Weird News

They won't be able to do the Dew
Orlando, Fla. --------- Students in one Central Florida school this year will try to ace high-stakes standardized tests without their usual shot of Mountain Dew.
                                   The change came after a grandmother called local media to complain about a long-standing pretest energy snack offered to students at Creel Elementary in Melbourne consisting of a sip of soda and some trail mix.  Students instead will get water with the trail mix, Brevard County School District spokeswoman Michelle Irwin said.
                                   Many Florida schools provide students free snacks or meals on days when the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests are administered.  Peppermints, which are believed to help with concentration, are particularly popular at many schools.  Creel Elementary School Principal Kathryn Edward did not return a call for comment.  For 10 years, she had been giving her students 3 tablespoons of Mountain Dew in a cup and some trail mix.

Bring on the ketchup
Waterville, Maine -------- A tractor-trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of french fries caught fire in a Wal-Mart parking lot in the Maine city of Waterville.
                                          The city's fire chief said overheated brakes were the suspected cause of the late-night blaze in the middle of the busy parking lot.  The driver said he pulled over when he smelled smoke from the back of the truck.  The Portland Press Herald reported that nobody was injured in the fire.
                                          The driver was on his way from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island to New Jersey to deliver the fries.

Speaking of potatoes........
Providence, R.I. ------------ A man used a potato to pretend he had a gun while trying to rob a Rhode Island business, police said.
                                           WPRI-TV  reported that the man entered a convenience store with a potato and shouted : "Give me the money."  A police report said the store manager chased him off with a baseball bat.  Officers later went to a laundromat, where an employee told them a man fitting the description came in carrying a potato and yelled : "I need the money."
                                           The TV station reported that the employee gave the man a $20 bill from a decoy cash register and he left.

That's just cruel
Cleveland ---------- A woman caught on an Ohio cemetery surveillance video taking a toy duck off the grave of a 14-month-old boy has been charged with petty theft, police said.
                               Police in Ontario, Ohio, had tried for nearly two years to capture a clear image of someone who was taking mementos from the boy's grave.  They finally got that image and posted it to Facebook.
                              Thousands of comments came in on the video showing a woman leaving the gravesite with a stuffed duck that had been placed there just hours before by the toddler's parents.  Some of the posts identified the woman as Frieda Kay Shade, 54, Ontario police Detective Jon Sigler said.