In five complaints seeking class-action, or group, status filed yesterday in federal court in Chicago, the consumers spurned an offer by J&J’s McNeil Consumer Healthcare and McNeil- PPC Inc. units for refund coupons and demanded cash.

The coupons are “worthless” because McNeil has stopped making the medicines and “wrongly assumes that all consumers will want to purchase the company’s children’s products at some uncertain future date,” according to the complaints.

The companies on April 30 recalled more than 40 types of pediatric pain and allergy drugs saying their quality and potency didn’t meet internal requirements. Among the products it named were children’s formulations of liquid Tylenol, Motrin and Benadryl. J&J’s over-the-counter medicines and nutritionals unit had revenue of $1.21 billion in the first quarter.

Bonnie Jacobs, a spokeswoman for New Brunswick, New Jersey based J&J, said consumers can request a refund or coupon at mcneilproductrecall.com. She declined to comment further, saying that as a policy the company doesn’t discuss litigation.

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No person may spit on the floor of a church.It is unlawful for any person to spit upon the sidewalks, or upon the floors of places of worship, buses, public halls, theaters or other public places.

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If an animal control officer is in uniform, it signifies to the public that he is an animal control officer

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It is illegal to sell peanuts in Lee County after sundown on Wednesday

She wasn’t old enough to read it. The two-year-old has quite a few years to go before she reaches the minimum age of 18 to serve on a state jury. Lucky for Kaylee, Massachusetts Jury Commissioner Patricia Wood seemed willing to let it slide for a while.

“We’ll give her a 16-year grace period,” Wood told the Standard-Times of New Bedford.

Wood guessed the mixup could be traced to a local census form. If the form has a blank or mistaken birth date, July 4, 1776 is filled in.

“With that date we’ll know it is wrong,” Wood said.

Besides her questionable understanding of the concepts of guilt or innocence, there are other reasons why it’s best to wait for Kaylee to serve. Her mother, Patricia, says Kaylee gets really cranky if she doesn’t get her noontime nap.

The suspects, Robert Eugene Brower, 43, a former client of the lawyer, and Connie Brower, have been charged with kidnapping, police said, adding that more charges could be filed.

Police Chief Stan York said police found an explosive device of a “pyrotechnic type.” He did not elaborate.

At a news conference Monday night, York said Brower was angry about having been convicted in a criminal case in which Hostilo was his court-appointed lawyer. York would not elaborate on the couple’s demands, saying only they wanted to call attention to the case. Schnall said he did not know what type of case Hostilo handled for Brower.

He told the court in Herning, 270 kilometres west of Copenhagen, that he pretended to urinate by concealing a plastic bag containing water in his trousers and squeezing water on a wall.
The court said it wasn’t necessary to establish whether he urinated or sprinkled water. It deemed his conduct “obscene” and unlawful, and fined him $165 US.

Jensen, 33, was reported to police following the July 11 incident at a house in Brande on the outskirts of Herning.

Police initially fined him $330, but he refused to pay. The court on Monday reduced the fine by half.

Jerry Colaitis, 43, wrenched his neck when he ducked to avoid the shrimp in the chain’s Munsey Park restaurant, lawyer Andre Ferenzo said in opening statements Wednesday.

“I remember learning about the effects of olestra, so never in a million years would I have knowingly purchased potato chips that contain it,” said Lori Perlow, the plaintiff. “I was driving my car when my symptoms hit. Frankly I feel lucky to have reached my destination in one piece.”

The City Council in November told Mary and Ralph Baucum they couldn’t keep their three hens in pens behind their house. Having lost at city hall, the Baucums has appealed to a Caddo District Court judge, asking him to “spot zone” their property to allow them to keep raising three to four chickens.

The Baucums for years have kept about half a dozen hens as pets in a pen behind their house. But a neighbor complained to the city, saying the birds infected her dog with an illness stemming from bird droppings.

The Metropolitan Planning Commission last fall approved a zoning variance that allowed the Baucums to keep hens as pets. That was appealed to the City Council, which overruled the MPC.

Ralph Baucum says several friends have offered to take their chickens.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine faulted the FBI for mistakenly matching a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators near the Madrid bombing site to those of Mayfield.

Mayfield was jailed for two weeks in May 2004 — even though Spanish investigators disagreed with the FBI’s fingerprint analysis. The FBI acknowledged the mistake on May 24 and apologized to Mayfield.

He sued the Justice Department and the FBI in October 2004, claiming he was singled out because of his Muslim faith and that searches of his home and other locations were in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

Precht, who recently left the University of Michigan to return to private practice in New York, said the pressure on investigators and prosecutors is enormous once they believe they have the right suspect.

“This is a textbook example of people having assumed a person’s guilt, and then they look for evidence to confirm it,’’ Precht said