Cat saves owner from fire

Above: A brindle cat, but not BooBoo. Thanks to Google Images.

Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A 97-year-old woman says her cat's early-morning yowling saved her from a house fire.

Grace George of Independence said her cat Boo Boo's yowling from an open bedroom window early Wednesday woke her up from a sound sleep.

"I got so aggravated," George said. "I didn't know why she was doing that."

George picked up the black and gold brindle, a stray she had taken in about 15 years earlier, and felt her way through the dark house until she reached the kitchen.

It was just 4 a.m., and she wanted more sleep. So she started to put the cat outside.
Then she smelled smoke.

"I knew I had to get out of the house," said George, seated Thursday on a sofa in her daughter's house, just down the block.

George ran toward the street in the rain, and flagged down the third car she saw.

Firefighters got Boo Boo out of the house safely and administered oxygen.

For now, George and her heroic cat are staying with George's daughter. George said she plans to have the house repaired, though it's not clear how she will pay for the damage. She canceled her home insurance four years ago after paying 50 years of premiums.

The Independence Fire Department, which believes lightning caused the fire, estimates the damage at $75,000 to the house and $40,000 to possessions.

But George and her daughter were less concerned with the costs, and more thankful for George's survival -- and for the cat's role.

George told her daughter, "I'm going to get her a special treat, a can of salmon. That's $2."
"No," Patty Young said. "It's up to five."

Elderly Cowley Co. Kansas man missing

COWLEY COUNTY, Kansas, August 4, 2008 – The Cowley County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the disappearance of 87-year-old Jack Lee Howe.

Howe was reported missing by his neighbor Sunday and had not been seen since Noon on Friday. His children, who live out of state, were notified and told authorities they had not heard from him recently and do not know of his whereabouts.

Howe’s pick-up truck was found abandoned on a railroad right of way south of Caldwell, KS.
He is described at 87 years old, 5’8” tall, about 100 pounds, very thin build, gray hair, brown eyes and usually wears glasses. He was last seen wearing very light colored blue jeans, a red long sleeve shirt and light colored suspenders.

Howe has recently become forgetful and sometimes confused and may be starting to suffer from dementia.

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Cowley County Sheriffs Office at 620-221-5444 or the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office at 620-326-8941.

Wichita Kansas man with fake badge and scanner assaults women

BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle



A 51-year-old man has been arrested in Wichita for impersonating a police officer and forcing women to have sex with him, and authorities think still more have been victimized.

The man would chat with women via instant messaging on Craigslist.org, arrange a meeting place, show up with a scanner and fake badge, tell the women he was a law enforcement officer and coerce them into having sex, said Capt. Brent Allred of the Wichita Police Department.

Authorities were able to identify the suspect and arrested him Friday on West Kellogg. He has been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of rape, aggravated sodomy and impersonating a law enforcement officer.

Two women, ages 29 and 33, reported being attacked by the man, Allred said. In one of the cases, the suspect claimed to be a U.S. marshal.

The man also robbed one of the women, Allred said.

"We believe that there could be additional women out there" who have been victimized, he said.
Anyone with information about the case should call the Police Department's sex crimes unit at 316-268-4156.

Casey Anthony, Mother of Missing Florida Toddler Tells Father 'She's Close'

August 3, 2003

The jailed mother of a missing Orlando toddler reportedly told her father during a jailhouse visit that the girl will be home by her third birthday next week.

"Dad, she's close," Casey Anthony, 22, told her father, George Anthony, during a jailhouse visit on Sunday, according to MyFOXOrlando.com. "Dad, she's close."

Anthony said he's convinced Caylee Marie Anthony is still alive and indicated that his daughter sobbing during their visit, saying that she wants to be there for the girl's birthday on Aug. 9, MyFOXOrlando.com reported.

On Wednesday, a judge denied a petition to lower Anthony's $500,000 bond. Her attorney, Jose Baez, will file another appeal to the state Supreme Court, according to MyFOXOrlando.com.
Anthony is a person of interest in her daughter's disappearance but has been charged only with child neglect, false statements to police and obstructing an investigation...

Judge Won't Nix Suit Against Nancy Grace in Mom's Suicide

First I have the utmost respect for Nancy Grace, as an active advocate for victims. I post this, not as a slap at Nancy Grace, but because of the similarity of the cases of Trenton Duckett and Caylee Anthony. They both have mothers who were spoiled and pampered, manipulative and used their children as bargaining chips, Melinda to get what she wanted from Josh; Casey to get her way with her parents. Mothers who were cold and indifferent. Good Luck, Nancy.

OCALA, Florida — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims CNN's Nancy Grace pushed the mother of a missing toddler to suicide through aggressive questioning.

CNN and Grace argued the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Melinda Duckett's family would "severely chill" journalists' coverage of missing-persons cases. But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges on Thursday denied their motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Duckett, 21, was on Grace's show after her son Trenton went missing from her apartment in August 2006. Grace grilled the woman, accusing her of hiding something because Duckett did not take a lie-detector test and answered vaguely regarding her whereabouts.

Duckett fatally shot herself before the network aired the pre-taped interview.

The family claims Grace's intense questioning caused severe emotional distress that led to the suicide. The lawsuit also claims that the decision to air the interview after her suicide caused the family to suffer severe emotional distress and media and public harassment. They are seeking a jury trial, unspecified damages more than $15,000 and punitive damages.

Trenton family attorney Jay Paul Deratany said attorneys will begin taking testimony.
"There is more information out there to be gleaned," said Deratany. "If Melinda had any information, Nancy Grace stopped the investigation in its track."

Police have said Duckett is the only suspect in her son's disappearance.

A message left Friday for an attorney representing Grace and CNN were not immediately returned.