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THINGS
THAT GO BOOM IN THE NIGHT
Pikesville,
Md. (AP) — It’s not just a bad dream or imaginations gone wild
because police have captured the middle-of-the-night mystery on
videotape — and they’re as baffled as everyone else.
Deafening
blasts accompanied by blinding split-second flashes of light have been
rattling residents of one neighborhood of this Baltimore suburb for
months.
Elaine
O’Mansky says she has heard the noise 25 times since September, always
between midnight and dawn. She says the accompanying flash is bright
enough to light up her bedroom.
Barbara
Friedman says the first time she heard the blast she thought someone was
shooting at her.
Police
officers Vickie Warehime and J. Posluszny Jr. said the department set up
cameras and recorded the phenomena last week, but didn’t detect anyone
in the area.
The
recorded flash lit up an area the size of a football field. Based on
shadows, police believe the light source was in the air about 30 feet
above the ground near the Beth Tfiloh Community School.
Utility
workers have found no electrical problems or gas leaks that could
explain the mystery.
MEN
DRIVING TO 48 U.S. STATES IN 5 DAYS
SALT
LAKE CITY - Three men are on what they call a "Great American Road
Trip," trying to drive through the lower 48 U.S. states in just
over five days stopping only for gas. North Salt Lake, Utah, residents
Joshua Keeler, Joey Stocking and Adam
Gatherum left from Vermont Sunday to begin their mega road trip, the
Star Tribune reported Monday. The Minneapolis newspaper reported the
three men, ages 20-25, had made it to Alabama, their 17th state, by
Monday morning. "This route has been checked and rechecked for
shorter possibilities and triple checked to be sure that all 48 states
are included," Keeler wrote on greatamericanroadtrip.us. The
adventurers are tooling about 7,500 miles across the country in a 2005
Toyota Scion xB because "it is roomy and gets good gas
mileage," Keeler wrote. The men said they are going to use the help
of a global positioning system and AAA maps to make sure they don't get
lost along the way.
BLIND
DRUNK DRIVER
Estonian
police were shocked after stopping a car in a city centre and finding
the driver was not only drunk but also blind.
Traffic
police in the southern Estonian city of Tartu said Kristjan Gradolf, 20,
who is completely blind, was being given directions by a pal in the
passenger seat.
A
breath test revealed Gradolf was two and a half times over the legal
drink drive limit.
Both
men face a $1400 fine and Gradolf is also facing a jail sentence on
charges of endangering public safety.
But
Gradolf said: "Despite the fact that I am blind, driving is
something I enjoy, and I am in fact very good at it."
SMELLY
CHECK AT CONNECTICUT BANK PROMPTS HAZMAT CALL
New
Milford, Conn. (AP) -- An overpowering bad odor at a Bank of America
branch office in New Milford prompted an emergency response from state
environmental officials who discovered a bad check. It wasn't a check
that was fake. It was smelly.
The
Department of Environmental Protection made the discovery after
evacuating the bank Thursday afternoon.
The
stinky smell turned out to be from a paycheck deposited by a man who
transferred machine oil from his hands to the check before he handed it
to a teller through the drive-up window.
The
DEP determined there was no hazard, and the bank reopened for business
about an hour later.
CALLS
FOR G RAFFE FLOOD ZOO SWITCHBOARD
Hoax
calls to Dublin Zoo for Rory Lion and G Raffe are jamming its telephone
switchboard.
Up
to 5,000 unsuspecting victims of a practical joke are flooding the phone
lines at the Phoenix park attraction, reports the Irish Independent.
They
all received text messages to their mobile phones telling them to
urgently call the zoo's number and ask for G Raffe, C Lion, Rory Lyons
or Anna Conda.
Zoo
bosses say their switchboard operators have been overwhelmed and pleaded
with the public not to fall for the prank.
Meanwhile
callers to the zoo hear a specially recorded message: "If you are
calling to speak to Mr Rory Lion, C Lion, G Raffe or anyone similar
please be aware that you are the victim of a hoax message."
STRIPPERS
CAN'T COMPETE WITH INTERNET
Toronto,
April 28 (UPI) -- The number of strippers and strip clubs in Toronto is
declining, with former dancers blaming the Internet for putting them out
of work.
A
23-year-old ex-dancer identified only as Madeline told the Toronto Star
she could make as much as $1,000 per night after she started working in
strip clubs four years ago, but gave it up for a clothed bartending job
when fewer men would pay $20 for a lap dance.
"Why
would a guy go to a club and pay to sit there if he could get it all for
free on his computer at home?" she asked.
The
newspaper said as many as 10 Toronto strip clubs have closed in the last
five years, and the number of licensed "burlesque dancers" has
also tumbled -- to 1,254 in 2007 from 2,834 in 1998.
Further
hurting the business is the federal Conservative government's decision
to scale back on the number of foreign strippers -- the majority from
Eastern Europe -- allowed into the country, the Star said.
In
2004, the Liberal government issued 423 temporary visas for foreign
exotic dancers, but since the Conservatives won in January 2006, only 17
of the permits have been issued, the report said.
GARBAGE
TRUCK NABBED FOR STREET RACING
By
The Canadian Press
It's
likely a first under Ontario Canada’s new street racing legislation.
A
provincial police officer pulled over a fast-moving vehicle on Wednesday
just east of Goderich near Lake Huron. It was a garbage truck and it was
caught on radar doing 70mph in a 40mph zone.
The
58-year old driver from Clinton, northwest of Stratford, was charged
with racing and with failing to inspect a commercial motor vehicle.
The
garbage truck has been impounded for seven days and the driver has lost
his licence for a week as well.
He
will appear in a Goderich court on June 5 to answer to the charges and
faces a possible fine of $2,000.
OXFORD,
Ga. - Campus police at Georgia's Emory University at Oxford said they
were investigating the case of a kidnapped zebra that turned up in a
college building. Curtis Jackson, who owns Barcode the zebra, said he
did not realize the 800-pound mammal was missing until Wednesday morning
when animal control officials returned it to his 53-acre home, which is
located about one mile from the college, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution reported Thursday. "He's back in his pen, and
he seems a ittle rowdy right now, but otherwise I think he's OK,"
Jackson said. Campus police said Barcode was discovered on the third
floor of Seney Hall when public safety workers opened the building
Wednesday morning. Animal control officials said it did not take long to
identify the zebra. "How many people own zebras around here?"
said Newton County Animal Control Director Teri Key-Hooson. "We
figured it was Mr. Jackson's because we made a call out there for his
zebra a couple of years ago." Dean Stephen Bowen said the unknown
zebra-nappers took measures to ensure the animal wasn't harmed.
"They lined up a row of chairs so the animal couldn't get close to
the windows and injure itself," he said.
CARJACKER
STOPS TO ASK TV NEWS CREW FOR DIRECTIONS
Cleveland
- A carjacking suspect stopped during the crime to ask a television news
crew for directions, police said.
The
19-year-old was arraigned Thursday on a charge of aggravated robbery and
ordered held on $50,000 bond.
WOIO-TV
newswoman Shannon O'Brien and photographer Eric Walls were doing a
sidewalk report Monday on bank problems when the passenger in a car
asked for directions to a bank. The driver signaled that he was being
held at gunpoint, O'Brien told police.
The
news crew called police and followed the car until officers caught up.
Police Lt. Thomas Stacho said the suspect was carrying a loaded handgun.
ESCAPED
MONKEYS EVADE CAPTURE
The co-owner of a wildlife preserve north of
Lakeland, Fla., said a dozen monkeys who pulled off a daring escape from
the facility are evading capture.
Lex
Salisbury, co-owner of wildlife preserve Safari Wild and president of
Lowry Park Zoo, said the monkeys escaped en masse Saturday by swimming
the 8-foot-deep, 60-foot wide moat that surrounded the island they were
taken to Thursday, the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported Tuesday.
He
said the patas monkeys, considered among the fastest primates, have
evaded capture but are not considered dangerous. Salisbury said the
monkeys, which are native to Africa, have predator-evading experience
that will likely keep them safe from Florida wildlife.
"These
guys are pretty smart," he said. "They'll be fine."
Salisbury
said the current plan for catching the monkeys involves leaving food for
them at the same place every day until they are lured into a routine and
a trap can be set.
BLIND
MAN APPREHENDS BURGLARY SUSPECT
A blind Indianapolis man says he "kind of went
crazy," wrestling a burglary suspect into submission and holding
him with a kitchen knife until police arrived.
"I
just kind of panicked and just kind of went crazy after that,"
Allan Kieta told The Indianapolis Star. "I've wrestled all my life.
My dad's a Marine; he taught me some stuff. You're thinking in your head
all this survival stuff."
Kieta,
who is legally blind, had taken a day off work Monday. He realized
something was wrong when he heard his "little poodle-like dog"
barking.
He
told the newspaper he surprised the man in the laundry room and pummeled
and kicked him until he was quiet. He dragged him into the kitchen by
the belt, found a kitchen knife and then dialed 911 with his left hand,
which took him about 20 tries.
Police
arrested Alvaro Castro, 25, who was taken to a detention unit in a
hospital. Castro denied burglarizing the house, police said, telling
officers that he had come to see his ex-girlfriend, Kieta's daughter,
and that he was looking for a lost cat.
FATHER
OF 77 REJECTS POLYGAMY
GIWE
ABOSSA, Ethiopia - A man in Ethiopia with 11 wives says he has changed
his mind about polygamy and is urging others not to go the same route he
did. Ayattu Nure, 56, said he married his 11 wives as a way of sharing
his wealth but the costs involved in raising his 77 children have
depleted his fortune, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday. "I
want my children to be farmers but I have no land, I want them to go to
school but I have no money," he said. Ayattu said his wives gave
birth to 100 babies total but 23 of the children died at young ages. He
said the size of his family makes it difficult for him to spend as much
time as he would like with each of his wives and children and he often
has trouble feeding them all. "People see me as a funny man but
there is no fun in my condition. I am a desperate man struggling to
survive," he told The Daily Telegraph. He said the government has
refused to help him, despite his pleas for assistance in obtaining
photographs of his children so they will be allowed to attend school.
Zebra found in college building.
OHIO
TEEN HIDES IN BED FROM HOME INTRUDERS, 2 ARRESTED
Lithopolis,
Ohio (AP) -- As two intruders began ransacking her house, a teenager
home alone climbed into bed, hid under the covers and text messaged her
mother, who called 911.
The
thieves, who were both arrested, even sat on the girl's bed at one
point, unaware she was home.
Lauren
Durnbaugh, 13, was home sick from school Tuesday when she heard someone
open a rear door her mother forgot to lock. She hid as the suspects went
from room to room.
"OMG.
They're in the house. I think we're being robbed," Lauren said in a
text message to her mother, Margo Roby, 53, who was working at a car
dealership about 15 minutes away.
Roby
called 911 and raced home from work, ramming her vehicle into the back
of the suspects' car parked in the driveway, authorities said.
One
of the suspects, Jenna Marie Burns, came out of the house and Roby
wrestled with her just as sheriff's deputies and the police chief
arrived, said Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen.
Jewelry,
a laptop computer, a digital camera and a tool box were among items the
intruders had set outside apparently to be carried away from the house,
about 15 miles southeast of Columbus, Phalen said.
Burns
and another suspect, Jeremiah Lee Fyffe, 26, were charged with burglary.
Burns also was charged with robbery. Both remained in a county jail
Thursday on $100,000 bond.
Lauren
said she got into bed because the believed thieves were more likely to
look elsewhere for items to steal.
"You
wouldn't just look in someone's bed for something," she said
Thursday on NBC's "Today" show. "You would be going in
their closet and looking anywhere else."
The
intruders apparently were unaware that the teen was home, Phalen said.
Roby
said she blamed herself for failing to lock the door when she left for
work. But she's proud of how her daughter handled herself.
"After
we cried, she said, 'Wow, I can't believe I did that,'" Roby said.
GOOOOD
MOOOOD
Rob
Taverner, who runs a farm just outside Exeter, Devon, England, has
taught his cows tai chi. "I want to make sure I am as relaxed and
focused as possible," the organic farmer said. "As organic
farmers we believe happier cows produce better milk." (Exeter
Express & Echo)
LEGAL
BRIEFS
Female
lawyers in London, England, are upset that local firms are banning
wearing fishnet stockings, calling them "unprofessional"
attire. "My male partners openly coo when I'm wearing Jimmy Choos,
short skirts and nicely cut tops," complained one on an online
forum, since it helps display "the quality of bird they've
attracted to the partnership." Another posted that she wondered if
"I detect a hint of jealousy among the frumps that can't get away
with it?" And a partner at another firm asked, "Why is
everyone getting their knickers in such a twist over this?" (London
Daily Mail)
