News of the Weird, July 5, 2009
Chuck Shepherd
by Chuck Shepherd
Copyright 2009 by Chuck Shepherd. All rights reserved.
Lead Story
* A 48-year-old immigrant from Malta regularly hangs out in
various New York City bars, but always on the floor, so that he can
enjoy his particular passion of being stepped on. "Georgio T." told
the New York Times in June that he has delighted in being stepped
on since he was a kid. While one playmate "wanted to be the
doctor, [another] wanted to be the carpenter . . . I would want to be
the carpet." Nowadays, he carries a custom-made rug he can affix
to his back (and a sign, Step on Carpet) and may lie face-down for
several hours if the bar is busy. He is also a regular at "high foot-
traffic" fetish parties, where dozens of stompers (especially women
in stilettos) can satisfy their own urges while gratifying Georgio.
[New York Times, 6-14-09]
Compelling Explanations
* Steven Gilmore Jr., 21, was arrested in Gainesville, Fla., after an
aborted convenience store robbery in which he shot a clerk with a
BB gun. Police said Gilmore confessed to the crime, explaining
that he is an aspiring rap singer and felt he needed to commit a
violent crime to gain "street cred" as a thug. [Gainesville Sun, 5-
11-09]
* Marcella Rivera said the last she heard was that her soldier-
husband William Rivera would try to reconcile with her and their
five children when he got back from Iraq, but then her mother had
just seen a TV program on returning soldiers that showed William
being married to another woman. Marcella pressed a bigamy
charge in Independence, Mo., but prosecutors dropped it in May
after William convinced them that "post-traumatic stress disorder"
suffered in Iraq had made him forget that he was married. [KCTV
(Kansas City), 5-20-09]
Ironies
* Evils of Renewable Energy: (1) Massachusetts Gov. Deval
Patrick calls the Evergreen Solar Panel manufacturing plant in the
town of Devens "the leading edge of our clean energy economy,"
but neighbors continue to complain vociferously about the
dizzying, 24-hour-a-day noise. According to a June Boston Herald
story, farmers report that their horses are developing ulcers and that
other animals are behaving strangely. (2) Four hundred goats have
mysteriously died since the installation of eight noisy, 24-hour-a-
day wind turbines in the Penghu region in Taiwan, according to a
Council of Agriculture official cited in a May Reuters report.
[Boston Herald, 6-5-09] [Reuters, 5-21-09]
* Sexual Confusion: (1) Researchers from the University of
British Columbia nursing school reported in December that lesbian
and bisexual high school girls are seven times more likely to get
pregnant than other girls. A leading hypothesis is that those girls
may try to disguise their sexual identity by uninhibited
heterosexual behavior. (2) Addressing a conference in Hobart,
Australia, in May, Professor Julie Quinlivan, dean of the
University of Notre Dame Australia's medical school, said that for
disadvantaged teenage girls, becoming pregnant is a good thing,
teaching a sense of responsibility that may otherwise not develop.
Such teen mothers were more likely to stop smoking, stay in
school, and find jobs. [Vancouver Sun, 12-16-08] [The Mercury
(Hobart), 5-14-09]
* Even though life and health insurance companies now routinely
penalize smokers with higher premiums (or by refusing their
business), the companies themselves own tobacco company stock
worth at least $4.4 billion, according to a recent New England
Journal of Medicine report. Centers for Disease Control estimates
that more than 400,000 Americans die prematurely each year due
in part to smoking (burdening life insurance companies but perhaps
sparing health insurers from having to pay out over longer
lifetimes). [Agence France-Presse, 6-4-09]
What About My Rights?
* Chutzpah: In 2006, a jury in Tampa convicted William
Deparvine, 57, of murdering a husband and wife in order to steal
their restored, vintage 1971 Chevy truck that they had offered to
sell Deparvine. Judge and jury agreed on the death penalty, and
thus began the inevitable delay until execution. With time on his
hands, Deparvine filed a lawsuit in 2007 against the dead couple's
estate, insisting (in line with his failed trial defense) that the truck
is now his, that the couple had signed over a bill of sale before they
died. The couple's family, having hoped to move on from the
tragedy, is instead busy filing court papers. [St. Petersburg Times,
6-15-09]
* In June, lawyer Alfred Rava announced a $500,000 settlement of
his lawsuit against the Oakland A's baseball team for
"discriminating" illegally against men when it gave away 7,500
floppy hats to the first women through the turnstiles on a 2004
Mothers Day breast-cancer-awareness promotion. Rava may get
about half ("attorney's fees"), and any man who swears he was
among the first 7,500 fans through the gates that day, and who
wanted a hat, will get $50 cash plus other premiums. [American
Bar Association Journal, 6-18-09]
That Sacred Institution of Marriage
* (1) When Ian Platt, 51, married Lisa, 42, in Leeds, England, in
May, he dressed in traditional morning suit in a ceremony heavily
attended by his family. However, after the family members
departed, Ian slipped away, donned a wedding dress, and reappeared
before friends to take vows as his preferred identity, Susan. Both
ceremonies were approved by Lisa. (2) Asia News International
reported in May that a man and woman, both 23, from China's
Yichang Hubei province, were planning to get married in 2011 and
had made plans to switch genders before then (since the woman
says she's always looked like a boy, and the man says his "calm
demeanor" more resembles that of a woman). [Daily Telegraph
(London), 5-18-09] [China National News-Asia News International,
5-21-09]
The Weirdo-American Community
* (1) Daniel Doster Jr., 42, was arrested in Yorktown, Ind., in
March for masturbating while standing beside his mailbox (which
he told police he was doing to show his neighbors "who was boss").
(2) Dean Mark, 53, was arrested at Whittell High School in Zephyr
Cove, Nev., in June, for trespassing. Three students had reported
encountering Mark a short distance from the school, nude, tied to a
large rock, and asked if he wanted to be untied. According to the
police report, Mark declined but then a few minutes later appeared
fully clothed on the school grounds. [Star Press (Muncie, Ind.), 3-
11-09] [Tahoe Daily Tribune, 6-11-09]
Least Competent Criminals
* Not Ready for Prime Time: (1) In April, police in Fayetteville,
N.C., were seeking a pregnant woman who walked into a Carter
Bank & Trust branch with a handgun and demanded cash. As a
clerk was taking money out to give to her, she received a call on her
cell phone, and the conversation became so intense that she ignored
the money and walked out of the bank empty-handed, still talking.
(2) Alfonso Rizzuto, 47, who was on the run from forgery charges
in Scranton, Pa., was arrested in nearby Kingston when he wandered
into a post office and an employee noticed that Rizzuto bore a great
resemblance to the photo on the "Wanted" poster of "Alfonso
Rizzuto" tacked to the wall. [Fox News-AP, 4-22-09] [Times
Leader (Wilkes-Barre), 4-7-09]
Recurring Themes
* Medical Marvel: Paul Gibbs, 26, hopes soon to have his left ear
reattached after losing it in a barroom fight, but for now, the ear
needs to be re-nourished to be strong enough to survive the surgery.
Consequently, Gibbs has become the most recent person to have
one organ surgically implanted elsewhere in his body while it
absorbs nutrients. His lawyer reported in June at England's Leeds
Crown Court (at a hearing for the two thugs convicted of beating
Gibbs up) that the ear was successfully sewn into Gibbs's abdomen.
[Daily Mail (London), 6-11-09]
A News of the Weird Classic (March 1993)
* In September 1992 in Chicago, Frank D. Zeffere III filed a lawsuit
for $40,000 in lost dating expenses against a woman who had
broken off their engagement. However, Zeffere, who is a lawyer,
wrote her an offer of an out-of-court settlement, beginning with "I
am still willing to marry you on the conditions hereinbelow set
forth" and ending, "Please feel free to call me if you have any
questions or would like to discuss any of the matters addressed
herein. Sincerely, Frank." [Los Angeles Daily News-AP, 9-30-92]
Thanks This Week to Dave Bonan, Monteen Soldani, Chris
Chiu, and Bruce Leiserowitz, and to the News of the Weird Board
of Editorial Advisors.
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