Xxxnews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
In July, a judge in Sacramento, Calif., overruled a defense by two California Highway Patrol officers and decided that the lawsuit against them could proceed (by relatives of a man who accidentally fell down a gorge adjacent to Interstate 5 and who died because no one called for help). The officers had contended that, though they knew the man had fallen, law enforcement officers are under no duty to help if they had nothing to do with the original fall.
The Florida Legislature, faced with a mounting traffic accident rate caused by its increasingly older population but habitually unable to address the problem because of resistance by senior voters and their lobbyists, finally passed a law in May to improve highway safety. From now on, seniors’ eyesight will be tested at every license renewal, but only for drivers age 80 and older.
The classic middle name:
Recently arrested for murder: Michael Wayne Sears, 54, Charlottesville, Va. (May);
Dale Wayne Eaton, 58, Denver (April);
Ricky Wayne Brown, 39, Manassas, Va. (wanted in Florida) (May).
Sentenced for murder:
Michael Wayne Fisher, Chester County, Pa. (March).
Executed for murder: Allen Wayne Jenecka, 53, Huntsville, Texas (July);
Bobby Wayne Swisher, 27, Jarratt, Va. (July).
Australian biologist Mark Elgar, writing in Nature magazine, described the tiny male Zeus bug as having the idyllic, work-free life, with food, transportation (piggy-back) and unlimited sex being eagerly provided by the female Zeus (though Elgar said he is baffled at how the male got so lucky) (July)
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or [email protected]
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd
NEWS OF THE WEIRD