Singer of U.S. heavy metal band released in Prague

PRAGUE (AP) — The frontman of the U.S. heavy metal band Lamb of God has been released from a Czech prison on $400,000 bail as police investigate him for allegedly pushing a fan off a stage who later died of his injuries, an official said Friday.

A Prague court on Thursday dismissed a prosecution request that Randy Blythe be banned from leaving the country. Blythe's lawyer, Martin Radvan, said the singer had flown out of the Czech capital for the United States on Friday. The band is based in Richmond, Virginia.

"I'm relieved to be out of Pankrac jail," Blythe told the private Czech Nova television at Prague's international airport. "It wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly fun."

The 41-year-old was arrested on June 27 when he returned to the Czech Republic for another gig, not realizing that he was being investigated for bodily harm resulting in death during a concert he gave in Prague in 2010, said Radvan.

Blythe told Czech Nova it was "very tragic" the young man had died. "I feel very bad that a fan of my band is dead, that his family has to go through it. That's terrible. I feel awful for them," he said.

Blythe, who has not been charged with a crime, said he was not aware of what had happened to the fan at Prague's Abaton club that year and was surprised to be arrested when he returned to the Czech Republic to play a show scheduled for June 28, said Radvan.

"We don't know yet if (the death) was caused by our client or in a different way," the lawyer said, adding that the police investigation is unlikely to be completed until winter.

Radvan said police believe that during the 2010 concert that the audience member climbed onto the stage and Blythe pushed him off. The fan hit the floor with his head and later died of the injuries, police said.

Martina Lhotakova, a spokeswoman for Prague's Municipal Court, said Blythe was released Thursday when the court upheld a lower court decision that had rejected a request by prosecutors to keep him in custody, fearing he wouldn't return.

Blythe told media Friday that if requested he would be back. "If it's necessary for me to return to Prague to go to this court thing, I certainly will," he said.

Tommy Streat, a friend of Blythe's, organized vigils in support of the singer in Richmond and in Washington, D.C., while the singer was imprisoned. Streat cautioned others not to judge Blythe and the band by their stage personas or their genre, with its thrashing guitars and often dark subjects. He told of a regular guy who cuts his grass, makes time for fans, who helped a homeless man find a place to live and once spent several hours talking a man out of committing suicide.

"The Randy Blythe we know truly has not a bit of malice or ability to cause that kind of harm or take that type of action toward anybody," Streat said.

Streat said Blythe's release begins his long process to clear his name.

"It's fantastic that he's gotten through this first step of getting the bail finalized and for everyone to realize that he's not a flight risk," Streat said. "He's an international artist who can't disappear. It's a shame it took a month for that to be agreed upon.

"The wheels of justice there move a little bit slower than here," he said.

Scrap metal thieves dent Guelph minor hockey team’s fundraising efforts

Guelph Junior Storm (Sarah Dea Photography)

We've all been there. You're walking past a dumpster, and you see a perfectly good coffeemaker. So you take it.

Well guess what: You may have just dashed a child's dreams.

The Junior Storm are a hockey club in the Guelph Minor Hockey Association in Guelph, Ontario. The team is hoping to raise $25,000 for a trip to a tournament in Lake Placid next spring, about $1,000 per family.

Now, when you're talking about that kind of money, you have to get creative, and the Junior Storm have, convincing a recycling company to donate their scrap metal bin to the cause. A full bin would net the team around $400.

Or at least it would if thieves would stop helping themselves to the metal treasures within. From the Guelph Mercury:

"We've lost a snowblower, we've lost multiple washers and dryers, we've lost all kinds of stuff," said Tyler Boothe, one of the parents on the team.

The bin, donated by Benmet Steel and Metal Recycling, is located at Industrial Avenue and Elizabeth Street. It is about seven metres long, 2.5 metres high and two metres wide. Once it fills up with scrap metal, Boothe said the team gets Benmet to collect it. A full bin could be worth about $400, he said, depending on the quality of metal inside.

Several signs on Elizabeth Street and around the bin illustrate what the collection of scrap metal is for, but so far these signs have done nothing to deter thieves.

Yeah, thieves don't listen to signs. If they did, prisons would just be parks with signs that said "please don't leave."

The Junior Storm have even gone to the police, but unfortunately, the Guelph Police can't afford to post someone there to guard the precious bin of unprecious metal. (Looks like they need a fundraiser as well.)

The police urge companies in these situation to either fence the bin or put a lid on it, but this bin is neither fenced nor lidded.

And of course, when the police can't help, the only thing left to do is vigilante justice. Boothe even tried that route, attempting to become the Batman of scrap metal by waiting around the bin between midnight and 1 a.m. to confront metal thieves. Unfortunately, scrap metal thieves are as slick as they are shameless, so he didn't spot any.

"It's disappointing when certain people within your community ruin it for your kids," Boothe told the Guelph Mercury. "It puts a downer on the whole thing."

So let this be a lesson to you, thieves. The next time you go dumpster diving, it's possible that you're stealing from 8-year-olds.

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