Oh dear...

Va. student mistaken for deer, shot to death


FERRUM, Va. (AP) - Officials in Virginia say a college student was shot to death while collecting frogs for biology class by a hunter who mistook her and her classmates for deer.

A Ferrum College spokeswoman says three students were collecting frogs Tuesday afternoon along a trail a mile west of campus.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries says 23-year-old Jessica Goode was shot and killed and 20-year-old Regis J. Boudinot was shot in the hand. The third student wasn't hurt.

Department Sgt. Karl Martin says 31-year-old Jason David Cloutier of Ferrum was charged with manslaughter, reckless handling of a firearm and trespassing.

Cloutier's bond was set at $20,000 and court officials say he doesn't yet have a lawyer.

No one answered the phone at the home of the only Cloutier listed in Ferrum.

To the hunter's credit, the girl was wearing a deerskin coat and antler hat.


10-year-old is tasered by police in Arkansas


OZARK, Ark. (AP) - Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle says one of his officers used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl who was combative when the officer tried to get the girl into a patrol car to be taken to a youth shelter.

Noggle said Tuesday that officer Dustin Bradshaw went to the girl's home after her mother called police woman called police. (Such a confusing sentence.)

According to a report filed by Bradshaw on Thursday, the officer found the girl on the floor of the house screaming and crying. She refused to follow her mother's instructions and the mother told Bradshaw to use his Taser.

Bradshaw carried the girl to the living room and told her she was going to jail, according to the report. The girl was violently kicking, the report said, and struck Bradshaw in the groin with her legs and feet. The report said Bradshaw administered a "very, very brief" stun with the Taser, put the girl in handcuffs and carried her to his patrol car. She was taken to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter in Cecil.

What a sweet mother. "Hell, I've tried spanking, I've tried beatings...hey, why don't you try out that taser thing on 'er? If she doesn't make it I'll split the life insurance money with ya.' Odd...why would you take out life insurance on a 10 year old? That's not even in the story. I'm just saying...

Nicolas Cage visits Kenyan jail to talk to pirates


MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) - Film star Nicolas Cage has visited a Kenyan prison holding suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial to highlight the problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

Inmates danced for the movie star and shook his hand as he toured the Shimo La Tewa prison in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa. The prison has become a model for other jails in the country because of the reform work of its chief warden, Wanini Kireri.

Cage, a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador on Drugs and Crime, told The Associated Press Television News on Tuesday that he wanted to meet with some of the suspected Somali pirates, hear their stories and understand what is fueling piracy off the Somali coast.

"Then I'm in a position where I can actually make some sense and talk about it when I go back to the States where I go talk to different U.N. councils and discuss the matter," Cage said.

Cage also gave out awards during his Tuesday visit to wardens in recognition of their outstanding work. He left Kenya Wednesday.

Somali pirates are currently holding around a dozen ships and more than 200 crew, and attacks have increased in recent weeks as seasonal rains subsided.

On Wednesday, pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.

An international flotilla of warships now patrols the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, but pirates continue to carry out attacks because of the millions of dollars that can be made from a successful hijacking.

WTF!!! Nick Cage is on a UN Council? Cue REM.