Small Bits of News

Man expert at sabotage did his neighbors home in feud
A Mr FIX-IT from hell has been convicted of harassment after driving his neighbors to despair with his devilish DIY skills. Instead of improving his own home, Terence Alun Jacob carried out a series of attacks on theirs - including drilling holes in the roof to let the rain in, super-gluing the door locks, removing a security light by smashing it and redecorating the front of a house by throwing paint over it. All because he thought the neighbors were too noisy.
Jacob, of Tyle Teg, Burry Port, carried out the attacks between November 11, 2004, and January 10, 2008. The 52-year-old appeared at Llanelli Magistrates Court, wearing a navy boiler suit, to admit the charge.
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Law officers chase down stolen donut truck
TOLEDO IOWA — A stolen van loaded down with donuts may not be the best vehicle for eluding police.Frank Alvarado, 46, of Moline, Ill., found that out the hard way Thursday morning after leading nine officers from four different agencies in a high-speed chase through Benton and Tama counties.
Alvarado boosted the van, owned by Donut Delite Ltd. of Moline, around 5 a.m. when a delivery driver was making a stop at the Rock Island Hospital. He got as far as Benton County when a sheriff’s deputy spotted him heading west on Highway 30, according to the Tama County Attorney’s Office.The deputy was soon joined by two more sheriff’s cars and a Belle Plaine city officer in the chase, which reached speeds of up to 100 mph, the attorney’s office said.
“What strikes me as a bit out of the ordinary in this case is the number of officers who were able to respond,” said Rich Vander Mey, assistant Tama County Attorney. “I don’t know whether the fact that the stolen vehicle contained donuts has anything to do with that.”
“Second in priority to the call "shots fired". Police tend to take care of their own."
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Panty Killers
A nurse was told last night how she almost died from an extreme allergic reaction – to her PANTIES. Kim Walker, 37, went into severe anaphylactic shock after squeezing into a pair of tummy-slimming panties bought from a Primark shop.
She had to be injected with life-saving adrenalin as her throat closed and she gasped for breath.
Kim, who fell ill while tending a casualty ward patient, may not recover fully for six weeks.
The fiber used to absorb moisture in her panties could have sparked the dangerous reaction, most commonly linked to peanut allergies.
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Shoplifter leaves son in supermarket
A shoplifter looking to make a quick getaway from a Dutch supermarket after stealing a packet of meat left police a crucial piece of evidence - his 12-year-old son.
In his haste, the 45-year-old thief made a solo dash to his car, batting away a supermarket worker who had flung himself on the vehicles' hood in a bid to stop the escape. Police in the southern Dutch town of Kerkrade said they managed to contact the thief via the boy, but he had refused to return and collect his son. The man told officers to get hold of the youngster's mother instead. The thief later turned himself in today, a police spokeswoman said.
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Council Bluffs police spend lunch break recovering stolen donations
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) -- Two Council Bluffs men face theft charges after swiping a donation jar from a restaurant where two police officers were dining.
The officers were eating lunch Wednesday at a Dairy Queen when Nicholas Bretl, 18, took a fishbowl containing $89.57 to be donated to the Children's Miracle Network, according to police reports. Bretl then tried to flee in a vehicle driven by John P. Fry, 20, but the officers confronted them in the parking lot.
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Two teens arrested in mailbox bombings
Two Cedar Falls teenagers have been charged with reckless use of explosives after planting homemade bombs in mailboxes.
Cedar Falls police investigated the bombings after a homeowner at 836 Maucker Road reported a fire in a mailbox late Wednesday. During an investigation, police found additional mailboxes damaged by homemade bombs at homes on Stanwood Drive and Southlawn Drive.
Michael Andrew Truelson, 15, of 629 Stanwood Drive, and Casey Joseph Schwickerath, 15, of 2222 Linwood Drive, were taken into custody Friday and charged with reckless use of explosives, a serious misdemeanor.
Cedar Falls Police Lt. Mike McCallum said the boys will also face federal charges because mailboxes were the targets of the bombs. He said the devices weren't pipe bombs, and the teens apparently got instructions over the Internet.