December 21, 2014

sheriff deputy arrested. choked patient in hospital then arrested him w felony charges

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-sheriff-s-deputy-arrested-in-assault-on-5969915.php
S.F. sheriff’s deputy arrested in assault on hospital patient
By Vivian Ho Updated 2:22 pm, Saturday, December 20, 2014

A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy was out on bail Saturday after being take into custody for allegedly choking a hospital patient and then arresting the man for trying to
Michael Lewelling, 33, was arrested Friday and charged with perjury, filing a false police report, filing a false instrument and assault under the color of authority — all felonies — as well as misdemeanor battery for the Nov. 3 attack at San Francisco General Hospital, according to the district attorney’s office.
Lewelling was assigned to the Sheriff’s Department’s patrol unit at the hospital when he filed a report accusing the victim of attempting to attack him with a wooden cane. The man was arrested in connection with various felony and misdemeanor offenses.
The district attorney’s office declined to file charges and the man was released the next day. Prosecutors requested video evidence, which allegedly showed Lewelling instigating the attack.
Prosecutors said the victim had been sleeping in a chair in the emergency room’s waiting area about 5 a.m., and that the video showed Lewelling approaching the man, engaging him in conversation as he woke up.
When the victim tried to walk away with the help of his cane, the video showed, Lewelling grabbed the back of his collar, shoving him back into the seat and knocking his cane away, the district attorney’s office said.
The video then showed Lewelling grabbing the man’s throat and choking him before placing him under arrest, prosecutors said.

December 21, 2014

Seattle’s unbelievable transportation megaproject fustercluck

http://grist.org/cities/seattles-unbelievable-transportation-megaproject-fustercluck/
Seattle’s unbelievable transportation megaproject fustercluck
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In short: There is no plan to resolve the dispute over cost overruns, which are ubiquitous on projects like this; at $4.2 billion, it’s the most expensive transportation project in state history. The tunnel will have no exits — no ingress or egress — throughout the entire downtown core (which makes the support of downtown businesses all the more mystifying). It won’t allow transit, only cars. It will be tolled, highly enough, by the state’s own estimates, to drive nearly half its traffic onto the aforementioned side streets. It will be a precarious engineering feat, the widest deep-bore tunnel in history, digging right between a) Puget Sound and b) the oldest part of Seattle, with vulnerable buildings and God-knows-what buried infrastructure. Also: Pollution. Climate change. It’s the 21st f’ing century. On and on. People said all this and more, in real time, to no avail.

One of the people fighting hardest against the tunnel? Visionary mayor Mike McGinn, who spent his term in office warning that exactly what is happening now was going to happen. For his efforts, Seattle voted him out of office. We prefer to hang on to our illusions.

Holden’s 2010 list of things that might go wrong with the project began with this:

1. The tunnel-boring machine gets stuck

Spoiler alert: The machine got stuck.

2. Our plan to deal with a broken machine is inadequate

Spoiler alert: Our plan to deal with the machine is a slow-motion fiasco.

3. The ground caves in

Spoiler alert: … Oh, you get it.

—

December 20, 2014

Obama overwhelmingly winning online poll over Cuba move

http://blog.sfgate.com/opinionshop/2014/12/19/take-the-weekly-poll-did-the-president-make-the-right-move-on-cuba/

Did President Obama make the right move with Cuba?

64%
yes -- the U.S. can't risk becoming a relic of the Cold War
27%
yes -- he masterfully eliminated Cuba as Putin's pressure point against the U.S.
8%
no -- and Congress should keep the embargo in place
1%
no -- opening up Cuba to the world will destroy Cuban culture

December 20, 2014

School disciplines blind child by taking away cane and replacing it with pool noodle

A blind 8-year-old Kansas boy was left humiliated this week when school administrators punished him by confiscating his cane and replacing it with a floppy pool noodle.

Dakota Nafzinger was born without eyes and he uses the cane to help him get around. Now, he’s stuck using a floppy piece of styrofoam for the next two weeks.

North Kansas City School District Spokeswoman Michelle Cronk told WTKR-TV that the cane is school property and staff decided to replace it with the pool noodle after Dakota allegedly hit a peer with his cane during a school bus ride.

Dakota’s father, Donald Nafzinger, feels his boy’s actions were misinterpreted as he often lifts his cane and waves it around. He feels the punishment is unfair.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2014/12/17/school-disciplines-blind-child-by-taking-away-cane-and-replacing-it-with-pool-noodle/

December 19, 2014

woman's will requested that her (healthy) dog be euthanized and buried with her: #SaveBela

Connie Ley made an unusual request in her will before she died last month in Aurora, Indiana: She asked that her German shepherd, Bela, be euthanized and buried with her.



Three weeks later, however, Bela, who is 9 years old and male, is healthy and very much alive. And there's a growing movement on social media to defy his late owner's wishes and spare the animal.

Ley's attorney, Doug Denmure, told CNN affiliate WCPO-TV that his late client preferred to send Bela to Best Friends Animal Society's no-kill sanctuary in southern Utah to live out the remainder of his days.

But if transporting the dog across the country proved too expensive, Ley wanted a close friend to take charge of Bela and carry out her request that "the dog be put to sleep, cremated and that the dog's ashes be placed with her own ashes."

As it turned out, sending Bela to the Utah animal sanctuary was not financially feasible, Denmure told WXIX-TV, another CNN affiliate. But following a public outcry, a decision about the dog's fate has been put on hold for now, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/18/living/dog-burial-request-bela-feat/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

December 19, 2014

Philly radio host mocked a Phillies fan battling cancer

Philadelphia radio host apologizes for remarks about Phillies fan battling cancer who was guest on ‘Ellen’ show
Chase Utley invited Julie Kramer to be his guest at a game of her choosing in 2015, to which Chris Stigall remarked: 'It’s probably terminal what that woman has. You think she’s going to live through an entire season?'

---

A Philly radio host was pulling his foot out of his mouth Wednesday after he mocked a Phillies fan battling cancer.

Ellen DeGeneres had Julie Kramer as a guest on her talkshow — which aired Monday — and surprised her with a visit from Phillies second baseman Chase Utley. Utley told the 23-year-old — who’s battling stage 4 synovial sarcoma (a soft-tissue cancer) — that she had a standing invitation to be his personal guest at a Phillies game of her choosing in 2015.

The next morning, WPHT host Chris Stigall scoffed at Utley’s gesture, saying “You know Chase Utley’s not going to be around to take the cancer patient to the games. It’s a nice invite, but he won’t even be here.”

While speculating on Utley’s future in Philly is fair, Stigall took his criticism to a cruel low by adding, “Plus, it’s probably terminal what that woman has. You think she’s going to live through an entire season?”
Phillies second baseman Chase Utley offers a fan, Julie Kramer, an open invitation to attend any game as his personal guest in 2015. Rich Schultz/Getty Images Phillies second baseman Chase Utley offers a fan, Julie Kramer, an open invitation to attend any game as his personal guest in 2015.

Stigall issued an apology for his crass comments on Wednesday, wherein he blamed “people who wish to do me harm professionally” for twisting his words.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/radio-host-apologizes-mocking-phillies-fan-cancer-article-1.2050155

December 19, 2014

Illinois woman files trademark application for ‘I can’t breathe’

Illinois woman files trademark application for ‘I can’t breathe’
Catherine Crump has filed an application to trademark Eric Garner's final words for use on hoodies and T-shirts for sale. The 57-year-old woman told the Smoking Gun that her filing has 'nothing to do with the Garner family' and it's not to make money.

"I can't breathe," the nationwide rallying cry against injustice, may soon be trademarked for financial gain.

An Illinois woman has called dibs on the rights to Eric Garner's last dying words after filing an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Smoking Gun reported.

Catherine Crump, a 57-year-old woman listed as living in Waukegan, filed an application Saturday for its use on hoodies and T-shirts for men, women, boys, girls and infants.

Crump states that she has been using the slogan for commercial use since "at least as early as" August 18 — that's one month after the New York man's death

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/illinois-woman-files-trademark-request-breathe-article-1.2050327

December 18, 2014

No charges for Richmond cop who took home pot - said he took it home to train police dog

A Richmond police officer won’t face criminal charges over the discovery of a four-pound package of marijuana at his Oakley home that he said he had used to train his police dog, authorities said Thursday.

Officer Joe Avila, 43, was placed on paid leave after authorities found the package at his home on Sept. 24, 10 months after he first picked it up from a delivery company while on duty, police said.

Investigators determined that in November 2013, Avila responded to a UPS Store in Richmond, which had intercepted the package with marijuana inside. Instead of booking it into evidence, Avila took it home, according to Barry Grove, a Contra Costa County deputy district attorney.

Avila told investigators he had used about two pounds of marijuana to train his dog, authorities said.

Prosecutors said there were no signs that Avila had sold the marijuana or used it for any illegal purpose.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/No-charges-for-Richmond-cop-who-took-home-pot-5966072.php

--- best comment following article:

The next time you're stopped for cannabis possession, yeah, totally say "I was on my way to the police station to donate it to train drug dogs."

See how that works out for ya, versus how it worked out for this crook.

December 18, 2014

Facing closure, the Argentine zoo that 'drugs its lions' so that visitors can pose for pictures

posing with a clearly drugged animal? People can be heartless

Facing closure, the Argentine zoo that 'drugs its lions' so that visitors can pose for pictures









Leonardo Mascitelli, an undersecretary at Buenos Aires' Directorate of Wildlife of the Ministry of Land Affairs, confirmed the zoo was being investigated.

He said the contact was against Article 8 of a provincial law which bans 'direct animal contact with the public' in parks and estates where animals are exhibited.

-------------------


'We are the only zoo in the world that practices special training in gentleness techniques.'

But animal rights groups and some tourists rubbished the claims, including on the travel review site Tripadvisor.

One anonymous reviewer wrote: 'There was one lion unconscious lion passed out on a picnic table. When someone arrived for a photo, water was thrown on the clearly drugged lion's face and meat was dangled in front of it.'

Another wrote: 'Since I got there and saw the poor animals, I realised something was happening in there. It seems like these animals are drugged or sedated... It's just a matter of time until someone gets hurt, and who will be the one to blame?'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2877978/Facing-closure-Argentine-zoo-drugs-lions-visitors-pose-pictures-INSIDE-cages.html#ixzz3MD3REjxR

December 17, 2014

NY cops take drunk restaurant owner home rather than arrest (he charged cops $1 for meals)

EXCLUSIVE: Drunk driver killed in Long Island wreck was brought home by friendly cops after another crash 30 minutes earlier: suit
An intoxicated Peter Fedden, the 29-year-old owner of the Commack Breakfast Diner, had crashed through two lawns and a driveway, according to the suit. It alleges that Suffolk County cops who ate at his diner dropped him off at home instead of arresting him, which cost him his life.

A drunk driver killed in a high-speed wreck on Long Island was involved in another crash 30 minutes earlier and was taken home by friendly Suffolk County cops who patronized the victim’s diner, a bombshell lawsuit alleges.

Peter Fedden, the owner of the Commack Breakfast Diner, allegedly got the break that ended up costing him his life because of his generosity to cops.

“It was known (among) the local officers that Peter charged only $1 for the officers to eat at the deli no matter what they ordered,” according to the $30 million suit.

Fedden, 29, drank at least 10 ounces of Jack Daniels whiskey at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Commack on July 30, 2013.

Then he smoked marijuana with the bartender and another friend before they all got in his car, according to the suit.

Fedden was traveling about 90 miles per hour when he lost control around 11:30 p.m. and barreled through a fence, across two lawns and crashed into a car parked in a driveway, the court papers say.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/drunk-driver-killed-crash-helped-cops-suit-article-1.2048125