UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Fur ruffles over escaped service dog

BRAIDWOOD, Ill., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A dog being trained to aid the disabled has pitted volunteers against animal control officials in Will County, Ill., after his escape wearing blue pajamas.

Billy, a 10-month-old Chinese Crested, had spent most of his life inside the Dwight Correctional Facility for Women in nearby Livingston County.

Last month, his trainer, Marcia Ramirez, took him for a walk in Braidwood, Ill., as part of his acclimation for his future life at the Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota School.

Billy, flustered by life on the outside, escaped from Ramirez in his blue pajamas, worn to keep him warm, and ended up at Will County Animal Control, where it cost Ramirez $150 to spring him, The Joliet (Ill.) Herald-News reported Tuesday.

Animal control officials have refused to refund the $150, citing the cost of capturing Billy and caring for him for four hours until his owner was located.

Sister Pauline Quinn, of Marinette, Wis., Billy's official owner and a longtime advocate of service dogs, said such fines may discourage people from helping with such programs.

"This was not done on purpose or out of neglect," Quinn said. "He got away from her after panicking."

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School bans word: 'meep'

DANVERS, Mass., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts high school principal said he banned the word "meep" because it was being used to disrupt school.

Principal Thomas Murray of Danvers High said he told students they would be suspended for saying "meep," a favorite utterance of lab assistant Beaker from "The Muppet Show," because students were using it to disrupt school and it was part of a massive disruption being planned by students on Facebook, The Salem (Mass.) News reported Tuesday.

Murray did not disclose details of the Facebook-related disruption, but he credited phone calls he made to homes with preventing it from coming to pass. The phone messages threatened non-compliant students with suspensions.

"It's really not about the word in particular," Murray said. "The reason for the message (was) a group of students were instructed to refrain from that language and other language in a particular part of the building."

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Police: Wedding brawl spread to hotel

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Police said dollar bills thrown on the dance floor during a Florida wedding reception led to a brawl that spread to a nearby hotel.

Investigators said the groom, Markeith Brown, threw the dollar bills onto the dance floor for children to collect, a practice rappers call "makin' it rain," and along with his brother confronted a guest who criticized the practice at the Rusty Pelican Restaurant in Tampa, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Tuesday.

The confrontation grew into a fight that spread among guests and spilled into the restaurant's parking lot. Police said one intoxicated man was hit on the head with a brick.

Officers said Malcolm Anthony Hepburn, 30, a convicted felon who was not at the wedding, heard his cousin had been hit by a brick and confronted members of Brown's family at the Residence Inn shortly after the reception fight.

Hepburn allegedly attacked Brown's father, Andrew Thompson, 47, while a female accomplice allegedly put her hands around the neck of Brown's grandmother, Mary Wright, 74, and threatened to choke her.

Police arrived and Hepburn was charged with felony battery, carrying a concealed firearm, grand theft of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. His alleged female accomplice was identified by police but not immediately arrested.

Brown was not charged by police and left with his new bride on a cruise.

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Would-be streaker nabbed in the act

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Florida police said a man who attempted to streak at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game was arrested almost immediately upon reaching the field.

Investigators said Travis Levengood, 33, of Bradenton, Fla., disrobed during Sunday's game and jumped onto the field in the south end zone, where he was met by a police officer and quickly arrested, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Tuesday.

Levengood was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing. He was released from Hillsborough County Jail on $750 bail.