Free joints for food donations
SOQUEL, Calif., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- The owners of a California medical marijuana dispensary said they collected 11,000 pounds of food for charity by giving out free marijuana cigarettes.
Nancy Black and Phil Hicks, owners of the Granny Purps dispensary in Soquel, said they offered the complimentary joints, with a maximum four per day, to patients who brought four or more cans in to be donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank holiday food drive, the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel reported.
"We had experience with Second Harvest because my husband is a retired chiropractor, and we used to collect donations from his patients at his office," Black said. "We used to do some sort of incentive to encourage people to donate, and so we decided to do the same thing here to get momentum."
Black said the dispensary handed out 2,000 of the complimentary joints and collected 11,000 pounds of food for the drive.
Police foil planned mall flash mob
WAUWATOSA, Wis., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Police in Wisconsin said they foiled an attempted freeze tag-playing flash mob event on one of the year's busiest shopping days.
Wauwatosa police said managers at Mayfair Mall became concerned after learning 130 Tosa West High School students joined a Facebook group organizing a flash mob -- a group of people assembling in a public place to perform a pre-arranged activity -- to play freeze tag at the mall Dec. 23, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Police said the students in the Facebook group were issued one-day bans from the mall on the intended day of the event and the four teens who organized the Facebook group agreed to call it off.
However, police said one 14-year-old boy who was on the ban list showed up at the mall and was told to leave. He attempted to enter through another entrance and was cited for trespassing and banned from the mall for one year.
Mall managers said they feared the planned flash mob would pose a safety concern on one of the year's top shopping days.
Christmas message runs afoul of sign ban
BRISTOW, Va., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A Virginia man said he received a letter Christmas Eve from his homeowner's association ordering him to remove a "Happy Birthday Jesus" sign.
Donald Henderson, 38, of Prince William County, said his Christmas decorations this year were comprised of a wreath on the door, a few lights on the front porch, an inflatable Mickey and Minnie and a sign reading, "Happy Birthday Jesus, Come Let Us Adore Him," The Washington Post reported.
Henderson said the decorations were up for three weeks before the New Bristow Village management company sent him a letter Christmas Eve informing him the sign was a violation of a covenant banning all signs except for real estate and security placards.
Henderson said the letter gave him 15 days to comply and he plans to take down the sign Jan. 1, the day he usually takes down his Christmas display.
"What really bothered me was that they sent it on Christmas. I consider myself a man of faith. The sign shows to all of our neighbors what Christ means to us," Henderson said.
A spokeswoman for the management company said religion had nothing to do with the decision.
"The content of the sign is not why the letter was sent," she said. "The letter was ill-timed, and for that we absolutely apologize."
Angry air traveler punches teenage boy
BOISE, Idaho, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A man punched a teenage boy who refused to turn off his cellphone as their plane landed in Boise, Idaho, police said.
Boise police Lt. Kent Lipple told The Idaho Statesman that Russell Miller, 68, was upset with a 15-year-old passenger who would not turn off his phone despite directions from the crew of a Southwest Airlines flight coming in from Las Vegas Tuesday night.
"He thought he had to take action," said Lipple.
He said Miller punched the teenager, who was flying alone, in the arm, leaving a mark, but the teen did not require medical attention.
Miller was booked into the Ada County Jail on a misdemeanor battery charge.
"The suspect decided to act on his own accord and he is going to spend some time in jail," Lipple said.
