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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 3, 2007

That's not civil

War is awful, but the re-enactment is even worse

A battlefield is never a pretty sight. Even when it is a re-enactment. Over the weekend, guys with big mustaches donned the heavy blue and gray costumes and put on the funny looking hats and re-enacted the 1865 Battle of Anderson County in South Carolina. But Saturday's event had to be stopped after about a half-hour because Laurens Orphans, a faux cavalryman for the Confederacy, suffered a gunpowder burn. He needed stitches. "This is the first time this has happened," said commander Allen Ashley. He wasn't kidding. It didn't even happen in 1865, when the South suffered no casualties in the battle.

Weird and wild

Those weasels just really hate ferrets

Ferrets are legal to keep as pets in every state except California and Hawaii. And if a recent poll is any indication, they won't be getting any soon. In a poll funded by a pro-weasel group, only 38 percent of respondents favored legalizing the long, skinny rats. "If we had proposed legalized gay marriage or marijuana, we would've gotten a higher number," said Pat Wright of Ferrets Anonymous. In fact, they asked about gay marriage, and gay marriage got 43 percent support. All of which made Wright sigh deeply. "I thought California was more of a live-and-let-live state." The antiferret movement is concerned about abandoned animals becoming feral and destroying native flora and fauna.

Geckos in socks doesn't fool guards

A man in Melbourne, Australia, is a complete wuss. Well, at least when compared to the Palestinian woman who strapped three crocodiles to her body last week in an attempt to smuggle them, anyway. News.com of Australia reports that the man was caught trying to smuggle three geckos in his socks. Which should've added some cruelty charges, but he evaded that somehow. The man faces up to $20,000 in fines and two years in jail and merciless mocking when his friends find about the crocodile woman. Officials say taking the creatures out of their homes can spread diseases, affect the species population, and in some cases, causes drastic lowering of car insurance rates.

Are we there yet?

Problem: four seats, six people

It may be time for the Willy family of Portland, Ore., to get a minivan. Douglas Willy, 40, was loading up the family for a vacation when he realized everyone wasn't going to fit. He was driving, so he had a seat. His fiancee rode shotgun. Then as far as the four kids, well, two fit nicely in the back seat, and police say Willy decided that the other two, 12 and 13 years old, would be most comfortable in the trunk. About 20 miles into the journey, someone who saw them at a gas station disagreed and called the cops when they noticed the seating arrangement. He was charged with reckless endangerment and released.

Compiled from Times wires and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster.

[Last modified April 2, 2007, 23:35:06]