Saturday, March 11, 2006

 

Around the Country ...

Man accused of putting mouse in burrito

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - A man has been charged with plotting to strike it rich by planting a dead mouse in a burrito at a Taco Bell restaurant.

Ryan Daniel Goff, 20, was arraigned Thursday on an attempted extortion count. He laughed and smiled as District Judge Thomas Phillips read the charge.

"I don't recall seeing anything like this before," Grand Traverse County prosecutor Alan Schneider told the Traverse City Record-Eagle. "It was pretty ill-conceived from the beginning."

The sheriff's department said that while eating at the restaurant Jan. 24, Goff complained to an employee that his burrito tasted "funny."

Goff declined a replacement burrito and insisted on keeping his when he left, investigators said.

He later called Taco Bell's regional manager, Robert Buckle, and said he wanted "something that would make my ears tingle" to settle the matter, court documents said.

From the Kansas City Star

posted by Anne 3/11/2006 03:45:00 PM (0) comments

Thursday, March 09, 2006

 

Around the Country ...

Toilet paper dispute overflows into fight

CHARLESTON, S.C. - An argument over toilet paper overflowed into a fight, sending one motel maid to the hospital and another to jail.

Deloris Smith, 47, is charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. A magistrate set her bail Friday at $5,000.

Smith said she was defending herself from her co-worker‘s plunger.

From the Westfall Weekly News

posted by Anne 3/09/2006 07:43:00 AM (0) comments

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

 

Around Pennsylvania ...

Plan to require diapers on horses dropped

EBENSBURG -- The legal battle to keep the borough's streets free of horse manure from Amish buggies and other users would raise a bigger stink than the mess borough council was hoping to prevent.

Borough council scrapped a proposed ordinance that would have required horses downtown to wear "a containment device to the rear."

"You have to pick your fights, and this fight is bigger than the problem," borough Manager Dan Penatzer told council in the rural county seat, population 3,100, about 70 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Officials noted that in one Wisconsin community, some Amish citizens argued that a similar ordinance singled their horses out for the pollution they caused but didn't address automobile pollution.

"Enforcement of the ordinance would be problematic," Penatzer told council Monday night before the measure was killed. "You're not going to win this thing, and you'll end up in court."

From the Centre Daily Times

posted by Anne 3/08/2006 07:21:00 AM (0) comments

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

 

Around the Country ...

Lesbian becomes college homecoming king

FREDERICK, Md. - Hood College is reviewing its homecoming rules after a lesbian was crowned king, a college official says.

But Jennifer Jones, the 21-year-old senior who beat out three men for the honor, says her victory last month was a plus for the private liberal-arts college.

"It is cool that Hood allows people to be themselves," Jones, of Newark, Del., told The Frederick News-Post. "If people didn't want me to be king, they wouldn't have nominated me and voted for me."


From the Kansas City Star

posted by Anne 3/07/2006 06:41:00 AM (0) comments

Monday, March 06, 2006

 

Around the Country ...

Woman Enters Exhibit, Elephant Smacks Her

WACO, Texas - A 25-year-old woman climbed past barriers and into an elephant‘s zoo exhibit, then crawled out with minor injuries after the 6,000-pound animal smacked her with its trunk.

After saying she wanted to play with the elephant, the woman climbed over a 3-feet-high wood-and-wire fence, scaled an 8-foot-tall artificial rock structure and bypassed an electric wire before jumping into the exhibit Thursday afternoon, Fleshman said. A moat extends around most of the exhibit.


From the Pierceland Herald

posted by Anne 3/06/2006 06:54:00 AM (0) comments

Saturday, March 04, 2006

 

Around the World ...

Alligator antics land Russian in hospital

A Russian was attacked by his pet alligator after he tried to show off to friends at a boozy party by feeding it sausages.

Anton Skvortsov, 35, kept pet alligator Musya in a cage in his office in his Moscow.

But after drinking with colleagues at an office party he decided to show them how much his pet loved him and opened the cage to feed the animal by hand.

From Ananova

posted by Anne 3/04/2006 10:32:00 AM (0) comments

 

Around the Country ...

Feisty Rooster Rules Punta Gorda City Hall

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- A rooster, believed to be an orphan of Hurricane Charley, now rules the roost at Punta Gorda city hall. The feisty copper-colored fowl has interrupted city meetings and prompted neighbors to call animal control after he woke them at 5 a.m.

But mostly he's won the hearts of city employees.

From the Washington Post

posted by Anne 3/04/2006 10:09:00 AM (0) comments