The week’s odd news: Cat hit by car buried, crawls from grave

TAMPA – Bart the cat was hit by a car, buried and crawled back from the dead — literally.

Earlier this month, a car hit the 1½-year-old cat in Tampa. Bart’s owner was so distraught, he couldn’t stand the thought of burying him, so he asked neighbor to dig a shallow grave.

Five days later, on Jan. 21, a matted and injured Bart emerged, meowing for food.

“At first, it blew me away,” said Dusty Albritton, the neighbor who buried Bart. “All I knew was this cat was dead and ‘Pet Sematary’ is real.”

Bart had a broken jaw, a ruptured eye and a torn-up face. He was dehydrated and hungry, but alive.

Owner Ellis Hutson didn’t know what to do.

“It was unbelievable,” he told The Tampa Bay Times. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Hutson got in touch with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay, which through the Save-A-Pet Medical Fund will help cover the costs of Bart’s care. Jan. 27, the cat underwent surgery to remove an eye, wire his jaw shut and insert a feeding tube, which cost more than $1,000.

The agency’s executive director, Sherry Silk, said Bart should recover in about six weeks and will be going home with Hutson.

“He’s purring, even with all these injuries,” Silk said. “I can’t even imagine how awful he must have felt. He’s just a really wonderful, patient, loving cat.”

Michigan Lottery Daily 4 drawings identical

LANSING, Mich. – One day’s Michigan Lottery drawings had some people seeing double.

The winning numbers for the Midday Daily 4 on Thursday afternoon and the Daily 4 numbers drawn that evening were the same: 0-2-2-9.

“It’s one of those things that hasn’t happened in recent memory,” Michigan Lottery spokesman Jeff Holyfield said. “Sometimes you have coincidences like that.”

He said 540 winning tickets were sold for the midday drawing and 650 for the afternoon drawing. Each winning ticket is worth $5,000. The odds of winning one drawing are 1 in 10,000.

The odds of the same numbers coming up twice are the same odds as winning, said Jordan Ellenberg, a math professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“It falls in the non-spooky category,” he said.

Holyfield said the same sequence of numbers also came up Dec. 5.

He said he did not have information on any winners coming forward yet, but that it was likely there would be double winners.

“People play the same numbers,” Holyfield said. “The odds are that there is at least one player, probably more, who won $10,000.”

It is not the first time a Daily 4 drawing has created such a buzz. Holyfield said a drawing last year had winning numbers of 1-1-1-1­.

The average number of winners for the midday drawing is 340 and 850 for the afternoon drawing.

But the 1-1-1-1 drawing had a whopping 3,700 winning tickets sold for a total payout of more than $18 million.

Interstate crash caused by trucker pulling his tooth

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A tractor-trailer crashed on Interstate 20 because the driver lost control while he was pulling one of his teeth, authorities say.

The truck driver told troopers he had taken his hands off the wheel to pull a loose tooth when he wrecked near Tuscaloosa, The Alabama Highway Patrol says. The crash report states: “He had the tooth in his shirt pocket as proof.”

The tractor-trailer veered off I-20 into a ditch late Jan. 25 and smashed into a tree. The crash shut down a stretch of interstate for about 11 hours until a single lane reopened the next morning.

Authorities say the 57-year-old driver wasn’t seriously hurt. Al.com reports the Highway Patrol redacted the driver’s name from its copy of the crash report released to reporters.

Man who died in ’12 gets reappointed to county board

UNIONTOWN, Pa. – Officials in western Pennsylvania are trying to figure out how a man who’s been dead for more than two years wound up being reappointed to a county industrial authority board.

Fayette County officials said Jan. 28 it seemed they never tried checking in with Larry Markwood before reappointing him. He died in August 2012.

County commissioners say they conducted interviews with candidates and received letters from members who want to be reappointed or leave the board, but Markwood slipped through the cracks.

The industrial authority hadn’t met since 2010, so attendance records would have been of no use.

Commissioner chairman Vincent Zapotosky tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review they’ll be smarter about the reappointment process in the future.

Judge: Funeral home wrongly sold Lee Harvey Oswald’s casket

FORT WORTH, Texas – The original casket in which Lee Harvey Oswald was buried belongs to Oswald’s brother, a judge says, not the funeral home that auctioned it for more than $87,000.

Oswald’s brother, Robert, had sued Baumgardner Funeral Home after it sold the pine coffin for $87,468 in 2010.

A judge on Friday ordered the funeral home to pay the same amount of money in damages to Robert Oswald, saying its conduct was “malicious and wanton.”

Lee Harvey Oswald, accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy, was fatally shot during a jail transfer two days after Kennedy’s death. His body was exhumed in 1981, but the casket was too damaged for reburial.

The lawsuit says Oswald’s family thought the casket had been thrown away, but it was actually kept in storage.

Bats cause mayhem, send people screaming from Arkansas court

DE QUEEN, Ark. – There was disorder in the court when 30 bats flew inside an Arkansas courtroom during a trial.

Several people ducked, screamed and ran from the room Jan. 29 as the bats swooped into the room at the Sevier County Courthouse in De Queen, the Texarkana Gazette reports.

One bat tried to bite a deputy who caught it and held it by the wings while onlookers took photos. The bats calmed after the lights were turned off and court was moved elsewhere.

Circuit Judge Tom Cooper said hundreds of bats live at the courthouse and that their excrement is everywhere. The county’s chief administrative officer, Greg Ray, said hundreds roost in an elevator shaft.

A pest control specialist has been asked to visit the courthouse Feb. 2 to propose solutions.

Monkey removed from San Antonio home after biting banker

SAN ANTONIO – A diaper-wearing monkey named Louie has been put into quarantine for 30 days after biting a San Antonio banker during an outing with his owner.

Officials with Animal Care Services in San Antonio say the owner faces fines of up to $2,000 for having the year-old Macaque. San Antonio law bars primates within the city limits.

Agency officials say Louie was removed from a San Antonio home on Jan. 29. Officials say the exotic monkey was on a leash last week at a bank, but the owner allegedly allowed the animal to interact with the humans before the worker was bitten.

The owner has to pay for Louie’s month of care and testing for rabies.

Burglar fed dog bologna, made coffee, couple says

NEWTON FALLS, Ohio – A northeast Ohio couple who reported a break-in say the burglar apparently was in no hurry because he or she took time to feed their dog bologna, make a pot of coffee and smoke some cigarettes.

The couple from Newton Falls reported that their home was ransacked after they were picked up by police on an outstanding warrant earlier this week, WKBN-TV in Youngstown says. Prescription drugs were stolen, along with a video game console, a DVD player and dozens of movies.

WFMJ-TV reports police determined that someone pried open a side door and that, as the police report put it, the intruder “was comfortable while they were there.”

One of the residents suggested a possible suspect. Newton Falls police were investigating.

Crow droppings besiege Indiana city parking meters

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A central Indiana city is ramping up its defenses against a virulent menace: crow droppings.

Hundreds of crows settling in trees around the Monroe County Courthouse square in Bloomington have caused havoc in recent weeks by coating the area with droppings, in particular bombarding cars and parking meters.

Bloomington police Capt. Joe Qualters tells The Herald-Times that the city this week started to use old street signs to protect the parking meters, at a cost of less than $15 per meter.

Crews identified 16 meters as routine targets for the birds.

Qualters says parking enforcement manager Raye Ann Cox came up with the inexpensive way to address the unsanitary situation.

Maui fisherman reels in tiger shark, gets bitten

WAILUKU, Hawaii – A Maui fisherman is recovering after being bitten by an 8- to 10-foot tiger shark while he was trying to throw it back to sea.

The Maui News reports Michael Pollard, 20, received 38 stitches after he was bitten Jan. 27 in Lahaina.

Pollard says he should have cut the line when he hooked the shark but decided to bring it in.

He and a friend tried to push the shark back into the ocean. Pollard says he was pushing the shark into the water when it started flailing and snagged his leg.

The bite left two semicircle marks on his left calf, which he wrapped with a tourniquet made from his sleeves.

New Hampshire bacon lottery tickets prove to be hit

HOOKSETT, N.H. – New Hampshire’s new scratch-and-sniff lottery ticket is off to a sizzling start.

The $1 bacon-scented tickets with a top prize of $1,000 hit the market in early January. Lottery officials went with a conservative print run just in case they were a bust but now expect the tickets to sell out within three months. Sales are far outpacing other $1 scratch tickets, some of which have been for sale for as long as eight months.

New Hampshire isn’t the first state to have a bacon-themed lottery ticket, or the first to have a scratch-and-sniff ticket. But it’s apparently the first to combine the two.

Kelley-Jaye Rosberg, games manager for the New Hampshire Lottery, said officials first settled on the idea of an “I Heart Bacon” ticket, and only later decided to add the scent. Virginia also sells an “I Heart Bacon” ticket, but it costs $2 and is unscented.

Colorado lottery officials say their scratch-and-sniff offerings — coffee, chocolate and bouquet — from a few years ago were among their worst sellers, but Rosberg says bacon’s pop culture cachet sets it apart.

“You can’t get better than bacon. There’s gingerbread, there’s peppermint, chocolate, coffee — different states have played with different scents but nobody had played with bacon yet,” she said. “Everybody likes bacon, and people who don’t like bacon are almost afraid to admit it.”

The state is promoting the new tickets by bringing The Bacon Truck, a Boston-based food truck, to various locations around the state to hand out free lottery tickets and actual strips of bacon. Those who tried both at a highway rest area Friday came away pleased, whether or not their tickets were winners.

“What’s better than free bacon?” said Dale Mottram, 54 of Bedford. He didn’t win anything, but said he would buy more tickets in the future.

“It smells very close to the bacon that’s in my hand,” he said. “It’s fun.”

Lauralee Lamontagne and Joan Farr, two friends from Manchester, made a special trip to Hooksett for the promotion, though both had purchased the tickets in recent weeks. Lamontagne, 48, said she has been sending them to friends.

Farr, 63, said she was skeptical of the scent before she tried it but is now a fan.

“It really smells like bacon,” she said. “It was pretty surprising.”

Woman gets bag full of cash at Burger King drive-through

ROCHESTER, N.H. – A New Hampshire woman got a surprise at a Burger King drive-through lane: a bag full of cash instead of food.

Janelle Jones says she discovered on the way home that the bag did not contain the sweet tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich that she had ordered Jan. 23 at the fast-food restaurant.

Foster’s Daily Democrat reports that Jones called her husband and they decided to return the $2,631, which was a Burger King bank deposit.

Matthew Jones says the couple briefly considered keeping the money, which they certainly could have used. But he says he and his wife are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that “Jehovah sees everything.”

The newspaper reports that the restaurant confirmed the couple’s account but had no comment on it.

Years-old stash of marijuana found inside woman’s van

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. – A New Mexico woman drove a van for more than 13 years without realizing there was marijuana hidden inside.

Melodie Peil told the Alamogordo Daily News she bought a 1990 Chevrolet van at a local dealership in 2001 so she would have room to transport her daughter’s children.

Until Jan. 23, she had no idea that on trips to softball games and on vacations out of town she had been transporting 13¹/₂ pounds of marijuana hidden in one of the vehicle’s doors.

A family friend discovered the marijuana when he removed a door panel to repair a broken handle.

Inside a hole cut in the door were five bricks of marijuana covered in plastic wrap and foil.

Police say the marijuana is so old that it’s worthless.

Wild kangaroos in Austria? At least 1, surviving in the snow

VIENNA – A kangaroo is on the loose in frigid and snowy Austria, hopping his way toward dispelling a famous slogan.

“No kangaroos in Austria” T-shirts and souvenirs have been big-sellers for years in the alpine nation, since some people confuse Austria with Australia.

Anton the kangaroo bounded away from his owner several weeks ago and has been living rough ever since, disappearing into forested land every time someone tries to capture him.

State-run broadcaster ORF posted a photo of the Australian marsupial on Jan. 28 sitting in a snowy backyard near the town of Braunau on the border with Germany.

Anton looks fit and is expected to find enough food to survive the winter.

Snowstorm sasquatch? Watch out for the Boston yeti

BOSTON – The monster storm in Boston has brought with it another monster — a yeti.

The white, furry phantom has been getting laughs by walking through the blizzard in a sasquatch suit.

One was spotted in downtown Copley Square. Another was sighted trying to hail a cab in suburban Somerville.

New England Cable News reporter Tony Sabato tweeted a photo of the not-so-elusive creature. Above a snapshot of the yeti looking rather pensive, he wrote, “Found the yeti in the blizzard at Copley Square in Boston.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether there were one or more yetis roaming the Boston streets.

As of midday Jan. 27, the abominable snowman hadn’t revealed his or her true identity.

Firefighters rescue cows that took icy dip in Colorado pond

FOUNTAIN, Colo. – Firefighters have rescued two cows that plunged through the ice on a pond.

Fountain Fire Chief Darin Anstine says someone driving by the pond south of Colorado Springs spotted the cows’ heads sticking out of the water about 30 feet from shore Jan. 27. Firefighters wearing protective suits used saws to cut through 6 to 8 inches of ice and clear a channel to the shore.

Anstine says the cows were able to walk out of the pond about an hour after they were spotted. It’s unclear how long they were in the water, but they’re doing fine.

Anstine says he’s seen a lot of dogs rescued from icy ponds in his 28 years with the department, but never a cow.

Holy mackerel! Belfast warned not to eat free fish

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – This fish tale might be a wee bit hard to stomach.

Belfast City Council is advising its citizens: Don’t eat fish found lying on the roadside. They’re too fishy.

The health warning Jan. 27 follows the accidental dumping of thousands of mackerel on to the busy Ravenhill Road, apparently by a delivery truck with a loose back door. Locals grabbed bags to haul in their catch before passing cars could turn the stranded school to pulp.

Tommy Bardsley, 61, says he bagged 25 mackerel and deemed them off-the-boat fresh. “I know fish,” he said.

The council says Bardsley and other opportunists don’t know microbiology, because they don’t know where the fish came from, and they could be contaminated by automotive pollutants.

Dog gets 2nd chance in Utah after escaping death in Indiana

KANAB, Utah – A dog is getting a new lease on life at a Utah animal sanctuary a month after escaping a worse fate in Indiana: being euthanized and having its cremated ashes mixed with those of its late owner.

Staff members at the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab say the male German shepherd named Bela still has behavioral issues but is doing very well.

“It’s something we do every day: We handle special needs,” Christine Vergallito of Best Friends told KSL. “We handle behavioral issues, and we give them an enriched life here.”

Connie Ley of Aurora, Indiana, who died in November, stipulated in her will that Bela either go to the Utah sanctuary or be euthanized, cremated and mixed with her ashes. That’s because Ley felt the 105-pound dog was aggressive and not safe around strangers, particularly children.

Sanctuary workers say although they notice Bela wagging his tail more, they’re working to socialize him with people and other dogs. “It’s just a matter of time before, one way or the other, he’s happy and he lives a full, rich life,” said John Garcia of Best Friends.

Garcia grew close to Bela over the last month. He drove 1,800 miles to Indiana and back to get the dog to Utah.

“Bela handled it like a champ,” Garcia told KSL. “Every single day, he learned more, he had a lot of fun and, all in all, he’s such a good dog … He’s very loyal. He gets attached very quickly.”

He and others are hoping Bela, who’s believed to be 8 or 9 years old, can be adopted someday. If not, they’ll be happy to have him live out his life at the sanctuary, they said.

Large, brown dog called ‘Shaggy’ evades capture for 6 months

CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A large, brown dog spotted wandering neighborhoods in western Michigan has evaded capture attempts for more than six months.

The dog, called “Shaggy” after his shaggy appearance, has made his home in an area that’s surrounded by wooded areas and large ravines. MLive.com reports that some area residents want to capture him, but he managed to slip through their grasp.

The dog has been seen around parts of Kent County, including Cascade Township. Avery Sullenger-Wedder, who is involved in capture efforts, says residents are worried that he needs a home. She says he’s not aggressive toward people and “will happily walk beside you as you walk your dog.”

WZZM-TV reports Kent County Animal Control also has been unsuccessful in capturing the dog.

Ohio man says dog got the best of would-be burglar

PORT CLINTON, Ohio – A family in northern Ohio says a man trying to break into its home left behind a trail of blood after meeting the family dog at the front door.

The family in Port Clinton says it was home when the 11-year-old pit bull named Mamma heard something at the door and began growling.

Tony Byrd Jr. tells The Blade newspaper in Toledo he heard screaming coming from the front of the house Jan. 25 and came out to see the would-be burglar shutting the door and running to a car.

Byrd says he then saw a blood trail in the snow.

He says the dog normally is playful and that she must have sensed something about the man.

Police are asking hospitals to watch for anyone seeking treatment for dog bites.

Man hid cocaine inside prosthetic leg in his car, police say

DOVER, Del. – A Delaware drug suspect went out on a limb to transport a stash of cocaine, but he was busted when officers discovered the drug hidden inside his prosthetic leg, police say.

Marlow Holmes, 39, was arrested Jan. 26 during a traffic stop, police say. They said police dogs alerted officers to the presence of narcotics inside the car Holmes had been riding in. During a search of the car officers said they discovered more than 28 grams of cocaine stuffed into the prosthetic leg that Holmes was wearing, and arrested him.

Police say Holmes faces charges of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed, with bond set at $81,000.

Police say they kept the drugs as evidence but returned Holmes’ leg.

Pet reptile not a lizard, Lithuanian student finds out

VILNIUS, Lithuania – A baby caiman has found a new home at a Lithuanian zoo after its previous owner tried to sell it online, apparently upon realizing that the pet reptile he was raising in his bathroom wasn’t a harmless lizard.

Officials at the Kaunas zoo said authorities confiscated the spectacled caiman from a student who had posted an online advertisement for a large lizard.

They said the student had kept it for several months but, stunned by how fast it was growing, decided to get rid of it. Lithuanian law prohibits raising dangerous animals at home.

The 2.8-pound, 25-inch caiman, named “Croc,” was handed to the zoo, where visitors could see it for the first time Jan. 28.

It wasn’t clear how the student had obtained the reptile.

Zoo offers scorpion adoptions for Valentine’s Day singles

SAN FRANCISCO – Feeling the sting of rejection? The San Francisco Zoo is offering the chance to “adopt” a hissing cockroach or giant scorpion in honor of that special ex-someone for Valentine’s Day.

The zoo is highlighting two of its less desirable inhabitants through the adopt-an-animal program that usually raises money for the care of more cuddly-looking creatures, such as penguins and pandas.

“These invertebrates are aggressive, active, and alarmingly nocturnal. Much like your low-life ex, they are usually found in and around low-elevation valleys where they dig elaborate burrows or ‘caves,’” the zoo says on its promotion page for the desert scorpion. “Also just like you-know-who, when a suitable victim wanders by, the scorpion grabs the doomed creature with its pinchers and stings the prey … Charming.”

For $50 and up, donors can adopt a scorpion and have the zoo send a certificate and stuffed stinger to the person who inspired the adoption. The cockroach valentine that the zoo says represents “the detritus of your love life” costs $25.

“With a little luck, this generous donation will release your bad love life karma so that you never have to encounter a cockroach again,” the zoo said.

Naked violinist sues over arrest in Portland last year

PORTLAND, Ore. – A Hillsboro, Oregon, man arrested after playing a violin while naked outside the federal courthouse in Portland last year is suing police.

The Oregonian reports that Matthew T. Mglej, 25, claims authorities used excessive force and violated his First Amendment rights. He named the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Bureau as defendants in a lawsuit filed last week, and he’s seeking $1.1 million in damages.

Police showed up after receiving complaints about the demonstration, during which the man played violin, meditated and quoted former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They said they arrested him for indecent exposure and carried him to a patrol car when he refused to walk.

Mglej claims jail deputies cut his wrists by jerking on his handcuffs and called him names when he cried from the pain and for his service dog.

He has a hearing on the indecent exposure charge in February.

Police: Drunken driver hits squad car during DWI arrest

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Police in a Dallas suburb say a drunken driver crashed into an empty squad car while officers were busy dealing with another drunken driver they had pulled over.

Grand Prairie police say a third driver then crashed into another empty squad car, but this driver wasn’t drunk or high.

The Dallas Morning News reports that officers pulled over the first driver at around 3 a.m. Jan. 25 and ended up arresting that person for driving while intoxicated.

A department spokesman says the driver of the first vehicle to hit a squad car was also arrested on a DWI charge, but the third driver was only ticketed.

The only person hurt was the second driver, who suffered minor injuries.

Suspected burglar falls through ceiling, lands near police

HOUSTON – A man’s plans to break into a Houston store fell through, after he crashed through the ceiling and landed in front of police, authorities say.

Houston police say the man climbed a tree and onto the roof of a Family Dollar store early Jan. 25, then managed to break a hole in the roof and enter the building.

But after making his way into the store, the man fell through the ceiling just as a police officer arrived in response to a call about a potential burglary.

KHOU-TV reports that the officer ordered the unidentified man to stay on the floor. The man was later arrested.

Authorities believe the man was trying to steal cigarettes.

Sale of Deflategate chocolate football nets $20,000 for charity

PITTSBURGH – A dented chocolate football created by a Pennsylvania candy maker to poke fun at the New England Patriots’ “Deflategate” scandal has ended up raising $20,000 for charity.

The ball created by Sarris Candies of Canonsburg was auctioned Jan. 30 on KDKA Radio to benefit the Dollar Energy Fund, which provides utility assistance for poor residents.

A local car dealer bid $5,000 for the chocolate ball, and that price was matched by candy maker Bill Sarris, whose business is about 15 miles south of Pittsburgh. The utilities that help support the Dollar Energy Fund then matched that $10,000.

“What started out as an internal little joke ended up picking up momentum and excitement,” Sarris said Friday. “It’s going to a good cause, so that’s the best thing.”

The chocolate football was molded with a dent to make it appear deflated. Sarris posted it on Facebook as a joke and initially didn’t intend to sell it.

Instead, Sarris named the ball the Bradie ball — a reference to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady but with a different spelling to avoid legal issues. A caption on the Facebook photo was a tongue-in-cheek reference to allegations that New England cheated by using underinflated footballs in winning the AFC Championship game, which put the team in Sunday’s Super Bowl.

The picture’s caption read, “Net weight 13 lbs … Oops! We meant 11.2 lbs.”

Actually, the chocolate ball weighed about 2.5 pounds, and Sarris sweetened the deal by including two more regular shaped chocolate footballs and two chocolate helmets to make the Deflategate auction package worth about $500.

Richard Bazzy, who owns Shults Ford, spent 10 times that much to win the package — and was more than happy to call more attention to a scandal involving one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ rivals.

“It doesn’t get any better when you can poke fun at an AFC rival while knowing that you are also helping families in need,” Bazzy said. “We expect to display the football in one of our dealerships with pride.”