oddly enough

oddly enough

Stolen Santa returned to Indiana man with $100, note

UNIONVILLE, Ind.

A southern Indiana man has gotten an early Christmas gift: A 16-foot-tall inflatable Santa Claus stolen from his yard has been returned with $100 and a note of apology.

Jason McClaren tells The Herald-Times that someone returned the deflated Santa to his Unionville yard early Saturday in a trash bag that also contained the money and note.

He says the anonymous note makes it clear that the person who returned the Santa wasn’t the thief who took it and two 6-foot tall penguins this past week. The penguin decorations still are missing.

The typed note states: “Returning your property is the right thing to do, and apologies for the thief who took it in the first place.”

McClaren says he plans to use the $100 to buy more decorations.

Ohio mannequin survives drive-by but not election

READING, Ohio

BarBe Q, the scantily clad, curvaceous mannequin that serves as the mascot of KT’s Barbecue restaurant near Cincinnati, survived a drive-by shooting in November but did not fare so well at the ballot box.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that just before Election Day, three bullets shattered the plate-glass window in front of BarBe, narrowly missing the mannequin. She didn’t fare so well on the day itself, receiving no votes in her write-in candidacy for mayor of Reading.

Restaurant owner and BarBe spokesman Kenny Tessel jokingly calls the shooting an “assassination attempt.”

The mascot garnered controversy in 2009 when residents protested that her usual get-up — Daisy Dukes and an undersized halter top — was too revealing. The city ultimately ruled she was a mannequin and not an indecent sign.

Report: Thieves target toilet paper at NM diner

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

A New Mexico restaurant employee says he’s now seen it all, after three men left his diner with rolls of toilet paper and were nabbed in the parking lot by police.

Burgers, Dogs and Wings employee Josh Flannery-Stewart tells KOAT-TV in Albuquerque that he was immediately suspicious of the men when they came in Saturday because they weren’t talking and appeared “messed up.”

The three went into the bathroom and emerged carrying about a dozen rolls of toilet paper. They got in a car in the parking lot but didn’t get far.

Albuquerque police apparently already had the trio under surveillance and quickly surrounded the car and arrested them.

The toilet paper was returned to its rightful owner.

Associated Press