Uplifting Story of A Disabled Man Overcoming His Disability
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A jury has recommended a 93-year prison term for a paraplegic who stabbed, robbed and sexually assaulted a woman he tricked into giving him a ride.
Bobby M. Patterson, 37, of Orange County got the 44-year-old woman to pick him up at the Wawa store in Central Park in Fredericksburg on Feb. 17 after telling her he was stranded there, according to court records.
He got the woman to take him to the Locust Grove area, where he pulled a gun and ordered her to pull to the side of the road.
Orange Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Sanner said the handgun looked like a 9 mm,
but turned out to be a BB gun. He said that had the victim not fought back so fiercely, she might have been killed.
“She was just a good Samaritan who was trying to help somebody out,” Sanner said. “She then had the misfortunate of finding herself in this situation.”

Sheriff Had Man By The Balls
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Castrated Arkansas rapist Wayne DuMond has been linked to a Kansas City murder investigation, authorities say.
While awaiting trial, DuMond was castrated at his home, he said, by masked men.
No one was ever arrested in the attack, but DuMond won a $110,000 court judgment against then-Sheriff Coolidge Conlee of St. Francis County, who kept DuMond’s testicles in a jar on his office desk.

Space Man To Reach For The Stars
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He intends to become the first private astronaut to go into space with his own rocket. Within two years, he hopes to take two passengers into space with him.
Critics are already calling it the “bye, bye, Bennett mission”.
…other rocket experts are worried, not least because the Thunderbird capsule is actually a converted cement mixer, containing sheets of hardboard and a few computer joysticks…

John Bonsor, of Starr, a Scottish rocketry group is puzzled. “I don’t understand what is happening. He has been using cheap rockets, has a mixed bag of success and disaster and has achieved less than many others have working from their garage. It is ridiculous to claim that he leads the field, except in the number of crashes.”
“I’ve come from nothing to being the leading contender in the X-Prize,” counters Bennett.
“Only if he reinvents the laws of physics,” replies Bonsor. “He has absolutely no chance of the X-Prize. Please don’t launch.”

The Beer Defense Fails
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The defendant blamed his crime on his need for beer – but the judge didn’t buy it.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne sentenced Steven G. Childress, 47, to one year in jail for breaking into the Seven Star Texaco store in Lynnwood in April.
Childress had claimed he broke into the convenience store only to slake his thirst for a beer.

Cloning Allergen-Free Cat
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Transgenic Pets, a tiny company in Syracuse, N.Y., says it is developing a genetically engineered cat that won’t cause allergies, a development that could allow millions of people who can’t now do so to keep the animals as pets.

The Ice Cream Man Is Dead!
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Two little boys watched in horror as their local ice cream man, the neighborhood children’s summertime friend, was shot in front of them.
“He was screaming, ‘Mom, the ice cream man is dead, the ice cream man is dead.”

Paula Poundstone update –

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/2000/20010627/lo/843838_1.html

Still no real info, but folks are rallying around her, disagreeing with the charges. I hope very much that the charges are unfounded.