Would You Believe

Groom charged with being too near bride at wedding

2008-08-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

BATAVIA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York state man has been arrested for getting too close to his bride on their wedding day.
Police say Timothy Cole quarreled with a wedding guest at a party Friday after wedding his ex-wife in Batavia (buh-TAY’-vee-uh).
Officers knew the 45-year-old Cole from previous arrests and realized his bride had an order of protection against him. Cole was charged with first-degree criminal contempt, a felony, and ordered jailed without bail.
The Daily News in Batavia says Cole was convicted of criminal contempt on July 1.
The Genesee County public defender’s office says Cole hasn’t been assigned an attorney.

Trail of Cheetohs leads to snack thieves in Minn.

2008-08-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

ST. PAUL (AP) — An orange trail of Cheetos led St. Paul police to three teenagers suspected of burglarizing a vending machine.
Officers were called to the Arlington Recreation Center on July 29, where they found a vending machine’s glass had been broken with a chair. Most of the candy and chips were missing, according to a criminal complaint.
The officers followed a trail of snack debris from the rec center, around the side of the building and to a nearby home. Inside, they found numerous vending-sized bags of Cheetos and other snacks.
Police arrested three males aged 17, 18 and 19 who soon arrived at the home by car. The two adults are charged with third-degree burglary; the 17-year-old is charged with criminal damage to property.
All three denied being involved, the complaint says.
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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

Kodiak voters get only Tagalog election pamphlets

2008-08-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) — Many Kodiak residents were a bit confused when they received election pamphlets urging them to ”Bumoto!“
The pamphlets for four ballot initiatives being decided Aug. 26 weren’t in English but in Tagalog, a language widely spoken in the Philippines. An apparent mix-up at the printers was discovered when a resident called Alaska’s Division of Elections looking for an English version.
Division of Elections spokeswoman Shelly Growden expects pamphlets printed in English to be in voters’ mailboxes sometime next week. Meanwhile, both English and Tagalog versions of the pamphlet are available on the division’s Web site: www.elections.alaska.gov.
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Information from: KMXT-FM, http://www.kmxt.org

Tenn. constable wins election by 1 vote — her own

2008-08-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

SNEEDVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — All it takes is one vote to win. Just ask a Tennessee woman who was elected constable by voting for herself.
Angela Tuttle, 32, said her father encouraged her to run as a write-in candidate because no one else was vying for one of the positions in Hancock County, which is in northeastern Tennessee.
Tuttle said her husband initially didn’t even realize she was running.
”I finally told him about a month before the election,“ she told The Associated Press on Friday. Her husband didn’t think she would win, but now he ”just grins at her,“ she said.
Hancock County election officials said 131 voters of the 674 registered in the 3rd District voted Thursday. Tuttle’s vote was the only one cast in the constable race. She will be sworn in Dec. 1.
The certified nursing assistant and mother of a 10-year-old son will help serve warrants and patrol neighborhoods in her district. She said her father, a longtime constable who won his own re-election in another district, will ”show her the ropes.“

Man says he’s porn inspector, demands free videos

2008-08-11T18:05:00.001-07:00

LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) — A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop to give him free X-rated videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren’t underage, authorities said.
He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try.
Authorities said Monday that the man showed a badge and left a business card from the Longmont police ”age verification unit.“ Cmdr. Tim Lewis said there is no such unit.
”It was inventive on his part, I’ll give him that,“ Lewis said.
The business card didn’t have anyone’s name on it, but the store gave officers surveillance video of the man. Police are looking for him.

44-pound feline Prince Chunk gets new home in NJ

2008-08-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

BLACKWOOD, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s fat cat has a home.
A family in southern New Jersey will get the 44-pound ”Prince Chunk“ next week, according to the Camden County Animal Shelter. The shelter won’t disclose the family’s identity.
About 500 people applied to adopt the 10-year-old cat found lumbering around Voorhees after his owner lost her home to foreclosure.
Catherine Harr, president of the animal shelter’s board, said the cat’s new family is a couple with a teenage child. She said they are building a castle to go over Prince Chunk’s litter box.
The adoption comes after a vet gave the cat a clean bill of health — other than his large weight.
Harr said the couple was chosen because they have past experience with cats, and their finances are stable — unlike the cat’s former owner.
Prince Chunk received national attention when he was found, including an appearance on ”Live with Regis & Kelly.“ The attention was so intense that shelter officials last Sunday had to sneak the cat out of a foster home and move him to another foster family, Harr said.
Thousands of people from as far away as London and California called to inquire about adopting the cat, Harr said. Unfortunately, she said no one who contacted the shelter was interested in adopting any of the more than 200 other cats and kittens in the shelter’s care.
The shelter had to euthanize about 1,000 unwanted cats last year, about a third of the cats it took in, she said.

Babies born 8/8/08 at 8:08; 8 pounds, 8 ounces

2008-08-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — Meet Hailey Jo Hauer and Xander Jace Riniker, both born at 8:08 a.m. on 8/8/08, weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces, in neighboring states.
Xander, born at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the eighth grandchild for his mother’s parents. And he’s not the only one in his family with an unusual birthday: His 2-year-old brother, Kael, was born on 4/5/06.
Lindsey Hauer thought staff at Lake Region Hospital in Minnesota were joking when they told her the time of her daughter’s birth. And then she got a call from the birthing suite noting Hailey’s weight.
Nurse Jenny Harstad joked that she tried to shrink the baby to 18 inches from her actual 19.5 inches.
Several hospital staff members in Minnesota pledged to buy lottery tickets. And Chad Riniker, Xander’s father, said that eight hadn’t been his lucky number before, but that now he was thinking about buying a lottery ticket.
”I just might,“ he said. ”If nothing else, with four children I should probably play the lottery.“
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Information from:
The Daily Journal, http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com
The Gazette, http://gazetteonline.com

It’s the law: No sagging pants in Chicago suburb

2008-07-22T19:14:00.001-07:00

LYNWOOD, Ill. (AP) — Be careful if you have saggy pants in the south Chicago suburb of Lynwood.
Village leaders have passed an ordinance that would levy $25 fines against anyone showing three inches or more of their underwear in public.
Eugene Williams is the mayor of Lynwood. He says young men walk around town half-dressed, keeping major retailers and economic development away. He calls the new law a hot topic.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the ordinance targets young men of color.
Young adults in the village, like 21-year-old Joe Klomes, say the new law infringes on their personal style. He says leaders should instead spend money on making the area look nicer.

Bees swarm motorists on N.J. Turnpike

2008-07-22T19:13:00.001-07:00

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike have to cope every day with traffic jams, pollution and even the occasional deer.
They ran into a new obstacle Saturday as thousands of honeybees swarmed around their vehicles.
Turnpike Authority spokesman Joseph Orlando said the swarm came from a beekeeper’s beehive that apparently fell beside the highway in Cherry Hill.
The Turnpike Authority was looking for a beekeeper to deal with the problem.

Treasure in the trash: $20K earrings found in NYC

2008-07-22T19:12:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — Diamonds in the rough? Try a $20,000 pair of the glinting gems in a reeking truckload of trash.
A Staten Island jeweler has gotten her 3-carat diamond earrings back after she, her husband and city sanitation employees sorted through a smelly heap of garbage. The studs were in a small jar of cleaning solution, which a worker at the couple’s jewelry store had accidentally thrown away.
The earrings were recovered Thursday at the site of the former Fresh Kills landfill. The giant dump closed in 2001, and the earrings were in a load of trash destined to be compacted and shipped out of state.
Owner Haya Sharon is calls the find ”a miracle.“ The earrings were an anniversary gift from her husband.

Pastor gets into motorcycle crash - during service

2008-07-22T19:11:00.002-07:00

KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) — A pastor brought out a dirt bike during a church service to demonstrate the concept of unity. Now he’s demonstrating the concept of healing.
Jeff Harlow, the senior pastor at Crossroads Community Church, broke his wrist when he lost control of the motorcycle at the start of Sunday’s second service, driving off a 5-foot platform and into the vacant first row of seats. He underwent surgery on the wrist Monday.
”Jeff has already laughed a lot, so he’s OK. I think his pride was bruised,“ said his wife, Becky.
Becky Harlow said her husband had recently attended a motorcycle race in Buchanan, Mich.
”He had this idea that he would bring this bike out onstage and show people how the rider would become one with the bike,“ she told the Kokomo Tribune. ”He was going to just sit on it and drive it out. He was just walking the dirt bike out onstage and somehow it got away from him. It was not intended.“
No one else was hurt.
Jeff Harlow had performed the demonstration at earlier services Saturday night and Sunday morning without incident.

Pig caper: Police investigate swiped swine in Iowa

2008-07-22T19:11:00.001-07:00

EMMETSBURG, Iowa (AP) — Where’s the pork?
Authorities in western Iowa are looking for a thief with a very big payload — 120 market hogs.
The Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office says that someone swiped the swine from a hog confinement in Silver Lake Township sometime between May 29 and July 10.
The theft was reported this week.
Chief Deputy Todd Suhr says his agency is investigating but has ”no hot leads right now.“ The missing hogs are valued at $19,000.
The owner of the confinement is offering a reward of up to $2,000 for information in the case.

Arrest made in stolen N.J. horse statue

2008-07-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — Police say a bronze horse statue stolen from a now-defunct New Jersey racetrack has been broken up and sold to a salvage yard for a fraction of its value.
At the going rate, the bronze from the 1-ton statue sells for about $4,000. As a piece of art, it was worth about $500,000.
The statue was cut off its base outside the old Garden State Park horse racetrack. Part of it was found nearby, the rest at a Camden salvage yard.
Police say a tip led to Saturday’s arrest of 33-year-old Ian MacDonald. He is charged with theft and conspiracy. Police are looking for three other suspects.
MacDonald is being held in lieu of $55,000 bail. Messages left with the police spokesman and at MacDonald’s home weren’t immediately returned.

Florida man wins Hemingway look-alike contest

2008-07-22T19:09:00.002-07:00

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — A white-bearded Florida man won an Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest, a highlight of a festival that ended Sunday honoring the late Nobel Prize-winning author.
Tom Grizzard, 69, of Leesburg bested 141 other contenders in the competition at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, Hemingway’s favorite watering hole when he lived in Key West throughout the 1930s. The competition’s final round was held late Saturday.
”I relate to his love of the sea and love of people,“ said Grizzard. The eight-time competitor wore a cream-colored turtleneck sweater suggesting Hemingway’s garb in an iconic 1957 photo portrait by Yousuf Karsh.
Look-alike contenders in sportsman’s attire paraded across the stage at Sloppy Joe’s during preliminary rounds Thursday and Friday before a judging panel of former winners.
Twenty-five prospective ”Papas“ made it to Saturday’s finals.
Other Hemingway Days events included the Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, writers’ readings and a short story competition directed by author and Hemingway granddaughter Lorian Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway’s grandson Edward Hemingway, a writer and illustrator who showcased his new children’s book at the festival, said he thought Hemingway Days would appeal to his late grandfather.
”I imagine my grandfather would get a kick out of the festival,“ he said. ”The spirit of his life is here in Key West.“
During his 10-year residence on the island, Ernest Hemingway penned literary classics including ”For Whom the Bell Tolls,“ ”The Snows of Kilimanjaro“ and ”To Have and Have Not.“
Hemingway would have turned 109 on Monday.

Gun advocacy group tours Idaho zoo while armed

2008-07-22T19:09:00.001-07:00

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho members of a group that advocates for the right to openly carry handguns in public are turning heads by touring Zoo Boise while packing guns on their hips.
Ten members of OpenCarry.org were allowed into the zoo Saturday after some initial confusion at the entrance about whether it was legal to bring an unconcealed handgun inside.
Group member Carol Schultz of Nampa says: ”Coming to the zoo was something we could do together, like any family would.“
Schultz says she’s never without her handgun that she keeps in a holster attached to a heart-studded belt.
Zoo visitor Alex Lundgren of Boise questioned the group’s decision to bring firearms.
He says: ”Legal and appropriate are two different things.“

Apparent conjoined barn swallows found in Arkansas

2008-07-22T19:08:00.001-07:00

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An apparent set of conjoined twin birds — an incredibly rare find — has been discovered in Arkansas, authorities said.
The bodies of the barn swallows, which are attached at the hip by skin and possibly muscle tissue, are being sent to the Smithsonian Institution for examination and confirmation, Arkansas wildlife officials said Friday.
”I can’t even say it’s one in a million — it’s probably more than that,“ said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. ”There’s just very little to no records of such a thing.“
The birds, found by a landowner in White County, fell out of a nest as a healthy sibling flew off to learn how to hunt with its parents, Rowe said. The birds first appeared to have only three legs, but further examination found a fourth leg tucked up underneath the skin connecting the pair.
Rowe said the landowner likely kept the birds for a day before calling wildlife officials. By the time officials arrived, the birds were not eating. One died early Friday and a veterinarian later euthanized the other.
Finding conjoined birds is rare because they likely die before being discovered, Rowe said.
X-rays of the pair found each bird was fully formed, Rowe said. She said the birds would have had to come from a double-yolk egg.
Barn swallows can live for several years, though the conjoined twins might not have lived that long even if they had been separated. Rowe said it would have been difficult to teach the birds to fly.

Blessed are the boxers, altered for wounded troops

2008-07-22T19:07:00.001-07:00

CASCO TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Blessed are the boxer shorts.
Members of the St. James United Church of Christ in Michigan plan to take 150 boxer shorts to the altar Sunday for a blessing. The shorts have been modified for wounded veterans who wear bulky prosthetics or braces on their legs.
About 15 women at St. James replaced the shorts’ side seams with a fabric fastener for easy access.
Volunteer Kris Dombrowski says: “If you have the need for special pants, you have the need for special boxer shorts.”
The boxers will go to an Ohio distribution center of Sew Much Comfort, a national volunteer group that adapts clothing for wounded troops.

Dallas police find cocaine in car used by officers

2008-07-10T19:42:00.002-07:00

DALLAS (AP) — Police didn’t have to go far to find $400,000 worth of cocaine — it was in an undercover car they’d been driving for two months.
An officer cleaning the car at a patrol station Wednesday discovered the nearly 50 pounds of cocaine carefully hidden in hydraulically controlled compartments.
"These compartments have recently been more and more popular with drug operations," said Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, commander of the narcotics division.
Dallas police put the two-door 2004 black Infiniti into police service on May 7 after seizing it at a drug house. It had been found at a drug house earlier this year along with a 1999 Honda.
Bernal said the narcotics division searched both the vehicles and found nothing unusual after the seizure. The Honda was sold at auction.
Bernal said police plan to contact the person who bought the Honda to find out if drugs are hidden in that car, too. And, they are also trying to find out who owned the cocaine they have been secretly driving around with.

Wash. judge tells verbose lawyer to make it snappy

2008-07-10T19:42:00.001-07:00

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A federal judge in Tacoma has told a lawyer he needs to make it snappy.
Judge Ronald Leighton balked at a 465-page lawsuit that made its way onto his desk. He invoked a rarely used rule that requires a "short and plain statement" of allegations.
The title of the racketeering lawsuit filed by attorney Dean Browning Webb was eight pages long.
The judge issued his order in a limerick:
"Plaintiff has a great deal to say,
But it seems he skipped Rule 8(a).
His Complaint is too long,
Which renders it wrong,
Please rewrite and refile today."

Naked man arrested after hijacking Las Vegas bus

2008-07-10T19:40:00.002-07:00

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Maybe he lost his shirt at a casino. Police in Las Vegas say they arrested a naked man who stole a beer and then hijacked a bus several miles northeast of the Strip.
A police spokesman says the man fled from a convenience store when an officer arrived to investigate a report of a shoplifter Tuesday.
The man allegedly punched in a back window of a Citizens Area Transit bus, climbed aboard, forced the driver off, drove the bus about 200 yards and then jumped off the moving vehicle.
A police officer climbed aboard the bus and stopped the vehicle.
Police say the man was arrested on felony charges and given clothes and a mental evaluation.

$55,000 found in St. Louis County Jail bathroom

2008-07-10T19:40:00.001-07:00

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Someone at the St. Louis County Jail was flush with money.
A correctional officer at the intake facility at the St. Louis County Justice Center last week found $55,000 stuffed behind a toilet paper dispenser.
The bundle of money was in $100 and $50 bills, said Clayton Police Chief Thomas Byrne.
Officials interviewed inmates about the money, but none admitted knowing anything about the stashed cash.
The money was placed in a special bank account until the owner can be determined, Byrne said.

Ark. suspect leaves behind cell phone for police

2008-07-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

FORREST CITY, Ark. (AP) — Forrest City police weren’t able to catch their man after a high-speed chase through town, but the cell phone he left behind gave away his identity.
The chase started just before 11 p.m. Monday after officers received a call about people "fighting in the street with guns," police said. When police arrived, they managed to block one car from getting away. The man in that car spoke briefly with officers before speeding away — and the chase was on.
The man crashed his Toyota Camry into a house and ran away, police said. But as officers searched the car, the man’s cell phone rang and the caller asked for the suspect by name.
Officers said a search of the car uncovered a set of scales and two plastic bags, one containing marijuana and the other containing crack cocaine.
Police declined to name the man Tuesday but said they were still searching for him.

Truck rams Concorde, knocks off its nose in NYC

2008-07-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) — An embarrassed museum official says a two-week nose job should reverse the damage a Concorde supersonic jet suffered when a truck rammed it.
The retired Concorde is normally on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It has been at a recreational facility in Brooklyn while the USS Intrepid and its home pier in Manhattan are repaired and renovated.
Early July 1, a truck hauling equipment away from a Jamaican soccer-and-cricket festival bumped into the Concorde’s distinctive nose and knocked it off. Museum President Bill White says the cone is salvageable and will be reattached and repaired to original standards.
White is apologizing to British Airways, which owns the jet. He says the recreational facility should have provided better security for the plane.

Fashion bug: Teens turn dead cicadas into jewelry

2008-07-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

SANDWICH, Mass. (AP) — Two 17-year-old jewelry makers from Cape Cod, Massachusetts are hoping swarms of customers will want their latest creations: earrings and necklaces made from dead bugs.
Katheryn Maloney and Brady Cullinan are selling jewelry made out of the cicadas that swarmed their town of Sandwich this summer.
The pair charges $10 for earrings or necklaces made out of the bugs’ lacquered carcasses.
They tell the Cape Cod Times that some people find the jewelry gross, but others are impressed with its uniqueness.
Maloney and Cullinan began making the bug jewelry in mid-June after Cullinan’s mother suggested the idea.

Oregon man wins Great American Think-Off

2008-06-19T19:16:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. (AP) — An Oregon man is the winner of this year’s Great American Think-Off, a national philosophy competition that gives ordinary people the chance to debate some of life’s perplexing questions.
This year’s question: ”Does immigration strengthen or threaten the United States?“
Craig Allen, of West Lynn, Ore., won a gold medal Saturday after a live audience in New York Mills decided he was most convincing when arguing that the system of immigration and immigration policy is broken. He says it encourages an influx of illegal immigrants and poses a threat to the country.
During the debate, the four Think-Off finalists touched on what it means to be an American and stressed that American identity is evolving.
The debate is held by the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans. New York Mills is a farming town of some 1,200 people in central Minnesota, about 170 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
The silver medal winner was Deana Cavaliere from Richfield, Minn., who argued that immigrants of diverse cultures have created a mix of ideas that makes America an innovative and wealthy country.
The other two finalists received bronze medals. Tom Bailey of Nashville, Tenn., argued that immigration strengthens the U.S., and Nick Thayer of St. Cloud, Minn., argued that it threatens the country.