With today's signature on SB200, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, has eliminated gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms statewide, giving woman and girls reason to fear being confronted by predators, cross-dressers "or even a homosexual or heterosexual male," according to a critic.

The state's new "transgender nondiscrimination" bill makes it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or the "perception" of gender identity.

Ritter signed the Expanded Discrimination Prohibitions, approved by the legislature, with this definition:

"'Sexual orientation' means a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person's perception thereof."

"Who would have believed that the Colorado state legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women’s restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?" said James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, the Christian publishing and broadcast ministry in Colorado Springs.

"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence," Dobson said. "The legislation lists every conceivable type of organization to which this law applies, including restaurants, bathhouses, massage parlors, mortuaries, theaters and 'public facilities of any kind.' Those who would attempt to protect females from this intrusion are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.

"This is your government in action. It represents a payback to Tim Gill and two other billionaires who have essentially 'bought' state legislators with enormous campaign contributions. Coloradans deserve better!" Dobson said.

"And by the way, because of the way this bill is written, it is not subject to the initiative process. There is no recourse,” Dobson said.

According to the bill, business owners and managers of restaurants, gyms, barber shops, massage parlors and managers of public facilities "of any kind whether indoor or outdoor" cannot deny a person employment or access to a facility based on gender identity or that "perception."

The bill also makes it illegal to discriminate based on "sexual orientation" when renting, selling or leasing housing or when selecting members for jury duty." Penalties for those who discriminate against others based on gender identity include fines and/or time in jail.

The same issue, on which WND has reported, already has created a mess in Montgomery County, Md., where a lawsuit is pending seeking to deprive residents of the right to vote on whether they want their restrooms and locker rooms opened to men who believe they're women.

WND reported the Montgomery County Board of Elections certified a petition assembled by Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government that would be placed on the November election ballot.

The petition seeks to reverse a county law adopted in recent months that aims to "protect" transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and various services. Critics say instead it would virtually eliminate the ability of businesses, clubs or anyone providing a "public facility" to prevent men from entering women's showers, and vice versa.

The Colorado bill says churches, synagogues, mosqu and other places used principally for religious purposes are not included in the definition of "place of public accommodation."

"Lest we think that this is just the 'bathroom bill,' I'd like us also to realize that this really is about Christian businesspeople being able to practice their faith through their profession," Rep. Amy Stephens said, citing an Albuquerque photographer who refused to photograph a same sex couple's ceremony, was brought before the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission, found guilty and fined $6,000.

Dobson warned the Colorado bill now will be "coming to every state in the country."

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian man shot and killed his wife after he mistook her for a monkey picking fruit in a tree behind their house, the New Straits Times said on Wednesday.

The man, 70, is being held by police for causing death through recklessness after he fired a shotgun at what he thought was a monkey in a mangosteen tree on Monday, the newspaper said.

His wife, 68, had used a ladder to climb into the tree and was picking the tropical fruit when she was shot. She was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital, the paper said. The couple lived in central Malaysia and had raised 13 children.

Judge Suspected of Masturbating in Court

(June 24, 2004) OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - Oklahoma 's attorney general wants a state judge removed on suspicion he frequently masturbated and used a device for enhancing erections while his court was in session, a spokesman for the office said on Thursday.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed a petition on Wednesday with state judicial authorities seeking the removal of Sapulpa District Judge Donald Thompson, 57, for "conduct constituting an offense involving moral turpitude in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution."

Thompson was not immediately available for comment. The judge, elected to the bench in the state's nonpartisan judicial elections, is based about 80 miles northeast of Oklahoma City .

In the petition, the attorney general charged Thompson used a penis pump, a device billed as providing sexual pleasure and promising better erections and larger penis size, during trials and exposed himself to a court reporter several times while masturbating on the bench.

"On one occasion, Ms. (Lisa) Foster (Thompson's court reporter for 15 years), saw Judge Thompson holding his penis up and shaving underneath it with a disposable razor while on the bench," the petition reads.

Several witnesses, including jurors in Thompson's court and police officers called to testify in trials, said in the petition they heard the "swooshing" sound of a penis pump during trials and saw the judge slumped in his chair, with his elbows on his knees, working the device. The witnesses said the pump sounded like a blood pressure cuff being pumped up.

According to the petition, Thompson admitted he had a penis pump under the bench during a murder trial but he told investigators it was a gag gift from a friend.

The petition also charges Thompson with firing his former court reporter after she cooperated with investigators.

ORCHARDS, Wash. - A man who stopped by Washington State Patrol headquarters to ask about a job didn't get what he wanted — but he did find out how a hand-held alcohol tester works.

Robert Gulley, an unemployed radio technician, was ticketed for alleged drunken driving as he drove away from the patrol office in this city near Vancouver. He had asked for a job application.

"I guess it was a bad time to go there," Gulley, 25, of nearby Sifton, told The Columbian newspaper. "It was a bad judgment call."

When Gulley walked into patrol headquarters Wednesday afternoon, he was slurring his words, had glassy eyes and his breath smelled of alcohol, Trooper Maureen Crandall said.

When she told him it wasn't a good idea to apply to be a trooper while intoxicated, Gulley denied drinking, another trooper said.

So Trooper Rich Bettger, who'd overheard what was going on, offered to measure Gulley's blood alcohol level with a hand-held breath tester.

Gulley blew a 0.095, above the state's legal limit for driving of 0.08, indicating he'd had at least three drinks, March said.

Gulley said he had only had one drink — a Long Island iced tea — and that it likely caused a high alcohol reading because he hadn't eaten in more than a day.

When the troopers asked Gulley how he got to the station, they said he told them he'd been given a ride. The officers said they warned Gulley not to drive home.

But after leaving the office and pacing back and forth on a nearby side street for 10 minutes, Gulley got into his car and drove away, troopers said.

He was promptly pulled over and ticketed. Gulley was given two more alcohol-breath tests, which both gave readings of slightly over 0.08, Trooper Garvin March said.

The troopers then arranged for Gulley's sister to drive him home.

"I actually still want to join the police department," Gulley said. "Those guys are doing their job keeping the roads safe."

But state troopers said Gulley's career prospects with the patrol appear dim.

"I guarantee he's not going to get a job with us," March said. "We've arrested drunks in unexpected ways and places before, but this one just blew me away."

In a bizarre scene during the popular sausage race at Miller Park, the Pittsburgh first baseman took his bat and delivered a two-handed chop that knocked over a woman dressed in costume Wednesday night.

Simon was booked for misdemeanor battery and released after the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pirates 2-1 in 12 innings. He will meet with the district attorney's office Thursday, and it will be up to prosecutors to determine whether formal charges are filed.

"It was very strange," Pirates outfielder Reggie Sanders said.

The race is a fan favorite at Miller Park. Held between the sixth and seventh innings, people dress up as a bratwurst, hot dog, Polish sausage and Italian sausage and run around the field.

As the group went past Pirates' third-base dugout, Simon reached over a railing and hit the Italian sausage character from behind, causing the 20-year-old woman wearing the outfit to tumble. When she fell, the woman portraying the hot dog also went down.

"They both were treated at the scene for scraped knees, but at this point I don't think they have any other complaints," said Deputy Inspector Sherry Warichak of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department.

Pirates outfielder Reggie Sanders said he thought the weight of the head on the sausage costume contributed to the fall.

"It maybe made it look worse than it was," Sanders said. "It was an unfortunate situation and, hopefully, it gets resolved."

Indianapolis police say a man delivered a profanity-laced tirade towards a Pee Wee baseball league "team mom" during a game Wednesday night, then afterward punched the woman's husband, who is the team's coach.

Police say the incident took place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Christian Park during a game for children aged 5 to 8. The Tigers lost a game to the Yankees by one run because of an error caused by a mistaken batting line-up. An umpire at the game witnessed the fracas.

Tigers' coach Lloyd "Randy" Patterson, 39, was struck three to four times and left with a knot on his left temple and also complained of pain to his right temple and lower lip after the attack but he did not require medical attention, police said. No one else was hurt.

No arrest was made.

The unidentified suspect was the grandfather of another Tiger player. Witnesses said he was angered because the Tigers' rally against the Yankees had come up short because one of the Tigers' players batted out of order, resulting in an automatic out. The Yankees won 12-11.

Candy Patterson, 38, the team mom, said the man and at least one other person in the stands had been complaining and second-guessing the volunteer coaching staff. She told police that he called her a derogatory name and that the fisticuffs occurred unfolded in front of the players.

"They have anger issues" and "always had something to say, and you couldn't please them," Candy Patterson said.

"We're there for the kids to have a good time. Accidents happen. Mistakes are made. It's just a game. It's just a game. You don't want your kids to remember a knock-down, drag-out fight. You want them to remember, 'Oh, I hit the ball', or 'I had a good game.' When you have foolishness like this going on, who wants to play?"

The umpire who witnessed the tirade, Dennis Steers, said he suspended the suspect from attending the next league game, which is held the park in the 4100 block of English Avenue, on Indianapolis' Eastside. League rules prohibit parents or relatives from fighting or cussing around the children, the police report said.

Steers said he is recommending further sanctions against the man, including a ban from watching games in the bleachers like other friends and loved ones.

Police advised Randy Patterson to contact the Marion County prosecutor's office, if he wanted to file charges. Candy Patterson said the couple is still trying to decide what action to take.

The report said that the man made rude comments to Candy Patterson during the game, and that Randy Patterson calmly approached him at the game's conclusion to politely tell him the remark was disrespectful and unsportsmanlike. Witnesses said the man took it as a threat, pulled Patterson's uniform over his head and punched him repeatedly. Patterson said he didn't strike back, and the couple left.

"It's stupid. This isn't the Major Leagues. This is Pee Wee," said the umpire, Steers. "We're doing this for the kids, or so I thought."

"I didn't think it'd ever happen here."

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian man has sued a Vancouver-area strip club, claiming he was injured by a ''reckless'' exotic dancer who kicked him in the head.

Greg Bonnett is seeking unspecified damages from the Barnet Motor Inn, claiming it was negligent in not posting prominent signs warning the public of the risk of sitting too close to the stage.

Bonnett was in the New Westminster club on Nov. 29, 2000 when a female dancer swung around a pole and kicked him, fracturing his nose, according to the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in British Columbia Supreme Court.

The Coquitlam man's lawsuit also seeks damages from the dancer, identified only as ``Jane Doe,'' for allegedly ``dancing in a negligent and reckless manner.''

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish man has been jailed for five years after shooting dead his neighbor's wife during a wild sex game, the chief prosecutor in the case said Tuesday.

The families of the 37-year-old man and the woman, in her early 30s, lived side by side in the two halves of a house they had built together. They had also teamed up to run a restaurant, said the prosecutor who asked not to be named.

According to the man's court statement, the woman put her son to sleep one evening in July and then arrived at the man's house wearing an open bathrobe, saying she had come round for an evening drink.

The pair began a sex game that ended in tragedy when a handgun used as a prop during love-making went off. The bullet pierced the woman's head before sticking in the man's thigh, the prosecutor said.

The man told police the woman had shot herself. The court disagreed, finding him guilty of manslaughter and sentencing him to five years imprisonment.

He was also ordered to pay compensation to the victim's husband, son and parents.

MARBURG, Germany (Reuters) - A German woman lay dead in her apartment for more than 10 months before her decomposed corpse was found by police, authorities said Wednesday.

``The apartment was opened only because her rent was in arrears. It was going to be cleared and then the body was noticed,'' a police spokesman in the central German town of Marburg said.

The corpse of the 40-year-old woman was badly decomposed, police said. They estimated she had died last December.

She had long ago lost touch with her relatives and lived in a large apartment block where her neighbors had not noticed anything was wrong, the spokesman said.

Her death was not being treated as suspicious. She died of natural causes or suicide, police said.

``We have ruled out a homicide,'' a spokesman said.

Germany regularly has cases where a body is not discovered until weeks, months or even years after the person has died, a phenomenon sociologists say is symptomatic of an industrial and increasingly cold and anonymous society.

In a particularly striking case, a Hamburg man sat dead on his sofa in front of his television for five years before he was found.

The country's efficient banking system, with automatic monthly transfers of rents and pensions, makes it possible for financial transactions to continue in a person's name for years after his or her death.

"A regular squad car with the lights on top and everything," said Maj. Randy Schalburg of the Carmel Police Department. "And the officer was in uniform and was on duty."

Days before the arrest, Lajoye had run into the officer, whom he had met before, Schalburg said. The officer's name was not released.

"They had been acquaintances beforehand but hadn't seen each other in a year or so." Schalburg said Lajoye told the officer: "Well if you ever run across any real good coke, you let me know."

The officer knew him well enough to believe he wasn't kidding, and he contacted his supervisor and helped arrange the out-of-cover sting.

"He couldn't believe the guy had the audacity to ask him," said Schalburg.

The two agreed to meet in a nearby store parking lot at 9:30 a.m. last Wednesday to sell Lajoye 56 grams of cocaine.

"This guy pulled up right at 9:30 sharp and got into the patrol car," said Schalburg. According to police, the two made their deal, with Lajoye paying by check.

After he got out of the car, a team of other officers arrested him.

"He was rather surprised," said Schalburg. "I don't know why, but he was."

"This is the easiest bust I've ever seen," he remarked. "I've been working for 20 years and I've never had anybody just come to us."

Lajoye was charged with possession with intent to deliver, a Class A felony.

July 31, 2001 CHESTERTON, Ind. -- A women upset over the preparation of her hamburger stabbed a Burger King manager in the head with a pen, police said.

Celinda Dellareese Barge of Detroit was arrested Sunday on charges of battery, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

Barge swung a fist at assistant manager Amanda Benedict, 25, and then stabbed her in the crown of her head with a ball point pen, Police Chief George Nelson said.

The incident begin in the drive-through lane when Barge complained to restaurant workers that her Whopper sandwich did not have bacon, as she had ordered, police said. Restaurant workers added bacon to the sandwich, but Barge complained the bacon was cold and that she didn't want ketchup.

Benedict and another manager went outside to return Barge her money, but she threw two bags of food at them. Barge then followed the managers inside the restaurant and was fighting with Benedict when officers arrived, police said.

Benedict was treated at a hospital and released.

Barge was released from the Porter County Jail in Valparaiso on $5,000 bond Monday. She has an unpublished telephone number and could not be reached for comment today.

Wednesday July 18 6:38 AM ET

UNION CITY, Tenn. (Reuters) - When a judge ordered a Tennessee woman to make good on $1,100 in bad checks, she employed her own brand of creative financing and robbed a bank.

Paige Morphis, 29, left the courthouse after a hearing on Monday on a bad check charge, used a handgun to hold up the First State Bank in her nearby home town of Rives, Tennessee, and fled into a cornfield, said Obion County Chief Deputy Sheriff Heath Cunningham.

``A teller in the bank recognized her and a search was started in the cornfield,'' he said.

Morphis eluded the search party, returned to the courthouse and paid off the bad checks, Cunningham said. ``Then she went home where we arrested her. We also confiscated about $7,000 left from the bank's money.''

The explosion occurred early on Wednesday, the U.S. Independence Day holiday, at the home of a 28-year-old man who had spent the night celebrating with a group of friends, Kansas City Assistant Fire Marshall Jim Duddy said Thursday.

According to Duddy, the group, ``who had been drinking heavily,'' were shooting fireworks off for several hours on Tuesday night at the Northland area home, disturbing neighbors who called police.

Someone in the group attempting to hide a stash of fireworks from the police, stuffed them into the oven and then forgot about them, Duddy said.

About 3 a.m. the homeowner decided to bake some lasagna and turned the oven on. ``It blew the kitchen all apart,'' said Duddy. ''The walls were all blown out, the oven flew right through one of the walls.''

Flying glass caused some slight injuries, but otherwise no one was hurt

Police say 17-year-old Lakount Maddox held up a Taco Bell restaurant in Fort Worth shortly after midnight on Monday. They say he was riding a bicycle when he brandished what appeared to be a gun and demanded the cash in the register.

And a chalupa.

The drive-thru employee had handed over the cash, but according to authorities, Maddox decided to wait for his snack, too.

While one restaurant worker prepared the Taco Bell specialty, another worker called 911.

As police arrived on the scene, Maddox "was still at the drive-thru window waiting on the chalupa," said Fort Worth police Lt. Duane Paul.

Paul said he wasn't sure if the restaurant had intentionally taken its time, or if the fast food just wasn't fast enough to let Maddox make his getaway.

"I don't know what the case was," Paul said. "But he hadn't gotten it."

When Maddox saw the police car pull up, authorities said he began pedaling toward the car, screaming and pointing his weapon at them. One of the officers fired at him and missed. Maddox then allegedly kept riding, while pointing his weapon back at the officers.

Another cop shot and wounded him twice, Paul said, but Maddox kept peddling until a K-9 unit cut him off. He was taken to a local hospital and reported in good condition with injuries to one leg and one arm.

Police determined that his weapon was in fact a toy pellet gun.

Maddox has been charged with aggravated robbery, which carries a penalty of up to 99 years in prison.

Police say Lee P. McPhatter, upset that the Cookie Monster would not pose for a picture at the Sesame Place theme park, shoved and kicked the employee inside the costume. McPhatter, 22, of Waldorf, Md., denies the allegations. "People started yelling at me that I should be ashamed of myself for hitting Cookie Monster. I did not kick or punch Cookie Monster. The cop did not want to hear my side of the story, and I got arrested," said McPhatter, who described the character as his 3-year-old daughter Mina's favorite.

Middletown police said that 21-year-old Jennie McNelis suffered bruised ribs and a cervical sprain when McPhatter shoved her to the ground, then kicked her in the head and back.

McPhatter said his daughter was getting pushed around by others waiting to talk to the Cookie Monster. McPhatter said he asked twice for the character to pose with his daughter, but McNelis "aggressively" put a big blue paw on his daughter's head and pushed her.

McNelis, who is back at work, said she is not permitted to discuss the incident. Sesame Street spokeswoman Audrey Shapiro confirmed that the incident took place, but called it a rare event. "Our characters do not act the way this man said," she continued. "It is an honor to be Cookie Monster."

McPhatter is free on $20,000 unsecured bail following the June 9 incident. He said he would fight the charges, which include simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. "Why would someone take their 3-year-old daughter to the park and attack Cookie Monster?" he asked. "I would never do that in front of my daughter."