THE SHOW: 12/17/2009 - Van Crushes Ferrari / Kidney Swap / Chris Henry / Fire Displaces 40 People From Hendersonville

Local Buzz:
"NES Warns Customers Of Scam"

*NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Electric Service said someone is calling their customers pretending to be them. The scammers have been trying to collect money from customers for their bills.
NES said it "never contacts a customer by telephone or in person asking for money" to pay a bill. If you get such a call NES asked you to contact customer relations at 736-6900.

*When this week started, Second Harvest Food Bank was about 4 million meals short of reaching its goal of providing 7 million meals by January.
On Wednesday, after news of the agency's plight broke in The Tennessean, Second Harvest started closing the gap. The agency raised food and money equivalent to nearly 1 million meals in one day.
"It's been fantastic," said Tasha Kennard, spokeswoman for Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee. "The phones have been ringing off the hook.
"I just hope it continues through the end of December."
During a typical week, Kennard said, Second Harvest sees about two walk-in volunteers. Its Web site averages about 10 donations per day. On Wednesday, nine volunteers walked in off the streets to help sort food and the Web site recorded over 60 donation hits, Kennard said.
"We've had over 20 calls in the past couple of hours," she said. "Their pledges have ranged from $20 to over $1,000, and online donations have ranged from $10 to $1,000.
"We just keep telling them to give however they can, whether it is their time, food or money. We are in a situation right now where we need the community more than ever."
The Rev. Fred Coleman called to make a $200 donation. Coleman said he had seen the story about Second Harvest and was crushed about what was going on.

"All Lanes Open On I-24 In Coffee County"

*TULLAHOMA, Tenn. – All lanes were back open Thursday morning on Interstate 24 after a wreck in Coffee County closed westbound lanes for nearly 10 hours.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported the crash involving three tractor trailers at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday around mile marker 126.
At least one person was taken by helicopter to a hospital. There has been no word on that person's condition.

*CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A man is facing charges that he sexually assaulted a pre-teen. Police said the attack happened while 55-year-old Gregory Dougherty was driving a van for a Clarksville church.
The church is located just across the street from Austin Peay State University, and Dougherty has driven buses at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church for years.
"The allegation was the driver of the bus committed rape," said Jim Knoll with the Clarksville Police Department.
Clarksville police arrested Dougherty this week after a lengthy investigation.
"This gentleman has been a bus driver for the church for some time. So when this came down, like I said, we did a thorough investigation," said Knoll.
The alleged rape happened in March. A Montgomery County Grand Jury indicted Dougherty nine months later.
Police said the day the crime happened the 12-year-old was the only passenger on the bus. According to reports, Dougherty pulled over to the side of the road and attacked the girl.
Police think Dougherty took advantage of his influence over the girl.
"This is almost an authority figure, even though he's a bus driver. Yes, this is shocking, and a child, this is a grown man that the allegations have been made against," said Knoll.
Police said church leaders have been cooperative in their investigation and that the case if far from over.
"This still has to go to court. I mean we still have to prove our case in court, but there was sufficient information for the indictment to be taken," said Knoll.
Church leaders at Mt. Olive have been cooperating with police, but they did not want to talk with NewsChannel 5.
NewsChannel 5 also stopped by Pastor David Allen's house Wednesday, but he was not available to comment. Allen is also a councilman in Clarksville.
NewsChannel 5 also paid a visit to Gregory Dougherty's house, but no one answered the door.
A judge set Dougherty's bond at $50,000. He remained locked up in the Montgomery County Jail Wednesday night.

"Fire Displaces 40 People From Hendersonville Apartments"

*HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. - More than 40 people were displaced after a fire tore through a Hendersonville apartment building Thursday morning.
Fire crews responded to the Sumner Estates apartments on Old Shackle Island Road just after midnight.
Firefighters had to rescue one man from his burning apartment. Another injured man was able to escape; both were taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center's burn unit and were expected to recover.
Hendersonville Fire Chief Jaime Steele believed the blaze may have started in the upstairs apartment where the man was rescued.
The Nashville Area Red Cross spent Thursday morning assisting the 16 families affected.
The Red Cross provided shelter to at least one family, and they gave winter coats and other essentials to those who lost their items in the fire.
The cause of the remained under investigation Thursday morning.

*RIO DE JANEIRO — A 2-year-old boy with more than 40 sewing needles stuck in him is being airlifted to another hospital in northeastern Brazil because two of the needles are close to his heart, an official said Thursday.
A police official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press the boy's stepfather had been arrested, that he had confessed to sticking the needles into the boy with the help of another woman, and that authorities were investigating whether black magic was involved.
"He's in custody and he confessed," the officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the case.
Surgeons at a hospital in the town of Barreiras in Bahia state decided not to try to remove any needles after discovering that two were very near the boy's heart, said an official at Hospital do Oeste. She spoke on condition of anonymity as she was not authorized to discuss the case.
She said that doctors had located 42 needles in the boy — eight fewer than they had reported finding Wednesday. The boy was in intensive care but was in stable condition before being airlifted 240-miles (390 kilometers) north, she said.
"He'll be flown by helicopter to a hospital in Salvador that has a special heart unit," the official said. "He has two needles near his heart and our doctors didn't want to take a chance."
On Wednesday, Dr. Luiz Cesar Soltoski at the Hospital Oeste, who was treating the boy, said surgeons had hoped to remove most of the needles — some as long as 2 inches (5 centimeters)_ but those in the lungs will have to wait until the child's breathing improves.
The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in the small northeastern city of Ibotirama last Thursday, saying he was complaining of pain. Three days later, after X-rays revealed many of the needles, doctors moved him to a larger hospital in the nearby city of Barreiras.
The mother told police she didn't know how the needles got inside her son, whose name was not released because of his age.
The boy's father, Gessivaldo Alves, earlier told the newspaper A Tarde that he believed his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual. Alves reportedly said he visited the home where the boy was living and found unspecified items that could be used for black magic.
The doctor said he believed the needles were stuck into the child's body one by one.
"We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. It couldn't have been by ingestion," Soltoski said.
Doctors found no signs of outside wounds on the boy. X-ray images carried by Brazilian Web sites clearly showed some of the needles deep inside his body.

Celeb News:
"NFL STAR WAS CRITICAL AFTER BIZARRE AUTO ACCIDENT...DIED
CHARLOTTE, N.C."

*Police say Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry has died, one day after suffering serious injuries upon falling out of the back of a pickup truck in what authorities describe as a domestic dispute with his fiancee. Police say Henry died at 6:36 a.m. today. Henry was 26.
Away from the team because of a broken forearm, Henry was rushed to the hospital Wednesday after being found on a residential road. Police say a dispute began at a home about a half-mile away, and Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck as his fiancee was driving away from the residence. Police said at some point when she was driving, Henry "came out of the back of the vehicle."
PREVIOUSLY.....Troubled Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was said to have "life-threatening injuries" after falling from the bed of a pickup truck being driven by his fiancee yesterday. Henry and Loleini Tonga were allegedly having a heated argument when he either fell or jumped from the vehicle on a highway outside Charlotte, North Carolina. Investigators are said to be looking into the possibility that Tonga was driving erratically, but she was not immediately taken into custody. The seriousness of Henry's condition was not revealed, but the incident was being looked at by homicide detectives. T-M-Z reports that, just hours earlier, Tonga had gone to her MySpace page, writing about how she just "put deposIt down 4 weDDing piCs... Paid 4 ouR riNgs."

*Game -- once 50 Cent's protege, then his nemesis -- had a humorous reaction to the lackluster sales of 50's recently released Before I Self Destruct disc. Game says he bought 17 copies to "help him out." He tells RapUp.com, "I tried to help him over that 160 mark. It's sad and tragic that he didn't do what he thought he was gonna do, but he's 50 -- he'll figure out a way to sell somebody some G-Unit maxi pads or G-Unit tampons or G-Unit douches. You know, he's a businessman."

*Michelle Williams will return to Broadway in 2010, reviving her role as "Roxie Heart" in the New York production of Chicago. The Destiny's Child member -- who was the first black woman to play Roxie on London's West End -- will begin her run on February 8th and be with the production through mid-April.
Williams also starred on Broadway in the Elton John and Tim Rice-produced musical Aida.

"JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: Putting Golf on the Back Burner"

*Much like Tiger Woods, Justin Timberlake is taking a break from the game of golf. No, Justin isn't in the middle of a scandal -- he's just closing his Tennessee golf course for six months to make improvements to the grounds. His initial plan was to keep Mirimichi golf course open and renovate over three years, but Timberlake tells the Memphis Commercial Appeal he didn't want to inconvenience players for that long. If you want to get in 18 holes, head down to Mirimichi before January 15th.

*Buju Banton will fight a drug charge in Tampa instead of Miami. Buju had been in federal custody in Miami since Thursday, but he's being transferred. The D-E-A accuses him and two others of attempting to purchase a large amount of cocaine from an undercover officer.

"THINGS ARE PRECIOUS FOR ACTRESS SIDIBE"

*Precious star Gabourey Sidibe says it's weird "being on the other side" of the velvet rope. Nominated this week for a Best Actress Golden Globe, she tells People, "I'm a fangirl and I watch these things happen, but they don't happen to me. I called my mom right away when I found out, and she was really excited. She said that six people have called her already to congratulate her." Her father, on the other hand, was more subdued. "My dad's not really into this whole thing. He doesn't really understand what all this is. It's not his realm at all."

*THE PROBLEM: By 3 p.m., you're nodding off at your desk.
THE FIX: Simply standing up gets more blood — and energizing oxygen — pumping to your brain; after walking briskly for a few minutes, your whole body (including your sluggish mind) becomes more engaged. "You don't even have to work up a sweat," says Robert E. Thayer, professor of psychology at California State University Long Beach and author of Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise. In one of Thayer's studies, subjects either went for a brisk 10-minute walk or ate a candy bar. The walkers had increased energy for up to two hours, while the snackers saw their immediate energy boost drop off within an hour — and after two hours were even more lethargic than before.
TRY THIS: When you have time for more than a couple of laps through your cubicle maze, personal trainer Kacy Duke of Equinox Fitness recommends circuit work for the biggest jump-start. Count to 10 jumping rope, then do 8 push-ups, then 12 crunches. Next, graduate to 20 seconds jumping rope, 10 push-ups, 15 crunches. Keep upping the ante until you've been active for at least 15 minutes. (Don't push yourself for more than 30, though — the idea is to get energized, not exhausted.)
BONUS: Whatever workout you choose, do it outside when possible. Research has shown that an identical workout will yield a more substantial energy payoff when it's done outdoors — "even when the sun isn't shining," says Thomas Plante, professor of psychology at Santa Clara University, who has published several dozen studies on exercise and mood.

*WASHINGTON (Dec. 16) -- Thirteen patients with healthy new kidneys from what's believed to be the world's largest kidney exchange met the donors who made it happen Tuesday — including three who are sure to face the question, "Why?"
A hospice nurse who handed homemade cookies to her operating team. A retired stockbroker who had volunteered with the National Kidney Foundation and decided to walk the talk. And a woman inspired by President Barack Obama's call to volunteer. They all donated a kidney with nothing to gain — they didn't have a friend or loved one in the marathon chain of transplants that they helped make possible.
"It's not like I'm doing anything courageous," Bill Singleton, 62, the kidney foundation volunteer, told the Associated Press before his surgery. "If I don't volunteer, who will?"
Kidney exchanges widen the pool of potential donors for the hardest-to-transplant patients — minorities as well as people whose immune systems have become abnormally primed to attack a donated kidney. What happens: Patients find a friend or relative who isn't compatible with them but will donate on their behalf, and the pairs are mixed to find the most matches.
But a donor whose kidney isn't directed to a particular patient — a so-called altruistic or non-directed donor — multiplies the number of operations that can be done in a kidney swap. And Dr. Keith Melancon at Georgetown University Hospital had three such donors, people he calls "pieces of gold."
"People keep wanting to know why, why, why," Glaser, the Gaithersburg, Md., nurse said before her surgery. "It sounds very trite but you pass through this world, and what do you ever do that makes a difference?"
The AP documented weeks of the complex logistics as Melancon's team initially planned for a 16-way exchange, juggled donors and recipients for the best matches — and emerged with a record-setting exchange: 26 operations over six days at Georgetown and nearby Washington Hospital Center.

"We signal our interest in the opposite sex as instinctively as peacocks flare their tails or fish their fins."
Flirtation behaviors used by women.
glancing
gazing (short and sustained),
primping, preening, smiling,
lip licking, pouting,
giggling, laughing and nodding,
eyebrow flash (an exaggerated rising of the eyebrows of both eyes, followed by a rapid lowering),
the coy smile (a tilting of the head downward, with partial averting of the eyes and, at the end, covering of the mouth,
and the exposed neck (turning the head so that the side of the neck is bared), swayed their backs, forcing the buttocks to tilt out and up and their chests to thrust forward.

HOT MESS OF THE DAY:
"Van Crushes Ferrari"

*It's hard to feel sorry for someone who drives a 500-thousand-dollar sports car, but what happened to this Ferrari is really a hot mess.