[343] in Humor
WEIRDNUZ.332 (News of the Weird, June 17, 1994)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Mon Jul 11 11:25:49 1994
From: abennett@MIT.EDU
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 11:17:20 EDT
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 13:11:39 -0400
From: dave-barry@marble.com (Keith Bostic)
WEIRDNUZ.332 (News of the Weird, June 17, 1994)
by Chuck Shepherd
Lead Story
* In May, Jams Von Arx, 41, who had been on probation for child
molestation in Wausau, Wis., was jailed after he refused court-ordered
sex therapy designed to induce interest in adult erotic images. He
argued that such therapy is unconstitutional because it requires him to
masturbate, which is against his religion. [USA Today, 5-25-94]
Family Values
* In Toronto in March, Sajid Rhatti, 23, and his 20-year-old wife
brawled over whether Katey Sagal, who plays Peg Bundy on the "Married
with Children" TV show, is prettier than Christina Applegate, who plays
her daughter. First, the wife slashed Rhatti in the groin with a wine
bottle as they scuffled, but she dressed his wounds, and the couple sat
down again to watch another episode of the show. Moments later, the
brawl erupted again, and Rhatti, who suffered a broken arm and shoulder,
stabbed his wife in the chest, back, and legs before they implored
neighbors to call an ambulance. [Edmonton Journal-CP, 3-18-94]
* In March, elementary school teacher Myra Obasi, 29, of Shreveport,
La., was brought, bleeding from the eyes, to Parkland Memorial Hospital
in Dallas by her two sisters, who eventually were charged with having
gouged out Obasi's eyes with their fingers because they thought she was
possessed by the spirit of her father. Detectives were unable to
question Obasi for several hours because she refused to stop chanting,
"Thank you, Jesus." [Dallas Morning News, 3-24-94; Shreveport Times,
4-14-94]
* At least eight times during the past nine months in the U.S., people
have been charged by police with imprisoning other family members at
home, either as punishment or to subdue them. Among them were a
Boulder, Colo., woman who locked her mother and aunt in the basement to
free up some time for herself on Mother's Day, and a couple in Rudd,
Iowa, who tied the wife's mother, 73, inside a cage in their yard in
November (wind chill: minus-8 degrees) while they went to a movie.
Also, 12 children in five incidents were found locked up alone over the
Christmas holidays in England. [Denver Post, May94] [Des Moines
Register, 11-27-93, 11-28-93] [Columbus Dispatch-AP, Dec93]
* William and Hermita Doyle were placed on probation in Waynesville,
Mo., in December after pleading guilty to allowing their three teenage
daughters to dance nude at a club near an army base in St. Robert, Mo.
[Lake Sun Leader, 12-14-93]
* In August, Yvonne Kottle, 24, tested positive for drugs shortly before
a judicial hearing in Philadelphia and fled the courthouse. An hour
later, her judge, Arthur Kafrissen, spotted her in a nearby park and
took her arm to escort her back to the courthouse. Kottle's 5-year-old
daughter then kicked Kafrissen in the leg and groin while shouting,
"Don't hurt my mommy!" Said the judge, "In a sense you have to respect
[the girl]." [Columbus Dispatch-AP, 8-11-93]
* A Virginia Beach, Va., husband and wife were sentenced to 6 years each
in prison in April for having their daughters, ages 13 and 14, take
photographs of the couple having sex. The husband, who is in the Navy,
said he wanted to take the photos with him during sea duty. [Washington
Post-AP, Apr94]
Multiculturalism
* In Cairo, Egypt, in January, seven Muslim fundamentalist lawyers filed
a lawsuit to force the happily married Professor Nasr Abu Zeid and his
wife to divorce because Zeid had written alleged heresies that
disqualified him from marriage to a Muslim woman. According to the
lawyers, any Muslim has the power to petition to end such a marriage.
However, a civil affairs judge ruled shortly afterward for Zeid. [New
Haven Register-AP, 1-28-94]
* In November, the family of Sarasota, Fla., student Wayne Camp-Bell
convinced school officials to hand over to them a videotape they had
made of him misbehaving in class and which they had intended to use to
justify Camp-Bell's punishment. According to the family, which is
American Indian, being photographed takes the person's soul away, and
a ritual is necessary to restore it. [Houston Chronicle-Sarasota
Herald-Tribune, 11-25-93]
* According to recently-released figures from the Department of Justice
of India, 4,785 women were killed by their husbands in 1992 for
insufficient dowries, an increase of about 350% since 1986. The figures
may be low since at least some such murders are competently disguised
as accidents. [Columbia State-New York Times, 1-14-94]
* In December, the Juma Indians of the western Amazon rain forest sent
word to neighboring tribes that they needed a virile man to mate with
one of the three remaining fertile women in order to perpetuate the
tribe. There were 300 Jumas in 1940, but massacres by loggers reduced
the population, and the last young male was recently killed by a
panther. [Columbus Dispatch, Dec93]
* In January of this, the Year of the Dog, the city of Beijing
prohibited its citizens from owning dogs, even though many people still
try to hide dogs in their homes. Recently, a park opened north of the
city to rent dogs for patrons to walk at a price of about 23 cents for
10 minutes. In April, Feng Quantang filed a lawsuit in Shenyang, China,
asking for damages from the government because inspectors allegedly beat
his illegal dog to death in front of him. [New York Times-AP, 5-16-94;
Washington Post, 2-7-94; Boston Globe-Reuters, 4-13-93]
* In January in Riga, Latvia, five "controllers" from the local bus
company beat a 33-year-old man named Smits to death because he could
not produce a ticket during his bus ride and thus was presumed to be
riding illegally. According to local police, controllers routinely give
beatings to scofflaws. [The Baltic Observer, 2-3-94]
Least Competent Person
* As reported in the University of Arizona student newspaper's Police
Beat column of May 4, a 19-year-old student filed a charge against a
fellow student for theft of his fake Arizona driver's license. The
complainant said he loaned the man the card, but after it was
confiscated at a local club, the borrower refused to reimbuse the
complainant the $40 he paid for it. [Arizona Daily Wildcat, 5-4-94]
Copyright 1994, Universal Press Syndicate. All rights
reserved. Released for the personal use of readers.
No commercial use may be made of the material or of the
name News of the Weird.
