No more “Steamed Crap” in Beijing 

Aug 31, 2:58 AM (ET)

BEIJING (AP) - Hungry visitors to next summer's Beijing Olympics won't have to choose between "steamed crap" and "virgin chicken" if Chinese authorities succeed in ridding restaurant menus of mangled English translations.

The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list with 2,753 proposed names for dishes and drinks, designed to replace bizarre and sometimes ridiculous translations on menus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Foreigners are often stumped by dish names such as "virgin chicken" (a young chicken dish) or "burnt lion's head" (Chinese-style pork meatballs). Other garbled names include "The temple explodes the chicken cube" (kung pao chicken) or "steamed crap" (steamed carp).

"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," Xinhua said. It's the latest effort by Beijing Olympics organizers to clean up the city and ensure that the best image is presented to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected next summer.

Etiquette campaigns are afoot to stamp out bad manners such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving. The revised menu names are part of an effort to ban unintelligible English, known as "Chinglish," that abounds on signs everywhere.

A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the menu names for more than a year, Xinhua said. Translators developed names for dishes based on one of four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste, or the name of a person or place.

For example, a dish with mushrooms and ducks' feet will be listed as simply "Mushroom-Duck's Foot." Others proposed names include "Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil" and "Crispy Chicken."

The tourism bureau is soliciting public opinion on the translations. Once a final decision is made on the list of names, they will be used in restaurants across China, Xinhua said.

School Bans Tag in Playground

Aug 31, 1:32 AM (ET)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.

"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.

Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.

Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.

In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.

Law Enforcement: This Week’s Crooked Cops

ELGIN, ILLINOIS – An Elgin police officer inadvertently shot another police officer in the leg Thursday when a pit bull charged them as they tried to serve a warrant, police said. Elgin police Officer Ken Ericson, a 9-year veteran with the Elgin Police Department, was treated at Sherman Hospital in Elgin and released Thursday evening, police said.

No one was home about 11:50 a.m. at an apartment at 1145 Fairwood Drive when a pit bull charged the officers on an outside balcony area, police said. A police officer shot the dog, which died at the scene.

The officers intended to serve a warrant at the address for a person wanted for failure to appear in Kane County Court, police said. The shooting remains under investigation by the Elgin Police Department.

CULLMAN, ALABAMA - A former Cullman County Sheriff’s Deputy was found guilty in Marshall County Circuit Court Friday on two counts of soliciting someone to kill his estranged wife and her boyfriend.

Cullman County Sheriff Tyler Roden said James Brian Phelps of Arab worked as a deputy in the department for six months prior to being arrested in 2005 for the murder solicitation charges.

Roden said Phelps was terminated from the sheriff’s department after he was arrested for domestic violence.

“He was having serious family issues which got him in trouble,” Roden said.

CLARK COUNTY, KENTUCKY - An employee in the Clark County Community Corrections Department has been fired because of alleged sexual relations with a woman under the department’s supervision.

County Attorney Dan Moore said yesterday that Larry Kirwald was fired this week. Kirwald supervised people assigned to community corrections, Moore said. Kirwald couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

“The police investigation is still going on,” Moore said of the allegations, which were made last week.

LONDON, KENTUCKY - A 41-year-old eastern Kentucky magistrate has entered a plea of guilty to a federal charge of altering a vehicle identification number.

Terry Davidson of Clay County admitted in federal court yesterday that he took identifying numbers from a wrecked 2000 Nissan Frontier and placed them on a similar truck. Davidson entered his plea in U.S. District Court at London. Davidson has been a magistrate since the early 1990s.

State police officer Bill Riley said Davidson switched the VIN from the wrecked truck to one that had been reported stolen. Putting a VIN from a wrecked vehicle on one that has been stolen can clear the way to title, drive or sell the stolen vehicle.

Attorney David Hoskins said Davidson did not know the vehicle was stolen. Davidson faces a sentence of up to five years in prison, but with his plea and no previous record, advisory sentencing guidelines would indicate a term of zero to six months.

LOUDON, TENNESSEE - A part-time Loudon city police officer has been fired following his arrest on a slew of burglary charges. Steve Robert Gutt, 24, was hired in April on a “work as needed” basis.?

Gutt was arrested by Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies after a confidential source gave them information on 30 burglaries committed in Monroe County. Deputies obtained search warrants for three residences in Monroe County and arrested Steve Gutt and 44-year-old Hubert Elam Thursday.

Each man has been charged with 23 counts of aggravated burglary and one count of theft over $1000.

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - Antoine Owens, a former Memphis police officer, pleaded in Federal Court today, August 29, 2007, on felony civil rights charges.

 Owens says, when he was a MPD officer, he stole money from drivers he pulled over and searched in 2003 and 2004.

 Three other former MPD officers have been charged in the conspiracy, Arthur Sease, Alexander Johnson, and Laterrica Woods. Johnson pleaded guilty in April 2007, and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 1, 2007. A jury trial for Woods and Sease is set for September 20, 2007.

ONTARIO, OREGON — A female state corrections officer in Eastern Oregon is accused of having sex with an inmate at an all-male prison and smuggling in diet pills, the Oregon State Police said Friday.

 Her husband, also a corrections officer, was arrested and charged with growing marijuana, the police said.

She also was accused of growing marijuana found at the couple’s home, bringing contraband diet pills into the prison and official misconduct, the police said.

She was hired in 1999, he in 2000. Landis said he did not know when they were married. The medium-security Snake River prison is an all-male facility, Landis said.

 The police said she was put on administrative leave in June. Officials of the Department of Corrections were either unavailable Friday to say whether any disciplinary action was taken against the inmate, or said they didn’t know.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA - Two of the Orlando Fire Department’s top brass were suspended for a month without pay Friday for cheating on a promotional exam five years ago — a punishment that union officials decried as too light.