The skinny
By TIMES WIRES
Published June 8, 2007
Forget the guard dog
HOME INVASION A BAD IDEA WHEN IT'S THE NI HOME
A robbery suspect in Hinesville, Ga., had to be rescued by police from his would-be victims. "We had to help him walk to the patrol car, " sheriff's Deputy Brian Barnes said. The Ni family says that when they got home, Darrel Rolle, 27, was in the house and demanded money at gunpoint. But one family member grabbed the gun, and others jumped on top of him. Someone bit him. Someone grabbed a broom and beat him. When the handle bent, someone grabbed a shovel. Police showed up before they could bend that on him. He was apprehended without further incident.
Diesel powered
Ben has fastest wheelchair in Mich.
A truck driver was making his way through Paw Paw, Mich., on the Red Arrow Highway when he was pulled over. "When he saw us, he was like, 'What's going on?' " said Sgt. Kathy Morton of the State Police. It was a minor infraction. Just an illegal hood ornament. And by hood ornament, we mean a guy in a wheelchair that was somehow lodged into the grill. Apparently, Ben Carpenter, 21, pulled in front of the truck at a gas station and got latched in accidentally. He was on there for four miles before the driver was pulled over. "The man spilled his soda pop, but he wasn't upset, " Morton said.
HE'S BARKING
City's mayor comes back in a tree
Donald Stephens died this year after more than half a century as a city leader in Rosemont, Ill., a Chicago suburb. But something weird is happening in the peeling bark of a 50-foot sycamore in the city. People say they see Stephens in it. "He told me, you screw things up, I'm gonna haunt you, " said Bradley Stephens, the mayor's 44-year-old son who is completing his father's term. "When it starts talking, we're all in trouble." Some people say it's ridiculous to think that Stephens' likeness is growing in the tree. Like Cathy Sansone, who doesn't think it looks like Stephens at all. "I see Jesus, " she said.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Grad will enjoy it as long as he can
Rudy Nevarez, 78, will be the oldest graduate at ceremonies today at the University of Washington-Tacoma, where he earned a business management degree. "It will be an experience I will remember as long as I live, " Nevarez told the Tacoma News-Tribune. "Granted, I don't have much longer to live."
Compiled by staff writer Jim Webster from Times wire services and other sources.