Sunday, July 31, 2011

5,000th Post!!

Our Five Thousandth post!!

Dear Readers;

Today Man o' Law has reached another milestone.  This is our 5000 th post!

Thank you for continuing to read this blog.  It is you that keeps me going!

Regards and best wishes,

Man o' Law

Fooling the check-cashers

You gotta admit this was rather clever of him.


Thief dresses like armored truck guard and -- walks out of Queens check-cashing spot with $15K in cash
By Joe Kemp - NY Daily News

A clever crook, dressed as an armored truck guard, waltzed out of a Queens check-cashing joint last week with almost $15,000 in cash, cops said.

After stepping into Lorenzo's Enterprises on 31st St. in Astoria about 10:15 a.m. Friday, the disguised bandit said he was there for a pickup and was given the load of cash, police said.

The employees never suspected the man, who was clad in a GARDA Armored Courier uniform, was a thief.

You're number one, Buddy

Okay then.

Ask them for help if and when you need it.


Man exercises free speech rights by giving cops the finger
www.clumsycrooks.com


Robert Ekas filed a federal lawsuit to defend what he says is his First Amendment right to express himself by flipping off police officers.

"I did it because I have the right to do it," Ekas said. "We all have that right, and we all need to test it.
 Otherwise we'll lose it."

He's no Einstein

Who does stupid shit like this?

Well, obviously Einstein here does.



NY fugitive taunts police on Facebook
Associated Press -

NEW YORK (AP) - A fugitive from upstate New York who taunted police on his Facebook page to 'catch me if you can. I'm in Brooklyn' has been arrested.

The Daily News says U.S. marshals and NYPD detectives tracked Victor Burgos down to an apartment in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood Monday night, sitting at his computer with his Facebook page open.

The 29-year-old suspect was wanted by Utica police on multiple arrest warrants for domestic violence and harassment of his former girlfriend.

The rest of the story:

Irony thy name is Proffitt

Ironically her name is Proffitt.

<===== Ironic photo


Former waitress arrested, accused of changing tips
by Matt McKinney -Digtriad.com

Thomasville, NC -- A former waitress at a Thomasville Restaurant was arrested and accused of manipulating tip amounts on customer's checks.

Judy Proffitt, 26, was charged with seven counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. 

Investigators said they were notified by the owner of East Coast Wings on Randolph Street of Proffitt's actions.   Proffitt was an employee there from February to June 2011.

The rest of the story:

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Hasan wannabe

Thank God for stupidity.


Criminal complaint lists bomb-making materials
By Sig Christenson - Express-News

WACO — A criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Waco says Pfc. Naser Abdo admitted that he planned to assemble two bombs in his Killeen hotel room.

The document, released after Abdo's initial appearance in court following his arrest this week, said he possessed gunpowder and shrapnel, as well as pressure cookers, that could have been used to detonate inside an unspecified restaurant frequented by Fort Hood soldiers.

James E. Runkel, an FBI special agent assigned to Austin, filed the complaint Friday alleging that Abdo possessed a firearm and a destructive device. He said the firearm was not registered to Abdo in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

Getting to be ridiculous

Great isn't it?  (sarc)

Rash Of Copper Wire Thefts Plague Vallejo Schools; Start Of School Year May Be Threatened
San Francisco CBSlocal -

VALLEJO (CBS 5) -– Copper theft is nothing new in the Bay Area. But thieves have been particularly busy in Vallejo, where several schools were stripped of the valuable metal in recent weeks.

The problem has become so bad, it may impact the return to school for some students.

At Franklin Middle School, Vallejo Assistant Superintendent Mel Jordan believes three to five thieves sliced through heavy duty bolts and metal brackets to get to copper wire. He said the wire was live and the thieves knew how to take it despite the electrocution risk.

The rest of the story:

Stop the madness!

This stealing of copper and other metals is really getting out of hand.

The folks doing this are low-down scum, pure and simple, in my opinion.

'It just kills the mood of what's going on'
By Lindsay Cohen - KomoNews.com

SEATTLE – Wires, stripped. Pipes, stolen.

The scrap metal thieves who hit Gilda's Club probably didn't realize that they were stealing from kids, some of whom are battling cancer.

“We work so hard in our community. We’ve touched thousands and thousands of lives of people touched by cancer, and now we have to find $10,000 to fix this,” said Anna Gottlieb, the club's executive director. “It’s going to be a real struggle to get everything fixed and up and running again.”

The non-profit discovered the missing copper early this week. Someone called police after seeing two men running from the back of the building late last week, according to a police report. When an officer investigated, he found the copper wiring and pipes missing from two large heating and cooling units behind the club, at 1400 Broadway on Capitol Hill.

The rest of the story:

The world has turned upside down

See?

Just as was predicted last year, the healthcare program will result in the loss of jobs.

WTG Champ.

Also note the reaction of State Senator James Eldridge, the company must be punished well because they make ....profits!!  Heaven forbid!!  Since when is a company supposed to lose money in their business when did we become Bizarro World?


Boston Scientific to lay off 1,200-plus
Boston.com

Boston Scientific Corp. said yesterday that it plans to eliminate 1,200 to 1,400 jobs worldwide during the next 2 ½ years to free money for new investments, the Natick medical device maker’s second major round of cuts since last year.

The company would not say how many jobs will be lost in Massachusetts, where fewer than 2,000 of its 25,000 employees are based. In February 2010, Boston Scientific said it would pare 1,300 jobs worldwide, but similarly did not say where.

Yesterday’s move, a day after Boston Scientific disclosed it was investing $150 million and hiring 1,000 people in China, raised fears that the company will gradually shift more work to foreign sites with less government oversight and lower costs than the United States.

“I’ve asked for information on where they are cutting jobs,’’ said state Senator James B. Eldridge, an Acton Democrat. He has proposed so-called clawback legislation that would allow the state to recover money from businesses that receive tax breaks here - including Boston Scientific - and then reduce their workforces.

“My sense is, sadly, that like many other American companies, they are shedding jobs in Massachusetts and adding jobs overseas,’’ Eldridge said. “And this is a company making greater profits, so it’s even more outrageous.’’

The rest of the story:

Friday, July 29, 2011

Don't steal the towels!!

You know who you are.

Yes, you do.


Don't steal the hotel towels... they're electronically tagged with traceable microchips
By Chris Murphy - MailOnline

The days of hotel guests helping themselves to towels and robes when they check out could be a thing of the past as high tech gets in to the linen.

One company has come up with a way of adding miniature tags in the expensive materials which were costing hotel managements a fortune to constantly replace.

It has long been assumed, wrongly in most cases, that the smart towelling robes and plush fluffy towels were fair game for guests looking to save some cash at home.

The rest of the story:

OMG!!

Over 700,000 pounds sterling in damages.

Is that over $1 million?  It's probably pretty close I'd think.

Oh and of course the driver who caused this massive pile-up of overpriced automobiles was blonde.



Oops, it's a £700,000 prang... Hapless blonde crashes her Bentley into a Merc, Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin
By Lee Moran - MailOnline

When in Monte Carlo, everything is done in style. And that includes crashing your car.

This was the moment when a woman driver caused a £700,000 five-car pile-up as her Bentley  collided with a Mercedes, Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin.< Disaster struck as the hapless blonde negotiated the traffic around the Place du Casino in her £250,000 Bentley Azure.

The driver of a white Mercedes S Class worth £75,000 was the first victim as the 2.7-ton Bentley scraped down the side of it before ploughing into a £143,000 black Ferrari F430.

The rest of the story:

Vas ist los?

This is kinda funny.

No we are complaining of pot by the road not pot holes in the road!


Police: Cannabis on busy Vienna thoroughfare
Associated Press -

VIENNA (AP) — Vienna police have shut down an unusual cannabis "ring" — hemp growing along the Austrian capital's busy Ring Street encircling the city's center.

Alerted by a news article about the illegal crop, police officers on Friday plucked a 200-meter (yard) stretch of green space along the three-lane street clean of the offending plants.

They acted after a Viennese biology student walking along the Ringstrasse identified the green sprouts poking through bark mulch beneath the stately trees seaming the street and told the Heute about his discovery.

Police are investigating.

What we have here is a good start

Congratulations!


DEA, local cops bust meth ring
By Dalondo Moultrie New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung


NEW BRAUNFELS — Law enforcement authorities boasted Thursday in New Braunfels about taking down a multi-state drug-peddling organization and hauling in 15 dealers and more than half a million dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Authorities are seizing a New Braunfels campground where they say they learned crystal methamphetamine was being sold and investigation of which led to the gang’s capture.

The rest of the story:

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Going, going, gone?

Of course now that we've ended our space shuttle program without a replacement vehicle we cannot do anything to stop this.

Thank you President Obama for retreating from space. (sarcasm)


Russia plans to sink the International Space Station in 2020
By Jeremy A. Kaplan - Fox News


Russia's space agency announced Wednesday that the International Space Station -- a space base the world's scientists and billions of U.S. tax dollars helped build and maintain some 200 miles above the surface of the Earth -- will be de-orbited and allowed to sink into the Pacific Ocean in 2020, just like its Russian predecessor, Mir.

"We will be forced to sink the ISS. We cannot leave it in orbit as it is a very complicated and a heavy object," Roscosmos' deputy head Vitaly Davydov said in an interview posted on the agency's website.

"We have agreed with our partners that the ISS would function roughly until 2020," he noted.

After sinking hundreds of millions into construction of the space station -- billions if you include the cost of the space shuttle flights that carried the ISS modules into orbit -- knowledgeable government sources and NASA spokesmen were aghast at Davydov's plans to sink the station in the ocean.

A *ahem* ballsy move

Really?  This is going to trial?

Estimated cost of trial is $10,000.00.


Woman gets jury trial for displaying plastic testicles on truck
Live5news -

BONNEAU, S.C. (WCSC) - A Bonneau woman wanted to make a statement, so she decorated her truck with a set of red plastic testicles. And now a jury gets to decide if she was exercising free speech or being just obscene.

Virginia Tice was given a $445 ticket July 5 that accuses her of violating the state's obscene bumper sticker law.

And other than a hefty fine, the ticket is causing a huge controversy that extends far past the Bonneau city limits.

The rest of the story:

Rationing Detroit

Back to the devolution.

It sounds like its horrible but its a rational plan from what I can tell.


Detroit to set services by neighborhood condition
CNBC -

DETROIT - Detroit neighborhoods with more people and a better chance of survival will receive different levels of city services than more blighted areas under a plan unveiled Wednesday that some residents fear may pit them against each other for scarce resources.

Mayor Dave Bing released details from his Detroit Works Project, calling the changes a "short-term intervention" necessary because the city, with limited financial resources, a $155 million budget deficit and a dwindling population, was spread dangerously thin.

"Our focus is going to be on the people in the neighborhoods," Bing said. "We can effect real change and improve neighborhoods."

Loo -k Out!!

It must gbe some sort of secret weapon.

I am glad the airman will recover.


Exploding toilet injures Air Force man during military exercises
The Courier-Mail

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia - A man from the Royal Australian Air Force suffered life-threatening third-degree burns after a portaloo exploded Monday at an airport Down Under -- an incident connected to an ongoing US-led military exercise in the area, The Courier-Mail reported.

Officials believe the man was using the portable toilet (also known as a port-a-potty) at Rockhampton Airport, in the state of Queensland, when he lit a cigarette.

"There was some sort of explosion," a Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said. "He suffered burns to his head, face, arms, chest and airways."



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Have a nice day too!

McDonald's is (has?) going to get a bad reputation.

What was this off-duty manager thinking?

a. Its not her shift and

b. It was a service dog.


From the blog Bark around Town:

In case you didn’t know, service dogs are trained to accompany their charges everywhere – from school to restaurants to grocery stores – and are licensed to do so. They need to be allowed to do their job. (Note that a service dog and a therapy dog are not the same thing. A therapy dog is trained and certified, but needs to be invited into some place like a school. A service dog is allowed to go anywhere their human goes.)

Here is part of the NYS law, from the Animal Legal and Historical Center:
1. No person shall be denied admittance to and/or the equal use of and enjoyment of any public facility solely because said person is a person with a disability and is accompanied by a guide dog, hearing dog or service dog.

2. For the purposes of this section the term “public facility” shall include, but shall not be limited to, all modes of public and private transportation, all forms of public and private housing accommodations whether permanent or temporary, buildings to which the public is invited or permitted, including those maintained by the state or by any political subdivision thereof, all educational facilities and institutions, including those maintained by the state or by any political subdivision thereof, all places where food is offered for sale, all theatres, including both live playhouses and motion picture establishments and all other places of public accommodations, convenience, resort, entertainment, or business to which the general public or any classification of persons therefrom is normally or customarily invited or permitted.



Knuckle Sandwich With Ketchup: McDonald’s Manager Fired After Allegedly Punching Customer
CBSAtlanta -

A Marietta McDonald’s manager has been fired after being accused of punching a mother who brought a service dog and her autistic children into the restaurant.  Tiffany Denise Allen  is charged with battery, assault, fear and disorderly conduct.

According to the warrant, Jennifer Schwenker entered the Marietta McDonald’s on Bells Ferry Road with her children and service dog on July 12. Allen was off dutry at the time and had her own child in the restaurant when she  confronted Schwenker about the dog being in the restaurant.

Schwenker explained to Allen that the dog was a service dog and by federal law has the right to be in any public place including the McDonald’s. Allen continued to berate Schwenker, following her around the restaurant and even into a bathroom.  During the incident, one of Schwenker’s twins disappeared. When the mother threw her cup to the ground and ran outside to look for her child, part of the drink soaked Allen’s pants.

The rest of the story:

Jailing the jailers

Two convictions this week in Bexar County of jailers, including the hacksaw taco jailer.


Judge calls for a new look at jail guard rules
2 convicted this week in Bexar smuggling cases.
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

Perhaps Bexar County Jail should re-examine its policy on allowing guards to bring in food, a judge suggested this week as two ex-jailers were convicted in separate courtrooms for smuggling contraband.

State District Judge Sid Harle made the comment Monday as he sentenced former jailer William Douglas Hemphill, 33, to five years' deferred adjudication for smuggling a cell phone to an inmate in a box of ramen noodles.

Two months earlier, Harle had sentenced ex-jailer Robert Falcon to six years in prison for trying to smuggle heroin to inmates in barbacoa tacos. And jurors Tuesday convicted former jailer Alfred Casas of aiding an escape attempt by smuggling hacksaw blades in tacos.

Cut back services

Close down the surplussage and while we're at it go and implement a three day a week only delivery system as well.


3,600 post offices up for closure; 3 here
Express-News

WASHINGTON — The financially beleaguered U.S. Postal Service announced Tuesday it would consider closing more than 3,600 of its 32,000 post offices, including three in San Antonio.

Continuing efforts to reduce costs by shrinking the organization's retail network and workforce, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe released a list of the targeted offices, which are primarily in rural areas and produce little revenue. There will be a 60-day comment period before the Postal Service makes final decisions, which can be appealed to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

In communities that lose post offices, the Postal Service may outsource basic services such as selling stamps and shipping flat-rate packages, to local businesses including pharmacies and groceries, Donahoe said.

Everything old is new again

Well hallelujah!

At last we actually are going ahead with light rail and will join the mainstream in providing transportation other than busses.


Full speed ahead for light rail, streetcars
By Vianna Davila - Express-News

San Antonio may finally have a road map to its transportation future.

On Tuesday, VIA Metropolitan Transit adopted a master plan that proposes a multitude of new transit projects that could turn this bus-only transit agency into one that provides streetcar and light-rail service in the coming decades.

Board members unanimously approved the plan at their monthly meeting.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The only things which need to slashed at the mall are prices

This freak needs to be stopped before he becomes even more emboldened.



Slasher strikes at mall in Fairfax
By Martin Weil - Washington Post

A woman was slashed and cut in a Fairfax County shopping mall Monday evening in what may be the latest of a series of similar incidents, Fairfax County police said.

The woman, whose wound was not considered life-threatening, was cut about 5:30 p.m. in a store that caters to young women in the Fair Oaks Mall, said police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.

The woman was attacked after her attention was drawn to the sound of a package dropped behind her, Caldwell said. The woman felt a sudden pain and turned to see someone walking away.

The rest of the story:

Hey!! Can you get me a blanket? Its cold in here!!

Not a funny situation but can you just imagine how freaked out the morgue workers were when they heard him shouting for help?


South African man wakes after 21 hours in morgue fridge
By Nastasya Tay - Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African man awoke to find himself in a morgue fridge — nearly a day after his family thought he had died, a health official said Monday.

Health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the man awoke Sunday afternoon, 21 hours after his family called in an undertaker who sent him to the morgue after an asthma attack.

Morgue owner Ayanda Maqolo said he sent his driver to collect the body shortly after the family reported the death. Maqolo said he thought the man was around 80 years old.

Death at the hands of his father

Charges against Justin Janosik upgraded to Capital Murder.

Unlikely he'd get the Death Penalty; I'd think he might get life without the possibility of parole at the most.

Even that might be iffy due to his age and apparent absence of a record.

Still, and sadly, there is a dead 2-week old baby.


Father will face capital murder charge in son's death
By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News


The Bexar County medical examiner's office has ruled the Sunday at-home death of a newborn baby a homicide.

Two-week-old Kaleb Janosik died of cranial cerebral blunt force injuries, the medical examiner's office said.

He was found unresponsive in his parent's home in the 10300 block of Appomattox Street on the West Side.
San Antonio police said the charge against the father, Justin Janosik, 22, will be upgraded to capital murder. He remains in Bexar County Jail on one count of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury with intent. A judge set bail at $100,000.

Breach of Trust

She did this to an 8-year old girl she was taking care of.

I hope the girl and her family can eventually put this behind them.


Woman, 19, pleads guilty to child porn charges
Associated Press -

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — A 19-year-old Maryland woman has pleaded guilty to a child pornography charge after making a sexually explicit video of an 8-year-old girl she was caring for.

Patricia Ann Tasker of Hagerstown pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Baltimore to possession of child pornography. According to court documents, Tasker showed the girl's mother the sexually explicit video on her computer, and the woman later brought it to authorities.

As part of a plea agreement Tasker will be required to register as a sex offender. She faces a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, though a plea agreement says both prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that a sentence of between three and four years would be appropriate.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Fight over a balloon? Just ask Pennywise, he has plenty.

Wow. 

I thought the Wisconsin capitol had gotten back to relative normal.

I guess not.


Wis. Capitol balloon fight leads to bloodshed
CBSMinnesota -

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Police are investigating an apparent fight over a balloon that left the state Capitol floor splattered with blood.

Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs says a female citizen and a male state employee got into some kind of argument over the woman’s balloon near the end of the noon hour in front of the state Supreme Court hearing room.

Tubbs had no other details, saying investigators are still gathering information about what happened next. Asked whose blood was splattered on the floor, he said only that the woman apparently wasn’t hurt and investigators were still assessing whether the worker had been injured and whether a weapon was involved.

The rest of the story:

Abandon all hope ye who enter .....

You couldn't pay me enough to live in downtown Detroit>

So far a little over 73% of those responding to the poll agree with me.

See poll here.


Program offers cash incentives to live Downtown
DetroitCBSlocal -

DETROIT (WWJ) – Employees of five downtown-based companies are being given financial incentives to live where they work.

DTE Energy’s Paul Hillegonds says the trend is already there, with a number of young professionals and creative types hanging their hat in downtown Detroit lofts and apartments.

Now, the plan is to create greater density in surrounding neighborhoods, but not just for the younger set.

“We have a number of probably empty-nesters, but also a number of retirements ahead with younger people who will be coming to work in Detroit at DTE headquarters,”  Hillegonds told WWJ Newsradio 950′s Ron Dewey.


The rest of the story:

Down (nursing) Home Alabama

Okay, really?

I guess it gives folks something to look forward to and something to do.


Ala. to crown new nursing home beauty queen
Associated Press -

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — When Alabama's newest beauty queen is crowned this week, she might have more silver hair than your average beauty pageant contestant.

The Ms. Alabama Nursing Home pageant comes to a close Monday at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover. The top 10 finalists from nursing homes across the state will compete for the crown.

Contestants will have 15-minute interviews with a panel of judges and then answer a question on stage. The event will be co-hosted by Courtney Porter, who is Miss Alabama.

Its hailing bullets!?

Man its getting tough out there just to go for a drive.

Bullets everywhere.


Gunfire strikes man driving home from party
By Jessica Kwong - Express-News

A man driving home from a party was grazed on the head by gunfire Sunday night.

The 36-year-old man was driving on Hiawatha Street from Stringfellow Street behind a black or dark gray Honda, said San Antonio police Sgt. Paul Mendoza.

The Honda, with an unknown number of suspects, pulled over and shots were fired at the victim, Mendoza said.

Another baby dying at the hands of his parents

Beating a two-week old to death??

Here's a case where the punishment should fit the crime IMHO.

Rest in Peace Baby Kaleb.


Man accused of beating infant who died
By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News

San Antonio police arrested a man suspected of abusing his newborn baby, who died early Sunday morning at a West Side home.

Justin Janosik, 22, was set to be booked in Bexar County Jail on one count of injury to a child — causing serious bodily injury with intent. A judge set bail at $100,000.

The Bexar County medical examiner's office has not yet completed an autopsy to determine how 2-week-old Kaleb Janosik died, but police reported noticing bruises above his eye, on his neck and on his back.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A deal too good to be true

Apparently greed overcame good sense.


Scam artist sells plywood TVs in Arlington
Star-Telegram -

ARLINGTON -- The flat-screen TVs looked real, and the price seemed too good to be true.
They were labeled $1,999, but the man was selling them for $300 each.
Shanae Johnson said she talked the man -- who was selling them out of a Cadillac in a south Arlington parking lot -- down $50 and bought two for $500.

"We were really happy because we got such a good deal," said Tim Johnson, her husband. "When it was wrapped in bubble wrap, it appeared to be exactly what it was purported to be, a real flat-screen TV. But when you unwrapped it, it was just plywood."

The salesman would not give Shanae Johnson a phone number, Tim Johnson said. Shanae Johnson also tried to get the license plate number from the car hauling the televisions, but the man said she should leave if she needed that.

The price of the TVs, coupled with the salesman's reluctance to share any personal information, should have been a red flag, according to the Better Business Bureau.

Deadly Train Wreck

I have my doubts that the three officials will survive the investigation.

My condolences to the victims and their families.


Senior Officials sacked after China's deadly train collision
Xinhua News -


SHANGHAI, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Three railway officials were sacked on Sunday after a train collision killed at least 35 and injured more than 200 others, the Ministry of Railway said.

Long Jing, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, was removed from his position after a high-speed train smashed into another train Saturday night in east China's Zhejiang Province, killing at least 35 and injuring 211.

Li Jia, head of the Shanghai railway bureau's committee of the Communist Party of China, and deputy chief of the bureau He Shengli were also dismissed from office, said the ministry.
The three will also be subject to investigation, the ministry said.

So long Amy, we hardly got to know you

I thought she had a great voice and great potential.

Genius seems to be unable, at times, to overcome the urge to self-destruct.



Singer Amy Winehouse dead at 27
The N.Y. Times -

Amy Winehouse, the British singer who found worldwide fame with a sassy, hip-hop-inflected take on retro soul and jazz and became a tabloid fixture as her problems with drugs and alcohol led to a strikingly public career collapse, was found dead Saturday in her apartment in London, police said. She was 27.

Police said that they were investigating the circumstances of the death but that "at this early stage, it is being treated as unexplained."

With a husky, tart voice, Winehouse became one of the most acclaimed young singers of the past decade, selling millions of albums and winning five Grammy Awards.

The rest of the story:

Domestic violence on the Prairie

Another inexplicable tragedy?

Nope, apparently just another deranged domestic dispute writ large.


Gunman kills self, 5 others at Texas roller rink
By Angela K. Brown - Associated Press -

— A gunman opened fire at a child's birthday celebration at a Texas roller rink, killing five people, wounding four others and then killing himself as the private party turned to panic and some fled screaming in their skates, police and witnesses say.

Authorities ascribed the gunman's rampage to an apparent domestic dispute and said no young children or rink employees were killed during the shooting that erupted about 7 p.m. at Forum Roller World in Grand Prairie, about 20 miles west of Dallas. Some people at nearby businesses said they watched as adults and children spilled from the rink in horror.

"They just looked terrified," Cody Poston, a witness, told WFAA-TV, outside the rink that was festooned with birthday decorations. "There's several people crying. The kids were just kind of oblivious."

The rest of the story:

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Brazenly stupid

Sometimes placing the purloined letter in the obvious place does not work at all.


Wash. police find stolen truck near police station
Associated Press -

COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. (AP) — Steal a pickup truck in Oregon. Check. Drive it across the border into Washington. Check. Park it across the street from the police department. Oops.

College Place, Wash., Police Chief Dennis Lepiane says police got word Thursday that a pickup stolen in Umatilla (yoo-muh-TIHL'-ah) County, Ore., might be headed for Washington.

It was only about half an hour later when one of his officers saw a vehicle matching the description. It was parked across the street from City Hall, home of the Police Department.

Send in the Marines

The robber chose his victim poorly.

Armed crook loses life in tangle with Marine Vet
By Susan Caroll - Houston Chronicle


Kenneth Kobobel Sr., a 72-year-old Marine veteran, had yet to put on his eyeglasses when he heard a knock at the door of his office in a northwest Houston strip mall around 9:45 a.m. on Friday.

The great-grandfather was chatting with his brother inside the office, making plans for the day, and figured the towering man waiting outside was one of his workers coming to collect his Friday paycheck.

But when Kobobel opened the door, a man he had never seen before forced his way inside and put a 9mm handgun to his forehead.

50 years for sexual assault

Good job Jenny Smith!

19-year old sentenced to 50 years for sexual assault
By Dalondo Moultrie - New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

NEW BRAUNFELS - A district judge Thursday afternoon sentenced a 19-year-old man found guilty last month of sexually assaulting a then-12-year-old girl at a New Braunfels teen shelter.

Judge Charles R. Ramsay, without much explanation, ordered Marc Russell Byron to spend 50 years in prison.

"We asked for the maximum, which would've been 99 years or life, but we're very pleased with 50 years," said Jennifer Smith, Comal County criminal assistant district attorney. "His past behavior is a very good indicator of what his future behavior is going to be."

The rest of the story:

Tragedy in Norway

Some organization calling themselves Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or Helpers of the Global Jihad is apparently claiming responsibility for these heinous acts of cowardice.

Others say that groups was previously unknown  and may not even exist.

It will take awhile to sort this all out.

Our prayers go out to the families and good people of Norway.


Report: Police investigating 2nd suspect in spree


SUNDVOLLEN, Norway (AP) -- Norway's national news agency says police are investigating whether a second suspect was involved in a shooting spree on an island where 84 people were killed.

Police have arrested one man on preliminary charges in the massacre and a bombing in Oslo hours earlier.

NTB is reporting Saturday that witnesses told police two people were involved in the shooting on Utoya island. The agency says police are looking into it.

The agency says that the second man apparently wasn't disguised in police uniform. The man under arrest was wearing a sweater with a police emblem on it.

In total, 91 people were killed in the two attacks.
 

Friday, July 22, 2011

Oneophiles everywhere weep

That's a bunch of wine lost.


Million dollar drop as wine tumbles
Herald-Sun

IT was certainly an expensive drop - more than $1 million worth of shiraz wine has gone down the drain after it was dropped by a malfunctioning forklift.

The 462 cases of 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove shiraz - at $185 a bottle - fell more than 6m to the ground as it was being loaded for export from Adelaide to the US.

The drop was so forceful, the bottles punched through the top of the cartons. Winemaker Sparky Marquis said the accident had cost him a third of his annual production.

"We just couldn't believe it," Mr Marquis said.

The rest of the story:

Hacked up escape plan

Not looking so good for the Taco Deputy.


Jailer's knowledge of plot cited
Witness says he knew tacos contained hacksaw blades and the route of escape.
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

Corrections officer Alfred Casas still was wearing his uniform when he drove to an apartment complex near Bexar County Jail in a bronze Mercedes two years ago to pick up a bottle of black market Xanax pills, an inmate's girlfriend testified Thursday at the jailer's felony trial.

In exchange, Tiffany Contreras told jurors, Casas agreed to take a bag of tacos to her boyfriend that he knew were stuffed with six broken hacksaw blades.

“He started telling me about what the plans were over there,” said Contreras, who at the time was the girlfriend of Jacob Keller, a high-risk inmate awaiting trial for capital murder. “He wanted to show me where they were going to try to escape from.”

Cleaning house

No doubt housekeeping is a tough job.  I don't know how the Hyatt could change conditions however.

Manual labor is tough especially as you get older.

If you don't have other skill sets what else can you do?


10 arrested at protest of Hyatt downtown
They blocked Market Street at end of rally, part of a national union demonstration.
By Jazmine Ulloa - Express-News


Ten people were arrested at the end of a downtown demonstration Thursday in which almost 200 hotel employees and supporters gathered to denounce what they called unfair and abusive working conditions at local Hyatt properties.

Wearing red and white, activists chanted and sang, holding signs as they picketed outside the Grand Hyatt San Antonio on Market Street, part of a national protest.

Workers talked about their experiences at San Antonio's two downtown Hyatt properties, and several housekeepers even re-enacted making beds in a performance highlighting their plight.

Putting the squeeze on DWI

Will Guadalupe County join Comal and Bexar Counties in this endeavor?

Only time will tell.


Guadalupe County mulls no-refusal policy
Blood draws for DWI suspects now only on holidays.
By Pierre Bertrand - Express-News

Guadalupe County officials are considering expanding mandatory blood draws for suspected drunken drivers who decline breathalyzer tests.

How often the county's relatively few such cases should be subject to a “no refusal” policy hasn't been spelled out in any formal proposal, but County Attorney Elizabeth Murray-Kolb's goal is to do it every day of the year, said Bob Etlinger, an assistant county attorney.

“I think it's just a matter of wanting to address a problem that never seems to go away,” Etlinger said.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Playing Bumper Cars

I know it was highly satisfying to him but it was not a good idea.

Nope.


Sour 'lemon' driver returns to dealer; 'I didn't hit a car under $20K
By Elizabeth Dinan - seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH — Unhappy that a Lafayette Road car dealer wouldn't take back the van he bought on Monday, David Cross drove "the lemon" back after the dealer closed on Tuesday and crashed it into six cars parked on the lot for sale.

"I hit the first $25,000 car I could see," Cross told the Herald. "I didn't hit a car under $20,000. Then I moved a van that they wouldn't come down on the price for. I moved it with the lemon they sold me. I just held it to the floor until I couldn't move it anymore. I took out seven vehicles, including my own."

Cross, a Salisbury, Mass., resident who turns 42 today, is charged with six felony counts of criminal mischief, one for each of the cars he damaged, excluding his own.

The rest of the story:

When the sun goes down on a sleepy little town down around San Antone

What??!!!


An unregistered sex offender police officer??


China Grove police officer allegedly failed to register as sex offender
By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News

A China Grove police officer is on unpaid administrative leave after he was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender, officials said.

Daniel Casas, 48, turned himself in at the Bexar County satellite office on June 24, when he posted $10,000 bail and was immediately released, according to Detective Louis Antu, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

He was convicted of a 1991 sexual assault of a child with contact, Antu said, and received deferred adjudication. In the past, a sex offender registry law only required sex offenders convicted after 1997 to register, but a change in the past few years now requires offenders to register if convicted after 1970.



A letter to Hasan

Dear Nidal,

Okay, fire your attorney on the eve of your trial.

See if I care.

You're guilty and will be found guilty in my opinion.

I think you'll be put to death for this as well.

As well you should.

Best wishes in Hell,

Man o' Law



Hasan's top lawyer off defense team
A trio of military lawyers will represent the Fort Hood suspect.
By Sig Chrtistenson - Express-News

FORT HOOD — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a Fort Hood rampage nearly two years ago, told a judge Wednesday he wasn't ready to make a plea.

But Hasan, who was arraigned Wednesday, told the judge in a 14-minute hearing that he had released his lead counsel, retired Army Col. John Galligan. Hasan didn't explain his decision.

“Is that a voluntary act on your part?” the judge, Col. Gregory Gross, asked Hasan.

A cutting-edge crime

What a thing to lose your job, career, and quite possibly your freedom over.


Prosecutors: Jailer smuggled hacksaw-stuffed taco to inmate
By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of a former Bexar County jailer accused of providing a small hacksaw-stuffed taco to high-risk inmates plotting an elaborate escape attempt, including a man who was awaiting trial for capital murder.

Alfred Casas, 31, knew he messed up two years ago when he agreed to meet the girlfriend of double-murder suspect Jacob Keller after work so he could pick up a taco to give Keller, jurors heard the defendant admit in a recorded interview with detectives.

“It was one taco and I opened it and there was nothing in it,” Casas said through tears as detectives had him change off-camera into orange inmate scrubs. “I know it sounds stupid. I'm stupid for bringing those tacos. But it was a regular taco. I didn't know (about the hacksaw blade).”

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

They're a social networking group like Facebook only on motorcycles

Bikers rejoice.


Bid to make Hells Angel's club illegal thrown out
smh..com.au

A NSW judge has dismissed a bid by the state's police commissioner to have the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club declared a criminal organisation.

Dr James Renwick, for the commissioner, told the judge today that as the High Court had found the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act invalid, the matter was at an end.

Justice Peter McClellan then dismissed the Supreme Court application, but the issue of legal costs will be considered at a later date.

Angel of Death

Devilishly frightening.

A nurse, the epitome of an Angel of Mercy, cold-bloodily murdering patients.


Nurse arrested over hospital sabotage murder
By Richard Alleyne - The Telegraph

The 26-year-old woman was being questioned by Greater Manchester Police after the deaths thought to be caused by the contamination of saline containers.
Detectives were called in after an experienced nurse reported a higher than normal number of patients on her ward with "unexplained" low blood sugar levels pointing to the saline ampoules being sabotaged.

Officers found insulin had contaminated a batch of 36 saline ampoules in a storeroom close to ward A1 of Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport.

The rest of the story: