oddly enough

oddly enough

Montana man pleads no contest to 11th DUI

BILLINGS, Mont.

A 49-year-old Montana man who apparently was intoxicated when he came to court for his trial on a felony drunken-driving charge has pleaded no contest to his 11th DUI.

Thaylin Shawn Pierce of Billings entered the plea last Thursday. He’s free on bond until his sentencing June 22.

Pierce was charged in November 2008 after he tried to drive after being kicked out of a casino.

His trial was scheduled to begin March 31, but the judge suspected Pierce was intoxicated.

A breath test showed Pierce had a blood-alcohol level of 0.093 percent.

Negotiations for a plea agreement began. One of the conditions was that Pierce had to return to court sober the next morning to enter his plea.

Pierce has nine previous drunken-driving convictions in Colorado and an additional one in Wyoming.

Vt. town gets $150K grant for salamander crossing

MONKTON, Vt.

Future generations of salamanders in one Vermont town are going to be getting some help crossing the road.

The Monkton Conservation Commission says it has won a $150,000 state grant to install one or two culverts under a stretch of road to protect salamanders, other amphibians, reptiles and small mammals crossing between a swampy area and the uplands.

The Burlington Free Press says the project will be the first wildlife-crossing retrofit of a Vermont highway.

Reptile expert Jim Andrews says the crossing is “one of the most important of the known amphibian crossings in the state.”

For the past nine years, a group of Monkton residents has monitored the swamp-side road crossing, in some cases helping the creatures cross the road.

Ohio inmate’s letter to mother nets charges

PORT CLINTON, Ohio

Prosecutors say an Ohio inmate’s letter to his mother included detailed instructions on how to sneak drugs to him — but lacked the correct ZIP code.

Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton says the letter was returned to the Port Clinton jail, where corrections officers read it along with the other incoming mail.

Donald Dudrow III of Toledo was indicted last Thursday on charges of attempted drug trafficking and trying to get drugs into a correctional facility.

He already was in jail on a probation violation. Jail officials didn’t know whether Dudrow has an attorney.