TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES

[TexasStooge]

Grandma Drops Baby Off at Wrong Address

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - What started out as a possible child abandonment case in Omaha on Wednesday turned out to be a misunderstanding, police say.

Police received a call from a woman who said another woman she didn't know had driven up to her home, handed her a baby boy and a diaper bag and left.

It turns out, the woman was the baby's grandmother and thought she was dropping the baby off at day care, but she had the wrong address, officers said.

Police said the incident was a misunderstanding, and no charges will be filed.

The infant was placed in foster care for several hours until his mother showed up at police headquarters Wednesday afternoon after seeing pictures of her baby on television news.

[TexasStooge]

Gator Bites Man Who Jumps on Its Back

LABELLE, Fla. (AP) - A real estate tycoon who owns a nature preserve tried to show off for visitors by jumping on an alligator's back for a ride, but the reptile bit his hand and dragged him into 15 feet of water.

The 8-foot alligator let go of Ronald Bergeron after witnesses pulled its tail. Bergeron, 62, suffered a shattered pinky, a broken ring finger and puncture wounds in his palm.

The multimillionaire developer tried the stunt Sunday while giving a tour of his 5,000-plus-acre preserve to weekend guests who had made large donations to the Boys & Girls Club.

"I always tell them I'm going to wrestle an alligator," Bergeron said Wednesday. "It's part of my Florida cracker culture. My grandfather was a game warden in the Everglades, and I grew up around alligators."

He said he usually rides the alligator for a minute before letting it go.

This time, Bergeron said, "he was rolling and I couldn't keep control of his mouth. He grabbed my hand in his mouth."

Bergeron was pulled under the water before guests grabbed the alligator and pulled it out. Bergeron was driven to a hospital.

He said he never harms the alligators at the preserve, west of Lake Okeechobee in Hendry County.

Animal harassment is illegal. The incident has not been reported to the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, spokeswoman Dani Moschella said.

Bergeron, who also competes in a weekly rodeo, said he was unlikely to give up alligator wrestling. "Too exciting," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Ohio Candidate's Sons Cost Him County Race

CASTALIA, Ohio (AP) - You're both grounded!

Two voting-age sons of a northern Ohio candidate didn't go to the polls Tuesday, and their father's race ended in a tie.

William Crawford, trying to retain his seat on the central committee of the Erie County Democratic Party, and challenger Jean Miller each received 43 votes in the primary balloting.

Officials plan to conduct a recount, but the race may have to be settled by coin flip, said David Giese, the county's Democratic Party chairman and an elections board member.

Crawford was able to laugh about it Wednesday, but he said his sons are going to be getting an earful for skipping the election.

"Oh they will, let me tell you," Crawford said.

Son Jim lives across the street from Crawford's home in Castalia, about 45 miles southeast of Toledo, and son Andy is a college student who lives at home. Both are registered Democrats.

[TexasStooge]

Premature baby weighed 14 pounds

MANTECA, Calif. (AP) – A baby girl who had grown so much inside her mother that she had to be delivered one month early was still born much heavier than average at 14 pounds.

Olivia, born on March 22 to Brandy Womack and Zack Patrick, is finally home after nearly a month spent in a hospital where doctors monitored her underdeveloped lungs and heart.

"Her newborn diapers didn't fit her," Womack told KXTV. "We had to take everything back and get it upgraded."

Medical staff decided Womack should deliver her daughter before full term when a sonogram in the seventh month showed she already weighed about 11 pounds, nine ounces. Doctors estimated that if Womack had carried Olivia for the full nine months, the baby could have reached about 16 pounds.

"The doctor said because she was so big already, they wanted to get her out," Womack said.

The baby was delivered by c-section, and doctors who have examined her found no medical conditions that explained her size.

But now that she's out, Olivia's growth spurt seems to have slowed down. Unlike most newborns, who gain four to eight ounces a week during their first month, she's added only three ounces since birth.

Her parents said that as long as she's healthy, they're happy.

"I hope she stays this size for a while," Womack said.

[TexasStooge]

Family Kicked Out of Buffet Restaurant

DES MOINES, Iowa - Wendy Dershem may think twice before leaving that egg roll on her plate at her next Chinese buffet. The Des Moines woman, her boyfriend and her two children were kicked out of a restaurant last week after management accused her of leaving too much food on her plate.

"They told us we are not welcome there anymore," said Dershem, a repeat customer at the Dragon House buffet. "We waste too much food. But the buffet is all you can eat. And you know kids. They won't always eat everything and they want something else."

Dershem said she paid her $5.95 fee on Saturday but was abruptly told to leave after eating one plate of food.

Employees said they had been watching her family on previous trips to the restaurant and were fed up with her habits.

"They just take one bite and throw it away," said cashier Lin Huyen. "They take four egg rolls and crab ragoon, take one bite of egg roll and throw the whole plate. That is wasting food."

Dershem said she was shocked by the scolding and complained to management when she paid her check. "It was embarrassing. ... If it's a one-stop buffet, post it," she said.

Dragon House manager Kent Cao said his restaurant offers all you can eat buffet, not all you can waste. Dershem's family took food, didn't finish it and then piled on the same food again, he said.

"Shes done that too many times," Cao said. "We would welcome her back if she has respect and knows what she wants."

Bob Oberbillig, an adjunct professor at the Drake Legal Clinic, says the patron would have no legal case against exclusion from a business unless there are other factors such as racial discrimination or mental health issues.

"An establishment can exclude people if they smoke or waste food," he said. "It's still a private business."
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Information from: The Des Moines Register

[TexasStooge]

Man, 7-Foot-8, Gets New Size-26 Shoes

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) - German shoemaker Georg Wessels traveled across the pond this week to personally deliver some king-size footwear to a Rochester man.

Igor Vovkovinskiy, who stands at 7-foot-8, received three pairs of size-26 shoes crafted specifically to fit his feet.

As part of his business, Wessels makes shoes free-of-charge for the world's 10 tallest people, which include the 23-year-old Ukrainian immigrant.

Wessels said he gets a kick out of helping tall people get properly fitting footwear. "I'm a little bit proud, of course," he said. "We like to make friends all over the world."

Vovkovinskiy, who works for Mayo Clinic's computer help line, said he was in need of the new shoes, having worn one pair for the past three years.

"I was embarrassed to go to the Mayo Clinic with my shoes this year because they are so black and worn out," he said. "Now it's like a new beginning."

Wessels' family has been making shoes since 1745. But not until Georg took over, did the company start specializing in super-sized shoes.

The extra-large shoes are made with material from Red Wing Shoe Company, located in Red Wing. The soles of Vovkovinskiy's shoes were designed using molds of his feet.

As the weather warms, Vovkovinskiy looks forward to trying his new custom-made sandals, he said. "It's going to be different in the summer to have (shoes) that actually breathe," he said.

[TexasStooge]

It's hard out there for a virgin...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A brothel has become the first in Berlin to offer special deals for virgins with prostitutes trained in the delicate art of catering for customers who have never had sex, a German newspaper reported Friday.

The brothel in the red light area of the Kreuzberg district of the city charges 60 euros for a half an hour of sex and works within the laws of Germany where prostitution is legal.

"These are men who either never had sex before or have never been in a brothel before," the brothel's operator was quoted as saying in Berlin's B.Z. tabloid.

"It's the first house of love in Berlin that specializes in taking care of beginners," wrote the daily on its front page.

Prostitutes are given "sensitivity training" for first-time clients, who the brothel operator said are not necessarily young but often 40 or older: "They need to be aware of how much courage it takes to go to a brothel the first time."

[TexasStooge]

China warns tourists against spitting overseas

BEIJING, China (Reuters) - Some Chinese tourists have been warned that while spitting, slurping food and cutting in line may merely disgust people at home, they are sometimes not tolerated abroad, Xinhua news agency said Friday.

The increasing number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad may be a huge new source of income to destination countries, but that won't prevent complaints against individuals from reflecting badly on all of China, Xinhua said.

"The media in Singapore reports that hotel staff are upset with Chinese tourists spitting in their rooms and smoking in bed," it said.

"...Singapore airline companies also criticized Chinese tourists for talking loudly and being very rude. Even Hong Kong newspapers have pointed out that some mainlanders lack manners and social graces."

Beijing residents said last year spitting in public was what they could not stand most about living in the Chinese capital, followed close behind by dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets.

Beijing has launched a campaign to make its citizens more "civil" in the run-up to hosting the 2008 Olympics. Games organizers have repeatedly said the city needs to teach its people to stand in line, stop spitting and littering and generally be better mannered.

Past efforts to stamp out the spitting habit, like a 2003 campaign to help curb the spread of SARS, have not been very effective, partly because many people believe clearing the lungs and firing away is good for your health.
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And months ago, Pumpkin spat on New York on "Flavor Of Love".

[TexasStooge]

State may bar private ultrasound machines

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Reuters) - Responding to actor Tom Cruise's purchase of an ultrasound machine to monitor his fiancee's fetus, California lawmakers voted on Thursday to restrict sales of the machines.

The California Assembly voted 55-7 for a bill by Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu that would only allow sales of the machines to professionals and medical facilities licensed to use them.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters last year, Cruise said he bought a sonogram machine for then-pregnant fiancee Katie Holmes. Concerned lawmakers feared other private citizens might do the same and possibly misuse the machines.

"Having an ultrasound once, twice during the course of a pregnancy, there is no danger," Lieu spokesman David Ford said. "But too much or too often could cause the liquids in the womb to heat up, which could cause damage to the mother and fetus."

Lieu's bill now goes to the state Senate.

[TexasStooge]

"Big Brother UK" tries Wonka ploy to find contestant

By Jeffrey Goldfarb

LONDON, England (Reuters) - "Big Brother" is trying to find its very own Charlie Bucket, hiding golden tickets in KitKat bars that will win the finder entry to the hit reality TV show's house.

It is the first time a member of the public will be chosen at random to participate in the UK program, which generates big TV audiences and tabloid headlines for contestants.

There will be 100 golden tickets placed in KitKat bars distributed to 40,000 British retail outlets starting at 10:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) on May 18, Britain's Channel 4 said Friday. The competition ends on June 2 at 10:20 p.m. (2120 GMT).

The winners, following thorough background checks, will be invited to a live TV broadcast where one of them will be chosen at random to enter the "Big Brother 7" house.

"We are always looking at new ways of trying to find brilliant housemates and the golden ticket feels like a genuinely exciting way to do so," said Angela Jain, Channel 4's commissioning editor for "Big Brother."

Ripping a page from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and its famed chocolatier Willy Wonka is the latest in a long string of stunts tried by the show's producers.

On the last series, a non-celebrity fooled a houseful of C-list stars into believing she was as famous as they were, and ultimately won the competition by surviving eviction.

Originally shown in the Netherlands in 1999, "Big Brother" has become a global sensation despite widespread derision for the program's voyeuristic premise and giving celebrity status to people often lacking any noticeable talent.

The show, created and produced by Endemol, is also credited with spawning the new age of reality TV. Nestle owns the KitKat brand.
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HMMMM, I'm wondering if "Big Brother US" would do the same thing...

[TexasStooge]

Bartonville couple hit by $6,000 water bill

BARTONVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8) - Imagine a $6,000 water bill and then several bills piling up.

That was the shock and now the dilemma facing one North Texas family.

Their home is located in a new subdivision in Bartonville in Denton County, where the high water rates may force them to move out.

Water has become a precious commodity at the home of Jennifer and Cliff Campbell.

The couple moved into their dream home last August but monthly water bills have jolted them wide awake after two suspected leaks.

"We've accumulated a little over $14,000 in bills [for water]," said Cliff Campbell.

Portions of their new yard have died, as the Campbells now track every gallon of water they use.

"I'm just a water Nazi! I mean I don't let anybody take a shower very long," said Jennifer Campbell.

The Campbells get their water from the Bartonville Water Supply, a non-profit corporation and the only source of water for the community.

"If we notice anything that is unusual, we call the customers," said Jim Leggieri, general manager.

Bartonville warns customers of its strict conservation rates.

The average rates are nearly $5 per 1,000 gallons but they can reach nearly $117 per1,000 gallons, when usage hits 300,000 gallons.

"It's probably a worn out phrase now, but they talk about water being the oil of the 21st Century," Leggieri added.

The Campbells argue cities like Dallas charge a maximum $3.70, no matter what the usage.

Some residents in Bartonville no longer bother with water bills. Some have installed wells to irrigate their lawns and keep their grass green, but a well can cost close to $30,000.

This is too much for the Campbells, who are protesting their high bills, which they say, came as a surprise.

"This is our dream home, we've waited so many years to build this home and it's so sad that they are forcing us out of the city," said Jennifer Campbell.

[TexasStooge]

High Prices Force Man to Take Gas

WEST BEND, Wis. (AP) - Authorities say a man came up with an unusual way to combat high gasoline prices: Filling about a dozen containers with gas from his former workplace after hours.

Andrew Otten, 44, was charged with misdemeanor theft after a sheriff's deputy said he found containers with about 56 gallons of gas in Otten's sport utility vehicle.

Deputy Ryan Herman noticed the vehicle being driven slowly about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday. Herman followed the SUV and pulled it over after spotting an equipment violation.

While questioning the driver, Herman noticed 11 gas jugs in the vehicle.

At first, Otten said he was checking out some lights left on at the nearby West Bend Elevator Co. and he was making sure everything was all right, according to the criminal complaint.

Later, Otten said he used to work at company and used his old key to enter the facilities and take the gas, the complaint said.

Otten was released on a $500 signature bond under the condition that he have no contact with West Bend Elevator.

[TexasStooge]

Boy Does Homework, Smokes Pot With Mom

HANOVER, Pa. (AP) - A 13-year-old boy told police his mother required him to do his homework first thing when he got off the school bus, then smoked marijuana with him as a reward.

The mother said she had been smoking marijuana with her son since he was 11, usually as a reward, according to court documents.

The police interview came after officers executed a search warrant at the woman's home last weekend and seized marijuana, an array of drug paraphernalia and $600 in cash that she said belonged to a drug dealer, court documents said.

Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, faces charges of marijuana possession, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and possession with intent to distribute drug paraphernalia, police said.

A telephone listing for Livelsberger couldn't be found and it wasn't clear if she had an attorney.
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Uhhhhh.....

I can think of better ways to reward him for finishing his homework.

[TexasStooge]

Sought After Man Has to Be Saved First

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - First, police tried to arrest a man, then they had to rescue him from drowning.

Police received a call around 6:15 a.m. Friday that a man in his underwear was trying to get into a house and a business.

Officers found James McMillan, 24, of Sanford, Maine, and were trying to arrest him when he jumped into the Cocheco River, police said.

McMillan went under several times before floating to an embankment next to a dam. Officers reached down from the dam wall and pulled him from the water.

McMillan was treated for possible hypothermia and faces charges including trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

[TexasStooge]

Sex Toys Tax-Deductible in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Prostitutes, strippers and lap dancers can claim tax deductions for adult toys and lingerie, officials said Friday, as the Australian Taxation Office issued a list of deductible items for the sex industry.

Condoms, lubricants, gels and oils are among a myriad of other items that these workers can claim against tax, according to a fact sheet issued on the office's Web site.

While they cannot claim deductions for fitness classes that keep them in shape, the tax office ruled they can claim the cost of dance lessons.

"You can claim the cost of replacing or repairing things like equipment, adult novelties and other apparatus used in your work," the office advises, under a section titled "tools of trade."

"This is just another one of our occupational lists that we put together to help people," a taxation office spokeswoman said on customary condition of anonymity.
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On the Net: http://www.ato.gov.au

[TexasStooge]

Indian couple wed on phone

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - An Indian couple exchanged wedding vows over the telephone after the bridegroom could not make it to the ceremony due to Hindu-Muslim clashes in the bride's city.

The long-distance marriage was solemnised on Friday as a curfew and army patrols in the western Indian city of Vadodara prevented 21-year-old Sufiyan Agarbatiwala from reaching the bride's house there.

Vadodara, earlier known as Baroda, was rocked by sectarian strife this week after city authorities demolished a Muslim shrine to widen a road. Six people were killed and scores injured in the rioting.

Although the violence has since abated, curfews and tight security remain in place.

"We made the best use of the communication network and exchanged vows over the phone," said Agarbatiwala, a resident of Ahmedabad, the main city in the western state of Gujarat, who is yet to meet his wife.

Both sides used phones with speakers so that relatives and witnesses could hear the couple agree to their union in the 20-minute ceremony. Both the bride and groom are Muslims.

"I decided to call off the grand wedding as the situation in the city was tense. We cannot risk lives," said Usman Choksi, the father of the bride.
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[TexasStooge]

Flying veggies for Mexican Cinco de Mayo

By Greg Brosnan

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - One of the few places in Mexico still celebrating Cinco de Mayo, thanks to an enduring family tradition, did so on Friday with a tequila-fuelled fiesta of cannon firing, flying vegetables and forced haircuts.

The celebration of Mexico's short-lived 1862 military victory over the French is now mostly a U.S. affair.

It has fizzled out nearly everywhere in Mexico except the working-class Mexico City neighbourhood of Penon de los Banos, where a network of families is determined to keep alive a tradition handed down from their great-grandparents.

It marks the defeat by Mexican troops and local Indians in the central state of Puebla of an invasion by a much better-equipped French force. A subsequent invasion succeeded in occupying Mexico City and briefly installing an emperor.

Firing home-made shotguns loaded with gunpowder, hundreds of men dressed as female Indian peasants with blackened faces, straw hats and embroidered blouses fought mock running battles against French invaders in white bloomers.

Cannon blasts on both sides gave signals for the troops to run at each other, pelting each other with vegetables and French-style baguettes while swigging beer and tequila. Captured foes were held down and given haircuts.

"With machetes, rifles, fruit and vegetables, we spit in the face of the French," growled taco vendor Marco Antonio Torres as his neighbours chanted traditional taunts.

First celebrated in the 1930s, the fiesta was brought to the neighbourhood by migrants from the countryside. The booze-fuelled play-fighting contrasted starkly with a stiff military parade presided over by President Vicente Fox.

Organiser Facundo Rodriguez, 77, who has been taking part for 70 years, said the French are allowed to win every other year: "So that nobody gets angry," he said as a flying radish hit him on the nose.

Party-goers, many of whom work as security guards and cleaners in Mexico City's nearby airport, said there were no lingering hard feelings towards the modern-day French.

"If there were," joked 53-year-old mock peasant Ruben Sanchez, "we would have closed down the airport."

[TexasStooge]

Family house for sale with tortoise tenant

LONDON, England (Reuters) - A family house in southern England has gone on sale with a unique feature -- a tortoise that has been in residence for more than half a century.

Eliza, who lives under a rose bush in the garden, has been there since World War Two and is now considered to be a fixture of the five-bedroomed property in the city of Exeter.

"It is a beautiful house. Central Exeter. Nice big family home. What is unusual is that it has this big sunny, south-facing back garden where Eliza has lived since 1940," a spokesman for city real estate agents Palmer Collins said.

"She is more than happy there and we are looking for someone to buy the house and look after Eliza," he told Reuters by telephone from the city 120 miles (190 km) southwest of London.

He said he was not aware of any similar sale before, but that buyers were already lining up to view the 350,000 pounds ($648,000) house and its hard-cased tenant.

[TexasStooge]

Coach says he drank too much to celebrate

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath admitted Sunday that he was unable to make it to his team's championship victory celebration on a Rhine River pleasure boat Saturday night because he drank too much on the bus ride there.

"I celebrated before we got there and wasn't able to make in on the ship," Magath told German television network WDR on Sunday before a training match in the western city of Bonn. "I had more than one too many."

Magath, an avid drinker of green tea, had not had any alcohol at all in the last six months, according to Bayern commercial manager Uli Hoeness. He told German television Magath had three glasses of champagne and beer on the bus to Cologne.

"Because Felix has not had a drop of alcohol for more than half a year, he did not feel capable of celebrating any more after the bus ride to Cologne," Hoeness said, referring to Bayern's two-hour bus ride from Kaiserslautern Saturday after they clinched the championship with a 1-1 draw.

"The three glasses of champagne and the beer had a devastating effect," Hoeness said, adding Magath had not eaten anything either before the celebrations. "He had quite a bit to drink."

[TexasStooge]

Row Boat Sinks, Ending Trans-Atlantic Bid

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer

DAKAR, Senegal - A New Yorker's attempt to become the first black American to row solo across the Atlantic ended when his homemade boat sprung a leak hours after he left the coast of Africa Sunday.

Victor Mooney radioed for help after his boat started taking on water, according to a press release on his Web site. He was rescued by the Senegalese navy, but the 24-foot craft he built for the journey sank into the ocean.

The boat was made of what Mooney called "marine grade plywood."

Mooney — a 41-year-old college publicist who had been preparing for the trip for three years — could not immediately be reached for comment. The press release said he will return to his home in New York.

Local authorities said Mooney was not hurt but did not sound likely to try the trip again.

"He said 'Never. It's finished,'" said Motor Diop Kane, of Senegal's military police.

Mooney had said his voyage was to raise awareness of AIDS in Africa and memorialize the route that took African slaves to the Americas.

About 50 people had gathered on the beach to watch Mooney head off toward his hometown — many saying they wished him well but weren't sure why he was undertaking the dangerous adventure.

"He's crazy," said Gaston Sabaly, who works at a restaurant on the beach. "Everybody wants to go to America but not like that."

Mooney's craft had no backup sail or motor, and he was rowing with no accompanying boat. He said the French military had promised to send planes over his route occasionally to check on him.

Fewer than 50 people have completed solo rows across the Atlantic, according to the England-based Ocean Rowing Society. Four have been lost at sea in the attempt and nearly 40 have had to abandon their trips, the group says.

Mooney had said he hoped to reach the Americas in about 120 days, reaching the Brooklyn Bridge by October.

His trip was delayed for nearly a month in Senegal to fix a keel broken by fishermen who tried to move his boat by rolling it on logs. He called the delay a surprise boon because it gave him time to know the local population.

The press release did not identify the source of the leak that ended Mooney's trip.

Mooney had wanted to raise money for AIDS medicine in Africa. He brought in only about $6,000 — about half what he spent on the trip. Mooney said the boat and its supplies were worth more than $100,000, but he got most of his materials as in-kind donations.

Mooney said he was traveling with three phone systems, three global positioning systems, solar panels, three water purifiers, an emergency life raft and "tons of food."

"I have backup maybe three times over," he said before departing. "I even have a backup rudder and three sets of oars." He also had a computer and a satellite Internet connection that he planned to use to keep a Web log as he traveled.

Mooney trained for his trip by rowing around Long Island and New York City. He said he started with 30-mile rows, then worked his way up to 365 miles.

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Associated Press writer Hilary Heuler contributed to this report.
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On the Net:

- Goree Challenge

- Ocean Rowing Society