Odd Stories: Hillrose Man Suffocates in Pile of Beans Near Brush

Brush, Colorado - A Hillrose area man died late Thursday morning after apparently suffocating in a large pile of beans in a warehouse outside of Brush.
 
Numerous agencies responded to the 11:20 a.m. report of a man buried under a pile of beans at Kelley Beans in the 28000 block of County Road S, Morgan County Sheriff Jim Crone said.
 
Raymond Segura Jr., 56, was dug out from near the bottom of what had been a pile of pinto beans 15-20 feet high one hour after the initial call. Morgan County paramedics and a Medevac Air Life crew pronounced Segura dead shortly thereafter.
 
When the enormity of the pile of beans was realized, numerous agencies and businesses responded to a call for manpower, with at least 55 people being on the scene. CHS Inc. from Brush brought a skid loader to help move beans away from the pile, and Ackley Building Supply immediately supplied shovels and masks for the rescuers.
 
Firefighters from Brush, Fort Morgan, Hillrose and Wiggins responded, along with several workers from the Brush Street Department, Morgan County Road and Bridge crews and four inmate workers from the county jail. Digger's Diner offered hamburgers to all those who responded.
 
The exact cause of how Segura ended up being trapped is still under investigation continues by the coroner and sheriff's office, OSHA investigators, and Kelley's safety team.
 
"The sheriff's office wishes to express it appreciation to all of those who responded and we applaud their efforts and hard work in difficult conditions in attempting to rescue Mr. Segura," Crone said. It was "a tremendous community response."

Odd Stories: Police: Attempt to Use Stolen Credit Card Was 'Comedy of Errors'

By Jennifer Todd

Manor Township - An employee at an area convenience store immediately recognized the credit card that a young man handed to her early Tuesday.

The clerk was familiar with the name on the card, and for good reason: It was her mother's.

She also recognized the young man. The two had attended the same school, she would later tell police.

Thus began a "comedy of errors" that would lead to charges against the teenage store patron.

After trying unsuccessfully to use a credit card to pump gas at the Turkey Hill at 1503 Columbia Ave. around 1 a.m., the young man was instructed to see the store's clerk, according to Manor Township police.

Examining the card, the clerk quickly determined it was her mother's, according to police.

Police said the employee confronted the man, who tried to give her an excuse about why he had the card. The clerk called police as the man fled.

Investigators said the employee told them that she had attended school with the man, and she identified him as Joshua Devonshire.

Soon after, officers responded to the home of the clerk's mother in the Pheasant Ridge development, which is about a quarter-mile away from the Turkey Hill.

The woman told police that, after her daughter notified her about the stolen card, she went to check her vehicle and saw a man near her car. She said the man, later identified as Devonshire, fled in a vehicle when she yelled at him. The woman told police that several bank cards were missing from her car.

Manor Township police Sgt. Jim Alexander said investigators believe Devonshire was attempting to put back items he had earlier stolen.

Around 7:30 a.m., another resident of Pheasant Ridge called police to report the theft of a diamond ring and $2,000 worth of professional hair-cutting tools from her vehicle.

And an hour later, officers returned to the development for a report of a male and a female sleeping in a vehicle. Police determined the male to be Devonshire.

Investigators said they observed several suspected stolen items in the vehicle.

Devonshire, 19, who has a last known address in Elizabethtown, was taken into custody and subsequently admitted to stealing the items from the vehicles, according to police. He also admitted to trying to use the stolen credit card at the Turkey Hill, they said.

He was charged with two counts of theft and one count of access device fraud and committed to Lancaster County Prison in lieu of $3,000 bail. The female in the vehicle was released without charges, police said.

"Not to make light of this, but, really, this entire incident was a comedy of errors," Alexander said. "Some people just aren't cut out to be criminals."

Odd Stories: Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Pro-gay Marriage

Montpelier, Vermont/England - Ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is supporting gay marriage in Britain by repackaging an apple pie flavor as “Apple-y Ever After.”

The Vermont-based subsidiary of the global food and cosmetics conglomerate Unilever is issuing the newly labeled ice cream in the United Kingdom as the British Parliament begins debating legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry.

When Vermont passed such a law two years ago, the company celebrated by briefly repackaging its “Chubby Hubby” ice cream as “Hubby Hubby.”

Ben & Jerry’s has been involved in progressive political causes since its founding in 1978.

The company’s Liz Stewart says the gender of married spouses matters less than their love and commitment.

Odd Stories: Penguins Waddle Down Aisle on Plane

New York - Passengers flying from San Antonio to Atlanta and Atlanta to New York said they got an unexpected treat when two penguins waddled down the aisle mid-flight.

Pete and Penny, the penguins from SeaWorld, became the star attractions Wednesday, ABC News reported.

"When we reached cruising altitude, the captain allowed their handler to take them for a stroll up and down the aisle so that everyone could take a look at the cute, 1-foot-tall penguins and get some great photos and videos," passenger Jane Worthington Roth wrote on her YouTube page.

She uploaded three videos of the penguins on the plane.

The pilot and flight crew allowed trainers to let the penguins out of their kennels, to the delight of passengers.

"Oh my gosh! Look at him," one said.

"They're just so cute," said another.

"Pete and Penny are obviously enjoying their training to become flight attendants," Roth wrote. "You'll note that since they were sitting in first class, they are wearing their tuxedos!"

The two penguins were en route to New York for the premier of the upcoming Discovery Channel/BBC series "Frozen Planet."

"It's the first time I've ever seen everyone on a plane smiling at the same time!" Roth wrote.

Click "Play" to see the live Ustream of the penguins.

Broadcasting live with Ustream

Odd Stories: Lafayette Police: Cat Refuses to Jog Around Lake; Owner Ticketed for Leaving It Behind

By Heath Urie

Lafayette, Colorado - Police in Lafayette ticketed a 19-year-old man Wednesday on suspicion of tethering his cat to a rock after the pet refused to go jogging with him.

Lafayette police Sgt. Fred Palmer said the man, Seth Franco, of Lafayette, brought his cat on a leash to the path around Waneka Lake Park near Baseline Road and U.S. 287.

"Apparently, the individual was trying to jog with the animal on a leash and the animal was either unwilling or unable to keep up," Palmer said.

According to Palmer, Franco secured the cat's leash to a rock while he finished his run. A passerby saw the cat and called police. According to police radio traffic, the cat was being attacked by a flock of birds while it was tied to the rock.

Lafayette animal control officers responded and found Franco retrieving his cat. Franco was ticketed on suspicion of "domestic animal cruel treatment," a municipal offense.

"Our ordinance prohibits that kind of tethering," Palmer said.

The cat was not injured, so it was released to its owner, Palmer said.

A phone listing for Franco could not be located Wednesday.

Messages sent to a Facebook account for a Seth Franco in the Boulder area were not returned. The social media site contains numerous images of a rescued cat, Stella, including some with the cat on a leash outside.

Odd Stories: Utah Boy, 9, Takes 5-year-old Sister on Joyride

By Brian Skoloff

Ogden, Utah - An 8-year-old Utah boy made sure he and his 5-year-old sister buckled up before heading out on a middle-of-the-night drive in their mother's minivan, but they didn't get far.

The boy, who couldn't even see above the steering wheel, made it just a few hundred feet before crashing the vehicle into a line of trees along the Ogden River, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.

No one was injured and the children were returned to a stunned mother who awoke to police officers in her apartment at about 2 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.

"They had just come out of the driveway, went across both lanes, then hit those trees," said Ogden police Lt. Danielle Croyle. "It could have been much worse if they didn't have their seatbelts on. They were just too smart for their own good."

Authorities didn't identify the mother, and she did not answer her door on Thursday. No telephone number was listed for her.

Croyle said police have no previous history with the woman or her children, and neglect was not an issue. She called it an accident and said no charges were pending.

Witnesses said it was a shock.

"It was crazy," said Justine McDonald, 18, who heard the crash and ran outside with a friend to help.

"They looked a little freaked out. The kids just kept saying they were happy to be alive," McDonald said. "I said, 'Where's your mommy and daddy? Are they still in the car?' But she was at home asleep."

The young boy told Ogden police that his sister wanted to go to the store, so he grabbed the keys and headed out with his mother asleep in another room.

Several witnesses called 911 to report the crash.

"This kid wasn't even tall enough to see above the steering wheel," said neighbor Holly Maxwell, who also ran across the street to help. "They were worried their mother was going to be mad at them."

The 25-year-old said she held the little girl's hand and walked with police back to their apartment, along with McDonald.

An officer knocked repeatedly on the woman's door, then walked in, McDonald said.

"He called her name like four or five times," she said.

The woman eventually walked out from a back room.

"Did you know your kids took a joyride in your car?" McDonald said the officer asked the mother. "She just rubbed her head."

Odd Stories: German Celeb Bunny Meets Untimely Demise

Berlin - An earless baby bunny that was a rising star on Germany's celebrity animal scene had his 15 minutes of fame brought to an abrupt end when he was accidentally stepped on by a television cameraman.

The fate of 17-day-old Til, a bunny with a genetic defect, was plastered across German newspapers on Thursday, the same day a small zoo in Saxony was to have presented him to the world at a press conference.

The cameraman told Bild newspaper he hadn't seen Til, who had buried himself in hay, when he took the fateful step backward Wednesday.

Zoo director Uwe Dempewolf tells Spiegel magazine Til didn't suffer: "It was a direct hit."

Germany has been home to several global animal celebrities in recent years, including polar bear Knut and Paul the prognosticating octopus.

Odd Stories: Urology Practice Offers Pizza With Vasectomy

Barnstable, Massachusetts - Get a vasectomy, eat some pizza, and watch some basketball.

That's the idea behind a promotion by a Massachusetts urologists group that's offering a free pizza to vasectomy patients.

An administrator with Urology Associates of Cape Cod said it's a lighthearted way to raise awareness about the procedure and drum up business.Evan Cohen told the Cape Cod Times that getting a vasectomy during the NCAA basketball tournament is the perfect time because typically a day or two of recovery is needed following the simple operation, so it gives patients an excuse to lie on the couch and watch some hoops.

Dr. Evangelos Geraniotis, a urologist at the practice with offices in Hyannis, Sandwich and Nantucket, calls a vasectomy an "easy and less stressful" form of birth control.

Odd Stories: Kashmire Scientists Clone Rare Cashmere Goat

By Aijaz Hussain

Srinagar, India - Scientists said Thursday they have cloned a rare Himalayan goat in Indian-controlled Kashmir, hoping to help increase the number of animals famed for their silky soft undercoats used to make pashmina wool, or cashmere.

The March 9 birth of female kid "Noori," which means "light" in Arabic, could spark breeding programs across the region and mass production of the high-priced wool, said lead project scientist Dr. Riaz Ahmad Shah, a veterinarian in the animal biotechnology center of Sher-i-Kashmir University.

Cashmere wool, particularly made into shawls, is a major source of income for Kashmir, generating about $80 million a year for the Indian-controlled portion of the disputed mountain state. A shawl can cost $200 in Kashmir and much more when sold abroad — a boon given the average salary of $800 a year for Kashmir's 10.2 million people.

Cashmere goats — which take their name from the Kashmir region but include a number of breeds that produce the soft wool — are traditionally herded in small numbers across the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau in cold and remote mountain areas.

They must live in harsh, windy climates to generate the soft undercoat, for which demand has always exceeded supply. Kashmir's goats are found in small populations in remote areas of the northwest border region of Ladakh.

Experts say their numbers are dwindling. In recent years, Kashmir has started importing cashmere from neighboring China to keep up with orders for the region's hand-woven shawls.

Shah and six other scientists took two years to clone Noori, using the relatively new "handmade" cloning technique involving only a microscope and a steady hand.

"We've standardized the procedure. Now it will take us half a year to produce another," said Dr. Maajid Hassan, another veterinarian who worked on the project, which was partly funded by the World Bank.

The team already has started work on more clones among the university's herd of goats.

"This is the cheapest, easier and less time-consuming" method of cloning, compared with conventional methods that use high-tech machinery and sometimes chemicals, Shah said. Noori is the first cashmere goat cloned by this method, though Shah earlier cloned a buffalo.

They plan to spread the goat-cloning knowledge across the Indian Himalayas so others can grow their own goats.

Eventually, Shah hopes to clone threatened species such as the critically endangered Kashmir stag, or hangul, the only surviving species of Asian red deer.

Odd Stories: LaughFest 2012 Opens with 607 People Wearing Chicken Beaks to Set a Guinness World Record

Grand Rapids - LaughFest 2012 opened its 10-day festival with 607 chicken beak wearers dancing the “Chicken Dance” to set a new record.

The Bob and Tom All Stars showcase, Martin Short, Sinbad and more LaughFest headliners soon will be in town for Gilda’s LaughFest, inspired by the late Gilda Radner, an original cast member of “Saturday Night Live.”

But the second festival of laughter for the health of it opened today with more than 600 people wearing paper chicken beaks for more than 11 minutes to set a brand-new record for the largest gathering of people all wearing animal noses – in this case yellow chicken beaks, dancing to the polka music of Diddle Styx.

“Everybody dance! You’ll stay warmer,” encouraged Leann Arkema, president and CEO of Gilda’s Club Grand Rapids, named for the late Gilda Radner, who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer.

A preliminary count recorded 649 people in the official LaughFest “Chicken Coop” downtown next to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. But official chicken-beak spotters disqualified a few for removing their beaks during the 11 minute, 39-second stunt.

Details of the stunt will be forwarded to Guinness World Records for certification.

LaughFest 2011 opened with a rubber chicken toss in Rosa Parks Circle. A total of 925 faux fowl were flung to set a new record for the Guinness Book of World, shattering the previous record of 265 set near Boston.

Dozens of last year’s participants brought those birds back with them for this year’s stunt to open the second LaughFest, which continues through March 18 in downtown Grand Rapids with additional events in Holland and Lowell.

Radner’s brother, Michael Radner, of Detroit, returned for the second time to encourage the participants in today’s stunt.

“Gilda loved to make people laugh, and people loved to laugh at her,” he said. “This event is so wonderful because it leaves so many people laughing.”

Odd Stories: Broward Facebook Suspect Won't "Like' This

Status update: It was a bad idea to steal a judge's nameplate and then post a picture of yourself holding it on  Facebook.

That's exactly what Steven Mulhall, 21, of Coral Springs, is accused of doing.

Mulhall posted the photograph of himself holding the stolen nameplate, which was pried from the door of Broward Circuit Judge Michael Orlando courtroom on his girlfriend's Facebook account, according to arrest records.

Deputies picked Mulhall up on Thursday and booked him into Broward County's Main jail.

"The nameplate is like only $40, not that big of a crime, but what an idiot. He puts it on Facebook," said Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti. "Here he is flaunting it on Facebook. He violated the terms of his parole by stealing, from a judge no less. He's got multiple convictions for petty theft, so now this is a felony."

Lamberti said deputies picked up Mulhall after verifying the suspect had been in judge Orlando courtroom. The judge's nameplate was pried from the door around Feb. 23, according to the arrest report. A tip to Broward Crime Stoppers led authorities to Mulhall.

"The tipster gave us his address, name and the Facebook page," Lamberti said.

"We got the nameplate back. It will be returned to the rightful owner."



Steven is going to be a father. Yes really.

Odd Stories: Facebook 'Friend' Offer Exposes Man's Other Wife

Seattle - A corrections officer is facing bigamy charges after authorities said a Washington woman using Facebook discovered that she and a potential "friend" were married to him at the same time.

According to charging documents filed Thursday, Alan L. O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O'Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the "People You May Know" feature.

"Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2's page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake," Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.

Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother.

"An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, `No, we are still married.'"

Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife.

O'Neill allegedly told wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. But wife No. 1 alerted authorities.

"Facebook is now a place where people discover things about each other they end up reporting to law enforcement," Lindquist said.

Athima Chansanchai, a freelance journalist who writes about social media, said Facebook over the years has played a role in both creating relationships and destroying them.

"It's just the latest vessel by which people can stray if they want to," she said.

O'Neill, 41, was previously known as Alan Fulk. He has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said.

He was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him Thursday. He could face up to a year in jail if convicted.

O'Neill and his first wife had issues that went back to 2009. In 2010, his first wife was arrested after an altercation with the woman who later became the second wife.

A Facebook message to wife No. 1 was not immediately returned. There was no immediate phone number available for O'Neill and his second wife.

Lindquist said it's unclear why O'Neill and wife No. 1 didn't go through the divorce.

"Every few years we see one of these (bigamy) cases," he added.

O'Neill is free, but due in court later this month, which is standard procedure for non-violent crimes, Lindquist said.

"About the only danger he would pose is marrying a third woman," he said.

Odd Stories: Food Importer Jailed for Not Paying €1.6m in Garlic Taxes

By Conor Pope and Joanne Hunt

Dublin - A Dublin food importer was yesterday jailed for six years for failing to pay €1.6 million in tax due on Chinese garlic, which attracts an “inexplicable” rate of import duty 24 times higher than other fruit and veg.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told Paul Begley (46), of Begley Brothers in Blanchardstown, evaded paying duty on more than 1,000 tonnes of garlic from China by having it mislabelled as apples.

The court heard the duty on garlic imports was up to 232 per cent, compared with just over 9 per cent for other fruits and vegetables.

Imposing the maximum jail sentence of five years on one charge of tax evasion and a further year on a second count, Judge Martin Nolan said it gave him “no joy at all to jail a decent man”. He described Begley, of Woodlock, Redgap, Rathcoole, as a “success story” and an “asset to the country”, but pointed out he had engaged in a “grave” and “huge” tax evasion scheme.

Begley had pleaded guilty to four sample counts of evading customs duty between September 2003 and October 2007. All told, he imported more than 1,000 tonnes of garlic.

The tax evasion was uncovered in October 2007 when a Dublin Port customs officers opened a container said to hold 18 tonnes of apples and two tonnes of garlic. Inside were 21 tonnes of garlic, but no apples.
The duty on garlic is €1,200 per tonne and an additional 9.6 per cent of the total. The outstanding tax on just this consignment was €25,000. Pleading for leniency, defence counsel David Keane highlighted Begley’s charity work, labelling the rate of duty on garlic “inexplicable”.

Judge Nolan said the import tax “may or may not” be excessive, but stressed it was for the Oireachtas to decide, and not individuals.

The garlic tax is not, however, set by the Government, but by the EU. According to a Revenue spokesman, it “emanates from World Trade Agreement rates and it’s to do with industry protection within the EU”.

One reason for the tax is the impact Chinese garlic imports have had on growers in Spain and France.

Producers there have said they cannot compete with the high volume and low production costs in China.

Spain is the largest grower of garlic in Europe, producing more than 100,000 tonnes annually. Farmers there have warned Chinese imports were killing their business.

The problem of garlic smuggling is now widespread across the EU, and the European Anti-Fraud office,

Olaf, has repeatedly impounded garlic consignments illegally imported from China and mislabelled as other vegetables, most frequently onions. In recent months significant amounts of Chinese garlic have been impounded in Sweden and Poland, among other countries.

More information can be found here.

Odd Stories: Hiker Frees Bear Cub from Jug

Ketchikan, Alaska - A hiker on top of a snowy Alaska mountain said he saved the life of a bear cub by freeing its tiny head from a plastic jug in which it was stuck.

Hiker Michael Schuler Sunday trekked up Ketchikan's Deer Mountain with his dog, Josie, to do some informal avalanche testing and was about 10 feet from the peak when he saw something in the snow, the Ketchikan Daily News reported.

At first it looked human but then realized it was an animal, Schuler said Tuesday.

"I knew it wasn't a marten ... so I thought it was either a bear cub or a wolverine," Schuler said, adding he thought, "A bear cub I can handle, but if it's a wolverine and I pull that thing off, I'm toast."

He had his cellphone but was unsuccessful in contacting wildlife authorities and decided to take matters into his own hands, the newspaper said Wednesday.

Schuler tried holding onto the jar and letting the cub pull, then tried pulling while the cub also pulled, and then tried picking up the jar and shaking it a bit.

"He still didn't come out, poor thing," Schuler said.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and Schuler brought out his ice ax.

"I was basically able to sit on him, hold him by the scruff and make a slice into the neck of the jar," Schuler said.

When Schuler cut enough of the jar, the tiny 10-pound cub "popped out, backed up, spun around and went straight down the south side into the trees."

Schuler said he was upset so many people were careless about leaving trash around after they camped, the newspaper said.

"Just because some people are careless, doesn't mean we should overlook it," Schuler said. "Think about what's up there."

Odd Stories: US Regional Dictionary Gets in Last Word as It Wraps Up Work

 By Ian Simpson

United States - The Dictionary of American Regional English has finally reached its final word - "zydeco" - as researchers wrap up almost 50 years of work charting the rich variety of American speech.

The dictionary's official publication date is March 20 but lexicographers and word fans have been celebrating ever since its fifth and final volume emerged earlier this year.

"It truly is America's dictionary," Ben Zimmer, a language columnist and lexicographer, told a Washington, D.C. news conference on Thursday.

He said when the final printed volume was delivered to its longtime editor, Joan Houston Hall, at a meeting of fellow dialect scholars: "There were audible gasps in the room."

The Dictionary of American Regional English's (DARE) 60,000 entries running from "A" to "zydeco," a style of Louisiana Cajun music, serve as a comprehensive sample of how American speech changes from region to region.

That space between sidewalk and curb? Depending on what part of the United States it is in, it can be called "parking," "devil's strip," "swale," "parkway" or "tree lawn."

Hall, who has headed the DARE project since 2000, said she was convinced fears that American English was becoming homogenized through television and mass media were unfounded.

"I don't buy it. Yes, language changes at different rates and at different places," she said. "But most of the words among our family and friends that are regional we don't even recognize as regional."

Although the idea of a dictionary of American dialects had been around since the 1880s, the project did not take shape until 1962, when Frederick Cassidy, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was appointed editor.

The DARE project was based on interviews carried out in more than 1,000 communities from 1965 to 1970 by University of Wisconsin researchers.

They asked Americans about their ways of talking about kitchen implements, housing, animals, diseases, food, music and more.

For the next several decades, editors sifted the 2.3 million responses and a mass of written materials including newspapers, letters and diaries ranging from the Colonial period to the present.

The dictionary, published in five volumes by Harvard University's Belknap Press and running to over 5,500 pages, includes words from about 70 languages, ranging from Bantu to Lithuanian to Choctaw. It retails for about $545.

Hall, who took over the project with Cassidy's death in 2000, said the last volume took longer to complete, about 10 years, because of the wealth of materials that had become available online.

"We felt that there was so much of value we didn't dare ignore it," she said at the news conference at the National Endowment for the Humanities, one of the book's main sponsors.

Dictionary entries include "bealing" for an abscess, "bear claw" and "kolacky" for types of pastries, "calf rope" for surrender in children's games, "dew poison" for a foot rash, "Lucy Bowles" for diarrhea, "rippet" for a disturbance or fight, and "pogonip" to describe a thick, cold fog.

Odd Stories: The Gorilla and the Rabbit: A Tale of Friendship at the Erie Zoo

By Erica Erwin

Erie, Pennsylvania - They're an odd pair.

The female half is quiet and aloof, imposing even as she approaches a half-century of life.

The other is just a boy still, tiny with a twitchy nose and a propensity to hop around like young boys do.

Samantha and Panda.

The gorilla and the Dutch rabbit.

Erie Zoo officials introduced the two in mid-February after deciding that Samantha, a 47-year-old western lowland gorilla, ought to have a companion.

She's been without any other presence in her exhibit since Rudy, a male gorilla, died in 2005 at the age of 49. Those two never did interact much; Sam was hand-raised and relates more to humans than to other gorillas.

She's too old and fragile to be paired with another gorilla now, zoo officials said. But she needs the same thing any human does: a friend.

Panda is safe and small, no threat to the gorilla. He's something for her to watch and touch.

"To have something sharing their space that they can observe and interact with is always going to be beneficial," zoo Director Cindy Kreider said.

Zookeepers started slowly. Panda was moved to an area close to Samantha's night quarters. Then keepers held her up to Samantha for inspection. Panda was let into the exhibit by herself to get the lay of the land. Finally, he was let in while Sam was in there, too -- with an escape hatch for the rabbit, just in case.

"Right off the bat, they hit it off," Kreider said.

Scott Mitchell, the zoo's chief executive, recalled a time shortly after the two were introduced when Panda hopped up to Samantha's beloved Baby, a stuffed toy gorilla. Know this: No one messes with Baby.

Samantha "pushed the baby out of the way so Panda could go by," Mitchell said.

Another time, she scratched underneath Panda's chin. She shares her food. She reaches down to touch Panda, gently.

"It was amazing to see," Mitchell said. "And the reaction from the public has been amazing, too. People are intrigued by it. They like the fact that she has a companion."

Samantha has never been aggressive toward Panda. A younger gorilla might have been a different story, but keepers spend a lot of time with Sam and know her personality.

Still, Mitchell admits to having been a little nervous when the two were first introduced. He needn't have worried.

"He's fearless," Mitchell said of Panda. "He's not threatened by her. More often they're closer together than they are farther apart."

On Thursday, Panda nibbled and dug through hay while Samantha munched on kale and stolen rabbit food pellets. Samantha sat in one corner as Panda hopped along the exhibit's edge, near the window.

Finally, he hopped next to her, and they sat, together, the aging gorilla and the tiny rabbit with the pale pink nose.

Odd Stories: Polish Woman Saves Babies with 75 Days in Labor

By Dagmara Leskowicz and Piotr Halawej

Poland - A Polish woman lay nearly upside down in labor for 75 days to save the lives of her two premature babies after the first of three foetuses growing inside her was born prematurely and died.

Joanna Krzysztonek eventually gave birth to baby girl Iga and boy Ignacy 2-1/2 months later on February 15 at a neo-natal clinic in the southwestern Polish town of Wroclaw and said the idea of lying in an awkward position for weeks on end hadn't bothered her.

 "I sighed with relief that there was a chance to keep the pregnancy and to give the babies a chance to be born successfully," she told Reuters.

The head of the Wroclaw obstetrics and neo-natal clinic where Krzysztonek gave birth, Mariusz Zimmer, said doctors managed to ease Krzysztonek's contractions, but considered her to be in labor from the birth of the first child.

"This procedure - I mean giving birth - has a beginning and an ending. If the first baby was born that means the birth had started," Zimmer said.

Human childbirth typically lasts between 8 and 12 hours, while a full-term pregnancy generally lasts around 40 weeks. With help from her awkward positioning and medical attention, Iga and Ignacy's term inside their mother was 32 weeks.

Iga and Ignacy remain in special incubators, but were expected to leave the hospital soon.

Their mum had problems with maintaining her balance after leaving her unusual hospital bed, but now visits and holds her babies every day.

Odd Stories: Spanish Town Wants to Grow Cannabis to Pay Off Debt

By Elena Gyldenkerne

Spain - A small town in northeastern Spain, believes it has found a novel way to pay of its debt: cultivating cannabis.

Tucked in the hills of one of Spain's most picturesque regions, the Catalonian village of Rasquera has agreed to rent out land to grow marijuana, an enterprise the local authorities say will allow them to pay off their 1.3 million euro debt in two years.

Local authorities are keeping the location of the site top secret while Spain's attorney general investigates the legality of the project. The Catalan regional government has also asked the village for further information about the plan.

Spanish towns are swamped in debt after a decade-long construction boom that imploded in 2008. Almost one in four Spanish workers is jobless and many cities are months behind in salaries for street cleaners and other municipal employees.

Spain's central government is now forcing local authorities to tighten their belts even further as a euro zone debt crisis drags on, forcing greater fiscal austerity onto most countries using the single European currency.

The mayor of Rasquera, with 900 inhabitants, said the project will not only benefit locals, but also eliminate organized crime and the tax evasion associated with the cannabis industry thanks to government supervision.

 "We want to put an end to mafias, we want to finish with the black market, we want to put an end to the underground economy," said Bernat Pellisa, Rasquera's mayor of nine years said.

"The only thing this humble mayor wants and has tried to do is to supervise all this in order to benefit society and the neighbors of our village," he added.

The Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association (ABCDA) will pay Rasquera 54,170 euros a month from July 2012 for a 15 hectare plot of land and local authorities hope the farm will generate 40 jobs in the village.

VILLAGERS WELCOME PLAN

The proposal has sparked debate on the legality of cannabis. Spanish law allows the cultivation of cannabis as long as it is for "personal and shared use." Trafficking, however, is punished with up to six years in jail.

The mayor said residents of Rasquera have welcomed the initiative, as long as it abides by the law, and that he is responding to the wishes of the people.

"It's a potential solution for the government to pay our debt. They are working to check out if it's legal and if they can regularize it. And if it is possible, then perfect," Rasquera resident Josep Francesc, 22, said.
For a 67-year-old woman who didn't want to give her name, the project would only be acceptable if the cannabis was used for medical purposes.

"They say it is going to be used by laboratories, to produce medicine. If that is the goal, then welcome.

There is almost no medicine that doesn't use drugs. But if it is used in a different way, then I don't agree," she said.

As cannabis must be planted in March, 36,000 euros ($47,200)has already been paid and cultivation could begin shortly.

Marta Suarez, spokeswoman of ABCDA, said the plantation in Rasquera was not a business-orientated project.

"The goal is not to maximize our profits or produce as much as possible, but to produce with quality in a controlled environment to supply users...in a responsible, appropriate and informed manner," she says.

ABCDA has 5,000 members and is based in Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region.

If the cannabis cultivation project goes through, the villagers of Rasquera will have an alternative to traditional jobs in olive groves, vineyards and citrus plantations, and the village debt could finally "go up in smoke."

Odd Stories: No nugget: Top Bidder for Commander in Chief Chicken Drops Out

By Nick Hytrek

Dakota City, Nebraska - George Washington didn't let the fact that many of his troops had no shoes on their feet stop him from attacking an enemy camp at Trenton, N.J.

Rebekah Speight isn't going to let a buyer's cold feet keep her from raising money to send kids to summer camp.

The owner of the now world-famous McDonald's McNugget bearing a resemblance to Washington remains optimistic about selling the frozen chicken chunk after the winner of an online auction backed out on the deal.

"They were very sorry," Speight said of the bidder, who had submitted the winning bid of $8,100 Monday on eBay.

Speight said eBay rules allow her to offer the McNugget to the second-highest bidder, who had bid $8,000.

Speight said she's been in contact with that bidder, but a deal might not be doable because the bidder lives overseas. Speight is concerned that she might not be able to ensure that the chicken will ship quickly enough to remain frozen.

If that deal falls through, Speight said, she can offer the nugget to the third-highest bidder, and so on. She has 60 days to decide what to do.

The Washington McNugget has taken on a life of its own, drawing interview requests from media in Germany and Canada. Speight said her goal remains to raise $15,000 to send 50 kids from the Family Worship Center in Sioux City to summer camp in Dayton, Iowa.

"I know the McNugget is fun, but it's really about the kids and getting them to camp," she said.

Speight, of Dakota City, noticed the nugget's resemblance to the first president when cleaning up her children's uneaten meals at a Sioux City McDonald's three years ago. It's been in her freezer since then.

Odd Stories: Tenants Banned from Laundry Room

Karlstad, Sweden - A Swedish landlord said he had to ban a couple from using their building's laundry room because they were tying up the facilities too often.

The landlord told the Hem & Hyra newspaper he had to change the locks on the laundry room in the Karlstad apartment building because the couple, who he said have their own laundry facilities inside their apartment, were using the communal machines up to eleven times per month, The Local reported Friday.

The landlord said he initially spoke to the couple and they agreed to use the communal machines only once per month, but they did not abide by the agreement.

The man said he had to change the locks on the laundry room because the couple refused to surrender their key.

The couple lodged a complaint with the Rent and Tenancy Tribunal, but the panel sided with the landlord.