
Inexplicable
The Adair family of Deerfield Beach, Fla., was startled awake on July 15 by the sound of something meaty crashing onto their roof. When they investigated, they found two packages of Italian pork sausage in the side yard, and three more packages still on the roof. The sausages were in bags marked with the name of a land-clearing company in Alabama. Austin Adair called the company to inquire about the wayward sausages, but "the guy had no idea what I was talking about and probably thought I was crazy," he said, and the mystery remains unsolved. "I would love to know what really happened," Jennie Adair added, "because it's just so, so odd."
The Naked Truth
Summers are hot in Lawrence, Kan., and Christopher Steven Carlson, 34, of Riley took advantage of the warm temperatures on July 30 to stroll down a sidewalk in the busy college town in his birthday suit—twice. Police first arrested Carlson around 2 p.m. in downtown Lawrence for indecent exposure, after which he paid his $500 fine and was released. He caught a taxi from the Douglas County Jail back to the downtown area, where he stiffed the driver, left his clothes in the car and resumed his in-the-buff constitutional. Local business owner Meg Heriford said: "Our customers were not alarmed. It was more like, 'Hey, there's a naked guy.'"
• Nakedness does leave one a bit vulnerable, as Travis Tingler, 32, found out on July 16 as he stood unclothed outside his girlfriend's house in Manitowoc, Wis., shouting and threatening to hurt the people inside. When police arrived, they tried and failed to get Tingler back into his pants, so they handcuffed him. As they struggled to put him in the police car, Tingler picked up a lighter off the ground, and a probe from an officer's stun gun struck the lighter, igniting Tingler's chest and beard hairs. An officer was able to
• Nudity, like everything else, is more fun when you can share it with friends. Or so it appeared to drivers along route A66 in Workington, Cumbria, in England, who spied four "
The Continuing Crisis
Out of eight candidates for Detroit mayor in the Aug. 8 primary, half were convicted felons, The Detroit News reported. Three women and one man have convictions including gun crimes and assault with intent to commit murder. "Black marks on your record show you have lived a little and have overcome some challenges," political consultant Greg Bowens opined. Michigan law allows convicted felons to vote and run for office unless they are currently incarcerated, or if their offenses are fraud-related or constitute a breach of public trust. None of the felons advanced to the general election.
Ironies
In Green Bay, Wis., the Spartans of Vincent T. Lombardi Middle School won't be playing football this year because of a lack of coaches. Jim Van Abel, the principal of the school named after the revered coach of the Green Bay Packers, told parents in a letter that the district had been advertising for coaching positions since April, to no avail. Student Alex Coniff said last year about 55 students played on the school's two football teams. (Interestingly, the district was also unable to provide a representative to be interviewed for the story.)
The Perfect Name
Weedville, Pa., more than lived up to its name on July 31 when the North Central Municipal Drug Task Force busted Tiffany R. Potts, 23, and James Michael Dunshie, 30, at their home. The pair were caught with heroin, methamphetamines, hallucinogenic mushrooms, firearms and drug paraphernalia—but, apparently, no weed.
The Job of the Researcher
Sexing certain species of turtles used to be an invasive process, sometimes requiring surgery on the little guy or gal. But Donald McKnight, a Ph.D. student at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, has perfected a method that speeds up the process—and presumably
Readers' Choice
Dilworth, Minn., police officer Brad Browning suffered a bout of bad luck on Aug. 2 after he pulled over a car with a burned-out headlight. The driver, Stephen Hietala, 27, of Perham, had a warrant out for his arrest. When officers tried to handcuff Hietala, he resisted, prompting one officer to fire his Taser, which missed
Bright Idea
In Munich, Germany, Benjamin David has found a unique way to drown his commuting sorrows. He swims to work. "When I was on my bike, I would yell at cars," David said. "When I was on foot, I would yell at cyclists. ... Just a few
Awesome!
Two Subway sandwich shop workers in Coventry, R.I., frustrated a potential robber on July 25 by acting like teenagers—ignoring his demands for money until he finally gave up and left the store. Police told a local news station that the
Oops!
A Hartford City, Ind.,
It's Important to Have Goals
When federal agents turned up in May 2016 with a search warrant at the Miami home of 19-year-old Phyllistone Termine, they interrupted the teenager as he crafted a summer fraud to-do list. Items on the list included buying credit card numbers and security codes on the "dark web." Between March 2015 and his arrest, Termine had used stolen Social Security numbers from more than 1,000 victims to collect unemployment benefits in excess of $1 million. Next to his bed were blank white credit cards with magnetic strips and equipment to encode them. In July, Termine was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in federal prison, where his organizational skills might be put to some more legal purpose.
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