This week in odd news: Dog with longest tongue; Koala mala
ARRESTED DRUNK MAN CLAIMS HE TIME TRAVELED TO WARN OF ALIENS
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Police say a central Wyoming man they arrested for public intoxication claimed he had traveled back in time to warn of an alien invasion.
Casper police say the man they encountered at 10:30 p.m. Monday claimed he was from the year 2048.
KTWO-AM in Casper reports that the man told police that he wanted to warn the people of Casper that aliens will arrive next year, and that they should leave as soon as possible. He asked to speak to the president of the town, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northwest of Cheyenne.
The man told police he was only able to time travel because aliens filled his body with alcohol. He noted that he was supposed to be transported to the year 2018, not this year.
NAKED GUN: POLICE SAY NUDE, DRUNK FLORIDA MAN FIRED WEAPONS
KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a naked drunk Florida man wanted to know if his .45-caliber gun and shotgun worked, so he fired them into the air.
Neighbors heard the gunfire Tuesday and called the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Spokeswoman Becky Herrin said in a news release that arriving deputies found 66-year-old Roger Scheid inside the home.
Herrin said Scheid was “naked and appeared to be intoxicated.”
Investigators found the weapons and two spent casings.
Scheid first told deputies he was cleaning the guns. Then, he said he was checking to see if they worked. He is charged with unlawful discharge of a weapon and firing a weapon while under the influence. An attorney is not listed on jail records.
SHE HAS THEM LICKED: ST. BERNARD HAS RECORD-LONGEST TONGUE
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A St. Bernard in South Dakota has set a new, slobbery world record.
Mochi, also known as Mo, holds the Guinness World Records title for having the longest tongue on a dog.
According to Guinness World Records, Mochi’s tongue measures in at 7.31 inches (18.58 cm).
Mochi’s owner, Carla Rickert of Sioux Falls, says her dog is happy, but also has some breathing problems because of her long tongue and slobbers more than usual when she’s nervous. Mochi also needs to be given treats in a certain way and has problems picking items up from the floor.
The 8-year-old Mochi broke the previous record held by a male Pekingese, whose tongue was 4.5 inches (11.43 cm).
Mochi is listed in the new Guinness World Records: Amazing Animals book.
BURGLAR EMPTIES REGISTER, FILLS BELLY, MAKES CLEAN GETAWAY
HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — A burglar made a clean getaway from a Long Island restaurant after emptying the cash register, cooking a meal and washing the dishes.
Will Colon tells Newsday (https://nwsdy.li/2z059ig ) he found bent burglar bars when he arrived Tuesday at Nelly’s Taqueria in Hicksville, New York.
Security video showed the intruder put on food-service gloves and started heating up a pot before hammering the register open. He pocketed the money and put a dollar in the tip jar.
Then, Colon says, the man started “cooking up a storm” in the dark — beans, chicken, shrimp.
Colon says “the dude had some skills.”
After eating, he covered and refrigerated the food and wiped down surfaces.
Security video showed the same man was there the night before but didn’t cook.
MASSIVE WAVE OF BUTTERFLIES LIGHTS UP DENVER WEATHER RADAR
DENVER (AP) — A lacy, cloud-like pattern drifting across a Denver-area radar screen turned out to be a 70-mile-wide (110-kilometer) wave of butterflies, forecasters say.
Paul Schlatter of the National Weather Service said he first thought flocks of birds were making the pattern he saw on the radar Tuesday, but the cloud was headed northwest with the wind, and migrating birds would be southbound in October.
He asked birdwatchers on social media what it might be, and by Wednesday had his answer: People reported seeing a loosely spaced net of painted lady butterflies drifting with the wind across the area.
Schlatter said the colors on the radar image are a result of the butterflies’ shape and direction, not their own colors.
Midwestern radar stations occasionally pick up butterflies, but Schlatter believes it’s a first for Denver.
An unusually large number of painted ladies, which are sometimes mistaken for monarch butterflies, has descended on Colorado’s Front Range in recent weeks, feeding on flowers and sometimes flying together in what seem like clouds.
Sarah Garrett, a lepidopterist at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado, said people from as far away as the Dakotas have called to report seeing the butterflies, whose population typically surges with plentiful flowers.
Research on the painted ladies in North America is limited, but scientists believe they migrate to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico in the fall. In Europe, studies using radio tracking have shown they migrate south from Europe to Africa in the fall and return in the spring. Studies also show that monarch butterflies often use wind to their advantage and glide on currents for periods of time, Garrett said.
DOG REFUSES TO LEAVE DEAD FRIEND’S SIDE
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Police in New Jersey say they had to coax a German shepherd on a busy interstate to leave a dead pit bull that it was found lying next to.
New Jersey state police said that troopers responded Thursday morning to a report of two dogs on the shoulder of Interstate 280 in Newark.
The troopers say the pit bull was dead when they arrived. They say the German shepherd didn’t want to leave its side, but they were able to coax it into a trooper’s car.
Authorities say neither dog was wearing a collar or any identification. The German shepherd was given to a dog rescue.
It wasn’t clear how the dog died. The case remains under investigation.
PAYING WITH PEANUTS: COLLEGE ALLOWS SOME TICKETS TO BE PAID WITH PEANUT BUTTER
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State University is allowing motorists to take a bite out of certain parking tickets by paying with peanut butter.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (https://goo.gl/tzkc1y ) the school recently announced motorists who have received a “no current permit” parking citation can pay it with at least 80 ounces of peanut butter from Oct. 23 to 27.
All peanut butter donations will be sent to the Aggie Cupboard.
The offer is limited to the first 100 customers.
Officials say appealing the citation forfeits the right to pay with peanut butter.
JOINT PAIN: MAN CHARGED WITH HIDING WEED IN COURTHOUSE WEEDS
SANFORD, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man has been arrested and charged with trying to hide marijuana in the bushes at a courthouse before a hearing on a possible probation violation.
Local media outlets reported that Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter said 21-year-old Teon Shamal La’Shane Douglas of Sanford was arrested Monday after deputies saw him putting marijuana and a cellphone and some other items in the bushes at the courthouse.
The sheriff said narcotics officers saw Douglas put about 15 grams of marijuana in the bushes at the courthouse in Sanford.
Carter said Douglas was arrested after the probation hearing and charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
It was not known if Douglas has an attorney on the latest charges.
POLICE: MAN DRANK BEER, ATE CORN DOG WHILE SHOPLIFTING
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say a man had drunk a beer and eaten a corn dog at a Walmart in Kentucky before being arrested for shoplifting.
Shepherdsville police said in a Facebook post on Friday that store employees saw 55-year-old David Pethel also load his cart with merchandise valued at nearly $250 before attempting to leave without paying.
Pethel is charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking. He had been held at the Bullitt County Jail, and it is unclear if he has a lawyer.
NO LOVE: FDA SAYS ‘LOVE’ IS NOT A REAL INGREDIENT IN BAKERY’S GRANOLA
SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say a man had drunk a beer and eaten a corn dog at a Walmart in Kentucky before being arrested for shoplifting.
Shepherdsville police said in a Facebook post on Friday that store employees saw 55-year-old David Pethel also load his cart with merchandise valued at nearly $250 before attempting to leave without paying.
Pethel is charged with one count of theft by unlawful taking. He had been held at the Bullitt County Jail, and it is unclear if he has a lawyer.
WOULD-BE THIEF IN RIO CHASED OUT BY JIU-JITSU STUDENTS
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A would-be thief in a Rio de Janeiro suburb apparently chose the wrong gym to rob.
Surveillance camera footage shared widely on social media shows the man entering the gym and jumping a turnstile after arguing with the receptionist. Several seconds later, the man is seen jumping back over the turnstile and fleeing outside. He is chased by several jiu-jitsu students dressed in uniforms.
Jiu-jitsu teacher Edgar Neto told The Associated Press that the incident happened Monday night and he reported it to police.
The man managed to escape. Police said Wednesday he hasn’t been arrested, but they have recovered one of his sandals that fell off during the chase.
SNAKEY SOCKS: MAN ADMITS SNEAKING SNAKES OVER BORDER IN SOCKS
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A man who was caught trying to sneak snakes into Canada in his socks has pleaded guilty.
Federal prosecutors in Buffalo say 28-year-old Chaoyi Le faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to violating wildlife regulations.
He was arrested in 2014 at the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge in western New York after Canadian border agents discovered three live albino western hognose snakes hidden in his socks. At first, Le said he’d found them in a New York park, but eventually admitted buying them.
Authorities say Le, a Chinese citizen who lives in Mississauga, Ontario, was trying to avoid a U.S. Fish and Wildlife inspection.
Court documents say that on the same day, Le also mailed several snakes from New York to China.
Sentencing is set for Oct. 30.
POLICE: MAN FACING CHARGES AFTER FIGHT OVER STOLEN PORK ROLL
HACKETTSTOWN, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man who police say punched another man several times over a stolen pork roll sandwich is facing charges.
Hackettstown police say they were called to an apartment on reports of a fight over a stolen pork roll. Police found the victim with swelling on his face.
They say the fight early Saturday morning also may have started over beer, and that the suspect and the victim knew each other.
Police arrested the 19-year-old Hackettstown man on simple assault charges.
NEWBORNS TO NEWLYWEDS: BORN IN SAME HOSPITAL, ON SAME DAY. NOW THEY’RE MARRIED
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) — A couple born on the same day at the same Massachusetts hospital have exchanged vows more than two decades later.
The Taunton Gazette reports that Jessica Gomes and Aaron Bairos got married Sept. 9. Each was born on April 28, 1990, at the same hospital in Taunton, about 40 miles south of Boston.
The two grew up in communities a few miles apart before meeting through mutual friends in high school.
Gomes says she and Bairos figured out they were born on the same day “pretty early on” when they took a drivers education class together and saw the proof on their learner’s permits.
She says it was love at first sight.
DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS: BURGLERS CAUGHT ON WILDLIFE CAMERA
CAMDEN, S.C. (AP) — Like deer trapped in the headlights, two burglars have been captured by an outdoor wildlife camera in South Carolina.
Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews says a homeowner’s camera recorded images of the thieves, who are accused of stealing a second camera from the home and electronics from other homes. Matthews said an officer from another county and a resident identified the men, one of whom was recorded urinating off the front porch of a home.
Matthews says 34-year-old Shondale Ingham and 48-year-old Sandy Tarte are each charged with five counts of burglary. Court records didn’t indicate whether they had attorneys.
POLICE: MOVING HELPS UNWITTING ACCOMPLICES IN MONTANA THEFT
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Police in Montana say a man told friends he needed help moving and got their unwitting help stealing $40,000 worth of items from another man’s home.
One of the friends allegedly rented a U-Haul without knowing it would be used in a crime. The other told police he became suspicious and left after he saw military medals in the Great Falls home. He doubted 36-year-old Patrick Joseph Adams Jr. served in the military.
Investigators say the true homeowner came home later that night, found his home had been burglarized and called 911.
HISTORIC BOSTON CHURCH WANTS $19 MILLION FOR TOWER SHADOW
BOSTON (AP) — A historic Boston church is asking a developer to pay $19 million to compensate for shadows cast by a proposed tower.
The Boston Globe reports that Old South Church claims the proposed Back Bay Station project will cast shadows on the 142-year-old church that will cause moisture damage and darken stained glass windows. Church officials say $4 million of the payment will go toward repairs of the church, while the remainder will fund an affordable home program.
Project developer Boston Properties says the request is unreasonable. The company says it’s unlikely the projected shadows would cause significant damage to the church.
Boston Properties plans to build three office and apartment towers on top of the train depot.
RUGBY PLAYER PAYS THE PENALTY AS LION BITES HIS HAND
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AP) — A Welsh rugby player had an unusual reason for missing a big game in South Africa: A lion bit his hand.
Scott Baldwin was taken to the hospital to receive stitches and treatment against infection after ignoring instructions about not touching a lion during the trip to a game park in South Africa.
His coach was not sympathetic.
“When you put your hand in a fence where there is a lion, then you will get bitten,” Ospreys coach Steve Tandy said. “It was pretty stupid on Scott’s behalf and he is pretty lucky. It was a good environment and we were told how far back to stand.
“I don’t know what sort of wildlife show Scott has been watching where you can pat a lion on the head as if it’s a kitten.”
The 29-year-old Baldwin also plays as a hooker for Wales’ national team. He was with Welsh club Ospreys in Bloemfontein for a PRO14 league game against a South African franchise ironically called Cheetahs on Friday.
Without Baldwin, Ospreys lost 44-25.
The incident took place on Thursday.
“Sorry all Ospreys fans for letting you and the team down by missing the game through the bite!” Baldwin said on Twitter , where he also uploaded a video of the incident.
“On the mend thankfully & should be up & running round soon enough thanks for your support & concern.”
‘PSYCHIC’ PAID $3.5M FOR EXORCISMS ADMITS TO TAX EVASION
BOSTON (AP) — A purported psychic who charged an elderly Massachusetts woman more than $3.5 million for exorcisms and “spiritual cleansing” has pleaded guilty to evading taxes.
Federal prosecutors say 41-year-old Sally Ann Johnson of south Florida ran businesses that claimed to offer “psychic readings” and “spiritual cleansing and strengthening.”
Between 2007 and 2014, prosecutors say a Martha’s Vineyard woman paid Johnson more than $3.5 million for services that claimed to rid the woman of demons.
Prosecutors say Johnson didn’t report the income and tried to hide the money so she wouldn’t have to pay taxes on it.
Johnson pleaded guilty in the federal court in Boston Thursday and has agreed to repay the woman. She’s expected to be sentenced in January.
Johnson’s attorney declined to comment.
OHIO RESIDENTS SAY MONKEYS ON THE LOOSE IN NEIGHBORHOOD
LEBANON, Ohio (AP) — Residents of a quiet town in southwest Ohio swear they’re not seeing things when they tell people monkeys are on the loose in their neighborhood.
WLWT-TV reports residents in Lebanon, a city about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Cincinnati, have used their phones to capture photos of the monkeys hanging out in trees.
Lebanon police say they’re aware of the reported monkey sightings and are investigating. Residents suspect the monkeys were pets at some point.
Residents say the monkeys haven’t been spotted since being photographed several weeks ago but can still be heard.
MAN SETS UP FAKE SPEED TRAP TO CURB SMELLY DEER CARCASSES
JONES MILLS, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man says he used flashing dashboard lights to mimic a police speed trap — but only so he could slow down vehicles speeding past his rural home and killing deer and endangering people.
Fifty-seven-year-old Ricky McMillen tells WPXI-TV (http://bit.ly/2z3i8zF ) that he used the flashing lights on his car because he’s been complaining about speeders for years and getting few results. What he says he has gotten is very smelly deer carcasses along the road in Donegal Township, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
State police charged McMillen on Thursday with impersonating a public servant and displaying improper lights.
McMillen says he’s been using the lights for a while and they’ve worked well.
McMillen has been mailed a summons to appear for a preliminary hearing Dec. 15.
CIAO COW: NJ STATE TROOPER HELPS WAYWARD COW BACK TO ITS FARM
STOCKTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey state trooper on his way to work had to tell a cow to mooove it.
Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Flynn was driving to headquarters Thursday morning when he came across a traffic jam on Route 29 in Stockton, a rural town northwest of Trenton. He drove along the shoulder and came upon a wayward cow that was slowing down traffic.
The cow gave the trooper a look and continued to meander along the highway.
Flynn says the cow’s farmer arrived and with the help of another trooper, they managed to get the cow back to its farm on the other side of the highway.
Flynn says it’s not the first time he’s had to deal with livestock. He’s also had to corral horses and goats.
KOALA MALA: A KOALA DECIDES TO TAKE REFUGE ON TOP OF A DRILLING RIG
