WhiteBoard News for Friday, May 2, 2003

London, England (Reuters):

An angry British husband made an emergency call to police -- because his wife refused to cook him his dinner. 

The man dialed "999" in a fury, demanding help from officers because his wife was busy decorating, Avon and Somerset police in western England said on Thursday. 

The plea was one of a number of genuine calls made by the public to police which the force published on its Web Site to highlight abuse of the emergency number. 

"My wife's left me with two salmon sandwiches which was left over from last night, and I'm sat in the chair here and she's out there decorating," the man told the police operator. 

"She won't put any food on or anything for anybody." 

The operator is then heard interrupting him saying: "I'm sorry but I really can't take this. It's not an emergency because your wife won't give you anything to eat." 
=============

Moab, Utah (MSNBC):

Pinned by a boulder for five days and having run out of water, a climber amputated his own arm with a pocket knife, rappelled down a cliff and walked until rescuers found him.

Aron Ralston, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, was in serious condition Friday at a hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, following the ordeal Thursday.

Ralston was climbing Saturday in Blue John Canyon, adjacent to Canyonlands National Park in far southwestern Utah, when a 1,000-pound boulder fell on him, pinning his right arm, authorities said.

Initial reports said the boulder might have weighed 200 pounds, but rescuers who later went to the site said it weighed closer to 1,000 pounds.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mitch Vetere told NBC's Today show that the team that went to the site concluded he had no other option but to cut off his arm because the air-based search team wouldn't have seen him from the air. 

Ralson was able to tell rescuers that he ran out of water on Tuesday, and on Thursday morning decided that his survival required drastic action.

Using his pocketknife, he amputated his arm below the elbow and applied a tourniquet and administered first aid.

He then rigged anchors, fixed a rope and rappelled 75 feet to the canyon floor.

He hiked downstream and was spotted about 3 p.m. by a Utah Public Safety Helicopter. 

The search for Ralston had begun the same morning, after authorities were notified he was four days overdue reporting for work.

Vetere, who led the air search, spotted Ralston with two hikers near a trail head. Ralston was then loaded into a helicopter for the 12-minute flight to a hospital.

Ralston was thoroughly exhausted, Vetere said. The only thing he wanted was water.

Ralson walked into the emergency room on his own.

"I've never seen anybody who has the will to live and is as much of a warrior as Aron is, and I've been doing this for 25 years," said park ranger Steve Swanke, who was with Ralston in the emergency room. "He is a warrior period."

"Ralston's expeditions have been known to trigger awe," said Brion After, manager of the Ute Mountaineering store in Aspen where Ralston works. After said Ralston has climbed 49 of Colorado's 14,000-foot-plus mountains.

"To be honest, sometimes we get pretty scared with some of the things he's doing," After said.
=============

Hunedoara, Romania (Ananova):

A group of prostitutes in Romania are offering their hard up customers credit and installment schemes.

Sex workers in Hunedoara, western Romania, are allowing customers to pay weeks after sex, or in instalments, as many are struggling financially.

Loredana, 19, told the daily Jurnalul National: "Workers don't have much money and that's why they only pay me once a month - at pay time.

"They sometimes lie to me and forget about paying but I wait for them at the factory gates the day I know they get their salaries."

She added: "I accept being paid in instalments as well. There are other girls doing the same thing and so far it's worked out very well."
=============

Chow
SuperChef
www.joeha.com