The Odd Truth, Aug. 12. 2003
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.
Rags To Riches
CARSON, Calif. - Patricia Frierson is leaving her motel room behind in favor of a beach house after winning the $91 million California Lottery jackpot.
"No more motels," she told reporters Monday. "A house by the ocean, that's what I'm dreaming of."
The 55-year-old factory worker had the sole winning ticket for Saturday night's SuperLotto Plus game. The jackpot had grown to $91 million after several drawings failed to draw a grand prize winner.
Frierson chose to receive her money in annual pretax payments rather than a lump sum, so she'll receive about $2.3 million a year for the next 26 years.
She bought her winning ticket Saturday afternoon at a liquor store down the block from an Econolodge motel she had moved to three years ago when she could no longer afford her town home.
After Saturday night's drawing she took an "emergency leave" from her job and moved to a secret location to avoid people looking for handouts. She said she has also received a marriage proposal.
Aside from buying a home with an ocean view in Long Beach, Frierson plans on using her winnings to purchase a Corvette and travel to Hawaii and Jamaica.
When she won she was in the process of buying a home, and she said she'll give that one to her daughter.
Square Dance King
NORFOLK, Neb. - A lot of do-si-dos have passed since Dale Muehlmeier thought he had set a world record.
Muehlmeier was finally informed last weekend by Guinness World Records Ltd. of London that he set a world record for square dance calling - more than three years ago.
Muehlmeier called a square dance for 28 hours for an American Cancer Society benefit in a discount store's parking lot from May 26 to May 27, 2000.
"Please accept our apologies for the delay in sending out this certificate to you," Guinness' Louise Whetter said in a letter dated July 31 to Muehlmeier. No explanation for the three-year delay was given.
While the paperwork confirmed his world record, it does not guarantee automatic entry into the next published edition - a decision is left to the book's managing editors, Muehlmeier said.
Muehlmeier wasn't fazed by either the delay or the long night calling, except for being a little hoarse.
That, however, wasn't enough to stop him from square dancing for more than two hours after setting the record.
Luck Of The Draw
NEW BRITAIN, Connecticut - A freak mishap is a lucky break for lots of Connecticut Lottery players. Last Friday, two balls got stuck in the number chute and didn't make it into the mixing chamber with the rest of the number balls. Now, lottery officials say they'll pay Cash Five players with any combination of the winning numbers - plus the stuck ball numbers. The winning combination was 1-2-9-24-33 - and the stuck balls were numbers 18 and 27. The payout could be more than $400,000 with nearly 6,000 winning tickets. The usual Cash Five payout is around a $140,000. Lottery officials say they're investigating the sticky situation.
Powell Announces State Department Softball Victory
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell proudly announced Monday that the State Department had won the U.S. government interagency softball tournament to become league champions for 2003.
"We're No. 1 in the Bush-Cheney softball league," a beaming Powell told reporters outside the department after seeing off a U.N. visitor.
In taking the title, State did not have to face its inside-the-Beltway rival, the Defense Department.
"I have a note here," deputy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said at his briefing after announcing the result of the tournament and displaying a trophy. "If asked. The Defense Department did not make the playoffs. Sorry guys."
Reeker said State was seeded eighth in a field of 11 teams and won four games Saturday, triumphing over the Commerce, Justice and Labor Departments and the Environmental Protection Agency, 14-1, to take the title.
Jamaica Fines Rapper For Foul Language
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica - Rapper Sean Paul pleaded guilty to using profanity during Montego Bay's Reggae Sumfest last month and paid a Jamaican $2,000 ($40) fine.
Defense attorney Tom Taveres-Finson told Judge Valrie Stephens Monday that Paul was sorry, but the judge demanded an apology from the rapper.
"I apologize to the Montego Bay people," Paul told Judge Valrie Stephens. "I promise that this won't happen again, so I do not have to come again to waste the court's time."
The court date was set for Sept. 1, but Taveres-Finson said Paul requested an earlier date to put the incident behind him.
"He broke his tour to come to court today because he wanted to get the matter over with," he said.
The rapper, whose real name is Sean Paul Henriques and who is riding the Billboard charts, paid the fine shortly after exiting the courtroom, then signed autographs for fans waiting outside before being whisked away in a van.
His July performance was laced with expletives, which are illegal in public in Jamaica, police said.
'Operation Green Lantern' Nabs Comic Thieves
MARGATE, Fla. - "Operation Green Lantern" has helped police nab two armed robbers who allegedly stole about $4,000 worth of vintage comic books from a Lauderhill shop.
Police said Monday they arrested Jason Gilbert Rodriguez, 27, of Pompano Beach and Rafael Gonzalez, 26, of North Lauderdale, for stealing comic books that included copies of Spider-Man and Silver Surfer. Authorities said the men - disguised as a pair of bug exterminators - offered to spray the comic book shop and then tied up an employee on July 25.
Curtis Suthard, manager of Past Present & Future Comics, said the books were from comics' "Silver Age," an era from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Suthard was not at the store during the robbery.
The duo were foiled after they allegedly tried to sell the books at a comic shop in Margate a few days later, Lauderhill police Sgt. Tundra M. King said.
The owner of Phil's Comic Shoppe recognized the books and asked the men to leave a number in case any customers wanted to buy the books. They gave him a phone number and the owner also jotted down the tag number of the men's car.
Police said an undercover Broward sheriff's deputy met with the men Saturday at a Denny's restaurant in Margate, where they tried to sell the books and were later arrested.
King said she wasn't sure who decided to name the police operation after Green Lantern, who wears a lantern-shaped ring and whose oath includes the words "no evil shall escape my sight."
"That's a cool name," Suthard said. "I guess it's better than 'Operation Spider-Man."'
Denver Voters To Weigh-In On Stress
DENVER - Voters will get to decide this November whether the city should do more to reduce stress.
City council members said Monday they were forced to put the question on November's ballot because resident Jeff Peckman collected 2,462 certified signatures, slightly over the required number.
The council's only options were implementing the measure right away or sending it to the voters. The council voted 11-2 to put it on the ballot - but reluctantly.
"Voters didn't send us down here to deal with fantasy and frivolousness, and that's what this is," said Councilman Charlie Brown, who called the proposal "lunatic."
Councilwoman Rosemary Rodriguez quipped, "I'm getting stressed out over this bill."
Peckman said the council members should favor his proposal because it supports their duty under the U.S. Constitution to provide for the common defense and ensure domestic tranquility.
The measure doesn't advise how the city should reduce stress but requires the city to research the idea and scientifically prove which methods work. Some of Peckman's ideas include playing soothing music in public places and improving the quality of school lunches.
All he is saying, Peckman said after the meeting, is "give peace a chance."
Cockroaches Muddle Domino-Laying Record
SINGAPORE - Cockroaches are just a creepy-crawly nuisance to many but for Ma Lihua, dominologist, they are the enemy.
The 24-year-old domino-laying expert from Beijing blames the bugs for tumbling some of the tiles she painstakingly set up over the past six weeks in preparation for the world's longest solo domino topple next week, an event organizer said Tuesday.
"There have been ongoing problems with cockroaches getting on the floor ... they can wreak havoc with 350,000 dominoes," said Brian Kim, Singapore manager of LG Electronics, the Korean company sponsoring the event.
Ma said one bug managed to knock down 10,000 tiles - a day's work.
"I am quite nervous about it happening again," she said "It's been giving me nightmares."
Organizers have spread pungent leaves from a local tree - thought to repel the insects - around Singapore Expo hall where Ma is staging the record attempt. Plastic barriers have been set up within the arrangement to minimize the damage if dominos start to fall, Kim said.
In addition, rat traps ring the expo hall, but they are "just a precaution," he said.
Ma has been putting in 13-hour days to meet her deadline and only takes short breaks for meals and the occasional badminton game to help relieve stress, Kim said.
She hopes to topple 350,000 tiles on Monday, he said.
Kim said the record Ma is attempting to break was set by German Klaus Friedrich, who single-handledly set up and toppled 281,581 dominoes in 1984.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records web site, the most dominoes ever toppled in one go by a group was 3,847,295.