A Louisiana woman made a driving mistake last week — she let her 12-year-old daughter get behind the wheel.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the pair were leaving the Pinecrest Plaza shopping mall in the town of Slidell last Tuesday when the girl asked if she could drive home.
The mother refused, but did agree to let her drive around the parking lot.
The 12-year-old hopped into the driver's seat of the 1995 Mazda Millenia (search), backed out of the parking space properly and headed right onto Old Spanish Trail, one of the town's busiest thoroughfares.
"The mother said she was yelling at the girl, 'No! No! No! I wanted you to stay in the parking lot!'" police Lt. Rob Callahan told the newspaper.
So the girl went to hit the brakes — and hit the gas instead.
The car hopped the curb, drove over the sidewalk right back into the parking lot, where it crashed into a pair of Nissan Maximas.
Both the mother and her daughter declined medical treatment, Callahan said.
"This wasn't the brightest thing to do," he observed, "but at least they were wearing their seat belts."
Mom got a citation for letting her daughter drive. The girl was arrested for careless driving and driving without a license, then released on the spot.
The pair finally drove away — with the mother at the wheel.
— Thanks to Out There reader Scott M.
This Looks More Like a Bologna Sandwich Than Money
LOCKPORT, N.Y. (AP) — They thought they were getting away with loot. Instead, they got lunch.
Two men in Lockport, N.Y., face robbery charges after showing up at a tractor supply store at closing time. Authorities say the pair demanded the night bank deposit bag, grabbed a blue bag from one employee and got away.
Turns out the bag was the employee's lunch bag — not the deposit bag. The men were arrested a little while later.
A sheriff's deputy says he would have liked to have seen the men's faces when they realized the mistake.
Family Traps Burglars During Getaway
OVIEDO, Fla. (AP) — Janice Gentry is not to be trifled with.
When four suspected burglars tried to make off with her belongings, Gentry and her sons outfoxed them by fashioning a tripwire out of a fishing line and blocking the suspects until authorities arrived and arrested them, deputies said.
Burglars struck Gentry's Oviedo home Saturday afternoon, loading her belongings into her Ford Explorer (search) and searching for another vehicle when it didn't all fit in the SUV, according to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. They tried to steal the neighbor's van but were scared off, deputies said.
Officials say the burglars left, intending to return later that night.
Gentry returned home, found her things loaded in her Explorer and alerted the sheriff's office.
The burglars returned about 3 a.m. Sunday and tried to drive off in the Explorer.
By then, Gentry and her two sons had tied a fishing line from her bumper to a bicycle in the garage, and the bicycle came crashing down and alerted Gentry and her sons.
The woman and her sons blocked the driveway with their cars to prevent any escape, said Steve Olson, spokesman for the sheriff's office.
Suspects Whitney D. Davis, 24, Reginald M. Hudson, 19, Patrick Doreus, 19, and Geraldo Rivera, 16, were charged with burglary, larceny, loitering and prowling. Davis was charged with car burglary and petty theft.
MADISON, Neb. (AP) — Are Nebraskans ready for bull fries?
Jackie Williams, of Valentine, is the proprietor of the portable Potato Hut at this year's Madison County Fair and Rodeo (search). She says even when people find out what the fries really are — bull's testicles — nine out of 10 fair-goers still want to do a taste test.
True bull fry lovers can go for a whopping half-pound, 10-piece serving of bull fries included on the menu of the Potato Hut, which Williams co-owns and runs with her husband, Dustin.
And there's more than just novelty to the fries, according to Williams.
"Bull fries are all beef and one of the leanest meats on the market," Williams said. "They're 100 percent cholesterol-free."
The bull fries come to the Williams eatery already sliced, breaded and seasoned from a food distributor, Jackie Williams said.
"We also add our own, secret, special spices," she said.
Bar to Be Replaced by Rehab Center
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A local homeless shelter has purchased a neighboring bar and plans to build something oddly appropriate where the old tavern now stands: a drug and alcohol treatment center.
South Omaha's Stephen Center shelter bought the South Seven bar this month, said Del Bomberger, executive director of the shelter. He said the bar will be knocked down to make room for a new residential treatment center.
Bomberger said the bar had long been a problem for the shelter, because many of the shelter's patrons had drinking and drug problems and were able to get alcohol and drugs in and around the tavern.
The irony of building a treatment center on land where a bar once stood was not lost on Bomberger.
"It's really kind of a fun conversion," he said.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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