January 12, 2012

School Employee Faked Daughter’s Death For Time Off

New York (AP) A New York City school employee forged a daughter’s death certificate to get extra vacation time in Costa Rica and has since been fired, according to a report by the school system.

Joan Barnett, 58, a parent coordinator at the High School of Hospitality and Management, submitted an altered death certificate to get approved leave time in March and April 2010, according to the report by the Commissioner of Investigation. She lost her job that June after the forgery came to light.

It was first reported Tuesday in the Daily News of New York. According to the report, someone who said she was Barnett’s daughter called the school on March 19, 2010, and said her sister in Costa Rica was very sick.

Later that day, the report said, another supposed daughter of Barnett’s called and said her sister had suffered a heart attack and died. She said relatives were gathering in Costa Rica. Barnett faxed the school a death certificate April 8, the report said.

School officials were suspicious because it had different, misaligned fonts. A Costa Rican government official later confirmed the document was a fake, noting that the death certificate had been issued in 2005.

In addition to losing her job, Barnett pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor forgery charge last fall and was sentenced to 10 days’ community service. Her attorney did not return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Neither the criminal complaint against Barnett nor the special commissioner’s report addresses the question of whether the daughter who purportedly died ever existed.

Laurel Wright-Hinckson, a spokeswoman for the special commissioner’s office, said that Barnett refused to speak to investigators, who were “unable to ascertain if in fact she had said daughter and if she did, if this daughter did pass away.”

Coraline The Bassett Hound Has Expensive Taste

Albuquerque, NM (AP) A couple has found a suspect in the disappearance of their $4,500 wedding ring‚ their 10-month old basset hound.

KOB-TV reported Wednesday that a veterinarian recently removed the ring from the dog named Coraline after X-rays showed it was lodged deep in her stomach and wasn’t coming out on its own. Albuquerque resident Rachelle Atkinson says she and her husband Scott had searched everywhere for the ring before beginning to suspect the dog ate it.

The vet said basset hounds have a tendency to eat rocks.

Atkinson says she now hides the ring while Coraline is off munching away at anything she can find.

Beezow Doo-Doo Zopitty- Bop-Bop-Bop Arrested!

Madison, WI (AP) Authorities in southern Wisconsin are facing a tongue twister thanks to the arrest of Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop.

The unusually named 30-year-old man was in jail Sunday in Madison. Police say he violated his bail conditions from a previous run-in with the law. Court records show that his name used to be Jeffrey Drew Wilschke. He legally changed it in October.

The Capital Times reports that Zopittybop-Bop-Bop was arrested last week after residents complained of excessive drinking and drug use near Reynolds Park in Madison. Authorities say he was arrested in another local park last April after police found a loaded handgun in his backpack.

He’s tentatively charged with carrying a concealed knife, and possession of drug paraphernalia and marijuana.

Jail records don’t list his bail amount or an attorney.

Granny’s Story Of Bearded Stranger Is Slightly Fishy

Uniontown, PA (AP) A southwestern Pennsylvania grandmother says she’s no marijuana grower, just a woman who wanted something that would look pretty next to her tomatoes.

A Fayette County jury cleared 67-year-old Alberta Kelley of drug possession and manufacture charges on Wednesday after she told them she simply tossed a handful of seeds into her garden after a bearded stranger gave them to her.

Connellsville police charged Kelley a year ago after receiving a tip about Kelley’s garden. Investigators say they found seven well-cultivated, four-foot marijuana plants behind her home.

But Kelley claimed she didn’t know what she was growing. She said she’d been given the seeds by a stranger in a pointy hat who told her they were flower seeds. Kelley tells WTAE-TV that to her, “weeds are weeds.”

TSA Defends Confiscation Of Woman’s Cupcake

Peabody, MA (AP) The federal Transportation Security Administration is defending its decision to confiscate a frosted cupcake from a Massachusetts woman flying from Las Vegas.

The TSA says in a blog comment posted Monday the cupcake was packed in a jar filled with icing, which is considered a gel under a policy designed to secure travelers from terrorists seeking to evade detection by using explosives made of plastics, liquids or gels.

Peabody (PEE’-buh-dee) resident Rebecca Hains was barred from taking her cupcake onto a plane last month when a TSA agent said icing in the jar exceeded amounts of gels allowed in carry-on luggage. Hains has called that “terrible logic.”

The TSA says travelers can take cakes, pies and cupcakes through security checkpoints but should expect they might get additional screening.

Diver Finds Class Ring That Was Lost In The 1930’s

Longwood, FL (AP) Louise Hearst Entzminger lost her class ring in a central Florida swimming hole in the 1930s.

Scuba diver Reed Banjanin found the Mississippi Women’s College ring last summer and was determined to find its owner. The Orlando Sentinel reports 38-year-old Banjanin used the Internet to track information about Entzminger. He learned she died in 1975, but was able to find her grandson John Entzminger in Oakton, Va.

John Entzminger turned 75 the day Banjanin called about his grandmother’s ring. It arrived via mail on Christmas Eve. The retired engineer suspects his grandmother lost the ring while visiting relatives in Seminole County in the 1930s. He plans to pass it along to his grandchildren as a family heirloom.

Pastor Opens Tattoo Parlor Inside Michigan Church

Flint Township, MI (AP) A Michigan pastor has opened a tattoo parlor inside his church.

Rev. Steve Bentley says he’s doing everything he can to reach out to people who have never felt comfortable at a traditional house of worship.

Bentley’s church, The Bridge, occupies 3,000 square feet inside a Flint Township shopping center. Serenity Tattoo is located not far from his office - as well as a galvanized watering trough that he uses for baptisms.

Two tattoo artists work at the county-licensed shop that is open every day except Sunday.

Bentley rejects criticism that a church is the wrong place for a tattoo parlor, calling it a “morally neutral” practice akin to having your ears pierced.

He has two tattoos.