Funny bill

    Police in Kentucky were looking for a customer who succeeded in paying for a US$2 order at a fast-food restaurant with a phony US$200 bill featuring a picture of President George W. Bush and a depiction of the White House with a lawn sign saying, “We like broccoli.”

    Authorities said the female cashier at a Dairy Queen in Danville even gave the culprit US$198 in real money as change. “Somebody at a drive-in ordered some food and passed a US$200 novelty bill with George Bush on it,” a Danville Police Detective said. “At a distance it looks like a real bill, it’s got the green color,” the detective said when asked how the cashier possibly could mistake it for genuine money.

    The cartoonish bill was accepted on Sunday evening by the Dairy Queen cashier despite having Bush on one side and an oil well on the other. The phony bill also depicted the White House lawn with yard signs reading “U.S. deserves a tax cut,” “No more scandals,” and “We like broccoli,” the last apparently referring to Bush’s father’s admitted dislike for the vegetable. Because there is no actual US$200 currency, the culprit could face a charge of theft by deception but not counterfeiting.

    Million-dollar mattress

    An Israeli woman mistakenly threw out a mattress she said had almost US$1 million inside, setting off a frantic search through tons of garbage at a number of landfill sites.

    The woman said that she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise present and then threw out the old one. The next day, she said, she learned that her mother had hidden her life savings inside the old mattress.