As Ted Kennedy is laid to rest, many stories good and bad from his past are being recounted. I was surprised that he looked pretty good riding a buckin' bronc on the campaign trail for his brother. He was scared, but he did his homework (insisted on getting a bucker) and spurred out (probably not a regulation over the point of the shoulder, but he'd never ridden a bronc before) arm raised high with a big grin of determination on his face.
Whatever your politics, you have to admit he cowboyed up.
The big story out of Marion, Alabama is the family feud riot that erupted earlier this week.
Sounds like a real Hatfield and McCoy type shindig, and the authorities are still trying to sort out the perps from the victims. Could be gang related, or just a bunch of rednecks fussin' and a feudin'.
"YEARS of quarreling between two families erupted into a small-town riot in which 150 screaming people hurled rocks and tools at each other and struck the police chief with a crowbar.
Families and their supporters lined opposite sides of street 'THEY shot my truck up with my 1-year-old baby inside,' said Littenger Moore, 30.
Problems continued at a high school the next morning, and a fight there resulted in two arrests. After the fight at the school, relatives of those arrested followed officers to police headquarters, where a crowd gathered.
Five men named either Moore or Sawyer and several minors were arrested on assault charges after Monday's violence, District Attorney Michael Jackson said.
In all, at least eight people were arrested. Authorities said a 2- or 3-year-old dispute between the two families prompted a melee that eventually swelled out of control to include friends and gang members.
'I saw a lady with a baseball bat,' said law office employee Debi Foster, who witnessed the scene from behind closed doors.
'There's still a broken mop in the driveway.' Officials said the disagreement between the families apparently originated with school children, but they didn't know the details.
'They came with guns, sticks, bricks, golf clubs. It was a bad situation,' said police chief Tony Bufford.
Mr Jackson said some of the people who took part in the melee sported tattoos with tear drops, which tend to indicate membership in a gang.
'Part of it actually could have been some gang activity,' Mr Jackson said. 'Part of it was families that didn't get along with each other. It's big families with a lot of friends.'
State police and officers from other west Alabama towns were called to keep the peace in Marion, a city of 3,300 about 85 miles (137 kilometres) west of Montgomery. Bufford was hit in the head with a crowbar but was fine.
The violence began on Sunday night when a fight fueled by the families' bad blood erupted after a basketball game, and at least one shot was fired."
I don't know anyone named Moore or Sawyer who sport tattooed tears, I thought that was more of a Mendoza or Menendez type of thing . . . but then the D.A. is named Michael Jackson, and the guy with the truck and the baby bears the first name "Littenger." Yep, Littenger. I don't know what is in the water in Marion, Alabama, but the EPA might want to check it out.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Police said a Cleveland barber became so upset by what he considered bad beef jerky that he returned to the store where he bought it and tried to rob the owner. Police said the 28-year-old barber walked into the store where he bought the snack, just two doors down from his barbershop, and tried to rob the owner Thursday night. The owner told the man he recognized him and chased him outside with a baseball bat. The first police officer who arrived on the scene was also familiar with the barber because he cuts the officer's hair. Police arrested the man at his girlfriend's house a few miles away. The barber told police the stick of beef jerky he bought sickened him and his dog.
Man who stole Virgin Mary painting for abortion convicted of rape, theft -- yep, you read that headline correctly.
OMAHA, Neb. » A Nebraska man who stole a painting of the Virgin Mary to finance an abortion for a teen he raped has been convicted of first-degree sexual assault and felony theft. Aurelio Vallerillo-Sanchez, 39, of Omaha pleaded no contest to the charges Friday and faces up to 70 years in prison when sentenced in October, Douglas County prosecutor Brenda Beadle said Saturday. A call to the county public defender representing Vallerillo-Sanchez wasn't answered Saturday. Beadle said Vallerillo-Sanchez fled to Mexico with the 300-year-old painting worth $100,000 and the pregnant teen in March 2007. "The plan was that when they got to Mexico, she was to undergo an abortion," she said. When an abortion wasn't possible, Vallerillo-Sanchez pushed to have the baby given up for adoption, Beadle said: "He wanted to do everything he could to get rid of this baby 'cause it was evidence against him." The teen returned to Nebraska and later gave birth, the prosecutor said. Vallerillo-Sanchez was arrested in February after DNA linked him to the September 2006 assault of the then-14-year-old girl. His children gave police information about the theft during the investigation into the sexual assault. His son told police he served as a lookout as his father stole the painting from St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha. Vallerillo-Sanchez sold the painting for $3,000 in Mexico, his daughter told police. Vallerillo-Sanchez has been linked to at least four other thefts in the Omaha area, but charges were not filed as part of a plea deal, Beadle said.
Miley comes by her trashy dance moves honestly, Okay! Can we move on now?
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. BTW - the best part of Miley's performance is the head spinning male background dancers. Also props to the stylist who supplied the Daisy Dukes.
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- With a revoked license because of a previous drunken-driving conviction, Dennis Cretton shouldn't drive. But authorities said that didn't stop the 49-year-old man from drunkenly driving up to a gas station for more beer - on his yellow riding lawnmower. Cretton was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence after neighbors reported he was weaving in and out of traffic on his lawnmower Friday night. When deputies tried to stop him, authorities said Bretton drove the mower into his home's front yard, his 12-pack of Milwaukee's Best spilling onto the ground along the way. Cretton was free on $10,000 bond. Calls to his home went unanswered Tuesday.
I highly recommend checking it out. While I can't personally relate to family life, raising kids and the like (I'm more like that weird creepy middle aged dude who hangs out at the complex pool all day smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap beer from his plastic cooler, obviously unemployed -- the guy you keep your kids away from), I can appreciate someone who can do it with such aplomb.
Las Vegas runs on tokes (tips). So when a celebrity (even a Double D-list one like Britney Spears' ex) stiffs the wait staff, it is big news in Sin City.
This article in the Las Vegas Sun is the most read http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/31/hard-rock-calls-out-k-fed-stiffing-servers/
The Hard Rock perpetuated this story through their social networking sites, and apparently thinks there is no such thing as bad press.
K-OverFed was in their resort to film a reality show (presumeably about his weight gain) and Wasted Space comped his party a couple of bottles of Grey Goose and some Red Bull.
He left without leaving a tip.
I question why he was comped in the first place, but a reality show can bring a lot of publicity to a Casino/Resort (look what the Real World did for the Palms), so I guess it isn't too unusual.
That assumption leads to another assumption that K-Fed probably expected a producer (these reality shows have hundreds of "producers" -- basically just annoying young kids (probably interns) running around acting as go-fers and such)to take care of a tedious task such as tipping.
That, or K-Fed is just a giant douchebag.
Hey, Even shlumpy baby daddies are feeling the pinch.
Riding out the Recession in Hillbilly High Style!!! Check out all my other blogs -- Googley Goop (chronicling the saga of the Google Author Class Settlement), Redneckonomics, A Nudie a Day, Abandoned Blogs, Sawdust Joint, the Nudie Girls, Songs I Wish I Wrote, Marilyn for Sale, and The Dollar Store Diet!
