Thank You, I Think?
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Aug. 11 that in the overnight hours, more than 50 old-style television sets had been deposited on the front porches of homes in Henrico County, Va. Henrico Police Lt. Matt Pecka said the culprits were caught on several doorbell cameras, with one of the videos showing a person wearing TV-shaped headgear while dropping off the TV. Even more puzzling, a similar phenomenon happened last year in nearby Glen Allen where 20 sets were left on porches. Pecka said the only crime that might have been committed is illegal dumping: “We don’t believe there’s any reason for the community to be alarmed.”
Bright Idea
A Twitter user known only as “Dorothy,” 15, was banned from her phone by her mom in early August after becoming distracted while cooking and starting a fire, but that didn’t stop her, reported The Guardian. First, she tweeted from a Nintendo 3DS gaming device, but Mom caught on quickly and posted that the account would be shut down. The next day, Dorothy tweeted from her Wii U, assuring followers that while Mom was at work, she’d be looking for her phone. Finally, on Aug. 8, with no other options left, Dorothy reached out to Twitter from an unlikely source: her family’s LG smart refrigerator. “I am talking to my fridge what the heck my Mom confiscated all of my electronics again,” she posted. The post went viral, even prompting LG to tweet about it with the hashtag #FreeDorothy.
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Least Competent Criminal
Larry Adams, 61, of Daytona Beach, Fla., came out swinging late on Aug. 12, complaining that neighbors were playing their music too loudly in the parking lot of their apartment complex. Adams emerged from his apartment threatening to shoot them and brandishing nunchucks, which he then hit himself in the head with. Police officers, responding to a 911 call, told WOLF-Fox 35 that Adams also sprayed everyone with roach repellent, causing them to cough and their skin to burn. “We not even roaches, so why are we getting sprayed with roach spray for?” wondered neighbor Cici Sylvester. Adams, sporting a goose egg on his forehead, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Oops!
A Gwinnett County (Georgia) medical examiner has resigned after wildly misinterpreting the cause of death for 61-year-old Ray Neal of Lawrenceville, who died on July 21. Despite reports by police and witnesses of large amounts of blood on the floor and walls at the scene, investigator Shannon Byers initially ruled Neal had died of natural causes. But when his body arrived at the funeral home, employees discovered a hole in his neck, Fox 5 News reported, and Neal was returned to the morgue for an autopsy, which revealed he had been stabbed several times. Police are now investigating the death as a murder.
The Devil Is in the Details
Was there or was there not a clown? And what exactly is “fancy dress”? In the early hours of July 26, The Guardian reported, a “mass brawl” broke out in a buffet area of the P&O cruise ship Britannia, which was bound from Bergen, Norway, to Southampton, England. Witnesses told staff that the fight started when one passenger became angry that another was wearing a clown outfit, because they had specifically booked a cruise with no fancy dress. Another witness said the clown had crashed a black-tie party. But P&O later said in a statement there was no clown, and Hampshire police confirmed: “There is no information to suggest that a clown or anyone wearing fancy dress was involved in this incident.” A number of passengers were injured in the brawl by flying furniture and plates, and two passengers were arrested, then later released.
Compelling Explanation
Fanny Alida Beerepoot and her brother, Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot, Christian missionaries in Tasmania, were ordered by the supreme court there to pay $2.3 million to the Australian Taxation Office on July 17 after failing to remit the estimated $930,000 in income taxes and other charges they owed in 2017. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported the dispute stems from the Beerepoots’ contention that taxation “goes against God’s will.” Representing themselves, the siblings explained they had paid income taxes prior to 2011, but then came to realize that “the law of Almighty God is the supreme law of this land,” and “transferring our allegiance from God to the Commonwealth would mean rebelling against God.” Also in 2017, the family’s property in Mole Creek was seized after they refused to pay property taxes on it for seven years.
© 2019 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION
