Strange but True

BOCA RATON, Fla. — A hundred bucks might buy you more than six dozen burgers from McDonald’s, but the swanky Old Homestead Steakhouse will sell you one brawny beef sandwich for the same price.

Boca Raton Mayor Steven Abrams could barely speak between bites as he devoured the 20-ounce, $100 hamburger billed as the "beluga caviar of sandwiches.”

"Heaven on a bun,” restaurant owner Marc Sherry said.

The burger debuted Tuesday at the restaurant in the Boca Raton Resort and Club, where a membership costs $40,000 and an additional $3,600 a year.

"We’ve never had a hamburger on our menu here so we really wanted to go to the extreme,” Sherry said, calling it "the most decadent burger in the world.”

At about 5 1/2 inches across and 2 1/2 inches thick, the mound of meat is comprised of beef from three continents — American prime beef, Japanese Kobe and Argentine cattle.

The bill for one burger, with garnishing that includes organic greens, exotic mushrooms and tomatoes, comes out to $124.50 with tax and an 18 percent tip included.

The restaurant will donate $10 from each sale to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Snoring burgler

BANGKOK, Thailand — A burglar who broke into a small grocery shop in northern Thailand was caught after he hid under the store owner’s bed, drank a few beers and started snoring, police said.

The robber broke into the grocery in Uthai Thani province, 125 miles north of Bangkok, in the middle of the night, stole a few beers and quickly sought cover when he heard the owner of the shop stirring, police Capt. Prasert Hiewchawna said Wednesday.

The robber made a bad situation a bit worse by choosing to hide under a bed in the shop — the same bed that the owner was sleeping on at the time, he said.

While waiting to flee, the robber drank a few of the stolen beers, passed out and started snoring so loudly that he woke up the shop’s owner, who quietly called police.

Found account

WAUSAU, Wis.— Organizers of a high school class reunion made a surprising discovery while looking for classmates’ names and addresses — a forgotten bank account containing more than $50,000.

The Wausau East High School class of 1986 started the bank account 20 years ago with $210 raised during a bake sale. About 10 years ago, someone anonymously made a $50,000 donation to the account.

The account largely went unnoticed by class members until alumna Wendy Moore, 37, of Minneapolis, called the school district’s foundation looking for names and addresses of former classmates.

Foundation members, who had received interest notices from the bank but didn’t know who to contact about the money, told her about it and she then called Michael Welles, the former class president.

"My first reaction was, ’This has got to be a mistake,”’ said Welles, 38, of Chicago.

The account is now worth almost $56,000 after interest. The class reunion committee decided to use the money to set up a scholarship fund for future Wausau East graduates.

"I don’t know if it was a former classmate or parent who donated this money, but whoever it was obviously chose our class because they thought we’d do the right thing with it,” Moore said.

Red handed

STATESBORO, Ga., — A 21-year-old man was arrested after trying to buy drinks with a checkbook he found at a bar. Unfortunately, the checkbook’s owner was one of the bartenders serving him.

Jody Brian Minor was arrested on theft and forgery charges early Saturday morning, Statesboro Police Detective Terry Briley said.

He was "extraordinarily intoxicated,” Briley said.

Minor was at Dingus Magee’s bar when he found a checkbook and began paying his tab with it, Briley said. One of the bar’s employees realized the checks belonged to fellow bartender Hubble Beasley, who called police.

Briley said Minor’s father has paid the delinquent $129 bar tab.<