Fun_People Archive
16 Dec
Weirdness #408 - 1Dec95

Date: Sat, 16 Dec 95 01:34:36 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness #408 - 1Dec95

Excerpted-from: WEIRDNUZ.408 (News of the Weird, December 1, 1995)
by Chuck Shepherd


* An Albany, N. Y., Bobbittization case against a woman hung on the parties'
comparative credibility, and one of the issues currently being considered
by the New York Court of Appeals is who was telling the truth about where
the slashed victim removed his undershorts.  He said in the bedroom, but
she said in the kitchen (where he was about to rape her) and testified that
the undershorts therefore reeked of spices.  Her lawyer now says the trial
judge made a crucial error:  To verify the woman's version, the judge should
have sniffed the unlaundered shorts himself during the trial or passed them
over to the jury for sniffing.  [Albany Times Union, 9-21-95]

* In April, a federal court refused to review the Novato, Calif., small
claims court decision in favor of Phillip Schlenker for $65 from the local
cable TV company.  Schlenker won the judgment for a breach of contract in
that he was unable to enjoy "Monday Night Football" during 1993 and 1994
because the cable company was feuding with the local ABC-TV station in San
Francisco. [San Francisco Examiner, Apr95]

* Japan:  Among the thriving new businesses in Tokyo is a "convenience
agency" that, among other things, supplies guests at funerals and weddings
so that the families will not lose face by sparse attendance.  And an
account in Japan Times in July reported that "thousands" of Japanese have
paid to take three-day excursions to Rio de Janeiro to visit the gravesite,
childhood home, and museum of the late Formula 1 racer Ayrton Senna.  And
Tokyo's first "nap hotel" opened earlier this year, featuring tents in a
large room, where weary salesmen can crash for a half- hour at a time for
rates of $3 to $6. [St. Petersburg Times- Washington Post, 9-9-95; Japan
Times Weekly, 7-24-95; Newsweek 4-17-95]

* In  June, George Johnson, 36, was found not guilty on one rape count and
earned a mistrial on a second in Princeton, Ky., after he unzipped and
demonstrated to the jury that his penis did not have freckles and a mole as
testified to by the alleged victim. [Kentucky New Era (Hopkinsville, Ky.),
6-19-95]

Copyright 1995, Universal Press Syndicate.  All rights reserved.
Released for the entertainment of readers.  No commercial use
may be made of the material or of the name News of the Weird.

© 1995 Peter Langston