Church blesses fathers with beer

Bottles of beer will be given to fathers who attend church, in an alternative "blessing" for Father's Day. 

Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Published: 9:00PM BST 20 Jun 2009

A senior bishop has backed the move, which is part of a Church of England initiative to put a Christian emphasis on the annual celebration of fatherhood.  Concerns over the lack of men attending services year-round has led clergy to offer a range of incentives today, including free beer, bacon rolls and chocolate bars. 

It is the first time that the Church has attempted to treat Fathers' Day in the same way as Mothering Sunday, which has traditionally formed part of its calendar.

The plan to distribute ale has upset groups working to tackle alchohol abuse, but the Rt Rev John Inge, the Bishop of Worcester, said that it could help churches to attract more men.    He argued that the free beer was intended to be symbolic of "the generosity of God".

Men at St Stephen's church in Barbourne, Worcester, will be handed bottles of beer by children during the service.   A prayer will be said for the fathers before the gifts are distributed. 

The Ven Roger Morris, archdeacon of Worcester, who will be leading the service at St Stephen's today, said that it was a practical way of sending a message to fathers.

"I don't see any other time that we can stop and remember fathers, and this is a gesture saying 'Here's something that will bless you,'" he said.

Posies of flowers are given to mums on Mothering Sunday and we wanted to give a laddish, blokeish gift to the men.   A bottle of beer hits the mark. The whole of life is to be celebrated in church.

"However, Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, criticised the Church, claiming that it was acting irresponsibly.   

"Bearing in mind country is facing rising health harms from its high level of alcohol consumption, anyone in a position of authority or respect should perhaps think twice about promoting alcohol to the public," he said. 

Bishop Inge said that it was wrong to claim that the move would encourage alcholism, and encouraged churches to use it as a way to reach out to men.

"Jesus created a lot more wine at a point in the party when some thought that there had already been enough drinking.   He was all in favour of partying, " the bishop said.  "We give wine away every Sunday, so giving away beer could be said to going downmarket a bit, but it's an attempt to speak of God's generosity.  "It's something that could be used as part of a service to encourage fathers to come.   Once they are in church, hopefully they will be challenged by the deeper questions around fatherhood

The bishop said that the Church was keen to support fathers and "to do everything possible to encourage them to take their responsibility very seriously".

A survey conducted by Opinion Business Research (ORB) found that less than a fifth of men claim to attend some type of church service once a month, compared with more than a quarter of women.

Some churches are trying to lure men back with the offer of free food. St Michael's, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is holding a Hog Roast on the church forecourt and St Mary's, Arnold, Nottingham, will serve bacon rolls as men arrive at its service.

The Church has also published resources for clergy to use to hold special Fathers' Day services, including prayers for children to thank their fathers.

Sunday: The Longest Day of the Year

Robert Roy Britt

Live Science

Editorial Director

posted: 20 June 2009 09:30 am ET

If you've been waiting for the chance to get more done during the day, Sunday is your day, but only by a fraction of a second.

Like a giant timepiece, Earth and sun are configured for the summer solstice once again. This year it happens June 21, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun will be up a fraction of a second longer than the day prior or the day after. (The length of the full day, including night, does not change, of course.)

To grasp how it works, one must understand Earth's <snip>eyed leanings and some celestial configurations that even the ancients knew something about.

Our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees on its spin axis. On June 21 this year (some years it's June 20), the North Pole is pointing toward the sun as much as is possible.

Imagine Earth as an apple sitting on one side of a table, with the stem being the North Pole. Tilt the apple 23.5 degrees so the stem points toward a candle (the sun) at the center of the table. That's summer for the top half of the apple. Now keep the stem pointing in the same direction but move the apple to the other side of the table: Now the stem points away from the candle, and it's winter on the top half of the fruit.

The setup at June solstice puts the sun as high in our sky as it can go.

Scientists put the exact moment of the solstice at 1:45 a.m. ET, which is 05:45 Universal Time (keep in mind that the sun is always up somewhere, and the gods don't favor any time zone).

As long ago as the fourth century B.C., ancient peoples in the Americas understood enough of this that they could create giant calendars driven by sunlight. They built observatories of stone to mark the solstices and other times important for planting or harvesting crops. Shrines and even tombs were also designed with the sun in mind.

The sun comes up each day (except at the poles) because our planet rotates once on its axis every 24 hours or so. It is Earth's tilt, and our 365-day orbit around the sun, that explain much about how our world changes during the year.

Seasons: As Earth orbits the sun, the orientation of the planet's axis, in relation to the sun, changes constantly. A quarter of the way around in the orbit, fall sets in. By winter, we'll be on the other side of the sun, with the North Pole pointing away from the sun. That winter solstice, around Dec. 21 each year, will be the Northern Hemisphere's shortest day, and researchers in Antarctica will be basking in 24-hour sunlight.

Shifting stars: As we orbit the sun, the part of the night sky that's in our view changes. A given star sets about 4 minutes earlier each night. Over a month, this amounts to two hours. In winter, this all means that we're looking at stars that during the summer were in our daytime sky, overwhelmed of course by the glare of the sun. Since we complete a circle every year, the stars of summer, such as the Big Dipper, are always the stars of summer.

Endless summer: At the North Pole, the sun rises once a year, around March 19. It rises until the summer solstice, then sinks but does not truly set until around Sept. 24.

During summer on the top half of Earth, our planet is actually farther from the sun than during winter, a fact owing to our non-circular orbit around the sun. The difference is about 3 million miles (5 million kilometers), and it makes a difference in radiant heat received by the entire Earth of nearly 7 percent. But the difference is more than made up for by the longer days in the Northern Hemisphere summer with the sun higher in the sky.

Which brings up a common question: If the June solstice is the longest day of the year, why are the dog days of August typically hotter? It takes a while for the oceans to warm up, and a lot of weather on land is driven by the heat of the oceans.

The rise of the sun is seen at a 2,300-year-old structure in Peru, between Tower 1 and Cerro Mucho Malo at the June solstice, 2003, viewed from the western solar observatory. The sunrise position at the solstice has shifted to the right approximately 0.3° from the year 300 BC. Credit: Ivan Gh

Each year on June 20 or 21, the sun is as far north as it can get from the celestial equator, marking the solstice. Credit: Starry Night Software

Jewel gang caught after getaway driver refuses to break speed limit

A getaway driver who refused to break the speed limit during a police chase led to a gang of jewel robbers being caught and sent to prison for a total of 20 years.

As they raced from Simon Pure Jewellery Design in the town centre at Guildford, Surrey, where they terrorised two women shop assistants, passers by noted down the number of the escape vehicle.     

Police quickly picked up their trail and were pursued in squad cars with overhead support from the force helicopter.

But as the gang tried to escape, the driver Murray, from Tottenham, took his foot off the pedal every time they went through restricted areas.

Within 30 minutes of fleeing the shop the three man gang was arrested and were on Saturday behind bars.

Murray and accomplice Bradley Jayes, 31, from Islington each got five years while Darren Tomlinson, also from Islington who pleaded guilty to another jewellery store robbery, one count of handling a stolen car and one count of conspiracy to burgle, was jailed for 10 years.

In mitigation at Guildford Crown Court, John Warrington, who was defending Murray, said: "The ordeal for the woman lasted less than a minute and far from a fast getaway the police noted that at times the car was going under the speed limit                                                                                   

 Simon Pure Jewellery in Guildford

Suspected Melbourne dealer faces charges

BY J.D.GALLOP • FLORIDA TODAY • June 18, 2009

A deal to die for: Indianapolis cemetery holds `buy 1, get 1 free' sale on select grave sites

Associated Press

Last update: June 18, 2009 - 2:24 PM

Signs along the street outside the cemetery also advertise that no one with bad credit will be turned down.

British WWI veteran becomes world's oldest man

AP – Britain's oldest man, and oldest

surviving First World War veteran

Henry Allingham, celebrates his 113th …

http://clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/991817?wpid=5728

Jeff City Attorney found asleep in neighbor's trash can

 

Shayla Reaves

Single-mother digital pirate Jammie Thomas-Rasset must pay $80,000 per song

Jammie Thomas-Rasset

Thieves Leave Real Names At Store Before Heist

Reporting
Terry Jessup

LONE TREE, Colo. (CBS4) ?

 

the thieves left their Real names, phone numbers, addresses and e-mail addresses on a card they filled out before they filled their basket.

CBS

  The crime can be reviewed and critiqued since it was all captured on the store's security cameras.

CBS

Man beaten, robbed for bologna sandwich in Oklahoma City

Roger Hamilton told police he was sitting on a bus station bench, preparing to put mayonnaise on his bologna and cheese when a man wearing headphones began staring at him. ,   

Hamilton, 24, told police he asked the man if he could help him, but before he knew it, the man punched him in the mouth and snatched his sandwich.

When police arrived at the Hudson Street bus station Wednesday, they found Hamilton with a swollen lip and his face covered in blood.

Hamilton told police he did not know the man or why he assaulted him and stole his sandwich. He described him as a black man who appeared to be in his 30s.

The police report values the sandwich at 76 cents.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://feeds.newsok.tv/services/player/bcpid4659235001?bctid=26765375001

Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2009

Man nabbed after trying to rob woman and following her - to Madison County sheriff's 

Madison County Sheriff's Capt. Brad Wells said the suspect followed the woman from a gas station near Illinois 143 and Interstate 55 Monday evening and tried to rob her while she was in her vehicle.

The woman, who had her three small children in the vehicle with her when it happened, called 911. The woman, being directed by a dispatcher, drove toward the Madison County Sheriff's Department in Edwardsville. The suspect actually followed her until he realized where she was arriving.

The suspect, 26-year-old Carleous Clay Jr. of West Olive, Mich., was captured shortly afterward. Prosecutors charged him Tuesday with attempted armed robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Wells gave the following account:

The victim was getting gas when she noticed a man drive into the gas station in a black Chevrolet Impala. The man entered the gas station and came outside. The woman left the gas station and headed east on Illinois 143. She saw the man driving behind her.

The woman felt uneasy about the situation and turned into a subdivision, where she went down a cul-de-sac. She stopped her vehicle in the 100 block of Emerald Hills. The man pulled alongside her and asked for directions to the interstate.

The woman knew something was fishy because the man had just left the interstate area. Clay asked the woman for something on which he could write. Clay then showed a black handgun and told the victim not to move, or he would shoot.

The victim fled, driving across a vacant lot. She called 911.

Sheriff's Lt. Gary Burns directed dispatcher Tim Fulcher to have the woman drive toward the sheriff's office. While the woman was on the 911 call, she said the suspect was following her.

"The suspect was running red lights to keep pace with the victim," Wells said.

Deputies were dispatched to try to intercept the suspect. As the woman arrived at the sheriff's office, the suspect turned around in a bank parking lot across the street.

The suspect headed east on Illinois 143 and was stopped near Pin Oak Road in Edwardsville by Deputy Scott Gurley. Clay was taken into custody there, but no gun was found in his vehicle.

Gurley's police dog, however, found the gun near Kiowa Street in Edwardsville. The weapon turned out to be an Airsoft-type gun that resembles a real gun.

During the 911 call, which lasted 7 minutes and 38 seconds, the dispatcher more than once had to calm the woman.

"The whole thing was really handled well, not only by the telecommunicator, but the victim herself," Wells said. "She kept her composure, she was able to tell the telecommunicator where she was at."

The vehicle Clay was driving had been reported stolen Monday in Michigan. He also was wanted for a parole violation in Michigan. Clay has served prison time for robbery charges.

Clay was being held Tuesday in the Madison County Jail with bail set at $100,000 by Circuit Judge Charles Romani Jr

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/809885.html

ATMs on Staten Island rigged for identity theft; bandits steal $500G

BY Alison Gendar
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU CHIEF

Monday, May 11th 2009, 4:00 AM

One suspected member of the Staten Island ATM-rigging crew is caught on videotape.

The scam used a 'skimmer' to slyly acquire card information from unsuspecting bank customers.

With their intricate scheme, the men are believed to have stolen more than $500,000.

A band of brazen thieves ripped off hundreds of New Yorkers by rigging ATMs to steal account and password information from bank customers.

They used the pilfered info to swipe half a million dollars from their victims' bank accounts - the latest twist in increasingly aggressive identity-theft scams, police said.

"This crew is sophisticated," said Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen, head of the NYPD's special investigations division. "And they are coming up with new ways to steal your identity every day."

The scam is part of a chronic assault on people's identity.

From pickpockets hoping to hit pay dirt with a stolen purse to service workers in hotels, hospitals and restaurants selling confidential information, personal data is a hot commodity and under constant threat.

The NYPD is hunting the rigged-ATM crew after the havoc they created stealing from Sovereign Bank customers.

They sauntered into Staten Island branches on Henderson Ave. and Amboy Road and installed devices on the bank's ATM machines, police said.

The first - a skimmer - went over the slot where customers insert their ATM cards. The skimmer reads, and stores, the personal information kept in the magnetic strip on the back of the bank card.

The second gizmo was a tiny camera hidden in the lighted signs over the ATM.

The pinhole camera lens pointed directly onto the ATM keypad and filmed victims typing in their supposedly secret PIN codes.

The crew stole more than $500,000 from more than 250 victims - money the bank is now reimbursing.

"They would download the information collected by the skimmer and synchronize it with the video, and they would have your bank accounts and your PIN number, and [start] grabbing all they can," Antonsen said.

The thieves would then create their own phony ATM cards and use their victim's PIN to dip into accounts, often going to other banks, like Citibank, to make the withdrawals.

Robert Schwartz said he was checking his accounts online last month when he noticed two suspicious withdrawals - one for $600, plus a $3 ATM charge, and a second, a few minutes later, for $403.

"They took out the maximum for the day. I was just lucky I noticed it before they hit me for another $1,000," said Schwartz, 44, a UPS driver.

Schwartz called the the bank, which put an immediate hold on his account, thwarting a third attempted withdrawal. The bank refunded his loss.

Pictures of three crew members were captured by the banks' surveillance cameras as the thieves installed the devices or withdrew money, said Lt. Ruperto Aguilar, head of the NYPD's identity theft squad.

Skimmers, now illegal, have turned up on bank ATM machines and gas pumps and in the pockets of crooked waiters at high-end restaurants, police said.

"I always keep my eyes open, but they still got through to my account," Schwartz said. "I don't know how the hell they did it, but they did."

                 FOLLOW-UP TO STORY POSTED ON JUNE 17, 2009--

                              "Man Dressed Up as Dead Mom to 
                               Collect Benefits"

Mother of all scams just gets weirder: Thomas Prusik Parkin kept casket in his living room

William Sherman
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 18th 2009, 4:59 AM

Tina Zimmer

Thomas Prusik Parkin, who is accused of impersonating his dead mother, Irene Pusik, stands beside her coffin during wake at Brooklyn funeral home in 2003.

Adams for News

The gravestone of Irene Prusik, mother of alleged fraudster Thomas Prusik Parkin.

Adams for News

Thomas Prusik Parkin and Mhilton Rimolo (below) are escorted to the Brooklyn Supreme Court by detectives.

Adams for News

A Brooklyn man accused of dressing as his dead mother to collect $1 million in benefits and loans kept a casket in his living room, investigators said.

City marshals made the discovery when they showed up to evict Thomas Prusik Parkin and his brother from a Park brownstone at the center of the alleged scam.

It's unclear why Parkin had the coffin - another bizarre detail in a case so twisted it shocked probers from the Brooklyn district attorney's office.

"Mark Twain said truth is stranger than fiction, and this is a great example of that," Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes said yesterday as Parkin was indicted.

He was hit with 47 counts of grand larceny, forgery and conspiracy. His alleged accomplice, Mhilton Rimolo, also was indicted.

They face up to 25 years in prison if they're convicted. After pleading guilty, they were ordered held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Parkin, 49, allegedly began posing as his mother, Irene Prusik, after she died in 2003.

He filed a blizzard of bogus documents with government agencies, collecting $62,000 in Social Security payments and $65,000 in state rent subsidies, officials said.

Rimolo, 47, is accused of posing as Irene Prusik's nephew and escorting Parkin - who walked with a cane and wore a wig, makeup, nail polish and long, red dresses.

"He said he's not Norman Bates," Hynes said, referring to the twisted character from the movie "Psycho" who dons his dead mother's clothing.

"This guy is not stupid; this guy is very smart. His schemes were brilliant."

Bureaucrats, banks, lawyers, mortgage brokers and title company representatives were all fooled by the cross-dressing con, prosecutors said.

Just two months ago, Parkin allegedly posed as his mother to get a $938,250 mortgage on a $2.2 million Park Slope brownstone - despite the fact it was owned by someone else who bought it in foreclosure in 2003.

Parkin and his family lived in the home for decades and stayed after it was sold.

Until the marshals showed up in March, he managed to avoid eviction and paying rent with a flurry of legal actions in which he posed as his mother and even invented a son and a nephew, officials said.

RELATED STORIES:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/18/2009-06-18_even_judge_struggled_to_follow_accused_dragnuts_phantoms.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/17/2009-06-17_psycho_son_.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/06/17/2009-06-17_cops_brooklyn_man_impersonates_dead_mother.html