ODDLY ENOUGH: Prisons in Washington save on shorter socks, juice boxes

ODDLY ENOUGH

Prisons in Washington save on shorter socks, juice boxes

OLYMPIA, Wash.

With Washington state agencies looking for ways to save money, the Corrections Department says it’s economizing by recycling inmate uniforms, switching to juice boxes and providing shorter socks.

The agency says it expects to save $120,000 each year by replacing self-serve cafeteria juice fountains with juice boxes.

Shorter socks? That’s another $22,000 annual savings.

A spokesman says clothing also will be used more, but it’s unclear how much that will save.

Another money saver: reducing the number of trash-can liners purchased annually by 40 percent, which will save an estimated $220,000 a year.

Larger cost reductions include the closing of two minimum-security prisons and the planned closure of another operation next year.

In Vegas, ‘strippermobile’ delivers Christmas donations

LAS VEGAS

The “strippermobile” has made another run in Las Vegas, this time with properly dressed Santa’s helpers riding for a good cause.

A year after agreeing to stop a promotion that involved hauling bikini-clad exotic dancers in a truck with clear plastic sides, a company that owns several Las Vegas strip clubs used the vehicle to help deliver Christmas donations to a local charity.

Deja Vu’s truck was part of a convoy that delivered $19,000 in donated bikes and toys Friday to HELP of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit group that assists the poor, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Inside the large Plexiglas cubicle were a bearded St. Nick and eight female entertainers who wore long red dresses or Santa-style camisole dresses paired with leggings.

There was no gyrating or pole dancing this time.

In November 2009, Deja Vu parked the truck after local officials and residents complained its use of live strippers was unseemly and unsafe. But Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he had no problem with the strippermobile carrying a Santa and appropriately dressed women through the city.

“As far as I’m concerned, we are an adult playground, and we’re going to be an adult wonderland,” he told the Review-Journal.

A HELP executive said her agency was comfortable taking donated toys from a strip club. Deja Vu collected the donations from patrons and employees.

“They are a legal, licensed business in our community,” said Fuilala Riley, HELP’s chief operations officer. “Their employees are part of our community, and they have children, too.”

Associated Press