Dead woman sued

Gertrude Walton in West Virginia, US was recently targeted by the recording industry
in a lawsuit that accused her of illegally trading music over the Internet. But Walton
died in December after a long illness, and according to her daughter, the 83-year-old
hated computers.
More than a month after Walton was buried in Beckley, a group of record companies
named her as the sole defendant in a federal lawsuit, claiming she made more than
700 pop, rock and rap songs available for free on the Internet under the screen name
“smittenedkitten.”
Walton’s daughter, Robin Chianumba, lived with her mother for the last 17 years and
said her mother objected to having a computer in the house.
“My mother was computer illiterate. She hated a computer,” Chianumba said. “My
mother wouldn’t know how to turn on a computer.”
“I believe that if music companies are going to set examples they need to do it to
appropriate people and not dead people,” Chianumba said. “I am pretty sure she is
not going to leave Greenwood Memorial Park (where she is buried) to attend the
hearing.”

 

Firemen hire strippers

Fire officials were as red as their fire trucks last week after announcing that five
firemen in Florida were disciplined for inviting strippers to the fire station for a nude
and topless photo session.
The women, identified only as Jamie and Heather, posed with a fire truck at a city fire
station in Tampa in October. They were naked in some photos and wore only high
heels, firefighters’ pants and suspenders in others. Dozens of the pictures were posted
on the Internet.
The firefighters were charged with neglect of duty, moral turpitude and
insubordination.
One of the men, a captain, was fired. The other four were suspended for two weeks to
a month and will lose up to $5,000 in pay. One of them had a part-time job at a strip
club where the women danced.
Fire Chief Dennis Jones said he was embarrassed by the firemen’s actions but that
“they didn’t miss any calls.”

Hides from police, calls for help

Jerry Wayne Till managed to get away from sheriff’s deputies and elude them briefly
— until he called them for help after he got lost in the woods in Los Angeles.
A sheriff’s deputy tried to pull over Till last week for speeding, but Till drove away,
exceeding 100 mph at times, before eventually abandoning his vehicle and running
into the woods, according to the arrest affidavit.
Deputies brought in search dogs, but couldn’t locate Till until he called the sheriff’s
office from his cell phone asking for help because he was lost.
Deputies still couldn’t find him, until a nearby resident heard Till crying for help and
called the authorities.
Till, who was charged with aggravated flight and driving with an expired license, told
deputies that he didn’t pull over because he wasn’t thinking straight.
 

Marijuana delivery

Federal drug agents have accused a 25-year-old man of using UPS to send a happy
birthday box containing seven pounds of marijuana.
Drug Enforcement Administration officers arrested McKindle Rondae Beler when he
arrived at an Albuquerque UPS Store from which the package was sent. Authorities
said they believe he was seeking a refund for the $87 paid to get the package to
Illinois overnight, DEA spokeswoman Lou Kilgas said.
It wasn’t delivered because DEA officers intercepted it after UPS employees alerted
them to a man behaving oddly, she said.
Beler was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and
conspiracy.
He is suspected of mailing at least four packages from the store over a 10-day period,
Kilgas said.
Authorities suspect the names on the packages were not the real names of the
recipients, she said.
 

Kissing crackdown

Call it a kissing crackdown. Indonesia’s government is considering a law banning
unwed couples from pecking in public — and harshly penalizing those who do, it has
been reported.
The campaign against kissing is part of a proposal of sweeping reforms to laws
adopted by the country’s Dutch colonial rulers in the late 19th century.
The head of the panel that drafted the law said Muslim beliefs about decency had
influenced its decision. Neighboring countries with large Muslim populations, such as
Malaysia and Brunei, already enforce laws defining “khalwat,” or “close proximity,”
a crime akin to adultery for unchaperoned meetings between Muslim men and
women.
Indonesia’s revised laws would set environmental protection standards and punish
human rights violations and terrorism.
But they would also impose penalties on unwed couples who kiss in public, while
permitting police raids on the homes of those suspected of living together out of
wedlock.
Pornography and public displays of “certain sensual body parts” would be outlawed
and media, movies and songs censored.
Penalties for law breakers would range from fines as high as 300 million rupiah
(US$32,800; euro25,300) to up to 10 years imprisonment.
 

Working women ok

For the first time, Japanese who believe that wives should stay home are in a
minority — but an overwhelming majority still wants women to do most household
chores.
The Cabinet Office survey on gender equality released late on Saturday showed that
48.9 percent of 3,500 respondents were against the view that wives should stay
home-bound, while 45.2 percent supported it.
It was the first time since the government began conducting the poll in 1979 that the
percentage of those who backed a larger role for wives exceeded those who believe
that women should stay home.
But according to the poll conducted last November and December, only 4 percent of
the respondents said the husband was responsible for cleaning the house, 1.2 percent
for cooking and 3.5 percent for washing dishes.
It was not immediately known how many of the respondents were men and how
many women.

Tailpiece

Buying condoms

A young man goes into a drug store to buy condoms. The pharmacist says the
condoms come in packs of 3, 9 or 12 and asks which the young man wants.
“Well,” he said, “I’ve been seeing this girl for a while and she’s really hot. I want the
condoms because I think tonight’s “the” night. We’re having dinner with her parents,
and then we’re going out. And I’ve got a feeling I’m gonna get lucky after that. Once
she’s had me, she’ll want me all the time, so you’d better give me the 12 pack.” The
young man makes his purchase and leaves.
Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks
if he might give the blessing and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues
praying for several minutes. The girl leans over to him and says, “You never told me
that you were such a religious person.”
The boy leans over to her and whispers, “You never told me that your father is a
pharmacist.”