The Odd Truth, Jan. 27, 2005

Rhetoric Doesn't Translate; Dead Alive; ID Theft: Not So Bad; More

(CBS/AP)  The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Joey Arak.

Long History Of Hookers

GILBERT, Minn. - Promoting this town's proud history is one thing. Naming the town's festival Gilbert Whorehouse Days is another thing entirely.

A group of angry citizens showed up at a City Council meeting Tuesday to protest the event. The festival's name refers to a time when Gilbert was known for its bars, gambling and “working girls” during Prohibition.

“The damage has been done,” resident Fran Marolt said. “This is not a family-oriented activity.”

The event doesn't include any of the activities that gave the festival its name, but City Council members still don't approve.

“It would give us a black eye,” City Council member Dan Berry said.

Organizers say the festival and its name are meant to bring back a part of history. The festival is planned for two days in July and includes a car show, antique fair and bank robbery reenactment.

“We feel it's got some power to it,” said organizer Lynn Sausman, who's lived in Gilbert for 35 years. “Gilbert has been widely documented to be the biggest red light district on the Iron Range.”


Rhetoric Doesn't Translate

OLYMPIA, Wash. - The secretary of state's message is being lost in translation.

Washington residents say the office's Web-based translation software is creating some odd turns of phrase when it takes the English version of information and puts it into Chinese or Korean.

For example, a statement about Secretary of State Sam Reed proposing “statewide mandates to restore public trust” became “Swampy weed suggests whole state order recover open trust” in Chinese and “A plant reed proposes national mandate to recover public property trust” in Korean.

A Chinese translation option was removed from the Web site on Jan. 12 and Korean got the heave-ho Tuesday without word on whether or when they would be restored.

“It's not a perfect system. It does the best it can,” said Matthew Edwards, the agency's Webmaster. “We pulled it because of the complaints. If it's totally confusing, it's worthless.”


Dead Alive

RALEIGH, N.C. - The body in the morgue was supposed to be dead.

That is, until it took a shallow breath.

A medical examiner in Franklin County, North Carolina, was unzipping a body bag Monday night when he noticed the man inside was breathing very softly.

Emergency medical technicians had declared 29-year-old Larry Green dead almost two hours earlier, after he was hit by a car.

Green was taken to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, where he was reported in critical condition.

Several members of the Franklin County emergency medical service have been suspended pending an investigation.


ID Theft: Not So Bad

SAN FRANCISCO - A new report co-sponsored by the Better Business Bureau turns much of the conventional wisdom about identity theft on its head.

The study maintains that ID fraud is not worsening, that most identities are stolen by low-tech methods, and that much of the theft is committed by a friend, family member or someone else known by the victim.

Javelin Strategy and Research helped to prepare the report, which finds that the number of victims is in decline and that most identity theft begins with a lost or stolen wallet or checkbook. Javelin founder James Van Dyke says fears about online fraud may be exaggerated.

The researchers say the Internet offers tremendous help in stopping ID thieves. Consumers who monitor accounts online reduce their losses by 87 percent, on average.


Homework Lawsuit Slammed

MILWAUKEE - The Wisconsin attorney general says a student's lawsuit to end mandatory summer homework doesn't make the grade.

The state's chief law enforcement official says putting limits on homework is a local issue, not a state one. The attorney general considers the complaint “unmeritorious,” and wants a court to order the student and his dad to cough up lawyers' fees.

A 17-year-old high school junior and his father filed the suit two weeks ago demanding that students be allowed to decide whether to complete summer homework.

The student, Peer Larson, argued that his summer homework was an unnecessary stress, considering he was also working at a demanding job as a camp counselor.


Blame It On The Mouthwash

ADRIAN, Mich. - A Michigan woman has pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges after telling police she drank three glasses of Listerine.

Carol Ries was pulled over after she rear-ended another vehicle at a red light in January. She passed one breathalyzer test, but failed another that used different equipment.

Police found a bottle of Listerine in her car. She told them she had drunk three glasses of the mouthwash earlier in the day. Police say her blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit.

According to Listerine manufacturer Pfizer's Web site, original formula Listerine contains 26-point-nine percent alcohol, while other varieties contain 21-point-six percent alcohol.

Ries could face up to 93 days in jail. Prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of having an open intoxicant in the vehicle.


School Has Tons Of Twins

FREDONIA, N.Y. - Teachers at Fredonia High School in western New York are counting by twos. The school has seven sets of twins in the freshman class. That's earned Fredonia High a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. The official Guinness certificate has been sent to district officials, who'll put it on display in the high school. Kim Robbins is the mother of one set of those twins. She says there could have been two more sets of twins in Fredonia's freshman class. One set transferred to a private school. Another pair of twins who moved from Australia were put in a different grade.


Subscriptions To Skyrocket

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Editors of a Dutch magazine are hoping to plant the seeds of higher circulation -- with free pot seeds. Each copy of the weekly has a baggie with two seeds inside. Editor-in-Chief Mark Koster says the stunt is to draw attention to the latest issue, which advocates legalizing pot and other drugs. While Holland is famous for tolerating pot smoking, possession is still technically illegal. Koster says prosecutors haven't been on the magazine's case about the pot seed give-away. But several major supermarket chains have either removed the seeds or kept the issue off shelves.


Fresh Love, Stale Cake

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. - Bettie and Elwood “Woody” Vogel have more to show than just pictures of their wedding 50 years ago. They've got some of their wedding cake, too. They saved the yellow and white top of the cake from their wedding day in 1955. It's been in the freezer all these years. They have some of their 25th anniversary cake, too. The Scottsbluff, Nebraska, couple will celebrate their golden anniversary this Sunday. The Vogels say they plan to eat some of both cakes at the party.