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Subject: News of the Weird [427] - 12Apr96
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WEIRDNUZ.427 (News of the Weird, April 12, 1996)
by Chuck Shepherd
LEAD STORY
* Nudity in the news in February: Richmond, Tex., police
charged two teenagers with aggravated robbery; as a ruse to keep
from being identified, they had removed their clothes and walked
around the neighborhood pretending to be carjacking victims who
had been robbed and stripped. And Virginia legislator Robert E.
Nelms was arrested for indecent exposure in a Richmond park;
he explained only that "the rushing river had its effect on my
bladder." And 40 people attended the first Christian Nudist
Conference in Longwood, N. C., where both robed and unrobed
ministers distributed communion and naked karaoke was the
featured distraction. [Houston Chronicle, 2-27-96] [Washington
Post & .208, 2-23-96] [L. A. Times-AP, 3-3-96]
THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
* In the middle of a cabinet meeting in Accra in December, the
president of Ghana, Jerry Rawlings, 49, brawled with vice
president Nkensen Arkaah, 68. According to Arkaah, Rawlings
punched him to the floor and then repeatedly kicked him in the
"groin" in a policy dispute. [Globe and Mail-Reuters, 12-30-95]
* The U. S. Justice Department recently conducted a sting
operation against some Chicago officials who were suspected of
taking payments for facilitating illegal dumping. As the identity
of the sting agent became known, state Sen. Ricky Hendon, who
was formerly a Chicago alderman and who had in the past been
suspected of corruption, told reporters proudly that he personally
had resisted the pressure by the sting agent. The Chicago Sun-
Times reported that Hendon said, "I hope I get some points for
not being corrupt this one time." [Chicago Sun-Times, 1-9-96]
* Noted championship eater Mort Hurst, who once ate 16 double-
deck Moon Pies in 10 minutes and 38 eggs in 29 seconds (which
resulted in a stroke, in 1991), announced in January that he
would run for secretary of state of North Carolina, against race-
car legend Richard Petty. Asked if he was intimidated by Petty's
name, Hurst said no: "I been on Paul Harvey's [radio] show; I
don't think Petty has." [Durham Herald-Sun-AP, 1-21-96]
* The candidates for Oregon Senate, district 8, include Thomas
Wilde, a Democrat who, if he wins the primary in May, will face
his wife, Republican Melinda Wilde, in the general election.
(Thomas started out as Melinda's campaign manager but
discovered that the two hardly agreed on anything.) And running
for the Missouri senate seat from Concordia are husband Al
(Democrat) and wife Janette Hanson (Republican), who both face
challengers in the August primary. [Eugene Register-Guard, 1-
25-96] [Independence Examiner-AP, 3-4-96]
* The Oklahoma Senate passed a bill in February that would end
the emerging bar sport of bear-wrestling, in which men fight
small, declawed bears. The maximum penalty for illegal bear-
wrestling would be $5,000. Sen. Penny Williams successfully
introduced an unrelated amendment to the bill raising the fine for
abusing a former or current spouse, but she could only get
agreement to raise the fine for that to $2,000. [San Jose Mercury
News-AP, 2-29-96]
* Not a single person voted in the 25th Precinct in Tulsa, Okla.,
in the city council primary in February. The county believes no
one has lived in the precinct for 20 years but operates the polling
place for 12 hours every election day because if someone does
want to vote and can't, the entire election could be negated.
[Daily Oklahoman-AP, 2-7-96]
* Florida state Rep. Marvin Couch (R Oviedo) resigned in
February, a week after he was arrested on three misdemeanor sex
charges. He was caught by police in his car in a shopping center
parking lot at noontime receiving oral sex from a prostitute.
Rep. Couch was a member of a legislators' prayer-meeting group
that called itself the God Squad. [AP wirecopy, 3-1-96]
SEEDS OF OUR DESTRUCTION
* Less noticed than his highly-touted intervention in Bosnia was
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke's help in
February in defusing an imminent war between Greece and
Turkey. The two nations had amassed troops and warships for
full-scale battle over the isle of Imia, a 10-acre rock in the
Aegean Sea, completely uninhabitable except for a few goats.
[Rocky Mountain News-AP, 1-31-96; Greensboro News &
Record-AP, 1-31-96]
* In January, 600 blind "anmasa" (special masseurs and
masseuses) came from all over South Korea to protest a
scheduled TV program that suggested they were prostitutes.
(The anmasa profession is limited to blind people, to give them
an enhanced opportunity to work.) About 100 of the men lined
up along a wall of TV station Channel 11 in mid-day and
urinated on it in protest. [Gulf Times [Qatar], 1-24-96]
* In sociologist Reginald Bibby's 1995 poll of a cross-section of
Canadians, 76% of those asked to name Canada's greatest living
person either responded "no one comes to mind" or declined to
answer. More recently, Toronto's Maclean's magazine
concluded that Canada's most famous person is Pamela Anderson
of "Baywatch." [Globe and Mail, 1-31-96] [World Press Review,
February 1996]
* The village council of Bruntingthorpe, England, began
consideration in February of an elaborate plan to reduce the
amount of dog poop in the town of 200 people (and 30 dogs):
The village would DNA-test the dogs and keep the results on file
for the purpose of matching the DNA to that on any unscooped
dog poop lying around the village, so as to punish scofflaws.
[The Barrie Examiner-CP, 2-26-96]
* Included in the holy matrimonial vows in February by Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his bride, lawyer Mildred
Trouillot: "When you [Mildred] see this ring, think of me and
remember that you are the attorney of the Haitian people."
Mildred responded that Aristide should think of his wedding ring
as a symbol of her love and also a reminder that it was better to
fail by the side of his countrymen than to succeed alone. [The
Nation-Reuters [Bangkok], 2-6-96]
* Dr. Rolando Sanchez, the Tampa, Fla., surgeon with 15
minutes of fame last year for amputating the wrong foot of a
diabetic patient, filed a claim against the city in March over a
recent jogging accident, in which he fell into a hole cut away for
a sprinkler system and broke his arm. [St. Petersburg Times, 3-
13-96]
Copyright 1996, Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.
Released for the entertainment of readers. No commercial use
may be made of the material or of the name News of the Weird.