Watercooler Stories

Man seen running around in just a mask

FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A man who was spotted in Fremont, Calif., running around wearing just a Scooby-Doo mask told police he was just trying to show off his new body, officers said.

Police received a number of complaints of a man man running through the parking lot of the Lucky supermarket about 4:25 a.m. Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Witnesses described the man "not wearing pants or possibly just underpants and wearing a 'Scooby-Doo' or bear-type head mask," police said.

When officers Miguel Sanchez and Mike Gilfoy arrived at the scene they indeed found a man wearing a Scooby-Doo mask, along with a black leather dog collar and leash and khaki-colored pants.

When asked what he was doing, the man told officers that "he had recently lost weight and wanted to show off his new body," police said.

The man, whose name was not reported, was let go after the officers determined no crime had been committed.

Police: Fla. woman steals police car

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Police said a woman stole a St. Petersburg. Fla., police car and then drove it to Tampa before being arrested.

The incident began at 9:27 p.m. Saturday night, when two officers in two separate cars arrived at the scene of a domestic fight on 62nd Ave., police said.

Tampa Bay Times said Vanessa Brooks, 22, flagged down a passing truck on the same street while police were inside.

Police said the driver stopped the truck and Brooks allegedly reached inside it, grabbed a cell phone and ran to where the officers' cars were.

She got inside one of the vehicles, put the keys in the ignition and backed it up into the other police car, Tampa Bay Times reported.

Police said they came back outside at 9:41 p.m., saw one of their cars missing and alerted local authorities about the theft.

Tampa police officers located the car at a McDonald's at 9:58 pm and when they tried to approach her, Brooks ran from the officers.

Tampa Bay Times said the officers reached her and arrested her, but the car was left in gear and it rolled backward and hit a tree.

Police said Brooks was charged with vehicle burglary, auto theft and leaving the scene of the crash.

Dog tags returned after 45 years

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A retired U.S. Marine in Florida said it is "unbelievable" that he has been reunited with the dog tags he left in Vietnam more than 45 years ago.

Officials returned the once-missing dog tags to Jim Alderman Saturday during a ceremony in east Orange County, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported.

"I'll remember this day till the day I die," he said.

Alderman lost the tags in 1967 after he was shot in his wrist and chest. As his wounds were being treated, his boots -- which held his dog tags -- were removed and placed in a pile near a group of a dozen dead soldiers.

He said he "had enough respect for the deceased not to go through their gear" to retrieve his tags, so he was issued a new one.

More than 30 years later, a Wall Street trader traveling in Vietnam bought a lot of 100 dog tags for about $100 from someone selling them in Ho Chi Minh city, the Sentinel reported.

The New Jersey Dog Tag Committee has since been attempting to return the tags to Vietnam veterans.

"This particular thing was half-way around the world in a foreign country and it makes it back to me today?" Alderman said. "This is unbelievable. ... What are the odds?"

Cow pies become cobra in Siberian village

MOSCOW, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A giant cobra made out of cattle dung was created to entertain children in a Siberian village during the frigid winter months, its 52-year-old sculptor says.

"I made it so the kids could play around and have some fun," said Mikhail Bopposov, a native of the Siberian republic of Yakutia.

The 880-pound sculpture shows the snake coiled and its hood spread. It's displayed in the village of Yolba, about 125 miles east of the republic's capital, Yakutsk.

Bopposov is the building manager for the village school and gets his art supplies from the 17 head of cattle he raises.

Bopposov began dabbling in dung in 2008, when he created an army tank. He's made something out of the cow pies every winter since, except in 2011, when he and his son made a rabbit out of snow. He found that medium difficult to work because it froze so hard.

This is a temporary installation, however, RIA Novosti reported Friday. Come spring, like every spring, Bopposov will recycle his creation into fertilizer for crops.