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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 26, 2007

SURVEY SAYS ...

POLL: POLITICIANS SHOULD BE SWAYABLE, YET STEADFAST

According to research released by the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of Americans like politicians who are willing to compromise. Not only that, but 67 percent like politicians who stick with their opinions, even if they (the opinions, we presume) are unpopular. Which, best we can tell, means that at least 42 percent of Americans didn't understand the questions. Maybe more.

GET A HOLSTER

Where's my gun?! Where's my bullet?!

An officer in New Bern, N.C., was Code 7 (out of service to eat) when he needed to take care of a 10-100 (go to the rest room), but that's when he inadvertently committed a ... well, it appears there is no copspeak for "forgot his gun in a public bathroom." But that's what happened when one of New Bern's finest was answering a call while at lunch at the local Subway, according to the New Bern Sun Journal. The nearly foot-long weapon was found quickly, probably by the next 10-100, and another officer dispatched to pick it up. The hungry, forgetful officer's name has not been released.

Gun control starts with locking the car

Memphis police are in search of some stolen guns. Missing are three machine guns, two semiautomatic handguns and two 12-gauge shot guns, according to the Commercial Appeal. Police know that stolen guns are often used in the commission of crimes, because they are almost always stolen by criminals. What makes the police want these guns back even more is that they were stolen from the police. A Raleigh, N.C., SWAT team was on its way to a training seminar - maybe to learn about gun security - when it decided to get some lunch a barbecue joint in Memphis. A noble plan, to be sure, but always keep an eye on the firearms. Two guys are on video breaking into the SWAT van and making off with the weapons.

THEY REALLY SAID IT

Try nylon straps

"Texas drivers hauling loads of materials are required to secure those materials so that they don't become dislodged and scattered about the roadway. It's probably ill-advised to try to secure them with persons. A tarp or a strap is a much better mechanism."

- Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman in Fort Worth, Texas, after a man was killed in an accident. Two men were in the back of a pickup truck holding down sheets of plywood when the plywood flew out of the truck, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram. One of the men suffered fatal head wounds.

His final words

"We all got to go sometime, some sooner than others. I'm going to be busy getting the Browns to the Super Bowl. Working magic."

- The last statement of James Filiaggi, executed Tuesday in Ohio. Filiaggi was executed for the 1994 murder of his ex-wife.

Compiled from Times wires and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster.

[Last modified April 26, 2007, 02:12:25]