Bags of Money Found in City Dump
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Found: $46,000 in extremely smelly money. Owner: unknown.
A landfill worker in Columbus, Ga., discovered the cash stash July 23 while using a backhoe to move piles of garbage from one place to another. Instead of smuggling it home, he told his boss.
"I commend the employee," Deputy City Manager Isaiah Hugley told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. "The employee could have done something unethical, but called a supervisor."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The money, mostly $20 bills in clear plastic bags, was taken by city workers to a bank to be deposited, but were turned away after bank employees took a whiff of the pungent loot.
"It smelled like anything else you'd get from a landfill," said police Lt. Gil Slouchick.
So the city revenue department took it back and somehow cleaned it before handing it over to police, who weren't happy they weren't told right away.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We did not notify the police initially like we should have," City Manager Carmen Cavezza admitted. "You don't leave that sum of money laying around. We tried to secure the money right away."
Police still haven't figured out where the money, which Hugley said "had been there for a number of years," came from. If no one claims it within 90 days, the city can keep it for good.
— Thanks to Out There readers Brian R., Kris P., Grady and Christi S. and Jude H.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Stamford, Conn., police got a surprise this past March when a teenager hopped into the back of their squad car and tried to sell them drugs.
Granted, the officers were in an unmarked vehicle, reports the Associated Press, but the word "POLICE" written all over their jackets should have been an indication.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The cops were on a routine undercover narcotics patrol on March 10, they reported, when 17-year-old Devaugn Goethe flagged them down.
They stopped the car. Goethe allegedly opened the back door, jumped in and asked the officers what they wanted and how much.
"You look like cops," he joked before they arrested him on charges of selling narcotics.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The officers were wearing "raid jackets" because they were looking for fugitives and didn't want to be mistaken for anything but police officers.
— Thanks to Out There reader Jen M.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Lucky the bunny is living up to her name.
It had seemed like luck had run out: Strapped to a powerful explosive with a lit fuse, Lucky was tossed into a lake.
But the explosive didn't blow up, and the rabbit was pulled out of the water.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Now Lucky's owner and his friend face misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty after photos of the July 13 incident surfaced on the Internet.
Nick Sigmon, 18, and Paul Collins, 20, are accused of taping an illegal M-1000 (search) — a large firecracker equivalent to a quarter-stick of dynamite — to the rabbit and throwing her into Lake Don Castro (search).
Sigmon said he fished Lucky out of the water to save her from drowning. But prosecutors charged the two lifeguards on Wednesday. Two other men who were present during the incident may also face charges.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think that a lot of people are judging us without knowing us at all," Sigmon said. Asked why he fitted Lucky with the explosive, he said, "Um, that's a real tough question to answer."
Sigmon said he adopted the bunny after almost running over her with his car, but can no longer care for her because he's starting college this fall at University of California, San Diego (search), where he plans to study biology.
Someone found the photos on the personal Web site of one of the suspects and posted them on Craigslist, the popular Internet bulletin board, where the House Rabbit Society in Richmond saw it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lucky is recovering at a foster owner's home, where she's snacking on hay pellets and doing well.
— Thanks to Out There reader Don W.
Drivers Not Happy About Free Ice Cream
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City police have taken a licking for a new program that rewards motorists who drive safely by stopping them and giving them coupons for free ice cream.
Sgt. Don Jantzen of the North Patrol Division said residents expressed concerns about the program and the department's legal counsel advised officers to stop it. He said the division commander will revamp it and come up with a new approach within two weeks.
Paula Talley was rewarded Monday for wearing her seat belt and yielding to traffic. She said she was afraid being stopped would make her late for work, although she made it on time.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"My job probably wouldn't have cared about free ice cream," she said.
Bill Calvert was stopped for driving the speed limit and using his signal. He said he could see people getting upset by such stops if they "were in the wrong frame of mind."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}AMITE, La. (AP) — More than one dog has met his end by challenging a set of moving car tires. In this case, police said, the car didn't have a chance.
Sheriff's deputies reported that a tan dog attacked a silver Ford Mustang convertible parked outside the owner's home.
According to deputies, a woman said she was awakened last Tuesday by a noise outside her house and found the canine attacking her car. The animal fled when she walked outside to find a chewed-up windshield wiper, gnarled hood hinge covers and teeth marks on the car's molding.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A deputy also reported finding extensive scratches to the car's body and saliva dripping from the vehicle.
The dog got away, said Chuck Reed, a sheriff's office spokesman.
Bear Swipe Chalked Up as Fun Experience
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ST. MARY, Mont. (AP) — An Illinois man has 28 staples in his head and "a good bear story" after spending the night at a campground here, authorities said Wednesday.
Gary Obrokta, 54, of Maple Park, Ill., was asleep in a one-man tent Tuesday night when authorities believe a black bear approached.
Obrokta was awakened by the noise and sat up. His movement apparently startled the bear, which took a swipe at the tent. The bear hit Obrokta in the head, causing two long cuts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Obrokta used a whistle his sister had given him to frighten the bear away, said Marion Garrow, a clerk at Johnson's Cafe, who spoke to Obrokta Wednesday.
He notified authorities and was taken by ambulance to the emergency room in Browning where doctors used 28 staples to close the wounds.
Obrokta, who is traveling to Moscow, Idaho by motorcycle, planned to continue his trip, said his wife, Barb Obrokta.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He goes, 'I've got a good bear story,'" Barb Obrokta said.
Authorities from the Blackfeet Tribe and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, with Karelian bear dogs, were unable to locate the bear Wednesday.
Tribal wildlife biologist Dan Carney said he doubts the encounter was predatory. Rather, the bear likely was wandering through the campsite, possibly in search of food.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The bear was just kind of nosing up around the campground and nosed up against the tent," Carney said.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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