News of the Weird: Dancer steals show at town hall meeting

Perhaps it was the stress of speaking in front of others. Perhaps it was just a call to a higher Michael Jackson. On Sept. 2 in Cranford, N.J., resident Will Thilly appeared at a town hall meeting to ask questions about a recent property tax hike, WABC-TV reported. But before he uttered a word, he performed a wordless robot dance, without music, and spun on the floor. Then he asked, “How was everyone’s weekend?” He went on to ask a few specific questions about taxes and school expenses, then gathered his papers from the podium and moonwalked back to his seat. Oh — and Thilly is a candidate for the Cranford township committee. “I hope to bring a friendly, stress-free way of our committee when dealing with the public,” he says on his website.

Registered sex offender Rodney Platthy, 46, has been working at a pet store in Clearwater, Fla., The Smoking Gun reported. His job is to wear an inflatable puppy costume and stand outside the store to lure in pet lovers. But on Aug. 29, Platthy and the store owner got into it with several “juveniles (riding) by on bicycles.” As one of the kids tried to ride away, Platthy “approached the victim from behind and placed him in a chokehold,” police said. The victim told police he couldn’t breathe for a brief period. Platthy was arrested for battery by strangulation and ordered to have no contact with the victim; he posted a $10,000 bond.

A court in Germany has ruled that an unnamed teacher who has been on sick leave for 16 years must prove that she is ill, Metro News reported on Aug. 23. Since 2009, the female teacher has been drawing her full salary in spite of not working at all. When the education authority in North Rhine-Westphalia demanded that she take a medical test, she sued. But the court called her case “truly incomprehensible” and ruled that the employer had the right to call for the test. Andreas Bartsch, president of the state’s teachers’ union, called her behavior “completely abysmal.”

Police in Canton, Conn., are searching for the owners of a silver urn containing cremated remains that was left along a running trail near the Canton Department of Public Works, WFSB-TV reported on Sept. 4. Authorities report that they tried to open the urn, but it is sealed shut. Officers hope whoever misplaced the object will come forward to retrieve it.

Over the Labor Day weekend, hikers on Huron Peak in Colorado got a surprise when they reached the summit of the 14,000-foot-plus mountain, the Associated Press reported. Seated in a camping chair, wearing an ice cream cone costume and sunglasses with a fake mustache, was an unnamed man who had hauled up ice cream sandwiches in a pack with dry ice. He was rewarding climbers with the sweet treats. “Ice cream was just kind of what we wanted,” said Blaine Griffin. Griffin said he saw the man going down the mountain once the ice cream was gone, sans costume.

Hopes were dashed into the sweet winds on Sept. 2 as the Dolce Vento was launched into the water off the coast of Zonguldak, Turkey, the New York Post reported. The $1 million, 85-foot yacht slipped into the water and almost immediately started listing to its port side before sinking. The new owner, captain and two crew members were able to jump overboard and swim to the nearby shore without injury. Shipyard officials said the cause of the sinking was under investigation.