The Odd Truth, May 7, 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.
Man Caught With Severed Head
DUESSELDORF, Germany - A 24-year-old man who was detained walking down a shopping street with his sister-in-law's severed head in one hand and a knife in the other was being questioned Wednesday by prosecutors.
Police found the 25-year-old woman's bloody torso Tuesday in her apartment in the village of Uebach-Palenberg near the Belgian-Dutch border in western Germany.
Neighbors said they had heard the woman screaming in the apartment during an argument with the suspect. Shortly afterward, police stopped the man as he walked down the village shopping street carrying the women's head and a 12-inch kitchen knife.
"We cannot say anything definite yet about the motive or the exact sequence of events," said Robert Deller, a prosecutor in the western city of Aachen.
The man, an ethnic Albanian from the Serb province of Kosovo, was being questioned through an interpreter, Deller said. An autopsy on the woman's body was scheduled later Wednesday.
MSN Introduces 'iLoo' Toilet
SEATTLE - Now on the way: "Surfing on the loo" with Internet access at portable toilets.
The iLoo being developed by the MSN division of Microsoft Corp. in Britain is a standard portable toilet — a loo to the English — with a wireless keyboard and extending, height-adjustable plasma screen in front of the seat.
There would also be a "Hotmail station" with waterproof keyboard and plasma screen on the outside for those waiting in line.
MSN officials say they're negotiating for the manufacture of toilet paper imprinted with Web addresses that users may not have tried.
"The Internet's so much a part of everyday life now that surfing on the loo was the next natural step," MSN marketing manager Tracy Blacher said. "People used to reach for a book or mag(azine) when they were on the loo, but now they'll be logging on."
The device is expected to be in use at festivals this summer in Britain, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday. There's no word on if, or when, the iLoo will make its way across the pond.
Carpet-Lawn Condemned As Nuisance
PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Steve and Mildred Nadwairski can no longer sweep the carpet over their lawn problem.
A judge has ordered the retired couple to remove the multicolored carpet swatches from their sloped front yard, saying they are a nuisance. They have until June 23 to rip out the rugs.
The couple carpeted their lawn a few years back, after grass seed never took, landscape logs couldn't solve the problem and $250 seemed too much for sod.
"I don't know that it's written anywhere that you can't have carpet on your front lawn," Steve Nadwairski said.
Pasco County has ordinances prohibiting the collection of "public nuisance items," such as junk cars and appliances. Old carpet also classifies, assistant county attorney Kristi Wooden said.
"These junkyards are magnets for pests and rodents, snakes and rats," Wooden said. "I wouldn't think that stepping on soggy carpet would be something I would want my child to do."
Neighbors were pleased by the ruling.
"It just looks nasty," said Lynn Serviss. "With it being wet all the time, there is no telling what's under that."
The Nadwairskis said they would comply with the ruling.
That's A Lot Of Frozen Shrimp!
NEWBURGH - The great shrimp heist ended badly for two Hudson Valley men.
Police say two men stole $150 worth of frozen shrimp from a ShopRite supermarket yesterday.
When a security guard tried to stop them, 42-year-old Frank Birdsall and 32-year-old Christopher Montalvo — both of Newburgh — allegedly assaulted the guard.
The pair then fled in a sports utility vehicle that was spotted at a local motel.
The men have been charged with felony robbery and misdemeanor assault.
Distinguished Surname 'Sars' Sullied By SARS
OSLO, Norway - Global fears of an epidemic have sullied a good name in Norway: Sars.
Not SARS as in severe acute respiratory syndrome, but the family name Sars, which is well-known enough throughout the Nordic country of 4.5 million that Queen Sonja christened a ship bearing it Wednesday.
According to the state agency Statistics Norway, there are 35 Sars in Norway. The name doesn't have any particular meaning.
The best known Norwegian Sars were 19th century marine biologists Michael Sars and his son, Georg Ossian Sars. They've got a research institute, the Sars Center, named for them.
Since the outbreak of SARS, the center in Bergen, about 300 miles west of the capital, Oslo, has been flooded with e-mails, faxes and phone calls seeking information about the virus.
The Sars Center can't help. It specializes in the study of marine genetics, mainly Zebra fish.
There have been no confirmed cases of SARS, which has killed 480 people worldwide out of 6,600 infected, in Norway, Sweden, Denmark or Finland.
Nanny-Nanny-Do-Do, He-Can't-Hear-You
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia - A Russian officer charged with murdering a young Chechen woman plugged his ears with cotton balls and read a book in court on Wednesday to protest his retrial.
Col. Yuri Budanov has admitted killing 18-year-old Heda Kungayeva, but says he suspected her of being a rebel sniper and acted in a fit of rage.
Kungayeva's family said she was dragged from her home, raped and murdered during a drunken rampage by soldiers in March 2000.
The case is seen as a bellwether for Russia's willingness to crack down on military abuses in Chechnya, but now in its third year, it has also turned into an example of the convoluted, inefficient Russian legal system.
Budanov's first trial ended in December with a ruling that the officer was temporarily insane and therefore not criminally responsible.
Russia's Supreme Court overturned that decision in February and ordered a new trial. The court, in turn, has ordered yet another mental examination of the officer.
"I know what's going to happen in this trial," said Budanov, who has repeatedly protested his prolonged prosecution. "I will plug my ears with cotton balls and close my eyes."
Parents Charged In Child's Strep Throat
DANIELSON, Conn. - State police on Tuesday arrested two parents on cruelty charges for allegedly failing to seek treatment for their 6-year-old daughter's strep throat.
Timothy Marcotte, 27, and Carmen Pagan, 30, were repeatedly instructed by a nurse at Killingly Memorial School between April 28 and Tuesday to bring Elda Marcotte to a doctor, police say.
Pagan said she was unable to get the child to her physician in Norwich because she has no car, and instead brought her to a nearby hospital emergency room.
"How can you charge me with that?" Pagan told WFSB-TV. "If I had to starve for my kids, I would."
Police said the parents never brought the child to the hospital.
Officials of the state Department of Children and Families brought the child to a doctor on Tuesday.
The two parents were charged with cruelty to a person and risk of injury to a minor.
Go Ahead, Frown If You Want To
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Palo Alto City Council members won't have to turn their frowns upside down.
The council had tried to do away with frowning as part of a proposed code of conduct during public meetings. But on Monday, council members voted unanimously to adopt the code but remove language discouraging elected officials from using facial expressions that show "disagreement or disgust" at public meetings.
The broad proposal on body language, which critics said could be interpreted as infringing on the First Amendment's guarantee of free expression, made the council the butt of many jokes.
The intent, said council member Judy Kleinberg, was to eliminate intimidation that arises when colleagues act aggressively or rudely.
Council member Nancy Lytle wrote a memo suggesting the code be reworded to ask for "respectful silence and decorum, paying and showing signs of attention while colleagues, staff or public have the floor."
But council member Jack Morton said that wording won't work either.
"I don't think it's appropriate for a city council to limit any form of expression — or require a positive form of expression," he said.