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CHALFORD HILL, England, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A British lobbying group has criticized a fire department for spending six hours on the rescue of a pet duck trapped in a pond's overflow pipe. Chris and Karen Hutchens said a five-man team of Gloucestershire firefighters arrived at their Chalford Hill, England, home just before 9:30 a.m. and dug a trench to free their duck, Brownie, from the pipe, The Sun reported Monday. "It was such a relief when a fire engine turned up and they started digging the hole. The pipe was about 4 feet underground but they kept going, they were wonderful and really went beyond the call of duty," Karen Hutchens said. However, a spokeswoman for lobbying group TaxPayers' Alliance criticized the firefighters' actions. "Whilst no one likes to see a duck suffering, animal rescue is not the central job of the fire service," she said. "In this case there were no emergency calls pending, but calls can crop up at the last minute which could be much more pressing than the rescue of a duck." A spokesman for the fire department said firefighters have humanitarian roles in their communities and were able to help in this case due to the lack of emergency calls. Source
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Oregon police have charged a man with drunk driving after he called police to report that his marijuana had been stolen. Calvin Hoover, 21, told dispatchers early on Tuesday that someone had broken into his truck and stolen cash, a jacket and a small amount of marijuana while he was at a tavern. He called police again to complain they had not arrived, but the dispatcher had trouble understanding Hoover - because he was driving and stopping occasionally to vomit. He was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, the local Statesman Journal newspaper reported. Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, where nearly 21,000 people have permits for use. It was not immediately clear if Hoover had such a permit. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
An exhausted Australian man fell asleep while apparently trying to pick the lock of a shopping center after a "long night", police have said. The 35-year-old man was found snoozing outside a Perth shopping complex early on Sunday morning with a lock-breaking wire still in his hand, police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said. "It appears he fell asleep on the ground with the wire still in his hands and also in the door," he said. Keys found on the man opened a car parked nearby which was filled with a large quantity of prescription drugs linked to the burglary of a pharmacy earlier in the morning. "He obviously had a long night, whatever he was doing, and that got the better of him," Mr Dinnison said. "He was then found at eight o'clock, so he's probably worked through the night and was a bit tired, which probably isn't a good attribute for someone in that line of business." Police said the man has been charged with driving without a licence, burglary and attempted burglary. Source
WAXHAW, N.C., -- Parents and teachers at a North Carolina school are protesting a history lesson that involved African-American students pretending to be slaves. Teachers at Rea View Elementary in Waxhaw said they planned to write leaders at the Latta Plantation about a lesson during a Wednesday field trip that involved an African-American tour guide instructing black students to pretend to be slaves while their white classmates looked on, WSOC-TV, Charlotte, reported. Parents said the three students chosen by tour guide Ian Campbell wore bags used to gather cotton while mimicking cotton picking. "I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 -- even before that period," said Campbell, who added he has been a historian for 15 years. "I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct." Kojo Nantambu, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, criticized the lesson. "There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery," he said. "Because that's still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct." Source
SAO PAULO — A Brazilian university has expelled a woman who was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a short, pink dress to class — publicly accusing her Sunday of immorality. The private Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, said 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected "ethical principles, academic dignity and morality." Bandeirante University published newspaper advertisements Sunday accusing Arruda of attending class with "inadequate clothing" and having a provocative attitude that was "incompatible with the university environment." Arruda made headlines after the Oct. 22 incident, in which she had to be escorted away by police after wearing the mini-dress to class. She put on a professor's white coat and left amid a hail of insults and curses. In the ad, titled "Educational Responsibility," the college said it had warned Arruda to change her behavior and decided to expel her after talking to students, staff and Arruda herself. It accused her of posing for pictures and provoking other students. The university said it was also temporarily suspending some of the students who were seen heckling Arruda in a video of the incident that made the rounds on Youtube. It did not say how many were being suspended or how long they would be kept from attending classes. Brazil's national student union released a statement on Sunday saying it was against the university's decision to expel Arruda, and Brazil's top official for women's policy, Nilcea Freire, told the official Agencia Brasil news service that the decision showed "intolerance and discrimination." Although Brazil is known for its skimpy attire, especially in beach cities, most college students dress more modestly on campus — commonly in jeans and T-shirts. Some students had complained that Arruda seemed out of place in her revealing clothes, Brazilian media reported. Source
A US man claims the face of Jesus appears every morning in the condensation on the side window of his pick-up truck. Jim Stevens, of Jonesbororugh, Tennessee, says the face has appeared nearly every morning for the last two weeks. It disappears when the condensation evaporates - but returns the following morning, he told the Johnson City Press. Even rolling the window up and down has not stopped the image from reappearing. Mr Stevens admits he's not a particularly religious person, but says he has been awed by the experience. He said he had not done anything to or had anything in the Isuzu truck to explain the sudden appearance of the image. "Of course, I'm not going to wash it," he said. "Why it happened to me, I don't know. I have no idea." Source
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A wanted man taunted the authorities by sending in a picture of himself posing by a police van. Matthew Maynard, 23, texted the picture to a local newspaper from his mobile phone, commenting that he didn't like the photo issued by the police. The suspected criminal is being hunted following a burglary in Swansea in September. Mr Maynard was among eight people who were pictured in local media alongside a request for information from the public. Four were subsequently apprehended, but the rest – including Mr Maynard – remain at large. Police declined to comment on the provocative picture, taken on Mr Maynard's mobile phone and texted to the newspaper offices, but said that their recent drive to catch criminals was working. Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse said the public had made a very important contribution to solving a number of recent crimes. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Swansea for the information they have provided, which, without any doubt, was instrumental in enabling us to effect a high number of arrests." Source
