Lacie the Norwegian Forest cat is at the center of a heated two-year-long dispute in Brewerton, N.Y., that has now gone to the state Supreme Court. Original owner Carol Money accuses adoptive owner Danette Romano of refusing to let Lacie sleep in bed with her — a key provision that Money says was in the adoption agreement both parties signed in April, 2018. According to the lawsuit, Money regularly visited Lacie in her new home after the adoption and found the cat to be skittish and fearful. She became very upset after Romano’s husband allegedly admitted, “We don’t let Lacie sleep with us.” Tensions increased to the point that Romano complained to the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office and had her lawyer send Money a letter ordering her to stop contacting Romano. Money’s lawsuit accuses Romano of breach of contract and lying about her intention to let Lacie sleep in her bed. She demands the return of the cat.
The Smell Test
Police in Speyer, Germany, gave chase after they were passed by a car driving at a high speed with its lights off. The suspect, a 26-year-old man, pulled over and ran from the car, leaving a trail of scent that was so distinct officers said they were able to follow it from the car to the man, who was hiding behind a hedge. “Due to the cloud of perfume that was detected inside the car and on the man,” police said, “it was possible to identify him as the driver.” His breath didn’t smell so good, though; he was far over the alcohol limit.
Annals of Entitlement
Seloni Khetarpal threw a tantrum and repeatedly called 911 to report that her parents had shut off her cellphone. Khetarpal demanded that officers respond to her home in Jackson Township, Ohio. She was warned that she should only call 911 for a legitimate emergency. Several hours later she called back, became “belligerent” and told the dispatcher she thought the matter was a legitimate issue. She was arrested and charged with disrupting public services.
Government At Work
Ontario’s new license plates are blue with white numbers and letters. But drivers complain that at night, all that’s visible is a shiny blue rectangle. In the darkness, the numbers and letters disappear, which obviously creates a problem for law enforcement. “Did anyone consult with police before designing and manufacturing the new Ontario license plates?” asked Kingston Police Sgt. Steve Koopman. “They’re virtually unreadable at night.” A government spokesperson said authorities “are currently looking into this.” But Lisa Thompson, Ontario’s minister of government and consumer services, saw a political angle: “Sticking with the status quo Liberal plate that was peeling and flaking was not an option,” she said. “We absolutely have confidence in our plates.”
Must-See TV
Police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, charged Robert Lee Noye with first-degree harassment and false imprisonment after his victim told them Noye kidnapped her and forced her to watch the 1977 historical miniseries Roots “so she could better understand her racism.” He allegedly told her if she did not sit through the entire nine-hour series about slavery, he would “kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago.”
The Continuing Crisis
A rider on the New York City subway employed a novel way of protecting his personal space. The passenger removed a bottle of ketchup from his bag and squirted a perimeter of ketchup on the floor around his seat, apparently hoping to keep fellow straphangers away. Twitter erupted with funny comments after one user posted a photo: “Gotta protect yourself from the mustard demons; they can’t cross the barrier” and “What brand of ketchup, though?” New York City Transit promised to clean up the ketchup right away.
Oops!
Dylan Bryant found more adventure than he expected as he explored a bayou in southwest Houston. His exploration took him 100 yards down a sewer line before he became trapped. “I can’t go back because of how I had to scooch through,” Bryant said. “I’m in the middle of raw, open sewage in this little bitty box.” From under the street, Bryant yelled for help and a man heard him, then asked a passerby to call 911. Firefighters arrived and pulled Bryant out of his smelly predicament.
Unclear on the Concept
Florida school districts struggling to comply with the state’s requirement that every school have “a good guy with a gun” are challenged to find enough qualified applicants. Among recent hiccups: Near Orlando, a safe-school officer sent her husband a nude video she recorded in a school bathroom while on her lunch break. In Hillsborough County, a school guardian thought her gun was unloaded when she shot through a mirror as she practiced in front of it for her firearms certification. Another officer pawned his service weapon and ballistic vest; his supervisor discovered he was carrying a pellet gun in his holster. Bob Gualtieri, a sheriff in Pinellas County, remarked: “The reality is there is no perfect in the world.”
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
The Spanish Civil Guard raided an underground cigarette factory in the southern province of Malaga and found a facility with a complete production line capable of producing 3,500 cigarettes an hour as well as beds and living quarters for the workers. Access to the plant, located 13 feet under a horse stable, was disguised by a cargo container. Twenty people, from the U.K., Ukraine and Lithuania, were arrested, said police, and more than 3 million cigarettes, some hashish and marijuana, as well as weapons, were seized.
Old Story, New Twist
An Oklahoma City homeowner hearing noises in his attic suspected squirrels might have gotten in. But when he went to inspect the situation, he found a man lying on a mattress. The homeowner called 911 and reported a “stranger in my house. … I have a gun on him right now.” Police responding to the call said, “there was actually somebody that appeared to have taken up residence in (the) attic,” and the home has a staircase “that goes up the side of the house with attic access.” The homeowner escorted the squatter at gunpoint to the driveway, where officers were waiting.
Mystery Radio
The Smith family of Lockport, Ill., has a perplexing extra feature in their house that has occasionally kept the family up at night for six years. “There are voices in the wall, and I don’t know what it is,” said 9-year-old Brianna Smith. Music and talk radio emanate from the walls in Brianna’s room in the middle of the night, but the family can’t figure out why. There are no speakers in the walls, Brianna’s father, Richard, said. Attempts by police to uncover the source were unsuccessful. The Federal Communications Commission couldn’t help either. Richard Smith believes something in the wall is receiving a signal from one of the six radio towers near the home, but an engineer sent to the home from one of the stations told him: “I got to be honest with you, I don’t know what is acting as a speaker.” The Smiths have been advised to hire an engineer to pinpoint the signal and block it. In the meantime, Brianna falls asleep in her parents’ room.
Anger Management
Ypsilanti, Mich., police were called to an apartment complex where they found a 23-year-old man smoking a cigarette and pressing a bloody towel to his side. The man told officers his partner, 28-year-old Neil Patrick Wasinski, known as Nalla and referred to as “she” in court records, attacked him with a 21-inch samurai sword because he didn’t buy her any marijuana. The attack resulted in multiple stab wounds to the man’s arm and torso; one of his lungs collapsed, according to police. Tracked down at her apartment, Wasinski told police to “please go away” and later claimed to have no memory of the incident. Police found a blood-stained 21-inch katana sword on Wasinski’s bedroom floor, according to their report. She was charged with assault and resisting arrest.
Unclear on the Concept
For two years, Caelie Wilkes nurtured a lovely green succulent in her kitchen window. She watered it, wiped dust off its leaves, and forbade anyone else from caring for it. “It was full, beautiful coloring, just an overall perfect plant,” Wilkes wrote in a Facebook post. Recently, she decided it was time to transplant the succulent into a pretty new pot. Imagine her dismay when she pulled up the succulent and realized it was plastic, rooted in Styrofoam with sand glued to the top. “How did I not know this?” she wondered. “I feel like these last two years have been a lie.” Wilkes suffered some ridicule on social media. But her local Home Depot reached out with some real, living succulents that Wilkes can shower with love and attention.
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