Strange & Stupid: Amusing News

An Arkansas toddler reaching for a sweet treat instead found firefighters reaching out to rescue him from the grasp of a gumball machine.

Terrell Parks Jr., 2, was out shopping with his father when, like most toddlers, he was lured in by the line of candy machines near the front of the Texarkana store where they were shopping.

Terrell reached into the machine so far that Fire Rescue had to be called in. They couldn’t just butter him up and slip the arm out…the rescue team needed to dismantle the machine to free the boy.

When his arm was freed…Terrell was still holding onto that gumball.

Clyde Dorain Hobbs
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City police have arrested an elderly man for allegedly calling 911 operators to discuss the birds and the bees.

According to a police report, Clyde Dorain Hobbs, 72, called 911 on Saturday, May 5 at least 17 times. The report reveals Hobbs made sexually oriented comments to the emergency operators each time he called.

Police say it isn’t the first time they’ve arrested Hobbs for calling 911. Records show he’s been arrested three previous times. The report states when officers arrived to Hobbs’ home, he was “very belligerent and rude.”

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Police say a New York man who refused to pay a $12 taxi fare was carrying more than $5,000 when the cabbie drove him around looking for cheap cigarettes.

The 68-year-old man had the driver take him to two stores on Monday. Each time he came out empty-handed, saying the price of cigarettes was too high.

When the man had the cabbie take him to a third store, the driver asked for the $12.40 fare. The passenger refused to pay and told the cabbie to call police over the issue.

He did.

Police handcuffed him and searched the man’s pockets, finding more than $5,000 in cash.

He is being charged with theft of services.

FRIDLEY, Minn. (AP) - Police say a Minnesota mother and her boyfriend shaved the head of her 12-year-old daughter and made her run up and down the street in a diaper because she wasn’t getting good grades.

A neighbor called police Monday night after a crowd of about 50 people gathered in Fridley, near Minneapolis, to watch the girl, who was also wearing a tank top.

Police say the girl was crying and hysterical when an officer approached her.

The couple was arrested. Officials say they were laughing on the way to the county jail, and questioning why police got involved in the incident.

The girl and three younger children have been placed in foster care.

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) - Officials are saying one student’s “overabundance” of body spray in a locker room triggered the schools fire alarm.

Firefighters were called to Middletown High School shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday.

Officials say the excessive use of scented body spray created a mist cloud below a heat sensor, which tripped the alarm.

Officials deemed the call a “routine accidental.” No word on whether the student was spoken to about the proper use of fragrance.

SARAJEVO (AP) - Police in Sarajevo say a man found what he thought was an abandoned car with the engine running. So he jumped in and took off.

Then he realized he was not alone: in the back seat were a 9-year-old boy crying for his mom and a 3-year-old girl sleeping through the ordeal.

Their mother had just dropped off her nephew at her sister’s house Thursday night, and she screamed when she saw her car depart.

Nearby, witnesses then saw the thief abandon the car, get picked up by another vehicle and speed off.

Police are searching for the getaway car.

Teachers at a Massachusetts charter school had some fun behind students who believed they were participating in a documentary.

Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School teacher Mike Penney told students he was making a documentary for the school’s annual student film festival, in which the teachers typically have an entry.

While the students were talking to the camera about topics like their favorite classes, teachers at the school snuck into the background and busted out some dance moves.

“It’s pretty rare that we get one over on them,” Penney said of the students, who he said weren’t aware of the practical joke until the video was screened at the film festival, itself.

STOCKHOLM, N.Y. (AP) - Police say a northern New York man had his friend shoot him with a rifle because he was interested in knowing what it feels like to be shot.

State police say the shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Sunday in the rural town of Stockholm when 25-year-old Shawn Mossow gave in to his friend’s repeated requests and shot him once in the right leg with a .22-caliber rifle.

The 24-year-old is expected to make a full recovery. Police haven’t released his name.

Mossow was charged with reckless endangerment. He’s being held in the county jail on $10,000 bail.

Things I wish I owned: a train horn powered by compressed air in a scuba tank. Man, I’d show those cars.

Tyler Gold felt his name just wasn’t doing it any more. He needed to be special, wanted…an instant hit with the ladies.
He needed a new alter ego. But instead of donning spandex after 11 pm, he decided to make the swap permanent: Tyler Gold is now…Tyrannosaurus Rex Joseph Gold.

Full disclosure: The 23-year-old is an entrepreneur, and the name change got at least a few people to google him and see what that means. So…I guess it worked!

An interesting tidbit: on the day Gold’s name was formally changed, a British study regarding TRex farts was published. Apparently, dinosaurs passing gas likely played a large role in prehistoric climate change. (Read: they farted themselves to extinction.)