News of the Weird

Grapevine Radio:
In January, the owners of KZZC-FM, Tipton, CA, ended 18 consecutive
months of being an all-"I Heard It Through The Grapevine" station,
playing various versions of that song all day, seven days a week (except
once, when it played the Eagles' "New Kid in Town" for a whole weekend).
The station was pending sale, and the owner just needed to keep the
frequency occupied, but negotiations dragged on much longer than
expected.
Life Imitates Lawyer Jokes:
Because of overcrowding at the Chilliwack, British Columbia, courthouse,
jury selection in a January manslaughter case was removed to a local
community center, but because of other court business taking place
there, jury selection was further removed to the center's men's room.
Said prosecutor Henry Waldock, "When you start holding hearings in a
bathroom, I fear it may diminish the respect for the justice system in
the eyes of the public."

Compelling Explanations:
David Schames, a founder of the Association of Coupon Professionals,
explaining to columnist Martin Sloane why so many companies have
switched from overseas processors to prison-labor processors: "Employee
stability is always an issue overseas, but most of the inmates (working
for coupon companies) are serving long terms...."

Rochester, NY, Assemblywoman Susan John, who is the chair of the
Assembly's Alcohol and Drug Abuse committee, upon her guilty plea for
driving while impaired: "This will give me additional insights into the
problem of drinking and driving, and I believe, will allow me to do my
job even more effectively."

I've got my rights! -
The National Labor Relations Board ruled in December that Caterpillar
Inc. workers who were on strike from June 1994 to December 1995 were
entitled to be compensated for the popcorn, sodas, ice cream and other
snacks that the company provided workers who remained on the job during
that time....

The student government at Oxford University in England appointed a
person to patrol the grounds and stop couples' public displays of
affection. In one place, petting was banned from the dining hall, and
another facility was divided into heavy- and light-petting zones. The
government also banned sexual intercourse in libraries between 3AM and
8AM (although no student leader claimed to have actual knowledge that it
had ever occurred). The actions were taken because some students who did
not have dates found the behaviors offensive.

Clueless -
Ms. Courtney Mann, the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of White People, who is a tax preparer
and single mother, was rebuffed in an attempt to join a Ku Klux
Klan-sponsored march in Pittsburgh in April, according to the Pitssburgh
Post-Gazette. Though she has been in the NAAWP for at least four yeras,
the Pennsylvania KKK Grand Dragon turned her down because Mann is black.
"She wanted me to send transportation for the rally," said the Grand
Dragon. "She wanted to stay at my house during rally weekend. She's all
confused, man. I don't think she knows she's a black."

Least Competent People -
According to the Berlingske Tidende newspaper of Copenhagen, Denmark, an
unidentified man drove his car onto the ice at the Augustenborg Fjord,
120 miles to the south, but it broke through. The man managed to escape
in the shallow water though, and then minutes later attempted the
crossing with a four-wheel drive vehicle, with the same result. He next
tried it with a tractor (same result), then with another tractor (same).
It took rescuers seven hours to pull the four vehicles out.

In Bozeman, MT, according to Gary Gerhardt, the owner of County Lanes
bowling alley, a man walked in, told the cashier he had just gotten out
of prison for having robbed County Lanes several years before, and said
he would like to look around on top of the ceiling to see if he could
nd the wallet he had dropped during that job. When Gerhardt ordered
him to leave, the man just shrugged and walked away.

Unclear on the Concept -
A leading TV news program in Bogota, Columbia, reported that Jimmy
Pacheco had been kidnapped for a month in the city of Cucuta in a scheme
to pry undisclosed concessions from either friends or co-workers, but
that to keep things low-key, Pacheco was permitted to return home every
night so as not to alarm his family. The kidnappers would watch
Pacheco's house at night and snatch him again in the morning as he left
for work.