oddly enough

oddly enough

Officer rescues deer that had its head caught in light globe

CENTEREACH, N.Y.

It was a deer caught in the ... light globe.

Authorities say a police officer has come to the aid of a wild deer whose head was stuck inside a light globe in a wooded area of suburban New York.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation says one of its officers spotted the deer Tuesday in the woods in Centereach, 45 miles east of New York City. Environmental conservation officials believe the deer had been lying there since Monday night.

Officer Jeff Hull approached the deer and tried to remove the globe. But it slipped out of his hands and the deer ran off.

Hull approached a second time and tossed his coat over the light globe. As the deer pulled back, the globe came free.

No fries with that: Call city residents Hattiesburgers

HATTIESBURG, Miss.

Call them Hattiesburgers, even if historians are choking on that mouthful.

Rick Taylor, who heads tourism efforts in the Mississippi Pine Belt city of Hattiesburg says that name for city residents won out over other suggestions including “Hub Citian” and “Hattiesburgan.”

The winner was announced Wednesday at the city’s annual tourism luncheon.

But at least one local historian finds “Hattiesburger” unappetizing. Hattiesburg Area Historical Society member Ursula Jones, in a letter to the Hattiesburg American, says city residents have been called Hattieburgans since as early as 1908. She says one 97-year-old society member has called herself a Hattiesburgan since about 1920.

Taylor, whose group ran the contest in part to encourage local involvement in tourism efforts, says times have changed, and he’s sticking with Hattiesburger.

Political change: Mayor forced to count pennies to pay fine

MIAMI

A Miami-area mayor won his bid to pay a $4,000 ethics fine with pennies and nickels, but only after he agreed to count and box the coins himself.

El Nuevo Herald reports that Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez on Wednesday deposited 140 boxes of pennies, totaling $3,500, and five boxes of nickels, totaling $500, at a South Florida bank where the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust has an account.

Hernandez tried to pay the fine in November with 28 buckets full of unsorted coins, but the board rejected the payment and sued Hernandez. Wednesday’s deposit closes the case.

The ethics commission ruled last July that Hernandez lied about interest rates he received from a $180,000 loan to a jewelry salesman convicted in a $40 million Ponzi scheme.

Associated Press