Curses, foiled again
Dionette L. Price, 26, jumped on the hood of a car in Kansas City, Mo., pointed a gun at driver Rayna Garrett and ordered her to “drive, or I will blow your head off,” according to Jackson County prosecutors. She headed to the Kansas City police station, nearly two miles away, and honked to alert officers. The suspect leapt off the hood and fled, but police soon spotted him waiting at a bus stop. (Reuters)
Low-rise living
Hindered by the world’s most expensive real estate prices and strict zoning laws that forbid changing the perimeter of a house or adding to its height, well-to-do Londoners eager to enlarge their homes have begun excavating beneath them. Extending as many as four levels, underground expansion includes not just swimming pools, but also home theaters, fitness centers, gyms, wine cellars, bowling alleys, squash courts, climbing walls, servants’ quarters, saunas, waterfalls, Jacuzzis, hair salons and multicar garages with elevators to move vintage car collections to and from the surface. Projects involve hauling away as many as 400 truckloads of dirt. (The New York Times)
Fool for a client
Gary DeVaughn LaBon, 50, elected to act as his own lawyer after being accused of kidnapping, raping and beating a 69-year-old woman in Hawthorne, Calif. He introduced little evidence to refute the prosecution’s case and didn’t testify on his own behalf, but in his closing argument he denied raping the woman, telling an Airport Courthouse jury that he beat her in self-defense because he feared for his life, believing the victim was a gang member. Judge Kathryn Solorzano ordered jurors to disregard most of what LaBon said. (Torrance’s Daily Breeze)
Second-Amendment follies
Garrett Bauernschmidt, 75, tried to shoot a large snake near the front door of his house in Volusia, Fla., but missed. While he was manipulating the safety on the .38 caliber handgun, the weapon accidentally fired, wounding his left hand. (Daytona Beach News-Journal) Three tourists were hospitalized after being shot while watching an Old West shootout in Hill City, S.D. Authorities couldn’t say whether bullets or shrapnel from a blank caused the injuries and won’t speculate until they complete their investigation, which Pennington County sheriff’s Lt. Marty Graves indicated could take months. (Rapid City Journal)
Rules, rules, everywhere a rule
Mayor Ray Alborn of Ruidoso, N.M., issued an executive order prohibiting anyone from entering a village building with a firearm. When citizens protested that the gun ban is unconstitutional, Alborn refused to change his mind, declaring, “I don’t care where they carry the guns, they just don’t need to carry them in village buildings.” (El Paso’s KVIA-TV)
Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.
