Main --> Deep Thoughts --> Collections: Crazy News Stories      
In the News...
Revealing human ignorance, heroism, stupidity,
and really bad luck one news story at a time!




 

Marijuana gumballs found at Md. school

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. - Federal drug agents aren't laughing about marijuana packaged in yellow, smiley-faced gumballs.
The "Greenades" gumballs were found in January at Howard High School in Ellicott City. The federal Drug Enforcement Agency recently released an intelligence bulletin about them.
"It's a new idea and it's new to the DEA," Gregory Lee, a retired supervisory special agent of the Drug Enforcement Agency, told The Baltimore Examiner. "When it comes to drug dealing, you're only limited by your imagination.
Police charged three 17-year-old students after a teacher alerted a school resource officer. She told the officer that she saw a student give a plastic bag that the teacher believed contained drugs to another student.
The officer seized the bag, which contained two "candy balls" wrapped in foil, police said. Instructions on the foil told users to chew for 30 minutes to 1 hour before they wanted to be high and to "chew for as long as possible, then swallow."
Officers charged two students with distribution of drugs on school property and a third with possession of marijuana.

Woman testifies about cell phone in throat
Wed Jul 26, 8:56 PM ET

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Prosecutors say a man shoved a cell phone down his girlfriend's throat because he was angry and jealous. But defense attorneys insisted as a trial got underway that the woman swallowed the phone intentionally to keep the defendant from seeing whom she had been calling.
Marlon Brando Gill, 24, is charged with first-degree assault in the December incident involving 25-year-old Melinda Abell. Abell has given inconsistent accounts of what happened before she was taken to a hospital, where an emergency room doctor removed the phone.
She testified Tuesday on the first day of Gill's trial that she couldn't remember how the phone got in her throat, saying she had too much to drink that night.
She said in court that she could not recall writing a statement to police after the incident, in which she said: "I think he thought I'd been talking to other guys. ... He took my phone to see who I had been calling."
The statement added: "If I didn't want him to see my phone, I would have just thrown it out the window and busted it."
Much of her testimony centered on her relationship with Gill, of Kansas City, which started in 2004.
"It was good at first, then it got rocky," Abell said.
She testified that he had verbally and physically abused her, but under cross-examination she acknowledged she never told police about the abuse and continued to live with Gill until the cell phone incident.

Accused prowler found asleep in police van
Wed Jul 26, 8:58 PM ET

BELLEVUE, Wash. - Police in this Seattle suburb didn't have to go far to arrest a man for investigation of car prowling. He was found sleeping in a special weapons and tactics van.
Officer Greg Grannis said a municipal worker reported someone breaking into cars, including his own, shortly before midnight Monday.
Officers quickly found burglarized cars, but couldn't determine who might be responsible — until about 4:50 a.m., when two SWAT team members came to the police vehicle maintenance yard to get their van and found a 25-year-old transient asleep in the back, Grannis said.
The man, whose his last known home address was in Louisiana, was booked into the King County jail for investigation of burglary.
No damage or loss estimate was released, but Grannis said none of the burglarized police vehicles had weapons in them.

Man saves dog thrown from window
Thu Jul 27, 7:29 AM ET

WARSAW (Reuters) - A man was bruised but alive on Wednesday after a Saint Bernard dog thrown out a two-story window landed on him as he was walking down the street in the southern-Polish city of Sosnowiec.
The 110-pound dog was pushed out of the window by its drunken owner Monday, police said.
"The dog had a soft landing because it fell on a man," said police spokesman Grzegorz Wierzbicki. "The dog escaped with just a few scratches."
"The man was also more in a psychological state of shock than physically hurt," Wierzbicki added.
The one-year-old dog, named Oskar, was placed in an animal shelter while police investigate its owners for animal abuse.

Dog-cooking, tree-taking school-burner may lose job
Fri Jul 21, 8:37 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese headmaster, who tried to buy off colleagues by cooking dog meat for them after secretly selling off trees around the school, ended up setting fire to classrooms when the meal burst into flames, a Chinese newspaper said Friday.
Ten classrooms containing televisions, computers, printers and textbooks burned down, leaving nearly 100 children unable to go to school, the Beijing Youth Daily said.
The headmaster, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, sold off a 1,000-tree arboretum surrounding the school on the sly, the newspaper said.
"In order to get the teachers not to tell anyone what he had done, on the afternoon of May 16, headmaster Meng got friends to obtain two dogs, which they proceeded to kill on the school grounds," the report said.
"He then told the teachers they would have dog meat to eat that afternoon," it added.
But the plan went awry when the dog being cooked burst into flames and set fire to the school's main office and then the classrooms.
The local education bureau fined the headmaster 10,000 yuan ($1,252) and suggested he be fired, the newspaper said.

Dutch nuns on bikes chase suspected thief
Mon Jul 24, 10:05 AM ET

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Two Dutch nuns, wearing habits and riding bikes, chased a suspected thief through Amsterdam, police said Monday.
On Saturday evening, one of the sisters believed she recognized a man walking past their chapel in southern Amsterdam as a thief who snatched hundreds of dollars in cash from the building two weeks earlier, Amsterdam police spokesman Rob van der Veen said.
She invited him inside for a drink and asked a fellow nun to alert police.
The man, apparently suspecting what was happening, fled the building and snatched a bicycle from a passer-by.
"The nuns then grabbed their bikes and gave chase. They tried to grab him, but he managed to escape into a residential neighborhood and they lost him," Van der Veen said. Police hunted for the man in the neighborhood but could not find him.

Pensioner is new knife-wielding Crocodile Dundee
Mon Jul 24, 8:13 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - With Australian outback hero Crocodile Dundee as her inspiration, an 80-year-old British pensioner foiled a knife-wielding burglar with an even bigger blade of her own.
When woken by a masked man holding a knife, Winifred Whelan screamed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.
Grabbing a giant carving knife, she told the startled intruder "You call that a knife? This is a knife" in an echo of the famous scene in the Crocodile Dundee film when actor Paul Hogan confronted a New York mugger.
As she took on the intruder, her husband grappled with his accomplice.
Recalling the incident on the day the burglars were jailed for the break-in, Whelan told The Liverpool Echo: "I said to the robber 'You call that a knife?' His was around 10 inches long and I had a carving knife measuring around 14 inches.
"I pointed it at his belly and added 'This is a knife!'"

Marriage proposal flight ends in crash
Mon Jul 24, 8:26 AM ET

ROME, Georgia (Reuters) - A young man's plan to propose to his girlfriend on a small chartered plane almost ended in disaster when the plane crashed and the engagement ring was lost in the wreckage.
Adam Sutton, 19, told Erika Brussee, 18, they were going on a date to the movies but instead took her to the airport in Rome, a U.S. town in northwest Georgia, for a chartered flight on Friday, according to the WSB-TV Web site.
The plan was for family members to hold up a large sign on the ground with the words "will you marry me" on it. But Brussee only saw the word "marry" because part of the sign was obscured before the plane, flying slowly at low altitude, stalled and crashed on the tarmac at Rome's airport.
The couple were not seriously hurt, Mike Mathews, airport manager at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport, told Reuters on Monday.
Brussee finally said "yes" to the proposal in the ambulance, Mathews said, but Sutton wasn't able to give her the ring. Only the ring's box could be found after the crash.
The plane's pilot was knocked unconscious by the crash and Sutton had to pull him from the plane.

Fish from heavens rain on India's Manna
Mon Jul 24, 4:26 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The people of Kerala in India's southwest are famed for turning fish into spicy feasts fit for gods, but last week the heavens turned provider as fish rained down on the village of Manna, a newspaper reported on Monday.
When the clouds broke last Thursday, villagers said they saw small, pencil-thin live fish falling from the sky.
"Initially no one noticed it. But soon, we saw some slushy objects on the ground and noticed some slight movement," Abubaker, a local shop owner, was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times.
"I alone collected 30 ice-cold fish of which many died," said the resident of Manna, 20 km (12 miles) from Kannur, in the north of the state.
Locals said the fish looked like parals, a common freshwater fish found in lakes and rivers.
Similar reports of objects falling from the sky -- including frogs and tomatoes -- have been put down to spiralling whirlwinds or waterspouts which suck them up from land or water. They fall back to earth once the wind speed drops and can no longer support them.

Man finds $21K in bonds, gets $100 reward
Sat Jul 22, 12:38 PM ET

DETROIT - A homeless man searching for returnable bottles in a trash bin found 31 U.S. savings bonds worth nearly $21,000 in a bag of clothes.
Charles Moore, 59, took the bonds to a 24-hour walk-in homeless shelter, where a staffer tracked down the family of the man whose name was on the bonds.
"They belong to him," Moore told The Detroit News. "I did the right thing."
Ernest Lehto's family had given away many of his clothes shortly after his death in 2004.
How the bonds ended up in the trash bin is a mystery, but Lehto's family left Moore a $100 reward.
"What a good Samaritan," said Neil Lehto, who picked up the bonds Friday that had belonged to his late father.

Dollar ban leaves Russian minister tongue-tied
Fri Jul 21, 2:55 PM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov invented a new unit of currency on Friday: "That thing your are not allowed to say."
Russia's parliament is in the process of adopting a law that will fine government ministers for saying "dollar" when they could have used the word "rouble" instead.
But old habits die hard. Telling reporters about a contract to supply fighter aircraft to Venezuela, Ivanov said the deal had "a value of more than one billion of that thing that you are not allowed to say anymore."
The rouble fell into neglect during years of galloping inflation and many Russians are now more conformable quoting large sums in dollars. Parliament is introducing the ban to try to restore pride in the national currency.

Unique bottle of tequila sold for $225,000
Sun Jul 23, 6:50 AM ET

MEXICO CITY - Forget the salt and lime, you'll need a mint to enjoy this tequila. Producer Tequila Ley .925 announced Saturday that it has sold a bottle of Mexico's best-known beverage in a gold and platinum casing for a whopping $225,000.
"This is a really unique bottle of tequila and our client, a U.S.-based collector of fine wines and spirits, will treasure this prize to add to an already impressive collection," said company CEO Fernando Altamirano in a news release. The buyer's name was not disclosed.
Altamirano said he is applying to the Guinness Book of Records claiming he has sold the most expensive bottle of liquor ever, but the book has to ratify the claim.
Tequila, made from agave, a blue cactus-like plant native to Western Mexico, sells for as little $10 a bottle and was traditionally the drink of farmers and laborers.
However, in recent years its profile has risen dramatically and it has gained fans on all corners of the globe. Earlier this month, UNESCO added the blue agave-growing region to the World Heritage list.
The record-breaking bottle was part of a new range of luxury tequilas unveiled by Tequila Ley last week. Named "Aztec Passion Limited Edition," it was cased in 4.4 pounds of gold and platinum.

Missile falls off truck onto New York highway
Mon Jul 24, 8:35 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A missile fell off a truck and onto a New York highway on Friday, but the weapon did not have a warhead and posed no danger, police said.
WCBS radio reported it was a Tomahawk cruise missile. Police and fire department officials could not confirm that.
The cargo came loose when the truck carrying it collided with another truck on a motorway in the Bronx.
"It was a military-type missile but it was inert. There was no danger and no one was harmed," a police spokesman said.

Two killed in Britain as inflatable art takes off
Mon Jul 24, 8:37 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Two women died and 13 people were injured when they fell from a huge inflatable sculpture after it broke its moorings and flew into the air in a park in northeastern England, police said Monday.
Up to 30 people were inside the walk-in exhibit, which has been shown around the world, when a gust of wind blew it 9 metres above the park in Chester-le-Street Sunday.
"All of a sudden it just started rising like a balloon," witness Mark Spooner told BBC television. "(It was) flinging people all over. Then it just seemed to flip over in the air."
The victims, aged 68 and 38, had been walking through the artwork with children when it took off. A three-year-old girl was seriously injured in the freak accident.
"(The) inflatable exhibition broke its moorings and tipped those using it on to the ground," police said in a statement.
Designed by artist Maurice Agis, the exhibit, called Dreamspace, is 5 metres high and made out of plastic sheeting. Half the size of a soccer pitch, it has walls that change color as visitors wander through its maze of corridors.
It was brought to earth after it drifted into a pole.

Australian motorist plays dead for car help
Wed Jul 19, 3:56 PM ET

SYDNEY, Australia - A driver stranded on a remote stretch of Australian highway Wednesday tried to summon help by playing dead in the middle of the road, a police officer said.
A woman who was driving with her two children spotted the man and had to swerve to avoid hitting him, said Doug Backhouse, a detective with the Western Australia state police.
"She drove around the body — which didn't move at all — and got to the nearest phone," Backhouse said.
Local police arrived with an ambulance and found the man alive and well, but with car troubles.
"The best way he thought to get a vehicle to stop was to lay down in the middle of the road and pretend to be dead," Backhouse said, adding that the man didn't think anyone would stop if he were standing up.
Police said they told the man that lying in the road was "a stupid thing to do," but didn't charge him with any offense.
The incident occurred near Esperance, about 450 miles southeast of the state capital, Perth.

Cop censured for under the covers work
FriJul 21, 5:08 AM ET

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A woman police officer moonlighting as a prostitute has got off with a caution, New Zealand police said Thursday.
The unidentified officer, stationed in the country's biggest city Auckland, was discovered last year to have been a prostitute for a short time.
"The officer concerned has been counseled. Under police procedures this amounts to a censure," Deputy Police Commissioner Lyn Provost said in a statement.
The police officer, who was understood to be having financial difficulties, had not sought permission to have a second job. Such applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.
"This type of secondary employment would never be approved given that the type of work is inappropriate and incompatible with policing," Provost said.
New Zealand made prostitution legal in 2003.
An Auckland spokeswoman for the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective -- a welfare and lobby group for sex workers -- told the NZ Press Association that a prostitute might earn as much as NZ$500 ($312) on a busy night.
Asked if she had heard of other police officers moonlighting as sex workers, she said: "We have law students that are sex workers, we have doctors that are sex workers. I mean anyone can be a sex worker."

Misyar offers marriage-lite in strict Saudi society
Wed Jul 19, 8:25 AM ET

By Souhail Karam
RIYADH (Reuters) - Khaled never thought a form of temporary marriage, described by some in Saudi Arabia as legal prostitution, would open the door to his happily-ever-after.
The 25-year-old Saudi security guard opted to marry Zeinab, also a Saudi, through a "misyar" contract -- a kind of marriage-lite under which couples often live separately but get together regularly, sometimes just for sex.
Khaled and Zeinab are among thousands of people who choose misyar in this ultraconservative Islamic kingdom where contact between unrelated men and women is forbidden and extramarital sex regarded as a grave sin.
Misyar also offers an alternative to cash-strapped men who want to avoid lavish weddings but would like a relationship, without incurring the wrath of the morality police.
Under misyar, the husband is not financially responsible for his wife, and the marriage often ends in divorce.
Khaled, who declined to give his full name, admitted he wasn't serious about commitment when he decided on misyar.
But now, he and Zeinab are expecting a baby together.
"I thought let's give it a try ... and now I feel like a hero in a romantic film," he said.
Misyar is allowed under Sunni Islam and it is legal in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. But it is traditionally frowned upon and the fact that it leaves the wife financially vulnerable has angered many women's activists and intellectuals.
"Misyar reduces marriage to sexual intercourse," said Hatoun al-Fassi, a female Saudi historian. "For clerics to allow it is shameful for our religion."
"A MAN'S MOODS"
In regular marriages in Saudi Arabia, men must pay for expensive ceremonies, huge dowries and a home. If the couple divorce, he must pay alimony and child support.
So misyar appeals to men of reduced means, as well as men looking for a flexible arrangement -- the husband can walk away from a misyar and can marry other women without informing his first wife.
Wealthy Muslims sometimes contract misyar when on holiday to allow them to have sexual relations without breaching the tenets of their faith.
A misyar is often one of the only options for older spinsters, divorcees and widows who often struggle to find husbands in a society where they are stigmatised.
This vulnerability has sometimes encouraged abuses: women sometimes act as matchmakers for less than scrupulous men on the prowl for lonely and wealthy spinsters.
Suhaila Zein al-Abideen, of the International Union of Muslim Scholars in Medina, said almost 80 percent of misyar marriages end in divorce.
"A woman loses all her rights. Even how often she sees her husband is decided by his moods," she said.
But Saudi television presenter Rima al-Shamikh said misyar is the result of frustration among Saudi Arabia's largely youthful population, bound by a strict religious code but exposed to Western lifestyles through the media and Internet.
"Our young people watch the satellite television channels. There is dissatisfaction," she explained. "Misyar is a way of getting around the obstacles of marriage in Gulf societies."
Some scholars say misyar was practised in the Arabian peninsula during the early days of Islam, when men were often away for months during battles or for trading.
The practice reappeared in the early 19th century in Egypt, where it is known as urfi marriage and is now very common.
After years of study, the influential Mecca-based Islamic Jurisprudence Assembly in April declared that misyar marriage was legal, angering many womens' rights' activists in the Gulf, where misyar is practiced in several countries.
Influential Muslim cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi has given his blessing to misyar, but said there should be at least some form of dowry to provide a guarantee for the wife.
"No doubt it is somehow socially unacceptable, but there is a big difference between what is Islamically valid and what is socially acceptable," he recently told Al Jazeera television.
Saudi clerics say misyar is authorised as long as it meets the basic requirements of sharia, Islamic law -- consent of both parties, the blessing of the woman's guardian, the presence of witnesses and a state marriage official.
Adverts for Saudi men and women seeking misyar marriage abound on the Internet, recalling the "lonely hearts" columns popular in Western newspapers.
"I am a 33-year-old Saudi man with acceptable looks seeking to marry a Saudi virgin or a divorcee," read one posting on a special misyar site. "Saudi man seeking divorcee living in Jeddah, no objection to children," read another.
But not all misyar couples are in it for the short-term. A few, like Khaled and Zeinab, find misyar can be a first step to something more durable.
"We got used to each other very quickly," said Khaled, who has been married for 18 months. "Then she got pregnant. We couldn't bear our situation, so we decided to live together for real, not just with misyar."

Postal worker caught with thousands of letters
Fri Jul 14, 11:14 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A Berlin postal worker who was caught with more than several thousand undelivered letters in his basement has admitted he was overwhelmed by the job but insisted he planned to deliver them soon.
Police recently found 90 boxes of post stacked in his basement. The postal worker, 36, identified as Thomas H., told Bild newspaper Friday he was only temporarily storing the post at his house and friends would help with delivery.
"There were just too much and I couldn't deliver it all by myself," he told the newspaper. Police said some of the letters found had been postmarked as early as April. The postal worker faces disciplinary action.

Patient wearing oxygen mask sparks fire
Fri Jul 14, 4:14 PM ET

DALLAS - A patient who was wearing an oxygen mask tried to light a cigarette in his hospital room, sparking a fire that forced the evacuation of more than 100 patients, destroyed the room and melted medical equipment, officials said.
A nurse at Methodist Dallas Medical Center rescued the man from his burning bed shortly after the Thursday night blaze started. He suffered serious burns and was taken to the burn unit another Dallas hospital, but no one else was hurt, hospital officials said.
"He somehow got the strength to smoke a cigarette with a nonremovable mask," Dallas Fire-Rescue Capt. Paul Martinez said. "I don't know how he did it, but he did it."
Hospital sprinklers kept the blaze mostly in one room, said fire Lt. Joel Lavender.
Officials didn't release the man's name or condition Friday, citing medical privacy laws.

Two guys really miss the boat
AP - Mon Jul 17, 7:36 AM ET

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Two Irish men who stole a fishing trawler after missing their ferry had to be rescued off the British coast where they were going in circles because they did not know how to sail.
After hours at sea, the men called what they thought was the Irish coastguard for help.
"They thought they were just off the coast of Ireland," said Ray Steadman, press officer of the Holyhead lifeboat in north Wales, about 66 miles east of Ireland.
In fact, the two were just 12 miles north of where they started in Holyhead and had called the British coastguard, Steadman told Irish broadcaster RTE Monday.
Lifeboats and a helicopter were sent out to rescue the men, who were detained by police before being released.
They were later rearrested after the boat owner discovered some damage to his trawler.

Ill. festival features the Cow Chip Throw
Fri Jul 14, 4:23 PM ET

CHATHAM, Ill. - Every year, folks gather at the Chatham Jaycees Sweet Corn Festival to enjoy good food, music, arts and crafts, and games for the kids. And toss some cow dung around.
That's right. Come Saturday the skies will be filled with something they're just not usually filled with as the Corn Festival once again hosts the Illinois Championship Cow Chip Throw.
If this sounds like an odd sport, chances are you haven't been paying attention to what's been going on down country roads all over the place. For more than 30 years, for example, the folks in Wisconsin's Sauk County have been holding the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw. The winners, of course, are eligible to compete in even older World Cow Chip Throw in Beaver, Okla.
In Chatham, organizers — not to mention the cows — have been busy making sure that competitors have enough, shall we say, equipment on hand.
The cows have been doing their part, of course, with folks like part-time farmer Shane Workman and his buddy Adam Bursott following close behind. When they see a cow patty, also known as a meadow muffin, that a competitor might like, they toss it into a flat wagon. There, the patties bake and bake long enough to turn into chips, the kind that expert cow chip throwers can launch more than 200 feet.
"I think we're all pooped out here," said Bursott, 27, before heading over to another field in the hopes of finding more patties.
Workman, 28, has been at it since he was a boy when he took to the fields with his dad in search of cow patties.
"I can remember I wasn't strong enough to get them hoisted up," he said.
When competitors show up Saturday, all they have to do is plop down five dollars to get two chips. All the money goes a scholarship fund at Glenwood High School called the Mark Workman Service to Humanity Award, named after Shane Workman's father, who died two years ago.
Unlike the Olympic Games, where in throwing events like the discuss and the shot put competitors are only allowed a certain number of turns, the only thing cow chip tossers have to worry about his how deep they're willing to dig into their wallets for something, it's safe to say, they wouldn't buy at any other time.
"If they have a pocket full of money, we let them throw poop," said John Moore, a Chatham Jaycee. "They can throw to their heart's content."

Woman asks 911 to send 'cutie pie' deputy
Fri Jul 14, 4:05 PM ET

ALOHA, Ore. - A woman who called 911 to get "the cutest cop I've seen" sent back to her home got a date all right — a court date.
The same sheriff's deputy arrested her on charges of misuse of the emergency dispatch system.
Washington County Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson told KGW-TV of Portland it all started with a noise complaint called in last month by neighbors of Lorna Jeanne Dudash. The deputy sent to check on the complaint knocked on her door, then left.
Thompson said Dudash then called 911, asking that the "cutie pie" deputy return.
"He's the cutest cop I've seen in a long time. I just want to know his name," Dudash told the dispatcher. "Heck, it doesn't come very often a good man comes to your doorstep."
After listening to some more, followed by a bit of silence, the dispatcher asked again why Dudash needed the deputy to return.
"Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911," she said.
"I know this is absolutely not in any way, shape or form an emergency, but if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back, would you mind?"
The deputy returned, verified that there was no emergency and arrested her for misusing the 911 system, an offense punishable by a fine of up to several thousand dollars and a year in jail.
Thompson said Thursday it was the first case he knew of in which someone called the emergency line for such a personal reason.
"That's taking up valuable time from dispatchers who could be taking true emergency calls," he said.

Thanking Jesus in court lands man in jail
Fri Jul 14, 7:36 PM ET

HONOLULU - Junior Stowers raised his hands and exclaimed, "Thank you, Jesus!" in court last month when he was acquitted by a jury of abusing his son.
But his joy was short-lived when Circuit Judge Patrick Border held him in contempt of court for the "outburst" and threw him in jail.
Stowers, 47, sat in the courtroom and a cellblock for about six hours until the judge granted him a hearing on the contempt charge and released him.
The judge at a July 7 hearing dropped the contempt charge, a petty misdemeanor that carries up to 30 days in jail.
Stowers couldn't be reached for comment. But his attorney in the contempt case, Deputy Public Defender Susan Arnett, said he wasn't treated fairly.
"I don't think there's anything about saying 'Thank you, Jesus' that rises to the level of contemptuous behavior in this case," she told The Honolulu Advertiser.
Stowers is a devoutly religious man active in his church who spontaneously expressed his thanks to the higher power in which he believed, she said.
Family members and Stowers' pastor at Assembly of God Church, Iakopo Sale, who watched from the gallery were "very upset that those words could land somebody in jail," Arnett said.
Border declined to comment but indicated the court minutes reflected his actions. The minutes showed he found Stowers' "nonverbal gestures and outbursts to be disruptive and improper regardless of content."
Court minutes said Border later dropped the charge because he realized Stowers' trial lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Carmel Kwock, did not have time to tell Stowers the judge had ordered both sides not to show emotion when the verdict was announced.
Stowers, of Honolulu, was charged with hitting his 15-year-old son with a broomstick in January. The misdemeanor charge of abusing a household member carries a sentence of up to a year in jail. Stowers was free on a $1,000 bond.
During the trial last month, the boy recanted his earlier statements that his father hit him, according to court records.
The boy instead testified his brother had hit him with a car door, a story verified by the brother in court.
Just before the verdict was announced on June 29, Border called city Deputy Prosecutor Sean Sanada and Kwock to the bench and told them he didn't want a show of emotion by either side, according to a defense request to dismiss the contempt charge.
When Stowers made his remarks after the verdict was announced, the judge told him, "There will (be) no more of that," the papers said.
Stowers asked to approach the bench and apologize, but the judge told him he could not and ordered him to remain in the courtroom, the defense request said.

Man survives elevator ordeal with cookies
Wed Jun 14, 6:49 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German retiree and former elevator repair man had to survive on just a packet of biscuits while he was stuck in a broken hospital elevator for three days.
Karlheinz Schmidt, 68, who had turned up for a routine appointment at a Berlin hospital, slipped out of his wheelchair during the 80-hour ordeal in which he repeatedly pushed the elevator's alarm button without anyone hearing his call for help.
"I was lying on the floor and the elevator went up and down for a bit. I pushed the alarm button several times, but nothing happened," the daily Bild quoted Schmidt as saying. "I thought to myself ... 'Karlheinz, that's it. You're on your own now'."
Schmidt, who appeared on German television looking pale and weak, was finally discovered Monday after a nurse reported the broken lift. Schmidt's son had launched a hunt for his father but rescue workers after scouring the hospital grounds had concentrated efforts on dredging a nearby canal.

Police nab mall suspect in doughnut shop
Fri Jun 16, 9:09 PM ET

JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. - You'd think a doughnut shop would be the last place a thief would head while trying to elude police. But that's just what Kevin Robinson did after allegedly boosting some expensive pants from a Binghamton-area mall.
Authorities in Johnson City said the 40-year-old man dashed into the bathroom of a Dunkin' Donuts across the street from the Oakdale Mall after stealing trousers from a Kaufmann's store.
The two store security guards and police officers subdued Robinson and took him into custody.
Robinson was charged with robbery and tampering with evidence. Police said he tried to eat the tags from the stolen clothing. He was sent to Broome County Jail without bail.

Angry neighbors battle it out with signs
Fri Jun 16, 9:13 PM ET

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. - A feud between neighbors that began over roving pets has sparked a biting dialogue using homemade signs along the side of the road. Pam and Ron Castle say their neighbor, Larry Shrock, shot their beagle mix named Jake on June 1 and burned his body in an incinerator.
According to a police report, the Shrocks said they asked the Castles to keep their dogs at home, worried the animals would try to attack rabbit hutches on their property. When the dogs returned, Shrock told police he shot one of the animals. No charges have been filed.
Unsatisfied with the response from police and his neighbors, Ron Castle used red paint to write on 4-foot-by-8-foot plywood board: "My Neighbor, Larry Shrock, House on Left up on Hill (arrow) Shot My Dog, Then Burned It." He added an expletive to the sign he posted alongside the road near his house.
"I didn't know what else to do," he said. "What can I do to this man that has caused me so much grief?"
On June 7, after a second neighbor complained Shrock shot another dog, Castle took out the paint again.
"Mowrey Road Dog Killer Ahead On Left, Two Shot and Killed, One Burned."
The Shrocks fought back with blue paint and a sign of their own.
"Neighbor's Dog Killed My Pet Bunnies, Scared My Granddaughter. I Warned Him Twice."
Castle disagreed, and penned a third sign, which denied the rabbit allegations.
Shrock has since taken down his sign, but Castle's three messages remain visible to eastbound drivers who crest a small hill in the community of about 7,800 residents about 20 miles northwest of Fort Wayne.
"My wife and I fear for our lives," Shrock told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne.

Man charged after wife's head flies from lorry
Fri Jun 16, 11:33 PM ET

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - Police are charging an Idaho man with killing his wife after her severed head flew from the bed of his pickup lorry during a crash that also claimed the lives of another woman and her child, officials said on Friday.
Alofa Time, 51, of Nampa, Idaho, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Theresa Time. He was also charged with two counts of second-degree murder stemming from the head-on collision in Boise, which police said they believe was intentional.
Authorities said the impact of the crash, which killed 36-year-old Samantha Murphy and her young daughter, caused Theresa Time's already severed head to tumble from the pickup. The discovery led police to Time's home, where they discovered his wife's headless corpse.
"It's the most heinous crime I've ever seen," said Nampa Police Lt. LeRoy Forsman.
Boise police investigating the wreck said Time crossed the centre line and appeared to aim for Murphy's Nissan Sentra.
"This so much resembles a bad horror movie that you have a hard time believing it. This is about 9.5 on the horrific scale," said Boise Police Lt. Ron Winegar.

The wurst way to go?
Fri Jun 9, 6:38 AM ET FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German police have arrested a man on suspicion of murdering a woman with a sausage.
Prosecutors and police said the 50-year-old was arrested after the woman's body was discovered in an apartment in Zwickau, eastern Germany. They said she had choked on a Bockwurst, a popular large German sausage.
The prosecutors said the man had given a patchy account of events, acknowledging that he may have "administered" a Bockwurst to the woman. They are now working to establish exactly what happened in the run up to her death.

Nude cyclists peel off around Spanish cities
Sat Jun 10, 2:40 PM ET

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of nude cyclists pedaled around Spanish cities on Saturday to protest against car-clogged streets and demand greater respect for pollution-free transport.
With slogans like "one car less" and "bio methanol" painted on their backs, the naked cyclists staged Spain's third annual Ciclonudista or "Nudecycle" in Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona.
The protest was part of world-wide naked bike riding events on Saturday across Europe, North America and South America.
"We feel naked when up against traffic because people don't see the bicycle as just another means of transport," said Madrid cyclist Ramon Linaza, wearing only a cycle helmet and shoes.
Towing cardboard cars with gaping jaws, protesters said the rapid rise of automobile ownership in Spain was turning city streets into ever more hostile and dangerous cycling territory.
Organizers said the bicycle was a healthy and efficient form of urban transport that is largely ignored by Spanish drivers and city planners.
Central Madrid has few bike paths and cyclists are a rarity on its streets. Barcelona has the most bike paths of any Spanish city, according to cycling activists.
Per capita car ownership has rocketed in Spain after a decade of strong economic growth.

Speeding man was drying wet car
Thu Jun 8, 9:18 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Police confiscated the car and driver's license of a Dutchman caught speeding who said he only wanted to dry his car after he had washed it.
The 27-year-old was stopped in Amsterdam driving at 108 kph (68 mph), 50 kph over the speed limit, police said.
"Because he did not have his driver's license with him, his clean car was confiscated until he produces it," a police spokeswoman said.

Parents accused of rewarding sons with pot
Sat Jun 10, 9:27 PM ET

CHANDLER, Ariz. - Police have arrested two Chandler parents accused of giving marijuana to their young sons as a reward for good behavior.
Toni Lynn Carlson, 31, and Aaron Virgil Carlson, 23, were booked on suspicion of possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia, possessing marijuana for sale, contributing to the delinquency of minors and endangerment, police said Friday.
The couple were taken into custody Thursday night after detectives served a search warrant at their home and found a quarter-pound of marijuana.
Police said the boys — ages 12 and 11, and a 4-year-old girl — were in the care and custody of a family member.
The investigation began after authorities received tips from a neighbor about the possible usage and sale of drugs at the home, police said.
Detectives didn't know about the family possibly smoking marijuana together until the parents and children were interviewed.
Also under investigation is the possibility the Carlsons supplied drugs to other children, police said.

Calif. inmate gives birth on the toilet
Sat Jun 10, 5:49 PM ET

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - A recently incarcerated inmate who claims she was unaware she was pregnant gave birth in her cell to a baby boy, authorities said Friday.
Leticia Cisneros, 35, was sitting on the toilet Wednesday, suffering from what she thought were cramps, when she gave birth, said a Sheriff's Department statement. Another inmate came to her aid and took the baby.
Soon afterward, a deputy came and wrapped the boy in towels until a prison nurse arrived and cared for him.
If it were not for the quick action of the deputy, nurse and other inmate in providing aid for the child, he "would likely not have survived," the statement said.
Cisneros was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on June 1 on elder abuse and other charges. A pre-booking medical screening questionnaire did not mention she was pregnant.
Subsequent inmate interviews revealed that while Cisneros thought she had recently gained weight, she did not know she was pregnant.

'Mummy' accused of robbing Miss. bank
Sat Jun 10, 5:57 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. - Jackson police have not said whether a suspect arrested Friday on firearms charges is the man who wore bandages like a mummy when he walked into a bank, jumped the counter, stuffed his clothes with money and escaped on foot.
Montaries Brooks, 26, of Jackson, was being questioned Friday night regarding the robbery and was charged as a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was being held Saturday in the Hinds County Detention Center.
Police arrested Brooks shortly before noon Friday at an apartment, where a SWAT team had converged shortly after the bank robbery. Sgt. Joseph Wade said the robber walked into the Trustmark Bank on Terry Road, wearing bandages about 10 a.m.
"He was fully bandaged," Wade said, including his face and arms. "The only things they could see were his eyes and lips. He asked a teller for help, then jumped over the counter and began taking money out of the drawer," Wade said.
The robber, who Wade said never showed a weapon, stuffed the money into his clothes and ran. Police would not disclose how much money was stolen.

Pa. officials seek order on 'rat house'
Sat Jun 10, 5:48 PM ET

PORTAGE, Pa. - Township officials are seeking a court order to clean up — and possibly tear down — a rat-infested house where they say animal waste is piled a foot high and trash is stacked to the ceiling.
Animal control officers removed 47 dogs from the Portage Township house last month. Officials said the three occupants, who were all charged with cruelty to animals because of the squalid conditions, no longer live there.
State police and animal control officials said some dogs were kept on chains in the house that were so short that the animals could not move away from their own waste.
Township solicitor C.J. Webb wants a Cambria County judge to issue an order allowing officials to clean up the mess and to tear down the house if it cannot be salvaged otherwise.
"It's fairly obvious the condition of the house is not good, and a court order for cleanup may not be physically possible," Webb said.

Woman attacks dog breeder with dead Chihuahua
Thu Jun 8, 1:23 PM ET

CHICAGO, United States (AFP) - A Missouri woman has been arrested for breaking into a dog breeder's home and beating her repeatedly over the head with a dead Chihuahua.
The woman was upset because the puppy had died, police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.
The woman, whose name was being withheld pending charges, said a veterinarian had told her the puppy she'd bought was just four weeks old and needed to be returned to its mother.
It died before she had a chance to do so and the woman went to the breeder's home in St. Peters, Missouri about 5:45 am Wednesday.
She pushed her way into the house and tried to get to the basement to get another puppy. But after some hair-pulling, the breeder managed to wrestle the woman out of her house.
When she got outside she started hitting the breeder on the head with the dead puppy, drawing the attention of a neighbor who called police.
The woman then went back to her car but waved the dead puppy out of the car's sunroof while yelling threats at the breeder, who did not seek medical attention, police said.
The weight of the puppy was unknown, but Chihuahuas weight between two and six pounds when fully grown.
The dog owner could face felony burglary and misdemeanor assault charges police said.

Is "daggy" Manilow the answer to hooligan woes?
 Mon Jun 5, 8:34 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sick and tired of souped-up cars with loud engines and pulsing music? Barry Manilow may be the answer.
Officials in one Sydney district have decided to pipe the American crooner's music over loudspeakers in an attempt to rid streets and car parks of hooligans whose anti-social cars and loud music annoy residents and drive customers from businesses.
Following a successful experiment where Bing Crosby music was used to drive teenage loiterers out of an Australian shopping center several years ago, Rockdale councilors believe Manilow is so uncool it might just work.
Councilor Bill Saravinovski said local authorities plan to install a loudspeaker and pipe in Manilow music, interspersed with classical pieces, over a car park favored by car "hoons," or hooligans.
"There are restaurants nearby and people can't park in the car park because they're intimidated by these hoons," Saravinovski told The Daily Telegraph newspaper Monday.
"Daggy music is one way to make the hoons leave an area because they can't stand the music," he said.
The Oxford Concise Australian Dictionary defines "daggy" as unfashionable, or lacking style, even eccentric or stupid.

Who's never been tempted to do this?
Tue Jun 6, 8:26 AM ET

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serb man set his car on fire when he heard how much he had to pay to reclaim it after it was towed away for illegal parking.
An attendant told the daily Press the man was very calm.
"He went to his car, took a few things then opened the hood and set the engine on fire. When it was well ablaze he got back on his bike and rode off."

Police: Mom asks son to sell pot for bail
Wed Jun 7, 6:44 PM ET

SPENCER, Iowa - A woman who police say asked her son to sell marijuana to raise money to bail her out of jail faces an additional charge.
Elaine Baker is currently being held in the Clay County jail on two drug charges and child endangerment.
She made a call to her son, asking him to sell marijuana stashed in a refrigerator and post bond.
The call was monitored by police.
Authorities got a search warrant and found a small amount of marijuana in Baker's home on Monday.
Baker's son, Austin Tasich, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Baker was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Man ends up in the wrong Manchester
Wed Jun 7, 5:01 PM ET

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Before this week, Jim Hourihan of Liverpool, England, had never heard of Manchester, N.H. But thanks to a mix-up, he ended up there this week while trying to fly to another Manchester — the one on the other side of the Atlantic.
Hourihan boarded a Continental Airlines flight in Los Angeles on Monday, but it wasn't until he got on a connecting flight in Cleveland — a 50-seat regional jet — that he realized he was headed to New England instead of jolly old England.
"When I first saw the plane I thought, 'That's not going to Manchester, England,'" Hourihan told WMUR-TV. "And it was then that it dawned on me. There must be two Manchesters."
Tuesday evening, after a stay in Manchester, Continental booked Hourihan on a flight to Newark, N.J., to connect with a flight home, at no extra charge, said Brian O'Neill, assistant director at Manchester Boston Regional Airport.
Hourihan said he liked Manchester, but felt it could use a few more pubs.
Even with the detour, Hourihan said he was having a great journey home.
"He did receive the VIP treatment while he was here," O'Neill said.
He said he learned Hourihan is not the first passenger to have landed in the wrong Manchester.
The mix-up came as the airport spreads the word about its new name. It's just added "Boston Regional" to the name, so Manchester pops up for travelers and agents looking to book flights to the Boston area.
Previously, he said, Manchester might not show up until on page 11 or 12 of a computer flight search, but now it sometimes appears on the first or second page.

Police car gives man something to chew on
Wed Jun 7, 12:34 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A man resisting an order to leave his home became so angry he bit the police car he was being pinned against, German authorities said on Wednesday.
Police tried to eject the 42-year-old man, of Russian origin, after a report of domestic violence. He became aggressive and officers pinned him face down on the bonnet of their patrol car and he began chewing its police markings.
"He was so angry he gnawed at the bonnet and bit through the paintwork," said a police spokesman in the western city of Bielefeld. "Who knows, perhaps he was hungry too."
The bonnet would need its markings replacing and a new coat of paint, the spokesman said.

Pilot finds snake stowaway inside cockpit
Sat Jun 3, 6:47 AM ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane's instrument panel: a 4 1/2-foot snake.
Coles was taking a leisurely flight over the West Virginia countryside in his Piper Cherokee last weekend and was preparing to land in Ohio when the snake revealed itself.
"Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this," said the 62-year-old Cross Lanes resident.
But advice given 25 years earlier from his flight instructor sprung to mind: "No matter what happens, fly the plane."
Coles attempted to swat the snake but it fell to the pilot's feet, then darted to the other side of the cockpit.
While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand, Coles grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other.
"There was no way I was letting that thing go," he said. "It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling."
The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance.
"They came back and asked what my problem was," he said. "I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in."
After a smooth landing, Coles posed for pictures with the snake, then let it loose.
"That snake resides in Ohio now," he said.

Japanese cow leads police on wild chase
Sun Jun 4, 3:42 AM ET

TOKYO - A cow being delivered to a Japanese slaughterhouse tried to bolt to freedom Sunday, leading nearly two dozen police on a 3.7-mile car chase through town and sending one man to the hospital unconscious.
Security camera footage of the wild escape, aired by public broadcaster NHK, showed the frenzied 1,606-pound animal zigzagging across a parking lot and then darting down a street, hotly pursued by a stream of patrol cars.
"The cow was being delivered to the slaughterhouse, and it was startled by a loud sound and just ran off," said Masashi Kitabayashi, a police official in the central town of Yakkaichi, where the incident took place.
The 3-year-old cow eventually crashed headfirst into a metal fence, fell down and died, but not before attacking a rendering plant worker who was trying to recapture the animal, Kitabayashi said.
The chase occurred at 6:50 a.m., and the 56-year-old worker was still unconscious in the hospital by late afternoon.
Slaughterhouse workers took the cow's body away.
"I don't know whether it will be processed into meat or not," Kitabayashi said.

Court bars man from seeing dog
Fri Jun 2, 12:33 PM ET

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court has ruled that dogs should not be treated like children with allocated visiting rights when it comes to divorce cases.
A Spanish man was originally given permission by his wife to visit Yako, a golden retriever, when they separated but he appealed to a lower court when she stopped him from seeing the dog. The court ruled in his favor and set up visiting hours.
But the provincial court of Barcelona then overturned that decision, saying it set a precedent for pets to be treated like children in divorce cases.
"This sort of litigation is rare, given that common sense and reason dictate that people should not take such cases to court," said court papers obtained by Reuters Friday.

Jobless man seeks sympathy with rhinos
Mon Jun 5, 8:28 AM ET

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man upset at not being able to find a job protested his plight by climbing into a zoo pen with a pair of rhinoceroses.
Police and zoo officials said Monday that the man, identified only by his family name Lee, went to the zoo in the capital Seoul over the weekend and tried at first to draw attention to himself by breaking into an enclosure housing giraffes,
Zookeepers prevented him from climbing the fence of that enclosure, but he broke free and scaled the fence of a pen housing a pair of rhinos known for having a mean streak, the officials said.
Lee spent only a few moments with the rhinos and climbed a tree in the enclosure where he remained for about four hours, shouting out to visitors about how he had lost his job and other bad breaks in life, they said.
The zookeepers moved the animals in separate pens, officials said, before police and firefighters placed mattresses under the tree and persuaded Lee to come down.
"I jumped into the cage because I've become desperate after not having found a job for such a long time," a police officer quoted Lee as saying.
Police questioned Lee and released him.

Morality police turn witch hunters
Mon Jun 5, 8:29 AM ET

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's powerful morality police is launching a witch hunt in the birthplace of Islam.
The Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is setting up special centers in all cities to "register complaints on sorcerers and charlatans, track them and terminate them," the authority's chief Sheikh Ibrahim bin Abdallah al-Ghaith told al-Madinah newspaper.
Islam forbids magic and practicing it is considered blasphemy.
Saudi newspapers often report incidents involving so-called sorcerers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent and Africa.
Some Saudis pay them vast amounts of money, hoping to uncover hidden treasures or get jobs, according to the papers.
The religious police have wide powers in Saudi Arabia, which imposes a strict version of Sunni Islam, to prevent the spread of drugs, alcohol and prostitution as well as stop unrelated men and women mixing in public.

No more navel gazing in church, priest says
Mon Jun 5, 8:29 AM ET

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian priest is resorting to some innovative theology to rid his church of young women's bare midriffs.
"God knew what your navel looked like even before you were born, so there is no need to expose it in church," commands a sign at the entrance to the church in Cinisello Balsamo.
Guards at major churches in Italy routinely keep out people wearing skimpy attire. But Father Felice says he resorted to the signs because his parish cannot afford guards to keep out the low-cut jeans and high-cut tops, newspapers reported Monday.

Lioness in zoo kills man who invoked God
Mon Jun 5, 8:31 AM ET

KIEV (Reuters) - A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in Kiev zoo after he crept into the animal's enclosure, a zoo official said on Monday.
"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists', lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.
"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."
The incident, Sunday evening when the zoo was packed with visitors, was the first of its kind at the attraction. Lions and tigers are kept in an "animal island" protected by thick concrete blocks.

Deputy fired for filming girls in bikinis
Thu Jun 1, 8:20 PM ET

STUART, Fla. - A Martin County sheriff's review board found just cause in the firing of a former deputy who was relieved of duty for using his patrol car's dashboard-mounted camera to film bikini-clad girls at the beach.
Jack Munsey was fired Jan. 30 after an internal investigation found his behavior was not criminal but violated department policies. Munsey had sought reinstatement.
The panel took just four minutes Wednesday to determine his firing was justified.
The daylong hearing included testimony about two previous investigations involving Munsey, including one in 1997 when he used a department computer to view pornography on the Internet while on duty. He was suspended for a week. In 2004, he was suspended after he totaled a patrol car while speeding on his way to work.
Munsey's attorney Larry Fagan called the videotaping a brief lapse in judgment that should not warrant termination.
"This is something that will follow him forever," Fagan told the panel.
Munsey declined to comment after the hearing.
Sheriff Robert Crowder said Munsey likely will not lose his law enforcement certification that could get him a job elsewhere.
"He's not a bad guy, but I think his judgment perhaps was flawed and maybe he's learned from this, and maybe he'd be able to work somewhere where this wouldn't be held over his head," Crowder said.

Man leaves $28,000 on restaurant toilet

VIENNA, Austria - A tax collector in the southern Austrian city of Graz accidentally left $28,000 in cash in a black attache case he placed on top of a toilet in the men's room of a local restaurant Thursday, police said.
By the time he realized it was missing and went back, the cash was gone, authorities said.
As of Friday, no one had turned up with the money, prompting police in the city 120 miles south of Vienna to issue an appeal for its return.

Would-be robber asks bank how to do it
Thu Jun 1, 9:03 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A would-be Japanese bank robber asked staff how he should carry out the crime before meekly obeying a request to leave and then accidentally stabbing himself in the leg with a knife he was carrying.
The 58-year-old unemployed man went into a branch of the Saitama Resona Bank in the town of Kumagaya, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, intending to rob it, a police spokesman said.
According to local media reports the man first asked a bank teller, "Any idea how you rob a bank?" The teller alerted another member of staff, who asked the man to leave.
"He left quietly when asked to," the police spokesman said.
However, the staff member escorting the man out of the bank noticed the knife sticking out of his pocket and a bloodstain on his trousers.
Police arrested the man for illegal possession of a weapon.
"He didn't brandish the knife at anyone ... but he injured himself in the leg," the police spokesman said.

Wanted gangster drops by prison for mass
Thu Jun 1, 9:09 AM ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian police are investigating how an accused drug kingpin wanted by the authorities dropped by a local prison to take part in a sermon last week and left through the front door.
Alberico Medeiros spoke during a Pentecostal sermon in front of 480 inmates about his years as a drug trafficker, how he used drugs, carried guns and had a huge gang of cutthroats at his command. He says he has since become religious and has abandoned his criminal ways.
Medeiros, who has spent time in Rio de Janeiro's maximum security jail, faces trial on 12 counts of trafficking and other unlawful activities.
"He may have repented his sins, but he is wanted by the police," an investigator in Rio, the home city of Medeiros, told Reuters Wednesday.
"It's incredible that he dares to show up in a prison like that, talking about his crimes, and nobody even stops him."
Police said they questioned a preacher who held the sermon in the Minas Gerais state jail, but he denied knowledge of an arrest warrant in Medeiros' name.

Duck X-ray reveals 'alien head'
Thu Jun 1, 8:31 PM ET

CORDELIA, Calif. - The International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia plans to raise funds with an unusual duck X-ray. The bird came in with a broken wing, but when Marie Travers, assistant manager of the center, radiographed the duck, she was stunned to see a very clear image of what appeared to be the face, or head, of an extraterrestrial alien in the bird's stomach.
"Marie looked at it and all she could say was 'unbelievable,'" said Karen Benzel, public affairs director for the rescue center, which has been rescuing sick and injured birds for more than three decades.
Unfortunately, the duck died quickly and quietly of its injuries.
Initial reports from the center claimed the cause of the alien face was never determined, but Benzel said she was still awaiting results of a necropsy.
Either way, the center has come up with a way to turn its alien encounter into a fundraiser for the center. It will auction off the X-ray on eBay.
The one-of-a-kind image, which measures 17-by-14 inches, will be sold along with a certificate of authenticity. All proceeds will go toward funding the center's rehabilitation programs.
The auction begins Sunday.

Police: Grandparents ordered hit on family
Fri Jun 2, 6:25 AM ET

TAVARES, Fla. - A couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said.
The couple, ages 60 and 59, were charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder. They were being held without bond.
Police said they initially offered $100 to an undercover sheriff's deputy to kill their son's wife, their 10-year-old granddaughter, two step-grandchildren, ages 14 and 16, and the family dog. More money was promised after the killings, said Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger.
The couple's 31-year-old son has been jailed since November on 22 charges of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor, court records show.
Detectives say his daughter and stepdaughter are the victims. The Associated Press has withheld the names of the grandparents and the family members to protect the children's identities.
The man tried to solicit a fellow jail inmate to kill his family, the arrest report said. An informant told detectives about the plot and they arranged to meet the man's parents Tuesday at a Best Western motel in Tavares, a lakefront community about 30 miles northwest of Orlando, police said.
"(The deputy) said, 'You want me to kill everyone, including the dog?' They agreed," Mysinger said.
The son's attorney, Peter Sartes, said he had no details on the parents' arrest. It was not clear who was representing his parents.

 

Back
       Main --> Deep Thoughts --> Collections: Crazy News Stories