oddly enough

oddly enough

Maui bull freed after giant tire stuck on his head

HONOLULU

A rodeo bull in Hawaii appears comfortable again after spending about 20 hours with his head stuck in a giant tire.

The 800-pound bull, named Skywalker, couldn’t eat or drink after he got his head lodged in the truck tire that someone dumped at the Triple L Ranch in Maui, ranch owner Paige De Ponte said.

“He was uncomfortable, and it took all day to get him out,” she said Wednesday.

No one could get near the cranky bull Tuesday until Skywalker became exhausted enough for ranch worker Kawika Manoa to use a piece of wood to pry off the tire, which weighs more than 50 pounds. Skywalker didn’t put up a fight and then went straight for the water trough after being released from the rubber ring, De Ponte said.

She didn’t know how the tire ended up around Skywalker’s neck, but she said she hopes his plight will raise awareness about using the rural Kanaio area, in the upcountry region of the island, as a dumping ground.

“My message to the public is to please remember that Kanaio is a community where generations have lived and prospered. Our open-range ranch has been here for 50 years, and never have we ever seen such an event like this,” she said. “I hope Skywalker’s unfortunate predicament was more of a godsend at a time when we need people to recognize this beautiful place as a treasure and that small farmers such as ourselves depend on the public to respect us and the land more than ever.”

The Maui News first reported Skywalker’s predicament Wednesday.

The white bull seemed to be fine after the ordeal, De Ponte said, adding that no one has ever been able to stay on him for the full eight seconds during any Maui rodeo. None of the ranch’s 17 other bulls has been successfully ridden.

De Ponte’s husband, Louis “Bully” De Ponte, was a champion bull-rider. He died in March.

Road bike specially made for ex-NBA center stolen

MURRAY, Utah

At 7-foot-6, former NBA center Shawn Bradley needs just about everything custom-made, from clothes and chairs to countertops and doorways.

Yet the Utah resident remains dumbfounded over why someone would steal a bike so large it probably is useless to anyone but him.

The bike has an 80-centimeter carbon fiber-aluminum frame — about 50 percent larger than that for a normal-size person. Trek didn’t even include a serial number when it built the bicycle in 2006 because it is so unique.

The bicycle was taken last Friday from a barn next to Bradley’s home in Murray, Utah.

Bradley acknowledges it’s just a bike and hardly the end of the world. But he says he’s used it to shed 30 pounds of fat he put on after retiring in 2005.

Associated Press