Odds and Ends – Friday September 28, 2018 – October 4, 2018

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(Deputy Jeff Hahn/Polk County Wis. Sheriff’s Office via AP)
(Deputy Jeff Hahn/Polk County Wis. Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Authorities pull globe, not honey pot,
from bear cub’s head

Balsam Lake, Wis. (AP) – A bear cub in Wisconsin had a Winnie the Pooh moment, but it wasn’t a honey pot that got stuck on its head. It was a hard plastic globe. Authorities rescued the cub Sunday after a passer-by spotted it near Balsam Lake with the mother bear nearby. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office used a squad car to keep the mother away while authorities and two bear hunters worked on the globe as the cub was contained in a net. Sheriff’s Sgt. Brent Waak (wahk) says the thick globe resisted pliers, tin snips and pruning shears. It finally slipped off after bolt cutters were used. The sheriff’s office posted a photo of the rescue on its Facebook page. Waak says it’s unknown where the cub got the apparently ornamental globe.

Missouri town gets new newspaper, The Uranus Examiner

Uranus, Mo. (AP) – Cue the giggling: A small Missouri town has a new newspaper called The Uranus Examiner. KYTV reports that the newspaper’s launch was announced Wednesday, just days after GateHouse Media said it was shuttering Pulaski County’s local paper, the Daily Guide. The new publication’s editor, Natalie Sanders, led the Daily Guide before leaving in June to start what she calls a “fun” paper that will include local news and promote the tourist town of Uranus, which is pronounced the way any self-respecting class clown would say it. Uranus sits along historic Route 66 and is known for quirky attractions, including a fudge shop and the world’s largest belt buckle. Luge Hardman, the mayor of nearby Waynesville, where the Daily Guide was based, says she thinks the “innuendo” surrounding the new publication’s name will bring “public ridicule.”

Kentucky town mourns its first
female mayor, Lucy Lou, a dog

Rabbit Hash, Ky. (AP) – The town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, is known for a string of highly esteemed mayors, one of whom died this week. She was 12, and a dog. The Enquirer reports Rabbit Hash’s first female mayor, Lucy Lou, died Sept. 10. The colorful political figure was a fixture in the media, with appearances on everything from Japanese television to “CBS Sunday Morning.” The collie was elected as the Ohio River town’s third canine mayor. She also served as spokesdog for a woman’s crisis center. She served from 2008 to 2016, when she voluntarily stepped down to raise funds to rebuild the historic general store ravaged by fire. Owner Bobbi Layne Kayser says Lucy Lou brought joy to more than just her family.

Man who walked near boiling-hot
Old Faithful geyser ticketed

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

Cheyenne, Wyo. (AP) – Yellowstone National Park officials have ticketed a man caught on video wandering close to Old Faithful geyser, where he risked burns from the boiling-hot water that erupts every hour or so. The man’s actions between eruptions startled a crowd of a couple hundred people at the park’s most famous attraction. At one point, he lay on the ground near the gurgling hole. “A bunch of the crowd thought he was going to jump. We didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Ashley Lemanski of Harbor Beach, Michigan, who shot the video Friday. The man appeared to urinate on the geyser while a park ranger repeatedly yelled at him to get to safety. Rangers caught up with him after he eventually walked back onto nearby boardwalks, Lemanski said. Rangers cited him with walking off the boardwalks in a thermal area, Yellowstone spokesman Neal Herbert said Monday. Herbert didn’t have the man’s identity. Just like Yellowstone’s wildlife and majestic scenery, tourists behaving badly have become a target for cameras. A man captured on video harassing a bison in Yellowstone in August was sentenced to over four months in jail for the incident and other drunken behavior in nearby Grand Teton National Park. If the man at Old Faithful relieved himself on the feature, he wasn’t the first. Two seasonal park workers were fired after being caught on a webcam urinating on the geyser in 2009.