News to make you giggle
Crime Blotter: Ice Cream Man Punches Boy
Plus: Alleged Panties Thief Arrested, and a Chicken Gets Ticketed for Jaywalking

May. 12, 2005 - An ice cream vendor gets cooled off for allegedly being hot-headed with a young customer; an alleged women's underwear thief is caught; and a chicken gets ticketed for crossing the road. Why do some people commit some peculiar crimes? To be immortalized in weekly editions of "The Crime Blotter."

Rocky Road for Ice Cream Vendor
PITTSBURGH -- Anger management awaits an ice cream man who got so hot under the collar with a young customer that he allegedly punched the boy.

A judge has placed Nazzareno Didiano, 44, on probation and ordered him to attend anger management classes for allegedly punching a 13-year-old boy who complained about the cost of his ice cream. In May 2004, Didiano, a vendor for Paul's Ice Cream Co., allegedly attacked the boy after the two had a verbal squabble.

At trial, the boy, now 14, told the judge that Didiano attacked him as he sat on his bike, punched him in the face and slammed him into a wall. Didiano admitted that they had a confrontation but denied punching the boy. He said the boy started the confrontation by calling him various obscenities.

"He instigated the whole thing," Didiano said. "I wanted to tell him I didn't appreciate being talked to like that."

Didiano was convicted of simple assault. He has since lost his vendor job with Paul's Ice Cream.

Alleged Underwear Thief Arrested
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- A man was caught panty-handed when police arrested him outside a college dorm.

On May 7, James Brian Eberle, 32, was arrested outside Shaw Hall dormitory at Westminster College with his pants stuffed with women's underwear, police said. Authorities had received multiple reports about a man lurking outside the dorm's laundry room.

Police said they decided to arrest Eberle after they noticed him hanging out outside the laundry room. He has been charged with burglary, criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

Chicken Gets Jaywalking Ticket
RIDGECREST, Calif. -- A chicken has been ticketed for crossing the road.

Linc and Helena Moore are challenging a ticket they received when one of their chickens allegedly held up traffic on a road in Johannesburg, a rural mining community near Ridgecrest. Kern County Sheriff's department officials have not commented on the Moores' case but they said chickens partially blocking the roadways in Johannesburg has been a persistent problem in the community and that they didn't believe warnings were enough to effectively address the issue.

However, the Moores said they believe they were ticketed because they have complained that sheriff's deputies have not done enough to control off-road vehicle riders who disrupt the neighborhood by damaging the roads, causing noise and kicking up dust. Sheriff's deputies believe they do their best to keep off-road riders away from homes and deny the Moores were targeted.

ABC News: Crime Blotter: Ice Cream Man Punches Boy

Bill puts page limit on California textbooks
Old news but funny
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The California Assembly is betting that kids learn more with small books.

Lawmakers voted Thursday to ban school districts from purchasing textbooks longer than 200 pages.

The bill, believed to be the first of its kind nationwide, was hailed by supporters as a way to revolutionize education.

Critics lambasted Assembly Bill 756 as silly.

"This bill is really the epitome of micromanagement," said Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Northridge. "(It's) absolutely ridiculous."

"With all due respect," said Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, "this Legislature worries more about the rules than they do about whether children learn."

But Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, a Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, said critics are thinking too narrowly.

California schools are teaching kids with the same kinds of massive books that were used generations ago, though the world has changed significantly, Goldberg said.

The workplace increasingly demands more than the ability to read page 435 of some manual. It requires expertise in using the Internet to research and solve problems, according to Goldberg.

"Our textbooks are not going to be able to meet that standard," said Goldberg, a former high school teacher. "I think it's time for us to begin to approach the problem in a different way."

AB 756 would force publishers to condense key ideas, basic problems and basic knowledge into 200 pages, then to provide a rich appendix with Web sites where students can go for more information.

AB 756 was approved by a vote of 42-28, with most Republicans opposing the measure. It now goes to the Senate.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken no position on the bill.

The text of AB 756 says it could reduce the cost and weight of textbooks. Lawmakers were given no estimates, however, of potential impacts to student backpacks or campus coffers.

Goldberg said the thrust of her bill is learning, not economics.

"We're talking about a dynamic education system that brings young people into being a part of the learning process," she said.

No position on AB 756 has been taken by Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, or by education groups ranging from the California Teachers Association to the California School Boards Association.

The Association of American Publishers opposes the bill, saying the arbitrary 200-page limit could force publishers to produce multiple volumes to cover the state's content standards.

Textbooks would have to be restructured, the group contends.

"To do this will increase the costs of instructional materials without adding any instructional value," lobbyist Dale Shimasaki, representing publishers, said in a letter of opposition.

Goldberg said she's willing to negotiate over specifics, but that publishers have been uncooperative.

Her bill would apply to future purchases, not existing textbooks.

Michael Kirst, a Stanford education professor and co-director of Policy Analysis for Education, said he's never heard of any such bill nationwide.

"There's no track record that anyone can draw on," he said.

One key question, he said, is whether a 200-page limit would be equally practical for every subject - from math to social science.

"And you'd have to know how aligned the materials are on the Internet with our education standards," he said. "I don't know that anybody has done that."

Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for O'Connell, said that not every student - at school or home - has ready access to the Internet.

"You can't carry the computer home with you," said Bill Hauck, president of California Business Roundtable.

"Our problem in California is not the size of textbooks, it's that we have large achievement gaps that need to be closed," he said.

Penny Kastanis, executive director of the California School Library Association, said the Internet is vitally important, but not always accurate.

Books still are valuable, she said.

"What we're finding more and more is that people are saying, 'Who needs an encyclopedia? Who needs an almanac? Just go to the Internet, it's all there.' Well, it's not all there."

Goldberg said homework can be drawn from the 200-page textbooks. Students using campus computers can be referred to accurate Web sites. Problems aren't insurmountable.

"(AB 756) says don't give students a predigested version of what U.S. history is, let them explore the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress," Goldberg said.

"It's time for California to be the leader that it always has been."
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