Shoppers Stop Purse-Snatcher
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wal-Mart shoppers at the store in Clayton, N.C., got a discount on fighting crime last weekend.
About 30 people chased down a suspected purse-snatcher, ramming him with their shopping carts, report WTVD-TV of Durham, WNCN-TV of Raleigh and WMPM-AM of Smithfield, N.C.
Tara Smith, 32, was browsing through the children's clothing department last Sunday afternoon when Terrance Sherrod Trice, 24, allegedly grabbed her purse out of her shopping cart and ran.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I started hollering, 'He stole my purse! He stole my purse!' and I kept my finger on him the whole time," said Smith to WTVD. "As I'm chasing him, people started zooming in between us."
Other customers caught on to what was happening, and used their shopping carts to try to block the thief's path to the door.
"I remember this one gentleman — he was probably in his 60s — going, 'Son, son, you need to stop,'" said Smith said. "He couldn't really chase after [the suspect]. He fell in behind me."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The purse-snatcher made it past the cash registers, but ran right into a retired North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (search) agent, who tackled the thief.
Trice, who has a previous arrest on file for driving while impaired, was charged with larceny and later released on $1,000 bond.
The experience has left Smith with good impressions of her fellow shoppers.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It's a nice feeling to know that there's still decent people left," she told WTVD.
— Thanks to Out There reader Alex W.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MAGNOLIA, Ark. (AP) — At age 81, Fola Coats might seem a little old to join the Navy. But the great-grandmother recently received a letter inviting her to enlist in the Seabees (search) of the Naval Reserve.
"I laughed when I got [the letter]," she said. "I told [my family], I can't wait to get my uniform."
Coats' husband served in World War II and two of her sons were in Vietnam.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I guess they figured we were a great military family," she said.
The letter suggests she should volunteer for the Seabees, supporting Navy construction needs with a specialty rating of builder, construction electrician, construction mechanic, engineering aide, equipment operator, steelworker or utility worker.
Coats said the letter has been good for laughs for her whole family.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And the worst part of all of this is I don't even like water," she said. "I won't even go swimming. That would be a little difficult when I get on that boat and get way out in the ocean."
— Thanks to Out There reader Laura C.
Senior Citizens Dress Naked Statues
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) — Some senior citizens have become very vocal art critics, especially after some nude sculptures turned up near the Middletown senior center.
The seniors objected to three pairs of nude male bronzes that stand close to the Senior Center on William Street, the work of Thompson sculptor Nicholas Baker Swearer (search).
Tom Hardin, director of senior services, said that the objections have been directed at Swearer's "Brotherhood," "Agreement" and "Struggle."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It only took a matter of minutes after the first installation near the bocce court before the seniors noticed there was something different," Hardin said.
Hardin said that it didn't take long after the sculptures were in place that they "had gained clothes. Someone went to a lot of trouble to wrap a beach towel around the men embracing."
— Thanks to Out There reader Beth M.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Elderly Midwestern Ladies Taking It Off
FARMLAND, Ind. (AP) — Seven women who usually gather to play cards are planning to strip down for a calendar as part of the fight against plans to tear down Randolph County's 128-year-old courthouse.
The women ranging in age from their early 70s to older than 90 will pose nude — with strategically placed miniature replicas of the courthouse in front of them — in the fundraiser for the Save the Courthouse Fund (search).
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I don't know how we're going to look, but we're going to pose," 85-year-old Garnita Amburn told The Star Press of Muncie for a story last Wednesday.
The Randolph County commissioners voted 2-1 on June 6 to demolish the courthouse in downtown Winchester and replace it with a new structure.
It would be the first courthouse in the state to be leveled since the 1970s, but the commissioners who favor its replacement say they do not believe it would be wise to spend millions of dollars to renovate the 19th century building.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Organizers plan to sell the calendars beginning next month for $12.95 each and hope to raise at least $20,000.
The calendar's models are all members of the Farmland Bridge Club (search) in the western Randolph County town.
"We just thought we have great bods, so we thought we'd do it," 76-year-old Iraida Davis-Leitch said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eighty-five-year-old Frances Hensley's jaw dropped when she saw sample photographs for the calendar, including a woman holding two miniature courthouses in front of her chest.
"Oh my stars," she said.
World Cup to Crack Down on Streaking
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Soccer World Cup organizers will seek heavy fines for streakers during next year's tournament.
During the recent Confederations Cup (search) there were four instances of streaking during the tournament's 16 games.
"You can't assume these so-called streakers will always have peaceful intent," Wolfgang Niersbach, vice president of the organizing committee, said Friday. "We don't want to imagine, for example, what would happen if one had a knife."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}There currently is no penalty in Germany for spectators who run onto the field. Organizers would like even tougher measures for streakers, such as jail, but did not think they could get such laws passed in time for the World Cup.
German authorities ruled out building a metal fence around the field because it would penalize soccer fans.
Mutilated Nude Statue Finds New Home
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}PENTICTON, British Columbia (AP) — Baggage Handler (search), a nude statue that was removed from a turnaround at the marina after vandals hacked off its genitals, has a new home at a nearby winery.
Sculptor Michael Hermesh (search) said he had gotten over the trauma of the attack and sold the statue to the Red Rooster Winery (search) in Naramata.
Red Rooster owners Beat and Prudence Maher said they were pleased to have the statue, which area residents have nicknamed "Frank."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The epoxy-impregnated plaster figure of a 6½-foot suitcase-carrying man surrounded by luggage is now mounted in a courtyard overlooking Okanagan Lake (search) but will be moved inside the winery, the Mahers said.
Trouble arose soon after Baggage Handler was installed in the downtown turnaround in this lakeside resort early this year.
After distracted drivers narrowly avoided accidents, a plate was installed over the genitalia. Then it was removed because it drew attention to the groin area and looked silly.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Baggage Handler was removed in April after a series of attacks by vandals, including one in which the figure's penis was chopped off, the ankles were broken and the 24 suitcases knocked over.
The statue was supposed to have remained in place until September.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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