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By Times Wires
Published September 20, 2007

TRUCK STOPS

Friends don't let friends ... hey, settle down

Joshua Frank, 22, was involved in a SUV-vs.-telephone pole accident in Moscow, Idaho, on Saturday. He wasn't drunk. Wasn't talking on his cell phone. Wasn't fiddling with the radio dial. Didn't nod off because he hadn't been sleeping well lately. No, Frank's reason for losing vehicular control was very original. Seems he was transporting a pair of amorous friends in the back of the SUV, and their apparently athletic actions of affection caused the SUV to become, in Frank's words, "tippy." Frank was fined $188 for failing to report a traffic accident. His friends were treated for injuries that were not specified.

After accident, bees return to hives

A truck in Huntley, Mont., ran off the highway and overturned on Tuesday, but unlike the Idaho incident which involved the birds and the bees, this one involved only bees. The truck was transporting 465 hives - about 13.7-million bees - from North Dakota to California when driver Robert Esper lost control. "Only" a couple of thousand bees got loose, and the only injury reported was a state trooper who was stung twice. "The public was in no way in danger, as long as they didn't stop to get out of their vehicles," said Trooper Dell Aman. The bees that did get out started returning to their hives when the temperature started dropping. Esper was cited for careless driving.

RATS! IT DIDN'T WORK

Extermination, 13th century style

The Spanish town of Villotilla is overrun with voles, a nasty little rodent that is destroying crops, reports the Times of London. So townspeople decided the best course of action was to follow the efforts of the Pied Piper, a rodent-control legend made popular by the Brothers Grimm. About 20 village people dressed up in funny outfits and grabbed flutes and recorders in hopes of hypnotically luring the voles to the riverside, where they theoretically would jump in to their demise. The official count was ... well, none. But it was a good effort.

BUY ONE, GET ONE

Couple sues after they get twins

A woman in Australia ordered one baby. Just one. So now she is suing the doctor who performed the in vitro fertilization that resulted in the birth of twin girls. She wants about $400,000 to cover the cost of raising the child she didn't intend to have. The woman and her female partner, who are not identified in the court papers, said that they considered putting one of the girls, who are now 3, up for adoption, but decided that would be unfair to the children.

UPDATE

D.C. dry cleaner

The owners of a Washington, D.C., dry cleaner who were sued for $54-million over a missing pair of pants have closed and sold the shop involved in the dispute, their attorney said Wednesday. Soo and Jin Nam Chung, above, faced more than two years of litigation after Roy Pearson sued them over their claim of "Satisfaction Guaranteed."

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 01:18:59]