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Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, pleaded guilty to vandalism after damaging an historic, hand-painted sign at Grand Canyon National Park. On March 28, they were accused of using a whiteout product and a permanent marker to deface a sign that's a National Historic Landmark.
Investigators learned of the vandalism from an Internet site operated by Deck on behalf of the Typo Eradication Advancement League, or TEAL.
According to the Internet posting, TEAL members correct typos on public signs. (The TEAL site is currently unavailable) Original and corrected signs are photographed and posted at the site. A detailed map tracks the progress of the grammar vigilantes' cross-country crusade.
In addition to being banned from national parks for a year, the two are barred from modifying any public signs and must pay restitution to repair the Grand Canyon sign. Read more...
Errors on public signs irritate me too, but I wouldn't deface a national monument in the name of good grammar. What kind of sentence includes being barred from modifying any public sign?
I have never experienced a 'whiteout emergency'; maybe I don't truly have a type-o personality.
Tags: [Jeff Deck] [Benjamin Herson]
[T.E.A.L.]
[Vandalism] [Good Grammar]
[Personality Types]
The kidnapped dwarf story has been picked up by the main-stream media:
(Click photo to read article)
The online article has a different headline...good thing, because it's killing me to leave this one alone...
On Friday, my parents took their coffee at the cafe on the grounds of Summers End. They surveyed the yard and noticed something amiss.
Over there in the NE corner of the lot where the playhouse stands... where was Snow White?
They walked to the playhouse and were horrified to discover 6 of their concrete dwarfs were missing.
The 40" Snow White figure had been knocked down, but at least she was still there. Somebody kidnapped the dwarfs!
Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful and Dopey - all of them gone! Only Happy was left behind. (Unfortunately, an horrific accident left Happy a double-amputee several years ago).
Snow White and the seven dwarfs have been friends of the playhouse for at least 25 years. They've been a part of the Wild parties, Family Picnics, Wayne Day and several weddings. They're family - the children of the house after The Original 6 moved out.
Every few years, my Dad would cart each dwarf to the garage where my Mom would painstakingly repaint him. Once sealed and dry, my Dad would carry each concrete man back to his place. Snow White received an ultra deluxe spa treatment, including chemical peel (old paint removal), deep facial line treatment (filling weathered areas) and microdermabrasion (sanding) before hitting makeup and wardrobe.
Two fawns, Bambi and Bimbo, are usually placed as if they'd just left the cornfield - heading toward the playhouse. Bimbo was also missing.
| In order to execute the robbery, the dwarf-nappers had to park on the shoulder of the road, climb the fence, walk to the playhouse area, pick up the concrete statue (you need 2 people to carry Bimbo), carry it back |
|
Stacey Fearnall, a waitress at Nathaniel's Restaurant in Owen Sound, was laid off after she shaved her hair off in a local fundraiser for a cancer charity.
The 36-year-old raised almost $2,700 in pledges over four months and then had her thick, red locks shaved off in a local Cops for Cancer event on the weekend...When she showed up for work Tuesday at Nathaniel's restaurant in Owen Sound, an upscale eatery, her employers told her to take the summer off -- without pay. (Full article...)
In April, Fearnall approached owners Jeff Ferris and Dan Hilliard. They told Fearnall "they would not be pleased" if she shaved her head in the fundraiser. They encouraged her to participate in a way that would not affect her job at Nathaniel's.
At first, I thought this was a case of a woman who lost her job because of her cancer.
That would be discrimination.
That's not what happened here at all.
Rather, and despite being warned, Fearnall chose to participate in the fundraiser by shaving her head. Removing her hair violated Nathaniel's dress code standard for employees. They're allowed to outline acceptable standards. Tim Horton's doesn't allow visible piercings. Show up for a shift with a nose stud and you'll be sent home. McDonald's doesn't allow a visible tattoo; cover it or go home.
And she wasn't fired. She was laid off until she was able to comply with the company's expectations. Hilliard offered some accommodations to her, by suggesting she cover her head - a hat appropriate to the restaurant's ambiance would have been sufficient - and return to work.
If Fearnall lost her hair due to alopecia, chemotherapy or any unavoidable circumstances, and was fired my reaction would be completely different.
Sorry, but I can't turn the wheel of sympathy for her. She made her choice - the fundraiser over her job. She knew that consequences at work were likely. Ferris and Hilliard are just following through.
Poorly handled? For sure. Discrimination? No.
I commend her on the contribution to the fundraising...but the charity should have come up with a different name - Cops for Cancer? Are the police in Grey-Bruce really FOR cancer?
[Stacey Fearnall] [Nathaniel's Restaurant]
[Owen Sound] [Cops for Cancer]
[Ontario Human Rights Commission]
Photo by: James Masters (Owen Sound Sun Times)
Three men in The Netherlands ran down a street in Utrecht with their pants pulled down in the back 'for a joke' ... At one point the 21-year-old 'pushed his behind against the window of a restaurant' that broke and resulted in 'deep wounds to his derriere.' (More...)
The owner of the restaurant did not press charges after the men agreed to pay for the repairs to the window.
This would be a great story if the restaurant happened to be called The Full Moon Cafe.
No doubt, the unnamed 21-year old will be the butt of jokes from his friends for a while.
The Devil's in the moon for mischief [Lord Byron (from Don Juan)]
Addendum 6-4-08: I can't help but wonder, if this had occurred in a more litigious country, would the Mooner sue the restaurant for faulty glass resulting in the serious injury to his butt?
Tags: [The Netherlands] [Mooning Prank]
[Lord Byron] [Don Juan]
[Full Moon Cafe]
Mark Nimigan, Vice-Chair of Hamilton's Police Services Board, says that cleaning up the city's downtown is a priority.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Nimigan proposed the city criminalize the use of obscene language in public. (more...)
He argued that issuing fines to people who use profanity in public, in particular downtown and within the city's parks, would reduce the objectionable behavior.
Mr. Nimigan did not comment on issues related to enforcement of his proposal. When informed of the suggested regulation, I wouldn't have blamed Chief Mullan if he'd muttered '$#!+' before giving an official response.
Never mind that HPSB met in-camera yesterday to discuss 12 alleged sexual harassment charges faced by an officer - this proposed crackdown on cussing can only mean one thing:
the city has solved all other @*!#% problems in its universe.
| The proposed Anti-Swearing Statute was the lead on the local newscast. |  chapters.indigo.ca |
Mind If We Play Through?
Robert Kadera didn't want his son to miss a vital tennis lesson. Junior Varsity tryouts were just 2 days away. To show well at tryouts, Isaac needed to refresh his court skills, but father and son were running late on Saturday.
Rather than make the 45-minute drive to the club and risk missing the match and lesson, Kadera, a licensed pilot with 40 years experience, flew his son there in his twin-prop. The flight took less than 15 minutes.
He landed on the seventh fairway at Marriott Lincolnshire Golf Course, which is across the road from the tennis club. (Read the article...)
Son Isaac never made it to his match, and without his friend's cell number, was unable to tell him why. At school Monday, friends treated the tale of a plane landing on a golf course and subsequent police action as an outlandish excuse, he said.
"I left my friend hanging," Isaac said. "He still doesn't believe me when I told him why."
The investigation is continuing. Both Kaderas could face trespass charges. The Federal Aviation Administration is also involved. The F.A.A. could assess regulation violations and revoke Kadera Sr.'s aviator license.
No word on how the JV Tennis tryouts went.
Ironic Flight Trivia: The International Aviation Voice Radio word for the letter G is golf.
Tags: [Robert Kadera] [Isaac Kadera]
[Marriott at Lincolnshire Golf Course]
[F.A.A.]
Merchandisers for the Beijing Olympics 2008 are frustrated by the availability of unauthorized apparel and souvenirs being produced by merchandise pirates.
Authorities had investigated about 80 commercial and personal Web sites selling fake Olympic merchandise, or lacking licenses to sell the legitimate product. "The supply channels on these illegal Web sites are chaotic," Xie Funing, a spokesman with the Olympic E-commerce Operation Centre, was quoted to say.
The Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, called the illicit trade "a global epidemic reaching a scale now too great for individual governments, industry sectors or companies to solve."
China is the largest supplier of counterfeited merchandise worldwide. It is estimated to cost legitimate manufacturers $50 billion in sales.
Tags: [Beijing 2008] [Fake Merchandise] [China]
[Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting]
In 2004, William Nichols Jr. of Ocala, Florida, was charged with 2 counts each of DUI-manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter. He lost control of his truck and crashed into a Tempo being driven by Holly Cummings. Holly's mother, Nancy, was a passenger in the car. Both were killed in the crash.
Jury selection and opening statements in his trial were conducted last week.
Nichols' blood alcohol content was found to be 0.103 and 0.104, two-and one-half hours after the crash. The legal limit is 0.08. "The defense is not disputing the alcohol results at trial. Instead, they plan to offer a medical explanation about the high alcohol content. The defense says Nichols may have had a gastroesophageal condition which caused the alcohol to sit in his stomach and not metabolize."
The 7-person defense team, led by William DeCarlis, will argue that Nichols suffers from gastroparesis; slow gastric emptying caused him to have alcohol in his system more than 6 hours after he'd consumed the alcohol.
If Nichols had been charged based on a Breathalyzer™ test, it's reasonable that the BrAC was influenced by alcohol remaining undigested in his stomach. Diffusion rates, the rate at which liquid is absorbed into the blood through the stomach membrane wall, are usually slower in people with gastroparesis. Gastroparesis creates reflux, which might increase the alcohol eliminated in Nichols' breath.
But, Nichols was not arrested at the scene or even administered a Breathalyzer. He was picked up later, after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had the BAC results from samples of Nichols' blood. The specimen was collected more than 2 hours after the accident (over 8 hours since he'd had his last drink).
It is estimated that from 0.5% - 2% of ingested alcohol is not metabolized and enters the bloodstream through diffusion. "Alcohol is removed from the bloodstream by a combination of metabolism, excretion, and evaporation." Alcohol is slow to metabolize. Ninety to 98% of alcohol is metabolized (removed from the blood) by the liver.
Questions:
- How does his claim that the alcohol was retained in his stomach because of gastroparesis account for alcohol being found in his blood?
- Does it make a difference how that level of alcohol got into his blood (i.e., via diffusion or normal digestion)?
- Is he claiming that he's not responsible for his impairment, but his disease is?
- Is it OK to drive with BAC over the legal limit, because you have a disease? Alcoholism is also a disease, but is it a defense against DUI charges?
Nichols faces up to 15 years in prison on each charge, if convicted.
Motherhood is called a great surrender.
The mother surrenders control of her body to the child during her pregnancy. After the birth, mothers surrender to the unpredictability of their cherubs. We watch proudly as our little one achieves milestones and develops and displays her personality.
The great surrender doesn't mean resignation; good mothers recognize the perils of control and raise empowered children. Mothers protect and defend children. It teaches young ones how to protect and defend themselves.
All that to get to this: A Michigan mom faces aggravated assault charges after her daughter was involved in a fight at school. Read more...
Loving your child unconditionally doesn't mean you beat down the security guard at her school! Our civilized society may have forgotten that defending the child doesn't mean absolving him of responsibility. Face it, your kid isn't always right.
Mom may choose to use this to illustrate that actions have consequences.
Tags: [Ottawa Hills High School] [Grand Rapids, MI] [School Safety]
[Mary Lee Brown] [Mother]
"Hello, is this Christine?" the caller asked at about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
"Yes," I replied. "Who am I speaking with?"
"This is Anna. I'm calling from BMO Bank of Montreal. I'm calling to notify you that BMO has suspended your debit card privileges. Our Security Division made the decision to freeze your debit card at 12:06 p.m. today."
"What are you talking about?" I pay for 99% of all my purchases using the debit card. I hadn't been out since 11:00 a.m.
"Sometime during the past 4-6 weeks you made a purchase at a business that is part of a criminal investigation," she explained. "That business is alleged to have recorded information from some consumers' debit cards. I am not authorized to disclose any information about the identity of the operation or persons involved.
"There does not appear to be any suspicious activity in your account since the transaction at that location. I can't be certain that your debit card information was obtained by the alleged criminals when you completed your purchase.
"Your card and account information has been compromised. As a precaution we have restricted your debit card."
I'll straighten it out at the Branch.
Three years ago, BMO's transaction security shut down John's card after they suspected the card data had been ripped. Three "unusual" transactions were completed at an "unusual" location which triggered a red-flag at the bank.
Two years ago, my credit card was cloned. The bank called us after their warning system detected activity that was "out of the ordinary". Within hours of the first fraudulent transaction, it was completely resolved.
We continue to receive outstanding service from BMO and its banking professionals.
Some may say that they're protecting their money, but I prefer to regard it as BMO taking care of their clients. Thanks, BMO.
Tags: [Bank of Montreal] [BMO]
[Debit Card Fraud] [Credit Card Fraud]
I heard the sirens before I saw the emergency vehicles.
A procession of various emergency service vehicles early in the afternoon, travelling along a major east-west artery. Lights ablaze, sirens wailing.
Two lead police officers on motorcycles entered the intersection and motioned for traffic to stop. Two more officers on motorcycles sped through followed by 2 marked cruisers. Next came an unmarked cruiser, an ambulance and then an unmarked Regional Police SUV. A fire hall ladder truck sped by trailed by another ambulance. A fire engine and one final cruiser anchored the convoy. Did I mention that each vehicle had its lights and siren in action.
The big emergency?
Upon each vehicle was a sign, the kind used to identify funeral processions. On the face of each sign,
 | McHappy Day. |
After major advertisers pulled out of his popular morning show, Imus in the Morning, MSNBC dropped its simulcast of Don Imus' WFAN show on April 11, 2007. The following day, CBS radio, owner of Sports Radio 66AM, cancelled his show altogether.
Over the next 4 days, the U.S. news was consumed with talk of The Don Imus Firing. Imus had already begun his N.J./N.Y. apology tour, but it was too late.
In the past year, we've heard about Mel Gibson's rant, Michael Richards' tirade, Isaiah Washington's repeated use of the f-word and now Imus.
Still, it seems we haven't learned. Take the case of the NYPD Sergeant who is alleged to have insulted his officers by referring to the three women as "hos", during roll call. The alleged incident is said to have occurred April 15th.
And Pennsylvania's WSBG-FM Morning Man, Gary Smith, who turned Imus' tasteless insult to the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team into the daily Phrase that Pays. The station awarded prizes to 3 listeners on April 12th who called in to claim prizes using the winning phrase.
Today, CBS Radio suspended (without pay) another morning show. WFNY-FM's Dog House on-air personalities J.V. & Elvis, twice aired what was described as "a racially charged prank call". Where was the producer on this one? Hard to believe not even one person on the crew ever said, What could possibly go wrong with this?
At least Mel and Michael went away. Isaiah would, if he ever stopped raising it. But Imus, Imus! It seems I can't escape Imus references.
My fear is that the Imus references will fade and the very next day, Sirius Satellite Radio will announce a show featuring [ta-da] DON IMUS!
[Don Imus] [CBS Radio] [J.V. & Elvis]
[Mel Gibson] [Michael Richards] [Isaiah Washington]
[Sirius Radio]
A brawl came at the end of a tight contest during the round-robin portion of the tournament. Technically, it wasn't a fight, since the players all had their helmets on (Rule 613 specifically addresses Fisticuffs). In my book, throwing punches makes it a fight. By either definition, I don't like it.
At the Civic Center, home of the Otters, security was called to the ice by game officials as the horn sounded to close the third period. The referees pulled players apart then met at center ice to confer over the new penalties that were about to be assessed. That was ironic since they had neglected to call many penalties during the previous 45 minutes of play. All the while, two security staff stood on the ice, each with his arms folded across his chest and looked around sternly.
The skating was hard, the shots many. As the game progressed, play intensified between our players and their GTA opponents. The score was even at 1 apiece. Emotions were high. With few infractions being called, the players stretched the limits further. They wanted to know how far they could go before the refs made the call.
Girls minor hockey allows contact, but does not allow body-checking. A check from behind went unpenalized late in the third period. That was the breaking point. The final minutes played out with a series of face-offs, hacks at the goalie, pushing and shoving and lots of yelling from one bench. Game officials don't have to tolerate it and finally assessed that coach a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Eventually, the teams were escorted to their dressing rooms. Security and the refs kept the teams apart. The fans were warned that "nuisance in the lobby will be dealt with seriously." The fans were in-check. There was that one fan who kept shouting a$$ho1e to either the refs or her coaches, we couldn't tell. She wasn't in the stands or the lobby, anyway.
The USA Hockey Referee Manual points out that the role of an on-ice official includes to provide a safe and sportsmanlike environment in which players can properly display their hockey skills. It adds, that referees must control games to the extent that is necessary to provide a positive and safe experience for all participants.
There's a time to let them play; and a time to use the whistle. The refs have to call the penalties before someone gets hurt.
Security stuck around until the players had changed into street clothes then cleared the tunnel so the team could make its way to the bus without further incident.
Read about Erie Tournament
Wednesday. Dundas St. & Hwy. 427.
I was waiting in a double line-up of cars being stopped at a R.I.D.E. checkpoint. The Police were checking 6 cars at a time. I thought about how this was another time when it's best to have delayed running the IV in the car. This was a good time to not have a bag of medication hanging from the mirror. (Another is at the Canada-U.S. border). When it was my turn, the officer leaned into the car and asked when the last time was that I had some alcohol. There was a microsecond pause as some wise-ass answers ran through my mind. "I don't drink," I responded. "Have you had anything to drink today?" the officer asked. A nanosecond passed. I was biting my tongue. He wasn't making this easy for me. "No."
Thursday. Home after the morning drop-off.
I brought the pole/pump downstairs, prepared the solution and connected. I had just opened the newspaper when the door bell rang.
Answering the door is complicated when I'm running the IV. It is difficult to steer upon carpet. There's one step down from the hall to the door. And then there's the dog. Buddy wasn't behaving in his 'I-know-who-this-is-at-the-door'-way. I considered ignoring the doorbell. It is frustrating to go through the work to get to the door to discover it's a rep who wants to discuss fixed-rate energy price plans. Plus, I was probably going to fall asleep if I just stayed still. And that wouldn't be so bad, either.
The police officer on the porch rang the bell again. Having seen him through the window, I was glad I had at least come to check it out. I opened the door. "I'm looking for ..." he paused and flipped some papers over to find the name, "Andrew," he finished.
He looked up from the documents then and saw that I was leaning against the door to keep it open, had one leg across the bottom one-third of the opening so the dog wouldn't bolt out to chase the squirrel that was coming down the tree, and was using my other hand to pull the IV pole closer. (I had misjudged the distance between my Hickman connection and the machine and was about 3 inches too far away from the pump.) I was off-balance.
"Are you OK?" he asked.
I invited him to come inside.
Buddy made a menacing sound toward the squirrel then did his 'Did you come to play with me? Do you have any treats? Look at the tricks I do with these shoes.' routine.
Like anyone is reading this paragraph! I know you skipped ahead to find out why the police were here.
It's OK. Andrew's being called as a witness in a case that will be tried in the spring. The police officer was delivering the subpoena. But the Constable didn't get right to the point with me, so I didn't think it'd be fair for you not to experience it the same way.
Take your own reaction as you read about the police looking for Andrew, multiply it by googol, and that was what those 7 minutes were like for me.
Here's to a police-free day tomorrow!
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