Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Train passenger arrested for 16-hour phone conversation

A woman has been arrested for refusing to stop talking on her phone while traveling in a train's quiet carriage.
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Lakeysha Beard was speaking loudly on her mobile phone for 16 hours on the journey between Oakland, California, and Portland, Oregon.
It seems passengers complained to train staff about Beard's chattering, but time and time again the 39-year-old chose to ignore requests for her to be quiet.
Beard then said to have been involved with a 'verbal altercation', resulting in workers for train operator Amtrack calling police to come and remove her.
The train was called to a halt at a crossing just outside Salem, Oregon, where cops boarded to remove the talkative traveler. She has now been charged with disorderly conduct.
Ms Beard said she felt 'disrespected' by the incident. She admitted to talking on her phone, but saw no reason why she should have been escorted from the train.
However, while 16 hours seems a long time to be talking on the phone, Beard still came nowhere close to the current world record.
Sunil Prabhakar of Kailash Hills New Delhi recorded a 51-hour call in September 2009, smashing the 41-hour record set by British man Tony Wright in 2007.
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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Found wallet leads to owner's arrest
A Good Samaritan turning in a lost wallet isn't always good news for the owner.
An 18-year-old man has been arrested after someone found his wallet and turned it in to authorities -- who say they found three other men's identification cards inside.
Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler says deputies also found drugs in the teen's car.
The Aledo man has been charged with fraudulent use or possession of identifying information, and possession of a controlled substance and marijuana. Stewart was released Monday after posting $8,500 bail at the Parker County Jail in Weatherford, about 30 miles west of Fort Worth.
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Man arrested for tp toss during graduation
Police said a University of Iowa student was arrested after trying to "lighten up" a graduation ceremony by throwing toilet paper into the crowd.
Investigators said Robert Koehler, 22, who was not graduating, was arrested after tossing toilet paper into the crowd of students during the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts commencement.
Koehler said he was trying to "lighten up the erroneously long graduation ceremony and stimulate a unified celebration for all the graduates at the commencement."
Koehler has pleaded not guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct.
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Smile for the Camera
Litchfield Police say it was a smile the teller flashed to the masked robber that helped tip them off that a robbery at New Milford bank was an inside job.
The teller, 21-year-old Serena Viccaro was ordered held on $25,000 bond when she was arraigned in Bantam Superior Court on charges she conspired to commit first-degree robbery and first-degree larceny.
Police say Viccaro and Preston Hanlon, the man that they robbed the Webster Bank, were involved in a relationship, and that both planned the robbery.
They say that when the 28-year-old Hanlon pointed a toy pistol at Viccaro and demanded money, she smiled at him, then handed him $2,100 in cash.
Viccaro denied involvement.
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Fake doctor used toothpicks on patient
Police in Niles, Illinois say a man reported someone posing as a doctor used toothpicks for acupuncture and gave him expired medication.
Niles police said the man responded to an ad in a Bulgarian-language newspaper and met with the man claiming to be a doctor at a closed medical clinic.
The victim told police the man used toothpicks to give him acupuncture on his chest and gave him pills labeled "Prosperous Farmer Dietary Supplements," which had expired in February 2002.
The man paid $200 for the appointment, police said.
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Pee-eww
Man poured bleach on renter's body instead of reporting death, deputies say
Body was discovered 8 hours before authorities were notified, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said.
A DeLand man who didn't tell anyone that his boarder had died in a room over the garage has been arrested on a charge of failing to report a dead body.
William Hendrix Jr., 55, found the body at 4 p.m. Monday, left it there while he mowed his lawn, then returned to pour bleach on the body to cover the odor of decomposition, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.
He told deputies he was afraid to report the death because his girlfriend, who owns the property didn't want him to take in boarders, authorities said. The girlfriend called deputies about 12:25 a.m. Tuesday as soon as Hendrix told her about it.
The dead man has been identified as Daniel Ferris, 46. Foul play is not suspected. Hendrix knew Ferris for years and took him in because he was down on his luck, deputies said.
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While I’m Here Arrest Me
Woman arrested while visiting boyfriend at jail in pot farm case
She came to see her boyfriend, who was being held after marijuana found at couple's Millwood home.
Katherine R. Gurley, 49, was busted while visiting her boyfriend, Michael Wayne Mancil, in jail in Ware County.
Authorities had seized at least $1.4 million worth of pot last week at the couple's Millwood home on 33-acres of land they had shared together for four years.
Deputies found it everywhere: Pot packaged and ready for sale, plus live plants from seedlings to mature weed. Pot was also growing inside the couple's home.
‘She said she had no idea that [marijuana cultivation] was going on out there,’ Sheriff Randy Royal said.
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Sears employee wore stolen boots to work
An employee at Sears in DeSoto Square Mall reportedly got caught wearing evidence that he shoplifted.
Sheriff's deputies say the 18-year-old worker was seen on surveillance stealing a pair of boots earlier this month.
A supervisor said the employee was also seen on surveillance tape wearing the stolen boots to work.
When searched by a deputy, the employee reportedly had a handgun concealed in his boot.
The man, who allegedly admitted to stealing two pairs of boots from the store, faces charges of retail theft and carrying a concealed weapon.
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Toddler sold on eBay, family member accepts $1,000 bid

Autumn Braden, 19, claims she did it to 'see how eBay worked' and it 'wasn't meant to be taken seriously'.
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She wrote on the eBay post: ‘An adorable child for sale can clean and hold a decent conversation very lovable but I just out grew her.’
The teenager had been caring for the child at the time. The girl is now with her mother.
Police tracked Braden down in Allendale Township, about 15 miles west of Grand Rapids, Michigan, after being alerted of the auction.
According to Ottawa County sheriff's Lieutenant Mark Bennett police received calls about the internet posting from as far away as California, some 2,000 miles away.
One bidder who thought it was a hoax called police when the bid was accepted and helped lead them to the woman, Lt Bennett said.
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Mentos & Coke Rocket What a Shot

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But you gave it to me

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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

People buy the strangest things, now its elephant dung

The latest souvenirs from Prague, elephant dung from the Zoo. The brain behind the idea is Miroslav Bobek, and get this his surname literally means dung!
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It seems to be a big fad among the gardeners who buy the pails of manure to use on gardens. They sell about 200 of the 2.2 pound containers on the weekend for $3.90 each. Sales have been growing so much that they have decided to sell it on the weekdays as well.
The visitors of the zoo laugh as handlers collect the piles of dung for sale, but most of them state that they wouldn’t buy the elephant turds.
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Not related to the Prague zoo dung sales these elephant dung shoes are also up for sale. They are ten inch stiletto heels and created by a mysterious artist that goes by the handle INSA.
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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Man to eat his 25,000th Big Mac today
Don Gorske plans to eat his 25,000th Big Mac on the 39th anniversary of eating his first.
A special ceremony is planned at McDonald's in Fond du Lac Tuesday afternoon.
The 57-year-old Fond du Lac man says he ate nine on May 17, 1972 and has only missed eight days since then, for various reasons. He usually eats two a day.
He has kept most of the boxes or receipts or has made specific notes in calendars that he's kept.
Gorske says he probably has an obsessive-compulsive disorder but he doesn't consider it a problem.
He jokes that 25,000 is a milestone because people didn't think he'd live this long. But he says he recently saw a doctor who said he was in good health and his cholesterol is low.
If he lives as long as his dad, Gorske will have consumed 40,000 Big Macs when he turns 86.
"I think 25,000 is a pretty awesome number," he said. "I'll never live long enough to eat 50,000."
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Naval artifact stolen from park
Authorities in Oakland, California city said thieves took a piece of a battleship weighing more than a ton from a public park and may try to sell it for scrap.
Stephanie Benavidez, an Oakland Parks and Recreation employee, said the brass ring, once used to port torpedoes on the USS Maine, was broken from its concrete base last week and was taken Friday night.
Benavidez said the thieves may be planning to sell the ring for scrap.
"I would hope the recycling people will recognize that one, this isn't something somebody had in their attic or backyard or got at a yard sale and contact us and say, come get it," she said.
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Store urinater, I'm Bruce Lee
Authorities in Clear Creek, Wisconsin said a man accused of urinating inside a convenience store identified himself to deputies as "Bruce Lee."
The Eau Claire County Sheriff's Office said a deputy responded to a convenience store in the town of Clear Creek and a pair of employees said a highly intoxicated man had urinated on a door marked "employees only" and knocked over a prepaid calling card display before leaving the store.
The employees took down the man's license plate number and deputies tracked the plate to an address in Augusta where they found the 26-year-old suspect.
The man, whose real name was not released, identified himself as martial artist and movie star Bruce Lee, who died in 1973, deputies said.
The man was arrested on misdemeanor charges of lewd and lascivious behavior, disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.
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Hairy-faced woman robbed man of $2,800 thief
A 51-year-old man told Fort Pierce police a woman sporting "facial hair" stole his wallet May 10 in what could be called a hair-raising experience, according to a recently released report. The wallet contained $2,800, credit cards and the man's driver's license.
The female with facial hair flagged the man. She got in his van and asked for a ride to a house. While waiting for a light to change, the woman reached in his right front pocket and took his wallet. She got out of the van and ran.
The report didn't indicate whether the woman's "facial hair" constituted a moustache, mutton chops, Vandkye, five-o-clock shadow, peach fuzz, sideburns, goatee, soul patch or flowing ZZ Top-style beard.
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$1.10 a gallon gas
Word spread quickly about a Los Angeles gas station selling premium unleaded for $1.10-a-gallon, but it wasn't a promotion. The owner says the too-good-to-be-true price was a computer glitch that cost him $21,000.
Long lines snaked from the pumps at the Valero station in Wilmington. Police were even called to control traffic.
It was reported that within four hours, about 7,000 gallons of premium were pumped at the discounted rate.
Station owner Kenny Nguyen says the attendant on duty was busy staffing the convenience store and register.
He says a price change didn't take, so the system defaulted to the $1.10 price - a cut of more than $3 a gallon.
Nguyen hopes motorists who got the break come back and pay the real price.
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Customs seized bologna hidden in pickup
It wasn't drugs or human trafficking but illegal bologna that caught the attention of border agents at a New Mexico port of entry.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Santa Teresa seized 385 pounds of the Mexican contraband meat from behind the seat of a pickup that stopped at the port on Friday.
It's illegal to bring the bologna across the border because it's made of pork and has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases into the U.S. pork industry.
The 33-year-old Mexican man who was transporting the meat was assessed a $1,000 fine and released.
Usually officers see one or two rolls of bologna - not 35 as in this case. Officials say it was the largest bologna bust ever recorded at the Santa Teresa crossing.
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Art student wins $500.00 for Scotch tape sculpture

University of North Florida sophomore Cameron Nunez was a winner in the second annual Scotch Off The Roll Tape Sculpture Contest, sponsored by 3M, the company that makes Scotch tape and Post-it notes.
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Nunez was both a runner-up in the overall contest, decided by a panel of artists, and the winner of the "People's Choice" award for the sculpture with the most online votes — 1,384.
His entry, called "Sing and Scream Along," depicts a life-sized people at a mosh-pit concert.
 Click to Enlarge
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How did he do it?
Nunez wrapped tape, sticky side up, around body parts. Using surgical scissors to cut the cast off, he then wrapped more layers — this time sticky side down.
Nunez won $500 — and a supply of Scotch tape.
A contest rule stipulates 90% or more of your sculpture must be made from Scotch® Heavy Duty Shipping Premium or High Performance Packaging Tape.
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Monday, May 16, 2011

Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Man asks cops for help with burglary
A Lexington Ky. man picked the wrong people to ask for help breaking into a house.
Police say 20-year-old Thomas Everett Finnell approached two police officers who were working out of uniform conducting surveillance in the area and tried to enlist them in going into a house to "steal guns and a TV."
A citation filed in Fayette District Court says officers searched Finnell's home and found a pipe with residue under his bed. Finnell was arrested and charged with first-degree conspiracy to commit burglary and possession of drug paraphernalia.
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Girl punished after waiting to report sex act
A Dayton, Ohio woman said that an Ohio charter school is punishing her daughter for not immediately reporting that she saw two classmates having sex on a school bus and for changing her seat during the bus trip.
Saundra Roundtree said that her 14-year-old daughter told her she changed seats with a boy who wanted to sit beside another girl on a Dayton View Academy school trip last month and then saw the two having sex.
The 14-year-old told her mother the day the bus returned April 22 about what happened on the trip to tour out-of-state colleges, but said she was afraid to report it to school officials.
"She wasn't sure what the boy might do in response," Roundtree said. "He might have retaliated against her."
Roundtree told school officials what her daughter said she witnessed, and they said they would investigate
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Students to get wake-up calls
High school students with tardiness problems will soon be receiving wake-up phone calls to help them get to class on time.
Officials at Marshalltown High School said the nearly 250 students who have been tardy five or more times since March will be receiving automated calls between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. on school days to help them get out of bed and ready for school on time.
"If we can get them out of bed which is half the battle and into school then it will work," Dean of Students Lisa Wunn said.
The idea was suggested by a counselor after finding many tardy students gave the excuse of not having an alarm to help them get up in the morning. The program will begin before the end of the school year to serve as a pilot program for next fall.
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New home for pencil sharpener 'museum'
Tourism officials have made a point of displaying the hundreds of pencil sharpeners collected by an Ohio minister who died last summer.
The Rev. Paul Johnson had kept his collection in a small shed he called his museum, outside his home in Carbon Hill in southeast Ohio. A new home for his more than 3,400 sharpeners was dedicated inside a regional welcome center.
Johnson started collecting after his wife gave him a few pencil sharpeners as a gift in the late 1980s. He kept them organized in categories, including cats, Christmas and Disneyland. The oldest is 105 years old.
An Ohio Senate proclamation calls the new display "a fitting tribute" to Johnson, a World War II veteran.
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Off Roading

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