Good Cop, Fat Cop

Bellevue, Nebraska was one fat officer short in their PD, but not for long.

The Nebraska Court of Appeals this week reversed their decision regarding the termination of Christopher D. Parent, saying that it was not legal to fire him because of his obesity.

Parent, 52, had been a member of the Police Department for more than 25 years. He was fired after a combat shooting exercise in August 2007, after an internal investigation determined that he was not maintaining a “high level of physical, mental and emotional conditioning.” There is a policy on their books requiring officers to remain physically fit while on duty. At 5'9", 300 lbs., Parent didn't make the cut.

Michael Polk, an attorney representing the city, said “It was a policy that was part of an outdated wellness program, and it was removed because of that,” he said. Polk said it was standard for officers to self-report by filling out a sheet detailing how they stayed healthy and fit.

The City of Bellevue could let the case go — re-instating Parent in a few months — or send the case to the Nebraska Supreme Court for further review, putting Parent’s job back on the line. No decision have been made as of yet.

Modern-Day Oregon Trail Tragedy

TUL- Shuqualak, Miss. – Bob Skelding, who last August left his Deerfield, NH home to take a cross-country trip in a homemade wagon pulled by his four Percheron horses, was seriously injured yesteday morning when he was rear-ended by an 18-wheel tanker truck.

Skelding, 49, suffered a head injury and late Tuesday night was in critical condition at Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian, Miss., according to his former wife, Suzanne. She said their children, Daniel, 23, and Lisa, 22, are heading to Mississippi to be with their dad.

Two of his horses -- Deedee and Dolly -- were killed in the 11:32 a.m. wreck on U.S. Highway 45 in Shuqualak, a rural town in eastern Mississippi. The driver of the rig was not hurt.

S/Sgt. Michael Cain of the Mississippi Highway Patrol said medical personnel told investigators Skelding did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

The crash shut down the highway for about 1 1/2 hours.
"There isn't one piece of that wagon that is usable," said Cain of the wreck in which Skelding's horse-drawn wagon was demolished.

The driver of the 18-wheeler, which was traveling with another tanker, apparently did not realize the horse-drawn wagon ahead of him was traveling at an extremely slow speed, according to Cain. The wagon was heading south in a travel lane of the four-lane, divided highway which, the highway patrol officer said is not illegal in Mississippi.

The trucker, "for whatever reason did not realize he was going extremely slow and hit him in the rear," Cain said. The posted speed on the highway is 65 mph.

Skelding had traveled 1,747 miles through nine states in his horse-drawn wagon when the tragic crash happened.

Cave Man Faces Foreclosure

Curt Sleeper and his family sold their home and moved into a cave to save some dough. Unfortunately, they had a mortgage on their just-out-of-St. Louis cave.
Now, because he is unable to re-finance, Sleeper will be putting his 17,000 square foot cave up for sale on Ebay.
They purchasesd the cave from its owner in 2004 for $170,000.

+5 Keisling Family Farm

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – All p eople know that cows fart. and that it kills our world. But now, the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking court action against flatulence, which amounts to air pollution.

"This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do," said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.

It would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

"It's something that really has a very big potential adverse impact for the livestock industry," said Rick Krause, the senior director of congressional relations for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The fee would cover the cost of a permit for the livestock operations. While farmers say it would drive them out of business, an organization supporting the proposal hopes it forces the farms and ranches to switch to healthier crops.

"It makes perfect sense if you are looking for ways to cut down on meat consumption and recoup environmental losses," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman in Washington for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

"We certainly support making factory farms pay their fair share," he said.

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Haleyville in northwest Alabama, said he has spoken with EPA officials and doesn't believe the cow tax is a serious proposal that will ever be adopted by the agency.

bitch, you smell so bad it should be illegal.

DETROIT -- A city of Detroit planner can proceed with her lawsuit alleging a co-worker's perfume made it difficult for her to breathe and impossible to do her job, a federal judge has ruled.

In an opinion released late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff rejected the city's attempt to have Susan McBride's lawsuit, filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, dismissed.
McBride "has produced evidence that her breathing is significantly restricted" by a co-worker's perfume, and she has a potential claim, Zatkoff ruled.

Both McBride's Detroit attorney and the chairwoman of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation said Wednesday that Zatkoff's decision to allow the lawsuit to proceed is significant.

"He recognizes that this is the type of claim that's viable," said attorney Ann Curry Thompson, who represents McBride. "These are types of claims that in many jurisdictions ... are sort of pooh-poohed and are not taken seriously."

Alison Johnson, chairwoman of the Chemical Sensitivity Foundation in Topsham, Maine, said she welcomes Zatkoff's decision to let the lawsuit proceed.
"These perfume sensitivities are very real, and I can't tell you how many lives they are ruining," Johnson said. "Maybe there's beginning to be recognition that these things are serious."

potty quickie with hubbie watching?

A couple of University of Iowa fans took a break from Saturday's game at the Metrodome against the University of Minnesota to have some illicit sex in a Dome restroom, police said.

The duo — a 38-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man from Carroll and Linden, Iowa, respectively — turned a handicapped toilet stall into their love nest about 8:30 p.m., late in the Hawkeyes' 55-0 trouncing of the Gophers.

A crowd of intoxicated fans gathered in the restroom to laugh and cheer the off-the-field action, until an Avalon Security guard tipped off University of Minnesota police to the ruckus.

University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness assumed the woman was embarrassed about being caught: She initially gave a false name to officers and had to be identified by her husband before she was released.

The man was attending the game with his girlfriend, according to police.

"It's a long ride back to Iowa," Hestness said.

Veteran gets one-on-one chat with Franken

stcloudtimes.com • August 9, 2008

On Friday, DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken demonstrated how true that saying can be, when a roundtable on veterans issues at Brigitte’s Cafe his campaign scheduled drew only one participant.

Josh John, a St. Cloud resident who said he served in the Navy from 2000-04, had Franken to himself for an hour as he described difficulties he faced returning from his tour of duty and the help he received from his Veterans Services Office and the St. Cloud VA Medical Center.

“When I first asked for help at the VA, I got kind of a bad attitude from one person, so I ended up leaving and not registering,” he said.

“A year later, the stress was getting to me. I started secluding myself from my family, not wanting to do anything,” he said.

“My mom and my aunt eventually got me to talk with my county VSO. He got me registered with the VA and since then, I haven’t had a problem. I’ve gotten a lot of help, and every question I’ve gotten answered,” John said.

Franken, battling to unseat U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., in this fall’s election, discussed his proposal to expand veterans benefits, what he called a lack of leadership from Coleman, and recent gains on veterans issues he said had only been made because of a Democratic-controlled Congress.

“Everyone’s running around saying Congress never gets anything done,” he said. “But despite 90 filibuster threats by Senate Republicans, it took Democrats to get the new GI Bill passed and to finally fully fund VA health care.”

Borat Returns from the Underground?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Crowds in Arkansas came for the lure of cage fighting and $1 beer, but police say what they got instead was men ripping each others' clothes off and kissing — a stunt suspected of being orchestrated by Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame.

"We had a contract for cage fighting. We were deceived," said Dwight Duncan, president and CEO of Four States Fair Grounds in Texarkana, where the first of two Arkansas fights raised suspicions last month.

Matt Labov, a Los Angeles-based publicist for Baron Cohen, said he had no comment Monday about the faked fights. One of Baron Cohen's movies is due out next year. [not Borat, but Bruno, the gay fashionista]

The day after the June 5 Texarkana bout, Fort Smith's convention center hosted "Blue Collar Brawlin.'" Fort Smith police Sgt. Adam Holland said organizers told him a character named "Straight Dave" would goad a planted audience member into the ring for a fight.

An elaborate array of mounted and handheld video cameras caught the crowd of 1,600's reaction as the two men "went right up to the line" of the city's morality laws, Holland said. The two men stripped down to their underwear, kissed and rubbed on each other, the sergeant said.

The audience, as well as local fighters drawn to take part in the show, became enraged. "It set the crowd off lobbing beers," Holland said. "They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually."