Mid-Daily Items: Pabst is World’s Ugliest Dog

June 29, 2009 10:49 am

— A prominent under-bite, scrunched face and floppy ears are the hallmarks of a winner. That is the winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog contest. Pabst, a boxer-mix rescued from a shelter by Miles Egstad of Citrus Heights, Calif., won the annual contest on Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Northern California. It was an upset victory for Pabst, who beat former champion Rascal, a pedigree Chinese Crested. Pabst’s owner took home $1,600 in prize money, pet supplies and a modeling contract with House of Dog. Miss Ellie, a blind 15-year-old Chinese Crested Hairless, won the pedigree category.

— Naked time got a little too public for a former Georgia mayor. Authorities arrested Mark Musselwhite and charged him with public indecency after state Department of Natural Resources officers found him sitting nude at his Rabun County, Georgia, campsite. Officers had received a complaint about a naked man walking along a nearby road earlier in the day, but the 43-year-old Musselwhite said he was not the same man. Musselwhite told the DNR officer he had been swimming in a nearby creek. The Republican was elected to the Gainesville City Council in 2000, where he served for six years, including a stint as mayor. He lost a bid for a state Senate seat in 2006. Musselwhite could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press on Saturday.

— Parents are proud of their children when they excel. But in the case of a high school secretary, her daughter did not excel as she expected. So mom allegedly changed her daughter’s grades in a school computer system to improve her class standing. Caroline Maria McNeal of Huntingdon is accused of using the passwords of three co-workers without their knowledge to tamper with dozens of grades and test scores between May 2006 and July 2007 at Huntingdon Area High School in central Pennsylvania, the state attorney general’s office said. Criminal charges were filed against her Thursday. McNeal, 39, is alleged to have improved her daughter Brittany’s grades and reduced those of two classmates to enhance Brittany’s standing in the 2008 graduating class. School officials corrected the grades before the students graduated, prosecutors said. In all, McNeal is accused of altering nearly 200 scores and grades covering four school years. The situation came to light in October 2007, when an employee of the high school guidance office discovered conflicting SAT scores for Brittany McNeal, who is not charged with any wrongdoing.McNeal was charged with 29 counts of unlawful use of a computer and 29 counts of tampering with public records. Each count is a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine, said Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office.

— Police say a California man donning a bustier and watching porn on a computer in an apartment complex gym was arrested after officers found drugs in his backpack. Sgt. Todd Bullock says 45-year-old Stephen Murdoch of Tustin was arrested early Tuesday after a security guard spotted him in a workout room that was supposed to be closed and locked. When police peered inside, they saw Murdoch — also in a miniskirt, fishnet stockings and heels — hiding behind exercise equipment and watching an adult film on a laptop. Officers noticed Murdoch was sweating profusely and talking quickly. They arrested him on suspicion of drug possession after allegedly finding marijuana, methamphetamine and pipes in his bag.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.