ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Customs officials probe use of helicopter for school stunt

McLEAN, Va.

After a government helicopter was used in an over-the-top invitation to a high school dance, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are reviewing the incident and an agency pilot has been reassigned.

It happened last week at Patriot High School in Nokesville, a suburb of Washington, D.C. As part of an invitation to a fall dance, a student arranged for a Customs pilot to fly over the school and drop a stuffed teddy bear onto the football field.

The agency said Tuesday it is reviewing the incident and the pilot has been reassigned to administrative duties.

Neither school administrators nor officials at the federal agency would say how the student and pilot were connected.

It was not clear whether the student who received the bear accepted the invitation.

Vt. man accused of crushing cruisers is charged again

NEWPORT, Vt.

A Vermont man charged with driving a tractor over seven police vehicles and crushing them is facing another charge.

The Orleans County court says Roger Pion was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of driving with a suspended license.

Pion already faced 14 criminal counts after police say he drove his dad’s tractor over six cruisers and a van at the county sheriff’s department in Derby on Aug. 2.

Police say he then drove the tractor toward downtown Newport before they stopped him. They say he’d been angry over a previous arrest for marijuana possession.

Pion has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He received financial support from people worldwide after his arrest. He thanked them when he left a correctional facility last month and said he had no regrets. His lawyer says the latest charge “seems gratuitous.”

Official tries to take gun on flight

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Albuquerque airport officials say the second-in-command of New Mexico’s domestic security agency was caught trying to bring a loaded gun through a security checkpoint.

State Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Anita Tallarico told Albuquerque Sunport police that she forgot to leave the weapon at home when TSA agents spotted it in her purse in a scanner Friday.

KOB-TV reported that Tallarico told TSA officials she was distraught because she was going to a funeral. She was cited for unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon.

Airport police chief Marshall Katz says he’s not sure how a person of Tallarico’s position could make such a slip-up, but added that it happens frequently nationwide.

Tallarico’s gun was turned over to city police as evidence.

Associated Press