Weird News

[VisibilityMissing]

So, is this another crack addicted squirrel?

Nov 1, 5:13 PM EST

Mean Squirrel Attacks Pa. Letter Carrier

OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) -- Letter carriers occasionally have to deal with angry dogs or maybe even a spider's nest in a mailbox, but a mean squirrel? Barb Dougherty, a 30-year Postal Service employee, said she was attacked and bitten Monday by a squirrel while delivering mail in Oil City, about 75 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"It was a freak thing. It was traumatic," Dougherty told The Derrick in Oil City. "I saw it there on the porch, put the mail in the box and turned to walk away and it jumped on me."

The animal ran up her leg and onto her back, she said.

"I eventually got a hold of the tail and pulled it off me," Dougherty said. "No one was home at the house where I was delivering the mail, but the neighbor lady heard me screaming and came over."

An ambulance took Dougherty to the hospital, where she was treated for cuts and scratches. The squirrel was killed with a BB gun and sent to a lab to be tested for rabies. Dougherty was given the first series of rabies shots as a precaution.

Postal officials said the attack is extraordinary.

"In about 230 years of postal history, I bet it is not the first, but I've personally never heard of another squirrel biting," said Steve Kochersperger, spokesman for the Erie district.

Squirrels do not frequently bite people, said Regis Senko, who works for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Steve Jolley, a Postal Service manager in Oil City, said, "We are not issuing a squirrel alert, but everyone is aware of the incident."

---

Information from: The Derrick, http://www.thederrick.com

[Tom Flapwell]

There's a lot of strictness in the news today.

No Seniors In the Hood
A 61-year-old woman was thrown out of a Sittingbourne, England, pub for wearing a hooded top, the Mirror reported. Connie Chapman was eating lunch when the manager told her to take off her Marks and Spencer hooded top or leave, because it was not allowed in the restaurant. "Me and my friend thought he was joking and fell about laughing," she said. "I didn't have my hood up, and I'm not exactly a typical juvenile delinquent." But the manager was strict, saying the top broke the dress code.

You think that's bad?

No Lifting of This Ban
A gym in New York has banned grunting and canceled one man's membership Monday for violating the policy, WCBS-TV reported. A sign reads, "No grunting," and there's a flashing light and siren — called the "lunk alarm" — on the wall that sounds when someone grunts. Bodybuilder Al Argibay violated the rule when he was doing squats. "I let out a grunt, squatted down, back up, grunt again. That's it," said Argibay. "Basically, grunt, grunt, basic breathing in heavy, and breathing out." Manager Carol Palazzolo then called the police and asked them to escort him out.

I suppose gyms have a right to set up for people who can't stand the constant sound of grunting, but some exercises are almost impossible for me to do without it. Maybe I should practice sucking in air voicelessly with my lips pursed.

I consider this worst of all (and notice that it takes place in the same city as the gym):

Next Stop: Mysophobia
A New York bus driver stopped his bus Tuesday because a passenger caughed. Michael Goga said he cleared his throat and coughed and the driver told him to get off the bus, because he didn't want germs spread. When Goga refused to leave, the driver took the bus out of service and ordered everyone off; Goga then called the police, who arrived and ordered all passengers to get off the bus.

If that last sentence was not a mistake, then the cougher's plan backfired. Silly NYPD.

[Llewthepoet]

You better not drink any beer in New York!

Typo in N.Y. law changes drunk driving rules
Misprint makes drivers punishable by arrest after even a shot of beer

ALBANY, N.Y. - Drinking a shot of beer in New York could get you arrested for drunken driving, thanks to a typo in a New York law passed this year.

Lawmakers approved a bill that sets the standard for driving while intoxicated at 0.18 grams of alcohol in a person's blood. But a person's body can produce that much alcohol naturally, according to Rochester DWI lawyer Ed Fiandach.

Instead of using grams, the law should have used blood alcohol content as a measure.

Rochester Democratic Assemblyman David Gantt, head of the Assembly Transportation Committee that approved the bill before it went to the Legislature, said it was a typo.

The purpose of the law is to set a level that bans prosecutors from taking pleas to a lesser count of driving while impaired, similar to a traffic ticket. The law would also increase the penalties for a 0.18 blood alcohol content.

The law was supposed to go into effect this week, but prosecutors said they won't be able to enforce it until legislators fix the typo.

[Muninn]

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/100_iceberg ... ew_Zealand

The story isn't that funny I know but the heading is I think. "100 icebergs heading for New Zealand". Like it was a foriegn invasion force or a fleet heading to conquer New Zealand.

[VisibilityMissing]

Any symbolism is purely unintentional. . .

[quote]November 6, 2006

Intrepid Move Is Called Off After Hitting Mud

By PATRICK McGEEHAN and JOHN HOLUSHA

The U.S.S. Intrepid was to leave its dock on the West Side of Manhattan today for the first time in 24 years, aided by an unusually high tide and six powerful tugboats. A fire boat was on hand to fire off its water cannons as the aircraft carrier-turned-floating museum moved away, and dignitaries were assembled on the Forbes yacht Highlander waiting to accompany ship downriver.

With helicopters whirling overhead and boats lining the Hudson River, two former mayors, Edward I. Koch and David N. Dinkins, cast off the last mooring lines and stood back to watch the ship depart.

The Intrepid declined to cooperate.

With two mighty tugs pulling on the stern and four smaller ones assisting alongside, the Intrepid moved about 10 feet, and refused to go any farther.

After about an hour of fruitless pulling and with the tide falling, Susan Marenoff, the executive director of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, announced that the attempt would be halted. Officials said the ship’s propellers had apparently dug into the bottom of the river and were stuck there.

Museum officials said today that they planned to bring in diving teams to determine how badly the ship is embedded in the mud and try to decide what can be done to free it. The next high tide on the river is in early December.

As the ship stayed stalled, the dignitaries and former crew members drifted away and plans to fly a special flag as the ship passed the site of the former World Trade Center were postponed.

“Old gray lady Intrepid did not want to leave her home in New York,â€

[VisibilityMissing]

Nov 8, 9:46 PM EST

Mo. Jail Goes Pink to Handle Inmates

BUFFALO, Mo. (AP) -- Prisoners returning to a southwest Missouri county jail damaged in a failed breakout will find a new color scheme - pink with blue teddy bear accents.

The Dallas County Detention Center is being repainted a soft shade of pink in an effort to better manage sometimes volatile detainees. Dallas County Sheriff Mike Rackley said he decided to update the look as part of extensive repairs necessary after inmates set a fire and vandalized the interior in an escape attempt.

"Basically, if they are going to act like children and commit a childish act, then we'll make a childish atmosphere," he said. "And its a calming thing; Teddy bears are soothing. So we made it like a day care, and that's kind of like what it is, a day care for adults who can't control their behavior in public."

A month after the Oct. 8 incident, the county's 30-plus prisoners are in neighboring jails while repairs continue. The new paint job includes stenciled blue teddy bear accents.

"How do you feel tough in a pink atmosphere?" Rackley said of the new color scheme, which was inspired by similar redecorating efforts at jails in Texas and Arizona.

It's a trend that's backed up by science. Researchers have documented the ability of certain colors to evoke emotional and physical responses.

"It's certainly viable," said Mike Carlie, a professor of criminology at Missouri State University. "There have been positive findings that show that certain colors stimulate and excite, and other colors, I guess you would say 'soothe the soul.'"

One shade of pink, called Baker-Miller Pink, has been nicknamed "drunk-tank pink" because of its use to calm violent prisoners.

Rackley said he's willing to try anything that will keep inmates safe and secure in the aging facility, built in 1990 and often near or above its 40-person capacity.

Rackley said damage caused by the fire and ensuing vandalism, plus the cost of housing inmates elsewhere, already has exceeded $41,000, "and we're still receiving bills."

At least six of the jail's 33 prisoners were involved in the escape attempt.

"They got into the shower, because they knew there were no cameras there, and kicked a hole in the ceiling," he said. That done, they stuffed pages of a book in the hole and started a fire, hoping to burn through a plywood barrier and gain access to the air ducts.

The fire melted electrical, telephone and Internet cables in the ceiling, cutting off power in one cell block and disrupting about half the video cameras.

He said eight inmates have been returned to the jail, but they are forced to remain in their cells 23 hours a day because of the construction.

"They haven't said much about the color scheme," Rackley said.

---

Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com

[VisibilityMissing]

Nov 17, 6:57 PM EST

Suspected Bomb Turns Out to Be GPS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- A small black object that was found attached to the bottom of a woman's Jeep and prompted an evacuation of a three-square block area on Friday wasn't a bomb after all. It was a tracking device planted by the woman's husband.

A temporary shelter was set up at the Queen of Peace Church to house the 45 people who had been evacuated, while authorities investigated for more than two hours.

After learning the woman and her husband were going through a divorce, detectives learned that the woman's husband had hired a private investigator. He admitted attaching the tracking device to the woman's Jeep, Maynard said.

Bomb technicians used a robot to confirm the box was indeed a Global Positioning System device, Alachua County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Stephen Maynard said.

The names of the woman and her husband were not released.

[VisibilityMissing]

Nov 20, 6:04 PM EST

Woman Charged for Poisoned Sandwiches

JACKSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- An Ocean County woman who police say tried to poison her live-in sister and her sister's boyfriend by putting rat poison in their sandwiches has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.

Dana Simons, 43, was arrested Friday after her sister called police to report finding rat poison pellets in the couple's sandwiches on two separate occasions.

The sister, 51, and boyfriend, 50, did not eat the sandwiches and were unharmed.

The first time Simons' sister noticed something odd was earlier in the week, when Simons brought home sandwiches for the couple that appeared to have a blue-green pellets mixed in with the chicken.

The couple thought it was strange and threw out the food without eating any.

Authorities said when Simons came home again the next day with sandwiches for the couple, they figured out what the pellets were made of.

"They saw the blue-green pellets again and made the connection to the container of rat poison they found in the house," Ocean County Assistant Prosecutor Martin Anton told the Asbury Park Press for Sunday newspapers.

Simons, who until recently worked at a nearby deli, faces five to 10 years in prison for each attempted murder charge if convicted. She was released on her own recognizance.

---

Information from: Asbury Park Press, http://www.app.com

[VisibilityMissing]

Doing your research is important.

PETA mistakenly targets Alaska church

Sat Nov 25, 3:23 AM ET

The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified. Why was the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising him? No animals are harmed in the church's holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren't used at all.

People, however, do dress the parts — Mary, Joseph, the wise men, etc. The volunteers stand shivering at a manger on the church lawn in a silent tribute to Christmas.

The Rev. Jason Armstrong was confused by an e-mail this week from PETA, which admonished him for subjecting animals "to cruel treatment and danger," by forcing them into roles in the church's annual manger scene.

"We've never had live animals, so I just figured this was some spam thing," Armstrong said. "It's rough enough on us people standing out there in the cold. So we're definitely not using animals."

Jackie Vergerio, PETA's captive animals in entertainment specialist, said her organization tracks churches nationwide that use real animals in "living nativity scenes."

Seems the confusion started with the church's choice of phrase. PETA flagged Free Methodist's display as a "living nativity," and indeed, that's how the church describes it on its Web site.

To PETA, that means animals.

"Those animals are subject to all sorts of terrible fates in some cases," Vergerio said. "Animals have been stolen and slaughtered, they've been raped, they've escaped from the nativity scenes and have been struck by cars and killed. Just really unfathomable things have happened to them."

In the letter to Armstrong, Vergerio shared some sad fates of previous nativity animals — like Brighty the donkey, snatched from a nativity scene in Virginia and beaten by three young men. Ernie the camel fled a creche in Maryland but was struck and killed by a car. Two sheep and a donkey had to be euthanized after a dog mauling at a manger scene in Virginia.

Free Methodist's display is peaceful, Armstrong said. The congregation erects the stable. Members spread straw and don costumes. Some even dress as manger animals.

"We have some puppet camel things we put out," Armstrong said. "We have a cow hood thing that a person will wear that actually just looks spooky."

The volunteers stand beneath a brightly lit electric star as Christmas music fills the frosty air. They don't even speak.

"No one's come by protesting or thrown bloodstained fur at us or anything," Armstrong said. "We even use a plastic babby."

[Zaaphod]

PETA in Alaska... I hope the polar bears eat them.

[Angstwolf]

PETA in Alaska... I hope the polar bears eat them.

The sentiment is mutual.

[VisibilityMissing]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... i-news-hed

ACROSS THE NATION

Woman dead 11 days behind bookcase

November 26, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY, FLORIDA -- A woman's body was found wedged upside down behind a bookcase in the home she shared with relatives who had spent nearly two weeks looking for her.

A spokesman for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said Mariesa Weber's death was not suspicious. Family members said they believe she fell over as she tried to adjust the plug of a television behind the bookshelf.

Weber, 38, returned home Oct. 28 and greeted her mother, then wasn't seen again. Her family thought she had been kidnapped and contacted authorities.

On Nov. 9 Weber's sister went into her bedroom and looked behind a bookcase and found the missing woman.

"I'm sleeping in the same house as her for 11 days, looking for her," her mother, Connie Weber, told the St. Petersburg Times. "And she's right in the bedroom."

Her family believes Weber, who was 5 foot 3 and barely 100 pounds, may have fallen headfirst into the space.

The sheriff's office said Weber appeared to have died because she was unable to breathe in the position she was in.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

[VisibilityMissing]

Nov 22, 11:35 PM EST

Backyard Toilet Fence Upsets Neighbors

SOAP LAKE, Wash. (AP) -- Some people use scarecrows to chase away birds, or garlic to block vampires. Rick Froebe uses toilets to repel golfers. Froebe has erected a backyard "fence" made of seven old toilets, a few used bathtubs and some broken-down water heaters, all designed to prevent golfers from the adjacent Lakeview Golf & Country Club from approaching his yard.

While critics say Froebe is acting out in a dispute with the golf course and other neighbors, the plumber insists his fence is not meant to be offensive.

"It's plumber art," Froebe, 52, said.

Besides, he added, "It's not like this is Pebble Beach. This is Lakeview."

On Monday, three scarecrow-like dummies sat on toilets and looked on as golfers finished their putts on the 354-yard, par-4 first hole. The old commodes, bathtubs and water heaters first appeared on Halloween.

Froebe, co-owner of Coulee Dam/Ephrata Plumbing, used to belong to the golf club, but resigned in May in a dispute with other members.

He said the golfers near his property make his four dogs start barking, which has prompted upset neighbors to call the Grant County sheriff's office. Froebe has lived in the house for 15 years.

Gerald Coulter, representing the country club's nine-member board of directors, called the situation "completely ridiculous."

"I've had several people call that were upset with (the 'fence'). It's an eyesore," Coulter said. "I'm surprised the health department hasn't been out there because of the used toilets and water tanks. It's not a sanitary condition."

Meanwhile, the sheriff's office has warned Froebe three times that his dogs are a nuisance, said Larry Ledeboer, the sheriff's animal control officer.

"The sheriff's office doesn't write a lot of barking infractions," Ledeboer said. "We give warnings and try to work with people."

To date, Froebe has received three barking infractions. A first-offense barking infraction is $47 per dog, Ledeboer said. The second offense is $95. A third offense is $190.

Froebe said he recently bought special dog collars that discourage barking.

He insists the "fence" is not a sign of animosity toward his neighbors.

"If they would've come to me first that would have been one thing," Froebe said. "But they went directly to the sheriff."

---

Information from: Columbia Basin Herald, http://www.columbiabasinherald.com

[Tom Flapwell]

Not a Guy-necologist
A Vereeniging, South Africa, man was fined $130 for forging a note to his employer saying he needed time off from work because he was pregnant, the South African Press Agency reported. Charles Sibindana stole a medical certificate from a health center that was treating his pregnant girlfriend -- and was unaware gynecologists only treat women, officials said. Sibindana was advised to not "walk around faking sick letters from gynecologists" anymore.

Anyone care to write the lyrics to "South African Idiot"?

[Muninn]

Anyone care to write the lyrics to "South African Idiot"?

Isn't that "A Nice South African"? Or are we talking about different songs.