The Odd Truth, Jan. 19, 2004

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.

SINGAPORE - People in strait-laced Singapore were urged Monday to act like monkeys - the Chinese zodiac sign for the coming Lunar year - for the sake of their country.

Singaporeans could foster an economic recovery this year by behaving more like monkeys, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said in a Lunar New Year message reported in The Straits Times newspaper.

Chinese communities around the world will herald the start of the Year of the Monkey on Thursday. Chinese believe the monkey is clever, flexible, innovative and confident, but can also be selfish, jealous and vain.

"Be like a monkey. When things happen, you have to be nimble. Take advantage of opportunities, don't be cast down, but rise to the challenge if it does occur," Tan was quoted as saying.

Tan urged Singaporeans not to be daunted by the challenges of helping the city-state recover from its worst economic downturn. The SARS outbreak, the Iraq war and slumps in global manufacturing and air travel hit Singapore hard in 2003.

Singapore's economy grew 0.8 percent last year, but unemployment sits at a 17-year high of 5.9 percent.

Last year, in the Year of the Sheep - known in Singapore as the Year of the Goat - Prime Minister Goh Chok Tung issued a similar animal-themed call to arms when faced with "an imminent war in Iraq."

"In the year of the Goat, we must try to be like the mountain goat, sure-footed and hardy and able to move safely in a rocky environment," Goh said.

Mother Races Son To School, Police Give Chase

POWAY, Calif - A mother rushing to get her son to school in San Diego County was arrested and jailed after a chase by the California Highway Patrol.

The 10-minute pursuit Friday morning ended outside Del Mar Pines School with the arrest of Stacy L. Taylor for investigation of evading arrest and child endangerment.

"I've been in chases of murder suspects, stolen cars or drunk drivers, (but) I've never had a mother lead me on a chase to get her child to school," CHP Officer Sam Shockley said. "It's just bizarre."

Taylor's 5-year-old son was allowed to go to class, Shockley said.

Shockley clocked Taylor doing 61 mph in a 45-mph zone in the Fairbanks Ranch area, authorities said. But when he pulled her over to issue a ticket, she told him "I'm not sticking around," grabbed his citation book and sped off, CHP Officer Tom Kerns said.

The 44-year-old Poway woman allegedly threw the citation book out of the car when she stopped for a red light.

"She said, "Here's your ticket book,' and dumped it out," Shockley said.

She then ran several stop signs on the way to the school, where Shockley blocked her car, authorities alleged.

"She stated her husband had been yelling at her that morning to get her kid to school on time, and her kid had been crying," Shockley said.

The mother refused to get out of the car so she could be arrested, Shockley said.

"I'm ordering her out of the car, and she puts a death grip on the steering wheel," Shockley said.

On the way to jail, Taylor apologized, he said.

Porno Firefighter Prompts Protest

KEYES, California - Seventeen firefighters in a small volunteer department resigned this week to protest the pornography career of a colleague who allegedly discussed her work at the firehouse.

Firefighters in Keyes, a town of 4,500 south of Modesto, walked off the job to protest Alexa Jones' pornography career, which they said she discussed while on the job with her husband, Assistant Fire Chief Roger Jones.

"We feel pretty strongly that there needs to be a separation between the pornography and the fire service," said Capt. Herb Collier, who was among those who resigned.

Alexa Jones has a Web site that promotes her pornographic material but does not mention her job as a firefighter. She stars in videos under a pseudonym.

"If they're going to be out there, I might as well be making money off them," she said. Her husband added: "It's called freedom of expression, and speech also. It's not illegal."

The resignations leave Keyes with eight firefighters. Nearby stations have pledged to help the department respond to emergencies.

Hamster Thefts Lead Police To Boy Gang

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The theft of nine hamsters led police to a gang of boys aged between seven and 11 who are believed responsible for a series of house and car break-ins in Malaysia's capital, police said.

Mohamed Khalil Kader Mohamed, the police chief of the administrative capital of Putrajaya, said police thought they were on the trail of grown up thieves until the hamsters were stolen from a pet store, the New Straits Times newspaper reported Friday.

That theft led police to question two boys, who spilled the beans on eight others, who were all friends attending the same school in Putrajaya.
The group amassed booty of $26, a camera and the hamsters in a series of raids in which the boys would sneak into cars or buildings that had been left unlocked, Mohamed Khalil said.

The boys were detained for questioning on Sunday then released on bail. The case has been handed to the attorney general's department to decide whether charges should be laid, the newspaper said.

Mascot Decapitated By Drunk Fan

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - All Blizzard wanted was a hug.

What the Husky mascot got instead during a hockey game this month was his head knocked off by a drunken North Dakota fan, police said.

The incident during North Dakota's 3-1 victory Jan. 3 led to misdemeanor charges against Ryan H. Hazzard, 18, the St. Cloud Times reported. He's charged with consuming alcohol as a minor, disorderly conduct and giving false information to police.

Hazzard could have avoided the charges, according to a police report, if he had just stayed out of the National Hockey Center after police threw him out.

Hazzard and a Husky fan were separated by police after a shouting match. About five minutes after that, an officer saw Blizzard walk past the St. Cloud State student section followed by Hazzard, who was yelling at Blizzard.

"Blizzard no longer had his costume's dog head on his shoulders and he appeared very upset," the report said.

Erich Michael Weiss, 24, had been wearing the costume that night and was giving fans hugs, so he held out his arms to give Hazzard a hug.

But Hazzard pushed Weiss and then knocked his dog head off, the report said. Hazzard told the officer he was 22. She and a campus security officer escorted him out and told him not to come back.

But Hazzard soon returned to the arena. He was verbally abusive to officers, the report said, so they handcuffed and arrested him. A check of his ID showed he was 18, not 22 as claimed, and a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent. The legal limit for driving is 0.10 percent in Minnesota.

Goat Farmer Denies Gruesome Abuse Allegations

MADISON, Wis. - A goat farmer said Monday he's innocent of allegations he sliced open a conscious mother goat giving birth and helped burn a goat alive, saying his two accusers have a grudge against him.

Daniel Considine, a director of the Wisconsin Dairy Goat Association, told The Associated Press he's always taken good care of his goats. He said two former workers on his farm who went to the authorities with stories of animal cruelty lied.

"It really is nonsense," Considine said. "This is based on lies told creatively by people who shouldn't have been believed."

Considine has been charged with one count of mistreating animals causing death and another count of being a party to the mistreatment of animals causing death. Both counts are felonies.

He is due to make an initial appearance in Columbia County Circuit Court Wednesday.

The workers, Diana Moyer and her husband, Larry, went to Columbia County Sheriff's deputies in August.

Diana Moyer told them she'd seen Considine beat baby goats to death with a hammer, cut open the mother goat without anesthesia to remove the kid and helped people burn a goat alive with lighter fluid on his farm near Portage.

Considine declined to go into any details about the alleged incidents, saying he's still searching for an attorney.

Go Ahead, Rub It In

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Police have added a musical twist to the booby-trapped car they leave out to entice would-be thieves.

The city's so-called "bait car" is now rigged to play the theme from the television show "Cops" when officers remotely disable the engine and nab the crooks.

A videotape recently shot on the car's hidden cameras shows a man hopping in the driver's seat and muttering to himself, "I got me a good one."

He drives a short distance before an officer monitoring the situation from a remote location flips a switch that disables the engine and locks the door. Then, the car's tape player can be heard blaring the reggae-inflected tune from the television show's opening credits:

"Bad boys, bad boys/Whatcha gonna do/Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?"

The bait car in Columbus has caught 10 thieves in two days of use last week, Lt. Marie Ballou said.

"We only put it out there once a month or so and for about three days at a time, but it's been effective," Ballou said.