If you ever wanted to be a mayor...

SAN ANTONIO - Someone in Italy placed the winning bid of $3.8 million on Friday for an unpopulated, one-house Texas town auctioned online.
No one lives permanently in the 13-acre town of Albert, about 60 miles north of San Antonio, but the tavern created from the frame of the old general store is open on weekends.
The town also includes a pavilion, an 85-year-old dance hall, a tractor shed, a three-bedroom house, plus peach and pecan orchards.
But before town owner Bobby Cave signs the deed over, he must ensure the eBay bid is legitimate. Cave said that unlike the usual items bought through eBay, there are no contractual obligations when it comes to real estate.
"There's just not any way to insist that a guy from Italy write me a check for three million," said Cave, 47, an Austin real estate agent.
The reserve price for the town was $2.5 million. Even if the deal doesn't go through, Cave said he has about five other prospective buyers genuinely interested in the town.
Bridgeville, in northern California, was the first town ever put on the eBay auction block. The 83 acres were twice sold on the site, in 2002 (that deal fell through) and again last year.

Psssst! Wanna buy a bridge?

SOLDIERS GROVE, Wis. - The Kickapoo River bridge is a big structure with a small price tag: one buck.
Village officials fear the nearly century-old bridge, which hasn't hosted traffic in 31 years, will collapse into the river and want to get rid of it quickly. Village board member Vicki Campbell said they hope high scrap prices help attract a buyer who may want to sell the bridge's steel parts.
"With the steel prices what they are right now, we thought this was an opportune time to sell it," Campbell said.
They previously tried a similar offer, she said, but the buyer backed out.
The overhead truss bridge was built in 1910 and was a major connection for the community. Over the years, a new route into Soldiers Grove was built, and the bridge became a fishing spot.
In 1976, the state Department of Transportation recommended closing the bridge, saying its age and condition posed a hazard.
Laurel Hestetune, village president, said he still remembers the rattling sound of the boards as travelers passed over the span.
"Once it's gone — if it goes — I'm going to miss it," he said.

Forget bullet proof vests - the troops need harmonicas!

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The sons of a late harmonica player want to pass along hundreds of his signature, pocket-size instruments to troops overseas.
Herb Shriner's 53-year-old twin sons, actors Wil and Kin, found about 400 vintage harmonicas in their father's warehouse near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. They considered donating the instruments to schools or to youth groups, but now want to send them to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It beats sending them tubas," Wil Shriner said. "They're pretty easy to pick up and play."
Herb Shriner and his wife died in a car crash in 1970. Shriner hosted a radio show, TV variety show and a game show.
The harmonicas were made by the Hohner Co. in Germany in 1949. Made of wood and brass, the blues harps are about 5 inches long and feature Herb Shriner's nickname, "Hoosier Boy."
"It's a gift to maybe lighten up a tough day. It just slips into the pocket," said Wil Shriner's wife, Rebecca Baughman.

Now that's a flag

MASADA, Israel - The record for the world's largest flag now belongs to an Israeli banner produced by a Filipino evangelical Christian.

The huge blue and white flag, measuring 2,165 feet long and 330 feet wide and weighing 5.7 tons, breaks the record for the world's largest, according to the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.
The flag was unfurled Sunday beneath the ancient Jewish desert fortress of Masada. Representatives of the Guinness Book of Records measured the flag and later confirmed the record.
Filipino entrepreneur Grace Galindez-Gupana said she decided two years ago to produce a giant Israeli flag as a testament to her love for Israel and the Jewish people and as a celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Israel.
"God spoke to me in thunder and lightning," Galindez-Gupana said. "The Lord said, 'Make the flag of Israel, the standard of my people.'"
"This is a tall order," she said, breaking down in tears.
The Israeli flag was accompanied by a giant Philippines flag — huge, but not quite as big. It weighed about 4.2 tons.
Large stones anchored both flags as they billowed in the desert winds.
There are about 31,000 Filipinos in Israel, most of whom are foreign workers, said Gilberto Asuque, consul general of the Philippine Embassy in Israel.
"This flag expresses the friendship between the Philippines and the state of Israel, and also the friendship between Jewish and Christian communities," said Shaul Zemach, director of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism.

They probably won't call it John Alley

WHITEWOOD, S.D. - If the Rev. David Baer has his way, the Whitewood City Council will change the name of one of the northern Black Hills town's streets.
Hooker Street doesn't quite lend itself to a family atmosphere and is offensive to some residents in the town of about 800 people, according to Baer.
It's actually named after a Union general from the Civil War, but Baer said that even renaming it to General Hooker Street might not be much better.
Any renaming would affect one resident and six water bill accounts, said Brenda Lindstrom, Whitewood city finance officer.

Dog saves man, dies in fire

CARTER LAKE, Iowa - Bryan Smith has pictures of his dog in his coat pocket, a reminder of the pet that sacrificed itself to save him from his burning house.
It was Tuesday night when Storm jumped on the slumbering Smith and alerted him to the growing smoke and flames outside his bedroom.
Smith says he grabbed his curtains, wet them for a mask and grabbed his puppy Daisy while the older dog ran ahead.
It was the last time Smith saw Storm.
The man ran to a neighbor's home to call the Fire Department and noticed too late that Storm had not escaped.
Smith says he nearly lost his own life going back for Storm. Two Carter Lake firefighters had to pull him out the back door, where he collapsed while trying to save his pet.
"I know it was stupid, but ... people with pets understand," he said.
Smith is mourning the loss of Storm but also is counting his blessings. His childhood home was insured, the garage was saved and his children were staying overnight with a relative.
Now Smith is clinging to the only things he has left to remind him of his hero — a few photographs and memories.
Smith recalls the time he met Storm seven years ago, when he rescued the dog from owners who he says were feeding her peroxide. Smith says that memory may best explain why Storm gave up her life to alert him of the fire.
"She was returning the favor, I guess," Smith says.

He also set the record for most toilet paper used

TEA, S.D. - A South Dakotan may be new world-record holder when it comes to swallowing Tabasco sauce. Levi Johnson of Tea drank 5.5 ounces of the hot sauce, or nearly 3 bottles, in 30 seconds at a sports bar in that community.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists the previous record at 5.07 ounces. Johnson's feat must be verified by Guinness publishers before it is considered official.

Laptop stolen from preacher

FORT SMITH, Ark. - When the Rev. Fidelis Obdike opened his eyes after a prayer, the setting wasn't the same. Gone were his laptop computer and the man with whom he was praying. Police arrested Carl Hagy, 41, on Wednesday on a theft charge after he allegedly pawned the computer.
Police responded to a call at Destiny Global Ministries on Friday, where Obidike told officers he had bought a laptop computer from Hagy two weeks before. He said Hagy returned to the church on Friday and asked to pray. Obdike said he was praying with Hagy inside the church, but when he opened his eyes, Hagy and the computer were gone, police said.
Hagy was booked into the Sebastian County Jail, where he was freed on $1,500 bond.

They start young in Clio

CLIO, Mich. - A police officer checking on a truck that got stuck in the mud at a city park was startled to find a 13-year-old boy behind the wheel. The boy's father, who was sitting in the passenger seat, told police he had had too much to drink and let his son drive. The boy had been drinking, too, police said.
"(The boy) even said he didn't want to drive because he was too drunk," McLellan told The Flint Journal for a story published Thursday.
Open containers of beer and liquor were found in the vehicle, said Clio Police Chief James McLellan.
The father, a 41-year-old Flint-area man, is facing several misdemeanor counts, including child endangerment, allowing an intoxicated person to drive his vehicle and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive, police said.
The boy has been petitioned into juvenile court on charges that include driving while intoxicated, police said.
The two were arrested Nov. 8. They apparently were trying to get home when they turned into the park to turn around. The truck rolled off the pavement and became stuck in the muddy soil.

There are hair salons in Alaska?

SOLDOTNA, Alaska - A woman on her way to hair appointment crashed her car through the hair salon.

Della Miller, 73, crashed into the Tina's Hair Pros's windows Wednesday, knocking one customer six feet across the room, Soldotna police officer Marvin Towle said. The parking area in front of the salon was snow-covered.
Miranda Nelson, a stylist, said she was in the back room when she heard the crash.
"I thought a bomb had gone off," Nelson said.
Two large plate-glass windows were destroyed, walls were damaged, and the stonework front outside the salon was smashed, police said. Towle estimated damage to the building to be at least $15,000, and the car at another $2,500.
Miller, who was not injured, was not cited for the crash.
She proceeded with her hair appointment.

Cops tasers self

MADISON, Wis. - A police officer has been reprimanded for accidentally discharging a Taser, causing an injury — to the police officer.
Madison police released a report Monday on the July 31 incident, without revealing the officer's name or gender. The department said the Taser accidentally discharged during a standard checkout procedure.
According to a summary of the investigation, officers are required to make sure no air cartridges are loaded before testing the Taser gun at the start of each shift. It's the air cartridges that propel the Taser's prongs, which deliver a jolt of electricity when they strike a target.
The officer's hand was injured, police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.
A letter of reprimand was issued because failing to ensure the air cartridge wasn't loaded was a violation of department policy, the report said.

No mayor, but plenty of wrestlers

CHILO, Ohio - Village council members get paid $5 per meeting, while the winner of a wrestling match staged in a wading pool filled with pie filling gets $100. Is it any wonder that more people signed up to wrestle than to run for mayor?
Last week's election in this Ohio River village, population 97, didn't attract any candidates for mayor. There were no names on the ballot for clerk/treasurer, either, or two open spots on village council.
However, seven women have signed up for a Nov. 21 wrestling match in pie filling at Everybody's Sports Lounge, one of three businesses in the village about 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati.
It's Clermont County's smallest incorporated community, although it was a bustling port community of about 500 in the 19th century.
"We're just trying to keep afloat," said Mayor Larry Leslie, 67, who could be reappointed by council to another term when his expires at the end of the year.
"We ain't going to let him quit," said Councilwoman Norma Berry, 82. "He's one of the best ones we've ever had."
She said one of the best things about Chilo is that there aren't many people.
"It's peaceful and everybody's real nice," Berry said.

Cows leave after seeing McDonald's

WEST HAVEN, Utah - McDonald's? The burger joint? Stampede! Eight cows escaped from a trailer when the rear gate opened as the driver pulled into a McDonald's. It took about two hours to round them up Monday.

"Maybe they were going to ... hop in the freezer, save the middleman," Weber County sheriff's Sgt. Dave Creager said.
Lt. Kevin Burns had another theory: "They didn't like their future."
The roundup was called "Operation Hamburger Helper." A nearby resident even hopped on his horse.
"I thought my eyes were lying," said Wayne Sanders, who was at a truck stop next door. "I don't know where they came from, but I'd say they'd have to weigh 800 pounds apiece and they were on a pretty good trot."

Don't drink and train

MARYSVILLE, Calif. - A 54-year-old woman was recovering in the hospital after being hit by a Union Pacific freight train south of Marysville.
Deborah Thompson told authorities afterward that she drank a bottle of whiskey before she wandered to the railroad tracks and tried to wave the train to a stop. When asked why, she told Yuba County sheriff's deputies she was just being silly.
Instead, the train hit her and knocked her 20 to 30 yards.
Thompson suffered head injuries and a fractured thigh bone but was conscious and talking after the accident.

Elvis is still in the building

ST. LOUIS - Don't count Andy Key as one of those Elvis Presley fanatics who insist the King never died.

Key, 38, said he's "open to the possibility" Presley is alive, but he's counting on there being enough skeptics out there to make his new business a success.
With an $8,000 eBay bid, Key won the Elvis is Alive Museum's collection and plans to move the museum from its current site in Wright City, Mo., to Mississippi, where Key lives and Presley was born.
"If (Elvis) wants to come to the opening, he can certainly come back," he said.
Included in the collection are photographs, books, FBI files, DNA reports and other memorabilia that aim to support the theory that Presley never died.
Bill Beeny, 81, who founded the museum's collection, said he sold the collection hoping its new owner would continue his work.
"I'll certainly go down and visit once it sets up," he said.
Key said he'd like the museum to complement the tourist attraction in Tupelo, Miss., where Presley was born and bought his first guitar. He's considering opening it in Laurel, Jackson or Hattiesburg, Miss.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages Graceland, the King's estate and mansion in Memphis, Tenn., previously has said it has no comment on the museum, a transformed coin-operated laundry 55 miles west of St. Louis.

More than one way to skin a raccoon

HUNTSVILLE, Ark. - A high school teacher killed a raccoon with a nail gun after discovering the planned subject of a skinning demonstration was alive.

Superintendent Alvin Lievsay said a student's parent promised to bring in a raccoon for the exercise, but surprised teacher Jerick Hutchinson by bringing the animal in a live trap. Lievsay said Hutchinson, "who used to work in a slaughter house," took the animal outside to the back of his truck Friday and shot it with the nail gun. Lievsay said no students witnessed the raccoon's death.
"He used the nail gun to, as they say, to dispatch the animal," Lievsay said. "It wasn't like he held a nail gun against the head of a cute little animal in front of the class."
Hutchinson used the dead raccoon to demonstrate how to skin the animal and to examine the contents of its stomach. Lievsay said only one student asked not to attend the skinning.
Lievsay said officials at Huntsville High School later talked with Hutchinson and told him not to kill animals on school grounds. The superintendent said Hutchinson, one of two agriculture teachers at the school about 30 miles east of Fayetteville, also would provide more detailed lesson plans in the future.
"He does a great job. The kids love him," Lievsay said.

Man marries dog

NEW DELHI - A man in southern India married a female dog in a traditional Hindu ceremony as an attempt to atone for stoning two other dogs to death — an act he believes cursed him — a newspaper reported Tuesday.
P. Selvakumar married the sari-draped former stray named Selvi, chosen by family members and then bathed and clothed for the ceremony Sunday at a Hindu temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.
Selvakumar, 33, told the paper he had been suffering since he stoned two dogs to death and hung their bodies from a tree 15 years ago.
"After that my legs and hands got paralyzed and I lost hearing in one ear," he said in the report.
The paper said an astrologer had told Selvakumar the wedding was the only way he could cure the maladies. It did not say whether his situation had improved.
Deeply superstitious people in rural India sometimes organize weddings to dogs and other animals, believing it can ward off certain curses.
The paper showed a picture of Selvakumar sitting next to the dog, which was wearing an orange sari and a flower garland.
The paper said the groom and his family then had a feast, while the dog got a bun.

Take that, Yao Ming

NORFOLK, Va. - To all those people who blurt out "Wow, you're tall!" as they stare up at George Bell: He knows. And now, the world will know, too. The lanky, 7-foot-8 Norfolk sheriff's deputy is being recognized Thursday by Guinness World Records as the Tallest Man in the United States.
That makes him 2 inches taller than the NBA's current tallest player, Yao Ming, but too short to be the world's tallest living man. He stands below, according to Guinness, Ukraine's 8-foot-5.5 Leonid Stadnyk and China's Bao Xi Shun, who is 7 feet 8.95 inches.
To answer the inevitable questions:
Bell wears size-19 shoes, pants with a 43-inch inseam and shirts with 45-inch sleeves.
He did play basketball, in college and with the Harlem Wizards and Harlem Globetrotters show teams.
And as for how he feels about being so tall?
"I have no choice but to like it," Bell, 50, said in an interview with The Associated Press as he paced the sidelines of a Pee Wee football game at a city park, where he was providing security.
"I'm used to a small man's world," he added in a deep voice that suits his stature. "I've been dealing with a small man's world since I was a kid."

Urn found in Buick

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The back seat of a Buick wasn't intended to be Izetta Dickerson's final resting place, but that's where an urn containing her cremated remains was found.

"The owner said he doesn't know how it got there," said Demond McElveen, whose car repair shop bought the car after it was towed there. "She's in there, it's got the number on the bag."
Dickerson was from North Charleston and the widow of Franklin Dickerson. She died March 5, 2003, according to a newspaper obituary.
McElveen called Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten, whose office is deciding which family member should be responsible for the remains.
"What's unusual in this case is that urns don't usually turn up at random," Wooten said.
The urn was left with Dickerson's son, who had been staying with the owner of the Buick. The coroner said the family thinks it was lost during a move.
Dickerson's daughter, Fatima Dickerson, told The (Charleston) Post and Courier that she wants a final resting place for her mother.
"I'm going to scatter the ashes," she said.
For the workers at Transmission Wholesalers, it's just another unusual find. Several years ago, Jerry Davis was trying to figure out why a minivan wouldn't start when he found a 10-foot python in the engine.
"A snake and a dead person," Davis said. "What's next?"

Now this is a rich dessert

NEW YORK - This is one rich cup of haute chocolate: A New York eatery is offering a $25,000 dessert bulging with top-grade cocoa, edible gold and shavings of a luxury truffle.

The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate was declared the most expensive dessert in the world on Wednesday by Guinness World Records.
The dessert is a frozen, slushy mix of cocoas from 14 countries, milk and 5 grams of 24-carat gold topped with whip cream and shavings from a La Madeline au Truffle.
It is served in a goblet with a band of gold decorated with 1 carat of diamonds and served with a golden spoon diners can take home.
The dessert was created by Serendipity 3, a restaurant popular with tourists and once featured in a John Cusack movie.

Dancing in your underpants for money

MILWAUKEE - Bust out the boxers, shake what nature gave you, and you might be the $5,000 winner of Jockey's UnderWars. The Kenosha-based maker of intimate apparel is sponsoring an online competition for adults to post videos of themselves dancing in their drawers.
Aspiring exhibitionists have until Nov. 15 to upload their videos. The competition will be capped at 32 participants, who will be randomly divided into tournament brackets and will advance based on online votes.
Dancers — alone or in groups — are given plenty of freedom to be creative, as long as men are wearing boxers or briefs and women are wearing panties. Males and females can also wear T-shirts or jackets, as long as their skivvies — of any brand — are partially visible.
"We're trying to keep it clean," said Patty McIntosh, the Internet marketing manager for Jockey International Inc., "The bottom line is, we're just letting people do their thing and have fun."
Because of copyright concerns, dancers have to choose from one of 16 musical clips on the Jockey Web site. The selections range from a 45-second pulsing tango to a 3 1/2-minute techno blast.
For people who don't want to compete in the UnderWars tournament but still want to know whether they're better than their friends at shaking their moneymakers, the site also offers head-to-head challenges for Web surfers to judge.
In the three weeks since the site was launched, there have been about 35 individual matches.
"Those winners don't get money, but they do get bragging rights," McIntosh said.
One participant featured in the Web site's Main Match on Monday was BustAmove, a man wearing sunglasses, a white T-shirt and black briefs with white polka dots. The one-minute video shows him dancing on the roof of a bar, a clip that is at once entertaining and slightly disturbing.
The idea for the Web site evolved from a separate Jockey site launched earlier this year as a way to increase brand awareness among the high school and college set. The site, stopsquirming.com, features a man and woman each demonstrating 15 amusing ways to furtively adjust one's undergarments in public.
"Both sites are targeted toward a younger demographic," McIntosh said. "We've just introduced ourselves to this audience — now we're starting to learn a lot about them."
The early entrants in the UnderWars tournament are seen dancing alone, most in a bedroom or bathroom. But to win the $5,000 prize, Jockey spokesman Mo Moorman speculates the challengers will need more than spiffy dance moves and the looks of a supermodel.
"This is a lighthearted site — sexy's not going to take it," he predicted. "You'll have to have the whole package."

God watches closed-circuit

BUFFALO, N.Y. - What man taketh away, modern technology helps giveth back. The Subway sandwich shop at the True Bethel Baptist Church in Buffalo was robbed at gunpoint on Friday night, but the crime was recorded on the store's surveillance video.
During Sunday church services, Rev. Darius Pridgen gave a sermon about the harm people do to one another. Pridgen included footage from the robbery and it was showed on two large video screens. His sermon also offered a $3,000 reward for the arrest of the suspect.
Within minutes after the service ended, four anonymous tips identifying the robber were received. A few hours later, police arrested David Glass, 45, and charged him with robbery and petit larceny.
Pridgen said he offered the reward because he wants to show his community that crime pays, but not for the criminal.

Get these (bleep bleep) snakes out of my (bleep bleep) bathtub!

DUBLIN, Texas - Another day, another bizarre world record for Jackie Bibby, the "Texas Snake Man." Bibby spent about 45 minutes in a see-through bathtub with 87 rattlesnakes Monday, fully clothed, shattering his own record by 12 snakes just in time for Guinness World Records Day, which is Thursday. A Guinness official certified the record.
The snakes crawled under his arms, between his legs and anywhere else they could slither, Bibby said. None bit him.
"They can go wherever they want as long as they don't start biting," Bibby said. "The key to not biting is for me to stay still. Rapid movement scares a rattlesnake. If you move real slow and gentle, that doesn't seem to bother them."
Bibby sat in the dry tub with a pillow behind him, wearing regular clothing. The snakes were not defanged and still contained their venom, he said.
The clear bathtub was specially made several years ago for Bibby by the Guinness folks for a televised segment. He has used it for subsequent attempts at the record for sitting in a tub with snakes.
"I have set several world records in that bathtub," Bibby said.
The record was Bibby's latest grab at glory. Last year he set a Guinness-certified record by holding 10 rattlesnakes by their tails in his mouth at once. He said he hopes to break that record Tuesday by squeezing in an 11th.
The Texas Snake Man also claims to hold non-sanctioned records for climbing into a sleeping bag head first with 20 rattlesnakes and going in feet first with 112.
Dublin is about 120 miles southwest of Dallas.

Don't toss your diamonds

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.

Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the discovery.
Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.
Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year.
Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."
Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what he is used to getting.
"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.

Wait until the tooth fairy gets a load of this!

LA CROSSE, Wis. - Gary Kidd had a pretty good idea that what his 3-year-old grandson had found was no rock, but the tooth of a woolly mammoth. That's because he had found one himself nine years ago. Kaleb Kidd was chasing squirrels Monday at a family friend's property near La Crosse when he spotted what looked like an unusual rock.
"Grandpa, what's that?" Kaleb asked.
He told his grandson it looked like the tooth of the extinct woolly mammoth.
Next stop was the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which confirmed that it was, indeed, the tooth of a mammoth.
Connie Arzigian, the center's lab director, said it could be 10,000 to 30,000 years old. It weighs 2 pounds and measures 6 inches long and 3 inches wide.
The latest find is in better shape than the one Gary Kidd brought up from the bottom of the Mississippi River while clamming in 1998. That tooth was water-soaked and had fallen apart, he was told when he took it to the center.
The center already has a woolly mammoth tooth in its collection, but it's always fun to see someone discover another one, Arzigian said.
"It's wonderful to get an idea of what was here in the past," she said.
Gary Kidd, 46, said it would be up to Kaleb's father, Travis, to decide what to do with the tooth. For now it is on display at Satori Arts Gallery, much to Kaleb's dismay.
"When we dropped it down at the art gallery, he was crying. He didn't want to let it go," his granddad said. "At first he thought it was just a rock. Now he's all excited."

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.
Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the discovery.
Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.
Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year.
Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."
Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what he is used to getting.
"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.

Don't toss that diamond

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.
Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the discovery.
Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.
Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year.
Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."
Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what he is used to getting.
"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.

Don't toss that diamond

MURFREESBORO, Ark. - Chad Johnson has found about 80 diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, but on Monday he nearly threw away his largest find yet. A cube-shaped rock plucked out of his sifters turned out to be a 4.38-carat, tea-colored diamond.

Johnson, 36, made the dig Saturday at the park and left his equipment in a locker. When he came back Monday morning, he made the discovery.

Crater of Diamonds State Park, which opened in 1972, is the world's only diamond-producing site open to the public, and visitors can keep the gems they unearth. The largest diamond found at the park was the 16.37-carat Amarillo Starlight, a white diamond found in 1975.

Johnson's find is the second-largest diamond uncovered at the park this year. In June, a Louisiana man found a 4.8-carat stone. More than 700 diamonds have been found there this year.

Since moving to Arkansas from Iowa in February, Johnson said, he was living off money made by selling diamonds. He only recently took a job at a convenience store, partly because he "got tired of selling diamonds to make ends meet."

Park officials declined to speculate how much money Johnson could get for the diamond. Johnson suggested he expects much more than what he is used to getting.

"If someone offers me that much money, it's theirs," Johnson said.

Nothing sadder than a homeless gnome

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - A number of gnomes have taken sanctuary at the Springfield police station. Somebody apparently collected 75 lawn ornaments from around town and then, on the night of Oct. 17, placed them meticulously on and around the lawn of one house.

Among the plastic and porcelain geese, deer and frogs are gnomes, such as a weather gnome outfitted with a rain gauge.
Police want to find the rightful owners.
"We need to get them out of here," Capt. Richard Harrison said. "Every time I leave my office they're sitting in my chair, working on my computer. I can't seem to get rid of the darn things."
There will be a public viewing Tuesday.
"If they come here and they can identify it," Harrison said, "we're more than happy to let the gnome go home."
After that the gnomes, and any other ornaments, will be sold at auction.

You don't even want to know what else she's selling

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - A woman who doesn't want her breast milk to go to waste has taken out a newspaper ad in hopes of selling it. Martha Heller, 22, of Tiffin, took out the ad in The Gazette, offering 100 ounces of her breast milk for $200 or the best offer.
Heller said her freezer is overflowing with breast milk that she has pumped since August. Her 4-month-old daughter won't drink from a bottle and the supply is piling up.
Heller now donates to the University of Iowa's Mother's Milk Bank, but the 100 ounces of milk she wants to sell was pumped before going through the screening process for the bank and cannot be donated.
Linda Klein, a lactation consultant at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, said breast milk can generally be stored in a freezer for up to six months.
Heller said she researched laws regarding the sale of breast milk and couldn't find any in Iowa.
Don McCormick, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Health, said he was not aware of any laws in Iowa restricting the sale of breast milk, but that state health officials advised against it.
Heller said she hasn't received any legitimate calls about her ad.
"There was one prank caller," she said.

Moneky, human, whatever

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Malaysian villager who was aiming to shoot wild monkeys encroaching on his garden shot his neighbor instead, police said Friday. The neighbor suffered slight injuries.

The 72-year-old licensed shotgun holder was so fed up with the pesky monkeys that he fired at them in as they sat in bushes behind his house in southern Johor state Wednesday, district police chief Zahaliman Jamin said.
But he ended up hitting his 57-year-old neighbor, who was walking around in the bushes, Zahaliman said.
"It was accidental," he said. "The monkeys disturbed the family and stole some food. The old man was so angry, so he took his shotgun."
The neighbor was treated for minor wounds at a hospital, Zahaliman said, adding that police were investigating the incident.
Zahaliman said he did not know whether the man hit any of the monkeys.

One way to liven up a funeral

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A mourner who authorities say got drunk, took a hearse from outside a New Zealand funeral venue and outran pursuing funeral directors told police he was "going fishing" when they pulled him over.
Police said the 46-year-old sickness beneficiary, who brought a carton of beer for the trip, told them he was heading to the coast to "check out the sea conditions."
The man had been attending a funeral near the tourist town of Rotorua on central North Island when he allegedly stole the blue Ford Forte hearse.
There was no dead body on board at the time.
Snr. Sgt. Ian Campion said funeral directors chased their $15,200 hearse as it was driven off, but eventually lost track of it and called police.
The man had the carton of beer with him in the front of the hearse when he was stopped by police.
"He said he was wanting to go for a ride to (the coastal town of) Maketu to check out the sea conditions before going fishing," Campion was reported telling the "New Zealand Herald" newspaper.
The man allegedly had been drinking all day at the funeral and was described by Snr. Sgt. Deirdre Lack as "intoxicated" when arrested.
He has been charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

Dogs, cats honored for heroism

NEW YORK - When Debbie Parkhurst choked on a piece of apple at her Maryland home, her dog jumped in, landing hard on her chest and forcing the morsel to pop out of her throat. When the Keesling family of Indiana was about to be overcome by carbon monoxide, their cat clawed at wife Cathy's hair until she woke up and called for help.

For their nick-of-time acts, Toby, a 2 1/2-year-old golden retriever, and Winnie, a gray-eyed American shorthair, were named Dog and Cat of the Year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
In addition, five humans were honored Thursday for their actions toward animals in the past year, including a Bronx firefighter who saved a dog and cat from a burning building.
Neither Parkhurst nor Keesling could explain their pets' timely heroics, though Parkhurst suggested her pooch's Heimlich maneuver might have been guided by divine intervention.
"That's what our veterinarian said," she said. "He wasn't making a joke; he's very spiritual, and now I have to agree with him."
Both pets were themselves rescued in infancy — Toby as a 4-week-old puppy tossed into a garbage bin to die, and Winnie as a week-old orphan hiding under a barn, so helpless that Keesling's husband, Eric, had to feed her milk with an eyedropper.
As the Keeslings recalled it, a gas-driven pump being used to remove flood waters from their basement in New Castle, Ind., last March malfunctioned, spreading carbon monoxide through the house. By the time Winnie moved into rescue mode, the couple's 14-year-old son, Michael, was already unconscious.
"Winnie jumped on the bed and was clawing at me, with a kind of angry meow," Cathy Keesling said. "When I woke up I felt like a T-bar had hit me across the head."
State police and sheriff's officers responding to her 911 call said the family was only minutes from death, judging by the amount of poisonous gas in the house.
Debbie Parkhurst's husband, Kevin, was at his job at a Wilmington, Del., chemical firm when she took a midday break from making jewelry and bit into an apple.
"Normally I peel them, but I read in Good Housekeeping magazine that the skin has all the nutrients, so I ate the skin, and that's what caused me to choke," she recalled.
"I couldn't breathe and I was in panic when Toby jumped on me. He never does that, but he did, and saved my life."
Both Toby and Winnie accompanied their owners to the awards luncheon at Manhattan's posh Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center.

One ugly coyote

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The results are in: The ugly, big-eared animal found this summer in southern Texas is not the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra. It's just a plain old coyote.

Biologists at Texas State University announced Thursday night they had identified the hairless doglike creature.
KENS-TV of San Antonio provided a tissue sample from the animal for testing.
"The DNA sequence is a virtually identical match to DNA from the coyote," biologist Mike Forstner said in a statement. "This is probably the answer a lot of folks thought might be the outcome. I, myself, really thought it was a domestic dog, but the Cuero Chupacabra is a Texas Coyote."
Phylis Canion and some of her neighbors discovered the 40-pound bodies of three of the animals over four days in July outside her ranch in Cuero, 90 miles southeast of San Antonio.
Canion said she saved the head of the one she found so she could get to the bottom of its ancestry through DNA testing and then mount it for posterity.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker" in Spanish, and it is said to have originated in Puerto Rico and Mexico.
Additional skin samples have been taken to try to determine the cause of the animal's hair loss, Forstner said.