This is True has been publishing since 1994, presenting odd news with off-the-wall commentary by Colorado humorist Randy Cassingham. Since its launch This is True has been the leading online "weird-but-true news" newsletter, so it's about time we started tracking the weirdest stories of the year. This is the first compilation of that -- for the year 2007.
The following are the Top 10 Weirdest stories from This is True in 2007, as voted by the readers.
#10 is from July:
Spare Parts
Michelle Eather, 37, of Woodbridge, Tas., Australia, discovered she was a perfect match for a U.S. man who needs a kidney transplant, so she agreed to donate her left kidney to the man, whom she has never met. But when news of her donation broke, she started getting calls from people wanting her other kidney -- or other organs. "There have probably been more than 2,000 inquiries," Eather said. "Some people email me twice a day." (Hobart Mercury) ...Do something nice and everybody wants a piece of you.
#9, from December:
Bad Hair-of-the-Dog Day
A security officer at the Wal-Mart store in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., had heard reports that a man commonly was doing something odd with hair spray each time he was in the store. He watched for the man, spotted him, and followed him. Sure enough, he watched as the man took a bottle of pump hair spray off the shelf -- and drank it. He continued to follow the man as he drank a second bottle. The hair spray contains a significant amount of alcohol. The unidentified man left the store without paying for the products, and was arrested on shoplifting charges. Security officer Christopher White noted the man had plenty of money in his pocket, so he asked him why he drank hair spray instead of just buying booze. The man replied that he is "a hard-core alcoholic" and doesn't go into liquor stores because "the temptation was too great." (Northwest Florida Daily News) ...And who ever said drug addicts thought logically?
#8, from October:
Every Year, the Crowd Just Eats it Up
Iowa State Fair Board President Jerry Parkins has suggested that the fair discourage the annual "erotic corn dog-eating contest" as "inappropriate". Radio personality Steve Pilchen, who runs the event, said only women have ever entered the contest, and "we stress technique." The winner is chosen by crowd applause. He notes several condiments are available to competitors: "We had ketchup and mustard, but the big hit was mayonnaise." (Des Moines Register) ...Safe contesting guideline: when eating a corn dog erotically, always use a condiment.
#7, also from December:
And Millions of Businessmen Sigh in Disappointment
After Tas Sinadinos was fired from his position as an executive manager for EDI Rail Pty Ltd in Sydney, NSW, Australia, he sued the company. EDI Rail said he had made "inappropriate and unacceptable" charges to his corporate credit card, but Sanadinos told the court that the A$12,000 (US$10,350) worth of ...cough... "escort services" he charged to his company expense account was a perfectly reasonable, even tax-deductible, business expense. Because he had relocated for the job from Melbourne, hiring a woman to keep him company at night was part of his relocation expenses, he said, similar to buying furniture for his apartment. His suit demanded 12 months' of salary and a statement declaring his conduct was acceptable. An Industrial Court judge tossed the suit, ruling that using corporate funds to pay for call girls was "gross abuse" of his expense account. As for such expenses being tax-deductible, the judge ruled that "No reasonable person acting reasonably could proceed on the basis that expenses incurred for escort services could possibly be the subject of some form of taxation concession or relief in some manner." (Sydney Morning Herald) ...If he didn't get some manner of relief, they weren't very good call girls.
#6, from September:
And You Thought You Had a Bad Day
An unnamed 41-year-old man from Val des Monts, Que., Canada, suffered a seizure from a crack cocaine overdose. That apparently disturbed his dog, a pit bull terrier, which then "took a bite out of him" under his ear, police say. His housemates, whom police said were also high, tried to save the man from the dog by swinging at it with a baseball bat. They missed, instead hitting the man in the face. He was taken to a hospital and doctors found a plastic bag in his rectum; it contained 10 grams of crack. Police were called and charged the man with possession of drugs with the intent to traffic -- and with owning an illegal breed of dog. (Montreal Gazette) ...It could have been worse: his buddies could have gotten it all on video.
We're pretty sure hundreds of readers searched on YouTube to make sure there wasn't a video....
#5 (tie). Female readers particularly liked this one, also from September:
Or Are You Glad to See Me?
A robber succeeded in escaping with 613 pounds (US$1,236) from a bookmaker's shop in Leicester, England. The clerks there assumed he had a gun hidden in a bag he pointed at them, but it wasn't. "In fact, what was contained within the carrier bag was the defendant's girlfriend's vibrator," the prosecutor told the judge. Nicki Jex, 27, admitted to the crime and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Press Association) ...Plus a lifetime of being known as the Rampant Rabbit Robber.
The best part: the vibrator he used to simulate a gun really was a "Rampant Rabbit" brand.
#5 (tie). This one, from May, outraged readers over the school- and court-sanctioned religious bullying and discrimination:
Thou Shalt
Rebekah Rice says that in 2003, when she was 15, fellow students at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa, Calif., teased her about her Mormon religion with taunts such as "Do you have 10 moms?" She admits that when she was exasperated with such teasing in her freshman humanities class she responded "That's so gay!" School officials took quick action: she was given a written reprimand for her "offensive language," even though no one complained. Her parents sued the school district demanding they remove the reprimand from her record, claiming harassment and discrimination since the school never tried to stop the religious taunts. The judge in the case ruled the Rices didn't prove discrimination, and that being "picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies" is "part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults." The reprimand will stay in her record. (Santa Rosa Press Democrat) ...The message to children: religious discrimination is fine, but using the preferred word of a protected group in a negative way is an intolerable hate crime.
#3, from March, illustrates how no no government entity likes to not spend money once it's been authorized:
Implement Plan B
The Frazier Park Lake near Ulysses, Kansas, has been dry for at least 20 years, so the city planned a $735,000 project to fill it by using the lake bed to hold its wastewater, rather than use nearly the same amount of money to refurbish the plant's evaporation ponds. There's only one problem: an unusually snowy winter has filled the lake with water. The city therefore plans to drain the lake so the project can proceed. (Garden City Telegram) ...Nothing new: for years, governments have emptied their bank accounts to make room for tax increases.
#2, from January:
Dog Gone It
John Cave, 14, is deaf, but it doesn't keep him from going to public school. He even has a new specially trained assistance dog to help him. But that's the trouble: the W. Tresper Clarke High School in Westbury, Long Island, N.Y., says the boy "doesn't need the dog" at school and, when the boy brought the dog anyway, school officials called the police. Responding officers refused to arrest the boy after confirming state law says public facilities cannot bar disabled people from having service dogs. Still, principal Timothy Voels refuses to let Cave onto school grounds if he has the dog with him, closing the door when he arrives. "All I wanted to do was give my son one more step toward independence," says John's mother, Nancy. (New York Newsday) ...There's your mistake, Nancy: Zero Tolerance-subscribing school officials don't want kids to be independent, since that would give them an advantage.
The story led to considerable debate in the comments area of author Randy Cassingham's blog.
And the #1 Weirdest News Story of the Year is also from January, and also related to "zero tolerance":
The Public be Damned
Two convicted murderers are among 13 escapees from a prison in Sudbury, Derbyshire, England, in recent months. But most of the men, including the murderers, are still at large because police won't release their photos, since that could breach their human rights. "When making a decision to release any photograph, police forces must take into account numerous factors including the public interest test," lectured a police spokesman, "whether there is a strong local policing purpose and, of course, the Human Rights and Data Protection Acts." So now what? The spokesman said by escaping, the felons "abuse the trust we have placed in them," and "it's up to us to trace their whereabouts." (PA) ...While it's up to the public to worry about how the police abuse the trust we have placed in them.
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