Curses, foiled again
Two men tried to rob a man coming out of a convenience store in Medford, Ore., but fled when their intended victim ran back inside the store to call police. Officers arrived and were investigating when the would-be robbers returned in time for witnesses to point them out. Police arrested two suspects, 19 and 20 years old. (Associated Press)
War is hell
After U.S. and Afghan troops killed two pregnant women and three other innocent civilians during a night raid on Gardez, Vice Admiral William McRaven, commander of Joint Special Operations Command, apologized to Mohammad Tahir, the father of one of the women and brother of two men killed, by offering him two sheep. Tahir, who had vowed to become a suicide bomber to avenge the deaths, accepted McRaven’s apology. (ABC News)
Monkey with a monkey on its back
After spotting a rhesus macaque that has been loose in Florida’s Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for more than a year, authorities shot the monkey twice with tranquilizer darts, but it escaped again. “The drugs just don’t seem to affect him for whatever reason. We’ve increased the dosage every time that we’ve shot him,” wildlife rehabilitator Vernon Yates said. “What we’re really doing is turning him into a drug addict.” (Tampa Tribune)
Chutzpah
Facing grand larceny and identity-theft charges after embezzling more than $800,000 from the Kingston, N.Y., law firm where she worked as a bookkeeper, Mary Merten, 43, pleaded with the lawyers to let her keep her job. “I do not want to put you on the spot but I would ask that you consider keeping me employed,” Merten wrote to the firm’s Richard Riseley and Michael Moriello. “Not because of the money, but because I truly enjoy my job and want to continue to work for the both of you to make up for my imperfections.” A forensic accounting put the total stolen at $807,399, which court documents indicated Merten used for vacations, premium cable TV at her New Paltz home, manicures, dinners and a race car for her husband. (Middletown’s Times Herald-Record)
The emperor’s new gym
A new $25 million high school gym in Akron, N.Y., will need additional money to install privacy screens for the locker rooms, according to school board members. The vestibule-style entrances from both the gymnasium and a hallway are at the center of the male and female locker rooms, providing a glimpse of students moving from the showers on one side to the locker areas on the other. The entrances have automatic closing doors, but school board members Kevin Stone and Patricia Buckley said staff monitors couldn’t be counted on to be sure the doors aren’t held open. “The first time a person looks in there and sees a naked kid,” Stone said, “we’re going to have a problem.” Adding privacy screens for the vestibule entrances will cost about $1,000 each. (The Buffalo News)
Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.
