Lead Story
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Perhaps the strangest election result this year came from Orange County, California, where a school board seat went not to the favorite, a county park ranger and local PTA president, but to the almost literally unknown Steve Rocco, who identified himself on the ballot as a teacher and writer. Rocco got 54 percent of the vote although he never campaigned or even appeared in public. Several days after his November 2 victory, officials confirmed that Rocco, 53, really did exist but said they’d yet to get in touch with him, as he hadn’t answered his door and had no phone number on file; his neighbors said they see him only rarely. A current board member told the Los Angeles Times, “I heard he rides his bike. He likes garage sales. He hangs out at a 7-Eleven. I don’t know if any of that is true.”
Messin’ With the Dead
The nomination of Michael Kostiw for executive director of the CIA was withdrawn almost immediately after the Washington Post revealed in October that Kostiw’s previous stint with the agency ended when he was caught shoplifting a $2.13 package of bacon from a grocery store in Langley, Virginia, in 1981.
Recurring Themes
In October in Douglasville, Georgia, Beverly Mitchell returned from a two-and-a-half-week vacation to find that 54-year-old Beverly Valentine had broken into and taken up residence in her house. Valentine allegedly had utilities changed to her name, replaced Mitchell’s family photos with her own, ripped out carpeting, repainted several rooms, and installed a washer and dryer.
