Jolly Greet Giant Snake Head

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - An Iowa family filed a lawsuit seeking damages over a snake head they claim to have found in a can of green beans.
Amy and Michael Schneider and their four children are suing Lakeside Foods of Manitowoc, Wis., and Supervalu Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn.
Supervalu is the parent company of the Cub Foods store where the can of green beans was bought in Iowa City.
Amy Schneider said she found the head when she opened the can of green beans on March 24, 2006. It was about the size of a golf ball, she said.
"It was ... yuck, it was really yuck," she said. "It was gross."
She said Lakeside Foods offered her some coupons when she complained.
"And of course it was for their brand, and I thought, `I'm never going to buy that product again,"' she said. "I won't ever eat a green bean again, probably."
The entire family experienced mental anguish, according to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Johnson County District Court.
Lee Ann Jorgenson, a spokeswoman for Cub Foods, and Jim Ferguson, vice president for customer service for Lakeside Foods, both declined comment.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-09-21-07 1243EDT

What's Up With Wayne Part II

Compliments of News of the Weird:

Arrested recently for murder and awaiting trial: Earl Wayne Reynolds (Spotsylvania County, Va., August); Donald Wayne Booth (Austin, Texas, August); Dustin Wayne Nall (Arlington, Texas, August); Christopher Wayne Hudson (Melbourne, Australia, June); Earl Wayne Flowers (Taylorsville, N.C., April); Randall Wayne Mays (Payne Springs, Texas, May). Suspected by police of murder but still on the loose at press time: David Wayne French (Portland, Ore., May). Convicted of murder: Randy Wayne Seal (Florahome, Fla., May). Sentenced for murder: Patrick Wayne Schroeder (Pawnee City, Neb., August).

Let's Be Patriotic - And Procreate!

From the Star Tribune:

If the streets of Ulyanovsk are quiet today, it's because residents are busy doing their patriotic duty: helping stem Russia's plummeting birthrate. Couples in the Volga River city have been given time off from work to, well, procreate. Prizes await those who give birth in exactly nine months.

I saw this on TV too - apparently, they are giving away SUVs, Houses, Vacations, etc!

Excessive Mooing?

In Washington County, Minn., in June, the sheriff cited farmer Karyl Hylle for having a cow guilty of "excessive mooing.") [East Valley Tribune, 7-3-07] [CanWest News Service, 8-22-07] [KARE-TV (Minneapolis), 8-29-07]

A More Efficient Reincarnation Process!

The government of China, which claims control of Tibet despite the region's vigorous culture of independence, announced in August that it would henceforth require Tibet's "living Buddhas" (special clergy believed to be continuously reincarnated) to get permission from China's religious affairs officials before submitting their souls to be embodied in the future. The government acted, it said, because the reincarnation process needed to be managed better. [Agence France-Presse, 8-3-07]

The Old Ballgame . . . . With "Stricter Than The Pentagon" Rules

Army officer Bryan Hilferty, a volunteer Little League umpire in Alexandria, Va., complained to The Washington Post in July that when he requested a copy of the League rulebook (to help him be a better umpire), he was turned down. Hilferty, who has access to classified information in his job at the Pentagon, was told that the Little League restricts its rulebooks, on a "need to know" basis, so as not to invite litigation, and that Hilferty did not qualify. [Washington Post, 7-29-07]

Police: Mom Fed Daughter Applesauce Spiked With Prozac

Mom Tells Police Girl Couldn't Sleep

GREENWOOD, Ind. -- A Greenwood mother told police that she gave her 12-year-old daughter applesauce spiked with Prozac for about six months even though she knew the girl shouldn't take the drug without a prescription.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Department said Karen S. Walsh, 51, admitted giving the girl the drug when she was questioned on Wednesday.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Walsh told officers that the child had trouble sleeping and that she decided to administer the drug from her own prescription beginning in April 2007.
Police said the Department of Child Services notified them of the situation and that Walsh stopped giving her daughter Prozac earlier this month after DCS told her to stop.
Police said that Walsh was aware that Prozac can cause other medical conditions, such as an increase in suicidal thoughts, and should only be used with doctor's supervision.
Walsh told officers, "I knew the doctor would tell me to stop," when asked why she didn't seek medical care for the girl, according to the probable cause affidavit. "I was just trying to help her sleep and I guess I should not have done it."
Police said Walsh told them she gave her daughter about 5 mg of the drug every night and sometimes woke her up to make her eat the applesauce spiked with the drug.
Walsh was charged with neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony, after police contacted three physicians, each of whom told them that giving the child Prozac endangered her.

Oxymoron Or Just Plain Morons?

Some environmental groups continue to slight the environment when establishing exhibits to increase environmental awareness. The town council of Stoke-on-Trent, England, approved plans in July for a 21-foot-tall metal-sculpted tree to highlight the virtues of its public nature park, but first, 20 real trees would have to be cleared away, and then, to prevent injuries in the darkness, 38 powerful lights would illuminate the structure. [Daily Telegraph (London), 7-30-07]

What Is With These Fetish Freaks!?

I really do not understand the irresistable draw that some fetish sufferers have to the objects of their desire. I mean really . . . SERIOUSLY . . . . who DOES this??? In answer to that question, News of the Weird (gotta love them) published this handy dandy list for me. Read on fellow questioners of freakdom!

Prolific Fetishists:
Maeyasu Kawamura, 60, indicted in Osaka, Japan, in June (8,000 stolen pieces of women's clothing)
Shigeo Kodama, 54, arrested in Hiroshima in February (3,977 panties, 355 bras)
a 27-year-old man, accused by police in Waukesha, Wis., in May (1,500 pairs of teenage girls' shoes)
Chih Hsien Wu, 43, charged in Fort Collins, Colo., in May (1,300 undergarments belonging to Colorado State University women)
Garth Flaherty, 24, charged in Pullman, Wash., in March (1,500 women's undergarments, weighing 93 pounds)
Kevin Parrett, 51, sentenced in Faulkton, S.D., in May (800 women's undergarments)
Dan Trompke, 37, sentenced in Kearney, Neb., in August (more than 500 women's undergarments).

Kawamura: [Reuters, 6-1-07] Kodama: [Sydney Morning Herald-Reuters, 3-14-07] Waukesha: [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5-29-07] Wu: [Fox News-AP, 5-23-07] Flaherty: [KIMA-TV (Yakima, Wash.)-AP, 3-26-07] Parrett: [Rapid City Journal-AP, 5-31-07] Trompke: [Lincoln Journal Star-AP, 8-20-07]

Politics and Religion Don't Mix

In August, Buena Park, Calif., Baptist pastor Wiley Drake acknowledged asking his congregation to pray for the deaths of two leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State because they had been calling for an IRS investigation of Drake for endorsing a presidential candidate (former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee). Said Drake: "The Bible says that if anybody attacks God's people ... children will become orphans and wives will become widows." [Los Angeles Times, 8-16-07]

REALLY Big Meanies!

Inexplicable: Annual "crying sumo" events are held in several Japanese cities every year (the most recent in Tokyo in April), featuring sumo wrestlers holding specially dressed toddlers out in front of them and coaxing them to cry, with the first bawler declared the winner. [CNN, 4-29-07]

I Wonder If They Would Accept Cat Hair?

The 14 branches of the Tari Bunia Bank in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu act as traditional banks (checking accounts, loans, mortgages), but also accommodate local tribesmen by accepting tusks, woven mats, shells, giant rocks and other items for deposit into individual accounts at traditional bartered rates. An additional benefit of taking in the items, according to a July BBC News dispatch, is that bank robberies are rare, thanks to the "spirits and snakes" guarding the artifacts. [BBC News, 4-7-07]