ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Man is arrested after trying to hide a gun in planter

PORTLAND, Ore.

An Oregon man has been arrested after airport authorities saw him trying to hide his gun in a planter box so he could retrieve it upon his return.

The Oregonian reports that 69-year-old Soren Muir Johnson of Eagle Point was arrested for investigation of reckless endangering.

Transportation Security Administration employees say he was told he couldn’t carry his loaded weapon through a security checkpoint and that he should put it in his luggage instead.

They say that they watched as he disregarded that advice and instead dropped the .22-caliber pistol in an airport planter box June 24.

Port of Portland spokesman Steve Johnson says police recovered the gun. Police say the man told them he hid the gun so he could retrieve it when he returned from his trip.

W. Pa. borough puts a limit on chairs to save parade spaces

CANONSBURG, Pa.

One western Pennsylvania borough’s council has voted to curb parade chairs.

Canonsburg council voted last Monday to restrict how soon residents can put chairs along the borough’s Independence Day parade route because some folks have begun putting up chairs to save their seats nearly two weeks before the annual parade. Council says that’s unsafe, especially because some folks chain their chairs together to make them harder to move.

The new rule bans space-saving chairs before 6 a.m. each July 4.

The effort has become an event unto itself, with a local civic group giving out cash prizes for the most flamboyantly decorated chairs this year.

Councilman Joseph McGarry cast the only “no” vote saying, “We’re going from one extreme to the other.”

He favors letting people put out chairs a day or two before the parade.

Man gets tangled in blinds

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Police say a would-be burglar was halted by unlikely obstacles — window blinds.

KRQE-TV reports that police found Thomas Molina on July 8 tangled in some window blinds at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque after police received a call about a break-in.

Police say the 38-year-old Molina told police he was looking for computer hardware.

Molina was arrested and charged with burglary and breaking and entering. He is being held on a $10,000 bond.

It was unclear if he had an attorney.

Associated Press