Proactive public awareness
Rotorua, New Zealand • The charity Brain Injury New Zealand, organizeing a community benefit decided in October to stage  a "zombie walk," inviting townspeople to "shuffle around" in support.

Brotherly love
Portage, IN • In July Michael Perez, 36, and brother Eric, 28, got into a fistfight, ran outside, jumped into their respective pickup trucks, and commenced to ram into each other until Eric crashed into a mobile home.

Wanting it your way
Los Angeles • Francisco Hernandez was recently charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he reportedly tried to run over his ex-girlfriend in his car, with the words "Stacy Will You Marry Me" on the rear window after she refused his proposal at a Burger Stop restaurant.

Solutions
Moscow • Russia's finance minister recently publicly urged citizens to step up their smoking and drinking because the government's new 'sin taxes' mean more revenue: "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes," he said, "that means you are giving more to help solve social problems."

Oops
Manchester, NH • Bonnie Usher was recently charged with robbing a pharmacy, after a fellow motorist reported that she fled from the Rite Aid parking lot in a car with a vanity license plate that read 'B-Usher'.

Can't help myself
Johnson City, TN • Darinel Lopez Cruz was recently charged with DUI and indecent exposure after the arresting officer said she urinated on the patrol car during the traffic stop.

To protect and serve
Dubuque • An Iowa administrative law judge ruled in September that former police officer William Bowker of Fort Madison deserved worker's compensation even though he had not been "laid off" but rather fired for having an affair with the wife of the chief of police.

Choosing poorly
Anchorage, AK • Christopher Todd Mayer was reently sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison for robbing a bank and escaping on a bicycle and then crashing into a police car.

The spy who loved me
London • Keith Jeffery's book published in September on the British intelligence service MI6, revealed that the first chief of the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) during World War I recommended semen as the best invisible ink, in that it "would not react to (ink-detecting) iodine vapor" and was "readily available."

Compelling explanations
Silverton, OR • Daniel and Kathleen Harris defended their decision to hand out "healthy alternatives" during Halloween: instead of candy the couple gave out condoms to trick-or-treating teens, "meant to promote health."

Morons on parade
Maidenhead, England • Jason Williams, 38, was recently convicted of stealing a neighbor's window curtains, which he had immediately installed on his own windows in plain view of his neighbor's window.

Do no harm
Columbia, MS • Dr. Harry Hunt was charged with aggravated assault after he attacked a nurse with a knife in the emergency room, injuring himself instead of her.

If at first you don't succeed
Seoul • 69-year-old Cha Sa-soon became an immediate national hero in May when she passed her driver's license written test on the 950th try - after taking two-hour bus rides to the test center almost daily for three years - but took only 10 more tries to pass the driving portion of the test.

Big problem
Dublin, Ireland • Lawmakers David Simpson and Kem Maginnis were rece`````````ntly barred from visiting Irish troops in Afghanistan until the army can locate large flak jackets big enough to fit their
obese bellies.

It hurts to sit down
Brooklyn, NY • Proctologist Boris Sachakov was paid for performing 6,593 hemorrhoidectomies and other procedures over a 13-month period -- an average of 18 every day, 365 days a year.

Civic solutions
Hydro, OK • Edwin Fry was recently jailed, with police reporting that "instead of paying a $100 fine for letting his poodle run around without a leash, he tried to break Buddy Tough out of the local pound using bolt cutters."

Getting it up
Hialeah, FL •  Two local companies, "Charlie RX" and "Happy Trips," between them billed Medicare $63,000 for penis pumps -- including a total of four to the same patient - a woman.

It hurts to sit down
Brooklyn, NY • Proctologist Boris Sachakov was paid for performing 6,593 hemorrhoidectomies and other procedures over a 13-month period -- an average of 18 every day, 365 days a year.

Compelling explanations
Silverton, OR • Daniel and Kathleen Harris defended their decision to hand out “healthy alternatives” during Halloween: instead of candy the couple gave out condoms to trick-or-treating teens, “meant to promote health.”

Big problem
Dublin, Ireland • Lawmakers David Simpson and Kem Maginnis were rece`````````ntly barred from visiting Irish troops in Afghanistan until the army can locate large flak jackets big enough to fit their
obese bellies.


Civic solutions
Hydro, OK • Edwin Fry was recently jailed, with police reporting that “instead of paying a $100 fine for letting his poodle run around without a leash, he tried to break Buddy Tough out of the local pound using bolt cutters.”

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