$40,000 piece of art found at Goodwill
Employees of a Goodwill store in Maryland said they were shocked to find out a donated painting was by Impressionist Edouard-Leon Cortes and worth $40,600. The painting -- left at the Goodwill in Easton, Md., in March -- was sold at Sotheby's auction house in New York for $40,600, the Baltimore Sun reported. Store manager Terri Tonelli said she decided to do some research on the painting after a worker "recognized it as something worth a second look." She said the hair on the back of her neck stood up when she looked up the name of the artist who signed the painting and learned he was well-known. Sotheby's had to check the painting and clean it before it could be auctioned. "It was really a team thing. All I did was Google it," she added.

Home with 170 cats condemned
A smelly Wisconsin house has been deemed uninhabitable after officials removed more than 170 cats from the home, authorities said. Between 170 and 177 cats were taken from the house Tuesday before it was condemned by city officials, said Fond du Lac Police Lt. Rob Duveneck. Authorities said they found the cats after a nearby resident reported a "strong smell of urine" wafting from the 825-square-foot home. Two brothers, ages 54 and 55, were living in the home, the Fond du Lac (Wis.) Reporter said. One of the brothers initially told authorities only seven felines were in the urine-soaked home. "As far as we know, there were no signs of abuse. It was just a situation that got out of control," Duveneck said. Most of the cats were taken to the Fond du Lac Humane Society and the rest were being held at other animal shelters, the newspaper said.

Bicyclist hits bear while going 45 mph
A Colorado man said he is glad he survived after hitting a large bear while traveling about 45 mph on his bicycle. Tim Egan was on a bike ride in Boulder County when he had an unexpected collision with a bear he estimates weighed 500 pounds and was six feet tall, KCNC-TV, Denver, reported. "This bear looked at me with a look of terror on his face and sort of made a noise. I looked at him with a look of terror and we went, 'aaaahhhhh'," Egan said. Egan, 53, said his bike flipped over the bear and smacked the pavement before the huge animal ran away. "When I tell people, they say 'Right, are you kidding me, who hits a bear?'" he said. Egan said he was able to ride his bike to a medical center to get treatment for cracked ribs, cuts and abrasions after Tuesday's incident.

Man steals ATM from convenience store
Police in Placentia, Calif., said they were searching for a man accused of entering a convenience store and stealing an automated teller machine. Placentia police spokeswoman Corinne Loomis said a man told the Circle K clerk to move out of the way while he took the large ATM out of the store on a dolly, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported. Police said the man had on a motorcycle helmet or a paint-ball mask and took off in a vehicle after the heist. No one was injured in the Wednesday incident and the man didn't appear to be armed, the newspaper said. Loomis said the ATM had been filled with cash the day it was taken.

Texas police search for fake cop
San Antonio police said they were on the lookout for a man accused of pretending to be a police officer. Police said a man driving a black Ford Crown Victoria came under suspicion after he stopped an officer who was not on duty. The driver of the suspect vehicle, which had emergency lights attached to the grille, took off when the officer showed him a badge, the San Antonio Express-News reported. San Antonio Police Department spokeswoman Sandy Gutierrez said authorities have not been informed of any other situations involving the fake cop.

Spokane man accidentally shoots self in face
Police say a man who was drinking with friends and playing with a handgun accidentally shot himself in the face in Spokane. Police say when someone expressed concern about the gun early today, the man attempted to prove it was unloaded by pointing it at his face and pulling the trigger. The 42-year-old Spokane man is in critical condition.

Inmate leaves toilet paper rose after jail escape
Crawford County authorities say an inmate escaped the county jail and left behind a rose fashioned out of toilet paper because he felt sorry for breaking out. Luis Camacho-Mendoza was recaptured a day later on Wednesday in a Van Buren home after police received a tip. Investigator Ken Howard said Camacho-Mendoza was found hiding in a closet in a pile of clothes with a pillowcase over his head. "But he wasn't hiding too good because you could see the outline of his head in the pillow case," Howard said. "We all grabbed him pretty quick and he didn't seem to be resisting." Authorities said Camacho-Mendoza was in jail on drug charges and was expected to be deported to Mexico by immigrations officials. In his escape, Camacho-Mendoza broke open a lock on a kitchen door using a tool made from two screwdrivers, authorities said. Camacho-Mendoza worked in the kitchen. When the inmate was discovered missing, authorities also found the flower, Howard said. "When we asked him about that, he said he felt sorry for the captain for escaping," Howard said. "(The flower) looked pretty nice."

Man sought by police hits troopers' garage
A man being sought by police for questioning in a series of traffic accidents was arrested after crashing his truck in a state police garage in Connecticut. A 36-year-old man faces charges including criminal trespass, reckless endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia. Police said the man broke through the access arm at the front gate of state police headquarters in Bridgeport on Thursday, drove his pickup into an open garage door and then crashed into a vehicle lift. The suspect was arrested when he attempted to flee. Troopers said they learned later that Bridgeport police were searching for the vehicle, which had been involved in accidents earlier in the day. No injuries were reported in any of the accidents. The man told authorities he was being chased, but there was no evidence to back that claim, police said.

Michigan man accused of fork, chicken attacks
A man was accused of stabbing his mother with a fork and assaulting a second woman with 10 pounds of frozen chicken. Frederick Duane McKaney, 40, of Ypsilanti, was arraigned Wednesday in 12th District Court in Jackson. He faces two felony assault charges as well as one count of assault and battery and one count of resisting an officer. Prosecutors said McKaney stabbed his mother in the back of the neck with a fork Monday night. About an hour later, he hit a woman in the head with a plastic bag of frozen chicken. They had exchanged rude words while he rode his bicycle. She needed five surgical staples to close her wound.

Driver arrested after speeding 22 times in 45 days
A Nevada woman has been arrested after photo enforcement cameras on a Phoenix freeway captured her behind the wheel of a car speeding 22 times in a 45-day span, authorities said. The woman, 24, was arrested by Arizona Department of Public Safety officers on suspicion of criminal speeding, reckless driving and endangerment. During a 45-day period starting in May, DPS officials said the woman was captured by photo enforcement cameras on Loop 101 in Scottsdale 22 times, with her top speed at 92 mph. The woman was living in Arizona temporarily when officers arrested her at her parent's north Scottsdale home last Friday, officials said.

North Pole man clipped for DUI on riding mower
Alaska State Troopers used lights and sirens to apprehend a North Pole man suspected of driving under the influence after he allegedly led them on a slow-speed chase that covered several lawns. The 20-year-old man was on a riding mower. Sunday's pursuit lasted about 200 feet and reached speeds of up to 5 mph before a trooper got out of a cruiser and told the man to stop. Troopers received a call early Sunday complaining of an intoxicated man driving a mower. They said Wyatt Lewis's blood-alcohol content was 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Driving a lawnmower while drunk qualifies for a DUI charge. Lewis was also charged with failure to stop at the direction of a peace officer.

WARNING: Do not use a blowtorch to open a gas drum
With the price of gas rising, here’s something you may want to file away for future reference.  If you’re storing petroleum in a 55-gaallon drum on your property and the lid becomes stuck, a blowtorch is not the best way to remove it.  It’s also not a good idea to stand around and watch someone perform said operation.  This was news to a farm worker and those gathered around him in Santa Paula, California as the drum exploded.   Six people were hospitalized, three in critical condition.

Man cuts own throat with razor at City Hall hearing
A shocking scene played out inside Taunton (MA) City Hall Monday when a man pulled out a razor blade and slit his throat during a hearing where he’d planned to file a complaint against an animal control officer.  As of Monday night, no charges were filed against Robert Feltmate, who became uncooperative after cutting himself inside the Taunton Municipal Council Chambers.  Feltmate, 54, was in the process of submitting a criminal complaint stemming from the treatment of his dog when he became agitated during the hearing, stood up and sliced his throat from right to left, said Taunton Mayor Charles Crowley, who witnessed the entire scene. “The gash was at least four inches long,” Crowley said.  Feltmate refused offers of help from onlookers, and at that point, Taunton police Sgt. Eric Nichols, who was attending the hearing, ordered everyone out of the room.  After Feltmate refused to comply with officers’ commands, officers from Raynham arrived, using pepper spray, and finally a Tazer, to subdue him. He was taken to Morton Hospital, where he remained in stable condition as of 10 p.m. Monday.  Taunton Police Chief Raymond O’Berg said Feltmate most likely didn’t respond to the pepper spray because of his mental state, which will be evaluated as police decide whether to charge him with a crime.
The incident stemmed from a grievance Feltmate had against city dog officer Manny Massa, who recently came to Feltmate’s home at 84 Short St. after his dog fell off the bed and broke its leg. Because of clutter in the house, Massa and assistant dog officer Charles Mosher were unable to carry the animal out on a stretcher, carrying it out in their arms instead.  Feltmate, unhappy with their actions, contacted the city about filing a complaint. Monday’s hearing was the first step in that process, Crowley said. Initially, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but as Crowley explained the required procedure to Feltmate, the man appeared to become increasingly agitated. While there was no clear motive for Feltmate’s action, the mayor said it could have been prompted by frustration. “I believe he didn’t like the fact that evidence was mounting up against him,” Crowley said.

Man pushes 89-year-old mother after she scolded him
A 66-year-old man is facing felony charges after Collier County sheriff's deputies say he pushed his 89-year-old mother after she scolded him. Ernesto Barba was charged with battery on a person 65 years or older. Arrest reports say Ernesto Barba became agitated when his mother Frances Barba reminded him about a doctor’s appointment he had later in the day Monday. The two have lived together for nearly 40 years, reports said. When Ernesto Barba wouldn’t get ready for his appointment, his mother began to scold him, reports said. He then pushed his mother away, causing her to fall backward to the ground. She landed on her left wrist and hit her head on the tile floor, reports said.

Woman reports children missing after four-day crack binge
A 39-year-old woman who told police she couldn't find her small children following a four-day crack binge is facing two felony child neglect charges, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday. Lisa Anne Vantunan, of Fort Pierce, Florida told police Monday she didn't know where her kids, a 1-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl, were. "Lisa has been on the streets for the past four days smoking crack cocaine," the arrest affidavit states. "Lisa said people on the street told her she threw them out of a moving vehicle and that she had suffocated the children." Vantunan, who lives with her mother, apparently didn't recall leaving them with a babysitter, and investigators found the children safe. The babysitter agreed to watch the children last Thursday. "Lisa was irrationally calm while reporting she did not know if her children were alive or not," the affidavit states. Arrested Monday, Vantunan said she's a good mother, but admitted having a drug problem. She said she's been on bi-polar medication, but isn't taking it now. She said she sometimes checks in with her mother and the babysitter when "on her binges," but won't go home to care for her kids when asked to do so, the affidavit states.

Drunk child-killing mother goes to bar instead of baby's funeral
Pennsylvania’s Erin Howard was charged with involuntary manslaughter after she was allegedly driving drunk when she crashed her car on her 26th birthday, killing her son.  Erin was given permission to leave the Erie County Prison for 24 hours to attend her son's funeral in Ohio.  However, instead of returning to the jail as ordered, Erin went to a bar instead.  Happy hour didn’t turn out to be so happy as Erin is now facing additional charges of escape.

God accused of selling cocaine near Tampa church
Police say a man named God was arrested near a Tampa church for selling cocaine. Authorities began investigating God Lucky Howard in April, and he was arrested on Saturday. Police say he sold the cocaine to undercover detectives in his neighborhood. When officers searched his home, they reported finding another 22 grams of cocaine and a scale. Jail records show Howard was charged with several counts drug possession and distribution, which include increased charges for being within 1,000 feet of a church, a school and public housing.

Inmate falls through ceiling into Texas police office
Authorities say an inmate trying to flee a Texas city jail crashed through the ceiling into a police chief's empty office. Police say 17-year-old Jesus Albert Suarez Chavez and 22-year-old Roman Orozco Martinez tried to escape through air conditioning ducts of the Alton city jail around 3 a.m. Saturday, but had been spotted by a dispatcher monitoring security video. One of the inmates fell through the ceiling into the office of Police Chief Baldemar Flores. The second inmate was trying to get into the vent. Flores said he didn't know which inmate fell through the ceiling, only that the vents were very small. Chavez and Martinez are charged with burglary of a vehicle, evading arrest, resisting arrest, assault on a public servant and making a terrorist threat. They are now being held in the Hidalgo County Jail.

Teens learn dangerous lesson about guns, gravity
Police in Gresham, Oregon arrested two teens Sunday night after a bullet fired into the air plummeted back to Earth and struck someone in the foot about a block away. Officers were dispatched to the two incidents at the same time about 10 p.m. One report was about possible fireworks or gunshots going off at an apartment complex on S.E. 223rd. The other report involved a teen shot in the foot on Southeast Morrison - about a block away. The victim, 16-year-old Josh Koga of Gresham, told police he was outside when he heard what he thought were fireworks or gunshots. He then felt pain in his foot and looked down to see it bleeding. There appeared to be a bullet lodged in his foot, police said. Officers focused their investigation on the apartment complex and eventually arrested 18-year-old Emilo M. Villegrana and a 16-year-old, who both lived at the complex. Villegrana was booked into the Multnomah County jail on charges of second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and unlawful use of a weapon. The 16-year-old was charged similarly as a juvenile. Police recovered the gun believed to be involved in the incident, and Koga was treated and released from an area hospital. Police said the incident served as a good warning about the dangers of firing guns into the air, something that happens more frequently around the July 4 holiday.

Man shows up at jail with weed on his tool
When police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, arrested John Christopher Williams for failing to show up for numerous court dates, a search of his person failed to turn up any drugs.  Apparently they didn’t check close enough.   Before being checked into jail, a strip search revealed that Williams had nine grams of marijuana wrapped around his tool. Williams says it was all a misunderstanding.

It's not shoplifting if you put it back
For most guys, using deodorant is a good thing.  However, that wasn’t the case for Anderson Township, Ohio’s Timothy Boggs.  Boggs went into a local grocery store, grabbed a stick of deodorant, applied it to his person, then put it back on the shelf.  The fresh-smelling Boggs was arrested and jailed for the night.  He was later sentenced to a fine of $3.79, which was the cost of the deodorant, and time served.

Turkey Fryer Fire Destroys Home
A family's turkey fryer cookout is being blamed for destroying a Central Florida home over the weekend. Firefighters responded to flames engulfing a home  near Gotha in Orange County (Florida) Saturday night. When they arrived, they were told that the family had been cooking inside a garage. "Apparently, they were cooking with oil in the garage and the oil got out of hand," neighbor Dewayne Marsh said. "It burned pretty hot, pretty quickly." "Things were popping in the garage, like WD-40 cans," neighbor Tim Cummings said.  It took firefighters about an hour to extinguish the fire. "The crews had a little bit of a tough time because (the fire) got into the attic," Ocoee Fire representative Butch Stanley said. The family initially tried to fight the flames but had to run out of the home.  There were no injuries.

Bullet meant for frog strikes woman in home
The Maine State Police said Thursday they have completed their investigation of a shooting incident in which a woman who was sitting inside her mobile home was injured when a bullet meant for a frog struck her leg. Police have turned their report over to the District Attorney’s Office, Sgt. Tim Varney said Thursday. Varney said the .22 caliber bullet went through the woman’s trailer, striking her in the right side. The bullet then bounced off her leg and was found lying next to the chair. Varney identified the allege shooter as Chad Murrat, 18, of Lubec. According to the Maine State Police’s Weekly Report on June 12, the 18-year-old neighbor was target practicing near the woman’s trailer when he noticed a frog in a nearby pond. He fired two rounds at the frog. At least one ricocheted off and went awry.

Rescue crews amputate man's leg on highway
Rescue crews amputated a man's leg on a Miami highway after he was crushed between two vehicles. According to Florida Highway Patrol, the man was checking the damage to his car Friday after being hit from behind by a sport utility vehicle in the center lane of SR-836. Another car then crashed into the SUV, pinning the man. FHP spokesman Pat Santangelo says rescue crews needed to amputate one of the man's legs at the scene. Santangelo says three people have been killed since the Memorial Day weekend while checking their vehicles for damage after a crash in the middle of a road. Drivers are encouraged to move their cars to the side of the road before checking for damage after minor accidents.

Dog bounces to his escape
Laura Kidson's bull terrier Harvey recently used a trampoline to escape from her backyard. She says, "The fence isn't all that high, but he couldn't get over it on his own and must have used the trampoline to bounce himself into my neighbor's garden and get out. He's something of an escape artist and he has got out before, but not for a long time and we were just starting to think that he'd stopped all that."

Woman beats 7-foot-3 sex offender with baseball bat
The Seattle police recently arrested Tammy Gibson for beating one of her neighbors with an aluminum baseball bat. She went after convicted sex offender William Baldwin after seeing a flier that detailed how he once lured a 5 year-old into a doghouse before molesting her. Tammy knocked on his door and invited him outside before she swung and broke his arm. William was then arrested for failing to let the police know he had moved into the area.

Teen girls made pact to get pregnant
17 teens from Gloucester High School (in Massachussetts) are making national headlines because of a pact they made to all get pregnant at the same time. School Superintendent Christopher Farmer says, "These are generally girls who lack self-esteem and have a lack of love in their life. We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy." Normally, the school has about four pregnancies per school year. The young women high-fived after finding out they were pregnant and could start holding baby showers. Som parents blame the movie Juno for the pregnancies.

Argument over nickname ends in stabbing
An argument over a nickname reportedly led Wichita police to a residence where they say a 44-year-old woman stabbed a 19-year-old with a butcher knife Friday. Sgt. Lem Moore said in a police briefing that nine people were gathering in Old Lawrence Road, when two young men began arguing who should be able to use the nickname "C-Thug." The woman, who was a resident of the house, intervened and stabbed the 19-year-old in the back. The man was treated for minor injuries at Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus. The woman was arrested.

Man breaks into home to kiss stranger
A Gilbert, Arizona man was arrested after police said he entered a Tempe home and kissed a sleeping woman. James Armentrout, 38, entered a Tempe residence between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. after he saw the woman's boyfriend leave, according to police reports. Armentrout told police that he knocked on the door. When he didn't get a response, he entered the home, police said. Police said Armentrout told them he didn't know the woman but wanted to kiss her. He was arrested on suspicion of unlawful entry into a residence with intent to commit a felony and unlawful entry with intent to assault.

Cook accused of stealing lobster tails in his pants
Maybe he was trying to beat the heat. A Brooklyn restaurant cook is accused of stealing frozen lobster tails by stuffing them down his pants. The Brooklyn district attorney's office said Tuesday that Raymundo Flores has been arraigned on misdemeanor charges of petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Co-workers called 911 on Sunday to report a crustacean caper at the walk-in freezer at Junior's Restaurant. Police say they found lobster tails that Flores allegedly had hidden in his pants and in bandages on his legs. Flores, a Manhattan resident, has been freed without bail. He's due back in court on July 3.

Sometimes it rains cement
Russian air force planes dropped a 25-kg (55-lb) sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds to prevent rain from spoiling a holiday, Russian media said on Tuesday. "A pack of cement used in creating ... good weather in the capital region ... failed to pulverise completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 80-100 cm (2.5-3 ft)," police in Naro-Fominsk told agency RIA-Novosti. Ahead of major public holidays the Russian Air Force often dispatches up to 12 cargo planes carrying loads of silver iodide, liquid nitrogen and cement powder to seed clouds above Moscow and empty the skies of moisture. A spokesman for the Russian Air Force refused to comment.  June 12 was Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country's independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Weather specialists said the cement's failure to turn to powder was the first hiccup in 20 years. The homeowner was not injured, but refused an offer of 50,000 roubles (1,050 pounds) from the air force, saying she would sue for damages and compensation for moral suffering, Interfax said. 

Men nabbed with $372K say they just wanted bananas
Two men caught with $372,000 in cash near the Costa Rica-Panama border told police that they just wanted to buy some bananas. Police said the two appeared to be nervous after their car was stopped over the weekend. Officials searched the vehicle and found the cash in a briefcase. Police commander Freddy Hernandez said in a statement Monday that the men told officials they were banana brokers. But police are holding them on possible money laundering charges. Bananas cost about $1.65 a pound in Costa Rica.

Man nabbed twice in hour for alleged drunk driving
Authorities say they arrested an upstate New York man twice in less than an hour for driving drunk. Oneida County deputies said the man was initially stopped Monday at about 1:26 a.m. near Westmoreland for moving from his lane unsafely. After he was charged, he was released to another person. Deputies said the man's blood-alcohol level at the time was .25 percent — more than triple the state's legal limit of .08 percent. About 30 minutes later, deputies spotted the same man's vehicle in Rome and stopped him for failing to keep right. The man was charged a second time with driving while intoxicated after his BAC registered .23 percent. He was arraigned in Floyd Town Court and is being held in the Oneida County jail on $1,500 bail.

Escaped German thief asks police to open handcuffs
A handcuffed thief in Germany who gave officers the slip made short work for his pursuers when he made straight for a police station to get his cuffs removed.
"It was stupid of him" said a police spokesman in Frankfurt on Monday. "They took the cuffs off, but they kept him." A security guard cuffed the man to a railing after thwarting a late night supermarket break-in. By the time officers came and arrested his accomplices, he had somehow escaped, police said. Shortly afterwards, the 19-year-old reappeared at the nearby police station, where he told officers he had been locked up by a friend as a joke, and asked for help removing the cuffs. The officers at first went along with the ruse, "also laughing at the man's apparent misfortune," police said. But having already heard about the missing man at the break-in, they then dropped their light-hearted facade and demanded the truth. The man confessed his involvement and was promptly re-united with his three helpers in the local prison cell, police said.

Feds say man wore diaper full of heroin
Frank Keys Jr. faces up to 40 years in prison after he was found cruising down the highway with more than 200 grams of heroin in the diaper he was wearing, federal officials said. Keys, 38, of New Orleans was charged Friday by a federal grand jury. He got in trouble June 3 in St. John the Baptist Parish, north of New Orleans, when sheriff's deputies pulled over the car he was in for a traffic violation. The deputies and Drug Enforcement Agency special agents got permission to search the car, and a drug sniffing dog alerted them to the car's passenger side. The occupants were ordered out of the car, and patted down. During the pat-down, "officers felt a large hard object in the pants area on Keys," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office. Keys told officers he was wearing a diaper and when they asked if there was anything in the diaper, he "shook his head affirmatively." Officers then removed a package containing about 257 grams of heroin from the diaper.

Italian kidnaps ex-girlfriend to get ironing done
An Italian man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend from a pub, taking her home and forcing her to iron his clothes and wash the dishes, police said on Monday. The 43-year-old man dragged the woman out of a pub in the port city of Genoa, shoved her into a car and took her to his home where he made her iron and wash dishes after threatening her, they said. Police arrived at his house after being tipped off by a friend of the woman who watched the scene at the pub. The man, who was apparently furious at his ex-girlfriend for leaving him, was arrested on charges of kidnapping.

Margate man arrested after posting threat on MySpace
His first mistake was threatening to shoot up the Coral Springs Police Station; his second mistake was boasting about it on the Internet for all to see, authorities said. Police arrested Jean Carlos Vargas, 25, of Margate, on Wednesday afternoon, just hours after he allegedly claimed on MySpace to be preparing for a shooting spree. Authorities say Vargas left the messages on the popular social networking site between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. He also posted a picture of himself pointing a silver handgun at the camera. An anonymous tipster let officers know about the page sometime in the afternoon, McHugh said. He wouldn't say how the agency received the tip.Police began surveillance on Vargas at noon and arrested him about 3:30 p.m. as he drove through Coral Springs, officials said.

School drops Pledge of Allegiance during ceremony
The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom.
Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year. The pledge was instead replaced with a singing version of the preamble to the Constitution. Principal Pam Wilson explained the pledge was removed "out of respect for the diversity of religious faiths." The Portland School District said there were no complaints about the pledge. They said they have little say in how principals handle end of the year ceremonies at individual schools. The following is the full e-mail response that parent Briana Reese received from Principal Pam Wilson:
"The Pledge contains the words, 'under God' and we have many Muslim families here. So out of respect for the diversity of religious faiths practiced by our school community (parents and families) we decided that this year the students would memorize and sing the Preamble to the Constitution. At the rehearsal on Friday they did it from memory and to a wonderful song. It was very joyful and unique. I think you, and other parents, will really appreciate the creative and new way to open the program"

Man blames Salina crash on 'brain freeze'

A man said he crashed his car into the front steps of a house on South Fifth Street Tuesday afternoon while he was drinking a cold drink that gave him a “brain freeze.” Robert M. Schulz, 66, Salina, told Salina police he had just purchased the flavored, frozen drink from a Sonic restaurant and was drinking it while traveling east on East Crawford after 3:45 p.m. Schulz said he suffered a “brain freeze,” followed by a “chest freeze,” causing him to loose control, leave the street and crash into the front steps of the home at 703 S. Fifth, said Desk Officer Brandon Tomson.

Man gets ticket for going topless in public
For only the third time in five years, Easton police have ticketed someone for going topless in public. Sean Cephus, 18, was cited June 4 when police say he was spotted without a shirt on South Street near Hanson Street. He was also cited for failing to obey a lawful order to stop for police.
A town ordinance adopted in 1974 forbids anyone from going topless in public buildings or on public streets and sidewalks. Possible penalties are a fine of up to $100 and up to 10 days in jail.
Easton Police Lt. Gregory Wright said people without shirts are considered a public nuisance. He said three citations have been issued since 2003.

Teen uses stolen card, fills out application
Police say a Dover, New Hampshire, teen suspected of using a stolen credit card at a store left a pretty good clue to his identity by filling out a job application at the same store. Fandi Pradipta, 18, pleaded guilty Tuesday to using a stolen card at a store in the Fox Run Mall in Newington. Police said Pradipta made the investigation easier because he had been at the home of the card owner the day before it was reported stolen, then after using the card, he filled out a complete job application — name, address, telephone number. He was fined and given a suspended sentence.

Australian jail break foiled by air vent
A woman who attempted to escape from jail in Sydney had to be rescued by police after she became stuck in an air conditioning duct, police said on Thursday. The 22-year-old woman had just been refused bail by a Sydney court when she attempted the escape, but then spent about an hour stuck in the air vent before she was rescued. Police in the New South Wales state said the woman would now face an extra charge of attempting to escape.

Italians who had sex in church confessional repent
An Italian couple who were caught having sex in a church confessional box while morning Mass was being said have repented and made peace with the local bishop. The couple, in their early 30s, were detained by police earlier this month after they had made love in the confessional box in the cathedral in northern Cesena. They were cautioned for obscene acts in public and disturbing a religious function. Their lawyer said they had been drinking all night and realised they had gone too far. The lawyer told the area's local newspaper on Wednesday the couple met with the local bishop on Tuesday night, asked for his forgiveness and that he had given it. Last week the bishop celebrated a "Mass of reparation" in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege.

Wisconsin Groom arrested at own wedding reception
Nicholas Morrison spent his wedding night in a La Crosse County, Wisconsin jail cell.  Police said the 22-year-old groom was intoxicated and unruly when he was arrested for disorderly conduct about 11:55 p.m. Saturday during his wedding reception at the La Crosse Center. Officers found Morrison being held down and attempting to fight with several wedding guests in the center’s lobby after a call to dispatch reported Morrison was causing problems, throwing garbage cans and refusing to leave the building, reports stated. At one point, Morrison moved his outburst from outside his wedding reception to outside another one being held at the Radisson Hotel, according to police reports. Morrison tried to free himself from the officer’s escort hold, then refused to cooperate and speak with police.

Depressed man flings dog off balcony, cops say
Depressed about his divorce, a Kendall, Florida accountant took out his frustration by hurling his mother's dog to its death from a fourth-story balcony. Carlos A. Varela, 50, was charged with animal cruelty. His mother, Bertha Varela, 72, called Miami-Dade police just after midnight Monday to their home at the Tuscano Apartments. According to Miami-Dade Officer Alejandro Aragon's arrest report, Varela ''spontaneously stated'' he was depressed about his divorce and threw the dog from the balcony. Records show a judge granted his then-wife, Xiaotiui Varela, a divorce in May. A permanent domestic violence restraining order was also issued. The couple has one child together. 

Court Makes Pranksters Apologize On YouTube As Punishment
Two Central Florida boys who used YouTube for a prank that led to battery charges posted an apology on the same video-sharing service Monday as part of their unique punishment. The judge's order to post the video apology comes about a year after the boys committed a prank known as "fire in the hole". Jessica Ceponis, 23, leaned out the drive-through window of the Merritt Island Taco Bell last July to hand a carload of teenage boys their soft drinks. Then she turned to get change. Little did she know that she had armed the boys with the ammunition they needed. "Fire in the hole!" the boys yelled as they hurled a 32-ounce cup of blue soda and ice at the left side of Ceponis' jaw. They sped off, leaving her dazed. The teens posted the prank on video-sharing Web site YouTube.com, alongside a number of similar videos that were part of what some have called a growing fad. The teens are now posting another video on YouTube: an apology that shows them facedown and handcuffed on the hood of a car. The judge, prosecutor and defense attorneys who devised this punishment hope it will serve as a deterrent.

Italian Bishop Refuses Wedding to Impotent Man
An Italian bishop has denied a young paraplegic a church wedding because he is impotent, media in Rome have reported. Although the man's fiancée is aware of the problem, a spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo, central Italy, said that "no bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of impotence as it is a motive for annulment." The 26-year-old groom has been paraplegic since he was involved in a car accident. He and his fiancée were married in a civil ceremony on Saturday, June 7, in Viterbo.  Attending the ceremony was their parish curate, who was banned from marrying the couple in church.
 

Police nab man claiming to be Christ, George Bush
A Jefferson County Jail inmate has quite a tale to tell about how he got there. The nude man claimed to be Jesus Christ and George Bush when sheriff's deputies shot him with a stun gun after he ignored their commands. A motorist spotted the 30-year-old standing nude in the middle of Alabama 79 early Friday morning and called police. The man struggled with police and was shot with a Taser four times before they subdued him and put him in handcuffs and leg irons. He told the deputies he was Jesus Christ and George Bush and could break the handcuffs. Police say he appeared to be intoxicated. The man was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Crews rescue nude man stuck in portable potty
Rescue crews had to cut apart a portable toilet to rescue a man who got stuck naked inside the potty. Authorities say the 31-year-old man used his cell phone to call 911 on Sunday from inside a portable toilet. Police say the man had been drinking and had taken off his clothes. Somehow, he immersed himself in the holding tank. Deputy fire commissioner Chris Miller told WPMT-TV, "I've been on the job in one form or fashion for 21 years, and this is the first port-a-potty rescue I've ever had." Police charged the man with public drunkenness and creating a health code violation, but they have no idea why he was in the toilet with his clothes off. They said he didn't suffer any serious injuries.

Senior prankers get pranked
Sometimes the punkers end up being the punkees.   Nyack, New York, High School seniors pulled a prank this week that involved going into the school late at night, removing nearly all the classroom desks and chairs, and lining them up in the shape of a giant "2008" on the field behind the school.  After spending several hours on the prank, they completed their work and went home.  However, another group came out to the field afterward and rearranged the desks in the shape of a penis, which is what everyone saw when they arrived the next morning.  Senior Erin Cummins said, "Personally, it was upsetting to see all our hard work turn into a huge penis."

Your 1-year-old does not make an appropriate designated driver
After an evening of drinking, Goshen Township, Ohio’s Marya Green did the smart thing and handed her car keys to a designated driver.  That’s about where intelligence ended for the evening as Marya and her three kids were soon pulled over.  The officer quickly determined that the designated driver was unlicensed.  That’s because it was Green's 1-year-old son at the wheel, sitting in mom's lap. This was Marya’s third DUI arrest in six years and this time police threw in child endangerment and other charges as well.

Typo on diplomas embarrasses Ohio principal
A Cleveland-area principal says he's embarrassed his students got proof of their "educaiton" on their high school diplomas. Westlake High School officials misspelled "education" on the diplomas distributed last weekend. It's been the subject of mockery on local radio. Principal Timothy Freeman says he sent back the diplomas once to correct another error. When the diplomas came back, no one bothered to check things they thought were right the first time. The publisher has reprinted the diplomas a second time and sent them to the 330 graduates.

Woman accused of setting gas price protest fires
A Danville, California woman faces arson charges after she allegedly set fires at two gas stations and a coffee house, saying she was protesting high gas prices. The woman, 64, remained Thursday in a Contra Costa jail on $810,000 bail on suspicion of premeditated arson and burglary. Police say the woman used a fireplace log and a lighter to set fires in the restrooms of an Arco station, a Chevron station and a Starbucks on Wednesday. No structural damage was reported at the locations. Police later found the woman at a nearby fast food restaurant with eight fireplace logs with her. She told officers that she was behind the fires and said she woke up that morning wanting to do something about high gas prices. Police say they don't know why she targeted the Starbucks. Charges have not yet been filed.

Senior Prank sends out letter on school stationery... and condoms...
Officials at Brooksville, Florida’s Hernando High School didn’t think one senior prank was very funny.  Two students have confessed to using a piece of the school’s official stationery, the school's automated postage machine and address labels taken from the school's computer database to send out letters to some 400 parents of sophomores at the school.  The letters stated that sex education classes will no longer be offered at the school and included a wrapped condom and encouragement for parents to "take on the responsibility of teaching their children about safe sex."  The letters were signed with fictitious names similar to those used in the Austin Powers movies.  Since the students in question finished with their final exams, testing and classes, they can’t be suspended or kept from graduating, but they will likely be punished.

8-foot statue of Jesus stolen off Detroit crucifix
Thieves who stole an 8-foot statue of Jesus Christ off a crucifix in Detroit may have been seeking copper to sell as scrap. Problem is, it's made of plaster. The Rev. Barry Randolph said Wednesday that the statue at the Church of the Messiah is green and looks like copper, one of several metals coveted by thieves because of soaring scrap prices. Thieves have damaged copper pipes and stolen aluminum gutters at the church over the past few months. It's unclear when the statue was snatched. A parishioner noticed it missing Monday from its perch on the side of the church, 10 feet above the ground. A small piece of plaster was found nearby. The church has made a public plea for help. "It is so crazy," Randolph said. "It's been there for so long and was a symbol of hope to a lot of people in this neighborhood." Police were investigating, but department spokesman James Tate said it was doubtful thieves had mistaken the plaster statue for copper. "People who steal copper know what copper is and what it feels like," Tate said. "There is no way they would think a plaster statue is some type of metal."

Using a cinder block as a driver's seat not a good idea. Especially if the car doesn't have a brake pedal.
A Hilton Head Island, South Carolina woman learned the hard way that a car with a cinder block for a seat should not be trusted. Just after 9 a.m. Monday, the 51-year-old woman got in the stripped-down Nissan sedan and backed out of the driveway of her Oleander Street home, according to a Beaufort County sheriff's report. When she applied the brakes, she realized there were none -- the car didn't even have a brake pedal. So the woman jumped out, ran around back and tried to stop the car by pushing against it, the report stated.  The car continued to roll, pinning her against a palmetto tree. A sheriff's deputy happened to drive by within a couple of minutes and noticed the woman waving him down as she lay near the car on a bike path. She was taken to the emergency room. Her son pushed the car back up the driveway. The deputy described the vehicle as completely empty inside, except for the cinder block seat.
 

Couple, 100 and 99, drove wrong way on highway
Police say an elderly couple, aged 100 and 99, who drove the wrong way along a highway for more than a mile in New Zealand before crashing will probably be asked to surrender their driver's licenses. Police said the duo amazingly managed to dodge oncoming vehicles during their wrong-way jaunt Sunday on New Zealand's busiest highway near the capital, Wellington.  Their vehicle eventually collided with on oncoming car. They suffered minor injuries. The pair are unlikely to face charges and police are still trying to determine who was driving the car at the time of the incident and how they ended up going the wrong way.

Wandering cow stalls Hwy. 24 commuters
Moooooooove over! A cow with wanderlust held up commuters for nearly an hour this morning after crossing the westbound lanes of Hwy 24 in California on the east side of the Caldecott Tunnel.  The tan bovine then hung out in the highway median before approaching the tunnel entrance, deciding against going in and returning to the median, said the Caltrans spokesman.  California Highway Patrol offers closed westbound traffic shortly after the call came in at 8:52 a.m., which caused cars to back up to Acalanes Road. Traffic cleared by 9:49 a.m, according to CHP.  He said Contra Costa County Animal Control 0fficers and three firefighters teamed up to escort the cow to the Shakespeare Festival grounds in Orinda off Gateway Boulevard.  When asked if that shatters the stereotype that when it comes to animals, firefighters simply help cats down from trees, Haven said: They're "jack of all trades."

Dutch man injures posterior in mooning accident
An unidentified 21-year-old man in the Netherlands has suffered a severe case of butt crack.  The man’s face wasn’t the only thing that was red after a mooning incident went bad.  The man and two of his pals were running down a street in Utrecht with their pants pulled down in the back as a joke.  Unfortunately, the joke was on him when he pushed his butt up against the window of a restaurant.  According to the police report, the man "pushed his behind against the window of a restaurant" that broke and resulted in "deep wounds to his derriere."

Senior and wheelchair-bound friend catch young thief
Often times, ingenious robberies are followed by not so ingenious getaways.  Take 22-year-old Erin VanMatre of Kingston, Pennsylvania.  She was lurking near a bank when she spotted a prime target.  Erin came out of nowhere and grabbed $100 cash from 71-year-old Harry Kopenis.   However, Erin only managed to flee 30 yards before she was captured.  It wasn’t police that captured the not so fleet-footed Erin, but 71-year-old Harry and his wheelchair-bound neighbor, who put her in a headlock and held her for police.

Woman arrested for non-emergency 911 calls
Police in Benton say Tabitha Artis was persistent in dialing up the county's 911 system, and they're calling it a crime. The 27-year-old woman was arrested for disorderly conduct for allegedly making several 911 calls police didn't consider emergencies.
Police said she first called the emergency line early Saturday, complaining that her husband left the home with her car keys. When a neighbor reported the Artises fighting, police took Artis' husband away on a suspected parole violation. Police say Tabitha Artis then called 911 three times in 25 minutes, demanding an explanation for her husband's arrest while dispatchers already were swamped with calls about a weather-related power outage. So police arrested the woman. The Artises don't have a listed telephone number.

Man orders father murdered to get his job
An Indian man, frustrated at failing to find employment, ordered the murder of his father to get his government job, a day before the victim was to retire, police said on Tuesday. The man, arrested from a village in the impoverished eastern Bihar state, had planned to claim his father's job on the grounds that he died while still at work, police said. The son had paid a relative about $2,500 to carry out the crime which was committed at the weekend but reported on Tuesday. "He told us he would have got a government job on compassionate grounds had this murder remained a mystery," police officer Naresh Singh said. The victim worked as a low-ranking employee at a local office.

Good idea: tying shoelaces.  Bad idea: tying shoelaces on train tracks.
The parents of Waverly, Virginia, 16-year-old Malcolm Pezzano probably warned him that it was unsafe to walk around with his shoelaces untied.  That’s because when Matthew noticed his shoe was untied he immediately bent over to tie it.  What Malcolm didn’t notice was that he was standing on railroad tracks or the train that was about to hit him.  Malcolm didn’t live to tie another shoelace.

Surgeons Remove 16 Steel Washers From Man's 'Nether Region'
A fortunately for him unnamed Australian man (in the northern Sydney suburb of Berowra) had to be rushed to the hospital to undergo an operation.  Berowra Fire Rescue officers were called to alleviate the man from his awkward predicament at 3 a.m. After firemen spent more than an hour trying unsuccessfully to free the man, they took him to the ER at Hornsby Hospital in Berowrato have 16 stainless steel washers removed from his "down under".  A hospital spokesman said equipment normally used to remove rings from fingers was ineffective because of the thicker nature of the washers.  An unsympathetic local reporter  noted that it was not clear how the situation arose, but the man may well have thought long and hard about placing himself in the difficult situation.

Girl, 8, Survives Swallowing 20 Steel Marbles, 10 Magnets
The parents of an 8-year-old Southern Indiana girl who swallowed 20 marble-size steel balls and half as many magnets from a building set want the toy completely removed from stores. Haley Lents of Huntingburg underwent emergency intestinal surgery last month in Indianapolis after she swallowed pieces from her Mega Brands Magnetix MagnaCase set. She was taken to the emergency room for stomach pains, and an X-ray revealed the force from the magnets had torn her intestines in eight places. Doctors told Haley's parents her intestines looked like they had been punctured by eight gunshot wounds or stab-like holes, Haley's father told CBS' Early Show on Monday; it is being reported by cbsnews.com.
Haley, who spent two weeks in the hospital, is lucky to be alive, doctors said, according to cbsnews.com. Jason Lents, Haley's father, told the Early Show he and his wife were in the same room as Haley when she ate the toy parts, but did not realize she had done so. Haley's family plans to meet soon with an investigator from the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to discuss ways to keep other children safe. "We're going to work toward getting them out of the schools and off the shelves," Lents said.
Mega Brands recalled about 2.4 million of the Chinese-made toys in March because the small magnets could fall out. The recall said more than one magnet, if swallowed, could attach to each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage, which can be fatal. Two years earlier, Mega Brands recalled 3.8 million Magnetix sets because one child died and four others were seriously injured after swallowing magnets in the toys. In April 2007 that recall was expanded to include an additional 4 million Mega Brands magnetic toys.

Police say red dye pack exploded in man's pants
Staffers at a pawn shop in Fort Lauderdale thought the shopper with a goatee looked suspicious. Their instincts were confirmed Monday when, two minutes later, a red dye pack exploded in the man's pants. He fled the store, ditching a stolen wad of cash that contained the theft-detection device. Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokeswoman Kathy Collins said the man matched descriptions of a robber who pilfered a bag of money from a Pompano Beach bank about an hour earlier. Authorities are still looking for him. No one was injured but bystanders in the shop complained their eyes stung from the dye mixture that contained some Mace.

Man shoots self while showing how to handle a gun
An Alexandria man was recovering after accidentally shooting himself while showing his girlfriend how to handle a pistol on Saturday in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.  The 21-year-old man told investigators he forgot he had just reloaded the gun, and squeezed the trigger while putting the gun into the driver's door panel. The bullet went through his inner left thigh. The man repeatedly told investigators he was ex-military and knows how to handle a gun, and was very embarrassed by the incident.

Teen blames kiss for her drunken driving arrest
They say a lover's kiss can be intoxicating. Gianna Vigliotti, who was pulled over by police as she swerved in and out of her lane on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset Friday night, said that's exactly what happened to her. After the 17-year-old from Glen Cove recorded a 0.15 percent blood-alcohol level in a portable breath test -- nearly the twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent -- she told the officer who pulled her over, "I didn't drink! I was kissing a boy who was drunk," according to the police report. It made no difference to Officer Michael Pallazzo whether Vigliotti's speech was slurred from smooching or from swigging. When he found four full beer bottles under the passenger seat of her Volkswagen and an empty beer can in her purse, he placed her under arrest. She pleaded not guilty the following day, and was released to probation without bail. She is next due in court June 18. Vigliotti's attorney, Dennis Lemke of Mineola, said his client and her family are devastated by the charge. "To now have it publicized is not only embarrassing, but demeaning as well," he said. "We expect it to be resolved in the near future."

Man accused of spraying woman's shoes with water
A woman told Cincinnati police that she heard a noise and then felt something cold on her feet. Police said a man crawled under a table at a University of Cincinnati library and used a syringe to spray saltwater onto the woman's shoes. Dwight Pannell, 43, of Columbus, was booked on charges of voyeurism, assault and criminal trespass. Pannell was silent in court a court appearance on Thursday. His attorney argued that Pannell's alleged actions didn't warrant the charges against him.
The woman told officers that after she heard something coming from under her table and felt the sensation on her feet, she looked down and saw a man on his knee holding a syringe. The judge set Pannell's bond at $75,000.

Man fined for throwing hedgehog at teen
A New Zealand man who assaulted a teen by hitting him with a spine-covered hedgehog has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his victim. Whakatane District Court was told Thursday that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog, a small prickly-backed animal similar to the porcupine, and threw it several yards at a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9. Police said the teen was hit in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks. The injury did not require medical treatment. Singalargh was convicted of common assault and offensive behavior following a defended hearing. He had pleaded innocent to the charges. He was fined a total of $545, of which $389 were paid to his victim.
A more serious charge of assault with a weapon — the hedgehog — was dropped. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison. It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said earlier that it was dead when collected as evidence.

Naked Woman Slams SUV; Woman Being Evaluated, Faces Multiple Charges
Police in a town near Salt Lake City, Utah are trying to get down to the naked truth about a bizarre hit-and-run. It started when a woman rammed her car into a sport utility vehicle in the town of Sandy.  She then backed up and hit the SUV again. Surveillance cameras from the neighborhood picked up the collisions. The woman then hopped out of her car, naked, and approached the occupants the SUV. "This lady was speeding directly towards us, and I tried to warn my friend to get out of the way," said Fred Rollins, driver of the SUV. "But it seemed like she was intent on hitting us and she did. And as we backed out of her way, she came and hit us again." Police said the 38-year-old woman has a history of mental illness. "She jumped out of the car and she was naked, stark naked, and tried to attack me or something," Rollins said. The woman also followed a 14-year-old girl home, kicked in the door of the girl's home and resisted arrest when officers arrived. She was taken to the University of Utah hospital where she's being evaluated, authorities said. She faces charges including aggravated assault, leaving the scene of an accident, trespassing, criminal mischief and lewdness.

N.C. police capture nude man accused of thefts
Police responding to a tip about a naked man walking on a state highway in Lumberton say he's connected to a three-week string of thefts involving more than $85,000 worth of property. The Fayetteville Observer reported that police say Jonathan Michael Allen stole two vehicles, televisions, power tools and jewelry. The 31-year-old is charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering, larceny and burglary. Allen was charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering, larceny and burglary. Lumberton Police Lt. Johnny Barnes said Allen was stealing and selling the property to support a drug habit. Police spotted Allen in a stolen car Tuesday night, but he got away. Officers were searching for him Wednesday morning when they got the tip. Barnes says Allen didn't even have on any socks. "He was naked as the day he was born," Barnes said. Allen's bail is set at $150,000 and he is set to appear in court on June 13.

Nude man accused in 10th-floor balcony break-in
Ann Arbor police are not sure how a naked man managed to get to a 10th floor apartment balcony for a pre-dawn break-in. Police in the University of Michigan campus town said a resident called about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, saying someone was breaking in through a sliding glass door on his balcony. The naked, wet intruder ran out the apartment's front door and tried to escape, but police caught him in the parking lot of Huron Towers Apartments. Police sent the 42-year-old Ann Arbor man for psychiatric observation at the university's medical center. A Police Detective told The Ann Arbor News the man once lived in the building. Kinsey says investigators can't figure out how or why the man got in.

Mexican steals girl's jewelry, then swallows it
A Mexican man bit off more than he could chew when he allegedly stole a gold bracelet from an 8-year-old girl and then swallowed the evidence, Monterrey police said Tuesday. Jose Rigoberto Cruz Salas, 25, was being administered laxatives to recover the evidence at a jail in a suburb of the northern city of Monterrey. Cruz Salas admitted to the theft. He told the local newspaper, El Norte, that he had swallowed the bracelet when he saw police coming. "I just suddenly ate it. I saw the patrol car and the only thing that occurred to me was to swallow it," Cruz Salas said.

Man assaulted with Moon Pies near store
An 84-year-old man told police he was physically assaulted outside Dollar General in Galesburg, TN. The victim said he was in front of Michael Farquer, 53, homeless, in line at the store. He had paid for his items and was leaving the store on foot when he felt something striking him repeatedly on the back. The victim said he turned and found Farquer striking him with an item inside a yellow Dollar General bag. He returned to the store and asked a cashier to call the police, and Farquer followed him. Farquer then stood to the side, raising and shaking the bag while chanting, “Hi yuh.” A clerk inside the store told police Farquer seemed agitated when she waited on him, and that he threw a dollar at her and followed the victim out of the store. She said he owed the store 5 cents. Farquer told police he didn’t remember attacking the victim, but he had spent time in jail for a similar incident a few years ago. Police later determined the item inside the bag to be a $1 box of Moon Pies. The battered box was taken as evidence. Farquer was arrested for battery and is being held in the Knox County jail.

Robber pretended to be clerk to steal cash
Police have arrested a man they say pretended to be a new employee at a 7-Eleven so he could learn to use the cash register and steal its contents. Police said the man was trained how to use the cash register at the store after falsely claiming he was a new employee. The suspect returned to the store twice that day to make purchases. On the final visit, the clerk commented on his photo ID when the suspect was trying to buy beer, and the man allegedly pulled a gun and forced the woman into a bathroom. Police said the suspect pretended to be the store clerk and was helping customers when the real clerk broke free and emerged with a gun. The man fled with stolen money. Marc Antoine Stovall, 21, was arrested Monday in Phoenix and was booked for investigation of armed robbery, kidnapping and third-degree burglary. He admitted to the crime during an interview with investigators and was in jail Tuesday.

Are those Slim Jims in your pants?
When planning to shoplift, it’s never a good idea to call attention to yourself.  That was the first mistake for Port St. Lucie, Florida’s Jerry Boston Jr.  Jerry went into a convenience store and punched a man four times for no apparent reason.  He then stuffed some 23 packs of Slim Jims and hot sausages in his pants.  Clerks say that when Jerry tried to pay for one hot sausage they could see five more sticking out of his pants.  When one clerk tried to call the police, Jerry called her a lesbian and told her to "be cool" because he had to feed his kids.  The kids are apparently still hungry as police caught Jerry trying to make a getaway on his bicycle.

Japan man stalks toll-free line to hear woman's voice
A Japanese man was arrested for calling a food company's toll-free number 500 times in 16 months because he wanted to hear the woman's voice on the automated tape, police said on Monday. The 38-year-old plumber, who was arrested on Sunday, made 3,100 hours worth of free calls to the company, costing it almost 4 million yen ($38,730) in phone bills, a police spokesman in Takasaki, northwest of Tokyo, said. "He gets excited by the woman's voice on the guidance tape," the spokesman said, adding that the voice sounded normal to the detective who was involved in the investigation. The food company asked for its name to be withheld. The spokesman said police are investigating if the man placed an excessive number of calls to any other firms.

Japan customs lose hidden drugs in dog training
One of the travellers who arrived at Tokyo's Narita airport over the weekend may have picked up an unusual souvenir from customs -- a package of cannabis.  A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as a training exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday, but lost track of both drugs and suitcase during the practice session, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said. Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official said he had used passengers' suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported. "The dogs have always been able to find it before," NHK quoted him as saying. "I became overconfident that it would work." Anyone who finds the package should contact Tokyo customs as soon as possible, the spokeswoman said.

Hair patrol: Louisiana barber ticketed for Monday work
Police in this town wouldn't cut a break for a barber who ran afoul of an obscure law barring him from working Sundays and Mondays. Clyde Scott had opened his shop May 19 just to trim up a few students getting ready for their graduation ceremony when an officer gave him a citation. A law on the books in Houma for decades bars barbers from working Sundays, Mondays, any of several holidays and even the day after Labor Day. "I didn't know it existed," said Scott, 32, who has owned Clippas barbershop for about two years. "It's crazy."
Parish Council Clerk Paul Labat said he didn't know exactly how long the law has been on the books, but that it dates to the years before the parish and city governments merged in 1981. "It's still an active law," he told The Courier of Houma. Houma police spokesman Lt. Todd Duplantis said police discovered the ordinance after receiving complaints about people loitering outside the barbershop, and an officer was instructed to issue a summons. Duplantis said it was the first time he had heard of such a ticket being written in his 23 years with the department. District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. won't be prosecuting the case. In fact, he's asking the parish council to repeal the law as unconstitutional. "It's our job to prosecute criminals, not barbers," he said.
James Adams, president of the Louisiana Board of Barber Examiners, the state licensing agency for barbers and their shops, said he thinks the law is a vestige of "strong-arm" tactics used by a barber's union in the 1950s and '60s. "I'm surprised such a law is still on the books," he said.

New York gallery owner arrested for serving drinks
Wine, cheese — and police?  An East Hampton art gallery owner was led away in handcuffs Saturday after she refused to stop serving drinks at an opening bash for a celebrity photo exhibit. As about 200 startled guests looked on, Ruth Kalb — generally known as Ruth Vered, after her gallery's name — was arrested on a charge of selling alcohol without a liquor license. "I told them I've been doing this since before they were born," said Vered, 67, whose gallery has been a fixture of the Hamptons art scene for more than 30 years. "They have some nerve." She said the wine and Champagne were free. Mayor Paul Rickenbach said police were just doing their job. "It's not something that's new and out of the blue at all," he said. Vered was throwing the party — during the traditional Memorial Day weekend start of the resort's summer season — to celebrate an exhibit of photographs of Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Angelina Jolie and other stars. Vered is due to be arraigned June 25 in East Hampton Town Court.

Bizarre, half-naked river rescue
Reno’s 23-year-old Blake Lister was screaming for help as he was washed down the Truckee River.  However, when rescue teams caught up with him, he resisted assistance and managed to pull himself onto a large rock.  It was then noticed that he was wearing only a T-shirt.  When rescuers finally pulled him from the river, Blake told them, “I’ll never take drugs again!”  He was arrested for indecent exposure and that T-shirt he was wearing?  Yes, it was a D.A.R.E. T-shirt.

Teen Nabbed For Naked MySpace Photos
Cops: Boy posted explicit shots of ex-girlfriend as way of "venting"
Meet Alex Phillips. The Wisconsin teenager is facing felony child pornography charges for allegedly posting naked photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. When contacted by police about the two images, Phillips, 17, balked at removing the pictures of the girl. Warned that he could face jail for publishing images of the minor, Phillips told an investigator, "F that, I am keeping them up," according to a criminal complaint filed yesterday in Lacrosse County Circuit Court. Phillips, pictured in the below mug shot, told cops that he posted the photos last week "because he was venting." The cell phone camera photos had been taken by the girl, who provided them to Phillips. Along with posting the photos, Phillips added explicit captions like, "Yo, U see how big her hole is! Its from me!" While claiming that his goal was not to harm the girl, Phillips acknowledged that, "he probably should not have done this," according to the May 20 court filing. Along with the child porn count, Phillips was charged with defamation and sexual exploitation of a child.

Woman strips after wolf whistle
Road workers in a small New Zealand town got their wish granted when a woman stripped saying she was fed up with their wolf-whistles. The Israeli tourist was about to use an ATM in the main street of Kerikeri, in the far north of the country, when the men whistled, the New Zealand Press Association reported. She calmly stripped off, used the cash machine, before getting dressed and walking away. The woman told police she didn't take too kindly to the whistling from the men repairing the road. "She said she had thought 'bugger them, I'll show them what I've got'," Police Sergeant Peter Masters told NZPA. "She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive looking lady," Masters said. "She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate in New Zealand."

Loud cell phone user prompts pepper spray attack
Police say a woman wielding pepper spray injured herself and 18 others in a Vienna, Austria subway car when she attacked a man who complained she was talking too loudly on her cell phone.  Authorities say the incident  injured 17 schoolchildren, their teacher and the cell-phone talker herself. All were taken to the hospital.  The man who complained appears not to have been affected; police say he had left the scene by the time they arrived.  Police also say the complainer and the phone talker lashed out at each other physically before the woman resorted to the pepper spray.

Every pupil's dream: the exam with answers on back
It sounds like every student's dream -- turning over an exam paper and finding the answers on the back.  But that was what happened to 12,000 lucky teenagers when they sat their GCSE music exam last week. The OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA) examination board admitted on Thursday that, because of a "printing error", papers sent to schools had answers to questions on the back page. "All exam papers have a copyright statement dealing with source material on the back page," an OCR spokeswoman said. "This one in particular had more detail than is usual in a music paper." The exam board said only 5 percent of the overall marks on the paper were possibly affected and students would not have to do a re-sit as most pupils seemed to have been unaware of their good fortune. "It is unlikely that any of the 12,000 students sitting the examination would have recognised the value of the information ... and subsequently used it," said the spokeswoman, adding there had been just 20 queries from teachers. "OCR is confident that the procedures put in place will ensure that all candidates get the grades that their hard work deserves."

Woman nabbed for alleged DUI at same crash spot
Call it drunken driving deja vu. For the second time in five months, a 23-year-old California woman has been arrested after she allegedly crashed her car while driving under the influence at the exact same spot north of Lake Tahoe. And to top it off, Truckee Police say that in both cases, her blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit. Police say Melissa Dennison of Truckee crashed at about noon on Sunday on Glenshire Drive just south of the Glenshire Bridge. They say she was extremely intoxicated and had trouble standing or walking. Her blood alcohol level initially was measured at .346. The legal limit is .08. Dennison also had been charged with a DUI in January when she crashed at the same spot and registered a blood alcohol level of .380. I