■ UNITED STATES
Man kills self over rezoning
A business owner shot and killed himself during a city council meeting in Tennessee after members voted against his request to rezone his property, witnesses said. Ronald "Bo" Ward, owner of Bo's Barber Shop, had told the council his business would go under if he could not get his home rezoned as commercial. After the five to seven vote on Thursday night, Ward stood and walked toward the council. "Ya'll have put me under ... I'm out of here," he said before shooting himself in the head with a small handgun. Ward had said the rezoning would increase his property value, allowing him to secure a loan to offset debt he incurred when he expanded his shop.
■ UNITED STATES
Bra sets off alarm
Security guards refused to allow a woman into a federal courthouse until she removed a bra that triggered a metal detector. Lori Plato said she and her husband, Owen Plato, were stunned when US Marshals Service employees asked her to remove her bra after the underwire supports set off the alarm. "I asked if I could go into the bathroom because they didn't have a privacy screen and no women security officers were available," Plato said on Wednesday. "They said, `No." Patrick McDonald, the US Marshal in Boise, Idaho, said appropriate security protocols were followed in the Sept. 20 matter, and guards suggested she remove the bra in her car outside, or find a restaurant bathroom.
■ UNITED STATES
Lighter mistaken for gunfire
Sheriff's deputies who mistook an exploding cigarette lighter for gunfire dived to the ground and called in reinforcements, shutting down a neighborhood in California for hours. "We have a lot of unusual things happen in our business, and we expected the unexpected. It's better to be safe than sorry," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lieutenant Robert Craton said. The lighter belonged to one of two people stopped on Wednesday for loitering and drinking alcohol in a park. During questioning, a lighter was placed on the hood of a car, sheriff's Captain Richard Shaw said. "The Bic lighter exploded, and shrapnel went everywhere," Shaw told the Pasadena Star-News in its Thursday edition.
RSS