Along the Iroise coast in Brittany, France, residents have been puzzled by a mysterious phenomenon for more than 30 years. Broken pieces of orange plastic landline phones in the shape of the cartoon character Garfield have been washing up on the beach. BBC News reports the mystery has now been solved: A local farmer remembered the phone parts started showing up after a particularly fierce storm in the early 1980s, and, more important, he also knew the location of a lost shipping container -- in a sea cave accessible only at low tide. Members of the Ar Viltansou anti-litter campaign climbed down to the cave and found not only the remains of the container, but also more Garfield phones, preserved better than any that had made it to the beach. The container cannot be removed, so officials have pledged to keep picking up Garfield phones as they wash ashore. [BBC News, 3/28/2019]

Unclear on the Concept

Bystanders at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport got an unexpected show on March 23 when an unnamed man made his way through Ural Airlines flight registration, then suddenly stripped off all his clothes and ran onto the jet bridge. A fellow passenger told REN TV: "He shouted that he was naked because clothing impairs the aerodynamics of the body. He flies with more agility when undressed." The nude man, who hails from Yakutsk but lives near Moscow, was intercepted by airport staff before he made it to the plane and was turned over to police, then moved to a hospital. Witnesses said he did not appear to be drunk. [The Moscow Times, 3/24/2019]

Every Day's a Holiday

You don't need to be celebrating a birthday to get a special cake these days. In Nashville, bakers at Signature Desserts made the news in early March when they filled an order for a woman trying to sweeten the deal for her husband, who was undergoing a vasectomy. FOX 17 reported the cake was decorated with lemons and read, "100% Juice, No Seeds. Happy Vasectomy!" The pleased recipient "loved it!" according to his wife. The news outlet also reports that doctors see a big spike in vasectomies during the NCAA basketball tournament, when men have a constant source of entertainment as they heal. [FOX 17, 3/9/2019]

Fashion Victim

I hate when this happens: Jarred Randal Womack, 37, agreed to exchange pants with another man in Boulder, Colorado, on Jan. 22, but after the trade, he decided he didn't like the other man's pants after all, so Womack stabbed the man in the back. Detectives investigating the incident later found the pants in question soiled with feces, which "could be the reason for the altercation," according to the police affidavit. The Daily Camera reported that Womack was eventually charged with first-degree attempted murder, two counts of first-degree assault and robbery; the stabbing victim sustained life-threatening injuries. [Daily Camera, 1/25/2019]

Seriously?

At Palapas Tacos in Anaheim, California, the menu is presented in English and Spanish, which proved to be a bridge too far for one customer on March 25. On that day, a Monday, the unnamed man saw a sign advertising "Fish Tacos for $1.99 All Day" under the heading "Especial de Viernes," or Friday Special. He became upset when he found out he couldn't get the Friday special on Monday, yelling, "That's bulls---! It says it in Mexican. We're not in Mexico. We're in America! ... I'm an American!" Palapas' owner Juan del Rio followed the man outside to talk with him, but the man pulled out his phone, saying he was going to call "Immigration! Because you're not legal!" "I just feel like it's sad that there's people (who) actually think like that," del Rio told FOX 11. "But over a taco?" [FOX 11, 3/27/2019]

Mistaken Identity

Passengers on a Melbourne, Australia, commuter train dove under seats, cried and texted their loved ones on March 28 when police locked down the Flagstaff Station in response to a report of a man with a rifle case acting suspiciously, according to the Associated Press. As it turned out, Will Austin, a busker aboard the train, was performing breathing exercises in advance of playing his didgeridoo -- an indigenous wind instrument that Austin was carrying in a long bag. Oblivious to police wearing body armor and carrying assault rifles, Austin admitted "I probably looked pretty suspicious, I suppose, just waltzing around and slowly walking out" before officers stopped him to search his bag. Nothing to see here. [Associated Press, 3/28/2019]

Suspicions Confirmed

-- Two employees of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car store in Arnold, Missouri, couldn't figure out why they suddenly felt dizzy and shaky on March 14, but after visiting an urgent care, they were transferred to a nearby hospital, KMOV reported. Police Lt. Clinton Wooldridge said officers questioned an unnamed 19-year-old Enterprise employee who admitted he put LSD in the water bottles of two of his co-workers, as well as in a third worker's coffee cup, because they had "negative energy." The two affected workers were fine after the drug wore off, and law enforcement is waiting for lab results before charging the young man, possibly with second-degree assault and possession of a controlled substance. [KMOV, 3/22/2019]

-- The nerve! Solange Troncoso paid $1.99 for a bag of TGI Fridays Sour Cream & Onion Potato Skins at a Bronx convenience store in June 2018. On March 27, she filed suit against TGI Fridays in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, claiming that the company misleads consumers because the snacks contain potato flakes and potato starch -- but no skins. According to Reuters, Troncoso claims she and other consumers have been defrauded into buying an "inferior product." [Reuters, 3/27/2019]

Awesome!

Along the border between Mexico and the United States, the battle over a wall rages on. But one Los Angeles artist has taken matters into his own hands. Inspired to "Make America Grate Again," Cosimo Cavallaro is repurposing blocks of expired cotija, a hard cheese from Mexico, to build his own wall in Tecate, California. Cavallaro's wall is 5 feet high, and he hopes to make it about 1,000 feet long, he told the Los Angeles Times. "To spend all this money to keep dividing the countries, I think is a waste," Cavallaro said. "You see the waste in my wall, but you can't see the waste in (Trump's) $10 billion wall, which in time will be removed? It sounds cheesy, but just love one another." [Los Angeles Times, 3/27/2019]

Police Report

Seventeen Chicago police officers raided a home on Feb. 10 with a search warrant in hand as a 4-year-old child's birthday party was underway. The suspect they sought hadn't lived at that address for five years, WLS TV reported, but that didn't stop officers from smashing the birthday cake, trashing the apartment and pointing guns at the birthday boy and his 7-year-old sister, who has now developed a fear of police officers, according to her mother. None of the contraband items listed in the warrant were found at the home. On March 26, the family filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court. [WLS TV, 3/26/2019]

Researchers at St. Mary's Hospital in London had been stumped how 10 British men had contracted a rare virus called human T-cell leukemia virus type 1. The men weren't intravenous drug users and hadn't had transfusions; none of them displayed any symptoms, but doctors had identified the virus through bloodwork. Dr. Divya Dhasmana, co-author of a study published March 13 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was eventually tipped off to the source of the infections when she saw scars on one of the men's back: The men participate in blood-shedding religious rituals, such as cutting or whipping themselves. The rituals the men reported include striking the forehead with a knife, then passing the knife to other men; or striking the back with a chain of blades. Dr. Dhasmana told the Associated Press that one infected man told her the blades were soaked in a bucket of antiseptic solution between uses, but that didn't prevent the virus' spread. "Our message is not 'Don't do it,'" said Dr. Dhasmana. "Our message is, 'If you do it, don’t share equipment.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/2019]

Lucky!

A 43-year-old man in Nimbin, Australia, has the proliferation of modern technology to thank for his life. Reuters reported that on March 13, the unnamed man arrived home only to find a 39-year-old man "who was known to him," waiting outside with a bow and arrow. As Man A raised his mobile phone to take a picture of Man B, Man B "engaged the bow and was ready to fire," according to a police report. Man B "fired the arrow at the resident, which pierced through the man's mobile phone, causing the phone to hit (Man A) in the chin. It left a small laceration that didn't require medical treatment." Man B was arrested at the scene, police reported. [Reuters, 3/14/2019]

The Litigious Society

Joanne Cullen, 64, of North Bellmore, Long Island, wants to make administrators of St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery in Farmingdale pay for the horror she experienced in December 2016 as she visited her parents' graves. On that day, Cullen was reaching down to straighten a bow on a wreath when the ground opened up beneath her and a sinkhole "caused her to fall forward and smash her head on the tombstone," cracking a tooth, her attorney, Joseph Perrini, told the New York Post. As Cullen sank, she grabbed the sides of the tombstone and yelled for help, but no one heard her. Cullen filed suit in March in Queens Supreme Court, asking for $5 million to overcome the nightmares and headaches she experiences, along with the fear of walking in open fields. "I will never go back there again," Cullen said. "Getting sucked into your parents' grave ... it's terrifying and traumatizing," Perrini added. [New York Post, 3/16/2019]

Criminal Ingenuity

Outside the North Fork Correctional Unit in Sayre, Oklahoma, Kerri Jo Hickman was arrested on March 10 for delivering contraband to prison inmates, reported the Associated Press. Hickman's clever delivery method was a T-shirt gun, used by sports team mascots to shoot promotional shirts at fans. Hickman, however, launched methamphetamines, cellphones, ear buds, phone chargers, digital scales, marijuana and tobacco to some lucky con on the other side, but police discovered the gun and another package in her car, and she was booked on charges of introducing contraband into a penal institution, conspiracy and drug trafficking in Beckham County. [Associated Press, 3/15/2019]

Oh, the Drama

Dog walker Michele Bilsland has become accustomed to strangers' alarm when her charge, Begbie, throws himself to the ground as they start out on their constitutional. Begbie, who lives with Roz Niblock and Matt Kennedy in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, stages his protest when Bilsland leads him on what he knows is the shorter route around the block, rather than his usual hour-long jaunt through fields. On March 15, two workmen stopped to see if Bilsland needed help: "I told them he was fine and just having a tantrum and sulking," she told Metro News. Begbie, a 4-year-old Old English bulldog, continued his charade for at least a minute before getting up and getting on with his walk. "Begbie just has a very strong personality," Bilsland noted. [Metro News, 3/19/2019]

Florida.

Arby's manager Le'Terria Akins, 21, was arrested in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, for aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief on March 16 after an altercation with Ernst Point Du Jour, an employee. FOX 35 reported that trouble started after Akins asked Point Du Jour if he could work late that evening, according to police. When he refused, the two began arguing, and witnesses reported that as Point Du Jour got very close to Akins, she pepper-sprayed him. Point Du Jour ran out of the building with Akins in hot pursuit, wielding a long kitchen knife. Police said Akins did not stab Du Jour but did scratch his car with the knife. [FOX 35, 3/19/2019]

Bright Idea

Topeka, Kansas, police took the joy out of "joyride" on March 16 for Nicholas Hodgden, 40, who climbed into a forklift outside a Dillons grocery store that evening and set off down the road. The forklift, valued at $1,500, had been left outside the store with the keys in the ignition, The Topeka Capitol-Journal reported. A spokesperson for the police department said bystanders saw what happened and called police, who apprehended Hodgden as he drove along, holding an open can of beer. He also had a six-pack in the back. Hodgden was booked into the Shawnee County Jail on one count of felony theft and misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and transporting an open alcoholic beverage container. [Topeka Capitol-Journal, 3/18/2019]

Government in Action

Ah, the winds of politics blow fickly. Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II, 27, watched his fortunes both fall and rise, all on one ballot, when residents of Fall River, Massachusetts, voted to recall him. Correia was charged last year with 13 counts of wire fraud and filing false tax returns, which he has denied, and on March 12, 7,829 citizens voted to kick him out of office, The New York Times reported. But of the five people vying for the mayor's job on the same ballot, Correia won a plurality -- about 35 percent of the vote. Looks like he can unpack his banker's boxes and hang his pictures back up -- at least until September, when a mayoral primary will give other candidates another chance. [The New York Times, 3/13/2019]

Insult to Injury

The last thing Ohio defense attorney Aaron Brockler remembers after hearing the judge pronounce a 47-year sentence for his client, David Chislton, 42, was a "swoosh" sound. That was the sound of Chislton's fist speeding through the air toward Brockler's face. On Feb. 19, Chislton had pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County to domestic abuse, aggravated arson, felonious assault and cruelty to a companion animal, and Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo handed down his sentence as he stood handcuffed next to his lawyer. But before Brockler could tell him that he would try to get the sentence reduced, Chislton had knocked him to the floor. "All I remember is waking up on the floor underneath the table," Brockler told WKYC TV. Brockler suffered a concussion and a broken nose. Chislton faces additional charges. [WKYC, 2/21/2019]

I've Had It Up to Here!

It seems Cynthia Grund, 58, is not one to back down from a challenge. Particularly after her 37-year-old son had been drinking all day at her home in Salem Township, Minnesota. So when he lay down on the driveway and asked, "Why don't you just run me over?" she was happy to oblige, reported KIMT TV. "He didn't believe I would. He has been drinking all day. We gave him a chance," Grund told deputies who responded to her husband's 911 call on March 18. Grund said she had arranged for her son to stay with a friend and was prepared to give him a ride when he stretched out on the ground. He suffered significant injuries to his head and pelvis, and Grund is accused of second-degree assault and may face an attempted murder charge. Neighbor Samuel Haefner was shocked by the incident: "They were always friendly ... I would never describe them as off or malicious in any sort of way." [KIMT, 3/19/2019]

Brewery worker Del Hall of Newtown, Ohio, is taking an unusual approach to fasting for Lent this year. Hall, who works at the Fifty West brewery in Dayton, is going on an all-beer-only-beer diet until Easter. He told WKRC-TV that monks from the 1600s inspired him. "(T)hey would take a popular style of beer in Germany, bock beer, make it extra hearty and that would be their liquid bread, and that's what they call it," Hall said. He is, however, including all types of beer in his Lenten fast. "(T)his seems very daunting," Hall noted. "I'm just curious if I'm up to the challenge." He is planning to check in with his doctor during the fast. [WKRC, 3/11/2019]

Going Out in Style

Drivers along southbound Interstate 880 in Hayward, California, were pleasantly surprised on March 4 when they saw $20 bills flying through the air. Some motorists stopped to collect as many as they could, but the mystery lay in where they came from. The next day, members of a family, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted to KTVU that they tossed $500 worth of bills into the air as they drove back from a funeral; the unexpected windfall was intended to honor their deceased family member. It's an "Oakland thing," one person explained. [KTVU, 3/5/2019]

Scrooge Report

As Clayton Lucas, 25, was being transported through East Deer Township, Pennsylvania, from a halfway house to a treatment class on the morning of March 4 (69 days after Christmas), the van driver regaled him with Christmas songs. Turns out Lucas isn't a fan of holiday tunes, so he reached into the front seat and began choking the unnamed driver, who was strangled almost to the point of losing consciousness, according to police. KDKA reported that another driver flagged down a state trooper and alerted him about an altercation happening on the shoulder of the highway. After a struggle to get handcuffs on Lucas, the officer deposited him in the Allegheny County Jail, where he will face multiple charges. [KDKA, 3/8/2019]

Let's Make a Deal

In Granville County, North Carolina, Melissa Anne Godshall, 31, and her boyfriend, Robert J. Kennerley, 46, were minding their own business, panhandling at the side of the road, when a car pulled over and Godshall received an unusual proposal: Levan Lomtatidze, 44, from the nation of Georgia, would pay her $12,000, give her a car and make rent payments for her if she would marry him so he could stay in the United States. She agreed, according to U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr., and Kennerley served as a witness at their nuptials. Alas, this romantic partnership was not to be: On March 7, Godshall and Lomtatidze were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, marriage fraud, visa fraud and making false statements in immigration proceedings, the Raleigh News and Observer reported. If convicted, the two face 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Best man Kennerley also faces prison time and fines for aiding and abetting marriage fraud. [Raleigh News and Observer, 3/8/2019]

Idiom in Action

In Ljubljana, Slovenia, an unnamed 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old relative were arrested for insurance fraud, police announced on March 11, after the young woman cut off her hand in order to collect almost 400,000 euros in insurance payments. Two other relatives were released in the case. The four had recently signed up with five different insurance companies for life and injury coverage. "With one of her accomplices, she intentionally amputated the hand at the wrist with a circular saw, hoping to stage it as an accident," said police spokesman Valter Zrinski, according to the Daily Mail. The group left the hand behind when they went to the hospital, intending to ensure a permanent disability, said police, but doctors at the Ljubljana University Medical Center were able to retrieve and re-attach it. The woman and her accomplice face up to eight years in prison. [Daily Mail, 3/11/2019]

Anger Management: Wedding Edition

As a wedding party of 30 guests gathered on the beach at Oceanfront Park in Ocean Ridge, Florida, on March 3, Jeffery E. Alvord, 27, and his bride posed for photos before the ceremony. Trouble erupted instead when a 24-year-old man would not move from his spot on the beach to make way for the photos, the Palm Beach Post reported. In fact, Alvord told police, the man wouldn't relocate even after being offered $50 and became "very belligerent," so Alvord punched him in the nose. The victim told Ocean Ridge police a groomsman held him while Alvord punched him three times, and the police report noted that the victim's "nose appears to be out of place sitting more to the right of his face," and his glasses were broken. Alvord spent what would have been his wedding night in the Palm Beach County Jail and faces charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief. He and his fiancee married the next day, shortly after his release from jail. [Palm Beach Post, 3/6/2019]

People Different From Us

He's been dubbed the Naked Carpenter for renovating his home wearing only a tool belt, but Robert Jenner, 43, of Snodland, Kent, England, seems to have crossed the line with local jurors. Jenner was convicted on March 12 of 10 counts of indecent exposure in Canterbury Crown Court. Jenner's nudist habits have put him on the wrong side of law enforcement before, reported Metro News, but this time his offenses included delivering packages for a courier service wearing trousers with a hole cut out of the crotch, exposing himself to a teenage girl, and running past a children's play area while wearing "see-through trousers." Jenner's attorney, Kate Chidgey, tried to explain her client's behavior: "It was not his intention that people were caused distress by what he did or didn't wear." She added that he strongly believes in "naturism." [Metro News, 3/12/2019]

Crime Report

Elysia Johnson, 21, apparently needed some alone time on March 9, so she took a full cart and a six-pack of Stella Artois beer into a dressing room at Target in Lathrop, California, where she hunkered down for more than an hour, according to police. Johnson finished all the beer and left the store -- with about $200 worth of unpurchased merchandise. A loss prevention officer stopped her and she was taken to the San Joaquin County Jail, where she was held on $60,000 bail. Johnson also had three outstanding warrants, reported KTXL News. [FOX40.com, 3/11/2019]

Bright Idea

Looking for a way to banish evil spirits? Check in to The Lighthouse, near Frome, Somerset, England, where a group called Universal Medicine will help you burp your troubles away. The Mirror reports that the group, founded by Serge Benhayon in 1999, ran up against the law last year in Sydney, Australia, where a civil court declared it a "socially harmful cult" and found that it makes false claims about healing. Members are told what to eat and who to associate with. A girl named Kasha told the BBC her mum joined the cult when the girl was 12. "She started burping ridiculously and she said, 'I'm just burping out bad spirits,'" Kasha said. "She's still my mum and I love her. But she's never going to be the person that she was." Benhayon, a failed tennis coach who claims to be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci, still lives in Australia but visits The Lighthouse twice a year. [Mirror, 3/12/2019]