Thursday, May 28, 2009

Man Calls 911 Because McDonald's Forgot His Juice Box



HILLSBORO, Ore. -- A man who called 911 to complain that McDonald's left a juice box out of his drive-through order was arrested on Monday, Portland television station KPTV reported.

Raibin Osman appeared before a Washington County judge Tuesday on a charge of misusing emergency services. He said he called emergency dispatchers after the drive-through employee wouldn't come back to the window to give him a juice box.

"We ordered some food and we went home and our order wasn't in there," Osman said in the 911 call. "And my little brother is crying for his orange juice."

Osman's father, Raof, said the emergency call was an innocent mistake and that it escalated when the McDonald's employee laughed at the poor English of his son-in-law.

"We came back with our receipt and said, 'Hey, can we have our order? We paid for it,'" Osman told the emergency dispatcher. "And she was like, 'Oh, no, I can't do anything about it.' And she was laughing at my brother-in-law because he ordered the food and couldn't speak English right."

Meanwhile, the McDonald's employee also called 911 after feeling threatened by the men.

"I showed them that everything was correct and they got mad and told me to give them more food," the employee said in the 911 call. "And I told them, I can't give any free food away."

When deputies arrived, Raibin Osman admitted it was not an emergency call but said he didn't know what number to use, according to the sheriff's office.

"You need help from the police, you have to call the 911," Osman's father said. "I don't have any other number."

Deputies said Osman had been using a Blackberry and could have tracked down a non-emergency line using the phone, but Osman's father said the officer simply should have provided his son with the non-emergency number.

Surprisingly, the incident hasn't stopped the Osman family from eating at the restaurant. They said they've already returned since the arrest.

"The employee made the mistake, not McDonald's," Osman's father said.

Osman posted bail and was released from the Washington County Jail on Tuesday night.

Skinned Cat, Raw Meat Found Behind Restaurant.



DORAVILLE,Ga. -- A local restaurant with a loyal following and rave reviews is under the microscope.

Doraville Police took pictures a few months ago of a skinned cat and raw meat stacked in the back of Ming's BBQ on Buford Highway.

The pictures, taken on January 23, forced Ming's to make big changes.

They showed grease traps overflowing, pigs stacked in buckets, boxes of raw meat sitting outside and pieces of raw meat hanging from a fence.

"One of the employees was taking, we don't know what kind of meat it was, but he was tossing it over a fence, and we did get pictures of that," said Officer Rosemary Martin.

There's also a picture of what police and the city solicitor describe as a dead skinned cat.

That obviously was the most disturbing thing we saw," said Lee Perkins, Doraville City Solicitor. "The cat appeared to be, it was the head and tail and skin of the cat. As the pictures show, it was right in back of the restaurant."

Police immediately called out DeKalb county health inspectors.

"There was a picture taken by police of a dead skinned cat. Did you inspectors see that?" 11Alive's Jennifer Leslie asked Ryan Cira, DeKalb County Environmental Health Manager.

"No we did not see what you're referring to," Cira said. "We were told Doraville code inspectors were handling that."

But county inspectors did take action.

They shut down Ming's for a short time that day over concerns about the temperature of the meat that was left outside.

"Did you consider closing it for good?" Leslie asked.

"That is a last resort," Cira said. "We do not begin any inspection with that in mind."

Instead, inspectors returned six times over the next two weeks.

On january 28, Ming's scored a failing 59.

But by february 10, the score jumped to 96.

"That's pretty dramatic. How did they do that?" Leslie asked.

"They took good directions and good instructions from us," Cira said. "They've been in business for 15 years, and I believe the average score over the years has been a B."

One the owners of Ming's, Jack Cheng, declined our request for an interview, but he did agree to talk off-camera.

He insisted the meat in the police photos wasn't outside for very long and was in the process of being moved to refrigerators.

Since then, he said Ming's has stopped ordering so much food, changed food suppliers and put food safety managers on duty at all hours.

As for the skinned cat, Cheng said he didn't know anything about it and was offended that police tried to connect it to the restaurant.

"I had a concern that people would be eating at that restaurant," Perkiness, the city solicitor, said.

In municipal court last month, the owners of Mine's were found guilty of having too much trash in the back and letting grease pour down a storm drain.

The judge ordered them to pay a $5000 fine, serve 60 hours of community service and submit to weekly inspections by police.

The restaurant's also due for another routine inspection by the county.

"Is this a good restaurant that had a bad day?" Leslie asked Cirri.

"I would say so, yes," Cirri said. "I think they're on the right track."

Ming's is one of eight restaurants temporarily shut down by DeKalb county health inspectors in the last year.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

59 Critical Violations And Still Serving Food?

PALMETTO, FL -- Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant on 10th Street East in Palmetto has spent over $60,000 in renovations to the front of the house. But it's the back of the house that had state inspectors busy.

Inspectors found 80 violations in 2009 and 59 of those were critical, including live and dead roaches on top of the refrigerator, under the food storage area, on the food line, inside the sink, and even in the sauce on the grill!

Maybe it would help to clean the kitchen more frequently? Once every 3-4 weeks? Yikes!!!

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