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Bird of prey
By CHUCK SHEPHERD
After a 14-week trial in 2003 in Durham, N.C., Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife with a fireplace poker and is now serving a life sentence, but his former neighbor, Larry Pollard, is certain that Mrs. Peterson was killed instead by an owl gone bad.
Pollard offered voluminous information about owls to buttress his theory, but acknowledged earlier that no feathers had been found at the scene.
However, in August, the State Bureau of Investigation disclosed that one “microscopic feather” was on a clump of hair in Mrs. Peterson’s hand. Shouted Pollard, “(T)he feather has been found” (although it was likely a household speck of down).
Least competent criminals
Angel Cruz, 49, was indicted in August in Florida for various dubious financial schemes, including attempting to convince employees and contractors to accept his “United Cities Group” “currency” as of parallel value with U.S. currency.
Cruz came to federal prosecutors’ attention when he tried to sneak $214 million of UCG money into a Bank of America branch in Miami and allegedly threatened to take over the bank when it balked at allowing withdrawals in U.S. dollars.
Critters 4, humans 0
---A 17-year-old boy in Reno, Nev., accidentally set his family’s house on fire trying to kill spiders (August).
---A woman in Santa Fe, N.M., accidentally caused severe fire damage to her home while trying to torch a rattlesnake (July).
---A 26-year-old man in Mobile, Ala., accidentally caused $80,000 damage to his home and a shed trying to kill a swarm of bees (June).
---A Buddhist monk accidentally burned down his temple in Ojiya City, Japan, trying to destroy a hornets’ nest (September).
Defending tradition
A member of Pakistan’s parliament stood his ground in August, defending news reports from his Baluchistan province that five women had been shot and then buried alive as tribal punishment for objecting to their families’ choosing husbands for them.
A defiant Israr Ullah Zehri told the Associated Press, “These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them,” despite condemnation by Zehri’s colleagues. “Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid,” Zehri said.
Inexplicable
The incredibly patient Joseph Shepard Sr., 53, sat quietly in St. Louis-area lockups for more than two years expecting that his lawyer, Michael Kelly, was working for his release on bond, but it turns out neither Kelly nor prosecutors nor the judge was doing anything at all.
In fact, Shepard seemed innocently happy when a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter told him in August that he had looked into the case himself and that Shepard would be released soon.
Shepard’s attitude: “If I just sit here long enough, something’s going to happen.” Three days later, federal judge Carol Jackson released Shepard and chastised Kelly. (Shepard’s drug charges remain.)
Too much time on their hands
In December 2003, Yves Julien worked a regular 11-hour shift, plus overtime, all at premium pay, for the Canada Border Services Agency, and then demanded an additional $9 (Canadian) for a sandwich he had purchased when asked to put in the extra hours.
The agency said he was not entitled, by contract, because the overtime was already at premium pay. In September 2008, after nearly five years of multiple reviews, hair-splitting legal decisions and lengthy appeals, Julien won his $9.
Never give up
In September, Melvin Dummar, now 62, the man who famously claimed to be in Howard Hughes’ hand-written will (based on having given Hughes a ride in the desert in 1967), was turned down again by a federal appeals court in his latest challenge to the “official” 1976 will.
Pollard offered voluminous information about owls to buttress his theory, but acknowledged earlier that no feathers had been found at the scene.
However, in August, the State Bureau of Investigation disclosed that one “microscopic feather” was on a clump of hair in Mrs. Peterson’s hand. Shouted Pollard, “(T)he feather has been found” (although it was likely a household speck of down).
Least competent criminals
Angel Cruz, 49, was indicted in August in Florida for various dubious financial schemes, including attempting to convince employees and contractors to accept his “United Cities Group” “currency” as of parallel value with U.S. currency.
Cruz came to federal prosecutors’ attention when he tried to sneak $214 million of UCG money into a Bank of America branch in Miami and allegedly threatened to take over the bank when it balked at allowing withdrawals in U.S. dollars.
Critters 4, humans 0
---A 17-year-old boy in Reno, Nev., accidentally set his family’s house on fire trying to kill spiders (August).
---A woman in Santa Fe, N.M., accidentally caused severe fire damage to her home while trying to torch a rattlesnake (July).
---A 26-year-old man in Mobile, Ala., accidentally caused $80,000 damage to his home and a shed trying to kill a swarm of bees (June).
---A Buddhist monk accidentally burned down his temple in Ojiya City, Japan, trying to destroy a hornets’ nest (September).
Defending tradition
A member of Pakistan’s parliament stood his ground in August, defending news reports from his Baluchistan province that five women had been shot and then buried alive as tribal punishment for objecting to their families’ choosing husbands for them.
A defiant Israr Ullah Zehri told the Associated Press, “These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them,” despite condemnation by Zehri’s colleagues. “Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid,” Zehri said.
Inexplicable
The incredibly patient Joseph Shepard Sr., 53, sat quietly in St. Louis-area lockups for more than two years expecting that his lawyer, Michael Kelly, was working for his release on bond, but it turns out neither Kelly nor prosecutors nor the judge was doing anything at all.
In fact, Shepard seemed innocently happy when a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter told him in August that he had looked into the case himself and that Shepard would be released soon.
Shepard’s attitude: “If I just sit here long enough, something’s going to happen.” Three days later, federal judge Carol Jackson released Shepard and chastised Kelly. (Shepard’s drug charges remain.)
Too much time on their hands
In December 2003, Yves Julien worked a regular 11-hour shift, plus overtime, all at premium pay, for the Canada Border Services Agency, and then demanded an additional $9 (Canadian) for a sandwich he had purchased when asked to put in the extra hours.
The agency said he was not entitled, by contract, because the overtime was already at premium pay. In September 2008, after nearly five years of multiple reviews, hair-splitting legal decisions and lengthy appeals, Julien won his $9.
Never give up
In September, Melvin Dummar, now 62, the man who famously claimed to be in Howard Hughes’ hand-written will (based on having given Hughes a ride in the desert in 1967), was turned down again by a federal appeals court in his latest challenge to the “official” 1976 will.
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