The Odd Truth, July 16, 2003

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.

Caught In The Act

TOKYO - A campaigner for Japanese men who complain they've been falsely accused of molesting women on trains has been arrested for allegedly taking photos up a woman's skirt, police said Wednesday.

Mitsuru Nagasaki, 46, was detained by passengers who claim he aimed his camera-equipped cell phone at a woman sitting in front of him on a Tokyo subway Thursday night, a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

He was turned over to police and arrested on suspicion of being a public nuisance.

Nagasaki has been an advocate for the rights of men accused of sexual harassment on crowded trains.

He started his campaign after he was prosecuted for the offense in 1997. He appealed the case to the Supreme Court but lost and was fined 50,000 yen ($423).

Harassment has long been a hazard for women on Tokyo's trains, which are packed at rush hour.

Nagasaki was returning home after distributing his group's leaflets when he was nabbed, the Asahi newspaper reported. He first denied any wrongdoing but later said he was too drunk to remember what he did, the police spokesman said.

He did not answers calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Church Blamed For Drought

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - About 12 police officers were guarding a church in Cambodia on Tuesday after villagers ransacked it, believing its presence was the cause of a three-year drought, police said.

Cambodia is predominantly Buddhist but local superstitions still play a large part in people's beliefs.

Dozens of villagers attacked the building on Sunday, smashing windows, lights, fans and tables, the police chief, Sort Nady, in Svay Rieng province said.

"They were angry with the church. They said the presence of the church has caused continuous droughts that have prevented them from growing rice," he said.

Sort Nady said officials had met with the disgruntled villagers to give them "education" about religious rights.

"They have been told it was unlawful to do such a thing," he said.
An official at the church, 70 miles east of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, declined to comment on the incident. The church's denomination was not known.

Leg Work Pays Off

BODEGA BAY, Calif. - For four years, officials tried to identify the man whose leg washed ashore near Bodega Head.

On Monday, officials said it belonged to Walter Karl Kinney, who dropped from sight around the time the leg and a human tooth were found on the beach.

A brown leather Rockport ProWalker shoe, size 12, and a custom orthopedic insert were the best clues detectives had. Weeks passed, then months and finally years, and officials feared the case would never be solved.

"We were stumped, basically," coroner's Sgt. Will Wallman said. "But then out of the blue, we get a phone call from a woman in Ohio asking about a missing person."

It was Rene Kemp, asking about her father.

With a name, Deputy Dennis Duckett reopened the John Doe investigation.

Before seeking a DNA match, Duckett asked local hospitals if Kinney had ever been a patient. He had. For foot problems. And there were X-rays.

"We got lucky," Wallman said.

It may never be known what exactly happened to Kinney, who is presumed dead, or how he lost his leg.

It wasn't unheard of for Kinney, 59, to disappear for extended periods of time. He had served time in prison, mostly for crimes involving alcohol, and his alcoholism had estranged him from his family.

"This was a man who was smart, sensitive, almost to a fault," said Kemp, who lives in Cleveland. "This world was just too harsh of a place for him."

Good Deed Blatantly Exploited

HONOLULU - A good deed is costing a Marine plenty.

Cpl. Quentin Gwynn jumped into the ocean near a popular Honolulu tourist spot to save a teenager from drowning. During the rescue someone swiped his valuables.

Firefighters credit Gwynn, on vacation after serving in the war in Iraq, with saving the 16-year-old boy's life on Monday.

After the commotion, Gwynn and his girlfriend realized that someone had stolen her backpack, which contained a camera, identification, money, credit cards and a key to their rented motorcycle.

"It's really hitting home right now. It's disheartening," said Gwynn, 21. "They could have picked someone else to steal from."

Gwynn arrived in Hawaii on Sunday aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard. The ship had deployed Jan. 17 for Iraq.

The couple were about to take a second leap from a diving rock Monday when there was a panicked cry for help from the boy's friend.

Gwynn said the youth's body was limp and cold when he was pulled out of the water. He wasn't breathing and had no pulse.

The Marine helped revive the boy by performing CPR. The teen was later taken to a hospital.

Canada Tourist Guide Nixes Prince Edward Island, Halifax

TORONTO - If there are red faces at the Canadian Tourism Commission this week, nobody's admitting it.

The commission says it was fully aware of a number of errors and omissions in a free travel magazine it published earlier this year.

But the group decided to distribute it anyway, and make the corrections in the fall-winter issue.

A spokesman says it was considered more important to get the guide into the hands of potential American tourists and get them thinking of Canada as a vacation destination.

Among the gaffes in the spring-summer debut issue of PureCanada: The entire province of Prince Edward Island appears to have submerged, replaced by a star.

Missing from the map of New Brunswick is the capital Fredericton, while Halifax is omitted from the map of Nova Scotia.

Manitoba is missing its second- and third-largest cities, Brandon and Thompson respectively.

And — all of northwestern Ontario is missing.

Vietnam Vet Alive, Despite Dead Status

GREELEY, Colo. - Gregg Rhoads is very much alive, despite what it might seem on the Vietnam Memorial in Greeley.

Rhoads, 45, recently looked at the memorial and was surprised to see a listing for "Gregg Lee Rhoads," next to the letters "KIA."

"I was surprised, I'll have to say," Rhoads said.

Rhoads served in the Navy from 1975-79, then in the U.S. Naval Reserve for six years and another four in the Army National Guard. He was in Southeast Asia after the Vietnam war ended, picking up Marines on an amphibious landing craft.

They were under fire only once, Rhoads said, and he was never wounded.

Rick Wertz, who led the Veterans' Memorial project and keeps track of 10,000-plus names, said this week that the memorial honors living and dead Weld County residents who served in Vietnam.

The KIA designation next to Rhoads' name refers to a soldier who was killed in action and whose name on the memorial is next to Rhoads, Wertz said.

Rhoads, who volunteers at Hospice and Palliative Care at North Colorado Medical Center, said nurses have "medically confirmed I'm alive."

"That's good news," he said.

And You Thought Junk Mail Was Annoying ...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Farmers are mailing parcels of sheep and cow manure to lawmakers to protest a so-called "flatulence" tax on greenhouse gas emissions from their flocks and herds, the New Zealand's postal service complained Tuesday.

The service said about 20 reeking packages and envelopes had been sent to the nation's Parliament and that the protest — dubbed the "Raise a Stink" campaign — was endangering the health of postal workers.

Farmers are angry that the government has levied the tax to raise $4.7 million a year — about $177 for average farms and ranches — for research into methane gas emissions from agricultural animals.

Millions of sheep, cattle and other animals that graze on New Zealand's lush farmlands are thought to produce 55 percent of the country's greenhouse gases.

New Zealand Post spokesman Ian Long said sending manure by the mail was a crime.

"Our main concern is for the health and safety of our people," said Long. "The police have told us that they will prosecute if they can prove wrongdoing."

Mail sorting workers were wearing protective gloves and placing suspect parcels into bags, he said.

Parliamentary security officials said some stained and damp mail items had been intercepted before they made it to government ministers.

Biblical Plaques Removed From Grand Canyon

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The National Park Service has decided that plaques with biblical psalms located at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon violate the Constitution, and removed them on Wednesday.

However, the park service decided one of the main trails down into Grand Canyon may carry the name Bright Angel, and a number of the canyons formations can share the names of Hindu gods.

Maureen Oltrogge, spokeswoman for the Grand Canyon National Park, said that three bronze, religious-oriented plaques are no longer at Hermits Rest, Lookout Studio and Desertview Tower — all popular viewing areas for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The plaques had been on display for more than 30 years.

The Department of Interior determined that the plaques — quoting Psalms 68:4, 66:4 and 104:24 — were not appropriate for federal public facilities, Oltrogge said.

The First Amendment prohibits the government from supporting a particular religion.

Park service reports show that The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Phoenix placed signs on the buildings at each of the locations in the late 1960s, the Arizona Daily Sun reported.

Letters of concern and a recent inquiry by the Arizona American Civil Liberties Union prompted park officials to review the situation.