Xxxnews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

When Montana State University-Bozeman student Jesse Huffman, 19, emerged from answering a brutal nature's call in the men's room at the Port of Sweet Grass on the U.S. side of the Canadian border in August, officers noticed that the toilet was clogged. Although Huffman said he had a medical problem and offered to try to fix the toilet, officers took Huffman into custody for "criminal mischief." Incredulous, Huffman was detained for six hours before being released pending a court date, but a few days later, a prosecutor dropped the case.

According to an August Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal report, a huge oak tree on Cypress Street in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., marks the spot of a major open drug and prostitution market that is the scene of several dozen arrests every month. The sheriff's office, weary of the constant parade of crimes and arrests and pressured by a community activist, recently told county officials that it had arrived at a solution: It asked permission to cut down the tree.

Twice in August, wounded suspects who had been detained by police but who needed hospitalization had their arrests delayed solely because the respective governments, in Vermont and Virginia, tried to avoid getting stuck with the men's hospital bills. In each case, police intended to formally arrest the suspect only after he got well, but in both cases, the suspects fled the hospital in wheelchairs before the police sent guards to their rooms. (Vermont burglary suspect William Stone, 39, rolled out with two broken legs, and attempted-murder suspect Obryan Cecil Braxton, 25, paralyzed from the neck down in a shootout, fled a hospital in Williamsburg, Va. Both were recaptured, and Stone was charged additionally with wheelchair theft.)
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or Weird@compuserve.com
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

NEWS OF THE WEIRD