Winners

Kudos to the judge who sent Paris Hilton back to prison. Is anyone surprised the pampered heiress tried to avoid serving substantial time behind bars? Or that people continue to follow her “story”? The only things more overrated than Hilton’s “news” value is her worth and her looks.

Don’t let 95-year-old Pola Cantu’s age fool you. The Des Moines woman is a tough cookie as evidenced last week when Cantu outwitted a man who police say broke into her South Side home, threw her to the floor and punched and choked her in an effort to rob the elderly woman. Cantu told The Des Moines Register “He said, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ I said, ‘Kill me. I don’t care.’ But he didn’t have the heart to kill me.” Cantu says although her home was ransacked, nothing was stolen. Police are still searching for her attacker.

In case you missed it: The Anaheim Ducks captured their first National Hockey League title last Wednesday defeating the Ottawa Senators four games to one. It’s the first Stanley Cup for the Ducks in their 14-year history in the NHL.

Good news for young beer drinkers… in Amsterdam. Dutch students have developed a powdered alcohol called Booz2Go, which they say can be sold legally to minors 16 and under. Available in packets that sell for about $2, just add water and voila, you have bubbly, lime-colored and –flavored drink with 3 percent alcohol content. The beer’s makers say because the beer is in powdered form, it skirts Amsterdam’s 16-or-older drinking age law, adding, “we are aiming at the youth market.” Genius.

Finally, B-list actor Rob Lowe must love all the press he garnered last week while playing the Champions Tour at Glen Oaks. Too bad it was for killing a goldfinch with his approach shot on the fourth hole. Still, he hasn’t received this much adulation from the media since he starred in all those Brat Pack movies during the ’80s.

Losers

To the disappointment of many Iowa Republicans, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain announced they are skipping the Ames Republican straw poll on Aug. 11. Both candidates are among the leaders in national GOP surveys and say they want to focus on the January caucuses. McCain’s campaign manager Terry Nelson told reporters “the Ames straw poll will not be a meaningful test of the leading candidate’s organizational abilities.” Perhaps someone should tell both candidates’ campaign managers that in the 30-year history of the straw poll, no Republican who has refused to participate in it has won the caucus.

Don’t look for the names Derefeal Barnett and Makell Canada on any “Parents of the Year” plaque anytime soon. Last week, the Des Moines couple was arrested and jailed by Des Moines Police after being charged with breaking into a house in the 1200 block of Walker Street and taking jewelry and a cell phone. Police say Canada held the couple’s 5-month-old baby while serving as a lookout as Barnett did the deed. The baby was turned over to Barnett’s grandmother.

As bad as the aforementioned losers are, the gruesome actions of 18-year-old Ashley Truitt, a Solon High School graduate, are worse. Truitt was charged with first-degree murder in Broward County, Fla., after the staff at a Pompano Beach resort found the teenager’s newborn girl dead in a trash bin. Truitt, who hid her pregnancy from her parents, boyfriend, classmates and the rest of Solon, was on vacation in Florida with her family and boyfriend when she gave birth to the baby in the condominium bathroom. A sheriff’s affidavit says Truitt threw a bag allegedly containing the infant down a garbage chute. An autopsy revealed that the baby died of blunt force trauma to the head after falling seven stories into a ground floor garbage bin. Police followed a trail of blood the next morning from the chute to Truitt’s room where they found a paring knife and a large amount of blood. Truitt later told investigators that the baby was breathing and crying when it was born. Truitt is being held without bond in Broward County jail. In case you’re wondering, first-degree murder in Florida is punishable by the death penalty.

Donald McRae of Des Moines was charged with vehicular homicide and jailed last week after slamming into a vehicle driven by Ankeny resident Mark Dawson and killing him. The accident occurred at the intersection of 28th Street and Ingersoll Avenue after McRae was fleeing from a hit-and-run accident four blocks east of the scene where he hit another vehicle. Police say McRae was traveling at a high rate of speed, though a pending investigation has yet to determine how fast McRae was driving. Police say McRae was not under the influence of alcohol. CV

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