oddly enough

oddly enough

Camping ban ends effort to raise money for homeless

PITTSBURGH

A communication breakdown coupled with Pittsburgh’s ban on overnight camping in city parks prevented about 300 people from sleeping outside overnight to raise money to help the homeless.

Adrienne Walnoha, the CEO of Community Human Services, which had planned the fourth-annual sleepover, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the outcome was “an irony.”

The group raises money and awareness of its homeless-assistance program by having people sleep overnight in the portico of the City-County Building downtown. This year, the group got a permit to move the event to Schenley Park to draw more attention — but city officials granted it under the assumption the event would once again be at the building.

When city officials learned it wasn’t, they broke up the event at 11 p.m. Friday because of the camping ban in parks.

Dentist offers to buy back Halloween candy

MANSFIELD, Ohio

An Ohio dentist is offering to buy kids’ trick-or-treating booty this Halloween, and he’s even throwing in a toothbrush to sweeten the deal.

The Mansfield News Journal reports that dentist Craig Callen and his associates are offering kids $1 per pound of candy they bring in, with a 5-pound limit per child. The dentists also are having a drawing for two children’s bikes.

Callen says brushing teeth and visiting a dentist are good preventive measures, but doing away with excess sweets would give teeth a healthy boost.

Callen says candy can lead to hyperactivity and weight gain and can be especially damaging to children’s braces.

Bear feasts at candy store in Tennessee mountains

GATLINBURG, Tenn.

A bear has feasted on pecan logs, caramel apples and other treats at a candy store in the Smoky Mountains resort town of Gatlinburg, Tenn.

Employees reporting for work found the bear at the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen, where the animal apparently had knocked a hole in a glass front door to enter, according to The Mountain Press.

Police propped open several back doors and made loud noises, and the bear ran into the woods.

The animal had spread candy on the floor, and wrappers and packaging were strewn throughout a back storeroom. Pecan logs had been chewed, and chunks were missing out of caramel apples.

Bob Miller of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park said bears are active this time of year, searching for food before hibernation.

Associated Press