A chicken apparently came close to being fined US$54 for jaywalking in California. Says the BBC:
“Linc and Helena Moore had been fined on 26 March after their chicken wandered onto a road in the small rural mining town of Johannesburg in Kern county.”
Lucky for the Moore’s the case was thrown out:
“The fine was dismissed after a lawyer for the bird’s owners argued that the fowl was domesticated and could not be classified as livestock.”
Under California livestock laws (#16902) – A person that owns or controls the possession of any livestock shall not willfully or negligently permit any of the livestock to stray upon, [or end up on] a public highway.
- which of course makes sense. Afterall, farmers should be responsible for looking after their livestock; and chicken are no exception. So the next time you see a chicken crossing the road, don’t bother asking it why – just call the cops.
On the 8:30 ABC Asia Pacific news tonight : a Chinese couple who face deportation for a failed asylum application. The couple reportedly cited the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing as their reasons for eligibility. What’s intriguing about this story is that the couple are from Hong Kong.
Some details were available through the ABC News Website, but strangely the article makes no mention of the couples origin. What amazes me is that this couple ever thought that they could get asylum in the first place on the grounds of persecution at home, when ever since the Tiannanmen Square “incident” thousands have demonstrated annually right on the streets of Hong Kong. This is one heck of a way (ultimately unsuccessful, I might add) to gain citizenship of another country! They achieved partial success – Mr & Mrs. Lo’s kids were granted Australian citizenship; but now the parents must go home.
Whether it was part of the deliberate plot to get the kids citizenship I don’t know – I failed to get further details. But it is clear that the concept of “thinking outside the box”, so proudly practiced by Hong Kong people, is often taken too far! If it’s any consolation – for all that has eroded in freedoms and liberties in Hong Kong recently, it’s still nice to see the city declared by some as ’safe to demonstrate in without fear of persecution’.
If only the Lo’s had burnt a flag before their departure!