Man in Santa drag outfit arrested on DUI charges

Man in Santa drag outfit
arrested on DUI charges

LOS ANGELES — Some gifts from Kris Kringle are better kept wrapped.

A man in a Santa hat was arrested Sunday night for investigation of drunken driving after he was spotted outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string, police said.

“We are pretty sure this is not the Santa Claus,” Deputy Chief Ken Garner said.

The suspect was booked into jail after his blood-alcohol level measured just above the state’s legal limit of 0.08, police said. He was later released on $5,000 bail.

The man, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, also wore black leg warmers and black shoes. His car was towed to an impound yard, police said.

Christmas storm fails
to cause major problems

DENVER — A winter storm delivered a White Christmas to parts of the Midwest, causing some traffic accidents and flight delays but no major problems with fewer travelers taking to the roads and sky on Tuesday.

Denver saw up to 7 inches of snow, resulting in a handful of flight delays. United Airlines canceled about 50 flights in Denver and some in Chicago to catch up from delays caused by an earlier Midwest storm.

Since Tuesday is a light travel day, United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said the airline was using it to move planes and crews to the airports where they need to be to carry holiday travelers home. She says flights weren’t crowded, so passengers on flights canceled Tuesday have been moved to others.

Besides Colorado, snow fell in parts of Wyoming, Minnesota and the Nebraska Panhandle, sometimes making travel difficult. A semi trailer slid off Interstate 80 in Wyoming and overturned near Chappell, and numerous other vehicles went into ditches on the interstate and other highways, Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Deputy Fred Wiedeburg said. No injuries were reported.

Thieves steal, destroy
nutcracker statues

DUBLIN, Ohio — Thieves ruined Christmas for one woman this year by stealing the pair of 6-foot-tall nutcracker statues from in front of her house.

“We didn’t know anyone could be so mean,” Stacie Hoyles said. “It’s terrible to say, but this just took my whole Christmas spirit away.”

The 100-pound statues, which Hoyles and her husband, Craig Hoyles, nicknamed Mr. Nut and Mr. Cracker, were taken Dec. 7 while the couple slept. The couple found Mr. Nut’s torso at a roadside about a mile away the next day, and Dublin police found other splintered parts nearby.

Officers said it appeared the statue had been dragged through the streets by a car.

Three die in crashes

TOLEDO — Three people — including a 17-year-old girl — died in two separate crashes in northwest Ohio on Christmas Eve.

The Ohio Highway Patrol says teenager Hollis Richer and 50-year-old David Mealer were killed when the SUV they were riding in was struck by another vehicle in Fulton County west of Wauseon.

Associated Press