The kind of story that is just so incredibly WRONG

[lizard]

$132K of Grant to Combat Goth Returned

Fri May 21, 6:57 PM ET

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BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - Almost half of a $273,000 grant awarded in 2002 to fight the Goth culture in Blue Springs has been returned because of a lack of interest — and the absence of a real problem.

Blue Springs received the grant two years ago from the Youth Outreach Unit, money the city and U.S. Rep. Sam Graves trumpeted proudly as a way to fight a perceived Goth problem.

But $132,000 of the grant was returned because officials never found much of a problem with the Goth culture, which some students called a fad that most people eventually outgrow.

Slightly more than $118,000 of the money was earmarked for therapy, assessment and case management, and the plans also included a series of town meetings to discuss the issue.

"It never happened because referring someone for looking, acting Goth is not a concept that ever got imbedded in people's heads," project manager Allyce Ford said of the therapy proposal.

The town hall meetings didn't happen, either, she said, because there wasn't enough interest in the community to conduct them.

About halfway through the project, the focus shifted from Goths to counter cultures and negative influences facing children, Ford said.

"You have to admit if you saw one, two, three, four or more people dressed in traditional Goth, it would be discerning," she said. "Those kids have every right to be there. I hope the lessons you're teaching are tolerance and understanding."

Assistant City Administrator Eric Johnson said despite the change in focus, the project helped dispel myths and stereotypes associated with the Goth culture.

"That was part of the goal," Johnson said. "If we were able to accomplish that, we are able to accomplish something effective."

 

[avi]

man, i want 132K to combat goths dammit

 

[minxnim]

they should spend that money to study people who who still use hair mousse.

 

[lizard]

wow today should be dubbed Fucked Up News Friday


Former Gov. Bill Janklow pardoned his son-in-law in 2002 for three drunken-driving and marijuana-possession convictions, according to documents unsealed Thursday on orders from South Dakota's highest court. All together, 218 previously sealed pardons were made public, after the practice of keeping such actions secret was challenged by news organizations. All but four of the pardons were issued by Janklow.


Amongst those pardons is another Janklow friend who had his DUI conviction wiped clean.


By all indications, this has spurred a media feeding frenzy in South Dakota. Current headline in the Argus Leader: "Sex crimes, manslaughter among pardons". The lede isn't much better: Sexual contact with a child, indecent molestation of a child, rape and manslaughter are among the crimes secretly pardoned by former Gov. Bill Janklow, according to documents released today. Janklow also secretly pardoned his son-in-law's drunken driving and drug crimes, records show.

 

[lizard]

 

[lizard]

At bat vs. rats

W. Side clubber is murder on vermin

By KERRY BURKE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

[size=-1]Rat-exterminating Manuel Rodriguez, dubbed M-Rod by W. 109th St. neighbors, displays trophy. [/size]

[size=-1]Rat batter Rodriguez shows off his killer stance... [/size]

[size=-1]...then strikes. [/size]Meet Manuel Rodriguez: handyman by day, self-appointed rat-whacker by night.

Rodriguez has quickly become an urban folk hero by prowling his upper West Side street with a homemade bat, which he used to smash a career-best 15 rodents Sunday night.

"When I see them coming, I get into position," said Rodriguez, 53, clutching his custom-carved pine plank, crouching low. "I can't miss."

M-Rod, as some call him, is a one-man murderers' row.

His field of dreams is not a house built by some guy named Ruth but the strip of concrete bordered by trash cans and piled-high garbage bags in front of his apartment building, on W. 109th St. and Amsterdam Ave.

"I can hit seven - maybe nine - rats a night in front of my building alone," the Dominican immigrant said, cradling his club as cumbia love ballads wafted from the apartment next door. "Over three days, I kill at least 21. Easy."

At a time when the city is at war with rats, Rodriguez is an unsung soldier. Complaints soared 29%, to 19,358, during the 2003 fiscal year, prompting a crackdown by City Hall.

Rodriguez's night job starts after he puts in an eight-hour shift as a handyman, six days a week, at a homeless shelter. He returns to the basement apartment he shares with his wife, Justina, and their 13-year-old daughter, Adaiana, and showers, puts on a cotton shirt and baseball cap and hits the streets.

First, he hunts for planks from neighborhood garbage. The ideal bat is about 3 feet long and 4 inches wide. Then, he painstakingly whittles each one a 10-inch handle with a kitchen knife, and waits till dark.

"Last night I cracked two bats, so I always have to find more," he explained.

Rodriguez's rat-smashing season begins when the temperature soars and the garbage out front begins to boil with life.

"I start when the rats get to be too much," he said as cool evening breezes carried the still-ripe odor of rubbish left all day in the sun. "They run right through our legs. At night, we can't open our doors or the rats come right in."

He hunkers down in the dark, motionless for about 20 minutes at a time, and studies the movements of maybe 100 rats.

After tracking their patterns, he expertly prods the trash with his plank and pounces. Dropping into a split-second squat, his face barely above the pavement, he splatters his prey with a single sideways swat.

"He should play for the Yankees!" said Dulce Gross, 36, a home-health-care attendant and mother of two who joined his growing fan base, which chills on the stoops, sips sodas and watches the action into the night. "His stance is good and his swing is perfecto."

Rat batting is often a team sport. Rodriguez enlists his extremely understanding wife, adventurous neighbors and even game passersby to bang on trash can lids and flush out his doomed quarry.

With the first clatter, Rodriguez was already in position, and hitting for distance, Monday night. One furry kill cleared the full width of his building and two stoops. It whizzed by spectators, who lunged out of the way. His pulped prey plopped down about 30 feet away - another new record.

But rat batting is more than just another night game for Rodriguez. It's his battle to clean up his rat-infested block. "We ask for help but [his building's owners] do nothing," said Rodriguez, taking a breather and a smoke. "Everyone is scared of the rats, especially the [children] out here."

Building super Augusto Jimenez, 57, however, cries foul.

"It's because people don't keep their apartments clean," he said, claiming he does his best managing 112 apartments in six buildings on the block. "When the exterminator comes, they don't open their doors. It's not a problem with maintenance, the manager or the landlord. It's a problem with the tenants."

Rodriguez and his neighbors deny that, and offer even a stranger tours of their immaculate, albeit crowded, flats.

"These rats aren't from our apartments. They run our street," said Rodriguez, after putting the oozing pelts into a pile for sanitation workers to clear in the morning.

Phone messages left with Rodriguez's landlords went unreturned.

Meanwhile, M-Rod's rat batting has some of the neighborhood's better-heeled residents thinking of moving.

"I was stunned," said Andre Birleanu, 24, a fashion model who said he pays $2,300 rent for a one-bedroom pad on the block. "This is supposedly a great neighborhood, with Columbia University and all these restaurants. Then this guy kills mountains of rats and shows how really dirty it is." Others are celebrating a new-found local hero. "The man deserves a medal," said Alan Eiland, 40, a business information analyst and father of two. "Now, I hope he moves on to these damned pigeons."

 

[avi]

and on a different note, here's some happier news:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/27/international1330EDT0593.DTL



Austria enacts one of Europe's toughest animal rights laws
WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer

Thursday, May 27, 2004






[font=geneva,arial,sans-serif]

(05-27) 10:30 PDT VIENNA, Austria (AP) --

Hens will be free to run around barnyards, lions and tigers will vanish from circus acts, and Dobermans will sport what nature intended -- floppy ears and longer tails -- under a tough animal rights law adopted Thursday in Austria.

The anticruelty law, one of Europe's harshest, will ban pet owners from cropping their dogs' ears or tails, force farmers to uncage their chickens, and ensure that puppies and kittens no longer swelter in pet shop windows.

Violators will be subject to fines of $2,420, and in cases of extreme cruelty could be fined up to $18,160 and have their animals seized by the authorities.

Lawmakers, some holding stuffed toy animals, voted unanimously to enact the law, which takes effect in January and will be phased in over several years. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said Austria was sending a stern message to the rest of Europe and the world about respecting animals.

"Austria is taking the role of pioneer," Schuessel told parliament, vowing to press for similar legislation across the European Union. "This new law will give both producers and consumers a good feeling, and it lifts animal protection to the highest level internationally."

It's the latest example of how the animals rights issue is gaining attention across Europe:

* The European Commission has proposed a sweeping overhaul of EU regulations on transporting livestock across the continent to give more protection to the hundreds of thousands of animals that are shipped daily and to prevent deaths and abuse.

* In March, Hungary's parliament banned cockfighting and the breeding or sale of animals for fighting, and it made animal torture -- previously a misdemeanor -- a felony punishable by up to two years in prison.

* Last summer, the region of Catalonia, which passed Spain's first animal cruelty law in 1988, banned the killing of abandoned cats and dogs in animal shelters and raised fines for cruelty to as much as $24,200.

* Italy is considering a law that forbids sending horses to the slaughterhouse after their competitive careers are over, and Germany plans to phase out mass farming of caged chickens by the end of 2006.

Austrians' love for animals dates to imperial times, with the famed Lipizzaner stallions pampered as a source of national pride.

Aimed primarily at poultry and other livestock, Austria's new law also outlaws the use of lions and other wild animals in circuses and makes it illegal to restrain dogs with chains, choke collars or "invisible fences" that administer mild electric shocks to confine animals.

The measure enjoyed the support of all four main parties in the National Assembly, where Minister of Social Affairs Herbert Haupt drew laughter by holding up a stuffed toy dog while addressing lawmakers Thursday.

Haupt, a veterinarian, had pushed for the law since the 1980s. It still needs the president's signature, a formality given its unanimous passage.

"Animals and consumers are the clear winners with this law," said Ulrike Sima, a lawmaker specializing in animal protection issues for the opposition Socialist Party.

A key provision bans the widespread practice of confining chickens to small cages on farms and makes it a crime to bind cattle tightly with ropes.

Pet owners and breeders no longer will be allowed to crop puppies' ears or tails, a common practice with certain breeds such as Doberman pinschers. Sweden has banned the practice since 1989.

Invisible fences are out, too, though they're nowhere near as ubiquitous here as they are in U.S. suburbs.

"This is a first step in the right direction," said Andreas Sax of the Austrian animal rights organization Four Paws.

Sax said the law won't do enough to improve conditions for cattle and pigs, who often are injured in cramped pens with slatted floors, and he criticized some sections he said were too vague.

The Austrian Farm Federation opposed the law, arguing that it will increase costs for farmers and could lead to more imports of poultry from countries with looser restrictions. Chicken farmers will be allowed several years to phase in the new rules. Those who recently invested in new cages will have until 2020 to turn their birds loose to run free inside fences. The law calls for creating an animal rights ombudsman to oversee the treatment of animals on farms and in zoos, circuses and pet shops. Austria has an estimated 140,000 enterprises that breed or sell animals. [/font]

 

[lizard]

cool.

 

[xfer]

i dunno, i don't think "invisible fences" are a bad idea.

i also tend not to trust any kind of kindly gestures on the part of Austrians.

 

[avi]

invisible fences don't really work

plus, if the dog gets out (chasing something for instance), he can't get home

 

[xfer]

what do you mean by don't really work? i know that they are pretty great at keeping dogs in the yard, even after you remove their shock collar.