Committed to marriage for the masses

Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer

Unitarians from Boston to Berkeley have opened another front in the liberal crusade to expand the definition of marriage and family in America.

It's the new polygamy, and according to the Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness, their relationships are at least as ethical as other marriages -- gay or straight.

Very few polyamorous Unitarian Universalist ministers are "out of the closet." They fear it will wreck their chances of getting or keeping a job with a congregation.  

One set of guidelines for church blessings of polyamorous partners suggests that the officiating minister try to put people at ease by saying, "We are from many different faith traditions, and we have many different experiences of love.''

Edinburgh bus drivers are to be issued with DNA kits in an effort to catch people who spit on them while they're working.

About one driver a week is reported to police as having been spat on, although the actual figure is believed to be twice as high because many incidents go unreported.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the
world.

Arthur Schopenhauer
    --Studies in Pessimism

Dead wrong

By Ethan Fletcher
Staff Writer

Published on Tuesday, April 20, 2004

A Nigerian Landlord has said he did not remember biting off the nose of his tenant during a minor altercation.

Abuja businessman Chukwu Christian said he only defended himself against severe physical attacks by the tenant .

"I didn't know how he managed to get his own injury, but it might be that I wounded him unknowingly."

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - One-legged South African swimmer Natalie du Toit will continue her quest in June to compete at the Athens Olympics after failing to qualify at her recent national championships.

Police offer grisly details of slaying near Findlay

By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

FINDLAY - A Hancock County man strangled his mother, beat her in the head with a crudely made hammer, and then, in a ritual of his own making, he cut off her head, right foot, and both hands. He also cut off one his testicles.

He had been reading about Aztec culture, which authorities say may have spurred the bizarre killing of his mother.

Alma Businger, 83, was found dead in her Cass Township home. Her son, Rex, 41, told deputies he'd killed his mother. He died from self-inflicted burns the following day.

Even though Mrs. Businger was found decapitated, the lack of blood at the scene indicated she had died before the decapitation took place.

157 YEARS AGO TODAY

Apr 21 1847

Lewis Keseberg, the final member of the Donner Party still stranded in the mountains, is escorted to safety by a fourth rescue party.

Later accounts hold that Keseberg was discovered "seated, like a ghoul, in the midst of dead bodies, with his face and hands smeared with blood, and a kettle of human flesh boiling over the fire."

Girls do porn film to finance high school parties

Carin Pettersson 20.04.04 10:10, ny 20.04.04 11:57

26 seniors from two high schools in Oslo are going to participate in a porn film staring Norwegian porn actor Rocco in order to finance their end of the year parties.

The girls have signed a contract with 21-year-old porn star Thomas Rocco Hansen to tape a scene for a porn film in their own bus as they lack other types of sponsorships to finance their party costs.

Man dies in house fire

BY BART JONES AND ALFONSO CASTILLO
STAFF WRITERS

April 19, 2004