Strange News
Sex Dungeon "Master' Charged With Animal Cruelty
THONOTOSASSA, Fla. (AP) - A man who called himself "Master Troy" has been charged with operating a whips-and-chains sex dungeon in his home where customers could hire prostitutes and even a dog.
"People have all sorts of fantasies," Terry Lynn Thomas said after he was arrested in a raid Thursday. "That's one of the things I help them out with."
Thomas, 48, was charged with racketeering, prostitution and pornography offenses as well as animal cruelty.
The raid came after an undercover detective responded to a magazine advertisement about the dungeon in this rural Tampa suburb.
Three women were arrested along with Thomas on similar charges.
The raid also netted pornographic tapes Thomas allegedly had for rent. Investigators said some tapes involved exotic animals such as eels, anteaters and water buffalo.
Great-Grandma Dominatrix Gets Dungeon Tools Returned by Police
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A great-grandmother dominatrix has beaten the system.
On Thursday, authorities returned whips, chains and other bondage tools seized during a raid on the residential dungeon of Betty Davis.
"I love them. They're just my play toys," Davis, 60, told reporters. She brandished a cat o' nine tails with plastic lashes, explaining "This is for someone who enjoys a little sting on their butts."
Davis wore black tights, a black see-through blouse and high heels as she picked up the bondage items from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, where they had sat in the property room for months.
Davis, who claims to have 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, was arrested on Feb. 2 for investigation of soliciting prostitution after an undercover sheriff's deputy answered an ad in a bondage magazine and was led blindfolded to her townhouse.
But prosecutors refused to charge her for lack of evidence. Davis has fought ever since to get back $20,000 worth of bondage items - including the whips and chains - seized at the time of her arrest.
The Orange County district attorney's office also investigated an earlier incident in which a man died at the end of a dog leash attached to a wall in Davis' home.
The death was ruled accidental and no charges were filed.
Davis' lawyer, Tom Tanana, said Davis offered a therapeutic service that didn't include sex.
Davis said she doesn't plan to resume using her "toys" anytime soon.
"No, I'm just going to sit and look at them," she said.
"As long as they're sitting around, I'll be comfortable."
Chair Tester Sits Around on the Job
MONROE, Mich. (AP) - Mike Pixley can work up a sweat just by sitting down on the job.
You might say he's the lazy boy of La-Z-Boy Chair Co.
A senior studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, Pixley is paid $6 an hour to test a variety of La-Z-Boy chairs. In other words, he comes to work, sits down, leans back and then relaxes forward.
All day long.
"I think a lot of people think it's easier than it actually is," Pixley told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio.
During the summer of '93 - his first with the Monroe-based furniture maker - Pixley lost 18 pounds.
"You can work up a sweat after the first hour or two," said Pixley, 20, who reads to dull the monotony. He says his calf and abdominal muscles get a workout.
Since May 1, he has logged 200,000 cycles on one love seat alone. He averages about 2,800 deep rocks a day, said test lab supervisor Judy Fay.
"He'll do 2.5 million, easy, before we're finished," she said.
Finding the right slacker for the job wasn't easy, said Fay, whose ideal hire weighs 180 to 200 pounds and stands at least 6 feet tall. Fay tested about 24 people in the last several years, but few sat around as well as Pixley.
"I want someone who's self-motivated, who won't get bored, who sets their own personal goals," Fay said.
Misfortunes Plague 5-Year-Old Boy's Funeral
LOWELL, N.C. (AP) - Even 5-year-old Ronald Lee Dixon's funeral had a tragic ending.
Ronald, who would have attended kindergarten this fall, drowned in a swimming pool at a church group outing last Wednesday.
On Sunday, as Ronald's family and friends drove to a cemetery to bury the tiny casket draped in red roses, a motorist barreled into the hearse.
"The first thing the family thought was that something happened to the casket," said funeral home director Bill Whiteside. "That was a part of their family in that car, their son."
Cerrie Blackwood, 32, of Ellenboro, was charged with careless and reckless driving.
Police said Blackwood's car bypassed a sheriff's deputy who had stopped traffic to let the funeral procession pass. The car then jumped a concrete median and struck two other vehicles.
The front end of the hearse was crushed and twisted. Five people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, including the driver of the hearse and two children in Blackwood's car.
After the collision, police said, a brawl broke out between Blackwood's husband and members of Ronald's family, who live in this town about 15 miles west of Charlotte.
As Ronald's casket was transferred into a second hearse, the bleeding victims of the crash were removed on stretchers. After about 30 minutes, the procession continued to the cemetery.
Hummingbird Nests In Schoolboy's Hair, Won't Budge
CONCORD, Calif. (AP) - An 11-year-old school boy had the bad hair day to end all bad hair days.
When Asaad Liebig went out for recess at Ygnacio Valley Elementary School, he found an apparently dazed young hummingbird on the ground.
"It was sitting there, and it looked lonely, so I picked it up," he said.
He brought the bird into his classroom, but his teacher asked him to take it outside.
The bird would have none of it.
It hopped on Asaad's head, grabbed his hair and refused to budge from its adopted nest.
"It was shocking," the boy said.
After three fruitless hours trying to persuade the young bird to find another nesting site Wednesday only to have the bird return to its hairy perch, teachers plucked it loose and took it to the Alexander Lindsay Museum in Walnut Creek.
Sandy Fender, the museum's wildlife supervisor, said the bird probably tried to fly too soon and fell out of it's own nest. It then settled on Asaad's head because he was the tallest thing around, she said.
Key West Rallies to Save Amorous Pig
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Chi-Chi the potbellied pig is about thisclose to being castrated. His crime: falling in love with another hog - a Harley Davidson.
Chi-Chi tried to have sex with the front wheel of the shiny black motorcycle he found in Walter Wyatt's yard. In the process, the 50-pound beast scratched the paint and tore the bike's fabric cover.
Wyatt's wife, Patricia, saw the whole thing from her kitchen and called police. There was at least $100 damage to the brand-new bike, she said.
Animal control officers say Chi-Chi's fate is pretty much sealed, since state law requires them to neuter all unclaimed strays. Then it's off to a petting zoo.
But not if Wyatt and other residents in this independent-minded city have their way.
"His crime is an alleged sex act against a Harley," Wyatt said Wednesday. "We don't even know if that's a felony!"
A developer has raised $300 for the "Spring Chi-Chi" defense fund.
Wayne Smith, president of the Monroe County Bar Association, is handling the case pro bono. "The punishment could be death or what some males may consider a fate worse than death," Smith said.
A motorcycle salesman was considering offering to let Chi-Chi go hog-wild in his showroom, just to get the lust out of his gut. "Just a night's stay," he said.
And given that Chi-Chi's owner has chosen not to reclaim him, at least one person has offered to adopt the pig - even if there's less of him to love.
The would-be owner wrote to the Chamber of Commerce and ended his letter: "P.S. I have a broken scooter. It's his."
THONOTOSASSA, Fla. (AP) - A man who called himself "Master Troy" has been charged with operating a whips-and-chains sex dungeon in his home where customers could hire prostitutes and even a dog.
"People have all sorts of fantasies," Terry Lynn Thomas said after he was arrested in a raid Thursday. "That's one of the things I help them out with."
Thomas, 48, was charged with racketeering, prostitution and pornography offenses as well as animal cruelty.
The raid came after an undercover detective responded to a magazine advertisement about the dungeon in this rural Tampa suburb.
Three women were arrested along with Thomas on similar charges.
The raid also netted pornographic tapes Thomas allegedly had for rent. Investigators said some tapes involved exotic animals such as eels, anteaters and water buffalo.
Great-Grandma Dominatrix Gets Dungeon Tools Returned by Police
SANTA ANA, Calif. - A great-grandmother dominatrix has beaten the system.
On Thursday, authorities returned whips, chains and other bondage tools seized during a raid on the residential dungeon of Betty Davis.
"I love them. They're just my play toys," Davis, 60, told reporters. She brandished a cat o' nine tails with plastic lashes, explaining "This is for someone who enjoys a little sting on their butts."
Davis wore black tights, a black see-through blouse and high heels as she picked up the bondage items from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, where they had sat in the property room for months.
Davis, who claims to have 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, was arrested on Feb. 2 for investigation of soliciting prostitution after an undercover sheriff's deputy answered an ad in a bondage magazine and was led blindfolded to her townhouse.
But prosecutors refused to charge her for lack of evidence. Davis has fought ever since to get back $20,000 worth of bondage items - including the whips and chains - seized at the time of her arrest.
The Orange County district attorney's office also investigated an earlier incident in which a man died at the end of a dog leash attached to a wall in Davis' home.
The death was ruled accidental and no charges were filed.
Davis' lawyer, Tom Tanana, said Davis offered a therapeutic service that didn't include sex.
Davis said she doesn't plan to resume using her "toys" anytime soon.
"No, I'm just going to sit and look at them," she said.
"As long as they're sitting around, I'll be comfortable."
Chair Tester Sits Around on the Job
MONROE, Mich. (AP) - Mike Pixley can work up a sweat just by sitting down on the job.
You might say he's the lazy boy of La-Z-Boy Chair Co.
A senior studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan, Pixley is paid $6 an hour to test a variety of La-Z-Boy chairs. In other words, he comes to work, sits down, leans back and then relaxes forward.
All day long.
"I think a lot of people think it's easier than it actually is," Pixley told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio.
During the summer of '93 - his first with the Monroe-based furniture maker - Pixley lost 18 pounds.
"You can work up a sweat after the first hour or two," said Pixley, 20, who reads to dull the monotony. He says his calf and abdominal muscles get a workout.
Since May 1, he has logged 200,000 cycles on one love seat alone. He averages about 2,800 deep rocks a day, said test lab supervisor Judy Fay.
"He'll do 2.5 million, easy, before we're finished," she said.
Finding the right slacker for the job wasn't easy, said Fay, whose ideal hire weighs 180 to 200 pounds and stands at least 6 feet tall. Fay tested about 24 people in the last several years, but few sat around as well as Pixley.
"I want someone who's self-motivated, who won't get bored, who sets their own personal goals," Fay said.
Misfortunes Plague 5-Year-Old Boy's Funeral
LOWELL, N.C. (AP) - Even 5-year-old Ronald Lee Dixon's funeral had a tragic ending.
Ronald, who would have attended kindergarten this fall, drowned in a swimming pool at a church group outing last Wednesday.
On Sunday, as Ronald's family and friends drove to a cemetery to bury the tiny casket draped in red roses, a motorist barreled into the hearse.
"The first thing the family thought was that something happened to the casket," said funeral home director Bill Whiteside. "That was a part of their family in that car, their son."
Cerrie Blackwood, 32, of Ellenboro, was charged with careless and reckless driving.
Police said Blackwood's car bypassed a sheriff's deputy who had stopped traffic to let the funeral procession pass. The car then jumped a concrete median and struck two other vehicles.
The front end of the hearse was crushed and twisted. Five people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, including the driver of the hearse and two children in Blackwood's car.
After the collision, police said, a brawl broke out between Blackwood's husband and members of Ronald's family, who live in this town about 15 miles west of Charlotte.
As Ronald's casket was transferred into a second hearse, the bleeding victims of the crash were removed on stretchers. After about 30 minutes, the procession continued to the cemetery.
Hummingbird Nests In Schoolboy's Hair, Won't Budge
CONCORD, Calif. (AP) - An 11-year-old school boy had the bad hair day to end all bad hair days.
When Asaad Liebig went out for recess at Ygnacio Valley Elementary School, he found an apparently dazed young hummingbird on the ground.
"It was sitting there, and it looked lonely, so I picked it up," he said.
He brought the bird into his classroom, but his teacher asked him to take it outside.
The bird would have none of it.
It hopped on Asaad's head, grabbed his hair and refused to budge from its adopted nest.
"It was shocking," the boy said.
After three fruitless hours trying to persuade the young bird to find another nesting site Wednesday only to have the bird return to its hairy perch, teachers plucked it loose and took it to the Alexander Lindsay Museum in Walnut Creek.
Sandy Fender, the museum's wildlife supervisor, said the bird probably tried to fly too soon and fell out of it's own nest. It then settled on Asaad's head because he was the tallest thing around, she said.
Key West Rallies to Save Amorous Pig
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - Chi-Chi the potbellied pig is about thisclose to being castrated. His crime: falling in love with another hog - a Harley Davidson.
Chi-Chi tried to have sex with the front wheel of the shiny black motorcycle he found in Walter Wyatt's yard. In the process, the 50-pound beast scratched the paint and tore the bike's fabric cover.
Wyatt's wife, Patricia, saw the whole thing from her kitchen and called police. There was at least $100 damage to the brand-new bike, she said.
Animal control officers say Chi-Chi's fate is pretty much sealed, since state law requires them to neuter all unclaimed strays. Then it's off to a petting zoo.
But not if Wyatt and other residents in this independent-minded city have their way.
"His crime is an alleged sex act against a Harley," Wyatt said Wednesday. "We don't even know if that's a felony!"
A developer has raised $300 for the "Spring Chi-Chi" defense fund.
Wayne Smith, president of the Monroe County Bar Association, is handling the case pro bono. "The punishment could be death or what some males may consider a fate worse than death," Smith said.
A motorcycle salesman was considering offering to let Chi-Chi go hog-wild in his showroom, just to get the lust out of his gut. "Just a night's stay," he said.
And given that Chi-Chi's owner has chosen not to reclaim him, at least one person has offered to adopt the pig - even if there's less of him to love.
The would-be owner wrote to the Chamber of Commerce and ended his letter: "P.S. I have a broken scooter. It's his."