Painted dummy doesn't fool highway police

SEATTLE (UPI) -- A driver who put a hat-wearing, clothed dummy in his car's passenger seat when using a high-occupancy vehicle lane didn't fool a Washington state trooper.

The trooper said when he first saw the fake passenger in a vehicle on northbound Interstate 5 Friday, he knew something suspicious was going on, The Seattle Times reported.

After pulling over the 27-year-old driver, the trooper found the passenger was actually just a dummy -- painted beige to give it a human appearance. The mannequin also had been adorned with a sweatshirt and a hat, the trooper said.

The driver couldn't explain himself to the trooper, who wrote up a $124 ticket for illegal use of the HOV-lane, the Times said.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Donations replace wind-blown cash

MONTAGUE, Mass. (UPI) -- Donations more than replenished the $1,000 an elderly Massachusetts woman lost in a freak shopping cart accident that sent her cash a-blowin' in the wind.

Mary Olive Corbiere, 83, left her purse in a shopping cart in a parking lot in Montague, Mass., Tuesday when a wind gust sent the cart under a passing delivery truck, The Republican in Springfield, Mass., reported. The cart broke free but the retired English teacher's purse didn't and friction from the truck's tires burned and shredded it.

When the purse finally released its contents, the ripped and singed cash flew out along the pavement. Police recovered some of it but most was picked up by passing motorists, the newspaper reported.

When word got out about Corbiere's predicament, donations poured in, police said, including a $1,000 check from a customer at a cafe that took up a collection.

Corbiere, who had taken the money out of the bank for Christmas presents and to pay bills, expressed her gratitude for the donations, saying she would donate the extra money she received to charity.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

University 'appalled' after students dress up as shooting victims

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania: Photos of two Penn State University students dressed up for Halloween as victims of this spring's Virginia Tech massacre — wearing Virginia Tech shirts covered in bullet holes and fake blood — led to a rebuke from their university this week.

"We're appalled that these individuals would display this level of insensitivity and lack of common decency by dressing up in this manner," the statement said. "The fact that one of the individuals is actually from Virginia makes it even more difficult to understand."

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Pot bags found along highway

PLANT CITY, Fla. (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida are looking for the owner of two large garbage bags of marijuana found along an interstate highway.

The plastic bags left in Plant City contained 60 pounds of marijuana plants, worth more than $54,000, the St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday.

"Anyone missing their bags of marijuana or knows how these bags made their way onto the interstate system is asked to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at 813-631-4020," the Florida Highway Patrol said in a statement.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Five years after the ‘drowning tragedy’, missing man wanders into a London police station

The 'dead' canoeist John Darwin, his wife and the Panama connection

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Hmmmm. Something's different about you

Police said a Somerset County man fled a traffic stop, went home, shaved his mustache and changed his clothes, and reported the truck he was driving as stolen

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Florida man robbed twice in same night

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (UPI) -- A man in Florida likely had the most unlucky night of his life when he was robbed by different people within the span of a few minutes.

The South Florida Times-Union said Paul Gibbs' car was stolen Friday said -- just minutes after an unidentified gunman robbed him of $35 at a gas station.

After Gibbs was robbed, he chased the gunman in his car -- and then got out of the car to chase the robber on foot, but forgot to take his keys with him.

Police told the Times-Union two men took advantage of the situation, making off with Gibbs' car while Gibbs was preoccupied with his foot chase.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Disabled scooter rider facing DUI charge

ATLANTA (UPI) -- A disabled Georgia man faces drunken driving charges after police stopped him for driving his motorized scooter on the wrong side of the road.

Bob Pruett's defense apparently is that his motorized scooter is a wheelchair, not a vehicle. He said that if anything, he should have been charged with public drunkenness, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported Wednesday.

Dawson County investigators said Pruett, who has cerebral palsy and has no use of his legs, was on his scooter on the wrong side of the road with a 12-pack of beer in his cart. His blood-alcohol level allegedly registered .125.

Pruett's attorney said wheelchairs weren't intended to be covered under the state's motor vehicle code.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Accused bandit worth $4 million

VANCOUVER, Wash. (UPI) -- Court documents showed the suspect in the so-called Waddling Bandit cases involving 20 bank robberies in Washington and Oregon is worth $4 million.

Police in Vancouver, Wash., arrested Robert Christie, 71, this week on suspicion of robbing the financial institutions over the last two years, Portland, Ore., television station KPTV reported. A U.S. magistrate said Christie's assets make him a flight risk, ordering that he remain jailed until his hearing next month.

Christie's family said it's hard to imagine that he's the bank robber, considering his worth.

The FBI had named the thief the "Waddling Bandit" because of the way he walked, the TV station said.


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Church phone a hotline to sex, not heaven

CLARKTOWN, N.Y. (UPI) -- A homeless man rang up some trouble after he broke into a church to use a phone to call a sex hotline, police in a New York community said.

Clarkstown, N.Y., police said James Macnair may have strained the bounds of charity of the Elim Alliance Church when he used the phone for the less-than-holy conversations -- not once, but twice, New York television station WCBS reported Wednesday.

"He broke into the church in Valley Cottage to use the phone there to call a sex hotline," said Clarkstown Police Sgt. Harry Baumann.

Baumann said Macnair picked the lock and entered the church Friday, and was asked to leave by the church treasurer, who didn't call the police.

On Monday, when the church treasurer stopped by again, she found Macnair again in the church and again on the phone. This time, though she called the police.

"My understanding is he's homeless, he doesn't have a phone," said Baumann. "This is the place that he found a phone."


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Believe it: Cliff-diving cow hits minivan

WENATCHEE, Wash. (UPI) -- A Michigan couple are happy to be alive after a cow fell from a 200-foot cliff and landed on top of their minivan outside Manson, Wash.

Charles Everson Jr., 49, of Westland, Mich., told The Wenatchee (Wash.) World Monday he never saw the incoming animal until it landed squarely on the minivan as he and his wife Linda traveled along Highway 150 last weekend.

"It was just 'bam' -- you just saw something come down and hit the hood," he said of Sunday's accident. "I'm like, 'I don't believe this. I don't believe this. I don't believe this.' "

Chelan County Fire District 5 chief Arnold Baker said the cow, which he estimated at nearly 600 pounds, had been reported missing by a local breeder.

Whatever caused the animal to hurdle off the cliff remains a mystery, but Baker told the World the couple was lucky to escape with only a heavily-damaged vehicle.

"It's funny because it was such a close call," Baker said. "Inches different and the couple in this car would have been killed."


Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Sports Bar Owner Rips Customer's Genitals

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (WCCO) ― The owner of a popular Brooklyn Park sports bar is scheduled to appear in Hennepin County District Court this week on charges he assaulted a customer.

Brooklyn Park police said the incident happened last June at Blondie's bar. That's when a customer tried to cancel a food order and got into a dispute with the owner and bar staff. Police said the man had stopped there for a bite to eat between jobs.

"It is not like he was drunk and disorderly. There was a dispute over the time it was going to take for his food. But he decided he didn't want to pay for it and for that he ends up with these types of serious injuries," said acting Brooklyn Park Police Chief Greg Roehl.

Investigators say the owner, Thor Gunderson, even tried to stop the man from calling 911 for help. When police got to the bar, they say they found the customer bleeding and on the ground, restrained by Gunderson and a bouncer.

"At the hospital they determined he had an injury which was to his scrotum and that one of his testicles was actually torn loose," said Roehl.

The incident, and a visit to top police officials from community leader Spike Moss, prompted an investigation which ultimately led to charges against Gunderson and a bouncer.

"This is a serious incident that happened here," said Roehl.

WCCO-TV obtained documents from Brooklyn Park police which confirmed problems aren't unusual at Blondie's. In fact, Roehl noted the bar has the highest number of police calls of any liquor establishment in the city. The reports show 242 police calls so far this year.

WCCO-TV also obtained police squad video of some of the incidents. One video showed a heated confrontation between Gunderson and officers last spring.

Gunderson repeatedly swears, challenging the officers over how they handled the incident.

In another incident, officers report Gunderson "was out of control, flexing his muscles ... yelling and screaming at the officers and suspect."

"Just because you own an establishment doesn't give you carte blanche to do whatever you want to control your customers," said Roehl.

Police also report accusations that Blondie's sometimes mistreats black customers. WCCO-TV checked a years worth of calls to the bar and found some customers said they felt they had been victims of discrimination.

Gunderson declined to comment for this report. His attorney said he will try his case in court, not in the media.

Gunderson's lawyer, Dave Roston, indicated he will have witnesses who give a different version of the bar assault incident than the ones cited to support the felony assault charges.

The trial is scheduled to start Monday morning. Because of the short holiday week, it is expected to be continued to a later date.

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Restaurant offers $25,000 dessert

New York, NY (AP)--This is one rich cup of haute chocolate: A New York eatery is offering a $25,000 dessert bulging with top-grade cocoa, edible gold and shavings of a luxury truffle.

The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate was declared the most expensive dessert in the world on Wednesday by Guinness World Records.

The dessert is a frozen, slushy mix of cocoas from 14 countries, milk and 5 grams of 24-carat gold topped with whip cream and shavings from a La Madeline au Truffle.

It is served in a goblet with a band of gold decorated with 1 carat of diamonds and served with a golden spoon diners can take home.

The dessert was created by Serendipity 3, a restaurant popular with tourists and once featured in a John Cusack movie.

Human heads found in back of truck

ROYSE CITY, Texas (UPI) -- Police in Royse City, Texas, discovered about two dozen embalmed human heads in the back of a truck that was pulled over for speeding.

The driver was detained until the company he works for, which was not identified, faxed police paperwork documenting why the heads, which had been used for medical training in Fort Worth, Texas, were being transported, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

"It really turned out to be much ado about nothing," Royse City police Lt. Jim Baker said. "When you are carrying human body parts, it's good to have some documentation that they are legitimate."

The heads were found in plastic bags and containers in the back of the truck.

"This is in the top five of the strangest things -- maybe the strangest -- that I've ever encountered," said Hunt County Justice of the Peace Aaron Williams, who was called to the scene when the heads were discovered.

The driver and the heads were allowed to continue their journey back to the company in Little Rock, Ark.



Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Teller helps nab would-be robber

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (UPI) -- A teller in Florida ended her day by helping capture a man who allegedly first tried to open an account and then rob the bank where she works, police said.

Daytona Beach police said the Sun Trust bank branch teller was leaving work Monday afternoon when she spotted the would-be customer-robber, the Orlando Sentinel reported Tuesday. The man was arrested and booked for attempted armed robbery under the name John Doe.

Earlier, the man had tried to open a bank account only to leave after being told he lacked proper identification, authorities said. He returned to the bank and handed a note with a phone number on it to a teller.

Not understanding the man was trying to rob the bank and unable to read what the note said, the teller asked the potential thief if he wanted her to call someone for him. He told her he wanted money.

Police said the man then apologized to the teller, explaining he was on medication and asking her to return the note. He never displayed a weapon.



Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Hunting Dog shoots Hunter

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Bad dog. Good shot. Hunter James Harris was shot by his dog in a bizarre accident.

Officials of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources say Harris had placed his shotgun on the ground to cross a fence, when his dog stepped on the trigger. Harris was hit in the lower leg and is listed in good condition at an Iowa City hospital.

Authorities say no other people or animals were hurt in the incident. Officials add they won't be pursuing any charges in the case of the dog whose bang was worse than his bite.

Truck totaled by lightning strike

Granite Bay, California - A California man can pretty much write off his Ford 150 pick-up truck.

Monday night during a storm, a lightning bolt pierced Mike Knapp's pick-up, slicing through the windshield and hood, frying the headlight and melting the tires.
The truck was sitting in Knapp's driveway at the time. No one was hurt.

Couple gets luxurious stay at 1940s price

CHICAGO (UPI) -- A couple stayed in Chicago's luxurious Palmer House Hotel for only $9.90 a day, the same price they paid for a room there 60 years ago.
Larry and Miriam Orenstein of Milwaukee were taking advantage of a promotional offer for those who slept in the hotel's lavish rooms decades ago, The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Hotel spokesman Ken Price said that taking advantage of the 136-year-old hotel's newest offer isn't always easy, given the length of time between guests' stays.
"A lot of people just don't have their original receipts," Price said of the offer's key requirement.
The Orensteins stayed at the Palmer House for their honeymoon -- and they still had their original receipt stored away among their wedding memorabilia.
Miriam told the Sun-Times that for their stay this weekend, the hotel even gave them the penthouse suite, which typically costs guests $1,600 a night.
"We are just surprised and shocked," the 81-year-old said. "What a nice present!"

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

Miami-Dade officer charged with taking $100,000

MIAMI (AP) — A Miami-Dade Police officer was arrested and faces a charge of first-degree grand theft, authorities said. Officer Ricardo Toledo was arrested Saturday after police received a tip.
Authorities said Toledo stopped a vehicle carrying $100,000 in cash, took the money and let the motorist go. The driver was an undercover officer; 36-year-old Toledo was not on duty at the time.
Police said the officer had previously taken $150 for providing confidential information from a motor vehicle database.
Besides the grand theft charge, he also faces a charge of unlawful compensation. The five-year police veteran has been relieved of duty.