The Odd Truth, May 29, 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.
Nickel Mystery
RENO, Nevada - If John Finney is right, no one will ever claim the million-dollar bounty offered by a New Hampshire coin dealer for a rare 1913 Liberty Head nickel.
The Bend, Oregon man believes the coin vanished under tons of concrete when his mother's girlhood home in Sparks, Nevada was razed in the early 1960s to make way for a freeway overpass.
Finney says his uncle, Geno Questa, began collecting coins as a youngster and obtained the nickel in the 1920s.
He says Questa hid the coin in the home from his seven brothers and sisters. But when he went to get it, it was gone.
Finney's mother, Evelyn, says she remembers finding it as a little girl. She thinks she may have splurged on ice cream.
But John Finney says Geno Questa, who died in 1993, was convinced she tucked it away because she feared her older brother's wrath.
Burglar Leaves Trail Of Paint
GRANTS PASS, Oregon - One burglary suspect didn't leave a trail of bread crumbs. He left something even easier to follow — a trail of painted footprints. Police in Grants Pass, Oregon, say a suspected crook spilled paint on the floor of a homeowner's garage, then walked through it. Police followed the footprints to a nearby motel and arrested Albert Dowdy. According to officers, the evidence includes a pair of paint-covered shoes. Dowdy faces a number of charges, including burglary and theft. He's being held on $65,000 bond.
Nebraska Lawmaker Proposes War On Iowa
LINCOLN, Neb. - A Nebraska lawmaker is so fed up with constituents crossing the state border to gamble that she proposed going to war with neighboring Iowa.
"I've been cautioned that the members of the Iowa Legislature might not take it kindly,' said Sen. Pam Brown of Omaha.
Brown's proposed amendment read: "The sovereign state of Nebraska declares a state of hostility with the sovereign state of Iowa until such a time as the state of Iowa ceases the unjust and relentless appropriation of the resources of the citizens of Nebraska."
Brown offered the amendment to a proposed constitutional amendment that would ask votes to approve casino gambling in Nebraska.
She said she offered the tongue-in-cheek proposal to get her colleagues focused on the seriousness of the issue.
Supporters of the casino measure have complained that Nebraskans spend an estimated $250 million a year at casinos in Council Bluff, Iowa, just across the border from Omaha.
Brown later withdrew the amendment.
Everest Mountaineers Discuss Poop, Pee
KATMANDU, Nepal - Men and women who have scaled Earth's loftiest height were considering the mundane matter of human waste Thursday at an environment symposium during celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Mount Everest conquest.
Junko Tabei of Japan, the first woman to reach the 29,035-foot summit, told fellow mountaineers she had calculated that over the past 50 years 1 million liters of human urine had permeated into the Lhotse Icefall, the first phase of the Everest climb.
Although the Nepal government fines each Everest climber $4,000 if they do not bring back down their trash and there are regulations about using portable toilets and containers, Tabei, 64, said she feared that "all human waste is left on the mountain."
During the years before regulations, she said, human excrement collected at the edges of the base camp. At higher elevations, it would freeze rather than deteriorate, and there is no soil in which to bury it.
However, Tashi Tenzing Norgay — whose grandfather was the first to reach the summit with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 — objected to the mountain he considers sacred being described as a garbage pit.
He said it is a "very clean mountain today" and said, "It only costs 17 rupees per kilo (four-tenths of a U.S. penny per pound) to take down your excreta," referring to the price paid to porters.
Norgay, an Australian, also said that just as humans don't eat or sleep much at higher elevations, they don't excrete much either.
He said, "I've been three times to Mount Everest and I only (defecated) twice at Camp Four," the 8,000-foot last stop before the summit.
Water-Shortage Drives Would-Be Wives Away
NEW DELHI, India - Men in a remote village in the desert of western India are struggling to find wives as women flee the community because of an acute water shortage, a newspaper report said Thursday.
Would-be brides are reluctant to marry into families in the village of Saderi, 300 miles southwest of New Delhi, because they would have to walk long distances every day to fetch water, Hindustan Times said.
More than 10 wives tired at the hardship have walked out on their husbands, as taps and wells in the village run dry in the blazing summer months, according to one abandoned husband, Jagat Chadar.
"My wife kept saying she will not fetch water. One day when her father came to meet her, she left with him and never returned," Chadar said.
The newspaper said there were about 80 young men in Saderi who were looking for brides.
In a reversal of Indian tradition, whereby brides pay hefty sums for the hand of a groom, the men in Saderi are offering to pay dowry in a desperate attempt to woo women to their village, the report said.
One villager, Nanhe Bhai Dangi, 35, said he has offered 50,000 rupees ($1,060) to any woman willing to marry him and settle in Saderi, but has had no takers so far.
There are no sources of water in the village, which depends on three hand-operated pumps and two wells located one mile downhill from the community, the newspaper reported.
At Saderi, the women face a grueling uphill climb balancing pots of water on their heads in Rajasthan's searing heat where temperatures can touch 111 degrees during the summer months.
Treasury Secretary Behind On His Bills
WASHINGTON - Treasury Secretary John Snow is the top American money man, but he might need a refresher course on the greenbacks the United States makes these days.
Snow was asked during an online "chat" Wednesday what form of currency he would like to have his image on.
"I would put it on the $500 bill," Snow replied. "It has the least circulation. That way I wouldn't have to see myself too often."
Oops.
The United States stopped printing new $500 bills in 1945 and stopped issuing them altogether — along with $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 notes — in 1969, due to lack of use, says the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Since 1969, the $100 bill has been the largest denomination note cranked out by the bureau and in circulation.
The image of William McKinley, the nation's 25th president, appears on the front of the $500 bills, which along with the other higher, discontinued denominations are more likely to be turn up in the hands of collectors than in cash registers.
Even if the $500 bill were brought back, Snow's image couldn't be put on it, at least not right now. Living people's visages cannot appear on U.S. currency.
Snow made his comments during an interactive exchange posted on White House Web site.
Rock-Paper-Scissors, Luck Or Strategy?
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. - Rock smashes scissors. Paper covers rock. Scissors cut paper.
Student insists there's a deeper meaning.
Thomas Shaffer, who organized a rock-paper-scissors tournament at his high school, says the game is based on patterns, so the odds of winning increase when a player better observes his opponent.
"At first I was one of the believers that it is a game of luck," Shaffer said. "I'll let you in on a little secret: Most people open with scissors. Novice players rarely throw the same thing twice in a row."
Shaffer recruited 75 classmates at Elizabethtown Area High School to compete, got the school to let him hold the contest in the gym and even convinced a sponsor to donate money for trophies. A dairy donated chocolate milk.
Shaffer managed to back up his bluster about the game's intricacies, making the final round by winning 19 matches in a row.
But in the end, he lost to Jeff Leggett.
"It's not about luck," Leggett said. "It's about being on your game. Some days you can't pick up patterns."
Shaffer is scheduled to graduate next week, but Leggett, a junior, said he will organize next year's tournament.
Does Anybody Know Eulah Detweiler?
JACKSON, Missouri - Anyone recognize the name Eulah Detweiler?
That question has come up in Jackson, Missouri.
The town was hit hard by a tornado earlier this month. Homes were damaged and debris was scattered throughout the town.
Mark and Laura Dumey consider themselves lucky that their home escaped damage. But a piece of interesting debris landed in their yard. Their 17-year-old son, Tyler, nearly ran over the large white piece of paper with the lawn mower.
It turned out to be the 1932 diploma of Eulah Detweiler. Problem is, no one knows anyone by that name. The phone book lists no Detweilers, and emergency officials say they've assisted no one with that last name.
The diploma is from Hyde Park High School, a public school in Chicago. It's in remarkably good condition considering what it's been through.
Boy Charged In 'Jackass' Imitation Stunt
GAHANNA, Ohio - An Ohio boy is facing felony assault charges for allegedly staging a stunt based on "Jackass: The Movie."
The 13-year-old is accused of throwing a cup of boiling water on a friend as he slept, causing second-degree burns.
Police in suburban Columbus say the boys made an hour-long video of pranks and stunts based on the now-defunct MTV show, which spawned the film. No one was hurt in the rest of the tape.
The show and movie include a warning against trying stunts at home.