Curses, Foiled Again
Police arrested Michael Trias, 20, after they said he broke into a home in Mesa, Ariz., and became stuck in a clothes hamper underneath the window he climbed through. The homeowner, who heard Trias trying to untangle himself from the clothes, restrained him and called police. (Mesa’s East Valley Tribune) Returning to a pizzeria in Rotterdam, N.Y., after hours to investigate an alarm, general manager Josh Risko discovered that someone tried to break in through a roof vent but had gotten stuck where the 18-inch-wide vent makes a 45-degree bend. “I come in, turn off the alarms, take a peek into the kitchen and see this guy’s legs dangling out of the hood over the stove,” Risko said. Police arrested Timothy Cipriani, 46, who was covered head to toe in grease from the vents. (Albany’s WXXA-TV)
Slightest Provocation
Loniesh Veasey admitted slashing her friend to death with a razor in Tacoma, Wash., during an argument over whether crack cocaine or heroin was the better drug. (Tacoma’s The News Tribune)
Ride of a Lifetime
A boy and girl were injured in Tucson, Ariz., after a strong wind lifted a bounce house the children were playing in, carried it across three lanes of traffic and dropped it on a median. (Tucson’s KNXV-TV)
Unfriendly Skies
A Continental Airlines flight leaving Pittsburgh for Houston was delayed nearly three hours because of a broken toilet in the firstclass lavatory. The two lavatories in coach were fully functional, but first-class passengers would have had to walk to the rear of the plane to use them. Continental’s Mary Clark said that after the maintenance crew failed to fix the toilet, the first-class lavatory was closed, and the plane took off. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Passengers trying to avoid checked-baggage fees are costing taxpayers $260 million a year, according to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who noted the money covers the extra workload on Transportation Security Administration officers. “When you have to pay to check a bag, it increases carry-on luggage,” Napolitano told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, “and that means there is more to inspect at the gate and so forth for passengers to get on planes.” She said increasing airport mandatory security fees that passengers pay when they buy tickets would bring her department about $600 million a year. (Associated Press)
Off to a Bad Start
Three months after issuing new fire-retardant gloves to 6,500 firefighters, the New York City Fire Department recalled the gloves because they don’t prevent burns. Six firefight ers suffered second-degree burns on the backs of their hands while fighting fires, even though their gloves weren’t damaged. The Blaze Fighter gloves cost the city $850,000. Department investigators found that the manufacturer, the Glove Corp., had changed one of the materials used to make the gloves from cotton to a polyester blend. (The New York Times) Less than 24 hours after officials ceremoniously unveiled a giant electronic timer in London’s Trafalgar Square to count down to the start of next year’s Summer Olympics, the clock stopped. Its display remained at 500 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes and 56 seconds while technicians from Omega, the Swiss watchmaker that made the 21-foot-high timepiece, took six hours to fix it. (BBC News)
When a Designated Driver Isn’t Enough
After spending the day touring New Hampshire brewpubs, two men were “goofing around” in the back of their Boston-bound tour bus, a witness said, when they both toppled or jumped out the bathroom window. The window opens from the bottom and measures 4 feet by 2 1/2 feet. The bus, carrying more than 50 revelers, was going 60 mph when Thomas Johnson, 31, and Seth Davis, 34, hit the pavement. Johnson died; Davis was severely injured. (Boston Herald)
When Target Practice Isn’t Enough
Charged with murdering his wife, David McCall, 72, told police in Wakefield, Mass., that when his shot missed, Elaine McCall, 69, taunted, “You can’t even shoot.” He hit her with a second shot. He then called 911 to report a “murder-suicide” and tried to shoot himself, Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone said, but missed. (Boston Herald)
Smoking in Bangor
On Jan. 10, a 29-year-old woman complained to police in Bangor, Maine, that she invited Christopher Rosene, 41, into her Union Street residence, but when she offered him a cigarette, “he punched her in the face,” police Sgt. Paul Edwards said. “This guy just snapped.”
On Feb. 27, Bangor police responded to a different Union Street residence, where a woman demanded they arrest Anthony Bowie, 21, for extinguishing a cigarette on her face. Sgt. Paul Edwards said the woman explained she let Bowie have just enough tobacco to roll his own cigarette, but he took more than she had specified. They began fighting, and that’s when he used her face to put out the cigarette. (Bangor Daily News)
News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.
Correction
Due to incorrect information supplied to The New Times, the date of the annual Rose Day in Thornden Park as listed in SummerTimes is incorrect. The event takes place this Wednesday, June 15, not June 20 as published. The New Times apologizes for the error.
