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Freddy Krueger, DDS
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In July the Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated patient Frances Blanchard’s lawsuit against Memphis dentist Arlene Kellum for allegedly committing battery by attempting to pull out all 32 of Blanchard’s teeth in one sitting. Blanchard, who has a gum disease, said she thought it would be done over several visits. Kellum was half done when Blanchard fainted and had to be hospitalized for six days. And in June a jury in Oklahoma City awarded $1.3 million to Mark Macsenti for brain damage he suffered when dentist Jon D. Becker fell asleep during an appointment and left Macsenti under anesthesia for about ten hours.
Georgia state senator Ralph David Abernathy III, son of the late civil rights leader, announced his retirement from politics in July after his $400 reelection filing fee check bounced. During his legislative career he was accused of following a woman into a state capitol ladies’ room and was once caught with marijuana in his underwear at the Atlanta airport. He said he plans to enter the seminary.
In July Diane Parker accompanied her husband, Richard W. Parker (who had been accused of drug trafficking), to federal court in Los Angeles. According to friends, Diane had come prepared to put up her investment property and her mother’s town house to make Richard’s bail. However, when the prosecutor began talking about details of Richard’s double life, including a mistress and a safe house, Diane’s expression changed dramatically. She removed her wedding ring with a flourish, walked out of court, drove to the Orange County office where the mistress worked, and punched her several times before being restrained.
Michael H. Egli was found in contempt of court in Daytona Beach, Florida, in August. He had tried to get out of jury duty by sending the court clerk two messages announcing that he hated “[epithet for blacks], cops and judges.” Egli has a kidney condition that requires him to undergo dialysis and would automatically have been excluded from jury duty anyway.
Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago, 60611.
