Sep 23, 7:31 AM EDT
Man Threatens Bikers, Gets Hit With Car
PITTSBURG, Calif. (AP) -- An alleged drunken motorist who brandished a pool cue while driving at a group of motorcyclists was hit by his own car after he attempted to approach the bikers on foot, authorities said.
Richard Brooks, 50, of Concord, was pulled to safety by the motorcyclists after his car - which he left in reverse - knocked him into the highway on Thursday, said Officer Scott Yox of the California Highway Patrol.
Brooks, who was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and driving under the influence, told authorities he was offended by skeletons some of the riders wore on their leather Harley-Davidson jackets and what he perceived as their attempts to appear tough.
"It was his impression that they thought they were better than him," Yox said. "They were irritating to him and he felt he needed to do something about it."
Yox said authorities had no evidence the riders instigated the incident. "Instead of mocking him for going after them, they perhaps set their own safety aside to reach over and rescue him from a position of danger," he said.
Brooks, who was treated at a hospital for cuts and scrapes, remained jailed Friday in lieu of $30,000 bail.
Weird News
Moderator:Æron
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VisibilityMissing
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- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
Darwin misses . . .
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
-
Bocaj Claw
- Posts:8523
- Joined:Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:31 am
- Location:Not Stetson University
- Contact:
Oh, I'm trying. Its harder than it seems. First, you've got to give a ton of money to the school and/or found it. And the Stetson Hatters because of the Stetson hat.Go Tom! University is Florida is awesome because I know people who went there!
Stetson University is kind of cool, I guess, with Bocaj being from there. What's up the name, the Hatters? Bocaj should take it over and rename it the Stetson Evilclaws!
I'm wondering what in the world did this guy do in his past life to deserve this?
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a colorado life
He spent life picking himself up
By Claire Martin
Denver Post Staff Writer
Thomas L. Cook, who died at 54 when he was fatally hit by a car Sept. 11, spent much of his life recovering from the misadventures that plagued him even in the womb.
"He was kinda accident-prone, I swear to God, even before he was born," said his sister, Mady Eitani.
"He was nearly miscarried. He had serious accidents as a child. Crazy things. Broke his collarbone. He was hit in the head one time by a teeter-totter and had to have blood drained out of his skull. Wrong place, wrong time. Story of his life."
After the first few visits to the emergency room, Cook's family joked that he must have nine lives, an opinion shared by a neighbor, Dr. Arnold Silverman, a pediatric physician who became Cook's de facto on-call doctor.
"Nine lives, and he certainly used them up," Silverman said.
"Every time the phone rang and it was the Cooks, I just said that I'd be right over."
When Cook returned home from a high school skiing trip, complaining about abdominal pain, Silverman looked at his belly and sent Cook straight to Children's Hospital.
Cook underwent an emergency splenectomy to remove his hemorrhaging spleen. The organ, injured a few days earlier in a pickup football game, began bleeding while Cook and his friends were skiing.
The next major injury occurred when Cook, still a teenager, fell from the go-kart he was driving. Again, the Cooks called Silverman. Again, Silverman told them to call an ambulance almost as soon as he saw Tom Cook.
The ambulance took Cook to University Hospital, where surgeons drained blood from his skull, relieving pressure on his brain and brain stem. Cook went home but was back a few hours later for a second operation after the bleeding resumed.
The third major accident - like Eitani, Silverman distinguishes between those and "a host of other injuries Tom survived" - involved an out-of- town car accident. It left Cook, then a promising Colorado State University student, with severe brain damage and in a semi-vegetative coma for more than five months.
"No one had any hope at all for his survival as someone with a viable life," Silverman said.
"Then one day, he woke up. That began his incredible comeback."
The injuries reduced Cook's physical abilities to those of an infant, requiring more than a year of treatment at Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation.
"He had to learn to walk and talk and potty-train and feed himself again," Eitani said.
When at last Cook recuperated, he found a job as an assistant computer programmer at Denver's Medicare office. He made fast friends among his colleagues, who learned to enjoy Cook's singular braying laughter.
Though he walked with the gingerly trepidation of someone negotiating an ice-glazed sidewalk, Cook's
confidence and buoyant nature returned. Then, driving near the intersection where the first accident occurred, Cook heard the familiar, sickening crunch of MEHTUL on MEHTUL as another vehicle slammed into his car.
"That was when he broke his back for the first time," his sister recalled.
"He broke it two other times after that and broke his ribs in falls and various accidents. It left him really crippled as a young man."
Again, he learned how to walk, talk, dress, feed himself and perform other chores that once were second nature. Though the injuries and other disabilities left him increasingly hunchbacked - "kinda comma- shaped," Silverman said - Cook insisted on using a cane instead of a walker until a few months ago. He refused to use a wheelchair, though it took him half an hour to shuffle from his apartment to the corner of his block.
To keep his bones strong, Cook exercised daily with a walk that began precisely at 1:45 p.m. Among the few indulgences he allowed himself was the brownie he bought only at a certain bakery.
"They knew him very well at Child's Pastry," Eitani said.
"He'd choose a specific brownie by the taste and size. Otherwise, all he ate was Stouffer's dinners, and he had those categorized in his freezer - one for Mondays, one for Tuesdays. Everything was by the clock. That's why it's so hard, with him running late that day. That's what put him on the corner at 3:45 that Monday. Otherwise, he'd have been home."
Mourners overflowed the church that held Cook's memorial service last week.
"They had to bring in extra chairs," Silverman said.
"He was thin as a wisp of hair, but he was a self-sufficient person. To have survived these accidents and come back a functioning person was such an accomplishment. To have the strength to go on is such a tribute to his toughness."
Besides his sister, survivors include mother Barbara Fazio of Santa Barbara, Calif.; father Durwood Cook of Salt Lake City; and grandmother Maxine Cook of Salt Lake City. One brother preceded him in death.
The family suggests memorial donations to Craig Hospital, 3425 Clarkson St., Englewood CO 80113.
-----------------------------------------------------
Article located at :
http://www.denverpost.com/obituaries/ci_4388024
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a colorado life
He spent life picking himself up
By Claire Martin
Denver Post Staff Writer
Thomas L. Cook, who died at 54 when he was fatally hit by a car Sept. 11, spent much of his life recovering from the misadventures that plagued him even in the womb.
"He was kinda accident-prone, I swear to God, even before he was born," said his sister, Mady Eitani.
"He was nearly miscarried. He had serious accidents as a child. Crazy things. Broke his collarbone. He was hit in the head one time by a teeter-totter and had to have blood drained out of his skull. Wrong place, wrong time. Story of his life."
After the first few visits to the emergency room, Cook's family joked that he must have nine lives, an opinion shared by a neighbor, Dr. Arnold Silverman, a pediatric physician who became Cook's de facto on-call doctor.
"Nine lives, and he certainly used them up," Silverman said.
"Every time the phone rang and it was the Cooks, I just said that I'd be right over."
When Cook returned home from a high school skiing trip, complaining about abdominal pain, Silverman looked at his belly and sent Cook straight to Children's Hospital.
Cook underwent an emergency splenectomy to remove his hemorrhaging spleen. The organ, injured a few days earlier in a pickup football game, began bleeding while Cook and his friends were skiing.
The next major injury occurred when Cook, still a teenager, fell from the go-kart he was driving. Again, the Cooks called Silverman. Again, Silverman told them to call an ambulance almost as soon as he saw Tom Cook.
The ambulance took Cook to University Hospital, where surgeons drained blood from his skull, relieving pressure on his brain and brain stem. Cook went home but was back a few hours later for a second operation after the bleeding resumed.
The third major accident - like Eitani, Silverman distinguishes between those and "a host of other injuries Tom survived" - involved an out-of- town car accident. It left Cook, then a promising Colorado State University student, with severe brain damage and in a semi-vegetative coma for more than five months.
"No one had any hope at all for his survival as someone with a viable life," Silverman said.
"Then one day, he woke up. That began his incredible comeback."
The injuries reduced Cook's physical abilities to those of an infant, requiring more than a year of treatment at Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation.
"He had to learn to walk and talk and potty-train and feed himself again," Eitani said.
When at last Cook recuperated, he found a job as an assistant computer programmer at Denver's Medicare office. He made fast friends among his colleagues, who learned to enjoy Cook's singular braying laughter.
Though he walked with the gingerly trepidation of someone negotiating an ice-glazed sidewalk, Cook's
confidence and buoyant nature returned. Then, driving near the intersection where the first accident occurred, Cook heard the familiar, sickening crunch of MEHTUL on MEHTUL as another vehicle slammed into his car.
"That was when he broke his back for the first time," his sister recalled.
"He broke it two other times after that and broke his ribs in falls and various accidents. It left him really crippled as a young man."
Again, he learned how to walk, talk, dress, feed himself and perform other chores that once were second nature. Though the injuries and other disabilities left him increasingly hunchbacked - "kinda comma- shaped," Silverman said - Cook insisted on using a cane instead of a walker until a few months ago. He refused to use a wheelchair, though it took him half an hour to shuffle from his apartment to the corner of his block.
To keep his bones strong, Cook exercised daily with a walk that began precisely at 1:45 p.m. Among the few indulgences he allowed himself was the brownie he bought only at a certain bakery.
"They knew him very well at Child's Pastry," Eitani said.
"He'd choose a specific brownie by the taste and size. Otherwise, all he ate was Stouffer's dinners, and he had those categorized in his freezer - one for Mondays, one for Tuesdays. Everything was by the clock. That's why it's so hard, with him running late that day. That's what put him on the corner at 3:45 that Monday. Otherwise, he'd have been home."
Mourners overflowed the church that held Cook's memorial service last week.
"They had to bring in extra chairs," Silverman said.
"He was thin as a wisp of hair, but he was a self-sufficient person. To have survived these accidents and come back a functioning person was such an accomplishment. To have the strength to go on is such a tribute to his toughness."
Besides his sister, survivors include mother Barbara Fazio of Santa Barbara, Calif.; father Durwood Cook of Salt Lake City; and grandmother Maxine Cook of Salt Lake City. One brother preceded him in death.
The family suggests memorial donations to Craig Hospital, 3425 Clarkson St., Englewood CO 80113.
-----------------------------------------------------
Article located at :
http://www.denverpost.com/obituaries/ci_4388024
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VisibilityMissing
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- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
1,100 Weird News Posts!
--------------------
Not the most conventional way to end an argument . . .
--------------------
Not the most conventional way to end an argument . . .
Sep 26, 11:20 PM EDT
Car Salesman Accused of Machete Attack
TYLER, Texas (AP) -- A 73-year-old used car salesman allegedly ended an argument with a customer by pulling out a machete and whacking the man's arm, according to police.
Robert Parker was arrested Monday night on charges of aggravated assault after the incident.
According to police, Gerald Davis had purchased a car from Time Auto Sales and went back to the dealership to pick up his license plates. Police said Davis, 53, and Parker began arguing and eventually Parker produced the machete.
Police said they don't know what the argument was about.
Davis was treated for the wound, but police didn't provide details on the seriousness of the injury.
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
-
VisibilityMissing
- Posts:1278
- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
"We can't have people jumping off cranes near the Tribune Tower!"
. . . because that would be wrong!
. . . because that would be wrong!
Cops seek urban parachutists
By Dan P. Blake
Tribune staff reporter
September 29, 2006, 4:37 PM CDT
Chicago police today were questioning an individual after two parachutists jumped from a skyscraper construction crane in the city's Streeterville neighborhood ? the second such stunt in just over a week.
Security cameras captured the two people as they floated down in Cityfront Plaza just east of Tribune Tower, one block off Michigan Avenue, around 4:30 a.m. The cameras show the jumpers getting into a gray Porsche SUV and driving off.
"We can't have people jumping off cranes near the Tribune Tower and the NBC Tower," a Near North District police lieutenant said this morning.
Last week, Ron Bolden, a Tribune Tower security guard, called Chicago police after spotting three people gliding to the ground at Cityfront Plaza Drive between the Tribune's building and the NBC Tower, he said.
Bolden, a military veteran, said he was making his rounds outside Tribune Tower when he recognized the sound of a parachute opening, and when he looked up he saw blue and red parachutes opening just north of CityFront Plaza.
Chicago police reviewed surveillance video from that first jump and it showed three men getting out of a black SUV with heavy equipment about 20 minutes before they jumped, Bolden said. Later, after the men had landed unhurt, video showed them getting into the SUV and driving away, police said.
If caught, the jumpers could face misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass to land, police said.
Near North District police are investigating both jumps.
Tribune staff reporter Brendan McCarthy contributed.
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
-
VisibilityMissing
- Posts:1278
- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
Ooooh . . . can we choose?
S.C. official: Sterilize bad parents
Sun Oct 1, 7:14 AM ET
CHARLESTON, S.C. - A City Council member, reacting to a video store holdup believed to have been carried out by children, says parents who can't properly care for their kids should be sterilized.
"We pick up stray animals and spay them," Larry Shirley said in a story published Saturday by The Post and Courier of Charleston. "These mothers need to be spayed if they can't take care of theirs. Once they have a child and it's running the street, to let them continue to have children is totally unacceptable."
Shirley's comments come after police say a video store was held up by a group of children, including a 14-year-old girl suspected of wielding a BB gun that looked like a pistol.
The holdup happened about 9 p.m. Wednesday at a Hollywood Video store. A 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy were charged as juveniles with armed robbery. A 9-year-old boy was not charged because police said he was too young. He was released to his mother.
"What we've got is a failure in society, whether it's in Mount Pleasant with yuppie parents or whether it's on the East Side with poor crackhead parents," he said, referring to areas in and around Charleston.
State Sen. Robert Ford, a Charleston Democrat, agreed that the crime highlights a societal problem but dismissed Shirley's suggestion to sterilize people as "crazy."
"What Larry Shirley needs to talk about is getting City Council to provide some recreational facilities and activities for these kids and creating an atmosphere conducive to a normal society," said Ford, also a former councilman.
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
-
VisibilityMissing
- Posts:1278
- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
Don't do this . . .
'Funny' superintendent's video not a joke to district
The Associated Press
Published October 2, 2006, 2:00 PM CDT
A school superintendent in suburban Chicago says he was only trying to be funny when he took real videotaped interviews, spliced in his own gag questions and made a group of new teachers appear to be killers and drug users.
Now he could lose his job.
Bremen High School District 228 Superintendent Rich Mitchell first aired the video for a back-to-school seminar on Aug. 24. About 500 faculty and staff members attended from the district's four high schools in Tinley Park, Midlothian, Country Club Hills and Oak Forest.
Afterward, he posted the video on the district's Web site. Those clips were yanked last week.
Mitchell has to face board members tomorrow at a scheduled meeting. The board's president says he can't be fired until there's an investigation.
Mitchell is on vacation and didn't return messages seeking comment.
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
That's one way of saying the president stinks...
Police hunt farting dissident
Ananova | October 3 2006
Police in Poland have launched a nationwide hunt for a man who farted loudly when asked what he thought of the president.
Hubert Hoffman, 45, was charged with "contempt for the office of the head of state" for his actions after he was stopped by police in a routine check at a Warsaw railway station.
He complained that under President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, the country was returning to a Communist style dictatorship.
When told to show more respect for the country's rulers, he farted loudly and was promptly arrested.
Hoffmann was arrested and released on bail but failed to turn up at a Warsaw court early this week to be tried, and the judge in the case rejected an appeal by defence lawyers to throw the charges out.
A court spokesman said: "Such a case of disrespect is taken very seriously."
Instead the court ordered the police to start a nationwide hunt for the man, and interpol have been alerted.
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Bocaj Claw
- Posts:8523
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- Contact:
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VisibilityMissing
- Posts:1278
- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
Remember this?
Close's Executor finally comes clean
Del Close's role as Yorick may actually be played by an understudy . . .
No bones about it: Comic got last laugh
In his will, Del Close donated his skull to the Goodman--but is that now-famous stage prop really him?
By Robert K. Elder, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter David Jackson contributed to this report
July 21, 2006
Chicago comedy legend Del Close, a figure of infinite jest, loved practical jokes.
His last act--the donation of his cranium to the Goodman Theatre--was a masterpiece of skulduggery.
Or was it?
The human skull purported to be Close's has become a legendary prop in Chicago theater and an endearing symbol of his eccentricities and offbeat humor.
But it appears the mythic noggin is nothing more than that: a myth.
Close's Executor finally comes clean
Not even close: Skull not that of improv legend
Robert K. Elder
Published October 5, 2006
It's official: The human skull sitting in the Goodman Theatre is not that of improv legend Del Close.
Before his death in 1999, Close willed his skull to the Goodman for use in stage productions.
But the donation couldn't be done.
Charna Halpern, executor of Close's will, maintained for seven years that the cranium she donated to the Goodman belonged to Close.
Halpern stuck to her story in a Page 1 Tribune investigation published in July.
In the Oct. 9 issue of The New Yorker, however, Halpern said she tried to carry out Close's wishes, but pressure from the morgue caused her to instead buy a skull from the Anatomical Chart Company in Skokie.
Why did Halpern choose now to come clean?
"Because the Tribune had already exposed it and I was getting snide responses," Halpern said Wednesday in an interview with the Tribune.
"I just started to feel like James Frey," she said, referencing the author of the largely fabricated memoir "A Million Little Pieces."
"But I loved [Del] and I really tried to get it done," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, the skull still invokes the image of Del and I hope everyone still sees it as Del. In the end, Del is still getting publicity, so he gets the last laugh."
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
-
Tom Flapwell
- Posts:5465
- Joined:Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:48 pm
- Location:DC
- Contact:
Maybe this could go in the "Congratulations to America" thread....
So was the officer paranoid, desperate to fill a quota, or just bored out of his mind?Projectiles: No One Is Safe When Hacky Sacks Fly
A Boulder, Colo., teen was fined $250 on Tuesday for playing Hacky Sack outside after a policeman charged him with "releasing projectiles," the Daily Camera reported. "I had no idea Hacky Sack was a crime," Kallen Ford said. He and friend were playin Hacky Sack when a police officer approached. "I didn't think anything of it," Ford said. "I thought he was going to ask us to do it away from kids or something." The officer confiscated the Hacky Sack, telling them it was evidence of a crime. Ford was then taken to the police station and fined for "releasing projectiles."
so many logical inconsistencies, what's the news coming tooA Train Wreck Where Nobody Got Hurt Except Sean Hannity Broke His Face
at 5:46 PM, last night, A south-bound train heading for New York, New York was derailed just before reaching the Sunshine Skyway, just outside of Tampa, Florida.
the strange thing is, noone was hurt, except for political radio host Sean Hannity, who had broken his face on his own large intestine.
when interviewed, he was heard yelling several obscenities, all muffled through his face, which was shattered.
when interviewing some other passengers, one little girl even said that mister Hannity's broken face made her all "Warm and Fuzzy and Happy inside"
Mister Hannity says he is planning to have plastic surgery sometime at the end of the month
?Procrastinators unite! (tomorrow...)
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VisibilityMissing
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- Joined:Mon Jun 14, 2004 8:31 pm
- Location:Oak Park, near Chicago, Illinois
Another "What was he thinking?" moment . . .
Oct 5, 5:16 PM EDT
Man Apologizes for Courtroom Feces
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- A Chicago man apologized for spreading his feces around a courtroom during his trial on drug charges.
Vandale Amos Willis, 28, apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Willis was convicted earlier of importation of a controlled substance, cocaine, and two other charges.
"Im going to take full responsibility for everything I did in Duluth," Willis told the court. "I want to apologize for everything I did in court. Im sorry, your honor."
He asked Judge David Sullivan to put him on probation. Sullivan told Willis his actions wouldn't be held against him, but there was no reason to depart from sentencing guidelines.
"The beauty of this is that it is only of theoretical importance,
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
and there is no way it can be of any practical use whatsoever."
- Sidney Harris
"Perhaps they've discovered the giant whoopee cushion I hid
under the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." http://ozyandmillie.org/2002/01/03/ozy-and-millie-819/
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