There’s No Business Like Shoe Business
A man who robbed a shoe store in Knoxville, Tenn., made off with
four or five left-foot shoes from the storeroom. Police Lt. Bob
Woodbridge told The Knoxville Sentinel the robber didn’t get
matching pairs because the right-foot shoes were being used for
displays. The following day, employees spotted the suspect in the
shoe-store parking lot and called police. They arrested Vincent E.
Salters, 46, who the Sentinel said was shoeless at the time.
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at
President George W. Bush, was discussing his experience at a news
conference in Paris, when someone in the audience threw a shoe at him.
Al-Zeidi ducked, and the shoe hit the wall behind him. The Associated
Press reported that al-Zeidi’s brother, Maithan, chased the
unidentified attacker and hit him with a shoe as he left the room.
Sprocket Crime
After police received a report of a man trying to ride a bicycle
while holding a cash register in Bloomington, Minn., officers spotted
Travis William Himmler, 22, a few blocks away behind some bushes,
somewhat dazed. The Eden Prairie Sun said a loose electrical
cord from the register apparently jammed the gears of the bike, causing
it to careen out of control. “There was evidence all around him,”
Commander Mark Stehlik said, adding that the shoes Himmler was wearing
matched shoeprints on grease on the floor of the restaurant and on the
register.
German police searching for convicted killer Peter Paul Michalski,
46, after he escaped from a high-security prison in Aachen spotted him
riding a woman’s bicycle near the Dutch border and deliberately crashed
into him, knocking him off the bicycle onto the grassy shoulder.
Police investigating motor noise near a Christmas tree lot in
Portage, Ind., at 1 a.m. spotted Phillip Menefee, 48, riding a bicycle
equipped with a homemade motor but no lights. The Post-Tribune reported Menefee was balancing a stolen Christmas tree across the handlebars.
Helping Those Who Help Themselves
After a charity car wash raised hundreds of dollars to benefit the
family of a hit-and-run victim in Clark County, Wash., police accused
fund-raiser organizer Mallory P. Ewart, 18, of using most of the money
to bail defendant Antonio Cellestine, 18, out of jail. The Columbian
reported the all-day car wash drew between 30 and 40 cars, most
belonging to parishioners of the victim’s church. The paper added that
investigators were tipped off to the scam by a purported admission on
Ewart’s MySpace page.
Proving a Point
After Australian authorities rejected their application for asylum
for the fourth time in 10 years, two gay men from Bangladesh offered to
have sex in front of immigration officials to prove their
homosexuality. Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported the unnamed
pair fled Bangladesh in 1999 after they were violently attacked for
being gay. Asylum hearings by Australia’s Refugee Review Tribunal
repeatedly rejected their application, until a Federal Court judge
declared the panels unreasonably twisted facts to deny the men were
homosexual, including citing unsubstantiated claims they were brothers
who had been married to women. Increasingly frustrated by the process,
the couple finally notified the tribunal: “We are prepared to have an
adult witness view us engaged in an act of homosexual intercourse and
then attest before you to that fact.”
Bionic Bottom
After suffering massive internal injuries from a car accident, Ged
Galvin, 55, needed a colostomy bag, until British surgeons rebuilt his
rectum. The Daily Telegraph reported that the medical team at
the Royal London Hospital removed a muscle from above Galvin’s knee,
wrapped it around his sphincter and then attached electrodes to the
nerves that Galvin operates using a remote control that he carries in
his pocket. “It’s like a chubby little mobile phone,” he said. “You
switch it on and off, just like switching on the TV.” Saying he doesn’t
mind being called “the man with the bionic bottom,” the Yorkshire
resident added that the only drawback is having to have his improvised
sphincter muscles replaced every five years.
Win Some, Lose Some
Mary Lait, a custodian at the Cook County, Ill., sheriff’s office,
was awarded $14,022 for injuries she claims she suffered on two
separate occasions while “reaching around to pick up a piece of toilet
paper,” according to court documents.
After his release from prison, David M. Cohen, 43, a former police
sergeant in Stoughton, Mass., asked the town to reimburse him $113,496
for expenses related to his case. The Brockton Enterprise said
that Cohen claims the town owes him for 87 accrued vacation days, 125
unused sick days, 144 hours of comp time accrued for not using sick
time, 152 hours of supervisor comp time, 481 hours for court
appearances related to his criminal case, 280 hours of overtime to
prepare for his case, at least 61 percent education incentive pay for
2007, and 61 percent for accrued stipends and benefits. Cohen’s
conviction in 2007 was for attempted extortion. “We will reject the
man’s request,” Town Manager Mark S. Stankiewwicz declared.
How the World Works
After last year’s chocolate sale failed to raise enough money, a
parent advisory council at Rosewood Middle School in Goldsboro, N.C.,
came up with a plan to sell test scores. According to Raleigh’s News and Observer,
students can buy 20 test points for $20 and add 10 extra points to any
two tests of their choice. Although the extra points could change a “B”
to an “A” or from a failing grade to a passing grade on the two tests,
principal Susie Shepherd insisted that they wouldn’t amount to enough
to change a student’s overall grades.
The 2002 Municipal Rehabilitation and Economic Recovery Act that put
Camden, N.J., under state control set aside $175 million for dozens of
city projects that officials promised would create jobs and lift Camden
out of poverty. Instead, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported,
most of the bailout money, $99 million, went to universities, hospitals
and government agencies and tourist attractions—including $25 million
to expand the aquarium to include hippopotamuses and sharks. Noting the
money turned out to have no effect on Camden’s median income, which
remains the lowest of any medium-sized American city, the Inquirer observed, “Thanks to $25 million in recovery money, America’s poorest city now has hippos.”
More Nails in Print’s Coffin
Nearly half of regular Internet users in the United States said
they’re willing to read news online, including on mobile devices. The
survey, commissioned by Boston Consulting, found that the 48 percent
who said they would pay for online news indicated the average amount
they would pay is $3 a month. Although both figures were lower than
those surveyed in other Western countries, Americans were much more
likely than the others to pay for admission to sites that offered
Internet access to multiple papers.
A meeting of magazine salesmen at a motel in Tacoma, Wash., ended
when two men announced they wanted to quit their jobs, only to be
beaten with baseball bats and golf clubs. Police arrested the remaining
six salesmen in an SUV just blocks away after discovering one was armed
with brass knuckles and a gun. KOMO-TV reported the door-to-door
subscription operation, called Fresh Start Opportunities, was a scam in
which young men claiming to make a fresh start in life take donations
ranging from $50 to $800 without delivering the magazines.
When the Do-Not-Call List Isn’t Enough
Police arrested Daniel Adler, 61, for luring a telemarketer to his
home to punch in the face. Investigators in Stony Point, N.Y., told
WABC News that Adler was upset with being called by Sears Home
Improvement telemarketers and reportedly scheduled an appointment,
intending to tell them to place him on their do-not-call list. When the
victim arrived, Adler cut up the telemarketer’s identification card and
then hit him.
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.
