Emerging democracies typically exhibit growing pains as they develop stability.
For example, in Afghanistan’s parliament, one female legislator attacked another with her shoe — and then dodged the second lady’s flying water bottle before colleagues separated them.
Older democracies, however, act more maturely.
Except perhaps in California — where an Italian-American legislator got into a shoving match with a colleague whom he thought had made a “Sopranos”-type slur about recent legislation.
And in the mature democracy of Wisconsin, one state Supreme Court justice was accused of roughing up another (though who started it is in dispute) as the justices privately discussed a case.
Well, he is
a fire-fighter
after all
Budget cuts forced the closure of two of the three firehouses in Chillicothe, Ohio (pop. 22,000), and even that station failed a state fire marshal’s inspection.
Because the station’s own alarm system was broken, the chief was required, until the new system is installed, to assign one firefighter per shift to be on full-time patrol at the station, walking around the grounds constantly, upstairs, downstairs, looking for fires.
‘Dead man’
is guilty
of murder
In New Orleans, Thomas Sanders, 53, pleaded guilty to murdering a 12-year-old girl.
According to the neighboring state of Mississippi, Sanders has been dead for 17 years (having been ruled deceased in 1994 on petition of his parents, brother and ex-wife).
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa Fla. 33679 or go to www.newsoftheweird.com.)