Nation briefs 10/26/06

Principal suspended for giving student a 'wedgie'

LIVINGSTON, Mont. -- A high school principal received a six-day suspension and a letter of reprimand for giving one of his students a wedgie. Eric Messerli pulled a Park High School senior's soccer jersey over his head and yanked upward on the waistband of the boy's underwear at a soccer game Oct. 5. Other school officials said he was joking around with the student and did it playfully. He was suspended for two days without pay and four days with pay before the school board decided Monday to let him return. He tearfully told the board: "I've made mistakes in my life, but none have had the impact that this one has had." Messerli, who was back on the job Tuesday, will be required to talk with students and staff members about the incident to restore respect and authority. He said his first reaction was to resign, but he decided to "tackle this mess" head on. "I want to live in a world where we don't have to hide when we screw up," he said.

Toddler gets stuck in vending machine

ANTIGO, Wis. -- The stuffed Sponge Bob in a vending machine caught the 3-year-old eye of Robert Moore when he was out on a shopping trip with his grandmother, so the little boy tried to fish it out with a plastic crane. "I told him I could get it for him," his grandmother, Fredricka Bierdemann, said. "He's a character. He said, 'Oh no, I can get it.'" When she turned her back to get another dollar for a second try, Robert took off his coat and squeezed through an opening in the machine. He landed in the stuffed animal cube. "I turned around and looked for him, and he said, 'Oma, I'm in here,'" Bierdemann said. "I thought I would have a heart attack." Store employees couldn't find a key to the machine Saturday, so Robert waited while the Antigo Fire Department was called. Firefighters broke one lock but then spotted two latches inside the plastic cube. They passed a screwdriver to Robert. Robert eventually freed himself. His mother, Marie Moore, and grandmother said they were lucky that he remained calm when another child might not have. He went home safe -- but without a stuffed Sponge Bob.

Officials plan rescue for manatee in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A misdirected manatee apparently swam 700 miles up the Mississippi River to a chilly harbor near Memphis' downtown riverfront, prompting rescue plans by wildlife officials. The docile, endangered marine mammal, about 8 feet long and 1,000 pounds, is far north of its natural range along the southeastern U.S. coast. Biologists have no idea how it got there and worry its health is failing because the species' digestive systems shut down in cooler water. "We're working on a rescue plan and hope to have the animal rescued within the next 48 hours," Nicole Adiemy, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Wednesday. "Then we'll put it on a truck and haul it to Florida." Adiemy said the plan was to catch the animal in a net, perhaps today, and take it to SeaWorld Adventure Park in Orlando, Fla., with help from park specialists. Manatees normally are moving into Florida rivers this time of year, but not the Mississippi, said Pat Rose, executive director of the Save the Manatee Club in Maitland, Fla.

New Orleans police crack down on prostitution

NEW ORLEANS -- Contractors, tradesmen and migrant workers have been pouring into town to take advantage of the post-Katrina rebuilding boom, and so have prostitutes, police officials said in announcing a crackdown on the French Quarter's illicit sex trade. Working with a grant, police talked to residents and business owners in the Central Business District, the French Quarter and the adjacent Faubourg Marigny and complaints about prostitution were the first thing they heard, Capt. Kevin Anderson, commander of the district said Tuesday. Prostitutes from Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit and Las Vegas have been found working New Orleans streets, Anderson said. He said police arrested 53 women on prostitution charges during a recent two-week crackdown.

Hastert aide appears before Foley investigators

WASHINGTON -- An aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Wednesday went before ethics investigators in private to explain how the office handled complaints about former Rep. Mark Foley's behavior toward former pages. Ted Van Der Meid, who oversaw the page program for Hastert, R-Ill., appears to be one of the last witnesses. The House ethics panel is investigating whether lawmakers and staff aides acted properly when learning of Foley's too-friendly messages to ex-pages and other possible inappropriate behavior The panel is in its third week of hearing testimony and seems unlikely to complete its probe before the Nov. 7 elections.

-- From wire reports