Yo-yo con man appears on 5 stations

MILWAUKEE, May 11 (UPI) -- Four Wisconsin TV stations and a Missouri station said they were tricked into putting a man on air who claimed to be a yo-yo champion.

The stations, including WFRV-TV, Green Bay, and KQTV, St. Joseph, Mo., said they received e-mails purporting to be from a man named Joe Guehrke, saying he represented ZimZam Yo-Yo, "the world's first 'green'" non-profit toy company and a man whose name was variously given as Kenny Strasser, Kenny Strassburg and K-Strass, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported Tuesday.

The e-mails claimed Strasser was a runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1995, grand champion at the Pensacola Regional and was nominated for the Walt Greenberg Award in 2000. However, the stations said they later discovered there is no Walt Greenberg Award for yo-yo and there is no evidence to suggest Pensacola, Fla., ever hosted a tournament.

Bridget Blevins, news director for KQTV, said Strasser was not as good with a yo-yo as advertised.

"He did some really lame things. He hit himself in the face and the groin with his yo-yo," Blevins said.

Lisa Malak, an anchor for "Sunday Morning" on WFRV in Green Bay, said Strasser showed up for a segment April 11 and forgot to bring his yo-yo string.