Nov 10, 4:14 PM (ET) WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) - An unknown man has been bugging women - and police - by using an insect story to try to persuade women to disrobe. Police said the man, who remains at large, has told female workers in at least seven businesses they have a tick on their clothes and should remove clothing to find it, said Waukesha Police Sgt. John Konkol. "We don't know what his potential gain is, if it's sexual gratification or he's trying to be funny, but it's a serious crime," Konkol said.
Hali Frankowski was working recently at Sunset Tan in Waukesha when the man came in and asked her to show him the tanning beds. At one point the man told her she had a tick on her shirt, she said.
"He was like 'It's right there.' That's when he took my pants, pulled them down, pulled them over, and that's when I jumped and started walking toward the bathroom," she said.
The man left, leaving her stunned. "You know some guy is violating your space. Just the most random story in the world," Frankowski said.
Police said the man has tried the trick in the Milwaukee-area cities of Waukesha, Muskego and Franklin. They said he seems to target younger women working alone in stores. Police said in every case the man was wearing a green jacket with a tree-service logo. "I hope he gets caught" Frankowski said. "He's done it to so many people and nothing has happened yet so far
Information from: WISN-TV, http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com
Wanted man wins election
Nov 9, 4:13 PM (ET)
NIOTA, Tenn. (AP) - Voters in Niota elected James Wayne Cagle to the city commission, apparently unaware he was on the sheriff's most wanted list in a neighboring East Tennessee county.
Cagle, with 93 votes, edged incumbent Allen J. Watkins by a single vote, even though Cagle was on the Monroe County Sheriff's 10 most wanted list on Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 for two outstanding misdemeanor charges.
Cagle is accused of failing to appear in court to answer to charges of driving on a revoked license this year and of writing a bad check to a grocery store in 2004, court officials said. His driving privileges were revoked after he was cited for failing to show proof of insurance during a traffic stop, records show.
Cagle did not answer his telephone Thursday, and no answering machine picked up. The Monroe County Sheriff's Department did not return a call seeking comment. Cagle is scheduled to be sworn in to his new city post in December. An elections official said the charges do not prevent Cagle from taking office.
City commission members will discuss Cagle's warrants with the city attorney next week, commissioner Eva Brakebill said. Dead man wins election Nov 10, 4:19 PM (ET)
Dead man wins election
MONROE, N.C. (AP) - A candidate for a county board who appeared in newspaper ads the weekend before the election sailed to victory with 12,000 votes - despite being dead for a month. Sam Duncan was the top vote-getter Tuesday for two seats on Union County's Soil and Water Conservation board. Although county elections officials knew of Duncan's death, no one told the voters.
"We are instructed that it's not our job to do that," said Shirley Secrest, elections director.
The Democratic Party ran newspaper endorsement ads about Duncan and literature distributed near the polls included his name. Democratic Party officials said they didn't know Duncan had died when they placed the ads and printed the literature.
Former sheriff Frank McGuirt said he was one of the voters who helped Duncan edge out the sitting chairman who had served for about a dozen years. "I was shocked to know that poor Sam was gone," McGuirt said. "I guess I had just missed that obituary."
Duncan's seat will be filled by appointment, officials said.
Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com
Andy Griffith Vs. Andy Griffith
Nov 10, 10:07 PM (ET) By COLIN FLY MILWAUKEE (AP) - Forget the small-town belief in letting bygones be bygones. Andy Griffith, the actor who portrayed the sheriff of the fictional town of Mayberry, N.C., has sued a Wisconsin resident who unsuccessfully bid for the Grant County post after legally changing his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith in May.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 3 in U.S. District Court in Madison, alleges that William Harold Fenrick, 42, violated trademark and copyright laws as well as the privacy of actor Andy Samuel Griffith when he used his new name - Andy Griffith - to promote his candidacy for sheriff in southwestern Wisconsin.
The lawsuit says the former Fenrick changed his name for the "sole purpose of taking advantage of Griffith's notoriety in an attempt to gain votes" and asks the court to order Fenrick to go back to his original name. Griffith's suit also asks Fenrick to publish disclaimers and an apology in Grant County newspapers, saying he has no association with the actor. It seeks unspecified damages and court fees.
"Now that the election is over, if Fenrick is willing in some fashion to clear the record, we probably could find a way to resolve it," said Griffith's lawyer, Jim Cole.
Fenrick protested that he did not benefit from the name change. "During this campaign I never sold or profited even one nickel from the use of the name Andy Griffith or any item bearing the name Andy Griffith - everything was a promotional item, and everything was given away for free," he said.
The Platteville music store co-owner said he spent $5,000 on his failed campaign and changed his name to garner publicity for the race.
Incumbent Sheriff Keith Govier, a Republican who has held the post for 10 years, won with 8,452 votes, followed by Democrat Doug Vesperman, who got 6,985. Griffith, an independent, had 1,248 votes.
Fenrick described the suit as "incredibly absurd" and said he does not believe the public is "so brain dead" that they might actually believe that he is the famous actor.
"For such an American icon, it's a pretty un-American thing to do to me," said Fenrick, who has about three weeks to respond to the filing.
"There's no sense of humor. I can't believe how cheap and petty these people are," he said. "Do they seriously, seriously think anyone would mistake me?"
Griffith, 80, is best known for starring in "The Andy Griffith Show," a 1960s show that remains one of the most popular series in TV history. He also played an unorthodox lawyer on "Matlock" in the 1980s and 1990s.
Griffith, now retired and living in Manteo, N.C., also owns his own production company. He is recovering from recent hip replacement surgery.
"He seemed in good spirits," Cole said. "It's not something personal, it's the matter of the requirement under the trademark law. If you don't police it, you lose it."
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/461/drug_police_corruption
A quiet week on the drug war corruption front. A Kentucky deputy gets caught stealing from the office stash, so does a Cleveland court employee, and a Cleveland cop's husband's activities is raising eyebrows. Let's get to it:
In Greensburg, Pennsyvlania, a Westmoreland County court employee was arrested for stealing cocaine to be used as evidence in an upcoming trial. Therece Lynn McCloskey allegedly made off with five grams of coke in October, and is now charged with theft by unlawful taking, tampering with physical evidence, and violating state drug laws. She is now also a former court employee. No word on whether some coke offender is now getting a free walk.
In Richmond, Kentucky, a former Madison County sheriff's deputy is charged with stealing drugs from the department. Deputy James Fee, 37, allegedly took three hydrocodone tablets from an evidence locker and told investigators he was taking them for his wife, who had had an operation and wanted pain pills. He is charged with theft of a controlled substance, and faces one to five years in prison if convicted. Deputy Fee was first suspended, then became former Deputy Fee a few weeks ago when he resigned under pressure from his boss.
In East Cleveland, Ohio, an East Cleveland police officer is being investigated by the feds to see whether she is involved in a drug conspiracy with her cocaine-dealing husband. Officer Tiffiney Cleveland has been reassigned from the department's detective bureau to a desk job in the wake of the July arrest of her husband, who was carrying seven ounces of crack cocaine, an East Cleveland Police detective badge, and his wife's business card when he was popped. The husband had been the object of a DEA investigation and had spent eight years in prison on drug charges since 1993. Cleveland maintains she is shocked by her husband's arrest and is not involved in his drug dealing.
