ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Man who escaped Calif. prison in firetruck is caught

SAN DIEGO

Authorities say a man who escaped a state prison in San Diego in a firetruck on New Year’s Day has been captured.

The Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility said 51-year-old Thomas Kelley was taken into custody recently at a trolley station in suburban Lemon Grove.

Authorities say Kelley was assigned to the prison fire crew. They say he fled in the prison firetruck and abandoned the vehicle in suburban Spring Valley.

Kelley was assigned to a minimum-security part of the prison. He had violated parole for vehicle theft.

Prison spokesman Lt. Patrick Logan says the San Diego County district attorney’s office may decide to charge Kelley with the escape.

Fla. man reunites with Waylon, his lost kitty, in Colorado

GOLDEN, Colo.

A cat who wandered away from his new home in Florida has been reunited with his owner after being found nearly 2,000 miles away in Colorado.

Waylon, an orange-striped tabby cat, was reunited with Daniel Johns last week at the Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden.

The cat went missing from the Naples, Fla., area in June, disappearing within an hour after Johns adopted the stray.

Waylon apparently fled through a hole in a dryer vent.

Last month, a woman in a Denver suburb noticed Waylon hanging around as she walked her dog and brought him to the shelter.

A microchip linked the cat to Johns.

It’s not known how the cat made its way to Colorado.

One of the shelter’s theories is that snowbirds may have taken the cat home with them.

Idaho spud truck rolls on side, mashing potatoes inside

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho

A spud-hauling truck has rolled onto its side in Idaho, dropping its cargo like a hot potato.

The Idaho State Police says the truck driven by 23-year-old Newman Giles of Rigby crashed last week in Idaho Falls, spilling the potatoes across two Interstate 15 exit ramps.

It was hauling a 48-foot farm-bed trailer with the spuds at the time.

A spokesman at Eagle Farms says the potatoes were being brought to a plant when the trailer’s tires caught the edge of the road, causing the truck to tip on its side in slow motion.

The state police say Giles and a passenger were wearing seat belts and were not injured.

Associated Press