Law Enforcement: This Week's Stupid Government Official Story
Jackson, MS, Mayor Frank Melton was indicted last Friday on 6 felony counts related to the partial destruction of a suspected drug house last month. He was also charged with 3 gun violations, one of them a felony, and faces up to 50 years in prison. Two Jackson police detectives who acted as Melton's bodyguards were also indicted in the drug house attack.
Melton and his wrecking crew attacked the front of the home with sledgrhammers, knocking down part of a home rented by a man named Evans Welch. There was no evidence of cocaine trafficing, but Welch was arrested for misdemeanor marijuana posession and posession of drug paraphernalia. He has since been released from jail.
Melton and his gang were acting without a search warrant or any apparent probable cause. Now he will get to try to convince a court that he should not be sent to prison for violating the law in his fevered enthusiasm for supporting it.
Although there is now a growing chorus of calls for his resignation, the crimefighting mayor still has support within the city. The Jackson Courier-Ledger reported Tuesday night that some 150 Melton supporters carrying signs reading things like "Find Frank Melton Not Guilty" converged on a Jackson City council meeting to demonstrate their support.
Sep 21, 8:07 AM (ET)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian man's apparent fondness for the video game "Grand Theft Auto" has led to his arrest in connection with an auto theft, police said on Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Shylo Kujawski -- who has "Grand Theft Auto" prominently tattooed on his back -- was spotted acting suspiciously in a Vancouver suburb where several stolen cars had been reported.
Using the tattoo to identify Kujawski as a convicted auto thief, police said they then set up a stakeout that nabbed him attempting to drive away in a stolen car.
Police said during the stakeout they also watched Kujawski thwart his own attempt to drive away in another stolen vehicle by accidentally disabling the car with the owner's steering wheel lock.
Kujawski, of no fixed address, has been charged with possession of stolen property in connection with an auto theft, as well as breach of probation and driving while suspended.
The What Were You Thinking Award goes to...
Sep 20, 8:25 AM (ET)
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The chairman of the publicly funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp. has resigned after remarks about bestiality and ruminations about defecation, Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda said on Tuesday.
Guy Fournier created an uproar in Canada's Lebanese community and in the media when he claimed that Lebanon allowed men to have sexual relations with female animals, but reserved the death penalty for those who did so with male animals.
In comments made in May, and replayed in a CBC weekend interview, he talked at length about the joys of bowel movements.
"He has increasingly lost the confidence of Canada's new government," Oda told the House of Commons. "I inform this House that I have received the voluntary resignation of Mr. Fournier effective today."
