Sunday, February 17, 2013

Austerity measures continue to bite

Sheep chase away fox


YouTube link

School forced to halt morning assembly after mother's stripping

A mother has been arrested in Albany, New York, after police say she exposed herself to children at an elementary school. Police say it happened at around 10:30am on Friday at the North Albany Academy.


Composite image from Townsquare Media.

Officers say Aydrea Meaders, 24, got on stage during an assembly in the school’s cafeteria and began to dance. They say, while on the stage, she then partially disrobed in front of students. School staff quickly responded and the assembly was immediately dismissed.

"We encouraged parents to participate at the events at school. We want more parents to be engaged at school and obviously this is something that goes without saying that crossed a line and it was shocking to everyone who was there today," said Albany School District Spokesman Ron Lesko.


Video link.

Meaders has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and public lewdness.

Naked pursuit driver threatened police with vacuum cleaner fitting

A naked man led police on a 25-kilometre pursuit through Ballarat in Victoria, Australia before he struck a police officer with a vacuum cleaner fitting. Police used batons and capsicum spray to arrest the man, who stopped in the car park of McDonald’s in Sebastopol. The 47-year-old South Australia man was wanted for various offences.

He was detected travelling at 155km/h in a 100km/h zone before the pursuit began in Learmonth on the Sunraysia Highway. The chase was soon joined by seven other police cars from Ballarat, including Highway Patrol units, who took the lead in the pursuit. The man led police into Ballarat and through Wendouree, Redan and Sebastopol before coming to a stop at the McDonald’s outlet at the corner of Albert and Hertford streets.



At one point, the man waved a vacuum cleaner fitting out of his vehicle’s sunroof. A witness managed to film the pursuit coming through a roadwork zone and noticed the driver waving the vacuum part at police cars following behind. “I couldn’t believe it. I just thought ‘why is he holding a vacuum cleaner?’,” the man said “He was laughing as he went past — it was really weird,” he said.

Ballarat Criminal Investigation Unit Detective Senior Sergeant David Hermit said when the man finally stopped at McDonald’s, he resisted arrest by wielding the vacuum cleaner fitting like a club and managed to strike an officer who received minor injuries. After a dose of capsicum spray and use of police batons, the man was taken into custody more than 30 minutes later. He was admitted to Ballarat Health Services Base Hospital for treatment to injuries he sustained during his arrest. The man was interviewed and charged. He will appear at the Ballarat Magistrates Court at a later date.

With short video.

Kind police officer shut down busy road to save dog with bad hip

A police officer in La Porte, Texas, helped save a dog that was in trouble on a busy freeway on Monday. Cujo’s a jittery rat terrier with a bad hip who spends his days hanging around his house; but, that all changed on Monday. "I would describe him as a Napoleon-type of dog,” said Jeremy Zapalac, one of his owners. “He's very short, but with a very big ego." Still, it was surprising when Cujo ducked out of an open door and wandered away from home.



The Zapalac family spent much of the day searching their neighbourhood, calling in help from relatives to scour the area for their missing pet. “We spent the whole morning, about an hour, looking for him,” Zapalac said. “It started pouring down rain. And he hates water." As it turned out, Cujo drifted all the way up to Spencer Highway, a short drive in a car, but a long walk for a little dog with a hip that forces him to toddle around with a slight waddle. Somehow he crossed the busy road and started walking in a moving lane of traffic.

Cujo’s story might have ended right then and there, but the shivering pooch caught a lucky break. “He’s not going to make it if I don’t do something,” said Kyle Jones, a La Porte police officer who happened to be driving by. Jones made a quick decision: He spun his car around and blocked traffic on the busy highway to save the life of a lost dog. “When I saw it and saw the size of it, I immediately hit my lights and shut all the lanes off,” Jones said. The officer stepped out of his patrol car and bent over, calling out to the dog.


YouTube link.

“You know how Chihuahuas are,” Jones said with a chuckle. “You're not really sure if you can trust 'em or not. But he kind of looked at me and said, 'Man, I'm glad you're here.' He let me pick him right up. Stuck him in the back seat of the patrol car." Jones turned the dog over to an animal control officer. Luckily, the Zapalac family had put an identification tag on Cujo’s collar. The animal control officer knocked on the family’s door and returned him home on Monday evening. "He was all wet,” Zapalac said. “He was soaked. We got him in wrapped him up, dried him up and he just slept in his bed all day."

Firefighter trying to shoot cow hit partner instead

A car versus cow accident in Talladega County, Alabama on Wednesday night ended with a volunteer firefighter getting shot in the leg.

According to Talladega County Chief Deputy Jimmy Kilgore, two Renfroe Vounteer firefighters responded to the call on Plantersville Road at about 8pm.



While they were trying to move the injured cow out of the road, the animal became agitated and attempted to charge at one of the firefighters. The firefighter pulled a handgun and shot at the cow but missed, instead hitting his colleague in the lower leg.

The injured firefighter was transported to Regional Medical Center in Anniston. No word is available on his condition. Kilgore said both men agreed the shooting was accidental, and that no charges would be filed.

Strange home intruder surprises police officers

Sheriff's deputies in Bartow County, Georgia responded to a residential break-in call in White on Thursday. When they arrived, they found something they never expected: a 30-pound wild turkey standing in the living room. "As I walked in, I saw feathers floating everywhere and saw broken glass," said Deputy Megan Kincer.



"I've been doing this for 10 years and I've never had anything similar." Arlene Shook was leading a field trip at the Georgia Aquarium when she got the phone call that someone had broken into her home. Kind of. "Oh, I definitely was relieved that it wasn't a person, until I got home and saw the mess that was made!" she laughed.

But the story gets even stranger: Deputy Kincer trapped the turkey in the master bedroom, closed the door and called animal control. But when they arrived moments later, the turkey was nowhere to be found. "We probably searched for maybe 45 minutes," said Arlene's son Todd Shook. "They looked under the bed, behind TVs ... we couldn't find it anywhere."

Video link.

Arlene says she believes the turkey mistook the trees' reflection in the glass for its home. She said there are about 15 wild turkeys that frequent the trees around their backyard. Aside from a new window and a houseful of turkey droppings, the Shooks said they're no worse for the wear and laugh about the new story they have to tell. The turkey is still at large.

Demand for cow urine medicine on the rise in India

Demand for 'Gomutra Arka', a medicine distilled out of cow urine, is on the rise in India. An arka manufacturer on the outskirts of Mangalore in Karnataka, south-western India, who supplies around 10 litres a day, claims that even the educated are using the ayurvedic preparation regularly to prevent diseases.

Govanithashraya Trust manufactures gomutra arka at its goshala (cow shelter) in Beejaguri at Pajeer, 26 km from the city. Goshala in-charge Santhosh Kumar said that they have plans to expand the manufacture unit as the demand for gomutra arka is increasing.



"We take care of more than 300 cows of various breeds. "Gomutra arka is effective in checking 109 types of diseases if consumed regularly as per the prescribed dosage. It increases resistance power, life span and purifies the blood, reduces cholesterol and checks obesity. It is also effective in skin diseases, acidity, kidney ailments and other diseases," he claimed, adding that even doctors use it routinely to prevent diseases.

Cow urine collected from local breeds like malenadu gidda, hallikaru and kankrej are used to make arka. There are other manufacturers, who also market arka," he added. Santhosh underwent training in making organic products from panchagavyas (cow urine, cow dung, milk, ghee and curd) at a goshala in Devarapur in Nagpur.

Avid trainspotter devastated over raising of wall

A trainspotter who has watched trains from the same spot in Bolton for 40 years has been left frustrated after a wall was built blocking his view of the tracks. David Hutchinson used to watch trains from the bridge in Moor Lane, near Bolton Central Fire Station in the town centre, three times a week.

But recently he was shocked to see huge concrete blocks had been cemented on the top of the wall, blocking his view of the trains. The blocks have been erected by Network Rail for safety reasons ahead of plans to electrify the line in 2016. Mr Hutchinson said he was devastated by the move.



The 53-year-old, from Halliwell, says he loves watching the trains go by and always carries a pair of binoculars and a notebook to write down the numbers of the trains as they go past. He usually meets several friends at the spot to watch the trains, and says the bridge is the only vantage point where he can see the trains moving slowly enough to be able to read their numbers.

Mr Hutchinson, who suffers from epilepsy and is unable to work, also watches the buses from the spot as they drive to and from the nearby Moor Lane Bus Station. On Sundays, the transport fan likes to watch aeroplanes near Manchester Airport. He said: “I think the bridge should be kept clear. You can’t see over the blocks and it means you can’t see the trains. I want them to be taken down, it is really frustrating.”

Desperate man reduced to living in his car jailed for trying to get benefits he was entitled to

In a classic example of how Britain's most vunerable people are being treated by the Government, a man who doused himself with petrol and tried to set himself alight in a job centre after a dispute over benefits he was due has been jailed for 20 months. Stuart Jones had a grievance against the Department for Work and Pensions and went to the job centre with a can of petrol at about 2:45pm  on 3 October, 2012.

Jones, 44, of Wrexham, but living in his car at the time, was owed £1,100 and told staff at the town's job centre he would set himself on fire unless he got it. He shouted: "I want my money," adding: "Nobody is listening to me. I am going to set myself on fire." The court heard that he held a lighter upside down and it failed to ignite. Staff raised the alarm and got blankets and a fire extinguisher as a precaution. Security staff calmed him down, police negotiators were called in, and he was in fact handed three cheques totalling £1,100 which, it was established, he was owed.



Stephen Edwards, defending, said that his client had physical issues following a motorcycle accident when he was young, and mental health issues, both of which entitled him to an enhanced disability allowance. He was desperate and had been to the Job Centre earlier to try and sort matters out, had enlisted the help of CAB which tried to help him, but he felt no one was listening and that he was being fobbed off.

Jones, who had no previous convictions, had previously worked as a welder and as a door supervisor, was unable to work because of his condition, was homeless and living out of his car, had to ask his mother for money and was desperate. But Mr Edwards said he wished to stress that his client did not wish to harm anyone else. “It was just himself,” he said. The defendant later told a psychiatrist that he did not regret what he had done. He had been handed £1,100 before he left the Job Centre after his protest. At Mold Crown Court on Thursday Jones was jailed for 20 months after he admitted threatening to destroy property and possessing articles intending to destroy property.