2 charged in Lake Highlands muffin case
DALLAS, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Two 18-year-olds were charged Wednesday with five counts of assaulting a public servant following an FBI investigation of the tampering of muffins provided to faculty and staff members at Lake Highlands High School.
Joseph Robert Tellini, 18, and Ian McConnell Walker, 18, were named in the cases filed with the Dallas County District Attorney's office. Both men are from Dallas.
The charges, which are third-degree felonies, will be handled by the district attorney's office, FBI officials said in a news release.
The cases resulted from a joint investigation by members of the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force, inclusive of the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Dallas FBI.
Officials said the investigation would continue.
TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES
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Murder defendant tries to strangle lawyer in court
BOSTON, Mass. (Reuters) - A man charged with murder in Massachusetts was so angry with his lawyer's performance he attacked the attorney in court, trying to strangle him as a shocked judge looked on, Boston radio reported on Wednesday.
"I think he just didn't like the way some of the rulings the judge was making was going yesterday morning," attorney Bruce Carroll told WBZ Radio of the Tuesday morning attack by defendant John Gomes in Boston's Suffolk Superior Court.
"He eventually stood up, started saying something and reached over and grabbed me by the throat," said Carroll.
Several officers intervened before the 6-foot (1.8-meter), 250-pound (113-kg) Gomes was separated from Carroll, the radio reported. Carroll had tried to withdraw from the case last week but the judge denied his request.
BOSTON, Mass. (Reuters) - A man charged with murder in Massachusetts was so angry with his lawyer's performance he attacked the attorney in court, trying to strangle him as a shocked judge looked on, Boston radio reported on Wednesday.
"I think he just didn't like the way some of the rulings the judge was making was going yesterday morning," attorney Bruce Carroll told WBZ Radio of the Tuesday morning attack by defendant John Gomes in Boston's Suffolk Superior Court.
"He eventually stood up, started saying something and reached over and grabbed me by the throat," said Carroll.
Several officers intervened before the 6-foot (1.8-meter), 250-pound (113-kg) Gomes was separated from Carroll, the radio reported. Carroll had tried to withdraw from the case last week but the judge denied his request.
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Waiting to be discovered in Cannes...
By Kerstin Gehmlich
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Teenagers Jamila and Claudia spent weeks choosing their outfits for the Cannes film festival. Now they line the beach with hundreds of other girls, hoping to be discovered.
"I want to be part of the jet set crowd. I want to be a VIP," said 15-year-old Claudia Sorrentino, wearing a miniskirt and skinny top as she scanned Cannes' main Croisette boulevard for famous actors and producers.
Competition among the filmstar wannabes is stiff as swarms of young girls descend on Cannes, hoping for a chance encounter with actors like Bruce Willis or Keanu Reeves or to be discovered by one of the many directors in town.
Claudia said the main thing was to stand out from the crowd.
"You mustn't have any shame. Try to get into every party. And just talk to anyone who looks vaguely important," she said.
"Be special," said her friend Jamila Smoini, 19, who works in a home for the elderly in southern Toulon while dreaming of a Hollywood career. "Even before the festival, we think about what to wear, how to style our hair."
Although the girls are determined to keep pestering doormen and spend hours strutting past giant yachts and exclusive parties to get noticed, starlets who have actually made it to the top doubt the girls' strategy will pay off.
"You need good connections or be very lucky to have someone spot you on the beach. It happens but it's not very usual," said Jelena Mandic, a model from Serbia, as she walked past crowds of teenaged girls on the sun-kissed boulevard.
"You have a million pretty girls, but only one of them will become a top model. The others are just surviving," Mandic told Reuters, adding she advised the teenagers to be realistic.
"Stay true to yourself. Finish school, university. That's it. Try to do a lot of things in life. The modeling and the acting is not the most important and only thing in life."
PARIS HILTON ROLE MODEL
Dita von Teese, the burlesque-dancing wife of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, said to make yourself known it was important not to go with the mainstream, but to develop your own style.
"There are so many young beautiful starlets," she told Reuters. "How great would it be if they did not always pay attention to what was the right and appropriate thing to wear? If they just let loose and wore what they really wanted to wear."
School girls Lisa and Amelie, wearing sunglasses and tight jeans, said they cared about their clothes. But their special trick to attract potential star-scouts was to break into song on the street, the bus or on the beach, they said.
"It would be my dream to be on the front cover of a magazine," said 15-year-old Amelie Bonfigio, starting a timidly voiced song with Lisa as bemused tourists stood by.
Amelie said Italian actress Monica Bellucci was her idol.
Further down the boulevard, Claudia's plans to become famous did not seem to be based on a successful acting or singing career.
"To be honest, Paris Hilton is my perfect model," the energetic teenager said, referring to the media-savvy hotel heiress. "She has charm and is classy. She has everything. We have nothing, really," she added.
Claudia said she was not angry at other girls trying to grab the limelight at Cannes.
"In the end, we're all the same," she said.
By Kerstin Gehmlich
CANNES, France (Reuters) - Teenagers Jamila and Claudia spent weeks choosing their outfits for the Cannes film festival. Now they line the beach with hundreds of other girls, hoping to be discovered.
"I want to be part of the jet set crowd. I want to be a VIP," said 15-year-old Claudia Sorrentino, wearing a miniskirt and skinny top as she scanned Cannes' main Croisette boulevard for famous actors and producers.
Competition among the filmstar wannabes is stiff as swarms of young girls descend on Cannes, hoping for a chance encounter with actors like Bruce Willis or Keanu Reeves or to be discovered by one of the many directors in town.
Claudia said the main thing was to stand out from the crowd.
"You mustn't have any shame. Try to get into every party. And just talk to anyone who looks vaguely important," she said.
"Be special," said her friend Jamila Smoini, 19, who works in a home for the elderly in southern Toulon while dreaming of a Hollywood career. "Even before the festival, we think about what to wear, how to style our hair."
Although the girls are determined to keep pestering doormen and spend hours strutting past giant yachts and exclusive parties to get noticed, starlets who have actually made it to the top doubt the girls' strategy will pay off.
"You need good connections or be very lucky to have someone spot you on the beach. It happens but it's not very usual," said Jelena Mandic, a model from Serbia, as she walked past crowds of teenaged girls on the sun-kissed boulevard.
"You have a million pretty girls, but only one of them will become a top model. The others are just surviving," Mandic told Reuters, adding she advised the teenagers to be realistic.
"Stay true to yourself. Finish school, university. That's it. Try to do a lot of things in life. The modeling and the acting is not the most important and only thing in life."
PARIS HILTON ROLE MODEL
Dita von Teese, the burlesque-dancing wife of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, said to make yourself known it was important not to go with the mainstream, but to develop your own style.
"There are so many young beautiful starlets," she told Reuters. "How great would it be if they did not always pay attention to what was the right and appropriate thing to wear? If they just let loose and wore what they really wanted to wear."
School girls Lisa and Amelie, wearing sunglasses and tight jeans, said they cared about their clothes. But their special trick to attract potential star-scouts was to break into song on the street, the bus or on the beach, they said.
"It would be my dream to be on the front cover of a magazine," said 15-year-old Amelie Bonfigio, starting a timidly voiced song with Lisa as bemused tourists stood by.
Amelie said Italian actress Monica Bellucci was her idol.
Further down the boulevard, Claudia's plans to become famous did not seem to be based on a successful acting or singing career.
"To be honest, Paris Hilton is my perfect model," the energetic teenager said, referring to the media-savvy hotel heiress. "She has charm and is classy. She has everything. We have nothing, really," she added.
Claudia said she was not angry at other girls trying to grab the limelight at Cannes.
"In the end, we're all the same," she said.
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Vacation packing list: sunscreen and briefcase
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorney Dennis Kerrigan just spent a week rising at daybreak to answer e-mails and field conference calls for several hours a day before eating breakfast with his family.
He says it was a relaxing vacation.
Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff of summer holidays in the United States, may be near, but that doesn't mean Americans will be kicking back and relaxing. Instead, U.S. workers keep working while they are on vacation, experts and studies say.
More than a third of vacationing Americans check office e-mails, telephone voicemail and respond to all their messages, according to a recent poll.
A mere 2 percent said they were "unreachable" while off work, said the same poll conducted by FPC, a New York-based executive search firm.
Another survey showed Americans spend an average of more than five hours answering e-mails and checking telephone messages on vacations, which are typically less than a week long. That study was conducted a Pennsylvania-based maker of organizational products, Day-Timers, Inc., a unit of ACCO Brands Corp..
Kerrigan, a lawyer who works in Connecticut, spent more time than that. But the alternative -- facing all that work when he got back -- would be worse, he said.
"I think it actually allows me to relax," he said. "I actually could enjoy my vacation."
Many people feel a need to check in with work before they can relax, said Diane Halpern, director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.
"If they checked in two hours every day and felt that the office was cared for, and they could relax the other six, that's a perfectly relaxing vacation," she said.
"We really need to redefine our ideas that someone takes a week and does nothing," she added. "The relaxing can come in a different way. It's a matter of rethinking how we do it."
GOOD WORK, AND BAD
There's good work and bad when it comes to vacations, said Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist and author of "Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!"
"Unless you're so excited about a project you just have to take it with you, that's great. But if you're just taking it because you don't know what else to do or because you want to impress your boss, that's a really bad idea," he said.
"There are people who literally go into sort of withdrawal if they don't have their work," he said. "They're lost without it. It's not the job's fault at all."
Hallowell says he's seen a movement among companies urging people to work less to stave off burnout.
"Managers and executives are wising up to the fact that this is not a good thing and it doesn't boost productivity," he said. "If your brain is not in tip-top shape, it's not going to produce tip-top work, no matter how many hours you flog it."
Barbara Weltman, a small business expert, author and columnist in Millwood, New York, vows she will not take her work along on a two-week European trip next month -- only her third long vacation in three decades of working.
"You might end up losing a client or two, but in the long run this is a way to survive and thrive in your business. You have to do it. There are risks, but you don't really have a choice," she said.
The trick, she said, is making plans and working extra hard before she leaves, although that too has its downside.
"Everybody is saying, 'Aren't you excited about going away?' I say, 'No, I'm not, I can't even think about that yet,'" she said.
By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorney Dennis Kerrigan just spent a week rising at daybreak to answer e-mails and field conference calls for several hours a day before eating breakfast with his family.
He says it was a relaxing vacation.
Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff of summer holidays in the United States, may be near, but that doesn't mean Americans will be kicking back and relaxing. Instead, U.S. workers keep working while they are on vacation, experts and studies say.
More than a third of vacationing Americans check office e-mails, telephone voicemail and respond to all their messages, according to a recent poll.
A mere 2 percent said they were "unreachable" while off work, said the same poll conducted by FPC, a New York-based executive search firm.
Another survey showed Americans spend an average of more than five hours answering e-mails and checking telephone messages on vacations, which are typically less than a week long. That study was conducted a Pennsylvania-based maker of organizational products, Day-Timers, Inc., a unit of ACCO Brands Corp..
Kerrigan, a lawyer who works in Connecticut, spent more time than that. But the alternative -- facing all that work when he got back -- would be worse, he said.
"I think it actually allows me to relax," he said. "I actually could enjoy my vacation."
Many people feel a need to check in with work before they can relax, said Diane Halpern, director of the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.
"If they checked in two hours every day and felt that the office was cared for, and they could relax the other six, that's a perfectly relaxing vacation," she said.
"We really need to redefine our ideas that someone takes a week and does nothing," she added. "The relaxing can come in a different way. It's a matter of rethinking how we do it."
GOOD WORK, AND BAD
There's good work and bad when it comes to vacations, said Edward Hallowell, a psychiatrist and author of "Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!"
"Unless you're so excited about a project you just have to take it with you, that's great. But if you're just taking it because you don't know what else to do or because you want to impress your boss, that's a really bad idea," he said.
"There are people who literally go into sort of withdrawal if they don't have their work," he said. "They're lost without it. It's not the job's fault at all."
Hallowell says he's seen a movement among companies urging people to work less to stave off burnout.
"Managers and executives are wising up to the fact that this is not a good thing and it doesn't boost productivity," he said. "If your brain is not in tip-top shape, it's not going to produce tip-top work, no matter how many hours you flog it."
Barbara Weltman, a small business expert, author and columnist in Millwood, New York, vows she will not take her work along on a two-week European trip next month -- only her third long vacation in three decades of working.
"You might end up losing a client or two, but in the long run this is a way to survive and thrive in your business. You have to do it. There are risks, but you don't really have a choice," she said.
The trick, she said, is making plans and working extra hard before she leaves, although that too has its downside.
"Everybody is saying, 'Aren't you excited about going away?' I say, 'No, I'm not, I can't even think about that yet,'" she said.
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FBI tears down barn in search for Jimmy Hoffa
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Mich. (Reuters) - FBI contractors tore apart a barn on a Michigan horse farm on Wednesday, looking for the body of Jimmy Hoffa as they pursued a long-neglected lead in the labor leader's 1975 disappearance.
A private contractor hired by the FBI expected to finish demolishing the 4,700-square-foot (437 square-meter) red barn and then rip up a concrete foundation below on Thursday, a company representative said.
The barn's destruction comes a week after investigators launched an intensive search of the Hidden Dreams horse farm near Detroit, using body-sniffing dogs and ground-piercing radar.
The investigation was triggered by a tip from Donovan Wells, 75, a federal prisoner serving time for marijuana trafficking who lived on the farm at the time of Hoffa's disappearance.
The farm was previously owned by Hoffa associate Rolland McMaster. It is about 20 miles away from where the legendary Teamsters union boss disappeared on July 30, 1975.
No trace of Hoffa has ever been found, and no one has been charged in the case.
James Elsman, a lawyer who represented Wells when the former truck owner pleaded guilty 30 years ago to stealing shipments of rolled steel, said he told the FBI this week he could identify the Hoffa grave site based on case notes from his former client.
Wells and another defendant in the steel theft case, Jimmy Brooks, told him they watched as men with a stolen backhoe dug what appeared to be a grave the day after Hoffa vanished.
When they buried a cylindrical object wrapped in a kind of plastic, Elsman said Wells had told him that he heard McMaster say, "There goes Jimmy, or words to that effect."
Elsman, who met with FBI agents on Monday, said Wells had offered the information to investigators in exchange for leniency 30 years ago but they had seemed uninterested then.
"Wells put himself out there for showing them where the grave site was, but they didn't ask," Elsman said. "They asked about the intricacies of the steel theft business to my incredulity."
Mayer Morganroth, McMaster's attorney, dismissed that report, saying McMaster, one of the founding members of the Teamsters union, had been in Indiana when Hoffa disappeared.
McMaster, 92, is distressed that his former property is being searched, bringing his relationship with Hoffa back under scrutiny, Morganroth said.
"He thinks they're on a wild goose chase, of course, and he keeps getting painted by the media as a bad guy or a Teamsters enforcer," he said. "They say that he was an enemy of Hoffa, but he was not. They were like brothers."
Hoffa was last seen outside a Detroit-area restaurant where he was to meet New Jersey Teamsters' boss Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano, a member of the Genovese crime family, and a local Mafia captain, Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone. He had called his wife to say no one else had shown up for the meeting.
He disappeared just as he was to embark on a campaign to get reelected to his post as president of the Teamsters sparked a nationwide investigation.
Hoffa was declared dead in 1982, and numerous books about his life have pinned his disappearance on mobsters who murdered him because they did not want him interfering with their close ties to the union.
Over the years, a number of dead-end leads and conspiracy theories have surfaced about Hoffa's fate, including that his body was entombed under the artificial turf in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, buried in a Pennsylvania coal mine or crushed in a car sent for scrap metal.
Interest in Hoffa's mysterious disappearance was heightened by the 1992 movie "Hoffa," starring Jack Nicholson as the charismatic labor leader.
Hoffa's son, James Hoffa, is the current leader of the Teamsters union.
By Kevin Krolicki
DETROIT, Mich. (Reuters) - FBI contractors tore apart a barn on a Michigan horse farm on Wednesday, looking for the body of Jimmy Hoffa as they pursued a long-neglected lead in the labor leader's 1975 disappearance.
A private contractor hired by the FBI expected to finish demolishing the 4,700-square-foot (437 square-meter) red barn and then rip up a concrete foundation below on Thursday, a company representative said.
The barn's destruction comes a week after investigators launched an intensive search of the Hidden Dreams horse farm near Detroit, using body-sniffing dogs and ground-piercing radar.
The investigation was triggered by a tip from Donovan Wells, 75, a federal prisoner serving time for marijuana trafficking who lived on the farm at the time of Hoffa's disappearance.
The farm was previously owned by Hoffa associate Rolland McMaster. It is about 20 miles away from where the legendary Teamsters union boss disappeared on July 30, 1975.
No trace of Hoffa has ever been found, and no one has been charged in the case.
James Elsman, a lawyer who represented Wells when the former truck owner pleaded guilty 30 years ago to stealing shipments of rolled steel, said he told the FBI this week he could identify the Hoffa grave site based on case notes from his former client.
Wells and another defendant in the steel theft case, Jimmy Brooks, told him they watched as men with a stolen backhoe dug what appeared to be a grave the day after Hoffa vanished.
When they buried a cylindrical object wrapped in a kind of plastic, Elsman said Wells had told him that he heard McMaster say, "There goes Jimmy, or words to that effect."
Elsman, who met with FBI agents on Monday, said Wells had offered the information to investigators in exchange for leniency 30 years ago but they had seemed uninterested then.
"Wells put himself out there for showing them where the grave site was, but they didn't ask," Elsman said. "They asked about the intricacies of the steel theft business to my incredulity."
Mayer Morganroth, McMaster's attorney, dismissed that report, saying McMaster, one of the founding members of the Teamsters union, had been in Indiana when Hoffa disappeared.
McMaster, 92, is distressed that his former property is being searched, bringing his relationship with Hoffa back under scrutiny, Morganroth said.
"He thinks they're on a wild goose chase, of course, and he keeps getting painted by the media as a bad guy or a Teamsters enforcer," he said. "They say that he was an enemy of Hoffa, but he was not. They were like brothers."
Hoffa was last seen outside a Detroit-area restaurant where he was to meet New Jersey Teamsters' boss Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano, a member of the Genovese crime family, and a local Mafia captain, Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone. He had called his wife to say no one else had shown up for the meeting.
He disappeared just as he was to embark on a campaign to get reelected to his post as president of the Teamsters sparked a nationwide investigation.
Hoffa was declared dead in 1982, and numerous books about his life have pinned his disappearance on mobsters who murdered him because they did not want him interfering with their close ties to the union.
Over the years, a number of dead-end leads and conspiracy theories have surfaced about Hoffa's fate, including that his body was entombed under the artificial turf in Giants Stadium in New Jersey, buried in a Pennsylvania coal mine or crushed in a car sent for scrap metal.
Interest in Hoffa's mysterious disappearance was heightened by the 1992 movie "Hoffa," starring Jack Nicholson as the charismatic labor leader.
Hoffa's son, James Hoffa, is the current leader of the Teamsters union.
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Litter bin mystery puzzles village
DONCASTER (Reuters) - Litter bins are mysteriously vanishing from the northern village of Kirk Sandalls and the council's efforts to replace them are rubbish, say the residents.
"In many cases the bins just disappear and we do not know where on earth they are," said Michael Edward, a 63-year-old retired teacher from the village near Doncaster.
Residents say at least 30 of the village's large metal bins have gone missing over the past year, although the council says the number is lower.
"One day you have bins around the shops and the next day they mysteriously vanish," said barman Adam Mackell.
The reason may lie thousands of miles way in Asia, where the booming economies of China and India are pushing up prices of metals on world markets.
Thieves may have been melting down the bins and selling the scrap metal for a quick profit, a council source said.
DONCASTER (Reuters) - Litter bins are mysteriously vanishing from the northern village of Kirk Sandalls and the council's efforts to replace them are rubbish, say the residents.
"In many cases the bins just disappear and we do not know where on earth they are," said Michael Edward, a 63-year-old retired teacher from the village near Doncaster.
Residents say at least 30 of the village's large metal bins have gone missing over the past year, although the council says the number is lower.
"One day you have bins around the shops and the next day they mysteriously vanish," said barman Adam Mackell.
The reason may lie thousands of miles way in Asia, where the booming economies of China and India are pushing up prices of metals on world markets.
Thieves may have been melting down the bins and selling the scrap metal for a quick profit, a council source said.
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Dead horse washes ashore in woman's yard
RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (AP) - A dead horse has washed up in Judy Roberts' backyard, and the Jackson County woman is trying to find a way to get rid of the carcass, along with the stench.
Roberts discovered the horse in the Ohio River on Friday. By Sunday, it had shifted onto her property.
"Somebody needs to move it," Roberts said. "It's contaminated the water. And I shouldn't have to live like this."
She can only hope help comes quicker than in Harrison County, where earlier this month a rotting cow carcass was hung up on the tree for several weeks at the West Milford Dam while various government agencies debated whose responsibility it was to remove it.
The cow was hauled away last week through the combined efforts of the Division of Highways and the West Milford and Nutter Fort volunteer fire departments.
Roberts said she has called several agencies — even Gov. Joe Manchin's office — and either was told they couldn't help or she got no response.
Roberts said the smell from the horse has gotten so bad, she plans to stay in her home until the problem is resolved.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said Tuesday night she hadn't heard about the horse. DNR spokesman Hoy Murphy said since the matter doesn't involve wildlife, his office won't get involved.
A call to the Ravenswood Volunteer Fire Department went unanswered Tuesday night.
___
Information from: WSAZ-TV
RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (AP) - A dead horse has washed up in Judy Roberts' backyard, and the Jackson County woman is trying to find a way to get rid of the carcass, along with the stench.
Roberts discovered the horse in the Ohio River on Friday. By Sunday, it had shifted onto her property.
"Somebody needs to move it," Roberts said. "It's contaminated the water. And I shouldn't have to live like this."
She can only hope help comes quicker than in Harrison County, where earlier this month a rotting cow carcass was hung up on the tree for several weeks at the West Milford Dam while various government agencies debated whose responsibility it was to remove it.
The cow was hauled away last week through the combined efforts of the Division of Highways and the West Milford and Nutter Fort volunteer fire departments.
Roberts said she has called several agencies — even Gov. Joe Manchin's office — and either was told they couldn't help or she got no response.
Roberts said the smell from the horse has gotten so bad, she plans to stay in her home until the problem is resolved.
Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said Tuesday night she hadn't heard about the horse. DNR spokesman Hoy Murphy said since the matter doesn't involve wildlife, his office won't get involved.
A call to the Ravenswood Volunteer Fire Department went unanswered Tuesday night.
___
Information from: WSAZ-TV
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18,000 pounds of fireworks seized in N.Y.
WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. (AP) - Police officers who stopped a truck that was tailgating a fuel tanker on a highway say they made a potentially explosive discovery — 18,000 pounds of fireworks.
"It would have devastated a quarter-mile radius if they had gone off," Suffolk County Police Department spokesman Robert Boden said Wednesday.
The truck carrying the explosives was found to be dangerously overloaded when it was pulled over Monday for a routine safety check, police said.
A police dog named Nitro — a German shepherd added to the department's anti-terrorism efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks — sniffed out the fireworks.
The driver of the truck, whose manifest said it was carrying paper goods, brought the fireworks from Maryland for illegal resale, police said.
State law prohibits the sale or possession of fireworks without a permit. The driver, who was with his adult son, faces multiple summonses for carrying hazardous materials and driving an overweight truck.
To demonstrate how powerful 18,000 pounds of fireworks could be, police exploded about 25 pounds of the sky rockets, Roman candles and other fireworks inside a car at the department's firearms range in Westhampton. The car was destroyed in a massive fireball.
WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. (AP) - Police officers who stopped a truck that was tailgating a fuel tanker on a highway say they made a potentially explosive discovery — 18,000 pounds of fireworks.
"It would have devastated a quarter-mile radius if they had gone off," Suffolk County Police Department spokesman Robert Boden said Wednesday.
The truck carrying the explosives was found to be dangerously overloaded when it was pulled over Monday for a routine safety check, police said.
A police dog named Nitro — a German shepherd added to the department's anti-terrorism efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks — sniffed out the fireworks.
The driver of the truck, whose manifest said it was carrying paper goods, brought the fireworks from Maryland for illegal resale, police said.
State law prohibits the sale or possession of fireworks without a permit. The driver, who was with his adult son, faces multiple summonses for carrying hazardous materials and driving an overweight truck.
To demonstrate how powerful 18,000 pounds of fireworks could be, police exploded about 25 pounds of the sky rockets, Roman candles and other fireworks inside a car at the department's firearms range in Westhampton. The car was destroyed in a massive fireball.
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Michigan bakery sells Hoffa cupcakes
By BRIAN CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer
MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Cupcakes aren't usually a best-seller at the Milford Baking Company. But since the addition of a plastic green hand emerging from the chocolate-flavored sprinkles and frosting meant to resemble dirt, the bakery can't make enough of the desserts.
In the week since dozens of FBI agents, police and others invaded this small community 30 miles northwest of Detroit to search for the remains of former Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa, local businesses are taking advantage of the national spotlight aimed at them.
With humorous signs, specially made T-shirts and themed meals, business owners are poking fun at the search while trying to attract more customers.
About 500 of the 95-cent cupcakes had been sold as of Wednesday afternoon, with orders coming in from all over the Detroit area. One businessman even waited outside the bakery at 5 a.m. so he could treat co-workers, and an FBI agent ordered three dozen to take to those working at the dig site, co-owner Laura Helwig said.
While basketball-shaped Detroit Pistons cookies also are a popular item, the Hoffa cupcakes are the best single-day seller ever at the bakery, Helwig said.
The bakery has ordered an additional 700 green hands with the expectation that demand will remain high. The FBI has said the search, which began May 17 at the Hidden Dreams horse farm, is expected to last a couple of weeks. The FBI on Wednesday intensified its search for Hoffa's remains, using an excavating machine to knock down a barn.
"I never dreamed it would take off like this," Helwig said as she put icing on a batch of Pistons cookies. "We're just trying to have fun with the whole thing."
Another local business, Main Street Art, has sold 50 to 75 T-shirts with an ironed-on decal that reads: "The FBI Digs Milford, Do You?"
Main Street Art owner Leslie Watson said she has received orders for the $15 shirts from as far away as Virginia and Florida.
"We thought there would be interest here, but not nationally," Watson said. "We're just trying to keep up."
Business owners are quick to say they're not trying to offend but want to have a little fun with the media hoopla.
Lu & Ruby's Bar & Grill offers a $12.95 Hoffa Steak Salad "buried under field greens with mushrooms and edible flowers."
The local Dairy Queen changes its large white sign daily with new sayings. On Wednesday, it read: "Old McMaster Had A Barn EE I EE I O," referring to Rolland McMaster, a Hoffa associate who owned the farm at the time of the former Teamster leader's disappearance in 1975.
"We've been having a great time," Dairy Queen manager Joyce McNulty said. "People tell us they can't wait to drive by daily to see the new signs."
Across the street at Bakers of Milford, a restaurant and banquet hall, general manager Angelo Nardoni said his business also was having some fun with the situation.
On Wednesday, its sign read "Hoffa Mile Down The Road Experienced Diggers Wanted" on one side and "Welcome To Milford Have A Hoffa Day!!" on the other.
"The whole town is abuzz," Nardoni said. "But if it's got to be somewhere, why not here?"
Although some members of the community are focusing on the goings-on at the farm, Milford Township hasn't changed much to Lynnette West, a 65-year-old resident of nearby Highland Township.
As she shopped downtown Wednesday afternoon, West said most residents were busy with planting flowers and preparing for the annual Memorial Day parade.
"I wish they'd find him," she said. "I just think it's a waste of money though."
_____________________________________________________________
Buy a pack of Hoffa Cupcakes, get a pack of Hamwinkies for free.
Image courtesy of E!'s "The Soup"
By BRIAN CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer
MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Cupcakes aren't usually a best-seller at the Milford Baking Company. But since the addition of a plastic green hand emerging from the chocolate-flavored sprinkles and frosting meant to resemble dirt, the bakery can't make enough of the desserts.
In the week since dozens of FBI agents, police and others invaded this small community 30 miles northwest of Detroit to search for the remains of former Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa, local businesses are taking advantage of the national spotlight aimed at them.
With humorous signs, specially made T-shirts and themed meals, business owners are poking fun at the search while trying to attract more customers.
About 500 of the 95-cent cupcakes had been sold as of Wednesday afternoon, with orders coming in from all over the Detroit area. One businessman even waited outside the bakery at 5 a.m. so he could treat co-workers, and an FBI agent ordered three dozen to take to those working at the dig site, co-owner Laura Helwig said.
While basketball-shaped Detroit Pistons cookies also are a popular item, the Hoffa cupcakes are the best single-day seller ever at the bakery, Helwig said.
The bakery has ordered an additional 700 green hands with the expectation that demand will remain high. The FBI has said the search, which began May 17 at the Hidden Dreams horse farm, is expected to last a couple of weeks. The FBI on Wednesday intensified its search for Hoffa's remains, using an excavating machine to knock down a barn.
"I never dreamed it would take off like this," Helwig said as she put icing on a batch of Pistons cookies. "We're just trying to have fun with the whole thing."
Another local business, Main Street Art, has sold 50 to 75 T-shirts with an ironed-on decal that reads: "The FBI Digs Milford, Do You?"
Main Street Art owner Leslie Watson said she has received orders for the $15 shirts from as far away as Virginia and Florida.
"We thought there would be interest here, but not nationally," Watson said. "We're just trying to keep up."
Business owners are quick to say they're not trying to offend but want to have a little fun with the media hoopla.
Lu & Ruby's Bar & Grill offers a $12.95 Hoffa Steak Salad "buried under field greens with mushrooms and edible flowers."
The local Dairy Queen changes its large white sign daily with new sayings. On Wednesday, it read: "Old McMaster Had A Barn EE I EE I O," referring to Rolland McMaster, a Hoffa associate who owned the farm at the time of the former Teamster leader's disappearance in 1975.
"We've been having a great time," Dairy Queen manager Joyce McNulty said. "People tell us they can't wait to drive by daily to see the new signs."
Across the street at Bakers of Milford, a restaurant and banquet hall, general manager Angelo Nardoni said his business also was having some fun with the situation.
On Wednesday, its sign read "Hoffa Mile Down The Road Experienced Diggers Wanted" on one side and "Welcome To Milford Have A Hoffa Day!!" on the other.
"The whole town is abuzz," Nardoni said. "But if it's got to be somewhere, why not here?"
Although some members of the community are focusing on the goings-on at the farm, Milford Township hasn't changed much to Lynnette West, a 65-year-old resident of nearby Highland Township.
As she shopped downtown Wednesday afternoon, West said most residents were busy with planting flowers and preparing for the annual Memorial Day parade.
"I wish they'd find him," she said. "I just think it's a waste of money though."
_____________________________________________________________
Buy a pack of Hoffa Cupcakes, get a pack of Hamwinkies for free.
Image courtesy of E!'s "The Soup"
Last edited by TexasStooge on Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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I just love that show.-
TexasStooge
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Grumpy man is Internet hit
By MIN LEE, AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG, China (AP) - A six-minute film showing a grumpy man scolding a fellow Hong Kong bus rider for interrupting his phone call has become one of the most popular videos online.
"Bus Uncle," as the film is commonly known, has been viewed nearly 1.7 million times on the video Web site Youtube.com — the second most-viewed video on the site in May as of Thursday — spawning spoofs and new slang drawn from the ranting subject's emotionally charged soliloquy.
The grainy film was apparently recorded using a mobile phone.
The film starts out when the protagonist, a middle-aged man, reacts strongly when a young man sitting behind him taps his shoulder to ask him to keep his voice down while talking on the phone.
"I don't know you. You don't know me. Why do you do this?" the infuriated bus rider says, punctuating the sentence by jabbing his right hand downward in the air.
When the young man, who rarely talks back during the lengthy argument, expresses an unwillingness to continue the conversation, the middle-aged man explodes, "This is not resolved! This is not resolved! This is not resolved!" — which has now become a catch phrase in Hong Kong.
He goes on to say, "I face pressure. You face pressure. Why did you provoke me?"
In another twist, just when the dispute seems to have ended after the young man apologizes and the two shake hands, the young man takes issue with profanity used by the middle-aged man, who then launches into another round of profanities.
The video has inspired numerous spoofs, including a karaoke version and a rap song using the middle-aged man's refrain, "I face pressure. You face pressure." Internet users have also added Chinese and English subtitles to the dialogue, which is in Chinese.
It still isn't clear who shot the film and it isn't certain if the film was staged or not. The middle-aged man hasn't been identified, but a man claiming to be the victim of the verbal abuse has been interviewed on Hong Kong's Commercial Radio.
"Why did I just sit there? I paid to be on the bus. You don't think I would get off the bus and waste my money, do you?" said the man, identified only as Alvin.
Youtube.com is a Web site that allows users to post videos for sharing. The site ranks the videos by the number of times they have been watched.
___
On the Net: Youtube.com
By MIN LEE, AP Entertainment Writer
HONG KONG, China (AP) - A six-minute film showing a grumpy man scolding a fellow Hong Kong bus rider for interrupting his phone call has become one of the most popular videos online.
"Bus Uncle," as the film is commonly known, has been viewed nearly 1.7 million times on the video Web site Youtube.com — the second most-viewed video on the site in May as of Thursday — spawning spoofs and new slang drawn from the ranting subject's emotionally charged soliloquy.
The grainy film was apparently recorded using a mobile phone.
The film starts out when the protagonist, a middle-aged man, reacts strongly when a young man sitting behind him taps his shoulder to ask him to keep his voice down while talking on the phone.
"I don't know you. You don't know me. Why do you do this?" the infuriated bus rider says, punctuating the sentence by jabbing his right hand downward in the air.
When the young man, who rarely talks back during the lengthy argument, expresses an unwillingness to continue the conversation, the middle-aged man explodes, "This is not resolved! This is not resolved! This is not resolved!" — which has now become a catch phrase in Hong Kong.
He goes on to say, "I face pressure. You face pressure. Why did you provoke me?"
In another twist, just when the dispute seems to have ended after the young man apologizes and the two shake hands, the young man takes issue with profanity used by the middle-aged man, who then launches into another round of profanities.
The video has inspired numerous spoofs, including a karaoke version and a rap song using the middle-aged man's refrain, "I face pressure. You face pressure." Internet users have also added Chinese and English subtitles to the dialogue, which is in Chinese.
It still isn't clear who shot the film and it isn't certain if the film was staged or not. The middle-aged man hasn't been identified, but a man claiming to be the victim of the verbal abuse has been interviewed on Hong Kong's Commercial Radio.
"Why did I just sit there? I paid to be on the bus. You don't think I would get off the bus and waste my money, do you?" said the man, identified only as Alvin.
Youtube.com is a Web site that allows users to post videos for sharing. The site ranks the videos by the number of times they have been watched.
___
On the Net: Youtube.com
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TexasStooge
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Judge: Man is too short for prison
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) - A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.
His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.
"You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child," she said.
But, she said, "That doesn't make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category."
Thompson will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography.
He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions closely.
"I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life," the judge told Thompson. "I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced."
_____________________________________________________________
"Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard! This convicted man needs growing Vitamin PDQ."
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) - A judge said a 5-foot-1 man convicted of sexually assaulting a child was too small to survive in prison, and gave him 10 years of probation instead.
His crimes deserved a long sentence, District Judge Kristine Cecava said, but she worried that Richard W. Thompson, 50, would be especially imperiled by prison dangers.
"You are a sex offender, and you did it to a child," she said.
But, she said, "That doesn't make you a hunter. You do not fit in that category."
Thompson will be electronically monitored the first four months of his probation, and he was told to never be alone with someone under age 18 or date or live with a woman whose children were under 18. Cecava also ordered Thompson to get rid of his pornography.
He faces 30 days of jail each year of his probation unless he follows its conditions closely.
"I want control of you until I know you have integrated change into your life," the judge told Thompson. "I truly hope that my bet on you being OK out in society is not misplaced."
_____________________________________________________________
"Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard! This convicted man needs growing Vitamin PDQ."
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TexasStooge
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Ind. male, in a dress, barred from prom
GARY, Ind. (AP) - A male student who has worn women's clothes to school all year was turned away from his high school prom because he was wearing a dress.
Kevin Logan, 18, went to the West Side High School prom on Friday in a slinky fuchsia gown and heels. He believes officials discriminated against him by not allowing him inside.
"I have no formal pictures, no memories, nothing. You only have one prom," he said.
Logan, who is gay, received an $85 refund for his prom ticket Tuesday but was not satisfied. He said he is considering filing a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
Sylvester Rowan, assistant to Gary Schools Superintendent Mary Steele, said school policy bans males from wearing dresses. Excluding Logan from prom was based on "the dress code, not the student's homosexuality. That's his personal preference."
Tyrone Hanley, the youth program coordinator for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in Washington, D.C., said he often sees cases like this and called it gender-based discrimination.
"Prohibiting really short skirts for everyone is a fair dress code; prohibiting them for males is not," he said.
Logan said he had spent years defining and exploring his sexuality. This year, he took a major step by dressing as a female every day, wearing makeup, a hair weave, nails and girls' fitted jeans to school.
His mother, Donnetta Logan, said she was not surprised by what she called the ignorance of school administrators.
"I tell Kevin that in society there will be those who accept him and those who won't."
GARY, Ind. (AP) - A male student who has worn women's clothes to school all year was turned away from his high school prom because he was wearing a dress.
Kevin Logan, 18, went to the West Side High School prom on Friday in a slinky fuchsia gown and heels. He believes officials discriminated against him by not allowing him inside.
"I have no formal pictures, no memories, nothing. You only have one prom," he said.
Logan, who is gay, received an $85 refund for his prom ticket Tuesday but was not satisfied. He said he is considering filing a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
Sylvester Rowan, assistant to Gary Schools Superintendent Mary Steele, said school policy bans males from wearing dresses. Excluding Logan from prom was based on "the dress code, not the student's homosexuality. That's his personal preference."
Tyrone Hanley, the youth program coordinator for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in Washington, D.C., said he often sees cases like this and called it gender-based discrimination.
"Prohibiting really short skirts for everyone is a fair dress code; prohibiting them for males is not," he said.
Logan said he had spent years defining and exploring his sexuality. This year, he took a major step by dressing as a female every day, wearing makeup, a hair weave, nails and girls' fitted jeans to school.
His mother, Donnetta Logan, said she was not surprised by what she called the ignorance of school administrators.
"I tell Kevin that in society there will be those who accept him and those who won't."
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TexasStooge
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SoCal county carriers bitten by 94 dogs
ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Orange County ranks second in the nation for the number of mail carriers bitten by dogs, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
Ninety-four carriers were attacked in the Southern California county of nearly 3 million residents last year, second only to Houston, where 108 carriers were bitten. Indianapolis was third with 83 bites.
"We're not anti-dog, but pro-responsibility," said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Richard Maher, whose agency released the statistics during National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
Klaudia Estrada, a 14-year veteran of the postal service, has been bitten twice.
Her injuries were minor but others haven't been as lucky. A Santa Ana letter carrier is still healing nearly a year after he was mauled by a pit bull and Rottweiler. The carrier was one of 15 postal employees attacked in that city last year.
"All we're asking for is safety," said Estrada, who delivers mail on foot in Anaheim Hills. "The biggest mistake I see is people keeping their gates unlocked."
If a local carrier sees a loose dog, it is standard policy to leave the neighborhood and curtail delivery that day. Animal control officials are also contacted whenever a carrier is confronted by an aggressive dog.
Estrada said dog owners often ignore her requests to restrain their animals.
"The owner usually will say, 'Oh, he doesn't bite,'" she said. "It's sad, but then the dog owner usually gives me an attitude."
ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Orange County ranks second in the nation for the number of mail carriers bitten by dogs, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
Ninety-four carriers were attacked in the Southern California county of nearly 3 million residents last year, second only to Houston, where 108 carriers were bitten. Indianapolis was third with 83 bites.
"We're not anti-dog, but pro-responsibility," said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Richard Maher, whose agency released the statistics during National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
Klaudia Estrada, a 14-year veteran of the postal service, has been bitten twice.
Her injuries were minor but others haven't been as lucky. A Santa Ana letter carrier is still healing nearly a year after he was mauled by a pit bull and Rottweiler. The carrier was one of 15 postal employees attacked in that city last year.
"All we're asking for is safety," said Estrada, who delivers mail on foot in Anaheim Hills. "The biggest mistake I see is people keeping their gates unlocked."
If a local carrier sees a loose dog, it is standard policy to leave the neighborhood and curtail delivery that day. Animal control officials are also contacted whenever a carrier is confronted by an aggressive dog.
Estrada said dog owners often ignore her requests to restrain their animals.
"The owner usually will say, 'Oh, he doesn't bite,'" she said. "It's sad, but then the dog owner usually gives me an attitude."
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TexasStooge
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Muffin suspects now in custody
FBI task force files cases against Lake Highlands, Bishop Lynch students
By HOLLY YAN, KRISTINE HUGHES and PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Two North Texas high school students turned themselves in to authorities Thursday, a day after they were charged in the case of drug-laced bran muffins that sent 19 Richardson school district employees to the hospital.
Joseph Robert Tellini, an 18-year-old Lake Highlands senior, and Ian McConnell Walker, an 18-year-old Bishop Lynch High School student, surrendered to Dallas County Sheriff's officials and were booked into the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Bail has not been set.
The mystery muffins, delivered May 16 to a Lake Highlands High School staff lounge, were eaten by workers who fell into bouts of dizziness and nausea. Tests confirmed the presence of the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
Mr. Tellini and Mr. Walker each face five counts of assault of a public servant. The FBI North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force filed the cases Wednesday with the Dallas County district attorney's office, but declined to comment on the two teenagers' suspected roles.
"The FBI or the joint terrorism task force has the investigative authority for anything that is a weapon of mass destruction. We had to initially evaluate this to determine what it was," said FBI Special Agent Jennifer Moore.
"We will continue to assist in any way that is needed."
Agent Moore said the FBI does not consider the tainted muffins an act of terrorism.
The Walker family could not be reached for comment.
At their East Dallas home, several days' newspapers and mail were piled on the front patio and neighbors said they hadn't seen the family since last weekend. A woman who answered the door at the Tellini home in Casa Linda declined to comment.
None of the Lake Highlands workers who ate the muffins suffered serious injuries.
A Richardson school official said last week that a man delivered two boxes of the muffins to the lounge, saying they were part of an Eagle Scout project.
Rachel Raya, a spokeswoman with the Dallas County district attorney's office, said prosecutors have been working with the FBI and Dallas police on the case, but had not received any files by late Wednesday.
Although the two men face third-degree felony charges of assaulting a public servant, Ms. Raya said prosecutors will ask a grand jury to enhance the charge so it becomes a more serious second-degree felony. A statute in the penal code allows such an enhancement when a controlled substance is used in an offense, she said.
A third-degree felony carries punishment of two to 10 years in prison; a second-degree felony carries punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
A neighbor of the Tellini family who attended Bishop Lynch, a private Catholic school, with Mr. Tellini and Mr. Walker said Wednesday that the two were polar opposites – Mr. Walker a smart, cocky, straight-laced kid. The student said Mr. Tellini had transferred from Bishop Lynch to Lake Highlands.
Sylvia Matamoras, a neighbor of the Walkers, said she was surprised by news of the charges.
"They're a nice family," she said.
Across the street, Esther L. Smith called Mr. Walker a responsible young man who was supposed to graduate from Bishop Lynch on Sunday.
"He seemed to be a nice kid," Ms. Smith said. "He helps with mowing the yard and seems to be very good about staying at home."
But the neighbor said that if the charges are true, the teens should be disciplined.
"That's serious, handing out things that could cause death or serious injury," she said.
Dallas police Lt. Rick Watson said he could not comment on the investigation.
"I don't know if an arrest warrant has been issued," Lt. Watson said.
Richardson school district spokeswoman Jeanne Guerra said district officials learned of the charges from a news release distributed by the FBI about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"If in fact either of those charged are RISD students, then they will be dealt with according to the student code of conduct," she said.
Richardson school officials would determine punishment before commencement Saturday.
Earlier this week, Bishop Lynch officials suspended a senior and said he would not graduate with his class after he emerged as a suspect. It was not known if that student was one of those charged Wednesday.
"A graduation ceremony is not a right but a privilege," Ms. Guerra said.
Staff writers Robert Tharp and Steve McGonigle contributed to this report.
_____________________________________________________________
They should move to Wisconsin...work at a Hamwinkie factory.
FBI task force files cases against Lake Highlands, Bishop Lynch students
By HOLLY YAN, KRISTINE HUGHES and PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas - Two North Texas high school students turned themselves in to authorities Thursday, a day after they were charged in the case of drug-laced bran muffins that sent 19 Richardson school district employees to the hospital.
Joseph Robert Tellini, an 18-year-old Lake Highlands senior, and Ian McConnell Walker, an 18-year-old Bishop Lynch High School student, surrendered to Dallas County Sheriff's officials and were booked into the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Bail has not been set.
The mystery muffins, delivered May 16 to a Lake Highlands High School staff lounge, were eaten by workers who fell into bouts of dizziness and nausea. Tests confirmed the presence of the main psychoactive substance in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
Mr. Tellini and Mr. Walker each face five counts of assault of a public servant. The FBI North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force filed the cases Wednesday with the Dallas County district attorney's office, but declined to comment on the two teenagers' suspected roles.
"The FBI or the joint terrorism task force has the investigative authority for anything that is a weapon of mass destruction. We had to initially evaluate this to determine what it was," said FBI Special Agent Jennifer Moore.
"We will continue to assist in any way that is needed."
Agent Moore said the FBI does not consider the tainted muffins an act of terrorism.
The Walker family could not be reached for comment.
At their East Dallas home, several days' newspapers and mail were piled on the front patio and neighbors said they hadn't seen the family since last weekend. A woman who answered the door at the Tellini home in Casa Linda declined to comment.
None of the Lake Highlands workers who ate the muffins suffered serious injuries.
A Richardson school official said last week that a man delivered two boxes of the muffins to the lounge, saying they were part of an Eagle Scout project.
Rachel Raya, a spokeswoman with the Dallas County district attorney's office, said prosecutors have been working with the FBI and Dallas police on the case, but had not received any files by late Wednesday.
Although the two men face third-degree felony charges of assaulting a public servant, Ms. Raya said prosecutors will ask a grand jury to enhance the charge so it becomes a more serious second-degree felony. A statute in the penal code allows such an enhancement when a controlled substance is used in an offense, she said.
A third-degree felony carries punishment of two to 10 years in prison; a second-degree felony carries punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
A neighbor of the Tellini family who attended Bishop Lynch, a private Catholic school, with Mr. Tellini and Mr. Walker said Wednesday that the two were polar opposites – Mr. Walker a smart, cocky, straight-laced kid. The student said Mr. Tellini had transferred from Bishop Lynch to Lake Highlands.
Sylvia Matamoras, a neighbor of the Walkers, said she was surprised by news of the charges.
"They're a nice family," she said.
Across the street, Esther L. Smith called Mr. Walker a responsible young man who was supposed to graduate from Bishop Lynch on Sunday.
"He seemed to be a nice kid," Ms. Smith said. "He helps with mowing the yard and seems to be very good about staying at home."
But the neighbor said that if the charges are true, the teens should be disciplined.
"That's serious, handing out things that could cause death or serious injury," she said.
Dallas police Lt. Rick Watson said he could not comment on the investigation.
"I don't know if an arrest warrant has been issued," Lt. Watson said.
Richardson school district spokeswoman Jeanne Guerra said district officials learned of the charges from a news release distributed by the FBI about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"If in fact either of those charged are RISD students, then they will be dealt with according to the student code of conduct," she said.
Richardson school officials would determine punishment before commencement Saturday.
Earlier this week, Bishop Lynch officials suspended a senior and said he would not graduate with his class after he emerged as a suspect. It was not known if that student was one of those charged Wednesday.
"A graduation ceremony is not a right but a privilege," Ms. Guerra said.
Staff writers Robert Tharp and Steve McGonigle contributed to this report.
_____________________________________________________________
They should move to Wisconsin...work at a Hamwinkie factory.
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TexasStooge
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Circus strongwoman seeks phone books to save show
BLACKPOOL, England (Reuters) - A circus strongwoman who rips up telephone directories as part of her act has launched an appeal for 500 phone books to ensure her show in northern England can go on.
German-born Sylvia Brumbach, known as The Woman of Steel, says she is about to run out of books after destroying over 100 at Blackpool Tower Circus.
"I just brought 200 over from Germany ... I've used over half of them already," she told Reuters.
Brumbach, who says she can tear a directory in half in around 30 seconds, has placed ads in local newspapers appealing for more books.
"You have to find the right point to rip, the book must not be too old and the spine must be tough, not wobbly," she said.
BLACKPOOL, England (Reuters) - A circus strongwoman who rips up telephone directories as part of her act has launched an appeal for 500 phone books to ensure her show in northern England can go on.
German-born Sylvia Brumbach, known as The Woman of Steel, says she is about to run out of books after destroying over 100 at Blackpool Tower Circus.
"I just brought 200 over from Germany ... I've used over half of them already," she told Reuters.
Brumbach, who says she can tear a directory in half in around 30 seconds, has placed ads in local newspapers appealing for more books.
"You have to find the right point to rip, the book must not be too old and the spine must be tough, not wobbly," she said.
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TexasStooge
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Whistling high-rise chimes in on Corrie
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - A noisy skyscraper is threatening to muscle in on "Coronation Street" as a whistling sound from the new 48-storey tower plays over the red-brick terrace set of the country's longest-running soap opera.
"Sound engineers were picking up a flute-like sound on their earphones," a spokeswoman at the TV series' producer, Granada, said on Thursday.
Contractors working on the site of the glazed 171 metre Beetham Tower, set to be Britain's tallest building outside London when it is finished in August, blamed wind gusting past the tower's glass blade pinnacle for the disturbance.
"It's a horrible noise -- I thought a UFO was landing," a local resident wrote on the North West Enquirer newspaper's Web site.
Filming was not interrupted but sound engineers added a wild track of background noise to fix the problem, the Granada spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for contractor Carillion said the company was adjusting the design of the glass blade and hoped to reduce noise to an acceptable level within two weeks.
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - A noisy skyscraper is threatening to muscle in on "Coronation Street" as a whistling sound from the new 48-storey tower plays over the red-brick terrace set of the country's longest-running soap opera.
"Sound engineers were picking up a flute-like sound on their earphones," a spokeswoman at the TV series' producer, Granada, said on Thursday.
Contractors working on the site of the glazed 171 metre Beetham Tower, set to be Britain's tallest building outside London when it is finished in August, blamed wind gusting past the tower's glass blade pinnacle for the disturbance.
"It's a horrible noise -- I thought a UFO was landing," a local resident wrote on the North West Enquirer newspaper's Web site.
Filming was not interrupted but sound engineers added a wild track of background noise to fix the problem, the Granada spokeswoman said.
A spokeswoman for contractor Carillion said the company was adjusting the design of the glass blade and hoped to reduce noise to an acceptable level within two weeks.
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TexasStooge
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Litter bin mystery puzzles village
DONCASTER (Reuters) - Litter bins are mysteriously vanishing from the northern village of Kirk Sandalls and the council's efforts to replace them are rubbish, say the residents.
"In many cases the bins just disappear and we do not know where on earth they are," said Michael Edward, a 63-year-old retired teacher from the village near Doncaster.
Residents say at least 30 of the village's large metal bins have gone missing over the past year, although the council says the number is lower.
"One day you have bins around the shops and the next day they mysteriously vanish," said barman Adam Mackell.
The reason may lie thousands of miles way in Asia, where the booming economies of China and India are pushing up prices of metals on world markets.
Thieves may have been melting down the bins and selling the scrap metal for a quick profit, a council source said.
DONCASTER (Reuters) - Litter bins are mysteriously vanishing from the northern village of Kirk Sandalls and the council's efforts to replace them are rubbish, say the residents.
"In many cases the bins just disappear and we do not know where on earth they are," said Michael Edward, a 63-year-old retired teacher from the village near Doncaster.
Residents say at least 30 of the village's large metal bins have gone missing over the past year, although the council says the number is lower.
"One day you have bins around the shops and the next day they mysteriously vanish," said barman Adam Mackell.
The reason may lie thousands of miles way in Asia, where the booming economies of China and India are pushing up prices of metals on world markets.
Thieves may have been melting down the bins and selling the scrap metal for a quick profit, a council source said.
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TexasStooge
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Cocoa-covered Drogba helps plug Ivorian chocolate
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Bare-chested and glistening with cocoa butter, Didier Drogba taps the ball back and forth between his feet, a droplet of chocolate dripping down his left temple.
Booting the ball away, he looks at the camera and declares proudly: "Ivory Coast -- my land of cocoa".
The film clip starring the Chelsea striker, who leads Ivory Coast's Elephants to their first soccer World Cup next month, is to be beamed across Europe as part of a public relations drive by his war-divided country to coincide with the tournament.
Capitalising on the World Cup's international exposure, Drogba is promoting Ivorian chocolate for connoisseurs, offering a range of cocoa aromas from different parts of the country, the world's No. 1 cocoa producer.
"Le Chocolat du Planteur" -- Planter's Chocolate -- is made from at least 72 percent cocoa and targets chocolate connoisseurs, said Tano Kassi Kadio, director of Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) marketing body.
"The Elephants have become the vehicle for promoting Ivory Coast's cocoa. At the farmers' request, they have agreed to be ambassadors for Ivorian cocoa and in particular 'Le Chocolat du Planteur' everywhere they play their football," Kassi said.
Like Drogba, almost all Ivory Coast's squad play for clubs around Europe, where the BCC hopes to pick up sales for Ivorian chocolate and cocoa both in France, home to the biggest Ivorian community overseas, and World Cup host Germany.
The chocolate is aimed at consumers who like chocolate with high cocoa content, rather than the vegetable oil or other substitutes used in many types of chocolate.
"There is a demand today for authentic chocolate, quality chocolate made with pure cocoa butter. We want to satisfy that demand," Kassi said at a launch ceremony on Wednesday.
Marketing brochures describe the different soil and climatic characteristics of each of the chosen growing regions which contribute to the taste of the chocolates, which will be packed in foil and discrete plain brown wrapping.
Kassi said the project would boost farmers' income by paying a premium for the high quality cocoa used.
"Le Chocolat du Planteur" is manufactured by Swiss manufacturer Barry Callebaut using cocoa beans from around 100 farmers in six regions of Ivory Coast. A seventh variant is made of a blend of cocoa from all these regions.
The products will go on sale in a small number of outlets in France, Germany and Ivory Coast with a recommended retail price of 1.80 euros ($2.30) per 100g bar.
By Loucoumane Coulibaly
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Bare-chested and glistening with cocoa butter, Didier Drogba taps the ball back and forth between his feet, a droplet of chocolate dripping down his left temple.
Booting the ball away, he looks at the camera and declares proudly: "Ivory Coast -- my land of cocoa".
The film clip starring the Chelsea striker, who leads Ivory Coast's Elephants to their first soccer World Cup next month, is to be beamed across Europe as part of a public relations drive by his war-divided country to coincide with the tournament.
Capitalising on the World Cup's international exposure, Drogba is promoting Ivorian chocolate for connoisseurs, offering a range of cocoa aromas from different parts of the country, the world's No. 1 cocoa producer.
"Le Chocolat du Planteur" -- Planter's Chocolate -- is made from at least 72 percent cocoa and targets chocolate connoisseurs, said Tano Kassi Kadio, director of Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) marketing body.
"The Elephants have become the vehicle for promoting Ivory Coast's cocoa. At the farmers' request, they have agreed to be ambassadors for Ivorian cocoa and in particular 'Le Chocolat du Planteur' everywhere they play their football," Kassi said.
Like Drogba, almost all Ivory Coast's squad play for clubs around Europe, where the BCC hopes to pick up sales for Ivorian chocolate and cocoa both in France, home to the biggest Ivorian community overseas, and World Cup host Germany.
The chocolate is aimed at consumers who like chocolate with high cocoa content, rather than the vegetable oil or other substitutes used in many types of chocolate.
"There is a demand today for authentic chocolate, quality chocolate made with pure cocoa butter. We want to satisfy that demand," Kassi said at a launch ceremony on Wednesday.
Marketing brochures describe the different soil and climatic characteristics of each of the chosen growing regions which contribute to the taste of the chocolates, which will be packed in foil and discrete plain brown wrapping.
Kassi said the project would boost farmers' income by paying a premium for the high quality cocoa used.
"Le Chocolat du Planteur" is manufactured by Swiss manufacturer Barry Callebaut using cocoa beans from around 100 farmers in six regions of Ivory Coast. A seventh variant is made of a blend of cocoa from all these regions.
The products will go on sale in a small number of outlets in France, Germany and Ivory Coast with a recommended retail price of 1.80 euros ($2.30) per 100g bar.
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TexasStooge
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Honesty not best policy for Sierra Leone goat thief
FREETOWN (Reuters) - For a convicted goat thief in Sierra Leone, honesty was not the best policy. He was sentenced to 20 years after volunteering in court that he'd stolen before.
Alhaji Abu Sesay pleaded guilty to stealing a goat from a farm in the northern town of Makeni and then told the court it wasn't his first time.
"But the Almighty God was not on my side because had I succeeded, this would have been my second time stealing a goat from that farm," he said.
Judge Patrick Hamilton praised his honesty but handed down a stiff 20-year jail sentence, partly because of Sesay's voluntary confession.
Court officials said the sentence was unusually tough and Hamilton had been influenced by Sesay's admission of a previous theft.
In handing down his sentence, Hamilton said: "You are a plain and frank person but I want you and others involved in this practice of stealing creatures to desist and you will be the example."
Sierra Leone, rich in diamonds and minerals, is recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war. Poverty, unemployment and disease are widespread.
FREETOWN (Reuters) - For a convicted goat thief in Sierra Leone, honesty was not the best policy. He was sentenced to 20 years after volunteering in court that he'd stolen before.
Alhaji Abu Sesay pleaded guilty to stealing a goat from a farm in the northern town of Makeni and then told the court it wasn't his first time.
"But the Almighty God was not on my side because had I succeeded, this would have been my second time stealing a goat from that farm," he said.
Judge Patrick Hamilton praised his honesty but handed down a stiff 20-year jail sentence, partly because of Sesay's voluntary confession.
Court officials said the sentence was unusually tough and Hamilton had been influenced by Sesay's admission of a previous theft.
In handing down his sentence, Hamilton said: "You are a plain and frank person but I want you and others involved in this practice of stealing creatures to desist and you will be the example."
Sierra Leone, rich in diamonds and minerals, is recovering from a 1991-2002 civil war. Poverty, unemployment and disease are widespread.
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