Thursday, February 6, 1997
Odds 'n' Ends: A collection of unusual stories
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) - Authorities tracked down a fugitive after
a chase through town, shot the offender twice, than lassoed and
tied her to a tree.
The outlaw - a female cow - was being loaded into a trailer
Tuesday at an auction house after being sold for slaughter when
she broke free.
The animal rumbled and roamed 25 blocks in this eastern Nebraska
town. She was spotted near a hospital, a YMCA, a middle school
and in several yards.
Three police officers, a sheriff's deputy, a state trooper,
a veterinarian and several sales barn employees blocked traffic
and helped catch the animal.
The veterinarian shot the cow with two tranquilizer darts,
striking the animal in the shoulder and the rear end. The cow
finally ran out of steam in the driveway of a home, was lassoed
and tied to a tree.
Bob Loshbaugh, a part owner of the pavilion, said cows have
escaped before. "They're like people. They go nuts once in
awhile," he said.
---
ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif. (AP) - Alycia Busciglio is the waitress
with "an attitude that can stop a truck," and it serves
her well.
Ms. Busciglio takes orders from a wheelchair, and she says
sometimes customers are taken aback.
"Customers have called over another waitress to ask if
I'm going to be able to do the job, or be as fast as someone else,"
she said.
But she doesn't want their concern, just their tips.
With what she calls "an attitude that can stop a truck,"
the 21-year-old woman has been dishing up orders at the Chevy's
restaurant in this Orange County community for 3-1/2 years.
Manager Dan Leahy said he admires Ms. Busciglio.
"It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there,"
Leahy said. "When she first came in here she made it clear
she could do the job. She wouldn't take no for an answer. It's
her attitude that I respect."
A birth defect confined Ms. Busciglio to a wheelchair. But
it hasn't slowed her down. She skis, hits the beach in summer
and teaches handicapped youngsters at sports camps.
"It's the way I've been raised," Ms. Busciglio said.
"I have an identical twin sister, Regina, who is perfectly
able-bodied. She's a waitress here, too. We've always done the
same things."
---
MIAMI (AP) - Seven-year-old Nicholas is a long way from home,
not feeling very well, and subsisting on a diet of oranges and
hay.
The baby Asian elephant is stranded in a hangar at Miami International
Airport after testing positive for a strain of tuberculosis.
The 3,000-pound pachyderm, which arrived in Miami International
Airport on Sunday night, was scheduled to fly Monday morning to
San Juan, Puerto Rico, where it was to perform in a traveling
circus. For now, the elephant will remain in an Aero Air hangar
while the U.S. Department of Agriculture decides what to do with
him.
The elephant comes from a herd of 18 elephants trained and
raised by a company in Grayslake, Ill., that rents elephants and
big cats to circuses.
While officials try to determine what's next, Nicholas is being
fed oranges and hay in the airport hangar.
---
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - A horse thief picked the wrong pony
to poach - a policeman's.
After a brief search and chase Tuesday, police arrested a 13-year-old
boy who apparently took Nacona for a joyride.
Police said witnesses reported that a boy had untied the horse,
a bay gelding, and ridden away.
A search party was formed, and the suspect, wearing a camouflage
jacket, was spotted on the horse several miles south of downtown
about 30 minutes later.
The boy fled from a pursuing officer and later abandoned the
horse. He was captured shortly thereafter.
Nacona, a five-year department veteran, was used by Police
Chief Thomas Windham during last month's presidential inauguration
parade in Washington.
If the boy is found guilty on charges of delinquent conduct
and theft, a judge will determine his punishment. Had he been
an adult, he could have faced up to two years in jail and a $10,000
fine.
---
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - It wasn't 101 Dalmatians, but
for a while it seemed like 2-year-old Princess Diana would reach
that mark.
Her firstborn arrived 4 p.m. Friday. Four hours later, a second
one followed, and another after that every 15 minutes until past
midnight. In the end, Diana was surrounded by 17 puppies.
"I said, 'Maybe I'd get lucky and get a baker's dozen,'
" said Diana's owner, John Martine. "I got a baker's
dozen and then some."
Martine thinks the litter, which included one stillborn, may
be a record for Dalmatians, besting a litter of 16 born in Ohio
last year. He plans to contact the Guinness Book of Records and
the American Kennel Club.
Guinness lists the largest known litter for any type of dog
at 23 pups, a record tied three times.
The puppies - 10 males and six females - are all white, with
those trademark spots expected to show in about three weeks. Martine
plans to give a pup to the breeder of the dog that sired the pups,
and also give some away.
With the hype from the Disney movie "101 Dalmatians,"
Martine expects the others to sell quickly at $300 a female and
$250 a male.
---
CLEVELAND (AP) - G'day, mate! How about some shrimp on the
barbie?
An Australian man is offering his voice to read that line -
or any other - with an authentic accent from Down Under. To drum
up business, Rick Feldman has placed a classified ad promoting
it.
"People seem so taken by the voice, loving the accent,
so I thought, 'Why not put an ad in and see what happens?' "
said Feldman, 28, of Melbourne. "They do tend to over-pronounce
the accent in the commercials. We don't all talk like that."
Feldman's voice is a limited-time offer. He is here five more
months while his girlfriend, Kirsten Mann, completes training
with her accounting firm.
---
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) - Sheriff John Trumbo used an old-fashioned
method - his lasso - to rescue a man stranded by a flash flood.
"I'm not a cowboy, but I've done some roping of cows,"
Trumbo said.
Jon White and Mike McAllister, both from the eastern Oregon
city of Pendleton, were driving along a desolate road late Friday
when their car began to float. They bailed out and made their
way to opposite sides of the flooding ditch.
White wound up on the highway. McAllister was on the far side,
separated by water 6 to 8 feet deep. A nearby home alerted the
patrolling sheriff.
Trumbo roped McAllister, had the man tighten the rope and then
hauled him across with White's help.
"The current was so swift that he went under a couple
of times. He'd have never made it across without a rope,"
Trumbo said.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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