Detroit's Top News Talkers Of 2014
By Christy Strawser, CBS Detroit
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Who did what? Huh? Why, exactly? That's right, these are the stories that made you scratch your head in 2014 and say "how did that happen?"
From homework assignments that went awry to a bad sex shooting -- and everything in between -- these are Detroit's top talkers of the year. Some of the things that had chins wagging were sad, some scary, and others were downright bizarre.
Who's The Daddy Homework
The principal of Romeo High School ended up calling an outraged father to apologize after a controversial homework assignment was sent home to ninth graders featuring questions about a mother trying to determine the identity of her baby's father.
Possible answers included: the cable guy, the mailman, the cab driver, the bartender and the guy at the club.
Parents were not amused.
One sent in a note saying "We teach our children not to sleep around."
See the complete story HERE.
Dead Dogs Mystery
A man walking through a park on Detroit's west side came upon unspeakable horror: dozens of dead, frozen dogs.
Dead dogs curled into fetal positions, covered in scars and lacerations — these were some of the graphic and grisly images taken at the River Rouge Park, along West Outer Drive between Plymouth Road and West Warren Avenue.
Detroit Animal Welfare Group (DAWG) board member Nicole Litzelman said at least 28 large dogs, mostly pit bulls and Mastiff mixes, were found when the snow started to thaw last winter.
How? Why? A dog fighting ring was immediately suspected, but the mystery remains.
Read the complete story HERE.
Arm Removed Over ICP Tattoo
Local act Insane Clown Posse continues to make the headlines -- sometimes inadvertently.
Two men faced attempted murder charges in Maryland after allegedly trying to forcibly remove an ICP tattoo off their roommate's arm — because they felt he hadn't "earned the right" to wear it.
Authorities say the victim, 31-year old Zachary Swanson, was so badly injured that doctors were forced to amputate his right arm below the elbow.
According to police, 33-year-old Paul Martin Hurst and 35-year-old Carey Lee Edwards savagely beat Swanson, then tried to unsuccessfully carve the tattoo from his arm. When that didn't work, the duo allegedly doused Swanson's arm with flammable liquid and set him on fire.
Read the complete story HERE.
Man Found Dead In Port-A-Potty
Last year brought a long, brutal winter. It was so blistering that a man died sought shelter inside a Port-A-Potty in St. Clair Shores, died from hypothermia, and his body wasn't discovered for five months.
Police said Gary Roger Szarek, 63, a former resident of Grosse Pointe Woods, was identified through a combination of fingerprints, cellphone records and other information.
Szarek's remains were found by a security guard at a municipal boat launch on 9 Mile Road near Jefferson Avenue in April.
Investigators said Szarek, who was homeless after a foreclosure in 2010, may have been using the toilet for shelter.
Read the complete story HERE.
Woman Shoots Lover; Poor Performance Cited
If you only look at one mugshot this year, this is the one you want to see.
Sadie Bell, 58, was put in the slammer, after she was convicted of shooting her lover over his performance in bed is headed back behind bars.
The prosecutor said Bell was having a 15-year affair with the victim, Mr. Lee.
"She was upset with him," the prosecutor said, "after a sexual act that she felt he wasn't performing adequately and accused him then of having an affair, and then took out a gun and shot him."
Walton said Bell made a"very graphic," detailed statement to police explaining why she shot her lover.
"She stated that she knew he was having an affair because he wasn't producing enough ejaculate," the prosecutor explained. "She also said to the police some very graphic things about how she expected him to perform, she was a cheap date, she liked sex, she expected him to be able to do what he's promised; and she said, in essence, to quote her, she was pissed off, so she shot him."
The victim, who suffered wounds to his colon and pancreas, nearly died and was hospitalized for six weeks.
Read the complete story HERE.
Man Crushed By Falling Pallet
In August, a man was crushed to death by a pallet of ceramic tiles that fell from the shelves at Menards in Mount Clemens. He and his wife were together in the store, reportedly shopping for items for a home they planned to build for themselves and their 5-year-old son.
She witnessed the incident.
The wife later sued, saying a Menards store employee used a forklift to place a 600-pound pallet of tiles on a shelf about 15 feet off the ground. Moments after the employee left the area, the pallet of tiles fell and crushed Richard Colletti, police said.
Famed attorney Geoffrey Fieger filed a $100 million lawsuit, claiming Menards was negligent.
Read the complete story HERE.
Diarrhea Virus Wipes Out Pigs
Say it isn't so! Just in time for Easter, a so-called diarrhea virus struck pigs, with 93 farms across Michigan reporting the virus among their porker population last April.
The virus attacks and kills piglets. An expert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture called it "one of the most infectious viruses that they've ever encountered."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it had a hand in shrinking the nation's pig herd by 3 percent. The virus thrives in cold weather, so the death toll in the U.S. soared last winter.
The virus doesn't affect humans, except where wallets are concerned. Prices for pork products rose an estimated 10 to 20 percent.
Read the complete story HERE.
Slaves Or Factory Workers Assignment
A Detroit-area mother was left fuming after her daughter, an eighth grader at Novi Middle School, was assigned an essay question asking if they would rather have been slaves or factory workers during the Industrial Revolution.
Mother Tina James said the teacher instructed kids to answer in class and not involve parents.
Steve Matthews, Superintendent of the Novi Community School District, said the essay was based on a Michigan Content Expectation, in which 8th grade students were asked to be able to explain the differences in the lives of free blacks — including those who escaped from slavery — with the lives of free whites and enslaved people.
"The majority of the class felt that they would rather be a slave than to be a factory worker. And she was just extremely confused by that, knowing what slaves went through, she couldn't understand why anyone would choose that," James said. "The rationale by those students to choose slaves was that they had free housing, they had free food and they had free protection. But the argument that she and I put forth was that those things were not free."
James decided to take up the issue with the Novi Community Schools Board. The question was eventually pulled.
Read the entire story HERE.
