Petition calls for Confederate monument to be replaced by statue of Snooty the manatee

As the community mourns, a petition on Change.org to replace the Confederate monument in front of the Manatee County courthouse garnered more than 1,500 signatures in less than 24 hours.

The man who started the petition has a specific replacement in mind: A statue of Snooty the manatee.

Snooty drowned after becoming stuck in the life support maintenance area at his home at the South Florida Museum Sunday, just two days after celebrating his 69th birthday.

According to Jeff Rodgers, museum chief operating officer, the panel on the are was last opened five years ago and is for emergency use only.

Beloved Snooty’s death was a tragic shock to the community and to the petition’s creator, Anthony Pusateri.

After living in Manatee County most of his life and being around Snooty his whole childhood, Snooty is important to him, Pusateri said.

Pusateri created a petition to replace the Confederate monument in front of the courthouse with one of Snooty on Change.org on Sunday night after hearing the news of Snooty’s death. He said he also previously heard someone calling for the Confederate statue to be removed.

“Why not do two birds with one stone?” Pusateri thought.

So far, he’s seen more support than opposition, he said. The petition reached 1,700 signatures as of 4 p.m. Monday, according to the website. Some of the signatures, Pusateri said, have come from as far away as California.

“For a manatee as loved as he was in the community, it’s amazing to see the support,” he said.

Pusateri said when he gets 2,000 signatures, he will submit it for consideration by the city and the county.

“It’s the center of downtown, why not have a symbol of positivity?” Pusateri said. “Something everyone can get behind.”

He noted that he’s not calling for the currently standing Confederate monument to be destroyed, rather moved and replaced with one in honor of Snooty, Bradenton’s official mascot.

But Pusateri isn’t the only one with an idea for a petition. A friend of his also created a Change.org petition to rename Lakewood Ranch in honor of Snooty. Another petition to name a new high school in Parrish after Snooty also appeared on the website after Snooty’s death. The school district collected name suggestions for the new school from March 9 to April 12.

Businesses along Manatee Avenue have noted Snooty’s passing and how much he will be missed on their signs.

Items like flowers, cards, drawings from children, lettuce, carrots and a candle were left near the front door of the South Florida Museum on Monday by those who stopped by to honor Snooty.

Rodgers said a memorial service is being planned and hopes to release details in the coming days. He also said officials will work diligently on creating a memorial to Snooty on museum grounds. The museum will look for public input as that process moves forward.

Chef Calls Out Customers Who 'Fake' Food Allergies At Restaurants

Sydney-based chef, Patrick Friesen has had enough with picky eaters, and he’s taken to Instagram to let them know.

Friesen posted an image to his Instagram account of three long receipts from different tables at his restaurant, Queen Chow. Each dish has been altered by dietary restrictions. But merely having an allergy – to gluten or shellfish, as seen in the bulk of the alterations on the receipt – is not what makes this top chef so angry.

Friesen crossed through each allergy that directly contradicts the dish that was ordered, illustrating a trend that his kitchen is seeing more and more of: fussy eaters trying to pass off their picky palates as genuine, life-threatening allergies.

In addition to his photo, Friesen called out the offending diners in a paragraph-long rant on the social media site.

 “Can people with dietary requirements start knowing what you can and can’t eat? Shellfish allergy but loves oyster sauce. Gluten free but loves gluten as long as it’s not a piece of bread. Vegetarians that love a chicken wing. Pescatarians who eat chicken. Sort your s--t out and let your waiter know. You make it really damn hard for people with actual allergies and dietaries to go out to eat," wrote Friesen.

The chef also confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that he's been seeing an uptick in diners coming in and trying to customize their dishes, muddling his menu and frenzying his staff.

“You have these people who come in on a first date and they say ‘I’m allergic to onions’ because they just don’t want to have onion breath,” said Friesen.

“And we say, ‘Well, it’s an Asian restaurant, you know, there are onions in pretty much everything’ ... or [shallots] or onion powder or whatever. And then they say, ‘Oh OK it’s fine. I’ll just eat everything,' So clearly it’s not an allergy at all.”

This particular problem hits close to home for Friesen, whose mother suffers from coeliac disease — an incurable autoimmune disorder where the body is unable to process gluten and can cause extreme discomfort.

Friesen ends his Instagram post with the point that people with actual allergies and dietary restrictions suffer more because of all the diners who merely pretend. 

Neighbor calls police on black kids playing football — and Buffalo cops show up and join their game

One Buffalo cop is being praised because he joined a group of African American teens playing football instead of shooting them.

After a noise nuisance call came in about kids playing ball in the streets, police Officer Patrick McDonald walked from his car immediately asking the kids “Where are we lining up?”

Videos of the game are going viral, especially the video that shows his response after makeing an excellent catch, NYUp.com shared.

“Do you guys want me to file a police report, because you just got robbed?!” he said. The officer then pulled away in his cruiser.

Videos on Facebook have been shared over 1,000 times and celebrated by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown who called it “Community policing at its best.”

“I applaud Officer Patrick McDonald for turning a nuisance call into a positive experience for the community,” Brown continued. “I am proud that he is on the force & thank him for setting an example of why we truly are The City of Good Neighbors.”

Officer McDonald told WGRZ-TV that he didn’t play with the boys for any kind of attention he just wanted to have fun and build a relationship with the citizens he’s tasked with protecting.

“It helps break down the barrier, this ‘us versus them’ barrier,” he said. “And, at the same time, it shows that police officers empathize with the general public, and that we have a lot of common interests, like playing football.”

One of the young men in the video shared it with the hashtag #NotAllCopsAreBadIGuess. McDonald scored the Citizen of the Month award after the incident.

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Sarah Huckabee Sanders reads moving letter to the president from 9-year-old — this is what it says

Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday read a moving letter from a 9-year-old boy named Dylan — who prefers to go by “Pickle” — praising the president and asking him questions about his life and the White House.

Sanders, kicking off her first briefing as the White House Press Secretary, noted that the Trump administration was going to begin doing things differently for the press.

“We’re going to start the White House briefing every once in a while with a letter or an e-mail that we may receive,” she began, “[from] some of the forgotten men, women, and children.”

See Dylan’s letter below and continue reading for more story.

With that, she launched into a sweet letter to the president asking his age, how much money he has, how large the White House is, and why people don’t seem to like him much, among other things.

“I like you so much that I had a birthday about you,” the young boy wrote. “My cake was the shape of your hat,” he said, and began asking questions of the president.

See the video below.

30 photographs that have marked the history forever and you should see at least once in your life

Since its invention, photography has totally changed the way we see history. A photograph taken at the right time can remain forever etched in our memories. To soak up the atmosphere and the highlights of the past, DGS share with you 30 photos sublime absolutely not to be missed!

A man refusing to Nazi hello 1936

Nikola Tesla sitting next to an advanced version of its coil

The tomb of a Catholic woman and her Protestant husband, Netherlands 1888

An Austrian children receiving new shoes during the Second World War

The organizers trying to stop the 1st woman to finish a marathon, Boston, 1967

The tomb of Tutankhamen still sealed 1922

workmen painting the Eiffel Tower, 1932

An unknown soldier in the Vietnam War, 1965

The first day of the Driving direction change in Sweden 1967

The introduction of animals in therapy, 1956

A worker doing mouth-to-mouth to a colleague who has made a shock, 1967

The cave inside an iceberg, 1911

Annette Kellerman that promotes the use of a one piece swimsuit in 1907, she will be arrested for indecent exposure

The last known photograph of the Titanic still operational in 1912

An Armenian woman 106 years keepeth his palace, 1990

Painters on the Brooklyn Bridge, 1914

The first edition of the Woodstock festival 1969

Disneyland employees in a cafeteria, 1961

The real Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, 1927

Women delivering ice, 1918

The Beatles playing for 18 people before becoming famous, 1961

The first subway ride in the world, London, 1862

Customers in a record shop in London in 1955

A mother carries her baby in a pram tight, England, 1938

 Elvis Presley in the Army, 1958

A baby cage, supposed to give it fresh air and sunshine, 1937

A man measures the women swimwear. If he was too short, they received a fine in 1920

Salvador Dali kisses his muse Raquel Welch after finishing his portrait, 1965

A little girl with her doll in the ruins of his house in London, 1940

Smile Georges Blind, French Resistance, going to be shot by the Nazis in 1944

This Is The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle (6 pics)

This woman put a lot of time into completing this puzzle but she finally finished the world's largest jigsaw. One can only imagine how long it took considering this thing is made up of 33,600 pieces. 

Fresh New Careers You Probably Didn't Know Existed (10 pics)

Are you in need of a new job? Are you sick of the job you have? Maybe it's time to try a new career. You might want to look into these careers that you probably didn't even know existed.