Fourth-grade teacher skipped school to offer sex for cash, say police

By Calvin Palmer

A fourth-grade teacher in Ohio took a half day of sick leave on Tuesday and was arrested in a motel parking lot where authorities had set up a sex sting operation, police said.

Amber Carter, 35, was charged with prostitution and unauthorized use of property, stemming from the fact that she may have used her school computer to arrange meetings with clients.

Logan County Sheriff’s Department received an anonymous e-mail on February 4 saying a woman was posting cash-for-sex ads on the popular Web site Craigslist, Lt. Rob Bibart said.

Detectives found the ad and arranged Tuesday’s meeting with Carter.

“It was done very subtly,” Bibart said. “We pulled up, I identified myself. I put her in an unmarked car and off we went.”

Detectives were uncertain how long Carter had been advertising for sex, Bibart said.

Carter was taken to Logan County Jail, processed and then released.
 
Superintendent Larry Anderson said Carter, a 13-year employee of the Bellefontaine City School District, had been placed on paid administrative leave and the school district is cooperating in the investigation.

A substitute teacher assumed Carter’s class at Western Intermediate School today, and the guidance counselor and the principal met with the students to answer any questions they might have had.

“It’s just a bad situation,” Anderson said. “It’s not our place to tell them too much, but we figured the students might have heard rumors and would have some questions.”

A letter was due to go home to parents tonight.

“It’s really a shock,” Anderson said. “She’s never been involved with any disciplinary issues or anything else. She’s done a very good job.”

[Based on reports by The Columbus Dispatch and Associated Press.]

Van drags pedestrian hit by car 17 miles through city

By Calvin Palmer

A male pedestrian struck this morning by a sport utility vehicle on a New York street was immediately hit by another vehicle and dragged 17 miles through the city, police said.

The man was killed and has not yet been identified.

The incident began at 6:00 a.m. when the driver of a sport utility vehicle called 911 to report that he had just struck someone at 51st Avenue and 108th Street in Corona.

Police officers responded and found no evidence of the accident.

The mystery was solved an hour later when a pedestrian in Coney Island saw a dead man under a red Chevrolet cargo van.  The passer-by flagged the van down and the police were called.

Police officers dispatched to Neptune Avenue and Brighton 10th Terrace found the dead man under the van.

“The victim is struck by the first car,” Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. “That driver reports that he believes he struck somebody, but apparently right after he strikes the individual the body is hit again by another vehicle and dragged a total of what appears to be 17 miles until eventually that driver stops.”

The driver, Manuel Lituma, 52, was being questioned, but it appears he did not realize he had hit the man back in Corona and dragged him under the van on to the Grand Central Parkway, south on to the Van Wyck Expressway and then west into Brooklyn, police said.

Lituma told police that he saw vehicles in traffic ahead of him swerving, and that he believed they were trying to avoid a pothole. It is likely they were trying to steer around the accident or around the victim lying in the road, the police said
 
He kept driving but stopped at some point to check his vehicle because something seemed to be wrong with it.
 
“He apparently felt something,” Kelly said. “The vehicle was not driving in a normal fashion.”

Seeing nothing unusual, however, Lituma continued on his journey. When he exited in Brooklyn, others began flagging him down to tell him he was dragging something.

Kelly said “the body was significantly damaged” and police were retracing the route to try to find body parts.
 
[Based on reports by The New York Times and newsday.com.]

Document about Pepsi logo — a hoax or the real thing?

By Calvin Palmer

The new Pepsi logo conforms to design principles that go back thousands of years, represents the Earth’s gravitational pull and also draws upon the greatest works of art, according to a document posted on the Reddit.com Web site.

The logo is the work of the Arnell Group, run by founder Peter Arnell and owned by Omincom, and reportedly cost more than $1 million to create.

Entitled Breathtaking Design Strategy, the document was part of the pitch to Pepsi. It is littered with historical, philosophical, scientific and mathematical ideas dating back to 3000 BC, referencing the Golden Ratio, Feng Shui and Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.

The presentation goes on to compare “Planet Pepsi” to the Earth’s magnetic pull, with diagrams showing Pepsi as the gravitational force between the end of the aisle and the checkout stand.

It explains how “investment in our DNA leads to breakthrough innovation and allows us to move out of the traditional linear system and into the future.”

It also discusses how the Mona Lisa, nautilus shells and the Earth’s magnetic field relate to the Pepsi logo and explains how “emotive forces shape the gestalt of the brand identity”.

The person who posted the document, someone claiming to be a freelancer for one of Pepsi’s advertising agencies, said: “It really hammers in the stereotype of advertising in general, and the complete idiocy that goes in to marketing.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Mark DiMassimo, a partner at New York ad firm DiMassimo Goldstein.

“It’s sort of like the rings of hell in Dante’s Inferno,” he said. “There are rings of b.s. in the marketing and advertising business. This is an extreme example of design-focused, brand-identity bull.”

Others believe the document is a hoax and has been released as part of a ‘viral marketing campaign’ by the drinks firm to get attention on the Internet.

Arnell has yet to comment on the veracity of the document.

Perhaps the last word should go to Pepsi.

“We’re very happy with the new look of the logo,” said Pepsi spokeswoman Nicole Bradley. “The new design and our packaging have a clean, contemporary look that has been very well received by our consumers.”

[Based on reports by the New York Post and The Daily Telegraph.]

Judge calls mistrial after verdict reached by 13 jurors

By Calvin Palmer

When a jury in Harris County, Texas, reached a verdict of guilty yesterday in a murder trial, the judge suddenly declared a mistrial on discovering that the jury comprised 13 citizens.

State District Judge Mark Kent Ellis said a jury in a criminal trial must have 12 people on it and be free from any outside influences.  He said the 13th juror would be considered an outside influence, despite the fact that she sat through all of the testimony.

“In 23 years I’ve never seen anything like this,” Ellis said. “The jurors all seemed pretty upset, but there’s no way to unring that bell.”

The simplistic and refreshing way Americans have of putting something into words is a sheer delight.

A British judge in similar circumstances would give a far lengthier quote, probably one containing legal and perhaps witty literary references.

“There’s no way to unring that bell” is concise and a testament to the descriptive legacy of Mark Twain.

The judge became more prosaic when he attributed the blame to a substitute court bailiff.

“I told him I never want to see him in my courtroom again,” Ellis said.

The judge did not know the bailiff’s name.

Officials at the sheriff’s office — Houston’s bailiffs are sheriff’s deputies — agreed the mistake was the bailiff’s fault. Spokesman Paul Mabry said the bailiff had been substituting at the courthouse for about a year, but he also didn’t know the man’s name.

Juror Paula Harlan said the extra juror tried to leave, but the bailiff said she needed to complete paperwork that was never brought to her.

“It was a weird deal,” Harlan said. “And the judge seemed upset, but the bailiff also looked pretty upset. It’s disappointing that the victim’s family has to go through it again.”

[Based on reports by the Houston Chronicle and Associated Press.]