Weird Iowa: 13-Year-Old Driver Crashes Grandma's Car, Deer Breaks Into Mall, Toddler Left Home Alone

Alcohol can help things take a turn for the weird, if not downright dangerous.

Ankeny Police dashboard video of a chase shows a vehicle driven by a 13-year-old boy swerving, speeding through neighborhoods and plowing through barricades. The chase stopped when the car crashed into a tree and a young boy climbed out of the driver's seat. He allegedly was driving his grandma's car without permission and told police he had been drinking and was headed over to a friend's house. 

And nearby Saylorville Lake, a popular summer recreation spot for the entire Des Moines area, is also ranked as one of Iowa's top five areas for boating while intoxicated violations since 2008, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. More than 70 percent of Iowa's boating fatalities in 2012 involved alcohol. In reponse law enforcement will be on the lookout for intoxicated boaters from June 28 to June 30 as part of a national Operation Dry Water campaign.

The next tidbit is courtesy of Mother Nature. Mall walkers got a jump in their step early Wednesday morning when a deer tried to trot into College Square Mall in Cedar Falls. The deer smashed through a door to the mall between 7 and 8 a.m., but it got stuck in the vestibule for about 20 minutes before finding its way out and scurried away. 

This is a different twist on economic development. A Polish zipper manufacturer is looking at building a factory in Marion. City Manager Lon Pluckhahn writes in a memo that "ElPlast, a Polish company that manufactures food-grade plastic zippers, has tentatively committed to build a factory in Marion." This could mean 70 jobs for the city. 

Here in Iowa, we know a thing or two about cows, it's not weird. However, some Dallas County cows are getting a little extra attention these days – Iowa's fluffy cows, to be exact.

In May, someone posted a photo of Texas Tornado, a fluffy cow owned by father and son cattlemen Phil and Matt Lautner of Adel, on the social media site Reddit. When Matt Lautner discovered the cows had gone viral, he started an official Fluffy Cows Facebook page. The page has over 20,000 likes. Today.com, Buzzfeed and other websites have also jumped on the fluffy cow bandwagon.

Each week there are some talkers from area police logs. This week is no different.

First up, a 19-year-old man faces theft and public intoxication charges for reportedly swiping a phone at an Ames party, then allegedly sticking it down his pants and running out the door. Ames police called to a possible fight found Joseph T. Hutchens of Blue Springs, MO, hiding under a tree. Hutchens denied drinking but failed a field sobriety test and refused a chemical test, complaints said.

Then, a Coralville woman is facing criminal charges after she led multiple law enforcement agencies on a high speed chase after a traffic stop where she allegedly admitted to taking Nyquil and prescription drugs and then refused to cooperate with police.

Nancy Ruth Kuntz, 43, was stopped for a traffic violation on Highway 218 and she allegedly admitted to having taken the medicines. When she rolled her window up deputies attempted to remove her from the vehicle by breaking the window, but she then put the car into drive. Officers from several jurisdictions chased Kuntz for 30 miles, with speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. 

And, a Johnston man admitted to being "a horrible father" after leaving his 2-year-old alone while he drove to West Des Moines to find out why his estranged wife unfriended him on Facebook.

To add insult to the unfriending, the woman reportedly added four male friends to her Facebook page, said a West Des Moines police report. They arrested Trent Nathaniel Thomas, 31, on multiple charges after his wife’s iPhone was in three pieces, she had a quarter-sized bruise on her left elbow and the Department of Human Service was summoned to care for the child left on her own.