Jockstrip: The world as we know it

Joey Chestnut takes hot dog eating crown

NEW YORK, July 4 (UPI) -- California native Joey Chestnut won the annual hot dog eating contest at New York's Nathan's Famous Wednesday, setting an event record with 66 hot dogs.

The San Jose Mercury News said that with six-time Nathan's defending champion Takeru Kobayashi nursing a sore jaw, Chestnut ate 66 entire hot dogs at the Fourth of July contest to win the competitive eating crown.

Not only was the San Jose native able to best the contest's previous high of 59 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes he set last month, but his holiday total of 66 also represented a personal high.

Nearly 30,000 people attended the Coney Island event to cheer on competitors.

After his win, Chestnut said he was happy he was able to finally take the title away from his Japanese rival and bring it back to the United States.

"It's been held by Kobayashi six years," Chestnut said. "And it comes back to the U.S. on the Fourth of July."

Minnesotan accused in fake cop case

MINNEAPOLIS, July 4 (UPI) -- A Minneapolis man is facing charges of impersonating a police officer -- badly.

The Star Tribune said the 40-year-old man allegedly flashed his headlights at a woman driving on Highway 212 in Carver County Tuesday morning to get her to pull over. When she stopped, he walked over and asked to see her driver's license and registration, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday.

But the woman became suspicious because there were no flashing lights, and he had long hair and was wearing a black T-shirt and dark shorts. She she drove off and called police.

Sheriff's deputies spotted the man's SUV a while later and pursued him. The driver got out and ran into a wooded area along the Minnesota River where he was caught. It turns out the vehicle had been stolen, authorities said.

The suspect was jailed overnight and now faces charges of fleeing a police officer, possession of a stolen vehicle and impersonating a police officer.

Police phoned after child's ears pierced

WICHITA, Kan., July 4 (UPI) -- A woman called police to a Wichita, Kan., Wal-Mart after witnessing a store employee pierce the ears of a screaming child.

Marilyn Johnson said the store employee and the girl's mother were ignoring the young girl's screams, she confronted the pair, The Wichita Eagle reported Wednesday. However, she said the mother and employee ignored her questions so she phoned police and reported the incident as child abuse.

"This little girl was about 5 years old and was crying her eyes out," Johnson said. "Her face was beet red, and she was screaming and coughing and saying things like, 'I don't want this! It hurts! Please stop!' She was grabbing her ears so the adults couldn't touch them.

"I saw a child crying and screaming and pleading for someone not to do something to her," she said. "And if that's not child abuse, I don't know what is."

However, police who arrived on the scene informed Johnson that she was in the wrong. Wichita police spokesman Gordon Bassham said neither the girl's mother nor the employee doing the piercing had broken the law.

A Wal-Mart store official said Johnson, who was issued a warning for trespassing, will no longer be allowed in the establishment.

AWOL lifeguard, friend, require rescue

NEWQUAY, England, July 4 (UPI) -- An inquiry has been launched in southwestern England into why an on-duty lifeguard and a female friend needed rescuing after spending 11 hours in a cave.

Shane Davis, 21, was working with two other guards near Newquay Monday when he and Renee Potgieter decided to explore a cave. He said things went wrong when the woman lost her footing and was swept out to sea.

He said he swam out in heavy seas to rescue her and got her back into the cave where she was showing signs of hypothermia. Davis said the pair took off their wetsuits to share body heat and huddled there for hours, The Daily Mail reported.

More than 100 members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution battled rough seas using three rescue boats, a helicopter and jet skis to search for the pair who were reported missing by Davis' coworkers.

Davis said Potgieter was looking worse, so he again dove into the ocean and swam about 40 minutes to where he saw searchlights, and the rescuers got the woman out of the cave.

The rescue agency said it plans to investigate Davis' account further, the report said.