Dec 13, 10:48 PM (ET) By EN-LAI YEOH KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A sting from a hornet caused a truck driver to lose control of his vehicle, and sent his 16.5 ton load of hydrochloric acid all over an expressway in northern Malaysia, an official and a news report said Thursday.
The accident midday Wednesday sparked a massive traffic jam, and sent "very smelly" fumes all around the scene, an official from the Malaysian highways authority said, on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"I tried to shoo it away but the next instant it was inside my shirt and I felt a sharp pain on my back," driver S. Pachiapan said, according to The Star newspaper.
It was not clear what Pachiapan did after he was stung to cause the vehicle to overturn. The newspaper speculated that he may have slammed on the brakes. The Star said a passing motorist pulled Pachiapan from his overturned vehicle just before he fainted. It is not immediately clear if Pachiapan was injured. Firefighters and hazardous materials teams were dispatched to the accident site near Kamunting in northern Perak state, the official said.
Hydrochloric acid is a strong chemical used in industrial processes, and can damage the respiratory system, eyes and intestines if ingested.
Nasty bathroom surprise
Dec 13, 9:00 PM (ET) SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - An Australian wildlife worker pulled a 7-foot python out of a septic tank Wednesday after a plumber found it hiding in a woman's toilet, officials said.
Peter Phillips, a wildlife officer for the Northern Territory's Parks and Wildlife Service, was called to remove the snake after a plumber who was fixing the blocked toilet discovered it curled in the pipes.
"The ... resident originally called a plumber because her toilet was blocked," Phillips said in a statement released by the Northern Territory government. "I arrived to see a large python head peering out of the toilet bowl."
Phillips removed the snake from the septic tank because he said it had grown too big to be pulled straight out of the toilet. The mostly nocturnal Carpet Python had probably taken up temporary residence in the septic tank because it was a good place to hide during the day and hunt for frogs.
"The tank was obviously a great home, because the snake was so fat and healthy it was it difficult to retrieve," he said, adding that the nonpoisonous snake will be released. Dec 14, 7:09 PM (ET)
New school name hard to stomach
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Some Bay District School Board members have a problem with the proposed name for a new elementary school - Breakfast Point Academy.
The new school is located on land donated by the St. Joe Foundation, which wants to name it after a nearby subdivision.
But Newly board members Pat Sabiston and Ginger Littleton questioned the name in a discussion about the new school Wednesday night. "Pat and I want to know what the mascot is going to be," Littleton asked. "The Croissants," Sabiston answered. Board attorney Franklin Harrison suggested "The Biscuits."
Sabiston said middle school students have enough angst without having to worry about the name of their school.
It was the academy part of the name that bothered board member Johnny Brock, who said the title struck him as incorrect for a public school.
The board will make a final decision on the new name at a future meeting.
Political correctness run amok
Dec 14, 10:21 PM (ET) RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) - A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen out of concern the skater would be offended because she's Jewish.
A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and requested that the troupe stop singing, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Thursday.
Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and 2006 U.S. National Champion, had just finished her performance at the rink on the downtown pedestrian mall, and was signing autographs.
Choir director Staci Della-Rocco said she complied with the request "because a policeman told me to stop. I didn't want to have a big old huge scene in front of my kids," according to the newspaper.
The city staff member, special-events employee Michelle Baldwin, could not be reached for comment. City Development Director Belinda J. Graham confirmed the incident.
"This request was simply made by a staff member who was attempting to be sensitive to the celebrity guest, without considering the wider implications ... or consulting with her supervisor for guidance," Graham said in an e-mail to the newspaper.
Mayor Ron Loveridge called the incident "unfortunate." "You kind of wish people do a little checking first. You certainly have my apology," he said, referring to the choir members.
A spokeswoman with the New York-based PR firm that helped promote the event said Cohen did not make the request to silence the singers.
New Low in criminal charges
Dec 14, 10:12 PM (ET) CLINTON, Iowa (AP) - A Clinton man arrested for burglary also was charged with theft for taking the handcuffs he was wearing when he escaped from officers, police said.
David Lee Griffin, 19, is accused of taking items from cars with two other people early Wednesday. After being arrested, he escaped from the Clinton Police Department - still wearing handcuffs.
Griffin was charged with third-degree burglary, escape and fifth-degree theft. He was being held in the Clinton County jail under $1,950 bond.
Freak deer "tasty"
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - Rick Lisko hunts deer with a bow but got his most unusual one driving his truck down his mile-long driveway. The young buck had nub antlers - and seven legs. Lisko said it also had both male and female reproductive organs. "It was definitely a freak of nature," Lisko said. "I guess it's a real rarity."
He said he slowed down as the buck and two does ran across the driveway Nov. 22, but the buck ran under the truck and got hit.
When he looked at the animal, he noticed three- to four-inch appendages growing from the rear legs. Later, he found a smaller appendage growing from one of the front legs.
"It's a pretty weird deer," he said, describing the extra legs as resembling "crab pinchers."
"It kind of gives you the creeps when you look at it," he said, but he thought he saw the appendages moving, as if they were functional, before the deer was hit.
Warden Doug Bilgo of the state Department of Natural Resources came to Lisko's property near Mud Lake in the town of Osceola to tag the deer.
"I have never seen anything like that in all the years that I've been working as a game warden and being a hunter myself," Bilgo said. "It wasn't anything grotesque or ugly or anything. It was just unusual that it would have those little appendages growing out like that."
Bilgo took photos and sent information on the animal to DNR wildlife managers. John Hoffman of Eden Meat Market skinned the deer for Lisko, who wasn't going to waste the venison from the animal.
"And by the way, I did eat it," Lisko said. "It was tasty."
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/465/police_drug_corruption
It's a week heavy with crooked guards peddling dope to prisoners, but we also have missing drug evidence in Boston, a cop marketing meth in Mississippi, and a Border Patrol agent headed for prison. Let's get to it:
In Boston, all 10 Boston Police officers working in the department's central drug warehouse have been transferred because anticorruption investigators think someone is stealing evidence. The department has been aware of the missing dope, much of it Oxycontin, for several weeks, but only confirmed last week that it thinks the drugs have been stolen. It is seeking help from the State Police. The drug warehouse holds evidence from 190,000 cases, some going back 20 years. Police said it appeared many of the missing drugs were from cases that had been dismissed. The Boston Police said this week that "findings suggest that evidence tampering is not solely historical, but also current." In Moss Point, Mississippi, a Moss Point Police officer was arrested December 7 on federal drug distribution charges. Officer Wendy Peyregne was on duty, in uniform, and holding six grams of methamphetamine when she was arrested in Pascagoula and charged with meth distribution. The arrest was the result of a joint investigation by the Moss Point Police Department, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County, and came after at least two snitches bought speed off Peyregne. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $2 million fine.
In Houston, a former US Border Patrol agent was sentenced December 7 to 14 years in prison for taking bribes to help drug and immigrant smugglers and selling immigration documents. David Duque, 36, pleaded guilty to bribery and document counts in September. Prosecutors showed that he had accepted $5,000 to let a vehicle carrying 11 pounds of cocaine to go through the Falfurrias, Texas, highway checkpoint in June. FBI agents said Duque had been doing it for years, as well as selling passports, birth certificates, and other identification documents.
In Onslow County, North Carolina, a New Hanover County jail guard was arrested December 7 when he was caught with two pounds of cocaine. Thurston Miles, 33, went down after a two-month investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation, the Onslow County Sheriff's Office and the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office. He now faces cocaine distribution charges, and was last reported sitting in jail under a $500,000 secured bond.
In Oklahoma City, an Oklahoma County jail guard has been arrested for smuggling marijuana and other contraband into the jail. County detention officer Eddie Daniels was busted with a quarter-ounce of pot and 3 ½ pounds of tobacco when he reported for work at the jail. Jail officials also turned up a half-pound of pot in the jail they said was linked to Daniels' arrest. Investigators said they believed Daniels had made $5,000 working with an inmate to bring contraband into the jail. The inmate also faces drug and contraband charges. No word yet on the formal charges Daniels faces.
In Linton, Indiana, a Wabash Valley Correctional Facility officer was arrested December 8 and charged with financing the delivery of methamphetamine. Dustine LeDune, 24, was being held without bond. LeDune was arrested after making a deal to sell an eightball (3.5 grams) of meth in a Wal-Mart parking lot, but Linton Police said they had been investigating him for several months. Correctional facility officials said LeDune has been suspended pending the outcome of his trial.
In Hutchinson, Kansas, a prison contract worker was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for selling meth to prisoners. Joseph Delancy, who worked for Aramark Services at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility had pleaded guilty to trafficking in contraband in a correctional facility, possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell and unlawfully arranging a drug sale by a commercial device. He could have received almost 5 years in prison, but Judge Tim Chambers was apparently moved by his contention that he fell into drug use after the death of his 4-year-old son.
In East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office deputy was arrested Sunday night for allegedly peddling drugs in the Parish Prison. Deputy Kendrick Jamond Lockett, 24, was arrested after an investigation by the sheriff's office, the Baton Rouge Police Department the Louisiana Office of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and a snitch. Lockett is charged with attempting to enter contraband into a penal facility, malfeasance in office, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy, attempt to distribute marijuana and attempt to distribute Ecstasy. He was fired Monday morning as he sat in jail.
