Archie, a French bulldog/Boston terrier mix who lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his owner, Dee Borkowski, is in the doghouse after a fiery event. As Borkowski watched Archie via her home security camera, he contentedly lounged on the couch, chewing on a cigarette lighter. Suddenly, the lighter ignited, and her couch burst into flames. Borkowski called the fire department, and the 10-month-old puppy escaped unhurt, although her apartment suffered thousands of dollars of damage. Borkowski has changed Archie’s Instagram handle to “Archie the Arsonist.”
Who Keeps Leaving Money On The Sidewalk?
Over the past five years, 12 separate bundles of cash, totaling nearly $45,000, have turned up on sidewalks in the quiet, beachside English village of Blackhall Colliery, posing a mystery for local Detective Constable John Forster. “These bundles are always … discovered by random members of the public who have handed them in,” Forster said. He suspects some bundles have not been turned over to police. Officials have no evidence of a crime related to the bundles, which usually contain 2,000 pounds a piece. After a period of time, if no one claims them, the folks who discovered the bundles get to keep them.
Too Drunk To Work
Kentarias Gowans of Flowery Branch, Georgia, came up with a novel way of celebrating Thanksgiving. He was scheduled to work at the Steak ‘n’ Shake in Oakwood that day, but called in saying he was “intoxicated” and said he wouldn’t be in. Around 10 pm that evening, Gowans arrived at the restaurant with a handgun, which he held to another employee’s head while demanding money. Multiple employees and customers called 911, and police arrived to see Gowans exiting the restaurant with his gun. He briefly raised the weapon, officers reported, but then dropped it, and he was taken into custody after a brief struggle.
Just Felt Like Burning My Car
Police and firefighters in Liberty, Ohio, were called to the Liberty Walmart to find a car on fire in the parking lot. Owner Stephanie Carlson told them there was a can of gas in the trunk and she had lit a candle to get rid of the smell. She later admitted she had poured gas on the seats and started the fire with a lighter because the car was dirty and there was a problem with the front wheel. The car belonged to her husband, who said he had been looking for her all day. He told officers she had been huffing mothballs and paint thinner recently. Police took her into custody and found a lighter and mothballs in her purse. She was charged with arson, inducing panic and criminal damaging.
The Housekeeping Olympics
Housekeepers from The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas took first place in the Las Vegas Housekeeping Olympics, beating out second- and third-place teams from The Mirage and Circus Circus. The competition, which took place at the Mandalay Bay resort, included bed-making contests, vacuum races and a toilet paper toss. Mandalay Bay president Chuck Bowling said the Olympics are a way of celebrating overlooked workers in the hospitality industry.
I’ll Drive It Wherever I Want To
Residents of the Oakland neighborhood in Topeka, Kansas, called police to report that someone was driving construction equipment around the area. When officers arrived, they found Shane Dee Funk behind the wheel of a loader, driving it through yards and streets and damaging property. Police Capt. Colleen Stuart said Funk refused to stop for officers, and “numerous residences in the loader’s path were evacuated for safety purposes.” When Funk turned the loader toward police, they fired nonlethal bean bag pellets at him to disable him. Funk was treated at a hospital, then booked into the Shawnee County Jail on charges of felony theft, criminal damage to property, aggravated assault to a law enforcement officer and fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement.
Theft Of Lasagna
A resident of the Wilson Lane apartments in Elkins, W.V., told police she found a neighbor, Ronald L. Thorne Jr., “standing in her apartment eating her lasagna from the refrigerator.” He went on to tell her he “just wanted to talk and maybe more,” and then he returned to his own apartment, carrying the lasagna and one of her forks, according to the police report. The woman told Randolph County Sheriff’s officers her home had been ransacked and $20 was missing from her purse. When officers confronted Thorne, he told them he “had been sleepwalking and had woke up standing in his neighbor’s apartment.” The officers also noticed a pan of lasagna on his table, and Thorne told them “she could have it back.” Thorne was arrested and charged with burglary; as he was being processed, a $20 bill was found in his wallet.
I’d Kill For A Napkin
In Shelbyville, Ky., a female customer picking up her food at a KFC drive-thru became angry when she realized she didn’t have a fork and a napkin. So she pulled out a gun and shot out the drive-thru window. KFC released a statement expressing gratitude that no one was shot. Charlene Witt, the manager of the Subway restaurant across the street, is using the incident as a teaching moment in her own store: “If someone comes in irate, just give them what they want.”
Don’t Drop The ‘Possum
Animal Help Now, a group that helps with “animal emergencies,” has gathered 160,000 signatures on a petition to repeal legislation allowing “possum drops” in North Carolina. In a number of communities in the state, the custom of putting an opossum in a transparent box, suspending it in the air and then slowly lowering it to the ground is a feature of New Year’s Eve celebrations. Organizers in Brasstown ended its possum drop after the 2018 event because it’s “a hard job to do, and it’s time to move on.” But they maintained that the tradition does “absolutely nothing to harm” the animal. Animal Help Now, however, is continuing its campaign against the state statute that makes it legal for people to treat opossums however they wish between the dates of Dec. 29 and Jan. 2.
Bright Ideas
— The Fusion Club in Dubai is offering women free drink credits based on their weight. For example, a woman who weighs 150 pounds receives $18.50 in free cocktails. Anil Kumar, spokesman for the club, said that while they have a scale behind the bar, they will also accept a woman’s word about what she weighs. “They can just write the weight on a paper and give it to the bartender discreetly,” he said. “Very simple, no strings attached. We wanted the ladies to surprise their partners and friends that it’s good to gain weight!”
— A 16-year-old boy was detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents after an agent saw him hiding in brush about a mile north of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry near San Diego. Authorities said the teenager had a remote-control car with him, along with two large duffel bags stuffed with 50 packages of methamphetamines weighing more than 55 pounds and worth more than $106,000. Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco said authorities believe the remote-control car was used to carry the bundles across the border, making many trips through the bollard-style fence from the south side and the teen on the north side. The boy was charged with drug smuggling and held in Juvenile Hall.
Cheaper Than Airbnb
If you’re passing through the seaside city of Fukuoka, Japan, here’s a tip for a cheap hotel: A night in room No. 8 at the Asahi Ryokan will cost you just $1. And your privacy. In return for the low rate, your entire stay in your room will be livestreamed on YouTube. Hotel manager Tetsuya Inoue said that while the world can watch the room’s guests, there is no audio, so conversations and phone calls can remain private. Also, the bathroom is out of camera range. And, of course, guests can turn out the lights. “Our hotel is on the cheaper side,” Inoue said, “so we need some added value; something special that everyone will talk about.”
If He’s Dead, There Should Be A Corpse
After the death of their uncle, Sifiso Justice Mhlongo, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, Thandaza Mtshali and Thobeka Mhlongo ran into trouble trying to settle a claim on his life insurance. Old Mutual required confirmation the man had passed away and delayed payment because they were waiting for “additional assessments.” So the women went to the funeral home, retrieved their uncle’s body and took it to the company’s local office. “They said they had paid the money into our bank account and we wanted to be sure,” Mtshali said. “So we left the body at their office and went to check at the bank.” When they had their money, they returned the body to the funeral home. Mr. Mhlongo now rests in a family burial plot. Old Mutual pronounced the incident “most unsettling,” and promised a full investigation. But Muzi Hlengwa, spokesman for the National Funeral Practitioners Association of South Africa, said the matter was far from over. “The rituals that were supposed to be done to move the body from one place to another were not done. The soul of that man is still left at the Old Mutual, so they will have to cover the costs of performing these rituals.”
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