Fun_People Archive
21 Apr
Weirdness - The Many Shades of Oops
Date: Fri, 21 Apr 95 12:48:22 PDT
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness - The Many Shades of Oops
From: notw-request@nine.org (NotW List Admin)
About: WEIRDNUZ.374 (News of the Weird, April 7, 1995)
By: Chuck Shepherd
* Recent highway spills: 324,000 eggs from a truck near New Hampton, Iowa,
in December; 22,000 kilograms of vegetable oil on Highway 401 in Toronto in
November; thousands of gallons of molasses, near Springfield, Mo., in
January; and about $1,000 in trade association dues, in Portland, Ore., in
December, caused by the treasurer's leaving the cash box on top of his car
when he drove off. [USA Today, 12-23-94] [Sault Star-CP, 11-8-94] [Sikeston
Standard Democrat-AP, 1-25-95] [The Oregonian, 12- 11-94]
* A pilot and his passenger were arrested in December when the pilot, flying
a small plane running methamphetamines, got confused and missed his intended
nighttime landing at the small airstrip in Turlock, Calif. Instead, he
landed at nearby Castle Air Force Base. [Chicago Tribune-Reuters, 12-11-94]
* Halfdan Prahl, 35, was arrested in Westport, Conn., in February when he
frightened patrons by bringing a chain saw into a restaurant and carving
his initials into the floor of the bar. Afterward, Prahl said he knew the
owner and was certain the owner found his stunt amusing; however, according
to the police, Prahl was unaware that his friend had recently sold the
restaurant to another man. [Boston Globe, 2-8-95]
* In October in Davenport, Iowa, middle school Spanish teacher Patricia
Lewis was smacked in the head with a baseball bat by a blindfolded 7th
grader in a classroom pinata accident. [Quad City Times, 10-29-94]
* A January Reuters news service story on the Japanese physical comedy team,
Tokyo Shock Boys, listed several grotesque injuries suffered by team
members' aiming for laughs: scarring of groins and buttocks from dropping
firecrackers down their pants; tender skin, in patches, resulting from
gluing various objects to their faces; and missing teeth by one member
caused by bites of scorpions he puts in his mouth. One member, Danna
Koyanagi, takes milk into his mouth and squirts it out his eyes. The
group's advertising slogan is "Please laugh, We're risking our lives."
[Globe & Mail-Reuter, 1-30-95]
* New York City police officer Angelo Angelico, Jr., 27, was shot by a
colleague in October when he drove his car up a walkway and failed to heed
other officers' warnings to stop. As he emerged from his car, officers
said, he was holding his .357 Magnum. His last statement before being shot
was that he didn't need to stop because "My gun's bigger than yours." [New
York Newsday, 10-6-94]
* In January in Lafayette, Ind., Ben Orndorff, age 7, helped his 21-year-old
cousin deliver her baby because everyone else in the family happened to be
out shopping when the woman went into labor. [Houston Chronicle-AP,
1-19-95]
* In October Michael Jones, age 8, of Lawrenceville, Ga., arrived at Dr.
Robert Zaworski's office for outpatient surgery on a facial mole but was
clutching his handwritten last will and testament. (Had the surgery been
unsuccessful, Mom would have gotten his bed and Dad his picture and toys,
and Tedy would have been buried with Michael.) [Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, 11-3-94]
* In March, Gerald Lydell Voyles, 39, who was a suspect in an unsolved 1981
double murder, walked into the Polk County jail in Bartow, Fla., and, giving
his real name, asked about the longstanding $3,000 reward for information
leading to the arrest of Gerald Lydell Voyles. He was promptly arrested.
Said Sheriff Lawrence W. Crow Jr., "We believe he was serious about the
reward. He will not be eligible." [[Orlando Sentinel-AP, 3- 8-95]]
* A University of Pennsylvania student group, White Women Against Racism,
recently excluded a black woman who wanted to join. Group spokesperson
Elena DiLapi said whites have to meet among themselves in order to
understand why whites so often exclude blacks. "[R]acism is a white
problem, and we have a responsibility as white women in particular to do
what we can to eradicate racism." [Chicago Sun-Times, 3-3-95]
Copyright 1995, Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.
Released for the entertainment of readers. No commercial use may
be made of the material or of the name News of the Weird.
© 1995 Peter Langston