The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/19934
R.o.B.S. MADISON, Wis. – A rural Wisconsin man blasted his television set with a shotgun after watching Bristol Palin’s “Dancing with the Stars” routine Monday night, saying he was fed up with politics and Palin wasn't a very good dancer, according to court documents. Steven Cowan, 67, of the town of Vermont, about 15 miles west of Madison, then pointed the gun at his wife, 66-year-old Janice Cowan, who escaped and called police, authorities said. A SWAT team surrounded the couple's farmhouse, and officers were able to talk Cowan out Tuesday morning after an all-night standoff. Cowan had been drinking before he sat down to watch “Dancing with the Stars” and suffers from bipolar disorder, his wife told of- ficers. He was charged Tuesday with second- degree reckless endangerment, and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Cowan was expected to make his initial court appearance Wednesday in Madison. Online court records show that the state public de- fender’ office was appointed to represent him, however the office said it had no record of him as of Wednesday morning. Dane County Sheriff’s Department spokes- woman Elise Schaffer said Cowan works as a landlord, but that she didn't know where he owned property. He has a clean criminal record, she said. “It’s kind of sad, actually,” Schaffer said. Janice Cowan told police her husband came home around 6:30 p.m. Monday after drinking at a bar, but that she didn't know if he was drunk, a sheriff's detective wrote in a criminal complaint. She said her husband drank a bottle of beer during dinner, and they settled down to watch “Dancing with the Stars.” When Palin, the daughter of former vice pres- idential candidate-turned-GOP celebrity Sarah Palin, began her routine, Cowan jumped up and began swearing, saying something like “The (expletive) politics.” His wife said he was upset that a political figure’s daughter was dancing on TV even though he felt she didn't have talent. She told officers her husband left the living room and reappeared 20 minutes later with his shotgun, “raging” with his face bright red, and blasted the TV. 28 O-Town Scene Nov. 18, 2010 “He scared the bejebees out of me,” Janice Cowan told police. She said her husband pointed the gun at her and told her to go get his pistols. She said he threatened to kill himself if she returned with anyone else. She left the home and called police from a nearby lawyer's office, according to the complaint. The criminal complaint said Steven Cowan's daughter recently took away his handguns for safekeeping. It did not elaborate. Janice Cowan told officers that about 15 years ago her husband had threatened her with a machete when he couldn't find some ammunition and has threatened to shoot one of their cows. The Internet has been abuzz in recent days about how Bristol Palin, who has consistently landed at the bottom of the judges’ leader- board, has been able to remain on the ABC show. Some have suggested that voters _ particu- larly supporters of her mother _ have been voting in blocs and manipulating the system. It’s hard to tell what’s true these days. Take a gander below, and guess if A. and B. are Real or B.S. (Answers at the bottom of the page.) A. Bristol Palin’s dancing drives man to violence B.Chickens cross road COLUMBIA, S.C. _ Why did the chicken cross the road? It’s an old joke, to be sure. But this ver- sion has a decidedly 21st-century punch line: To get away from the self-parking car. The hens that live on Harrison Road know to stay far, far away from a certain vehicle that visits their quiet street. “It’s almost like they recognize the car,” the hens’ owner, Sara Novak, said on Monday. “They see” _ or hear? _ “that SUV coming, and they scatter.” Novak’s hens _ she has five at the moment _ can often be seen roaming around the sidewalk in front of her house, which sits on a quiet cul-de- sac in the Forest Acres area of Columbia. But their quiet life has been disrupted by a particular vehicle that seems to have a mind of its own. Novak didn’t want to describe the make or model of the car in question, just that it was “a late-model SUV.” Most notably, the car has a self-parking mechanism that seems decidedly un- chicken-friendly. Put it this way: Novak used to have seven hens. “It was an unfortunate accident,” Novak said with tightly set lips. to escape deadly SUV Novak was in her house at the time of the incident, which she said happened about a month ago. She heard hens clucking loudly. “They sounded upset,” she said. When she came out to the sidewalk, she saw a vehicle parked at an odd angle to the curb, and two of her chickens lying in the street, dead. Novak said she was sad, but not angry. “I’m sure the driver didn’t even know what hap- pened. I figured it was just someone who was in a hurry,” Novak explained. But she ob- served the vehicle making odd, jerky parking maneu- vers on a few other occasions, and began to wonder. A neighbor of Novak, who did not want his name to be printed, said the SUV belongs to a friend of his. “He’s been telling me that the self-parking thing is not working very well,” the man said. “I tell him, ‘Then don’t use it!’ But he hates to parallel park. That’s why he bought the thing in the first place.” The SUV did not appear on Harrison Road during a three-hour period Monday afternoon. But Novak remains vigilant. “He’ll be back,” she said. “But this time, my hens will be ready for him.” The hens offered no comment. A. Real. B. B.S., by Emily Popek