News story of the day

[mjmooney]

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Transvestite had sex with a dog at English Heritage castle

Published: 10:59AM BST 21 Jul 2010

A transvestite had sex with a dog in the moat of an English Heritage castle.

The cross-dressing man was caught with the animal in the dry moat of King Henry VIII's Pendennis Castle overlooking Falmouth Bay in Cornwall.

The 33-year-old mounted the pet after it chased him out of sight of its woman owner.

The owner had been walking around the ancient castle with a friend when the pair spotted the lone transvestite on the morning of Saturday July 10th at around a quarter to twelve.

He was wearing a black dress and walking around the steep-walled, empty moat.

As the two ladies spotted the cross dresser he ran away. Later one of the dogs chased after the man; by the time the women had caught up, the man was having sex with the pet.

Castle staff then restrained the man while police were called.

Pendennis Castle, managed by English Heritage, is a popular family tourist attraction and was heaving with visitors in high season.

He was escorted home and later made a "full and frank confession", and received a caution for outraging public decency.

A police spokesman said: "Other agencies were liaised with and he was handed over to them".

A spokesman for English Heritage said: "This was a very rare incident".

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[BOF]

It must be Rooney and screwing dogs.

[leviramsey]

Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground

Imagine your home catches fire but the local fire department won't respond, then watches it burn. That's exactly what happened to a local family tonight.

A local neighborhood is furious after firefighters watched as an Obion County, Tennessee, home burned to the ground.

The homeowner, Gene Cranick, said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.

Each year, Obion County residents must pay $75 if they want fire protection from the city of South Fulton. But the Cranicks did not pay.

The mayor said if homeowners don't pay, they're out of luck.

This fire went on for hours because garden hoses just wouldn't put it out. It wasn't until that fire spread to a neighbor's property, that anyone would respond.

Turns out, the neighbor had paid the fee.

"I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hadn't paid your $75, but I was wrong," said Gene Cranick.

Because of that, not much is left of Cranick's house.

They called 911 several times, and initially the South Fulton Fire Department would not come.

The Cranicks told 9-1-1 they would pay firefighters, whatever the cost, to stop the fire before it spread to their house.

"When I called I told them that. My grandson had already called there and he thought that when I got here I could get something done, I couldn't," Paulette Cranick.

It was only when a neighbor's field caught fire, a neighbor who had paid the county fire service fee, that the department responded. Gene Cranick asked the fire chief to make an exception and save his home, the chief wouldn't.

We asked him why.

He wouldn't talk to us and called police to have us escorted off the property. Police never came but firefighters quickly left the scene. Meanwhile, the Cranick home continued to burn.

We asked the mayor of South Fulton if the chief could have made an exception.

"Anybody that's not in the city of South Fulton, it's a service we offer, either they accept it or they don't," Mayor David Crocker said.

Friends and neighbors said it's a cruel and dangerous city policy but the Cranicks don't blame the firefighters themselves. They blame the people in charge.

"They're doing their job," Paulette Cranick said of the firefighters. "They're doing what they are told to do. It's not their fault."

To give you an idea of just how intense the feelings got in this situation, soon after the fire department returned to the station, the Obion County Sheriff's Department said someone went there and assaulted one of the firefighters.

It's not really made clear from the story, but Cranick apparently set the fire himself to test whether the firefighters would come.

[b6bloke]

A council's decision to remove all the conkers from a chestnut tree after a branch fell and fractured a four-year-old girl's skull has been branded "madness".

Katie Roden and the wound suffered when a branch fell on her head

Doctors told Katie Roden she was lucky not to have been killed

Katie Roden had to have surgery after a metre-long branch thrown into the tree to dislodge the traditional playground favourites crashed down and split her head open as she rode her bike in Nottingham.

Having been told their daughter was lucky it did not enter her brain and kill her, Katie's parents complained to the city council about the dangers the tree posed.

In response, workers have been sent out with a cherry-picker to remove all the conkers from the branches and put them on the ground - 16 months after the accident.

The move is designed to remove the temptation for children to try and knock them loose, but outraged local residents have claimed it is health and safety gone mad.

In an online forum, one said: "This is absolutely pathetic.

Conkers

The tree's conkers have all been placed on the ground

"I was walking down the road and tripped on a banana skin - I demand the council ban all bananas from our county to make sure I never again have to suffer the pain of a sore bum."

Another added: "This madness must stop. This is why our council tax is so high."

Defending her daughter, Tracey Roden said: "Katie didn't ask that the conkers be removed, in fact we knew nothing about this until a neighbour told us.

"It's amazing how they worry 16 whole months after the incident."

A spokesman for the council has said it was not its intention to "spoil anyone's fun" and the decision was made to "avoid the possibility of further injuries".

With the tree being on a main road and close to a school, he added: "It's a solution to a particular problem in this location and not something we plan to do anywhere else."

bollocks

[BOF]

Welcome to the world we live in.

[b6bloke]

Welcome to the world we live in.

Who makes these decisions though? I am sick of everyone being wrapped in bubble wrap. When I was a kid I had my head cut open doing the same thing and what happened, I was more careful! If i fell out of a tree I either didnt do it again or was more careful. Its how we learn, we need to be exposed to an element of risk as long as it is controlled else kids will be ignorant to the fear of what could hurt them.

[BOF]

The parents complained. That's the first problem. The second one was that rather than telling them to cop the **** on, the council actually tried to placate them out of, I assume, a fear of litigation. On the continent they'd have been laughed at. Not so in Britain; nor I suspect in Ireland.

[bickster]

There was a story in one of the local free papers here the other week (AKA The Formby Crimes) about the dangers of fallen apples. Two quotes, one from a council "official" which was along the lines of they were going to look into the dangers and act upon their findings and one from the local councillor (AKA Barry rentaquote), who actually just said the equivalent of "It happens every year, its called Autumn, get over it", which I found refreshing, the council official however….

[BOF]

Sounds like the local councillor was newton this game. He'll learn soon enough.

[Gringo]

The parents complained. That's the first problem. The second one was that rather than telling them to cop the **** on, the council actually tried to placate them out of, I assume, a fear of litigation. On the continent they'd have been laughed at. Not so in Britain; nor I suspect in Ireland.

Where there's blame there's a claim. And where there isn't blame, there might be a claim anyway.

[AVFC_Hitz]

Sounds like the local councillor was newton this game. He'll learn soon enough.

Oh wow!

[b6bloke]

This is a hard one really isn't it becasue you are looking at the wound of a head of a young child.

I fell from a tree collecting conkers and I learnt from it, I got hit on the head with a stick and gashed my head open and learned from it. Yes it was only done on this one tree but are you not then setting yourself up for doing another and another?

This is being done all over the uk, its pretty tough to control children doing it and in my opinion think an awareness campaign in the schools would be enough in this case using the injury to the girl as an example.

I wonder how many children get ill eating mushrooms that they have found in the wild? do we get the councils to go around picking them all to make sure this doesn't happen or do we educate them?

[dundeevilla]

The tree is on main road, and sounds like a magnet for schookids. One girl has already been seriously injured.

Well done to the Council for acting to make sure no other children were hurt. Protecting children from harm is a worthy use of taxpayers' money in my opinion.

[BOF]

Chestnut trees have been kid magnets for hundreds of years I'd imagine. Personally I don't know how anyone got past their 10th birthday in the past :rolly:

[chrissmith921]

Do you know whats worse - they would have had meeting after meeting and out of all the proposed solutions, this was deemed the best.

What the **** were the other options they rejected?!?

[dundeevilla]

Chestnut trees have been kid magnets for hundreds of years I'd imagine. Personally I don't know how anyone got past their 10th birthday in the past :rolly:

All chestnut trees are not on main roads though. This one is, as I understand it.

Kids throwing things in the tree could hit passing cars. Kids climbing up into the tree could fall into the path of oncoming traffic.

They prevented these potential outxomes by making the tree less attractive to kids.

What's the big deal?

[BOF]

They prevented these potential outxomes by making the tree less attractive to kids.

They took all the chestnuts off. 16 months later. I'm no treeologist but I believe they'll need to do this every single year

[b6bloke]

Chestnut trees have been kid magnets for hundreds of years I'd imagine. Personally I don't know how anyone got past their 10th birthday in the past :rolly:

All chestnut trees are not on main roads though. This one is, as I understand it.

Kids throwing things in the tree could hit passing cars. Kids climbing up into the tree could fall into the path of oncoming traffic.

They prevented these potential outxomes by making the tree less attractive to kids.

What's the big deal?

This action wasn't done because of the main road, it was done because of the incident with the girl.

I did not know it was on the main road as this is a bigger issue entirely as there is a much greater risk of a car getting hit with more severe consequences but BOF's point stands, do they do this every year?

Educating the kids to me is the priority.

[b6bloke]

14 June 2001

Norwich city council is threatening to fell seven horse chestnut trees because of the risk posed by their conkers. Apparently they are a danger to pedestrians, who could slip on the mulch they leave behind. The golf-ball sized horse chestnuts could also come crashing down onto passing cars, while sticks thrown by children to dislodge them could cause serious head injuries, the council has warned. There are also fears that children gathering conkers are at risk from vehicles.

"We had an incident not so long ago where a car knocked down a child while conkering" said council spokeswoman Rachel Bobbitt.

"In preparation for the removal, in recent years, Norwich City Council has been planting replacement lime trees alongside so semi-mature trees will still be on Bluebell Road when the horse chestnuts are removed," she said.

Fortunately not all the councillors agree. Liberal Democrat Jane Roozer said: "Everyone has gone through a period of collecting conkers and I find it quite unbelievable that we are thinking of chopping down very healthy, beautiful trees.

"It's just ludicrous - beyond belief.

"At the end of the day, children will get up to mischief and we can't go cutting down all our conker trees because of the potential for accidents."

2001

A 12-year-old boy who was gathering conkers from a tree has died after falling from a branch and impaling himself on railings nearly five metres below. Louis Read, from Rotherham, had gone to collect conkers at a nearby cricket ground on Wednesday when the accident happened.

It is thought he fell after a branch snapped under his weight, plunging him on to the railings. Firefighters released him from the railings in Gildingwells Road, Woodsetts, but he died after undergoing emergency surgery in hospital in Sheffield.

South Yorkshire police said yesterday they were treating his death as a "tragic accident". Louis's parents paid tribute to their son, whom they described as a "compassionate" and "very popular lad". They also urged parents to tell their children how dangerous climbing trees could be.

In a statement issued through South Yorkshire police, Phil and Angela Read said: "The family are struggling to come to terms with Louis's death and he will be missed so much by so many people. We would also wish to appeal to other parents, not just in this area, to impress upon their children the dangers of climbing and to be aware of what dangers may be around them while they are out playing."

Louis lived in Worksop Road, Woodsetts, with his parents, three brothers - Daniel 19, Lee 17, and Harrison, 18 - and his sister, Anneka, 19.

His parents added: "Louis was a very popular lad, with people of all ages, from infants through to pensioners.

"He was such a likable lad, mainly because of his caring, compassionate nature, which made him many friends. He would always help other children in his class at school and his teachers referred to him as Tigger owing to the fact that he could never sit still.

"Because of his kind manner, we always believed he would go into a caring profession when he was older.

"Louis loved animals, and had four pet chickens that he looked after daily. He often went fishing with his dad but never caught any, which is probably just as well, because he would have no doubt been upset if he had done. His pet hamsters and goldfish were buried by him in the back garden when they died."

The Reads said their son's organs would be donated as "we know he would want to help other people in this way".

The headteacher of Louis's school, Dinnington comprehensive, where he was in his second year, described him as a "very special young man".

"He was a really lively character liked by everyone, students and staff," said June Nicholson. "He was just a likable young man. We're all devastated."

A South Yorkshire police spokeswoman said: "The investigation into the circumstances leading to Louis's death is continuing today but it is believed at this stage to be a tragic accident that occurred while children were collecting conkers."

2005

It is a traditional autumn pastime that has tested and amused generations of schoolboys.

Climbing trees to pick the perfect conker - hard enough to bring glory in playground battles - is a task requiring commitment, good judgement and more than a little courage.

But such is the nature of today's 'nanny state' that children are now being denied this pleasure - as council workers are despatched to pick horse chestnuts from the trees themselves.

They do so in the supposed interests of health and safety.

Rather than risk children damaging themselves or property by collecting conkers, Newcastle Upon Tyne City Council is responding to residents' requests to get to them first.

Taxpayers are funding the operation by the council's environmental services team to use a cherry picker crane to strip trees bare of conkers before children can get their hands on them.

Officials insist it is a sensible safety request and they are only reacting to public demand. But members of the public have been stunned by the sight of the conker-picking team at work.

Martin Callanan, the north-east's Tory MEP, said: "Words fail me. It's the nanny state gone mad. I used to collect conkers as a lad and I never injured myself and nor did any of my friends.

"Children do get injured climbing trees and it is laudable the council wishes to stop that happening but there must be better things they could do with their time. They could clean the streets for a start. ' "It must be costing a fortune. It's a waste of money and a waste of their limited resources." The council has refused to reveal the cost of the operation - which last year led to more than 10 horse chestnut trees being 'picked' before the children.

The conkers are handed to local schools to be used for conker fighting after being collected by council workers.

Steve Charlton, environmental services delivery manager who is responsible for maintaining trees in public spaces, said: "We look after all the trees and picking conkers and things like cherries and pears is part of the service.

"Around September time we tend to start getting a few phone calls about problem conker trees.

"Someone might ring us because there's a horse chestnut tree near their house or property and there's a risk of damage.

"When kids are trying to get the conkers down they can fall and damage cars, or sometimes children throw them at windows and cause damage.

"This is the sort of thing we try to avoid. And also, by taking the conkers off the problem trees it reduces the chances of kids getting hurt if they try to climb them.

"It's not that we don't want children to play with the conkers, it's just that the trees sometimes cause problems that can easily be avoided by taking them off ourselves.

"We don't do it unless someone contacts us about a tree, then we'll go out and have a look at it and decide from there what to do.

A"t the moment we are getting a lot of complaints from residents in the city because of the cherries on the trees.

"They cause a lot of mess and they're very slippy. This means we go out and pick the cherries before they fall."

This is only the latest 'nutty' nanny state conker row in recent years.

In 2004 South Tyneside Borough Council has provoked fury after chopping down chestnut trees to stop kids hurting themselves while gathering conkers.

The same year the headteacher of Cummersdale Primary School in Carlisle, demanded kids wear goggles during conker fights to protect them from flying shards.

Months later headteacher of Bookwell Primary in Egremont, Cumbria, banned conkers from the playground believing chestnuts to be a threat to children with nut allergies.

they were doing this in 2005 in Newcastle

[Meath_Villan]

`kin hell what ever next