News Stories - Strange and Funny

[loulizlee]

"Man Impaled By Glass Climbing Through Window

A California man accidentally killed himself Friday night as he tried to enter his home through a window.
The body of Kyle Fortunato was found halfway through the kitchen window of his Sacramento apartment, according to CBS 13. Police say the 28-year-old was locked out, and had been attempting to climb through the window when he was impaled by broken glass. Stuck in the window frame, Fortunato bled to death.
Some neighbors found the circumstances suspicious. "It don't seem like no accident to me," said one neighbor. "I mean, I ain't no CSI, but I watch CSI."
The incident, however, was purely an accident, say investigators. A coroner has confirmed that the broken glass of the window caused Fortunato's death, KTXL reports."  HuffPost News

COMMENTARY:  This story, of course, does not come under the category of Funny.  I guess it COULD be called Weird.  It is quite sad. It always seems especially sad when a child or young person dies.  This article went on to say that some people have stated they think this might not have been accidental.  The coroner did confirm that it was.  I, too, watch CSI, but I could not envision how a window could be manipulated to murder someone.  It reminded me of the scene in the movie  "Ghost" with Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze (one of my favorites), and Whoopi Goldberg, where the bad guy was ushered into the hereafter by being impaled with a window.  Is that another example of "life imitating art?" 

[loulizlee]

MAN ORDERED TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT AFTER PROMISE OF ROLE IN ANISTON MOVIE

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A man has been ordered to pay more than $32,000 in back child support after being lured back to Pennsylvania with the promise of a bogus role in a Jennifer Aniston movie.

Joshua Garlathy pleaded guilty Tuesday to willful failure to pay child support more than a month after he was arrested after his flight from Hawaii landed in Philadelphia.
Garlathy was arrested under a new law making it a crime to move out of state to avoid paying child support. He was lured back to Pennsylvania by a bounty hunter promising him a role in a fake movie.
Garlathy was also sentenced to 90 days of probation. He says he hopes he can rebuild his relationship with his daughter.

COMMENTARY:  I have two things to say to this man:  (1)  After looking at your picture, whatever made you think you were really being offered a role in a Jennifer Aniston movie?  and (2)  From someone who was deserted, along with their siblings, by a deadbeat father who went to another state to avoid child support, don't count on a happy reunion with your daughter.

[alice44]

The lifeguard in SW Florida who was fired because he saved the live of a man who was drowning, just outside his guarded area.  He could see the situation and reacted.  There was a flag separating the guarded area and the "swim at your own risk" area, but the lifeguuard could see the man in trouble.
God Bless the lifeguard!

[loulizlee]

Yes, I saw that on TV last night.  I couldn't believe it.  Some of the other lifeguards quit in protest.  Then the CEO of the company that employed the lifeguards heard about it and offered them their jobs back.  That lifeguard declined to go back to work for them.  Thanks but no thanks.  He said he was going to move on - work for a family member and save money for college.  Can't say I blame him.  Hooray for someone who does the right thing and doesn't go by a stupid rule.

[Phx0808]

A Phoenix woman was arrested and could face a charge of child abuse after police said she put beer into her 2-year-old son's sippy cup at a pizza restaurant.

Valerie M. Topete, 36, is facing one count of child abuse after a witness called police and told them she saw Topete pour beer from a pitcher into the infant's cup and place it in front of the child on Tuesday in the 4900 block of East Ray Road.

The witness told police the child later fell from his seat, leading her to believe the boy was intoxicated.

Topete told police her son had been grasping for the pitcher and that she had put a "splash of beer" into her son's cup that contained apple juice, according to police. She told them it was "reverse psychology" to stop him from grabbing at the pitcher. The mother initially told officers the child did not drink from the cup, but later said the child may have drank the beer.

Officers said the cup had about 4 ounces of liquid with foam on the surface and a distinct odor of alcohol.

The boy was taken to Chandler Hospital as a precaution.

Child Protective Service was called to the hospital. Police said the father of the child, and the boy's two siblings, ages 4 and 8, who had also been at the restaurant, arrived at the hospital and the children were turned over to him.

[loulizlee]

Wow!!  I am always in disbelief in those kinds of stories of abusive parents.  How do they think of such stuff, anyway? 

I read a story yesterday of two parents who were the opposite type.  A father in Illinois was awakened when he heard sounds from his one-year-old son's crib.  He found a two-foot-long python wrapped around the baby's foot, trying to ingest it.  The father used a blanket to pull the snake off.  The mother said the baby did not cry until later at the hospital when the staff was cleaning the wound.  What a brave little boy!!

[hudsonmike09]

"A mother in Westlake, Ohio, said she came home to find her house a little cleaner after an uninvited guest had tidied up while she was away.
WKYC reports that Susan Warren, the so-called "Cleaning Fairy," is accused of breaking into Sherry Bush's home, doing some light cleaning, and leaving a bill for her services on a napkin, along with her contact information.
"She wrote a note [on a napkin] and left it on the table, saying, '$75 I was here to clean,' and left her name and number," Bush told the station.
Thinking that Warren had come to the wrong house, Bush called her up to straighten things out.
"I think our jaws just dropped to the ground," Bush said. "I said, 'What happened, did you get the wrong house?' She said, 'No, I do this all the time.' I said, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'I just stop and clean your house.'"
Bush told NewsNet5 that Warren later admitted she had broken in because she needed cash, though nothing was stolen from the house.
"She said she was driving down the street and randomly picked our house and cleaned it cause she was desperate for money," Bush said.
Westlake Patch reports that Warren has been charged with felony burglary."  Huffington Post

COMMENTARY:  Why couldn't she find my house?  My house really, really needs cleaning.  However, I do think $75 is a little much for just tidying up. 

For that kind of money, she should at least do windows!

[hudsonmike09]

I really like this thread, and I'll check back on it often. Thanks!!

[loulizlee]

Thank you so much, hudsonmike09!!

[Sweetpea1228]

Great idea! Love reading articles from different regions. I'll be back to read your thread everyday.

[loulizlee]

KEARNEY, Neb. -- A central Nebraska man landed in jail for writing a bomb threat on the back of a restaurant job application.

Police arrested Dornhoff, of Heartwell, Neb., at gunpoint and searched his truck, but didn't find any bomb.
Court documents say Dornhoff told police he uses methamphetamines and went to the restaurant hoping to find a way to fulfill his sexual fantasies.
A public defender who was appointed to represent Dornhoff didn't immediately respond to a message Wednesday.
Dornhoff has posted $10,000 bond and is due back in court on Aug. 13.

Buffalo County Sheriff's Office

COMMENTARY:  Another to file under stupid criminals.  I guess the moral of this story is methamphetamines make a person stupid.  

[debidoo]

  OMG that is so disturbing.  I'm sorry but I think the world has gone absolutely INSANE  I think that there is so much awful and frightening crime going on in any given state that something this stupid and trivial shouldn't even happen...no offense to the poster of this story but its not strange or funny its absolutely CRAZY and unfortunatly I bet both of us could come up with too many stories along these lines.

[loulizlee]

School Two Easy': Local Station Makes Ironic Typo
Posted: 07/12/2012 1:39 pm Updated: 07/12/2012 2:40 pm
Two Easy, WNDU, Media News

Put this in the Department of Ironic Typos.

Someone in the graphics department at local station WNDU in Indiana must have been kicking themselves when they looked up and saw that they'd spelled the word "too" wrong in an introduction to a story.

What made matters much worse was that the story was about school being too easy for children:

COMMENTARY:  My mini-campaign against poor grammar and poor spelling has not made the slightest impact on anybody on the planet, not that I thought it would.  Although many times it is caused by not proof-reading, a lot is caused by ignorance.  This is spreading more and more in the media.  Some people believe it makes no difference.  However, when I come across non-readable comments on Facebook, I get more irritated at the school systems.  So many people graduate from high school and college that cannot read or write.  Recently, I asked a family member for their address to send their daughter a graduation present.  I got the package back marked "No such street."  They had given me an address with no periods or commas, so I put them where I thought they should be.  Turned out I was wrong, and it had to be mailed again.

[jcribb16]

Naked driver crashes into Dallas mall, tries on clothes
Jul 13, 2012

By Michael Winter, USA TODAY
Updated 2d 17h ago

Dallas police arrested a 35-year-old naked man after he crashed his pickup truck into a mall before it opened and tried on some clothes, according to news reports.

Police apprehended Arthur Walker inside the Southwest Center Mall about 7:30 a.m. Officer said he drove is Dodge pickup through the mall's double glass doors, demolished several kiosks and crashed through the roll-down gate of a Champs Sports store.

Officers found him putting on socks and a new pair of Nike Jordan sneakers, WFAA-TV says. Paramedics took him to the hospital for evaluation before he was transferred to the local lockup. He is being held on a burglary charge.

"My assessment is he wasn't in his right mind," said Sgt. Elliott Forge.

It wasn't immediately clear what prompted the early-bird shopping spree, but police said that shortly before, Walker was involved in a domestic dispute about a mile away.

Crews cleaned up the damage in time for the mall's normal opening.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/07/dallas-cops-arrest-naked-driver-who-crashed-truck-into-mall/1#.UARgipEZjPY

[loulizlee]

My assessment is he was probably on alcohol or drugs.