It turns out that face and neck tattoos canbecome a liability for criminals. Royce Spottedbird Jr., 23, apparently thoughtit would be cool to have his name tattooed on his neck. However, when he was pulledover during a routine traffic stop in April in Butte, Mont.,and feared a warrant might be out for his arrest, he gave the officer a bogusname. When he could not explain why "Royce Spottedbird Jr." wastattooed on his neck, he was detained for obstruction of justice and eventuallypleaded guilty. (Also, it turns out he had been wrong about the warrant.)
Dangers of Multitasking
- Driver Bryan Parslow, 19, injured himself and three passengers when hecrashed his vehicle near Wheatland, N.Y., in May. He was playing"hold your breath" with his passengers and passed out.
- In July, Lora Hunt, 49, was sentenced to 18 months in jail in a crashthat killed a woman on a motorcycle in Lake County, Ill., in2009. Reportedly, Hunt was so preoccupied with painting her nails (polish wassplashed all over the car's interior) that she never even tried to apply thebrakes before the collision.
- In a rare exception, Amanda McBride, 29, showed excellent multitaskingskills when she was able to drive herself to the hospital in Bemidji, Minn.,in May while giving birth. Her husband was in the front seat (and helped tosteer), but he does not drive because he is prone to seizures. The childemerged just as Amanda pulled into the hospital parking lot. "(H)e justslid out," she said. "It really wasn't bad at all."
Update
Though most victims seemed baffled and/ordistressed by the behavior of Sherwin Shayegan, 27, one person thought he was"completely harmless." From time to time (allegedly dating to atleast 2006), Shayegan befriends high-school male athletes, questions them as areporter would, and then jumps on their backs and demands "piggyback"rides. No other overtures are made, and the principal complaint about Shayegan,after the shock wears off, seems to be his obnoxiousness. His latest arresttook place in May in Tualatin, Ore.,near his earlier haunts in Washingtonstate.
Recurring Themes
- Another Pampered Pet: When Gail Posner, the widow of legendaryhostile-takeover executive Victor Posner, died in March in south Florida, sheleft a will that endowed her beloved Chihuahua Conchitaand two other,apparently less-loved dogsa $3 million trust fund plus the run of her $8.3million mansion for their remaining dog years. (After all, Conchita has a styleto maintain, including a four-season wardrobe, diamond jewelry and full-timestaff.) Mrs. Posner's only living child, Bret Carr, who admits he had issueswith his mother, said he is challenging her will (that left him $1 million)because Mrs. Posner's staff and bodyguards wound up with $26 million on thepretense that they would be caring for Conchita.
- News of the Weird has been among those taunting the Scottish over theyears for their culinary devotion to haggis (boiled sheep's stomach with liver,heart or lung, accompanied by oatmeal, suet, onions and various"spices"). Edinburghchocolatier Nadia Ellingham recently put her own spin on the delicacy with"haggis chocolates," which are meat-free but contain the familiarhaggis spices.
Please Don’t Touch
One of the more famous cultural landmarks in Britain's South Tynesideis an 1890 urinal known as "Westoe Netty." The toilet, which wascommemorated in a 1972 painting, has been on display at the Beamish Museumsince 2007. It was relocated in March, however, because, as News of the Weirdhas reported about other museum-display toilets, some visitors could not resistusing it (despite the fact that there was no plumbing). With that in mind, thetoilet will be moved to a different part of the building and hooked up to publicplumbing.
%uFFFD 2010 Chuck Shepherd
