ODDLY ENOUGH | Leaking Mass. house dials 911 for help, police check it out

ODDLY ENOUGH

Leaking Mass. house dials 911 for help, police check it out

MARBLEHEAD, Mass.

After months of enduring a leaking pipe that buckled its floors and sagged its ceilings, an empty Massachusetts house somehow called police for help.

The Salem News reports the 911 call went out to police from a house in Marblehead on Wednesday after water short-circuited the phone system, apparently sparking the emergency call.

Officers were sent to the address after the call was recorded as a hang-up and a return call got static.

Inside, they found the wreckage, including potentially toxic mold, from a pipe that apparently burst during the winter.

Town officials say the interior may have to be gutted.

Police couldn’t immediately locate owner James Cowen. His cousin, William Cowen, said he’s not worried. He says James was left financially secure by his father and often travels.

Bear trapped after wandering the streets of Poughkeepsie

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.

A young black bear is headed back to the wilderness after wandering through the city streets of Poughkeepsie.

Workers with the state Department of Environmental Conservation shot the 200-pound bear with a tranquilizer dart Wednesday morning as it rested high in a pine tree in the Hudson River city. The bear fell out of the tree and into a net.

Wildlife biologists tell the Poughkeepsie Journal the male bear was about 21/2 years old and likely came from Connecticut, where it had been previously tagged.

State police reported last week that a black bear had been seen in nearby LaGrange, rummaging through garbage containers.

The bear was expected to be released on state land in northeastern Dutchess County.

Police: Man steals lawnmower from school in Connecticut

EAST LYME, Conn.

Authorities say a man who was drunk and looking for a place to sleep broke into a trailer behind a Connecticut high school, then instead stole keys to a lawnmower and went for a joyride during which he mowed his parents’ lawn.

Police in East Lyme say 22-year-old Nikolaus Trombley was caught on tape early one day last week stealing the lawnmower from East Lyme High School.

Police say Trombley told them he was looking for the keys to the school when he found the keys to the lawnmower. He rode it three miles to his parents’ house, mowed the lawn and started to head back to the school but abandoned the mower on the way.

He’s charged with third-degree larceny and burglary.

Associated Press