Three men and two juveniles were charged withburglary in Silver Springs Shores, Fla., in January following a Decemberbreak-in that netted them electronics and jewelry and what they thought was astash of powder cocaine. The men told police they had already snorted some ofthe powder. The police report identified the powder as the ashes of theresident's late father and of two Great Danes. (Some of the ashes were laterrecovered.)
Can't Possibly Be True
- Vietnam veteran Ronald Flanagan, in the midst of expensive treatmentfor bone cancer, had his medical insurance canceled in January because his wifemistakenly keyed in a "7" instead of a "9" in the"cents" space while paying the couple's regular premium online,leaving the Flanagans 2 cents short. According to the administrator, CeridianCOBRA Services, that "fit into the definition in the regulations of'insufficient payment'" and allows for termination. (After receiving badpublicity, the company reinstated Flanagan's insurance.)
- It was a prestigious hospital (UMass Memorial Medical Center inWorcester, Mass.) on a worthy mission (to recruit hard-to-match bone marrowdonors in order to renew dwindling supplies), but the tactics were a littleunorthodox. The medical center hired young female models in short skirts toflirt with men at New Hampshire shopping centers and ballparks so as to enticethe men to give DNA swabs for possible matches. Complaints piled up becausestate law requires insurance providers to cover the tests (at $4,000 for eachswab submitted by the love-struck flirtees). The hospital recently dropped theprogram, according to a December report in TheNew York Times.
Unclear on the Concept
- In January, Thalia Surf Shop of Laguna Beach, Calif. (named by OC Weekly in 2009 as Orange County'sbest), ran a special Martin Luther King Jr. promotion featuring "20% OffAll Black Products." The promotion included an illustration with adoctored photograph of Dr. King in one of the shop's finest wet suits.Following some quick, bad publicity, the shop's management apologized.
- Questionable State Regulation: (1) When it comes to where he can live,William MacDonald is restricted by state law because he is a "registeredsex offender," he told The New YorkTimes in January. He claims that his case is unfair in that his only felonycrime was violating Virginia law by having oral sex with women of consentingage, which most legal scholars believe is not a crime (following a 2003 U.S.Supreme Court decision). (2) Tennessee, the "second-fattest" state,according to a recent report, continues to pay for obese Medicaid recipients tohave bariatric surgery (at an average cost of about $2,000), but to denycoverage for an overweight person to consult, even once, with a dietitian.
First Things First
As of early November, 150 people had beenkilled by eruptions from Mount Merapi volcano in Central Java, Indonesia, andthe government had created shelters in stadiums and public halls for 300,000evacuees. The evacuees lived in close quarters and were afforded littleprivacy. Some people began to petition authorities to open up private shelterlocations so that the displaced could attend to certain romantic, biologicalneeds. Apparently some evacuees had become so frisky that they had left theshelter and returned to their homes in the danger zone just so they could havesex.
The Redneck Chronicles
Johni Rice, 35, eating at a Waffle Houserestaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., was charged in January with assaulting two dinersat another table over the quality of their conversationa man and a woman werediscussing "women with hairy armpits."
© 2011 Chuck Shepherd
