Bears in the news, part 3
Bear escapes in latest breakout from city zoo
Original Story
Reuters, August 30, 2004
BERLIN, Aug 30 (Reuters) - An Andean spectacled bear escaped from its enclosure in Berlin zoo and roamed around a children's playground -- the second breakout since June, when a gorilla leapt over its fence, the zoo's deputy director said on Monday.
"There was no panic among visitors and no real danger," when Juan hauled himself over a wall and made for the carousel, said Heiner Kloes, "but I was alarmed at how some fathers were too busy filming the bear to check where their children were."
Staff shot anaesthetic darts at the 110 kilo (242 lb) bear to knock him out and are now reviewing zoo security. "Spectacled bears eat both vegetables and meat but children tend not to be on their menu," Kloes said. "I'd have been a lot more worried if one of our polar bears had escaped."
Taxi driver returns silver medal left in his cab
Original
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A taxi driver returned a silver medal left in his cab by Dutch rower Simon Diederik, Olympics organizers said Wednesday.
Diederik left the medal, which he won Sunday, in a taxi on Monday evening.
After an announcement about the loss to all 5,000 taxis working that night, the medal was handed over to organizers and will be given to the athlete.
The driver will be given a gift for returning the medal, organizers said
More bears in the news!
Bear not discouraged by rock 'n' roll
AP, August 23, 2004
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) -- Not even loud rock 'n' roll music could discourage a 350-pound bear that repeatedly raided plums and watermelons from a couple's garden.
Eldon and Gerry Nihues hung a radio from the plum tree, tuned it into a rock station and turned it up loud in hopes of scaring off the bear, which helped itself to about 50 watermelons, including 11 in one night.
"It was this crazy rock stuff that was playing, but it didn't bother him," Gerry Nihues said. "He'd eat the plums right out from under where the thing was playing."
The state Division of Wildlife set out a trap, and the bear walked into it Wednesday night. Wildlife officers tranquilized the bear, tagged it and released it in a remote area.
Eight bears have been relocated from the area in the past three weeks, Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said. More encounters are expected as bears try to fatten up before hibernating for the winter.
acronym alert!
White House Notebook
Earlier this month, President Bush was almost done with a speech to a group
of minority journalists when he dropped a rather startling proposal.
"We actually misnamed the war on terror," he said. "It ought to be the
Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe in Free Societies
Who Happen to Use Terror as a Weapon to Try to Shake the Conscience of the
Free World."
Or, if you prefer to abbreviate, SAIEWDNBIFSWHTUTAAWTTTSTCOTFW.
Associated Press, August 16, 2004
BROKEN BOW, Neb. -- Custer County Chief publisher Deb McCaslin admits her newspaper, at least for a week, was leftist. But not in the way most media critics would presume.
The weekly Chief was printed backward last week so the front page opened to the left instead of the right, as do most periodicals.
McCaslin said the newspaper matched the edition to International Left-handers Day. "Sometimes, you have to have fun," she said.
In addition to a story on products for left-handers on the shelves of stores in Broken Bow, the newspaper listed famous people who were known to be southpaws.
McCaslin said many people called to say they enjoyed the edition.
'Haunted' courthouse's ghostly presence blamed on bug
[original]
By Associated Press, August 13, 2004
CHESTERTOWN, Md. -- A security officer was bugged out when he saw what appeared to be ghost haunting Kent County Court House.
The suspect spirit turned out to be a bug, the security company says.
On July 29, for a little more than an hour, a security camera showed a round, translucent, white object that seemed to walk up and down a set of stairs inside the newer wing of the courthouse.
"I've seen it so many times, it's not funny," said Brooke Eyler, general manager of Atlantic Security, which installed the courthouse cameras. "It's definitely a bug."
But a self-proclaimed ''ghost investigator'' wants to have another look.
Beverly Lipsinger, president of the Maryland Ghost & Spirit Association, said the descriptions she's heard don't sound like a bug.
''It's a ghost,'' said Lipsinger. ''They don't want to believe, so they're coming up with something.''
Part of the courthouse dates to 1860, and the newer half was constructed in 1969 on top of a former cemetery. Some courthouse employees said the anomaly on the video confirmed what they believed that the courthouse is haunted.
Kent County Sheriff John Price IV said he is satisfied with the technical explanation.
Drunk driver pulls over policeman, asks to be arrested
[original]
By Associated Press, August 10, 2004
VERNON, Vt. -- It's not often that police get pulled over by a drunk driver.
It happened recently to Police Chief Ian McCollin, who was in his car when he spotted a driver looking befuddled at an intersection.
Thinking the man might be lost, McCollin stopped on the side of the road. The man pulled alongside of him, rolled down his window and announced he was looking for an officer to arrest him because he was drunk.
McCollin was so startled he called for backup.
"I was just a little nervous about it," he said. "It just wasn't natural."
The man, Bryan S. Condo, 28, showed a non-driver's I.D., and said his license had been criminally suspended. He said he already has been arrested once for driving drunk.
In a preliminary breath test, Condo registered more than four times the 0.08 legal limit, McCollin said.
McCollin said Condo wasn't combative, as is typical in such cases.
"He was a gentleman, very polite and very cooperative," he said. "I think he was looking for or needs help."
Condo was cited for second-offense DUI and driving with a suspended license.
By Associated Press, 8/10/2004 09:31
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) A Belgian airliner made an emergency landing after an agitated passenger a cat got into the cockpit and attacked the co-pilot, the airline said Tuesday.
The SN Brussels flight from the Belgian capital to Vienna, Austria, had been in the air about 20 minutes Monday when "it was noticed" that a passenger's pet had escaped from its cage, "although it is not yet clear how," according to an airline statement.
"Once free, the animal proceeded to wander around the cabin," slipping into the cockpit when meals were being delivered to the two-man flight crew, it said.
"At this stage the animal became agitated and nervous," it said. An airline spokeswoman added that the cat scratched the copilot's arm.
The pilot decided to return to Brussels as a precaution, and the 58 passengers departed once more two hours later on another flight.
The cat had been checked in Oslo, Norway, in an internationally approved "flight transport bag," but the airline said it may end up changing its procedures for pets in the cabin once it concludes its investigation.
"At no time throughout the incident was the passengers' security affected in any way," it said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- It's not about sex and all about the touchy-feely experience of snuggling up to perfect strangers wearing pajamas.
The grab fests are called cuddle parties, and since they started in New York in February, hundreds of people have paid $30 each to touch and embrace others in intimate gatherings.
Everyone needs to be cuddled, especially in lonely New York, say creators Reid Mihalko and Marcia Baczynski, who say it's a good way to meet new and interesting people.
But the rules are clear. The PJs stay on the whole time.
In case things get too steamy, a small chime is kept on hand. Before the cuddling begins, the chime is struck several times so everyone gets the message.
"We've never used it," said Mihalko, who said sexual arousal does occur.
The idea for cuddle parties loosely came about after Mihalko, a 14-year masseur, began giving massages to other masseurs who never got the chance to receive them.
Signs that people need to be touched were brought home one day when Mihalko said he noticed a woman bawling from the emotional release that a massage provided her at an outdoor stand in midtown Manhattan.
"It started out as a joke," Baczynski said. "Now we talk about cuddling all the time. It's just been amazing."
Curiosity is a big driver for people who attend cuddle parties, and it is a better way to meet people than going to a bar, getting drunk and spending the night with someone just because of the need for some affection, she said.
A cuddle party is really about communication and not therapy, say the organizers.
Before any touching begins, participants gather in a circle to hear the rules and voice any questions or concerns. The first rule is that the event is not clothing optional, pajamas must stay on and sex is not permitted.
Participants team up into pairs, and to ensure the boundaries of what is permissible are clear, they practice saying "no" to the question, "May I kiss you?"
An introduction to cuddling ensues, first by hugging three people. People then get in a circle on their hands and knees, rub shoulders and moo like cows. After a bit of swaying, everyone falls to their side, which puts them into an easy cuddling position.
Cuddle parties are intended for people who are emotionally sound. People in therapy or who are seeing a mental health professional are asked to consult their doctor before signing up for a party and to tell organizers of their situation.
One group on an overcast Sunday drew a mix of mostly single people in their 30s and a smattering of older people.
A repeat customer who called herself a born-again Christian said it was good to cuddle up to another person, albeit a perfect stranger, after a hectic week.
"I felt good. I had a particularly stressful week," said the woman, who did not wish to be named.
Friends had warned her that the parties would be nothing more than thinly disguised preludes to sex, but she dismissed those worries as alarmist and unfounded, saying, "It's not about sex."
Like others, the chance to meet someone was a consideration in attending a cuddle party.
"People in a way are looking for a connection," Fernando said. "It's weird, but not unusual."
A man named Dwayne H., who described himself as introverted, said he thought the parties would help him relax before strangers and help him express his feelings.
"I have a problem showing emotion," he said.
Copyright 2004 Reuters.
A search for every vote
Friday, August 6, 2004 Posted: 10:46 AM EDT (1446 GMT)
BIRD-IN-HAND, Pennsylvania (AP) -- The Amish live without electricity, cars, telephones, and usually, without voting. But they are being sought out this year as Republicans try to sign up every possible supporter in presidential battleground states.
Amish almost always side with the Republican Party when they do vote -- making them an attractive, if unlikely, voting bloc in the neck-and-neck campaign between President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry. A majority of the nation's Amish live in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. (Map: Amish population in battlegrounds)
"Pennsylvania and Ohio are just absolute battleground states, and to think that the Amish could weigh in to the tune of thousands of votes that are clearly going to be Republican -- that could be very significant for Bush," said Chet Beiler, a former Amish who has been dropping off voter registration forms at Amish businesses and farms in hopes of signing up as many as 3,000 new voters.
As pacifists, most Amish avoid political activity that they believe would link them even indirectly with government-sponsored violence. But hot-button social issues, coupled with gentle prompting from people like Beiler, are galvanizing some Amish to register to vote.
"We hate that abortion issue," said Sam Stolztfus, 60, an Amish farmer and gazebo maker in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, where an estimated 27,000 Amish live. "We're totally against it. And as far as gay issues, that's completely contrary to the Bible."
The bearded Stolztfus proudly says the Amish are "sort of swept up with Bush fever."
"You could hold up a dead mouse with a sign 'I love Bush' and we'd still probably think twice about stomping that mouse underfoot."
An estimated 180,000 Amish live in 28 states and Ontario. They are a reserved, Christian subculture in rural areas who descend from Swiss Germans and settled in Lancaster County in the early 1700s as part of William Penn's "holy experiment" in religious tolerance. The Amish do not drive cars, watch TV or use telephones in their homes, and are instantly recognizable by their horse-driven buggies and plain garb, bonnets and straw hats.
Physically casting a ballot will not be a problem for Amish in Lancaster County, where mechanical lever voting machines are still used.
"Their basic political inclinations are traditional and conservative," said Don Kraybill, a sociologist of Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster. "Although the Amish are not politically active, they make an enticing target for Republicans, politically, because they are likely going to vote Republican."
But experts believe fewer than 10 percent of Amish ever vote, and the prospect of them turning out in great numbers in November is "not going to happen," Kraybill said. "These things occur gradually, over 30 to 40 years -- not quickly."
Neither presidential campaign is targeting the Amish, although Bush privately met with about 30 Amish during a July 9 campaign trip through Lancaster County. Earlier this year, the Bush administration relaxed federal labor laws to let Amish teenagers work near dangerous woodworking machines. The Amish had lobbied for the changes for years.
Democrats have all but ceded the Amish vote to Republicans.
"If I know Republicans and their grass-roots operations, they'll spend most of their time trying to phone bank the Amish," said Kerry spokesman Mark Nevins.
Not all Amish are comfortable with the Bush administration -- particularly the president's decision to invade Iraq. But John Fisher, who welds iron products in Lancaster and is father of seven children, said Bush's "focus on the family" will win his vote.
Of the war, "something needed to be done," said Fisher, a member of Lancaster's Amish community. "I don't agree with war at all. But he had to do what he had to do."
In Ohio, Amish have begun reaching out to the state Republican Party to learn more about Bush, said party spokesman Jason Mauk. An estimated 55,000 Amish live in Ohio -- more than in any other state.
"A lot of Amish Ohioans respect the president as a man of faith and someone who leads with conviction," Mauk said. "These are people who care about our religious freedom and the moral fabric of society. That's motivating a lot of Amish to do what they have not done before, and reach out to us to start a dialogue."
Saturday, August 7, 2004 Posted: 3:13 AM EDT (0713 GMT)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Police have confirmed they were investigating a burglary at the Hollywood Hills home of Paris and Nicky Hilton.
Someone broke into the house Wednesday night, but detectives haven't identified a suspect, Officer Esther Reyes said on Friday.
She wouldn't comment on what was stolen, citing the ongoing investigation.
"Everything ... Just all my valuables. All my jewelry. All my money," Paris Hilton, star of the Fox reality show "The Simple Life 2," told KABC-TV during a visit to the home Friday.
Hilton, who was not home at the time of the break-in, did not specify to reporters what was taken. She arrived carrying her pet Chihuahua, which was dressed in a pink outfit.
Us Weekly magazine quoted an unnamed Hilton family member who said the burglar took off with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, jewelry and personal items.
Another unnamed source told the magazine that a laptop computer, several designer purses, video tapes and photographs of Paris Hilton with ex-boyfriend Nick Carter were also taken.
Burglars appear to have cut a window screen and entered the modest Hollywood Boulevard home.
Hilton said she was renting the home and planned to move into one she had purchased next month that will have more security.
Bloomberg Takes Latest Alert Seriously: No Salt
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER, August 4, 2004
Since the day Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office, his responses to numerous federal warnings about possible terrorist attacks have been almost identical. Without exactly being dismissive, he has told New Yorkers to leave security concerns “to the professionals,” and then promptly cantered around the city, from the theater district to wide-open lunch counters to Knicks games, spreading the word that the city is safe and open for business.
This week, however, while continuing his breakneck tours of the five boroughs, Mr. Bloomberg has taken a slightly different tack, viewing the latest alert issued by the Department of Homeland Security in a very sober light. During a television interview yesterday, the mayor said, “Every day in a very dangerous world is a challenge.”
Further, while the Bloomberg administration has been deeply annoyed by Cassandra- like warnings issued from Washington over the last few years, it appears to have seized on this particular augury as both far more credible and serious — and also something that gives the mayor a political opportunity to show his resolve in keeping the city safe.
While none of his aides want to speak on the record about possibly deriving political advantage from a terrorist threat, several said yesterday that they felt that the constant images and reports of the mayor’s ringing the bell of the New York Stock Exchange, taking the subway, and racing from the Citigroup building to the reopening of the Statue of Liberty to police precincts have left a good impression on many rattled New Yorkers.
Various political analysts echo the view. “I think it helps him,” said William B. Eimicke, a professor of public administration at Columbia University. “This was a role that I thought he would play very poorly because he is so understated and does not play well interacting with people. But I think he comes across really great. He projects the same kind of courage of the average person in New York who, despite the warnings, went to work this week and did their jobs.”
In the past, the vague alerts issued by Washington may have hurt tourism and other businesses, but they did not necessarily resonate politically, at least locally. For instance, when a plot to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge was uncovered — a plan foiled in part by anticipatory police actions — the story got far less play than this week’s terror warning. But should the city weather the latest threat, the mayor and his police commissioner will most likely get some of the credit, particularly given the Police Department’s heavy focus recently on terrorism.
“There are rare instances where we actually learned later what we put in place deterred an attack,” said one police official, in describing the city’s success on the antiterror front.
But the recent terror threats also put the mayor in some potentially dangerous crosscurrents.
On the one hand, Mr. Bloomberg was able to bask in the bright lights of national television yesterday while standing next to the homeland security secretary, Tom Ridge (while Mr. Ridge had to tackle all the difficult questions from the press about what the government knew when about the threats).
But the event also made the mayor appear in line with the Bush administration — which is viewed skeptically by many New Yorkers — at a time when people are questioning whether the terror warnings are designed to help the president’s re-election efforts.
And while New Yorkers have gotten used to seeing police officers with large machine guns standing sentry around their city and may indeed be comforted by the sight, the increased focus on the police also gives fresh ammunition to unions representing uniformed workers seeking to embarrass the mayor over salary and other labor issues.
The newest threat also gave Mr. Bloomberg more clout to push Washington to give the city more antiterrorism money. But it also reminds New Yorkers that a so-called National Security Event — the Republican National Convention — is only weeks away, which some could interpret as providing another tempting target for terrorists.
“I believe the political risks are to be identified too closely with the Republican Party in a Democratic city,” said George Arzt, a New York political consultant.
Edward Skyler, the mayor’s press secretary, sniffed at the idea that the presence of the Republican National Convention in New York would endanger the city, and suggested that New Yorkers shared his view. “What is the alternative?” Mr. Skyler said. “Shutting down? Should we tell the Yankees and the Mets not to get into the World Series? Should we tell the Knicks not to make the playoffs? I don’t think New Yorkers would like us to go in that direction.”
Yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg continued to seek a balance between showing resolve against a potential threat to the city and assuring people that they should live their lives normally. He held a news conference at the Citigroup building, the same spot where he once held an impromptu lunchtime event right after the start of the Iraq war, against his security detail’s advice given the open-air nature of the space.
“Given what’s going on in the last few days,” he said during the reopening of the Statue of Liberty, “what the press has been covering, I suppose it’s a reasonable question to ask why we didn’t just cancel a highprofile event like this. But I think to stay home and lock our doors is exactly what the terrorists would want. And I think there is nothing we can do that is more appropriate than to have a ceremony like this. What we are really saying to the rest of the world, this is America, and America is strong, and Americans value their freedom.”
this blog was inspired by this article
Saddam 'gardens, eats muffins'
Monday, July 26, 2004 Posted: 10:59 AM EDT (1459 GMT)
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein spends his time in solitary confinement writing poems, tending a garden, reading the Koran and eating American muffins and cookies, a British newspaper has reported.
The Guardian quoted Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's new human rights minister, as saying Saddam "appeared demoralized and dejected" during a weekend visit to his cell. Amin said one of Saddam's poems was about George Bush.
Amin said he did not speak to Saddam but that he appeared to be "in good health and being kept in good conditions."
He said Saddam was being treated for high blood pressure and a chronic prostate infection, although he had refused a biopsy to test for cancer.
Amin said Saddam "was regaining weight again" after putting himself on a diet in which he "resisted all fatty foods and had lost 11 pounds."
Saddam and other detainees get a 1,300-calorie MRE (meal ready to eat) breakfast, along with two hot meals a day. Desserts might include oranges, apples, pears or plums, although Amin said Saddam likes American muffins and cookies.
Amin said Saddam exercises in his cell, and uses a daily three-hour exercise period to tend a small outdoor garden. Saddam is kept apart from other detainees, who can mix freely with each other during the exercise periods.
"He is looking after a few bushes and shrubs and has even placed a circle of white stones around a small palm tree," Amin said.
"His apparent care for his surroundings is ironic when you think he was responsible for one of the biggest ecocides when he drained the southern marshes."
Saddam's cell in a U.S. military prison is air conditioned, painted white, and measures 3 meters (yards) by 5 meters.
Amin said Saddam had taken to reading the Koran and writing poetry since his first court appearance on July 1.
"One of the poems is about George Bush, but I had no time to read it," Amin said.
It wasn't clear whether the poem was about current U.S. President George W. Bush or his father, former U.S. President George Bush, who launched the 1991 Gulf War against Saddam.
Amin, a Kurd from Kirkuk, is a longtime Iraqi human rights campaigner. The Guardian said he was the first member of Iraq's new interim government to visit Saddam.
During his visit, Amin said he saw Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, who allegedly ordered the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the late 1980s.
Amin said he was approached by Saddam's half brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, a former intelligence chief who was once Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
"Mr. Minister, what am I doing here," Amin quoted al-Tikriti as saying. "I am not like the others, I am not like Ali Hassan al-Majid."
Al-Tikriti asked that the message be given to Kurdish leaders and Iraq's new prime minister, Ayad Allawi.
"I tried to control my emotions, but to be honest I wanted to vomit," The Guardian quoted Amin as saying.
"There before me were the men responsible for the industrial pain of Iraq -- mass murderers who were responsible for turning Iraq into a land of mass graves."
