The Weird News Weekly Review, July 27-31

It's time for another addition of the weird news weekly review. Here are the eye rolling, chuckle worthy weird news pieces for the week of July 27-31.

Muffy's Great Adventure

In Australia, a family will soon be reunited with a dog they thought was gone forever. Thanks to a microchip, the investigators at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) had a name, and a few days later, a current phone number. The RSPCA had received a call about possible animal cruelty, and found Muffy sleeping on a scrap of cardboard outside a home in Melbourne.

Natalie Lampard had this to say after getting the call, "When the RSPCA described her, I told them her name; I knew immediately it was our Muffy. It was totally out of the blue-after nine years, I thought she was long gone."

She rang her daughter Chloe, now 17, to tell her they found Muffy. Her daughter is "over the moon and there'll be a few tears shed when they see each other again." Natalie said about the phone call to her daughter.

The owners of the house where Muffy was found, told investigators they found her wandering on the street about a year ago. No one knows where she has been for the last 8 years, nor how she ended up about 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) from Brisbane.

Muffy has had a grand adventure, it's too bad she can't talk. She'd certainly have a whopper of a tale to tell. I'm happy the family will be together once again after so many years apart.

When Reality and Board Games Collide

In Michigan this week, a friendly game of Monopoly ended up with a man going directly to jail, he did not pass go, and did not collect $200. Bet he wishes he had a real get of jail free card.

The unnamed man, 54, was playing Monopoly with a female friend, and wanted to buy Park Place and Boardwalk from her. When she told him she wouldn't sell, he hit her in the head and broke her glasses. He was arrested and is charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.

I wonder if he thought he was dealing with real money and property. The woman is fine, but I don't think she'll be playing board games with him ever again.

Bad Mom of the Year Award #2

Kristen Paquette, 27, was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment to a child and assault and battery on a child, after police officers found one of her children locked in the attic.

Police noted the little boy, who is three years old, was locked in the attic where they estimated the temperature at over 100 degrees. He was naked, covered in urine and feces, with several bumps on his forehead. The other children told the officers, "Mommy does this when she gets angry." The only window in the attic was nailed shut.

Outside the attic they found a filthy mattress surrounded by hundreds of flies. Health officials have condemned the apartment. The four children, three boys and one girl, told the police their mom had grabbed him by the arms "and dragged him upstairs to the attic," and that things like this happened "a lot."

She is being portrayed by her lawyer as an overwhelmed single, unemployed mother struggling to care for her children. Kristen's father, Alfred, says she is a good mother. He described the three year old as "a child with ADHD on steroids. He's very hyperactive."

Hyperactive or not, behavioral problems or not, no one should treat a child that way. She's earning my Bad Mom of the Year Award #2!

When Will They Learn?

A New York tow truck driver needs to concentrate more on driving and less on multi-tasking behind the wheel.

Nicholas Sparks, 25, crashed into a car, through a fence, sideswiped a house before rolling into an in-ground pool. What was he doing that caused all this to happen?

He was talking on one cell phone and texting on another. Lucky for him, the 68 year old woman in the other car is in good condition with head injuries, and her 8 year old niece who was with her suffered minor injuries.

He has been charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely. I bet he loses his job too, or at least I hope so. He will, hopefully, learn a lesson from all this.

Kids to cops: Mom used attic as lockup when angry - Click for the full story

SF Gate