Odd News:Swiss police google farmers, find marijuana field

ZURICH, Switzerland – Swiss police said Thursday they stumbled across a large marijuana plantation while using Google Earth, the search engine company's satellite mapping software.

Police said they arrested 16 people and seized 1.1 tons (1.2 US tons) of marijuana as well as cash and valuables worth 900,000 Swiss francs ($780,000).

Officers discovered the hemp field in the northeastern canton (state) of Thurgau last year while investigating an alleged drug ring, said the head of Zurich police's specialist narcotics unit Norbert Klossner.

The plantation, measuring almost two acres (7,500 square meters), was hidden inside a field of corn. But officers using Google Earth to locate the address of two farmers suspected of involvement in the drug operation quickly spotted the illegal crop.

"It was an interesting chance discovery," said Klossner.

Prosecutor Gabi Alkalay told reporters in Zurich that she plans to complete her criminal investigation in February, after which she will formally charge the 16 suspects and ask for prison sentences for all of them.

The gang is alleged to have sold up to 7 tons (7.7 US tons) of hashish and marijuana between 2004 and 2008, with an annual turnover of 3-10 million francs a year, officials said.
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Odd News:Police say NJ man posed as female veterinarian

VINELAND, N.J. – Police say a New Jersey man posed as a female animal doctor, ran an illegal veterinary practice and set up a phony rescue agency that may have duped pet lovers out of thousands of dollars. Vineland police arrested 26-year-old Daniel C. Tyce on Friday and charged him with practicing medicine without a license. He is being held on $10,000 bail.

Police say he ran a business called South Jersey Small Animal Rescue, falsely identifying himself as Dr. Danielle Smith, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school.

Police say he inoculated pets and offered small animals for adoption for a fee. He also solicited donations, claiming the agency was a nonprofit. Authorities say it was not.

Police do not know if Tyce has retained a lawyer.
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Odd News|Mass. man shot twice in year at same pizza place

WORCESTER, Mass. – A 26-year-old Worcester man may want to avoid a certain pizza place — after he was shot in front of the restaurant twice in less than a year. Police said the man, whose name was not immediately released, is expected to survive three gunshot wounds he suffered in front of the Golden Pizza on Tuesday, after surviving another shooting there in April.

Detective Capt. Edward McGinn told the Telegram & Gazette the man had just gotten a haircut at a barber shop Tuesday when he went across the street and got into a skirmish with a person in front of Golden Pizza.

McGinn said the man was hospitalized after being shot in the legs and abdomen. The shooter fled.

In the April 13 incident, police said three people were arrested after the same man was shot multiple times.

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Odd News-Pilot tell passengers: I'm not qualified to land this plane

France - A British passenger plane was forced to turn back minutes before landing in Paris because the pilot of 30 years' experience was not qualified to land in fog, an airline confirmed on Thursday.
Speaking over the address system as the Flybe flight approached Charles de Gaulle airport, the pilot announced to startled passengers "I am not qualified to land the plane" and turned back to Cardiff. More...
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Odd News-Man shot with .45 pistol - Says cat did it

I don't think so!
Man shot with .45 pistol - Says cat did it
Eden, North Carolina - A man told sheriff’s deputies Friday that his cat accidentally shot him. Charlie Busick said his .45-caliber pistol was on a loveseat when the cat jumped onto it. Busick was shot in the hip and had a friend take him to a hospital. More...----Advertise Here and 25 Other Sites!

Odd News-German churches find 'chocolate Jesus' tasteless

Odd News!

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany's churches criticized a businessman on Tuesday for selling thousands of Jesus chocolates.

Frank Oynhausen set up his "Sweet Lord" chocolate Jesus-making business saying he wanted to restore some traditional religious values to Christmas in Germany.

But the German Protestant Church criticized the idea as "tasteless" and the Roman Catholic Church was not amused.

"I started thinking about how I could reintroduce traditional religious values into this commercial world," said Oynhausen, who had been unemployed since losing a recycling business two years ago.

Together with a friend, a local chocolatier, Oynhausen, 54, developed the concept of "Sweet Lord." It is growing fast in his home town of Duisburg and on the internet (www.goldjesus.com).

Oynhausen said thousands of people have put in orders for the figures wrapped in gold foil.

But church associations expressed dismay.

"It is terrible that Jesus is being wrapped up in gold foil and sold along with chocolate bunnies, edible penguins and lollipops," said Aegidius Engel, a spokesman for the archbishopric of nearby Paderborn.

"This is ruining the symbol of Jesus himself," he added.

Oynhausen is now custom-producing the chocolate Jesus figures, but by Easter he hopes to have a partnership with a mass producer.

"We're hoping to be able to export them around the world one day," Oynhausen said. He reckons there are parts of the United States where they will be especially popular.

In 2007, a life-size chocolate sculpture of a naked Jesus caused an outcry from Roman Catholics when an art gallery in New York wanted to exhibit it in a window.

Odd News-After 55 days, contest ends for 2 living in truck

What, 55 days in a truck, that is odd!
MADISON, Wis. – A Wisconsin radio station had to make two contestants an offer they couldn't refuse in order to get them to quit a game to win a new car.

Tommy Kempfer, 26, of Sun Prairie, and Lisa Thompson, 40, of Westfield, had been living in a truck, hoping to outlast the other to win a new $30,000 vehicle from WMAD-FM in Madison.

After 55 days, the station became concerned that the contest would never end.

"We sensed these two were not going to back down," said John Flint, a co-host on the station's morning show. "There was no way we expected this to go 55 days. If it was not for the deal, it's possible they could have gone on until New Year's."

On Tuesday, the station offered the two a compromise: End the contest and receive $10,000 toward the purchase of a car, among other prizes, or continue with the runner-up receiving nothing.

Within 15 minutes, both agreed to the deal.

"Both of us were ready to go home," Kempfer said, "but we didn't want to leave with nothing after you put in that much time."

Thompson called the contest a "very good experience" but said she wouldn't do it again.

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj

Odd News-Upset over pet, man stabs bureaucrat, wife

This is nutty odd news!

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese man upset by the death of his pet turned himself in after fatally stabbing a bureaucrat and his wife, Japanese police and media said on Sunday.

Police were searching the house of a 46-year-old man who said he murdered a former vice minister for health and welfare, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Kyodo news said the man also admitted to the fatal stabbing of the 66-year-old bureaucrat's wife, although the police spokesman was unable to confirm that.

Takehiko Yamaguchi and his 61-year-old wife, Michiko, were found dead at their home with stab wounds to the chest on Tuesday, Kyodo News said.

Also Tuesday, the wife of another former health and welfare bureaucrat was seriously stabbed at the entrance to her home by a man pretending to be making a delivery, domestic media reported.

Her husband, who had also been vice minister, was not home at the time, according to media reports.

Japanese police and media originally believed the stabbings may have been a backlash against former employees of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, due to widespread resentment over the government's handling of the national pension system.

However, the man who turned himself in to police said he was upset over the death of a pet, Kyodo said.

"I was angry because my pet was killed in a public welfare center," Kyodo quoted the man as saying.

The police spokesman could not confirm the comment, but did say the found "several" survival knives after searching his car.

While Japan still has relatively low crime rates, the country has been shocked in recent years by several grisly stabbings.

In June, a man who said he was tired of life went on a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's crowded shopping district of Akihabara, killing seven people and wounding a dozen others.

(Editing by David Fox)