In March, leaders of the St. John's Lutheran Church in Baraboo, Wis., voted to fire the principalof the church's elementary and middle school because he had questioned thechurch's teachingsthough church leaders would not specify what it was he hadquestioned. Some in the community think it had to do with questions regardingLutheran doctrine that states women shall not have authority over men. Thechurch held a meeting of members on March 21 regarding the fate of theprincipal, but female members were banned from speaking. (According to the Baraboo News Republic, women cannot voteon the church's business, but generally they have been allowed to speak atmeetings.)
Poor Parenting Skills
(1) Delmer Doss, 19, and his girlfriend, AmberBurgess, 19, were arrested in Stanley, N.C., in February on child abuse chargesafter police found an allegedly incriminating video of their 11-month-old son.In the video, the toddler was reportedly blindfolded and the parents were shownlaughing at him, over and over, as he fell down while attempting to walk tothem. (2) In March in Dallas,Krystal Gardner, 28, confronting a repo man driving off with her SUV, tossedher 1-year-old baby through an open window to stop the vehicle from leaving. Atthat point, the repo man got out of the SUV, only to see a teenager emerge fromGardner's houseand fire a 12-gauge shotgun. Both Gardner and the teenager were arrested.
Questionable Judgments
- In March, the European Union's Trade Marks and Designs RegistrationOffice granted a trademark to two German entrepreneurs to market a beer called“Fucking Hell.” Under the office's reasoning, in parts of Germany and Austriathe word "hell" refers to "light ale," and the other wordis the official name of a town in Austria. However, according to aMarch report in Der Spiegel, theapplicants for the trademark have no connection to the town, and there is nobrewery there, or even plans for a brewery.
- Judge Robert Benjamin of the Hobart branch of Australia's Family Courtsruled in a March custody case that two sisters, ages 10 and 8, must spendweekends with their father, even though he is a convicted sex offender with achild-porn habit. The judge attached some restrictions, including the fact thatthe father must install a lock on the girls' bedroom door that he cannotcontrol and, if the girls stay overnight, the father must have "an adultfriend" spend the night, too, so that he will be less likely to offend.
News That Sounds Like a Joke
(1) In January, the principal of D. RoyKennedy Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, banned"ball-playing" anywhere on school grounds, declaring that it is toodangerous. (2) Ricardo West, 22, who performs as a Michael Jacksonimpersonator, was arrested in April in Allen Park, Mich., on 12counts of sexual misconduct with an 11-year-old boy.
Fetishes on Parade
In April, a 27-year-old man reported to Oklahoma City police thatanother man had sexually assaulted him during a meeting in which the men weresupposed to fart for one another. According to a story in The Oklahoman, the men met online and discussed a "fetish forflatulence." They set up a meeting, but instead of the agreed-uponflatulence, the other man allegedly sexually assaulted the 27-year-old. The firstman said he wanted only for the second man to "fart for me." Thefirst man's name was not disclosed because he could be the victim of a sexcrime.
Cultural Diversity
According to an April Reuters dispatch from South Korea,one of the world's longest-running TV comedy shows is the weekly North Koreanproduction "It's So Funny." The show's format involves a man and awoman in military uniforms talking to each other (though they sometimes singand dance). The latest episode "extolled the virtue of beans, whileavoiding any flatulence humor," according to Reuters. "If we soldierssee beans, we become happy," said the man, leading both hosts to laugh.According to Reuters, "The two talk about how bean-fed North Koreansoldiers were able to fight off U.S.imperialist troops during the Korean War."
© 2010 Chuck Shepherd
