In wacky news this week, there were people in odd places, an annoyed Arnold Schwarzenegger, a batty situation in Germany, and a bank robber with more manners than money.
SLIM MARGINS
A curious toddler earned the title of one of the tiniest White House intruders after he squeezed through the metal fencing on the north side of the executive mansion. US Secret Service Uniformed Division officers, who are responsible for security at the White House, walked across the North Lawn to retrieve the tot and reunite him with his parents on Pennsylvania Avenue. Access to the complex was briefly restricted while officers conducted the reunification. Officers briefly questioned the parents before allowing them to continue on their way. “The White House security systems instantly triggered Secret Service officers and the toddler and parents were quickly reunited,” he said in a statement.
WELL, IF A TODDLER CAN DO IT…
A 13-year-old boy had to be freed from a claw machine after he climbed inside hoping to score a prize, according to an official at a North Carolina amusement park. Carowinds officials were alerted that the boy was inside the Cosmic XL Bonus Game, which contained plush prizes. The medical response team unlocked the machine, and the boy was able to get out. He was treated and released from first aid to his guardian but has been banned from the park for one year for attempted theft.
BRAWN OVER BRAINS
The “giant pothole” that Arnold Schwarzenegger (photo) said he recently filled on a street in his Los Angeles neighbourhood was actually a trench that had been dug for utility work, according to the city. Southern California Gas Co. had covered the trench with temporary asphalt that was to be replaced with a permanent surface, the Los Angeles Department of Public Works said in a statement.
After months of heavy rains that have turned roads into tire-popping swiss cheese for many commuters, Schwarzenegger struck a chord when he released a video of himself and a crew filling a depression on a street with packaged asphalt patch.
SoCal Gas said in a statement that an upgrade of a pipeline system there was completed on Jan. 26, but rain delayed permanent paving, which is usually done in about 30 days. The utility’s crews returned to the site on Wednesday, a day after Schwarzenegger posted his video, and leveled off the patch he’d completed to make it stronger.
THAT’S JUST BATTY!
German officials seized cooked bats and nearly a ton of unrefrigerated fish after police stopped a van that had entered the country from Belgium. Federal police said a patrol stopped the vehicle at a highway exit on the edge of the border city of Aachen and found the bats under the fish. A vet from the local consumer protection office was sent to the scene and ordered the bats and fish confiscated.
The 31-year-old driver, an Ivorian citizen, faced a criminal complaint for traffic offenses and unauthorized entry because he entered the country without papers or a driver’s license, police said. He also faces administrative proceedings for violations of food hygiene rules, and local authorities were looking into whether he violated conservation laws relating to the bats.
HANDS UP… PLEASE!
A 78-year-old woman with two past bank robbery convictions faces new charges after authorities allege she handed a teller a note that said “I didn’t mean to scare you” during a recent Missouri heist. Bonnie Gooch is jailed on $25,000 bond after she was charged with one count of stealing or attempting to steal from a financial institution in the holdup. Court documents filed in the latest case said the robbery note demanded “13,000 small bills,” adding, “thank you sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” Surveillance video also captured her banging on the counter, asking the teller to hurry. She smelled strongly of alcohol when officers stopped her less than five kilometres away, with cash scattered on the car’s floorboard. “It’s just sad,” Pleasant Hill Police Chief Tommy Wright said, adding that the suspect had no diagnosed ailments.