Bikini Baristas Nailed by Cops

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Police say the service at a bikini espresso stand in Washington state was too hot.

Officers arrested three baristas Wednesday at the Hillbilly Hotties coffee stand in Everett.

Spokesman Aaron Snell tells KOMO (http://bit.ly/1ixokQ4 ) that police received complaints the women were exposing body parts and behaving inappropriately.

A 20-year-old and 21-year-old are facing charges of violating the city's adult cabaret law. A 33-year-old was arrested for investigation of lewd conduct

Man Gives Finger To Cops, Is Arrested

Severed Finger Leads Police to Ariz. Theft Suspect

GLENDALE, Ariz. October 31, 2013 (AP)A severed finger left at the crime scene helped police in Arizona arrest a man suspected of trying to steal copper wire.

An air conditioning company employee told Glendale police someone tried to steal the wire from his truck on Oct. 7.

The spool of wire — worth more than $300 — had been pulled out about 20 feet from the truck, and what appeared to be a cut off finger was caught in the wiring.

Police retrieved the finger as evidence, and forensic technicians were able to match the fingerprint to 29-year-old Joshua Allen Goverman.

Goverman told detectives he lost part of a finger while working on a car. He was booked on suspicion of theft.

Authorities didn't know whether Goverman had a lawyer who could be reached for comment.

Yeah, Yeah...And the Dog Ate My Homework, Too

Dog blamed for apartment fire in Wash. state

October 26, 2013 

WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) — Fire officials say a dog reaching for treats turned on a stove and started a fire causing smoke damage to an apartment in the central Washington city of Wenatchee.

Wenatchee Fire Marshal Mark Yaple tells KPQ radio that it appears the black Labrador was reaching for a bag of dog food left on a stove top when it turned on the stove with its paw.

Yaple says the residents were not at home when fire crews arrived.

It wasn't me.

He says emergency crews were able to revive the dog with mouth-to-snout resuscitation. Damage was estimated at $10,000.

Wenatchee, a city of more than 30,000, is about 130 miles from Seattle.

It's Florida, Again - Sexual Battery

Oct. 25, 2013

Jessica Ann Gutzler, 35, of Punta Gorda, Fla. was arrested on Oct. 24 in Port Charlotte and charged with sexual battery, felony battery by strangulation, and, resisting arrest without violence.

According to NBC News, Gutzler allegedly hit, choked, and sexually battered another female with an inanimate object.

When police from Charlotte Co. were called to Gutzler’s location last night around 10 p.m. to investigate an altercation, they witnessed a car with its lights off speeding away from the scene.
When police caught up with the getaway vehicle, the driver said that “Gutzler was hiding in the trunk.” Police opened the trunk and discovered Gutzler within, covered in blood.

Deputies investigated a nearby residence and located several witnesses who testified that Gutzler had become violent and sexually assaulted one the female residents living there.

The victim was transported to a local hospital where she was treated. Evidence was found consistent with her account of what happened.

While police were still interviewing Gutzler and preparing to formally arrest her, she “kicked an interview room door and attempted to pull away while being handcuffed.”

Not Jessica Gutzler but better looking.

Police managed to subdue Jessica Ann Gutzler, and transport her to Charlotte County Jail where she was held on a $57,000 bond.

Bam, Bam My Baby (almost) Blew Me Up

Austrian woman offers live tank shell on swap site

October 24, 2013

VIENNA (AP) — It's not often that a swap site transaction results in the evacuation of an apartment house. But then again, how often is one of the objects being traded a live tank shell?

Austrian state broadcaster ORF says the shell was on offer as a dummy. It says police had to clear a Vienna apartment house of its residents and put up road blocks after establishing that it was in fact a fully functioning explosive.

Thursday's report said police were called to examine the shell by its new owner shortly after she had exchanged two bottles of wine and a picture frame for it on an online swap site.

ORF said the shell's previous owner had used it as a door stopper.  It also had been previously used in the pictured tank, but was never fired.

The report says both women face unspecified criminal charges.

Judge Slams British Man For Wedding Hoax

LONDON (AP) — A forgetful British bridegroom who made a hoax bomb threat rather than admit he'd neglected to book the venue for his wedding was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail.

Neil McArdle called Liverpool's St. George's Hall from a phone booth on his scheduled wedding day in April, claiming a bomb was due to go off in 45 minutes.

His fiancee, Amy Williams, was left standing in the street in her wedding gown while the building was evacuated.

McArdle, 36, was arrested the same day and admitted that he made the call because he had forgotten to fill out the paperwork for the wedding.

"He did say several times how embarrassed and ashamed he was and how sorry he was," said prosecutor Derek Jones.

A judge at Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England sentenced McArdle to 12 months in jail.

Judge Norman Wright said that McArdle had frightened staff at the venue with his hoax —which came days after the Boston marathon bombings — and let down his fiancee.

"She was getting ready, expecting you were going to be man and wife and a very solemn public event in her life and you knew that was not going to take place," the judge said.

"You did not say 'We need to talk.' You tried to weasel your way out by creating a bomb hoax so the wedding would not take place."

Defense lawyer Charles Lander said McArdle and Williams are still together.

"The fact that she stands with him speaks volumes for her, and I hope volumes for him," Lander said.

Experience Homelessness - Only $2,000

Being Homeless Ain’t Cheap: Man Offers Three-Day Homeless Experience for $2,000

By Ms. Purple on October 7th, 2013 

“You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” One man took this saying literally when he decided to give the ultimate homeless experience to anyone curious to see what  it’s like to live on the streets of Seattle and willing to pay $2,000 for it.

Mike Momany was a freelance computer programmer conducting his business from an RV when he began to notice that living in Seattle was becoming a luxury. Inspired by the ever-rising costs of the big cities and the minimalist movement, he took two months off in the summer of 2013 to see what it was like not having  a roof over his head. After experiencing life as a homeless himself,  Mike decided to allow other privileged people who still had a home to do the same by giving them a three-day “Course in Applied Homelessness”, as he calls it.

Before the start of the actual homelessness course, Momany insists on a preliminary interview to assess his and the participant’s compatibility and to make sure that the person knows exactly what they’re getting themselves into. If all goes well, the tour begins with different activities planned for each of the three days. On the first day, the participant will be given a new persona along with a disguise tat that will give them that genuine homeless look. They will then cruise around town visiting all the “favored homeless spots” before retiring for the night in a homeless shelter. The shelter Momany is currently working with does not allow ladies, making him unable to share the lifestyle with women (he plans on changing this soon). 

For the second day, he suggests trying “panhandling or sleeping on a park bench” to get a real feel of how people view the homeless. After some more sightseeing, it’s time for free meals and after trying the Fare Start chef program, the tour ends with a night stroll until 3 a.m. and cocktails in the morning to discuss and celebrate having gone through the homeless experience.

Photo: Facebook

Is this crash course worth $2,000? Momany believes so. “It’s to bring an experience to people they can’t get very easily,” he explains. “It’s really not to make money.” Although there haven’t been any takers yet, his concept has been harshly criticized. “I’m worried about the homeless being exploited for profit and individual gain. Not the money itself,” one woman wrote on his Facebook page, while another stated that “Homeless people are not exhibits.” Mike answered that although he’d like to be able to make a living off this idea, the course is purely educational and that $2,000 is not that much considering he also offers protection and insight into the homeless etiquette. Furthermore, he states that some of the money will be donated to all the homeless hot-spots they visit during the tour as well as to the aforementioned shelter.

Photo: Nicholas D./Flickr

Although Momany’s initiative might seem bizarre, some people see it as a great educational opportunity. One young sociology student even asked him to arrange a tour for her and other women who are too afraid to tackle this experience without any protection or guidance. Famous people have embraced the homelessness experience concept in the past. Back in 2009, Prince William himself spent a night on the cold pavement of a London alley to get the full on experience. ”I hope that by deepening my understanding of the issue, I can help do my bit to help the most vulnerable on our streets,” he said at the time.

The King of Cockroaches

Bug Fan Keeps Tens of Thousands of Cockroaches as Pets

August 27th, 2013 

Kyle Kandilian, a 20-year-old student from Dearborn, Michigan, has a very unusual hobby – he enjoys raising cockroaches as pets. His bedroom walls are decked with boxes and crates which hold around 200,000 roaches he breeds for fun and profit.

Kyle’s passion is probably going to bug a lot of people, seeing as most people tend to freak out if they so much as hear the word “cockroach”. But Kyle is not most people. Ever since he got to see and hold some Madagascar hissing roaches during a tech day exhibit at the University of Detroit Mercy, he has been fascinated with them. He came home that day and asked his mother if he could have one as a pet, but his mother looked him in the eye and said ”Kyle? You are never bringing cockroaches into this house.” Today his bedroom is home to around 200,000 cockroaches from 130 varieties, and his parents are very supportive of his passion. Maybe “supportive” is pushing it a little, but Kyle agrees they are “very tolerant of his enthusiasm”. He is aware that cockroaches are usually a taboo topic, but says he has never tried to hide his hobby, instead talking openly and enthusiastically about bug passion in an attempt to change people’s perception of them. He claims only about a dozen of the 4,000 known species of roaches are actually pests, but they manage to give all of them a bad name.

Photo: Kyle Kandilian/Roach Crossing

Throughout the years Kandilian has had to come up with innovative ideas in order to keep his bedroom roach farm. One day, at around 4 or 5 in the morning, his mother woke him up and said “Kyle, we need to stop this”. There was a hissing cockroach on the toilet paper roll, and he was forced to either create barriers for his pets or get rid of them. He found Vaseline worked best, and he not only got to keep his roaches, but the idea, which he presented at the Detroit Science Fair, also won him the grand prize and granted him several scholarships.

Photo: Kyle Kandilian/Facebook

Although he enjoys raising cockroaches as pets, Kyle managed to turn his passion into a profitable business as well. He takes his bugs to reptile and insect shows and also sells them online to fellow enthusiasts and reptile owners. The feeder roaches are really cheap, but rare ones, like rhino roaches that will live 10 to 15 years are usually sold for $150-$200. This little cockroach business yields enough for the young student to pay off his college debt, buy more roaches and entertain his other hobbies, like video-games and gardening.

 

Asked by a reporter of the Detroit Free Press if he couldn’t just raise bunnies instead of cockroaches, Kyle said “No. Mammals smell too much.” As much as I admire him for following his dream and trying to change people’s perception of roaches, bringing a girl home to a room full of cockroaches has to be a little awkward.

Air Marshal Caught Filming Female Passenger's Crotch

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal air marshal has been arrested and accused of taking cellphone photographs underneath women's skirts as they boarded a plane at Nashville International Airport.

Assistant Supervisory Air Marshal in Charge Michael Pascarella told The Associated Press that Adam Bartsch was immediately removed from duty and is in the process of being suspended or fired.

Nashville police say Bartsch was on duty on Southwest Airline Flight 3132 on Thursday when a witness noticed he was taking the photos and grabbed his cellphone. Police say the witness notified a flight attendant and Bartsch was taken off the flight and charged with disorderly conduct.

Pascarella says TSA is assisting with the investigation.

"TSA does not tolerate criminal behavior," Pascarella said.

The arrest was first reported by Nashville station WKRN-TV (http://bit.ly/19WjI70).

Bartsch is due in court Nov. 14.

Only In Florida - Again

Suspect, 20, Fleeing From Police Is Attacked By Alligator

A Florida man fleeing from cops following a traffic stop early today was attacked by an alligator during his escape attempt, investigators report.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Bryan Zuniga was driving around 2:45 AM when deputies sought to pull over the 20-year-old’s car for “failing to maintain a single lane.”

After bringing the vehicle to a stop, Zuniga--who was driving with a suspended license--allegedly bolted out the passenger door and escaped by kicking a hole through a nearby vinyl fence.

Zuniga’s escape, however, was marred when he crossed paths with an alligator near a water treatment plant about a mile from the traffic stop. The ensuing attack left Zuniga with “multiple puncture wounds to his face, arm and armpit.”

Deputies located Zuniga, seen in the above mug shot, at a local hospital where he sought treatment for the alligator bites. Upon release from the hospital, Zuniga was arrested and booked into the county jail on several counts, including a felony charge of fleeing a law enforcement officer.

Zuniga is being held in lieu of $6300 bond. His four-legged attacker remains at large.

Only In Florida: Suspect, 37, Stabbed Boyfriend After He "Farted In Her Face"

Oct. 18, 2013

A Florida woman explained to cops that she stabbed her boyfriend after he purposefully passed gas in her general direction.

Deborah Ann Burns, 37, told police that she was watching TV Tuesday night in the Immokalee home she shares with Willie Butler, her boyfriend of six years. Burns advised that, at one point, “Willie walked by her and farted in her face.”

Burns then “confronted him about the fart and Willie became agitated, telling her to shut up” according to a Collier County Sheriff’s Office report.

During the ensuing confrontation, Burns allegedly grabbed an eight-inch kitchen knife and threw it at the 53-year-old Butler, striking him in the stomach.

Butler, who suffered a minor laceration, was treated at the scene by EMS personnel.

Pictured in the above mug shot, Burns was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She was booked into the county jail, where she is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond on the felony count. Burns, a convicted felon, previously spent 21 months in state prison for aggravated assault with a weapon and battery on a law enforcement officer.

What The Hell Is Going On With Floridians?

October 16, 2013

Florida Man Arrested After Cops Discover Alligator Living In Backyard Hot Tub

When Tony Curtis Wells moved into his Florida home last year, he discovered that the prior resident had left behind a pet alligator in the hot tub.
But instead of calling police or animal control officials about the abandoned reptile, the 32-year-old Wells decided to keep the alligator. Asked by cops what he fed the animal, Wells replied, “Chicken, just chicken,” according to an arrest affidavit.

Wells, seen in the adjacent mug shot, was questioned yesterday afternoon after cops spotted the alligator while they were at the property serving a narcotics-related search warrant (a 26-year-old woman was arrested after investigators found cocaine and pot).

Pictured above after being caged, the three-foot creature was lurking in a small pool of water inside the rundown hot tub when photographed by investigators.

After a check of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission revealed that Wells did not have a permit for the hot tub alligator, the Vero Beach man was arrested on a misdemeanor alligator possession charge.

Wells was booked into the Indian River county jail, from which he was later released after posting $500 bond. According to court records, Wells is a convicted felon whose rap sheet includes narcotics and gun convictions.

Religious Shrines To Avoid In India

A look at recent deadly temple stampedes in India

2013-10-14 

Deadly stampedes occur frequently at temples in India, where large crowds gather in small areas with few safety or crowd control measures. Here are some of the deadliest stampedes at or near temples in recent years:
— January 2011: More than 100 people are killed in a stampede at the hilltop Sabarimala Hindu shrine in Kerala state in southern India.
— September 2008: About 250 Hindu pilgrims die in a stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple in the scenic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur in northwestern India.
— August 2008: At least 140 people are killed in a stampede triggered by rumors of a rockslide at a hilltop Hindu temple in Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayan foothills in northern India.
— January 2005: More than 340 Hindu pilgrims die in a stampede during a pilgrimage to the remote Mandhar Devi temple in western Maharashtra state.
— August 2003: At least 40 pilgrims die and 125 are injured when devotees waiting to bathe topple over a flimsy fence, triggering a stampede at the Kumbh Mela bathing festival in Nasik in Maharashtra.

New York Man Blasted By Own Toilet

Oct. 13, 2013

New York City (AFP) - A New York man was seriously injured when a toilet exploded in his face after he pulled the handle to test the water pressure in his Brooklyn apartment.

Michel Pierre sustained shrapnel wounds from flying shards of porcelain that pierced his face, arms and legs, and required 30 stitches, his lawyer told AFP.

The 58-year-old information technology specialist is now so fearful that he uses a rope to flush the toilet from behind the bathroom door at a safe distance.

"Those fears are part of his damages," said his lawyer Sanford Rubenstein. "Clearly toilets are supposed to flush, not explode."

Three other tenants were also injured by what the Daily News website dubbed "the porcelain bomb."

The website said Pierre was briefly knocked unconscious and covered in blood by the explosion on October 2 in Brooklyn, an increasingly well-heeled part of New York.

"It sounds silly but I'm still scared," Daily News quoted Pierre as saying. "Maybe someday it goes away but right now I'm in pain."

Rubenstein said a lawsuit would be filed against the management company of the building so that a jury could decide how much compensation Pierre should be paid.

The full cost of his medical bills and whether he needs plastic surgery are not yet known, Rubenstein said.

"Obviously there is a serious problem in the building," the lawyer told AFP.

The water had been turned off that day to allow for maintenance work in the 16-story building, which was built in 1964 and contains 275 apartments.

Theresa Racht, a lawyer for the co-op board, told AFP that it appeared to have been a freak accident.

"This is a horrific incident. Everybody feels terrible that such a thing could have happened," she said.

"It certainly makes me think twice about flushing the toilet when the water's been turned off."

She said four toilets in the building exploded but that no particular evidence of wrongdoing had yet been found.

"It has never happened before and certainly nothing has happened since," she said.

"The only conclusion anybody has reached -- and they're still investigating -- is that there was a buildup of air pressure in the pipes so that when it came back on, the pressure was just pushed through the pipe and caused the explosion."

"This could be very well what we call a true accident."

Alabama Man Buries Wife in Front Yard

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday rejected an elderly north Alabama man's appeal to keep the grave of his late wife in the front yard of the home they shared for decades.

The justices, in an 8-3 decision that didn't include a written opinion, issued a brief order, agreeing with other courts in saying that Patsy Davis' body must be removed from the front yard in Stevenson where it had been since 2009. James Davis has said he buried his wife in front of their log home because it was her dying wish.

Parker Edmiston, an attorney representing the city, said work to remove the grave from Davis' yard could begin as early as next week.

The 74-year-old Davis said he does not have the money to pursue the case any further and does not know what will happen next. He said the city has tried to get him to remove the body on his own, but he won't do it, regardless of court rulings.

"I still ain't got no justice," he said.

the state.

Woman to Stay Away From

APRIL 5--An Indiana man had his scrotum severely torn when his “on-again, off-again” girlfriend entered his home and pummeled him in an attack that resulted in the woman’s arrest on several criminal charges, including two felonies.

Christina Reber, 43, was freed from jail yesterday after posting $10,000 bond in connection with her bust for the alleged attack last Friday at the Muncie house of her ex-beau (who told cops he had ended the couple’s eight-month relationship days before the assault).

The victim, 57, told police that he was working at his computer when Reber, pictured in the adjacent mug shot, “walked into his house uninvited,” according to a Muncie Police Department report that will make every guy wince. The man said Reber screamed at him to “call the fucking police” before launching her assault.
Reber, the victim told cops, first struck him repeatedly in the head before latching onto his scrotum and “squeezing as hard as she could.” The man, interviewed by police at a hospital emergency room, said that he “was in incredible pain when Reber grabbed his scrotum and began digging in her fingers.”

The victim recalled that Reber “refused to let go of his scrotum,” but that he was “finally able to pry his scrotum from Reber’s hand” after they fell to the ground during the scuffle. The man then called an ambulance, which transported him to Ball Memorial Hospital.

A cop reported that the man had blood on his shirt and “a long wide tear on his scrotum,” which had been “completely torn loose from his body.”

In a follow-up interview two days after the incident, the victim told police that his scrotum was “so swollen he is unable to walk and is missing work.” The man added that his scrotum “is still bleeding and doctors are not sure if there is permanent damage to his groin or not.”
Reber was charged with aggravated battery and illegally entering the victim’s home, both felonies. She was also charged with a misdemeanor domestic battery, according to an affidavit. Reber is next due in court on April 30.

It's Florida Time Again

"Trust issues" blamed for fight following Florida menage a trois

View Document

Three Man Threesome

OCTOBER 10--After engaging in a threesome with a third male, a Florida couple dealing with “trust issues” got into a confrontation that ended early yesterday with the arrest of one of the men, Florida cops report.

Adam Cole, 39, and Johnny Anderson, 23, are domestic partners who “reside together as a family” in a Bradenton home, according to a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report. Cole (left) and Anderson are pictured in the adjacent mug shots.

A sheriff’s deputy noted that Cole said he and Anderson “had a threesome (three males) earlier in the day,” and that Anderson “became paranoid with trust issues.” [The report apparently includes a typo, since it chalks up Anderson’s reported paranoia to “thrust issues.”]  On the other hand, maybe it wasn't a typo.

Cole added that Anderson became irate and punched a hole in a wall, and then tried to keep him from leaving the residence. Anderson subsequently punched Cole’s car, denting the vehicle’s door and nearly breaking a window.

When questioned by an investigator, Anderson copped to punching the car window, but added that he had no intention of harming Cole. “I love him but he cheated on me three times and I forgave him.”
Anderson was arrested for misdemeanor domestic assault and booked into the county jail, where he is being held in lieu of $500 bond.

In April, Cole was arrested for felony domestic battery following an argument with Anderson, “his fiancé.” As detailed in a Bradenton Police Department report, when Anderson tried to get into the passenger side of Cole’s vehicle, Cole drove away while Anderson held onto the car door. After being dragged for 100 feet, Anderson “let go resulting in several abrasions on his person.”
A month after the dragging incident, prosecutors declined to pursue charges against Cole. For his part, Anderson refused to sign a complaint affidavit against Cole.

Testy Lap-Dancer Jailed For Assaulting Patron

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

OCTOBER 8--A stripper is facing an assault rap after she allegedly pummeled a male customer who turned down her repeated attempts to perform a lap dance inside a South Carolina club, cops report.
Nicole Maxine Passmore, 25, was busted late last night for misdemeanor assault in connection with the confrontation at Masters Gentlemen’s Club in Myrtle Beach.

According to a police report, patron Ernest Kadlick, 31, told officers that he was “having a good time in the club” with friends when Passmore (seen at right) approached them and repeatedly tried to “dance on him” while attempting to take money that Kadlick had placed on his table.

After turning down Passmore for a third and final time, Kadlick said that the dancer--who had launched into a lap dance--told him that he had a “sweet receding hairline.”
In response, Kadlick declared, “Yeah, and you’re a snaggle toothed bitch!”

According to Kadlick and several witnesses interviewed by Myrtle Beach Police Department investigators, the 5’ 6” Passmore then “got up and started striking [Kadlick] in the face…approximately 5-6 times.” Kadlick and his friends then left the club and police were called.

When an officer arrived at the strip joint, they found Kadlick (seen at left) holding a towel full of ice against his face. A cop reported observing “a welt coming from the area of his left eyebrow.”
Passmore claimed that she struck Kadlick in response to being pushed by him (though there were no witnesses to corroborate that assertion). Passmore was then arrested and transported to the Myrtle Beach jail, where she was subsequently released on bond.

Elderly, Pregnant Woman Drunk

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A woman was charged with felony drunken driving after police in Billings, Mont., say she called 911 and said she was too drunk to get out of her vehicle.

96-year-old Wu Sik Kee made an initial appearance in Yellowstone County Justice Court on Wednesday. She remained jailed Thursday on $3,000 bond.

Kee was arrested Tuesday night after a woman called dispatchers and said she couldn't get out of her vehicle.

The dispatcher asked if she was having medical or mechanical issues. Court records say the caller replied that she was too drunk.

Prosecutors say Kee' blood-alcohol level was 0.311 percent, nearly four times the limit at which a driver is considered legally intoxicated. The Billings woman had the keys to the vehicle in her pocket.

Court records say Kee has three previous DUI convictions.

Tough Dude Survives Collision With Train

Kansas man hit by train, gets up, walks away

Oct.11, 2013

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a Kansas man who was walking along railroad tracks wearing headphones was hit by a train that he didn't hear approaching behind him — but that he got back up and kept walking.

Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones says the BNSF conductor slowed down the train and blew the horn when he saw 25-year-old Kristopher Wenberg on the tracks in Topeka on Thursday.

Wenberg told deputies he couldn't hear the train, which eventually hit him. Jones says Wenberg promptly got back up and called someone on his cellphone as he walked away. He went to a hospital with cuts on his legs and shoulder.

It is against the law to walk on train tracks and Wenberg could be cited for criminal trespass.

Frosty Honeymoon?

German groom forgets bride at gas station

Oct. 11, 2013

BERLIN (AP) — A German couple's marriage got off to a rocky start when the groom forgot his bride at a highway gas station on the way home from their honeymoon, only noticing she was missing after hours had passed.

Police said Friday the couple was heading home to Berlin from France when the man pulled over near the central town of Bad Hersfeld late Thursday to fill up their van.

The woman had been sleeping in the back but got up — unbeknownst to the man — to use the toilets and he drove off before she returned.

Only after 2 ½ hours on the road did he notice she was gone and called police, who said she was patiently waiting.

Back From the Dead...sort of

US judge tells man he's still legally dead

October 10, 2013 

FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — A man who disappeared decades ago is finding out there's no easy way to come back from the dead.

Donald Miller Jr. went to court this week to ask a county judge to reverse a 1994 ruling that declared him legally dead after he had vanished from his home eight years earlier. But the judge turned down his request, citing a three-year time limit for changing a death ruling.

Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis called it a "strange, strange situation."

"We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health," said Davis, who told Miller the three-year limit was clear.

"I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned," the judge said.

Miller resurfaced about eight years ago and went to court so that he could get a driver's license and reinstate his Social Security number.

His ex-wife had opposed the move, saying she doesn't have the money to repay the Social Security benefits that were paid out to her and the couple's two children after Miller was declared dead.

Robin Miller said her former husband vanished because he owed big child support payments and that the overdue payments had totaled $26,000 by 1994, The (Findlay) Courier reported.

Miller, 61, told the judge that he disappeared in the 1980s because he had lost his job and he was an alcoholic. He lived in Florida and Georgia before returning to Ohio around 2005.

His parents told him about his "death" when he came back to the state, he said.

"It kind of went further than I ever expected it to," Miller said. "I just kind of took off, ended up in different places."

Miller's attorney said he may be able to challenge the Social Security Administration in federal court, but does not have the financial resources to do so.

___

Information from: The Courier, http://www.thecourier.com

Sheep Rule in Spain

MADRID (AP) — Shepherds led a flock of 2,000 sheep through Madrid on Sunday in defense of ancient grazing, droving and migration rights increasingly threatened by urban sprawl and modern agricultural practices.

Tourists were surprised to see downtown traffic cut to permit the ovine parade to bleat — bells clanking — across some of Madrid's most upmarket urban settings.

Since at least 1273, shepherds have had the right to use droving routes that wind across land that was once open fields and woodland before Madrid mushroomed to the great metropolis it is today.

Every year, a handful of shepherds defend that right in Spain's capital city. Following an age-old tradition, they paid 25 maravedis — coins first minted in the 11th century — to city hall officials to use the crossing.

Shepherds have a right to use around 78,000 miles (125,000 kilometers) of ancient paths for seasonal livestock migrations from cool highland pastures in summer to warmer and more protected lowland grazing in winter.

The movement is called transhumance and in Spain up until recently involved close to 1 million animals a year, mostly sheep and cattle.

Modern farming practices and the use of faster road transport are increasingly confining animals to barns or trucks, because shepherding is costly and time-consuming, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, which has promoted the colorful annual Transhumance Fiesta in Madrid since 1994.

Spaniards are proud of their centuries-old sheep rearing traditions and hold the native Merino breed of sheep in high esteem.

Merinos have gone on to form the backbone of important wool industries in places such as Australia and South America.

Madrid became an important urban center when King Philip II chose it as the capital of his vast empire in 1561. Some paths have been used for more than 800 years and modern-day Madrid has sprawled to engulf two north-south routes. One that crosses Puerta del Sol — Madrid's equivalent of New York's Times Square — dates back to 1372.

When You Gotta Go

Man blames bathroom emergency for high-speed chase

 October 9, 2013

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — A Utah man has been sentenced to seven days in jail after a high-speed chase that he blamed on a bathroom emergency.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jeffrey Laub told a judge Monday that he ate something that upset his stomach and was racing to get to a rest area in Logan Canyon.

The Herald Journal reports 1st District Judge Thomas Willmore called the explanation "one of the worst stories" he ever heard.

The judge pointed out that Laub passed several outhouses while he led a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on a chase last spring that reached 111 mph.

Laub, who's from Garden City, pleaded guilty in August to failure to stop and impaired driving.

A Real Load of Crap!

Yale searches for stinker adding feces to dryers

 October 6, 2013 

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Yale University hopes to solve a case of whodungit by identifying the stinker who has been soiling students' laundry by sticking human feces inside clothes dryers.

The culprit has been dubbed the "poopetrator" and is being blamed for at least four incidents in the past month in the laundry room at Saybrook College.

"We have asked our students not to leave their laundry unattended, the affected machines have been thoroughly disinfected and we are actively seeking information about who the perpetrator might be," Saybrook Master Paul Hudak told the Yale Daily News. "That's about all we can do."

Hudak said Yale police are investigating. Officials at the Ivy League school also are considering changes to laundry room access.

Yale police declined to comment in the investigation.

Lucy Fleming was one of the first victims. She opened a dryer in the Saybrook College laundry room on Sept. 7 and found her clothes soiled by human feces. Someone also urinated on them. She tried to rewash them, but they were ruined.

"I simultaneously wanted to throw up, cry and punch someone," Fleming told the Daily News.

The suspect apparently struck again on Friday by hanging up a clothesline with soiled clothes in a courtyard of Berkeley College. A person claiming to be the culprit alerted students and the Daily News about it.

"Some people think the whole thing is funny; some think it is scary; and everyone thinks it is gross," Yale sophomore David Steiner told the New Haven Register.

Steiner received two emails on Friday that apparently were from the culprit, the Register reported. The name on the emails was "Copro Philiac." Coprophilia is an abnormal interest in fecal matter.

Oregon Bartender Scores Big With Customer

Oct. 4, 2013

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon bartender just got the tip of a lifetime.

One of Aurora Kephart's regulars at Conway's Restaurant and Lounge in Springfield often tips her with Keno tickets from the Oregon Lottery. On Tuesday evening, the man who wishes to remain anonymous asked Kephart to choose two.

When she checked the numbers, Kephart's first ticket won $5. The second turned into a $17,500 gratuity.

"The look on his face was incredible," Kephart, 25, told The Register-Guard newspaper (http://is.gd/I9P2nA ). "I automatically handed it back to him; it was his ticket."

But the man wouldn't take the ticket and made Kephart sign it so she would be the only one able to collect the prize.

Kephart said 80 percent of her customers are regulars, and they were excited for her.

"The reaction was crazy," Kephart said. "Everyone was so amped up."

With the bar busy, Kephart went right back to work, her brain "scrambled" by the big tip. The next day, she claimed her prize at the Oregon Lottery office in Salem.

Kephart said she gave the man a percentage of her winnings. "I just couldn't not give him some of it," she said.

Kephart said she plans to buy a new couch with her share and save the rest. Those modest plans earned her teasing from the bar's regulars, but she had been looking for a couch before going to work Tuesday and was scared off by the prices.

"I never realized how expensive couches were," she said. "Instead of waiting till Christmas or later, now I can buy something I really need."

Coming To Your Pharmacy - Poop Pills?

October 4, 2013

Hold your nose and don't spit out your coffee: Doctors have found a way to put healthy people's poop into pills that can cure serious gut infections — a less yucky way to do "fecal transplants." Canadian researchers tried this on 27 patients and cured them all after strong antibiotics failed to help.

It's a gross topic but a serious problem. Half a million Americans get Clostridium difficile, or C-diff, infections each year, and about 14,000 die. The germ causes nausea, cramping and diarrhea so bad it is often disabling. A very potent and pricey antibiotic can kill C-diff but also destroys good bacteria that live in the gut, leaving it more susceptible to future infections.

Recently, studies have shown that fecal transplants — giving infected people stools from a healthy donor — can restore that balance. But they're given through expensive, invasive procedures like colonoscopies or throat tubes. Doctors also have tried giving the stool through enemas but the treatment doesn't always take hold.

There even are YouTube videos on how to do a similar treatment at home via an enema. A study in a medical journal of a small number of these "do-it-yourself" cases suggests the approach is safe and effective.

Dr. Thomas Louie, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, devised a better way — a one-time treatment custom-made for each patient.

Donor stool, usually from a relative, is processed in the lab to take out food and extract the bacteria and clean it. It is packed into triple-coated gel capsules so they won't dissolve until they reach the intestines.

"There's no stool left — just stool bugs.

These people are not eating poop," and there are no smelly burps because the contents aren't released until they're well past the stomach, Louie said.

Days before starting the treatment, patients are given an antibiotic to kill the C-diff. On the morning of the treatment, they have an enema so "the new bacteria coming in have a clean slate," Louie said.

It takes 24 to 34 capsules to fit the bacteria needed for a treatment, and patients down them in one sitting. The pills make their way to the colon and seed it with the normal variety of bacteria.

Louie described 27 patients treated this way on Thursday at IDWeek, an infectious diseases conference in San Francisco. All had suffered at least four C-diff infections and relapses, but none had a recurrence after taking the poop pills.

Margaret Corbin, 69, a retired nurse's aide from Calgary, told of the misery of C-diff.

"It lasted for two years. It was horrible. I thought I was dying. I couldn't eat. Every time I ate anything or drank water I was into the bathroom," she said. "I never went anywhere, I stayed home all the time."

With her daughter as the donor, she took pills made by Louie two years ago, and "I've been perfectly fine since," Corbin said.

Dr. Curtis Donskey of the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who has done fecal transplants through colonoscopies, praised the work.

"The approach that Dr. Louie has is completely novel — no one else has done this," he said. "I am optimistic that this type of preparation will make these procedures much easier for patients and for physicians."

The treatment now must be made fresh for each patient so the pills don't start to dissolve at room temperature, because their water content would break down the gel coating. Minnesota doctors are testing freezing stools, which doesn't kill the bacteria, so it could be stored and shipped anywhere a patient needed it.

"You could have a universal donor in Minnesota provide a transplant for someone in Florida. That's where we're heading," Donskey said.

Other researchers are trying to find which bacteria most help fight off C-diff. Those might be grown in a lab dish and given to patients rather than the whole spectrum of bacteria in stool.

The hope is "we could administer that as a probiotic in a pill form," Donskey said.

Louie sees potential for the poop pills for other people with out-of-whack gut bacteria, such as hospitalized patients vulnerable to antibiotic-resistant germs.

"This approach, to me, has wide application in medicine," he said. "So it's not just about C-diff."

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Man On Fire

Oct. 4, 2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man set himself on fire on the National Mall in the nation's capital as passers-by rushed over to help douse the flames, officials and witnesses said Friday afternoon.

The reason for the self-immolation was not immediately clear and the man's identity was not disclosed.

But it occurred in public view, on a central national gathering place, in a city still rattled by a mass shooting last month and a high-speed car chase outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday that ended with a woman being shot dead by police.

The man on the Mall suffered life-threatening injuries and was airlifted to the hospital, said District of
Columbia fire department spokesman Tim Wilson.

He was standing by himself in the center portion of the Mall when he emptied the contents of a red gasoline can on himself and set himself on fire moments later, said Katy Scheflen, who witnessed it as she walked across the area. Police say they responded around 4:20 p.m. Friday.

Scheflen said passing joggers took off their shirts in an effort to help douse the flames, and the man was clearly alive as the fire spread. A police department spokesman said he was conscious and breathing at the scene. MedStar Washington Hospital Center tweeted that the man was taken there but had no condition update.

"There was not a lot people could do because it was a gasoline fire," Scheflen said.

She said he may have said something before he acted "but it was nothing intelligible." She said she did not see him holding any signs before he set himself ablaze.

"I'm not aware of any signage or any of any causes," said Lt. Pamela Smith of the U.S. Park Police, which is investigating along with the D.C. police department.

The D.C. police department has dispatched its violent crimes branch, which responds to cases in which a person suffers serious injury.

This Dude Should Move to Florida

SPARTA, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say a New Jersey man mistakenly sent a text message to a police detective to set up a drug sale and now faces charges.

Authorities say a detective received the text message on his new cellphone Friday night. The sender had said he had a quarter pound of marijuana for sale and wanted to meet at a pizza parlor.

Nicholas Delear Jr., of Sussex, met later that night with an undercover police officer but fled when he became suspicious. Police soon stopped his vehicle, but the 33-year-old Delear refused to consent to his vehicle being searched.

 NY drug dealer (not Delear)

Authorities obtained a warrant after a police dog detected drugs in the vehicle. They found four plastic bags containing marijuana and other paraphernalia.

Students Strip to Protest New Dress Code

October 2, 2013

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Students and a professor at a university in southern Hungary took off their clothes in class to protest the new dress code introduced by the institution's president.

Thursday's protest by around 10 male and female students and their speech instructor at the University of Kaposvar's arts school was prompted by rules announced this week including a ban on dresses showing too much cleavage, miniskirts, excessive makeup and flip-flops.

Some of the students undressed down to their underwear, while others appeared to be naked in a video of the protest posted online by a local news site.

Students said they plan to continue their protest and attend classes in flip-flops and beach towels on Monday, after returning from a public nude beach.

The Registrar told reporters than 130 new students tried to enroll in the speech class, which only seats 35 students. 

Can You Believe This Happened in Florida?

Fla. woman fought with husband before slaying

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida woman had posted on Facebook that her husband missed a date with her before he killed her and posted a picture of her corpse online, according to police documents.

Jennifer Alfonso wrote to a friend on Facebook that her husband had overslept and missed a date night with her the evening before the Aug. 8 shooting. The 26-year-old thanked her friend for helping her calm down.

Alfonso told the friend shortly before the shooting: "I felt like ripping his face off an hour ago."

The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/1hjcN6B) reported that Alfonso told her friend that 31-year-old Derek Medina hurled expletives at her, and that she felt like she wanted to leave the relationship.

Medina pleaded not guilty and is tentatively scheduled for trial Nov. 4.

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