Weird News

College student charged with growing pot in dorm

UNITY, Maine -- Police said a Unity College student who failed to do a thorough cleaning of her dorm room before leaving campus faces criminal charges after security guards found several marijuana plants growing there. The Waldo County Sheriff's Office said a 19-year-old was charged with cultivation, sale and use of marijuana.

The college held its graduation ceremonies Saturday. The Morning Sentinel in Waterville said security guards were checking dorm room the following evening to make sure they were emptied when they discovered the plants in plastic containers.

Police said fewer than 10 plants were seized. The suspect was scheduled to appear in court July 7.
 
Pa. man nabbed twice in 3 hours on DUI charges

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. -- Police said they arrested a Pittsburgh-area man twice within three hours on a charge of driving under the influence of prescription drugs. Police said they first pulled over a 26-year-old man about 8:30 p.m. Friday. They said he had muscle relaxers and another type of pills used to help people withdraw from opiates in his car after he failed a field sobriety test.

Police say they dropped the man at his mother's house telling him DUI charges would be mailed to him. About 11:15 p.m, police said the man came to the police station seeking medication seized from his car. Police said the man told them he got a ride to the police station, but they pulled him over when they saw him try to drive away.
 
Mo. mom accused of using child to block Taser

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Police said a northeast Missouri mother used her 1-year-old child to shield a man from a Taser during a confrontation with officers. The woman, 20, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and interfering with an arrest. She was arrested Tuesday night and placed at the Marion County jail on a 24-hour hold.

The child, whose gender police did not release, was placed with another family member. Officers were at an apartment checking on an assault claim made by the woman when a man confronted them, making threats. One of the officers displayed a Taser as the man approached. Police said the mother offered her child to the man, placing the toddler in the Taser's path. The man, 22, faces two counts of resisting arrest.
 
Dog does what rain or snow can't: Halt mail

STROUDSBURG, Pa. -- Two senior citizen sisters accused of selling heroin in northeastern Pennsylvania are trying to work out a plea bargain. The Monroe County district attorney has said that 70-year-old Elizabeth Grube and 65-year-old Elaine Volkert, both of Stroud Township, were making up to $10,000 a week in profits. They gave up their right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Grube's lawyer, Jason LaBar, says "the ladies got caught up in something and just kept rolling along." He says the defendants are cooperating with authorities and hope to avoid jail time. Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso said he hopes the defendants' cooperation will cause prosecution of higher-level dealers.
 
Police: 'Nicotine Ninja' prefers brand-name cigs

GOLDEN, Colo. -- Jefferson County authorities are looking a man they've dubbed the "Nicotine Ninja" believed to be responsible for stealing $120,000 worth of cigarettes. Authorities said the suspect is completely clad in dark clothing and covers half his face with a black cloth when he breaks into liquor stores in the middle of the night. The man is believed to be responsible for 118 burglaries across the metro area during the last two years.

Authorities said he usually only takes brand-name cigarettes and ignores the generic brands.
 
Mad about MAD, LA man builds a dream out of CDs

LOS ANGELES -- It's always been a mad MAD world for Neil Cuadra. The 55-year-old Internet entrepreneur has photographed a portrait he made of MAD magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman's head using junk mail CDs and DVDs and sent it to the magazine, a feat that landed him in the magazine's 500th issue, published in April.

"You just blew our mind. You used junk mail from AOL to create a piece of art that became junk mail to us," the magazine's editors said in a footnote to his letter.

Cuadra, who runs a business creating information retrieval software, said in a recent interview that he was inspired a dozen years ago by a MAD parody poking fun at a fledgling Internet service provider called AOL for mailing CDs to people by the millions, offering them 500 hours of free connection to a newfangled thing called the Web.

The self-professed computer geek with a Ph.D in computer science then saved about 2,000 junk mail CDs and DVDs over years. When Internet use went viral and the AOL disc supply dried up, Cuadra started saving any other disc he could scrounge, adding to his collection an Army recruitment video and an ad for a car.

"I didn't need the car but I needed the disc, so I popped it into the pile," the computer scientist recalled.

He then built a computer matrix of Neuman's head and used it as a blueprint for building the giant CD mural on a Los Angeles parking lot. Security guards looked the other way as he filled it with 400 square feet of discs in the shape of Neuman's head and his gap-toothed grin.

Cuadra, a MAD magazine fan who's been a subscriber for more than 40 years, said getting the photo published was a dream and that it was a good time to put his idea to practice. He said his wife was becoming increasingly annoyed by the pile of worthless CDs filling their home.

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[quote1242335466=ErikStenger]
Mo. mom accused of using child to block Taser

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Police said a northeast Missouri mother used her 1-year-old child to shield a man from a Taser during a confrontation with officers. The woman, 20, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and interfering with an arrest. She was arrested Tuesday night and placed at the Marion County jail on a 24-hour hold.

The child, whose gender police did not release, was placed with another family member. Officers were at an apartment checking on an assault claim made by the woman when a man confronted them, making threats. One of the officers displayed a Taser as the man approached. Police said the mother offered her child to the man, placing the toddler in the Taser's path. The man, 22, faces two counts of resisting arrest.
[/quote1242335466]
Wow... some people are absolutely retarded!
 
Blago inspires `Bleep'n Golden' hair care products

CHICAGO -- Just when we thought we'd heard "bleep'n" everything. A Chicago-area company is marketing hair products inspired by ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The shampoo and conditioner carry the brand name "BLAGO It's Bleep'n Golden!" The owner of Delta Laboratories Inc. of Elk Grove Village says the idea came to him one night.

Blagojevich was removed from office in January after being accused of misdeeds that include trying to sell President Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat. The brand name refers to a comment he allegedly made about the appointment: "I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden."

Blagojevich has pleaded not guilty to federal charges. His publicist Glenn Selig (SEE'-lig) says he hopes the shampoo "at least passes the smell test."
 
2 Yellowstone workers fired after watering geyser

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Two seasonal Yellowstone National Park concession workers have been fired after a live webcam caught them urinating into the Old Faithful geyser. Park spokesman Al Nash says a 23-year-old man on Tuesday was fined $750 and placed on three years of unsupervised probation for urinating, being off trail in a restricted area and taking items from the area. The man also was banned from Yellowstone for two years.

The second employee's case is pending. The park's dispatch center was called after someone watching a webcam on the geyser saw six employees leaving the trail and walking on Old Faithful on May 4. The geyser was not erupting at the time. Xanterra Parks & Resorts general manager Jim McCaleb says the former concession workers were hired at the Old Faithful Inn and that such incidents were rare.
 
Sexy mascot can stay at eatery if curves covered

READING, Ohio -- A curvaceous, scantily clad mannequin can keep her spot outside a Cincinnati area barbecue joint, but local officials want her to cover up a bit. The life-size figure stands as a busty beacon outside a restaurant in suburban Reading (REH'-ding) owned by Kenny Tessel. He told zoning officials at a hearing Wednesday night that the advertising gimmick has boosted business 40 percent.

The 5-foot-10 mannequin is on the street wearing a bikini top and tight short-shorts, though Tessel brought her to the hearing draped in a long, sleeveless gray T-shirt. The board said Tessel may continue to use the figure only if it's dressed more modestly in front of the restaurant, too. He plans to appeal.
 
Despite embargo, Cuba imports daiquiris from US

MIAMI -- Jugs of daiquiri mix. Gourmet nuts. Rolls of newsprint. Not exactly humanitarian aid, but still among the items sold to Cuba under an agricultural waiver carved out of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. American businesses are raking in more than $700 million a year selling these and other products to the Cuban government under the waiver, which was passed by Congress partly on humanitarian grounds and signed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton.

Backers said the measure would expand U.S. markets and help the communist country feed its people. And the waiver has accomplished that, with huge shipments of grain, chicken and other products. Some of the goods, though, wind up in a select group of supermarkets where few Cubans can shop, or in the island's exclusive resorts and hotels, which most Cubans can't visit. As President Barack Obama calls for a fresh start in U.S.-Cuban relations, sales of high-end treats and other seemingly nonessential items highlight the inconsistencies in the current American policy.

"It's hypocritical both ways," said Andy Gomez, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. "From the U.S. side, it was done by the administration to help certain members of Congress who wanted the sales. But from the Cuba side, it shows that the U.S. embargo is not really what is hurting the Cuban people."

The embargo was imposed in 1961 at the height of the Cold War, but that hasn't kept the U.S. from becoming Cuba's largest foreign source of agricultural products. The waiver, which was championed by politicians from agricultural states, covers hundreds of categories, including wood-related and medical products, though the biggest sales to Cuba last year were still the basics - $196 million in corn, $139 million in poultry and $135 million in wheat, according to the Census Bureau.

Rep. Joanne Emerson, R-Mo., one of the waiver's original backers, said that lawmakers at the time weren't focused on deciding item-by-item which products to allow and which ones to disallow. "When you get to the weeds, I don't think that's a good thing," she said, adding, "The more products we can sell to the island, the better." The waiver has created all kinds of exotic opportunities for American businesses.

One of the first U.S. companies to sign a deal with Cuba was not an agriculture giant sending grain from the heartland. It was a drink mix company in Fort Lauderdale. Rich Waltzer, owner of Splash Tropical Drinks, frequently provides the mixes for the daiquiris and margaritas tourists sip at Havana's legendary Hotel Nacional.

The daiquiri is believed to have been created in Cuba about a century ago; the rum drink apparently got its name from a beach and an iron mine in Cuba. While the notion of sending daiquiris to Cuba might seem comical, Waltzer said Cuban officials liked the predictability of his product, and besides, they don't grow strawberries in Cuba.

"When I started, the only thing I knew about Cuba was Fidel Castro, the Cuban missile crisis, rum and cigars," said the Brooklyn-bred Waltzer, who also sells juices to Cuban schools. Waltzer and other entrepreneurs are pretty happy with the way things are now. The waiver is so broad that it includes beer, soda and a host of inedible items such as beauty products, artwork, utility poles, kitchen cabinets and Alabama newsprint, which totaled $6 million in sales last year.

Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said the newsprint has been used for Cuba's government-run papers - in which diatribes against the U.S. embargo are frequent. Officials at the Communist Party newspaper Granma and the Cuban government did not return calls from The Associated Press. "Agricultural groups have about 90 percent of what they want," said Dan Erikson, author of "The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States and the Next Revolution."

But what agricultural groups would really like is more Americans visiting the island. Under U.S. law, only Cuban-Americans and a few groups such as journalists and academics are allowed to visit Cuba. More tourists from the U.S. would mean more demand for food items, especially higher-priced products and American brands.

Frank Walker, a food company representative who went to Cuba last year representing Texas manufacturers, is securing contracts with Cuba for a variety of upscale products, including New York-style cheesecake, key lime pie and a rum-infused bundt cake. "My products are driven by the tourist industry and food trade," Walker said.

James Cason, former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana under President George W. Bush, said ending the trade embargo would hurt the bargaining position of the U.S., which is hoping to prod Cuba to allow more freedom for its citizens. "There will come a time when the Castros are done," he said. "Then the embargo will have some leverage."

In the meantime, the sale of the luxury goods demonstrates that at least some basic laws of the market work even in a communist country like Cuba, Erikson said: "If daiquiri mix sells in Cuba, then daiquiri mix is what's going to go."
 
2 Yellowstone workers fired after watering geyser

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Two seasonal Yellowstone National Park concession workers have been fired after a live webcam caught them urinating into the Old Faithful geyser. Park spokesman Al Nash says a 23-year-old man on Tuesday was fined $750 and placed on three years of unsupervised probation for urinating, being off trail in a restricted area and taking items from the area. The man also was banned from Yellowstone for two years.

The second employee's case is pending. The park's dispatch center was called after someone watching a webcam on the geyser saw six employees leaving the trail and walking on Old Faithful on May 4. The geyser was not erupting at the time.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts general manager Jim McCaleb says the former concession workers were hired at the Old Faithful Inn and that such incidents were rare.
 
Deputies: Banana used as gun in holdup, then eaten

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Authorities in North Carolina say a store owner and a patron thwarted a teen accused of trying to carry out a robbery by concealing a banana beneath his shirt to resemble a gun. Winston-Salem authorities say 17-year-old John Szwalla entered the Internet cafe Thursday and demanded money, saying he had a gun. The owner, Bobby Ray Mabe, said he and a customer jumped Szwalla, holding him until deputies arrived.

While they waited, Mabe says the teen ate the banana. Mabe says deputies took pictures of the peel. Forsyth County Sheriff's office spokesman Maj. Brad Stanley says deputies joked about charging Szwalla with destroying evidence. Szwalla faces a charge of attempted armed robbery. Jail officials say he doesn't have an attorney.

(Wouldn't he charged with destroying the evidence by eating the banana.)
 
Utah school forces student to change out of kilt

WEST HAVEN, Utah -- The principal of a Utah middle school has been asked to apologize for forcing a kilt-wearing student to change his clothes. Weber School District spokesman Nate Taggart says Craig Jessop has been asked to extend an apology to 14-year-old student Gavin McFarland of Hooper after the school official's comments Wednesday.

Gavin says he wore the kilt twice in the past two weeks to Rocky Mountain Junior High as a prop for an art project. Jessop told the boy that the outfit could be misconstrued as cross-dressing. Taggart says the district recognizes the kilt as an expression of the boy's Scottish heritage and that the kilt was not inappropriate. Kilts are traditional Scottish apparel generally worn by men for formal or special occasions.

(I'm not wearing a skirt. Its a kilt with Hello Kitty on it.)
 
Woman, 78, allegedly beats husband over old affair

LYNNWOOD, Wash. -- A 78-year-old woman arrested last month for allegedly beating her 84-year-old husband because she believed he cheated on her several times during their marriage was charged Thursday with assault. Prosecutors said she hit him with a bowl, pipe and carpet sweeper. He suffered broken ribs, pelvis and a wrist.

One witness told police the woman admitted kicking her husband three times in the groin in the last six months because she believed he had an affair 35 years ago. The woman was jailed on $70,000 bail.
 
Man calls 911 over 28-year-old son's messy bedroom

BEDFORD, Ohio -- An Ohio man who argued with his grown son over a messy bedroom said he overreacted when he called 911. Andrew Mizsak called authorities Thursday after his 28-year-old son - who's a school board member in the Cleveland suburb of Bedford - threw a plate of food across the kitchen table and made a fist at him when told to clean his room.

The son, also named Andrew, lives in a room in his parents' basement. The father declined to press charges and told police he doesn't want to ruin his son's political career. The son, who also works as a political consultant, said he's lucky to be living in the house rent free. He also promises to keep his room clean.
 
Iowa man charged after allegedly eating bag of pot

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- A man has been arrested in the Iowa City area after police say he tried to eat a bag of marijuana to avoid drug charges. University Heights police said the man was pulled over early Sunday for a traffic violation. Police said the officers noticed a marijuana odor on his breath, and a green, leafy substance on his shirt.

Police Chief Ron Fort said the officers then discovered the man had a partially eaten plastic bag in his mouth. Fort said the suspect eventually gagged, and a medium sized bag came out of his mouth. The man was charged with preventing apprehension and obstructing prosecution and third-offense drug possession.
 
Businessman accused of demanding dentures with gun

NEW YORK -- A business man accused of ordering an associate to take out his dentures at gunpoint conceded that he made the demand during an argument over money. But the man denied it was a theft, saying he paid for the dentures in the first place and also said no gun was involved.

The man, arrested on Monday on a charge of first-degree robbery, is due back in in court July 1. "We yelled and we argued. ... But in the end, those teeth belonged to me," the man said.
 
Police say man used horse tranquilizers to sleep

BATESVILLE, Ark. -- Sheriff's deputies said a man used horse tranquilizers to try to drift off into sleep at a Batesville motel. Deputies said the man was taken to the hospital around 6 p.m. Tuesday. Inside his room, deputies said they found syringes and three bottles of horse tranquilizers.

Deputy Anthony Carter said the man told him he used the drugs as many as five times that day to help him go to sleep. Veterinarian Mark Williams told the Batesville Daily Guard that the drugs the man used likely used are dangerous and tightly controlled. Williams said the man is "lucky to be alive."
 
Couple withdraws money, flees after bank error

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Police launched an international search for two New Zealanders who allegedly took the money and ran after a bank mistakenly put 10 million New Zealand dollars ($6.1 million) into their account. The couple, who operated a gas station in the northern city of Rotorua, applied to Westpac Bank for a NZ$10,000 ($6,000) overdraft, but 1,000 times that amount was paid into their account. The two then withdrew some of the money and disappeared, Detective Senior Sgt. David Harvey said.

Westpac said Thursday it considered the money to be stolen, but conceded it was human error at the bank that made the couple accidental millionaires. Authorities did not release their identities. Harvey said Interpol has been contacted for help, suggesting authorities believe they may have fled abroad with the cash. "We are currently conducting an investigation into the individuals that may have been involved in the withdrawal of that money," Harvey said.

Westpac spokesman Craig Dowling said the huge deposit appeared to be the result of human error. He said the bank had recovered some of the money but declined to give details about the case. Westpac Bank said in a statement it was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover the sum of money stolen," but declined further comment. Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown said it is generally considered a criminal offense for people to spend money accidentally deposited into a bank account if they are aware that the cash is not theirs.

In her 15 years as banking Ombudsman, Brown said she had been involved in 10 to 20 similar cases.
 
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