Minnesota Mullet Contest Winner

RED WING, Minn. - A 3-year-old Red Wing boy has won first prize in this year's Minnesota Mullet Contest, and yes, there is such a thing.

Hockey Moms magazine, a Minnesota publication that's distributed at hockey arenas, named Brady Arneson's blond hairdo the best.

Mullets are a family tradition for the Arnesons — Brady's older brother Blake won the same award in 2005. Their father Scott Arneson also had a mullet as a child.

Mullets, which are sometimes called hockey hair, remain popular for some players.

Scott Arneson explains that hockey kids want their hair to hang out the back of their helmets.

Brady's parents say they'll soon cut his mullet to keep their son comfortable in the warm weather.

Video HERE

Burger buns stored in WC

Employees at the Checkers store on South French Avenue at West 15th Street (see map) apparently decided it was okay to store buns for their hamburgers inside a not-so-clean men's room.

Tuesday, it appeared they had changed the policy, but not before racking up a dozen health code violations.

"The bread was stacked sky high to the ceiling, plus it was only about 12 inches from the men's commode," said former customer Willie Jones.

Checker's goes through a lot of hamburger buns at its drive-thru restaurants. It's hard to even think about what might happen to those buns in a tiny, smelly and dirty bathroom. One customer told Eyewitness News he didn't like the manager's reaction to his complaint about the bread box-bathroom stall combination.

"'You got the bread in the men's restroom.' She got angry with me. She got T'd off and she locked the door," Jones said.

Health officials didn't settle for that solution, forcing the store to throw away all of it. Unfortunately, they don't know how long the Sanford Checkers kept both bread and cups in a bathroom that was quickly cleaned as Eyewitness News arrived Tuesday. An employee denied the bathroom-food storage system.

"Were you guys storing bread in there?" WFTV reporter Steve Barrett asked.

"No sir," the employee replied.

That employee and the bread delivery man seemed perplexed about where the bread should go Tuesday as an Eyewitness News crew looked on. They finally took it inside the kitchen.

"Do you ever see them put the bread you bring in the bathroom?" Barrett asked the delivery man.

"No comment," he said.

In all, the Checkers location was cited for a dozen violations, including nine "critical" violations. They were for things like storing food on the floor and having a faulty water treatment system.

The manager would not come out and talk Tuesday and no one called back from the corporate office for comment.

Assed to the prom

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Thirteen members of a high school lacrosse team have been disciplined for baring their bottoms on which was written a prom invitation from one player to a girl.
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Carolyn Campbell, a senior at Huron High School, accepted the invitation to go to the prom with fellow senior Kristoff Wennersten.

The varsity lacrosse players displayed the question, "Will You Go To The Prom With Me? Yes or No?" on their bottoms, which they bared during a junior varsity game last Thursday.

Officials suspended the 13 players for an undetermined number of games and ordered them to perform 20 hours of community service. They also were suspended from school for one day.

"Inappropriate is inappropriate," school athletic director Dottie Davis told The Ann Arbor News. "It disrespects women, and that's the clear message we need to have the students understand -- what may be fun to them isn't necessarily fun to everyone else."

Campbell accepted the invitation by patting the back of the player who displayed the word "Yes."

Spidey Tattoo

Britons rude?

Britons are ruder than they were a decade ago, according to a survey on Monday that showed almost three-quarters of people think manners should be taught at school.

A third believe bad manners are the catalyst for much of the anti-social behavior in Britain, the ITV poll found.

Experts interviewed by the network blamed a lack of respect for authority.

More than 90 percent of respondents believe parents are failing to ensure their children learn proper manners and that bad behavior of celebrities and footballers are setting a poor example for impressionable youngsters.

Spitting and swearing were the most offensive behaviors, it found, while queue-jumping and not saying 'please' or 'thank you' were other main gripes.

Repairer arrested

A graffiti vandal was arrested in South-West England after he returned to the scene of his crime to repair the damage.

Aaron Miller, 18, drunkenly spray-painted his name and 'crack head' on a garage door.

But he later bought paint from B&Q and began to right his wrong - which is when the police caught him.

Miller, of Weymouth, Dorset, was given a conditional discharge.

Self-assembly Robot

Woman rescued from under dead husband

MARION, Ill. — Bruce Pitts had a feeling something was wrong when the newspapers began piling up in the roadside tube outside the southern Illinois home of Fred and Blanche Roberts.

So on Sunday, the worried newspaper carrier cracked open an unlocked side door and saw 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helplessly looking back at him, her right leg pinned beneath the body of her 77-year-old husband — who apparently had been dead for days in the home just outside Marion, Ill.

"The good Lord was with her. She was not scared, wasn't panicking. Nothing," Pitts said Tuesday during a telephone interview. "She was conscious, talking. Just peaceful. It was remarkable."

Williamson County, Ill., coroner Mike Burke said Fred Roberts likely collapsed and died of a heart attack Wednesday evening after mowing the lawn, based on accounts from people who were visiting the home that day.

"They said he was really beat-red in the face, that he didn't look good," Burke said.

He described Roberts as "a good-sized man," though he declined to divulge the man's proportions.

But there was no doubt that Blanche Roberts, once pinned on a landing leading from the kitchen to the basement, couldn't wriggle free. Burke said she was trapped in "kind of an awkward position;" Pitts said she was sitting up but wedged against a wall.

Air Marshalls denied flights

Some federal air marshals have been denied entry to flights they are assigned to protect when their names matched those on the terrorist no-fly list, and the agency says it's now taking steps to make sure their agents are allowed to board in the future.

The problem with federal air marshals (FAM) names matching those of suspected terrorists on the no-fly list has persisted for years, say air marshals familiar with the situation.

One air marshal said it has been “a major problem, where guys are denied boarding by the airline.”

“In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage because the airline employees were adamant they would not fly,” the air marshal said. “I've seen guys actually being denied boarding.”

A second air marshal says one agent “has been getting harassed for six years because his exact name is on the no-fly list.”

Earlier this month the agency issued a new security directive (SD) “to address those situations where air carriers deny FAMs boarding based on 'no-fly list' names matches.”

The memo was issued April 23 from the assistant director of the office of flight operations.

Gregory Alter, spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service, said the new directive “mitigates any misidentification concerns by empowering airlines to quickly clear an air marshal’s status after positively identifying their law enforcement status.”

Man pays water bill for 600 years

Don Mathis was in for some good news — sort of. He wouldn't have to pay another water bill for 600 years. But the circumstances of such good fortune left the Houston man sourly dismayed.

Mathis thought his check for $99,000 was safely en route to a Dallas securities firm where it would be used to purchase a certificate of deposit. Instead, it arrived at Houston's Department of Public Works and Engineering office, where it was automatically processed, endorsed and deposited.

"It's a comedy of errors," Mathis said, noting that he never suspected anything was amiss until he received a nervous phone call from Dallas. "I have no idea what went wrong. I've done this a jillion times."

Mathis said the problem started last month when, as usual, he paid his granddaughter's $13.74 water bill by phone. About the same time, he dropped his check to the security firm in the corner mailbox.

Days later he was advised the check had not arrived.

His bank determined the check had been deposited in a city account — effectively pre-paying the granddaughter's water bill for six centuries.

"Mr. Mathis mailed a check payable to Southwest Securities, which was processed through our automatic payments processing system," public works Director Michael Marcotte told the City Council in a memo. "Due to the high volume of checks received daily, we did not notice the mistake."

Public works spokesman Alvin Wright theorized that Mathis might inadvertently have placed his check in the water bill's return envelope.

Mathis insisted he never mailed the check to public works.

He has petitioned the city for a full refund, and this time he likely will be in for real good news. The City Council is expected to approve his request Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mathis' granddaughter's new water bill has just arrived.

The quickest Dumbass Draw

A man who shot his ex-girlfriend in a hotel room told Mesa police he was practicing drawing his loaded handgun when it went off.
Amber Sungleton said all she remembers is not feeling good and going to sleep.

"And the next thing I know, I woke up and I was shot in my leg and he was freaking out, telling me, 'don't move' and he ended up on the phone with 911 and they came," she said. "At that point, I didn't even know what had happened yet."

Sungleton said detectives told her that from the angle of the bullet and where her ex-boyfriend was standing, it may or may not have been an accident.

Sungleton is in the hospital recovering from a hip fracture. Her ex-boyfriend was taken to jail, but has bonded out.

Honeymoon in jail

A newlywed couple face numerous charges in a brawl that officials say left two others injured and caused $1,000 in damage to a hotel after their wedding over the weekend. Dr. David Wielechowski and his bride, Christa, exchanged vows at a ceremony on Saturday.

According to police, the Wielechowskis had just checked into the Holiday Inn in Ross Township on their wedding night when they began to argue. KDKA's Ross Guidotti reports that authorities say David Wielechowski allegedly used a karate-style kick with his leg, knocking his wife to the floor.

Meanwhile, officials say two other hotel guests, Joseph Vacca and Richard Dovi, went to help the new Mrs. Wielechowski. Police report that Vacca and Dovi tried to restrain Wielechowski from attacking Christa. That's when police say she turned against Vacca and Dovi.

Authorities say all four got into a fight, and ended up in the hotel elevator heading down to the first floor. According to the criminal complaint, once on the first floor, the bride and groom picked up metal planters and threw them at Vacca and Dovi.

The couple was arrested by police and they are now facing charges of simple assault and public drunkenness. They were later released on their own recognizance.

Officials say during the brawl, Vacca knocked out a tooth, suffered a cut to his face and also has a possible broken thumb, and Dovi suffered a minor laceration on his chin.

Da Vinci parachute success

Switzerland - A 36-year-old Swiss amateur parachutist made a successful 650-metre (2,130-foot) drop Saturday using a replica of a parachute designed more than 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci.

"I came down... smack in the middle of the tarmac at Payerne military airport," said Olivier Vietti-Teppa. "A perfect jump." Vietti-Teppa is the first person to have made it safely to the ground with the Leonardo model.

In 2000, Britain's Adrian Nicholas tried it but had to pull the ripcord on a modern backup parachute to complete his descent safely. Vietti-Teppa jumped from a hovering helicopter and the Leonardo parachute opened at 600 metres, he reported.

The parachute he used was made using modern fabric along lines designed by the Renaissance genius. The specifications were found in a text dating from 1485. The parachute consists of four equilateral triangles, seven metres on each side, made of parachute fabric, Vietti-Teppa explained.

The base of the pyramid is a square of mosquito net, which enables the parachute to open. A wooden frame originally conceived by da Vinci was not used on the model in action on Saturday.

One drawback: it is impossible to manoeuvre or steer the Leonardo parachute. "You come down at the whim of the wind," said Vietti-Teppa, who carried out advance tests using a scale dummy model launched from a remote-controlled model helicopter.

There's a video HERE

Prisoner sues over weight loss

An overweight prisoner in the United States is suing the authorities for not feeding him enough after he lost over 100lbs (45kg) in jail.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell, who is awaiting trial for murder, dropped from 413lbs to 308lbs (140kg) after eight months inside the Arkansas prison.

He claims his vision has gone blurry while trying to exercise.

The prison says the meals average 3,000 calories a day - more than the US recommended daily intake for adults.

Laswell has filed a federal law suit complaining Benton County jail does not provide inmates with enough food.

"Free Tibet" flags - Made in China

Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say.

The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.

But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper.

Accident filmed

A private plane struck a crowd of onlookers shortly after landing at a small air show in central Germany on Saturday, killing one person and injuring 10 others, including two children, police said.

Hartmut Tuermer, a spokesman for police in the town of Gotha, said the prop-powered plane had landed just before 4 p.m. local time near Eisenach just before it hit people along the runway and then struck a children's carousel before coming to a halt.

One man was killed and 10 other people were hurt, three seriously, said Karin Koehler, another police spokeswoman. Another seven suffered what she called light injuries, including two children aged 9 and 14. She said the carousel had not been in operation when the plane hit it.

Liz I Painting may be worth millions

Experts are taking a closer look at a painting that not long ago was hanging in a North Carolina gift shop.

The oil painting of Queen Elizabeth I may be more valuable than anyone realized.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reports that the portrait is believed to have been painted in 1592, when Elizabeth would have been about 60 years old. It is one of the few portraits of the queen in her declining years.

If it's authentic, it could be worth millions.

An Auburn University English professor says the queen is shown, wrinkles and all, in an unflattering light. She says it's unlikely the queen ever saw the picture because she was known to destroy paintings that didn't flatter her.

The painting had been hanging in a gift shop at The Elizabethan Gardens gatehouse on North Carolina's Roanoke Island.

XXX plate removal

More than 9,000 North Carolina license plates have been recalled because they begin with "XXX" — a common symbol for sexually explicit material.

Marge Howell, communications officer for the Department of Motor Vehicles, said DMV Commissioner William C. Gore Jr. made the call Thursday morning after receiving complaints from people who found the letters offensive.

"I don't think anybody really looked at this as a problem," Howell said. "It was just next in the alphabetic stream of things."

At least 1,015 of the plates were distributed before the recall went into effect, but Howell said gathering the remaining stockpile should be easy. They are only available at two bureaus — Greenville's 10th Street location and the branch in Roanoke Rapids.

"Only a few were turned in ... just six that I know of, and I don't know the reasons for those," Howell said. "The commissioner decided this was just something that we didn't need out there."

She added that DMV license plate bureaus will replace any plate considered offensive free of charge.

A Winterville man returned his plate Thursday afternoon, after realizing in the parking lot that he was holding the suggestive prefix.

"I definitely don't want XXX on there," Blake Coghill said. "I'm a youth pastor."

He re-entered the office to complain and emerged 10 minutes later, raising a new plate beginning "XTM" triumphantly above his head.

"They didn't know if they'd be able to replace it today," he explained, smiling, "But they had some back there ... I don't want to be the brunt of somebody's joke."

Story is by Kathryn Kennedy/The Daily Reflector and photo is by Greg Eans/The Daily Reflector.

Hydrant theft

HESPERIA — Firefighters were unable to douse an early morning blaze in time because copper fittings worth a mere $8 had been stolen from all five fire hydrants on the block.

As a result, Jerry Malberg lost his mother’s house near Rock Springs Road.

Hesperia Councilwoman Rita Vogler said authorities will look for those responsible at metal recycling spots and encouraged residents to report fire hydrants with missing tops to the fire department.

“This is a trend that has to do with the rising prices of metals and it’s bigger than San Bernardino County, which is why we need to be on the look out,” she said.

The house was empty at the time, but Malberg’s neighbors, Tony and Kim Gallegos, thought otherwise.

Tony Gallegos attempted to put out the fire with a garden hose while waiting for firefighters to arrive. Other neighbors were honking horns trying to wake up the occupants, said Gallegos.

“We watch out for our neighbors’ property all the time,” said Kim Gallegos. “We never thought we’d have to watch out for the hydrants.”

Tree ornaments

A South Florida man was trimming some trees in his backyard in Oakland Park on Friday when he discovered skeletal remains hanging from a tree. Broward County Sheriff's authorities say Glenn Parker found a skull, a hand, and other human remains hanging several feet off the ground.

Homicide detectives examined the remains, which authorities believe have been hanging from the tree since last year.Authorities say the death appears to be a suicide and no foul play is suspected.

The Medical Examiner will determine an official cause of death.