Weird News: Slurpee Stop
Ornamental Obsession
“Gorilla-obsessed” Adele Teale, 58, is battling the Wakefield, Yorkshire, council where she lives over a 4-foot-tall resin gorilla she installed on a second-story platform on the front of her house, the Daily Star reported. The “cherished” gorilla, named Caesar, has been deemed “out of character with the surrounding area” and “an obtrusive feature” by the council. “He’s nothing more than a garden ornament,” Teale said. “He is secure up there -- he has been screwed and glued in place. I own the house, it’s mine, so surely I can have whatever I want outside to decorate it. Caesar makes me smile -- he makes me happy.”
Your Friendly Neighbourhood...
Have no fear, if you live in Greenville, South Carolina -- Spider-Man is on the job! The 18-year-old superhero fills his down time with picking up litter, meeting fans and listening to his police scanner, WYFF4-TV reported on Sept. 10. Lately, though, he’s been busy, recently saving two people stuck on a waterfall at Falls Park. “So, I saw one of them almost slip and fall ... and I jumped over some rocks to get over there. ... And then they grabbed my wrist, and I pulled them up,” the “friendly downtown Spider-Man” explained. “My intention is to help the people of Greenville, protect and honestly spread kindness along the way,” he said.
Slurpee Stop
Kasper Lincoln, 40, of Prince George, British Columbia, was pulled over around 9 a.m. on Sept. 5 as he piloted a hot pink kids’ Barbie Jeep down a busy road, WJW-TV reported. During the stop, police realized Lincoln had a suspended license, and he tested over the legal limit for alcohol. Lincoln said he really wanted a Slurpee, so he took his girlfriend’s daughter’s car. “I never drove it before,” he said. “I was using the hand signals and everything!” But attorney Kyla Lee said Lincoln’s caper poses “a huge safety risk. Nobody wants to hit somebody in a Barbie car, and drivers aren’t looking for Barbie cars in the roadway.” Lincoln was charged with prohibited driving and DUI.
Astro-naughty
An 80-year-old woman from Sapporo, Japan, is the latest victim of an online “astronaut,” the South China Morning Post reported on Sept. 5. The man met the octogenarian on social media and claimed to be aboard a spaceship orbiting Earth. He went on to convince her that his ship was “under attack” and he was running out of oxygen -- which could only be remedied by the transfer of 1 million yen to his bank account so he could buy more. Investigators said her communications with the fake spaceman showed she had developed “romantic feelings” for him.