Tuesday, October 27, 2015
oddly enough
Diver removes famous fake skeletons from Colorado River
PARKER, Ariz.
A diver who felt he didn’t get his fair share of the credit for discovering two fake skeletons sitting in lawn chairs at the bottom of the Colorado River has removed them from their watery grave.
Martin Sholl said he spotted the skeletons, adorned in sunglasses, flip-flops, a bikini and a rainbow-colored wig, tethered to lawn chairs while he was scuba diving in the river near the Arizona-California line in May, Today’s News-Herald in Lake Havasu City reported Monday.
He alerted the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office, and authorities discovered the skeletons were plastic.
“Skeleton tea party,” Sholl said. “It was funny. The next day when my friend called and told me that the chaos I created was on every morning show in the country, I was shocked. ... I found out they didn’t mention me at all.”
Instead, Sholl said the media focused on La Paz County Deputy Curt Bagby, who led the recovery of the skeletons and investigated how they ended up in the river. When Sholl called a news outlet, he was told that Bagby wasn’t sure he would want to speak.
“When you’re dealing with the media [as a law-enforcement officer], you can’t assume that people want to be named,” Bagby told the newspaper.
Since the skeletons were discovered, they have become an attraction to recreational divers.
But Sholl said he pulled them from the river Friday and put them on his balcony in Parker. He said he would return the skeletons after Halloween.
The sheriff’s office says it wasn’t illegal for Sholl to take the skeletons. But Chris Chambers of the Buckskin Fire Department said he hopes Sholl doesn’t keep them long.
“Hopefully, he’ll give the skeletons to the Buckskin Fire Department, and let us take them back down,” Chambers said. “They’re a really neat attraction.”
Robber flees when woman yells, ‘There’s the police!’
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa.
Authorities say an elderly woman being robbed in a Pennsylvania parking lot shouted, “There’s the police!” and the spooked suspect dropped his gun and ran away.
Punxsutawney police Chief James Borza says police still are searching for the robber, who approached the woman Friday morning outside the Uni-Mart store in the Punxy Plaza.
Borza says the man got nervous when the woman yelled. He dropped the gun, and she kicked it underneath a vehicle. The panicked suspect ran away.
Police say the weapon looked like a real pistol but fired only BBs.
Police are hoping someone who witnessed the attempted robbery might be able to identify the man.
Associated Press