Country music singer Steve Wariner sued a fan he claims has been stalking him since 1989, when she lied that her son had terminal cancer to get backstage, and claims she recently posted online about him: "We do it all the time spiritually." Steve Wariner and his wife sued Linda Marie Shinn in Harris County Court. Wariner, 58, has released 18 albums, including three that went gold by selling 500,000 copies. Wariner's current tour includes four upcoming shows in Texas and he wants a restraining order to keep Shinn away from him. "In 1989, Steve Wariner, a country music entertainer, performed at the Astrodome for the Houston Rodeo in Houston, Texas," the lawsuit states. "Following the performance, Steve Wariner agreed to meet with a group of children from the Make-A-Wish foundation. During this meeting, Steve Wariner met defendant and one of her sons for the first time. At the meeting, defendant stated that her son was dying of cancer and that Steve Wariner was his favorite performer. "Over the next few years, defendant and her son showed up at other performances when Steve Wariner performed near the Houston area. Plaintiffs frequently brought defendant and her son backstage at these performances and would pose for pictures or sign autographs. Eventually, plaintiffs discovered that defendant's claim that her son was dying of cancer was completely false. In fact, plaintiffs were informed that defendant's son had never been diagnosed with cancer. Once defendant's lies were discovered, plaintiffs stopped allowing her backstage at these performances. However, on a few occasions afterwards defendant somehow managed to gain access to the backstage area at Steve Wariner's performances without having the proper credentials." Then Shinn started mailing the Wariners dozens of letters asking for money, and claiming they were her best friends though she barely knew them, the Wariners say in the complaint. Wariner says he never responded to any of the letters and sent Shinn a cease-and-desist notice, which she "wholly disregarded," and continued bombarding him with letters. "Over the next twenty years, defendant continued contacting plaintiffs on numerous occasions by showing up at meet and greets, calling venues where Steve Wariner was performing, calling into radio interviews when plaintiff was being interviewed, contacting plaintiff's employees, booking agents and family," the complaint states. "During these interactions, defendant told numerous lies in an attempt to gather personal information about plaintiffs. ... "With the invention of social media, defendant has been a nightmare to plaintiffs. Defendant makes almost daily posts on her MySpace and Facebook page and on fan-sites making outrageously false statements that she is Steve Wariner's girlfriend and that Steve Wariner is the father of her child." Wariner claims that Shinn's harassment took an ominous turn when she warned him in an email that she was going to Nashville, and if she did not see him, he "would 'know what will happen' and that (he) 'would not like it.'" Wariner claims he called the Williamson County Sheriff's Office in Franklin, Tenn. and filed a complaint against Shinn, who was arrested on a harassment charge at Nashville International Airport when she arrived on May 20.Linda was sentenced to probation and ordered not to have any contact with Steve via Facebook, email, or at his performances, but she continued to harass Steve. He's scheduled to perform four times in Texas in August and September and Linda has told him she's already purchased tickets to several of the shows and expects to meet him. Oh, she also told him he better be separated or divorced from his wife by the time of these performances -- or else! Batshit craziness, we tell you. Steve is seeking a restraining order to keep Linda from contacting him and his wife and to keep her at least 500 yards away. Good luck with that. Sounds like Linda is mentally ill and needs psychological help -- or take her computer away.
source: CN
"Real Housewives of Atlanta" star NeNe Leakes is being sued by her "celebrity wedding planner" -- who claims NeNe racked up a MILLION DOLLAR bill for her big day ... and never paid, TMZ has learned. The woman going after Leakes is Tiffany Cook -- who claims NeNe hired Dream Design Weddings to coordinate the party for her marriage to Gregg Leakes on June 22, 2013 ... a wedding that will featured on a Bravo TV special in September. In her suit, filed in Georgia, Cook claims Leakes promised to pay her 15% of the entire wedding budget PLUS fees design and execution of the wedding PLUS travel expenses to the event. In total, Cook claims NeNe's budget for the wedding was $1.8 MILLION!!!!!!!!! And Cook claims she was due $270k (the 15%) PLUS another $889,900 (design fees) PLUS $1,750 (4 coach tickets from Florida to Georgia). Cook claims NeNe did fork over the initial down payment ($18,750) ... but she hasn't seen a penny since -- and is suing for the remaining $1,142,900 balance ... PLUS damages. In total, Cook -- who also put together Kordell Stewart's wedding to Porsha -- wants more than $2.5 MILLION for her troubles.The folks over at TMZ, reached out to Linnethia's spokesperson, who told them Tony Conway was the wedding planner, not Tiffany, therefore her "lawsuit has no merit and it appears to be a baseless attempt to grab 15 min of fame."
source: TMZ
Florida police are investigating the theft of “three strap-on dildos” that were allegedly taken from a storage unit by a female suspect after she broke up with her girlfriend following a rocky year-long relationship. As detailed in an Indian River County Sheriff’s Office report, Ashley Rivera contacted cops earlier this month to report that her ex “gained access to her storage unit and removed some of her belongings.” Rivera, a 23-year-old Fort Pierce resident, said that she had allowed the suspect to keep some items in the Stor-All unit, which held furniture, electronics, clothes, and photographs belonging to Rivera and her family. Rivera also noted that the storage unit contained “three strap-on dildos and handcuffs valued at $300.00.” After the suspect--whose name cops redacted from the report--broke up with Rivera, she allegedly gained access to the storage unit and removed “important paperwork” and “three strap-on dildos which [Rivera] stated she owned prior to the beginning of their relationship together,” investigators noted. Rivera, who said she was unable to contact her ex about the missing dildos, surmised that the suspect “temporarily removed the items in an attempt to get back together with her, depriving Rivera the use of the property.” The disappearance of the dildos has been classified as a possible grand theft, and the investigation remains open, according to a sheriff’s report.
source: Smoking Gun
Pavolo Venezia sued Luxottica Retail North America and Sunglass Hut Trading LLC, in Federal Court. The businesses are the only defendants. Venezia says in the complaint that he worked for the defendants for 18 years, most recently as manager of its store on Spring Street in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. He claims things changed "when Debbie Gidiull became his boss," and the company "revamped its face of its most popular store by getting rid of older employees, black and Hispanic minority employees." Venezia claims that he and the bosses "did not see eye to eye with this new directive and hiring policies and thus resulted in friction over said issues." The complaint continues: "At some point during the year of 2010, Mr. Venezia was approached by high level members of the defendant who verbally reprimanded plaintiff for plaintiff's failure to conform to previously given directive to less the amount of black and Hispanic employees. Plaintiff was reminded that black and Hispanic employees did not properly represent the customers who shopped at the SoHo stores and thus said employees were not a good look for the store. "Additionally, plaintiff was instructed to hire white beauty people for the store." Venezia claims he continued to hire black and Hispanic employees anyway, so the bosses took away his power to hire people, wrote him up for it, and eventually fired him for it. Along the way, he says, his regional manager rejected all six candidates he suggested for the assistant manager's job, "based solely on said candidates being minority." Venezia claims he was wrongfully fired while on FMLA leave he had to take due to the stress of dealing with the defendants' wrongful and illegal policies. He seeks punitive damages for wrongful firing, discrimination, retaliation, breach of contract, negligence, FMLA violations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violations of New York City human rights law, and other charges. He is represented by Courtney Davy.Sadly, this happens all of the time.
source: CN
Brittany Renee Roman, 21, whose driver's license lists Miami as her residence, was arrested on charges of child neglect. According to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, a security guard noticed the boy walking by himself around 10 p.m. Wednesday outside the Westgate Towers at 7300 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee. The guard said he again saw the boy unsupervised several hours later and asked him if he was staying at the hotel, according to deputies. The boy told the guard he was staying there with his mother and took him to a room and used a key to open the door, but no one was inside, according to the Sheriff's Office. Deputies contacted the Department of Children and Families and attempted to call the number management had on file in order to reach the mother but received no answer. Several hours later, the mother, identified as Roman, returned and told deputies she left her son at the hotel to “go dancing and working at the Diamond Club in Orlando.” Due to the length of time the child was left unattended and based on the information she provided, Roman was arrested and booked into the Osceola County Jail.And yes, she gave birth when she was 15 years old.
source: WKMG
The decision to turn to the federal courts, which required approval from both the emergency manager assigned to oversee the troubled city and from Gov. Rick Snyder, is also the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in American history in terms of debt. Not everyone agrees how much Detroit owes, but Kevyn D. Orr, the emergency manager who was appointed by Mr. Snyder to resolve the city’s financial problems, has said the debt is likely to be $18 billion and perhaps as much as $20 billion. For Detroit, the filing comes as a painful reminder of a city’s rise and fall. Founded more than 300 years ago, the city expanded at a stunning rate in the first half of the 20th century with the arrival of the automobile industry, and then shrank away in recent decades at a similarly remarkable pace. A city of 1.8 million in 1950, it is now home to 700,000 people, as well as to tens of thousands of abandoned buildings, vacant lots and unlit streets. [...] The decision to go to court signaled a breakdown after weeks of tense negotiations, in which Mr. Orr had been trying to persuade creditors to accept pennies on the dollar and unions to accept cuts in benefits. All along, the state’s involvement — including Mr. Snyder’s decision to send in an emergency manager — has carried racial implications, setting off a wave of concerns for some in Detroit that the mostly-white, Republican-led state government was trying to seize control of Detroit, a Democratic-held city where more than 80 percent of residents are black. [...] For some Detroiters, recent memories of bankruptcies by Chrysler and General Motors — and the re-emergence of those companies — appeared to have calmed nerves. But experts say corporate bankruptcy procedures are significantly different from municipal bankruptcies. In municipal bankruptcies, for instance, the ability of judges to intervene in how a city is run is sharply limited. And municipal bankruptcies are a form of debt adjustment, as opposed to liquidation or reorganization. Here, residents are likely to see little immediate change from the way the city has been run since March, when Mr. Orr arrived to oversee major decisions. A bankruptcy lawyer, he is widely expected to continue to run Detroit during a legal process. Mayor Dave Bing and Detroit’s elected City Council are still paid to hold office and are permitted to make decisions about day-to-day operations, though Mr. Orr could remove those powers at any point. Mr. Orr has said that as part of any restructuring he wants to spend about $1.25 billion on improving city infrastructure and services. But a major concern for Detroit residents remains the possibility that services, already severely lacking, might be further diminished in bankruptcy. In 2012, Detroit had the highest rate of violent crime in the nation for a city larger than 200,000, a report from Mr. Orr’s office showed. About 40 percent of the city’s streetlights do not work. More than half of Detroit’s parks have closed since 2008.Is it too late for the city to take Melinda Brown Duncan up on her offer to turn things around? Paging Melinda!
source: NY Times
The 51-year-old clerk was behind the counter of the store when a man went into the store and asked the clerk if he had triple extra large sized tank top t-shirts, [Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien] said. After the clerk told the man the store did not carry the item, the man pulled out a baseball bat and began beating the clerk, O'Brien said. After beating the clerk, the man fled with the bat. Another merchant on the block said she saw the clerk run out after the man fled. “He went out on the street to cry for help,’’ his body covered in blood, she said. “It was very unfortunate, very vicious.’’ Not only did the woman, who declined to give her name, see the man armed with a bat running away through an alley, cameras also captured the attack, she said. The business owners in the area are a tight-knit group, she added. The clerk suffered a cut to his head and was taken to Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center, where he was treated and released, police and fire officials said. The suspect is being described as black, between 23 and 30 years old, between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 6 feet tall and between 200 and 250 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair and a dark complexion and was last seen wearing a red bandanna and white tank top shirt, O'Brien said. Anyone with information is asked to call Area North detectives at 312-744-8261, O'Brien said.
source: Chicago Tribune
A judge revoked Chris Brown's probation on Monday after reviewing the details of an alleged hit-and-run accident involving the singer and his behavior afterward. However, the singer was not ordered to jail. Brown, who came to court with a group of family members, appeared downcast as he sat with his arms across his chest and his head down on the counsel table while his lawyer and a prosecutor went to the judge's chambers to discuss the case. When they emerged, Superior Court Judge James Brandlin said he had read the file. "In this matter, probation is revoked," he said. Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, suggested that perhaps the matter will be resolved informally without a major probation hearing. He said the hit-and-run case would be back in court in Van Nuys on July 23. [...] The singer has been on felony probation in the 2009 beating of former girlfriend Rihanna. Prosecutors moved to revoke Brown's probation after he was charged last month with misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving without a valid license. Brown has not entered a plea in the case. The singer has been in and out of court since the Rihanna assault, making reports on fulfilling the requirements of his probation. In February, the Sheriff's Department investigated a fight between Brown and singer Frank Ocean at a recording studio, but Ocean decided not to pursue a battery case against Brown. The same month, Brown crashed his Porsche while being chased by paparazzi. Brown's most recent problem stems from a May 12 traffic accident in which he is suspected of rear-ending a car stopped at a red light in the San Fernando Valley and refusing to give the other driver his license or insurance information. A woman in the car with Brown provided her driver's license, according to a police report that says Brown did not provide his until his lawyer had an investigator deliver an expired insurance card to the other driver several days later. The driver of a Mercedes Benz involved in the crash told police she was a recent emigre to this country and didn't know procedures. The woman, identified in court documents only as Olga G., said she called her husband to find out what to do and was told to exchange driver's licenses and insurance identification. At first, she said Brown was polite. But as she continued to demand identification, a confrontation arose, she said in court documents. She said Brown's companion, identified as Karrueche Tientrese Tran, offered her driver's license and said the car belonged to her. In her written statement, the woman said when Brown refused to provide his identification, she took a picture of the couple "and then they went ballistic." She said Brown began shouting expletives and grabbed for her camera. "I jumped back, the girl screamed, 'Don't touch her. Don't touch her,'" she said. "I was so shocked that I was speechless," she said in the statement. "Just a moment ago he was a nice guy. After screaming some insulting nonsense for a while longer, he slammed a door and drove away fast and noisy." The woman didn't know the identity of the man who hit her car until a friend called and told her after seeing a report on the Internet.Another hearing is set for Aug. 16.
source: AP
In his Superior Court complaint, Shafighi, who calls himself a "self-made" luxury car dealer, says he spotted Pippen on June 23 at Nobu restaurant, a celebrity hangout. Shafighi wanted a photograph of Pippen for his girlfriend's 12-year-old son. He claims he asked to pose with Pippen for a photo twice - once when the athlete was dining with friends, and later outside. Pippen refused on the first occasion, so Shafighi says he tried again outside, believing Pippen had refused because he dining with friends. Turns out Shafighi was wrong. The complaint states: "Upon approaching defendant Pippen outside Nobu near the valet stand and requesting another photo, defendant spit in Mr. Shafighi's face and stated in sum or substance, 'If you don't back up, I'm gonna kick your ass' and 'I already told you no, motherfucker.'" Then Pippen punched him in the face and head, Shafighi claims. "Plaintiff, a man of approximately 5 feet 7 inches, 185 pounds was immediately knocked backwards to the ground, hitting the pavement by the force of the blow from defendant, a 6 feet 8 inch, 230 pound athlete, which knocked him unconscious [...] Pippen continued to violently attack an already unconscious Mr. Shafighi, kicking and stomping him repeatedly in the chest with his right foot, while plaintiff was down. Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges that defendant shamelessly beat up plaintiff while defendant's wife and four children looked on. [...] At no time did or could Mr. Shafighi physically provoke or fight back, as he was knocked unconscious with the first blow by defendant Pippen." Shafighi says Pippen's two friends intervened, and ushered the athlete away. "Defendant Pippen left the scene in a Ford Expedition, while Mr. Shafighi lay unconscious on the ground and other patrons attempted to administer aid to him," the complaint states. "A security guard subsequently called 911, and the ambulance arrived to take Mr. Shafighi to the hospital." Shafighi says he "sustained a litany of serious injuries," did not gain regain consciousness for six hours, and "suffered swelling on his head, a dislocated jaw and loose teeth, a fractured rib, a bruised tailbone, a right foot injury, and a cut lip and bruises." He says he still needs to take "high doses" of pain medication, and that doctors have yet to determine if he suffered neurological damage.The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department has not filed charges, but they say the incident is still under review. Some witnesses told police Camran was drunk at the item of the incident.
source: CN
The woman, who police identified as 43-year-old Dinalynn Andrews Potter [...], apparently yelled, "it's all your fault" before shoving 73-year-old Lester Chambers, his family said Sunday. "She had a crazed look in her eye," said Kurt Kangas, a friend of Chambers who ran to his aid. "I saw the devil there." Chambers was performing at the Hayward Russell City Blues Festival downtown when around 5:15 p.m. he dedicated Curtis Mayfield's hit "People Get Ready" to Martin, the 17-year-old shot and killed by George Zimmerman. A Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman on all charges Saturday. Chambers told the audience if Mayfield were around today, he'd change the lyrics "there's a train a comin'" to "there's a change a comin,'" his wife Lola Chambers told this newspaper Sunday. "She must have been an acrobat. She did it in one leap. He didn't see her coming," Lola Chambers said. Eyewitnesses and Hayward police said people on stage subdued Andrews Potter after she allegedly shoved Chambers. Though the police investigation into a motive continues, family members believe the attack was racially motivated and was a result of Chambers' mention of Martin. The family is pressing police to file hate crime charges. Andrews Potter is white, they said. Chambers is black. Hayward police took Andrews Potter to the police station, where she was arrested on suspicion of battery. She was cited and released, and could face additional charges in the coming days, according to Hayward police Lt. Ruben Pola. Chambers, a Petaluma resident, was taken to the hospital but has since been released, and is using a cane to walk. A photo his son posted on Facebook shows a large welt on his backside. His son said Chambers had a "bruised rib muscle and nerve damage and he is sore all over." Chambers was a member of the 1960s soul group Chambers Brothers and has had a well-publicized fight with record executives over decades of royalty payments he said he has never received. The Chambers Brothers will be part of the inaugural class inducted into the R&B Hall of Fame later this year, Lola Chambers said.Can we all just get along?
source: Mercury News
George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager, igniting a national debate on racial profiling and civil rights, was found not guilty on Saturday of the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin. He also was acquitted of manslaughter, a lesser charge. After three weeks of testimony, the six-woman jury rejected the prosecution’s contention that Mr. Zimmerman had deliberately pursued Mr. Martin because he viewed the hoodie-clad teenager as a criminal and instigated the fight that led to his death. Mr. Zimmerman said he shot Mr. Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in self-defense after the teenager knocked him to the ground, punched him and slammed his head repeatedly against the sidewalk. In finding him not guilty of murder or manslaughter, the jury agreed that Mr. Zimmerman could have been justified in shooting Mr. Martin because he feared great bodily harm or death. The jury, which has been sequestered since June 24, deliberated 16 hours and 20 minutes over two days. When the verdict was read, Mr. Zimmerman, 29, smiled slightly.His wife, Shellie, was in tears, and his whole family hugged. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, who lost their son a few weeks after his 17th birthday, were not in the courtroom. [...] Through it all, Mr. Martin’s parents said they sought one thing: That Mr. Zimmerman have his day in court. That day arrived on Saturday. From the start, prosecutors faced a difficult task in proving second-degree murder. That charge required Mr. Zimmerman to have evinced a “depraved mind,” brimming with ill will, hatred, spite or evil intent, when he shot Mr. Martin. Manslaughter, which under Florida law is typically added as a lesser charge if either side requests it, was a lower bar. Jurors needed to decide only that Mr. Zimmerman put himself in a situation that culminated in Mr. Martin’s death. But because of Florida’s laws, prosecutors had to persuade jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Zimmerman did not act in self-defense. A shortage of evidence in the case made that a high hurdle, legal experts said. Even after three weeks of testimony, the fight between Mr. Martin and Mr. Zimmerman on that rainy, dark night was a muddle, fodder for reasonable doubt. It remained unclear who had started it, who screamed for help, who threw the first punch and at what point Mr. Zimmerman drew his gun. There were no witnesses to the shooting.Nancy Grace's head is going to explode!
source: NY Times
She said: “One family came in, took one look at me and said ‘I think we are in the wrong place’. In my experience, I have had a really tough ride recently. Another man came in, ordered some food and sat outside. When I was bringing his food to him, he walked away without paying. I am losing out on business because of the actions of some of these people. It upsets me and I have had enough of it, I cannot be running a business like this. My family try and make our customers welcome but none of them deserve this kind of behaviour towards us.” Ms Kolleh said the reaction to the sign had been mixed. She said: “Some people find it amusing, they were laughing and said ‘oh yes it’s about time you put that up’, so I think they all realise what’s going on here. I have had support from my loyal customers, and that is very pleasing for me to know I have their backing. But some others just read it and walk away. I’ve heard one or two swear words as well regarding the notice. Just this morning a man in the street told me that because I put up the sign that I was being racist, but how that can be I do not know. I am only trying to make a living for myself and my children, but I am tired of the discrimination against me and my business.” [...] “I put (the sign) there because of the way people treat me in Ossett. They just open the door of my cafe and once they take a look at me they walk out” she said. "Now, when they open the door they will expect to see a black face. I put the sign up because my frustration had built up over a long amount of time."Martha-Renée says people have even run off without paying and she says she had to hire a white woman named Tracey to man the front of the cafe. "When Tracey is in the cafe she does well and people will come in and it will be full, once I stay in the background," Martha-Renée says. "But if Tracey is not working and I'm working nobody comes in." Sidebar: Ossett is 99% white. A town council member insists its residents aren't racist. You can watch the news video, here.
source: Mirror
A Hamilton man repeatedly arrested for public indecency has again been indicted after a child saw him engaging in sex with a rubber raft last month, according to police. Edwin Charles Tobergta, 34, of 1320 Harmon Ave., was arrested June 17 for allegedly stepping out his back door naked at about 1:20 p.m. and having “sexual relations with a rubber pool float,” according to the Hamilton police report. Tobergta was indicted by a Butler County grand jury today for public indecency, a fifth-degree felony. If convicted, he faces 12 months behind bars. Tobergta is currently in the Butler County Jail for violation of his community control in a 2011 conviction for misdemeanor public indecency. In August 2011, Tobergta, was arrested at his home after he was seen engaging in sexual conduct with a pink inflatable swimming pool raft, according to police records. The incident allegedly occurred in an alley behind his home. The witness, who was the owner of the raft, reported to police that the suspect took the raft with him after being shouted at to stop, according to records. Tobergta has been arrested at least five times previously for similar offenses, according to Hamilton Municipal Court records. He was indicted in May 2010 for tampering with evidence and possessing criminal tools; and after a July 2008 conviction for felony public indecency, he was sentenced to community control and required to seek mental health services. He is scheduled to be arraigned July 23 before Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater.Investigators should check his passport to make sure he hasn't traveled to Sweden recently, where a man is wanted for boning a bicycle.
source: Journal News
