Bad Girls Have Sleepovers, Too
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Slumber parties aren't just for sweet and innocent girls any more.
Instead of staying up late in their pajamas talking about boys, four Florida teenagers rampaged through their neighborhood in an orgy of vandalism, according to the Clay County Sheriff's office.
The two 13-year-olds and two 14-year-olds, all unnamed, face felony charges, reports the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The group, from Orange Park (search), just south of Jacksonville, snuck out of one girl's house a little after midnight on Jan. 9, after her parents had gone to bed.
The fearsome foursome started out small, throwing toilet paper into — or "TP-ing" — several neighbors' trees.
Then they moved up to tossing just-delivered Sunday newspapers around and dragging lawn furniture into streets and driveways.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As the glee of destruction took hold, the acts of vandalism escalated. Bikes and a scooter were stolen out of a garage, then abandoned. Shrubbery was damaged.
Most seriously, motor oil was poured all over one car, and a rake was dragged across another from end to end.
Residents woke up Sunday morning to find their neighborhood looking like a war zone, but the culprits remained a mystery until the teens did what they do best.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They had been talking about it with some of their friends at school," said Sheriff's Detective Heather Pierce.
Cheryl Hietpas, whose daughter hosted the party, said the girls were peacefully watching a movie when she and her husband went to bed.
Pierce said the pubescent bad seeds would be facing charges of criminal mischief, burglary to an occupied dwelling and grand theft, all to be processed in the juvenile court system. She also said compensation to those whose property was damaged would be sought.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hietpas, who along with the other girls' parents would likely be stuck with those bills, recommended that parents install alarm systems before hosting any more slumber parties.
— Thanks to Out There reader Shannon O.
World's Dullest Basketball Game
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MILTON, Vt. (AP) — Hard to imagine a 3-pointer in the second quarter of a high school boy's basketball game would turn out to be the winning basket — unless it's one of only three made in the entire game.
That basket, along with an earlier field goal, was all Bellows Free Academy-Fairfax (search) needed to beat Milton on the night of Jan. 12. The final score: 5-2.
To the teams' credit, the score was the result of an apparently deliberate stalling strategy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It could not immediately be determined if the score was a state or national record low, but the contest certainly attracted attention.
"We've been talking about it all morning over here," said Bob Johnson, the director of student activities for the Vermont Principals' Association (search), which governs high school sports.
"It had to have been one of the most boring games in the world," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The scoring was kept way down on purpose, a strategy made possible by the fact that Vermont high schools don't use a shot clock. No player went to the free-throw line as Milton committed five fouls and BFA had one.
BFA took a 5-0 lead and neither team scored in the second half.
"It was the ultimate deliberate stalemate," Milton coach Jim Smith said. "They didn't come out after us and we didn't go in against them."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Smith said the slowdown was implemented because BFA (7-4) has a strong scoring presence, while Milton (2-8) does not. The Milton players believed their best chance to be competitive was to just hold onto the ball.
The strategy almost worked.
"We had a shot go off the rim that would have tied it," Smith said. "We were one possession away to tie the game. We have not been in that position for quite some time."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alex Weber's basket gave BFA a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. Shadoe Adams' 3-pointer made it 5-0 at the start of the second quarter. Brian Phelps scored later in the period and Milton trailed 5-2 at halftime.
"I've never had a player hit a game-winner in the second quarter before," BFA-Fairfax coach Glen Button Jr. said.
— Thanks to Out There reader Mark I.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Who didn't let the dog out?
A stink was raised during halftime of the Detroit Pistons (search)-Orlando Magic (search) NBA game last Tuesday night when the start of the second half was delayed by three minutes after a guide dog relieved itself on the court.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The dog was with a charity organization, Canine Companions for Independence (search), that was receiving a $10,000 donation from the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (search).
When the Pistons came out for warmups, Rasheed Wallace walked up to the lane where the excrement had fallen, stopped and stared in disbelief. His teammates were just as confused before wide smiles broke out.
A custodian was enlisted to scoop up the mess and wipe up the remains with cleaner, a mop and towels.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Winning Without Even Really Trying
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A 9-year-old Utah boy won a national championship in a sport he doesn't even like, and only did it after missing a bus to the finals.
Dumsira Nwibiabu, a fourth-grader, won his age division Jan. 15 at the NFL's Punt, Pass and Kick (search) competition at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dumsira and his father, Vincent, missed the bus that transported the participants to the competition. They found their way to the event and showed up minutes before it started, giving Dumsira just a couple of warm-up throws and kicks.
Dumsira then defeated three other finalists in his 8 and 9 age group.
"He was excited, but maybe not as excited as some other kids would be," said Dumsira's coach, Matt Child. "It's still football, and he doesn't care for it too much."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dumsira, 9, is a refugee from Nigeria who moved to Utah in 2001. He took first place at the Denver Broncos' team competition on Nov. 6 to qualify for Saturday's final.
That Doesn't Look Like Our Brother
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — An autopsy technician misread a number on a body tag, leaving one family without a body to memorialize and another with the wrong person's ashes scattered across the Atlantic Ocean.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As a result of the mistaken identification, the technician released the body of John Chappell, 36, instead of that of Judith Perez, 65, said Duval County Chief Medical Examiner Margarita Arruza.
"It was off by one digit. He released the wrong body to the funeral home, and obviously the funeral home never checked or looked at the body," she said. She said the technician is no longer employed by her office.
Perez's family had the body cremated and scattered the ashes in the ocean before the mistake was discovered when Chappell's relatives showed up to claim his body.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chappell's brother in Jacksonville and sister in Mt. Morris, Mich., have notified the city of their intent to sue for negligence, said their attorney, Henry Gare.
"It is a very heartbreaking situation," Gare said Wednesday.
Gare said the family had planned to scatter Chappell's ashes at his grandfather's grave in Michigan.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A woman who answered the telephone at Green Pine Funeral Home in Yulee and refused to give her name said Chappell's body was received in a bag identified as Perez's remains. Because the body was to be cremated, she said there was no reason to open the bag.
Arruza said she doesn't remember her office mixing up any bodies since she joined the office in 1989.
Deceased Woman Gets Mail From Mr. Stupid Bureaucrat
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — State government officials who sent a benefits check payable to "Mrs. Passed Away" to the family of a deceased woman said they want to apologize for their mistake in person.
The father of a 15-year-old boy who opened the letter said the family initially believed the check was a "sick joke," until they realized it was accompanied by official government letterhead, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
Both the check and the letter were addressed to "Mrs. Passed Away."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This is nothing short of disgraceful," said the father, who asked not to be identified. "All the work that's gone into helping my son since his mother died has gone down the drain."
The New South Wales state Director-General of Education, Andrew Cappie-Wood, said the government had sent the family a written apology, but said he wanted to contact them personally to explain the mistake.
"We are reviewing the processes to make sure this mistake does not happen again," Cappie-Wood said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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