Free Republic

"And the idea was, the shark comes to the nearest man, that man, he starts poundin' and hollerin' and screamin', sometime's the shark goes away, sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometime's that shark, he looks right into ya, right into your eyes. And another thing about that shark. He's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, he doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites you." Quint from Jaws

Slay bells are ringing outside a $3 million brownstone on East 18th Street in Manhattan, where, rather than your typical jolly St. Nick, a skinny, bloody-bearded Santa holds a knife in his left hand and the severed head of a doll - blood gushing from its eye sockets - in the other. This 'tis-the-season-to be-creepy display - which has drawn no small amount of community ire - can be found in the front yard of Joel Krupnik, 58, and his wife, Mildred Castellanos, 43, who said they are protesting the commercialization of the Yule season. In another touch of Christmas...

SQUEAMISH SCOTT Scott PetersonSQUEAMISH SCOTT By HOWARD BREUER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 18, 2003 -- MODESTO, Calif. - Scott Peterson uncharacteristically excused himself from court yesterday morning as prosecutors called to the stand a pathologist who graphically detailed the state of the bodies of his slain wife and unborn son. "Yes, I do not wish to be present during this witness," Peterson, 31, calmly told the judge as he was returned to his cell. "It's my choice." It was the first time since Peterson's mid-April arrest that he waived his right to appear in court. Brian Lee Peterson, who autopsied the bodies...