Weird News

[VisibilityMissing]

Impromptu barbeque disrupts morning commute . . .

50,000 pounds of ribs go up in smoke in highway truck fire

Brake system sparks blaze in trailer near Hazel Crest

Tribune staff report
7:39 AM CDT, April 30, 2008

A brake fire sparked a massive barbecue on Interstate Highway 80 near Hazel Crest overnight when a truck hauling 25 tons of beef ribs went up in flames, state police said.

The semi-trailer truck was headed east on I-80 about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday and was exiting onto southbound Interstate Highway 294 when a fire started in the braking system, igniting a blaze that consumed the entire trailer, said Master Sgt. David Bird of the Illinois State Police. The driver escaped without injury.

The trailer was loaded with about 50,000 pounds of beef ribs, Bird said. He could not say what cut of ribs they were, but added, "There was no sauce."

The trailer burned down to its MEHTUL frame and remained on the side ramp as of 7 a.m., Bird said. He said it would be towed after the morning rush. No citations were issued, he said.

Jason Meisner, Tribune reporter

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Does applying and removing the duct tape add or detract from his sentence?

Apr 30, 12:17 AM EDT

`Duct Tape Bandit' pleads guilty to robbing Ky. liquor store


CATLETTSBURG, Ky. (AP) -- A man who wrapped his head in duct tape to conceal his identity has pleaded guilty to robbing an eastern Kentucky liquor store.

Under terms of a plea agreement, 25-year-old Kasey G. Kazee faces 10 years in prison, the maximum sentence. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree robbery.

Police said Kazee entered an Ashland liquor store on Aug. 10 with his entire head, except for openings at his eyes and mouth, wrapped in duct tape.

Kazee told a clerk he had a knife and threatened to harm her if she didn't give him the money from the cash register, police said. The clerk complied and the man left.

Before the "Duct Tape Bandit" could make his getaway, another store employee tackled him in the parking lot, police said. The employee and several other men who came running from a neighboring store detained the suspect until officers arrived.

Police didn't say how much money was taken, but the store manager said the register came up $15 short. Police said no weapon was found on Kazee when he was arrested.

Sentencing was set for May 23.

[Ibun]

As far as names go, The Duct Tape Bandit is a pretty cool one to have.

[gforce422]

As far as names go, The Duct Tape Bandit is a pretty cool one to have.

Sounds like a band.

[VisibilityMissing]

IDOT fails to see humor in Oak Lawn's quirky stop-sign campaign

State agency cites federal regulations in ordering halt to anti-speeding messages

By Lolly Bowean | Tribune reporter
11:22 PM CDT, April 30, 2008

The snide and comical remarks in octagonal shapes under stop signs in Oak Lawn were supposed to be a funny way to get motorists to halt and pay attention instead of flying through intersections, Mayor Dave Heilmann said.

But some seven months after the signs went up, the laughter has stopped. Heilmann had to remove the signs after the Illinois Department of Transportation determined they violate the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, he said. If he didn't, the village risked losing federally funded projects, IDOT officials said in a letter.

"I thought that was a very harsh response to an effort to promote safety," Heilmann said. "I truly believe the signs were making an impact. They were around schools and heavily trafficked areas. The community loved them, and we heard from all over the country about how thinking outside the box was a good way to reinforce the message that people need to stop."

Heilmann launched his public safety campaign to cut down on speeding through stop signs in September. He added slogans such as "and smell the roses" and "means that you aren't moving" to 50 stop signs.

At the time, Heilmann said he thought the remarks would get motorists to pause, if for nothing else, to read the phrases.

He was sure the quirky signs would help, but residents who had complained for years about drivers not obeying signs had mixed opinions.

There are no statistics on how many drivers fail to stop in Oak Lawn. And though police officers sometimes monitor troublesome intersections, they can't watch them at all times to enforce safety laws, Heilmann said.

When he got the letter from IDOT on April 17, he ordered the signs removed.

"I don't want to fight with anybody," he said. "I wanted to send a good message and have a good public safety campaign."

Still, Heilmann said he was disappointed that he had to junk $1,700 worth of signs.

"I think government needs to take itself less seriously," he said. "We have to take the work seriously, but it's OK to smile and to be creative in enforcing a serious message."

lbowean@tribune.com

[Ibun]

Heilmann launched his public safety campaign to cut down on speeding through stop signs in September. He added slogans such as "and smell the roses" and "means that you aren't moving" to 50 stop signs.


I like this guy.

[Zaaphod]

Did you want that in tens or twenties?

Man arrested in Texas for trying to cash $360 billion check

Charles Ray Fuller must have been planning one big record company. The 21-year-old North Texas man was arrested last week for trying to cash a $360 billion check, saying he wanted to start a record business. Tellers at the Fort Worth bank were immediately suspicious — perhaps the 10 zeros on a personal check tipped them off.

Fuller, of suburban Crowley, was arrested on a forgery charge. He was released after posting $3,750 bail.

Fuller said his girlfriend's mother gave him the check to start a record business. But bank employees who contacted the account's owner said the woman told them she did not give him permission to take or cash the check.

In addition to the forgery count, Fuller was charged with unlawfully carrying a weapon and possessing marijuana. Officers reported finding less than two ounces of marijuana and a .25-caliber handgun and magazine in his pockets.

The fact he had pot and a gun is just icing on the cake.

[Fritz]

Ugh, Texans D:<

[osprey]

Fritz



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 2500
Location: Kingwood, TX

[Fritz]

Wow it's almost like that was the joke.

[Ibun]

It's almost like you were funny.

[Fritz]

Almost.

[VisibilityMissing]

Ants!

Ants swarm over Houston area, fouling electronics

By LINDA STEWART BALL | Associated Press Writer
7:24 PM CDT, May 14, 2008

DALLAS - In what sounds like a really low-budget horror film, voracious swarming ants that apparently arrived in Texas aboard a cargo ship are invading homes and yards across the Houston area, shorting out electrical boxes and messing up computers.

The hairy, reddish-brown creatures are known as "crazy rasberry ants" -- crazy, because they wander erratically instead of marching in regimented lines, and "rasberry" after Tom Rasberry, an exterminator who did battle against them early on.

"They're itty-bitty things about the size of fleas, and they're just running everywhere," said Patsy Morphew of Pearland, who is constantly sweeping them off her patio and scooping them out of her pool by the cupful. "There's just thousands and thousands of them. If you've seen a car racing, that's how they are. They're going fast, fast, fast. They're crazy."

The ants -- formally known as "paratrenicha species near pubens" -- have spread to five Houston-area counties since they were first spotted in Texas in 2002.

The newly recognized species is believed to have arrived in a cargo shipment through the port of Houston. Scientists are not sure exactly where the ants came from, but their cousins, commonly called crazy ants, are found in the Southeast and the Caribbean.

"At this point, it would be nearly impossible to eradicate the ant because it is so widely dispersed," said Roger Gold, a Texas A&M University entomologist.

The good news? They eat fire ants, the stinging red terrors of Texas summers.

But the ants also like to suck the sweet juices from plants, feed on such beneficial insects as ladybugs, and eat the hatchlings of a small, endangered type of grouse known as the Attwater prairie chicken.

They also bite humans, though not with a stinger like fire ants.

Worse, they, like some other species of ants, are attracted to electrical equipment, for reasons that are not well understood by scientists.

They have ruined pumps at sewage pumping stations, fouled computers and at least one homeowner's gas meter, and caused fire alarms to malfunction. They have been spotted at NASA's Johnson Space Center and close to Hobby Airport, though they haven't caused any major problems there yet.

Exterminators say calls from frustrated homeowners and businesses are increasing because the ants -- which are starting to emerge by the billions with the onset of the warm, humid season -- appear to be resistant to over-the-counter ant killers.

"The population built up so high that typical ant controls simply did no good," said Jason Meyers, an A&M doctoral student who is writing his dissertation on the one-eighth-inch-long ant.

It's not enough just to kill the queen. Experts say each colony has multiple queens that have to be taken out.

At the same time, the ants aren't taking the bait usually left out in traps, according to exterminators, who want the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen restrictions on the use of more powerful pesticides.

And when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide.

"It looked like someone had come along and poured coffee granules all around the perimeter of the rooms," said Lisa Calhoun, who paid exterminators $1,200 to treat an infestation of her parents' home in the Houston suburb of Pearland.

The Texas Department of Agriculture is working with A&M researchers and the EPA on how to stop the ants.

"This one seems to be like lava flowing and filling an entire area, getting bigger and bigger," said Ron Harrison, director of training for the big pest-control company Orkin Inc.

[gen200]

Has some mad scientist been hitting the cactus juice again?

[Arloest]

I actually haven't seen such ants around here. But now I'm scared. D:

[GeorgiaCoyote]

I saw that story this morning on the news. They would actually be kind of a plus if they trully eat fire ants. Still they cause similar nuisances as fire ants, such as getting into and shorting out electrical boxes and such. Better not have a phobia of insects when you come across those little runners.