UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Stolen class ring turns up 30 years later

DALEVILLE, Ind., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- It took 30 years and the help of an ex-wife, but Ron Everett finally has the high school class ring that was stolen from his Daleville, Ind., home in 1975.

The 1969 graduate of Daleville High School said he had stopped wearing his class ring because of the weight he lost during a tour of duty in Vietnam.

In 1975, someone walked into his unlocked home and took containing change and the ring.

Along the way, a Rowland Tile Co. worker found the ring in Muncie, Ind., and gave it to a co-worker planning to attend a Daleville High reunion. But the ring sat in a company locker until its recent discovery and return to the high school, where Everett's ex-wife immediately recognized it last week.

"What's the chances she would be the one to open it and immediately connect it to me? It's not damaged, no more than being ran over," Everett told the newspaper.

Ohio man acquitted in dog shooting

MEDINA, Ohio, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- An Ohio man who shot a dog that wondered onto his property was acquitted on one count of cruelty to animals, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

Howard Goodyear, 30, who operates Spring Mist Farms in Brunswick Hills Township, said he thought the Chinese Shar-Pei was a threat to his llamas, sheep, goats and other farm animals, which he claimed have been terrorized by trespassing dogs.

The Shar-Pei, named Natasha, was the pet of a neighboring family, but was not wearing a collar when she was shot on May 3.

"My concern was the well being of my livestock," Goodyear said.

The dog's owner, James Woods, 33, lived across the street from Goodyear but moved to North Olmsted after the incident. He speculated that neighborhood children who played with Natasha let her off her leash.

"I don't see how he can get away with doing this," Woods said.

Municipal Judge Dale Chase ruled that Goodyear could legally shoot the dog because of the perceived threat to his livelihood.

Booklet attacks political correctness

LONDON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A new booklet in Britain reportedly blames the political correctness culture for tragedies such as the July 7 London terror attacks and the spread of HIV.

The author, Anthony Browne, claimed that he was prevented from appearing on the radio to make the "factually correct" but "politically incorrect" statement that the increase in HIV is caused by immigration from Africa, reports The Independent.

"The result of that conspiracy of silence is the government follows a policy that does absolutely nothing to combat the growth of HIV," Browne was quoted as saying.

He also was quoted as saying "political correctness" had "allowed the creation of alienated Muslim ghettoes which produce young men who commit mass murder against their fellow citizens."

Browne said: "Political correctness is literally killing people. If someone is poor because they are lazy, ill-disciplined, addicted to benefits and resentful of those who aren't, then encouraging them to blame others rather than emulating them will in fact just perpetuate their poverty," The Independent reported.

A Labor lawmaker, accused of practicing political correctness, dismissed Browne's claims as "political incorrectness gone mad."

Graffiti-cleaning lesson: Ask first

MARENGO, Ill., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Good intentions gained bad results when a so-called Graffiti Posse damaged religious statues while trying to clean a weekend defacing, a report said.

It turned out Fraternite Notre Dame officials had no idea the Cook County, Ill., Sheriff's Police crew was coming to their religious retreat near Marengo, Ill.

A sheriff's police spokesman said a supervisor mistakenly thought the order requested the cleanup and dispatched the Graffiti Posse, which at times helps non-profit organizations outside Cook County.

The crew arrived Tuesday and sprayed chemicals on defaced statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus, only to be met with anger by surprised order members.

The order said the chemicals further damaged the statues, which it wanted to preserve until insurance adjustors arrived.

"We weren't here to cause trouble," crew member Tim Duignan told the Chicago Tribune. You look at a statue of the Blessed Virgin defaced, it makes you want to clean it up."

Duignan acknowledged the crew should have asked before cleaning the statues.