WhiteBoard News for Monday, March 10, 2003

Bismarck, North Dakota (AP):

The new emergency telephone in Gov. John Hoeven's office rang three times in its first week, but it wasn't news of a disaster or terrorist attack. 

One caller had a wrong number. The other two were telemarketers. 

"It was a guy trying to sell him two pizzas on special," Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. "We're trying to figure out what kind of a disaster is taking place, and it's some guy trying to give the governor a two-for-one." 

At the behest of the federal Department of Homeland Security, the nation's governors are having secure telephone links installed in their offices to communicate during emergencies. 

Governor's spokesman Don Canton said the phone was installed in Hoeven's office last week. It has since been programmed to block non-emergency calls. 

"He shouldn't be getting any more telemarketers," Canton said. 
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Kuwait City, Kuwait (London Daily Mirror):

Terrified Iraqi soldiers have crossed the Kuwait border and tried to surrender to British forces - because they thought the war had already started.

The motley band of a dozen troops waved the white flag as British paratroopers tested their weapons during a routine exercise.

The stunned Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade were forced to tell the Iraqis they were not firing at them, and ordered them back to their home country telling them it was too early to surrender.

The drama unfolded last Monday as the Para batallion tested mortars and artillery weapons to make sure they were working properly.

The Iraqis found a way across the fortified border, which is sealed off with barbed-wire fencing, watchtowers and huge trenches.

A British Army source in Kuwait explained how the extraordinary surrender bid unfolded. The source said: "The British guys on the front-line could not believe what was happening. They were on pre-war exercises when all of a sudden these Iraqis turned up out of nowhere, with their hands in the air, saying they wanted to surrender.

"They had heard firing and thought it was the start of the war.

"The Paras are a tough, battle-hardened lot but were moved by the plight of the Iraqis. There was nothing they could do other than send them back.

"They were a motley bunch and you could barely describe them as soldiers - they were poorly equipped and didn't even have proper boots. Their physical condition was dreadful and they had obviously not had a square meal for ages. No one has ever known a group of so-called soldiers surrender before a shot has been fired in anger."

Last night the Ministry of Defence officially denied the incident had taken place, but the story was corroborated by an intelligence source.

Meanwhile Saddam Hussein has ordered thousands of troops back to Baghdad as he turns the city into a fortress.

It is believed that two rings of steel are being established around Baghdad. The outer one consists of regular Iraqi army soldiers and the inner one is made up of Republican Guard fighters - thought to be the only troops that will put up fierce resistance.
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Wellington, New Zealand (Reuters):

A NZ$200,000 ($112,000) dispute between two New Zealand companies has been resolved in an unusual out-of-court settlement -- a best-of-three arm-wrestling match. 

The chief executives of the small telecommunications companies -- Teamtalk Ltd and MCS Digital Ltd -- squared off after their firms were unable to reach an agreement on access to a mobile radio network. 

The dispute had already been the subject of a complaint with competition regulators and was heading for the courts. 

"Sure, losing hurts but not nearly as much as paying lawyers bills," defeated TeamTalk Chief Executive David Ware told Reuters. 
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Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Sun-Times):

He said he was shopping for a diamond for his girlfriend.

But Peter J. Mannix didn't leave the store Monday with a gem in a pretty velvet box. It was in his stomach, after he swallowed a three-carat diamond priced around $37,500, police said.

He was caught and left the shop in handcuffs. Investigators had been waiting ever since for the loot to make its way through his intestinal tract.

Mannix--who allegedly gulped down the stone at a shop on Jewelers Row, at 5 S. Wabash, while trying to switch it with a fake--finally gave up the gem Friday morning, officials said.

He is charged with felony theft.

Mannix, 40, of Des Plaines, was arrested at 1:45 p.m. Monday. He was handling a diamond, pretended to cough and handed the clerk back a cubic zirconium, police said. The clerk called police and locked the doors.

After he was arrested, Mannix complained of abdominal pain and was taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, where an X-ray showed the diamond in his intestines. He was returned to the Central District lockup.

Mannix was convicted of theft of services in 1985, records show. He was arrested on the same charge last year for allegedly failing to pay a cabbie $62 after a taxi ride, but the case was dropped.

Police did not give Mannix a laxative because a doctor told them it could create medical problems for him. All week, officers poked through his bowel movements, but they did not find the gem until 7:50 a.m. Friday.

"Some courageous volunteers went beyond the call of duty," said Sgt. Joseph Petrenko, an Area 4 detective. "They should get a big 'attaboy.' "

"Some lucky woman is going to have that on her finger some day," said David Bayless, a police spokesman. "As they say, diamonds are a girl's best friend."
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Eagan, Minnesota (AP):

In Minnesota, Marty Johnson is a mortgage broker and father of two. In Nigeria, he's a prince, next in line to be chief. 

Johnson, 38, was adopted, and over the years he made a few fruitless attempts to find out about his background. Then two years ago his birth mother contacted him. 

The Cedar Falls, Iowa, woman said she had fallen for a Nigerian who was studying for a master's degree in education at Northern Iowa University. He had to go home; she put the baby up for adoption. 

With that information, and with heavy prodding from his wife, Laura, Johnson began to make some contacts in Nigeria. 

He discovered that his father is one of a line of chiefs who, in the days before central government, were so powerful they could declare war. Johnson's great-grandfather founded a school; his grandfather and father continue to run it. 

Johnson said he is now regarded openly by the chief and dozens of other relatives including three brothers as the chief's first-born son. When his birth father dies, Marty Johnson will be known in Orlu, Nigeria, as Ude-Ekeh, which means chief. And someday so will his 6-year-old son, Jacob. 

The Johnsons are planning to go to Nigeria in December, but they also plan to come back. The future Ude-Ekeh, after all, still has a job and a mortgage. 
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