From: glen mccready
To: Dead Beef <0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org>
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 13:52:21 -0400
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 13:05:03 -0400
From: Keith Bostic <bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU>
To: /dev/null@python.bostic.com
Subject: WEIRDNUZ.387 (News of the Weird, July 7, 1995)
Forwarded-by: notw-request@nine.org (NotW List Admin)
WEIRDNUZ.387 (News of the Weird, July 7, 1995)
by Chuck Shepherd
LEAD STORY
* In two June incidents four days apart, tug-of-war games ended in
tragedy. In Chattanooga, Tenn., a 21-year-old man's hand was severed
after an unexpectedly hard tug from the other team at a company picnic,
and in Frankfurt, Germany, two Boy Scouts were killed and five other
people were seriously injured after a rope snapped during a game.
[Edmonton Journal-AP, 6-11-95; St. Petersburg Times, 6-7-95]
QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENTS
* An account in a March issue of The Medical Post magazine reported on
the failure of a recommended abdominal-colic therapy for babies.
According to the therapy, parents were to place the baby in a child's car
seat on top of a running washing machine, letting the warmth and vibration
settle him down. However, in the reported case, the baby vibrated off of
the machine, fell to the floor, and suffered a seizure. [The Medical Post,
3-14-95]
* In Winnipeg, Manitoba, in February, Andrew Hofer, 26, gave his brother's
name when asked for identification by police. Hofer was evading the
police because he had failed to pay a fine, but unknown to him, a
more-serious warrant was outstanding on his brother. Said Hofer's lawyer,
"This is the only time... I've heard of a person giving the police the
name of somebody who's in more trouble than they are." (Well, it happened
in Peterborough, Ontario, last June, to Anthony Duco, who had unpaid
traffic fines and a brother who was, unknown to him, wanted for sexual
assault.) [Sault Star-CP, 2-10-95; Edmonton Journal-CP, 6-24-95]
* James Burns, 34, of Alamo, Mich., was killed in March as he was trying
to repair what police described as a "farm-type dump truck." Burns got
a friend to drive the truck on a highway while Burns hung underneath so
that he could ascertain the source of a troubling noise. Burns's clothes
caught on something, however, and the other man found Burns "wrapped in
the drive shaft." [Kalamazoo Gazette, 4-1-95]
* The Church of England's Easter advertising this year contained no
reference, in picture or word, to a crucifix, and instead had Jesus
uttering "Surprise!" on Easter morning. Said a bewildered ad executive,
"The cross is arguably the best-known brand logo in the entire world."
Said an official of the church-run Advertising Network, which placed the
ad: "[The cross] carries too much cultural baggage." [Vancouver Sun-AP,
4-15-95]
* In June 1994, Robert Clinton Robinette turned down a plea bargain in
Gainesville, Fla., that would have sent him to prison for four years on
prostitution and child-sex charges, fired the attorney who recommended he
take the deal, and paid a $50,000 retainer to a new attorney. In April
1995, the best Robinette could do for himself in a subsequent plea bargain
on those charges was a sentence of 10 years in prison, and he accepted.
[Tampa Tribune-AP, 4-4-95]
* In February in Wesley Chapel, Fla., Joseph C. Aaron, 20, was hit in the
leg with pieces of the bullet he fired at the exhaust pipe of his car.
While repairing the car, he had needed to bore a hole in the pipe and,
when he could not find a drill, tried to shoot a hole in it. [Tampa
Tribune, 2-17-95]
* In January, at a show in Paris on the 50th anniversary of the liberation
of Auschwitz, Japanese fashion designer Rei Kawakubo released a line of
fashions resembling the striped uniforms worn by Holocaust victims. One
item had serial-type numbers on the back, another had boot marks, and yet
another was modeled by a woman who appeared more emaciated than the other
models and with closely-cropped hair. After protests, Kawakubo withdrew
the line two weeks later. [Chicago Sun-Times-Reuters, 2-8-95]
* In March in San Fernando, Calif., Guy Dean Bouck was charged with the
1987 murder of his wife after police kept the investigation open, waiting
for Bouck to slip up and supply them with more evidence. In the ensuing
eight years, Bouck (1) bitterly contested the disposition of his wife's
estate, which forced a civil court judge to make a ruling that Bouck most
likely was the killer and thus was not entitled to any of the property;
and (2) alienated the girlfriend who had provided him with his 1987 alibi
by raping her (a crime for which he is currently imprisoned). [Los Angeles
Times, 3-3-95]
* In February, Regina Louise Vaughan, 20, was charged with statutory rape
after she applied for public assistance and named, as the father of her
child, the then-13-year-old boy for whom she regularly babysat in Portage
des Sioux, Mo. [St. Peters Journal, 2-19-95]
PEOPLE IN THE WRONG PLACE
AT THE WRONG TIME
* In May at a high school track meet in Akron, Ohio, the father of an
athlete was hospitalized after he wandered, unknowingly, onto the shot-put
range and was hit in the head by a 16-pound shot. Other spectators had
been yelling at him to leave the area, and he had just turned to try to
hear them when he was hit. [Akron Beacon Journal, 5-2-95]
* In May, Kyle Stone, operator of a ticket agency in Providence, R. I.,
had $3,500 in receipts stolen from his car. The next morning, as Stone
dropped by his bank to withdraw cash to replace the stolen money, he
spotted the man he said he saw emerging from his car the night before.
Steven Lewis was arrested at the bank, where he was in the process of
opening an account into which to deposit the $3,500. [Providence Journal-
Bulletin, May95]
* In January, Donald Bruesewitz, 64, filed a lawsuit against Merle Hay
Mall and the city of Urbandale, Iowa, over what he called his false arrest
five months earlier. Two boys in a men's room reported Bruesewitz to mall
security officers as a pervert, but Bruesewitz informed the officers that
his prostate condition requires him to massage his genitals before
urinating. [Des Moines Register, 1-12-95]
LEAST COMPETENT PERSON
* Bowling Green, Ohio, student Robert Ricketts, 19, had his head bloodied
in May when he was struck by a Conrail train. He told police he was
trying to see how close to the moving train he could place his head
without getting hit. [[Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune, May95]]
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.