Weird News

Santa Fe's 1960 time capsule was never buried

SANTA FE, N.M. - The mystery surrounding the buried location of a time capsule marking Santa Fe's 350th anniversary more than four decades ago has been solved: It was never underground. The committee planning the city's 400th anniversary celebrations later this year had been searching for the location of the 150-pound steel tube from 1960, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported in Friday editions.

But it turns out that the time capsule never was.

The New Mexican said one of its reporters in 1964 discovered the unfilled tube in a back room of an office machine business, being used "as a shelf for empty plastic bottles and other useless objects." Mayor Leo Murphy told the paper in the story more than 40 years ago that the project was abandoned because he was too busy trying to pay for bills incurred from the city's 350th anniversary.

"Those were days of confusion, days of chaos," he had told the New Mexican. "I was more interested in getting some friends to sign a note with me to cover the deficit the celebration ran up than I was in what happened to the capsule." The capsule was supposed to be filled with items "pertinent to Santa Fe's 350th anniversary celebration" in 1960, around the time when the city was believed to have been founded in 1610. Historians later discovered evidence that it was founded in 1607 or earlier.
 
Let's talk: Wife handcuffs herself to husband

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Police in Connecticut say a woman attempting to reconcile with her husband handcuffed herself to him as he slept and then bit him on his torso and arms. Police say 37-year-old Helen Sun told them she wanted to have a conversation with husband Robert Drawbough without him leaving. Police say she changed the locks on their bedroom and handcuffed herself to Drawbough while he was sleeping Monday.

Drawbough used a cell phone to call police. Officers heard his screams when they arrived at the couple's Fairfield home. He was treated at a local hospital. Police charged Sun with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment and unlawful restraint. She was due in Bridgeport Superior Court on Tuesday.
 
Student suspended for passing gas on bus

LAKELAND, Fla. - An eighth-grader was suspended from riding the school bus for three days after being accused of passing gas. The bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form that a 15-year-old teen passing gas on the bus on March 16 to make the other children laugh, creating a stench so bad that it was difficult to breathe. The bus driver handed the teen the suspension form the next day.

Polk County school officials said there's no rule against flatulence, but there are rules against causing a disturbance on the bus.
 
Burglary suspect rescued from pizza oven vent

DENVER - The manager of a Blackjack Pizza outlet in Denver got a start when he discovered a man's legs hanging from a vent above the restaurant's oven. Police said the dangling legs were accompanied by a voice yelling, "Help me, help me" Friday morning. Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the 5-foot-10, 170-pound man told officers and firefighters he'd been stuck in the duct for five or six hours.

Jackson said the man was arrested on suspicion of burglary.
 
Cops: Naked teen with poodle assaults woman

HART TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A naked 14-year-old boy taking a walk with a large white poodle assaulted a woman in Michigan, police said. The boy walked away from a behavioral treatment facility on Monday, Sheriff's Lt. Craig Mast said. He was strolling unclothed in Hart Township with the dog when he encountered a 53-year-old woman in her yard. "The young naked man approached her with this poodle, and she immediately realized something peculiar," Mast said.
 
Half-baked plan? Pot found in cookie shipment

TOPEKA, Kansas - A plan to stash more than 200 pounds of marijuana in a shipment of cookies has led to federal drug charges. Acting U.S. Attorney Marietta Parker announced Thursday that a federal grand jury meeting in Topeka had returned an indictment against three men accused of possessing the pot. The defendants were 70-year-old Taurino Cereceres-Morales, 29-year-old Juan Morales and 33-year-old Jesus Robles. Authorities did not provide hometowns for the men
 
Man accused of freezing mom, cashing checks

COLCHESTER, New York - A New York state man has been accused of stashing his 98-year-old mother's dead body in a freezer in their home so he could keep cashing her Social Security checks. State police say they discovered Herta Auslander's body in a freezer chest in October after receiving a tip she had died more than a year earlier. An autopsy concluded she died of natural causes.

Police say 69-year-old Roland Auslander eluded capture for months but was arrested Wednesday following a stakeout at his home in the hamlet of Cooks Falls, about 100 miles northwest of New York City. They say he's charged with grand larceny, unlawful disposal of human remains and forgery for faking his mother's signature..
 
Man puts finger in gas tank, gets stuck for hours

SAGINAW, Michigan -- A Michigan man has learned not to stick his fingers in certain places. Victor Harris, of Saginaw, Michigan, was pouring a fuel additive into his Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicle Thursday when a piece of paper fell into the gas tank. Harris tried to fish the paper out, but his index finger became stuck in the gas tank.

WJRT-TV reported Harris tried to extract his digit for two hours before friends called the fire department. It took another two hours before emergency responders cut the gas tank tube out of the vehicle. Doctors later removed Harris' finger from the tube. He received two stitches. Harris said he's learned his lesson and won't put his finger back in the gas tank.
 
Driver begs cops to shoot him after 130 mph chase

ALPHARETTA, Ga. -- A police chase that exceeded speeds of more than 130 mph ended when the driver crashed and begged officers to shoot him. Police used a stun gun Friday morning on the man, who faces charges of driving under the influence, fleeing and eluding, aggravated assault by motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

Police say an officer tried to stop the man on Ga. 400 for speeding about 1:45 a.m., but he sped away in his Mercedes C230. He left Ga. 400, went westbound in the eastbound lanes of Old Milton Parkway, forcing oncoming drivers off the highway. He sideswiped a police car, lost control and slammed into a tree. Police said he jumped from the car and started yelling, "Shoot me, shoot me." The man was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
 
NY company to launch Mexican-made kosher tequila

NEW YORK -- A New York businessman is launching a new kosher tequila in time for Cinco de Mayo. Martin Silver says Agave 99 will be on the market in time for the holiday that celebrates Mexico's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862. Silver, president of Long Island-based Star Industries, says he wants to satisfy the craze for high-end tequila with one that observant Jews can drink.

Silver says a half million cases of the 99-proof kosher tequila are being produced at a Mexican plant using methods certified by a rabbi. It will retail for $41.95 a bottle. The product launch - with Mexican songs sung in both Yiddish and Spanish - is set for May 5, but it will also be sold earlier for Passover, which starts at sundown on April 8 this year.
 
NJ officials find 80 cats in feces-filled home

CHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- One New Jersey SPCA official said it's probably the worst case he's ever seen. An estimated 80 cats and one dog were found living in a home in a million-dollar neighborhood in Morris County. SPCA spokesman Matthew Stanton said there's 2 feet of feces in one room of the home on Farm Road in Chester Township. Investigators wore masks to help them breathe through the stench of urine.

Twenty felines were taken to a veterinarian on Thursday. The remaining animals will be removed Friday. Stanton said charges likely would be filed against the homeowner.
 
Man tosses gas bomb in fight, sets own cars ablaze

BITHLO, Fla. -- Authorities said a man threw a Molotov cocktail at his neighbor's trailer, but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a 51-year-old man got into a fight with his neighbor on Tuesday night and threw the makeshift gasoline bomb. Authorities believe alcohol was involved. The man faces multiple charges, including arson. He was being held at the Orange County Jail
 
Man tosses gas bomb in fight, sets own cars ablaze

BITHLO, Fla. -- Authorities said a man threw a Molotov cocktail at his neighbor's trailer, but the wind shifted and set fire to two cars, a pickup and a travel trailer in the man's own yard. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a 51-year-old man got into a fight with his neighbor on Tuesday night and threw the makeshift gasoline bomb.

Authorities believe alcohol was involved. The man faces multiple charges, including arson. He was being held at the Orange County Jail
 
Police arrest unconscious man at Utah drive-thru

OREM, Utah -- Police had an easy time catching a man suspected of driving under the influence. He was waiting for them in his car - where they said he was passed out in the driver's seat in the drive-thru at a fast food restaurant. According to police, another customer found the Houston man unconscious at the drive-thru around 3 a.m. Thursday. The other customer took the keys out of the ignition and called police, who arrested the man on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Police said the man passed out because of a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs.
 
'Dumbest criminal' nabbed in cop convention holdup

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A retired police chief said he was robbed by "probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania," at a police officers' convention on Friday morning. John Comparetto said as he came out of a stall in the men's room, a man pointed a gun in his face and demanded money. There were 300 narcotics officers from Pennsylvania and Ohio at the gathering. Comparetto gave up his money and cell phone. But when the man fled, Comparetto and some colleagues chased him. They arrested a 19-year-old man as he was trying to leave in a taxi.

The suspect is also awaiting trial on four previous robbery charges. The suspect was arraigned and taken to Dauphin County Prison. When a reporter asked the suspect for comment as he was led out of court, he said, "I'm smooth."
 
Man fires at McDonald's window over breakfast menu

SALT LAKE CITY -- Police said a customer fired one or two shots into a Salt Lake City McDonald's after the driver of the car he was in was told the restaurant was not serving lunch yet. Police said the female driver of a white Dodge Intrepid pulled up to the drive-thru and ordered from the lunch menu early Sunday but was told only breakfast was available.

Police said two men then got out of the car and one pulled a sawed-off shotgun from the trunk, shooting into the drive-thru window once or twice, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Monday. No one was injured.

The car then left the scene.
 
Sneezing fit causes driver to crash into Ore. home

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- Add sneezing while driving to the list of potential safety hazards. Authorities said a sneezing fit caused 25-year-old Ramon Stephen Ayala to lose control of his vehicle Saturday and hit a home. Marion County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. Kevin Schultz said Ayala sneezed as he headed toward an intersection around 1 a.m.

When he stopped sneezing, he had run a stop sign and tried to hit the brakes. But it was too late. Ayala's 2001 Volkswagen Jetta crashed into a corner of a house. Schultz said a shower wall and bathtub were damaged, but no injuries were reported and Ayala was not cited.
 
Airline worker flies NY to Boston in baggage hold

BOSTON -- A JetBlue employee says he took a free flight from New York to Boston - after falling asleep in a plane's cargo bin. The man was discovered by baggage handlers at Logan International Airport after the plane landed there Saturday. He told police he'd been accidentally locked inside the pressurized luggage compartment while taking a nap.

The 21-year-old man says he called JetBlue Airways officials when he realized he was no longer on the ground. A state police spokesman says the man wasn't charged with any crime and was returned to New York when it was determined he wasn't dangerous. JetBlue Airways Corp. says it's investigating.
 
Woman who sued police dog over buttocks bite fined

WARREN, Mich. -- A woman sued a police dog that she blamed for injuries after it bit her in the buttocks. To a suburban Detroit judge, the bottom line was that the lawsuit was frivolous. So Warren District Judge David Viviano slapped 55-year-old Inez Starks with a $500 fine. The Eastpointe woman filed a lawsuit last August against the city of Warren, several police officers and Liberty, a German shepherd dog in the police department's K-9 unit.

Starks claims she has suffered nerve damage since Liberty bit her during an April 2007 confrontation among police, her daughter and others. But according to The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens, neither police nor city attorney Raechel Badalamenti found any evidence Starks was bitten. A telephone listing for Starks could not be located Saturday.
 
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