News of the Strange

[Mibrew]

Wednesday, September 1, 2004 Posted: 2:29 PM EDT (1829 GMT)

John Kemper Hutcherson, 21, appears for a court hearing, Monday in Marietta. Georgia.

MARIETTA, Georgia (AP) -- The family of a man decapitated in a freak traffic accident is asking authorities to free the driver, who authorities say continued on home and left his close friend's headless body in the vehicle.

Francis "Frankie" Brohm, 23, was killed Saturday night on the way home from a bar with his high school friend, John Hutcherson.

Police say Brohm was drunk and hanging out the passenger side window when Hutcherson veered off the road. Brohm hit the guide wire running from a telephone pole, severing his head. Hutcherson, apparently unaware of what had happened, kept driving home and went to bed, leaving the body in the car.

The body was discovered the next day; Brohm's head was found on the side of the road.

Hutcherson was charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and failing to stop at the scene of a fatal accident and was being held on $100,000 bond.

"They don't want to see him in jail," said Brohm family attorney David Lipscomb. "Their position is he needs to be out to receive whatever treatment is necessary, put his life back together."

The families of both men are very close, lawyers said.

"It's just a horrific accident, and we are all just in mourning right now," said Margaret Hutcherson, the driver's mother. She said the victim was "a part of our family, just like Johnny was a part of their family. I feel like I've lost a son."

[Dodgergirl]

I read this one this morning, but thought it was too sad to post. He probably thought the guy was asleep or something. Amazing what happens when you drink & drive. The article i read said the friend was feeling sick and was vomiting out the window, that's most likely why his head was hanging out. (I've been around situations like that a few times myself, but a long, long time ago and far, far away)

[TOT]

this made KRZRs freak news

[Sandman]

I was also involved in situations like that not too long ago and not too far away http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/wink2.gif Well, high school days...

Why didn't this guy look over at his friend when he left the car? Did he forget he was there?

[Mibrew]

Kansas man gets life for murder, cannibalism
Friday, September 3, 2004 Posted: 6:53 AM EDT

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (AP) -- A man convicted of killing three people, eating the flesh of his youngest victim, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison.

Marc V. Sappington, 25, will not be eligible for parole for 75 years. Judge J. Dexter Burdette also sentenced Sappington to 61/2 years for kidnapping and 21/2 years for aggravated burglary stemming from a carjacking. The sentences are to run consecutively.

"You are the closest thing to a homicide time-bomb there is," Burdette said.

Sappington, who was convicted in July, told Burdette the killings were motivated by a "will to live."

At trial, jurors watched a taped confession in which Sappington said voices he heard while high on the hallucinogenic drug PCP told him he had to eat flesh and blood or he would die. His victims were killed over a four-day span in April 2001.

Police said Sappington cut up the body of his youngest victim, Alton "Fred" Brown Jr., 16, then cooked and ate a small amount of his flesh. Sappington had planned to freeze the rest of the body and eat it later. Brown's body was the only one cannibalized.

"He didn't have any mercy, and I ask you not to show any mercy on him," Brown's mom, Tammy Saunders, urged the judge.

Sappington's attorney, Patricia Aylward Kalb, said her client was mentally ill when he killed but is now taking medication. Prosecutors said it was Sappington's PCP use that caused him to hear voices.

The case was among the first subject to requirements in a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year on when a state can forcibly medicate a defendant. The court ruled a state can't medicate an inmate solely to make that person competent to stand trial. One of the approved conditions for involuntarily medicating an inmate is when the person is considered dangerous.

[Mibrew]

Thats a good doggie http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/yes.gif

September 9, 2004 at 3:53 p.m.
PENSACOLA, FL (AP) -- Deputies say a man in Pensacola, Florida, who was trying to shoot seven puppies was shot by one of the dogs.

The man was holding two of the shepherd-mix puppies when one of them wiggled and put its paw on the trigger of the man's .38-caliber revolver, making it discharge.

Escambia County deputies say 37-year-old Jerry Bradford was shot in the wrist and was treated at an undisclosed hospital. To top it off, the sheriff's office issued an arrest warrant charging Bradford with felony animal cruelty.

He says he was shooting the 3-month-old pups because he couldn't find another home for them.

Three of the puppies were found in a shallow grave behind his house, the other seven were taken by animal control, which intends for them to be adopted.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Mibrew]

Player dies after lightning strikes team
Thursday, September 16, 2004 Posted: 7:37 AM EDT (1137 GMT)

Russell Pennington, 18, died after lightning struck him during football practice on Tuesday.

GRAPELAND, Texas (AP) -- A high school football player injured when lightning struck the team as it finished practice has died of severe burns, authorities said.

Russell Pennington, an 18-year-old senior at Grapeland High School, died Wednesday in a hospital. He was among about 40 players and coaches with the team in east Texas who were hospitalized after the lightning bolt struck Tuesday afternoon.

Other injured players were treated for soreness, headaches, abdominal pains and burns, and all had been released Wednesday.

One coach was listed in good condition, hospital officials said.

Assistant coach Jerry Richards said about 40 players were running sprints when the bolt struck one player in the middle of the pack and others hit the ground.

"It staggered everybody," he said. "The force of it either knocked you down or knocked you backward several feet."

Grapeland, a town of about 1,500, is about 120 miles southeast of Dallas

[Mibrew]

'Goofy' accused of shoving 2 at Disney
Thursday, September 16, 2004 Posted: 10:24 AM EDT (1424 GMT)

Michael Chartrand was just playing around when he shoved two photographers, his lawyer says.

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- A Walt Disney World worker who was acquitted of charges he fondled a 13-year-old girl while dressed as Tigger has been suspended again, accused of shoving two people while in a Goofy costume.

His lawyer said the man was just "goofing around because he was Goofy."

Two photographers at Disney's Animal Kingdom said Michael Chartrand came up to them in his Goofy costume and shoved each in the chest, Orange County Sheriff's Capt. Bernie Presha said Wednesday.

The photographers, a male and female whose names were not released, work for Kodak at the park.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said Chartrand was suspended August 30 and would remain so indefinitely. Chartrand also could face misdemeanor charges.

Jeffrey Kaufman, Chartrand's attorney in the Tigger case, said the new claims were bogus.

"Goofy is always playful," Kaufman told the Orlando Sentinel. "Of course he was goofing around because he was Goofy!"

Earlier this year, Disney suspended Chartrand after a 13-year-old accused him of fondling her while he was dressed as Tigger. A jury acquitted Chartrand of those charges, and Disney let him return to work August 6.

Kaufman said Disney sees Chartrand as a liability and is using a false claim against him. He also said the two Kodak employees shoved Chartrand back, as part of routine horseplay among cast members and greeters meant to entertain patrons.

"That's the joke about this," Kaufman said. "You're supposed to fool around, be animated. I knew for Michael it would be tough for him to go back. I told him he would be a walking bull's-eye."

Chartrand, 36, a native of England, had been living at his sister's home in nearby Kissimmee but was not there Wednesday. His sister, Fran Chartrand, referred all inquiries to Kaufman.

[Mibrew]

Zookeepers 'fish' for 12-foot alligator

'That's Chuckie! You've found Chuckie!'

By Bryan Long
CNN
Thursday, September 16, 2004 Posted: 10:42 PM EDT (0242 GMT)

Despite his impressive size, Chuckie, highlighted, maintains a low profile in the water.

GULF SHORES, Alabama (CNN) -- Chuckie is used to this kind of attention.

The 12-foot, 1,000 pound alligator is the focus of an intensive hunting expedition after Hurricane Ivan's fury sent him swimming from his confines at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo.

Before the storm, Chuckie was one of the zoo's most popular attractions and a favorite of children.

Now, with his first appearance on CNN swimming around an isolated, and newly created pond, he's become a media darling.

"When the zoo officials saw our tape, they said, 'That's Chuckie! You've found Chuckie,' " CNN's Gary Tuchman said.

Other national networks have mentioned Chuckie by name while warning of the danger such a large gator presents when on the loose.

Early Thursday, reporters were saying Chuckie would be hunted and killed, along with the rest of his former swamp-mates.

"He's unaccounted for at this moment. We cannot send people in to assess more of the damage [to the zoo] until we find the big boy," a zoo official said.

Gulf Shores Police Chief Arthur Bourne said his officers were too busy with "other more pressing matters" to look for Chuckie.

By Thursday evening, however, zoo officials were vowing to rescue the gator.

"They're going to try to capture him alive," Tuchman said.

Most of the zoo's animals, including lions, tigers and bears, were evacuated before the Category 3 hurricane came ashore in Gulf Shores, Alabama, early Thursday morning.

But a group of alligators, at least 20 deer and some chickens were left behind.

The deer were being hunted with tranquilizer guns. At least one alligator was killed in the afternoon and the others may meet the same fate. At least six are still missing.

Not all of the chickens survived the storm. Their fate may prove to be good for Chuckie.

Zoo officials lined the shore of Chuckie's pond late Thursday holding the dead chickens on long poles over the water. They hoped to attract the reptile and capture it with a noose.

If he's caught, Chuckie is sure to be the zoo's most popular attraction once again.

[Newcomer]

Just wait til Chuckie gets Hungry http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/shout.gif

[Mibrew]

Despite his impressive size, Chuckie, highlighted, maintains a low profile in the water.

[Mibrew]

Alligator captured in hot tub
Friday, September 17, 2004 Posted: 1:50 PM EDT (1750 GMT)

ROYALTON, Illinois (AP) -- A worried neighbor's call to Animal Control led to a bizarre scene at a southern Illinois home: Four officers wrestling an alligator out of a hot tub, a house filled with animal cages, and the arrest of a man wanted by the military for desertion.

It was more than Franklin County Animal Control Supervisor Jarrett Broy had been counting on when the call came in, but he's seen crazy things before.

When Broy and another officer reached the home Monday, they spotted the 5-foot-long, 80-pound American alligator in a wooden enclosure attached to a garage. Inside the enclosure was a hot tub sunk into the ground and filled with 4 feet of stagnant water, and in the water, littered with broken turtle shells, was the alligator.

They called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Royalton Police for a little help.

To get the alligator, Scott Ballard of the IDNR pulled on chest waders, stepped into the tub and grabbed the animal. Broy and two others then dragged Ballard and the alligator out to the ground and struggled to tape the alligator's jaws shut.

"You can't imagine that thing's tail," Broy said. "He was wanting me to turn him loose, so he'd pop me in the back -- just laying it on me. Wham, wham, wham. My back is so sore."

Inside the house, meanwhile, Royalton Police Chief Denny Bush was running background checks on all the people.

One, an 18-year-old from Lockport, came up listed as wanted by the military for desertion. The man was being held Thursday on a military pickup order at the Franklin County Jail, Sheriff Bill Wilson said.

The officers also found cages for large snakes, a room full of rats and mice, and several squirrels inside the house.

The owner of the home could be charged with possession of a threatened species for having the alligator in captivity, officials said. To keep the alligator, he would have needed a permit, which he did not have, Ballard said.

The home owner does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached Thursday for comment.

The alligator will be held at a holding facility until the case is resolved and eventually will go to a zoo or alligator farm, Broy said.

[Mibrew]

Murder suspect's family has violent history
Two brothers, mother have killed
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 Posted: 12:39 PM EDT (1639 GMT)

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Terry Blair had a brother who was executed for committing murder. His mother fatally shot a man, but got off with probation. A half brother is serving two life sentences plus 240 years for an assortment of charges, including kidnapping and forcible sodomy.

Blair himself has spent 21 years behind bars for murder and now is accused of slaying Sheliah McKinzie, 38. She is one of six women whose bodies were found on vacant property in an 18-block area east of downtown.

Police believe the deaths are the work of the same killer and have asked prosecutors to charge Blair, 43, with the other five slayings as well as in three assault and rape cases.

Even in the prison world, where it's not unusual for siblings to serve at the same time, the Blair family is considered unusual -- if not rare.

John Fougere, in his seven years with the Missouri Department of Corrections, has only heard of one other family that comes even close to the criminal history of the Blairs.

Roy Ramsey Jr. was executed in April 1999 for killing a suburban Kansas City couple in 1988. Prosecutors say he held the couple at gunpoint while his brother, Billy Ramsey, ransacked the house. Roy Ramsey then took the couple into a bedroom and shot them at close range.

Roy Ramsey later said he was to blame for the family's long criminal history. As the second oldest, he taught his brothers to steal. At the time of his execution, six of Ramsey's 10 brothers were in prison, three on murder charges. Another was murdered shortly after he finished his prison term.

"That was a real eye opener back then," Fougere said, "and this one seems to be similar."

Suspect was out on parole for murder
Residents of the neighborhood where the bodies were found wondered whether Blair, who was arrested on a parole violation, would be charged. Five of the bodies were found over a span of three days earlier this month; the first victim was found in July.

He was paroled seven months ago, four years shy of serving his full 25-year sentence for killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, whom he was angry with because she was working as a prostitute.

Of the five identified victims, all had faced drug charges and three had prostitution or solicitation convictions.

Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders said Blair, the fourth oldest of 10 children, is eligible for the death penalty because of his conviction for the 1982 murder of Angela Monroe, also the mother of two of his children.

His mother, Janice Blair, raised her children in what Terry Blair later described to a parole officer as poverty. She went no further in school than ninth grade and suffered from mental illness, court records show.

On August 16, 1978, according to prosecutors, Janice Blair shot and killed Elton E. Gray with a .38 caliber revolver. She entered an Alford plea, meaning she did not admit wrongdoing but acknowledged the government had enough evidence to convict her.

Janice Blair was sentenced to five years probation. As a condition of parole, she was directed to receive outpatient counseling, therapy and psychiatric treatment. Court records showed a defense of mental disease or defect was possible but presented problems for the defense.

Fougere, the corrections spokesman, called the sentence unusually light. Court records offered no explanation, and Tom Cox, the attorney who represented her, could not recall the case.

The next year, one of her children, Walter Blair Jr., was charged in a murder-for-hire scheme.

Walter Blair, police said, met a man in jail who offered him $6,000 to kill a woman before she could testify at the man's rape trial. Katherine Jo Allen, 21, was the alleged victim.

According to court records, Walter Blair confessed to abducting Allen from her apartment, taking her to a vacant lot and shooting her as she begged for her life.

Walter Blair later recanted and his clemency request raised questions about the credibility of the state's chief witness. He was executed in 1993.

Another of Janice Blair's children, Clifford Miller, was sentenced the next year to two life terms, plus 240 years.

The sentence stemmed from the 1992 abduction of a woman from a bar. After shooting the woman in the arm, prosecutors said Miller drove her to an abandoned house where he beat her until she passed out.

She was hospitalized for more than two months, recovering from the gunshot wound, a fractured skull, a broken jaw and smashed cheekbones.

Almost a year later, a friend persuaded the victim to go to a bar, where she saw her attacker. Miller was arrested and later charged with counts that included kidnapping and forcible sodomy.

A murder suspect with a family history of violence, such as Blair, does not surprise Steve Egger, a criminology professor at the University of Houston-Clear Lake and author the "The Need to Kill: Inside the World of a Serial Killer."

"Once you have someone socialized into a culture of violence," Egger said, "they learn to express themselves in a violent manner and it becomes second nature

[Mibrew]

Clean up in the "NUDE" http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/smile.gif

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - The weekend cleanup of a popular stretch of beach netted the usual garbage: clothing, beer bottles and rusty nails.


What made the effort at Bonny Doon Beach different from cleanups elsewhere on the California coast were the volunteers: Many were nude.

Members of the Bay Area Naturists club were among those who collected 600 pounds of garbage at one of Northern California's most popular clothing-optional beaches, seven miles north of Santa Cruz.

"The real purpose is not the nakedness, but clearing up the trash," said Jurek Zarzycki, 54, as he scanned for refuse in the buff. "Every piece of garbage we find out here is testimony to somebody being a sloppy jerk."

His group has been helping clean trash from the beach for 17 years. The effort Saturday was part of the 20th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, during which volunteers removed 750,000 pounds of trash from 700 locations on the state's shorelines. The nippy weekend weather - it was 60 degrees at Bonny Doons - persuaded some of the naturists to keep their clothes on.

"Too cold," said Bill Todd, 64, a former San Mateo resident who flew out from his home in New York state on business and decided to join old friends in the naturist club. "You don't want the wind going where the wind shouldn't go."

[Mibrew]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Newcomer:
Just wait til Chuckie gets Hungry http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/shout.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Escaped gator Chucky caught in Alabama
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Posted: 1:43 PM EDT (1743 GMT)
Chucky was captured by Gatorland's alligator retrieval team.
(CNN) -- It was man against beast for a three-hour struggle, but in the end, Chucky the alligator was back in custody, five days after escaping from an Alabama zoo during Hurricane Ivan.

Chucky -- 12 feet long and more than 1,000 pounds -- was captured Tuesday night by a team brought in from the Orlando, Florida, theme park Gatorland to track down the huge reptile in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

"By early evening, the team had [its sights] on a smaller alligator to capture when Chucky was spotted lurking in a nearby water hole," Gatorland's Web site said.

Tim Williams, called the dean of gator wrestling at the Florida park, said Chucky put up a fight but eventually was placed in a new enclosure.

The Web site said that the "daredevil team used the cover of night to surprise and outwit the alligator."

Chucky was one of several alligators that escaped from the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores when storm surges from Hurricane Ivan demolished the facility Thursday.

Officials had told area residents to be cautious, warning that Chucky has been fed by humans for years and could approach people if he sees them.

"If you're a male -- say 6-foot-5 -- and he wants you, you're his," zoo general manager Kate Raymond said last week.

Some of the other escaped alligators weren't as lucky as Chucky. Authorities shot them so they wouldn't harm humans trying to clean up debris.

The zoo evacuated animals that couldn't swim ahead of the storm.

Chucky has been the main attraction at the zoo for more than a decade. He was brought to the park 14 years ago after being found in a nearby area. Officials said he could be as old as 35.

[Mibrew]

Ex-zoo director dies after suffering 1,000 insect stings
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 Posted: 12:38 PM EDT (1638 GMT)

FORT WAYNE, Indiana (AP) -- A retired zoo director died after he was stung about 1,000 times by European yellow jackets when he fell onto their nest from a ladder while cleaning windows at his home.

Earl Wells, 75, had been in a coma at Lutheran Hospital since the September 12 attack near Huntertown, about 10 miles north of Fort Wayne. He died Tuesday at the hospital.

Wells was the director of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo from its opening in 1965 until his retirement in 1994 and had served as a consultant in the design of other zoos around the country.

European yellow jackets swarmed Wells when the stepladder he was standing on to wash windows collapsed onto their underground nest, the zoo said in a statement.

He was unconscious when paramedics arrived. He suffered cardiac arrest in the attack and remained in a coma after being resuscitated, his family said.

[Mibrew]

Body of missing Sara Lee executive found frozen
Friday, September 24, 2004 Posted: 1:05 AM EDT (0505 GMT)

Police say James Cockman may have suffocated when duct tape was placed over his mouth.

SEVIERVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A retired Sara Lee executive missing since he met with a couple about buying his sport utility vehicle was found dead Thursday, frozen in a rented storage unit. The couple was arrested in what federal authorities believe was a bungled carjacking.

James Dale Cockman, 71, of Greenville, South Carolina, had been missing since September 14, the day he was to meet David Wendell Edens and Jennifer Annette Holloway.

Authorities believe Cockman may have suffocated from duct tape that Edens, 34, and Holloway, 27, used to cover his mouth. An autopsy will be performed.

"The interpretation I have right now is that his death was an accident," R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the FBI office in Knoxville, told a news conference Thursday.

Edens and Holloway were taken into custody at their rural Smoky Mountains home and charged with carjacking. They appeared in federal court Thursday in Knoxville and were being held by U.S. marshals.

Additional charges for kidnapping and possibly for murder were expected, Clark said. State kidnapping charges were filed in South Carolina.

Cockman was last seen buying a cup of coffee at a convenience store near a parking lot where he was supposed to meet a couple interested in his 1996 GMC Suburban. The Edens and Holloway gave him a $100 deposit the day before and were to pay him the remaining $8,400 the next day.

In a statement to authorities, Holloway said she and Edens met Cockman, forced him into the Suburban, placed duct tape over his mouth and drove directly to their home.

"When they got here they realized their victim was dead," Clark said in Sevierville. "Mr. Edens put him in a deep freeze and took the (body) to a storage facility and left it there. Why, I don't know."

Clark said the FBI was able to identify Holloway's cell phone number and track it to Sevierville. Authorities obtained a search warrant and went to the couple's home.

Clark said Edens refused to talk to authorities, who recovered Cockman's Suburban at the home.

Holloway had only misdemeanor arrests for shoplifting and forged checks in her past. Edens' criminal history was unknown.

Cockman became chairman and chief executive of Sara Lee's PYA/Monarch division in 1985, then became chairman of Sara Lee Foodservice before retiring in 1992.

[Mibrew]

Woman killed by alligator in Florida lake
Monday, September 27, 2004 Posted: 1:07 PM EDT (1707 GMT)


FORT MYERS, Florida (AP) -- A 20-year-old woman died after an alligator bit off her arm as she apparently went out for a late-night swim in a lake near her grandparents' house, authorities said.

The body of Michelle Reeves, of Roswell, Georgia, was found by her father in a lake near a residential area Sunday, Lee County sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi said. Reeves and her father were in town visiting her grandparents, she said.

Reeves' right arm was bitten off at the elbow and she had puncture wounds on her left arm and upper body, LiMarzi said.

She had last been seen around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. Reeves' father began searching for her around 10 a.m. and found his daughter's nightgown near the lake. He then called sheriff's deputies, and he found the body after they arrived.

The victim had "made several remarks to her family during the day that she wanted to go swimming in that lake," LiMarzi said.

State wildlife officials said an alligator was removed from the area.

[Mibrew]

SPACE.com -- The largest asteroid ever known to pass near Earth is making a close celestial brush with the planet this week in an event that professional and backyard astronomers are watching closely.

The space rock, named Toutatis, will not hit Earth, despite rumors of possible doom that have circulated the Internet for months. Humanity is very fortunate there won't be an impact, as the asteroid is large enough to cause global devastation. Toutatis is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6 by 2.4 kilometers).

On September 29, Toutatis will be within a million miles of Earth, or about four times the distance to the Moon.

No space rock this big will pass so close in the next century, scientists say. And while similarly large asteroids have hit the planet in the distant past, none so big have come so close since astronomers have had the means to notice them. Many smaller space rocks have been spotted much closer, even inside the orbit of the moon.

NASA scientists and other asteroid experts have been watching Toutatis for more than a decade, and though its orbit changes slightly with each 4-year trip around the sun, they have a good handle on the path.

The position of the asteroid on this pass is known to a precision roughly equal to the rock's size, said Alan Harris, a senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute. That leaves a little wiggle room for its exact location at closest approach, but not much.

"Because of the nature of the orbit, we cannot predict thousands of years into the future for this object, but in anyone's lifetime now, there is no chance" of an impact, Harris said.

Spotting Toutatis
Toutatis will not be visible to the unaided eye. Experienced telescope users can see it now from the Southern Hemisphere, and in early October it will be visible from the north.

Finding Toutatis will be challenging, Harris said, due to a combination of the asteroid's position in the sky and interfering moonlight.

Because the asteroid is so close, its location in the sky will vary significantly for skywatchers in different places on Earth at any given moment. And because it moves quickly, the location changes constantly. Printed sky maps don't always provide enough detail to be useful.

"In a large telescope the motion would be perceptible against any stars in the field more or less in real time, sort of like watching the second hand on a clock," Harris said, adding that the movement would be "not quite that fast, but noticeable."

Highly experienced observers will use complex plotting information known as ephemeris data. Others can use software programs that generate maps for specific times and locations.

When, where and how
At its closest on September 29, Toutatis will be visible only to observers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Large and steady binoculars will be able to pick out the pin***** of sunlight reflecting off the asteroid, providing observers "use a good program like Starry Night Pro to plot its incredibly rapid motion across the sky," said Clay Sherrod of the Arkansas Sky Observatory. (The software company Starry Night is owned by Imaginova, parent also of SPACE.com.)

Soon thereafter, experienced backyard astronomers north of the equator will have a chance to find Toutatis.

"By early October, it will suddenly be re-emerging into northern skies as its apparent trajectory will bring it back into very favorable view," Sherrod said in an e-mail interview. But by then the asteroid will be moving away from Earth and getting dimmer. It will quickly become "very difficult" to spot even with an 8-inch telescope, he said.

Sherrod photographed the giant space rock last week (it was visible then in the north through large telescopes) and said exposures longer than eight seconds showed a trail as the giant rock moved slightly against the background of stars.

"It has been quite a wonderful show so far," he said.

Strange rock indeed
Asteroid Toutatis was discovered in 1989. Scientists have modeled its strange rotation and odd shape -- it looks something like a pockmarked dumbbell -- on previous flybys.

Instead of a fixed north pole, Toutatis' axis of rotation wanders in two separate cycles of 5.4 and 7.3 Earth-days. So while most asteroids rotate somewhat like a football thrown in a perfect spiral, "Toutatis tumbles like a flubbed pass," says Scott Hudson of Washington State University.

Astronomers will use this week's flyby to examine Toutatis in greater detail, with a goal of pinning down the rock's rate of spin and better estimating its future path.

While some rumors have suggested the asteroid's forecasted course might be off by enough to cause a collision with Earth, Sherrod agrees with Harris and other scientists that there is no chance for calamity. Sherrod has been monitoring Toutatis' movement since July 3, logging more than 500 observations that allow mapping of a precise trajectory.

"Although the actual path of it has indeed varied a slight bit from the original calculated, there is absolutely no chance of a physical encounter or impact with Earth," he said.

[Jimi]

I wonder if it is large enough and will be close enough to cause tidal things ... and maybe more earth shakes

[MadScot]

We will never be destroyed by one of these. The aliens who plan to harvest us will never let it happen. They destoryed the one that entered the atmosphere back in 2002 above Turkey.

[Mibrew]

Bear ransacks kitchen, steals chocolate
Thursday, September 30, 2004 Posted: 7:37 AM EDT (1137 GMT)

DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) -- It's a tale of man against nature. A paralyzed man in Aspen, Colorado, lay helplessly in bed for two hours while a black bear known as "Fat Albert" went through his kitchen breaking dishes and looking for a tasty snack.

"I had 4 pounds (2 kg) of chocolate from a ski trip. He ate it all -- it's war," Tom Isaac said, recounting with a sense of humor how the 500-pound (230-kg) bear made himself at home at his house on September 20.

"I could hear things breaking for two hours," he said of the bear's "visit" to his home.

Isaac's bedroom was only about 10 to 15 feet (3-5 meters) from the kitchen, and he feared the bear would come in and attack him.

This time of year bears are busy fattening up before going into hibernation and residents in mountain towns often recount stories of rummaging bears.

In fact, Isaac, who has been paralyzed since a skiing accident in the early 1980s, says his home has been invaded nearly a half dozen times by the bear Aspenites call "Fat Albert."

"The next afternoon the wildlife agents found him sleeping in my dining room," Isaac said.

Isaac, who holds elective office as the Pitkin County assessor, said he does not want to see the bear shot, but he is worried about how the needs of residents can be balanced against the needs of wildlife.

[Mibrew]

Dude! Surfer catches whale of a ride
'I just felt, wow, this huge noise and bump'
Thursday, September 30, 2004 Posted: 8:00 AM EDT (1200 GMT)

We were all screaming, 'Oh my God!'
Mona Ferner, witness

SAN CLEMENTE, California (AP) -- A surfer says the swell he was riding on a recent trip turned out to be more than just a wave -- it was a whale.

Spyros Vamvas, a 60-year-old San Clemente therapist, felt the ocean swirl under him and was lifted up by the giant mammal.

"All of a sudden I just felt, wow, this huge noise and bump," said Vamvas, "and it lifted my board up. I'm looking down, and there's just swirling water and I see barnacles on the back of the whale. I'm used to dolphins. This was different. It was huge."

Witnesses at Lasuen Beach on Monday morning began yelling.

"We were all screaming, 'Oh my God!"' said Mona Ferner, who was playing volleyball with her sister when she spied the whale.

Vamvas had no idea how big the whale was. Others on the beach guessed between 15 feet to 30 feet long, meaning the whale was likely a juvenile.

Vamvas, who has been surfing since he was 12, said the whale lifted him gently. "I never changed position on my board," he said.

Those who saw the incident said that after setting Vamvas back onto the water, the whale turned and headed out toward the open sea.

"It looked like the whale was obviously spooked," said Marine Safety Capt. Bill Humphreys, one of several lifeguards on the beach.

The sight of the whale scared a number of surfers out of the water, Humphreys said. Vamvas was the only one left in the surf line as the whale approached. Witnesses said he was looking out to sea in search of a wave and didn't appear to see the animal heading his way.

Vamvas said that his 6-foot, 10-inch surfboard wasn't damaged, though he did pinch the middle finger of his left hand between the whale and his surfboard.

[Jimi]

Updated: 12:15 AM EDT
Indians Pitcher Denney OK After Being Shot on Team Bus
Go-Go Boots Likely Kept Injury Just to Flesh Wound

MINNEAPOLIS (Sept. 30) -- Cleveland Indians pitcher Kyle Denney won't complain about having to dress like a cheerleader again. The white go-go boots that went with the outfit might have prevented a bullet from seriously injuring his leg.

The rookie was hit in the right calf by a shot that came through the side of the Indians' bus in Kansas City late Wednesday as the team traveled to the airport after a victory over the Royals. The bullet caused only a flesh wound, probably because of the tough leather of the knee-high boot, Denney and his trainers said.

All of Cleveland's rookies were decked out in outrageous outfits on the bus, part of a hazing ritual. An Oklahoma native, Denney said his teammates told him to dress as a USC cheerleader because the Sooners are ranked second behind Southern California in The Associated Press college football poll.

"I've never been so glad to have a USC thing on," Denney said Thursday at a news conference in Minneapolis, where the Indians traveled for a weekend series against the Twins.

Kevin Hallinan, senior vice president of security for the commissioner's office, met with Kansas City police Thursday regarding the shooting, which happened as the bus traveled along a highway ramp.

Hallinan said the shooting appeared to be random, and that police had no suspects.

"It's a random act. These situations happen, unfortunately in this day and age, a little too often," he said, adding he doesn't think there was anything major league baseball could've done to prevent the incident.

Team trainers removed the bullet from Denney's leg while he was still on the bus, and he stayed overnight at a Kansas City hospital before rejoining his team.

"The way he handled the situation was pretty awesome," said outfielder Ryan Ludwick, who was sitting across the aisle from Denney and was grazed by debris. "Now I know the guy can pitch in the big leagues, 'cause he got shot by a bullet and was about as calm as can be."


Indians spokesman Bart Swain said there was momentary panic on the bus before teammates realized Denney wasn't seriously hurt, and Ludwick said that's when "a lot of jokes started flying."

The 27-year-old Denney, who started Wednesday night's game against the Royals, said he hopes the shooter realizes the consequences could have been much worse.

"I thought it was just another prank, like a firecracker or something," Denney said. "I didn't know I was shot until I saw the blood."

After getting called up from Triple-A Buffalo on Sept. 14, Denney is 1-2 with a 9.56 ERA in four starts with Cleveland. He beat Kansas City 8-3 on Sept. 19 for his first major league win.


09/30/04 21:31 EDT

[Jimi]

Updated: 11:12 AM EDT
Teacher Sends Boy Home With Feces in Bag

DALLAS (Sept. 24) - A teacher is on paid administrative leave after sending a first-grader home with feces in his backpack because the boy soiled the classroom floor.

The teacher apparently was frustrated with the 6-year-old student's actions so she wrapped up the waste and sent it home with the boy Tuesday along with a note, Dallas school district spokesman Donald Claxton said.

Claxton declined to identify the teacher at Gabe P. Allen Elementary School.

"It generally appears the teacher was trying to help raise awareness with the family," Claxton said. "It's just an unfortunate incident. Unfortunately, she took this course of action."


09/24/04 20:39 EDT

[Jimi]

In Japan, Women Snuggle With Man-Shaped Pillow
By KAORI HITOMI, AP



AP
Junko Suzuki demonstrates how she sleeps with a "Boyfriend’s Arm Pillow."
Watch Video: Pillow Lends a Hand

NAGAREYAMA, Japan - After a long night at work as a radio DJ, Junko Suzuki likes to snuggle at bedtime - and she says she's found the perfect partner: a man-shaped pillow.

Linen maker Kameo Corp.'s new ''Boyfriend's Arm Pillow'' - which consists of a headless torso and a stuffed arm that curls around the sleeper - might make some people uneasy.

But not Suzuki, or about 1,000 others in Japan who have bought the pillow, which Kameo says is the first of its kind. The product went on the market last December.

''I like to sleep holding someone's hand,'' Suzuki, 34. ''And this pillow makes me feel relaxed because I can hold the arm and feel something warm at my side.''

Kameo, based in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, says the pillow is not only an emotional comfort, but that its shape keeps the body balanced by supporting the sleeper from both sides.


"'It keeps holding me all the way through. I think this is great because this does not betray me."
-Junko Suzuki

Sleepers typically curl up in between the body of the pillow and the crooked arm, with the sleeper's head resting on the pillow's ''bicep.''

''My grandmother used to say that there is nothing more comfortable pillow than human,'' said Kameo President Tomoki Kakehashi. ''So, I thought that maybe women would want to sleep on an arm-shaped pillow.''

The pillow is only on sale in Japan, where customers can buy one for $80. Covered in a shirt-shaped pillow cover, it comes in blue, pink or green.

For Suzuki, who is estranged from her husband, the pillow has definite advantages: It doesn't squirm or thrash in the night, and you know it'll be there in the morning.

''It keeps holding me all the way through,'' she said in her home outside of Tokyo. ''I think this is great because this does not betray me.''

One-size pillows do not fit all.

So Kameo is working up new models: muscular pillows for sleepers who like their pillows well-built; slender models for those after a more sensitive, vulnerable partner.

The company also has a prototype for its next big project: a female pillow for men. This one will be shaped like a woman's lap, with a ''skirt'' cover.

''I always thought someone's lap would the best pillow for me,'' said Kakehashi.


09-30-04 1126EDT

[Mibrew]

Coroner: Removing man's organs was homicide
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 Posted: 8:33 AM EDT (1233 GMT)

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A western Colorado coroner said Monday that two hospitals allowed vital organs to be removed from a man before they had proven he was brain dead, and he declared the death a homicide.

The cause of William Rardin's death was "removal of his internal organs by an organ recovery team," Montrose County Coroner Mark Young said. He said he did not believe the case should be a criminal matter, but that it "should lead to a clarification of what the accepted standard is."

Young said Montrose Memorial Hospital in Montrose and St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction did not follow "accepted medical standards" or meet state guidelines in determining that 31-year-old William Rardin was brain dead after he shot himself last month.

Rardin's heart, liver, pancreas and two kidneys were transplanted into waiting patients.

Officials with St. Mary's and the organization that coordinates organ donation in Colorado and Wyoming insisted the surgeons followed rules and did nothing wrong.

"We have never, ever had anything like this presented to us before," said Sue Dunn, vice president of organ procurement operations for the Denver-based Donor Alliance. "We talked to the family the day of the donation. ... This gentleman was on the donor registry. We've heard nothing from them regarding this."

Attempts to locate Rardin's family were unsuccessful and someone who answered the phone at the Montrose hospital said no one was available to comment.

Young said each hospital performed a test that did not prove Rardin was dead, and that more tests should have been done. He would not discuss details of the tests.

Rardin was brought to Montrose Memorial on September 26 and declared brain dead, Young said. He was then taken by helicopter to St. Mary's, where he was again declared brain dead and surgeons removed his organs.

Dan Prinster, a vice president at St. Mary's, said the hospital was willing to have a third party evaluate how Rardin's case was handled to prove everything was done correctly.

Young said state lawmakers should take up the issue.

"I think it (the organ donation) was done in good faith. ... But the standard has me thinking about taking the organ donation card off my license," Young said. "I don't mind donating organs if I'm dead, but I want to be dead first."

[Mibrew]

Heist Nets $900,000 in Chocolate


Posted: October 4, 2004 at 10:28 a.m.
LONDON (AP) -- Perhaps they had a sweet tooth.

Robbers with their own trucks stole six trailer loads of chocolates worth more than $900,000 from an industrial park in northeast England, police said Monday.

Since the chocolate heist at the Great Bear Distribution Center in Skelmersdale in the early hours of Sunday, five of the trailers have been recovered: four of them empty and the fifth still containing its load of Easter eggs.

"It was a very well organized raid," said a spokeswoman for Lancashire Police. At least five men were involved, and they held two guards from the center in a nearby field while their colleagues drove away with the haul.

"We don't know if they planned to come back for the Easter eggs -- or maybe they were considered too seasonal to get rid of."

[Raider]

Those damn insurgents. Will they stop at nothing inorder to make our lives a living hell. http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/cool4.gif http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/sad2.gif

[Mibrew]

http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/smile.gif http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/laugh3.gif http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/smash.gif

[Mibrew]

Police: Guard leaves with inmate during escape
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 Posted: 9:32 AM EDT (1332 GMT)

Edward McDaniel is serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Authorities arrested a prison guard and issued a warrant for another on charges they helped an inmate escape from a maximum security medical prison over the weekend.

A manhunt was under way for guard Vickie Sanford, 51, and inmate Edward McDaniel, 37, who is serving time for attempted murder.

The two allegedly walked out of the prison over the weekend during a shift change and drove away in Sanford's vehicle. Police believe Sanford gave McDaniel a corrections officer uniform before they left. Authorities did not know the nature of Sanford's relationship with the inmate.

Sanford's son-in-law, 28-year-old Michael Moize, who also is a guard at the prison, was arrested Monday night. He had not appeared in court by late Monday.

McDaniel escaped from Nashville's DeBerry Special Needs facility, which caters to prisoners who need medical care or mental health treatment. Officials would not disclose why McDaniel was there.

McDaniel is serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder. He was convicted of the 1996 shooting of deputy Joe Frazier when the officer stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving.

On Monday, Sanford's son, James Craig, pleaded for his mother to contact authorities.

"I can't believe it, but I've got to," he told WSMV-TV of Nashville. "I wish she would turn herself in, because this is destroying this family."

Craig said the situation caught Sanford's husband of 24 years by surprise. He also believes his brother-in-law is innocent.

"I know he didn't have anything to do with it," Craig said.

I wish she would turn herself in, because this is destroying this family.
-- James Craig, Sanford's son

McDaniel was last seen about 7:40 p.m. Saturday, when a corrections officer brought him medicine, officials said. Guards discovered him missing about 12 hours later during a routine check.

McDaniel's prison-issued clothes had been placed in his bed apparently to make it look like he was sleeping.

Sanford, who has worked at the prison off and on since 2002, didn't show up for work Sunday morning after completing her Saturday shift about 9:30 p.m. She has no criminal record, according to the Department of Correction.

Sanford withdrew $2,000 from her bank account Saturday, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson.

[Mibrew]

Former RAIDERSNFL kicker sought in shooting at Siegfried & Roy home
Wednesday, October 6, 2004 Posted: 8:57 PM EDT (0057 GMT)

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- A former place-kicker for the Oakland Raiders is being sought in a drive-by shooting at the home of entertainers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn, police said Wednesday.

Cole Murdoch Ford, 31, whose three-year NFL career ended after he missed crucial kicks during the 1997 season, was named in a felony warrant stemming from the September 21 shooting, Sgt. Chris Jones said.

Police identified Ford as the owner of a white minivan from which shots were fired at the compound owned by the illusionists known as Siegfried & Roy. No one was hurt, but police said shotgun pellets shattered windows and left a hole in a wall.

Police have not said if the two men were home at the time.

Jones said police considered Ford armed and dangerous, and said he might be living in a hotel or camping in southern Nevada or nearby states.

Ford faces six felony warrant charges of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

Initially, the case was labeled a hate crime after a witness told police the gunman shouted that the entertainers should get out of the country. Later police said it was not bias-related.

Horn and friends celebrated his 60th birthday on Sunday -- a year to the day after a near-fatal tiger mauling left Horn partially paralyzed and forced the long-running Siegfried & Roy show to close.

Ford was drafted out of the University of Southern California in 1995 by the Pittsburgh Steelers but was released before the season began. He signed with the Raiders and remained on the team for three seasons before being cut.

[Mibrew]

Defendant slashes his lawyer in court
Attorney says razor attack confirms his client is "nuts"
Thursday, October 7, 2004 Posted: 10:37 AM EDT (1437 GMT)

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- A man on trial for taking a kindergartner hostage leaped up in court Wednesday and slashed his public defender with a razor blade.

Barbette Williams, 48, of New Orleans was booked with attempted second-degree murder for injuring lawyer Bert Garraway.

Williams wrapped his arms around Garraway and cut him above the eye and on the neck just as the defense lawyer was about to rest his case.

Garraway walked out of the courtroom, his shirt red with blood, to go to a hospital for treatment.

"I've contended all along that this guy is nuts, and to be honest, this pretty much confirms it," Garraway said late Wednesday. "... what kind of rational person would attack his own lawyer?"

Williams has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on the charges he kidnapped and tried to murder 6-year-old Ben Smith IV, who was taken from his class in March 2003. He is also accused of shooting at officers, barricading himself in a house, and using the boy as a shield during a 12-hour standoff that ended with the child's release.

Deputies were investigating how Williams got the razor into court.

Garraway said he planned to ask for a mistrial when court resumed Thursday; despite the attack, prosecutor Aaron Brooks said he will fight such a motion.

"To grant a mistrial is to allow his evil actions to benefit him," Brooks said.

It was not the first outburst in the trial. On Tuesday, while the jury was out of the room, Williams threatened to shoot the judge, the prosecutor and the court-appointed attorney.

[Mibrew]

This is all we need....

Gun Shop Sells Credit-Card-Sized Shotgun

Posted: October 6, 2004 at 10:30 a.m.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- In a new twist on the idea of concealed weapons, a local gun maker and gun shop are debuting a new type of firearm: one that could almost fit in your wallet.

It's a two-shot weapon made from a piece of metal the height and width of a standard credit card, and about a half-inch thick. Each barrel fires seven standard steel BBs. It will retail for $100.

"This I can see being the ultimate self-defense weapon," said Mark Koscielski, owner of Koscielski's Guns and Ammo, the only gun shop in Minneapolis.

Koscielski and Patrick Teel, who makes the guns in suburban Blaine at his company AFT Incorporated, gave The Associated Press a preview on Tuesday, a day before they planned to officially unveil the device.

The credit card-sized shotgun is a muzzleloader, meaning it doesn't use shotgun shells. The user has to measure out some gunpowder, pour it in each barrel, drop seven BBs in each barrel, and tamp in a small wad of paper. A knob on one end serves as a safety, and two buttons set into a hole in the body are the electrical triggers. Each barrel fires with a loud pop.

Another gun salesman was skeptical of the weapon's self-defense value. Mike O'Brien, of Joe's Sporting Goods in St. Paul, wasn't familiar with the new devices, but said muzzleloading is a "slow and tedious" process.

"Us guys here would consider something like that useless," said O'Brien. "A .177 caliber BB is ballistically a joke, OK? I'm sure it could cause injury and damage, but as a self-defense weapon, no. Not to anyone familiar with firearms."

A spokesman for the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence was also dismissive.

"It's a silly, silly idea," spokesman Peter Hamm said. "I don't know that I would want to have one of these in my pocket for my own personal safety, never mind the safety of those around me."

Guns that small have been around in various styles for a long time, and some have become curiosities and collectors items, but have failed as weapons, said O'Brien.

"It might do damage to eyes, that sort of thing. But serious damage to a 200-pound drug-crazed evildoer, no -- it'd just make them mad," he said.

Teel said the main value of the new gun is that it gives the owner a chance to get away from an attacker.

"This is no more deadly than a .22," Teel said. "But the difference is you have multiple wounds, which means you'll try to get away quicker, and it will cause more pain. ... There will be more blood, which the cops will be able to see."

They said the guns are meant to be used for close-range self-defense and wouldn't be effective as offensive weapons.

"They are very effective at five to 10 feet. They're absolutely useless at 20 feet," Teel said.

The new guns don't count as firearms under federal regulations because they're muzzleloaders, Koscielski and Teel said. It's illegal to carry one in Minnesota without a permit for a concealed handgun, they said, and they both pledged not to sell them to anyone without valid identification and either a carry permit or a purchase permit.

Thirty-seven states have laws that require officials to issue concealed carry permits to qualified applicants and nine others have laws that give officials some discretion over whether someone gets a permit. Only Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin lack a law allowing some form of concealed carrying of guns.

Hamm said the Brady Center isn't as concerned about the credit card-sized shotgun as it is about more powerful weapons because it's less likely to be lethal. He saluted the makers' ingenuity, but questioned whether the gun will find much of a market.

"It sounds like having a little grenade in your pocket more than anything else," he said.

Koscielski was widely credited with coining the term "Murderapolis" when the city's homicide rate shot up in the 1990s. He's run unsuccessfully for mayor, fought zoning battles to stay in business and been investigated by federal agents.

Koscielski conceded that gun opponents are likely to criticize the new devices. But he said they're legal, will set off metal detectors and are readily identifiable.

"We all have a right to defend ourselves," he said

[Mibrew]

This is all we need....

Gun Shop Sells Credit-Card-Sized Shotgun

Posted: October 6, 2004 at 10:30 a.m.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- In a new twist on the idea of concealed weapons, a local gun maker and gun shop are debuting a new type of firearm: one that could almost fit in your wallet.

It's a two-shot weapon made from a piece of metal the height and width of a standard credit card, and about a half-inch thick. Each barrel fires seven standard steel BBs. It will retail for $100.

"This I can see being the ultimate self-defense weapon," said Mark Koscielski, owner of Koscielski's Guns and Ammo, the only gun shop in Minneapolis.

Koscielski and Patrick Teel, who makes the guns in suburban Blaine at his company AFT Incorporated, gave The Associated Press a preview on Tuesday, a day before they planned to officially unveil the device.

The credit card-sized shotgun is a muzzleloader, meaning it doesn't use shotgun shells. The user has to measure out some gunpowder, pour it in each barrel, drop seven BBs in each barrel, and tamp in a small wad of paper. A knob on one end serves as a safety, and two buttons set into a hole in the body are the electrical triggers. Each barrel fires with a loud pop.

Another gun salesman was skeptical of the weapon's self-defense value. Mike O'Brien, of Joe's Sporting Goods in St. Paul, wasn't familiar with the new devices, but said muzzleloading is a "slow and tedious" process.

"Us guys here would consider something like that useless," said O'Brien. "A .177 caliber BB is ballistically a joke, OK? I'm sure it could cause injury and damage, but as a self-defense weapon, no. Not to anyone familiar with firearms."

A spokesman for the Brady Center To Prevent Gun Violence was also dismissive.

"It's a silly, silly idea," spokesman Peter Hamm said. "I don't know that I would want to have one of these in my pocket for my own personal safety, never mind the safety of those around me."

Guns that small have been around in various styles for a long time, and some have become curiosities and collectors items, but have failed as weapons, said O'Brien.

"It might do damage to eyes, that sort of thing. But serious damage to a 200-pound drug-crazed evildoer, no -- it'd just make them mad," he said.

Teel said the main value of the new gun is that it gives the owner a chance to get away from an attacker.

"This is no more deadly than a .22," Teel said. "But the difference is you have multiple wounds, which means you'll try to get away quicker, and it will cause more pain. ... There will be more blood, which the cops will be able to see."

They said the guns are meant to be used for close-range self-defense and wouldn't be effective as offensive weapons.

"They are very effective at five to 10 feet. They're absolutely useless at 20 feet," Teel said.

The new guns don't count as firearms under federal regulations because they're muzzleloaders, Koscielski and Teel said. It's illegal to carry one in Minnesota without a permit for a concealed handgun, they said, and they both pledged not to sell them to anyone without valid identification and either a carry permit or a purchase permit.

Thirty-seven states have laws that require officials to issue concealed carry permits to qualified applicants and nine others have laws that give officials some discretion over whether someone gets a permit. Only Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin lack a law allowing some form of concealed carrying of guns.

Hamm said the Brady Center isn't as concerned about the credit card-sized shotgun as it is about more powerful weapons because it's less likely to be lethal. He saluted the makers' ingenuity, but questioned whether the gun will find much of a market.

"It sounds like having a little grenade in your pocket more than anything else," he said.

Koscielski was widely credited with coining the term "Murderapolis" when the city's homicide rate shot up in the 1990s. He's run unsuccessfully for mayor, fought zoning battles to stay in business and been investigated by federal agents.

Koscielski conceded that gun opponents are likely to criticize the new devices. But he said they're legal, will set off metal detectors and are readily identifiable.

"We all have a right to defend ourselves," he said

[Mibrew]

Authorities: Girl attacked baby sitter with machete
Thursday, October 7, 2004 Posted: 7:55 PM EDT (2355 GMT)


BARSTOW, California (AP) -- An 11-year-old attacked her baby sitter with a machete during a struggle that included attempts by the girl to grab a baseball bat, a shovel and a BB gun, investigators said.

The girl fled on a bicycle after the attack but was arrested about an hour later and booked for investigation of assault with a deadly weapon, said Sgt. Doug Hubbard, of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The 34-year-old sitter telephoned deputies after fending off the Tuesday attack and locking herself and the girl's 12-year-old sister in the bathroom of the Mojave Desert home, Hubbard said.

No serious injuries were reported.

The girl and the sitter had gotten into an argument over feeding a dog, and the girl began to beat and choke the animal, Hubbard said. The sitter tried to pry the girl off the dog.

The scuffle moved to the front yard, where the girl grabbed a shovel and then a baseball bat in an attempt to attack the woman, Hubbard said. The girl next found a BB gun, but the woman got it away from her, he said.

The altercation continued until the girl found the machete lying in the yard and began to chase the woman, who took refuge in the bathroom, Hubbard said

[Patagoniamaniac]

true life excorsist demon child...scary

[Mibrew]

Grizzly bear attacks hunter
Friday, October 8, 2004 Posted: 7:29 AM EDT (1129 GMT)

JACKSON, Wyoming (AP) -- Weston Scott crept through the dense forest looking to flush out an elk. He got excited when he heard rustling about 10 feet ahead, in some bushes.

What Scott saw in those first seconds last Sunday was a bear's head coming right at him. He drew up his rifle but managed only to get a shot off from about his hip before the 600-pound grizzly was on top of him.

"I think it went right over his head," Scott said Wednesday from his hospital room in Idaho Falls, Idaho, about 175 miles from Bridger-Teton National Forest, where the attack occurred. "That was all I had time to do. He was on me after that."

As Scott, 32, fell to the ground, the bear bit him in the face. It took out four teeth on Scott's lower jaw and a 1-inch portion of jawbone.

Scott later told his wife, Tammy, that he was sure he would die when he saw the bear so close. He told her the bear made no sounds -- no grunting or growling.

"It was definitely coming after him to hurt him," she said. "It was coming at him with his mouth open."

She said her husband never said anything about pain, possibly because his adrenaline kicked in immediately.

"I can't imagine the absolute terror he must have experienced," she said.

Tammy Scott said after the bear bit her husband's face, it continued to knock him around.

"He's got surface wounds kind of everywhere" -- on his knees, side and back, she said. "Looking at him, you know he got rolled around by a bear."

The bear swung one last time at Scott, pushing him between two trees, and left. Scott got up and ran out of the woods, about a quarter of a mile.

On his way out, he could see the bear still lurking. Officials said the animal was then killed by a hunting companion acting in self-defense.

Tammy Scott said her husband has had enough.

"I don't think he will hunt in grizzly bear country again," she said. "One of the first things out of his mouth was, 'I don't ever want to feel like that again."'

[Raider]

Doctor Accused Of Paying Fine With Feces-Covered Money


Ronald Preston McPike, 52, was arrested Sept. 30 at his office in Burlington.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge, a misdemeanor, and was released on $125 bond pending a Dec. 8 court appearance.

Officers received an envelope in July labeled "Foreign brown substance on bills." The envelope contained several dollar bills and a parking ticket made out to a vehicle registered to McPike, police said.

Tests indicated the brown substance was fecal matter and indicated that the stain patterns resulted from the matter being smeared on the bills.

"All personnel that dealt with the bills were offended by what the defendant did," an affidavit said.

McPike told police the money fell into a toilet and was retrieved to pay the parking ticket, police said.

If convicted, McPike could face up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

[Jimi]

So he paid his fine with dirty money

[Jimi]

So he paid his fine with dirty money

[Mibrew]

Police: Texas girl kills sleeping mother
Monday, October 11, 2004 Posted: 9:59 AM EDT (1359 GMT)

DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A 12-year-old girl upset about being grounded by her mother fatally shot the woman in the face while she slept, Texas police said.

Elvira Marion Walton, 48, was discovered in her bed early Sunday by her son. The 10-year-old boy called police around 1 a.m.

"Apparently the motive is because the daughter was upset that the mother disciplined her," police Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick said in Monday editions of The Dallas Morning News.

The girl has been charged with murder. Police found a gun in the house, but investigators did not immediately say whether it was the weapon used in the shooting or who owned it.

An older daughter, Thanica Derrick, said her mother had been having trouble with the girl. Walton had six children and lived in a converted garage used as the family home.

"She is your average 12-year-old, hormones and everything," said Derrick, 22. "There's nothing that bad to make her do that to my mama. She had been breaking out of the house and not going to school."

[Mibrew]

Teen found alive after 8 days in wrecked car
Monday, October 11, 2004 Posted: 2:49 PM EDT (1849 GMT)

REDMOND, Washington (AP) -- A teenager was found alive in her wrecked car after being missing for eight days.

Laura Hatch, 17, last seen at a party October 2, was found Sunday in her 1996 Toyota Camry about 150 feet below a road in this suburb east of Seattle, King County sheriff's deputies said.

Hatch was listed in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where she was being treated for dehydration, a possible blood clot, broken ribs, a broken leg and facial injuries, said her sister, Amy Hatch.

"We were afraid that we weren't going to find her, we weren't going to get her back," the sister told KING television in Seattle. "This is the best thing that could happen because there were a million awful scenarios."

Hatch evidently went eight days without food or water, sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said, adding that there had been no indication of foul play.

"There was no police search," he added. "We felt she was most likely a runaway."

Sha Nohr, whose daughter is a friend of Hatch, found the teen Sunday in a wooded area, where 200 volunteers had searched unsuccessfully the day before.

She said she had dreamed about a wooded area and went out to look Sunday with her daughter.

Along the way, Nohr said, she prayed: "I just thought, 'Let her speak out to us."' She barely managed to discern the wrecked car in some trees after climbing over a concrete barrier and down an embankment.

"I told her that people were looking for her and they loved her," Nohr recalled, "and she said, 'I think I might be late for curfew.' "

Nohr called to her daughter, who flagged down a passing motorist.

More than 100 people cheered and sang at a church prayer service Sunday night that initially had been planned as a vigil.

"We had already given her up and let her be dead in our hearts," the girl's mother, Jean Hatch, told KOMO-TV.

[Mibrew]

Police: Man staged robbery to impress wife
Monday, October 11, 2004 Posted: 11:25 AM EDT (1525 GMT)

EDMOND, Oklahoma (Reuters) -- An Oklahoma man desperate to save his marriage by appearing like a hero to his wife ended up in police custody on suspicion of staging a crime. He hired "burglars" and foiled their fake robbery attempt, police said on Friday.

Trent Spencer, 27, of Edmond, north of Oklahoma City, was charged this week with the misdemeanor crime of filing a false report, said police spokeswoman Glynda Chu.

According to police, Spencer, a high school teacher, paid two students $100 each to break into his house and try to make off with a stereo.

The masked students tied his wife with duct tape and her husband was in the house just in time to foil the supposed crime, police said.

Police said Spencer attacked the two in a choreographed fight, even hitting one with a board that he had cut to break in half. The plan was going well until his wife freed herself and called police, something Spencer did not anticipate, police said.

[Mibrew]

Feds find bones in Gotti-related dig
Tuesday, October 12, 2004 Posted: 9:39 AM EDT (1339 GMT)

FBI investigators and New York police dig in a vacant lot in Queens.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Authorities discovered part of a human skeleton in a vacant lot believed for years to be a graveyard for people ordered killed by the late mob boss John Gotti and other gangsters.

FBI spokesman James Margolin said the bones discovered Monday in Queens included a pelvic bone, a piece of a jawbone, ribs and leg bones. Also found were a watch and a pair of glasses. A forensic anthropologist was to examine the bones Tuesday.

In 1981, the body of Bonanno crime family captain Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato was discovered at the lot by children who spotted his arm poking through the soil. No other bodies were found, but some officials believed mob burials at the lot continued.

Last week, FBI agents and police detectives acting on a tip from an underworld informant began searching the lot for the remains of a half dozen or more victims dating back two decades or more. They include a man who vanished after he accidentally struck and killed the 12-year-old son of the "Dapper Don" in 1980.

The suspected burial ground is situated near John F. Kennedy International Airport. Dilapidated homes, abandoned cars and other empty lots dot the marshy area.

Gotti was sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and murder in 1992 and died behind bars in 2002.

[Jimi]

here Brew this sites for you

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/index.html

[Mibrew]

Man arrested after waking from coma
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Posted: 9:22 AM EDT (1322 GMT)

(Reuters) -- A Nevada man who recently emerged from a two-month coma was arrested after regaining consciousness and is now recovering in a county jail medical facility, officials said on Monday.

Richard Martin, 37, of Fernley, Nevada, was arrested last week on attempted murder and kidnapping charges after police alleged he deliberately crashed his car with his wife on board, police in Washoe County, Nevada, said.

"When he regained consciousness the folks at the Washoe Medical Center gave us a heads-up and then that's when he was arrested," said Kim Evans, spokeswoman of the Nevada Department of Public Safety.

Martin fell into a coma after the July 30 crash, but his wife Teresa who survived the incident told investigators she had been forced into the car.

"She made several comments, 'He's trying to kill me, he's trying to kill me,"' said Chuck Allen, spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol.

[Mibrew]

California lottery winner shot to death by police
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Posted: 9:16 AM EDT (1316 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- A man shot to death by police outside a football stadium has been identified by his family as one of the winners of an $87 million lottery jackpot.

Rick Camat, 32, was shot early Sunday as dozens of people fled to avoid a fight outside a bar before a St. Louis Rams-Seattle Seahawks game.

Police alleged that Camat was carrying a handgun and fired at a car that was leaving the area. Authorities said he crouched behind another vehicle and pointed a handgun at officers.

Relatives insisted Camat only fired into the air to break up the fight and said officers never issued a warning before shooting him.

"He shot once in the air to scare people away. He didn't aim it at anyone," said Camat's brother, Brian, who was with him at the time.

Officer Debra Brown said the family's account "differs vastly from the statements of dozens of witnesses who were at the scene that evening."

The officer who fired at Camat remains on paid administrative leave. An internal police review and a court inquest are planned.

Camat was one of 13 Starbucks employees in Los Angeles who shared an $87 million California lottery jackpot in 2000.

He recently bought a house in Federal Way, a suburb between Seattle and Tacoma, relatives said. He previously used his share of the lottery winnings to buy a house for his mother and cars for his siblings.

[Mibrew]

Customer finds rat parts in food
Piccadilly restaurant recalls turnip greens brand
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Posted: 8:48 AM EDT (1248 GMT)

MORROW, Georgia (AP) -- The Piccadilly restaurant chain has recalled a brand of turnip greens sold at some of its 132 restaurants after a customer at a Georgia outlet bit into greens containing rat body parts.

The parts came into the restaurant in Morrow frozen with the greens, which were supplied by a vendor, the chain's regional manager, Clint Celestin, said Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the local health department, Sheryl Taylor, said her agency's investigation was inconclusive as to the source of the contamination.

Celestin did not know exactly how many of the restaurants, located mainly in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic region, were affected by the recall.

"We had all that product removed from all of our stores that day," he said of the Sept. 1 incident. "Anything that was opened was thrown away. Anything that was unopened in the freezer was picked up by our supplier and sent back to the vendor."

The customer, Collis L. Warren, said he was halfway through his meal when he said to himself: "That looks like hair or fur." The 40-year-old truck driver added that he may have inadvertently eaten some of the rat.

His lawyer said Warren plans to sue. Mike Misuraca, Piccadilly Cafeterias' risk manager, said he could not comment on the pending lawsuit.

The health department identified the vendor that sold the turnip greens as Magic Valley Fresh Frozen Inc., of McAllen, Texas.

Larry Griffin, the company's president, declined comment Tuesday on the incident.

[Mibrew]

Sacramento nixes bar-hopping on fire engines
'It's an inappropriate use of city equipment, obviously'
Thursday, October 14, 2004 Posted: 12:03 AM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- Nineteen firefighters in Sacramento, California have been disciplined for using city fire engines to meet women, including at a local event in which people dressed as porn stars, an official said Wednesday.

Six firefighters have been fired and 13 others have been suspended or reprimanded following the largest internal probe ever by the Sacramento Fire Department, said Captain Niko King, the department's spokesman.

The misconduct investigation began in early July after reports of firefighters using city vehicles to cruise bars in the often sleepy state capital.

Later six firefighters were caught taking three city vehicles to a "Porn Star Costume Ball."

A woman at the event accused one of the firefighters of sexual assault aboard a fire engine. Prosecutors dropped the charges after determining the sexual encounter was consensual, King said.

"It's an inappropriate use of city equipment, obviously," King said.

[Mibrew]

Man rescued after 12 hours in Atlantic
Wednesday, October 13, 2004 Posted: 1:43 PM EDT
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A ship worker was rescued Wednesday after he fell from a cargo freighter and spent more than 12 hours in the Atlantic Ocean, the Coast Guard said.

Gurjit Singh, an Indian citizen, was reported missing after his ship, the Tatiana L, left Port Everglades, Florida, late Tuesday for Brazil, Coast Guard spokeswoman Sandy Bartlett said.

The Coast Guard and local law enforcement launched a search for Singh using boats and a helicopter after he was reported missing when the freighter took attendance after leaving port, Bartlett said.

The rescuer found the man conscious and floating six miles off the Florida coast and alerted authorities.

Emergency medical technicians treated the man after he was brought to shore near Hillsboro Inlet in Broward County, Florida. Bartlett said Singh was wearing a life jacket.

The Coast Guard said Singh was "exhausted." No further details were available.

[Mibrew]

HS Streaker Sentenced to Up to 2 Years

Posted: October 15, 2004 at 12:12 p.m.
TOWANDA, Pa. (AP) -- A graduation prank gone wrong may land a Pennsylvania teen in jail for as long as two years.

18-year-old Russell Chmieleski streaked across the football field as Towanda High School's graduation was being held last June. Police say he was upset at being excluded from the ceremony after graduating early.

Because children were present at the event, the teen was charged with first-degree indecent exposure. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months to two years.

The charge is a misdemeanor, so he'll be able to stay in a county jail, rather than state prison.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

[Mibrew]

Man Arrested in Wife's Jet Ski Death
Email to a Friend Printer Friendly Version


Posted: October 15, 2004 at 10:52 a.m.
Updated: October 15, 2004 at 4:24 p.m.
VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) -- The husband's story sounded tragic -- newlyweds stranded in the chilly water of San Pablo Bay, shouting in vain for help all night after their personal watercraft got stuck and they lost their cell phone. Corbin Easterling says he finally fell asleep near dawn, and when he awoke, his wife was dead.

But his story took a sinister twist after an autopsy revealed evidence that Jennifer Easterling had been assaulted. Easterling now sits in the Sonoma County Jail, accused of murdering his wife of seven months.

"There were injuries that were consistent with an assault," Sonoma sheriff's Lt. Dave Edmonds said Friday, refusing to elaborate about how and where exactly authorities believe she was killed.

Sonoma County authorities interviewed Easterling twice Wednesday at the doublewide trailer he shared with his wife in Vallejo, about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco. They arrested him without incident at a friend's home Thursday evening after receiving the autopsy report.

Police are now checking into key aspects of the husband's story -- such as whether the couple was in fact stranded in the Bay overnight Monday. Edmonds wouldn't say whether police recovered a cell phone or whether any calls were made, and results of blood tests for drugs and alcohol were still pending Friday.

Earlier, Easterling had spoken to the San Francisco Chronicle about his ordeal, chain-smoking and drinking heavily from a liter bottle of whiskey during the interview.

He said they hit the water about 11 a.m. Monday after stopping for drinks at a local bar. They wore swimsuits and life vests and spent much of the afternoon cruising the bay on their WaveRunner. He said they got bogged down in thick offshore mud. They managed to free the vessel, but then it somehow caught fire and sank, leaving just its nose poking out of the water.

As the sun set, they called Jennifer Easterling's father, Richard Jevarian, in Sonoma and told him they were stranded. Jevarian told the Chronicle he talked to both his daughter and her husband, advising them to call 911 and call him back. They never did.

Easterling says that's when they lost the phone.

"I figured her dad would call the Coast Guard and we would be saved that night," Easterling told the Chronicle. "I was hoping we don't go out to sea and kept wondering how we were going to get back to shore, and I was worried about sharks. It didn't ever dawn on me that my wife would pass on."

The next morning, when Jevarian hadn't heard from his daughter, he reported the couple missing. About two hours later, the Coast Guard rescued Easterling and recovered his wife's body. Later, the Coast Guard also recovered the watercraft and turned it over to Sonoma County authorities.

Police have dealt with couple before. Easterling, 35, is an ex-convict who served time in San Quentin and Folsom prisons for evading a police officer, drug possession and parole violations, according to corrections records.

His wife, also 35, had a history of domestic violence arrests. She was arrested at least three times for allegedly beating up the father of her older child, vandalizing his car, disturbing the peace and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Because she skipped an Oct. 4 court hearing on the domestic violence charges, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest on Wednesday -- the day after her body was found.

Neighbors interviewed at the trailer park where the couple lived refused to give their names because they said they feared retribution from Easterling and his friends, but they described them as being known for loud arguments and boisterous behavior.

Outside the couple's unoccupied home Friday, plastic Halloween ghosts hung from the branches of a bush near a well-tended garden and an American flag hung over the porch railing. By the storage area, a personal watercraft stood with the hood off by a toolbox.

Jevarian said his daughter and Easterling had "a loving relationship, a partying relationship." But he also conceded that "there was a lot of drama."

The couple met about six years ago at a Vallejo cocktail lounge, Easterling said. Together, they had a 1-year-old daughter and they got married in March. Neither had regular jobs; he recently applied for disability payments because of a foot injury; she worked intermittently for Solano County.

Corbin Easterling's stepmother, Peggy Easterling, told the Chronicle her stepson was distraught about losing his wife, but was "kind of clouded" about the details. "I know that accident was a total accident and they did everything to try and save each other," she said.

Jennifer Easterling also had an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship. She did not have custody of either child, according to her grandmother, Evelyn Jevarian. She told The Associated Press on Friday that they spoke on the phone Monday morning and everything sounded fine.

"People live their lives the way they want to and who am I to say," she said, choking back tears. "Jenny was always vivacious. She was a beautiful girl."

[Mibrew]

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon man's flat-screen TV is loaded with all the bells and whistles -- including one option he'd rather not have.

A couple of weeks ago the Toshiba with built-in VCR, DVD and CD player starting emitting the international distress signal.

An orbiting search and rescue satellite picked up the signal and before long Chris van Rossman heard a knock at the door.

Air Force officials, a police officer and a search and rescue deputy were outside.

Officials have told him to keep the TV off or face a fine.

A Toshiba spokeswoman says this is the first time the company has heard of such a problem.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

[Mibrew]

Trial Begins for 2 Cops in Fajitagate

Posted: October 18, 2004 at 12:08 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- The trial of two men accused of assault in the fight that led to the "Fajita-gate" scandal in the San Francisco Police Department began this morning in San Francisco Superior Court.

Prosecutor David Merin spent about 45 minutes on his opening statement, showing jurors pictures of a bloodied Jade Santoro and playing parts of the 911 call Adam Snyder made as they pair were allegedly being attacked by off-duty San Francisco police officers Matthew Tonsing, David Lee and Alex Fagan Jr. on Union Street early in the morning hours of Nov. 20, 2002.

Merin said the fight began when Tonsing demanded the steak fajitas Snyder was carrying.

Tonsing and Lee's trial has been separated from Fagan Jr.'s. Tonsing and Lee face assault and battery charges, and Merin said Lee also was driving while impaired.

Attorneys for Tonsing and Lee are scheduled to present their opening statements later this morning, with the first witnesses to testify this afternoon, Judge Kay Tsenin said.

[Mibrew]

Boy shoots parents after beating
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Posted: 3:39 AM EDT

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A 13-year-old Russian schoolboy shot dead his parents while they slept after his father beat him for getting low marks at school, Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Investigators in the Siberian town of Talmenka, quoted by the newspaper, said Alexander Bykov's father returned home from a school meeting with teachers and gave him a thrashing for getting a low mark in chemistry.

"My father never used to punish me for school marks," investigators quoted the boy as saying. "This time he turned into a brute."

In the early hours of the morning, he took his father's double-barrelled shotgun, went into his parents' bedroom and shot them while they slept, pausing to reload and refiring.

Izvestia said the young boy planned to drop their bodies in a nearby river, but was unable to start his father's car.

He then enlisted the aid of an 18-year-old friend to toss them into a ravine, but that plan also failed.

Finally, the boy put the bodies into a wardrobe and covered them with sacks, where his 26-year-old sister stumbled upon them the following evening.

Izvestia said regional justice officials had officially opened a murder investigation.

But it quoted sources in the prosecutor's office as saying the boy was undergoing psychiatric examination and was unlikely to be tried because he was a minor.

[Mibrew]

Remains of mafia captains identified
Pieces of human skeletons found in vacant lot
From Jonathan Wald and Adam Reiss

Tuesday, October 19, 2004 Posted: 10:55 AM EDT (1455 GMT)
New York City police department and F.B.I. investigators sift through dirt in a vacant lot

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Authorities have found the skeletons of two mafia captains, believed to be victims of a gangland shooting over 20 years ago, FBI officials said Monday.

An FBI agent said the two week long excavation in a Queens lot has uncovered the bones of Bonanno capos Philip "Phil Lucky" Giaccone and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera.

Agents from the FBI's Bonanno and Gotti squads along with the New York City Police Department's Cold Case Squad have been digging through concrete and sifting through dirt since October 4 following a tip by an informant.

Giaccone's remains were identified by pieces of personal property found with his bones, including a Piaget Watch which matched a description given by family associates, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Authorities identified Trinchera's remains after finding his credit card and other pieces of personal property with his bones, the official said.

The discoveries were made in an area that borders Brooklyn and Queens near John F. Kennedy International Airport where Alfonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's body was found by children playing in 1981.

Indelicato, a captain in the Bonanno family, had tried to take over the family with Giaccone and Trinchera, a plan that led to the murder of all three of them in a Brooklyn social club in 1981, according to court testimony from the brother-in-law of Joseph Massino, the Bonanno mob boss.

Investigators are working with New York City's Medical Examiner's Office to conclusively identify the remains by matching samples of DNA provided by families of the Bonanno captains, a process which could take weeks.

Law enforcement sources told CNN that over the last 10 years they have been able to develop good sources within organized crime. Those sources eventually pointed investigators to the location in Queens.

Authorities believe as many as six murder victims were buried in the lot in the late 1970s early 1980s, including Luchese family associates Joseph Spione and Thomas DeSimone and John Favara, a Queens furniture store manager, who they say was killed because he accidentally ran over the 12-year-old son of former Gambino mob boss, John Gotti, when he darted from behind a garbage container.

DeSimone, from Queens, was reported missing in January 1979 and is suspected of being part of the Lufthansa Airlines cargo heist in 1978.

Investigators will keep excavating until the end of the week. "The search is continuing," FBI spokesman James Margolin said. "There is still 40 percent of the lot left untouched."

The FBI believes this area may be a graveyard used by the Mafia for targets of hits ordered by Gotti and his Bonanno family counterpart, Massino.

Massino was recently convicted of murder and racketeering and will be sentenced November 17. His brother-in-law, Salvatore Vitale, was the government's star witness at his trial.

The ties of loyalty in the Bonanno family unraveled after the undercover FBI agent known as Donnie Brasco infiltrated their world in the late 1970s, a story told in the Al Pacino-Johnny Depp movie "Donnie Brasco."

Vitale, the family's underboss, agreed to become a government witness last year.

By October 11, investigators found what appeared to be a human fibula, a tibia, a hip or pelvic bone and a bone from either a hand or foot, according to Margolin.

[Mibrew]

Man Robs Bank Wearing George W. Bush Mask
Pa. cops hunting presidential imitator in swing state stickup

OCTOBER 18--Police in the battleground state of Pennsylvania are looking for a man who robbed a bank Thursday night wearing a George W. Bush mask. The holdup man, who did not flash a weapon, demanded the money from a teller at a Commerce Bank near York. As seen in the below bank surveillance photos--provided to TSG by the Northern York County Regional Police--the robber wore gloves, a ski hat, and a fixed grin. A police spokesman would not say how much the Dubya doppelganger got away with.

[Mibrew]

Man Robs Bank Wearing George W. Bush Mask
Pa. cops hunting presidential imitator in swing state stickup

OCTOBER 18--Police in the battleground state of Pennsylvania are looking for a man who robbed a bank Thursday night wearing a George W. Bush mask. The holdup man, who did not flash a weapon, demanded the money from a teller at a Commerce Bank near York. As seen in the below bank surveillance photos--provided to TSG by the Northern York County Regional Police--the robber wore gloves, a ski hat, and a fixed grin. A police spokesman would not say how much the Dubya doppelganger got away with.

[Mibrew]

Man says live wire in bath was to save marriage
Thursday, October 28, 2004 Posted: 7:53 AM EDT (1153 GMT)

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A man who said he threw a live electrical wire into his wife's bath hoping a near-death experience would save their marriage was convicted of attempted first-degree intentional homicide Wednesday.

William Dahlby said in court he was only trying to scare his wife the evening of May 9. He told jurors the wire was hooked to a "ground fault interrupter" designed to cut the electricity when the cord encountered water. His wife was not hurt.

Prosecutors said Dahlby was trying to kill his wife to start a new life with another woman.

Dahlby's wife, Mary, testified Tuesday her husband drew her bath after they spent the day taking a walk and a long motorcycle ride.

While she took her bath, her husband came into the bathroom and dropped the cord into the bath, she said.

She jumped out of the bath, but her husband tried to push her back in the tub, Mary Dahlby said. She got free and ran out of the bathroom.

Her husband, who also was convicted of intimidation of a victim, was scheduled for sentencing December 10.

[Mibrew]

Twins score identical perfect SATs
Thursday, October 28, 2004 Posted: 7:13 AM EDT

LONG BEACH, New York (AP) -- Dillon and Jesse Smith are fraternal twins, but their penchant for perfection is identical.

The 16-year-old brothers beat the odds to each score a perfect 1600 on the SATs. Of 1.4 million high-schoolers who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test in 2004, just 939 scored a perfect 1600.

The seniors at Long Beach High School aced the English and math tests after taking the SATs for the second time. Earlier this year, Dillon scored 1520 and Jesse 1530.

Jesse ranks third in their senior class; Dillon ranks 16th.

"Sixteen is running my life. I'm 16 years old, I'm 16th in my class, and I got a 1600 on my SAT," Dillon said Wednesday.

Dillon said he didn't even study too hard for the tests.

"I didn't spend, like, weeks and months and years of my life studying for this test," he said. "I took it easy. ... "I happen to be good at taking tests."

Dillon plans to major in engineering and apply to Columbia, New York University and Cooper Union. Jesse plans to apply to Brown, Boston University, Wesleyan and Bates.

[Mibrew]

Child to 911 dispatcher: 'My daddy killed me with a butcher knife'
Thursday, October 28, 2004 Posted: 8:02 PM EDT

TACOMA, Washington (AP) -- A seriously wounded 8-year-old boy calmly described his father's deadly knife rampage during a call for help to 911. "My daddy killed me with a knife and I'm gone," the boy told a dispatcher. "Can you please send the Army men or the ambulance?"

The soft-spoken child gave a wrong address and then hung up. But a second dispatcher called back, keeping him on the line while a frantic search was under way.

On Wednesday, authorities released the remarkable tape of Anthony Sukto's calm courage during the October 22 ordeal, and the frantic efforts to find him.

"What's going on there?" asked dispatcher Kristine Woodrow.

"My daddy killed me with a butcher knife," Anthony said.

"How did that happen if you are talking to me?" Woodrow asked.

"Because," Anthony answered. "I don't know what happened, but something. He grabbed knives. I woke up. My dad, he was killing my mom and then my, my, my dad told me to go onto the other bed and then he's like, 'You're next,' and then he killed me. I'm still alive. I kind of survived."

Woodrow said she wasn't sure if what she was hearing was for real.

"He was extremely calm," she recalled Wednesday. "It wasn't a typical response from someone who had just witnessed what he witnessed or had just been attacked."

Woodrow said while police and firefighters tried to find where Anthony was calling from, she tried to keep him on the phone.

"Are you bleeding, Anthony?" she asked. "Uh huh," he answered.

"Where are you bleeding from?" she asked. "From my stomach," he said.

"Are you there by yourself?" Woodrow asked. "No. My mom is already dead and I am the only survivor," he said.

Authorities found the home minutes later when the child's father, Tony Sukto, 36, flagged down a fire truck. Sukto has been charged with the murder of his wife, Pranee, 39, and attempted murder of his son, and has pleaded innocent.

Anthony underwent surgery for lacerations to his liver and is recovering.

Woodrow said she wants to visit the little boy to tell him something she didn't get a chance to before.

"I want to tell him how amazing he is," she said. "I don't think he knows that."

[Mibrew]

Dog saves woman's life by calling 911
Friday, October 29, 2004 Posted: 7:26 AM EDT (1126 GMT)

RICHLAND, Washington (AP) -- Leana Beasley has faith that a dog is man's best friend.

Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler, phoned 911 when Beasley fell out of her wheelchair and barked urgently into the receiver until a dispatcher sent help. Then the service dog unlocked the front door for the police officer.

"I sensed there was a problem on the other end of the 911 call," said dispatcher Jenny Buchanan. "The dog was too persistent in barking directly into the phone receiver. I knew she was trying to tell me something."

Faith is trained to summon help by pushing a speed-dial button on the phone with her nose after taking the receiver off the hook, said her owner, Beasley, 45, who suffers grand mal seizures.

Guided by experts at the Assistance Dog Club of Puget Sound, Beasley helped train Faith herself.

The day of the fall, Faith "had been acting very clingy, wanting to be touching me all day long," Beasley said Thursday.

The dog, whose sensitive nose can detect changes in Beasley's body chemistry, is trained to alert her owner to impending seizures.

But that wasn't what was happening on September 7, and Faith apparently wasn't sure how to communicate the problem. During Beasley's three-week hospital stay, doctors determined her liver was not properly processing her seizure medication.

[Mibrew]

Police: Woman exhumed boyfriend's ashes
Friday, October 29, 2004 Posted: 9:14 AM EDT

PORTAGE, Wisconsin (AP) -- A woman has been arrested for allegedly digging up her dead boyfriend's ashes from a cemetery and drinking the beer that was buried with him.

Karen Stolzmann, 44, was charged Tuesday with concealing stolen property, in a case Columbia County Detective Wayne Smith calls "twisted and bizarre."

Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe De Cecco said Thursday he would determine if additional charges should be filed in his county since the urn was found at Stolzmann's Sheboygan home.

Michael Hendrickson, 27, died in 1992 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His family contacted authorities three weeks ago when they discovered his remains had been stolen.

An exhumation revealed Hendrickson's cremated remains -- along with beer and cigarettes that were buried with him -- were missing from Cambria Cemetery in Cambria.

Detectives searched Stolzmann's home and found her hiding in the shower. The remains, located in her garage, had "identifiable things to make us believe they're (Hendrickson's)," Smith said.

Detective Jay Yerges said Stolzmann and Hendrickson were living together in the early 1990s, while they were both married to other people. The relationship was stormy, with a pattern of alcohol and domestic abuse, he said.

Stolzmann was present when Hendrickson shot himself in January 1992. Yerges said Hendrickson's family blamed her for his death and she was not invited to his services.

"I feel that her motive was spite," Yerges said.

Robbing graves is a felony offense, but the six-year statute of limitations has passed for prosecution. There may be a way to prosecute because the alleged theft was only recently discovered, Yerges said.

[Raider]

TV set emits SOS signal

Oregon Man's TV Emits Int'l Distress Signal

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Chris van Rossman's television came with a VCR, DVD player and CD player — plus a hidden feature that had a rescue team beating a path to his door.

On the night of Oct. 2, the TV began emitting the international distress signal — the 121.5 megahertz beep emitted by crashed airplanes and sinking boats.

The signal was picked up by a satellite, relayed to an Air Force base in Virginia, then to the Civil Air Patrol, then to officials in Oregon. Most signals are false alarms, but they're all checked out, and soon, men in Air Force uniforms, a police officer and Mike Bamberger, a Benton County Search and Rescue deputy, were at van Rossman's apartment door.

"I have a pretty spotless record, so I wasn't overly concerned — just a little confused," van Rossman said. "The police officer asked if I was a pilot or had a boat or anything."

They left when he said "no," but came back when they narrowed the location of the signal to a wall in van Rossman's hallway, Bamberger said.

The solution to the mystery was nailed when van Rossman turned off the TV before answering the door the second time. The signal stopped, too. An inspection of the television confirmed it was the source.

"Their equipment was just bouncing everywhere as they turned it on and off," van Rossman said.

Neither investigators nor officials at Toshiba Corp. know exactly what caused the problem, Bamberger said Tuesday. Toshiba plans to replace the television and examine the offending one.

"We have never experienced anything like this before at Toshiba," said spokeswoman Maria Repole.

In the meantime, van Rossman is keeping the set unplugged — to avoid a fine of up to $10,000 per day if his TV cries wolf again.

[Mibrew]

Girl with rare disease doesn't know pain

Monday, November 1, 2004 Posted: 6:51 AM EST (1151 GMT)


Ashlyn Blocker, 5, must be checked for scrapes and cuts because she cannot feel pain.


PATTERSON, Georgia (AP) -- Ashlyn Blocker's parents and kindergarten teachers all describe her the same way: fearless. So they nervously watch her plunge full-tilt into a childhood deprived of natural alarms.

In the school cafeteria, teachers put ice in 5-year-old Ashlyn's chili. If her lunch is scalding hot, she'll gulp it down anyway.

On the playground, a teacher's aide watches Ashlyn from within 15 feet, keeping her off the jungle gym and giving chase when she runs. If she takes a hard fall, Ashlyn won't cry.

Ashlyn is among a tiny number of people in the world known to have congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis, or CIPA -- a rare genetic disorder that makes her unable to feel pain.

"Some people would say that's a good thing. But no, it's not," says Tara Blocker, Ashlyn's mother. "Pain's there for a reason. It lets your body know something's wrong and it needs to be fixed. I'd give anything for her to feel pain."

The untreatable disease also makes Ashlyn incapable of sensing extreme temperatures -- hot or cold -- disabling her body's ability to cool itself by sweating. Otherwise, her senses are normal.

Ashlyn can feel the texture of nickels and dimes she sorts into piles on her bedroom floor, the heft of the pink backpack she totes to school and the embrace of a hug. She feels hunger cravings for her favorite after-school snack, pickles and strawberry milk.

That's because the genetic mutation that causes CIPA only disrupts the development of the small nerve fibers that carry sensations of pain, heat and cold to the brain.

"There are all kinds of different nerve cells that help us feel different sensations," says Dr. Felicia Axelrod, a professor of pediatrics and neurology at New York University School of Medicine. "You can have one sense removed, just like you can lose your hearing but still smell things."

Number afflicted unknown
Specialists such as Axelrod don't know how many people suffer from CIPA. As director of a treatment center that specializes in CIPA and related disorders, Axelrod has 35 patients with the disease on file. Only 17 of them are from the United States. Japan has the world's only association for CIPA patients. It has 67 members.

In Patterson, a rural town of 800 people in southeast Georgia, John and Tara Blocker had no idea the disorder existed before they took Ashlyn to the doctor for a bloodshot, swollen left eye when she was 8 months old.

The doctor put drops in Ashlyn's eye to stain any particles that might be irritating it. The infant smiled and bounced in her mother's lap while the dye revealed a massive scratch across her cornea.

"They put the dye in her eye and I remember the look of puzzlement on all their faces," Ashlyn's mother says. "She was not phased by it by any means."

Tests by a geneticist led to Ashlyn's diagnosis. To have the disorder, Ashlyn had to inherit two copies of the mutated gene -- one from each parent.

Ashlyn's father, a telephone technician, and mother, who holds a degree in physical education, were largely on their own in learning to cope with their daughter's strange indifference to injury.

Many things they couldn't anticipate. Ashlyn's baby teeth posed big problems. She would chew her lips bloody in her sleep, bite through her tongue while eating, and once even stuck a finger in her mouth and stripped flesh from it.

Family photos reveal a series of these self-inflicted injuries. One picture shows Ashlyn in her Christmas dress, hair neatly coifed, with a swollen lip, missing teeth, puffy eye and athletic tape wrapped around her hands to protect them. She smiles like a little boxer who won a prize bout.

Her first serious injury came at age 3, when she laid her hand on a hot pressure washer in the back yard. Ashlyn's mother found her staring at her red, blistered palm.

"That was a real reality check for me. At that point I realized we're not going to be able to stop all the bad stuff," Tara Blocker says. "She needs a normal life, with limitations."

So when Ashlyn goes to her kindergarten class at Patterson Elementary School, she gets daily check-ups with school nurse Beth Cloud after recess. Cloud and Ashlyn's mother discussed having her wear a helmet on the playground, but decided it would look too odd.

And when teacher's aide Sue Price puts ice in Ashlyn's chili at lunch, her dozen classmates get ice in theirs too.

Infections with no outward symptoms also concern them. They heard of a case where a child with CIPA had appendicitis that went untreated until her appendix burst.

"It's a lot to take in. It opens your eyes to things you wouldn't normally think about," says Tara Blocker. "If she sees blood, she knows to stop. There's only so much you can tell a 5-year-old

[Mibrew]

'Grapefruit-size' ice falls on house
FAA trying to identify source of ice
Friday, November 12, 2004 Posted: 12:52 PM EST

KENT, Washington (AP) -- Investigators are trying to identify the source of ice chunks that smashed through the roof of a house in this Seattle suburb last week, landing on the bed of a 7-year-old girl.

They believe the ice formed on an aircraft and broke free, potentially indicating a mechanical or design problem, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus.

"It's a safety issue," Fergus said.

Investigators are certain it was not "blue ice," which comes from leaking airplane lavatories, he added.

Troy Halte said his family returned home November 4 to find a hole in the ceiling of their daughter's bedroom and five chunks of ice on the bed, three of them "the size of grapefruit." Three more chunks had fallen in the back yard.

Fergus said FAA officials are reviewing air traffic control tapes to check for planes that passed over the neighborhood that afternoon.

Boeing Co. officials say ice can form on the leading edge of airplanes under some weather conditions, but a company official said she had never heard of the ice falling off and hitting the ground.

Breez Halte sits on her bed, beneath where ice chunks crashed through the bedroom ceiling.

[Mibrew]

18ft shark attacks beach swimmer
Elderly South African woman feared dead
Tuesday, November 16, 2004 Posted: 4:50 AM EST

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- A Great White shark estimated to be at least 18 feet long (5.5 meters) has attacked and presumably killed an elderly South African woman off a beach near Cape Town, officials said.

Tyna Webb, 77, who lived in the area, was swimming Monday off Sunny Cove in Fish Hoek when the massive shark circled her and then attacked, witnesses and officials said.

About 15 people witnessed the attack.

"All that was left was a little red bathing cap," said Paul Dennett, who witnessed the attack from his home nearby.

Dennett told the South African Press Association that he estimated the shark to be at least 18 feet long.

Rescue workers were using boats and aircraft to search for the woman's body.

"All efforts to find the lady have been exhausted by a wide and thorough search. We are hoping that police divers will be successful in their efforts," Darren Zimmerman of the National Sea Rescue Institute told the SAPA.

Crews later spotted the shark.

Great Whites often are seen in the area feeding off the large seal population.

"The shark is bigger than the helicopter ... it is huge," institute spokesman Craig Lambinon told SAPA.

Law enforcement officials advised people not to swim along the Cape of Good Hope.

A 16-year-old surfer lost his right leg in an April attack by a Great White shark in the same area.

The last confirmed, unprovoked fatal shark attack in South Africa was in 2003, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File, which has gathered such data worldwide for decades.

A Great White shark breaches the water off Cape Town, South Africa.
Image:

[Mibrew]

GREENSBURG, La., Nov. 15 -- Beavers snatched a bag of bills stolen from a casino and wove thousands of dollars in soggy currency into the sticks and brush of their dam on a creek in eastern Louisiana.

"They hadn't torn the bills up. They were still whole," said Maj. Michael Martin of the St. Helena Parish sheriff's office.

The money was part of $70,000 to $75,000 taken last week from the Lucky Dollar Casino in Greensburg.

St. Helena Parish deputies searched for the money for days until a lawyer, hoping to make a deal with prosecutors for a client, called and said the money had been discarded in the creek, Greensburg Police Chief Ronald Harrell said.

Officers searched the creek over the weekend, finding one money bag right away and spotting a second downstream against the beaver dam.

The third bag of cash could not be found, Martin said, so deputies started breaking down the beaver da