ODDLY ENOUGH

August 26, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

ODDLY ENOUGH

Alcohol-laced goodies among State Fair fried-food finalists

DALLAS

Fried food fans looking to feast at this year’s State Fair of Texas will have to bring an ID along with their appetite.

Fair officials unveiled eight finalists in the Big Tex Choice Awards, including alcohol-laced fried goodies, Wednesday. Vendors at the fair that runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 17 are seeking honors for best taste and most-creative new offerings.

Fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding says those hoping to try the beer-filled pretzel pockets and deep-fried frozen margaritas will have to prove they are at least 21.

The other six finalists to be judged by members of the media Sept. 6 include a deep-fried s’mores Pop-Tart, fried club salad, fried chocolate, fried lemonade, fried caviar that features black-eyed peas, and a fried Frito pie, with chili and corn chips.

Moon rock to go on display

GOLDEN, Colo.

Colorado’s once-missing moon rock is about to go on public display.

Gov. Bill Ritter and Colorado School of Mines president Bill Scoggins unveiled the rock Wednesday at the school in Golden, its new home.

The Nixon administration gave former Colorado Gov. John Vanderhoof the rock in 1974. It was a piece of moon rubble from the Apollo 17 mission, and all 50 states and more than 130 foreign countries received samples.

Many have turned up missing, and some student researchers have been trying to track them down. In June, Vanderhoof was questioned by a reporter and said he had the missing rock.

Vanderhoof said he didn’t think anyone else was interested and offered to give the rock to a museum.

It will be on display starting Monday.

Man shot in head thought he had been hit by fireworks

BERLIN

A 35-year-old man who walked around for five years with a bullet lodged in the back of his head says he suspected for a while something was there but went to doctors only after he started getting headaches.

Robert Chojecki was partying on New Year’s Eve five years ago in the German town of Herne when he was hit with the .22-caliber bullet. Doctors removed it this week from between his skin and skull.

The Polish-born Chojecki told RTL television Wednesday he thought he’d been hit by fireworks but later forgot about it.

He said at first he had “no pain, but approximately one year ago, I started to get a headache.”

Police say the bullet may have been fired in celebration. Doctors say he should have no problems now that it has been removed.

Homeless man cited in Pittsburgh book-bag scare

PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh police have cited a homeless man with disorderly conduct for unwittingly setting off a bomb scare by hanging a discarded book bag from a sign post.

Police say 62-year-old George Morris found the bag in the garbage and hung it on the sign for someone to claim after rifling through it and finding nothing of value Aug. 18. Morris hails from Johnson City, Tenn., and could not immediately be reached Wednesday.

Police summoned a bomb squad because they have strict rules for handling abandoned packages and bags.

The response tied up downtown rush-hour traffic before crews detonated the package about two hours later. Because it was hung from the sign, it was too high for police dogs to sniff and for a robotic camera to examine.

Associated Press