Lead Stories
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Brian Smith, 42, was charged in Cassville, Missouri, in July with locking his three kids in 55-gallon drums during the day while he was at work. Jeffrey Hoveland, 50, pleaded guilty in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in July to using an electrified dog collar to punish his two sons, ages 9 and 11. And Jan and Joyce Duplantis were arrested in New Orleans in June and charged with forcing their two female wards, ages eight and nine, to live outside in a crude playhouse so as not to mess up their apartment.
The Continuing Crisis
Fifteen New York City police officers were indicted in July and as many as 700 other city employees are under investigation for not paying federal taxes. The cops had bought fake documents from scam artists who had convinced them that, despite the fact that they were police officers, they could legally claim not to be subject to government jurisdiction. (According to the documents the officers were “nonimmigrant nonresidents” who are “alien to the United States.”) In each case the city payroll office unquestioningly accepted the form and did not withhold federal taxes, in some cases for up to four years.
In March, in Clawson, Michigan, and in January, in Federal Way, Washington, parents mistakenly packed cans of Bud Ice beer in their schoolchildren’s lunch boxes. The Clawson parents said they mistook the Bud Ice for Hawaiian Punch and the Federal Way parents said they mistook the beer can for a holiday can of Pepsi.
Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago 60611.
