Encyclopedia of Humor

In Atlanta, U.S. District Judge Charles Moye overturned a death sentence for a murderer because the jury that convicted him 10 years ago had asked for a Bible during deliberations.

Boston Globe, April 13, 1990

Is there justice in this world? Well, in Jacksonville, Fla., an Internal Revenue Service car parked outside the federal courthouse was “booted” for unpaid parking tickets, forcing tax collectors to fork over $122.50 to set it free.

The IRS had to pay $95 for five tickets, a $25 removal fee plus $2.50 for processing to get the boot taken off, said Gertrude Bradley, clerical supervisor for the city parking division.

With the tax-filing deadline closing in, courthouse employees were chuckling about the IRS’ misfortune. But the agency was not amused.

“We’re not pleased with it,” said spokesman Holger Euringer. Yeah, we’re all really upset.

Seattle, Washington:

The new U.S. Weather Service radar on Camano Island and atmospheric profiler at Sand Point began to pick up a mysterious 20 mile per hour wind out of the south each night about a month ago, a wind that started about sunset and ended at dawn.

Forecasters finally realized the new instrument is almost too accurate for its own good: It was detecting no wind, but the annual nighttime migration of thousands of birds towards the north, said a meteorologist.

One day in line for the automatic teller I overheard:

[Person 1]: Gee, I don’t get it..

[Person 2]: What’s wrong?

[Person 1]: My card wont work.

[Person 2]: Did anything happen to it?

[Person 1]: I don’t think so… It wasn’t working very well for a while, so I rubbed the strip on the back with a magnet to recharge it… Now it isn’t working at all!

Fort Worth, Texas:

Lee Lively thought he was doing the right thing when he shot a drunken driving suspect who had beaten up a policeman and was running away.

His faith was shaken when Jesus Puentes demanded $1.7 million for his wounds.

But the jury said Puentes is the one who must pay — $1.75 million in punitive damages and $1,000 for Cpl. Randy Whisenhunt’s injuries.

“We just wanted to make a statement. We’re tired of the frivolous lawsuits that are plaguing our court system,” juror Elsie Bowles said.

February 17, 1990, Lively saw Puentes grabbing for Whisenhunt’s gun. The officer managed to knock it away, but ended up with Puentes sitting on his chest, beating his face.

Lively said he leaped out of his truck and beat Puentes to the gun. As Puentes began to run, Lively said he shouted twice for him to stop, then shot him twice in the legs.