Bizarre News - June 20, 2015

Greetings fellow Bizarros:

There are high school pranks, and there are high school pranks. And then there are felonies. What this teen in Connecticut pulled off was closer to a Satanic ritual.

A teen was arrested on charges of breach of peace after allegedly cutting up a dead cow and dumping the parts on school campus, police in Connecticut said. I guess he couldn't get his hands on any smoke bombs.

Woodstock police said that they have arrested 18-year-old Avery Blair Rollins, for cutting up the cow that died after being hit by a car.

The cow parts were found by students who have taken an exam in the school, around 9:00 a.m. The cow parts were found throughout the campus.

The cow's head was placed in the hoop of the basketball court and was still dripping blood while the legs were hidden in the ceiling tiles of the bathroom.

The principal of the school said that Woodstock Academy has a policy of zero tolerance for cruelty to animals. Rollins was arrested and charged with breach of peace.

He was booked into jail and released after posting $1,000 bail.

Bizarrely,
Lewis

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*-- Utah Valley University staircase gets a texting lane --*
OREM, Utah (UPI) - Officials at Utah Valley University said a staircase with a designated texting lane made famous in viral photos has received positive feedback from students. The staircase in the Oren school's Student Life & Wellness Center is marked with separate lanes labeled "walk," "run" and "text" to accommodate the different speeds of students, but officials said the benefits are more aesthetic than functional. "When you have 18- to 24-year-olds walking on campus glued to their smartphones, you're almost bound to run into someone somewhere; it's the nature of the world we live in," said Matt Bambrough, UVU's creative director. "But that isn't the reason we did it -- we used that fact to engage our students, to catch their attention and to let them know we are aware of who they are and where they're coming from. The design was meant for people to laugh at rather than a real attempt to direct traffic flow." Amy Grubbs, the school's director for campus recreation, said students often cited staircases as being among the "gloomist" spots on campus. "The stairs were just lifeless before," Grubbs told ABC News. "Students don't necessarily abide by it but it's funny to watch students push their friends over in the right lane as a joke if they're texting." "Other people don't even see it because they're so consumed in their phones," she said. The text lane is reminiscent of a scheme in Chongquing, China, which saw a section of sidewalk marked off for those who choose to look at their phones while walking instead of watching where they are going.


*-- Police: Reported 'lifeless body' was Papa Smurf balloon --*
NEUSS, Germany (UPI) - German police said a helicopter crew searching for a reported "lifeless body" rescued a figure clad in "red pants" and "blue outerwear" -- a Papa Smurf balloon. The District Police Rhein-Kreis Neuss said a train passenger reported spotting the "lifeless body" out a window near Dusseldorf and officers responded to the area in a helicopter. The helicopter crew soon spotted a figure "wearing red pants, blue outerwear, a red cap and a white beard," police said in a news release. The "body" turned out to be a partially deflated balloon in the shape of Papa Smurf, known in Germany as Papa Schlumpf. Police shared a photo of the rescued balloon buckled into the seat of a patrol car for safe transport back to police headquarters. Officers "took him to the police station, but have so far reached no relatives." Police said the witness was "entirely justified" in making the emergency call, which they said could "potentially save lives under different circumstances."


*-- READER COMMENTS --*
HI Lewis, This issue was particularly enjoyable, as it was uplifting and positive in addition to being entertaining. Keep up the good work. :) -Miki
[You're welcome. And now let's get back to amateur animal butchering.]

With so many cynical stories arising from bizarre news it was a delight to read about the Canadian cabbie helping the ducklings and the policeman helping the elderly woman who got lost riding her scooter in the same article! (Could it be that Canadian cabbies are nicer New York variety?)
[It's impossible to tell if New York cabbies are being rude since all they speak is Bengali, Urdu and Haitian Creole.]

Lewis, Thanks for the sweet stories about the stranded ducklings and the lost lady. With all the awful things that make the news, those stories made me smile.

Hey Lewis, Regarding the lady who was found going in circles...My first husband used to say that I could get lost going from point A un2 point A. I don't think that's quite correct, but maybe from point A to point A prime. I know what it's like to find oneself going in circles, but I bet even that lady wouldn't ever have gotten lost going in a straight line.

*-- END OF READER COMMENTS --*
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