The Odd Truth, June 21, 2004

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum.

Just Call Him Rapunzel

HANOI, Vietnam - A Vietnamese man who hasn't been to a barber in 31 years is vying to get in the Guinness World Records for having the longest hair, state-controlled media reported Monday.

Tran Van Hay's hair is 20 feet long, Thanh Nien newspaper said.

Normally tied up and covered by a scarf, his hair has grown four feet in the past seven years. He last had it washed six years ago, the paper said.

Hay, 67, is a traditional medicine practitioner from southern Kien Giang province, some 220 miles southwest of Ho Chi Minh City. He provides free treatment to villagers in the region.

The Guinness Web site says the current record for long hair, set in 1997, is held by Hoo Sateow of Chiang Mai, Thailand, at 16 feet 11 inches.

Elephants vs. Prisoners

AYUTHAYA, Thailand - It wasn't exactly your average soccer game.

Thai officials organized a game between elephants and prisoners Sunday to discourage gambling on soccer's European Championships, currently being played in Portugal.

"We expect that people will support the idea that we can get fun from playing football, not gambling on football," said Nathee Chitsawang, director-general of the Thai Corrections Department.

Thai authorities have cracked down on soccer gambling in prisons and elsewhere since Euro 2004 began this month. Corrections officials have blocked viewing of the tournament in some prisons and have relocated inmates suspected of bookmaking.

Sunday's game was a reward for some inmates from the Ayuthaya prison, which houses about 1,500 men. More than 200 spectators watched the prisoners take to the muddy field with the elephants ridden by drivers.

The prisoners cut through a forest of elephant legs to score the first goal. But the elephants moved the oversized ball easily. The game ended in a 5-5 tie.

Hot Gorilla On Gorilla Action!

NEW ORLEANS - A gorilla sex video is getting regular play here. It's not the sort found easily on the Internet, but officials at the Audubon Zoo are hoping it'll inspire one of their gorillas into action.

Casey, 21, came to New Orleans two years ago on permanent loan from the Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minn.

The hope was that he would impregnate one or all of the Audubon Zoo's three female lowland gorillas - Binti and Fanya, both 28, and Binti's 8-year-old daughter, Praline.

Casey gets along well with Binti, Fanya and Praline, but he hasn't produced any offspring. "He gets a little intimidated," curator Dan Maloney said Friday.

Maloney got a tape of copulating gorillas from a camera used to monitor another zoo's gorilla area. It's played in the indoor cage where Casey spends his nights.

"He doesn't seem that interested at this point, but he likes watching television so he does watch it," Maloney said. "Hopefully, he'll get some inspiration."

Whole Family Ends Up In Jail Together

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. - A motorist's decision to stop a deputy for speeding escalated into a series of incidents than ended with his entire family joining him in jail.

Last week, Lance E. Champion, 23, reportedly pulled in behind Deputy Lt. Stan Hillis across from the local jail and told Hillis he had violated the speed limit. By the end of their conversation, Champion was in custody charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and evading arrest.

Champion called his mother, Janice K. Champion, 48, who arrived with her 17-year-old son. The teen allegedly slapped the hand of a deputy who was gesturing for them to leave the area as Lance Champion's vehicle was about to be towed.

"If you strike an officer, you're going to jail 100 percent of the time," said Sheriff Jackie Matheny.

Mrs. Champion was then taken into custody, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Officers say she was loud and refused to obey orders.

Her husband Hal Champion, 47, then arrived from church, was shot with a deputy's Taser and taken into custody on similar charges.

All were later freed on bond.

"This is a fine upstanding family," said the Champions' attorney Michael Galligan. "These deputies acted in a harmful and inappropriate manner. We feel their actions violated the law."

Matheny is backing his men: "They have over 40 years of combined experience and excellent work records. They were as surprised by the Champions' conduct as anyone."

First-Time Bank Robber Forgets Getaway Car

BEAVERTON, Oregon - File this one under "stupid robber tricks." Police in Beaverton, Oregon, say a bank robber remembered to bring a gun, a bag for the cash and a bandana to cover his face. But, according to the police account, he forgot a crucial piece of any heist: a nearby getaway car. His was several blocks away. So he demanded car keys from a bank customer. The customer told The Oregonian newspaper the robber was "very polite" and promised to leave the keys under the front seat. Only problem was, he couldn't figure out which key opened up the car. So he went back into the bank to inquire. He finally drove off but was arrested minutes later. Police say he told them it was his first robbery.

African Refugees Wash-Up On Spanish Nude Beach

MADRID, Spain - Two worlds collided as a raft carrying 42 destitute Africans - bundled up for a chilly, wind-swept crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar - washed up on a nudist beach in southern Spain, officials said Monday.

Spanish television broadcast amateur video footage of bathers agape over Sunday's landing at sun-splashed Canos de Meca beach in Cadiz province.

The foreigners included four babies, including one just 11 days old, according to CNN. A group of bathers was shown gathered around one of the infants, gently counting the fingers on one of its hands and coming up with six.

Bathers helped emergency medical crews carry some of the undocumented foreigners on stretchers to ambulances for treatment for dehydration, hypothermia and malnutrition.

One African screamed wildly into a cell phone and ran around as colleagues tried to restrain him. It was not immediately clear where the foreigners were from, only that it was somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

Such arrivals are common in Spain, especially in summer, but usually take place under cover of night, not on a beach packed with weekend sunbathers.

Each year tens of thousands of Africans seeking to escape poverty attempt treacherous trips in flimsy, overcrowded boats, hoping to reach Spanish soil by crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco or heading west to the Canary Islands.

Many are caught and repatriated, though thousands manage to slip through.

A Moroccan immigrant workers' association known as ATIME says some 4,000 people have drowned in the past five years while trying to make such trips.

Neighbors Don't Notice Dead Man In Driveway

SHEPHERDSTOWN, West Virginia - A man who apparently was pinned by a van he was working on lay dead in his driveway for up to four days before a neighbor noticed him, police said.

Allan P. Burfoot, 57, was found Sunday morning, State Police Trooper H.D. Heil said.

"The parking brake wasn't on and the vehicle wasn't in gear, and it apparently rolled onto him" as he worked on the vehicle, Heil said. He was pinned under the front passenger side tire, he said.

Checking messages on Burfoot's answering machine, investigators believe he was pinned as early as Wednesday, Heil said. Burfoot's closest relative, a sister, lives out of state.