Monday 01/02/12

Human Interest News   —   Posted on January 2, 2012

In England, pig manure deters teenagers from drinking in the woods

The Middlesbrough Council came up with the cheap but effective method of combating anti-social behavior. It said residents had complained about young people drinking in the area.  A council spokesman said: ”Following complaints, an inspection of the area revealed it was being used to drink alcohol and take drugs.”  So Council staff thinned out the trees so the area was more visible from paths, then spread a thick layer of pig manure to deter the teens.

Since the muck-spreading, the area has been crime-free.

Do you have change for a million-dollar bill?

A North Carolina man is accused trying to use a fake $1 million bill to pay for his purchases at a Walmart.  Michael Anthony Fuller, walked into the Walmart in Lexington, on Nov. 17. He shopped for a while, picking up a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and other merchandise, totaling $476, an arrest warrant says.  When he got to the register, Fuller gave the cashier the phony bill, saying that it was real.  Store staff called police.

Fuller was later charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument, both felonies, court records show.  A warrant says of the fake million-dollar bill: “There is no such thing.”

The largest bill in circulation is a $100 bill. In 1969, federal officials discontinued the use of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills because of lack of public use.  The largest note ever printed was the $100,000 bill, which featured President Woodrow Wilson. The bills, which were not available to the public, were printed from Dec. 18, 1934, through Jan. 9, 1935, and were used for transactions between Federal Reserve banks.

The Chicken Hotel

A British man opened a hotel for chickens. The avian inn, called the Chicken Hotel, is the brainchild of David Roberts, 31, who said that so many people keep chickens as pets these days that they need somewhere to board them when they travel.

Among the amenities: pens that are guaranteed fox-proof.

 

From The Winston-Salem Journal and The NY Post.