Teen with 56 star tattoos on her face admits she wanted them the whole time

It was merely a case of buyer’s remorse.

Last week, Belgian teen Kimberly Vlaminck told reporters she fell asleep while getting a tattoo and woke up to find 56 stars inked on the left side of her face when she had asked for 3.

“It is terrible for me. I cannot go out on to the street. I look like a freak,” Vlaminck said at the time.

It turns out she was awake the whole time, had asked for all 56 of the stars, and was “fully aware” of what tattoo artist Rouslan Toumaniantz was doing, the Daily Mail reports.

The lie began when she came home with her newly decorated face and her father was very upset.

“I asked for 56 stars and initially adored them. But when my father saw them, he was furious,” Vlaminck told a Dutch TV crew. “So I said I fell asleep and that the tattooist had made a mistake.”

Toumaniantz has always maintained that he had understood Vlaminck correctly and she had asked for all 56 stars. But when the story was initially reported Toumaniantz said he would help pay for the tattoo removal because his customer was unsatisfied. He has now withdrawn that offer.

YouTube stunt ends with teen in coma

Boy thrown into trees after rope tied to sled comes loose from car

A Burlington,Ontario 16-year-old is comatose and in critical condition with severe head injuries after a video stunt gone terribly wrong.

He was badly injured in a secluded church lot near his high school Tuesday while car-boarding – a dangerous YouTube stunt in which teens film themselves being towed behind vehicles on skateboards and sleds.

His 17-year-old friend has been charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The crash happened as a group of teens stood cheering while the stunt was recorded on a cellphone video camera.

Yesterday, Robert Bateman High School students said the group built a sled out of two snowboards glued to a flying saucer toboggan and tried it out earlier that day.

They filmed it and showed the cellphone video to the boy, who agreed to try the stunt.

"The first time they did it, they were going 30 kilometres an hour," said a student.

"The second time, they were going 60 kilometres with (the boy)."

Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, four friends jumped into the car while the teen, wearing a motorcycle helmet and gloves, hopped onto the sled.

"They did four laps of the church parking lot," said Halton police spokesman Sgt. Brian Carr.

On the fourth lap, the tow rope ripped off the sled and the teen was thrown into a line of trees.

The video shows the moment the boy hurtles away, but not the impact.

The other teens picked up the unconscious boy and drove him to hospital.

On a Facebook page set up in support of the boy, the teen's family says he is in bad shape in Hamilton General Hospital's intensive care unit.

"This is his sister," the entry says.

"For all of you that are concerned, this is the newest update. His brain is badly bruised because it was shaken so badly."

"With the first 72 hours, this causes swelling of the brain which is life-threatening."

"He is stable now and still in a coma. All the doctors can do now is monitor the swelling and pray for the best. ... His injuries are extremely severe."

Yesterday, police said teens need to realize such stunts are fraught with peril.

Car-boarding "is not a major problem in Halton," Carr said.

"But it's dangerous. There is no other way of describing it. It's a dangerous event and we advise not to do it."

Baggy-trousered teen fined for cheeky flash

Teenage boys, take note. If you must wear your pants low, at least make sure you are wearing underpants.

It is a lesson Trent Joseph Wroe, an Australian teenager has learned the hard way after a night out in Mooloolaba on February 28.

The 19-year-old faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court yesterday on a charge of public nuisance, after his pants fell down and exposed his bare bottom as he walked along the Esplanade just after midnight.

The case even managed to get a chuckle out of magistrate Tom Killeen, who advised Mr Wroe to wear a belt in future.

“I wore a belt today,” Mr Wroe said in court as he indicated to his shorts.

The incident occurred when a female police officer was walking past Mr Wroe when his pants fell down. She arrested him for public nuisance.

Police prosecutor Rick Pallister said it appeared Mr Wroe had exposed his buttocks in a “deliberate manner”.

Senior Constable Pallister said Mr Wroe exposed his bottom moments after he had spat in the direction of police.

Mr Wroe pleaded guilty to the charge, but said outside court it had all been a misunderstanding. He said he spat because he was sick and had not intended to aim his phlegm at the police.

As for the matter of the loose pants, he said he had simply borrowed jeans from a larger friend and they did not fit properly.

“I didn’t have any jeans and my mate’s a big bloke, so I chucked on some of his and they sat sweet,” Mr Wroe said.

“They just fell down in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Mr Wroe said he was delighted to get a laugh from Mr Killeen.

“I’m happy I had a good effect on someone; that’s always good if you can get a laugh out of a serious person,” he said.

Mr Wroe said the next time he went out, he would make sure he wore a belt and underpants. He also made a request to the court for the name of the female police officer he had spat near, so he could issue her a formal apology.

Mr Wroe was fined $250 (Austrialian funds, about $160). He asked if the punishment could be converted to community service so he could “give something back”.

Troubled students forced to fight in cage at Dallas school

Workers at a Dallas, Texas high school staged cage fights among troubled students, making them settle their differences with bare-knuckled brawls in a steel utility cage inside a boys' locker room, school district documents show.

The principal and other employees at South Oak Cliff High "knew of the practice, allowed it to go on for a time, and failed to report it," according to a 2008 report from the Dallas school district's Office of Professional Responsibility.

The documents were obtained by The Dallas Morning News for a story in its Thursday editions.

The report describes two instances of cage fighting between 2003 and 2005.

Dallas schools Superintendent Michael Hinojosa confirmed that there were "some things that happened inside of a cage" and called the fights "unacceptable."

No criminal charged have been filed in the case.

Former principal Donald Moten denied the allegations, saying he had nothing to comment on because the fights never happened.

"That's barbaric. You can't do that at a high school. You can't do that anywhere," said Moten, who resigned in 2008. "Ain't nothing to comment on. It never did happen. I never put a stop to anything because it never happened."

But a middle school counsellor who was fired from the high school and has filed a whistleblower lawsuit said Moten and members of the school's security staff encouraged the fights.

"It was gladiator-style entertainment for the staff," said former South Oak Cliff employee Frank Hammond. "They were taking these boys downstairs to fight. And it was sanctioned by the principal and security."

A district spokesman declined additional comment Thursday.

"This is a personnel matter and we're not authorized to talk about personnel," spokesman Jon Dahlander told The Associated Press.

The report said Hammond didn't see any of the fights. Hall monitor Gary King told investigators he witnessed the head of campus security and an assistant basketball coach place two students in the cage to fight.

District investigators described the cage as an equipment area in the boys' locker room separated by metal lockers and wire mesh.

In one incident, a security monitor tried to fight a student in the cage, but Moten broke up that fight. In another incident, Moten told security personnel to put two fighting students "in the cage and let 'em duke it out," according to the report.

The district's report is dated March 17, 2008, and emerged from an investigation into grade-changing allegations that eventually cost South Oak Cliff its 2006 state basketball championship.

Last month, the University Interscholastic League stripped the school of its 2005 title as well because the team used academically ineligible players.

In 2006, Moten accused Hammond of changing a student's grade, and the district placed Hammond on administrative leave. Although an appeals judge reinstated him, he was later fired.

Sexting leads to suicide

Jesse Logan, or Jessica Logan by some, was a teen girl from Cincinnati, Ohio. When you read this article, Jessie Logan had left this world for more than 8 months – she committed suicide in a what-was-called a sexting suicide tragedy in July, of 2008. She was 18.

Jesse was the only daughter of her mother Cynthia Logan.

She studied at Cincinnati’s Sycamore High School and hoped to be enrolled to University of Cincinnati to study graphic design. She was pretty and smart as can be sensed from her picture.

At an age when many teens are easy to fancy their lovers, Jessie Logan had a boyfriend herself. She trusted him to the extent that her trust led Jessie to make a definitely stupid (and deadly) move ever – she "smsed" nude pictures she took using the cellphone to the boy.

The nightmare immediately began haunting Jessica Logan after the breakup from her boyfriend. He smsed her intimate pics to other female schoolmates who consequently harassed Jesse, called her a slut and a whore.

Having suffered all the insults she shouldn’t have received, Jessie Logan became miserable and depressed, afraid to even go to school. Still, she was brave enough to appear on a local TV station with a purpose to give her advice on other girls not to take part in “sexting”, in her words, “I just want to make sure no one else will have to go through this again.”

Sadly, two months after that TV interview, and probably because she couldn’t endure more bullies, Jessica Logan ended her life by hanging herself in her bedroom after she attended the funeral of a friend who committed suicide.

Ontario teen bullied beyond belief

Teen blames her school for not acting quickly enough to stop her torment

Since classes began in the fall, 16-year-old Lindsay Hyde has complained to her Mississauga high school about being bullied by a pack of mean girls.

Their reign of terror began with taunts about her nice clothes -- outfits she'd bought herself after long hours at her part-time job. Then it was derogatory names because she dared to excel at their vocational school and shunned drugs and alcohol.

They called her a slut; they spread rumours about her at school. They went on Facebook and MSN and told her friends to ditch her.

Through it all, Lindsay and her mom say West Credit Secondary School did little, leaving her to fend for herself -- until it was too late.

Unchecked, the bullies became more brazen: They started shoving her in the hallways and taunting her with threats: that they would hold her head under water in the bathroom or burn off her pretty blonde hair or "kick the living s--t" out of her.

"I can't concentrate, I'm always shaking, it's just horrible," Lindsay says softly, kneading her hands together, struggling to keep her emotions in check. "They harass me every single day."


Sitting in the living room of the home she shares with her single mom, Michelle, Lindsay is a pretty girl poised beyond her years who feels compelled to come forward with her story, even if it means risking even more intimidation.

"It should have been dealt with right away when I was first seeking help," she insists earnestly. "People just talk (about bullying) but there's no action. A lot of things I went through are happening to a lot of people and nobody's doing anything about it. I thought someone would reach out and help me but nobody did."

As a result, these girls felt bold enough to beat her up.

Last month, Lindsay was sitting at the back of a packed bus when the group began pelting her with pens. One of the bullies then took her chewed gum and stuffed it down Lindsay's shirt. Another ripped open a condom and smeared the spermicide all over Lindsay's face and her new black jacket.

Humiliated, gagging and sobbing, their victim tried to break free. But the girls weren't done.

"They threw me face first against the glass," Lindsay recalls in a small voice. "I kept calling out to the bus driver -- 'Help me, sir, help me please' -- but he didn't even stop. Nobody helped me. I go to school with all these kids on the bus and nobody helped me whatsoever."

As she fought her way to the door, crying and trembling, one of the girls ended the assault by punching Lindsay in the face.

"I got off the bus and I couldn't even walk I was crying so much," she recalls.

Now, too late, the authorities in her life are finally stepping in. The police were called and the girl who punched Lindsay has been expelled from school and banned from the premises. The others involved were suspended for a short time but are now back in class.

Carol Speers, the superintendent of education, insists West Credit has an anti-bullying program and has been very responsive to Lindsay's complaints. They set up a mediation between Lindsay and the mean girls at the end of October, offered her coping strategies, referred her for counselling in November -- which finally came through just this week -- and organized a co-op for her this semester so she can limit her time at West Credit. "It's unfortunate that Lindsay perceives the school wasn't doing anything for her. They've been supporting her as best as they can."

But there were never any consequences for any of these girls until the bus incident. And even since, little has changed.

Her hell continues. Lindsay says she's being tormented even more now for getting the bullies in trouble, and just this past Tuesday, a group of them had her cornered and backed up against a staircase railing. "I thought I was going to die," she says in a chilling monotone. "I was scared for my life."

Her worried mom has been continually petitioning the school and the board to do more to protect her daughter. "It's been a really rough year for her -- it's been horrible."

She wants her transferred to another vocational high school but the Peel school board is actually telling her that she'll have to pay Lindsay's transportation costs. As a single mom who drives a school bus for a living, she doesn't have the extra money and doesn't think she should be out of pocket when she believes it's the school that has failed her daughter.

"I just want this to end and get on with her being a kid," her mother says, with a concerned glance at Lindsay. "She wanted to quit the other day and I told her, 'If you quit, they win.' "

This terrorization has left her a shadow of the confident, happy girl she used to be. She begins her co-op tomorrow at a local mall, but she's terrified of what lies ahead.

"I could crawl up in a ball and die," Lindsay confesses, her eyes too weary for someone so young. "I'm scared to go out of my house without my family. I'm traumatized. I think they'll come up behind me with a knife or something.

"I'm just really worried and sad and scared for my life."

These are supposed to be the best years of her life....

List of countries warning of cellphone risks for children grows

Some international authorities are recommending that parents restrict the amount of time their children spend on cellphones as a precaution.

Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority encourages parents to err on the side of caution, saying radiation from cellphones could pose a health risk but the research into possible effects of prolonged cellphone use is unclear.

The authority's advice is the latest in a growing number of warnings about prolonged use of the devices.

A survey conducted of more than 1,000 Canadian children found almost half of tweens now have a cellphone.

"The brains of adults and children differ when it comes to how they absorb the radiation that cellphones emit," said Devra Davis, a professor of epidemiology and the director of the Centre for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Children more susceptible

"The brain of a child literally is less dense, it's more porous, it's more susceptible to everything," said Davis.

"The adult brain is thicker and denser, so the radio frequency signal is absorbed less deeply," she said.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a United Nations watchdog, has been investigating whether radiation from cellphones could lead to cancer in children and adults in a study known as Interphone.

The agency was supposed to release a report three years ago, but it hasn't yet been published because the scientists are divided over parts of the study — particularly over research that suggests long-term users of cellphones are more likely to develop brain cancer.

Interphone author and epidemiologist Elisabeth Cardis of the University of Ottawa would like another study to be done specifically on children.

"If there's a risk, it's likely going to be higher because of the usage and because of the innate sensitivity of children," said Cardis. "So I think it's very, very important that we study this so urgently."

Precautionary approach

Other countries are not waiting for more studies, and are instead taking a precautionary approach.

France is about to make it illegal to market cellphones to children under 12. The United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Russia and India are also advising children limit their use of cellphones.

Health Canada's only note of caution to children is to avoid using a cellphone while riding a bicycle. The department's website says "there is currently no convincing evidence" that cellphones cause serious health effects such as cancer.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Authority, an industry group, follows Health Canada's recommendations.

"These countries for the most part have come up with precautionary measures without stating that there is any evidence in their view that links this to any significant danger," said Bernard Lord, the former premier of New Brunswick who now heads the authority.

Teen sends 14,528 text messages in one month

An American teenager sent almost 500 text messages a day last month, leaving her father with a phone bill of 440 pages.

Reina Hardesty, 13, sent 14,528 text messages in December - That's about 470 text messages a day, at an average of a message every two minutes if she was awake for 15 hours each day, the New York Post said.

Her father, Greg, said he was shocked to receive a 440 page phone bill last month.

"First, I laughed. I thought: 'That's insane, that's impossible'," Mr Hardesty told the Post.

"And I immediately whipped out the calculator to see if it was humanly possible."

"Then I thought maybe AT&T made some mistake on the bill."

He asked his daughter: "Who are you texting, anyway? Your entire school?"

Reina said she messaged a core group of "four obsessive texters" - all girls between the ages of 12 and 13.

"Well, a lot of my friends have unlimited texting. I just text them pretty much all the time," she said.

At a karaoke birthday party, Reina sat and text messaged her best friend, who was sitting right next to her while others were singing, the Post said.

She also texted her friends to brag about the high number of text messages she had racked up when her parents got the bill.

Fortunately for her parents, Reina's phone plan allows unlimited texting for $30(US) a month.

Otherwise the phone bill would have been about $2900, the Post said.

Reina's parents have since placed restrictions on her phone use, forbidding her from texting after dinner.

The average number of monthly texts for a 13- to 17-year-old is 1742, the Post said.

Someone explain to me again, why kids that age even need a cell phone??

Teens on MySpace talking sex, violence

A new study finds that 54 percent of teens talk about behaviors such as sex, alcohol use, and violence on the social networking giant MySpace -- presenting potential risks even if all they're doing is talking, researchers said Monday.
The study looked at MySpace profiles of 500 people who identified themselves as 18-year-old males and females in the United States.

References to risky behaviors included both words and photos, the authors said.

Not all teens who write about risky behaviors in their profiles actually engage in them in real life, says Dr. Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, one of the authors of the study, which appears in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

They may instead talk about sex, substance use, or violence because they are contemplating doing those things, or because they want to brag without actually doing what they say, Moreno said.

Even if teens have not actually engaged in risky behaviors but merely brag about them online, this can still affect their future behavior, said study co-author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital.

"Those who lie about the behaviors to show off may receive positive feedback from others -- comments such as "that's great" or "I do the same thing" -- that encourage them to actually try out the behaviors," he said.

"Apart from that, teens who claim such behaviors are more likely to be victims of bullying and unwanted invitations for sex," he said.

In a second study, Moreno and colleagues identified 190 profiles of 18- to 20-year-olds that contained three or more references to sexual behaviors or substance abuse. The authors then made a profile of their own, called "Dr. Meg," from which they sent a single e-mail to half these profiles, warning them about the risky information and offering information about clinical resources.

They found that, after three months, 42.1 percent of the profile owners who received the e-mail -- and 29.5 percent of those who did not -- either removed references to risky behaviors or made their profiles private.

"It's really not that MySpace is bad or good. I think the lesson is that it's a tool, and how you use it determines the kinds of outcome you're going to get," Moreno said.

Experts say the bottom line is that parents should get more involved in the online lives of their children.

"I tell parents that they should absolutely create their own MySpace and Facebook page," Christakis said. The study inspired him to create his own Facebook account, and his 10-year-old already wants to know about his "friends," he said.

"In some cases, parents should even have their children's passwords for these social networking sites, especially when the children are around age 13 or 14," said Vivian Friedman, child-adolescent psychologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Friedman was not involved with the study, but she is well aware of the problem. One of Friedman's patients, the daughter of a preacher, posted nude photographs of herself online, a move that cost her father his job, Friedman said.

But she said 54 percent as a figure for profiles with risky behaviors seems too high, given that most of what happens on social networking sites is "chit-chat."

"I have parents that catch their kids bragging about something on MySpace, and when you actually confront them, the kid says 'I really wasn't doing it,' and they can prove they were not at the party where they were supposed to have been drinking," she said.

Beyond keeping a watchful eye on risky interests and pictures, parents should also use social networking sites such as MySpace -- which had about 120 million users as of this summer -- as an opportunity to learn about their childrens' favorite movies and hobbies, as well as their top friends, she said.

"You so often hear parents say 'I don't even know my kid anymore.' Here's a very easy tool to get to know your kid again," she said.

Sexting on the "rise"

What did we do before text messaging came along? Countless misunderstandings, steamy affairs and harsh breakups have been the unfortunate results of text messages.

Face - to - face talking has become a rarity, replaced by cheeky ways of flirting ...

The days of passing notes in class are gone. Now, teens and students are turning to their cell phones and the internet to communicate.
New research shows "sexting", not "texting" is becoming more common and teens exchanging sexual images on their cellphones are now being prosecuted.

The Cyber Safety & Ethics Initiative shows of those who send or receive sexual content online, and also regularly use cell phones:

28% are in grades 10-12
26% are in grades 7-9
12% are grades 4-6

"Sexting" which involves sending sexy photos from phone to phone is a dangerous trend.

The teen engages in "sexting", a term for a kind of text messaging that often involves sending erotic, nude pictures from phone to phone, a trend that's been making headlines across the country.

A teenager, 18-year old Melanie Young says everyone is doing it. "It's like flirting and just having a little fun," says Young.

Young says, "I don't pose nude, but I do send pictures and get pictures and my brother says he gets pictures all day long."

In a suburb of Scranton, Pennsylvania police confiscated the cellphones of 5 students between the ages of 11 and 17.

16-year-old John Sciabica of Webster, New York is now facing 2 felony charges for similar circumstances.

Wayne County sheriff's investigators say Sciabica enticed a 15-year-old girl into sms texting him sexually explicit photos and a movie of herself. They say he forwarded these to friends. They charged him as an adult with crimes that carry maximum penalties of 4 and 7 years in state prison.

Experts say that "sexting" is becoming an all too common practice for many teenagers, who often think it's "no big deal" to send racy photos via email or sms text. Many consider it nothing more than sending a flirty note.

According to researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology, almost one-third of teens in grades 10-12 have sent or received sexual content online and they use cell phones. For children in grades 4-6, that number is still one in ten.


Attorneys like Dallas lawyer, Clint David say the practice is trouble waiting to happen. "It is the height of insanity to take a picture of yourself naked and send it to another person", says David. At least one teenager has landed in jail because of his alleged actions involving "sexting."

A 16-year old Pennsylvania boy was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography after police say he coaxed a 15-year old girl into sending him explicit pictures.

David says prosecutors can easily use felony laws written to punish pedophiles against teens who send or receive provocative messages. "The bottom line is kids don't do this, if you have pictures hit delete."

Young says a friend sent a nude picture to a boy she barely knew and it ended up being seen by every student in three schools. "You need to know the pros and cons before you send the message," says Young.

"Sexting" teenagers say they are quickly finding out that what was meant for one set of eyes is often revealed to the world.