Stretch Limo Smash-'Em-Up
Two white stretch limousines went on a high-speed demolition derby in Boston Thursday morning, smashing into each other as they raced along city streets, according to newspaper accounts.
Wayne Gethers was sitting at about 7:45 a.m. in his parked stretch Lincoln Town Car (search) in the Dorchester neighborhood, "enjoying the company of an unidentified female," as the police report put it.
Suddenly, up pulled his wife, 27-year-old Yvesnane Gethers, in her own matching white stretch limo.
Enraged, Yvesnane hit the gas and started smashing her Town Car into Wayne's, despite the fact that his four children — two toddlers by Yvesnane and two older kids by another woman — were also in her car.
Wayne climbed into his driver's seat and started to drive away, but his wife kept right up with him.
"I'd go a quarter of a mile and then, BAM!" he said later in the day at Dorchester District Court, where his wife was booked on three counts, according to the Boston Herald.
Wayne's car was rammed five or seven times as both cars sped along at 40 or 50 miles per hour, police spokesman John Boyle told the Boston Globe.
Police caught up to Wayne lying on the ground, weeping at his car's crumpled rear end, according to the Globe.
They found Yvesnane a few blocks away, her car's grille and headlights a mess — and all four kids safe and sound in back — the younger two in car seats.
The two older kids were placed in the custody of relatives; Yvesnane retained custody of the toddlers.
The couple own the stretch limos jointly and use them for personal transportation, Wayne Gethers said.
Both cars are registered in Connecticut, where Yvesnane Gethers lives.
Wayne Gethers has been living in Boston since the couple separated, but he told both newspapers the couple are trying to reconcile. She had been visiting when they got into an argument Sunday.
At Yvesnane's arraignment for assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property and driving to endanger, Wayne got a restraining order issued against her — and then put up her $300 bail.
"That's my wife and I'll support her and I'll bail her out and she will hopefully do better from it," he told the Herald.
As for the other woman parked in the limo with him, Wayne said she was "just a friend" and that the two were only watching television.
"I was not having sex with no woman," he told the Globe. He added that the "unidentified female" had been in his car during the entire chase, but got out before police arrived.
Yvesnane's lawyer told the Herald he thought the marriage could still be saved.
"Love is a very strange thing," he said with a smile.
BRISTOW, Okla. (AP) — Drew Patterson wanted to protect himself after hearing reports of a fugitive in this northeastern Oklahoma community.
He didn't think he would nursing a sore rear end.
Patterson's .22-caliber pistol, hooked into the waistband of his denim shorts with the hammer pulled back, apparently fired, hitting Patterson in the left buttock Wednesday afternoon.
Patterson, 27, said he suffered "one of my most embarrassing moments" when his gun fired.
"At first, I didn't feel anything at all," said Patterson, who talked readily about the incident Thursday at his parents' Bristow home.
"Then about 30 seconds later, I felt that burning, stinging," he said.
He felt something warm trickling down his left leg and found an exit wound.
Patterson said he walked into his parents' home and said, "Mom, I did something bad."
Law enforcement officers, searching for an escaped inmate who ran from a Bristow courtroom Wednesday, stopped their hunt when Patterson's gunshot wound was reported.
The inmate was still at large Thursday.
"I had good intentions, but I screwed the whole thing up," Patterson said.
Patterson said he was told to keep walking to avoid complications as the wound healed.
"It hurts fiercely now," he said while walking slowly and gingerly.
County Officials Want to Be Henry Higgins
LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) — The working girls in Robeson County are going to get a chance at a better life just like Eliza Doolittle (search) does in "My Fair Lady."
County health officials have received a $30,000 grant from the state to pay for someone — a former prostitute herself — to educate the women about other ways of life that are open to them.
"We want to take a sex trade worker and transform her into a productive person who feels good about herself," said Bill Smith, the county health director.
The program, appropriately titled My Fair Lady, is the only one of its kind in the state, said Linda Carter with the state Department of Health and Human Services. The department's Prevention and Community Planning unit is providing $30,000 a year for three years.
Health officials hope the program will help eliminate syphilis in the county, which ranked first in the nation in 2001 with its rate of 73 cases per 100,000 people.
Health officials believe the county's syphilis rate would continue to drop if there were fewer prostitutes. About 49 percent of the women in Robeson County (search) with syphilis said they had sex for drugs or money, according to a recent survey by state and county health officials.
Inmate Glues Self to Girlfriend
MADRID, Spain (AP) — A German jailed in Spain glued his hand to that of his girlfriend, and both were taken to a hospital because they couldn't be separated, prison authorities said Friday.
Uwe Dieter Krone is being held in Madrid's Valdermoro prison pending possible extradition to Germany, where he is sought for alleged involvement in trafficking prostitutes.
Krone's unusual stunt was discovered Wednesday by prison guards concerned that neither he nor his girlfriend had emerged from the visiting room.
Guards went in and discovered that the 39-year-old Krone had glued his left hand to his girlfriend's right hand. They could not be separated.
Media reports quoted Krone as saying, "We've glued our hands together to call attention to my prison situation and to be heard."
Prison officials took the couple to a Madrid hospital, where they remained Friday.
"They are together in hospital," Raquel Navarro, a spokeswoman for Spain's Penitentiary Institutions, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"They will remain there until they can be separated and will then have to appear before a judge to make statements. They cannot appear in court together," Navarro said.
Authorities didn't know what kind of powerful glue was used in the union of their hands, and Navarro said the couple would remain under observation at the hospital until a separation was possible.
Chicken Caught in Windshield Wipers
YUBA CITY, Calif. (AP) — Not only did this chicken not make it across the road, but it wound up in a motorist's windshield wipers.
Yuba City Police Lt. Bill Ollar said a man reported that he was driving along a Highway 99 frontage road Tuesday night when a chicken flew by and became entangled in the wipers.
The man said he didn't want to try to free the bird himself so he drove to the police station in this farming community, about 35 miles north of Sacramento.
An officer suggested that he turn on his wipers to see if that would free the chicken, but it only set off a "wing-flapping, screeching frenzy," police said.
Finally, an officer donned rubber gloves and freed the bird, which was unharmed but got away.
"After a brief failed attempt to catch the chicken, none of the officers wanted to be seen involved in a prolonged 'chicken-chasing venture' in front of the police department, so the chicken was left to hang around the front of the office to do whatever chickens do," police said in a news release.
Ollar said an animal control officer picked up the bird Wednesday.
"We'd never seen anything like that," Ollar said. "[But] we're willing to help anyone with any call they request. We felt obligated to assist."
Fugitive Shows Up at Anti-Crime Rally
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Claude Meadows was hungry after he allegedly robbed a man at knifepoint of his money and car Tuesday evening.
Fortunately for Metro Nashville police, Meadows decided to attend a Night Out Against Crime (search) event three hours later and stand in a food line. Officer Martin Burns saw that he closely fit the description of the man who had stolen Harold Whitton's car, and after questioning, arrested Meadows.
Meadows, 34, is charged with aggravated robbery. His is being held in lieu of $30,000 bond.
"Officer Burns' observations at what was essentially a social event were truly outstanding," chief Ronal Serpas said Wednesday. "It is amazing that Meadows showed up at an anti-crime event."
Whitton reported to Burns that he was robbed at knifepoint by a suspect who took his 2001 Pontiac Grand Am (search) and drove away. Whitton gave Burns a good description of the robber.
When Burns saw Meadows in the food line, he approached him and recovered a leatherman's tool containing a knife and Whitton's car keys. The car was located and returned to Whitton.
Giant Snake On the Loose in Texas
BRENHAM, Texas (AP) — A snake estimated to be long enough to stretch from one side of a street to the other is being hunted by Brenham authorities.
Experts have speculated the snake may be a boa or python whose owner no longer wanted to care for it. Such exotic animals as pets are illegal within the limits of Brenham, a city of 13,500 about 75 miles northwest of Houston.
"We're in our third week of trying to capture this snake," Doug Baker, Brenham's public works director, said. "We're being very aggressive in trying to catch it."
City Manager Terry Roberts told The Brenham Banner-Press on Wednesday there have been several sightings of the animal in a brushy, tree-filled creek channel. Officials, however, haven't publicized the snake's presence in case extra attention scared it away.
Traps have been set but Baker said officials are having trouble finding people with expertise to provide help. Roberts said they've received some information from the Houston Zoo.
He added that he just wants residents to be aware of the snake and immediately report if they've seen it.
"Don't be volunteer trapping assistants," Roberts advised. "And we're prepared 24/7 if they've observed it."
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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