CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. -- A chemist arrested in a university laboratory by police who caught him making the drug speed told a judge he was inspired by television anchorman Dan Rather.
James Campbell, a former Virginia Tech chemist who admitted he intended to sell the speed for money to pay his bills, told Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore he grew curious about the drug after watching the CBS news anchor explain how it was made on an episode of the TV news- entertainment series '48 Hours.'
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'The whole country was fighting drug abuse, and here they were showing how to make them on television,' said Campbell, who has a doctorate in chemistry. 'I couldn't believe it.
'I decided, heck, I'm going into the lab to see if it works.'
Investigators testified Campbell stole $210.35 worth of phenyl acetic acid -- one of five chemicals used in making speed -- and methaqualone from the university, and used $2,000 from government research grants to buy other chemicals.
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Police arrested Campbell while he was mixing a batch of speed in a Virginia Tech laboratory, and found nearly 200 grams of methamphetamine and 40 grams of methaqualone at his apartment.
Campbell told police he had intended to sell the drugs to pay bills and a $30,000 debt to a former wife, but told the judge Wednesday he never meant to peddle the substances.
Phil Keith, a prosecutor, questioned Campbell's testimony about the Rather show, saying it sounded like comedian Flip Wilson's 'The devil made me do it' routine on his 1970s variety series.
Devore acknowledged it was one of the most bizarre stories he had ever heard. But he said he was impressed with Campbell's story and his education, and spared him from prison, putting him on probation for making methamphetamine.
Campbell told Devore he learned his lesson.
'Whatever Dan Rather wants to do is Dan Rather's business from here on out,' Campbell said.NEWLN: ------ Oink!
SANDY, Utah (UPI) -- Cops sometimes have to deal with swinish behavior.
Take Tim Berhow, a policeman in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy.
He and two fellow officers responded to a report of a man threatening to kill his wife. They arrived at the couple's home, expecting to find the quarreling pair. Instead, they came across a nasty pig wearing a dog collar.
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'The pig was in the process of destroying the sofa by biting pieces out of it,' police reports said Thursday.
The sow spotted the officers, and charged them.
Berhow grabbed a chair, herded the animal into the kitchen and kept it at bay while the other two officers investigated the domestic dispute.
But the man who allegedly made the threat had apparently escaped out a back door during the pig vs. police tumult.
A city spokeswoman described the strange encounter. 'It was pig chasing pig,' she quipped.NEWLN: ------ Governor on stage
HARTFORD, Conn. (UPI) -- The Connecticut Opera needed a sailor for a production of 'Madame Butterfly,' and it cast Gov. Lowell Weicker.
An opera buff, Weicker will appear March 15 at The Bushnell in Hartford as a navy officer for about 10 minutes in Act 1 of the Connecticut Opera's production of the Puccini opera.
The governor will serve in attendance at the wedding of Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton and Madame Butterfly, dressed in a period white uniform of 'generic rank' with a peaked officer's cap in the style of the early 1900s.
'If he wants it, he can probably keep it,' George Osborne, general director of the Connecticut Opera, said of the costume. It was custom- made for the strapping Weicker, who is well over 6 feet tall.
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'The governor is big,' Osborne said.
Weicker donned a white naval costume and posed for photographs Thursday to promote his stage debut in the non-singing role. The governor will only perform one night.NEWLN: ------ First lady already taken
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Bush disclosed that a British military officer whose television presence during the war caught the eye of Barbara Bush received a marriage proposal from an American woman -- but that it wasn't the first lady.
Bush, praising the British efforts during the war Thursday, made special mention of the performance of Royal Air Force Group Capt. Niall Irving, who briefed reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, covering the 42- day conflict. The briefings were televised around the world.
Bush, who had earlier disclosed that Irving was a particular favorite of the first lady's and that she had written him to that effect, dropped the further word that Irving had since responded that he had received 'a mash note from someone in the states.'
'I think somebody offered to marry him but I think maybe he already is married,' the president said.
To set the record straight, Barbara Bush promptly shot back: 'I did not offer to marry him.'
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And to much laughter, Bush said he was sure she had not. 'I'm just saying somebody did send him stuff and he sent it back ... to somewhere out in the Middle West.'
