Lead Stories
Constable Carol Hashimoto told the Edmonton Journal in January that she had recently spoken to a man who was racked with guilt because he had driven home from Edmonton to Valleyview, Alberta, four hours away, without his driver’s license, which he had left in his hotel room. And in Charlotte, North Carolina, at his February sentencing for laundering money, John Calvin Hodge Sr., 69, revealed that he had declared his $40,000 laundering fee on his tax return.
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In November the mayor of South Gate, California, proposed an ordinance banning the colors wild orange, rose, lavender, and turquoise on houses. One resident said he’d paint over his colorful house only “if cars were crashing into each other because the drivers were looking at [my house]. Or if it hurt people’s eyes.” However, in Joliet the city council passed an ordinance in January requiring builders to make houses less boring by mixing up features and colors. Said council member Joseph Shetina, who thinks too many row houses look alike: “You go home drunk and you’d never know which house was yours.”
In March the animal-control officer of Pickens County, South Carolina, threatened to enforce a county snake-handling ordinance against collector Roy Cox, proprietor of an exhibit called Reptiles of the World. The officer said Cox needs a county license, which he can get only if he has federal and state reptile-handling permits. However, no federal or South Carolina agency issues any such permit.
Send your weird news to Chuck Shepherd, Chicago Reader, 11 E. Illinois, Chicago 60611.
