Taken from the NEWS OF THE WEIRD column by Chuck Shepard.(c) UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

In Milwaukee, WI, the family of Robert Senz demanded shortly after his burial last July that Borgwardt Funeral Home dig up the body because his wallet was missing. Sure enough, the wallet containing $64 and credit cards was still in Senz's pocket. In February, 1997, Borgwardt sent the family a re-burial bill for $2,149, but then decided the whole thing was the county medical examiner's fault, and sent the bill there. That office has denied responsibility.

In February in Redwood City, CA, Rachel Landa, 48, got out of her van to pump gas, but when she realized the hose wouldn't reach, she instructed her 14-year-old daughter to get behind the wheel and back it up. By the time the girl wrestled the van to a stop, the mother had been run over three times (broken ankle, foot, and finger), and the van had crashed into a traffic signal box adjacent to the station.

• Several hundred thousand apples near Brighton, MI
• A tractor-trailer full of Hills Bros. ground coffee in downtown Louisville in December
• A truck hauling spaghetti sauce and ranch dressing collided with a truck full of computers in Austin, TX
• During an ice storm near Brownlee, NE, a trailer full of nuclear weapons (an accident kept secret for a month by the federal government).

Kevin Carter, 21, and Michael Harrison, 26, were charged with murder and armed robbery in Boynton Beach, FL, in December. Motive: to raise money to attend the police academy.

Darrel Voeks, 38, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Appleton, WI, in December for stealing $100,000 worth of pigs from his farmer-employer. Motive: to pay for breast implants for a stripper at a club he patronized.

Michael Pollina, 26, pleaded guilty in Chicago in February to three bank robberies. Motive: to pay for a lavish reception that he and his fiancee had planned for their upcoming wedding.

Jack Swint, 42, pleaded guilty to passing bad checks in Roanoke, V A, in November, while he was awaiting trial on other bad check charges. Motive: he needed to pay for counseling sessions to help him kick his bad check habit.