Fresh off the Press: Daggers

Sikh boy withdrawn from school in dispute of ceremonial dagger

A Sikh boy has been withdrawn from the Compton School in Barnet, north London, in a dispute over a ceremonial dagger, his local education authority confirmed.

(Published: 2:30PM BST 13 Oct 2009)

The 14-year-old who has not been named, was forbidden from wearing a five-inch (13cm) kirpan to school on the grounds that it was a health and safety risk.

The ceremonial sword, or dagger, is one of five articles of the Sikh faith that must be carried at all times.

The school governors said they had tried to reach a compromise and had proposed that he wore a two-inch version of the dagger welded into a sheath.

But this was rejected by his family who said the miniature dagger was not a genuine kirpan.

The boy first started carrying the five inch kirpan two years ago when he was baptised as a Sikh.

But according to his older brother Ravjeet Singh, he was no longer allowed to wear the dagger at the beginning of this term.

''He was greeted by the head teacher at the school and was asked if he was wearing the kirpan,'' he told the BBC's Asian Network.

''He said yes and then they said, 'We're going to have to turn you away'.''

The boy's family told the BBC he was now being privately educated having missed five weeks of school.

A statement from The Compton School board of governors said: ''The student involved is a valued pupil at the school who is expected to get good grades in his forthcoming GCSEs.

''The school's governing body has spent the past two years trying to reach an agreement with the family and to establish the appropriate nature of a religious artifact that can safely be brought into school.

''During this period of time, along with the local authority, we have examined potential compromises after looking at how this issue has been dealt with in other schools, education authorities and elsewhere within the Sikh community and taken legal advice.

''At the moment we are holding a place open for the student should he feel able to wear a kirpan suitable to bring into school.''

*it's just a dagger . . . not a gun! it's just a ceremonial knife . . . not a machete! it's just a golden shank . . . not a satanic shiv crafted by goth-garbed tweekers. just some thoughts

Polar Bear + Feeding Time + Crazy Woman =

A bizarre but likely encounter...


www.chicagotribune.com

Berlin Zoo: No changes to polar bear enclosure even after woman jumped in

RACHEL NOLAN

Associated Press Writer

10:25 AM CDT, April 13, 2009

BERLIN (AP) — The Berlin zoo doesn't plan to change security measures even after a polar bear attacked a woman who managed to jump into the bears' enclosure last week, an incident caught on video.

"It is already safe," zoo spokesman Heiner Kloes said Monday.

The woman, who has not been identified, climbed down a fence, over a wide hedge full of thorns and got past a concrete wall before swan diving into the murky moat where the polar bears swim.

One of four bears in the enclosure bit the woman's arms, legs and back before keepers rescued her out with a life preserver.

The woman was taken to Berlin's Charité hospital for treatment and is still recovering, the Bild newspaper reported Monday. The hospital did not return phone calls seeking comment.

It was not clear what made the woman circumvent all those security measures and jump in with four large, fully grown polar bears. Police did not provide any motive for the incident.

Last year, a man who said celebrity polar bear Knut looked "lonely" hurdled over a water-filled ditch into his enclosure at the same zoo. The 37-year-old emerged unscathed after keepers lured Knut away with a leg of beef.

An older bear attacked Friday's leaper.

Despite visitors' repeated attempts to hug the huge, powerful bears, keepers have no plans to change the zoo's setup. The concrete wall protecting the polar bears' enclosure will not be built up higher than its current three feet (90 centimeters), nor will more guards be posted, Kloes said.

"People who want to jump in will always find a way," he added.

Alabama: the day after!

Source: CNN

SAMSON, Alabama -- Alina Knowles anxiously crept along her neighbor's porch, where the bodies lay strewn on the blood-covered floor.

And then she heard the baby's wail. The infant was covered in blood, but she was crying.

"I'm glad she was crying -- I knew she was alive," Knowles told CNN Wednesday, just a day after her neighbors were gunned down in the middle of a shooting spree over two south Alabama towns.

"There was blood everywhere, I couldn't tell where the bleeding was coming from," said Knowles, a certified nurse's assistant. "Her mother's blood was on her."

Just minutes before, Knowles had heard the rapid fire of gunshots from her home next door in the Samson neighborhood as 28-year-old Michael McLendon methodically shot dead five people, including two children, on the front porch of his uncle's home on West Pullum Street.

Among the dead were the wife and and toddler of Geneva County Sheriff's Deputy Josh Myers.

Knowles scooped up Myers' crying 3-month-old daughter and ducked behind a minivan as McLendon cruised down an adjacent street, still firing at people.

McLendon was "very workmanlike, like he was on a mission," Knowles said. "It really sounded like you were in a war zone."

The 28-year-old gunman would kill three more people, including his 74-year-old grandmother, before heading to Geneva, where he would ultimately take his own life in a standoff with police. Eleven people died in the rampage, which lasted less than an hour and started with the killing of his mother in neighboring Coffee County.

Knowles cleaned off the baby as she anxiously awaited an ambulance and authorities. She found a wound on the baby's leg.

"I was crying the whole time," she said, recalling that she scurried to a neighbor's brick home where she felt safe amid all the gunfire.

A mother of two, Knowles has since spoken to deputy Myers, who was involved in the shootout at the Reliable Metal Products plant a few miles away in Geneva before he even realized his wife, Andrea, and 1 1/2-year-old daughter, Corinne Gracy, were among McLendon's victims.

"He thanked me 'for saving my baby girl,' " Knowles said, dismissing any notion of being a hero, saying Myers would have done the same for her.

A day after Tuesday's shootings, Myers stood in front of his home, across the street from the house where his family members were killed, and spoke to reporters.

"It's supposed to be me out here getting shot, not my family," Myers said, speaking barely above a whisper.
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Meanwhile, Knowles is haunted by the scene on the porch and misses her neighbors, whom she considered friends.

"All I can see is faces," she said. "It's going to take a while to shake that."

Alabama off the Press

AP News Source:
SAMSON, Ala. – A gunman killed at least nine people on a terrifying rampage across two Alabama counties Tuesday, burning down his mother's home, killing members of his own family and shooting apparent strangers on their porches as he drove by, authorities said. He then fatally shot himself at a metals plant.

Police were investigating shootings in at least four different locations in three neighboring communities, all of which were believed to be the work of a single gunman who had not yet been identified by investigators. At least four other people, including a child, were injured.

The afternoon of bloodshed began in Kinston, near the Alabama-Florida border, where the shooter burned down his mother's house, according to Coffee County Coroner Robert Preachers. Officials located the woman's body inside the house, but they had not been able to get inside the still-burning house to determine a cause of death or whether she was the 10th victim.

The gunman then headed about 12 miles southeast to the town of Samson, in Geneva County, where he shot and killed five people — four adults and a child — at a home. Then he killed one person each in two other homes. The identities of all the victims were unknown, but Preachers said they included other members of the shooter's family.

"He started in his mother's house," Preachers said. "Then he went to Samson and he killed his granny and granddaddy and aunt and uncle. He cleaned his family out."

"We don't know what triggered it," Preachers added.

The gunman also shot at a state trooper's car, striking the vehicle seven times and wounding the trooper with broken glass.

He then killed someone at a Samson supply store, and another person at a service station.

Samson contractor Greg McCullough said he was pumping gas at the station when the gunman opened fire, killing a woman coming out of the service station and wounding McCullough in the shoulder and arm with bullet fragments that struck his truck and the pump.

unbelievable...
read the remaining story --here--

Speaking of Gang Violence

Portland is not immune.
Gang-related shootings between December and January:

Dec. 12: 3725 N. Gantenbein Ave. Darshawn Cross, 31, a member of the Unthank Park Hustlers, is shot and killed during a funeral service at the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Latwan Brown, 30, a member of the rival Kerby Blocc Crips, has been arrested in the case.

Dec. 13: Northeast Dekum and 18th: Shots fired, bullet holes found in two vehicles. A handgun and shell casings recovered.

Dec. 14: Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. and Lombard: Man shot in the leg after a confrontation with three men who accused him of belonging to a gang.

Dec. 15: Northeast Killingsworth and 60th: Man shot in both legs by a gunman firing from a passing vehicle.

Dec. 18: 6000 block of Northeast Simpson: Foster brother of church shooting suspect is shot twice in the legs by a gunman firing from a passing vehicle.

Dec. 19: Lloyd Center: A Crips gang member grazed by a bullet on Northeast Multnomah Street, just east of 11th Avenue near the Macy's parking lot after an encounter with gang rivals inside the mall.

Dec. 26: Lloyd Center Cinema: Reports of one man chasing another and shots being fired. No victim located.

Dec. 27: 5100 block of Northeast 42nd Avenue. Police investigate the shooting of a man who showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand, but he wouldn't cooperate with investigators.

Dec. 31: 200 block of Southeast 188th Avenue, Gresham. Report of shots fired leads to the discovery of two bodies near the Barberry Village Apartments: Darius Perry and Willy Butler, both 18. Raymond Lawrence, 17, has been accused of murder. Investigators suspect Butler fatally shot Perry, and then Lawrence shot and killed Butler. Butler was a half brother to murder suspect Latwan Brown, 30, who is accused of the killing at the Dec. 12 funeral.

Jan. 1: Southeast 122nd Avenue and Foster Road. Callers report hearing five gunshots. Police find two women who were shot at in a car which showed damage. Witnesses said the women were being pursued by two men in a second car.

Jan. 8: 4200 block of North Commercial. Numerous bullets fired into a house.

Fresh off the Press

Recently there have been multiple gang-related murders and shootings plaguing the Vancouver, BC metro area. According to sources, there have been 11 homicides in Metro Vancouver since 09. In fact, February brought a reign of terror in the streets with 6 shootings taking place in 6 days resulting in 4 deaths. All together, February has brought about 18 shootings total in BC!

The following is an exert from BC news reports on events between Feb. 2 and Feb. 8th:

The carnage began when James Erickson, 25, was found murdered in an apartment in the Whalley neighbourhood in Surrey. Erickson is well known to police.

On Feb 3. Raphael Baldini was shot to death as he sat in a luxury SUV outside a Surrey mall. The 21-year-old held the lease on a Surrey apartment where six people -- two of them innocent bystanders -- were killed in October 2007.

The same day Baldini was killed, Brianna Kinnear, 21, who had escaped from jail while serving time for drug trafficking, was found shot to death in a car in suburban Coquitlam.

Then on Friday, 26-year-old Kevin Robert LeClair was shot in his truck at a grocery store in Langley. He died from his injuries this weekend.

On Sunday outside a grocery store near West Broadway and Arbutus St. in Vancouver's west side another shooting take place. The suspect fled on foot and at least one report suggests the victim has gang ties.

-On Feb. 22, hundreds of citizens took to the streets of Vancouver in protesting the gang violence hoping to also push the government to enforce stricter laws. Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced a plan to crack down on an unprecedented wave of gang-related murders as the city prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Canada's public safety minister even called the gang violence the worst in the country, and British Columbia this week appointed an organized crime czar to oversee gang, drug and gun violence issues.

The shootings have taken place in Kitsalano (yuppy-land), Langley, Surrey, and downtown Vancouver.
BC is under fire!!

Fresh off the Press

Here's another Fress off the Press release describing the ghoulish stabbing by an ADD-afflicted youth and his sentencing. Enjoy...
Courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Teenage killer jailed for five years
A teenager who stabbed a student to death in an unprovoked attack has been jailed for five years.


By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:24PM GMT 30 Oct 2008

Christopher Johnston, 17, was stabbed in the leg moments after his best friend had been attacked by the same 14-year-old youth.

The killer was drunk at the time and had left his home armed with a knife.

Lord Matthews, at the High Court in Edinburgh, told the youth that the use of knives had caused "countless families to mourn over the years".

He added: "Nothing the courts have been able to do has brought any of the victims back nor, I suppose, provided any form of solace for those left behind."

The judge said the killer, who is now 15 and cannot be named for legal reasons, was very young and had "a number of difficulties not of his own making".

He ordered that he should be detained for five years and kept under supervision for a further five years when he is released.

The judge expressed his admiration for the family of the victim after reading reports that Christopher's father Jim Johnston, 51, said he did not hate his son's killer but hated what he had done.

Lord Matthews said it was a "tragic and unusual case" and the death was the unforeseen consequence of a stab wound to the victim's leg.

Outside the court Mr Johnston said the sentence was "at the very lowest end of the scale".

He added: "Christopher would have been 18 next week. This boy will be released on, or about, his 18th birthday. He will be able to celebrate his 18th birthday. We will be sitting a week on Sunday without Christopher."

The victim's aunt, Anne Marie McGuire, said: "His future is in his own hands. He has robbed us of Christopher and he has robbed Christopher of his future."

The youth, who has attention deficit disorder, was originally charged with murdering Christopher at a lane near Pentland Drive, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, on January 26 this year.

But during an earlier trial the Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of culpable homicide.

He admitted assaulting Christopher near his home, pushing him against a fence, holding a knife to his throat and stabbing and killing him. His parents found him dying in the street.

The Glasgow College of Commerce student was taken to hospital but died an hour later after suffering massive blood loss.

The killer, who claimed he had drunk eight pints and two vodkas in a pub, was caught in a nearby street with a bloodstained knife in his sleeve.

He also admitted assaulting Christopher's friend, 17-year-old Keni Carmichael.

Neil Murray QC, defending, said his client had problems articulating his feelings and that led to frustration and a loss of temper.

He added: "I can provide no explanation for what happened. Drink may provide an explanation and the boy's background may provide an explanation, but neither of these factors is given as an excuse for what happened."

Mr Murray said the youth, from Bishopbriggs, had expressed regret for his actions.

Lord Matthews called for an investigation into claims that the teenager was allowed to drink in licensed premises.

Fresh off the Press

Fresh off the Press brings you a mighty tall tale of a dog-eat-dog-world via Oregon Live News. Enjoy this masterpiece of almighty carnage...
Big dog kills small dog in TriMet attack
by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian
Monday October 27, 2008, 4:30 PM

A big dog killed a smaller dog standing at its owner's feet as they all rode a TriMet bus yesterday, an agency spokeswoman says.

The smaller animal, a Pomeranian, was a service dog and therefore authorized to travel on the bus. The larger one, a mix between a Rottweiler and a Shar-Pei, was not a service dog, TriMet says, and its owner was subsequently barred from riding TriMet buses and trains for 30 days.

Peggy LaPoint of TriMet said Marie Kelemen of Portland and her dog were riding the No. 75-39 bus at around 4:15 p.m. near North Interstate Avenue and Lombard Street when the much larger dog attacked.

LaPoint said the owner of the Rottweiler/Shar-Pei, Leroy Morley, was sitting at the back of the bus in front of the rear door with his 50-pound dog. Morley then walked toward the front of the bus to exit.

As he walked pass Keleman's leashed Pomeranian, which was standing on the floor, Morley's dog attacked. The Pomeranian died at the scene.

Transit Police responded to the incident, LaPoint said. According to the driver, Morley got on the bus first, and Kelemen got on later.

"The driver was pretty upset,'' LaPoint said. "She took the rest of the day off."

John Rowton, a spokesman for Multnomah County Animal Services, said "the case had been referred to us, but we haven't seen the report and we're waiting for a copy of the video from the bus' surveillance camera."

According to TriMet's Web site, service dogs are allowed to ride TriMet buses and trains, but must be kept on a leash or in a container.

"Service animals are welcome on TriMet,'' according to TriMet rules. "No permit is required, but you may be asked to confirm that your animal is a service animal."

Rowton said service dogs can perform a broad range of duties for their owners.

"Some can alert when they sense their owner is going to have an epileptic seizure,'' he said.

Others can alert people with hearing or sight impairment, pull a wheelchair or pick up items for people. Service or signal dogs can even help people with their balance. Some dogs help their owners with psychiatric or mental disabilities.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal can be "any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government."

Some but not all service animals are licensed, Rowton said. In Multnomah County, a service dog can be licensed in the county, and the owner gets a discount.

"Under the law, I can't even ask what kind of service the dog does,'' Rowton said.

Fresh off the Press

Fresh off the fuckin' press! This just recently in, courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk
enjoy...

Man to be sentenced for stabbing father to death on doorstep
A man with a history of mental illness is due to be sentenced for stabbing a father-of-three to death on his doorstep.

[By Aislinn Simpson. Last Updated: 11:44PM BST 20 Oct 2008]

David Brown walked calmly up to Christian Puttock, 35, a Merchant Navy seaman as he waited for his two sons to return home from school in Clevedon, Somerset.
He plunged a five-inch knife into his chest in front of a neighbour before walking away.

Mr Puttock and his wife Lisa were due to celebrate her 34th birthday on the night of the attack in February.

The couple had their third child, Aimee, 17 days before the attack, and were weeks away from emigrating to Australia where Mr Puttock had got a new job.

One of their neighbours, Jonathan Hayter, 38, fought to save Mr Puttock after witnessing the assault.

He said shortly afterwards: "I dragged Christian into the kitchen, closed the door to stop the children from seeing what was going on and gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I tried my best but it didn't seem to work. He was dying in my arms. It was just unbelievable.

"It was only one small wound but it was impossible to stop it. Chris couldn't talk at this point, he just kept looking at me, as if he was pleading with me to save him. That's the last image I have of him. He didn't deserve to die.''

He added: "It was a completely mindless and random attack. The guy literally walked up to us when we were waiting for the kids to come home from school and then stabbed Chris.

"He didn't say anything but just stared at us. He wasn't ranting or raving. He was completely vacant, expressionless even. He then just walked off."

Brown, 34, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Bristol Crown Court in August. The case was adjourned for psychiatric reports.

Robert Duval, prosecuting, said he suffered from "an abnormality of the mind which in the opinion of doctors would have impaired his responsibility for the act".

He added: "There is clear evidence that there was intent to kill."

Fresh off the Press

This is appetizing:
courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk

Mr Gay UK 'stabbed man to death and cooked his thigh with herbs and olive oil'
The first winner of Mr Gay UK stabbed a man to death before carving a piece of flesh from his thigh, seasoning it with fresh herbs and cooking it in olive oil, a court heard.

The court heard six pieces of cooked human flesh, identified as being from Mr Oldfield's (right) body, were found on a chopping board in Anthony Morley's (left) house

Anthony Morley, 36, then attempted to eat a piece of Damian Oldfield's flesh before walking to a nearby takeaway and telling staff he had killed someone, Leeds Crown Court was told.

Morley, who worked as a chef, also cut a piece of 33-year-old Mr Oldfield's chest and nipple and left a bank card over the wound, it was claimed.

Andrew Stubbs, prosecuting, said the two men had been involved some kind of relationship in the past and that Morley was troubled by his sexuality.

He said the two men arranged to meet in Leeds on April 23 this year and later went back to Morley's house, where the defendant prepared a meal for them both before the pair went upstairs to his bedroom.

It was alleged that sexual activity took place in the bedroom before Morley launched his attack on Mr Oldfield, cutting his throat and stabbing him numerous times.

Mr Stubbs said: "He continued to stab and stab and stab him until he died. Even when he was dead the attack continued until finally Mr Morley cut parts of flesh from the body."

The court heard six pieces of cooked human flesh, identified as being from Mr Oldfield's body, were found on a chopping board, while a further piece of flesh, which appeared to have been chewed, was found in a bin bag.

"From a chopping board on one of the kitchen units, six pieces of cooked flesh, which had been seasoned with fresh herbs and fried in olive oil were recovered. The flesh was human in origin," Mr Stubbs said.

"A further piece of cooked flesh, which appears to have been chewed, was recovered from a bin bag in the kitchen."

He added: "Having killed him upstairs, the defendant carved away a piece of flesh, took it downstairs to his kitchen, where he seasoned it, fried it and tried to eat it."

Morley denies murdering Mr Oldfield and told police when he was arrested that someone had tried to rape him.

The trial continues.


*UK news is g r e a t

Let's set the new month off with a nice stabbing

Fresh off the Press:

I know i'm a couple days early of october, but i'm in the mood after a horrific migraine plagued my fuckin' soul all day. I'm back in school and have TOTAL access to computers, because my tuition bill says so.
On that fine note, i noticed a recent post on AP's blog that reported about the recent priest stabbing by an individual who had just watched The Da Vinci Code. Now, there's no need to bite that shit, if you want to read more, go to my links and punch away on Actual Pain.
Instead, i present to you a news story from the quiet hills of South London:

Girl pupil stabbed teacher in face with pen
A pupil stabbed a teacher in the face with a pen after storming into school because she blamed her for being expelled.
9/26/2008

The student, who has not been named, attacked her maths teacher in front of staff and pupils at the Westwood Language College in Upper Norwood, south London.
She ran into the classroom and launched the assault - even drawing on her teacher's face with a marker pen.
The girl's mother had rung the school to warn staff earlier in the day that her unruly daughter was on her way in.
The teacher was hospitalised by the attack, but the ex-pupil only received a police caution.
A 15-year-old girl, who witnessed the incident, said: "She just went mental - the door flew open and she ran at the teacher. It was horrible - everyone was screaming.
"That girl is a complete psycho but she's really strong. She was on top of the teacher - no one could do anything."
Two male members of staff dragged the teen off the teacher as she punched her in the face and body, pulled her hair and drew on her face with a marker pen.
But when police were called the student - who had previously been transferred to another school for bad behaviour - was issued with just a caution after the incident last Friday.
A parent whose 14-year-old daughter attends the school said: "It's a disgrace - this girl should prosecuted. She's clearly a threat to all the girls. How can she only get a caution - the teacher ended up in hospital for heaven's sake."
The pupil is understood to have been angry at being excluded after being accused of attempting to steal the same teacher's keys and mobile phone.
One unhappy teacher claims nothing was done to stop the girl confronting the victim.
"Why was nothing done to prevent this? The school knew this girl was on her way and they didn't take adequate measures to prevent this. It's disgraceful."
It was revealed the girl was transferred to another nearby school earlier this year because of her behaviour - but was booted out three weeks later because she had 'no respect for authority'.
A police spokeswoman confirmed they attended the incident.
The spokesman said: "A girl was arrested for assault on a woman causing bruising to the head and abrasions to her leg.
"After a thorough investigation, she was given a final warning for this offence."
Headteacher Margaret Hedley: "I can reassure parents and pupils that the school has robust policies in place to deal with such incidents and we have already taken further steps to further improve security by actioning the installation of electronic gates."

-reported by the Telegraph.co.uk