Friday, June 26, 2015
Man arrested for illegal possession of ferrets
A 23-year-old Santa Ana man was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of illegally possessing 16 ferrets, which are banned in California.
Sebastian Alexander Swisher was arrested at his home where he was cited and released for the importation and transportation of live restricted animals, Santa Ana police said.
Santa Ana police received a tip that Swisher had been buying the ferrets in Nevada and bringing them back to California, where they are banned, to sell.
The 16 ferrets were taken to OC Animal Care.
Sebastian Alexander Swisher was arrested at his home where he was cited and released for the importation and transportation of live restricted animals, Santa Ana police said.
Santa Ana police received a tip that Swisher had been buying the ferrets in Nevada and bringing them back to California, where they are banned, to sell.
The 16 ferrets were taken to OC Animal Care.
Family flees new home and sues after receiving frightening letters from 'The Watcher'
Terrifying letters forced a New Jersey family to flee their new home, and what happened left residents in a quiet community more than a little unnerved.
The large six-bedroom home in Union County is being watched, according to a lawsuit filed by its new owners.
They paid $1.3 million for their "dream home" in the picturesque town of Westfield.
They claim the previous owners were aware of a man who calls himself "the Watcher" but they never said anything. "I would be pretty upset if I bought a house and found out that the previous owners knew about it," said Robert Hagen of Westfield. Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person.
"The Watcher" claimed the home "has been the subject of my family for decades" and "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming." The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me." The bone-chilling letters were enough to send the new family packing.
YouTube link.
The incident was so unnerving that Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky addressed the issue at a Town Council meeting on Tuesday night. "Our police department conducted an exhaustive investigation based on the factual circumstances and evidence available," Skibitsky said. No charges have been filed in the case. Whether the owners have any legal case remains to be seen. The mayor said under New Jersey law, the letters are classified as a disorderly person's crime.
They claim the previous owners were aware of a man who calls himself "the Watcher" but they never said anything. "I would be pretty upset if I bought a house and found out that the previous owners knew about it," said Robert Hagen of Westfield. Since moving in, the owners said they have received numerous letters from the mysterious person.
"The Watcher" claimed the home "has been the subject of my family for decades" and "I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming." The new owners have several children, and other letters asked, "Have they found out what's in the walls yet?" and "I am pleased to know your names now, and the name of the young blood you have brought to me." The bone-chilling letters were enough to send the new family packing.
YouTube link.
The incident was so unnerving that Westfield Mayor Andy Skibitsky addressed the issue at a Town Council meeting on Tuesday night. "Our police department conducted an exhaustive investigation based on the factual circumstances and evidence available," Skibitsky said. No charges have been filed in the case. Whether the owners have any legal case remains to be seen. The mayor said under New Jersey law, the letters are classified as a disorderly person's crime.
Business booming for cowboy boot sandal makers
"I think we've taken two of the timeless footwear and put them together," said Beverly Franklin from the Redneck Boot Sandal company.
It's her son Scotty who has taken the sandal and cowboy boot and combined them.
"They can wear them throughout the summertime especially down there in Texas," Scotty said. He lives in Springfield, Missouri and came up with the idea several years while on the beach in Alabama.
"I thought it would be kind of funny if somebody cut a pair of sandals out of those and somehow still kept the actual cowboy boot," said Franklin. The business started small and recently business has taken off. The Franklin's know there will be some who don't like change but they're prepared for that.
YouTube link.
"We've got orders literally from rednecks to rodeo guys," Scotty said. In order to have these made, you can send your new or used boots in to the Franklin's and for $75 (that includes shipping and handling) they'll convert them. Scotty says customers should expect the finished product back in 1-2 weeks.
"They can wear them throughout the summertime especially down there in Texas," Scotty said. He lives in Springfield, Missouri and came up with the idea several years while on the beach in Alabama.
"I thought it would be kind of funny if somebody cut a pair of sandals out of those and somehow still kept the actual cowboy boot," said Franklin. The business started small and recently business has taken off. The Franklin's know there will be some who don't like change but they're prepared for that.
YouTube link.
"We've got orders literally from rednecks to rodeo guys," Scotty said. In order to have these made, you can send your new or used boots in to the Franklin's and for $75 (that includes shipping and handling) they'll convert them. Scotty says customers should expect the finished product back in 1-2 weeks.
Residents surprised by wheel from jet crashing through their kitchen ceiling
Residents of an apartment building in Montreal, Canada, say they were shocked when a jet wheel fell from the sky, crashing through the roof and leaving a hole in one woman’s kitchen ceiling.
People living in the building, located in the city’s Saint-Laurent neighbourhood, said they heard a loud thud just before 2am on Wednesday.
A woman living on the top floor found a hole in her roof and a jet wheel in her apartment.
At roughly 5am, she went to inform her landlord. "This morning my tenant came home to an apartment with a hole in her kitchen ceiling; she could see through the kitchen into the sky," the landlord, who did not want to be identified, said. "She came down at 5am, rang our doorbell panicking and we went up to investigate," she added. The woman was stunned that a plane wheel had crashed into the building.
"I think it's ridiculous … I mean there's got to be quality checks, someone that makes sure everything is attached and attached well. How can a wheel just fall off a plane?" She added that incident has her questioning the safety of her neighbourhood. The area sees high levels of air traffic overhead because it is on the flight path of Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. "It is a very residential area, there's a lot of children here and it makes me angry that something like this happened at all," the woman said.
The Transportation Safety Board said that the wheel belonged to a Falcon 10 jet, which landed safely at the airport at approximately 2am on Wednesday. The TSB said the plane was operated by Club Jet. It plans to send an investigator. Alan De Sousa, the mayor of Saint-Laurent, said he wants to ensure that residents are safe. "I'm very thankful there's no injury or any loss of life, but our public security can't just depend on luck," said De Sousa. "I think there are responsibilities that have to be assumed."
With news video.
At roughly 5am, she went to inform her landlord. "This morning my tenant came home to an apartment with a hole in her kitchen ceiling; she could see through the kitchen into the sky," the landlord, who did not want to be identified, said. "She came down at 5am, rang our doorbell panicking and we went up to investigate," she added. The woman was stunned that a plane wheel had crashed into the building.
"I think it's ridiculous … I mean there's got to be quality checks, someone that makes sure everything is attached and attached well. How can a wheel just fall off a plane?" She added that incident has her questioning the safety of her neighbourhood. The area sees high levels of air traffic overhead because it is on the flight path of Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport. "It is a very residential area, there's a lot of children here and it makes me angry that something like this happened at all," the woman said.
The Transportation Safety Board said that the wheel belonged to a Falcon 10 jet, which landed safely at the airport at approximately 2am on Wednesday. The TSB said the plane was operated by Club Jet. It plans to send an investigator. Alan De Sousa, the mayor of Saint-Laurent, said he wants to ensure that residents are safe. "I'm very thankful there's no injury or any loss of life, but our public security can't just depend on luck," said De Sousa. "I think there are responsibilities that have to be assumed."
With news video.
Police say prosthetic penises and fake urine are being used by miners to fool drug tests
Fake urine and prosthetic penises are increasingly being used by miners in Queensland, australia, in a bid to fool company drug tests, police say.
Sales are booming for products to beat drug testing, which are legally available on the internet.
Some products can be purchased for $70 (£35) and come with accessories including heat pads and strap-on devices for men to wear during supervised testing.
Tony Graham from Australian Workplace Drug Testing Services runs a seminar to help mining and construction bosses learn how to beat the cheats.
He used to run them once a year, but said they had become so popular he now held 20 around the state.
"In the mining industry they're particularly well paid, they're in high-stress jobs, working long hours away from family, the more fly in, fly out, the more your problems tend to be, and so people turn to other substances." He said workers were increasingly using fake urine to avoid positive results in drug tests. "It's basically chemical, but they make sure it has got the right pH balance, the right colour, the right specific gravity to look like urine. It certainly looks like it. In the good old days we could do a test on it and determine there was no creatinine in it. Creatinine is a by-product of muscle tissue break-down, it's a protein that passes out into the urine and that was a unique mark to tell us we had real urine. These days they've got synthetic creatinine as well that they put into the synthetic urine so it's become much harder to actually pick up on the fact it's synthetic."
Senior Gold Coast police officer Superintendent Jim Keogh said the fake urine market was booming. But it is hard to crack down on offenders because the sale and purchase of fake urine is not illegal. "In reality, all they're doing is making a chemical compound in liquid form and selling it, they're not indicating what the purpose of the purchase is, at the time of selling it it's certainly not a dangerous drug," he said. "So we're quite restricted in that area, albeit sitting behind the scenes here is sinister unlawful intent to test clean going onto a work site where you could compromise the safety of your fellow workmates. We've seen the results of ice and the medical fallout from using the drug, so when it's going into an environment such as the mines which are quite complex, risky and certainly at the upper of high risk activities, it's a worry.
"If you're using a bought substance, whether it's synthetic urine or urine from a friend, you're putting a lot of faith in what you're actually buying, you better hope that nobody has spiked it and you're going to come out worse for wear." Offenders caught cheating drug tests could lose their job and may be brought before a court. Australian privacy standards dictated that testing occur behind closed doors, but Mr Keogh said stricter control measures could be put in place at mine sites. "They could get a medical practitioner to supervise the person who is producing the sample, and that would certainly alleviate the possibility of using a false sample." But Mr Graham said education was the best preventative measure. "Spend less on the actual testing, spend more on educating the people this is not a good way to go, this is the sort of testing we can do that will pick it up, if you get picked up cheating you will almost certainly lose your $150,000 a year job."
"In the mining industry they're particularly well paid, they're in high-stress jobs, working long hours away from family, the more fly in, fly out, the more your problems tend to be, and so people turn to other substances." He said workers were increasingly using fake urine to avoid positive results in drug tests. "It's basically chemical, but they make sure it has got the right pH balance, the right colour, the right specific gravity to look like urine. It certainly looks like it. In the good old days we could do a test on it and determine there was no creatinine in it. Creatinine is a by-product of muscle tissue break-down, it's a protein that passes out into the urine and that was a unique mark to tell us we had real urine. These days they've got synthetic creatinine as well that they put into the synthetic urine so it's become much harder to actually pick up on the fact it's synthetic."
Senior Gold Coast police officer Superintendent Jim Keogh said the fake urine market was booming. But it is hard to crack down on offenders because the sale and purchase of fake urine is not illegal. "In reality, all they're doing is making a chemical compound in liquid form and selling it, they're not indicating what the purpose of the purchase is, at the time of selling it it's certainly not a dangerous drug," he said. "So we're quite restricted in that area, albeit sitting behind the scenes here is sinister unlawful intent to test clean going onto a work site where you could compromise the safety of your fellow workmates. We've seen the results of ice and the medical fallout from using the drug, so when it's going into an environment such as the mines which are quite complex, risky and certainly at the upper of high risk activities, it's a worry.
"If you're using a bought substance, whether it's synthetic urine or urine from a friend, you're putting a lot of faith in what you're actually buying, you better hope that nobody has spiked it and you're going to come out worse for wear." Offenders caught cheating drug tests could lose their job and may be brought before a court. Australian privacy standards dictated that testing occur behind closed doors, but Mr Keogh said stricter control measures could be put in place at mine sites. "They could get a medical practitioner to supervise the person who is producing the sample, and that would certainly alleviate the possibility of using a false sample." But Mr Graham said education was the best preventative measure. "Spend less on the actual testing, spend more on educating the people this is not a good way to go, this is the sort of testing we can do that will pick it up, if you get picked up cheating you will almost certainly lose your $150,000 a year job."
Wild goat apparently believes he's a kangaroo
A wild goat in south Adelaide, Australia, appears to be suffering an identity crisis, believing he’s a kangaroo.
Nestled comfortably alongside the boomer, or dominant male of the mob, the horned goat has been spotted living among the community of about 60 kangaroos in a large paddock in Seaford Meadows. After years of believing the mystery resident was a donkey, Naomi Will this week captured a photo of the goat and his best mate.
“He hangs around this big male kangaroo and the two of them are tight as, when I took that photo a couple of days ago it’s the first time he was sitting up and looking at me because normally he’s lying down fast asleep,” Ms Will said. Ms Will said she believed the unlikely friendship between goat and kangaroo was a lesson for humans. “Black and white, that sort of thing.
“Two completely different animals that in the real world shouldn’t get on, but they do, which is a great thing,” she said. Ms Will said she and other residents were hoping the goat would be left to live out his days among his adopted mob. “I’m told the council has tried to get him a couple of times, and I tell you what there would be an outrage if they ever did do anything to him, because it’s just so amazing ... he’s almost a protected species down here,” she said.
Nestled comfortably alongside the boomer, or dominant male of the mob, the horned goat has been spotted living among the community of about 60 kangaroos in a large paddock in Seaford Meadows. After years of believing the mystery resident was a donkey, Naomi Will this week captured a photo of the goat and his best mate.
“He hangs around this big male kangaroo and the two of them are tight as, when I took that photo a couple of days ago it’s the first time he was sitting up and looking at me because normally he’s lying down fast asleep,” Ms Will said. Ms Will said she believed the unlikely friendship between goat and kangaroo was a lesson for humans. “Black and white, that sort of thing.
“Two completely different animals that in the real world shouldn’t get on, but they do, which is a great thing,” she said. Ms Will said she and other residents were hoping the goat would be left to live out his days among his adopted mob. “I’m told the council has tried to get him a couple of times, and I tell you what there would be an outrage if they ever did do anything to him, because it’s just so amazing ... he’s almost a protected species down here,” she said.
Police issue warning over escaped ostrich-like bird
An "aggressive" ostrich-like bird that has gone missing in Nottinghamshire poses "a very real threat" to the public, police have warned.
The rhea, which is related to the ostrich, escaped from a private collection in Carlton-in-Lindrick, near Worksop, between Monday and Tuesday. Insp Paul Peatfield said the public should alert the police if they catch sight of the animal. The flightless bird is white in colour and about 6ft (1.82m) tall.
Insp Peatfield said: "We are warning local people and particularly those with small children to be on their guard and not to approach the bird, which poses a very real threat to the public due to its size, aggressive nature and the unfamiliar surroundings it could find itself in. Officers are working with the owner to trace the bird as we look to bring this incident to a safe conclusion."
Bird expert David Lindo said there is little to fear from the animal. He said: "It's a bird that will peg it as soon as it sees you... it's been very overrated in terms of the dangerous aspect of it. They're quite stealthy and they'll be running off, hiding into the bushes... they can melt into the countryside quite easily." If anyone spots the bird they have been asked to dial 999 immediately.
The rhea, which is related to the ostrich, escaped from a private collection in Carlton-in-Lindrick, near Worksop, between Monday and Tuesday. Insp Paul Peatfield said the public should alert the police if they catch sight of the animal. The flightless bird is white in colour and about 6ft (1.82m) tall.
Insp Peatfield said: "We are warning local people and particularly those with small children to be on their guard and not to approach the bird, which poses a very real threat to the public due to its size, aggressive nature and the unfamiliar surroundings it could find itself in. Officers are working with the owner to trace the bird as we look to bring this incident to a safe conclusion."
Bird expert David Lindo said there is little to fear from the animal. He said: "It's a bird that will peg it as soon as it sees you... it's been very overrated in terms of the dangerous aspect of it. They're quite stealthy and they'll be running off, hiding into the bushes... they can melt into the countryside quite easily." If anyone spots the bird they have been asked to dial 999 immediately.
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