Fun_People Archive
19 May
Weirdness [429] - 26Apr96

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Sun, 19 May 96 10:54:18 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: Weirdness [429] - 26Apr96

PExcerpted-from: WEIRDNUZ.429 (News of the Weird, April 26, 1996)
		by Chuck Shepherd

* U. S. Rep. David Funderburk (R-N.C.) pleaded no contest to a minor traffic
charge in Dunn, N. C., in October, despite the fact that he continued to
deny that he was the one driving when his car crossed the center line and
caused an oncoming van to veer off and overturn.  Witnesses said Funderburk
was driving, but when the Funderburk car returned to the scene several
minutes later, Funderburk was in the passenger seat, and his wife was
driving.  (One witness said she actually saw the Funderburks change seats).
Furthermore, in a slip-up at a subsequent news conference, Mrs. Funderburk
described damage to the car as only to "her" side, the "passenger" side (but
she quickly "corrected" herself). [Winston-Salem Journal-AP, 10-31-95]
[Charlotte Observer, 1-19-96]

* Republican Virginia state Del. Roger J. McClure, who won re- election in
November on a downsize-government platform even after news surfaced that he
owed $126,000 in back taxes:  "I have personally experienced the awesome
power of the tax collector and the heavy burden of taxation on businesses
and families.  [I] will continue to fight against excessive government power
and high taxes . . .." [Washington Post, 10-13-95, 11-8- 95]

* In November, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the argument of Erwin
Davis (who once ran for governor of the state) that he was not the father
of a boy born in 1990.  A paternity test showed a 99.65% likelihood Davis
was the father, but Davis accused the boy's mother of breaking into his
house, stealing a used condom, and inseminating herself. [Memphis
Commercial-Appeal-AP, 11-7-95]

* A restaurant owner in Edinburgh, Scotland, was unsuccessful in his
judicial appeal of Karen McInulty's judgment against him.  McInulty, 29,
had won about $7700 in damages after eating salmonella-infected chicken
curry at the restaurant; the restauranteur had argued that McInulty was
overweight at the time and thus that the 21 pounds she lost after being
hospitalized actually helped her. [Edmonton Sun-Reuters, 1-7-96]

* Patrick Williams, 17, a player for the Kilgore (Tex.) High School football
team, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in January for robbing a disabled
man.  Williams said he spent $2,200 of the $4,500 taken.  According to
police, Williams said he didn't know the victim was disabled until the crime
was underway and later "felt bad about it.  That's why I spent [the money]
so fast.  If it had been good money, I would have kept it." [Tyler Morning
Telegraph, 1-6-96]

* In February in Madison, Wis., during a routine search of Leonard Hodge,
22, who had been arrested for failure to carry a driver's license, police
found cocaine in his underwear.  According to a police spokesman, Hodge
attempted to exculpate himself by saying the undershorts he was wearing were
not his.  [Wisconsin State Journal, 2-3-96]

* During the summer of 1995, Philip Morris ran newspaper ads promising to
crack down on retailers that sell cigarettes to kids.  In October,
responding to a helpful list of such retailers in Minnesota sent to the
company by the state attorney general, Philip Morris declined to act on it.
The company still intended to crack down, said vice president Ellen Merlo,
but "We didn't say starting today." [Chicago Sun-Times, 10-25-95]

* According to a report in the Portland Oregonian, Republican U. S. Rep.
Wes Cooley now says that biographical information he submitted in the 1994
official state Voters' Pamphlet might not have been exactly right.  The line
Army "Special Forces, Korea" does not exactly mean that he served a tour in
Korea, but only that the Korean conflict was going on at the same time he
was in the Army.  (Cooley had previously said, via a staff member, that
since Special Forces performed secret missions, he was not at liberty to
comment.  Furthermore, military historians mentioned by The Oregonian
doubted that Special Forces units were operating during the Korean conflict,
and Cooley said his own Army records were destroyed in a 1973 fire.)  Also
in the 1992 Pamphlet, he listed himself as "Phi Beta Kappa," but now says
he was confused about the difference between that honor and being a member
of his community college's honor society. [The Oregonian, 3-22-96, 4-3-96]

Copyright 1996, Universal Press Syndicate.  All rights reserved.
No commercial use may be made of the material or of the name
News of the Weird.

© 1996 Peter Langston