January 07, 2008
Dog hospitalised for being over the limit: newspaper
VIENNA (AFP) - A dog was admitted to a veterinary clinic in Austria at the weekend, barely able to stand on his own four paws and reeking "like a beer hall," a newspaper reported on Monday.
Dingo, a three-year-old labrador weighing 40 kilogrammes (88 pounds), was a pitiful sight when his owner, a hunter, brought him in to the surgery in the Salzkammergut region, the Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten quoted vet Karl Hofbauer as saying.
"The dog had dreadful wind and diarrhea, and was vomiting a lot," Hofbauer said.
"When I got him up on the table, it smelt like a distillery."
Tests indicated that the dog had a blood alcohol content of 1.6 milligrams per 100 millilitres.
But that was not the result of Dingo having one drink too many, the owner insisted.
The hungry pooch had stolen and secretly devoured half a kilogramme of fresh yeast dough from the kitchen. Alcohol had formed inside his stomach as a result of the fermentation process, leaving poor old Dingo stone drunk.
"Nasty-minded people said that we hunters are often drunk. With me, it's my dog," joked the owner.
Posted by ronnie at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2007
Man with beer takes hearse to go fishing
WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A mourner who authorities say got drunk, took a hearse from outside a New Zealand funeral venue and outran pursuing funeral directors told police he was "going fishing" when they pulled him over.
Police said the 46-year-old sickness beneficiary, who brought a carton of beer for the trip, told them he was heading to the coast to "check out the sea conditions."
The man had been attending a funeral near the tourist town of Rotorua on central North Island when he allegedly stole the blue Ford Forte hearse.
There was no dead body on board at the time.
Snr. Sgt. Ian Campion said funeral directors chased their $15,200 hearse as it was driven off, but eventually lost track of it and called police.
The man had the carton of beer with him in the front of the hearse when he was stopped by police.
"He said he was wanting to go for a ride to (the coastal town of) Maketu to check out the sea conditions before going fishing," Campion was reported telling the "New Zealand Herald" newspaper.
The man allegedly had been drinking all day at the funeral and was described by Snr. Sgt. Deirdre Lack as "intoxicated" when arrested.
He has been charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
Posted by ronnie at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2007
Man attacks inflatable ghosts, pumpkin
LLOYD, N.Y. - A woman says a neighbor attacked her inflatable Halloween lawn display of three ghosts and a giant pumpkin, then apparently smashed his head through her window in a fit of rage.
State Police said officers found a drunken John Odee, 43, inside Dawn Garcia's house in the Hudson Valley town of Lloyd on Thursday night, arrested him after a brief struggle and charged him with burglary.
Garcia told the Middletown Times Herald-Record she heard hollering and swearing and looked outside to see Odee struggling with the giant pumpkin. "He was enraged. I could see that," she said.
When she yelled at him to go away, Odee charged the house. She fled through the back door with three of her children and heard window glass breaking. She called 911 from another neighbor's house. Police said Odee used his head to smash a window to get in.
"What made him do that, I don't know," Garcia said. "We had the same decoration up last year and it didn't bother him."
Odee was being held at Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail Friday night. A corrections officer said inmates could not come to the phone. The officer did not know if Odee had an attorney.
Posted by ronnie at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2007
Drunken Mexican priest punches cop
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican priest briefly ended up behind bars after punching a policemen who caught him driving drunkenly through the streets of the northern city of Monterrey.
Priest Manuel Raul Ortega, who was not wearing clerical dress but was clutching a prayer book when captured, launched himself at the traffic cop who pulled him over earlier this week.
"The individual became very violent because they were going to tow away his car. He attacked a policeman and was taken away," said transit department spokesman Hector Lozano on Thursday.
Ortega's papers identified him as a priest. He was released a few hours after his arrest after paying the fines for his offences.
Monterrey and Mexico City are in the midst of a tough new drive to clamp down on widespread drunk driving after tequila and beer-fuelled lunches and parties.
Posted by ronnie at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2007
Woman ties county blood alcohol record
TACOMA, Wash. - A Pierce County woman apparently tied a record for the amount of alcohol in her blood when the Washington State Patrol toxicology lab measured a blood-alcohol content of 0.50 two hours after she was arrested for investigation of drunken driving.
Ann Marie Gordon, manager of the lab in Seattle, said the reading — more than six times the legal limit of 0.08 — tied the highest level ever found by technicians at the patrol's lab. A King County driver also registered 0.50 on a blood test in 2000, Gordon said.
"It certainly would kill many people," she said.
The average blood-alcohol content of drunken drivers stopped in Washington is about 0.15, Gordon added.
Rebecca G. Lingbloom, 45, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count of driving under the influence of alcohol on May 10. Authorities contended in an affidavit that she nearly hit a pedestrian that day and was seen swerving all over the road.
A Pierce County sheriff's deputy later found her passed out behind the wheel of her car in the Summit area, the affidavit states.
Deputy Prosecutor Bradley Moericke pointed out that Lingbloom was arrested for investigation of drunken driving twice in the 1990s, and asked District Court Judge Frank Dacca to jail her in lieu of $20,000 bail. Moericke also asked that Lingbloom be monitored with an electronic bracelet that would record her movements should she make bail.
Dacca declined both requests after Lingbloom told him she enrolled in a six-month treatment program for alcohol abuse not long after her arrest. Public defender Clarence Henderson told the judge he called the clinic before Wednesday's hearing and confirmed that Lingbloom was enrolled.
Dacca said he didn't want to jeopardize Lingbloom's treatment by sending her to jail. He did require that she continue her program and report to court July 24 for another hearing.
Posted by ronnie at 04:51 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2007
Canadian sentenced for driving wheelchair drunk
TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian man was sentenced for drunk driving after being pulled over on his way home from the pub in his mother's motorized wheelchair, police said on Thursday.
Patrick Shanahan, 35, was fined and placed on probation by a Toronto-area court on Wednesday in the impaired driving case.
"I don't need a licence to operate it, I don't need insurance and I don't need licence plates to operate it," Shanahan was quoted by the Torstar News Service.
"So how can I be charged with drunk driving?"
The charge stems back to December 2004, when an officer saw Shanahan driving the wheelchair at around 1:15 a.m. and assessed that he was drunk, a police spokesman said.
The self-described alcoholic, who has a prior impaired driving conviction -- though not in a wheelchair -- later admitted he shouldn't have been driving the three-wheeler at the time, Torstar reported.
Shanahan was prohibited from driving any motorised vehicle for one year, was fined C$600 (286 pounds), given 18 months probation, and ordered to seek counselling.
Posted by ronnie at 09:53 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2007
SKorean council scraps awards for boozers
SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean local government has stopped awarding prizes to big-spending barflies in the second setback this month for the country's hard-drinking culture, a report said Wednesday.
The Goesan county government had faced criticism over its "Drinking Culture Prize", rewarding county employees who boosted the local economy the most by frequenting local bars, the JoongAng Daily said.
Three employees had won a three-day trip to the resort island of Jeju and a plaque for their elbow-bending efforts. But criticism intensified when it was learnt that one had lost his licence in 2005 for drunk driving, the paper said.
County chief Lim Gak-Soo was quoted as saying the rewards would in future go to officials who boost the economy of Goesan, 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Seoul, in other ways, such as by shopping locally.
Last week the Seoul High Court awarded 30 million won (32,300 dollars) in compensation to a female employee who said her boss had forced her to join office drinking parties after work.
Posted by ronnie at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2007
Mom teed off by urinating drunk golfers
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - A mother teed off by drunken golfers urinating near her house by the 18th hole resorted to videotaping the men after no action was taken on her complaints. Video of some men relieving themselves behind trees at the city-owned course was played on local and national television news.
"Many times I would say, 'You're on camera,' and they'd keep right on going. They'd yell and scream obscenities at me," Delisa Schubert said.
Schubert, her husband and daughters ages 11 and 15 live next to the Tennessee Centennial Golf Course in Oak Ridge, 20 miles west of Knoxville. She said they family moved there so the girls could improve their golf game.
Schubert has reported the problem to police, city officials, the local district attorney and the golf course manager. They suggested she record the offenders, and in a year she says she has captured more than 40 golfers in the act.
Signs banning public urination are posted on the golf course, and the city is talking to the course operator about the issue, said Josh Collins, director of the city's recreation and parks department. There are restrooms nearby at the 16th hole and the clubhouse.
Schubert says the underlying problem is too much beer and no restraint.
"When you have no inhibition, you're just going to go anywhere," she said.
"On the face of this, it's funny. But when you think about it, it's extremely dangerous. They're going to get in their car and drive off drunk."
Posted by ronnie at 07:24 AM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Australian man attacks shark with bare hands
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man reportedly attacked a shark with his bare hands after drinking copious amounts of vodka and deciding to turn the tables on one of nature's deadliest predators.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Phillip Kerkhof was the talk of his hometown at Louth Bay in South Australia after wrestling the bronze whaler shark from shallow water onto the local jetty.
Kerkhof became annoyed when the shark began chasing his squid lures and said he climbed down a ladder into the water and silently stalked the 1.3 metre (4.3 foot) predator.
"I just snuck up behind him and eventually I went for the big grab and I fluked it and got him," he said.
"He's just thrashing around in the water but then he was starting to turn around and try to bite me and I thought 'well, it's amazing what vodka does'."
Kerkhof emerged from the fray unscathed, although his jeans were ripped by the shark's razor-sharp teeth.
"It's not something I'd recommend to do. When I sobered up I thought about it and I said, 'I'm a bit of an idiot doing it'," he said.
Posted by ronnie at 12:43 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2007
Alleged burglar has booze, passes out
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A burglar who smashed a glass door to break into a house couldn't quite find his way back out after treating himself to some beans and booze, then passing out.
Esteban Avila Jr., 45, allegedly entered the vacant home by smashing a sliding-glass door at the rear of the house just after noon Tuesday, said Santa Clara County Sheriff's Deputy Serg Palanov.
Avila apparently hung around the house for about two hours. During that time he helped himself to a can of beans and had a drink from the bar, Palanov said.
Then Avila grabbed a blanket and caught a nap on the living room floor. "This is likely someone who is homeless," Palanov said.
The homeowner had moved out a week earlier, but stopped by the house and, concerned that something might be afoot, called a neighbor.
As the pair crept into the home, they noticed a man sleeping on the floor. They retreated and called 911.
Sheriff's deputies arrived and booked him into Santa Clara County Jail for investigation of vandalism, burglary and unlawful entry. He also had three outstanding misdemeanor warrants, Palanov said.
Posted by ronnie at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2006
Beer exec Pete Coors cited in May for DUI
DENVER - Beer company executive, chief commercial pitcher and former Senate candidate Pete Coors confirmed Thursday he was cited in May for driving under the influence of alcohol after leaving a friend's wedding celebration.
"I made a mistake," Coors said in a prepared statement. "I should have planned ahead for a ride. For years, I've advocated the responsible use of our company's products. That's still my message, and our company's message, and it's the right message.
"I am sorry that I didn't follow it myself."
The citation, first reported by The Denver Post, happened in Golden, the longtime hometown of the Adolph Coors Co. just west of Denver. The company has since become the Molson Coors Brewing Co. after a 2005 merger.
Coors was driving a 2004 Jaguar when he was pulled over by a Colorado State Patrol trooper just before midnight May 29, according to officials in the Jefferson County District Court clerk's office.
He was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence and cited for failing to obey a traffic control device.
Coors rolled through a stop sign a block from his home and was stopped by the officer in his driveway, company spokeswoman Kabira Hatland said. She said his blood-alcohol content following a breath test was 0.088 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Coors is driving with a 60-day provisional license, Hatland said. A hearing before motor vehicles department officials is scheduled for Friday.
Coors, 59, also faces a July 20 arraignment.
Coors took over as president of his family's company in 1987 and in 2000 was named chief executive of the brewer, which has 8,500 employees and rang up $4 billion in sales in 2003.
Coors, a tall, silver-haired figure familiar to many as the face of the Coors television ads, was a political novice in 2004 when he decided to seek the Senate seat being given up by Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (news, bio, voting record). He won the GOP primary but was defeated in the 2004 general election by Democrat Ken Salazar.
Posted by ronnie at 12:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2006
British police defend 'underpants' advice
LONDON - A British police force on Thursday defended a magazine article advising women intent on getting drunk to make sure they are wearing nice underpants.
Suffolk Police in eastern England said the "tongue-in-cheek" advice in the police-backed magazine Safe was intended to curb binge-drinking by young women.
An article in the debut issue advises women "intent on getting ratted" to ensure they are "wearing nice pants" in case they pass out.
It also tells young women that too much alcohol can leave them looking like "wrinkly old prunes."
The force said the publication — designed as an eye-catching spoof gossip magazine and distributed free through shops, clubs and colleges — offered safety advice to young women.
It is produced by a coalition of police, local government and health organizations.
"That article is a very, very small part of the magazine," said a police spokeswoman, speaking on the force's customary condition of anonymity. "The whole magazine does not revolve around what people should wear when they go out."
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a women's safety charity, acknowledged the article appeared odd, but said the police should be applauded for trying to reach young women.
"When you see quotes out of context, it seems very odd. But when you see it in context you get the spoof," spokeswoman Jo Walker said.
"Perhaps it's gone a bit too far, but you've got to give police credit for trying.
"It's definitely getting attention, and I think it will get young girls talking about it."
Posted by ronnie at 12:15 PM | Comments (0)