Can you believe this

**ellanoize** · September 4th, 2008, 12:24 PM

BEIJING - A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will return home after emerging clean from a three-year detox program on China's tropical island province of Hainan.

The four-year-old bull elephant, referred to alternately as "Big Brother" or "Xiguang" in state media reports, was captured in 2005 in southwest China by traders who used spiked bananas to control him.

After police arrested the traders and freed Xiguang a few months later, the elephant was confirmed to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms and sent to a wild animal protection center in Hainan for rehab, Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

A year of methadone injections at five times the human dosage had helped wean Xiguang off his addiction.

Now clean, Xiguang was expected to arrive on Saturday at a wildlife park in Kunming, capital of the elephant's home province of Yunnan on the mainland.

Xiguang's return would cap a 1,500-km journey home, Xinhua said, and mark another step in the elephant's triumph over addiction.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The truth is getting strangerer & stangerer [img]confused.gif[/img]

**ellanoize** · September 4th, 2008, 12:26 PM

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Police in Port St. Lucie are on the lookout for a cross-dressing man who snatched a 74-year-old woman's purse. As if that weren't odd enough, they're depending on a strange clue. The suspect left behind a condom filled with water he had been using as a fake breast.

The woman said she believed the thief followed her while shopping. A witness told investigators he was wearing a short denim skirt and black tube top, and fled in a silver car with two other male crossdressers.

Police are processing the condom for fingerprint and DNA evidence.

**cherrysmum** · September 4th, 2008, 07:14 PM

only in port st lucie...thats why I carry a gun ..to pop water balloons

**ellanoize** · September 5th, 2008, 12:35 PM

Smokey? Black bear busts secret Utah pot farm

PANGUITCH, Utah - One Utah community is cheering a special bear ? but don't call him Smokey.

Investigators say a large black bear raided a clandestine marijuana growing operation so often that it chased the grower away.

"This bear is definitely law-enforcement minded," said Garfield County Sheriff Danny Perkins. "If I can find this bear I'm going to deputize him."

Deputies found food containers ripped apart and strewn everywhere, cans with bear teeth marks, claw marks and bear prints across the Garfield County camp on Tuesday.

Perkins said the operation on Boulder Mountain included 4,000 "starter" sacks of pot and 888 young plants.

"This particular bear apparently was not going to give up and basically chased these marijuana farmers away," Perkins said. "Our county is so tough on drugs that even the wildlife are getting in on the action."

**cherrysmum** · September 8th, 2008, 02:21 PM

things seem a little crazy to you??

**ellanoize** · September 14th, 2008, 01:29 AM

Ron White of the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour" was late to a sold-out performance on Florida's Treasure Coast ? but he had a good excuse.

The Vero Beach Police Department arrested the 51-year-old comedian Wednesday on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. White, whose comedy album is titled "You Can't Fix Stupid," was booked at the Indian River County Jail shortly after 6 p.m. and released about two hours later on $1,000 bail.

His publicist, Kathe Nelson, says he went straight to the show after being released from jail. The show was delayed about an hour.

One of White's most famous routines includes a joke about being booked into a Texas jail under the alias "Tater Salad."

**ellanoize** · September 14th, 2008, 01:29 AM

Anne Hathaway's reputation wasn't the only thing dinged by former boyfriend Raffaello Follieri's underhanded business dealings. Seems her jewelry box also took a hit. The Smoking Gun reports that the FBI recently "recovered" several "lavish" baubles bestowed upon the actress by her con artist ex, who is expected to spend at least five years in the pokey after pleading guilty this week to wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Among the items that Hathaway, who's not mentioned by name in court documents, purportedly handed over to the feds: two Rolex watches -- one gold, one silver; two gold rings, one with "clear stones," which may be FBI-speak for diamonds; a five-strand pearl necklace; a silver bracelet dotted with "clear stones"; and a silver chain with a cross and "blue and clear stones." Anne opens up in the October issue of W about her breakup with Follieri after four years of togetherness, explaining, "It's a situation where the rug was pulled out from under me all of a sudden. But just as suddenly, my friends threw another rug back under me." She then tearfully notes, "I've been shown such kindness. Not everyone gets that. A lot of people go through tough times alone."

**ellanoize** · September 15th, 2008, 01:42 PM

"Man's best friend" doesn't go far enough for Buddy ? a German shepherd who remembered his training and saved his owner's life by calling 911 when the man had a seizure.

And it's not the first time Buddy has been there for owner Joe Stalnaker, a police officer said Sunday.

On a recording of the 911 call Wednesday, Buddy is heard whimpering and barking after the dispatcher answers and repeatedly asks if the caller needs help.

"Hello, this is 911. Hello ... Can you hear me? Is there somebody there you can give the phone to," says the dispatcher, Chris Scott.

Police were sent to Stalnaker's home, and after about three minutes Buddy is heard barking loudly when the officers arrived.

Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said Stalnaker spent two days in a hospital and recovered from the seizure.

"It's pretty incredible," Clark said. "Even the veteran dispatchers ? they haven't heard of anything like this."

Clark said police are dispatched whenever 911 is called, but that Stalnaker's address was flagged in Scottsdale's system with a notification that a trained assistance dog could call 911 when the owner was incapacitated.

Clark said Stalnaker adopted Buddy at the age of 8 weeks from Michigan-based Paws with a Cause, which trains assistance dogs, and trained him to get the phone if he began to have seizure symptoms. Buddy, now 18 months old, is able press programmed buttons until a 911 operator is on the line, Clark said.

Clark said Buddy has made two other 911 calls when Stalnaker was having seizures.

He said Stalnaker's seizures are the result of a head injury he suffered about 10 years ago during a military training exercise.

Stalnaker was not listed in the phone book, and he did not immediately respond to a request through police for an interview.

**ellanoize** · September 18th, 2008, 01:15 PM

A trial has begun in the case of a baseball player-turned-actor accused of brutally killing a cat in a jealous rage after complaining that his ex-girlfriend cared more for the feline than she did for him.

Assistant District Attorney Leila Kermani said the cat named Norman died with broken teeth, broken ribs, a broken leg, a torn tongue, massive internal injuries including bruised lungs and a bruised liver and a chest cavity filled with blood.

"The defendant, in a fit of anger and rage, beat a defenseless animal to death," Kermani told the jury in her opening remarks Wednesday. "The defendant killed Norman simply because he was an angry, jealous and drunken bully."

Former New York Mets baseball minor leaguer Joseph Petcka, 37, is on trial on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals for killing Norman on March 27, 2007, after a night of heavy drinking. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.

'Tragic accident'
Petcka's lawyer, Charles Hochbaum, admitted his client kicked the 8-year-old tabby and "swatted him really hard" after the cat bit him, but he said his client did not mean to kill him.

"This was a tragic accident," Hochbaum said. "It was not intentional."

Hochbaum complained the district attorney's office never offered his client a plea deal. He said outside court he believes that was because of the publicity the case attracted and the urgings of cat fanciers.

Norman's owner, Lisa Altobelli, testified she had dated Petcka about six weeks before he killed her cat. She said one night they quarreled and he began drinking heavily. She said she went to bed to avoid him but he woke her around 3 a.m. by putting his knee in her ribs and complaining that Norman had attacked him.

Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated reporter, said she left the apartment after Petcka refused to calm down.

She said Petcka had complained, "You love that cat more than you love me," but she had no idea Norman would be in danger. When she returned home Norman did not meet her at the door as usual. She found his body under her bedside table.

Petcka, a pitcher briefly in the Mets' minor league system in 1992, later appeared in a paper towel commercial and had small roles in "Sex and the City" and other television shows. Hochbaum said his client had more recently worked as a bartender and waiter.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">This pisses me off, I hate to see an animal hurt. this was no "Swat" the cat recieved...Arrrgggg I can't even think what to say I'm so mad!!!