Weird? True? Then It Happened in Florida

[csziggy]

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
THE Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 10:46 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 10:46 p.m.

TALLAHASSEE | You know you're living in a weird state when the governor promotes a pay-per-minute sex chat line. Or when a congressman asks the House speaker to move a day's worth of votes so he can watch a college football game. Or when employees at not just one, not two, but three state prisons use stun guns on their kids as part of "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day." That's Florida, once again making people snicker at its dumb criminals, strange animals and all-around oddness.

<SNIP>

A Fort Pierce man was charged with stealing $22 worth of aluminum cans from a scrap yard and then returning the next day to try to sell them back. A man tried stealing a live ferret in Jacksonville Beach by stuffing it down his pants. A Dade City man was charged with stealing 19 packages of deodorant to pay off a drug debt. Usually this works in reverse, but a man was caught trying to break INTO the Brevard County jail he was released from the week before.

<SNIP>

Wildlife officers found two alligators being held captive in a Tallahassee apartment. They also found drugs out in plain view after the tenants let them in. Another house call made by wildlife officers turned up the body of a black bear struck and killed on Interstate 4. Two men retrieved the roadkill, took it home and butchered it. Two men carried a 6-foot shark around Miami and tried selling it to fish markets. After they failed, they left it lying in the middle of a downtown street. A Tampa police officer used a Taser to subdue a pit bull that chased a chicken into a woman's home. A Mossy Head woman trying to corral an emu was flown to a hospital after the giant flightless bird clawed her. A Martin County man accused of downloading child pornography blamed the crime on a cat jumping on his computer keyboard.

More: http://www.theledger.com/article/20091229/NEWS/912295062

[WhiteTara]

1. and those are just the funny stories

the myriad others are real nightmare stories that make one cry.

[csziggy]

5. Just the stories about children under control of the state make me cry

When the foster care system takes months to realize children have been missing something is very wrong with the entire setup. And that is only one agency.

[Vickers]

2. Never a dull moment down here.

And that's not a compliment.

:P

[csziggy]

4. I live here and I gotta say there is a whole lot of stupid

I swear at the Jeb Bush election for Governor the average IQ dropped a bunch and has not yet recovered.

[monmouth]

3. They didn't even mention Palm Beach County yet. A plethora of wierd...n/t