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

Click on Picture

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Planking

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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Cheese triggers false drug-test results

Authorities in Asheville, N.C. said that an enzyme found in cheese triggered false drug test results that led North Carolina deputies to think a man with 91 pounds of tortilla dough was actually carrying that much cocaine, the sheriff said.

Antonio Hernandez spent four days in an Asheville jail this month before tests by a state lab showed he was carrying food, not drugs.

A Buncombe County deputy stopped Hernandez on May 1 and found what turned out to be a mix of cheese, shrimp and tortilla and tamale dough in his truck. A portable kit used by deputies changed colors, indicating the mixture was illegal drugs.

Sheriff Van Duncan said he didn't know until this case that some foods, like cheese, can give false positives on field drug tests. He plans to have deputies talk to the company that makes the tests.

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Man lied to boss about wife’s cancer for money

If you’re going to extort money from your employer by saying your wife died from cancer, make sure she doesn’t get the card at home expressing condolences on her death.

That’s what Hudson police say happened in the case of Scott Wellington, a 31-year-old Greenville man, who is facing two counts of theft by deception for allegedly telling his employer, C&M Machine Products in Hudson, that his wife was seriously ill with cancer with the intent of getting money out of them.

After being told of his wife’s illness, the company donated $7,000 to the Wellington family.

According to police, Wellington then told his company his wife had died, prompting a sympathy card to be sent to their residence.

The jig was up when the wife received the card at their home. She called the authorities to let them know she was in fact still alive and never had cancer.

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Police arrest man who wanted to face his fear of being naked

Boise Police say 20-year-old Jonathan Palmer was walking in the area of 15th and Hill when they caught up with him. Lt. Kent Lipple says dispatchers received several calls from people saying they'd seen him.

Lipple says Palmer was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but rather, Palmer wanted to conquer his own fears and help the public conquer its fears too.

"He wanted to face his fear of being naked in public," Lipple said.

According to Lipple, Palmer told arresting officers: "I want the public to understand its okay to see a naked man walk down the road."

Lipple says the man was cooperative and articulate. Palmer was arrested on a misdemeanor public nudity charge.

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Man blames boredom for fake 911 calls

A Wisconsin man who claims boredom caused him to make hundreds of false 911 calls to authorities around the country will get his 15 minutes of fame.

Mason Seckar, 20, of Oshkosh, Wis., will appear on the TV show "Inside Edition," where it is expected he will discuss what drove him to routinely prank call authorities, mostly the St. John's County, Fla., sheriff's department, since January.

No charges have been filed against Seckar, who still maintains the calls were funny, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The FBI is investigating him and has learned he used Skype to disguise his phone number. Search warrants have been executed of his home.

The paper reported the TV show confirming Seckar made the calls because he was "bored."

Among the false reports that led deputies astray, it was reported Seckar called 911 to say he was shot on a motorcycle, that he was in a McDonald’s bathroom with his "5-year-old girlfriend" and that he wanted to become a teacher but was afraid he would molest his hypothetical, future students.

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2011 World Beard and Moustache Contest

The world's facial hair elite have descended on Norway for the 2011 World Beard and Moustache Championships.

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150 contestants from 15 countries have flocked to the Prinsen Hotell in Trondheim, Norway, to be in with a chance of winning the much-coveted prize for the world's best facial hair.

The World Beard and Moustache Championships take place every two years and competitor’s battle out their facial furniture in 17 different official categories ranging from Dali and Fu Manchu moustaches to Garibaldi and Imperial-style beards. The top three finishers in each category take prizes.

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Ole Skibnes, the president of the host Norwegian Moustache Club, which is hosting this year's championships, says judging the different hairy entrants is no easy task.

'This is not a circus,' Mr Skibnes said. 'You can't just judge the size of the moustache - you have to see if the hair is well-groomed, see if it suits the person, see if it makes them look good.'

First held in 1990, the competition has taken place every two years since 1995.

The 2009 contest took place in Alaska where Americans, Germans and Belgians performed well.

The winners have not yet been announced.

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Man with a Shoe Fetish

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Man helps Sloth cross the road in Costa Rica

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I can fly

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Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

Deputy suspended over Burger King beef

A Florida deputy sheriff was suspended after an incident that began when his wife got the wrong order at Burger King, officials said.

Polk County Deputy Jason Platt was given a 16-hour suspension for asking restaurant employees for their identification and also summoning a Lakeland police officer to get involved in the beef.

"I find it disturbing that a deputy sheriff would tarnish the image of the Polk County Sheriff's Office by getting involved in a dispute over a cheeseburger order at Burger King," Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Widner wrote in a memo on last month's incident.

The incident began when Tara Platt got the wrong order and occurred last month at a Burger King. She called her husband, who contacted Lakeland police and then showed up himself and asked the staff for ID.

"The worker asked why I needed her information," Deputy Platt wrote in his own version of the events. "I advised her it was in reference to the disturbance that occurred with a customer."

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Burglar took empty gumball machine

Police in Ohio is puzzled by a burglar who they say broke into a convenience store and took nothing but an empty gumball machine.

Detective Bob Walton in Martins Ferry says the machine held no coins or gumballs. He also points out that the thief early Thursday didn't touch liquor bottles or cartons of cigarettes displayed nearby.

Surveillance video shows the man hurling a brick or sandstone through a store window, then entering and running directly to the 4-foot-tall gumball machine at the back of the store. He fled through the same window.

Walton says police in the eastern Ohio community along the Ohio River can't figure out a motive.

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Car stolen from NJ in 1975 recovered in Calif.

A classic muscle car stolen from New Jersey's largest city nearly 36 years ago has been recovered on the other side of the country.

A Santa Maria, Calif., man bought the 1969 Chevy Camaro SS from a seller on eBay in February. But Keith Williams contacted the California Highway Patrol after certain features of the car didn't match the model.

Police discovered the vehicle was stolen from Newark, N.J., on July 8, 1975.

The original owner, Janice Maffucci, said the car was stolen from the post office where her father worked. She can't believe the vehicle was recovered.

Maffucci says she plans to sell the car.

Police are tracing the registration in hopes of finding the thief.

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Girlfriend turns in Ho-Hum bank robbery suspect

Investigators say a man suspected in bank robberies in four Western states was turned in by his girlfriend after a failed attempt to win her back.

Adam Lynch confessed to being the so-called "Ho-Hum bandit" to his girlfriend, Julia Lundstrom, at an Irish bar in downtown Denver.

Jefferson County sheriff's investigator Tom Acierno said the relationship was unraveling and they met as Lynch tried to win the woman back.

Lynch reportedly owed Lundstrom more than $11,000 and explained that recent deposits into her bank account came from the sale of stocks and bonds. She didn't buy it and Lynch reportedly confessed to the bank robberies in an effort to come clean.

The FBI believes Lynch hit banks in Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle and Cheyenne, Wyo.

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Cops in the News

Cop accused of sex with prostitute in squad car

Detroit Police are investigating allegations that an on-duty officer had sex in his squad car with a prostitute, officials said Friday.

Details were scarce, but police said internal affairs investigators are looking into the allegations that the officer engaged in sex acts with the prostitute in his police cruiser two weeks ago while it was parked somewhere in the Northeastern District. The officer is assigned to the department's Western District, police said.

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The officer was on duty when other officers approached the car and found him engaged in sexual activity, police said.

"Right now the officer is suspended with pay," said Officer Dan Donakowski, a police department spokesperson. "It is under investigation."

The Board of Police Commissioners, which has civilian oversight over officers, is aware of the allegations.

The Rev. Jerome Warfield, the police commission's chairman, said a cop having sex with a prostitute "certainly could lead to termination."

Police spokesperson Sgt. Eren Stephens said Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. will seek to have the officer's pay suspended while the issue is investigated.

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Police dog 'Fired' after biting jogger

Authorities in Stamford say one of their police dogs has been demoted to house pet after attacking a jogger near its handler's home in Greenwich this week.

The 52-year-old woman required 30 stitches after the incident Monday night, and the German shepherd named McGee has been placed on 14-day quarantine.

Stamford police also apologized to the jogger and took McGee off the job permanently.

Police say a sergeant was putting McGee into his cruiser when the dog ran after the passing jogger and bit her leg, arm and wrist. The sergeant pulled the dog off the woman, whose injuries were not life-threatening.

Stamford Police Chief Robert Nivakoff said McGee also had previously nipped a delivery worker at the sergeant's home, although no formal complaints were filed in that case.

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Officer asleep at the wheel

Cedar Rapids Iowa Police are investigating a photograph obtained by an anti-tax activist that appears to show an officer sleeping in his squad car.

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Tim Pugh, who helped organize opposition to a sales tax referendum last week, said he was forwarded the photograph by a friend. Pugh said the photo was taken on the city's southwest side by another individual who wishes to remain anonymous because he fears retaliation.

Pugh e-mailed the photograph to police and media outlets, complaining about what he called a waste of tax dollars.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says the investigation so far has not yet been able to determine whether the photo is authentic. She says investigators are trying to determine whether an officer was involved and should face any discipline.

VIDEO

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Burying the Loot

Crooks that fled with a haul of stolen sausages, beer and cigarettes are facing 10 years in jail - after stashing the loot inside a grave.
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Click to Enlarge

Thief Krystof Dzielekci, 35, and his 59-year-old father Leon lifted the marble lid on his grandfather's tomb to find what he thought was the ultimate hiding place.

The pair were caught the next day when security staff at the cemetery in Zyznowa, Poland, reviewed the night's CCTV tapes and saw them digging up the grave.

"It was a good hiding place, but you'd have to be pretty hungry to want to eat any sausage once it's been down there with your grandfather's body," a police spokesman said.

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