It's one thing when there are disruptive kids in class: - if a fight breaks out, someone brought drugs to school or a knife or a gun - there may be a need to call the cops. But should kids be arrested and placed in handcuffs for doodling on a school desk? Well, Yes!! say the officials at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, Queens, NY.

Alexa Gonzalez, a 12-year-old Queens girl, was arrested for writing with a lime green marker the words “I love my friends Abby and Faith” on her desk. She also added “Lex was here. 2/1/10” with a smiley face. She was scribbling those words on her desk while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework. That was probably the biggest mistake the 12-year-old Alexa ever made in her entire life.

She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours, she and her mother said.

"I started crying, like, a lot," said Alexa. "I made two little doodles. ... It could be easily erased. To put handcuffs on me is unnecessary." Alexa, who had a stellar attendance record, hasn't been back to school since, adding, "I just thought I'd get a detention. I thought maybe I would have to clean [the desk]."

What Alexa got was much more than detention. Alexa was suspended from school. She and her mom, Moraima Camacho, had to go to family court, where Alexa was assigned eight hours of community service, a book report and an essay on what she learned from the experience.

City officials acknowledged Alexa's arrest was a mistake and school principal Marilyn Grant has lifted the suspension, although she says that allowing the arrest was not her fault and was something that school policy required her to do.

"Even when we're asked to make an arrest, common sense should prevail, and discretion used in deciding whether an arrest or handcuffs are really necessary," said police spokesman Paul Browne.

In this case neither common sense nor discretion prevailed. One would think that that law enforcement officials would have more important things to do than arresting and traumatizing 12-year-old girls for writing on their school desk.

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Jebidiah James Stipe, 27, from Carbon, Wyo. broke up with his 25-year-old girlfriend but he was far from finished with her. In fact he hatched a scheme that would eventually make her life a living hell; destroy the life of not-so-innocent Ty Oliver McDowell, 26, from Bar Nunn, Wyo.; involve Craigslist in another scandal; give prosecutors a headache and the general public an insight into the depravity of a sick, conniving, malicious individual. 

This all began after Jebidiah Stipe, a Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms, Calif., broke up with his girlfriend from Casper Wyo. He then posted an ad in the "adult services" section of Craigslist, pretending to be his girlfriend. The ad said:

"Need a real aggressive man with no concern for women"

Stipe also included the woman's picture and personal information. The ad remained on Craigslist for two days before the ex-girlfriend saw it. She contacted the Natrona County Sheriff's Office, complaining that someone had posted a false Craigslist ad about her. She also complained to Craigslist, which took down the ad. But the damage had already been done.

The ad was spotted by Ty Oliver McDowell, a medical technologist, employed at the Wyoming Medical Center's radiology department. He e-mailed a response to the address given in the ad and began corresponding with whom he thought was a woman, but was really Jebidiah Stipe.

During the exchange of messages, Stipe, posing as his ex-girlfriend, explained exactly what "she" wanted - "humiliation, physical abuse, sexual abuse" - and gave Ty McDowell his ex-girlfriend's address. 

Taking this for an invitation, Ty McDowell went to the woman's house. When she answered the door he said "I'll show you aggressive," and immediately began to assault her. He forced her into the living room and bound, blindfolded and gagged the 25-year-old woman. Then he raped her as he pressed a knife to her throat.

Later, he told detectives he thought he was fulfilling her rape fantasy.

McDowell was arrested and charged with first-degree sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary. Stipe was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault.

According to a Marine Corps spokeswoman, Jebidiah James Stipe - a maintenance mechanic who had enlisted in the Marines in 2001 - was in the process of being ejected for an undisclosed pattern of misconduct at the time of his arrest. Documents related to Stipe's arrest have been sealed.

Craigslist has also come under fire for allowing the ad to be placed on its site. "Although Craigslist officials had cooperated with the investigation, the fact that they published sexually suggestive ads also facilitated the crime" said Natrona County Dist. Atty. Mike Blonigen:

"If I were king, I'd like to see them not run these personal ads," he said. "This is a debate we've had for a long time: . . . Do we censor the Internet?"

Steve Patterson, a spokesman for the Cook County sheriff who had sued Craigslist before, said the website wasn't blameless:

By hosting an adult services forum, "they create this specific place for criminal activity to take place," he said.

Craigslist had no comment on the case. But Federal law protects Internet sites from liability for their users' actions, said M. Ryan Calo, residential fellow at Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

"The idea was that these website platforms were truly communities assembled of random users, with no editorial control over what users were doing. Craigslist is like a hotel with millions of rooms, but it doesn't have the ability to figure out what's happening in those rooms," Calo said.

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"Pinky" is of course not his real name, but that is what he is called on the streets of Newburgh. His real name has not been released by the police because of his age - he is only 13 years old. "Pinky" has been accused of stabbing 17-year-old Levi King Flores to death in a street fight in which three other teens were also stabbed but survived.

Read about the details of the case here and here.

"Pinky" was originally charged with murder but because of his age and other factors he now faces:

1 Count Second-Degree Manslaughter (felony) 

3 Counts of Second-Degree Assault (felonies)

1 Count of Fourth-Degree Misdemeanor Criminal Possession of a Weapon.

For his own protection "Pinky" is being held in a secure youth detention center in Erie County. He had previously been jumped by other teens while in a Westchester County youth detention center. Also because of his age and the charges against him, "Pinky" is being tried as a juvenile in Family Court. According to the Times Herald-Record:

The longest sentence the boy could face is 18 months at a stretch in secure detention, but the state Office of Children and Family Services can return to court to keep a juvenile in secure detention until age 18.

His trial began on Wednesday, Feb.3, 2010 in front of Judge Andrew P. Bivona in Orange County Family Court. Senior Assistant County Attorney Allan Drian is the prosecutor in the case. The boy's lawyer is Stuart Greenberg. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

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On the first day of the trial, police testified that before they began to question "Pinky", his mother was advised, in Spanish, of the boy's rights. They say the boy assisted them by returning to the crime scene - at the corner of First St. and Carpenter Ave. in Newburgh - and helped them find the weapon he had used and then tossed away. Evidence against the 13-year-old includes a videotaped interview, DNA evidence and eye-witness statements.

Hinting at possible previous confrontations, the defense attorney, Stuart Greenberg, requested that the judge order the prosecution to turn over any documentation of arrests in connection with a gang assault on the 13-year-old and his sister prior to the stabbings.

The trial continues......

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Caroline Cartwright, 48, really enjoys having sex with her husband, Steve, just ask her neighbors how enthusiastic she can be. Caroline is a screamer and she doesn't care who hears her. After hundreds of complaints from the neighbors and passers-by (even the local postman and a woman taking her child to school complained about the levels of noise) she was ordered by the court to stop disturbing the peace under an anti-social behavior order (ASBO).

It was an order she broke at least three times in just 10 days, landing her in jail and back in court. Caroline just can't understand what all the fuss is about.

"I did not understand why people asked me to be quiet because to me it is normal," she said. I have tried to minimize the situation by having sex in the morning - not at night - so the noise was not waking anybody," Cartwright noted.

After a series of complaints, the local council's Environmental Health department placed recording equipment in a neighbor's apartment. The neighbor, Rachel O’Connor, pressed a button on the machine every time she was disturbed by noise from next door.  In the subsequent 23 recordings that were made - through a soundproofed wall - and played to the court, the sound of slapping and screaming was clearly audible.

“I heard sounds of a sexual nature, they were really loud, and there was a lot of moaning and groaning and screaming as if in pain. It wasn’t just the woman, it came from both parties,” said Rachel O’Connor.

The equipment recorded noise levels of 30-40 decibels, peaking at 47 - as loud as a conversation in the same room. The 48-year-old Caroline acknowledged she made noises, but wasn't aware how loud she had been. The judge, in giving her a break, said she had not tried hard enough to refrain from making excessive noise.

"It's quite clear from the small extract I heard that you made no attempt to silence yourself," the judge said.

He stressed that if she disturbed her neighbors again with her sexual sounds, she would spend eight weeks in jail.

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Jozef Guzy, 76, had everyone fooled, even the doctor. He pulled off a trick that would have made Houdini proud of him. The Polish beekeeper who lived near the southern city of Katowice was pronounced dead after he collapsed while tending to his bees. It was assumed that he suffered a heart attack. An Ambulance was called and an experienced doctor declared the man dead. 

A spokesman for the Regional Ambulance Service in Katowice, said: 'The patient was not breathing, there was no heart beat, the body had cooled - all are the characteristics of death.

Three hours later the man's family called an undertaker to remove the body. Just as Funeral director Dariusz Wysłuchato was about to seal the coffin, Jozef Guzy's wife, Ludmilla, asked him to remove her husband's watch. As Mr Wysłuchato fiddled with the watch chain he happened to touch Mr Guzy's neck and detected a pulse.

'I touched around the neck artery and suddenly realised he wasn't dead after all. I checked again and shouted, "It's a pulse!" I had a friend check and he noticed the man was breathing. God, it was a miracle!

The ambulance was called again and the same doctor returned. He confirmed Mr Guzy had 'come back from the dead'.

Jozef Guzy was taken to hospital and after a few days rest was sent home. The doctors could find nothing wrong with him. Mr Wysłuchato said:

'Thank God I did not close the coffin - if I had done that it would have been a tragedy.'Something touched me to touch his neck - I'm so pleased he's alive.'

Mr Guzy added: ‘The undertaker saved my life. The first thing I did when I got out of hospital was take him a pot of honey.’

Jozef Guzy was lucky but have you ever stopped to think that maybe some people have actually been buried alive. Click here for stories of people Just Dying To Get Out

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• 1 Count Second-Degree Manslaughter (felony)
  
• 3 Counts of Second-Degree Assault (felonies)
  
• 1 Count of Fourth-Degree Misdemeanor Criminal Possession of a Weapon.

Also, he will no longer be charged as an adult. According to state law, his age and the reduction in charges require that he be tried in Family Court. He was arraigned on Wednesday Jan. 20.

A trial date of Feb 3 at 1:30 pm has been set. Family Court judge Andrew Bivona will preside. Orange county attorney David Darwin said he would appoint a senior assistant in the Family Law division to prosecute the case. There has been no word on who the defense lawyer will be.

According to the Times Herald Record, supporters of Levi King Flores attacked the 13-year-old while he was in detention at a youth facility in Westchester County. He has since been moved to another facility further away in Western New York. Although there has been no outbreak of violence, the police have been closely monitoring the situation on the streets of Newburgh and have placed extra patrols near the schools.

For more information on the stabbing death and funeral of Levi Flores click on the following articles: RIP Levi King Flores and Vaya Con Dios Levi King Flores

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Glen William Bell Jr., the founder of the popular Mexican fast-food chain, Taco Bell, died on Sunday Jan. 17, 2010 at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Ca. He was 86 years old. Bell had Parkinson's disease since 1985 but no cause of death was given. He is survived by his wife, Martha, three sisters, two sons, a daughter and four grandchildren.

"Glen Bell was a visionary and innovator in the restaurant industry, as well as a dedicated family man," Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell, said in the statement.

Glen Bell launched Taco Bell in 1962 in Downey, Ca. He sold the first Taco Bell franchise in 1964. By 1978 he had 868 restaurants, which he sold to PepsiCo for $125 million in stock. Taco Bell is now owned by Yum! Brands  and is the largest Mexican fast-food chain in the nation, serving more than 36.8 million consumers each week in more than 5,600 U.S. locations.

Glen William Bell Jr. was born Sept. 3, 1923, in Lynwood, Calif. His father was a construction worker who was always looking for work and even though his mother was resourceful the family did not fare well financially. Glen Bell virtually grew up selling produce to help the family survive. Starting at the age of 5, he sold cottage cheese door-to-door. As a youngster he would sell eggs, apples and flowers.

After graduating from high school in 1941, Bell worked for the U.S. Forestry Service and later joined the Marines, serving as a waiter to top military brass in the South Pacific. After WWII he founded Bell's Hamburgers and Hot Dogs in 1948, which he sold to start other ventures including: Taco Tia, Del Taco, El Taco, and even Der Wienerschnitzel. 

In 1962 Bell opened the first Taco Bell restaurant. Within two years he opened eight more and began to franchise. That was the beginning of the success of Taco Bell. Even after selling the company, Bell remained a lifelong Taco Bell consultant. He was not however responsible for the iconic chihuahua dog, named Gidget, that starred in the popular "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" commercials of the late '90s.

Gidget, herself, died in June 2009, at age 15 from a stroke. At the height of her popularity as the Taco Bell dog, Gidget traveled by limo and first-class in planes. She even got a seat on the company's private jet for a trip to Manhattan to open up the New York Stock Exchange.

Sue Chipperton, who trained Gidget for Studio Animal Services, said the pooch was constantly mobbed by people when she took Gidget out even though she was careful to make sure very few people knew Gidget was the real Taco Bell dog.

"They could come over and go 'Oh that looks like the Taco Bell dog!'" Chipperton said.

Gidget, who had lived with Chipperton for most of her life, was never coddled. Chipperton said she was expected to follow commands and was never carried when she could walk on her own. As a result, Chipperton said, "her personality was that of a big dog."

Her owner, McElhatton, who owns Studio Animal Services which trains animals for film, television and advertising, said Gidget -- unique for her "really huge ears" -- just knew when the camera was on her. And she was very particular about who got her attention.

"She was very much a primadonna," she said. "If she didn't like you, she wouldn't give you the time of day."

In later years, McElhatton said the spunky little dog enjoyed a daily sunbath and had her favorite toys and beds -- everything given to Gidget was simply the best.

"She lived," McElhatton said, "like a queen."

Taco Bell has lost both its founder and spokesman less than a year apart. In fact Glen Bell Jr. is the latest in a number of fast-food moguls that have died recently:

1. Troy Smith, founder of drive-in chain Sonic, died on October 26, 2009, at 87
2. Wilbur Hardee of the Hardee’s hamburger joints, died June 20, 2008, at the age of 89
3 JR Simplott, developer of the first frozen french fries and founder of a potato-processing plant that supplies McDonald’s fries, died at the age of 99 on May 25, 2008
4. Irvine Robbins of Baskin Robbins died at 90 on May 5, 2008
5. Popeyes creator Al Copeland passed at the age of 64 on March 23, 2008
6. Lovie Yancey, founder of Fatburger, died on January 26, 2008, at 96
7. Two weeks before, Carl N. Karcher of Carl’s Jr. died at 90 on January 11

With the exception of Copeland, who died from complications from cancer treatment, everyone died of old age and lived a very long life. Maybe fast-food isn't so bad for you after all!

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 The gang violence that brought an end to the life of 17-year-old Levi King Flores could not dampen the spirits of the hundreds of people who showed up at the wake and funeral services for the Newburgh youth. Sure, there was almost universal sadness and tears for a life that ended way too soon but there was also the strength of spirit that unified everyone, knowing that he was loved.

"No mother should bury a son, no daughter should bury a father, whatever happened today should not be happening again, we should not be burying our youth," Fr. Fernando Hernandez of St. Patrick's Church, Newburgh.

However some of Levi's friends see things quite differently:

"We've got one thing on our mind and that's revenge, you know. That's how it is, if the cops can't help us who's going to help us" Sergio Nava.

For scenes of the funeral service click on this link Levi King Flores Funeral. Levi King Flores will be buried in Mexico.

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Levi King Flores was only 17 years old. He had not yet graduated from High School. He could not yet vote. He couldn't buy beer. He couldn't even buy a pack cigarettes....and he will never be able to do any of those things because he was stabbed to death on the streets of Newburgh, NY on Jan. 13, 2010. He leaves behind loving parents, siblings, a girlfriend, a daughter and many friends. Levi was a victim of gang violence.

A 13-year-old boy, who goes by the street name of "Pinky", was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Levi Flores. He was arraigned in Newburgh City Court before Judge Harold Ramsey and was placed into the custody of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Police did not release real name.

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According to reports, a fight broke out at the corner of First St. and Carpenter Ave. in which Levi was stabbed along with a 12-year-old boy. They were both taken to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital Newburgh Campus. While there, two other teens showed up, also with stabbed wounds - a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. All of them were interviewed by the police. During the course of their investigation, the police learned the identity of the accused 13-year-old.

Levi and two of the other stabbing victims were taken by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center. While en route Levi died. The others are expected to survive.

"It's unbelievable, it's unbelievable that the violence has resulted in this kind of action. What used to be a personal insult or an assault in the school yard that might have resulted in a fist fight is now culminating outside on the city streets...its unbelievable," said Eric Paolilli the chief of police.

The next day at NFA, the high school, there was a lot of tension. A number of fights broke out. The police were called in. By noon they had arrested 4 students. Many parents showed up at the school to get their kids early. Some of the students were angry but many were grieving. The disturbance prompted school officials to cancel all after school activities and close the school system for the following day, Friday. On Monday the schools will remain closed in observance of Martin Luther King's birthday.

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• Stuffing the man's face with sand
• Firing a machine gun close to his body
• Hitting him with a whip and an electric cattle prod
• Cutting his bare buttocks by striking him with a nail embedded in a stick
• Pouring salt into the man's wounds and
• Driving over him again and again with his vehicle.

Not only was Sheikh Issa aware of being videotaped, he was the one that ordered the tape be made so that he could view it later at his leisure. At times he actually directs the cameraman to focus in on some of his particularly sadistic acts. The tape was sneaked out of the country by an ex-business partner, Bassam Nabulsi, who was also jailed and tortured in prison before being released. It was Bassam's brother, Ghassan Nabulsi, who was the cameraman.

Please note this video is explicitly brutal

After the tape was widely shown by the media Sheikh Issa was arrested and ordered to stand trial. He was charged at an opening hearing last October (2009) with endangering life, causing bodily harm and  rape.

In his defense the sheikh claimed that he "was under the influence of drugs [medicine] that left him unaware of his actions."

On Jan. 10 2010 Judge Mubarak al-Awad cleared the UAE President’s brother of all charges in a UAE court despite video footage of the incident, saying he was not responsible for his actions.

Sheikh Issa, who had been in custody for eight months, attended the hearing. He wore a traditional white robe and head scarf and was not handcuffed or restrained. On hearing the verdict, he hugged his defense lawyer, Habib al-Mullah, and left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

However five co-defendants, the two Nabulsi brothers and three farm workers were all found guilty. Ghassan and Bassam Nabulsi, were sentenced to five years in jail each, in absentia, for administering drugs to Sheikh Issa, endangering the life of Mohammed Shapoor and filming without his permission. The farm workers were sentenced to between one and three years in jail, also in absentia, for drugging the sheikh.

Habib al-Mullah, Sheikh Issa's lawyer, told the court, in the oasis city of Al Ain, that one of the sheikh’s co-defendants was responsible for Sheikh Issa’s medications and had drugged him, then videotaped the incident and tried to blackmail him.  He also told the court that the sheikh had been drugged against his will during the incident and had no recollection of what had happened.

“We submitted medical reports showing that the drugs that the two co-defendants administered to him left him unaware of his actions,” the lawyer said.

The defense did not just center on the medication, he said, but claimed that the videotape and other incidents from that night were all part of a conspiracy aimed at blackmailing the sheikh.

"No one can prove that this videotape has not been tampered with," al-Mullah said. The only person who can confirm the incidents happened as seen on the tape is the victim, and he has not confirmed that, he added. "We deny the incident as it was shown on that videotape."

Habib al-Mullah was taken to task in the following CNN interview.

Judge Mubarak al-Awad, presiding over a three-judge panel, further ordered the two brothers to pay an interim compensation of about $2,500 to the victim, who can file a new lawsuit to claim full compensation.

The verdict, however, is not final as it will have to be reviewed by a higher court if the public prosecution decides to challenge the ruling.

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