Weird news from around the nation | Viral Now
Coast Guard seeks hoax caller whose ‘maydays’ cost $500,000
The U.S. Coast Guard says it’s looking for a man who has cost the service about $500,000 after responding to nearly 30 of his fake distress calls.
In a press release published Friday, the Coast Guard says the 28 calls have originated from around the area of Annapolis, Maryland.
Each call involved the same male voice and used an emergency radio channel. He’s been making the calls since July 2014. The two most recent calls were made on the night of July 21 and the early morning of July 22.
The Coast Guard also says hoax calls distract rescuers from real emergencies, putting both the public and the responding crews at risk.
Woman drove for days in Alaska with husband’s body in casket
A woman who drove her husband’s body on a days-long traveling wake in Alaska and used ice from canneries to keep him cold is not accused of breaking any laws.
Officers responded to a call last week to find the body of a 78-year-old man inside an aluminum transport casket.
Ketchikan Police Chief Alan Bengaard told the Ketchikan Daily News (http://bit.ly/2a4IF5q) that the woman stopped at canneries for ice to put in the truck bed during the “rolling wake.”
The man had died of natural causes.
A mortuary took custody of the body after the authorities were called.
The family can make further arrangements.
Bengaard said hopefully the woman won’t take her husband back out on the road, but that he wasn’t aware of any laws she had broken.
Canadian teens detained for Pokemon Go border crossing
U.S. Border Patrol officials say two Canadian teenagers were briefly apprehended after they accidentally crossed the U.S. border into Montana while playing the game “Pokemon Go.”
Border Patrol Agent John South says the teens were engrossed and wandered into the United States.
South says agents detained them while contacting their mother, who was nearby on the Canadian side.
The agents then released the children to their mother.
South on Friday declined to release the teenagers’ names, ages or describe what sort of terrain they crossed.
He says they were detained Thursday near Sweet Grass, Montana, which borders the town of Coutts in Canada’s Alberta province.
“Pokemon Go” is a game in which players go to different locations to find virtual characters that appear on their cellphones.
Town where ‘Jersey Shore’ was filmed now wants quiet beaches
A New Jersey town made famous by the “Jersey Shore” reality TV series and its hard-partying cast is ready for some quiet time on its beaches.
Seaside Heights is banning speakers, boomboxes and any other devices that amplify music from its beaches, beginning Friday. It’s part of a 60-day experiment.
Borough administrator Christopher Vaz told NJ.com (http://bit.ly/2a5KGyt ) the council received complaints about loud music, and lifeguards have reported confrontations between beachgoers over the volume.
“We have a right to have reasonable rules for the beach and we want all our guests to be able to peacefully and quietly enjoy the beach,” Vaz said.
Vaz said he’s actually seen people wheeling out speakers the size of luggage onto the beach. “That makes it pretty hard to avoid listening to your neighbor’s music,” he said.
Beach attendants will ask patrons to leave the amplification in their vehicles and lifeguards will be watching for violators.
For beachgoers who want to listen to music, it now must be straight from their mobile devices or through a pair of ear buds.
Many critics of the MTV show, including Republican Gov. Chris Christie, complained it offered an unflattering portrayal of the state.-
113-year-old New Jersey woman holds title of oldest American
A 113-year-old New Jersey woman is the new holder of the title of oldest American.
Adele Dunlap became the country’s oldest person earlier this month following the death of Goldie Michelson, of Worcester, Massachusetts, The Record newspaper reported (http://bit.ly/29VvKkY).
She also is the 10th oldest person in the world, according to the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, which tracks supercentenarians, people 110 or older.
Dunlap lives at the Country Arch Care Center in Pittstown, where she first arrived at age 99 ½. Asked how it feels to be the oldest American, she told the newspaper: “I don’t feel any different.” Asked what it means to be an American, she said: “Well, I’ve never been anything else.”
Dunlap taught school before marrying and settling down to raise the couple’s three children. Her husband worked for an insurance company and died in 1963.
She doesn’t give an explanation for her longevity, and her 86-year-old son, Earl, is also at a loss to credit any particular thing for his mother’s long life.
“It’s hard to say,” Earl Dunlap said. “She never went out jogging or anything like that. She’s not really thin, but she never weighed more than 140 pounds. She smoked, and when my father had his first heart attack, they both stopped. I think she ate anything she wanted.”
Despite the fact she was born Dec. 12, 1902, in Newark, she often gives a younger age when asked how old she is.
“Last year, when we were telling her it was her 113th birthday, she said, ‘No, no, no, I’m only 102,’” recalled Susan Dempster, the care center’s activities director.
Dempster said Dunlap is a passive participant in daily activities and socializes minimally, but looks forward to Girl Scouts’ coming to sing Christmas carols.
Blue Light Special is a roundup of the Myrtle Beach area’s weird and wild crime, written with a saracastic and/or humorous twist. It is meant as a parody. Don’t take it too seriously; we don’t.
This story was originally published July 25, 2016 at 10:11 AM with the headline "Weird news from around the nation | Viral Now."