Daily Brickbats...

[RS Davis]

When Steve Tether came back to his car in Hull, Great Britain, he was
amazed to find a ticket for illegal parking on the windshield, and he was
even more amazed to find the spot he'd parked at was painted with yellow
stripes indicating that it was illegal to park there. The lines weren't
there when he parked. But workmen moved his car, painted the lines, then
moved it back, and he was ticketed. The city council later overturned the
ticket.
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[RS Davis]

A village jury in Pakistan ordered a 16-year old girl and her
sister-in-law to be raped. The decision was made as restitution after the
daughter of the rapist allegedly had relations with the brother of the
girl. Police say the rapist had tried to rape the girl before but been
prevented, so he sent his daughter to the family's home while the brother
was there, then he called the other villagers and accused the boy of
having an affair with his daughter. A village meeting was then called and
the girls were ordered to be raped. The man then allegedly took them to an
outhouse and raped them.
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[RS Davis]

Former San Bernardino County, California, Sheriff Floyd Tidwell has
pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of firearms from department storage.
Many of the guns should have been returned to owners. Others were illegal
under state or federal law and should have been destroyed. More than 400
of the guns reportedly can't be accounted for. Tidwell's plea deal will
see him do no jail time if he helps locate those weapons.
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[RS Davis]

After chasing and stopping an alleged drunk driver on the outskirts of
Paris, French police were surprised to find the man was wearing only
fishnet stockings. But they probably weren't shocked. The area they
stopped him in is a hangout for transvestite prostitutes. No, the real
surprise was that the man was an off-duty policeman. The man allegedly
told the officers who arrested him that he needed extra money so he
moonlighted as a hooker.
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[RS Davis]

If you live in Kansas City, Missouri, place your garbage right on the
curb. Otherwise, city workers will refuse to pick it up, even though the
sanitation department's web site says that bags can be within 10 feet of
the curb. Homeowners had been placing their bags right next to the
sidewalk, but some have found that if they do that now, sanitation workers
won't pick up the bags. Instead, the workers will leave a note saying the
bags must be on the curb. Some homeowners find it odd that sanitation
workers will cross the sidewalk to put the notes on the bags, but they
won't cross the sidewalks to actually pick up the trash.
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[RS Davis]

The British government is considering a plan to allow local government to
seize houses that have been vacant for at least six months and rent them
out. Those governments pay the rent back to the owners, after keeping
enough to cover their costs, of course. Local governments already have the
power to raise taxes on empty houses.
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[RS Davis]

Federal investigators say the United Nations has turned over just 20 percent of the paperwork they requested for their investigation of fraud in the Iraq oil-for-food program. And investigators say that the documents the UN did turn over are riddled with errors.
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[RS Davis]

Half of California's law enforcement and public safety officers retire with disability benefits that entitle them to a lifetime of tax-free payments equal to half their final annual salary. Under state law, chronic lower back pain can earn someone a disability pension, as can cancer and even hernias. One prison guard who hurt his knee carrying a large coffee pot is also drawing disability. And one investigator is drawing benefits from both the Department of Motor Vehicles and the San Diego Sheriff's Department.
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[RS Davis]

Those who dine at the Russian parliament's commissary will have to use
plastic utensils. Officials say they switched to plastic because members
of parliament were making off with the silverware.
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[RS Davis]

It started when Alice DeHan's mobile home park couldn't automatically withdraw its monthly maintenance fee from her bank account as it usually does. A phone call to the bank alerted DeHan that her Social Security check hadn't been deposited, and she was overdrawn. Why wasn't the check automatically deposited? The Social Security Administration said DeHan is dead, a claim she disputes. It was amusing at first, but when her cell phone was cut off and her health and car insurance cancelled, it ceased being funny. DeHan was finally able to convince the SSA that she is alive and start to straighten things out. But the agency never explained why it thought she was dead and told others that she was.
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[RS Davis]

Margaret Clare couldn't understand why the mail wasn't being delivered to her Newcastle, England, home. When she investigated, she found that she lived on the wrong side of the street. Local postal workers had simply refused to deliver mail to odd-numbered addresses because they claimed they didn't have the space or equipment to sort the mail. She was given six first-class stamps in compensation. No word on whether mail delivery has resumed to odd-numbered addresses.
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[RS Davis]

When Bromley East Charter School in Brighton Colorado, held a safety
drill, all classrooms were supposed to lock their doors Apparently, one
first-grade classroom didn't follow that procedure, and the principal
reportedly showed them what could have happened in a real emergency by
going up to students and saying "Bam, bam, bam. You're dead."
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[RS Davis]

Eric Verhille, a Marine Corps sniper, was accidentally shot and seriously injured while training officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on how to forcefully enter and clear a room. Which raises the question: Why do Fish and Wildlife agents need to develop military close-combat shooting skills?
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[RS Davis]

The FBI has classified information it gave Congress two years ago about a translator who charged that the bureau's translation service was plagued by incompetence. Among the information classified now: where she worked, what languages she translated, who she worked with, and the type of cases she worked with. The FBI insists the move isn't connected to several lawsuits, including the agent's own wrongful termination suit. They say the information is sensitive. But one lawmaker says the move is foolish.
"To classify something that's already been out in the public domain, what do you accomplish? It does harm to transparency in government, and it looks like an attempt to cover up the FBI's problems in translating intelligence," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
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[RS Davis]

When William and Grace Kill opened a card from a church they'd recently spoken at, they got a shock. The couple, who live in Oxfordshire, England, found the card had already been opened and this note had been added: "Dear customer, we had to open this letter to check for money or credit cards, there were none, so you can have the f....r back!!! Next time, make sure there is some money!! Love, Royal Mail." British postal officials have promised to investigate.
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