been unable to find the cold-blooded adder or coax it out of its hiding place with juicy bait.
Although the snake is not regarded as dangerous, passengers "wouldn't understand" if the train was put back into service with the 80 to 130 centimetre-long (2.6 to 4.2 feet) reptile slithering around, Luthy explained.
The rail company hopes to claim compensation from the pet owner's civil liability insurance.
Pittsburgh now has its own case of a possible religious sighting in the form of an MRI.
Rhonda Hodge, of Duquesne, works for a neurologist at Allegheny General Hospital but she doesn't know how to explain it.
She's had a number of MRI images taken of her spine, because of a bulged disc, causing numbness in her neck, and left arm.
But, there's one picture that especially caught her attention, and that of her friends, and co-workers.
Hodge believes one image from an MRI shows a miraculous vision of Jesus, showing the Crucifixion.
"You can almost seen the thorns around the head and the nails... the nails through the feet," said Hodge.
Hodge doesn't know what to do next.
But, some of her friends have been offering her some suggestions.
"They've been trying to get me to sell the pictures on E-Bay," said Hodge. "It's been quite a few months, I haven't done it yet. I don't know. You could actually see the hands. They look like they're nailed on the cross. You can see the body. It's in a straight line and then you see his feet, they look like they're together, and the knees are bent."
Hodge says there's no doubt in her mind that the x-ray does, indeed, look like the Crucifixion.
But has it changed her life?
"I think I believe as much as I need to," said Hodge. "I can't be swayed by a picture. My neck does feel better. I don't know if that was Jesus or physical therapy."
EDMONTON, Canada - A restaurant that failed to take action against an employee who chased a female co-worker with a sausage dangling from his fly has been ordered to pay damages and lost wages to another woman who witnessed it.
An Alberta Human Rights panel ordered the Humpty's Family Restaurant chain to pay former kitchen worker Diane Carr about $6,300.
The woman who was chased did not file an official complaint. But in January 2004, Carr did, saying she was sexually harassed during her 14 months on the job at one of the chain's restaurants in Fort McMurray.
Carr testified in front of a human rights hearing that the woman, who is her sister Judy Thomson, did approach the manager.
"But whenever she complained to him, he shrugged it off or changed the subject to avoid the matter."
Carr also testified she was frequently the subject of derogatory insults from Chris Troake, another Humpty's kitchen worker.
Carr's sister told the hearing the verbal abuse was the worst she had encountered in her 35 years as a worker.
She also confirmed she was chased around the restaurant by Troake in a situation involving a sausage.
"The witness emotionally described the incident, stating that Mr. Troake had the zipper of his trousers undone and the sausage sticking out of his fly," panel chairman Delano W. Tolley said in the written decision.
Troake testified it was a joke and denied chasing Thomson around the restaurant.
Restaurant manager Pyarali Lakhani testified he had to tolerate some "undesirable employee characteristics" because of an acute labour shortage in Fort McMurray.
He said no one but Carr complained about Troake's behaviour.
Humpty's Restaurants International will not appeal the decision, although the company does not agree with it, said area manager Rick MacPherson.
The restaurant chain has changed its new employee orientation policy as a result of the case.
Employees now must read the sexual harassment and company policy guide, and sign a form stating they have understood it, MacPherson said.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A 25-year-old auditor in China apparently ate and drank himself to death while he was supposed to be inspecting a government department, a state newspaper said Friday.
Zhang Hongtao went to many banquets organized by a power company in northern China's Hebei province in April, and instead of working did little else but eat, drink, play cards and enjoy massages, the official China Daily said.
He collapsed and died following one of the banquets, after which "his team and two officials from the electricity bureau traveled for a sightseeing tour around east China," the report said.
"Zhang's colleagues said most of them were too upset over the death to stay in the office, so they went to Yangzhou to relax," it added, referring to a city in eastern Jiangsu province renowned for its gardens.
The National Auditors' Office said the incident had "marred the image and influenced the public's trust" of the government body, which is supposed to be at the forefront of a high-profile campaign against corruption.
Auditors are not allowed to be entertained by departments or companies they are inspecting, according to a 2000 rule, the report said.
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - Ever heard of the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship? It was held in Finland this weekend. Old phones were supplied for contestants who were allowed to pick which kind of phone they wanted to throw.
The men's winner threw his phone 292 feet. The women's winner tossed her phone 167 feet, a new world record according to the organizers. She said she has tossed a cell phone a time or two before.
Another contestant said three things were needed to compete: technical skills, power, and a sense of humor.
There were four competition categories: men, women, juniors and freestyle.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A section of the obsolete Woodrow Wilson Bridge was brought down early Tuesday, the planned demolition set in motion by a longtime commuter who won a contest for the honor.
A few minutes after midnight, Dan Ruefly pushed a ceremonial plunger to begin the countdown to destroy a half-mile section of the span that carries Interstate 95 traffic over the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia.
Then, engineers set off the explosive charges that collapsed a half-mile section of steel girders on the Virginia side of the 45-year-old bridge.
Hundreds of people submitted entries to the contest to find the person with the "toughest bridge commute."
For 28 years, Ruefly had left his Accokeek, Md., home at 5 a.m. to beat peak rush hour on the bridge. Seven years ago, he crashed into a stopped tractor-trailer that couldn't pull over because the bridge has no shoulders. He suffered a crushed hip that still pains him, and his daughter, Tiffanie, entered him in the contest.
The demolition was delayed a half-hour early Tuesday by safety concerns. At one point, the crowd started chanting, "Blow it up!"
Then, Ruefly and his daughter pushed the plunger.
"Make sure nothing's left," Ruefly's friend had told him.
Ruefly, for his part, said he was "probably more angry at the politicians who made it this way" than at the bridge, a chief chokepoint on the north-south I-95 corridor.
Nobody anticipated the volume of traffic the bridge would carry when it opened in carried more than 73 billion vehicles, but sometimes caused massive traffic jams when it stuck open. Many commuters also remember the time in 1998 when a man held up traffic for hours as he contemplated whether to jump off.
For decades, lawmakers debated the bridge's replacement before finally embarking on a $2.4 billion project to replace the old six-lane drawbridge with two new drawbridges. When finished in mid-2008, the bridges will be able to accommodate 12 lanes of traffic.
Earlier this year, crews finished work on the first of the new bridges, and traffic is now routed onto the new span. Even though the new bridge has six lanes, traffic flow has improved because the new, higher bridge requires fewer drawspan openings and has safety shoulders to accommodate broken-down vehicles.
OKLAHOMA CITY - It began with the kind of 911 call that many officers might dismiss.
The caller told a dispatcher Saturday that he saw a kangaroo jumping down a road. The man reassured the dispatcher he was "completely sane" and was not intoxicated.
"This was definitely one of our more unusual calls," said Mark Myers, a spokesman for Oklahoma County Sheriff's deputies.
Sure enough, deputies found the kangaroo hopping along a street and eating grapes from nearby farms. Using their vehicles, they guided the animal back to its owner's property, Myers said. The kangaroo's owner also owns other exotic animals.
Myers said the deputies decided to stay inside their cars. "Kangaroos can be vicious animals," Myers explained.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A 14-pound girl delivered by Caesarean section is so large that her feet reach over the edge of her small crib, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Isabel Vitoria, who was born Sunday, measures nearly 23¼ inches.
She is far from the largest ever born in Brazil. That was a 16-pound, 11-ounce baby born in January 2005 in the northeastern city of Salvador.
According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother was a boy weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces in Aversa, Italy, in 1955.
Isabel Vitoria was in good health and should go home Wednesday, said Antonio Pimenta, an administrator at the Rocha Faria State Hospital. She's the first daughter for Elisa Maia dos Ribeiro, 36, who already has three sons. All were large, weighing over nine pounds, but substantially smaller than Isabel Vitoria.
Ribeiro is diabetic, and doctors said it was common for women with diabetes to give birth to large babies.
DUBLIN, Ireland - A hot-air balloon caught fire during a circus stunt, killing a clown acrobat as dozens of children watched, police said Tuesday.
The accident happened Monday night as the Royal Russian Circus was performing in Scariff, County Clare, a village in western Ireland. About 100 people were in the audience, most of them children. Police said the clown was a 26-year-old man from Belarus but didn't release his name.
Witnesses said the man, dressed in a clown outfit, was hanging from a cage suspended by ropes and a hot-air balloon inside the canvas tent. When the balloon exploded in flames, the cage fell on top of the man.
The man's wife, who was also part of the act, suffered a broken arm, police said.
"We were all sitting down and they were doing their act. They were up fairly high, but they were doing fine. Next thing, he was down on the ground," said audience member Hazel Harrington. She said many people in the audience initially thought the falling cage was part of the act.
About a half-dozen circuses, employing mostly Eastern European performers, tour Ireland each summer.
HERMISTON, Ore. - One senior citizen has found out the hard way that some people can't be trusted - and are just plain mean.
Art Friedrick answered the phone and learned from the enthusiastic voice on the other end that he had won a million dollars from Publishers Clearing House.
Elated, Friedrick, a truck driver, thought about a European vacation and told family members of the windfall.
In the back of his mind, though, lurked a healthy amount of skepticism. He admitted to himself it could all be a scam.
It was.
After a call from the East Oregonian to Publishers Clearing House, the bad news was clear: Friedrick was not one of the sweepstakes' winners.
It's unclear why the person called Friedrick. The caller didn't ask for personal information like his Social Security number, as scammers usually do.
LONDON (Reuters) - A postman who gave people advice on how to stem the rising tide of junk mail into their homes has been suspended and could lose his job.
Roger Annies, 48, wrote and delivered leaflets to people on his round explaining how to block letters offering loans, credit cards and other services.
While some people welcomed the unofficial advice, Royal Mail bosses took a dim view of the apparent bid to undermine a lucrative and growing part of its business.
Each year, it delivers more than 3 billion unaddressed promotional letters, charging advertisers up to 91 pounds per thousand posted.
Annies, from Barry, South Wales, was suspended on full pay pending a disciplinary inquiry into an "alleged misconduct issue".
The postman's leaflet read: "Royal Mail plans to increase your advertising mail. This will mean a lot more unwanted post.
"If you complete the slip below and send it to the Royal Mail delivery office you should not get any of the above-mentioned unwanted advertising."
The Royal Mail said it was responsible for less than a quarter of Britain's unaddressed mail.
"If we do not deliver this mail then rival companies will," the company said in a statement. "A great many customers respond to the information in unaddressed mail and it's a highly effective form of advertising."
GENEVA (Reuters) - Keep your distance. Avoid eye contact. And even if it looks cute, never hug a Swiss cow.
Responding to numerous "reports of unpleasant meetings between hikers and cattle" along Switzerland's picture-perfect Alpine trails this summer, the Swiss Hiking Federation has laid down a few ground rules.
"Leave the animals in peace and do not touch them. Never caress a calf," the group's guidance, posted on the website www.swisshiking.ch, reads.
"Do not scare the animals or look them directly in the eye. Do not wave sticks. Give a precise blow to the muzzle of the cow in the event of absolute need," it continues.
Evelyne Zaugg of the Swiss Hiking Federation said that while there were no precise statistics on incidents involving cows, walkers are reporting more run-ins than a few years ago.
She said new rearing practices, where the animals spend less time around farmers and wander in pastures with little human interaction, were partly to blame for the anti-social behaviour.
Many walkers also panic when confronted by cattle.
"Hikers lose reality about the cows. They don't know how to react when a cow appears," Zaugg said.
If approached by a cow, the hiking association recommends that walkers remain calm and slowly leave the area without turning their backs on the animal.
Michel Darbellay of the Service for the Prevention of Agricultural Accidents, a private group that helped produce the Swiss Hiking Federation's lowdown, said walkers had little to fear if they stayed 20 to 50 metres (yards) from any cow.
But dogs attract cow trouble, he warned.
Mother cows consider dogs a threat to their calves and tend to respond aggressively to their presence. It is when the dogs retreat towards their owners that walkers are most likely to face a charging cow, Darbellay said.
"The best practice is to maintain a fair distance and keep dogs on a leash," he said.
Renell Cohen, 35, picked out bras that were later stolen by the girls when they left a Wal-Mart at the Franklin Mills Mall, authorities said.
Security cameras were trained on the group during the July store visit after an assistant manager thought Cohen was acting suspiciously.
Cohen, a four year veteran of the police department, was fired Tuesday, the same day theft, corruption of minors and other charges were upheld against her at a preliminary hearing in Family Court.
The girls told authorities they were between 14 and 16.
"The facts of this case are really troubling," Assistant District Attorney Janet Turnbull said.
The girls stole merchandise worth $259.52, while Cohn went on to purchase goods worth about $87.
ROGERS, Ark. (AP) - A man who fell asleep in his driveway woke up when his wife came home and turned into the driveway to park the car.
Kristine Bolson of Rogers said she drove into her driveway shortly after midnight Tuesday and heard a loud cracking sound, a Benton County Sheriff's Office report said.
When she got out of her vehicle, she heard moaning and found her husband, Richard Gonzalez, on the ground near her vehicle. Bolson said she did not initially see her husband in the driveway.
According to the report, Gonzalez said he had been drinking and he must have passed out. He was taken to St. Mary's Hospital where he was treatment for abrasions and contusions.
JEANNETTE, Pa. (AP) - Meow. A district judge has been asked to decide whether that word is a harmless taunt or grounds for misdemeanor harassment. Jeannette police charged a 14-year-old boy for "meowing" whenever he sees his neighbor, 78-year-old Alexandria Carasia.
The boy's family and Carasia do not get along. The boy's mother said the family got rid of their cat after Carasia complained to police that it used her flower garden as a litter box.
The boy testified Tuesday that he only meowed at the woman twice. Carasia testified, "Every time he sees me, he meows."
The boy's defense attorney, David Martin Jr., argued that the charge should be dismissed.
"This should never have been filed," Martin said. "This is not something that police should be wasting their time with or wasting the court's time."
Jeannette District Judge Joseph DeMarchis decided to wait 90 days before ruling. DeMarchis said his decision will be based on how the boy and his neighbor get along in the meantime.
CHICAGO (AP) - Cook County prosecutors say a 29-year-old man traveling with his mother desperately didn't want her to know he'd packed a sexual aid for their trip to Turkey. So he told security it was a bomb, officials said.
Madin Azad Amin was stopped by officials on Aug. 16 after guards found an object in his baggage that resembled a grenade, prosecutors said.
When officers asked him to identify it, Amin said it was a bomb, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto.
He later told officials he'd lied about the item because his mother was nearby and he didn't want her to hear that it was part of a penis pump, Scaduto said.
He's been charged with felony disorderly conduct, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman with the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Amin faces up to three years in prison if convicted.
MIAMI (AP) - A husband helped his wife deliver the couple's baby after they got stuck in rush hour traffic and then got lost on the way to the hospital.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic delayed Lilliam and Gerardo Miranda's trip to Jackson Memorial Hospital on Wednesday morning. Gerardo Miranda said he was so nervous he made a wrong turn about a mile from the hospital.
"She said, 'Stop, stop, stop. There's no more time,'" Gerardo Miranda said.
He pulled their Chevrolet Cavalier over near the Orange Bowl while his wife called 911. The dispatcher guided Miranda, telling him to use his shoelaces to tie off the umbilical cord.
About a half hour after the couple left their Kendall home, 7-pound, 5-ounce Fabio was born. The couple's third child was more than a week early.
Both mom and baby were taken to a hospital in good condition.
"This didn't happen with our other children," Lilliam Miranda said.
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- A Yavapai County sheriff's deputy patrolling a senior housing development outside Prescott Wednesday spotted a 5-foot-tall marijuana plant growing between two residents' driveways.
Deputy Justin Dwyer got out, identified the plant and interviewed the residents, spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. They told the deputy they thought the plant was "just an attractive weed, and they had been watering it because it looked so nice."
Quayle said it appeared the plant was growing wild and probably sprouted from a stray seed. Dwyer told the homeowners he would have to confiscate it and asked them to call deputies if more were found.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- A mountain lion ran into a home Tuesday and escaped through a window about an hour later. Soon after he arrived home from work, Clifton Sanches said he heard his dogs barking loudly outside.
"I got up to shut the dogs up and a mountain lion came through my window, it came right through my screen door," Sanches told KKTV.
He went to a neighbor's house to call for help and he and sheriff's deputies waited outside the house. About an hour later, the big cat butted its head against a screened window before breaking through and running away.
Two mountain lions were spotted in Colorado Springs last month. Wildlife officials shot and killed one of the cats because it seemed lethargic and ailing
"To have a mountain lion sighting is one thing. To have a mountain lion actually enter a structure is really rare," Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Michael Seraphin said.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A homeless woman refuses to stop bathing naked in Munich's public fountains despite being repeatedly fined for breaking public nudity laws.
Bild newspaper reported on Thursday the 44-year-old woman named "Bille", who weighs about 150 kg, can be seen almost every day with her bottles of soap and shampoo bathing in one of the Bavarian capital's 183 public fountains.
"She's already been charged on 21 occasions for such things as causing public disturbance as well as breaking and entering," a Munich police spokesman said.
A social worker told Bild that Bille keeps rejecting a room in a homeless centre.
"We can't force her," he said.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - One poster reads, "Public Toilets - From Embarrassment to Pleasure." Another implores you to wash your hands, because germs die that way.
Hoping to herald a new "national restroom culture," Malaysia's National Toilet Expo and Forum opened Thursday at a shopping mall in the suburb of Subang Jaya outside of Kuala Lumpur, attracting curious shoppers to some 60 exhibition booths.
"I'm sorry to say it, but we Malaysians are not very hygienic when it comes to public toilets," said one visitor, Doreen Lee, 32, referring to how some users don't flush, or squat on toilet seats, leaving dirty shoe prints.
"This is a good way of creating awareness about how to behave," Lee said.
The organizers of the expo, Quality Restroom Association, said in a promotional brochure they were seeking to create a "national restroom culture" and educate the public about cleanliness.
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who opened the event early Thursday, called for a "toilet revolution," the Bernama national news agency reported.
"Try to imagine dirty, nauseating toilets, likely the most negative image we can portray about ourselves to visitors and tourists," said Najib, according to Bernama. "That is why the government feels this must be a national effort."
Public toilets in Malaysia have long disgusted residents and tourists with their lack of basic items such as toilet paper, soap and sometimes even toilet seats. Many fall prey to vandals.
The Southeast Asian nation is trying hard to rid itself of this image, with the government considering fines for vendors with dirty washrooms. Shopping malls and other commercial establishments that do not have clean toilets may also not have their business licenses renewed.
Booths showed modern toilet stalls, model toilets, ceramic bathroom equipment and also products such as a dissolvable cube that can be placed in urinals to keep it clean and odor-free, without flushing.
Additionally, Kuala Lumpur city authorities announced on Wednesday it would be setting up 20 modern self-cleaning public toilets near popular shopping districts in the city, starting this month.
The air-conditioned units have an automatic seat cleaner that will wash, scrub and dry the pan after every use. The entire toilet will be cleaned in a similar manner after every five users.
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City" on a list of 35 major metropolitan areas ranked for their drinking habits.
Forbes said Tuesday it used numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank cities in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.
Minneapolis-St. Paul was ranked second overall; followed by Columbus, Ohio; Boston; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., in a tie for ninth.
Rick DeMeyer, 28, said Wednesday as he was celebrating his birthday at G-Daddy's BBC he could understand Milwaukee's ranking.
"I have had people stay with me from London and Chicago, and they can't get over how much we drink," he said. "I guess we do."
But officials at Visit Milwaukee, the area's convention and visitors bureau, contend that the city has come a long way in ridding itself of its beer-guzzling image.
Milwaukeeans have plenty of other ways to entertain themselves without drinking alcohol, said Dave Fantle, a spokesman for the group. He noted a new convention center and baseball park had been built and the Milwaukee Art Museum expanded in recent years.
"We've gone from Brew City to new city," he said.
PADDOCK LAKE, Wis. (AP) - A sales representative on the way to a business call made an unscheduled stop - in the middle of the highway - after noticing the cash swirling around his car.
"I was a little west of Paddock Lake and all of a sudden there was money flying in my windshield and grill," Ted Neitzke said.
Neitzke, 58, of Random Lake, said he stopped, got out of his car and began collecting the bills while dodging the traffic.
"So here's this guy - me - in the middle of Highway 50 with a tie picking up money," he said. "It was just kind of sliding along the road. When a car or truck would drive by, it would go one way, and when another one would drive by, it would go the other way."
He managed to pick up a dozen $20 bills and two $1 bills, a total of $242.
Then he called the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department.
"I was just hoping it wasn't anybody's rent money or somebody who needed it," he said. "I figured it was the right thing to do."
The sheriff's report said the money Neitzke collected about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday was placed in an evidence locker, and if no one claims it, Neitzke will get it.
Sheriff's spokesman Horace Staples said not everyone would have turned in the cash.
"When people do that, it's very unique," Staples said. "Normally people would look around and pocket the money."
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A southeast Missouri man will go to jail for breaking into his ex-wife's e-mail and sending pornographic pictures of her to her relatives.
Alfred Seals, 47, of Cape Girardeau, pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor tampering with computer data, and was sentenced to 20 days in jail.
Seals gained access to his wife's e-mail account without her consent, then e-mailed the woman's family a Web site link and message stating, "something nice to see," according to a probable-cause statement.
The link took users to a Web site that contained several pornographic pictures Seals took of the woman when they were married.
The woman immediately suspected her ex-husband and went to police.
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - A judge detained and questioned a row of spectators when a cell phone rang for a third time in her courtroom, later ordering two people to serve community service for contempt of court.
When no one admitted having the ringing phones Wednesday, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Diane Boswell told all five people in the row to sit in chairs reserved for jail inmates. They stayed there for more than an hour until the morning court call ended.
Boswell found three people in contempt of court because they initially refused to say who had the ringing phones.
Cynthia Cannon of Gary agreed to pay a $100 fine after admitting that her phone was one of those that went off. The judge ordered her to do community service, but Cannon declined, saying she can't work or sit for long periods of time due to a disability.
Verdell Berry Jr., of Merrillville, said he had two phones. One was off, the other he turned off when Boswell warned the gallery about the phones. The sound of it powering down is what she heard, Berry said.
He admitted he didn't speak up to explain that when Boswell first asked.
Shonique Freeman, of Gary, said she knew it was Berry's phone, but she didn't offer the information, either.
Boswell ordered both Berry and Freeman to serve 40 hours of community service.
"The next time you come to court, don't bring your cell phone," Boswell said. "And when the court asks a question, answer the question."
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) - Police Chief Pat Miller learned first hand that the law has teeth: Oxnard police dog Beemer thought he was taking a bite out of crime when he chomped down on the chief's leg.
Beemer, a Belgian Malinois shepherd, bit Miller on the left hamstring this week before the dog's handler pulled Beemer away.
"It hurt. The dog literally picked me off the ground. He ripped my pants and bloodied my leg up pretty good," Miller said Wednesday in recounting the police chase that started in Ventura and ended in Oxnard.
Miller, 53, was on his way to a meeting when he got involved in the chase of a white Ford Explorer on Tuesday. SUV driver Jason Donner, 24, of Ventura was being chased by a Ventura squad car at the time.
Donner later pulled onto a side street and jumped from his moving vehicle, ending up in a Mandalay Bay channel. Miller, who was wearing plain clothes, drove to the other side of the channel and helped chase Donner into a garage.
Oxnard police officers then arrived and Beemer was released, mistaking the Ventura chief of police as the suspect.
"My first thought was, 'What the hell are you doing out there?'" Oxnard police Chief John Crombach said. Miller and Crombach are close friends who once worked together on the Ventura department.
"But Pat came up in an era when officers signed up to protect the community - no matter what. I just wish he would remember he is over 50 now."
Beemer also helped in the capture of Donner, who was booked for investigation of evading police and trespassing and for warrants, police said.
CANBERRA, Australia - Australian soldiers are indulging in expensive cosmetic surgery - including breast enlargements, nose jobs and face lifts - at taxpayers' expense, according to media reports Friday.
Official Australian Defense Force policy states that personnel can undergo plastic surgery at public expense for medical or psychological reasons that threaten their ability to work.
An army cook underwent a nose reduction operation Wednesday, while female service personnel have had breast enlargements after claiming that depression and poor confidence were hurting their work, News Ltd. newspapers reported.
Defense Minister Brendan Nelson said Friday he has ordered an investigation.
Cosmetic surgery consultant Pamela Noon told the newspapers her business has performed surgeries on six military personnel in the past year.
"While a feature might affect somebody's self-confidence, I can't see how it would help their ability to protect the country," Noon was quoted as saying.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A German outsize shoemaker said he will fly to China next week with three pairs of size 57 ladies shoes as a special and much-needed gift for Yao Defen, believed to be the world's tallest woman.
Georg Wessels, who lives in Germany and the Netherlands, said he had spent years trying to track down Yao, who is from a poor farming family in eastern China's Anhui province and 2.36 metres (7.74 ft) tall, according to Chinese doctors.
"I wrote to China to ask her what kind of shoes she would like and in what colour. She answered she didn't care at all what colour they were she would just be so happy to have some proper footwear," Wessels said.
The largest shoes he has made so far were a size 69 for Matthew McGrory, who has the world's biggest feet, according to the Guinness World Records.
Yao, began treatment in June for a brain tumour which is largely responsible for her extraordinary height by stimulating her body to release excessive amounts of growth hormone.
GENEVA (AFP) - A Swiss regional train has been blocked for nearly a week after a pet snake slithered from its owners' clutches and hid in the partition walls of the carriage, a local rail company has said.
"We immediately took the train out of service," Eric Luthy, a spokesman for the Neuchatel Regional Transport company, said Thursday.
Since last Saturday, reptile experts and infrared devices have been unable to find the cold-blooded adder or coax it out of its hiding place with juicy bait.
Although the snake is not regarded as dangerous, passengers "wouldn't understand" if the train was put back into service with the 80 to 130 centimetre-long (2.6 to 4.2 feet) reptile slithering around, Luthy explained.
The rail company hopes to claim compensation from the pet owner's civil liability insurance.
Pittsburgh now has its own case of a possible religious sighting in the form of an MRI.
Rhonda Hodge, of Duquesne, works for a neurologist at Allegheny General Hospital but she doesn't know how to explain it.
She's had a number of MRI images taken of her spine, because of a bulged disc, causing numbness in her neck, and left arm.
But, there's one picture that especially caught her attention, and that of her friends, and co-workers.
Hodge believes one image from an MRI shows a miraculous vision of Jesus, showing the Crucifixion.
"You can almost seen the thorns around the head and the nails... the nails through the feet," said Hodge.
Hodge doesn't know what to do next.
But, some of her friends have been offering her some suggestions.
"They've been trying to get me to sell the pictures on E-Bay," said Hodge. "It's been quite a few months, I haven't done it yet. I don't know. You could actually see the hands. They look like they're nailed on the cross. You can see the body. It's in a straight line and then you see his feet, they look like they're together, and the knees are bent."
Hodge says there's no doubt in her mind that the x-ray does, indeed, look like the Crucifixion.
But has it changed her life?
"I think I believe as much as I need to," said Hodge. "I can't be swayed by a picture. My neck does feel better. I don't know if that was Jesus or physical therapy."
EDMONTON, Canada - A restaurant that failed to take action against an employee who chased a female co-worker with a sausage dangling from his fly has been ordered to pay damages and lost wages to another woman who witnessed it.
An Alberta Human Rights panel ordered the Humpty's Family Restaurant chain to pay former kitchen worker Diane Carr about $6,300.
The woman who was chased did not file an official complaint. But in January 2004, Carr did, saying she was sexually harassed during her 14 months on the job at one of the chain's restaurants in Fort McMurray.
Carr testified in front of a human rights hearing that the woman, who is her sister Judy Thomson, did approach the manager.
"But whenever she complained to him, he shrugged it off or changed the subject to avoid the matter."
Carr also testified she was frequently the subject of derogatory insults from Chris Troake, another Humpty's kitchen worker.
Carr's sister told the hearing the verbal abuse was the worst she had encountered in her 35 years as a worker.
She also confirmed she was chased around the restaurant by Troake in a situation involving a sausage.
"The witness emotionally described the incident, stating that Mr. Troake had the zipper of his trousers undone and the sausage sticking out of his fly," panel chairman Delano W. Tolley said in the written decision.
Troake testified it was a joke and denied chasing Thomson around the restaurant.
Restaurant manager Pyarali Lakhani testified he had to tolerate some "undesirable employee characteristics" because of an acute labour shortage in Fort McMurray.
He said no one but Carr complained about Troake's behaviour.
Humpty's Restaurants International will not appeal the decision, although the company does not agree with it, said area manager Rick MacPherson.
The restaurant chain has changed its new employee orientation policy as a result of the case.
Employees now must read the sexual harassment and company policy guide, and sign a form stating they have understood it, MacPherson said.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A 25-year-old auditor in China apparently ate and drank himself to death while he was supposed to be inspecting a government department, a state newspaper said Friday.
Zhang Hongtao went to many banquets organized by a power company in northern China's Hebei province in April, and instead of working did little else but eat, drink, play cards and enjoy massages, the official China Daily said.
He collapsed and died following one of the banquets, after which "his team and two officials from the electricity bureau traveled for a sightseeing tour around east China," the report said.
"Zhang's colleagues said most of them were too upset over the death to stay in the office, so they went to Yangzhou to relax," it added, referring to a city in eastern Jiangsu province renowned for its gardens.
The National Auditors' Office said the incident had "marred the image and influenced the public's trust" of the government body, which is supposed to be at the forefront of a high-profile campaign against corruption.
Auditors are not allowed to be entertained by departments or companies they are inspecting, according to a 2000 rule, the report said.
HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - Ever heard of the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship? It was held in Finland this weekend. Old phones were supplied for contestants who were allowed to pick which kind of phone they wanted to throw.
The men's winner threw his phone 292 feet. The women's winner tossed her phone 167 feet, a new world record according to the organizers. She said she has tossed a cell phone a time or two before.
Another contestant said three things were needed to compete: technical skills, power, and a sense of humor.
There were four competition categories: men, women, juniors and freestyle.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A section of the obsolete Woodrow Wilson Bridge was brought down early Tuesday, the planned demolition set in motion by a longtime commuter who won a contest for the honor.
A few minutes after midnight, Dan Ruefly pushed a ceremonial plunger to begin the countdown to destroy a half-mile section of the span that carries Interstate 95 traffic over the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia.
Then, engineers set off the explosive charges that collapsed a half-mile section of steel girders on the Virginia side of the 45-year-old bridge.
Hundreds of people submitted entries to the contest to find the person with the "toughest bridge commute."
For 28 years, Ruefly had left his Accokeek, Md., home at 5 a.m. to beat peak rush hour on the bridge. Seven years ago, he crashed into a stopped tractor-trailer that couldn't pull over because the bridge has no shoulders. He suffered a crushed hip that still pains him, and his daughter, Tiffanie, entered him in the contest.
The demolition was delayed a half-hour early Tuesday by safety concerns. At one point, the crowd started chanting, "Blow it up!"
Then, Ruefly and his daughter pushed the plunger.
"Make sure nothing's left," Ruefly's friend had told him.
Ruefly, for his part, said he was "probably more angry at the politicians who made it this way" than at the bridge, a chief chokepoint on the north-south I-95 corridor.
Nobody anticipated the volume of traffic the bridge would carry when it opened in carried more than 73 billion vehicles, but sometimes caused massive traffic jams when it stuck open. Many commuters also remember the time in 1998 when a man held up traffic for hours as he contemplated whether to jump off.
For decades, lawmakers debated the bridge's replacement before finally embarking on a $2.4 billion project to replace the old six-lane drawbridge with two new drawbridges. When finished in mid-2008, the bridges will be able to accommodate 12 lanes of traffic.
Earlier this year, crews finished work on the first of the new bridges, and traffic is now routed onto the new span. Even though the new bridge has six lanes, traffic flow has improved because the new, higher bridge requires fewer drawspan openings and has safety shoulders to accommodate broken-down vehicles.
OKLAHOMA CITY - It began with the kind of 911 call that many officers might dismiss.
The caller told a dispatcher Saturday that he saw a kangaroo jumping down a road. The man reassured the dispatcher he was "completely sane" and was not intoxicated.
"This was definitely one of our more unusual calls," said Mark Myers, a spokesman for Oklahoma County Sheriff's deputies.
Sure enough, deputies found the kangaroo hopping along a street and eating grapes from nearby farms. Using their vehicles, they guided the animal back to its owner's property, Myers said. The kangaroo's owner also owns other exotic animals.
Myers said the deputies decided to stay inside their cars. "Kangaroos can be vicious animals," Myers explained.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A 14-pound girl delivered by Caesarean section is so large that her feet reach over the edge of her small crib, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Isabel Vitoria, who was born Sunday, measures nearly 23¼ inches.
She is far from the largest ever born in Brazil. That was a 16-pound, 11-ounce baby born in January 2005 in the northeastern city of Salvador.
According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest baby born to a healthy mother was a boy weighing 22 pounds, 8 ounces in Aversa, Italy, in 1955.
Isabel Vitoria was in good health and should go home Wednesday, said Antonio Pimenta, an administrator at the Rocha Faria State Hospital. She's the first daughter for Elisa Maia dos Ribeiro, 36, who already has three sons. All were large, weighing over nine pounds, but substantially smaller than Isabel Vitoria.
Ribeiro is diabetic, and doctors said it was common for women with diabetes to give birth to large babies.
DUBLIN, Ireland - A hot-air balloon caught fire during a circus stunt, killing a clown acrobat as dozens of children watched, police said Tuesday.
The accident happened Monday night as the Royal Russian Circus was performing in Scariff, County Clare, a village in western Ireland. About 100 people were in the audience, most of them children. Police said the clown was a 26-year-old man from Belarus but didn't release his name.
Witnesses said the man, dressed in a clown outfit, was hanging from a cage suspended by ropes and a hot-air balloon inside the canvas tent. When the balloon exploded in flames, the cage fell on top of the man.
The man's wife, who was also part of the act, suffered a broken arm, police said.
"We were all sitting down and they were doing their act. They were up fairly high, but they were doing fine. Next thing, he was down on the ground," said audience member Hazel Harrington. She said many people in the audience initially thought the falling cage was part of the act.
About a half-dozen circuses, employing mostly Eastern European performers, tour Ireland each summer.
HERMISTON, Ore. - One senior citizen has found out the hard way that some people can't be trusted - and are just plain mean.
Art Friedrick answered the phone and learned from the enthusiastic voice on the other end that he had won a million dollars from Publishers Clearing House.
Elated, Friedrick, a truck driver, thought about a European vacation and told family members of the windfall.
In the back of his mind, though, lurked a healthy amount of skepticism. He admitted to himself it could all be a scam.
It was.
After a call from the East Oregonian to Publishers Clearing House, the bad news was clear: Friedrick was not one of the sweepstakes' winners.
It's unclear why the person called Friedrick. The caller didn't ask for personal information like his Social Security number, as scammers usually do.
LONDON (Reuters) - A postman who gave people advice on how to stem the rising tide of junk mail into their homes has been suspended and could lose his job.
Roger Annies, 48, wrote and delivered leaflets to people on his round explaining how to block letters offering loans, credit cards and other services.
While some people welcomed the unofficial advice, Royal Mail bosses took a dim view of the apparent bid to undermine a lucrative and growing part of its business.
Each year, it delivers more than 3 billion unaddressed promotional letters, charging advertisers up to 91 pounds per thousand posted.
Annies, from Barry, South Wales, was suspended on full pay pending a disciplinary inquiry into an "alleged misconduct issue".
The postman's leaflet read: "Royal Mail plans to increase your advertising mail. This will mean a lot more unwanted post.
"If you complete the slip below and send it to the Royal Mail delivery office you should not get any of the above-mentioned unwanted advertising."
The Royal Mail said it was responsible for less than a quarter of Britain's unaddressed mail.
"If we do not deliver this mail then rival companies will," the company said in a statement. "A great many customers respond to the information in unaddressed mail and it's a highly effective form of advertising."
GENEVA (Reuters) - Keep your distance. Avoid eye contact. And even if it looks cute, never hug a Swiss cow.
Responding to numerous "reports of unpleasant meetings between hikers and cattle" along Switzerland's picture-perfect Alpine trails this summer, the Swiss Hiking Federation has laid down a few ground rules.
"Leave the animals in peace and do not touch them. Never caress a calf," the group's guidance, posted on the website www.swisshiking.ch, reads.
"Do not scare the animals or look them directly in the eye. Do not wave sticks. Give a precise blow to the muzzle of the cow in the event of absolute need," it continues.
Evelyne Zaugg of the Swiss Hiking Federation said that while there were no precise statistics on incidents involving cows, walkers are reporting more run-ins than a few years ago.
She said new rearing practices, where the animals spend less time around farmers and wander in pastures with little human interaction, were partly to blame for the anti-social behaviour.
Many walkers also panic when confronted by cattle.
"Hikers lose reality about the cows. They don't know how to react when a cow appears," Zaugg said.
If approached by a cow, the hiking association recommends that walkers remain calm and slowly leave the area without turning their backs on the animal.
Michel Darbellay of the Service for the Prevention of Agricultural Accidents, a private group that helped produce the Swiss Hiking Federation's lowdown, said walkers had little to fear if they stayed 20 to 50 metres (yards) from any cow.
But dogs attract cow trouble, he warned.
Mother cows consider dogs a threat to their calves and tend to respond aggressively to their presence. It is when the dogs retreat towards their owners that walkers are most likely to face a charging cow, Darbellay said.
"The best practice is to maintain a fair distance and keep dogs on a leash," he said.
Dynamo1
Head of the Swing Shift
From TV Guide online Entertainment News:
Network Is Sorry for "Flushing" Bush
CNN was red-faced on Tuesday after an open microphone interrupted the audio feed of President Bush's speech in New Orleans with a chronicle of CNN Live From... anchor Kyra Phillips' trip to the ladies' room, complete with delicious gal-pal gossip about Phillips' "control freak" sister-in-law. Copping to "technical difficulties," the network's statement said, "We apologize to our viewers and the president for the disruption" — but not for blatantly ripping off Leslie Nielsen's The Naked Gun.
Network Is Sorry for "Flushing" Bush
CNN was red-faced on Tuesday after an open microphone interrupted the audio feed of President Bush's speech in New Orleans with a chronicle of CNN Live From... anchor Kyra Phillips' trip to the ladies' room, complete with delicious gal-pal gossip about Phillips' "control freak" sister-in-law. Copping to "technical difficulties," the network's statement said, "We apologize to our viewers and the president for the disruption" — but not for blatantly ripping off Leslie Nielsen's The Naked Gun.
Desertwind
Head of the Day Shift
good one- on Bush BLUE JEANS MAKES COLORFUL TALE
According to a new book, "Jeans-A Cutural History of an American Icon" (Gotham Books) the original blue jeans sold by the Levi strauss Co. featured a metal rivet right in the crotch area!!! The rivet was a crucial part of the jeans until the 1930's when company president Walter Haas Sr. stood too close to a fire on a camping trip and quickly discovered the rivet was, unfortunately, a good conductor of heat
Other blue jean bits from the book** Before John Wayne started work on any western, he would break in his jeans by stuffing them into a bag and soaking in sea water overnite!!!
** Elvis Presley, made much of his early fortune off a line of jeans, but he personally hated the pants because they reminded him of growing up poor!!!
** Finally the Levi Strauss jeans company once made Bing Crosby a blue demin tuxedo jacket after he was refused service by a hotel for wearing the denmins
Source- The Buzz- Ken White--LVRJ
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Nepal's shortest boy is waiting for word from the Guinness World Records, where he has applied to be named the shortest in the world, his supporters said on Wednesday.
Khagendra Thapa Magar, 14, is only 20 inches tall and weighs 10 pounds.
According to Min Bahadur Thapa, president of the Khagendra Thapa Magar Foundation, they are expecting to receive a reply from London-based Guinness World Records in the next few days. The foundation was set up to collect funds for the boy.
There was no listing on the Guinness World Records' web site on a shortest boy category, but Thapa claimed their closest competitor was 25 inches tall.
The boy and family members are currently touring south Nepal, seeking support for the foundation.
LAKE HAVASU CITY - Lake Havasu City police are looking for a real-life Hamburglar.
A man broke into a McDonald's early Sunday morning through a roof vent.
Surveillance video shows the man turning on the grill, cooking and eating a couple of burgers before fleeing.
When he fled, the burger bandit triggered a door alarm that a morning shift manager heard when she pulled into work nearly two hours later.
She found a piece of drywall on the kitchen floor, and another employee noticed the grill was greasy.
Damage to the McDonald's is estimated at $150.
DULUTH, Minn. - Punsters might say the West Duluth police substation is going to pot.
A dozen marijuana plants, a few as tall as six inches, were found growing in a planter near the substation's front door. City Gardener Tom Kasper estimated they had been growing for about three weeks.
"The only thing I can say is somebody has a sense of humor," said neighborhood supervising police Lt. John Beyer.
Beyer noted that he, his police officers and the public use the back door entrance to the police station. The front door is just off a busy street and is usually locked.
Beyer said the plants would be placed in a paper bag and destroyed with other confiscated drugs.
DES MOINES, Iowa - At least the flower filcher left a thank you note. Jason Jasnos said he found the note in his garden Sunday, a day after he caught two women holding a bunch of posies taken from outside his 1880s-era home near downtown Des Moines.
"Thank you for the flowers," it read. "Many others will enjoy them."
The note was signed: "The flower bandit."
Jasnos said he asked around and found that other neighbors also have had flowers and plants stolen from their yards and porches.
"We've heard some stories of bizarre plant thefts," said Stephanie Bruner, vice president of the neighborhood association, who said she has had tulips taken from her yard.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - A City Council member and mayoral candidate admitted he has anonymously praised himself in comments posted on a newspaper's Web site.
The Post-Bulletin newsroom doesn't regularly check identities of online users, but a reporter noticed similarities in the way a user named "127179" writes and Pat Carr talks.
Some of the dozens of messages posted by "127179" since November found notes of praise for Carr, while some attacked officials who voted differently from him.
For example, in a comment posted Sunday that answered a critical comment from another reader, Carr wrote: "Pat Carr has done nothing but stand up for the silent majority." A comment posted Friday said: "People that run him down are special interest groups and insiders that Carr exposes."
Carr acknowledged Monday that he wrote all past comments except one, which he said was written by a friend visiting his office.
"If people want to trash me, I have the right to stand up and defend myself," he said. "I stand by what I said."
Managing Editor Jay Furst sent messages to Carr in April and July, warning him that if he continued to post self-congratulatory or misleading comments, the newspaper might choose to report on it.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Snap, Crackle and Pop have some competition in Columbus. The Ohio State Buckeyes have their own cereal.
Buckeye HerOes, the newest university-licensed food, will be available in grocery stores before the No. 1-ranked Ohio State football team opens its season Saturday against Northern Illinois at Ohio Stadium.
Former Buckeyes linebackers and current NFL rookies Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel are featured on the cereal boxes.
The honey-nut-flavored oat cereal joins other Ohio State foods such as pasta, chips, salsa, hot dogs, mustard and hot sauces, as well as candy Buckeyes.
Other universities have had cereal promotions but none on the scale of Ohio State, which is starting with about 75,000 boxes, said Tom Schmieder, marketing vice president of Carrollton, Texas-based TK Legacy, which is making Buckeye HerOes.
"OSU's fandom is just a different breed," he said.
Khagendra Thapa Magar, 14, is only 20 inches tall and weighs 10 pounds.
According to Min Bahadur Thapa, president of the Khagendra Thapa Magar Foundation, they are expecting to receive a reply from London-based Guinness World Records in the next few days. The foundation was set up to collect funds for the boy.
There was no listing on the Guinness World Records' web site on a shortest boy category, but Thapa claimed their closest competitor was 25 inches tall.
The boy and family members are currently touring south Nepal, seeking support for the foundation.
LAKE HAVASU CITY - Lake Havasu City police are looking for a real-life Hamburglar.
A man broke into a McDonald's early Sunday morning through a roof vent.
Surveillance video shows the man turning on the grill, cooking and eating a couple of burgers before fleeing.
When he fled, the burger bandit triggered a door alarm that a morning shift manager heard when she pulled into work nearly two hours later.
She found a piece of drywall on the kitchen floor, and another employee noticed the grill was greasy.
Damage to the McDonald's is estimated at $150.
DULUTH, Minn. - Punsters might say the West Duluth police substation is going to pot.
A dozen marijuana plants, a few as tall as six inches, were found growing in a planter near the substation's front door. City Gardener Tom Kasper estimated they had been growing for about three weeks.
"The only thing I can say is somebody has a sense of humor," said neighborhood supervising police Lt. John Beyer.
Beyer noted that he, his police officers and the public use the back door entrance to the police station. The front door is just off a busy street and is usually locked.
Beyer said the plants would be placed in a paper bag and destroyed with other confiscated drugs.
DES MOINES, Iowa - At least the flower filcher left a thank you note. Jason Jasnos said he found the note in his garden Sunday, a day after he caught two women holding a bunch of posies taken from outside his 1880s-era home near downtown Des Moines.
"Thank you for the flowers," it read. "Many others will enjoy them."
The note was signed: "The flower bandit."
Jasnos said he asked around and found that other neighbors also have had flowers and plants stolen from their yards and porches.
"We've heard some stories of bizarre plant thefts," said Stephanie Bruner, vice president of the neighborhood association, who said she has had tulips taken from her yard.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - A City Council member and mayoral candidate admitted he has anonymously praised himself in comments posted on a newspaper's Web site.
The Post-Bulletin newsroom doesn't regularly check identities of online users, but a reporter noticed similarities in the way a user named "127179" writes and Pat Carr talks.
Some of the dozens of messages posted by "127179" since November found notes of praise for Carr, while some attacked officials who voted differently from him.
For example, in a comment posted Sunday that answered a critical comment from another reader, Carr wrote: "Pat Carr has done nothing but stand up for the silent majority." A comment posted Friday said: "People that run him down are special interest groups and insiders that Carr exposes."
Carr acknowledged Monday that he wrote all past comments except one, which he said was written by a friend visiting his office.
"If people want to trash me, I have the right to stand up and defend myself," he said. "I stand by what I said."
Managing Editor Jay Furst sent messages to Carr in April and July, warning him that if he continued to post self-congratulatory or misleading comments, the newspaper might choose to report on it.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Snap, Crackle and Pop have some competition in Columbus. The Ohio State Buckeyes have their own cereal.
Buckeye HerOes, the newest university-licensed food, will be available in grocery stores before the No. 1-ranked Ohio State football team opens its season Saturday against Northern Illinois at Ohio Stadium.
Former Buckeyes linebackers and current NFL rookies Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel are featured on the cereal boxes.
The honey-nut-flavored oat cereal joins other Ohio State foods such as pasta, chips, salsa, hot dogs, mustard and hot sauces, as well as candy Buckeyes.
Other universities have had cereal promotions but none on the scale of Ohio State, which is starting with about 75,000 boxes, said Tom Schmieder, marketing vice president of Carrollton, Texas-based TK Legacy, which is making Buckeye HerOes.
"OSU's fandom is just a different breed," he said.
Desertwind
Head of the Day Shift
BUZZ BRIEFS
A female police oficer in Philadelphia has been busted for having two teenage grils steal bras for her!!! Renell Cohen allegedly picked out which ones she wanted at a Wal-Mart, then had the girls so her dirty work
Farmers in Somerset, England, are so convinced that cows moo in a regional accent that they've brought in experts to confirm it!!! the farmers believe the cow's moos reflect their owner's dialet and is a result of the "close bond" between the farmer and his cows!!! OK--
Farmers in Jiangsu, China, believe the more people at a funeral, the more luck the deceased family will have. So sme families are resorting to hiring entire troupes of entainers including singers, nude women dancing with snakes and people bathing in public to attract more mourners-- !!!
The Buzz- Ken White--LVRJ
kwhite@reviewjournal.com
A female police oficer in Philadelphia has been busted for having two teenage grils steal bras for her!!! Renell Cohen allegedly picked out which ones she wanted at a Wal-Mart, then had the girls so her dirty work
Farmers in Somerset, England, are so convinced that cows moo in a regional accent that they've brought in experts to confirm it!!! the farmers believe the cow's moos reflect their owner's dialet and is a result of the "close bond" between the farmer and his cows!!! OK--
Farmers in Jiangsu, China, believe the more people at a funeral, the more luck the deceased family will have. So sme families are resorting to hiring entire troupes of entainers including singers, nude women dancing with snakes and people bathing in public to attract more mourners-- !!!
The Buzz- Ken White--LVRJ
kwhite@reviewjournal.com
Desertwind
Head of the Day Shift
NO JOKE-PROMOTER WANTS BANJO PLAYERS
A shortage of banjo players in Atlanta may have terrible consequences for an upcoming attempt to set a worlds record, according to John Drummond. Drummond is attempting to get 500 banjo players together to strum and pick "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (my favorite)-- at the same time on Sept. 13 at Turner Field in Atlanta, but so far only 175 players are confirmed!!. Drummond says the lowly banjo isn't exactly the most adored musical instrument. There are enough anti-banjo jokes to fill 100 joke books, he says, including "What's the difference between a skunk run over on the road and a banjo player"? you actually see skid markes in front of the skunk" With that kind of respect, he jokes "with half the banjo population at the event, we wouldn't be surprised if they tried to kill us all at once"
A shortage of banjo players in Atlanta may have terrible consequences for an upcoming attempt to set a worlds record, according to John Drummond. Drummond is attempting to get 500 banjo players together to strum and pick "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (my favorite)--
at the same time on Sept. 13 at Turner Field in Atlanta, but so far only 175 players are confirmed!!. Drummond says the lowly banjo isn't exactly the most adored musical instrument. There are enough anti-banjo jokes to fill 100 joke books, he says, including "What's the difference between a skunk run over on the road and a banjo player"? you actually see skid markes in front of the skunk" With that kind of respect, he jokes "with half the banjo population at the event, we wouldn't be surprised if they tried to kill us all at once"
Dynamo1
Head of the Swing Shift
Car 54, where are you?
Police caught flat-footed in car chase
Sep 4, 2:01 PM (ET)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A police pursuit of suspected car thieves through the streets of an Israeli city ended with officers reporting another stolen vehicle -- their own.
After crashing into an electricity pole during the chase in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, the three suspects abandoned their car and made a run for it on foot, a police spokesman said Sunday.
Two officers bolted from their police cruiser to try to catch them.
One of the suspected thieves was arrested, another got away, but the third man doubled back, jumped into the police car and sped off, the spokesman said. It was later found abandoned, its radio and computer screen smashed.
The police spokesman said he could not confirm an Israeli newspaper report which said the officers had left the cruiser unlocked and its engine running. He said a senior police commander had ordered an investigation of the incident.
Police caught flat-footed in car chase
Sep 4, 2:01 PM (ET)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A police pursuit of suspected car thieves through the streets of an Israeli city ended with officers reporting another stolen vehicle -- their own.
After crashing into an electricity pole during the chase in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, the three suspects abandoned their car and made a run for it on foot, a police spokesman said Sunday.
Two officers bolted from their police cruiser to try to catch them.
One of the suspected thieves was arrested, another got away, but the third man doubled back, jumped into the police car and sped off, the spokesman said. It was later found abandoned, its radio and computer screen smashed.
The police spokesman said he could not confirm an Israeli newspaper report which said the officers had left the cruiser unlocked and its engine running. He said a senior police commander had ordered an investigation of the incident.
A truck driver gets lost in the Philadelphia suburbs and winds up with a $17,000 traffic ticket.
It's not an urban legend - it happened and the NBC 10 Investigators have the proof.
William Connell said he couldn't believe his eyes when he got a ticket for $17,751.50.
He said he thought he had been hit by a Mack truck.
"My face just dropped. I couldn't even believe it," Carroll said. "I said, 'What is this, 1,700?' He said, 'No, 17,000.' I said, $17,000?"
Carroll is an independent trucker out of Philadelphia. Recently, he was taking a load to be dropped off in East Whiteland Township, an area he was unfamiliar with.
"One company that I'm leasing from, they were the ones that gave me the directions," Carroll said.
The directions told him to get off at the Route 202 South Frazer exit. That dumped him onto Route 401.
Carroll said he missed a cockeyed sign at the corner of 401 and Bear Road where he had to make a right turn. The next thing he knew, he was in a residential neighborhood -- Sydney Road to be exact -- where the police gave him a ticket.
"But once you get in the there with a 53-footer, its impossible to get out," Carroll said.
PennDOT spokesman Charlie Metzger said they, along with the East Whiteland Police Department were just enforcing a law that penalizes trucks that are too heavy for certain bridges and roadways, which might be damaged by overweight vehicles.
The NBC 10 Investigators' Vince DeMentri asked Metzger why the ticket was $17,000.
"It's $150 for the fine, and then it's $150 for every 500 pounds over the 3,000-pound weight limit," Metzger said.
Metzger said there is a reason the fines are so stiff.
"The money can go right back into the repairs of the roadway or the bridge," Metzger said.
Carroll said it is not fair because the sign warning of the fine was bent and somewhat obstructed.
The East Whiteland Police Department, which has its own motor carrier enforcement unit, isn't playing around. For them, this is a sign of the times that is not to be ignored.
"A ticket like that would put a lot of truckers out of business. So, I guess that was designed to put me out of business or make sure I don't come up here anymore. It's crazy," Carroll said.
WINNIPEG- A bizarre incident on a recent Air Canada Jazz flight which left the pilot locked out of the cockpit highlights just one of several potential safety threats facing passengers once they've cleared security, says an airline terrorism expert.
But a spokeswoman for Air Canada Jazz (TSX:JAZ.UN) counters that the security and safety of passengers was not compromised and says there's no need for concern or further investigation.
The snafu occurred last Saturday when, with about 30 minutes left on a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg, the captain left the cockpit to use the washroom at the back of the plane.
The first officer was at the controls, as is usual in such situations.
When the pilot returned, he couldn't get back in the cockpit. The crew had to take the door off its hinges to force it open, allowing the pilots to land safely in Winnipeg.
Peter St. John, who teaches courses in terrorism and airline security at the University of Manitoba, says the incident sends a troubling message to terrorists.
"The fact the story is out gives a signal to people who want to hijack planes that it's still fairly easy to do," says St. John, who has contributed to airline security reports prepared by the auditor general and the Senate.
"The pilot really shouldn't have to go to the back of the plane to have a pee."
The plane was a Bombardier CRJ-100, which carries up to 50 passengers and does not have washrooms at the front.
Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart says this is the first time the airline has encountered such a problem in flight.
"We've investigated the matter and we found the crew followed our standard operational procedures, which are in full compliance with security regulations governed by Transport Canada," says Stuart.
The airline did not make Transport Canada aware of the incident because it fell into the category of "non-reportable."
St. John says there are other examples across the country, with various airlines, of troubling non-reportable security threats that can occur at the gate or on the plane.
For instance, he says, too many bags are still being loaded onto planes when the owner is not on the same flight. Not all luggage is screened just before it goes in the cargo hold, and employees loading planes don't always have proper security clearance.
When passengers have to switch planes due to a mechanical problem, there is inadequate security to make sure someone doesn't sneak on or sneak something on, he adds.
"It's just a really bad scene and it gives a bad image," says St. John.
"It says to people that Canadian security is sloppy and Canadian airplane maintenance is poor and this is not the message we want to be giving to the terrorists."
NEW YORK - An Arab human rights activist was prevented from boarding a plane at Kennedy Airport while wearing a T-shirt that read, "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic.
Raed Jarrar was at the gate to board a JetBlue Airways flight to Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 12 when four officials from the airline or a government agency stopped him and told him he could not board with the shirt on, he said Wednesday.
One official told him, "Going to an airport with a T-shirt in Arabic script is like going to a bank and wearing a T-shirt that says, 'I'm a robber,' " he said.
Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman, acknowledged the dispute and said the airline was investigating. She noted the incident came two days after British authorities announced they had foiled a plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic.
Though rules banning liquids and gels in carry-on baggage went into effect at U.S. airports, Dervin said there are no specific rules governing clothing.
Jarrar, who directs the Iraq project for Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, said he refused a suggestion from the officials that he turn his shirt inside out. In the end, officials gave Jarrar another shirt to wear over his, and he put it on rather than miss his flight.
Jarrar said he was forced to give up his seat near the front of the plane and was issued a new boarding pass for a seat in the rear.
It was unclear whether it was officials from JetBlue, the federal Transportation Security Administration or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, who told Jarrar to remove his shirt, Dervin said.
Officials for the TSA and Port Authority said the agencies were investigating.
Jarrar, 28, is half-Iraqi and half-Palestinian and moved to the United States last year from Jordan, where he was studying. The slogan "We Will Not Be Silent" has been adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq.
VANCOUVER - A patron of the University of B.C.'s Pit Pub is suing a bouncer employed by the Alma Mater Society after suffering a ruptured right testicle resulting in "permanent reduced fertility."
David Hansford says that while he was being ejected from the pub by bouncer Kolby Vaughan on Oct. 22, 2005, he was assaulted and suffered serious injuries.
"As a result of the incident and the conduct and negligence of the defendants, the plaintiff has permanent reduced fertility arising from the testicular injury at the hands of the defendant, Vaughan," says a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
Hansford says that he didn't threaten Vaughan threatening, nor did he act in a dangerous or provocative fashion. He claims that the bouncer didn't talk to him or request that he alter his behavior or leave the premises prior to the incident and used "excessive and unreasonable" force.
Vaughan used a knee or other part of his body to strike him in the testicles and used a choke hold when he knew or ought to have known such action would result in substantial injury, he says.
The society, named as a defendant in the case, failed to employ people properly trained to use reasonable force in dealing with patrons, adds the claim.
Hansford says he also suffered abrasions and shock and emotional trauma and he's seeking general, special, punitive and exemplary damages.
Vaughan could not be reached for comment. A statement of defense filed by him and the society denies all of the allegations and claims Hansford's judgment was impaired by his drinking.
Hansford provoked an altercation, refused to leave the premises when asked and acted in an "unruly, abusive and aggressive" manner toward Vaughan, they say.
In an apparent reference to the injury to Hansford's fertility, the defendants say that any such injury is attributable to "previous and/or subsequent incidents" or congenital defects and/or "pre-existing conditions."
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - Two weeks ago, one of Cindy Kienow's regular customers left her a $100 tip on a tab that wasn't even half that. This week, he added a couple of zeros.
Kienow, a bartender at Applebee's, got a $10,000 tip from the man - for a $26 meal - on Sunday.
"I couldn't move," Kienow said. "I didn't know what to say. He said, 'This will buy you something kind of nice, huh?' And I said, 'Yeah, it will.'"
Kienow said the man, whom company officials have declined to name, comes in several times a month and eats at the end of the bar. He has always tipped well, she said, usually leaving $15 on a $30 tab.
Then came the $100 tip, followed by the real shocker.
"He usually signs his ticket and flips it upside down," said Kienow, 35, who has worked at the restaurant for eight years. "But this time, he had it right-side up and said 'I want you to know this is not a joke.'"
It's not, company officials agreed.
"This is a great deal for us and a great deal for Cindy," said Rhodri McNee, vice president of operations for JS Enterprises, the owner of the Hutchinson Applebee's. "We did have a guest leave this tip on a credit card, and we're doing everything to make sure it's a valid charge."
The company is in the final stages of verifying the tip, McNee said, while also working to maintain the customer's privacy and make sure the money goes through the proper channels to get to Kienow.
"Nothing would make us happier than to present her with that check," McNee said. "She's been with us for eight years, and she's a great employee who does a great job."
Kienow said that while she always talks with the man when he comes in - usually about current events or the weather - she can't think of anything that would have prompted the huge tip.
"I've been waiting on him for about three years," Kienow said. "We'd just talk across the bar he's a really nice guy. I hope he comes back in so I can tell him thank you, because the other day I was kind of dumbfounded."
Kienow, whose father will have to take some time off work for surgery on both of his knees, said she hasn't decided what to do with the money.
"I'd like to take care of my parents, since they always took care of me," she said. "But I feel like he wanted me to buy something for myself, and there's a Jeep that I've had my eye on for a while."
BEND, Ore. - Police arrested a motorist accused of twice visiting a coffee stand while naked from the waist down.
Garry Scott Harding, 37, of Bend was arraigned Tuesday on public indecency and stalking charges.
A 16-year-old worker at the stand told police that a man without pants or underwear visited the stand twice over the last few weeks and returned Monday fully clothed, according to a report written by Roberto Robles of the Bend Police Department.
She called police during the last visit and officers stopped Harding before he could leave. During an interview with investigators, Harding explained that his ex-wife had once removed his pants before the couple visited a drive-thru window in Montana, according to authorities. Harding apparently said he couldn't stop thinking about the experience and wanted to try it again.
Harding allegedly told police that the coffee stand was chosen at random.
HUACHUCA CITY - Tombstone's Town Hall in Tombstone is so infested with bees, mice, and bat guano that officials want to move.
Town Council member Stacey Korbeck-Reeder described the woes Wednesday night in asking the Tombstone Unified School District board to consider allowing the town to move its offices into the old Tombstone High School.
The district agreed to consider the request.
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Sung Koo Kim, a 32-year-old Tigard man who stole college women's underwear, has been sentenced one more time for the thefts.
After the fourth part of a four-county plea agreement, Kim faces a total of 11 years in prison.
In Benton County on Wednesday, Circuit Judge Janet Holcomb sentenced him to 31 months in prison for burglary, charges stemming from the theft of underwear and other personal items from Oregon State University residences in 2004.
He has previously been sentenced in Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah counties.
Joo and Dong Kim were at Wednesday's hearing, where their son quietly apologized. Joo said her son is mentally ill and having a difficult time in prison.
"He says most of the time he stays in his cell with a cellmate who is also mentally ill," Joo said. "He's getting medication, but he needs expert mental-health care as soon as possible."
The Kims maintain their son is no danger to anyone and has never been violent.
But Benton County prosecutors said Kim targeted the OSU women's swim team and labeled underwear and personal hygiene items with the names of the women from whom they were stolen. He also photographed himself wearing some of the underwear.
Prosecutors said that behavior, along with thousands of violent pornographic images downloaded onto his computer, is evidence of his violent obsession, prosecutors said.
In one document on Kim's computer, "we see the defendant making a list of horrific torture steps that lead to murder," according to court documents, "followed by a list of supplies to bring along to complete the tasks."
VAIL, Colo. (AP) - A 72-year-old woman making pot roast in her kitchen discovered uninvited guests in her home Thursday: a bear and her cub.
The unidentified woman walked into the kitchen and found the bear standing six feet away, apparently surprising it, Vail police Sgt. Dan Torgerson said. The bear hissed at her and swatted her chest and arm, giving her some minor scratches. The woman then scared it off by yelling and clapping her hands.
Torgerson said the bear hissed again and then left through a side door.
"If the bear was trying to hurt her, it very easily could have," he said. "I think it was just surprised."
The woman then found a cub in her house and she pushed it out the door, Torgerson said.
That bear and cub are believed to be the same ones that entered another home and ate food off the kitchen counter. The owners refused to let wildlife officials set traps for bears in their homes.
No trash had been left outside at either home but a trash can was found outside on another street and it had apparently been rummaged through by a bear. That resident was cited.
Randy Hampton, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the bear has learned how to get food from humans and has taught its cub. If captured, he said the bear would be euthanized and its cub euthanized or relocated.
Encounters between humans and bears are more common as bears feed to prepare for hibernation during the winter. Right now bears spend about 20 hours a day eating about 20,000 calories - the equivalent of nearly 20 Big Mac meals.
MANSFIELD, Ark. (AP) - It's just a few day into the new school year and teachers are already being driven batty. By bats.
Bats are roosting inside Mansfield Elementary School, and it appears the problem has gotten worse since classes resumed in August. In some cases, teachers have had to move students out of their classrooms.
School officials said a teacher found a dead bat in a utility closet a few days before school started. District officials told authorities they thought it was an isolated incident, but when they started finding more and more guano, they knew there was a problem.
"I had no idea it was going to be this big, had no idea," said Mansfield Elementary Principal Kathy Goff. "We found guano on the roof. That's when we knew there was a major problem."
Superintendent Jim Hattabaugh believed students were the source of one problem.
"We started looking around and noticed the odor was something else, and we kind of blamed that on the little boys missing the toilet," he said.
The bats are in the classrooms, on ceilings and, according to animal-control officers, behind the walls.
"They are really small. They can hide in a crevice. They are just a pest," Hattabaugh said.
After consulting with animal control workers, school officials set up a bat funnel. They hope the bats will fly out at night and not find their way back in.
"Our main concern is the safety of our students and the staff, and we want to get this taken care of as quickly as we can," Hattabaugh said.
Because the bats are in the walls, officials said they don't know how many there are in the school. Once the bats are gone and the school is inspected, the students will be able to return to their classrooms.
The Mansfield superintendent said the school is supposed to get a new roof next year, which should prevent bats from getting inside.
NEW YORK (AP) - Several Brooklyn residents woke up to find their street empty - because someone had posted a No Parking sign and police had towed their rides.
The sign, which bans parking on a street in the DUMBO neighborhood from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, mysteriously appeared Monday or Tuesday, residents said, and then police started ticketing and towing cars parked there.
But the Department of Transportation says there aren't any parking restrictions in the area and it doesn't know who posted the placard, which looks official.
Resident David Bourgeois said he had to pay $205 to retrieve his Mini Cooper, with a $60 ticket on the windshield, from a police pound Wednesday after it was hauled away.
"It's just outrageous," he told the Daily News for Friday editions.
The DOT said it would try to dismiss the ticket - and take down the No Parking sign.
SOFIA (Reuters) - A sleeping teenager flew home to Bulgaria and then back to Malta after aircrew apparently failed to notice she was still on the plane.
Maria Ilieva, 17, was travelling alone and fell asleep on an Air Malta plane taking her overnight from Valletta to Sofia.
Unfortunately she had returned to Malta by the time she woke up, the girl's family said on Friday.
"Air Malta officials said the airplane was not a place for sleeping. But I have not seen any signs saying 'No sleeping', I have only seen signs saying 'No smoking'," the girl's mother, Nadezhda Vulova, told Reuters.
Maria was finally reunited with her family on Thursday, almost four days after her sleepover. She had to pay 200 euros (134 pounds) for the second flight home.
The family said they had filed a complaint against the airline and asked for a refund. Air Malta was not immediately available for comment.
LONDON (Reuters) - Hedgehogs have finally humbled burger giant McDonald's after years of campaigning, forcing the company to redesign its killer McFlurry ice-cream containers.
Up to now the opening in the container has been large enough for hedgehogs to get their heads into for a lick of the left-over dessert -- a trap they have then been unable to withdraw from, so dying of starvation in untold numbers.
But from September 1, the wide-mouthed opening in the lid of the McFlurry containers will be reduced in size, making them too small for the sugar-loving animals to get their heads into.
"This is excellent, it is long overdue news," said Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. "We have been in touch with McDonald's about this problem for over five years and are delighted that they have at last solved the problem."
McDonald's said in a statement the design change had resulted from pressure from the society which prompted "significant research and design testing" to develop new packaging.
"The smaller aperture of the lid has been designed to prevent hedgehogs from entering the McFlurry container in the unfortunate incidence that a lid is littered and is then accessible to wildlife," it added.
GREENVILLE, Maine (AP) - Anglers, don't be alarmed if you catch a trout with an antenna coming out of its belly. It's just a "robo-trout."
About 75 transmitter-equipped trout have been released in Moosehead Lake and its tributaries by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as part of an effort to track them and maintain the right mix of fish.
Three of them have been caught by anglers, including Ken Snowdon, who nabbed one of the unusual fish back in January. The fish, sans transmitter and antenna, won first place in a fishing derby and is being mounted at a taxidermist shop.
The trout Snowdon plucked from the icy waters was a trophy fish that was 23 inches long and weighed 5 1/2 pounds. It also had a thin, 10-inch antenna protruding from its orange-red belly that was transmitting a signal.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife let Snowdon keep the fish but not before retrieving the $200 transmitter.
Snowdon asked a taxidermist to use a line of dark thread to mimic the antenna that was protruding from its belly.
Once it's mounted, it'll look like it did when Snowdon caught it, with the antenna-like thread coming from a small incision.
"It will be a conversation starter, that's for sure," he said.
DALLAS (AP) - Ron Price, a Dallas school board member, has asked the City Council to look at strenghtening a law to go after people who wear baggy pants and expose their underwear.
"I think it's disrespectful, it's dishonorable and it's disgusting," said Price, who made the recommendation last week to the City Council. "I have no problem with the top of your Hanes label being shown. My problem is when grown men walk about the city with pants below their buttocks."
Council members have asked the city attorney to look into the issue. City Attorney Tom Perkins said this week he's investigating the legalities and will report back to the council.
But experts say that such a law might not hold up, so to speak.
It would be too vague, said Robert Jarvis, constitutional law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He said that for a criminal law to be constitutional, a person of average intelligence must know what's being prohibited.
"Who's to say how baggy pants can be before they're 'baggy pants,'" he said. "There's just no way to regulate these things."
Such proposals haven't made it too far in recent years. In Virginia, the Senate dropped a bill last year the would have fined those with pants so low their underwear was exposed. A similar bill from a Louisiana state representative failed to pass in 2004. And such proposals haven't faired well at the city level either.
HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - If money could buy happiness, these thieves would be overjoyed. They stole the ATM.
Packs of thieves have been swiping the cash machines from drugstores and mom-and-pop shops around Suffolk County, most recently before dawn Friday. They smashed the front window of Dario Rodriguez's deli in Holtsville, withdrew the automated teller machine and fled.
Rodriguez said police told him there had been a dozen such smash-and-grabs recently.
"They break in, take the whole machine and are gone by the time the cops get here," he told Newsday.
The crooks crack open the ATMs, which can hold thousands of dollars each, remove the Andrew Jacksons and deposit the empty machines in the woods.
Detective Sgt. Frank Stewart said several of the thefts had been solved with a recent arrest.
QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (AP) - A New York City man has been arrested for the 100th time.
Officials with the Warren County Sheriff's Department in eastern New York said they found Anthony Love, 40, of Brooklyn with $1,300 worth of merchandise stolen from outlet stores in his car.
He had 99 prior arrests, including several for violent felonies. "We were number 100 for him," Sheriff's Sgt. James LaFarr said.
Love was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, and possession of an anti-security item, a misdemeanor.
Police said Love had a device that disables security tags.
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A message in a bottle found after being hidden in a wall at Quonset Naval Air Station for more than 60 years came with a question its authors knew couldn't be answered unless their makeshift time capsule was discovered
The message asked, "Will this bottle see the sun?"
It did after being found in May, and Quonset Development Corporation authorities in North Kingstown made the bottle and its contents public Friday.
Harry Berrio, a demolition crew member, found the bottle while taking down barracks at the Quonset station. Berrio said when he saw the writing, he realized it was something special.
The bottle offers a rare glimpse into the past. The message inside was written in 1941 on a business card by two carpenters - Theodore Jackvony of Providence and Emile Gaudette of Seekonk. The men wrote their names on the back of the card, which was from a Providence candy store that no longer exists. Then they shoved it into a pill bottle and sealed it inside the walls of the building they were working on.
North Kingstown historian Tim Cranston said the two men were part of a civilian army hired to build two military bases in the area. Much of what they built is now gone.
It isn't clear why the men left the message, but Jackvony's daughter, Estelle Borino, said her father, who died in 1976, had a mischievous side.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) - Nudity isn't new here. Usually it bares itself in more subtle places than a downtown parking lot, though.
This summer, a group of teenagers has disrobed near restaurants, bookstores and galleries, igniting a debate about whether this bohemian southern Vermont town should ban a practice that has been tolerated until now.
"Brattleboro tends to be a laid-back town and pretty accepting of the unusual, but this is really pushing limits," said Police Chief John Martin.
"It's clearly to outrage people, it's clearly rebelliousness," he said.
By most accounts, the stripping started on a whim in early summer when a young woman sat naked on a park bench, Martin said. Then another woman started taking her shirt off downtown.
A music festival promoting nudity and rebelliousness set up in May in a downtown parking lot and attracted nude hula hoopers, Martin said.
Last month, a half dozen young people bared their bodies in the lot, encircled by the backs of bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants.
They say they're just exercising their rights.
"It's just an act of freedom," said 19-year-old Adhi Palar. "We're just doing so because we can." Palar and the others "do not consider nakedness to be innately sexual or rude and it shouldn't be confined to that," he said.
All the bare skin has raised eyebrows, even in a town that has seen clothing-optional swimming holes, streakers and an event known as "Breast Fest," which featured women parading topless.
To some, a bunch of teenagers going au naturel is just harmless rebellion.
"To most people, it's not a big deal," said Catherine Kauffman, 57, who calls Brattleboro "a don't-take-away-too-many-of-my-rights kind of town."
Rich Geidel, 50, co-owner of Everyone's Books, said the parking lot may not be the most appropriate place for nudity, but he said he's not concerned.
"We don't think it's bad for kids to hang out," he said. "As long as people are polite, don't block the entrance, we don't ask them to leave."
To others, it's disturbing. Some worry it could drive business away from downtown.
"It's a bad image for Brattleboro," said Ozzie Kocaoglu, 43, who owns Sundried Tomato restaurant at the far end of the parking lot, which has long been a teen hangout.
Vermont has no state laws against public nudity, but communities can pass their own rules banning it.
At least eight cities and towns have passed anti-nudity ordinances, according to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
So far, Brattleboro has chosen not to, but the teenagers' dress-down may change that. The town is researching what other communities have done to curb their nakedness.
The 50,000-member American Association for Nude Recreation espouses nude recreation in appropriate places, but doesn't use nudity "for social commentary, or rebelliousness or an act of civil disobedience," said Mary Jane Kolassa.
Baring it all as a form of social protest is growing.
This summer, nude bicyclists rode through Burlington to protest the country's reliance on oil, part of an event known as the World Naked Bike Ride. Elsewhere, nudity has been used to oppose the Iraq war and the treatment of animals.
In Vermont, voters in another town shot down a ban on nudity after two public votes.
Prompted by complaints about nudity and sexual activity at a swimming hole, the Wilmington select board passed an anti-nudity ordinance in 2002. But supporters of the freedom to skinny dip rejected the ban.
"There were some ugly moments in the debate with some name calling and lots of good healthy debate about reasonable rights and responsibility under those rights," said Town Clerk Susie Haughwout. Officials weren't sure how they would have enforced a ban and to what extent, she said.
For now Brattleboro is weighing its options. And waiting for summer to turn to fall.
"As soon as winter comes, there won't be a story anymore," said Town Clerk Annette Cappy.
LONDON (Reuters) - German spies hid secret messages in drawings of models wearing the latest fashions in an attempt to outwit Allied censors during World War Two, according to British security service files released on Monday.
Nazi agents relayed sensitive military information using the dots and dashes of Morse code incorporated in the drawings.
They posted the letters to their handlers, hoping that counter-espionage experts would be fooled by the seemingly innocent pictures.
But British secret service officials were aware of the ruse and issued censors with a code-breaking guide to intercept them.
The book -- part of a batch of British secret service files made public for the first time -- included an example of a code hidden in a drawing of three young models.
"Heavy reinforcements for the enemy expected hourly," reads a message disguised as a decorative pattern in the stitching of their gowns, hats and blouses.
The files reveal other ingenious ways spies tried to send coded notes through the post.
Invisible ink, pinpricks and indentations on letters were all used to convey details of troop movements, bombing raids and ship-building.
They hid codes in sheet music, descriptions of chess moves and shorthand symbols disguised as normal handwriting. Postcards were spliced in half, stuffed with wafer-thin notes and resealed.
Agents also used secret alphabets and messages which could only be read by taking the first letter of certain words.
The capture of two German agents in 1942 uncovered two such codes which British intelligence had repeatedly failed to crack, the declassified files reveal.
Britain's wartime spy chief David Petrie described the failure as "somewhat disturbing".
The code was used in a letter from "Hubert" to "Aunt Janet" to conceal the message: "14 Boeing Fortresses arrived yesterday in Hendon (London). Pilots expect to raid Kiel (Germany)."
As the war went on, counter-espionage officials developed ways of spotting suspicious letters.
Telltale signs of a spy's handiwork included rambling letters with no apparent point, often sent to neutral countries with too many stamps.
Clumsy or awkward phrases could be a sign that words were being forced to fit a code template.
Lists of numbers and long messages about games of bridge also aroused suspicion.
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (AP) -- A 75-year-old woman ran after a man who stole her purse, got it back and gave him a tongue-lashing - and $3.
Betty Horton said the man apologized to her and said he was broke.
"I said, 'Why didn't you just ask me for some change? I would have helped you. I would have gladly given it to you,'" Horton said.
Horton was putting groceries in her car Wednesday when she noticed her purse was missing. She saw a man running with the bag under his arm.
"Good thing I had my running shoes on," Horton said.
She ran past businesses and saw him in a residential area standing over the unzipped purse, she said. She threatened to shoot his ear off, although she didn't have a gun.
Horton said she put money in his hand and told him, "Now get the heck out of here." Police arrived, but the thief - whom authorities described as a 40-year-old man - was gone.
"Seventy-five years old and I can still take care of myself," Horton said.
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) - As far as the judge was concerned, the paper he ordered Brandon Dickens to write as punishment for ducking jury duty was plagiarized.
To the 20-year-old Dickens, the report merely contained "quoted" material.
Not surprisingly, Livingston County Circuit Judge David Reader had the last word.
"Really, what I was looking for, Mr. Dickens, was your own work," Reader said last week in upping Dickens' punishment from three days in the courthouse to four days - and ordering him to rewrite the paper.
Dickens, formerly of Tyrone Township, originally landed in Reader's doghouse in June, when he failed to return to jury duty after a lunch break. The judge ordered him to spend three days observing a civil trial and to write a five-page paper on the history of jury service.
When Dickens turned in the paper Aug. 30, a court employee recognized phrases from something else the employee had read previously. An Internet search showed many of the phrases came word for word from "Trials and Tribulations," a story by Seattle writer Matthew Baldwin that appeared in an online magazine, The Morning News.
Dickens denied plagiarizing Baldwin's work, saying: "I quoted it. I quoted a Seattle man's experience." He also said Reader wasn't clear about what he sought in the writing assignment, and he could find little information on the history of jury service.
Reader could have had Dickens jailed for up to 30 days, but instead ordered him to spend a fourth day in court and to come up with another five-page paper on the topic.
Dickens told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell that he had moved to the Flint area about seven months before he was called for jury duty in Livingston County. But he failed to change the address on his driver's license, which is how prospective jurors are located.
At least one line of Dickens' paper was his own, however: "When picked you show up and serve your country."
It's not an urban legend - it happened and the NBC 10 Investigators have the proof.
William Connell said he couldn't believe his eyes when he got a ticket for $17,751.50.
He said he thought he had been hit by a Mack truck.
"My face just dropped. I couldn't even believe it," Carroll said. "I said, 'What is this, 1,700?' He said, 'No, 17,000.' I said, $17,000?"
Carroll is an independent trucker out of Philadelphia. Recently, he was taking a load to be dropped off in East Whiteland Township, an area he was unfamiliar with.
"One company that I'm leasing from, they were the ones that gave me the directions," Carroll said.
The directions told him to get off at the Route 202 South Frazer exit. That dumped him onto Route 401.
Carroll said he missed a cockeyed sign at the corner of 401 and Bear Road where he had to make a right turn. The next thing he knew, he was in a residential neighborhood -- Sydney Road to be exact -- where the police gave him a ticket.
"But once you get in the there with a 53-footer, its impossible to get out," Carroll said.
PennDOT spokesman Charlie Metzger said they, along with the East Whiteland Police Department were just enforcing a law that penalizes trucks that are too heavy for certain bridges and roadways, which might be damaged by overweight vehicles.
The NBC 10 Investigators' Vince DeMentri asked Metzger why the ticket was $17,000.
"It's $150 for the fine, and then it's $150 for every 500 pounds over the 3,000-pound weight limit," Metzger said.
Metzger said there is a reason the fines are so stiff.
"The money can go right back into the repairs of the roadway or the bridge," Metzger said.
Carroll said it is not fair because the sign warning of the fine was bent and somewhat obstructed.
The East Whiteland Police Department, which has its own motor carrier enforcement unit, isn't playing around. For them, this is a sign of the times that is not to be ignored.
"A ticket like that would put a lot of truckers out of business. So, I guess that was designed to put me out of business or make sure I don't come up here anymore. It's crazy," Carroll said.
WINNIPEG- A bizarre incident on a recent Air Canada Jazz flight which left the pilot locked out of the cockpit highlights just one of several potential safety threats facing passengers once they've cleared security, says an airline terrorism expert.
But a spokeswoman for Air Canada Jazz (TSX:JAZ.UN) counters that the security and safety of passengers was not compromised and says there's no need for concern or further investigation.
The snafu occurred last Saturday when, with about 30 minutes left on a flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg, the captain left the cockpit to use the washroom at the back of the plane.
The first officer was at the controls, as is usual in such situations.
When the pilot returned, he couldn't get back in the cockpit. The crew had to take the door off its hinges to force it open, allowing the pilots to land safely in Winnipeg.
Peter St. John, who teaches courses in terrorism and airline security at the University of Manitoba, says the incident sends a troubling message to terrorists.
"The fact the story is out gives a signal to people who want to hijack planes that it's still fairly easy to do," says St. John, who has contributed to airline security reports prepared by the auditor general and the Senate.
"The pilot really shouldn't have to go to the back of the plane to have a pee."
The plane was a Bombardier CRJ-100, which carries up to 50 passengers and does not have washrooms at the front.
Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart says this is the first time the airline has encountered such a problem in flight.
"We've investigated the matter and we found the crew followed our standard operational procedures, which are in full compliance with security regulations governed by Transport Canada," says Stuart.
The airline did not make Transport Canada aware of the incident because it fell into the category of "non-reportable."
St. John says there are other examples across the country, with various airlines, of troubling non-reportable security threats that can occur at the gate or on the plane.
For instance, he says, too many bags are still being loaded onto planes when the owner is not on the same flight. Not all luggage is screened just before it goes in the cargo hold, and employees loading planes don't always have proper security clearance.
When passengers have to switch planes due to a mechanical problem, there is inadequate security to make sure someone doesn't sneak on or sneak something on, he adds.
"It's just a really bad scene and it gives a bad image," says St. John.
"It says to people that Canadian security is sloppy and Canadian airplane maintenance is poor and this is not the message we want to be giving to the terrorists."
NEW YORK - An Arab human rights activist was prevented from boarding a plane at Kennedy Airport while wearing a T-shirt that read, "We will not be silent" in English and Arabic.
Raed Jarrar was at the gate to board a JetBlue Airways flight to Oakland, Calif., on Aug. 12 when four officials from the airline or a government agency stopped him and told him he could not board with the shirt on, he said Wednesday.
One official told him, "Going to an airport with a T-shirt in Arabic script is like going to a bank and wearing a T-shirt that says, 'I'm a robber,' " he said.
Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman, acknowledged the dispute and said the airline was investigating. She noted the incident came two days after British authorities announced they had foiled a plot to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic.
Though rules banning liquids and gels in carry-on baggage went into effect at U.S. airports, Dervin said there are no specific rules governing clothing.
Jarrar, who directs the Iraq project for Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based human rights organization, said he refused a suggestion from the officials that he turn his shirt inside out. In the end, officials gave Jarrar another shirt to wear over his, and he put it on rather than miss his flight.
Jarrar said he was forced to give up his seat near the front of the plane and was issued a new boarding pass for a seat in the rear.
It was unclear whether it was officials from JetBlue, the federal Transportation Security Administration or the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, who told Jarrar to remove his shirt, Dervin said.
Officials for the TSA and Port Authority said the agencies were investigating.
Jarrar, 28, is half-Iraqi and half-Palestinian and moved to the United States last year from Jordan, where he was studying. The slogan "We Will Not Be Silent" has been adopted by opponents of the war in Iraq.
VANCOUVER - A patron of the University of B.C.'s Pit Pub is suing a bouncer employed by the Alma Mater Society after suffering a ruptured right testicle resulting in "permanent reduced fertility."
David Hansford says that while he was being ejected from the pub by bouncer Kolby Vaughan on Oct. 22, 2005, he was assaulted and suffered serious injuries.
"As a result of the incident and the conduct and negligence of the defendants, the plaintiff has permanent reduced fertility arising from the testicular injury at the hands of the defendant, Vaughan," says a statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.
Hansford says that he didn't threaten Vaughan threatening, nor did he act in a dangerous or provocative fashion. He claims that the bouncer didn't talk to him or request that he alter his behavior or leave the premises prior to the incident and used "excessive and unreasonable" force.
Vaughan used a knee or other part of his body to strike him in the testicles and used a choke hold when he knew or ought to have known such action would result in substantial injury, he says.
The society, named as a defendant in the case, failed to employ people properly trained to use reasonable force in dealing with patrons, adds the claim.
Hansford says he also suffered abrasions and shock and emotional trauma and he's seeking general, special, punitive and exemplary damages.
Vaughan could not be reached for comment. A statement of defense filed by him and the society denies all of the allegations and claims Hansford's judgment was impaired by his drinking.
Hansford provoked an altercation, refused to leave the premises when asked and acted in an "unruly, abusive and aggressive" manner toward Vaughan, they say.
In an apparent reference to the injury to Hansford's fertility, the defendants say that any such injury is attributable to "previous and/or subsequent incidents" or congenital defects and/or "pre-existing conditions."
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - Two weeks ago, one of Cindy Kienow's regular customers left her a $100 tip on a tab that wasn't even half that. This week, he added a couple of zeros.
Kienow, a bartender at Applebee's, got a $10,000 tip from the man - for a $26 meal - on Sunday.
"I couldn't move," Kienow said. "I didn't know what to say. He said, 'This will buy you something kind of nice, huh?' And I said, 'Yeah, it will.'"
Kienow said the man, whom company officials have declined to name, comes in several times a month and eats at the end of the bar. He has always tipped well, she said, usually leaving $15 on a $30 tab.
Then came the $100 tip, followed by the real shocker.
"He usually signs his ticket and flips it upside down," said Kienow, 35, who has worked at the restaurant for eight years. "But this time, he had it right-side up and said 'I want you to know this is not a joke.'"
It's not, company officials agreed.
"This is a great deal for us and a great deal for Cindy," said Rhodri McNee, vice president of operations for JS Enterprises, the owner of the Hutchinson Applebee's. "We did have a guest leave this tip on a credit card, and we're doing everything to make sure it's a valid charge."
The company is in the final stages of verifying the tip, McNee said, while also working to maintain the customer's privacy and make sure the money goes through the proper channels to get to Kienow.
"Nothing would make us happier than to present her with that check," McNee said. "She's been with us for eight years, and she's a great employee who does a great job."
Kienow said that while she always talks with the man when he comes in - usually about current events or the weather - she can't think of anything that would have prompted the huge tip.
"I've been waiting on him for about three years," Kienow said. "We'd just talk across the bar he's a really nice guy. I hope he comes back in so I can tell him thank you, because the other day I was kind of dumbfounded."
Kienow, whose father will have to take some time off work for surgery on both of his knees, said she hasn't decided what to do with the money.
"I'd like to take care of my parents, since they always took care of me," she said. "But I feel like he wanted me to buy something for myself, and there's a Jeep that I've had my eye on for a while."
BEND, Ore. - Police arrested a motorist accused of twice visiting a coffee stand while naked from the waist down.
Garry Scott Harding, 37, of Bend was arraigned Tuesday on public indecency and stalking charges.
A 16-year-old worker at the stand told police that a man without pants or underwear visited the stand twice over the last few weeks and returned Monday fully clothed, according to a report written by Roberto Robles of the Bend Police Department.
She called police during the last visit and officers stopped Harding before he could leave. During an interview with investigators, Harding explained that his ex-wife had once removed his pants before the couple visited a drive-thru window in Montana, according to authorities. Harding apparently said he couldn't stop thinking about the experience and wanted to try it again.
Harding allegedly told police that the coffee stand was chosen at random.
HUACHUCA CITY - Tombstone's Town Hall in Tombstone is so infested with bees, mice, and bat guano that officials want to move.
Town Council member Stacey Korbeck-Reeder described the woes Wednesday night in asking the Tombstone Unified School District board to consider allowing the town to move its offices into the old Tombstone High School.
The district agreed to consider the request.
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Sung Koo Kim, a 32-year-old Tigard man who stole college women's underwear, has been sentenced one more time for the thefts.
After the fourth part of a four-county plea agreement, Kim faces a total of 11 years in prison.
In Benton County on Wednesday, Circuit Judge Janet Holcomb sentenced him to 31 months in prison for burglary, charges stemming from the theft of underwear and other personal items from Oregon State University residences in 2004.
He has previously been sentenced in Washington, Yamhill and Multnomah counties.
Joo and Dong Kim were at Wednesday's hearing, where their son quietly apologized. Joo said her son is mentally ill and having a difficult time in prison.
"He says most of the time he stays in his cell with a cellmate who is also mentally ill," Joo said. "He's getting medication, but he needs expert mental-health care as soon as possible."
The Kims maintain their son is no danger to anyone and has never been violent.
But Benton County prosecutors said Kim targeted the OSU women's swim team and labeled underwear and personal hygiene items with the names of the women from whom they were stolen. He also photographed himself wearing some of the underwear.
Prosecutors said that behavior, along with thousands of violent pornographic images downloaded onto his computer, is evidence of his violent obsession, prosecutors said.
In one document on Kim's computer, "we see the defendant making a list of horrific torture steps that lead to murder," according to court documents, "followed by a list of supplies to bring along to complete the tasks."
VAIL, Colo. (AP) - A 72-year-old woman making pot roast in her kitchen discovered uninvited guests in her home Thursday: a bear and her cub.
The unidentified woman walked into the kitchen and found the bear standing six feet away, apparently surprising it, Vail police Sgt. Dan Torgerson said. The bear hissed at her and swatted her chest and arm, giving her some minor scratches. The woman then scared it off by yelling and clapping her hands.
Torgerson said the bear hissed again and then left through a side door.
"If the bear was trying to hurt her, it very easily could have," he said. "I think it was just surprised."
The woman then found a cub in her house and she pushed it out the door, Torgerson said.
That bear and cub are believed to be the same ones that entered another home and ate food off the kitchen counter. The owners refused to let wildlife officials set traps for bears in their homes.
No trash had been left outside at either home but a trash can was found outside on another street and it had apparently been rummaged through by a bear. That resident was cited.
Randy Hampton, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the bear has learned how to get food from humans and has taught its cub. If captured, he said the bear would be euthanized and its cub euthanized or relocated.
Encounters between humans and bears are more common as bears feed to prepare for hibernation during the winter. Right now bears spend about 20 hours a day eating about 20,000 calories - the equivalent of nearly 20 Big Mac meals.
MANSFIELD, Ark. (AP) - It's just a few day into the new school year and teachers are already being driven batty. By bats.
Bats are roosting inside Mansfield Elementary School, and it appears the problem has gotten worse since classes resumed in August. In some cases, teachers have had to move students out of their classrooms.
School officials said a teacher found a dead bat in a utility closet a few days before school started. District officials told authorities they thought it was an isolated incident, but when they started finding more and more guano, they knew there was a problem.
"I had no idea it was going to be this big, had no idea," said Mansfield Elementary Principal Kathy Goff. "We found guano on the roof. That's when we knew there was a major problem."
Superintendent Jim Hattabaugh believed students were the source of one problem.
"We started looking around and noticed the odor was something else, and we kind of blamed that on the little boys missing the toilet," he said.
The bats are in the classrooms, on ceilings and, according to animal-control officers, behind the walls.
"They are really small. They can hide in a crevice. They are just a pest," Hattabaugh said.
After consulting with animal control workers, school officials set up a bat funnel. They hope the bats will fly out at night and not find their way back in.
"Our main concern is the safety of our students and the staff, and we want to get this taken care of as quickly as we can," Hattabaugh said.
Because the bats are in the walls, officials said they don't know how many there are in the school. Once the bats are gone and the school is inspected, the students will be able to return to their classrooms.
The Mansfield superintendent said the school is supposed to get a new roof next year, which should prevent bats from getting inside.
NEW YORK (AP) - Several Brooklyn residents woke up to find their street empty - because someone had posted a No Parking sign and police had towed their rides.
The sign, which bans parking on a street in the DUMBO neighborhood from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, mysteriously appeared Monday or Tuesday, residents said, and then police started ticketing and towing cars parked there.
But the Department of Transportation says there aren't any parking restrictions in the area and it doesn't know who posted the placard, which looks official.
Resident David Bourgeois said he had to pay $205 to retrieve his Mini Cooper, with a $60 ticket on the windshield, from a police pound Wednesday after it was hauled away.
"It's just outrageous," he told the Daily News for Friday editions.
The DOT said it would try to dismiss the ticket - and take down the No Parking sign.
SOFIA (Reuters) - A sleeping teenager flew home to Bulgaria and then back to Malta after aircrew apparently failed to notice she was still on the plane.
Maria Ilieva, 17, was travelling alone and fell asleep on an Air Malta plane taking her overnight from Valletta to Sofia.
Unfortunately she had returned to Malta by the time she woke up, the girl's family said on Friday.
"Air Malta officials said the airplane was not a place for sleeping. But I have not seen any signs saying 'No sleeping', I have only seen signs saying 'No smoking'," the girl's mother, Nadezhda Vulova, told Reuters.
Maria was finally reunited with her family on Thursday, almost four days after her sleepover. She had to pay 200 euros (134 pounds) for the second flight home.
The family said they had filed a complaint against the airline and asked for a refund. Air Malta was not immediately available for comment.
LONDON (Reuters) - Hedgehogs have finally humbled burger giant McDonald's after years of campaigning, forcing the company to redesign its killer McFlurry ice-cream containers.
Up to now the opening in the container has been large enough for hedgehogs to get their heads into for a lick of the left-over dessert -- a trap they have then been unable to withdraw from, so dying of starvation in untold numbers.
But from September 1, the wide-mouthed opening in the lid of the McFlurry containers will be reduced in size, making them too small for the sugar-loving animals to get their heads into.
"This is excellent, it is long overdue news," said Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. "We have been in touch with McDonald's about this problem for over five years and are delighted that they have at last solved the problem."
McDonald's said in a statement the design change had resulted from pressure from the society which prompted "significant research and design testing" to develop new packaging.
"The smaller aperture of the lid has been designed to prevent hedgehogs from entering the McFlurry container in the unfortunate incidence that a lid is littered and is then accessible to wildlife," it added.
GREENVILLE, Maine (AP) - Anglers, don't be alarmed if you catch a trout with an antenna coming out of its belly. It's just a "robo-trout."
About 75 transmitter-equipped trout have been released in Moosehead Lake and its tributaries by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as part of an effort to track them and maintain the right mix of fish.
Three of them have been caught by anglers, including Ken Snowdon, who nabbed one of the unusual fish back in January. The fish, sans transmitter and antenna, won first place in a fishing derby and is being mounted at a taxidermist shop.
The trout Snowdon plucked from the icy waters was a trophy fish that was 23 inches long and weighed 5 1/2 pounds. It also had a thin, 10-inch antenna protruding from its orange-red belly that was transmitting a signal.
The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife let Snowdon keep the fish but not before retrieving the $200 transmitter.
Snowdon asked a taxidermist to use a line of dark thread to mimic the antenna that was protruding from its belly.
Once it's mounted, it'll look like it did when Snowdon caught it, with the antenna-like thread coming from a small incision.
"It will be a conversation starter, that's for sure," he said.
DALLAS (AP) - Ron Price, a Dallas school board member, has asked the City Council to look at strenghtening a law to go after people who wear baggy pants and expose their underwear.
"I think it's disrespectful, it's dishonorable and it's disgusting," said Price, who made the recommendation last week to the City Council. "I have no problem with the top of your Hanes label being shown. My problem is when grown men walk about the city with pants below their buttocks."
Council members have asked the city attorney to look into the issue. City Attorney Tom Perkins said this week he's investigating the legalities and will report back to the council.
But experts say that such a law might not hold up, so to speak.
It would be too vague, said Robert Jarvis, constitutional law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He said that for a criminal law to be constitutional, a person of average intelligence must know what's being prohibited.
"Who's to say how baggy pants can be before they're 'baggy pants,'" he said. "There's just no way to regulate these things."
Such proposals haven't made it too far in recent years. In Virginia, the Senate dropped a bill last year the would have fined those with pants so low their underwear was exposed. A similar bill from a Louisiana state representative failed to pass in 2004. And such proposals haven't faired well at the city level either.
HOLTSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - If money could buy happiness, these thieves would be overjoyed. They stole the ATM.
Packs of thieves have been swiping the cash machines from drugstores and mom-and-pop shops around Suffolk County, most recently before dawn Friday. They smashed the front window of Dario Rodriguez's deli in Holtsville, withdrew the automated teller machine and fled.
Rodriguez said police told him there had been a dozen such smash-and-grabs recently.
"They break in, take the whole machine and are gone by the time the cops get here," he told Newsday.
The crooks crack open the ATMs, which can hold thousands of dollars each, remove the Andrew Jacksons and deposit the empty machines in the woods.
Detective Sgt. Frank Stewart said several of the thefts had been solved with a recent arrest.
QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (AP) - A New York City man has been arrested for the 100th time.
Officials with the Warren County Sheriff's Department in eastern New York said they found Anthony Love, 40, of Brooklyn with $1,300 worth of merchandise stolen from outlet stores in his car.
He had 99 prior arrests, including several for violent felonies. "We were number 100 for him," Sheriff's Sgt. James LaFarr said.
Love was charged with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, and possession of an anti-security item, a misdemeanor.
Police said Love had a device that disables security tags.
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - A message in a bottle found after being hidden in a wall at Quonset Naval Air Station for more than 60 years came with a question its authors knew couldn't be answered unless their makeshift time capsule was discovered
The message asked, "Will this bottle see the sun?"
It did after being found in May, and Quonset Development Corporation authorities in North Kingstown made the bottle and its contents public Friday.
Harry Berrio, a demolition crew member, found the bottle while taking down barracks at the Quonset station. Berrio said when he saw the writing, he realized it was something special.
The bottle offers a rare glimpse into the past. The message inside was written in 1941 on a business card by two carpenters - Theodore Jackvony of Providence and Emile Gaudette of Seekonk. The men wrote their names on the back of the card, which was from a Providence candy store that no longer exists. Then they shoved it into a pill bottle and sealed it inside the walls of the building they were working on.
North Kingstown historian Tim Cranston said the two men were part of a civilian army hired to build two military bases in the area. Much of what they built is now gone.
It isn't clear why the men left the message, but Jackvony's daughter, Estelle Borino, said her father, who died in 1976, had a mischievous side.
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) - Nudity isn't new here. Usually it bares itself in more subtle places than a downtown parking lot, though.
This summer, a group of teenagers has disrobed near restaurants, bookstores and galleries, igniting a debate about whether this bohemian southern Vermont town should ban a practice that has been tolerated until now.
"Brattleboro tends to be a laid-back town and pretty accepting of the unusual, but this is really pushing limits," said Police Chief John Martin.
"It's clearly to outrage people, it's clearly rebelliousness," he said.
By most accounts, the stripping started on a whim in early summer when a young woman sat naked on a park bench, Martin said. Then another woman started taking her shirt off downtown.
A music festival promoting nudity and rebelliousness set up in May in a downtown parking lot and attracted nude hula hoopers, Martin said.
Last month, a half dozen young people bared their bodies in the lot, encircled by the backs of bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants.
They say they're just exercising their rights.
"It's just an act of freedom," said 19-year-old Adhi Palar. "We're just doing so because we can." Palar and the others "do not consider nakedness to be innately sexual or rude and it shouldn't be confined to that," he said.
All the bare skin has raised eyebrows, even in a town that has seen clothing-optional swimming holes, streakers and an event known as "Breast Fest," which featured women parading topless.
To some, a bunch of teenagers going au naturel is just harmless rebellion.
"To most people, it's not a big deal," said Catherine Kauffman, 57, who calls Brattleboro "a don't-take-away-too-many-of-my-rights kind of town."
Rich Geidel, 50, co-owner of Everyone's Books, said the parking lot may not be the most appropriate place for nudity, but he said he's not concerned.
"We don't think it's bad for kids to hang out," he said. "As long as people are polite, don't block the entrance, we don't ask them to leave."
To others, it's disturbing. Some worry it could drive business away from downtown.
"It's a bad image for Brattleboro," said Ozzie Kocaoglu, 43, who owns Sundried Tomato restaurant at the far end of the parking lot, which has long been a teen hangout.
Vermont has no state laws against public nudity, but communities can pass their own rules banning it.
At least eight cities and towns have passed anti-nudity ordinances, according to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns.
So far, Brattleboro has chosen not to, but the teenagers' dress-down may change that. The town is researching what other communities have done to curb their nakedness.
The 50,000-member American Association for Nude Recreation espouses nude recreation in appropriate places, but doesn't use nudity "for social commentary, or rebelliousness or an act of civil disobedience," said Mary Jane Kolassa.
Baring it all as a form of social protest is growing.
This summer, nude bicyclists rode through Burlington to protest the country's reliance on oil, part of an event known as the World Naked Bike Ride. Elsewhere, nudity has been used to oppose the Iraq war and the treatment of animals.
In Vermont, voters in another town shot down a ban on nudity after two public votes.
Prompted by complaints about nudity and sexual activity at a swimming hole, the Wilmington select board passed an anti-nudity ordinance in 2002. But supporters of the freedom to skinny dip rejected the ban.
"There were some ugly moments in the debate with some name calling and lots of good healthy debate about reasonable rights and responsibility under those rights," said Town Clerk Susie Haughwout. Officials weren't sure how they would have enforced a ban and to what extent, she said.
For now Brattleboro is weighing its options. And waiting for summer to turn to fall.
"As soon as winter comes, there won't be a story anymore," said Town Clerk Annette Cappy.
LONDON (Reuters) - German spies hid secret messages in drawings of models wearing the latest fashions in an attempt to outwit Allied censors during World War Two, according to British security service files released on Monday.
Nazi agents relayed sensitive military information using the dots and dashes of Morse code incorporated in the drawings.
They posted the letters to their handlers, hoping that counter-espionage experts would be fooled by the seemingly innocent pictures.
But British secret service officials were aware of the ruse and issued censors with a code-breaking guide to intercept them.
The book -- part of a batch of British secret service files made public for the first time -- included an example of a code hidden in a drawing of three young models.
"Heavy reinforcements for the enemy expected hourly," reads a message disguised as a decorative pattern in the stitching of their gowns, hats and blouses.
The files reveal other ingenious ways spies tried to send coded notes through the post.
Invisible ink, pinpricks and indentations on letters were all used to convey details of troop movements, bombing raids and ship-building.
They hid codes in sheet music, descriptions of chess moves and shorthand symbols disguised as normal handwriting. Postcards were spliced in half, stuffed with wafer-thin notes and resealed.
Agents also used secret alphabets and messages which could only be read by taking the first letter of certain words.
The capture of two German agents in 1942 uncovered two such codes which British intelligence had repeatedly failed to crack, the declassified files reveal.
Britain's wartime spy chief David Petrie described the failure as "somewhat disturbing".
The code was used in a letter from "Hubert" to "Aunt Janet" to conceal the message: "14 Boeing Fortresses arrived yesterday in Hendon (London). Pilots expect to raid Kiel (Germany)."
As the war went on, counter-espionage officials developed ways of spotting suspicious letters.
Telltale signs of a spy's handiwork included rambling letters with no apparent point, often sent to neutral countries with too many stamps.
Clumsy or awkward phrases could be a sign that words were being forced to fit a code template.
Lists of numbers and long messages about games of bridge also aroused suspicion.
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah (AP) -- A 75-year-old woman ran after a man who stole her purse, got it back and gave him a tongue-lashing - and $3.
Betty Horton said the man apologized to her and said he was broke.
"I said, 'Why didn't you just ask me for some change? I would have helped you. I would have gladly given it to you,'" Horton said.
Horton was putting groceries in her car Wednesday when she noticed her purse was missing. She saw a man running with the bag under his arm.
"Good thing I had my running shoes on," Horton said.
She ran past businesses and saw him in a residential area standing over the unzipped purse, she said. She threatened to shoot his ear off, although she didn't have a gun.
Horton said she put money in his hand and told him, "Now get the heck out of here." Police arrived, but the thief - whom authorities described as a 40-year-old man - was gone.
"Seventy-five years old and I can still take care of myself," Horton said.
HOWELL, Mich. (AP) - As far as the judge was concerned, the paper he ordered Brandon Dickens to write as punishment for ducking jury duty was plagiarized.
To the 20-year-old Dickens, the report merely contained "quoted" material.
Not surprisingly, Livingston County Circuit Judge David Reader had the last word.
"Really, what I was looking for, Mr. Dickens, was your own work," Reader said last week in upping Dickens' punishment from three days in the courthouse to four days - and ordering him to rewrite the paper.
Dickens, formerly of Tyrone Township, originally landed in Reader's doghouse in June, when he failed to return to jury duty after a lunch break. The judge ordered him to spend three days observing a civil trial and to write a five-page paper on the history of jury service.
When Dickens turned in the paper Aug. 30, a court employee recognized phrases from something else the employee had read previously. An Internet search showed many of the phrases came word for word from "Trials and Tribulations," a story by Seattle writer Matthew Baldwin that appeared in an online magazine, The Morning News.
Dickens denied plagiarizing Baldwin's work, saying: "I quoted it. I quoted a Seattle man's experience." He also said Reader wasn't clear about what he sought in the writing assignment, and he could find little information on the history of jury service.
Reader could have had Dickens jailed for up to 30 days, but instead ordered him to spend a fourth day in court and to come up with another five-page paper on the topic.
Dickens told the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus of Howell that he had moved to the Flint area about seven months before he was called for jury duty in Livingston County. But he failed to change the address on his driver's license, which is how prospective jurors are located.
At least one line of Dickens' paper was his own, however: "When picked you show up and serve your country."
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