THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2014
PAGE 7
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NATIONAL
Man hoards snakes in home
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dead snakes are shown at the home of William Buchman on Wednesday in Santa Ana, Calif. Buchman has been arrested after authorities found at least 300 living and dead pythons inside his home.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday after hundreds of living and dead pythons in plastic bins were found stacked floor to ceiling inside his stench-filled home in suburban Orange County.
As investigators wearing respirator masks carried the reptiles out of the house and stacked them in the driveway, reporters and passers-by gagged at the smell. Some held their noses or walked away from the five-bedroom home to get a breath of air.
"The smell alone — I feel like I need to take a shower for a week," said police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. "They're pretty much in all the bedrooms — everywhere."
Officers said they found more than 400 snakes — at least 220 of them dead — as well as numerous mice and rats, in the Santa Ana home of William Buchman after neighbors complained about the smell. He was arrested for investigation of neglect in the care of animals, Bertagna said.
Buchman, 53, was still in custody Wednesday afternoon, Bertagna said. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, where he works, declined comment, saying it was a police matter.
Buchman has not yet had a court appearance or been formally charged and it wasn't clear if he had an attorney.
Authorities said he lived alone, and neighbors said his mother, who had lived with him, had passed away within the past few years.
Sondra Berg, the supervisor for the Santa Ana Police Department's Animal Services Division, said four bedrooms
in the home were stacked from floor to ceiling and wall to wall with plastic bins on wooden and metal racks. The bins were packed so tightly, Berg said, that they didn't require lids because there was no room for the snakes to slither out.
Each snake was catalogued by name and type, and Berg said Buchman told authorities he was involved in a snakebreeding enterprise.
"House of Horrors: That's the best way to describe it," Berg said of the house. "I mean there's so many dead snakes
... ranging from dead for months to just dead. There's an infestation of rats and mice all over the house. There are rats and mice in plastic storage tubs that are actually cannibalizing each other."
Some of the snakes were little more than skeletons. Others, only recently dead, were covered with flies and maggots.
Next-door neighbor Forest Long Sr. said he has known Buchman for years, adding the men had once been friendly, getting together to watch sports on television.
But he noticed a change in his neighbor about a year ago, he said, adding Buchman stopped coming around and, when he did, he appeared to have gained a good deal of weight.
"Something changed in Bill, yes it did," he said. "Something triggered it because I couldn't even think that that was going on."
The odor from the house, meanwhile, became unbearable about five months ago.
"It got so bad as to where my wife would throw up," Long said. "She'd get out of the car and run into the house."
He said neighbors speculated that there must be a dead body inside.
Bertagna said animal control authorities had tried to work with Buchman for several months after neighbors reported the smell. He said they sought a warrant after they were not allowed inside the home.
Berg said Buchman told authorities he was involved in a type of snake breeding called "morphing," in which owners try to breed different color patterns in the reptiles.
It was a very popular and lucrative enterprise 10 years ago but has declined, she said.
"There was a lot of fast money in it, but now the bottom pretty much fell out of the market because there are so many of these snakes out there," she said.
At one time, Berg said, a good specimen of the type authorities found could have fetched $5,000. Today it would be worth only about $200.
COIN FROM PAGE 1
anyone can mine, however. It takes a very sophisticated computer operating system to do it. Once they crack the algorithm, the miners are paid in bitcoins, which puts them into circulation. The most bitcoin someone can mine is 25 every 10 minutes. If you're not a miner, bitcoin can be purchased in online markets.
Who uses bitcoin?
Bitcoin is mostly used on an individual basis, with transactions taking place largely between two individuals.
According to the Bitcoin website, its main target right now is small businesses, like the Lawrence Percolator. The reason for this is that it does not require banks or other clearing houses in order to make transactions, saving the businesses transaction fees they would have otherwise had to pay when dealing with credit and debit cards.
In addition to saving money on fees, Ohnesorge said accepting bitcoin will help attract new business the Gallery might not have gotten before as well.
"The Percolator likes things that are new and edgy," Ohnesorge said. "It's really easy to use and it's really secure, along with that it will give us some extra visibility, so there's an advantage there even if its small."
How are transactions made?
A transaction of a bitcoin happens on a person-to-person basis through "digital wallets." It is like sharing a file from your computer to a friend's, only these files have a dollar amount 'attached to them. It is free to open a digital wallet for bitcoins, and they can be kept through mobile apps or on a website, similar to a bank account.
There is, as with any transaction, a buyer and a seller. In the case of Bitcoin, the buyer has the address of the seller's digital wallet and transfers the necessary amount to it. Bitcoin can be divided as well, meaning that users can pay for a product with one-eighth of a bitcoin, for example.
Graham Stevenson, a junior from Leawood, got his first bitcoin in September 2013, when a single one was valued at $240. He's spent half of that on various online purchases, and has continued to invest in more as the value per bitcoin has risen. In his experience, he said the currency combines the best of cash and plastic and hopes to see it become a staple of the economy.
"I'm really hoping it becomes where you can just use it as regular currency," Stevenson said. "It has the anonymity of cash, but the convenience of a credit card, so I'm hoping it gets bigger."
Although Bitcoin users like Stevenson would like the currency to begin competing with cash. Wu said they should not get their hopes up too high.
"Bitcoin will not be money because money has to be a medium of exchange that is accepted by the general public, not by a small group." Wu said. "The smart phone and online payment are just new payment technology, with money you have cash. It's a financial institution, which will still be the case for time to come. There will not be new forms of money."
Edited by Julie Etzler
KANSAS
PUBLIC RADIO
Black History Month Program Making the Delivery: An Evening with Shannon Brown, Sr. Vice President and Chief HR & Diversity Officer for FedEx Express Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Dole Institute
Shannon Brown's journey with FedEx began more than 30 years ago as a package handler in Memphis. He has since held 13 different job titles within the organization, traveled the world, and now oversees the global operations of 160,000 employees. During his tenure, FedEx has consistently been ranked on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies" and Black Enterprise magazine's "40 Best Companies for Diversity." Brown's dedication community service is exemplified through his leadership in the March of Dimes, the United Way of the Mid-South, and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Memphis. Join us as he talks about his life and career.
All programs are free & open to the public.
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