SENT PACKINGCharles D. McKinley, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y., had four weeks of vacation coming, so he decided to visit his parents in DeSoto, Texas. Rather than buy a plane ticket for $320, McKinley, a shipping clerk, packed himself into a shipping crate and air-expressed himself home, charging the fees to his employer. When the crate was delivered to his parents’ front step, McKinley pushed out of the box and shook hands with the “shaken and frightened” delivery driver. The driver called the police. After an investigation by the FBI, the U.S. attorney, postal inspectors, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration, McKinley was charged as a stowaway, a federal misdemeanor. (Dallas Morning News) … If he had only waited for the driver to leave, he would have been home free.CRYSTAL BALLS NOT SO CRYSTAL CLEARThe state police have arrested Chandrasiri Bandara, an astrologer in Sri Lanka. “He is being questioned over a political statement he made” in a reading, said Criminal Investigation Department spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara. Bandara, a popular astrology columnist in Sri Lankan newspapers, predicted political changes that President Mahinda Rajapaksa definitely wouldn’t like. Family members said police have questioned Bandara for three days – so far. (Reuters) … Boy, anybody should have been able to see THAT reaction coming.
