Curses, Foiled Again
Responding to reports of a man and a woman slashing tires at an apartment complex, Atlanta police arrested the woman, but the man escaped. A few minutes later, he returned to the scene and approached television news reporter Amanda Cook during her on-air report, claiming to be a witness to the crime. Cook’s photographer recognized him as the suspect, and police arrested him. The man, who is married to the woman, apparently wanted to appear on camera to blame the incident on her. “He did tell us that his wife takes a lot of Xanax,” Cook reported, “and sometimes she goes crazy.” (Atlanta’s WSB-TV) When music teacher Liu Hao, 39, appeared as a contestant on Chinese TV’s popular dating show Happy League, police recognized him as Wu Gang, wanted for stabbing a man to death more than 13 years ago. “Liu had become accustomed to his new identity and fooling everyone around him, so he didn’t think twice about going on the show,” police investigator Li Ang said after Liu was apprehended. “He had managed to escape the law for so long, he became overconfident about not being caught.” (Associated Press)
Encore!
Kipp Rusty Walker, 19, was playing keyboard for a dozen people at a coffeehouse in Bend, Ore., when he stood up and began stabbing himself in the chest with a double-edged blade knife. “It was really unclear at first what was even happening,” Rhonda Ealy, co-owner of the Strictly Organic Coffee Company, said. “You know it is an open mike, and it’s a performance. People at first thought it was some sort of theater.” (Bend’s KTVZ-TV)
Rubber-Dubber
Germany’s Green Party demanded that the government protect citizens from cancer-causing sex toys. Noting that 20 percent of Germans use the erotic aids, 10 Green Party legislators in the Bundestag released a paper, “Sexual Health as a Consumer Protection Issue.” It urged the government to take responsibility and action, declaring: “Many dildos and other sex toys such as vibrators and anal plugs contain a high amount of phthalates, other carcinogenic plasticizers and toxic substances,” which enter the body through mucous membranes and can lead to infertility, hormone imbalances, diabetes and obe-sity. Green Party lawmaker Volker Beck wants Germany to follow the example of Denmark, which, he said, “urges users of vibrators, artificial vaginas and other such items to first cover them with condoms and to avoid models made of PVC.” (Spiegel Online) The European Union endorsed a wonder-condom that promises not only protection, but also firmer erections and better sexual performance. The British company Futura Medical said gel in the tip of its CSD500 condom, sold under the Durex brand, dilates the arteries and increases blood flow to the penis, enhancing erections. Futura added that a clinical study showed both men and women believed the condom also increased penis size. (Reuters)
Litterbuggery
Firefighters were called in Fond du Lac, Wis., after Earr Stokes, 20, got his hand stuck in a car’s gas tank while trying to retrieve a Snickers candy bar someone had unwrapped and jammed in the tank. Capt. Tony Knecht said rescuers had to cut the filler pipe while a firefighter kneeled nearby with a hose in case a spark ignited the fuel tank. Firefighters were then able to access the backside of the gas tank opening and release Stokes’ bruised fingers. (Fond du Lac Reporter)
Paperless Crime
Massachusetts authorities said touring rock musician Michael Todd, 30, robbed an Attleboro pharmacy of prescription pain pills just hours before his scheduled concert in nearby Mansfield. He showed the clerk a holdup demand posted on his cellphone. “It is somewhat routine that in robberies, the robber gives a note to the clerk, but obviously this was a little more high-tech,” said Gregg Miliote of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, adding the suspect fled by cab to the band’s tour bus, parked outside the concert hall. Investigators identified Todd from surveillance videos. Todd’s band, Coheed and Cambria, announced Todd would miss the last three stops of the door, but reassured fans, “For now, we just want to have a great time out there and finish with some killer shows.” (Reuters)
Luck-Pushing Follies
When a pickup truck drove off the road and into a pond in New London, Conn., the man and woman inside managed to get out of the vehicle safely. State police Trooper Kelly Grant said the man decided to return to the vehicle to retrieve some belongings. “Unfortunately, he never made it back,” Grant said, noting the man’s drowning appeared accidental. (New London’s The Day)
Modi Operandi
British police appealed to the public for information about four men and two women who burglarized a shop in Doncaster. The notice said some of the group distracted the clerks while one of the women entered living quarters at the back of the shop and reportedly stole a large amount of jewelry and cash. Closedcircuit video shows the woman wearing trousers when she goes in, but she has on a long skirt when she leaves and appears to be struggling to walk. “It is believed,” the notice said, “that the woman may have had the safe between her legs under the skirt.” (South Yorkshire Police news release) Spanish police arrested two Polish citizens they said stole from luggage on airport shuttle buses in Barcelona. One man rode as a passenger after depositing a heavy suitcase containing the other man in the luggage compartment. Once the 90-minute trip began, he “would get out of the suitcase, search for valuable objects and hide them in a smaller bag he carried with him,” police reported. The accomplice would claim the suitcase on its return. The scheme unraveled when a suspicious bus official notified police, who opened the suitcase and found the would-be burglar inside, “doubled up almost like a contortionist.” He wore a headlamp and had a sharp tool to open bags. He explained he was riding in the baggage hold because he couldn’t pay the fare. (BBC News)
Irony of the Week
While protesting New York state’s helmet laws, Parish motorcyclist Philip A. Contos, 55, suddenly spun out of control, flipped over his bike’s handlebars and hit his head on the pavement. He wasn’t wearing a helmet and died. (Associated Press)
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.
