ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Exotic snakes get stuck in Colo. basement after fire

BRIGHTON, Colo.

Dozens of snakes are in good condition after a home in the Denver suburb of Brighton caught fire. The trick now is to get them out of the basement.

Two adults and five children also got out safely after the fire broke out last Thursday. The home was a total loss.

Brighton Fire Chief Mike Schuppe says firefighters are working with the homeowner to get the hundreds of exotic snakes out of the debris and into a new home.

According to KMGH-TV, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

Deputies: 85-year-old NM man in high speed chase

SILVER CITY, N.M.

Authorities say an 85-year-old New Mexico man led Grant County deputy sheriffs on a high-speed chase and was caught only after lighting a cigarette and losing control of his car. The Silver City Sun-News reported that Silver City resident Frank Jimenez was arrested recently after reports that he was driving erratically in the Grant County Detention Center parking lot.

According to authorities, Jimenez took off from the parking lot, fled from deputies and drove up to 120 miles per hour. Deputies say he even waved at other drivers he passed.

When the deputies caught up to him, authorities say Jimenez was sitting in his vehicle, calmly smoking his cigarette.

He is facing a number of charges. It’s unclear if he had an attorney.

‘Zombies’ invade University of Michigan campus

ANN ARBOR, MICH.

You can learn a lot from a zombie. At least that’s what a University of Michigan professor hopes her 31 graduate students took away from Tuesday’s bizarre, albeit bloody, “zombie apocalypse.” The classroom exercise was designed to get School of Public Health students thinking about what the appropriate response should be during a disaster.

Four times as many students who typically attend Epidemiology 651, “Epidemiology and Public Health Management of Disasters,” were on hand Tuesday to welcome — or become — the undead. The zombie exercise was modeled after a curriculum designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and some CDC staffers also participated.

“’Zombie apocalypse’ sounds a bit silly, but the point of this is to show that if we’re prepared for any hazard, even the unimaginable hazards, like zombies — because we know they don’t exist — we are capable of preparing ourselves for perhaps anything that might occur,” said Dr. Eden Wells, the professor who teaches the course.

Wells initially wasn’t sure she’d be able to persuade enough students to dress up as the undead. But by Tuesday, 120 “zombies” and other participants joined the exercise.

Associated Press