The Odd Truth, Jan. 20, 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.

WELLINGTON - A New Zealand train driver was "seriously traumatized" and placed on stress leave after running over a plastic showroom dummy that he feared was a child, a rail operator said Tuesday.

The driver thought he had killed a young person when his train struck the figure shortly after midnight, so he stopped the locomotive and called police, said Tranz Rail spokeswoman Sue Foley.

Firefighters were sent to the scene to search for a body, but all they found were the dummy's plastic feet near the track and other shattered pieces of the model nearby.

The driver was "seriously traumatized" by the incident and has been placed on indefinite stress leave, Foley said.

The mannequin had apparently been placed on the tracks as a practical joke, she said, but warned that the culprits could be charged with trespassing on the rail line and placing objects on the track.

"Obviously, anything like that we take really seriously and our security
officers will be following it up," she said.

Homeless Racehorse

SNOHOMISH, Wash. - A well-groomed thoroughbred found wandering along a country road about a month ago has been identified as a retired racehorse from Canada.

Horse racing officials are trying to determine who owns Flying Algonquin, a 7-year-old dark bay gelding who could be sold at the Marysville Livestock Auction as early as Feb. 3 if he is not claimed.

The horse, nicknamed Stretch, may be getting more attention now than when it was running. In six races, all at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Flying Algonquin won once and finished second once for career earnings of $8,160.

In late 2002 or early 2003, a couple in British Columbia sold the thoroughbred to a couple in Snohomish as a non-racehorse, said Ralph Vacca, general manager of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

Vacca said Monday that the purchasing couple had not returned his calls and he does not know if they still own the horse. The spot where the horse was found is about five miles from their home.

Vacca, who identified the horse through a tattoo in its mouth, said he talked to the Canadian couple Monday and described them as "very concerned" that Flying Algonquin could wind up at a rendering plant.

A wildfire of interest in horse circles has made that virtually impossible, he said.

"That horse is going to find somebody who is willing to pay a good sum of money and cherish and love (him), and the story of the horse that was found wandering will probably take on a life of its own," Vacca said.

"There's no chance that this horse will end up in any glue factory," he said. "If it does go to auction, everybody in the state is going to be there."

Lost And Found, And Lost Again

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Niki Karanastasis lost her dog, then found it - only to lose it again.

Karanastasis was reunited with her missing dog at the local animal shelter six days after the golden retriever escaped from her backyard. But she won't be able to keep her beloved pet since the 2-year-old dog had been adopted by a new owner just hours earlier.

Humane Society officials said their hands are tied because they're required to put stray dogs up for adoption five days after they're picked up if they don't have ID tags. Tagged animals are held for 10 days, but Bella, the Karanastasis' pooch, didn't have one.

Bella was taken to the Santa Clara shelter on Jan. 2 after the golden retriever and a companion dog, a black Labrador named Zina, escaped from Karanastasis' yard. Zina still hasn't been found.

Karanastasis, her husband and a friend visited the shelter three times before she spotted the dog on Jan. 8. She said Bella jumped up and down and responded to commands in Greek - proof, she said, it's her dog.

"I couldn't believe it. How could this happen?" Karanastasis asked. "I was looking at her, playing with her, but I couldn't have her. How could they tell me, `You don't own this dog?"'

Karanastasis and her friend begged the new owner to return the dog. But the woman said it was a present for her daughter's birthday and declined their offer to buy her another golden retriever.

Escape Artist Chimp Makes Another Break

LOS ANGELES - An 80-pound chimpanzee dubbed an "escape artist" has done it again.

The 15-year-old chimp named Gracie busted out of her enclosure at the Los Angeles Zoo on Monday and forced the evacuation of about 9,000 visitors.

The primate, who had escaped four times before, was tranquilized and returned to captivity after 45 minutes, the zoo said.

Zoo Director John Lewis said Gracie is well known as a breakout specialist since she arrived in 1998.

"Each time we've made corrections based on her abilities, and she's found another way," Lewis said.

Gracie slipped out of her exhibit at 3:30 p.m. into the zoo crowded with visitors for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The chimp didn't stray far from her enclosure, however, and zoo staff surrounded her and moved her to another part of the park.

Visitors were ordered to evacuate while Gracie was on the loose, but Lewis said no one was harmed.

Gracie is currently being held in an enclosure with tighter security until designers can ensure she won't escape again, Lewis said.

'Oy Vey' - No Way

NEW YORK - "Oy vey" - no way! New York City's Transportation Department is rejecting a sign proposed for the Williamsburg Bridge reading "Leaving Brooklyn: Oy Vey!" The sign idea came from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. Oy vey is the Yiddish phrase for "oh, woe." But Markowitz says it's now "part of that Brooklyn attitude." He says he's sorry the bureaucrats have no sense of humor. The DOT says the "Oy, Vey" sign would be more distracting than helpful to Manhattan-bound motorists.

Mysterious Figure Makes Annual Poe Visit

BALTIMORE - In the dead of night every January 19th, a hooded figure slips into the Baltimore cemetery where Edgar Allan Poe is buried. The visitor leaves three roses and a bottle of French cognac on the writer's grave.

Yesterday was no different - except this time, the mysterious visitor left a note apparently bashing the French for opposing the war with Iraq.

The note reads: "The sacred memory of Poe and his final resting place is no place for French cognac." The note says the cognac was placed there with great reluctance.

It's not the first time a note left at the gravesite mentioned current events. In 2001, the visitor angered people in Baltimore by appearing to favor the New York Giants over the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl. The Ravens - named after Poe's famous poem - won the game.

Chinese Couple Sues Over Video Kiss

SHANGHAI, China - A Shanghainese couple has sued their former high school over images of them kissing in a video on "irregular behavior," saying they were mocked by other students because of it, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.

Wei Gang and his girlfriend, who wasn't named, have demanded 5,000 yuan (about $600) in compensation for mental anguish and a public apology from Fuxing High School, where they graduated last year, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The couple were taunted and insulted after the school video showing their kiss was shown to other students on April 7, the report quoted Wei as saying.

"Some students in lower grades would point at us outside our classroom," Wei said. The paper quoted the couple's lawyer, Si Weijiang, as saying the video infringed on the couple's right to privacy.

However, the school defended itself, saying the video obscured the couple's faces and the broadcast was a legitimate form of moral education, the paper said.

"We just wanted to show that irregular actions exist on campus," the school's attorney Tao Xinliang, was quoted as saying.

Students in China's cities increasingly share the liberal social mores of their Western peers and have chafed in recent years at routine intrusions into personal lives by conservative authorities.

Although it is now common to see couples kissing and holding hands in public, educators still penalize students for such behavior if it is deemed to affect morals or social order.