Feline Felony?
A woman who founded a “no-kill” animal shelter was charged with health code and animal welfare violations after 200 dead cats were discovered rotting in garbage bags in her backyard.
Marlene Kess, who has built a reputation in Manhattan as a caretaker of homeless and dying cats, had 48 cats inside her house, including 38 in one room, authorities said.
Out back, 200 vermin-infested cat corpses were stuffed into garbage bags and apparently were going to be buried in a large hole that had recently been dug, said Sgt. Joseph Bierman of the state’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The cats were discovered after neighbors complained about the stench.
“Oh my God, it was awful,” said Michael Fowler of the Associated Humane Societies. “The smell was horrible.”
Kess, 56, is the founder and executive director of Kitty-Kind, which runs one of New York City’s few no-kill shelters.
A longtime resident of Greenwich Village, Kess moved to East Orange in July.
“I take very good care of them,” Kess told reporters Friday. “People who know me know there’s no cruelty involved.”
Kess was cited for health code violations, including keeping an unlawful number of animals, harboring dead animals and causing an environmental hazard with the corpses. The SPCA, which enforces the state’s animal cruelty laws, charged Kess with 38 counts of failing to properly shelter cats.
Authorities are allowing Kess to keep the 48 cats in her home because she promised to separate the sick animals from the healthy ones, Bierman said.
Wayans winnings?
Yo mama’s so poor, you asked for a PlayStation and she took you to the bus station and said, “Go ahead, play.”
That’s the kind of humor you’ll find in a new trading card game created by Shawn, Marlon and Keenen Ivory Wayans, based on an old neighborhood pastime: “Yo mama” jokes.
“The Dozens” is played with cards that come with a sticker and a piece of bubble gum. Players score points by one-upping each other with the funniest jokes.
“We grew up in the Garbage Pail Kids era with the Wacky packs,” Shawn Wayans said recently. “We miss that kind of fun we used to have when we were kids, flipping through the packs and chewing the gum and reading the funny little jokes.”
The cards, manufactured by Topps, are supplemented with a cell phone version created by Bonus Mobile. The cards will be available on an exclusive basis at Blockbuster video stores for 60 days starting June 1 and at other retail outlets after that.
Clarified caddy?
A woman known as the “butter cow lady” for her life-size butter sculptures of dairy cows says she wants to do a likeness of golfer Tiger Woods at the Iowa State Fair.
“He’s going to be sitting down with a club next to him and he’s going to be scratching a live tiger, so to speak, on the head,” Norma Lyon said on Wednesday.
Lyon, 75, lives on a dairy farm near Toledo. She carves a full-size dairy cow out of butter at the fair each year. Her cows have been a highlight for nearly five decades.
In recent years she started adding other sculptures, including Elvis, Garth Brooks and John Wayne, and in 1999 she celebrated her 40th year at the fair with a life-size butter version of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”
Lyons said she doesn’t play golf, but she enjoys watching it – especially when Woods is playing.
“I’ve watched when he hasn’t played, but it’s not near as fun,” she said.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, said he wasn’t aware of the butter sculpture and declined further comment.
Stalking student?
A nude study painted by Jody Folkedahl, a senior at Southern Oregon University, was taken down from the walls of the school’s Stevenson Union gallery after a three-day run this month.
The piece was titled “Bustamante,” after Folkedahl’s art professor, Cody Bustamante. The canvas included the words: “and she was thinking about her painting professor.”
It wasn’t the full-frontal depiction of female genitalia that caused the painting to be removed, but rather the title that “singled out” a university member, said gallery adviser Karen Finnegan,
The 21-year-old Folkedahl, a native of Roseburg, said the painting grew out of a conversation with her art professor in which Bustamante “said it would be difficult if not impossible these days to create any art that would shock or offend people,” Folkedahl said.
“That triggered a reaction in me and I decided to see if I could prove him wrong,” she added. “I definitely proved you can still be shocking.”
On the day the painting was removed, Folkedahl was applauded upon walking into class and a vigorous discussion of shock and censorship followed.
“The removal was appropriate because of the context of the very public gallery and the various sensibilities of people who work there,” Bustamante said.
Sensible smokey?
Burt Reynolds apparently slapped a CBS-TV assistant producer in the face at a New York screening of his new film, “The Longest Yard.”
The producer, who works for CBS News PATH, approached Reynolds on the red carpet outside a Chelsea theater Tuesday night. When he asked Reynolds to tell him about the film, the actor seemed annoyed.
“You don’t know anything about the movie?” Reynolds replied.
The producer acknowledged he hadn’t seen the movie or the original 1974 film. Reynolds then seemed to slap the producer. “What … kinda of guy are you?” he asked.
CBS aired footage of the incident on “The Early Show” Wednesday morning.
Jeff Lane, a spokesman for Reynolds, said in a statement that Reynolds “playfully tapped [the producer] on the cheek, as if to say, ‘Well, that’s not very nice.’ He was kidding.”
CBS News PATH provides video footage to affiliate stations.