Abusive Essay

OREGON, Wis. - A father allegedly shot his 9-year-old son in the buttocks with a BB gun, a revelation that came to light after the boy wrote a school essay about the incident. The boy had written an essay about the "painful afternoon my Dad shot me with a BB gun." The elementary-school teacher turned the essay over to authorities.

Prosecutors charged the 36-year-old father on Friday with one felony count of child abuse. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 6 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The criminal complaint said the father told an investigator he shot the boy after the child didn't move fast enough from blocking the TV. He said he aimed at his son's rear pocket because he thought it would be more padded.

"I knew right away it was a stupid thing I did," the father said. "I told my kids the only way I'm going to touch them is to kiss them, hug them, tickle them. I was very, I was not under the influence of anything. It was a very stupid decision."

He was released Friday on a signature bond and ordered not to threaten or engage in any acts of violence against his son. He was also ordered not to engage in physical discipline of any child.

A Lesson Learned

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. - A Michigan judge says he's learned a lesson about locking his car after a 16-year-old prisoner who escaped from a courthouse cell was found hiding in the vehicle's trunk.

The Macomb Daily reports the teen had vanished Friday after appearing in juvenile court in Mount Clemens on a probation violation.

Sheriff's deputies searched for about an hour until a security officer became suspicious when he saw a picture that had fallen to the ground outside judge's car.

A deputy checked the car and found the boy in the trunk.


Macomb County Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni says the teen likely used a button inside the unlocked car to open the trunk.

A Lesson Taught?

MONTERREY, Mexico - Four teenagers say police in a northern Mexican town spray-painted their hair, shoes and buttocks to teach them not to paint graffiti on public property.

Emilio Alfaro of Nuevo Leon state's Human Rights Commission said Thursday the youths have filed a complaint alleging that police in Guadelupe slapped, kicked and painted them with spray cans after detaining them for vandalism.

The youths are aged between 14 and 16. They presented paint-stained shoes and photos of their painted heads as evidence.

Guadelupe's police department says several officers have been suspended while the matter is being investigated.

The youths were fined more than $200 before being released on Tuesday.

Guadelupe is outside the city of Monterrey.

$5.00 Crime

FORT PIERCE, Fla. - Authorities say an 11-year-old boy hit his mother in the head with a saw and then offered her $5 not to call police. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office reported that the boy and his 41-year-old mother got into an argument Wednesday when she was trying to get him to take his medication.

The boy left and went to another home, where he began hitting a tree with a saw. When the mother finally caught up with the boy, authorities say he hit her in the head with the saw, causing a minor laceration. A sheriff's report said that's when the boy began pleading with his mother not to call police and offered her a $5 bill.

The boy is facing an aggravated battery charge.

99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall....

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. - Indiana state police said that after a mother was arrested for drunken driving, the three relatives who came to pick up her 1-year-old son also had all been drinking. A state trooper stopped a minivan for speeding early Saturday on U.S. 30 in Schererville in northwestern Indiana. He arrested the 24-year-old woman on a drunken driving charges.

The boy's father arrived later to pick him up, but officers determined he was intoxicated and also arrested him on a drunken driving charge.

Police said the boy's grandparents then arrived. Both of them also had been drinking, state police said, but the grandmother who was driving was not over the legal limit, so officers escorted them home with the child.

The Councilman Said So

DALLAS - Dallas Councilman Dwaine Caraway is on a mission: He wants those wearing low-hanging, baggy pants to pull them up.

As part of his ongoing campaign against saggy, underwear-exposing pants, the mayor pro tem held a summit Saturday. More than 100 adults, children, students, ministers, law enforcement officers and representatives from local organizations attended the hours-long derriere affair.

Local youth counselor Calvin Glover even brought a contingent of saggy bottom teens. The group piled into two elevators and made its way to the council chamber. Saggy britches, big belt buckles and untucked T-shirts were in abundance.

Glover, a 29-year-old former sagger who still admits to an occasional offense, said kids today have taken the trend too far, exposing too much of their backsides.


"Come on, man," he said disgustedly. "I don't want to see your dirty boxers that you've had on for two or three days. I mean, really."

Most listened. Others seemed still groggy from the early morning wake-up.

Looking at a toddler sitting on one woman's lap, Caraway said the baby girl had a right not to see dirty boxers. So does the elderly woman at the grocery store, he said.

Caraway told the crowd they wouldn't want someone to show up to their house for a date if their pants were sagging. It would be disrespectful, he said.

Outside the chambers, 16-year-old Ernesto Arias seemed undaunted. He would still wear his pants low - maybe even lower, he said.

"It's just a style. It looks good like that," he said.

Back inside the chamber, Caraway allowed that it was OK to sag sometimes. "You can do anything, but do it appropriately," he said.

"I know I'm preaching, but even if we reach one, that's good enough," Caraway said

That's No Candy

RAMSEY, Minn. - When their children returned from Halloween trick-or-treating, a couple found suspected methamphetamine and $85 in cash among their 7-year-old son's Snickers bars and Skittles. Lars and Shelly Brosdahl called police, who confirmed that the substance was methamphetamine, worth up to $200 on the street.

Someone who looked like a teenager dropped something into their son's bag as he went trick-or-treating with his 9-year-old sister on Halloween night, the Brosdahls say.

"He said some bigger kid ran by him and asked if he wanted some candy," Lars Brosdahl said. "He said 'Sure,' and the kid dropped it into his bag."

The clear crystals looked like rock candy, the parents said.

"The (kids) could have OD'd on it. That's what makes me so shaky and upset," Shelly Brosdahl said.

Police think the young man was a suspect fleeing police after a report of an assault in the area that night.

Police in Ramsey, northwest of Minneapolis, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Imagine Election Day.....

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Shawn Turschak of Chapel Hill was tired of someone stealing McCain-Palin campaign signs from his yard. Turschak, with a degree in electrical engineering, hooked up a third sign to a power source for an electric pet fence Monday and also put up a surveillance camera.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that a 9-year-old boy with an Obama-Biden sign grabbed the McCain-Palin sign and got a jolt on Tuesday.

The boy's father, Andrew Noble, upset that his son had been shocked, showed up at Turschak's door. Soon an Orange County sheriff's deputy also showed up at the Turschak's home.

Noble said his son just wanted to see how the sign was put together. Turschak said the boy intended to swap out the signs.

Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass said he doesn't plan to file charges.