truesee's Blog

Image of gun-like cigarette lighter on security x-ray screen prompts evacuation at Hillsborough County courthouse

Rebecca Catalanello and Kim Wilmath

St Petersburg Times Staff Writers

Posted: Aug 05, 2009 12:55 PM

TAMPA — Law enforcement forced 3,200 people to evacuate Hillsborough County's George Edgecomb E. Courthouse Wednesday after a security worker discovered that someone had slipped through an X-ray scanning machine with what appeared to be a semiautomatic pistol stuffed in a bag.

After a full day investigation, sheriff's detectives discovered the supposed weapon was a lighter.

But it's still unclear how a Tampa woman was able to walk through security, grab her bag from the conveyor belt and move into the building before a security worker viewing the X-ray monitors recognized a picture of a gun and notified others.

And the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office also wants to know why it took security more than two hours to notify them that there may be a gun in the building.

"We do most of the security inside," said Col. Jim Previtera.

The Sheriff's Office has 130 bailiffs assigned to the county courthouse, but their primary charge is to secure courtrooms. Hillsborough County government supplies unsworn security workers to operate the front-door screenings.

Previtera said at 8:45 a.m., the woman placed the bag on the conveyor and the county security realized pretty quickly that there was an image of a gun on the screen, but for an unknown reason she was gone before anyone could stop her.

Security notified the sheriff's office more than two hours later.

And the noontime evacuation lasted an hour and 45 minutes and caused a measure of chaos outside the downtown building, 800 E Twiggs St., where people chatted curb side and television news cameras struggled to captured the scene.

Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said word went out over loud speakers ordering everyone to collect their belongings and move out.

Dawn Emigh, 45, was at the courthouse for jury duty when the word went out. As she waited in line to go back in, she admitted she was somewhat nervous. "Hopefully they'll do a better job, right?" she said.

After reviewing surveillance video for two hours, sheriff's detectives identified a woman who stopped and talked to a Tampa detective as the person with the supposed gun.

Previtera refused to release the woman's name, saying she was not being charged with a crime. But he said she is from Tampa, and had come to the building for a family matter in court.

The city detective took them to the woman's house, Previtera said, where she produced the lighter and told them she had taken the toy from her nephew because of how real it looked.

"Right now we are just sending the information to the State Attorney's Office to find out if they want to charge her at all," he said. "But we haven't charged her with anything because it seemed as if she just forgot she had it."

Neither Previtera nor Carl Harness, the county's public safety administrator, would say how many security workers are employed at the courthouse or what, if any action, was being taken concerning the employee or employees who spotted the gun.

The purpose of the evacuation, Previtera said, was to empty the building as quickly as possible, sweep the space for any danger, then thoroughly rescreen everyone as they entered again.

About 25 deputies from Sheriff's Homeland Security Division were called in to assist with clearing the building, while Tampa police sent in another 10 officers to help maintain order.

Previtera said the Sheriff's Office is working along with county administration to conduct an internal review of exactly what took place.

The county government also supplies security personnel to County Center on Kennedy Boulevard, the Plant City courthouse, and government offices at the Floriland Mall, Harness said.

"I made my anger really clear regarding the way this was handled," Previtera said. "County Administrator Pat Bean will be investigating how this happened."

Gator capture leads to drug arrests in north Fla.

Posted on Wednesday, 08.05.09

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- An alligator capture has led to the arrests of some north Florida apartment tenants who forgot to hide their drugs.

According to a report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wildlife officers received a tip that two gators were being held captive in an apartment in Tallahassee. The officers went to the apartment and spoke with the tenants, who then allowed for the officers to go inside and retrieve the gators.

The report says the tenants had left drugs and drug paraphernalia in plain view. So the wildlife officers called in the Leon County Sheriff's Office, which took over the narcotics investigation.

The report does not specify how large the gators were, identify the tenants or specify their drug-related charges.

Daily Telegraph

Published: 1:18PM BST 05 Aug 2009

A pensioner has begun a desperate bid to trace a precious family heirloom - after his wife accidentally threw it out with the recycling Photo: SOLENT

Mr Quilligan, 66, from Hampshire, put the silver goblet, which is worth £500, into what he thought was the perfect place to keep it safe.

However, he returned from holiday to find that his wife Shirley had mistakenly thrown the the box out with the recycling.

The couple are now desperately trying to trace where their recycling, along with the 1922 hallmarked goblet, could have been sent.

Mr Quilligan said: "It is very upsetting because it is irreplaceable.

"It was a treasured family heirloom that has been passed down in my family and I made a point of hiding it because it was so precious to us."

Mr Quilligan, who lives in Chandler's Ford, near Southampton, Hants, received the heirloom from the Bishop of Salford when his uncle, the Reverend Thomas Quilligan, died 20 years ago.

The nine-inch high chalice, which Rev Quilligan used for Mass, had given to him by his mother during the 1930s and carries an inscription remembering his late sister.

Mr Quilligan is hoping somebody may have spotted the treasure.

The local council told him it was probably at a recycling plant in Alresford, Hants.

Man spells out anger at Cary on house

Town, resident at odds over runoff

CARY -- Somebody told David Bowden that he needed to put in writing his complaint that water runoff from a town road project is ruining his home.

So Bowden did. In fluorescent orange spray paint. In letters 2 feet tall. On the exterior siding of his two-story white clapboard house.

"I didn't know any other way to get their attention," Bowden said Monday, as traffic slowed so passers-by could make out the message: "Screwed by the town of Cary."

Bowden blames the town for water that pools under his house deep enough to lap at the ductwork. The problem started after Cary elevated Southwest Maynard Road in front of the home.

Town officials, meanwhile, said they have tried to work with Bowden to resolve the issue, to no avail.

The property at 305 Southwest Maynard had water-drainage problems when Bowden moved into it in 1992. The previous owner dealt with it by installing a sump pump. Bowden said he went a step further, paying to excavate around the foundation of the house, waterproof the structure and pour in stone to help with drainage.

That worked pretty well, he said, until the city resurfaced what was then two lanes with a turn lane. The new pavement sloped toward Bowden's home, he said, and when it rained hard, an inch of water would come down his driveway, across his carport and into his utility room.

The problem got exponentially worse, he said, when Cary widened Maynard Road. As part of the project, completed last August, the town built up the roadbed, raising it 6 feet where it passes Bowden's house. His front door is now below the grade of the road. The city had to relocate his driveway entrance because of the steep slope. The widening also took several feet of Bowden's front yard and the trees that stood there.

Mike Bajorek, assistant Cary town manager, said the town paid Bowden $5,300 for the loss of yard and trees. The city also built a retaining wall where the corner of Bowden's driveway meets the steepest shoulder of the road, and it installed drainage pipes. But Bowden said that the pipes open onto the driveway and that the water heads for the house.

"You don't have to be an engineer to know that water runs downhill," said Bowden, who has complained to his town council representative, town engineers and others.

Bajorek said the town has repeatedly offered to build a different drainage system to route the water around the house. But Bowden has refused to allow it.

On Friday, Bowden decided he wouldn't call town hall anymore. He called a sign painter, whom he paid $200 cash to erect a scaffold and emblazon his gripe with the town. It's between the second-floor windows, at street level.

At this point, he said, he doesn't want the town to stop the water. He wants Cary to buy his house, at its $170,000 tax value, plus $80,000 for his trouble. With the money, the retired convenience-store manager wants to buy a motor home and travel the country.

He has received a response from the town, but it wasn't a buyout offer. It was a notice that his message of protest violates the town's sign ordinance and he is subject to fines up to $500 a day.

"Turning your house into a billboard, regardless of the message, isn't consistent with community values," Bajorek said.

Before: Bowden's front yard had mature trees and was roughly level with Maynard Road. - COURTESY OF DAVID BOWDEN

After: The town of Cary's work on Maynard Road, including a new turn lane, removed all the trees in front and left a 6-foot slope from the road down to the yard. Bowden says runoff floods his laundry room, near the carport. He wants the town to buy his house. - STAFF PHOTO BY SHAWN ROCCO

Would-be Reno carjacker can't drive a stick shift, returns victim's keys

Jaclyn O'Malley • August 4, 2009

Kent Howard Boedicker was booked Monday afternoon into the Washoe County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, and remained in lieu of $10,000 bail.

A 57-year-old registered nurse called police at about noon on Monday to report that a man tried to carjack her four-door Hyundai, and ran off after he was unable to drive the stick shift. She had been parked in Borders Books parking lot in the 4900 block of South Virginia Street when he approached her with a gun. Officers found the weapon, which turned out to be a BB gun.

The woman was rolling her window down when she saw Boedicker, whom she said appeared pale, ill and had cuts on his body. Police said the woman asked him if he needed help. He then opened her car door and demanded she give him the keys. She said ‘no” and closed the door.

Again, police said Boedicker opened the door, demanding keys. The woman noticed he had a gun, and complied.

Soon after he got inside the car, he got out and gave the woman her keys.

“I don’t need these anymore,” the woman recalled him saying.

Reno police found Boedicker in the Save-Mart parking lot. He was identified by the woman and arrested. Police believe that Boedicker does not know how to drive a stick, which caused him to abandon his efforts.

Pricetag to raise a child in the U.S. -- $291,570

Typo Turns Woman's Life Upside Down

Posted: 12:57 pm PDT August 3, 2009Updated: 6:31 pm PDT August 3, 2009

"Basically, my life was put on hold," Ball said.

Ball started getting bankruptcy notices in the mail, her credit line dropped to $200 and the bank put a hold on her car loan. For two months, Ball was living on virtually zero credit.

"It makes your name look bad," Ball told Quinlan. "Having to deal with the embarrassment at the store by having your cards turned down."

Ball tried to fix the problem spending hours on the phone and meeting with people at her bank but it took a court order to straighten out the error.

"It's not an easy thing when you're cruising along and you think everything is going okay and the next thing you know your whole life is upside down," Ball said.

The FTC told Quinlan that there is little anyone can do to stop this from happening to them and Bob Schroder with the Federal Trade Commission said that what happened to Ball borders on identity theft.

"All your accounts get frozen because your social security number got misused," Schroder said. "It can happen to anybody."

Quinlan tried contacting the firm representing the Tacoma woman in the bankruptcy case whose number was switched with Ball's but they did not return any calls.

Experts recommend checking your credit report each year to try to avoid something like this from happening. You can check your credit report or find out what else you can do to stop identity theft by clicking on the links below.  This simple clerical mistake however, had a big impact on Ball's life.

"Basically, my life was put on hold," Ball said.

Ball started getting bankruptcy notices in the mail, her credit line dropped to $200 and the bank put a hold on her car loan. For two months, Ball was living on virtually zero credit.

"It makes your name look bad," Ball told Quinlan. "Having to deal with the embarrassment at the store by having your cards turned down."

Ball tried to fix the problem spending hours on the phone and meeting with people at her bank but it took a court order to straighten out the error.

"It's not an easy thing when you're cruising along and you think everything is going okay and the next thing you know your whole life is upside down," Ball said.

The FTC told Quinlan that there is little anyone can do to stop this from happening to them and Bob Schroder with the Federal Trade Commission said that what happened to Ball borders on identity theft.

"All your accounts get frozen because your social security number got misused," Schroder said. "It can happen to anybody."

Quinlan tried contacting the firm representing the Tacoma woman in the bankruptcy case whose number was switched with Ball's but they did not return any calls.

Experts recommend checking your credit report each year to try to avoid something like this from happening. You can check your credit report or find out what else you can do to stop identity theft by clicking on the links below.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.kirotv.com/money/20267306/detail.html

Police probe video of 7-year-old driving

Court Orders Graduate Student To Pay Nearly $700,000 For Downloading Just 30 Songs Illegally

August 3, 2009 9:28 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - A judge has ordered a graduate student to pay a total of $675,000 after he was found guilty of illegally downloading songs from a shared music Web site.

Joel Tenenbaum, the 25-year-old Boston University student, has pleaded guilty of the charges of downloading and distributing 30 songs.

He will be paying $22,500 per song to four record labels for willfully infringing on the copyright of the songs by bands, including Green Day, Incubus, Nirvana and Aerosmith.

The U.S. District Court jury could have ordered him to pay a maximum of $4.5 million in the case.

"We are grateful for the jury's service and their recognition of the impact of illegal downloading on the music community," a statement from the Recording Industry Association of America said yesterday.

"We appreciate that Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work. From the beginning, that's what this case has been about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior," it added.

The recording companies are entitled for fines of up to $750 to $30,000 per infringement under the U.S. copyright law.

It is the second such case to go to trial in the U.S.

In July, a woman in Minneapolis was ordered to pay $1.92 million. Jammie Thomas-Rasse was fined $80,000 per song for copyright infringement for sharing 24 songs.

THETFORD, Vt. -- A Vershire man has been accused of digging up his father's remains and bringing them home with him because he missed his late father.

Vermont Man Charged With Digging Up Dad

Police Say Man Brought Remains Home

POSTED: 9:57 am EDT August 3, 2009
UPDATED: 11:54 am EDT August 3, 2009

WPTZ NEWS

Dominik A. Bailey Jr., 43, has been charged with felony removal of human remains after allegedly digging up the cremated man's remains from a Vershire graveyard.

Thetford police said they received a call from Bailey's mother on Friday telling authorities that she believed her son had gone and dug up her husband's cremated remains, taking the remains and the headstone home with him. The mother said she was going to check the grave site and later told police all she saw at the site was a hole in the ground.  THETFORD, Vt. -- A Vershire man has been accused of digging up his father's remains and bringing them home with him because he missed his late father.

Dominik A. Bailey Jr., 43, has been charged with felony removal of human remains after allegedly digging up the cremated man's remains from a Vershire graveyard.

Thetford police said they received a call from Bailey's mother on Friday telling authorities that she believed her son had gone and dug up her husband's cremated remains, taking the remains and the headstone home with him. The mother said she was going to check the grave site and later told police all she saw at the site was a hole in the ground.

According to court papers, Bailey phoned his aunt in Connecticut admitting he took the remains home. The aunt said Bailey had talked about taking his father's remains home for months, but said she did not believe he would actually do it. The aunt also told police Bailey has made several threats to shoot relatives.

The aunt said Bailey left a message on her answering machine Friday saying that he was "going to get his father" and that the family "didn't need to leave flowers there anymore," according to court papers. The aunt also told police Bailey phoned her again later in the day and spoke with her, saying "he's here with me now" and that his father's remains were in his living room, along with the father's headstone.

On Saturday, a man who lives near the cemetery said a man -- who police suspect was Bailey -- asked him to borrow his wheelbarrow, returning the wheelbarrow after taking it to the cemetery.  According to court papers, Bailey phoned his aunt in Connecticut admitting he took the remains home. The aunt said Bailey had talked about taking his father's remains home for months, but said she did not believe he would actually do it. The aunt also told police Bailey has made several threats to shoot relatives.

The aunt said Bailey left a message on her answering machine Friday saying that he was "going to get his father" and that the family "didn't need to leave flowers there anymore," according to court papers. The aunt also told police Bailey phoned her again later in the day and spoke with her, saying "he's here with me now" and that his father's remains were in his living room, along with the father's headstone.

On Saturday, a man who lives near the cemetery said a man -- who police suspect was Bailey -- asked him to borrow his wheelbarrow, returning the wheelbarrow after taking it to the cemetery.

Police searched Bailey's home and recovered the remains and headstone of his late father. Bailey was not home at the time, but was pulled over by police in Thetford and taken into custody. He is being held at the Orange County Sheriff's Office and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

The charge of felony removal of human remains carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000.  Police searched Bailey's home and recovered the remains and headstone of his late father. Bailey was not home at the time, but was pulled over by police in Thetford and taken into custody. He is being held at the Orange County Sheriff's Office and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

The charge of felony removal of human remains carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000.

Funeral Manager Resells Woman's Casket

Woman Cremated On Cot

LINK TO VIDEOS:

http://www.wsmv.com/news/20245036/detail.html

TULLAHOMA, Tenn. -- Madeline Coker of Tullahoma died in May 2007. Her family's wishes were for her to be cremated in a wooden casket, for which they paid more than $2,000.

"To prey on a person in their time of need is just not right," said Amy Palmer, Coker's niece. "You're hurt enough. Why does someone else have to hurt you?"

According to the state Board of Funeral Directors, the manager of the Tullahoma Funeral Home took her body out of the casket and resold the casket to another family..

The state suspended the license of Stephen Rees, the manager they said made the switch. He no longer works for the funeral home.

"I tried to follow what she had asked me to do very specifically," said Palmer.

"It's an unfortunate situation. We take our responsibilities to our families very seriously," said the current manager of the funeral home, Todd R. Howell.

The funeral home was fined $2,000.

"She was the ultimate gentile woman from the South -- just what you would think of the Southern belle," said Palmer.

Channel 4 was unable to reach Rees. A family member said he has moved to St. Louis, Miss.

The funeral home refunded the money to both families involved.

"To prey on a person in their time of need is just not right," said Amy Palmer, Coker's niece. "You're hurt enough. Why does someone else have to hurt you?"

According to the state Board of Funeral Directors, the manager of the Tullahoma Funeral Home took her body out of the casket and resold the casket to another family.

Coker was cremated on a cot.

"You're betrayed. I mean, the man had been so accommodating. You're hurt," said Palmer, who

lives in Ohio.

The state suspended the license of Stephen Rees, the manager they said made the switch. He no longer works for the funeral home.

"I tried to follow what she had asked me to do very specifically," said Palmer.

"It's an unfortunate situation. We take our responsibilities to our families very seriously," said the current manager of the funeral home, Todd R. Howell.

The funeral home was fined $2,000.

"She was the ultimate gentile woman from the South -- just what you would think of the Southern belle," said Palmer.

Channel 4 was unable to reach Rees. A family member said he has moved to St. Louis, Miss.

The funeral home refunded the money to both families involved.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C2817%2C2350553%2C00.asp

JOBLESS GRAD SUES COLLEGE FOR 70G TUITION

KATHIANNE BONIELLO

NY Post

Last updated: 4:20 pm
August 2, 2009
Posted: 3:35 am
August 2, 2009

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit.

Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back.

The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job.

The information-technology student blames Monroe's Office of Career Advancement for not providing her with the leads and career advice it promised.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the frustrated Bronx resident wrote about the school in her lawsuit.

"She's angry," said Thompson's mother, Carol. "She's very angry at her situation. She put all her faith in them, and so did I. They're not making an effort.

"She's finally finished [with school], and I'm so proud of her. She just wants a job."

The mother and daughter live together, but are struggling to get by. Carol, a substitute teacher, has been the only breadwinner.

"This is not the way we want to live our life," the mom said. "This is not what we planned."

As if being unemployed weren't enough, Trina's student loans are coming due, saddling the family with more debt, the mom said.

"We're going to be homeless, and we'll still have a student loan to pay," Carol said.

Monroe insists it helps graduates in their careers.

"The lawsuit is completely without merit," school spokesman Gary Axelbank said. "The college prides itself on the excellent career-development support that we provide to each of our students, and this case does not deserve further consideration."

The college's Office of Career Advancement advertises lifetime free service for graduates, and boasts on the school's Web site: "We have many resources available for students at any stage of their college career, and even after graduation."

Vermont man opens Recession Taxi

By Joel Banner Baird

Free Press Staff Writer 

August 2, 2009

ESSEX — You read it right the first time: the message on the taxi’s back window really reads, “Pay What You Want!”

Eric Hagen, 46, an Essex resident and the SUV’s owner (and sole proprietor of Recession Ride Taxi) smiles a lot, but he isn’t joking. He’s making a profit.

“Nobody has shortchanged me yet,” he said Saturday. “Nobody’s stiffed me. I’ve decided to empower the customer; they like the fact they can decide.”

Hagen, who still works full time at the American Red Cross in Burlington, hatched his improbable business model in June.

“I hadn’t thought about it before,” he said. “I was watching CNBC — the financial station — and it suddenly hit me: Everybody’s always hearing, ‘This is what your mortgage is going to be; this is what your car payment’s going to be.’ People want to get away from that.”

Low start-up costs and low overhead prompted Hagen to get a cabbie’s license and insurance.

He printed up some business cards with his cell phone number, and waited.

The first half of July, Hagen took far more questions than fares: “People were coming up to me in parking lots and asking, ‘Is this for real?’ I’d tell them, ‘This is for real.’ And I’d give them a card.

“After two weeks, business really started picking up,” he continued. “That’s the way consumers are: they’re curious at first, and then they gain trust. And I’m trusting that the consumer is going to be fair. Maybe that’s what people need right now.”

The New York Stock Exchange, where Hagen worked in the 1990s, shaped Hagen’s take on what he liked — and didn’t like — in the world of finance.

Stints at Putnam Investments and Bombardier Capital (now GE Commercial Finance) sharpened his search for a different way to do business.

“It caused me to be more empathetic: You’d see millions of dollars in losses. You’d see corruption, and then you’d talk to people who’ve lost their entire savings, lost their retirement,” he said. “It made me think there’s got to be a different approach.”

Hagen offers Recession Ride customers an expanding selection of what he terms “the fringe benefits” of his service.

Repeat customers get their business cards punched; every seventh ride is free — as long as it’s within Chittenden County.

He keeps a cooler in the Durango loaded with pay-what-you-can iced bottles of water, Gatorade and soft drinks.

Other benefits of “membership” are still in the development stage.

Hagen’s city of Burlington permit is still in the works, but he’s taking people’s numbers for future rides. He keeps his cell phone on, day and night.

So far, he’s taken no heat from cabbies who follow more traditional codes of commerce — just a few phone calls to satisfy a growing curiosity: Is Recession Ride legit?

He tells them business is good, and growing.

Like other cabbies, Hagen keeps a detailed log. He’s earned about $600 in two weeks, working Thursday nights through Sunday evenings.

Most, but not all of his transactions are in cash. One fare, a musician, gave him a newly minted CD. Another proffered a Hannaford’s Supermarket card.
“It had $10 on it. It was a fair trade,” he said.

“I believed from the start that this would work,” he continued. “I believed that people are going to be generous enough to make it worth my while, and I’m going to be generous enough to let them decide.”

Last Updated: 10:18 am | Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Cincinnati Enquirer 

 GREEN TOWNSHIP - Susan and Doug Hayes knew they had a problem with bees.

As far back as 2007 the parents of four saw a swarm of bees flying around the third story of their Green Township home. They made informal enquiries about removal, but the bees didn't bother them and they didn't bother the bees.

So, the bees stayed with the hope a harsh winter would kill them off.

Then their 7-year-old son was stung last Monday - by what turns out wasn't even one of "their" bees.

Still, it led the family to seek help removing the bees and to the jaw-dropping discovery that ten of thousands - possibly up to 70,000 - honey bees were living in the walls of their home.

"I love nature, bees are important to our ecosystem" Susan Hayes said. "It breaks my heart that I destroyed their home, but they were destroying mine."

Bill Jones, a beekeeper and owner of Loveland Honey, put her mind at ease.

The bees were honeybees and thus endangered. No killing allowed, Jones told the couple.

"The queen and the comb was everywhere," he said. "If anything was open they filled it."

Jones wasn't daunted by the scope of the job, even though it meant pulling off part of the roof.

Jones sucked them up with a bee-vac, a vacuum-like machine that sucks the bees into a box, outfitted with a cushion so the bees don't get hurt.

"It's not the biggest job we've ever done," said Jones, who has been in the bee business for the last four years. "But, it is the most intense, because they went behind the chimney."

The biggest job, at an apartment complex in Springboro just a couple of weeks ago, had about 80,000 bees, he said.

Jones and his crew took out 22 pounds of honey and comb, which Jones said he'll re-use as much as of as he can.

As for the bees, they're getting new home in rural Ohio.

"Right now there is a shortage of bees all over the world, so we're doing everything we can to help them along," Jones said.

Repairs will last through the first part of this week, Jones said.

The cost of removal, about $2,800.

But the Hayes did get something out of the honeycomb mess: a favorite new recipe.

Jones gave the family some honey and Hayes made honey pork chops.

"The kids ate every bite,'' Hayes said. "They said they want it again."

 

The Enquirer/ Ernest Coleman 

Rees Hayes, 7, left holds a honey bee cone that was inside the walls of his family home in Green Township. Behind him they are his father and mother Doug and Susan Hayes, and his three sisters Kyle, 11, Devan, 14 and little sister Lilyanna, 5.

 

The Enquirer / Ernest Coleman 

The exterior of the home had to be removed to extract the beehive.