The Odd Truth, July 14, 2004

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

Man Can't Keep His Pants On

MINNEAPOLIS - Daryl Miller didn't make it through airport security because he couldn't keep his pants on.

Airport police said a security screener was waving a metal-detecting wand over Miller's pants area on Friday when Miller pulled his shorts down to his ankles. He wasn't wearing any underwear.

Miller then said, "There, how do you like your job," thus ending the screening, according to the police report. He was charged with indecent exposure and released on $300 bail.

"We've never had anybody do that before," said airport police Lt. Matt Christenson. "But it's not abnormal for people to become frustrated with the screening process."

Miller also became belligerent during the screening, Transportation Security Administration officers told police. One TSA employee also told police that Miller had a note inside a magazine in his bag with an expletive, and told a TSA employee "Oh yeah, it's for you" when asked who the note was directed at.

"This person exposed himself in a public area, a clear violation of the law, and we needed to take some action on that, otherwise everybody would be dropping their pants," Christenson said.

Dumb Love

WERL, Germany - A lovestruck young German man might want to stick with flowers to impress his girlfriend.

In a bid to show his adoration for her, the 18-year-old carefully laid out tea-light candles in the form of a huge heart.

He also spelled out the message "I love you."

The young Romeo then photographed the burning display in order to create the perfect memento to present to his girlfriend.

But as he was printing out the photo in another room, the heat from the flaming message resulted in a fire that caused about $80,000 in damage to his duplex.

No one was hurt, and it's unclear what his girlfriend thought of the fiery stunt.

Revenge, Prison Style

TAMPA, Florida - Florida authorities say a man who beat a cell mate in an unlikely encounter will not face battery charges.

In a bitter coincidence, the attacker was mistakenly placed in a cell with a man who had raped and strangled him 13 years ago.

The attacker - 23-year-old Jason Flores - will serve time for other crimes, including car theft and burglary.

An expert says Flores suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder and that his accidental encounter with Kevin Kinder set him off.

Flores was ten years old when he was brutally assaulted by Kinder, who pleaded guilty to lewd acts on four boys, including Flores.

Olympic Chopper Spots Cannabis Crop On Crete

ATHENS, Greece - Police uprooted thousands of cannabis plants on the southern island of Crete after a lucky tip-off: a police helicopter shadowing the Olympic torch relay spotted three fields of the crop, authorities said Wednesday.

Officers from a police narcotics unit destroyed more than 6,500 plants over the past three days, following the weekend sighting.

Crete's mountainous landscape with its deep ravines is favored by cannabis growers, and police raids have increased in recent years after the deployment of police helicopters on the island.

The Olympic flame is on a tour of Greece after returning from an unprecedented global relay.

Currently touring islands in the Aegean Sea, it will be carried in Greece by about 7,000 runners to 29 cities and six major archaeological areas ahead of the Aug. 13-29 Games.

Man Smashes Head Through Fish Tank

EDMOND, Okla. - When residents of an Edmond neighborhood saw a bloodied man stumbling down the street, they thought he had been hit by a car, police said.

Instead, Derrick Simpson had apparently intentionally crashed his head through a fish aquarium, according to police spokeswoman Glynda Chu.

Simpson, 19, was taken to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in fair condition after the Sunday evening incident. He has since been released, said hospital spokesman Allen Poston.

Authorities are not sure what prompted the incident, Chu said.

"He was incoherent, mumbling about a fight and in and out of consciousness," Chu said.

"He had apparently been involved in an altercation earlier and that may have led to his actions," Chu said.

"It was very unusual, very bizarre."

Edmond firefighters and Emergency Medical Services Authority paramedics found Simpson bloodied and disoriented, said fire Maj. Tim Wheeler.

He was also "semiconscious and combative," Wheeler said.

Police went to Simpson's home where the shattered fish tank was found, Chu said.

Ah, The Irony: Vet Nabbed For Animal Cruelty

FORT WORTH, Texas - A veterinarian who beat his neighbor's miniature dachshund to death with a mallet after the dog got into his yard was convicted of animal cruelty.

Mircea Volosen, 45, faces a maximum two years in jail and a $10,000 fine. He was convicted by a judge Tuesday after waiving a jury trial.

Kevin Ball testified Monday that he apologized when his dachshund ran into Volosen's back yard last summer, then watched in disbelief as his neighbor bludgeoned the dog.

The veterinarian's wife, Natalia Volosen, said that four of the couple's chickens died from trauma of being chased by the 2-year-old dachshund. But a police officer testified that there were no dead chickens in Volosen's yard that day.

Prosecutor Walt Junker said Volosen "took the law into his own hands."

Ball has filed a civil lawsuit against Volosen, who has since moved from the neighborhood.

Volosen killed a neighborhood Labrador retriever in 2002, but police filed no charges because the dog had killed seven of Volosen's rabbits and one of his chickens.

"He's a man who escapes from a Communist Romania to live in the land of the free, where you have a right to protect your property," said Bryan Buchanan, one of Volosen's attorneys. "And now this happens to him."

'DotComGuy' Goes Bust

DALLAS - Call it the DotComGuy bust.

The man who legally changed his name to DotComGuy changed it back Tuesday - to Mitch Maddox.

In 2000, Maddox spent one year at home and living off purchases made on the Internet. Video footage of his life was streamed on the Internet 24 hours a day and attracted worldwide media attention.

He later got married and on Tuesday he and his wife, Anne, appeared in court to legally change their names to Maddox.

Meanwhile, an auction for the DotComGuy name and the domain name dotcomguy.com was to end in April, but it's been extended - and it's now on e-Bay.