![](http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/file-172-.jpg")
A man wielding an ice pick entered Black Diamond Equipment in Salt Lake County, Utah, and demanded cash and precious metals. The Salt Lake Tribune
reported that when the nightshift manager pointed out the company,
despite its name, sells mountaineering gear, not diamonds or precious
metals, the robber settled for some office computers and climbing
equipment and left.
No Nobel Prize—Yet
After serving nine months in prison for
throwing two shoes at then-President George W. Bush, journalist
Muntadhar al-Zeidi, 30, was showered with gifts upon his release. USA Today
reported his employer, the Cairo-based television network
al-Baghdadiya, continued paying his salary throughout his incarceration
and bought him a fully furnished two-story villa in Baghdad. Sheik
Ahmed Jowda, 75, a tribal leader in the West Bank, announced plans to
send a young woman “loaded with jewels and gold” for al-Zeidi to
consider for marriage. “There are many Palestinian girls who want to
marry Muntadhar,” Jowda said, adding that all Arab people “hope to get
the chance of doing what he did.”
Maryland Getaways
After the Maryland Zoo opened its new
$500,000 escape-proof prairie-dog habitat, half the rodents inside
needed just 10 minutes to figure out how to bypass the aircraft wire,
poured concrete and slick plastic walls. None escaped, zookeepers told The Baltimore Sun,
but they managed to find every weakness in the enclosure and jump and
climb over the walls, sending workers scrambling to plug escape routes
by adjusting the wire fencing and installing more slippery plastic on
the walls. “They find all the weak spots and exploit them,” zoo chief
executive officer Karl Kranz said.
The day after officials opened the New
Beginnings Youth Center in Laurel, Md., hailing the $45 million
juvenile facility as an “anti-prison,” devoid of customary razor-wire
fencing, an inmate scaled a fence and escaped. He was quickly
recaptured, The Washington Post reported, but Vincent N.
Schiraldi, director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services,
who at first said he would place prickly shrubbery near the fence to
discourage further attempts, decided to add razor wire.
Incendiary Devices
A man in his late 50s or early 60s was
seriously burned when he used a cordless drill to puncture a spray
paint can. Fire officials in Spokane, Wash., told The Spokesman-Review
the contents of the pressurized can released suddenly, and a spark from
the drill ignited a flash fire, which burned the man’s face.
An unidentified man in Sheboygan, Wis., was
injured when his garage caught fire after he tried to use a shop vac to
siphon gasoline from a boat gas tank and, fire official Joel Daum told The Sheboygan Press, “it must have ignited from a spark.” Flames engulfed the garage and caused minor damage to two neighboring garages.
Exceptions Disprove
the Rule
The British government has directed
schoolteachers not to require pupils to learn the spelling rule “i
before e, except after c,” because there are too many exceptions. “It
is not worth teaching,” says the government document “Support for
Spelling,” which is being sent to thousands of primary schools. Jack
Bovill of the Spelling Society, which advocates simplified spelling,
said he agreed with the decision, but supporters said the rule has
merit because it’s one of the few that most people remember.
Father and Son Disunion
When Andrew Mizsak of Bedford, Ohio,
ordered his son, Andrew Jr., to clean up his room, the son became
angry, raised his fist at the father and threw a plate of food at him
across the kitchen table. The father called police, who reported,
“Andrew was sent to his room to clean it. He was crying uncontrollably
and stated he would comply.” Andrew Mizsak Jr., who lives rent-free
with his parents, is 28 and a member of the Bedford School Board. His
mother, Paula, is a Bedford councilwoman. Andrew Mizsak Sr. told
Cleveland’s Plain Dealer he “overreacted” by calling 911 and
wouldn’t press charges because “I don’t want to ruin his political
career,” but after other school board members heard of the incident,
they voted to strip Junior of some of his duties.
The Blame Game
A British Columbia volunteer
search-and-rescue unit announced it is suspending service because a
lost skier filed a lawsuit blaming it for taking too long to find him
and his wife after they got lost in the wilderness. Gilles Blackburn
said the Golden and District Search and Rescue (GADSAR), the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police and Kicking Horse Resort didn’t do enough to
rescue him and Marie-Josee Fortin, 44, who died of hypothermia after
seven days, two days before rescuers found them. GADSAR’s president,
Joel Jackson, said the group wouldn’t resume operations until the
province provides legal coverage against actions such as Blackburn’s.
District of Columbia Council member Jim
Graham blamed neighborhood crime on pizza slices. Acknowledging that
pizzerias which stay open until 4:30 a.m. are popular and operating
legally, Graham said they nevertheless have become a nuisance “in terms
of music, in terms of letting people hang out and also in terms of
tolerating a certain level of violence.” Graham said he is drafting
legislation to crack down on late sales.
Mensa Rejects of the Week
Justin Sleezer and Cameron Chana, both
22, suffered fatal head injuries when they stood up on a double-decker
bus as it drove under a highway overpass. The Associated Press reported
that the bus was going about 40 mph and that several of the 20 people
partying on the upper deck were standing. Witnesses said the two
victims were the tallest ones: 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 3 inches.
“I’m thinking the other taller guys were sitting down,” Sleezer’s
friend, 5-foot-7 Robert Stiles, 22, said, adding, “There was nothing
ever said to us about any safety precautions.”
Non-Problem Solved
Intending to make street crossing safer,
even though there have been no incidents, officials in Lemoyne, Pa.,
spent $250 to place plastic bins at two of the borough’s busiest
intersections and fill them with bright orange flags. Signs direct
pedestrians to take a flag, hold it while crossing the street, then
deposit it in the opposite bin. The Patriot-News reported
Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., tried a similar initiative but gave
up after a year because, according to college official Christine Dugan,
people kept taking the flags.
When Guns Are Outlawed
Authorities in Shelbyville, Tenn.,
reported that “a verbal altercation” between James Earl Taylor, 40, and
Mary S. Childers, 44, led to an assault with Cheetos. According to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette,
sheriff’s Cpl. Kevin Roddy charged both of them with domestic assault
because he couldn’t determine the primary aggressor since the Cheetos
left “no physical marks on either party.”
