The Odd Truth, Dec. 8, 2004
The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.
George W. Bush, Wise Man?
LONDON - Christian leaders on Wednesday denounced a Nativity scene at a London wax museum featuring soccer star David Beckham and his wife Victoria, a former Spice Girl, as the parents of Jesus.
The waxwork tableau at Madame Tussauds museum included U.S. President George W. Bush as one of the three Wise Men, actors Hugh Grant and Samuel L. Jackson as shepherds and Australian disco diva Kylie Minogue as an angel.
"There is a well-understood tradition that each generation interprets and reinterprets the Nativity ... but, oh dear!" said the Rev. Jonathan Jenkins, spokesman for the archbishop of Canterbury, who leads the world's 77 million Anglicans.
At the Vatican, a spokesman said it was unacceptable to have celebrities representing Jesus, Joseph or Mary.
The spokesman mentioned the tradition in Naples of using celebrities such as Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona, but never as one of the principal figures. "This means that the crib can be lived as something that's contemporary. But the central mystery must be respected," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Madame Tussauds said it had respected this tradition, using a plastic doll in the manger. The other characters, it said, had been chosen in a public vote that drew 300 ballots.
"We're sorry if we have offended people," said Diane Moon, a spokeswoman for the museum, who said it was intended in a spirit of fun.
The scene also features British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prince Philip as Wise Men, and flamboyant talkshow host Graham Norton as a shepherd.
Arum Kataria, a spokesman for the Church of England, was unimpressed by Madame Tussauds' exhibit.
"The eternal story of Jesus will last a lot longer than these waxworks or the celebrities in it," he said.
Not So Sweet Revenge
DOVER, N.H. - It wasn't exactly the perfect getaway vehicle.
A man took off on a lawnmower moments after he allegedly threw two Molotov cocktails at his ex-girlfriend's apartment building, police said. He was arrested Saturday night after a brief, slow-speed chase.
Police said the homemade bombs - two glass Budweiser bottles filled with gasoline and plugged with rags - did not burst into flames. One of them shattered, spilling gas and sending fumes into nearby apartments. Two residents were treated for breathing problems.
Steven Coleman, 37, of Dover, was arraigned in Dover District Court on Monday on charges of criminal trespass, attempted arson, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.
He could face up to 31 years in jail if convicted on all charges.
At one point during the chase, Coleman turned around and looked directly at a police cruiser, Dover prosecutor George Wattendorf wrote in an affidavit. "Coleman appeared calm as he was smoking a cigarette."
Parents Go On Strike, Move To Front Yard
DELTONA, Fla. - Even though the dishes, garbage and dirty laundry were piling up, homeowners Cat and Harlan Barnard were getting no help from their two children.
After begging and pleading with their 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to help out around the house, the Barnards decided they were fed up. So they went on strike - and moved out to the front yard.
"This was our last-ditch effort," Cat Barnard said.
Since Monday morning, the Barnards have lived in a tent in their front yard, going inside the house only to use the restroom or shower. The couple sits on lawn chairs and roasts marshmallows over a hibachi.
Their children were confused on the first day when they came home from school. "It's extremely inconvenient," said their son, Ben Barnard. "Every time the phone rings, we have to run outside to give it to them."
Whether the couple's actions could be regarded as abandonment depends on how much guidance the parents are still providing and "if the children are suffering as a result," said Carrie Hoeppner, a spokeswoman with the Department of Children & Families in Orange County.
But Cat Barnard says the strike may already be paying dividends. She noted that her daughter washed her own clothes for the first time on Tuesday.
"This is war," Cat Barnard said. "I love my babies, but I don't like what they're doing."
Gorillas Attend Wake
BROOKFIELD, Illinois - After Babs the gorilla died at age 30, keepers at Brookfield Zoo decided to allow surviving gorillas to mourn the most influential female in their social family.
One by one Tuesday, the gorillas filed into the Tropic World building where Babs' body lay, arms outstretched. Curator Melinda Pruett Jones called it a "gorilla wake."
Babs' 9-year-old daughter, Bana, was the first to approach the body, followed by Babs' mother, Alpha, 43. Bana sat down, held Babs' hand and stroked her mother's stomach. Then she sat down and laid her head on Babs' arm.
"It was like they used to do in the exhibit, lying side by side on the mountain," keeper Betty Green said. "Then Bana rose up and looked at us and moved to Babs' other side, tucked her head under the other arm, and stroked Babs' stomach."
Other gorillas also approached Babs and gently sniffed the body. Only the silverback male leader, Ramar, 36, stayed away.
Keepers said the display wasn't surprising.
"She was the dominant female of the group, the peacekeeper, the disciplinarian, the one who kept things in a harmonious state," Pruett Jones said.
Koola, 9, brought her infant daughter, whom Babs had showered with attention since her birth in August.
"Koola inspected Babs' mouth for a while, then held her baby close to Babs, like she loved to do the last couple months, letting Babs admire her," Green said.
Babs had an incurable kidney condition and was euthanized Tuesday. Keepers had recently seen a videotape of a gorilla wake at the Columbus, Ohio, zoo and decided they would do the same for Babs. Gorillas in the wild have been known to pay respects to their dead, keepers said.
"I had a headache for the rest of the day after all the tears I cried watching them," Green said.
Tomb Of The Unknown Mouse
BEIJING - China has unveiled a monument to the unknown mouse.
The memorial stone at the Animal Research Institute in Beijing honors the mice, guinea pigs, rabbits and rhesus monkeys that have died in the race to develop a vaccine for SARS.
The stone slab in the institute courtyard is etched with three Chinese characters meaning "A stone to comfort the departed souls," Wan Zijun, administrator of the China Academy of Medical Sciences, said Wednesday.
Wan could not say how many animals were killed in the development of the vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome, the deadly flu-like illness that first emerged in China's south in late 2002.
China has been working on a vaccine since last year.
The government announced last week that the first round of vaccine testing on humans was completed with no adverse health effects reported from any of the 36 volunteers.
Two more rounds of testing on humans are needed before it can be made available to the public.
The disease killed 349 people on China's mainland and sickened thousands worldwide before subsiding in July 2003. Another person died in April in China during a brief outbreak traced to a Beijing laboratory that handled the virus.
Vet Tells Elderly Woman To 'Rot In Hell'
HARRISBURG, Pa. - A veterinarian who told an elderly woman she would "rot in hell" for complaining to state regulators about how he euthanized her sick dog can't be disciplined, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Tuesday.
The court called Dr. James W. Nelson's conduct "inexcusably rude" but said it did not amount to incompetence.
"'Unprofessional conduct' is not the same as 'professional incompetency,' and we reject the board's attempt to treat them as identical concepts," wrote Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt.
The decision overturned Nelson's public reprimand by the State Board of Veterinary Medicine and its requirements that he undergo anger-management counseling, attend classes in dealing with owners of euthanized animals and write a letter of apology.
Franklin resident Betty Voorhies brought Lady, a cockapoo, to Nelson's clinic in Seneca on Sept. 4, 2001, after the veterinarian had urged her repeatedly to put down the dog. Lady, 17, was blind in one eye and suffered breathing problems from an enlarged heart.
After two failed attempts to inject the fatal solution into Lady's front legs, Nelson injected it into the struggling animal's jugular vein, "causing the dog to howl and collapse," according to the court opinion. Voorhies became highly upset and accused him of torturing Lady to death.
Voorhies filed a complaint. The same day a state investigator visited Nelson's office in northwestern Pennsylvania, the veterinarian phoned Voorhies to pressure her to drop the matter.
"When (Voorhies) refused to answer his questions, (Nelson) loudly told the client that her soul would rot in hell for what she was trying to do to him," wrote board attorney Teresa A. Lazo-Miller.