WhiteBoard News for Monday, October 6, 2003


Crescent City, California (AP):

When Joe Francis' truck was stolen, he didn't get mad. 

He just stole it back. 

Francis was upset when the truck vanished from outside his work Monday _ he didn't have insurance to replace it. 

Francis was on his way to Brookings, Ore., to buy a new car Tuesday when he spotted the purloined truck headed the other way. He swung around and followed. 

"It was pretty lucky on my part and pretty stupid on his part for driving the truck around here," Francis said. 

He trailed the truck until the driver parked at a home and went inside. 

Francis, armed with a can of pepper spray, slipped into the truck and drove it away. 

"I knew the key gets stuck in the ignition, so I figured it would be in there. That's probably why it got stolen in the first place," Francis said. 

Francis quickly called the California Highway Patrol, and officers showed up to arrest a Folsom State Prison parolee. 
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Bernau, Germany (Ananova):

A crashed plane was left hanging in a tree overnight in Germany because nobody bothered to call the police.

The pilot crashed his ultra-light plane in trees near the A11 motorway after taking off from Bernau airfield.

At 6 pm, he informed staff at Bernau and, having escaped with only minor injuries, he decided to go home.

But police spokesman Dieter Schulze says flight ground staff didn't call police until 9am the next day, leaving the plane hanging in a group of trees overnight.

"The man involved refused to seek medical attention," Mr Schulz told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

Police are now questioning the pilot about the crash.
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Dubrovnik, Croatia (Ananova):

A woman has been arrested for dangerous driving after she drove two miles to a police station with her drunk husband on her car bonnet.

The woman, not named, reportedly drove to the police station in Dubrovnik, Croatia, after an argument outside their house ended with him jumping on the bonnet of her car as she tried to drive away.

She claimed her husband, who was drunk at the time of the argument, began behaving aggressively towards her.

Police also detained the man, 33, on charges of violent behaviour.
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Addis Ababa (Reuters):

An enraged Ethiopian mother of five will be tried for the murder of her husband who died after she crushed his testicles in a fight, police told the state-run Ethiopian News Agency. 

Police said on Friday the man was so embarrassed after the incident that he declined to seek treatment for the injury, and died days later. 

"Following a disagreement over the husband's spending habits, his wife refused to give him his dinner and also decided to sleep alone," police in the western region of Wellega said. 

"The husband was so angered by this affront by his wife that he tried to beat her. In the melee that followed, the wife grabbed and twisted his testicles causing serious damage." 

Police said the unnamed woman, a resident of Wayu-Tuka district in Wellega, had had several arguments with her husband about the amount of money he spent on booze. 
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Alexandria, Virginia (AP):

A man claims a woman wrongly adopted his lost parrot _ and he can prove it if given a chance to question the bird in court. 

Loulou, an 11-year-old African gray parrot, flew out of David DeGroff's apartment on April 12 after a guest who wasn't wearing her glasses accidentally walked into the screen door leading to the balcony. 

On May 11, Nina Weaver, of Newburg, Pa., adopted an African gray from the D.C. Animal Shelter. DeGroff, convinced the bird is Loulou, filed a lawsuit seeking an opportunity to depose the parrot. He is seeking $15,000 for pain and suffering if the bird turns out to be Loulou. 

According to DeGroff, Loulou's vocal repertoire includes whistling the theme song to "The Andy Griffith Show" and saying the phrase "Daddy's gotta go to work." 

Immediately after Loulou left, DeGroff said, he started calling every animal agency in the area, including the D.C. Animal Shelter. 

DeGroff said he again called the shelter in mid-May. A receptionist told him that an African gray had recently been adopted. DeGroff used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the adoption records. 

DeGroff said he drove to Weaver's home, but no one answered when he knocked on the front door. He said he saw a bird through the window and felt a connection. 

"She seemed like she tried to communicate with me," DeGroff said. 

DeGroff was unable to determine if it could whistle the "Andy Griffith" tune. Frustrated, he returned home. 

Weaver declined to speak with a Washington Post reporter who visited her house. "We have no comment," she said. "We're not going to fight this in the paper." 
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Sao Paulo, Brazil (Ananova):

A mother and daughter who hadn't seen each other for 17 years met up when they were put in the same prison cell in Brazil.

Regina Claudia Ribeiro de Souza, 25, ran away from home when she was eight.

She didn't see her mother again until she was arrested for robbery and they ended up in the same cell in Sao Paulo's Pinheiros prison.

But they were separated again after four months when the mother, Marina Souza, who was arrested for drug dealing, was transferred to the state's women's prison.

Regina Claudia told Jornal da Tarde newspaper: "She took care of me in prison. She baked me cakes. We finally had time to get to know each other and we got very close."

Now Regina is campaigning for her mother to be sent back to Pinheiros prison so that they can be together again.

Pinheiros prison's director Maria da Penha said: "I will do my best to keep mother and daughter together."
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Chow
SuperChef
www.joeha.com