Some Strange News Stories

I think it's time to scan the news for some unbelievable stories in the news. Some of these are shocking and some are just plum goofy. I've included the brief story in each piece of news. More detailed accounts are available courtesy of the Net. What in the world is happening? Here's a ticket to the zany news. Laugh, cry, or question.

Current Stories

Fox News (October 27, 2009) reports that as many as a dozen people may have witnessed the brutal gang rape and beating of a 15-year-old girl after her California high school homecoming dance. The attack took place in a dimly lit corner of the campus. Two suspects are in custody, but as many as five other men attacked the girl over a two-hour period. The district defended school security, saying that when the students leave the dance, "we don't take them home."

The Associated Press (October 27, 2009) reports twelve New Jersey women have posed nude for a calendar to raise awareness about prostate cancer. Proceeds from the calendar will go to the Prostate Cancer Coalition of New Jersey. Sheila Rosko of Blairstown got the idea from the 2003 movie, "Calendar Girls." A group of women in England posed nude for a calendar to raise money for research after a friend's husband died from leukemia.
Rosko's husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer 13 years ago.


ABC News reports (October 27, 2009) that the infamous "Boy Balloon" Heene family of Colorado has yet to be charged with a crime. Prosecutors said they haven't decided whether to file charges against the parents accused of falsely reporting their son was in a runaway balloon, sparking a massive rescue attempt before the boy was found at the family's Fort Collins home.

The Associated Press (October 27, 2009) reveals that former teacher, Debra LaFave, who had sex with a 14-year-old student wants to be allowed supervised contact with the children of her relatives and friends.LaFave is serving seven years probation, and one of the conditions is a ban on contact with children. Lafave served more than

2 1/2 years of house arrest before being freed last year. She pleaded guilty in 2006 to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery for having sex with the boy in a classroom and her home.

From WBAL TV in Baltimore (October 27, 2009) comes word that a Baltimore city police officer was charged with assault after the pulled a gun on a haunted house character. Baltimore County police said Sgt. Eric Janik, 36, pulled his gun on a haunted house employee dressed up as the killer from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" at the House of Screams show. Police said the employee approached Janik after the haunted house tour was over in a bid to get "one last scream." Instead, Janik, who was off-duty, pulled his service weapon and pointed it at Michael Morrison's chest, authorities said.


MSNBC (October 27, 2009) confirms that Denver police arrested an elementary school employee accused of taping a student's mouth and hands. Police say 45-year-old school secretary Jennifer Carter was being held for investigation of child abuse and false imprisonment, both misdemeanors. The six-year-old said he was sent to the principal's office on Wednesday when a substitute teacher said he had been disrupting his first grade class."Carter said 'he was driving her crazy' so she decided to tape his wrists together and tape his mouth closed," said the boy's mother. A jail official said a bond amount had not yet been set. Carter was put on leave following the alleged incident.

An Associate Press story from the San Francisco Chronicle (October 27, 2009) states that a motorist driving past a fender-bender struck three men standing on the side of a highway and drove more than a mile with one of them lodged in his windshield, police said. Christopher Swiridowsky, 30, of Providence, Rhode Island, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. The man suffers with broken legs and a broken arm while Swiridowsky is now charged with striking him and the two other people was ordered held without bail.

A San Francisco Chronicle story (October 22, 2009) says a Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers. Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.

From Reuters (October 20, 2009) comes news that a pile of hair believed snipped from Elvis Presley when he joined the U.S. Army in 1958 sold for $18,300 according to a Chicago auction house. No DNA test was carried out on the hair but the auctioneer quoted "an expert in celebrity hair authentication," John Reznikoff, saying it matched the Elvis hair he has in his collection.

A Couple of "Oldies But Goodies"

The Stamford Advocate (July 26, 2005) reports firefighters in Stamford, Conn., had to break a car window, against the owner's wishes, to rescue her 23-month-old son, whom she had accidentally locked inside along with the key. According to police reports and a 911 tape, the kid had been sweltering for more than 20 minutes on an 88-degree July day when Susan Guita Silverstein, 42 (who was later charged with reckless endangerment), asked firefighters to wait until she went home to get a spare key so they wouldn't have to damage her Audi A4.

The Dallas Morning News (2003) says Charles D. McKinley, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y., had four weeks of vacation coming, so he decided to visit his parents in DeSoto, Texas. Rather than buy a plane ticket for $320, McKinley, a shipping clerk, packed himself into a shipping crate and air-expressed himself home, charging the fees to his employer. When the crate was delivered to his parents' front step, McKinley pushed out of the box and shook hands with the "shaken and frightened" delivery driver.