Weird News

Here are some news stories I read online. Thought I would share with you.

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Jeremy Lyons, 20, was arrested in Hanover Township, Pa., in October for an alleged vandalism spree, bashing car windows with a baseball bat. A local TV station had carried a story of the arrest of another person, and Lyons for some reason called the station and, laughing, told them they had the wrong man. He was arrested when the call was traced.

In 1995, the attorneys general of New York and Minnesota announced their states' "top 10" lists of frivolous lawsuits. New York prisoners have filed lawsuits alleging a defective haircut by the prison barber, improper "white" towels instead of "beige," and an ice cream dessert that was largely melted. Minnesota inmates have filed lawsuits demanding damages for being provided an improper variety of beans on the menu, a lack of salsa, a surfeit of bologna, and underwear that was too tight ("cruel and unusual punishment"). One Minnesota inmate said his primary purpose in filing his lawsuit was "pure delight in spending taxpayers' money."

Charles Littleton, 22, was defiant even after being tasered by police when he resisted efforts to remove him from a Saginaw City Council meeting in Michigan. He said he had to stand up for his right to wear his Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap, despite a rule banning hats for men inside. "It means more than just a hat," he said. "It's like my crown. It's like asking a king to remove his crown."

Police in Sydney, Australia, arrested 19 people in a two-family street fight in January and, according to Sydney's Daily Telegraph, confiscated "knives, baseball bats, metal poles, planks, branches, cricket bats, pick handles, screwdrivers, golf clubs, curtain rods and glass bottles," as well as hammers and machetes.

Nigeria's People's Democratic Party started screening candidates in December ’06 to run for president this year, ranking applicants on the following criteria: patriotism (10 percent), integrity (15), ethnic neutrality (10), knowledge of law (10), tolerance (5), transparency (10), knowledge of development (10) and leadership qualities (15). (Apparently, Arithmetic ability was not a criterion.)

Source: News of the weird