A Pennsylvania man, scheduled for a hearing on drug charges, decided he couldn't wait — and sparked up in the courthouse bathroom, police say.
Luzerne County (search) Deputy Sheriff Ryan Maye told the Times-Leader of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., that he first heard the rustle of a plastic baggie coming from the next stall at about 10:45 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
Then Maye heard the sound of a lighter being struck. Within seconds, the smell of roasting marijuana filled the men's room of the magnificent neo-classical Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.
"I banged on the door and ordered him to come out," Maye told the paper.
From the stall emerged a sheepish Nickolai Cinchock, 32, who was due for an 11 a.m. hearing on a recent arrest of theft and drug charges. Cinchock was tucking a pipe back into his pocket, according to Maye.
Maye and another deputy patted Cinchock down and found, in addition to marijuana, two containers with 49 Xanax (search) pills inside.
Since all parties involved were already in the courthouse, the arraignment didn't take long, and Cinchock was sent to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility down the street pending $1,000 bail.
He was given a hearing next Thursday on the new charges. There was no indication whether he planned to smoke pot before that hearing as well.
— Thanks to Out There reader Kate F.
Town Discovers It Has Banned Birth Control
DECORAH, Iowa (AP) — A city ordinance banning the sale of birth-control devices has caught many city officials off guard.
The ordinance has been on the books since the 1970s, but most officials didn't know about it until a few weeks ago, when a man e-mailed Decorah police demanding it be enforced.
"I ask you to enforce the law by seizing these illegal goods and arresting the offenders," wrote Bob Ulrich, who lives in rural Winneshiek County (search) near Decorah.
He said two local drugstores selling birth-control products and the Luther College (search) Health Service's distribution of condoms are both in violation of the law.
"I looked it up and frankly, to my surprise, it was there," Decorah City Administrator Jerry Freund said.
According to the law, it's a misdemeanor to sell or possess with intent to sell "anything preventing conception," including birth-control handbills and other literature, Freund said.
He said the law was enacted in 1976. A few years ago, city officials went through the code and eliminated several outdated ordinances.
"Somehow this got missed," Freund said.
Ulrich said he "does not oppose contraception at all," but he was bothered that there were laws the city wasn't enforcing.
The City Council was expected to discuss the issue on today.
"I suspect that they'll make that housecleaning effort," Freund said.
He also said he and the police department were reassuring people they won't be arrested for selling or giving out condoms or other forms of birth control.
— Thanks to Out There reader Scott T.
Teens in Hot Water for Swallowing Goldfish
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — A couple of Washington state teens are in a bit of trouble for eating seafood, of sorts.
Two boys swallowed live goldfish during an assembly at Todd Beamer High School (search) in Federal Way. A school district spokeswoman said the kids were apparently fulfilling a promise they made if one was elected a class officer.
The boys got a stern talking-to and a letter to their parents.
But some animal rights activists feel the boys should be in hot water for eating live fish.
A spokeswoman for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (search), said the stunt deserves harsher punishment. PETA said killing fish in the name of school spirit is unacceptable.
— Thanks to Out There reader Shannon O.
Cops: Man Sent Substitute to Paternity Test
LENOX, N.Y. (AP) — Police said a New York man didn't want to pay child support, so he sent someone else to take a court-ordered paternity test for him.
State police said 40-year-old James Durney and 34-year-old Neil Simon of Pittsfield, Mass., are charged with tampering with a public record and filing a false instrument. There's also a charge of criminal impersonation.
Troopers said they believe Simon is related to Durney, and that's why he was asked to take the test.
But the child's mother protested when the test showed Durney wasn't the father. County employees showed her a photo of the man who took the test, and she told authorities the man wasn't Durney.
Both men are free on their own recognizance.
— Thanks to Out There reader Don W.
Televised Car Chase Comes to Viewers' Front Door
KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) — Talk about reality television.
A suburban Seattle household watched a show come right up to their home.
Police in suburban Seattle were involved in a high-speed, rush-hour chase Tuesday afternoon.
The fleeing driver reportedly reached speeds as high as 80 mph, driving on surface streets, several state highways and Interstate 405, even sometimes veering into left-turn lanes, breakdown lanes and oncoming traffic lanes.
When TV stations picked up the chase with their helicopter cameras, police dropped back for safety reasons. The TV choppers followed the driver through traffic, filmed him as he broke into a second car, and broadcast him as he drove it through several suburbs and a golf course.
All of this was being shown live on TV. Finally, the man drove into a residential cul-de-sac and had nowhere to go. He pulled into a driveway, got out of the car, and surrendered to police.
Ryan J. Wade-Everett, 24, was arrested by Kirkland police for investigation of second-degree theft, Chiu said, and then turned over to police in Bellevue, where the chase started.
Residents of the Kirkland house where he stopped told KOMO-AM they, like thousands of others in the Seattle area, were watching the chase on TV inside as the man pulled into their driveway.
'Oprah' Nearly Kills Loyal Viewer
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Angelique Fiorillo says the boulder that crashed through one wall of her second-story apartment and out another might have struck her if she'd been in her usual spot watching "Oprah."
Fiorillo said she was in a neighbor's apartment when the table-size rock thundered down Red Mountain (search) Tuesday afternoon.
"We're like, 'Oh my God, what is that?'" she said.
Her husband was at work. Her two cats, Odin and Loki, took cover under a bedroom dresser and were unhurt.
Rain had apparently loosened the mountainside and unleashed a slide that sent the boulder bouncing down the mountainside, glancing off tree branches and then crashing through a corner of Fiorillo's apartment.
It landed on the grass lawn outside, leaving a trail of debris indoors and out.
"I'm doing OK. I'm alive," Fiorillo said.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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