Category: Opinion

A Wisconsin couple is recovering after a black bear charged into their home and they were forced to defend themselves.

The homeowners noticed the eating from a bird feeder a little past 11:00, according to Taylor County Sheriff Larry Woebbeking. They opened a window to yell for the bear to go away but instead, the beast turned and “charged” at the house, crashed through a window into the home and attacked the couple.

Both the husband and wife suffered “numerous bites and injuries” from the attack. While they fought with the bear the wife somehow managed to get a kitchen knife and stab the animal while her husband got a gun and shot and killed the bear.

The couple’s children were asleep in the house at the time of the attack and were not injured.

The adult female bear had a cub with her at the time, the cub ran away when the mother bear charged the home, according to the sheriff. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources took possession of the bear for testing.

The National Park Service says bear spray is the most effective tool for self-defense against a bear attack. The park service recommends against using a firearm to stop an attack, as it could “worsen” the attack and cause the bear to become more agitated. Bearwise, a program that helps educate people on black bears, suggests removing bird feeders from homes when bears are active in the area.

“Birdseed and grains have lots of calories, so they’re attractive to bears. Removing feeders is the best way to avoid creating conflicts with bears,” the website says.

A California woman working as a school bus driver and on-campus security at a school for special needs children has been arrested for peddling fentanyl to kids on campus.

Melissa Harloam-Garrison, 46, lives in a cottage on the property at Bright Futures Academy in Riverside and was arrested last week on several charges related to the distribution of fentanyl to special needs students at the school.

She was charged with: possession of narcotics for sale, the sale of narcotics to minors, the possession of controlled substances, a drug addict in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm on the school campus, being a person prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm, and child endangerment. She is being held on $50,000 bail.

Harloam-Garrison’s husband, 58-year-old David Wayne Garrison, was also arrested “on suspicion of possessing a firearm on campus and being a person prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm,” according to a police report. He is being held on $25,000 bail.

Police say Harloam-Garrison was providing fentanyl to students at the private school which “serves K-12 students with… severe behavioral problems, autism and other special needs.

Officers responded to the school Tuesday after receiving a call regarding a student displaying erratic behavior.

Police started an investigation after a student suffered an overdose. While looking into how that student acquired the drugs, police became suspicious of Harloam-Garrison and began looking into her.

“Officers conducted a search of the cottage and found over a hundred suspected Fentanyl pills, two handguns, and various types of ammunition,” officials said in a statement.

Betti Colucci, the President/Principal of Bright Futures Academy, also released a statement following the arrests.

“This event has shaken us to our core. Beyond the shock of the allegations, we are saddened that the health and safety of our students were put at risk. That is completely unacceptable to us! Our staff and administration are communicating with everyone involved to make sure our students are cared for, she continued. We may be taken by surprise by this but we aren’t distracted from providing excellent education.”

Four Tennessee daycare workers were charged earlier this month with overdosing children under their care. It turns out that they were giving them up to 10 times the legal limit of the hormone melatonin so they would sleep longer.

Jaime Clark, 45, Kristin Clark, 22, and Jordan Darnell, 22, of now-closed MiMi’s Daycare in Indian Mound, Tennessee, were charged with child abuse and neglect on May 5 after parents filed complaints in March. Ethan Pulley, 21, was charged with fabricating/tampering with evidence.

An attorney representing nine of the 26 children who were overdosed said that a whistleblower had come forward and told his team just how high the dosages were.

“There was a whistleblower who came forward and talked to us early this week and told us she worked there for a day and during her employment they requested she give the students three 10 milligram melatonin gummy bears with their lunch,” attorney Rocky McElhaney said. “She didn’t feel comfortable with that. She didn’t do it and she didn’t report for her job the next day.”

The dosage of melatonin given to the children was over one and a half times the maximum adult dose.

Sometimes parents were unable to wake their children when they picked them up at the end of the day, Stewart County Sheriff’s Detective Dana Salthill.

“When they would pick them up, they would sleep all the way home and sometimes reports of children staying up most of the night, so their sleeping habits are off,” she said earlier this month. “They also made some disclosures that there was melatonin going on at lunchtime at the daycare center.”

Investigators said the children ranged in age from infants to six years old and that the daycare had been dosing children for at least two years.

A South Carolina mother and her two children are recovering after being attacked in late April by a pit bull while trying to help an elderly neighbor with dementia.

Bethany Hastings said the family had gone outside and found their neighbor who had wandered onto their property. Hastings said she and her two children took the woman home in their golf cart, and when they arrived, their neighbor’s pit bull was loose.

“He came running over to us and jumped in the golf cart,” Hastings said.

Hastings said the dog went for her 2-year-old son and then her 4-year-old daughter.

“First he got my brother, and then second he got me, and then third he got my mom,” 4-year-old Lainey Bayles said.

Hastings, who is a nurse, said she managed to get the dog away from her kids and held him down for 15 minutes until help arrived. She said during that time the dog continued to attack her.

“I didn’t have a choice,” she said. “If I had let go, he would have gotten me or them again.”

All three were taken to the hospital where Hastings and her son were released that night but Lainey spent four days in the hospital with two of those being in the pediatric intensive care unit. Lainey will have to undergo several procedures throughout the coming year.

Authorities say the dog was euthanized.

An Oklahoma woman and her friend have been arrested after they planted child pornography on her husband’s cell phone. Lacey Hucks enlisted the help of her friend, Angel Moore, in a revenge plot against her estranged husband, Brandon Hucks. The couple was involved in a bitter custody fight and had an upcoming court date.

Hucks and Moore used Brandon’s old cell phone to take nearly 900 screenshots of child pornography they had found on the dark web.

The women went to the Wynnewood Police Department on April 18, to report what they had “found” on Brandon Hucks’ phone. Initially, Hucks’ husband was arrested but when investigators found no evidence of child pornography on his current phone they became suspicious of Hucks’ and Moore’s story. Moore confessed to the crime but told police she believed they had done the right.

“This is kind of a crazy deal because there is a plot against a man over custody of children,” said Garvin County Sheriff Jim Mullett. “The women got together and thought to conspire to put him in jail and get him out of the picture.”

https://youtu.be/ogOxT3G1GW0

Both women were charged with conspiracy and false reporting. Hucks, 33, is currently held with a $250,000 bond according to Garvin County detention records. Moore, 44, has been released on bail.

The possession of a single image of child pornography has a five year prison sentence as well as a fine of up to $5,000.

The leaders of Finland said Thursday they intend to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “without delay,” with Russia to threatening “military-technical” action in response.

Finland shares a border with Russia, and support for joining NATO has grown there since the invasion of Ukraine in February. Finland will likely be allowed to join NATO quickly, and Sweden is set to follow suit.

“Nato membership would strengthen Finland’s security,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement. “As a member of Nato, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay.”

Russia warned that Finland joining NATO “will cause serious damage to bilateral Russian-Finnish relations and the maintaining of stability and security in the Northern European region.” They went on to describe Finland’s announcement as “a radical change in the country’s foreign policy.”

“Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical and other nature, in order to neutralize the threats to its national security that arise from this,” the Russian statement read.

Russia’s foreign minister also noted that “Helsinki must be aware of the responsibility and consequences of such a move.”

Finland’s plan to join NATO coincides with both Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine and concern that Russia may move beyond Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted that Finland would be gladly welcomed into the alliance.

“Finland is one of NATO’s closest partners, a mature democracy, a member of the European Union, and an important contributor to Euro-Atlantic security,” Stoltenberg said.

A Texas man is on the run after a home surveillance video caught him burglarizing a residence and fleeing from police, but not before he mowed the homeowner’s front and back yards, according to the Port Arthur Police Department.

Marcus Renard Hubbard is accused of burglarizing the southeast Texas home on the evening of April 1.

Home surveillance video shows Marcus Renard Hubbard taking a push lawnmower from the home, filling it with gas, then mowing the victim’s lawn.

The suspect fled when police arrived, dragging the lawnmower behind him. He eventually ditched the mower in a nearby alley and got away.

Hubbard has an outstanding warrant for burglary of a building. Anyone with information about his whereabouts can call the Port Arthur Police Department at 409-983-8600.

An Oregon mother sent a YouTube “murder suicide” playlist to her ex-wife before killing their two children and herself Tuesday.

Ashley Palmer and Jenavie Palmer were involved in a custody battle when Ashley sent her former spouse a link to the playlist in a text message around midnight before the murder/ sudicide. The message included the words, “mother children murder suicide 2022,” along with the playlist.

Jenavie said she contacted police after receiving the text message and playlist link, they responded to the apartment but did not gain entry. Police told Jenavie to wait until morning to check on her children.

At approximately 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, police discovered the bodies of Ashley, the couple’s 6-year-old daughter Kayleana and their 8-year-old-son Xavier during a welfare check at Ashley’s apartment. According to police the victims died of gunshot wounds.

Ashley divorced Jenavie in 2018 and was facing the prospect of having to share custody of their children. She was due to return the children to Jenavie on Tuesday.

A person in South Africa was sitting on the toilet, minding his own business, when he looked up to see a large, chunky black mamba staring him down.

Snake catcher Nick Evans, said on Facebook that he attended the “rather exciting” call at a house in the Seaview area.

Evans and fellow snake catcher, Grant Cavanagh, had already made one trip to the property earlier in the day but could not find the snake. Then at around 7 p.m. the same day, Cavanagh called Evans to say the snake had returned.

Black mambas are highly venomous and their bite can kill a person in under 30 minutes. The species are typically shy and reclusive, unless directly provoked.

“I was thinking how I was going to do this. I couldn’t hold up the board and catch the mamba at the same time. It looked a bit big to flip over, plus, if I did that, the mamba may flee,” he said. “Grant volunteered to stand below, and hold the masonite up with a broom, while I restrained the mamba. I reached toward the startled mamba, and dragged its head towards me, so I could restrain it. It took a short while to reverse back into the tongs, but it eventually did. I passed the tail down to Grant, as I climbed down with the head.

Black mambas are the longest snakes in Africa and can reach lengths of up to 14 feet. This snake was relatively small for the species, measuring around 7.5 foot, although “it was certainly well-fed,” Evans said.

“Everyone there… was excited to see it, although the family was more excited about it being taken away,” he said.

Evans responded to another call about a black mamba later that night in the Savannah Park area.

This black mamba was also “well-fed and powerful,” but proved to be a simpler catch than the previous one.

The United Kingdom Government has confirmed a case of Monkeypox in their region and has issued warnings about the rare, but potentially deadly disease on Saturday.

The patient is receiving medical care and is under observation in a specialized infectious disease unit at The Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, in London. Individuals infected with this rare form of Monkeypox are likely to suffer symptoms such as “fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion,” according to the government.

“A rash can develop, often beginning on the face, then spreading to other parts of the body. The rash changes and goes through different stages before finally forming a scab, which later falls off,” the statement said.

The hospital is said to have imposed “strict infection prevention procedures,” and the government has cautioned about the potential severity of this illness, but has indicated that there is a “very low risk of transmission to the general population.” This singular case has been traced back to the patient’s recent trip to Nigeria, where it is believed they contracted the disease.

Dr. Colin Brown, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections, UKHSA, has indicated that “monkeypox does not spread easily between people and the overall risk to the general public is very low,” the government noted.