WeRiD bUt TrUe

Here is a collection of all the weird news stories that are floating around. unlike the "fact or fiction" news stories on the other pages, these news stories are all 100% true! There are no polls to fil out and no forms. Just read and enjoy, but we just ask, don't laugh too hard!

Jackpot drop out

Columbus, Ohio - Robert Kronk, a factory worker in Westerville decided to stop pitching in with fellow employees each week to buy lottery tickets. He wanted to choose his own lottery numbers instead of the computer-generated picks fancied by other employees. Three months later 13 of his fellow employees hit the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot

Saved by the bell

Portland, Conn. - The timers on the microwave ovens at a Burger King scared off a gunman who thought they were security alarms going off. The holdup man left without taking any money.

Lawsuit Frenzy

Dave Feuerstein sued the British supermarket chain Tesco because one of its promotions offered so many bargains that he hurt his back carrying off the discounted merchandise. "Offers like this are too good to refuse," said Feuerstein, who made several trips to the store over a three-day period to redeem more than 300 coupons. "Tesco should have been more considerate and make it impossible to do what I did. If Tesco hadn't had this offer I wouldn't have hurt my back.

is your brain on beer

A Kentucky man who accidentally shot and killed his best friend when he took up a dare to shoot a beer can off his head is being held on murder charges. Witnesses told police the two had been drinking when Slusher posed the dare and Caldwell took him up on it, firing a 22-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

oy vey!

Colin Dunlap, a junior high student in Belle, W. Va., was suspended from school for giving a cough drop to another classmate. "That's why they have warning labels," said head nurse Brenda Isaac. School policy cals for a note from a parent for any non-prescription medication.

Spitful!

PATERSON, NJ - Truckers beware: If you are going to spit your drink out of your rig, make sure it doesn't land on a judge's windshield, and don't tell another state judge you meant to hit the pavement. A tractor-trailer driver who tangled with a judge on Route 10 in Morris County was convicted by another state judge of careless driving and two other offenses. The driving judge, Stephen F. Smith Jr., was acquitted of three counter-charges filed by the trucker in a 50-minute trial.

High speed chase

When state police in Shelby, NC, tried to pull over a man driving a tractor because it was missing a headlight and did not have any taillights, driver Stephen McDaniel, 32, refused to stop. Instead he led the troopers on a two-mile chase that reached speeds up to 25 mph. When he finally did stop, the suspect ran into a mobile home, then emerged threatening officers with a 21-inch sword. Officer's used tear gas to subdue the suspect.

Oy Vey again!

Rather than pay $1 in damages and $25 in court costs, Wal-Mart will pay normal court fees to appeal a small-claims-court decision in favor of a disabled man who sued the store. Robert Okesson sued the discount retailer in March seeking $5,000 in damages because employees used handicap parking spaces for outdoor sales. Okesson moved his car to another space, but was angry at the inconvenience. He was awarded $1 in damages last month.

Show me the money

Lt. Patrick Callaghan, 28, Pensacola Naval Air Station, received a punitive letter of reprimand and a poor job evaluation for dropping his drawers on a public street at the Naval Station. Lt. Callaghan was jogging when he spotted a buddy of his and decided to moon him. Officials in the Bureau of Naval Personnel said Lt. Callaghan will be allowed to stay in the Navy despite the prank.

Whole lotta money

Frank Capaci, 67, last weeks Powerball jackpot winner of $104.3 million isn't going to Disney World. After receiving an over-sized, ceremonial check at the news conference last week, Capaci stated: "I need a beer." Capaci says he has no plans of quitting his part-time job mowing grass at the Hoffman Estates golf course, Chicago. "If those greens aren't mowed, the golfer's can't play," he said. Among his first purchases, Capaci said, might be a 95th anniversary Harley-Davidson motorcycle with a sidecar, a set of World War II goggles and helmet for his wife, and a new set of teeth.

This turkey didn't gobble

Madison, Wisconsin's police chief, Richard Williams, forgot he had a gun in the oven. Then he decided to roast some turkey. "Shortly thereafter - BOOM!" police spokeswoman Jeana Kerr said. Williams was given a voluntary one-day, unpaid suspension for violating his department's firearms policy. He said the oven is one of his hiding places.

Unfriendly Skies

Turkish Airlines fired pilot Altan Tezcan and co-pilot Erdogan Gecim, who were flying 240 passengers from Bangkok to Istanbul, after the two got into a fist fight in the cockpit while arguing over their aircraft's altitude.

Dead giveaway

John William Howard, 45, fled Maryland, where he was wanted on sexual assault charges, and headed for Arizona. Passing through Brookshire, TX, low on gas and cash, he tried to sell his spare tire to raise some money. A local merchant informed him about a police loan program for just such predicaments, so Howard went to the police station to apply. A routine check turned up his fugitive status, according to Police Chief Joe Garcia, who called Howard "one of the world's dumbest criminals."

Bail Blonde?

In Canandaiqua, NY, Frances L. Colvin, 57, was charged with trying to pass counterfeit money when she presented 12 bogus $100 bills to Ontario County sheriff's deputies to post bail for her son.

Fourrgoodness sake

Robbery suspect Denis Jesper, 20, was arrested at Florida's Miami Shores Country Club, where he had been hiding from police in a ficus tree next to the golf course. He revealed himself by calling out to a golfer who hit into the rough, "Hey, hey, your ball is over there."

Jet Set

After landing at Phnom Penh, Teng Boonma, the head of Cambodia's Chamber of Commerce and reportedly his country's richest businessman, got off the Royal Air Cambridge 737 that brought him from Hong Kong, ordered a bodyguard to bring him a pistol, then shot a tire on the parked jet. Explaining he was fed up because the airline lost his luggage after imposing a $4,000 excess luggage charge, Boonma said, "I know it was wrong to do that. But I only regret that I did not get to shoot the other three tires."

Cause and effect

British Army Air Corps Major David Senior, on trial for falsely inflating ration claims for his men and pocketing the $30,000 surplus, defended himself by declaring he acted under the influence of too much tea. His attorney said Senior has drunk as much as a gallon of tea a day for the past 20 years, resulting in his suffering from a recognized addiction called "caffeinism," which may have caused him to make a genuine accounting error.

Nevermind

When an armed robber who took less than $100 from a 7-11 store in St. Peters, MO, couldn't get his get-away car started, he returned to the store, handed back the money and told the two clerks it was all just a joke. They agreed to give his vehicle a jump start, not to write down his license plate number and wait about 40 minutes before calling the police. "We have a friendly town out here," police Officer David Kuppler noted, indicating the suspect was arrested anyway about an hour later.

Craze the lord

Three excommunicated members of a polygamist church have filed a lawsuit against Jim Harmston, the self-proclaimed prophet of The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, Salt Lake City, UT. The three claimed they turned over all of their money and possessions -- amounting to $264,390 -- to Harmston, in return for a face-to-face meeting with Jesus Christ. The lawsuit filed said Harmston took advantage of their "deepest spiritual needs."

Chutpath

After a bank robber in Metz, France, was let out of jail due to a clerical error, he asked police to return $100,000 he stole during several bank raids. "I simply want them to return money which was honestly stolen," said Phillipe Thomas. "It's a scandal to have your savings robbed from you."

Disorder in the court

As jurors in Van Nuys, CA, prepared to deliberate the case against burglary suspect Steve Silvas, he bolted from the courtroom and slugged a police officer. He was captured while waiting for a very slow courthouse elevator. Authorities returned him to the courtroom, where jurors, who witnessed the incident, quickly returned a guilty verdict.

OOps!

Robert Shovestall, 37, shot himself while explaining gun safety to his wife in Glendale, CA, when he placed a .45-caliber pistol he thought was unloaded under his chin and pulled the trigger. Shovestall's wife told police that the incident occurred after her complaints about her husband's 70 guns prompted him to demonstrate to her they were safe.

Odd ending

Larry Blanchfield, 31, an inmate serving a life term at the Delaware Correctional Center, was crushed to death when he tried to escape in a garbage truck. Authorities explained it is standard procedure for truck drivers to compact the trash they pick up before leaving the prison.

Why the call it dope!

Suspecting that a drug dealer might have sold her counterfeit crack cocaine, Rosie Lee Hill complained to Pensacola, FL, police. She was arrested after an investigating officer determined the two cocaine rocks were real. Hill said she had paid $50 for the drugs. But when she tasted them she thought they were baking soda.

Say Cheese!

The manager of a CVS drug store in Amherst, MA, was looking over a customer's film when he noticed several men posing in front of what appeared to him to be marijuana plants. He called police, who obtained a search warrant of the customer's apartment and found 10 plants inside. All five residents of the apartment were charged with drug possession and intended distribution.

Blabbermouth

The 26-year-old driver of a 1989 Ford Probe that ran off the road and into a tree in rural Anne Arundel County, MD, told a motorist who stopped to help that he was intoxicated and needed to get out of the area before police arrived. The driver of the second car identified himself as Detective Thomas Middleton, an undercover police officer, who said that the drunk driver then admitted also having 14 grams of marijuana.

Clowning around

Juan Gutierrez, 22, was still wearing his clown suit after performing at a children's party in Los Angeles when he realized he didn't have a ride home. "So," according to police Sgt. Brent La Fountaine, "he stole a car." Witnesses called police, who found him in the car wearing a costume described as "of the Bozo variety." He then sped away, screaming and waving at television cameras as he circled some streets more than once. After a 35-minute chase, police arrested Gutierrez when he stopped at his girlfriend's home.

Sign of the crimes

Members of a citizens anticrime group in Linesville, PA., have a new mystery to solve: Who stole their crime watch signs? Five signs and poles were removed from roadsides around Linesville in Crawford County. "We don't know if it was somebody trying to get even," said Ed Barker, chairman of the North Shenango Township Crime Watch chapter. "We don't think it was kids, because the signs were gone, post and all."

You're under abreast

Michael Copp, 18, Sheffield Lake, Ohio, was charged with stealing his mother's credit card to pay for his 18-year-old girlfriend's breast enlargement surgery. According to a police report, Copp's mother, Gaelene Pakrandt, told officers she had closed the account because her son charged $2,100 in car repair bills. Police said Copp reopened the account without his mother's knowledge after he found the card in a drawer. He charged $2,496 to the card to cover the surgery. Most items purchased with a stolen credit card are confiscated and returned by police. But this case is a little different.

Death race 2000

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Tamika Ross, 26, is being held for trial on charges of the murder of Nathaniel Davis. Apparently Ross ran over Davis' hat with her car. When Davis confronted the driver a dispute erupted and Davis allegedly hit Ross. That's when the mother of five took matters into her own hands and ran him over with her car, killing him. When questioned, police quoted Ross as saying, "He hit me so I ran him down."

Dead man gets 2 years

A man was sentenced last week to two years in prison for faking his death three times to beat drunk driving charges. Peter C. Gentry was first arrested in 1991, but an official looking death certificate sent to authorities said he had died in a Los Angeles auto crash, and the case was dismissed. In 1994, he was arrested again and sent in another death certificate. A year later, Gentry was again arrested and supposedly died this time of "denzor hemorrhagic fever" in Africa. There is no such disease.

Soul-mate! not cellmate!

Karim Lackey, Philadelphia, PA was acquitted last week of fatally shooting Phillip Shirdan, 42, after his lawyer claimed that Lackey had been the victim of "mistaken identity." Two of Lackey's alibi witnesses claimed they were with him watching the "Soul Train Music Awards" on TV at the time Shirdan was killed in a lounge. Lackey got off free despite the fact that the "Soul Train Awards" were not aired on TV that night.

Driving Miss Crazy

Paris - After France's 3-0 victory over Brazil in the World Cup championship game, the whole city erupted in joy. So much that they scared the bejesus of a woman driving her car near the crowd. She panicked and plowed into a group of fans, injuring about 60 people, some seriously. "Apparently it was a crazy car, which drove for several dozen meters, knocking people over on its way," said Cmdr. Phillipe Lavoil, a rescue official. Witnesses said the woman cut down revelers over a 50-yard swath, and then dragged some of them for several yards. When the car finally stopped, the driver was attacked by the crowd before police intervened.

Easy target

Brooklyn, NY - In an effort to crack down on the sale of cigarettes to minors. the city has hired about 100 teens to visit some 15,000 stores, licensed to sell tobacco, to check whether salespeople ask for ID. Last week Bernard Weinstein, a vendor at Board of Education headquarters was busted. City officials chuckled with delight when they caught him - until they learned the old guy is virtually blind. "He didn't look like no kid to me," Weinstein said. Inspectors withdrew the violation against the vision-impaired vendor.

"Whacky" news

In Albany, GA, a 17-year-old boy armed with a .38 pistol approached car dealer Oran McGlamry, 74, and demanded his wallet, announcing, "Old man, I've got you now." Recognizing the youth as the same person who robbed him the day before, McGlamry grabbed his weed trimmer and rushed towards the robber. The surprised teen tried to run but fell, where-upon McGlamry gave the trimmer full throttle and began whacking him in the buttocks. "I was just trying to do what any other man would have done to protect his business, his wife and his life," McGlamry said.

Yeah! ok

Robert Townes, a.k.a. - Hollywood, received 11 years, 4 months in prison for selling about 55 semiautomatic rifles from the trunk of his car on the streets of North Philadelphia. It took the jury only an hour to reject Towne's defense. Townes claimed that two drug dealers kidnapped his 2-year-old son and held the boy for 20 months while forcing him to supply them and their associates with firepower.

Lawn of the dead

Sarver, PA - A man fatally shot his neighbor after the neighbor, who was angry over a damaged lawnmower, came into his house and wounded his wife with a shotgun, state police said. Jack Bouch was questioned in the killing of Robert George McCrea, 50.

Matlock made me do it!

Jan Steffen, 33, a hair stylist in Anoka, Minn., got five years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband after she allegedly botched two attempts of her own. During one of the attempts, Steffen used an exotic method of asphyxiation she saw on TV's "Matlock."

Disorder in the court

West Virginia Judge Joseph Trosi is accused of biting the nose of defendant Bill Witten, 29, at a bond-reduction hearing in June after Witten reportedly made a derogatory remark against the judge. "Mr. Trosi stepped down from the bench, removed his robe, and there was a confrontation at that point," said State Police Capt. Terry Snodgrass. "During the confrontation, Mr. Witten's nose was injured."

Not so lucky after all

Ricardo Aldape Guerra, 35, who spent 15 years on death row in a Texas jail, several times coming within hours of being executed, was released in April after a judge ruled that six prosecution witnesses lacked credibility. He returned to Mexico as a folk hero and was signed to appear in a popular Mexican soap opera. Four months later, he was killed in a high-speed auto accident near the northern Mexican city of Matehuala. His mother, Francisca Guerra Aldape, told Notimex news agency that among her son's last words were: "They have paid me for the soap opera, tomorrow I will be there."

Finger lickin' good?

A hotel soup-and-sauce cook angered by a co-worker's tardiness bit off part of the man's finger, police said. The San Fransisco Hilton cook, Jose Grimal, 46, was in jail charged with mayhem. Grimal got mad when when he could not get into a storage closet because the victim, Fekadu Woldeabzgi, 32, was late to work and the door was locked. When Woldeabzgi arrived, the two men argued. The victim was shaking his finger about a foot away from Grimal's face when the cook allegedly reached out and "just grabbed it and bit my finger off," Woldeabzgi said. Grimal said the victim's finger accidentally entered his mouth.

Bad seed

After Frankie and Carolyn Ash stopped at a convenience store near their home in Northport, AK, Frankie was leaving the store when the couple's 21-year-old son David rushed in past him. The father thought the son was hurrying to go to the bathroom, but then the mother looked in and saw him brandishing a knife behind the counter. Next, he ran out, got into his truck and drove off. The couple waited for police to arrive and told them what had happened. Sgt. Kevin Leib said it was uncertain whether the man realized his parents were at the store, explaining, "He was apparently so concentrated on what he was doing that he didn't notice them." Meanwhile, David Ash's getaway car broke down. He called his parents for help, but they told him what they had seen and urged him to surrender to police.

Good timing

When Edmond James Ramos was charged with first-degree burglary in Los Angeles for breaking into an occupied dwelling, his lawyer appealed. He argued that because the only occupant had died of natural causes mere minutes before Ramos broke in, legally the residence was unoccupied. An appeals court agreed and threw out the charge.

Convenient Store?

Police in Fort Collins, CO, charged Steven E. Peterson, 32, with robbing the same 7-Eleven twice in one day, telling the clerk after the second holdup that he would be back in a few hours to rob the place a third time. True to his word, he returned and was arrested by detectives still in the store investigating the second robbery.

Dumbass

Three men tried to hold up a convenience store in Starkville, MS, but when one of them pulled the trigger of his .22 caliber handgun, nothing happened. Flustered, they fled the store, and the clerk opened fire on them. They made it to their getaway car but didn't get far before the engine blew up and they got into an accident. "Not to make light of a serious situation," police Capt. David Lindley said, "but this was the Apple Dumpling Gang. They couldn't get anything right."

Not as thunk as you drink

BELFAST - A forgetful alcoholic turned himself in to the police after spotting himself on a security video in the midst of a robbery, Belfast Crown Court was told Wednesday. William Nixon, 36, saw himself on a television crime program wielding a fake gun as he robbed a filling station in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. Nixon, who had spent his entire welfare benefit check on drink before the raid, staggered out of the garage with his booty of 250 pounds ($404) and wished the stunned assistants "all the best."

An offer he'd like to refuse

An accused Mafioso pleaded with Italian prison authorities for mercy: "We've had enough of mortadella, we can't take it anymore," Giuseppe Calascibetta, 46, shouted from behind bars in a high-security prison courtroom where he and others are on trial for the 1992 murder of anti-mob Judge Paolo Borsellino. "Ever since I got here the menu's been the same-- a sandwich with a very thin slice of mortadella and in the evening, when we get back to our cells, they give us a potato. The lucky ones get a little slice of ham." More-->Click here!

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