Sunday, January 31, 2010

Woman Files Complaint With Mississippi Consumer Affairs Dept. For False and Misleading Online Advertising


Mississippi woman claims consumer fraud

January 28, 2010

Hicksville, MS

A Hicksville woman who filed a complaint against an online clothing retailer, stated in her claim that: "They flat out lied to me, to my face. They ruirned my anniversary trip by sending me the wrong size pants."

The woman said the company's online ad guaranteed they could "fit any size woman" but when her new pants arrived, she "couldn't even zip those suckers shut." She said she had to cancel her 20th anniversary fishing trip because of the improperly fitted pants.

The woman, who asked to remain "synonymous" because she didn't want her husband to find out she was overweight, said she was mortified and almost had a nervous breakdown. She enclosed a photo of the ill-fitting pants with her written complaint, to demonstrate her point.

A spokesperson for the state agency, who also requested synonimity, because he/she couldn't stop laughing, said it might be several weeks before any action was taken on the complaint due to a backlog of similar complaints filed by other MS women.

Incredibly Stupid Grandmother Almost Kills Granddaughter With Prescription Drugs


Missouri grandma accused of drugging 1-year-old child

Jan 30 2010



JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.— A Missouri woman, eaten up with an advanced case of the "dumbs," is accused of drugging her 1-year-old granddaughter, hoping that the child's divorcing parents would get back together if they had a sick child.

Jefferson City police allege in a probable cause statement that 41-year-old Terri Chilton fed her granddaughter blood thinner on Jan. 12, causing the girl to bleed uncontrollably from her mouth, nose and two minor scratches. The girl survived, but it's not yet known if there was long-term organ damage.

The imbecilic Chilton is charged with one count of first-degree child endangerment. Online court records do not list an attorney for the Jefferson City woman, and there was a courthouse rumor that no local attorney was willing to undertake her defense because she is such an idiot. Chilton also did not immediately return a call to her home seeking comment Saturday. She was released on bond Friday and was advised by friends and relatives to jump bail and flee to Mexico. It was not known if she had taken their advice.

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Information from: Daily Capital News, http://www.newstribune.com

$642 Million Accident On Icy, Slick Road



NM road crash turns into 238-pound pot bust

Jan 31 2010



TUCUMCARI, N.M.— Tracks in the snow leading from a crashed car to the nearby bridge overpass on New Mexico's I-40 just didn't look right to officers.

State police say that officers patrolling the stretch near Tucumcari Saturday found that 40-year-old Henry Alan Lowe of El Paso, Texas, had lost control of his sedan and crashed into a snow pile.

Then they noticed tracks leading back and forth from the trunk to the bridge.

They allege that partially hidden under the overpass were large plastic wrapped bundles and inside was about 238 pounds of raw marijuana with an estimated street value of more than $642,000.

Police say Lowe was arrested after being treated for a gash to his head.

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Material from KRQE-TV, http://www.krqe.com

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Gorilla Responsible For Houston Rooftop Blaze


Escaped Gorilla causes fire atop Houston building, sending scores running to escape the beast

Jan 29 2010

HOUSTON— Fire department officials said an out-of-control inflatable gorilla was blamed for a rooftop blaze at a Houston shopping center. No injuries were reported in the fire early Thursday. The remnants of the inflatable gorilla were seen at the site.

District Chief Fred Hooker said some type of a "blowup doll" was on the roof, the item deflated and landed on some lights, leading to the fire.

Fire authorities said two stores suffered minor water damage. Part of the rooftop also was seen to have suffered fire damage.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Wendy's Chili Results in Truck Driver Black Out, Crash Into Home


Truck driver chokes on chili and crashes into home

Jan 29 2010


Lowell, Mass.— Police said a Massachusetts truck crashed into a home after the driver was knocked unconscious by a small chili from Wendy's. Lowell police said Eric Gremm reported that he choked on the chili when the truck hit a bump, causing him to pass out as the truck veered off the road and slammed into the home. The man, 59, said emergency workers at the scene told him that he had passed out, but he could not remember losing consciousness.

Police said the truck hit the foundation of the home, and authorities were worried that the home might collapse when the truck was pulled out.

Gremm was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries.

Police said he could be cited for eating while driving or, in the alternative, for driving while eating. Both violations carry the same penalty so prosecutors normally toss a coin to decide which offense will be charged. If the coin rolls into a storm sewer or is otherwise lost, all charges are dropped, unless there is a death involved.

DWI Teenager Advertises On Facebook For Jail Time


DWI Defendant Goes to Jail After Posting ‘Drunk in Florida’ Facebook Photo

Jan 28, 2010
Debra Cassens Weiss


A 17-year-old DWI defendant’s Facebook photo labeled “drunk in Florida” may be the reason she was sentenced to six months in jail for a crash that killed her boyfriend.

Ashley Sullivan went to Florida a month after the May 30 crash, then posted the Facebook photo chronicling her time there, the Buffalo News reports. Judge Matthew Murphy III of Niagara County told Sullivan on Wednesday that he was troubled by her conduct after the crash, and that’s the reason for the jail sentence.

After Sullivan serves her sentence, she will be on probation for five years. Sullivan emphasized she won’t be allowed to drink during that period. She was sentenced after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

Toddler Dropped From Overpass Onto Highway, Run Over By Truck Causing Head To Explode


Baby's head popped by truck wheel

Star-Bulletin staff

Jan 26, 2010

Mary Susan Arnold cried when she described finding the body of 23-month-old Cyrus Belt on the H-1 freeway on Jan. 17, 2008, under a pedestrian overpass.

"There was nothing I could do," Arnold said, "I held the baby's hand and it was warm."

Arnold was the first person to reach the toddler and one of the first witnesses to testify yesterday in the murder trial of Matthew Higa in Circuit Court. Higa, 25, is facing a mandatory life prison term for allegedly killing the toddler by throwing him off the overpass.

Belt died from multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the nearly 29-foot fall, said Dr. Gayle Suzuki, deputy Honolulu medical examiner. A truck also ran over the boy's head after he landed on the roadway.

Arnold said she was driving westbound on the freeway when a car and truck in front of her veered to the right. So she did the same and pulled over. When she passed Belt's body, she said, she knew it was a small child.

She said she ran to Belt and, after realizing he was dead, went back to her car to get a blanket to cover the body.

Hansen "Sonny" Kiaha was driving the truck two vehicles ahead of Arnold when he said he saw something fall in front of him, nearly hitting his vehicle. At the same time, his passenger blurted, "Uncle, it's a baby," Kiaha said.

He said he thought the object couldn't be a baby; it had to be a doll. Almost immediately, "I felt a thump," Kiaha said. "Then I heard a loud pop."

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said in his opening statement the popping sound was Belt's head exploding.

Kiaha said he, too, pulled over and ran toward the boy's body.

He said there was no way he could have avoided running over the toddler.

Craig Hengst, who lived at the time near the mauka end of the Miller Street overpass, testified he saw Higa throw Belt off the overpass.

Higa's lawyer, Randy Oyama, did not make an opening statement yesterday. He has said his client is not guilty of murder because Belt was already dead when he plunged off the overpass.

Honolulu police officer Darryl Jones testified that about 25 minutes earlier he found Belt nearby, standing in the middle of Iolani Avenue. Jones was off duty at the time, driving his subsidized vehicle.

"I turned on my strobe lights, got out of the vehicle, grabbed the toddler out of the roadway," he said.

Jones said he took Belt into his vehicle and called police dispatch. But before an on-duty officer arrived, Jones said, he handed the boy over to a man whom the toddler appeared to know. The man, Shane Mizusawa, presented his identification to Jones and said Belt's mother was his girlfriend.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Jones was at the scene of another tragedy while off duty. He witnessed a man bludgeon a woman in the middle of a Kailua roadway with the butt of a shotgun.

Alapeti Tunoa Jr. is serving a life prison term after pleading guilty to murder last year for killing his former girlfriend, Janel Tupuola.

Attorney Randy Oyama, sat to the right of his client, Matthew Higa in the above photo, in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario. Higa is on trial in the death of 23-month-old Cyrus Belt, who was tossed from an H-1 freeway pedestrian overpass to the roadway below.

Belt died from multiple blunt force injuries sustained in the nearly 29-foot fall, said Dr. Gayle Suzuki, deputy Honolulu medical examiner. A truck also ran over the boy after he landed on the roadway.

Arnold said she was driving westbound on the freeway when a car and truck in front of her veered to the right. So she did the same and pulled over. When she passed Belt's body, she said, she knew it was a small child.

She said she ran to Belt and, after realizing he was dead, went back to her car to get a blanket to cover the body.

Hansen "Sonny" Kiaha was driving the truck two vehicles ahead of Arnold when he said he saw something fall in front of him, nearly hitting his vehicle. At the same time, his passenger blurted, "Uncle, it's a baby," Kiaha said.

He said he thought the object couldn't be a baby; it had to be a doll. Almost immediately, "I felt a thump," Kiaha said. "Then I heard a loud pop."

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said in his opening statement the popping sound was Belt's head exploding.

Kiaha said he, too, pulled over and ran toward the boy's body.

He said there was no way he could have avoided running over the toddler.

Craig Hengst, who lived at the time near the mauka end of the Miller Street overpass, testified he saw Higa throw Belt off the overpass.

Higa's lawyer, Randy Oyama, did not make an opening statement yesterday. He has said his client is not guilty of murder because Belt was already dead when he plunged off the overpass.

Honolulu police officer Darryl Jones testified that about 25 minutes earlier he found Belt nearby, standing in the middle of Iolani Avenue. Jones was off duty at the time, driving his subsidized vehicle.

"I turned on my strobe lights, got out of the vehicle, grabbed the toddler out of the roadway," he said.

Jones said he took Belt into his vehicle and called police dispatch. But before an on-duty officer arrived, Jones said, he handed the boy over to a man whom the toddler appeared to know. The man, Shane Mizusawa, presented his identification to Jones and said Belt's mother was his girlfriend.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Jones was at the scene of another tragedy while off duty. He witnessed a man bludgeon a woman in the middle of a Kailua roadway with the butt of a shotgun.

Alapeti Tunoa Jr. is serving a life prison term after pleading guilty to murder last year for killing his former girlfriend, Janel Tupuola.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Show Me The Way To Go Home - I'm Drunk And I Wanna Go To Bed


Pa. woman manages to crash car into her own home

Jan 27 2010

HARLEYSVILLE, Pa.— Police in suburban Philadelphia are trying to figure out how a woman crashed her car into her own house. Police said the crash happened early Wednesday morning in Harleysville, about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia. The unidentified woman was uninjured and able to get out of the car, but the house is badly damaged.

There were no injuries reported to anyone in the house.

Police are investigating the crash.

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Information from: WPVI-TV, http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Trump Ex Charged With Excessive Ugliness


Jan. 27, 2010

Hiroshima Nagasaki reporting from Bakersfield, CA

A grand jury today indicted Ivana Trump, former wife of Donald Trump, the creepy NY billionaire, for excessive ugliness. The jury heard no testimony. Prosecutors decided to let the ex Ms. Trump's face speak for itself. One juror was so shaken by the sight of the ex Ms. Trump that she fainted and had to be revived by a bailiff.

While grand jury proceedings are usually secret, a juror, speaking on condition of perjury, told a reporter the members of the grand jury decided to indict the former Ms. Trump because she was rich enough to have her entire face rebuilt, and should, as a public service.

Down-Under Man Keeps Lizards in Pants

Man caught at airport with 44 lizards in pants

Jan 26 2010


WELLINGTON, New Zealand— A German man who stuffed 44 small lizards into his underwear before trying to board a flight has been sentenced to prison in New Zealand for plundering the country's protected species.

Hans Kurt Kubus, 58, will spend 14 weeks behind bars and must pay a 5,000 New Zealand dollar ($3,540) fine before being deported to Germany as soon as he is released, District Court Judge Colin Doherty ruled onTuesday.

Kubus was caught by wildlife officials at Christchurch International Airport on South Island in December, about to board an overseas flight with 44 geckos and skinks in a hand-sewn package concealed in his underwear.

He admitted trading in exploited species without a permit and hunting absolutely protected wildlife without authority, pleading guilty to two charges under the Wildlife Act and five under the Trade in Endangered Species Act.

Department of Conservation prosecutor Mike Bodie told the court Kubus could have faced potential maximum penalties of NZ$500,000 ($355,000) and six months in prison.

Bodie said the department sought a deterrent sentence for "the most serious case of its kind detected in New Zealand for a decade or more."

The geckos may have been worth 2,000 euros ($2,800) each on the European market, he noted.

Customs records showed that Kubus had also been to New Zealand in 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2009. In 2008, he had been with a Swiss reptile dealer.

Doherty said Kubus had come to New Zealand and set about poaching the animals in a premeditated way which would have had an impact on particular colonies.

There was potential for Kubus to end up with far more animals than he could have housed in his own collection and the rest would have been sold.

"I don't think you necessarily came here to steal to sell, but I am sure the fact that you might have had excess was figured into your thinking," Doherty told Kubus.

Madame Chief Justice, and May It Please The Court



Hurled Shoe Knocks Israeli Chief Justice Off Her Chair

Jan 27, 2010
Debra Cassens Weiss


The chief justice of Israel’s Supreme Court took a direct hit between the eyes from a hurled tennis shoe during a court session on medical marijuana on Wednesday.

The impact knocked Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch off her chair and broke her glasses, according to the Associated Press and the Jerusalem Post. She was not seriously injured and returned to the courtroom a few hours later.

The assailant, identified as Pinchas Cohen, yelled, "You're corrupt, a traitor. Because of you I lost everything,” AP says.

A court security official told AP that the man’s dispute with the judiciary stemmed from a family court case, and the courts had been aware of him since he first threatened a judge in 2006.

The shoe tosser was seized by police who later got a search warrant to search his home for possible weapons. No ordinary weapons were found, but police discovered a large cache of old tennis shoes in a closet. Apparently the man was armed for a long seige. He was transferred to a mental ward for observation.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Proving the Old Adage That People Will Fight About Anything


Cafe food fight: Beef vs. chicken

Jan 26 2010


BROWNSVILLE, Texas— A food fight in Brownsville has led to a cafe owner facing an aggravated assault charge after whacking a customer in the head with a plate. Police said Maria Del Rayo Cordero was accused of tossing a tray of food and tea at the customer who had complained he ordered a chicken dish, but was served beef. The pair argued and began throwing food items at each other.

Police said the owner is accused of grabbing a plate and striking the man. Paramedics treated him at the scene on Saturday.

The owner was freed after posting $7,500 bond. She could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

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Information from: KRGV-TV, http://www.krgv.com

Dunkin Doughnuts Attempted Fake Fails - Woman Arrested


Cops: Woman claims white powder came from doughnut

Jan 25 2010

Not the real woman - a substitute arrestee



MARYVILLE, Tenn.— East Tennessee police said a Knoxville woman who was later arrested for cocaine possession initially told an officer that she had been eating a powdered doughnut. The Maryville Daily Times reported that a 21-year-old woman was arrested on Thursday and charged with possession of a Schedule II substance with intent to sell or deliver. She was also cited for driving on a suspended driver's license, driving without proof of insurance, failure to maintain her lane of traffic and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to an Alcoa police report, a field test on the substance indicated that the white powder she put in her mouth as an officer approached the car was cocaine, not a sugary pastry.

She was being held in the Blount County Jail on a $12,250 bond pending a court hearing on Monday.

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Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com

Sunday, January 24, 2010

British Men Apprehended With 1,092 Stolen Bottles of Beer in Their Car


Brits steal more beer than they can drive with.

The Press
25/01/2010


Two Christchurch men were arrested on Friday night, after police discovered their car contained 91 dozen beers. (1092 bottles)

Police said the mrn, who were driving a Mazda 323 on Opawa Rd, were pulled over because the car was "driving on its springs".

The hatchback was being weighed down by 91 dozen Millers beer bottles that had been stolen from a nearby warehouse.

A police spokesperson said there was "little room in the car" for the men with all that beer.

The two men, both in their twenties, were apprehended.

College Girl Terrified By Bizarre Trick of TSA Worker.


Student terrorized by Philadelphia airport TSA worker

Jan 23 2010

PHILADELPHIA— A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carry on luggage.

The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.

Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder.

In the Jan. 10 column for The Michigan Daily, she recounted how she struggled to come up with an explanation, wondering if it was bomb-detonating material slipped in by a terrorist or drugs put there by a smuggler.

"He let me stutter through an explanation for the longest minute of my life," Solomon wrote. "Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to understand that I'd never seen this baggie before."

A short time later, she said, the worker smiled and said it was his.

The worker "waved the baggie at me and told me he was kidding, that I should've seen the look on my face," she said.

Solomon said she asked to speak to a supervisor and filled out a complaint, and during that process was told that the man was training TSA workers to detect contraband. Two days later, she said, she was told he had been disciplined.

"I had been terrified and disrespected by an airport employee," she said. "He'd joked about the least funny thing in air travel."

There was no answer Saturday at a telephone listing for Solomon at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. An e-mail message seeking comment from her was sent Saturday by The Associated Press, and a telephone message was left at her parents' home in suburban Philadelphia.

TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said late Saturday that the employee was no longer with the agency but did not say whether he had been fired or quit, referring only to "disciplinary action" taken by the TSA. She also declined to identify the worker or his job title, citing privacy laws. She said she did not know whether his actions would be subject to criminal charges.

"The behavior exhibited by this TSA employee was highly inappropriate and unprofessional," Trevino said in a statement.

Spreading the Hepatitis Around More Evenly


Judge rejects plea deal for hep C surgery tech

Published - Jan 22 2010 01:59PM CST

CATHERINE TSAI - Associated Press Writer


(AP Photo/Denver County Sheriff)

This photo, released by the Denver County Sheriff's Department, shows Kristen Diane Parker, 26. Parker pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deceit or subterfuge.

DENVER— A surgery technician who infected three dozen people with hepatitis C must decide whether to withdraw her guilty plea, ask for another deal or take her chances with a judge who indicated she could get more than 20 years in prison.

Kristen Diane Parker, 27, accepted a plea agreement in September that stipulated a 20-year sentence.

But U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn rejected the plea agreement Friday, saying it "unreasonably" restricted his sentencing prerogative and didn't incorporate the positions of the victims, some of whom said it wasn't enough time.

A status hearing was scheduled for Feb. 5. Parker remains in federal custody.

Parker, who has hepatitis C, acknowledged stealing syringes filled with the painkiller Fentanyl from operating carts at Rose Medical Center in Denver and the Audubon Surgery Center in Colorado Springs.

She told prosecutors in a recorded interview that she injected herself and replaced the stolen syringes with ones filled with saline. Parker said she meant to use clean replacement needles but got careless.

Prosecutors said Parker exposed nearly 6,000 patients at the two hospitals to the incurable blood-borne disease, and about three dozen were infected.

Parker had pleaded guilty to tampering with a consumer product and obtaining a controlled substance by deceit or subterfuge.

Wearing a red jumpsuit Friday, she bounced her knee up and down rapidly under the defense team's table as Blackburn explained that he would not necessarily sentence her to only 20 years in prison if she still wanted to plead guilty.

Parker could withdraw the guilty plea and go to trial, try to renegotiate a plea deal with prosecutors or proceed with sentencing.

"She's devastated," Parker's attorney Gregory Graf said of his client. "Twenty years is a long time. She has a young child who is going to be an adult in that time."

Lauren Lollini, a former Rose Medical Center patient whose hepatitis C was linked to Parker, said the judge's decision was a shock but a pleasant surprise.

"Twenty years isn't enough," said Lollini, 41. "Twenty years isn't even a year for each of her victims."

Several victims said it was far too easy for Parker to switch the syringes.

"They really don't want their tragedy to be in vain," said Hollynd Hoskins, a lawyer who represents 13 victims. "This is a wake-up call to make sure patient safety is a priority. It's a catalyst for change."

Parker previously worked in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and in Houston, but health officials there haven't reported any hepatitis C cases linked to her.

Hepatitis C can cause serious liver problems, including cirrhosis or liver cancer. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, pain and jaundice.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Tennessee Woman Bumps Off Two Husbands


Tennessee Woman Accused in Trail of Death

SHAILA DEWAN January 23, 2010

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Few people here know that the ashes of David Leath, still in the cardboard box from the crematorium, are kept on a shelf above the clean towels in the Suburban Barber Shop where he cut hair at the middle chair for almost 40 years.

Raynella Dossett Leath, above, at her 2007 trial in the death of her husband, David Leath. Ms. Dossett Leath also will be tried in the death of her first husband, Ed Dossett.

But almost everyone has an opinion about how Mr. Leath's ashes ended up on the shelf of the barbershop. Mr. Leath, 57, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his own bed in 2003. His wife, Raynella Dossett Leath, said it was a suicide, but she was ultimately charged with murder. Her dramatic trial last year gripped the city, but it ended in a hung jury. Last week, she went on trial again.

The trail of death in the case, however, does not begin and end with a beloved barber, but winds its way up to the highest levels of law enforcement in this city. There was a fatal car crash, a love child, a missing will and, strangest of all, the 1992 death, officially by cattle stampede, of the Knox County prosecutor, Ed Dossett, who happened to be Ms. Dossett Leath’s first husband at the time.

During the investigation of Mr. Leath’s death, prosecutors became convinced that the death of Mr. Dossett was also a homicide, and they aldo have charged Ms. Dossett Leath,61, in that case as well. That trial will begin in August.

In the meantime, Ms. Dossett Leath has become a notorious figure around town. Seventy percent of potential jurors responding to a court questionnaire for the second trial said she was probably guilty, according to a defense attorney.

Every quirk in her behavior has been parsed by Knoxville residents for motive, even the fact that she had Mr. Leath’s body cremated the day after he died. His body contained unprescribed sedatives and painkillers, according to an autopsy conducted hours earlier. Mr. Leath’s friends say he was opposed to cremation and owned a plot in the cemetery where his parents are buried.

On a recent morning at the Suburban Barber Shop, Mr. Leath’s former partner, Hoyt Vanosdale, told how Ms. Dossett Leath had asked him to deliver a package to Cynthia Wilkerson, Mr. Leath’s daughter from a previous marriage, who now cuts hair at her father’s old station. Mr. Vanosdale said she did not tell him that the small, heavy box contained Mr. Leath’s ashes.

“Isn’t that kind of creepy?” he asked.

For years, Raynella Dossett Leath enjoyed an elevated — some say protected — status in Knoxville. She was a respected nurse, married to the county prosecutor (in Tennessee, they are called district attorneys general). The couple, who married in 1970, lived with their three children on the Dossett family farm just west of town.

In 1992, Mr. Dossett was found dead in their corral. His wife said he had been trampled by cattle, and the death was ruled an agricultural accident. Mr. Dossett had been in the late stages of terminal cancer, and Ms. Dossett Leath told the authorities that she had helped him out to the barn to feed the cattle at his request.

Randall E. Pedigo, the medical examiner at the time, said the notion of a domestic cattle stampede raised suspicions, but about insurance fraud not murder.

“There was a lot of talk and speculation at the time that it was to make it look like an accidental death to collect double indemnity,” said Mr. Pedigo, who lost his medical license after being convicted of sedating and sexually molesting minors in 1995. “Some people even speculated that it might have been Ed Dossett’s idea.”

Mr. Pedigo said that prosecutors in Mr. Dossett’s office resisted his performing an autopsy, that he felt pressured to rule the death an accident and that he had a “policy” of erring on the side of the family in cases where a judgment call was required. He persuaded Ms. Dossett that the insurance company would need an autopsy, and she consented. Mr. Pedigo said he found traumatic injuries consistent with trampling and a hoof print in the middle of the bib of Mr. Dossett’s overalls.

But when the current medical examiner, Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan, reviewed the file as part of the Leath investigation, she found that those injuries were not life threatening. Instead, Dr. Mileusnic-Polchan said, Mr. Dossett’s morphine level was “so extraordinarily high it is unlikely that any human could function in an ambulatory manner or continue to live.” In 2006, Ms. Dossett Leath was indicted in his death, charged with administering an overdose of morphine.

Six months after Mr. Dossett’s death, his widow married his friend and neighbor, David Leath. Friends say the couple was happy — at least at first. He built her a greenhouse; she bought him a custom truck with a matching horse trailer.

Two years later, Ms. Dossett Leath’s 11-year-old son was killed in an auto accident; her 15-year-old daughter was the driver. Not long after that, according to court records and newspaper accounts, Ms. Dossett Leath learned that her dead husband might have had another son, with a woman who worked in his office. In the midst of a divorce, the woman told her husband, Steve Walker, that one of their two sons was actually fathered by Mr. Dossett, and he told Ms. Dossett Leath.

Ms. Dossett Leath soon lured Mr. Walker to a barn on her farm, telling him she had found some papers related to the child. Once there, she opened fire on him, according to his account, and chased him across the hayfields until she ran out of ammunition. According to Mr. Walker’s statement to the police, she said she would kill him and the child’s mother and raise the child herself.

Ms. Dossett Leath was charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and did six years of “diversion,” a form of probation. Then, the charge was expunged.

Friends say it was only months after Ms. Dossett Leath completed her sentence that Mr. Leath was found dead. He had signed deeds and a will, now missing, ensuring that Ms. Dossett Leath would inherit all the couple’s property. At the trial, her defense lawyers argued that the victim killed himself, offering evidence that he was depressed and that his health was declining. But a firearms expert for the prosecution said that of three shots fired from the gun that day, it had been the second one that killed Mr. Leath.

Ms. Dossett Leath’s lawyer, James A. H. Bell, said that his client had loved her husband and that there was no way she would have killed him.

“If you believe Miss Raynella murdered him,” Mr. Bell said, “you have to believe she is nothing but a serpent of Satan.”

Only one juror declined to convict her in the first trial.

Nation Acquires First Legal Male Prostitute


Country's first legal gigolo starts work in Nevada

Jan 22 2010
By OSKAR GARCIA



This undated photo provided by OC Modeling of Chatsworth, Calif. shows ''Markus'' Nevada's first male prostitute. A brothel in an isolated Nevada town has hired the state's first male prostitute, a muscular college dropout who abandoned a brief stint as a porn actor in Los Angeles to become the only legal gigolo in the United States. (AP Photo/OC Modeling)

BEATTY, Nev.— A brothel in a Nevada desert town has hired the state's first male prostitute, a muscular college dropout who abandoned a brief stint as a porn actor in Los Angeles to become the only legal gigolo in the United States.

The Shady Lady Ranch successfully won state and county approval to clear the way for the "prostidude," as Nevada's newest sex worker is already being called. After a slow first week on the job, his first appointments are scheduled for this weekend.

The male prostitute _ known as "Markus" _ has quickly become the center of attention in Nevada's brothel industry.

He has been criticized by female counterparts for not being willing to have sex with men. And he created a dustup after telling Details Magazine that his pioneering role in the sex business was "just the same" as civil rights icon Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. Not surprisingly, he has been forbidden from doing interviews after the remarks.

Competing brothel owners also fret that hiring gigolos in Nevada will bring unwanted scrutiny from state officials, potentially tempting them to make prostitution illegal. The competitors have also expressed concerns about sexually transmitted diseases, and worry that female customers can't be inspected as carefully as men are before sex.

Markus, 25, described himself as a well-read college dropout and former U.S. Marine from Alabama. He said he drove to Los Angeles to become a porn actor and left after filming two scenes, the first about a month ago. He said he ended up in a homeless shelter near Santa Monica, Calif., after being unable to find another job.

Shady Lady madam Bobbi Davis picked him from about 10 potential hires culled from hundreds of applications, many featuring crude inquiries, according to her husband and co-owner Jim. Part of Markus' appeal was that he was not afraid to deal with heavy publicity.

"Whichever woman may walk through that door, she's appreciated," Markus said in his Details interview. "A surrogate lover will love that woman for a whole hour, or however much we charge here, and she'll leave feeling much more empowered and much more confident in herself."

Jim Davis told The Associated Press that after reading the article, he and his wife decided that Markus doing interviews was bad for business. Bobbi Davis declined an interview with the AP. The Davises declined to give Markus' real name, which is customary for sex workers in Nevada.

Davis said the Shady Lady had received dozens of e-mails expressing interest in the gigolo. He said it took years to establish steady business from truckers, salesmen and other travelers after the brothel opened 17 years ago, and getting paying women customers could take at least a month.

"This is a business _ if (Bobbi Davis) didn't think she could make more money she wouldn't have done it," Davis said. "Why else would she start something like this?

"And if she knew what she was getting into, she probably wouldn't have," he said.

The yellow-painted Shady Lady compound is more than 30 miles north of Beatty _ an unincorporated township of less than 1,200 people between Las Vegas and Reno.

The small, fenced-in brothel includes a French-themed foyer that displays a pricing menu _ $200 for 40 minutes, $300 per hour. It sits on 40 acres of mostly empty land the Davises originally bought for $11,000, Davis said.

Three connected bedrooms are distinctly decorated. One has a heart-shaped hot tub in its bathroom, another has an Asian theme. The brothel's newest space is a disconnected cottage that looks like a roomy studio, with a kitchenette, a wooden bathtub in the bedroom and armrests on the toilet. The cottage cost $50,000 to build, Davis said.

Markus plans to use the cottage.

"It won't be successful," said Arie Mack Moore, owner of the Angel's Ladies Brothel, about two miles north of Beatty. "You can't have both (male and female prostitutes) in the same building or adjacent to each other, in my opinion."

Moore claims his business has picked up since Markus was hired, with customers saying they wanted to avoid the Shady Lady because of Markus.

A 22-year-old prostitute at Angel's Ladies named "Cuddles" said Markus' unwillingness to see gay males makes the Shady Lady seem sexist and discriminatory. Her brothel services women.

"How can you just turn down services because of what someone's preferences is? It comes with the territory. It comes with the business," she said.

Davis said that he and his wife aren't interested in establishing a gay male clientele, but it will be up to Markus to decide whether to accept men as customers. Davis said Markus told him that he wouldn't perform for male customers.

"All this gay homophobia in this country is horrible," Davis said. "Everybody's so damn scared two men might have sex _ it's happening every day in Las Vegas. Not going to happen here, but that's all the big fear, is gay people."

George Flint, a longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Owners Association, said allowing a male prostitute creates legitimate health concerns. Male customers are thoroughly cleaned and inspected for signs of disease before sex at Nevada's brothels, and he doesn't believe the same "fanaticism" is possible when checking female customers.

He also worries about the ramifications for the six other brothels in Nye County and the 24 total in Nevada.

"We got an industry in this state right now that's got an investment of somewhere between $50 million and $75 million," Flint said. "And yet Bobbi's in the catbird seat right now where her antics and her procedures and her demands and her goals could potentially bruise an entire multimillion-dollar-a-year industry."

Flint said he believed the Shady Lady Ranch, which is not a part of his association, could see a temporary wave of curious female customers, but the experiment will ultimately fail.

"I think she truly believes that it's a viable effort, and I'm wondering after four or five days and there haven't been any takers, if she's beginning to wonder if maybe she was wrong," Flint said. "You and I and the rest of the world can sit and debate this damn thing until hell freezes over, but if nobody shows up at her front door, what's it proved?"
More From Top Headlines

Friday, January 22, 2010

Man Kills Man's Best Friend


Man Plays Vet, Kills Dog

Floridian charged for performing "surgery" on injured animal

JANUARY 21--Meet William Jones and Zoe, the two-year-old hound/retriever mix Jones is accused of killing. Here's how the headline on the Broward County Sheriff's Office press release describes the alleged crime: "Dog Sitter Kills Animal During Improvised Surgery."

Arrested yesterday, the Florida man, 55, is facing two felony animal abuse counts in connection with last Wednesday's bizarre incident at Jones's Oakland Park home (according to a sheriff's report, Zoe had been living with Jones for about a year).

The dog's owner, Danielle Vecchio, had asked him to care for the animal after she was not allowed to keep the pet in her new residence. The dog's death was the result of a cascading series of events that began with the animal getting a small laceration on its chest, and ended with Zoe being killed with chloroform. If convicted of the felony raps, Jones faces up to 20 years in prison.

Calls to Vecchio's home went unanswered. A neighbor said she was extremely upset and was in Miami trying to hire a hit man. The neighbor, who spoke only on condition of facsimile, said it was unclear if Vecchio was trying to get someone to whack the friend for killing her dog.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

You Be The Judge - Should He Get It Or Not?



Man tells cops he paid for sex, but didn't get any

Jan 20 2010


MARLBOROUGH, N.H.— Police said a man and woman from New Hampshire are each facing prostitution charges after the man called police to say he'd paid for sex, but the woman then refused. WMUR-TV reported a 22-year-old woman and 32-year-old man were cited into court at a later date.

Police said the man called Marlborough Police on Monday to say he'd paid the woman and a third party $150 to have sex with him on Sunday, but she wouldn't follow through. You can't really blame her when she got a look at the John. She should have just offered to return his money.

Police said they're still investigating the third party.

___

Information from: New Hampshire Union Leader, http://www.unionleader.com

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Couple Discover Chicken With Two Butts


Crazy Poultry Antics in Florida reported

Ocala, Fla.
January 17, 2009

A couple who raise chickens and give away the eggs to their neighbors made a startling discovery. One of their hens has two pubic areas and two butts. This was confirnmed by an agricultural extension agent who examined the strange chicken.

The pair named the hen J-Lo, because, according to the man, J-Lo has a large enough ass to make two asses out of her one. (See photo insert)

It was not known if Ms. Lopez had any comment to make about the allegation. A spokesperson for Ms. Lopez, who requested anonymity becauise she was not authorized to speak, didn't.

Ride 'Em Cowboy


Police: Drunken man in cowboy gear threatens dog

Jan 17 2010

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

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

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

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

___

Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, http://www.press-citizen.com/

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Woman Who Stripped In Effort To Avoid Going To Jail Is Jailed.


Woman who stripped to avoid arrest going to jail

Saturday, January 16, 2010

A 36-year-old Wisconsin woman who stripped in front of her children in a drunken attempt to avoid a shoplifting arrest is going to jail.

As part of a plea agreement, Julia E. Laack of Sheboygan pleaded no contest to three charges including retail theft. The Sheboygan Press says she was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail.

Prosecutors say Laack stole beef jerky and a lighter from a convenience store in October. They say when police went to her home she began screaming at three children and told a teenager the incident was his fault.

Laack then stripped to her underwear and told officers they couldn't arrest her because she would be naked.

A message The Associated Press left with her lawyer wasn't immediately returned Saturday.
___
Information from: The Sheboygan Press, http://www.sheboygan-press.com

Russians Provide Free Porn To Public On Downtown Highway Sign


Porn video shown on Moscow highway billboard

Jan 15 2010

Not the actual porn actors>>>>>


Drivers in downtown Moscow gazed in astonishment as an electronic highway billboard displayed a two-minute pornographic video instead of its usual advertising clips.

Late-night traffic on one of the Russian capital's busiest roads slowed to a crawl Thursday as a couple's explicit actions appeared on the 9-by-6-meter (30'-by-18') display.

Some people took pictures of the sight with their mobile phones and posted them on the Internet.

Passer-by Alyona P., who asked not to be identified, told a reporter that she was "so shocked that I couldn't even shoot video or take a picture of it." She said she had to go home and search the Internet to find it again.

Another male viewer commented that the video was so clear you could count the number of hairs on the actors.

The screen's owner, 3 Stars, told officials that a hacker attack was likely to blame. But a 3 Stars employee said the sign company's owners had approved the video and a way to revive flagging interest in the sign.

Police were investigating the incident.

City officials reported hundreds of calls from citizens applauding the display and inquiring when similar displays would be made available in other parts of the city.

Montana Woman Attacks House With Pistol and Hatchet


Missoula woman has misplaced rage attack

PERRY BACKUS of the Ravalli Republic January 7, 2010

A Missoula woman apparently distraught over a breakup with her boyfriend allegedly attacked the inside of his house with a hatchet and a .45 caliber pistol earlier this week.

Camaree N. Fellon, 22, was arraigned on felony charges of criminal endangerment, assault with a weapon and criminal mischief this week before Ravalli County Justice Robin Clute.

Fellon was arrested at about 2 a.m. Sunday at a residence south of Darby.

Earlier that evening, court records said Fellon had gone to her boyfriend’s cabin south of Conner after drinking at the Conner Bar. The two quarreled over the mess her dogs had made at the cabin. The boyfriend left and went to a friend’s home a few miles north.

Before following in her own vehicle, Fellon allegedly caused a significant amount of damage to her boyfriend’s home by shooting the pistol into the wall, breaking out several windows, damaging a refrigerator and a safe. She also used a hatchet to hack at the interior walls, the records said.

When she arrived at the friend’s home, she raced the engine of her car, honked the horn and demanded that her boyfriend come outside.

He hid in a bedroom.

The other two men in the house heard gunshots and then saw Fellon standing in the yard with a handgun.

The court records said that because Fellon had become violent on previous occasions and was now “mumbling some alcohol-influenced threats,” the three men inside the home were afraid they were going to be shot.

Fellon allegedly shot her boyfriend’s truck before breaking into the home.

Once inside, she shoved her boyfriend, who attempted to avoid the woman by jumping over a couch, according to records. When two of the men struggled with her in an attempt to calm her down, she bit one on the arm “causing a nasty cut,” the records said.

After she was arrested, Fellon’s blood alcohol content was measured at .152. The legal limit is .08.

She was also arraigned on misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence, assault, and partner/family member assault.

Clute set bond at $50,000.

Friday, January 15, 2010

"Master" Bator Reveals Own Weapon of Mass Exposure On The Internet


Weapon Of Mass Exposure

Cops: Ex-U.N. inspector masturbated on web cam for "15-year-old girl"

JANUARY 14--Scott Ritter, the controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector and fierce Bush administration critic, is facing sexual exploitation of children charges after he was caught in an Internet sting. According to court records, Ritter, 48, engaged in a sexually explicit online chat with what he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Emily (but in fact was an undercover detective with the Barrett Township Police Department in Pennsylvania). A probable cause affidavit notes that Ritter told "Emily" that he was "fantasizing about fucking you" and sent her a link to his web cam. "The web camera showed him masturbating again and then ejaculating," reported Detective Ryan Venneman."

Ritter was charged late last year with unlawful contact with a minor, criminal solicitation, and indecent exposure, among other felony and misdemeanor counts. Ritter, who lives near Albany, N.Y., was caught in the sting last February. According to previous press reports, Ritter, pictured in the above mug shot, was twice previously snared in similar undercover online investigations. In one of those cases, Ritter was charged with attempted child endangerment after arranging to rendezvous at a Burger King with a 16-year-old girl he had met in an online chat room (the teen turned out to be an undercover policewoman). That 2001 case, details of which have been sealed, was dismissed after Ritter stayed out of trouble for a prescribed period of time. He is currently free on $25,000 unsecured bail and has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Wrangle Up Some What?


McDonald's charts new directions in western cuisine

Jan. 15, 2010
Somewhere Out West

A McDonald's, located in one of the western states, judging from the scenery, has pushed exotic food to the lower limits with this novel menu item. It must be very expensive because each serving requires one steer.

A McDonalds' spokesperson, speaking on condition of ignominy, said each McDonald's franchise has discretion in serving special or local items, other than the standard burger fare. The spokesperson said she had not talked with anyone who had sampled the new item so she could not comment other than to say it was very unusual.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Catholic College Student Arrested For Peeing On Illegal Nativity Scene



Cops: Catholic college student urinated on city Nativity display

JANUARY 12--A Pennsylvania man who attends a Catholic college was arrested Sunday morning after cops spotted him urinating on a Nativity scene constructed in a city square. Nathan Strawn, 22, was caught in the act by a Wilkes-Barre cop, according to a criminal compliant filed in Luzerne County Magisterial Court. Strawn, whose "genitals were completely exposed to multiple persons," tried to flee when Patrolman Brian Gist ordered him to stop urinating. Strawn, a King's College student, was arrested after a short chase and later charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and desecration of a venerated object. The Nativity display, which was due to be removed, had been donated by St. Mary's Church of the Maternity and placed in Wilkes-Barre's downtown Public Square. Strawn, pictured above, is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

Finding Needles in Haystacks To Be Modernized - Hailed As Important Breakthrough



Jan.13,2010
A Secret Location

DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a US government organization that performs research in military technology. One of their current projects, the Fine Detail Optical Surveillance (FDOS), hopes to develop optical equipment sensitive enough to literally find “a needle by moving along the surface of a haystack.” That phrase is actually in the specs:

The program can be described as developing the technology and systems analogous to that required for rapid imaging and identification, without the need for scanning or focusing of the optical receiver, of a needle, by moving along the surface of a haystack, where the location and type of needle in the haystack is uncertain. The amount of money budgeted for the program to date is $438 million, excluding the cost of the drone aircraft (see photo insert), that will be used to carry the device. The cost of each drone is approximately $26 million and 30 of the aircraft already are on order.

An unauthorized spokesperson for the agency, who was not authorized to speak, said the new device, when completed, would be a significant discovery for all those people in the world who have lost needles in haystacks, or their heirs, who inherited the haystacks.

Untold tons of hay now sit moldering and unusable for fear that an animal fed the hay might choke on the needle or suffer injuries to its digestive tract.

Another interesting off-shoot of the research will be the effort to determine why so many needles are lost in haystacks, when compared to pins or livestock, for example. A team of scientists from 7 universities will undertake to answer this question with the stimulus of a $115 million grant from NASA. That puts the total project costs at $1.3 billion but will finally resolve a problem that has been a scourge in the farming and livestock industry for more than 200 years.

Monday, January 11, 2010

A Shocking Tale From Washington



Wife allegedly switches wires on saw to shock hubby

Jan 11 2010


OLYMPIA, Wash.— Court papers allege that an Olympia woman, angry that her husband left her, tampered with his power tools so that he received a powerful electric shock. Carolyn Paulsen-Riat was booked Friday into the Thurston County Jail for investigation of third-degree assault, domestic violence, and second-degree malicious mischief. A judge released the 33-year-old woman on her own recognizance.

The Olympian newspaper reported that court documents said that on Jan. 1, the man was using a 220-volt table saw when he received the shock, knocking him to the ground. Thurston County sheriff's deputies said the man did not need to go to a hospital.

In the documents, deputies said the woman told them she had reversed the wires on his power tools because she was angry he was leaving. "I'm a good looking woman, good cook, and great in bed. What's his problem?" she told deputies.

___

Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com

Be Sure to Get the Special At Fast Food Joints Because You Get "Free" Soda


Mom always said fast-food joints serve crap. Now there's proof: A study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology revealed there is actual fecal matter lurking in fast food soda. Microbiologists from Virginia found that 48% of sodas tested at 30 fast food restaurants contained coliform bacteria, which is typically fecal in origin. What's worse is that most of the bacteria found were antibiotic resistant. From the study:

These findings suggest that soda fountain machines may harbor persistent communities of potentially pathogenic microorganisms which may contribute to episodic gastric distress in the general population and could pose a more significant health risk to immunocompromised individuals.

Not to worry. Surely the poor, minorities, and children who are targeted by (and who statistically frequent) fast food chains most often will have no problem tackling higher medical costs associated with recovering from fast food-borne pathogens. Right?

And surely it should be a great comfort to all fast food patrons to know they are drinking free shit with every meal.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

NYC Subway Riders Strip to Underwear For No Pants Day


Hundreds strip in NYC for no-pants subway ride

Jan 10 2010


(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

People gather in a subway station during the 9th annual ''No Pants Subway Ride'' in New York, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010.

NEW YORK— Hundreds of New Yorkers have been riding the city's subway trains in their underwear.

They stripped down to their undies on Sunday for the ninth annual No Pants Subway Ride.

The idea is to act like nothing unusual is going on.

Participants met up at six locations throughout the city. They formed groups and dispersed to subway stations to catch trains. Once inside the subway cars, they began calmly removing their pants and folding them up.

Most people read magazines or chatted with their companions like any other straphanger.

The event started in 2002 with just seven people. It has spread to other cities.

The stunt is organized by Improv Everywhere, a group that says its mission is to cause "scenes of chaos and joy in public places."

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Holy Smoke - Where Does the Line Begin?


A Nanga Sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man with his face smeared with holy ash exhales smoke after puffing marijuana at a transit camp on the way to Gangasaga

Wife Sets Husband's Penis On Fire - He Dies



Wife Arrested for torching man's penis (ouch)

Sunday, 30 Aug 2009, 3:49 PM EDT


By LILY FU

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - An Australian woman is facing murder charges after she allegedly set fire to her husband's penis and killed him.

Rajini Narayan is also accused of arson and child endangerment for torching the family home. She briefly appeared in court on Friday, but her court date has been delayed to Oct. 30.

News.com.au reports that police say Narayan doused her husband Satish's genitals with methylated spirit and then set them on fire while he slept last December. He sustained burns to most of his body and died 20 days later.

The fire also caused about $840,000 in damage to the family home, according to 9 News in Australia .

In a court filing in January, neighbors reportedly heard Narayan say, "I'm a jealous wife, his penis should belong to me, I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else ... I didn't mean this to happen."

Recently there have been several cases of women who have torched men's private parts. In August a Greek woman poured alcohol on a British man's genitals and set fire to them after he allegedly made sexual advances on her at a bar. The unidentified woman has been charged with causing bodily injury and endangering private property.

In 2007 a Montreal woman who poured fondue fuel on her sleeping boyfriend's genitals and set it on fire was sentenced to four years in prison .

Man's Penis Cut Out of Steel Pipe By Firefighters


A man who went to casualty with his penis stuck in a steel pipe had to be cut free by firefighters using a metal grinder.

Published: 07 Jan 2010

Medics at Southampton General Hospital could not get the man's penis out of the stainless steel pipe because the restricted blood flow had caused it to become aroused.

So they called in Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, whoturned up with a special equipment unit from St Mary's station in Southampton and seven firefighters to help in what a spokesman said was a ''delicate operation''.

The firefighters used the four-and-a-half-inch grinder to cut the pipe from around the man's penis and it took about 30 minutes.

The patient was given an anaesthetic and his penis emerged from the pipe bruised and swollen but otherwise unharmed. His wife, who was called by hospital staff, arrived to inspect her husband's penis and gave the firefighters a thumbs up.

The anxious man aged about 40 gave hospital staff no explanation about how his penis got stuck in the pipe, after he turned up on Tuesday morning.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: ''Initially the crew did not have the appropriate cutting equipment to free the man's tool.

It was a very delicate operation that required a very steady hand and the crew was worried about things getting too hot during the cutting," and roasting the man's weenie.

''It's certainly an unusual call-out and I'm sure the man won't be getting into that situation again.'' Because of the nature of the operation, the fire fighters asked for hazardous duty pay.

Friday, January 8, 2010

A New Year's Kiss To Remember


Police: Woman Bites Man's Lip Off

Jan 7, 2010

One of the first crimes committed in Dallas in 2010 was a particularly gruesome act of family violence, according to police.

About midnight on New Year's Eve, Kerri Lyn Smith (right), 41, was kissing her boyfriend of four years in Far North Dallas when Smith bit the man's bottom lip and tore it off his face, according to police documents.

The man was able to push Smith away and call 911. He told officers Smith bit him suddenly and began yelling at him. It's unclear what would have prompted Smith to do such a thing.

Police officers called to the 18900 block of Lina Street near Rosemeade Parkway and the Dallas North Tollway saw part of the lip on the ground, police documents said.

The man, who has a 2-year-old son with Smith, told police he did not want to press charges. Officers arrested her anyway on a charge of aggravated assault/family violence. The man was treated at a Plano hospital.

Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Massaging Meat


Prosecutor: Where's the beef?


ORANGEBURG, S.C.— A South Carolina man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing an $80 slab of meat. The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg reported Thursday that 51-year-old Mark Zachary of Orangeburg received the maximum sentence after jurors found him guilty Wednesday of shoplifting. Prosecutors said the sentence was justified because the Aug. 26 theft from Reid's grocery store in Orangeburg was his ninth offense.

Authorities said when a store manager approached Zachary about the missing New York strip and the big bulk under his shirt, he fled, right into the arms of an off-duty police officer.

Assistant Solicitor Glenn Justis asked jurors "Where's the beef?" in his opening argument.

Zachary testified he was "massaging" the meat, not stealing it.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

McDonalds Has Run of Berserk Customers


Police seek woman who trashed Mo. McDonald's

Jan 06 2010

(AP Photo/Courtesy Kansas City, Mo. Police)

In this Dec. 27, 2009 still made from video provided by the Kansas City, Mo. Police an unidentified woman is shown throwing a bucket of water as she goes on a rampage at a McDonald's in Kansas City because she didn't like her hamburger. Police say the woman caused thousands of dollars in damage when she became upset that the restaurant wouldn't refund her money.

Employees had offered to replace her hamburger, but the woman refused and demanded her money back.

Police released a video showing the woman throwing a sign and a bucket of water over the counter and pushing off a glass display case and three cash registers. She then cursed and fled.

What $30 Million Can Do For You


Fla. sheriff fears missing lottery winner killed

Jan 06 2010

By TAMARA LUSH - Associated Press Writer


An undated photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office shows Abraham Shakespeare, 43, a truck driver's assistant who lived with his mother who was reported missing Nov. 9, 2009. Shakespeare, a resident of Lakeland, Fla., won a $30 million Florida Lottery jackpot. His good fortune may have cost him his life.

LAKELAND, Fla.— In 2006, Abraham Shakespeare _ a truck driver's assistant who lived with his mother _ won $30 million in the Florida lottery. His good fortune may have cost him his life.

Shakespeare vanished months ago. His mother hopes he is somewhere in the Caribbean, lying on a beach and enjoying the good life away from all the hangers-on who were constantly hitting him up for money.

The sheriff has a more ominous theory: Shakespeare was killed.

"There are a lot of odd and bizarre circumstances in this case," Sheriff Grady Judd said. "We fear and are preparing for the worst. We're working this case as if it were a homicide."

Shakespeare, 43, won the big jackpot after buying a lottery ticket at a convenience store in a town called Frostproof, claiming later that he gave the last $3 in his pocket to a homeless man just before the winning numbers were announced.

Shakespeare _ who had a criminal record that included arrests and prison time for burglary, battery and not paying child support _ took a lump-sum payment of $16.9 million instead of annual installments.

He bought a Nissan Altima, a Rolex from a pawn shop, and a $1 million home in a gated community. He talked about starting a foundation for the poor and insisted the money wouldn't change him.

"I'm not a material person," he said in 2007. "I don't let material things run me. I'm on a tight budget."

The money quickly caused him problems.

A former co-worker sued him in 2007, accusing Shakespeare of stealing the winning ticket from him. Six months later, a jury ruled the ticket was Shakespeare's.

Then there were the people constantly asking him for a piece of his fortune.

"They didn't wait. They just came right after they found out he won this money," his mother, Elizabeth Walker, said recently.

She said her son was generous, paying for funerals, lending money to friends starting businesses and even giving a million dollars to a guy known only as "Big Man."

Not long after he bought the million-dollar home in early 2007, he was approached by a woman named Dee Dee Moore, said family and officials.

Moore _ who could not be reached by The Associated Press _ said she was interested in writing a book about Shakespeare's life. She became something of a financial adviser to Shakespeare, who never graduated high school.

Property records show that Moore's company, American Medical Professionals, bought Shakespeare's home for $655,000 last January. His mother said the last time she saw him was shortly afterward, around her birthday in February.

The sheriff said the last time anyone saw Shakespeare was in April _ but it wasn't until Nov. 9 that he was reported missing, by a police informant.

And the story gets more bizarre.

According to The Ledger of Lakeland, the 37-year-old Moore contacted reporters at the newspaper in April, saying Shakespeare was "laying low" because people tried to suck money out of him.

That made sense to Shakespeare's mother _ sort of. "I remember once, talking with me over the phone, he said he might go to Jamaica," she said.

On Dec. 5, a sobbing Moore told The Ledger that she helped Shakespeare disappear, but now wants him to return because detectives were searching her home and car and looking for blood on her belongings.

One reason he wanted to leave, she said, was a child support case for a child he allegedly fathered after winning the lottery. "Abraham sold me his mess to get a better life," she told the paper.

She even gave the paper a video that she said she took of Abraham. In the video, he says he is tired of people asking him for money. "They don't take no for an answer," he says.

"So where you wanna go to?" Moore asks in the video.

"It don't matter to me. I'm not a picky person," Shakespeare replies.

Moore told the paper that she took the video to "protect herself."

Moore said she filed paperwork to take over five mortgages totaling about $370,000 that had been owed to Shakespeare. She said she sold the loans at a loss to another person. She added that many of the people who borrowed from Shakespeare have refused to pay, and she feels threatened by some of them.

Moore's past includes a year of probation after she was charged with falsely reporting that she was carjacked and raped in 2001. Officials said she concocted the scheme so her insurance company would reimburse her for the SUV, which she claimed had been stolen.

The woman did not answer several calls placed to a number listed for her in public records. During a recent visit to the home she bought from Shakespeare, a security box rang to a phone number that had been disconnected.

Sheriff's officials won't comment on Moore's involvement in Shakespeare's life.

The sheriff said that Shakespeare spent the bulk of his lottery winnings. The fact that he didn't call his mother on Christmas reinforces the theory that Shakespeare is not just hiding, Judd said.

"I hope so much that he is alive somewhere," said his mother. "And I want people to know, if they ever win the lottery, I hope they know how to handle the people that come after them. They can be dangerous."

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

NYC - Guide To The Safe Use of Smack


New York City offers junkies guide to successfully shooting up

JANUARY 4--Nobody can say that Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't a friend to New York City junkies. The Bloomberg administration is distributing a 16-page brochure offering heroin users 10 handy tips when it comes to shooting up. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene publication is titled "Take Charge, Take Care," and offers advice on avoiding overdoses, proper preparation of your drugs, and taking care of veins in which you inject the narcotics. Other handy tips for addicts include warming up before shooting up by jumping up and down. This causes your veins to pop out for easier injection.

Not included in the booklet, but available on request are photos, one of which is shown above, of advanced stage junkies that illustrate the long term effects of continued use of heroin. The woman in the above photo is 25 years-old and has been using smack since she was 16. Note the large, open sores on her arms.

The brochure has been criticized by law enforcement agencies as a primer for addicts. It has been praised by the Colombian Drug Cartel and the United Drug Dealers of NYC. The Cosa Nostra also has given the booklet its seal of approval and offered its extensive chain of dealers to distribute the booklets to customers. The Bloomberg administration has defended the guide, contending that it would help save lives via the safety tips offered.