oddly enough

July 19, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

oddly enough

Idaho man accused of keeping rattlers

MALTA, Idaho

An Idaho man who authorities say had 25 Western rattlesnakes in a 5-gallon bucket in his apartment has been issued two misdemeanor citations by the state’s Department of Fish and Game.

Officials say Terry Brian Teeter had as many as 32 snakes, but he gave some away and ate two others.

The 38-year-old Teeter says he was unaware a license is needed to hunt rattlesnakes in Idaho. He says he also didn’t know that there’s a limit of four rattlers a year.

Teeter says he was trying to find a buyer for the snakes and had contacted a Utah research center that milks snakes for venom.

Teeter received the citations in May that list possession, transport or shipment of wildlife. He has a sentencing scheduled Friday in district court on a possible plea agreement.

Handcuffed man opened door, escaped

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.

Police in central Florida say a man who was handcuffed somehow managed to open a cruiser’s door and escape after complaining he was claustrophobic and couldn’t breathe.

Altamonte Springs police say the officer had opened the windows slightly for 19-year-old Ridgh Genesis Achille, who had been arrested Friday night on a shoplifting charge. On the way to the jail, the man somehow opened the door from the outside and took off running.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that officers, police dogs and even a helicopter were still trying to find Achille on Saturday morning.

Tree decorated with shoes since ’40s burns

BOISE, Idaho

U.S. Forest Service officials in northern Idaho say the rubber-soled decorations that made the “shoe tree” a beloved Priest River landmark also helped fuel its demise.

Tourists and locals since the 1940s have dressed the tree with hundreds of pairs of shoes, nailing sneakers to its trunk and hanging work boots from its branches.

Firefighters found the tree engulfed in flames late Thursday, and the blaze was difficult to extinguish because the sizable cedar was covered in melted shoe rubber.

Officials have long discouraged people from adding shoes to the tree, which has become an eccentric roadside attraction featured on various travel websites.

Associated Press