(ok, I promise one of these Weird Stories aren't true. Your job? Tell me which one isn't true.. if you can)

1) UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT: In an attempt to raise money for the city, a Florida city decided to sell the stash of guns they seized in a police raid on a drug dealer. but the dealer chosen, a gun shop in Hialeah, is identified by authorities as the nation's leading retail source of the guns eventually used in crimes.

2) YOU CAN'T SAY NO TO KING NEPTUNE:A New York man recently filed suit against the owners of the cargo shipping vessel "Emperor of the Sea", saying he was forced to participate in a degrading ritual when the ship crossed the international date line on its most recent voyage, saying that the crew had put him through a disgusting ritual that all swabbies (those who were crossing the international date line for the first time) were forced to go through that includedcrawling naked (except for a diaper) through a mixture of oil, cleaning products and other unknown liquids before being hosed down to clean off.

3) LOBBYING FOR LESS WORK *IS* WORK: A committee of the New York State Bar Association proposed in January to expand the civic work lawyers could get professional credit for so called "pro bono" activities to include political lobbying, including lobbying to cut back on required pro-bono work.

4) SHOCKING POLICE BEHAVIOR: An Orlando Policeman was placed on suspension while authorities investigate an incident where the officer knelt on the chest of a man, and used his taser twice on the man who refused to take a urine test after he told the policeman he had taken cocaine, becuase the proceedure involved a catheter. The man claimed that being forcibly catherized was equivalent to rape and that the policeman should have been forced to wait for the man to give a natural sample.

5) A "METER MADE" MAN: Pittsburgh police recently arrested a 39 year old man and charged him with stealing at least 100 coin operated meters. The work didn't have a high payoff, the average coin operated meter had $10-$15 in coins, and removing the meters took up to ninety minutes each. Pittsburgh police say the man might have stole up to 400 parking meters.

6) A TRULY HOT VEHICLE: Massachusetts police had to be very careful when chasing down a recent motor vehicle theft. The pickup truck had a very special cargo, 5 containers of some unidentified nuclear material. The police finally arrested the driver for receiving a stolen vehicle. Experts investigated the containers in the pickup bed and determined that they had not been opened.

Last one, just because it seemed the most feasible.

#1 is not true, IMO.

All of the first 5 seem perfectly possible and likely in this day and age.

It seems to me that we would have heard more about #6. Like the terror threat level going up to red or us declaring war on somebody or something.

So I vote 6.

I vote for #1....

Last one. Nobody goes anywhere with nuclear material in a pickup.

You've burned me once before Fozzie, I refuse to be sucked into your little trap this time.

But in case you're wondering I'm going with #6. :D

You've burned me once before Fozzie, I refuse to be sucked into your little trap this time.

But in case you're wondering I'm going with #6. :D

One of them ISN'T true, I promise...

Is it the one you thought? Hmmmmm :D

One of them ISN'T true, I promise...

Is it the one you thought? Hmmmmm :D
Tease

(grins)

Just sent you a PM with the results of your guessing, Farrah Ma'am :D

I'm going to go with #4. Seems like being in contact with someone you taser would be a good way to get yourself shocked.

I'm going for #5.

And I won't say which one, but one of these made headlines YESTERDAY.

Interesting.. I may have scared folks off #6 with my teasing of Farrah.. COMPLETELY inadvertent, I promise. *big toothy grin*

6

6

I'll give it till I get home from work for any late guessers, and then reveal which weird story IS NOT true.

I'm going to go with #4. Seems like being in contact with someone you taser would be a good way to get yourself shocked.

Ditto. The knee on the chest also seems like an unnecessary extra detail. Like a normal story would just have the police officer tasering the guy, not going into detail on how he did it.

And the answer is... YOU'RE ALL WRONG!

#2 is the correct "made-up" story.

Story 1) The City Council of Sweetwater, Fla., decided to raise money by selling a dealer all the guns confiscated by its police, but the dealer chosen was Lou's Gun Shop in Hialeah, Fla., identified by authorities as the nation's leading retail source of the guns eventually used in crimes [WPLG-TV (Miami), 1-10-05]

Story 3) a committee of the New York State Bar Association proposed in January to expand the civic work lawyers could get professional credit for ("pro bono" activities) to include political lobbying, including lobbying to cut back on required pro-bono work. [New York Law Journal, 1-18-05]

Story 4) ORLANDO, Fla. -- A police officer kneeled on a drug suspect's chest to restrain him and twice used a Taser stun gun after he refused to provide a urine sample at a hospital, authorities said.

Antonio Wheeler, 18, was arrested Friday on a drug charge and taken to an emergency room after telling officers he had consumed cocaine, police said.

At Florida Hospital, Wheeler refused to provide a urine sample and was handcuffed and secured with leather straps to a bed, where hospital workers tried to catheterize him, a police affidavit said.

Officer Peter Linnenkamp reported he jumped onto the bed with his knees on Wheeler's chest to restrain him. When Wheeler still refused to be catheterized, Linnenkamp said he twice used his Taser, which sends 50,000 volts into a target.

"After the second shock (Wheeler) stated he would urinate and calmed down enough to be given the portable urinal," Linnenkamp wrote.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating; Linnenkamp has been relieved pending the investigation's outcome.

In a jailhouse interview, Wheeler said he resisted because he was afraid the catheterization would hurt. "I feel I was basically raped," he said.

A hospital spokeswoman said officials were "examining all of the circumstances surrounding the incident."

Wheeler faces charges including possession of cocaine with intent to sell, escape and resisting without violence.

(AP, 3/9/05)

Story 5) Wade Harris, 39, was arrested in Pittsburgh in December and charged with stealing at least 100 (maybe as many as 400) parking meters. According to detectives, a meter usually contains only $10 to $15 in coins but requires about 90 minutes "of hard work" to break into (and the job creates a risk from the noise made by the initial removal of the meter from the street). [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12-14-04]

Story 6)FALL RIVER, Mass. -- Police arrested a man who was driving a stolen vehicle that was "hot" in more ways than one -- the pickup owned by Cardinal Health Nuclear Pharmacy Services contained radioactive material.

The pickup was reportedly stolen while it was parked in Seekonk on Tuesday. It was later spotted by two police officers about 10 miles away in Fall River.

Fall River Sgt. Roger LaFleur said he and the other officer followed the truck cautiously because of its reportedly radioactive contents and slick road conditions. They took the driver into custody after the pickup stopped.

A city hazardous materials team that inspected the truck and its fiberglass-capped pickup bed determined the five containers carrying suspected radioactive material had not been opened. The truck and containers were then returned to a Cardinal Health Nuclear Pharmacy Services employee.

LaFleur said he was unsure what material was in the containers, or where the truck had been taking the containers when the vehicle was stolen.

John B. Germano, the 40-year-old Fall River man stopped by police, was charged with receiving a stolen vehicle.

(AP, 3/9/05)

#2 has the ring of truth to it, in that it's a tradition to induct folks crossing the international dateline for the first time with an offbeat disgusting "ceremony" honoring King Neptune. But there are no lawsuits over the practice :)

Bah. Good job on #2, and in this day and age I could see a lawsuit over it. I was convinced that along with #4 this was one of the "absolutely postively true" ones I eliminated immediately.

I was having a lot of fun reading responses after reading the #4 story online on cnn.com YESTERDAY...

I would've thought it was 6... Guess I would've been wrong:)

Can anyone explain how hitting someone with a taser while you are kneeling on them doesn't get you shocked?

He was wearing rubber boots?

Co-worker of mine had hazing of sorts over the Date Line, so I would never have guessed that.