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Man Accused of Having Relations With Cows
 Sat Feb 26, 6:09 PM ET

NEILLSVILLE, Wis. - (AP) - A 63-year-old man is charged with sexual gratification with an animal for allegedly having sex with calves.
Harold G. Hart, of Neillsville, allegedly told police that he routinely stopped at a Greenwood farm, usually after bar closing or on trips to strip clubs near Marshfield or Neillsville.
A criminal complaint filed in Clark County Circuit Court said the farm's owners installed a motion detector on Jan. 22 after regularly seeing footprints and vehicle tracks on their land. Around 4 a.m. the next morning, a sensor sounded and Hart was caught leaving the barn, but Hart allegedly said he just used a bathroom in the barn and had never been there before.
Hart told police he had sex with heifers before he went into the service in 1963 and resumed about a year ago at the farm. He admitted to using a rope to tie calves around the neck and estimated he had been to the farm "at least 50 times," according to the complaint.
He told police he never had sex with animals while maintaining a relationship with his a girlfriend or his wife, the complaint said.
Hart also is charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of obstructing an officer. Each charge carries up to nine months in jail.
Hart is scheduled to appear in court March 10.

Hong Kong jeweller flushed out by tourism board
 Thu Feb 24, 3:25 AM ET

HONG KONG, (AFP) - A solid-gold and gem-encrusted 4.8 million dollar toilet has been flushed from Hong Kong's tourism maps after staff at the jewellery store that made it were rude to customers, officials said.
The jeweller, 3D Gold, was struck off the Hong Kong Tourism Board's good service accreditation scheme after 41 people complained about the shop in the Kowloon district.
Staff at the store, which claims to attract 5,000-6,000 tourists each day to the pricey potty, were impolite and had tried to stop customers leaving, the organisation said.
"We've constantly received complaints from their customers. We have investigated the case and found they still have attitude problems towards their customers," a spokeswoman for the Tourism Board, told AFP.
"Although we've spoken to them about it, they have not improved."
The jeweller will be taken off Tourist Board literature circulated to thousands of travel agents and promotions agencies around the world.
The company, which made the toilet for 38 million Hong Kong dollars (4.8 million dollars) is unconcerned, however.
"We don't think there will be any impact on our business because it is a must-visit destination," a company spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post newspaper.
The toilet, built in a bathroom gilded with 24-carat gold, was inspired by Communist leader Vladimir Lenin who said in 1921 that toilets of gold would serve as a useful reminder of the waste of capitalist warfare.

Indian tribals marry off two boys, two girls to puppies to ward off evil
 Wed Feb 23,11:03 AM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Two small boys and two girls were married off to four puppies by tribal villagers in the small northern Indian state of Jharkhand to ward off evil.
Local officials in Kuluptang village in Jharkhand said the "kukur vibaha" or dogs' marriages, were organised on the last day of a local tribal festival, the Press Trust of India (news - web sites) news agency said.
One of the tribals, 54-year-old Sonamuni, who blessed the marriage of her three-year-old grand-daughter Priya, said the wedding was no less important than other such ceremonies and all customs normally associated with marriage were followed.
The mother of "groom" Durga, aged one, said that if the first tooth of a baby came out in the upper jaw it was considered "inauspicious" for the child as well as the family and dog marriages had to be performed.
After a bath in a nearby river, the children are taken to a place of worship in a procession accompanied by a band.
Neighbours and relatives of the four children danced to music performed by the band before the marriages were solemnised with puppies of the opposite sex, the report said.

Blind Man Who Bit Guide Dog Charged
Thu Feb 24, 3:23 PM ET

EDINBURGH, Scotland - (AP) - A blind man who allegedly bit his guide dog has been charged with animal cruelty.
David Todd is accused of sinking his teeth into the animal's head in a busy street, Scottish police said Thursday.
A police spokesman said: "Any attack on a defenseless animal, particularly one trained to help people, is appalling."
An eyewitness reported seeing the 34-year-old bite the dog and kick it repeatedly at a shopping mall on Feb. 8, a spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Police said.
Officers arrested the suspect on Feb. 10 and charged him with animal cruelty and breach of the peace, the spokeswoman said.
Police took the Labrador/retriever mix into protective care and handed it to the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
Colin Gallagher, a district team manager for the association, said: "This is the first case of its kind I have known of in 11 years in this job."

Court: Man Can Sue Over Surprise Pregnancy
 Thu Feb 24,12:55 PM ET

CHICAGO - (AP) - An appeals court said a man can press a claim for emotional distress after learning a former lover had used his sperm to have a baby. But he can't claim theft, the ruling said, because the sperm were hers to keep.
The ruling Wednesday by the Illinois Appellate Court sends Dr. Richard O. Phillips' distress case back to trial court.
Phillips accuses Dr. Sharon Irons of a "calculated, profound personal betrayal" after their affair six years ago, saying she secretly kept semen after they had oral sex, then used it to get pregnant.
He said he didn't find out about the child for nearly two years, when Irons filed a paternity lawsuit. DNA tests confirmed Phillips was the father, the court papers state.
Phillips was ordered to pay about $800 a month in child support, said Irons' attorney, Enrico Mirabelli.
Phillips sued Irons, claiming he has had trouble sleeping and eating and has been haunted by "feelings of being trapped in a nightmare," court papers state.
Irons responded that her alleged actions weren't "truly extreme and outrageous" and that Phillips' pain wasn't bad enough to merit a lawsuit. The circuit court agreed and dismissed Phillips' lawsuit in 2003.
But the higher court ruled that, if Phillips' story is true, Irons "deceitfully engaged in sexual acts, which no reasonable person would expect could result in pregnancy, to use plaintiff's sperm in an unorthodox, unanticipated manner yielding extreme consequences."
The judges backed the lower court decision to dismiss the fraud and theft claims, agreeing with Irons that she didn't steal the sperm.
"She asserts that when plaintiff 'delivered' his sperm, it was a gift — an absolute and irrevocable transfer of title to property from a donor to a donee," the decision said. "There was no agreement that the original deposit would be returned upon request."
Phillips is representing himself in the case. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
"There's a 5-year-old child here," Mirabelli said. "Imagine how a child feels when your father says he feels emotionally damaged by your birth."

Burglars Summon Police When They Lose Keys
 Thu Feb 24,12:42 PM ET

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - (AP) - When two Danish burglars realized someone had stolen the keys to their getaway car, they reacted like honest citizens and called the police.
Police said they were only too happy to help, and arrested them after they confessed to breaking and entering.
The men, identified only as an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old, broke into a summer cabin late Wednesday near Kaldred, 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of capital Copenhagen.
As they carried their haul to the car, they were confronted by a passer-by, who witnessed the break-in and insisted that they return the stolen property.
To ensure they couldn't get away, the passer-by took the keys from their car, and refused to return them.
"The two young men then called us and said they needed our help getting their keys back," Chief Superintendent Asger Larsen said on Thursday.
He said the two realized that without the keys, they would have to leave their car at the scene, which would put the police on their trail and lead to their arrest anyway.
"It's a pretty straightforward case for us, since this time, the thieves actually reported the robbery," Larsen said.
He declined to release the names of the suspects or the passer-by.

Docs Work on Monk Who Glued Eyes Shut
Wed Feb 23, 8:36 PM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand - (AP) - Doctors have partially restored the sight of an 81-year-old Buddhist monk who accidentally glued his eyes shut when he mistook a tube of superglue for eye drops.
The doctors at Angthong Hospital, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Bangkok, used a chemical solvent, acetone, to dissolve the glue in the monk's right eye, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday. The two-hour operation was done Tuesday.
"His eye is not damaged, the right eye can see clearly after the operation and the doctors said the left eye also is not damaged," a hospital spokesman said.
The monk, Phra Khru Prapatworakhun, who is the abbot of a temple in Angthong, was to have his left eye operated on Thursday, the spokesman said.

Drug Suspect Dressed as Bishop....
 Tue Feb 22, 8:55 AM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A 67-year-old Spaniard disguised as a Roman Catholic bishop was arrested in a Venezuelan airport with nearly 20 pounds (9 kg) of cocaine under his cassock, authorities said Saturday.
Angel Velasco Padilla was arrested this week at Maiquetia international airport near the capital Caracas as he tried to board a flight to Spain.
The suspect was carrying 17.4 pounds (7.9 kg) of cocaine in his belt plus 12 drug packets in his underwear, police said.
Velasco told authorities he was a member of a Dutch archdiocese and had been in Venezuela for a week to attend a meeting.
But a source from Venezuela's Catholic Church told Reuters that no Velasco was listed in the ecclesiastic registry or in the archdiocese to which he claimed to belong. He also denied there was any meeting in Venezuela.
"He is a Spanish citizen ... but he is not a bishop and he does not have any links in the church. He was disguised and presented false identification," the source said.
Velasco was charged with trafficking illegal substances and is being held by Venezuelan police. A 21-year-old Venezuelan man traveling with him was released.
Narcotics experts say large quantities of drugs, especially cocaine, are transported from neighboring Colombian across Venezuela and then shipped to the United States and Europe.

Pakistani man ordered to marry off young niece as punishment for his adultery
 Mon Feb 21,12:31 PM ET

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistan village council has punished a 20-year-old man for adultery by ordering the betrothal of his two-year-old niece to the husband of the woman with whom he had the alleged affair, police said on Monday.
Tribal elders meeting last week also ordered Mohammed Akmal to pay a 230,000-rupee ($4,782 Cdn) fine to the woman's husband, who has since divorced his wife.
Police said that the council in Kacha Chohan village, about 350 kilometres west of Punjab province's major city of Multan, decreed that the two-year-old girl would be married to Mohammed Altaf when she turns 18.
Altaf, a 42-year-old farmer, divorced his 32-year-old wife over her alleged love affair with Akmal, and then asked elders to convene the panchayat, or council, on Feb. 15 to arbitrate in the dispute and propose a punishment.
Akmal, a bachelor and also a farmer, is Altaf's cousin and has no children.
Area police chief Maqsoodul Hassan said officers have started an investigation, but had made no arrests because no one had filed a complaint.
None of the parties to the dispute could be reached for comment Monday. Their Mazari tribal village has no telephone service.
Rashid Rahman, a lawyer and Multan-based co-ordinator with the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, condemned the village council's decision.
"These types of panchayats are illegal and nobody has the right to take a decision about a child's life," he said. "This country has its legal system and all decisions should be taken under it."
He said that the betrothal of a minor did not break the law - but that forcing a woman to marry against her will carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence. Underage marriage, also illegal, is only punishable by a fine.
Village councils in conservative rural parts of Pakistan traditionally rule on local disputes, such as when a family's "honour" is purportedly besmirched by allegations of love affairs. The councils can dictate harsh - and sometimes illegal - punishments.
In 2002, another village council near Multan ordered a woman to be gang-raped as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman.
A court later convicted six men who perpetrated the rape and sentenced them to death. They are appealing their sentences.

Police Pair Nab Robbers on Way to Nuptials
 Tue Feb 22,10:17 AM ET

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African police couple arrived late for their wedding after they stopped on the way to church to arrest three armed men holding up a motorist, police said Monday.
Inspector Gustav Myburgh and Constable Barbara Beogner were being driven to their wedding near Johannesburg Saturday when they spotted a crime in progress, police spokesman Eugene Opperman said.
"He was in uniform, she was in her bridal gear, when they saw a hijacking taking place," Opperman said.
"They had to make a decision were they going to church or were they going to help this other person being hijacked. Of course they chose to help."
The pair and a third policeman acting as their wedding chauffeur stopped immediately and confronted the men, who jumped into a truck and sped away.
The wedding party gave chase and eventually forced the assailants off the road, arresting three men and confiscating an illegal firearm. They then continued on to the wedding.
"They ended up being 45 minutes late for their own marriage," Opperman said. "There is no doubt they have made all of the police force proud."

Masked Man Pays $910,000 for Lucky License Plate
 Tue Feb 22,10:05 AM ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A mysterious man in a mask drove off with the most expensive vehicle license plate sold in Hong Kong since 1997, shelling out HK$7.1 million (US$910,000) at a weekend auction, a Hong Kong newspaper reported on Monday.
The man, who wore a surgical mask and would not identify himself, left the auction immediately after winning the bid for license plate number 12, which sounds like "certainly easy" in Cantonese, the South China Morning Post said.
The price was the highest for a license plate in Hong Kong since the British colony was returned to China in 1997 and the third highest on record, the paper said.
The most expensive license plate, number 9, was sold to tycoon Albert Yeung for HK$13 million in 1994. The number nine sounds like "ever lasting" in Cantonese.

Alaska Woman Charged in Genital Amputation
 Tue Feb 22, 3:05 PM ET

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A woman upset about an impending breakup with her boyfriend cut off the man's penis and flushed it down a toilet, police said.
Utility workers recovered the severed member Sunday and surgeons reattached it.
Kim Tran, 35, was charged with first-degree assault, domestic violence and tampering with evidence. She was jailed at the Anchorage Jail with no bail set.
At arraignment Sunday afternoon, Tran requested a Vietnamese interpreter. Magistrate Brian Johnson continued the arraignment until Monday with no bail set.
Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell said police received a call just after midnight that a 44-year-old man had been dropped off by his girlfriend at Providence Hospital with amputated genitals.
"It was brutal, brutal," Shell said.
The man's name has not been released in keeping with department policy in domestic violence cases, Shell said.
Investigators determined that the man and Tran on Saturday night had argued over a pending breakup. The relationship had lasted a little more than a year but the man no longer wanted to be involved with the woman, police said.
At some point, the pair decided to have sexual relations and the man agreed to have his arms tied to a window handle above their bed.
The woman pulled out a kitchen knife severed the man's penis, police said. She then flushed the penis down the toilet, untied the man and drove him to the hospital.
Shell said investigators gave no indication in their report whether Tran showed any remorse in driving the victim to the hospital. She assisted him to a nurses station, she said. She had parked in a no parking zone and returned to her car, Shell said.
"She decided to just go home at that point," Shell said.
Officers arrived at the couple's home and found the woman cleaning up the bloody scene.
A police supervisor contacted officials at the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility and asked them to go to the home to see if the man's body part could be recovered.
Utility workers pulled the toilet and found the severed member, which was rushed to Providence Hospital.
At about 6:00 a.m., Providence Hospital staff told police that surgeons were successful in reattaching the penis.

Dutch firm offers to break hearts
 Tue Feb 22,12:13 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The delicate problem of how to dump a lover before moving on to the next one has been given a new twist by a Dutch Web site.
The site suggests women tell their partner they want a baby and men buy their girlfriend underwear that's too big.
But instead of just helping people give lovers the elbow, the site sells holidays -- working on the assumption that people want to go away for a fling without the shackles of a loved one at home, Dutch communications company Young Works said.
Some 180,000 people have visited www.dumpjeschatje.nl since it was launched on Monday, it said.
The site also provides two downloadable documents with blanks left for names -- one a curt business-style letter, the other a scathing poem -- to end relationships in writing.

Japan's weak arm of the law
 Tue Feb 22, 8:28 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has urged police to toughen up after a television news report showed two police officers fleeing from a man brandishing what appeared to be a baseball bat.
"When the culprit came towards them, they didn't try to restrain him but ran away. I was surprised and amazed when I saw this," Koizumi told reporters.
The incident was embarrassing, Koizumi said, adding that he had ordered the nation's public security chief to step up police training to prevent recurrences.
Television footage showed the two officers approaching a car that had crashed into a building in Tokyo's Daiba waterfront district only to flee when the driver came towards them brandishing the weapon after smashing the vehicle's windows with it, media reports said.

Malaysian State to Offer 'Happy Toilets'
 Tue Feb 22, 9:57 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - (AP) - A Malaysian state will soon build public toilets equipped with piped music and newspapers for people to enjoy while using the bathroom.
Officials in the northeastern state of Kelantan on Tuesday announced that "Happy and Healthy Toilets" would be built in popular spots, with facilities "guaranteed to make users happy," Malaysia's national news agency Bernama reported.
State public administration official Takiyuddin Hassan said the toilets, to be completed within three months, would have newspapers so that "users can keep up with current issues while performing their business, while being entertained by music."
People would also need to wear special slippers provided in the toilets to maintain hygiene, Takiyuddin was quoted as saying by Bernama.
It was not clear how many such toilets would be constructed.

Nude Man Steals, Wrecks Philly Police Car
 Tue Feb 22, 7:54 AM ET

PHILADELPHIA - (AP) - Police chased a naked man through the city's slushy streets early Monday after he allegedly stripped off his bathrobe, bit an officer, then stole a police cruiser in an attempt to escape.
The man was captured after he smashed the cruiser into several parked cars, abandoned the vehicle and tried to get away in his bare feet.
The episode unfolded at around 1:30 a.m. when police were called to a block in North Philadelphia to investigate complaints about a person screaming in the street. Officers arriving on the scene said they found a man running about in his bathrobe in the freshly fallen snow.
The officers gave chase. The man shed his robe, then allegedly bit a female officer on the arm, climbed into her patrol car and hit the gas. He drove only a few blocks before crashing, police said.
Police did not immediately release the suspect's name. He faces charges including car theft and assault.

Vatican-linked university debuts classes on Satanism, exorcism for clergy
 Thu Feb 17, 4:07 AM ET

ROME (AP) - Worried about the lure of the devil, a Vatican (news - web sites)-linked university on Thursday debuted its latest course offering: a class on Satanism, black magic and exorcism.
The class for clergy and seminarians at Rome's Pontifical Academy "Regina Apostolorum" has arisen from alarm about Satanic practices among young people, especially in Italy. In one case in Italy in January, eight people believed to belong to a Satanic sect were ordered to stand trial for their alleged role in three ritual killings.
One of the victims was a 19-year-old girl stabbed to death in 1998. She may have been targeted because her killers believed she was a personification of the Virgin Mary, prosecutors allege. The suspects belonged to a heavy metal band called Beasts of Satan.
The Vatican is also concerned about a growing number of young people who develop personal forms of Satanism, outside the sects that are closely monitored by police. They often learn about the devil through the Internet.
"It's a more spontaneous and hidden phenomenon, a problem of loneliness and isolation, a problem of emptiness, that is fulfilled by the values of Satanism," said one of the teachers, Carlo Climati, a specialist on youth culture and Satanism.
Climati said concerned parents had been asking for a special course for priests.
The pontifical academy is run by the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative order, and teachers for the class include exorcists and psychiatrists.
In 1999, the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, offering cautions to exorcists about taking psychiatric problems into account.
The updated exorcism rite, first issued in Latin and contained in a red, leather-bound book, was a reflection of Pope John Paul (news - web sites)'s efforts to convince the skeptical that the devil is very much in the world. At the time, he gave a series of homilies denouncing the devil as a "cosmic liar and murderer."
Among the widely accepted signs of possession by the devil are speaking in unknown tongues and demonstrating physical force beyond one's natural capacity.

New Zealand Man Arrives Naked to Court
 Thu Feb 17, 6:51 PM ET

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - AP - An environmental protester facing indecent exposure charges arrived at Auckland's District Court naked — but dressed before he entered the courtroom Thursday.
Computer technician Simon Oosterman, 24, was charged during the Auckland Naked Bike Ride last Sunday, an event he organized to protest society's dependence on the car.
When Oosterman was stopped by police during the naked bike ride, other protest riders covered the lower parts of their bodies to avoid arrest.
Oosterman and three supporters — two men and a woman — stood outside the courthouse naked on Thursday holding a banner reading: "Stop indecent exposure to vehicle emissions."
He then went inside and headed up the escalator, still naked, toward the courtroom.
But he donned his clothes before entering court, where he pleaded not guilty and was released to reappear on March 21.
Outside court Oosterman said he would fight the charge as public nudity was "different from indecent exposure."
"The purpose of the protest was to draw attention to the issue of transport emissions," he said.
"There has to be a distinction between people flashing (nude bodies at) young girls and public nudity, which is benign," he added.
Oosterman said he decided to dress before entering the court room because he didn't want to risk being charged with contempt of court.
A senior sergeant of police who saw the defendant travel naked up the escalator "told me he was grateful I got dressed at the top," Oosterman said.

German thief caught napping
 Thu Feb 17, 1:03 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Having broken into a car late at night, a would-be German thief's plans went badly wrong when he failed to prise out its radio, fell asleep clutching his screwdriver, and was woken, then arrested by police.
"The police had an easy time of it," said a spokeswoman for police in the western city of Cologne on Thursday.
The car's owner alarmed police after spotting the man entering the vehicle. By the time officers arrived shortly afterwards, the man was already sound asleep.

Wrong Chemical Makes Shoes 'Flatulent'
 Thu Feb 17, 4:36 PM ET

SANFORD, Fla. - AP - There's no tiptoeing around the problem. Call it flatulent footwear. Customers complained that with every step, their shoes made the sound of someone passing gas.
"They were whoopie cushions for the feet," said Bryan Thomas, an officer with shoe maker Goosebumps Products Inc.
The Orlando-area company on Wednesday sued a supplier, accusing it of delivering the wrong chemical for an insole gel, giving the shoes an unwanted sound effect.
"It very nearly put us out of business," Thomas said.
Goosebumps' largest distributor complained as well, and the company tossed at least 35,000 pairs at a cost of $200,000 to $250,000, said attorneys Robert W. Anthony and William H. Beaver II.
The suit claims Bell Chem Corp. of Longwood delivered a low-grade glycerin that was watered down in late 2002 and early 2003. That caused air bubbles to form inside the insoles, it said.
When people step down on them, the inserts produce "a flatulence-like noise," according to a report by a Goosebumps' chemist, Richard Cavestri.
Bell Chem President John Cervo said the dispute was a matter between his insurance company and Goosebumps.

Road Report Callers Get X-Rated Response
 Thu Feb 17, 4:36 PM ET

TERRACE, British Columbia - AP - Northwest British Columbia residents who dial a toll-free number in the Terrace-area phone book to check highway conditions are getting a bluer answer than usual for blue pages listings.
"Ummm, baby, you've dialed the right number, hot, wet and ... ummmm," a female voice responds, followed by details that have nothing to do with roads or outdoor weather.
The 1-800 listing for the British Columbia Ministry of Transport road report in the government blue pages of the regional telephone directory is off by two numbers, apparently because of a typographical error, so callers are connected to a phone sex line.
A ministry representative said the U.S. directory company that publishes the phone book failed to verify the number with the government agency, and officials at the Utah-based company say distribution of the rest of the directories may be halted.

Hungry Man Holds Up Store, Demands Sushi
 Mon Feb 14, 9:17 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese man pulled a knife in a convenience store early Sunday morning and threatened to kill himself unless he was given a meal of the choicest sushi.
The 68-year-old unemployed man barged into the store in the western city of Osaka after first setting fire to his nearby apartment, police said Monday. Newspapers said the man claimed he couldn't eat because his state benefit payments had been stopped.
Police overpowered the man after about an hour, during which time he ate bananas and helped himself to alcoholic drinks and vitamin supplements. Police declined to say whether he got any sushi.

Surprised Customer Says Penis Pills Don't Work
 Tue Feb 15, 8:24 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A New Jersey man has filed a false advertising lawsuit against a maker of herbal penis enlargement pills, alleging the medicine does not fulfill its promises, the plaintiff's lawyer said on Monday.
Two similar cases, filed last year in Colorado and Ohio, accuse manufacturers of herbal dietary supplements, VigRx and Enzyte, of falsely claiming to be able to add substantial length and girth to a man's penis.
All three suits seek class action status and claim to represent more than 1 million total plaintiffs.
In the latest case, filed on Jan. 21 in New Jersey state court, plaintiff Michael Coluzzi claimed he paid $59.95 for a 30-day supply of Alzare pills but "experienced no increase in penis size," and then was unable to collect a promised refund from manufacturer Alzare LLC of Boca Raton, Florida.
Neither Alzare nor chief operating officer Scott Hammond, both named as defendants, could be reached for comment.
Coluzzi's attorney, Stephen DeNittis, said many men had been taken in by dubious claims that the product would add up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) to their penises by "very, very convincing" advertising, such as infomercials featuring doctors and porn stars.
"Males, for whatever reason, may be susceptible because of what they feel they lack," DeNittis said. "It was so believable I confirmed with an expert (that the claims were false) before I filed the lawsuit. They said they had done medical studies proving that it works."
The ads for Alzare tablets, comprised of ginseng, yohimbe bark, L-arginine and other ingredients, guaranteed results within a week and claimed a 95 percent success rate in the more than 100,000 men who have used it, the suit said.
But last year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission saying the maker of Enzyte had not backed up its claims with science.
Although thousands of complaints have been registered with local government agencies and the Better Business Bureau, few lawsuits have been filed because the companies appear to be "judgment proof," DeNittis said.
"They don't have enough assets for plaintiffs to recover, and some of the defendants are fly-by-night -- they close up shop after they get sued," he said.
All three lawsuits claim that plaintiffs were unable to contact the companies for guaranteed refunds after spending hundreds of dollars for the penis enhancers.

Twin Docs Accused of Switching IDs, Abusing Women
 Tue Feb 15, 8:34 AM ET

SEATTLE (Reuters) - An attorney has filed the latest in a series of civil lawsuits against twin physician brothers, accusing them of impersonating one another and sexually assaulting female patients in an obstetric-gynecology practice.
In a complaint filed in King County Superior Court by Seattle lawyer Harish Bharti, six female patients of Charles Momah said they were sometimes deceived into being seen, examined, operated on and sexually fondled by his twin, Dennis Momah, a general practitioner who is not certified in obstetrics and gynecology.
Charles Momah, who had gynecological practices in Burien and Federal Way, two suburban cities south of Seattle, pleaded not guilty last fall to criminal charges of rape, indecent liberties and insurance fraud. He has not yet been tried.
Bharti said the women, as well as others that he is representing in other lawsuits, had complained to a variety of authorities over several years about their treatment in Charles Momah's practice. However, for some time, no one seemed interested in investigating the complaints, Bharti said on Monday.
"I have heard them cry in my offices," Bharti said, "I tell you, it was an insult to these women. ... No doubt, nobody would listen."
Neither man could be contacted for comment. Phones at both of Charles Momah's practices have been disconnected.
The women assert that the two sometimes switched identities and assaulted them.
On some occasions the doctor they believed to be Charles Momah was jovial and talkative with little accent. He bore certain scars and other physical characteristics.
On other visits, the man they believed to be Charles Momah stuttered, had a heavy accent, and even appeared to be a different weight, claim the women who filed suit.

79-Year-Old Woman Charged in Cane Attack
 Wed Feb 16, 7:29 AM ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A 79-year-old woman has been charged with using her wooden cane to strike police officers who arrived at her home to check on her welfare.
St. Joseph County prosecutors said the officers came to investigate a possible domestic abuse charge against Betty Chambers' live-in caretaker, Thomas Holleman, 57.
As the officers tried to handcuff Holleman, Chambers allegedly struck Officer Lonny Foresman over the head with her cane, prosecutors said.
Foresman suffered a mild concussion while Sgt. John Pavlekovich suffered a separated shoulder and hand injury, said Jaimee Thirion, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph County police.
Prosecutors charged Chambers and Holleman on Tuesday with resisting law enforcement and battery.
"This is a serious concern because police are there to protect all of us," said St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak.
A phone number listed under Chambers' name at her address had been disconnected.

Police Chief Awakens, Finds Man on Piano
 Tue Feb 15, 5:04 PM ET

NEW RIEGEL, Ohio - AP - The village police chief was surprised when he woke up in the middle of the night to find a man inside his home playing Beethoven on the piano.
New Riegel Police Chief Steve Swartzmiller said he grabbed his gun and went to investigate the noise in his house. He found 19-year-old Shawn Chadwell playing the piano.
Chadwell was drunk and looking for a friend's house when he mistakenly wandered into the wrong place early Monday, Swartzmiller said.
Seneca County sheriff's deputies charged Chadwell, of Bethel, with underage drinking and burglary.
Swartzmiller said his house was the only one around that had lights on and it probably attracted Chadwell. The chief added that Chadwell played perfect Beethoven.

Student Charged for Gorilla Mask Prank
 Tue Feb 15, 6:26 PM ET

OLEY, Pa. - AP - A student apprehended on his high school roof in a gorilla mask was charged Tuesday with trespass and other crimes when his senior prank led to a school lockdown, officials said.
No one was injured and police found no weapons on suspect Matthew Pattison or inside Oley Valley High School in rural Berks County, state trooper Ray Albert said.
The 18-year-old Pattison — a National Merit semifinalist with no school disciplinary record — was charged with reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and criminal trespass.
He told police he donned a gorilla mask and gloves and climbed up to the cafeteria roof Tuesday morning in order to peer down into classroom windows, Oley Police Chief David A. White said in a statement.
The prank was foiled when school staff saw someone donning the mask in the parking lot and scaling a wall and called authorities, who sent officers, a state police helicopter and a bomb squad.
According to police, Pattison said he wore the disguise and covered his license plate in the school parking lot so he could not be identified on school surveillance cameras.
The school, which sits just off of Main Street in Oley, has about 660 students.
School board member Robert Moore said his daughter, a sophomore, called him on a cell phone Tuesday morning to say police were at the school and students were under a lockdown. She was not overly alarmed, Moore said.
"In today's day and age, that's a precautionary measure," Moore said.
No one answered Tuesday at a home believed to be Pattison's, and it was not immediately clear if he had been released.

German couple fall fowl of noise laws
 Tue Feb 15, 8:21 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Before leaving on holiday, a German couple set up a loudspeaker and timer with the sound of a crowing cock to blast their neighbours every morning.
After complaints, police in the northern town of Itzehoe obtained a warrant to enter the house and discovered the gear with the speakers aimed at the neighbours and rigged to a timer.
"The apparatus switched on between 2 and 4 o'clock in the morning and produced a cock crowing at an enormous volume. This would last for 20 minutes with breaks in between," police said.
Police confiscated the gear and charged the holidaymakers, who are still away, with bodily harm and disturbing the peace. The neighbours had no history of antagonism.

"Gay" penguins spark protest
 Fri Feb 11,12:16 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A plan by a German zoo to test the sexual appetites of a group of suspected homosexual penguins has sparked outrage among gay and lesbian groups, who fear zookeepers might force them to turn straight.
"All sorts of gay and lesbian associations have been e-mailing and calling in to protest," said a spokesman for the zoo in the northwestern city of Bremerhaven on Friday.
He said the zoo concluded the penguins might be gay after seeing male penguins trying to mate with other males and trying to hatch offspring out of stones.
German media reported that female Swedish penguins would be brought to the zoo to test the theory, but when word got out about the plan, the phones started ringing.
"Nobody here is trying to break-up same sex pairs by force," the zoo's director Heike Kueck told public broadcaster NDR. "We don't know if the three male pairs are really gay or just got together because of a lack of females."

Phone service comes to the rescue for Dates from Hell
 Thu Feb 10,10:32 AM ET

CANBERRA (Reuters) - It's every single person's nightmare: You're on a date, it's a disaster but there's no way out.
With Valentine's Day looming, a mobile phone company in Australia has come to the rescue with a service offering an escape from the date from hell.
All you have to do is discreetly dial three numbers and then hang up without saying a word.
"Virgin Mobile will call them back a minute later with a perfect excuse to get them out of there. We'll even talk them through what to say," the company, a joint venture of the Virgin Group and Optus, said in a statement.
A survey of 402 people by Virgin Mobile found that 53 percent arrange in advance to have a friend call them mid-date to check they are all right or if they need an excuse to get out.
The results showed women were twice as likely as men to use the tactic.

Woman jailed for ripping off lover's testicle
 Thu Feb 10, 9:52 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A woman has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for ripping off her ex-lover's testicle with her bare hands during a drunken brawl after he refused her sex.
Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage in May last year after Geoffrey Jones, 37, who had ended their long-term relationship, rejected her advances.
She grabbed him by the genitals, tearing off his left testicle, then hid it in her mouth before a friend of Jones handed it back to him saying "that's yours".
Monti, of Birkenhead, near Liverpool, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding at an earlier hearing.
Her lawyer said on Thursday her client had little memory of the night.

Robbery Suspect Drops Wallet, Arrested
 Thu Feb 10, 8:08 AM ET

EULESS, Texas - AP - A robbery suspect was caught after leaving his wallet on the store counter — and then going to the police station to pick it up.
Joseph Fahnbulleh, 22, of Arlington, remained in the Euless City Jail on Thursday night with bail set at $30,000. He faces a robbery charge.
A few days after the robbery, he walked into the Euless police station to pick up his wallet after a detective called to tell him someone had found it.
"Once we had the wallet, we called him to say it had been turned in to our lost and found," Euless police Detective Marco Valladares said. "We don't really have one."
A clerk told police that during a Jan. 29 robbery, a man gave him $5 for cigarettes. When the cash drawer was opened, the robber sprayed the clerk with pepper spray and grabbed about $200, police said.

Conn. Bar to Host Naked Karaoke Contest
 AP - Thu Feb 10, 8:15 AM ET

BERLIN, Conn. - After a yearlong fight with the town, a bar is going ahead with a plan to have patrons belt out ballads in the buff. On Saturday night, the Berlin Station Cafe is scheduled to hold its controversial "Naked Karaoke" event.
The bar has been under fire ever since co-owner Marty St. Pierre put up a fake sign advertising the event as a joke more than a year ago. The establishment's neighbors called Town Hall to complain, and St. Pierre was told he could face fines or arrest if he operated the naked musical performance without a permit.
But St. Pierre's business partner David Koskoff, who is also an attorney, sued the town in March, claiming that the ordinance was illegal, and the owners won their lawsuit.
"Now we're just fulfilling," St. Pierre said. "It's a completely voluntary activity. It's not like I'm paying people to do karaoke with clothing optional."
St. Pierre said 120 people have signed up for "Naked Karaoke" on Saturday night, but he is unsure of how many people will actually show up and bare all.

Chicken Manure Stench Holds Town Hostage
 Tue Feb 8, 9:34 PM ET

FRENCHVILLE, Maine - Northern winds have been sending a stench of manure from across the Canadian border, the people in this St. John Valley town are tired of holding their noses.
"It smells like acid or sulfur, and it's really strong. The last couple of weeks have been really bad," Frenchville Town Manager Philip Levesque said. "It's an international problem."
Levesque said the odor comes from a chicken manure composting facility in New Brunswick.
People in the town of about 1,200 say smells from the plant along the St. John River are so bad when the north wind blows that windows and doors must remain closed and outdoor activities are curtailed.
Percy Thibeault, a resident of the area most affected by the smells, said a committee called Citizens for Clean Air has been formed to deal with the odor.
"This is affecting real estate valuations. They are going down," said Thibeault, adding that the problem is made worse by commercial pigpens operating west of St. Hilaire.
"It's affected our quality of life," Thibeault said. "We can't have barbecues, can't open windows and doors because of the smell. It's a nuisance."

Va. Bill Sets Fine for Low-Riding Pants
 Wed Feb 9, 7:05 AM ET

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginians who wear their pants so low their underwear shows may want to think about investing in a stronger belt.
The state's House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday authorizing a $50 fine for anyone who displays his or her underpants in a "lewd or indecent manner."
Del. Lionell Spruill Sr., a Democrat who opposed the bill, had pleaded with his colleagues to remember their own youthful fashion follies.
During an extended monologue Monday, he talked about how they dressed or wore their hair in their teens. On Tuesday, he said the measure was an unconstitutional attack on young blacks that would force parents to take off work to accompany their children to court just for making a fashion statement.
"This is a foolish bill, Mr. Speaker, because it will hurt so many," Spruill said before the measure was approved 60-34. It now goes to the state Senate.
The bill's sponsor, Del. Algie T. Howell, has said constituents were offended by the exposed underwear. He did not speak on the floor Tuesday.
Spruill and Howell, also a Democrat, are both black.

Man charged over "female athlete" scam
 Wed Feb 9, 5:17 AM ET

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have charged a man with masquerading as a female athlete after he competed as a woman at several international sports events, the official Herald newspaper has reported.
The paper said the man, a triple jumper and runner who also competed at javelin and shot put, faced charges of impersonation and offending the dignity of a woman athlete who undressed in his presence not realising he was a man.
The Herald said on Wednesday he won a gold medal at a regional tournament in Botswana last June and won five medals at a youth championship in Mauritius.
The man told the court at his first appearance that he had been born with both female and male organs, and that he lived as a woman after consulting a traditional healer. But the Herald said a medical examination had shown he was male.

Woman, 90, Survives Fall Into Cesspool
 Tue Feb 8, 5:18 PM ET

STRATFORD, N.J. - A 90-year-old woman who fell into a dry cesspool in her backyard and was trapped for more than an hour was saved after a mail carrier heard her calls for help.
Police said that Catherine McCleary, who lives alone, was in the back yard of her Camden County home when the asphalt covering the cesspool gave way Monday. She fell about 8 feet into the cesspool, which is about 3 1/2 feet in diameter. The cesspool is part of an old sewage system and is now dry.
The mailman who heard her calls called authorities.
Firefighters shored up the hole and used a pulley system to pull her out.
McCleary did not face life-threatening injuries, said officials at Cooper University Hospital.

Ark. Drug Bust Crashes Kid's Birthday
Tue Feb 8, 6:14 PM ET

By DAVID HAMMER, Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Police on a drug raid burst into a home during a toddler's birthday party, startling children who were getting ready to eat their cake when the gun-toting officers crashed the party.
Amid wails from children and a few parents — and a phone ringing incessantly with prospective drug buyers — officers arrested a pregnant woman and accused her of selling marijuana from the house.
Shannon Hills Police Chief Richard Friend, who led the raid, found parents about to light candles on a cake adorned with green and white cartoon characters and a big "2" on top.
"The kids were up in high-chairs eating pizza and the cake was just about to be lit and cut when we kicked the party off a little early," Friend said Tuesday. "We got them something they wish they could return."
Police did not know a birthday party was going on when they decided to make the bust.
"The first thing I saw was the birthday table and cake, so I yelled for everyone to put away their guns," Shannon Hills Police Chief Richard Friend said. "You could see they had a nightmare-come-true. Everyone just froze and looked at me. The parents started crying and then the kids started crying."
Elizabeth Leah Sauls, 21, was hosting her niece's second birthday party at the time of Friday evening's raid. She was allegedly smoking marijuana in the master bedroom and continuing to sell pot out of the house as the police moved in. Friend said she received 35 calls requesting the drug in the short time that police were there.
"We barely had time to conduct interviews because the phone kept ringing with people wanting to buy narcotics," Friend said.
Sauls was arrested on drug charges but was released without bond because the jail was full, Friend said.
She appealed to the police that she was just selling the marijuana to pay for diapers and food for her 1-year-old, but police said they had been gathering evidence for weeks, making undercover purchases from the home, arresting buyers leaving the home and finding $860 and a pair of scales in the house.
The 2-year-old birthday girl and Sauls' 1-year-old were turned over to their grandmother, who was at the party.
"We have plenty of cases of people providing drugs in diaper bags around children, but at a birthday party? That's unusual," prosecutor Robert Herzfeld said.

Budding Jordan cyber love ends in divorce
 Sun Feb 6, 3:59 PM ET

AMMAN (AFP) - A budding romance between a Jordanian man and woman turned into an ugly public divorce when the couple found out that they were in fact man and wife, state media reported.
Separated for several months, boredom and chance briefly re-united Bakr Melhem and his wife Sanaa in an Internet chat room, the official Petra news agency said.
Bakr, who passed himself off as Adnan, fell head over heels for Sanaa, who signed off as Jamila (beautiful) and described herself as a cultured, unmarried woman -- a devout Muslim whose hobby was reading, Petra said.
Cyber love blossomed between the pair for three months and soon they were making wedding plans. To pledge their troth in person, they agreed to meet in the flesh near a bus depot in the town of Zarqa, northeast of Amman.
The shock of finding out their true identities was too much for the pair.
Upon seeing Sanaa-alias-Jamila, Bakr-alias-Adnan turned white and screamed at the top of his lungs: "You are divorced, divorced, divorced" -- the traditional manner of officially ending a marriage in Islam.
"You are a liar," Sanaa retorted before fainting, the agency said.

Driver, 4 borrows car to rent video
 Mon Feb 7, 6:29 PM ET

CHICAGO, Feb 7 (AFP) - A four-year-old boy borrowed his mother's car overnight to go rent a video game, police in Sandlake, Michigan told AFP.
At about 1:30 am local time Friday, a patrol officer reported seeing a car with its lights off moving at a snail's pace, zigzagging between two lanes on a highway, said police chief Doug Heugel.
Thinking at first that the driver was drunk, the officer turned on his flashing lights, only then realizing he could not see anyone behind the steering wheel.
He then thought that the car had possibly taken off by itself from a nearby gasoline station, without anyone at the controls.
With the officer still in pursuit, the car swerved sharply into a residential parking lot and hit another car. It then went into reverse, and crashed into the police cruiser.
What the officer found when he jumped out and looked was a four-year-old boy.
"He decided he wanted to get a video game. So he got dressed, took the keys, left the house, got in the car, put it in reverse and backed up, left the apartment complex and drove down the road a quarter of a mile (400 meters)," said Heugel.
"He said he stopped at the video store but ... the door was locked and the lights were out. He got back in the car and headed back home and that's when the officer saw him."
The officer said that to drive, the boy slid down and push the car's accelerator, and then stood up to look out and see where he was going.
His mother was asleep the whole time, Heugel added.

Welsh rugby fan cuts off testicles after win
 Tue Feb 8, 5:31 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A Welsh rugby fan cut off his own testicles to celebrate Wales beating England at rugby, the Daily Mirror has reported.
Geoff Huish, 26, was so convinced England would win Saturday's match he told fellow drinkers at a social club, "If Wales win I'll cut my balls off", the paper said on Tuesday.
Friends at the club in Caerphilly, south Wales, thought he was joking.
But after the game Huish went home, severed his testicles with a knife, and walked 200 metres back to the bar with the testicles to show the shocked drinkers what he had done.
Huish was taken to hospital where he remained in a seriously ill condition, the paper said. Police told the paper he had a history of mental problems.
Wales's 11-9 victory over England at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff was their first home win over England in 12 years.

Pilot in Trouble for Copter Pizza Delivery
 AP - Tue Feb 8, 8:10 AM ET

LONDON - A British military pilot who used an army helicopter to deliver a pizza to his girlfriend has been disciplined, the Ministry of Defense said Tuesday.
The Lynx helicopter was on a map-reading training exercise in eastern England on Jan. 25 when it made a landing in the Stanford area, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said.
"The pilot took it upon himself to basically deliver this pizza," the spokesman said. "He has been made aware that the chain of command doesn't condone his actions and has been disciplined."
Ministry officials did not give release details of the punishment.
The Sun newspaper reported that the pilot, a lieutenant, was delivering the pizza to his girlfriend, a cadet officer.

Ohio Man Accused of Stealing House
 Mon Feb 7, 9:09 PM ET

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio - Police accuse a man of stealing a house, after another man returned to his parents' home following his widowed mother's funeral and found someone living there.
Jon Thomas, 54, said the house in this Cleveland suburb was shuttered when his parents moved to an assisted living center in 2000.
Now living in New York City, he returned with his wife and teenage son two days before Christmas 2003 and saw lights shining inside, cars parked in the back and an elaborate Christmas display on the lawn.
"I was dumbfounded," he said.
Rather than confront the occupants, the Thomases went to police in this upscale community of winding, tree-lined boulevards.
"We've never had a case like this here before," said police Chief Walter Ugrinic.
After a year of tracing property transactions and rental agreements, police arrested Richard Lenard, 26, of nearby Richmond Heights, on a charge of grand theft.
Police accuse Lenard of stealing the house, which Thomas says is worth $300,000, and its contents. Thomas says Lenard allegedly sold $180,000 worth of furnishings in two 2003 estate sales.
Thomas has sued Lenard for compensation. He also has asked a probate court to return ownership of the home to him.
The four-bedroom house is currently in the name of Tara Vaden Williams, who bought the house from Lenard in May 2004, for $50,000, according to county records.
Lenard was released from jail last week after posting 10 percent of a $25,000 bond.
Lenard could not be reached for comment. A message seeking comment was left Monday at his phone number listed in court records. The only directory assistance listing under his name in the Cleveland area has been disconnected.
"There's no question that a fraud occurred," said Lenard's attorney, Jeffrey Saffold. "The question is whether Mr. Lenard was a willful participant or an unknowing victim of the fraud."
Lenard lived with his grandmother across the street from the Thomases in 2000, their son said.
Jon Thomas said he stayed in a hotel when he visited Percy and Regina Thomas at the assisted-living center because he thought their house was closed up. Percy Thomas died in 2000, his wife died three years later.
In November 2002, Lenard accompanied a woman who called herself Regina Thomas' daughter, Helen Thomas, to the Cuyahoga County recorder's office, where she presented a New York driver's license and a letter stating she had power of attorney for Regina Thomas, said Jon Thomas' lawyer, Dean Boland.
Jon Thomas, an only child, said the recorder's office accepted the documents and allowed the woman identified as Helen Thomas to sell the home for $25,000 to AMI Financial LLC, a security commodity brokerage whose registered agent is Lenard.
"To transfer the deed to a home based on a fake New York driver's license and a forged power of attorney, I find that unbelievable," Thomas said.
Williams could not be reached for comment Monday. Calls to the phone listed under her name at the disputed address went unanswered Monday.

Fla. Man Charged With Biting Head Off Bird
 AP - Tue Feb 8,12:33 AM ET

EDGEWATER, Fla. - A firefighter accused of biting the head off a pet parrot at a party was charged with felony animal cruelty Monday and placed on administrative leave.
Lt. Bruce Coates, 34, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail but was expected be released on his own recognizance after meeting with court officials Tuesday, a jail official said.
Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said witnesses told deputies that the off-duty Coates was at a party early Sunday when he took the Quaker parrot, valued at $200, off someone else's shoulder, put the bird's head in his mouth and bit it off.
The parrot's owner later called the sheriff's office.
Coates told deputies he had been drinking alcohol and could not remember what happened. However, he was apologetic and offered to replace the parrot, Davidson told The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Edgewater Fire Chief Tracey Barlow said Coates, with the department since 1991, came to him Sunday and told him about the incident.
He will stay on leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation, Edgewater fire spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said.

Woman Demoted for Iraq Mud-Wrestling Party
 Mon Feb 7, 9:42 AM ET

By MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. - Military officials have demoted a female member of a National Guard military police unit for indecent exposure after a mud-wrestling party at the Camp Bucca detention center in Iraq (news - web sites).
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, spokesman for detainee operations at the U.S. Army-run camp, did not release the name of the soldier, who lifted her shirt and showed her chest in photographs taken at the party.
The New York Daily News identified her as Deanna Allen, 19, and Allen's mother, Ladyna Waldrop of Black Mountain, confirmed the identification.
Several photographs of the party printed in the Daily News showed women wrestling in bras and panties in front of a crowd of male soldiers.
After an inquiry, Allen was demoted from specialist to private first class, received a pay cut and was placed on restriction. She is still a guard at the camp, the newspaper said.
Waldrop said her daughter is devastated by the events.
"It was just a thing where she was coerced by a bunch of people, and with all the excitement, she lost her sanity for a moment and that's all it took," she said.
"It seems like they're just singling her out," Waldrop said. "She's the one getting all the publicity and punishment, and that's not right."
The party occurred Oct. 30, as the 160th Military Police Battalion, an Army Reserve Unit from Tallahassee, Fla., prepared to turn over its duties to the Asheville-based 105th Military Police Battalion, Johnson said.
In the course of the transfer of duties, "some individuals in their exuberance decided to put together a mud-wrestling thing," Johnson said Sunday.
Photos of the party were found after the 160th had left Iraq, Johnson said, adding that he understood a soldier had turned over the photos to commanders.
Johnson said it appeared the party was "primarily put on by troops of the 160th," and results of the inquiry were sent to the unit's commander. It wasn't immediately clear if any members of the 160th had been disciplined.
Four or five other members of the 105th who were spectators at the party received counseling, Johnson said.
Johnson said the party was not held within sight of detainees. A scandal involving the separate Abu Ghraib prison erupted last spring when photographs were made public showing soldiers taunting naked Iraqi prisoners.

Packers Fan Wears Jersey for 408 Days
AP - Sun Feb 6, 4:16 PM ET

GREEN BAY, Wis. - David Witthoft is making very good use of his Christmas present.
Since opening the gift — a Brett Favre jersey — on Christmas Day 2003, the Connecticut boy has been wearing it every day. That's 408 straight days and counting.
"I just kept doing it for fun," said the 8-year-old from Ridgefield, Conn. "Some of the kids at school said, 'You are weird' and stuff. But I'm not sure when I'll stop."
His goal is to establish a Guinness Book of Records mark on most consecutive days wearing a Packers jersey. No such record exists, Guinness officials said.
"David has a lot of 'sticktoitiveness,' " said his father Chuck Witthoft, who grew up in Milwaukee and kept his allegiance to the Packers through moves to Minnesota, California and Connecticut. "This wasn't an idea of ours."
And the child's parents thought his interest would have died long ago.
"We kept thinking his interest would wear off," said his mother Carolyn Witthoft, who got used to washing the shirt at night. "We don't let him wear it to church but as soon as we get home, he puts it back on."
But the jersey isn't holding up as well as the boy's enthusiasm. The No. 4 has all but worn off and the seams are taking a beating as he grows. He has no plans to replace it with a new jersey.
"Just another typical diehard cheesehead," said Packers President Bob Harlan of the boy. "I hear from them all the time."
Some of the boy's classmates at Farmingville Elementary School cheer him every day, when he shows up with the same jersey.

Thai elephants get potty training
 Wed Jan 19, 6:11 AM ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - Having taught Thailand's elephants to paint, dance and play musical instruments, their Thai handlers are now toilet-training the beasts, media reported.
Handlers -- known as mahouts -- have installed giant human-style toilets at a camp in the northern city of Chiang Mai to try to rid the tourist attraction of unsightly droppings, according to the Nation newspaper.
Some seven elephants at the privately run camp beside Chiang Mai Zoo are being trained to sit like a human on the giant white toilets, which can be flushed by pulling on a rope with a gentle tug of the trunk, said the daily.
It showed a picture of a five-year-old elephant named Diew testing out one of the oversized concrete toilets, which has been fitted with equally jumbo-sized plumbing.
The elephants were reportedly rescued from the streets of Bangkok where people were using them to collect money from tourists.

China considers setting up post office on the South Pole
 Wed Jan 19,11:14 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - China is considering setting up a post office in Antarctica after several trial deliveries to the world's southernmost continent.
Beijing International Post Office plans to send an official to the Great Wall research station near the South Pole to investigate if there is a need for such a service, the Xinhua state news agency said Wednesday.
If it is decided to go ahead with the service, it will soon be possible to send mail to Antarctica from any post office in China, according to the report.
Xinhua did not specify why such a service might be considered necessary.
Great Wall station and another research base, Zhongshan station, are the only facilities inhabited by Chinese on the freezing continent.

Tax Official Suspended Over Tax Form Joke
AP - Fri Feb 4, 7:42 AM ET

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio - The city's tax superintendent has been suspended without pay for a week for trying to inject some humor in the city income tax filing instructions.
The attempt at humor by Linda Stubbs was called "misguided" by city Finance Director John Lyons.
The forms — with such lines as, "If we can tax it, we will," — were sent last week to all Middletown businesses and residents who pay city income tax.
Lyons said revised forms were sent out immediately at a cost to taxpayers of about $5,500.
Among the lines that city officials didn't think were very funny was this one:
"Free advice: if you don't have a profit in a five-year period, you might want to consider another line of work."
Middletown is about 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati.

Washington Couple Names Son 'Jake 2.0'
Fri Feb 4, 5:05 PM ET

OLALLA, Wash. - "Jake 2.0" didn't cut it with viewers, and a couple who named their son Jake Matthew Thompson 2.0 are finding the numerical part doesn't cut it with businesses and government agencies.
Although decimal designations are commonly used for successive versions of computer software, many computers can't seem to handle it for human names, parents Kyle Thompson and Dawn Carpenter have been told.
Their son was born on Feb. 4, 2004, a couple of months after the UPN science fiction show was canceled after less than four months on the air, but they still liked the name.
"He's like an upgrade of us, the better version," Thompson said.
The state birth certificate, however, reads "Jake Matthew Thompson Two Point Zero," the child's Social Security (news - web sites) card reads simply "Jake Matthew Thompson" and Gerber Baby Foods was unable to fill an order for a "Jake 2.0" spoon, sending one that said merely "Jake" with the birth date.
Officials at the Social Security Administration (news - web sites) and state Health Department said their equipment can handle only letters with hyphens and apostrophes.
Carpenter, a housekeeper at a convalescent home and an aspiring actress, said some co-workers have told her that when her son reaches school age, classmates will make fun of his name, "but I don't worry about it. They made fun of me because my nose is small. They make fun of you no matter what you do."

School Halts Adopt a Sniper Fund-Raiser
 Fri Feb 4, 2:26 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A U.S. university in Wisconsin has blocked an attempt by Republican students to raise money for a group called "Adopt a Sniper" that raises money for U.S. sharp-shooters in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The students were selling bracelets bearing the motto "1 Shot 1 Kill No Remorse I Decide."
"Clearly the rhetoric of that organization raised some questions and we had some strong objections as a Jesuit university," Marquette University school spokeswoman Brigid O'Brien said on Thursday.
The students, representing a group called College Republicans, originally got permission to set up a table at the student union to raise money for U.S. troops in Iraq.
But they chose to promote a group called Adopt a Sniper, which says on its Web site it supports snipers deployed by the United States armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group says it "helps real snipers get the real gear they need to help keep us safe."
The brainchild of a Texas police SWAT officer Adopt a Sniper (www.adoptasniper.org) has raised thousands of dollars in cash and gear to supplement the kit of sharp shooters in U.S. combat platoons.
Among products sold on the site is a $15 coin with the imprinted phrase "Assistance From A Distance."

Girls fined for giving neighbour cookies
 Fri Feb 4, 2:19 PM ET

DURANGO, Colorado (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 (480 pounds) for the distress a neighbour said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.
The pair were ordered to pay $871.70 plus $39 in court costs after neighbour Wanita Renea Young, 49, filed a lawsuit complaining that the unsolicited cookies, left at her house after the girls knocked on her door, had triggered an anxiety attack that sent her to the hospital the next day.
Taylor Ostergaard, then 17, and Lindsey Jo Zellitte, 18, paid the judgment on Thursday after a small claims court ruling by La Plata County Court Judge Doug Walker, a court clerk said on Friday.
The girls baked cookies as a surprise for several of their rural Colorado neighbours on July 31 and dropped off small batches on their porches, accompanied by red or pink paper hearts and the message: "Have a great night".
The Denver Post newspaper reported on Friday that the girls had decided to stay home and bake the cookies rather than go to a dance where there might be cursing and drinking.
It reported that six neighbours wrote letters entered as evidence in the case thanking the girls for the cookies.
But Young said she was frightened because the two had knocked on her door at about 10:30 p.m. and run off after leaving the cookies.
She went to a hospital emergency room the next day, fearing that she had suffered a heart attack, court records said.
The judge awarded Young her medical costs, but did not award punitive damages. He said he did not think the girls had acted maliciously but that 10:30 was fairly late at night for them to be out.

Music Industry Sues 83-Year-Old Dead Woman
AP - Fri Feb 4, 5:09 PM ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Gertrude Walton was recently targeted by the recording industry in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old hated computers.
More than a month after Walton was buried in Beckley, a group of record companies named her as the sole defendant in a federal lawsuit, claiming she made more than 700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name "smittenedkitten."
Walton's daughter, Robin Chianumba, lived with her mother for the last 17 years and said her mother objected to having a computer in the house.
"My mother was computer illiterate. She hated a computer," Chianumba said. "My mother wouldn't know how to turn on a computer."
Chianumba said she faxed a copy of her mother's death certificate to record company officials several days before the lawsuit was filed, in response to a letter from the company regarding the upcoming legal filing.
"I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to appropriate people and not dead people," Chianumba said. "I am pretty sure she is not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park (where she is buried) to attend the hearing."
A Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) spokesman said Thursday that Walton was likely not the smittenedkitten it is searching for.
"Our evidence gathering and our subsequent legal actions all were initiated weeks and even months ago," said RIAA (news - web sites) spokesman Jonathan Lamy. "We will now, of course, obviously dismiss this case."

Ninja rebels told to disarm and get a haircut
 Fri Feb 4,12:32 PM ET

By Christian Tsoumou
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - The leader of Congo Republic's self-styled "Ninja" rebels has told his loyalists to take guns from the unruly members of his movement and make themselves more presentable by trimming their ragged locks.
An aide to the leader, renegade Christian pastor Frederic Ntoumi, said on Friday rogue elements should be disarmed to ensure partial legislative polls go ahead peacefully in the Pool region this year.
In 2002 people were prevented from voting in 8 out of 13 districts in the Ninja's heartland due to a lack of security.
The aide said the charismatic leader had ordered forces still loyal to him to take weapons away from those "uncontrolled Ninjas who have annoyingly taken to robbery, rape, hold-ups and looting".
Ntoumi promised to "guarantee the security and free movement of people and goods in the whole Pool region", the aide said.
Ntoumi also told loyalists to get a haircut, saying they needed to clean up their image if they wanted to take part in the election campaign, or stand as candidates.
The partial polls are meant to fill the eight seats representing the Pool region in parliament which have remained vacant since the 2002 election.
The Ninja rebels, who take their name from ancient Japanese warriors glamorised by Hollywood, are known for their trademark purple scarves and Rasta-style dreadlocks.
They fought in a brief civil war in 1997 alongside opponents of President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who seized power in the central African oil producer during the conflict.
Since then, several peace deals have been signed and disarmament dates set, but most Ninjas have yet to lay down their guns. Many have turned to banditry and holding up trains -- making the Pool region virtually a no-go zone.
Government officials have put the total number of militia fighters that need to be demobilised in the country at 37,000, while aid workers have called Congo's simmering crisis a forgotten conflict which could reignite soon.
Sporadic outbreaks of violence since independence from France in 1960 have killed tens of thousands of people in Congo Republic, a nation of just over 3 million people.
The violence has often reflected a long-standing power struggle between the densely populated agricultural south and the north -- where Sassou Nguesso hails from.

Man Hides From Cops, Then Calls for Help
AP - Fri Feb 4, 5:50 PM ET

MONROE, La. - Jerry Wayne Till managed to get away from sheriff's deputies and elude them briefly — until he called them for help after he got lost in the woods.
A sheriff's deputy tried to pull over Till on Wednesday evening for speeding, but Till drove away, exceeding 100 mph at times, before eventually abandoning his vehicle and running into the woods, according to the arrest affidavit.
Deputies brought in search dogs, but couldn't locate Till until he called the sheriff's office from his cell phone asking for help because he was lost.
Deputies still couldn't find him, until a nearby resident heard Till crying for help and called the authorities.
Maj. Jay Russell said deputies believe Till was heading to his home, but got misdirected in the woods. Deputies took him into custody about a quarter mile from the house of the deputy who tried to pull him over.
Till, who was charged with aggravated flight and driving with an expired license, told deputies that he didn't pull over because he wasn't thinking straight.

Doctor Fakes Insanity to Avoid Military
 Thu Feb 3, 1:26 PM ET

OSLO, Norway - A Norwegian doctor called in for military service would have made the malingering Cpl. Klinger of "M A S H" proud.
The doctor rubbed sour cream in his hair, poured sticky liqueur in his shoes, spilled beer on his clothes and sat in a closet smoking 40 cigarettes at once in a bid to convince the military that he wasn't fit mentally for service, the Fredrikstad Blad newspaper reported Thursday.
And just to be sure he looked and felt his worst, he stayed awake for two days before his physical, the newspaper said.
As part of Norway's compulsory military service, veterans, such as the doctor, can be called back for refresher training or longer service.
"I used a made-up life story about how things had gone downhill from being a student in medical school to be being down and out," the doctor told the newspaper on condition his name not be published.
It worked, too. He was so convincing that the military doctor alerted the national health authority about the man they had licensed to work as physician.
An analysis of his records, however, showed that not only was he not insane, but he had received high marks from his patients, the newspaper said. Now, the doctor is facing likely disciplinary action from the military and the medical board.
In a letter to the Norwegian Board of Health, obtained by the newspaper, the doctor claimed his behavior was no worse than that of many patients.
"It is well known that the information a patient gives his doctor seldom is based on reality," the letter said.

Man Nabbed After Sleeping in Meth Lab Car
Wed Feb 2,11:17 PM ET

WATERLOO, Iowa - A man has been arrested after police found him asleep in his car with a meth lab in it while the car was parked in front of the county jail.
Kirk Alan Marvel, 42, whose address wasn't available, was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of marijuana.
Black Hawk County sheriff's deputies noticed Marvel's car stopped at an intersection near the jail about 4 a.m. Tuesday. Deputies approached the car after it hadn't moved during two green-lights.
Marvel was found asleep behind the wheel, officals with the sheriff's office said.
Inside the car was found crushed pseudoephedrine pills, lithium batteries, a can of starter fluid and a plastic bucket filled with sludge, court records said.
Marvel was being held in Black Hawk County jail on Wednesday under $150,000 bond.

Woman Accused of Giving Lethal Sherry Enema
 Thu Feb 3,10:36 AM ET

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas woman has been indicted for criminally negligent homicide for causing her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, a police detective said on Wednesday.
Tammy Jean Warner, 42, gave Michael Warner two large bottles of sherry on May 21, which raised his blood alcohol level to 0.47 percent, or nearly six times the level considered legally drunk in Texas, police detective Robert Turner in Lake Jackson, Texas, told the Houston Chronicle.
"We're not talking about little bottles here," Turner said. "These were at least 1.5-liter bottles."
Warner, 58, was said to have an alcohol problem and received the wine enema because a throat ailment left him unable to drink the sherry, Turner told the newspaper.
"I heard of this kind of thing in mortuary school in 1970, but this is the first time I've ever heard of someone actually doing it," said Turner, who led the lengthy investigation in the case.
The woman admitted administering the enema, but denied causing her husband's death, the Chronicle said.
A dispatcher for the Lake Jackson police said only Turner could discuss the case, but he did not return phone calls from Reuters.
Along with negligent homicide, Mrs. Warner was indicted for burning her husband's will a month before his death. Both charges carry maximum penalties of two years in prison.
Mrs. Warner surrendered to police on Monday and was released on $30,000 bail, the newspaper said.

Frog's genitals cleared for TV
 Wed Feb 2, 9:35 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Despite complaints from 60 people, advertising regulators say there is nothing inappropriate about the genitals of an animated frog whose high-pitched squeals are sold as a mobile phone ringtone.
Television adverts of the motorcycle-riding Crazy Frog, who is drawn with a broad smile and a tiny penis, run frequently on television, amusing, baffling and annoying viewers.
"While unusual for an animated model of this type to be shown with genitalia, no sexual or inappropriate references were made about its anatomy," the Advertising Standards Authority said on Wednesday.
Twenty-two people complained they were worried children might see the advertising, which also promotes screen savers and mobile videos. Five parents said they were embarrassed by questions their children had asked.
Other viewers simply found the commercial annoying and thought it was shown too often.
"We appreciate that the frequent broadcast of the same, or similar commercials can be annoying to some viewers," the ASA said. "However, it is for the advertiser and broadcaster to decide how often a particular advertisement is shown."
Because the ads contain a text number to place an order, they are barred from being shown during children's programmes, and the ASA said there were no reports of children being concerned by the advert.
The ads were created by Germany's Lorena Medienagentur GmbH for Jamba! AG, trading as Jamster.

The Cop Without a Clue...
 Tue Feb 1, 9:44 AM ET

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A Swedish police officer has confessed he robbed a bank and later investigated the crime himself, telling reporters at the time police had no clues.
A court in the central town of Bollnas Monday officially charged the 36-year-old for the armed robbery on Dec. 17, court documents said Tuesday, adding he had pleaded guilty.
The amount of money stolen was not disclosed but was described as sizeable. An hour after the crime the police officer returned to the bank as a leading police investigator handling the case.
Colleagues became suspicious when he bought a new car in mid-January, paying 219,000 Swedish crowns ($31,400) in cash using banknotes from the robbery, the court said.

Buffalo Roams Into Center's Dressing Room
 Tue Feb 1, 9:06 AM ET

RAPID CITY, S.D. - A buffalo that escaped from an auction ended up in a dressing room at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center where it spent a couple of hours staring into a mirror.
The buffalo jumped over a steel panel during the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo on Sunday morning, went down an alley and got into the dressing room reserved for visiting sports teams, said Brian Maliske, the civic center's general manager.
"The door happened to be unlocked and he pushed the door open and went in," Maliske said.
The crew conducting the Black Hills Classic Buffalo Sale decided to keep the animal locked in the dressing room for the rest of the auction. During its two hour stay, it reportedly became fascinated with the image it saw in a big mirror.
Once the sale ended, a rodeo crew member coaxed the buffalo out of the dressing room and back into captivity.
The animal never got into a public area, Maliske said.

No Sex? No Pizza? What Is This, a Prison?
 Tue Feb 1, 9:48 AM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Deprived of their flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, pizza deliveries and long visits from lovers, inmates at Mexico's top security prison complained on Monday they are being treated "like dogs."
A government crackdown in prisons, aimed especially at drug lords and other violent criminals, has the prisoners of La Palma jail close to Mexico City up in arms at the "subhuman" conditions they face.
On Monday, they paid for a full-page advertisement in Mexico's top daily Reforma and called on President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) to respect their human rights. They also want the right to buy the soft drinks of their choice from the jail's small store.
Over the past month, Fox has sent troops into prisons across Mexico, including La Palma. In cell-by-cell searches, soldiers have stripped inmates of their illegal luxuries. Conjugal visits have been halted too.
High-profile jailed drug lords have been switched to other prisons to break up their in-jail rackets and to make it more difficult to run their cartels from behind bars.
It was not clear who paid for the advertisement that was signed simply "La Palma inmates." Powerful prisoners in Mexican jails have long enjoyed privileges, whereas rank and file criminals are often abused by jailers.
In the advertisement, La Palma's prisoners claim hooded guards are now torturing them. They say they are only being served one cold meal a day, at 1 a.m.
"People dressed in black, blue and gray, covering their faces with ski masks, constantly come into our cells and hit us and kick us, telling us that for real social rehabilitation, we have to obey orders and we are only going to understand that through violence," the prisoners said.
"This is degrading us, treating us like dogs, like animals, like we are worthless, telling us that we are in this place to be severely punished because we are the scum of society," they said.
"We only ask to be treated like the humans we are ... The fact that we have been deprived of our freedom in no way means that our most basic rights have stopped as Mexican citizens. Therefore we ask for clemency so that justice be done and our human rights respected," they said.

Two U.S. paramedics lose credentials after wrongly declaring man dead
 Tue Feb 1, 2:50 AM ET

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) - Paramedics who mistakenly declared an accident victim dead have had their credentials suspended after the man began breathing at the morgue.
Paramedics Wade Kearney II and Paul Kilmer were disciplined Monday for rules violations, according to the state Office of Emergency Medical Service. They are among four paramedics who have been suspended with pay.
Larry Green, 29, was struck by a car Jan. 24 and pronounced dead at the scene. Two hours later, a medical examiner at the morgue saw Green take a shallow breath and realized he was alive. Green remained in critical condition Monday.
State law requires emergency workers to start resuscitation immediately if there is doubt over whether a victim is dead. Neither Kilmer nor Kearney did so, the agency found.
Officials have said none of the paramedics attached Green to an electrocardiogram monitor, which gives an electric reading of the heart.

Fireball seen over Madrid
 Fri Jan 28,10:47 AM ET

MADRID (AFP) - Residents of the area near Madrid airport reported seeing a ball of fire explode and disintregrate in skies over the Spanish capital overnight, security services said.
Emergency services received telephone calls about 10:30 pm (2130 GMT) Thursday reporting the object, described by some callers as looking like a meteorite, which was seen exploding and disintegrating.
Subway employee Jose Antonio Lopez told EFE news agency that when he went home from work, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the capital, he saw a "huge, very red incandescent ball giving off a huge flash then disappeared after a few seconds."
"It was a mass of red fire falling vertically," he said, suggesting it could have been a meteorite.

long hair are unhygienic anti-socialist fools
 Tue Feb 1, 5:09 AM ET

SANG-HUN CHOE
SEOUL, South Korea (news - web sites) (AP) - North Korea (news - web sites)'s communist government is waging war against men with long hair, calling them unhygienic anti-socialist fools, and even leader Kim Jong Il has trimmed his famous bouffant locks.
The hair campaign comes as North Korea's dictatorship struggles to tighten its control over information, monitor its population and dictate cultural tastes. It is directing men to wear their hair "socialist style," deriding shabbily coifed men as "blind followers of bourgeois lifestyle."
North Korea's state-run Central TV even identifies violators by name and address, exposing them to jeers from other citizens.
"We cannot help questioning the cultural taste of this comrade, who is incapable of feeling ashamed of his hair style," the station said Monday, showing a Mr. Ko Gwang Hyun, whose unkempt hair covered his ears.
"Can we expect a man with this disheveled mind-set to perform his duty well?" the announcer asked.
The government, which demands unquestioning allegiance and controls all publications and broadcasts, is growing wary of outside influence seeping in.
Foreign broadcasts penetrate the country through smuggled transistor radios. As North Korea's economic woes persist, more North Koreans are travelling to China to seek food - and are exposed to the rapidly spreading capitalist culture there. CDs containing South Korean songs and TV dramas - popular in most of Asia - are reportedly smuggled into the North.
The hair campaign, which began in October and is dubbed "Let's trim our hair according to socialist lifestyle," requires that hair be kept no longer than five centimetres. But the state trendsetters allowed an exception: old men can grow hair up to seven centimetres to hide balding.
The campaign claims that long hair hampers brain activity by taking oxygen away from nerves in the head. It doesn't explain why women are still allowed to grow long hair.
In November, a North Korean broadcast chastised men with long hair as "fools who abandon our own lifestyle and mimic other people's model."
Short haircuts fit with Kim Jong Il's "songun" - or army-first - philosophy, which focuses on military strength and exhorts the people to follow the example of the 1.1 million-member Korea People's Army, the loyal backbone of Kim's rule.
Kim himself for many years wore a bouffant hairstyle - reportedly to boost his height - but recently set an example by trimming it.
He shares his intolerance for a bohemian look with South Korea's late dictator, Park Chung-hee.
In the 1970s, at the height of Park's authoritarian rule, police banned miniskirts. Long-haired male college students were dragged into police stations for forced haircuts and were only released after writing letters of repentance.
In reaction to the pressure to conform, more young South Koreans took to long hair, blue jeans and guitars - and demonstrating. The government considered the trend rebellious and closed down schools and banned songs deemed "harming the public morals."
Park was murdered by his own spy chief in 1979, and long hair - dyed in a variety of colours - is now widely accepted in South Korea.

Raw Sewage Flows Through Detention Center
Mon Jan 31, 5:54 PM ET

KALISPELL, Mont. - Working conditions in the Flathead Justice Center deteriorated rapidly Sunday when raw sewage began coursing through the main floor and seeping into the basement, an official said.
The culprit was a male prisoner at the county detention center who flushed a blanket down a jail toilet sometime before noon, causing an overflow that damaged several areas, said chief detention officer Dave Hutton.
A 911 dispatcher told The Daily Inter Lake that it was disconcerting watching the sewage flow down the nearby hallway. Professional cleaners were called in and most of the mess was cleaned up by late afternoon.
Hutton said it would be up to the county attorney to file charges, but the incident was logged as felony criminal mischief.

 

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