| Cute stories from the newspapers
Post cute and funny, off beat stories.
From the New York Times:
That Kitten May Look Harmless, but He's a Jailbird
By SUSAN SAULNY with PATRICK HEALY
Gizmo the cat is only about 6 weeks old, but his life reads like that of the most streetwise New Yorker. Days spent on subway platforms with his keeper, a street musician. A brush with the law. And now, a record of hard time — more than 40 hours — in the system.
Gizmo, it seems, ran afoul of Statute 1050.91 of the subway conduct code, the one about animals in transit facilities. Essentially, it says that animals must be constrained or restrained in the subway, and for Gizmo, that means a leash or a carrier.
How did Gizmo become the poster kitten for the newest round of anger over the city's supposed ticketing blitz (a blitz that statistics indicate does not exist)?
It all started on Monday night, when Angel Melendez, a subway musician, decided to take Gizmo with him when he went to work playing the plastic drums in the Union Square subway station. Gizmo, not amused, promptly fell asleep.
While the slumbering newborn might not have seemed like a menace to Mr. Melendez, the facts of the case, according to prosecutors, are these: Gizmo was a threat to the safety and well-being of subway passengers throughout the system.
Mr. Melendez was arrested at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and, until last evening, was not able to see Gizmo. The cat was being held in solitary at the Union Square Transit Police station in the subway.
Defense lawyers were outraged.
"Defendants are not supposed to be kept for longer than 24 hours for any offense," said Joanne Daley, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Society who represented Mr. Melendez. "And this man has been in for more than a day over a violation having to do with a cat?"
About 6 p.m. yesterday Mr. Melendez was finally arraigned before Justice Eileen Koretz. His defense was that, as Ms. Daley said, "the cat was not annoying anyone."
While Gizmo may be a stranger to the criminal justice system, prosecutors say Mr. Melendez is not. A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office described him as a "subway recidivist," and said that he had had trouble before with the police in the tunnels.
Mr. Melendez's sentence for his violation, Justice Koretz decided, would be the time already served. And she said the case would be dropped as long as he stayed out of trouble for six months.
Mr. Melendez said he would try his best, but made no promises about keeping his cat out of the tunnels.
"After being locked up, I feel like an animal, like my cat," he said after being freed.
The arrest seems sure to heighten the debate about whether the city is too agressive in ticketing, although statistics show that the overall number of summonses has not risen.
Most important for Mr. Melendez, though, was getting his cat back, and the reunion came at the Union Square subway station. The police officers said Gizmo had been in good hands, and had been fed.
When Mr. Melendez arrived, the police lifted Gizmo out of the cage and put him on Mr. Melendez's shoulders, where he scurried and clawed in excitement.
The police also returned the plastic drums, one filled with cat food and another with kitty litter. Mr. Melendez was dismayed by the choice of cat food, reminding anyone who cared that Gizmo likes steak and rice and beans.
As he and Gizmo left the police station, complete strangers came up to them to ooh and aah and pet the kitten. Mr. Melendez looked at his drums and considered Gizmo's quality of life for a moment.
"Let's go outside," he told the cat. "It's too hot in here. I'll never play in here again." | 
TAKING THE WORLD BY STORM!!!!!
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