Dec 09 2009
A Charleston woman was charged with shoplifting after she made a hot dog at a Myrtle Beach store, offered to pay for it tomorrow and then threw it away because she said it didn’t taste good, according to a police report.
Shelia Diane Anderson, 60, was charged with shoplifting after police were called to the Circle K at 1101 N. Kings Highway, police said.
Nov 13 2009
Town officials pressured David Bowden on Thursday, saying they will levy fines against the Cary man if he doesn’t remove or tone down a bright protest sign painted in huge, orange letters on the front of his house.
He has seven days.
In a statement, town officials say attempts to negotiate with Bowden have failed to resolve an impasse that started in July, when he had “Screwed By The Town of Cary” painted on his home at 305 SW Maynard Road.
I’ve driven past this house. Honestly, I think the sign provides a nice contrast from the suburban monotony along Maynard.
Bowden, who says his house was damaged by runoff caused by town road construction, refuses to budge. The slogan is a free speech issue, he says, a stance that has the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina.
Like the odd comet or the government voluntarily making itself smaller, sometimes incredibly rare things happen that you didn’t ever imagine seeing in your lifetime, and this is one of them. I am actually going to agree with the ACLU. I guess even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Town officials offered to install a trench drain and new drainage pipe to re-route water away from Bowden’s home. Bowden declined the offer and issued his own ultimatum: The sign wouldn’t come down until the town buys his house. Bowden also declined third-party mediation, according to a town statement issued Thursday.
Is this guy being a stubborn jerk? You bet. Can he and should he work with the town to resolve this? Probably. Should the government force him? Nope, no, and Hell No. His house, his paint, his complaint. If he had a blaring bullhorn that would be one thing, but a bad paint job is another.
Sorry neighbors. If this is really getting to you, plant a hedge or something.
Sep 14 2009
What the hell is this, 1974?
“Waxhaw? People running nude in Waxhaw?” Brambier asked.
A naked jogger has been spotted running through downtown in the middle of the night, past a barber shop, computer store and over the famous railroad bridge.
John Tiley got the first e-mails and posted them on his Waxhaw Gazette blog.
Jul 31 2009
Rock Hill police were called to a home on Wilhurst Court on Thursday after a mother said two of her children were fighting over the last piece of chicken.
The mother told police her 8-year-old son and her 12-year-old daughter got into an argument over who would eat the last piece of chicken and started threatening each other, according to a Rock Hill police report. Another sibling, 9, stepped in to try to ease the situation. He pushed the 8-year-old to the ground and held him down until police arrived, the report states.
Parents like this tempt me to almost want to support forced sterilization.
Jul 29 2009
I told him if he’s that desperate to find a whore, not a horse!
A Conway woman who had video surveillance of a man having sexual intercourse with one of her horses said she found the suspect behind her barn Monday night and pointed a shotgun at his head until police arrived and arrested him.
Rodell Vereen, 50, of Longs, is charged with buggery and trespassing after Barbara Kenley, who owns Lazy B Stables on Coates Road in the Wampee section of Horry County, told officers she had video of the suspect having sex with a horse then wanted to catch him at her barn.
I guess it’s called buggery in Conway. LOL!
Jul 24 2009
What kind of demented, twisted mind does something like this? I mean, seriously, who does this just for the hell of it? A sane and normal functioning human being does not chop up a dog with a chainsaw because he feels like it.
It’s a horrific crime one that’s hard to even hear: a dog killed, its body cut up with a chainsaw.
The little boy from South Carolina who owned him is devastated. His mother says she can’t bear to tell him the truth.
The little boy has a backyard full of things that are fun, but one thing is missing: his dog named Buddy.
Jul 15 2009
Wow. I thought I’d seen it all. And my friends, let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot, but I have never seen this.
Back during crossover, Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, got a little bill (H 1353) through the House that would prohibit cities and counties from adopting blanket prohibitions on clotheslines.
The idea, according to Harrison, is to allow people who want to save energy by hanging out their laundry (rather than use their dryers) even if some folks in the community turn up their nose at the idea. Originally, the bill started out as an effort to keep homeowners associations from adopting restrictive covenants prohibiting clotheslines, but Harrison took that out of the bill after getting a lot of resistance.
So the bill came before the Senate Commerce Committee today … and it was doomed.
There was philosophical opposition, yes.
“I also think we ought to let cities and counties to elect local ordinances that govern these types of things, I don’t think the state should have an umbrella ordinance for clotheslines…we just can’t legislate everything,” said Sen. Malcolm Graham.
But you really knew the bill was going down when Senators started openly mocking it.
“Is there any kind of a dress code required when you’re hanging out your clothes,” asked Sen. Tony Rand. The question was a sideswipe at what was being whispered around the committee table: who wants to see their neighbors’ unmentionables? (Or, not to put too fine a point on it, who wants to see a senator’s unmentionables?)
As other members asked questions of staff, a few Senators had a separate dialogue going.
“So what they’re saying is if it’s your own property we can string our panties up,” Sen. Debbie Clary said to Graham, prompting Graham to reply, “String it up baby!”
Clary continued, questioning how people down at the beach might feel about watching other people’s undies flap in the ocean breeze.
“I can just see Clark stringing up his underwear on the line right outside the beach house,” Sen. Debbie Clary said, referring to Sen. Clark Jenkins.
I can’t quote the entire article, so I encourage you to visit the News-Record Web site and read the rest because it’s quite a hoot.
Look, I understand what Pricey Harrison was trying to do and I support her in principle, although probably not according to her exact principles. She sees this bill as a combatant to global “warming.” I see it as an attempt to protect private property rights. Both can be categorized as noble causes (even though I don’t believe in man made global “warming”). However, when she allowed an exemption for HOAs she in effect neutered her own bill.
All that aside, this was a sad, sad day in North Carolina legislative history when our lawmakers have to take time out of their day to debate whether or not they, the government, will be the guardians of our laundry. A sad day indeed.
Jul 09 2009
It looks like blob of wriggling pudding staring out through a single, puckered eye. You can see it caught on camera, clinging to the concrete pipes below Raleigh’s Cameron Village: the Sewer Monster.
It’s really a colony of prehistoric creatures known either as bryozoans or moss animacules, thousands of wormlike animals, biologists report. Clustered together in a glistening mass, they feed through tentacles on whatever floats past. More common in ponds, they have turned up in a set of sanitary sewer pipes under one of the country’s oldest shopping centers.
Shacked up in a six-inch sewer main, the clusters of worms are about the size of a golf ball, estimates Ed Buchan, an environmental coordinator with the city. But the video footage, captured with a tiny, snakelike camera, makes the monster appear at man-eating size to viewers watching at home.
South Carolina may be fifth in the nation for fat-assery, but North Carolina has a sewer monster! Nyah Nyahhh!!!
Jul 02 2009
Nude is natural, you know. Give the guy a break. Sometimes you just have to let it all hang out.
After a male passenger removed his clothes mid-flight, a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque, N.M.
Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, says 50-year-old Keith Wright of New York disrobed Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft.
Jiron says Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket.
Jiron says law enforcement employees who were passengers on the plane helped subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed.
I’m guessing they had to subdue him while he was in the buff. That must have been awkward…….
Jun 22 2009
They’ll be bearing it all on July 11th at Ocean Isle Beach to break a Guiness Book World Record, the most simultaneous skinny dippers in one dip. I can just envision this event including folks of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Why am I frightened that this is going to look far too similar to one of those Animal Planet videos with the walruses sunbathing on the rocks?
Jun 20 2009
It must be a slow news day at the Observer
She heard her son and his cousin giggling.
What’s so funny? she asked.
“Mom, look at this!”
Spivock was shocked to discover that in this issue, the Caped Crusader’s female counterpart – Batgirl – had ditched her clothes, her cape, everything but her mask.
The comic book, published last August, contains 10 pages depicting an unusual confrontation between Batgirl and Catwoman. The crafty criminal has stolen an important notebook that Batgirl needs. To get away, Catwoman ducks into a meeting of the Gotham City’s Hedonist Society.
Batgirl follows – donning only her mask (Holy Hedonist, Batman!) to blend in with the naked pleasure-seekers inside.
Oh, the humanity!
Why is this news worthy? The woman called the library and told them about it. Case closed. Why did she have to call the newspaper to report it to them and why did they feel the need to write about it? Everyone is so dramatic today about the littlest thing.
Big deal, lady. So your kid saw an illustration of a naked woman with a bowl of fruit over her naughty bits. You think it’s the first time?
Jun 04 2009
The aged brontosaurus at the Museum of Life and Science has lost its head.
A good bit of its neck, too.
“We’re very sad,” said museum vice president Julie Ketner Rigby.
According to the museum, the dinosaur statue was probably vandalized Sunday night. Part of the neck was found on the ground nearby, but the head remains missing.
Shiflett has offered a $100 reward for recovery of the missing pieces, and other neighbors have been discussing repair since word hit the neighborhood e-mail list Monday morning.
Witnesses reported seeing a suspicious character near the scene at the time of the crime. Please contact the Durham police if you recognize the suspect from this composite sketch:
May 31 2009
Either the grits were too bland or he’s Mike Tyson’s long lost brother.
Henderson is accused of grabbing the buttocks and nibbling the ear of an 18-year-old employee of Waffle House, 1530 E. Main St., Duncan, on May 14.
The victim told deputies she was wiping down a table when a man the victim later identified as Henderson walked behind her and said, “Oh baby” in her ear. The victim said she turned around and backhanded the man, who left on a blue mo-ped.
May 26 2009
Baltimore County police say when officers arrested a South Carolina woman accused of neglecting her 555-pound son’s health she showed signs of wanting to hurt herself and was taken to a hospital.
County police spokesman Bill Toohey says 49-year-old Jerri Gray was found with her son, 14-year-old Alexander Draper, at a laundry in the Baltimore suburb of Woodlawn. Police found the pair after calls on the mother’s cell phone were traced to the community.
How does a 14 year old child reach 555 pounds? Better yet, how do you lose a child of 555 pounds? The mother and the kid went on the lamb to avoid authorities here in South Carolina and they couldn’t be found. They had to trace her cell phone to find them. I am thinking that a 555 pound child stands out in a crowd.
May 04 2009
The city of Fayetteville is suing itself over the size of a business sign.
Jimmy Teal, the city’s chief planning director, said this is the first time in his 28 years with the city that Fayetteville has filed such a lawsuit.
The City Council’s lawsuit, filed in March, targets the city-appointed Board of Adjustment. That board voted 4-1 in February to allow two outside signs totaling 132 square feet at the Blood & Cancer Clinic on Purdue Drive.
A city ordinance says signs in that area cannot be larger than 48 square feet.
The council members, concerned over the voluntary board’s actions, are asking a judge to reverse the decision and deny the sign variance.
Allowing the variance, the lawsuit says, compromises the city code and hurts the city’s “ability to properly regulate signs in Fayetteville.”
The city is picking up the tab for the Board of Adjustment’s legal defense.
No, the city is NOT “picking up the tab”. Fayetteville taxpayers are.
May 01 2009
Mark Lyttle expected to return home after serving a few months in prison for inappropriately touching a woman’s backside.
Instead, he says, the U.S. government deported him to Mexico, Mexican officials deported him to Honduras, and Honduras deported him to Guatemala – even though he is a North Carolina-born U.S. citizen who speaks no Spanish.
U.S. immigration officials confirmed this week that they wrongly deported Lyttle, 31, who his family says is mentally ill and suffers from mild retardation, in December after finding him in a North Carolina prison. He and his lawyer say he spent four months bouncing among Latin American prisons and homeless shelters before ending up this month at a U.S. embassy in Guatemala, where officials confirmed his citizenship.
Wow. I guarantee this poor guy will NEVER touch a woman again.
Lyttle returned to his family on Friday, but only after immigration officials at the Atlanta airport tried to deport him again. He said that, throughout the process, federal agents repeatedly ignored his assurances that he was a U.S. citizen and native of Rowan County, about 125 miles southwest of the Triangle.
“I said, ‘All I know is the United States.’ I said, ‘I was born here in Rowan County,’” said Lyttle, who is now staying with his brother in Kentucky. “They just totally ignored it.”
Keep in mind- immigration enforcement is something the Feds should be doing. They can’t even get their actual constitutional obligations right, and there are people who want them to be put in charge of MORE stuff?
I shudder to think of what’s going to happen when these dudes are put in charge of your health care!
Apr 17 2009
Today I looked up “douchebag” in the dictionary. Shea Harris’ picture was next to it.
On the afternoon of Jan. 15, Harris, 25, purchased two boxes of Kroger brand dinosaur fruit snacks on sale for 99 cents each. He was “killing those snacks” — even though, because of his braces, he had to suck the gummies rather than chew them. By evening, he had finished one box and was into the third packet of the second — working on a T-Rex, to be precise — when he felt something hard in his mouth.
He spit out the partially dissolved orange chewy creature — with what appeared to be a human tooth still halfway embedded in the head.
“I was freaked out by it!” Harris said. “It was disgusting.”
So far, so good. I’d be freaked out too.
He eventually got a call back from a customer service rep for ConAgra Foods, the massive food company that produces the snacks.
“They offered me $35 or the option of filing a claim,” said Harris, who lives in Southeast Raleigh and works for a local law enforcement agency he prefers not to name. He said he found the amount insulting. “I told them I’d be filing a claim.”
At first, Harris imagined he’d go through a lawyer to collect big bucks. But none of the attorneys he contacted would take the case. Though Harris worries about hidden contagion, he hasn’t suffered any real harm from the admittedly disgusting discovery rattling around in his mouth.
So Harris has submitted his own claim, along with a letter seeking an apology and $35,000.
“I know that might sound outrageous,” Harris said. “But I know this is worth more than $35.”
Actually, it isn’t. Harris is trying get his money the ol’ fashioned way: sue somebody who earned it. And now that his story has been publicized (must have been a slow news day at the N&O), I guarantee that some tic with a law degree has already contacted him looking for a bigger claim and a cut of the action.
Why should this bother you? Because win, lose, or settle, ConAgra is going to have to pay court costs, which will be passed on to you. So the next time your grocery bill goes up, be sure to thank douchebag Shea Harris, his tic lawyer, and all the other jerks out there filing frivolous lawsuits in their quest to get rich quick.
Apr 01 2009
ALLENDALE — South Carolina authorities on Tuesday exhumed the body of a man long rumored to have had his legs cut to fit into a coffin, and a coroner said what officials discovered has brought a criminal investigation.Allendale County Coroner Hayzen Black said “undesirable evidence” was found after officials examined the body of James Hines, a tall man who died in 2004 of skin cancer.Black would not say what the evidence was, but he said rumors had long circulated in the town that Hines’ legs were cut so he could fit into a prepaid coffin.
“I have heard stories. They’re only street talk. You don’t pay any attention to it,” he said. However, Black said increased interest from a prosecutor and the state’s funeral licensing board led to Tuesday’s exhumation, which was observed by state and local law officers and Hines’ widow.
“We found undesirable evidence and it is being further investigated,” Black said.
Is this an April Fool’s joke? If it’s not, it should be.
Who cares???? The man is dead! He doesn’t need his legs anymore! He can’t get up and walk around!! I assure you, he doesn’t mind!
I can’t believe, in the middle of the biggest recession since the Great Depression, these imbecilic bureaucrats would spend thousands of dollars to dig up a body of a man who died five years ago to see if the mortician cut his legs off to fit him in the coffin. It’s not like they did it when the guy was still alive. He was dead. Gone. Expired. He had ceased to be.
So what’s the big deal here? Is it because it’s not aesthetically appealing to cut off someone’s legs after they are dead? After all, it’s not like the guy’s body is going to slowly decompose and rot away for the next few hundred years or anything.
Mar 24 2009
A state legislator from Winston-Salem wants to require companies that do business with the state to disclose their historical ties to slavery.
Under a bill sponsored by Rep. Larry Womble, companies entering into contracts with the state would have to search their corporate records for evidence that they participated in slavery or profited from it.
A company would have to publicly disclose any records of ties to slavery, including the names of any enslaved workers or slaveholders contained in the records.
“History gives a true reflection of how our country got started,” Womble said.
Oh, for crying out loud!
Look, slavery was a tragic and detestable part of our nation’s history, but this is just stupid. I don’t know what reality Rep. Womble lives in, but right now, in today-land, the nation is in debt, the economy sucks, and people are losing their jobs. And this joker is wasting everyone’s time with this bill.
