Society's ChildS


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Tennessee fisherman rescued after dangling over dam for three hours

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© Courtesy James Clark/Southern Standard NewspaperGreg and Gary Cherry are shown in a boat dangling over a dam at Pepper Branch Park in McMinnville, Tenn., Jan. 20, 2013.
Two Tennessee brothers already have plans to fish again next weekend, despite dangling precariously over a dam for three hours after their boat's motor died Sunday.

Greg and Gary Cherry were fishing for bass and perch on their weekly outing when the motor of their Bass Tracker III conked out at the edge of the Barren Fork River Dam in McMinnville, Tenn.

The current began tugging the boat over the edge when Greg Cherry, 47, shoved the motor down to hold the boat in place and called for his brother to quickly join him in the back of the boat.

"Weight transfer is the best thing in that situation," Greg Cherry told ABCNews.com.

"We locked our arms and I said, 'We're in this together,'" Greg Cherry, 47, said. "I said, 'I love you,' and [Gary] said, 'I love you, too.' And if one of us goes over, we're going over together."

Ambulance

New Orleans Police: 5 shot along Martin Luther King parade route

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© Photo: YouTube/Screen Grab
At least five people were shot along the route for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade route, the New Orleans Police Department said on Monday.

WVUE reported that the incident happened at around 1:15 p.m. ET, just 30 minutes after the march passed the location of the shooting at the intersection of MLK and Lasalle Street.

NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas told reporters that one suspect was spotted fleeing the scene in a late model white sedan. Shots were thought to have been fired from the vehicle. Surveillance video was being reviewed by New Orleans police.

Red Flag

Atlanta Falcons fan pistol whips TV after loss to San Francisco

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An Atlanta fan was so distraught after the San Francisco's record comeback to defeat the Falcons on Sunday that he pistol whipped his flat screen television.

In an unverified cell phone video that was posted on Sunday, the cameraman announces that the fan "just broke his fucking TV."

At that point, the fan pulls a gun out of his pocket and slams the butt into the already-cracked screen. With each blow, the screen flashes a bright white light. The man then throws the television to the ground and repeatedly stomps it.

Bizarro Earth

Authorities confirm missing man's head and hands were hidden in Georgia man's wall

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© APThis December 2012 handout photo provided by the Effingham County Sheriff's Office shows Chad Moretz, who was shot dead by a SWAT team on Jan. 11, 2013.
The severed head and hands found inside a Georgia man's wall were confirmed as belonging to a man missing since New Year's Eve, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

Medical examiners confirmed that the body parts belonged to 35-year-old Charlie Ray, a friend of Chad Moretz, 34, who was killed by a SWAT sniper during a standoff with police on January 11. Moretz was shot dead after coming out of his house carrying an assault rifle.

Music

New York ex-con charged for shooting neighbor's guitar over loud music

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© Shutterstock
A Queens man turned down a plea deal on Friday after being accused of breaking into his neighbors' house and registering an unusual noise complaint by firing a bullet into their guitar.

Court documents obtained by DNAinfo.com New York said that 43-year-old Jeffrey Marino kicked in the door of a Rego Park apartment and yelled, "Your music is too loud... I'm going to kill you."

Marino is accused of firing a single round from his .38-caliber pistol into a guitar hanging over the head of one of the residents.

A second roommate was awakened by the noise and was ordered to get on the ground at gunpoint, according to the court documents. Marino allegedly pointed the gun at all three roommates and directed them not to report the crime.

Eye 1

Cassandra Elfers, middle school volleyball coach, charged with sex abuse of student

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Cassie Elfers is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a minor.
A middle school volleyball coach was arrested for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old student in Kentucky, LEX18 reported.

Cassandra "Cassie" Elfers, 21, a part-time volleyball coach at Sharp Middle School in Pendleton County, turned herself in to authorities on Friday, Fox 19 reported, and now faces first-degree sexual abuse charges.

Elfers' attorney Eric Deters told ABC 9 On Your Side that Elfers did not have sex with the student. He noted that Elfers was also a volunteer basketball coach for the team the 13-year-old boy played on. The coach she assisted was her boyfriend.

"I assume this is going to be an allegation of inappropriate touching," Deters said to station LEX18.

Pistol

Armed Nevada assemblyman arrested for threatening to shoot Assembly speaker

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© SAM MORRIS / LAS VEGAS SUNAssemblyman Steven Brooks is seen on the third day of the 2011 legislative session Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011, in Carson City.
A Democratic assemblyman is in jail, arrested for threatening Democratic Speaker-elect Marilyn Kirkpatrick, according to North Las Vegas Police and Democratic sources familiar with the situation.

Assemblyman Steven Brooks, 40, of North Las Vegas made threats to harm a public official Saturday afternoon, police said in a news release Sunday morning. A source said he was arrested with a loaded gun after threatening to shoot Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick and witnesses who corroborated the allegation prompted police to begin searching for Brooks. About 5:30 p.m., Brooks was seen driving in the area of Carey Avenue and Mt. Hood Street, where he was taken into custody without incident during a traffic stop.

Another Democratic source with knowledge of the situation said Brooks publicly threatened to harm Kirkpatrick because he was unhappy with the committee assignments given to him by Kirkpatrick. The 2013 Legislature begins Feb. 4.

Sheriff

Man tasered by police four times in under a minute before death

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© Photograph: Scott Heppell/PAA police Taser was used four times on Dale Burns in his apartment, where he was said to be resisting arrest.
Officers say they feared for their safety while arresting Dale Burns, 27, who died two hours later after suffering a heart attack.

A bodybuilder was Tasered four times in under a minute by police as they struggled to arrest him, an inquest has heard.

Dale Burns, 27, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, died hours after being repeatedly hit "without warning" by the electric shock gun and pepper-sprayed in the face, as officers tried to hold him with handcuffs and leg restraints, the hearing was told.

Burns, as father of two, was described as a "gentle giant but with a drug habit" who had taken a "gram of Madcat", an illegal drug, on the day he died, the inquest at the County Hall in Kendal heard.

Alan Sharp, the deputy coroner for south and east Cumbria, told the jury of five women and six men they may have to see distressing CCTV footage of a wild-eyed and agitated Burns in the police van after his arrest for criminal damage.

Burns died at Furness General hospital two hours after police were first called to his flat on 16 August 2011.

Question

Japan man 'bit snake-possessed son to death': reports

Tokyo: A 53-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of biting his adult son to death to get rid of a "snake haunting him", Japanese media have reported.

TV Asahi said Katsumi Nagaya seriously injured his son, Takuya, on Friday at the younger man's apartment in Anjo, central Japan, by head-butting and biting him after the 23-year-old began writhing around and claiming to be a serpent.

Takuya was taken to hospital but declared dead a short time later, the broadcaster said.

The suspect reportedly told police he had attacked his son in order to remove the snake from his mind.

Black Cat 2

Economist wants cat-free New Zealand

Cat Free
© OneNewsGareth Morgan wants to see a cat-free New Zealand.
Economist Gareth Morgan is championing a campaign to eradicate cats from New Zealand.

The "Cats to Go" initiative is encouraging owners not to replace their cat when it dies, in an effort to protect native bird species.

"Almost half of Kiwi households have a cat (or two) making New Zealanders the world's biggest cat owners. Cats are incredibly effective hunters and are wiping out our native birds," the campaign website says.

It cites research which claims the average cat brings home 13 pieces of prey each year, but this represents only a fifth of the animals it kills.

It also offers evidence against claims that cats only kill rodents or do no hunt if they are well fed.

"In one study, six cats were presented with a live small rat while eating their preferred food. All six cats stopped eating the food, killed the rat, and then resumed eating the food," the website says.

A video on the site goes further and labels cats as "serial killers" who "torture their victims slowly and without mercy".

The site says cat owners can support the cause by not getting any new cats, fitting their pets with a bell and keeping them indoors at all times. SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge says the campaign is a bit radical and over the top, and questioned the validity of Morgan's research.

He said their surveys show fewer than half of New Zealand's domestic cats kill other animals.