W. Va. man arrested for wearing Grinch mask
5/26/2005 12:51 PM
By: Associated Press

WHEELING, W.Va. -- A West Virginia man is in trouble with the law for wearing a Grinch mask in public.

Norman Gray was stopped by police in Wheeling on Tuesday. Officers told him to take the mask off and not put it on again. Police say Gray took the mask off and asked why he couldn't wear it. After officers told him that wearing masks in public is illegal, he reportedly put the mask back on and said he didn't believe it.

Gray was then arrested and the mask confiscated.

Wearing a mask or hood in public is a misdemeanor under West Virginia law, punishable by a fine of up to $500, up to a year in jail, or both. Prosecutors say masks can hinder efforts by law enforcement officials to identify criminal suspects.

Children are allowed to wear masks. There are also exceptions for safety gear, theatrical productions and Halloween.

Missing children found dead in river
Thursday, May 26, 2005 Posted: 4:00 PM EDT (2000 GMT)


BARRE, Vermont (AP) -- Two young brothers and a friend were found dead in a frigid river Thursday after they apparently lost their footing while playing in the fast-moving stream, authorities said.

Justin Nutbrown, 13, Joshua Nutbrown, 11, and Allison Hansen, also 11, were last seen Wednesday after school heading into the woods to play. A search began later that night, and the bodies were found Thursday morning near where the children were last seen, authorities said.

Police believe the children were attempting to cross the stream when they slipped and fell.

"I am fairly confident in saying it is my belief that this is a tragic accident," police Chief Trevor Whipple said. "Information we have seen at the scene indicates they were playing around, perhaps in the brook. The brook is lined with very slippery rocks."

Joshua was in the fourth grade and his brother was a seventh-grader. Allison, a fifth-grader, was staying at the home of the brothers.

"The impact of one (child death) is enormous. The impact of three is incomprehensible," said principal James Taffel. "There are so many children who either knew the children or knew children who knew them."

The school system in Barre, a town of about 9,000 people, has dealt with a number of tragedies in recent years. In December 2003, a kindergartner was run over and killed by a school bus. In 2000, a high school student was murdered.

"Unfortunately, we're really good at this," Superintendent Dorothy Anderson said of her school's ability to respond to tragedy.

Obese woman referred to zoo

A 29-stone New York woman says she was humiliated when she was told to go to a zoo for an MRI scan.

Jennifer Walters is bed-ridden and cannot fit into a magnetic resonance imaging machine.

She told the New York Post that a doctor said she should go instead to the Bronx Zoo.

"It's humiliating. I was told if elephants and hippos need MRIs, they have the equipment at the Bronx Zoo. It was like I was an animal," she said.

New York politicians recently called for an end to what they termed medical discrimination against obese people.

The Bronx Zoo told the Post it gets about a dozen such calls a year but it doesn't have such facilities for its animals.