Bizarre

Woman Who Died in '03 Left in Front of TV


By TERRY KINNEY, Associated Press WriterTue Jan 10, 4:48 PM ET

The mummified body of a woman who didn't want to be buried was found in a chair in front of her television set 2 1/2 years after her death, authorities said.
Johannas Pope had told her live-in caregiver that she didn't want to be buried and planned on returning after she died, Hamilton County Coroner O'Dell Owens said Monday.
Pope died in August 2003 at age 61. Her body was found last week in the upstairs of her home on a quiet street. Some family members continued to live downstairs, authorities said. No one answered the doorbell at Pope's home Monday afternoon.
It could take weeks to determine Pope's cause of death because little organ tissue was available for testing, Owens said.
An air conditioner had been left running upstairs, and that allowed the body to slowly mummify, he said. The machine apparently stopped working about a month ago, and the body began to smell.
"Standing outside, one could smell death," Owens said.
Police went to the house last Wednesday after receiving a call from a relative who hadn't seen Pope in years. They found a staircase behind a door blocked by a basket and climbed to the second floor, where they found the body.
It was not clear if any crimes were committed, Owens said.
Authorities did not identify the caregiver, a women in her 40s who apparently lived in the home with Pope, Pope's daughter and her 3-year-old granddaughter.
"The caregiver is not someone you'd think was from another planet or really seems off the wall — (she's) a pretty normal kind of person," he said. "But I think out of loyalty, friendship and love of her friend, (she) decided to keep the body at home."

re:ignite

So, our high school youth group-Ignite-has been redefined in 2006...and has been introduced to the world wide web. I have to say, I think our website is awesome. Brittany worked really hard on it!! Our Tuesday nights will now run a little bit more like a magazine show-so every week we will have certain components. First, as always, pizza and chat time, followed by THE HOT SEAT-where one lucky person sits each week and gets drilled with rapid fire questions, all while wearing a sombrero. Then we have BEHIND THE MUSIC-a review of a Christian band/cd. Basically, one person will be given a cd to take home and listen to over the week. They have to listen to the entire cd and then rate it and answer a few q's about it-just like their fave song on the cd and it's theme, key lyrics, how it impacted them, how it relates to them, and a verse/passage in the bible it relates to. Pretty sweet, eh? Then we have a God talk and who knows what after that...it'll probably change weekly. But those things are our definites.

Middle School youth-DV8-has also been revolutionized to focus more on the word. It's more about God now than ever, so that's awesome. We have some fun stuff too and will definitely be using THE HOT SEAT, but no website to speak of yet...still thinkin on that one. This month we are doing a series of testimonies. So, hopefully the kids will be able to relate and be challenged in their daily lives to live for Christ.