ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Elmo wasn’t tickled when he had to fend off attacker

WINTER PARK, Fla

Elmo was not tickled — he was in a tussle.

Police in central Florida say a man dressed as the “Sesame Street” character was attacked Saturday at a music store in Winter Park, but he was able to fend off the attacker.

The fight broke out around 3 p.m. The costumed man had been hired to perform as Elmo at a children’s event at Guitar Center, but police say the attacker began throwing punches at Elmo.

The performer fought back, even breaking a few fingers on his attacker’s hand.

Police haven’t released the names of either man. Officers broke up the fight and took the attacker to the hospital, where he was treated and detained for a mental-health evaluation. Police say Elmo was unhurt and that no children saw the fight.

Georgia leader: Boring names should stop rural-sign theft

DARIEN, Ga.

A rural Georgia county is losing about 550 street signs a years to thieves, and a commissioner says he has a solution: Make the names boring.

McIntosh County Commissioner Mark Douglas serves a rural county about 60 miles south of Savannah. He says signs marking Green Acres, Boone’s Farm and Mary Jane Lane frequently are stolen.

He suspects the thieves are targeting those signs because they share names with a popular TV series, a low-cost wine or, in the third case, a slang term for marijuana.

Then there are the stolen signs for Harmony Hill. Douglas figures the thieves just like the alliteration.

It’s become a costly problem. County Manager Luther Smart says the area is paying $17,000 a year to replace the signs.

Wyoming man douses himself with paint in try to avoid Taser

CHEYENNE, Wyo.

A Cheyenne man who doused himself with white latex paint in hopes of avoiding a police Taser was hit with the stun gun anyway.

The Taser chase happened Sept. 16, when Cheyenne police went to Brian Mattert’s house on a domestic-violence call.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that when police arrived, Mattert thought they’d use a Taser on him, so he hastily covered himself in paint and told officers that if they shot him with the stun gun, he’d die.

Officers told him the paint wouldn’t affect the Taser’s capability.

According to police, Mattert scuffled with officers and was hit with a Taser twice before officers handcuffed him.

He faces several criminal charges. Police say the officers’ uniforms had to be cleaned.

Associated Press