Lots of Fruitcakes

Midweek madness:

Grandma sues Postal Service over fruitcakes

Postal clerk allegedly asked if 80-year-old was a terrorist

WILMINGTON, Del. - Lucille Greene takes baking and mailing about 30 fruitcakes as Christmas gifts seriously. Seriously enough that the 88-year-old grandmother sued the U.S. Postal Service for emotional distress after accusations of being a terrorist from a postal clerk, according to her federal lawsuit.

In December 2002, Greene showed up at the Magnolia post office to mail fruitcakes to relatives and friends when, her lawsuit says, a postal worker asked her, "What kind of explosives do you have in here?" before shaking the box.

In the lawsuit, Greene said others in the post office laughed at her, leaving her upset and in tears. She said she tripped over a concrete parking barrier outside and fell, breaking her glasses and chipping a tooth.

The judge dismissed her allegations two weeks ago, and her appeal for $250,000 compensation, because Greene had a prior eye condition and contradictory testimony.

But U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson wasn't entirely unsympathetic. She wrote the clerk "was likely being less than courteous" despite following standing procedures for suspicious packages.

Even though she has to go a post office farther from her home, Greene said she hasn't given up on fruitcakes as Christmas gifts.

"My lawyer got a couple this year," she said.

3 comments:

1st. Courteous and postal worker don't go together.

2nd. Typical of how older people are treated.

3rd. Making a fruitcake should be a crime.







Man ordered to make up for ruined Christmas

Judge rules husband and father of two must treat family to a fancy meal

CONYERS, Ga. - Will a fancy dinner make up for family violence on Christmas Day? A Georgia judge thinks it might.

A woman and her two young children will get a special Christmas dinner at one of Atlanta’s most expensive restaurants this year — courtesy of a Rockdale County judge who imposed that sentence on a man charged with family violence on Christmas Day.

“Basically you were hung over and didn’t want to be involved in some activities your wife planned,” Chief Superior Court Judge Sidney Nation told Wendell Jerome Herman Rogers II. “You acted up and ruined Christmas, so this year you’re going to make it up to them.”

Authorities said the 33-year-old Rogers came home from a party on Christmas Eve and got into a confrontation with his wife in front of their two young children the next morning. He then tried to prevent his wife from calling for help.

He was charged with family violence, battery, and obstructing and hindering a person making an emergency telephone call.

In addition to the dinner, Nation also sentenced Rogers to serve 12 months, although the time is suspended while Rogers continues an anger management course. Rogers also has to pay a $1,000 fine.

He will also have to submit a receipt to the court for the family dinner by Jan. 5.

Rogers’ attorney, Maurice Bennett, said his client agreed he had misbehaved and readily accepted the dinner sentence. Attorneys said dinner at a top restaurant with his wife and two children could set him back more than $300.

Rogers has no prior criminal record.

He has a wife and kids and he is partying on Christmas Eve. His punishment should have been 12 years of helping other parents assemble toys on Christmas Eve so he could see what he should have been doing instead of partying.







Father Pulls Gun on Youth Football Coach

PHILADELPHIA - A father pulled a gun on a youth football coach because his son wasn't getting enough playing time, police said.

Wayne Derkotch, 40, was arguing with the coach Sunday morning during a game of 6- and 7-year-olds in northeast Philadelphia when he pulled out the gun, police said.

No shots were fired and no one required medical treatment, authorities said.

Derkotch was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault and reckless endangerment. He did not immediately return a telephone message left at his home Monday.

6- and 7-year-olds and the guy pulls a gun. I wonder if his kid cared about how much playing time he was getting or if he was happy just to get any playing time which he won't now.

Great role model for his kid.







And if that were not enough, an extra bonus:



Philadelphia youth football referee Shawn Henwood, left, is charged with assault after allegedly throwing a punch at the brother of Wayne Derkotch, right. Derkotch is accused of pulling a gun on a youth football coach because his son wasn't getting enough playing time.

A referee who allegedly threw a punch at a man was also arrested on assault charges, but it was not clear if that fight was related to the first altercation.

Wow, what a show for the kids and fans. Kinda makes you want to go back to the kids playing tag(see 10-23 blog)!!!!!







Woman Who Won't Lift Veil Loses Lawsuit

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - A judge dismissed a small-claims court case filed by a Muslim woman after she refused to remove her veil when she testified.

Ginnah Muhammad, 42, wore a niqab - a scarf and veil that cover her head and face, leaving only the eyes visible - during a court hearing this month in Hamtramck, a city surrounded by Detroit. She was contesting a $2,750 charge from a rental-car company.

District Judge Paul Paruk told her he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave her a choice: take off the veil while testifying or have the case dismissed. She kept it on.

"I just feel so sad," Muhammad told the Detroit Free Press for Sunday's edition. "... I didn't feel like the court recognized me as a person that needed justice. I just feel I can't trust the court."

Paruk said he told Muhammad to remove her veil because it is his job to determine whether witnesses are telling the truth. "Part of that, you need to identify the witness and you need to look at the witness and watch how they testify," he said.


Muhammad must be the one on the far left.

Michigan law lacks rules governing how judges handle religious attire of people in court, so judges have leeway on how to run their courtrooms.

Metropolitan Detroit has one of the country's largest Muslim populations, and Hamtramck has a particularly large concentration, but Paruk said it was the first time someone had come before him wearing a niqab.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the judge violated Muhammad's civil rights.

"Although a niqab is donned by a minority of Muslim females, it is still a bona fide religious practice," he said.

Hey, a new commercial: Can you see me now?

Always remove their niqab before you take them home!!!!

I like this judge!! Here come D Judge.








Possible Toilet Ice Rips Hole in Roof

CHINO, Calif. - An elderly couple believe a chunk of blue ice from the holding tank of an aircraft toilet ripped a hole in their roof and destroyed a bed.

William McElroy was watching a movie with his wife, Evelyn, when the ice crashed into the house Wednesday night.

"It was a huge crash. It shook the whole building, but we thought it was a car," McElroy said. The couple went outside to investigate but found nothing, so they returned to finish watching the movie.

They didn't discover the chunk of ice on the bed and the 2-foot-wide hole in the ceiling until Thursday morning.

"I think we had somebody extra looking over us," Evelyn McElroy said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said Thursday if the offending chunk of ice is from an airplane, then it is likely the cause of a leak in a holding tank of the aircraft's bathroom.

Blue ice occurs when waste leaks from a plane's bathroom onto the outside of the plane and freezes at high altitudes. The liquid begins to thaw as the plane descends, Gregor said.

Reminds me of a song: It must be raindrops falling on my head, it must be blue ice falling on my bed.

Geez, my blog is in the toilet.




That's the best I got for this Wednesday. Same time, same place tomorrow!!