The Odd Truth, Sept. 27, 2003

Fried Mouse; Snacks For Sex; Ferrari Theft; Identity Theft Backfire

(CBS/AP)  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.

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Deep Fried Mouse

BALTIMORE - No, it's not the other dark meat. A patron of a Popeye's restaurant in Baltimore says he bit into a mouse that had been fried along with the chicken. Tony Hill says he was eating the second piece of his three-piece meal when he made the unappetizing discovery. He filed a complaint with the health department. Officials say that same restaurant has been closed twice before for infestation or unsanitary conditions. Inspectors checked the place yesterday and didn't find any rodents. But officials say they'll be back.

'Sex For Snacks' In Court

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania - The sex for snacks case is going to trial after all. Eileen Mayfield is a former Pennsylvania jail guard who allegedly bribed male inmates for sex - by giving them candy and cigarettes. The state Supreme Court has overturned a lower court ruling that tossed out the charges against her. A county judge ruled the inmates consented to the sex acts. But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered that she stand trail for violating the state's institutional sexual-assault law. Mayfield was a jail guard in Montgomery County for 18 years. Her lawyer says she's innocent of any crime.

Ferrari Stolen During Test Drive

ARDMORE, Pa. - Where do you hide a $729,000 Ferrari during rush hour?

That's what police in the Philadelphia suburbs want to know, after a con man drove off with a red Ferrari F50 during a test drive. The Ferrari F50 - which can hit 60 mph in less than 4 seconds and tops out at 203 mph - hasn't been seen since.

Police theorize it was hustled into a trailer and quickly shipped overseas for sale on the black market.

The salesman from Algar Ferrari in Rosemont first took the prospective buyer for a spin, then let him get behind the wheel. During the test drive, the man - clean-cut and sporting a shirt, tie and apparent Rolex watch - pulled to the side of the road and asked the salesman to drive back to the dealership.

When the salesman got out, the thief sped off.

Police were summoned, but never spotted the vehicle. Now they're looking for the con man, described as a 6-foot, slender white male with reddish-brown hair and glasses.

Police are also exploring whether the case is tied to similar Ferrari thefts in North Carolina and Long Island, N.Y.

When Identity Theft Backfires

CLINTON, Conn. - A good rule of thumb for an identity thief is not to steal the name of someone whose reputation is worse than yours - such as a sex offender.

Police said James Perry stole the name and identity of a neighbor who turned out to be a convicted sex offender.

Perry stole the identity of Robert Kowalski in order to obtain a drivers license, police said. Perry was living in Florida at the time and Kowalski was his neighbor.

Perry had four drunken driving arrests, which he believed would make it difficult to get a license legally in Connecticut, police said.

Perry moved to Connecticut about a year ago and things went well until Perry was arrested for disorderly conduct.

A routine computer check found that “Kowalski” was a convicted sex offender in Michigan and not registered as required with the state of Connecticut.

Every bit of identification in his possession labeled the suspect as “Kowalski,” but man himself was adamant that he was not a convicted sex offender, police said.

Finally, a check of his fingerprints revealed “Kowalski” to be James Perry.

Perry was released from Superior Court in Middletown Thursday on a promise to appear for his next court date Oct. 10 on charges of criminal impersonation, with charges of identity theft and forgery.

Grizzley Bear Victim Duct-Tapes Wounds

WASILLA, Alaska - A 54-year-old hunter says he can laugh about it now - but he sure wasn't laughing then.

Bill Murphy survived an attack by a grizzly bear this month while he was hunting on a remote trail in Alaska.

Murphy says he used duct tape to bind his bite wounds, then rode an all-terrain vehicle to his pick-up truck and drove himself to a hospital. The hunter says the attack happened when he surprised a grizzly cub and its mother.

He says the mother bear quickly pinned him face-down, clamping her jaws around his shoulder and shaking him like a rag. He says he felt teeth pressing on his skin - then a “pop” as they sliced through.

The bear then let go, standing over Murphy and panting and drooling on his head. It then moved away. Murphy says he has no idea how long the attack lasted - but says it felt like “two lifetimes.”

The Mothman Of Point Pleasant

POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. - Mayor Jim Wilson was skeptical that a 37-year-old legend about a red-eyed, winged apparition would draw visitors to this Ohio River town.

But, after seeing a steady stream of tourists looking for all things Mothman, Wilson is a believer. “I don't care why they're coming, as long as they are,” Wilson said. “If they want Mothman, then we'll give them Mothman.”

Point Pleasant has embraced the local legend, holding an annual Mothman Festival this year, and, recently erecting a metal statue on a downtown street.

Some people think the statue is too realistic.

“It's those eyes. When it's dark and you put a light on them, they just come right back at you,” said Charles Humphreys, director of Point Pleasant's Main Street program. “They look alive. Even if you've seen it before, it kind of makes you jump.”

The first Mothman sighting was reported Nov. 15, 1966. Others later came forward to say they had seen a gray creature, standing 7 feet tall, with bright red eyes and wings like a bird. The sightings ended abruptly Dec. 15, 1967, when the Silver Bridge collapsed, killing 45 people.

The 2002 movie, “The Mothman Prophecies,” was based on the Point Pleasant-area legend.

Never Fear, The Mayor's Here?

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - As if Hudson County politics weren't colorful enough, Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham is publishing his own comic book, “The Adventures of Mayor-Man.”

Released amid Cunningham's bid for state Senate and paid for by a campaign committee, the comic transforms his real-life experience as a U.S. Marine, police captain and U.S. marshal into the stuff of a fiscally responsible, child-friendly super hero.

The premier issue of Mayor-Man opens with Cunningham working alone late one rainy day, trying “keep taxes low for the people,” and “find more money for programs for kids,” when his wife, known as “Lady One,” bursts into his office.

“Mayor, a young kid is in trouble. He needs your help,” she says. “I think this is a job for Mayor-Man.”

The mayor, soon hit with a pulse of energy, blasts out of City Hall, flying through the roof and into the sky, Superman-style, before swooping down just in time to snatch a child from the path of a speeding car.

In two other sequences, Mayor-Man catches an escaped prisoner and unifies a crowd hotly divided over the war in Iraq.

The 10,000 copies Cunningham plans to print will be distributed in places where children gather other than schools.

Cunningham said he doesn't think of himself as a superhero. For adults, the comic book is “tongue-in-cheek,” he said.

Caught On Their Own Trap

LONDON - Police running a speed trap in Britain have caught some of their own. Officers in North Wales say their automatic radar cameras have clocked more than 100 police vehicles breaking the speed limit over the last year. Most of the bobbies were on emergency calls. But in a dozen cases, the officers had no excuse. So, they've been fined the standard 60 pounds - about $100. The speeding cops are an embarrassment to Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom. He has described speeders as “anti-social” and “criminals.”

Something Stinks, And It Ain't The Trash

DETROIT - There was more than trash in a Canadian garbage truck. U.S. Customs agents say they found a ton of marijuana hidden in the truck. The garbage truck was en route to a Michigan landfill. Customs spokeswoman Cherise Miles says a Gamma-ray scanner detected what she calls anomalies in the garbage. Miles says when the truck was opened for inspection, a garbage bag full of pot fell out. Agents found many more bags filled with the illegal weed. The driver, who's from India, is now being held pending formal charges. Some state lawmakers say the garbage pot scheme is reason enough to halt dumping Canadian trash in U.S. landfills.

Late Communist Dictator's Booze Goes Missing

BUCHAREST, Romania - A mystery surrounding the disappearance of gallons of brandy and hundreds of barrels of fine wines owned by late communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu has been laid to rest after a brief and inconclusive probe.

Referring to a recent parliamentary inquiry, Romanian newspapers reported Thursday that the large stock of alcohol stored in Ceausescu's giant palace had been flushed away after it had turned bad.

They quoted Petre Florin, the barman at parliament, which was responsible for the vintage collection. A spokesman for parliament, who refused to be named, confirmed the report without providing further details.

However, there was some suspicion the spirits may have been illegally sold or otherwise disposed of.

“I know that Romania has problems in producing consistently good wines,” said Eugen Nicolaescu, a spokesman for the opposition Liberal Party, adding that it was possible the wines and brandies were stolen.

“I do think the investigation was treated superficially,” he said.

Dorin Stoica, a wine producer at the Prahova Valley company, said that wine and even brandy can turn bad and unusable when wrongly stored over time, but he also voiced his doubts.

“The easiest way for (alcoholic) drinks to disappear is for them to be drunk,” he said.

Parliament recently had set up a panel to investigate what happened to the vintage wine, which belonged to Ceausescu's State Council. Ceausescu was toppled and executed during the 1989 anti-communist revolt.

The panel accepted the version of those in charge of the alcohol stock, which included 200 bottles of brandy, 290 bottles of apricot brandy, 240 bottles of pear brandy and 225 barrels of red wine.

David Blaine, Eat Your Heart Out

MONROE, La. - A cat locked in a house for two months without food or water was rescued after concerned citizens searched the home one last time.

Cecil the cat was "nothing but skin and bones" when rescuers found him hiding under a chair last month.

"He was so little and weak," said Elizabeth Hollenberg.

Cecil was treated at a veterinarian's office, where he was weighed at five pounds.

Veterinarian Dr. Clark Cooper of West Monroe said it is possible for a cat to survive without food and water for more than eight weeks. "But he would have had to have been one fat son-of-gun to start with," Cooper said.

Cecil and more than 30 other cats and a dog became orphans when their owner, Mary Ethridge Dean, died June 19 after a lengthy illness.
Dean didn't have children, and before her death she made arrangements to ensure her animals were cared for.

Rescuers were able to save the other animals, but Cecil was the only one to remain undetected.

Dean left $30,000 for a coffin and headstone for each animal.

Bras: Not Just For Breasts Anymore

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - A downtown merchant wanted to draw city officials' attention to the dead tree outside his store.

He got it.

Keith Howarth hung at least 50 brassieres Wednesday from the branches of the tree outside Noir Leather, an avant-garde clothing store and longtime fixture in this Detroit suburb.

Howarth, 49, told the Detroit Free Press he hoped the multicolored cotton and Spandex garments - which are for sale at Noir - would prompt city officials to replace the leafless ash tree.

The tree was healthy until city workers replaced adjoining sidewalk pavers and “covered up whatever cracks the tree was living off of for water,” he said.

The city will try to inspect Howarth's tree in coming weeks, said Tom Trice, recreation and public services director. But Trice said the tree more likely fell victim to the emerald ash borer, an insect blamed for killing or damaging millions of ash trees in southeast Michigan.

Royal Oak already has cut down hundreds of ash trees and can't afford to replace them, Trice said.

Angry Patient Sues Doctor For Apology

LAS VEGAS - A patient infuriated that he was kept waiting three hours for a doctor's appointment has gotten what he wanted: an apology.

“I'm happy. That's exactly what I was looking for,” said patient Aristotelis Belavilas, 58. “He should have apologized in the beginning.”

Belavilas, of Las Vegas, won a $250 judgment earlier this year after filing a $5,000 small claim against Dr. Ty Weller.

The case sparked a national debate about waiting room etiquette, and fueled physician concerns that it would set a costly precedent.

Weller, a pain management specialist in Las Vegas, did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment. His lawyer, Monica Pierce, said Weller was satisfied with the settlement and would drop his appeal.

Weller had said he became overbooked when he scheduled Belavilas for a back pain injection on Feb. 25. He insisted he was trying to accommodate Belavilas before Belavilas left on vacation.

Belavilas complained that his appointment was for 2 p.m., but Weller didn't show up until 5:15 p.m.

In a letter to Belavilas, Weller said he was sorry he missed the appointment and apologized for not appearing more sensitive when he arrived.

Cheers, Big Ears

NEW YORK - They drag into his food. Sometimes, he even trips over them.

Now they're getting an earful of attention. Mr. Jeffries the Bassett Hound has been named by the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the dog with the largest ears in the world. Measured at 11.5 inches, the hound's ears flap in the wind and can swat away flies.

And according to his owner, Phil Jeffries of West Sussex, England, the hound's ears are insured for $47,800.

Though Mr. Jeffries makes big bucks as a model and a television star, the hound is not the only big dog of the family. Mr. Jeffries is the grandson of Biggles, the famous face of Hush Puppies shoes.

The dog-eared champion's full name is Knightsfollie Ladiesman, the owner said.

Pumpkin Passion

WOOSTER, Ohio - One pumpkin growing on Winston Wyckoff III's farm might be Ohio's biggest, ever.

Wyckoff, 40, farms nearly 1,000 acres in Wayne County with his father, along with some helpers. He plans to take the great pumpkin in his truck to Barnesville in Belmont County for the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival competition this weekend.

Wyckoff has a hunch this one could come in at 1,200 pounds.

If it does, it would be Ohio's biggest recorded pumpkin, beating the 1,140-pounder that Dave Stelts of Leetonia grew in 2000.

“I have not slept well since the end of August” out of concern about his pumpkin's safety, he said.

He worries the recent rain may cause the pumpkin to split.

Tuesday night, with the temperature predicted to drop into the 40s, Wyckoff planned to cover it with eight blankets.

Wyckoff won the Barnesville competition the last two years, with a 797.5-pound pumpkin last year and an 844-pounder the year before. Wyckoff is the eighth generation to farm on what is Wayne County's oldest farm continuously operated by one family.

Smuggler Straps Deadly Snakes To Legs

SYDNEY, Australia - A Swedish man tried to smuggle eight dangerous snakes into Australia by strapping them to his legs, customs officials said Wednesday.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said 28-year-old Per Johann Adolfsson arrived at Sydney airport from Thailand on Monday night. He was searched by customs officers who discovered the reptiles in packages strapped to his calves.

The snakes included four deadly King Cobras - which died during the nine-hour flight - and four non-venomous emerald tree boas. The surviving snakes were handed over to the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.

Ellison said the man has been charged with illegally importing animals and was refused bail during an appearance at Sydney's Waverley Local Court on Tuesday.

He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $73,000 fine, or both.

“Animals and plants smuggled in from overseas may introduce new diseases that are currently absent in Australia, or they may end up being dumped by the owners and spread as new feral pests or weeds,” Ellison said in a statement. “This detection ... sends a clear warning to those who may seek to breach Australia's laws at the border.”

Study: Dogs Can Sense Imminent Earthquakes

TOKYO - A Japanese researcher claims that dogs can sense imminent earthquakes and that observing their behavior could improve prediction efforts.

Kiyoshi Shimamura, a public health doctor, said that during years of practice he noticed a jump in dog bites and other dog-related complaints around times that earthquakes occurred.

Shimamura said his observations prompted him to examine the records of such complaints from 12 public health centers in parts of western Japan affected by a 1995 Kobe earthquake that killed more than 6,000 people.

He said accounts of dogs barking excessively, biting and displaying other unusual behavior spiked by about 18 percent in the two months before and after the magnitude-7.2 quake.

Records at three centers on Awaji Island, which was above the epicenter, showed a 60 percent increase in the month prior to the earthquake compared to a year earlier, he said.

“The results, which were collected from a wide range of data, can be linked to earthquake prediction,” said Shimamura, who is not a seismology expert but specializes in statistical analysis.

His results will be presented to the Seismological Society of Japan next month.

The city of Tokyo spent years in the 1990s researching whether catfish behavior could be used to predict earthquakes, but abandoned the study as inconclusive.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, sitting atop four tectonic plates. Citizens live in fear of a massive quake striking highly populated cities.

'Random Act Of Kindness' Quickly Becomes Bomb Scare

ATHENS, Ga. - A church youth group attempting a “random act of kindness” is claiming responsibility for a bomb scare that emptied city hall Monday morning.

A package of candy the group left for someone to find in a decorative cannon instead brought the Athens-Clarke police bomb squad, which blew up the offering of taffy and Jolly Rancher hard candies.

“We take full responsibility for this,” said Tara Bulger, youth director for the First Presbyterian Church of Athens.

The box of candy was one of several that middle school-aged church members planted in the downtown area as part of an exercise in altruism, Bulger explained on Tuesday. Attached to each package of candy was a tag that read, “Random act of kindness.”

“I just thought it was a good way for the children to put some kindness into the community,” Bulger said.

At about 10:45 a.m. Monday, a city hall employee reported seeing a suspicious package in the old cannon.

Within minutes, police ordered the evacuation of city hall and cordoned off the area for more than two hours.

The bomb squad used a robot to remove the package from the cannon, then blow it up with a shotgun.

Bulger said the event will now be used to teach her students a different lesson than she originally intended.

“We'll talk with the children about how things don't always turn out like they're planned,” she said.

Museum Worker Steals Hundreds Of Exhibits For Home

SYDNEY, Australia - Talk about taking your work home with you.

A Sydney museum worker stole thousands of exhibits - including a stuffed lion - and displayed them in his home, an anti-corruption board revealed in a report Wednesday.

Hank van Leeuwen, who worked at the Australian Museum, stole more than 2,000 rare and scientific artifacts between 1997 and 2002, according to the report by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

The report said Van Leeuwen even used museum vehicles to remove specimens - which included skulls, skeletons and skins - and displayed in his home a large stuffed lion that was first exhibited in the museum in 1911.

Most of the items were recovered from Van Leeuwen's home in northwest Sydney, while others were recovered from the homes of two associates and his daughter.

The anti-corruption watchdog said it was clear that Van Leeuwen had intended to establish his own private natural sciences museum.

Commissioner Irene Moss recommended to the New South Wales state Director of Public Prosecutions that Van Leeuwen be charged with theft for “engaging in conduct that was corrupt.”

The Australian Museum, established in 1827, was the nation's first museum and includes unique and extensive collections of natural science and cultural artifacts.

Loan Shark Blues

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A Taiwanese man robbed a bank with a toy gun on Tuesday, but waited to be arrested instead of running away, claiming he wanted to be jailed to avoid repaying a loan shark, police said.

When police arrived at the bank, they said they found 45-year-old Chiang Tu-cheng sitting in a chair holding $6,800 in cash from the bank in the southern city of Chiayi.

Police said Chiang told them he did not mean to rob the bank, but he wanted police to arrest him so he did not have to face the loan shark.

But police doubted his claim.

"If we had not arrived so soon, perhaps he would have grabbed the money and run away," said police officer, who would only give his surname, Lee.

Librarians Bitten During Attempted Robbery

CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. - Being a librarian in this small college town 40 miles west of Indianapolis is a dangerous job.

Librarians Debbie Barry and Christina Crouch were bitten by a woman as they tried to stop her from stealing $70 from the public library's cash drawer.

Barry said a man tried to distract her Saturday while a woman grabbed the money and fled.

Barry and Crouch chased the woman outside and wrestled with her while library patrons called police. The woman bit Crouch on the chest and Barry's thumb before the man pulled her free and they ran off.

"When I grabbed her it was kind of stupid," Barry said. "What I should have done was yanked her hair and sat on her, but I didn't think of it at the time."

Anna M. Davis, 24, and her live-in boyfriend, Kevin T. Kamradt, 25, were caught a few minutes later, police Officer Bob Rivers said. An officer at the Montgomery County Jail reported finding $71 on Davis.

Davis and Kamradt were jailed Monday on robbery and battery charges.

Crouch and Barry were treated for their injuries and returned to work Monday.

Larry Hathaway, director of the Crawfordsville District Public Library, said the library's cash drawer had been moved from a desk in the main foyer after three thefts in recent months.

"I tell the librarians not to try to argue with robbers," Hathaway said.

Woman Outlives Tombstone

RICHLAND CENTER, Wis. - A woman who outlived the inscription on her tombstone died at the age of 101 after a company corrected the monument for free.

Gladys Briggs' tombstone in Basswood Cemetery listed her birth year of 1901 and "19" for the century in which she was expected to die.

She said in August at the time that she never thought she would outlive the 20th century when she bought the stone with her second husband, Buford, who died in 1968. "No I sure didn't," she said. "Who ever would have thought that way back then?"

The Krause Monument Co. erased the incorrect century from her stone for free.

Briggs, who died peacefully Friday, had a hand in planning her own funeral. She picked out her dress and her favorite hymns, "Ivory Palaces" and "Amazing Grace."

Drunken Drivers Issued Bumper Stickers

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Some convicted drunken drivers in the Florida Panhandle have been ordered to put bumper stickers on their cars asking, "How's my driving? ... The judge wants to know!!!"

Escambia County Judge William White said he hopes the bumper stickers, which include an identification number for each driver and a toll-free phone number, will reduce repeat offenses for driving under the influence of alcohol.

"We want to influence people to correct their behavior rather than just use this as sort of a monitoring system," White said.

White said he tried to use bumper stickers saying only "Convicted DUI" in the past simply to shame violators. He hopes the call-in stickers will be a stronger deterrent.

"I see this as providing very little deterrent," lawyer Richard Alvoid said. "Punishment should be enough rather than also shaming people."

But insurance adjuster Doug Meyers sees merit in the judge's order.

"If people are embarrassed, they shouldn't drink and drive," Meyers said.

Man Married, Sentenced To Prison In Same Sitting

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - A judge performed a wedding ceremony for an inmate and his fiancée, moments after sentencing the groom to more time in prison for hiding marijuana in his underwear.

Chester County Judge Paula Francisco Ott added 6 to 23 months to Marcus Tian Washington's prison term, then asked a deputy sheriff to uncuff his right hand so she could officiate the marriage.

Ott asked the bride, 19-year-old Timalin Douglass, several times whether she wanted to go ahead with the wedding. Douglass, who wore a beaded wedding gown, told the judge "yes" and later said she was optimistic about relocating and "getting away from the wrong people and places."

Washington, 25, was caught with marijuana inside Chester County Prison while awaiting sentencing on separate charges. He was sentenced to 4 to 8 years in prison for striking a man in the head with a beer bottle at a Phoenixville tavern and then shooting at him in July 2002.

Lulu To The Rescue

MELBOURNE, Australia - An unlikely hero hopped onto the scene when a farmer suffered serious head injuries after being hit by a falling branch.

The hero? A partially blind pet kangaroo.

The eastern gray kangaroo, Lulu, stood guard over Len Richards' unconscious body Sunday and “barked like a dog” to get help, the farmer's daughter said.

“She was obviously trying to get our attention because she never acts like that,” said Celeste Richards, 17.

“It went on for about 15 minutes, so we went outside to investigate and we saw Lulu standing upright with her chest puffed out over Dad's body. If it wasn't for her, my Dad could have died - Lulu is my hero,” she added.

Richards, 52, was checking his property in Morwell, southeast Australia, for damage following a severe storm when he was struck by a falling branch and knocked unconscious.

The kangaroo, which has just one eye, was adopted by the family about 10 years ago when they found her in the pouch of her mother, who had been killed by a car.

“Lulu and Dad are very close and she follows him around, but we all just love her so much,” Celeste said.

Animal rights group the RSPCA urged the family to nominate Lulu for its National Bravery Award.

“From my point of view it's a darn good story and I would hope that Lulu is nominated,” said RSPCA president Dr. Hugh Wirth. Click Here to watch the video.

800 Pigs Hog Highway

MIDWEST CITY, Oklahoma - A tractor-trailer rig overturned sending more than 800 pigs onto Interstate 40 in Midwest City last Thursday. Officials say several pigs died in the crash.

The pigs were traveling in a vented livestock trailer hauled by John Heard of Liberal, Kansas. Officials say the trucker's log indicated the load came from Smith Farms in Kansas and was on its way to Georgia.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper James Watson says the load spilled when Heard crashed the truck into the highway's retaining wall.

He says the rig landed on its side and slid about 200 feet before stopping. It was struck by a passenger vehicle.

Heard's wife was sleeping in the cab when the accident occurred.

The patrol says injuries were minor.

The stretch of I-40 was closed until late afternoon, while officials worked to clear the pigs from the highway.

Thai School Discourages 'Distracting' Mini Skirts

BANGKOK, Thailand - Officials at Bangkok University in Thailand want the female students to show a little less leg. The dress code requires students to wear white shirts and black skirts or trousers. But some of the coeds flaunt the regs by wearing tight blouses and mini skirts. Now, the school will offer three sets of diamond pendants and gold necklaces to students who dress modestly. The so-called “well-dressed” students will be eligible for a monthly drawing for the jewelry. School authorities claim the revealing uniforms distract male students and put the women in danger. But the Bangkok Post finds many of the coeds say they'll continue to dress fashionably tight.

Activists Suspected In Massive Mink Raid

HELSINKI, Finland - Unidentifed intruders released more than 7,000 minks from their cages in the middle of the night, the biggest raid on a mink farm in Finland, farmers and officials said Monday.

Police were alerted to the minks around 3 a.m. by a passer-by, Detective Chief Inspector Erkki Kerola said.

“We got a call from a person who said the area was swarming with minks,” he told The Associated Press.

No one claimed responsibility for freeing the animals, which are used to make fur coats, Kerola said, but animal rights activists previously have released thousands of minks and foxes in 60 attacks on fur farms since 1995, claiming it's cruel to keep them in cages.

“This was by far the biggest attack on a fur farm in this country,” said Leif Finne, head of a fur farmer association. “The farm had almost 8,000 animals and all the cages were opened.”

Some of the escaped minks were shot because they were injured.

“This is an ecological catastrophe,” said Paivi Mononen-Mikkila, from Finnish Fur Sales. “Minks will eat most anything smaller than themselves so birds and other wildlife are in danger.”

In recent years, animal-rights groups have increased their activity in the Nordic region and thousands of mink have been set free in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

Danish police suspected animal rights activists because the Danish acronym for the Animal Liberation Front was painted on a wall at the farm. No one was arrested.

Denmark is the world's biggest exporter of mink pelts.