Miscellaneous

What a Sore Loser!

Ever been to Maine? Southern Maine is more or less an extension of Boston and Portsmouth (Fun Fact: Until 1820, Maine was actually part of Massachusetts). But if you travel north of, say, Augusta, you're getting into separated-from-reality territory -- weird folks who want to secede from Maine. They have a novel twist on the New Hampshire way of life -- they're motto is something like "Live Free Or We'll Murder You in Your Sleep." It's cause of the cold -- it sets into their testes and dulls the brain. Also, the isolation -- other people tend to frighten them.

All of which makes this story out of Hartland, Maine not particularly surprising: See: Northern Mainers take their croquet very seriously -- because of their alienation from civilization, they're not familiar with newfangled games like "baseball" and "basketball." Andrew Fox III was playing croquet with his wife and 16-year-old step-son, when it turned kind of nasty. After Andrew lost the game, he punched his step-son in the head and when the kid and his Mom fled to a dead-end street, Andrew barricaded himself into his mobile home.

Then he burned that motherfucker down.

Fortunately for Fox, police dragged him out and put him in handcuffs. Charges are pending. My advice: Take away his croquet mallet.

The best news, however, is that a mother cat and her children were saved from the fire; unfortunately, the whereabouts of the hamsters, rabbits, fish, and other cats inside are not yet known.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on July 09, 2008 (boomark / email).