Mother court out by drink

peter.hardwick@thechronicle.com.au

SECURITY staff at the Toowoomba Courthouse have taken all sorts of inappropriate items off people entering the Hume St building.

An assortment of knives and other weapons have been confiscated from defendants and supporters as they pass through the metal detectors at the front door and just this week The Chronicle had a report of a woman entering the courthouse with knuckledusters hanging from her handbag.

However, one young woman pushing a pram with baby into the courthouse this week posed a very different proposition for security.

Her weapon of choice was not as offensive as some others that have been seized at the door, but it was just as inappropriate.

“You can’t come in here with that …” the security officer was heard to say politely.

“This is not a licensed venue!”

The young woman’s choice of “weapon”? A can of bourbon and cola which she was happily swigging on as she pushed her baby’s pram through the metal detector.

“Well, I’ll leave it with you and pick it up on the way out,” the young mum told the security officer.

“No,” he replied sternly, “This is not a licensed venue and you can’t bring that in here.”

“Well,” she continued with some persistence, “I’ll just leave it on the doorstep and pick it up later.”

“No,” said the security officer, “You’re not leaving that anywhere on the premises.”

The young mum was seen retreating down to the footpath to throw down the remaining liquid before heading back into court.

Cat nap

NORTH Toowoomba chap has taken to caring for a mother cat and kitten who have taken up residence in his garage.

He tells Whispers that the mother cat is a cranky old moggy who hisses at him when he opens the garage door of a morning before he jumps into his car for the drive to work.

However, her hissing got the better of him one morning this week and he lashed out at her with his boot.

The problem was, our man was actually asleep in bed and dreaming about the hissing cat at the time and his lashing out only left him with a swollen and sore toe which came into contact with the brick wall beside his bed.

“I don’t know what worse,” he told Whispers, “kicking out in my sleep or dreaming about that bloody cat!”