The Odd Truth, Oct. 8, 2002

(CBS)  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.

Spare Tire Saves Biker

EDMONTON, Alberta - Canadian authorities say a biker's beef saved his butt. According to police in Edmonton, Alberta, a hefty biker was going whole hog on a stolen Harley. Police called off the chase when speeds hit nearly 90 miles an hour. Moments later, the big guy wiped, went flying through the air and bounced on the pavement a couple of times. The suspect suffered only a mild concussion and some road rash. Doctors say the man's considerable body fat protected him from more serious injuries. After a night in the hospital, he'll be in court today to face charges. (AP)

Purloined Pumpkins

WHITEHALL, New York - A thief in the pumpkin patch has made off with more than a few gourds. Someone has swiped Francis and Margaret Wade's entire crop. The Wades report the veggie-napper stole about three tons of pumpkins from their eight acres in northern New York. They estimate the pumpkin crop was worth about $600 on the wholesale market. Police aren't hopeful about a breakthrough in the case. They note pumpkins don't have serial numbers and it will be tough to I.D. the stolen produce. (AP)

Mounties Take A Bite Out Of Crime

SURREY, British Columbia — The Mounties got their men. What they had trouble getting was a sandwich.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Ed Boettcher and his partner decided to take a sandwich break Monday while on surveillance duty in an unmarked car.

At the restaurant, they checked the license plate on a car parked at a nearby pawn shop, found the car had been reported stolen, followed it and helped arrest the driver and passenger.

Back they went to the sandwich joint, only to find a well-known car thief getting out of a pickup truck. Sure enough, a check of the license showed the truck had been stolen and they arrested the driver.

On his third try, Boettcher finally got inside the sandwich shop, but his partner noticed two men carrying golf bags into the pawn shop. It turned out their car was also stolen and they were eventually arrested as well. (AP)

New York City Cabbie Complaints On The Wane

NEW YORK — The sometimes fractious relationship between New York cabbies and their customers appears to be thawing.

Complaints against taxi drivers have dropped to their lowest level in a decade, New York City officials said Monday.

Passengers filed 10,183 complaints against cabbies during fiscal year 2002, which ended June 30, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. That's down from 12,903 in the prior year and 14,129 in fiscal year 2000.

"We're pleased," said TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus. "We're going to, of course, do even better than we've been doing. But we're on the right track."

Reports of service refusals and overcharges were also down. There were 3,184 complaints of service refusal in fiscal year 2001 but only 2,329 last year. Overcharges dropped from 1,656 in 2001 to 1,225 in 2002.

Daus attributed the drop in complaints against drivers to stricter penalties for bad behavior, positive reinforcement for good behavior and improved training for cabbies.

In 1998 the TLC instituted a mandatory four-hour course for drivers to improve customer relations. (AP)

Elizabeth Dole Campaign Hit With $80 Spam Suit

DURHAM, N.C. — A computer consultant has sued the Senate campaign of Elizabeth Dole for eight unsolicited e-mails he received.

His price to settle? $80.

Ken Pugh, of Durham, filed the lawsuit in Salisbury — where Dole's campaign committee is located — based on a relatively new North Carolina law that allows people to collect $10 for each unsolicited commercial item they receive by e-mail, or spam. A court date has been set for Nov. 18.

"It wouldn't have mattered if the spam mail came from the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Green Party," he said. "This is basically an anti-spam initiative on my part.

"To me, spam is an aggravation and a waste of my time. I am getting more spam mail than regular mail by a far percentage. I am testing the viability of the law to see if it really works and if I can get my money back."

It is unclear whether Pugh's lawsuit is the first test of North Carolina's anti-spam statute. Pugh said such lawsuits are difficult to file because many senders of unsolicited e-mail are out of state and cannot be found.

In an Aug. 26 letter to Pugh, the Dole campaign said that its e-mails are not commercial and thus do not fall under the anti-spam law. But the letter said Dole's campaign respected Pugh's desire to receive no more unsolicited e-mails, he said. (AP)

Wesleyan Fails To Think 'Outside The Box'

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Wesleyan University officials are wiping egg off their faces after scheduling a lecture concerning disabled people in a building that wasn't handicapped accessible.

The situation came to light after Sharon Denson, a West Hartford resident with muscular dystrophy who uses an electric scooter, learned she would not be able to attend Thursday's lecture because of the lack of access.

"I really don't think there was any evil intent," Denson said. "But they just don't think. If you're able-bodied, you don't think about access. You just run up the steps."

Scheduling the lecture at Russell House last week was an error caused by a lack of foresight, Wesleyan spokesman Justin Harmon said.

"One might have anticipated the audience that a 'persons with disabilities' topic might have brought, but we didn't," Harmon said. "We weren't as pro-active as we should have been."

Harmon said the university is working on a plan to bring all its buildings into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. He said it would be a number of years before it's complete. (AP)