Reason – October 2018

BRICKBATS

Illustrations: Terry Colon

venue. At least two members

of the City Council at the time

say they were unaware of

that decision, and a local TV

station reports the project

was not mentioned in the

“action plan” that council

members voted on or in the

analysis prepared for them.

For 25 years, Meanley and

Son Hardware in San Diego

has offered free popcorn to

customers. That tradition has

come to an end thanks to a

local health inspector, who

found the store was serving

food without a license. The

inspector ordered store own-

ers to comply with

local regula-

tions, which

would require

installing a

three-basin

sink, or to

remove the

popcorn

machine.

For his senior

prank, Kylan

Scheele listed

Truman High

School in Mis-

souri for sale on

Craigslist. The ask-

ing price was just $1 2,275.

School officials suspended

him for the remainder of the

school year and barred him

from taking part in gradu-

ation ceremonies. They

say the ad was an “implied

threat” because it men-

tioned a “loss of student s

coming up.” Scheele says he

was referring to the graduat-

ing class.

The operating rooms at the

Veterans Administration

West Los Angeles Medical

Center have had to post-

pone surgeries and were

closed for a total of 22 days

between November 2016

and February 2018 because

of an ongoing fly infestation.

An investigation by a local

T V station found the hos-

pital still has a fly problem,

with traps in the hallways

and patient rooms.

Kenilwor th, New Jersey,

schools superintendent

Thomas Tramaglini has been

charged with public defeca-

tion, lewdness, and littering

af ter being caught on video

relieving himself on the

Holm del High School foot-

ball field and track. School

officials say they set up sur-

veillance cameras after find-

ing human feces at or near

the field almost daily.

The Anvil Centre, which is

owned and operated by the

city government of New

Westminster, British Colum-

bia, canceled a Christian

youth event after officials

found that one of the speak-

ers is a critic of the province’s

sexual identity and orienta-

tion curriculum for schools.

Students in Pennsylvania’s

Northern Lebanon School

Distric t must smile when

they are in school hallways

between classes, according

to complaints by students

and parents. Pupils caught

without their happy face on

are told to smile or go to a

counselor to discuss their

problems. If they refuse

those options, they ’re given

detention.

Police and firefighters in Mas-

sachusetts cordoned off Hol-

liston High School and pulled

a student out of class after

receiving an anonymous call

that they believed claimed the

student had a bomb in his or

her car. Upon further investi-

gation, they realized they had

misunderstood the complaint.

The student who called in had

reported seeing a bong, not a

bomb, in the vehicle.

—CHARLES OLIVER

Brad Martell had been feed-
ing birds in the backyard of
his Melbourne, Australia,
home for 20 years. Then a
new neighbor moved in who
didn’t appreciate Martell’s
hobby. The neighbor com-
plained to local officials, who
fined Martell $200 for feeding
wildlife. Martell reduced the
amount he feeds the birds
and moved the feedings
to his front yard. But a few
weeks later, he got a sum-
mons for nine more charges.
It seems local officials had
been covertly spying on him
and caught him continuing to
feed the birds.

Nashville officials spent $7.4
million in federal funds that
were supposed to go to
victims of a flood in 2010 to
design a downtown concert

72 OCTOBER 2018