Wide World of Weird

A weekly roundup of unusual news stories from around the globe, compiled from Times wire services:

Win a Date With the President!: A new contest offers couples the chance to sip champagne and eat a seven-course meal as guests of a U.S. president. The catch: The president has been dead since 1881 and the dinner is in a cemetery. To raise awareness of the monument where President James A. Garfield is buried, Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery is awarding a tour of the graveyard, followed by a gourmet meal of caviar, shrimp and veal. Entrants must write a short essay explaining why they’re interested. The winners will be driven by limousine to the cemetery, where they will tour the grounds in a horse-drawn carriage and be serenaded by an ensemble from the Ohio Chamber Orchestra.

Polly Want an M-16?: In its endless search for a few good men, Uncle Sam has ordered Sam Garmize of Pennsylvania to register for the draft--or face prosecution. But Sam is a parrot. “They probably wouldn’t want him because he only has four toes, green hair and no teeth,” said owner Sharon Garmize. The Amazon parrot has also received letters from Visa, which offered a credit card with a $2,000 limit, and a foreign exchange program asking the bird to study abroad.

Pamplona, Nev.?: City officials in Mesquite, Nev., have decided to allow a running of the bulls down the main street during a Western festival in July. Phil Immordino plans to charge 1,000 runners $50 each for the privilege of being chased, although he says he’ll get more docile bulls than the ones that thunder through the streets of Pamplona, Spain. Immordino said he also won’t let the runners drink alcohol. Animal rights groups weren’t amused.

When Animals Attack III: A vicious crow that terrorized a Frankfurt, Germany, suburb and provoked a fight between two residents has been shot and killed. In a reminder of director Alfred Hitchcock’s classic horror film “The Birds,” the crow had been attacking people for five weeks, swooping down and pecking at their heads. It also caused a fight between a man trying to protect himself by throwing a plastic bag at the crow and a passing motorist who thought the bag had been aimed at his car. It seems to be a trend. Last August, a killer turtle--able to snap broomsticks with its razor-sharp teeth and vicious enough to attack crocodiles--was netted by firefighters from Frankfurt’s river Main. It had been feeding on ducks, fish and dead animals.

News McNuggets:

* Deadbeat parents in Michigan’s largest county will soon be getting the boot. Authorities plan to immobilize their cars with “boots,” devices that are locked onto tires. The boots will be blue for fathers and pink for mothers.

* Adams, Mass., one of the last spots where you can park for 1 cent, is getting rid of its penny meters. At a town meeting, residents voted 115-0 to spend $35,000 on 184 new meters that turn a cold shoulder to Abraham Lincoln.

* Thieves in northeast Poland stole a 15-ton antique steel bridge last week, authorities said.

* An 84-year-old Italian man who wanted to divorce his wife because she kept saying “no” to sex was told by a judge his bedtime behavior was unreasonable.

* A piece of a meteorite from Mars sold for $4,600, more than 1,000 times the value of its weight in gold, at a New York auction.

* An electronic nose originally designed to sniff out bad beer may soon be used to detect bacteria that cause common infections.

* A marlin from California has reportedly been caught thousands of miles from home by an Iranian fisherman in the Persian Gulf, Iran’s Fisheries Research Center said. A tag on its fin indicated the origin of the 70-inch-long, 77-pound game fish.

* Wide World of Weird is published every Friday. Off-Kilter appears Monday through Thursday.