Lead Story
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In March, Florence Schreiber Power, a 44-year-old administrative law judge in Ewing, New Jersey, on trial for shoplifting two watches, had her psychiatrist testify that she was under stress at the time of the incidents. The doctor said Power did not know what she was doing “from one minute to the next,” for the following reasons: a recent auto accident, a traffic ticket, a new-car purchase, overwork, her husband’s kidney stones, his asthma (and the breathing machine that occupies their bedroom), menopausal hot flashes, an “ungodly” vaginal itch, a bad rash, a fear of breast and anal cancer, a fear of dental surgery, her son’s asthma and need for a breathing machine, mother’s and aunt’s illnesses, the process of planning a party for her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, the process of planning Thanksgiving dinner for 20 relatives, the purchase of 200 gifts for Christmas and Hanukkah, her attempt to sell her house without a real estate agent, a lawsuit she had against her wallpaper cleaners, the purchase of furniture that had to be returned, and a toilet in her house that was constantly running. She was convicted.
In April, Maryland officials sent a man to a hospital for treatment after he threatened harm to three people unless they would let him sniff their shoes. While he was under observation there was another sniffing incident in the state in which a man asked a woman to hand over her shoe, telling her that it might contain a valuable ticket. When she did, he lifted it to his nose, peeled back the padding, inhaled deeply, and then asked for her other shoe.
Compelling Explanations
Arkansas secretary of state Bill McCuen, questioned in November about the “business trip” to Las Vegas he took with two female employees, said he took both of them to avoid the appearance of impropriety that would have resulted if he had taken only one. (He also pointed out that three could travel as cheaply as one, as evidenced by the fact that the three shared one motel room en route, in Gallup, New Mexico.)
