Odds and Ends – Friday September 21, 2018 – September 27, 2018

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(Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun via AP)
(Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun via AP)

Bomb technicians detonate mine in Puget Sound

Brownsville, Wash. (AP) – Coast Guard and Navy bomb technicians have detonated what they said appeared to be an unidentified mine floating in Puget Sound between Brownsville Marina and Bainbridge Island. The object was reported at about 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Navy says initial inspection of the moored mine showed it had decades of marine growth. At about 5 p.m., Navy divers secured a long line to the device and began towing it with a small boat. KIRO-TV video showed it was detonated without incident by 8:15 p.m. Authorities had asked residents along the waterfront to stay inside and away from beaches as a precaution. Brownsville is a few miles south of Naval Base Kitsap – Keyport’s torpedo testing range.

School demolition crews unearth
124-year-old time capsule

Swampscott, Mass. (AP) – Construction crews tearing down a former middle school in Massachusetts have found a 124-year-old time capsule. The Daily Item reports crews found the time capsule under one of the front steps of the former Swampscott Middle School. The capsule is dated April 28, 1894, the day the school was dedicated. It contains two newspapers, remnants of military uniforms from the Civil War, a war medal and names of locals who served in the war. Planning Board Chairwoman Angela Ippolito says they were aware the time capsule existed but weren’t sure where it was located. She says the discovery was “quite a thrill.” The items are now heading to the Northeast Document Conservation Center for assessment. Ippolito says they hope to put the items on display at Town Hall.

St. Louis apartment with kitchen-bathroom combo creates stir

St. Louis (AP) – A St. Louis man is the new tenant of a tiny apartment with a unique layout – the kitchen and bathroom are in the same place. Yep. The toilet, bathtub, oven and sink are all in one room. The 200-square-foot (18.5-sq. meter) apartment is in St. Louis’ tony Central West End. The ad and photo for the $525-per-month apartment appeared on several websites and had people flush with excitement. Harold Karabell of S.F. Shannon Real Estate Management says the new tenant loves it. The 111-year-old building originally housed 12 luxury apartments. Karabell says that around the time of the Great Depression, it was remade into 50 small units, the studio the smallest among them. Toilet/kitchen combo aside, Karabell says the apartment has a lot to like, including refinished hardwood floors and new windows.

(S.F. Shannon Real Estate Management LLC via AP)
(S.F. Shannon Real Estate Management LLC via AP)

Venomous rattlesnake found near
Massachusetts go-kart track

Braintree, Mass. (AP) – Police responding to a Massachusetts go-kart track found a venomous snake wrapped around a tree in the parking lot. Braintree police say the timber rattlesnake was discovered Wednesday night near X1 Boston. Experts think the rattlesnake likely came from the nearby 6,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation, which has a known rattlesnake population. Environmental Police officers captured the snake and released it “far, far from Braintree,” back in the reservation. The snake is an endangered species in Massachusetts, and it is illegal to kill one. While a bite from the snake can kill, there have been no reported human fatalities in the state since 1791.