oddly enough

oddly enough

Fire company uses purple truck to focus on domestic violence

ALTOONA, Pa.

A central Pennsylvania volunteer fire company is using a purple firetruck to raise awareness of domestic violence.

The Newburg Fire Company in Logan Township uses the truck in parades and other public events, but it’s no longer used to fight fires. Although many people know October is a month when pink objects call attention to breast cancer, it’s also the month designated to raise awareness of domestic violence.

Tory Schwarze, a Newburg EMT, tells WJAC-TV that other fire departments in the country have purple trucks, but officials believe the Newburg vehicle is the only one painted that color for domestic violence.

The neighboring Altoona fire department donated the truck to the volunteer company in 2012.

The firetruck even has its own Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1PidBgh.

Connecticut university student arrested over mac and cheese

STORRS, Conn.

A University of Connecticut student faces criminal charges over a confrontation with a campus food-court manager who wouldn’t let him buy macaroni and cheese with bacon and jalapeno peppers.

A nine-minute, obscenity-laced video clip posted online shows freshman Luke Gatti arguing with and eventually shoving the manager inside the university’s student union in Storrs on Sunday night. Police and the manager said Gatti had been refused service for carrying an open alcohol container.

The video shows the apparently intoxicated 19-year-old questioning why in America he can’t have beer in the building. He uses a gay slur against the manager and repeatedly demands, “Just give me some [expletive] bacon-jalapeno mac and cheese.”

After shoving the manager, Gatti is tackled by another employee, is arrested by a police officer and spits at the manager before being led out of the building.

Gatti, who’s from Bayville, N.Y., did not return a phone call or an email seeking a comment. He’s charged with breach of peace and criminal trespass and is due in court Tuesday.

Federal privacy laws prevent UConn from commenting on whether Gatti faces any university sanctions, UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said.

“Generally speaking,” she said, “any UConn student found to have violated the provisions of the Student Code may face penalties imposed by the Division of Student Affairs that range from probation to expulsion.”

Gatti previously was a student at the University of Massachusetts and was arrested twice last year on disorderly conduct charges, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Mass.

During one of those arrests, he was accused of using a racial slur against a police officer, court filings show.

Associated Press