xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Instructions from Britain’s Home Office to local police departments in April introduced a “Gravity Factor Matrix” to prescribe significantly lesser punishments for a wide range of crimes, including such serious ones as attempted murder, arson and sex with underage girls. According to the matrix, suspects who confess and who have no prior offenses may, at police discretion, have the crime registered on their record but receive only a “caution” that does not require a court appearance or further punishment. Only the most heinous crimes require detention in all cases. The Labour government’s political opponents were livid, accusing the government of taking its “anti-prison bias” too far.
The Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, reporting in March on recidivist-robber Eugene Rutledge, 21, found that employees at one Taco Bell were so accustomed to Rutledge’s robbing them that as soon as he appeared at the door, they would ritually open the cash register for him.
In Denver in April, a man tried to rob a Walgreen’s drugstore, but a clerk resisted and, during a scuffle, grabbed the first thing at his disposal to throw at the man, and it happened to be the store’s cash drawer. The robber eagerly gathered up the loose money, fled, and according to police is still at large.
Drawing heavy fire from critics in March was a Cdn $150,000 (US$135,000) grant from the Ontario government to researchers at Laurentian University, for the purpose of studying the sex drives of squirrels (to assess how wildlife adapt to the environment).
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