Dateline: EnglandA charity thrift shop in Swansea, Wales, is pleading with members of the public to stop donating copies of the best-selling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The Oxfam shop on Castle Street has been posting on its Facebook and Twitter pages asking people to donate vinyl records instead of E.L. James’ naughty novel. “It’s been ever since the books first came out,” shop manager Phil Broadhurst told BBC Radio 5 Live. “When they first came out, we wanted them, because it was our best-selling book for a couple of weeks. And then ever since then, we’ve had lots of people desperate to get rid of them. [They] bring them in nonstop.” Broadhurst estimates the store currently has at least 100 copies of the book. Hundreds more copies have been shipped to the charity’s warehouses to be sold online or simply sent to recycling to be pulped.Dateline: South KoreaA woman tossed nearly $20,000 in cash onto the sidewalks of downtown Seoul late last month, but none of the city’s commuters stopped to pick it up. Police say an unnamed 56-year-old woman threw 22 million won (just over $19,000) onto the ground in Seoul Square around 5pm on Monday, March 21. Several witnesses took pictures of the event, but no one was seen picking up any of the money. According to police the woman told them she was afraid her son and ex-husband were trying to take her money, so she decided to give it away to strangers to prevent family members from getting it. South Koreans are notably law-abiding and may have declined to participate in the free cash grab since taking unattended money is considered theft in the country. Police said, however, the woman gave up the rights to her money by willingly tossing it away in public. The woman was released after police determined she was not in need of protection. It is unclear what happened to all of her unwanted cash. Dateline: North CarolinaWSOC-TV in Charlotte is reporting a man was arrested for failing to return a VHS copy of Freddy Got Fingered 14 years ago. James Meyers was driving his daughter to school on the the morning of Tuesday, March 22, when he was pulled over by a Concord police officer for having a broken taillight. Meyers said the officer ran his license and then asked him to step out of his vehicle. Turns out there was an arrest warrant for Meyers for “failure to return rental property” for having rented the raunchy Tom Green comedy Freddy Got Fingered from the now-defunct J&J’s Video in Salisbury back in 2002. The officer allowed Meyers to go on the condition that he report to a police station and surrender himself, which he did later that day. Meyers was released after seeing a magistrate judge and is scheduled to appear in court on the misdemeanor charges on April 27. He faces a fine of up to $200. After the story broke, comedian Tom Green contacted Meyers and offered to help out financially, so long as the costs don’t skyrocket. “If it’s 200 bucks, of course I’ll pay it for him, just for the principle of the thing,” Green told the New York Daily News.Dateline: MinnesotaAn 11-year-old boy was living the dream, leading police on an hour-long chase in a cement mixer. The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office, the Minnesota State Patrol, Kasson police and Dodge Center police all participated in the incident, which began around 3pm on Sunday, March 20, when the unnamed boy stole the cement truck in Kasson, 15 miles west of Rochester. Police attempted to stop the truck for speeding, but the driver took off and led authorities on an hour-long chase reaching speeds of up to 71mph. The preteen motorist collided with a Minnesota State Patrol car and a Kasson police car during the pursuit. One of the truck’s tires was eventually popped by a police spike strip, but the driver continued to roll on the empty rim, causing damage to roads and lawns. The cement truck was eventually stopped in Dodge Center and the boy was taken into custody after he tried to flee on foot. “He was raised in a farm environment. He can drive tractors. He can drive trucks. He knew what he was doing,” witness Jeff Beddow told WCCO-TV. “He was not stopping for anything.” No injuries were reported, although police say there was a lot of property damage. The boy was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center and is awaiting formal charges.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
