Friday, May 29, 2009

Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Man Calls 911 Over Orange Juice At McDonald's
An Aloha, Oregon man spent Memorial Day in jail after calling 911 to complain that a McDonald's worker was rude and didn't give him an orange juice he ordered. Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson said the man, 20, wouldn't listen when deputies told him the emergency number isn't to be used for straightening out fast-food orders.
A McDonald's employee also called 911 during the incident, complaining that the man and the people with him were blocking the drive-thru lane and knocking on the restaurant windows.
The man was arrested for improper use of 911.
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Kids see photos of principal in her underwear
Police in Britain are questioning two teenage boys about photographs of their headmistress in her underwear that were circulating on school computers.
Headmistress Sue Brearley of the Whitecross School has told colleagues the photos were on her laptop which she had plugged in to the school's system.
A Gloucestershire County Council spokesman says the photos show Brearley in her underwear but were of a pornographic nature.
The spokesman says the matter is being treated as a theft and that two boys have been questioned by police.
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Girl with beer photo appears in yearbook
Pranksters slipped a photo of a girl clutching a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer into the yearbook of New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., officials say.
The faculty had no idea the picture was included until yearbooks were handed out to students this week
"It's clearly defiant and subversive and intentional," says spokeswoman Laura Blair.
Principal Linda Yonke did not consider the prank harmless.
"It sort of casts a pall over the whole yearbook," Yonke said.
The snapshot in question is of two girls hugging each other while one of the girls holds a beer can behind the other girl's back.
School officials say they'll take appropriate disciplinary action against those responsible for the prank, the Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports.
New Trier has a long history of senior pranks, says a New Trier alumni.
One year keys to the school were mailed out, forcing officials to change all the locks. In the 1960s, seniors disassembled a car and reassembled it in the first floor rotunda.
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Complaint Filed Over Missed High-Five
El Paso Superintendent Tapped Principal's Head After She Didn't Raise Hand
What do you call a high-five that misses? Many would just call it awkward, but an El Paso school principal calls it assault.
The misfire came last week when schools superintendent Lorenzo Garcia was giving principals high-fives while celebrating state test scores. When Garcia came to Barron Elementary School principal Mary Helen Lechuga and she didn't raise her hand, he tapped her on the head instead.
But Lechuga -- a former district administrator who was recently demoted -- filed a police complaint saying she felt pain and feared what he might do next.
Garcia said she's a disgruntled employee and her complaint is petty.
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Fake 'No Parking' Signs Yield 200+ Tickets
Tarpon Springs, Florida police say they issued more than 200 parking tickets in a two-year span because a local developer posted fake "no parking" signs around a restaurant.
According to a report released this week, Tarpon Springs police Chief Robert Kochen said Mike Bronson has acknowledged he installed the 22 signs around the Tarpon Turtle restaurant. He had previously denied posting the signs.
Bronson told police he installed the signs because the restaurant's customers caused parking problems.
Officials are now trying to figure out if any outstanding parking ticket warrants have been issued to drivers who haven't paid tickets for parking in the marked zone. The city also wants to try to reimburse drivers who paid fines.
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Feds busted the IRS elevator urinator
Caught in the act by surveillance cameras at data center in Detroit
An agent used surveillance cameras to confirm a smelly suspicion: Someone had been urinating in a freight elevator at an Internal Revenue Service data center in Detroit.
Authorities filed a criminal charge Tuesday against Michael Hicks. In an affidavit, treasury agent Delmaria Scott said she interviewed Hicks in January 2008 and he admitted urinating in the elevator for months.
Scott said Hicks did it "because he felt he could get away with it." It cost $4,600 to clean the elevator.
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Man wearing only a thong charged in burglary
Officers say they followed man's footprints to an abandoned farm house
Deputies said a man who was caught wearing a woman's thong was charged with a burglarizing a home.
Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said deputies caught the 42-year-old man only wearing panties in an abandoned farm house. The officers followed his footprints from a nearby Andersonville home where a burglary had been reported.
The man was charged with aggravated burglary, auto burglary and vandalism on Monday and was held on a $65,000 bond in the Anderson County Detention Facility.
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Man Marries in Courthouse as Jury Decides His Fate at Trial
A suburban Philadelphia man asked a judge to perform a wedding ceremony while the jury in the man's criminal trial was still deliberating the verdict.
Twenty-year-old Timothy Zalut, of Doylestown, was on trial on assault charges this week in Bucks County Court. When it appeared that he might have to go to jail, Zalut decided to tie the knot with his fiancee, Hayley Dykstra.
Senior Judge C. Joseph Rehkamp, of Perry County, was presiding over the trial. He agreed to perform the ceremony in chambers while the jury was still out.
Dkystra said, "We wanted to get married, and we were worried that we wouldn't get the chance."
A plea bargain finally brought the trial to a halt and Rehkamp sentenced Zalut to five years of probation.
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Florida Woman Loses Arms, Legs After Misdiagnosis
When the sharp pain shooting through Lisa Strong's back got worse, she thought it was another kidney stone and expected the discomfort to pass. This time was different.
Through a series of mistakes, miscommunications and misdiagnoses, she wound up having her arms and legs amputated. She sued the doctors, who essentially blamed one another for what everyone involved agrees were profound errors.
Everyone except the jury that ruled against Strong.
The verdict came in the face of such overwhelming evidence that in a rare move, the judge tossed out the jury's decision and ordered a new trial.
As she awaits her second chance in court, Strong vividly remembers the day she became ill.
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