The Odd Truth, Oct. 28, 2004
The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.
Bush Named Top Screen Villain
LONDON - With U.S. voters soon to pass their verdict on President George W. Bush, readers of a British magazine have rated him the year's top screen villain.
Bush won the dubious accolade, announced Wednesday, for his appearance in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a documentary that cast Bush in a deeply unflattering light.
The president beat out a shortlist of fictional film bad guys, including the nefarious Doctor Octopus, played by Alfred Molina, in "Spider-Man 2"; "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'"s cannibalistic Leatherface; Andy Serkis' creepy Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and Elle Driver, the eyepatch-wearing assassin played by Daryl Hannah in "Kill Bill."
Almost 10,000 people voted in the poll, conducted by Total Film Magazine.
"It is possible that people have been a little bit tongue in cheek here, but they are also saying that Bush was very scary in 'Fahrenheit 9/11,"' said the magazine's editor, Matt Mueller.
Cold Chillin'
SPOKANE, Wash. - It may seem creepy, but it's not necessarily a crime to keep a corpse in the freezer, police say.
A 59-year-old man walked into the Public Safety Building on Tuesday to ask what he should do with the dead woman's body he had stashed in a chest-style freezer, Capt. Bruce Roberts said. Detectives who responded to the Chateaux Apartments found the body of a 57-year-old woman inside the freezer, he said.
Police did not identify the man but said he was the woman's caregiver. He told them he arrived at the woman's apartment about a week ago and found her dead, then put her in the freezer.
"His underlying motivation, at least what he told us, was he wanted to preserve her dignity," Roberts said. "It's unique and unusual, but at this point there is nothing criminal."
The man was sent to a hospital for a mental evaluation.
Detectives couldn't remove the body, so they took the whole freezer, Roberts said. There were no obvious signs of foul play but an autopsy was planned once the body thawed.
The man told investigators that he had a relationship with the woman for several years but was not her husband.
"She apparently had several strokes and other medical problems during that time," police spokesman Dick Cottam said.
Tough Love Or Attempted Murder?
LA CROSSE, Wis. - He says he was only trying to scare her.
That's William Dahlby's explanation of why he threw a live electrical wire into his wife's bath. He said he hoped a near-death experience would save their marriage.
A jury in La Crosse, Wisconsin, didn't buy it. It found Dahlby guilty yesterday of attempted first-degree murder.
Dahlby said the wire was hooked to a ground fault interrupter designed to cut the electricity when the cord sensed water. His wife was not hurt.
She had testified that when her husband dropped the cord into the water she jumped out, but he tried to push her back in. She then escaped.
Prosecutors say Dahlby was trying to kill his wife to be with another woman with whom he'd admitted involvement.
Party, In The Name Of Justice
DALLAS - A Dallas judge who threw a courtroom party to sentence a former fugitive to life in prison - defended her actions today.
Criminal Courts Judge Faith Johnson says that getting a convicted murderer and domestic abuser off the streets is reason enough to celebrate.
Johnson threw a party Monday - with balloons and a cake - for Billy Wayne Williams.
The convicted killer was on trial last November in Johnson's court on charges he choked his girlfriend in 2002.
Williams fled, but was caught last week in Arlington.
Williams was convicted in absentia of aggravated assault.
Jan Langbein with the Genesis Women's Shelter in Dallas agreed with the judge that removing a perpetrator of domestic violence from the street is cause to celebrate.
But Langbein says worrying about balloons and cake removes the focus from the real issues of the case - that a man earlier murdered his wife and almost choked another woman to death.
Man Settles 24-Year-Old Hotel Bill
OSLO, Norway - After putting up with pangs of conscience for 24 years, a Norwegian finally settled a hotel bill he skipped out on in 1980.
The Clarion Hotel Ernst in the southern town of Kristiansand received a handwritten anonymous letter of apology with a 500 kroner note ($80) attached, hotel director Kay Johnsen said by telephone Thursday.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Johnsen, who has been in the hotel business for more than 20 years.
The note said the sender had stayed at the hotel in the autumn of 1980, had some sandwiches and drinks on his room bill, and then left without paying for anything "because of my lifestyle at that time."
"I have thought a lot about this incident afterward," said the note, adding that he wanted to apologize as well as settle up.
The note was signed, "One who wants to make good, and hereby has."
"He is forgiven," said Johnsen. "And probably by higher powers than us."
Johnsen said the hotel will give the cash to the Salvation Army's Christmas collection drive, so the sender was able to clear his conscience, repay his debt and help the needy.
Super Sunday?
ASHBURN, Va. - Want a sign of who'll win the election? A clue may not be only in the polls, but on the scoreboard. Sunday the Washington Redskins host the Green Bay Packers. In a bizarre statistical correlation, when Washington wins its home game before a presidential election, so does the incumbent president. That would mean a Redskins victory would predict President Bush will be re-elected. The Redskins' election omen has been accurate over seven decades. Washington coach Joe Gibbs calls it kind of amazing. But he adds the statistic really doesn't mean a thing.