Don't know about Bochum in Germany, but I have always heard that the town of those weird people was called Schilda, and their inhabitants "Schildbürger" (citizens of Schilda). There's even a German word "Schildbürgerstreiche", literally translated it means "antics of the citizens of Schilda", that is used for weird things politicians and other officials sometimes do. I don't think this is ever used in a different sense, but it sure says something about German politics :)

One Schildbürger story I remember right off the top of my head is when their mayor discovered that there was grass growing on his thatched roof. To get rid of the grass, they tied a rope round a cow's neck and tried to pull her up. (Ouch. Poor cow.)
They also decided that their city gate was too large - wagons and carts could get in, but what about people on foot? The gate was definitely too large for them, so they made it smaller.
And so on...