Offbeat News

The one that didn’t get away held an unlikely surprise for a Texas man. The blue-stoned class ring of Joe Richardson, engraved with his name, turned up inside an 8-pound bass 21 years after he lost it while fishing on Lake Sam Rayburn. “My first reaction was - you gotta be kidding,” he said Wednesday. The fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted Richardson on Nov. 28 in Buna, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, after tracking him down with help from the Internet…Source

A Hornbrook man is accused of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and other charges. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office says Tony Devere Parkinson was arrested this week after he reportedly drove a full-size Dodge pickup onto the hood of his former wife’s car…Source

Police have arrested a man in southeastern Nigeria who said in a television documentary he had killed 110 children he believed to be possessed by evil spirits, officials said on Wednesday. Rights campaigners say fraudulent pastors or “witchdoctors” in some parts of Nigeria convince parents that their children are possessed and will bring misfortune such as divorce or disease so as to extort money to perform exorcisms…Source

A 7-year-old first-grader robbed a 6-year-old classmate at knifepoint in a school bathroom, school officials said. The schoolhouse stick-up happened Nov. 26 at Pines Lakes Elementary, 10300 Johnson St., district spokesman Keith Bromery said. The boys were in a bathroom when the older child held a kitchen knife to the other’s nose and demanded his money…Source

A message in a bottle tossed into the ocean off Barnegat Bay has turned up in North Carolina — 39 years later. The note was sealed in a Schaefer beer bottle. It was dated Aug. 17, 1969 and read: “If found notify the North Haledon Fire Co. .2.”…Source

A 9-year-old boy takes his dad on a beer run, and now his father is charged with child abuse. According to the police report Joshua Fagan thought he was playing it safe. He says he was too drunk to drive and that’s why he let his young son take the wheel instead…Source

In one of the biggest heists in American history, the Daily News “stole” the $2 billion Empire State Building. And it wasn’t that hard. The News swiped the 102-story Art Deco skyscraper by drawing up a batch of bogus documents, making a fake notary stamp and filing paperwork with the city to transfer the deed to the property. Some of the information was laughable: Original “King Kong” star Fay Wray is listed as a witness and the notary shared a name with bank robber Willie Sutton…Source

The pastor for First AME Church in Los Angeles has apologized to his congregation over his use of a church credit card for $122,000 in personal expenses. Sunday’s apology follows a Los Angeles Times report that John Hunter used a church credit card for vacations, clothes, jewelry and other items. The 51-year-old pastor has signed a deal to repay the money. Hunter, who also failed to pay more than $309,000 in federal taxes, says he’s working out a payment plan with the Internal Revenue Service…Source

A motor scooter rider in central Taiwan was held at gunpoint during a traffic stop for not wearing a safety helmet, local media said on Thursday. After a police car whistled to the scooter to pull over, the officer in Taichung county pulled a gun on the 54-year-old rider surnamed Lin, who was wearing a hat but not a helmet…Source

Two abstinence teachers who wed in Chicago experienced their first kiss at the altar. And it was a doozy — a two-minute smooch that drew cheers from about 500 people in the church. After a one-year courtship, 28-year-old Melody LaLuz and 30-year-old Claudaniel Fabien tied the knot Saturday, even though they’d never locked lips before that day. The couple teach abstinence in Chicago schools and, while dating, practiced what they’d been preaching to their teenage students…Source