The Man Who Trains Yaks for the Circus
A Baltimore Sun dispatch from Moscow reported on circus trainer Vitaly Tikhonov, whose specialty is yaks that waltz, jump through flaming hoops, and carry bears on their backs. “American circuses dazzle with razzmatazz,” wrote the Sun, but in Russia, “a man and his idea triumph,” for instance, the trained porcupines, the bear that does tricks while holding a rooster, the dog that carries a cat on its back, and the tiger that drives a motorcycle. Tikhonov says it takes a year to train a yak, and about $1,400/month in food (versus Tikhonov’s own salary of about $175/month). [sfgate.com-Baltimore Sun, 9-23-01]
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About that Impending Showcase for Anarchy: Never Mind
The 37 anarchists who had intended to fight charges arising out of their violent demonstrations on May 1 in Long Beach, Calif., by turning their trials into a theater of political harangues, have all of a sudden begun quietly pleading guilty. Said one defense attorney, the community might not be ready at this time for a trial in which America and its police officers are ridiculed and called brutal enemies (but about a half-dozen hard-core defendants haven’t conceded yet). [Los Angeles Times, 9-22-01]
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Speeding and Licenseless, She's Still Not Responsible for a Fatal Accident
A jury in Guildhall, Vt., found Kristin Breen, 16, not guilty of all charges stemming from losing control of her car, causing a crash, killing a passenger. She was 15 at the time, had no license, was driving 70 mph in a 60 zone. The parents of the dead girl went nuts at the verdict. [Boston Globe-AP, 9-23-01]
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Below the Fold for Monday (September 24, 2001)
The least-up-on-current-events travel agent in Pakistan (working for Princely Travel of Karachi) was fired on Thursday for blithely accepting a prank airline reservation in the name of “Osama bin Laden” from Karachi to Islamabad on Friday. [Excite-Reuters, 9-21-01]
And speaking of Evil, police in Tampa arrested Randolph Standifer, 21, and charged him with the rape and mutilation of a 9-month-old girl (whom he left for dead in the woods, but she was found in time by searching police); he was an acquaintance of the family, but, said the baby’s grandmother, “Something about him wasn’t right.” [Tampa Tribune, 9-23-01]
©
2001, Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
