Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

N.D. cyclist pops wheelie, hits 150 mph
The teen motorcyclist is accused in wild chase on I-29 involving wheelie and a cell phone.
A speeding teenage motorcyclist who popped a wheelie on a North Dakota interstate and then opened up the throttle to more than 150 miles per hour took enough care to pull over before using his cell phone.
By the time authorities caught up with the suspect and his 1000cc Honda CBR, he was sitting in a ditch in Minnesota talking on his cell phone and was arrested, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol.
The motorcyclist, from Fargo, N.D., waived extradition and was returned to North Dakota to face charges of reckless driving and fleeing police.
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Teen Blames "Making Out" With Drunk Female For His Alcohol Violation
A teenage college student tried -- and failed -- to persuade Mankato police that a makeout session was behind his being tipsy.
After campus security at Minnesota State University, Mankato, reported a stumbling male on the street about 2:45 a.m. Saturday, police approached 18-year-old James A. Carroll and gave him a preliminary breath test. Carroll scored a 0.063 percent reading, police Cmdr. Amy Vokal said Tuesday.
Carroll's excuse, according to Vokal, was that he "was making out with a drunk" female about 30 minutes earlier.
For the record, Vokal said, such a scenario "is not possible. The breath [that is tested] comes from the lungs."
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Priest claims pot was from God
A Bulgarian priest is to go under police surveillance - because of a field of cannabis he claims is a gift from God.
Father Cyril Papudov has been arrested seven times but police have never caught him actually cultivating the crop.
He claims the cannabis seeded by itself and is part of God's gift of nature and nothing to do with him.
One police source in Petrich told local media: "There has been a great deal of suspicion over the years about what is going on with these plants.
"He is a man of the cloth and so a lot of people don't want to think badly of him but frankly if someone has a huge crop of cannabis in their back garden it's highly unlikely they are just sitting there admiring its horticultural properties."
Now police are planning a 24-hour surveillance operation.
A police spokesman said: "Although the man involved is a member of the clergy we feel this surveillance is necessary.
"By keeping a watch on the plants we can make sure this is the case and put an end to any suspicions over the purpose of these plants once and for all."
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Marijuana growing in Mall of Americas
This gives a new meaning to picking up something at the flower shop in the mall.
The Mall of the Americas in Miami was home to a business not usually found among the food courts, retail stores and movie theaters of similar locations: a hydroponic nursery with more than 200 marijuana plants.
Federal agents seized the plants on Friday. The grow operation was found deep in a storeroom at the mall. Authorities say the growers used the mall’s electricity to power their equipment, adding the flimsy wiring could have caused a fire.
Agents would not say how the drugs were found, and no arrests have been made.
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Python kills careless student zookeeper in Caracas
A 10-foot Burmese Python killed a student zookeeper in Caracas on the weekend and was caught trying to swallow its dead human prey when horrified coworkers arrived
The other employees of the Caracas zoo had to beat the serpent to make it release the body of 29-year-old Erick Arrieta, whose head it was swallowing.
According to the daily, Arrieta had been working the night shift alone on Saturday, looking after the reptile section of the zoo.
The university biology student had broken the park's rules by entering the cage holding the snake, which had been donated two months ago and was not on public display, according to the zoo's management.
A snake bite on his arm indicated the python had attacked Arrieta before wrapping itself around him and crushing him to death.
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Woman's Bra Caused Delay by Airport Security Search
A California woman says she endured an embarrassing standoff with Transportation Safety Administration officials over her bra before a flight to visit her mother in Boston.
Nancy Kates, who wore a underwire bra, thought the security check by a female TSA agent before JetBlue flight 472 at Oakland International Airport was too invasive.
"The woman touched my breast," Kates said, according to the report. "I said, 'You can't do that.' She said, 'We have to pat you down. I said, "You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.'"
The agent's supervisor later told Kates that she could choose between a pat-down in a private room or not flying. Kates, of Berkeley, Calif., reportedly offered a third alternative — to take off her bra and try again — which TSA agents accepted.
Kates said the incident took 40 minutes, causing her to miss her flight. She arrived in Boston four hours late.
TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said security agents must "resolve an alarm" in all circumstances. "Unfortunately, we can't take a passenger's word for it,"

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