Whisky bottle bought for £32,000
Dalmore 62 whisky bottle
The businessman took a little bit of the whisky back home with him
A hotel in England could have sold one of the world's most expensive bottles of whisky.

A businessman paid £32,000 for a rare Dalmore 62 Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, Bagshot, Surrey, on 24 May.

Only 12 of the bottles were ever produced in 1943, and one was sold at auction in 2002 for just under £26,000.

The Surrey hotel said the man bought the whisky and drank almost all of it in one night with some friends.

General manager David Broadhead would not reveal the identity of the middle-aged buyer - thought to be from Berkshire - saying only that he was a regular hotel guest and a private collector of fine spirits.

"He's not a famous person, you wouldn't know him if you bumped into him in the street," said Mr Broadhead.

The Dalmore 62 is described as "a masterpiece forged from the Highlands of Scotland".

 
He's got the bottle and he's got the presentation case of course, so at least it's on his shelf as a memento
David Broadhead, Pennyhill Park Hotel

It was derived from four casks of single malt dating from 1868, 1876, 1926 and 1939.

The 12 bottles have their own hand-printed labels and bear unique names.

The one bought in Surrey was called Matheson, named after Alexander Matheson who was the owner of the Dalmore Estate.

One bottle has been kept by spirits company Whyte and Mackay while ten others are in private collections.

A spokeswoman for Whyte and Mackay said she believed the Matheson was the first Dalmore 62 to have been opened and tasted by its owner.

Pennyhill Park acquired it from The Whisky Exchange for £31,000, meaning its sale made the hotel a net profit of £700.

Mr Broadhead said it was bought to add to the hotel's range of fine spirits and he had never expected it to be sold.

 
Dalmore 62
Master distiller Richard Paterson said the Dalmore 62 should be enjoyed with Rwandan, Nicaraguan or Colombian coffee, 86% cocoa-fat chocolate and a particular brand of cigar

The sale happened late in the evening in the hotel's Ascot Bar and the businessman was with around five friends.

"He's got the bottle and he's got the presentation case of course, so at least it's on his shelf as a memento," said Mr Broadhead.

The bar manager - who negotiated the £32,000 price tag - was lucky enough to be offered a glass and told Mr Broadhead it was the "most beautiful thing" he had ever tasted.

Richard Paterson, master blender at the Dalmore Distillery in Ross-shire, Scotland, said he was glad somebody else had experienced the taste of the 62.

He said he would encourage the other owners to sip and savour theirs as well.

There are many things that can constitute an emergency. For some, it could mean a trip to the hospital. For Allen Troy Brooks it meant running low on some brewskis. The Columbia, Tenn. man called the 911 emergency hotline several times last Saturday, asking for a ride so he could stock up.

An audio recording showed the exchange going something like this:“Hey, you want to take me to the store?” [The] 67-year-old man from Columbia, Tenn., asked the 911 dispatcher. “I want to go to the store to get me a beer. I’ll pay you.”

“OK. Sir. I can’t take you to the store to get a beer,” the dispatcher said.

It’s probably hard not to surmise that Brooks didn't get his beer at the end of the day. Instead of a trip to the liquor store, Brooks was arrested for making a call to 911 without a valid emergency, though he was later released on a $1,500 bond.

(And just to clarify, no — running out of beer on a Saturday night is not an emergency.)

In response to his predicament, Brooks claims he had called the wrong number and was trying to reach a friend, though it had been noted Brooks had called 911 on 11 separate occasions in the past month. Each time, he just simply hung up on authorities.

The Columbia Daily Herald reported city police arrested a 67-year-old man after he allegedly called emergency dispatchers at least nine times Saturday. Most of the calls were hang-ups, but a dispatcher said at least once, the caller asked if someone could send him a ride so he could buy beer.

Police Officer Seneca Shield said he told Allen Troy Brooks that if he cooperated, he would just receive a citation. But authorities said Brooks denied making calls and claimed he didn't have a telephone. Brooks was arrested and charged with making 911 calls in a non-emergency situation. He was released on bond.

A phone number listed for Brooks was out of service today and no attorney was listed in court records.

JULY 19--A Georgia woman has been charged with misusing the 911 system after she called police dispatchers to register a complaint about the quality of a mug shot taken following a prior arrest.

Tonya Ann Fowler dialed police Sunday evening after spotting the photo in “Bad & Busted,” a local publication that compiles images of recent arrestees. The photo that so displeased Fowler, 45, was snapped following an earlier collar.

A Winder Police Department report notes that Fowler dialed 911 on July 15 “in reference to being upset about a picture.” In a conversation with a cop, Fowler explained that she “was upset about how she looked on the front page of the Bad and Busted printing.”

As a result of the 911 call about her mug shot, Fowler was afforded the opportunity to pose for a fresh booking photo since she was charged with unlawful use of 911 and disorderly conduct.

Fowler is pictured above in her latest photo snapped at the Barrow County Detention Center. After spending three days in custody, Fowler bonded out of the county jail yesterday afternoon.(2 pages)

7/10
A Colorado man who allegedly made “repeated attempts” to grab the “wiener” of a federal ranger who had stopped him for operating an unregistered ATV is now locked up and facing a stiff prison term.

While on patrol Friday afternoon, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rangers spotted three unregistered ATVs driving along the Alpine Loop Backcountry Byway, a narrow, winding mountain road in San Juan County.

According to a court affidavit, rangers Logan Briscoe and Tyler Fouss decided to “cut the group a break” and issue a single violation. When they asked who was resposible for the unregistered ATVs, up stepped Jeffrey Brondum. The 28-year-old, who was driving a red Honda ATV carrying his wife and three-year-old son, is pictured at right in a Facebook photo.

Brondum quickly went from compliant to “directly defiant” when the rangers prepared to issue the violation, according to investigators. When it appeared that Brondum was set to drive off, the rangers struggled to get him off the ATV. During that tussle, Brondum allegedly struck Briscoe in the head.

After being handcuffed at Taser-point, Brondum “made repeated attempts at grabbing my ‘wiener’ by reaching towards my groin area,” reported Briscoe, who added that he had to “physically push Brondum’s hand away from my groin area.”

Brondum then told the rangers, “I will give both of you an invitation to come visit me in my cell. At the same time. I will fuck your world up. Especially for you, I have a hard on for you, big boy.” The latter comment was apparently directed at Briscoe, who reported that Brondum made another attempt to “reach for my groin” while saying “Just a little touch.”

Brondum was named yesterday in a criminal complaint accusing him of assaulting a federal officer, a felony carrying a prison term of up to eight years (and a maximum $250,000 fine). Locked up since Friday, Brondum is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Denver tomorrow for a detention hearing.

In a Facebook post today, Brondum’s wife contended that her family was “assaulted” by BLM rangers. “We all need to make a stand and let the world know that our country was founded on equal rights and just because you have a uniform on dies [sic] not make it ok to brutalize others,” Teran Brondum wrote. “A revolution is coming!!”

News Articles

1/3
Spanish lotto winner rifles rubbish for tickets
Posted Mon Jan 3, 2011 10:51am AEDT

A Spanish lottery player nearly lost 9 million euros ($12 million) in winnings after tossing tickets in the rubbish only to later discover they were winners, media said.
Ignacio Gonzalez, a lottery ticket vendor in the country's northern Basque Country, was stunned to discover Friday that the number he had played along with 14 friends - 48104 - had come up in a charity draw run by a Spanish organisation for the blind, ONCE.
His euphoria quickly turned to despair however when he could not find the winning tickets.
"The New Year was off to a very good start, with a shower of millions, but on the other hand I couldn't find the tickets," Mr Gonzalez told Basque radio station Radio Euskadi.
After a desperate search of his home and with hope running out, Mr Gonzalez ran out to his neighbourhood rubbish bin.
"Without thinking about it for two seconds and in front of stunned passers-by, he dumped over the container" and began rifling through its contents, newspaper ABC wrote Sunday in an account of the incident.
Mixed in with the rubbish, Mr Gonzalez finally found the winning tickets, no worse for wear, allowing him and his friends to collect a little more than 600,000 euros each in winnings.
After the close call, Gonzalez admitted that he feared his friends would have "crucified" him if he had lost the tickets for good.

- AFP

1/5
Spilled coffee forces United jet down early in Canada
Associated Press
Jan. 5, 2011

A pilot's spilled coffee accidentally triggered a hijacking alert and caused a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, to make an unscheduled stop in Canada.
A Transport Canada report said United Flight 940 was diverted to Toronto late Monday and landed safely at Pearson International Airport. The coffee spill caused distress signals to go out, including code 7500, which means hijacking or unlawful interference.
The report said Canada's defense department was notified, but that with the help of United dispatch staff the flight crew confirmed it to be a communication issue and not a hijacking.
The report on Transport Canada's website said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reported that United's corporate office had indicated that the pilot "had inadvertently squawked a 7500 code after spilling coffee on the aircraft's radio equipment, which interfered with the communications equipment.''
"The flight crew had advised that they had communication problems and subsequently reported that they had some navigation problems as well and from there the pilot in the command diverted the flight onto Toronto,'' Maryse Durette, a Transport Canada spokeswoman, said Wednesday.
United spokesman Rahsaan Johnson acknowledged Wednesday that one of three cockpit crew members caused the mishap by spilling a drink.
"It was a beverage. During light turbulence one of the crew members beverages spilled which then caused issues with the airplanes communications equipment,'' Johnson said.
Johnson said the crew was in contact with air traffic control throughout. He said that the pilot elected to divert the flight rather than cross the Atlantic Ocean while experiencing a communications problem.
The Boeing 777 was carrying 241 passengers and 14 crew members. Johnson said United flew them back to Chicago on another plane and put them up in hotel rooms overnight. They flew to Germany on Tuesday.

1/7
Documents show Nazis hated dog that mocked Hitler
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER Associated Press
Jan. 7, 2011, 10:40AM.

BERLIN — Newly discovered documents have revealed a bizarre footnote to the history of the Second World War: a Finnish mutt whose imitation of the Hitler salute enraged the Nazis so deeply that they started an obsessive campaign against the dog's owner.
Absurdly, a totalitarian state that dominated most of Europe was unable to do much about Jackie and his paw-raising parody of Germany's Fuehrer.
In the middle of World War II — months before Hitler ordered some 4.5 million troops to invade the Soviet Union — the Foreign Office in Berlin commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly Nordic country to gather evidence on the dog, and even came up with plans to destroy the pharmaceutical wholesale company of its owner.
Historians had not been aware of the episode before some 30 files containing parts of the correspondence and diplomatic cables were recently found by a researcher at the political archives of the German Foreign Office.
Klaus Hillenbrand, an expert who has written several books on the Nazi period, was contacted by the historian and examined all of the documents for an article to be published Saturday in daily newspaper Die Tageszeitung.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Hillenbrand called the entire episode "completely bizarre."
"Just months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog," Hillenbrand said.
Finland cooperated with Nazi Germany but the relationship between the two countries was strained.
Finland allowed the Nazis to take over the northern part of the country after the Finns suffered heavy casualties and lost 10 percent of their territory to the Soviet Union in 1939-1940.
After an intense Soviet attack and heavy bombing of its territory, including of the capital Helsinki, Finland made a pact with Germany in 1944 that lasted two months. Finland then annulled the pact and made a truce with Moscow that later led to a peace treaty with the Soviet Union.
The dog, Jackie, was a mutt owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg's wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog Hitler because of the strange way it raised its paw high in the air like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of "Heil Hitler!"
On January 29, 1941, German Vice Consul Willy Erkelenz in Helsinki wrote that "a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg's dog reacted to the command 'Hitler' by raising its paw."
Borg was ordered to the German embassy in Helsinki and questioned about his dog's unusual greeting habits.
He denied ever calling the dog by the German dictator's name, but admitted that his wife called the dog Hitler. He tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising had only happened a few times in 1933 — shortly after Hitler came to power.
The Finnish merchant ensured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything "that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich."
The zealous diplomats in Helsinki did not believe him and wrote back to Berlin that "Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth."
The different ministries that were involved in the dog scandal — the Foreign Office, the Economy Ministry and even Hitler's Chancellory — meticulously reported all their findings about the canine.
The economy ministry announced that the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which had supplied Borg's wholesale trade with pharmaceuticals, offered to eliminate his company by ending their cooperation with him.
Based on all this support, the Foreign Office was already looking for ways to bring Borg to trial for insulting Hitler, but in the end, none of the potential witnesses were willing to repeat their accusations in front of a judge.
On March 21, 1941, the Foreign Office asked the Chancellory whether to press charges against Borg and five days later they answered that "considering that the circumstances could not be solved completely, it is not necessary to press charges."
There's no evidence that Adolf Hitler was ever told of the case, even if the case made it all the way to his chancellory, Hillenbrand said.
Tor Borg died at 60 in 1959. A spokeswoman for Tamro Group, Margit Nieminen, said the dog died a natural death, and Josefine Borg passed away in 1971. Borg's company Tampereen Rohduskuppa Oy eventually became Tamro Group, the leading wholesale company for pharmaceuticals in the Nordic countries.
Nieminen told the AP that the company had not been aware of the story surrounding Borg's dog until the recent archive discovery.

1/8
Footballer fakes kidnapping to skip training
Posted Sat Jan 8, 2011 9:38am AEDT

A Brazilian footballer who faked his own kidnapping to get out of a team training session faces up to six months in prison, according to police.
Somalia, a player for the Rio club Botafogo, made a police report Wednesday alleging he had been carjacked by an armed man and forced to drive around for two hours - when the training was happening - before being robbed of money and jewellery.
But inconsistencies in his complaint raised suspicions, and officers quickly discovered that security video footage from Somalia's home did not back up his story.
Police chief Juliana Domingues said the player could now face a serious criminal charge for making up the crime.
Media reports said Somalia had returned home at 4:00am (local time) and likely thought up the kidnap ruse to make sure his football club did not dock his salary.

- AFP

1/11
Man Pulls Shotgun On McDonald's, Says Pregnant Wife Would Kill Him If He Didn't Bring Home Food
Tue., Jan. 11 2011 @ 8:39AM
Riverfront Times

Police in the southeastern Missouri town of Benton have charged 27-year-old Chris Heuring with driving while intoxicated and unlawful use of a weapon after he allegedly pulled a shotgun on the drive-thru workers at an area McDonald's.
Heuring reportedly arrived at the McDonald's around 11:40 p.m. Saturday after the restaurant had already closed for the evening. As Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter tells the Southeast Missourian:
"He told the employee he wanted food and pointed the shotgun at that time," Walter said. "He said, 'If I don't bring some food home for my wife, she's going to kill me.' At that point, the employees didn't want to stick around to listen to any more demands."
The Associated Press adds in its reporting that Heuring's wife is six-month pregnant. And, well, you know how ornery expectant mothers can be when it comes to food.

1/12
Okla. boy licks icy pole, finds himself stuck
Associated Press
Jan. 12, 2011, 8:27AM

WOODWARD, Okla. — In a scene straight from the movie "A Christmas Story," an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy got his tongue stuck to a metal pole after he licked it on a dare.
Officials say when rescue crews arrived Tuesday morning, the boy was standing on his tiptoes, trying to wriggle his frozen tongue free from a stop sign pole across the street from Woodward Middle School.
Paramedics were able to help the boy by pouring water on his tongue. Once free, the boy told officials he got stuck after his brother dared him to lick the pole.
The boy was taken to a Woodward hospital for treatment.
The scene was similar to one in "A Christmas Story," a 1983 movie adapted from Jean Shepard's memoir of a boy in the 1940s.

1/18
ID Thief Helpfully Poses for Sam's Club Card
By Richard Connelly, Tue., Jan. 18 2011 @ 3:31PM
Houston Press
 
A rare photo of a criminal genius
You've ripped off someone's credit cards, gone on a $2,000 spree at various suburban stores and the cops still haven't caught you. Help 'em out!!
That was apparently the thinking of one woman, who in the course of using a stolen credit card got so swept up in the giant olive jars at Sam's (we guess) that she dutifully posed for a photo to get her membership card.
We hope she enjoys her four-pound bottles of ketchup, because now police have a nice picture of her to pass around.
Her next move, we imagine: Using that stolen credit card to go wild at Glamour Shots.
The suspect is described as a black female, 30-40 years of age, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9 and weighing 160-170 pounds. She is said to look like she does in the friggin' picture she had taken.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to her conviction, so if her face rings any bells, call 713-222-8477 or go to crimestoppers.org.

1/19
Bloody idiot drink-drives to police station
Posted Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:13am AEDT

A man who turned up drunk at a police station has lost his licence and had his car impounded.
The man had gone to Christies Beach police station in Adelaide wanting to clear a defect notice on his car.
Police breath-tested the Seaford man, 49, because he appeared intoxicated and say he blew more than four times the legal limit.

1/20
On the menu in Tucson, Ariz.: $8.75 lion tacos
Associated Press
Jan. 20, 2011, 7:30AM

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A Tucson taco restaurant already has served up python, alligator, elk, kangaroo, rattlesnake and turtle.
What's next? Lion meat.
Boca Tacos y Tequila says it's accepting prepaid orders for African lion tacos, to be served starting Feb. 16. Orders must be placed by Feb. 7 and owner Bryan Mazon says there are already a few reservations from curious customers.
Mazon says his restaurant started offering exotic tacos on its menu every Wednesday about six months ago and has tried "just about anything we can get our hands on."
According to the Food and Drug Administration, lion and other game meat can be sold as long as the species isn't endangered.
The Arizona Daily Star says most of Boca's exotic tacos range between $3 and $4. The lion tacos will cost $8.75 apiece.

1/21
Woman left paralysed by love bite
Posted Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:19pm AEDT

A woman was temporarily partially paralysed by a love bite on her neck from her amorous partner, doctors reported in the New Zealand Medical Journal.
The 44-year-old New Zealand woman went to the emergency department of Middlemore Hospital in Auckland last year after experiencing loss of movement in her left arm while watching television.
Doctors concluded the woman had suffered a mild stroke but were puzzled about its cause until they found a small vertical bruise on her neck - a love bite or hickey - near a major artery.
She had received the love bite a few days earlier.
"Because it was a love bite there would be a lot of suction," one of the doctors who treated her, Teddy Wu, told the Christchurch Press.
"Because of the physical trauma it had made a bit of bruising inside the vessel. There was a clot in the artery underneath where the hickey was."
Dr Wu says the clot dislodged and travelled to the woman's heart where it caused a minor stroke that led to the loss of movement.
"We looked around the medical literature and that example of having a love bite causing something like that hasn't been described before," he said.
The medic said the woman recovered after being treated with an anti-coagulant.

- AFP

1/21
Ferocious tiny terrier stops street mail
Posted Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:36pm AEDT

She is ankle-height and looks cute, but Peggy the tiny Yorkshire terrier is deemed so ferocious by Britain's Royal Mail that it has halted postal deliveries to the entire street where she lives.
Dubbed the "Beast of Dorset Gardens" after the street's name, the 15-centimetre pooch is accused of terrorising postmen and neighbours alike in the central English city of Northampton.
The Royal Mail said in a letter to residents that it had halted deliveries to the street since December 7 after Peggy had attacked a postman.
"Because of the dog's behaviour, he [the postman] believes your mail cannot be delivered safely and in the circumstances I have instructed him not to deliver mail to your address," the letter said.
Her owners told the local newspaper that Peggy is all bark and no bite.
"Peggy has barked at the postman but she wouldn't hurt anyone. She is only little," Kathleen Joyce, 49, told the Northampton Chronicle.
"She has been in this family for 10 years and there is no way we are going to get rid of her."
But the family's neighbours, who have been forced to make a 22-kilometre journey to pick up their mail, think differently.
"it is a vicious little thing and I have seen it going for the postman," one of them told the paper, asking not to be named.
The local council said it had ordered the family to re-home Peggy and warned that they could themselves lose their rented house if they fail to comply.

- AFP

1/27
Man asks for breath test, arrested for DUI
By Lucy McNally
Updated Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:05pm AEDT

A Darwin man who insisted on making police breath test him to prove to his boss that he was not drunk has been arrested for drink driving. (ABC TV)
Map: Alice Springs 0870 A Darwin man who insisted police breath test him to prove to his boss that he was not drunk has been arrested for drink driving.
Police say the 34 year old delivery driver was sacked on Australia Day morning, when his boss accused him of being drunk on the job.
Duty Superintendent Louise Jorgensen says he then turned up at a police station demanding a breath test, at the suggestion of his union.
"We advised him that we didn't want to get involved in a civil dispute between him and his employer," Duty Superintendent Jorgensen said.
"Anyway he insisted that he have a breath test. He had actually driven to the police station.
"That breath test proved positive and he was arrested for drink driving.
"He was subject to a breath analysis and the breath analysis resulted in a reading of 0.53 per cent which is just above the legal limit.
"When we conducted investigations into his driver's licence we found that it had been suspended in December."
Police say his licence had been cancelled by the Fines Recovery Unit.

1/28
Drunk sumos trash curry house
By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Posted Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:01am AEDT

Drunken antics have landed several top-ranked sumo wrestlers in hot water, including two accused of damaging a restaurant after an all-night drinking session.
Georgian wrestlers Kokkai and Gagamaru were reportedly involved in a drunken argument in an Indian restaurant.
A glass partition was smashed when the two wrestlers, who have a combined weight of 350 kilograms, started pushing each other around.
Meanwhile, Mongolian-born wrestler Tamawashi injured his arm during a booze-fuelled evening in Tokyo.
The 150kg grappler was at a restaurant when he fell through a window he was leaning against.
The incidents are the latest scandals in the ancient sport involving foreign wrestlers.

1/28
Calif. prof is charged with peeing on colleague's door
Associated Press
Jan. 28, 2011, 10:59AM

A California university professor has been charged with peeing on a colleague's campus office door.
Prosecutors charged 43-year-old Tihomir Petrov, a math professor at California State University, Northridge, with two misdemeanor counts of urinating in a public place. Arraignment is scheduled Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court in San Fernando.
Investigators say a dispute between Petrov and another math professor was the motive.
The Los Angeles Times says Petrov was captured on videotape urinating on the door of another professor's office on the San Fernando Valley campus. School officials had rigged the camera after discovering puddles of what they thought was urine at the professor's door.

1/30
China tries to pass Top Gun footage as military drill
Posted Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:24pm AEDT

Related Link: Video: CCTV broadcast compared to Top Gun sequence China's state broadcaster is facing questions after internet users spotted that footage in a report on air force manoeuvres in a national newscast was taken from the 1980s Hollywood film Top Gun.
China Central Television, or CCTV, aired the footage in a January 23 report on a People's Liberation Army Air Force training exercise, showing a plane firing a missile at another.
The second aircraft plane was destroyed in a fiery explosion and the dramatic footage was shown in between interviews with air force officers.
However, some internet users recognised the explosion from the dogfight in the final scene of the 1986 film Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise.
The Wall Street Journal posted a side-by-side video comparison of the CCTV news report and the Top Gun scene on its website, showing the two were identical.
A CCTV representative could not comment on the similarities, the Wall Street Journal said.
The Top Gun footage was aired a week after China vowed to step up its fight to protect intellectual property rights by targeting online piracy.
The original report was removed from the CCTV website after news that part of it had been lifted from the movie spread.
The gaffe has delighted many internet users who often express frustration about having to endure CCTV's propaganda-driven agenda.
"CCTV is the king of copycats," read one comment below a report posted on the video sharing website tudou.com.

- AFP

2/1
Stacey Champion tried to mail a poodle to Georgia in an airless box
By Hart Van Denburg, Tue., Feb. 1 2011 @ 11:13AM

Stacey Champion showed up at the post office on 12th Street North in downtown Minneapolis last Tuesday and tried to send a poodle to Georgia in a Priority Mail box with no air or food.
Postal workers realized something was wrong when Champion paid for the shipping, left, and then the box fell to the floor of its own accord.
 Minneapolis police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer told us this morning he'd never heard of such a thing before, and neither, apparently had the postal inspector.
Champion told police she was sending the animal as a gift. But even by Priority Mail, the dog would likely have died before it ever saw the light of day again. Besides having no food or water, it would have traveled in the unheated, unpressurized belly of a jetliner. Some gift.
Postal workers rescued the four-month-old Schnauzer poodle mix before it was shipped out. The abandoned Schnoodle pup is now at a shelter and up for adoption.
Champion, 39, was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty, but she may potentially face more serious federal charges. We will continue to follow this story as it develops.

2/4
Malawi moves to ban farting
Posted Fri Feb 4, 2011 1:34pm AEDT

Malawi's government has confirmed reports that it intends to outlaw breaking wind in public.
The African nation's justice ministry says the proposed legislation is part of a wider campaign to "mould responsible and disciplined citizens".
Local media is questioning how the proposed law will be enforced when it is so easy to blame the offence on others.

- BBC

2/8
Keys Teen Arrested For Breaking Into Appliance Store to Watch Porn
By Tim Elfrink, Tue., Feb. 8 2011 @ 8:00AM
via Monroe County Sheriff's Office

Kenneth White, a 19-year-old from Marathon, faces a felony burglary charge.
When Monroe County Sheriff's deputies responded to an alarm at an appliance shop in Marathon late last night, they expected to find the usual: a burglary in progress or perhaps a malfunctioning security system. Instead, the cops say they walked in through an unlocked side door to find Kenneth White, a 19-year-old Marathoner, hastily pulling up his pants in front of a computer playing porn. It's OK, though -- he was just there "looking for a job."
Two deputies headed to Marathon's Windswept Appliance and Air Conditioning shop just before 11:30 last night after an alarm was triggered, according to the Sheriff's Office.
They noticed a broken window out front and a pair of shoes lying outside before entering through the unlocked door.
After White put his pants back on, he first told the deputies he was at the store job hunting, the deputies say. Then, he told them he'd seen a light on inside the store and was "investigating."
Now he faces a felony burglary charge and two misdemeanors. "Watching porn on someone else's computer" isn't a chargeable offense just yet, so the law went with two counts of petit theft and property damage.

2/8
British town to heat pool with crematorium
Posted Tue Feb 8, 2011 11:44pm AEDT

A British town council says it has approved plans to use the heat from a crematorium to warm up the swimming pool next door.
The local authority in Redditch, a town outside Birmingham in central England, says the move will cut energy waste.
Work on a link between the town's crematorium and its new leisure centre will begin later this year following the council decision.
A senior official from Unison, Britain's second biggest trade union, has called the plan "sick, insulting and insensitive".
However, Redditch Borough Council leader Carole Gandy says correspondence showed that up to nine in 10 locals were in favour of the idea.
"Many respondents have in fact praised the council for being so innovative and for being willing to discuss the idea openly," she said.
"We have been careful to explain how the technology would work, that it is tried and trusted, and that the practice is quite common in parts of Europe and especially in Sweden."
The heating scheme will be the first of its kind in Britain.
The council says the plan will save more than $22,500 a year.

- AFP

2/9
Emilio Villanueva: Teen Bandit Foiled by Stubborn Power Cord (Allegedly)
By John Nova Lomax, Wed., Feb. 9 2011 @ 8:58AM

 
For a time, before he was yanked back to reality, everything seemed to be going so well in Emilio Villanueva's restaurant heist.
Yesterday in Corpus Christi, the 17-year-old runaway concealed his Dumb and Dumber hairdo under a beanie and his face behind a bandana. Clutching an Airsoft pistol, he strode into Floyd's Restaurant in the city's Flour Bluff neighborhood and stated his bad intentions.
The lady behind the register had evidently believed that the air pistol was real, for she offered no resistance when Villanueva said he was taking the money, seized the cash register and turned and ran.
And that, dear Hair Balls readers, was where the hitch came in...
Villanueva forgot to unplug the cash register. When the power cord reach the end of its length, Villanueva's forward motion caused it to be ripped from his clutches and fall to the floor. The would-be robber panicked and fled the scene, leaving the loot behind.
After taking a witness statement, a Corpus cop remembered a bulletin about a runaway who fit the description of the restaurant robber. The cop followed that hunch to Villanueva's mom's house, where she was found to be in tears. The cop asked her if her son had been in trouble recently, and her cries grew exponentially louder. (And those lamentations were all he could get in the way of a response.)
Villanueva soon turned himself in and handed over the Airsoft gun, the bandanna, the ski mask, and a confession to the attempted robbery. He is currently in the Nueces County Jail on charges of suspicion of robbery.

2/9
Handbag-wielding granny attacks jewel thieves
Posted Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:28am AEDT

Video: Pensioner fends off robbers with handbag (ABC News) An angry grandmother has used her handbag to fight off a gang of sledgehammer-wielding robbers who were attempting to raid a jeweller's shop in a British town.
The woman in her 70s was captured on video running across a road to confront the crash-helmeted gang.
Wielding her handbag, she hit three of the six robbers and one fell off his moped as he tried to make his escape during the botched raid in Northampton, central England.
Eyewitness Sarah-Jane Brown says the woman was "amazing".
"We were terrified but she ran down the road with her handbag in the air. She did not seem scared," she told the Daily Mirror newspaper.
The gang had been foiled when staff in the shop activated metal shutters to protect the windows.
Five men have been arrested. The woman's identity has not been revealed.

- AFP

2/12
Best man left bleeding after being hit in head by flying dildo – The Stump
Saturday, February 12, 2011
 

Mr Skumavc was still sporting a scar on his forehead at Mr Rolih’s wedding nearly three weeks after being dinged by the artificial dong. The darting dildo drama unfolded on December 28 in a rented two-bedroom unit in Brisbane.
Mr Skumavc said about eight other friends joined Mr Rolih for the party. …
He said the pink projectile was flying an impressive 7m across the room and looping about 2m high.
“It wasn’t a strong shot (when it hit me in the head),” he said. “It probably just landed on an awkward sort of angle.”
“She was shooting it through the room from one corner to the other,” he said.
“Other people got it in their chest and knees. I was the only one bleeding. It was my turn and it landed straight on my forehead.
“She started apologising straight away but I just said it was fine … then I touched my forehead and there was blood.”
Mr Skumavc had difficulties describing the tearaway toy in detail.
“I don’t have a massive experience with dildos,” he said. The scars left by the offending object have since healed, but Mr Skumavc said the story was still very much alive.
“People keep asking how close my face was (to cause that sort of injury),” he said.

2/19
Japanese man to score $2.4 billion tax refund
Posted Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:48pm AEDT

A Japanese court has ordered the government to give one man a record $2.4 billion tax refund, newspapers reported.
The supreme court ruled tax authorities had no right to ask for 160 billion yen ($1.92 billion) in gift tax from Toshiki Takei, a former director of consumer loans firm Takefuji Corp., the Yomiri Shimbun said.
The court said the government should give the money back to Mr Takei, who experts estimate will be entitled to interest at 4 per cent, taking his payout to 200 billion yen.
Interest rates on bank savings in Japan are currently around 0.02 per cent.
The sum is the largest-ever tax refund for an individual and twice as big as Japan's entire gift tax revenue over a year, the newspaper said.
Mr Takei was ordered to pay the tax after receiving shares in a Dutch company from his parents in 1999.
He had argued that he had been living in Hong Kong at that time, but authorities maintained his residency was temporary and a way of avoiding paying Japanese tax.
On Friday the supreme court ruled Mr Takei spent more days in the Chinese city than in Japan in the years around the stock gift and was therefore technically resident there, reports said.
Takefuji, which was once the nation's top consumer finance company, filed for bankruptcy protection with the Tokyo District Court last year with liabilities of 433.6 billion yen.
The lender, which called itself a "yen shop", has been hit by a deluge of claims by customers for refunds of high interest charges.
"What will be returned to Mr Takei is an asset originating from excessive interest (charged on borrowers). We want the entire money back," Yoshio Honda, a lawyer for former Takefuji customers, said on Friday, as quoted by Jiji Press.
The news agency and other media said up to two million customers were entitled to seek interest payment refunds in accordance with a 2006 court ruling.
Should all of them do so, Takefuji's liabilities could exceed two trillion yen, according to Japanese media.

- AFP
 

2/23
Forgetful Ferrari Thief
February 23rd, 2010 2:16 am ET .

A forgetful Ferrari thief calls 911 on himself. After the Ferrari 575M was stolen, it was driven hours away and wrecked onto railroad tracks. The thief was lost and confused due to the wreck, and called 911 for help. The conversation was recorded below for his help and our amusement.If you are going to steal a Ferrari, you should at least know where you are going. For some reason, this thief decided to drive from Texas to Oklahoma, and then mysteriously turn down some railroad tracks.
Weirder things have happened, but this is decently strange. Why on earth would a Texan Ferrari thief randomly decide to drive to Oklahoma and then drive down railroad tracks? One could assume this was to "ditch" the car and elude police, but after the thief wrecks the car he calls 911 for help. "911, I stole a Ferrari and I'm lost. Can you give me directions?" If you look up stupid criminal in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of this Ferrari thief.

2/26
Michigan man enters plea in vacuum sex act case
Feb. 26, 2009 01:13 PM
Associated Press

SAGINAW, Mich. - A Saginaw County man has pleaded no contest to indecent exposure after police say he was arrested for performing a sex act with a car wash vacuum.
The Saginaw News reports 29-year-old Jason Leroy Savage of Swan Creek Township entered the plea Wednesday in Saginaw County Circuit Court.
A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but will be treated as one at sentencing on March 25.
Police say Savage was arrested after a resident called officers early on Oct. 16 to report suspicious activity at a car wash in Thomas Township, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit.
Defense attorney Philip Alexander Sturtz had no immediate comment Thursday

3/3
8-year-old was lookout in burglary, police say
By ISAAC GARCIA Valley Morning Star
March 3, 2011, 8:21AM

Police say a South Texas man took his pregnant common-law wife and two small stepchildren to a home burglary this week, using his 8-year-old stepson as a “lookout” for the break-in.
Fabian Losoya and another Weslaco man, Ernesto Alanis, are facing burglary charges after the Monday break-in in La Feria, police said.
Court documents do not list ages for the men.
Losoya is also facing two counts of endangering a child under the age of 15, investigators said.
According to investigators, Losoya took his common-law wife, who is four-months pregnant, and two stepchildren, the 8-year-old boy and a 6-month-old stepchild, to the burglary.
Police said the common-law wife and the 6-month-old waited in the vehicle while the two men burglarized a La Feria home, using Losoya’s 8-year-old stepson as a “lookout.”
Police said that when officers responded to the scene, the boy was running around outside screaming, “Dad, the cops are here.”
Investigators said the men ran out of the home, where Losoya and Alanis were arrested as police drew their handguns on the men.
Police said Losoya disobeyed commands to get on the ground during the arrest.
According to the investigators, Losoya’s common-law wife is not facing any charges as she claims to have been told by Losoya that he was given permission to be on the La Feria property.

3/4
Dog ate toes of diabetic Ore. owner as he slept
© 2011 The Associated Press
March 4, 2011

ROSEBURG, Ore. — A dog ate three of his owner's toes as the diabetic man slept, most likely out of instinct to help remove diseased flesh, animal experts say.
James Little, 61, called 911 on Tuesday to say his dog had eaten the body parts while he was sleeping. He told The Associated Press on Friday that he is "doing fine."
Little suffers from diabetes, of which one symptom is numbness in the hands or feet.
The dog, a Shiba Inu, was acting on its instinct to remove diseased flesh and does not appear to be dangerous, said Douglas County Animal Control Deputy Lee Bartholomew.
Dogs have been known to eat dead or diseased human flesh. A family's dog in Illinois ate the toes off a 10-year-old girl's left foot while she slept last December. She had a sore on her foot.
In August, a dog in Michigan bit off most of its owner's infected big toe after the man passed out from alcohol. The man had diabetes, and the animal was apparently attracted to a festering wound.
Little has given up ownership of his dog, putting it up for adoption pending an examination and a standard 10-day quarantine to determine it does not have rabies, Bartholomew said.
"We are going to find a new home for it," Bartholomew said.
The dog was taken to Roseburg's Saving Grace Pet Adoption Center, where executive director Wendy Kang said the animal is healthy but appears anxious.
Little was in fair condition at a hospital and expected to be released later Friday.

3/4
Father Ignatius Kury, Hammered Priest, Offers to Give Cops Oral Sex
Friday, March 4, 2011, at 10:55 am

Unlike their evangelical counterparts, Catholics don't really mind if their priests tie one on on occasion. But they'd prefer that they not make a spectacle of themselves. And Father Ignatius Kury blew way through that quasi-sacred pact while out getting hammered the other night...
With an impressive blood-alcohol reading of three times the legal driving limit, the spiritual leader of the Holy Ghost Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church in Akron, Ohio, crashed his car in nearby Brimfield Township.
Police arrived to find the good shepherd crashed out in the back seat.
This wouldn't be particularly unusual, except Father Ignatius got much weirder when he got to jail. He wasn't fond of confinement. Nor was he happy about being handcuffed to a cell wall. So when a guard walked past, the father decided to expose himself in a combination of protest and sexual overture.
A videotape shows him alternating between singing the National Anthem, whining about his handcuffs, and asking for America's love. But since it was late at night and most of America was asleep, he appeared willing to settle for some guard love.
At one point he said, "I'll give you a sermon on the mount."
He also wanted to know the price for his freedom. "I'll pay you whatever you want. What do you want? Want me to give you a blow job? Is that what you want ? Do
you want me to be a sexual slave?"
Alas, the fine men and women working the jail thought the latter idea a little creepy, and instead just let him rant. But police say they'll only charge him with the drunk driving, since the video is more than enough punishment for any other crime he committed.

3/4
Woman places 3 calls to 911 to complain about McNuggets incident
Mark Frauenfelder at 10:07 AM March 4, 2009

Transcript of a Florida woman who repeatedly called 911 to report a problem with a Chicken McNuggets order at a McDonalds restaurant. The restaurant took her money, told her they were out of McNuggets, and refused to give her a refund, telling her it was against their policy.
Told McDonald’s was out of Chicken McNuggets after paying for a 10-piece meal, a local woman called 911.
Three times.
“This is an emergency, If I would have known they didn’t have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one,” Latreasa L. Goodman told police. “This is an emergency.”
Latreasa L. Goodman has been charged with misuse of the 911 service and must appear in court.

3/7
Broken toilet delays Pittsburgh flight by 3 hours
© 2011 The Associated Press

March 7, 2011, 2:43PM

PITTSBURGH — A Continental Airlines flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to Houston is running about three hours late because the toilet in first class is broken.
Continental spokeswoman Mary Clark tells The Associated Press that an earlier report that the flight was delayed because a plunger couldn't be found is incorrect.
She says plungers aren't used to repair toilets on airliners. She says, "It's not a toilet like you have at your home. It's a mechanical process to repair the lavatory."
Clark says she doesn't know the nature of the malfunction, but says Flight 655 took off about 11:15 a.m. instead of 8:15 a.m. Monday after airline officials decided to close the broken lavatory. That means all passengers are having to use a lavatory in the coach section.

3/8
Statewide tornado drill pushed back to Thursday
By Jonathan Kealing — Lawrence Journal-World
March 8, 2010, 11:30 a.m. Updated March 8, 2010, 3:00 p.m.

Citing the threat of actual severe weather Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Kansas has canceled the statewide tornado drill scheduled for that day.
The statewide tornado drill is typically a major part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, which runs through March 12 in Kansas.
The drill has been rescheduled for Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
Kansas University had also planned to test its emergency alert system Tuesday, but canceled that after the National Weather pushed back its statewide drill. KU had not yet decided whether to pick Thursday as its make-up date.
The National Weather Service encourages Kansans to use Severe Weather Awareness Week as an opportunity to plan for an emergency at home and at work.

3/8

Thursday, March 8, 1990 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Four Plead Guilty To Removing Corpse
Times Staff: Times News Services

Four young men have pleaded guilty to opening a grave and taking a corpse to an acquaintance's house.

East Wenatchee residents Brian W. Cook, 19; Patrick M. Foley, 20; and Ronald Kramer, 18; and Wenatchee resident Robert G. Belser, 19, entered their pleas Tuesday, two days before their trial was scheduled to begin in Douglas County Superior Court. Sentencing was set for May 1.

The four face maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $1,000 fine for removing human remains. Opening a grave carries a possible penalty of three years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

The four confessed to digging up the body of Alice Hagar at the Hamilton family cemetery in East Wenatchee on the evening of Dec. 1.

they got drunk, dug up a body in a cemetary, and took it to the home of a friend in the middle of the night as a joke. The body was at least seventy years old.

3/12

3/14
Russian Bomb Squad Successfully Defuses Sex Toy
Mar 14, 2011 10:10 PM

A post office in Russia was evacuated on Monday after an alert Russian postal worker called authorities over a package making a "strange ticking sound." After securing the building, the bomb squad discovered the source of the noise: A vibrator. (The device had apparently been turned on accidentally) The AFP reports that "nerves are on edge" and Russians are jittery; in Russia, one supposes, sex toy vibrates you.
-AFP

3/15
Robbery suspect leaves driver's license at scene
Casey Gabriel Stouffer
Posted: 03/15/2011   By: Associated Press

OCALA, Fla. - A 22-year-old robbery suspect left police a clue at the crime scene. He dropped his driver's license.
Ocala Police investigators say Anthony T. Varnum and 22-year-old Casey Gabriel Stouffer were arrested Monday shortly after officers responded to an alarm at the Horse & Hounds restaurant.
Officers saw a 42-inch television leaning against a wall and found a truck, its hood still warm, outside. On the ground was Varnum's driver's license. Police found the pair at a nearby fast food restaurant. Stouffer had screws and hardware from the television bracket in his pocket.
According to a report, the men ran when they saw police pull up just as they removed the last bracket from the wall. They were charged with burglary and grand theft.

3/16
Courageous Teller Asks Bank Robber for Two Forms of ID
By Lisa Johnson Mandell, Posted Mar 16th 2011 @ 2:49AM

A Dallas Wells Fargo bank teller risked her life and thousands of dollars on a bet that a robber at her window would be stupid enough to comply with her request that he show two forms of identification.
But sure enough, her bet paid off! The robber, 49-year-old Nathan Wayne Pugh of Sachse, Texas, actually took the time to search through his pockets and wallet to produce the IDs -- which turned out to be his Wells Fargo debit card and a state ID card. Then the teller stalled even more by very slowly copying the information.
Thanks to her efforts, authorities had ample time to arrive on the scene.
Pugh was apprehended when he tried to flee the bank with $800. He was later found guilty of bank robbery and sentenced to an eight year prison term. He was already on parole for two other aggravated robberies.
There's no word on whether or not the teller was rewarded for her savvy risk. Regardless, she gets bragging rights and a great story to tell her kids.

3/16
Joseph Walsh Calls 911 From Jail to Complain About Being Mistreated
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, at 10:33 am

When we here in the People's Land of Ohio go full moron, we like to do it well. On Saturday night, 26-year-old Joseph A. Walsh did his best to uphold that tradition. He was partying at The Water Street Bar in Sandusky, surely home to a finer class of drunks...
Walsh, however, decided against busting out his jocular mode, and instead opted for general surliness, which is rarely enjoyable in hammered guy settings. He kept picking arguments with other patrons, but refused to leave this fine establishment. So bartenders called the cops.
Police arrived and did the customary Irish cop maneuver -- "everybody move along now" -- allowing Walsh to leave even though he was clearly hammered.
The problem is that Walsh didn't recognize a break when he got one. As he was headed to the car, he got into an argument with one of his friends and decided to shove the man. Police, finally having enough, arrested him for disorderly conduct. They also found coke and a rolled up bill in his pocket.
But Walsh still wouldn't behave. He was belligerent with the cops on the way to the station, and then screamed and slammed on the door in a holding cell. So police handcuffed him to the door to keep him from hurting himself or wrecking the door.
They didn't do a very good job of searching him before he entered the jail, however. Walsh simply pulled out his cell phone and called 911 to complain to the police about how the police were treating him.
His logic is somewhat lost on us. Maybe you can figure it out.
It wasn't the brightest move. Now he's not just facing the disorderly conduct charge. He's also been hit with coke possession and misuse of 911. But at least he's found a much more pleasant home in the Erie County Jail.

3/17
Drunk Woman Complains to Police About Blocking Traffic
Thursday, March 17, 2011, at 6:54 am

On Sunday evening, police in Westminster, Colorado had responded to an accident. It seems a drunk man had crashed his car, but was refusing to turn off the ignition or get out of his vehicle. So the cops naturally blocked him in so he couldn't escape and crash again...

This, alas, caused traffic to back up. And that didn't make 49-year-old Katherine Morse very happy.

She too was drunk, and very much in a hurry to get to wherever her drunk ass had to be. Nor was she appreciative of the way police were blocking traffic while tending to their first drunk. So she got out of her car to berate the officers. They told her to go back and wait.

But Morse, in fine drunk wisdom, thought she'd get much further by being belligerent, since that works 110 percent of the time when dealing with cops. Everyone knows that.

That's when these fine officers noticed that Morse was drunk as well. She was charged with drunk driving and obstructing police.

3/17
Driver Offers to Trade Cop Sex For Tearing Up Ticket
Thursday, March 17, 2011, at 8:06 am

22-year-old Adam Yarbrough of Indianapolis seems to think a great deal of his looks and sexual allure. But his self-image is somewhat contradicted by the fact that he drives a moped -- and he doesn't even do that well. He was pulled over by a female cop for erratic driving...
That's when the cop discovered that our hero not only sucks at moped navigation, but he also had a suspended license. So she wrote him a ticket.
But instead of just taking the hit, Yarbrough thought it wise to bust out his legendary charm. He first offered to pay the cop $5 to tear up the ticket. But since today's cops try to maintain their dignity when it comes to bribery standards, they usually can't be bought for the price of a tuna on wheat.
Yarbrough quickly discovered that he'd erred in lowballing his initial offer. So he decided to pull out of a bribe of limitless value: Sex with Adam Yarbrough. That's right, the holy grail of bare naked pleasure.
"How about I give you a kiss, and well, I haven't had sex in a while, so how about we do that, and then we can just forget the ticket and you just let me go," he said, according to the police report.
Sadly, the officer was unmoved. We can only assume she was a lesbian. Surely no straight woman would forgo this incredible, limited-time-only offer.
When it was all over, Yarbrough wasn't fulfilling a sexual fantasy he learned while watching the Spike Channel. No, he was charged with driving without a license, bribery and disorderly conduct.
The last charge came after the cop rejected his romantic overture. That's when Yarbrough started yelling sexual explicit things at her in a gracious attempt to help her overcome her shyness.
Well played, young sir

3/20

thief who anonymously returned $800 he stole from a store in western Michigan.

What is so bizarre about that? He stole the money 30 years ago.

The thief sent a note and $1,200 in $100 bills to the Barry County sheriff's department in Hastings. The writer admitted breaking into the Middle Mart about 30 years ago.

In a letter packed with emotion and spelling errors, the writer asks for 'help in locating a man' to whom the writer owes the money.

"I did a very bad thing that I am shamed of and have lived with this guilt," the writer said. "I can't begin to say how sorry iam but have lived with this guilt too long. If you do find him, please tell him that I was afoolish stupid man when I did that and iam sorrie."

The $1,200 includes some interest, although the stolen $800 would be worth about $1,800 today. But it's the thought that counts.

Undersheriff Bob Baker said the letter and cash came as quite a surprise.

"This doesn't happen every day," Baker said.

3/21
Fast food rage: Taco Bell customer ends up in SWAT team shoot-out after objecting to burrito 50c price increase
By Daily Mail Reporter
21st March 2011

Faced with a price hike, most people would settle for a strongly-worded letter of complaint.
But one Taco Bell customer was so enraged after his favourite Beefy Crunch Burrito went up by 50 cents that he allegedly tried to shoot the restaurant's manager.
Ricardo Jones, 37, ended up in a four-hour shoot-out with a SWAT team after he allegedly pulled out an airgun, a semi-automatic assault rifle and a pistol at the restaurant in San Antonio, Texas.
No-one was hurt in the incident on Sunday afternoon.
Police initially said Jones could  face three charges of attempted capital murder, but he has instead been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
A straightforward order turned into a terrifying attack when Jones pulled up at a Taco Bell drive-thru in San Antonio at around 2pm.
He ordered seven Beefy Crunch Burritos, but when a female worker told him the price had gone up from 99 cents to $1.49 because a promotion had ended, he flew into a rage, police told the Express-News.

3/22
Man Brings Beer to DWI Court Appearance
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 | Updated 9:51 AM EDT

A 49-year-old man is in Sullivan County Jail without bail after authorities say he showed up for a court hearing on a felony DWI charge drunk and carrying an open can of Busch beer, plus four more cans in a bag.
The Middletown Times Herald-Record reports that Keith Gruber of Swan Lake was an hour and a half late for his court appearance Monday before Sullivan County Judge Frank LaBuda, who asked him if he enjoyed his "liquid lunch."
Gruber said he did, then said he was sorry.
LaBuda sent him to jail with no bail.
"It was obvious he was intoxicated," LaBuda said.
He was also allegedly carrying four more cans in a bag.

3/23
92-year-old shoots neighbor's house after he refuses to kiss her; woman swooned for 'smooth talker'
BY PHILIP CAULFIELD
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A love-starved 92-year-old woman in Florida shot up her neighbor's house after he refused to kiss her, local police said.
Helen Staudinger told police in Marion County that she went over to neighbor Dwight Bettner's house on Monday and refused to leave without a kiss, police said.
The two argued for several minutes before the jilted Staudinger finally stormed back to her home, pulled out a .380 semiautomatic pistol and fired four shots at Bettner's house, police said.
Bettner, 53, said he was on the phone when he heard the shots and that one bullet took out a window and showered him with glass.

3/24

MOM AND DAD ARE PORNO STARS!
Mar 24,2005
AN OHIO teen was severely traumatized after discovering the stars of a downloaded porno flick were none other than his own parents.

Timmy Shannon, 17, recalls the moment that scarred him for life. "I was like five minutes into this porno called Horny House Wives 4, when I thought to myself, ´Hey, that couch looks exactly like the one I´m sitting on. Oh crap, it is!´ I remember the horror overcoming me when I realized the woman bent over that couch was my mother, and the guy giving it to her was my father. I instantly pulled my pants back up and vomited."

Timmy´s parents, "Captain Throbberson" and "Gina Jiggles," as they were credited in the film, believe that their son needs to grow up and get over it.

"Tim´s mother and I are completely comfortable with our sexuality. I think our son´s a little scared he might learn a move or two from his old man."

While his family seems to be in turmoil, Timmy admits that future family gatherings will probably be a little uncomfortable. "Call me crazy, but it´s going to be pretty hard trying to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner knowing that your parents have probably done it all up and down the dining room table!"

4/10
Man Gives Up On Women
April 10, 2003 - Atlanta, USA
Atlanta native auto mechanic Michael Ross publicly declares that he has given up the life long struggle to figure out what women really want. This came after a recently published report estimating American corporations had spent over $1 billion dollars in 2001 to determine what want women want from their products and marketing, and had largely failed. "If combining rooms full of highly skilled experts and truckloads of money can't figure these women out, how on earth is the typical blue collar man with $28,000 after tax dollars a year supposed to?" said Mr. Ross during an interview with Atlanta news reporters. "It may be that these women themselves have no idea what they are looking for or what will win them over. Many admit to having the exact same qualities in one man be endearing, while in another, off-putting." Mr. Ross's web site has generated over 32,000 letters of support from other men in its guest book since his announcement earlier in the day.

 4/23

6/16
La. cabbie accused of extorting 10 percent tip
Associated Press
June 16, 2010, 8:21AM

KENNER, La. — Authorities in the New Orleans area say a cab driver is accused of locking a Texas tourist in his cab and demanding a 10 percent tip on a $33 airport fare.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office says in an incident report that 37-year-old Sohail Kahn was booked with extortion and false imprisonment, and the New Orleans Taxicab Regulation Bureau also seized his permit.
Kahn could not be reached for comment Wednesday by The Associated Press because he has no listed phone number.
The Times-Picayune quotes the incident report as saying the passenger, a 57-year-old woman from Bellaire, called 911 from her cell phone after arguing with the driver for a half-hour.

6/21
Brother, sister battle over butter
Associated Press
June 21, 2010, 1:57PM

WATERVILLE, Wash. — An argument over butter in a macaroni and cheese recipe churned into violence between a brother and sister near East Wenatchee.
A 21-year-old man called police June 6 to say his 17-year-old sister had tried to cut his neck with the serrated edge of a spatula.
The police report says the sister was making macaroni and cheese when her brother asked if she was using butter. That led to an argument over the difference between butter and margarine. And, then butter battle escalated.
The Wenatchee World reports the girl was charged in Douglas County Superior Court with fourth-degree assault.

6/22
Pope visits Lake Simcoe
July 22, 2002 - Ontario, Canada
Not only is it part of the Popes job to visit many parts of the globe, but it is also his passionate goal to see as many places as he can in his life time. When questioned, as to what brought him to Lake Simcoe he replied “Well, I have been everywhere on my ‘must see?list; ‘could be nice?list; ‘well, what the hey list and ‘its so cheap I can’t afford not to?list, now I’m basically going through all the places I really never wanted to go to.

7/15
Police sort out story of New Jersey car crash
Associated Press
July 15, 2010, 8:45AM

VINELAND, N.J. — Authorities say a New Jersey woman told them she was carjacked to cover up the fact that her car crashed because she was having sex.
The 23-year-old had initially told police she got lost on Sunday and asked a man for directions. Police say she told them the man pulled her out of the car at gunpoint and threw her to the ground.
Police say she later admitted she picked up a man and let him drive, and the car crashed into a tree while they were engaged in a sex act. Officers say the car had been set on fire.
The woman is accused of filing a false police report. She has refused to identify the man. The couple met that night.

7/22
AOL Advert Campaign Actor Dies of Boredom
July 22, 2002 - California, USA
Jeffery Goldstein, the actor whose embarrassing line “I love when it says ‘You’ve got mail?, won him enemies the world over, passed away last night due to extreme unbelievable boredom. When questioning his mother about her son she stated, “What he said in the ad was actually true, he would spend hours a day signing up for spam lists, newsletters, write e-cards to himself and even post messages on bulletin boards asking others to spam his email address just so he could hear that retched ‘You’ve got mail?. His mother continued on to explain the cause of the death, “But when the speakers attached to his computer stopped working last night, a few hours after the last ‘You’ve got mail? he slipped into a boredom induced death spiral. The doctor said the symptoms of his death are similar to thousands others who were listening to the latest Celine Dion album.?/font>

7/22
Lack of Talent Contest Being Held for Next Batch of Mac Commercials
July 22, 2002 - New York, USA
Apple's new "Switch" television ad campaign, featuring people who didn't quite know what to do with a Windows based PC that moved to that Mac platform, will continue into the summer season. In order to find actors similarly dense and ignorant to the ones featured in the first batch of commercials, Apple will be holding a Lack of Talent contest. Campaign producer Ted Zielchman commented, "All of the actors we were getting from the talent agencies were too intelligent, and these are people who are usually rejected based on lack of intelligence, so we are faced with a unique problem. I believe though, based on the applicants for the contest so far, we have some likely candidates. Some were unable to even spell their name and had that 'not so bright look on their face' - consistent with the first batch of actors we used. The first batch were easy to find, we visited the local district Mac Club. After that we simply had a hard time finding anyone willing to admit being an Apple user."

7/22
Mo. diners flee without paying, but forget purses (AP)
July 22, 2010

AP – A dine-and-dash escapade went bad when two of the fleeing diners left their purses behind. The Springfield News-Leader reported that no charges had been filed as of midweek against the three women who ran from a Waffle House restaurant Sunday morning without paying their $39 bill. The general manager said the women seemed intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.

7/24
Jul 24, 2009 Louisiana

A man walked into a Circle-K convenience, put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled -- leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer? Fifteen dollars.

7/25
Publisher Releases Guide to Kicking Cats
July 25, 2002 - USA
The 45 page colour instructional book entitled "Kicking Cats" guides men through the process of kicking cats down flights of stairs without repercussions from their spouse or girlfriends. "It isn't as easy as one would think to successfully do and get away with", comments author John Moore. "I was caught numerous times by my at the time girlfriends and eventually became determined to develop a fail-proof process. This book represents years of studying, practicing, research and an estimated 150 test cats. At first I was somewhat alarmed by my dislike for cats, when considering how much my girlfriends and ex-wife liked them. But after talking to scores of other men about my pent up feelings of anger towards cats, I realized I was far from alone. That is why the introduction goes into great detail about the history of cat kicking and some of the current theories on men's hatred of cats. The secret to a successful kick is to first befriend the cat, building its trust in you. It is when the cat is truly relaxed and comfortable around you that you can then angle it towards the stair case for a mighty punt."

7/26
Fake shark devours surfer in latest statue prank
Associated Press
July 26, 2010, 8:07AM.

CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. — A bronze surfer statue near San Diego has been the target of many gags, but never one this big and scary.
Unknown predawn pranksters on Saturday surrounded the roadside statue in Cardiff-by-the-Sea with a papier mache model of a great white shark that appeared to be swallowing it whole.
Crowds of gawkers and photographers gathered around the 16-foot creation after the sun rose.
San Diego County sheriff's Lt. Tony Ray said no criminal report was filed because there was no damage to the statue.
The $120,000 sculpture called Magic Carpet Ride was commissioned by the Cardiff Botanical Society in 2007.
The statue has been bedecked with bras, skirts and witch hats so many times that locals have come to call it "The Cardiff Kook."

7/28
Iowa teen known as ‘Deer Magnet’ after hitting 5
July 28, 2010

AP – A central Iowa teen has earned the nickname “The Deer Magnet” after hitting five deer in the past year. Seventeen-year-old Kacee Larson of Conrad said her string of bad luck began last July when she was driving home from her job at an ice cream shop. She saw the deer an instant before hitting it.

7/29
Man Never Misses Trip To Gym For 5 Years
July 29, 2002 - Florida, USA
In an attempt to force himself into a healthy routine of exercise, a Florida man hired a hit man to kill him if he failed to show up to any of his 3 weekly workouts for the past 5 years. "At first I thought the ridiculous membership fees and that ludicrous up front joining fee would make me workout so I wouldn't waste the money - but that didn't work. Within weeks I was coming up with all sorts of lame pathetic excuses not to go. So I decided that if money wouldn't promote me to go, losing my life would. The hit man idea has worked like a charm, maybe even too good. There were some times that I truly would have preferred not to go, like that time I had bronchial asthmatic pneumonia. I've never had so much dark green mucus running down my face in my life, you should have seen that treadmill afterwards. But with all its ups and downs, my only complaint lately is that what I originally thought were expensive gym fees have been over shadowed by the high cost of the hit man. Now that I want to stop, I can't because I told him to shoot me if I told him I wanted to give up."

8/5
Airlines Take Cost Cutting to New Lows
August 5, 2002 - Mississippi, USA
In an effort to cut costs, major airlines are resorting to cutting back even the smallest of items to curb expenditures. One in particular is the removal of barf bags on flights commencing August. "Annual savings are expected to exceed $450,200US", stated investor relations manager Carol Bauer, "The small percentage who actually use them are increasing ticket prices for the rest." But outraged motion sickness prone travelers had a less enthusiastic view of the matter. "I guess I will just have to hurl onto the meal tray. Frankly, based on my last flight, I don't think the Sautéed Pork and vegetable melody will look much different if I did." said one angry traveler. When the airlines were asked what they expected passengers to do in the event of motion sickness they replied, "Users of our planes who are prone to such sensitivities should bring with them preventative medicines and appropriate containers, we are not operating a flying hospital."

8/8
N.H. open container advocates pick wrong time for drinking game
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aug. 8, 2010, 2:03PM

KEENE, N.H. — A city councilwoman says a group that turned a meeting into a drinking game didn't help its cause: easing Keene's open-alcohol-container ordinance.
Two of the three people charged with disorderly conduct are associated with the libertarian Free Keene movement.
Two of them were drinking from containers labeled "not a beer." Rules posted online required participants to take a swig at the mention of certain phrases, like "call to order."
City Councilwoman Cynthia C. Georgina tells the Keene Sentinel that the behavior at Thursday's meeting was "very disrespectful and disruptive."
Mayor Philip Dale Pregent says there was no way of knowing if the containers had beer, but he says the participants were causing a disruption and declined his request to stop.

8/9
JetBlue flight attendant arrested after NYC ruckus
© 2010 The Associated Press
Aug. 9, 2010, 11:10PM

NEW YORK — A JetBlue flight attendant got into an argument with a passenger on a jetliner arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday, cursed the passenger, grabbed a beer from the galley and then deployed an emergency exit slide and fled the plane, authorities said.
Flight attendant Steven Slater was arrested at his nearby home in the Belle Harbor section of Queens by Port Authority of New York And New Jersey police on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing.
Slater, 39, remained in custody Monday night. His attorney's name wasn't immediately available, and there was no home telephone number listed for him. A woman who answered a phone at a previous residence listed for Slater in Thousand Oaks, Calif., identified herself as his mother but said she wasn't speaking to the media.
JetBlue Airways Corp. said in a statement that it was working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority police to investigate the matter. It said the safety of its customers and crew members was never at risk.
Slater was working on JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh when he got into an argument with the passenger, who was pulling down baggage from an overhead bin, the Port Authority said. The luggage apparently struck the attendant in the head and he asked for an apology, but the passenger refused, the agency said.
As the plane was landing, Slater got on the public-address system and cussed at the passenger, the Port Authority said. He then grabbed at least one beer, activated the slide, slid down and went to his car, it said.
Port Authority police were notified about 25 minutes later.
JetBlue would not say how long Slater had been employed by the company.
By Monday night, several Facebook pages had been set up in tribute to Slater, with many users of the social networking site expressing support for him for walking off the job.

8/12
Impolite Movie Goer Beaten To Death
August 12, 2002 - Michigan, USA
Movie enthusiast Brad Densley was admitted to the emergency room of a local Michigan hospital Thursday evening, and was later pronounced dead. This was after being brutally beaten in a movie theatre for answering his mobile phone during a pivotal moment in the movie's plot. Right away the whimsical monotone song the cell phone rang to immediately started people hissing and moving around in their seats. "As soon as I heard Jingle Bells from across the theatre in mid August, I wanted to hurt someone." said one audience member with a notable look of anger and hatred in his face. But when Mr. Densley then answered the phone, began talking pleasantries in an almost normal voice and proceeded to relay a shopping list to his wife, the audience went absolutely nuts. "It was when he started with the shopping list and he got down to the third item which was, I dunno, milk or something. I really wanted to stick that phone up his ass. Everyone started plowing over rows of seats to get to the guy and ring his neck, including myself." commented one person involved in the beating. "From the moment I saw him in the front lobby I knew he was an arrogant loser from his ill coordinated NY Yankees hat and LA Lakers t-shirt." Stated one man who was able to get a few kidney shots into Mr. Densley before leaving the theatre in disgust on Thursday. When interviewing the wife of Mr. Densley she stated, "This sort of thing has happened before and each time I was beyond embarrassed. But I never thought it would escalate from minor fist fights and kicking matches to the point where he looses his life. I am disappointed that the theatre staff looked the other way and did nothing to prevent my husband's death, with one usher in fact joining in on the beatings." Six men and two women were later charged and sentenced to appear in court, eleven others were issued warnings.

8/15
NC man sent to jail after laughing in courtroom
August 15, 2010

AP – Court is no laughing matter as far as one North Carolina judge is concerned. A Fayetteville man who was waiting for his case to be heard Friday drew the ire of Judge Toni King after starting to laugh in a Cumberland County courtroom. Authorities said King asked 47-year-old Johnny Montgomery why he was laughing, but the man refused to say.

8/19
Man Arrested for Sexually Assaulting Female Manikin
August 19, 2002 - Georgia, USA
A man resembling a giant kid was arrested Thursday for sexually assaulting a manikin at a women’s fashion outlet store. Store clerks describe how the man made several trips past the manikin, and then went up onto the podium where he commenced to fondle the manikin’s breasts. When questioned about the incident, he said "I couldn't help it, she had the nicest set of tits I’ve seen in a long time."

8/25
Man shot in head, but notices only 5 years later
August 25, 2010 at 11:54 am no comments

Police say a man living in Germany was shot in the back of his head, but that it took him five years to realize it. Police said Tuesday that the 35-year-old man was hit by a .22-caliber bullet in the western town of Herne as he was out in the street partying and drunk on New Year’s Eve five years ago.

8/25
Disabled vet wins war over VA blunder
By LINDSAY WISE
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 25, 2010, 11:14PM.

John Paul Scott wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.
"It's in the computer system that you're deceased," repeated an official from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.
The 39-year-old Army veteran from Houston had been calling the VA's hotline twice a day for weeks to check the status of his disability claim. This time, on July 12, the VA official who answered the phone informed Scott he would no longer be receiving benefits because, according to VA records, he had passed away in April.
Scott suffers from vision problems traced to his service in the first Gulf War. In 2008, the VA had cut his monthly disability check by $2,000. Scott appealed. On June 25, he had finally won.
Now a bureaucratic blunder meant that Scott faced a Kafkaesque dilemma: As far as the VA was concerned, he was dead. His disability payments instantly halted. His medical prescriptions stopped. Scott, already in dire financial straits after the reduction in his benefits two years ago, feared he would end up on the street.
First thing the next morning, Scott went to the Houston VA Regional Office on Almeda Road and spoke to a woman at the front desk. Scott gave the woman three forms of ID and filled out a form: "I was told by the Department of Veterans Affairs that someone entered in their computer I was deceased," he wrote. "I am not. Please reinstate my benefits immediately. Thanks, John Paul Scott."
The woman took the IDs and paperwork and returned 10 minutes later to inform Scott that his status on the computer had been corrected from dead to alive. But his disability benefits remained at zero.
Scott said VA officials told him they would pass on the corrected information to the finance section so his benefits could be restored.
A few days later, however, a disconcerting letter from the VA arrived at Scott's home. The letter, dated July 14, was addressed to the representative of the estate of John Paul Scott.
"We are sorry to learn of the death of the beneficiary and wish to express our sympathy," the letter stated.
Delay after delay
In the next paragraph, the letter explained that any money received from the VA after the date of death must be returned. Since Scott supposedly had "died" in April, his estate would have to repay two months worth of disability payments sent to him since then, for a total of $2,002.
Scott continued to call the VA hotline twice a day, only to be told the VA was still working on his case.
"They'd say, 'It only needs maybe two more signatures and it'll be finalized,' " he said. "And they were telling me that for like a month and a half."
In desperation, Scott sent the VA a copy of a default statement from his mortgage company.
"Please forward this to the holder of my file and I can only pray that the error is corrected in time before I become a homeless veteran," he wrote.
VA officials contacted by the Houston Chronicle could not explain the mistake .
"A thorough review of Mr. Scott's records indicate that his benefits were erroneously terminated during a batch processing of death claims on July 9, 2010, at our Hines, Illinois, facility," VA spokeswoman Jennifer Heim said in a written statement. "A veteran is added to the batch-processing list when Department of Veterans Affairs receives the First Notice of Death from a family member or their designee. We are unable to determine what initiated Mr. Scott to be on this list."
'Damage control'
The Houston VA Regional Office and the VA "take incidents like this very seriously and took immediate action to rectify the situation," Heim said.
Scott said his benefits were restored only after a Texas Veterans Commission advocate told VA officials in Houston that Scott had scheduled an interview with the Chronicle. Within days, the VA deposited more than $40,000 in retroactive payments in Scott's account, including his regularly scheduled payment for the month of August, newly increased from $981.50 to $3,039.
"They were afraid of what was going to be reported in the article and at least by correcting it, they could minimize the damage," Scott said. "That's all it was. They jumped into damage control."
He's relieved that his ordeal is over, but Scott worries about the untold number of veterans in financial distress because of incorrect records and red tape.
"It's disgusting, and I hate it because when I think about how much I have to do to get this corrected, there's a lot of older veterans out there who may not have the patience or the time or may not be in physical health to do what I did," he said.

8/26
Man Sues Coffee Shop for Ice Mocha Mishap
August 26, 2002 - Michigan, USA
After spilling an iced coffee beverage onto his lap while driving from a local coffee shop drive-through a Michigan man is now suing the shop for $800,000 in damages and mental anguish. The man claimed it was a "traumatic experience" that has negatively altered his life in many ways. He claims that he was unaware of the frigid temperature of his Ice Mocha or he would have taken better precautions with handling the beverage. The coffee shop owner said during our interview, "Anyone who doesn't know the temperature of a drink that has the word 'ice' in its name has much more important things to worry about than a moment of discomfort due to his own negligence. He sustained no physical harm, there were no damages to his vehicle or possessions except a brown stain on his pants, which I am sure is something he is used to."

9/1
Worlds Cheapest Tip
September 1, 2002 - Arkansas, USA
An Arkansas primary school teacher has been declared the worlds cheapest tipper after ordering more than $250 worth of food and drinks for his wife and self and leaving a 5 rupee tip. Rupee, an Indian currency, is worth approximately 0.02 of an American dollar. When questioned the man replied, "I had just returned from a trip to India and I had mistaken the coins for more valuable American currency." Relaying this to the offended waitress she responded, "His excuse is weak, since when would you be cracking out foreign coins (that do not even resemble American money) as a tip for a $250 dollar dinner? There is no way with a bill like that you would use coins to tip at the customary 10%-15%, and even tipping at something like 3% would still need bills. His tip wasn't even a percent!"

9/2
Mom's pattern: Baby delivered on way to hospital
Associated Press
Sept. 2, 2010, 7:36AM

BETHEL, Ohio — For a second time, an Ohio woman has given birth to a baby who couldn't wait and arrived on the drive to the hospital.
Christina Schuler's 8 pound, 11 ounce son was born Tuesday in the front seat of the family's pickup truck. Her husband pulled over less than a mile from their hospital in southwest Ohio's Clermont County.
The woman from Bethel says her labor this time was even shorter than it was in December 2006, when she gave birth to her son, Ethan, in a car.
The Schulers also have one other child. The father, Nathan Schuler, says if the couple has any more children, they'll have to leave for the hospital a whole lot earlier.
They're asking for suggestions on what to name the new baby.

9/6
Busted pot growers mistake wardens for suppliers
September 6, 2010

California wildlife officials say two men are in custody after a group of marijuana growers started to toss bags full of pot into a pickup truck belonging to game wardens they mistook for their suppliers. State Department of Fish and Game spokesman Pat Foy says two wardens in Tehama County were looking for deer poachers Monday night in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest when they heard footsteps behind them.

9/6
Montana teen accidentally texts sheriff to buy pot
September 6, 2010

General rule of thumb: when looking to buy marijuana, don’t text the sheriff. Authorities said a Helena teen hit a wrong number and inadvertently sent a message to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton, saying “Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?”

9/6
Indonesia’s smoking toddler kicks the habit
September 6, 2010

Indonesia’s smoking toddler has kicked the habit. Footage of 2-year-old Aldi Rizal — who smoked up to two packs a day — puffing away circulated the Internet in May and sparked an international outcry. His parents said he’d throw tantrums every time they tried to stop him from lighting up.

9/8
Xbox Live investigates tussle over town name
By VICKI SMITH Associated Press
Sept. 8, 2010, 12:17PM

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Microsoft Corp. and the chief rules enforcer for Xbox Live are apologizing to a small West Virginia town and a 26-year-old gamer accused of violating the online gaming service's code of conduct by publicly declaring he's from Fort Gay — a name the company considered offensive.
The town's name is real. But when Josh Moore tried to tell Seattle-based Microsoft and the enforcement team at Xbox Live, they wouldn't take his word for it. Or Google it. Or check the U.S. Postal Service website for a ZIP code.
Instead, they suspended his gaming privileges for a few days until Moore could convince them the location in his profile, "fort gay WV," wasn't a joke or a slur: It's an actual community of about 800  in Wayne County, along West Virginia's western border with Kentucky.
"At first I thought, 'Wow, somebody's thinking I live in the gayest town in West Virginia or something.' I was mad. ... It makes me feel like they hate gay people," said Moore, an unemployed factory worker who plays shooters like Medal of Honor, Call of Duty and Ghost Recon under the gamertag Joshanboo.
"I'm not even gay, and it makes me feel like they were discriminating," said Moore, who missed a key Search and Destroy competition because of last week's brief suspension. His team lost.
Angry and incredulous, Moore contacted customer service.
"I figured, I'll explain to them, 'Look in my account. Fort Gay is a real place,'" Moore reasoned. But the employee was unreceptive, warning Moore if he put Fort Gay back in his profile, Xbox Live would cancel his account and keep his $12 monthly membership fee, which he'd paid in advance for two years.
"I told him, Google it — 25514!" Moore said, offering up the town's ZIP code. "He said, 'I can't help you.'"
Mayor David Thompson also tried to intervene, but with little success. He told television station WSAZ, which first reported the dispute, that he was informed the city's name didn't matter. The word "gay," he was told, was inappropriate in any context.
"It was so inappropriate for them, they wouldn't even say the word," Thompson told the AP Wednesday. "They said, 'that word.' It's beyond me. That's the name of our town! It's appalling. It's a slap in our face."
Stephen Toulouse, director of policy and enforcement for Xbox Live blamed miscommunication.
"That is absolutely incorrect" and is not Xbox Live policy, he said.
Xbox Live received a complaint, which was directed to an agent for review.
"Someone took the phrase 'fort gay WV' and believed that the individual who had that was trying to offend, or trying to use it in a pejorative manner," Toulouse said. "Unfortunately, one of my people agreed with that. ... When it was brought to my attention, we did revoke the suspension."
Complaints, he notes, come to agents with no contextual information, including who the suspected offender is or what games they play. The agent simply looks at the language and determines whether it complies with policy.
The Xbox Live player's contract says users cannot "create a gamertag, avatar or use text in other profile fields that may offend other members," and lists potentially dangerous topics such as drug use, hate speech and racial, ethnic or religious slurs.
The Code of Conduct, however, says players may use words including lesbian, gay, bi and transgender to express relationship orientation in their profile or gamertag.
Toulouse contends his team rarely makes mistakes but acknowledged, "Absolutely, a mistake was made here, and we've updated our training to account for that."

9/9
Elderly Man Sued for Stopping at Stop Sign
September 9, 2002 - Atlanta, USA
In a case possibly first of its kind, 67 year old Arthur Thompson is being sued by 32 year old Lynn Manaouski for stopping at a 4-way stop sign. In her statement she described how she came up to the intersection leading into her downtown condo, and rear ended the driver in front of her due to his 'complete and full stop'. She continues to say that of the almost 2 years of living in that particular condominium complex, she had not once been behind someone who had made a full stop at the stop sign, and that his inability to be 'consistent with typical driving patterns' caused the accident. As a result, she is convinced that Mr. Thompson is directly responsible for the accident and should be held accountable for all incurred costs of repair to both vehicles. When reminded that it is the law to make a complete stop at a stop sign, her abrupt response was "I am quite capable of deciding when it is a good or bad time to stop my vehicle."

9/18
Owner of Perfect House Lives in Car
September 18, 2002 - Baltimore, USA
In fear of possibly disturbing the perfection that is his house, Donald Manison has been forced to live in his 1998 Dodge Caravan. “I became obsessive, everything in the house was so photo-perfect that I was eventually scared of walking on the carpet in fear that I might disturb the direction of the carpet threads.?Magazines wanting a glimpse and photos of the perfect house were limited to viewing through opened ground floor windows. When asked how long he will continue his present lifestyle he replied, “If living in my mini-van is payment for a perfect house, I’m willing to pay.?/font>

9/20
Woman stabbed man over feet insult
September 20, 2010

Prosecutors in Washington state say an 18-year-old woman stabbed a 19-year-old man for teasing her that her feet smelled. The Herald of Everett reported the man was found by police with a steak knife sticking out of his back, buried a few inches in. His lung had collapsed. Officials said he’ll recover.

9/25
Wyoming man douses himself in paint to avoid Taser
© 2010 The Associated Press
Sept. 25, 2010, 2:28PM

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A Cheyenne man who doused himself with white latex paint in hopes of avoiding a police Taser was hit with the stun gun anyway.
The Taser chase happened Sept. 16, when Cheyenne police went to Brian Mattert's house on a domestic violence call.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that when police arrived, Mattert thought they'd use a Taser on him, so he hastily covered himself in paint and told officers that if they shot him with the stun gun, he'd die.
Officers told him the paint wouldn't affect the Taser's capability. According to police, Mattert scuffled with officers and was hit with a Taser twice before officers handcuffed him.
He faces several criminal charges. Police say the officers' uniforms had to be cleaned.

9/26
Man dressed as Elmo fights off attacker
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sept. 26, 2010, 5:47PM

WINTER PARK, Fla. — Elmo was not tickled — he was in a tussle.
Police in central Florida say a man dressed as the Sesame Street character was attacked on Saturday at a music store in Winter Park, but he was able to fend off the attacker.
The fight broke out around 3 p.m. The costumed man had been hired to perform as Elmo at a children's event at Guitar Center, but police say the attacker began throwing punches at Elmo.
The performer fought back, even breaking a few fingers on his attacker's hand.
Police haven't released the names of either man. Officers broke up the fight and took the attacker to the hospital, where he was treated and detained for a mental health evaluation. Police say Elmo was unhurt, and that no children saw the fight.

9/27

Stephen Le and two juvenile companions tried to break in to a parked pickup truck in Larkspur, California, on the night of September 27, 1989. But the owner caught them in the act, chased them, and hailed a police car. Le and one of his friends climbed a fence and ran. It soon became apparent that they had chosen the wrong fence – this one surrounded the property of San Quentin prison. The suspects were booked for investigation of auto burglary and trespassing on state property, although charges were never filed. “Nothing like this has ever happened here before,” said Lieutenant Cal White. “People just don’t break in to prison every day.”

9/29
Drunken man drove to get dog home
Published on Monday 29 September 2008 09:08

A landscape gardener's dog led to him driving while more than three times over the limit.
Wayne Clegg called for a taxi after drinking but the driver would not let his dog travel with him.
Clegg, 30, of Meadow Close, Clifton, near Kirkham, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.
He was sentenced to 12 months supervision, banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay 60 costs by Blackpool magistrates.
Pam Smith, prosecuting, said on September 21 at 12.30am police saw Clegg in a Ford Transit van at traffic lights on Mains Lane, Singleton.
The van set off, mounted the kerb and drove along a grass verge for 20 metres.
Clegg stopped when police put on their vehicle's blue light.
When asked how much he had to drink he replied "enough".
A breath test showed 118 micrograms of alcohol in his body – 35 is the limit.
He had a previous drink-drive conviction from 2005.
Mitch Sarangi, defending, said: "He would have had to remain with the dog overnight or leave the dog alone in the van."

10/6
Clown politician must prove he can read
Updated Wed Oct 6, 2010 11:39am AEDT

Titririca won 1.3 million votes in the recent Brazilian election. (AFP: Tiririca's Press Campaign )
Related Story: Brazilian clown elected to congress Related Link: Watch Tiririca's colourful pitches for office A professional clown who won a seat in the Brazilian congress has to disprove a lawsuit claiming he cannot read or write before taking up his mandate.
Francisco Oliveira, a 45-year-old television comic better known by his stage name Tiririca, has 10 days to show he is not illiterate, a judge in Sao Paulo ruled late Monday (local time).
Judge Aloisio Sergio Rezende Silveira overturned another magistrate's decision to throw out the lawsuit after hearing that a police forensic examination raised suspicions over whether it was Tiririca's handwriting on his official electoral application.
Under Brazil's constitution, federal deputies in congress have to be literate to pass laws.
Tiririca became internationally famous after he successfully won a congressional seat representing Sao Paulo in general elections last Sunday.
He picked up 1.3 million votes, the most of any deputy nationwide.
His campaign TV ads stood out for their irreverent humour and Tiririca's tongue-in-cheek slogan: "It couldn't get any worse. Vote for me."
In the spots, he is seen dancing around with a cheesy grin, in a colourful outfit, blond wig and undersize hat, making fun of the legislative institution he was aiming to join.
"What does a federal deputy do? I have no idea, but vote for me and I'll let you know," went one of his ads.
"Vote for me as federal deputy so I can help the needy, especially my family."

10/13
Cops: Man tries to pay for fast food meal with pot
Monday, October 13, 2008

VERO BEACH, Fla. —  A McDonald's cashier called 911 after a Vero Beach drive-thru customer allegedly offered to pay for his meal with marijuana. The Indian River County Sheriff's Office said the cashier called Monday with a description of the vehicle the suspect had been riding in.
A deputy spotted the vehicle, found marijuana in the car and arrested its occupant, 27-year-old Shawn Alexander Pannullo.
Pannullo was charged with possession of cannabis and posted $500 bail. It was unclear if he had an attorney.
A Sheriff's report did not say what the suspect ordered at McDonald's or if he ultimately purchased the meal using something other than marijuana.

10/14
Early Halloween prank? Pilot TPs a high school
Associated Press
Oct. 14, 2010, 1:43PM

WESTWOOD, N.J. — Authorities say a man hurled wet toilet paper on a New Jersey high school from a single-engine plane.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters says the pilot flew over Westwood High School and its athletic fields around 6 p.m. Wednesday night.
Peters told the Record newspaper that children were on the field as the pilot dropped his soggy cargo, littering the area. There were no reports of injuries.
Peters says the Cessna 172S made three passes before landing at an airport in nearby Caldwell. The pilot, whose name was not released, was briefly taken into custody.
Peters says the man may face federal charges of reckless operation of an aircraft and dropping objects from a plane without authorization.

10/15
Teen crashes into center after passing test
October 15, 2010

BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. – A teenager who just passed his driving test crashed into a state driver license center in western Pennsylvania. The accident happened Wednesday afternoon as the teen was trying to leave the parking lot of a driver license center in the Pittsburgh suburb of Bridgeville.

10/19
Rescuers free man with arm stuck down toilet
Posted Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:21pm AEDT

Chinese rescuers have freed a man after he got his arm stuck in a toilet pipe in an attempt to retrieve his mobile phone.
Emergency workers in eastern China say they found the man crouched over the toilet with his entire arm submerged in the drain.
They broke the porcelain bowl with crowbars and hammered the pipes, taking care not to injure the man.
They also managed to find the man's phone, but it no longer works.
It is not clear how the man managed to call for help.

- AFP

10/20
Scientists find 'tipsy' gene
Updated Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:55pm AEDT

 
Researchers believe 10 to 20 per cent of people have the tipsy gene. (Reuters: Toby Melville)
Experts say they have found a "tipsy" gene that explains why some people feel the effects of alcohol quicker than others.
US researchers from the University of North Carolina believe 10 to 20 per cent of people have a version of the gene, CYP2E1, and that it may offer some protection against alcoholism.
People who have the "tipsy" version of the gene break down alcohol more readily, which explains why they feel the effects of alcohol much quicker than others.
This is why researchers believe it could aid in the fight against alcoholism; because people who react strongly to alcohol are less likely to become addicted.
Researchers tested 238 sibling pairs who had at least one alcoholic parent and drank alcohol themselves, but were not yet dependent.
After drinking a mixture of grain alcohol and soda, which was the equivalent of three standards alcoholic drinks, the subjects were asked at regular intervals if they felt sleepy, awake, sober or drunk.
Comparing those results to results of gene tests, researchers found that CYP2E1 on chromosome 10 was responsible for whether the subject could handle alcohol better than others.
The study was published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

- BBC/ABC

10/21
'Dead' woman wakes up in hospital
Posted Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:55am AEDT

A woman pronounced "very certainly clinically dead" at a French hospital has woken up hours later after her sons refused to turn off her life-support system.
Doctors were preparing cancer patient Lydie Paillard, 60, for a chemotherapy session when she passed out, the director of the Bordeaux Rive Droite private hospital, Yves Noel, said.
A doctor managed to resuscitate her and put her on a ventilator but after consulting other doctors, he called Ms Paillard's sons to break the news that their mother was dead.
But her sons would not turn off the respirator and she was then transferred to a local university hospital where a scan revealed that she was not brain dead.
"It's a kind of miracle," Mr Noel said of Ms Paillard, who woke up after 14 hours.
He said the doctor who resuscitated her had committed a communication error, not a medical one, as "he saved her life".
"All I remember is that I felt unwell after receiving an injection to prevent me vomiting," Ms Paillard said.
She also said she felt "more tired than usual" after her ordeal.
"My sons, whom I saw yesterday, explained to me that the hospital wanted to turn off the life-support system because it was over and as they refused, I was taken to the university hospital," she said.
"I haven't really realised what's happened but I think my three sons are the most shocked."
The hospital's management said it would suggest the family meet the medical team responsible for Ms Paillard to discuss the "communication problem".

- AFP

10/21
Fla. woman chooses to go to jail over $7.45 bill
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer

FORT PIERCE, Fla. —  A woman decided to go to jail rather than pay her bill at a Fort Pierce Waffle House restaurant. The total she went to jail over: $7.45. According to a police report, Maryanne O'Neill, 66, ordered coffee and a sandwich at a Waffle House restaurant on Saturday but refused to pay the bill.
The report said an officer asked her to pay or go to jail and she refused.
A jail official said she was released Monday from the St. Lucie County Jail. She was charged with obtaining food or lodging with intent to defraud, a second degree misdemeanor.
If convicted of a second degree misdemeanor she could face up to 60 days in jail and a fine of $500.

10/25
Runaway buffalo found in swimming pool
Associated Press
Oct. 25, 2010, 7:33AM

CLEVELAND, Ga. — A north Georgia man says he and his wife found a neighbor's buffalo in their swimming pool.
Chris Nonnemaker says he and his wife noticed two holes in the pool's cover and went outside to take a look Saturday morning in White County. Nonnemaker says they noticed something moving. (See a photo, video on the buffalo sighting here.)
When he pulled the pool cover back, Nonnemaker saw a buffalo that had escaped from a neighbor's home.
Nonnemaker called police and videotaped the animal's rescue, which involved ropes to help coax the buffalo out near the shallow end.
Deputies say the buffalo belonged to a neighbor and escaped with two others weeks ago. They say those two were caught shortly after they got away.
The owners of the buffalo that was in the pool decided to put the animal down

 
10/27
Grand Theft Dumbo
Monday, October 27th, 2008   Courtesy of AP

He was already charged with stealing a $125,000 Porsche, so when he showed up to court in a fancy, expensive Lexus, police were naturally suspicious.
I guess he figured a Lexus was less conspicuous much in the same way arriving at the courthouse on an elephant instead of a giraffe is less conspicuous.
The stolen vehicle also had several Yorkshire terriers in it, so not only did he get slapped with another vehicle theft charge but he also got slapped with an animal cruelty charge. If he was driving a stolen Hummer, the Sierra Club would be having a field day with this one.

10/27
Prostitutes told to stand out or cop fine
Posted Wed Oct 27, 2010 9:31am AEDT

Prostitutes working along a main road outside a Spanish city have begun wearing reflective yellow jackets to avoid police fines.
Police say the women are a traffic hazard on the busy road in Lleida, east of Catalonia, and face fines of $56 for not wearing the bright bibs.
Officers say they are simply enforcing a law that applies to everyone walking along rural highways.
Lleida recently banned street prostitution.
However, the prostitutes work in an area just outside the city limits.
Police say the women congregate at roundabouts, and without the jackets they pose a danger to themselves and to drivers.

11/2
Man Dressed as a Brethalyzer Cahrged with DWI
November 2,

OXFORD, Ohio, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Police in Ohio said they charged a man dressed as a Breathalyzer with driving under the influence of alcohol and underage drinking.

Oxford police said James Miller, 18, was pulled over just prior to 2:30 a.m. Sunday for driving the wrong way on a one-way street and officers determined the man, who was dressed in a Breathalyzer costume, appeared to have been drinking, WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, reported Monday.

Miller, who had multiple Ohio IDs in his wallet, was found to have a blood-alcohol content of .158 by a test with a real Breathalyzer, police said. He was charged and released into the custody of his girlfriend.

11/3
Cafe awning saves baby in seven-storey fall
Posted Wed Nov 3, 2010 12:10am AEDT

A 15-month-old baby girl survived a fall from a seventh-floor apartment in Paris almost unscathed after bouncing off a cafe awning and into the arms of a passer-by, police said on Tuesday.
The infant had been playing unsupervised with her four-year-old sister on Monday when she somehow fell out of the window, a spokesman for local city police said.
A young man saw the baby starting to fall and alerted his father, who raced to get into position, arms outstretched, to catch her after she hit the awning, the daily Le Parisien reported.
"He must have played rugby for years to have developed reflexes like that," a bystander who saw the incident told the paper.
Police said the girl appeared to have no serious injuries and was under observation in a nearby hospital.
The owner of the cafe, located at the foot of the block of flats in the northeast of Paris, said it was a stroke of luck he had decided to leave the awning open that afternoon.
"I usually close it to stop it catching fire as people tend to throw their cigarette butts onto it," he told the television station i-tele.
The police spokesman said the circumstances behind the accident were unclear.
"The parents were absent, and it's a bit difficult questioning the two girls, given their age," he said.

- Reuters

11/4
Tardy traveller makes phoney bomb threat
By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy
Posted Thu Nov 4, 2010 5:09pm AEDT

A man in South Korea who was running late for a flight has been arrested for phoning in a bomb threat to delay the plane.
The man, identified only as Shin, was running late for a flight out of Gimpo airport, west of Seoul.
In an effort to delay the plane he called the airport from a pay phone and warned that a bomb would explode on the flight.
The plane was delayed for two hours and the man managed to board the flight and fly to a resort island.
He was arrested yesterday when he returned to Seoul.
South Korea is on high alert ahead of next week's G20 leader's summit in Seoul.

11/13/1990
In Oslo, Norway, Jermund Skogstad, fifty, was moving into his new apartment when he took a break to get something to eat. He went to a nearby cafe but forgot to take his wallet, which contained his new address. He was unable to find his way home. "This is embarrassing," he told a newspaper a month later, hoping word of his plight would reach his new landlady, whom he had paid a month's rent in advance.

11/18
Man charged with eat and run at top restaurants
Posted Thu Nov 18, 2010 7:02am AEDT

An unemployed man has been charged with wining and dining at a series of London's top restaurants, running up massive bills and then disappearing without paying.
Latvian Janis Nords, 27, is accused of carrying out the scam on three occasions between October 14 and November 15.
He is accused of running off after amassing a 349-pound ($568) bill at the Glass House restaurant in Richmond, south-west London, and a 965-pound ($1,565) bill at the Connaught Hotel in central London.
The largest unpaid bill was at L'Oranger French restaurant in central London where he is accused of failing to pay for 1,021 pounds ($1,656) worth of food and drink.
Nords is due to appear in court later on Wednesday (local time).

- Reuters
 

11/19
Police Use Oil To Free Suspect
November 19, 2007 Courtesy of AP

Authorities used vegetable oil to free a man who said he became trapped in the vent shaft of a grocery store when he tried to rob it.
Adam F. Cooper, 19, was being held on $10,000 bail Friday on charges including burglary and criminal mischief.
Authorities said Cooper was found Tuesday night in the shaft between the ceiling and the roof of the store after someone heard him screaming for help.
Emergency workers cut Cooper's sweatshirt away, poured vegetable oil taken from a store shelf down the shaft and handed him a rope. Four men on the roof then pulled him out, said Thorntown Deputy Marshal Chad Clendening. He was trapped for at least an hour.
"He's really lucky someone heard him yelling," Clendening said. "Otherwise, we probably would have been removing a corpse the next morning."
Earlier that day, Cooper had been on a team that cleaned the store's vent, authorities said. He reportedly told police he was able to move through the vent while he was working, so he figured he could use it to rob the store.
The Associated Press left a message Friday seeking comment from Cooper's attorney, Michael Gross.

11/20
Child Charged for DUI w/ Dad in Passenger Seat
November 20, 2007 Courtesy of AP

A police officer checking on a truck that got stuck in the mud at a city park was startled to find a 13-year-old boy behind the wheel. The boy's father, who was sitting in the passenger seat, told police he had had too much to drink and let his son drive. The boy had been drinking, too, police said.
"(The boy) even said he didn't want to drive because he was too drunk," McLellan told The Flint Journal for a story published Thursday.
Open containers of beer and liquor were found in the vehicle, said Clio Police Chief James McLellan.
The father, a 41-year-old Flint-area man, is facing several misdemeanor counts, including child endangerment, allowing an intoxicated person to drive his vehicle and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive, police said.
The boy has been petitioned into juvenile court on charges that include driving while intoxicated, police said.
The two were arrested Nov. 8. They apparently were trying to get home when they turned into the park to turn around. The truck rolled off the pavement and became stuck in the muddy soil.

11/21
Drunken priest punches cop
November 21, 2007 Courtesy of Stuff

A Mexican priest briefly ended up behind bars after punching a policemen who caught him driving drunkenly through the streets of the northern city of Monterrey.
Priest Manuel Raul Ortega, who was not wearing clerical dress but was clutching a prayer book when captured, launched himself at the traffic cop who pulled him over earlier this week.
"The individual became very violent because they were going to tow away his car.
He attacked a policeman and was taken away," said transit department spokesman Hector Lozano.
Ortega's papers identified him as a priest. He was released a few hours after his arrest after paying the fines for his offenses.
Monterrey and Mexico City are in the midst of a tough new drive to clamp down on widespread drunken driving after tequila and beer-fueled lunches and parties

11/22
Man Arrested After Reporting Pot Theft
November 22, 2007 Courtesy of AP

McALLEN, Texas - A man was arrested for drug possession after telling authorities that two masked gunmen had stolen 150 pounds of marijuana from his home.
Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies arrived at the home near Penitas in South Texas to find the door kicked in and nearly 15 pounds of pot lying on the floor, Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.
Jose Guadalupe Flores, 35, escaped while the men ransacked the house but returned later and told the deputies he had been wrapping the drugs for shipment when the intruders arrived.
"The guy walked right up and said the drugs were his," Trevino said. "That's not the smartest move."
Flores, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was charged with felony possession of marijuana at an arraignment hearing Monday. Because of his immigration status, Flores will be jailed until his case is heard.
Authorities were still searching for the gunmen.

11/23
Visitor to lawmen: I just smoked crack
November 23, 2007 Courtesy of Northwest Florida Daily News

SHALIMAR — A woman who came to the Sheriff’s Office offering special information about drugs in the county was booked and jailed after she told investigators she smoked crack right before she came in the building.
Investigators say 30-year-old Kristen Paige Lowery “appeared to be under the influence of narcotics” when she came inside the Okaloosa County Multi-Agency Drug Task Force Office on Thursday.
When they asked her what type of drug she was using, she replied, “Crack,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.
When they asked her when she last used it, she said she’d smoked some just before she arrived.
Lowery was arrested on an active warrant for writing worthless checks. When deputies searched her car, they found crack and paraphernalia, including scales covered with cocaine residue.
She was charged with possession of cocaine and possession of paraphernalia and taken to the Okaloosa County Jail.

11/24
Police station no place to smoke weed
November 24, 2007 Courtesy of AP

A man is facing drug charges after he allegedly walked into the Danbury police station puffing on a marijuana-filled cigar.
Capt. Robert Myles says Scott Snow walked into the station early Saturday and blew smoke from his cigar into a small opening in the bullet-resistant glass separating desk officers from the public.
Myles says the 24-year-old man was told there's no smoking inside the building and he allegedly stubbed out the cigar on the counter.
Officers came out and smelled the distinctive odor of marijuana and arrested Snow.
Police say they found more alleged marijuana in Snow's pants. He has been released after posting bond.

11/25
Man charged with DUI three times in 24 hours
November 25, 2007 Courtesy of PerthNow

A PERTH man has been charged with drink driving three times in 24 hours, his menacing spree ending with a bizarre incident at a police station.
The 46-year-old was first stopped by Boddington police, in the Perth hills on Saturday night, and charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended licence.
He was spotted driving his car again a short time later and arrested for drink-driving, police said.
The man's car was impounded in the Boddington police station but early on Sunday morning, the man allegedly jumped over the fence of the police station, broke open a padlock on a back gate and drove away in his car.
He was caught and arrested again three hours later and charged with three counts of driving under the influence; three counts of driving while under suspension and one charge of trespass.
He's been refused bail and will appear in the Perth Magistrates Court today.

11/26
Man Steals Printer, Calls Tech Support, Lands in Jail
November 26, 2007 Courtesy of PC World

Here's a tip: if you steal a printer used to print driver's licenses, don't call the manufacturer asking for driver software.
It's a lesson that Timothy Scott Short learned all too well this month, when he got arrested after placing a couple of calls to Digimarc Corp.'s tech support line.
Short, 33, is facing felony charges for possession of "document-making implements," in connection with the theft of a Digimarc printer used by the state of Missouri to manufacture driver's licenses.
The printer, along with a PC, were stolen on the evening of Oct. 5 from the St. Charles contract office of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said Trish Vincent, director of the department. These offices are run by individuals who are subcontracted by the department to issue driver's licenses, Vincent said. The pilfered printer could be used to produce a license, Vincent said.
The PC, however, was locked with a key and because the key was stored in a secure location, the PC was unusable to the thief, said Vincent.
So what do you do when you have a stolen driver's license printer, but can't use the PC that goes with it? Enter Digimarc's tech support line.
According to a sworn statement by Secret Service Special Agent John Bush, someone who identified himself as "Scott" called Digimarc two days later and asked if he could buy printer drivers for the model of printer that had been swiped from the St. Charles office.
The Secret Service agent later listened to a recording of this call and recognized Short's voice from a prior investigation, Bush said. The caller also gave Digimarc the same phone number Short had used in an unrelated identity theft case, Bush said.
Short was charged on Oct. 11, and is facing 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine, according to court filings.
"The stolen equipment contains the identifying information and photographs of between 200 to 500 Missouri residents," Bush said in the statement. "The only use of the equipment is the manufacture of state identification documents."
The state has sent notification letters to those affected by the theft, Vincent said. The computer contained name, address and date of birth data, but not Social Security numbers, she added.
Digimarc declined to explain how the Secret Service ended up listening to its customer support calls. "Because of a confidentiality agreement with our customer and because this is a criminal matter, we are not able to comment on the incident," wroteDigimarc spokeswoman Leslie Constans via e-mail.

11/26
Email mix-up lands Aussie a Thanksgiving dinner
By Gemma Breen
Updated Fri Nov 26, 2010 2:52pm AEDT

'It's bizzare': James West at the Tran family home (YouTube)
Related Link: YouTube: dinner with the Trans Related Link: YouTube: Thanksgiving plea After a long-running email mix-up, an Australian man has enjoyed his first Thanksgiving in the United States with a family he has never met before.
James West had been receiving group emails from a family in Florida for three years, but they were intended for a different James West from the US.
After reading some of the emails and looking at the Tran's family photos, curiosity got the better of the young Sydney journalist.
Earlier this week, James decided to confess on YouTube that he was not the real James West, in the hope that they would invite him over for a real Thanksgiving dinner.
"For the first few years I just kind of wrote it off, deleted all of [the emails], I thought it was spam," he says in the video "plea", which was posted on the internet a few days ago.
"This video is to come clean to the Tran family and to say I'm sorry for perving on your Thanksgiving preparations for three years. But it's also a plea to the Tran family to say, can I come to Thanksgiving?"
They said yes, and the Sydneysider headed to West Palm Beach, Florida, for a Thanksgiving under very unusual circumstances.
"It's bizarre. You know that feeling of getting a weird email in your inbox? That happened to me dozens and dozens of times," said Mr West, who was speaking to ABC Breakfast's Fran Kelly from the Tran family home today.
"Fran, who's one of the Trans, she just said: 'It feels like you're already part of the family'. They picked me up from the airport at 6am... and it's all just flowing really nicely."
As requested by the Tran family, James brought some canned corn, but it was confiscated by customs at the airport.
However, it did not spoil what was an "amazing meal", according to James on his latest YouTube video, with the Tran family in the background.
"[It's] one that I'll definitely remember, that's for sure," he said.
And according to the Aussie James West, the real James West is "a champ".
"He's just a regular dude living in Florida, loving the sun, running a surf shop, surfing a whole lot."
Local media has shown an interest in James' American adventure and he is due to return to Sydney on Monday.

11/27
Burglar fell asleep on victim's sofa
November 27, 2007 Courtesy of This is Lancashire

A BURGLAR who broke into a neighbour's home was found fast asleep on her settee, Burnley magistrates were told.
Michael Arthur Bolton, 35, had taken a tranquilliser before raiding the home of Michelle Robinson, in Griffin Close, Burnley, which had made him sleepy, the court heard.
And at the time Bolton was on licence after being released early from a two prison sentence for burglary.
Prosecutor Silvia Dacre said Miss Robinson, her child, and a friend and her child, had gone to bed on the night on November 11, locking all doors and windows as usual.
But when she awoke the next morning, just before 6am, she heard a series of noises coming from her front room.
Mrs Dacre said that rather than confronting any potential intruder, she went into the kitchen and rang for the police.
Meanwhile one of Miss Robinson's neighbours, after looking through a nearby window, walked into the living room and found Bolton asleep on the couch.
Bolton was wearing a jacket belonging to Miss Robinson and in his tracksuit bottoms there was jewellery and sweets he had taken from the property.
Outside the house a bag was also found containing other items stolen from the house.
Mrs Dacre said it appeared he had broken into the property by forcing a kitchen window and had simply fell asleep before he could walk off with the stolen items.
It appeared he had taken some form of tranquilliser and could recall little of what had happened in the short time leading up to his arrest, the court heard.
When he was interviewed by police, he initially claimed he had bought the sweets found in his pocket but then accepted, as he had been found in Miss Robinson's home, there was little he could say about the burglary charge.
Magistrates heard that Bolton had been sentenced to two years imprisonment for burglary in October 2006 and was still on licence for that offence.
Bolton, also of Griffin Close, Burnley, who pleaded guilty to stealing goods worth around £150, was committed in custody by the court to await sentencing on December 14 at Burnley Crown Court.

11/28
Robber’s getaway falls short
November 28, 2007 Courtesy of Kansas City Star

A man who robbed the Family Dollar at 39th Street and Indiana Avenue tonight made his — short-lived — getaway on a city bus.
After hitting the store shortly after 7 p.m., the robber headed across the street and boarded the bus, a dispatcher said. The suspect made it about five blocks before Kansas City police stopped the bus and took the suspect into custody near 40th Street and Cleveland Avenue.
The man was reportedly armed, but no one was hurt in the incident.

11/29
Cash Register or Adding Machine?
November 29, 2007 Courtesy of NewsTimes

FAIRFIELD - It's a theft that just doesn't add up.
A man who tried to steal cash from the Dunkin' Donuts outlet on the Post Road on Monday night fled with an adding machine that he apparently mistook for a cash register.
Police said the unidentified man walked into the doughnut shop about 10:28 p.m. and handed a clerk a note stating that he had a gun and a bomb. The man's note said he would use both if he didn't get cash, police said.
The man then grabbed an adding machine, which had no cash drawers, from the counter and ran from the shop.
The thief fled in a black car, possibly a Pontiac, police said.

11/29
Newborn steals show at Vienna theatre
Posted Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:03am AEDT

A performance of Jean Racine's 1677 play, Phaedra, at Vienna's prestigious Burgtheater was upstaged by a real-life drama when a theatre-goer gave birth in the foyer.
The daily Kurier reported that a 40-year-old pregnant woman, identified only as Miryam S, went into labour shortly after the end of the performance.
But before the ambulance could arrive, she gave birth to a baby boy with the assistance of the theatre's doctor.
Mother and child were then taken to a hospital and both are doing well, the newspaper said.
Vienna's Burgtheater is one of the most prestigious theatres in the German-speaking world.
The current run of Racine's Phaedra - in a new staging by German director and Burgtheater chief Matthias Hartmann - is completely sold out.
Hartmann described the dramatic turn of events at the weekend as "an historic occasion".
"Maybe he should be called Hippolytus or Theseus after the two leading male characters," Hartmann said, adding that the boy would be honoured with lifelong free entrance to the theatre.

- AFP

11/29
Car theft suspect nabbed after gas money is requested
Associated Press
Nov. 29, 2010, 6:36AM

ALBANY, Ga. — Note to car thieves: Be sure to take gas money.
Police have arrested a man suspected of stealing a car off the floor of a Nissan dealership, Five-Star Nissan, by driving it through the glass showroom doors. Officers say the big break in the case came a short time later when Jacory Phillips stopped to get gas after the Thursday night burglary but had to beg for money at the gas station.
The gas station called police because of the begging, and Phillips was captured at the gas station in Early County about 50 miles west of Albany.
Phillips has a history of arrests, including being charged with battery and assault in 2008. He spent 60 days in the Dougherty County Jail in 2009 for violating the terms of his probation.

11/30
Don't Go To Court When Wanted
November 30, 2007 Courtesy of AP

SYOSSET, N.Y. — A house burglar was arrested at a court on Wednesday when he showed up for another case, police said. The man kicked in the back door of a home on Aug. 8 and entered but ran off when a teenage girl who was lying on a couch saw him and started screaming, Nassau County police said.
The girl identified the 49-year-old man, who had multiple prior arrests for burglary, in a photo lineup, they said.
The man, from Bayville, was arrested by an officer when he went to First District Court for an unrelated issue, police said. He was charged with second-degree burglary.

12/1
Don't leave clues behind ...
December 1, 2007 Courtesy of The Northern Echo

A BURGLAR who knocked on his victim's door before he crept in through an open window was caught after he left behind medication with his name on.
Heroin addict John Beckwith provided police with another valuable clue at the scene -an imprint of his training shoe on a window sill.
A court heard yesterday that Beckwith thought he was breaking into an empty house because homeowner Jane Simmonds did not answer his knocks on the door.
But the 28-year-old was left as shocked as Ms Simmonds when he walked into her bedroom and found her sitting on a bed having an afternoon cup of tea.
Drug addict Beckwith fled from the three-bedroomed house in Stockton with handfuls of belongings, but dropped a bottle of methadone on the grass outside.
Teesside Crown Court was told that he stole house and car keys, bottles of alcohol, cigarettes and a handbag containing credit cards and building society books.
Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said Beckwith was arrested two days later and said police found the shoe that left the print at Ms Simmonds' home in Hunwick Walk.
Peter Wishlade, in mitigation, said Beckwith had been evicted from his home days before the break-in when police closed it down under drugs legislation.
He said: "He found himself living on the street, wandering around with no money and with nowhere to reside because none of his family would accommodate him.
"He checked by knocking on the door if anyone was in, but unfortunately, the lady did not hear that.
"He was as surprised as she was by the confrontation.
"He ran out. He had no wish to disturb anyone. He would like to apologise for the distress he would have caused that lady."
Beckwith, of Buchanan Street, Stockton, who has previous convictions for break-ins and thefts, admitted the July 28 burglary and was jailed for 30 months.
Judge Tony Briggs told him: "Sneak-in burglaries are very distressing because, however they are committed, however careful the owner is, one always runs the risk of confronting the householder."
The court heard that since he was on remand, Beckwith has reduced his methadone intake and is now employed in the prison workshop making tables and chairs for other jails.

12/1
Walk the Line
Monday, December 1st, 2008

Life would be so much simpler if it were more like the movies. The homely looking guy or girl would get the pretty model or the star football player. The wicked are always punished in some horrible and ironic way that causes karma to realign. No one would have to worry about war or disease except when it’s in large chunks in order to drive its ridiculous plot.
One guy learned that the movies aren’t real the hard way when he stopped his car in a police chase just as crossed the border thinking police couldn’t arrest him, according to WMTW.com.
He led police on a short chase, then when he crossed the city’s border, he stopped his car thinking police couldn’t touch him. Little did they know they still have jurisdiction on his ass.
So when he stopped the car in another city and county thinking he had gotten away, police took him into custody. Then in an ironic movie twist, police drove him to jail by driving off into the sunset.

 
12/1
Hurled empanadas foil New Mexico thief
Associated Press
Dec. 1, 2010, 5:25AM

DEMING, N.M. — Robbers, beware of clerks wielding pastries.
Police in Deming, N.M., say a clerk foiled a robbery last week when she hit the culprit on the back of the head with a package of empanadas, a type of Latin American pastry.
Police say the masked man didn't say a word when he grabbed the cash register at Amigo's Mexican Food and tried to flee.
Deming police Capt. Brandon Gigante says the man dropped the register when the clerk threw the pastries and hit him.
Barbara Orquiz, who owns Amigo's with her husband, Arnold, says the cash register's cord got caught when the man tried to take it. The clerk saw him grab it, screamed and got him with the empanadas.
Orquiz says the man was covering his head as he ran away.
 

12/3
Ex-con allegedly targets cops for robbery
December 3, 2007 Courtesy of UPI

NEW YORK, - An ex-con allegedly tried to rob two people in New York, police said, but didn't notice his intended victims were police officers -- in uniform.
Police said 33-year-old Jermaine Washington allegedly was so intent on robbing someone Saturday that he pulled a fake handgun on the two armed police officers as they walked through Riverside Park, The New York Daily News said.
"It was stupid criminal tricks," a police source said. "The guy didn't even look to see who was coming."
After Washington allegedly pulled his fake gun, the two officers drew their real weapons and Washington surrendered after a short but tense standoff.
Notice to Appear posted by Agent McKay on Monday, December 03, 2007 1 witnesses

12/3
Toddler found with loot in Amarillo
Associated Press
Dec. 3, 2010, 9:59AM

AMARILLO — A neighbor noticed three men in an alley and contacted Amarillo police in a tip that led to arrests and a toddler they allegedly were baby-sitting draped with stolen loot.
Lt. Terry Lichtie says the 2-year-old boy was unharmed in his booster seat in a car, amid laptops, cameras, televisions and weapons.
Police arrested the three men Thursday afternoon on suspicion they took the child they were watching with them while allegedly committing a home burglary.
Police believe the three men had been staying at a motel with the boy and his mother.
Two of the men initially were charged with burglary of a habitation. The third man was released, but police say additional charges are expected against all three suspects as part of a burglary ring investigation.

12/4
Men Steal From Spy Store
December 4, 2007 Courtesy of WNBC

DALLAS - Police said two burglars struck a Texas store that sells high-end security equipment, and the whole thing was caught on tape by 17 cameras rolling in the store.
"The point is, nobody is safe; there is always a stupid criminal out there," said Kris Webb, owner of Spy Supply.
The thieves broke into Webb's surveillance gear store in North Richland Hills, Texas, last week.
"I've got them on no less than 17 cameras," Webb said. "We are a security business."
And if the name of the business wasn't telling enough, multiple warning signs on the store should have given the burglars a clue that they would be on camera.
"It is absolutely astounding that these people have the audacity to steal from us and not expect to get caught," Webb said.
The surveillance cameras caught several clear images of the two men who broke in through the store's front door with a crowbar early Friday.
Police said the duo filled a trash can with close to $10,000 worth of spy equipment.
Authorities said the video even showed a clear shot of their getaway car.
Webb said he's taking the robbery in stride.
"I'm pretty confident they will get caught," he said. "I'm not confident we'll get our equipment back."
Notice to Appear posted by Agent McKay on Tuesday, December 04, 2007 11 witnesses

12/8
Driver nabbed by same cop on other side of the world
Posted Wed Dec 8, 2010 10:23am AEDT

A motorist caught speeding in London two years ago moved to New Zealand only to be booked by the same police officer for again exceeding the limit, reports said.
Former London bobby Andy Flitton ticketed the man in Britain two years ago, shortly before migrating to New Zealand - then caught him again in September on a highway on the South Island, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Mr Flitton, who now works for the New Zealand traffic police, said he had forgotten about the original booking until the man approached him while he was writing out the ticket.
"He asked if I had worked in London, I said 'yes'. He asked if I used to operate the laser gun on the A5 in North London, I said 'yes'," Mr Flitton told the newspaper.
"And he said 'I thought it was you, you gave me my last speeding ticket there two years ago'."
Mr Flitton said the man told him he had moved to New Zealand two weeks before his latest booking, unaware his nemesis was also in the same country.
"We must have some sort of connection," he said. "He only ever broke the law twice and both times I was the one to give him a ticket... it just shows what a small world it really is."

- AFP

12/17
Driver says he was unaware of bank robbery plan
Associated Press
Dec. 17, 2010, 6:24AM

JANESVILLE, Minn. — A 26-year-old man thought he was doing a good deed when he gave a 70-year-old woman a ride to a Minnesota bank.
But police say the woman robbed the bank, and the man was her unsuspecting getaway driver.
The man told the Free Press of Mankato that he thought the woman, who rents an apartment from his mother, was going to the bank to withdraw cash to pay her rent. (See the driver's and suspect's pictures here.)
Instead, employees of the Elysian State Bank reported Wednesday that an "elderly woman" told the teller she had a gun, demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount.
Police stopped the car and took both into custody before determining the woman acted alone.
The Star Tribune reported the woman had a hammer but no gun. She's in jail, pending charges

12/19
Porn shown on Bangladesh airport screen
Posted Sun Dec 19, 2010 7:13pm AEDT

Bangladeshi authorities have launched an investigation after a pornographic film was aired on a large display screen at the country's main airport, a magistrate said.
Hundreds of travellers and waiting friends and relatives at the main terminal of the Shahjalal International Airport were shocked as the film was aired for five minutes on Friday morning, magistrate Siddiqa Akhter said.
The display screen usually shows recorded documentaries about the culture and geography of Bangladesh, a conservative Muslim country.
"The operator has been jailed instantly for two months," Mr Akhter said.
"We have also summoned the owners of the cable firm to investigate the incident.
"We have to find out whether any criminal intent was involved."
Every day, thousands of people throng the terminal to receive or send off their relatives.

- AFP
 

12/22
David A. Goodman the naked mailman shows his naked mug
By Erin Carlyle, Wed., Dec. 22 2010 @ 10:41AM
Whitefish Bay Police Department

Goodman thought his prank would elicit a few chuckles from 21-year-old Tiffany Washington, a worker at a legal office who Goodman had pegged as a little "stressed out." So he dropped his uniform, knocked on the door, and handed Washington the mail.
Washington was not amused. She turned away from him, and held out her hand.
"Give me the mail and get out of here," she said.
According to the police report, Goodman thought he and Washington had a friendly mailman-client relationship going. He told police that, after delivering one batch of mail to Washington, he'd made a joke, kidding with her that he'd come back and deliver a second batch to her naked.
"Oh come on. You don't have the balls to do that," she said, according to Goodman.
Goodman took Washington's comment as a dare, he told police. He came back about ten minutes later, completely in the buff.
Unfortunately, Washington doesn't remember things happening that way. She told police she never heard Goodman make any comment about coming back naked. She certainly didn't dare him, she said.

12/22
'A Dog of Flanders,' overdue for 76 years, is returned
Associated Press
Dec. 22, 2010, 1:37PM

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — Mark McKee can finally rest easy after revealing a "terrible secret" and returning the library book he borrowed 76 years ago.
In 1934, the 13-year-old McKee checked out A Dog of Flanders by English author Marie Louise de la Ramee from the Mount Clemens Public Library.
The Macomb Daily's 89-year-old former publisher says he recently rediscovered the book and mailed it to the library.
McKee says he "was entranced by the book" but always intended to return it.
He's now a winter resident of Chandler, Ariz., and says he recently rediscovered the book among his possessions.
Library Director Donald Worrell Jr. says he was thrilled to get the book and a letter from his friend and says he plans to put both on display. He's waiving any fines.

12/25
Man Arrested for Having Relations With Sheep

Charleston police arrested an East Bank man for allegedly having sex with a sheep used in a West Side funeral home's live nativity scene.
Joey Armstrong, 29, allegedly broke into a shed that housed the animals used in the holiday scene at the Bartlett-Burdette-Cox Funeral Home on Tennessee Avenue about 5:50 a.m. Saturday, Charleston Police Sgt. Brent Webster said.
Police, who were responding to a suspicious person call, say they found the suspect at the nativity scene, Webster said.
Armstrong was charged with trespassing, destruction of property and cruelty to animals. He was being held at South Central Regional Jail on $2,500 bond.
Webster said police are consulting with the prosecutor's office and bestiality charges could be issued against Armstrong.
 

12/28
TV too big for 3 thieves to fit in Lexus
Associated Press
Dec. 28, 2010, 5:53AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Police in California say thieves who stole a large television from a Sacramento home were thwarted when it wouldn't fit in the getaway car.
Investigators say the burglars entered the home through a back window Sunday afternoon, removed the TV and tried to load it into their Lexus. When it proved too big, they left it on the curb and drove away.
The Sacramento Bee reports that a neighbor witnessed the crime and called the police, who traced the car to a 19-year-old man. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property.
Police are still looking for two suspected accomplices.
 
 

 
12/29
State Patrol: Truck thief calls 911 when vehicle breaks down
December 29, 2009 at 3:16 PM

Here's a car thief who needs to find a new line of work. And fast.
A 19-year-old Tacoma man was arrested Monday after he stole a pickup from City Transfer in Sumner and then called 911 when he thought the truck had run out of gas, according to the State Patrol.
Turns out the truck didn't run out of gas. The thief had mistakenly filled it with unleaded gasoline when the truck required diesel fuel, the State Patrol reports. Using the wrong fuel caused the truck to break down.
At about 12:30 p.m., a City Transfer employee was driving south on Highway 167 when he spotted the silver 1985 Chevy pickup, which had been stolen from the company's Sumner yard earlier in the day. The truck was occupied and disabled on the left shoulder just north of 180th Street in Renton.
Just minutes after the employee called police, the driver of the truck called 911 to report the vehicle had run out of gas. Troopers arrived and walked up to the thief, who tried to disguise himself as a City Transfer employee by putting on a fluorescent green safety vest he found in the truck.
A City Transfer employee who had witnessed the man steal the truck from the yard was able to identify the thief at the scene.
The man was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of auto theft. The truck was released back to City Transfer.

Manhattan mom sues $19K/yr. preschool for damaging 4-year-old daughter's Ivy League chances
BY JOSE MARTINEZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Manhattan mom is suing a pricey preschool for dumping her "very smart" 4-year-old with tykes half her age and boring her with lessons about shapes and colors.

In court papers, Nicole Imprescia suggests York Avenue Preschool jeopardized little Lucia's chances of getting into an elite private school or, one day, the Ivy League.

She's demanding a refund of the $19,000 tuition and class-action status for other toddlers who weren't properly prepped for the standardized test that can mean the difference between Dalton and - gasp! - public school.

"This is about a theft where a business advertises as one thing and is actually another," said Mathew Paulose, a lawyer for the outraged mom.

NJ housewife suing Century 21 for $5M over 80 cents
By BRUCE GOLDING and JEANE MacINTOSH

Last Updated: 11:29 AM, February 17, 2011

Posted: 12:56 AM, February 17, 2011

Tweet
More  Print A New Jersey housewife claims retailer Century 21 ripped her off for 80 cents -- and she's making a $5 million federal case of it.

Tova Gerson, a 32-year-old Bergenfield mom of four, yesterday filed the lawsuit, claiming the department store "unjustly enriched" itself and ripped off customers with a coupon-fraud "scheme."

In Manhattan federal court papers, Gerson claims she used a coupon, good for $5 off a $50-or-

more purchase during a Jan. 10 shopping spree at Century 21's Paramus, NJ, store.

Gerson plunked down a total of $106.82, before tax, for items that included faux-suede moccasins, a child's dress, stuffed toy and little girls' lace tights, underwear and T-shirts, according to the filing.

But then, on Jan. 19, Gerson returned a $17.97 kid's ensemble, claiming it was the wrong color, the filing states. Century 21 refunded her money -- minus the 80 cents she'd saved, on a pro-rated basis, by using the discount coupon.

Gerson, a hat designer who sells her creations from her suburban home, flipped her lid.

Century 21's take-back, she claims, deprived her of the "full benefit" of the $5-off coupon.

Gerson argued that if she'd known she'd lose coupon credit on returned items, she would have purchased them separately.

The class-action suit, which names no other plaintiffs, seeks at least $5 million, and contends that "hundreds or thousands" of other shoppers could also be hurt by the store's "fraudulent . . . [and] misleading" promotion.

The store did not immediately return a call for comment.

Gerson's suit was filed by her lawyer dad, Harry Katz, who has a history of going after retailers in federal court.

Dick's Sporting Goods, Casual Male and The Children's Place are among those sued by Katz over alleged coupon "schemes." Those suits were either dismissed or settled.

Asked for comment at her home yesterday, Gerson said, "No, thank you."

Woman sues saying broadcast of wrong lottery numbers devastated her
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Last updated: Saturday February 26, 2011, 10:12 AM
BY MERRY FIRSCHEIN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
A Fort Lee woman who says she thought fortune had smiled on her with a $250,000 winner in a 2009 Mega Millions drawing is suing WABC-TV for allegedly broadcasting the wrong winning numbers and leaving her devastated when she discovered she had won nothing.

 Rakel Daniele is seeking $75,000 in damages from WABC-TV, American Broadcasting Co., the Walt Disney Co. and an unidentified "Jane Doe" in a lawsuit that was transferred to federal District Court in Newark last week from state Superior Court in Hackensack.

Daniele's lawyer, Evan Baker, did not return several calls on Thursday and Friday seeking comment.

James Altieri, the Florham Park attorney representing ABC and Disney, said it is "the company's policy not to comment on pending litigation."

According to Daniele's lawsuit, WABC-TV, the ABC network station in New York, broadcast the winning numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, with the mega ball 12, for the multistate Mega Millions lottery on June 19, 2009.

Daniele held a lottery ticket with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, with the mega ball 6, the lawsuit says.

Despite the fact that the numbers WABC-TV broadcast were wrong, the suit asserts, it compounded Daniele's alleged pain by "negligently, carelessly, recklessly and/or intentionally" rebroadcasting the erroneous numbers the next day.

The correct Mega Millions numbers for June 19, 2009, were 4, 9, 12, 16 and 46, with a mega ball of 44, according to the Mega Millions website.

Daniele was under the impression that she had won $250,000 as a result of the broadcast, the suit states, adding that she was "severely damaged" by relying on the "false and incorrect" lottery results.

The company should have known the numbers were incorrect, the suit states.

The broadcast and rebroadcast of the wrong Mega Millions numbers went "beyond all possible bounds of decency, and were atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community," it asserts.

College student files suit for $1.8M saying Las Vegas hooker didn't spend enough time with him
BY Dave Goldiner
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Friday, January 21st 2011, 4:00 AM

 
Churchill/BloombergHubert Blackman wants a refund, and then some, from a hooker who he says didn't spend enough time on him. Take our PollSin City
Would you have sued over the escort service?

      Yes. A deal is a deal.
 No way. I would never want my name in court documents for soliciting an escort.
 No. It's not a legal business anyways.
 I'm not sure.

 A New York college student who claims a Las Vegas hooker did not spend enough time making him happy has sued her escort service for $1.8 million.

Unhappy customer Hubert Blackman said he was traumatized by the "tragic event," especially when he called cops and they threatened to bust him, the Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday.

"I also would like to get my $275 payment back and a $1.8 million verdict for the tragic event that happened," Blackman said in the suit filed in Manhattan Federal Court, the paper said.

Blackman was staying at the Stratosphere on Dec. 17 when he called Las Vegas Exclusive Personals to hire a stripper.

Blackman said the woman performed a lap dance for $155 and a sex act for another $120.

Instead of staying for the agreed-upon one hour, she left after just 30 minutes.

The hapless tourist called to demand some of his money back.

Then he called cops, who told him he could face arrest because prostitution is illegal in Sin City.

Blackman told the newspaper the stripper solicited the sex act and he was unaware prostitution was illegal in Vegas.

Former Arnold man's suit against bar dismissed
By Chuck Biedka, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Monday, December 27, 2010
About the writer
Chuck Biedka is a Valley News Dispatch staff writer and can be reached at 724-226-4711 or via e-mail.

Ways to get us
 Be a Facebook fan
 Follow us on Twitter
 E-mail Newsletters
 On your mobile

A former Arnold man won't get to sue the bar where he was shot.

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed this month by Thomas R. Galloway, 42, who lists addresses in the 1300 block of Victoria Avenue and in McKeesport.

In the lawsuit, Galloway asked for $20,000 plus legal fees for "hospital expenses, mental anxiety, inconvenience, pain and suffering."

Galloway, who is in jail awaiting sentencing for illegal gun possession, claimed in the suit that Envy bar owner Jonathan D. White was negligent for not searching Galloway and another man who got into a fight in the bar on Feb. 5. Both men were carrying guns when they entered the bar. Galloway's suit claimed he and the other man should have been searched when they entered the bar.

Galloway was convicted in Westmoreland County court on Dec. 6 for illegally having a pistol in the bar. He was not allowed to have a gun because he was convicted of assault with a gun in Lower Burrell in the mid-1990s.

Both Galloway and the man he fought with were shot during the altercation. Galloway spent five days in a Pittsburgh hospital, recovering from his wounds. The other man also survived.

Under the federal court ruling, Galloway could refile his suit in a Pennsylvania state court if he chooses. Galloway had filed the suit himself, without an attorney, and asked for pauper status because he couldn't afford the filing fees. The federal judge also rejected the pauper status request.

According to court records, Galloway has been in and out of prison since 1995. He was paroled in 2001 after serving more than four years but returned to prison on a parol violation in 2003 for another two and a half years. He later served terms in Westmoreland County for crimes including aggravated assault and drug possession.

Man sues restaurant after eating entire artichoke
That’s right, a doctor, no less, is suing because he claims no one told him how to eat an artichoke the proper way
BY: Laura Canter | Fri Nov 19, 2010 
TAGS: artichoke, Houston’s Restaurant, Miami, Miami man sues over artichoke, restaurant sued over artichoke

 
Man sues restaurant after eating entire artichoke ..

Tweet A Miami man is suing a restaurant claiming that the restaurant staff failed to warn him about not eating the tough, pointy leaves of an artichoke.

The most ironic twist to this story is the man is named Dr. Arturo Carvjal. Yes, he’s a doctor with a family practice in Hollywood that wound up in the hospital with severe abdominal pain and discomfort after eating an entire artichoke.

A copy of the court document, illustrates that Dr. Carvajal is seeking more than $15,000 in damages from Houston’s Restaurant, its parent Hillstone Restaurant Group, and the restaurant’s general manager for “bodily injury, resulting pain and suffering, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life,” and health care-related expenses.

The document states that the restaurant servers did not ask Dr. Carvajal whether he was familiar with how to eat the “Grilled Artichokes” special he ordered, nor did they explain that the outer leaves should not be eaten. Later in hospital, an exploratory laparotomy procedure discovered he had artichoke leaves in his small bowel.

“It takes a sophisticated diner to be familiar with the artichoke,” Dr. Carvajal’s lawyer, Marc Ginsberg stated. “People might think that as a doctor, he’d know how to eat one. But he was thinking it was like a food he might have eaten in his native Cuba, where you eat everything on the plate.”

News Source: Globe and Mail

4-Year-Old Can Be Sued, Judge Rules in Bike CaseBy ALAN FEUER
Published: October 28, 2010
Recommend
Twitter
comments (353)
Sign In to E-Mail
 
Print
 
       
Reprints
 
Share
Close
LinkedinDiggMixxMySpacePermalink. Correction Appended

Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.

Readers' Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Read All Comments (353) »
The ruling by the judge, Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, did not find that the girl was liable, but merely permitted a lawsuit brought against her, another boy and their parents to move forward.

The suit that Justice Wooten allowed to proceed claims that in April 2009, Juliet Breitman, 4, and Jacob Kohn, 5, were racing their bicycles, under the supervision of their mothers, Dana Breitman and Rachel Kohn, on the sidewalk of a building on East 52nd Street. At some point in the race, they struck an 87-year-old woman named Claire Menagh, who was walking in front of the building and, according to the complaint, was “seriously and severely injured,” suffering a hip fracture that required surgery. She died three months later of unrelated causes.

Her estate sued the children and their mothers, claiming they had acted negligently during the accident. In a response, Juliet’s lawyer, James P. Tyrie, argued that the girl was not “engaged in an adult activity” at the time of the accident — “She was riding her bicycle with training wheels under the supervision of her mother” — and was too young to be held liable for negligence.

In legal papers, Mr. Tyrie added, “Courts have held that an infant under the age of 4 is conclusively presumed to be incapable of negligence.” (Rachel and Jacob Kohn did not seek to dismiss the case against them.)

But Justice Wooten declined to stretch that rule to children over 4. On Oct. 1, he rejected a motion to dismiss the case because of Juliet’s age, noting that she was three months shy of turning 5 when Ms. Menagh was struck, and thus old enough to be sued.

Mr. Tyrie “correctly notes that infants under the age of 4 are conclusively presumed incapable of negligence,” Justice Wooten wrote in his decision, referring to the 1928 case. “Juliet Breitman, however, was over the age of 4 at the time of the subject incident. For infants above the age of 4, there is no bright-line rule.”

The New York Law Journal reported the decision on Thursday.

Mr. Tyrie had also argued that Juliet should not be held liable because her mother was present; Justice Wooten disagreed.

“A parent’s presence alone does not give a reasonable child carte blanche to engage in risky behavior such as running across a street,” the judge wrote. He added that any “reasonably prudent child,” who presumably has been told to look both ways before crossing a street, should know that dashing out without looking is dangerous, with or without a parent there. The crucial factor is whether the parent encourages the risky behavior; if so, the child should not be held accountable.

In Ms. Menagh’s case, however, there was nothing to indicate that Juliet’s mother “had any active role in the alleged incident, only that the mother was ‘supervising,’ a term that is too vague to hold meaning here,” he wrote. He concluded that there was no evidence of Juliet’s “lack of intelligence or maturity” or anything to “indicate that another child of similar age and capacity under the circumstances could not have reasonably appreciated the danger of riding a bicycle into an elderly woman.”

Mr. Tyrie, Dana Breitman and Rachel Kohn did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Attorney sues Nike after breaking her ankle
9/14/2010 1:00 PM By Kyla Asbury  -Kanawha Bureau
 
S. Pinkerton
CHARLESTON -- A Charleston attorney and her husband are suing Nike USA and Nike Inc. after they claim the companies defectively designed or manufactured a pair of shoes.

On Sept. 2, 2008, Shawna N. Pinkerton was wearing a pair of defectively designed and/or manufactured flip flops made and/or sold by Nike, according to a complaint filed Sept. 2 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Pinkerton claims that because of the defective nature of the footwear, she dislocated and broke her ankle.

The defendants negligently designed and/or manufactured the footwear, causing Pinkerton to break her ankle and suffer damages, including hospital bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other damages, according to the suit.

Pinkerton claims by selling a defective product; failing to warn her of the dangers of the ordinary use of the footwear; and breached express and implied warranties.

Nike owed Pinkerton and her husband, Michael Shayne Pinkerton II, a duty to warn them of any hazards regarding the product and failed to do so, according to the suit.

The Pinkertons are seeking compensatory damages. Mrs. Pinkerton, who is listed on the complaint as staff counsel for Geico in Charleston, is representing herself and her husband.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Carrie Webster.

Las Vegas man sues Alpine attorney for $38 quadrillion
StoryDiscussionLas Vegas man sues Alpine attorney for $38 quadrillion
Janice Peterson - Daily Herald Daily Herald | Posted: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 12:25 am | (5) Comments

Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font size.A Las Vegas man has filed a $38 quadrillion complaint against an Alpine attorney.

John Theodore Anderson, also known as John-Theodore:Anderson in his filings, claims attorneys Douglas Shumway, Benjamin Schramm and Michael Van fraudulently served him with a lawsuit, according to court records.

The dispute stems from a complaint Anderson originally filed against clients of the law firm of Shumway, Van and Hansen for $918 billion. Shumway said his client, Private Capital Group et al, came into possession of mining property in Southern Utah recently after the original owner of the mine defaulted on a loan. The capital group then tried to sell the property, and Anderson put a $918 billion lien on it. In response, Shumway filed a lawsuit for $10,000 in damages to remove the lien, because he said the property cannot be sold with a cloud on the title.

"It'll cost us a fortune if this isn't cleared up," he said.

In court filings, Anderson said he had a contract with the original owner of the mining property for consulting work. He said he was paid $500 when he signed the contract, but did not get the $4,000 monthly payments that were promised him over 16 months of work.

Anderson claims he performed extensive research over the 16 months and paid for travel expenses out of pocket. Shumway, however, said the owners claimed they stopped communication with Anderson because he never really provided any services.

"They assumed it was all dead and gone," he said.

Anderson said the property has been valued $36 billion and asked for 12.5 percent of that value, $4.5 billion. He also asked for additional compensatory damages of four times that amount and punitive damages of 200 times the amount, which added up to $918 billion. In his initial complaint, Anderson said silence on the matter by the defendants would constitute a binding contract.

According to a lawsuit filed by Shumway in July, Anderson put a lien on the property for $918 billion when he was not paid what he asked for. Shumway said he wrote a letter to Anderson after the original complaint, but Anderson refused to accept it because it was not certified mail.

Shumway said he filed his lawsuit in July, but Anderson refused service until mid-August. Once Anderson accepted service in the suit, he filed a second complaint for $38 quadrillion, having multiplied the $918 billion complaint by 204 two times.

Shumway said Anderson wanted to buy the property at one point for $2.5 million. He said Anderson was told to make an offer and put down earnest money, but he never did.

The property is currently being assessed to determine its worth, Shumway said. There is some ore on the property, and if the ore is worth money, it could be valued at $100 million, he said. If it is not valuable, it is just gravel and worth significantly less, he said.

When the assessment is finished, Shumway said his clients could lose a lot of money if they cannot sell the property because of the lien. There have already been offers that stalled somewhat because of the clouded title, he said.

Shumway said the documents Anderson has filed in the case are not normal in civil cases, but part of a packet of documents that people have used. He said he does not believe the documents are legal because they do not follow due process.

"Everything in that document is against our Constitution," he said.

The documents claim that a consensual contract is created when the defendant does not respond the correct way. In Anderson's complaint, he increased damages three different times -- with the initial complaint, after 90 days for "non-payment" and because of "trespass and conversion" when Shumway petitioned to remove the lien.

"No one would ever allow that," he said.

Utah is a good-faith state, Shumway said, where a debtor can terminate an improper lien and a creditor can sue if the lien was valid. As a result of Shumway's suit to remove the lien, Anderson has now filed a document telling the court to take judicial notice that Shumway committed communications fraud.

"If this court does not take care of this rogue Utah attorney, Douglas J. Shumway, who is running rampant, pleading ignorance of the UCC laws, terminating legal UCC filings without consent, shake down and extortion for $100,000, this case will be brought to the federal level immediately," Anderson wrote in the filing.

Anderson also said that in 150 days the defendants have never answered the complaint and "THEY ARE IN DEFAULT AND THEY KNOW IT."

Shumway said he has filed for expedited responses to the complaints from judges in Utah and Iron counties, where they are filed. He said fighting the case in court could cost his clients more than $100,000.

"They're losing money on this, because every single thing costs money," he said.

Civil litigation can get redundant, Shumway said, so he said he enjoys getting cases that are off the wall procedurally. He said it provides the firm with experiences that most attorneys never deal with.

"This case, no matter how strange or funny, makes us better at our jobs because you can't just go A to Z," he said. "Mr. Anderson is throwing numbers and smiley faces into my alphabet, and I appreciate that, even though in the end I think he will be sorely disappointed with the result."

When contacted, Anderson said this is a case that is not up for litigation. He said his views on the situation are clear in his filings.

"I'm not going to try this thing in the paper," he said.

If Shumway loses the lawsuit and Anderson is awarded $38 quadrillion, or perhaps 204 times that amount, Shumway said he is not sure how he will pay it. At any given time, about $24 trillion is in use around the world.

"I don't know what that calculates to if I can't buy the entire world," he said.

99 Cents Only Stores sued over price increase
The chain has been hit with two class-action lawsuits alleging unfair and deceptive business practices and misleading advertising after it raised the top price of goods to 99.99 cents from 99 cents.
July 22, 2010|By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles TimesA fraction of a penny is amounting to one big headache for 99 Cents Only Stores.

Two years ago, the City of Commerce retailer — faced with rising inflation and higher costs — raised the top price of its goods to 99.99 cents from 99 cents. Company executives thought it was a clever way to increase sales while staying loyal to the chain's love for the number 99.

But the move seems to be riling some customers who say they weren't aware of the nearly one-cent increase and felt duped into believing they were still paying 99 cents "only." Because U.S. currency makes it impossible to pay 99.99 cents for an item, shoppers are essentially paying $1 plus tax at the cash register.

Now the company faces two class-action lawsuits that were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court this month. The complaints allege unfair and deceptive business practices and misleading advertising.

"If they call themselves 99 Cents Only, it should be 99 cents," said Dan Callahan, an Orange County lawyer. "We had a survey done before we filed the lawsuit to see how many people thought they were paying 99 cents, and it was just about unanimous that nobody realized that they were paying more than 99 cents. The people who go to that store are typically lower income or seniors, so the people they're taking advantage of are the ones least able to discern the difference and least able to afford it."

The lawsuits are asking for unspecified monetary compensation and contend that 99 Cents Only should have been more clear in its advertising. A judge will decide whether the cases can proceed as class-action suits.

Eric Schiffer, chief executive of 99 Cents Only, said in an interview this week that he didn't believe there was any wrongdoing by the chain, which he said "took every possible effort and avenue to basically bombard the consumer about our increase."

"We changed all the signs, we have a large poster in the window of every store explaining the increase, we put it in our ads in the newspaper, we put it on the radio," he said. "Never mind the fact that the price increase was a very tiny amount, as we all know. So I don't think consumers were misled."

With commodity prices rising, the complaints seem "pretty ridiculous," said Joan Storms, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities.

"As long as they offer the best value in the marketplace, then who cares?" she said. "And where else are shoppers going to get a product for 99.99 cents?"

99 Cents Only opened its first store in Los Angeles in 1982 and has since expanded to about 275 locations, mostly in California but also in Nevada, Arizona and Texas.

When the chain announced in September 2008 that it would increase its prices by nearly a penny, Schiffer estimated that it would bring in an extra $12 million annually, which "will give us plenty of breathing room."

The strategy has worked for the company so far, but Schiffer said this week that he didn't rule out more price increases in the future. "Retailing is a fun business, but it's a tough business," he said, "and it's something we're always looking at."

6/1

Woman Sues Google Over Utah Walking Directions
Woman who says she was hit by car in Utah claims Google provided unsafe walking directions
The Associated Press 
By PAUL FOY Associated Press writer
SALT LAKE CITY June 1, 2010 (AP)
PrintRSSFont Size:  Share:EmailTwitterFacebookMoreFarkTechnoratiGoogleLiveMy SpaceNewsvineRedditDeliciousMixxYahoo
A pedestrian injured by a motorist while following an online route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google Inc. supplied unsafe directions.

Lauren Rosenberg filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking more than $100,000 in U.S. District Court in Utah. It also named a motorist she says hit her.

Rosenberg used her phone in January to download directions from one end of Park City to the other.

Google Maps led her to a four-lane boulevard without sidewalks that was "not reasonably safe for pedestrians," according to the lawsuit filed by the Northridge, Calif., resident.

The case has become a sensation on tech blogs, websites and cable television channels, with critics assailing the woman for ignoring her own safety to blindly follow online directions. Her lawyer, Allen Young, said the truth was different.

Rosenberg believed she could reach a sidewalk on the other side of Deer Valley Drive and tried to cross the boulevard, but didn't even make it to the median, he said.

She was struck by a speeding car on a pitch-black night and received multiple bone fractures that required six weeks of rehabilitation, Young added.

"We think there's enough fault to go around, but Google had some responsibility to direct people correctly or warn them," Young said. "They created a trap with walking instructions that people rely on. She relied on it and thought she should cross the street."

Rosenberg is seeking compensation for medical bills, plus more for lost wages and punitive damages. The lawsuit provided no other information about the woman, who has been misidentified online as a Los Angeles publicist by the same name.

Young said the woman is a native of Northridge in her mid-20s and is unemployed. No phone listing could be found for her.

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said the company had not received a copy of the lawsuit and couldn't discuss it, but she disputed Young's assertion that Google Maps provides no warning that walking routes may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.

 5/17

Toronto woman sues Rogers after her affair is exposed
Published On Mon May 17 2010EmailPrint
Rss ArticleBetsy Powell
 Courts Bureau
A Toronto woman says the billing practices of Rogers Wireless Inc. led to her husband discovering her extramarital affair.

Now the woman, whose husband walked out, is suing the communications giant for $600,000 for alleged invasion of privacy and breach of contract, the results of which she says have ruined her life.

In 2007, Gabriella Nagy had a cellphone account with Rogers which sent the monthly bill to her home address in her maiden name. Her husband was the account holder for the family's cable TV service at the same address. Around June 4, 2007, he called Rogers to add internet and home phone.

The following month, Rogers mailed a “global” invoice for all of its services to the matrimonial home that included an itemized bill for Nagy's cellular service, according to the statement of claim filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

When Nagy’s husband opened the Rogers invoice, he saw several hour-long phone calls to a single phone number.

“Nobody does business this way and he's not stupid,” says Nagy, who is in her 30s. He called the number, spoke to the “third party” who confirmed the affair, which had lasted only a few weeks, Nagy told the Star.

“My husband didn't tell me that's how he found out, he just left.”

“The husband used the previously private and confidential information that the defendant unilaterally disclosed to the husband to inquire about the people that the plaintiff was telephoning and the nature of such calls,” the statement of claim says.

The statement alleges Rogers “unilaterally terminated its cellular contract with the plaintiff that had been in her maiden name and included it in the husband’s account that was under his surname.

“The plaintiff’s maiden name and the husband's surname were different. Such unilateral action by the defendant was done without the knowledge, information, belief, acquiescence or approval of the plaintiff.”

In a statement of defence, Rogers denies it terminated the contract and says the company "cannot be held responsible for the condition of the marriage, for the plaintiff's affair and consequential marriage break-up, nor the effects the break-up has had on her.

“Rogers is not the cause of these. The marriage break-up and its effects happened, or alternatively would in any event have happened, regardless of the form in which the plaintiff and her husband received their invoices for Rogers services in July 2007.”

Rogers acknowledges it “consolidated the invoicing of the various services being provided to the plaintiff and her husband” so that one monthly invoice would be sent to their home. “Apart from administrative efficiency, doing so would result in savings to the plaintiff and her husband for the services.”

Nagy is deeply embarrassed and ashamed about what happened. “It was a mistake,” she said of the affair. “But I didn’t deserve to lose my life over it.”

After her husband left her and their two children, ages 6 and 7, she was so distraught her work performance suffered and she lost her job as an apartment rental agent that had paid her almost $100,000 until she was let go in Oct. 10, 2007. “The plaintiff wept uncontrollably at her workplace . . . and became incapable of performing her employment duties,” reads the statement of claim. Nagy says the employer was aware of the situation and that she was receiving medical attention.

Nagy’s lawyer, Edward Tonello, says this case is unprecedented in Canada.

“In Ontario, we don’t have a privacy act, unlike British Columbia and other provinces.”

Nagy discovered how her husband found out after Rogers left her a voicemail, in late August 2007, advising that it was about to terminate her cellular services because of unpaid invoices. That’s when she learned Rogers had terminated her account in her maiden name and included it in the global account. Rogers says the invoice was sent to “Ms.” and her husband’s surname.

When she confronted her husband, he said, “Thank god for the Rogers bill. Had it not come bundled in my cable service I would never known. That’s the only way,” Nagy says. She asked that his name not be included in the story to spare him further embarrassment. His name does not appear in the court filing.

“I lost everything,” she says. “I want others to know what a big corporation has done. I trusted Rogers with my personal information. We had a contract — and agreement that put my life right in their hands.”

After she terminated her relationship with the “third party” in August 2007, the jilted lover, himself a married father of three, called Rogers and obtained her secret password to her voicemail and used it to access it to harass her and taunt the husband, the statement of claim alleges.

As well, she alleges Rogers disconnected her cellular service in January 2009 and said her cellular phone was being invoiced to her husband's account. The wrongdoing that occurred in 2007 reoccurred, the statement says noting she subsequently switched to another cellular service provider.

Rogers denies those claims.

 4/30

Teacher with rabbit phobia to sue 14-year-old for drawing bunny
A teacher with a phobia over rabbits is suing a 14-year-old pupil for compensation after she drew a bunny on the blackboard.
 
'Not bunny': pupils wanted to see if teacher would 'freak out' Photo: GETTY3:02PM BST 30 Apr 2010
The teacher, from Vechta, Germany, says she was traumatised by the drawing, and claims the girl knew it would terrify her.

She had transferred to the school where a pupil from her former school had just become a pupil and told her new friends about the teacher's fear of rabbits.

"We did it for fun and out of curiosity", one of the girls told a court, adding, "We wanted to see if she would really freak out."

School officials removed her from the class and now the teacher is seeking compensation for her terror and her loss of earnings, her lawyer Manfred Bormann told the court.

The case continues.

 5/10

The devil to pay in suit against city
By JANON FISHER

Last Updated: 6:18 AM, May 10, 2010

Posted: 4:28 AM, May 10, 2010

Tweet
More  Print A school safety officer who sued the city for making her wear what she called a demonic ID card will find out this month if she is going from holy roller to high roller.

Velma Craig, 48, sued the city and the NYPD for religious discrimination after she was booted from her job at PS 235 in Crown Heights for refusing to wear the ID, because she believed the card's fingerprints and computer chips were "the marks of the beast."

Acting as her own lawyer in the $7.7 million lawsuit, Craig -- a nondenominational Christian -- won the case in 2007 when a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that the city did not properly respond.

The judge had asked the city to explain how it would be burdened by making an exception to its ID-card rules to accommodate her.

The city, according to the judge, did not answer the question.

The city has promised to appeal the judge's decision, but only after a jury awards damages.

 4/14

Bungling handyman puts ladder against branch he is sawing off... then sues bosses after breaking his foot    
By Liz Hull
Last updated at 9:39 PM on 14th April 2010
Comments (367) Add to My Stories
As DIY disasters go, they don't come much dafter than sawing off a tree branch that you've just leaned your ladder against.
But when he was asked to prune a sycamore tree in the grounds of a luxury hotel, handyman Peter Aspinall propped his ladder against the branch he was removing instead of the tree trunk.
He sawed through the branch and it plummeted 14 feet to the ground. The ladder and Mr Aspinall quickly followed.
 Bumbling: Egerton House hotel, Bolton, where handyman Peter Aspinall injured his foot after falling off a ladder which he placed against the branch he was sawing off
The 64-year-old broke his heel, damaged ligaments and spent ten days in hospital after the fall.
Yesterday it emerged that Mr Aspinall, who has been off sick since the accident 18 months ago, is suing Egerton House Hotel, near Bolton, for his injuries.
A court ordered the hotel to pay £2,015 after a health and safety investigation concluded that the owners had failed to carry out a 'risk assessment' on the dangers of sawing a tree branch with a ladder against it and should have trained Mr Aspinall and a colleague on where to place the ladder.

3/6

Man sues Canadian airline because they refused to look at his penis
by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Mar 6th 2010 at 10:30AM

When Marcel Cote was in his Air Transat seat back in February 2008, he felt some discomfort "in the area between his legs". He went to the washroom and noticed he was bleeding from his genitals.

He then asked a female flight attendant to send one of her male colleagues, and asked him to examine his bleeding penis.

As can be expected, the flight attendant refused, and handed him some absorbent paper instead. Upon landing, Mr. Cote was transferred to a local hospital, where doctors determined he had a ruptured vein.

Apparently, not having your genitals examined by a flight attendant is enough to sue the airline. Never mind that the flight crew is not trained to perform medical inspections, Mr. Cote claims the incident turned his vacation into a nightmare, and demanded $8,000 (CAD) for the "anguish" he suffered.

Thankfully, the Canadian judge rejected the case, issuing the following statement:

"It was not incumbent upon a flight attendant to conduct the medical examination of a passenger, a measure reserved for the medical profession,"
The judge didn't deny that Mr. Cote was in some kind of discomfort, but she also maintained that his discomfort did not appear to be a life threatening situation.

 2/1

Man says police destroyed mystical powers
Published: Feb. 1, 2010 at 3:19 AM

Comments (4)EmailPrintListen Tweet
SANDPOINT, Idaho, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- An Oregon man claims in a lawsuit Idaho police destroyed the mystical powers of a medicine bag when they opened it during his drunken driving arrest in August.

Craig Clark Show, 49, of Portland said the bag provided protection, had been blessed by a medicine woman and had remained closed since 1995, the Sandpoint (Idaho) Bonner County Daily Bee reported Friday.

The suit seeks $25,000 in damages.

Show was stopped on U.S. Highway 95 in Granite Hill while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after a test revealed a blood alcohol level of 0.16, police said.

In his Jan. 17 complaint against the state police and the Bonner County Sheriff's Office, Show also alleged he was persecuted for his religious beliefs and that his motorcycle was scratched by a drug-detection dog during a search.

The lawyer representing Show in the DUI case moved to suppress evidence on constitutional grounds, but a judge ruled the traffic stop and DUI investigation were conducted lawfully.

Show was supposed to have been tried this month, but was ill. A new trial date is to be set.

 2/1

Judge dismisses man's suit against post office for delivering dead birds
2/1/2010 11:23 AM By Michelle Massey, East Texas Bureau 
 
SHERMAN -- An East Texas Federal Judge dismissed a man's allegations that the post office was negligent in shipping birds through Express Mail.

After an extensive search, a Texas resident states that he finally found the perfect racing pigeons in California and had them shipped to his Texas home. To his dismay, he claims the birds arrived several days late and were dead.

Acting as his own attorney, Mozy Jahanguiri filed a small claims case against the U.S. Postal Service on Nov. 11, 2009, in Precinct Three, Place Two, of Collin County. The defendant removed the case to the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas on Nov. 30, 2009.

According to the lawsuit, the seller attempted to mail the birds from California to Texas through Express Mail. Jahanguiri claims that the post office guaranteed the birds would be delivered the day after they were shipped.

However, the plaintiff said that when the birds did not arrive the next day, he became concerned and started calling the post office. He wanted to make sure the birds would get water and food but claims no one in the post office could help him.

The birds arrived four days after shipment and all of them were dead, the suit states.

Jahanguiri sent the post office manager letters complaining of the shipment but did not receive a response.

The plaintiff believes the post office knew the birds would not be able to live without food or water for five days and should be punished for their cruelty to his birds.

The plaintiff sued the post office under "negligent law of torts" and asked the court to award him $4,800 in damages, $82 in court costs and punitive damages.

The defendant filed a motion to dismiss due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction, and insufficient service of process.

The motion argued the case should be dismissed because the Plaintiff failed to name the United States as the defendant, failed to exhaust administrative remedies and failed to properly serve the United States with the lawsuit.

The motion to dismiss was granted on Jan. 5 and the case was officially closed on Jan. 25.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider referred the case to Magistrate Judge Amos L. Mazzant.

 1/8

Woman claims Oprah, Bushes, doctors behind implant-reincarnation plot
1/8/2010 10:49 AM By Kyla Asbury  -Kanawha Bureau
 
Winfrey
gwbush.jpeg
Click Here to view.
Click here to download
 
L. Bush
CHARLESTON -- A woman is suing Oprah Winfrey, President George W. Bush, Laura Bush and three Charleston physicians after she claims they implanted a camera with wire sensors into her with the intent of reincarnation.

The three physicians are Drs. John Anthony DeLuca, Richard Umstot and Benjamin Dyers.

Emily K. Braxton claims on Feb. 19 and Oct. 20 the defendants poisoned her and caused her to have surgery.

During Braxton's surgery, the defendants implanted a 3-D camera Lucida with a film pack or plate and a wire sensor into her, according to a complaint filed Dec. 9 in Kanawha Circuit Court.

Braxton claims she is being monitored 24 hours a day by the defendants through the camera.

Braxton is seeking damages in the amount of $50 billion and for a court appointed attorney. She is representing herself.

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey.

 1/8

Keanu Reeves faces $3m paternity claim from US woman From: AAP January 08, 2010 10:08AM 9 commentsIncrease Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
Add to DiggAdd to del.icio.usAdd to FacebookAdd to KwoffAdd to MyspaceAdd to NewsvineWhat are these? Keanu Reeves completely denies even knowing the woman who claims he is the father of her children. Picture: Richard Dobson Source: The Daily Telegraph
A PATERNITY suit seeking millions from Keanu Reeves should be dismissed because a DNA test has shown the actor is not the father of a Canadian's adult children, his lawyer has told a courtroom.
Karen Sala claims she had a sexual relationship with Reeves during and after her marriage and that they lived together.

Reeves vehemently denies ever having met the woman.

The woman is seeking $C3 million ($A3.2 million) a month in spousal support, retroactive to November 2006. She also wants $C150,000 ($A158,110) a month in child support, going back to June 1988.

Sala disputed the DNA results in court today, suggesting they had been tampered with or that Reeves used hypnosis to affect the results.

"I do know for a fact that he is the biological father," said Sala, who is representing herself, adding she has proof but cannot show it to the court.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
.End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

She said Reeves grew up down the street from her and she has known him since she was four or five. She did not connect him to the actor until much later because she knew him by the name Marty Spencer, she said.

Lawyer Lorne Wolfson, representing Reeves, suggested Sala's ex-husband is in fact the father of the children, as is stated in documents in their divorce proceedings.

Sala has declined to bring a motion to have her ex-husband's DNA tested and has refused to produce her children's birth certificates, Wolfson said.

Reeves, 45, grew up in Toronto before leaving for Hollywood in 1986. He starred in the Matrix films as well as Speed and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

There is no basis to her spousal or child support claims, and as such there is no reason the matter should go forward, Wolfson said. He brought a motion Thursday that the case should not go to trial.

 12/16

Jury Sides With Movie Theater Chain in Suit Over 'Wet Floor' Sign
Alyson M. Palmer All Articles

Fulton County Daily Report
December 16, 2009
Twitterdel.icio.us DiggRedditGoogle BookmarksNewsvineLinkedInMixxStumbleupon
PrintShareEmailReprints & PermissionsPost a Comment A movie theater chain that lost a trip-and-fall case before a unanimous Georgia Supreme Court earlier this year has been redeemed by a Clayton County, Ga., jury.

The jury decided this month that AMC is not liable to a woman who claimed she was injured after tripping on a "wet floor" sign at the company's theater. According to winning lawyer Christopher M. Ziegler of Atlanta's Gray, Rust, St. Amand, Moffett & Brieske, the jury deliberated fewer than 30 minutes before ruling in AMC's favor.

While he was pleased for his client, Ziegler said the jury verdict didn't override the lesson of the Georgia Supreme Court's ruling, which said the trip-and-fall case had to go to a jury.

"I think the jury verdict is mostly meaningless as to any message it sends to businesses," Ziegler said Tuesday, explaining that businesses still will look to the state Supreme Court's June ruling in the case, one he has said puts businesses in an untenable position as they decide whether to mark a spill with a warning sign. "That decision says a business can be found negligent and liable for marking a spill with a 'wet floor' sign ... at least if the circumstances are right, and, as I read the decision, that's always going to be a jury question."

Decatur, Ga., lawyer A. Thomas Stubbs, who represented the plaintiffs at trial, said the Supreme Court decision told businesses that they "should not think of all warning signs as one size fits all," but the jury verdict had another message for the business community.

"We're in a state where every plaintiff faces an uphill battle," said Stubbs, saying Clayton County is reputed to be a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. "Businesses should be comfortable that jurors are not wide-eyed folks giving away other people's money."

Plaintiff Nancy Sue Brown had visited the AMC Southlake theater on Christmas Day in 2003, a traditionally busy day of the year for movie theaters. A few minutes before the movie ended, an AMC employee set up an A-frame "wet floor" sign over a small spill about 10 to 20 paces outside the auditorium door, according to the Supreme Court opinion in the case.

The opinion says that by the time Brown reached the sign, it had fallen over and was lying flat on the floor. Her vision obstructed by the mass of people around her, Brown's toe caught in the sign's handle and she fell to the floor. Brown and her husband filed suit.

Clayton State Court Judge John C. Carbo III granted summary judgment for AMC because he found that the "wet floor" sign had been properly placed and that there was no evidence that anyone knew the sign had collapsed. But a panel of the Court of Appeals reversed, saying Carbo was wrong to conclude the sign was properly placed as a matter of law.

In a unanimous opinion by then-Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who since has retired from the court, the Supreme Court ruled that a 1997 state Supreme Court decision meant that routine issues of slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall cases -- such as how closely a retailer should monitor its premises and how vigilant patrons must be for their own safety in various settings -- must be answered by juries, not judges. Given Browns' evidence of the risk posed by the A-frame type of "wet floor" sign when used in areas traversed by large concentrations of people, she wrote, the court couldn't say as a matter of law that AMC had fulfilled its duty to avoid creating an unreasonable safety risk for the public.

Back in Clayton County on Monday, Nov. 30, the lawyers -- Ziegler and associate Korey M. Carter for AMC, and Stubbs and John E. King Jr. of Savannah for the plaintiffs -- began picking a jury. According to Ziegler, the lawyers finished their cases around 4:45 p.m. that Friday and received a jury verdict at about 5:15 p.m.

At trial, the parties didn't call any expert witnesses, including the expert whose pretrial testimony about the dangers of "wet floor" signs may have helped the plaintiffs get past summary judgment in the appellate courts. Ziegler said the expert had disagreed with parts of his own affidavit in his deposition, but Stubbs denied there was a conflict. The expert's testimony was useful for the pretrial appellate process, said Stubbs, but wasn't necessary or appropriate given the Supreme Court's ruling that the question about the sign was one for a jury.

The plaintiffs have argued that there were alternatives to the "wet floor" sign AMC had used at the Southlake location in December 2003, such as a more stable sign that's knocked over less easily and a rope line barrier around a sign. But Ziegler said that during voir dire nearly every potential juror agreed with his argument: "I argued that the 'wet floor' sign used in this case was pretty much the normal, standard sign that everyone sees everywhere they go," said Ziegler.

Another key issue at trial was whether the fall at the theater had caused the back injury of which Brown complained. Stubbs explained that Brown suffered a broken foot, dislocated toe and back injury that led to back surgery 23 months later. Stubbs said he asked the jury for $383,000 in total to cover pain and suffering, medical expenses, and loss of consortium for Brown's husband.

Stubbs said he spoke with a few jurors after the trial, and he concluded the jury had found it "impossible to untangle" the back injury of which Brown complained from other back problems Brown had experienced before and after the fall. "We had, we thought, very strong medical evidence that we offered that linked the fall directly to the injuries that she talked about," said Stubbs, "but the jury decided otherwise."

Still, Ziegler said the one juror with whom he spoke -- one of several jurors who had worked with the sort of "wet floor" sign at issue in the case -- wanted to compensate the plaintiff for her medical bills, even though the juror thought AMC had done nothing wrong in putting out the "wet floor" sign. Ziegler said that showed the importance of a judge's ability to grant summary judgment in civil cases. "I was reminded by that comment that there's going to be cases where jurors find no negligence against a business," said Ziegler, "but they're still going to want to award some compensation, maybe out of sympathy, or maybe they think that that's the right thing to do."

Stubbs said his clients are considering their options. "They've got to decide what direction to go, and we're discussing that now."

The case is Brown v. American Multi-Cinema, No. 2005CV07508.

 11/12

Elderly man sues bar after tripping over unleashed pooch: Claims wrecked his knee & sex life
BY Thomas Zambito
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, November 12th 2009, 4:00 AM
 
Bates for NewsIrving Grossman has a lawsuit against the Austin Ale House. He claims he tripped over a dog while there. Related NewsDog walks into a bar, lies on the floor and trips a customer.

It's no joke - it's a lawsuit.

A Queens retiree is suing a popular Kew Gardens saloon, saying he was injured when he tripped over an unleashed dog.

Irving Grossman, 81, says the managers of Austin Steak and Ale House should have known they created a safety hazard by becoming too "pet-friendly."

Grossman claims the fall caused him "severe pain, shock, mental anguish" and ruined his sex life with his wife, Jaclyn.

He went into Austin's to place a bet at their OTB window and stumbled over a Pomeranian on the way out, busting his left kneecap, he said.

"What can I say? It's the story of my life," Grossman said. "I was in a brace for two months."

A manager at Austin's said she couldn't recall Grossman's spill even though she was working that day - April 29, 2009.

In keeping with city law, the bar doesn't allow dogs inside, but a regular customer who is visually impaired brings a Seeing Eye dog, the manager said."No one that I know can remember anything," said the manager, who declined to give her name. "But there is a customer who's handicapped who uses a dog."

There were no dogs roaming the Austin St.bar during a recent lunch hour, although there were plenty of horses - courtesy of the 50 monitors showing live races.

Where There's Smoke, There's a Lawyer
New York City Woman Sued for Smoking by Neighbors in Her Building
 
Do you smoke? Well, you better be careful where. I don't smoke, and I don't like the smell, but what some people are doing to smokers makes me say give me a break.

ABCNEWS.com
Galila Huff was sued by her neighbor's who allege that the smell of smoke from her cigarettes enters the common space of the apartment building.For the last 12 years, Galila Huff has owned Caffé la Fenicé, a restaurant serving Italian food on the Upper West Side of New York City.

Smoking there is forbidden. New York state bans it in all restaurants and bars.

Huff's apartment is a few blocks away at The Ansonia, an ornate turn-of-the-century building that both Babe Ruth and Arturo Toscanini once called home.

Huff lives there alone except for her Chihuahua, and her cigarettes. For 40 years, she's smoked a pack or two a day.

But then in October, she got a letter from her neighbors. It said, "Dear Resident, immediately cease smoking in your apartment, unless and until you take adequate steps to properly ventilate your smoke out of your apartment such that none enters the common hallway."

Huff couldn't believe it. First she can't smoke in her own restaurant, now she can't smoke in her own apartment?

"I mean the cigarettes smell, yeah. But I'm not puffing into their faces," she said.

The complainants -- Jonathan and Jenny Selbin -- wouldn't agree to a television interview, but they did file a lawsuit against Huff, saying she is "willfully, intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently endangering the health of plaintiffs and their 4-year-old son. … As evidenced by her refusal to address the grave danger posed to the health of a small child, despite repeated requests and warnings, defendant's conduct is actuated by evil and/or reprehensible motives."

Huff's dog didn't escape mention in the lawsuit either. The lawsuit continued, "Such motives are also evidenced by the fact that after plaintiffs complained about the smoke, defendant encouraged her dog to urinate on plaintiffs' property and in front of their doorway."

When asked whether it's true that her dog urinated on her neighbor's property, Huff said, "I never saw that, but maybe. I don't know." The dog had no comment.

 10/11

Fat lady stings
Lawyer sues over gym's obese bully
By JANON FISHER

Last Updated: 5:09 AM, October 11, 2009

Posted: 3:15 AM, October 11, 2009

Tweet
More  Print It ain't over 'til the fat lady spins.

A fragile Manhattan lawyer quit his gym after a "large, heavyset" woman sat on him in a bizarre attempt to get him off his stationary bike during an overbooked spin class.

Now he's suing to get his $1,500 membership fee back.

Clyde Eisman, 41, claims he was assaulted by the big-boned, alpha spinner he accuses of "embarrassing and offensive touching."

Eisman says he joined Bally's Total Fitness, at 139 W. 32nd St., in August 2007 for its spinning classes.

The club is only a few blocks from his single-room office on Seventh Avenue, where the former Department of Defense law clerk now hangs his private-practice shingle.

 
CLYDE EISMAN -- Wants fat settlement.
But other gym members were mean to him, and he found it nearly impossible to get a bike seat in the basement spin room, according to his lawsuit, filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Eisman says he "found it difficult for a newcomer to join the spinning class, as the classes were full and seemed to be controlled by a small coterie of members" -- a secret spin society, if you will.

The Tulane Law School grad tried signing up for classes at the front desk, his complaint says, but other members in the busy health club continued to outmuscle the mouthpiece.

Finally, following the lead of other territorial gym rats, Eisman arrived early to class one day and placed his towel over the handlebars of his stationary Schwinn to reserve his space in the class.

Things quickly spun out of control.

While the lithe litigator pedaled away, "a large, heavyset female placed her body over" Eisman, according to court papers. The unidentified woman apparently felt she had first dibs on the spin cycle.

"It was embarrassing," Eisman said in a brief phone interview last week.

He declined to comment Further. Nor would he explain why he decided to file the suit nearly two years after the December 2007 incident.

Bally also declined to comment on the suit, but none of the instructors that work at the West 32nd Street gym seemed surprised.

"People tend to get excited in this class," one said last week. "If they can't get a bike, they freak out. They just want it so much."

Eisman never returned to the club.

This is not the first case of "spin rage" to hit Manhattan.

In August 2007, around the same time Eisman was allegedly being cowed by the plus-size gymgoer, a hedge-fund manager was assaulted by a fellow cyclist for whooping too loudly at an Upper East Side spin class.

The attorney charged in the spin assault was eventually acquitted by a jury.

 7/10

Polish Woman Sues Egyptian Hotel Claiming 13-Year-Old Daughter Got Pregnant From Swimming Pool
Friday, July 10, 2009 

PrintA woman is suing an Egyptian hotel claiming her daughter got pregnant — from using the swimming pool.

Magdalena Kwiatkowska's 13-year-old returned to Poland from their holiday expecting a baby.

Magdalena believes the teenager conceived from stray sperm after taking a dip in the hotel's mixed pool. She is now seeking compensation from the hotel.

A travel industry source said: "The mother is adamant that her daughter didn't meet any boys while she was there.

"She is determined to go ahead with the case."

July 2009
Katy Perry Sues Australian Fashion Designer Katie Perry for Using Her Own Name

Tuesday, June 16th, it was reported in an Australian newspaper that fashion designer, Katie Perry was served a cease-and-desist order from lawyers representing singer, Katy Perry aimed at stopping her from trademarking her birth name for a clothing label. Katie Perry started her "luxury loungewear" line more than two years ago. She has been selling her clothes online and through local stores. She recently opened her first retail store in Sydney when she first filed to trademark her name for the store and her line.

She then received a letter from a British law firm, on the behalf of Katy Perry, asking her to stop selling her line. "I got such a huge shock. It really felt like I was being intimidated and bullied into signing everything away," Katie Perry told the newspaper. "It asked me to give up the trademark, withdraw sales of my clothes, withdraw any advertising and any Web sites and sign that I will not in the future use a similar trademark to Katy Perry. I pretty much burst into tears," stated designer Katie Perry.

"I love my business. I'm not going to give it away without a fight, either," she said. She has also stated that she has no plans to cease and desist just because her name happens to be similar to an internationally famous pop star. Looks like we have a Perry Perry showdown on our hands.

 Irvin Picard Jonathan Lee Riches U.S. District C The “Lawsuit Zeus,” also known as “Johnny Sue-nami,” filed a lawsuit this week in federal court seeking an injunction to stop the Guinness Book of World Records from naming him as the person who has filed the most lawsuits in the history of mankind.

Jonathan Lee Riches, aka Irving Picard, filed his latest legal fight this week in the Richland office of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, although he is incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky.

Riches alleges that Guinness is planning to print false information about the number of lawsuits he has filed, which he says is more than 4,000 worldwide. And he objects to the names Guinness intends to call him, including: “The litigator crusader,” the “duke of lawsuits,” “Johnny Sue-nami,” “Sue-per-man” and the “Patrick Ewing of suing.”

“I’ve filed so many lawsuits with my pen and right hand that I got arthritis in my fingers, numbness in my wrists, crooked fingers,” he wrote – by hand – in the latest filing. “I flush out more lawsuits than a sewer.”

A local federal official, who asked not to be identified, said Riches may be the most litigious person in America.

Riches previously filed a suit in this district against the Peanut Corp. of America, claiming that federal officials fed him salmonella-tainted peanut butter.

Senior Judge Justin Quackenbush entered an order dismissing that case Feb. 23 and warned Riches that he may be barred from filing any more lawsuits in this district.

“Then he files this … again before Quackenbush,” the federal source said. “I think the local connection is that he has been banned from filing suits in so many other courts. But he has a friend in Judge Quackenbush, who at least has written him back.”

In the injunction filed in Richland, Riches – who acknowledges he is receiving treatment for mental-health problems – said: “The Guinness Book of World Records have no right to publish my work, my legal masterpieces.”

Those include lawsuits against New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, former President George W. Bush, Somali pirates, Britney Spears and Martha Stewart, according to a Wikipedia page dedicated to Riches’ litigious exploits.

He’s also filed lawsuits against Plato, Nostradamus, James Hoffa, “Various Buddhist Monks,” the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower and Three Mile Island.

In his latest court filing, Riches wrote about how he sued Black History Month, the president of Iran and butter substitute I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

“When I get out of prison, I’m going to start a Lawsuit 101 shop and teach Americans how to file pro se lawsuits,” meaning lawsuits filed without an attorney, said Riches, who may be released from federal custody in 2012.

“I will sell Jonathan Lee Riches T-shirts (saying), ‘Watch what you do, or I’ll sue you.’ ”

 5/5

Expelled Student's ADA Claim Against Law School Can Proceed
Additional claims are based on the the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act
Sheri Qualters All Articles

The National Law Journal
May 05, 2009
Twitterdel.icio.us DiggRedditGoogle BookmarksNewsvineLinkedInMixxStumbleupon
PrintShareEmailReprints & PermissionsPost a Comment A Massachusetts federal judge recently ruled that Americans with Disabilities Act and related claims against New England Law | Boston can move forward in a lawsuit against the school for expelling a student with learning disabilities who failed two courses.

On April 29, District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton of the U.S. Court for the District of Massachusetts denied the law school's motion to dismiss three claims: an ADA claim; a claim based on the federal Rehabilitation Act barring discrimination in programs receiving federal money; and a Massachusetts Equal Rights Act claim. Gorton's order also dismissed three other claims, including breach of contract; violations of the Massachusetts Constitution's Declaration of Rights; and violations of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act. Brodsky v. New England School of Law, No. 1:09-cv-10007 (D. Mass.).

According to court papers, the plaintiff, Seva Brodsky, was expelled after failing two courses in the spring of 2005, and later learned from medical testing that his "memory and organizational deficits" likely stemmed from an accident in the early 1980s.

The plaintiff claimed he presented medical evidence to the school at a readmission hearing in November 2005 and was told that academic success in a relevant program would boost his chances for readmission.

The plaintiff claimed he was again denied readmission to New England Law | Boston following a second hearing in 2006 despite successfully completing six courses at the University of Haifa School of Law's Global Law Program in Israel.

Gorton's opinion noted that "Congress recently amended the ADA, in response to what it perceived to be an inappropriately narrow definition of 'substantially limited' being applied in the federal courts."

"Although Brodsky has at least alleged a disability that substantially limits his ability to learn, the Court notes that he faces a substantial obstacle in proving the same," Gorton wrote. "In particular, it is less than clear how Brodsky's poor 'executive functioning' and memory abilities impacted his performance in two law school classes but not others. Nevertheless, Brodsky is not required to make such a showing at the pleading stage and his failure to allege other manifestations of his disability does not automatically foreclose his ADA claim."

Brodsky's lawyer, Waltham, Mass., solo practitioner James M. Baron, said in a statement that he and his client are "excited about the opportunity to move this case forward, so that Mr. Brodky will be able to resume his legal studies."New England Law | Boston's attorney Louis A. Rodriques, a Boston lawyer who co-chairs Bingham McCutchen's labor and employment practice group, did not respond to requests for comment. New England Law | Boston did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 4/17

Waxing Mishap Sparks $160 Million Lawsuit
Friday, April 17, 2009 

PrintA New Jersey woman, who said she got second and third-degree burns after using hot wax made by Sally Hansen, is now going after the company.

Carmen Canas filed a $160 million lawsuit against Sally Hansen and its manufacturer Wednesday in Brooklyn District Court in New York, WPIX.com reported.

In the lawsuit, Canas claims the hot wax boiled over in its container as she attempted to remove it from her microwave. As a result, Canas said she sustained severe burns on her lower back, breast and right thigh. The 38-year-old went for treatment at St. Mary’s Hospital in Hoboken, N.J. and was later transferred to a burn unit of another hospital, according to the news station.

"It is unconscionable, how multi-million dollar corporations are placing such dangerous products into the stream of commerce without taking into consideration the user's safety," her attorney, Phil Rizzuto told WPIX. .

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the parent company of Sally Hansen told WPIX the company “has not yet been served with the complaint and has not had an opportunity to review it.”

 1/8

New York Man Demands $1.5M From Estranged Wife for Kidney
Thursday, January 08, 2009 

Print
 

Richard Batista, 49, sued his wife for $1.5 million or the return of his kidney after she dumped him following an alleged affair.
A New York doctor who gave his wife a kidney is suing her for $1.5 million — or the return of the vital organ — after he says she cheated on him with a physical therapist.

Richard Batista, 49, is demanding the sum in the middle of a messy divorce with his now-estranged wife, who suffered kidney ailments for years before the transplant.

The Long Island surgeon said he gave the gift of life to his wife in 2001, but things turned sour just two years later while she was recovering from a karate injury, the New York Post reported.

His wife, 44-year-old Dawnell Batista, had an affair with her physical therapist in 2003, he said. She recovered from the knee injury, but he says her low blow has him all out of joint.

"I saved her life and then to be betrayed like this is unfathomable. It's incomprehensible," he told the Post. "She engaged in an extramarital affair and refused to go to marital counseling and reconciliation."

Two years after the affair began she filed for divorce, and Batista accuses her of trying to limit his access to their three children, ages 8, 11 and 14.

"She slapped me with divorce papers in the operating room while I was trying to save another patient's life," he told the Post.

Divorce attorney Dominic Barbara said this case was a first, and that he arranged for a medical expert to determine his client's kidney's worth.

"This has never been done before in the state of New York," Barbara said.

 11/12

Judge hears $2-billion lawsuit against Wal-Mart, Microsoft over brain control
 A judge has refused to dismiss a "bizarre" civil suit brought by a Nanaimo man, who is seeking
 By The Daily News (Nanaimo) November 12, 2008 Be the first to post a comment
  A judge has refused to dismiss a "bizarre" civil suit brought by a Nanaimo man, who is seeking

$2 billion in damages from Microsoft, Telus, Wal-Mart, the RCMP and other defendants over alleged brain-wave control, satanic rituals and witchcraft.

Justice Fraser Wilson heard from five lawyers on Monday, arguing that the case brought forward by Jerry Rose is so outrageous it should have been dismissed immediately.

Rose's claim states "that he has been subject to invasive brain computer interface technology, research, experiments, field studies and surgery" and also named the University of B.C. and the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons as defendants.

Jennifer Millbank, a Nanaimo lawyer hired to represent Microsoft in the case, said that Rose's two-page statement of claim is "nothing short of bizarre" and that it would be "impossible this would ever be a case for trial on the merits."

But Wilson, while admitting the case was "certainly an unusual one," said he had to be convinced there was nothing in Rose's claim that could not be litigated.

Millbank said there is no scientific evidence to prove brain control is a possibility.

"I think this is akin to someone saying they sustained injuries because their boat fell off the edge of the world," said Millbank. "My clients ought not to be subjected to what is a nuisance lawsuit."

Wilson raised the notorious case of a CIA-sponsored experiment at McGill University between 1957 and 1964 in which people without their consent were given LSD and other drugs. But Millbank said that in this case there are no material facts that a court could act upon.

Microsoft had no direct contact with Rose, and his statement of claim gives no details on how or when the defendants may have harmed him, Millbank said.

Rose, reading from a three-page statement, said the mind-control harassment continues with "brain-drain technologies" under the RCMP and tactics to prevent his case from going forward. Rose said he is asking for $2 billion because of a computer technology he invented that was stolen from him.

"I'm not a lawyer, but I have proof," said Rose.

 10/27

Tit-for-tat extreme: eBay seller sues over negative feedback
By Jacqui Cheng | Last updated October 27, 2008 12:25 PM
Sellers on eBay can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers, so what are they doing when they're upset about a buyer's remarks? Filing lawsuits—at least in the case of Joel Jones. UK resident Jones has filed a lawsuit against Chris Read after Read, the winner of Jones' eBay auction, left negative feedback on the transaction. Jones claims that Read's feedback is hurting his business and insists on pushing his libel suit unless Read deletes his comments.

The story unfolds exactly as many of us jaded eBay users would expect. Read won an auction being held by Jones for a cell phone, but when he received the item, it wasn't exactly what he expected. "I was told the phone was in good condition, but there were scratches all over it, a big chip out of the side and it was a different phone. I paid for a Samsung F700 and got a Samsung F700V," Read told The Telegraph. He promptly returned the phone to Jones and asked for a refund, following up with some negative feedback stating that the phone he received was scratched, chipped, and did not match the model number from the auction. Seems pretty standard, up to this point.

Jones ended up giving Read a refund, but not before declaring that the negative feedback was damaging his business of selling electronics online. Jones began threatening legal action against Read unless he deleted the comments. Read responded that he was appalled by this behavior and said that he would go to court if necessary.

Well, be careful what you wish for. Read found himself the recipient of a pre-court letter from Jones saying that he would be taken to court for £175 and attorney's fees. As to why he filed the suit, Jones told the Telegraph that the feedback was "unfair" and "unreasonable," and that the refund should have warranted positive feedback instead. "I'm losing money by the day and my business could go under because of it. I've been left with no option but to take legal action and I'm sure I'll be successful," Jones said.

It appears as if Jones may have filed this lawsuit regardless of eBay's new feedback system, but many believe that involving the courts in eBay transactions gone wrong could become more common  as a result of eBay's elimination of negative feedback for sellers. eBay announced the changes to the system back in February, when it said it was trying to clamp down on tit-for-tat feedback, in which buyers are reluctant to be entirely honest about transactions because they don't want to receive negative feedback in return. eBay noted at the time that sellers were eight times more likely to retaliate in kind against negative feedback, a figure that had grown dramatically over the years.

Needless to say, sellers were a bit miffed at eBay's feedback changes, and organized a week-long strike that resulted in 13 percent fewer listings on eBay. But, for many people who make a living selling stuff online, eBay is essential to business, and many have begrudgingly returned. Although they can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers, things appear to be operating smoothly—more or less—on the auction site. Libel lawsuits take tit-for-tat feedback a bit too far, however. The sky isn't falling just yet, but if more sellers decided to go after their buyers in the same way Jones has, buyers will be seen running for the hills en masse. And then who will buy all of your handmade duckling sculptures?

 5/9

Man Sues Over 'Anguish, Stress' Experienced During Sex Boycott
Saturday, May 09, 2009 

PrintA Kenyan man is suing for damages over a week-long sex boycott called by national women's organizations in Kenya who were trying to make political leaders put aside rivalries and work together, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Since the women called for the sex boycott, my wife has denied me my conjugal rights. This has caused me anxiety and sleepless nights," said James Kimondo, who is suing the leaders of G10, a coalition of women's groups.

"I have been suffering mental anguish, stress, backaches, lack of concentration," he said, according to a report from the AFP.

The strike ended Wednesday but Kimondo is still pushing his claim in Nairobi's High Court.

 4/6

 How to foil a robber? In Beaumont, start laughing
Associated Press
April 6, 2011, 9:53AM
BEAUMONT — A holdup?

Hilarious.

Police say a Southeast Texas bank teller thwarted an attempted robbery when she read the holdup note and started laughing.

Beaumont police say they’re looking for a man who failed Tuesday in his robbery attempt at a Wells Fargo branch.

Police say a man wearing sunglasses and a hard hat was talking on a cellphone when he walked into the bank and plopped down a note demanding money.

The teller looked at the note and broke into laughter. The man grabbed the note and ran out.

Police say no weapon was shown and no money was stolen. Nobody was hurt.

http://facesoflawsuitabuse.org/polls-archive/

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/County+to+pay+$250,000+to+advertise+lack+of+funds.-a0141461225

12/
"Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25."
--Mary Anne Tebedo (Colorado Republican state senator, 1989-)
http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/images_mc/teen-preg.jpg

police arrest everyone on february 22nd
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bj0fdAQOI98/S4aEZxkjfEI/AAAAAAAABYc/PKC3r-VoYt4/s400/15691_1390255996094_1222925659_31172546_1428097_n.jpg

6/2
federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons
http://cdn.randomfunnypicture.com/pictures/15.jpg

6/24
Chick Accuses Some of Her Male Colleagues of Sexism : Bias: Councilwoman suggests 'gender sensitivity' training be required.
June 24, 1995|HUGO MARTIN | TIMES STAFF WRITERAccusing some of her male colleagues of sexism, Los Angeles Councilwoman Laura Chick lashed out at City Hall on Thursday as the "most sexist, good-old-boys work environment that I've ever been in."

Chick, one of four women on the 15-member panel, made the comments during a luncheon honoring women police officers, an event attended by Mayor Richard Riordan, Police Chief Willie L. Williams and several other top city officials.

The comment drew isolated applause from the audience of 130 or so administrators, police commanders and other guests, some of whom praised Chick after the luncheon for her comments. About half were women

9/29
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bj0fdAQOI98/S4aJ4jqpJVI/AAAAAAAABY8/HGJDSZ_dr5I/s400/slide_5107_70484_large.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bj0fdAQOI98/S4aJwLOOf_I/AAAAAAAABYs/u1ilEHAHEWE/s400/slide_5107_70479_large.jpg

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/images_mc/dead-morge.jpg

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/images_ga/news-2.gif

 Back to Top