The Odd Truth, Aug. 29, 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.
Penis Removed By Mistake
WICHITA FALLS, Texas - A man who accused two doctors of removing his penis without his consent has reached a settlement with the doctors and the hospital.
Attorneys for 67-year-old mechanic Hurshell Ralls contended the doctors removed his penis without consent after a mistaken cancer diagnosis.
Attorneys for Doctors John Dryden and Farid Khoury say the doctors were reluctant to settle the suit because they contend that proper medical procedures were followed.
A Wichita County jury was told of the settlement during the second day of testimony in the trial of the Wichita Falls mechanic's lawsuit. Most details about the settlement were not released.
As part of the settlement, the claim against the Clinics of North Texas were dropped.
Parrot Prankster
TUCSON, Ariz. - A parrot's parody of a damsel in distress caused quite a commotion.
Tucson police and firefighters broke down a door after being called to a house and hearing a woman's screams coming from inside.
But police soon realized that the sounds weren't coming from a woman in woe.
"The parrot's screams sounded identical to those of a distressed adult female," Officer Andrew Davies said in his report.
The ruckus was the work of Oscar, a 2-year-old yellow-naped Amazon parrot.
Police found him intermittently making laughing and screaming sounds as he sat inside his large white cage.
The mix-up began on Saturday when a 911-hang up call was made from the house.
Police arrived to find the house locked with bars on the windows.
Hearing what they thought was a woman's voice, police called the fire department. Crews used a pry bar and a battering ram to get through a door.
Police asked a neighbor to call Dana Pannell, the homeowner. The neighbor said he was home at the time but didn't make the emergency call.
But Oscar - named after the Sesame Street character because of his sometimes foul moods - does have his talents, she said.
"He sings in Spanish," she said.
Husband Dies After Testicle-Squeezing
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A woman in Cambodia has given herself up to authorities after accidentally killing her husband in a scuffle in which she squeezed his testicles until he fainted, a newspaper reported Friday.
Saut Chin, 46, was fed up with physical abuse from her husband when she grabbed his testicles until he passed out in the incident Tuesday, the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper reported.
Fearing that her husband, Ouch Yan, 52, might regain consciousness and start beating her again, Saut Chin tied his neck with a scarf to a bed, the newspaper said.
The exact cause of Ouch Yan's death was not known.
The incident occurred in a village near Sihanoukville, a port city 115 miles southwest of Phnom Penh, news reports said.
Saut Chin and her husband Ouch Yan, 52, were arguing when the husband then kicked his wife in the crotch, the reports said.
"Hurt badly and fed up, she grabbed her husband's testicles and squeezed them with full strength until he fell unconscious on the spot," Rasmei Kampuchea said, citing police reports of the woman's confession.
After discovering that her husband was dead, Saut Chin reported herself to local authorities and asked to be jailed. She said she had not intended to kill her husband "but only to teach him a lesson," according to the newspaper.
Holiday Inn Offers Amnesty To Towel Thieves
ATLANTA - Holiday Inn wants to know what has become of the 500,000 towels a year that guests swipe from its 2,638 hotels.
But the hotel chain isn't looking to put towel takers through the spin cycle. It just wants them to spin some yarns for a national promotion.
Holiday Inn gave guests amnesty Thursday in exchange for their stories about how they've used the towels they've taken over the years.
For every story shared, Holiday Inn will donate $1 to a charity it founded in 1986 that helps children with life-threatening illnesses.
"This really is lighthearted," said Mark Snyder, senior vice president for brand management at Holiday Inn. "It's just a way for people to come on, tell us their story and relieve any lingering guilt they might have about having a Holiday Inn towel in their linen closet."
The hotel chain asked guests to provide their stories on Holiday Inn's Web site. Submissions will be accepted through the end of September. Guests whose stories are one of the best 25 chosen will receive a limited edition souvenir Holiday Inn towel.
Hundreds of stories had already rolled into the Web site by Thursday afternoon.
One man said he took a towel from a Holiday Inn hotel in Monterey, Mexico, as a memento of his honeymoon night. He said he later lost the woman, but he's still got the towel.
Snyder said the lost towels cost the hotel chain about $3 each. But, he said, Holiday Inn doesn't mind that guests take them. Snyder said most guests feel the towels are part of the cost of their stay.
Sure, Blame It On The Cows
TICONDEROGA, N.Y. - There's pot aplenty. But authorities in upstate New York are blaming it on the cows. It seems Elsie and her bovine buddies are spreading the pot seeds on one farm about 80 miles north of Albany. Police Chief Jeffrey Cook says it's been a problem for years, ever since he was a kid. Authorities pull up the pot plants at the request of the farmer, who worries that young people might try to get at the weed. Some years there are only a handful of plants. But this year the cows must have been busy, or hungry. Police have yanked up more than 950 plants. Cook says the illegal weed will be destroyed once they get a court order.
Judge Busted For Drunken Lechery
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court reprimanded a judge for getting drunk at a conference and making passes at a woman, saying his actions hurt the reputation of all judges.
Circuit Judge Charles Cope stood silently Thursday as Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead told him he was guilty of "serious misconduct mandating our public condemnation."
Cope pleaded no contest to public intoxication in the case last summer and was fined $1,000 and given credit for 28 days in rehabilitation. He returned to the bench last August after a yearlong paid leave of absence.
He had faced several misdemeanor charges, including peeping, trespassing and prowling. But he was acquitted of charges he stole a hotel key from two women and tried to enter their room as they slept at the 2001 judicial conference in California.
Anstead said the judge "became publicly intoxicated on a nightly basis and made public sexual advances."
"Such conduct would be inappropriate for anyone but is manifestly unacceptable for a judge," Anstead said. "When a judge goes astray, public confidence in the entire justice system may be affected."
Longest Cigar Record Shattered!
HAVANA - A veteran Cuban cigar maker broke his second world record for rolling the longest stogie in the world.
Jose Castelar Cairo's recognition by the Guinness Book of World Records was announced Thursday. It took Castelar five days to manufacture his record-shattering 45-foot cigar - a feat that far surpassed his first milestone: a 9-foot cigar he and his buddies rolled in 1999 as a way to attract passing tourists.
"We never thought the cigars we were making would be for Guinness," said Castelar, who has been weaving together Cuban tobacco leaves for 43 years.
But he and his colleagues were inspired by the reception their first novel cigar received and decided to go for a record in 2000. They made it - with a whopping 35-foot cigar that earned Castelar his first Guinness citation.
He made his latest and greatest cigar last November, and proudly displayed both Guinness certificates on Thursday. Guinness officials in London could not be reached immediately for comment.
Castelar is a cigar maker for La Triada, a shop located in a historic colonial fort that once protected Havana from enemy invasions and pirate attacks.