Some people can get really, really, really lost.
A Utah state trooper pulled over a car traveling the wrong way on Interstate 15 (search) near the town of Beaver early Wednesday morning, figuring he'd find just another drunk driver.
Instead, he discovered a 49-year-old Whittier, Calif., man and his mother, who thought they were still in the Los Angeles area.
"When I told them they were in Utah, they insisted they were only 10 miles from their house," sheriff's Sgt. David Mott told the Salt Lake Tribune. "They looked at me like I was out of my mind."
Mott said the man and his 78-year-old mother seemed disoriented. They'd left their home to go to the car mechanic 18 hours earlier.
I-15 runs north from San Diego through the eastern part of the greater Los Angeles area, though why the wayward pair went 450 miles out of their way was not explained.
Mott found no evidence of alcohol or drug use, so he took the pair to a local hospital for observation. They checked out OK.
Beaver County Sheriff Ken Yardley put the man and his mother up in a local motel for the night, then let them head home after a good night's rest.
— Thanks to Out There reader Patrick R.
A Georgia high school was evacuated Friday morning because of a ticking time device — a metronome.
Staffers at Pope High School, in east Cobb County, sounded the alarm after finding a book bag that ticked, and beeped, by itself, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
After everyone had gathered outside, a student band member sheepishly stepped forward to claim the backpack and the electronic metronome inside.
The metronome, used by musicians to keep exact time, had apparently gone off accidentally.
The student faces no disciplinary charges.
— Thanks to Out There reader Mindy M.
Free Speech Ends at the Threshold
A British teenager can swear as much as he wants inside his own house — but if he cusses up a storm in his yard, he'll do time.
The Sun of London reports that 19-year-old Robert Alexiuk, of Monsall (search), near Manchester in the English Midlands, was taken to court after repeated complaints from neighbors.
"His language was unbelievable — disgusting," said one.
It's believed to be the first time someone's been hit with a British "anti-social behavior order" applying on his own property.
Alexiuk, who's already doing 15 months in "gaol" for theft, was also forbidden from meeting more than three people in his yard, from playing loud music and from having contact with 10 specific friends.
Breach of the court order could result in five more years' imprisonment.
Excuse Me, Sir, You Forgot Something
HARRISON, Ark. (AP) — Police had no trouble tracking down a man who tried to cash a stolen check at a Harrison bank.
After the teller, a policeman's wife, recognized the check as stolen, the man took off from a drive-through window — and left his driver's license behind.
Steven Allen Miller, 39, pleaded innocent last Friday to charges of theft of property and breaking and entering.
Police said Miller broke into a man's car and stole a cell phone, police scanner, 80 music CDs and a $243 check on Feb. 29. The next day, police say, he went to a bank and tried to cash the check at a drive-through window.
The clerk instructed the man to step inside because she needed identification beyond the driver's license that he had submitted with the check. Instead of entering the bank, Miller drove off.
Police found Miller at the address listed on his license.
— Thanks to Out There reader Greg M.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — A 2-year-old girl fell three stories from a resort walkway and safely into the arms of a man who had been reading a book by the pool and raced to save her.
The momentum sent both crashing into a bush, but the girl only suffered a bump and some scratches March 20.
"I just happened to be at the right place at the right time," Alan Burns, 43, said Wednesday.
Burns said he was enjoying his weekend getaway at the Dorsan Suites (search) when he heard a woman screaming. He looked up to see the toddler hanging from a railing on an outdoor walkway.
Burns and the woman ran underneath the child when the girl let go and fell into Burns' arms.
The baby's mother showed up several minutes later and was arrested on a charge of child neglect, police said. The woman was released on $1,000 bail.
A Good Cook Always Checks the Oven
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A woman was shot in the hip Friday morning while cooking a meal after the heat of the oven discharged a .357 revolver that she didn't know was hidden inside.
Roxanne Perez, 29, was in good condition at Wilford Hall Medical Center.
An acquaintance stored the gun for safekeeping in the bottom drawer of Perez's oven about two weeks ago, then "completely forgot about it" according to a police report.
Perez, who said had no idea a gun was in the oven, said she heard several shots then felt a sharp pain in her left hip.
Police have ruled the shooting an accident, and said they do not expect to file criminal charges.
Compiled by Foxnews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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