Line up for an alien abduction

POSTED: 7:53 a.m. EDT, May 27, 2007
Story Highlights
• New Mexico city plans Alien Apex Resort theme park
• Roller coaster would simulate abduction by extraterrestrials
• UFO purportedly crashed near Roswell in 1947


ROSWELL, New Mexico (AP) -- Businesses here have been cashing in on the UFO craze for years -- paintings and replicas of unidentified flying objects and space aliens adorn downtown buildings, and even the McDonald's and Wal-Mart are UFO- and space-themed.

Now city officials want to take it to another level with a UFO-themed amusement park, complete with an indoor roller coaster that would take passengers on a simulated alien abduction.

"Nobody will be harmed and everybody will be returned, hopefully, in the same shape," concept designer Bryan Temmer said Friday.

The park, dubbed Alien Apex Resort, could open as early as 2010. The city has received a $245,000 legislative appropriation for initial planning, but the park would be privately built and managed. Requests for proposals will be advertised next month.

The proposed park initially will cover 60 to 80 acres with room to expand to 150 acres. It will feature other rides and attractions, including an exhibit hall with information on scientific exploration of the universe.

"It's not just about the Roswell Incident and did it happen," said Temmer, of Land O' Lakes, Florida.

The Roswell Incident, of course, has brought the southeastern New Mexico city worldwide acclaim. It centers on a purported UFO crash on a nearby ranch in July 1947, which the military later claimed was a top-secret weather balloon.

Temmer, who describes himself as a fan of theme parks and science fiction, pitched the concept to city leaders two years ago. "I knew there was only one place on the planet, probably in the universe, where this idea would work," he said.

City Planner Zach Montgomery said the project will cost "several hundred millions of dollars," but a more accurate figure hasn't been determined. A roller coaster similar to the one Temmer proposed is under construction at another theme park for almost $100 million, Montgomery said.

Montgomery said the city is considering six potential sites but declined to identify them. He also wouldn't name potential operators, but said at least four major corporations approached about the idea are excited.

The town's biggest tourism attraction is the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which has drawn 2.5 million visitors since opening in 1992. Beyond that, it's largely boutiques like the one run by Welz.

Some business owners believe the theme park is necessary to keep tourists returning.

Sharon Welz is a co-owner of the Roswell Space Center, a T-shirt and souvenir shop just off Main Street. She said visitors often complain they'd like to see and do more during trips to the town of about 50,000 people.

"We would welcome something like an alien roller coaster or a theme park, absolutely," she said. "How can it hurt us?"

Sleeping man wrestles leopard out of his bed.

POSTED: 4:39 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2007
Story Highlights
• Nature guide wrestles leopard to floor after cat enters home through window
• A half dozen leopards spotted recently near the small town in southern Israel
• Nature officials expected to release cat back into the wild
• Leopards rarely threaten humans
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JERUSALEM (AP) -- A man clad only in underwear and a T-shirt wrestled a wild leopard to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after the cat leapt through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family.

"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."

Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch's small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.

Shapira said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, he added.

Du Mosch's pet cat was in the bed with him at the time, along with his young daughter who had been frightened by a mosquito in her own room.

Shapira said the leopard was very weak when park rangers arrived at Du Mosch's home after the surprise late-night visit. He said nature officials would likely release it back into the wild.

Du Mosch said he probably would not have been able to control the big cat were it in better health. As a nature guide, he said, he was familiar with animals and did his best to hold down the leopard without harming it. He said he took it all in stride, "but the kids were excited."

Amy Fisher and Joey Buttafuoco: We're Dating

Infamous Long Island Lolita Amy Fisher and Joey "Zooba's" Buttafuoco really are a romance for the record books. Fifteen years ago, a jealous 17-year-old Fisher shot Buttafuoco's then-wife Mary Jo in the head. As a result, Fisher spent seven years in prison, and spawned countless bad made-for-tv movies. Buttafuoco and Mary Jo later divorced, and he remarried, and Fisher, after doing time, also married, and had two children. But now both she and Joey are going through divorces, and "The Insider" reports, they are finding comfort in each other's Long Island arms.

The couple's courtship may even end up as a reality TV show, and Buttafuoco swears it's not about the money. Entirely. "I don't need the money," he declared. "I'm really OK emotionally, physically and financially. But if the money comes along with the reality show that they're talking about, fine. I think we'll have an incredible show. It will be a wild show."

Time really does heal all wounds, and many heels wind up on reality shows.

Woman: Blame devil for infant in microwave

• Woman blames devil for burning baby in microwave, TV station reports
• Husband charged with harming the infant
• Woman says devil didn't want husband to be a preacher
• Wife wants daughter back


GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- A woman blames the devil, and not her husband, for severely burning their infant daughter in a microwave, a Texas television station reported.

Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.

"Satan saw my husband as a threat," Eva Mauldin told Houston television station KHOU-TV.

A grand jury indicted Joshua Mauldin last week on child injury charges after hearing evidence that he placed the two-month-old in a motel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds. (Watch cops react to burned baby Video)

The infant, Ana Marie, remains hospitalized. She suffered burns on the left side of her face and to her left hand, police said.

Police said Joshua Mauldin told them he put Ana Marie in the microwave because he was under stress. Eva Maudlin denied it.

"He would never do anything to hurt her. He loves her," she said.

She is hoping to be reunited with her daughter, but Child Protective Services is working to have the parental rights severed.

X-rated nude car wash gets police all-clear

Thu May 17, 11:50 AM ET

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A nude car wash offering an X-rated sideshow and topless cleaning in Australia's tropical Queensland state has been given the all-clear after police and officials said they were powerless to scrub it.
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The Bubbles 'n' Babes car wash in Brisbane prompted a flood of complaints with a topless car wash for A$55 ($45) and a nude car wash with X-rated lap-dance service for A$100. "If it was approved for a car wash then I can't imagine how we can stop them," Lord Mayor Campbell Newman told a council meeting with worried local lawmakers.

Professional car washes have boomed in most cities with drought-stricken Australians banned from washing their own cars due to tough water restrictions.

Queensland police denied any cover-up in a state where their image has been dented by past accusations of police corruption and involvement with organized crime.

The raunchy wash, set up by a strip-club owner, was screened from the public and used recycled water to avoid breaching water use restrictions, they said.

"We don't want any traffic accidents caused by people looking at the girls instead of looking at the road," Superintendent Colin Campbell told local media.

Pot, lighter, and pipe were found in child's Happy Meal

Chicago -- A Happy Meal turned out to be anything but fun for one Chicago family and their eight-year-old daughter. As Craig Wall reports, A McDonald's employee is facing drug charges after police say his stash went out the drive through window by mistake.

"Daddy, I got two toys in my happy meal!"

We realize that you have to disguise your stash when you go to work, but hiding your pipe, marijuana and lighter in a happy meal box is a dangerous idea. Why?

You might hand your stash right out the drive through window. That's what one McDonald's employee in Ottawa, Illinois did, and as you might imagine, everyone—even the police chief — is laughing at him. The employee is a 17 year-old high school senior, he's been arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia

Bobby Brown: 'Bin Laden wants me dead'

Friday, May 11 2007, 16:44 BST

By Nick Levine, Entertainment Reporter
R&B star Bobby Brown has claimed that Osama bin Laden wants to kill him.

The 'My Prerogative' singer insisted that he fears for his life because he believes that bin Laden wants to marry his estranged wife Whitney Houston.

Bin Laden is described by the US State Department as "one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today".

A fearful Brown made the revelations on ITV's 24 Hours With...Bobby Brown, airing next month.

He said of Bin Laden: "He wanted to have me killed because he was in love with Whitney. He wanted to marry Whitney and make her one of his wives. That's some s**t.

"I feared for my life. I'm still on my guard. The most wanted man in the world wants (me) dead."

Workers rescued from giant vat of fish feces

TURNERS FALLS, Massachusetts (AP) -- This nasty rescue is no fish tale.

Rescuers cut through a filtration tank of dense fish feces to reach four workers who fell into the sludgy dung Friday while cleaning the 18-foot tank at a western Massachusetts farm.

The workers became trapped for 45 minutes after a bracket holding a plastic filtration pad collapsed as workers stood on it to clean the fiberglass tank at the Australis Aquaculture fish farm, said Turners Falls Fire Capt. David Dion and the fish farm's manager, Josh Goldman.

One of the farmhands was submerged in what Dion described as a sand-and-feces mix, while the other three had their heads above the sludge, he said.

Dion said rescue workers cut a hole in the side of the tank at the farm, which raises barramundi, a fish farmed as a replacement for grouper.

"It was very slimy and it was heavy," he said. "Never seen anything like it in my life."

The worker who fell under the feces was airlifted to Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, but was talking with paramedics and did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, Dion said.

The other three were taken by ambulance to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Thief made woman, 83, smoke crack, police say

• Florida woman, 83, forced to smoke crack cocaine, police say
• Housemate allegedly stole personal information, got credit card
• Charges totaled $3,000, police say
• Housemate Theresa Stanley-Morgan has been arrested


NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (AP) -- A woman forced an 83-year-old housemate to smoke crack cocaine so she could steal personal information to get a credit card and run up more than $3,000 in charges, authorities said.

Pasco County sheriff's investigators accused Theresa M. Stanley-Morgan, 41, of getting the older woman to smoke the drug at least twice to make it easier to exploit her financially.

Stanley-Morgan was arrested April 28. She admitted to investigators that she used Shirley Hathaway's name, birth date and Social Security number to open the account, a sheriff's report said.

Hathaway and a witness told investigators that Stanley-Morgan forced Hathaway to smoke a lit crack pipe, the report said.

Stanley-Morgan was in jail Monday on $23,000 bail, charged with criminal use of personal identification, use of another person's ID without permission and retail theft, according to jail records. Records did not indicate if she had a lawyer.

The sheriff's office said more charges were pending and asked the court not to reduce her bail.

Doctors find spiders in boy's aching ear

I SERIOUSLY CAN'T STOP ITCHING. THIS IS SO FUCKING DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!





Doctor finds spiders in ear of boy with earache
POSTED: 12:09 p.m. EDT, May 7, 2007

Story Highlights
• Boy with an earache goes to the doctor
• Doctor discovers spiders living in boy's ear
• "They were walking on my eardrums," Jesse Courtney said.
• Spiders made faint cracking sound, like Rice Krispies cereal

ALBANY, Oregon (AP) -- These guys were not exactly Snap, Crackle and Pop.

What began as a faint popping in a 9-year-old boy's ear -- "like Rice Krispies" -- ended up as an earache, and the doctor's diagnosis was that a pair of spiders made a home in the ear.

"They were walking on my eardrums," Jesse Courtney said.(Watch how an earache led to the creepy discovery Video)

One of the spiders was still alive after the doctor flushed the fourth-grader's left ear canal. His mother, Diane Courtney, said her son insisted he kept hearing a faint popping in his ear -- "like Rice Krispies."

Dr. David Irvine said it looked like the boy had something in his ear when he examined him.

When he irrigated the ear, the first spider came out, dead. The other spider took a second dousing before it emerged, still alive. Both were about the size of a pencil eraser.

Jesse was given the spiders -- now both dead -- as a souvenir. He has taken them to school and his mother has taken them to work.