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Irregular News for 04.05.07 :: Teacher Revenge Edition Toronto, Canada -- A suspended Toronto elementary school principal has pleaded guilty to throwing feces (excrement) on a child. Maria Pantalone, 49, was charged with two counts of assault - one against that child and one against another – but only admitted to one of the charges today. “I couldn’t take it any more,” she testified, in describing the provocative circumstances leading up to the incident last June 30. But she agreed it wasn't in any way justified. Pantalone, who is the sister of Toronto Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, was principal of Keele Street Junior Public School and Mountview Alternative, which collectively have 500 students and operate out of the same building near Keele St. and Humberside Ave. The names of the victims cannot be published owing to a ban imposed by provincial court Justice Howard Borenstein. Neither were students at her school. Since being charged last summer, she has been suspended with pay and ordered to stay away from anyone under the age of 16, unless under supervision. Both Crown prosecutor John Ball and defence lawyer Michael Caroline jointly recommended that she receive an absolute discharge, which will leave her without a criminal record, and enter into a peace bond not to have contact with the two children. Caroline submitted some 20 letters of support for his client, including one signed by 19 staff members at her school. source

Irregular News for 04.04.07 Trenton, NJ -- Rescue crews freed a morbidly obese woman from her Mercer County home early Tuesday morning after an all night effort to transport her to an area hospital. Authorities were called to the 100 block of Huff Avenue in Trenton after the woman, believed to weigh over 700 pounds, fell in an upstairs bathroom. Rescue workers arrived at about 5:45 p.m. Monday according to Trenton Fire Department Battalion Chief Gregory Gore. Dozens of area firefighters and paramedics attempted to move the woman, but were unsuccessful after several hours. As the hours went by, the woman was in surprisingly good spirits, Bashir said. "She actually had a pleasant personality. She was laughing and cracking jokes about the situation," Trenton Fire Department Battalion Chief Qareeb Bashir said. Firefighters eventually had to dismantle the toilet and radiator, and rip out part of the bathroom wall and window in order to create a large enough space to move the woman out to a fire truck's large rescue basket. The woman was taken to Mercer Hospital in a specially equipped ambulance, the only one in the state able to move a patient of that size. She was in fair condition in the emergency room Tuesday morning, said hospital spokesman Don MacNeill. Gore didn't immediately know the name of the woman, but said it appeared that she hadn't been downstairs since November, although she was able to move herself to the bathroom. source

Irregular News for 04.04.07 Tampa, FL -- Two eighth-graders were arrested on charges they tried to poison their science teacher by pouring a fabric freshener into her soda, authorities said Monday. The teacher, 51-year-old Jacqueline Hutchins, was not hurt, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. She noticed an odd taste when she sipped her Pepsi on Friday. Other students told deputies the boy and girl, both 15, huddled around the teacher's soda and talked about putting the Febreeze fabric freshener in her soda, Carter said. The students were charged with poisoning, a first-degree felony, Carter said. The teens were taken to the Juvenile Detection Center. Their status was not available Monday. source

Irregular News for 04.03.07 Bock, MN -- Elders in Bock thought the supper club's new owner had little change in mind when he reopened the establishment in the four-block-long town just before Christmas 2002. But Richard J. Jacobson was planning an exotic holiday surprise. "I ran it four days and then remodeled over Christmas and put in a stage [for nude dancers]. It was a late Christmas present," said Jacobson, smiling in his Bock club, a few miles east of Milaca and well-travelled Hwy. 169. "When I reopened, the place was packed. I didn't even do any advertising." Jacobson, 36, is a gadfly to officials in Bock and in Coates, the Dakota County city that forced him to close Jake's Gentlemen's Club in 2002. He was acquitted last month on charges of trying to pack the Coates City Council to get his club reopened. Jacobson said he has rejected a $1 million offer for the Coates bar, which he painted bright pink before leaving town. "I can be feisty when I have to be," he said. Jacobson was ordered to pay more than $6,000 in attorney's fees to Coates during their 10-year court battle. He dumped 600,000 pennies, weighing about 3,700 pounds, on and around a sagging table at a City Council meeting in 2002. Nor has Jacobson forgotten his Coates nemesis, Mayor Jack Gores. His Bock club's name? Fat Jack's Cabaret. Gores declined to comment on the name. Jacobson grew up south of Coates in Cannon Falls. He wrestled and pitched in high school, worked at his father's mobile home dealership and later cooked at his dad's bar. After high school, he worked at a now-defunct strip club in Cannon Falls. His parents separated about the time he graduated in 1988. He left town three days later to study finance at Arizona State University. He transferred to Augsburg College in Minneapolis before the nude dancing business lured him back in 1992. He was hired to open and manage the Coates club and bought it about two years later. 'Some very irate people' In 2002, when Jake's closed, he opened Fat Jack's in Bock. "There were some very irate people," said Clerk-Treasurer Lynda Sjoberg. "The council felt he had pulled a fast one." It suspended his liquor license, and some residents picketed the club. But Fat Jack's kept pouring and the ladies kept stripping. And Sjoberg, who once counted herself among Jacobson's strongest opponents, now lives with Jacobson and manages Fat Jack's. They have been a couple for about two years. The city called the Mille Lacs County sheriff, whose deputies ensured that Jacobson stopped serving liquor, said Undersheriff Alan Marxhausen. So Jacobson sold soft drinks and stayed open till 4 a.m., no longer bound by the 1 a.m. law on serving alcohol, Marxhausen said. After assessing legal options for more than a year, the council in March 2004 granted Jacobson a liquor license, Sjoberg said. She said two council members resigned in protest, as did the new clerk. Sjoberg, who had resigned as clerk months before to care for an ailing son, was rehired and still fills the post. Dennis Girard, who became mayor in January, said Fat Jack's has brought a lot of business to Bock's two gas stations and two other bar-restaurants. Girard said he and his wife have eaten at Fat Jack's, where the X-shaped dance stage is in a separate room from the bar. There's also a shop that sells sex toys and videos. "I've seen the dancers perform at a bachelor's party or two," Girard, 38, said. "It is very tastefully done for the type of place that it is ... They have signs up saying 'Gentlemen - No Touching the Ladies.' " He noted that Fat Jack's gives locals a $2 break on bottled beer. "I am glad they're here," said Girard, sipping a beer at the bar. "We cannot deny it is financially beneficial to the town." The mayor conceded that some in the town of 106, with many retired folks, "have a problem morally with the club." 'He runs a pretty good show' "A lot of people in the city of Bock don't want it there," said Chad Wedell, council president of Emanuel Lutheran Church, Bock's only house of worship. source

Irregular News for 04.03.07 St. Paul, MN -- A few weeks before he murdered his wife in December 2001, Ronald Cram was seen by a neighbor storming out of his St. Paul home and yelling, "I should just kill you and collect the insurance money!" More than five years later, Cram is trying to collect on his wife Colleen's life insurance policy -- even though he has since been convicted of murdering her. Minnesota law prohibits anyone convicted of intentionally killing someone from collecting on their benefits. But Cram has kept his hopes alive, and prevented anyone else from getting the $50,000 in insurance money, by arguing that his conviction isn't final so long as he continues to appeal it. A hearing in the dispute is scheduled April 27 before Ramsey County District Judge Steven Wheeler. Meanwhile, Cram's quest to collect on his murdered wife's life insurance policy puts him in notorious company. A similar insurance claim was made -- unsuccessfully -- by St. Paul attorney T. Eugene Thompson, who was convicted of hiring men to kill his wife in 1963 in one of Minnesota's most celebrated murder cases. Cram's legal battle, and the notion that he just might succeed, is upsetting Colleen Cram's family. "How can he kill somebody, and then have a right to $50,000 in life insurance? I mean, that's not right. That's crazy," said Marcella Konietzko of Ham Lake, Colleen's 82-year-old mother. "He killed her. Why doesn't he leave her alone now?" Tom Cunningham, Colleen's brother, said he's not sure what motivates Ronald Cram but wonders if he's simply trying to be vindictive. "Sometimes I think he is just trying to stretch this out so nobody gets anything," said Cunningham, of Lake Elmo. Clark Thurn, an attorney representing Cram in his life insurance claim, did not return calls seeking comment. Cram, now 51, was convicted in April 2002 of first-degree murder for killing his 46-year-old wife in December 2001. Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, who tried the case herself, said during the trial that Colleen Cram was "a virtual prototype of a battered woman" who escaped her husband's "reign of terror" only by dying in a beating in the couple's St. Paul home. In October 2002, Ronald Cram wrote a letter surrendering his rights as the prime beneficiary of his wife's life insurance policy, making his brother Arlan the only remaining named beneficiary. State law prohibits anyone who "feloniously and intentionally" kills another from collecting on the victim's life insurance policy. But the law also states that a "final judgment of conviction" for the killing is proof that the perpetrator is disqualified from benefiting from the insurance. Ronald Cram had a change of heart after learning that, his lawyer said in court documents. In May 2004, Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan agreed with Cram that he had not waived his right to claim the insurance money, and that his claim to it couldn't be disqualified until his murder conviction became final. That came in August, when the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld Cram's conviction. But since then, he has filed a federal habeas corpus petition alleging that the state courts had violated his rights. And until his request for a federal court review is decided, Cram argues, he and no one else has a rightful claim on the insurance money Both Colleen Cram's estate and Arlan Cram claim they're entitled to the life insurance money. They say that, since the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld his conviction, Ronald Cram has no right to collect the money and that the matter is over despite his federal appeal, they argue in papers filed with Ramsey County District Court. "The Minnesota Court of Appeals has said that if we allowed cases like this to proceed past the direct [conviction] appeal, they could go on forever," said Joshua Hasko, an attorney for Colleen Cram's estate. But Ronald Cram's attorney points out in court papers that the Minnesota Supreme Court denied T. Eugene Thompson's bid to collect his wife's life insurance money after noting that Thompson had exhausted his murder conviction appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. That is "implicit recognition" by the state's high court that Cram's conviction isn't final so long as he has asked the federal courts to review it, Thurn argues. Does Cram have a case? Maybe, said University of Minnesota Law School Prof. Ted Sampsell-Jones. The general rule in criminal law is that a conviction is considered final when a direct appeal like Cram's to the Minnesota Supreme Court is over, he said. But in the context of insurance law, Sampsell-Jones said, "It's at least possible a court could go another way." source

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Irregular News for 03.30.07 Madison, WI -- Sex offenders being held at a state facility are demanding their pay be restored from $2 per hour to the minimum wage, which they had received until recently. Offenders at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center argue the state's $6.50 per hour minimum wage -- which they earned until last month -- should apply to them since they are civilly committed patients and not inmates. More than 50 offenders committed to the center have filed complaints with the state Equal Rights Division, which is investigating the matter, agency spokesman Dick Jones said. The offenders have served their prison sentences but authorities say they are too dangerous to be released until they undergo treatment at Sand Ridge, in Mauston about 80 miles northwest of Madison. They perform jobs around the facility as part of their treatment. Work by inmates has long been exempt from labor laws, and two federal judges in Wisconsin ruled last year the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes the federal minimum wage, does not apply to committed patients. State lawyers have determined that Wisconsin's minimum wage law also doesn't apply, in part because patients receive food, housing and medicine, Watters said in a Jan. 30 memo. The offenders say that doesn't apply to them. "I am not an inmate or a prisoner," Robert Michael Fowler wrote in his complaint earlier this month. "I am being discriminated against because of the mental disability (sexual violent person) that the state says I have." Fowler, 42, was committed in 1999 after he completed a sentence for a 1989 conviction for second-degree sexual assault. Wisconsin law allows the state to indefinitely hold convicted felons determined by courts to be sexually violent and likely to reoffend. The offenders can petition for supervised release after 18 months but most are held far longer. Eighteen other states have similar civil commitment laws but groups such as the National Conference of State Legislatures do not track what patients in those programs are paid. Watters told the patients they would still be earning more than Wisconsin prison inmates, who make as little as 5 cents an hour. source

Irregular News for 03.30.07 Scotland -- A Scottish company has been slammed for inviting customers to "send a poo" to an Englishman on St George's Day. Edinburgh-based firm PostaPoo.com is selling plastic "realistic poo" to send to "your favourite (or least favourite) Englishman" to mark April 23. Customers are given the choice between human or dog-style excrement, wrapped in tissue paper along with a personal message set beside the English flag. But members of the English Democrats Party, which is campaigning for an English Parliament, questioned the stunt's legality. Robin Tilbrook, the party's national chairman, said: "The company's website says they will not send this so-called 'practical joke' if the message is deemed threatening, racist, homophobic, or displays religious bigotry. "It appears to me to be threatening, possibly racist and without question bigoted. It's certainly offensive and possibly an offence." The novelty firm offers the service, with prices starting at £4.99, all year round and claims to prove popular with disgruntled customers and ex-partners seeking revenge. The firm's joint owner Niall Methven, who set up the company around 18 months ago, said it "never even crossed his mind" that the scheme could be perceived as racist. He insisted he has not had any complaints from customers or recipients. source

Irregular News for 03.30.07 Sydney, Australia -- A former Australian judge, who blamed a dead woman for a speeding offence in his car, has been charged by police and could face a hefty jail sentence over his attempts to avoid a A$77 (32 pound) traffic fine. After a long-running investigation that has attracted nationwide publicity, police laid 13 separate charges of perjury, perverting the course of justice and other offences against former judge and human rights advocate Marcus Einfeld. A Sydney newspaper last year sparked the massive police investigation into the use of statutory declarations to avoid speeding fines after revealing a woman blamed for driving Einfeld's car had died three years before the offence. "It will be alleged that the offences relate to four separate camera detection infringement notices," chief police investigator Colin Dyson told reporters. The police investigation found 240 people had also used a scam to blame another dead person, or a man living in another state, after their cars were photographed speeding or committing traffic offences. A Sydney court last August dismissed a speeding charge against Einfeld when he provided a declaration that he had loaned his car to an old friend from the United States on the day of the offence. A Sydney newspaper which attempted to verify Einfeld's story later found the woman had died in a car accident in 2003 -- three years before Einfeld's car was photographed speeding in Sydney. Einfeld, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, was bailed to appear in court in April. The offences he is now charged with carry sentences of up to 14 years in jail. source

Irregular News for 03.29.07 United Kingdom -- A peeping Tom has been banned from going out at night without a fluorescent jacket on. Stephen Cooper, 24, has been ordered to wear the high-visibility clothing so he can be spotted by potential victims. The pervert, who has pleaded guilty to voyeurism, received the order after being caught creeping into a woman's garden and staring through a crack in her curtains. Cooper is awaiting sentence for the offence but in the meantime he has been ordered to don a bright neon coat whenever he ventures out after dark. Cooper admitted the offence which took place on January 11. He was already on the Sex Offenders Register and the offence was the second time he had breached the conditions imposed on him. Judge Peter Dedman made the bizarre ban at Southend Crown Court in Essex after adjourning sentencing while psychiatric reports are drawn up. He said: "I think it is appropriate such an order should be made for the protection of the public in particular women alone, either at home or work or in the street, and also for his own protection to stop him offending. "He has admitted being in someone's garden peering through the crack in the curtains in the hope of seeing something of a nature which would allow hime to reach sexual gratification." The Sex Offenders' Prevention Order was drawn up between Cooper, from South Ockendon, Essex, and the Essex Police public protection team. But some have been outraged by the unusual order, saying it will mark him out as a sex offender. Lesley Bates, a barrister who specialises in sex offence cases, said: "It is very difficult to see how making him wear a fluorescent jacket will prevent further voyeurism. But, perhaps, more seriously, it appears to have failed to consider the potential consequences which are disproportionate to the benefits. "It is tantamount to asking him to walk around wearing a sign saying, 'I'm a sex offender'." source

Irregular News for 03.29.07 Waukesha, WI -- A $1 parking ticket from 1980 has been paid off, after the offender sent the payment along with a $3 late fee to police without giving a name. "It's kind of cool that someone took the time to take care of their obligation after 26 years," police Capt. Mike Babe told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for a story posted online Monday. "Maybe their conscience got to them." The signature on the money order used to pay for the ticket is not legible, and the return address reads: "Someone who keeps way too many old papers way too long." The envelope carried a Chicago postmark. State transportation records show that the license plate number on the ticket is inactive. Waukesha stopped using parking meters in 1989, a city official said. source

Irregular News for 03.29.07 Seattle, WA -- Woodinville High School's 64-0 fastpitch softball win over Franklin last week prompted the KingCo 4A coaches to meet Tuesday night to discuss ways to avoid any kind of repeat performance and led to some soul-searching by Woodinville coach Jim Weir. "Baseball and softball have been part of my life since I was 7 years old," Weir said. "The last thing I want to do is disrespect any opponent, disrespect the game. What happened is unfortunate. I have been questioning myself these last four-five days." "I have so much respect for this game," he added. "What hurts me the most is maybe I hurt that [respect]. That was not my intention." Weir said he was "shocked" by the final score after the March 21 game ended. He said he was concentrating more on making sure his players were playing the game right and had lost count of the score. "If anything positive can come out of this, it's that we can implement some new rules so this never happens again," Weir said. The meeting, held at Juanita High School, was closed to the public but Tim Crowder, Juanita athletic director in charge of KingCo 4A fastpitch, said one proposal was to change the "mercy rule" — when a game is ended early because of a lopsided score. A 15-run lead after three full innings would be the new standard, replacing a 10-run lead after five innings. Fastpitch games normally last seven innings, and state rules require a game to go at least five innings for it to be official. Several other recommendations will be part of the overall plan presented to conference principals and athletic directors, who will make a final decision in the next few weeks. Crowder declined to comment on the other recommendations. "Everyone's on the same page in terms of trying to do what's best for the kids and still compete," Crowder said. Eight of 11 coaches attended the meeting and agreed unanimously on the recommendations, he added. Another suggestion at the meeting involved moving Franklin to a full-time junior-varsity schedule for the rest of the season. The Quakers' struggling program has been beaten 30-0, 24-0 and 13-0 in its three other games. But Crowder said Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules prohibit such a move. Franklin principal Jennifer Wiley said her school's softball team will have to learn how to define success for itself, apart from the scoreboard. "Our program is about taking kids where they are and growing them from game to game," Wiley said. "We're not measuring success by wins and losses. ... Sometimes that puts us at the top of the heap, and sometimes it does not. There's so much more to athletics than winning, and we need to make sure we're cultivating all those things." Wiley said there was no indication from her coaches or players at the game that Woodinville was running up the score. Weir said his team stopped being aggressive — hit-and-runs, taking extra bases, tagging up — after going up 7-0. Weir isn't sure where the line should be drawn. "At what point is it just too much? Twenty, thirty, forty runs?" he asked in a letter on the team's Web site. "If this game does anything positive, it will point out the inequities in our league, rules that need to be changed and the role umpires can take in such an unbalanced game." Wiley said it would be hypocritical of Franklin to ask Woodinville to back off in fastpitch when her Seattle school finished another successful boys basketball season, during which the Quakers often blew out opposing teams and was ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season. Wiley said it's the nature of competition to have skilled teams matching up against not-so-skilled teams. Many of the Eastside communities, including Woodinville, have strong youth leagues for fastpitch, with kids starting as early as 6 or 7 years old. That has translated to great success at the high-school level. In the last three years, Eastside KingCo 4A schools have combined to win two state championships and also finished second and third. Franklin has no such feeder programs, and has struggled against its Eastside counterparts since joining KingCo. "You're asking kids without much experience to jump into this league and compete," Crowder said. "That's not going to happen. We need to do something [to keep] from destroying those kids' self-image. We want them to want to play tomorrow and not feel so defeated, where they feel there's no sense in coming out again." But Wiley said that's not taking into account her students' resiliency. "They do keep coming back," Wiley said. "They are gaining and growing from it. You have to be real honest with them, 'This is what we're up against.' And you celebrate the heck out of their growth." source

Irregular News for 03.27.07 Charlton County, GA -- Two Georgia teenagers were recently arrested in connection with what one student's mother said was a high school hazing ritual, according to WJXT-TV. The woman said members of the Charlton County High School golf team gave her son a contusion so painful she had to take her 13-year-old to the emergency room for treatment. She said the prank has made her son afraid to go back to school. The 13-year-old did not want to be identified, but his mother, Carol, agreed to talk about the incident because she said other parents should know what happened. "Sometimes people don't know when enough is enough, and I think that's what happened here," said Carol. Her son plays on the junior varsity golf team for the school. She said he was riding the bus with the varsity team when he became the victim of a sports initiation hazing ritual. "He actually heard them saying, 'Who's it going to be?'" Carol said. She said the boy was called to the back of the bus by two older high school students and that they picked him up by his boxer shorts and held him upside down. She said that's when the torment really began. "It was so extreme it ripped his boxer shorts in two," Carol said. It was a sports initiation that Carol said involved giving the younger players what's commonly called a wedgie. Carol said the older boys also punched her son in the groin and stomach. "He was bent over and couldn't hardly walk. He cried for probably 30 minutes," Carol said. Charlton County police arrested two teens in connection with the alleged hazing incident and charged them with simple battery. Carol said she doesn't think the teens meant to intentionally hurt her son but that they did. She said she wants other parents to be aware of the incident. "It's not funny. It went beyond being a funny little prank," Carol said. She said a coach was on the bus with the teams on the night the incident occurred. The principal of the school had no comment on the incident but said the school has taken the appropriate action and has launched an investigation. source

Irregular News for 03.27.07 Australia -- A 25-year-old man will front court next month after allegedly breaking into a police station overnight at Palmwoods. Police allege the man broke into the Palmwoods' station by climbing through a window sometime between 7:30pm AEST and a 8:45pm. The man is accused of stealing back property that police had seized from him earlier in the day. The 25-year-old allegedly took the stolen property back to his home where police arrested him about an hour later. He has been charged with break and enter and stealing offences and is due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 20. Meanwhile, a 26-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly carrying a replica firearm in Noosa. Police arrested the man yesterday afternoon in Noosa Parade after a tip-off from a member of the public. He has been charged with carrying a weapon in a public place. source

Irregular News for 03.27.07 Beijing, China -- There's a new Chinese saying: When life hands you panda poop, make paper. Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fibre-rich panda excrement into high quality paper. Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, said the idea came to them after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made from elephant dung. They thought panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper, he said. The base is currently in talks with several paper mills on how to turn the droppings of Jing Jing, Ke Bi, Ya Ya and dozens of other pandas at the base into reams of office paper and rolls of wrapping paper, said Liao. They hope to have a product line available by next year, he said. "We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste," said Liao. "It's environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves and also we can sell whatever is left over." Liao said he was not sure how much paper could be made from the 1.8 tonnes of droppings produced by the centre's 40 bamboo-fed pandas every day. What about squeamish customers who might consider the paper unsanitary? "People won't find it gross at all," Liao said. "They probably won't even be able to tell it's from panda poop." The Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand already sells multicoloured paper made from the excrement produced by its two resident pandas. Making paper there involves a daylong process of cleaning the feces, boiling it in a soda solution, bleaching it with chlorine and drying it under the sun. source

Irregular News for 03.26.07 Tucson, AZ -- When her husband comes home to Tucson on leave from Iraq, Keila Rios could face a dilemma she finds infuriating.She plans to take their children out of school for a week to spend time with their Army dad. But when she asked for makeup work they could do at home, she initially was told they'd receive zeroes if they didn't go to class. The head of the charter school they attend declared the absences inexcusable and told the Arizona Daily Star that Rios' children would not be allowed to make up missed assignments. It now seems the principal is reconsidering, though that couldn't be confirmed late Thursday. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing," said Rios, 29, of her Monday conversation with Lee Griffin, principal and founder of Children Reaching for the Sky, an elementary charter school at 1844 S. Alvernon Way. Her husband, Staff Sgt. Enrique Rios, 30, is due home sometime next week for a two-week rest and relaxation leave. Some of it falls during the school's spring break and the family asked for an extra week off. Keila Rios said Griffin told her that families pull kids out of class for all kinds of reasons — from beauty contests to Disneyland vacations — and said it wouldn't be fair to approve her request for makeup work when he's refused the others. "I said, 'We're not talking about Disneyland here. Their father has been at war for the last eight months and all we have is this little bit of time together.' God forbid if he goes back to Iraq and something happens to him," Keila Rios said. Enrique Rios, a Cholla High Magnet School graduate, is overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, N.C. His wife and children are living in Tucson with his parents while he's at war. The couple has an 11-year-old daughter, Khalina Polanco, and an 8-year old son, Andres Rios, attending the charter school, and a 2-year-old boy at home. "I'm disgusted," Enrique Rios wrote in an e-mail to the Star. The principal "obviously isn't a patriot and has no understanding of what it is like to put your life on the line," he said. Griffin told the Star he is a former soldier himself, and that he supports the troops and sympathizes with the family. The Rioses are "awesome" parents and their children are exceptional students — but rules are rules, he said in a telephone interview Thursday morning. "We have a policy saying we don't give out makeup work for unexcused absences. We can't pick and choose and give preferential treatment." Several hours later, it appeared Griffin might be backing away from his hard line. Keila Rios said she received a phone call from him around 4 p.m. Thursday. She said Griffin then said he was prepared to view her situation as a family emergency, and as such, her children could make up missed classwork. Griffin could not be reached after that by the Star. State law gives school principals discretion to decide when an absence is excusable. Several principals contacted Thursday said they'd have no problem accommodating a military family in the Rios' situation. "Oh my goodness, yes," said Jerry Gallegos, principal of Manzo Elementary School, a public school on the West Side. "If the dad just came back from Iraq, I would honor the parents' wishes." Clay Connor, principal of Academy of Tucson Elementary School, a Northeast Side charter school, said military families at his school have been in the same situation. "We would try to come up with a win-win solution," Connor said. "We work with the parents when there are extenuating circumstances." Keila Rios said she hopes her last talk with Griffin marked the end of the problem. She and her husband "have been worrying all week," she said. "It was very upsetting to think the children's grades would suffer if they spent time with their dad." source

Irregular News for 03.26.07 Ford City, PA -- A church in Western Pennsylvania might need help from above for this one. Ford City Council agreed last week to send the Second Baptist Church a big water bill. Council members did not reveal the total, but church trustee Eugene Banks said one told him it was more than $2 million. "I thought he was exaggerating," Banks said. " 'You got to be kidding me,' I said." The bill is for water used when a line broke inside a vacant building the church owns but doesn't use. There was no heat in the building because the gas company shut off service to change a meter last summer and did not restart service, Banks said. When winter came, the water pipes froze and burst. "The water was running for a month," Banks said. "We didn't know." Water Department officials knew a lot of water in their system was being lost but could not find the leak, Councilman Homer Pendleton said. Water rose to about six inches inside the building and poured out the front door into the street. It went unnoticed because of snow pushed there by snow plows, Pendleton said. Banks called his church board to break the news. Their response: "They said they'd believe it when they saw the bill." Ford City, about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and home to fewer than 3,500 people, does not have particularly deep pockets. Still, the borough does not expect the church, which has about 75 parishioners, will be able to pay the $2 million bill. "We're hoping there is some insurance or we can negotiate a settlement," Councilman Dan Cousins said. source

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Irregular News for 03.23.07 Panama City, Panama -- Panamanian police seized a boat off the nation's Pacific coast carrying 21.4 tons of cocaine in one of the biggest maritime cocaine busts anywhere on record, officials said Monday. National police working with agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized the boat on Sunday near the island of Coiba, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Police arrested 12 men on the boat, including Mexicans and Panamanians, and another two suspects in Panama City in connection with the drugs, the official said. The boat, which was sailing under a Panamanian flag, was being transported to Panama City on Monday, he said. Drug cartels often smuggle Colombian cocaine along Panama's Pacific coast en route to the United States. In 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy seized 28 tons of cocaine from two fishing boats off the coast of the Galapagos Islands in what State Department officials then called their largest seizures ever during a one-week stretch. In 2005, police in southwest Colombia seized 15 tons of cocaine from a jungle stronghold, in what national authorities called the largest haul ever on their soil. source