UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News - January 24, 2008 : General

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24
Horse mistakenly advertised as food
AKRON, Mich., Jan. 24 An Akron, Mich., woman said she received a barrage of phone messages after her advertisement selling a horse was mistakenly categorized as food.

Kristen DeGroat said her ad in The Saginaw (Mich.) News, which offered her 3-year-old mare for sale, mistakenly appeared in the "Good Things to Eat" section of the classifieds, The Saginaw News reported Thursday.

"3 YEAR OLD Registered Pinto Mare, $200 or best," the ad read.

DeGroat said she received about 60 calls in response to the ad, mostly from people upset that someone would sell a horse for food.

"I had a lady call whose friend was just in tears over this thing," DeGroat said. "It doesn't help that my cell phone number starts with 666."

A representative of the newspaper said the ad appeared in the wrong section due to an error that was later corrected.

DeGroat said about one-third of the calls were from buyers who were genuinely interested in buying the horse for its culinary value. However, she said she sold the animal to a St. Charles, Mich., buyer who purchased the horse as a pet for his granddaughters.

Cat saves 8 people from house fire
ALLENDALE, Mich., Jan. 24 A cat named Oreo saved the lives of eight Allendale, Mich., people when their home caught fire Wednesday, officials said.

The heroic kitty began to cry when flames started in the family's garage about 5 a.m., WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich., reported Thursday.

Officials said smoke detectors in the home did not sound at the time of the fire, but luckily for the family, Oreo did. The cat's cries from the garage reportedly woke the family of eight and sent them rushing out of the house.

Fire damaged the garage and one bedroom, officials said.

Man files suit against Blue Man Group
CHICAGO, Jan. 24 An elderly California man filed a lawsuit Wednesday against cast members of the Blue Man Group for allegedly pushing a camera into his esophagus during a show.

James Srodon's suit argues the Oct. 8, 2006, performance reached dangerous extremes at a Chicago theater when the performers forced an "esophagus cam" into his throat to project images of his insides for audience enjoyment, the Chicago Tribune reported Thursday.

Srodon "struggled to free himself and remove the 'esophagus cam' from his mouth but was forcibly restrained by the Blue Man actors," the suit said.

The suit also states the camera was covered in food, liquid, grime and paint when the actors inserted it into Srodon's mouth.

Srodon, who claimed the camera wounded his insides and damaged dental work, is seeking more than $50,000 for battery, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, the newspaper said.

Convict expelled from medical school
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan. 24 A convicted murderer has been expelled from Sweden's top medical school due to discrepancies concerning his grades.

The Karolinska Institute said the application filed by the man, whose name was not given, was revoked due to discrepancies in his high school transcripts, which formed the basis of his acceptance to the school, The Local reported Thursday.

"The discrepancies that we discovered then led to us asking the National Agency for Services to Universities and University Colleges for verification of the student's high school grades," said Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, president of the Karolinska Institute.

The Local reported late last year the Karolinska Institute had accepted a convicted murderer who was released on parole last February after being sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.

"We decided that he had been accepted in a proper manner and we, therefore, have an obligation to give him an education," Wallberg-Henriksson said at the time. "We have no right to expel someone because he or she has been imprisoned."