posted 05-31-2005 09:02 PM         

A woman is accused of brandishing a loaded gun at a repairman who couldn't fix her TV.

NEW PORT RICHEY, FLORIDA - The Best Buy repairman had come several times to fix the woman's television. But still on Friday he could not get it to work.

So, officials say, the woman pulled out a .38-caliber handgun loaded with hollow-point rounds and told him: "You're not leaving until the TV is fixed."

Marlene Anne Bagnall, 44, of 1523 Davenport Drive was later arrested on charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

Bagnall's husband told a sheriff's deputy she was diagnosed with a mental disorder for which she takes medication. She left the county jail early Saturday on $10,000 bail.

Bagnall told a deputy that she became enraged when the repairman, 58-year-old John Meyer, could not fix the television. She said she retrieved the gun from the glove box of her car in the garage, walked back into the living room and pulled the gun out of its case, a sheriff's report said. She denied pointing it at the man.

The repairman escaped unhurt after he got a Best Buy clerk on the phone to promise Bagnall a new television. She seemed pleased and allowed him to leave, he told a deputy. Afterward, he called the Sheriff's Office.

"John advised in his 30 years in retail he has never experienced such a thing and is glad to be okay," the deputy reported.

2. The Annals of Questionable Parenting, Part 511

Here's a mom who's a little bit too determined to be the "cool mom on the block":

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A mother faces criminal charges after she hired a stripper to dance at her 16-year-old son’s birthday party.

Anette Pharris, 34, has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and involving a minor in obscene acts. The boy’s father, the stripper and two others also face charges.

“I tried to do something special for my son,” Pharris said. “It didn’t harm him.”

About 10 people under the age of 18 were at the birthday party in September, including minors who were not related to the family, authorities said.

Police spokesman Don Aaron said minors are not permitted in adult establishments.

“A person shouldn’t be allowed to circumvent that law by hiring a stripper, a lady who took all her clothes off and spent a good amount of time dancing around minors,” he said.

Anette Pharris took photos at the party and tried to have them developed at a nearby drug store. Drug store employees notified authorities, police said.

“Who are they to tell me what I can and can’t show to my own children?” the mother said.