Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Cleveland zoo facing loss of elephants

CLEVELAND, July 24 (UPI) -- Three female elephants at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will soon be living elsewhere due to a planned renovation of the pachyderm facility.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said Tuesday elephants Martika, Moshi and Jo must be moved by early 2008 at the latest.

The relocation of the massive beasts could potentially be a permanent move.

The three mammals originally came to the Cleveland Zoo a decade ago from Africa and immediately bonded with their keeper Meghan Sharp.

Sharp said the three female elephants even appeared to somehow recognize major milestones in her own life.

"When I came back from my wedding and honeymoon after two weeks off, Martika went immediately for my ring with her trunk," Sharp said. "She was fascinated.

"Jo kept going to my belly with her trunk," the zookeeper told the Plain Dealer about a later incident. "Finally, my boss said, 'Are you pregnant again?'

"I didn't know it yet, but I was -- with my son," she added.

Packers fans locked boy in his room

MILWAUKEE, July 24 (UPI) -- A lawyer for a Milwaukee woman convicted of locking her son in his room with a bucket for a toilet during football games suggested a poetic punishment.

Melanie Hardrath and Scott Scherer were found guilty of repeatedly locking Hardrath's young son in his room with nothing but a bucket for his natural needs while they watched Green Bay Packers games at the Potawatomi Bingo Casino, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Tuesday.

"What do you do?" Hardrath's defense attorney, Richard Johnson, asked Judge Jeffrey Wagner. "Maybe this coming football season, lock them in a room with a bucket and make them watch (Chicago) Bears games."

Instead, the couple faces several months in jail for the offense.

Investigators found the two could easily have afforded a babysitter. Their home was stocked with nearly $1 million worth of Packers memorabilia.

Ore. teens may avoid jail for butt slaps

MCMINNVILLE, Ore., July 24 (UPI) -- A pair of teenage boys from McMinnville, Ore., may not receive jail sentences for allegedly spanking several female students, a local district attorney said.

Yamhill County district attorney Bradley Berry said earlier this week Ryan Cornelison and Cory Mashburn, both 13, will likely avoid jail time and not be forced to register as sex offenders for their alleged crimes, The Oregonian reported Tuesday.

Berry said while he does not believe the boys' alleged actions were simply playful acts, he did say Monday the pair would likely not be harshly punished.

The district attorney recently charged both teens with 10 counts of harassment and sexual abuse for allegedly spanking several female Patton Middle School students.

The charges, that represented a reduction from earlier felony charges, were labeled as an overreaction by both boys' parents and many in the community.

The Oregonian said that the maximum penalty for each of the 10 misdemeanor charges the teens are facing is one year in prison.

Intoxicated blind man enters wrong home

HOUSTON, July 24 (UPI) -- A blind man who drunkenly stumbled into the wrong Harris County, Texas, home was injured when the homeowner fired at him with a shotgun.

The blind man, who lives nearby the scene of the incident, had mistaken the home for his own and argued with the homeowner about whose house they were in, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.

"It was not his residence," said Lt. Michael Young of the Harris County Precinct 4 constable's office. "The homeowner requested that this person leave and the interloper refused, insisting it was his house."

The homeowner fired off a round of birdshot when the intoxicated man approached him, grazing his face and head.

The man, whose family said he had been involved in similar incidents in the past, was taken to a local hospital to treat his injuries, which were described as minor.

No charges are expected to result from the incident.