In a two-day period in March, alarming reports revealed that “dirty (radiation) bombs” easily entered the country in car trunks in tests, that one-third of U.S. civilian nuclear research reactors were insufficiently secure, and that concerns were heightened about the 2,000 shoulder-fired missiles said to be unaccounted for in the world’s arsenals. On the other hand, the Los Angeles Times reported that the fishing village of Dillingham, Alaska, at least, is secure, now that a $200,000 Homeland Security anti-terrorism grant has paid for 60 “downtown” surveillance cameras (with 20 more to come). Dillingham (pop. 2,400) is about 300 miles from Anchorage, with no roads linking it to anywhere.
COMPELLING EXPLANATIONS
In earnest testimony in March, Douglas Dyer explained how it was just bad luck that his married girlfriend got shot twice, fatally, in the middle of her back by the rifle he was holding. Dyer said he had originally intended to kill himself, but when she grabbed at the gun to stop him, it fired into her hand. Then, as she ran out a door, he followed and bumped the door open with the gun, causing it to fire and accidentally hit her flush in the back. As his body flinched from the shot, banging into a wall, the rifle again accidentally fired, putting another bullet in the center of her back. The Rockland, Maine, jury apparently didn’t believe a word of it and convicted him of murder.
UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT
Zulima Farber became the New Jersey attorney general in January even though her public record shows 13 speeding tickets, three license suspensions, and two bench warrants—for failure to appear in court regarding the tickets. Farber acknowledged “embarrassment” at the record and joked that it might take “psychoanalysis” to learn why she did those things. However, a psychoanalyst interviewed by the New York Daily News rejected the suggestion. Farber, said the doctor, just “needs a spanking.”
NOT YOUR FATHER’S HELL’S ANGELS
Police were investigating the Hell’s Angels chapter in Stockholm, Sweden, in February after 70 members claimed government benefits for being “depressed.” Police said the gang had largely abandoned its reliance on shootouts and bomb attacks and moved into crimes like tax fraud.
DRIVING WHILE NUDE
Recent drivers who decided, for reasons known only to them, to get naked before taking the wheel: A woman, her toddler and her mother, Norwood, N.Y., sitting in a parked car (February); John Persico, Providence, R.I., smashed into several cars naked (February); Natalie Peterson, 23, Roy, Utah, shucked her clothes after an argument with her aunt (March); Eric Wayne, 57, Pocono Township, Pa., who “tends to get a little weird” when he’s been without sex, according to an officer who knew him (March); A man and woman, ages 59 and 70, joyriding nude in Cologno al Serio, Italy (March).
OUTSTANDING POLICE WORK
A 40-year-old man in Cedarburg, Wis., was arrested on suspicion of DUI when police noticed the severed hose of a gas station pump sticking out of his car’s fuel door. It belonged to a Kwik Trip station. MTW
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