Weekly Daily Brickbats Archive 2009 May 22-31

Local governments across Great Britain are using children as young as 7 years old, to spy on residents. The programs, which go by names such as Junior Eyes and Junior Street Champions, teach children to snitch on neighbors who put their garbage out on the wrong day or who don't follow recycling rules.

Bela Kosoian says escalator handrails are filthy. That's why she refused to grab hold of the rails while riding the escalator at a subway station in Montreal, Canada, even after police ordered her to. So they arrested her and fined her $420.

Penn Hills Middle School in Pennsylvania expelled 15-year-old Taylor Ray-Jetter after security guards found an eyebrow trimmer in her purse. School officials she violated the state's zero tolerance law banning weapons at school.

After a thorough investigation, Kansas City police and medical examiners ruled the death of Anthony Crockett came from natural causes. They changed their mind after the funeral home that the body was sent to told them Crockett's corpse had three bullet wounds, including two to the head, they had not noticed.

Chicago police have issued Mark Geinosky 24 parking tickets in 16 months. They've given him as many as four in one day, and all have been issued to a vehicle he no longer owns and tag that is no longer active. Geinosky has gotten them all dismissed. But he says someone is out to get him, and he wants to know why. Chicago Tribune columnist Jon Yates reports 13 of the tickets were written by one officer, all at exactly 10 p.m., and all 13 were sequential in number, meaning the officer ticketed no one but Geinosky from that ticket book over a period of several months.