UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Police: Drunk woman called 911 for a date

NORWOOD, Ohio, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Police in Ohio said they arrested a woman accused of drunkenly dialing 911 and telling dispatchers she was looking for a date.

Norwood police said Bernadette Music, 43, called 911 four or five times July 26 to ask dispatchers to go out with her, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday.

Music faced disorderly conduct charges.

Police: Robber called Wendy's to complain

ATLANTA, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Atlanta police said a robber who was not satisfied with his $586 take in a Wendy's robbery called the restaurant twice to complain about the amount.

Investigators said the man, who wore a ski mask and was armed with a gun, approached a Wendy's drive-through window at about 11:15 p.m. Saturday and ordered an employee to give him a cash drawer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

Police said the robber took the money and abandoned the drawer in some bushes at a nearby hotel.

Wendy's workers said the robber called twice to complain about his haul.

"Next time there better be more than $586," he was quoted as saying.

Large beaver attacks man while fishing

CUMMING, Ga., Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Georgia wildlife officials said they are searching for a large beaver that bit a man on the leg and arm while he was fishing on Lake Lanier in Forsyth County.

Authorities said Russ McTindal was fishing Thursday when he saw the mammal, which he estimated to weigh 35 to 40 pounds, came at him quickly, WSB-TV, Atlanta, reported Monday.

"When he got close enough, I whacked him a couple of times with a fishing rod on top of the head," McTindal said. "He even speeded up more. When he got to the bank, he come in chomping."

"He was attacking me," McTindal said. "He was actually attacking me. I hadn't provoked him or anything. Apparently when I went down, he pulled his head out locked on to me."

McTindal said he escaped the beaver and used his belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

Police: Men offered wood blocks as laptops

JACKSON, Miss., Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Authorities in Mississippi said they arrested two men who were allegedly trying to sell blocks of wood disguised as laptop computers.

The Hinds County Sheriff's Department said Eddie Handford, 45, and Frank Hamilton, 54, were arrested Thursday after they tried to sell the counterfeit goods to an off-duty state trooper who made note of their license plate number, WLBT-TV, Jackson, Miss., reported Monday.

Investigators said the men covered blocks of wood and binders full of paper with duct tape and bubble wrap to make them look like laptop computers. Deputies said they placed Toshiba labels on the duct tape to make the phony computers look legitimate.

"By the time you take it and get it home, you find you've purchased a block of wood, you may as well throw it in the fireplace. It's no good," sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott said.

Officials said they do not believe the men were successful in selling any of the fake laptops. They were each charged with two counts of trademark infringement and two counts of illegal sale of goods bearing counterfeit labels.

Handford and Hamilton could each face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000 if convicted.