truesee's Blog

Bull runs free in Paterson

Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday September 28, 2009, 1:44 PM 

MARLENE NAANES

The Record

STAFF WRITER

Bank robber caught out by personalised BMW number plate

Bank robber James Snell has been caught by police because of the personalised number plate on his BMW car that he used to stake out his target in Cardiff.

Telegraph UK 

7:55AM BST 28 Sep 2009

Snell drove his car with the registration "J4MES" to set up the £100,000 raid on a Halifax branch.

His gang of four robbers was caught when a witness remembered admiring the distinctive plate on the blue BMW - and gave details to police.

Snell, 26, and his brother Wayne, 34, were traced to their hideaway and found red-handed with more than £30,000 of the cash in bank-notes.

The number plate blunder was revealed when Wayne was jailed for eight years for robbery. James will be sentenced later.

The gang decided to use heavy metal drain covers to smash their way into a Halifax branch in Roath, Cardiff.

They set off in James Snell's BMW to plan the bank heist - including watching the branch and planning their getaway.

But Cardiff Crown Court heard they were spotted by a passer-by who remembered the J4MES number plate because it stood out.

"A witness saw a passenger lean out, lift a drain cover from the road and the car drove off," Prosecutor Tim Evans said.

"Lee Norville, who works for the council's highways department, later identified one of the two covers used to smash the windows at a branch of Halifax as coming from that drain. It is clear their arrogance contributed to their undoing."

Cash was being delivered to the Halifax branch by the security guards just before midnight when the gang struck.

Two Group 4 Securicor workers were refilling the bank's cash machine ready for business the next morning when they were confronted by men dressed in dark clothing and balaclavas.

Two used the drain covers to smash through the glass while a third armed with a bat shouted threats.

The gang took a total of £104,910 - all in £10 and £20 notes. The empty cash boxes were later found dumped in woods.

The car, with its distinctive number plate, was spotted outside a rented home in Whitchurch, Cardiff.

Fellow gang member Carl Campion, 44, of Birmingham, denied robbery but was found guilty and was jailed for 12 years.

The Snell brothers admitted robbery along with accomplice Adam Abbot, 38, of Hyde, Manchester. Abbot and James Snell will be sentenced at a later date.

Judge Gareth Jones said it was a "professional, sophisticated, pre-planned robbery on commercial premises" - and that £70,000 is still missing.

After the case, Detective Inspector Paul Andrews, of South Wales Police, said: "I would like to thank people who contacted us with information including the details of the car number plate."

AK-47 giveaway aims to win votes for Dean Allen

Food, ammo and rifle kick off candidate's campaign for adjutant general

E. Richard Walton

Greenville News 

STAFF WRITER 

September 27, 2009

 

 

Dean Allen talks with supporters during a barbecue and gun giveaway that kicked off his campaign for adjutant general on Saturday. (CINDY HOSEA/Staff)

 

 

They crowded into a shooting range on Poinsett Highway on a day when heavy rains might have kept them home, itching for a shot at winning an AK-47 rifle or at least shoot something that spit out a lot of lead.

Approximately 500 people showed up Saturday, some paying $25 for barbecue and ammo to take target practice with the weapon of their choice. The sweepstakes for the assault rifle, the type used against U.S. troops in Vietnam, was included at no charge.

The event marked the kickoff of Dean Allen’s candidacy for state adjutant general. Allen, 58, of Greenville, said the “machine gun social” was his way of celebrating the second amendment and showing solidarity against gun-rights opponents.

And he’s hoping it might win him a few votes.

“In politics, you have to stand out,” he said. “If you stand out in something, you’re going to get a little more attention.”

Many came up to Allen to express their support. Allen, dressed in a blue blazer, gray slacks and red, white and blue tie, said he is an Army veteran who served two tours in Vietnam.

Lisa Flaugher of Pickens said she came to the event at the Allen Arms Indoor Shooting Range to support Allen and try to win the AK-47.

“I want the gun for target practice,” she said.

The shooting range is owned by Frank Allen, who is not related to the candidate.

South Carolina is the only state that elects its adjutant general, who administers the Army and Air National Guard, the State Guard and the Emergency Management Division. Incumbent Adjutant General Stan Spears, a Republican, hasn’t said whether he will seek another term.

Allen said he served six years in the State Guard, but resigned in April in case Spears does run. Allen didn’t like the idea of running against his top commander, he said.

Allen said he wants the job so he can gather more support for the State Guard. He said he would try to get an updated radio system and other equipment so that the State Guard can work with greater efficiency.

The winner of the AK-47 will receive a gift certificate, Allen said. To take possession of the rifle, he or she will have to pass an FBI background check, show identification and fill out federal paperwork.

Allen, 58, said his consulting agency, Dark Horse Strategy Group of Spartanburg, came up with the idea for the AK-47 giveaway. Dark Horse spokeswoman Nicole Cobb said her company likes to be original and work with candidates “who are true conservatives.”

“I like to tell people I’m not the country club conservative, Allen said. “I’m the machine gun one.”

Wilmore couple find marriage paperwork not filed

 

KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat

September 26, 2009 11:39 pm

WILMORE — In a few weeks, Frank and Betty Skrout should be celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary.

Instead, they are in search of documentation to prove they ever tied the knot on a warm autumn day when Dwight Eisenhower was president and the Pirates were closing in on a dramatic World Series win over the New York Yankees.

“All these years we’ve been living in sin,” the good-natured Frank Skrout said jokingly in an interview on the front porch of the their longtime Wilmore

home.

“I thought I was married, and I was a single guy all this time,” he said.

The couple declared their love for one another in front of God and the late Rev. James Feehley at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Wilmore on Oct. 6, 1960. In attendance at that ceremony were Betty’s 5-year-old daughter and two witnesses.

Frank and Betty settled into a contented life, with Frank working for Bethlehem Steel and Betty at sewing factories in Johnstown, Windber and Portage.

All was well.

A son, Scott, came along, and the couple helped raise a grandson.

Now – well into retirement with five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren – the Skrouts have learned that the ceremony they based their life on was never registered at the Cambria County Courthouse as required by Pennsylvania law.

“I guess we’re not married, I don’t know,” said Betty Skrout.

“We went through everything. We did the whole thing.”

Frank interjected: “I might as well play the field. What the heck.”

‘We were married’

The problem surfaced recently when Betty learned of pension benefits she was eligible to receive from her days in the needle industry through the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

But she needed documents to reflect her status change and her married name.

Surprise.

The certified license for the Skrouts does not exist at the office of the Cambria County Register of Wills/Clerk of Orphans Court.

What the Skrouts learned was that the “return of marriage” document completed by the priest performing the wedding ceremony was never returned to the courthouse as required by law.

Word of the couple’s situation spread quickly through the community and the joking followed.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with this,” Betty said. “But it’s like the priest told us: We were married. The records are there – somewhere.”

The Skrouts wonder how many other couples married at St. Bartholomew’s during that era may be in the same boat.

Meanwhile, they have discussed going through the process again with a small private ceremony at the church.

‘A big problem’

Patty Sharbaugh, the elected Cambria County official in charge of the records, said that while similar problems have arisen in her 33 years in the office, this is the first one she has heard of from the Wilmore church.

“Boy, that’s bad. That does cause a big problem,” Sharbaugh said.

She requires the return of marriage certificate be back to her office within 10 days of the ceremony. But if the Skrouts can locate the information from the church, she will record it, back-dating the marriage to Oct. 6, 1960.

“If the priest is still around or if they can locate those church records, we’ll complete them,” she said.

Sharbaugh said she will do the same for any other couples married at the Wilmore church and in the same situation.

But as for now, Frank and Betty as the Skrouts do not exist as a married couple in the public record.

“Not according to us, not according to our records,” Sharbaugh said. “They’re not married.”

‘Property of the parish’

During the past several years, Sharbaugh has instituted a procedure reminding people to get the certificates returned.

“Now if we don’t get a return, we call the people and write them letters. We bug them,” she said.

“If they called off the marriage, then we attach a letter to show we tried.”

The procedure is too late to help the Skrouts, but Tony DeGol, secretary for communications of the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese, said the marriage certificate should be available.

“Those records are the property of the parish and they can be found,” he said late last week.

Meanwhile, the Skrouts continue to be good natured about their strange situation.

“I guess I still don’t have my freedom,” Frank Skrout said.

Superthief

Joshua Paul Calhoun likes to take things...BIG things

Paul Knight

September 22, 2009 at 12:15pm

 It's strange to jump-start an airplane off the battery in a pickup truck, but that's exactly what Joshua Paul Calhoun attempted to do on March 4 of this year when he couldn't start the engine on a plane he was trying to steal.

 

LINK TO PHOTOS OF SUPERTHIEF AND FULL STORY:

 

http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-09-24/news/superthief/

 

Hours earlier, just after sunrise, 28-year-old Calhoun had driven out to the tiny municipal airport in Athens, basically a runway and a couple hangars on the outskirts of town. The plane, a single-prop Beechcraft Bonanza, was tied down with three ropes on a slab of asphalt not far from the barbed-wire fence around the airport. Calhoun got into the pit, but the battery was dead. He left the airport for about 30 minutes and returned, parking his truck next to the plane and hooking up the jumper cables. The engine still wouldn't crank.

Carroll Dyson, a 65-year-old retired pilot, watched the whole thing unfold from the opposite end of the runway, through the window of his shop where he runs a small repair, flight training and charter service. Dyson, a large, white-haired man, had never seen Calhoun before but thought he looked young and athletic, and even though Dyson didn't know the plane's owner well, he knew it was Todd Pearah, the son of a former professional football player. Calhoun could've been Pearah's nephew or son, Dyson thought, but he decided to drive out to the plane and check it out.

"Hello," Dyson said as he approached the plane. "Do you know the Pearah family?"

"Yes sir," Calhoun said, ­smiling. "Good friends. Mr. Pearah needs me to go down to South Texas and check out a ranch for him."

With that, Dyson showed Calhoun how to jump-start an airplane.

Dyson realized something was wrong driving back to his shop when he saw the Bonanza scream past him along the runway, taking off with the pit door still swinging open. He called Pearah, realized he'd been had and called the police.

Meanwhile, Calhoun flew the plane about two miles east, according to Dyson, then reversed course west for another three miles before crashing into a strand of trees. Uninjured, Calhoun could've simply escaped like he'd done for years, except his truck was still at the airport.

The police were at the far end of the runway talking to Dyson when Calhoun showed up to retrieve his truck. Dyson says that all of a sudden, they looked down the runway and saw Calhoun's truck moving real slow. The police sped down the runway, and according to an account in the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Calhoun "saw the officers, stepped out of the truck, which was still in gear, and kept going, and walked toward the officers. The officers had to run after the truck to stop it."

The arrest of a rural plane thief made headlines at newspapers across the state, including the Tyler paper — the New York Times of East Texas — and as far west as Lubbock. A reporter from the Athens Review got a jailhouse interview and Calhoun told him, "I've always been fascinated with flying."

"When I found out who it was, that he had stole the airplane and supposedly didn't know how to fly it, me knowing Josh, it didn't surprise me one bit," says Dan Parker, the chief deputy at the Henderson County Sheriff's Department.

Calhoun was already known to law enforcement in rural counties all over East Texas for stealing trucks, horse trailers, tractors and cattle, but the local cops never could keep Calhoun behind bars for long.

But now he's in federal custody. His court-appointed attorney, Norman McGinnis, wouldn't allow Calhoun to speak with the Houston Press for this story, but through police records, court documents and interviews, the Press has pieced together Calhoun's tale, including the five months that followed the arrest, in which Calhoun escaped to Mexico, eluded federal agents at the border re-entering the country, dragged a border agent 40 feet down the road when the agent tried to stop him, stole a drilling rig from a commercial construction company, and delivered meth to an undercover cop at a liquor store but escaped again by going off-road in a 4x4 truck.

"Country boys are ballsy," laughed Ray Nutt, the Henderson County sheriff who had been chasing Calhoun for years.

This is the story of a transformation, as Parker puts it, from "just an average teenager" to an East Texas Superthief.

But whoever she is, she is every bit as bold and brazen as the men who carry out such crimes — perhaps even more so. She struck two Houston banks less than 4 miles apart in an hour's time Friday and was brazen enough not to cover her face.

FBI agents have nicknamed her the “Grandma Bandit.” From high-quality surveillance camera photos, she appears to be between 55 and 65. She had shoulder-length gray hair and wore eyeglasses.

Her forays into two different Compass Bank buildings Friday afternoon proved fruitful. After accosting tellers in both banks, she walked out with an undisclosed amount of cash. No one was injured.

While some bank robbers in the past have made excuses for their actions, saying they had medical bills or were out of work while parenting young children, this woman gave no explanation for her actions. She was seen driving a white sport utility vehicle.

“We are seeing more women engage in this type of criminal activity across the country, but it's still a very small percentage,” said FBI Special Agent Shauna Dunlap with the agency's Houston office. “Obviously, from her picture, she is an older woman — that's very unusual.

“No matter what your situation is or how old you are or how young you are, it doesn't give you the right to break the law.”

Her first robbery occurred at 12:40 p.m. Friday when she walked into the Compass Bank at 1217 West 43rd. She claimed to have a gun and demanded money.

She is believed to have struck again an hour later at another Compass Bank at 204 West 19th. Repeating her earlier strategy, she again walked away with money.

She is about 5 feet 2 to 5 feet 7 inches tall with a large build. She wore a camouflage cap, a bright purple shirt decorated with purple feathers on the front and blue jean shorts.

Million to one apple is half red, half green

Fruit grower Ken Morrish was left stunned when he found a golden delicious apple on his tree split exactly half green, half red down the middle.

 

Published: 7:00AM BST 25 Sep 2009

Ken Morrish, 72, of Colaton Raleigh, Devon, did a double take when he grew a Golden Delicious apple split down the middle - one half was green and the other red Photo: ARCHANT

The fruit's striking colouring is thought to be caused by a random genetic mutation at odds of more than a million to one.

The apple has caused such a stir in the village of Colaton Raleigh, Devon, that Mr Morrish is inundated with neighbours queuing up to take pictures of it.

Mr Morrish, 72, who has been harvesting the apples from trees in his garden for 45 years, said: "It's truly amazing.

"It looks as if a green apple and a red apple has been cut in half and stuck together."

He said that he was out picking a few apples for his sister-in-law when he spotted the fruit hanging from a bough.

Mr Morrish, a retired painter and decorator, added: "I couldn't believe my eyes. The red and green split through the stem is totally perfect – as if I've painted it.

"It's a genuine one-off and none of us have ever seen an apple like it before."

Experts believe that the odds of finding an apple with such a perfect line between the green and the red are more than a million to one.

In such cases, the red side usually tastes sweeter than the green side – because it has seen more sunshine during its growth.

John Breach, chairman of the British Independent Fruit Growers Association, told the Daily Mail: "I've never seen this happen before to a golden delicious. It is extremely rare. It is an extreme mutation.

"There has been the occasional case of this type reported. If there was a whole branch of apples with the same colouring then fruit experts would get even more excited."

Jim Arbury, fruit superintendent at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, said it was probably the "result of a random genetic mutation".

"This is known as a chimera where one of the first two cells has developed differently giving rise to one half of the apple being different," he said.

"It is unlikely to be a stable mutation but it is worth checking next year to see if it recurs. There are instances of some striped apples and pears where the mutation remains stable including one striped pear in the collection at Wisley called Pysanka."

Woman, 106, fights eviction

A 106-year-old woman is fighting moves to evict her from her care home which is due to close under a cuts package drawn up by her local council.

 

Laura Donnelly

The Sunday Telegraph

Health Correspondent
Published: 9:01PM BST 26 Sep 2009

Louise Watts' plight personifies that of thousands of elderly people across

the UK facing forced removal from care homes by local authorities looking

to save money. Photo: ANDREW FOX

 

 

Louisa Watts, a great great grandmother, has been threatened with removal from the facility.

Her family argues that such a move would kill the widow, who is believed to be Britain's fifth oldest woman.

Mrs Watts' plight personifies that of thousands of elderly people across the UK facing forced removal from care homes by local authorities looking to save money.

Her case has been taken up by Yvonne Hossack, the campaigning solicitor who has prevented the closure of more than 80 care homes.

This week she will argue at the Court of Appeal that the health of Mrs Watts will be put at risk if she and other residents of Underhill House, in Bushbury, in Wolverhampton, are moved into new accommodation against their will.

Mrs Watts, who turned 106 earlier this month, said she was desperate not to be moved out of the home she has grown to love, since moving in four years ago, after her daughter died.

The former hospital cleaner said: "I love it here and I don't want to move – this is my home, the people here are like my family. It upsets me so much what the council is trying to do."

Her son Derek, 76, has organised a petition signed by more than 1,000 people pleading for the home to stay open.

He said: "My mum has worked hard all her life, to provide a home for her family. She has lived through two world wars. All we want is for her to be left to live her last years in piece. She is 106 years old. I'm afraid that if they move her, it will kill her."

Wolverhampton council says the home does not meet modern standards and that it would cost £2 million to make the necessary improvements, which it is not willing to pay for.

It wants to move the home's 10 remaining residents into accommodation in the area, and has offered residents a choice of alternative homes.

But Mrs Watts and fellow residents say there is nothing wrong with the conditions in which they live, and that they do not want to move, and risk being split up.

On Tuesday, the local authority will go to the Court of Appeal to attempt to lift an injunction won by Miss Hossack, blocking plans to move the residents out.

Miss Hossack's campaigning has made her a heroine for many pensioners but has made her enemies along the way.

Critics have accused her of operating as a political campaigner, not as a lawyer. Earlier this month, she faced being struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, accused of breaching rules on conduct.

Councils taken on by the solicitor had accused her of six breaches, including providing confidential information to third parties.

Ten days ago, she was told she was free to practice, after being found guilty on one charge, at the lowest level.

Miss Hossack has argued that closures of care homes housing vulnerable elderly people can threaten their health, and ultimately lives, citing evidence from one clinical psychiatrist who said length of remaining life could be reduced by one quarter.

She told The Sunday Telegraph: "The evidence is there that trauma of moving elderly people out of their homes can really damage their health, and lead to premature death. Saving money is not a good enough reason to do that."

Her bid to keep Mrs Watts' care home open was thrown out by a Birmingham judge earlier this month, but the solicitor won a last-ditch reprieve from the Court of Appeal, days later. This week the council will seek to have that injunction overturned.

Sarah Norman, Wolverhampton council director for adults and community, said: "We are confident that the case for the closure of Underhill House residential home has been proven."

She said demand for residential accommodation across Wolverhampton was falling since the council had increased investment in sheltered housing schemes, which allow those with some independence to receive support from wardens, while others were given help to live in their own homes. As a result, not all residential homes could be kept open, she said.

Miss Hossack and the pensioners argue such initiatives are worsening the plight of the most frail elderly, who still need care home places, but are being shunted around as homes close.

Miss Hossack, 53, whose campaigning work contributed to the end of her marriage, and brought her to the brink of bankruptcy, says she is determined to keep fighting for the rights of the vulnerable.

In a separate move, she has lodged papers in a test case to protect pensioners living in sheltered housing whose wardens are being removed in attempts to cut council spending.

Miss Hossack has served papers on Barnet council, in North London, which wants to remove live-in wardens from some complexes as part of its plans to develop an "easyJet" model of services, which strips free services down to a minimum, and cuts taxes.

The test case is also expected to consider plans by Bradford, Hackney, and Devon councils, who are among 20 local authorities whose plans to replace live-in staff with "floating" wardens – covering several homes at once – are being fought by residents, represented by Miss Hossack.

The solicitor argues that it is unfair for councils to alter the terms of tenancy agreements signed by residents who moved into sheltered housing, expecting that they would always have a warden on hand to keep them safe.

She said: "Thousands of people have given up their own homes that they lived in for years to move into sheltered housing in the expectation that there is someone there who will have a cup of tea with them and who will keep an eye on them as they become more frail.

"In some of these cases the councils are talking about replacing an onsite warden with a person who covers five developments at one time, with weekly visits, and a chord for people to pull in emergencies. I think that is wrong, and that it is a breach of contract. You cannot replace a person with an alarm cord."

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/creepiest-landscapes/15802

The priest, the stripper, and their baby

DAVID OVALLE

Miami Herald

Saturday, 09.26.09

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=67607&catid=2

http://www.news10.net/news/featured/story.aspx?storyid=67546&catid=49

Pictures that make you say 'wow': Photographers get up close and personal with wildlife

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:02 AM on 24th September 2009 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215658/Pictures-make-say-wow-Photographers-close-personal-wildlife.html

Abbreviated Story:

http://www.livescience.com/environment/etc/090925-fanged-frog-and-other-bizarre-species-discovered.html

 

 

Full Story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090925/ap_on_re_as/as_mekong_new_species;_ylt=AlIqa9CXycKeQqWL_Otu7Sms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM3c282NTFuBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTI1L2FzX21la29uZ19uZXdfc3BlY2llcwRjcG9zAzkEcG9zAzYEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNmYW5nZWRmcm9nMTY-

Clearwater woman bitten but escapes alligator

Drew Harwell

St. Petersburg Times
Times Staff Writer

Sep 25, 2009 04:18 PM

CLEARWATER —

A Clearwater woman walking her dog by Sawgrass Lake Park was bitten by an 8-foot alligator before she fought back and escaped.

Diane Blackwood was walking her Vizsla about 4:30 p.m. Monday when she noticed a swirl in the lake, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Gary Morse.

Suddenly, the alligator surfaced and bit Blackwood, who was about three feet from the water's edge. The gator began to drag her toward the lake. Her dog took off running.

Blackwood's calf was in the gator's jaws when she reached back and stuck her thumb in its eye, Morse said. The gator released its grip and bit at her thumb, allowing her to run away.

She was taken to Morton Plant Mease for treatment of a large bite wound on her left calf, a puncture wound on her thumb and a scratch on her right hand, Morse said. She can still walk and was released from the hospital soon after.

The gator, which Morse estimated was a male and about 10 to 12 years old, was caught by a trapper late Tuesday night and killed. It was found by matching its bite size to the mark on Blackwood's leg. The gator's meat and hide will be sold, Morse said, and the profit will go toward the state's nuisance alligator program.

"These gators that tend to not be afraid of people tend to be the ones who come running when you throw the bait," Morse said. "They came to you, and this one did that without any hesitation."

Blackwood, who has a PhD in marine sciences, grew up in Clearwater and is familiar with the alligators, Morse said. Her response to the bite was a good defense, he said.

"Most gators you're not going to have a problem with," Morse said. "But when you're walking a dog, which is a four-legged animal, somewhat similar to natural prey items — we tell people to avoid walking their dogs by the edge of the lake for that very reason."

 

JIM DAMASKE | Times ]Diane Blackwood was walking her Vizsla, Ritka, and her dachshund, Beka, at Sawgrass Lake Park on Monday when an eight-foot alligator clamped down on her calf. She gouged it in the eye with her thumb and it let go.