I thought you looked familiar

ELDRIDGE, Iowa-- Michelle Wetzell, who was adopted by an Illinois family when she was 4 days old, wanted to find her birth mother. She didn't know it at the time, but all she had to do was look at the woman sitting behind the receptionist's desk in the hair salon where she worked.

Wetzell remembers telling her co-workers at the Davenport salon that she wanted to meet her biological mother. That was 10 years ago. In February she learned her mother had been a co-worker at the salon, just out of earshot of what Wetzell was telling her co-workers.

"There she was, the whole time," Wetzell said.

She began her search for her biological mother in earnest late last year after a blood test showed she had a high cholesterol level, which raised questions about her family medical history. A doctor told her she needed to look into whether she had a family history of heart disease or other illnesses.

Wetzell went to the agency that handled her adoption and it agreed to facilitate contact between Wetzell and her biological family. A case worker at the agency noticed both women had worked in cosmetology and told Wetzell, who asked for more details.

After they figured out that the mother and daughter had once worked together, the caseworker called Cathy Henzen, 55, of Eldridge, to tell her that her daughter was a former co-worker.

"I was like, 'Oh my gosh,"' Henzen said.

Wetzell and Henzen spoke on the phone that day. A week later they met at a restaurant. They have spoken or met every few days, as they try to determine where the relationship will lead.

"Where does it go from here? I just think that we take it a day at a time," Henzen said.

They have been getting to know each other in the past five months after working together for part of 1996, when they both worked at Hair By Stewarts in Davenport.

"Gosh, Michelle, what if you had come up and we had started talking?" Cathy Henzen said as she sat at her kitchen table with Wetzell recently. "We would have known, I think."

"Absolutely," Wetzell said.

Henzen found out she was pregnant in 1975 at a time when she was getting a divorce and already had two young daughters. She was living in East Moline, Ill., and still sharing an apartment with her husband because they couldn't afford separate homes.

She said she and her husband argued almost every day. She feared her daughters would be harmed by seeing and hearing the fighting. "I couldn't risk bringing another child into this family," Henzen said.

She decided to place her child for adoption. On Feb. 23, 1976, medical staff took the newborn girl away five minutes after she was born.

Michelle Wetzell was adopted by a couple from Prophetstown, Ill., about 45 miles away from Davenport. As Michelle entered school, she began to notice all the ways she was different from the rest of her family. She was outgoing, but struggled in school. Her two siblings were top students, but were reserved.

Michelle said she fantasized about her biological family, imagining that she might fit in better with them. After graduating from high school, Wetzell moved to Davenport, where she attended a cosmetology school and got a job at the salon.

She was one of about a dozen women who worked at the salon. Henzen worked out front greeting customers and scheduling appointments. Henzen's two grown daughters would visit her at work.

"We were envious of her two girls, Carrie and Chrissy. We were like, 'Oh man, we love Cathy so much. We wish our mom was like Cathy,"' Wetzell said.

Wetzell, who moved back to Prophetstown, got married and has a 2-year-old daughter, said she sees similarities between herself and Henzen, who left the salon in 1998 and now works as a receptionist for a trucking company.

Henzen said meeting Wetzell, who works part-time as a bartender in a country club and doing manicures, and seeing how she grew up validates her decision 30 years ago.

"In my heart I believe I did make the right decision," Henzen said.

Human body museum

Netherlands - - Taller than the fabled Colossus of Rhodes in ancient Greece but not quite as high as the Statue of Liberty in New York City, a giant monument to human health is springing up in the Dutch town Oegstgeest.

Workers are to start construction Thursday on Corpus, a health education museum built around a 35-metre three-dimensional sitting human figure.

Walking through the figure, a visitor has "an inside view of the entire body through organ theatres, such as the beating heart, lungs, sneezing nose and brain," said a statement announcing the project.

Visitors will "walk in through the knee, up the thigh and eventually end up in the brain and eyes," said spokeswoman Veronique van Zanten.

"From there you can look out at the houses and cows" in the surrounding countryside. Oegstgeest is about 35 kilometres southeast of Amsterdam.

The project is the dream of businessman Henri Remmers, who arranged the equivalent of $27 million Cdn in private funding and won the endorsement of the Dutch Health Ministry.

Van Zanten said the museum would educate visitors about all aspects of human health, including sex - in a manner appropriate for children.

"There is the Uterus Theatre, where you will view the moment of conception, viewed from within the body," she said.

"It's very tasteful."

The museum will use holograms, videos and other interactive exhibitions to plumb the hidden secrets of organs, including the stomach, heart and nose.

From disappointment to joy

Disappointment turned to celebration for hundreds of schoolchildren yesterday after they learned that they would be going to see a World Cup match in Germany after all.

The 350 children aged between 11 and 15 from schools across the country returned from Germany on Monday without seeing a game after they were caught up in an alleged ticket fraud.

Yesterday, however, the pupils were told that they would now be able to see a game, possibly an England quarter-final match, following talks between the Government and FIFA, soccer's international governing body.
British Airways has agreed to fly the children to Germany where FIFA will provide free match tickets.

In a separate offer, the Premiership club Portsmouth has agreed to pay £10,000 for 23 boys from Mayville High School, in the city, to travel to Germany to see England play Ecuador on Sunday.

Jay Francis, 14, from Portsmouth, said: "We can't believe it. To see a match is good but to see England is so amazing that I can't comprehend it."

Richard Sprake, 14, also from Portsmouth, said: "I'm speechless. I have no words to explain how I feel.

"When we got to Germany and found we weren't going to the match it was so upsetting but now we've gone from a real low to a real high now we are going to see our team play."

Thames Valley police yesterday arrested a man and a woman in Slough, Berks, in connection with an alleged tickets fraud. They were later released on bail.

A police spokesman said that they were investigating allegations of deception involving £60,000.

Zap those migraines

Scientists claim to have invented a device which zaps migraines with magnetic pulses.

The Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation gadget was found to reduce sickness, noise and light sensitivity among sufferers.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a procedure in which electrical activity of the brain is changed by an alternating magnetic field, through magnetic induction. Simply speaking, a magnetic field from a conducting coil is applied to the area of interest in the brain. The magnetic field induces micro currents in the brain. According to some, this procedure can have numerous clinical benefits.

Two thirds of patients said they had no pain or only mild pain two hours after they held the device to the backs of their heads.

Scientists in Ohio, US, said the magnetic pulse disrupts the ‘electrical storm’ that sets off the splitting headaches.

Neurologist Yousef Mohammad “The device’s pulses are painless. The patients have felt a little pressure but that’s all.

“No side effects were reported. These are very encouraging results.”

Around one in eight Britons suffer migraines.

Polite New Yorkers, Thankyou

New York, despite a reputation as a fast-moving, tough-talking town, ranked as the world's most polite major city, a survey says.

Outscoring large cities in 35 countries, New York proved best in three tests of courtesy, a survey by Reader's Digest says.

Reporters for the magazine conducted a "door test," to see who would hold open a door, a "document drop" to see who would help pick up dropped papers and a "service test" to measure if sales staff said thank you for a purchase.

Four-out-of-five New Yorkers passed the courtesy tests, the magazine says.

"It certainly contradicts the popular stereotype that a lot of people have about New York," international editorial director Conrad Kiechel said.

Specifically, 90 per cent of New Yorkers passed the door test, 55 per cent passed the document drop and 19-out-of-20 sales staff passed the service test.

Coming in a close second was Zurich at 77 per cent, Toronto at 70 per cent, and Berlin, Sao Paulo and Zagreb, Croatia, all with 68 per cent.

Following down the list were Auckland, Warsaw, Mexico City, Stockholm, Budapest, Madrid, Prague, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Lisbon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Manila, Milan, Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Ljubljana, Jakarta, Taipei, Moscow, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest and Mumbai.

The more than 2,000 tests of behavior showed that people under 40 were more courteous than those over 40, men were more polite to other men and women were more polite to other women.

The region that most lacked courtesy was Asia, where eight-out-of-nine cities tested finished in the bottom 11, Reader's Digest said.

It conducted the tests in the most populous cities in 35 nations worldwide from late February to mid-March.

Mr Kiechel says people around the world tended to offer the same explanation for their polite behaviour.

"People said they were polite because they had been brought up to be that way," he said.

Fill yer boots

A man who smuggled an estimated half tonne of $2 coins out of the Royal Australian Mint concealed in his boots and lunchbox has been jailed for three years. William Grzeskowiac, 48, of Monash, was described by an ACT Supreme Court judge as a man of previous good character who had succumbed to the temptation to steal from his employer.

Justice Terry Connolly imposed a non-parole period of 18 months and ordered that Grzeskowiac repay $4,000.

The court heard police recovered a total of $135,852 in coins and notes which Grzeskowiac admitted stealing from the mint over a 10-month period.

Justice Connolly criticised Mint security, saying it was extraordinary its systems had failed to detect someone walking out every day with up to 150 coins in each boot.
The prosecution alleged the offender had actually succeeded in exchanging a much larger sum, pointing to diary entries in which he referred to moving specific sums.

However the judge said there was no evidence of such transactions beyond reasonable doubt.

The Mint appeared to have no systems to indicate just how many $2 coins had gone missing.

Have a drink yourself !

A 21-year-old Georgia man was arrested after trying to buy drinks with a checkbook he found at a bar.

Unfortunately for Jody Brian Minor of McRae, the checkbook's owner was the bartender serving him.

Minor was arrested on theft and forgery charges early Saturday morning, Statesboro Police Detective Terry Briley said.

He was "extraordinarily intoxicated," Briley said. Minor is out on bond, and his case will go before a grand jury in August, Briley said.

Minor was at Dingus Magee's bar when he found a checkbook and began paying his tab with it, Briley said. One of the bar's employees realized the checks belonged to a fellow bartender Hubble Beasley, who called police.

Briley said Minor's father has paid the delinquent $129 bar tab.

Stoned-henge

STONEHENGE, England -- Thousands of dancing and drumming spectators cheered the summer solstice at Stonehenge as an orange sliver of sun rose over the Heel Stone on Wednesday morning.

Cloudy skies, dense fog and spurts of rain did not seem to dampen the energy of smiling revelers who bobbed and swayed to cheerful beats with arms outstretched and shouts of "Feel the solstice!"

About 19,000 New Agers, present-day druids and partygoers gathered inside and around the ancient circle of towering stones to greet the longest day in the northern hemisphere as the sun struggled to peek out against a smoky gray sky at 4:58 a.m (0358GMT).

"This is the nearest thing I've got to religion," said Ray Meadows, 34, of Bristol, England. The solstice "is a way of giving thanks to the earth and the universe."

Meadows, wearing a wreath of pink carnations over long pink hair-wrapped braids, identified herself as a fairy of the Tribe of Frog.

Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London, was built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C. The lichen-covered rocks are a major British tourist attraction and have spiritual significance for thousands of druids and New Age followers.

The crowd was generally peaceful overnight and in the early morning hours. Wiltshire police arrested two people for drunken and disorderly behavior and two for public order offenses, spokesman Dave Taylor said.

In 1985, revelers clashed violently with police at the solstice ceremony, resulting in a ban on the celebration. Following years saw clashes between riot police and revelers determined to welcome the solstice among the stones.

English Heritage, the monument's caretaker, began allowing full access to the site again in 2000.

Crowds of partygoers stumbled toward their cars an hour after sunrise, some clutching nearly empty bottles of mixed drinks or beer cans.

One described the crowd as 5 percent pagan and 95 percent partygoer.

"Some people here are really spoiling it," said Chris Sargent, 37, of Bournemouth. "Once upon a time it was really spiritual."

Sargent, clad in a long black jacket and pants, top hat and fighter pilot goggles, drank vodka and Coke from a two-liter soda bottle and confessed that he was "really stoned."

Jeanette Robinson, 71, of Burton-upon-Trent, England, was cold and tired as she watched the celebration from a low hill near the monument, but said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"I don't suppose I'll be here to do it again at my age," she said.

Groups of tourists, some from France, Italy and Spain, joined British revelers. Daniel Estera, 25, flew from Barcelona for one night at the solstice with 15 friends.

"It is part of a family tradition to see a solstice monument from around the world," Estera said. "It is about respect for ancient cultures."

Some experts say the monument's builders aligned the stones with the sun as part of their sun-worshipping culture, although how and why the monument was built remains unknown. Others believe the monument was part of an astronomical calendar.

Ring oh star

A Staten Island wife has been reunited with her wedding ring thanks to her determined husband and a helpful sanitation worker.

Sanitation Worker Carlo Tanutco later helped Ron dig through dozens of trash bags in 90 degree heat until they found the ring.

"Now the ring is staying on my finger forever," Bettey said.

Now reunited with her ring, Bettey thanked the city sanitation worker who helped and hugged her 62-year-old husband Ron. They say it was never about the monetary value of the ring, but rather it's the sentimental value of a ring.

That is, Ron gave her the ring 35 years ago on their fourth wedding anniversary because he couldn't afford an expensive ring when they first married.

Socks & art from Kmart

Kmart shoppers accustomed to hunting for bargains on dishracks and bath mats can also take home works of art by Pablo Picasso and other renowned artists starting this week.

The retail chain will begin auctioning off a wealth of fine and rare art from its Michigan headquarters.

The discount retailer better known for selling casual clothing and household needs is offering up a rare Picasso tapestry worth an estimated $25,000, a 15th-Century Ming Dynasty lotus-flower watercolor on silk, and a work by painter and Apollo astronaut Alan Bean autographed by more than 20 United States astronauts, among other works of fine art.

Kmart, which emerged from bankruptcy in 2003, sold its Troy, Michigan, headquarters in December 2005 after merging with Sears.

"It's not uncommon to find great art in companies that have been around for many years. They purchased most of the art back in the 1970s, when the market didn't command such pricey price tags," said Michael Weissman of National Retail Equipment Liquidators.

Film crew swarmed

Those who plan to film a hostage scene might want to make it obvious to everyone around them that it's a simulation and not the real deal. That may be the lesson that an independent film crew learned over the weekend after Larimer County, Colo., deputies swarmed them during a shoot for a low-budget feature movie.
Members of the Twelve Monkeys Dancing Films were at a campground near Lake Carter Saturday, shooting a scene where the lead actor takes a girl hostage and beats up on a good Samaritan who tries to intervene. "It happened very suddenly after that. We heard, 'Freeze,'"said Director Eileen Agosta.

They were in the middle of the scene when a team of Larimer County sheriff's deputies ran over, shouting orders to get on the ground, pointing rifles at the crew, actor Chris Borden said. "They kept telling me the whole time, 'We're gonna shoot you. We're gonna shoot you. We're gonna send rounds your way,'" Borden said.

Borden said that they were cuffed and held on the ground until the situation was sorted out. Officers had to interview the "victims" and also tested the fake blood that was on the stunt car. Borden said after about 30 minutes, the crew was released. He said he believes the only reason the deputies didn't shoot him was because they saw a cameraman. Maj. Justin Smith of the Larimer County Sheriff's Department said deputies received a call from someone at the lake and sheriff's deputies raced to the park, blocking roads and sneaking up to the scene. He said it wouldn't have taken much for deputies to fire on Borden.

Instead they approached with guns drawn, handcuffing four actors and bringing up two others seen by the lake. "I think it shows great restraint, great training and great discernment," of the deputies said Cpl. Scott Shellhaas, a sheriff's spokesman. "They didn't rush into the situation and make a potentially bad situation worse." Borden said the incident would have been funny except for the fact that he was issued a citation for disorderly conduct. Agosta was also cited for being an accessory to disorderly conduct. Both are due in court in August. "It was complete ignorance on my part," said Agosta. "I honestly thought you could tell what we were doing ... I wouldn't have chosen a state park at 3:30 (p.m.) on Saturday if I was going to hurt somebody."

Authorities said the scene they saw was realistic enough -- a woman handcuffed to a car, a man pistol-whipping another man, people injured and bloodied and someone with a small video camera filming the event. "It is certainly not beyond belief these days that individuals do videotape crimes as they commit them," said Smith. "Having a video camera there did not necessarily mean there was not a threat."

The film crew said they had a park permit and had been filming for several hours when deputies arrived. Their footage was confiscated by the Larimer County Sheriff's Department. Deputies said the crew did not have a commercial permit to be shooting in the park, had not paid the fee for a commercial permit, and never alerted authorities about the filming nor the fact that they would be using replica of a 9 mm handgun during the shoot.

Ig-snore-amus

A burglar who broke into a small grocery shop in northern Thailand was caught after he hid under the store owner's bed, drank a few beers and started snoring, police said.

The robber broke into the grocery in Uthai Thani province, 125 miles north of Bangkok, in the middle of the night, stole a few beers and quickly sought cover when he heard the owner of the shop stirring, police Capt. Prasert Hiewchawna said Wednesday.

The robber made a bad situation a bit worse by choosing to hide under a bed in the shop - the same bed that the owner was sleeping on at the time, he said.

While waiting to flee, the robber drank a few of the stolen beers, passed out and started snoring so loudly that he woke up the shop's owner, who quietly called police.

DUI chose wrong door

Scotland - A drunk man who drove his van off a Highland road picked the wrong door to knock on for a lift into the nearest village - he chose the local policeman's house.

Darren Sutherland, 27, from Dingwall, banged on the door of the Craiglea bed-and-breakfast near Mallaig, waking the couple who lived there.

He told John Bryden, 40, who answered the door, that he was "a bit drunk and had smashed his van", adding: "Don't tell the bobbies." He then asked for a lift.

PC Bryden told Sutherland to wait a couple of minutes while he went upstairs to get dressed. Then he came back down - in his full police uniform.

The policeman handcuffed Sutherland before putting him into his police car, hidden from view at the side of the house.

Yesterday, PC Bryden said: "Mr Sutherland was very insistent when he came to my door after midnight and obviously just wanted to get away from the scene as quickly as possible. I told him I couldn't put him in my car until I got dressed.

"I went upstairs to get dressed and came back down in my full police uniform, including my hat. The guy got the fright of his life. I charged him there and then under Section 4 of the Road Traffic Act, and, to be fair to him, he let me put the cuffs on and came without a struggle. He was very subdued.

"I held on to Mr Sutherland until two of my colleagues came from Fort William to officially arrest him. He spent the night in the cells to help him sober up."

PC Bryden added: "It's really remote up here, the middle of nowhere. I've been the local policeman for 16 years as well as the wildlife protection officer. I also help with mountain rescue. My wife is the postmistress and we also run a bed-and-breakfast."

Dumbkopft

A dim-witted burglar was caught after ordering a taxi as a getaway car.

Christopher Morgan, 22, smashed a window to break into a house while the owners were out, then used the phone to call for a cab at 5am.

But the taxi driver noticed the broken window and called cops.

Prosecutor Tony Trigg told Cardiff Crown Court: “Morgan tried to bluff by pretending to be the home owner.

“But the police found all the items he intended to steal stacked up by the front door.” Morgan, of Taffs Well, Cardiff, was jailed for 21 months.

Beagle wins award for dialing 911

A US dog has won an award for saving her owner's life by dialling a phone number that alerted emergency services to her owner's diabetic seizure. Belle the beagle triggered a call to an ambulance crew by biting on her owner, Kevin Weaver's, mobile phone.

The dog was trained to detect potential diabetic attacks by licking and sniffing Mr Weaver's nose to check his blood sugar levels and pawing him. Belle resorted to dialling for help when Mr Weaver fell unconscious.

The dog used her teeth to press the number nine key, which the phone was programmed to interpret as a "911" call to emergency services.

Ambulance workers answered the phone and, hearing nothing but barking at the end of the line, rushed to the caller's house in the city of Ocoee in Florida state.

The dog is the first animal to receive the Vita Wireless Samaritan Award.

"I am convinced that if Belle wasn't with me that morning, I wouldn't be alive today," Mr Weaver said. "Belle is more than just a life-saver. She's my best friend."

Goldilocks revistied ?

A West Vancouver woman came home to find a bear munching porridge in her kitchen. The bear was said to have entered the house through an open sliding door, the Vancouver Province newspaper reported.

"It sounds like a nursery rhyme," Sgt Paul Skelton told the paper.

But unlike Goldilocks - caught stealing food in the Three Bears' house in the popular children's story - this bear did not flee when found.

"It appeared to be a one to two-year-old bear - a juvenile - within the kitchen enjoying some oatmeal it had obtained by breaking a ceramic food container," Sgt Skelton said.

"When she saw it, she did the right thing. She vacated the area and called us."

But the bear paid scant attention as police arrived on the scene, and continued tucking in with little sign of fear or remorse.

"The bear didn't appear to be aggressive and wasn't destroying the house, so they just let it do what it was doing.

"Eventually the bear decided to make its way out of the residence and down toward a forested gully," Sgt Skelton said.

Intrusions are common in the area as bears come out of hibernation, the paper reported, and are happening later than usual this year because of heavy winter snows, according to police.

A Clean getaway

Manchester, NH - A man faces charges , after allegedly taking an unattended street sweeper out for a joy ride.

The sweeper was being used in a downtown parking garage early Saturday and the operator had left the machine temporarily. That's when police say Michael Moran, 26, hopped on and started it up.

Moran traveled several blocks before he was caught by people chasing him. Police have charged him with taking the sweeper without the owner's permission and drunken driving.

Police said Moran admitted to taking the street sweeper and said it was a stupid thing to do.

Elephant poo paper

After having worldwide success with a paper made from kangaroo poo, a company in north-western Tasmania has signed up with Sydney's Taronga Zoo to make use of its elephant waste.

Creative Paper will make a range of stationary, for sale in the zoo's gift shop.

The company's Joanna Gair says the first elephant dung delivery was in a fine paper-making state by the time it arrived in the post.

"It had been in transit for just over a week so it was fairly ripe by the time that we'd received it," she said.

"But oddly enough the more decomposed the dung is it's actually a little bit easier for paper making, so there's no problem as far as that's concerned and it goes through a very extensive and hygienic process where all the bacteria is boiled away, so what you're left with is a remarkably strong, good quality fibre that's really great to work with."

Monkey God or a looney ?

Thousands of people are flocking to an impoverished Indian village to worship a man they believe possesses divine powers because he climbs up trees in seconds, gobbles up bananas and has a "tail".

Devotees say 27-year-old villager Chandre Oraon is an incarnation of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, worshipped by millions as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion.

"He climbs up trees, behaves like a monkey and is a strict vegetarian, but he is no god and his condition is just a congenital defect," says Bhushan Chakraborty, the local medical officer.

Tucked away in a hamlet in Banarhat, over 650 kilometres north of Kolkata, the state capital, devotees wait for hours to see or touch Oraon's 35 centimetre tail, believing that it has healing powers.

Doctors said the "tail" - made up of some flesh but mostly of dark hair - was simply a rare physical attribute.

"It is a congenital anomaly, but very rarely do we find such cases," B Ramana, a Kolkata-based surgeon said.

You're not my wife !

A thief who stole a woman's Soccer World Cup ticket was arrested after taking her place in the stadium and finding himself sitting next to her husband.

Police in Munich say the stolen ticket was in Eva Standmann's handbag that was snatched from the woman as she made her way to yesterday's game between Brazil and Australia.

The victim’s husband Bernt Standmann alerted police after the audacious thief sat down in her place.