Fun_People Archive
9 Dec
Weirdness [354] - 18 Nov 1994

Date: Fri,  9 Dec 94 14:36:42 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness [354] - 18 Nov 1994

From: WEIRDNUZ.354 (News of the Weird, November 18, 1994)
by Chuck Shepherd

* Early in the morning on October 30, a man described by the New York Daily
News as a "career criminal" was apprehended in the middle of a burglary at
an upscale Fire Island, N. Y., home.  The residents had arisen to check out
noises in the house but found no one.  However, in the vicinity of a closet
door, they heard flatulence and discovered Richard Magpiong, 56, hiding in
a closet.  They held him until police arrived. [N. Y. Daily News, 11-1-94]

* Janet S. Robinson filed a lawsuit in Roanoke, Va., in April, asking
$100,000 in damages for an ankle injury she suffered when hit by a truck.
The truck was a remote-controlled toy truck operated by another customer at
the Kay-Bee Toys store at Valley View Mall.  Robinson called her injury
"serious" and the consequences of the accident "pain, humiliation,
aggravation, and disability." [Roanoke Times & World News, Apr94]

* Former Durham, N. C., police officer Bernard Bagley filed a lawsuit in
July against the police department, asking $3 million.  Bagley is serving
two life sentences for shooting his wife to death with his service revolver,
and now says the department should not have issued him a gun, since he was
suffering from anxiety attacks. [Durham Herald-Sun, 7-28-94]

* In August, comedian Jackie Mason told reporters he had filed a $25 million
lawsuit against the five theatrical groups responsible for Broadway's Tony
awards because they had failed to nominate him in any category.  He claimed
that the lack of recognition for his one-man show "Jackie Mason:
Politically Incorrect," was "an abridgment of my rights as a human being."
[Arizona Republic, 8-14-94]

* The Missouri Pacific Railroad announced in August that it had paid an
undisclosed amount of money to the families of a Mexican couple to settle
their wrongful-death lawsuit.  The two undocumented immigrants were hit by
a train and killed when they stopped on the tracks near McAllen, Tex., to
rest.  Law enforcement officials said such immigrants often rest on railroad
tracks where they are safe from border patrol heat sensors.  [McAllen
Monitor, 8-19-94]

* In October, Carla S. Koch filed a lawsuit in Cheshire, Conn., against the
municipal dog-obedience school for an incident last year in which she
slipped in a puddle of dog drool and broke her ankle.  She said the school
should have had a mat on the floor.  [N. Y. Times-AP, 10-14-94]

Copyright 1994, Universal Press Syndicate.  Released for the personal
enjoyment of readers.  No commercial use may be made of either the
material or the name "News of the Weird."

© 1994 Peter Langston