Society's Child

Brooklyn bills cyclist $1,200 for damage to police car that struck him

Dan Mangan
The New York Post
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:41 UTC

New York - The city added a thousand-dollar insult to an already painful injury when it demanded that a Brooklyn cyclist pay for damage to the police car that struck and sent him flying.

"I think it's preposterous," said Justin Johnsen, 31, who received the $1,263.01 bill from the city last month for the Nov. 5 accident on Flushing Avenue that left him with deep cuts that required stitches.

"I was upset. I was in kind of disbelief that they were going to send this letter after four months or so and ask me to pay damages for their vehicle, when they hit me when I was on a bicycle," added Johnsen, who was not ticketed for the crash.

The case is at least the third in recent months in which the city has billed people for damages to police cars that hit people.

And after The Post made inquiries about Johnsen's case, it became at least the third time the city abruptly dropped such a stunning demand for money.

"They should be sending an apology letter instead of a bill," fumed lawyer Daniel Flanzig, who took the case pro bono after learning that the city was threatening to sue Johnsen if he didn't cough up the cash.

Spontaneous celebrations erupt across UK following death of Margaret Thatcher

Barry Neild
The Guardian
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 03:04 UTC

Several hundred people gathered in south London on Monday evening to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death with cans of beer, pints of milk and an impromptu street disco playing the soundtrack to her years in power.

Young and old descended on Brixton, a suburb which weathered two outbreaks of rioting during the Thatcher years. Many expressed jubilation that the leader they loved to hate was no more; others spoke of frustration that her legacy lived on.

To cheers of "Maggie Maggie Maggie, dead dead dead," posters of Thatcher were held aloft as reggae basslines pounded.

Clive Barger, a 62-year-old adult education tutor, said he had turned out to mark the passing of "one of the vilest abominations of social and economic history".

He said: "It is a moment to remember. She embodied everything that was so elitist in terms of repressing people who had nothing. She presided over a class war."

Amanda Knox retrial: don't forget Meredith Kercher this time

David Barrett
The Telegraph, UK
Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC

Ahead of Amanda Knox's retrial, David Barrett charts the media and general public's fascination by women who transgress - often at the expense of the victim - particularly if they kill, or are accused of doing so.

The impending retrial for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher fills many court-watchers with dread, myself included.

Details of the crime are horrific enough. But during the lengthy court processes which we have already witnessed, my discomfort was intensified by the obsession with Amanda Knox.

The photogenic young American, now 25, was convicted and then acquitted of the 2007 murder. She received more sympathy than most suspects who have ever stood in the dock on such a serious charge.

The media pack which followed the Italian trial would often comment on Knox's apparent frailty; the "stress" she was suffering or whether she looked "pale". It made me gag.

India use drones to protect rhinos from poachers

Wasbir Hussain
ABC News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC

Gauhati, India - Wildlife authorities are using aerial drones to oversee a sprawling natural game park in northeastern India to protect the one-horned rhinoceros from armed poachers.

Security officers conducted flights of the unmanned aircraft over the Kaziranga National Park on Monday and will fly drones at regular intervals to prevent rampant poaching in the park in the remote Indian state of Assam.

The drones are equipped with cameras and will be monitored by security guards, who find it difficult to guard the whole 480-square kilometer (185-square mile) reserve.

"Regular operations of the unmanned aerial vehicles will begin once we get the nod of the Indian defense ministry," said Rokybul Hussain, the state's forest and environment minister.

PETA plans to fly drones that would 'stalk hunters'

Jason Koebler
U.S. News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC

PETA says it's actively shopping for a drone to monitor hunters.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is actively shopping for a drone that would "stalk hunters," the organization said Monday.

The group says it will "soon have some impressive new weapons at its disposal to combat those who gun down deer and doves" and that it is "shopping for one or more drone aircraft with which to monitor those who are out in the woods with death on their minds."

The group says it will not weaponize the drones, but will use them to film potentially illegal hunting activity and turn it over to law enforcement.

"The talk is usually about drones being used as killing machines, but PETA drones will be used to save lives," PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk said in a statement.

Massachusetts Cafeteria workers punish kids who owed lunch money by dumping meals

Lindsay Jolivet
Yahoo! Canada News - Daily Buzz
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 01:49 UTC

Like taking lunch from a fifth-grader.

The line doesn't quite have the same ring as taking candy from a baby but the staff of a food service company at a middle school Attleboro, Massachusetts learned last week that it will still get you fired.

About two dozen students at Coelho Middle School lined up for lunch last Tuesday and carried their food trays to the checkout. But they weren't allowed to eat that food, according to the Associated Press.

Man spends 'weekend from hell' in Edmonton hospital

CBC News
Sun, 07 Apr 2013 00:00 UTC

Canada, Alberta - What started out as a simple injury turned into something much worse, says Greg Poirier.

Poirier, 64, hurt his leg and foot when he fell down the stairs into his basement suite late Thursday night. He managed to drag himself into his apartment where he called a taxi to come pick him up.

He said he then made his way to the emergency ward at the University of Alberta Hospital, where he waited over four hours to be treated.

He said when he finally made it in, he was given painkillers and two nurses attempted to bandage his leg.

By then, he said, the pain in his foot was excruciating.

"I said: 'Girls, I appreciate your help but it's not helping - it's just making it more painful' - five minutes later I was released."

Poirier then took a taxi home. When he arrived, he was forced to crawl to his door and back down the stairs. When he finally made it inside, he collapsed on the couch and fell asleep.

Soon after he woke up, his phone rang. A woman who Poirier believes may have been a U of A hospital manager was calling.

"She didn't announce her name but she was extremely angry. She said 'you shouldn't have been released... you have to return to the hospital.'"

Although he was tempted to ignore the call, or go elsewhere, Poirier phoned Blue Cross and requested an ambulance to take him back to the hospital.

Dziekanski death at hands of RCMP a homicide, British Columbia coroner rules

Curt Petrovich
CBC News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 03:12 UTC

Taser jolts led to Polish immigrant's fatal heart attack in 2007, report says.

© Paul Pritchard/Canadian Press
Robert Dziekanski holds a small table at the Vancouver airport before he was stunned with a Taser by police in this image from video.

The death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in an altercation with RCMP officers at Vancouver's airport six years ago was a homicide, British Columbia's Coroners Service says.

Homicide is considered a neutral term in a coroner's report, meaning the death was caused by the actions of another person; it does not imply any blame.

Dziekanski, 40, who did not speak English, became agitated after spending more than nine hours wandering in the airport arrivals area in October 2007 and was confronted by four Mounties who stunned him several times with a Taser.

The incident was captured on amateur video, which fuelled public anger and prompted the government to order a public inquiry headed by former justice Thomas Braidwood.

Iowa woman hangs pit bull from garage rafter by its leash

Alexis Shaw
ABC News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:06 UTC

An Iowa woman was charged with animal torture after she hanged a dog she shared with her boyfriend from a rafter in his garage.

Sheena Cornwell, 28, of Des Moines told police she hanged Lilly, a 15-year-old pit bull mix, by her collar and leash because she "was going to die soon anyway," the police report stated.

Cornwell did not leave the garage to return to the house until the dog was dead, her boyfriend, Joshua Vandyke, told police.

Sgt. Jason Halifax, a Des Moines Police Department spokesman, told ABCNews.com that Cornwell's boyfriend, Joshua Vandyke, came home from work around 5 p.m. on Saturday and found Cornwell upset about Lilly's behavior. Vandyke told police that Cornwell then took the dog into the garage.

According to the police report, Vandyke told police that Cornwell had been annoyed with Lilly for the past two months, because the dog paced back and forth in the house, but he was shocked that she would do this.

Halifax said that when police arrested Cornwell, she admitted to hanging the dog and said she didn't know what the big deal was. Vandyke had told police that Cornwell had a drinking problem and had been drinking vodka on Saturday, according to the police report.

11,000 pounds of Nutella stolen

Lauren Torrisi
ABC News
Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:52 UTC

Coffee and energy drinks are apparently not the only food products that thieves have an affinity for in Niederaula, Germany.

About 11,000 pounds of Nutella were stolen this weekend from a truck parked at a former train station there.

'Pfizer Shares Surge After Release Of 'Miracle' COVID Pill That Is 89% Effective At Preventing Hospitalization' [Link] * 'Take four red capsules....

parzival

.. .. RT, airplanes, 9/11 & Pelostine: [Link]

Jibrish

Let's go pfizzer! or, Rumor is these 'inexplicably timed, heavily publicized, odd' funds are an additional, off the books entitlement to them...

Jibrish

"Although there isn't a currently known asteroid that's on an impact course with the Earth,…..” They might just fix that next October.

L. Wood

' A powerful watch and an SOS from Australia ' [Link]

parzival

Society's Child

Brooklyn bills cyclist $1,200 for damage to police car that struck him

Spontaneous celebrations erupt across UK following death of Margaret Thatcher

Amanda Knox retrial: don't forget Meredith Kercher this time

India use drones to protect rhinos from poachers

PETA plans to fly drones that would 'stalk hunters'

Massachusetts Cafeteria workers punish kids who owed lunch money by dumping meals

Man spends 'weekend from hell' in Edmonton hospital

Dziekanski death at hands of RCMP a homicide, British Columbia coroner rules

Iowa woman hangs pit bull from garage rafter by its leash

11,000 pounds of Nutella stolen

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