Man driving motorized cooler faces DWI, other charges
WHITEHALL - In case you were wondering, a motorized cooler on wheels is a motor vehicle under state law.
A Whitehall man learned that on Memorial Day, when he was charged with driving while intoxicated after police pulled him over for swerving and driving on the sidewalk on a four-wheeled, motorized cooler known as a “Cruzin Cooler.”
Leslie J. “Bomber” Marr, 57, could face felony DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle charges because of prior arrests and convictions in drinking-and-driving cases, said Whitehall Police Chief Richard LaChapelle.
The electricity-powered Cruzin Cooler that Marr was riding contained 14 beers, the chief said.
LaChapelle said Whitehall Police Patrolman Andrew Mija stopped Marr at about 7:45 p.m. after the officer saw Marr swerving and preparing to cross William Street on the motorized cooler. Read more
Kindergarten Classes Traumatized: Baby Panda in Lion’s Den Accidentally
TEXAS - Several Mendacity Springs ISD kindergarten classes were sent into extreme hysterics yesterday when a mathematical error took the life of orphaned baby panda, Snuggles Smiles-A-Lot. Zoo officials are still investigating the mishap that happened early yesterday afternoon, saying only that there was some question if the zoo had six or seven Barbary Lions in captivity.
“The children were screaming, crying, and running in every direction. I’m sure they’ll have nightmares for months, if not years. I personally have never seen anything so horrible in my whole life,” comments a still shaken teacher, Laura Zipskin.
After a long interaction with the kindergarten students, the docile Snuggles Smiles-A-Lot was put into a large wooded and water environment, usually reserved for the Barbary Lion den. While the kindergarten classes looked on and Snuggles Smiles-A-Lot got familiar with his new environment, a testosterone-crazed, hidden and hungry Barbary Lion by the name of Drake pounced on Snuggles Smiles-A-Lot, ripping him to pieces in front of the group of children, educators and zoo officials. Read more
Designer of Pringles can Buried in One
Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles potato crisps that he asked his family to bury him in one.
His children honored his request. Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can - along with a regular urn containing the rest - in his grave at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Springfield Township.
Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice. The College Hill resident was 89.
He developed many products, including frying oils and a freeze-dried ice cream, for P&G. The ice cream was patented and marketed, but didn’t catch on. “Basically, what you did, you added milk to it, put it in the freezer and you had ice cream,” said his son Lawrence J. Baur of Stevensville, Mich. “That was another one he was proud of but just never went anywhere.”
Later in his career, Dr. Baur became a compliance specialist for P&G. “He had a worldwide reputation in plant sanitation and traveled all over the world inspecting plants,” said his daughter, Linda L. Baur, of Diamondhead, Miss. He also lectured, edited books, and wrote several publications and articles.
But the Pringles can - a tube-shaped container designed to hold the salty, stackable, saddle-shaped chip - was his proudest accomplishment, his daughter said. He received a patent for the package as well as the method of packaging Pringles in 1970.
Born in Toledo on July 14, 1918, Dr. Baur received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toledo and both a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Ohio State University.
He served in the Navy as an aviation physiologist stationed in San Diego during World War II. Aviation physiologists conducted research on the medical aspects of flight. Read more
Engagement ring is gone with the wind
It is the one moment every man wants to get right — and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.The luckless 28 year-old’s dreams of giving his sweetheart, Leanne, 26, the ultimate proposal have literally vanished into thin air. Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a 6,000-pound engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question. Read more
The Top Ten Stupid Criminals of 2007
A policeman’s job is never easy, but dumb criminals make it somewhat easier. This list was whittled down from a much longer list of stories of the stupid things lawbreakers did this past year. These are in chronological order instead of rank. The dates are from the news stories; in some cases the crime itself happened earlier. Most of the links have accompanying video.
1. Lottery Thief Sets Himself on Fire
ROME, GA June 2
A convenience-store thief got away, but the video from the security camera told a strange, strange tale. A man broke into the store overnight, and tried to cover his tracks by burning the place down. He threw charcoal lighter fluid around, but by the time he ignited it, the fumes had permeated the store, and he set himself on fire. While in flames, he grabbed a roll of lottery tickets and fled. At the time of the story, police were looking for a man with facial, neck, and possibly wrist burns.
2. Ten Hours Stuck in Restaurant Vent
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL June 8
An employee of the Lucky Buffet noticed a strange sight on arriving at the restaurant. There were legs hanging out of a vent over the grill! 45-year-old Billy Jordan had tried to enter the restaurant the night before by climbing through the ductwork, but became stuck and stayed there for ten hours. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue workers used a rope to pull Jordan back out through the roof, after which he was arrested for burglary.
3. Immovable ATM
MILWAUKEE, WI July 27
Three men backed a stolen vehicle through the glass front of a gas station. Their intent was to steal an ATM. But they didn’t realize that ATMs are bolted to the floor. After some thought, they tied a rope around the machine and attched it to the vehicle, but still could not dislodge it. They left empty-handed. The ATM was still in working order the next day.
4. The Famous Duct Tape Bandit
ASHLAND, KY August 13
Police say Kasey Kazee entered Shamrock Liquors and attempted to rob the store. Employees were astonished that he had disguised his face by wrapping it in duct tape! The store manager chased him out with a baseball bat and an employee held him in the parking lot until police arrived. Police removed the duct tape after taking pictures, and arrested Kazee, who denied any memory of the incident.
5. The Sign of the Crime
ADLINGTON, ENGLAND September 6
Peter Addison and his friend Mark Ridgeway vandalized the Toc H centre, a children’s campsite building. They smashed crockery, set off fire extinguishers, and drew grafitti on the walls. Part of the grafitti said “Peter Addison was here.” Police found Addison through a computer database. Both teenagers pled guilty and were ordered to pay for the damage.
Inspector Gareth Woods, of Cheshire Police, said: “This crime is up there with the dumbest of all in the criminal league table.
“There are some pretty stupid criminals around, but to leave your own name at the scene of the crime takes the biscuit.”
6. He Didn’t See the Cop
LITTLE ROCK, AR September 7
21-year-old Langston Robins walked right past a uniformed police officer at the Metropolitan Bank and handed a robbery note to the teller. The unarmed would-be robber was arrested after a foot pursuit. Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings said:
“I just don’t know why he didn’t see a uniformed police officer standing basically right in front of him,” Hastings tells the Associated Press. “My guess is he’s just not the brightest of people.”
7. He Stole a Car to Turn Himself In
GENEVA, NY September 13
29-year-old Vincent Estrada Junior was pulled over because the car he was driving had been stolen from a parking lot. Estrada explained that he had stolen the car in order to drive to the Geneva City Police Department and turn himself in on a family court warrant! He didn’t make his destination, as police took him to the Ontario County Jail instead, where he was held on car theft charges.
(image credit: Ontario County Sheriff’s Office)
8. Burglar Falls Asleep Under Victim’s Bed
WHITLEY BAY, England September 17
Usually, the burglar robs the house while the victim is asleep, but in this story, the roles were reversed. 24-year-old Mark Smith sneaked into Heather Stephenson’s home, crept past her while she was ironing, and rifled through her belongings in the bedroom. Then he fell asleep under her bed. Mrs. Stephenson couldn’t wake him, and police officers had to drag him out from under the bed. Smith’s vodka and valium consumption were to blame. He received an 18-month sentence for burglary.
9. Cash My Million-Dollar Bill!
PITTSBURGH, PA November 9
A man flew into a rage at the Giant Eagle supermarket when employees refused to cash a million-dollar bill. 66-year-old Samuel Porter slammed an electronic machine on the counter and refused to give his name to authorities. He was then taken to the Allegheny County Jail. The largest bill currently in circulation is the $100 dollar bill.
Bonus: It happened again soon afterwards in Georgia!
(image credit: AP)
10. Carjacking at a Crime Scene
RALEIGH, NC December 11
There had been a stabbing, and police were on the scene talking to a woman who had been a witness to the crime. 38-year-old Anthony William jumped into the woman’s car and drove away! He was arrested the next day, easily identified by the cops who saw him steal the car.
Source: Neatorama
Bengal Nurses Piglets Dressed In Tiger-Striped Coats
BANGKOK, Thailand — What do you get when you mingle piglets with a tiger or tiger cubs with a pig? Motherly love.
At least that’s what a zoo in Thailand found out after placing several piglets with a 6-year-old bengal tigress.
The bengal feeds the piglets, which were dressed by zoo workers in tiger-pattern coats, and across the cage tiger cubs are fed by a sow.
Zoo officials said the animals have been interchanged with parents for the past few years.
Officials said the reason for the experiment is to amuse visitors.
Giant rat species found in Papua forest
A giant rat and a pygmy possum, both believed to be new to science, have been found in an ecological ‘lost world’ hidden in the pristine cloud forests of New Guinea.
Dr Ucok holds this 1.4 kg giant rat that is probably a new species.
The huge rat - about five times as large as a sewer rat - had no fear of people and regularly wandered into a camp set up by scientists in the remote region of Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea.
In contrast, the Cercartetus possum was shy and ranks as one of the world’s smallest marsupials.
Both creatures were found by scientists from the US-based group Conservation International and the Indonesian Institute of Science, which led an expedition to the Foja mountains of eastern Papua in June.
It is extremely rare to discover new species of mammal, particularly one as large as the Mallomys rat.
“The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat,” said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
“With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip.”
A 2005 expedition to the same stretch of jungle - dubbed by Conservation International as a “Lost World” because of its remoteness and biological richness - found dozens of exotic new species of plants and insects.
On this most recent trip, the scientists also recorded the mating displays of several little-known birds for the first time, including the golden-fronted bowerbird and the black sicklebill bird of paradise.
They also observed a “lost” bird of paradise, Berlepsch’s six-wired bird of paradise, last seen by outsiders in the 19th century.
The expedition was accompanied by a National Geographic photographer and a camera crew from the American network CBS.
“It’s comforting to know that there is a place on earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature,” said Conservation International’s vice-president, Bruce Beehler, who led the expedition.
“We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited.”
The Foja Wilderness is part of the great Mamberamo Basin, the largest untouched tropical forest in the Asia Pacific region.
The province of Papua - not to be confused with neighbouring Papua New Guinea - boasts more than 100 million acres of tropical forest and some of the richest bio-diversity in the world.
The Indonesian government has declared the region a National Wildlife Sanctuary, but surrounding areas are under threat from clearing for palm oil plantations as well as rampant illegal logging.
The scientists plan another expedition to the area in late 2008 or 2009, when they expect to discover more species of mammals, frogs and butterflies.
Would-be surrogate mother, husband accused of bilking clients; Web sites detail numerous scams
As first reported by The Index-Journal, a Hodges couple have been arrested after authorities say they bilked thousands of dollars from a Pennsylvania family in a ruse in which she reportedly agreed to be a surrogate mother for the couple.
Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jessica O’Donnell, 28, of 1006 Sally White Road, Hodges and charged her with obtaining money under false pretenses.
Deputies also arrested her husband, Daniel O’Donnell, and charged him with obtaining money under false pretenses.
GCSO investigators say more charges are pending, as there is evidence the O’Donnells allegedly conned numerous other victims.
The Dancing Cop
Officer Started Dancing In Traffic In 1984. He’s no Fred Astaire, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a police officer with moves like Rhode Island’s “Dancing Cop.”
The $10,000 Pole Dancing Dare
THE DARE THAT WON $10,000: We’d like to see some pole dancing but don’t have the time to get to the local strip hut. What’s that? Neither do you, ladies? In that case how about giving us a little pole dance show at any place you can find a pole. A stop sign, a tow away zone or even the firehouse will do. Just find the right piece of metal and make a dance partner out of it. The good news is you don’t have to even get naked for this one, but like our grandpa once said; “The more skin, the better”. Sorry for this one, mom!