GreenReaper's stories

40-year-old Pennsylvanian Alan David Berlin — known as Alan T. Panda, Furrypanda and Alan Panda Bear — was charged this Thursday with unlawful contact with a minor (related to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse^[1]); a first-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.^[2] He has also been accused of five related second-degree and third-degree felonies. He is being held in Dauphin County Jail on $250,000 bail.

Alan, who lives in Carlisle, PA, allegedly chatted with the 15-year-old over the past two months, with discussions including the proposal that he travel to the boy's home in Harrisburg and that they have sex in the back yard while his parents slept. The complaint also mentioned requests for nude photos and suggestions of a meeting between the boy and another adult, with offers of a hotel room if Berlin could take pictures of them having sex.

Jäger won last year's Fracas

Nominations for the Fandom's Favorite Fursuit Fracas have closed, with 326 fursuit characters proposed for the 2009 event - an 11% increase over 2008.^[1] Voting for the knockout tournament will begin once all nominees have been contacted for their permission.^[2]

Last year's event ended with a landslide victory by Nevermint's Jäger from One Fur All Studios, who attracted 319 votes in the last round to Greifer's 195 (Tilt Longtail/Jax). In 2007 — the first year in which the tournament was held — Frazzle (Rose Quoll/self-made) beat Sophie Cabra (MixedCandy) in a close 135-122 final.

Many now turn to full-time costume makers for their suits, with professional mascot builders MixedCandy and Arend Studios each responsible for twice the entries of any other individual builder.^[3] Still, the top five account for less than 40% of the total, and just over half the nominees were created by builders outside the top ten.

Rocky Mountain Fur Con, based in Denver, Colorado, is facing tough times. Despite 35% growth, debt has led 2009 chairman Sorin Kat to plea for $30,000 to keep the event alive.^[1]

The convention's organizers are actively soliciting large donations, offering lifetime memberships and board seats in exchange for funds. Over $4,000 has been raised so far.

RMFC's problems stem from a charge for not filling its room block: a set of hotel rooms reserved for attendees at a significantly-reduced rate. Sorin — who is also treasurer for RMFC's managing organization — says the event was "operating at a surplus if not for this one debt … [which] was based solely on our estimation of room rentals".^[2]

Despite the debt, organizers still hope to find space this year at a smaller, more affordable location over August 7-9. Failing that, the convention may be postponed to 2010.^[2]

On December 27, 2008, an episode of ABC's morning news show Good Morning America, Anthrocon was awarded the 2008 Missy Award for "Convention of the Year."

The Missy Awards are given out for the most unusual stories covered by Good Morning America throughout the year.

The convention was never referred in the show by name (in this case it was Anthrocon), instead describing it as a "furry convention in Pittsburgh," and showed some clips of when ABC News covered the event earlier in the year.