Phony obituary trips up sentencing Associated Press
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Prosecutors are investigating whether a phony obituary was placed in a newspaper in an attempt to keep a convicted forger out of prison.
The obituary reporting the supposed death and cremation of Shawnda K. Hatfield was faxed to Delaware Circuit Court Judge Robert Barnet Jr.
But Hatfield, 41, was later found at her home in nearby Dunkirk and arrested. Barnet sentenced her Thursday to four years in prison for altering a check drawn on the account of White Feather Farms, where she formerly worked.
Hatfield said she had no idea how her obituary ended up in The Star Press.
Kathy Whittenburg, an employee in the newspaper's classified advertising department, said the obituary appeared after a caller purporting to be Hatfield's niece phoned The Star Press and later provided a telephone number she said belonged to a Florida crematory.
Deputy Prosecutor Joe Orick told Hatfield that if an investigation showed her relatives were involved in the fake obituary, "You can have a family reunion upstairs" -- in jail.
Woman who registered dog to vote avoids jail Owner was protesting law that she said made voting easy for noncitizens
The dog probably has several credit cards registered in it's name. To be fair, Australian Shepherds are very intelligence. Duncan McDonald may be a more informed voter than many humans. I trust him to make the correct choices.
Bird eaten whole is a traditional, illegal meal BY JENNY BARCHFIELD The Associated Press
PARIS — On the world’s list of weird foods, ortolan — a bite-size songbird roasted and gulped down whole — can claim a place of distinction. It’s an illegal place, though, since the ortolan is a protected species and hunting it is banned in France. Now the government is out to get poachers of the coveted fowl. Thought to represent the soul of France, ortolan was reportedly on the menu at late French President Francois Mitterrand’s legendary “last supper” on New Year’s Eve 1995, eight days before he died. Though cancer had diminished his appetite, Mitterrand saved room for the piece de resistance, roasted ortolan, downing the 2-ounce bird, bones and all, according to a detailed account in Esquire magazine and Georges-Marc Benamou, a journalist who was a Mitterrand confidant. Some of the late president’s associates, however, insist the bird-eating never took place. According to tradition, the French shroud their head in a napkin to eat ortolan: Tucking into the bite-sized bird — which is killed by being drowned in Armagnac, then plucked and roasted with its yellow skin and skeleton intact — can be a messy business. It’s also an illicit one. A 1998 law banned hunting the ortolan, a copper-breasted bird that migrates from Africa to Europe, because of its endangered status. Ortolan hunters — who trap the birds alive and keep them in cages for several weeks to fatten them up — face fines of up to $12,460 and six months in prison, if caught and convicted. But environmentalists complain that the law is rarely enforced. Earlier this month, the minister in charge of the environment, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, pledged to step up inspections of the ortolan’s habitat in the Landes region in southwestern France. The increased inspections have already born fruit, she said. “The more you inspect, the more violations you find,” Kosciusko-Morizet told The Associated Press. Four hunters were caught redhanded and two seizures were made over the past two weeks, she said. At one hunter’s house, inspectors found about 30 live birds being fattened in cages and another dozen in the freezer. The man had set more than 100 traps in a nearby forest, Kosciusko-Morizet said. Environmentalists blame the poaching on continued demand for roasted ortolan, which aficionados say is satisfyingly crunchy, with a subtle hazelnut taste. No longer on restaurant menus in France because of the ban, ortolan is eaten at home or served secretly to special restaurant clients. A single bird can fetch between $138 and $210 on the black market, said Allain Beaugrain Dubourg, head of the League for the Protection of Birds. He said hunters kill as many as 30,000 ortolans each year in France alone, contributing to an estimated 30 percent decline in their numbers over the past decade. The League says there are an estimated 600,000 to 750,000 ortolan pairs in Europe, including 23,000 in France. Those that are caught are mostly migrating between eastern Europe and Africa, it says. BOB EDME/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A male ortolan is being used as bait to capture other ortolans.
Man allegedly smuggled iguanas in fake leg The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A man accused of stealing three endangered iguanas from a nature preserve in Fiji and smuggling them into the United States in his prosthetic leg has been indicted. Jereme James, 33, of Long Beach, faces a single count of smuggling, according to a federal indictment returned Friday in Los Angeles. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Prosecutors say James stole the Fiji Island banded iguanas while visiting the South Pacific island in September 2002. He then brought the reptiles to the U.S. by hiding them in a special compartment he had constructed in his prosthetic leg, prosecutors said. James will be summoned to appear for his arraignment next month. James, who was not taken into custody, could not be located for comment. Authorities believe he had not yet retained a lawyer, and a call to a J. James in Long Beach was not immediately returned. James came under scrutiny several years ago when someone told U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials that he had several of the neon green iguanas, which are protected under an international treaty regulating trade in endangered species. During an undercover probe, James told investigators he sold three of the iguanas for $32,000, prosecutors said. When a search warrant was served at his house on April 26, Fish and Wildlife agents seized four iguanas. Authorities suspect James may have bred the creatures to sell them. The seized iguanas will end up in a breeding program in the United States, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph O. Johns said.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Russian mom has 17-pound baby boy MOSCOW — A small Russian city just got a really big addition: a 17-pound, 1 ounce baby whose mother had already delivered 11 other children. Tatiana Khalina, 42, delivered the girl by Caesarean section at a maternity clinic in Aleisk, a town of 30,000 people in the Altai region in southern Siberia, a nurse at the clinic said Thursday. Nurse Svetlana Gildeyeva also said the Sept. 17 birth went smoothly and mother and the child were fine. She said the baby, Nadezhda, was transferred from the small clinic to a maternity hospital in Barnaul, a larger city. The girl was feeling well and developing normally, said Irina Kurdeka, a doctor at the Barnaul hospital. The daily Moskovsky Komsomolets quoted the local social services chief, Marina Alistratova, as saying the family had modest means. She said Khalina’s husband was on contract with a local military unit. “We have presented them with a good washing machine, a food package and a card,” Alistratova told the newspaper. “We will keep supporting them in the future.” An average weight for newborn babies is around 7 pounds, 1 ounce, according to international
Man Kills Himself At City Council Meeting Tennessee Barber Shop Owner Puts Gun To His Head After Losing Zoning Vote CLARKSVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 5, 2007
(AP) A business owner shot and killed himself during a City Council meeting after members voted against his request to rezone his property, witnesses said.
Ronald "Bo" Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop, had told the council his business would go under if he could not get his home rezoned as commercial. After the 5-7 vote Thursday night, Ward stood and walked toward the council.
"Ya'll have put me under ... I'm out of here," he said before shooting himself in the head with a small handgun.
Fire and police officials attending the meeting immediately ushered the audience of about 50 into the hallway, where several people were sobbing.
At least one police officer is always on duty during council meetings, officials said. However, visitors are not required to go through a metal detector or any other screening.
"When a gun gets whipped out like that, someone is going to get shot, but I didn't know who," Councilman Bill Summers said. "You could've been right next to him, and I don't think you could have stopped that."
Mayor Johnny Piper said Thursday's council meeting would be the last held in that room.
Ward had said the rezoning would increase his property value, allowing him to secure a loan to offset debt he incurred when he expanded his shop.
We have had enough incidents at our little Town Hall in the past two years that we have had to install emergency buttons linked to 911 and close in the Town Clerks area with glass on one side and dutch doors on the other that can be closed. The court clerks have had similar encounters that also warranted "closing them in". We have had to "invite" people to leave meetings. Thats not to mention the people that are screaming and jumping off the walls that we manage to calm down before it reaches a higher level. One of the Town Board members on occasion has mentioned that he will be the first to go since he is in direct line with the door. I had one resident harrass my brother in law because they wouldn't give my number to him. The man knew my home number and had spoken with me earlier. I went to my board meeting that night, got home around 10:30 and received a call from the State Troopers warning me of him. My brother in law had called them because of the calls he made to him. While the posting of the man that shot himself at the zoning board meeting is terribly sad, it doesn't surprise me.
Woman seeks rich husband, banker says "crappy" deal Wed Oct 10, 10:39 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deal or no deal? An online exchange between a woman looking for a husband who earns more than $500,000 a year and a mystery Wall Street banker, who assessed her potential for romance as a business deal, has cause quite an Internet stir.
The anonymous 25-year-old woman recently posted an ad on the free online New York community Web site Craigslist, http://newyork.craigslist.org/, appealing for advice on how to find a wealthy husband.
"I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don't think I'm overreaching at all," the woman, who described herself as "spectacularly beautiful" and "superficial," wrote.
"I dated a business man who makes average around 200 - 250. But that's where I seem to hit a roadblock. $250,000 won't get me to Central Park West," she said, asking questions like "where do rich single men hang out?"
The mystery banker, who said he fit the bill, offered the woman an analysis of her predicament, describing it as "plain and simple a crappy business deal."
"Your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity ... in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won't be getting any more beautiful!" the banker wrote.
"So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset," he said. "Let me explain, you're 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!"
"It doesn't make good business sense to "buy you" (which is what you're asking) so I'd rather lease," he said.
While the woman has since removed the ad from Craigslist, it -- along with the response -- has become a popular email joke that, bank JPMorgan Chase says, led to one of its bankers mistakenly being credited with writing the response.
Brian Marchiony, spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said the banker did not write the response and that his email signature accidentally became attached to the ad and response when he forwarded it to friends and it then wound up on blogs.
Craigslist was not immediately available for comment, but a spokeswoman told The New York Times that "it does look as if the post was made sincerely."
Hospital gives man drip-feed of vodka Wed Oct 10, 7:39 AM ET
BRISBANE, Australia - Doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment.
The 24-year-old Italian, who was not further identified, was brought to Mackay Base Hospital in northeastern Queesland state and was diagnosed as having ingested a large quantity of ethylene glycol, a common ingredient of antifreeze that can cause renal failure.
Pure alcohol is often given in treating such cases because it can inhibit the toxic effects of ethylene glycol.
Mackay Base Hospital Dr. Pascal Gelperowicz said the man was given pharmaceutical-grade alcohol when he arrived, but that the hospital's supplies soon ran out.
"We quickly used all the available vials of 100 per cent alcohol and decided the next best way to get alcohol into the man's system was by feeding him spirits through a naso gastric tube," Dr. Gelperowicz said in a statement.
"The patient was drip-fed about three standard drinks an hour for three days in the intensive care unit," he said. "The hospital's administrators were also very understanding when we explained our reasons for buying a case of vodka."
The patient, was believed to have ingested the poison in an attempt at self-harm, made a successful recover. The incident occurred about two months ago, though the hospital just released information on the case.
WOW a drip feed of vodka, huh? Bet this guy will try to kill himself again just to enjoy the medical treatment!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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