That's Outrageous!

[Angelique]

Ok...I was thinking about Nitelight's request for interesting threads today, and while reading the most recent issue of Reader's Digest, I stumbled across this blip. I thought it might be interesting to read some of the outrageous stories that people have stumbled upon...kinda like a "Knuckleheads in the News" thread. Here's one I found interesting (to say the least).

S'okay if this thread flops...but hey, I tried.


NO EXCEPTIONS

Two federal fire tankers that were traveling from Oregon toward huge wildfires in Montana's Bitterroot Valley were ticketed for weight violations in Idaho and were forced to dump part of their water. The trucks, which are limited to 34,000 pounds at the rear axles, weighed in at about 36,000 and 38,000 pounds.

Drivers Mark Yeiter and Keith Walton say they were held in Cour d'Alene for about an hour while officers at the weigh station discussed the issue with a supervisor over the phone. Both trucks had federal license plates and were marked as Bureau of Land Management vehicles.

Yeiter says the officers finally told him, "We can't make an exception. We have to cite you." According to Walton, the officers insisted that enough water be dumped from the vehicles to bring them within commercial weight limits.

The trucks were half-empty when the two drivers were finally allowed to leave the weigh station. Both tickets were subsequently dismissed. -AP

 

[TonyG]

I don't remember the names of the two individuals but the story is set in Lexington, Kentucky last August. Two down on their luck window washers decided to rob a convenience store. They wore masks and held up signs explaining the robbery, so they could not be seen or heard on the surveillance system. Everything went well for the two robbers.

The police caught them ten minutes later counting the stolin money. How? When the robbers turned around to walk out of the store the back of their shirts listed their business name, address and phone number.

 

[Cheyenne]

Two federal fire tankers that were traveling from Oregon toward huge wildfires in Montana's Bitterroot Valley were ticketed for weight violations in Idaho and were forced to dump part of their water. The trucks, which are limited to 34,000 pounds at the rear axles, weighed in at about 36,000 and 38,000 pounds.

Shouldn't the title have been Idiots In Idaho?

 

[Closet Desire]

A grain of salt...

Call me a skeptic, but I'm always dubious of these stories. I received one the other day about a lighthouse in Canada having an argument about course changes with the USS Lincoln, a Nimitz class nuclear carrier. The story claimed it had been released by the CNO as an "actual" event that happened in 1995. It goes like this...

This is the transcript of the ACTUAL radio conversation of a US Naval
> > ship and the Canadians, off the coast of Newfoundland, Oct 95. Radio
> > conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10-10-95.
> > >
> > > CANADIANS: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South, toavoid
a
> > collision.
> > >
> > > AMERICANS: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North,
to
> > avoid a collision.
> > >
> > > CANADIANS: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to
> the
> > South to avoid a collision.
> > >
> > > AMERICANS: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert
> YOUR
> > course.
> > >
> > > CANADIANS: Negative. I say again, You will have to divert your course.
> > >
> > > AMERICANS: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER US LINCOLN.
> > > THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES
> > > ATLANTIC FLEET, WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE
> > > DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS, AND NUMEROUS
> > > SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR
> > > COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S 15
> > > DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTERMEASURES WILL BE
> > > UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF
> > > THIS SHIP.
> > >
> > > CANADIANS: We are a lighthouse. Your call.


It's amusing as hell, but as someone who served aboard Nimitz class carriers and in battle groups it smelled a bit fishy for a lot of reasons that I won't list here (any sailors out there?). But the best one is this...The USS Lincoln transferred to the Pacific in 1991 shortly after she was built and hasn't been anywhere near Newfoundland since. In fact, when this event supposedly took place the Lincoln was in Hong Kong on a WestPac deployment.

Always...a pinch of salt.