odd briefs 15A

Couple allegedly report stolen marijuana

CALLAWAY, Fla. -- Help, police, someone stole my pot! A Panhandle couple is under arrest after notifying police Thursday that their quarter-pound stash of marijuana was stolen and that they needed the weed back, because they were going to later sell it. "They're America's dumbest criminals," said Lt. Ricky Ramie, head of the Bay County Sheriff's Office narcotics task force. Deputies arrested 18-year-old John Douglas Sheetz and 17-year-old Misty Ann Holmes and charged the duo with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Serial toilet tipper still on the loose

DOTHAN, Ala. -- A portable bathroom prankster has plagued building sites in Dothan, tipping over about 50 of the unsecured toilets, police said. The tipper has struck at construction sites in upscale subdivisions around Dothan, leaving portable toilet vendors to clean up the mess. "It's not funny at all," said Kelly Powell, co-owner of Portable Toilet Services in Dothan, which has 400 rental toilets and three people to service them. Dothan police Capt. John Givens admitted that he chuckled at the first few tippings, until the pranks became a more disgusting problem. "There are additional problems if it lands door-down," Given said. "If it leaks out, there is no ventilation.

30-hour basketball game breaks Guinness record

BEATRICE, Neb. -- A 30-hour, 12-minute basketball game played at a Nebraska high school in August is officially the world's longest. The organizers were informed Thursday the basketball marathon will be recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. The game started at 8 a.m. on Aug. 6 at Beatrice High between an Orange and White team. It ended at 2:12 p.m. on Aug. 7 with the Orange team winning 4,107-4,018. The previous world record was 26 hours, 42 minutes, set in March 2003. Twenty-four people, from ages 15 to 35, played. Players could leave the court for one hour but could not leave the gym for more than five minutes. Naps were allowed on chairs and air mattresses in the gym.

Dublin strangers marry shortly after meeting

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The first time Patrick Dunne, 34, saw his bride's face was when he lifted her wedding veil, shortly before the vows. Dunne wed accountant Bernadette Coleman, 30, from Dublin minutes after they were introduced by radio station 98 fm, which aired Ireland's first blind date-style wedding live. Asked how the couple will make a marriage work, Coleman replied, "Come back to us in three months and you'll see. We are in it for the long haul." Coleman and Dunne beat hundreds of other applicants to win the chance to marry in 98 fm's "Two Strangers and a Wedding" competition, which began on Oct. 20. The radio station said the lavish wedding, which included a medieval-style wedding breakfast for 180, cost more than $63,000.

-- From wire reports