SAY IT ISN'T SO!!

Beloved Characters as Reimagined for the 21st Century

By BROOKS BARNES
Published: June 11, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Strawberry Shortcake was having an identity crisis. The “it” doll and cartoon star of the 1980s was just not connecting with modern girls. Too candy-obsessed. Too ditzy. Too fond of wearing bloomers.

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Angelina Ballerina has been redesigned, above, from her 1980s look, top, into a more modern character. She will star in an animated show, based on the popular children’s books, which is scheduled to begin this fall on PBS Kids.

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Warner Brothers struggled to make the Looney Tunes characters relevant to modern children, and introduced futuristic-looking “descendants” of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and others in a television series in 2005. But many parents hated the “Loonatics,” which had mohawks and menacing eyes.
So her owner, American Greetings Properties, worked for a year on what it calls a “fruit-forward” makeover. Strawberry Shortcake, part of a line of scented dolls, now prefers fresh fruit to gumdrops, appears to wear just a dab of lipstick (but no rouge), and spends her time chatting on a cellphone instead of brushing her calico cat, Custard. Her new look was unveiled Tuesday, along with plans for a new line of toys from Hasbro.

She is not the only aging fictional star to get a facelift. An unusually large number of classic characters for children are being freshened up and reintroduced — on store shelves, on the Internet and on television screens — as their corporate owners try to cater to parents’ nostalgia and children’s YouTube-era sensibilities. Adding momentum is a retail sector hoping to find refuge from a rough economy in the tried and true.

Warner Brothers hopes to “reinvigorate and reimagine” Bugs Bunny and Scooby-Doo through a new virtual world on the Internet, where people will be able to dress up the characters pretty much any way they want. American Greetings is dusting off another of its lines, the Care Bears, which will return with a fresh look this fall (less belly fat, longer eyelashes).

And 4Kids Entertainment, which licenses the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, will revive them next year in new video games, where they will have more muscles and less attitude.

Even Mickey Mouse is getting an update, although the Walt Disney Company is still mulling what tweaks to make.

“I love classic Mickey, but he needs to evolve to be relevant to new generations of kids,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in an interview.

Reinventing these beloved characters without inflicting indelible damage is one of the entertainment industry’s trickiest maneuvers. Go too far, as Mattel did in 1993 when it gave Ken a purple mesh T-shirt, a pierced ear and the name “Earring Magic Ken,” and it can set off a brand crisis on a global scale.

Done correctly, it can be incredibly lucrative. Mickey Mouse produces an estimated $5 billion in merchandise sales every year. Strawberry Shortcake, even in her diminished state, has generated $2.5 billion in revenue since 2003, according to American Greetings.

If the classic characters look less stodgy, the companies hope, they will appeal not only to parents who remember them fondly, but also to children who might automatically be suspicious of toys their parents played with. For parents, nostalgia is considered a bigger sales hook than ever because of the increasingly violent and hyper-sexualized media landscape.

“It’s a terrible world, and modern parents are trying to cocoon their kids as much as possible,” said Alfred R. Kahn, chairman of 4Kids Entertainment, which also manages franchises like Pokémon and the Cabbage Patch Kids. “What better way to protect them than wrapping them in nostalgic brands?”

Mr. Iger talks about the need to balance “heritage and innovation.” For Mickey and other Disney characters, one method is to keep the core attributes of the characters the same, but to update the world in which they live. For instance, Disney is updating Toontown, the section of Disneyland that Mickey calls home. One plan features an old-fashioned trolley, but Mr. Iger is not sure that is a smart idea. Will modern children know what an old-fashioned trolley is?

Warner Brothers, by contrast, is leaving the styling decisions up to the customers, some of whom were weaned on virtual worlds like Disney’s Club Penguin (where they can, say, dress a virtual penguin in a pirate costume and make it dance). At KidsWB.com, which is rolling out a revised site over the summer, the studio will let people customize Looney Tunes characters as they see fit.

“You want a dark, Goth version of Tweety Bird? Have at it,” said Lisa Gregorian, executive vice president for worldwide marketing at Warner Brothers Television.

New media applications have created opportunities that companies did not have before, Ms. Gregorian said. And one reason the characters bring in so much money is that their owners have pumped them out all over the place: on direct-to-DVD movies, television programs, toys, clothing, video games, furniture and even live stage productions.

There have been some noteworthy misfires. Warner Brothers has struggled to make the Looney Tunes crowd relevant to modern children, introducing futuristic-looking versions of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in a new television series in 2005. But many parents hated the “Loonatics,” which had mohawks and menacing eyes.

Earring Magic Ken is the industry’s nightmare. The character, who had blond highlights in his hair and a leather vest, drew howls from consumers, who did not see him as a realistic boyfriend for Barbie. Ken was already coping with arched eyebrows over his sexual orientation, and he seemed to have come out of the closet — something that Mattel most definitely did not intend.

Most of the brands getting a makeover are from the 1980s. Licensing experts say they perceive a subtle psychological game at play, an attempt to hit the nostalgia button on a generation of young parents just as they start to feel their first twinges of middle age.

Playing up nostalgia, of course, has long been one of this industry’s favorite gimmicks. But this time, companies have an added incentive from the sour economy. Chains from Wal-Mart to Toys “R” Us are less likely to take a shot on untested product lines during weak economic times — especially because efforts to create new characters have had mixed results in recent years, said Christopher Byrne, an independent toy consultant.

The same for TV networks. As new cartoon series flop, familiar names start to look like a good bet. Witness “Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps,” a new animated show based on the popular children’s books, which will begin this fall on PBS Kids.

For American Greetings, updating Strawberry Shortcake was about leaving the troubles of the modern world behind and playing up a fantasy angle, said Jeffrey Conrad, the company’s head creative designer.

Artists produced nearly 400 drawings depicting new looks, then American Greetings asked licensing partners for feedback. With the drawings hanging in a single room, he told focus group members to put Post-it notes on the 20 that they liked. “We refined it from there,” he said.

On top of her new toy line, Strawberry Shortcake is getting a new computer-animated movie and a new TV series, starting next year. This time, in keeping with contemporary nutritional concerns, the franchise will downplay the sugary dessert theme and move, as Mr. Conrad put it, “fruit-forward.”

“It’s also about creating a cohesive line,” Mr. Conrad said. “We’re downplaying characters that were part of Strawberry’s world but who didn’t immediately shout out fruit

WTF? Mom Bites Baby Cause the Baby Bit Her

Mom injures baby with Brutal bite after baby bites her

WTF? Is that a Snake in your Pocket or are you just Happy to see Me?

Deadly snake bites man's penis

Thursday, May 29, 2008

© The Cairns Post


A ROADSIDE toilet stop ended in pain, embarrassment and almost death for a tourist when a highly venomous snake bit the end of his penis.

The deadly brown snake slithered between his legs and lunged at his manhood as he crouched on a roadside near Laura, 300km northwest of Cairns, about a month ago.

Details of the incident only came to light yesterday after they were confirmed by a paramedic.

"It certainly had a swipe at him," an ambulance spokesman said yesterday.

"But it didn’t envenomate him.

"As it came through it must have got a bit of a shock."

The snake beat a hasty retreat, leaving its victim with a scratch, vomiting and abdomen pain.

Emergency workers raced to the scene to treat the man.

The wound was wrapped in plastic in case poison had penetrated the skin but medical staff gave the man the all-clear after conducting tests.

He was taken to Cooktown Hospital where he spent a night recovering.

The ambulance spokesman described him as "lucky", given his near encounter with one of Australia’s most poisonous snakes.

"I think he was a bit shocked and embarrassed," he said

WTF?Maybe He was a Zombie?

A Woman has been medically evacuated from Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory after a man bit off part of her ear and cheek.

The 29-year-old woman was assaulted on Peko Road in Tennant Creek shortly before 9pm (CST) yesterday, police said.

She was walking with her boyfriend through a vacant block when they were approached by another man.

Police said the offender punched the woman until she fell to the ground before biting her cheek and left ear, severing a portion of it.

He fled on foot before police arrived.

Ambulance officers took the victim to the Tennant Creek Hospital where she was assessed and then medically evacuated to Alice Springs shortly before midnight.

Investigations into the incident were continuing, police said.

WTF? Grim Reaper Getsm the Wrong Number

Grim Reaper gets a wrong number
By J.J. Huggins
Staff writer
METHUEN — Rose Griffin got a call late Friday night from someone looking for her son Timothy.

When she said Timothy Griffin didn't live there, the caller hung up, saying he must have the wrong number.

But Griffin was so angry at the late hour of the call that she dialed the man back, using the number showing on her caller ID.

"I said, 'Who the hell are you, calling my house at 10 o'clock looking for Timothy Griffin?'" she said.

That's when the man said he was calling to make funeral arrangements for his late mother, Rose.

"You're talking to the dead person," Griffin, 75, told the caller — funeral director Paul Blanchette.

And that's when Blanchette, who knows Griffin personally, recognized her voice.

"He said, 'Oh my God, it's you,'" Griffin recalled.

Blanchette works for Cataudella Funeral Home, where Griffin has registered her name so that when she does die, the funeral home will make the arrangements.

But Griffin, a greeter at Wal-Mart in Methuen, is pleased to report she isn't ready to meet the Grim Reaper.

"I'm too mean a person to die yet," she joked. "What is the saying? 'Only the good die young.'"

The macabre mix-up began with an answering service message to the funeral home to contact Griffin's 51-year-old son about arrangements for his mother, said Joe Cataudella, a co-owner of the funeral home. The son lives in an upstairs apartment at his mother's Oak Street home.

Cataudella said the call to the answering service must have been "a cruel prank."

"I've been doing this for about 35 years," he said. "It has happened a couple times through the years but not very many times. I can only remember one or two at the most."

Griffin has no idea who was behind the prank but she knows what she'll say to him if she tracks him down, though she's not telling.

"You don't want to know," she said.

WTF?? Dispatcher falls asleep and snores during call

The Video of the Call

WTF? X 2: Baby Gets a gun and Expelled Over Swords

Police issue gun permit to 10-month-old boy

Someone sent in an application for a gun permit that included a $5 check and the following information:

Last Name: Ludwig
First Name: Bubba
Date of Birth: 2006
Sex: Male Race: White
Height: 2 ft 3 in Weight: 20 lbs

Have you ever been convicted of a felony? No
In the past 5 years, have you been a patient in any medical facility or part of any medical facility used primarily for the care or treatment of persons for mental illness? No
Are you addicted to narcotics? No
Are you mentally retarded? No
Are you an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States? No

Signature: [a scribble]

There's one important question they didn't ask: Are you an infant?

If they had, the Illinois State Police would have learned that they were about to issue a Firearm Owner's Identification Card to a 10-month-old baby named Howard David Ludwig. His father, also named Howard, filed the form after someone bought the baby a 12-gauge shotgun.

"As a FOID cardholder, baby Bubba can own a firearm and ammunition in Illinois. He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon -- though he can't walk yet, so that's not an issue," his father writes in the Daily Southtown, where he works as a columnist. "The plastic card has a picture of a toothless, grinning Bubba in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth."

In their defense, the police say they're following the law. "There is nothing in the FOID Act or any of the rules that says anything about age restrictions," Lt. Scott Compton tells the paper.


Souvenir swords get two expelled
Students ousted from Apple Valley, Eagan schools after spring choir trip
By Bao Ong

Article Last Updated: 04/24/2008 12:29:32 AM CDT

Two students attending Eagan and Apple Valley high schools were expelled last week after buying souvenir swords during a spring break choir trip in the United Kingdom.

A chaperone found the duct-taped boxes that held the swords after the students left the store. The swords were confiscated on the trip and never made it to Minnesota. The students flew home several days early, and the district disciplined the students when they returned.

"The severity of the punishment didn't fit the crime here," said Brad Briggs, 45, an Eagan resident and father of one of the expelled teens. "There was no intent of violence."

Briggs spoke at a Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board meeting after his son, a 16-year-old sophomore at Eagan High School, was kicked out of classes for the remainder of the school year after buying a $60 set of three samurai swords in York, England.

The district stuck to its student safety policy and doled out an expulsion that allows Briggs' son to return to school in the fall.

The other student, a senior, was expelled from the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley for the remainder of the school year. At first, she was not going to be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. However, after negotiations, school officials agreed to let her graduate with her class.

She had bought an 18-inch sword that was a "Lord of the Rings" replica for Father's Day, said her father, Dennis Fischbach.

School districts have grown increasingly vigilant in enforcing student safety policies in the wake of high-profile cases of violence in schools, educators and school officials said.
But others — from parents to lawmakers — wonder if the rules go too far at times, with the policies creating unintended consequences.

Briggs said school board members made it clear that student safety is a priority when they approved the expulsion. He just wishes his son — a choir member, Sunday school teacher and Boy Scout leader — could finish the school year with his classmates.

"What got him in trouble was being lost in the moment and buying a cool souvenir for his room," said Briggs, at the April 14 board meeting as he tried to control his tears.

Briggs and Fischbach agreed to interviews with the Pioneer Press on the condition their children's names be withheld from this story. The district said it could not discuss the names of the students or details of the expulsions because of privacy laws.

"We never expected to be expelled," Briggs' son said. "We're not the sort of students that people would expect to do something like this."

"It wasn't like he was buying an M-16," the father said.

The Briggs family is thankful their son was not expelled for the maximum full school year and can return to the district.

The students, who are completing their classes with the help of an assigned teacher, said although they disagreed with the decision, they understood why the school handed out the expulsions.

Superintendent John Currie said the district uses its best judgment on a case-by-case basis.

"We make the best decision we can to protect the safety of everybody involved," he said.

Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, went through a similar situation when he was superintendent in Northfield, Minn.

"Schools are in a real Catch-22," he said.

A popular student once brought a toy gun to the high school, and Kyte had to expel him.

"Had I let him off the hook, the signal would've gone to students that we didn't care about the policy," Kyte said.

A fourth-grader from an Asian immigrant family once brought a big knife, without his parents knowing, for a show-and-tell activity at school because the knife was important in the family, Kyte said.

The student was suspended, he said.

Safety policies vary from district to district, as well as state to state. Some choose a zero-tolerance rule, while others have a "no-tolerance" policy that gives school officials more discretion in discipline.

For the Eagan district, the state's fourth-largest, having a consistent policy is likely more important because of the large student population, Kyte said.

But the problem with zero tolerance is too many students who simply make a mistake and do not intend to harm anyone get punished, said attorney Amy Goetz, who founded the St. Paul-based School Law Center.

She said Minnesota law is vague and lacks a consistent standard, which can lead to students being punished excessively.

"Most parents don't know how easy it is for their children to be ousted from schools," Goetz said.

Mike Roseen, chairman of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board, said district officials take expulsions seriously.

"The process is fair, and the process is equitable," Roseen said. "And if someone gets caught up in something where they made a mistake, I'm sorry about that. There's a policy we're going to go by."

WTF? Second Shot-Penis Theft!!

Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital
Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:22pm BST

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

WTF? Granny used in Gangsta Rap Video

Granny Get Your Gun
Florida man charged with filming 85-year-old woman for gangsta video

APRIL 23--A Florida man is facing elder abuse charges after he allegedly filmed his senile 85-year-old grandmother wearing a ski mask and holding a gun for a "Gangstas and Thugs" street DVD series. Michael Alfinez, 18, was arrested yesterday by Palm Beach sheriff's deputies, who began their probe after a troubling video was seized earlier this year during a traffic stop. According to a sheriff's report, a copy of which you'll find below, Alfinez admitted filming his grandmother, Marie Huertas, and placing a ski mask on the senior citizen. He also acknowledged telling Huertas what to say on the video. Alfinez is pictured in the mug shot at right; Huertas, in a ski mask, can be seen in the adjacent video screen grab. The report notes that Huertas, who is holding a .22-caliber gun and appears "disoriented" in the video, makes a series of profane threats and statements like, "Fuck you if you don't like this," "I'll shoot you," and "Palm Beach County, bitch." When investigators showed Huertas the video, "she appeared to be shocked" at her recorded comments, and remarked, "they are making a criminal out of me." In addition to the abuse charge, Alfinez is facing weapons charges since the video also shows him (and two pals) firing a gun from a moving vehicle. Alfinez said that he got the idea to film his grandmother from an earlier "Gangstas and Thugs" production (which apparently featured another pensioner). Alfinez told investigators that he "knew my grandma could be like that too or better."

Scrapbooking gone Vicious

A scrapbook career in shreds
By Erika Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 15, 2008

RONKONKOMA, N.Y. -- They called her "labelwhore," this 28-year-old rising star in the world of scrapbooking, with a silver stud in her lip and a tattoo in Latin on her left forearm: "Art is long, life is short."

Before the Internet bullies bashed her and judges revoked her title in the scrapbooking Hall of Fame, Kristina Contes basked in a reputation built on making pages dedicated to her designer handbags, her Converse sneakers and the word "dude." She showcased her avant-garde designs on websites like ScrapInStyleTV.com, traveled the country teaching classes, and turned down offers to go to Paris, London and Norway.

It's kind of like being a rock star," Contes said. "It's not what you think scrapbooking is."

A growing legion of 20-something scrapbookers -- with Contes as their pinup -- discovered one another online and bonded over pages that immortalized Coldplay lyrics and honored the Heineken bottle.

The edgier scrapbookers thought of it as an outlet -- much like keeping a diary -- in which they expressed political views, decorated pages of their poetry or paid tribute to television shows like "Project Runway," using torn and faded materials not guaranteed to last long enough for their grandchildren to see.

The new generation stuck out its tongue at traditional scrappers, who cultivated the hobby for decades -- creating folios devoted to baby's first Christmas, their granddaughter's wedding or Sunday's church service -- but rarely featured themselves or their feelings. Conventional scrapbookers, who liked layouts with teddy bear stamps, snowflake stencils and photos of birthday cupcakes, intended for their pages to outlast them.

"They're from the Stepford wife kind of mind-set," Contes said. "You're doing something different, you must be evil."

As popularity soared, scrapbooking -- in all its forms -- exploded into a $2.6-billion industry where enthusiasts young and old, conservative and radical, grudgingly put aside differences to compete in national contests, attend global conventions, build blogs, join chat rooms, create online portfolios, and view YouTube and other online instructional videos.

In that world, Contes stood out.

She created textures with vinyl and made patterns by dabbing bubble wrap in paint. She turned playing cards into mini-scrap pages, cut out curse words from cardboard, and laid out distressed fonts and fisheye photos. She started a blog, co-wrote a book and championed the world of scrapbookers -- until it turned on her.

"Has KC ever done a layout that didn't feature a photograph of herself?"

"My 4 y.o. does better with stickers."

"After you have viewed her work you know she has no class."

"I just want to . . . slap her!"

The trouble in the land of foam stickers and glossy glitter glue all started in February, after Contes won a contest sponsored by one of the industry's most popular magazines, Creating Keepsakes. Her winning pages featured photos of her feet and her hairless terrier, Chloe. Her name went into the magazine's Hall of Fame and her work was published in a book of the top 2007 entries.

But Contes -- inadvertently -- had cheated.

Someone else had taken pictures that ended up in her portfolio. When Contes called Creating Keepsakes to request that her friend receive a photo credit, the staff member approved it without realizing she had broken an entry rule: Submissions had to be solely the contestant's work. The book came out in October with both names published -- to the dismay of thousands.

Disgruntled scrapbookers besieged the Creating Keepsakes chat room threatening to cancel subscriptions, boycott and sue. Scrapbooking bloggers called it "Hall of Fame-Gate," naming it the top scrapbooking scandal of 2007. They compared it to the performance-enhancing-drug controversies involving major league baseball player Barry Bonds and Olympic track star Marion Jones. Someone wrote that Contes was as polarizing a figure as Martha Stewart.

At first, Contes found the uproar amusingly absurd. She replied on her blog: "Apparently, many lives have been destroyed by this catastrophe. The devastation will surely go on for many years to come, and this tragedy will not soon be forgotten."

Her post prompted a barrage of responses on message boards on sites such as Scrap Smack and Two Peas in a Bucket. One message string about her received more than 1,25 comments.

Funeral's are Dangerous I tell ya..

Organist dies playing at funeral
Published: 15 Apr 2008

A CHURCH organist collapsed and died in front of shocked mourners at a funeral.

Brian Markland, 66, passed out seconds after a recital of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Another organist will now play the famous piece in Brian’s honour at HIS funeral today.

The Rev Graham Halsall, who was leading the service, and funeral directors battled in vain to revive the dad of three at St Saviour’s in Bamber Bridge, near Preston, Lancs.

Mr Halsall told how he held Brian’s hand until the end. He said: “It was immensely tragic. He was a gentle man, a great, exquisite organist.”

Wife of 44 years, Anne, 63, said Brian, of Leyland, “touched so many lives through his music”.

A post mortem found he died of heart disease

Now This Is Scary

Knife, Handcuffs Found Among Kids Suspected In Plot To Hurt Teacher

POSTED: 11:44 am EDT April 1, 2008
UPDATED: 2:11 pm EDT April 1, 2008


WAYCROSS, Ga. -- Nine Ware County third-grade students have been suspended from their Waycross elementary school after being accused of bringing several items to school in order to hurt their teacher.

Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner on Tuesday released pictures of the evidence, which includes a steak knife, a paperweight, handcuffs, gloves and several rolls of tape.

According to Tanner, the motive for the plot might have been to get revenge on a teacher after she disciplined a girl in her classroom for standing on a chair.

Authorities got word of the alleged plot at Center Elementary School on Friday when another student reported seeing the knife in the possession of another child.

The 8- and 9-year-olds have been accused of being involved in a plan to harm a teacher, but some parents said the plot was much worse. Channel 4 received several e-mails from parents who claimed the students wanted to kill their teacher.

The headline in Monday's Waycross Journal-Herald read murder.

"I have not heard that word used. The principal says they were planning to harm their teacher," said Theresa Martin, of Ware County Schools.

Investigators confirmed the students brought a steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon and a heavy crystal paperweight to school.

Licensed mental health counselor Audrey Dearborn called the allegations against the third-graders alarming.

"Before you would see these types of behavior in high school. Now, we've skipped the middle school and gone right to the third grade," Dearborn said.

Dearborn said a lot of kids view school as an environment where they have to fight to succeed and be treated fairly, but Dearborn said kids need to be taught that the word fight should not be taken literally.

"They have distorted views about how to handle problems in their society," Dearborn said. "They respond the way the cartoon characters do- - they fight with aggression. This is a cry for help. They are saying, 'I am angry. I am hurt and I am striking out. We need to help them."

Tanner said the parents of the children accused are, "Shocked, saddened, and surprised. This is their worst nightmare."

I think Execution should be used

Cancer patient has PSP stolen en route to chemotherapy treatment
Posted Mar 30th 2008 9:00AM

There's depressing gaming stories, and then there are outright travesties. Unfortunately, this case falls squarely into the latter category, as a 7-year old cancer patient had his beloved PlayStation Portable swiped -- right along with his medical records, a backpack full of medication, his games and even his homework -- while en route to a chemotherapy treatment for a tumor in his brain. Apparently the boy's family had stopped at a restaurant while traveling from Oklahoma to Texas, and while inside, thieves had their way with what was left inside the vehicle. Thankfully, authorities from the Dallas police department came to the rescue by purchasing a brand new PSP and raising over $1,000 to repurchase the goods that were lost, and as for the crooks, we'll just trust karma to handle the rest.

Best Buy Calls the Cops....

Culled from Consumerist

Best Buy called the cops on Alex because he told another shopper that the Jawbone headset he was considering was poor quality and marked up $30 from the manufacturer's price. Alex went to Best Buy to purchase a new Bluetooth headset because the Jawbone he recently purchased from Verizon wasn't cutting it. While browsing the headsets, he struck up a conversation with another customer who was checking out the Jawbone. Alex told his fellow customer that he had been disappointed in the quality of the Jawbone, and that Best Buy was charging $30 more than the manufacturer or Verizon. A sales associate overheard this and told the manager, who asked Alex to leave the store, then threatened to call the police, then did.

Alex called Best Buy's corporate number, but was on hold so long that the police arrived before he could speak with anyone. After getting the manager's information, he left the store, then called Best Buy corporate again, where he spoke with a supervisor who told her that no, actually it's NOT Best Buy's policy to call the cops whenever a customer shares her experiences with another customer, unless it's "disruptive." Alex's email:

Dear Consumerist,

I absolutely love reading your blog and have learned a great deal about the horrors of Best Buy "customer service." But never in a thousand years did I think I'd be sending in my very own Best Buy horror story.

I had recently purchased the Jawbone headset from my local Verizon store based on good reviews, but I quickly discovered my supreme dissatisfaction with it and was looking to replace it with a different brand. On March 5, 2008, at around 9 PM, I entered the Best Buy store in East Brunswick, NJ to see their selection of bluetooth headsets.

The selection of headsets at this Best Buy was dismal, and the merchandising was less than appealing, but that's not why I'm writing. While I was browsing the selection, another customer picked up the Jawbone headset and was taking a look at it. I shared my disappointing experience with the headset and also alerted him to the fact that Best Buy was charging an additional $30 on top of both the manufacturer's price online and Verizon's price. All of this was said within earshot of a sales associate, and I walked away after sharing my experience.

Within 30 seconds, a manager named Tom approached me and asked me to leave the store. I thought he was joking, since I had done absolutely nothing wrong, and I asked Tom for the reason why I needed to leave. According to Tom, "it was policy."

I was incredulous. I've worked far too many retail jobs to know the extent of "power" a manager has over customers, and my intuition told me he was pissed that I lost him a potential sale. I refused to leave the store, based on the fact that I had done nothing wrong and that this so-called policy was pulled out of his ass. Tom walked away and directed an associate to call the police.

I was shocked that Tom treated me like a thief—the cops were coming! I asked Tom for the Best Buy customer service number and immediately called to speak with someone that would knock some sense into trigger-happy Tom. Of course, I had to wait for what seemed like forever to speak with a representative, but before I could actually talk to a live person, the cops came.

Two cops and about four Best Buy associates in tough guy poses stood at the front of the store, obviously creating a dramatic scene. I was calmly waiting for a customer service rep to pick up the phone. I gave up on the customer service line, got the store's phone number and Tom's full name and title and left as per police request.

I have never been so humiliated and infuriated in my life. I felt like my First Amendment rights were violated—all I did was tell a fellow customer my experiences with a product! When I got home I FINALLY spoke to Daniel, a supervisor at Best Buy's customer service line, and he was shocked and appalled at Tom's actions. Daniel confirmed that Tom COULD have asked me to leave, had I been disruptive, then stated that Tom had no right to police a conversation between two customers, regardless of what was said. Daniel apologized profusely, took all of my contact information down, and noted that I had requested to receive a follow up email from a district manager that would deal with the investigation and formal complaint.

As far as I'm concerned, Tom can rot in hell. But I know how retail works, and he'll most likely get some insignificant writeup and a slap on the wrist. What I really want is a massive gift card because of Tom's flagrant abuse of "policy" and for embarrassing the hell out of me in front of the whole store. What steps can I take to get Best Buy to make a customer happy, formally apologize, and give me a free gift card?

Thanks so much. I love the blog and tell all of my friends about it! Keep up the amazing work!

Best,

Alex

We're not big on demanding apologies; money is better. Alex should wait to hear back from the manager he spoke with. If he doesn't hear back or is unsatisfied with Best Buy's response, he should check out The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back to get help writing a formal complaint letter or launching an EECB.