Published Sunday, October 18, 2009
Catching up is fun
After concentrating on personal matters for a couple of weeks, it's fun to start plowing through all the strange and wacky news I missed. You may have missed a few of these gems, too.
Regular readers of the Times-Herald know that a week ago, traffic crawled to a halt on I-85 near exit 51 while motorists stared at an alligator that was sunning itself on the side of the road.
That was cool, but the best transportation-related story of the week came from Laredo, Texas, and featured a school bus. This story was cool because of the bus's cargo, which wasn't happy students.
Maybe because it wasn't an official school bus, but only painted to resemble one. The crooks probably thought that would make it easier to drive undetected through town toting 4,500 pounds of pot.
Cops figured things out and the bus was busted, though the driver escaped. You'll be glad to know this story from KXAN TV in Laredo was not filed under "higher education."
In other drug-related news, a 29-year-old Lebanon, Pa. man got more than he bargained for when he was busted in a convenience store for displaying dope on his head.
According to reports, an officer entered a convenience store about 3:25 a.m. and spotted Cesar Lopez looking confused and searching the inside of his ball cap.
It didn't take long for cops to figure Lopez was looking for the small bag of pot that was stuck to his forehead.
The cop removed the dope from Lopez's forehead and said, "Is this what you are looking for?" and the episode ended quietly.
The cop said it was not uncommon for people to hide drugs inside the lip of a cap.
Who knew?
In other fun news, things did not end so innocently in Hernando Beach, Florida, when an unruly teen was busted for throwing a deadly "missile" at a moving vehicle.
In this case, the term "missile" is somewhat misleading, since the object that got tossed was actually a burrito.
The police report said the victim, John Addy, was driving innocently down the road when he saw someone lean out of an approaching vehicle and throw an object at him.
Moments later Addy's car's windshield was not scattered and smothered, but it was cracked and covered -- with refried beans. Some of the beans splattered Addy, too, causing the police to observe "...the contents of a burrito to be on [Addy's] person and his driver's seat."
The burrito bomber was found and busted on a felony charge of throwing a deadly missile. Thankfully, Addy was not injured, although he may have lost his fondness for salsa.
And in yet another display of vehicle silliness, the Pittsburgh Review reported that a man was lucky to survive a bit of turnpike turmoil unharmed after driving through town with his van on fire. Cops said the man may not have been aware of the blaze because of an over-consumption of alcohol.
Excess alcohol may also be the reason the driver of the burning van failed to stop when firefighters tried to flagged him down and tell him the vehicle was shooting flames like an Atlas rocket.
Police finally arrested Carl Franklin Miller Jr. on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was treated for burns at a local hospital and taken to jail where, presumably, he had plenty of time to cool off.
