NEWSQUIRKS
Curses, foiled again A man entered a store in South Portland, Maine, at 2:30 p.m., wielded a knife and demanded money. When the clerk refused, the robber vowed to return.
The Portland Press Herald reported he showed up at 4:30 and tried to throw a planter through the store window, but it bounced back. He then warned the clerk he would return at 11 p.m. and kill everyone. Alerted, police were waiting and arrested Matthew Peverada, 26. After a man stole money and a cell phone from a 33-year-old woman in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., the victim’s boyfriend called the stolen phone and pretended he was looking for another man. WFTY reported the boyfriend arranged to sell stolen guns to the man who answered, then notified Volusia County sheriff’s investigators, who showed up at the meeting place the next day and arrested James L. Smith Jr., 24.
Hard times indeed During a parliamentary debate in woe-struck Germany, news cameras caught Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck checking his lottery ticket. “It was a present,” he said after a photo of him hopefully eyeing the ticket for a $45 million jackpot appeared on the front page of both the Bild and Handelsblatt newspapers.
Applications from prospective donors at a sperm bank in Loveland, Colo., have risen sharply, according to Betsy Cairo of CryoGam Colorado, who attributed the spike to the economy. Noting that applications usually run about 150 a year, she told Denver’s KMGH-TV there were 172 in January alone. Cairo wouldn’t say how much sperm donors earn but added it isn’t easy money; of the 400 who’ve applied since September, only four have been accepted.
Twisted Justice Authorities in Jefferson County, Ore., sought to prosecute David Lee Simmons for having sex with his underage girlfriend, but the grand jury declined to indict him. Eugene’s Register-Guard reported that the prosecution against Simmons proceeded anyway. Simmons accepted a plea agreement.
Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Submit items, citing date and source, to P.O. Box 8130, Alexandria VA 22306.
