Weird News

Nebraska woman, 86, gets $1,000 phone sex bill

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The family of an 86-year-old woman who was billed for over $1,000 in phone sex calls suspects identify theft. Arlene Hald recently received a credit card bill addressed to her husband, Sylvester, who died nearly 20 years ago. Hald said they never had a credit card, yet an account in his name was charged. Hald's daughter, Peggy Rytych, believes her father was the victim of ID theft.

She called the billing company, Preferred Platinum Plan, which agreed to remove the charges. Rytych says they thought that was the end of it - until another bill arrived for over $70. The California-based company agreed to remove the latest charges and never bill Hald again.
 
Michigan police taser nude man outside church

BAY CITY, Mich. -- Going to church brought no peace to a man Tasered by police as he stood in the nude in 27-degree weather. A funeral Mass was being held inside St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church when police received 911 calls about a naked man Friday morning. Sgt. Gordon Cameron said the man told officers he was having problems with his parents and wanted to go to church.

Cameron told The Bay City Times that the man cursed and verbally abused police before Officer Troy Sierras immobilized him with a Taser, an electronic device that fires barbs causing temporary paralysis. The man was draped in a blanket and taken to Bay Regional Medical Center for treatment. Cameron said the man, whose name was withheld, likely wouldn't be charged with any crime.
 
George Mason U. elects man as homecoming queen

FAIRFAX, VA -- George Mason University students have elected a drag queen as homecoming queen. Student Ryan Allen beat out two women for the title at the 30,000-student school in suburban Washington, D.C., famous for its run to the Final Four a few years back. Allen competed under his drag queen persona of Reann Ballslee.

Allen, who is gay and performs in drag at nightclubs, said he entered as a joke. But he considers the victory one of his happiest moments and proof the school celebrates its diverse student body. The senior from Virginia's Goochland County won the pageant about a week ago at a sold-out homecoming basketball game against Northeastern. George Mason's basketball team pulled off a string of upsets to advance to the Final Four in 2006.
 
Thief in central Maine targets old telephone poles, cutting them right out of the ground

OAKLAND, Maine ? Old telephone poles are being swiped right out of the ground in central Maine. According to FairPoint Communications, about 35 poles have been cut and stolen. The thefts in the town of Oakland began last fall and stopped in the early winter but have resumed as snowbanks have retreated.

The poles had no wires attached to them and were to be removed later. They had been trimmed to 12 feet tall, and were left behind when the company put in replacement poles next to them. FairPoint supervisor Simon Thorne said the pressure-treated poles aren't good for burning because they contain preservatives. He speculated someone might be taking them to use for framework.
 
Wis. inmate accused anew of impersonating officer

MADISON, Wis. -- A Madison man already serving time for impersonating an officer apparently hasn't learned his lesson. Thirty-year-old Joshua D. Kay is charged with a new count of impersonating an officer. At an initial court appearance Friday he stood mute so the court entered a plea of not guilty. Prosecutors say Kay has been telling other inmates he's actually a sheriff's deputy, working undercover to investigate other deputies.

Online court records didn't list an attorney for Kay on Saturday. Kay is serving an eight-month jail sentence for three misdemeanors. Among them was a 2007 conviction for turning on flashing red lights and a siren on his personal car to try to stop a speeder. The other car was being driven by an off-duty police officer.
 
Letter from NJ to Ore. woman takes 22-year route

Peter Hass, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service's Portland district, called the delay "very unusual and very unfortunate." Hass said the envelope could have been stuck in machinery or misrouted and delivered to the wrong address, which would explain why it arrived opened. But he said no matter the age of the mail, "if it's postmarked, we're obliged to deliver it."

Schlossarek's nephew, Michael Ilnseher, now an assistant principal at an Atlanta-area high school, said he didn't remember his aunt not receiving an invitation. "I never realized something could be lost for 22 years like that," he said.
 
Man calls 911 to report drunk driving...His own!

A Pennsylvania man called 911 to inform authorities he was too drunk to drive and was pulling his car over as a precaution, state police allege. An unidentified state police trooper said in a report that John Wilson, 26, of Knox, was arrested in the parking lot of a gas station in Sligo at 12:45 a.m. Saturday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

"(Mr.Wilson) related that he had left the bar and was on his way home when he realized he was too drunk to make it home," the state trooper alleged. The Post-Gazette said police were awaiting the results of a blood-alcohol test before officially charging Wilson with driving under the influence.
 
Recession 2009: NYC bar offers $1,000 Oscar cocktail

A bartender at a high-end New York watering hole is giving a nod to Sunday night's Academy Awards with a $1,000 cocktail. Hudson Library Bar bartender Marcelo Venegas said the Illy Issimo Academy Gold Cocktail being offered at an Oscars party at the bar features rum, Illy Issimo Latte Macchiato, lime juice and syrup, the New York Daily News reported. There also is strawberry puree on its rim and it comes with a small gold-colored chocolate statue.

But what makes the beverage a truly costly treat is the digestible gold in its chilled martini glass. Despite the unique ingredient, those who spoke with the Daily News felt $1,000 was a bit too much for a single drink. "Not unless it included two weeks' paid vacation," supermarket worker Stephen Lucas said of the Gold Cocktail. "They would have to put the elixir of life inside of it," 23-year-old college student Danielle Curran said.
 
Street signs for Mullet Place keep disappearing

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The hairstyle is short on the top and long in the back, and in Green Bay the mullet has it's very own street signs - at least when the signs haven't been stolen. Mullet Place may not be named for the kind of hair design that became popular a few decades ago, but fans apparently like to grab the signs anyway because they disappear several times a year.

"We've gone through a lot of Mullet Place signs," said Chris Pirlot of the city Public Works Department. "My only guess is that people are still in love with the '70s and '80s when the mullet haircut was prominent. I don't know." At times, every sign on the two-block street has been gone, frustrating some residents. "When you tell somebody directions how to get to your place, you've got to tell them it's the third road on the left, because there's no sign to tell them how to get to Mullet Place," said Richard Fleischfresser.

The city has attempted to stop the thievery by mounting the signs beyond anyone's reach, about 20 feet from the ground. Pirlot said it costs $100 each to replace the signs. Stealing one can cost a lot more. Police say anyone caught taking a street sign can be fined $361 for theft plus $676 for criminal damage to property.
 
Identical twin brothers accused of robbery

YONKERS, N.Y. -- Police say identical twin brothers have teamed up to rob a Yonkers gas station. Police said the 22-year-olds were arrested in the driveway of their home shortly after the holdup at a Mobil gas station early Sunday. Investigators said a witness helped identify the two. Investigators said one of the brothers brandished a rifle and demanded cash from the gas station clerk, while the other twin waited in the getaway car.

Police said they have recovered a .22-caliber rifle with a scope, two crack cocaine pipes and $316 in cash. The brothers were arrested on charges including robbery and criminal use of a firearm. Information on their arraignment and legal representation was not immediately available from authorities Monday evening.
 
Cops: Man tries to steal laptop to check Facebook

BRADENTON, Fla. -- Sheriff's officers said a 19-year-old man snatched a Starbucks customers laptop after being told he could not use it to check his Facebook account. According to officers, the man then grabbed the customer's laptop and ran out of the coffee shop, located in an outlet mall. Two people in the parking lot tackled the man and held him there until a mall security guard arrived.

The victim got his laptop back and the man was charged Saturday with robbery by sudden snatching, a felony
 
Man in jail for impersonating cops charged again

MADISON, Wis. -- A man already serving time for impersonating an officer apparently hasn't learned his lesson. Joshua D. Kay, 30, was charged with a new count of impersonating an officer. At an initial court appearance Friday he stood mute so the court entered a plea of not guilty.

Prosecutors said Kay has been telling other inmates he's actually a sheriff's deputy, working undercover to investigate other deputies. Online court records didn't list an attorney for Kay on Saturday. Kay is serving an eight-month jail sentence for three misdemeanors. Among them was a 2007 conviction for turning on flashing red lights and a siren on his personal car to try to stop a speeder. The other car was being driven by an off-duty police officer.
 
Report: India court 466 years behind schedule

NEW DELHI - The High Court in New Delhi is so behind in its work that it could take up to 466 years to clear the enormous backlog, the court's chief justice said in a damning report that illustrates the decrepitude of India's judicial system. The Delhi High Court races through each case in an average of four minutes and 55 seconds but still has tens of thousands of cases pending, including upward of 600 that are more than 20 years old, according to the report.

The problems of the Delhi High Court, which hears civil, criminal, and constitutional cases, is more the standard than the exception in India. The country's creaky judicial system has long been plagued by corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability, often making the rule of law unattainable for all but the wealthy and the well-connected. The United Nations Development Program says some 20 million legal cases are pending in India. "It's a completely collapsed system," said Prashant Bhushan, a well-known lawyer in New Delhi. "This country only lives under the illusion that there is a judicial system."

One reason for the delays is that there aren't enough sitting judges. India ? a country of 1.1 billion people ? has approximately 11 judges for every million people compared with roughly 110 per million in the United States. India's Justice Ministry last year called for an increase of 50 judges per million people by 2013, but it was unclear how the government would pay for such a massive overhaul.

The Delhi High Court, the state's top court, had 32 judges in 2007 and 2008 instead of the allotted 48, according to the chief justice's annual report, released Tuesday. The court had at least 629 civil cases and 17 criminal cases pending that were more than 20 years old as of March 2008. Although, that's an improvement from April 2007 when the court had 882 civil and 428 criminal cases pending that were that old.

Chief Justice A.P. Shah said in the report that "it would take the court approximately 466 years" to clear the pending 2,300 criminal appeals cases alone. Critics say another major problem is corruption, a plague throughout every layer of Indian government.

'Corruption is commonplace'
"Of course corruption is there," said J.S. Verma, a retired Supreme Court justice. "The people who man the courts and the court system come from the society" where corruption is commonplace. Last year, the Delhi High Court convicted two senior lawyers for trying to influence a key witness to change his testimony in a high-profile case involving a hit-and-run that left six people dead. The lawyers, who were busted in a sting by a television news channel, received what some called a light punishment: They were barred from appearing in court for four months and fined 2,000 rupees ($50).

The corruption in the case was only notable because one of the lawyers had defended important political figures, said Bhushan
"There are plenty of lawyers who are engaged in this business of bribing judges," he said. "It's a lucrative business." The hit-and-run case was another example of the long lag between crime and conviction: the accident occurred in 1999, but the driver was not found guilty until 2008. Critics say other problems include the strict formalities that slow down every step of the legal process and are common across India's vast bureaucracy.

Bhushan says the Herculean task of simply registering a case wastes time and denies ordinary citizens access to the court.
"All kinds of objections are raised ? the copies are dim, the margins are not wide enough, it's single-spaced instead of being double-spaced," he said. "For a layperson, it's impossible." Verma, the retired Supreme Court judge, said extending working hours would be a major step toward clearing the backlog.

The Delhi High Court hears cases for five hours and 15 minutes a day, and is open for 213 working days a year, according to the report. Verma and others said the court could easily work longer hours. "A commitment and proper work culture can solve at least half the problems, if not more," Verma said. "I don't think you would have to wait four centuries to have a case decided."
 
Foreigner impostor allegedly steals Corvette

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Authorities said a transient man convinced a woman that he was the drummer for the rock band Foreigner, stole her Corvette and then crashed it. Police said a 48-year-old man befriended the woman at a Tampa hotel, sayin his name was Cory James and he was the drummer for Foreigner.

The band has had more than a half dozen drummers over the years, none of whom were named Cory James.
 
100-plus animals rescued from apartment

BUFFALO, N.Y. - More than 100 chickens, rabbits, rodents, iguanas and tarantulas have been removed from a two-bedroom Buffalo apartment by authorities who needed three vans to cart off the menagerie.

Police officers responding to an animal mistreatment complaint at a South Buffalo apartment found the animals living in a couple's cramped apartment Monday. The animals were removed in dozens of cages and cardboard containers by officers from the local chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The animals included about 100 chickens and rabbits.
 
Man runs out of gas after robbing gas station

CAPE HAZE, Fla. - Authorities said they arrested a man who apparently forgot to fill up when he was robbing a gas station. The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said a 23-year-old man used a Bowie knife to rob a Cape Haze gas station early Sunday. Deputies said the man pulled the 12-inch blade and demanded money. But when he left, a customer followed him and called 911.

While deputies were looking for signs of the robber, a newspaper carrier told them that a man in a car matching the one from the robbery had run out of gas nearby. The man was arrested several hours after the robbery and charged with robbery with a weapon and loitering/prowling. He was released Monday on $10,500 bail.
 
Indian boy marries dog to ward off tiger attacks

BHUBANESWAR, India - An infant boy was married off to his neighbors' dog in eastern India by villagers who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals, officials and witnesses said Wednesday. Around 150 tribespeople performed the ritual recently in a hamlet in the state of Orissa's Jajpur district after the boy, who is under two years old, grew a tooth on his upper gum.

The Munda tribe see such a growth in young children as a bad omen and believe it makes them prone to attacks by tigers and another animals. The tribal god will bless the child and ward off evil spirits after the marriage. "We performed the marriage because it will overcome any curse that might fall on the child as well on us," the boy's father, Sanarumala Munda, was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.

The groom, Sagula, was carried by his family in procession to the village temple, where a priest solemnized the marriage between Sagula and his bride Jyoti by chanting Sanskrit hymns, a witness said. The villagers then ate a feast with rich food and alcohol to celebrate. The dog belongs to the groom's neighbors and was set free to roam around the area after the ceremony. No dowry was exchanged, the witness said, and the boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce.

Indian law does not recognize weddings between people and animals, but the ritual survives in rural and tribal areas of the country where millions are illiterate.
 
Police: Md. man stabs son who wore hat in church

BALTIMORE -- Police said a 58-year-old man stabbed his teenage son after he refused to take off his hat at church earlier in the day. The father and his 19-year-old son got into an argument on Sunday afternoon. That's when police said the father went to a car, got a knife and stabbed his son in the left buttock and fled.

The son was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. The father's name was withheld pending his arrest.
 
Proposal to name an Oregon state berry is squished

SALEM, OR -- Put in a jam by one sour response, Oregon lawmakers are chucking a plan to designate a state berry. Resolution sponsors and the Oregon Raspberry and Blackberry Commission wanted to honor the marionberry. The sweet blackberry variety was bred at Oregon State University and grows almost exclusively in Marion County.

Other berry interests -- rasp, blue and straw -- assented, but a grower of another blackberry variety objected. The Oregonian newspaper reported the commission then backed down. Rep. Vicki Berger yanked her resolution. Given stickier economic issues to tackle, she says she's "not going to bat over internal disputes in the berry community."
 
'Spider-Man' set for Feb. 2010 Broadway opening

NEW YORK -- Spider-Man has conquered the movies. Now it's Broadway's turn. "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark" will open Feb. 18, 2010, at the Hilton Theatre. Preview performances begin Jan. 16. Producers say the musical, directed by Julie Taymor, will feature a score by Bono and The Edge. Taymor, the creative force behind Disney's long-running "Lion King," will co-write the book with Glen Berger.

The story was inspired by the Marvel comic books hero and will include the story of his origins as well as new material. "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark" is produced by Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment/David Maisel, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jeremiah Harris.
 
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