A Louisiana mailman had the unfortunate experience of being sprayed with his own dog repellent this past weekend.
The unnamed postal worker was making his rounds in Slidell, just across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, around midday Saturday when an angry, growling dog approached, reports WWL-TV.
The postman whipped out his can of government-issued — who knew? — "Back Off" brand dog repellent (search) and got off two quick shots at the snarling cur.
That's when the dog's master, 29-year-old Joe Bates, decided to get involved, Slidell police said.
Bates allegedly ran up, knocked the can out of the mailman's hand, picked it up and started spraying the hapless civil servant with his own defense weapon.
The postal worker took off, but not fast enough to avoid getting hit squarely in the back by the spray can, which Bates threw at him.
Cops quickly came, but Bates had already left his house. Sadly for him, he came back later and was arrested for aggravated battery.
— Thanks to Out There reader Scott M.
No Loud Conversation, Food or B.O.
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — A new county law aims to keep readers from reeking.
Libraries in San Luis Obispo County (search) have had their own rules banning offensive body odor since 1994, but the policy became law after the Board of Supervisors last month adopted an ordinance that lets authorities kick out malodorous guests.
Visitors to 14 libraries and a bookmobile also could be asked to leave for fighting, eating, drinking, sleeping, playing games and printing or viewing illegal materials on library computers.
"The point is to make the library a comfortable, safe place for everyone to use," said Moe McGee, assistant director of the San Luis Obispo City-County Library (search).
A strict code of conduct, officials argue, is needed to ensure that one patron's right to use a public library doesn't infringe on the rights of another.
Yet the law can raise tough questions for librarians, said Irene Macias, Santa Barbara's library services manager.
"What is bad odor?" Macias asked. "A woman who wears a strong perfume? A person who had a garlicky meal?"
— Thanks to Out There reader Laura C.
BREWSTER, N.Y. (AP) — A 42-year-old woman and her two sons were arrested Monday, accused of robbing an elderly woman of her purse and cane in the parking lot of a supermarket, said State Police.
Susan Blaney, 22-year-old Stephen Blaney and 23-year-old Michael Blaney drove up to woman and one son stole her cane and purse as she was making her way to her car, Investigator Paul Hasselmann said.
The Blaneys struck a parked car and tried to run down a pedestrian as they fled, authorities said. Their vehicle was spotted later in Kent and they were arrested.
The Blaneys, former Brewster residents, were each charged with second-degree robbery and two counts each of first-degree reckless endangerment, police said. They were being held by troopers Monday night pending arraignment.
Brewster, near the Connecticut state line, is 53 miles north of New York City.
Dad Might Be Dead, but We're Not Sure
TOKYO (AP) — Police on Tuesday questioned three siblings after it was discovered they had been living with the decomposed corpse of their father for nearly a decade, an official said.
Police found the body of Kyujiro Kanaoka lying on a futon bed at the family's home in Itami city in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, said a prefectural police spokesman, who declined to be identified.
Kanaoka's three elderly children, all in their 70s or older, told police they thought their father was still alive but that one of them recently had consulted a relative about the possibility that he might be dead, the spokesman said.
Police were investigating the cause of Kanaoka's death. Judging from the condition of his decomposed body, Kanaoka may have died as long as 10 years ago, the spokesman said.
Had he been alive, the man would be 107 years old. Hyogo prefecture had registered Kanaoka as its oldest living resident, public broadcaster NHK said.
Breakfast Cereal 'Too Organic' for Customer
HONG KONG (AP) — An upscale Hong Kong grocery store was fined $641 after selling a jar of breakfast cereal infested with hundreds of tiny beetles, company executives said Tuesday.
A local magistrates' court was told earlier that the customer, lawyer Philip Dykes, found 575 beetles in the plastic jar he bought from the Great food store in 2003. Dykes reportedly said that the breakfast cereal was "too organic for my liking."
On Monday, a magistrate convicted Great of a charge selling "food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded by the purchaser" and imposed the fine, the company confirmed.
The company's lawyer argued that the insects must have found their way into the jar before the lid was sealed by the manufacturer in Ireland. But the magistrate ruled that the company failed to prove the jar had been properly sealed.
Great's spokeswoman Teresa Pang said the company is "very disappointed and very discontented" with the ruling and is "seriously considering an appeal."
Pang said "the minute grain beetles found in the jar are commonly found in Europe and experts confirmed that they are not harmful to human health."
She said the store has sold more than 650 jars of the product — Bunalun Organic Vanilla Granola Breakfast Cereal (search) — since 2001 and the case was the first such complaint against it.
Compiled by FOX News' Paul Wagenseil.
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