Within a 30-minute time span one night last July, two officers Tasered a man 71 times as he thrashed violently on the floor of a gas station north of Flagstaff, including dozens of times while he was handcuffed.
A combination of cocaine and bath salts -- a new designer drug that was only banned in Arizona this week -- had thrown the 25-year-old man into a state of excited delirium that Coconino County Sheriff's Office officials say gave him "superhuman strength."
Despite being handcuffed and Tasered an average of more than twice a minute, it took eight people to put him into an ambulance.
The man, a 25-year-old whose relatives said was a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was released from the hospital shortly after the incident and never charged with a crime.
Prosecutors are now reviewing potential charges against the officers involved in the incident, which happened last July.
A Sheriff's office deputy who Tasered the man 22 times has already been cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal investigation.
An internal investigation into an officer with the Arizona Department of Public Safety is awaiting results of the criminal investigation. Data downloaded from the DPS officer's Taser shows it shocked the man 49 times.
"We do not believe the situation played out in an ideal way and discourage multiple applications of the Taser, but do not believe it was the deputy's intent to be cruel, to be punitive," said Gerry Blair, a spokesperson for the Sheriff's office.
'ABSOLUTELY VIOLENT'
At about 8:30 p.m., the man walked into the Chevron station on North Highway 89 in Doney Park.
The clerks were disturbed by his appearance. He had no shoes on and was tracking mud as he paced around the store. Eventually, he approached the register and told a cashier to call police on him, according to an incident report provided by the Sheriff's office at the Daily Sun's request.
DPS Officer Brian Barnes heard the call go out. After a brief confrontation in the parking lot, the man sprinted inside with Barnes right behind him. The man collided with the door, and he and the officer collapsed on the asphalt, bloodying Barnes' arm in the process.
Inside, Barnes shot the man with his Taser and handcuffed him with help from a bystander, surveillance video shows. The officer's justification for firing his Taser the first time was not immediately clear because a public records request filed with DPS was not available in time for this story. A Sheriff's office incident report simply said the man was not complying with Barnes' orders. DPS officials declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Sheriff's Deputy Don Bartlett arrived soon after and started talking to the DPS officer. As they were speaking, the man "became very combative even though he was handcuffed and began kicking and thrashing," Bartlett wrote in his report.
The pair tried to control the man by having the deputy sit on his legs while the officer Tased him. The man calmed down for 30 to 45 seconds and then started thrashing and screaming again.
At the request of Barnes, the deputy tried his Taser, thinking maybe the first weapon was defective. Bartlett Tased the man twice before realizing one of his two prongs wasn't penetrating the man's skin. He switched to drive stun mode, where the weapon is touched against the skin in what officers refer to as "pain compliance," like touching a hot iron to skin.
"When the deputy arrived, the decision about whether or not to use the Taser had already been made," Blair said.
At that point, medics were called to the scene with lights and sirens running. Over the course of the ensuing 20 minutes, Bartlett would Tase the man 20 times in drive stun mode. The man was Tased every time he thrashed around, an officer said.
TASERS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY
Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser International, who hadn't heard of the incident, said that if the man was "locking up" as officers described, then the Tasers were working as designed. He also said he had never heard of anyone being Tased as many times.
"He was absolutely violent," one responding EMT would later tell investigators. "I've never seen anybody fight like that."
A surveillance video recorded in the gas station, which only captured an image every 20 seconds, appeared to show the man was on the ground for the entire incident.
Sgt. Gerrit Boeck of the Sheriff's office arrived several minutes later, and together with several firefighters and EMTs, they were able to load the man onto the gurney despite his thrashing. A "hobble" was used on the man's legs to stop him from kicking. Boeck would later tell investigators he was surprised at first to see the other two officers Tasing the handcuffed man, but soon thought it necessary to control him.
Even handcuffed and strapped to the gurney, the man was still able to reach the deputy's belt and grab onto his radio cord. The sergeant, believing the man had grabbed the deputy's gun, punched him in the arm five times. Bartlett Tased him again in drive stun mode and several people pried his fingers from the belt.
By that time, the man's family had realized he was missing from their nearby home and had come looking for him, only to find him being strapped to a gurney. They started pounding on the window and screaming for officers to stop as the sergeant struck the man. The door had been locked to keep the family from coming inside, a witness told investigators.
One family member told officers the man suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and had told them he had taken PCP and bath salts earlier that day. He had recently been "disowned" by family in Phoenix and had come to Flagstaff to stay with other relatives.
"He was fighting like I would be fighting if I knew somebody was going to take me outside and shoot me in the back of the head," Boeck told internal investigators. "If I had that Taser in my hand I would have done the same thing. I think we used the minimum amount of force necessary."
Before they got him to the hospital, medics gave the man two doses of sedatives. He continued to fight until being given Ketamine -- an animal tranquilizer -- at FMC.
CRIMINAL CHARGES CONSIDERED
All witnesses, with the exception of the man's family, were interviewed for the internal investigation and said they felt the force was necessary to contain the man. The family did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
Ultimately, Sheriff's office officials sided with their deputy and determined that his actions were within departmental policy. The Sheriff's office internal investigation did not consider whether the initial Taser deployment by the DPS officer was against their policy.
DPS referred the case to the Coconino County Attorney's Office to review for any potential criminal charges against Barnes, Bartlett or Boeck, mentioning each by name. The Sheriff's office did not see any criminal action on the part of their deputy, which is why they did not refer the case to prosecutors.
Coconino County Attorney Dave Rozema declared a conflict of interest in the case and appointed it to Yavapai County.
"Our office serves as legal counsel to the Sheriff's office," Rozema said. "Since we anticipate the possibility of civil suits in this matter, we have declared a conflict of interest in the criminal case and have referred it to the Yavapai County Attorney for an independent review."
A copy of that referral provided to the Daily Sun shows that it was accepted by Yavapai County on Jan. 30. A spokesperson for the Yavapai County Attorney's Office said prosecutors have yet to determine if charges are warranted.
The man was admitted to the hospital under a Title 36, which indicates he is a threat to himself or others, and released without ever going to jail or being charged with a crime. The Arizona Supreme Court website shows no records of the man ever being arrested for any charges.
"I don't know if he could have been charged with something, but that wasn't the focus," Blair said.
He added that the officers' main goal was getting the man medical attention as soon as possible.
Page 1001-1008 of the H.R. 3200, "America's Affordable Health Choices Act"
Explains that they will implement a national medical device that will be implantable (AKA the chip or if you are a bible reader "the mark of the beast".
This in and of its self should get some fighting mad. Will it you? This ACT is against all that a true American stands for. (Get up stand up, stand up for your rights) Read it for your selves!
I of course para-phrased this section but it would do you well to read it yourself.
[link to waysandmeans.house.gov]
Subtitle - National Medical
10 Device Registry
11 SEC. 2521. NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICE REGISTRY.
--National Medical Device Registry
21 --(g)(1) The Secretary shall establish a national med
22 ical device registry (in this subsection referred to as the
23 -registry') to facilitate analysis of postmarket safety and
24 outcomes data on each device that:
25 --(A) is or has been used in or on a patient; and
--(B) is:
2 --(i) a class III device; or
3 --(ii) a class II device that is implantable,
(under Cornell law school:
[link to assembler.law.cornell.edu]
A class III device and a class II device means: (i) shall be submitted in accordance with part 803 of title 21, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations), unless the Secretary grants an exemption or variance from, or an alternative to, a requirement under such regulations pursuant to section 803.19 of such part, if the device involved is:
(I) a class III device;
(II) a class II device that is permanently implantable, is life supporting, or is life sustaining; or
(III) a type of device which the Secretary has, by notice published in the Federal Register or letter to the person who is the manufacturer or importer of the device, indicated should be subject to such part 803 in order to protect the public health; )
--(iii) other postmarket device surveillance
10 activities of the Secretary authorized by this
11 chapter; and
--(4) Not later than 36 months after the date of the
22 enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall promul23
gate regulations for establishment and operation of the
24 registry under paragraph (1). Such regulations:
(5) To carry out this subsection, there are author13
ized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary
14 for fiscal years 2010 and 2011.
15 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The Secretary of
16 Health and Human Services shall establish and
17 begin implementation of the registry under section
18 519(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
19 Act, as added by paragraph (1), by not later than
20 the date that is 36 months after the date of the en
21 actment of this Act, without regard to whether or
22 not final regulations to establish and operate the
23 registry have been promulgated by such date
From April 9 to 15, "100,000 Americans will train for non-violent direct action," promises a new website called "The 99% Spring." But while the 43 organizations co-signing a letter on the ragtag-looking site indicate the sort of leaderless resistance characterized by the Occupy Wall Street movement, a series of files The Daily Caller downloaded from the United Auto Workers website indicate that the organized labor powerhouse is behind the effort.
The files, downloaded Sunday, include campaign talking points, a fill-in-the-blank press release template for participating organizations and an advance look at the social media campaign the organizers plan for Facebook and Twitter.
Also included is a "FYI" letter designed for endorsers to distribute, complete with a blank space at the top of the list of participating groups. Filling in a given organization’s name lends the impression that it, not the UAW, is the campaign’s driving force.
A Google cache indicates that the files were available on an unprotected area of the UAW’s web server at least as early as February 16. They disappeared from public view Monday.
"The 99% Spring" name evokes the Occupy Wall Street movement, with its repeated division of Americans into the wealthy "1%" and the poorer "99%."
UAW president Bob King endorsed the new campaign but has given no public indication that his union is behind it, or that the UAW is ready to publicly embrace the Occupy Wall Street movement’s "99%" rhetoric.
King, however, is decidedly in the figurative 1%. According to the Center for Union Facts, a non-profit organization that tracks organized labor through government documents, he earns $168,073 in salary and benefits.
The Presidents 2013 budget proposal to Congress requests more than $800billion for job creation and infrastructure investment, while urging a minimum 30 per cent "Buffett Tax on millionaires.
In a big opportunity before the November election to convince voters that he deserves a second term, President Obama, 50, earmarked billions of dollars for roads, railways and schools.
We built this budget around the idea that our country has always done best when everyone gets a fair shot, President Obama said, while also proposing tax breaks should be extended to spur hiring.
He wants the budget to benefit those "who have done fantastically well over the last few decades and also "the middle class, those fighting to get into the middle class and the economy as a whole.
He added that it rejects economics that have increased the gap between rich and poor. Republicans meanwhile want to paint him as a tax-and-spend liberal while attacking his track record on jobs.
"This isnt really a budget at all, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. "Its a campaign document. The President is shirking his responsibility to lead and using this budget to divide.
Republican Representative Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, also slammed President Obama for ducking "the responsibility to tackle this countrys real fiscal problems.
The proposal also would raise $41billion over 10 years by eliminating tax breaks for oil, gas and coal companies and it claims significant savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is not about class warfare. This is about the nations welfare
President Barack Obama
But critics said it double-counted deficit reductions approved last summer and claimed $848billion in savings from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan even though this would not have been spent.
It would save $25billion over 11 years through cutting costs in the U.S. Postal Service, including eliminating Saturday mail delivery.
"This is not about class warfare, President Obama said. "This is about the nations welfare.
OBAMAS BUDGET IN NUMBERS
Tax increases: $1.5trillion for deficit reduction
Banks tax: $61billion to recover cost of financial bailout and help homeowners
Tax breaks: No more for oil, gas and coal companies, raising $41billion
Postal Service: Cost cutting and no more Saturday delivery, saving $25billion
Medicare/Medicaid: $360billion savings
Transport: $476billion more spending on projects including inner-city rail
Education: $30 billion to modernise at least 35,000 schools
Services: $30billion to help states hire teachers and emergency workers
But the President, who casts his rivals as the party for the rich, is proposing steps to add more than $300billion to the economy this year as he seeks re-election on November 6.
Deficits would remain high this year and next before starting to decline, and this borrowing will add well over $6trillion to the national debt over the next decade.
Congress can ignore the plan and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, say it will be dead on arrival as they prepare an election battle over taxes, spending and government size.
"Obamas budget is an insult to the American taxpayer, said Mitt Romney, the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination to face President Obama in November.
Rep. Ryan is preparing an alternative similar to a measure the House approved last year.
But it failed in the Senate where many lawmakers objected to a major overhaul to Medicare.
Tax increases: $1.5trillion for deficit reduction
Banks tax: $61billion to recover cost of financial bailout and help homeowners
Tax breaks: No more for oil, gas and coal companies, raising $41billion
Postal Service: Cost cutting and no more Saturday delivery, saving $25billion
Medicare/Medicaid: $360billion savings
Transport: $476billion more spending on projects including inner-city rail
Education: $30 billion to modernise at least 35,000 schools
Services: $30billion to help states hire teachers and emergency workers
In another example that we appear to be rapidly moving into a cashless society, Bank of America in California refused to accept cash for a mortgage payment.
The manager of the bank said it was against their policy to accept legal tender physical currency (aka U.S. dollars) as payment for BoA mortgages.
The customer attempting to pay his mortgage, firefighter Robert Somerton, recorded the ordeal in Lakeport branch which made the bank manager so upset that he called the police.
The police detained Somerton for a half hour before releasing him with a warning that he may never return to that BoA branch or he'll be arrested.
"I was shocked. I had no idea this would happen. Since when does a bank not accept cash?"
Obese Americans in the military are a national security hazard and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wants to see that change.
Obama, who has led a healthy eating and fitness program for children for two years, lent her voice on Thursday to the military's efforts to overhaul the food it serves.
In an event at Little Rock Air Force Base, Obama announced a new Pentagon obesity and nutritional awareness campaign that will change nutrition standards across the services for the first time in 20 years.
The changes will bring more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and food choices that are lower in fat to 1.45 million troops a day at all 1,100 American military dining facilities in the coming months.
"This isn't just a drop in the bucket - this is really a big splash," Obama said.
"It's happening because our military leaders know it's not just a diet issue, it's not just a health issue. This is truly a national security issue," she said at the base, which already has a pilot program to improve nutritional quality of food available to service members and their families.
Obama cited a recent army study that says more than one quarter of 17- to 24-year-olds are too overweight to serve in the military. Active members of the military are also becoming more overweight, a Pentagon official said, and that causes a "readiness problem."
"The military is always taking the lead in terms of setting standards," said Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson. "Now we have an opportunity to take leadership ... as we face this epidemic of obesity."
Woodson said the U.S. military spends about $4.65 billion in food services each year. It also spends an estimated $1.1 billion a year on medical care associated with excess weight and obesity.
To promote good choices, the military will redesign menus and supply healthier foods in mess halls and in vending machines and snack bars on military bases.
The first lady, who has been doing the rounds of television talk shows and late-night comedy shows to promote her "Let's Move" campaign to improve the nation's eating and exercise habits, said changes by the Pentagon would send an important message to the country.
"Simply put, this is America's entire military once again stepping forward to lead by example," she told airmen at the base after touring a dining facility.
Earlier in the day, Obama practiced what she preached as she stood on a stage with Olympic athletes, politicians and celebrity trainers to lead 14,000 arm-pumping Iowa children in an energetic rendition of "The Interlude" - a dance made popular at Northern Iowa University.
Obese Americans in the military are a national security hazard and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama wants to see that change.
Obama, who has led a healthy eating and fitness program for children for two years, lent her voice on Thursday to the military's efforts to overhaul the food it serves.
In an event at Little Rock Air Force Base, Obama announced a new Pentagon obesity and nutritional awareness campaign that will change nutrition standards across the services for the first time in 20 years.
The changes will bring more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and food choices that are lower in fat to 1.45 million troops a day at all 1,100 American military dining facilities in the coming months.
"This isn't just a drop in the bucket - this is really a big splash," Obama said.
"It's happening because our military leaders know it's not just a diet issue, it's not just a health issue. This is truly a national security issue," she said at the base, which already has a pilot program to improve nutritional quality of food available to service members and their families.
Obama cited a recent army study that says more than one quarter of 17- to 24-year-olds are too overweight to serve in the military. Active members of the military are also becoming more overweight, a Pentagon official said, and that causes a "readiness problem."
"The military is always taking the lead in terms of setting standards," said Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Jonathan Woodson. "Now we have an opportunity to take leadership ... as we face this epidemic of obesity."
Woodson said the U.S. military spends about $4.65 billion in food services each year. It also spends an estimated $1.1 billion a year on medical care associated with excess weight and obesity.
To promote good choices, the military will redesign menus and supply healthier foods in mess halls and in vending machines and snack bars on military bases.
The first lady, who has been doing the rounds of television talk shows and late-night comedy shows to promote her "Let's Move" campaign to improve the nation's eating and exercise habits, said changes by the Pentagon would send an important message to the country.
"Simply put, this is America's entire military once again stepping forward to lead by example," she told airmen at the base after touring a dining facility.
Earlier in the day, Obama practiced what she preached as she stood on a stage with Olympic athletes, politicians and celebrity trainers to lead 14,000 arm-pumping Iowa children in an energetic rendition of "The Interlude" - a dance made popular at Northern Iowa University.
Ivor E. Tower, M.D.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Volume 11, series 3, pages 4-5
Abstract
This study conclusively demonstrates that unfounded fear of government is a recognizable mental illness, closely related to paranoid schizophrenia. Anti-Government Phobia (AGP) differs from most mental illnesses, however, in that it is highly infectious and has an acute onset. Symptoms include extreme suspiciousness, conspiracy-mongering, delusional thought patterns, staunch "us against them" mentality, withdrawal from reality, and often religious fanaticism. Having the patient committed to a qualified mental health institution is the best option for family and loved ones. For this reason, all psychiatrists and family physicians should be provided with educational materials which will help them recognize the various symptoms and warning signs accompanying onset. Since comparatively little is known about Anti-Government Phobia at the present time, a government-funded health commission should be set up to oversee, and help focus, future research.
Incidence and Etiology
Anti-Government Phobia has a worldwide distribution, but has a particularly high incidence in the United States. Infection rates are estimated by mental health officials to be about 5% of the general population, and this rate is growing at an alarming rate. Rates are highest, but not limited to, those who are disaffected in some fashion, especially those who have a strong personal grudge against the federal government for one reason or another.
Although certain variants of the illness have been around for many years, it is only in the last decade or so that the more virulent and infectious strains have appeared. This is most likely due to the rapid buildup of government, at all levels, during the 1980's. Closely paralling this trend was an explosion in the number of cases in which individuals were diagnosed as having unfounded fears concerning such.
Clinical Manifestations and Diagnosis Anti-Government Phobia is marked by extreme suspiciousness toward government. Onset is acute. Symptoms start almost immediately after a run-in with some agency or institution of the government, or when the patient is introduced to anti-government propaganda, in one form or another, by a self-styled "patriot." Common ways in which this harmful, anti-government propaganda is spread include: books, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, audiotapes, videotapes, short-wave and conventional radio programs, computer bulletin boards, and various Internet sites.
Upon exposure to "patriotic" propaganda, the patient mysteriously begins to imagine hidden links between unrelated current events, weaving these gross distortions of reality into a complex delusional web; a labyrinth of conspiracy theories with all imagined clues leading straight to the federal government. With further exposure, the patient becomes increasingly paranoid, and slowly withdrawals from reality. However, mental deterioration is usually so gradual that the patient is often unaware of it.
This mysterious malady progresses until the patient invariably assumes a staunch "us against them" mentality. For instance, in the patient's warped mind-set, each new piece of gun-control legislation is oddly rationalized to be merely one additional step in an ultimate plot by the federal government to confiscate guns altogether. In some unusually severe cases, the patient assumes a survivalist mentality, stockpiling guns, ammunition, de-hydrated food, and other "essentials," in preparation for "D-Day" or "Armageddon."
At this stage, the patient also inexplicity experiences increased delusional thinking. For instance, he may start fallaciously believing that the Federal Reserve is not in fact part of the federal government, but is instead controlled by wealthy Zionists. Other far-flung delusions may involve the United Nations, "black helicopters," concentration camps, or the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Delusions involving "takeovers" by foreign military troops, or jack-booted government storm troopers dressed in all black, are also commonly diagnosed.
Anti-Government Phobia is often associated with religious fanaticism. An excellent example of this is the infamous Branch Davidian case, in which most cult members preferred a fiery suicide over peaceful surrender to the forces of what they considered to be "Mystery Babylon." There have been other prominant cases in which "patriots" have became involved with terrorist activity, fallaciously believing that they were somehow doing the "will of God." More commonly, "patriots" have been involved in aggressive outbursts in courtrooms, and other public places such as town-hall meetings.
Overall, the worldview eventually adopted by "patriots" interprets modern-day news events as pieces of a giant jig-saw puzzle. Oddly, they believe that it is their solemn duty to put these unrelated pieces together in order to discover the underlying "picture." The warped interpretive framework used by many "patriots" in their missionary-like endeavor of saving the lost "sheep" (derogatory term comparing non-patriots to lost sheep) is a hyper-literal interpretation of Biblical prophecies, particularly those contained in the book of Revelation.
Spread of the Illness
In the eyes of the so-called "patriots," the relentless drive to indoctrinate others with extremist political beliefs is seen as a righteous and compulsory act to save their "self-destructing" nation. Wildly fantasizing that America can somehow turn back the clock to better times, which in reality never existed, many "patriots" feel obligated to quote constantly from the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the writings of the Founding Fathers. In an ironic twist of fate, when "patriots" expose others to their divisive anti-government propaganda, through their misguided efforts to restore "individual liberty," they are actually infecting them with an extremely contagious mental illness.
A strong analogy can be drawn between "patriotic" indoctrination and patterns of religious conversion. In both cases, ultra-idealistic individuals believe that it is their solemn duty to gain proselytes for their particular faith. This is usually done on a person-to-person basis with a friend or acquaintance. To keep new converts from going astray or "backsliding," they are eagerly provided with a steady stream of propaganda. In each case, the devotee imagines that there is an evil, sinister force which must be opposed at all costs. In the case of various religions, the faithful are supposedly rewarded in the afterlife for sparring with the "devil." In the case of the "patriot," the so-called "New World Order" is viewed as the demonic bogeyman, with the reward for opposing it supposedly being an increased amount of "personal freedom." In both "patriotic" and religious circles, there is an entire counter-culture, centering around various anthems and holy books, constantly being promoted by prophets, preachers, and paranoid propagandists of all creeds, colors, and strains.
Prevention
Needless to say, prevention is the first line of defense against any type of illness or disease. Unfortunately, many mental illnesses are genetic in nature and thus can not be prevented. Fortunately, Anti-Government Phobia is non-genetic and thus wholly preventable. From an individual standpoint, the most effective prevention policy is obviously not to allow oneself to become indoctrinated by a self-styled "patriot," preferably by staying as far as possible away from any potentially divisive propaganda. As an added precaution, one should rely exclusively on well-known and reputable sources for news and other information.
Family members and loved ones can help out in this effort. However, it should be noted that prevention programs work best only when the entire community is involved. We all need to practice constant vigilance in order to spot diviseness and hate in our communities. In this regard, networking is the ultimate key to success. A successful community-based empowerment program would include the following elements: citizen-citizen networks, police-citizen networks, parent-teacher networks, pastor-parisoner networks, doctor-patient networks, state-local law enforcement authority networks, and federal-state law enforcement authority networks.
Treatment and Prognosis
Although the prognosis is generally good if the illness is treated soon after symptoms first appear, studies have shown that a disturbingly low percentage of patients allow themselves to be treated. Thus, having the patient committed to a qualified mental health institution is the best option for family and loved ones. For this reason, all psychiatrists and family physicians should be provided with educational materials which will help them recognize the various symptoms and warning signs accompanying onset. Once the illness is properly diagnosed, they should next notify the patient's immediate family members and discuss the various treatment options with them. This effort should be reinforced with extensive public ad campaigns promoting a 1-800 help line. Since comparatively little is known about Anti-Government Phobia at the present time, a government-funded health commission should be set up to oversee, and help focus, future research.
It can not be over-emphasized that prevention is the key to stopping the spread of Anti-Government Phobia. Once a person is infected, the illness is generally incurable. The only proven treatment is an extended, and often risky, "de-programming" session conducted by qualified professionals, such as the Cult Awareness Network (CAN). Left untreated, chronic symptoms invariably persist throughout the entire lifetime of the patient. Sadly, even the patients themselves realize this horrifying fact and surprisingly, seem apathetic to it. Oddly, they often confuse their symptoms with being "awake." For instance, they have been known to garble gibberish such as "once your awake, you can't go back to sleep." Further research is presently being conducted on the reasons why they rationalize their mental illness in this highly unusual manner.
Acknowledgements
The writer wishes to thank the following individuals and organizations for contributing their expertise to this report: Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Rick Ross of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), the United States Justice Department (USJD), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF). This study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A veteran TV anchor in Denver, Colorado, was rushed to the hospital and underwent reconstructive surgery after a dog that appeared on her morning show bit her in the face during a live TV segment. Max, an 85-pound Argentine Mastiff, sunk his teeth into Kyle Dyer's face when she bent down to pet him Wednesday morning during a morning show segment on KUSA-TV.
***WARNING - EXTREMELY GRAPHIC VIDEO***
Ms Dyer, who had been working at the station for over 15 years, had reconstructive surgery on Wednesday and is going to be out for several weeks while she recovers. The dog, whose full name is Warrior Maximus, recently survived a harrowing rescue from a freezing pond and was on the show as part of a mini-reunion between him and his rescuers.
'I know that she is a great journalist who loves happy stories - this was a happy story,' her co-anchor Gary Shapiro said in a note to fans.
The station's news chopper captured video footage of a firefighter rescuing Max from a freezing pond Monday after he fell through the ice and couldn't make it out. 'Kyle was glad she got assigned to it, because she loves animals,' Mr Shapiro said. 'Max and his owner spent about 45 minutes in the newsroom before they went on the air, and many members of the staff greeted them and petted Max. He seemed perfectly normal.
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Argentine mastiffs, also known as the Argentine Dogo, are known as big-game hunters and historically have gone after wild boars and pumas.
While they are now used as pets, they were bred from a rather violent group of dogs. The breed first appeared in 1928 as a relative of the Cordoba Fighting Dog. The dogs are very possessive and protect both their physical territory and their owners by using their strength and sharp teeth. .'During the interview Kyle petted him, and talked to the two guest. At the very end of the segment, Max snapped at Kyle for whatever reason and got some of her lip.' Now, Max has been caged by animal control officers and his owner, Michael Robinson has been fined. The station says Miss Dyer, who is married and is a mother, is in fair condition, recovering from the bite at at Denver hospital.
A trauma team is evaluating the injuries to her face. Mr Robinson says he was walking Max Monday when he saw a coyote and ran off after it. Authorities say Max spend 20 minutes swimming in the pond before a firefighter in a dry suit dove into the frigid waters and pulled him to safety.
The TV station aired the harrowing rescue and invited the firefighter, Mr Robinson and Max into their studios Wednesday morning for a reunion. That's when Max attacked Ms Dyer. The station says the attack was not broadcast, but it later released a short clip of the bite. Denver Animal Control Director Doug Kelley told CBS4 Denver Ms Dyer's injury was 'a pretty major bite.'
Station executives confirmed that Ms Dyer was out of surgery at around 2pm Wednesday. 'She's doing well, and will make a recovery, and we're all thinking about her and her family,' said 9News vice president Patti Dennis. Max, who did not have proper rabies vaccinations, will be quarantined 10 days to ensure he is healthy. Mr Johnson was cited for a dog bite violation, having the dog off his leash and not having proper vaccinations.
Feb. 14 boycott is planned to protest the company's policy allowing customers with guns to be served.
The National Gun Victims Action Council, an anti-gun group, said in a Jan. 23 news release its goal is to "eliminate the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S."
Starbucks' Pro-Gun Policy Prompts Gun Victims' Advocate Group to Launch Nationwide Boycott on Valentine's Day 2012
CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine's Day 2012. Its goal is to eliminate the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S.
This boycott is being called by the National Gun Victim's Action Council (NGAC), a network of 14 million gun victims, the faith community including the: Episcopal Peace Fellowship, United Church of Christ, Fellowship of Reconciliation (46 peace fellowships and 43 affiliate fellowships), secular groups working to reduce gun violence and many of the organizations that support passing sane gun laws.
WHY STARBUCKS? Currently, Starbucks allows guns and assault weapons to be openly carried in its stores (in 43 states) and concealed and carried in its stores (in 49 states) (See Photos). Starbucks' compliance with the National Rifle Association's Pro-Gun Agenda was exposed in 2010 when members of the open carry movement began meeting in popular chains, such as California Pizza Kitchen, Peets, IKEA, Disney and Starbucks openly carrying their handguns and assault rifles. (Types of Guns)
To protect their customers and employees, all of the retail chains - except for Starbucks - banned guns from being carried in their stores.
"Starbucks allowing guns to be carried in thousands of their stores significantly increases everyone's risk of being a victim of gun violence," says Elliot Fineman, CEO of the NGAC. "Open and conceal and carry are among the reasons there are 12,000 gun homicides each year in the U.S. If we had England's gun laws we would expect 375 gun homicides each year - 97% less than we have. England's gun laws are based on protecting public safety, ours on maximizing sales for the gun industry."
Starbucks has the legal right to ban guns but despite having been petitioned by thousands, asked at a shareholder meeting, and a direct appeal made to their Board, Starbucks clings to this policy that puts millions of Americans at risk every day and encourages the spread of guns being carried in public.
IMPACT OF STARBUCKS BOYCOTT: Fineman says, Starbucks steadfast support of the NRA's lethal pro-gun agenda damages its ‘socially conscious company' brand. Further, adds Fineman, "Monte Carlo Simulation risk analysis indicates that 90% of the time, our boycott will reduce Starbucks stock price by an amount no rational company would allow."
According to NGAC, the boycott will end when Starbucks rejects the NRA's Pro-Gun agenda by banning all guns from their stores and committing to be an Aggressive Corporate Advocate for sane gun laws.
(CNSNews.com) - White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that American women "deserve" to have their employers buy them health insurance plans that cover sterlizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions, with no fees or co-pay, even if the employer is a Catholic or Catholic organization that adheres to the church teaching that sterilization, artificial contraception and abortifacients are morally wrong and that Catholics cannot be involved in them.
"I understand that there have been objections and that some people disagree with us and we are going to work with institutions that have concerns here," Carney told reporters. "But I think it's important to note here that we believe these services are important and that American women deserve to have access to that kind of insurance coverage regardless of where they work."
On Jan. 20, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finalized a regulation, under the new health-care law, that requires all health-care plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions. The regulation has an exceedingly narrow exemption for "religious" employers that would effectively cover only an actual parish church - but not a Catholic hospital, university, or charitable organization. Catholic individuals, Catholic business owners and Catholic insurers would be compelled by the mandate to act against the teachings of their church.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops told HHS in September that the regulation was an "unprecedented attack on religious libert" and has urged the administration to rescind it in its entirety. Carney has said that President Barack Obama supports the regulation.
At Catholic Masses over the past two Sundays, Catholic priests across America have read letters from their local bishops decrying the mandate as a direct attack on the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion and call on Catholics to resist it.
For example, in Catholic churches in Virginia on Sunday, priests read a letter from Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde and Richmond Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo that said: "In so ruling, the administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply."
"We cannot - we will not - comply with this unjust law," the bishops said.
White House Press Secretary Carney said Monday that the administration has worked to "find the appropriate balanceâ€Â between upholding the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion and requiring that all American women be given health insurance that covers sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients without fees or co-pay.
"We have worked to find the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and the need to provide preventive services to American women and to make sure that American women have access to those services regardless of where they work," Carney said. "And we have carved out an exemption for churches and other houses of worship and we will work going forward with institutions where the employer is affiliated with a church for example but where many, many of the employees are of all faiths to find a way to ensure that the policy is implemented and all women have access to these services that also deals with the concerns that have been expressed."(SOURCE)
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TARRANT COUNTY - One man was stabbed with a golf club shaft after a brawl broke out when the threesome he was in tried to play through the group in front of them at a course at Eagle Mountain Lake Resort.
Clay Carpenter, 48, of Springtown said he is recovering from a punctured femoral artery and massive blood loss.
Carpenter, who was released from Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital on Sunday, said he might have to have more surgeries and is concerned that he could lose his leg.
The muscles in the lower half of his leg atrophied during his recovery and portions of it have died from the lack of blood flow, he said.
"If it does not regenerate it will be no good to me," Carpenter said.
The Tarrant County Sheriff's Department has an active criminal investigation in progress, said spokesman Terry Grisham.
During an 11-minute call to 911, a man who identifies himself as a member of the group playing in front of Carpenter tells the dispatcher he doesn't know what happened.
"He fell on a golf club or something," the caller says. "He's passed out once already. We've got his artery clamped with our hand.
"We don't know this guy. They were golfers behind us. He's not in our group."
Another man takes the phone and begs for a helicopter ambulance. "You understand, he has an artery?" he says. "He's about to die."
"It was spurting," he continues. "He was standing up, and we saw this blood coming out of his groin area. It was like a leaky faucet, it was so bad."
The brawl broke out about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Golf Club at the Resort on Eagle Mountain Lake.
A foursome was playing the back nine ahead of a threesome, Grisham said, and the three golfers believed the foursome was playing too slow and wanted to play through.
Carpenter said a course marshal instructed the foursome to allow the smaller group of golfers to play through, and that's when the "gentleman's game" turned ugly.
As the golfers were fighting, Carpenter said he was on top of another man when he was stabbed with the golf shaft.
Carpenter said the man who stabbed him "was not willing to defuse anything, nor was he willing to accept 'please just let us go on.' "
Carpenter said he believes that the golfer who stabbed him first swung the golf club at his head, but he grabbed it and broke it off at the end.
Grisham would not say if alcohol was involved. Carpenter said the men in his group were not drinking but did not know about the other foursome.
Carpenter said he does not know the name of the man who stabbed him, but expects it will be revealed during the investigation.
"I'll never be able to lift my feet up again," Carpenter said. "I've run full marathons, and I'll never be a runner again. I've lost the ability to properly use my leg. I'll have to use a brace on this right leg forever."
Officials at the golf course did not return repeated phone calls from the Star-Telegram.
The Iranian government, through a website proxy, has laid out the legal and religious justification for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of its people.
The doctrine includes wiping out Israeli assets and Jewish people worldwide.
Calling Israel a danger to Islam, the conservative website Alef, with ties to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the opportunity must not be lost to remove "this corrupting material. It is a "jurisprudential justification" to kill all the Jews and annihilate Israel, and in that, the Islamic government of Iran must take the helm.
The article, written by Alireza Forghani, a conservative analyst and a strategy specialist in Khamenei's camp, now is being run on most state-owned conservative sites, including the Revolutionary Guards' Fars News Agency, showing that the regime endorses this doctrine.
Because Israel is going to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran is justified in launching a pre-emptive, cataclysmic attack against the Jewish state, the doctrine argues.
On Friday, in a major speech at prayers, Khamenei announced that Iran will support any nation or group that attacks the "cancerous tumor" of Israel. Though his statement was seen by some in the West as fluff, there is substance behind it.
The list-makers at "Forbes" have come up with another city ranking for us. This one looks at the most miserable cities in America.
--To measure the misery level of a city, "Forbes" looked at a number of factors, including crime, unemployment, taxes, commute times, and how good the local sports teams are. Here are the country's five most miserable cities:
#1.) Miami, Florida: Miami won thanks to their housing market. 47% of homeowners have underwater mortgages.
#2.) Detroit, Michigan: Median home price is $38,000.
#3.) Flint, Michigan: They have the third-highest violent crime rate in the U.S.
#4.) West Palm Beach, Florida: Their corrupt politicians placed them on the list.
#5.) Sacramento, California: The housing market and the NBA's Kings are what got them on the list.
The supermodel dropped the F-bomb while responding to taunting fans after her husband, Tom Brady, and the Patriots fell to the Giants in the 2012 Superbowl.
On the way to the locker room, however, Gisele was quick to jump to her husband's defense, saying, "My husband cannot fu*king throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time," after fans taunted her yelling, "Eli owns your husband!"
Gisele was clearing referring to the crucial pass, dropped by Pats receiver Wes Welker in the fourth quarter.
It's sweet that Gisele was quick to defend her man - and going home to Gisele is definitely the best consolation...especially the 22,000 sq. ft. palace waiting for them.
North Carolina deputies say they used a Taser on a woman in front of her 3-year-old daughter after she cut the McDonalds drive-thru line and refused to move when she was denied service.
Employees at the McDonalds in Hope Mills, N.C., refused to serve Evangeline Lucca and told her to go to the back of the line. Lucca, 37, refused to move, and blocked the drive-thru for 20 minutes before police arrived on the scene, authorities said.
When deputies arrived, Lucca was "defiant," "would not get off McDonalds property," and was "threatening the deputies," according to Debbie Tanna, a public information officer for the Cumberland County Sherriff's Office.
Customer Anthony Rich, who was in the parking lot during the incident, told the Fay Observer that Lucca was Tasered twice.
"Two or three officers entered the car with her and started trying to forcibly drag her out of the car, and that's when you could hear the clicking sound of the Taser one time," Rich told the Fay Observer. "They pulled on her a couple of times, and then they Tased her again, and when they Tased her the second time, she just flopped out of the car like a fish."
Tanna told ABC News that Lucca was "drive Tased in her side," which means deputies did not deploy the prongs from the Taser, they just gave Lucca an electric shock.
Lucca's daughter, who was in the car, was taken into protective custody.
Lucca was charged with second-degree trespassing, authorities said. Tanna said the woman was in custody, and would remain there until she pays her bond.
She always called him "Mr. President" - not Jack. He refused to kiss her on the lips when they made love. But Mimi Alford, a White House intern from New Jersey, was smitten nonetheless.
She was in the midst of an 18-month affair with the most powerful man in the world, sharing not only John F. Kennedy's bed but also some of his darkest and most intimate moments.
In her explosive new tell-all,"Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath," Alford, now a 69-year-old grandmother and retired New York City church administrator, sets the record straight in searingly candid detail. The book, out Wednesday was bought by The Post at a Manhattan bookstore.
In the summer of 1962, Alford was a slender, golden-haired 19-year-old debutante whose finishing-school polish and blueblood connections had landed her a job in the White House press office.
Four days into her internship, she was invited by an aide to go for a midday swim in the White House pool, where the handsome, 45-year-old president swam daily to ease chronic back pain. JFK slid into the pool and floated up to her.
"It's Mimi, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she said.
"And you're in the press office this summer, right?"
"Yes, sir, I am," she replied.
Lightning had struck. Later that day, Mimi was invited by Dave Powers, the president's"first friend" and later the longtime curator of the Kennedy Library in Boston, to an after-work party. When she arrived at the White House residence, Powers and two other young female staffers were waiting. Powers poured, and frequently refilled, her glass with daiquiris until the commander-in-chief arrived.
The president invited her for a personal tour. She got up, expecting the rest of the group to follow. They didn't. He took her to"Mrs. Kennedy's room."
"I noticed he was moving closer and closer. I could feel his breath on my neck. He put his hand on my shoulder," she recounts.
The next thing she knew, he was standing above her, looking directly into her eyes and guiding her to the edge of the bed.
"Slowly, he unbuttoned the top of my shirtdress and touched my breasts.
"Then he reached up between my legs and started to pull off my underwear.
"I finished unbuttoning my shirtdress and let it fall off my shoulders."
Kennedy pulled down his pants but, with his shirt still on, hovered above her on the bed.
He smelled of his cologne, 4711. He paused when he noticed her resisting.
"Haven't you done this before?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Are you OK?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
So he kept going, this time a little more gently.
"After he finished, he hitched up his pants and smiled at me" and pointed her to the bathroom.
When she was finished, he was outside in the West Sitting Hall, where their evening had begun.
"I was in shock," she writes."He, on the other hand, was matter-of-fact, and acted as if what had just occurred was the most natural thing in the world."
"Would you like something to eat?" he asked."The kitchen's right here."
"No, thank you, Mr. President."
He called a car to come pick her up and take her home.
On the ride home, it"kept echoing in my head: I'm not a virgin anymore."
The next week, she was again invited to go swimming.
"He barely acknowledged my arrival, betraying no hint of what had happened between us just a few days before. I couldn't bring myself to look at him in the eye," she writes.
Later, he led her into a different bedroom."This was the beginning of our affair," she writes.
In a moment of reflection, Alford wonders"if I could have resisted him.
"The fact that I was being desired by the most famous and powerful man in America only amplified my feelings to the point where resistance was out of the question. That's why I didn't say no to the president. It's the best answer I can give."
She would swim with the president at noon or at the end of the workday, race back to her desk and wait for a call to visit him upstairs.
"The governing factor behind these calls, of course, was the presence, or, more accurately, the absence, of Mrs. Kennedy."
They never returned to Jackie's bedroom but stayed in his, which was cluttered with piles of books, magazines and newspapers.
Kennedy could be playful and tried to extract naughty things that she did as a schoolgirl."What did all you girls do locked up in that boarding school?" he would ask. Ironically, she had attended Miss Porter's, Jacqueline's alma mater.
Their sex was"varied and fun." He could be seductive and playful and sometimes"acted like he had all the time in the world. Other times, he was in no mood to linger."
They spent an"inordinate amount of time taking baths." Kennedy changed his shirt six times a day because he hated feeling"sweaty or grimy."
They lined the bathtub with rubber ducks given to him as a gag gift; they named the ducks after his family members, made up back stories for them and raced them in the tub.
He taught her how to scramble eggs.
He loved popular music, especially Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. They shared a love for the musical"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and would sing along to it together.
Sometimes, she would spend the night with him, and he would outfit her with his own soft-blue cotton nightshirts.
But there was also distance."There was always a layer of reserve between us, which may explain why we never kissed," she writes."The wide gulf between us, the age, the power, the experience, guaranteed that our affair wouldn't evolve into anything more serious."
She never once ran into Jackie during these flings and admits to not feeling guilty.
He sometimes invited her aboard the Sequoia, the presidential yacht, for a Potomac cruise.
On a trip to Yosemite National Park, she noticed a pattern, which she called"the Waiting Game." She was told to stay put in her hotel until the president called for her, which meant sitting around for hours. Often, he would only call her at night
On one excursion, she met Vice President Lyndon Johnson. When she told the president about the introduction, he lost his composure.
"Stay away from him," he commanded, likely worried that Johnson could use knowledge of the affair against him.
At the end of the summer, she told the president that she had to return to college, at Wheaton, an all-girls school in Massachusetts.
He promised that he would call under the pseudonym"Michael Carter." And then he played a recording of Nat King Cole's"Autumn Leaves." He made her concentrate on the lyrics,"But I miss you most of all, my darling, when autumn leaves start to fall."
As a parting gift, she gave him a copy of the record and trimmed the cover with leaves she had collected.
"You're trying to make me cry," he told her.
"I'm not trying to make you cry, Mr. President," she said."I'm trying to make sure you remember me."
Within a week of her return to college, she got a call from Michael Carter.
He asked her dozens of questions: What courses was she taking? Did she like the teachers? Were the girls interesting? What did she have for dinner? He then invited her to Washington when Jackie was away.
A car service would pick her up and drive her to the airport, where a paid ticket to DC would be waiting for her.
Upon arrival, a chauffeur holding up a sign for Michael Carter would take her to the White House.
On one visit, Kennedy was embroiled in one of the most defining moments of his presidency, the Cuban Missile Crisis. For 13 days in October 1962, the United States and the Soviets were at a nuclear standoff.
Although historians have dissected Kennedy's actions, none was privy to what he confided to Mimi.
"I'd rather my children red than dead," he told her.
It was a chilling insight.
When the president wasn't keeping the world from descending into war, there was plenty of wild partying. One instance was a raucous Hollywood bash at Bing Crosby's desert ranch.
"I was sitting next to him in the living room when a handful of yellow capsules, most likely amyl nitrate, commonly known as poppers, was offered up by one of the guests. The president asked me if I wanted to try the drug, which stimulated the heart but also purportedly enhanced sex. I said no, but he just went ahead and popped the capsule and held it under my nose."
He didn't try it himself.
"This was a new sensation, and it frightened me," Mimi recalls."I panicked and ran crying from the room."
It wasn't her first glimpse of Kennedy's dark side.
"He had been guilty of an even more callous and unforgivable episode at the White House" during a noon swim. Powers had rolled up his pants to cool his feet in the water."The president swam over and whispered in my ear. "Mr. Powers looks a little tense,' he said. "Would you take care of it?'
"It was a dare, but I knew exactly what he meant. This was a challenge to give Dave Powers oral sex. I don't think the president thought I'd do it, but I'm ashamed to say that I did . . . The president silently watched."
Alford, then Mimi Beardsley, says that later the president apologized to them both.
Another time, she writes, while back at Wheaton, she thought she was pregnant and told Powers. Obviously, this could explode into scandal. Abortion was illegal in 1962. Powers put her in touch with a woman who had a contact for a doctor. In the end, it was a false alarm.
There were tender moments, too.
Kennedy, alone and grieving the death of his infant child, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, reached out for his young confidante.
"I had never seen real grief in my relatively short life," she writes.
While Jackie was still recovering in Cape Cod, Kennedy was back at the White House.
"He invited me upstairs, and we sat outside on the balcony in the soft summer evening air. There was a stack of condolence letters on the floor next to his chair, and he picked each one up and read it aloud to me. Some were from friends and others from strangers, but they were all heartfelt and deeply moving. Occasionally, tears rolling down his cheeks, he would write something on one of the letters, probably notes for a reply. But mostly he just read them and cried. I did, too."
One of their last times together was at a Boston Democratic fund-raiser. Ted Kennedy, the president's baby brother, was in the room with them.
"I could see that mischievous look come into his eye. "Mimi, why don't you take care of my baby brother? He could stand a little relaxation.'
"You've got to be kidding me," she replied firmly."Absolutely not, Mr. President."
About to be married to her college sweetheart, Tony Fahnestock, she met Kennedy for the last time at The Carlyle hotel in Manhattan on Nov. 15, 1963, just seven days before his assassination in Dallas.
"He took me in his arms for a long embrace and said, "I wish you were coming with me to Texas.' And then he added, "I'll call you when I get back.' I was overcome with sudden sadness. "Remember, Mr. President, I'm getting married.'
"I know that,' he said, and shrugged. "But I'll call you anyway."
The 34-year-old man -- whose name has not been released because he has not been formally charged -- failed field sobriety tests before being taken to a local police station for a blood-alcohol test. The Star Tribune reported that the implicated driver had also been arrested on DUI charges in 2002 and twice in 1999.
While charges may not be filed against the driver until the blood-alcohol test results are returned, the circumstantial evidence against the man certainly seems to be stacking up against him. The Pee Wee coach who called 911 to report the man offered a troubling recollection of the driver's 25 minutes attempting to re-surface the Hayes ice (re-surfacing an ice rink traditionally takes approximately 10 minutes) before his team skated back out after a break.
"[Before the game, the driver was] making stripes on the ice," Eastview Hockey Association Pee Wee C coach Bryan Dornstreich told the Star Tribune. "[After the game the driver was] weaving all over, slurring his words."
Dornstreich also told the Star Tribune that the driver smelled like Red Bull and had blurry red eyes before he had even taken to the ice before the game, indicating that he may have been drinking before arriving at Hayes for the evening Zamboni shift.
If the driver in question harbored any hopes of escaping punishment because he wasn't driving a car, he may be in for a harsh surprise. The Star Tribune reported that drivers have been arrested in the state of Minnesota for piloting everything from a ride-on lawnmower in a yard to a farm tractor, a class of vehicles which would certainly include a Zamboni.
