The Odd Truth, June 29, 2004

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.

Doc Shoots The Messenger

OMAHA, Neb. - The Nebraska Health and Human Services system has revoked the license of a North Platte therapist accused of firing a handgun at a memo that angered him.

Robert Powers, a mental health practitioner and professional counselor, got upset when he received a memo last summer saying only the manager of his office would have the key to certain supply drawers, according to state documents.

Powers took the memo and shot it several times with a .22-caliber handgun before returning it to the office, the document says.

Two days later, he reportedly called the office secretary and said he was too angry to return to work because he "might shoot somebody."

The comment prompted several co-workers to seek protection orders against him.

The state revoked Powers' license to practice as a counselor or therapist on the grounds of unprofessional conduct.

Barbie Porn Wins Court Battle

LOS ANGELES - An artist is winning another round in the case of the naked Barbies. A federal judge is ordering Mattel to pay nearly $2 million in legal fees and court costs to Utah artist Tom Forsythe. He often poses nude Barbies in sexually provocative positions. Forsythe contends he uses the Barbies to criticize "materialistic and gender-oppressive values." A federal appeals court had tossed out Mattel's suit against Forsythe for copyright violations. Now, a federal judge is ordering the toy company to pay the artist's legal bills. A spokeswoman for Mattel says the company is still considering whether to file an appeal in the latest ruling.

Rental Car, With Complimentary Python

MADISON, Wis. - A motorist found a slithery surprise not covered in his rental car agreement when a ball python stuck its head out from between his legs.

"He was completely in shock," said Officer Laura Walker. "I mean he said he was lucky he didn't crash the car."

When Walker and animal control officer Tim Frank arrived to help Sunday, the 2-and-a-half foot constrictor snake was coiled around the seat's base, Walker said.

With some effort, Frank removed the black and gold snake and took it to the Dane County Humane Society, which will put it up for adoption if no one claims it, Frank said.

The man had rented the car the night before and had driven it to Milwaukee and back and around Madison on Sunday, Walker said.

The snake was slightly dehydrated and was probably there for at least a week, Frank said.

The snake was tame and likely hand-reared, Frank said, adding that ball snakes are very common pets.

Sgt. John Radovan said the driver had no idea how or when the snake got into the car.

"Before he left he told the officer that he was going to expect a free car rental," Radovan said.

Unpatriotic Squirrel Caught On Tape

BETTENDORF, Iowa - When yellow ribbons in Bob Saskowski's yard started disappearing, he suspected evil intentions.

"Every time it disappeared, I would hang a new one," said Bob Saskowski, who tied the ribbons with his wife, Alexis, in support of their son and other troops in Iraq.

The disappearances went on for eight months. The last straw was when three ribbons disappeared in three days.

So Bob Saskowski appealed to his neighbors, asking them to talk to their teenagers about respect and patriotism and asked for their help.

"It indicated I needed their eyes to help them watch the trees," he said.

Neighbors responded by adding yellow ribbons to the trees in their yards.

"We all decided if this person was going to pick on Bob, they can pick on all of us. And we literally put ribbons up and down the street," said neighbor Patty Kenyon.

The ribbons kept disappearing, but only from the Saskowski yard.

Finally, the couple set up a video camera, focused on the yard. Six weeks later, they caught the culprit on tape.

The ribbons were being shimmied slowly down the trunk by a squirrel.

"We can laugh now," Saskowski said. "Before, it was not funny."

Space Needle, With Onion Ring

SEATTLE - An advertisement for an onion ring snack is making the folks who protect the Space Needle cry.

The Space Needle Corp. filed suit in federal court against a McCain Snack Foods after the food firm ran an advertisement in Restaurants and Institutions magazine featuring a giant onion ring atop the famous icon.

The ad was to promote the company's Moore's onion rings brand.

The text of the ad read: "With innovative new products like Cracked Black Pepper Battered Onion Rings and Ranch Breaded Onion Rings, Moore's boldly takes your menu to new taste frontiers."

Last week, the Space Needle filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court against McCain.

"We take our image very seriously," said Space Needle spokeswoman Mary Bacarella.

Officials at Appleton, Wis.-based McCain were not reachable for comment Monday by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The Space Needle has held trademarks on the structure's name and image since it was built for the 1962 World's Fair.

FDA Approves Blood-Sucking Leeches

WASHINGTON - The government has lent its seal of approval to marketing an age-old medical device - leeches.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that Ricarimpex SAS, a French firm, is the first company to request and receive FDA clearance to market the bloodsucking aquatic animals as medical devices.

Leeches are already widely used in American hospitals, and companies that raised and sold them here before 1976 were allowed to continue doing so. However, the medical device law passed that year required newcomers to the field to seek approval.

For many people, leeches conjure up the image of Humphrey Bogart removing the bloodsuckers from his legs in African Queen, but FDA reports that leeches can help heal skin grafts by removing blood pooled under the graft and restore blood circulation in blocked veins by removing pooled blood.

Indeed the use of leeches to draw blood goes back thousands of years. They were widely used as an alternative treatment to bloodletting and amputation for several thousand years. Leeches reached their height of medicinal use in the mid-1800s.

FDA noted that today they are used in medicine throughout the world as tools in skin grafts and reattachment surgery.

Medicinal leeches - Hirudo medicinalis - normally make their home in fresh water.

Scots: We're Not Dumb Foreigners

LONDON - Independent Television apologized Tuesday after it was accused of labeling Scots "dumb foreigners" in a prime time program.

Some Scottish viewers were outraged Saturday night to see the Scottish national flag, the Saltire, in the title sequence of the ITV1 program "Dumb Foreigners" that pokes fun at foreign film clips.

Although no Scots were featured in the film, the use of the flag prompted nearly 200 calls of complaint.

"Scots viewers will have been shocked and offended to see the Saltire labeled as the flag belonging to dumb foreigners," said Richard Lochhead, a lawmaker from the Scottish National Party.

The Scottish Saltire Society, which promotes Scottish culture and heritage, said anyone "who insults the Scottish flag deserves to have their knuckles rapped."

ITV said it had received some 80 complaints and the broadcast watchdog group OFCOM logged 105. ITV blamed the problem on a "graphics error."

"Obviously Scotland is not a foreign country and no Scots were featured in the program," a spokeswoman said. "No offense was meant and ITV apologizes for any upset."