http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/63656817.html?cmpid=15585797

Who you callin’ ugly… again???

By REGINA MEDINA
Philadelphia Daily News

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for attractive people in a city, put down the newspaper or log off your computer, get in your car and drive due south on 95 until you hit Miami.

That city = hot. Philadelphia = not. For the third year in a row, Philly ranked dead last among 30 cities in the most-attractive-people category, part of the annual TravelandLeisure.com survey that rates the nation’s major cities.

We’re not only least attractive, but also minimally friendly (26th) and barely athletic/active (28th) – Welcome, America!

Sunny Miami, with its dense population of bikini-clad women and dudes showing sixpack abs – not to mention a thriving plastic-surgery industry – was No. 1 yet again, for the third straight year. San Diego ranked second for the third time.

Where’s the imagination, people? Miami, San Diego and Philly remain ranked first, second and last in each year the survey has been conducted.

We could make the hurt go away by mocking Miami’s intelligence ranking (29), but then we’d just be drawing attention to Philly’s less-than-stellar placement on the intelligence list (24).

The Mayor’s Office declined to comment.

Jeff Guaracino, spokesman for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., was flummoxed by Philly’s last-place rank as most-attractive city.

Then he composed himself. “Clearly they have not seen the Sexy Singles featured in the Daily News,” Guaracino said, chuckling. “We’re very proud to see Philadelphia ranked high in culture.”

Our fair city did do well in the culture department, ranking third in historical sites and monuments, fourth in museums and galleries and sixth in classical music.

The online poll had readers identify themselves as residents of or visitors to a city, then rate them in 55 categories. (Romantic escape, singles/bar scene, etc.)

About 66,000 respondents heeded the call, but there was no limit as to how many times one could vote, said TravelandLeisure.com executive editor Rich Beattie. Translation: Some voters were well within their rights to vote as often as they wanted.

Philly residents seemed to scream “self-deprecation” when they voted themselves 29th in the most-attractive category and absolutely last in the most-athletic/active category.

Locals even voted themselves poorly in the friendly and intelligent categories (27th for both), worse than did visitors.

Surprisingly, staffers at Manhattan-based TravelandLeisure.com had a soft spot for the City of Brotherly Love.

“We were really pulling for Philadelphia this year, and we didn’t want them to finish last for the third year,” Beattie said.

The Web site received many phone calls and e-mails from people complaining about the city’s rank. “They thought we were pulling numbers out of the air or making it up,” he said. Not the case, Beattie said.

“It’s more of a snapshot of what people’s impressions are.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/63582362.html?cmpid=15585797

Cuddly kitten, stoned & burned, dies in ‘atrocious act of cruelty’

By WILLIAM BENDER
Philadelphia Daily News

Even after a 6-week-old kitten was pelted with stones and set on fire in a Chester alley Saturday afternoon, it didn’t lash out. The brown tabby greeted Dave Schlott, a Delaware County animal control officer, by climbing up his shirt and snuggling against his neck.

“It was cuddling, so I thought I’d name it Cuddles,” Schlott said. “It was a really, really good-natured kitten.”

Cuddles was being treated at Old Marple Veterinary Hospital, where he was initially expected to make a quick recovery.

But the kitten took a turn for the worse and died yesterday morning.

“Anytime you see an animal that was intentionally harmed, it’s always a very upsetting situation,” said Tabatha Gordon, assistant operations manager at the Delaware County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Gordon said that several people had called the SPCA over the weekend to ask about adopting Cuddles.

Chester police Capt. Joseph Massi said that 10 to 15 teenagers were huddled in a circle around the cat in an alley Saturday on West Fifth Street, but they scattered when a police car approached.

The cat sustained second- or third-degree burns on its right ear, in addition to burns on its back. The sickos likely used lighter fluid or some other accelerant, Schlott said.

“You know when you squeeze a can and a stream comes out? It looks like they went from the top of its forehead down the spinal column to its tail,” he said. “And then they lit it.”

Massi called it an “atrocious act of cruelty.” Police have identified several persons of interest, but no arrests had been made as of yesterday afternoon.

Cuddles was the latest in a string of cruelty victims in the area. In July, a stray orange tabby was set ablaze in Darby and died of its injuries.

Last month, a cat was wrapped in duct tape in North Philadelphia after wandering into a 19-year-old’s yard, according to the Pennsylvania SPCA. The cat, since named “Sticky,” has been adopted.

The following week, a school bus driver was charged with misdemeanor animal-cruelty counts for tossing kittens out of a bus in Port Richmond.

Schlott said that it’s unclear which injuries led to Cuddles’ death, but speculated that he could have suffered internal injuries from the stones that were thrown at him.

“I don’t know what makes people want to do that,” he said. “If they do that to animals they’re going to do that to a kid.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/62804792.html

They heard a ‘thump,’ and saw kittens being thrown from a bus

By GLORIA CAMPISI
Philadelphia Daily News

Stephanie Kane and her mother were having trouble with trucks driving up onto their sidewalk and cracking the cement.

Early Monday, Kane heard an engine noise outside and then a “thump,” and looked out the window of her Port Richmond home to see if a truck had parked on their sidewalk again while making a delivery at the corner store.

Instead, what Kane saw wasn’t a truck but a school bus, parked outside their house on Janney Street near Monmouth, and its driver was tossing kittens, one after the other, out the back door, said her mother, Terri Gerretz.

The three kittens, about eight to ten weeks old, were turned over to the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals where they were reported yesterday to have suffered no major injuries but were infested with fleas.

Humane investigator Greg Jordan said that the school-bus driver, identified as William Mitchell, of Clearfield Street near Frankford Avenue, was charged yesterday with three misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. More serious charges would have been issued if the animals had suffered major injury, Jordan said.

Philadelphia public schools were closed Monday for Yom Kippur, a spokesman said. However, Jeff Rollo, vice president of operations at Atlantic Express, for which Mitchell works, said that the company also drives routes for parochial and private schools. Mitchell was working Monday, he said.

Rollo said that an investigation was being conducted.

Mitchell could not be reached late yesterday.

Gerretz said that she ran outside after her daughter heard the first “thump,” and asked “What are you doing?”

Gerretz said that the driver told her that somebody apparently had placed the cats inside his small, van-sized school bus after he made a drop-off at a school and went inside to do some paperwork.

“He said when he came out he was driving the bus and he hit a bump and heard kittens crying,” Gerretz said.

“Even if he dropped them three feet, they’re gonna get hurt,” she said.