A Cass County Sheriff's deputy who accidentally fired his handgun in a courthouse restroom has been suspended for eight days without pay. Authorities said Dean Wawers, 57, also will receive a written reprimand in personnel file.
No one was hurt when the gun belonging Wawers discharged during lunch hour on Jan. 10.
Fargo police said an investigation determined that his weapon was discharged accidentally.
Authorities said he had hung the gun by its trigger guard, and the gun caught on the hook and discharged into the ceiling when he went to retrieve it.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Do they make barf bags for fish?
Seventy-two small fish were briefly launched into space by researchers Thursday, hoping their swimming patterns would shed some light on motion sickness.
German researchers sent the cichlids on a 10-minute rocket ride that blasted off from a launch pad in northern Sweden, said Professor Reinhard Hilbig, who was in charge of the project.
"They were very happy, I think they want to have another flight," he said.
The thumbnail-sized fish were filmed as they swam around weightlessly in small aquariums during the unmanned space flight.
The German team will now study the video to see if some of the fish swam in circles because that is what fish do when they experience motion sickness, said Hilbig, of the Zoological Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
He said scientists hope the experiment can help explain why some people experience motion sickness while others do not. The mechanisms involved are similar for both fish and humans.
Hilbig said the fish landed safely and appeared to be in good condition.
Cichlids were picked for the experiment because they are sturdy fish who were deemed to have good chances to survive the stress of a space flight.
"Goldfish are a little bit fat and messy, while the cichlid fish is a well-trained, sporty fish with muscles," he said.
German researchers sent the cichlids on a 10-minute rocket ride that blasted off from a launch pad in northern Sweden, said Professor Reinhard Hilbig, who was in charge of the project.
"They were very happy, I think they want to have another flight," he said.
The thumbnail-sized fish were filmed as they swam around weightlessly in small aquariums during the unmanned space flight.
The German team will now study the video to see if some of the fish swam in circles because that is what fish do when they experience motion sickness, said Hilbig, of the Zoological Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
He said scientists hope the experiment can help explain why some people experience motion sickness while others do not. The mechanisms involved are similar for both fish and humans.
Hilbig said the fish landed safely and appeared to be in good condition.
Cichlids were picked for the experiment because they are sturdy fish who were deemed to have good chances to survive the stress of a space flight.
"Goldfish are a little bit fat and messy, while the cichlid fish is a well-trained, sporty fish with muscles," he said.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Vanity plate sold for $14 million in UAE
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - A license plate with nothing but the number "1" on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday.
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn't say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.
"I bought it because it's the best number," said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. "I bought it because I want to be the best in the world."
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.
Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here — and even most other vanity series plates — carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Khouri's plate, however, has only the Western numeral and no letters.
The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it — also without Arabic numerals or letters.
Proceeds from the auctions, which are held in a lavish hotel here, go to a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents.
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising a total of $24 million. The previous five such events raised more than $50 million.
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn't say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.
"I bought it because it's the best number," said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. "I bought it because I want to be the best in the world."
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.
Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here — and even most other vanity series plates — carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Khouri's plate, however, has only the Western numeral and no letters.
The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it — also without Arabic numerals or letters.
Proceeds from the auctions, which are held in a lavish hotel here, go to a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents.
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising a total of $24 million. The previous five such events raised more than $50 million.
Kitten found after 25 days in NYC subway
A skittish kitten that scampered out of its carrier on a subway platform has been found after 25 days in the underground tunnels.
Transit workers tracked down 6-month old Georgia under midtown Manhattan Saturday. Police reunited her with owner Ashley Phillips, a 24-year-old Bronx librarian.
After hearing that the black cat might have been spotted below Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street, track workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte went through the area making "meow" sounds.
Georgia responded, and they found her cowering in a drain between two tracks.
Georgia had lost some weight and scratched her nose but was otherwise unhurt. She had disappeared while Phillips was bringing her home from a veterinarian visit last month.
Transit workers tracked down 6-month old Georgia under midtown Manhattan Saturday. Police reunited her with owner Ashley Phillips, a 24-year-old Bronx librarian.
After hearing that the black cat might have been spotted below Lexington Avenue and East 55th Street, track workers Mark Dalessio and Efrain LaPorte went through the area making "meow" sounds.
Georgia responded, and they found her cowering in a drain between two tracks.
Georgia had lost some weight and scratched her nose but was otherwise unhurt. She had disappeared while Phillips was bringing her home from a veterinarian visit last month.
301 pennies auctioned off for $10.7M
A penny saved is not necessarily just a penny earned: One man's collection of rare American cents has turned into a $10.7 million auction windfall.
The collection of 301 cents featured some of the rarest and earliest examples of the American penny, including a cent that was minted for two weeks in 1793 but was abandoned because Congress thought Lady Liberty looked frightened.
That coin and a 1794 cent with tiny stars added to prevent counterfeiters each raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auction Galleries, which held the sale in Long Beach on Friday night.
Heritage Auction president Greg Rohan said the auction was the biggest ever for a penny collection, with hundreds of bidders vying for the coins. Presale estimates valued the collection at about $7 million.
"It was a fabulous night," Rohan said. "Every major coin collector of American cents was either there in person, bidding online or on the telephone."
The coins came from the collection of Burbank resident Walter J. Husak, the owner of an aerospace-part manufacturing company. Husak became interested in collecting at age 13, while visiting his grandparents who paid him in old coins for helping with chores.
There were 168 successful bidders, and the auction gallery got 15 percent of the total.
The collection of 301 cents featured some of the rarest and earliest examples of the American penny, including a cent that was minted for two weeks in 1793 but was abandoned because Congress thought Lady Liberty looked frightened.
That coin and a 1794 cent with tiny stars added to prevent counterfeiters each raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auction Galleries, which held the sale in Long Beach on Friday night.
Heritage Auction president Greg Rohan said the auction was the biggest ever for a penny collection, with hundreds of bidders vying for the coins. Presale estimates valued the collection at about $7 million.
"It was a fabulous night," Rohan said. "Every major coin collector of American cents was either there in person, bidding online or on the telephone."
The coins came from the collection of Burbank resident Walter J. Husak, the owner of an aerospace-part manufacturing company. Husak became interested in collecting at age 13, while visiting his grandparents who paid him in old coins for helping with chores.
There were 168 successful bidders, and the auction gallery got 15 percent of the total.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Woman seeks lost pet goat with bagels
A Bensalem woman has been walking around in the snow with a bucket of bagels and goat feed trying to locate her lost pet Buckwheat. Iris Star said Buckwheat apparently worked her way through a metal cattle fence on Saturday and wandered off from the three-acre property where she has lived for 10 years.
Police have been getting reports of the goat ramming front doors with its 6-inch horns and leaving messes in driveways in the area.
During Tuesday's snow, Star took her bucket to Lower Southampton Township, the area of the latest sightings.
Star said Buckwheat is like a pet and is just seeking companionship and warmth.
Police have been getting reports of the goat ramming front doors with its 6-inch horns and leaving messes in driveways in the area.
During Tuesday's snow, Star took her bucket to Lower Southampton Township, the area of the latest sightings.
Star said Buckwheat is like a pet and is just seeking companionship and warmth.
Boston man receives postcard from 1929
The message on the postcard to a "Miss Margaret McDonald" was short. Its path to the intended address was much longer. Nearly 79 years after it was sent, a postcard of Yellowstone National Park's Tower Falls arrived in a Boston mailbox recently with the one-word message, "Greetings."
Its intended recipient had long since left the Victorian on Sparhawk Street, and the sender was not identified by name.
Michael Cioffi was shocked to find the card dated June 1929 in his mail. He says the McDonald family did own his house for generations, but he doesn't think there is anyone left in the family to pass the postcard to.
A U.S. Postal Service spokesman says it's impossible to know what happened with the card. It somehow got into the mail and was sent with a one cent stamp from Seattle earlier this year.
Its intended recipient had long since left the Victorian on Sparhawk Street, and the sender was not identified by name.
Michael Cioffi was shocked to find the card dated June 1929 in his mail. He says the McDonald family did own his house for generations, but he doesn't think there is anyone left in the family to pass the postcard to.
A U.S. Postal Service spokesman says it's impossible to know what happened with the card. It somehow got into the mail and was sent with a one cent stamp from Seattle earlier this year.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Funeral horses stampede, overturn hearse
A hearse overturned when the horses pulling it to a south London cemetery stampeded, dragging the carriage and coffin past appalled relatives and sending floral tributes flying.
"It was dreadful," a mourner told the South London Press. "The horses dragged the carriage to the cemetery on its side, tossing the coffin all over the place and destroying all the flowers inside.
"Some people got very angry and had to be restrained by other mourners... It is understandable given the circumstances. I'm horrified that something like this could happen."
Police were called to calm angry mourners so that the funeral last month could go ahead.
The carriage appeared to have clipped a mini-roundabout as it entered Lambeth Cemetery for the funeral, the local council which administers the graveyard said Friday.
"It was dreadful," a mourner told the South London Press. "The horses dragged the carriage to the cemetery on its side, tossing the coffin all over the place and destroying all the flowers inside.
"Some people got very angry and had to be restrained by other mourners... It is understandable given the circumstances. I'm horrified that something like this could happen."
Police were called to calm angry mourners so that the funeral last month could go ahead.
The carriage appeared to have clipped a mini-roundabout as it entered Lambeth Cemetery for the funeral, the local council which administers the graveyard said Friday.
Meth deposited in ATM, woman jailed
BREMERTON, Wash. - Credit unions accept deposits — just not of methamphetamine. A woman who allegedly dropped an envelope containing money and a bag of meth at a Kitsap Credit Union was arrested and charged with drug possession, according to court documents.
A bank employee reported the deposit to police, who contacted the 18-year-old customer. Officers said she might have mistakenly included the bag when she got money out of her pocket for the deposit.
A bank employee reported the deposit to police, who contacted the 18-year-old customer. Officers said she might have mistakenly included the bag when she got money out of her pocket for the deposit.
Woman, 89, uses ax to break into home
DURANGO, Colo. - An 89-year-old woman used an ax to break into her own home after she locked herself out on a patio hemmed in by deep snow. "I had to bang the glass four times with the ax before it broke," said Geraldine "Gerry" Palmer, who turns 90 this weekend.
Palmer said a sliding glass door locked behind her Saturday after she went outside to rearrange some things that had gotten wet on the patio. Snow sliding off the patio roof had formed a pile about 7 feet high between her and the yard, so she had no escape.
About 6 feet of snow has fallen on Durango this winter, the National Weather Service said.
"The ax was there for several years to chop wood, but I no longer use a wood stove," Palmer said.
Palmer said a sliding glass door locked behind her Saturday after she went outside to rearrange some things that had gotten wet on the patio. Snow sliding off the patio roof had formed a pile about 7 feet high between her and the yard, so she had no escape.
About 6 feet of snow has fallen on Durango this winter, the National Weather Service said.
"The ax was there for several years to chop wood, but I no longer use a wood stove," Palmer said.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Anti-impotence pill could boost high flying pilots
A drug used to treat impotence could help Israeli fighter pilots operate at high altitude, the Israeli military's official magazine reported in its latest issue.
It said a retired general plans to present to the air force the results of a study he conducted on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania where he found that tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis tablets, improved breathing in a thin atmosphere.
"The study's findings justify the continuation of tests with drugs of this type in low oxygen environments," an unnamed air force officer told Bamahaneh, the military's weekly magazine.
An army spokeswoman said that there were no plans to use any such drug and a statement said the phenomenon of chronic oxygen starvation experienced by mountaineers and the immediate oxygen starvation which pilots suffer at high altitude are different.
"(Because of the different circumstances) there is no significance for medical treatment of any drug for pilots in the Israel Air Force ... and it has no intention of using any form of drug," the statement read.
It said a retired general plans to present to the air force the results of a study he conducted on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania where he found that tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis tablets, improved breathing in a thin atmosphere.
"The study's findings justify the continuation of tests with drugs of this type in low oxygen environments," an unnamed air force officer told Bamahaneh, the military's weekly magazine.
An army spokeswoman said that there were no plans to use any such drug and a statement said the phenomenon of chronic oxygen starvation experienced by mountaineers and the immediate oxygen starvation which pilots suffer at high altitude are different.
"(Because of the different circumstances) there is no significance for medical treatment of any drug for pilots in the Israel Air Force ... and it has no intention of using any form of drug," the statement read.
Alleged speeder never makes it court
An Oregon man who was speeding through Baker County at 130 miles per hour to get to court in Portland didn't make it on time.
Oregon State Police forced Bladimir Abarca, a 22-year-old from Tualatin, to make a detour to the Baker County Jail. Troopers stopped Abarca in his black 2000 Ford Mustang about six miles north of Baker City. He was jailed and released on bail.
His brother-in-law and passenger, Matthew Noriega, a 23-year-old from New Mexico was cited on a charge of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
Oregon State Police forced Bladimir Abarca, a 22-year-old from Tualatin, to make a detour to the Baker County Jail. Troopers stopped Abarca in his black 2000 Ford Mustang about six miles north of Baker City. He was jailed and released on bail.
His brother-in-law and passenger, Matthew Noriega, a 23-year-old from New Mexico was cited on a charge of possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.
Man's '91 pickup passes the 1M-mile mark
Frank Oresnik's trusty pickup truck — he calls it "the old girl" — passed the 1 million-mile mark with a camera crew filming the event and a public-radio audience listening in. "I can't tell you how much fun it was," he said. "It was really humbling, all this interest."
Recent news stories told how Oresnik had just 1,200 miles to go before reaching the milestone in the 1991 Chevrolet Silverado that he bought with 41,000 miles on it in 1996 and used in his business, distributing seafood and steaks in the upper Midwest.
At the time, he was getting his latest oil change — the kind of regular maintenance he credits with helping to keep the truck going so long.
He said he's had the truck's oil changed more than 300 times. It's had so many changes that the oil pan drain plug had to be rethreaded several times, he said, and "you never hear of that."
He passed the million-mile mark Friday in southeastern Wisconsin while on his way back home to Catawba, located in the north in Price County, about an hour west of Rhinelander. He was on County Highway V southeast of Fond du Lac.
On hand was a film crew from Chevrolet's public relations and advertising company, and he was speaking live to Robert Siegel, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
A news crew from CBS had been with him earlier in the day.
"I wont say it was relief ... it was exhilarating," Oresnik said later during a stop in Gresham where he has one of his longtime customers. "This truck has been so dependable over the years." Now that it's made history, the truck could be headed back to the automaker or Shell Oil. Oresnik said there's been some interested in GM or Shell Oil buying it.
Recent news stories told how Oresnik had just 1,200 miles to go before reaching the milestone in the 1991 Chevrolet Silverado that he bought with 41,000 miles on it in 1996 and used in his business, distributing seafood and steaks in the upper Midwest.
At the time, he was getting his latest oil change — the kind of regular maintenance he credits with helping to keep the truck going so long.
He said he's had the truck's oil changed more than 300 times. It's had so many changes that the oil pan drain plug had to be rethreaded several times, he said, and "you never hear of that."
He passed the million-mile mark Friday in southeastern Wisconsin while on his way back home to Catawba, located in the north in Price County, about an hour west of Rhinelander. He was on County Highway V southeast of Fond du Lac.
On hand was a film crew from Chevrolet's public relations and advertising company, and he was speaking live to Robert Siegel, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
A news crew from CBS had been with him earlier in the day.
"I wont say it was relief ... it was exhilarating," Oresnik said later during a stop in Gresham where he has one of his longtime customers. "This truck has been so dependable over the years." Now that it's made history, the truck could be headed back to the automaker or Shell Oil. Oresnik said there's been some interested in GM or Shell Oil buying it.
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