Coffin Conversations - by dementia

A Wisconsin appeals court has upheld the dismissal of charges against the three men who dug up a woman’s corpse last year to have sex with it because Wisconsin has no law against necrophilia.

In a 3-0 Court of Appeals decision, it was held that a lower court judge was correct in dismissing the charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 21, last September because state lawmakers hadn’t intended to criminalize sex with a corpse.

The trio decided to dig up the body of Laura Tennessen, 20, who had been killed in a motorcycle accident after seeing her picture in an obituary notice in the newspaper. None of the three men knew the woman.


Radke told police that the three had stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way to the cemetery to buy condoms. They were arrested last Sept. 2 at the St. Charles Cemetery in Grant County, southwestern Wisconsin after police received a complaint about suspicious activity. The police report says that they found a vehicle which had been parked near the cemetery and then saw Alexander Grunke walking towards the vehicle, dressed in black. On questioning, Grunke told police that his brother and Radke were digging up a grave. Police found that the grave of a 20-year-old woman who had been killed Aug. 27 in a motorcycle accident had been partially dug up, with only the top of the concrete vault visible. Nicholas Grunke and Radke were arrested the following morning about eight miles from the cemetery.Prosecutors had appealed the dismissal of the charges, saying that there was a provision in the sexual assault law that says criminal penalties apply “whether a victim is dead or alive at the time of the sexual contact or sexual intercourse”. The court decision held that while the law was ambiguous, the most reasonable interpretation was that it does not ban necrophilia.

Debbie Hulleman's dog Pepper has been known to gnaw on lipstick and munch on shampoo bottles. But Pepper got Hulleman into a real mess after gobbling nearly $750.

"This is probably the worst," Hulleman said Thursday, recalling how she poked through vomit and dog piles in the yard.

Hulleman had asked her mother in Oakdale, Minn., to take care of Pepper and her other dog last month while she and her husband went on vacation. Pepper, an 8-year-old black Labrador-German shorthair, got into a purse belonging to her mother's friend and chewed the cash from an envelope.

Hulleman's mother recovered some of the money that Pepper spit out. But when Hulleman returned and went to clean up her dogs' mess outside, she saw a $50 bill hanging from one pile.

The chore of sorting through dog feces netted about $400, said Hulleman, 50. Between that and other bills that Pepper had either vomited or simply chewed on, the family recovered $647.

They swapped the soiled money for fresh currency at a bank. "I soaked it and strained it and rinsed it," Hulleman said.

RENO, Nev. - A couple authorities say were so obsessed with the Internet and
video games that they left their babies starving and suffering other health
problems have pleaded guilty to child neglect.
The children of Michael and Iana Straw, a boy age 22 months and a girl age
11 months, were severely malnourished and near death last month when doctors
saw them after social workers took them to a hospital, authorities said.
Both children are doing well and gaining weight in foster care, prosecutor
Kelli Ann Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts
each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence.
Viloria said the Reno couple were too distracted by online video games,
mainly the fantasy role-playing “Dungeons & Dragons” series, to give their
children proper care.
“They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they
were too busy playing video games,” Viloria told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Children injured, malnourished

Police said hospital staff had to shave the head of the girl because her
hair was matted with cat urine. The 10-pound girl also had a mouth
infection, dry skin and severe dehydration.
Her brother had to be treated for starvation and a genital infection. His
lack of muscle development caused him difficulty in walking, investigators
said.
The Straws have been given public defenders. Jeremy Bosler, head of the
county public defender’s office, declined to comment to The Associated Press
on Saturday.
Michael Straw is an unemployed cashier, and his wife worked for a temporary
staffing agency doing warehouse work, according to court records. He
received a $50,000 inheritance that he spent on computer equipment and a
large plasma television, authorities said.

AMA ponders gaming addiction

While child abuse because of drug addiction is common, abuse rooted in video
game addiction is rare, Viloria said.
Last month, experts at an American Medical Association meeting backed away
from a proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder,
saying it had to be studied further. Some said the issue is like alcoholism,
while others said there was no concrete evidence it’s a psychological
disease.
Patrick Killen, spokesman for Nevada Child Abuse Prevention, said video game
addiction’s correlation to child abuse is “a new spin on an old problem.”
“As we become more technologically advanced, there’s more distractions,”
Killen said. “It’s easy for someone to get addicted to something and neglect
their children. Whether it’s video games or meth, it’s a serious issue, and
(we) need to become more aware of it.”

Lockport police are investigating an apparent attack by a pit bull on a small boy.

The 2-year-old is recovering at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo after police say he was attacked and sexually assaulted by his family’s pit bull.

Police said the toddler was in his home on Washburn Street about 2 p.m. Sunday when the pill bull attacked. According to police, the dog sodomized the boy.

“The dog sexually attacked the kid and caused some pretty significant injuries,” said Lockport Police Detective Capt. Larry Eggert.

Eggert said the boy’s family members, who were reportedly home at the time, and neighbors had to beat the dog to get him off the boy.

The dog has been impounded at the Niagara County SPCA in Wheatfield as the investigation continues. Eggert said a veterinarian will be brought in to take DNA samples from the dog.

“(The vet will) compare DNA taken from the boy to kind of verify it happened,” Eggert said.

Eggert said everyone involved in the case was shocked by the bizarre happenings.

“I have never, ever heard of an assault quite like that,” Eggert said.

Niagara County SPCA Executive Director Al Chille said this case is an unusual one.

“I have had reports of adults having (sexual) relationships with animals, but not anything like that,” he said. “The majority of the calls we receive with regards to pit bulls are bite calls, not calls of this nature. We get a considerably large number of those (bite calls) from all over the county.”

This is a true blessing in disguise.

Envelopes stuffed with cash have been found all over Japan - crammed into public toilets.

In May, the inept Christopher Emmorey, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison for robbing a Peterborough, Ontario, bank, from which he had intended to take $2,000. However, the teller said she could only give him $200 and also must take out a $5 fee because Emmorey is not a regular customer. Emmorey stood stoically while she did the paperwork and then handed him $195, which he took and walked away (only to be arrested a short time later).

A bra and pair of underwear were to blame for a sewage leak that damaged more than 20 homes and caused excrement to flow down a street.

Northumbrian Water said Monday the underwear had been flushed down a toilet and became snagged on a sewage pipe under a busy road. Water could not pass the bra, which caused the sewer to collapse, and made the road crack open on Friday.

The knowledge that her daughter died at the hands of one of America’s most prolific serial killers was painful enough for Harriet Semander. Then she found that his prison jottings and autograph were being auctioned online as souvenirs.

Bryan James, 34, was arrested on Wednesday along with the childs mother, Jessica Silveirs, 26. Along with bites on the girls body, she suffered bites to her face in which she lost the upper part of her lip. Her ear was so mutilated that surgery could not return it to its natural state. Police think the biting attacks began in January, and continued until April.

Fears are growing for the psychological health of British pop star ROBBIE WILLIAMS after a bizarre webcast.
The Angels singer, who has previously spent time in rehab for substance abuse and depression, has posted a film of himself on the internet in which he appears dishevelled and confused in a darkened room.
Apparently explaining the inspiration behind his song Bodies, the 33-year-old sings tunelessly, "God came in the sunshine, he showed me a lifeline. What a day, Jesus really died for me. Yeah, Jesus really tried for me." He continues, "I feel like it's f**king me, love lead off the energy...

Manchester police said they arrested 49 year old James Coldwell just before midnight on Saturday.

Count Gottfried von Bismarck, who was found dead on Monday aged 44, was a louche German aristocrat with a multi-faceted history as a pleasure-seeking heroin addict, hell-raising alcoholic, flamboyant waster and a reckless and extravagant host of homosexual orgies.

The great-great-grandson of Prince Otto, Germany's Iron Chancellor and architect of the modern German state, the young von Bismarck showed early promise as a brilliant scholar, but led an exotic life of gilded aimlessness that attracted the attention of the gossip columns from the moment he arrived in Oxford in 1983 and hosted a dinner at which the severed heads of two pigs were placed at either end of the table.

For some it's a dream job: condom tester. Australian condom-maker Durex is recruiting 200 adults as product testers. Both male and female Australians are invited to apply for the positions. And their applications are to include an explanation of why they would make an "expert" condom tester. Durex says each member of its condom panel will receive a pack of Durex sex products and a chance to win a thousand Australian dollars. There's no pay for the job of condom tester, but just think about the fringe benefits.

They call it their Khamosh Colony. They say it is more peaceful to study here than in any other part of the city. And they may not be wrong. The Taj Goth Free Education Home is situated inside the premises of the Mewa Shah Graveyard and strangely enough students here feel their school is safer due to its peculiar location. “Unlike other schools in the city, our school is never closed during any riot or strike in the city,” a young student proudly proclaims. This is no idle claim in a city where school shut often due to one reason or another.

A German motorist surprised by euro notes swirling in the air around her car hit the brakes and collected a "substantial amount of money" before turning it over to police, authorities in Worms said on Thursday.

A police spokesman in the small western town said the 24-year-old woman saw the money flying through the air in her rear view mirror late on Wednesday. She pulled over and tried to collect all the notes, unsuccessfully.

At least 30 assistant government ministers in Kenya have written their president, griping that they have no work to do.

"I just go to the office and read newspapers," said Abu Ciaba, an assistant fisheries minister.