oddly enough

oddly enough

San Diego County spelling bee nearly left wordless

SAN DIEGO

David Hay had no words for what was about to happen.

And that’s sort of important when you’re running a spelling bee.

Hay was the bee master Tuesday at The 45th Annual U-T San Diego Countywide Spelling Bee, which was halfway through its tense, two-student final round when Hay realized he was about to run out of spelling words.

Hay says it hasn’t happened in his 33 years as master. His 500-word supply is usually plenty, but the 92 middle-schoolers exhausted them, from “macaroni” to “obnuliate.”

He had to call a recess and scrounge up some spare words to finish.

Allison Grygar won by correctly spelling “prostrate” and “gurgle” when her opponent botched “scrimmage.”

She’ll compete in May’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, where presumably, words will be plentiful.

Event with 20-foot bratwursts challenges competitive eaters

YPSILANTI, Mich.

A fundraising event for children’s art in Michigan has pitted participants with big appetites against 20-foot-long bratwursts that weigh close to 6 pounds.

Twelve competitors and hundreds of onlookers turned out last Thursday night for the Wurst Challenge, raising about $7,000 for the FLY Children’s Art Center.

Jesse Kranyak is a co-owner of The Wurst Bar and says he was excited to host the event at his restaurant.

He says the restaurant contributed the bratwursts, two of them vegetarian and the others pork and beef mixes. New Holland Brewing Co. donated a keg. Blogger Mark Maynard helped organize.

The proceeds benefit FLY’s Creativity Lab in Ypsilanti, a city of 19,000 that’s home to Eastern Michigan University.

NE Pa. ‘robbery’ may have been prank, police say

BLAKELY, Pa.

Police in a tiny northeastern Pennsylvania borough say a reported robbery near an automated teller machine may have been a prank, though they’re not sure whether the purported victim — or the police themselves — were the victim.

The (Scranton) Times-Tribune says police in Blakely were called about 6:45 a.m. Saturday by a man who said he was making a deposit when another man drove up with a gun and demanded money. The victim drove away and was followed by the other man, prompting police to issue an alert to other nearby departments.

But now police say the victim is claiming he learned the incident was a joke after he went to work.

Police might charge the victim with obstructing justice if his report was false, or the man who pulled the prank, if that’s what occurred.

Associated Press