UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Allegedly drunk man wandered into church

COOKEVILLE, Tenn., July 19 (UPI) -- A Tennessee sheriff said a man who wandered into his church as a service was ending and asked for ibuprofen was arrested on a charge of public intoxication.

Putnam Sheriff David Andrews said he was attending a Wednesday night service at the Jefferson Avenue Church of Christ in Cookeville and Gregory Blaine Wade, 42, wandered in just as the service was ending, the Herald-Citizen, Cookeville, reported Tuesday.

"It was obvious something was wrong and we tried to help him. He said he had just been released from the hospital and he had a bandage on his knee, but was asking for ibuprofen for his wrist," Andrews said.

Andrews said he wanted to help Wade but the man soon became argumentative and the sheriff noticed a strong smell of alcohol on his breath.

Wade said he called his office and Deputy Trevor Barrett responded to the scene.

"I arrived at 7:59 p.m. and Sheriff Andrews had a male subject against the wall by the exit of the church," Barrett wrote in his report. "The male subject was unsteady on his feet, had slurred speech and an odor of an intoxicant about his person."

Wade was found to have a half-empty bottle of beer in his bag and he was arrested on a public intoxication charge.

The suspect was later released and arrested again the following day by a Cookeville police officer responding to a call about Wade drunkenly sleeping on a bench near a store.

Chihuahua chases off robbers

ALTADENA, Calif., July 19 (UPI) -- Authorities in California said they are searching for a pair of robbers who were driven away by the barking of an outraged Chihuahua.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said security video from Ace Smoke Shop in Altadena depicts two hooded men entering the store with a rifle at about 7:30 p.m. July 7 and demanding money, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The video shows the store owner begin to place money into a backpack worn by one of the robbers while his Chihuahua starts barking loudly and forcefully at the men.

Investigators said the robbers were apparently spooked by the dog and fled the store with less money than they could have obtained from the store owner.

The video depicts the Chihuahua follow the men from the store and chase them down the street.

No one was injured in the incident, deputies said.

The sheriff's office said it is searching for the suspects, described as male Latinos.

Women form 'Putin's Army' online

MOSCOW, July 19 (UPI) -- More than 880 women on a Russian social networking site have formed "Putin's Army," a group promoting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for president.

The group members on the Vkontakte social networking site, who are promoting Putin for president in 2012, said they aim to prove "many, including beautiful, young and smart girls" are ready to "rip 'em up for Putin," the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday.

"We are united in our view of Putin as a worthy and fair politician and a gorgeous man," the women said on their group page.

The group's page features a risque video depicting a blonde woman who declares her admiration for the prime minister before ripping off her shirt and encouraging other women to "rip off something, or someone" for Putin.

Putin, who served as president from 2000 to 2008, and current President Dmitry Medvedev said one of them, but not both, will seek the presidency in 2012.

County's odd thefts involve utility poles

OWEN SOUND, Ontario, July 19 (UPI) -- A series of unusual thefts in a rural county northwest of Toronto has grown to include three 40-foot wooden electric utility poles, Canadian police said.

Ontario Provincial Police said the new utility poles, valued at $700 each, were disconnected from power lines and hoisted out of the ground in rural Grey County, the Toronto Star reported.

Grey County OPP spokeswoman Constable Alina Grelik said the logistics of stealing the poles meant it couldn't be a prank.

"It is kind of bizarre, isn't it?" she said.

There was no indication the poles were cut up at the scene and Hydro One utility workers said it appears the poles had been lifted out of the ground. The cut lines weren't live, the report said.

The county has a long list of unusual thefts going back several years, the newspaper said.

They include the disappearance of 100 rabbits from a farm, a full-size fiberglass statue of a horse from outside an equestrian center and a carved wooden bear from outside a home.

In separate incidents, the OPP were also called to investigate the thefts of two 200-pound portable toilets from ski and snowmobile facilities.

The largest and oddest theft in the county resulted in an arrest last month. Police said they didn't have much trouble tracking a $30,000 double-wide mobile home that had been towed a short distance from the owner's property, the Star said.