The Odd Truth, Feb. 7, 2005

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

Baby You Can't Drive My Car

SAND LAKE, Mich. - Michigan authorities say they don't plan to seek charges in the case of a four-year-old boy who drove his mother's car to a video store and back.

Sand Lake Police Chief Doug Heugel says the boy is too young to charge, and his mother didn't even know he was awake.

The chief says the boy walked out of his family apartment about 1:30 Friday morning and drove his mother's Geo Prizm a quarter mile to a video store. Finding it closed, the boy headed home.

A police officer spotted him and followed the car back to the apartments, where the boy hit two parked cars, then backed into the officer's car.

The mother says her son tried to drive before and she let him steer the car from her lap.

Diehard Cheesehead

GREEN BAY, Wis. - A Connecticut boy has been making good use of his Christmas present.

Since opening the gift -- a Green Bay Packers jersey with quarterback Brett Favre's No. 4 -- on Christmas Day 2003, 8-year-old David Witthoft has worn it 408 straight days.

"I just kept doing it for fun," said Witthoft, of Ridgefield, Conn. "Some of the kids at school said, 'You are weird' and stuff. But I'm not sure when I'll stop."

Witthoft told the Green Bay Press-Gazette for a story in Sunday's editions that he wants a Guinness Book of Records mark for the most consecutive days wearing a Packers jersey. No such record exists, Guinness officials said.

"David has a lot of 'sticktoitiveness,"' said his father Chuck Witthoft, who grew up in Milwaukee and has kept his allegiance to the Packers. "This wasn't an idea of ours."

The jersey isn't holding up as well as the boy's enthusiasm: The No. 4 has all but worn off and the seams are taking a beating as he grows.

McMuffin-Your-Face!

HOLLAND, Mich. - A man was fined $600 and put on probation for throwing an Egg McMuffin at a McDonald's restaurant manager after he said he didn't get what he ordered.

Scott Rodgers, 46, was convicted Thursday of misdemeanor assault and battery. Besides probation, he was sentenced to three days in a work program and a fine and is banned from the McDonald's.

Authorities said Rodgers and his 6-year-old son stopped to get four Egg McMuffins with ham on Oct. 9 but returned to the service window to complain that at least one of the sandwiches had sausage.

County prosecutor Craig Bunce said that when the shift manager asked him to give the sandwich back, he threw it through the window at her.

"The manager was picking egg out of her hair," he said.

Rodgers' attorney said he did not throw the sandwich, but rather returned it quickly.

Baghdad Does Bourbon St.

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq - It's Mardi Gras time -- even in Iraq.

Some soldiers from Louisiana put on purple, green and gold and climbed onto Army trucks yesterday for a Mardi Gras celebration at their base west of Baghdad.

Uniform regulations were suspended for a few hours as soldiers donned jester caps, feathered masks, capes and lots and lots of beads.

Ten military vehicles covered in Mardi Gras decorations made their way through Camp Liberty. The soldiers pelted their comrades with colorful beads, coins and candies, New Orleans style.

The troops ended up at the mess hall, where they danced to Zydeco music and dined on chicken and sausage gumbo, red beans and rice -- and their first cold beer in four months, donated by Anheuser Busch.

In the words of the deputy commander of the 256th Brigade, "You can't have all war and no play, you have to live for another day."

Crook's Got No Teeth

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Taking a bite out of crime has involved tracing some false teeth. Police report a man who broke into a hospital cafeteria in southern Sweden left his choppers behind. Investigators say the man's social security number was engraved in the false teeth and his identity was confirmed by dental records. Police say the guy ran from the scene of the crime when he couldn't find anything of value, but left his teeth there. According to investigators, the man confessed when confronted with the mouthful of evidence.

Indonesia Gov.: Kiss Off

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A lip-lock could send couples to the lock-up in Indonesia. The government is considering a kissing crackdown. The law would ban unwed couples from puckering up in public. Such displays of affection are considering an indecency in the Muslim nation. The anti-kissing measure would carry a fine of up to about $3,300 and ten years in prison. Pornography and public displays of certain body parts would also be banned.