Dateline: SpainA squash club has come under fire after top female competitors at the 2019 Asturias Squash Championship received vibrators, wax hair removal kits and electronic foot exfoliators as gifts alongside their trophies. Male participants reportedly only received trophies. BBC News reports that championship winner Elisabet Sadó said she believed organizers probably “just wanted to be funny or different,” but that their choice of prizes was sexist. According to The Sun, Squash Oviedo, the club responsible for organizing the contest, made a public apology, acknowledging that a mistake had been made but claiming that there had been no sexist intent behind the decision. The top four female competitors returned their gifts and sent complaint letters to the Asturias Squash Federation. Maribel Toyos, a spokesman for the federation, condemned the club. “It’s the height of sexism. We had no idea the women were going to receive these gifts,” she said. “It makes no sense for the club to apologise but at the same time say the gifts are not sexist.” Three leaders at Squash Oviedo—including the club’s president Nacho Manzano—have resigned over the incident. The club has canceled all events for the rest of the year.Dateline: MassachusettsPolice are clueless about the motive and identity of a mysterious home intruder who cleaned a man’s house from top to bottom but didn’t steal anything. According to The Boston Globe, Marlborough, Mass., resident Nate Roman returned home from work earlier this month to find his house had been cleaned without his knowledge or consent. Roman said someone had entered his home while he was away and made the beds, vacuumed the floors and cleaned the toilets. The intruder even folded origami roses from the toilet paper rolls in the restroom, a technique often practiced by housecleaning professionals. The only room that had not been cleaned was the kitchen. No items appeared to be missing, and the home appeared undamaged. Roman reported the break-in to police, but Marlborough Police Sergeant Daniel Campbell said the department hadn’t encountered circumstances like these before and were at a loss as to the identity of the perpetrators. No similar reports have been made to authorities. Roman told reporters that he believes he accidentally left the backdoor unlocked, and that a housecleaning service might have mistakenly gone to the wrong address. He said he kept the paper roses as “souvenirs.” Dateline: VirginiaA healthy dog has been euthanized to fulfill her late owner’s wish to be buried by her side. WWBT in Virginia reports that Emma, a Shih Tzu mix, was sent to Chesterfield County Animal Shelter in Chesterfield, Va., earlier this month after her owner’s death. She stayed at the shelter for two weeks, during which time authorities were in contact with the executor of the dead owner’s estate. Carrie Jones, manager of Chesterfield Animal Services, told reporters that it was suggested to the executor on multiple occasions that the dog be given to a new owner and allowed to live. Nevertheless, Emma was retrieved by a representative of the state last week. The dog was taken to a local veterinarian who was willing to put her down. Her remains were then taken to a Richmond pet cremation center, cremated, placed into an urn and returned to the representative of the deceased woman’s estate, as per her will. It is not illegal to euthanize a healthy animal, since pets are considered the personal property of their owners, but many veterinarians refuse the practice on ethical grounds. It is illegal in Virginia to bury an animal in the same commercial cemetery that carries human remains; however, a few exceptions are made for privately owned cemeteries. It is unclear if Emma’s remains will be interred with her owner’s.Dateline: ConnecticutA Connecticut fugitive told police he’d turn himself in if a Facebook post featuring his wanted poster received enough “likes.” Last week the City of Torrington Police Department published a post on Facebook with an attached image of a wanted poster for Jose Simms, a fugitive who is charged with multiple counts of failure to appear in court. According to the post, police made contact with Simms on Facebook, and he agreed to turn himself in if the post received over 15,000 “likes.” An officer reportedly negotiated with Simms, who originally wanted to see 20,000 “likes” on the post before turning himself into authorties. The post went viral, and the required 15,000 “likes” minimum was quickly met, but an update to the post said Simms had not yet fulfilled his side of the bargain. Authorities have promised to post new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, they are asking any residents with information pertaining to Simms’ whereabouts to come forward. “Regardless of the number of ‘Likes’ this post receives, we will continue to utilize the resources we have available to us to locate both suspects and take them into custody,” wrote an officer.
Compiled by Joshua Lee. Email your weird news to josh@alibi.com.
