Brickbats
Police in London, Ontario, gave a group of University of Western Ontario cheerleaders a $140 ticket for creating a public nuisance after they performed an impromptu cheer while walking to the school's homecoming football game.
Officials at Virginia's Dinwiddie High School told student Hunter Spain that his "Duck Dynasty" t-shirt was threatening and that he had to turn it inside-out or else go home. The shirt showed Si Robertson, one of the stars of the TV show, and the words "I will hurt you physically and metaphysically."
The French Senate has banned beauty pageants for those under 16. The bill must be passed by the National Assembly before becoming a law. Proponents of the measure say such contests sexualize minors.
Officials at Rhode Island's Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School suspended Joseph Lyssikatos for three days and barred him from a class field trip after finding he had a gun-shaped keychain charm slightly larger than a quarter. They refused to discuss the matter with local media, saying they can't talk about student discipline issues. The boy's parents say the principal and superintendent have also refused to talk to them.
Carla Boykins wasn't feeling well, so her boyfriend called 911 for an ambulance to take her to the hospital. After they got there, a paramedic told her a second ambulance had been accidentally sent to her Norfolk, Virginia, home after they left, along with police and firefighters. When no one answered a knock on the door, they broke the door in to make sure no one inside needed help. The city refuses to pay for the damages.
For more than 30 years, people have gathered on Market Street in San Francisco for pickup chess matches. But police have started cracking down on the games. Cops admit the players aren't a problem. Instead they say that they are trying to get rid of illegal gambling and drug use in the area.
Brooklyn resident Jonas Pierre got a phone call from his son's high school asking why the boy hasn't shown up for classes this fall. He reminded them that his son, Jean Fritz, had died after drowning during a school field trip in June.
British horse riders have taken to wearing fluorescent bibs when they ride on roads. The idea is to make themselves more visible to motorists and thus reduce the 3,000 accidents a year involving horses and vehicles. But police say anyone wearing such a bib could be mistaken for a police officer because mounted cops wear them, too. They've threatened legal action against the riders wearing the bibs and the companies that sell them.
