Society's ChildS


Cow

Farmer in New Zealand jailed over 'horrendous' animal cruelty

Cow
© New Zealand herald
A farmer who broke 115 of his cows' tails and hit the animals with steel pipes and milking cups in the cow shed has been jailed.

Lourens Barend Erasmus, 40, was originally sentenced to 10 months of home detention with judicial monitoring when he appeared before the Waihi District Court last year.

But the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) appealed against the sentence and yesterday, in the High Court at Rotorua, Erasmus was jailed for two years and one month.

MPI animal welfare compliance officer Brendon Mikkelsen described the offending as "severe".

"It clearly was one of the worst types of animal welfare offending in this district and nationally."

The court had previously heard that an investigation revealed Erasmus had broken the tails of 115 of his 135 cows over a period of three to four weeks.

Other cows had broken jaws.

Eye 1

Atlanta doctor sentenced for prison sex

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A former prison doctor who tried to play out his gay sex fantasies in Atlanta's federal pen is now an inmate himself. For the next two years.

Lewis Jackson, 34, was sentenced Thursday in federal district court for assaulting three inmates in October 2011. That's when he tried perform oral sex on the men as they sought medical treatment at the prison in southeast Atlanta. In one case, he pushed for anal sex.

Jackson pleaded guilty in November and now faces a sentence of 2 years, 1 month in prison. He's also awaiting sentencing in Washington, D.C. on similar charges.

Bizarro Earth

Man claims IRS agent coerced him into sex

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© Shutterstock
An Oregon man is suing the U.S. Government and a female IRS agent he alleges pressured him into sex, by threatening a tax penalty.

Vincent Burroughs, of Fall Creek, Ore., says the harassing relationship began in August of 2011 when Dora Abrahamson, an agent with the Internal Revenue Service, called him and said he would be audited, CBS affiliate KVAL reports.

Burroughs says he didn't know Abrahamson, and that he hadn't met her before those calls - nor had he heard that he was being audited by the IRS.

"She was sending me texts that she wanted to come out, give me massages because she needed to help me relax," Burroughs said in a phone interview with KVAL News.

Black Magic

Woman burned alive for 'sorcery' in Papua New Guinea

PNG Map
© BBC
A woman has been tortured and burned alive in Papua New Guinea after being accused of using sorcery to kill a young boy, local media report.

The woman, a mother aged 20 named as Kepari Leniata, was stripped, tied up and doused in petrol by the boy's relatives in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands, said the National newspaper.

She was then thrown onto a fire in front of hundreds of people.

Police and firefighters were unable to intervene, the paper said.

The Post Courier newspaper said they had been outnumbered by the crowd and chased away. Both newspapers published graphic photos of the incident on their front pages.

Provincial police commander Supt Kaiglo Ambane told the National that police were treating the case as murder and would arrest those responsible.

Chess

Keep remarkable "Mustang" sculpture at DIA

DIA Mustang
© Helen H. Richardson, Denver Post "Mustang," a 32-foot sculpture of a wild horse, is seen at Denver International Airport. Now that the controversial public work of art has been in place for five years, it is possible for citizens to petition to have it removed.
We come before you today to fend off any notion of rounding up a posse and going after the ferocious animal looming on a small piece of range east of this ol' cowtown.

With its bulging muscles, lurid veins and eerie red eyes, the great blue beast has been the bane of many a man, woman and child since it came to town on Feb. 11, 2008.

Known to some in these parts as "Blucifer," "Devil Horse," or "The Blue Stallion of Death," it could soon be open season on the creature properly known as "Mustang," the sculpture that stands guard at Denver International Airport.

As reported last week by Westword, petitions to remove public art in Denver are accepted after five years - a policy intended to avoid knee-jerk decisions on placement, fit and aesthetic.

Though a half-serious effort four years ago drew considerable interest, to our knowledge no one is proposing the piece be sent out to pasture. And we hope no one does.

Card - VISA

666 on tax form makes man quit job to save soul

Walter
© Jae S Lee / The TennesseanWalter Slonopas shows his ID badge and W-2 form with the number 666 that prompted him to quit his job.
A Clarksville man said that he quit his job last week in order to save his soul.

Walter Slonopas, 52, resigned as a maintenance worker at Contech Casting LLC in Clarksville after his W-2 tax form was stamped with the number 666.

The Bible calls 666 the "number of the beast," and it's often used as a symbol of the devil. Slonopas said that after getting the W-2, he could either go to work or go to hell.

"If you accept that number, you sell your soul to the devil," he said.

Bob LaCourciere, vice president of sales and marketing for the Revstone Corp., which owns Contech Casting, said that Slonopas' W-2 was labeled with 666 by the company that handles Contech's payroll. It refers to the order in which the forms were mailed out, he said.

This isn't the first time that the Satanic number has caused Slonopas trouble at work.

During his first day on the job in April 2011, Slonopas was supposed to be assigned the number 668 to use when he clocked in. But the human resources department gave him the wrong number - 666 - instead.

Slonopas, who said he became a born-again Christian about 10 years ago, complained and was given a new number.

Fish

Man sentenced for abusing Great White Shark

Great White
© Ocean Society
Animal abuse cases usually involve common pets, like dogs and cats, but a South African man was sentenced this week for abusing a great white shark.

Leon Bekker of George in the Western Cape pleaded guilty to his contravention of various sections of the Marine Living Resources Act No 18 of 1988. He was charged with "fishing for, collecting, attempting to kill, disturbing, harassing, chumming or attracting using bait or other means, keeping controlling or being in possession of a white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) or part thereof, without a permit."

He was sentenced to a fine of 120,000 South African rands ($13,200) or a year in jail.

According to the organization Oceans Society, last year in Mossel Bay, Bekker hooked a great white shark in front of onlookers. He and two others then dragged the shark onto the rocks, using both a large hook and also by placing their hands into its gills. The shark lay on the rocks while photographs were taken of Bekker with his catch. (You have to wonder if he was inspired by Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons, who infamously shot an elephant and had photographs quickly snapped to capture the moment.)

Bad Guys

Chef Peter Cumming kills girlfriend because she wasn't hungry - gets life sentence in High Court

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Scottish chef Peter Cumming will spend the rest of his left behind bars after admitting to the High Court in Glasgow that he killed his girlfriend, Lynda Brown.

Cumming, 58, stabbed Brown to death while the couple was preparing for a dinner party. According to The Daily News, he flew into a rage after he returned home ready to cook and Brown told him that she had already eaten and wasn't hungry.

This sparked an argument between the couple and caused Cumming to become "really angry."

That anger prompted him to grab a large knife from the kitchen.

2 + 2 = 4

Life skills program sends Down syndrome child home from school with shoes duct-taped to feet

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An 8-year-old girl with Down syndrome recently came home from elementary school with her shoes duct-taped to her feet and ankles.

For obvious reasons, the girl's parents, Nate and Elizabeth Searcy, wanted to know why their daughter Shaylyn arrived from her life skills program at Westlake Elementary in such a manner.

They have yet to receive an answer.

Phoenix

Volunteer fire fighter Alex Averette arrested for setting Colorado wildfire

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© ECSOAlex J. Averette was charged on Tuesday with setting wildfires that burned for 18 days last June in Colorado's Elbert County.
A Colorado firefighter is in hot water after he allegedly set fire to a Colorado town, forcing it to evacuate according to a Feb. 5, 2013 press release from the Elbert County Sheriff's office.

Alex J. Averette, 19, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly setting fire to the Colorado town of Elbert on June 24, 2012. The Elbert County Sheriff has spent several months investigating the fire that burned several hundred acres and caused the evacuation of the Town of Elbert and surrounding area.

Averette, a volunteer fire fighter and Elbert County resident, is being held responsible for the fire that lasted for 6 operational periods (12 hours each) and utilized over 100 fire and law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies.

Averette is being held at the Elbert County Jail on a $50,000.00 bond for the offenses of Intentionally Setting Wildfire, 2nd Degree Arson, Reckless Endangerment, Criminal Mischief and 2nd Degree Criminal Trespass.

The June 2012 fire, known as the "County Road 102 Fire", burned for 18 days north of the town of Elbert in the area of County Road 102.