The Odd Truth, Oct. 16, 2002
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.
Big House Beauties
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Move over Miss Universe, make room for Miss Captivity, a contest to pick the most attractive female inmate serving jail time in Lithuania.
The organizer of the event, television producer Arunas Valinskas, announced this week that he finalized a deal with the Baltic country's only women's prison and already had accepted applications from 36 contestants.
"We'll attempt to find beauty where you might think there is none," he said at a news conference on Monday. "The prisoners are, after all, women first and foremost."
The prison, the Panevezys Penal Labor Colony, holds more than 1,000 inmates, including convicted murders. It's in the city of Panevezys, some 90 miles north of Vilnius, the capital of this nation of 3.5 million people.
The competition, which organizers said was the first of its kind in Europe, will be shown live on the private LNK TV in mid-November.
Top Lithuanian fashion designers will make the contestants' clothes and local dignitaries would serve as the judges, selecting a winner based on "beauty and elegance," Valinskas said.
In addition to what many might see as the dubious honor of being crowned Miss Captivity, the winner and runners-up will qualify for 10,000 litas ($2,500) in prizes — though they'd only receive them after completing their jail terms.
Prison officials said participating detainees would be excused from working in the penitentiary's sewing factory during the week of the contest. (AP)
Alaskan Monster Bird Flap
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Picture a Bigfoot with wings. Or maybe a flying Loch Ness monster. Some villagers in southwest Alaska are reporting a huge bird, the size of a small airplane. Bush pilot John Bouker spotted the bird from the air and says it's really, really huge. Bouker adds the passengers on his plane saw it too. He says you wouldn't want to have your children outside with something that big flying around. But bird experts are skeptical of the reports. They say something so large hasn't been alive for 100-thousand years. (AP)
Hell Takes A Year Off
ARVADA, Colo. - The Halloween morality play that's been put on at a church in suburban Denver since 1995 is taking a year off.
More than 45,000 people have paid to go through the Abundant Life Christian Center's "Hell House" -- in which teens are depicted falling into hell by choosing abortion, drugs or suicide, or by engaging in homosexual activity.
It was started by the Reverend Keenan Roberts, who this year is starting a new church in the Denver suburbs.
The Colorado AIDS Project and the Council of Churches called Hell House intolerant and judgmental. But it caught on, and Roberts started selling the script package for $200 each. He says it's now used by more than 500 churches in 14 countries.
Roberts adds that Hell House will return when he can find a new location. (AP)
Landfill Hosts Party To 'Dispel Myths'
TAYLOR, Pa. — Just don't call it a dump.
In an attempt to convince neighbors that it's not all bad, the Alliance Sanitary Landfill threw a party for about 500 people Saturday.
Guests went on tours of the landfill, painted pumpkins, ate hamburgers and got gift bags to take home.
"The purpose was to get our neighbors here and dispel the myths about the landfill," said spokesman John Hambrose. He said bad smells and rotting garbage are two of the common myths.
"You'll be amazed to see no garbage and no smell," visitor Betty Barth said. "We all thought there would be a bad smell, but there's not." (AP)
Just Your Luck
NEW YORK - You're going to need a little more luck to win at Powerball. The odds of winning the jackpot have gone from one in 80 million to one in 120 million. This happened because there are now 53 numbers to bet on, instead of 49. Lottery officials say more numbers were added because several new lotteries have joined Powerball, increasing the pool of potential players by 21 million. But the jackpots are also getting bigger. Powerball is the multi-state lottery now played in 23 states and Washington D.C. (AP)