ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Marylanders crabby over PETA’s vegan billboard

BALTIMORE

Crab is beloved across Maryland, but not quite in the way PETA would like.

News outlets report the animal rights group has erected a billboard in Baltimore featuring the state crustacean, the blue crab, with the words: “I’m me, not meat.”

PETA is encouraging veganism ahead of September’s Baltimore Seafood Festival. PETA’s Tracy Reiman says crabs feel pain and fear and have unique personalities. PETA has placed similar billboards in other East Coast cities.

Crab enthusiasts shared their reactions to the billboard on Twitter. One restaurant owner said he thought it was “tone deaf.”

PETA named Baltimore restaurant Land of Kush’s vegan crab cake one of the top 10 vegan seafood dishes nationwide.

Black bear wanders hotel that inspired ‘The Shining’

ESTES PARK, Colo.

A black bear wandered the lobby of the Colorado hotel that inspired Stephen King to write “The Shining.”

Stanley Hotel vice president Reed Rowley tells KDVR-TV 300 guests were sound asleep as the bruin figured out how to open the door and climbed over furniture. A front desk supervisor taped the romp.

There was no damage, but the furniture got rearranged before the bear walked out of the lower level door.

The hotel in Estes Park opened in 1909 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

King wrote “The Shining” after he and his wife stayed at The Stanley in 1974. The 1980 horror film was not shot there.

Deputies: Calif. man had 800 pounds of stolen lemons

THERMAL, Calif.

Talk about driving a lemon!

Authorities say a man has been arrested in Southern California after deputies found about 800 pounds of stolen lemons inside his car.

Riverside County sheriff’s officials say 69-year-old Dionicio Fierros was arrested Aug. 25 and booked on a charge of theft of agricultural products.

Deputies were investigating recent farm thefts when they stopped Fierros’ car in Thermal.

Inside his car, deputies say they found several large bags of freshly picked lemons they say were stolen from a nearby farm.

A telephone number for Fierros could not be located in public records, and it wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

Associated Press