Shaggy longhorn cattle loose in Washington state town; butcher on the way

GRANITE FALLS, Wash. (AP) - The police are tired. A cattleman is in trouble. Residents are fed up. Who’s the man to fix it? The butcher, of course. Police have written more than $2,000 worth of tickets to Hiram Wilburn, 85, about marauding longhorn cattle that have escaped his property through a hole in his fence at least 70 times since early December. The large shaggy-haired beasts have been blamed for at least three accidents. Residents say the animals feed on gardens and lawns - and are generally creepy and scary to have around. “They’re huge - those horns - you don’t know if they’re going to attack or what they’re going to do,” said Sharri Matronic, adding that the cattle have destroyed a retaining wall in her yard and eaten her azaleas and ivy. Wilburn, who was at the centre of an earlier animal controversy over some of his exotic deer running loose, could not immediately be reached for comment, but one of his friends, Robert Echard, said a butcher is scheduled to visit the 10-hectare property soon. Police officer Rich Michelsen had a close encounter of his own recently when one of the Scottish Highland longhorns came calling at the police station in this town of 3,100 about 40 hectares northeast of Seattle. After dealing with cattle calls from residents, Michelsen got into his cruiser, turned on the flashing lights and eased the wayward cow home. “People think it’s funny,” he said. “It’s tiring, is what it is.”

The Reason to stay up late!!!

Parishioners overpower gunman attempting to snatch purses at Ohio church

Parishioners tackled a gunman suspected of snatching purses from church pews during mass, the pastor and police said. One man suffered lacerations to his head and face during the struggle at Christ the King Catholic Church on Sunday morning, police said. Wendell Hollingsworth, 43, and Celeste Smith, 51, were arrested and each charged with aggravated robbery at the church, police said. They were being held in the Franklin County jail Monday, awaiting bond. The pair walked into the service and grabbed purses as Hollingsworth displayed a handgun and said, “This is a robbery,” police said. Hollingsworth was tackled as parishioners called police on cellphones. Smith was arrested outside the church, police said. “Our parishioners are not about to let anyone defile their church,” said the Rev. Michael Lumpe.

A Snowy Monday…

Scientists raise white flags after 3-year battle with unmovable sloth

Scientists in the eastern German city of Jena said Wednesday they have finally given up after three years of failed attempts to entice a sloth into budging as part of an experiment in animal movement. The sloth, named Mats, was remanded to a zoo after consistently refusing to climb up and then back down a pole, as part of an experiment conducted by scientists at the University of Jena’s Institute of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology. Not pounds of cucumbers or plates of homemade spaghetti were appetizing enough to make Mats move.

“Mats obviously wanted absolutely nothing to do with furthering science,” said Axel Burchardt, a university spokesman. Mats’ new home is the zoo in the northwestern city of Duisburg where, according to all reports, he is very comfortable.

8 months in an Airport Terminal

An Iranian woman and her two children have been stranded in a Moscow airport for more than eight months while en route to seek asylum in Canada to be united with her brother, her only overseas relative. Zahra Kamalfar’s living nightmare is reminiscent of Tom Hanks’ character in the 2004 movie, The Terminal, who ends up stuck in New York’s Kennedy Airport when political upheaval in his homeland suddenly turns his passport into scrap paper.

The woman, in her mid-40s, daughter Ana, 17, and son Davood, 12, have been living in the transit hall of the Sheremetyevo International Airport since last May, says Kamalfar’s Canadian lawyer, Negar Azmudeh. Sympathetic airport staff supply them with airline food. They sleep on the floor in sleeping bags, use public washrooms to bathe, and cope with boredom as best they can. Since November, their hopes for leaving have rested on the slow-turning wheels of Canada’s refugee sponsorship program.

They first got into this jam in May 2005, when Kamalfar, who had spent a year in prison for her participation in political activism, fled Iran while on a two-day pass to visit her family. “They used forged Bulgarian passports, provided by a smuggler, to travel to Canada through Russia and Germany. The Germans spotted their false travel documents and the family was forced to make their refugee claims there,” Azmudeh said from Vancouver, speaking on behalf of Kamalfar’s brother Nader, a Canadian citizen living there. However German authorities rejected any claims because of the fraudulent documents and immediately sent them back to their last port of entry – Moscow.

At first, they were put under house arrest at a hotel near the Moscow airport. But when the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees turned down their claim as well, Russian officials took the family back to the airport, intending to return them to Iran. “They have no status in Russia, but they (Russian authorities) can’t deport them without proper identification and travel documents,” Azmudeh explained. “They have been staying at the airport since May 2006. The mother has attempted suicide by slashing her wrist, while the daughter swallowed cleaning detergent.”

As a result, the Russians pleaded with the UN agency for a second assessment – this time with positive results. They were granted refugee status in November and applied for government sponsorship in Canada. Several Canadians have offered to sponsor them privately. But they are still waiting. Alexey Lisenkov, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, said Canadian officials and his colleagues in Moscow are looking into Kamalfar’s case and will offer consular assistance. A spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada refused to comment, citing privacy concerns.

“This is a clear breach of all human rights principles,” Minoo Homily said of the family’s plight. Her group, the Toronto-based International Organization of Iranian Refugees, is gathering signatures on a petition supporting the family’s bid to come to Canada. “Having fled Iran and being an activist against the Iranian regime places her life in danger. (Kamalfar) has real reason to fear persecution for her legitimate and peaceful political activism, should she be returned to Iran. Given her brother is her only family member abroad, Canada must take them in,” she said. Azmudeh said Kamalfar and her husband were involved in massive democratic demonstrations in Iran in 1999, and arrested in July 2004 at a gathering commemorating the event. Kamalfar was sentenced to jail and released in April a year later “on a two-day pass” to see her family, who arranged her escape through Turkey. She has not heard from her husband since, the lawyer said. “I want to go Canada because I want go someplace that is good place, that is good place for the future (of) my child,” Kamalfar told CBC News at the Moscow airport. “Canada is number one in the world because person from Canada is very nice and they understand respect,” added Ana.

A Golfing Parakeet

Teaching a parakeet to putt is no tap-in. Ask David Cota, who spent months training his Indian ringneck parakeet A.J. to use a tiny putter to sink putts on a miniature green, making the 5-inch tall bird an Internet video star. “It doesn’t look all that tough nowadays, but try to get a a bird to hold a little stick basically in its beak. The first time, he snapped it right in half,” Cota said. A.J. can also dunk a tiny basketball on a tiny court. He rolls over. He shakes. His play dead is spooky. A.J., a trained Indian Ringneck parakeet, plays golf with his owner Dave Cota.

The 16-year-old parakeet recently won an “outrageous bird” viral video contest sponsored by MagRack, an on-demand television network. A.J.’s sporting skills impressed a 13-member celebrity panel that included actor Carol Spinney, Sesame Street’s “Big Bird” since 1969, and Tippi Hedren, who got her star turn in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic “The Birds.” “I’ve never seen a little parakeet that was that athletic,” said Hedren, who learned to love her avian co-stars despite Hitchcock’s ruthless plot. “He was really astounding with his golf game and the basketball. It’s just too cute, too adorable. And he looked like he was having fun with it, too.”

http://www.magrack.com/birds

British man unknowingly travelled around Europe with a broken neck

A British man who unknowingly travelled around Europe with a broken neck was admitted to a hospital in eastern England on Wednesday, Amsterdam police said. At the urging of British authorities, Dutch police had urgently sought to locate Benjamin O’Connor, 29, who was involved in a traffic accident Jan. 20 in Suffolk, but was released from the hospital. Doctors examining his X-rays later that day realized he had broken his neck and was in danger of injuring his spinal cord. By that time, he had left England for the Netherlands and they couldn’t contact him. Amsterdam police said O’Connor returned to England by ferry “after visiting several European cities,” and was met in Harwich by his parents, who told him he needed immediate treatment.

The Triumphant Banner of the Cross

The Battle of Tours in 732 AD, was the final stand of the united Christian armies to defend themselves and the Papacy against the Islamic horde. The Austrians had held them in the east, now it was the Franks and the Italians responsibility to hold them at Tours. Led by their king, Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer), the Franks marched south into Spain, under the banner of the Cross to fight for Christ and His Church.

The Franks drew up their army in close order. Nowhere was there a gap in their ranks. All day long, in charge after charge, the wild and expert Arab horsemen swept down headlong and furiously upon the Frankish army. Over their heads fluttered the crescent banners of Islam. It was becoming evident that the crescent was destined not to become full. Helplessly the charges of the Arab horsemen broke against the Frankish army as against a wall. The banners of the cross continued to wave defiantly. When night fell both sides retired exhausted to their camps. Heaps of dead covered the bloody field of Tours. But the most furious attacks of the Arabs had been battled. As the Franks left the battlefield they still banished their swords and the banners of the cross.

Early the next morning the Franks again drew in battle array, but no Arab horseman appeared. Fearing an ambush, the Franks sent out search parties. For miles around no enemy was seen. In the deserted Arab camp they found piles of plunder from many lands. The Arabs had retreated behind the Pyrenees, into Spain. Christianity was saved!

The duck would not die.

Wildlife officials said the feathered Lazarus had been shot by a hunter and put into his refrigerator for two days. That’s when the hunter’s wife opened the door and the duck lifted his head, giving her a scare. The man’s wife “was going to check on the refrigerator because it hadn’t been working right and when she opened the door, it looked up at her,” said Laina Whipple, a receptionist at Killearn Animal Hospital. She freaked out and told the daughter to take it to the hospital right then and there.” The hospital’s staff had the daughter take the 450-gram female ring-neck to Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, where it has been treated since Tuesday for wounds to its wing and leg.

Sanctuary veterinarian David Hale said it has about a 75-per-cent chance of survival but probably will not ever be well enough to be released back into the wild. He said the duck, which has a low metabolism, could have survived in a big enough refrigerator, especially if the door was opened and closed several times.