By JERRIE WHITELEY
Herald Democrat
Andre Thomas’ attorneys say he will now get the mental health treatment they have begged for since he arrived on Texas’ Death Row in 2005.
Bobbie Peterson-Cate represented Thomas when Grayson County jurors convicted him of killing and cutting the heart out of 13-month-old Leyha Marie Hughes, March 27, 2004. State authorities put Thomas in a prison psychiatric treatment unit after he pulled out his left eye and ate it on Dec. 9.
By Stephen Adams
Days after Rodney Griffiths returned home from a four-month tour of Helmand province with 16 Air Assault Brigade, the family's pet dog Bella mysteriously died.
Son Ricky, 16, then spotted the giant spider, prompting the soldier's wife Lorraine to move the family out of their four-bedroom army home in Colchester, Essex.
Mother-of-four Mrs Griffiths, 37, said: "Ricky saw a huge spider and screamed to his sister Cassie. They tried to put a pint-glass over it but it was too big, they poked it with a coat hanger and the spider bit it. The dog came in, jumped on the bed and barked at it. The spider hissed and Bella went running out whimpering."
Days later the family took Bella to the vet with a high temperature and swollen stomach. She had to be put down. Mrs Griffiths said she thought her death "too much of a coincidence" although the vet could not say why the dog died.
After scouring the internet for spider descriptions they decided the culprit was a camel spider.
She said: "I think it must have hitched a lift back with my husband in June."
What's brownish-purple, goes to the beach and stinks of rotting flesh?
New York's celebrity-obsessed Hamptons summer season got even sillier this week when a strange-looking, very dead creature washed up on a beach in Montauk at the far eastern end of New York's Long Island.
On Tuesday afternoon, a photo was posted on Gawker, the Big Apple's reigning gossip blog, which treated the Montauk monster with characteristic respect: "Good Luck With Your Hell Demons."
The animal looks like a bloated, hairless dog, except that it's got an eagle-like beak, a prominent brow ridge and a curiously elongated front paw.
By Keith Eldridge
PARKLAND, Wash. -- Unfed puppies may be to blame for the gruesome attack on the wheelchair-bound cancer patient who was critically injured while trapped inside his own home.
Investigators said 55-year-old Michael Warner was put in an unthinkable situation by his daughter and her friend who was also Warner's unlicensed caretaker.
Warner was attacked after he was left lying on the floor of his Parkland home in the 12100 block of Sixth Avenue East with 18 puppies and several adult dogs who had been given no food for days, investigators said.
Warner is unable to care for or defend himself due to his deteriorating medical condition.
"We believe some animals were left behind that were not fed and some of the puppies got to him," said Pierce County Det. Ed Troyer. "Not intentionally attacked him, but used him as a food source. There's just not a nicer way to say it.
"They just didn't know any better and he was on the floor, incapacitated for a couple of days, and became a victim of that."
Warner is believed to have been alone at the home for several days. As of Monday afternoon, he remained in critical condition and was unable to communicate with detectives.
The case came to light Friday when Yvonne Bell brought her father to Tacoma General Hospital with injuries. Bell and her friend, Jennifer Markwith, were arrested, accused of failing to take care of Warner.
"We believe there may be some drugs involved," Troyer said.
The pair's Monday court appearance was rescheduled as no charges had been filed against them. Possible criminal neglect charges are pending investigation. However, neighbor Anna Bruun believes the pair is responsible for Warner's attack.
"I mean, there's no excuse and it's deplorable," she said.
Bruun said she has complained about the dogs several times to animal control after a woman was bitten a few months ago. She also said Warner had been left alone at the home in the past, and had stumbled over to her house for help.
"Once I had to call 911 because he came over and collapsed in our front yard and so they came and took him away. And there was nobody there (at the home)," she said.
Another neighbor, Steve Majerick, said he talked to some of the officers who came to home, and was sickened by what he heard.
"According to what one of the officers said, there was quite a lot of feces and everything just in the rooms, which is a nightmare," he said.
Some neighbors claim seven or eight of the dogs have been a neighborhood menace for some time, barking and scaring people who walk by and chasing others back into their homes when they tried to go outside.
Warner's relatives, who live in Shelton, said they were shocked and angry to hear the news of their brother's attack. Warner's sisters, who said they had not seen or heard from their brother for some time, said they're now heartsick over his grave condition.
"That's awful that somebody could do that to somebody, not take care of them like you're supposed to. It's horrible," said sister Shirley Adams.
"I hope they throw the book at her (Bell)," said sister Michelle Wishon. "That's pure neglect and if he dies, it should be considered manslaughter. Not only that, but they neglected all those animals."
No charges have been filed against Bell in this case; however, she was to be transferred to the Kitsap County Jail on a domestic violence charge. Markwith was to be released, but faces several complaints through Kitsap Animal Control concerning her dogs.
The dogs, of all different ages and breeds, were rounded up and impounded.
Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.
"This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.
He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.
Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.
But Ho doubted they would thrive in the warm water needed for a comfortable footbath. And he didn't know if customers would like the idea.
"I know people were a little intimidated at first," Ho said. "But I just said, 'Let's give it a shot.' "
Customers were quickly hooked.
Tracy Roberts, 33, of Rockville, Md., heard about it on a local radio show. She said it was "the best pedicure I ever had" and has spread the word to friends and co-workers.
"I'd been an athlete all my life, so I've always had calluses on my feet. This was the first time somebody got rid of my calluses completely," she said.
First time customer KaNin Reese, 32, of Washington, described the tingling sensation created by the toothless fish: "It kind of feels like your foot's asleep," she said.
The fish don't do the job alone. After 15 to 30 minutes in the tank, customers get a standard pedicure, made easier by the soft skin the doctor fish leave behind.
Ho believes his is the only salon in the country to offer the treatment, which costs $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for 30 minutes. The spa has more than 1,000 fish, with about 100 in each individual pedicure tank at any given time.
Dennis Arnold, a podiatrist who four years ago established the International Pedicure Association, said he had never heard of the treatment and doubts it will become widespread.
"I think most people would be afraid of it," he said.
Customer Patsy Fisher, 42, of Crofton, Md., admitted she was nervous as she prepared for her first fish pedicure. But her apprehension dissolved into laughter after she put her feet in the tank and the fish swarmed to her toes.
"It's a little ticklish, actually," she said.
Ho said the hot water in which the fish thrive doesn't support much plant or aquatic life, so they learned to feed on whatever food sources were available — including dead, flaking skin. They leave live skin alone because, without teeth, they can't bite it off.
In addition to offering pedicures, Ho hopes to establish a network of Doctor Fish Massage franchises and is evaluating a full-body fish treatment that, among other things, could treat psoriasis and other skin ailments.
Ho spent a year and about $40,000 getting the pedicures up and running, with a few hiccups along the way.
State regulations make no provision for regulating fish pedicures. But the county health department — which does regulate pools — required the salon to switch from a shallow, tiled communal pool that served as many as eight people to individual tanks in which the water is changed for each customer.
The communal pool also presented its own problem: At times the fish would flock to the feet of an individual with a surplus of dead skin, leaving others with a dearth of fish.
"It would sometimes be embarrassing for them but it was also really hilarious," Ho said.
