Posts from — March 2007

ENGLAND — A convicted peeping Tom is being forced to wear a fluorescent jacket whenever he goes out at night.

Stephen Cooper, 24, has been ordered to wear the high-visibility clothing so he can be spotted by potential victims.

The pervert, who has pleaded guilty to voyeurism, received the order after being caught creeping into a woman’s garden and staring through a crack in her curtains.

Cooper is awaiting sentence for the offense but in the meantime he has been ordered to don a bright neon coat whenever he ventures out after dark.

Cooper admitted the offense which took place on January 11. He was already on the Sex Offenders Register and this was the second time he had breached the conditions imposed on him.

Judge Peter Dedman made the bizarre ban at Southend Crown Court in Essex after adjourning sentencing while psychiatric reports are drawn up.

He said: “I think it is appropriate such an order should be made for the protection of the public in particular women alone, either at home or work or in the street, and also for his own protection to stop him offending.

“He has admitted being in someone’s garden peering through the crack in the curtains in the hope of seeing something of a nature which would allow him to reach sexual gratification.”

The Sex Offenders’ Prevention Order was drawn up between Cooper, from South Ockendon, Essex, and the Essex Police public protection team. But some have been outraged by the unusual order, saying it will mark him out as a sex offender.

Lesley Bates, a barrister who specialices in sex offense cases, said: “It is very difficult to see how making him wear a fluorescent jacket will prevent further voyeurism.

But, perhaps, more seriously, it appears to have failed to consider the potential consequences which are disproportionate to the benefits.

“It is tantamount to asking him to walk around wearing a sign saying, ‘I’m a sex offender’.”

JOKESTARTERS:

• Now this guy’s only hope of getting away with peeping is to sneak around a working construction site.
• Actually, wearing a fluorescent vest will allow this guy a perfect excuse: “Good evenin’ ma’am, just checking your meter…don’t mind me…”

SOURCE:

• Daily Mail

SANTA CRUZ, CA — A man was discovered surreptitiously videotaping women’s feet at the science library on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus recently.

“Officers indicated he was embarrassed by his behavior,” university spokesman Jim Burns said Monday. “He offered no resistance to the request that he leave immediately and indicated he would not be back.”

It’s not illegal to videotape feet so no charges were filed. The name of the man, who was in his 40s and had no affiliation with the university, wasn’t disclosed. He was banned from the campus for two weeks.

Vince Nova, manager of the Science and Engineering Library, said the man was seen pointing a small video camera in the vicinity of three students’ feet. One of the students confronted the cameraman and he fled.

One of the female students spotted him again last Wednesday, and campus police were called. A campus officer searched the man’s bag and inspected the camera.

“From the taped contents of his camera, the subject of his filming seemed to be ‘feet,’” the officer wrote in his report.

Graduate student Nellie Chu said she wasn’t concerned.

“It’s odd, but I don’t think there’s any need to jump to conclusions,” Chu said. “Maybe he was doing research.”

JOKESTARTERS:

• You just know this guy is making millions selling these videos on his website “stinkyfeet.com“
• “Maybe he was doing research”? Is going home to your basement apartment and jacking off to video of women’s feet considered research?

SOURCE:

• RecordOnline.com

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife’s attorneys said the operation doesn’t alter the agreement.

The lawyers and Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold agreed the case delves into relatively unchartered legal territory. They found only a 2004 Ohio case that addressed whether or not a transsexual could still collect alimony after a sex change.

“There is not a lot out there to help us,” St. Arnold said.

Roach and his wife, Julia, divorced in 2004 after 18 years of marriage. The 48-year-old utility worker agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. Since then, Julia Roach, 55, had a sex change and legally changed her name to Julio Roberto Silverwolf.

“It’s illegal for a man to marry a man and it should likewise be illegal for a man to pay alimony to a man,” Roach’s attorney John McGuire said. “When she changed to man, I believe she terminated that alimony.”

Silverwolf did not appear in court Tuesday and has declined to talk about the divorce. His lawyer, Gregory Nevins, said the language of the divorce decree is clear and firm – Roach agreed to pay alimony until his ex-wife dies or remarries.

“Those two things haven’t happened,” said Nevins, a senior staff attorney with the national gay rights group Lambda Legal.

Arnold is considering the arguments. But lawyers on both sides agreed Tuesday that Roach will likely have to keep paying alimony to Silverwolf.

The judge poked holes in several of Roach’s legal arguments and noted that appeals courts have declined to legally recognize a sex change in Florida when it comes to marriage. The appellate court “is telling us you are what you are when you are born,” Arnold said.

In the Ohio case, an appeals court ruled in September 2004 that a Montgomery County man must continue to pay $750 a month in alimony to his transsexual ex-wife because her sex change wasn’t reason enough to violate the agreement.

Roach’s other attorney, John Smitten, said the case falls into a legal void.

“It’s probably something that has to be addressed by the Legislature,” Smitten said. “There is one other case in the entire United States. It really needs to be addressed either for or against the concept of eliminating alimony for that reason.”

Roach, who has since remarried, said has been unable to convince state and federal lawmakers to tackle the issue. He said he will continue to fight.

“This is definitely wrong. I have a right to move forward with my life. I wish no harm and hardship to that person,” Roach said of his ex-wife. “They can be the person they want to be, to find happiness and peace within themselves. I have the right to do the same. But I can’t rest because I’m paying a lot of money every month.”

The legal fight is the second transsexual rights showdown in Pinellas County in less than a week. On Friday, transsexual activists from around the country packed a City Commission meeting in neighboring Largo to oppose the firing of City Manager Steve Stanton after he announced he was a transsexual.

Despite the support, commissioners voted 5-2 to fire Stanton.

JOKESTARTERS:

• So is this guy’s now trans-gendered ex-wife now consider his ex-husband?
• Is it now considered palimony instead of alimony?
• And most important, do they now go out chasing women together?

SOURCE:

• WRAL

LAS VEGAS, NV — A 50-foot robotic replica of Michael Jackson will be reportedly erected in the desert surrounding Las Vegas, according to reports.

The self-proclaimed king of pop is currently in talks to sign a long-term concert deal in Nevada’s Sin City and local businessmen claim the huge Jackson likeness is among the proposals.

Consultant Mike Luckman of Luckman Van Pier, tells the New York Daily News, “It would be in the desert sands. Laser beams would shoot out of it so it would be the first thing people flying would see. Neon is wonderful, but it’s old school.”

Luckman’s partner, designer Andre Van Pier, adds, “Michael’s looked at the sketches and likes them.”

However, Jackson’s spokeswoman Raymone Bain explains, “He hasn’t made up his mind about whether a Vegas show is in the cards for him. He’s been in the studio since November working on his music. He’s been presented with various proposals. A Vegas show isn’t a priority.

“He’s in Las Vegas now. He’s pretty grounded in Vegas. It’s very convenient for producers and songwriters to get to him. He’s worked there before. He’s been recording with producers Rodney Jerkins, Will.i.am and Neffu.”

JOKESTARTERS:

• Yeah, a giant robotic replica of one of the most bizarre-looking, freakish humans alive will certainly draw the crowds…away from Vegas that is.
• What if the giant, laser-shooting robot mistakes a nearby mountain for a child? What then world?
• Ya gotta love the quote “he’s pretty grounded in Vegas” I mean, who isn’t grounded in Sin City, with all those gamblers, strippers and drug addicts?

SOURCE:

• All Headline News

CALVERT, MD — Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman’s chest.

The dog’s owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.

Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn’t work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.

“The next think I know, Toby’s up on his hind feet and he’s got his front paws on my shoulders,” she recalled. “He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.”

That’s when the apple dislodged and Toby started licking her face to keep her from passing out, she said.

“I literally have pawprint-shaped bruises on my chest. I’m still a little hoarse, but otherwise, I’m OK,” Parkhurst said.

“The doctor said I probably would’nt be here without Toby,” said Parkhurst, a jewelry artist. “I keep looking at him and saying ‘You’re amazing.’”

JOKESTARTERS:

• My dog is always trying to ‘give me the Heimlich,’ only he keeps mistaking my leg for my chest.
• I’ve heard of choking the chicken before, but this is ridiculous…

SOURCE:

• WRAL