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Sunday, April 06, 2008
Man arrested for assault with a hedgehog
A New Zealand man has been charged with assault after he threw a hedgehog at a teenage boy.
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks,'' police sergeant Bruce Jenkins said.
Shortly after throwing the animal, William Singalargh, 27, of Whakatane was arrested for assaulting the 15-year-old with a weapon.
It is not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time, but it was dead after the incident when it was collected as evidence.
Mr Singalargh's lawyer Rebecca Plunket told the paper that her client would deny the charge, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, when he reappears in court on April 17 .
"It hit the victim in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks,'' police sergeant Bruce Jenkins said.
Shortly after throwing the animal, William Singalargh, 27, of Whakatane was arrested for assaulting the 15-year-old with a weapon.
It is not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time, but it was dead after the incident when it was collected as evidence.
Mr Singalargh's lawyer Rebecca Plunket told the paper that her client would deny the charge, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, when he reappears in court on April 17 .
High anxiety over naked angels
A Chinese artist provoked a public scare when he hung naked mannequins from the outside of skyscrapers.
Shanghai artist Liu Jin put up four mannequins and put wings on their backs for the work, entitled Wounded Angels.
But passers-by mistook them for real people perilously clinging to the buildings.
One grandmother reportedly required hospital treatment after the shock led to a heart attack.
Police say they received several calls about reports of people hanging from buildings and looking like they were preparing to jump.
"When we got there with the firefighters, we found they were just mannequins," a spokesman said.
Second photo from here.
Shanghai artist Liu Jin put up four mannequins and put wings on their backs for the work, entitled Wounded Angels.
But passers-by mistook them for real people perilously clinging to the buildings.
One grandmother reportedly required hospital treatment after the shock led to a heart attack.
Police say they received several calls about reports of people hanging from buildings and looking like they were preparing to jump.
"When we got there with the firefighters, we found they were just mannequins," a spokesman said.
Second photo from here.
8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker pen
Adams School District 50 is defending its decision to punish a third grader for sniffing a Sharpie marker.
Eight-year-old Eathan Harris was originally suspended from Harris Park Elementary School for three days. Principal Chris Benisch reduced the suspension to one day after complaints from Harris' parents.
Harris used a black Sharpie marker to colour a small area on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. A teacher sent him to the principal when she noticed him smelling the marker and his clothing.
"It smelled good," Harris said. "They told me that's wrong."
In his letter suspending the child, Benisch wrote that smelling the marker fumes could cause the boy to "become intoxicated."
A toxicologist with the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center says that claim is nearly impossible. Dr. Eric Lavonas says non-toxic markers like Sharpies, while pungent-smelling, cannot be used to get high.
Eight-year-old Eathan Harris was originally suspended from Harris Park Elementary School for three days. Principal Chris Benisch reduced the suspension to one day after complaints from Harris' parents.
Harris used a black Sharpie marker to colour a small area on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. A teacher sent him to the principal when she noticed him smelling the marker and his clothing.
"It smelled good," Harris said. "They told me that's wrong."
In his letter suspending the child, Benisch wrote that smelling the marker fumes could cause the boy to "become intoxicated."
A toxicologist with the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center says that claim is nearly impossible. Dr. Eric Lavonas says non-toxic markers like Sharpies, while pungent-smelling, cannot be used to get high.
Beware falling grapes. The signs that are driving France round the bend
Holiday motorists in France this summer should bone up first on a set of odd new road signs that advise on such matters as the proximity of wine and places to put a canoe in the water.
The 20 new signs from the superministry of the environment are intended to update obsolete pictograms but they also include new ones that are mystifying France.
Thirsty drivers will be relieved to see a bunch of grapes signifying that “wine products” can be found near by, while those who happen to have a boat on the roof will be informed of a suitable launch point by a figure of a man apparently ramming his canoe into the bottom of a lake.
The 20 new signs from the superministry of the environment are intended to update obsolete pictograms but they also include new ones that are mystifying France.
Thirsty drivers will be relieved to see a bunch of grapes signifying that “wine products” can be found near by, while those who happen to have a boat on the roof will be informed of a suitable launch point by a figure of a man apparently ramming his canoe into the bottom of a lake.
Victim offers robber a nice cup of tea
A Czech man abandoned an armed robbery after a shop assistant invited him for a "nice cup of tea and a piece of cake".
He had pulled out a gun to demand money from Marketa Vachova, 59, at the supermarket in Cesky Tesin in the northern Czech Republic.
But, even though his face was hidden by a Spiderman mask, Marketa decided the robber "seemed like a nice young man".
She said: "I asked him why he was doing this and we got talking. There was no one else in the shop so I guess he relaxed a bit, and in the end he apologised.
"I said if he wanted he could come and talk to me and have a cup of tea and slice of home made cake to talk about his problems. He agreed and then walked off."
Police are searching for the man who faces ten years in prison for attempted armed robbery.
He had pulled out a gun to demand money from Marketa Vachova, 59, at the supermarket in Cesky Tesin in the northern Czech Republic.
But, even though his face was hidden by a Spiderman mask, Marketa decided the robber "seemed like a nice young man".
She said: "I asked him why he was doing this and we got talking. There was no one else in the shop so I guess he relaxed a bit, and in the end he apologised.
"I said if he wanted he could come and talk to me and have a cup of tea and slice of home made cake to talk about his problems. He agreed and then walked off."
Police are searching for the man who faces ten years in prison for attempted armed robbery.
Bypass wings it with bat bridges
Special bridges to help bats with their flight path have been built as part of a £42m road scheme in Cornwall.
The two so-called "bat bridges" on the Dobwalls bypass are to help the protected creatures use their sonar to find their way to their roosts.
Previously they followed a line of hedges which were removed for the road.
The bridges are to stop them from becoming confused as a result of the hedges' removal and help them continue to fly their usual route.
Two bridges - costing a total of £250,000 and made out of steel wire and netting stretched in a V-shape - have been built which cut across the bypass carriageways.
They cross along the same path the hedges used to follow.
The two so-called "bat bridges" on the Dobwalls bypass are to help the protected creatures use their sonar to find their way to their roosts.
Previously they followed a line of hedges which were removed for the road.
The bridges are to stop them from becoming confused as a result of the hedges' removal and help them continue to fly their usual route.
Two bridges - costing a total of £250,000 and made out of steel wire and netting stretched in a V-shape - have been built which cut across the bypass carriageways.
They cross along the same path the hedges used to follow.
Court orders man to sell off his collection of prized Trabants
A Derbyshire man who has spent almost 20 years collecting East German Trabant cars has lost his final appeal against an order to remove them.
Graham Goodall, 61, who lives in Middleton-by-Youlgreave, has been involved in a dispute with the Peak District Park Authority since 2004.
The authority issued planning notices to remove 40 of his 49 vehicles.
Two judges at London's High Court said Goodall was the "author of his own misfortune" and turned down the appeal.
There's a video showing the cars on this page.
Graham Goodall, 61, who lives in Middleton-by-Youlgreave, has been involved in a dispute with the Peak District Park Authority since 2004.
The authority issued planning notices to remove 40 of his 49 vehicles.
Two judges at London's High Court said Goodall was the "author of his own misfortune" and turned down the appeal.
There's a video showing the cars on this page.
80-year-old pensioner robbed twice in a day
A despairing pensioner who was mugged and burgled on the same day said: “I can’t believe Britain has gone down the plughole like this.”
Hazel Lovick, 80, was targeted by street robbers in the morning.
She then went to church – and found her house had been raided when she returned home.
In the first incident, two thugs pounced near Hazel’s home in Croydon, South London, snatching her handbag off her zimmer frame. They fled with the bag containing £130, cards and keys.
Two hours later she found her home ransacked and £200 she was saving for family birthday presents stolen. She believed the muggers had used the front door keys in her bag to get into the house to steal even more.
Hazel said: “To be robbed was bad enough, but to come home and find I’d been burgled in the same day was unbelievable – just terrible. I don’t know what to think of the state of Britain today. It never used to be like this.”
Hazel Lovick, 80, was targeted by street robbers in the morning.
She then went to church – and found her house had been raided when she returned home.
In the first incident, two thugs pounced near Hazel’s home in Croydon, South London, snatching her handbag off her zimmer frame. They fled with the bag containing £130, cards and keys.
Two hours later she found her home ransacked and £200 she was saving for family birthday presents stolen. She believed the muggers had used the front door keys in her bag to get into the house to steal even more.
Hazel said: “To be robbed was bad enough, but to come home and find I’d been burgled in the same day was unbelievable – just terrible. I don’t know what to think of the state of Britain today. It never used to be like this.”
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