People: Creator of Operation couldn’t afford one
The creator of the board game Operation needed his own operation, and it turned out he couldn’t afford to pay for it.
So John Spinello’s friends decided to raise the money for him online. Now, they’ve been able to raise enough money to help Spinello pay for the surgery as well as some other bills.
Spinello, 77, of Bloomingdale, Illinois, invented the buzzing game of precision in the early 1960s as an industrial design student at the University of Illinois. He sold the concept for $500 to a toy inventor who later licensed it to Milton Bradley.
It went on to be very successful, with merchandise and different versions of games sold worldwide. But because of the deal he struck, he never got any royalties, something that’s not unusual for game-makers unsure of how well a game might do.
Fast forward decades later, and Spinello and his wife ended up filing for bankruptcy after their warehouse business went under during the recession. Recently, he found out he needed oral surgery to fix his teeth at a cost of $25,000. That’s on top of other outstanding bills he has.
Peggy Brown and Tim Walsh, his friends and fellow game inventors, decided to raise money for him through the crowd funding site www.crowdrise.com.
As of Friday, more than $30,000 had been raised online, along with $15,000 through other means – by selling games signed by Spinello and through other donations. Hasbro, which now owns Milton Bradley, is also pitching in. It plans to buy Spinello’s original prototype and put it on display at its global headquarters in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
CBC host faces sexual assault charges
Police have begun an investigation of a prominent former Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio host on sexual assault charges after three women filed complaints against him.
Toronto police sex crimes Insp. Joanna Beaven-Desjardins told a news conference Saturday that her unit “has now commenced an active investigation” into the allegations of assault and sexual assault against former CBC star radio host Jian Ghomeshi. The allegations by the three women and several others by unnamed women in media reports rocked the Canadian public broadcaster, a vaunted Canadian institution.
CBC fired Ghomeshi last weekend. On Friday, CBC said his firing was prompted by the emergence of “graphic” evidence that he had caused physical injury to a person.
Ghomeshi defended his actions in a 1,500-word statement on Facebook last weekend, saying he had consensual “rough sex” with women and is the victim of a disgruntled ex-girlfriend.
The birthday bunch
Singer Jay Black (Jay and the Americans) is 76. Actress Stefanie Powers is 72. Rock musician Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake and Palmer) is 70. Country-rock singer-songwriter J.D. Souther is 69. Singer-songwriter k.d. lang is 53. Actor David Schwimmer is 48. Rapper Nelly is 40. Rock musician Chris Walla is 39.