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Believe it or not: A list of the top lies of 2008

Published: Jan 05, 2009

The Burlington Liars Club in Burlington, Wis., revealed its 2008 Champion Lie on Monday as part of an annual contest.

Winner:

- "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it." - Garth Seehawer of Oconto Falls, Wis.

Runners-up, in random order: More

Jan 05, 2009

• Fabulous fib is named Wis. club's top lie of 2008

A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

Jan 05, 2009

• Father-son duo accused of gravestone robbing

Police are puzzling over what would motivate a father and son to haul off six tombstones from a monument company in suburban Albany. Town of Colonie Detective Lt. John Van Alstyne said he's not sure what kind of aftermarket there might be for the hefty granite grave-markers.

Jan 05, 2009

• Boy, 4, shoots babysitter for stepping on his foot

Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.

Jan 05, 2009

• Police: Mexican woman in wheelchair flees on foot

Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico. Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.

Jan 05, 2009

• Cops: Heart at Paw Paw car wash belonged to a deer

Paw Paw's police chief said a heart found at a car wash in the southwestern Michigan village belonged to a deer. Investigators had been trying to determine the organ's origin since Dec. 15, when the owner of Soapy's Car Wash found it in the corner of a manual wash bay.

Jan 05, 2009

• Lawyer: Alleged Pa. attic intruder 'sorry, upset'

A man who allegedly squatted in the attic of a Pennsylvania family's home over Christmas and helped himself to their belongings is "sorry and upset" it happened, his lawyer said Monday.

Jan 05, 2009

• Art and sole: Patrons pitch shoes at Bush image

Art was laced up with political statement as a gallery opened an exhibit with a paint-splattered fundraiser that featured a "shoe throw" at an image of President George W. Bush.

Jan 05, 2009

• Cops probing sewer problem sniff out pot operation

Deputies investigating a sewer problem at a Minnesota home smelled something amiss - a strong odor of marijuana. Grant County Sheriff Dwight Walvatne said deputies went to the home in Herman this week intending to cite the owner for failing to connect to the city's main sewer line, in violation of a public health ordinance.

Jan 05, 2009

• Topless coffee shop proposed for small Maine town

A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day - topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.

Jan 05, 2009

• Man shot by his stepdad ends up in jail with him

A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.

Jan 05, 2009

• LI man aims at duck, hits man, gets arrested

He meant to shoot the ducks. A Long Island man is facing charges including reckless endangerment and assault after he shot another hunter while out duck hunting on Saturday.

Jan 05, 2009

• Man finds live mortar shell in grandpa's things

A Colorado man sorting through his late grandfather's belongings found a bombshell, sort of: A live mortar round from the Korean War era. A bomb squad detonated the shell at an undisclosed site. No one was hurt. Police said Monday the grandson discovered the shell in a firearms cabinet at his grandfather's home just outside Greeley on Friday.

Jan 03, 2009

• NY judge: Religion aside, monkey meat needs permit

A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.

Jan 03, 2009

• Have the right answer about doing the right thing?

A tricky question of morality is this year's brainteaser in the annual philosophy competition called the Great American Think-Off.

Jan 03, 2009

• Man tries to deter drunk driving with paintballs

A man in Washington state who reportedly told police he was trying to deter a friend from driving drunk by blasting the friend's windshield with paintballs wound up in jail.

Jan 03, 2009

• 89-year-old arrested for keeping ball sues family

An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman arrested for confiscating the neighbor kid's football is now suing the boy's parents.

Jan 03, 2009

• Detroit lawyer gets 5-cent IRS bill, 4-cent refund

James Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has received from the Internal Revenue Service.

Jan 02, 2009

• Fla. couple back home after unexpected Cuba trip

A Florida couple who said they wound up in a Cuban jail after their boat was badly damaged in a storm is back home. Robert Vassallo on Friday said he and his girlfriend, Angellette Smith, flew into Miami New Year's Eve. The couple said they had been sailing around the Caribbean when they encountered rough waves, and their boat washed ashore and sustained damages.

Jan 02, 2009

• British couple has 'black-and-white twins' twice

A mixed-race British couple has defied the odds - twice - by producing two sets of twins in which one sibling appears to be black and the other white. Dean Durrant's newborn daughter Miya has dark skin like him. Twin sister Leah has fair skin like her blue-eyed, red-haired mother, Alison Spooner.

Jan 02, 2009

• Who is this? Calif. residents getting Ala. calls

There used to be a time when people who called Linda Jahraus' home in Laguna Beach, Calif., were actually wanting to speak to her or her husband. But for the past several months, the majority of callers have been trying to reach an Alabama unemployment hot line. The call confusion has added to the frustrations of the state's unemployed and has left at least two California households hoping for a little less ringing in the new year.

Jan 02, 2009

• Porcupine plague causes $100K in damage in Colo.

Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chomping on the bark of spruce trees, yard trees, and have killed 50-foot-high native trees. The damage is estimated at more than $100,000 in the Mountain Village above Telluride.

Jan 02, 2009

• 911 caller in ND reports drunken driver: herself

Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender.

Jan 02, 2009

• 'Hello 911? I'm driving drunk'

Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender. A 17-year-old girl in Bismarck called 911 on New Year's Eve "to report herself driving under the influence," police Lt. Randy Ziegler said. "I've never heard of such a thing happening, and neither has anyone here."

Jan 02, 2009

• Mich. twins born on different days, months, years

They're twins, all right, despite what their spanking new birth certificates say. Tariq Griffin entered the world at 12:17 a.m. on New Year's Day at Crittenton Hospital in Rochester, Mich. Twin brother Tarrance was born a bit earlier - 26 minutes to be exact.

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