oddly enough

oddly enough

Police: Prostitution suspect asked officer to sing ‘Rudolph’

AMBRIDGE, Pa.

Police say a western Pennsylvania prostitution suspect asked an undercover officer to sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with her before other police swooped in to arrest her.

The Beaver County Times reported Thursday that 45-year-old Marcia Settles asked the Ambridge officer to sing the carol during an odd verbal exchange just before her arrest June 4.

Ambridge Sgt. Glen Sovich contends he and Settles agreed on a price for a sex act but before other officers arrived she asked him, “Are you the police?” Sovich denied it and asked Settles the same thing, prompting her to tell him she worked for the CIA and planned to kill him. Then she asked him to sing the song.

Settles is awaiting trial after waiving a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

No joke: Jester wanted at hotel

VIENNA

Wanted: A jester. Wallflowers need not apply.

It’s no joke. An Austrian hotel is advertising for a modern-day court fool who is communicative, extroverted, musical, creative and imaginative.

Applicants are asked to bring — and play — their musical instrument during the job interview. Also welcome: creative costumes. The successful candidate will earn about $1,900 a month.

Hotel director Melanie Franke says those interested should not think they’re on a fool’s errand in applying. She says the idea is to treat guests like royalty, noting that “jesters were a luxury that royal families indulged themselves in.”

The hotel in Austria’s Styria province was designed by famed Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Franke says the jester concept fits the hotel’s colorful appearance.

TSA agents stop Chewbacca over light saber at checkpoint

DENVER

Not even Chewbacca and his light saber get a free pass with airport security before being cleared to travel.

Transportation Security Administration agents in Denver briefly stopped “Star Wars” franchise actor Peter Mayhew recently as he was boarding a flight with a cane shaped like one of science-fiction’s most-iconic weapons.

Airport officials say they wanted to inspect the huge walking stick before allowing Mayhew, who is more than 7 feet tall, on the plane.

A flurry of media reports made it seem as though security officials buckled to pressure from Chewie’s fans in allowing the actor to board the flight with the cane, but officials say that characterization is inaccurate and that Mayhew was held up for only a few minutes before being allowed through the security checkpoint.

Associated Press