Company sorry for response to buyer
Metheun, Mass. Home Depot Inc. apologized to a carpenter who was banned by the chain worldwide after he absent-mindedly pocketed a pencil he had used up to do some quick math.
Michael Panorelli, 51, of Lawrence, was accused of shoplifting from the Methuen store last Thursday and banned from Home Depots.
Panorelli was with a client and had just bought some lumber when the client picked up the pencil sitting next to a cash register for Panorelli to use. Panorelli pocketed the pencil and was met in the parking lot by a worker who asked for identification.
The worker presented Panorelli with one letter saying he was banned from Home Depot, and another advising that he would be hearing from the company’s lawyers.
Panorelli took his story to the Eagle-Tribune newspaper in Lawrence, which published it over the weekend.
Recluse sentenced for seven years
La Crosse, Wis. A recluse who kept his dead mother in his freezer and shot at his neighbors when they came to his door was sentenced to seven years in prison Monday.
Philip Schuth, 53, was sentenced for attempted homicide, reckless endangerment and concealment of a corpse.
Schuth told investigators that his mother died of natural causes in 2000, and an autopsy confirmed that. Schuth, who never had held a real job, said he hid her death because he was afraid authorities would blame him and because he wanted to keep collecting her Social Security checks.
He was arrested in April after an all-night standoff with police at his house on French Island, which lies in the Mississippi River just outside La Crosse. The standoff began when Schuth shot at a couple and their 10-year-old son after they confronted him over whether he had hit the boy.
Girl left willingly after parents killed
Lancaster, Pa. A 14-year-old girl whose 18-year-old boyfriend allegedly fatally shot her parents left willingly with him after the slayings and was not kidnapped, prosecutors said in court papers filed Monday.
Kara Borden told detectives she left of her own free will, according to the filing. David Ludwig told detectives the two planned to get married and start a new life together.
Ludwig confessed to the slayings after his arrest and told police where to find the murder weapon in his car, according to court documents released Monday in Indiana.
In court documents filed in Pennsylvania, prosecutors said Kara Borden ran from her home to get into Ludwig’s car after the Nov. 13 shootings.
Reporter denied claims to reveal role
Washington Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward dismissed claims that he should have revealed his role in the CIA leak case when he discussed the investigation on news interview shows.
The Post’s ombudsman, Deborah Howell wrote in Sunday’s editions that Woodward erred by publicly commenting on the case on CNN’s “Larry King Live” and on National Public Radio without mentioning that a top Bush administration official had told him the name of a covert CIA officer.
However, Woodward told Larry King on the program Monday night: “Every time somebody appears on your show talking about the news or giving some sort of analysis, there are going to be things that they can’t talk about.”
Woodward again acknowledged that he should have told his editor at the Post.
“I have a great relationship with Len Downie, the editor of the Post, and I was trying to avoid being subpoenaed,” Woodward said.