truesee's Blog

December 17, 2008 --- 7:15 a.m.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A woman is suing a Pennsylvania sports bar and restaurant, saying she got stuck inside a toilet bowl for 20 minutes after the seat broke.

Kathleen Hewko of Delran Township, N.J., says she was in the bathroom at Starters Pub near Allentown when the handicapped toilet seat she was sitting on cracked and dumped her into the bowl.

Hewko says in her lawsuit filed in federal court in November that she had hip surgery prior to the Nov. 19, 2006, incident and was re-injured when the seat broke.

The lawsuit names Starters and Kohler Co., the company that made the toilet seat.

Representatives from both companies said they couldn't comment.

The Associated Press.

Wed Dec 17, 6:15 am ET

 A dramatic battle to free a trapped eight-year-old Turkish boy from an airtight bank safe has been captured on camera.

Watched by scores of onlookers, fire officers in Istanbul used a sledgehammer and electric saw to free Cihan Sevinc.

The youngster had found the disused unit while playing in a footpath in Istanbul with friends. It had been left outside a safe shop, whose owner was away on holiday.

Unaware of the danger it posed Cihan climbed into the safe, his companions shutting the door behind him as a joke.

One alarmed passer by who saw what had happened called the fire brigade. "I saw the children playing. Then they put the boy in the vault and closed the door. I rushed and called the police," the witness said.

When police and fire crews finally cut open the door and freed the frightened child, he was seen covering his ears in fear before being carried to safety. His only injury was a small cut above his right eye.

12/15/2008, 3:17 p.m. ET The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Browns fan Mike Meredith is a couch potato with a cause. Meredith has a motorized sofa — the "Go-Kouch" — that he usually rides around a municipal parking lot for tailgate parties before games.

But on Nov. 23, he decided to take the couch, a converted riding mower, the extra two blocks to the Browns' stadium for a game with Houston. Meredith said several police officers waved him through. One didn't, issuing him citations for driving an unregistered vehicle and having expired plates.

Meredith pleaded not guilty and will argue his case in court Tuesday. He has prepared a defense, walking the couch route and snapping pictures of every officer who gave him the go-ahead.

He could receive fines or community service in lieu of payment if he loses.

___

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

Monday,  December 15, 2008 3:01 AM

A surgeon will spend an estimated $370,000 to equip her home in Gloucestershire, England, with a state-of-the-art three-room suite for her two Great Danes -- complete with cameras to monitor them via the Internet. Instead of an ordinary dog door, a retina scanner will control entry to the suite -- and, without the need for human stewards, the big darlings will be dispensed dry food and filtered water automatically in self-cleaning bowls. A temperature-regulated saline spa will allow relaxing dips before the dogs hit the sack on sheepskin-lined beds.

-- Chuck Shepherd Universal Press Syndicate

Sun Dec 14, 10:34 am ET

Dec 13, 2008 2:26 pm US/Mountain

MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) ?

Police say a pizza delivery man fought back with the one weapon he had handy when a gun was pulled on him in a stickup: A large, hot pepperoni pizza.

Delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria, 40, flung the steaming pie at the gunman, buying time as he ran for safety, police said.

At least one shot was fired as Devictoria fled, but the deliveryman wasn't hurt and was able to quickly call police, according to authorities.

Three teenage suspects were nabbed soon after Wednesday's run-in with the cheesy weapon, police said, adding they were charged with armed robbery.

(AP) -- When Baby Jesus disappeared last year from a Nativity scene on the lawn of the Wellington, Fla., community center, village officials didn't follow a star to locate him.

By SUSAN FIELD
Clare Managing Editor

A suspicious package found at an Isabella County post office Friday morning turned out to be Christmas presents.

Isabella County sheriff's deputies were called to the post office at 3905 E. Rosebush Road in Isabella Township at 7:22 a.m. when a postal worker noticed a large, standard green military-style foot locker in the lobby, Undersheriff John Vinson said.

The footlocker contained no name, address label or any type of writing. However, nothing out of the ordinary was found near the item, Vinson said.

As a precaution, several homes and businesses surrounding the post office were evacuated as officers waited for a Michigan State Police Bomb Squad from Lansing to arrive. Local police called for the team at 7:45 a.m., Vinson said.

As police waited for the bomb squad to get to the scene, a local woman approached officers and said she thought the locker may have been left at the post office by her brother, who is a mentally challenged adult and had planned on donating toys to the needy, the undersheriff said.

The woman told police she thought her brother planned on dropping off the donated toys at a local gasoline station and identified the item, confirming that it was missing from her garage, after police showed her a photograph.

She also told police the footlocker contained toys.

When the bomb squad arrived at about 9 a.m., members briefly inspected the footlocker before heading back to Lansing, Vinson said. Deputies left shortly after.

The employee who discovered the footlocker told police the post office lobby doors should have automatically locked at 7 p.m. Thursday and that workers had been having problems with the lock freezing up.

When the worker arrived Friday morning, however, the lobby door was locked.

Isabella Northeast firefighters assisted at the scene.

Fri Dec 12, 1:10 pm ET

By Randi Weiner
The Journal News • December 11, 2008

CLARKSTOWN - It may have been the missing watermark or the missing security fibers that tipped Clarkstown Police Officer Robert Reilly that the two $100 bills he was holding were fake.

Or it could have been that identical serial numbers, HJ00407598A, appeared on both bills.

Whatever it was, it certainly put the brakes on Jean Etienne's plan to pay his bail with the two fake bills after he was arrested in connection with skipping a court hearing on shoplifting and disorderly conduct charges.

Now Etienne, 20, of Garnerville is facing a maximum seven-year prison term if convicted of two counts of possession of a forged instrument instead of a year in county jail in connection with the missed court hearing on the two lesser counts.

"You see stuff like this, you shake your head," Sgt. Bernard Cummings said. "There is a comic edge to this thing - but not for him. The moral of the story is whenever you are posting bail, use legitimate currency."

Etienne was employed by Macy's in the Palisades Center in April 2007, when management found $20 was lifted from the till. He was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor. He was charged in July 2007 with disorderly conduct, a violation, in an unrelated case.

When he failed to show up in Clarkstown court on the disorderly conduct charge, a single warrant was issued against him in both crimes, Cummings said.

Etienne's contact with police took a more immediate turn Saturday, courtesy of poor automotive upkeep on the part of a friend.

Stony Point police stopped a car with a loud muffler on Route 9W at Lowland Hill Road about 10:10 p.m. Saturday and found out through a routine identification check that Etienne, the passenger in the car, was wanted on the warrant.

Stony Point officers transported him to Clarkstown Town Court, where he was arraigned before Judge Rolf Thorsen on the two-count warrant.

Thorsen set bail at $200.

Etienne told police that he had $200 to pay his bail, and police took possession of the two $100 bills he had.

When Reilly spotted the missing security measures on the bills and then checked their serial numbers, Etienne was returned to the town lockup. He was arraigned later in the day on the felony forgery charges.

Clarkstown police called the Secret Service, which oversees U.S. currency forgery cases. As of yesterday evening, a Secret Service agent had not spoken with Clarkstown police. Cummings said he did not know how the bogus bills had been disseminated or if others were in circulation.

Cummings said Etienne made a statement about how he got the bills, but the statement was not being made public.

Etienne was being held in the Rockland County jail without bail pending a hearing in Clarkstown Town Court at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.