Weird News: Boozy Blunder
Super Spud
Folks in Richmond, Virginia, were treated to a starchy sight on May 13 as a 4-ton potato made a stop as part of its 13th year of cross-county touring, WRIC-TV reported. The tour, sponsored by the Idaho Potato Commission, started in 2012 as a one-year campaign, but it was so popular the tater has been on the road ever since, promoting the American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association.
Jailed Jedi
Aidan Orion White, 25, of Auburn, Nebraska, went to jail on April 28 on charges of felony assault after he struck Saundra Lunzmann, 37, and her daughter, 7, with his “Star Wars” light saber. The little girl was playing with other children when White allegedly hit her, The Smoking Gun reported. When the mother yelled at him, he charged her and struck her in the arm with his weapon. Both victims said they experienced pain from the attacks. Police seized the “higher quality device ... constructed of metal and thick plastic” after White admitted hitting the victims, whom he blamed for a rise in his rent. A judge has ordered a competency evaluation.
Boozy Blunder
A kindergartener in the Greater Johnstown (Pennsylvania) School District brought treats to school on May 14, WJAC-TV reported. Sweet! Unfortunately, the tasty items were Jell-O shots, with alcohol, that three fellow students enjoyed. When school officials learned about the shots, “immediate action was taken,” with the kids going to the nurse’s office and then to a local hospital for evaluation “out of an abundance of caution.” The district said it is working with authorities to find out how the student came into possession of the shots.
Cursed?
In an astonishing patch of bad luck -- or was it? -- an 83-year-old driver from Pomona, New York, has run his car into the same bank, with the same car, on the same day of the week twice within six weeks. The Briarcliff Daily Voice reported that on May 2, an unnamed driver ran into the Webster Bank in Nanuet and sustained minor injuries. The same driver also hit the bank on March 21, crashing through a plate-glass window in the front of the building. In the latest incident, the car crashed through the plywood covering the damage from the first hit. After the March crash, the driver said he thought his car had been in park when he stepped on the gas. He mistook the brake for the accelerator in the second incident.
Carpet Man
Veteran New York City denizens are familiar with a character called Kevin Carpet who has reportedly been around since the early aughts, according to the New York Post. Kevin is a performance artist who likes to wrap himself in a piece of carpet and lie on the ground where people will step on or over him. “This is not a fetish for me,” he said. “It’s a Zen-type state. I’m feeling the people, hearing what they’re talking about.” Some even remember him from the club scene. “It’s amazing he’s still around,” said one commenter on a May 4 TikTok post. Others call him “perverted” and “sick,” but one deadpanned, “That’s just Kevin Carpet.”