Published: April 09, 2008 03:08 pm            

It couldn't happen here

Your students will do well on an upcoming state test, or I’ll kill you. That’s what Texas middle school principal John Burks allegedly told a group of eighth-grade science teachers, according to a complaint filed with police. Anita White, the teacher who filed the complaint, says she went to police only after another of the teachers spoke to a school board member about the threat and got no response. A district spokeswoman says Burks denied the claim. Burks and the other teachers at the meeting won’t talk to the media. The things you have to do to motivate people with tenure.



Austin, Texas, parks police officer Robert Tipton resigned after getting caught drunk on duty. Tipton helped arrest a homeless man. That’s when the suspect complained to police officers that one of them smelled of booze. I’m still not sure how much liquor you have to drink to get a homeless person to complain about the smell, but Tipton’s blood alcohol level reportedly tested between 0.213 and 0.198. I’m also not sure why none of the other officers noticed Tipton, who had been on duty more than two hours at that point, was drunk until the man they were arresting pointed it out.



Calling Agent Howard, Agent Fine, Agent Howard. FBI officials say Supervisory Agent Robert Callen, who was overseeing the Boston office’s organized crime squad, came up behind a federal prosecutor in a Boston courthouse and gave her a noogie. After a year-long investigation, Callen and two other FBI agents face being fired for allegedly not being truthful when questioned about the incident.



The Erie, Pa., fire department canned firefighter Mary Wolski last year after she allegedly told officials she started a fire in her father’s house as part of a suicide attempt. The city’s Civil Service Commission upheld the firing. Now, Wolski, who was never charged with a crime, is suing to get her job back.



Florida State University police put the campus on alert after a maintenance worker walking by a car in a parking garage saw a briefcase with the word “a-bomb” written on it. It turns out the briefcase belonged to a young man whose nickname is “a-bomb.” Now, I don’t want to say they overreacted. But can an atomic bomb fit into a briefcase? And does anyone other than Wile E. Coyote write “bomb” on his bombs?



Want to avoid parking tickets, speeding tickets and tolls on toll roads? Go to work for a government agency in California. The Orange County Register found that that almost 1 million government officials, their spouses and children have special license plates that shield their personal information in Department of Motor Vehicle records. That allows drivers to zip through toll booths and red light cameras with impunity. The newspaper also found law enforcement agencies admit, on the record, to letting people with the special plates off with a warning if their officers catch them violating traffic laws because the plates mark them as “one of their own” or a family member. Some acknowledged they won’t even pull over someone with one of the plates. Whatever you think of that stance, the Register found that the plates are routinely issued to social workers, museum guards and numerous other people not employed as or even related to law enforcement officers.



Charles Oliver is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen.

        

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