Free Republic

Those who lollygag in the left lane of highways and interstates could be ticketed under legislation approved in the state House on Wednesday. House Bill 459, by Rep. Bill Hitchens, R-Rincon, was approved 162-9. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for any driver on a divided highway who does not move to the right when a car going faster approaches from behind.

Clayton County police are looking for the the owner of a pit bull after the dog attacked a man in Jonesboro on Wednesday. Jose Padilla was walking his Chihuahua on Brookwood Circle when a pit bull went after him and ended up biting him on his legs, Channel 2 Action News reports. The pit bull was caught and will be put down after a 10-day quarantine to determine if it has rabies, Capt. Mark Thompson, commander of the Clayton County Animal Control Unit, told the AJC. Teens who were waiting for a school bus helped stop the attack. "That pit...

DENDERMONDE, Belgium: An attacker with a knife brought horror to this quiet Belgian town on Friday, killing two children under the age of three and one of their caregivers after tricking his way into a day-care center - then escaping on a bicycle. In a frenzied attack for which a motive has yet to be established, the man, aged from 20 to 25 and wearing a bullet-proof vest, stabbed his victims after telling staff at the day-care center that he had a question for them, said Paul Putteman, chief of police in the village of Dendermonde. Belgium has been traumatized...

A robbery suspect was shot six times and killed by his intended victim outside an East Atlanta Village bar Wednesday night, police said. The incident occurred shortly before midnight in the 1200 block of Glenwood Avenue in southeast Atlanta, about two miles from the scene of last week’s high-profile killing of a bar worker near Grant Park. In the Wednesday incident, a man and woman had just left the Graveyard Tavern and were sitting inside their car waiting for the vehicle to warm up when a man approached with a gun and demanded money, Atlanta police Sgt. Lisa Keyes told...

Robbers use sex store handcuffs to tie up workers Associated Press STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - Three thieves robbed a suburban Atlanta sex shop early Wednesday after tying up employees with silver leg irons and black fur handcuffs taken from the store shelves, police said. DeKalb County police were still looking for the suspects accused of robbing the Starship Enterprise adult novelty store in DeKalb County around 1:20 a.m. According to the police report, a clerk was sweeping up when the masked men entered the store and ordered the two workers into a rear office at gunpoint while a third intruder...

Police Investigate Two Suspicious Truck Drivers POSTED: 2:21 pm EDT August 21, 2006 JEFFERSON COUNTY -- Could two suspicious truck drivers reported to police in Jefferson County have ties to terrorism? Last night at about 11:30pm someone at the Travel Centers of America Truck Stop noticed something suspicious and reported it to police. The police report says two unidentified men who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent were operating a tractor trailer carrying an unknown radioactive material. The person reporting the incident says that the pair gave the travel center false registration information and a false vehicle identification number....

Two trucks loaded with fuel missing Two tanker trucks, carrying a combined 3,900 gallons of diesel fuel, disappeared Tuesday from a distribution business on Atlanta Industrial Parkway west of downtown, Atlanta police said. The trucks, one containing 2,096 gallons of fuel and the other with 1,800 gallons, were noted as missing around noon. A security guard told police he saw the two tankers pulling away from the On-Site Fuel Center around 10:30 a.m. The driver of the first truck waved to the security guard as he drove past, according to a police report. Because of the large amount of fuel...

Equifax: Laptop With Employee Data Stolen By HARRY R. WEBER AP Business Writer © 2006 The Associated Press ATLANTA — Equifax Inc., one of the nation's three major credit bureaus, said Tuesday a company laptop containing employee names and Social Security numbers was stolen from an employee who was traveling by train near London. The theft, which could affect as many as 2,500 of the Atlanta-based company's 4,600 employees, happened May 29 and all employees were notified June 7, spokesman David Rubinger said. Employee names and partial and full Social Security numbers were on the computer's hard drive, though Rubinger...

Mexican police arrest four illegal Iraqis Associated Press MEXICO CITY - Mexican federal agents have arrested four Iraqis trying to sneak into the United States without proper documents, the government said Monday. Wasim Francis Schamoun and Ivan Yalda, both 23, and Refon Chlil Oraha and Thaer Salem Yelda, both 27, were found on a bus in the northern city of Navajoa after police received an anonymous tip, the attorney general's office said in a statement. The Iraqis were in Mexico illegally, the statement said. Officials on Monday said they were investigating the background of the four and trying to determine...

Death toll in Louisiana could be above 10,000: US Senator 22 minutes ago BATON ROUGE, United States (AFP) - US Senator David Vitter said that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina could top 10,000 in Louisiana alone. "My guess is that it will start at 10,000, but that is only a guess," Vitter said, adding that he was not basing his remarks on any official death toll or body count. Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, also called for the immediate deployment of regular US combat troops in New Orleans, saying the build-up of National Guard troops was too slow to quickly...

Vandals Attack, Cause Tanker To Overturn In Atlanta The driver of a tanker carrying 7,500 gallons diesel fuel inadvertently flipped his truck trying to avoid a hail of rocks and lit fireworks, police said. Apparently, people were throwing chunks of concrete at and setting off fireworks toward the truck as it traveled eastbound along Donald Lee Holloway Parkway, the former Bankhead Highway, just a mile west of Interstate 285, witnesses said. The driver – whose name has not been released – swerved out of harm’s way, but ended up flipping the tanker. The tanker flipped completely over while careening down...

Warning over crow attacks By Luke David And Katharine Barney, Evening Standard 10 June 2005 Joggers are today being warned about violent crows in London parks after an attack left a man bloodied and needing hospital treatment. Justin Keay was swooped on by two crows in what experts have called a severe case of "mobbing" - where two or more birds gang up on an assumed predator to keep them away from their young. Now other runners are being told to stay well away from fledgling crows to avoid further attacks. Mr Keay today told how he was running his...

Cheating wife jailed for rape claim 6 June 2005 An unfaithful wife was jailed for 12 months today after crying rape to cover up a one night stand with a stranger. Nerete Underwood, who abandoned her husband and young son during an evening out, thenpanicked when she realised her night of passion had resulted in a missing person's report to police. So she promptly pointed the finger of suspicion at her unfortunate lover to prevent her husband discovering the truth. The alleged rapist, a distraught interior designer, not only spent 24 hours in a cell but then had the prospect...

Armed men rob six in tae kwon do class Richland County deputies are looking for three men who robbed a tae kwon do class. About 8 p.m., the robbers entered the World Tae Kwon Do Center, 7224 Middle St., and pulled out handguns, Sgt. Mack McLendon said. The men took jewelry, cell phones and other personal belongings from six people at the center, he said. The three also took an unknown amount of cash from the business, he said. The men stole two vehicles and fled, McLendon said. One of the cars was described as a tan 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier...

Fri 18 Feb 2005 'Human Ear' Found in Street By Pat Hurst, PA A severed human ear has been found in a city street, police said today. The discovery has baffled detectives after builders came across the ear on a pavement near Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Police have checked with hospitals but no-one has been admitted without an ear and no-one has come forward to claim it. No other body parts were found after a search of the area. A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Police were informed of what is believed to be a human ear discovered on...

Tennessee man charged with seeking sex with girl By MIKE MORRIS The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 02/17/05 A Tennessee man was arrested Wednesday night after allegedly arranging to have sex with a young girl in Gwinnett County. FBI agents and Gwinnett sheriff's deputies arrested Chris J. Becker, 52, near the Mall of Georgia on charges involving interstate travel for the purpose of having sexual contact with a minor, according to FBI Special Agent Steve Lazarus. Lazarus said Becker, a credit union vice president from Franklin, Tenn., had Internet conversations with someone he thought was the parent of a 9-year-old girl,...

2-year-old shot during home invasion, police say The Associated Press - FOREST PARK, Ga. A 2-year-old boy was shot in the neck after a man took the toddler hostage in his home and demanded the father's $1,000 in tax return money, police said. The man entered the apartment Thursday and snatched up the boy, Xavier Miranda, by his collar and "started counting down 5, 4, 3 with the gun pointed at the child's head," Clayton County police Capt. Jeff Turner said. But before he could finish the countdown, Miranda's aunt walked in the room. The man lunged for the aunt,...

Man accused of breaking into women's homes to fondle them By Jennifer Reeger TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, February 8, 2005 An Indiana County man faces a hearing Wednesday on charges he broke into the homes of three women and tried to kiss or fondle them. Ryan Andrew Poorbaugh, 19, of 344 Pearce Hollow Road, Home, was arrested Friday by Indiana Borough police on two counts of felony burglary, two counts of criminal trespass and three counts of harassment. Borough police allege Poorbaugh broke into three homes during an eight-day period. The first incident occurred about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 26 at a house...

Teenagers 'threw prostitutes off bridge' By Lindsay Murdoch Darwin February 11, 2005 Two teenagers admitted throwing two Thai-born prostitutes from a bridge into a crocodile-infested river in the Northern Territory, Darwin Supreme Court was told yesterday. Prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, told the court the women were alive when they were bound, tied to batteries and thrown into the Adelaide River, 70 kilometres east of Darwin, last March. Mr Wild said pathologists would testify that Somjai Insamnan, 27, and Phuangsri Kroksamrang, 58, drowned. "Whether they went into the water conscious or unconscious is something to speculate on," he said. "They... had...

Woman who killed baby ordered sterilized Published on: 02/09/05 A Fulton County judge has ordered sterilization for a woman who killed her 5-week-old daughter. Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes said Carisa Ashe, 34, has 90 days to have the tubal ligation that would prevent her from conceiving. Ashe had been charged with murder in the Dec. 16, 1998, death of Destiny Ashe. An autopsy indicated Destiny had been shaken and hit so badly her brain swelled and hemorrhaged. After two days of trial on the murder charge, Ashe pleaded guilty Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter, according to the district attorney's office....