THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 6, 2011
PAGE17
ODD NEWS
Inmate says pornoraphy denial is against rights
(Mount Clemens, Mich.) — A Michigan jail inmate says he's being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment because he can't have pornography.
In a handwritten lawsuit, 21-year-old Kyle Richards claims his civil rights are being violated at the Macomb County Jail. Richards says denying his request for erotic material subjects him to a "poor standard of living" and "sexual and sensory deprivation."
The Michigan Department of Corrections tells The Detroit News that prisons allow some pornographic material, though it's banned at the jail. The American Civil Liberties Union says prisons have a lot of leeway.
Richards was charged with bank robbery after police followed a trail of snowy footprints and dropped money to his apartment from a bank robbery scene in January in Fraser, north of Detroit.
Richards pleaded guilty. Sentencing is Aug. 2.
Vigilant hawk hits heads of passing cyclists
(Pendleton, Ore.) — Bicyclists in eastern Oregon say they're getting whacked on the head by an angry bird.
Riders in Pendleton, Ore., told the East Oregonian that a male hawk is dive-bombing them because they're too close to a nest he's guarding in an old cotton-wood tree.
Bicyclist Mack Temple says the bird came in from behind like a fighter plane and whacked his helmet. Another rider, Charlie Newhouse, says the attack on his helmet was "like getting hit with a baseball bat." He says the talons went in through the helmet.
Bird-watchers say the large bird is a Swainson's hawk. The riders say he's been vigilant for a few nesting seasons, but hasn't been as aggressive as this year.
Bird-watchers say the hawk will ease up once his brood learns to fly.
Capture of baboon ends brief Twitter fame spree
(Howell Township, N.J.) — A wayward baboon that apparently escaped from an amusement park and became a mini-celebrity — appearing at a golf course and being followed on Twitter — was captured Saturday after spending three days on the lam.
The animal appeared to be unharmed when it was found and tranquilized at a farm in Howell Township, in southern New Jersey. The farm isn't far from Six Flags Great Adventure's Monkey Jungle in Jackson Township, which has about 150 baboons that are part of a drive-through safari.
Park officials confirmed the capture and said they believed the animal was theirs. But they won't know for sure until it's assessed and they can see if it has a microchip that's embedded in all their baboons.
Numerous online followers tracked the baboon's travels after it initially was spotted Thursday. Many posted on a tongue-in-cheek Twitter account created by a person
posing as the baboon.
Park spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher said the baboon, which appeared to be an adolescent, would be taken to the park for a physical exam and health assessment. She said all of Great Adventure's baboons are vaccinated, fenced in and implanted with microchips beneath their skin, but they are not counted daily because they sleep outside in the Monkey Jungle preserve.
And if it turns out that it was one of their baboons that escaped, park officials want to know how it got out because they have found no signs that an escape occurred.
Police and park officials had been looking for the baboon since Thursday afternoon, after a driver saw it near Interstate 195, not far from the park in Ocean County. A short time later, a woman reported that the baboon was sitting on her back porch.
Several sightings were then reported in nearby residential areas on Friday, and officials thought they finally had the baboon cornered in a tree at a local golf course.
Associated Press
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