UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Oscar Meyer Wienermobile ticketed

CHICAGO, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Chicago police showed that they do not make exceptions for famous wiener shaped vehicles, ticketing the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile on the Magnificent Mile.

The giant hot dog shaped car was illegally parked on fashionable Michigan Avenue Thursday so a police officer issued a $50 ticket to its owners and was planning on towing the one of a kind vehicle away, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Matt Smith of the Chicago Streets and Sanitation Department said the city would have been ready to handle the job.

"We have access to tow trucks that could have handled a Polish sausage, not just a hot dog," Smith said.

But, the two drivers of the Wienermobile made it back to their vehicle before the tow trucks arrived and the issue was settled.

" The situation was resolved without the use of ketchup, which in Chicago is a big thing," joked Smith.

Chicago-style hot dogs use mustard, onion, pickles, tomato slices or wedges and celery salt, but no ketchup.

Burglars break into cop-filled van

CHICAGO, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Three allegedly car burglars in Orland Park, Ill., had a rude awakening when the conversion van they planned to steal from was full of police officers.

The three suspects, Adam Radz, 21, Justin Garcia, 19, and Erin Henrichs, 21, were each charged with one count of burglary, the Chicago Daily Southtown reported.

The police were investigating a recent string of car break-ins in a residential neighborhood when the three men broke into their van.

Police said that over the past two weeks car burglars have smashed windows and opened unlocked doors in Orland Park to steal things like CDs, radar detectors and cell phones.

Giant plastic muffin burned in Greer, S.C.

GREER, S.C., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A 4-and-1/2-foot tall plastic muffin that was used as a promotional tool for a grocery store in Greer, S.C., has been burned.

The giant muffin, which disappeared July 19, was found after a teen that was being questioned by police sent them to where the charred muffin was being kept, WYFF-TV, Greenville, S.C., reported Friday.

The Bloom Supermarket had previously offered a reward for the safe return of the muffin, which has an estimated value of around $4,500, but police said that a safe return is no longer possible.

The muffin was found burned beyond recognition in a pile of melted plastic.

Bloom supermarket officials said they would not press charges against three teenagers, aged 15 to 17, who allegedly stole the muffin.

Priest arrested while taking the air

FREDERICK, Colo., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The Archdiocese of Denver says a Frederick, Colo., priest has been placed on administrative leave after being charged with jogging in the nude.

Rev. Robert Whipkey was arrested in Frederick and accused of indecent exposure, the Denver Post reported Friday.

The archdiocese also revealed that Whipkey was investigated eight years ago for "inappropriate personal behavior." Details of the allegations were not released, but the statement said the conduct did not involve "physical or sexual contact with another individual."

Whipkey was stopped by Frederick police June 22 at 4:30 a.m. while walking down the street naked. He told officers he was walking home from the Frederick High School track, where he had been jogging.

"I'm a heavy man, and wearing clothing while running makes me sweat profusely... I know what I did was wrong," a police report quoted Whipkey as telling an officer.

If convicted on the indecent exposure charge, the priest will have to register as a sex offender.

"Father Bob deeply and genuinely regrets any discomfort or embarrassment that this situation has caused to his family, to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Denver and to anyone," Whipkey's attorney, Doug Tisdale, said in a statement.