Post insane / odd / unique news releases here

[LWM]

Cat turns on vacuum, causes emergency alert (August 10th, 2010 @ 12:21pm)

BERLIN (AP) - A cat home alone in Germany apparently turned on the vacuum cleaner, frightened itself half to death and wound up being attended to by emergency services. Police in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth said a neighbor heard the cat's cries- not to mention a vacuum left running for hours- and feared there'd been a terrible accident.

The fire service sped to the scene Monday evening, but found only the cat and the machine.

A police statement Tuesday said the emergency call wasn't entirely in vain, though, because "at least the cat could be calmed down."

[LWM]

Strip club landlord accused of smashing windows (August 10th, 2010 @ 12:24pm)

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut police arrested the landlord of a Norwalk strip club after he threatened a patron with a metal pipe and smashed out windows of the building. Thirty-nine-year-old Christopher LaRose of Norwalk was charged with threatening, criminal mischief and breach of peace.

Police said LaRose became hostile early Sunday morning when management of the Office Cafe, which has a no-hat policy, asked him to remove his hat. Police said he was allowed into the club, but got angry with the bartender for being slow in serving him a beer.

Police said he threw a glass at the bartender, swung the pipe at a patron who tried to calm him down and smashed two windows.

LaRose posted $5,000 bail and is due in court next Monday. He didn't immediately return a message Tuesday.

[LWM]

Man allegedly harasses nurse who laughed at name (August 10th, 2010 @ 1:28pm)

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - An ex-convict was jailed on a charge that he harassed a nurse who laughed at his plan to name his newborn after late mob boss John Gotti. John Keinath allegedly told the nurse back in March he would strangle her for laughing at him. He was charged with felony harassment and had been free awaiting trial, but on Monday, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ordered him held on $1 million bail.

The Herald of Everett reported that according to prosecutors, Keinath spent the past few months trying to trick people at Stevens Hospital into giving him the nurse's identity, and he finally learned it. That led to concerns about her safety.

Keinath was arrested late last week after being chased around by local police and U.S. marshals.

His previous convictions include a drive-by shooting and assaulting someone with a piece of pipe.

It was unclear if Keinath has an attorney.

[LWM]

Video shows woman smashing window over McNuggets (August 10th, 2010 @ 1:28pm)

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A security video from a McDonald's in Ohio shows a woman punching two restaurant employees and smashing a drive-thru window because she couldn't get Chicken McNuggets. The tantrum caught on tape in Toledo earlier this year shows the customer reaching through the drive-thru window, slugging one worker and then another. She then grabs a bottle out of her car and tosses it through the glass window before speeding off.

It happened early on New Year's Day. Police say Melodi Dushane was angry that McNuggets weren't being served, because it was breakfast time.

Dushane says she was drunk at the time. She was sentenced to 60 days in jail last month and ordered to pay McDonald's for the broken window.

The video was released Monday when it became public record.

[LWM]

Dog surprises officer by giving birth in squad car (August 10th, 2010 @ 3:22pm)

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) - A pit bull delivered quite a surprise in the back of a Prescott Valley patrol car. Prescott Valley police said Tuesday that an officer picked up the pit bull on Friday from an area woman who had been watching the dog.

The officer noticed the dog appeared quite pregnant, but the woman told him she was not. She told the officers she was only supposed to watch the dog for a short time and that its owners never picked her up.

The officer put the dog in the back of his patrol car to be impounded, but when he got to the station, he found more than one dog in the back.

Dutchess had given birth to a male puppy during the ride. The officer took the dog to a kennel and brought the puppy to her. Soon after, she gave birth to a second puppy.

Dutchess was taken to the Yavapai Humane Society and is believed to have given birth to more puppies but it's unclear how many.

Authorities are looking for her owners.

[LWM]

NY police find live cat 'marinating' in car trunk (August 10th, 2010 @ 6:32pm)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Police say a traffic stop led to animal cruelty charges after they found a live cat "marinating" in oil and peppers in the trunk of a car.

Buffalo police say officers heard the cat meowing when they stopped 51-year-old Gary Korkuc of Cheektowaga to ticket him for running a stop sign Sunday night.

They say they checked the trunk and found 4-year-old Navarro in a cage, his fur covered with oil, crushed red peppers and chili peppers.

Police say Korkuc told them he did it because Navarro was ill-tempered. Korkuc was charged with cruelty and released; his phone number isn't listed.

Police say he told them he was going to cook Navarro. Korkuc also told officers a number of things that didn't make sense, including that his neutered male cat was pregnant.

Animal advocates have cleaned Navarro and put him up for adoption.

[Adondo]

More news from the other side of my state. (Washington - the OTHER one. )

GROSS: Seattle woman attacked with feces
By The Associated Press

Seattle police say a man has been arrested after attacking a female neighbor with a bucket of feces, urine and vomit.

A police report says the attack occurred Sunday night in a stairwell at a South Seattle apartment complex. Officers arrived to find the woman’s clothes soaked with urine. There was fecal matter on her back and vomit in her hair, and they wrote that the stench was so bad it was difficult to interview the victim.

The victim said her attacker also lives in the apartment complex. She said he called her Sunday to report that something appeared wrong with her car. Nothing was, but as she returned from the parking lot she was attacked.

The police report says the pair had a history arguments. Police spokesman Mark Jamieson says the suspect, 69-year-old Ronald V. Ellis, was arrested for investigation of assault Wednesday night.

[Adondo]

SURVEY SAYS: Mount Rainier 14,411 feet high -- still
By Mike Archbold, The News Tribune

Mount Rainier is stuck in a rut.

For the third straight time, an expedition sponsored by the Land Surveyor’s Association of Washington found the state’s signature peak to be 14,411 feet high.

The expedition announced its findings Wednesday.

“The new elevation came in at only a few inches different than the previous observations,” said Larry Signani of Sumner, a surveyor and numbers cruncher for the expedition. “The published value will remain at 14,411 feet.”

In 1988 and 1998, the association also sent teams to the summit. Using global positioning system equipment, they calculated its height both times at 14,411 feet -- give or take an inch or two.

That’s one foot higher than the previously accepted height of 14,410 feet.

The newest measurement is within 0.3 feet of the previous two measurements, which also were taken at this time of year.

Vandalism of a permanent marker used to make readings on the summit could account for the slight difference. Someone tried to remove the brass cap from the marker, which team members were forced to pound back in place during last month’s expedition.

Whether the newest measurement will supplant the often-used 14,410 foot measurement is anyone’s guess. Despite the two previous surveys, Mount Rainier National Park still uses the lower height on its web site.

Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said Wednesday that with three significant surveys all pointing to 14,411 feet “it may be time for the park to seriously consider making a request to (the U.S. Geological Survey) to change that measurement.

“We have to be accurate and sensitive to data,” he said.

Bob Anderson, a surveyor from Friday Harbor and the lead climber on the expedition, acknowledged the 14,411-foot height isn’t used in some publications but noted the Geological Survey has certified their measurement.

Signani said the Geological Survey measured Rainier in 1956 before GPS was available and came up with 14,410 feet. He later obtained the data from that survey, recalculated it and found a tiny error in a vertical angle. Correcting that error produced a height of 14,411 feet, he said.

Rainier’s height has ranged from 12,330 feet in 1842 to 14,532 in 1897.

The latest expedition wasn’t concerned solely with proving how high the mountain is. It also was a chance to use new digital technology to gather data in a remote location, Anderson said.

GPS technology has changed dramatically since 1988 when the team included more than 140 volunteers using some of the first portable GPS units. Those units weighed over 65 pounds each and could connect with only four GPS satellites. Readings took hours as they waited for the satellites to come overhead.

Signani said a lot of data was gathered in 1988 and finely calculated by top mathematicians. It has held up over the years, he added.

This time the team was only nine surveyors who carried GPS units that weighed two pounds. The devices were able to use more than 45 satellites for tracking.

Anderson said the team spent nearly 24 hours on the summit and took redundant measurements to check accuracy.

[Adondo]

MADISON, Wis. - The camera of a vacationing New Jersey family who posed for a picture in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol captured more than smiles. It also caught a thief in the act.

John Myers, of Bloomfield, N.J., set the self-timer on his camera and hustled into the frame with his wife and two children Saturday. While their backs were turned, someone grabbed their bag, which held Myers' wallet and other items.

After Myers discovered the bag missing, he checked his camera. Sure enough, the image showed a man picking up the bag.

Myers told the Wisconsin State Journal that he showed the photo to officers, who recognized the man.

When officers found him, he was still carrying the bag.

The suspect pleaded not guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor theft.

[Adondo]

2 arrested in Oregon at 'Shop With a Cop' day

Aug. 25, 2010 07:31 PM
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. - Two men arrested in Oregon for shoplifting during a "Shop With a Cop" event for school children initially thought it was a bad time for stealing - with more than 60 uniformed officers on scene.

But Portland Sgt. Pete Simpson says the two gave it some more thought and decided police would be distracted so it would be a good time to steal.

They were wrong.

Store security officers at the Fred Meyer store weren't caught off guard Wednesday. Simpson says security watched the two young men packing their own backpacks with blenders, shoes, clothes and tools while officers helped children pick out supplies for the school year.

The Oregonian says the two were then arrested.