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Global bizarre

By Times Wires
Published February 29, 2008

Fresh with mint

Money talks with the D.C. Quarter designs

Washington, D.C., lobbied for 10 years to be included in the state quarter program, and recently, they were approved. Now the U.S. Mint has rejected the first three proposed designs for the district's quarter because they include the slogan, "Taxation Without Representation." Mayor Adrian Fenty says it's a fair assessment. The Mint says it's too controversial. Either way, the district will submit a new design, and, as a reminder, it would apparently still like a voting member of Congress, thank you very much.

Campus drill

Practice is good; a heads-up is better

Illustrating the importance of memos, Elizabeth City State University staged a mock gunman-on-campus response drill last week but made the mistake of forgetting to tell the people who would be playing the role of victims. So it was quite the surprise when an armed man walked into an American foreign policy class with a gun, telling students and the assistant professor about how he had been kicked out of school, needed a new lung and was going to kill the student with the lowest GPA. "I was prepared to die at that moment," instructor Jingbin Wang told the Raleigh News & Observer. The man's gun was red, plastic and fake, but Wang couldn't tell any of that when it was pushed against his back. The school says it announced the drill via e-mail and text message, but not everyone got it. Even after the mock police cleared the room, Wang said his class was still left to wonder what just happened.

Melt with you

To eliminate snow, he brings the heat

The snow in front of the garage door was a big problem for a Ledgeview, Wis., man. He thought to himself, apparently: Hey, fire will melt this snow. So he broke out his torch and went to work on the accumulation. The part that he hadn't thought all the way through was that fire can burn garage doors. It required firefighters to put it out. No one was injured, and two vehicles were damaged. But the snow was gone.

Fashion police

Hanger man

A man in Aachen, Germany, left a clothing store, telling the clerk that he decided against buying anything. But the clerk was immediately suspicious of this claim, particularly when she noticed a hanger bulging from under his clothes. A quick search showed that he had put on a suit - without removing the hanger - then put his clothes on over top. "Only a sign saying 'stop me, I'm a thief!' would have made the thief look more unprofessional," police said in a statement.

Laundry man

Here's a guy who could use a new suit. Police in Plaistow, N.H., say a man who robbed Sovereign Bank two weeks ago tried again this week. He was wearing the same clothes and made the same demands. But this time, they refused to give him money. So he left. Police want to talk to him anyway and are on the lookout.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 28, 2008, 23:03:00]