Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Drug suspect free; border agents face prison

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A grass-roots petition drive has begun in support of two U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot a drug smuggling suspect in the behind at the Mexican border.

On Feb. 17, 2005, 30 miles southeast of El Paso, agents Ignacio Ramos, 37, and Jose Compean, 28, opened fire on Osbaldo Aldrete-Davilaas he ran from the agents along the Rio Grande, after they said he pointed what appeared to be a gun at them while abandoning some 800 pounds of marijuana.

He was shot once in the buttocks, but managed to escape, and is now suing the U.S. government for $5 million for violating his civil rights, The Washington Times reported.

Meanwhile, the two agents were found guilty in March of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in a crime of violence and a civil rights violation.

The convictions and sentences that could be as high as 20 years have drawn criticism and calls for hearings from Democrats and Republicans in Washington, and an online petition has also been formed, calling on President Bush to intervene before sentencing next month.

The Web site for the petition drive is justicefortheborderpatrol.com.

Hoaxer: HUD to house New Orleans poor

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A hoaxer posed Monday as a federal housing official at a builders conference in New Orleans, promising the government would rebuild the city's projects.

The man identified himself as Rene Oswin, deputy secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and said he was speaking for Secretary Alphonso Jackson, CNN reported.

"Oswin" told 1,000 industry representatives at the conference sponsored by Equity International that residents of New Orleans public housing projects were "begging" to return.

"We're going to help them to do that," he said.

The New Orleans housing projects have been a sore point. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, some politicians suggested that the hurricane had its positive side by emptying them out.

HUD's policy, both before and since the storm, has been to replace projects with mixed-use development, restoring only a fraction of the former low-income housing.

In his speech, "Oswin" said that other parts of the plan included pouring money into public schools and providing health clinics, while Wal-Mart had agreed to foster local businesses and the oil companies to restore wetlands.

"This announcement is totally false; it's totally bogus," HUD spokeswoman Donna White in Washington told CNN. "We're trying to track it down."

Expert: Mystery beast could be 'wendigo'

TURNER, Maine, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A DNA test has been ordered to determine the species of a mystery beast killed in Turner, Maine, that some believe was a mythical creature called a "wendigo."

The Lewiston (Maine) Sun Journal shipped DNA samples from the "Turner Beast" to Dr. Irv Kornfield at the University of Maine and to HealthGene Corp. in Toronto to attempt to determine what sort of animal was killed by a car Aug. 12, the newspaper said. Results are expected back later in the week.

Canadian researcher Michael de Sackville, who has written 23 nonfiction books on history and anthropology, said the animal could be a feral dog or a wolf-dog hybrid, "but it could also be a little monster long known to the Algonkian-speaking Aboriginal peoples of northeastern North America as the 'wendigo.'"

"The northeastern Indians told tales of the wendigo entering villages by night and breaking into individual long houses where it often carried off small children. This reminds one of the much more recent tales told by Turner residents about the 'beast' that would skulk around farmhouses at night and attack pets left outside," de Sackville said.

Doggie driver causes car accident

HOHHOT, China, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A Chinese woman said her dog was behind the wheel when her car collided with oncoming traffic.

The Hohhot woman, surnamed Li, said she decided to let her dog "have a try" at steering when she saw how it "was fond of crouching on the steering wheel," The Sun reported Monday.

No injuries were reported after the car, which was being steered by the dog while Li operated the accelerator and brake, crashed into an oncoming vehicle. Both cars were reported to be slightly damaged, The Sun said.