Senior Suppliers
Police in Austria arrested a gang of drug dealing pensioners just days after German police arrested a gang of elderly bank robbers. Vienna officers caught the four men after a tip-off from another dealer they arrested earlier. Investigators said the men, all between the ages of 55 and 70, supplied local prostitutes with cocaine and found customers in and around the Prater amusement park. A policeman said the men would take day trips to Belgium, pick up the cocaine and then return to Austria to sell.
Civil Criminal
A Dutchwoman returned home from a shopping trip to find her house broken into by a polite burglar. The 18-year-old man had taken his shoes off at the door and left them under the stairs, and as the owner walked inside her home he came down the stairs, shook hands and introduced himself. The burglar claimed he was looking for a ball on the roof and put his shoes on and left. The homeowner then called police, who caught the man on his bicycle and arrested him. Nothing was taken from the woman’s home but the intruder had other charges of theft and entering houses without permission against him.
Australians set record for underwater ironing
An Australian diving club claimed a world record in underwater ironing. Melbourne’s Bay City Scuba Diving Club sent 43 members 10 feet underwater in Port Phillip Bay for a 25-minute dive. During the dive, the team used cold non-electric irons and raised about $500 for charity. Club spokesman Alan Igoe said the club always tries to give its members a reason to get diving after the winter break, but this event gained momentum and turned into a chase for a world record. Extremeironing.com confirmed the Australian divers snatched a 6-week-old record from a 16-member New Zealand team of ironists.
The Internet’s Wilt Chamberlain
A middle-aged man has been banned from an Internet dating agency in the United Kingdom for sleeping with more than 100 women. Ex-miner Clive Worth, 55, had 119 dates in five years and ended up with most of them. Now DatingDirect.com has taken him off their books for showing a lack of commitment. Clive, who paid about $150 a year to join said he was dismayed about being kicked out since he didn’t do anything wrong and that the complaints were from women who were seeking committment from him – but none of them were the right one. Clive plans to sign up for another Internet dating agency and said he will carry on until he’s 80.
Cartwheel yourself home young lady
Cartwheels and handstands earned a suspension for an 11-year-old girl in Los Angeles. Deidre Faegre was suspended for a week after repeatedly disobeying school officials’ orders not to perform gymnastics during lunch. Denise Patton, San Jose-Edison Academy principal, said their first concern is for the safety of the children and that Faegre could have accidentally struck another student or injured herself, and other children could have gotten hurt trying to imitate Faegre, who has been doing gymnastics for five years. Leland Faegre, Deidre’s father, said it was absurd to suspend his daughter when students were allowed to play basketball and other sports.
Fool me twice
Last winter, Rejoice Ministries hired Dennis Bennett as pastor, totally unaware of his status as a veteran con artist. Prosecutors filed criminal charges after Bennett was accused of stealing $10,000 that the church gave him for a car, a home down payment and other expenses. This time, while searching for a new pastor, the church had James Poole preach as an act of caution. Rejoice Ministries hired Poole in August, but less than a month later he allegedly skipped town without repaying $3,344 he borrowed from the church for rent, trips and even a new bathtub. Church officials later learned that Poole, whose real name is Jerry Andrews, served jail time for writing bad checks and credit card theft. Now the congregation is debating whether to look for a new pastor or just shut down.