Category Archives: Sad Story
You can do a lot of bad things as a priest, but plagiarizing sermons from sermons.com is not one of them
An Episcopal priest in Massachusetts has been removed from his post after being accused of stealing his sermons out of a book he ordered from Sermons.com.
Rev. John McGinn, 65, was placed on administrative leave by officials at St. John’s Episcopal Church in the Cape Cod town of Sandwich, Mass. It is believed that he has been delivering, and even publishing, sermons from a book called “Dynamic Preaching” since 2006.
The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts wrote a letter to the 300 or so families that regularly attend McGinn’s services.
“This is a serious breach of the pastoral relationship between John and each of you,” wrote Bishop M. Thomas Shaw. “I am sorry that this matter has caused pain and will likely cause further pain in the parish. As difficult as this situation is, we know that truth telling helps to bring about healing, and our renewal follows repentance.”
McGinn first came under suspicion of plagiarism a year ago and was approached by church elders. He assured them at the time that everything was on the level. “We investigated further,” wrote Shaw, “and have documentation that not only did he continue to copy sermons and preach and publish them verbatim, in print and online, as his own, but he had been doing so for many years.”
Sean Randall, a senior warden of the church, issued a statement on behalf of the local parishioners.
“For 17 years Fr. John McGinn has raised thousands of dollars for local charities and provided pastoral care for hundreds of people on the Upper Cape. Our prayers are with him as the diocese, St. John’s Church and Fr. McGinn work to resolve this,” Randall said
McGinn doesn’t sound overly concerned about the situation, The Daily Mail reported.
“I’m going to retire,” McGinn said. “I loved my time at the parish. That’s all. I think I did a good job.”
Woman’s Large Figure Causes Failed Suicide Attempt
Being obese is never seen as being advantageous. Aside from putting one at risk for many illnesses, another disadvantage of being big-bodied is, well…experiencing a failed suicide attempt.
A woman from Jiehe, a rural town in Shandong, China, attempted to kill herself because she feared her husband would reprimand her for causing the potatoes of their 2,700 square meter field to spoil.
She apparently tried jumping into a well, but her large size stopped her from falling down farther than three meters.
With her endless cries for help, she was rescued by the police in no time. With only scratches on her body, she told the reporters later on that she felt embarrassed about what had happened.
Hofstra University Student Accidentally Killed By Police After Being Taken Hostage
Long Island, NY- A 21-year-old Hofstra University junior was killed early Friday morning when she was accidentally struck by a bullet fired by a police officer.
The incident happened in an off-campus house rented by Andrea Rebello, her twin sister and two other students. Sometime around 2am, Rebello’s boyfriend went outside to move a car, reportedly to avoid a parking ticket. It was during this time that 30-year-old Dalton Smith, dressed in black and wearing a ski mask, entered the house. Smith, a parolee with an extensive rap sheet that includes attempted robbery, weapons possession, assault and being an all-around charming fella, was armed.
He ordered Rebello, her twin sister Jessica and a third woman onto a couch. He did the same to Rebello’s boyfriend when he returned and demanded valuables from the four. I’m going to go out on a limb at this point and say Dalton likely never went to college: he was unsatisfied with what the four produced. I don’t know how much you could expect to fleece a few college students for, but I wouldn’t have expected more than a few beers and some dental dams.
After some discussion that I’m sure was completely civil, Smith ordered the third woman out of the house to get money from an ATM. Smith reportedly told the woman she had eight minutes to return with the cash or he’d start shooting. When she left the house , the woman called 911. Two police officers arrived at the home shortly thereafter. According to one report, this is how it went down from here:
When the cops knocked on the door, Dalton Smith ordered Jessica Rebello to tell the police everything was fine. She did the opposite, reportedly yelling to the officers that Smith had a gun. One of the officers entered the house and the other took up position outside the front door. As Smith led the hostages downstairs, Rebello’s boyfriend reportedly fell down the stairs, closing the front door and locking it.
He then took cover behind a sofa, a move I’m sure he is going to regret for the rest of his life. Smith grabbed Andrea and put her in a headlock, pointing his gun at her head as he moved for the back of the house. As he moved toward the back door, Smith spotted the officer who had entered the house. He reportedly threatened to kill Rebello before pointing his weapon at the officer. In total, the officer fired eight rounds. Seven rounds went into Smith. The eighth hit Rebello in the head. Apparently, the officer has never seen SPEED.
Both Rebello and Smith were pronounced dead. The officer has been placed on sick leave and will be subject to an internal investigation once the criminal investigation has been completed.
I usually try to save my opinions for the comments section, but in anticipation of a barrage of Ice Cube and/or T lyrics, gun control banter and commentary on the prison system, I feel I should throw a few things out there.
First, it is likely that Dalton Smith should have been in jail instead of prancing about with a ski mask and a gun. A failure of the system? Quite possibly. The gun Smith used is reported to have had the serial number scratched off, which points to it being a very-illegally acquired firearm, something that no restrictions on gun purchasing and ownership will ever stop. Also on the gun side of things, a seven bullet limit on police officers’ firearms would not have necessarily made a bit of difference, so any of you wannabe comedians out there can promptly stick that notion in your anus.
Finally, as a fan of law enforcement and a friend to quite a few police officers, I’d like to implore anyone out there with the urge to condemn this officer’s actions to consider themselves in the same situation. If we are going to condemn the actions of any individual here, it should be Smith… or possibly the boyfriend for hiding behind the sofa like a wussy.
Three Teens Accused Of Raping Girl, 12, Posting Video On Facebook
Three teenagers face sex assault charges after they raped a 12-year-old girl at gunpoint and posted a video of the December attacks on Facebook, prosecutors said.
Scandale Fritz, 16, Kenneth Brown, 15, and Justin Applewhite, 16, were all ordered held in lieu of $900,000 bail in a hearing today before Criminal Court Judge James Brown, said Cook County state’s attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. The three were charged as adults.
The assaults took place about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in Fritz’s home in the 400 block of West 60th Place in the Englewood neighborhood, according to Chicago police records.
The girl had gone to Fritz’s house on 60th Place that afternoon to talk to him, and when she went inside, she saw Brown, with a gun in his pocket, prosecutors said. Fritz took the girl downstairs in the house and after she declined his demands for sex, he raped and sodomized her, prosecutors said.
Brown and Applewhite came down to the basement, and Fritz demanded the girl have sex with the other two boys, prosecutors said. At first, the girl refused, but she saw that Brown had a gun in his pocket, and so they sexually assaulted her and forced her to perform sex acts on them.
Fritz videotaped the sex acts, including Brown holding a gun during sex, and all three of the boys shouting gang slogans, prosecutors said. All three of the boys are visible in the video, with Fritz entering the frame when he turns the camera toward himself.
The day after the assaults, the girl told someone about the attacks, and a police report was made and the girl was treated and examined at a hospital. On Dec. 17, the video was posted on Brown’s Facebook page, and then on all three boys’ Facebook pages, prosecutors said.
Fritz admitted to investigators he made the tape, prosecutors said.
Fritz and Brown, also of the 400 block of West 60th Place, are co-defendants in a previous, unrelated robbery and aggravated battery case, according to prosecutors. Brown also is on 18 months probation in a Nov. 28, 2012, unlawful use of a weapon case, prosecutors said. Brown is due back in court on that case May 22.
Applewhite, of the 500 block of East 80th Street, has no publishable criminal background, prosecutors said.
The three are due back in court June 6.
It was not known why it took until May to charge the three teens.
Man, 24, drops dead in the office from overworking
A 24-YEAR-OLD employee in Beijing has died after working a month of overtime for an international advertising firm.
Li Yuan, a staffer in the Beijing office of international advertising, marketing and public relations agency, Ogilvy & Mather, reportedly suffered a sudden heart attack on May 14.
He had being working overtime for a month, not leaving the office until 11pm every day, according to Yangzi Evening News.
Li Yuan fell to the ground in the office around 5pm.
Co-workers immediately phoned for help and emergency personnel rushed him to Peking Union Medical College, where he was confirmed dead.
According to reports, doctors said his death was from sudden cardiac arrest.
Li’s final message on Weibo, China’s Twitter service, was a photo of him saluting the camera as he left work for the day, the tweet has been commented on more than 15,000 times.
Man sues after personal lubricant allegedly destroys his penis
A Philadelphia man filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Appeals alleging that a personal lubricant caused his penis to burn and swell causing permanent disfigurement and loss of sensation. According to the Courthouse News Service, Michael Lowe sued the The Kama Sutra Co. and Kamsut Inc. of Thousand Oaks California as well as the sex shop in Philadelphia where the lubricating and desensitizing gel was purchased.
Lowe said that prior to September 1, 2012, he had used Kama Sutra Pleasure Balm Prolonging Gel without incident, but on that day he applied the product before putting on a condom to have sex with his fiancée. During intercourse, the couple were interrupted. Lowe waited for his fiancée to return to bed, but experienced “excruciating pain and pressure in his penis,” according to the suit.
“He removed the condom and his penis swelled significantly. He sought emergency medical treatment and follow-up care thereafter,” reads the complaint.
The swelling irreparably damaged the tissues of Lowe’s penis and resulted in “permanent scarring and disfigurement of the penis, permanent loss of sensation in the penis, permanent loss of functioning of the penis, permanent nerve damage to the penis, permanent tissue damage to the penis, and the inability to ejaculate.”
Lowe, who is represented by Thomas Kline of Philadelphia’s Klein and Specter, is seeking damages for the injuries, as well as recovery of lost wages and recompense for pain, suffering and humiliation. The gel was defective, he said, and his injuries are the result of negligence on the part of the manufacturer and “were in no way caused by acts or omissions on his part.”
[image of man cupping genitals protectively via Shutterstock.com]
White supremacist appears in court with swastika carved in his forehead
The murder trial of self-proclaimed racist Keith Luke (pictured) – who once arrived at court with a swastika carved into his forehead – began this week in Plymouth County Superior Court. Authorities allege that Luke shot dead Selma Goncalves, 20, and Arlindo Goncalves, 72, who are not related and a third person who can not be identified because Luke is accused of raping.
Bad: A cop shooting herself in the leg. Worse: Not admitting it. Leading to a massive manhunt for the gunman
And now for Plaxico Burress’ favorite story of the day. A Quebec police officer who reported being shot during a party raid last Saturday appears to have actually shot herself in the leg.
According to Guns.com, the incident occurred around 10 p.m. The officer was running down a hill when she discharged a round from her 9mm pistol into her leg.
Perhaps in an effort to protect her job (she’s only been on the job for three years), the officer didn’t report that she shot herself. Instead, she said a gunman from the party shot her. After an ambulance arrived and rushed the officer to the hospital, a huge and predictably unsuccessful search for the non-existent shooter ensued.
Police spent hours questioning over 30 people who were at the party. At the hospital, doctors became suspicious of the officer’s story when they discovered the bullet was fired down into her leg. Police checked the officer’s gun and, surprise surprise, they found one bullet missing from the magazine.
The Gatineau Police Department released a vague statement on the matter, saying they could not “confirm or deny” any details about the story. Referring to the self-inflicted shot, a police spokesperson said the department is “looking at the possibility that she did that to herself.”
The officer is in the hospital waiting to have a minor surgery performed on the wound. She was said to still be in “shock” and was unavailable for any interviews or comments. Although police haven’t concluded their investigation, you’ve got to think this unlucky officer has some disciplinary action coming her way.
Police Charge Internet Celebrity, Kai The Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker, With The Murder Of New Jersey Lawyer
Authorities have arrested the internet celebrity known as “Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker” in connection with the murder of a New Jersey lawyer.
Caleb Lawrence McGillvary, who received the nickname because he used a hatchet to subdue a man who ran over a California utility worker, was arrested at a Greyhound Bus terminal in Philadelphia, police said.
Officials believe McGillvary, 24, killed Joseph Galfy, who was found in his Clark, N.J. home on Monday, dead of blunt force trauma. Prosecutors say Galfy met McGillvary in Times Square Saturday night, and brought him back to his house to spend the night.
They say they believe the two men had a sexual encounter.
Authorities said McGillvary, who has appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” pondered on his Facebook page Tuesday the idea of waking up in a stranger’s house with a groggy head and injuries, and the realization of being drugged and raped. “What would you do?” he wrote, according to officials.
McGillvary gained notoriety earlier this year when he was hitchhiking with a man who allegedly attempted to run over a utility worker.
According to the Fresno Bee, McGillvary pulled a hatchet out of his backpack and struck the driver in the head after the dispute, and others held the man until police arrived.
McGillvary describes himself as “homefree,” rather than “homeless,” and said on Kimmel that he steals from Wal-Mart, Target and Safeway and gives away the loot.
Authorities said he will be processed in Philadelphia and returned to New Jersey in the coming days.
News of the arrest came just as family and friends had gathered at a New Jersey funeral home for Galfy’s wake.
“I prefer to think that Joe was a decent person who opened his door to someone and paid a hell of a price,” said Michael Savvis, a friend of Galfy’s. “I thought he was a good man, a great attorney.”
Ex-councilman Charles Wingate Cited For Neglect After Autistic Teen Found Living In Filth.
COLORADO SPRINGS — A notorious former Colorado Springs city councilman and his wife were cited for child neglect after Colorado Springs police found a naked 13-year-old boy living in a home littered with feces.
Charles E. Wingate and his wife, Sharon Starkey, were cited after a neighbor called police who checked on the home in the 6100 block of Corinth Drive and found the boy, described by officers as “autistic”, living in unsanitary conditions, which included live and dead rodents in the residence.
“The boy stated he is an only child, home-schooled, and does not remember ever being outside the house. Neighbors confirmed they have not seen the boy outside in several years,” police said.
The boy was taken to a hospital before he was handed over to the state Department of Human Services, police said.
Wingate and Starkey were not home during the investigation but were served a summons on suspicion of child neglect, police said.
