Safe-sex message ends in student suspension
KISSIMMEE, Fla. “”mdash; Osceola High School administrators
thought a student’s Halloween costume was more trick than
treat. So they suspended her.
Lanessa Riobe, 16, was told to go home Friday after wearing a
T-shirt decorated with condoms. Lanessa said she decided on the
costume after seeing safe-sex commercials on television.
“A lot of my friends are sexually active,” Riobe
told the Orlando Sentinel. “I tell them, if you’re
going to do it, be safe.”
Riobe taped condoms to a white T-shirt and began passing them
out to her classmates. Her first-period teacher alerted school
administrators, who sent her home with a three-day suspension for
class disruption. They also said she had an insolent attitude.
Osceola High principal Chuck Paradiso later reduced the
suspension to one day.
“˜”˜This is not acceptable,” he said.
“˜”˜This is something you don’t do in a public
school.”
Riobes’ mother, Melissa, supported her daughter’s
decision, and even helped her get the condoms for the costume.
“˜”˜Sex can be deadly, and people need to know
that,” Melissa Riobe said. “˜”˜I just
can’t believe they suspended her for doing something
good.”
Zoo conducts “˜monkey drive’
OMAHA, Neb. “”mdash; It was the zoo equivalent of a cattle drive:
Monkeys rounded up to be taken inside for the winter.
Only it wasn’t a dry and dusty job Saturday for workers at
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo because the 17 monkeys live on
islands in an outdoor lagoon.
Human and primate alike got wet.
Several monkeys climbed an artificial tree that covers much of
the main island. As three workers climbed the tree, the monkeys
went even higher and moved onto the tips of the branches.
“˜”˜It’s a good environment for them, except on
capture day,” said veterinarian Doug Armstrong.
“˜”˜There are a lot of places for them to
hide.”
Zoo workers gently prodded one monkey to lower branches, but the
creature quickly grabbed a rope to reach another island. Two
zookeepers jumped into the lagoon and picked up the monkey from
behind, just as another zookeeper in a rowboat closed in.
The monkey was placed in a pet carrier and quickly became
quiet.
Monkeys may seem uncooperative on moving day, Armstrong said,
but they do accept their capture.
“˜”˜Almost all of them have been through this
before,” he said.
Infant born with distinction
LINCOLN, Neb. “”mdash; Emma Jean Anderson is only 3 weeks old,
but already she has a certificate to hang on the wall.
The daughter of Doug and Denise Anderson was bestowed the
distinction of honorary firefighter by the emergency workers who
helped bring her into the world ““ in her family’s
living room.
Emergency workers Peter Eppens, Shawn Podraza, Matthew Dowell,
Jeff Hatcher and Dave Lorenzen also received recognition Saturday
for going above and beyond the call of duty for delivering Emma
Jean.
They arrived at the Anderson home early Oct. 12 to find Emma
Jean just about ready to make her grand entrance. But Emma Jean had
decided she wanted to be different and come out bottom first.
“We could lose this baby,” Eppens had thought to
himself as they positioned Denise Anderson to rotate Emma Jean in
the birth canal.
In the end, everything turned out fine. Emma Jean opened her
eyes wide and she was laid on her mother’s chest.
“It was pretty amazing,” remembered Doug
Anderson.
Reports from Daily Bruin wire services.