Curses, Foiled Again

Billy Floyd Norris, 33, called 911 to report his roommates had robbed him, but when police arrived at his house in Hanceville, Ala., they found a working methamphetamine lab and arrested Norris.

When a woman called 911 to report a man who tried to rob her at gunpoint was in hot pursuit outside Edwardsville, Ill., the dispatcher gave her directions to a nearby sheriff’s department. The suspect followed. The Belleville News-Democrat reported that Carleous Clay Jr. 26, realized too late where he was headed and was arrested.

Stating the Obvious

Leslie Edward Smith, 62, called 911 in Raleigh, N.C., to report having “shot this girl who’s been living in my house. She won’t get out, so I shot her.” According to a transcript provided to the Raleigh News & Observer, Smith told the dispatcher he had put down the gun and that the victim was seriously wounded, probably dead. “Is she beyond help?” the dispatcher asked.
“She should be,” Smith answered. “I shot her point blank in the chest.”
After he declined the dispatcher’s request to perform CPR, the dispatcher insisted, “You got to try to help her.”
“I don’t want to help her. She’s dead.”
When the dispatcher again urged Smith try to revive the victim, Smith muttered, “This is ridiculous. I just shot her.”

Vertical Seating

China’s Spring Airlines announced it is considering selling standing-room tickets to allow it to handle the growing number of passengers. Airline official Zhang Wuan told CCTV that standees would actually be assigned bar stools equipped with safety belts. MSNBC reported the airline estimated the measure would increase plane capacity by 40 percent, trim costs by 20 percent and lower fares for all passengers.

Following Spring’s example, Ireland’s low-cost airline Ryanair said it was considering ripping out the back five or six rows of seats on some flights so passengers could sit on bar stools or stand for flights of less than 90 minutes. “Why is this any different to what happens on trains where you see thousands of people who cannot get a seat standing in the aisles?” Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told Sky News. He indicated that passengers willing to stand could fly for free.

Solid Defense

Robert P. Trout, defense attorney for former Louisiana Congressman William J. Jefferson, sought to redeem his client by arguing at his corruption trial in Alexandria, Va., that Jefferson isn’t a criminal, just “stupid.” The Washington Post reported Trout told jurors that the high-profile case, which included the FBI’s finding $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson’s freezer, has made Jefferson, who faces up to 235 years for the various counts against him, basically “a national joke.”

Don’t Blame Me

After Catherine Stotts, 62, injured a highway worker while driving in a closed lane during a repaving operation, she told California Highway Patrol officers she was driving in the wrong lane because she was “not used” to driving on new asphalt. She added she thought the 60-year-old victim could have jumped out of her way faster.

First Shall Be Last

A program that charged airline passengers to speed them through security checkpoints has gone out of business. The Associated Press reported that Verified Identity Pass, which operated its Clear fast-lane security check service at about 20 airports, had more than a quarter-million customers, who paid annual membership fees ranging from $178 to $199. Besides having to wait in line with ordinary travelers, members will not be issued refunds.

News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.