ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Giant cuckoo clock gets new home in Ohio village

SUGARCREEK, Ohio

One of the world’s largest cuckoo clocks has a new home in an Ohio village.

The wooden clock measures more than 23 feet tall, 24 feet wide and 13 feet deep. It was hauled Wednesday from a vacant lot to a street corner in Sugarcreek, about 70 miles south of Cleveland.

It features a hand-carved, five-piece band playing music and a cuckoo bird that sounds at regular intervals. Sugarcreek Mayor Clayton Weller tells The Times-Reporter in nearby New Philadelphia the clock doesn’t function and will get needed electrical work to operate again.

A Swiss cheesemaker added the clock at his restaurant near Wilmot three decades ago. The restaurant closed in 2009, and the clock was sold to an Ohio man who agreed to move it to Sugarcreek.

Police investigate thefts of dead batteries in SW Pa.

WASHINGTON, Pa.

Police in one southwestern Pennsylvania township say thieves are stealing dead batteries in bulk from Sam’s Club and Walmart stores, apparently because they’re worth as much as $12 each when sold for scrap.

The Observer-Reporter of Washington, Pa. reported last week that South Strabane police investigating the thefts from a Sam’s Club store learned from other departments that more than 700 batteries were stolen from those stores and Walmart in 12 Pennsylvania and Ohio towns in recent weeks.

Police say two men driving a white Penske box truck are suspected of driving to the stores and taking the batteries. About 45 were stolen from the South Strabane Sam’s Club and 200 from a Walmart in Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County.

The batteries are turned in by customers who buy new ones.

Drug dealer mistakenly sends police officer text messages

SANTA MARIA, Calif.

Police say a drug dealer mistakenly sent messages to a California police officer in an attempt to sell methamphetamines.

The Santa Maria officer notified Santa Barbara County sheriff’s detectives about the errant text messages last week. The officer and detectives then set up a meeting with the suspected drug dealer.

Sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars says they arrested 39-year-old Reymundo Carlos Escobedo and seized about 2 grams of methamphetamine.

A news release says 37-year-old John Martin Silvera, Escobedo’s suspected meth supplier, also arrived and was arrested with about 7 grams of methamphetamine.

Escobedo and Silvera remain held on drug charges, including criminal conspiracy. Bail is set at $30,000 each.

Associated Press