Dads say $13K Disney trip ruined by roaches, ‘used condom’
Their dream vacation turned into “a holiday from hell.”
When Michael, 35 and Paul Atwal-Brice, 41, flew 10 hours from England and shelled out nearly $13,000 total on a Disney World holiday with their adopted twin sons, they expected at least a clean hotel room.
Instead they arrived at a space covered in “so much crap and dust,” Michael told the Mirror. “You wouldn’t put a dog in there.”
The family’s room at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort hotel in Florida cost more than $500 a night — but the couple alleged it had exposed wiring, dead cockroaches on the floor, a film of dirt across surfaces and, worst of all, “a used condom on the bed.”
The situation was enhanced by the fact that Michael and Paul’s boys, 13-year-old Levi and Lucas, are autistic, epileptic and non-verbal — so they require more supervision than most teens.
“There was lots of exposed wiring. Our boys have no sense of danger, so they could easily stick their fingers in that,” Michael told the UK outlet. “The boys could have stood on the cockroach and could very easily have touched the condom if they dropped their bouncy ball down the side of the bed. That’s what shocked us.”
The married couple from Barnsley claimed they even called the hotel ahead of time, to ensure the room was cleaned, but to no avail. “We couldn’t stay in there. The boys were upset and were screaming and distressed,” Michael said.
The couple requested and received a new room — but they said the “dirty and dusty” accommodations still weren’t up to their standards.
“That’s what shocked us: We’ve not just booked any old hotel,” Michael said. “We’ve purposefully booked this resort and spent a vast amount of money to make it all magical and special. It’s supposed to be magical, once in a lifetime — but that was like a one-star bedsit.”
The couple requested a refund, but claimed they were denied. As the situation escalated, senior management moved the family to Disney’s luxurious Grand Floridian Resort and Spa.
In a statement obtained by Fox News, a Disney World rep said, “This family has received compensation from us numerous times over the past five years, and they continue to return. Regarding their current visit, we believe the guest claims are exaggerated, and again took several steps to enhance their vacation.”
The Atwal-Brices have fostered more than 20 children and have made a number of TV appearances discussing their tips and tricks for giving their kids a great holiday on a budget.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/11/04/dads-say-13k-disney-trip-ruined-by-roaches-used-condom/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Krispy Kreme demands college student stop acting as a doughnut mule
Jayson Gonzalez is a college senior just
trying to make a buck. He’s worked at Starbucks. He’s made candles. He’s
sold iPhone cases. Like any good Gen Z kid, he’s tried developing an
app. But earlier this year, he hit on a scheme that actually made him
some real money: importing Krispy Kremes from Iowa to the Twin Cities.
It was going well until Krispy Kreme ruined the whole thing.
Krispy Kreme arrived in Minnesota in 2002 with great fanfare and departed quietly six years later. The state is not completely bereft of doughnuts, but Minnesotans still have a soft spot for Krispy Kremes. Earlier this year on a trip to Iowa with a youth soccer team that he coaches—another of his gigs—Gonzalez spotted a Krispy Kreme store. He posted a message on Facebook Marketplace asking if anybody in the Twin Cities would like him to bring them back some Krispies. He got more than 300 replies from people willing to pay twice the market price for doughnuts. Thus a business was born.
A reporter for the Twin Cities Pioneer Press accompanied Gonzalez on his 19th run and produced a charming story about the operation. Gonzalez would take orders via a dedicated Facebook page (Krispy Kreme Run Minnesota, 3,341 followers) during the week and then get up at 2 a.m. on Saturday for the four-hour drive down to Iowa. He’d established a friendly relationship with Mary Paredes, the manager of the Krispy Kreme in Clive, Iowa, who admired his entrepreneurial spirit and would have the doughnuts ready when he arrived. His order was usually 100 boxes, as many as his Ford Focus could hold. On the way home, he would make eight scheduled stops, usually in Target parking lots. He put a Krispy Kreme bag on the roof of his car to alert buyers of his presence.
“His customers range from all walks of life,” Deanna Weniger wrote in the Pioneer Press, “from pregnant women with doughnut cravings to Tesla-driving businessmen to police officers. One surprised man stopped his car in the middle of the street, threw open his door and yelled, ‘Are those Krispy Kremes?’”
Gonzalez charged between $17 and $20 per dozen, which was about twice the retail price, but, at least according to Weniger’s article, customers were happy to pay, not only because they missed Krispy Kremes, but also because they wanted to help Gonzalez pay his way through Metropolitan State University, where he’s a senior studying accounting.
Being a doughnut mule was exhausting, but profitable: Gonzalez said that he could earn more from one run than he did from 80 hours behind the counter at Starbucks.
But then Krispy Kreme got wind of the whole story and instead of being impressed with Gonzalez’s drive and initiative (not to mention the weekly sale of 1,200 doughnuts in one location), the company ordered him to shut down his operation. He posted an update last Thursday and elaborated to Weniger: “I know they told one of the big managers in Nebraska directly, and he called me. He said corporate told him to ‘cease’ and ‘desist.’” His customers responded with outrage and advice.
The story might not be over yet, though. Earlier today, Gonzalez posted a video on Facebook informing his followers that he was planning to “wait and see” what Krispy Kreme had to say and that there might be some “work-arounds.” Like Minnesota weather, he said, everything is unpredictable.
Article via TheTakeout
Customers at Buffalo Wild Wings in Naperville says staff tried to reseat them over skin color
Several employees of a Buffalo Wild Wings in Naperville were fired after a group of mostly African-American people said they were asked to change tables because of their skin color.
‘She wanted to be choked,’ NJ man tells pal after fatal sex romp
A 21-year-old man charged in the death of an NJ woman during rough car sex told a friend the 19-year-old “wanted to be choked,” court documents show.
Francis Victoria Garcia, of Maywood, and beau-turned-suspect Michael Gaffney, also of Maywood, had met through mutual friends and chatted on social media before planning to attend a wild Halloween party Friday night, according to court records.
The two ducked out of the party on the 14th floor of a luxury high-rise apartment complex, at 140 Prospect Ave. in Hackensack, early Saturday morning to “hang out” in her car in a parking garage, court documents say.
At one point during their 20-minute sex romp in her back seat, Gaffney choked Garcia, the court papers say.
After the woman passed out, Gaffney called his friend to come down to the car, the papers say.
The friend told police Garcia’s “lips were purple” but “he could feel air coming out of her nose,” according to the documents.
Gaffney told the friend, “I choked her. She wanted to be choked,” the court papers show.
Police got a 911 call about Garcia just before 2:15 a.m. and charged Gaffney with reckless manslaughter by Saturday night.
Garcia, whose blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit, died due to “neck compression,” the medical examiner ruled, according to the court documents.
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Bergen County Prosecutor
Man threatens to shoot 15-year-old before stealing his iPhone in the Bronx
PARKCHESTER, the Bronx — A teenage boy was threatened and robbed of his cellphone while standing on a Bronx street in October, authorities said.
According to police, on Sunday, Oct. 27, the 15-year-old boy was standing on the corner of Westchester and Castle Hill avenues, in the Parkchester section, when a man approached him around 5 p.m.
The unidentified man engaged the teen in conversation, told the boy to walk with him and then threatened to shoot him if he did not give him his smartphone and phone password, police said.
The boy complied and the man fled in an unknown direction with his phone, officials said.
According to police, despite the threat, the man never showed the boy a gun and the teen was not injured during the incident.
The NYPD has released the above surveillance images of a man wanted in connection with the robbery.
Photo Credit: NYPD
MI woman failed to return two public library books on time and was faced with an arrest warrant
The Charlotte, Michigan resident checked out two books from her local library in 2017, and says she didn’t know about the overdue fines until a few months ago, according to CNN affiliate WILX. Melinda Sanders-Jones was told in person that her books were late when she was barred a few months ago from using a printer at Charlotte Community Library. Once Sanders located them on her son’s bookshelf and returned them, she figured she would be notified of the fees, she told the station.
It wasn’t that simple. Sanders was in line to receive a promotion at her job, but her boss called her last week and said a background check revealed she had an open arrest warrant. Thinking it was a joke, Sanders laughed. When her boss said he was serious, “I was like, no, there’s no way. There’s no way I have a warrant,” Sanders recalled to WILX.
Charlotte Police Department Chief Paul Brentar confirmed the arrest warrant to CNN and said Sanders is charged with failure to return rental property.
“I really don’t think that going to jail over those two books is OK, and I definitely didn’t want to steal their property,” Sanders told WILX.
CNN has reached out to Sanders and her attorney.
After Sanders neglected to return the library’s property after several months, the Economic Crimes Unit at the county prosecutor’s office conducted an investigation, Brentar said. The unit — which handles cases involving failure to return rental property — outlines on its website that repeat offenders in such cases could face formal criminal prosecution.
Charlotte Community Library’s Director of Financial Services Marlena Arras told CNN that library privacy rules bar her from discussing individual account information with the public, but added that “there’s a lot of information that she (Sanders) is not providing.”
Charlotte Library rules dictate that when items are a week overdue, the library calls, texts or emails the person who checked them out, depending on the individual’s preference when they sign up for an account. The library then continues mailing, texting or emailing at two weeks overdue, and again at one month and three months past the due date.
At the fourth month, the library team sends a warning by certified mail stating, “If you don’t bring these materials back in two weeks, we will submit it to the Economic Crimes Unit,” Arras said. At that point, it’s considered theft of property, she said, noting that if mail isn’t able to be delivered, the library receives the returned mail.
Sanders says that she never received the late notices because she was frequently switching addresses, according to WILX. She said that she changed her phone number at one point and that she moved a lot to escape an abusive relationship, at one point ending up at a shelter for domestic violence victims, where her address was kept confidential.
The prosecutor’s office initiated the warrant on October 29, 2018, according to a spokesperson at Eaton County Courthouse.
A pretrial meeting in the case is scheduled for November 7 at 10:30 a.m., said the spokesperson.
If the books have a value of less than $200, Sanders will face no more than 93 days in prison or a maximum fine of $500, per the Michigan State Penal Code.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/11/04/a-woman-might-go-to-jail-for-forgetting-to-return-library-books/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
A mom passed out on the side of a highway from a heroin overdose. Her 12-year-old called police
A 12-year-old girl called police after her mother passed out from a heroin overdose on the side of the highway in Volusia County, Florida, on Thursday night.
The woman’s daughter called 911 from the family’s minivan that was parked on the side of I-4 after the mother, Tiffany Smith, pulled over and lost consciousness, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on its website.
“Um, my mom won’t wake up and we’re on I-4 in the car,” the daughter says in a panicked voice on a 911 call released by the agency.
When deputies arrived, they found Smith unconscious with her 12-year-old daughter, a 7-year-old boy, a 1-year-old boy and two dogs in the minivan.
Paramedics administered a dose of Narcan to revive her, police said. Afterward, she can be heard on body camera footage telling deputies she was on a five-hour trip to her sister’s in South Carolina with the children when she began to experience back pain.
“I honestly took heroin because my back was hurting,” Smith, 28, told the officials.
“Is that something you should be taking for your back?” a deputy asks.
“It’s not, but I had no pain pill and my back was hurting and I’m making a five-hour trip,” she responded.
CNN was unable to reach Smith for comment.
Smith was taken to AdventHealth Fish Memorial hospital in stable condition. She was charged with neglect but was not immediately booked into Volusia County Branch Jail pending her treatment at the hospital, police said.
The children were not injured and were placed in the custody of their grandmother, police said in the release. The dogs were turned over to animal control officers.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Utah principal, teacher on leave after student permitted to wear Hitler costume in school parade
DAVIS COUNTY, Ut. — A principal and a teacher at a Davis County school are on leave for allowing a boy dressed as Adolf Hitler to march in a Halloween parade.
A photo obtained by KSTU shows the boy participating in a Halloween parade at Creekside Elementary School in Kaysville.
In the photo, the boy can be seen wearing a dark shirt and tie, light slacks and a red swastika armband. He also appears to be wearing a black mustache.
“The Davis School District apologizes for what took place yesterday. It does not tolerate speech, images or conduct that portray or promote hate in any form. The district is taking the matter very seriously and is investigating every aspect of the situation. The principal and teacher have been placed on paid administrative leave,” a statement from the Davis School District said.
The Davis School District did not identify the principal or teacher involved.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
California woman loses her mother’s wedding ring while passing out Halloween candy
EAST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Brynie Voiles said she had fun on Halloween passing out chips and candy to hundreds of kids in East Sacramento but when she woke up the next morning to realize her mother’s wedding ring was missing from her finger.
“I happened to look at my hands and there it was, gone,” Voiles said.
Voiles spent Halloween with friends at a house on 39th Street and Folsom Boulevard. She told KTXL over a span of nearly five hours, they gave out more than a thousand bags of chips and who knows how much candy.
“We had buckets and barrels of stuff and just as fast as we could because the lines were getting bigger,” Voiles said.
During the rush, Voiles believes the cold weather caused her fingers to shrink just enough that as she put her hand in a kid’s candy bag, the ring on her finger did not come back out.
Voiles said the ring belonged to her mother. Every day since her mother died more than 20 years ago, Voiles said she has worn the ring as a reminder of their special bond.
“To have it end that way is kind of hard,” she said.
Voiles said her hope is that a parent who took their kid to the house with the pirate ship happens to see this story and maybe at the bottom of their kid’s candy bag, there will be a wide, gold wedding band.
“It doesn’t mean anything to them but it does mean a lot to me and I would love to have it back,” Voiles said. “I know the Lord, if I don’t have it, he will give me peace about it. But I just would really love to have it back.”
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
14-year-old girl calls abuse hotline contemplating suicide due to her living conditions
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — A 14-year-old girl’s desperate call to an abuse hotline led to the arrest of her parents.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, she said she was contemplating suicide due to her living conditions.
When deputies arrived at the home to investigate, they found trash, animal feces and roaches in every room. There was also rotting food in the refrigerator and no running water.
The girl claimed she was emotionally and physically abused by her mother and forced to care for her four younger siblings while her parents worked.
They also hadn’t showered in weeks and had to drive to a camp site when they did get the chance to bathe.
“I want to commend the girl for calling the Abuse Hotline and being brave enough to ask for help. These children were living in deplorable conditions. I am thankful that these kids are now safe from these two individuals who obviously do not know how to properly care for children,” Sheriff Rick Staly said.
The children are now in the care of The Department of Children and Families.
Their parents, Betty Nicolicchia-Allen and Dennis Allen, are charged with five counts of child neglect.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com