A couple in Idaho apparently thought they could get something for nothing.
Well, almost nothing: Police say they tried to buy a $300,000 house for $37 — and were so sure of themselves they even moved in.
Kathy Lynn Jean, 42, and Robby Joe Jean, 39, were arrested at the brand-new house in Meridian, just west of Boise, last Tuesday, the Idaho Statesman reported.
The cops say the Jeans, recent arrivals from Arizona, bought a cashier's check (search) at a Boise bank in the amount of $37.06.
The enterprising pair then altered the check so that it read "$317,000" — more than enough to cover the asking price and closing costs (search) on the home — and presented it to a title company last Monday, police said.
"I don't really have a clue how they thought they could get away with it," Boise police detective Wade Spain said. "It's just totally odd. I guess they thought they were smooth talkers."
The Jeans must have been smooth enough to convince the house's owners, because they'd already been living there for three days.
"The title company was instantly suspicious and went to the bank the first thing in the morning," Spain told the newspaper.
Husband and wife were both charged with grand theft, with Kathy Jean getting additional charges of forgery and violating federal probation.
— Thanks to Out There readers Michelle L. and Kevin Van H.
Downtown Houston Goes to the Birds
HOUSTON (AP) — Like a scene from a horror movie, large black grackles (search) are swooping down on downtown Houston and attacking people's heads, hair and backs.
Authorities closed off a sidewalk after the aggressive birds, which can have 2-foot wingspans, flew out of magnolia trees Monday in front of the County Administration Building.
"They were just going crazy," said constable Wilbert Jue, who works at the building. "They were attacking everybody that walked by."
The grackles zeroed in on a lawyer who shooed a bird away before he tripped and injured his face, Jue said. The lawyer was treated for several cuts.
It appears the birds are protecting their offspring. On Monday a young grackle had fallen out of its nest and adult birds attacked people who got too close, Jue said.
Another bird attacked a deputy county clerk.
"I hit him with a bottle," Sylvia Velasquez said. "The other birds came, and one attacked my blouse and on my back."
Two women came to help her after she fell to the ground, and the birds attacked them as well. The group escaped by running into the building.
"This is a very Hitchcock kind of story. Very Tippi Hedren," said downtown worker Laura Aranda Smith, referring to one of the stars of Alfred Hitchcock's move "The Birds."
Click in the photo box above to see pictures of the dastardly avians.
— Thanks to Out There readers Wendy F. and Al S.
Town May Ban Open Garage Doors
GERMANTOWN, Tenn. (AP) — Some residents of this upscale Memphis suburb say municipal ordinances have gone too far. The final straw may have been rules proposed about when garage doors can be opened.
Among other directives, the city codes would tell homeowners to open their garage doors only when entering or exiting or for "short periods of time" for cleaning and maintenance.
"I'm in favor of reasonable codes, but I think some of these things go to extremes," resident Robert Scallions said.
Because of such criticism, officials in this town known for a sharp eye for community decorum have agreed to give the proposals another look before a final vote.
Jean Wallace said she fears town regulators could come down on her because the street address on her house is spelled out in words. The rules would call for numbers only, from 4 inches to 6 inches tall.
"That seems very strange, especially when the house is 30 years old," Wallace said. "The builders put them up, and they used to always be like that."
— Thanks to Out There readers Paula M. and Louis D.
WOODVILLE, Maine (AP) — A state trooper says she's baffled by the behavior of a suspect who displayed amorous intentions as she was taking him into custody for getting into a car accident and failing three roadside sobriety tests.
"What did he think I was going to do? Go out on a date with him?" asked trooper Jennifer Fiske, who arrested Peter Bradley Murray early Sunday morning on Route 116.
Murray, 42, allegedly began behaving inappropriately while seated beside Fiske in the front passenger seat of her cruiser, which has no cage separating front and back seats.
"Then he said, 'You have beautiful green eyes,' and he started touching my arm," Fiske said. "I'd had enough of that."
Fiske got out of the car and went around to the passenger seat to handcuff Murray.
She said he tried to cuff himself to her, saying, "I just want us to be tied together."
Fiske responded by giving a sudden short twist to the handcuff and rapping him on the thigh with her police baton. She said he later tried to grab for the steering wheel, forcing additional smacks.
Murray was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence, assault on a police officer, refusing to submit to arrest and refusing to sign or give a name.
College Students to Study Porn
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Jay Clarkson has had no trouble getting students at the University of Iowa (search) to sign up for his fall class examining pornography in popular culture.
One person who isn't a fan, however, is Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants (search), who is questioning whether tax dollars should be spent on the elective class.
"Do they know that we're not done with their budget yet?" Rants, R-Sioux City, asked. "I'm pretty sure we don't need to increase state funding by $40 million to teach critical pornography studies."
The Legislature is still wrangling with an education budget.
Clarkson, a graduate student, says students seeking a cheap thrill should look elsewhere.
"There are probably some students who will be titillated by the title," he said. "They will be disappointed."
The one-time course is being offered by the communications program at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences — it's already full with 20 students, and it has a growing waiting list.
Clarkson said his goal is to get people to think about how pornography has moved from the adult bookstore to everyday advertising.
"It's not a class about enjoying or viewing pornography," Clarkson said. "We will certainly be talking and reading critics who are against pornography."
Clarkson said pornographic films and other explicit materials won't be viewed in class.
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — The kisses didn't turn the frogs into princes, but they delighted a bunch of elementary school students.
McKinley Elementary School (search) principal Julie Ellison told the school's students earlier this year that if they met their reading goal this spring, she'd kiss a frog.
The students read twice their goal, so on Tuesday, Ellison dressed up as a princess and announced she would kiss two frogs.
"This time of the year the kids are anxious for summer vacation," she said. "This keeps them learning up to the end of the school year."
A staff member wearing surgical gloves held each frog and raised them to Ellison's face as 450 students chanted, "Kiss the frog!"
First-grade teacher Phil Brummell, checking the principal's technique, said, "I was disappointed she didn't give those frogs a bigger smooch."
Ellison said kissing frogs wasn't real pleasant. But last year she had to kiss a pig. Before that, she was duct-taped to a wall.
Click in the photo box above to see a frog being kissed.
Compiled by FOX News' Paul Wagenseil.
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