News of the Weird

[FrankZappa]

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. -- Three North Haven police officers were suspended 10 days each for drinking in a department vehicle during the St. Patrick\'s Day parade.

The vehicle, a Hummer, serves at the town\'s DUI enforcement vehicle. NBC 30 News reported that a civilian made a complaint that officers were drinking inside it during the parade. The police union president said three female civilians were also in the car along with an off-duty Hamden officer.

The punishments were handed down at a special closed-door hearing of the police commission held at the department. The police chief did not name the officers and did not comment about the police commission\'s decision to suspend the officers. The suspensions are unpaid.

The union president said the commission\'s decision was unanimous and that there were no allegations whatsoever of drinking and driving. The union president added that while the allegations are serious, the union is fighting the punishment.

The three officers were still on the job, and it was not clear when the suspensions would begin.

source

:sigh:

[Stephengencs]

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. -- Three North Haven police officers were suspended 10 days each for drinking in a department vehicle during the St. Patrick\'s Day parade.

The vehicle, a Hummer, serves at the town\'s DUI enforcement vehicle. NBC 30 News reported that a civilian made a complaint that officers were drinking inside it during the parade. The police union president said three female civilians were also in the car along with an off-duty Hamden officer.

The punishments were handed down at a special closed-door hearing of the police commission held at the department. The police chief did not name the officers and did not comment about the police commission\'s decision to suspend the officers. The suspensions are unpaid.

The union president said the commission\'s decision was unanimous and that there were no allegations whatsoever of drinking and driving. The union president added that while the allegations are serious, the union is fighting the punishment.

The three officers were still on the job, and it was not clear when the suspensions would begin.

source

:sigh:

We should all stop and learn a quick lesson from Mr Mike Brady via the Brady Bunch Movie.  I feel it pretty appropriate here.......

"Cindy, you know by tattling on your friends, you\'re really just tattling on yourself. By tattling on your friends, you\'re just telling them that you\'re a tattletale. Now is that the tale you want to tell?"

Fitzy had the same thing happen to him at the Wallingford Park and Ride off Exit 13.  Friggin Narcs.  Fitzy was sitting in his back seat waiting for us to come pick him up and some lady called the cops on him because he was drinking a beer in his car.  He didnt get in trouble however.....

I dont care that these were cops.  I hope whoever snitched on them gets their house robbed.

[FrankZappa]

I disagree. Fitzy was a civilian in a personal vehicle and not working. These 3 officers were on duty and in a state owned vehicle. There is a big difference there. Sucks about Fitzy though, that\'s b.s.

[Stephengencs]

Well Fitzy came out with no issue.  Just the hassle.......

I dont know, its not like the cops were raping the girls in the hummer.....  I just dont think narcing on cops during a parade during a holiday where drinking in public is allowed 1 day out of the entire year is necessarlly right......

I do see where you are coming from Paul, but I just dont see the need for someone to squeal on them.....But maybe that person saved the girls or some other civillian from trouble that may have come from intoxicated on duty cops....

Just being the ying to your yang........

[Spacey]

Haha, I think that hummer is the North Haven Dare mobile too.

[Stephengencs]

You can guarantee that those cops were blowin rails in there too...

[Todd]

And if those darn kids didn\'t stop them, something else would have been getting blown.

[Stephengencs]

Hence why I am sure those cops were friggin pisssssed.

[FrankZappa]

NEW PORT RICHEY - For about eight minutes on Tuesday, through the streets near downtown, police chased a driver who had no arms and one good leg.
He got away.

He is used to this sort of thing.

Authorities say the driver was Michael Francis Wiley, 40, who overcame three amputations, taught himself to drive with stumps and proceeded to become one of Pasco County\'s most accomplished traffic violators.

His license has been suspended so many times that driving itself has become a felony.

Which brings us to Tuesday, about 12:50 p.m., when a New Port Richey Police officer spotted Wiley in a suspicious vehicle - a blue Ford Explorer - at a convenience store off U.S. 19, according to Capt. Darryl Garman. When the officer went to investigate, the Explorer took off.

The chase, eventually joined by a second officer, led down the highway to Sunset Road and Veterans Drive, back to 19, back to Sunset, and finally over the bridge into Port Richey.

But the Explorer was spotted a minute later on Grand Boulevard, Garman said. From there it went to River Gulf Road, then south on Washington Street to Massachusetts Avenue. About 1 p.m., the officers broke off the chase because it could have put others in danger, Garman said. The Explorer was last seen heading south on Grand.

Police will seek an arrest warrant for Wiley today; charges could include fleeing to elude and habitually driving with a revoked license.

If it really was Wiley behind the wheel Tuesday - and it is hard to imagine him being confused with another driver - this was not his most spectacular car chase. In 1998, while driving a green Corvette, he led deputies down Interstate 75 at nearly 120 mph.

According to court records, Wiley has stolen a car, kicked a state trooper and attacked his wife headfirst. He is awaiting trial on separate drug and illegal-driving charges. He faces up to five years in prison.

Most Ford Explorers have automatic transmissions, though several people say Wiley is perfectly competent with a stick shift.

"He is one of the best drivers I\'ve ever seen in my life, " said Lee Michie, a longtime acquaintance. "But he\'s the worst person I\'ve ever met."

source

[Spacey]

JAIPUR, India - A 73-year-old Indian farmer who vowed not to marry before passing his high school exams has failed to get through for the 38th time.

Shiv Charan Yadav has been taking the exams -- normally given to schoolchildren at the age of 15 -- every year since 1969, without success.

He was in his 30s when he first decided to better himself through education.

This year, he failed everything except Sanskrit, scoring only 103 out of a possible 600 points.

He said he found mathematics especially hard, blaming the subject for dragging down his score.

"Once I pass I want to get married to a girl who\'s under 30," Yadav, who lives alone in Kohari village in the western desert state of Rajasthan, told Reuters.

He is now revising for his 39th attempt next year.

Ignorant Farmer

[Spacey]

NEW DELHI, India - An India couple have been accused of trying to get their 15-year-son into the Guinness Book of World Records by allowing him to perform a caesarean operation, local newspapers reported on Thursday.

The parents, both doctors from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, screened a video recording of the operation on a 20-year-old woman to other doctors in the hope of attaining the record as the world\'s youngest surgeon, newspapers reported.

Family members said the boy was only helping out in the operation, handing his father medical instruments. Indian medical authorities are investigating the case and could revoke the couple\'s medical licenses.

Reuters Doogie

#1 - 84-year-old man drove 67 years without license

AMSTERDAM - An 84-year-old Dutch driver astonished police this week when he admitted during a random check that not only was his car uninsured but he had been driving without a license for 67 years.

Dutch media said Wednesday the man had escaped detection because he had never got a speeding ticket or been involved in a crash.

The man promised police he would ditch his car, which had also never been put through a vehicle safety test, reports added.

Reuters Driver


#2 - Woman loses in court after losing lottery

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman has lost her compensation claim for mental distress she suffered from missing out when her neighbors won a lottery windfall.

Prize winners are chosen by postal code and Helene de Gier would have shared in the 14 million euros ($19 million) if she had bought an 8.50 euro ticket -- as her seven neighbors in the town of Heusden did.

She had accused the organizers of "emotional blackmail" and demanded compensation, but court documents showed Thursday that she had lost.

The judgment said lottery organizers cannot be held responsible for those who fail to take part and later regret it.

Reuters Lotto


Has to be some good smoke.

[derickw]

http://imageshack.us">http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/176/clubbingsealsiz6.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/>
Shot at 2007-07-06

Larger Namibian seal hunt prompts outcry

By RODRICK MUKUMBIRA, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 38 minutes ago

WINDHOEK, Namibia - Saying it wants to save its fishing industry, this southern African nation is letting seal hunters club more seals than last year in an annual hunt that began this week.
ADVERTISEMENT

But animal rights activists says killing thousands of adult males and tens of thousands of pups is cruel and unnecessary because fishing boats are the real culprits behind the decline in Namibia\'s fish stocks.

The sparsely populated country is famous for the wildlife and desert landscape of its Skeleton Coast. Among the tourist attractions are the 850,000 seals that live on roughly a dozen rocky, remote islands off the southwest Atlantic coast.

The government says the seals are consuming 900,000 tons of fish a year, more than a third of the fishing industry\'s catch. The seals are also an important source of skins for leather and fur goods, and meat for animal feed.

The hunt started July 1 and runs for five months. The start follows a government announcement last week that it would allow the killing of 6,000 adult males and 80,000 pups, up by 20,000 in 2006.

Francois Hugo, a spokesman for the Namibian conservation group Seal Alert, said the government was trying to push fish catches to more than 1.5 million tons a year, a level last seen three decades ago.

"This is now impossible, as the government keeps on increasing the fishing quotas. It\'s not the seals that are at blame here. It\'s the many trawlers on its waters," he said. "Namibia is culling nursing pups still suckling on their mothers\' milk, which have nothing to do with fish"

The government accused the activists of "deliberately distorting information," and said controlling the seal population was important for both the fishing industry and to the people who worked in jobs created by the hunt.

Namibia maintains that the country\'s seal population is healthy and hunting will not lead to the extinction of the species. But Seal Alert calls the method — clubbing, to maintain the quality of skins — inhumane.

Culling of seals in Namibia goes relatively unnoticed compared, for example, to the large hunts for the white harp seal in Canada. Hugo accused the government of barring press from the hunting areas to keep the world from focusing on it.

Moses Maurihungirire, director of resources management in the fisheries and marine resources ministry, would not comment on whether there was an official ban on reporters in the hunting region. But reporters often have been chased away from the remote and well-guarded sites.

Nangula Mbako, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, said the overnment would not be deterred by Seal Alert\'s objections. He said all nations\' economies "are hinged on the exploitation of living natural and nonliving natural resources.

"The rural poor, women, children and the most vulnerable societies are the ones mostly affected by withholding exploitation of sustainably managed resources such as seals," said Mbako, adding that the seal culling industry created 149 jobs.

[Spacey]

they probably have been doing this forever over there. reminds a little of the May 10th Holiday, Whacking Day!

[jocelyn]

That makes me queasy.

[FreeSpirit]

Methane Gas Kills Family Of Four, Hired Worker
Sheriff Calls Death \'Tragic Event\'

POSTED: 9:31 am EDT July 3, 2007

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- A farm accident killed four members of a Mennonite family and a hired hand at a dairy farm several miles west of Harrisonburg, Va., in Rockingham County authorities said.

Sheriff Don Farley told reporters a couple and their two young daughters and a farm worker died early Monday evening from methane gas emanating from a manure pit at their farm in the Briery Branch community.

Farley identified the victims as Scott Showalter, 33; his wife, Phyillis, 34; Shayla, 11; Christina, 9; and Amous Stoltzfus, 24, who worked at the Showalter\'s dairy farm.
Click here to find out more!

Farley told the Daily News-Record that the deaths were "just a tragic, tragic event."

Emergency dispatch received a rescue call at 6:47 p.m. from the dairy farm. Local fire departments and rescue squads also responded, he said.

Following the end of the days work, Farley said, Scott Showalter apparently was transferring manure from one small pit to a larger one measuring 20 feet by 20 feet and 8 feet deep.

At some point, the pipe that was transferring the manure from the smaller pit to the larger became clogged, and Scott Showalter climbed inside to fix the blockage, Farley said.

When he went into the pit to clear the obstruction, he apparently was overcome by methane gas, which is one byproduct of the liquefied manure, Farley said.

Emergency workers speculate that Stoltzfus climbed into the pit in an attempt to rescue Showalter, according to Farley.

When the two men didnt come out, Phyillis Showalter and then the couples two daughters apparently made their way in, all succumbing to the deadly gas.

"It was a domino effect with one person going in, the second person going after them," Farley said.

He said the bodies of the victims were taken to the state medical examiner\'s office for autopsy.

Farley said this type of accident was rare on area dairy farms.

Apparently the gas couldn\'t go anywhere and turned deadly, he said.

"I\'ve worked here my whole life and I cant remember a gas situation in a manure pit like this," Farley told reporters.