Woman's Job Goes to Dogs

Would you risk your job to help two dogs in trouble?

Valerie Cheatham, a longtime employee of a Neiman Marcus (search) store in Atlanta, did just that — and may have been fired for her efforts.

Cheatham, 46, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it all began on Aug. 2, when outdoor temperatures were about 90 degrees and she spotted two white poodles locked inside an expensive vehicle in the store's parking lot.

"I walked out the door, saw the dogs, went back into the store and got the phone number for Fulton County Animal Control (search) and wrote down the tag number," said Cheatham. "I went out a second time and checked the doors and they were locked."

The sunroof was open, and Cheatham went back inside again, then came out a third time with a paper bowl and a bottle of water. But she couldn't reach the sunroof.

"I'm 5-2," she explained. "I took my shoes off and got on the hood."

Just then, according to Cheatham, the car's owner came out in a rage.

"She was just screaming," said Cheatham, who added that the angry woman called her "fat and ugly" and told her to get off the "$80,000 car."

Then, Cheatham said, came the clincher.

"I hope you're somebody," the car owner allegedly said, "because I'm going to have your job."

Two days later, Cheatham came into work and was told she no longer had a job.

"I said, 'I'm 46, and I've never been fired before, but I'm going to go home and sleep like a baby because I didn't do anything wrong, and I hope you can do the same because those dogs were in danger,'" Cheatham told the Journal-Bulletin.

A Neiman Marcus spokeswoman said Cheatham had been a "glorified secretary" who had been in trouble before.

Susan Feingold of Fulton County Animal Control told the newspaper that the vehicle's interior would have been "very dangerous" for the poodles.

"Even if the sunroof is down and the windows cracked," said Feingold, "the interior would be very hot within five minutes. It can be fatal."

— Thanks to Out There reader Nancy B.

Man Shot Across Mexican Border

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — David Smith Sr., who already holds a world record for the longest distance traveled by a human fired from a cannon, added to his list of accomplishments by shooting across the U.S-Mexico border.

The feat was the brainchild of Venezuelan artist Javier Tellez (search) and is part of a series of public art projects in the border cities of San Diego and Tijuana.

Smith climbed into the barrel of the cannon Saturday afternoon and flashed his U.S. passport as about 600 people applauded.

He took flight from a popular beach in Tijuana and soared about 150 feet over a line of black metal poles about 20 feet high. He landed uninjured in a net in Border Field State Park (search) in San Diego with U.S. Border Patrol agents and an ambulance waiting nearby.

Tellez organized the cannonball launch with psychiatric patients at the Baja California Mental Health Center (search) in Mexicali, Mexico, as a therapeutic project.

It is against the law for anyone, including U.S. citizens, to enter the country outside an official port of entry, but U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar made an exception for him, said Border Patrol spokesman Kurstan Rosberg.

Smith, of Half Way, Mo., is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for record distance for a human fired from a cannon. He flew 185 feet, 10 inches on May 29, 1998, in West Mifflin, Penn.

Click in the photo box above to see a case of legal, if unusual, entry.

Nearly $1 Million to Slim Down

LONDON (AP) — A slender house measuring just over five feet at its narrowest and nine feet, 11 inches at its widest is up for sale for more than $900,000, real estate agents said Tuesday.

They're are asking 525,000 pounds ($933,868) for the skinny home, which is spread over five levels and used to be a hat shop before being converted into a residence.

Real estate company Winkworths said the house, which they describe in promotional materials as being "utterly amazing and almost certainly unique," was the narrowest they had ever offered for sale.

The home's bathroom features a medium-sized bath that takes up the entire length of the tiny room.

The property is in the Shepherd's Bush (search) neighborhood of west London — which is near the British Broadcasting Corp.'s headquarters and is popular with media professionals.

Other features of the house include a narrow kitchen, dining area, reception room, three bedrooms, a shower room, dressing room, patio, small garden and a roof terrace, which has panoramic views of London's west.

Real estate agent Kit Allen said the price reflected the value of houses in the swanky neighborhood. Some homes in the area have an asking price of up to 6 million pounds ($10.7 million), she said.

Click in the photo box above to think slim.

Cornfield Ad Gets Pizza Response

CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. (AP) — A farmer who planted his own personal ad in a cornfield has received more than 700 replies, but he's only been in touch with the writer of one.

As earlier reported in Out There, western New York cattle-and-crops farmer Pieter DeHond, a 41-year-old divorced father of two, planted a lovelorn message in his cow pasture using 50-foot letters made from corn stalks.

It said "S.W.F Got-2 (love symbol) Farm'n" (Single White Female Got to Love Farming). Since it was planted in May, the cornfield ad has generated media attention as far away as South Africa.

One California woman answering DeHond's ad had a pizza delivered to his farmhouse door along with a note that included her first name and phone number.

"That seemed like a nice thing to do," said DeHond, adding that he called to thank her.

Since then, they've exchanged calls and letters.

"A very attractive woman" is how DeHond described his new friend to his hometown newspaper the Daily Messenger of Canandaigua. He added they may eventually arrange to meet.

Meanwhile, DeHond said he's keeping all the letters and newspaper clippings in a box, "so 20 years from now I can look back and laugh and say, 'Look what I stirred up.'"

Man Hit by Train, Walks Away

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — Police said "it was a miracle" that a man was not killed after his car was crushed, twisted and dragged by a train.

Porter County Sheriff's Department officers said they were shocked Kenneth Liptak Jr., not only survived the crash, but also managed to crawl out of the mangled metal and walk around Saturday morning.

"It was a miracle. I've never seen anything like it," Sgt. Charles Douthett said in a news release.

Liptak's mother, Helen, said she was still in shock hours after hearing about the crash. She said "somebody up there" was looking out for her 30-year-old son.

Liptak, 30, who lives just north of the CSX crossing north of Valparaiso, 20 miles southeast of Gary, was heading south to work when his car was hit by the train and dragged about 200 feet.

He told police he pulled out of his driveway and immediately saw the lights and gates activated. He told police he saw a northbound car drive around the gates and then he looked for westbound trains, telling police the morning trains usually come from that direction.

But he said he did not look the other way.

An eastbound train, traveling 55 mph, struck the passenger side of his station wagon, pushing the car east of the crossing. The mangled wreckage landed upside down.

Liptak, who police said had only minor bruises, declined medical treatment. Police said the 6-foot-4 man wiggled himself free from the wreckage.

Police ticketed Liptak for disregarding a railroad signal at the crossing that was closed for three hours.

First Evidence Found of Jackalope

SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — Veterinarian Dennis Bechtold looked at the dead rabbit in disbelief. The rabbit's wart-like growths made it look like a mythical jackalope (search) — an animal that is half rabbit, half antelope.

"It was amazing, really," Bechtold said. "Two of [the growths] were in the exact spot that made them look like a jackalope."

The dead rabbit was found in a woman's garden. It had Shope papilloma virus, a highly contagious disease that causes rabbits to grow things on their head and face that look like horns.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Police Chief Curt Gullickson said after the woman had called police about the rabbit.

Bechtold said the disease does not infect humans or domestic rabbits. He and Gullickson said there may be other rabbits in the area with the same problem.

"[People] may see them, and should not be scared of them," Gullickson said.

Rabbits with the disease can live with it, but usually die when the growths prevent them from eating.

Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.

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