Bob CollinsAny day in the news business brings its share of bizarre tales, but for reasons we cannot fathom, today has been particularly filled with head-scratchers in the absence of significant news that’s not about oil.
In no particular order:
— In Chicago, fire crews investigating a mysterious stench found an elderly couple buried alive under mounds of garbage in their Chicago home. Police had initially been called to the two-flat apartment building by neighbors who had not seen the couple in some time and wondered about their welfare. One neighbor said that she used to see the woman sitting on the front porch as she walked by but no longer could because the hedges had not been trimmed for years and had grown level with the second floor of the building, obscuring the view. (AP)
— In Ohio, the Franklin County coroner has apologized for a mix-up that led to the wrong baby’s body being cremated. Dr. Jan M. Gorniak said her office failed to follow procedure and erroneously released the boy’s remains to a funeral home. Jaylen Talley’s body was picked up from the coroner’s office last Wednesday and taken to the wrong funeral home, where it was mistaken for another child’s remains and cremated. “On top of all that, my son had a funeral with a whole bunch of people that he doesn’t even know, he already had a funeral without me, in ashes,” the father of one of the dead children said. (WBNS-TV)
— In Philadelphia, a 21-year-old New Jersey man pleaded guilty today to vomiting on another spectator and his 11-year-old daughter in the stands during a Philadelphia Phillies game. Matthew Clemmens stuck his fingers down his throat and vomited on
Michael Vangelo, an off-duty Easton police captain, and one of Vangelo’s daughters after Clemmens’ companion was ejected from the park. (AP)
