Sexy mascot can stay at eatery if curves covered

READING, Ohio – A curvaceous, scantily clad mannequin can keep her spot outside a Cincinnati area barbecue joint, but local officials want her to cover up a bit.

The life-size figure stands as a busty beacon outside a restaurant in suburban Reading (REH'-ding) owned by Kenny Tessel. He told zoning officials at a hearing Wednesday night that the advertising gimmick has boosted business 40 percent.

The 5-foot-10 mannequin is on the street wearing a bikini top and tight short-shorts, though Tessel brought her to the hearing draped in a long, sleeveless gray T-shirt.

The board said Tessel may continue to use the figure only if it's dressed more modestly in front of the restaurant, too.

He plans to appeal.

___

Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com

Share and Enjoy!

Bikers wear fruit shells to avoid helmet law

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Police in Nigeria have arrested scores of motorcycle taxi riders with dried fruit shells, paint pots or pieces of rubber tire tied to their heads with string to avoid a new law requiring them to wear helmets.

The regulations have caused chaos around Africa's most populous nation, with motorcyclists complaining helmets are too expensive and some passengers refusing to wear them fearing they will catch skin disease or be put under a black magic spell.

The law, which came into force on January 1, pits two factions equally feared by the common motorist against one another: erratic motorcycle taxis known as "Okadas," whose owners are notorious for road-rage, and the bribe-hungry traffic police.

Some bikers have used calabashes -- dried shells of pumpkin-sized fruit usually used as a bowl -- or pots and pans tied to their heads with string to try to dodge the rules.

Construction workers have set up a lucrative trade renting out their safety helmets for around 500 naira ($3.60) a day.

"They use pots, plates, calabashes, rubber and plastic as makeshift helmets," said Yusuf Garba, commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission in the northern town of Kano.

"We will not tolerate this. We gave them enough time to purchase helmets. Six months ago the price of helmets was below 800 naira so complaints about non-availability and high prices are no excuse," he told Reuters.

Helmet prices have since risen sharply as sellers cash in on demand.

BIKES IMPOUNDED

He said 28 arrests had been made in Kano. Newspapers have reported more arrests in other cities. Those detained are fined and their bikes impounded until they buy helmets.

There are tens of thousands of Okadas buzzing around Lagos, a chaotic city of 14 million people, many of them given to unemployed and illiterate youths as part of poverty reduction programs or on hire-purchase schemes run by businessmen.

Most have never been taught traffic rules.

Newspapers quoted passengers as saying they feared the helmets could be laced with magic spells so as to knock the wearer unconscious and make them easier to rob, while others feared they would pick up an infection.

One columnist said transportation can already carry a health risk, and recounted how he had picked up a bedbug while sitting on a bus.

"The story is that people who have scabies, craw-craw, ringworm, dandruff and all other such diseases would easily infect others with them through the helmets," Steve Nwosu wrote in the Daily Sun.

"They ironically forget that the same diseases are also deposited on, and generously transferred from, car seats and their headrests."

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )

(Writing by Nick Tattersall, editing by Peter Millership)

Share and Enjoy!

NY man demands estranged wife pay him for kidney

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – A New York doctor is demanding that his estranged wife pay him $1.5 million to compensate him for the kidney he gave her while they were still on good terms. Dr. Richard Batista spoke Wednesday to reporters at his lawyer's office in Garden City, Long Island.

He said he gave his kidney to Dawnell Batista in June 2001. She filed for divorce in July 2005.

The 49-year-old Batista works for Nassau University Medical Center. The couple have three children, ages, 8, 11 and 14.

A message left for his wife's attorney, Douglas Rothkopf, was not immediately returned.

Share and Enjoy!

Lou the mule alerts Tenn. woman to house on fire

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. – Lou the mule brayed his way into his owner's heart with a New Year's warning that her rural Tennessee home was on fire.

Jolene Solomon says the mule saved her life by alerting her to the attic blaze so that she could get out of the house before it burned down.

The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention. The 63-year-old — who lives alone — stepped outside and saw the fire.

The farm house in south-central Tennessee built by Solomon's grandfather was gutted. Solomon is staying with family while she plans to rebuild.

Solomon said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm.

___

Information from: Southern Standard, http://www.southernstandard.net

Share and Enjoy!

Frugal farmer leaves $2M to his tiny Pa. church

BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. – It's like a gift from God. A tiny church in western Pennsylvania inherited more than $2 million from a farmer who lived in a mobile home. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Sunday that John Ferguson left his entire estate to Hopewell United Methodist Church near the town of Black Lick.

The 71-year-old farmer attended the church before dying in January 2007. The gift has been in probate since then.

The church has just 80 members. Hopewell pastor Jason McQueen says a panel of congregation members will choose projects to be funded annually from the income generated by Ferguson's estate.

___

Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

Share and Enjoy!

Tiny Texas town heads to Las Vegas for vacation

FORT WORTH, Texas – The tiny town of Cranfills Gap really needs a vacation. That's why Las Vegas tourism officials decided to fly nearly half the 350 residents to the desert playground for a five-day getaway and publicity stunt.

Up to 120 people — those who could get off work and were over 21 — will be treated to swanky hotels, fancy restaurants and glitzy shows when they arrive Dec. 13.

It's all free with a catch: They'll be followed around by video cameras for tourism commercials to air early next year.

"It couldn't have come at a better time," said Tanya Davidson, 33. She plans to marry her fiance in a drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is spending $2.5 million for the trip and marketing campaign. Officials looked at 125 small communities around the nation before settling on the farming and ranching town that has one gas station, one bank, a bar and grill, and few other businesses.

"It really is the quintessential American town," said Doug Finelli, from an advertising agency working on the campaign. "The people are really welcoming, and everyone works really hard. Most people work multiple jobs."

Cranfills Gap, with two stop signs and no traffic lights about 75 miles southwest of Fort Worth, is more than ready for the getaway.

"It'll give people an opportunity to go somewhere they wouldn't have had a chance to go to normally," Mayor David Witte said.

Share and Enjoy!

Man allegedly assaults girlfriend with burger

VERO BEACH, Fla. – A Vero Beach man faces a domestic violence charge after authorities said he assaulted his girlfriend with a cheeseburger. An Indian River County Sheriff's Office arrest report said a 22-year-old man and his girlfriend got into an argument as they sat in a car in front of their home.

The report said the man would not let the woman out of the vehicle, so she threw his drink out of the car. In response, the man allegedly grabbed her arm and smashed the cheeseburger into her face. The pair got out of the car, and authorities say the man again took the McDonald's sandwich and put it on her face.

The man was released on $1,000 bond Wednesday.

___

Information from: Press-Journal, http://www.tcpalm.com/vero

Share and Enjoy!

The one that didn't get away yields long-lost ring

BUNA, Texas – The one that didn't get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn.

"My first reaction was — you gotta be kidding," he said Wednesday.

The fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted Richardson on Nov. 28 in Buna, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, after tracking him down with help from the Internet.

His fisherman hero asked to remain anonymous.

Richardson, 41, said he lost the ring about two weeks after his 1987 graduation from Universal Technical Institute in Houston. His mom had bought it for about $200 and wasn't pleased when it went missing.

As a mechanic, Richardson said he doesn't wear jewelry so he tucked the undamaged ring away.

"I have not cleaned it," he said. "I told my wife I don't want to clean it."

___

Information assist from KFDM-TV: http://www.kfdm.com

Share and Enjoy!

Drunks burgle police station Powered by BlogBurst

A pair of drunken burglars stole police equipment including stab vests and the key to a patrol car, when officers didn't lock the door to their station.

Shane Bowkett, 22, and Matthew Goodchild, 21 helped themselves to the items from the station in Newent, Gloucestershire after a visit to a local pub.

They had initially gone to the station because they though a family member might have been arrested (as you do) but found the door to the station unlocked.

Doing what any self respecting low-life would do they grabbed the stuff and made a run for it, ignoring the fact that if there is one crime police are likely to solve, it is one against them.

The pair were unsurprisingly caught and appeared in Gloucester magistrates court where they both admitted burglary and were each given a 12 month conditional discharge.

Gloucestershire police said the door was not locked because of a fault with the lock, it has since been fixed.

A spokesman said: "It is important that police stations throughout the county are accessible by members of the public and that during periods when the station is not manned."

There is accessible and there is 'accessible'.

Share and Enjoy!

Victim drives sleeping rapist to police station

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand rape victim drove her rapist to a police station when he fell asleep in his car after assaulting the woman, local media reported on Wednesday.

Vipul Sharma, 22, was found guilty of abduction and two charges of rape by the Auckland District Court Tuesday, court officials told Reuters Wednesday.

The New Zealand newspaper said Sharma met the woman at an Auckland bar in 2006 and later drove her first to a park where he raped her in the back seat of his car.

After the attack Sharma allowed the woman to drive and fell asleep in the passenger seat, so the woman drove him to Auckland Central police station where he was arrested, said the newspaper.

"She showed a lot of bravery and common sense. I have nothing but respect for what she has endured," police detective Simon Welsh told the newspaper.

(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Share and Enjoy!

Cop directing traffic spots man driving his truck

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FRISCO, Texas -- A police officer directing traffic outside of a concert in suburban Dallas noticed a familiar-looking truck driving by - his own. The startling sight led to the arrest of James Matthew Herring, 22, who is charged with theft and evading arrest, police said.

Officer Jerry Varner said he parked his maroon pickup about 100 yards from where he was directing traffic Saturday night. He said he didn't notice anyone breaking in but recognized his truck coming toward him.

Varner ordered the driver to pull over. Instead, the man put the truck in reverse and attempted to flee, striking several vehicles, police said.

Police cars eventually surrounded the truck. The driver tried to run but was soon caught, police said.

Herring's court-appointed attorney said he hadn't met with his client and declined to comment.

Share and Enjoy!

T-Rex noses out dinosaur competition

When it came to the sense of smell among meat-eating dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex nosed out the competition.

Scientists at the University of Calgary and the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada, compared the size of their olfactory bulbs - the part of the brain regulating the sense of smell - in a wide range of carnivorous dinosaurs.

The researchers performed CT scans and measured fossilized skulls of meat-eating dinosaurs, known as theropods, including huge predators, smaller raptors and ostrich-like dinosaurs. They also looked at the primitive bird Archaeopteryx.

Tyrannosaurus, the scourge of North America at the end of the age of dinosaurs, was the undisputed king. Its olfactory capabilities surpassed that of the other huge predators the researchers examined, including South American giant Giganotosaurus and African killer Carcharodontosaurus.

"T-Rex had a very good sense of smell," Francois Therrien of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview. "Probably that's how they located prey and patrolled a large territory."

The researchers were not the first to describe T-Rex's strong sense of smell, but were the first to rate the beast in comparison to other meat-eating dinosaurs.

Other experts have pointed to T-Rex's stellar smeller as evidence that it must have been more of a scavenger than an active hunter. Therrien disagreed.

"It has been suggested that the very good sense of smell of T-Rex indicated that it was a scavenger because it would have used its sense of smell to locate putrefying carcasses on the landscape," said Therrien, whose findings were published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"But when we look at modern animals, we see that's not the case. Scavengers don't necessarily have a better sense of smell. You have some like the turkey vultures that have a good sense of smell. But you have other scavengers like the Old World vultures that actually have a typical sense of smell because they use sight instead of smell to locate prey."

Vicious little Velociraptor and its raptor relatives also had an excellent sense of smell, the researchers said. But the ostrich-like dinosaurs like speedy Ornithomimus and the toothless Oviraptor apparently had very poor senses of smell.

Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird with fossils dating to 150 million years ago, turned out to have a good sense of smell in line with that of the small meat-eating dinosaurs from which paleontologists believe birds evolved, they said.

Share and Enjoy!

Man Accused Of Using Dangerous Weapon - Centipedes

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ― A Malaysian man has been accused of trying to hurt his neighbor with a dangerous weapon -- centipedes.

Prosecutor Mazri Mohamed said Wednesday that R. Prabakaran has been charged with attempting to cause harm with a dangerous weapon after allegedly unleashing four centipedes and bugs in his neighbor's bed last week following an argument.

Prabakaran, 21, allegedly climbed on to the roof to enter his neighbor's house where he committed the offense, Mazri said.

Prabakaran pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a court in the southern city of Johor Baru and has been released on bail, Mazri said.

It was not clear what species the centipedes were. Some species are poisonous.

If found guilty, Prabakaran faces up to three years prison and a caning.

Share and Enjoy!

Girl returns $1,000 found in Richard Simmons tape

HONOLULU — The best bargain at the Salvation Army thrift store in Kailua-Kona was a Richard Simmons videotape. But Mikela Mercier, 11, decided to pass up the chance to buy the tape for a few coins after she found a surprise inside: $1,000 in $100 bills.

Mikela said that when she discovered the money while browsing through the used tapes, she immediately looked for her mom who was inside the dressing room and told her they needed to turn it in.

Store manager Jimmy Thennes put out a news release on the discovery, praising Mikela for her honesty.

Her mother, Jodi Mercier, said she is very proud of her daughter who she says knew it belonged to the Salvation Army so the agency can help more people in need.

Share and Enjoy!

Woman gets into tussle with an aggressive deer

BUTTE, Mont. – A 61-year-old woman got into a tussle with an aggressive deer after it attacked one of her poodles at her home on Monday. Carol Lince said she let her three dogs outside, then heard one "screaming bloody murder." She went outside her home and saw a doe attacking her smallest dog.

Lince kicked at the deer's hind legs to try to get the animal off her dog, but she said the doe began to ram her with its head, pushing her into a fence.

Lince started walloping the deer's head with her fists until it eventually jumped the fence and ran off.

Lince said she sustained bruises after the deer rammed its head into her abdomen.

The dog was pronounced OK by a veterinarian.

___

Information from: The Montana Standard, http://www.mtstandard.com

Share and Enjoy!

Raccoon unfazed by cop's Taser during wild chase

DALLAS – Police learned something during a frenetic burglary call to an elderly couple's home: Tasers don't work on raccoons. Police arrived with guns drawn after receiving a 911 call from an 85-year-old man who heard noises near his front door Tuesday night. Officers surrounded the house but pretty quickly — in the words of the police report — "determined the suspect was a raccoon."

In the meantime, the masked burglar apparently made its way into the house through the chimney. And that's when things got really interesting.

With officers in pursuit, the raccoon took off through the house, ripping up Venetian blinds, pulling down drapes, knocking over a lamp and toppling a flowerpot. Finally, Officer Daniel Ek tried to let it out the back door when the suspect apparently turned threatening.

"While unlocking the back door, the suspect ran at Officer Ek," the police report says.

Ek used his taser, but the raccoon ran up the chimney with the stun gun's prongs in its back. An animal control officer tried unsuccessfully to flush it out with ammonia, homeowner Bill Hyde said in Thursday's editions of The Dallas Morning News.

A neighbor helped secure the front of the fireplace to keep the raccoon from returning. The next morning, when the neighbor returned to put a cap on the chimney, the raccoon had escaped.

"He got away clean," Hyde said.

Share and Enjoy!

Cat fight leads to rollover on I-70 near DeBeque

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) -- Troopers say a driver whose vehicle rolled on Interstate 70 after she tried to break up a fight between two cats riding on her lap ended up in the hospital.

The Colorado State Patrol says the woman suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The crash happened Monday near DeBeque. A car and a semitrailer both swerved off the road so they wouldn't hit the woman's vehicle.

The woman was ticketed for careless driving. She was not wearing a seat belt.

Her name was not released.

---

Information from: KKCO-TV, http://www.nbc11news.com

Share and Enjoy!

Man making kebabs next to corpse

A man discovered making kebabs near a corpse has been banned from managing food businesses and fined 3,800 pounds, Wolverhampton City Council said Tuesday.

Jaswinder Singh, 45, was found by police making kebabs at Pappu Sweet Center and Catering in Wolverhampton in August in a kitchen where a dead man was lying on a sofa.

As well the corpse, the policeman discovered another man smoking and spitting repeatedly on the floor, while in a room near the kitchen, a defrosting chicken, oozing blood and juices, was covered with flies.

Environmental health officers had visited the shop over a number of months previously where they had warned Singh to improve his food hygiene standards after finding rat droppings as well as a dead rat beneath a pot.

"We were called to reports of a sudden death," said West Midlands Police spokeswoman Joanne Hunt. "A post mortem was carried out, but found the death was not suspicious, so the matter was referred to the coroner."

Wolverhampton's city council's chief environmental services officer Nick Edwards said: "The council will not tolerate those who put the public at risk by preparing food in insanitary conditions.

"We are pleased that the council's actions have resulted in the courts banning this individual from ever running a food business again."

(Reporting by John Joseph; Editing by David Clarke)

Share and Enjoy!

Pa. man chews through belly-busting, 15-lb. burger

It took Brad Sciullo 4 hours and 39 minutes to finish a marathon. A meat marathon, that is. The 5-foot-11, 180-pound western Pennsylvania chef is the first person to eat a monstrosity called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser: a 15-pound burger with toppings and a bun that brought the total weight to 20.2 pounds.

The mountain of beef is the product of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, about 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Clearfield.

Sciullo, 21, of Uniontown, said he was surprised he finished the sandwich Monday. "About three hours into it, things got tough," he said.

When asked what possessed him to eat a burger that big, Sciullo said: "I wanted to see if I could."

The burger included a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish, pub owner Dennis Liegey said.

For completing the challenge in the under-five-hour time limit, Sciullo won $400, three T-shirts, a certificate "and a burger hangover, as I call it," Liegey said.

Share and Enjoy!

Lobster Thief Gets Pinched

When a criminal does something that even the dorks on “jackass” won’t do, you’ve reached a whole new low in stupidity. In fact, it can’t even be called stupidity. I shall make up a name for that level now - “shtumlippity.”

A guy in San Diego got caught stealing lobsters from traps and hiding them in his pants, according to the AP.

That doesn’t so much for his manhood since he’s basically admitted he doesn’t have much to lose by hiding animals in his pants that are born with garden shears for hands.

Police saved the lobsters from the treacherous depths of the thief’s pants and returned them to the water. Then they added some onion, chilled butter, lime sauce, whipping cream and a dash of white wine to the water and justice was served.

Share and Enjoy!