Mid-Daily Items: Jedi Justice

May 13, 2008 12:06 pm

— The Stars Wars court probably won’t be hearing this case.
A man who dressed up as Darth Vader, wearing a garbage bag for a cape, and assaulted the founders of a group calling itself the Jedi church was given a suspended sentence in a down-to-earth court in Wales on Tuesday.
Arwel Wynne Hughes, 27, attacked Jedi church founder Barney Jones — aka Master Jonba Hehol — with a metal crutch, hitting him on the head, prosecutors told Holyhead Magistrates' Court.
He also whacked Jones' 18-year-old cousin, Michael Jones — known as Master Mormi Hehol — bruising his thigh in the March 25 incident, prosecutors said.
The two cousins and Barney Jones' brother, Daniel, set up the Church of Jediism, Anglesey order, last year. Jedi is the faith followed by some of the central characters in the "Star Wars" films.
The group, which claims about 30 members, says on its Web site that it uses "insight and knowledge" from the films as "a guide to living a better and more worthwhile life."
"We all love the films and what they stand for. Obviously some people are going to laugh about it. But a lot of people do take it seriously."
District Judge Andrew Shaw sentenced Hughes to two months in jail but suspended the sentence for one year. He also ordered Hughes to pay $195 to each of his victims and $117 in court costs.

- Now for an Australian guy who really has some mixed up priorities.
The man was fined after buckling in a case of beer with a seat belt, but leaving a 5-year-old child to sit on the car's floor, police said Tuesday.
Constable Wayne Burnett said he was "shocked and appalled" when he pulled over the unregistered car Friday in the central Australian town of Alice Springs.
The 30-can beer case was strapped in between two adults sitting in the back seat of the car. The child was also in back, but on the car's floor.
"The child was sitting in the lump in the center, unrestrained," Burnett told reporters Tuesday.
"I haven't ever seen something like this before," he said. "This is the first time that the beer has taken priority over a child."
The driver was fined 750 Australian dollars — about $710 — for driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle and for failing to ensure a child was wearing a safety belt.

- The next time that exercise class at the gyn seems like it will never end, think about George Hood of Aurora, Ill.
Hood spent about 177 hours over eight days riding a spinning bike at his suburban Chicago YMCA.
He rode the equivalent of 2,016 miles, burned more than 46,000 calories and never slept for more than 12 minutes at a time.
The retired Drug Enforcement Agency investigator began his ride on May 5 and finished early Monday. He was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.
He had held the record until last summer after spending 111 hours, 11 minutes and 11 seconds on a bike. That record was broken by another cyclist from Tasmania.