| Breathitt Online News Archives Weird News Page #1 |
| From the "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT FILES" Palm Beach County goosed over goose AP 1-26-03 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A woman who says she was attacked by a 3-foot-tall goose is suing the county, claiming it shouldn't have allowed the bird to roam free in a public park. Darlene Griffin, 30, claimed the goose lunged at her son Feb. 5 while he was standing near a pond in Okeeheelee Park. Griffin, a medical assistant, said she jumped in between the goose and her son - and the bird bit her in the foot. "He was squawking at me and he looked like he was coming at me again," she said. Griffin claims she fell down while fighting with the animal and broke her tailbone. The lawsuit asserts the goose had a history of being territorial and aggressive, but the county did not have any warning signs posted. In its response Jan. 8, the county said it had no duty to warn people of the obvious conditions at the park. Eric Call, the county's assistant parks director, said the goose was removed from the park after the incident. A few months later, the county hired a trapper to remove 22 geese because they had become unruly. Intruder no match for power-packed girl AP 12-15-02 DAYTON, Ohio - A petite 17-year-old girl awakened by intruders sprinted from her house barefoot in pajamas and tackled one trespasser, pinned him and hog-tied him with a rope until police arrived. Melissa Alexander said her experience training horses and playing soccer and softball helped her as she took down the taller and heavier 18-year-old man. "I still don't know what came over me," Alexander said Thursday. "I wasn't thinking at first, then he started making me mad." Her mother marveled at the feat. Vickie Stanley described her daughter as 5-3 and 110 pounds, "a little bitty thing." Police said the man she tackled - Jason Burkett, 18, of Brookville - is 5-10 and 140 pounds. "She had it all under control," her mother said. Alexander told police she was asleep at 3 a.m. Tuesday in her German Township home about 15 miles southwest of Dayton when her cousin woke her, saying there were people in the yard snooping around the family's cars. Alexander and her cousin alerted Stanley, who suggested turning the outside lights on and off a few times to scare away the intruders. "Then I crawled back into bed," Stanley said. But Alexander and her cousin said they still heard noises, so Alexander opened the garage door and saw men in the garage. As they started to run out, she began the chase. "I hit him pretty hard. But I think I also scared him," Alexander said. She sat on Burkett and the other women brought her a rope she uses to exercise horses. Alexander said she wrapped it around Burkett's hand, then looped the rope around his neck and pinned him to the ground. As he tried to wiggle free, she told him she acquired wrestling-type skills during her years of training horses. Police arrived and were surprised at what they found. "They shined the spotlight on the yard. I think they thought it was my stepdad who had the guy. They realized it was under control and walked up to the house. Then they saw it was me," Alexander said. Police said that all four cars in the garage had been ransacked. Burkett was charged with theft and criminal trespassing, police chief W.L. Wilcox said. A 17-year-old boy and Trestan Stamps, 18, both of Brookville, later were arrested by police and also charged with theft and criminal trespassing, Wilcox said. Officers were looking for a fourth suspect. Alexander, a junior at Valley View High School, said the police asked her if she is interested in a career in law enforcement, but she said no. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't get away," she said. From the "You Will Not Believe This " File Computer glitches -- patients not dead after all AP 1-8-03 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Believe Cathy Uhl, not the computer, when she insists she's alive. A computer error at Saint Mary's Mercy Medical Center mistakenly identified her and thousands of other patients as deceased. "We've had problems with insurance before. But when I got this letter, I said, 'Brad (her husband), you're not going to believe this. According to this, I'm dead,'" said Uhl, an administrative supervisor at The Grand Rapids Press. Uhl is one of 8,500 people who got the Jan. 2 letter, which notified patients that bills issued between mid-October and Dec. 11 had been coded incorrectly to indicate that the person was dead. The glitch happened during a routine update of Saint Mary's computer files in October, Jennifer Cammenga, a spokeswoman for Saint Mary's, told The Grand Rapids Press. One digit was dropped from a computer code to indicate the patients were "deceased," rather than "discharged to home." Cammenga, who also received a letter, said the problem is being corrected and the hospital is contacting affected patients and their insurance providers. The mistake was discovered by a Saint Mary's employee who was helping a patient with a billing problem. She noticed that the bill said the patient died, but the patient was standing in front of her, said Saint Mary's chief financial officer, Steve Pirog. "Once we identified the problem, getting it fixed took only a few days," Pirog said. Officials angry over roadkill grave AP 11-10-02 STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. - The discovery of a mass grave for roadkill in the median of the Massachusetts Turnpike has outraged officials in this picturesque community. Town officials said they were unaware that the broad, wooded median held thousands of carcasses of animals killed along the roadway and that the site had apparently been in use for decades, until recently. "I want to know why the Turnpike Authority would drive dead animals 50 to 100 miles to dump them in our town," said J. Cristopher Irsfield, who chairs the Board of Selectmen in Stockbridge. At their Monday night meeting, selectmen directed their attorney to research the disposal site's legality. Engineers hired by the Turnpike were scheduled to report to the town's Conservation Commission next week on possible damage to protected wetlands surrounding the site, described by town officials as being 300 feet long, 150 feet wide and 45 feet deep. "It's simply wrong to say that you can toss hundreds or thousands of animal carcasses into a dump, an uncovered dump, and say that's the end of it," said Selectman George Shippey, who also serves on the town Conservation Commission. Turnpike spokesman Bob Bliss said Tuesday that the Stockbridge median was "the only active central depository" remaining along the road and the Pike stopped bringing dead animals there two months ago. "It's my understanding that it had been used for almost as long as the Turnpike has been open," Bliss said, maintaining the Pike had done nothing wrong. The highway dates to 1957. Since the practice ended two months ago, the Turnpike has been dragging carcasses off the road and into wooded areas on its property where they can be eaten individually by scavenger animals, Bliss said. Incineration is also being considered. Preliminary findings show no pollution from the site, estimated to contain the remains of 4,000 deer, bear, moose and other animals, Bliss said. He said the carcasses had been covered with sand and gravel. But town officials questioned how well the carcasses had been covered. Irsfield, who lives near the site, told The Berkshire Eagle his dogs had sometimes dragged home huge chunks of deer carcasses that he now believes came from the site, and other neighbors said they had noticed smells. Stockbridge is best known as the place where singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie turned his 1965 littering arrest into the anti-war ballad "Alice's Restaurant." 'A CAREER IDIOT' 11-12-02 We just have to visit Washington state. The sexual deviancy there is simply overwhelming. Now comes the case of the vexatious voyeur, who told Seattle-area police when caught, "I'm not a career criminal, just a career idiot." Philip J. Kraus, 39, has been charged with two counts of voyeurism, among other crimes. He is accused of videotaping more than 100 people undressing, taking baths and having sex. He's been one busy guy. But no longer. A reminder to forgetful readers: Washington is also the state where several women teachers have been charged and/or convicted of having sex with male students. Other matters involving sexual deviancy have occurred there, but we forget the details. From The Weird File Man bites into bat burger AP 12-22-02 What would you like on your burger? Lettuce? Mayo? Pickles? Perhaps some bat? A Lexington teenager faces up to six years behind bars for placing a dead bat on a bun as a joke and giving it to a man who took a bite, thinking it was a burger, police said. The girl, whose identity is being withheld because she is a juvenile, will be charged with violating a new law that prohibits tampering with someone's food and giving it as a gift, according to Lexington Police Investigator Donna Hetherington. "It appears to be a practical joke that went very bad. She just wasn't using a whole lot of common sense," Hetherington said Thursday. Timothy Gooch, 21, went to a local hospital's emergency room after biting into the bat Tuesday night. He was not injured and the bat tested negative for rabies, state Health Department spokeswoman Diane Denton said Thursday. Hetherington said the bat had been killed when someone ran over it and that the teen had never seen one before. "She thought this would be funny, but it wasn't," Hetherington said. PHONY SEX CALLER 11-12-02 A Boston-area man who stole his father's identity to make more than $5,400 in phone-sex calls has an interesting excuse. He says he's a sex addict. Sven (yes, Sven) Martin, 34, faces larceny and fraud charges. His father, Dennis Martin, of Cookson, Okla., called police after receiving a bill for $5,456. The investigation led to Sven, who told police he used dad's Social Security number to get a phone card. The rest is sex history. His father is pressing charges. Let this be an object lesson to sex addicts everywhere. Phone sex is legal (in most places). But stealing from dad ... that's a no-no. And life, as we know it, is tough on fathers ... Weird News Rock-Paper-Scissors champ crowned Associated Press 11-30-02 TORONTO - Give Pete Lovering a hand - for being the world's best Rock, Paper, Scissors player. The job-hunting Web site operator has won the World Rock Paper Scissors Society's first open international championship. He was among more than 250 grownups who took part in the competiton over the weekend in Toronto. While Rock, Paper, Scissors is usually a kids' game, not this time. He won more than the last slice of pizza. First prize was $1,200, a video game system and a gold medal. Lovering says the secret to winning is maintaining a clear mind and judging each opponent individually. Man finishes marathon -- after 5 days 11-12-02 AP NEW YORK - Lloyd Scott lumbered to the finish in the New York City Marathon five days after starting - wearing an antique 130-pound deep-sea diving outfit. Scott, a leukemia survivor and former firefighter in England, carried the Union Jack and an American flag into Central Park on Friday. Kenyan winners Rodgers Rop and Joyce Chepchumba and more than 31,000 runners crossed the line Sunday. Scott, who billed his five-borough journey as the slowest New York City Marathon, was raising money to fight leukemia and assist families of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He trudged along the 26.2-mile course wearing a 40-pound helmet and boots weighing 25 pounds each. He stayed in firehouses along the route at night. Scott, intent on showing what cancer victims can accomplish, also wore a diver's outfit for the London Marathon in April, finishing in six days Turkey eats up Ohio, drops evidence 11-12-02 By DAN D. WIGGS Philadelphia Daily News A 15-POUND wild turkey is wreaking havoc in Oberlin, Ohio, chasing children and other animals, trapping people in cars and dropping its goodies all over town. Animal trapper Dave Thorn blames people who have fed the bird, thinking "it's a poor, cute little" thing. But, Thorn said, "this turkey has taken over this territory." Lorain County wildlife officer Dave Shinko said the bird will be given to a food bank after it's caught ... if it ever is. Our advice to Oberlin: Sit back, sip on that other Wild Turkey and just give the bird the bird. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Zakaria Erzinclioglu, one of the world's pre-eminent forensic entomologists, has died. "Dr. Zak," as he was called by the millions who could not pronounce his real name, applied his knowledge of insect biology to criminal investigations. He was the author of "Maggots, Murder and Men," and liked to call himself a "maggotologist." He studied decomposing bodies and the nasty little creatures that are attracted to them. He said he found "a great deal of beauty" in the blowflies and other insects whose maggots thrive on decaying flesh. He no doubt was thrilled, at the end of his life, that he would soon be among them. And now he is. Freak boat accident astounds fishermen By NEIL FARRELL The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) MORRO BAY, Calif. 9-8-02- Fishermen accustomed to the hazards of one of the most dangerous professions are still shaking their heads over the freak accident that killed Jerry Tibbs on Sunday. A whale breached and landed on top of Tibbs' boat, the BBQ, knocking the Bakersfield restaurateur and frequent Morro Bay sportfishermen into the ocean. Coast Guard Chief Mike Saindon has spent the better part of the last three days searching records to see if this kind of fatal tragedy had been documented before. He came up empty. "I've heard of countless boats hitting whales," said Saindon, the commander of Coast Guard Station Morro Bay. "That's pretty common, and it's what we expected this to be when we got the distress call," he said. "It really floored us when we saw the boat. We're still in shock. It's quite bizarre." It's an extreme long shot, according to a local marine surveyor, but it can happen. "A gray whale breached and landed on the side of my crew boat back around 1979," recounted Jim Wood, a marine surveyor and ship captain from Morro Bay. "It was just outside of Port Hueneme. "Fortunately, the boat was 65 feet and steel. We were making about 18 knots and managed to slip by before it slammed onto the aft rail and starboard transom corner." It was probably a humpback whale that struck the BBQ, and it must have been at least 10 feet off the water, said Harold Davis, owner of Davis Boats in Paso Robles and a friend of Tibbs. The damage may have been made worse due to the construction of the hull. It is effectively unsinkable. "What crushed it was the buoyancy of the boat pushing against the weight of the whale," Davis said. There was heavy damage to the roof and the seat, and major damage to the transom (the back end of the boat), where the whale's body or head hit. "It was a hell of a blow," he added. The whale rolled over the wheelhouse and badly damaged the transom. Tibbs was thrown into the water and lost his life. The BBQ's radio antenna was broken by the whale, as was most of the electronic gear. Saindon said the three men left on board were unable to use the electronics to help rescuers find the boat. "We were unable to hear them on our radio," he said. Security officers at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant were able to pick them up on their radio. The Coast Guard rescued the three other Bakersfield men on board the boat - Charles Brim, Alan Brim and Richard Arrington. Arrington suffered a head injury and was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Morro Bay contractor Joe Anderton was a "best friend" with Tibbs and fished with him many times. He was supposed to go fishing on the BBQ on Monday but instead spent Sunday night and Monday morning helping organize the volunteer search. He also went to Port San Luis to pick up the boat, which had a fish hold filled with albacore. Pieces of whale flesh were snagged amid the damage. Anderton said they gave the fish away to people standing around the hoist, commenting that Tibbs wouldn't have wanted the fish to spoil. Giant pickle appears on school roof 9-4-02 Asso. Press ASPEN, Colo. - Johnny Hoffman wasn't laughing when he discovered the 8-foot-long, 200-plus-pound pickle had been plucked off the top of his sandwich shop's delivery car. He wanted it back. "I called the police. I wanted them to seal off the exits in and out of town," Hoffman said. "That pickle has become a big part of our image." Hoffman wasn't the only one puzzling over how the pickle wound up on the roof of Aspen High School. School officials and police in this glitzy resort town also want to know who the mastermind is behind the pickle prank. The pickle will stay on the school roof until a team can be brought in to safely return it to its rightful owners. Artist Tim Murray crafted the giant bright green pickle out of steel and brass in 1992. Hoffman and partner Terrance McGuire own delis in Aspen, Denver and Durango. Rabbit ban misses by a hare 8-28-02 Associated Press NEWCASTLE, England - Officials in northern England have apologized to magicians for barring them from performing one of the oldest tricks in the book - pulling rabbits out of hats. Newcastle City Council said Wednesday that it had been wrong to tell magicians they could not use live animals in shows performed on council property. Magician Martin Duffy said the ban had caused disappointment for children attending magic shows at local libraries. "The whole show builds up to the climax of the rabbit appearing, the kids expect it," said Duffy, who performs under the stage name Martin the Magician - along with his white rabbit Sapphire, who usually appears from a box at the end of his act. "I had to rewrite the act and so I told the children `There was an old witch who looked down from her castle and she saw that the children were enjoying themselves and so she got the rabbit banned,'" Duffy said. A city council spokesman said the council had a long-standing ban on animals in circus shows, but not in magic acts. "Unfortunately, following complaints from the public, staff misunderstood the policy and sent out letters to magicians saying animals were not allowed in magic shows," he said on customary condition of anonymity. "This was an overreaction and we apologize to magicians who may have been affected." Last week newspapers reported that a Newcastle council employee had banned a clown from performing a traditional Punch and Judy show because the knockabout puppets could encourage domestic violence. A local authority spokesman later said an overzealous employee had "overstepped the mark." Fire marshal's office - sans sprinklers - burns 8-27-02 By ALEX FRIEDRICH Monterey County (Calif.) Herald If Salinas Fire Marshal Norcliff Wiley seems a little sheepish lately, it could be because his office is having a tough time in the old example-setting department. The building where he works - the Salinas Fire Department's administration center at 65 West Alisal St. - caught fire Wednesday night. Firefighters quickly put out the blaze, but not before parts of the building suffered significant smoke damage. The twist? The structure didn't have any sprinkler, alarm or smoke detection systems. Oops. That's an embarrassing situation for the man in charge of making sure everyone has the right fire prevention equipment in their buildings. "Tell me about it - I'm the fire marshal and it's my office," Wiley said. "How much worse can you get? The irony ... I just can't ignore." Oddly, the building wasn't legally required to have things like smoke detectors and sprinklers, he said. The structure, which used to be a bank building - Wells Fargo still uses part of it - was built in 1974. That's long before a 1985 ordinance required buildings to have fire-prevention equipment. And because it is not a residence, place of assembly or retail building - where a fire would pose a greater threat to people and property - it's not required to have it. Wiley said he would have liked to put fire prevention equipment in the building. But he said, "It's not my job. I don't have the authority to require anybody to do anything beyond what the code allows me to do. I can't even require my own employer, the city of Salinas." He recalled a proposal to install such equipment in the building, but said, "I don't know what happened. The decision was not made by me. I'm only in charge of enforcing the code." He suggested that the cost of the system has kept the city from installing it. City Manager David Mora was unavailable to comment. The only reason the 8:15 p.m. fire was discovered quickly was that Mike Stone, chief of building inspections, was working late in the office. "If he had not been there, the whole place could have been fully (on fire)," Wiley said. Although the investigation into the cause isn't finished, Wiley said it appeared to be an electrical fire that started accidentally in the building permit area. It's unclear how much repairs will cost, he said. On Wednesday night, fire crews arrived to find heavy smoke billowing from the two-story brick building, which is located catty-cornered from the post office and on the corner of Lincoln Avenue. Fire crews quickly put out the blaze. Wiley said the first floor, which includes his office and the city's building permit center, suffered significant smoke damage. It could take about three months before the area can be used, he said. The second floor, which contains Wells Fargo, fire administration and city housing offices, suffered moderate to light smoke damage. Staffers there might be able to return to their offices in about three weeks, Wiley said. Until then, the city employees are working out of other departments. Despite the fire, Wiley said he knew of no plans to fit the building with smoke detectors, sprinklers or other equipment. Fetus found in 6-month-old boy 8-27-02 Reuters CALCUTTA - Indian doctors have removed a fetus weighing one kilogram (2.2 lbs) from a 6-month-old boy. "We could not believe that we would have to remove a dead fetus weighing a kilogram from a child weighing 6.5 kilograms," Dr. Pradip Kumar Mukherjee, who led the team of Calcutta doctors that operated on the boy on Monday, told Reuters. "It is a rare case." Doctors use the medical term "fetus in fetu" to describe a phenomenon in which an imperfect fetus is contained within the body of its sibling. In November 2000, doctors at another nursing home in Calcutta removed a fetus weighing 230 grams from a 40-day-old infant. Man shoots friend over 'wedgie' 8-26-02 LOWER SOUTHAMPTON, Pa. - A man accused of trying to kill a friend who gave him a "wedgie" will stand trial on an attempted murder charge, a judge ruled. Daniel Strouss, 19, was attending a Phish concert last year when Eric Kassoway sneaked up behind him and yanked up his underwear, according to testimony at a hearing Thursday. Strouss, of Richboro, held a grudge for months before shooting Kassoway on June 12, authorities said. On the night of the shooting, Strouss drove to Kassoway's home and waited until Kassoway came home, then shot him in the arm and leg, authorities said. Kassoway nearly died from loss of blood. Strouss' attorney, Al Cepparulo, said he did not dispute the prosecution's version of events. "This is a tragedy for the victim. All I can say is my client is going through therapy," he said last week. Weird News Rock-Paper-Scissors champ crowned Associated Press 11-30-02 TORONTO - Give Pete Lovering a hand - for being the world's best Rock, Paper, Scissors player. The job-hunting Web site operator has won the World Rock Paper Scissors Society's first open international championship. He was among more than 250 grownups who took part in the competiton over the weekend in Toronto. While Rock, Paper, Scissors is usually a kids' game, not this time. He won more than the last slice of pizza. First prize was $1,200, a video game system and a gold medal. Lovering says the secret to winning is maintaining a clear mind and judging each opponent individually. Turkey eats up Ohio, drops evidence 11-12-02 By DAN D. WIGGS Philadelphia Daily News A 15-POUND wild turkey is wreaking havoc in Oberlin, Ohio, chasing children and other animals, trapping people in cars and dropping its goodies all over town. Animal trapper Dave Thorn blames people who have fed the bird, thinking "it's a poor, cute little" thing. But, Thorn said, "this turkey has taken over this territory." Lorain County wildlife officer Dave Shinko said the bird will be given to a food bank after it's caught ... if it ever is. Our advice to Oberlin: Sit back, sip on that other Wild Turkey and just give the bird the bird. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Zakaria Erzinclioglu, one of the world's pre-eminent forensic entomologists, has died. "Dr. Zak," as he was called by the millions who could not pronounce his real name, applied his knowledge of insect biology to criminal investigations. He was the author of "Maggots, Murder and Men," and liked to call himself a "maggotologist." He studied decomposing bodies and the nasty little creatures that are attracted to them. He said he found "a great deal of beauty" in the blowflies and other insects whose maggots thrive on decaying flesh. He no doubt was thrilled, at the end of his life, that he would soon be among them. And now he is. Freak boat accident astounds fishermen By NEIL FARRELL The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) MORRO BAY, Calif. 9-8-02- Fishermen accustomed to the hazards of one of the most dangerous professions are still shaking their heads over the freak accident that killed Jerry Tibbs on Sunday. A whale breached and landed on top of Tibbs' boat, the BBQ, knocking the Bakersfield restaurateur and frequent Morro Bay sportfishermen into the ocean. Coast Guard Chief Mike Saindon has spent the better part of the last three days searching records to see if this kind of fatal tragedy had been documented before. He came up empty. "I've heard of countless boats hitting whales," said Saindon, the commander of Coast Guard Station Morro Bay. "That's pretty common, and it's what we expected this to be when we got the distress call," he said. "It really floored us when we saw the boat. We're still in shock. It's quite bizarre." It's an extreme long shot, according to a local marine surveyor, but it can happen. "A gray whale breached and landed on the side of my crew boat back around 1979," recounted Jim Wood, a marine surveyor and ship captain from Morro Bay. "It was just outside of Port Hueneme. "Fortunately, the boat was 65 feet and steel. We were making about 18 knots and managed to slip by before it slammed onto the aft rail and starboard transom corner." It was probably a humpback whale that struck the BBQ, and it must have been at least 10 feet off the water, said Harold Davis, owner of Davis Boats in Paso Robles and a friend of Tibbs. The damage may have been made worse due to the construction of the hull. It is effectively unsinkable. "What crushed it was the buoyancy of the boat pushing against the weight of the whale," Davis said. There was heavy damage to the roof and the seat, and major damage to the transom (the back end of the boat), where the whale's body or head hit. "It was a hell of a blow," he added. The whale rolled over the wheelhouse and badly damaged the transom. Tibbs was thrown into the water and lost his life. The BBQ's radio antenna was broken by the whale, as was most of the electronic gear. Saindon said the three men left on board were unable to use the electronics to help rescuers find the boat. "We were unable to hear them on our radio," he said. Security officers at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant were able to pick them up on their radio. The Coast Guard rescued the three other Bakersfield men on board the boat - Charles Brim, Alan Brim and Richard Arrington. Arrington suffered a head injury and was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Morro Bay contractor Joe Anderton was a "best friend" with Tibbs and fished with him many times. He was supposed to go fishing on the BBQ on Monday but instead spent Sunday night and Monday morning helping organize the volunteer search. He also went to Port San Luis to pick up the boat, which had a fish hold filled with albacore. Pieces of whale flesh were snagged amid the damage. Anderton said they gave the fish away to people standing around the hoist, commenting that Tibbs wouldn't have wanted the fish to spoil. Giant pickle appears on school roof 9-4-02 Asso. Press ASPEN, Colo. - Johnny Hoffman wasn't laughing when he discovered the 8-foot-long, 200-plus-pound pickle had been plucked off the top of his sandwich shop's delivery car. He wanted it back. "I called the police. I wanted them to seal off the exits in and out of town," Hoffman said. "That pickle has become a big part of our image." Hoffman wasn't the only one puzzling over how the pickle wound up on the roof of Aspen High School. School officials and police in this glitzy resort town also want to know who the mastermind is behind the pickle prank. The pickle will stay on the school roof until a team can be brought in to safely return it to its rightful owners. Artist Tim Murray crafted the giant bright green pickle out of steel and brass in 1992. Hoffman and partner Terrance McGuire own delis in Aspen, Denver and Durango Rabbit ban misses by a hare 8-28-02 Associated Press NEWCASTLE, England - Officials in northern England have apologized to magicians for barring them from performing one of the oldest tricks in the book - pulling rabbits out of hats. Newcastle City Council said Wednesday that it had been wrong to tell magicians they could not use live animals in shows performed on council property. Magician Martin Duffy said the ban had caused disappointment for children attending magic shows at local libraries. "The whole show builds up to the climax of the rabbit appearing, the kids expect it," said Duffy, who performs under the stage name Martin the Magician - along with his white rabbit Sapphire, who usually appears from a box at the end of his act. "I had to rewrite the act and so I told the children `There was an old witch who looked down from her castle and she saw that the children were enjoying themselves and so she got the rabbit banned,'" Duffy said. A city council spokesman said the council had a long-standing ban on animals in circus shows, but not in magic acts. "Unfortunately, following complaints from the public, staff misunderstood the policy and sent out letters to magicians saying animals were not allowed in magic shows," he said on customary condition of anonymity. "This was an overreaction and we apologize to magicians who may have been affected." Last week newspapers reported that a Newcastle council employee had banned a clown from performing a traditional Punch and Judy show because the knockabout puppets could encourage domestic violence. A local authority spokesman later said an overzealous employee had "overstepped the mark." Fire marshal's office - sans sprinklers - burns 8-27-02 By ALEX FRIEDRICH Monterey County (Calif.) Herald If Salinas Fire Marshal Norcliff Wiley seems a little sheepish lately, it could be because his office is having a tough time in the old example-setting department. The building where he works - the Salinas Fire Department's administration center at 65 West Alisal St. - caught fire Wednesday night. Firefighters quickly put out the blaze, but not before parts of the building suffered significant smoke damage. The twist? The structure didn't have any sprinkler, alarm or smoke detection systems. Oops. That's an embarrassing situation for the man in charge of making sure everyone has the right fire prevention equipment in their buildings. "Tell me about it - I'm the fire marshal and it's my office," Wiley said. "How much worse can you get? The irony ... I just can't ignore." Oddly, the building wasn't legally required to have things like smoke detectors and sprinklers, he said. The structure, which used to be a bank building - Wells Fargo still uses part of it - was built in 1974. That's long before a 1985 ordinance required buildings to have fire-prevention equipment. And because it is not a residence, place of assembly or retail building - where a fire would pose a greater threat to people and property - it's not required to have it. Wiley said he would have liked to put fire prevention equipment in the building. But he said, "It's not my job. I don't have the authority to require anybody to do anything beyond what the code allows me to do. I can't even require my own employer, the city of Salinas." He recalled a proposal to install such equipment in the building, but said, "I don't know what happened. The decision was not made by me. I'm only in charge of enforcing the code." He suggested that the cost of the system has kept the city from installing it. City Manager David Mora was unavailable to comment. The only reason the 8:15 p.m. fire was discovered quickly was that Mike Stone, chief of building inspections, was working late in the office. "If he had not been there, the whole place could have been fully (on fire)," Wiley said. Although the investigation into the cause isn't finished, Wiley said it appeared to be an electrical fire that started accidentally in the building permit area. It's unclear how much repairs will cost, he said. On Wednesday night, fire crews arrived to find heavy smoke billowing from the two-story brick building, which is located catty-cornered from the post office and on the corner of Lincoln Avenue. Fire crews quickly put out the blaze. Wiley said the first floor, which includes his office and the city's building permit center, suffered significant smoke damage. It could take about three months before the area can be used, he said. The second floor, which contains Wells Fargo, fire administration and city housing offices, suffered moderate to light smoke damage. Staffers there might be able to return to their offices in about three weeks, Wiley said. Until then, the city employees are working out of other departments. Despite the fire, Wiley said he knew of no plans to fit the building with smoke detectors, sprinklers or other equipment. Fetus found in 6-month-old boy 8-27-02 Reuters CALCUTTA - Indian doctors have removed a fetus weighing one kilogram (2.2 lbs) from a 6-month-old boy. "We could not believe that we would have to remove a dead fetus weighing a kilogram from a child weighing 6.5 kilograms," Dr. Pradip Kumar Mukherjee, who led the team of Calcutta doctors that operated on the boy on Monday, told Reuters. "It is a rare case." Doctors use the medical term "fetus in fetu" to describe a phenomenon in which an imperfect fetus is contained within the body of its sibling. In November 2000, doctors at another nursing home in Calcutta removed a fetus weighing 230 grams from a 40-day-old infant. Man shoots friend over 'wedgie' 8-26-02 LOWER SOUTHAMPTON, Pa. - A man accused of trying to kill a friend who gave him a "wedgie" will stand trial on an attempted murder charge, a judge ruled. Daniel Strouss, 19, was attending a Phish concert last year when Eric Kassoway sneaked up behind him and yanked up his underwear, according to testimony at a hearing Thursday. Strouss, of Richboro, held a grudge for months before shooting Kassoway on June 12, authorities said. On the night of the shooting, Strouss drove to Kassoway's home and waited until Kassoway came home, then shot him in the arm and leg, authorities said. Kassoway nearly died from loss of blood. Strouss' attorney, Al Cepparulo, said he did not dispute the prosecution's version of events. "This is a tragedy for the victim. All I can say is my client is going through therapy," he said last week. Intruder no match for power-packed girl AP 12-15-02 DAYTON, Ohio - A petite 17-year-old girl awakened by intruders sprinted from her house barefoot in pajamas and tackled one trespasser, pinned him and hog-tied him with a rope until police arrived. Melissa Alexander said her experience training horses and playing soccer and softball helped her as she took down the taller and heavier 18-year-old man. "I still don't know what came over me," Alexander said Thursday. "I wasn't thinking at first, then he started making me mad." Her mother marveled at the feat. Vickie Stanley described her daughter as 5-3 and 110 pounds, "a little bitty thing." Police said the man she tackled - Jason Burkett, 18, of Brookville - is 5-10 and 140 pounds. "She had it all under control," her mother said. Alexander told police she was asleep at 3 a.m. Tuesday in her German Township home about 15 miles southwest of Dayton when her cousin woke her, saying there were people in the yard snooping around the family's cars. Alexander and her cousin alerted Stanley, who suggested turning the outside lights on and off a few times to scare away the intruders. "Then I crawled back into bed," Stanley said. But Alexander and her cousin said they still heard noises, so Alexander opened the garage door and saw men in the garage. As they started to run out, she began the chase. "I hit him pretty hard. But I think I also scared him," Alexander said. She sat on Burkett and the other women brought her a rope she uses to exercise horses. Alexander said she wrapped it around Burkett's hand, then looped the rope around his neck and pinned him to the ground. As he tried to wiggle free, she told him she acquired wrestling-type skills during her years of training horses. Police arrived and were surprised at what they found. "They shined the spotlight on the yard. I think they thought it was my stepdad who had the guy. They realized it was under control and walked up to the house. Then they saw it was me," Alexander said. Police said that all four cars in the garage had been ransacked. Burkett was charged with theft and criminal trespassing, police chief W.L. Wilcox said. A 17-year-old boy and Trestan Stamps, 18, both of Brookville, later were arrested by police and also charged with theft and criminal trespassing, Wilcox said. Officers were looking for a fourth suspect. Alexander, a junior at Valley View High School, said the police asked her if she is interested in a career in law enforcement, but she said no. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't get away," she said. From The Weird File Man bites into bat burger AP 12-22-02 What would you like on your burger? Lettuce? Mayo? Pickles? Perhaps some bat? A Lexington teenager faces up to six years behind bars for placing a dead bat on a bun as a joke and giving it to a man who took a bite, thinking it was a burger, police said. The girl, whose identity is being withheld because she is a juvenile, will be charged with violating a new law that prohibits tampering with someone's food and giving it as a gift, according to Lexington Police Investigator Donna Hetherington. "It appears to be a practical joke that went very bad. She just wasn't using a whole lot of common sense," Hetherington said Thursday. Timothy Gooch, 21, went to a local hospital's emergency room after biting into the bat Tuesday night. He was not injured and the bat tested negative for rabies, state Health Department spokeswoman Diane Denton said Thursday. Hetherington said the bat had been killed when someone ran over it and that the teen had never seen one before. "She thought this would be funny, but it wasn't," Hetherington said. Officials angry over roadkill grave AP 11-10-02 STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. - The discovery of a mass grave for roadkill in the median of the Massachusetts Turnpike has outraged officials in this picturesque community. Town officials said they were unaware that the broad, wooded median held thousands of carcasses of animals killed along the roadway and that the site had apparently been in use for decades, until recently. "I want to know why the Turnpike Authority would drive dead animals 50 to 100 miles to dump them in our town," said J. Cristopher Irsfield, who chairs the Board of Selectmen in Stockbridge. At their Monday night meeting, selectmen directed their attorney to research the disposal site's legality. Engineers hired by the Turnpike were scheduled to report to the town's Conservation Commission next week on possible damage to protected wetlands surrounding the site, described by town officials as being 300 feet long, 150 feet wide and 45 feet deep. "It's simply wrong to say that you can toss hundreds or thousands of animal carcasses into a dump, an uncovered dump, and say that's the end of it," said Selectman George Shippey, who also serves on the town Conservation Commission. Turnpike spokesman Bob Bliss said Tuesday that the Stockbridge median was "the only active central depository" remaining along the road and the Pike stopped bringing dead animals there two months ago. "It's my understanding that it had been used for almost as long as the Turnpike has been open," Bliss said, maintaining the Pike had done nothing wrong. The highway dates to 1957. Since the practice ended two months ago, the Turnpike has been dragging carcasses off the road and into wooded areas on its property where they can be eaten individually by scavenger animals, Bliss said. Incineration is also being considered. Preliminary findings show no pollution from the site, estimated to contain the remains of 4,000 deer, bear, moose and other animals, Bliss said. He said the carcasses had been covered with sand and gravel. But town officials questioned how well the carcasses had been covered. Irsfield, who lives near the site, told The Berkshire Eagle his dogs had sometimes dragged home huge chunks of deer carcasses that he now believes came from the site, and other neighbors said they had noticed smells. Stockbridge is best known as the place where singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie turned his 1965 littering arrest into the anti-war ballad "Alice's Restaurant 'A CAREER IDIOT' 11-12-02 We just have to visit Washington state. The sexual deviancy there is simply overwhelming. Now comes the case of the vexatious voyeur, who told Seattle-area police when caught, "I'm not a career criminal, just a career idiot." Philip J. Kraus, 39, has been charged with two counts of voyeurism, among other crimes. He is accused of videotaping more than 100 people undressing, taking baths and having sex. He's been one busy guy. But no longer. A reminder to forgetful readers: Washington is also the state where several women teachers have been charged and/or convicted of having sex with male students. Other matters involving sexual deviancy have occurred there, but we forget the details. Weird News Rock-Paper-Scissors champ crowned Associated Press TORONTO - Give Pete Lovering a hand - for being the world's best Rock, Paper, Scissors player. The job-hunting Web site operator has won the World Rock Paper Scissors Society's first open international championship. He was among more than 250 grownups who took part in the competiton over the weekend in Toronto. While Rock, Paper, Scissors is usually a kids' game, not this time. He won more than the last slice of pizza. First prize was $1,200, a video game system and a gold medal. Lovering says the secret to winning is maintaining a clear mind and judging each opponent individually. Turkey eats up Ohio, drops evidence 11-12-02 By DAN D. WIGGS Philadelphia Daily News A 15-POUND wild turkey is wreaking havoc in Oberlin, Ohio, chasing children and other animals, trapping people in cars and dropping its goodies all over town. Animal trapper Dave Thorn blames people who have fed the bird, thinking "it's a poor, cute little" thing. But, Thorn said, "this turkey has taken over this territory." Lorain County wildlife officer Dave Shinko said the bird will be given to a food bank after it's caught ... if it ever is. Our advice to Oberlin: Sit back, sip on that other Wild Turkey and just give the bird the bird. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Zakaria Erzinclioglu, one of the world's pre-eminent forensic entomologists, has died. "Dr. Zak," as he was called by the millions who could not pronounce his real name, applied his knowledge of insect biology to criminal investigations. He was the author of "Maggots, Murder and Men," and liked to call himself a "maggotologist." He studied decomposing bodies and the nasty little creatures that are attracted to them. He said he found "a great deal of beauty" in the blowflies and other insects whose maggots thrive on decaying flesh. He no doubt was thrilled, at the end of his life, that he would soon be among them. And now he is. PHONY SEX CALLER 11-12-02 A Boston-area man who stole his father's identity to make more than $5,400 in phone-sex calls has an interesting excuse. He says he's a sex addict. Sven (yes, Sven) Martin, 34, faces larceny and fraud charges. His father, Dennis Martin, of Cookson, Okla., called police after receiving a bill for $5,456. The investigation led to Sven, who told police he used dad's Social Security number to get a phone card. The rest is sex history. His father is pressing charges. Let this be an object lesson to sex addicts everywhere. Phone sex is legal (in most places). But stealing from dad ... that's a no-no. And life, as we know it, is tough on fathers ... Man finishes marathon -- after 5 days 11-12-02 AP NEW YORK - Lloyd Scott lumbered to the finish in the New York City Marathon five days after starting - wearing an antique 130-pound deep-sea diving outfit. Scott, a leukemia survivor and former firefighter in England, carried the Union Jack and an American flag into Central Park on Friday. Kenyan winners Rodgers Rop and Joyce Chepchumba and more than 31,000 runners crossed the line Sunday. Scott, who billed his five-borough journey as the slowest New York City Marathon, was raising money to fight leukemia and assist families of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He trudged along the 26.2-mile course wearing a 40-pound helmet and boots weighing 25 pounds each. He stayed in firehouses along the route at night. Scott, intent on showing what cancer victims can accomplish, also wore a diver's outfit for the London Marathon in April, finishing in six days. 7'7" basketball player might lace up skates 11-12-02 By IRA PODELL AP INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Manute Bol has traded in his basketball sneakers and boxing trunks and now is in a shocking search for a pair of ice skates. The 7-foot-7 former NBA shot-blocker agreed to terms Tuesday to play with the Indianapolis Ice of the Central Hockey League. Bol is expected to be in uniform for an appearance with the Ice on Saturday night, but it is unlikely he will play in the game against the Amarillo Gorillas. "We're in the business of selling tickets, the business of entertainment," Ice general manager Larry Linde said. "We're not going to do anything to jeopardize the integrity of the game or Manute. We're out there to have fun. "We're not going to throw him out there if he's going to kill himself or someone else." Linde hasn't yet spoken to Bol, 40, and admitted that the deal is mainly to generate interest in his team. Linde was the driving force behind the signing after he read an article a month or so ago about Bol's difficult life after he left the NBA. By all accounts, Bol has never played the sport or ever laced up a pair of skates. At this point, equipment that would fit the Dinka tribesman has not been located. "We're always looking for a unique angle," Linde said. "We like to expose our fans to people they might like to meet." Engagement ring found after 15 years AP HARTFORD, Conn. 1-7-03- Call it the diamond in the rough. Fifteen years after Diane Kurtz lost her engagement ring, it was returned to her by a Hartford sewage treatment plant worker who found it at the bottom of a wastewater drainage pool. He also found her onyx ring that disappeared at the same time. Kurtz, of New Hartford, believes the rings fell down a sink drain in a bathroom. Kurtz and her husband, Michael, think the rings were pumped out of their septic tank by a contractor who took the waste to the treatment plant.Bill Zuerblis, a treatment operator at the Metropolitan District Commission's sewage treatment plant in Hartford, found the rings, then did some detective work to find the Kurtzes. He called them Dec. 19. "He was asking me if I lost anything," said Diane Kurtz, who thought that someone had found car keys she lost earlier the same day. "Finally it dawns on me. My heart started pounding, and I said he found my wedding ring." Amateur Brain Surgeon Nabbed Thu Aug 15, CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian police have arrested a man who performed brain surgery on a number of people even though he had only a primary school education, court sources said Wednesday. The 40-year-old saw around 200 patients a week in the oasis town of Fayoum near Cairo. He charged 22 Egyptian pounds ($4.74) per patient and operated on a number of people but the fate of his victims was not immediately known. The man had forged a secondary school certificate and claimed to have studied brain surgery in Cairo and Germany. Anti-Prostitution Law Targets Men's Cars Thu Aug 15, By Gina Keating LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Explain this to your wife: Honey I lost the car because I stopped to ask a pretty woman for directions. Men arrested for soliciting prostitutes on the mean streets of Los Angeles could have their cars taken away from them under a proposed law introduced on Wednesday. The proposed ordinance would allow police to seize and impound for 30 days the cars of motorists caught picking up prostitutes, the measure's sponsor, City Councilman Tom LaBonge, said. A second-time offender's car would be taken for 60 days, and a third arrest would result in a permanent auto seizure, LaBonge said, describing his "Three strikes and you take the bus" law. The City Council was expected to vote on the measure in the next 90 days, he said, even though civil libertarians complained that the proposed ordinance is unconstitutional because a conviction is not required for a "john's" car to be impounded. "The idea of picking up a john and not letting him go through a court system ... and taking his auto seems to me violates the due process cause of the constitution," Ramona Ripston, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union ( news - web sites), said. LaBonge said two other California cities -- Oakland and Sacramento -- have adopted similar laws whose constitutionality was tested successfully in California courts. "I have a great concern for everyone's civil rights but I have a greater concern for everyone's neighborhood rights," LaBonge said. "I don't like to see them violated by disrespectful people." LaBonge characterized cruising for prostitutes along Hollywood's famous Sunset Boulevard and other areas as "a very big neighborhood pollution problem." "If you talk to people who live in these neighborhoods ... multiple times during the night people park in front of their houses and engage in illegal activities, then leave their trash on the street for children and residents to find," LaBonge said. The area's prostitution problem also poses embarrassing scenarios for club-hopping "fashionistas," he said. "There are a lot of people in L.A. who dress very fashionably and like to walk along the streets and a lot of times disrespectful people will come along and (solicit sex from them)," LaBonge said. "I want to make the streets safe and pleasant for them too." Not to mention easing traffic jams by having fewer cars on the road. Grave accusation really dead end A funeral director said a grave digger told him he made the allegations to get back at his ex-boss. By Chris Gray Philadelphia Inquirer 8-16-02 A Philadelphia man accused a Main Line cemetery owner of ordering him to dig up graves to make space for new graves because she "needed to be paid" back for mistreating him, a funeral director testified yesterday. "It was basically about money," said Len Ellis, who says he spoke with former Merion Memorial Park grave digger Ronald "Duke" Marrow a few days after news reports outlined his accusations against owner Rita White. Marrow, 31, faces charges of filing false reports to law enforcement and unsworn falsification to authorities. Each second-degree misdemeanor carries a $10,000 fine and up to two years in prison. Assistant District Attorney Wendy Demchick-Alloy said she would seek the latter. The case will go to trial, acting District Justice Walter Gadzicki ruled after a three-hour preliminary hearing yesterday in Narberth District Court. Ellis, a self-employed funeral director who often worked with Marrow at Merion Memorial, testified that Marrow said he didn't feel he had been "properly compensated" after he was fired by White. In the news reports that first aired July 17 on WTXF-TV (Channel 29), Marrow displayed bones and coffin pieces that he said were freshly unearthed. He also told law-enforcement officials that he routinely disturbed human remains while operating a backhoe under the influence of marijuana, according to an affidavit of probable cause. The reports caused an uproar among the deceased's families, many of whom rushed to the cemetery to assuage fears that the bodies of their loved ones were gone. Several families found bones and coffin chips scattered on the perimeter of the 19th-century cemetery. But a subsequent investigation by the Lower Merion Police Department and the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office failed to find criminal activity at Merion Memorial, Demchick-Alloy said. In her testimony, White described Marrow as an "irresponsible" employee who took a "cavalier" approach to his job as backhoe operator. "I would say dig here, and he would dig there," White said. "He didn't care at all." After White fired Marrow in 2001, he called her in June to ask for a $1,000 loan to buy a car, she testified. She told him that she couldn't help. "When was the next time you saw him?" Demchick-Alloy asked. "On Fox News," White replied. Yesterday, Marrow refused to talk to reporters, including the TV crew that broadcast his allegations. "He got into trouble" for talking with law enforcement, said his attorney, Michael Berman. Marrow did not take the stand yesterday, but Berman objected to most of the comments made by White and the other three witnesses called by the prosecution. Mother mistakes glue for ear drops Associated Press TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwanese mother mistook a small bottle of instant glue for ear drops and poured the glue into her son's inflamed ear, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The 14-year-old boy screamed out in pain and later underwent a 20-minute operation to have the congealed glue removed from his ear, the United Daily News quoted the teen-ager's physician as saying. The doctor, Liu Wen-chuan, said the mother kept the bottles of ear drops and glue in the refrigerator and picked the wrong one in a haste, the report said. The incident will not cause boy to permanently lose his hearing, the paper said. The physician could not be immediately reached for comment. Florida dog throws collar into the ring Associated Press SARASOTA, Fla. — The newest candidate challenging Secretary of State Katherine Harris in her bid for Congress is truly an underdog: a border collie mix. Percy the dog is running as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary, said his owner and campaign manager, Wayne Genthner. Genthner is offering up his canine candidate as both satire and as a protest against the political establishment. "No one has a realistic expectation that a dog can get elected," Genthner said last week. "But plenty of people will be willing to vote for a dog to represent their discontent with the political system." Percy and his volunteer campaign staff have been shaking paws and handing out flyers, with slogans including: "Never made a mess in the House! Never will!" and "PERCY! Putting the LICK back into Republican." His official campaign bio describes Percy as a compassionate conservative who takes a hard-line with social parasites, particularly fleas and worms. His past is free of sex scandals, due to "timely neutering." Harris, who faces one Republican challenger and five Democrats for the open congressional seat, is not concerned. Percy "has a lot of paws to shake to catch up," said campaign spokeswoman Jessica Furst Nevada rejects mushroom cloud plate Associated Press LAS VEGAS - A license plate design featuring an atomic mushroom cloud was rejected as insensitive to the times, Department of Motor Vehicles officials said. State lawmakers approved the special plates last year to commemorate the state's nuclear history and raise funds for the Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation. DMV director Ginny Lewis said Wednesday that because of state efforts to stop a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain and the fear of new terrorist attacks following Sept. 11, the new plates would be inappropriate. Nuclear testing was conducted above and below ground from 1952 to 1992 at the Nevada Test Site, the federal reservation north of Las Vegas that, at 1,375 square miles, is larger than Rhode Island. More than 100,000 workers helped develop the nation's nuclear arsenal in Nevada, and more than 800 fell ill for their efforts. Old coffin turns up on island By KAT BERGERON Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.) BILOXI, Miss. - Earl Bolton was wade fishing Saturday on the north side of East Ship Island, as he often does, when he discovered the lid of an old wooden coffin. About 20 feet away, he found the casket. No bones are evident and bits of sea grass are starting to grow through. The water depth varies from 6 to 36 inches, depending on tides. "You could tell it is old, real old," said the excited Bolton, a 48-year-old Ocean Springs paint expert when he's not catching fish. "It was put together with square nails. "It could either be from the Civil War, when POWs were kept on the island, or maybe when there was a quarantine station. This is a part of the history of the island. I didn't want to touch it for fear the wood might break into pieces." So Bolton searched out an island ranger, and when they returned to the site, several other people had discovered it and were trying to pry it out "They stopped when I asked them to, but now that it's uncovered, I guess it could be in danger from being lost by storms or humans," Bolton said. The coffin lies in shallow water that was once island, a fact proven by tree stumps buried in sand near the coffin site. Bolton theorizes that roots once held the coffin in place. Mississippi's four barrier islands are continually reshaped by erosion and storms, with this island cut in two by Hurricane Camille 33 years ago. Ship Island was the first land explored by the French when they anchored off it in February 1699 and later used it as an important port of entry to the Gulf region and New Orleans. In the mid-1860s the Union housed Confederate prisoners there, and in the 1870s the federal government built a quarantine station on the east end to reduce yellow fever and other diseases brought to the mainland by sick passengers. People died and were buried on the island in both those periods, but its location at the old quarantine site points to that 40-year time frame. Ship Island became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore in the 1970s and because the coffin is now on U.S. Park Service property, it is an artifact protected by federal laws from archaeological looting. "For now we'll be studying it and protecting it," said Hank Snyder, Gulf Island's chief of cultural resources. "Our architect will use a GPD, global positioning device, to record exactly where the casket is in case it's covered up by shifting sands. There's a tremendous risk trying to move or dig up an old wood. "From time to time the sea does deliver up funerary objects, tantalizing things that may seem shocking when you think that this was a burial. It is a delicate matter and we must show respect." Magnet-crazed kids end up pierced anyway SHEFFIELD, England - A group of children who adorned their bodies with industrial-strength magnets narrowly avoided permanent disfigurement, a medical journal said. In a craze that spread through the northern city of Sheffield, children held the magnets onto their faces and genitals by placing another magnet inside their mouths, noses or on the other side of their organs, so as to look as if they had body piercings, the report said.The magnets attracted each other with such force that they cut off the blood supply to the regions concerned and allowed the flesh to decay. Several children were admitted to hospital with holes developing in their noses or genitals as a result. In trying to give themselves fake lip piercings, several children let the magnets slip down their throats, and in one case sections of a 9-year-old girl's gut were clamped together by a pair of magnets she had swallowed, causing potentially fatal perforations in her intestine. "I don't know where the magnets came from. Someone must have dumped them and the kids got hold of them and started trading them in the playground," said Derek Burke, a doctor at Sheffield Children's Hospital involved with the report. The report on the magnet craze, which developed 2 years ago, was published in the May edition of the Emergency Medical Journal. A simple duel would have been less painful By MARILYN MILLER Akron Beacon Journal It wasn't the perfect plan for two scorned women and a friend. In fact, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong when the trio of young women allegedly set out for revenge yesterday morning in North Akron. Two bystanders were attacked -- one was hit with a hammer, and the other was punched in the face -- and had to be taken to Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, the three suspects were arrested and landed in the Summit County Jail. Akron police said two of the young women who went to an Evans Avenue home were bummed out that their ex-boyfriend had taken up with yet another woman. The two, aided by a third friend, broke in and attacked the first two people they saw, police said. However, the victims were neither the new girlfriend nor the ex-boyfriend -- they were the girlfriend's sister and a friend. Charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and assault are Misty Gradisher, 20, of Doylestown; Kyra M. Rogers, 20, of Clinton; and Amy Karant, 18, of Copley Township. They are to appear today in Akron Municipal Court. According to an Akron police report, the trio broke into the home through the front door and immediately started punching and kicking Andrea Dawes of Charles Street in the face. The 20-year-old woman was then hit in the head with a hammer. Police said Dawes suffered a gash in her head, and some of her teeth were broken. Philip Testa, 25, of Dalton was also in the home. A punch cut him above the nose. The ex-boyfriend, Joseph Papp, 23, was not home at the time of the attack. He had gone out to help a friend who was stranded. His girlfriend witnessed the incident but was unharmed. Papp was able to help identify the women from the descriptions given by the victims. |
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