Catholic Youth Organization coach MichaelKman, 45, was charged in May with various misdemeanors regarding an allegedattempt over a several-month period to fix children's basketball games for hisOur Lady of Lourdes church team in East Pennsboro Township, Pa.According to police, Kman sent multiple text messages to two referees, offeringthem as much as $2,500 if certain games reached the "right outcome."The Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg has suspended Kman from coaching. In Kman'sday job, he is a financial consultant.
Risk Vs. Reward
Not Worth the Trouble: (1) Noah Comer, 39,crashed his motorcycle and was killed as he tried to flee sheriff's deputies inSan Diego inJanuary after allegedly stealing a pack of cigarettes from a convenience store.(2) Gordon Wright, 56, and two associates were killed in January going thewrong way on Interstate 94 in a Detroitsuburb after allegedly stealing $45 worth of Axe beauty products from a CVSstore.
People With Issues
Walter "Butch" Rubincan, 46, wascharged in February in Newark, Del., as being a serial thiefwith perhaps a 20-year habit, allegedly specializing in men's shoes.Rubincanwho "kept to himself," according to neighborsis a medicaltechnologist at two local hospitals, a part-time actor and a one-timechampionship figure skater. When police investigators first visited Rubincan'shome, they discovered 3,900 shoes in about 150 boxes and bags (along with a fewmore upscale items and stolen photographs). Rubincan reportedly admitted heneeded help.
Cultural Diversity
In May, Britain's Norfolk District Councilbanned the traditional barroom game of "dwile flonking" just as theinaugural "world championships" were set to take place at the Dog Innpub in Ludham, Great Yarmouth. The game, which some believe has been playedsince "medieval times," calls on players to fling a beer-soaked ragfrom the end of a small stick toward the face of an opponent. In the event thatthe tosser misses the target two straight times, he must quickly down ahalf-pint of ale. The council called the game a "health and safety"problem.
Questionable Judgments
- Patricia Edwards, 51, was arrested in Sanford, Fla.,in March after being identified as the woman who walked into a Bank of Americabranch, handed over a robbery note and walked out with money. After beingnabbed three days later, she explained: "There was no plan, no nothing,just impulse. I think everyone should have a list of things they want to dobefore they (die)."
- In April, a Toronto Star headlineread: "The Brave Man's Solution to Baldness." Philip Levine, 28,working with artist Kat Sinclair, initially solved the problem of his"boring" shaved head by having Sinclair paint original murals on hisdome. Reportedly, Levine became a star in the London(England)club scene because of the artwork. Since then, Levine has upgraded topainstakingly laying jewelry designs on his bald head, employing hundreds ofthumbtack-sized Swarovski crystals to create a "swooping, shimmery,rockabilly" dome that dazzles in the light. The crystals shed after abouta day, creating the opportunity for more designs.
Fine Points of the Law
Scottish TV personality Drew McAdam, aprofessional body-language reader who advises a Scottish talk show on whetherguests with fabulous stories are telling the truth or not, was rejected forjury duty in May after being called by the Livingston Sheriff Court. (Perhapsone of the lawyers thought his or her side would have a better chance withoutan "expert" lie-detector evaluating witnesses.)
A News of the Weird Classic
British mechanical engineer John Tyrer told anaudience at the annual meeting of the Instituteof Physics in Brighton, England,in March 1998 that he and his colleagues were using lasers to design a morecomfortable bra. "A breast imposes various load distributions…andvibrational problems as the woman walks," he said, and he criticized the"strap design" that "transmits the load to the wrongplaces." According to Tyrer, the technology, called "ElectronicSpeckle Pattern Interferometry," analyzes the way a three-dimensionalsurface (like a bra) changes when a force is applied to it.
© 2010 Chuck Shepherd
