A California grandmother's soft, caring touch worked so well it sent a man trying to rob her right off to sleep, according to local police.
The unnamed 73-year-old woman heard a window break around 1 a.m. on July 10, Lafayette, Calif., police Detective Paul Zill told the Bay City News local wire service.
"She then did something she probably shouldn't have," Zill said. "That is, when something bizarre is going on in the middle of the night, don't open the front door."
As soon as she opened the door, Juan Garcia Vasquez, who had once done landscaping at the house, allegedly grabbed the woman and put a piece of cloth over her mouth to stifle her cries for help.
Once both were back inside, they ended up sitting on the sofa, upon which Vasquez's stomach began to rumble.
The woman got up, went into the kitchen and offered to make Vasquez some eggs. He indicated that he'd rather have a banana and a glass of milk.
"He didn't speak English that well and she didn't speak Spanish," Zill said, "so they used the international language of pointing and nodding."
As he ate, she prayed, showed him pictures of Saint Theresa (search) and her own grandchildren and hoped he was a religious family man.
Vasquez then went to the bathroom, showing consideration by letting the grandmother know upon his return that he'd used up all the toilet paper.
He then sat back down on the couch and promptly went off to dreamland.
The woman ran into the bathroom with her cordless phone, locked the door and, since she'd promised Vasquez not to call police, called her daughter instead.
Vasquez was arrested at the house without incident.
"She did do what she needed to do to survive," Zill told the wire service.
— Thanks to Out There reader Derek L.
A woman arrested for passing a bad check got rid of the evidence the old-fashioned way: She ate it.
Iyeshua Dunnington, 34, of Ellenwood, Ga., was picked up by cops in a Fayetteville Best Buy store on July 14 for allegedly trying to buy a $4,000 plasma TV (search) with a bogus check, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On the way to jail in the back seat of a police cruiser, Dunnington, described by police Lt. Beverly Trainor as a "very tiny woman," slipped out of her handcuffs.
She then reached into the front seat and grabbed the check, along with a phony ID she'd allegedly used, and began ingesting the evidence.
"The officer stopped the car when he realized what was going on, and he found several very small pieces [of the check] in the backseat," Trainor told the newspaper.
The driver also found the ID card folded up "to get rid of somehow."
Unfortunately for Dunnington, the officer had made a copy of the check before leaving the store.
Dunnington faces charges of forgery, identity fraud, theft by deception and, thanks to her hunger pangs, destroying evidence and obstructing a police officer.
— Thanks to Out There reader Kris P.
Twenty Grand Goes Back to Rightful Owner
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Imagine finding $20,000. Now imagine not keeping it.
That's the story of Tim Titterington and his son, Dylan.
It happened after the Fourth of July weekend as Titterington, 48, and Dylan, 16, were headed to their farm outside Milford.
"A semi drove past, and it looked like confetti flying around," Titterington said.
It was $20 bills and receipts from the wallet of Jody Gardner, 54, of Omaha, Neb.
Gardner and her sisters had just closed their dead father's bank accounts. Gardner's share totaled about $20,000 in cashier's checks and $1,000 in cash and coins. She stuffed it all in her billfold.
On the trip back to the family home on Lake Okoboji, Gardner stopped to buy groceries in Milford. She drove off with the billfold on the roof of the van.
"I can't believe I did it, but I did it," she said.
Titterington and his son said they spent about an hour tracking down checks, cash and everything else that had flown out of Gardner's billfold.
Back home, Dylan Titterington found an emergency contact number among the contents. The Titteringtons reached a friend of Gardner's, who gave them directions to the lake home.
Dylan found Gardner on a dock behind the house. He asked her if she'd lost her billfold.
"I had no idea," she said. "It was an absolute miracle for me."
She offered the Titteringtons a $100 reward; they refused.
Lightning Strikes Are Good for You
MADISON, Maine (AP) — A Madison man who was struck by lightning last week says he feels "lighter and 100 years younger" than he did before the accident.
"I'm feeling like my body is light. It's the best I've probably felt as far as energy in 10 years," said John Corson, 56, the day after he was struck by lightning while working outside his home.
Corson thought the afternoon thunder-and-lightning storm had passed his home, and had gone outside to work on a renovation project when the lightning hit him.
"It was like a whitish-blue, but it was so bright," Corson said. "I actually heard the snap, but I was paralyzed. It was like my whole body was just vibrating. It was like, a hell of a sensation. It was like chest pain, with someone's hand on my chest."
The lightning left redness around his shoulders, he said. The bolt went through his body and tripped three breakers in the garage.
"My knees buckled. I was able to straighten out," he said. "Then I was dumbfounded. Just dumbfounded."
Corson, who has had three cardiac surgeries, spent eight hours at Redington-Fairview General Hospital (search) after the accident while doctors tested his blood for any effect on his heart.
He thanked both AMS Ambulance and the staff at Redington-Fairview for their outstanding professionalism.
Corson said he thought people who are hit by lightning die, and he now believes in guardian angels.
In fact, according to the National Weather Service (search), most lightning-strike victims survive, although they often report a variety of long-term debilitating symptoms.
An average of 67 people in the United States are killed each year by lightning. In 2003, there were 44 such deaths.
Hotel Workers Protest Porn-Fueled Propositions
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Claiming some hotel workers are being urged by guests to do more than turn down the bedcovers, a Norwegian union wants X-rated pay-per-view programming turned off for good.
The Norwegian Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union (search), which represents most of Norway's 10,000 workers in the industry, says many of its female members have complained they're being propositioned by amorous guests aroused by what they order on television in their hotel rooms.
"Porn must be removed from pay TV because of our members, who regularly work alone, are being harassed," union leader Elin Jjunggren told state radio P4 on Monday.
Though no incidents of assault or rape have been reported, Jjunggren said many of the hotel workers — often immigrants from the Middle East — feared for their safety.
Norwegian law forbids hardcore pornography on video, in theaters and on broadcast television, but it can be shown legally on pay-per-view television.
Hollywood Wants to Ban Silly String
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood residents and businesspeople tired of being in the silly-string crossfire every Halloween have asked the city to ban the colorful streams of compressed foam.
Councilman Tom LaBonge, whose district includes part of Hollywood, initially sought a complete ban but later opted to focus on Halloween, when residents complain the streets get jammed with silly-string slingers.
LaBonge said the non-biodegradable foam can fall into storm drains and harm marine life, and also can endanger police, particularly those on horseback.
On Friday, without debate, a Los Angeles City Council committee asked the city attorney's office to prepare an ordinance that eventually will be put to a vote before the council.
Several other communities, including Santa Clarita, Calif., and New Orleans, have restrictions against the use of silly string (search).
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — When a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever named Maddy got tangled in a 10-foot rope securing a trampoline floating on a lake, owner Matt Tollefson didn't think twice. Tollefson dove in after her.
When he dragged the dog's lifeless body out, Tollefson again didn't hesitate.
Her eyes were open and her tongue hung to the side of her mouth. Tollefson performed CPR.
"She's part of the family," Tollefson said. "If she's going to go, she wasn't going to go like that."
Tollefson alternated compressions on Maddy's chest and blowing air in through her snout.
"Instincts just took over at that point."
Tollefson said he took a first responders course in college but is not sure how he knew to blow air through her nose. He said he may have seen it on TV.
Two minutes into it last Monday, Maddy showed signs of life.
A veterinarian the next day diagnosed Maddy with aspiration pneumonia and a chip fracture in her shoulder from the compressions.
The dog is a little swollen and is taking two steam baths a day to help her recovery. She also is on antibiotics.
"Maybe she doesn't, but it seems like she looks at me differently," Tollefson said. "She's still the same dog. There's just more of a bond now."
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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