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October 13, 2009

Charles Oliver: It couldn't happen here?

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., will no longer send media information to WTAD-AM, the oldest radio station in Quincy, Ill. A spokesman for Durbin, who is the Senate assistant majority leader, says this is retaliation for the station reporting that Durbin was in town to meet with local hospital executives and elected officials on health care. Durbin did not want the public to know about that meeting.



In Louisville, Ky., high school principal Dave Wilson resigned after two staff members alleged that he showed them surveillance video of two students having sex in the cafeteria.



Over the past year, exterminators have been called to National Health Service in the Tayside region of Scotland 462 times to deal with bats, ants, flies, cockroaches, hornets, wasps, mice, rats, silverfish, beetles, rabbits and even a bird’s nest in the personnel office.



Joining the Cub Scouts was a big deal for six-year-old Zachary Christie. He especially liked the all-in-one fork, knife, spoon and bottle opener he got for joining. He liked it so much he took it with him to his Newark, Del., school one morning. When teachers discovered the spoon, the school suspended him for 45 days for violating its zero tolerance policy on weapons.



In Plymouth, England, relatives of Eileen Ellis-Whitfield blame a “catalog of errors” by the National Health Service for her demise. The woman went to the hospital complaining of stomach pains. Her doctor diagnosed her with constipation and sent her home with laxatives. That night, her condition got even worse, so her partner called for an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, one reportedly called her a “drama queen,” and they refused to take her to the hospital. A few hours later her partner called for another ambulance. This time, the paramedics took her to the hospital. But it was too late. She died that day of a burst stomach ulcer.



Brad Young coached Walkersville High School’s softball team to a regional championship. But the Frederick County, Md., school system fired him after he invited athletes and their parents to a post-season cookout at his home. Some parents brought and drank beer. Neither Young nor any of the students had any alcohol, but school officials said the party still violated rules banning alcohol. After the media reported his firing, Young was allowed to reapply for his coaching job and was hired back by the school.



Undercover police officers from the Statesville, N.C. police department arrested a man they believed top be a drug dealer. It turns out the man was an undercover officer with the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office. Officials blame miscommunication between the two departments.



An inspector general’s audit of the U.S. Department of Energy found it wastes more than $11 million in energy each year because it does not properly use heating and air conditioning controls. It wastes another $1 million in electricity because workers don’t turn their computers off when they leave the office.



State Department of Transportation workers erected a sign just outside Rothschild, Wisc., directing interstate drivers to Business Highway 51. There were just four words on the sign. Three of them were misspelled.



Charles Oliver is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen. Got a suggestion for “It Couldn’t Happen Here?” E-mail him at charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com.

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