Singapore, China to build model sustainable city
China National News
Thursday 4th September, 2008
(IANS)

Two Camrose teens who pleaded guilty to killing a neighbour's cat by putting it in a microwave were sentenced to 100 hours of community service Thursday. Justice Shauna Miller ruled the two teenagers will be put on one year probation for their role in the gruesome case. They are also banned from owning a pet for two years and must pay $500 in restitution to the family. They have also been placed on a curfew for one year and aren't allowed to play violent video games. The case comes after two Camrose teenagers, both 16, pleaded guilty in July to unlawfully causing pain and suffering to an animal. The two boys, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, also pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering. Three 16-year-old boys and a 13-year-old teen were charged in early 2008 after a family pet was found dead in a microwave. An RCMP investigation revealed the cat died when the appliance was turned on. The two boys, both 15 at the time of the crime, offered statements to the court before the judge handed down her decision. "I am really sorry for what I did and I can guarantee it will never happen again," one said. "I am very sorry for what I did," the other said. "I can't believe I was involved in something with this intensity of wrongess. I don't plan on hurting or harming any other families."

Court had previously heard the suspects put the cat in the microwave, turned it on for 10 minutes and listened to its screams before it died. A family friend of the homeowners discovered the dead cat, named Princess, on Dec. 30 while the family was away on Christmas vacation. The house had been broken into and trashed. Police later found the words, "The cat is in the microwave. Nice cat. You had a nice cat," scribbled on a kitchen cupboard. Chris Miller, the defence lawyer for one of the teens, says the boys are good kids who did something wrong. "It's an appropriate sentence," he said. "I know that's difficult for some people to accept."

The boys had no previous criminal history leading up to the incident. During the trial, a judge ordered psychological assessments on both teens. A group of animal activist, who stationed themselves outside of the courtroom for all the teenagers' trials, said they are disappointed with the sentencing. "For them to virtually walk away ... it's not that tough of a sentence," said Tove Reece, an activist with Voice for Animals. Two other youth pleaded not guilty to similar charges. Their trial is scheduled for Nov. 17.

WASHINGTON -- It's clearly a case where the U.S. government failed to get all its ducks in a row. Now callers are getting their feathers ruffled over a typographical mix-up in a phone number that tells hunters where to call to buy their duck stamps. The Duck stamps, which cost US$15 a piece, are required to hunt migratory waterfowl in the United States. The carrier card for the duck stamp transposes two numbers so, instead of listing 1-800-782-6724, it lists 1-800-872-6724. The first number spells out 1-800-STAMP24, while the second number spells out 1-800-TRAMP24. As a result, people calling a federal phone number to order duck stamps are greeted instead by a phone-sex line where they are enticed by a husky female voice to "talk only to the girls that turn you on," for $1.99 a minute. The U.S. government uses nearly all the revenue from the stamps to purchase waterfowl habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. In 2006-2007, the latest figures available, duck stamp purchases brought in nearly $22 million. This year's stamps, which feature a pair of northern pintail ducks, went on sale July 1 and are good through June 30 of next year. The error will not be corrected until next year's duck stamps. The Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the program, printed about 3.5 million duck stamps attached to cards with the wrong number. An agency spokeswoman, Rachel Levin, said it would cost $300,000 to reprint them. "I don't know that it would be worth it to do a reprint," she said Thursday. "That's a lot of money we can be using for wildlife conservation. With all of the needs for conservation, it doesn't make sense to divert money away from an important cause." For those people who like to dial by letter, the card does include the proper 1-800-STAMP24. "As best we know, it was a typographical error that was not caught," Levin said, stressing that the stamps are still valid. The agency first learned of the mistake a few days ago, when a duck stamp owner informed them about the glitch. Levin said the agency has not received any complaints. The error, which was first reported Wednesday by Denver TV station KUSA, is limited to self-adhesive versions of the stamps. The moistened version, which is printed in much smaller numbers, does not come with a carrier card. The government uses a contractor, Ashton Potter Security Printers of Williamsville, N.Y., to print the duck stamps. Levin said she did not know whether the error was made by the government or by the company. Ashton Potter's president and chief executive, Barry Switzer, said that the company was provided with the wrong telephone number. "We reproduced the wrong number correctly," he said. "We regret this whole situation happened, but we did our job properly."