The Odd Truth, Dec. 19, 2002
The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.
Cold-Blooded Killers
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - A camera recorded the attacks that can only be described as cold-hearted, if not cold-blooded.
The video shows a group of pen-wielding vandals repeatedly puncturing two inflatable snowmen in this Florida Panhandle resort city. A third attack was reported outside the camera's view.
"They stabbed Frosty in the heart," snowman owner Mike Mitchell said Monday. "To me, it's just totally against the spirit of Christmas."
Around Halloween, decorations in the yard of a neighbor across the street also had been vandalized. Upon putting up Christmas decorations, the neighbor installed a surveillance camera that caught the stabbings in both yards.
Mitchell suspects the same culprits are responsible for the Halloween and Christmas attacks, linking the two holidays in a way reminiscent of the 1993 fright-film "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
The tape has been turned over to Bay County sheriff's investigators. They had hoped to enhance the video to read license plate numbers and identify faces, but so far have been unable to do so, said sheriff's spokeswoman Ruth Sasser.
Mitchell is unsure of how he would like to see the snowman assassins punished.
"I just hope it's some lesson for them that vandalism is not cool, especially this time of year," he said.
Domino's Unfortunate New Topping
WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Two people claim their Domino's pizza had a truly disgusting topping -- pubic hair. Michael Widrick and Rhonda LaParr of Watertown, New York, are suing Domino's. They charge they got small, wiry hairs stuck in their teeth as they eat the pizza. Widrick had a previous run-in with a Domino's franchise employee, who's also named in the suit. Widrick and LaParr want DNA testing of the alleged pubic hair and the employee. The franchise owner isn't objecting to the DNA request. The suit asks for a total of $300,000 -- for mental distress and other damages.
Pentagon To Develop B.O. Identification
NEW YORK - You stink -- whether you know it or not. Now, the Pentagon wants to be able to ID people by their B.O. fingerprints. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- or DARPA -- is offering more than $3 million to develop a technology to identify people by their unique, genetically determined odor. The grant is to determine if such a device is technologically possible. Sound farfetched? Well, DARPA is the federal agency that developed the Internet.
Ex-Fans Struggle To Unload Bengals Tickets
CINCINNATI - How bad are the Bengals? So bad you can't even give away tickets. Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Monzel says he wasn't able to unload his family's tickets to the NFL's worst team -- and he's not alone. Now, the councilman is suggesting the tickets go to underprivileged youngsters. Team officials say more than 10,000 seats were empty last Sunday, as fans simply didn't show up for the game. The Bengals lost to Jacksonville, 29-to-15. Monzel is urging fans to donate their tickets to the last home game this weekend, so they can be distributed to local community centers. Of course, some wags suggest having kids watch the Bengals could be considered child abuse.
Holiday Guilt Gets The Best Of Jewelry Thief
LINCOLN, Neb. — A thief with a conscience mailed back a gold wedding band and earrings to the jewelry store where he or she stole them 34 years ago.
A letter to Sartor Hamann Jewelry accompanied the traditional woman's wedding band, size 7, and a pair of pearl earrings with gold posts, tiny diamonds and dangling pearls.
"Enclosed are two items that I stole from you in 1968. I'm very sorry and I should not have taken your property," it said. "The pieces belong to you NOT me. I was wrong and I want to apologize for my actions."
Store owner Don Hamann said the letter that arrived Tuesday did not have a signature. The only telltale sign was a Boys Town, Neb., postmark.
"It's kind of interesting," Hamann said. "What must have gone through the person's mind after what, 34 years?"
The package provided few clues. The 18-karat gold ring appeared worn even though it had been polished, he said.
The earrings on close examination appeared to be costume jewelry, a brand the store normally wouldn't carry.
It was the first time Hamann could remember a stolen item being returned voluntarily.
Swift, Decisive End For Burglar
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Mistake one: ripping off a house. Mistake two: ripping off the house of a police captain. Oklahoma City police Captain Rob Kemmet says he was relaxing on the couch after working the night shift, when he heard his front door open. Kemmet says he then saw someone going through the presents under his Christmas tree. That's when Kemmet jumped off his couch and grabbed Larry Powers. Kemmet says Powers tried to put up a struggle, but didn't get very far. Now, Powers faces a burglary charge.
'O Canada' Takes On Whole New Meaning
CALGARY, Alberta - Oh, no! That's not "O' Canada." Students at a Canadian high school got an unintended lesson in sex education during the national anthem the other morning. Someone spliced 30 seconds of hardcore porn into the "O Canada" video that plays on TV's in every classroom at Springbank high school in Calgary, Alberta. School officials are offering a $300 reward for the capture of the porno prankster. Principal Alf Gould isn't sure how the dirty deed was done, without anyone noticing the tape had been removed and altered. He says the prankster faces suspension if caught.
Convict Couple Gets Hitched In The Clink
LANDER, Wyo. - David Marple and Brenda Johnson won't forget their wedding night. No honeymoon suite for this couple -- they slept in separate cells. The couple is charged with running a drug lab and they've been held in the Fremont County, Wyoming, jail for nearly a year, while awaiting trail. But they did receive permission to get married. Sheriff-elect Skip Hornecker says marriage is a constitutional right which they try to honor, security permitting. But there are no conjugal visits for the newlyweds. Hornecker says the only time the bride and groom get to spend together is during the actual ceremony.