The Odd Truth, July 30, 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.
Robbing The Coffin
CROWLEY, La. - A Crowley woman is out on bond today after she was booked with felony theft after she allegedly did more than pay her respects to a deceased person during a funeral wake. Police say she walked away with a keepsake.
Crowley Police Captain Richard Sammartino says 44-year-old Susan M. Duhon was arrested for theft of a ring she allegedly took from the hand of a deceased relative while visiting her coffin.
Sammartino says they suspected Duhon knew the deceased because she signed the visitor's book.
Duhon was at Geesey-Ferguson Funeral Home when she allegedly took a wedding ring valued at $500.
Sammartino says witnesses noticed her odd behavior. Police went to her home to interview her and arrested her when they found the ring. She posted a $10,000 bond from Acadia Parish jail.
As of today, Duhon had not been charged by the district attorney.
Million Dollar Nickel
BALTIMORE - A million-dollar mystery was solved early Wednesday with experts certifying that a nickel that had been missing for decades is the fifth 1913 Liberty Head nickel.
Relatives of the late George Walton, a North Carolina coin dealer, took the coin to the experts at the American Numismatic Association convention that opened Wednesday. The relatives did not want to be identified.
The family had put the coin away after Walton's death because they didn't believe it was genuine, said Paul Montgomery, president of Bowers and Merena Galleries, a Louisiana-based coin dealer and auction house.
They decided to bring it out for inspection after learning that Montgomery had offered a $1 million reward for the coin and $10,000 just to be the first to see it.
The association brought the six experts together late Tuesday. After comparing the coin to four documented coins, they declared the coin authentic early Wednesday.
The family had no immediate plans to take Montgomery up on his offer of $1 million for the coin.
The Liberty Head Nickel was replaced by the Indian or Buffalo Nickel after 1912, Montgomery said. But five Liberty nickels with 1913 dates were minted illegally by Mint official Samuel K. Brown.
The reward amount was based on the auction of a 1913 nickel for $1.4 million in 1996. It was the first coin to sell for more than $1 million.
Man's Best Friend?
MOSCOW - Medics trying to reach a man suffering from a high blood pressure attack were blocked by his fierce and vigilant guard dog and the owner died, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Wednesday.
The report said the incident took place in the Ural Mountains city of Chelyabinsk, where an emergency medical crew tried to treat the 54-year-old man.
"All attempts by the medics to get close to the dying man were firmly blocked by his four-legged friend," the report said.
Police were called to the scene and shot the dog, but the owner died before he could be attended to by doctors, according to ITAR-Tass.
Wasting Away Again In Burritoville
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - A man accused of violating his work release by having alcohol on his breath says it was all in the burritos.
The judge wants to see the recipe.
Attorney Russ Jones said Monday his client, William Dolge, 45, had burrito meat soaked in beer, which resulted in his testing positive for a low amount of alcohol about two weeks ago when he returned to jail from his job.
Lincoln County Attorney Jeff Meyer said he suspected Dolge washed the burritos down with something more than water.
District Judge John Murphy told Jones to bring the recipe - and a sample if he can - to the next hearing in the case on Aug. 6.
Dolge was granted work release while serving 364 days in jail for driving with a suspended license.
Talk To Your Koala About Teenage Pregnancy
SYDNEY, Australia - Wildlife officers plan to implant contraceptive devices in thousands of female koalas at a park that is overpopulated with the animals, who are eating away the tree canopy, a report said Wednesday.
The koalas will have a small plastic tube inserted under their skin. The device will slowly release hormones similar to those found in the human contraceptive pill, said Sally Troy, the research head of Parks Victoria, the agency that manages the affected Mount Eccles National Park in Victoria state.
It is the first time such a scheme has been carried out on a large scale, she said.
"There's up to 10,000 koalas in the park and another couple of thousand koalas around (the) park, so they are continuing to increase and we know that more than 70 percent of the trees at Mount Eccles have got less than half of their canopy already," Troy was cited as saying by Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s Web site.
No other details of the program were included in the report. Attempts to confirm it with Parks Victoria were unsuccessful because their offices had closed for the day.
The park is about 190 miles west of Melbourne.
Ravioli Ransom In 'Fat Boy' Kidnapping
DENNIS, Mass. - Four-hundred pounds of gorgonzola ravioli in unmarked bags.
That's supposedly the ransom demand from the kidnappers of "Fat Boy," a seven-foot-high fiberglass chef statue that was swiped from in front of an Italian restaurant on Cape Cod.
The ransom demand was left on the answering machine at "Spaghetti Eddies." The caller said "I've got your chef" in what owner Robert Swanson described as a "Mafia-like voice."
Swanson said the caller told the restaurant that if it wanted its mascot back, it better get the gorgonzola ravioli ready. Details of the exchange would come in a later phone call.
Swanson, however, doubts the call came from the real kidnappers of Fat Boy. Police are skeptical, too.
The fiberglass mascot was taken sometime early Saturday.
Barnyard Gambling
TORONTO - It's a version of roulette - but played with cow pies. Organizers are calling their game "Moolette." At lunchtime in Toronto Thursday a cow will wander on a giant roulette board. If Bessie makes a deposit on your number, you win. The event is being staged by Dunlop Tires and proceeds will be donated to the Ontario 4-H Foundation. The stunt will also raise awareness for Canada's beleaguered beef industry. Organizers hope to play at least three to four games of Moolette. But just how many will be up to the cow.
Patient Sues Doc After Three Hour Wait
LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas doctor has learned the hard way that time is money.
A man got so fed up waiting three hours to see him that he sued for $5,000. A small claims court awarded him $250.
The man said he wanted to teach a lesson about treating patients with respect.
The doctor says he's appalled by the ruling and will appeal.
The doctor says he overbooked to get the man in before he left on vacation. But he fell behind shuttling between his four offices - and can't be faulted because another patient took longer than expected.
The head of the Nevada State Medical Association says the case can be a warning to doctors about patients getting frustrated with long waits.
It's Not The Billboard, Really
COLTON, Calif. - No, it's not the billboard of a bare-chested woman that upsets authorities. Nor is it the topless club's slogan. Highway officials in California want to ban a billboard because of unauthorized use of the Interstate highway symbol. Billboards for Club 215 in Colton show a topless woman wearing just a tool belt, with the slogan "Got Wood?" The California Department of Transportation contends the Club 215 logo looks too much like the familiar shield symbol for Interstates. Caltrans officials say the topless dancer can stay, but the shield has got to go. An attorney for the club says no one is going to think a topless billboard is an official Interstate highway sign. The club is requesting a hearing on the issue.
$100,000 Bagged In Life-Sized Monopoly
RENO, Nev. - A Mississippi man stayed out of jail and passed go to win a lot more than $200.
Freddie Osborn, 60, of Sarah, Miss., walked away with $100,000 from the Monopoly game played on a huge board outside Harrah's Reno, where temperatures topped 100 degrees on Tuesday.
Osborn was one of 125 people who won local contests in Harrah's casinos across the country to receive all-expense paid trips to Reno.
The retired construction worker became one of the five finalists after surviving two elimination rounds. He raced four finalists around a board measuring 60 feet square.
"I was sitting eight places down, and I rolled a 10, and I came a-running," he said.
He plans to pay off his home mortgage and purchase a new truck with his winnings.
Harrah's Entertainment partnered with Hasbro for the $100,000 Race to Go contest, the second time the companies have paired for a promotion.