Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Chicken deaths blamed on 'El Chupacabras' HORIZON CITY, Texas, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Two Texas men said they have a prime suspect in the slayings of 30 chickens on their property, the mythical creature El Chupacabras. Advertisement Cesar Garcia of Horizon City, Texas, said he found 20 chickens dead and drained of their blood Saturday morning and his brother-in-law, Juan Miranda, found 10 chickens killed the same way in a different coop Sunday morning, the El Paso (Texas) Times reported. "I saw the chickens were dead, but there was no blood around the sheet metal," Garcia said. "All of them were just dead in one big pile. But, really, I don't know what it was because there was no blood." Garcia and Miranda said they researched the twin puncture wounds on each of the chickens and tracks found near the coop and linked them to the mythical creature. Advertisement However, Tony Zavaleta, a professor of anthropology at the University of Texas-Brownsville, said El Chupacabras, which translates to "the goat sucker," is strictly legend. "The Chupacabra is a mythical creature," Zavaleta said. "I reserve the right to say that until someone produces one." Printing error inflates 13,000 bills PITTSBURGH, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority says about 13,000 customers received bills that were off by thousands of dollars due to erroneously placed decimals. Melissa Rubin, a spokeswoman for the authority, said officials began receiving calls Tuesday morning about bills marked up thousands of dollars from previous months, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Water & Sewer Authority Executive Director Michael Kenney said a technician with the California company that handles the billing, EA Consulting Inc., uploaded the bills to the mailer using a European protocol. Kenney said the European protocol caused commas to appear instead of decimal places and the receiving computer did not recognize the punctuation. He said a bill for $45.00 would show up as $4,500.00 as a result of the error. "The data is all good. It's really nothing more than a bad print file," Kenney said. Officials said corrected bills were mailed out Wednesday and anyone who pays an inflated balance from an incorrect bill will be given a refund. Advertisement Restaurant aims for snow cone record PLYMOUTH, Mich., Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Michigan restaurant manager said he is planning to create a 5,000-pound snow cone that he hopes will set a world record. Paul Zajac, general manager of the Station 885 restaurant in the historic section of Plymouth, said the snow cone, which he plans to create with help from volunteers Jan. 23, is in part a ploy to attract visitors to his restaurant from the annual Jan. 23-25 Plymouth International Ice Festival downtown, the Detroit Free Press reported. Zajac said he believes the 9-foot snow cone will top the previous Guinness World Record holder, a 4,640-pound snow cone created in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 10 years ago. He said he is following all the proper Guinness protocol for the attempt, including weighing the snow cone at an official site. "Once we have the record, we'll scoop as much off the top as we can, for however many people have assembled ... and let them eat a piece of history," he said. Polite robbery suspect waits for police PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 14 (UPI) -- An employee at a FedEx Kinko's store in Portland said a man allegedly handed him a note explaining he was robbing the store, but would wait around for police. Advertisement Store employee Paul Rhoney told KPTV, Portland, the suspect, identified as Thomas Decker, allegedly came into the store Tuesday and handed him a note reading: "This is a robbery. I'll wait outside for police, sorry." "I kind of looked at him like, uh, OK," Rhoney said. "(I was) confused (and) a little nervous." "I'm thinking he's either going to pull out a weapon and this is serious (or) it's a joke," Rhoney added. "You know, he's not really serious. He just needs some attention." Portland Police Detective Mary Wheat alleges Decker, 46, did wait outside the store for police officers, who arrived within minutes. Wheat said since Decker was not armed and did not actually commit a robbery, he will not face robbery charges. KPTV said police suspect Decker simply wanted to be arrested and taken to jail. The suspect was charged with initiating a false report.
