News of the Weird
Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.
About one-fifth of professional rodeo bull riders have given up their cowboy hats and now wear modified hockey helmets with face masks because of the prevalence of serious injuries. Said one diehard, though, “I don’t wear a cowboy hat because I’m a bull rider. I wear a cowboy hat because I’m a cowboy.”
London’s Observer reported in November that several UNICEF offices worldwide have complained to U.N. headquarters that celebrities endorsing the charity’s work have demoralized the staff because traveling celebrities are so high-maintenance when they arrive to “help” and also because some companies making donations (for example, Gucci) are owned by parent companies whose factories exploit Third World children more than the donations help.
At least 30 Texas death-row inmates have pages on dating Web sites, according to an Associated Press report, and the murderers usually describe themselves in cuddly terms. Wrote convicted cop-killer Randy Halprin, “I think I’m a pretty funny guy. I have a wacked (sic) sense of humor. I can be a big kid at heart. I’m a hopeless (and I mean hopeless) romatic (sic).”
(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