Stupidity Abounds

[fm@abilnet.com (Paul B. Cluff)]

Stupidity abounds

 * BUXTON, N.C.  A man died on a beach when an 8-foot-deep hole he had
dug into the sand caved in as he sat inside it.  Beachgoers said Daniel
Jones, 21, dug the hole for fun, or protection from the wind, and had
been sitting in a beach chair at the bottom Thursday afternoon when it
collapsed, burying him beneath 5 feet of sand.

 People on the beach on the Outer Banks used their hands and shovels,
trying to claw their way to Jones, a resident of Woodbridge, Va., but
could not reach him.

 It took rescue workers using heavy equipment almost an hour to free him
while about 200 people looked on.  Jones was pronounced dead at a
hospital.

 You just wouldn't believe the outpouring of concern, people digging
with their hands, using pails from kids, Dare County Sheriff Bert Austin
said.

 * In Guthrie, Okla., in October, Jason Heck tried to kill a millipede
with a shot from his .22-caliber rifle, but the bullet ricocheted off a
rock near the hole and hit pal Antonio Martinez in the head, fracturing
his skull.

 * In Elyria, Ohio, Martyn Eskins, attempting to clean out cobwebs in
his basement, declined to use a broom in favor of a propane torch and
caused a fire that burned the first and second floors of his house.

 * Santiago Alvarado, 24, was killed in Lompoc, Calif., as he fell
face-first through the ceiling of a bicycle shop he was
burglarizing.Death was caused when the large flashlight he had placed in
his mouth (to keep his hands free) crammed against the base of his skull
as he hit the floor.

 * According to police in Dahlonega, Ga., ROTC cadet Nick Berrena, 20,
was stabbed to death by fellow cadet Jeffrey Hoffman, 23, who was trying
to prove that a knife could not penetrate the flak vest Berrena was
wearing.

 * Sylvester Briddell, Jr., 26, was killed in Selbyville, Del., as he
won a bet with friends who said he would not put a revolver loaded with
four bullets into his mouth and pull the trigger.

 * According to police in Windsor, Ont., Daniel Kolta, 27, and Randy
Taylor, 33, died in a head-on collision, thus earning a tie in the game
of chicken they were playing with their snowmobiles.

 * in Andover Township, N.  J., Paul Stiller, 47, was hospitalized, and
his wife Bonnie was injured by a quarter-stick of dynamite that blew up
in their car.  While driving around at 2 a.m., the bored couple lit the
dynamite and tried to toss it out the window to see what would happen,
but they apparently failed to notice that the window was closed.

 * Jeffrey J.  Pyrcioch, 19, and an alleged accomplice were arrested in
West Lafayette, Ind., on theft and fraud charges.  Pyrcioch allegedly
cashed checks that he had written with disappearing ink, apparently
believing the checks would be blank by the time they were presented to
the bank for collection.  However, traces of ink remained, and police
said Pyrcioch would have a better chance of getting away with it if he
had not used checks pre-printed with his name and account number on
them.[Washington Post, 6-2-96]

 * 12 men were arrested near Szczecin in northern Poland as they were
digging up a road because they had heard a rumor that it was built with
a large stockpile of police-confiscated hashish.  The hashish had been
sold to a chemical plant to be incinerated into ash for road
construction.

 * Paul Carthy, 25, pleaded guilty in Exeter, England, to theft
subsequent to his original charge of shoplifting from a liquor store.In
the second theft, he had stolen the magnetic letters off the name board
that was held up to his face when his mug shot was taken.

 * According to police in Junction City, Kan., David Bell, 30, just
released from jail for car theft, walked out the door and stole another
car to get home.

 * William B.  Singleton, 24, just released from jail in Belton, Mo., on
a larceny charge, allegedly broke into a vending machine in the lobby of
the police station and stole a 60-cent Strawberry Twisteroo while he
waited for his ride to arrive.

 * A 49-year-old San Francisco stockbroker, who "totally zoned when he
ran," according to his wife, accidentally jogged off of a 200-foot-high
cliff on his daily run.

 * In Detroit, a 41-year-old man got stuck and drowned in two feet of
water after squeezing headfirst through an 18-inch-wide sewer grate to
retrieve his car keys.

 * Taking "Amateur Night" Too Far:  In Betulia, Colombia, an annual
festival in November, includes five days of amateur bullfighting.  This
year, no bull was killed, but dozens of matadors were injured, including
one gored in the head and one Bobbittized.  Said one participant, "It's
just one bull against [a town of] a thousand morons."