Canadian James Boppre, former owner of a successful landscaping business, . . . elected to celebrate Wednesday by getting drunk, and in an obviously solid cognitive state, decided to hop into his truck and go find a prostitute. Lady of the night found, Boppre decided smoking some crack with his new friend was a smashing idea, as was taking off their clothes and masturbating. And driving around. Speeding. Somewhere during the execution of this plan, Boppre misjudged a corner and crashed into a parked car at high speed. Car disabled, Boppre then grabbed his clothes and ran off like a streak in the night. His cunning plan was ruined when eye-witnesses followed him to a hiding spot and pointed the cops in his direction.
So what's next for Mr. James Boppre? Well, the judge in the case wanted to reward what he considered Boppre's good behavio, at least up to that point. He had managed to stay out of trouble up until his... you know... his booze, crack, hooker and car crashing binge — so the judge levied the minimum four-month jail sentence, prohibited him from driving for five years, added three years of probation and recommended counseling. We recommend sending this guy into the Yukon Territory with a shotgun, a fifth of Wild Turkey and a rubber chicken, just to see what happens.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/22/2008 14:06 ||
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A man from Somerville, Mass., and his friend who went around the country this year removing typographical errors from public signs have been banned from national parks after vandalizing a historic marker at the Grand Canyon.
Jeff Michael Deck of Somerville, and Benjamin Douglas Herson, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff after damaging a rare, hand-painted sign in Grand Canyon National Park. They were sentenced to a year's probation, during which they cannot enter any national park, and were ordered to pay restitution.
Authorities said Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States from March to May, wiping out errors on government and private signs. While at Desert View Watchtower on the South Rim on March 28, they were accused of using a whiteout product and a permanent marker to deface a sign that's a National Historic Landmark.
An affidavit by National Park Service agent Christopher A. Smith said investigators learned of the vandalism from an Internet site operated by Deck on behalf of the Typo Eradication Advancement League, or TEAL. According to the Internet posting, TEAL members agreed to stamp out as many typos as they could find in public signage and other venues.
Federal prosecutors said Deck and Herson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to vandalize government property. In addition to being banned from national parks for a year, the two are barred from modifying any public signs and must pay $3,035 to repair the Grand Canyon sign.
Had any TEAL visits to Rantburg? This place is a trove-mine for those guys.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/22/2008 10:58 Comments ||
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Deck's diary account of the Grand Canyon incident was submitted as evidence in court. It says the two men climbed Desert View Watchtower while on holiday from their typo-enforcement duties "and discovered a hand-rendered sign inside that, I regret to report, had a few errors. I know today was supposed to be my day off from typo-hunting, but if I may be permitted to quote that most revered of android law enforcers, Inspector Gadget, 'Always on duty!' I can't shut it off. . . . Will we never be free from the shackles of apostrophic misunderstanding, even in a place surrounded by natural beauty?"
After correcting a misplaced apostrophe and comma, Deck reported, he was aghast to discover what he described as a made-up word: "emense."
"I was reluctant to disfigure the sign any further, so we had to let the other typo stand. Still, I think I shall be haunted by that perversity."
#3
Had any TEAL visits to Rantburg? This place is a trove-mine for those guys.
Spaek fer yuorselph ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/22/2008 11:08 Comments ||
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Children who never grow up. The judge should have sentenced them to dress only as Peter Pan for a year...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/22/2008 11:10 Comments ||
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In some ways, I have mixed feelings about this. As a product of 12 years of parochial education in the fifties and sixties, I had my grammar and punctuation lessons almost literally beaten into me. So, I can sympathize with the angst these morons felt about such egregious errors.
However, I also had respect for other people's property also almost literally beaten into me. You don't go around defacing other people's property. You point it out, laugh at it, and feel superior about it. But you don't mark it up and destroy it.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
08/22/2008 12:16 Comments ||
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The controversial tour buses pulled up at the corner of Castro and Market right on schedule Thursday afternoon. At 4 p.m., the doors opened and clusters of tourists clambered down the steps, blinking in the bright San Francisco sun.
One visitor said they had been prepped by their tour guide for the full Castro experience. "He said we will be able to tell the homosexuals by the way they dress and the way they walk," said Livia Dekker, a visitor from Holland.
The buses, which began making the Castro a regular stop only about three months ago, have stirred up quite a fuss in the neighborhood. Some residents say they feel like exhibits in a zoo when clusters of camera-clicking tour groups hit the streets.
Two tour companies, America Asia Express and Far West Charter, seem to have attracted most of the attention. The companies not only send large groups into the Castro on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, but they also park at Muni bus stops.
Local merchants like Herb Cohn, who is president of the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, are working to get the city to paint the bus stop curbs red to keep the large tour buses from parking at the Muni stops.
But somewhere in the concern about where the tour groups park and the number of tourists who arrive at once, Cohn said, the message became garbled. "Somehow, it got out that we didn't want tourists in the Castro at all," Cohn said. "Of course, that is not the case. What doesn't help the situation is unloading mobs of people with cameras who only want to gawk."
Cohn and others said some of the tourists stop at shops like All American Boy to giggle and point at the gay-themed merchandise.
But it appears that the concerns have been heard since the complaints were aired in this column earlier this week. The tour organizers seemed to be in full spin control Thursday.
Rossi's Delicatessen owner Sam Dughman had complained that the bus tourists would stroll in, look around and walk back out without making a purchase. But on Thursday, Dughman's brother, Osama, could barely keep up with the sales. "Before, they bought nothing," he said. "This time, they bought bananas, yogurt. They bought a lot. I almost cried."
Osama Dughman was just kidding about crying. In fact, he's among the Castro merchants who don't see what the fuss is all about. "Tourists are good for everybody," he said. "If they don't buy, so what? My brother is crazy."
It is safe to say that this has been a much-debated topic up and down Castro Street over the last few days. Everyone, it seems, has an opinion. "I know other people have the feeling that people are here to gawk at them," said Allen Beard, manager of Gelateria Naia, a gelato store. "I definitely notice the crowd, but it doesn't bother me."
As for the tourists, some of them seemed a little confused about where they were. "This is gay town," said Ben Tratborwoin, a visitor from Thailand. Tratborwoin said he paid an extra $20 for a tour package that included a stop in the Castro, adding that some members of his group elected to stay on the bus.
Frankly, some of the tourists sounded as if they expected something much more wild and crazy. "I don't know if I feel any different about this than any other neighborhood," said Matthew Pradjanata, who was visiting with his mother from Bali.
"They told us this was the homosexual area," said Matthew's mother, Endang. "But I didn't feel anything."
So that's a good thing, right? The tourists come in, they go out. No big deal. Once the curbs in front of the bus stops are painted red - and word is that the city is trying to rush the process that was expected to take months - all will be well.
Almost.
There is one other factor. If one of the major problems is that the tourists are wandering up and down the street staring at people, wouldn't it be a good idea to give them something to see?
In fact, the district's supervisor, Bevan Dufty, has been working with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Historical Society to move the organization's archives and displays to a vacant storefront at Castro and 18th. "Right now, there isn't any place to get a sense of the history, the controversies and the achievements of the community," said Dufty aide Boe Hayward.
After all, after the December release of the movie "Milk" - the Sean Penn film about the late Castro Street politician and activist Harvey Milk - the thinking is that there will be even more interest in the neighborhood.
And, most likely, in the residents.
So, a little historical perspective would be a nice idea. Tourists who are so inclined might learn something about the neighborhood, the issues and the people. They might even learn that gay people walk and dress a lot like them.
#1
They might even learn that gay people walk and dress a lot like them.
Not on Castro Street they don't. I remember we drove through there - probably 20 years ago and it was a full on freak show even then. I find it hard to believe that tour busses coming through is new. It must just be the stopping that is new.
And since when doess someone who puts on a giant blonde wig with polkadotted bows, fishnet stocking and tight black spandex with glittering platform shoes get offended because people stare? Disclaimer - I'm not saying all gay people dress this way - but they DO dress like that on Castro St.
Khartoum - More than 50 Arab tribesmen were killed on Wednesday in armed clashes about water and grazing land in South Darfur, a senior member of one of the groups said on Thursday.
The fierce fighting between the nomadic Rizeigat and Misseriya tribes was also fuelled by bad blood about past killings and the ready supply of small arms in the region, said Sadig Babo Nimir, brother of the leader of the Misseriya.
Nimir said the fighting broke out on Wednesday morning in the remote Abu Jabra area, close to the region's border with southern Kordofan.
"Everyone has Kalashnikovs there, because of the impact of the fighting in Darfur and the south," said Nimir, referring to Sudan's north-south civil war that ended in 2005.
Police say suspected rebels in Senegal have robbed 50 vehicles on a main road in the south of the country.
Police commissioner Yakham Thiam says armed men stopped dozens of passing cars Tuesday night in the village of Manpalago. They pillaged money and cellphones before seizing a four-wheel-drive and fleeing toward neighboring Gambia.
Thiam said Wednesday that victims reported the assailants had claimed to be from the main rebel group.
The rebel Movement of the Democratic Forces has waged a low-level insurgency against Senegal's government since 1983.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/22/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Unfortunately many of those claiming to be from the rebel group are not, in fact, rebels.
Many are simply from large, organized groups of thugs. They may or may have links to the rebels, but the link does not make them rebels themselves.
After each attack like this, the government then cracks down harder on the rebels, who more than likely were doing nothing. This is not to say the rebels are not responsible for many attacks there- they are.
The Casamance is the only part of Senegal that is self-sustainable. Yet it is barely developed because the government takes these actions of the "rebels" as an excuse to punish the region.
And then the rebels attack because the government isn't doing its job in fixing roads, giving health care, helping farmers etc. Its your traditional cycle of violence exemplified.
Servicemen from Blandford Camp are among 30 soldiers carrying a stretcher, symbolising injured comrades, 300 miles from Plymouth to the Tower of London. The gruelling march, completed in six-hour stints by teams of 10, is to raise cash for the Help for Heroes charity.
Injured soldiers from Headley Court - the MoD rehabilitation centre in Surrey - are taking part in the five-day trek. They include hero marine Ben McBean, who kicked off the gruelling march on Monday. Ben, aged 21, who lost an arm and a leg in Afghanistan, was praised by Prince Harry when the young Royal returned from operational duty in the troubled region earlier this year. The group is scheduled to arrive in London on Saturday.
An MoD spokesman explained: "The chosen route takes the soldiers along the old admiralty shutter telegraph route used over 200 years ago during the Napoleonic War. The 30 hilltops en route used to house the old shutter telegraph system. The stretcher is draped with a union flag and a scroll containing a roll of honour of personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The march, started with a gun salute, finishes with a black tie function organised by Help for Heroes with music from the band of the Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry. To donate, log on to helpforheroes.org.uk.
A baby whale abandoned by its mother in the waters off north Sydney has been put down, after veterinarians decided it could not survive on its own. The humpback whale calf had been trying to suckle from boats, which it apparently mistook for his parent.
The plight of the starving two-tonne animal, dubbed Colin, has captivated Australia since last weekend.
The whale was first given a sedative, then a lethal dose of anaesthetic, which took 10 minutes. "It's a tragic end to a programme that dozens of people have put their hearts and souls into," National Parks and Wildlife Service official John Dengate told Australian radio.
A vet report and blood tests on Thursday had revealed the calf, believed to be only two to three weeks old, was suffering from shark bite wounds and breathing difficulties.
The plight of the baby whale has transfixed the country and only the action from the Beijing Olympics has been a rival for the attention of the Australian public, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney.
A number of attempts had been made to lure Colin out to sea, where it was hoped he would have been adopted by a lactating female. he National Parks and Wildlife Service said in a statement this week that there was no way of feeding the calf in captivity as it was still being breast fed.
Australia's navy had offered to attempt to tow the 14-ft-long (4.5-metre-long) animal away from the shore using a fuel bladder as an inflatable sling.
Colin had not eaten for a week and whale calves need up to 230 litres of milk a day, say experts.
An Aboriginal "whale whisperer" was brought to the bay on Thursday to "talk" to the calf. "He heard me singing and came over. I looked at him and he was full of life... All he needed is a mother's milk," Bunna Lawrie told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
The whale was first sighted on Sunday just north of Sydney at Pittwater and soon began to try to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave.
The humpback whales are on the return leg of an annual round trip from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed. They can often be seen quite close to Sydney's beaches.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/22/2008 09:18 ||
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Whale whisperer, geez. Light the lanterns and fire up the grill then.
#3
Ok, the obvious question. Did anyone try to feed it?
Posted by: ed ||
08/22/2008 13:33 Comments ||
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ed, did ya ever try to milk a whale? That would be one helluva big baby bottle.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/22/2008 16:10 Comments ||
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Aaaawwww - I for one wish it could've been saved. I hope this was a properly calculated or measured decision, not a "quickie". As for the "Whale Whisperer", don't underestimate their skills or cultural beliefs. THERE'S BEEN MANY A TIME MODERN SCIENCE HAD PREMATURELY AND TO ITS OWN DETRIMENT UNFAIRLY DENIGRATED THE VALID, RATIONAL, EVEN SUPERIOR, BASE(S) AND REALITIES UNDERLYNG "PRIMITIVE" INDIGENOUS BELIEFS.
They thought they knew everything, only to discover how little they actually knew or understood, and how they were were the inferior ones, NOT the "primitives".
TEHRAN - At least 30 Afghans were killed and 83 injured when a truck overturned in southern Iran on Thursday, the official news agency IRNA reported. Local medical official Mohammad Ali Ghanaat Pisheh told the news agency that the casualties were among a total of 125 Afghan illegal immigrants travelling in the 10-wheeler.
The cause of the early morning accident in the village of Khiareh in Fars province was still under investigation, he added. According to state radio, two trucks were travelling together carrying Afghan nationals, but only one of them was involved in the accident.
The Afghan nationals had illegally crossed Iran's southeastern borders to make a living mainly by working on construction sites. Each of the Afghans had paid 5,000,000 rials (520 dollars) to human traffickers to transport them from Zahedan, the capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan to the southern city of Shiraz, the report said.
"This matter should be examined that how two trucks carrying humans have made it from Sistan-Baluchestan to Fars province," the head of political department of the Shiraz governor office, Vahid Rajaie, was quoted as saying. Shiraz is the capital of the southern province of Fars.
Officially, there are around 900,000 legal Afghan refugees in Iran but the number of illegal Afghans could be twice that number, according to unofficial estimates.
Iran's roads are among the most dangerous in the world. At least 100,000 people have been killed in traffic accidents over the past five years in a country of some 70 million people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/22/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A man from Somerville, Mass., and his friend who went around the country this year removing typographical errors from public signs have been banned from national parks after vandalizing a historic marker at the Grand Canyon.
The controversial tour buses pulled up at the corner of Castro and Market right on schedule Thursday afternoon. At 4 p.m., the doors opened and clusters of tourists clambered down the steps, blinking in the bright San Francisco sun.
There is one other factor. If one of the major problems is that the tourists are wandering up and down the street staring at people, wouldn't it be a good idea to give them something to see?
Police say suspected rebels in Senegal have robbed 50 vehicles on a main road in the south of the country.
Servicemen from Blandford Camp are among 30 soldiers carrying a stretcher, symbolising injured comrades, 300 miles from Plymouth to the Tower of London. The gruelling march, completed in six-hour stints by teams of 10, is to raise cash for the Help for Heroes charity.
