http://www.accessatlanta.com The latest headlines from AccessAtlanta en-us Copyright 2009, Cox Newspapers Inc., AccessAtlanta Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:30:34 EST Newspapers COXnet RSS Generator v1.0 http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/02/30/52/image_1352302.jpg http://www.accessatlanta.com 5 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Evidence_Eaten.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Evidence_Eaten.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:22:19 EST STREETSBORO, Ohio — Police say a bank robbery suspect in Ohio may have eaten evidence when he gobbled a piece of paper while handcuffed and lying across the hood of a police cruiser. A police video camera captured the 35-year-old John Ford of Cleveland grabbing the paper with his mouth as police emptied his pockets. Ford was arrested following a report of a bank robbery in Streetsboro just south of Cleveland on Thursday. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_Lizard_Smuggling.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_Lizard_Smuggling.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:35:54 EST LOS ANGELES — Federal officials say they arrested a man who strapped 15 live lizards to his chest to get through customs at Los Angeles International Airport. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that 40-year-old Michael Plank of Lomita, Calif., was returning from Australia when U.S. Customs agents found 11 skinks, two geckos and two monitor lizards fastened to his body Tuesday. Plank has been released on $10,000 bond and will be arraigned in federal court on Dec. 21. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Brusque_Doctor.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Brusque_Doctor.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:17 EST RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina doctor could lose his medical license after a patient complained he made cutting criticisms, including telling her she was fat. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported the North Carolina Medical Board will decide if Dr. Earl Sunderhaus of Asheville overstepped the bounds of professional decency. The eye doctor's patient complained Sunderhaus poked her thigh and told her she is fat, and also scolded her as irresponsible for being unemployed and relying on taxpayers to pay for another pregnancy. Sunderhaus admitted he told the patient that her thick thighs and diabetes could cause her to go blind. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Fake_Disability.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Fake_Disability.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:17 EST LOS ANGELES — California tax officials say an interior designer's false disability claim was uncovered when he was spotted on a home improvement television show. Fifty-six-year-old Ronald Hunt of Los Angeles was sentenced Tuesday to 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay more than $180,000 in restitution, unpaid taxes and fines. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraud. The state's Franchise Tax Board says Hunt falsely claimed he was disabled for three years and collected almost $150,000 in benefits, while earning about $400,000 in income as an interior designer. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Smuggling_Kiss.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Smuggling_Kiss.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:17 EST MERCER, Pa. — A western Pennsylvania woman has been ordered to stand trial on charges she passed a drug-filled balloon to a state prison inmate while kissing him. State police said guards at the State Correctional Institution-Mercer became suspicious when an inmate appeared to swallow something after a prolonged kiss with a visitor on Oct. 19. When the inmate wouldn't tell guards what he swallowed, they put him in a cell where they could monitor his bathroom visits and found a balloon filled with marijuana three days later. Police charged the inmate, and the woman with conspiracy to smuggle contraband and other charges. Both are 41 years old. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Wrong_Way_Driver_Twice.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Wrong_Way_Driver_Twice.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:16 EST KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Authorities in western Michigan arrested a person twice in three days for driving the wrong way down the highway Kalamazoo County deputies said they were alerted about 1:30 a.m. Friday after several people called 911 when they passed the unidentified driver traveling south on northbound U.S. 131. WWMT-TV said the driver was arrested in the same area that they were arrested Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported. No further details were released. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_Face_Spitting.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_Face_Spitting.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:11:16 EST THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — A 39-year-old Southern California man has been arrested for misdemeanor child annoyance after allegedly paying a teenager $31 to spit in his face. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department says Charles Hersel was arrested Wednesday in a sting operation at a mall in Thousand Oaks. He's free from jail pending a court hearing. A sheriff's statement says Westlake High School students claimed Hersel paid them to yell profanities, spit and slap him in the face. Several also claimed he offered them cash to urinate and defecate on him. A motive wasn't clear. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_No_Jackpot.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_No_Jackpot.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:19:02 EST MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Supreme Court says a woman who thought she had hit a jackpot worth almost $42 million at the Victoryland electronic bingo center will end up empty handed. The court ruled Friday that an electronic bingo machine that showed Sherry Knowles had won $41.8 million obviously malfunctioned and that she was actually due no more than $2 from the operation in Macon County. The decision reversed a Macon County court ruling that said Victoryland owed Knowles $10 million. Knowles had bet $1 on an electronic bingo machine on May 2, 2006 when the machine started adding credits, eventually showing she had won $41.8 million. Victoryland officials said the machine displayed the symbol "snake eyes," which only pays two credits, or $2. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Pregnant_Woman_Thefts.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Pregnant_Woman_Thefts.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:22:31 EST WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita police arrested a pregnant woman after she allegedly robbed homes after asking residents for help. Police said the woman, who is eight months pregnant, had been telling people in west Wichita that her car broke down and she needed to call someone for a ride. Once the residents let her inside their homes, she allegedly took money from the homes. Police said she hit at least three houses in Wichita and is suspected in similar crimes in Goddard and Maize. The woman was taken into custody Thursday night. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Bottle_Warmer_Robbery.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Bottle_Warmer_Robbery.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:27:45 EST INDIANAPOLIS — An 18-year-old is in police custody after he warmed up a bottle for a crying baby inside the house he was allegedly robbing. Indianapolis police arrested the suspect at Arlington High School on Tuesday after receiving a tip from a television viewer saw surveillance video on a newscast. Detectives said two suspects forced their way into a home on Friday morning and began ransacking the house. Police said that when a baby started crying, one of them warmed a bottle in a microwave oven and gave it to a child to feed the baby. The suspect was being held on charges of burglary, robbery, criminal confinement and pointing a firearm. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Students_Pre_game_Pee.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Students_Pre_game_Pee.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:23:15 EST COLUMBUS, Ohio — Intrepid Ohio State University researchers have learned students don't just party in a campus lake during rituals before the annual Michigan game. They also potty there. Thousands of students will jump into Ohio State's Mirror Lake Thursday night, ahead of Saturday's football game between the Buckeyes and Wolverines. Before, during and after last year's big swim, the College of Earth Sciences monitored the water quality. Postdoctoral research associate Steve Goldsmith said the lake's temperature went up 3 degrees throughout the night, and the ammonia level surged. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Squeegee_Attack.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Squeegee_Attack.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:23:15 EST CONWAY, Ark. — A man accused of using a squeegee to hit another man during a fight over who was first in line at a gas pump was due in court on charges. The man, Hector Chavez, 21, was to be arraigned Friday in Faulkner County Circuit Court on a second-degree battery charge. A Conway police report said the victim told officers that he was waiting in line at a gas pump when Chavez cut in front of him. The victim — who was not identified — said he confronted Chavez with the squeegee and swung at him before Chavez took the squeegee and began beating him with it. A phone listing could not be found for Chavez and it wasn't clear whether he had an attorney. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Mamas_Helper.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Mamas_Helper.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:06:03 EST OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — A 2-year-old in north Mississippi has done something few toddlers can: He helped his mother give birth to his brother. Bobbye Favazza told The Commercial Appeal she went into labor this past Friday and gave birth on the family's living room couch in Olive Branch. She said her toddler, Jeremiha Taylor, got her a towel and caught the baby before firefighters arrived to cut the umbilical cord. Favazza gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-ounce baby boy, Kamron Taylor. She had been scheduled for a cesarian section on Dec. 6. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Careless_Robber.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Careless_Robber.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:58:43 EST KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man who left his wallet on the counter of a bank he was robbing has pleaded guilty in federal court. Albert Perkins, 40, admitted Thursday that he stole more than $3,100 from First Federal Bank in Kansas City on May 7. Prosecutors said that after he ordered a teller to give him all the $100 bills, he placed his wallet on the counter and handed her a plastic bag. The teller put money in the bag and handed it back to Perkins, who left without picking up his wallet. Investigators used his driver's license to identify him. http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Clown_Lawsuit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 http://www.accessatlanta.com/services/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/US_ODD_Clown_Lawsuit.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:16:13 EST NEW YORK — A federal jury has ruled that New York City police didn't use excessive force when they arrested a professional clown who left a suspicious device that turned out to be a balloon inflator inside a coffee shop. Alexander Alhovsky sued following his 2006 arrest, which stemmed from an investigation of a report of a suspicious package with tubes and wiring at a Manhattan Starbucks. The bomb squad determined it was harmless, but set up surveillance. Alhovsky went to the Starbucks the next day and was arrested after officers saw he had a similar device. He said he was a clown and used it to inflate balloons.