xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
An unidentified bondsman bailed out identity-thief suspect Thomas Samuel in Santa Cruz, Calif., last year on Samuel’s bogus check for $9,800 (after rejecting as bogus an earlier Samuel check for $3,200).
Attorney Ms. Knovack Jones pleaded guilty in Miami in July to ripping off a client for $300,000, though admitting that she lost most of that money in a Nigerian e-mail scam. (Said Jones, “He had a contract with the government (for) $38.6 million, and he needed my (help).”)
Eduardo Gonzalez, 18, was arrested and charged as the one who shot an Orlando, Fla., man to death in March for spilling beer on him in a bar. In August, the price of life went down even further when, according to police, Gonzalez put out hit contracts on five witnesses to the original shooting, which would have brought the total to six dead over one spilled beer, except (as is often the case) the “hit man” was an undercover cop.
A 34-year-old man was killed in Hollywood, Fla., in June after refusing to pay $80 for a $78 towing bill (he demanded $2 change, which the driver did not have), then jumping on the truck to challenge the driver and eventually falling underneath it to his death.
By the Way, What Stories Have Been No-Longer-Weirded?
Eighty such themes have occurred so frequently that they have been “retired from circulation” since News of the Weird began publishing in 1988, and for the next few months, they’ll be reviewed here.
Too many pranksters nowadays kidnap school or business mascots (like inflatable Ronald McDonalds) and vandalize them or hold them for ransom.
Some libraries do have policies to have patrons arrested for long-overdue library books.
The incidence of fires increases as smokers hooked up to an oxygen supply simply must feed their habit.
And gasoline thieves who work at night need to check the tank somehow to see how full it is, and all they brought with them are matches or a lighter.
These stories used to be weird, but let’s face it: no longer.
(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