oddly enough

oddly enough

Pa. man briefly jailed over old truancy fine

READING, Pa.

A Pennsylvania man spent several hours in jail over a fine he failed to pay after skipping school more than seven years ago.

The Reading Eagle reports that 21-year-old Luis Salamo was arrested early Tuesday on a scofflaw warrant after an officer saw him littering.

Investigators say when police ran Salamo’s name they found he owed $283.50 in fines for skipping school on May 19, 2004.

Authorities say Salamo had repeatedly skipped school before dropping out, but had many of the fines forgiven when he earned a graduate equivalency diploma in 2008.

The newspaper reports Salamo’s brother paid the outstanding fine and he was released a few hours later.

A phone listing for Salamo could not be located.

Wisconsin professor wins 2011 bad writing contest

SAN JOSE, Calif.

A sentence in which tiny birds and the English language are both slaughtered is this year’s winner of an annual bad writing contest.

San Jose State University Prof. Scott Rice says Sue Fondrie of Oshkosh, Wis., took top honors Monday in the 2011 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest for her sentence comparing forgotten memories to dead sparrows.

Contestants are asked to submit the worst possible opening sentences to imaginary novels. Fondrie wrote:

“Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.”

Rice says the University of Wisconsin professor’s 26-word sentence is the shortest grand prize winner in the contest’s 29-year history.

Pa. bishop gets own bobblehead for 75th birthday

ERIE, Pa.

As a priest, he’s probably not going to get a big head over it.

Donald Trautman, the Roman Catholic bishop in Erie, Pa., received a special gift in honor of his 75th birthday: a bobblehead in his likeness.

The Erie Times-News reports Trautman was presented with the swaying-headed statue last month at a gathering of priests from 13-county diocese.

Trautman calls the likeness “pretty close.”

An Erie priest came up with the idea for the dolls, which were also distributed to all the priests in the diocese.

Trautman has sent his resignation letter to Pope Benedict XVI, as canon law requires for priests turning 75. No replacement has been named.

Associated Press