—– Gospel Singer’s Wife Accused Of Trying To Set Fire To Church (Newsweek/The Associated Press; Feb 19)

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee: Investigators charged a traveling gospel singer’s wife with attempting to set fire to a church where she got upset with the pastor after her husband had performed there, Chattanooga fire officials said. Court records show that the woman was charged Wednesday with attempted arson at the Harmony Baptist Church. There was no fire and no damage to the building after firefighters responded to an automated alarm at the church, authorities said.

Fire officials said the alarm went off after a church service Feb. 11 in which the woman’s husband performed.

Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner said in a statement that arriving firefighters smelled propane and discovered 10 burners on a commercial stove in the fellowship hall all turned up high and a roll of paper towels placed nearby.

Fire officials said the woman told them she is her husband’s agent for performances at local churches and fast food restaurants that schedule gospel entertainment. She denied any wrongdoing and was freed on bond late Wednesday.

 

Fire officials said the woman got upset after the pastor, who had offered them overnight accommodations, noticed they were not wearing wedding bands and asked if they were married.

 

—– Michigan Police Taser Nude Man Headed To Church (Boston.com/The Bay City Times; Feb 20)

BAY CITY, Michigan: Going to church brought no peace to a man Tasered by police as he stood in the nude in 27-degree weather. A funeral Mass was being held inside St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church when police received 911 calls about a naked man Friday morning. Sgt. Gordon Cameron said the man told officers he was having problems with his parents and wanted to go to church.

Cameron told The Bay City Times that the man cursed and verbally abused police before Officer Troy Sierras immobilized him with a Taser, an electronic device that fires barbs causing temporary paralysis.

The man was draped in a blanket and taken to Bay Regional Medical Center for treatment.

 

Cameron said the man, whose name was withheld, likely wouldn’t be charged with any crime.

 

—– Police Say Man Stabbed Son In Left Buttock After He Refused To Take Off His Hat In Church (The Baltimore Sun/The Associated Press; Feb 24)

BALTIMORE, Maryland: Police said a 58-year-old man stabbed his teenage son after he refused to take off his hat at church earlier in the day. The father and his 19-year-old son got into an argument on Sunday afternoon. That’s when police said the father went to a car, got a knife and stabbed his son in the left buttock and fled.

The son was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. The father’s name was withheld pending his arrest.

 

—– Self-Proclaimed Priest Opens Fire At War Vet’s Funeral (Interfax; Feb 27)

KIEV: “Cleric” of the self-proclaimed Kiev Patriarchate tried “to reason” Communists with the help of a pistol.

Unpleasant incident happened before the New Year at a Dneprodzerzhinsk cemetery, the Ukrainian official website has reported with the reference to Gorozhanin and Dnepr Vecherny papers.

Funerals of World War II veteran Zinaida Misyura resulted in a scandal. Mutual insults between local Communists and schismatic priest Sergy Okunev made the latter take out a pistol and start firing.

Later it turned out that it was starter’s pistol.

Both sides in the conflict told that participants in the funerals brought a red flag with them. The late woman was a veteran and Communist Party member since 1944 and wanted to be laid to rest with a Soviet flag.

 

“When a priest came out and saw us, he cried out ‘You are devils, fascists, invaders!’ The priest was very aggressive in the cemetery: he insulted and cursed. When I made a remark about it, he smashed a fit [fist?] in my chest. Then he pushed MP assistant Grigory Duzhka so heavily that he fell down. Everyone was so depressed with the priest’s behavior. When they tried to detain Fr. Sergy, he took out a pistol and started firing,” MP of the Dneprodzerzhinsk city committee and secretary of Communist city committee Valentina Kapinus said.