Weird News

Trailer owner caught red-handed
Gardena, Calif. ---------------------- When officers found a stolen Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer statue, they certainly said its shiny nose was glowing.
                                                           The 200-pound statue had been pilfered nearly two weeks ago from its perch atop a sign marking an upscale Southern California neighborhood, where a reindeer figure has been a seasonal fixture for half a century.
                                                            "It was remounted and lit up as if it was their own Christmas decoration," Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Moffett said after the statue was recovered atop a trailer home in the city of Gardena.  The homeowner was arrested.

Boyfriend accidentally sold her Tempurrrpedic
Portland, Ore. ------------------------ When an Oregon man sold his girlfriend's mattress set for $100 because she was moving in with him, he didn't realize her cat was hiding inside.
                                                            Roy Dufek helped strap the mattress and box spring to the top of the buyer's car.  When he went back inside his girlfriend's suburban Portland home, Camo the cat was nowhere to be found.
                                                            After a 20-minute search, Dufek called his girlfriend, Hayley Crews, who told him Camo liked to hide in a hole in the box spring. 
                                                            Dufek and Crews have searched the mattress buyer's home and yard, and they've set up an animal trap with food and water in the garage where the buyer stored the mattress.  They even rented a thermal camera to search the neighborhood.
                                                            A week later, Camo's still missing.  Dufek and his girlfriend are offering a $200 reward to whoever finds him.

Folks give up bling-bling to help poor
Boston ----------------------------------- In Massachusetts, it's not just the treetops that are glistening this holiday season.  It's also the jewelry that's being dropped in Salvation Army's red kettles.
                                                            The charity says donors dropped wedding and engagement rings into a kettle in Weymouth, south of Boston.  And a bracelet, diamond ring and diamond pendant were contributed in the central city of Fitchburg.
                                                            The latest gifts come after a widow gave her wedding rings in memory of her husband, and another widow redeemed them with a gift of $21,000.  Then an Australian woman who recently moved to Boston gave a diamond cross pendant.

Good grief, would ya stay out of the pond?
Easthampton, Mass. ------------------ Massachusetts fire officials have come to the rescue of a capsized kayaker who may have been trying to install a Charlie Brown cutout on a raft that holds a Christmas tree at the center of a pond.
                                                             The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that Easthampton firefighters rescued the man as he was clinging to the raft.
                                                              Fire Chief David Mottor says a 3-foot-tall cutout depicting the likeness of cartoon character Charlie Brown was found in his kayak.
                                                              Mottor says a practical joke isn't worth losing a life.  He says the water temperature was in the low 40s, cold enough to cause hypothermia.