Honolulu store owners say thieves are targeting cans of Spam
Honolulu (AP) – Cans of Spam have become a common item that’s being stolen from Honolulu stores and then sold on the streets for quick cash, according to authorities. Ra Long, who owns a convenience store in the city, said shoplifters have typically targeted alcohol in the past, but recently more cans of Spam have gone missing, Hawaii News Now reported.
“I mean you try to keep an eye on it, but if they run, you just can’t leave the counter and chase them,” Long said. “So you just got to take the hit.” Honolulu police said they took a report of a man lifting a case of the canned meat from a store earlier this month. Kimo Carvalho, a spokesman for the Institute for Human Services, said people are stealing Spam because it’s easy to sell. “It’s quick cash for quick drug money,” Carvalho said. Hawaiians eat millions of cans of Spam a year, the nation’s highest per-capita consumption of the processed meat, which is cobbled together from a mixture of pork shoulder, ham, sugar and salt. The state’s love affair with Spam began during World War II, when rationing created just the right conditions for the rise of a meat that needs no refrigeration and has a remarkably long shelf life (indefinitely, the company says). Ann Kondo Corum, who grew up in Hawaii in the 1950s and has written several Spam-inspired cookbooks, has attributed Spam’s popularity partly to Hawaii’s large Asian population. “Asians eat a lot of rice. Spam is salty, and it goes well with rice,” she told The Associated Press in 2009.
Robbers with hunting knives demand $1 from store, then flee
Brockton, Mass. (AP) – Two young men made an unusually small request as they robbed a store in Massachusetts by demanding a single dollar in their robbery. Police say two men entered the Brockton Market and Deli around lunchtime Tuesday while brandishing large hunting-style knives and demanded a single dollar. The men then fled. The Enterprise reports the two young men were described as Hispanic and possibly between the ages of 15 and 18. One was wearing a red sweatshirt with a white shirt on top of it. The other was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt. No arrests have been made.
Police: Newborn’s dad sold heroin in hospital maternity ward
Greensburg, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man has been jailed on charges he sold heroin in the hospital maternity ward room where people were visiting his newborn daughter. Twenty-five-year-old Cody Hulse was arraigned Friday on charges including heroin delivery and endangering the welfare of children. The Tribune-Review reports he declined to comment afterward. Authorities say Hulse got busted after Greensburg police stopped a vehicle Thursday and found heroin and paraphernalia. The occupants told police they had just bought the drugs from Hulse at Excela Health Westmoreland hospital. Police say they went to the maternity room and confronted Hulse, who acknowledged selling the drugs and who had heroin in his pocket. Police say Hulse’s girlfriend, the baby’s mother, told them she didn’t know about the drug deals. Online court records don’t list a defense attorney.
Police video shows large bear peering into shop windows
Kings Beach, Calif. (AP) – A very large bear-about-town was spotted peering into shop windows in a California tourist community on Lake Tahoe. The Placer (PLAH’-ser) County Sheriff’s Office posted video on its Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/PlacerSheriff/videos/1444460442275115/> of the four-pawed prowler early Wednesday. In it, Deputy Don Nevins shines his car’s spotlight on the animal and shouts, “Hey, big boy!” before warning the bear against breaking into any of the shops it’s sniffing around. Shortly after, the bear darts in front of his patrol car and off into a park. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Dena Erwin says deputies respond to bear calls every day because they break into cars, homes and businesses. She said right now they are preparing for hibernation, so they’re upping their calorie intake.
