Max the dog loves trams but has no ticket
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Staffordshire bull terrier hopped onto the number 6 tram in The Hague and traveled for 20 minutes before passengers saw he was alone and called police to make him get off.
The 7-year-old black and white dog has a penchant for traveling solo on the trundling trams, his owner Ben told a Dutch daily newspaper Wednesday.
"He got so used to traveling by tram, I always have to stop him from jumping in without me," Ben said. "I'll have to put him on the leash more often."
Police spokesman Leo Maat noted that Max, who did not want to get off the tram, had traveled several stops without a ticket.
TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES
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TexasStooge
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Diver survives three days in ocean
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - A former New Zealand navy diver left adrift at sea for three days survived by eating crayfish and sea slugs after he became separated from friends while diving near an island off the country's coast.
Robert Hewitt, 38, was suffering hypothermia and severe dehydration when he was found in mist and rain by former navy colleagues who joined police divers after an air search was called off, New Zealand Press Association reported.
"This defies survivability, it's bloody awesome," said police search and rescue Senior Sergeant Bruce Johnson.
Hewitt was found wearing only the bottom of his wetsuit and a yellow catch bag containing the remains of the crayfish and sea slugs that he had eaten during the ordeal, NZPA reported.
Johnson said the diver may have been protected by the thickness of his navy-issue divesuit, and was alert and "talked non stop" when rescued.
The alarm was raised Sunday when Hewitt, the older brother of a former All Black rugby player, failed to surface from a dive off Mana Island, north of Wellington on the country's North Island.
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) - A former New Zealand navy diver left adrift at sea for three days survived by eating crayfish and sea slugs after he became separated from friends while diving near an island off the country's coast.
Robert Hewitt, 38, was suffering hypothermia and severe dehydration when he was found in mist and rain by former navy colleagues who joined police divers after an air search was called off, New Zealand Press Association reported.
"This defies survivability, it's bloody awesome," said police search and rescue Senior Sergeant Bruce Johnson.
Hewitt was found wearing only the bottom of his wetsuit and a yellow catch bag containing the remains of the crayfish and sea slugs that he had eaten during the ordeal, NZPA reported.
Johnson said the diver may have been protected by the thickness of his navy-issue divesuit, and was alert and "talked non stop" when rescued.
The alarm was raised Sunday when Hewitt, the older brother of a former All Black rugby player, failed to surface from a dive off Mana Island, north of Wellington on the country's North Island.
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Family Claims Soup Contained a Dead Mouse
By GARY TANNER, Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Phyllis Ingram said her 89-year-old mother, Pearl Parkey, discovered a dead mouse in a bowl of bean with bacon soup but only after she had put it in her mouth.
"I thought it was just a ball of hair. My daughter said 'Mama that's a mouse,'" Ingram, who lives in Erwin about 250 miles east of Nashville, said Wednesday.
Authorities said the incident has been reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for investigation into whether the can of Campbell's soup was possibly contaminated or had been tampered with.
Ingram said she bought and served the soup on Jan. 26.
Campbell's Soup Co. spokesman John Faulkner said the company is investigating the complaint and will examine the can and its contents, which the family has stored in a freezer.
Faulkner said it's unlikely a mouse could have gotten into the can during manufacturing. Every step of production is closely monitored and there is a USDA inspector based at the Camden, N.J., plant where the soup was made, he said.
"When we get a complaint, we take it seriously," he said. "More often than not it's explainable as something not related to manufacturing, or the complaint is bogus."
Ingram said she believes the mouse was in the can and could not have gotten into the pot of soup any other way.
"It's not like the finger that was in the Wendy's chili," she said.
Anna Ayala, 40, was sentenced last month to nine years in prison for extortion after planting a human finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose, Calif., Wendy's restaurant, claiming it had been served to her. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from someone who lost it in an accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Parkey's son reported the soup incident to the Unicoi County Health Department, which referred it to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Department of Agriculture spokesman Tom Womack said the department reported the incident to Food and Drug Administration officials in Nashville.
FDA spokeswoman Sandy Baxter said the matter was referred to the USDA, which is responsible for its regulation because of its meat content. USDA spokesman Steven Cohen confirmed the matter is under investigation but could not provide further details Wednesday afternoon.
Ingram said her family was reluctant to make the situation public but said she thought the health department had notified Campbell's about the incident and the company ignored it.
"It's kind of embarrassing," she said. "My mother is a very dignified lady. Everybody around here knows her. My father was a minister."
Faulkner said the company was unaware of Ingram's claim until a reporter asked about it this week.
Still, the family is considering hiring a lawyer for help with their complaint. Ingram declined to say what the family wants from Campbell's.
Ingram said Parkey suffers from congestive heart failure and other ailments. Parkey has been reluctant to eat since the incident, Ingram said.
By GARY TANNER, Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Phyllis Ingram said her 89-year-old mother, Pearl Parkey, discovered a dead mouse in a bowl of bean with bacon soup but only after she had put it in her mouth.
"I thought it was just a ball of hair. My daughter said 'Mama that's a mouse,'" Ingram, who lives in Erwin about 250 miles east of Nashville, said Wednesday.
Authorities said the incident has been reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for investigation into whether the can of Campbell's soup was possibly contaminated or had been tampered with.
Ingram said she bought and served the soup on Jan. 26.
Campbell's Soup Co. spokesman John Faulkner said the company is investigating the complaint and will examine the can and its contents, which the family has stored in a freezer.
Faulkner said it's unlikely a mouse could have gotten into the can during manufacturing. Every step of production is closely monitored and there is a USDA inspector based at the Camden, N.J., plant where the soup was made, he said.
"When we get a complaint, we take it seriously," he said. "More often than not it's explainable as something not related to manufacturing, or the complaint is bogus."
Ingram said she believes the mouse was in the can and could not have gotten into the pot of soup any other way.
"It's not like the finger that was in the Wendy's chili," she said.
Anna Ayala, 40, was sentenced last month to nine years in prison for extortion after planting a human finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose, Calif., Wendy's restaurant, claiming it had been served to her. Her husband, Jaime Plascencia, 44, who obtained the finger from someone who lost it in an accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Parkey's son reported the soup incident to the Unicoi County Health Department, which referred it to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Department of Agriculture spokesman Tom Womack said the department reported the incident to Food and Drug Administration officials in Nashville.
FDA spokeswoman Sandy Baxter said the matter was referred to the USDA, which is responsible for its regulation because of its meat content. USDA spokesman Steven Cohen confirmed the matter is under investigation but could not provide further details Wednesday afternoon.
Ingram said her family was reluctant to make the situation public but said she thought the health department had notified Campbell's about the incident and the company ignored it.
"It's kind of embarrassing," she said. "My mother is a very dignified lady. Everybody around here knows her. My father was a minister."
Faulkner said the company was unaware of Ingram's claim until a reporter asked about it this week.
Still, the family is considering hiring a lawyer for help with their complaint. Ingram declined to say what the family wants from Campbell's.
Ingram said Parkey suffers from congestive heart failure and other ailments. Parkey has been reluctant to eat since the incident, Ingram said.
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House Burns While Man Makes a Food Run
WASHINGTON (AP) - A man who went out for a few minutes to buy food came back to find his Northwest Washington house ablaze Wednesday. "A lady in the next block said, 'Is that your house?' I said, 'I hope not.' Up to that point I wasn't even sure," said Joe Howard.
The fire was so intense, and the building so unstable, that firefighters had to evacuate and resorted to battling the flames from outside. District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman Alan Etter said sections of the home were falling apart. Neither Howard nor any firefighters were hurt.
The cause of the fire was not known, and it was unclear if it would ever be found.
"Fire investigators will go in after it's determined safe to go in. And it may be that they never go in to investigate. We've had situations like this before where the building is so unsafe that we're not going to put a fire investigator in there to get hurt," Etter said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A man who went out for a few minutes to buy food came back to find his Northwest Washington house ablaze Wednesday. "A lady in the next block said, 'Is that your house?' I said, 'I hope not.' Up to that point I wasn't even sure," said Joe Howard.
The fire was so intense, and the building so unstable, that firefighters had to evacuate and resorted to battling the flames from outside. District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman Alan Etter said sections of the home were falling apart. Neither Howard nor any firefighters were hurt.
The cause of the fire was not known, and it was unclear if it would ever be found.
"Fire investigators will go in after it's determined safe to go in. And it may be that they never go in to investigate. We've had situations like this before where the building is so unsafe that we're not going to put a fire investigator in there to get hurt," Etter said.
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Long Strange Non-Trip for Woman, Two Dogs
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Debra Schwarz and her two dogs are taking the long way home. The really long way. The three are stranded in Eugene, with no available transportation.
So Schwarz, 46, has decided to walk home to Wichita Falls, Texas, pulling a large cart she built herself and covered with handwritten tirades against people she believes have done her wrong.
The only problem is, she hasn't gotten very far. Every time she hits the road, the police stop her.
Her 4-foot-wide, 7-foot-long cart is a traffic hazard, police said, and puts Schwarz and her dogs, Lucky and Junior, at risk of being hit by a car.
Police in Eugene and Springfield have escorted her off local highways at least three times in the past month after drivers complained that they couldn't get around her.
The police have been kind, towing her cart to nearby churches and letting her camp out until she can get back to her motor home, parked with permission at a business north of Eugene.
And her lawyer and others have offered to buy her a bus ticket from here to Texas.
But Schwarz refuses to abandon her beloved dogs, and so far no one has agreed to take them on until she can return to Oregon in April for a court appearance.
"She's mostly just desperate," her Eugene attorney, Brian Cox, said. "She's a woman whose life has devolved to this point. It's really a sad story."
Schwarz and her late husband, Norris Schwarz, supported themselves in part by selling wrought-iron Christmas ornaments around the country. Each fall, they drove their motor home and a trailer full of goods to a different city and set up shop on open lots.
On her way through Oregon in 2000, Schwarz got a $350 traffic ticket for failing to obey a traffic signal while driving in Lake County. Annoyed, she tucked human feces into the envelope with the money order she sent to the Lake County Courthouse.
Schwarz was convicted of obstructing government administration, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. A judge sentenced her to a year of probation, which she violated when she refused to pay a fine. As a result, she served six months in the Lake County Jail last year.
While she went to jail, her 82-year-old husband was stranded in Lake County. Police found him disoriented and sleeping in a pickup truck.
As a result, she was charged with felony criminal mistreatment. She is scheduled for trial in April.
Her husband's adult children eventually took him back to Texas. He died of a heart attack while his wife was in jail.
After her release from jail in October, Schwarz got a lift from a friend to Eugene, but has since been trying to get home to settle her husband's estate.
She refuses to pay a fine that would restore her driver's license, so she can't drive her motor home back to Texas. She says she can't take a bus, train or airplane because of her dogs.
She spent a month building her cart, which she pulls along by a metal bar at her waist. She attached flashlights to the rear, added a reflective triangle and scrawled "caution" in big, black letters on the back.
Police and her attorney have convinced her, for now, that walking home in winter might not be the best idea. Down to her last $10, she is hoping someone will volunteer to baby sit Lucky and Junior until she returns for trial. Or maybe she can hitch a ride with a trucker.
If nothing else comes through, she said she'll make the cart smaller and try walking out of town again.
___
Information from: The Register-Guard
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - Debra Schwarz and her two dogs are taking the long way home. The really long way. The three are stranded in Eugene, with no available transportation.
So Schwarz, 46, has decided to walk home to Wichita Falls, Texas, pulling a large cart she built herself and covered with handwritten tirades against people she believes have done her wrong.
The only problem is, she hasn't gotten very far. Every time she hits the road, the police stop her.
Her 4-foot-wide, 7-foot-long cart is a traffic hazard, police said, and puts Schwarz and her dogs, Lucky and Junior, at risk of being hit by a car.
Police in Eugene and Springfield have escorted her off local highways at least three times in the past month after drivers complained that they couldn't get around her.
The police have been kind, towing her cart to nearby churches and letting her camp out until she can get back to her motor home, parked with permission at a business north of Eugene.
And her lawyer and others have offered to buy her a bus ticket from here to Texas.
But Schwarz refuses to abandon her beloved dogs, and so far no one has agreed to take them on until she can return to Oregon in April for a court appearance.
"She's mostly just desperate," her Eugene attorney, Brian Cox, said. "She's a woman whose life has devolved to this point. It's really a sad story."
Schwarz and her late husband, Norris Schwarz, supported themselves in part by selling wrought-iron Christmas ornaments around the country. Each fall, they drove their motor home and a trailer full of goods to a different city and set up shop on open lots.
On her way through Oregon in 2000, Schwarz got a $350 traffic ticket for failing to obey a traffic signal while driving in Lake County. Annoyed, she tucked human feces into the envelope with the money order she sent to the Lake County Courthouse.
Schwarz was convicted of obstructing government administration, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. A judge sentenced her to a year of probation, which she violated when she refused to pay a fine. As a result, she served six months in the Lake County Jail last year.
While she went to jail, her 82-year-old husband was stranded in Lake County. Police found him disoriented and sleeping in a pickup truck.
As a result, she was charged with felony criminal mistreatment. She is scheduled for trial in April.
Her husband's adult children eventually took him back to Texas. He died of a heart attack while his wife was in jail.
After her release from jail in October, Schwarz got a lift from a friend to Eugene, but has since been trying to get home to settle her husband's estate.
She refuses to pay a fine that would restore her driver's license, so she can't drive her motor home back to Texas. She says she can't take a bus, train or airplane because of her dogs.
She spent a month building her cart, which she pulls along by a metal bar at her waist. She attached flashlights to the rear, added a reflective triangle and scrawled "caution" in big, black letters on the back.
Police and her attorney have convinced her, for now, that walking home in winter might not be the best idea. Down to her last $10, she is hoping someone will volunteer to baby sit Lucky and Junior until she returns for trial. Or maybe she can hitch a ride with a trucker.
If nothing else comes through, she said she'll make the cart smaller and try walking out of town again.
___
Information from: The Register-Guard
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Police Say Man Stole From Graveyards
ANGOLA, Ind. (AP) - A man allegedly found with about 80 items taken from local graveyards in his apartment has been charged with six counts of theft, police said.
Police found the items in the home of Gregory Allen Shipe, 21, of Ashley. They include colorful porcelain crosses, ceramic figures, lanterns and an elephant statue.
Steuben County police were asking people to identify the items so they could be returned to the gravesites in Steuben and DeKalb counties in northeastern Indiana. So far, at least 10 items have been returned, said Steuben County sheriff's Detective John Rowe.
Shipe was arrested Friday and was being held at the Steuben County Jail Wednesday on $20,000 bond. His next court date is March 6.
Shipe's brother told police that he had seen about 100 items at Shipe's apartment. Shipe's wife said her husband told her the decorations came from a junk yard.
Shipe told police Friday that he and two other men took the items from four cemeteries Jan. 30.
___
Information from: The Journal Gazette
ANGOLA, Ind. (AP) - A man allegedly found with about 80 items taken from local graveyards in his apartment has been charged with six counts of theft, police said.
Police found the items in the home of Gregory Allen Shipe, 21, of Ashley. They include colorful porcelain crosses, ceramic figures, lanterns and an elephant statue.
Steuben County police were asking people to identify the items so they could be returned to the gravesites in Steuben and DeKalb counties in northeastern Indiana. So far, at least 10 items have been returned, said Steuben County sheriff's Detective John Rowe.
Shipe was arrested Friday and was being held at the Steuben County Jail Wednesday on $20,000 bond. His next court date is March 6.
Shipe's brother told police that he had seen about 100 items at Shipe's apartment. Shipe's wife said her husband told her the decorations came from a junk yard.
Shipe told police Friday that he and two other men took the items from four cemeteries Jan. 30.
___
Information from: The Journal Gazette
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Parents Protest Child's Spelling Bee Loss
RENO, Nev. (AP) - She spelled it right. The judge said it was wrong. And she's not getting a second chance. Eighth-grader Sara Beckman from Reno's O'Brien Middle School spelled "discernible" correctly during Tuesday's spelling bee at the University of Nevada, Reno. But the judge rang the bell anyway.
Her parents are furious, but organizers say they had to protest the call immediately. Sara's mom said they waited until the bee was over to avoid interrupting it.
School spokesman Steve Mulvenon likens it to a referee's call in an NFL game. The protest has to come before the next play starts.
Sara says she'd just like another chance, since it's her last spelling bee.
Her mother Cindy calls herself a "momma bear with her bear claws out" and is ready to go to court.
Mulvenon hopes everybody can sit down together and work something out.
He says defending a lawsuit over a spelling bee isn't a good way to spend school district money.
RENO, Nev. (AP) - She spelled it right. The judge said it was wrong. And she's not getting a second chance. Eighth-grader Sara Beckman from Reno's O'Brien Middle School spelled "discernible" correctly during Tuesday's spelling bee at the University of Nevada, Reno. But the judge rang the bell anyway.
Her parents are furious, but organizers say they had to protest the call immediately. Sara's mom said they waited until the bee was over to avoid interrupting it.
School spokesman Steve Mulvenon likens it to a referee's call in an NFL game. The protest has to come before the next play starts.
Sara says she'd just like another chance, since it's her last spelling bee.
Her mother Cindy calls herself a "momma bear with her bear claws out" and is ready to go to court.
Mulvenon hopes everybody can sit down together and work something out.
He says defending a lawsuit over a spelling bee isn't a good way to spend school district money.
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If the shoe fits -- print it
LONDON, England (Reuters) - Print your own shoes and get a perfect fit.
A new manufacturing process looks set to bring mass production to tailor-made shoes that can be built layer by layer from a 3-D footprint.
First to benefit will be professional soccer players, who are to be given tailor-printed boots offering more protection.
London-based company Prior 2 Lever, launching the system in April, will first scan a player's feet by laser to obtain a digital model.
Next the player carries out a series of exercises wearing a force-recording insole called a pedar. A template is then produced for the sole and stud arrangement around which the rest of the boot is based.
Greg Lever-O'Keefe, creative director of the company, told New Scientist magazine: "This should give the player the best chances of reducing injury."
The blueprint is then converted into the finished boot using a technique developed by University College London researcher Siavash Mahdavi. The 3-D design is replicated by laser printer.
After ensuring a perfect fit for soccer players, the aim is to take the technique to shops which could print a pair of bespoke shoes in just a few hours.
LONDON, England (Reuters) - Print your own shoes and get a perfect fit.
A new manufacturing process looks set to bring mass production to tailor-made shoes that can be built layer by layer from a 3-D footprint.
First to benefit will be professional soccer players, who are to be given tailor-printed boots offering more protection.
London-based company Prior 2 Lever, launching the system in April, will first scan a player's feet by laser to obtain a digital model.
Next the player carries out a series of exercises wearing a force-recording insole called a pedar. A template is then produced for the sole and stud arrangement around which the rest of the boot is based.
Greg Lever-O'Keefe, creative director of the company, told New Scientist magazine: "This should give the player the best chances of reducing injury."
The blueprint is then converted into the finished boot using a technique developed by University College London researcher Siavash Mahdavi. The 3-D design is replicated by laser printer.
After ensuring a perfect fit for soccer players, the aim is to take the technique to shops which could print a pair of bespoke shoes in just a few hours.
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Stuck Foghorn Wails Every Few Minutes
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) - The tranquility of Monterey has been disturbed by a foghorn stuck at the end of the Coast Guard pier. The switch is stuck on "on" and nobody in the area knows how to fix it, Petty Officer 1st Class Lance Benedict said Tuesday.
So the foghorn wails every few minutes.
The foghorn and accompanying light at the end of the Coast Guard Pier off Lighthouse Avenue are meant to prevent water travelers from running into the breakwall, Benedict said.
During foggy conditions earlier in the week, the horn was turned on.
"We are just a search-and-rescue part of the Coast Guard," Benedict said, noting the Coast Guard's repair staff is based in San Francisco. They have been notified but it's unclear when the team will arrive, Benedict said.
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And I thought the "Old Siren Brought Back To Life" story was scary.
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) - The tranquility of Monterey has been disturbed by a foghorn stuck at the end of the Coast Guard pier. The switch is stuck on "on" and nobody in the area knows how to fix it, Petty Officer 1st Class Lance Benedict said Tuesday.
So the foghorn wails every few minutes.
The foghorn and accompanying light at the end of the Coast Guard Pier off Lighthouse Avenue are meant to prevent water travelers from running into the breakwall, Benedict said.
During foggy conditions earlier in the week, the horn was turned on.
"We are just a search-and-rescue part of the Coast Guard," Benedict said, noting the Coast Guard's repair staff is based in San Francisco. They have been notified but it's unclear when the team will arrive, Benedict said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I thought the "Old Siren Brought Back To Life" story was scary.
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Baby feeds on dog's milk
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Tanzanian mother went into hysterics when she found her six month-old baby suckling dog's milk, a local daily reported Thursday.
The mother left her son on a mat while she went to hang clothes in the yard of her Dar Es Salaam home, Uhuru newspaper said. When she came back to find him suckling on the dog, she screamed and rushed to her brother's house to seek advice.
But the brother managed to convince her dog's milk was harmless. "Since that day the baby is doing well and hasn't had diarrhea or any signs of illness," he was quoted as saying.
Another relative, who witnessed the incident Monday, was also unperturbed. "The baby was satisfied, since his belly was full and his lips had traces of milk," he told Uhuru.
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Tanzanian mother went into hysterics when she found her six month-old baby suckling dog's milk, a local daily reported Thursday.
The mother left her son on a mat while she went to hang clothes in the yard of her Dar Es Salaam home, Uhuru newspaper said. When she came back to find him suckling on the dog, she screamed and rushed to her brother's house to seek advice.
But the brother managed to convince her dog's milk was harmless. "Since that day the baby is doing well and hasn't had diarrhea or any signs of illness," he was quoted as saying.
Another relative, who witnessed the incident Monday, was also unperturbed. "The baby was satisfied, since his belly was full and his lips had traces of milk," he told Uhuru.
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Ban rock concerts and football games?
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - An Iowa sheriff's decision to hand out tickets instead of arrests for small amounts of marijuana invited a lawmaker's slap that it would be simpler to ban rock concerts and football games.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who oversees the University of Iowa in Iowa City, told a legislative committee he would treat possession of small amounts of marijuana like a traffic violation, allowing hundreds of students arrested each year to graduate without a criminal record.
"The guy that's carrying 50 bales of marijuana ... that's a different animal," Pulkrabek said, adding he favored rounding up intoxicated people in a locked "detox center" in lieu of the crowded jail.
But Republican legislator Clel Baudler, a former state trooper, shot down the notion as sending the wrong message to drug users and abusers.
"We could simplify law enforcement's job if we didn't have rock concerts. We could simplify their job a lot quicker if we just didn't have football games there where we arrest hundreds of drunks over the weekend." Baudler said.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - An Iowa sheriff's decision to hand out tickets instead of arrests for small amounts of marijuana invited a lawmaker's slap that it would be simpler to ban rock concerts and football games.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who oversees the University of Iowa in Iowa City, told a legislative committee he would treat possession of small amounts of marijuana like a traffic violation, allowing hundreds of students arrested each year to graduate without a criminal record.
"The guy that's carrying 50 bales of marijuana ... that's a different animal," Pulkrabek said, adding he favored rounding up intoxicated people in a locked "detox center" in lieu of the crowded jail.
But Republican legislator Clel Baudler, a former state trooper, shot down the notion as sending the wrong message to drug users and abusers.
"We could simplify law enforcement's job if we didn't have rock concerts. We could simplify their job a lot quicker if we just didn't have football games there where we arrest hundreds of drunks over the weekend." Baudler said.
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Morality police send bored city to sleep
By Krittivas Mukherjee
MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - Nightlife in India's entertainment capital has become deadly dull, youngsters in Mumbai complain, as the authorities continue a crackdown on discos and bars that they accuse of corrupting impressionable young minds.
The city's nightlife -- not so long ago pulsating, risque and never-ending -- has become a non-event, they say, ever since officials declared a war on adult fun in August, forcing hundreds of popular dance bars to shut their doors saying they bred crime and prostitution.
After the ban, thousands of dancers found themselves out of work, with many moving to other states to earn a living. Others are reported to have become prostitutes.
As if that was not bad enough for Mumbai's party set, police are now reining in the city's ordinary watering holes, asking them to obtain a dozen licenses, pull down the shutters at midnight, and make their guests behave.
"This is moral policing at its best and we don't need any of this," said Sebastian Ambrose, a computer professional and a regular pub-goer. "They say this city never sleeps. Now Mumbai sleeps by 12. This is boring."
More than 30 pubs have closed in the last two weeks, with the police often kicking out drinkers as they relaxed after work, and many more look set to follow unless the authorities relent.
Anyone hoping to serve alcohol needs to spend more time in government offices than pouring drinks, with permits for parking, pest control, the playing of music (one each for live or recorded sets) and many others needed before opening time.
"A pub owner here has to go from table to table seeking more than a dozen licenses that may take more than a year to obtain," said Kamlesh Barot, secretary of a hotels and restaurants association.
While only four of the permits have been introduced recently, in the past many licenses were more often than not overlooked. But not any more.
Bar owners say the crackdown is just an excuse for government officials and the police to collect bribes.
"We don't mind licenses but the wait for getting them should not be endless. Files don't move till officers' palms are greased," said Jehani Farhang, the director of a south Mumbai pub.
NO FUN, PLEASE
It is not just the bar owners who are coming under pressure. Police are stepping up patrols outside popular nightspots.
"We feel like criminals with police watching over outside the pubs and nightclubs. They have to stop being a bully," said Sanjay Khadas, a young advertising executive.
"The dance bars are gone. Now they are after the bars to ensure there is no entertainment in Mumbai," said Paritosh Sehgal, a college student.
For pub owners, the early hours of the morning are when they do their best business, and early closures are hitting them hard.
The police are unapologetic. "We are targeting only those that don't comply with rules. All of them have to get licenses," said Ashutosh Dumbre, deputy police commissioner.
Local newspapers have gone to town protesting police "excesses," saying officers were spending more time watching over pub and nightclubs than solving murders or catching rapists and fraudsters.
"For cops, public is public enemy No.1," said a headline in Times of India Thursday. "Moral policing is easy to do and gets policemen and politicians a lot of cheap publicity. Never mind that the public enemy number one becomes the public itself," the newspaper said.
By Krittivas Mukherjee
MUMBAI, India (Reuters) - Nightlife in India's entertainment capital has become deadly dull, youngsters in Mumbai complain, as the authorities continue a crackdown on discos and bars that they accuse of corrupting impressionable young minds.
The city's nightlife -- not so long ago pulsating, risque and never-ending -- has become a non-event, they say, ever since officials declared a war on adult fun in August, forcing hundreds of popular dance bars to shut their doors saying they bred crime and prostitution.
After the ban, thousands of dancers found themselves out of work, with many moving to other states to earn a living. Others are reported to have become prostitutes.
As if that was not bad enough for Mumbai's party set, police are now reining in the city's ordinary watering holes, asking them to obtain a dozen licenses, pull down the shutters at midnight, and make their guests behave.
"This is moral policing at its best and we don't need any of this," said Sebastian Ambrose, a computer professional and a regular pub-goer. "They say this city never sleeps. Now Mumbai sleeps by 12. This is boring."
More than 30 pubs have closed in the last two weeks, with the police often kicking out drinkers as they relaxed after work, and many more look set to follow unless the authorities relent.
Anyone hoping to serve alcohol needs to spend more time in government offices than pouring drinks, with permits for parking, pest control, the playing of music (one each for live or recorded sets) and many others needed before opening time.
"A pub owner here has to go from table to table seeking more than a dozen licenses that may take more than a year to obtain," said Kamlesh Barot, secretary of a hotels and restaurants association.
While only four of the permits have been introduced recently, in the past many licenses were more often than not overlooked. But not any more.
Bar owners say the crackdown is just an excuse for government officials and the police to collect bribes.
"We don't mind licenses but the wait for getting them should not be endless. Files don't move till officers' palms are greased," said Jehani Farhang, the director of a south Mumbai pub.
NO FUN, PLEASE
It is not just the bar owners who are coming under pressure. Police are stepping up patrols outside popular nightspots.
"We feel like criminals with police watching over outside the pubs and nightclubs. They have to stop being a bully," said Sanjay Khadas, a young advertising executive.
"The dance bars are gone. Now they are after the bars to ensure there is no entertainment in Mumbai," said Paritosh Sehgal, a college student.
For pub owners, the early hours of the morning are when they do their best business, and early closures are hitting them hard.
The police are unapologetic. "We are targeting only those that don't comply with rules. All of them have to get licenses," said Ashutosh Dumbre, deputy police commissioner.
Local newspapers have gone to town protesting police "excesses," saying officers were spending more time watching over pub and nightclubs than solving murders or catching rapists and fraudsters.
"For cops, public is public enemy No.1," said a headline in Times of India Thursday. "Moral policing is easy to do and gets policemen and politicians a lot of cheap publicity. Never mind that the public enemy number one becomes the public itself," the newspaper said.
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TexasStooge
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Japanese sue over disputed history textbook
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - A group of Japanese sued over a history textbook that critics say whitewashes Japan's wartime aggression and has angered Asian neighbors, demanding on Thursday that a local government cancel its adoption of the text.
Japan's Education Ministry approved the new edition of "The New History Textbook," written by nationalist scholars, last April, prompting outrage in China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's aggression until 1945 persist.
The lawsuit was filed by eight residents of Suginami, a residential district in western Tokyo that attracted media attention last year when it became one of the few school districts to adopt the junior high school textbook.
"As a resident, I can't keep silent over the choice of an unwanted textbook for growing children," Eriko Maruhama, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told a news conference.
Besides a cancellation of the decision to use the text at 23 junior high schools in Suginami starting this April, the plaintiffs want a symbolic 8,000 yen ($68) in total damage.
A similar textbook lawsuit was filed in December by around 1,000 plaintiffs, including Chinese and South Koreans, against the governor of Ehime in western Japan for adopting the textbook for use at four government-run schools from April.
Plaintiffs in the latest suit say the defendant, the Suginami local government, adopted the textbook even though school teachers gave it low marks compared to other textbooks.
The Suginami school board said it had yet to see the lawsuit but had arrived at its decision appropriately.
"The textbook adoption was conducted properly based on laws and ordinances," the board said in a statement.
Critics of the textbook say it plays down the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China and ignores the sexual enslavement of women for Japanese soldiers.
The book's authors and supporters have argued that the text's approach corrected a "masochistic" view of history which they said had deprived Japanese of pride and patriotism.
Fewer than 0.5 percent of 583 school districts had decided to adopt the text, the daily Mainichi Shimbun said last August. But the number was still up slightly from 2001 when an earlier version of the book was approved by the Education Ministry in the face of strong protests from Seoul and Beijing.
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) - A group of Japanese sued over a history textbook that critics say whitewashes Japan's wartime aggression and has angered Asian neighbors, demanding on Thursday that a local government cancel its adoption of the text.
Japan's Education Ministry approved the new edition of "The New History Textbook," written by nationalist scholars, last April, prompting outrage in China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's aggression until 1945 persist.
The lawsuit was filed by eight residents of Suginami, a residential district in western Tokyo that attracted media attention last year when it became one of the few school districts to adopt the junior high school textbook.
"As a resident, I can't keep silent over the choice of an unwanted textbook for growing children," Eriko Maruhama, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told a news conference.
Besides a cancellation of the decision to use the text at 23 junior high schools in Suginami starting this April, the plaintiffs want a symbolic 8,000 yen ($68) in total damage.
A similar textbook lawsuit was filed in December by around 1,000 plaintiffs, including Chinese and South Koreans, against the governor of Ehime in western Japan for adopting the textbook for use at four government-run schools from April.
Plaintiffs in the latest suit say the defendant, the Suginami local government, adopted the textbook even though school teachers gave it low marks compared to other textbooks.
The Suginami school board said it had yet to see the lawsuit but had arrived at its decision appropriately.
"The textbook adoption was conducted properly based on laws and ordinances," the board said in a statement.
Critics of the textbook say it plays down the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China and ignores the sexual enslavement of women for Japanese soldiers.
The book's authors and supporters have argued that the text's approach corrected a "masochistic" view of history which they said had deprived Japanese of pride and patriotism.
Fewer than 0.5 percent of 583 school districts had decided to adopt the text, the daily Mainichi Shimbun said last August. But the number was still up slightly from 2001 when an earlier version of the book was approved by the Education Ministry in the face of strong protests from Seoul and Beijing.
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TexasStooge
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Woman Whistles Through Her Toes
NEW YORK (AP) - One Oklahoma woman might get cold feet if she comes to New York and tries to hail a cab. But Betty Bell will have to do just that if she's going to whistle.
Bell has the unique ability to whistle with her toes in her mouth.
Bell said it all started when she was 14 and trying to learn how to whistle. "And I said I wonder if can whistle with them because I wasn't having any luck with my fingers and so I tried it and it worked!" she said.
Bell, who once won $1,000 in a mall contest, is hoping that she will win a spot on the stupid human tricks segment on David Letterman's "Late Show." She will compete against five people for a chance to appear on the show.
NEW YORK (AP) - One Oklahoma woman might get cold feet if she comes to New York and tries to hail a cab. But Betty Bell will have to do just that if she's going to whistle.
Bell has the unique ability to whistle with her toes in her mouth.
Bell said it all started when she was 14 and trying to learn how to whistle. "And I said I wonder if can whistle with them because I wasn't having any luck with my fingers and so I tried it and it worked!" she said.
Bell, who once won $1,000 in a mall contest, is hoping that she will win a spot on the stupid human tricks segment on David Letterman's "Late Show." She will compete against five people for a chance to appear on the show.
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TexasStooge
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Cricketers in 'Haunted House' Get Injured
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Five first-class cricketers sharing an alleged haunted house in the South Island city of Dunedin have been hit by a "spooky" run of injuries since taking up residence in the former home for the terminally ill.
Otago provincial representatives Greg Todd, Aaron Redmond, James McMillan, Neil Broom and South African Jonathan Trott have all suffered injuries while living in the former hospice, now converted into a five-bedroom town house.
Todd dislocated his right knee and broke his leg in a freak bowling accident, Redmond dislocated his knee taking a catch while McMillan, Broom and Trott suffered serious muscle strains in a two-week period which left the five players laid up simultaneously.
"These injuries have been a shocker. In the space of two weeks everyone in the flat (apartment) has gotten injured. It's just too bizarre," Redmond said. "None of the other boys in the (Otago) squad have tended to get injured. It's ironic because at the top of our house is a medical Red Cross. It's like an ambulance cross on the roof — too bizarre."
Todd said the plague of injuries had inevitably been connected to the house and its history.
"I don't think we'll be living in the same flat next year," he said. "It's just unbelievable what has happened. It's all a bit spooky."
Trott said the room mates often found furniture and other items moved during the night and there had been reports of something moving on an upper floor.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Five first-class cricketers sharing an alleged haunted house in the South Island city of Dunedin have been hit by a "spooky" run of injuries since taking up residence in the former home for the terminally ill.
Otago provincial representatives Greg Todd, Aaron Redmond, James McMillan, Neil Broom and South African Jonathan Trott have all suffered injuries while living in the former hospice, now converted into a five-bedroom town house.
Todd dislocated his right knee and broke his leg in a freak bowling accident, Redmond dislocated his knee taking a catch while McMillan, Broom and Trott suffered serious muscle strains in a two-week period which left the five players laid up simultaneously.
"These injuries have been a shocker. In the space of two weeks everyone in the flat (apartment) has gotten injured. It's just too bizarre," Redmond said. "None of the other boys in the (Otago) squad have tended to get injured. It's ironic because at the top of our house is a medical Red Cross. It's like an ambulance cross on the roof — too bizarre."
Todd said the plague of injuries had inevitably been connected to the house and its history.
"I don't think we'll be living in the same flat next year," he said. "It's just unbelievable what has happened. It's all a bit spooky."
Trott said the room mates often found furniture and other items moved during the night and there had been reports of something moving on an upper floor.
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TexasStooge
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Man Marries Bride Right After Sentencing
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - A man married his bride in a courtroom immediately after he was sentenced to at least a decade in prison on a murder conspiracy charge.
Cassandre LaFortune, dressed in a white gown, listened to Akram "Ish" Jones enter his Alford plea Tuesday. She then stepped forward to marry him.
When the judge asked her if she knew what she was getting into, Akram Jones politely interrupted and said, "your honor, I don't mean to be rude, but she proposed to me."
Jones was wearing a gray suit, tie and shackles on his wrists and ankles, which sheriff's deputies removed before the wedding ceremony. After the ceremony, the newlyweds posed for photos with the 17 family members in attendance, including the couple's mothers and Jones' 4-year-old son.
Jones, 26, entered the Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him, on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison for plotting to kill Terrance M. Maxie.
On Oct. 4, 2000, Jones and two other men allegedly planned to kill Maxie at a South Coatesville bar, but failed when Jones shot himself in the hand before they could try. Maxie, 27, was shot in the back as he left the same bar nine days later, allegedly by the other two men.
Jones also pleaded guilty in two other pending cases — one for assaulting another prisoner, the other a riot charge resulting from an inmate uprising at Chester County Prison. Sentences for those crimes will be served concurrently.
LaFortune said she and Jones had been dating for seven years. She plans to move close to whichever state prison he is assigned to.
Defense attorney Brenda L. Jones said her client asked for the wedding to take place after he entered the pleas.
"He really loves her," she said. "Despite the charges, he's really not a bad person. He just got caught up in it."
___
Information from: Daily Local News
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - A man married his bride in a courtroom immediately after he was sentenced to at least a decade in prison on a murder conspiracy charge.
Cassandre LaFortune, dressed in a white gown, listened to Akram "Ish" Jones enter his Alford plea Tuesday. She then stepped forward to marry him.
When the judge asked her if she knew what she was getting into, Akram Jones politely interrupted and said, "your honor, I don't mean to be rude, but she proposed to me."
Jones was wearing a gray suit, tie and shackles on his wrists and ankles, which sheriff's deputies removed before the wedding ceremony. After the ceremony, the newlyweds posed for photos with the 17 family members in attendance, including the couple's mothers and Jones' 4-year-old son.
Jones, 26, entered the Alford plea, in which he did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him, on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in state prison for plotting to kill Terrance M. Maxie.
On Oct. 4, 2000, Jones and two other men allegedly planned to kill Maxie at a South Coatesville bar, but failed when Jones shot himself in the hand before they could try. Maxie, 27, was shot in the back as he left the same bar nine days later, allegedly by the other two men.
Jones also pleaded guilty in two other pending cases — one for assaulting another prisoner, the other a riot charge resulting from an inmate uprising at Chester County Prison. Sentences for those crimes will be served concurrently.
LaFortune said she and Jones had been dating for seven years. She plans to move close to whichever state prison he is assigned to.
Defense attorney Brenda L. Jones said her client asked for the wedding to take place after he entered the pleas.
"He really loves her," she said. "Despite the charges, he's really not a bad person. He just got caught up in it."
___
Information from: Daily Local News
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TexasStooge
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Runway dogs delay landings
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Two passenger planes of Macedonia's national carrier MAT were stacked above Skopje airport until a pack of stray dogs could be cleared from the runway to let them land safely, officials said Thursday.
A flight from Vienna and another from Zurich were ordered to circle the airfield Wednesday after security noticed the dogs "playing around" on the airfield's only runway.
The plane coming from Zurich was less than one kilometer from landing when the pilot was told to abort and pull up.
"Passengers were upset when they heard the roar from the engines as I pulled up," chief pilot Blagoja Kukulovski told local media. "We were flying in bad weather. To calm everyone down we had to explain what was the reason."
The two planes circled for 30 minutes around the capital until the dogs were driven off. Airport authorities were checking for any holes in the airport fences.
SKOPJE (Reuters) - Two passenger planes of Macedonia's national carrier MAT were stacked above Skopje airport until a pack of stray dogs could be cleared from the runway to let them land safely, officials said Thursday.
A flight from Vienna and another from Zurich were ordered to circle the airfield Wednesday after security noticed the dogs "playing around" on the airfield's only runway.
The plane coming from Zurich was less than one kilometer from landing when the pilot was told to abort and pull up.
"Passengers were upset when they heard the roar from the engines as I pulled up," chief pilot Blagoja Kukulovski told local media. "We were flying in bad weather. To calm everyone down we had to explain what was the reason."
The two planes circled for 30 minutes around the capital until the dogs were driven off. Airport authorities were checking for any holes in the airport fences.
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TexasStooge
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Colorado Woman Delivers Baby in a Toilet
LITTLETON, Colorado (AP) - A premature baby survived after being delivered in a toilet, police said.
"I just had a baby," Salina Newman told the operator when she dialed emergency services Tuesday, according to transcripts released to the media on Thursday. "I was only six months pregnant and I went to the restroom and the baby is in the toilet."
Littleton police officer Bob Carmody said when he arrived at the apartment, Newman told him the baby had been miscarried.
"I looked in the toilet bowl and I could see movement, and the baby was enclosed in the sac and everything," Carmody told Denver television stations. He pulled the baby out of the toilet with rubber gloves.
"I could see the hair, the hands up by the face, and parts of the legs and stuff, but I didn't take a lot of time to look at it. I just made sure and covered up the blanket."
Another officer ran down three flights of stairs to paramedics who had just arrived.
The baby girl, named Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards), weighed 1.5 pounds and was taken to Littleton Adventist Hosptial, where she's expected to remain until she reaches 6 pounds, police said.
Hospital spokeswoman Allison Hefner declined to release information when contacted by The Associated Press Thursday, citing federal privacy rules.
LITTLETON, Colorado (AP) - A premature baby survived after being delivered in a toilet, police said.
"I just had a baby," Salina Newman told the operator when she dialed emergency services Tuesday, according to transcripts released to the media on Thursday. "I was only six months pregnant and I went to the restroom and the baby is in the toilet."
Littleton police officer Bob Carmody said when he arrived at the apartment, Newman told him the baby had been miscarried.
"I looked in the toilet bowl and I could see movement, and the baby was enclosed in the sac and everything," Carmody told Denver television stations. He pulled the baby out of the toilet with rubber gloves.
"I could see the hair, the hands up by the face, and parts of the legs and stuff, but I didn't take a lot of time to look at it. I just made sure and covered up the blanket."
Another officer ran down three flights of stairs to paramedics who had just arrived.
The baby girl, named Nevaeh (heaven spelled backwards), weighed 1.5 pounds and was taken to Littleton Adventist Hosptial, where she's expected to remain until she reaches 6 pounds, police said.
Hospital spokeswoman Allison Hefner declined to release information when contacted by The Associated Press Thursday, citing federal privacy rules.
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TexasStooge
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Woman Who Weighs 37 Pounds Has Healthy Boy
TULARE, Calif. (AP) - A woman who weighs 37 pounds, stands 3 feet tall and uses a wheelchair has given birth to her first child.
Eloysa Vasquez, 38, suffers from Type 3 osteogenesis imperfecta, a disorder that makes bones soft and brittle.
Her tiny, distorted body left little room for a fetus to grow and Vasquez suffered two miscarriages before doctors at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital delivered her son, Timothy, by Cesarean section Jan. 24.
"We just took one day at a time. We had a lot of people praying for us. We just believed ... and here we have our son," Vasquez told The Fresno Bee for a story Thursday.
Baby Timothy weighed only 3 pounds, seven ounces because doctors had to deliver him eight weeks prematurely to protect the mother's fragile health. The child did not inherit his mother's genetic condition.
Vasquez' husband, Roy, said his wife's small stature can be deceiving: "She's a strong lady."
According to the university, only one in 25,000 to 50,000 births are to a mother with osteogenesis imperfecta, and even fewer involve moms with the severe form with which Vasquez was born.
Obstetrician James Smith estimated Timothy's birth was a one-in-a-million event.
TULARE, Calif. (AP) - A woman who weighs 37 pounds, stands 3 feet tall and uses a wheelchair has given birth to her first child.
Eloysa Vasquez, 38, suffers from Type 3 osteogenesis imperfecta, a disorder that makes bones soft and brittle.
Her tiny, distorted body left little room for a fetus to grow and Vasquez suffered two miscarriages before doctors at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital delivered her son, Timothy, by Cesarean section Jan. 24.
"We just took one day at a time. We had a lot of people praying for us. We just believed ... and here we have our son," Vasquez told The Fresno Bee for a story Thursday.
Baby Timothy weighed only 3 pounds, seven ounces because doctors had to deliver him eight weeks prematurely to protect the mother's fragile health. The child did not inherit his mother's genetic condition.
Vasquez' husband, Roy, said his wife's small stature can be deceiving: "She's a strong lady."
According to the university, only one in 25,000 to 50,000 births are to a mother with osteogenesis imperfecta, and even fewer involve moms with the severe form with which Vasquez was born.
Obstetrician James Smith estimated Timothy's birth was a one-in-a-million event.
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TexasStooge
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Solitaire Game Gets NYC Worker Fired
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't playing games — after he saw a game of solitaire on a city employee's computer screen, he fired him.
The Republican mayor stopped by the city's legislative office in Albany a few weeks ago when he was visiting the state Capitol to hear the governor's State of the State address.
Office assistant Edward Greenwood IX was going over some papers at his desk as Bloomberg made the rounds with his photographer, greeting workers and posing for pictures. When the mayor reached him, Greenwood stood, they shook hands and the photographer snapped a photo.
But the eagle-eyed mayor — a billionaire former businessman with a certain idea of how offices should be run — noticed Greenwood's game of solitaire glowing on his screen. He said nothing about it to Greenwood but later told an aide to give him the ax.
The story was reported by the New York Post on Thursday, and Bloomberg defended his no-tolerance decision.
"The workplace is not an appropriate place for games," Bloomberg said. "It's a place where you've got to do the job that you're getting paid for."
Greenwood, who earned $27,000 a year and had worked in the office for six years, said in a telephone interview that he limited his play time to his one-hour lunch or during quick breaks when he needed a moment of distraction.
"It wasn't like I spent hours and hours a day playing, because I had plenty to do," Greenwood said. "If I had been working at something exhaustively for two hours, I might get a cup of coffee and play for a minute but then go right back to my work."
The mayor's office said its records show that in 2004 Greenwood reviewed the policy that prohibits "inappropriate" use of city computers.
Greenwood said he doesn't recall doing so but probably did. He suggested that other workers in the office play solitaire and similarly stretch the rules.
"It's not like I'm the only one that ever did this," said the 39-year-old father of a toddler.
Greenwood said he wasn't angry with the mayor but wished he had been warned or reprimanded for what he called a first offense.
"I admire the guy — he's a great financial success, and he has a definite management style," Greenwood said. "I just think he could have seen my situation and weighed the harshness of his final decision."
Bloomberg, who left his financial information company for politics in 2001, managed Bloomberg LP with a style that has become his signature. He created an office setup, which he repeated at City Hall, where everyone sits together in an open-air environment — an arrangement that facilitates communication and eliminates fooling around.
"I expect all city workers, including myself, to work hard," the mayor said. "There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but during the business day, at your desk, that's not appropriate behavior."
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't playing games — after he saw a game of solitaire on a city employee's computer screen, he fired him.
The Republican mayor stopped by the city's legislative office in Albany a few weeks ago when he was visiting the state Capitol to hear the governor's State of the State address.
Office assistant Edward Greenwood IX was going over some papers at his desk as Bloomberg made the rounds with his photographer, greeting workers and posing for pictures. When the mayor reached him, Greenwood stood, they shook hands and the photographer snapped a photo.
But the eagle-eyed mayor — a billionaire former businessman with a certain idea of how offices should be run — noticed Greenwood's game of solitaire glowing on his screen. He said nothing about it to Greenwood but later told an aide to give him the ax.
The story was reported by the New York Post on Thursday, and Bloomberg defended his no-tolerance decision.
"The workplace is not an appropriate place for games," Bloomberg said. "It's a place where you've got to do the job that you're getting paid for."
Greenwood, who earned $27,000 a year and had worked in the office for six years, said in a telephone interview that he limited his play time to his one-hour lunch or during quick breaks when he needed a moment of distraction.
"It wasn't like I spent hours and hours a day playing, because I had plenty to do," Greenwood said. "If I had been working at something exhaustively for two hours, I might get a cup of coffee and play for a minute but then go right back to my work."
The mayor's office said its records show that in 2004 Greenwood reviewed the policy that prohibits "inappropriate" use of city computers.
Greenwood said he doesn't recall doing so but probably did. He suggested that other workers in the office play solitaire and similarly stretch the rules.
"It's not like I'm the only one that ever did this," said the 39-year-old father of a toddler.
Greenwood said he wasn't angry with the mayor but wished he had been warned or reprimanded for what he called a first offense.
"I admire the guy — he's a great financial success, and he has a definite management style," Greenwood said. "I just think he could have seen my situation and weighed the harshness of his final decision."
Bloomberg, who left his financial information company for politics in 2001, managed Bloomberg LP with a style that has become his signature. He created an office setup, which he repeated at City Hall, where everyone sits together in an open-air environment — an arrangement that facilitates communication and eliminates fooling around.
"I expect all city workers, including myself, to work hard," the mayor said. "There's nothing wrong with taking a break, but during the business day, at your desk, that's not appropriate behavior."
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