Digest

Dateline Florida

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 27, 2007

A golfer who lost his ball in a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club in Venice on Monday was lucky that's all he lost. Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched onto his right arm and pulled him into the water, the Associated Press reported. Burger struck the reptile with his free arm until it freed him. The Tennessee man was hospitalized, but not seriously injured.

Nothing but best for this bandit

Here's a robber who knows what he wants: top-shelf liquor. St. Petersburg police say a black man who appears to be in his late 20s has smashed the glass fronts of three liquor stores in recent weeks, but steals just two things: armfuls of high-end Grey Goose vodka and Hennessy cognac. He took bottles of both from an Albertson's Liquor on May 14, just Hennessy from a Sweetbay's Liquor on May 25, and bottles of both from another Albertson's on May 30. He may have an accomplice. Anyone with information can call police at (727) 893-7780.

Child left alone as parents ride at Disney

Maybe the excitement over Disney's revamped Pirates of the Caribbean ride was just too much. Whatever the reason, two Orange County parents face child abuse charges after they were accused of leaving their 3-year-old girl alone in a stroller Saturday while they rode the attraction, the Associated Press reported. The parents told investigators it was an accident. They were with a big group and each parent thought the other had the girl, who was alone for nearly an hour and found in the sun, turning red and covered in sweat, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Her parents were released from the Orange County Jail after each posting $2, 500 bail.

Correction

A photo caption in Monday Metro incorrectly identified a hair salon participating in the Battle of Beauty 2007. The salon is called Blessed by the Best.

[Last modified June 27, 2007, 00:37:00]