WhiteBoard News for Monday, December 30, 2002
Overland Park, Kansas (Reuters):
A 17-year-old was run over by the pickup truck he had allegedly stolen, police said.
The teen-ager, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, caught the attention of police early on Friday morning as the pickup wove through the streets of Overland Park, a south Kansas City-area suburb.
Police were able to coax the driver into stopping the vehicle, but he jumped from the truck and tried to make a run for it.
"The vehicle began to roll just as the driver ducked in front of it," said Overland Park police Capt. Dave Moore. "He stumbled and fell and the truck ran over him.
"I guess that truck didn't want to be stolen."
The suspect was hospitalised with minor injuries. Charges were pending, said Moore.
==============
Olathe, Kansas (Kansas Star):
A defendant who ran from a courtroom in Kansas was chased and caught by his own lawyer.
Geromi M. Holliday of Shawnee made it out of the court building in Olathe, but was caught a short distance away by Carl Cornwell.
Holliday, who was on probation for cocaine possession, now faces an escape charge that carries a prison sentence.
"It made me mad," defence attorney Cornwell said of his client's decision to run.
When Holliday ran, the judge's assistant called deputies at the only public exit on the south side of the courthouse.
As Holliday ran from the building and down the street, another attorney Zane Todd joined in the chase when he saw Cornwell running.
Holliday is being held in a county jail, reports the Kansas City Star.
=============
Santiago, Chile (Ananova):
A gang of robbers were arrested in Santiago, Chile, after passers-by pulled down security shutters on the shop they were trying to rob.
The gang had entered a jewellery store in the Chilean capital and assaulted assistants, forcing them to open the cabinets.
But when passers-by heard screams from the shop they pulled the shutters down and called police.
One of the assistants told the Las Ultimas Noticias online: "I heard someone locking us in after a while. When the robbers realised what had happened they panicked and started to apologise, begging us to help them when the police arrived."
=============
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Ananova):
A Brazilian woman, shot in crossfire between police and drug dealers, was saved by her silicone breast implants.
Doctors said the silicone had slowed the bullet up enough to prevent it from causing her a serious injury.
Jane Selma Soares was caught up in shooting between police officers and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro.
She told Las Ultimas Noticias newspaper that even though she tried to hide, a bullet hit her in the chest.
When she got to a nearby hospital doctors realised her implants had stopped the bullet entering her body further.
The doctor who treated her said: "If there was no silicone the bullet could have reached a vital organ causing serious damage."
A plastic surgeon was called in to fix the damage and took the opportunity to increase the size of Mrs Soares' breasts with more silicone.
She said: "I'm twice happy, first because my prosthesis saved my life and also because now I look even more beautiful."
============
New York, New York (AP):
The Yule Log a TV broadcast of logs burning in Gracie Mansion's fireplace to a Christmas carol soundtrack burned up the ratings this year.
The uninterrupted two-hour Christmas morning broadcast of the "Yule Log Christmas Special," a holiday tradition for fireplace-less New Yorkers, returned to the air in 2001 after a 12-year hiatus.
Wednesday's showing, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., boasted 284,012 viewing households, a 26 percent boost in viewership compared with last year, WPIX Channel 11 said. It smoked the 1 p.m. airing of the 1951 classic film version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," starring Alistair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, by 29,000 households.
The rather bizarre Christmas tradition also burned up the airwaves every year from 1966 to 1989.
During the Yule Log's absence, WPIX, the local affiliate of the WB, was bombarded with letters and calls from viewers asking for the broadcast to be brought back.
For its triumphant return, the Yule Log tape was digitally remastered, but the soundtrack, including "Joy to the World" and "Winter Wonderland," was left unchanged.
The Yule Log can be viewed online throughout the holiday season at WPIX's Web site.
"So sit back, warm yourself by our fire," the site says, "and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Yule Log."
===============
Stayton, Oregon (AP):
Jordan and Lindy Schweiger have written a book that can be read in one sitting _ in one moment, actually.
"Everything Men Knew About Taking Care of Themselves Before Women Came Along" is the name of the 96-page book. As most women could guess, all of the pages are blank.
The Schweigers _ who publish under the pseudonym Dr. Ever E. Mann _ came up with the idea when they heard about a similar blank work. The couple surveyed people at shopping malls in Texas, where they lived at the time, to come up with a title for their book.
When they considered what to do with money from the sales, they realized they wanted to help a charity. The result: 100 percent of the book's profits will go to the Mid-Valley Women's Crisis Service in Salem, which provides assistance to women and children who survive domestic violence.
"We're making fun of men, but the reality is, there's a serious problem," said Lindy Schweiger, 20.
The Schweigers were students at Oregon State University until spring, when they quit school and their jobs to move to Texas. They recently returned to Oregon, settling in Stayton. They are trying out entrepreneurial ideas and want to write more books in the future, maybe even with words in them.
==============
Norfolk, England (Ananova):
A Norfolk man has got a walking stick made out of his own hip bone.
Ian Sutherland from Great Bircham asked doctors to save the bone when he had a hip replacement op.
The 62-year-old retired landscape gardener got the idea for the stick from one of his sons, who is an archaeologist.
"I'm really pleased with it. It's great to find a practical use for a discarded part of your own body and it serves as a reminder of my own mortality."
Ian said the doctors gave him the bone as he recovered from the operation. "It was sealed in a bag marked 'hazardous waste'. When I got home I popped it in the fridge next to the frozen peas."
He added: "The wife was horrified. I think she secretly suspects I'm a bit strange."
=============
Buffalo, New York (AP):
Daniel O'Donnell first gave blood during the Great Depression. Since then, he's donated blood to the American Red Cross 300 times.
Now, Red Cross officials in western New York plan to nominate O'Donnell for the Guinness Book of Records. They say he's given blood more times than the official record, which is 226.
The 80-year-old suburban Buffalo man said his first blood donation was a transfusion he provided in the 1930s for a friend of his mother. He said that gave him a feeling of being "a bit of a hero."
The retired engineer said he has always made time to donate blood.
O'Donnell said donating blood "is one of the most rewarding things a person can do."
===========
Bristol, England (Ananova):
A man who overslept on Christmas Day cooked his turkey on his car engine.
Josh Harper cooked his turkey on the engine as he drove to his girlfriends house 90 miles away in Bristol.
He wrapped a turkey breast and vegetables in silver foil and wedged it under the bonnet of his Vauxhall Corsa.
When Harper arrived at his girlfriend's home he found the meal piping hot and ready to eat.
"I couldn't believe how well it worked," he tells The Sun. "The spuds were a little firm, but the turkey was done to a treat."
==============
Chow
SuperChef
www.joeha.com