xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
Among the most striking federal government “pork” grants funded in November was $1.5 million for a new bus stop (several times more than the typical cost) in front of the Anchorage (Alaska) Museum of History and Art. To replace the current kiosk, the city’s transportation director said he imagines a generous upgrade, including perhaps a heated sidewalk to deal with the snow: “We have a senator (Ted Stevens) who gave us that money, and I certainly won’t want to appear ungrateful.”
An undercover sheriff’s deputy (whose name was not disclosed in a May news report) filed a lawsuit recently against the Florida Hospital in Orlando because, he said, when he went for a shot of pain medication in his hip in October 2000, he was injected instead with what appeared to be cosmetic makeup glitter. The deputy said a four-inch mass was removed and appeared to contain specks of green and red sparkle, and that pain at the site continues.
Police in Springfield, Ore., charged Pamela Ann Hemphill, 51, with theft in April after she allegedly snatched neighbor Walter Merritt’s Charles Schulz-signed, original Peanuts cartoon strip, locked herself in a bathroom, removed her clothes, got under the shower, wet the cardboard thoroughly, and finally flushed the pieces down the toilet. Hemphill declined to explain; Merritt said he had no clue as to motive; and the Springfield News reporter has not yet followed up on the story.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or [email protected] or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.) NEWS OF THE WEIRD