xxxNews Of The Weirdxxx

Bizarre but true stories about real people collected by syndicated columnist Chuck Shepherd.

A Palm Beach Post writer, making the point that America’s obesity problem is not limited to humans, reported from the Boca Greens Animal Hospital (Boca Raton, Fla.) in June that “Pumpkin,” a 12-pound Chihuahua, was up and moving well after her recent liposuction surgery. However, the 12 ounces of fat she lost still left her among South Florida’s overweight pets, said to be two-thirds of their population. As Pumpkin’s owner was reminded, surgery is not to be a substitute for sensible exercise and a modest number of treats.

Police in Fort Myers, Fla., arrested Carlos Chereza, 17, in April and charged him with hiring a hit man to kill his mother and to make it look like a burglary; as is often the case, the “hit man” was actually an undercover detective, who by the way said Chereza’s main concern was to pull off the job without damaging the family’s TV set.

Nurse Jackie Tvedt held on to her state license even though she was fired in January from a nursing home in Newton, Iowa, for allegedly providing a reduced level of care to those patients whom God had told her that He would take care of.

In March, Thailand’s agriculture minister criticized health officials’ proposal to embed microchips in the nation’s 200,000 fighting roosters, to help deal with the avian flu scare sweeping Asia; the minister’s main concern was that the implants would hamper the cocks’ aggressiveness.
Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa, Fla. 33679 or [email protected]
Copyright © 2001 by Chuck Shepherd

NEWS OF THE WEIRD