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Fla. man in women's bathing suit arrested
Tue May 30, 6:47 PM ET KEY WEST, Fla. - A man wearing a purple women's bathing suit and carrying a flare gun was arrested after he told a bartender he was going to "get rid of all the dirt bags in Key West," authorities said.
Jeffrey C. Anderson, 55, was charged with carrying a concealed firearm Monday after he brandished the flare gun, which was under a skirt he was wearing, Key West police spokeswoman Christie Phillips said.
The bartender, who was not identified, was working in the downstairs bar of The Bull and Whistle, a popular Key West watering hole located on Duval Street.
"She reported she had seen a man, later identified as Anderson, dancing in the street showing tourists his private parts, and asking people for money when they took his picture," the news release said.
The bartender said Anderson then approached her, telling her he was going to get rid of the city's "dirt bags" before displaying the gun, police said.
Police quickly located Anderson and found an orange 12-gauge flare gun in his possession, Phillips said. He was transported to the Monroe County detention center. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

Big rodents overrun Washington seniors
Tue May 30, 4:13 PM ET

PROSSER, Wash. - "The marmots are coming, the marmots are coming." Seniors living in Wine Country Villa probably wish they had gotten such a warning.
Residents say the oversized rodents are swarming through the 75-unit development of manufactured homes near the airport of this Eastern Washington town, burrowing under homes, fouling front porches with their droppings and — according to some unconfirmed accounts — attacking people.
Many species of marmots, including some known as woodchucks and groundhogs, are found across North America. They are closely related to ground squirrels and are among the largest of rodents, some reaching 30 pounds.
"Can you imagine what they'd do to cats?" asked Dick Bain, 78, a Wine Country resident who dispatched two of the animals with a shovel Friday.
Bain said he doesn't like killing animals but had to act after finding two marmots beneath a stack of carpentry wood next to his house.
"My neighbor got tackled (by marmots) two years ago and got chewed up pretty bad," Bain told the Yakima Herald-Republic.
The account could not be verified by the newspaper. Bain would not identify the man, saying his neighbor was embarrassed.
Also unconfirmed was an account that a resident got badly bitten after reaching into a water tank to remove a marmot that only appeared to be dead.
Ray Borgens, 81, said marmots leave unsavory calling cards in his carport, burrow under his house and once scooted up a ladder he left leaning against the roof.
"They were snooping around the air ducts up there," Borgens said.
Concerned about the droppings, which Bain said often are tracked indoors "even though you think you've cleaned it off," residents say officials in the Benton-Franklin Health Department have told them there's nothing the agency can do because the animals pose no public health risk, including the spread of infectious disease.
Police add that town ordinances prohibit residents from shooting the critters.
Officials in the state Department of Fish and Wildlife say residents likely will have to pay if they want to eradicate the infestation, and then only after clearing some bureaucratic hurdles. First, they must file a complaint with the agency's Yakima office, which then may refer them to a certified exterminator.
"These are not free services," agency spokeswoman Madonna Luers said. "We do not have the staff to go out there and deal with these situations."
To make the area less attractive to marmots, she advised securing garbage cans and other potential sources of food or nesting material.
She also advised trying to avoid marmot confrontations.
"They've probably become pretty accustomed to people," Luers said, "and it's not an animal you want to tangle with."

Woman claims ring recovered from catfish
Tue May 30, 6:47 PM ET

AMMON, Idaho - A woman says she's recovered a stolen class ring that was purportedly spit up from a Kentucky catfish. Lisa Peterson, an Ammon resident who moved from Ohio to Idaho several years ago, says her "Class of '84" ring from Franklin Heights High School in Columbus was stolen in 1991.
She'd given up on ever finding it — until several weeks ago, when she received a phone call from a Columbus television station that said the ring had been found by a fisherman angling for catfish in a murky pond in Augusta, Ky.
At first, she was skeptical, Peterson said.
"I thought, this is just an incredible fish story," she told the Post Register, about the initial phone call. "But they knew so much that I couldn't disbelieve it."
Wayne Nickerson, the fisherman, was collecting bait during a fishing excursion in northcentral Kentucky when he discovered the ring in the bottom of his live bait trap. The fishing area, called Long Stretch, is known for illicit dumping — in recent years, Nickerson says he's caught a sleeping bag in the fishing hole.
Nickerson, who now believes a catfish scavenging on the pond bottom spit the ring into his bait trap, says at first he was worried about finding the ring engraved "Lisa Marie Certain, Class of '84." He figured he might be dealing with a murder.
"I thought there may be a body," he said.
He called the local Augusta police chief, Col. Greg Cummins, to investigate. Cummins found Lisa Certain's picture at a Franklin Heights alumni Web site — along with the ominous description "missing in action." Classmates who were contacted said they hadn't heard from Lisa Certain in years.
Like Nickerson, Cummins feared the worst.
"I thought, the worst-case scenario is that there is a body with that ring," he said.
After the initial search turned up few leads, Cummins contacted television station WKRC in Cincinnati to broadcast Certain's photo. Finally, Columbus station WBNS-TV tracked down Certain to Ammon, where she's living under her married name, Peterson.
"The first person I heard from was the Channel 10 reporter from Columbus," Peterson said.
After the initial contact, she spoke with Cummins at the Augusta Police Department on May 2, and the ring was mailed to her the following day.
Cummins is relieved Peterson is safe — he was dreading the prospect of dragging the pond for a body. The only mystery left: How did the ring end up miles from Columbus, in a pond, 15 years after it was stolen?
"It could have been there for days, maybe years," Cummins said.

Police probe bizarre goat head display
Tue May 30, 6:47 PM ET

TORRINGTON, Conn. - Police are investigating a bizarre discovery involving severed goat heads, put on display at the end of a driveway.
Last week, police found two severed goat heads, a coconut and a pentagram drawn in chalk in a driveway of a home, police Lt. Francis Balzano said.
"We're not saying this is illegal," Balzano said. "We would just like to know what it means."
Police do not know if the incident was some kind of ritual, practical joke or a crime.
Balzano said police find such combinations a couple times a year, usually in wooded areas.
"This is an isolated incident," Balzano said. "It could be people who use these things in a ritual or copycat kids that saw this somewhere."

Man severs penis to prove faithfulness
Tue May 30, 6:46 PM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A man who apparently severed his penis in an attempt to convince his wife that he was faithful to her was recovering after surgery to reattach the organ at a northern Malaysian hospital, a news report said Tuesday.
The 41-year-old man, who was not identified, got into an argument last Friday with his wife, who found a text message on his mobile phone from another woman. The man was heard by his son shouting that he wanted to prove he was not having an affair, the New Straits Times reported.
The assertion was followed by loud screams and the man emerged from his room bleeding profusely, his 14-year-old son quoted as saying. His wife rushed him to hospital.

Man drowns trying to save toy boat
Wed May 31, 9:49 AM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida man drowned after jumping onto an inflatable raft and paddling out to the middle of a lake to try to retrieve a stalled, radio-controlled toy boat, police said Tuesday.
Another toy boat punctured the raft, causing it to deflate rapidly, and the 31-year-old victim could not swim, Miami-Dade Police said.
The accident occurred Monday evening at a park northwest of Miami where the victim and several friends were racing the remote-controlled boats.
"I think it was all purely accidental. It's a fluke," said Detective Joanne Duncan.

Dutch pedophiles to launch political party
Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals.
The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!"
The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether
"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.
"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding that the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium. "We have been hushed up. The only way is through parliament."
The Netherlands already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution, and gay marriage, but the NVD is unlikely to win much support, the AD quoted experts as saying.
"They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest," anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the daily.
The party said private possession of child pornography should be allowed although it favors banning the trade of such materials. The broadcast of pornography should be allowed on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening, according to the party.
Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.
The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public.
The party's program also includes ideas for other areas of public policy including legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

Museum head detained over fake exhibits

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish police have detained the head of a museum and eight other people amid a probe into allegations that prized exhibits from the 6th Century B.C. were replaced by fakes, a regional governor said Monday.
The ancient artifacts from the collection known as the Lydian Hoard were repatriated from the United States 13 years ago after being stolen in the 1960s.
"Nine people including the Usak Archaeology Museum director have been detained in four provinces," state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Governor Kayhan Kavas as telling a news conference.
The CNN Turk Web site said the interrogation of the director was continuing at police headquarters in Turkey's western Usak province, not far from the Aegean, where the museum is located.
NTV television quoted Turkey's Culture and Tourism Minister Atilla Koc as confirming that several artifacts had been replaced by fakes. Koc said security had been stepped up at the museum.
Media reports about a theft of the treasures first surfaced earlier this year after an anonymous tip-off.
The Lydian Treasures, which ended up in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art after they were stolen in the 1960s, were brought back to Turkey in 1993.
The kingdom of Lydia flourished in an area of what is now western Turkey in the seventh and sixth centuries before Christ, but later fell to Persian invaders.

University suspends exams for World Cup
Mon May 29, 9:15 AM ET

DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladesh university has postponed exams until after the World Cup finals after hundreds of students lay siege to the vice-chancellor's office.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology had earlier rejected students' calls to postpone exams scheduled for June 3-29.
"The classes will remain suspended until July 14," an official at the university in the capital said Monday.
Bangladesh failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, which will be hosted by Germany from June 9 to July 9.

Cordless jump-rope can help the clumsy
Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON - If you think keeping fit is merely mind over matter, Lester Clancy has an invention for you — a cordless jump-rope. That's right, a jump-rope minus the rope. All that's left is two handles, so you jump over the pretend rope. Or if you are truly lazy, you can pretend to jump over the pretend rope.
And for that idea kicking around Clancy's head since 1988, the U.S. Patent Office this month awarded the 52-year-old Mansfield, Ohio, man a patent. Its number: 7037243.
What makes this invention work is the moving weights inside the handles. They simulate the feel of a rope moving, Clancy said. Well, it's only one handle so far because Clancy is waiting for financial backers before building its partner.
But why jump rope without a rope?
It's perfect for the clumsy, Clancy said. "If you are still jumping, you're still using your legs as well as your arms, and getting the cardiovascular workout. You just don't have to worry about tripping on the rope."
It is also good for mental institutions and prisons where rope is a suicide risk, said Clancy, who works as a laundry coordinator in a state prison. And low ceiling fans aren't a hazard any more, he said.
Daniel Wright, who features the cordless jump-rope on his Web site http://www.patentlysilly.com, can barely talk about Clancy's invention without laughing.
"What really grabbed me," Wright said, was the name the item has in its patent, Wright said.
The idea isn't all that crazy, said Mike Ernst, a professor of kinesiology at California State University in Dominguez Hills.
"I think it's silly but at the same time if somehow, some way it promotes physical activity, gets kids active, then I'm all for it," Ernst said.
The more he thought about it, the more Ernst said he could see the benefit, adding that the act of jumping, not the rope itself, is what provides exercise.
"Do you need to jump with a rope? You don't," Ernst said. "But I wouldn't buy the product, I can tell you that. I'm not an idiot."
High-tech handles aren't needed. You could even use toilet paper holders, Ernst said. On second thought, he wondered if he could patent that idea.

Taiwan deputy halts vote by chomping China proposal
Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Pandemonium broke out in Taiwan's parliament on Tuesday when deputies attacked a woman colleague for snatching and trying to eat a proposal on opening direct transport links with China in a bid to stop a vote on the issue.
Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) charged towards the podium and protested noisily to prevent the review of an opposition proposal seeking an end to decades-old curbs on direct air and shipping links with China.
Amid the chaos, DPP deputy Wang Shu-hui snatched the written proposal from an opposition legislator and shoved it into her mouth, television news footage showed.
Wang later spat out the document and tore it up after opposition lawmakers failed to get her to cough it up by pulling her hair.
During the melee, another DPP woman legislator, Chuang Ho-tzu, spat at an opposition colleague.
"She spat saliva," yelled Hung Hsiu-chu of the main opposition Nationalist Party.
It was the third time filibustering by the DPP had prevented a vote on the proposed revisions.
Scuffles have been common in Taiwan's boisterous parliament since the late 1980s.
The pro-independence DPP opposes the links proposal, saying it would undermine the government's authority and the island's political status by virtually classifying flights as domestic instead of international.
Taiwan has banned direct transport links with China since their 1949 split amid a bloody civil war. Beijing still claims sovereignty over self-ruled democratic Taiwan.

Students to cash in from Spanish language offer
Reuters - Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish government, fed up with the national reputation for not speaking foreign languages, will give young people up to 1,000 euros (680 pounds) each to study English.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero homed in on his country's linguistic failings in his annual State of the Nation address to Parliament on Tuesday, in which he announced the subsidy for people aged from 18-30.
"I have set myself the task of overcoming our traditional shortcomings with regard to languages," said Zapatero, who cannot speak English but once tried his uncertain French in an address to France's National Assembly.
English is compulsory in Spanish schools but, according to the European Commission, fewer than 20 percent of Spaniards can speak the language despite the needs generated by a massive tourism industry and a fast-growing economy.
That puts Spain near the back of the European Union class for foreign languages, beaten in the dunce stakes by English-speaking Britain and Ireland.

Bangladesh students on rampage for World Cup TV sets
Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

DHAKA (Reuters) - Students at a Bangladesh university ransacked their dormitory and burnt furniture to pressure officials to buy two new televisions in time for the World Cup.
Two broken television sets were dragged out and burnt on Monday night, said an official of the dormitory for 2,500 students.
"It's an outburst as the authorities did not comply with our demand to sanction new television sets," a student of the dormitory told Reuters.
Each of the other 15 dormitories at Dhaka University, the country's biggest, has two television sets for the students.
The World Cup in Germany begins on June 9.

6-year-old Minn. boy brings pot to school
Sat May 27, 6:54 AM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. - When a teacher asked a 6-year-old boy to pull a folder out of his Scooby-Doo backpack, a bag filled with 25 smaller bags of marijuana fell out instead, a court document said.
The teacher gave the drugs to a school administrator, who called police. Before officers arrived at HOPE Community Academy, the boy's father showed up. He took the backpack from his son and quickly walked away, according to a criminal complaint.
The father was later arrested and told investigators he hid the marijuana in the backpack, and left it in a bedroom closet. When he discovered the backpack was missing, he ran to his son's nearby school.
Corey Randle, 29, was charged Thursday with a fifth-degree drug-sale charge.

Road rage driver takes policeman for ride
Tue May 30, 7:39 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Threatened with a ticket, a Russian motorist trapped a traffic policeman's hand in his car window then drove off with the officer attached, police said on Tuesday.
The policeman was dragged along the road beside the BMW saloon for five metres (yards) until a second officer in a patrol car blocked the motorist's path, said a traffic police spokesman.
"We have opened a criminal case on charges of ... using force against an official," said the spokesman. "The officer's injuries were not too bad but he is still on sick leave."
The motorist, a Moscow property developer, told Izvestia newspaper police had invented the incident. He said a business rival with connections with the police was trying to set him up.

Woman shoots fireworks at police helicopter
Sat May 27, 6:55 AM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. - Annoyed with a sheriff's helicopter flying over her house late Thursday night, Marjorie Thompson ran outside with a bottle rocket launcher and started shooting rockets at the aircraft, authorities said.
Authorities said they caught Thompson, 44, in the act of launching the second bottle rocket.
Thompson is facing a felony charge of shooting or throwing a deadly missile into an aircraft.
The helicopter was in the area searching for a suspect in a car theft, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
The helicopter's pilot said the craft's flight pattern was never in jeopardy.

25 people suffer bumps and bruises in British cheese chase
Mon May 29, 12:08 PM ET

BROCKWORTH, England (AFP) - Twenty-five people were injured in an annual cheese-rolling competition, where daredevils chase giant cheeses down a steep slope in western England, organisers said.
Dozens took part in the bizarre event at Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, before a crowd of some 3,000 laughing and cheering spectators.
They raced for 200 metres (656 feet) down the slope after the wheel-shaped Double Gloucester cheese, decorated in a blue and red ribbon.
Many slipped, somersaulted and tumbled their way to the bottom during five bone-crunching races over two hours.
Of the 25 people hurt, 12 were spectators, one of whom was hit by one of the hard, dinner-plate-sized cheeses used in each race.
Only two people were taken to hospital for further assessment, however.
The organisers said the number of injuries was comparatively low.
"We usually average around 30-40 people who need treatment," said Jim Jones, operations training manager for St John's Ambulance.
"The most serious injuries this year appear to be a dislocated finger and a possible fractured ankle," he told Britain's domestic Press Association.
The wet weather helped protect the racers, as they were able to slide down the slope rather than tumble head-over-heels, said organiser Richard Jefferies.
"It's been a very successful year," he added.
Among the winners of the five races was Chris Anderson, 18, who knocked himself out to claim the title.
Afterwards, the dazed window fitter said: "I just ran, fell and hit my head. I feel sore but it was definitely worth it."
First prize in each race is a big circle of cheese.
People from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States travel to the hill every year to take part in the cheese roll.
The unusual event has been celebrated for centuries and is thought to have its roots in a heathen festival to celebrate the return of spring.

Ark. Mayor Accused in Sex-For-Water Case
Wed May 17, 9:02 PM ET

WALDRON, Ark. - Waldron's mayor was released on a signature bond Wednesday after being accused of soliciting two women for sex after they fell behind on their water bills.
Troy Anderson, 72, is accused of abusing the public trust and patronizing a prostitute. After hearing complaints about delinquent water bills, Anderson solicited sex from the women, authorities said.
In January, a woman who said she had refused Anderson's requests went to the mayor for help in getting her granddaughter out of state Department of Health and Human Services custody. The mayor told the woman he might be able to help, and that she should meet him at an apartment, the affidavit said.
The woman wore a recording device when she met Anderson at the apartment, and Anderson offered her $100 for sex, the affidavit said. She said the mayor grabbed her and exposed himself.
Another woman told investigators that she'd been having sex with Anderson for money for the past eight to 10 years. She said Anderson paid her $25 per encounter and that he allowed her to change the name on her overdue water bill, which kept her water turned on, the affidavit said.
The mayor also gave the woman $60 to pay a late water deposit in exchange for sex, the affidavit said. The woman's bill was $617 overdue, the affidavit said.
In February, the second woman wore a recording device when Anderson picked her up for a sexual encounter that netted her $20, authorities said.
Anderson did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday and Wednesday.
The mayor was charged with two counts of abuse of public trust * a felony * and four counts of patronizing a prostitute, a misdemeanor.
Judge Donald Goodner on Wednesday said Anderson was not a flight risk and released him on signature bond, according to the Scott County Circuit Clerk's Office. Goodner set an arraignment for July 6.

The cream of the crop in breastfeeding coup
Thu May 4, 9:15 AM ET

MANILA (Reuters) - Burps, slurps and thirsty cries echoed around the Philippine capital Thursday as 3,738 mothers gathered to break the world breastfeeding record.
The large number of tired moms was a coup for organizers, trying to promote breastfeeding in a country where many poor families believe that expensive powdered milk is more nutritious.
Around 16,000 children die every year in the Philippines because their milk formula is mixed with dirty water or the wrong amount of powder, according to the World Health Organization.
Only 16 percent of Filipino mothers breastfeed their children for the first six months of their lives, local health authorities say.
The previous record for the largest number of women simultaneously breastfeeding was 1,135 in the Californian city of Berkeley in 2002.

Psychologist to be mother at 63
Thu May 4, 9:11 AM ET

By Gavin Jones and Tim Castle
ROME/LONDON (Reuters) - A 63-year-old British hospital consultant is set to become one of the world's oldest mothers after undergoing fertility treatment, the Italian doctor who treated her said Thursday.
Patricia Rashbrook, a child psychologist from Lewes, East Sussex, was given in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment last October, Severino Antinori told Reuters.
Antinori, who said he was "excited and proud" about the treatment, gained notoriety in the early 1990s when he helped a 62-year-old Italian woman give birth following fertility treatment with a donated egg.
Italy has since introduced some of Europe's most restrictive laws on assisted reproduction and Antinori said he had carried out the procedure on Rashbrook in an unnamed former Soviet republic.
"The case of the English woman gave me great joy," he said, adding that the treatment was successful at the first attempt, using a single embryo.
He said Rashbrook, whom he last saw in November, was "perfect" for the treatment, because although she was 62 at the time, she had a biological age of about 45.
"She came here with her husband, the couple love each other, she is very slim, blonde and in perfect condition, she fits all the criteria for maternity."
"She should live for at least 20 to 25 years -- we are not giving birth to an orphan," he said.
Rashbrook's 61-year-old husband, John Farrant, told the Sun newspaper that his wife was seven months pregnant.
"We are of course both very happy and looking forward to the birth," he said.
"Obviously at our age it is quite a daunting prospect."
Farrant is Rashbrook's second husband and she has a 26-year-old daughter and a 22-year0old son, the paper said.
In a joint statement the couple said: "We wish to emphasize that this has not been an endeavor undertaken lightly or without courage."
"A great deal of thought has been given to planning and providing for the child's present and future wellbeing, medically, socially and materially."
Many fertility clinics in Britain will not provide treatment for women past the normal age for childbirth.
In 1997, Welsh woman Liz Buttle became Britain's oldest mother at the age of 60. Media reports said she had obtained fertility treatment after lying about her age to doctors.
Last year, a 66-year-old Romanian, Adriana Iliescu, became the world's oldest mother when she gave birth to a baby girl after IVF treatment.

Fortune-telling judge couldn't see it coming
Wed May 3, 9:10 AM ET

MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine judge who claimed he could see into the future and admitted consulting imaginary mystic dwarfs has asked for his job back after being fired by the country's Supreme Court.
"They should not have dismissed me for what I believed," Florentino Floro, a trial judge in the capital's Malabon northern suburb, told reporters after filing his appeal.
Floro was sacked last month and fined 40,000 pesos ($780) after a three-year investigation found he was incompetent, had shown bias in a case he was trying and had criticized court procedure, a ruling showed.
He told investigators that three mystic dwarfs -- Armand, Luis and Angel -- helped him carry out healing sessions during breaks in his chambers.
The Supreme Court said it was not within its expertise to conclude that Floro was insane, but agreed with the court clinic's finding that he was suffering from psychosis.

 

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