Oregon county holds mock election; lists Garth Brooks, Paul Newman as candidates

McMINNVILLE, Ore. (AP) — On the ballot this month in Yamhill County are questions such as whether the United States should purchase the Louisiana Territory or whether Paul Newman or Garth Brooks ought to be the national director of entertainment.
Just kidding!
The western Oregon county is spending $10,000 for a dry run of a new voting system. It is mailing mock ballots to voters for the March 11 ballot, hoping to work out any kinks in the system before an election May 20 in which the results will be real.
Oregon holds elections in March, but nobody submitted any questions for the ballot in Yamhill County. Rather than skip the election, the county decided to use it as a test of a new scanning system, as training for elections workers and as a warm-up for voters who will cast ballots in a real primary election in May.
”We’re hoping it will be a little easier for people,“ county Clerk Jan Coleman told the county commissioners earlier this year. ”But it is a change.“
The counting software replaces a 20-year-old system relying on a trio of optical scanners. The old system required voters to draw, with a pencil, a line completing an arrow on the right side of the candidate they chose.
The new ballots require them to shade in a box to the left of the candidate’s name with a blue or black pen. Ballots will be fed into a machine capable of scanning them digitally rather than optically.

Feathers fly over language on billboard for chicken sandwich

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — A convenience store chain’s billboard advertising its fried chicken sandwich is ruffling the feathers of some residents.
Sheetz unveiled the ”Crispy Frickin’ Chicken“ billboards at the beginning of February.
The campaign consists of 100 billboards placed locations that carry the sandwich, spokeswoman Monica Jones said Thursday. The campaign is aimed at young adults, and the company did not intend to offend anyone, Jones said.
”We’re kind of known for edgy, kind of brash advertising tactics, and we knew this would spark a certain amount of controversy,“ Jones said. ”That said, we’re proud of the campaign.“
Sheetz will take down the billboards on Wednesday, when the campaign is scheduled to end, Jones said. The company recently removed one billboard in Hazle Township, near Hazleton, after local officials fielded complaints.
”There was a lady who left an angry voice mail,“ code enforcement officer Fran Calarco said. ”And a man called and said he had small children and didn’t think they should be exposed to that type of language. I told him I completely understood and agreed.“
Sheetz Inc., based in Altoona, operates stores in Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

Minnesota man pleads guilty to striking woman on the way to anger management class

ST. PAUL (AP) — A man on his way to anger management class became angry and struck a woman, authorities said.
Justin John Boudin, 27, pleaded guilty Friday to fifth-degree assault in Ramsey County District Court and can expect to face a sentence for time served in jail, at least 120 days, and probation when he is sentenced May 5, the county attorney’s office said.
According to a criminal complaint, Boudin was waiting at a bus stop on Aug. 29 when he accosted a 59-year-old woman and others.
”Why don’t you show me some respect?“ he allegedly yelled at the woman.
When she took out a cell phone to call police, he hit her in the face, according to the complaint. When a 63-year-old man tried to stop Boudin, Boudin hit him with a blue folder — which fell on the ground — and fled.
Police tracked him down through the folder, which included Boudin’s anger management homework and his name, the complaint said.

Armed robber in Australia picks wrong bar, gets hog tied by biker gang

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — An armed robber picked the wrong target when he raided an Australian bar where a biker gang was holding a meeting. He ended up hog-tied and in a hospital.
The man and an accomplice, wearing ski masks and waving machetes, stormed into a club in a western Sydney suburb shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday and yelled at patrons to lie down as they tried to rob the cash register, police said Thursday.
About 50 members of the Southern Cross Cruiser Club had just started a club meeting in another room, and the bikers jumped up to intervene.
One robber escaped by leaping over a balcony, while the other tried to flee through a service entrance, the club’s president, who identified himself only as ”Jester,“ told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
”We caught him at the fence and crash-tackled him and hog-tied him to the ground and waited for the police to get there,“ Jester said.
Police confirmed that club patrons had subdued one of the robbers, who was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, but did not give further details. Police captured the other suspect nearby.
Jester said the robbers had walked past the bikers as they entered the bar but apparently failed to notice them, perhaps because the ski masks obscured their vision.
”I don’t think he did his homework very well,“ Jester said of the ringleader. ”He picked the wrong night.“

Robbers steal 100 tons of chocolate spread from Israel factory

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police are on the lookout for a thief with a super-sized chocolate craving.
The robbers broke into a factory in the northern Israeli city of Haifa late Monday and walked away with nearly 100 tons of chocolate spread.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said such a large heist indicated it may have been an inside job and police were searching the area of any traces of the sweet stuff.
Moshe Veidberg, one of the company’s owners, told the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot it would require five large trucks to transport the stolen chocolate, which he valued at roughly $415,000.
He said the company’s alarm system was deactivated and its surveillance footage stolen as well, leaving the fate of the creamy chocolate a mystery.

Mohawk haircut gets Ohio kindergartner suspended from school

PARMA, Ohio (AP) — A kindergarten student with a freshly spiked Mohawk has been suspended from school.
Michelle Barile, the mother of 6-year-old Bryan Ruda, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the haircut, characterized by closely shaved sides with a strip of prominent hair on top. The school said the hair was a distraction for other students.
”I understand they have a dress code. I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination,“ she said. ”They can’t tell me how I can cut his hair.“
An administrator at the suburban Cleveland charter school first warned Barile last fall that the haircut wasn’t acceptable. The school later sent another warning to her reiterating the ban.
Mohawks violate the school’s policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district’s dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.
Ruda’s hair became a disruption last week when Ruda arrived freshly shorn, Geyer said. Administrators called Barile on Friday telling her to pick Ruda up from school.
”This was his third infraction,“ Geyer said Tuesday. ”We felt that we were being extremely patient.“
Rather than request a hearing to appeal the suspension, Barile said she’ll enroll him at another school. Changing the hairstyle is not an option, she said.
”It’s something that he really likes,“ Barile said. ”When people hear Mohawk, they think it’s long, it’s spiked, it’s crazy looking, and it’s really not.“

Ore. mayor who posed in underwear aboard fire engine loses her office

ARLINGTON, Ore. (AP) — The mayor of an Oregon town who once stripped to her underwear and posed on a fire truck has been stripped of her office.
Voters in this town of about 500 voted narrowly Monday to recall Carmen Kontur-Gronquist. The tally was 142-139. City officials said the recall is effective Tuesday.
Kontur-Gronquist said the pictures of her in black bra and panties were taken for use in a contest about fitness, but a relative posted them on MySpace in hopes it would improve the social life of the single mother.
They predated her election, but she said she saw no reason to take them off the popular Web site once elected three years ago. Later, she closed access to them.
Opponents said it wasn’t fitting for the mayor to be so depicted. They said they also disagreed with her on issues about water and the local golf course.

4 teachers reprimanded after 3rd-grade students searched for missing $5 in Kentucky

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A class of third-grade students got a lesson in civil liberties when an envelope containing $5 disappeared from their teacher’s desk.
The students at Martin Luther King Elementary in Hopkinsville were asked to remove their shoes and socks during a search. Some were patted down and had their pockets checked.
Some parents were angered by the Feb. 15 searches, which did not turn up the missing money at the western Kentucky school.
”The way they treat our students is ridiculous,“ said Zlatko Skuljan, the father of a 9-year-old girl in the class.
The school’s principal gave written reprimands to four instructors who had physical contact with the students. The principal, Sarah Newman, declined to comment and phone numbers for the four teachers could not be located Wednesday.
Christian County Schools spokeswoman Regan Huneycutt said the search violated the school district’s policy. School employees can touch students only when the student poses a threat to another student or to themselves.
School officials said the search was prompted by the disappearance of an envelope containing $5 for a school function that was on the teacher’s desk.
The students’ regular teacher was absent that day.

Venezuela seeks to root out English biz and tech terms like ‘marketing,’ ’mouse’

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez’s government is taking its battle against U.S. ”imperialism“ into Venezuelans’ dictionaries, urging state phone company workers to avoid English-language business and tech terms.
Through a campaign launched Monday, newly nationalized CANTV hopes to wean employees and others from words like ”staff“ ( ”equipo“ is preferred), ”marketing“ ( ”mercadeo“) and ”password“ ( ”contrasena“).
Stickers and banners printed up by the company exhort Venezuelans to ”Say it in Spanish. Say it with pride.“
The Communications and Information Ministry said in a statement that Venezuelans must recover Spanish words that are ”threatened by sectors that have started a battle for the cultural domination of our nations.“
Other English words targeted include ”mouse“ (the company prefers ”raton“), ”meeting“ ( ”reunion“) and ”sponsor“ ( ”patrocinador“) — all of which have become common in Latin American countries.
The leftist president has sought to counter what he calls U.S. cultural imperialism on all fronts, financing Venezuelan cinema as an alternative to the ”dictatorship of Hollywood“ and forcing radio stations to play more Venezuelan music.
English is still taught in schools alongside other languages, however. And Chavez himself often breaks playfully into English during speeches, sometimes to salute his close friend, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, saying: ”How are you, Fidel?“

Fancy footwear for police dogs in western German city

BERLIN (AP) — Police dogs in the western German city of Duesseldorf will no longer get their feet dirty when on patrol: The entire dog unit will soon be equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, officials said Monday.
”All 20 of our police dogs — German and Belgian shepherds — are currently being trained to walk in these shoes,“ Andre Hartwich said. ”I’m not sure they like it, but they’ll have to get used to it.“
The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement, Hartwich said, but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. In the city’s historical old town in particular — famous for both its pubs and drunken revelers — the dogs often step into broken beer bottles, he said.
”Even the street cleaning doesn’t manage to remove all the glass pieces from between the streets’ cobblestones,“ Hartwich said, adding that the dogs frequently get injured by little pieces sticking deep in their paws.
The dogs will start wearing the shoes this spring — but only during operations that demand special foot protection. The shoes comes in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the officers uniforms, Hartwich said.
”Now we just have to teach the dogs how to tie their shoes,“ he joked.

In nod to Spain, Alaska’s largest city holds first reindeer run

By JEANNETTE J. LEE
Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — From sausages to stews, reindeer are usually a main dish in Alaska.
But the antlered animals were the main event at Anchorage’s first annual running of the reindeer.
A cheering crowd of hundreds lined snow-packed Fourth Avenue Sunday to watch what was touted as Alaska’s version of Spain’s famed running of the bulls.
”Normally we just eat them,“ said Mark Berg, a spectator who has lived in Alaska since 1967. ”I just made some jambalaya the other day out of reindeer sausage. I’ve eaten more of their cousins than they want to know.“
Seven little reindeer, looking a bit bewildered, stood next to their handlers as a crowd of roughly 1,000 costumed runners chatted excitedly at the start.
The reindeer were lined up behind the first heat of runners — several hundred women in costume. One had taped a paper bulls-eye to her back. Others masqueraded as carrots and lichen, both favorite foods of reindeer.
At the signal to go, the reindeer stampeded into the crowd. Passing tourist shops, the downtown federal building and a stand selling reindeer hotdogs, the animals were well out in front by the halfway point.
”We thought, ’Ok, they’re just going to mosey along,’ but they took off running,“ said Amanda Pelkola, who dressed as a carrot with a friend. ”We got smoked by the reindeer.“

Dog returns to Arkansas family weeks after tornado broke open a fence and damaged home

GASSVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Every day since a tornado damaged the Harrises’ home and their dog’s pen, the family has checked to see whether Pongo made it back.
On Friday, nearly three weeks after the storm, he was — hungry but healthy.
”He poked his head out of the dog house,“ said Tim Harris, husband of Pongo’s owner, Katresa Harris. ”He was running; he was so excited to see her.“
The 9-year-old basset hound and blue heeler mix had been missing since the Feb. 5 tornado devastated the Gassville area. He apparently ran off after the tornado broke open a fence.
The family has been returning to the home, which they are not living in during repairs, to see whether Pongo returned and to put out food. The family also made posters with a picture of Pongo and checked animal shelters.
”I knew he made it,“ Tim Harris said. ”We never gave up on him, that’s for sure.“
The Gassville tornado was one of a swarm that killed more than 50 people across the South. And Pongo was one of at least 30 animals in Baxter County reported missing afterward, according to the Humane Society of North Central Arkansas.
Some pets had to fend for themselves for a few days because residents in the storm-ravaged areas weren’t allowed to return home immediately, said Rick Day, the society’s president.
”As officials straightened things out and made the homes accessible, folks were able to find their pets,“ Day said. ”If anything came out of this, it’s that there’s a higher awareness of homeless pets and adoptions.“

Florida Marlins looking for spry but tubby men for cheerleading squad: the Manatees

MIAMI (AP) - The Florida Marlins are looking for some footloose fat men.

The National League team is creating an all-male, plus-size cheerleading squad to be dubbed the Manatees. Tryouts were scheduled for Sunday.

The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season.

Real manatees, 1,200-pound mammals sometimes referred to as "sea cows," are not considered the most agile of creatures and often get caught in boat propellers.

The Marlins want their Manatees to have the same dimensions, but to be decidedly more agile. Men will be judged on how well they dance a choreographed routine.

The Marlins already have a cheerleading squad, the considerably more svelte Mermaids.

Men selected for the Manatees won't be paid. They'll get tickets to games they perform at, and the honor of dancing in front of crowds that have been smallest in major league baseball for the last two seasons.

The Marlins aren't the only pro sports team capitalizing on Americans' expanding waistlines. The Chicago Bulls basketball team have the Matadors, a big-man dance troupe that's entertained fans at home games since 2003.

And although cheerleaders might be an unfamiliar site in baseball, big men aren't, as fans have long cheered on the likes of Babe Ruth and Kirby Puckett.

NYC borough known for closed landfill plans to produce a Super Staten Island Red wine

By CLARE TRAPASSO
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Lush Tuscan vineyards and the urban landscape of Staten Island may not seem to go together, but that’s about to change.
With a little help from its Italian sister city, the borough often associated with its former landfill is preparing to open the only large-scale, educational vineyard in New York City. And its creators are looking forward to producing their very own nectar of the gods — the Super Staten Island Red.
”Despite what people think, Staten Island can be a good place to produce excellent wine,“ said Piergiorgio Castellani Jr., a Tuscan winemaker whose vineyards inspired the venture. ”It’s like planting a vineyard in the center of the world.“
The vineyard was the brainchild of several Staten Island businessmen with an appreciation for red wine. They traveled to Crespina, Italy, in November to glean ideas from Castellani’s vineyards.
They consulted with viticulture experts from Cornell University and the University of Pisa to select a blend of grapes that would grow in the Staten Island Botanical Garden.
They settled on cabernet sauvignon, merlot and sangiovese varieties, which they hope to plant in spring 2009.
The 2-acre vineyard is part of an effort to lure tourists off the famed Staten Island ferry and onto the much-maligned island. The borough president’s office has committed $2 million to the project.
”It’s an educational vineyard,“ said Henry Salmon, who is spearheading the nonprofit venture, which will explore winemaking from the vine to the bottle. ”We expect to bring adults and children to show how grapes are grown and how wine is made.“
Even though more than a third of its residents are of Italian descent, Staten Island bears little resemblance to the rolling hills of Tuscany. The island, located off the southern tip of Manhattan, is the least populated of the city’s five boroughs.
It will take about four years before the soil is prepared for the vines and grapes can be transformed into wine.
But organizers believe it’s worth the wait.
”What’s more important than making good wine is the didactic component of this project,“ Castellani said. ”There are a lot of people interested in understanding how wine is made.“

‘Stolen truck’ taken by dog in Azusa, Calif.; police say Boxer knocked pickup out of gear

AZUSA, Calif. (AP) — Doggone it, my truck’s gone!
Police said Charles McCowan parked his pickup in front of a mini-mart Wednesday, leaving his 80-pound Boxer named Max in the passenger seat. When he came out, the truck and Max were gone.
McCowan called police, assuming the truck had been stolen. When officers arrived, they found the pickup across the street in a fast-food parking lot but had no idea how it got there.
In security video shown Thursday on KCAL-TV, the truck can be seen rolling backward out of the store lot and across the street, threading its way through traffic and out of view.
Police said that after McCowan left the truck, Max knocked the vehicle out of gear and sent it rolling backward.
Both Max and the truck emerged without a scratch.

Pa. record store owner sells nearly 3M vinyl albums, singles and CDs for $3M on eBay

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man says he can now retire because someone bought his massive record collection on eBay for the asking price — $3 million.
A buyer from Ireland agreed to shell out $3,002,150 for the collection of nearly 3 million vinyl albums, singles and CDs, owner Paul Mawhinney said Thursday.
The winning bidder has already deposited $300,000, and a bank has confirmed that he has enough money to buy the collection, Mawhinney said.
The price tag is one of the highest recorded by eBay Inc., said Karen Bard, a spokeswoman for the online auctioneer. A Gulfstream II jet once sold for $4.9 million, she said.
On Thursday, the 68-year-old Mawhinney closed Record Rama, which opened in Ross Township in 1968. He said he wants to spend time with his wife, three children and five grandchildren.
”I am legally blind. I had a couple of strokes a few years ago ... and it’s time at my age to think about doing something else with my life,“ he said.
The collection includes more than 1 million albums, 1.5 million singles and 300,000 CDs, Mawhinney said.

Black, white, red all over: Newspaper? No, Mao Mi, new panda at New York City zoo

NEW YORK (AP) — All the other animals must be green with envy.
The one getting the most attention at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo these days is Mao Mi, a rare red panda that just arrived from his former home at Michigan’s Binder Park Zoo.
Red pandas are endangered, and Mao Mi is part of a Wildlife Conservation Society breeding program that’s trying to ensure the survival of threatened or endangered species.
Mao Mi has black legs, a furry reddish-brown face and body and white ears.
Prospect Park zookeepers said Thursday that their cuddly cutie is very playful and loves to climb trees and explore his new home.

German scientists launch space flight with fish to study motion sickness

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Seventy-two small fish were briefly launched into space by researchers Thursday, hoping their swimming patterns would shed some light on motion sickness.
German researchers sent the cichlids on a 10-minute rocket ride that blasted off from a launch pad in northern Sweden, said Professor Reinhard Hilbig, who was in charge of the project.
”They were very happy, I think they want to have another flight,“ he said.
The thumbnail-sized fish were filmed as they swam around weightlessly in small aquariums during the unmanned space flight.
The German team will now study the video to see if some of the fish swam in circles because that is what fish do when they experience motion sickness, said Hilbig, of the Zoological Institute at the University of Stuttgart.
He said scientists hope the experiment can help explain why some people experience motion sickness while others do not. The mechanisms involved are similar for both fish and humans.
Hilbig said the fish landed safely and appeared to be in good condition.
Cichlids were picked for the experiment because they are sturdy fish who were deemed to have good chances to survive the stress of a space flight.
”Goldfish are a little bit fat and messy, while the cichlid fish is a well-trained, sporty fish with muscles,“ he said.

Canadian who returned dog gets reward then is accused of dognapping

TORONTO (AP) — At first, a Canadian was considered a hero for returning a missing dog to its heartsick owner. Now he’s accused of dognapping.
A dog walker left Huckleberry tied up outside a Toronto bakery on Saturday. A few minutes later, the chocolate lab was gone.
The owner, Bert Clark, offered a reward of about $15,000 for Huckleberry’s return. Then late Sunday, 54-year-old Richard Cassibo showed up with the dog.
Authorities say Cassibo accepted a check for about $10,000 and asked Clark to donate the rest to an animal hospital.
On Wednesday, police said they charged Cassibo and an alleged co-conspirator Andrew Footit with conspiracy, corruptly taking a reward, possession of property obtained by crime and attempted fraud.

Curiosity didn’t kill this cat: Kitty heads home after 3-week cross-country journey in locker

PHOENIX (AP) — A cat who took a three-week cross-country ride to Arizona in a storage container is headed home to Florida.
Arizona Humane Society officials say the 2-year-old gray cat crawled into the locker in Pompano Beach, Fla., while a man loaded it for a move to Phoenix.
The container spent time in a Florida warehouse and on a semitrailer before being delivered to a Phoenix facility.
A worker heard a cat meowing inside the container Tuesday. The cat, named Meatloaf, was hungry and thirsty but unharmed. The man who was moving remembered a similar cat near his old apartment.
Meatloaf’s owners had put up posters around their neighborhood. The apartment manager remembered them when Humane Society called.
Officials will give Meatloaf time to recover before flying him home.

Ga. lawmakers want Gators logo off license plates, since Fla. keeps Bulldogs off theirs

By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA (AP) — A harassed minority — Florida Gators fans in Georgia — got the chance this month to show their school pride on their license plates, but legislators are attacking the new privilege with a full-on blitz.
Unhappy that some states, including Florida, make it difficult or impossible to put the logos of Georgia colleges on their own plates, the state House voted 142-10 on Wednesday to keep those states’ school logos off Georgia-registered car bumpers.
”Whatever is good for the goose is good for the gander. Whatever we allow here in Georgia would have to be allowed in other states,“ said state Rep. Barry Fleming, the bill’s sponsor.
”This bill solves a lot of problems.“
The House measure would allow special prestige alumni plates only for states that reciprocate in honor of Georgia schools, adding a twist to the bitter rivalry between the Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where it enjoys the support of the chamber’s leaders.
Under current law, groups seeking approval for a vanity tag must have their application approved and persuade 1,000 people to plunk down $25 apiece before the plates are printed.
University of Florida alumni in Georgia quickly lined up the necessary number of motorists, and county drivers services offices began issuing the tags this month. Georgia also allows prestige plates honoring Clemson University in South Carolina and Auburn University in Alabama.
Alabama and South Carolina, however, do not allow plates to be labeled with out-of-state colleges.
In Florida, the bar for getting specialized places is much higher than it is in Georgia. An applicant has to pay $60,000 and conduct a survey that proves an interest. The tag must then be created by an act of the Florida Legislature and must continue to sell at 1,000 plates a year to stay in existence.
Tennessee has a law similar to Georgia’s, and plates are available for most Southeastern Conference schools, including the Volunteers’ biggest rivals — the Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide.
If the Georgia bill passes, residents with vanity plates honoring schools in states that don’t return the favor would lose the plates when they need to be replaced.
The proposal passed with little debate, but the few who spoke up wondered why Georgia would crack down on residents willing to voluntarily pay what amounts to a $25 tax.

Hot stuffing: Michigan man accused of stealing 217 cases of stuffing mix

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — This stuffing was hot, but not in the roasted turkey sense.
Police have arrested a 32-year-old man they accuse of stealing 217 cases of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix.
The stuff went missing last week from a storage trailer in Midland. Deputy Police Chief Robert Lane said area distributors have access to the trailer, and that the suspect worked for one of the distributors.
The man was arrested over the weekend at his home in Bentley in northern Bay County, according to The Midland Daily News.
Lane said prosecutors have been asked to charge the man with embezzlement. The 157 cases of stuffing recovered by police is being held as evidence.

Florida pastor challenges married couples to have sex everyday for a month

YBOR CITY, Fla. (AP) — A southwest Florida church issued a challenge for its married members: Hanky panky every day.
Relevant Church head pastor Paul Wirth issued the 30-day sex challenge to take on high divorce rates.
”And that’s no different for people who attend church,“ Wirth said Sunday. ”Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way.“
The challenge doesn’t extend to unwed congregants, however.

A 200-pound English mastiff in Michigan to be honored for donating blood 20 times

HOWELL, Mich. (AP) — He’s donated blood 20 times and is being honored by the Livingston County chapter of the American Red Cross.
Not bad for a 200-pound, 2-year-old English mastiff who answers to the name Lurch. He’ll receive the chapter’s ”Pet’s Best Friend“ award at an event here Thursday.
”We’re doing something different this year,“ executive director Diane Serra said. ”We’re honoring Lurch because he’s actually donated blood.“
Lurch’s owner, Joni Melvin-Thiede, said Lurch donates blood for other canines about once every four weeks. His blood has helped dozens, including saving one dog who got into some rat poison.
”You really don’t end up knowing which dogs he helps, but his little picture goes on each bag so the person that gets it will actually know it.“
Besides being cooperative with nurses, Lurch is also friendly with his housemates: four pugs, seven cats and the occasional litter of kittens. There’s also an American mastiff named Lucas, who teams with Lurch to eat about 200 pounds of food per month.
”Mastiffs are just like 200-pound pugs,“ Melvin-Thiede said. ”They’re just as friendly and just as goofy except they have a couple more zeros at the end of the weight.“

DVD protects South Carolina firefighter from being shot; no, it wasn’t ’Bulletproof’

WALTERBORO, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man is thankful for a DVD that ended up taking a bullet for him.
Colleton County Fire and Rescue Director Barry McRoy says he was leaving a Waffle House restaurant in Walterboro on Saturday morning when two men ran in fighting over a gun. Police say a bullet hit one of the struggling men, shattered a window and then hit McRoy.
The bullet hit a DVD McRoy was carrying in his pocket. He suffered a bruise but didn’t realize he had been shot. As he told a police officer what happened he noticed a bullet hole in his jacket, the shattered DVD case and a piece of the bullet.
”I was saved by a DVD,“ McRoy says. ”How lucky can you get?“
One man was arrested on assault and battery and gun charges.
The DVD was nicked. It was a gift from an employee who had recorded a TV show about fire extinguishers.

NYC man accused of taking $2M after bank confuses him with another man with same name

NEW YORK (AP) — A man was charged with withdrawing $2 million from an account after a bank confused him with a man who has the same name.
Benjamin Lovell was arraigned Tuesday on grand larceny charges. The 48-year-old salesman said he tried to tell officials at Commerce Bank in December that he did not have a $5 million account. He says he was told it was his and he could withdraw the money.
Prosecutors said the bank — which advertises itself as America’s Most Convenient Bank — confused Lovell with a Benjamin Lovell who works for a property management company.
The lesser-funded Lovell gave away some of the withdrawn money and blew some of it on gifts, but lost much of it on bad investments, prosecutors said.
The district attorney’s office did not immediately have information on his lawyer. Calls left with Commerce Bank on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

Car license plate with number 1 on it auctioned off for $14 million in UAE

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A license plate with nothing but the number ”1“ on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday.
Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn’t say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.
”I bought it because it’s the best number,“ said Khouri, whose family made its fortune in real estate. ”I bought it because I want to be the best in the world.“
The oil-rich UAE began auctioning off vanity license plates last May.
Ordinary automobile license plates issued to drivers here — and even most other vanity series plates — carry both Arabic and Western numerals and script, defining the issuing city and country.
Khouri’s plate, however, has only the Western numeral and no letters.
The record sale surpassed the $6.8 million that was paid for an Emirati license plate at an earlier auction with the Western number 5 on it — also without Arabic numerals or letters.
Proceeds from the auctions, which are held in a lavish hotel here, go to a rehabilitation center for victims of traffic accidents.
On Saturday, 90 license plates were auctioned off in all, raising a total of $24 million. The previous five such events raised more than $50 million.

Spot on steer’s side looks like state of Michigan, could save it from slaughterhouse

SPAULDING TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — One steer’s unique hide may save it from someone’s dinner table.
The animal is named Michigan, and for a good reason — the brown spot on its side resembles the state’s mitten shape.
The pattern on its other side is shaped like a ”U.“
It’s one of 30 cattle on Jacob and Georgia Kessler’s family-run farm in Spaulding Township, about 80 miles northwest of Detroit.
Cattle from the farm are eventually sold for beef. But the owners are willing to sell the steer for promotional or mascot use instead of shipping it to the slaughterhouse.

New York City’s new jail menu is bland, but healthy: no sweets, no butter

NEW YORK (AP) — Spending time behind bars in New York City might turn out to be good for your health.
The overhauled menu at the city’s jails includes no sweets, no butter and only skim milk. The Department of Corrections wants healthy alternatives to traditional jailhouse grub.
A breakfast might include fresh fruit, whole wheat bread and wheat flakes. A sample dinner: pepper steak, rice and steamed carrots.
”These people are in our custody, and they don’t get to make their own choices,“ said Department of Correction Commissioner Martin Horn. ”We have a moral obligation to make sound choices for them.“
That means unsweetened muffins, which are expected to replace the wickedly sweet ones for the roughly 14,000 inmates in the jail system.
”We have no choice but to eat what they give us. It’s bland — so I guess that’s healthy,“ said Christopher Alberici, a 40-year-old inmate.
The healthier menu costs the city as much as the previous one, which had included white bread and sweetened drinks, Horn said, adding that it may cost the city less in the long run.
”The cost of an inmate having a stroke or going into diabetic shock is far greater than keeping people healthy to the extent we can,“ Horn said.

Libraries in Michigan turn up the noise with video game events and attract teenage clients

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Libraries in southeastern Michigan are turning the page on peace and quiet.
Video game events at public libraries are drawing crowds of teens, including about 100 competing monthly at ”Guitar Hero“ at the Rochester Hills Public Library.
”Getting teens to come to the library is right up there with getting them to go to church: It’s not exactly the first place they want to go,“ Christine Lind Hage, library director, told the Detroit Free Press for a story Sunday.
Hage stocked the shelves with 1,823 games. And the games are hot items, with an average of 1,300 checked out daily.
A competition in Rochester Hills was held Feb. 9, and similar events are being held at other Detroit-area libraries.
Nearly 30 teens play ”Guitar Hero“ or ”Dance Dance Revolution“ every few weeks at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library, which offers 300 video games in its collection.
”It’s a big social event,“ said Stephanie Jaczkowski, 17. ”I’ve met a lot of friends there, and they’re really good friends.“
The Canton Public Library six months ago began offering games and holding monthly tournaments for Nintendo Wii bowling and ”Super Smash Bros.“
”Many of the games are complex. They’re worthy in their own right. They can help build cognitive skills,“ said Brad Bachelor, teen librarian.

Old NYC friends meet up online after years; now one is donating the other a kidney

NEW YORK (AP) — Two grade-school friends who reconnected online after more than a decade are becoming more than bosom buddies — one is donating a kidney to his rediscovered pal.
”He’s giving me something not too many people would give,“ Ricardo Manier, 21, said of his friend Karl Celestin. The transplant surgery is set for Tuesday at a Manhattan hospital, the Daily News of New York reported.
The two were close friends and classmates at Holy Family School in Queens until Manier’s family moved to California in 1996, after his eighth-grade year. They soon lost touch.
Manier has focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a kidney-scarring disease that often causes chronic kidney failure, according to the National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health’s Medline Plus Web site. He has been hospitalized repeatedly since he was 5.
Nonetheless, he was a premed student at a California college until June, when his kidneys virtually stopped working, he said. During his six-week hospitalization, the networking Web site Facebook served up Celestin’s name.
The two soon got together in New York, where Manier now lives.
Celestin, a student at a medical school in the Dominican Republic, said he volunteered for the kidney donation because it pained him to see his old friend’s similar ambitions delayed by his condition, which led to dialysis three times a week.
”I put myself in his shoes,“ Celestin said.
Manier now hopes to join him at his medical school in the fall.

Locked-out and in the snow, an 89-year-old woman uses an ax to get back in her Colorado home

DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — Accidentally locked out of her home and stuck in the bitter cold, Geraldine ”Gerry“ Palmer took matters into her own hands.
An ax, to be more specific.
Palmer, who turns 90 this weekend, said a sliding glass door locked behind her Saturday after she went outside to rearrange some things that had gotten wet on the patio. Snow had formed a pile about 7 feet high between her and the yard, so she had no escape.
So Palmer picked up an old ax she had once used to chop wood and broke into her own home.
”I had to bang the glass four times with the ax before it broke,“ she said.
After smashing the glass in the sliding patio door, she reached inside and unlock it.

Valentine’s Day break: W.Va. radio station offering free divorce to some lucky unhappy couple

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Charleston radio station is observing Valentine’s Day with a reminder that Cupid sometimes misses his mark.
WKLC-FM, better known as Rock 105, is giving away a free divorce.
Valentine’s Day isn’t all hearts and flowers, says WKLC Program Director Jay Nunley. There is a darker side, he said, ”where maybe you despise your spouse and resent the entire day.“
Through 4 p.m. on Thursday, Valentine’s Day, applications for the free divorce will be accepted on the classic rock station’s Web site, www.wklc.com. The winning name will be drawn at 5 p.m.
Nunley cautions that this is a real divorce and people shouldn’t enter if they aren’t serious. Also, people expecting a long, drawn-out legal battle should hire a lawyer because the Rock 105 contest is for a relatively uncomplicated divorce.
Charleston attorney Rusty Webb will handle the actual filing.
”Sure we can give away concert tickets, and we do,“ said Nunley. ”That’s going to make you happy for a little while. This is the chance to make someone happy for the rest of their life.“

NYC unveils official new condom wrapper, says: ’get some’

By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The official New York City condom has a different look and a sexy new slogan: New Yorkers are being encouraged to ”get some“ on Valentine’s Day.
Street teams will be handing out the free condoms at busy hubs around the city on Thursday, including Times Square, Wall Street and near City Hall.
And an ad campaign on television, radio and subways and buses will soon begin, featuring the catch phrase.
”We want to give away as many condoms as people will use because we’re trying to make New York City an even safer place to have sex, and this is a powerful way to do it,“ said Monica Sweeney, the Health Department’s assistant commissioner for HIV prevention and control.
The free condom initiative is part of the city’s effort to reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. About 100,000 of New York’s 8.2 million residents have HIV or AIDS, and many more are diagnosed each year.
The city has made free condoms available for years, but last year revamped the package with a distinct look to encourage usage. Since then the city has been giving away 3 million condoms a month on average, up from 1.5 million a month before the redesign.
The design introduced last year was a black wrapper stamped with the letters ”NYC CONDOM“ in the same font and bright colors used on city subway maps and signs.
The new design unveiled Wednesday features the letters ”NYC“ in black, inside three adjoining white circles. Underneath the ”NYC“ is the word ”CONDOM,“ with each letter in a different color. The wrapper is still black and the condom inside, from the Lifestyles brand, is the same.
Designer Yves Behar, founder of the San Francisco-based agency fuseproject, created the wrapper’s new look, which he said he wanted to be friendly and unintimidating.
The city said new condom dispensers, also designed by Behar, will be available for establishments that wish to distribute the condoms. Currently about 900 establishments — some restaurants, bars and salons but mostly nonprofit groups — offer the condoms, Sweeney said.
Last year, the city’s condom campaign angered New York’s top Catholic leaders, who said Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration was promoting promiscuity by ”blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms.“

New Zealand’s oldest immigrant, 102, arrives for new life

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s oldest immigrant arrived to a celebrity welcome Wednesday — though the sprightly 102-year-old Briton said he hopes for a quiet life of trout fishing in his new country.
Retired dentist Eric King-Turner disembarked from a cruise ship in the capital, Wellington, after a five-week trip from his home near Southampton in southern England.
”I’m delighted to be here. My wife lived with me for 13 years in Britain so I thought she might be getting homesick,“ King-Turner said, referring to his wife Doris, 89, a New Zealand national.
King-Turner will live in his wife’s hometown of Nelson on New Zealand’s South Island, where he said he intends to indulge his passion for fly fishing.
Before he left Britain, King-Turner told the Daily Mail newspaper he was starting ”a wonderful new adventure and I would say to anyone that if you want to do something, you should do it straight away while you can.“
”What’s important is that when I’m 105 I don’t want to be thinking, ’I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102,“’ he was quoted saying.
King-Turner was Surgeon Commander on the British aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable during World War II and helped save New Zealand soldiers’ lives, his stepdaughter, Gabriel King-Turner, said.
She said her stepfather was a modest, intelligent man and people who spend time with him ”forget the age thing.“

Yellow taxi cap driver plays cupid to lonely heart New Yorkers this Valentine’s Day

NEW YORK (AP) — Finding your better half this Valentine’s Day could be as easy as hailing a taxi — especially if Ahmed Ibrahim is in the driver’s seat.
The 53-year-old cupid cab driver, as he refers to himself, has spent the past few years playing matchmaker to lonely New Yorkers, setting up more than 70 dates. Nineteen have led to relationships that lasted more than a year.
Ibrahim planned to decorate his yellow cab with red and white hearts and roses for Thursday.
”I’ve organized so many dates, and it really makes me feel good about it,“ Ibrahim said. ”I’ve not had one complaint.“
Ibrahim said he offers his matchmaking services to passengers he evaluates by listening to conversations and asking a few questions. He then exchanges phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
”I want to know if they’re the real deal or just a player,“ he said. ”If you’re a player, then forget about it.“
One of his clients, Martin Karamon, said he successfully found romance through the cupid cab’s services. The relationship ended after about six months, though the two remain friends.
”I might have to get in his cab again because I just broke up with my girlfriend,“ said Karamon, 37.

Virgin Islands police officer, in his underwear, chases armed robbery suspects

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — A police officer who chased armed robbery suspects clad only in his underwear won praise Friday for not letting a little exposure get in the way of his job.
Officer Dariel Chinnery jumped, barely clothed, into his cruiser this week and chased two men suspected in a violent armed robbery in St. Thomas.
Chinnery, a veteran officer, went ”a little above the call of duty,“ said Police Chief Rodney Querrard, whose department has struggled to contain a rise in violent crime in the U.S. Caribbean island territory.
Tuesday night, a man frantically banged on Chinnery’s door, saying he had been shot in the arm by two men who demanded all his money, police said.
Chinnery grabbed his gun as the suspects drove away. After a short car chase, the men abandoned their car and escaped on foot.
Chinnery is well-known for his enthusiasm in issuing traffic tickets and using the loudspeaker on his patrol car to order people to move illegally parked cars.
”People complain, but he does his job,“ the police chief said.

Florida lawyer charged with assault on prosecutor after shaking her hand

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A lawyer has been charged with assault for shaking a federal prosecutor’s hand so hard, authorities said, that it injured her shoulder.
Kathy Brewer Rentas, 49, was arrested Thursday after attending a court hearing for her husband, who was accused of violating the terms of his probation for a cocaine distribution case. The husband, Anthony Rentas, was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest.
After the hearing, Brewer Rentas asked to shake hands with Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keene.
A court security officer reported that Brewer Rentas shook Keene’s hand so forcefully that the prosecutor’s arm was nearly ripped out of its socket.
”With Keene in hand, Brewer made an upward, then a quick downward motion and pulled Keene toward the ground moving her forward, almost causing Keene to fall to the ground,“ Deputy U.S. Marshall Robert Kremenik Jr. wrote in an arrest report.
”Assaulting a federal officer is something that we will take very seriously and prosecute vigorously,“ said Alicia Valle, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman. ”As a member of the bar, she should know better.“
Brewer Rentas’ attorney, Gwendolyn Tuggle, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel her client never meant to hurt Keene.
Brewer Rentas spent a night in jail and was freed Friday on $100,000 bail. She was ordered to stay away from Keene and undergo a psychological evaluation to determine whether she needs counseling.
Brewer Rentas works as a commercial litigation attorney for a law firm in Hollywood, Fla. If convicted, she faces up to a year in prison and could be penalized by the Florida Bar.

Hometown of Rutherford B. Hayes celebrates with beard-growing contest

DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) — Gentlemen, start your beards.
Men have begun a beard-growing competition that’s partly a presidential look-alike contest as this central Ohio city celebrates its 200th birthday.
The current, clean-shaven resident of the White House isn’t the inspiration. Instead, it’s the nation’s 19th president, Rutherford B. Hayes, born in Delaware in 1822 and typically pictured with long, wiry whiskers.
The competitors all started Sunday with clean slates. They were photographed with shaved chins and obtained permits to register in the contest, to be judged July 5.
Ray Blinn, 60, is growing his very first beard for the contest.
”Too bad they don’t have the scruffy, mountain-man category, because that’s probably going to be what I look like,“ Blinn said.
There will not only be a prize for the best resemblance to Hayes, but also others in categories including longest, neatest and most unusual beards.

50 chickens found running through Philadelphia high school

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Monday mornings are hard enough. Imagine finding 50 chickens running loose in your high school.
Workers arriving about 5:30 a.m. to open Northeast High School in Philadelphia found dozens of hens and roosters wandering around the hallways. The birds were apparently brought to the school sometime over the weekend, said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard.
”We don’t know where the chickens came from or who they belong to,“ Gallard said. ”I’m pretty sure there is a very upset poultry farmer somewhere who wants them back.“
The floors were covered with droppings and chicken feed. Most of the school’s 3,600 students were sent home for the day because the school required extensive cleanup, he said.
A farmer was called to round up the birds and bring them to Fox Chase Farm, the district’s agricultural school, Gallard said.
Police are checking surveillance tapes to see if they can determine the perpetrator of the fowl prank. The culprit will have to pay a hefty fine, said Gallard.
”It’s not going to be chicken scratch,“ he said.

Flapjack feast flips Fargo, N.D., group into Guinness World Records; nearly 35,000 served

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — This feast was for the record books, and it only took 34,818 pancakes to get there.
Thousands of people, including an official with Guinness World Records, escaped the bone-chilling winter weather on Saturday for the 50th anniversary of The Kiwanis Club’s Pancake Karnival fundraiser.
Grillers flipped flapjacks and served them with sausages and orange juice for most of the day until they more than surpassed the 30,724 pancakes served in 2002 by the Lubbock, Texas, Lions Club.
”We’re officially the largest pancake feed in the world,“ Matt Sullivan, president of The Kiwanis Club, said Sunday.
The group had brought in Kris Teufel, a records manager from London, to certify the feed, Sullivan said. The cost of the feast was being tallied, but organizers felt it was worth it for the event’s silver anniversary, he said.

Young Ron Paul supporter cited 4 times in Minn. for giant decal in car’s rear window

OWATONNA, Minn. (AP) — An 18-year-old Republican’s enthusiasm for presidential hopeful Ron Paul could cost him more than $550.
Cody Hauer has been cited four times in one week for displaying a 13-inch-by-40-inch ”Ron Paul Revolution“ decal in the rear window of his car. The problem is that such decals are illegal if they obstruct the driver’s view.
”I support Ron Paul, the city police department doesn’t,“ he said. ”They gave me a DWR — driving while Republican.“
Owatonna Police Chief Shaun LaDue said his officers followed the law.
”The political aspect of this doesn’t enter into the equation at all,“ LaDue said. ”It’s very clear in state statute that you cannot have anything that obstructs the driver’s vision.“
Besides being in violation of the law, Hauer showed disrespect toward the officer during each traffic stop, LaDue said. ”He talks himself into a citation each time,“ LaDue said.
Hauer said he’ll argue in court that the law violates his First Amendment right to free speech.
”To be honest, I’m probably not going to win, but I’m going to go down fighting,“ he said.

Tenants in famous NYC building sue neighbor, saying her smoking makes building stink

NEW YORK (AP) — A couple in a famed apartment building that has been home to the likes of Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Igor Stravinsky and Angelina Jolie are suing a neighbor over her heavy smoking.
Lawyers Jonathan and Jenny Needleman Selbin say in a lawsuit filed Thursday that their home in the Ansonia on Manhattan’s Upper West Side ”smells like a casino“ because a chain-smoking neighbor, Galila Huff, filled their apartment and the hallways with smoke almost daily from their arrival in 2003 until last year.
Huff, who owns Caffe La Fenice at Broadway and 69th Street, admitted when reached at home that she was a smoker. She said she knew about the lawsuit but could not discuss it.
Huff’s smoke sometimes came directly into the Selbins’ apartment through vents from shared duct work, court papers say. The couple said they worried about the ”grave danger“ the secondhand smoke posed to their son Charlie, who is now nearly 4.
The attorney couple said Friday that the building’s management renovated the ducts in early 2007 and mostly fixed that problem, but the renovations did nothing to address the secondhand smoke wafting through the hallways.
”Visitors regularly comment on the smoke and have noted that it ‘smells like a casino’ in the common hallway,“ the Selbins’ court papers say.
In their lawsuit, filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, the Selbins said they complained to Huff about the smoke but she ”intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently“ endangered their health and that of their son.
The Selbins asked the court to prohibit Huff from allowing her smoke to permeate the common hallway, and to award the couple unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and legal fees.

US Trademark office: International Falls, Minn., is ’Icebox of the Nation’

INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. (AP) — International Falls is officially the ”Icebox of the Nation.“
The city on the Canadian border had been fighting the ski town of Fraser, Colo., for the legal right to the trademark. International Falls claimed victory this week when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the city attorney a certificate granting the community Reg. No. 3,375,139.
”I ran over to the attorney’s office and kissed the certificate,“ Mayor Shawn Mason said Friday. ”Fraser’s actions had sent a chill down my spine.“
Mason said more was at stake than bragging rights. She said International Falls has used the icebox title to market itself to industry as the nation’s premier site for cold-weather testing.
”We’re just thrilled the title has been confirmed,“ City Administrator Rod Otterness said. ”We’ll wait until next week to notify them of their copyright infringement. If Fraser wants to call itself the Icebox of Colorado, we have no problem.“
International Falls and Fraser have fought over the title before.
City Attorney Joe Boyle said International Falls can prove that it has used the moniker since 1948. And the city has photographic proof that its 1955 Pee Wee hockey team traveled to Boston with jackets saying, ”The Icebox of the Nation.“
International Falls paid Fraser $2,000 in 1989 for dropping its claim to the title. But when the Minnesota community of 6,500 people failed to renew its trademark, the Colorado town of 1,000 jumped.
”They let it lapse and we thought, heck, if they don’t want it, we do,“ Fraser Mayor Fran Cook said Friday. ”This is the first I’ve heard of any resolution and I have to admit I’m surprised.“
Cook said little will change even if Fraser’s lawyers confirm defeat.
”It’s something we’ve always gotten a kick out of and it will not disappear from the old-timers’ lingo,“ she said.
In the near term, Mother Nature is siding with International Falls.
”It’s supposed to be 20-below with wind come Sunday,“ Mason said while celebrating at her city’s Elks Lodge, toasting the chill with another frosty one.
The forecast for Fraser: sunny with highs in the mid-30s.

Owner finds his stolen helmet on eBay — and turns in seller

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — After Adam Grove had his custom motorcycle helmet stolen, he turned to eBay.
Turns out, so did the thief.
Grove went to the online auction site looking for a replacement, but he became suspicious when he noticed the seller lived near where the helmet was stolen. The thief had clipped the cable lock lashing the helmet to the handlebars when the bike was parked outside a Mechanicsburg restaurant in August 2006.
Grove outbid another suitor, offering $139, and called police.
Jurors last month convicted Christopher J. Blatnik, 23, of theft. He had claimed he had found the helmet while jogging at 1 a.m.
However, Grove can’t wear the helmet just yet — it’s sitting in an evidence room until Blatnik’s appeals end.
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Information from: The Patriot-News, http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews

Philadelphia traffic judge apologizes to man nagged for years over twin’s tickets

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A traffic judge apologized to a man who was hounded for 17 years by officials trying to get his similarly named twin brother to resolve $1,800 in unpaid tickets and fines.
The problems all started for 40-year-old Edward Stanley Harris between October 1990 and May 1991. During that period, his twin brother, Edwin Shelby Harris, received eight tickets for moving violations.
Edwin Harris pleaded guilty in traffic court in September 1991 and was ordered to pay $1,501. But Edwin Harris never paid. He hit hard times, drifted south and lost touch with his brother.
In the fall of 1992, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation gave Edward Harris a painful reminder of his twin: The agency, confusing him with his brother, told him his license would be suspended for nonpayment of tickets.
Eventually, PennDOT got things cleared up and withdrew the suspension threat. But Edward Harris’ fight against bureaucracy was only just beginning.
Every year or so, between November 1992 and June 2007, PennDOT would rediscover Edwin Harris’ unpaid tickets and threaten to suspend his twin’s license. Each time, Edward Harris would return to traffic court, and the suspension threat would get lifted.
The cycle dragged on until November, when Judge Willie Adams refused to look at the paperwork that showed Edward Harris was innocent, then told him to start paying the tickets or go to jail. That led him to take his story to the Philadelphia Daily News.
After a column Monday, a different traffic judge, Bernice DeAngelis, caught wind of the story. She apologized and said the court would give Edward Harris a refund.
”I’d like the chance to look him in the eye and apologize, from the bottom of my heart,“ DeAngelis told the newspaper for a story Thursday. ”I see what we do in this court as a sacred trust. That might sound corny, but I truly believe it. I’m sorry for everything he had to go through.“

Prisoner punches attorney after judge denies request for new lawyer

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — A public defender who was punched in court by a disgruntled client said Thursday he doesn’t blame the man who gave him with two black eyes.
The disorder in the court, captured on video, happened Monday at Scott County Circuit Court after the judge refused defendant Peter Hafer’s request for a new attorney.
Hafer, 30, of Cynthiana, told the judge he didn’t trust his court-appointed lawyer, Doug Crickmer. As Judge Rob Johnson began to tell Hafer he couldn’t choose his public defender, Hafer landed the first punch.
”I just couldn’t take it anymore and I just snapped,“ Hafer said later at the Scott County jail.
Hafer hit the attorney several times in the face and stomach. Hafer was restrained on the ground. Crickmer was admitted to Georgetown Community Hospital and released later that day. He said he will not file assault charges.
”I certainly don’t fault him or blame him or wish him any ill will,“ Crickmer said Thursday on NBC’s ”Today“ show. ”I think Mr. Hafer was just frustrated. Like I said, he had been in jail for some time. ... I think he just got frustrated, fed up, and he just snapped and I was the nearest target.“
Hafer was arrested in August on charges of burglarizing a K-Mart store in June.
As for his request for a new attorney, Hafer apparently will get his way. Authorities said a new one will be appointed.

2 Komodo dragons hatch at Wichita zoo, apparently without fertilization of a male

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two Komodo dragons have hatched at the Sedgwick County Zoo, apparently without the fertilization of a male.
The dragons, both males, are believed to be the first in North America known to have hatched by parthenogenesis, which occurs naturally in some species, including invertebrates and lower plants. It happens more rarely in some vertebrates.
Two other known cases in which Komodo dragons hatched by parthenogenesis were at the London and Chester zoos in England in 2006.
The zoo in Wichita is having DNA testing done to document the mother’s and the babies’ genetic structure because of the remote chance that a male’s sperm was stored on the female’s body.
Komodo dragons are one of the few species capable of storing sperm, said Don Boyer, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the San Diego Zoo and species survival plan coordinator for Komodo dragons.
The Sedgwick County Zoo has had this female and one other since 1993, when they were less than a year old. They have been laying eggs since 2000.
”We never had a male dragon at the zoo. There were no tramps that came wandering through,“ said Nate Nelson, the zoo’s curator of amphibians, reptiles and fishes.
One of the Kansas zoo’s females, Gaia, laid at least 17 eggs on the nights of May 19 and 20, 2007. The females can lay as many as 30 eggs at a time.
Because the English zoos had documented parthenogenesis, the Sedgwick County Zoo checked to see whether the eggs were fertile. Only two of the 17 eggs were hatched — one on Jan. 31 and the other Feb. 1 — because the zoo doesn’t have room for more dragons, Nelson said.
One is 16 inches long; the other is 17 inches. Komodo dragons can living 20 to 40 years. Males can reach 10 feet long and weigh as much as 200 pounds; females grow to between 5 and 7 feet and weigh as much as 125 pounds.
Komodo dragons are endangered, with between 3,000 and 5,000 in the wild. Eighty live in 30 zoos in North America. Only six zoos in the nation breed the dragons.
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On the Net:
Sedgwick County Zoo: http://www.scz.org/

Iowa junior high school pulls student newspaper over recipe that calls for schnapps

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials at a junior high school spiked an edition of the student newspaper because it contained a recipe for hot chocolate that included peppermint schnapps.
The January edition of Stillwell Junior High School’s quarterly Tiger Tracks was pulled off the racks when the boozy recipe was discovered, Principal Tim Miller said. A student at the West Des Moines school submitted the recipe, which slipped through the editing process, Miller said.
Miller described the mistake as an honest one, saying the student who submitted the recipe thought schnapps was a type of candy.

Temple University in Philadelphia gets anonymous $5M in donations in the mail

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The checks to Temple University really were in the mail — for $5 million.
It was a total surprise for the school to receive the anonymous donations, which arrived in a pair of nondescript envelopes sent via U.S. mail from a bank in Arizona, said Stuart Sullivan, Temple’s senior vice president for institutional advancement.
One envelope contained a $1 million bank check for the university to use however it chooses, Sullivan told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The second held a $4 million check to endow a scholarship for women and minorities.
The envelopes were addressed to a development office staff member, who was stunned when she opened them on Thursday, Sullivan said.
”She had never seen checks of that size anytime in her lifetime,“ Sullivan said. ”It was quite a thrill for her.“
The school contacted the bank to try to find out more, but the donors insisted on remaining anonymous, Sullivan said. They just asked for the school to give them periodic reports on how the money is being used.
Temple is in Philadelphia and has about 35,000 students.

New York City oyster bar milks Super Bowl win over New England with ‘Giants Clam Chowder’

NEW YORK (AP) — Not only has the pride of New England been creamed by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, so has the region’s namesake chowder — at least at one city restaurant.
The Grand Central Oyster Bar is changing the name of its New England Clam Chowder to ”Giants Clam Chowder“ for the week.
The restaurant’s owner, Mike Garvey, called it an ”appropriate tribute.“
The Giants beat the previously undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 on Sunday night to win their third Super Bowl title.

Apparent piece of human scalp have police in Wash. town going door-to-door

PASCO, Wash. (AP) — The discovery of an apparent piece of human scalp has puzzled police knocking on doors to try to determine the source.
”At this point it appears to be human,“ police Capt. James Raymond said Tuesday. ”We’re taking a leap that the person it belongs to probably is not alive.“
Eriberta Salinas said her 4-month-old puppy Clifford brought home the apparent piece of scalp with reddish hair on Sunday from a back yard in the neighborhood.
Police went door to door in the neighborhood in this central Washington town for about five hours Monday to ask neighbors if they had seen any red-haired strangers in the area lately.
Investigators initially thought the scalp might have been taken in the recent car prowl and theft of a kit containing body parts for training cadaver dogs in nearby Kennewick, but that was later ruled out, police said.
The apparent piece of scalp has been sent to a crime laboratory for analysis.
”Someone out there is probably not living and so that’s really what the priority is: Where is this person?“ Raymond said.

Honey, are we insured for this? Wife’s vandalism complaint leads to husband’s burglary arrest

SUTHERLIN, Ore. (AP) — They say problem gamblers never quit while they’re ahead, and one properly insured Oregon man apparently didn’t, either.
Authorities recovered a stolen antique slot machine worth $4,000 and arrested the 30-year-old, who they said asked his wife to help file an insurance claim to cover damage done to his van during the heist.
The slot machine was reported stolen in a burglary Monday night at a home in Sutherlin, 170 miles south of Portland, Douglas County sheriff’s deputies said. Investigators learned that the victim’s housekeeper filed a police report a day earlier claiming someone had thrown a piece of sheet metal through the window of her parked van.
The sheet metal turned out to be from the back of the stolen slot machine, with the serial number attached.
Deputies said the housekeeper’s husband stole the machine, which tipped over as he drove away, breaking the van window. He told his wife the van had been vandalized and asked her to report the damage so insurance would cover it, deputies said.
The husband and a 25-year-old man were charged with burglary and theft, but the wife wasn’t charged.
The case was still being investigated.

Crime doesn’t pay, neither does sleeping on the job

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — There was no fairy tale ending for a Malaysian man who copied Goldilocks.
The man broke into an empty house in northeastern Malaysia, helped himself to cookies in the kitchen and then went to sleep in a child’s bedroom, where he was discovered when the family returned home after a shopping trip, police and news reports said Monday.
The man, who later tested positive for drugs, woke up only when roused by police officers, who were summoned by the shocked family in the northeastern state of Terengganu late Saturday, state crime investigation chief Mohamad Hazam Abdul Halim said.
”Because of the drugs, he fell asleep. Unfortunate for him,“ Mohamad Hazam told The Associated Press.
House owner V. Sathya said the intruder was discovered by his 9-year-old son who ran out shouting — in a scene reminiscent of the ”Goldilocks and the Three Bears“ fairy tale.
”Even then the burglar did not wake up and carried on sleeping while holding on to one of my wife’s purses,“ he told The Star newspaper.
Mohamad Hazam said the intruder was arrested for alleged trespassing because the family reported nothing missing except the cookies.
”I guess my wife’s cookies were just too irresistible for him ... the rogue ate everything,“ Sathya was quoted as saying.

Clowns pack east London church for tribute to the father of modern clowning

By REGAN McTARSNEY
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) — The men and women in white face-paint and polka-dot bow-ties sang hymns and said prayers as one of their number rode a unicycle down the aisle of an austere east London church.
The group was gathered for a memorial service Sunday, but since it was for one of Britain’s best-known clowns, the attendees kept things bright, cheery and more than a little unorthodox.
Brilliantly colored wigs, parasols and minuscule hats filled the nave of Holy Trinity Church at the annual service in honor of Joseph Grimaldi, known to many as the father of modern clowning. Roly Bain, the clowns’ chaplain, blew bubbles from the pulpit at the service, which also honored clowns who have died in the past year.
The Rev. Rose Hudson-Wilkin, a vicar at the church who helped organize the event, said the clowns had a religious role to play.
”In the Bible, in the New Testament, it talks about us being fools for Christ and in a sense they clown around, they fool around, and they try to help people see the lighter side of life,“ Hudson-Wilkin said.
”I think from that perspective, that they have a ministry to perform.“
Grimaldi was born in the late 18th century, and began performing publicly at age 3. A skilled mime, acrobat, magician and a consummate physical performer, he popularized many of clowning’s trademark tricks, including thieving long strings of sausages. Grimaldi, who died in 1837, is credited with inventing the white face-paint and two red triangles that still grace many clowns’ cheeks.
The first memorial service was held in 1946 and moved to Holy Trinity in 1959.
”If you’re a clown, you know about it,“ said Albert ”Clem“ Alter, who traveled to the memorial from Portland, Ore.
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On the Net:
Clowns International: http://www.clowns-international.co.uk

Measure to combat noise, cockfighting would limit roosters in parts of Riverside, Calif.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Rooster owners in this Southern California city may be about to get their feathers ruffled.
Measure A on Tuesday’s ballot seeks to muffle incessant cock-a-doodle-dooing and crack down on illegal cockfighting by limiting the number of roosters residents can own in rural areas within the city limits.
”It just goes from about 3 o’clock in the morning to 8 or 9 o’clock at night,“ said Lee Scheffers, who said his neighbors had up to 200 roosters at one time. ”There’s just a lot of crowing going on. Every one is more macho than the other one.“
After he complained to the City Council, code enforcement officers took action — but not until Scheffers had lost a lot of sleep.
The current law allows 50 birds, but the measure would only allow seven and require the birds be confined to an ”acoustical structure“ at least 100 feet from neighbors from sunrise to sunset.
If the measure passes, those with too many roosters would have to trim their flocks.
Riverside County has strict laws limiting rooster ownership, which had driven illegal cockfighting operations inside the city limits, particularly in rural areas of citrus groves, nurseries and ranches where local law mandates no more than one house per five-acre lot.
”It’s a real quality of life issue, but it’s also an animal cruelty issue,“ said Councilman Chris Mac Arthur, adding that the measure is also aimed at stopping cockfighting.
Mac Arthur, a Riverside native, said he favors the measure although it won’t directly affect him. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.
”I’ve lived in this area most of my life, but I do not have any crowing fowl — or any fowl to speak of,“ he said.

Sorry, you’re too fat: Miss. bill would ban restaurants from serving obese customers

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press Writer
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A state lawmaker wants to ban restaurants from serving food to obese customers — but please, don’t be offended.
He says he never even expected his plan to become law.
”I was trying to shed a little light on the number one problem in Mississippi,“ said Republican Rep. John Read of Gautier, who acknowledges that at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he’d probably have a tough time under his own bill.
More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi are considered it obese, according to a 2007 study by the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.
The state House Public Health Committee chairman, Democrat Steve Holland of Plantersville, said he is going to ”shred“ the bill.
”It is too oppressive for government to require a restaurant owner to police another human being from their own indiscretions,“ Holland said Monday.
The bill had no specifics about how obesity would be defined, or how restaurants were supposed to determine if a customer was obese.
Al Stamps, who owns a restaurant in Jackson, said it is ”absurd“ for the state to consider telling him which customers he can’t serve. He and his wife, Kim, do a bustling lunch business at Cool Al’s, which serves big burgers — beef or veggie — and specialty foods like ”Sassy Momma Sweet Potato Fries.“
”There is a better way to deal with health issues than to impose those kind of regulations,“ Al Stamps said. ”I’m sorry — you can’t do it by treating adults like children and telling them what they can and cannot eat.“

Custom, insulated XXlong jacket keeps giraffe cozy on cold days at zoo in Oakland, Calif.

By MICHELLE LOCKE
Associated Press Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Like many a lady of a certain age, Tiki feels the cold these days.
So workers at the Oakland Zoo are having a custom-fit coat made to keep the giraffe cozy this winter.
At age 18, venerable for giraffes, Tiki is subject to the vicissitudes of age. She already gets regular visits from a chiropractor, a masseuse and an acupuncturist.
Those are accepted treatments for horses, at least in the always edgy San Francisco Bay area, and provide a gentle way to treat animals without drugs, said zoo keeper Melissa McCartney. Massage helps get Tiki used to interacting with keepers. Acupuncture helps with her shoulder and withers.
However, coping with the effect of Bay Area winter chills on the African mammal had baffled keepers.
At 13 feet tall, Tiki is too big to be herded into a stall, and regular horse blankets are too ill-fitting to be left on without supervision lest she get in a tangle.
”Poor Tiki in her blanket looks like someone in her sister’s hand-me-downs,“ said zoo spokeswoman Nancy Filippi.
The zoo staff got in touch with a horse-blanket designer who agreed to donate her services to tailor a coat for Tiki.
The jacket will be a tasteful forest green and feature a removable liner for those in-between days.
To get precise measurements for the tailoring, McCartney had to scramble up a ladder.
The result? A 40 extra, extra long.

Texas mayor resigns over allegations she stole neighbor’s dog; custody hearing set

ALICE, Texas (AP) — A small-town mayor accused of secretly keeping her neighbor’s dog after telling them the pet died has resigned, and a judge is set to decide custody of the Shih Tzu.
Grace Saenz-Lopez apologized Friday to Alice residents and said she believed her actions were in the dog’s best interest.
”I am sorry for the division that the events of these last few weeks have caused,“ Saenz-Lopez wrote in her resignation letter. ”It was never my intention to bring any negative exposure to our city.“
A custody hearing Monday is expected to decide who gets Puddles, who Saenz-Lopez renamed ”Panchito“ after taking the dog last summer.
A neighboring family accuses Saenz-Lopez of refusing to return the dog after leaving it in her care while they went on vacation. A day after her neighbors left, Saenz-Lopez called to tell them Puddles had died.
Three months later, a relative of the neighbors saw the pet at a dog groomer. When Saenz-Lopez refused to return the dog, the family filed a criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit against her.
Homero Canales, who represents Saenz-Lopez, has said his client believed the dog would die if returned to her neighbors.
Saenz-Lopez, the city’s mayor since 2003, was indicted Jan. 18 on two felony counts of tampering with evidence and concealing evidence.
Those charges came after Saenz-Lopez filed a police report claiming the dog was missing. The dog was later spotted at the home of Saenz-Lopez’s twin sister, in Ben Bolt, about 10 miles from Alice.
City commissioners voted unanimously last week for a resolution urging Saenz-Lopez to resign. Mayor Pro-Tem Juan Rodriguez will take over mayoral duties.
Alice is about 45 miles west of Corpus Christi.

Police in Laramie, Wyo., cite teenage girls who threw french fries for ’hurling missiles’

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press Writer
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Three 13-year-old girls accused of throwing french fries during lunchtime at their school were cited for ”hurling missiles,“ an adult infraction covered by city ordinances.
The principal of Laramie Junior High and a police officer had warned students during an assembly the day before the french fries’ launch that if they threw food, they had to suffer the consequences, Police Chief Bob Deutsch said. The warning came after school officials had heard rumors of an impending food fight.
”They saw it as really the planning of a riot, when you think about it,“ Deutsch said.
The girls decided to test the warning, he said.
”It wasn’t a spontaneous thing — a couple of kids giggling, throwing a french fry at each other,“ Deutsch said. ”They intended on getting everybody involved in this and starting something that no doubt would have the potential of getting out of control.“
Now, some observers are saying police and school officials went overboard, and even the American Civil Liberties Union weighed in.
”It certainly seems that this was an overreaction to a situation that could have been handled differently,“ said Linda Burt, Wyoming director of the ACLU.
The girls were also suspended for three days.
City prosecutor Ashley Castor didn’t return phone messages left Thursday and Friday. Principal Steve Hoff declined to comment, and schools Superintendent Brian Recht did not return messages.

Legally blind, 92-year-old golfer scores hole-in-one at country club in Florida

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — A hole-in-one is rare on the golf course, but what are the odds of a blind golfer sinking one?
Leo Fiyalko couldn’t see it, but his golf buddies did — a hole-in-one on the fifth hole at the Cove Cay Country Club.
Fiyalko is 92 and has macular degeneration. He’s been golfing for 60 years, but his 110-yard shot with a five iron on Jan. 10 was his first hole-in-one.
”I was just trying to put the ball on the green,“ Fiyalko said.
Fiyalko tees off every Thursday with a group of golfers ranging in age from 70 to 90-plus. He used to have a seven handicap, but now he needs help lining up his shots and finding his golf balls because he only has peripheral vision in his right eye.
Jean Gehring was playing in his foursome and watched Fiyalko’s swing.
”I could tell it went on the green, (but) when we got up there I didn’t see it. I looked in the hole and there it was,“ Gehring said.
Gehring said Fiyalko brushed off the feat, and had to be prodded to tell his wife about it at the end of the round.
Fiyalko’s friends at the country club presented him with a plaque last week to commemorate the feat.