Posted: 11:50 a.m. Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Woman Avoids Felony In Texting/Driving Death; Mary J Going To Howard? (VIDEO) Maybe Not; Lindsay Lohan Gets Jail, Has "F*** U" Nail (GRAPHIC PHOTO)
By Veronica Waters
- Gwinnett County's first felony texting-while-driving case is now a misdemeanor. Felony first degree vehicular homicide charges have been reduced against 48-year-old Lori Reineke of Duluth, who struck and killed a pedestrian as she was allegedly texting behind the wheel. Gwinnett County prosecutors say even though Reineke was distracted, she was not speeding, and that victim James Eaton had stepped into the Sugarloaf Parkway crosswalk against the light--so the case doesn't rise to felony level. Reineke will be tried on 2nd degree vehicular homicide charges, a misdemeanor. District Attorney Danny Porter says Eaton's family isn't happy with the news, but that they understand the legal limitations.
- Gwinnett Medical Center is refusing to hire smokers. The hospital says its hiring ban emphasizes its commitment to good health. The ban doesn't cover current workers who smoke, but they will crack down on employees who sneak a smoke on the grounds. Repeat violators may be fired.
- The water main break on Piedmont near East Wesley Road is fixed. The problems it left behind are not. It'll be Thursday before road repairs on the buckled pavement are completed, so the commute is likely to be rocky for people who depend on that area to get where they're going. Businesses in the area are rocked by flood damage, and assessing their losses.
- Mary J Blige wants to become a Bison. Blige has talked openly about her regret over dropping out of high school in the 11th grade, but she said that she recently got her GED from Roosevelt High School in Yonkers, New York. Fans in the crowd for her "Good Morning America" appearance last week were rolling video as she said, "As you know I never got a chance to finish high school, but they gave me my honorary diploma the other day... and I got accepted into Howard University, the class of 2014!" But it's not clear if all that's true. Tuesday, Howard put out a statement saying, "We encourage Ms. Blige to continue her studies and welcome her consideration of Howard University in the future. We are happy to work with Ms. Blige on completing the formal process for admission."
- Lindsay Lohan's future will have some highs and lows. It includes a new fashion line shipping out to department stores this month, two new movies, 90 days in jail and another stint in rehab. She's been sentenced to jail and 90 in a residential program for violating her DUI probation. The 24-year-old Lohan had two separate 2007 cases of driving under the influence of cocaine and alcohol. The judge was not swayed by Lohan's tearful insistence that she missed court dates and seven mandatory alcohol education classes because she was working. She is due to surrender July 20.
Interestingly, as Lohan was crying and telling the judge how much she really tried to comply with her sentence, she may have been sending a different message with her nail polish. "I'm not taking this as a joke,'' said Lohan, who had an obscenity printed on her left middle finger, which was captured on camera as she often held her left hand to her mouth. "It's my life. It's my career I've worked for my entire life.'' (Click on image to see Lindsay's profane nail.)
Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel said she found the apology insincere, comparing it to "somebody who cheats and thinks it isn't cheating if she doesn't get caught.'' - The Sandy Springs hoarder has died. Relatives and neighbors say Mary Minter, who weighed well over 300 pounds, hadn't left her home on Kitty Hawk Drive in 15 years before firefighters pulled her out of her house's chest-high debris last month. A cousin concerned about her called 911 after he saw the condition of the house and found her alert, but immobile, last month.
- Six teenagers are charged with gay bashing at Piedmont Park. St. John's Methodist Minister Josh Noblitt says he and his partner had been picknicking Friday when the teens asked if they were gay. One swung a stick at him, which Noblitt says he grabbed and used to fight back until he could call 911. He says one teen put a gun to his head. The youngest of the suspects is 13; police say two of them, 18-year-old Sam Johnson and 19-year-old Jarvis Johnson, are charged in connection with an armed robbery earlier that night.
- The 91-year-old Pennsylvania woman living with the corpses of her twin sister and husband can keep them--if she builds a mausoleum or crypt above-ground. Jean Stevens had the bodies exhumed soon after their deaths--her husband in 1999, her sister last fall--and kept them at home to keep her company. Stevens says she put perfume, glasses and makeup on her sister and talked to her often. She understands some people might think her odd, but in Stevens' words, she feels "differently about death."
- Say goodnight to John Pruitt on the Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat. He's anchored his last 11:00 p.m. newscast. Pruitt says after 41 years doing nights at WXIA and WSB, he's finally getting his evenings off. Pruitt told viewers Tuesday night that Justin Farmer will start anchoring at 11:00; he'll still co-anchor the 6:00 news with Monica Pearson.
- Facebook has some new friends: divorce lawyers. Attorneys say sites like Facebook are gold mines for finding evidence of a cheating spouse; users often post pictures of themselves with the other man or woman, or pictures of themselves in compromising positions in which drugs or alcohol is involved. One lawyer advises...never post anything online you wouldn't want a judge to see.
- His Royal Purple Highness has spoken, and Prince says, "The Internet is completely over." Prince tells a British newspaper that the web is like MTV--once hip, but now outdated. He's shut down his website. Prince says don't look for his new album, 20Ten, on iTunes: "They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it," he said. He named his album "20Ten" because, he says, these are trying times. A devout Jehovah's Witness for the past 10 years, he says people "don't have enough God in their lives." Read the Prince article here.
- You may have driven by that SWAT standoff in midtown Tuesday afternoon. There were evacuations amid reports of a barricaded gunman at the Belvedere House Apartments on West Peachtree. A woman concerned for her daughter's safety had called 911. When SWAT breached the door, turns out no one was inside--but cops stayed behind to arrest the woman who lived there. She had 17 marijuana plants.
- The KISS 104.1 weather forecast: sunny with a hot high in the mid-90s; the heat index could reach 100 today.
The cororner says Minter, 38, died of complications from alcoholic liver disease.
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