Robbery attempt foiled by Miss America 1944

Robbery attempt foiled by Miss America 1944

An Ohio man has been charged with attempting to loot scrap metal near Waynesburg, Ken., after being apprehended by the woman who won the Miss America pageant in 1944.

Venus Ramey, 82, says she was alerted to the theft on her tobacco farm by her dogs. She says she got in her truck and drove to the building that was being looted, blocked an SUV and stepped out of her vehicle with a .38-caliber revolver.

According to Ramey, the man, Curtis Parrish, told her he would leave. Ramey replied, “Oh no you won’t,” and, balancing on her walker, proceeded to shoot out his tires. She then held Parrish at gunpoint while she flagged down a driver who called police on a cell phone.

Ramey, the first redheaded Miss America, told reporters that if Parrish had “dared come close to me, [he’d] be 6 feet under by now.” She added: “I’m trying to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble, and all it is, is one thing after another.”

Source: Associated Press

 

Tattoo parlor sued for typo

A Chicago-area man is suing a tattoo parlor for giving him a tattoo with an image of the city’s landmark John Hancock Center above the word “Chi-Tonw.”

The tattoo should have read “Chi-Town,” not “Chi-Tonw,” claims plaintiff Michael Duplessis.

Duplessis is suing Jade Dragon Tattoo, Inc., for his resulting loss of self-esteem, psychological pain and suffering, and “emotional distress from public ridicule,” as well as tattoo remediation procedures and legal costs.

According to Duplessis, the tattoo parlor employees “fraudulently induced” him to sign a waiver of liability form and then altered the form after the fact to make it look like he had actually asked them to tattoo him with the word “Chi-Tonw.”

Source: ChicagoBusiness.com

 

Leaving dog poop on someone’s doorstep is ‘free speech’

A former Democratic Party official has been acquitted on charges that she left a campaign brochure full of dog feces on the office doorstep of Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colorado.

Kathleen Ensz, who at the time was the party’s state Senate district vice chairwoman, did not deny leaving the feces but said doing so was free speech protected by the First Amendment.

“Her only intention … was to make a political statement that Marilyn Musgrave’s politics stink,” argued her attorney, Shannon D. Lyons.

A Colorado jury deliberated for two hours before finding Ensz not guilty of “criminal use of a noxious substance.”

Lyons denounced the trial as “a political prosecution from start to end.” He told reporters that Ensz had been unfairly singled out for criminal charges and was “the first person prosecuted in Weld County for leaving dog crap.”

Source: Rocky Mountain News

 

Driving a Zamboni drunk is legal in New Jersey

New Jersey’s laws against drunk driving don’t apply if you’re driving a Zamboni, a state Superior Court judge has ruled.

The decision is a victory for John Peragallo, who was arrested at the Mennen Sports Arena in Morristown, N.J., after he operated a 4-ton ice-grooming machine with a blood alcohol level of 0.12 percent. A fellow employee had complained that Peragallo was speeding and weaving erratically on the ice.

Judge Joseph Falcone ruled that a Zamboni is not a “motor vehicle” under the state’s drunk-driving laws because it can’t carry passengers or be used on a highway.

Source: Associated Press

 

Man accused of stealing 26 cars to visit girlfriend

An Inglewood, Calif., man has been charged with stealing 26 cars in order to go back and forth to Santa Barbara to visit his girlfriend.

Antonio Moreno, 31, was arrested while behind the wheel of a 1987 Toyota Camry. He had a fondness for stealing Camrys and Nissan Sentras, police said.

Moreno would allegedly steal a car to get to Santa Barbara and then abandon it. After visiting his girlfriend, he would steal another car for the return trip.

He was “stealing vehicles as transportation to pursue their relationship,” said Lieutenant Paul McCaffrey of the Santa Barbara Police Department.

Police also say he didn’t have a driver’s license. His girlfriend, who was not arrested, told authorities she had been trying to dump him.

Source: Associated Press

— Compiled by Thomas F. Harrison
Thomas F. Harrison is vice president of new business development at Lawyers Weekly and editor of www.HarrisonReport.com. He can be contacted at tom.harrison@exhibitAnews.com.