Sunday, March 31, 2013

A Dog's Love Life


Knowing the love of a dog is one of the most beautiful gifts has given us. Unconditional and unyielding, a dog's love is with you forever. This story of a dog's endless love will touch your heart.

A stray named Ben did the unbelievable for love; he walked 10 miles through through a Midwestern winter to find the love of his life, a stray at the same shelter named Jade. The dogs were strays living on the streets in Indiana together. The two even had puppies together. While Jade was pregnant, a local shelter trapped the two dogs.

The two dogs were as close as can be. During the months that they spent at the shelter, they even shared the same pen. Later, however, they were separated when Ben was adopted by a family that was only looking for one dog.

"We had him for about three weeks, and we thought he was OK, but he got loose on us," Courtney Lawler told NBC2 News. Ben escaped the Lawler's home and searched for his love, Jade, who
was over 10 miles away at the shelter. A day after leaving his new family's house, Ben arrived at the shelter. He found Jade and began licking her through the fence.

Once the family discovered where Ben went, they decided to never separate the dogs again.

"Ben and Jade want to be together," Debbie Floyd, the Humane Society board's president, told the Tribune-Star. "There hasn’t been a lot of human love in their lives. They found love with each other and that's what makes them happy … Hopefully, they will live their lives happily ever after.”

Insecticide Ruled Out As Cause of Death


Freezing weather wipes out German flea circus Mar 31 2013 

BERLIN (AP) — An entire troupe of performing fleas has fallen victim to the freezing temperatures currently gripping Germany.

Flea circus director Robert Birk says he was shocked to find all of his 300 fleas dead inside their transport box Wednesday morning.

The circus immediately scrambled to find and train a new batch so it could fulfill its engagements at an open-air fair in the western town of Mechernich-Kommern.

Michael Faber, who organizes the fair, told The Associated Press that an insect expert at a nearby university was able to provide 50 fleas in time for the first show Sunday.
Faber says he hopes they'll "get through this without any more fatalities."
Birk said it was the first time his circus had lost all of its fleas to the cold in one go.

German Insect Rights activists called for charges against the Flea Circus's owner for insect cruelty.  "There should be some means of keeping the transport box warm," said Werner von Berkendorf, President of the Insect Rights Group.  "This a tragedy for fleas everywhere."

Saturday, March 30, 2013

YIKES! Where did the yard go?

In this aerial photo, a house sits near the edge of a landslide, near Coupeville, Wash. on Whidbey Island, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The slide severely damaged one home and isolated or threatened more than 30 on the island, about 50 miles north of Seattle in Puget Sound. No one was reported injured in the slide, which happened at about 4 a.m. Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Friday, March 29, 2013

Real or Hoax

Tiny Humanoid Creature
Found In Chile 

Dr. Virgilio Sanchez-Ocejo
ufomiami@prodigy.net
Source: Ovnis Terra.cl
10-26-2

CONCEPCION, Chile -- On October first of 2002, while vacationing in the Southern Chilean city of Concepcion, a group of family members found what appeared to be a small humanoid creature. The miniscule being measures about 7.2 centimeters long. It has a relatively large head, two arms with long fingers, and two legs. The discovery was first reported by Mega News Service, which is the local news channel in the Santiago area.
 
According to previously gathered evidence and interviews conducted by journalist Rodrigo Ugarte, the bizarre creature was found among bushes by one of the children during an outdoors trip. The child allegedly picked it up and wrapped it with a piece of paper. The child claims that it stayed alive for about eight days, and in some instances, it even opened its eyes.
 
Nevertheless, after supposedly being dead for a few days, the small creature displays signs of advanced decomposition; it even appears to be in a strange state of mummification.
 
Specialists from the University of Chile pointed out to a possibility that it might be a fetus from local wild life, such as a wild cat. However, they have not reached a conclusion to determine the exact species the supposed fetus could be scientifically associated with. They expect to carry out DNA testing in order to come up with a conclusion.
 
UNFOLDING EVENTS AND THE FAMILY'S TESTIMONY
 
 
The Henriquez Carreño family described the accounts to Terra.cl News Service, and how 22 days earlier, they found the strange-looking creature. They provided shocking and bizarre details about the discovery. They invited the journalist inside their modest home, located in the suburban area of Pintana.
 
Julio Carreño, the child that found the tiny creature, was the one in charge of showing it to members of the media. Carefully and jealously guarding it, he brought it inside a first-aid kit box, still marked with a red cross. As he opened the box, the journalists were astounded to see the tiny humanoid-like creature, lying in the center of the box, among carefully placed cotton material.
 
'It has changed color since we had found it. It used to be more pinkish; now, it has turned darker. May be it is turning darker because we are keeping it in the refrigerator", he explained. And indeed, some areas of its tiny body look almost as dry as a red pepper.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The first thing that caught the attention of the journalists was the size of the skull in relation to the body. The fingers -located on what appear to be the hands - seem to have quite long fingernails: "They seem to be continuingly growing", Carreño said. The slanted-shaped eyes, although closed, can easily be seen. They are located on each side of the head.
 
The body, almost in its entirety, somehow appears to be mummified. In some parts of the extremities, tiny black stains can be seen. The carcass is very light and fragile; it is for that reason that it is kept inside the first-aid box with cotton inside. "We keep it inside the box to avoid causing any damage", they said.
 
 
Nowadays, for the Henriquez Carreño Family is almost normal to have frequent visits from journalists and other people interested in seeing the so-called humanoid-carcass. "A lot of people have come to visit us: Media, psychiatrists, and even people that claim to have special powers", said Mrs. Luisa Carreño.
 
 
HOW IT DIED
 
None of the members of the family could specify the exact day, nor the reasons to explain why the alleged creature died. However, they all agree that it was alive about eight days ago. "When we found it in Concepcion, it was able to open its eyes. Then a few days later, once we had returned to Santiago, it opened its eyes one more time. After that, it never opened them again. But there was something peculiar about that: When we thought it was already dead, the body was still warm, and it stayed warm for a long time. I always thought that a dead body was supposed to be cold", said Armando.
 
But because they were not able to determine whether the alleged creature was still alive or not, the family members waited too long the take it to the veterinarian, a specialist, or the local authorities in order to have it examined. Therefore, it died. "The truth is that we never really thought about it. But even after noticing that its body was still warm, we took it to a local veterinarian so he could give us an opinion. But the veterinarian was puzzled; he told us that this was the strangest thing, and he did not have a clue about what it really was", said Julio.
 
FALSE RUMORS
 
In spite of the fact that this story is fairly recent (it broke on Monday, the 21st of October), rumors have already begun to spread in relation to it. Perhaps the most talked about rumor is the story about how the alleged creature made telepathic contact with the children's mother, which is completely false.
 
"That rumor began when those people that claim to have super powers came to the house. A lady that claimed to be a medium was talking to people on the street about how she was able to communicate with the being using telepathy. When that happened, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary. I doubt that that ever took place", said Mrs. Luisa.
 
Another version mentions how "the being" stood up and opened its eyes, which according to family members, it never happened. They assure that although it did slowly open its eyes at one point, it never stood up.
 
THE EXAMINATIONS - OR LACK OF THEM
 
The family pointed out to Terra.cl that the only thing they can do is to wait for an educational institution or local health officials to carry out the necessary tests to determine the origins of the creature. "I am waiting for someone to do a DNA test. Nobody really knows what it is right now. Up until now, they have told me that they are still figuring out where these tests can be done. Unfortunately, when this happens, people tend to forget about the whole thing and it all turns into an inconvenience as time passes by", said Carrasco.
 
Many veterinarians have already expressed their interest to study "the being" - as they call it. However, none of them have conducted even a serious lab analysis.
 
The studies would allow them to determine if it is a fetus, an animal, or just a hoax. Furthermore, the preliminary results would indicate if this was indeed a living being of biological form -something that must be made clear in order to proceed with any further studies. If indeed this was, at one point in time a living being, a more in-depth analysis may determine its origin, whether it is from local wild life, from earth or perhaps even extraterrestrial.
 
 
Special thanks to Cristian Riffo, Ovnis Terra.cl, and Jaime Ferrer
 
Translation by Mario Andrade

Dr.Death in Brazil


Prosecutors said Dr Virginia Soares de Souza and her medical team administered muscle relaxing drugs to patients, then reduced their oxygen supply, causing them to die of asphyxia at the Evangelical Hospital in the southern city of Curitiba.
De Souza, a 56-year-old widow, was arrested last month and charged with seven counts of aggravated first degree murder. Three other doctors, three nurses and a physiotherapist who worked under De Souza have also been charged with murder.
Prosecutors for the state of Parana said wiretaps of De Souza's phone conversations revealed that her motive was to free up hospital beds for other patients.
"I want to clear the intensive care unit. It's making me itch," she said in one recording released to Brazilian media. "Unfortunately, our mission is to be go-betweens on the springboard to the next life," she added in the same phone call.
De Souza's lawyer, Elias Mattar Assad, said investigators had misunderstood how an intensive care unit works and she would prove her innocence.
More cases are expected to emerge as investigators comb through 1,700 medical records of patients who died in the last seven years at the hospital, where De Souza headed the intensive care unit.
"We already have more than 20 cases established, and there are nearly 300 more that we are looking into," the chief investigator assigned by Brazil's Health Ministry, Dr. Mario Lobato, said on Globo TV's Fantastico program on Sunday.
If prosecutors prove that De Souza killed 300 patients, this could be one of the world's worst serial killings, rivalling the notorious case of Harold Shipman, the British doctor who was found to have killed at least 215 patients.
Lobato said the deaths he reviewed occurred under similar circumstances: a muscle relaxant such as Pancuronium (trademark Pavulon) was administered, increasing the patients' dependence on artificial respiration; then the oxygen supply was reduced, causing death by asphyxia.
Some of the patients were conscious moments before they died, he said.
Prosecutors said De Souza felt "all powerful" running the intensive care unit homicide, to the point where she "had the power to decree the moment when a victim would die".
In some cases, De Souza was absent from the hospital and gave instructions to end the life of a patient by telephone to members of her medical team, according to documents detailing the charges.
Last week, a Curitiba judge ordered the release of De Souza and her medical team. Prosecutors sought on Monday to have her returned to custody because she was the leader of the team and witnesses had reported being intimidated.
Parana state prosecutors asked police on Wednesday to investigate whether more hospital employees, including former managers, were involved in the case.
President Dilma Rousseff's government will announce steps on Thursday to reorganise the hospital, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said.

Cautious

March 29, 2013

GREENWOOD, S.C. — Police say a South Carolina woman stabbed her boyfriend, then threw his prosthetic leg in the yard to prevent him from chasing her.  It was not known if the boyfriend owned a back-up leg. 

The photo below is one of the earliest fake legs and not the leg in question.  Prosthetics has come a long way.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Whizzinator


Man charged with using fake penis for drug test

Mar 28 2013 

ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis-area man is facing criminal charges alleging that he used a prosthetic penis to try to pass a drug test.
Authorities say 34-year-old Sydney Levin was submitting a urine sample last week as part of his probation when an officer allegedly spotted him using a prosthetic, known as a Whizzinator. The device has been advertised as way to pass drug tests by using someone else's urine.
KMOV-TV (http://bit.ly/11SXafU ) reported that Levin, of Lake St. Louis, was charged last week with possessing a forging instrument. He was arrested and released after posting $25,000 bond, and pleaded not guilty on Monday.
Levin was on probation for possession of a controlled substance and felony stealing in 2009. Authorities say Levin's probation required that he submit a urine sample as part of drug test.
Levin did not have a listed phone number. Court records show that he does not yet have an attorney.
In 2010, Gerald Willis of Los Angeles was sentenced to six months in federal prison for running a company that sold the Whizzinator to cheat on drug tests. Willis' company disbanded, but the Whizzinator is still sold on the Web as a sex toy through a company called Alternative Lifestyle Systems of Long Beach, Calif. A message seeking comment from the company on Thursday was not returned.
In a video on the Huffington Post website earlier this month, High Times associate publisher Richard Cusick used the Whizzinator as an example of tricks people use to beat drug tests.

The Whizzinator comes in 3 colors: caucasian, dark brown, and latino.  The model shown below is for white males.  The device is not intended for use in actual sexual intercourse nor as a dildo.
___
The Whizzinator

Dumb Crooks Now Come in Triplicate


3 accused of smoking pot in NJ police parking lot

Mar 28 2013 
TOTOWA, N.J. (AP) — State troopers in northern New Jersey didn't have to go far to make a pot bust. They didn't even have to get in their cruisers.
Police say they caught three men lighting up in a car in the parking lot of the barracks in Totowa (TOH'-toh-wah).
What gave the men away? Police say a trooper setting out for night patrol caught a whiff of marijuana.
The three men were charged with drug possession. Police say they were waiting for another man who was inside the station picking up paperwork for an impounded car. He was also charged with drug possession.
Authorities say for some reason, the men didn't expect to see a trooper in the parking lot of the state police barracks.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Play While You Pee


Published - Mar 27 2013 03:47PM CST
Associated Press
In this Tuesday, March 26, 2013 photo provided by the Lehigh Valley IronPigs minor league baseball team,  a urinal gaming system is shown in a...A ballpark has installed gaming devices above the urinals in the men's bathrooms.  

The Face of U.S. Poverty


NJ Boy, Found With Dead Mom, Was Living on Sugar 

A malnourished 4-year-old boy found inside an apartment with the body of his deceased mother had resorted to eating from a bag of sugar, police said Wednesday. Adoption offers have been pouring in for the child. (March 27, 2013)


Monday, March 25, 2013

Only in Tennessee, Alabama, Miss., Florida, & the South

Tenn. legislators display ignorance, bias and religious discrimination

In a March 13, 2013 photo, a new utility sink is installed in the men's restroom outside the House chamber in the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn....
(The Associated Press)
In a March 13, 2013 photo, a new utility sink is installed in the men's restroom outside the House chamber in the state Capitol in Nashville, Tenn. Legislative staffers and building administrators have sought to reassure some concerned lawmakers that the new sink was not installed as a special facility to support Muslim prayer rituals, but rather to make it easier for custodial staff to fill buckets and clean mops. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Cannabilism: Florida Woman Tries To Eat Man's Genitals


Meet the date from hell: Cops say Priscilla Vaughn, 29, below, bit a man's genitals so badly he needed surgery, and she has now been charged with second degree attempted murder and battery.

A suspected escort was charged with attempted murder for biting a man's penis and testicles during a drug-fueled oral sex romp in a Florida hotel room.

Priscilla Vaughn, 29, was nude with blood dripping from her face as she "growled and snarled" at responding deputies early Tuesday at the Crestwood Suites in Orlando, according to the arrest report.
"I literally thought there was a beast inside this place," said Evette Mays, the hotel guest who dialed 911, possibly saving the man's life.

The victim told police he thought the woman was literally trying to eat his penis and testicles.

Rotten Timing - Sleep Deprivation


Mar 23, 2013 

Not the actual mattress.

EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A man in El Paso pulled over after a mattress fell off the top of his SUV in front of a sheriff's department vehicle has been arrested after deputies found he was carrying suspected illegal drugs.
Deputies became suspicious when 19-year-old Arturo Dominguez was so nervous talking to them he was shaking.
Police tell the El Paso Times (http://bit.ly/WM60vC) deputies from a drug interdiction unit were behind Dominguez when the mattress flew off and became a traffic hazard. They pulled him over.
Dominguez was held Friday on $7,500 bond on a charge of suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Floridians Failures As Snake Hunters

March 22, 2013
BSPress

On January 12, 2013, Florida announced a one month snake-a-thon to try to catch as many Burmese pythons as possible.  (Reported in BS at the beginning of the hunt, which was Jan.12, 2013.  See below.) The pythons, not native to the Everglades, are destroying native species by eating them and are ruining native habitat.  They also multiply rapidly, grow quite large, and estimates place the number of pythons in the tens of thousands.

Predictions of 1,000's of captures to only a few dozen were made by wildlife experts and politicians on the announcement of the great snake hunt.  800 would-be snake hunters showed up on the 1st day of the hunt and 18 snakes were reported caught.  After that, things slowed down a lot.

The final result, at the close of the one month hunt, was 68 Burmese pythons captured, a little more than two a day.

Show Me the Way to Go Home


Pa. caretaker charged with drinking expensive old whiskey he did not own

Mar 22 2013 

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Fifty-two bottles of well-aged whiskey disappeared between his lips, police said, and now it's time for a western Pennsylvania man to settle up.

John Saunders, the former live-in caretaker of a Pittsburgh-area mansion, faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner's whiskey.

Owner Patricia Hill found nine cases of whiskey hidden in the walls and stairwell of the century-old Georgian mansion built by coal and coke industrialist J.P. Brennan after she bought it in 2012. The Old Farm Pure Rye Whiskey was produced in the early 1900s by the nearby West Overton Distilling Co.
"My guess is that Mr. Brennan ordered 10 cases . pre-Prohibition," said Hill, a New Yorker who bought the house to convert it into a bed-and-breakfast. "I was told by his family that family members used to greet him at the door each day with a shot of whiskey."

Scottdale police told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/Yu1faw ) that Saunders drank dozens of bottles of the whiskey, valued at $102,400 by a New York auction house.

Saunders, 62, of Irwin, was charged with receiving stolen property and theft. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Hill told police Chief Barry Pritts she stored the whiskey in the original cases, which contained 12 bottles each. After Saunders moved out, Hill said she discovered last March that the bottles in four cases were empty.

Saunders initially denied drinking the whiskey when questioned by police, but Pritts said DNA linked him to three of the empty bottles.

While good whiskey is expensive, the booze purloined by Sanders, worth $2100 a bottle, pales in comparison to the whiskey in the photo accompanying this story, which fetches $94,000 a bottle.
___

Mack (Billy) The Knife


Man finds knife in back 3 years after stabbing

 Mar 22 2013 
YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (AP) — A Canadian man was just scratching what he thought was an old itch this week when it turned out to be a knife blade that had been buried in his back for almost three years.
Billy McNeely said this week it all goes back to an April, 2010, birthday party in McNeely's home town of Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories. McNeely got into a fight over an arm-wrestling contest and was stabbed five times. A doctor stitched him up back then and never took X-Rays.
Ever since, McNeely would set off metal detectors and he's had a lump in his back where the knife went in. It never stopped nagging him and grew more painful this week.
Doctors dug out a blade measuring about 2.7 inches (7 centimeters).
McNeely possibly plans to track down the man who stabbed him and return the knife.  Then again, maybe not.  McNeely has not made any public statement in that regard.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Deadly Snake Escapes Zoo in S. Africa


High-tech search for snake in SAfrica capital

Published - Mar 21 2013 10:14AM CST
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Pretoria Zoo says it's turning to technology with infra-red cameras to search for a two-meter-long (6.5-foot-long) black mamba snake that escaped from its enclosure a week ago.  Considered by many to be the world's deadliest snake, black mambas can grow to 14 feet and move at a speed of 12.5 MPH.
Marketing manager Craig Allenby of the zoo in South Africa's capital said Thursday the missing snake probably is in the roof of a service building behind its terrarium. That has not stopped fearful callers to radio talk shows discussing the nearly always fatal results of a bite from one of the world's fastest and most venomous snakes.
Zookeepers realized last week that the mamba's enclosure was empty. They have been unable to search the roof area where they suspect it is preparing to hibernate.
The cameras to be used detect infra-red radiation emitted by bodies and objects, even cold-blooded reptiles.

Montana Legislators Lose Their Senses


HELENA, Mont. — Elk, deer, antelope and moose: If Montana residents can scrape it up from the road, they can eat it.

State lawmakers are poised to say just that after the Senate gave its initial backing Wednesday to a bill that would allow people to salvage roadkill for food. The measure is now a final vote from heading to Gov. Steve Bullock.

It makes no sense to let the carcasses of big-game go to waste on Montana's roadways, supporters said.
"It really is a sin to waste good meat," said state Sen. Larry Jent, D-Bozeman.

The measure calls for law-enforcement officers to issue permits to individuals who would be allowed to remove the carcasses of elk, deer, antelope and moose off the state's roadways. An earlier version would have allowed fur-bearing animals, upland game birds and migratory game birds to be scraped up, too, but it got canned.

Opponents question whether the meat would be safe and whether it would create liability issues for food banks that accept it. Sen. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, said law-enforcement officers are not qualified to decide whether roadkill is safe to eat.  "Despite it's good intention, it doesn't pass the smell test for me," Van Dyke said.

Cattle ranchers like Sen. Jim Peterson, R-of Buffalo, questioned how roadkill could be harvested for food when the cattle industry must follow strict federal regulations.

Montana is not alone in considering the usefulness of roadkill. Illinois allows people with a furbearing permit to remove roadkill for pelts and also allows for the salvaging of meat.
Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection Troopers run a program that divvies approximately 820 moose carcasses to charitable organizations, like churches and nonprofit organizations, who cook up moose meat for needy people.

The Montana measure would defer to the state's Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency to regulate how the roadkill is actually salvaged but the Health Dept. would have no say in the matter.

The Senate voted 33-15 in favor of the measure. A final vote could be scheduled as early as Thursday.
Governor Bullock didn't have an immediate comment on the bill.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Dead Deer Resurrected by Cop


Deer stumbles from car trunk, eludes cop

Mar 20 2013 

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Talk about junk in the trunk.

A public safety officer checking a suspicious car parked behind a southwestern Michigan motel early Tuesday was more than a little surprised when a deer climbed out of the trunk, stumbled onto the road and bolted into nearby woods.

TV stations WWMT, WZZM and WOOD report that the driver told Kalamazoo officer David Miller he hit the deer on the road — thought he had killed it — and was taking it home for his family to eat.  He probably planned to butcher it with a meat cleaver like the one shown here so the deer really got lucky.

Squad car dashboard camera footage shows Miller opening the trunk, then quickly trying to close it as he spots the deer. The animal escapes from the trunk, rear first, stumbles and rolls, then dashes off.
Lt. Stacey Geik says the collision probably just stunned the deer.

High School Students Stink Up School


BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania high school wants its students to cut back on body spray.

Freedom High School in Bethlehem says one of its students was recently hospitalized for exposure to Axe Body Spray. Now, officials are asking students to stop using it as a cologne or fragrance while attending the school.

In a statement posted on the school website Tuesday, officials say the affected student is severely allergic to the spray and recently had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance after being exposed to it.
It wasn't immediately clear what type of reaction the student had, or what chemical in the spray may have caused the problem.

Mistaken House Gets Teen Shot to Death


Teen shot trying to sneak into wrong home

Published - Mar 19 2013 10:10AM CST
Associated Press
Jeanna Gordley is comforted by a friend after family and friends of Caleb Gordley talked to members of the media outside their home in Sterling,...
 (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

STERLING, Va. (AP) — A Virginia couple says their teenage son was fatally shot when he mistakenly entered a neighbor's home after a night of drinking.

Shawn and Jennea Gordley remembered their 16-year-old son Caleb on Tuesday as a lover of music and sports. Both parents say they forgive the person who shot their son and do not blame that individual for what happened.

Police say Caleb was fatally shot early Sunday after entering a neighbor's home through a back window.

Shawn Gordley says his son snuck out of the house Saturday night and went drinking with friends. They walked home from the party. Caleb went in through a back window, mistaking the neighbor's house for his own. Caleb had lived in his home for less than a year, and the houses look similar.

Monday, March 18, 2013

The Daily Dumb Crook Award (Scott Rodrigue)


METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Authorities in Louisiana say they tracked a man accused of stealing drugs from a pharmacy because he left behind a pickax he used to break in — and forgot to remove the price tag.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Col. John Fortunato says the sticker included a bar code indicating when and where the pickax was bought. The store had video of the purchase.

Fortunato tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/ZBcFaW ) that a store near the pharmacy had surveillance video from the night of the burglary, showing the same man and a vehicle license plate.
Fortunato says drugs from the pharmacy were found during a search of 43-year-old Scott Rodrigue's home.
Rodrigue was booked with pharmacy burglary and drug possession and freed on $70,000 bond. He does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached.  He does not have a fully functioning brain either and probably won't do any time.

Friday, March 15, 2013

New Jersey Roachmobile


Riders report New Jersey bus filled with roaches

Mar 15 2013 
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Riders on a New York City-bound bus from New Jersey are reporting an invasion of cockroaches.
A passenger on a Manhattan-bound bus from Atlantic City tells WABC-TV (http://bit.ly/ZGlkaD ) that roaches started coming out of the vents inside the bus just 15 minutes into their Friday afternoon journey.
The passenger reports roaches could be seen crawling on seats, windows, side panels and even on people.
Greyhound said the 48 passengers on board were moved to a new bus, and the bus they had been riding is being examined to determine where the bugs came from.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Caring, Sensitive Nurse Charged


ANACONDA — A former correctional facility nurse has pleaded not guilty to 53 crimes, including having sex with inmates.
Tisha Ann Brunell, 45, of Anaconda, appeared in court March 8. She is charged with four counts of felony sexual intercourse without consent, six counts of felony transfer of illegal articles and 43 counts of misdemeanor unauthorized communications, court documents said.
The alleged crimes involve three inmates, who under Montana law are incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse.
Nurse Suspect Brunell

The alleged crimes occurred about a year ago when Brunell was a licensed practical nurse for Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, or CCCS, and worked between the WATCh and START facilities near Anaconda, documents show. START is for felony offenders who violated parole conditions; WATCh is a treatment program for DUI offenders.
An internal investigation began in March 2012 when Brunell was suspended from work for violating a CCCS policy after she tried to visit a WATCh Program graduate who had moved onto Montana State Prison, court records said.
While suspended, court records said, START staff discovered Brunell had been in the facility’s medical area for several hours one evening, along with two inmates. After reviewing phone records and listening to calls, administrators overheard Brunell having a sexually explicit conversation with an inmate, documents show.
She resigned after being confronted about 67 phone calls that had been made from an inmate number to a number registered to Brunell. Shortly afterwards, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement began a criminal investigation.
Charging documents state that, among other incidents, an inmate reported that he went to have a blood pressure check at the START facility and ended up having a sexual encounter with Brunell.
Further investigation revealed that over a one-month period Brunell routinely accepted collect calls from inmates that turned into sexually explicit conversations, court records said. The phone calls and interviews revealed she had sex with inmates and in some cases agreed to provide them with tobacco, prescription painkillers, antipsychotic medications, an iPod and other items.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Bikers Bring California Interstate to Standstill


WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) — Four men — including the would-be groom — have been arrested for a marriage proposal stunt in which hundreds of motorcycles blocked a Southern California freeway.
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune (http://bit.ly/YpnIS8 ) reports four people were arrested last week on suspicion of being a public nuisance and taking part in an unlawful assembly. Three were released on bail and one remains jailed Tuesday.

As many as 250 motorcycles blocked the eastbound Interstate 10 in West Covina on Jan. 27 so that a biker could propose to his girlfriend. She accepted. At one point, a bike sent up a cloud of pink smoke.
The stunt was captured on video and went viral on the Internet.
It only lasted about two minutes but authorities weren't amused.  They are paid to act stiff and break up  any fun

Try going to Sturgis, South Dakota's annual biker gathering to see 1,000's of bikes coming from all over the country, and many sexist exhibitions (wet T-shirt competitions) which are still very popular among bikers and their women.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Chinese River a Pig Sty


BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials say they have fished out 900 dead pigs from a Shanghai river that is a water source for city residents.
Officials are investigating where the pigs came from. A statement posted Saturday on the city's Agriculture Committee's website says they haven't found any evidence that the pigs were dumped into the river or of any animal epidemic.

The statement says the city and Songjiang district governments started retrieving the pigs on Friday night. By late Saturday afternoon they had recovered and disposed of more than 900.  The statement says the water and environmental protection bureaus are ramping up monitoring of the river's water quality.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Two Year Neglect of New Mexico Inmate


Man who spent two years in solitary confinement without trial awarded $15.5 million.

By Daniel S Levine,
A man who spent two years in solitary confinement following a DWI charge without trial has been awarded $15.5 million.
Stephen Slevin, 58, was arrested in New Mexico in 2005 for driving while intoxicated and driving a stolen car, reports The Los Angeles Times.
The car belonged to a friend and was loaned to Slevin.  He was not released from solitary confinement until 2007.

While in solitary, his attorney, Matt Coyte, said that his health deteriorated and he was even forced to pull out his own tooth. After a year and a half, he weighed 133 pounds, had long hair and a messy beard.  His toenails had grown around his feet. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was “almost back to being a normal human being” after two weeks, Coyte said. But for some unknown reason, in May 2007, he was sent back to solitary for another month before finally being released.

Prosecutors didn’t end up even charging him, finding him incompetent to go to trial, notes Coyte.
“He was a pretrial detainee the entire time,” his attorney told the LA Times. “He was never convicted.”
According to NBC News, Slevin was first in the news in January 2012, when a federal jury awarded him $22 million for the ordeal. Dona Ana County was appealing the ruling, but finally agreed to a $15.5 million settlement this week.  The photo on right is Mr.Slevin when first detained; the photo on left was taken after 2 years in solitary confinement
“The Board of County Commissioners deeply regrets the harm Mr. Slevin suffered during this period,” the county said Thursday.  In a self-serving statement a spokesperson for the County said: “Over the past seven years, Dona Ana County has made significant improvements to detention center staffing, training, facilities and procedures. Dona Ana County is committed to ensuring consistent and appropriate treatment of every detainee in its care.”

Severe Nicotine Addiction of Polish Man


Pole taken to hospital with screwdriver in head

Mar 08 2013 

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish doctors say a 25-year-old man has undergone a three-hour operation to remove a screwdriver lodged about five centimeters (two inches) into his head.
Dr. Jan Kochanowicz, one of the doctors who treated the man in the Polish city of Bialystok, said the man apparently fell and lost consciousness, but does not remember that.
When he regained consciousness he was at first aware only of pain in a hand before realizing something else was wrong. He walked to his car, looked in a mirror and noticed the screwdriver, penetrating his forehead just above his right eye.
Kochanowicz told the station TVN24 the man smoked a cigarette before calling a neighbor who got him to the hospital.
The screwdriver did not damage the man's eyes or brain.  The screwdriver was recovered in good condition.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Macabre: First Canabalism - Now Skulls


Brazil: police puzzle over 7 gift-wrapped skulls

Mar 07 2013 

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo are baffled by a macabre puzzle: someone has been leaving gift-wrapped human skulls around town.
Investigator Paul Henry Bozon Verduraz described the case to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper in a story published Thursday.
The first skull in cherry-red wrapping was found on February 20 in a planter near a residential building downtown. Since then, seven others have been found near Mormon temples or consulates, including those for Russia, the Czech Republic and South Africa. The skulls are old, with traces of dirt.
Verduraz says security cameras captured images of a woman in an ankle-length skirt leaving the skulls, which seem old, with traces of dirt. He thinks this may be part of some sort of ritual.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Killer Fals to Evoke Sympathy


NEW YORK (AP) — A man wanted for a hit-and-run crash in New York City that killed a pregnant woman and her husband was arrested Wednesday, authorities said.
New York City police said they arrested the suspected driver Julio Acevedo at a mini-mart in Bethlehem, Pa.
Acevedo allegedly was speeding down a Brooklyn street in a BMW at 60 mph early Sunday when he collided with a car carrying Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21. They died Sunday, and their premature son died Monday.

Acevedo was arrested last month on a charge of driving while under the influence, and that case is pending. He served about a decade in prison in the 1990s for manslaughter.

Acevedo first claimed he was sorry, didn't know the couple had died and said he was turning himself in to authorities.  But after Acevedo failed to contact police he was arrested at the mini-mart.  It was not immediately known if the 44-year-old Acevedo had a lawyer.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Where Do You Hide a Massive Church Organ?


PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh Roman Catholic church says the mystery of its missing pipe organ has been solved.

Police said Monday the church's former organist confessed he removed it last week for safekeeping.
Worshippers had struggled to understand how and why anyone would take the massive 200-pipe instrument from St. Justin's, which closed last month after merging with another church.

Authorities say the organist had a key to the building in the city's Mount Washington neighborhood and was worried the organ would be damaged by the cold of winter.  It was not immediately clear what the new location of the organ is and whether it is warmer.

The church's pastor, Father Michael Stumpf, says taking the organ was an imprudent and terrible mistake but not a criminal one so the church is choosing to forgive and not press charges.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Three Squares, A Clean Bed and a Warm Place


Ex-con charged with sneaking back into NYC jails

Published - Mar 02 2013 03:59PM CST
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Most people who've done time in jail can't wait to get out. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.
Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.
Officials say that for at least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.
Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano's entry into the Manhattan jail on Thursday.
It said that when questioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department's intelligence unit.
According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.
Matagrano has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse. He's on the state's sex offender registry.
It's not clear why he wanted to get into jails, but he had previously been caught posing as a Board of Education worker to enter two schools and rifle through student files. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in connection with that case.
A judge set bail at $50,000 for Matagrano. He also faces charges of burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband. He is due back in court Wednesday.

Man Has Gender ID Problem


Suspect Jorge Perales
Suspect Jorge Perales
Jose Angel Perales, 24, was arrested on February 22, 2013, on suspicion of robbing Dr. John’s Lingerie Store in Davenport, Iowa. Whoever opened the store around 8 a.m. on February 17, called police when it was evident that someone had entered and robbed the store overnight.


A routine review of the security camera footage showed a suspect, believed to be the 325-pound, 5-foot-11-inch Perales, entering the store through an unlocked door. The suspect took his time, roaming around the store shopping for lingerie and sex toys. The psychological repercussions of what happened next on the tape are unquantifiable at this time, but will probably cost the police department at least a few bucks in job-related counseling. Perales,according to the complaint, “walked into the manager’s office where he took all his clothes off, opened some of the merchandise and began to please himself anally on the manager’s desk and futon/couch.” When Perales walked out he was identified by the tattoo of the word Perales on his back in Old English calligraphy. He was in the store trying on clothes and trying out sex toys, for about two hours. He left “wearing a dress and blond wig belonging to the business and carrying a Dr. John’s purple merchandise bag containing various items belonging to the business.”
Perales was arrested and reportedly later confessed to the theft. A search of his home turned up some of the missing items, though that was of little use to Dr. John’s. The value of the stolen items was estimated at $2,000 and many of the items recovered

Florida Man Swallowed by Earth


SEFFNER, Fla. (AP) — Engineers worked gingerly Saturday morning to find out more about a slowly growing sinkhole that swallowed a Florida man in his bedroom, believing the entire house could eventually succumb to the unstable ground.

Jeff Bush, 37, was in his bedroom Thursday night when the earth opened and took him and everything else in his room. Five other people were in the house but managed to escape unharmed. Bush's brother jumped into the hole to try to help, but he had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy.

The family, which had evacuated Friday, will be allowed to go inside for about a half-hour to gather belongings. The family was outside, crying and organizing boxes.

It's unclear how large the sinkhole is or whether it leads to other caverns and chasms throughout the neighborhood. Experts say the underground of West Central Florida looks similar to Swiss cheese, with the geography lending itself to sinkholes.
Experts spent the previous day on the property, taking soil samples and running various tests — while acknowledging that the entire lot where Bush lay entombed was dangerous. No one was allowed in the home.
"I cannot tell you why it has not collapsed yet," Bill Bracken, the owner of an engineering company called to assess the sinkhole, said of the home. He described the earth below as a "very large, very fluid mass."
"This is not your typical sinkhole," said Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill. "This is a chasm. For that reason, we're being very deliberate."

Sinkholes are so common in Florida that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger. While some cars, homes and other buildings have been devoured, it's extremely rare for them to swallow a person.
Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.

A sinkhole near Orlando grew to 400 feet across in 1981 and devoured five sports cars, most of two businesses, a three-bedroom house and the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The sinkhole, estimated at 20 feet across and 20 feet deep, caused the home's concrete floor to cave in around 11 p.m. Thursday as everyone in the Tampa-area house was turning in for the night. It gave way with a loud crash that sounded like a car hitting the house and brought Bush's brother running.
Jeremy Bush said he jumped into the hole but couldn't see his brother and had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy who reached out and pulled him to safety as the ground crumbled around him.
"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Jeremy Bush said through tears Friday in a neighbor's yard. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

Jeremy Bush said someone came out to the home a couple of months ago to check for sinkholes and other things, apparently for insurance purposes.

"He said there was nothing wrong with the house. Nothing. And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole," Bush said.

Friday, March 1, 2013

British Nudist Keeps On Trying


UK's 'naked rambler' arrested for nudity, again, and again

Published - Mar 01 2013 12:05PM CST
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — A British man who has spent most of the past decade naked — and in jail — is back behind bars after defying an order to cover up.
Stephen Gough, known as the "Naked Rambler," was arrested Thursday as he left a court in Southampton, southern England, wearing only boots, socks and a knapsack.
A judge had just imposed an order that he must "wear sufficient clothing in public to at least cover his genitalia and buttocks."
The 54-year-old former Royal Marine appeared at the same court Friday, and was ordered detained until a hearing on March 25.
Since 2003 Gough has completed two naked walks the length of Britain, with frequent interruptions for arrests, court appearances and jail time.
He has said he believes nudity is a human right.