truesee's Blog

A month in jail for keying car of Silicon Valley millionaire

Tracey Kaplan

Mercury News

10/02/2009 03:34:18 PM PDT

Updated: 10/02/2009 10:04:31 PM PDT 

Ending a bizarre four-year ordeal over a vandalized car, an amateur lawyer charged with keying Silicon Valley millionaire Steve Kirsch's electric vehicle was sentenced Friday to serve at least a month in jail.

Judge Joyce Allegro said if convicted vandal Howard Herships fails to comply with stiff probation conditions, she will put him behind bars for a year. Herships, 65, must also take three months of anger management classes, pay Kirsch $5,000 for his legal fees, and complete psychiatric counseling at the direction of probation officials. Allegro also barred the self-styled legal beagle from the unauthorized practice of law.

The sentence resolves a drama prolonged by Herships, who filed a mountain of motions a foot tall in a case ultimately involving seven judges, four prosecutors and more than 60 court appearances — over two scratch marks less than 6 inches long on the rear door of a Toyota RAV4.

Herships keyed the car in 2005 immediately after Kirsch, an avid anti-junk-fax crusader, won a court case against a friend of Herships' for sending multiple unsolicited faxes. The car was parked in the parking lot of the Palo Alto courthouse.

Damage to the electric vehicle: $653.13.

Cost of the case to taxpayers: No one kept tabs, but enough to purchase more than a few new $28,000 RAV4s.

Societal value of sentence, prosecutors say: Priceless.

Prosecutors insisted all along that this was no ordinary vandalism case, and the judge agreed, noted Deputy District Attorney Marisa McKeown, the young prosecutor who fielded dozens of phone calls and legal papers generated by Herships.

Allegro told the court Friday that she viewed the matter not only as a case of vandalism but also as perjury, contempt of court and witness intimidation, McKeown said.

Kirsch said he was relieved the case was finally resolved. "For that sort of behavior, there should be zero tolerance, and I'm appreciative of how the judge handled it," he said Friday after the sentencing.

Herships has been declared a vexatious litigant, or legal pest, by the San Francisco courts for filing repeated frivolous claims, meaning he cannot file any new actions in any state court without permission of the presiding judge. But no such restrictions apply in federal court. Kirsch said Herships "had the gall" to promise in a Sept. 5 e-mail that he would drop a federal lawsuit he filed against Kirsch over the car if Kirsch paid him $1.8 million.

"However, I am open to a counter-offer," Herships wrote.

Kirsch said Friday that he did not make a counteroffer. "However," Kirsch said, "the state has now made Howard an offer he can't refuse."

Howard Herships, who keyed millionaire Steve Kirschs electric car, was sentenced Friday to a year in jail - with all but one month suspended, meaning hell serve about a month in jail. (Santa Clara County Department of Corrections)

JASON NARK
Philadelphia Daily News

Posted on Sat, Oct. 3, 2009

Cleared con gets his freedom, not his cash

DAVID MAIALETTI 

Staff photographer Larry Peterson

was convicted of a 1987 rape/murder and served 18

years in jail before being exonerated.

THERE are a lot of numbers rolling around in Larry Peterson's head right now, and they just don't add up.

It's been four years since DNA evidence exonerated him for the 1987 rape and murder of a Burlington County woman, but the nearly 18 years he spent in jail for the crime still eat away at him every day.

Even though New Jersey law grants wrongfully convicted prisoners the right to sue the state for up to $20,000 for each year they spent behind bars, he can't believe that the state has spent $214,672 fighting his lawsuits.

"I am mad," Peterson, 58, said recently, smoking a small cigar outside his attorney's office in Moorestown. "I am angry as hell."

Peterson, bedecked in a suit made of a "mixture of reptiles," said he might as well still be wearing his old prison jumpsuit.

"I just went from one prison to another," he said.

William Buckman, Peterson's attorney, said that the state initially agreed to pay Peterson under the 1997 law but that Peterson hasn't received a dime since he filed his compensation lawsuit against the Treasury Department in Superior Court in 2006.

"They had actually agreed to pay him $460,000, but they just never came through with it," Buckman said.

Peterson also filed a federal lawsuit that seeks damages from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office for violating his civil rights during his arrest, trial and conviction. In court filings, the prosecutor's office has denied those allegations.

Lee Moore, a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, said both lawsuits are being handled by the Teaneck firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick, Cole & Wisler.

Moore declined to comment on the cases, but as of last week, he said the state has paid the Teaneck firm $214,672 to represent them in the lawsuits.

s both lawsuits continue to wind their way through the legal system, Buckman claims the state has also put a freeze on expunging Peterson's criminal record.

"It's really Kafka-esque," Buckman said. "There seems to be no sense behind it, other than sheer vindictiveness."

He said it appears that the compensation law was enacted merely for New Jersey to pride itself as a "progressive" state.

"It's got enough loopholes in it to swallow the whole concept," he said.

The statute requires that "innocent persons" must "demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence" that they were mistakenly convicted and imprisoned.

Moore said about 10 individuals have been paid under the wrongful-conviction law since it was enacted.

During Peterson's trial, four witnesses testified that he had confessed to raping and murdering Jacqueline Harrison, whose body was found in a soybean field in Pemberton Township.

Peterson was convicted in 1989 and sentenced to life in prison. In 2003, with the help of the New York-based Innocence Project, Peterson won the right to test the state's biological evidence: hair, skin, blood and semen.

None of them matched Peterson's. Hairs that were reported to be a match with Peterson's belonged to the victim.

Rebecca Brown, a policy advocate with the Innocence Project, said there is legislation in the works in New Jersey that would allow wrongfully convicted prisoners to receive immediate compensation, as well as social services such as job training and housing.

"The goal with any sort of re-entry plan is to do everything possible for people to re-enter society and thrive," she said.

Peterson said he would have received more help from the state if he had been paroled from prison. Instead, he was released into the modern world with few job and life skills.

"I didn't know how to use a cell phone. I didn't know how to use a computer. Everything to me was a challenge. Everything was new to me," he said.

Buckman said he advises Peterson to write "No" when asked on job applications if he's ever been convicted of a crime, but the question always makes Peterson cringe.

In the Internet age, anyone can look him up, make their own judgments and close the door on him, said Brown, of the Innocence Project.

"People feel like they're in this no-man's land. They're not a probationer. They're not a parolee, and yet they're not really free," she said.

"We've heard about exonorees walking around with newspaper articles mentioning that they're exonorees."

Since he's been out, Peterson has worked as a newspaper hawker in Trenton and occasionally as a carpenter. He went to school to get his commercial driver's license, but couldn't find a driving job.

"I've probably applied to over 150 jobs and got a lot of 'Thanks, we'll call you back,' " Peterson said.

Recently, he started a landscaping business, and said he enjoys the sun on his face and cash in his pocket for a hard day's work.

The ever-present threat of prison violence has been replaced by the constant love of a new wife back in his hometown of Pemberton.

"She's the greatest thing that ever happened to me," Peterson said.

Still, Peterson says he can't subtract those 18 years from his mind, no matter when, or if, the state gets around to paying him.

Slow chicken order leads to assault arrest at Norwell KFC

Posted Oct 02, 2009 

01:17 PM Last update Oct 02, 2009  08:02 P

LI NK TO PHOTO:

http://www.patriotledger.com/homepage/x710749625/Slow-chicken-order-leads-to-assault-arrest-at-Norwell-KFC#Scene_1

Clerk says: Show me the gun and I'll show you the money

Bill Kirk

Eagle-Tribune

October 02, 2009 08:47 am

Half a million road crashes 'caused by women drivers applying make-up'

Nearly half a million road accidents a year are caused by women drivers applying make-up behind the wheel, a new survey discloses.

Telegraph UK 

7:00AM BST 02 Oct 2009

Nearly half a million crashes a year are blamed on women drivers applying make-up Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY

Around on fifth of female motorists confess they have touched up their mascara on the move – equivalent to 2.7 million of Britain's 15 million women drivers.

Three per cent admitted causing a collision when distracted by applying cosmetics.

The poll of 4,000 women drivers by women's motor insurer Diamond comes a year after the introduction of a new offence of causing death by careless driving which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

Previously, careless driving offences – including applying make-up, eating and map-reading – were punishable only by a fine.

Young women, aged between 17 and 21, were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety and most liable to crash their car as a result.

Twenty-seven per cent confessed to putting on make-up and nine per cent of those aged 18 or younger have had a crash while doing so – three times the average.

That compares with just six per cent of women aged 56 or older who are least likely to do it at the wheel and just one in 200 – 0.5 per cent – in that age group who have had an accident while applying make-up.

Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it is "worrying" that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk.

"We all have busy lives but applying your make-up when you're driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead," she said.

"Is your mascara more important than yours and other road users' safety? Even if you're lucky enough to arrive at your destination safely, you could be charged with careless driving if spotted by the police.

"Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised."

In March 2006, 22-year-old part-time model Donna Maddock, of Mold, North Wales, was fined £200 with six penalty points for careless driving for applying make-up at the wheel of her Vauxhall Astra whilst doing 32mph on the A490 near Abersoch.

A separate survey earlier this year found that seven out of ten drivers believe it should lead to an automatic ban.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents appealed for women to avoid the potentially deadly distraction and warned it could prove fatal.

"It should go without saying that applying make-up while driving is a dangerous thing to do," said RoSPA's head of road safety Kevin Clinton.

"Driving requires concentration and even a momentary lapse could turn a near-miss into a serious or even fatal accident. Commonsense says apply make-up before or after driving."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091002/sc_afp/healthscienceusbritainbiology

Teller Couldn't Read Robbery Suspect's Note

Police: Stephanie Martin Re-Wrote Threatening Note On Bank Slip

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- A 30-year-old woman tried to rob a bank Wednesday by handing a teller a threatening note, but the teller couldn't read her handwriting, police said.

Hillsboro police said Stephanie Martin walked into a Wells Fargo bank in Hillsboro and handed the teller a note that read, "Need $300 or I'll kill you. I'm serious."

The teller told Martin she couldn't read the handwriting, police said. Martin then walked to a counter and re-wrote the note on a bank slip, according to Lt. Mike Rouches, of the Hillsboro Police Department.

The teller then hit the silent alarm and the bank's manager asked how he could help Martin, Rouches said.

Martin then said she wanted to open an account with the bank, according to officers.

Police and FBI agents arrived at the scene and arrested Martin, who police determined was under the influence of drugs, Rouches said.

LINK TO PHOTO OF STEPHANIE MARTIN:

 http://www.kptv.com/news/21164584/detail.html#

Four-year-old boy a heavy smoker

The Daily Telegraph October 01, 2009 11:09AM 

Deadly habit ... Dong Dong, 4, smokes a cigarette Source: The Daily Telegraph

SHOCKING pictures have emerged of a boy who is a heavy smoker - at just four years of age.

And the Jianghuai Morning Post reports that little Dong Dong, from Banqiao village in China's Anhui province, has been smoking since he was only two.

Dong lives with his grandparents, who run a grocery shop. They say he constantly steals cigarettes to feed his deadly habit.

He also drinks alcohol.

"When he needs cigarettes, he just takes them from the house or steals a pack from the store. We just can't seem to stop him," his grandmother told the paper.

Local doctor Zhang Gong, from Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital, was shocked to see a four-year-old smoke.

"From the way the boy smokes and his posture, he looks to have had a long history of smoking even though he is so young," he added.

Man Sues Froot Loops for Not Being Frooty at All

Man files suit in San Francisco court alleging he was deceived by frooty moniker

SAJID FAROOQ

Updated 7:08 AM CDT, Wed, Sep 30, 2009

Is froot the same as fruit?

Roy Werbel thought the two words meant the same thing and now he is mad as hell at Toucan Sam for his treasure chest of deceit. The man filed a lawsuit against Kellog's Froot Loops cereal in San Francisco federal court for allegedly intentionally misleading breakfast eaters into believing those delicious colorful loops were actually made from fruit.

Werbel says in his court filing that he mistakenly ate the frooty cereal believing it was healthy for him. Now he is demanding unspecified punitive and actual damages to be paid to everyone else who was taken by the cunning Toucan Sam's friendly smile.

And the fruity plaintiff does not stop there. Werbel filed a separate suit against Pepsico, the maker of Cap'n Crunch Crunch Berries cereal, because again he thought there was real fruit in the box.

New fossil moves story of mankind back one million years

Meet Ardi, our oldest known ancestor, who sheds new light on the link between chimps and humans.

Richard Alleyne

Telegraph UK

Science Correspondent
5:12PM BST 01 Oct 2009

Ardi lived a million years before the previous oldest discovered fossil

Photo: PA

The seven stone, four-foot tall female roamed forests 4.4 million years ago – a million years before the previous oldest discovered fossil.

Her skeleton promises to fill in gaps about how we became human and evolved from apes. It has already reversed some common assumptions of evolution.

Rather than humans evolving from chimps, the new find provides evidence that chimps and humans evolved together from another common more ancient ancestor.

Each has evolved and changed separately along the way, it is believed.

Formally known as Ardipithecus ramidus — which means root of the ground ape — the find is detailed in 11 research papers published in the journal Science.

“This is not that common ancestor, but it’s the closest we have ever been able to come,” said Dr Tim White, an anthropologist and one of the researchers at the University of California.

The lines that evolved into modern humans and living apes probably shared an ancestor six million to seven million years ago, the research suggests.

Ardi has many traits that do not appear in modern-day African apes, leading to the conclusion that the apes evolved extensively since they shared that last common ancestor with humans.

A study of Ardi, under way since the first bones were discovered in 1994 in the Afar region of Ethiopia, indicates her species lived in the woodlands and could climb on all fours along tree branches.

But the development of arms and legs indicates she did not spend much time in the trees, the study claims.

Her pelvis suggests she walked upright and her teeth are closer to humans than primates. While she would have had a muzzle, it did not project out as much as modern apes.

Dr White described her as a “mosaic” that was neither human or chimpanzee.

“The only way we’re really going to know what this last common ancestor looked like is to go and find it,” he said. “Well, at 4.4 million years ago we found something pretty close to it.”

Dr David Pilbeam, palaeoanthropology at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, said: “This is one of the most important discoveries for the study of human evolution.

“It is relatively complete in that it preserves head, hands, feet, and some critical parts in between.”

Until the discovery of Ardi, the earliest well-known stage of human evolution was Australopithecus, the small-brained, fully bipedal “ape man” that lived between four million and one million years ago.

The most famous Australopithecus fossil is the 3.2-million-year-old “Lucy,” found in 1974 about 45 miles north of where Ardi would later be discovered.

Lucy was described as the “mother of man” and the missing link between humans and chimps. Before Ardi, she was thought to be the oldest fossil of a human ancestor that walked on two legs.

Dallas woman fuming over smoking neighbor at complex

  01:46 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 30, 2009

SCOTT FARWELL

The Dallas Morning News

In an age when smoking has been outlawed in most public places – government buildings, bars and pool halls – a person's home is one of the few places you can puff in peace.

Until now.

A Dallas woman has filed a lawsuit seeking six figures from a former neighbor and landlord for damage she says was caused by cigarette smoke wafting through adjoining walls of her high-end townhome

"Smoking is not a right, it's a privilege," said Chris Daniel, a retired nurse. "I'm sorry that people smoke. I think it's foolish, but when it comes into my house and hurts my health and my daughter's health and our belongings, it's a different issue."

The case is being watched by townhouse industry groups across the area.

A manager and attorney for Estancia Townhomes, a 52-building community near Prestonwood Country Club in North Dallas, said it's unlikely the Daniels sustained any smoke damage. There is a solid, two-hour fire wall from the foundation to the roof between each of the homes.

And even if some smell did seep through, the Daniels renewed their lease at Estancia – where smoking is permitted – six months after they say the problem began.

"Why do people file lawsuits?" asked Ginger Tye, an attorney representing the property managers and owners. "They're asking for money damages."

The next-door smoker, Rebecca Williams, declined comment.

Chris Daniel and her daughter, Cary, say in the lawsuit that a construction defect is allowing smoke to migrate between the units.

After a year of stinging eyes, breathing difficulty and sinus pain, they moved out of Estancia and into the Homewood Suites in Addison. Last week, movers wearing surgical masks loaded trucks with their belongings.

The Daniels said furniture will need to be reupholstered, artwork restored and closets full of clothing dry cleaned. The bills are still piling up.

"There's nothing in our home that was ready made. I picked out fabrics, everything was custom made and everything was spotless," said Chris Daniel.

"It's not like our worldly goods are the most important things in our life, but you know what? I don't expect them to be damaged."

Some multifamily communities have followed the lead of hotels and car-rental companies – designating nonsmoking rooms or buildings. The Glass House, a 21-story high-rise in Dallas' Uptown, markets itself as a smoke-free property.

Unfamiliar territory

Kathy Carlton, director of government affairs for the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, said she's never heard of a case such as the one filed by the Daniels.

She said most people who are highly sensitive to cigarette smoke don't move into a community or a building where it's allowed.

"Generally, this stuff is the property owners' prerogative, and people either live by the rules or move on down the street," Carlton said.

"If you have a pet, you look for a place that takes pets. If you hate pets, you look for a place that doesn't allow them. People have choices."

The Daniels said the freedom to choose cuts both ways.

Yes, people may be entitled to smoke in their home – but others are equally entitled to live in a clean and healthy environment.

The right to swing your fist, they said, ends when it meets my nose.

"This lease says I have a right to a habitable place, this lease says I have a right to quiet enjoyment, this lease says I have a right to safe living," said Chris Daniel, referring to court documents.

"And I did have that ... until someone moved in who did not care about her neighbor."

The Daniels lived at Estancia for four years. Today, after a final walkthrough of their home with an attorney and managers, they will hand over the keys.

Nicole Lott, property director at Estancia, said it's been a long year of acrimony.

Managers replaced air filters repeatedly, installed sealant-type electrical plates and – at the Daniels' request – used an industrial-grade roofing sealant to caulk pipes under their kitchen cabinet.

When that didn't work, managers tried to negotiate a move for both tenants within the community.

Restraining order

Williams, the smoker, finally moved to another unit in June after a judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding her from lighting up in her home.

"We've done more for these people than we've ever done for anyone else," Lott said. "I don't think it's possible to satisfy them."

Chris Daniel also filed a complaint under the Texas Fair Housing Act, alleging that her sensitivity to cigarette smoke qualifies her for protection set aside for people with disabilities.

The complaint is being reviewed by Dallas' Fair Housing Office.

First Assistant City Attorney Chris Bowers said a garden-variety reaction to cigarette smoke – puffy eyes, runny nose, coughing – would probably not meet the standard set by the law, a severe limitation of a major life activity.

"Not just anybody will be able to say smoking has that effect, and that's one of the things our Fair Housing Office will investigate," he said.

"It's safe to say most people do not suffer the degree of impairment this person alleges from cigarette smoke."

Chris Daniel has been treated by an allergist and an internist, according to court records, and was prescribed two inhalers.

Dr. Barbara Stark Baxter, a clinical associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, wrote that Daniels "qualifies as disabled under the Texas Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act."

Her attorney, John Clark Long V, said his clients were essentially driven from their home by cigarette smoke.

He illustrated the case this way:

"It was like living life in an ashtray you can never clean."

The plaintiff

Cigarette smoke from a next-door townhome prevented her from breathing and ruined a life's worth of belongings.

The defendants

Smoking is not prohibited in the complex, and construction standards prevent the migration of smoke from one unit to another.

The Dallas city attorney's office

The complaint is under review by the city's Fair Housing Office. To qualify for protection, the cigarette smoke would have to impair a major life function – such as breathing.

The physician

The plaintiff qualifies as disabled under the Texas Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Apartment Association of Greater Dallas

Rules regarding smoking are the prerogative of individual property owners and managers.

SOURCE: Dallas Morning News research

JOHN F. RHODES

Cary Daniel and her mother Chris Daniel, of Dallas, claim fumes from a smoking neighbor invaded their townhome where they used to live, by coming through a heating

Spoiling children with sweets linked to violence in adulthood

Children given sweets or chocolate every day are more likely to grow into aggressive adults, according to a new study.

Richard Alleyne

Telegraph UK

Science Correspondent
6:30AM BST 01 Oct 2009

Researchers found that preteens who regularly ate the confectionaries were much more likely to have a conviction for violent crime by the time they reached their mid thirties.

Psychiatrists believe that spoiling or assuaging youngsters with treats may lead to an inability to deal with not getting what they want in later life. This in turn could lead to frustration and anger.

The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, is the first to examine the long-term effects of childhood diet on adult violence. It suggests that a better diet could lead to better behaviour later in life.

The findings come from the 1970 British Cohort Study, a project following the lives of 17,500 people born in April 1970.

It found that 10-year-olds who ate confectionery daily were significantly more likely to have been convicted for violence before the age of 34.

Researchers from Cardiff University found that 69 per cent of the participants who were violent at that age had eaten sweets and chocolate nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42 per cent who were non-violent.

The link between confectionery consumption and violence remained after taking into account other factors.

Dr Simon Moore, lead researcher, said: “Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want.

“Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency.”

But he admits that the exact link is still unclear.

Dr Moore said another possibility is the additives in sweets themselves causing problems with attention and delinquency. But he felt it was more likely the way they are acquired that affected behaviour.

“If parents give their children sweets for attention seeking behaviour, or to prevent bad behaviour, they could be encouraging them to act out more. More research is needed here, but this is the most interesting mechanism.

“We looked at the decision making style and believe children given sweets on demand become risk takers rather than risk avoiders.”

Now researchers believe improving children’s diets may help controlling aggression and reducing violent behaviour.

The researchers concluded: “This association between confectionery consumption and violence needs further attention.

“Targeting resources at improving children’s diet may improve health and reduce aggression.”

5-year-old Goodrich boy's kill: a gator 20 times his size

There are hunters who go a lifetime dreaming of that big kill. Then there's Simon Hughes, who helped nab a beast of an animal on an East Texas hunt — while still in the first grade. The 5-year-old boy from Goodrich was part of a hunting crew that recently killed an 800-pound, 12-foot-6-inch alligator that has wildlife experts shaking their heads.

The reptile, whose size is at a state record level, is now at the taxidermist waiting to be mounted. Simon's family, meanwhile, is fielding calls from CNN and Good Morning America to feature his exploits.

Simon learned to drive all-terrain vehicles and shoot firearms when he was only 4. So he was primed and ready to go on an alligator hunt this past weekend with his father, Scott Hughes, a sixth-generation rancher, and hunting guide Chuck Cotton.

Simon had a new junior-sized .410-gauge shotgun. His first gun had been too big, having a recoil that opened a small cut below one eye after he fired it.

Neither his father nor mother worry about Simon using firearms, because he has been taught gun safety since he was big enough to walk and stand in a deer blind.

“That's the way it is in rural areas,” Scott Hughes said. “We don't think of guns as playthings or something used in videogames.”

By the time of the alligator hunt, Simon could shoot clay pigeons.

Polk County Sheriff Kenneth Hammack, a former Texas Ranger, has been bird hunting with Simon and said he shoots pretty well for his age. “Of course, you always keep an eye on children,” said Hammack, “but he's learned a lot from his father.”

Scott had obtained a state permit to kill two of the 40 alligators populating his 5,000-acre spread near Lake Livingston because he knew something “real big was out there” and driving small alligators from the swampy areas and into his stock ponds.

State law requires alligators be caught on a baited hook or shot with a bow and arrow. So they baited a hook on Saturday with some “smelly armadillo roadkill,” which apparently alligators adore.

When they returned the next day, the line was taut. Something had been snared and was resting beneath the dark 4-foot-deep waters.

‘Never afraid for a second'

The hunters soon discovered their catch was an alligator. They attached it to an all-terrain vehicle with a sturdy line, but the gator proved so strong it almost dragged their vehicle into the water.

Finally, the animal, after thrashing and rolling, surfaced a second time, and Simon, poised 5 feet away, fired the first and what proved to be fatal shot. Cotton, just to be sure, fired one more shot at the giant reptile, which had managed to rip the hook out of its mouth.

Simon said he screamed “holy moly” when he saw the catch of the day. “I was never afraid for a second,” he said of the gator, which is 20 times his size.

Taxidermist Stephen Moye said the head of the 12-foot- 6-inch reptile weighs 104 pounds by itself.

A state wildlife biologist estimated the gator's weight at more than 800 pounds. Finding an alligator of such size is rare, state officials said. Although the record length for a Texas alligator exceeds Simon's kill by 1 foot and 8 inches, the record weight for a gator killed on state property is only 690 pounds, records showed.

Simon, meanwhile, has shown pictures of the gator to his classmates in Good­rich, near Lake Livingston, but that won't be nearly as impressive as when he can bring the mounted head to show-and-tell and display its ferocious 12-inch bite.

“My friends were proud of me, and I was proud of myself,” Simon said of the photos that show him standing alongside the monstrous gator. “It's humongous!”

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid29266405001?bctid=42889665001

Michael Paulsen Chronicle

Five-year-old Simon Hughes gets a close look Wednesday at the head of the monster alligator he shot on his family's 5,000-acre spread Saturday. The hide of the reptile, now at Moye's Taxidermy in Livingston, will be made into boots. Simon and his family plan to eat the meat.

http://www.kptv.com/entertainment/21155932/detail.html

York City woman pins burglar until police arrive

ELIZABETH EVANS The York Dispatch Updated: 09/30/2009 11:32:32 AM EDT
 

Tina Graham, shown Tuesday in the yard of her York City home, found an intruder in the home early Sunday morning. She jumped on the man and pinned him against the chain-link fence after he dragged her outside. She hung on until police arrived to make an arrest. (Doug Bauman photo)  

Tina Graham doesn't understand why people are so fascinated that she dove on a burglar and hung onto him until police arrived.

"To me, it was just what I had to do," the 40-year-old York City woman said. "Everyone's making such a big deal about it. I didn't know it would be this big."

Graham said she was sleeping in her North Hartman Street home about 2:30 a.m. Sunday when a noise awakened her. Normally, her boyfriend Daniel Arnold and their Pomeranian would have been with her, but they'd gone to visit a friend in Gettysburg, she said.

"I'd taken the phone to bed with me," Graham said. "I snuck downstairs and noticed a light coming from the kitchen -- like a flashlight. I looked around the corner, saw the (back) door open and called

Kornbau ... faces several charges related to the break-in. 911."

That's when she walked around the corner and told the intruder, "You're going to jail."

"He tried to go out the door he came in," Graham said. "But I just jumped on him. I didn't even think about it. I've never done anything like that, never been put in a situation where you almost feel like you're fighting for your life."

Failed break-ins: Graham said someone had tried to break into her home twice in the past three months, on July 5 and again on Aug. 23. Both times, York City Police collected fingerprints but were unable to match them to a suspect, she said.

"I was just fed up," Graham said. "All I could think about was, if he gets away, police still won't be able to find him. The adrenaline takes over, and the fear takes over."

Graham said she grabbed Brian Jay Kornbau around the waist and he dragged her outside into her yard.

She held on, though, and used her 140 pounds of body weight to pin the 5-foot-11, 160-pound man against her chain-link fence.

"He kept begging me to let him go, but I said, 'You're not getting away this time,'" Graham said. "He beat on me the whole time. He was punching and kicking me. ... He bit me in the shoulder and he elbowed me in the mouth."

Graham said she was left with three loose teeth as a result. Thankfully, she said, his bite did not pierce her skin.

"I just did the best I could and prayed to God to give me strength," she said. "Somehow, I held onto him. I was really scared, but it was either him or me."

Locked up: Arriving York City officers arrested Kornbau, 39, of 1394 Lancaster Ave. in Spring Garden Township. He remains in York County Prison on $25,000 bail, charged with burglary, simple assault, criminal trespass, attempted burglary and possessing instruments of crime.

Officers seemed surprised by Graham's actions, she said.

"They were like, 'We're so proud of you. You did a great job,'" she said.

Charging documents state the officers found two screwdrivers and a pocketknife on Kornbau when they searched him.

"I didn't know that until the police told me," Graham said.

The documents also state that Kornbau admitted he tried to break into Graham's home on July 5 and Aug. 23.

Sore, but proud: Graham had never seen Kornbau before and said she has no idea why he targeted her home. He graduated from York Suburban Senior High School in 1988 with her boyfriend, who said Kornbau was "always weird," she said.

Graham said she's sore and "pretty banged up from the scuffle," and that her screams for help left her hoarse. But she feels good about what she did.

"It's still hard for me to believe I did it," she said.

Graham feels sorry for Kornbau's children and parents.

"He's embarrassed his whole family," she said. "I'd like to know how he'd feel if it was his daughter or his mother in my position."