Mandatory Halloween meeting to occupy some Alabama sex offenders

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
By Kelli Dugan

MOBILE, Ala | Thu Oct 27, 2011 7:08pm EDT

MOBILE, Ala (Reuters) - Authorities in one southeast Alabama county have special Halloween plans for certain sex offenders, designed to keep trick-or-treaters safer and parents more at ease.

The Russell County Sheriff's Department has ordered nearly a quarter of the county's registered sex offenders -- those either on parole or probation -- to spend three hours of All Hallows' Eve at their own little party in the county commission chambers.

There won't be any party favors, but those in attendance will receive a timely, and mandatory, update on the latest registration requirements, said Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor.

"My thought process in this was that to protect our kids. If we save one somebody from becoming a (sex offender's) victim, then it's done its job," he said.

The program is a joint venture between the sheriff's office and the Alabama Department of Pardons and Paroles. About 35 of the county's 150 registered sex offenders are either on parole or probation, but Taylor said his office can only encourage the remaining 115 offenders to attend the meeting voluntarily.

"We can't make them do it, but for the ones that it's voluntary, we're hoping they'll come on in and get some help with their next registration," Taylor said, noting about one dozen offenders had already volunteered to attend the program by late Thursday afternoon.

Alabama law requires sex offenders to register four times per year at a cost of $10 per registration. Any offender who voluntarily attends the Halloween meeting will have the fee for their next registration period waived, Taylor said.

"This is just something we felt we needed to do for the safety of our community, and I really think it's going to be a good thing," he said.

Russell County is not alone in its quest to contain any holiday-induced threats to its littlest residents, but laws governing the activities of convicted sex offenders on Halloween vary widely from city to city and state to state.

Although no statewide law bars sex offenders from handing out candy to Alabama trick-or-treaters, neighboring Florida enacted a law in 2010 that not only bans that but also bars offenders from wearing costumes children might find appealing.

In California's Riverside County, two separate cities passed ordinances within the past week barring sex offenders from passing out candy, and sheriff's deputies in Virginia's Loudon County will visit residences of sex offenders Monday night to ensure all parole or probation requirements are being met.

A spokesman with the Loudon County Sheriff's Office said "Operation Porch Lights Out" also prohibits violators on probation or parole from turning on their porch lights, answering their doors for trick-or-treaters or displaying "inviting" decorations on Halloween.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

New Automobile

Education Information

Read More

Anti-Wall Street protesters to join NY Halloween parade

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

A man carries a cardboard replica of President Barack Obama at the Occupy Wall St. protests in New York's Zucotti Park October 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK | Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:36pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Anti-Wall St protesters plan to join New York City's Halloween parade on Monday and although several people have been arrested at recent rallies for wearing masks, demonstrators will have a free pass for the holiday.

New York state has a law that bans masked gatherings and police have enforced the rule at protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement against economic inequality, which set up camp in a park in the city's financial district on September 17.

But the law, dating back to 1845, allows people to wear masks if it is for "a masquerade party or like entertainment."

"Exemptions for such occasions, including masquerade balls, are provided for under the statute," said New York Police spokesman Paul Browne when asked if police would enforce the law banning masked gatherings at the Halloween parade.

Occupy Wall Street has set up Occupy Halloween and said on its website, www.occupyhalloween.org, that protesters had been invited to join the 39th annual Village Halloween Parade.

Organizers of the parade, which attracts tens of thousands of onlookers and is broadcast live on local television, were not immediately available for comment.

Occupy Halloween urged protesters to organize costume-themed blocs, suggesting ideas such as Wall Street zombies, corporate vampires and V-masks -- the Guy Fawkes mask made popular by the graphic novel "V for Vendetta."

"For them to enforce that rule on Halloween would be downright un-American," said Occupy Halloween organizer Gan Golan said of the mask law. The parade is "another opportunity for us to be creative and let people see our message."

He could not say how many protesters they were expecting to join the parade.

Protesters say they are upset the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.

They also believe the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share in taxes.

New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said: "Behavior that falls within the (New York state mask law's) exemption cannot be criminalized simply because it has a political message."

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

New Automobile

Education Information

Read More

What Are The Most-Searched Halloween Costumes?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Two guys dressed as Angry Birds battle it out at a Hollywood awards show.

Jason LaVeris / FilmMagic

Imagine the horror when you show up to your Halloween party dressed like everyone else. Google looked at the most popular searches to predict what the most popular costume will be.

And it's proving to be a Halloween for the birds, as Angry Birds and Black Swan fly high in Google's rankings. As we try to keep up with the zeitgeist in choosing a costume, it seems as though we very often turn to pop culture. The adorably violent birds exploded our phones this year, and now they're blowing up our search boxes as we look to imitate the foul fowl. It's a clever costume choice that proves trick-or-treaters want a cute but dangerous costume. (Or perhaps they're just looking to blow up some pigs.)

(LIST: The 10 Best Topical Halloween Costumes)

Second on the list also packs a punch. The next most-searched costume is Black Swan, reflecting the power behind Natalie Portman's dark and harrowing transformation into the Swan Lake antagonist in Darren Aronofsky's December 2010 film.

Avatar and Iron Man influenced our costume choices last year, and in 2011, many are seeking equally action-filled options. You'll be seeing many Trons and Captain Americas on your doorstep next weekend. But action figures don't always lend themselves to haute fashion, leading Playboy Bunny costumes (inspired by The Playboy Club, no doubt) and Nicki Minaj lookalikes to rank highly this Halloween, too.

And if you're still looking for a costume, you'd better get Googling quickly for some inspiration before your top choice becomes the most popular. At least the fight that breaks out between the many Angry Birds at your Halloween party won't be out of character.

The top 12 most-searched Halloween costumes, according to Google, are:

1.    Angry Birds

2.    Black Swan

3.    Playboy Bunny

4.    Nicki Minaj

5.    Smurfette

6.    Wilfred

7.    Monster High

8.    Tron

9.    Captain America

10.   Pan Am

11.   Charlie Sheen

12.   Rapunzel
Nick Carbone is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @nickcarbone. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

READ: Halloween Can't Be Scared By Recession

“Second Chance” is getting a second look after its absurdly accurate prediction of Gaddafi's death. Read More

It was the nation's most powerful quake in at least a decade, and those that had cameras rolling as the earth trembled captured quite a harrowing scene. Read More

Debt Financing

Health Management

Read More

Halloween Horror: Ricky's Pulls Their Sexy “Anna Rexia” Costume

New York chain beauty store Ricky's is typically the place to go for your ridiculous, last-minute Halloween costumes. But the "Anna Rexia" costume the store was selling online brings scary to a whole new level. The skin and bones costume, complete with measuring tape to obsessively monitor lost inches, has reportedly been around for a while, however Ricky's has just pulled the costume after the backlash started. The costume is nowhere to be found on the site and a spokeswoman told the Village Voice that Ricky's was no longer selling Anna Rexia.
(MORE: The Furor Over An Anorexia Ad)
Obviously the costume was meant to be funny and it's great to see original ideas, but NewsFeed fails to see the humor in a sexy rendering of a mental illness that affects millions. And we're not alone. Trish Jones-Bendel, from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa & Associated Disorders told ABC, "I'm just appalled because eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Depending on the rates, and how long people have had the disorder, mortality [for the illness] can be from 10 to 15 percent."
Doesn't seem so sexy now, does it?

Read More

Man wearing the mask for Halloween, carrying Hatchet arrested at school

Published September 07, 2011| Associated Press

Officials say that a man of 21 years Basile was arrested after he allegedly walked in Iota Middle School, with a Halloween mask that armed while of four knives and an axe.

Members of the Sheriff of the parish of Acadia tell The Advocate (http://bit.ly/nTWRJt) the masked man identified as Garrett West, came to school wearing khaki overalls Tuesday, a white Halloween mask, a black wig and a belt around the size, which held the knives and the axe of war.

MPs say Debra Siebert, Director of the school, persuaded the man to remove his mask and give up its weapons.

The authorities said Siebert recognized a former student of the Iota middle school West. A mobile has not yet been determined, said Maxine Trahan, Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman.

"He followed Iota Middle when he was young and it had good memories," said Trahan.

The incident prompted officials to order a locking of the middle school and Iota High School, located on the same property, Trahan said.

The two schools resumed activities of normal shortly after noon, about an hour after the incident, said Trahan.

West was booked on two counts of terrorism, two leaders of the execution of a dangerous weapon on school and two counts of unlawful interruption of school property.

It was not clear if West has an attorney.

View the original article here

Peliculas Online

Read More